Wicked Yokai Prince

Jiro

Rin leaped at the strange man unable to control herself. 

The man's quick reflexes caught her by the waist before she landed and settled her back on the ground. He could understand how upsetting it must be to have your face stolen.

"Do try to calm down." He suggested. "I can't give you your face back but I could offer you a mask."

Rin huffed and lowered her head apologetically. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to jump on you like that. Please help me."

"My name is Shintaro by the way." He said. "And I am a spirit realm detective. You may call me Shin for short or Shintaro if you don't feel comfortable." He reached for his cloth sack that's been sitting beside him. "I've been trying to capture this demon for a while now but it seemed to be two steps ahead. Each time I got close on its trail, it changed faces on me."

Shintaro pulled out a series of masks carefully wrapped in cloth and compared each one. One of them is a face of a man, another is a woman, and two more for a boy and a girl. He held the woman and the girl on his hands trying to decide which one to properly offer Rin.

"Do you mind telling me your name and your age, miss?"

"My name is Tanaka Rin and I am twenty two years old."

Shintaro lowered the little girl's mask on the ground and grunted lifting to his leg offering Rin the more fitting adult one. "I would have taken you for someone younger. Your aura gives out youthfulness and vibrant."

Rin took the mask off his hand and thanked the kind spirit world detective.

"But then again, my skills trying to determine human's age based on their spirit is not at its finest. Sometimes, I find humans who looked like 85 years old but has a spirit of a 30 year old." He gave a shrug of his shoulders. "I could never know."

Rin placed the mask on her face, the magic in it locked itself into place. She looked up at him again. "Will you help me?"

Shintaro paused to give her his attention. He noted the mask on her face, his lips pressing into a satisfied smile. "Once I kill the oni, your face will naturally return to you."

She eased her shoulders but her worry didn't go away, unsure when would his promise happen.

Shintaro bent trying to catch her eyes. Nothing in his mannerism or expression gave out exactly what's on his mind. "I didn't mean to interupt your brooding, but I am a very skilled swordsman." He tapped the blade that's been clinging to his hip and grinned.

"Oh, no no no! I didn't mean to insult you." Said Rin with a wave of her hands.

*****

Jiro's eyes flashed with danger and with one fluid motion, he rose to his towering height. Strenght and power broadcasted once he extended the full lenght of his massive wings, he knew his castle has been breached.

Jiro's strong legs carried him down the step of his stairs and in one single breath, he traveled from the highest floor to the lowest.

One of his servant whipped behind him startled. "Lord Jiro?!"

Jiro scanned the floor with his eyes and did not sense the demon there. "Where's Rin?"

His servant stammered. "I haven't seen Rin since you two were yelling at each other at the breakfast table."

Jiro's lips thinned. That was hours ago. He knew Rin walked out of the castle to let out some steam and he had let her as long as she doesn't dare leave the gates. But that was hours ago and she should have been back by now.

He stalked into the corridors heading for the next floor. The dark concentrated aura of his magic penetrated heavy in his castle.

Jiro's eyes narrowed even smaller once he's on the second floor. The pool of evil aura concentrated there the most. His hand grasped for the hilt of his sword and followed the heavy aura leading him out to the dark corridor.

A silhouette of a woman stood very still. She wore a kimono same as Rin. Blue as the sky with white petals speckle like snow in the winter. From the looks of it, the fine kimono hasn't been dirtied yet giving him a form of relief but the strangest energy he'd picked up from is what made him worried.

Something is off. The girl felt like Rin but he knew it isn't her.

"Rin?" Jiro growled carefully. He hesitated upon freeing his katana from its scabbard. He needed to make sure Rin doesn't get hurt.

The presence before him alarmed him that the girl wearing the same kimono is not her.

"Master Jiro." The oni muttered sweetly as Rin's voice.

Jiro knew the voice is a lie because Rin has never been sweet to him.

Jiro flicked his sword with his thumb and inch out for easier access just in case. He issued a domineering step forward. "My senses told me, you have something of my Rin."

The oni tensed where it stood and lowered its stance to a guard. "Kannon-sama sent me to check up on you, she wonders how a tengu with a heart of a demon hasn't turned into a beast yet."

Jiro paused where he stood. Every fiber of his muscle tensed. He could very much remember the course placed on him a long time ago."