Wicked Yokai Prince

Shintaro

A demon stepped into the red manor, his bare feet left marks on the shinny plank of the wooden floor. The demon has been known as Faceless, an oni in the last two hundred years and he came to steal Rin's face. 

He moved with ease. Corridor after corridors, he passed unnoticed, gliding passed numerous servants on his trail and yet, no one dared halted him, some even lowered their heads in respectful greeting.

"Good afternoon, Rin - san." One servant greeted but the oni only walked undisturbed ignoring her greeting. 

 Foolish low spirits were clueless to what demon lies inside their manor. 

The demon only halted once he locked on the most powerful aura inside the manor. He inclined his head to the ceiling. above, at the top of the castle, seven floors high is Lord Jiro's place of work.

Jiro sat crosslegged before a low table, his half hooded eyes trained on the mountain of scrolls needing his review. His spine tensed and his wings buckled. His face suddenly became a mask of fatal danger sensing an uninvited ominous energy inside his home. 

*****

The first thing Rin felt once she awoke is the nasty throb of pain pounding on her head,  before the rest of her senses came to greet her. She remembered getting thrown out by the invisible barrier of the castle which she had no idea even existed until now. 

"Oww." She groaned and swallowed trying to moisen her aching dry throat. 

"You don't belong in this realm." A steely voice stole her ear. Rin's eyes widened jerking her chin to the direction of the voice. 

She found him immediately, the steely voice belonged to a mysterious man sat against a tree across about three yards away. He wore a simple black robe with grey hakama inside, a samurai sword latched on his hip, straw hat lain beside him, his long dark hair tied in a messy bun behind his head. He is one would consider an attractive man but then again, every single spirit she came across in the spirit world had been no less than breathtaking noting Kurama and Jiro. 

Her heart made a wild pounding on her rib cage. Her secret made her nervous. 

"Who are you?!" She snapped out of her daze and scrambled a few inches back.

"It depends." Answered the man calmly.

Rin held her lips from trembling despite her fear of meeting another unfamiliar spirit. 

His set of handsome eyebrows rose noting her fear. "No need to be scared."

Rin let her shoulders relaxed before him, though her heart remained pounding. "Depends how?" Rin doesn't understand.

The man's lips twisted. "It depends who I'm talking to. You don't look like you belong here in the spirit world."

"Are you the kind of who would force me to eat spirit word food?" She contested holding his gaze.

The man lips thinned upon making a general assumption. "I'm the kind who happened to stumble upon you and kind enough to move you out of harms way and stay with you until you woke up."

"And what thanks do I owe for your kindness?" Rin asked in a even tone. It hasn't been a kind day to her at all. 

"Good deeds doesn't require payment, miss. It's dangerous out here and I could still smell the tang of human in you. Someone could have found and eaten you, and I don't think I could ever forgive myself if I let that happen."

Rin figgetted on her seat and dropped her gaze to her hand. "So, you're one of the good guys then?" 

The man offered a gentle smile before relaxing his broad shoulders. He'd been staring at Rin for a while with a curious look on his face. "Do you mind if I ask what happened?" He tilted his head and gerstured at her face.

"Long story." Rin began. "I stepped into a school of shrines and got spirited away into this realm. 

"Ah." The man nodded, his shapely mouth formed into a large O, he had figured that out earlier. But there's something else he wants to know. "I've heard of humans getting spirited away into our realm. " He paused. "In fact, it happens more than you would care to believe. Some humans get spirited away by spirits who fell in love with them. They even get married and decide to stay. Some are sent back to the human world only for them to die soon after. But, that's not what I want to know." The man gestured at his own face making small circular motion of his finger. "Your face is missing."

Panic chased and found Rin immediately, "What do you mean?!"

The man shrugged, he doesn't know how else to explain in to her. "Your face is gone, there's nothing but a blank canvas."

Rin's fret was visible when she mapped for her face, looking for traces of what used to be her features. She could feel the mold of her bones and the crevices where her eyes, mouth, and nose were supposed to go, but none of them existed.

The thought of the lost spirit she encountered earlier leaped at her. 

"Words around here is, there's a demon lurking around stealing faces. You wouldn't happened to be one of its victims would you?" Asked the man shifting from his seat, he leaned heavier on his left hip giving the other side a break. 

Rin turned to him. "A demon wearing a painted mask?"

"That seemed to fit the description, yes." He nodded. 

"It was trying to get inside lord Jiro's castle when I reached out to it."

Then it all dawned on her as the fog on her memory lifted. Why the spirit oddly stood at the other end of the gate unable to step further. Why the barrier had knocked her off the ground over and over when she tried to come in. 

The castle is enchanted with Jiro's magic for protection and the barrier was his doing. The demon stole her face in able to get in and in return, she wasn't able to cross because her face no longer belongs to her.