Eitsu's Nine Lives (永津の九生) [yuri/GL yokai reincarnation story]

41 - Enma

A/N: One day late, but it's here.

In case anyone wants more background on and Gong Lau Yan, they are the main characters of At the Water's Edge.

***

Eitsu, on Izanami's lap, slowly recoiled.

"Thank you. You may go."

The shinigami withdrew, and with Eitsu shrinking into the form of a little black cat, Izanami stood languidly, her clothing in disarray. Perched against the kami's bare breast and shoulder, Eitsu could have reached her claws through Izanami's exposed ribs and taken hold of her heart.

"Lady Eitsu, shall we go? Go and see Lord Enma?"

Eitsu allowed the Queen of Yomi to coo and fuss, leaning into the fingers scratching her cheeks.
"Do you know who Lord Enma is? He's the High Judge in the Court of Jigoku. He will decide on Shinigami Rei's punishment." Izanami's half-face crooked into a slanted smile when Eitsu nibbled her fingertips. "Don't worry, I can assure you of his ruthlessness."

Without even rearranging her robes, Izanami lifted her silvery-white spear with one hand, and carried Eitsu with the other up the long staircase, out into the open oppressiveness of the plain of Yomi. She did, however, replaced the cloth over her face. In spite of this, anyone they passed immediately lowered their eyes and bowed deeply to the barely clothed Queen and her pet, not looking up even long after they had passed.

The route that they took was one unfamiliar to Eitsu, in spite of all her wanderings, which wounded her pride a little. She had always been able to go anywhere she wanted, but for certain she had not walked along this rocky path, lined by cauldrons of fire, where the screams of the unseen damned stumbled over the barren ground and into her ears.

The path led to a building complex, grand as a set of palaces, all dark grey stone and red tiles. As they approached, imps in uniform robes hastily dropped they were doing, rushing to greet the Queen or hurrying deeper amongst the buildings.

"Lord Enma, Her Deathly Majesty approaches!"

Two imps with purple skin and protruding tusks escorted Izanami and Eitsu into the heart of what was essentially a small town. Most of the inhabitants seemed to be imps or oni in dark red uniforms, with the occasional black-robed shinigami.

At last, they reached a set of imposing wooden sliding doors, bearing a carved face that was oddly distorted, almost as if it had been melted. Eyeless, it nonetheless seemed to be watching their approach. Peering at the wrinkled mass, Eitsu realised it was a carving of a nuppeppo.

What an odd choice.

The face split in two when the doors were opened, and Izanami swept into the room as a figure rose from behind a table stacked high with papers.

Lord Enma was a big man, but he moved as though his bulk had no mass. Slipping out from behind his ornate desk, he bowed down to the ground. Eitsu thought that his tall judge's hat had to be glued to his head; he did not appear to have any hair to pin it to, yet it stayed firmly on as he prostrated, then stood. It brushed the ceiling of the room as he glared down at them, his small-pupiled eyes bulging.

"Divine Majesty, it has been so long since you have visited my offices."

"Lord Judge, I trust you are well. I have taken a special interest in the matter of Shinigami Rei."
The judge's tiny pupils moved immediately to the black cat, but he simply growled, "As you wish, My Queen. I believe the trial may begin by the next cycle."

"Good. There is someone who has been waiting for this day."

"Lord Enma!"

The three kami in the room turned as the door slid open. The green-skinned imp who entered almost passed out in shock at the sight of the Queen and threw itself down immediately.