Demon Gate

The red woman strode out from between their trunks, tall and majestic, clad in her patchwork cloak of animal skins again. Her massive puff of white hair was just as wild and unkempt, bobbing as she walked, like a giant mass of unrefined silk. This time however she was carrying what at first glance looked like a large sapling across her back, secured with vines that had been woven together into a thick and sturdy rope. When he looked closer, however, he saw that it was not a tree but a massive cudgel. It was made from black iron, studded with dull spikes, the long handle wrapped in tanned leather. It was enormous, far larger and heavier than any man could have hoped to lift, almost as long as she was tall.

He felt a twinge of fear. Nagao had told him not to come here again, that an Oni was a bad spirit that might eat him, but he had seen no evidence of that so far. What if she just used it for hunting? A girl that large would have to eat a lot to sustain herself, and she had to have gotten those skins from somewhere.

As he watched, she set the cudgel down on the grass at the edge of the pool. It was so heavy that it visibly sank a couple of inches into the ground. Then she flung her cape off and let it fall, revealing her magnificent body as she stretched her arms above her head and yawned widely. Satou could see that she had sharp, almost tusk-like incisors, similar to those of a boar but less prominent.

Once again he was able to gaze upon her womanly figure, her crimson skin glistening with beads of sweat and moisture from the humid air, giving her entire body a captivating sheen. Light and shadow conspired to make her sculpted abdominal muscles jump out at him, the sun reflecting off them and casting them into deep shadow. Despite her impressive brawn, she was also soft and round in places. She had an ample chest, along with thighs and a rump the likes of which he had never seen before, giving her a curvy figure that triggered something deep in his brain. He had never felt such desire for a woman before, certainly not for the Lady Sasaki, whose womanly assets were hidden beneath so many layers of clothing that it might be more fitting to refer to her as an onion rather than a woman.

The Oni looked around the clearing, Satou shrinking back a little to make sure that he was still hidden in the shadow of the trees, and then she turned her head towards the boulder. She hesitated, looking confused, then she began to walk over to it.

Satou's stomach lurched with excitement as she lifted the rock and picked up the piece of paper. It looked so tiny in her large, red hands. She opened the folded parchment and stared at it for a moment, her eyes lingering on the page long enough that he could be certain that she was reading the poem. She was facing away from him, he couldn't see her expression, he couldn't gauge her reaction to it.

He waited for her response, and then he heard the sound of crumpling paper. She balled up the parchment in her hand, turning to glare at the trees, her golden eyes narrowed. She scanned the edge of the forest, searching for her secret admirer, her expression less than welcoming. Satou had hoped that he might be able to emerge from cover and announce himself if she had responded well to his letter, but right now she looked like she would smash him into the ground like a fence post with her cudgel sooner than return his affections.

She marched back over to her cloak, her red skin shining in the sunlight, the movements of her muscular body hypnotizing him. The Oni leaned forward to retrieve the garment and wrapped it around herself, hefting her heavy club and setting off back the way that she had come.

Satou felt deflated. She didn't seem to like his poem, and he wouldn't even be able to admire her from his hiding place again, his love letter seemed to have scared her away. He waited a while before moving back down to the sluice gate, ensuring that she wasn't lying in wait for him somewhere nearby, and then he began to make his way home. He needed to come up with a new approach...

***

Night fell once more, and as soon as Satou was certain that his parents were fast asleep, he again crept out of his house and made his way back up the mountain. This time he had prepared a new poem for the red woman, this one styled in a more traditional format. Perhaps the Oni just didn't like Haikus? He unfolded the page and lifted it, reading the calligraphy by the light of the full moon.

I chanced upon you in the pool

The shimmering water a reflection of your beauty

Skin the color of fire and passion

Entranced me, like no one had before

I would weather the blows of your mighty cudgel

For just a moment of your company

That should do it. Surely she couldn't reject such a heartfelt confession? As well as the poem, he had been collecting wildflowers on his way up the stream. By the time he reached the sluice gate, he had accumulated a sizable bouquet, the varied colors and shapes of the petals standing out in the silver moonlight. He rounded the rock face where the small waterfall drained into the stream and began to climb the slope that led to the hidden pool.

All he had to do was place the letter and the flowers on the same boulder, and she would surely find them. Perhaps he could come up with another excuse to return during the day so that he might see her reaction?

He crouched in his usual hiding spot, peering between the trees and making sure that the clearing was deserted. All that he could hear were the cicadas and the rustling of the leaves in the wind, no heavy footsteps or creaking wood. The Oni didn't seem to be present, and why would she be? She hadn't been there the night before either, she only seemed to visit the pool during the day.

Satou emerged from the forest cautiously, the letter and the flowers clasped in his hands, making his way over towards the boulder. He placed the letter on top of it, then crouched, sifting through the wild grass to find a stone with which to secure it. He found one that was suitable and then drew a piece of string from his pocket, winding it around the stems of the flowers and tying them together in a bunch. Just as he was about to place the bouquet beside the letter, a booming voice shook his bones.

"Well, what do we have here?"

The voice was a deep contralto, gravelly and coarse, yet distinctly feminine. Satou winced, slowly turning around to see the Oni staring at him from the treeline. She had been hiding there, just as he had, the shadows of the forest and her camouflaged cloak concealing her from view. She stepped out into the clearing, her red skin shining under the moonlight, planting her cudgel into the soil with a thud that made the ground tremble. She rested her other hand on her wide hip as she stood before him, those yellow eyes peering down at him.

He realized that he was still holding the flowers, glancing down at them, then back up at the Oni. She seemed more suspicious than angry, cocking her head at him like a curious dog. She was even larger up close, almost twice his height. Even from a distance of ten or fifteen feet, he had to angle his head upwards to see her face.

"So you're the one who's been snooping around and leaving notes," she mused, Satou's cheeks turning almost as red as her skin. "I didn't know that your kind came this far up the mountain."

In one swift motion, she stepped forward, leaning down to scruff him like a kitten. She lifted him clear off the floor, his legs dangling as she held him by the collar, narrowing her eyes and examining him. He hung there, frozen solid through a combination of fear and shyness, the bouquet of flowers still clasped in his hands.

"Spying on me are you?" she asked as she watched him slowly rotate.

"N-No," he stammered, swallowing conspicuously. "Well...yes, but not on purpose!"

"What are you doing all the way up here, little one? Your place is down the mountain with the rest of your kind. You're a little far from home."

"I followed the stream up here, I wanted to see where it was fed from."

"And?"

"I came across the pool," he continued.

"And?" she repeated, more sternly this time.

"...and I saw you."

"So you like to hide in bushes and peek at women while they're taking a bath, is that it?" She opened her mouth and bared her pearly teeth. Her tusk-like incisors were almost as long as his finger. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't eat you up."

It was hard to tell whether she was joking or not, she seemed amused more than anything. Even as she was threatening to devour him, he couldn't stop gazing up at her. He was enraptured by her sharp features, the way that her golden eyes reflected the moonlight, the way that her puffy hair framed her red face. She noticed that he wasn't pleading for his life, cocking her head at him again.

"Are you not afraid of me?"

"Yes, I am afraid," he replied. As much as he wanted to flee back down the mountain, this was what he had dreamt of. He was finally close to her, he was talking to her. She wasn't just a distant, intangible figure that was perpetually out of his reach. His heart was pounding like a drum, and he didn't know if it was because of his fear, or because of his excitement.

"Do you know what I am?" she asked.

"Yes. You're an Oni."

"And that doesn't scare you? Have your people not told you stories about us?"

"I was told that Oni are...yokai, evil spirits who prey on travelers. Not to imply that you are evil, Miss, I don't yet know you. But you have threatened to eat me...which is consistent with what I was told..."

She seemed completely perplexed by his reaction, not knowing how to proceed, and so Satou seized the moment. He thrust the bouquet of flowers towards her, the Oni raising one of her white, fluffy eyebrows. There was a heavy thud as she let her massive cudgel fall to the ground, then she reached down to take them from his hand. Her red skin brushed his, and he noted that her fingers were nearly as thick as his wrist, her nails black and pointed like claws. She examined the flowers with a confused expression then turned her eyes back on Satou.

"What is this?"

"I picked them for you" he explained.

"Why?"

"Because...w-well," he muttered, struggling to get the words out now that he was face to face with her. "Didn't you read my poem?"

"I can't read your script," she said, "I don't know what those squiggles meant."

"Oh..."

He had assumed that she had read the Haiku that he had written for her, but perhaps she had just been confused by the symbols and that was why she had looked at it for so long. Having decided that he wasn't a threat, she set him back down on the ground, Satou straightening his clothes as she puzzled over the flowers. Did she really not know why a man would present a woman with such a token? Did Oni not court that way? Their customs might be entirely different to his own.

The red woman opened her mouth and moved the bouquet towards it, Satou waving his arms at her.

"No, no, it's not for eating!"

"Then what are they for?"

"For looking pretty, smelling nice..."

She paused, then her eyes turned to the boulder where the second letter that Satou had written for her was pinned beneath a stone.

"What's this?" she cooed, striding over to it and lifting the rock. Satou hurried after her, but before he could snatch it away, she had opened it and was holding it up to the light of the moon.

"It's nothing," he insisted rather unconvincingly. He hopped up to grab for it, but she held it far out of his reach, teasing him as she smirked down at him.

"Read it to me," she demanded, leaning down and handing the letter to him.

"W-What?"

"I can't read your writing, so read it aloud to me. It must have been something important if you traipsed all the way up here and risked being eaten by yokai to deliver it to me, right?" She planted a hand on her hip again, watching him squirm with a sardonic smile on her face, sniffing at the flowers experimentally as she waited. "Well? Get to it."

"I...uh..."

"Let me put it this way. If you came here to deliver an important message, then maybe I can forgive you for peeping at me. But you just came up here to ogle me, I might have to eat you up and pick my teeth with your bones."

Satou cleared his throat nervously, his face burning a shade of beet red as he scanned the page before him. He had expected her to read this herself, ideally with him watching from afar. This wasn't how love letters were supposed to work, they were for communicating what you couldn't say in person, that was the whole point! It didn't look like he had much of a choice, however.

"I...I chanced upon you in the pool, the shimmering water a reflection of...a reflection of your beauty..."

"Oh, I see where this is going," she said as her grin widened. "Looks like I got me a secret admirer. Go on then, read the rest of it."

"Skin the color of fire and...p-passion, entranced me, like no one had before. I would weather the blows of your mighty cudgel, for...just a moment of your company..."

He folded the letter and placed it in his pocket, wringing his hands as he chanced a glance up at the Oni. Satou had never been so embarrassed in his life, he felt like he might shrink down to the size of a tree frog and hop away. The red woman seemed pleased, but perhaps not for the reasons that he had intended, covering her mouth with her hand as she stifled a chuckle.

"Where have you come from, boy? You aren't a farmer or a hunter, your clothes are too fine. No peasant would spend his time writing poetry, that's if he could write at all..."

"I am Satou Hisatomo," he said, straightening as he announced himself. He was not accustomed to talking with women, but he had been trained extensively in formalities and social graces. "I am the heir to the Hisatomo shōen."

"Oh, is that right?" the Oni replied with a hint of sarcasm in her voice. "Well forgive my ignorance, my lord. I'd bow down, but I don't think that I can reach that low. So tell me, heir to the Hisatomo shōen, why are you trying to woo an Oni with fancy words?"

"Well, the things is..." Satou couldn't find the words. All he could do was stare up at her. She was so pretty, her mane of fluffy hair blowing gently in the breeze, her eyes shining like gold coins. Just the fact that he had to crane his neck to meet her gaze made him feel...odd, he couldn't pin it down.

"Come on boy, I don't have all night. Spit it out."

"I...I meant what I wrote. I think you're beautiful," he blurted out, his heart skipping as the words left his mouth. Now that the ball was rolling, the confessions just kept coming. He had already dug himself into a hole that he had no hope of climbing out of, why stop now? With any luck, she might appreciate his candor. "I haven't been able to stop thinking about you since the day that I stumbled upon you in the pool."

The Oni crouched down, putting herself at near head height to Satou and resting her hands on her knees. He took a step back, blushing again and turning his eyes down towards the grass as she inadvertently gave him a view of her boundless cleavage. Her mannerisms were so unladylike. She was boisterous and loud, there was none of the fragility and deference in her that he saw in other women. Her manners were poor, by all accounts she would make a terrible wife, so why did he feel such a burning desire to be around her?

"You're a funny one, aren't you?" she muttered as she examined him like he was some kind of strange insect that she had come across. "How old are you, boy?"

"I'm not a boy," he insisted, "I'm a man. My father says that I am soon to become the leader of my shōen."

"You're not like any man that I ever saw," she muttered, reaching out and tugging at the folds of his clothes as she examined them. "Oni men don't slink around in the shadows and leave people notes when they want a girl, they challenge them. They lock horns and make their intentions known."

"Well then...I'll challenge you!" Satou exclaimed, the Oni's full lips curling into a smirk again.

"Well you got spirit, boy, I'll give you that. But you lack the horns to take me on," she added with a chuckle. She reached out a finger and pressed it against his forehead, pushing him over so that he fell to the grass. He scrambled to his feet again, brushing himself off and glaring at her as she laughed at him. It wasn't cruel laughter, however, she wasn't mocking him. Her smile was warmer now, her snickering sympathetic. Perhaps she found him endearing?

"So what exactly is it that you want with me, little Samurai? If you thought that you could steal my heart with poetry, you might be disappointed. I don't think I'm your type."

"I...I don't know," he admitted, wringing his hands again as she watched him with a toothy grin. "I guess I didn't think this far ahead..."

"Don't you know any women your own size? There must be some down in your village."

"My father would never allow me to court one of the villagers," he replied, "my parents say that it is below my station."

"Well that doesn't sound like it's any fun," she said, "the people in your village can't court who they please? Why is that?"

"It's tradition," he explained, "it's always been that way. I'm supposed to wed a lady of my own class, the heiress of another shōen, but I don't like her."

"How come?" the Oni asked, "is she ugly?"

"It's not that. We just don't have anything in common. She's so fragile and meek, she won't even look me the eye. She's afraid of frogs."

The Oni laughed again, her booming voice startling him.

"But you like me, is that right?" He nodded, the red woman's amusement apparent. "I don't suppose that your parents would be too thrilled about you courting an Oni?" Satou shook his head. "So you're going against their wishes, sneaking off in secret to come see me? Defying the customs of your people?" Again he nodded, and she scratched her chin, considering. "Does that make me the first girl that you've ever taken a liking to?"

"I suppose so, yes," he replied sheepishly.

"So do the girls where you're from lift their skirts for poems and bundles of flowers?"

"Lift their skirts?" Satou repeated, not understanding the expression.

"Oh, you poor thing," she muttered with a shake of her horned head. She stood suddenly, crossing her arms as she looked down at him. "Alright little Satou, we can spend some time together."

His chest swelled, and his eyes brightened, the Oni smirking at him again.

"I'm not going to marry you," she clarified, "but you're rather funny, and I could use the company when I'm down in the forest. If you return tomorrow when the sun is at its highest, I will be here, but do not dawdle. I will not wait all day."

Tomorrow, during the day? Damn, that might be difficult, but he wasn't about to refuse her.

"I'll be here," he announced confidently, and she laughed behind her hand again.

"Then until we meet again, little Satou."

She retrieved her cudgel and slung it across her shoulder, making her way back towards the edge of the clearing and vanishing between the trees. Satou watched her leave, his elation making him feel giddy. He had done it! He had made contact with the strange woman, he had even spoken with her and made his feelings known. Now she wanted to see him again! It didn't seem like she was interested in him romantically, she seemed to think that he was cute more than anything, like a pet. But he had a chance to change her mind, and that was all that he could ask for.

He turned and headed back down the mountain, a spring in his step.

***

"Flowers?" his father asked as he examined the paddies, Satou walking along beside him as the sun beat down on them. The seedlings were taking to their new soil well it seemed, their stalks beginning to grow already.