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There is a human creature in their realm. With roaring thunder, he had crossed the threshold that kept their realm from the mundane. The ground had shaken for a second and tension in the air had risen.
He had not been the first human to cross the barrier by any means, but he certainly had been the most noticeable to do so. As if he wanted to announce his grand entrance.
What a diva, Aizawa thought.
He had not been the first human to cross the barrier, but he was by far the most to struggle with traversing their wetlands. Aizawa was unsure if it was clumsiness, or rather the big metal armor and the bulky build of the human being in the way. Regardless, he was stomping through the underbush like a boar, snapping plants in his way and slipping in the mud. The human was staring straight ahead, determination clear in his face.
He was rapidly nearing the patch of wetlands that held Aizawa’s home, so Aizawa kept a careful eye on him, while he decided on a course of action. What could a human like him even want here? Especially one that looked so ill-prepared for their realm?
Then he reached the little moss island that functioned as Aizawa’s front lawn - and Aizawa had made his decision. He hid in his house, held up by an ancient gnarly tree, hoping that the human would leave once he saw that no watcher was home.
But the human did not even slow down at the big stone with the rune engravings that clearly stated his business hours. He stomped right past it. When he reached the edge of the moss island, where batches of bamboo parted to give a clear view of the pond behind, he slowed down for the first time.
Aizawa, not wanting to lose sight of him, did his best to follow him silently, hidden between the greenery. He could not deny that he was curious. And he was also ready to jump into action at any moment if he came too close to stomping any of the more fragile herbs he grew around here.
At first, he had thought the human had been just staring straight ahead while walking, but now trailing behind the human, he understood what the human had been focusing on: the Grand Mountain behind their wetlands. With the big and ancient beasts that lived there the mountain surely was a much more fitting destination for a human like this. It would be a wonder if he managed to return from this, Aizawa thought. The ancient beast did not take well to human-kind visitors, and rumor had it that one of them had an egg.
The dock at their moss island was currently empty, as Aizawa had dragged the rowing boat into the backyard for repairs earlier. He still wondered how the human thought of crossing the water, when he heard a deep sigh and a splash as the human jumped right into the deep green. He made surprisingly good progress swimming between all the lily pads, considering all the metal that was probably weighing him down. Soon enough, he had crossed at least half of the way, then he was getting small enough that Aizawa lost sight of him for a short moment. Spotting him got increasingly harder when he reached the low fog rolling down the grand mountain.
After all of that Aizawa decided that he probably should forget about that strange human. He was unlikely to survive the day anyway.
And there was still much to do for Aizawa before he could call it a day - like the mentioned boat that still needed its repair finished. There was still a freshly harvested batch of cucumber waiting to be delivered to the neighboring Kappas and the plums were nearing their ripeness as well. With a sigh, he got back to work.
Aizawa was rarely someone who woke with the sunrise, but the next day he was already out and about at that time, as there was a group of tree spirits that needed guidance over the wetlands to the deep woods at the foot of the Grand Mountain. Morning drew was still hanging over everything as he invited the faint travelers onto his freshly repaired boat. He rowed them through the bog with practiced ease and over the pond, absentmindedly trying to find the spot where that human had disappeared yesterday. But when they arrived at the shore on the other side, he unloaded his guests and made his way back, already thinking of the work of the day that awaited him.
He had almost forgotten about that man when the sun set again.
He was sitting on the porch of his tree house, enjoying a late dinner and a glass of plum wine, when soft laughter and ripples in the water broke the tranquility of the evening sun over the lake.
The human creature was rowing over the water with ease, even if he was sitting on a bulky tree log, using a bundle of branches as a paddle. With him on the tree log, another human, a woman wearing a long frilly dress and a glittering headpiece and long blonde hair. Aizawa was not sure if the similar cut of their face was due to them being related or to just them being human, it’s been a while since he saw a wider selection of them. But they really did look alike in his humble opinion, it was fascinating.
The man helped the other human onto the shore, once they had reached Aizawa’s side, and she softly laughed about something he said again. Aizawa was more curious to know what it was than he would be willing to admit. Her outfit was clearly not made for navigating wetlands, but the man seemed to know when to offer his help.
Aizawa wondered if they had met the ancient beast in the mountain, and wondered if the man had rushed here to save her. It would make sense, considering his head-first dive into the lake. But it was also surprising that he had survived, that they both had and barely a hair looked out of place. Was the human that powerful or was the beast in hibernation already? Was it time for Aizawa to check on the old thing?
He watched the two stumbling over the mossy ground with suspicion, but he did not make himself known. They were moving towards the direction from where the human had appeared last time. Fortunately for him and his herb beets, they seemed to want to leave anyway. But then they were gone and Aizawa had already just filed the appearance way under strange, but ultimately harmless disruptives, nothing more.
Days passed, then weeks. There was a blue crane that Aizawa sheltered as she watched over her first lay of eggs and soon enough there suddenly were crane chicks romping around his front yard. Time to send them off and to help find them a home of their own.
The summer was slowly moving towards its end and that meant many creatures migrating from one part of the realm to another, Aizawa was kept busy guiding them over the wetlands whenever they needed. This was why he was here after all, as he was the Watcher of that area.
And then it was the night of the next full moon. On these nights the wetlands were particularly active and it was for the best that Aizawa bit into the ginger and did a night shift, guarding over the creatures around him.
It was during the late hours of the night that Aizawa heard it again, that thunder of the human entering their realm.
Annoyance bubbled up inside him, how did this human dare to disturb them during such a sensitive time!
With a sigh, Aizawa decided to intercept him, before he would do something as foolish as jumping into the lake again. He wrapped his green vine coat tighter around his shoulder and pushed his bamboo hat deeper down, before he started to move.
“Hello! Hello! Is anyone here?” The human called out into the night, making it easy for Aizawa to find him.
Aizawa decided to not show himself directly to him though, rather he watched him, once again hidden in thick bamboo.
The human carried a crate of some sort. He was once again clad in leather and metal, which made loud enough noises that Aizawa only noticed a second later that there were also coming sounds from the crate he carried.
A small, pathetic whine escaped from the crate, and Aizawa tensed, ready to get to action. Then there was a second one and he no longer had it in him to hide himself, he stepped onto the path, right in front of the human.
“Halt!” Aizawa said, mustering his best shot at a voice of authority over this path of land, even if he was more likely just the caretaker. “You are not welcome here, human!”
To his credit, the human showed little reaction to him stepping out of the bush. “Hello, good evening, good sir! I hope we are not disturbing you at the late time!”
“You are, very much so,” Aizawa said, impatient, throwing him a stare from under his hat. “Why are you here?”
“Very well, I am deeply sorry for that! And I, Toshinori Yagi, will do my utmost to make it right again, this is a promise! But now, I fear I will need your help, stranger. We found these little ones right outside our gates, no mother in sight, even after two nights of waiting. I worry that these belong to here and not our sphere - would you know anything about that?”
“Show me,” Aizawa said and stepped closer.
Inside the crate were three kittens, tiny, and probably thinner than they should be. And they were easily recognizable with their two tails - in front of him were Nekomata kittens.
“What did you say, where did you find them? It’s unusual to see them so far away from the woods at the foot of the mountain.”
“Right outside our village gates. What’s your name, good sir?
“Call me Aizawa - I can take it from here. My hut is nearby.”
“Let me do the favor of carrying them to the hut at least then, dear Aizawa-san!”
“Whatever, follow me, don’t stray off the path.”
To his credit, the human did much better traversing the path than he did the first time, there was only minimal mud-sliding and plant damage. Unfortunately, the human seemed to have the need to fill the silence between them with endless questions.
“So, Aizawa-san, you are living out here on your own?”
“Yes.”
“Doesn’t that get lonely?”
“Not really, too much to do.”
“What is it that you do out here?”
“Watching out for the wetlands, taking care of it,” Aizawa temporarily stopped to turn around to Toshinori. “Making sure no little humans are getting lost here.” He knew his eyes lit up when he said it, showing the human a little bit of Aizawa’s own inhumanness.
He saw the human already opening his mouth for the next question, but he intercepted it right before it, trying to avoid more questions.
“We are here,” he said and pointed upwards, at his hut in the tree, ending their conversation.
As soon as Aizawa took the crate from the human, it was easier to ask him to leave.
However, it was not without Toshinori announcing that he would be coming back soon to see how the kittens were fairing.
From then on, Toshinori would occasionally stop by, sometimes just to see the kittens, sometimes to ask Aizawa for advice. Aizawa felt strangely flattered by Toshinori’s amazement at his knowledge of the creatures and critters around here.
Like this Aizawa started to learn a lot about Toshinori’s village. The woman he had seen the first time with him was his cousin and the village leader's daughter. Toshinori, part of the wider leader’s family, was not directly involved in the village politics, but still expected to be above most common jobs, so he had taken it on himself to help the villagers where he could and protect them if needed.
One of the next times Aizawa saw the human was when Aizawa found him pacing back and forth in front of the big stone that announced Aizawa’s business hours. He looked a lot more grim than the last few times he had seen the human.
“Good morning,” Aizawa carefully said, still a tad bit unsure how much of the human’s presence he appreciated having around.
“What’s your knowledge on antidotes against poison?” Toshinori said in lieu of an answer.
Aizawa frowned. “What kind of poison is it? What happened?” The wetlands were home to many poisonous plants, and just as many antidotes to them.
“My dear cousin’s son and his maid must have eaten something wrong when they went out for mushrooms and berries, now they are both awfully sick. Our doctor has given a grim prognosis for the boy.”
Aizawa held back the remark that this was such a typical mistake for a human. Toshinori probably would not appreciate him ranting about how the humans tended to put themselves too much above nature around them, not paying enough attention or never learning to see what was really there.
Instead, he took another look at the worried Toshinori and made him follow him to the tree of his hut, where he sat the human down with a cup of tea to wait, while Aizawa got to work.
Aizawa saw Toshinori a few more times after that, as he started to drop by even more frequently without apparent reason to do so. Or when he had reasons it was something mundane like him offering Aizawa a loaf of bread or claiming he wanted to pick some marigolds from Aizawa’s garden to give to one of the grannies in their kitchen who had it bad in her knees.
They fell into a rhythm like that, together. Aizawa would take care of whatever the wetlands threw at him and when the sun sat low on the horizon, Toshinori would drop by.
Aizawa started offering him a drink from time to time, from his self-made plum wine. They started chatting about all the ongoings and intrigue at the castle and village Toshinori hailed from, or Aizawa told him about creatures that lived on this side of the barrier.
The Nekomata kittens had taken an extra liking to Toshinori, always swarming around him whenever he would sit with Aizawa on the porch.
At some point during these visits, Aizawa had to begrudgingly admit that he really did not mind those visits all that much - he rather looked forward to them even. But this also started to raise some questions for him, like, what did Toshinori see in him, and how much was it all just friendliness and friendship and could there even be something more? Aizawa himself always had a little trouble with casual acquaintanceships.
On one of these evenings, when the setting sun reflected in Toshinori’s shiny eyes and his whole face seemed to glow, as he told another anecdote with his usual gusto, Aizawa felt thoroughly floored by the realization that he would like there to be more. Never before had he even considered something like that for him. He almost did not hear what Toshinori said, as he had to internally debate the sudden urge to reach out to Toshinori’s hand, which was lying right there next to him. His own fingers itched for it, but he was unsure if he should, unsure if he could ruin the thing they had going on, unsure what the usual procedure for something like this among humans was.
But then Toshinori was already raising the hand in question to gesture and to underline the things he was talking about and the little moment was gone for the moment. That did not mean Aizawa kept away from thinking about it.
After nights of tossing and turning, Aizawa decided to go on about this newfound revelation like a true creature of this realm and decided against trying to imitate the humans. And so, he prepared his home, cleaning from top to bottom, he started to plan and then to prepare little snacks to offer when Toshinori would visit next. All that he hoped for was that Toshinori would understand the gesture of courting for what it was.
That evening he felt silly for feeling nervous about it, in the grand scheme nothing had changed from the previous weeks - and still, it suddenly felt like everything was different.
One of the kittens was curled up in his lap, and complained at him every time his hand stopped petting her. But he still kept stopping, as his mind was drifting elsewhere, wondering about Toshinori.
He was so nervous, he had even put up his hair, but now that he was waiting was already starting to feel silly about doing so.
He was still waiting for a sigh of Toshinori when the sun was setting in a deep red. And when there was just the blue afterglow left. Toshinori did not show up.
And not the day after it.
Or the one after that.
And on the fourth day of waiting, he huffed in frustration and returned inside his tree-house without waiting for Toshinori to show up before the setting sun even had turned the sky red. He had better things to do than to sit around waiting for someone who did not show up.
That evening he ‘sampled’ himself through a whole new batch of plum wine, and decided he would not waste any more time waiting.
A few days passed, then it was a week. One morning, when the dew still hung low, he saw one of the ancient beasts flying through the sky around the Grand Mountain, a miniature version of itself trailing behind it. Aizawa was strangely glad to see it up and well, even when it usually had such a foul mood. At least one of them seemed to have made progress in their personal life.
That evening he sat on the porch again, not preparing anything for an evening of two, not expecting anyone to show up. Toshinori was a human of a human realm and he probably would be better off finding a human mate - maybe he already had. And he would just stay here, watching over this little patch of moss and plants and creatures, just like he always had, until he would become one with it again.
His moping was interrupted by one of the Nekomata kittens yelling at him, with an urgency that made him halt and look up. She was standing at the foot of his tree. Aizawa knew it would be easy for her to climb up on the gnarly tree that held his home, so she probably wanted him to come down. With a deep sigh, he got up and climbed down the little spiral stairs going around the tree.
“What?” he gruffed at her.
She turned away from the house, but looked at him with intelligent, meaningful eyes. She wanted him to follow her. And so he did.
He followed her through the thick bamboo underbush and the little patch of forest behind it, overgrown with fern and plants that preferred a little less humidity in the earth than in his wetlands.
He slowed a little when they neared the gate between the realms, there was a sudden hesitation as he thought about what would happen if Toshinori would appear here right before him just in that moment.
But the kitten walked past the gate, both of her tails flicking with impatience, and Aizawa shook his head. He should stop being foolish like that, there was work to be done. He should forget about his visitor, Toshinori probably had moved on already anyway.
The daylight was fading rapidly and Aizawa regretted not bringing a lamp with him. There was a little change in greenery around them, gnarly trees were replaced by birch and fern by wildflowers, dew already setting on them for the night. Close to the flowers, a few fireflies were dancing around the air, but not enough of them to shed much light.
Between the pale birch trees were cobwebs that got increasingly thicker. Foreboding settled in his guts, the tarantulas were probably in nesting season - usually, he did his best to avoid them at that time. The white silk of the nets seemed to almost glow in the dark, in the moonshine that slowly replaced the setting sun.
The kitten urged him on when he slowed down when he tried to avoid damaging any of the webs, when something on the ground caught his eye. An old trace that must have come from something far heavier than any of these oversized tarantulas. Now that he was looking, he saw more and more of them, a trail leading deeper between the webs. There was something strange about them though, they did not look like footsteps at all, probably why he had missed them at first. No, it looked like something had been dragged along here. He intently hoped he was not just following some poor creature that was on the menu as dinner for the tarantulas.
When he slowly was getting unsure if he was still on the right track, unsure if he could find his way out again, the kitten yelled again at him. At least she seemed to know her way around her. This did make him wonder though just how far these little rascals were wandering from his hut. Not that he could do anything against it, unfortunately. Nekomata were well known for being thick-headed and likely to wander.
It was when even he, Aizawa, Watcher of the Wetlands and local cryptid, started to feel the unnatural stillness creeping under his skin and when he started to consider turning around again despite still not knowing what the kitten wanted to show him, that he saw it. Or rather him. It was hard to mistake him, with the metal shining despite the light being so dim.
In front of him, caught in one of the biggest nets he had seen so far, was Toshinori.
And any grudge that Aizawa had built up over the time since Toshinori had last visited, was instantly shoved aside in favor of an instant need to help him. The human had been pinned, woven to the net with each limb individually, probably a smart move on the tarantulas part - Aizawa had only seen glimpses of the strength that human held, but even that had more than impressed him. If Aizawa would guess, it was probably the poison of the tarantulas that kept Toshinori in place and sedated.
The kitten stopped in front of Toshinori, hissing at the webs.
“You did well,” Aizawa said to her, running a hand over the soft fur on her head.
Then he got to work. Fortunately, he knew how to handle the sticky strings without getting entangled as well, as he often helped other creatures and critters out of them. What worried him was the pale pallor that had taken hold of Toshinori’s face, were humans that sensitive to poisons like that?
He thought back to one of Toshinori’s earlier visits, when he had asked for that antidote. They probably really were that weak to it. He should hurry then. Even if he knew how to handle cobwebs, it was still tough work. Toshinori did not twitch once through it all, Aizawa tried to hurry even more.
Once Toshinori was freed, Aizawa took all the strength he held and hefted the human, up as much as he could and began to retrace his way. He would have liked to do nothing more than just throw the other over his shoulder and run back as quickly as possible, but alas, Toshinori was just too huge for him to do so. Aizawa was no adventurer like the human was, he was a mere caretaker.
Before meeting this particular human, his human, he would not have considered going such lengths for one - more often than not their species was loud, obnoxious and ignorant towards the world around them. But he knew he could not leave this one to the fate of the forest. Aizawa had made his home for this human, he was, even after the weeks of silence, not ready to fully give up this thing between them now.
With all the strength he had, he somehow managed to get both of them into his hut. Sure, he would have preferred much different circumstances for inviting Toshinori inside, but it was what it was.
After trying to get the still unconscious Toshinori as comfortable as possible, bedding him on everything soft that he had, Aizawa tried to clean them both off as many cobwebs as possible.
When Toshinori still had not made any movements aside from his shallow breathing, Aizawa started to work on a stew that was known to help against tarantula poisons. At least if Toshinori was not given it too late. Aizawa forbade himself to think about the alternatives.
He had just finished peeling all the different kinds of roots and added them to the simmering pot, when he finally heard some rustling behind him.
“Aizawa?”
“You are awake,” Aizawa said, relieved, stepping back to the pile of pillows he had put Toshinori on.
The human squinted at the ceiling. “Where am I?”
“In my hut. We found you out in the woods, tangled in some tarantula web. What were you doing out there?”
“I…,” Toshinori hesitated, and Aizawa suddenly was worried he might be sick, might have a fever, as his face turned red. “I wanted to pick flowers.”
Aizawa huffed. “Flowers? Out there? Aren’t there plenty around your human village?”
“Flowers for you, to apologize.”
“Oh,” he blinked. “Why?”
Toshinori seemed to avoid his eyes, while one of the kittens had made home in his lap, which he was petting absentmindedly. “Ah well, to apologize. For suddenly not visiting anymore. There was some village feast that kept me far more busy than anticipated and a boar stampede just before that, and suddenly a lot more time had passed than I would have liked.”
“You know that you have no duty to these kittens, or to me, right? If the village needs you, then you should be there,” Aizawa said. He knew his voice was grumbly again, but inside his heart soared at the admittance in Toshinori’s words.
“But I would like to have some duty here, if you will have me. I would like to take care of some things here as well, if you are willing to teach. Most of all, I would have hoped to, ahm, spend more time with you, just with you, just because I like you.”
Aizawa felt like the breath was knocked out of him, when he stared at the other pillows in his cushions and blankets, in his own home, his own nest, saying such things, to him of all creatures.
“Yes, I would like that as well,” he said, feelings making it around to get the words across.
“Join me?” Toshinori asked, lifting the blanket.
Aizawa could only nod, as he felt a rare smile blooming on his face. Suddenly Toshinori got a hold of Aizawa’s hand and yanked him forward, until he was falling into the soft bed of moss right next to his human.
Maybe this one was not so bad. The kitten purring to his side seemed to agree.