Chapter Text
That was my last use of that power.
I breathed but it hurts.
I am...being overridden by blades.
My senses are gone.
I can only breathe.
But no matter how I tried, my mind didn't stay intact.
My one last job to destroy the Greater Grail.
One last Trace...and its over.
I lose myself more and more...
I know I would when I removed the seal on my arm to do it.
The weight of a Heroic Spirit even if its Me, a Someday Me is too much for this Me.
His existence smothered mine.
Everything about myself gone.
I know I am dead, smothered by his experiences, before this body gives in.
...
...
Huh?
I feel warm...
I see light...
It embraced me.
It felt kind. Gentle as it washed away my suffering.
The light healed my soul at the expense of losing that Reality Marble and that massive Arsenal.
Existence rewritten...my soul became capable of this new power.
Then it gets weirder.
Why am I seeing flashes of a girl's memories in a village?
Yamato Empire?
Byakurenji Village?
Culture of some alternate world of alternate Taisho Era?
At any rate, I got enough information that I can successfully pass as her.
But considering how she came to the edge of the barrier...she was set up to die by this other girl.
After all, she was the bride candidate to the waka-sama of the clan. Many would kill to be in her shoes. Literally.
And considering my new body was 'touched' before I awoke here, her fate and treatment is inevitable.
I didn't sign up for THAT.
I'll survive in my own way.
And I will live for this kid. She died...and I took over and got all she has. Poor kid...may you be born to a better family with no scheming relatives in next life. You deserve better. Your trust was exploited and you got killed so she could take what was rightfully yours.
But hey, sins come to roost.
Can she do what you can? Unlikely.
A pair of eyes opened, and conjuring a solid light construct with the silhouette of Kanshou and Bakuya, 'Byakurenji Nanao' lunged at the group of Shoujou and killed them all with contemptible ease.
"Hmph, you're years too early to try to eat me!" she thought in disdain, glancing at the corpses in a detached manner. "Nooow I have to adapt. I am now Nanao...but I can pass off as amnesiac maybe while I do my own thing? Yeah. Better.
Besides, this world needs someone like her now.
The two Emiyas were rewritten, and merged into what this one deems a favorable way as he knew both have...issues that will be detrimental to their new situation. And they were cleansed of exposure to Angra Mainyu's corruption as well as corruption of their own power, and healed everything.
She never felt so light. So warm. So...alive.
She did worry for what became of those sisters. "They'll be alright I think...they have each other and free of Zouken. They'll be alright."
Convinced with that, 'Nanao' decided to live in the woods from that point on. Making a living off of game, eggs, and edible flora she finds.
Leaving behind worried parents, a worried fiancee.
Days passed...that despite searches, Nanao was never found.
Byakurenji Akemi got what she wanted, but her mother-in-law made things clear.
'You're the last option even if your power wasn't as powerful and potent as Nanao's, but she's gone now. You'd better make up for this with competence!'
"Excuse you? I'm way better than that gullible moron! I'm smarter than she is!" Akemi glared at her hatefully as her mother-in-law left her in a huff.
Her now fiancee was also despondent, blaming himself.
Nanao was looking for the hairpin he gave her that she treasured. It vanished from her room with Nanao reportedly telling her parents tearfully, 'I just put it in my dresser! Then it's gone!' That was what her parents knew that they dreaded, 'What if she went beyond just for it?! Incorrigible child, a hairpin can be replaced anytime but not one's life and purity! My Nanao!!' Nanao's father wailed in heartbreak that he fell ill from it. And his hatred for hairpins extended to what his wife has that he can't stand the sight of it that to quell his grief, she uses ribbons instead.
Reito was blaming himself and reluctantly accepted Akemi as fiancee who is now subject to Bridal Training befitting a clan madam before the wedding in three years.
However, karma came a tad too quickly. But that's a tale for another time.
The forest has been Nanao's world.
Green.
How it should look without human interference originally.
Air is permanently petrichor whether rain or shine. Snow and slush made it smell differently though.
Clothes? No worries. She steals from the Tengus she kills. And modifies it to size.
Besides, she needed change only once. Youkai clothing is sturdy and never degrades! How niiice...not to mention weather-proof. She's warm and insulated, and with youkai clothing, she was mistaken as one and left alone for the most part. The annoying part was underwear. She has no means to sew one for herself and in this Taisho-ish culture, girls go commando! She has...no choice. Yeesh...all she could do, was cut and wrap.
That she has the weird, custom version of Dark Rukia's outfit in that one Bleach Movie now, minus the red cape and the neckpiece. She herself did NOT live to see the movie that aired at 2008 as she died in 2004. Archer saw that movie, so not fair!
She could hunt and condition her body in peace.
Periods are annoying though. Thankfully Tengu Clothes don't stain. Rather the material eats her blood and becomes better in quality! WTF?
...whatever, as long as her current outfit stays useful. Her feet are safe, but fabric isn't exactly complete protection from uneven ground, soil and other textures of the forest floor...Reinforcement became her best friend for her poor feet. She can't wear tengu sandals, too big and too wide!
Haircut? Nah, no need. A strip of cloth for a ponytail is good.
But still, no-poo and no-comb got her hair matted.
She lets it grow so she can cut the matted parts off.
The forest became her home despite no roof over her head.
She doesn't mind.
She sought comfort in this peace, after traumatized with Archer's horrid memories. He tried to be a Hero of Justice as their foster father wanted for himself but failed and got betrayed for it leading to his execution. Why? After all he did for you?
Horrible.
She felt sorry for her adult self that she swore to live in peace.
Maybe someday, they'll return to civilization. Someday.
One day, she came to a road maintained by spells.
"My clothes are tengu clothing, I better wrap myself in my reiki." she did so and she can safely get in without detection.
She headed west to get to the coast for more food. And access to salt.
Besides, walk by the coastline, you'll eventually see a beach town!
That's the rule...right?
Her journey led her to the city.
Took her months. She reinforces her body's ability to shed off 'old cells' to make room for new healthier, stronger cells. It was also how she keeps melanin away from her to stay fair-skinned.
She was so excited that she forgot to wrap herself and she wound up triggering the alarms for the barrier...so she hid into the city further. "I'm a dumbass! I forgooot! Anyhow I better find food, a comb, and a house to shower in with soap and shampoo after several years!!"
She sought a rich home, for that much-wanted bath~~
...unknown to her, she was followed, and the mansion surrounded...
The onmyouji were stealthily getting to upstairs and found her clothes haphazardly sprawled on the floor and heard the shower running.
'Isn't this youkai clothing?'
'This is Tengu presence...but those guys are usually neat, this is a bunch of rags even if it stayed pristine white!'
'Let's see if the inside is a Tengu who's just here for a shower...how'd they get past the Gogyo Barrier?!' and when they burst in, the one showering is clearly a beautiful, fair-skinned human girl with horrible matted hair and a scarred body, she was waging war on her shampooed hair with a comb...and she saw them...
Cue scream, and everything she can reach thrown at their faces that they caught.
'Whoa miss! We'd let you finish but that hair is a lost cause! And you're coming with us after a shower!' the men left, red-faced.
'OK, that's human! Human girl!'
'Human girl wearing tengu rags by the way! Did she escape them?'
'Ooh, a magnolia flower gold hairpin!'
'That's hers moron, don't touch!'
'We better inform the Bureau we got a case here!'
"Great, soldiers found me somehow, but they know about my clothes." Nanao thought as she decided to cut off her hair than let shampoo stay on her head for longer and get dandruff in the process.
She could also use a toothbrush at last! And toothpaste!
She later came out in fluffy towel, and angrily gestured at them to get out! Years of being alone was a struggle to put words out, even if she retained language...
After some decency, the boys had to mime what they wanted. They will take her somewhere and she got shackled on the wrists. Which clearly will not work on her. "I can escape later. Breaking and entering will get me a few days..."
'She really did a number in that outfit, she must have high spiritual power to rip youkai clothing to make it work for her like that.'
'Well, most of those assholes are men. They kidnap women to reproduce you know! And their sizes are a tad too big, so some tearing for fitting is inevitable. She even used rags and strips for footwear.'
'She did well to survive and escape though...she managed to outrun them somehow and keep them off her back by wearing it!'
'Ah, she cut her hair...prolly a lost cause...horrible haircut though.'
'Who knows how long she's been with them, she needs rehabilitation to be recivilized...'
Onmyouryo...
Panic ensued when a powerful presence got inside the barrier that the director mobilized their strongest.
Only to get a weird report three hours later. The 'youkai' wasn't a youkai at all.
It was instead, a wild young miss with horrible matted hair and scars on her body wearing modified tengu clothing but with no access to scissors, it looks like rags bundled together somehow. She could not talk that it was 'gesture language' because she'd vocalize otherwise like an animal.
They wondered how long was she out there, and escaped somehow on her own while forgetting she was once human due to how she behaves, forgot how to talk but remembers scant few memories like how to use the bathroom. And because she wore Tengu Clothes, she evaded notice and capture just by being 'the same' just for wearing the clothes, and due to what they are, avoided other species that she looked very healthy, but scarred and sported arm and leg muscles. Just not enough to ruin her beauty.
She must have done a lot in the forest to develop strong limbs. Thankfully she's still pure as she showed no signs of forced pregnancy. But she has an X mark on her forehead. It was a supernatural brand.
But to modify youkai fabric with just bare hands, and barge into the Gogyo Barrier wearing said fabric is a testament to how powerful she is, spirit-wise.
Normally, people on the run do NOT look healthy. They'd be haggard and skinny without much access to food and sleep while fearing for one's life. But she was healthy and fair-skinned, if not scarred with battle scars on her body while avoiding scars on her face, a woman's asset.
She managed to hide from them so long, and only got caught because she really wanted a bath. Her hair was awfully-matted she was seen waging war with her own hair when they barged in. She chose a noble family's house to bathe in! She managed to sneak past domestic staff, and into the private family baths. Then there's the question---how the heck did she get past high walls and high gates?!
The only possession she had, was a magnolia gold hairpin which will need looking into for her memories of who she is, so they confiscated it. In the end, she ultimately cut her hair but 'it's tragic and needed some skillful trimming'.
To sum it up, the girl was a victim of circumstances who just wanted safety by all means necessary and the basic need to bathe. And needed rehabilitation to reintegrate back into society. But she showed she was smart. Intelligence and smartness are two different things. She wouldn't survive out there for years otherwise.
Benitsubaki Yaichiro, Director of Onmyouryo had no idea what to say to that.
But he got the right people ready for this tragic survivor miss. Well, who's already in the Bureau, that is.
The group arrived and sure enough, she got ogled at that got her growling and hissing, thus cue reassurances from the guys with her.
'Now now, she's not someone to ogle at, go back to your jobs!' Yaichiro scolded. 'Once we get enough information about our mystery miss, we will all get answers! Now shoo!' the rank and file scattered nervously, but not the captains and vice-captains present at the bureau.
Nanao appreciated this.
She was taken by an older woman in white. She seems nice.
'So this is the hairpin.' Yaichiro commented, acquiring the hairpin from his son Yako, Captain of 1st Division.
'With a tsukumogami, we'd know all about her with that thing.' said Yako. 'It's a start. It's what she has in her possesion other than clothes, and two pieces of thick branches saturated with her power which she probably used for self-defense. It's surrendered to the Research Bureau now.'
'Let's see what's going on. I can't wait to find out if she's neutral, good or bad for everyone's safety.' said Kikuoji Issei, Captain of 6th Division.
Thus they all had a look see in a room suited for the job with the aid of a shikigami with the power.
It showed memories of being in a stall.
Purchased by a guy they know in a prominent store in the capital. 'Isn't that Byakurenji Reito?!'
'Shush!'
/Nanao will love this for sure./ they heard him say fondly.
Reito brought it home and gave it...to the girl they just rescued. She was young at the time and she was doted on by him because she was his young fiancee. They now have a name to her. Nanao. She was a sweet, bright cheerful girl and had the approval of the Main House to marry the clan heir for her lineage and immense powers. She was also diligent in her bridal training, wanting to see her fiancee happy by supporting him in his clan work and Reito clearly cares for her. It was a rare happy arrangement and unopposed in the clan because in the Byakurenji Clan, spiritual lineage and purity is everything because it in turn, affects the strength of children that age-gap marriages are NORMAL.
And Nanao was basically bridal jackpot in looks, character, diligence and dedication in her studies under her future mother-in-law who dotes on her because she was a determined hard worker. And she's now a lovely young woman in spite of her poor hair and scars.
She's admirable, that they all agreed to and Reito hit the jackpot that got other men his age pouting while watching the memories of the hairpin. It was from the item's point of view.
Nanao clearly treasured the hairpin and wears it daily so they had a glimpse of her life upon having it.
However, six months later, when Nanao put the hairpin away for a bath, hours later a blonde girl they know as her cousin Akemi opened that very drawer with a malicious look on her face, took the hairpin and threw it past the barrier.
/I heard there's Orangutan outside./ she chuckled darkly. /If you're out of my way, I'm gonna be the Lady of the house and not some idiot like you! They'll have no choice but to choose me! Hahahaha!/ and she laughed coldly, leaving.
'...I see where this is going...' said Suitengu Sara darkly. She is the captain of the 5th Division.
'Yeah...so do we.' said Midorikawa Rentarou just as darkly. He is the captain of the 2nd Division.
Sure enough, that girl set Nanao up...leading to her fate in being caught by Orangutans!
'That's the same as premeditated murder!' Kurimiya Tatsuo, Rentarou's Liaison howled in anger, slamming a palm on the table as Nanao screamed for help while struggling for freedom over the grip on her, but the other girl gave a cruel smile and not doing anything. 'She can't get away with this!' he pointed angrily at the image. The other officers were just as gloomy at how Nanao ended up in the wild.
'We know. We will come over to prosecute her and arrest her personally in Byakurenji Village.' Yaichiro coldly stated.
Nanao fell unconscious at some point while being taken away, probably from fright or unable to breathe from the grip, nobody was sure. The hairpin on her robe watched as she was taken further into the woods.
But one moment, a flash of power emanated from her that five orangutans were...gone into X marks on the ground. But where's the fifth? There should be five X marks! But the report says there's a mark on her forehead...so that's where the fifth is? In her? The one holding her vanished too and she fell on the forest floor in a heap, the hairpin shaken loose off her and fell beside her.
The orangutans were terrified of her now as she woke up and staggeringly stood up, forcing herself to as the Orangutan scooted backward in horror. They behaved like SHE was the monster!
'So she awoke to a wonderful gift at her time of need. Her Jujutsu is Great Sealing if she can seal Orangutans.' Kokujo Himiko, elderly Captain of 3rd Division remarked in a pained voice. But next thing the girl did, she moved so fast and tore them apart one by one with bare hands, a testament to her spiritual power that she really can pull it off even with her delicate arms and dainty hands...with a detached, broken look on her face. She was silent the whole time that nobody knew what was in her mind then. She then noticed the hairpin that fell and picked it up and looked at it curiously as if not recognizing it anymore.
'Uhhh...memory issues now?' Kokujo Natsuhiko wondered. He is the Vice-Captain to his elderly grandmother beside him.
'Brain damage by oxygen deprivation does happen.' said Rentaro darkly. 'That's why losing blood and air is very very bad for health. It's a long road for recovery for her, or it's Trauma Repression because she was betrayed by someone she trusted. One of those or both.' he speculated cynically. 'Now she clearly has amnesia. She didn't retrace the steps to go home.'
'Poor girl...'
Then weeks...to months...to years of surviving on her own and fighting by herself. Effectively becoming wild and developed a wild, brawling way of fighting that was also calculated guerilla-like, before eventually picking up her choice arms of two branches with a suicidal-style of fighting with many openings that got the swordsmen in utter aghast but luckily she was very quick to avoid fatalities. She definitely has experience fighting youkai now and even fought against Tengu, killing them for clothing but she took just the haori as her main outfit, and everything else used as footwrap to cover her feet and warm up her legs as she could not walk with their geta, finding it hard to do so. She has the abilities of Captains just by fighting, and no special tricks at all.
She ate fruit, mushrooms, edible plants...she could make fire by rubbing wood and cook meat by killing prey...that are savagely torn apart and stuck on wooden sticks, as she had no access to tools. So meat cooking times...varies!
'Good grief, the poor meat...' Issei sweatdropped. 'Reiji's gonna be sad he missed seeing this. This is an adventure on its own.'
'Well he's assigned to hostile lands while we're here to keep idiot nobles alive...' Yako sighed. 'I'd prefer his job than deal with that obnoxious lot, its not fair.'
'Well, you need blood every after fight so you can't.' Issei reminded Yako much to his moping.
'...at any rate, she needs refined instruction once we humanize her again somehow...' Yako was utterly pained with her fighting style. 'If I was that stupid at home with swords, dad will tear into me!'
'I definitely will as our job is no joke.' said his boss-father dryly. 'I prefer my kids alive.'
Then she came to the beach and she delighted in it with child-like nature, playing for weeks, and eating seafood...raw...sure sashimi is a thing, but the way she did it is a little...caveman-ish as she plucks clams and mussels present, plentiful by the coast. And she ate spiky round things known to be poisonous by bashing them open and slurped up the yellow mushy stuff inside and liked it a lot. Is it good? But she should have checked for poison ah?! At least she didn't eat starfish...or dismissed it simply because it hasn't much meat?
Well, what she ate is not poisonous. She was never sick afterwards. Maybe she has a way of telling?
She swims in the ocean with eyes open even though its water is salty...the world underwater is lovely that got the sensitive ones looking in admiration. But she could not swim past six feet deep, afraid of going deeper and retreats to the shore.
Then she retreats to the forest to bathe in river water, followed the coast, and had a routine of playing, hunting, rinsing. And waging war with her hair, grumbling and snarling. They sweatdropped as she threw a snarling tantrum over it after clearly giving up on a lost and just roughly yanked the bad bits apart and irritably threw away the tangles. She's utterly a mess!
'...she has no comb for years...' Sara sweatdropped.
She eventually came to the barrier she broke into. The rest is history.
'...was her years of silence trauma from being betrayed by who she thought was like a sister to her? She can vocalize since she laughs when happy, but growls and hisses when upset or warning.' Fujido Maria wondered aloud. 'It must be, poor thing.'
'It's like that when it comes to marriages, wanting to be the clan madam so its vicious among women.' said Issei. 'The easiest victims to kill are those who grew up like Nanao, loved, but never knowing bad things that they are ironically prone to evil intentions of others, another form of bad things.'
'So uhhh Reito already married a new madam...how are we gonna explain this?' Tatsuo piped up. Those present fell awkwardly silent.
'Its inevitable as we have to arrest Byakurenji Akemi, daughter of the Aoyagi Branch.' said Yaichiro in professional voice but with a weary sigh that followed. 'Such is our job. At least his madam is not her.'
'Yeah, a third cousin of mine.' said Sara. 'They already have one kid and a son at that. So I'll have to join the party to Byakurenji Village to arrest Akemi.' then she grinned ferally. 'I'd like to know how her treachery didn't get her the madam status she wanted, I wanna rub it in her face!'
'Then let's decide on what information we can disseminate to everyone else.'
Meanwhile...
'This is as far as I have to go. Your hair is in a really awful state.' Kokujo Sayoko said kindly as Nanao's hair is now in a boyish style that reminded Nanao of Hyuuga Hinata of Naruto. Nanao admired the new style and raked her fingers and no more tangles. She vocalized she likes it. 'Ohoho, well you now have access to this, so no more tangles in the future as it regrows back I think?' she said, giving Nanao a comb. 'Next is clothes. You can't wear those rags forever.' "That, and Takaya wants to study the rags to see if they can make sturdier uniforms..." she thought to herself, and gave Nanao a simple knee-length purple kimono for now that had flower prints and what she's familiar with. She is currently, not used to wide obis, favoring thinner obis. And then a pair of soft zori.
Nanao then protested about the rags...she took a strip she uses to secure her footwear, wounded herself on the skin to Sayoko's shock and let blood drip on the fabric.
Blood disappeared to Sayoko's astonishment.
And Nanao pointed between her legs vocalizing with strong emphasis. Sayoko's jaws dropped as it pieced together what Nanao was trying to say.
"Tengu Rags as monthly convenience?!" she was in shock. She bleeds monthly into it and it absorbs it with no evidence left behind so she's always clean...well...wow...
Now time to present her!
'You did a good job on Nanao, Sayoko.' her father praised her as Sayoko presented Nanao to the room where they did the psychometry job. Nanao cleaned up nicely! Her beauty shone, but she was still wary as her eyes darted around for exits.
'She likes short hair now. No more tangles.' the officers present sweatdropped because they saw how Nanao despised tangles. 'So everyone named her Nanao neh, nice name.' Sayoko giggled. 'Well, Takaya wants her old clothes for study so she's now in decent clothes. We'll go to the cafeteria now and I'll catch up later to what everyone else knows. Then I'll show her, her given room until we decide where she resides from now on.'
'I'm surprised she let go of her clothes so easily.' said Rentarou. 'She didn't do that earlier and we offered a replacement too. Or she likes you better?'
'Well, Tengu fabrics...are convenient for ladies on long-term outdoor missions. She is probably not yet done with a certain recurring inconvenience our body does to us.' Sayoko twitched in her smile. 'When we have no access to supplies for that time of the month, tengu rags are a great eternally-reused utility.' Sara squawked catching on.
'You mean it's useful for THAT?!' to think Tengu Fabrics are good for that time of the month...
'Yes. I'll ask Takaya if his department can replicate such a wonderful utility so there's more of us ladies in the field...its how I got her to part with her clothes since I made a hopeful trade. She kept a piece though.' and stuffed it where sun don't shine, by the way...Nanao rolled up a small portion, and shoved it there!
That, is awkward!!
'It would be great...' Sara moped. 'It's hard to move when the schedule hits. Let's grill the Research Folks good!' she was determined to enjoy that same convenience. No wonder Nanao is carefree and never panicking in her memories!
'Well you'd best take her to a hot meal now Sayoko. The way she dined these past years is...concerning to say the least. She should get used to rice and soup again for a start.' Himiko shook her head.
'Yes grandmother. Let's go Nanao.' and she gently pulled the girl with her back out the room.
'Well, time to print what information we controlled and edited for her safety.' said Maria. 'Let's hit the Media Department.'
The Headlines aptly read, 'THE CASE OF BYAKURENJI NANAO'.