[Gintama] Immortal

The first time she saw the humans in that village was more than 100 years ago.

At that time, she was tired of staying in the capital, and it was a new trend to pay homage to Kumano Taisha Shrine in Jii. From the political turmoil, the emperor was in poor health, to the daughter of a minister who lost his love and couldn't get married, and everyone was fine. I like to go on a pilgrimage and feel the ancient customs of Kumano.

It was early spring when she came to Kumano, and the cherry blossoms beside the shrine were blooming brilliantly in the slanting sunlight, and they were graceful like clouds that were still here.

The ancient shrine is covered with vines, and the thick moss is covered with rotting cypress.She looked up at the cherry blossoms in full bloom on the branches, and originally planned to stay for a short time.

——"Are you the god here?"

The mountain wind blew past, rolling up the cherry blossom snow.She turned around, and a little human girl emerged slowly from behind the shrine, pinching a corner of the linen skirt with her dirty fingers nervously, her eyes were bright as she looked at her, like a newborn deer Same soft light.

That was the first time she met someone who could see herself.

Seeing her standing there silently, the little girl assumed that she had acquiesced in what the gods said, and wiped something in her hand on the sarong vigorously. "As long as I pray sincerely, the gods will listen to my wishes. Is this true?"

The open palm was sweaty, and a rusty copper coin with a square hole lay quietly on it.

She slowly came back to her senses, looked at the undisguised tension and hope in the child's eyes, and suddenly found that she couldn't say the original sentence - no, I am your uncle.

She followed the little girl down the mountain and saw the weak woman on the sick bed.The lifelessness on the face of the woman who was called the mother by the little girl was so obvious. In those days, even if it was the current Holy Majesty who was seriously ill, there was no other way but to invite monks to chant scriptures and burn incense to pray to Buddha day and night in the courtyard.

On the second day after burying her relatives, the little girl rolled up her sleeves and cleaned the shrine covered in dust and moss from inside to outside.She watched the thin figure fight against the weeds next to the torii gate like an enemy, and from that day on, she somehow became the temporary god of this shrine, part-time shrine master.

The real name of the god should not be used lightly, so the little girl looked at the mountain cherry beside the shrine, and gave her a name on her own initiative.

"Eight heavy."

Yae Sakura's Yae.

When the soft sigh-like syllable is pronounced, the slightly parted lips will form a smile-like arc.

From the steps of the shrine, there will be wild fruit stew enshrined on bamboo leaves every day.The crows following the smell were feasting in front of the steps, and she told the little girl about the prosperity of the capital, the singing and dancing of the court, the majestic military attendant with a dagger on his waist, and the cat lazily dozing on the lap of the noble lady.

She watched the spring cherry blossoms wither overnight, the singing of summer insects in the bushes changed from loud and clear to lonely, and the burning red maple covered the forest floor, and then turned into crystal snow and frost hanging on the branches.

The little girl gradually grows up in her daily stories, and as time goes by, she grows from a child to a girl, and from a girl to a woman.

The wedding in the village is minimalist, without the extravagance and extravagance of the red tape of the palace. She looked at the honest-looking man from head to toe several times, and walked around him a few times in dissatisfaction. His head rested on the old tree in the yard, all staring at the groom of this wedding.

She looked horizontally and vertically, left and right, and finally turned her gaze to see the happy smile in the girl's eyes, and finally disarmed and surrendered.

When the hangover groom got up from the floor the next day, he found that the old tree in the yard was full of shiny gifts.

She returned to the shrine in the mountains.

Time passed like water, and the little girl she had watched grow up became the mother of the child, and she no longer visited the little shrine that was forgotten by the world every day.In the past, wild foxes and crows would compete for the tribute in front of the shrine. Later, the tribute disappeared, and the wild fox disappeared. Only the crows in the mountains stayed in place with her.

One day, familiar footsteps came from outside the torii gate.The girl had silver threads in her temple hair, and fine lines appeared at the corners of her eyes when she smiled. She was holding the little child in her hand, and her voice was no longer bright and clear, but became gentle and peaceful, full of the peace and happiness of being a mother.

Seeing the dried fish wrapped in bamboo leaves, the crows on the eaves spread their wings and flew down.

The mountain cherry blossoms were in full bloom as usual, and the snow fluttered all over the ground.The girl told her interesting stories about the children at home, her husband's waist disease, and the rice harvest in the village this year.

The elapsed time seems to have returned to the original point.

Until the little child grabbed the girl's hand and raised his head, asking in a trembling voice:

—— "Mom, who are you talking to?"

Yae found that he had good eyesight.

No, not just very good, but very, very, very good.

After washing and drying with difficulty, the young man's face that had been covered with dust and blood was unexpectedly elegant and beautiful, his expression was indifferent but could not hide the beauty that had not yet bloomed between his brows and eyes, and the light-colored long hair that was messy like withered grass became soft after being straightened out. It fell softly like smoke in the sun, half covering the scar on the boy's neck that had healed rapidly in the past few days.

... Well done, Yae.She touched her chest and raised her hand to cover her chest, feeling that she is really a genius with discerning eyes.

With a clear cough, Yae called back the boy who was sitting under the cherry blossoms.

"I think our shrine still lacks a Kagura hall." She said as she stood in the open space in front of the shrine with her arms folded.

The crows on the eaves all flew away at once, as if they were too lazy to listen to her next cliché.

"Little monster, do you know what is the most important thing for a shrine?" The boy remained expressionless, but looked at her with scarlet eyes, and seemed to listen carefully no matter what she said.

Yae sighed longingly: "It's a beautiful lady maiden." She waved her hand signally around: "Set up a stage here, hang beautiful bamboo curtains, and the stage is paved with cypress wood, with white clothes and scarlet hakama. Miko 丨 dancing gracefully, just thinking about it makes one's heart flutter. In contrast, who would want to see an old man with white eyebrows muttering there."

She turned her head and said enthusiastically, "Have you seen Kagura Dance?"

The cherry blossoms fell leisurely from the branches, and the young man sitting under the mountain cherry looked at her blankly: "God... music and dance?"

"Here, that's how it is." Yae slightly raised his right hand as if holding a fan, rolled up his sleeve with his left hand and slightly gathered his right wrist, and his posture suddenly became dignified and stable.She opened the fan and held it flat in front of her body, and moved very slowly around the non-existing Kagura Hall. "It's actually easy to learn slowly."

"Of course, the white beats in the capital are also good at dancing. If you like, we can develop this route." She closed the virtual gold and silver fan in her hand with a snap, and said seriously.

"...Baibaizi?"

"It's a dancing girl."

"..."

"I'm very confident in your aptitude," Yae stepped forward and looked at the boy seriously for a moment. "Well... it's just that the hair in front of the eyes is a bit blocked, maybe it will be better if you push it away."

She raised her hand to demonstrate.Following her example, the young man moved aside the bangs hanging in front of his eyes, and looked straight at her with scarlet pupils that were not covered.

Yae fell silent.

...Why does the painting style change in seconds?

"I'm sorry, I didn't say anything just now." She said sincerely, "I beg you, please put your hands down, okay?"

……

It took Yae a whole morning to realize that boys have nothing to do with dancing.After being lost for three seconds, she quickly put the matter behind her.

The sun was like fog, walking among the tall cedar trees. Unlike the last time she went to the stream to fetch water, she changed the direction this time and led the boy through the most beautiful wild land in the mountains.A crow flew and stopped behind them, croaking hoarsely from time to time, and the air was filled with the tranquility of spring.

In autumn, the mountains of Kumano will be full of yellow oranges. Although the season of oranges is not yet ripe, you can also collect mushrooms and wild vegetables unique to early spring from the roots of trees.

There are winding paths stepped by deer in the forest, and the roadsides are full of unknown wild flowers.A few butterflies fluttered up from among the bushes, as if coated with a layer of sacred light in the sun, they flew past the young man briskly.Yae turned her head, and what she saw was the boy standing there watching the little butterfly go away.

It wasn't until the little light disappeared that he came back to his senses as if he had just woken up from a dream. He looked left and right, but he didn't see her figure.

"Little monster, this way." Yae smiled, and the other party followed up almost immediately, inexplicably reminding her of the young deer that got separated from the herd.

She didn't realize at the time that she had made a fatal mistake.

On the way back, the woods were so quiet, no other animals could be heard, she should have noticed from the beginning.

The crow that had been following them suddenly screamed in warning, Yae paused and turned around abruptly.

Several sharp arrows came whistling with the sound of piercing through the air, and with a few swishes, the flickering arrows brushed against the flustered falling crow feathers and nailed straight into the treetops, trembling like a buzzing with the arrow feathers.

"Get out of the way!!" Yae stretched out his hand suddenly, but it was too late and it didn't work.

The whistling sound of tearing the air sounded again abruptly, and the next sharp arrow whizzed through her palm, piercing into the flesh and making a thick muffled sound.The boy seemed to be knocked to the ground by an invisible giant hand suddenly, and unconsciously let out a painful muffled groan.

The venom smeared on the arrow quickly spread along the flow of blood, his eyes widened, the scarlet pupils trembled and contracted, and the world in his eyes began to rotate, distort, and blur.

"Caught it!! We caught that monster!!"

"Quick! Give me the rope!"

Dimly, the sound of heavy footsteps sounded in the ears, and the young man seemed to be a dying beast, being suppressed to the ground by twisting his neck roughly.

Unable to breathe, he moved his lips with difficulty, and the last thing he saw in his slack vision was the crow feathers falling soundlessly from the sky.

... When I woke up, there was moonlight.

As the moonlight moved westward, the shadows inside the thatched cottage gradually shrank to a corner piled with rotting straw mats.

It took him a while to realize that he was lying on the ground, unable to move his hands and feet, and was tightly trapped by the thick hemp rope.There was an itching like an ant biting from behind, the arrow was still inserted into the flesh and blood on the back, but the surrounding area had begun to heal.

In the silent night, there was the sound of burning pine branches, and the villagers were arguing fiercely.But all of this is far away from him, as if separated by a world.

He lowered his head, the bloody smell from last time was still condensed in the air, dark and damp, seeping into the ground, already integrated with this crumbling building.

There was a slight flapping of wings, and a crow that seemed to be dyed in the night flew in through the window.

Something fell before his eyes.

By the moonlight, the boy saw clearly that it was a sharp tile.

"You have to get out of here." Yae stood by the window.

The moonlight penetrated her figure and covered the ground with silver frost. She looked in the direction of the burning village house, and her casual tone no longer contained a smile:

"If you don't want to be killed, start running for your life, little monster."

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Note: The time when white beats appeared in history is moved forward in this article

Yae (やえ) is pronounced yae