Leosagi Beauty and the Beast AU
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
I few weeks ago I created the idea of a Beauty and the Beast Inspired AU for Leo and Usagi so I shared it on a Discord server I was on. I wasn't planning on doing anything more with it, just sharing it, but a lot of people on the server seemed to enjoy it including @el-pada who created some beautiful artwork for it, so I decided to get out of bed and start writing it.
A few people from the server gave me some ideas and themes to add to the story, so they were definitely a big help in building this story together. Including _Grayson_Robin_ who helped me with any editing, spelling, or mistakes in my writing.
For anyone who doesn't want to read the fanfic on Ao3, here's the entire fic down below
Chapter 1
The day began beautifully with clear skies and the sun shining brightly as children played. Unfortunately, two little boys, a dog and a bear, decided that the best way to spend it was to play keep away with a little girl. a fox half their size. They mocked her relentlessly as they flung her little straw doll between them. Frustrated and desperate for her toy, the girl began to cry and screamed at the boys to return it. That only made them laugh harder as they continued their cruel game.
Finally reaching her breaking point, the girl lunged at the dog's leg, sinking her teeth in it as hard as she could. The boy yelped in pain, dropping to the ground and shaking his leg in a desperate attempt to get her off of him. She finally let go and received a kick on the shoulder for her troubles. The boys were relieved to see no blood coming from the bite mark.
The little girl huffed and went to reach for her doll. But the bear boy was faster and managed to grab the doll before she could. Angry at the girl for hurting his friend, he took the toy and threw it as far as he could into the deep dark forest. The little fox cried out as she watched her precious doll fly into the air and disappear into the dark abyss.
“If you don’t go fetch your doll, you’re never going to see it again!” one of the boys said. Without a second of hesitation, the little girl lunged at the dog once more and started beating him to a pulp. As best as she could, anyway. She tried to hit him as hard as she could with her small hands balled up into fists. “Bring her back! Bring her back!” she shouted. The bear had enough of this. He grabbed the fox in an effort to get her away from his friend, but he struggled to pick her up. Even as she was lifted up into the air, she kicked and punched as if her life depended on it. “Put me down! I’ll make you sorry for this!”
It wasn’t until the bear heard the call of a young man that he finally dropped her. “What is the meaning of this?” the young man said. It was another dog, coincidently the older brother of the younger dog that was bitten.
“He threw my doll into the woods!” the young girl shouted.
“Is this true, brother?” he crossed his arms knowing full well that the little girl was speaking the truth but wanted to hear his brother admit it himself.
“She bit me!” the little boy showed off his leg with the bite mark still on it. “And then she beat me-”
“Because you took my doll and then he threw it!” she interrupted.
The Young man pinched the bridge of his nose and put a hand up to stop them all from talking. “Alright, alright, that’s enough. I want all three of you to apologize to each other. Preferably closer to the village. None of you should be this far out anyway.”
“But what about my doll?”
“I shall go fetch it for you. Now all of you, back to the village. And I better not catch you all out here again.”
His younger brother was not happy with the order and wrapped his arms around his leg. “But Father said no one is allowed to go deep into the forest alone.”
“It’ll be quick,” he pulled him off his leg and pushed him into the direction of the village. “Besides, how far could you have thrown it? It will only be a moment and then I’ll come right back.”
Once the three children started heading back in the direction of the village, the young man ventured into the dark forest in search of the little girl’s doll. Despite the sun still being out, he felt a chill run through his spine as he ventured deeper into the forest. He started growing concerned when he couldn’t find the toy, creeping farther and farther from the village. “Tsk, where is that doll?” the sound of a branch breaking stunned him. He slowly looked around for the source of the noise. His head sharply turned left as he heard the rustle of bushes. He could faintly see something solid blending in with the green bushes.
“I mean no harm!” he called out, hoping that whatever person or spirit would leave him alone. “I only wish to find a little girl’s doll! I will leave after my search.”
The bushes rustled again. At the bottom popped out the faint legs of a doll. The man crept closer to it, thinking that the spirits of the forest were giving him back the lost object. Once he was a few feet away, the entity pushed it out more to reveal the toy. Finally, the man crouched down to grab it, but before he could quickly snatch it away, he looked up and focused on the inside of the bush, only for his face to pale. There he saw the face of a ferocious beast! A hideous monster! Now realizing that this was a trap, he released the doll and ran straight to his village screaming in fear.
—
For many years, a samurai ronin has traveled throughout Japan in a path of purpose and fulfillment. For the purpose he once had, his late master, Lord Mifune had died in a war against the soldiers of Lord Hikiji. Having failed to protect his master, Miyamoto Usagi now wanders the land on a warrior's pilgrimage, continuing to serve him even after death. Occasionally, Usagi would sell his services as a bodyguard to make a living. But he does his best to help those in need, and sometimes those people are generous enough to reward him for his selfless help.
This day felt like any other. After wandering for what seemed like hours, Usagi finally spotted a village next to a riverbank, where many farmers were seen tending to their crops—finally, a place to rest for a bit before continuing with his travels. He looked in his coin purse and tried to figure out if he should rent a room for the night, or buy something to eat. Perhaps if he asks around, he could find an abandoned temple to sleep in so he could have a warm meal.
As he ventured into the village, he saw everyone running in the same direction. Being the nosy rabbit he is, he couldn’t help but get drawn into the crown and see what was happening. That’s when he heard the shouts of a young man.
“Monster! Monster! It was horrible! A hideous ferocious beast! It will come feast on this village at nightfall!”
Once again being nosy, Usagi turned to the woman next to him and asked her what the young man was going on about. “Nonsense, if you ask me. The young man over there went too far into the forest and claimed to have seen a beast.”
“It is not nonsense!” The young man said, “I saw it with my own eyes. It bared its teeth at me, luring me closer to it to have me as its next meal. If I had not run away, I would be good as dead!”
“Bah! Youngsters these days.” the lady turned to walk back to what she was doing before.
Despite what the lady thought, everyone else believed the young man and grew concerned for the safety of their village. Usagi watched as the village started going into a state of panic. A man who seemed to be the village’s magistrate stood on a crate and told everyone to quiet down.
“I know you are all worried for your safety but we must not panic. If this beast knows that we are afraid of it, it will believe it has an advantage over us.” Everyone nodded in agreement as they continued to listen. “Now, if anyone is brave enough, I shall give a reward to whoever volunteers to slay this beast and bring me proof of its death-”
Without hesitation, Usagi raised his hand. “I volunteer to slay the beast!” The moment he heard that there would be a reward for this, all he could think about was getting both a bowl of warm food and a cozy place to sleep in. After sleeping outside in the cold for so many nights, you just become desperate. It didn’t help that he absolutely hated the cold. Besides, after everything Usagi has been through, and all the strange fights he’s gotten into, a so-called beast was nothing new to him. The young man might have misinterpreted a regular animal as the beast because of how dark it was. And if it turned out to be a spirit of some sort, he’d just use any tricks that his old “friend” Sasuke taught him.
Everyone turned their head to the samurai and cheered. The magistrate stepped off the crate and walked towards the selfless hero. “That is wonderful to hear. If you end up coming back alive, make sure to have evidence of the slain beast.”
“That will not be a problem, I am sure this is something I can easily take care of. Perhaps the woman was right and it might have been something else.” Usagi walked to a stand and decided to buy a small fruit to eat on his way to this so-called beast.
“Good, good,” he said, “But if you do not end up coming back, we will assume you are dead and will not be able to recover your body.”
The rabbit paused right before he could take a bite from his fruit and stared at the magistrate. “Ah… Okay. I suppose that makes sense. But again, do not worry.” he took a bite from the fruit and continued once he swallowed. “I am not so easily killable. Surely I would end up being able to escape if it ever comes to it.”
“Ha ha! Of course, of course,” he patted, well more like slapped, Usagi’s back in a sort of reassurance way, causing him to drop his fruit but catch it right before it could hit the ground. “Like I said, IF you come back alive, I’ll be sure to have a reward ready for you. Thank you for your brave services, samurai.”
Usagi wasn’t gonna lie, he did feel a little hurt hearing that they had such little faith in him coming back alive. Of course, he’d just have to prove everyone wrong. Was he feeling a little cocky? Maybe. But after everything he’s been through, it’s safe to say this is just another walk in the field.
The young man from earlier stood behind Usagi, shaking with his tail between his legs, at the spot where the doll was thrown from. He dared not step anywhere near the forest until he knew for sure that the threat had been eliminated. All he could do was point in the direction of where he saw the beast. “O-over there. Deep-deeper into the w-woods is where I saw the… the beast.” the last word was said in a whisper, afraid that simply saying the word would anger the monster of the forest.
“Alright, this shouldn’t take too long.” Usagi began his descent into the forest. “I will be sure to bring back a souvenir on my way back.” was the last thing the young man heard before Usagi was completely swallowed by bushes. He couldn’t believe how confident the samurai sounded as he went on his way to his certain death.
Usagi did his best to follow the directions he'd been given, but it became increasingly difficult to remember to stay on the path when there wasn't one to begin with. Adding to his frustration were the numerous leaves and branches that seemed determined to smack him every time he tried to push them aside to make his way through. Around the third branch to the face, Usagi finally realized just how dire the situation was. It could’ve been his stomach talking, but entering an unknown part of the forest to confront a beast that could potentially end his life started to sound like a completely idiotic idea. Did it align with his morals and code of honor to help people and prevent harm? Yes, but perhaps he could have entered the danger zone a little more prepared.
He decided to pause and look around. Unfortunately, with everything looking the same, it was safe to say he was lost. Because of that branch, he couldn’t remember which exact direction he just came from. He cursed under his breath and decided to close his eyes for a bit to listen to his surrounding area. Suddenly, a bush rustled right next to him. Usagi wasted no time unsheathing Willow Branch and cut the top of the bush clean off. He held his breath waiting and listening for any other reaction. A tokage scurried out from the bush and paused to look up at the Samurai. Usagi relaxed, he crouched down and sheathed his sword.
“Hello there, little friend,” he extended his hand to let the reptile smell it. “I apologize for frightening you, I am just a bit on edge.” After the tokage finally licked his hand, Usagi sat down and continued to pet them. “Say, you wouldn’t have happened to see a ferocious beast roaming around, hm? There’s a village around here worried for their own safety.” The tokage could only squeak at the samurai as it rubbed its head on his hand to continue being pet. Usagi smiled and used his non-occupied hand to stroke his chin. “Hmm, that’s what I thought. I suppose it only makes sense that someone as small as you would try to avoid being near anything that could harm you. But some direction would be nice.”
Not wanting to waste any more daylight, Usagi got up and dusted himself off. “Well I best be going, little friend. You are welcome to join me in my small adventure. I could use the company.” He smiled down at the little critter and continued in what he hoped was the direction he was first heading in.
It only took a moment for Usagi to hear the sound of running water. He grew worried wondering if he accidentally circled back to the village. It would be a pain if he had to go through all those bushes and tree branches again. To his relief, he pushed a leaf to reveal not a village, but an abandoned temple. Separating him from the temple was the river he had heard earlier.
“Well, this is certainly surprising. I was not expecting a temple so deep into the forest. Did you know this was here, little friend?” Usagi looked down at his new companion, but it was too busy drinking from the river to notice his question. He pouted and placed a hand on his hip. “Didn’t your mother teach you not to ignore someone when they ask you a question?” Finally, the tokage looked up at him but all it could muster was a squeak before it ran back to Usagi to demand more pets. Usagi couldn’t help but smile, he crouched down enough to give it a small pet like it wanted. “Perhaps this beast is hiding in the temple. But how do I cross- Ah!” In the distance, he spots a bridge that is hopefully in good enough condition to bear someone’s weight. “Alright, let’s go. The sooner we get this done, the better.”
As the rabbit tested the bridge to make sure it was stable enough for him to stand on, he was unfortunately unaware of a pair of eyes watching him from the waters. It did its best to watch them from a distance but be close enough to hear his intentions. Right before Usagi leaned over the bridge to look at the river, the owner of the eyes submerged himself into the river and swam away.
“Wow, this river is filled with so many fish. We should come back later and catch some of them. Maybe I can find someone to prepare them for me. What do you say, little friend?” Usagi turned to look at the tokage but instead watched as it ran towards the temple without him. “Hold on, wait for me!” once he caught up with the tokage, they ended up at the entrance of the temple. It wasn’t very big, but it could certainly have a few rooms in it. It still looked to be in good condition but it was very obvious that it’s been abandoned for a long time. Usagi wondered what had happened to the people who once lived in this temple. And who it was dedicated to. He was pulled from his thoughts by the tokage’s squeak. “You shouldn’t run off on your own like that. What if something happened? But let’s not stay out here much longer. I can feel a chill run up my spine just standing out here.”
The inside was not exactly what Usagi expected. And by that, he meant he expected the place to look run down with broken furniture and ripped walls, filled to the brim with dust and dirt. But surprisingly it looked a little more well-kept. Granted there were still ripped walls and broken furniture, but everything looked organized. There was barely any dust or dirt and there was makeshift furniture around the room. Anything salvageable was put to use and anything wooden that was beyond repair was placed in a corner close to a fire pit. He continued to look around to see that all the rooms were the same as the first; well-kept and tidy. There was only one room he wasn’t able to inspect, only because there was a giant tree that looked to have fallen, blocking the sliding doors and preventing anything or anyone from entering.
With how well-kept everything is, at first he couldn’t help but wonder if he had stumbled into someone’s home. But despite everything looking neat, there wasn’t exactly anything here that someone would need to continuously live here. Perhaps there was someone who would regularly come and clean the place, unable to let the old temple go to ruin. “Yes, it certainly would be a shame if this temple went to ruin.” He finally left the temple and made his way back to the bridge, the sun already beginning to set casting a golden hue. “Once I finish dealing with this problem, perhaps I can tell the villagers of this temple so that they can restore it. Maybe they can even find out who was worshiped here and build them a new shrine.”
Usagi only made it halfway through the bridge, turning to a complete stop. He stood still, pushing the hilt of his sword up with his thumb, and turning his ears to listen to the surrounding area. Something wasn’t right. The splashes in the river were no longer sounding like the swim of fish. That’s when he heard the sound of a faint growl right underneath him.
The beast.
A fist punched through the wooden floor bridge underneath him, causing him to almost lose his footing. Usagi quickly regained himself and ran off the bridge, towards the direction of the temple. The attacker jumped out of the water and began to chase. As much as Usagi wanted to turn around to see what was chasing, he knew that stopping for even a moment could end in his demise. He headed straight into the temple and quickly looked around for a place to hide. Luckily he found a table with a torn cloth that he could immediately duck under. He sat still and tried his best to control his breathing, worried that his rapidly breathing heart was going to give him away.
Great, this was just great. Just when he thought there was no beast and that everything was fine, that thing jumped out from the water. It’s fine, everything is going to be fine. He just has to see what he’s dealing with and come up with a plan to bring back its severed head to the villagers. A heavy stomp made it feel like the entire wooden floor shook, making him realize that this would be a big guy. He moved the cloth slightly to peak at the beast and quickly clamped his hand over his mouth to prevent a gasp from escaping. There in the middle of the room was what Usagi could only guess was a Kappa. But it didn’t look like any ordinary kappa. It was a turtle with a bowl on his head, yes, but it was far bigger and bulkier than any other kappa he’d ever seen. Spikes were growing from its shell and had small horns on its head. It looked more like a demon, to be honest.
Usagi was so confused as his eyes scanned the supposed kappa. It wore a set of hakama pants, torn at the hems. When the beast turned around to scan the area, Usagi spotted a piece of blue cloth wrapped around its arm and… a sword? No, it was two swords. The kappa had its left clawed hand wrapped around them both in a death grip. Looking at the material and patterns, it was without a doubt katana samurai swords.
Upon seeing the swords, Usagi felt rage and anger realizing that this monster must have taken the lives of possibly two samurais, keeping their swords as trophies. It sickened him. The kappa must’ve also taken their clothes as well and wore them to mock them. He refused to let their deaths be in vain. His sword will not be another prize for this beast’s enjoyment.
The kappa looked around the room to find some sort of clue on the whereabouts of the trespasser. He knew he had to be cautious, knowing that this samurai planned to end his life. He blamed no one but himself. If he hadn’t left the temple, the villagers wouldn’t be fearing for their lives and sending out others to take his. But he’s sure this samurai is going to be like all the other bypassers. All he had to do was scare him enough to send out a message to leave this place alone. Right when he turned to head into the next room, he heard stomping behind him and the next thing he knew, there was a heavy weight on his back. In a state of panic, the Kappa tried to buck off the rabbit, but he held on tight.
Despite Usagi's plans to jump on the Kappa’s shell and use his sword to pierce through its neck, upon trying to accomplish that, he failed to realize that the spikes on its shell were making it difficult to find a place to hold without hurting his hand. Unfortunately, he was not quick enough, and the kappa managed to reach back and grab his kimono, throwing him to the ground and slamming down his fists, but Usagi rolled away before any contact could be made. He immediately regained his footing and ran into one of the other rooms, the beast chasing right behind him.
‘Alright, time for plan B,’ he thought to himself. What is plan B you may ask? Well, that’s just facing the monster head-on. If he didn’t time this perfectly he could end up with a missing limb, but he didn’t have many other options at the moment. ‘If I knew I was going to be dealing with Kappa, I would’ve bought a cucumber when I had the chance.’
He grabbed a broken chair and threw it behind him. The Kappa paused for a moment and blocked the chair from his face, but that pause was all Usagi needed to take out his sword and lunge at him. However, the kappa was quick as well, grabbing the chair and using the seat to block the blade. He drove the blade deeper into the chair to get it stuck and then threw it across the room.
Usagi admits that he was a bit stunned to see his sword stuck in a chair fly across the room. That allowed the kappa to grab Usagi by the chest and slam him to the floor, knocking most of the wind out of him. Gasping for air he could barely muster out the words, “Okay, plan B is not working so well.”
The beast lowered his head to look straight at the trespasser beneath him and gave a threatening growl. “Take my words as a warning, Samurai,” his voice gruff and hoarse, “Leave and never come back. Tell that village that if I ever see them step foot into my forest again, they will become my next meal.”
After finally gaining some air into his lungs, all Usagi could do was give it a deadpan stare. “Is that all?”
Baffled by his choice of words, he slightly lifted his hand up from his chest. “What do you mean ‘Is that all’? I am telling you that I will kill and eat everyone if you do not leave.”
“No no, I heard you, it’s just,” he sighed, “You would not believe the amount of times I’ve heard that same threat over and over again. And it always ends the same. Me alive with something bad happening to the enemy. Would you like to test your luck?”
“Tsk, you must be the most foolish Samurai I have ever met.”
Usagi couldn’t help but snicker at the remark. “I admit to being a foolish man, yes, but YOU are the foolish one for leaving your weakness so vulnerable.”
The kappa finally took his hand away from the other’s chest. “What?”
Without a minute's notice, Usagi lifted his legs to his chest and kicked the beast’s head with all his strength. The beast fell backward and as a result, a good portion of the water from his bowl fell out. Realizing what his opponent was doing, he pushed himself back up and ran towards the river. Usagi wasted no time to get off the floor and grab his weapon. Which proved to be difficult considering it was still wedged into the chair. He struggled, pulled it, and even wiggled it around until it was finally out and ran back to catch up with the kappa.
Unfortunately, the kappa already jumped into the river and could be seen swimming away. “Oh great. I was really hoping to avoid the water this time. I should’ve kicked harder.” Much to his dismay, he began to chase after the kappa, staying on land as much as possible.
—
‘Gods that rabbit was crazy.’ The beast thought as he swam down the river. ‘He didn’t even flinch, what was I supposed to do?’ To be honest, this whole thing was completely unexpected. He should’ve known that a guy crazy enough to pretend to have a whole conversation with a tokage would willingly go toe-to-toe with a giant monster. But hopefully, that rabbit won’t be stupid enough to chase him. He didn’t want to leave the temple but from the looks of it, he’ll have no choice but to find a temporary place to stay. It was better than having to deal with any more people-
“Hey come back! I’m not done with you!”
No.
The Kappa took a glance behind him to see that the rabbit was, in fact, chasing him. And seemed to be getting closer, too. ‘Forget crazy, this guy is insane!’ Instead of swimming faster, he dove under to the bottom and slowly turned around to head in the opposite direction. He needs to find a way to outsmart this guy. But he’s slowly starting to wonder if this guy is too dumb to be outsmarted. He’s unpredictable, that’s for sure. So he needs to be more careful from here on out if he doesn’t want his night to end with his head on a pike.
Usagi stopped to a halt once he saw the kappa dive under. His grip tightened on his katana as he scanned to the water but the sun had already set at this point and it was much too dark to peer in. That’s when he heard the yips of his little friend barking at the water in the direction that he came from. The kappa was trying to misdirect him.
He quickly made his way to the tokage, “Do you see him, little friend?”
Unfortunately, he stepped a little too close to the edge of the river, and a hand shot out, pulling him into the water. But Usagi wasn’t going to let himself get taken so easily. He dug his hands into the grass and tried to kick the beast away, but the beast kept his hands tight around his ankles, pulling him under ever so slightly. Not enough to make him fully let go and be submerged underwater, but enough that he has to fight for his freedom. Usagi knew full well that the water was a Kappa’s domain where it would have the full advantage, but he needed to take the risks if he were to win this.
Taking a deep breath, he let go, turned, and slashed at the Kappa's arm that was taking hold of his ankle as he was pulled under. This caused it to let go and allow Usagi to pull himself back onto land. His body felt heavier now that his clothes and fur were wet. He took off his upper layers of clothes, unsheathed his swords, and dove right back into the water. Was this a bad decision? Absolutely. But there he saw the beast in range, licking its wounded arm before being startled at the rabbit coming back into the water.
The kappa couldn’t believe it. Who was this guy? He almost drowned him and then he came back right after escaping!? He just doesn’t quit. Something has to be wrong in his head, why would someone keep putting themselves in danger like this? If fear won’t work on him, then he has no choice but to fight back. The samurai was already charging at him, he was slow, but he made it obvious that he was getting to him one way or another. He was quick to doge his sword, but the rabbit could barely keep himself from getting caught in the kappa’s claws. It didn’t help that every so often he had to come up for air. The kappa grew more and more tired of this game that he had no interest in playing in the first place, so he gained some distance and then swam as fast as he could to slam the samurai into the rocks at the side of the river.
The impact made Usagi shout out in pain but he closed his mouth as quickly as he opened it and slashed the beast across the face. The beast let go and Usagi continued to slash him until it swimmed a bit away. He tried to go after him again but something prevented him from doing so. Usagi looked down and much to his horror, his pant leg was caught between the rocks. His eyes widened as he pulled and tugged at it but the impact from the collision caused the rocks to pile on the fabric. To his dismay, his tugs became weaker as it was getting harder to hold his breath.
No no, not like this. He was so close to getting the beast! After everything, were his final moments going to be his drowning dismay? Soon he was having trouble keeping the water out of his mouth. Everything started to feel hazy and foggy.
Once the Kappa regained himself, he looked over at the samurai and wondered why he wasn’t coming after him again. That’s when he saw him struggling to pull the fabric of his hakama. He was caught and he was having trouble getting himself free. Once he watched him instinctively try to gasp for air, he realized that he was drowning.
“Shit!” He swam to the samurai, pulled him by the waist to free him from the rocks, and threw him back on land.
Usagi landed on his chest and desperately gasped for air, coughing out any water that managed to get into his lungs. Thankfully it wasn’t a lot and he managed to recover rather quickly. He looked behind him to see the beast leaving the water. “Hold on,” he breathed in, “Just give me a few minutes and we can continue our duel.” he continued to cough out more water.
“Continue our- Are you insane!? You almost drowned!” The Kappa couldn't decide on whether he should be angry, confused, or concerned.
“Yes, I was fully aware that is the consequence when jumping into a river with a Yokai.” Usagi squeezed his ears to rinse out the water, “Although I was not expecting you to save me. Wasn’t my drowning your end goal of all this?”
“My end goal was to get you to leave! I wanted you to leave terrified and warn the village never to set foot here again, but you are so persistent in killing me, it’s like your fear left out the door along with your common sense. YOU TRIED TO FIGHT ME IN MY OWN HABITAT! And you almost drowned yourself because of that.” He grabbed him by the shoulder and roughly pulled him forward to face level. “No more other warnings. Leave this place, and tell everyone to never come here again. This is MY home. MY territory. And if I see anyone here again, I will not show mercy and kill them on sight.”
Living the life of Miyamoto Usagi, threats like these are nothing new. It’s something that he hears constantly and over time grew numb to it. That’s why he’s like this. Because these words are nothing new. Every other day there’s someone always threatening his life. But with those other guys, he can at least tell they’re genuine. But at this moment, he couldn’t help but carefully listen to the kappa’s words and hear how hesitant he sounded with his threats. Sure hearing threats were nothing new but at least those were genuine. Those people actually had the means to kill him. Not to mention he’s encountered other kappa before. None of them have ever acted the same way this one does. They never hesitated one bit to strike at him and they never once tried to stop him from getting drowned. Yet this one saved him. It had a way to get rid of him for good and it saved him. That’s when something clicked.
“You know… I’ve met many yokai before, yet none of them have ever acted like you.”
“You better choose your next words carefully.”
But he didn’t. He said his next words calm, plain, and simple. “You’re bluffing.”
The beast’s eyes widened. “How dare yo-”
“If you wanted me dead, you would have let me drown. What’s stopping you from ending me right at this moment? You want me to deliver a message to the village? You can simply do that by rolling my cold body in front of them and telling them to never come near here.” Usagi watched as the kappa’s face twitched, struggling to keep the snarl on its face. “You do not want me dead. And frankly, I’m curious to know why. I mean, not only do you not act like a kappa, but you also don’t look like one. The only thing giving you a similarity to them is the bowl on your head and the fact that you’re a turtle.”
The kappa huffed through his nostrils and let the samurai go. He stood up and sighed, rubbing his eyes with his thumb and pointer finger. “Fine. You caught me. I don’t want to kill you. I don’t want to kill anyone, for that matter.”
Usagi didn’t know why but it felt so strange hearing that. He’s been in danger so many times, it was hard to hear that someone as monstrous-looking as him never had the intention of killing him in the first place. Then he looked down at the monster's left hip and saw the two swords that he had from the beginning. “Then what about those swords attached to your hip? Those are samurai swords. Did you kill one and keep them as a trophy?”
The Kappa looked at the swords and placed his left hand on one of the handles. He squeezed and closed his eyes. “No. I never killed a samurai for their sword. Anyone I have ever killed died with their belongings. To take one’s weapon after death is dishonorable. These twin katanas are mine. I made them with my own two hands with my father and they have been by my side ever since.”
While Usagi was relieved to hear that no samurai were killed and had their swords taken from them, he was confused about why a kappa would need a sword. He wasn’t even using it during their battle.
“And you are correct. I don’t act or look like a normal kappa. That’s because I’m not. Nor am I a samurai. I’m a ninja. Or was one, at least. I…” He turned to look at the river. “I haven’t been a ninja for quite some time now. It pains me to carry these swords, knowing I will never be able to use them again.”
The kappa didn’t have to say it, but Usagi could already gather what was happening. He was cursed, and this is not what he’s supposed to look like. “What happened to you?”
He took a deep breath and let it out. This has been the longest conversation he’s ever had with someone in a long time. He turned to face back at the rabbit. “Would you like to know over a cup of tea?”
Chapter 4 is finally out. Sorry for the long wait. I had intense writers block and couldn't get it to go away.
