Her ears twitched, eyes studying the river with a certain level of uncertainty. It wasn't because of the humans- she had made sure that it was a largely untraveled area. No, it was more that she had one of those feelings. The ones that said she was about to do something incredibly stupid. Instead of listening to this feeling, however, she gave a flick of her tail and dipped a toe into the water. Instantly she sprung back, a shiver racking her frame as a hiss escaped her lips.

Perhaps she should just sit on the bank and wait. Dangling herself in the middle of a icy river as bait didn't exactly strike her as fun.

"What's a yokai doing so close to a water god's shrine?"

At the slightly amused, although rather serious tone the voice held, she spun to face the owner with slight apprehension. After all, whenever the word yokai was used in reference to herself, it was rarely a compliment. His pure white hair and lashes gave her pause for only a moment as she searched her mind for the correct creature. As soon as his words and appearance lined up, she wrinkled her nose in distaste.

"A snake?"

He simply offered her a closed eye smile. Despite the bright expression, that shiver racked her spine once again. This time, however, instead of the temperature of the water it was the direct result of the temperature in the air. The man gave off a slightly dark feeling. Of course, if she was encroaching on his territory that only made sense. No creature- yokai or otherwise- appreciated something like that.

"A divine white snake, yes. Now, what are you doing so close to the shrine?"

She cocked her head slightly, actually tuning into his question this time around. Without hesitation, she flicked her tail towards the river, her expression even and surprised.

"Swimming."

The snake blinked. "... swimming. You're a cat."

She shrugged, dismissively turning her back on him and focusing on the river once more. As if she hadn't just decided the water was too cold, she experimentally- and perhaps a bit rebelliously- dipped another foot in the river. Almost instantly, the snake was at her side, studying her with a critical gaze. The yokai didn't seem to be a threat, but it was his duty to be sure. He would get rid of any threat to his lady, even if that threat had yet to reach her. These days, his lady was growing weaker. A yokai attack would surely be too much.

The girl- or woman, age was always hard to pinpoint when it came to yokai- was dressed in a rich, purple kimono decorated with  sakura flowers. The loose kimono hung down to just before her feet, which were bare given she'd discarded her geta before he'd arrived. 

Up until this point, she appeared to be a perfectly normal woman, if not a bit upperclass. Her other features, however, betrayed her to be of a different breed. The woman's hair was pure snowy white and swept back into a bun by a pearl and flower hairpin. The bun was settled between her snowy-colored cat ears, both of which were currently pressed against the top of her head as if to reflect her opinion on the cold river. If this on its own wasn't enough to tell him what she was, there was the added detail of the tail that flicked in the air behind her, protruding through a convenient slit in the back of the kimono's flowing fabric. It was as pure white as the yokai's ears, the color only broken by the lone black stripe that twirled from the base to the tip.

A simple bakeneko he decided. Hardly a danger to a water god. They tended to prey on humans, only becoming dangerous to others of their world when angered. Although, there were always those who broke away from the mold. Perhaps it would still be best if he drove her away.

Before he could decide on the matter, the girl spun away from the river, shaking her foot as if to discard any single droplets of water that might cling to it as a result of her second long dip in the water.

"You mentioned a shrine?"

He narrowed his eyes slightly. A yokai interested in the shrine?

"I didn't hear anything about it in town," she mused. "Although, I believe the humans were more concerned about ridding themselves of me than directing me to the local god. A divine white snake... I'll assume you're her familiar?"

He hesitated.

"I am Lady Yonomori's familiar, Mizuki," he agreed after a moment.

At the certain level of pride in his tone, the yokai's lips twisted up in amusement. As she mused over how to respond, her ears perked, showing her interest in the conversation. At the same time, there was still that certain level of wariness about her, her tail slowly pressing to the back of her kimono.

"I believe I've heard that name, she's a minor goddess of this area, is she not?"

Mizuki bristled.

"She's a great and powerful goddess," he retorted.

Her amusement grew. "I meant no insult. I don't doubt that she's great. I'd like to pay her a visit. Is the shrine far from here?"

His hesitation this time was rather obvious, as was his irritation. It would seem that he was going to take insult from her words, whether she meant it or not.

"Who are you?" he demanded.

Her response was a close-eyed smile and the flick of her strange, black-striped tail.

"Call me Akitora."

The name caused him to frown, the flickers of familiarity touching his mind at the sound of it. At the same time, he couldn't figure out why. If it had been the name of a dangerous cat yokai, he no doubt would have recognized it instantly. The wanted papers were always diligent about such things.

"If you tell your mistress that I'm here to visit, I'm sure she'll be pleased to greet me," she assured him, obviously picking up on his reluctance. "Oh, and tell her... that I'm traveling."

Slightly confused, but not about to reject her when she seemed certain that his lady would like to see her, Mizuki simply nodded.

"Stay here."

With that, he took off up the river. It wasn't until he'd reached the outside of the shrine that he paused, confusion flooding through him.

Akitora... autumn tiger.

He dismissed the thought after it brushed his mind, pulling open the shrine door and calling out for his mistress. Akitora was a simple cat yokai there was no reason to think too much into it. Perhaps whomever had named her simply had high hopes for the little cat.

"Lady Yonomori!"

Within a moment of his call a sliding door towards the back of the main room came open and the small goddess peeked her head out.

"Mizuki? Is something wrong?"

Without pause, he proceeded to spill the story of the yokai he'd found at the river. As he spoke, Yonomori listened attentively, her expression consisting of a simple, interested smile. It wasn't until the end of his story that she froze, eyes widening slightly.

"Akitora?"

He nodded and she instantly shut the sliding door into her room. As he stared at it in confusion the sounds of banging drawers and jingling bells came from inside her room. Within a matter of minutes she'd reappeared, her light blonde hair carefully tucked back into her usual, twin ties and her small frame draped in a fine kimono. The reason for the jingling noise he heard became obvious as she slid her feet into her sandals, the bells on her hairpins jingling as they shifted with her head.

"Describe her again," Yonomori requested.

His brow furrowed, Mizuki complied.

"White hair, ears, and tail with a black stripe. Pretty sakura kimono. Have you heard of her, Lady Yonomori?"

Yonomori hesitated as she paused, letting Mizuki get the front door for her. That in itself was something that caused his curiosity to grow greater. There was no need for her to greet the guest personally, he'd already offered when explaining the situation to her that he'd planned on escorting her to the shrine the moment it was clear that she was safe to bring on the grounds. Within a second of her hesitating, the goddess obviously came to a decision as she simply offered him the bright, calming smile that seemed to almost always be on her lips and stepped through the door.

"Don't worry, Mizuki. Lady Akitora is no threat."

As he walked beside her, pointing the direction he'd left the yokai in when requested, Mizuki could only feel even more confused than before. No typical yokai was without threat. Even the tamed fox of the Mikage shrine was still viewed as barely less than wild by most. As far as he was aware, the yokai they were greeting wasn't tamed. Actually, the more he thought about it, the more he became certain that the air around her was anything but. It wasn't until that moment that he realized this was the exact reason her presence bothered him so much. Even for a yokai, Akitora felt wild.

Instead of continuing to dwell on his confusion, however, Mizuki simply turned his questions to his lady.

"Lady Akitora? Surely she doesn't have a higher status than you, Lady Yonomori."

Her bright smile didn't falter as they neared where he'd left the yokai.

"She's a traveler," was her cryptic response. "Treat her as you would me. Although the name Lady Akitora is a mouthful... "

He started to question it further, but at that same moment they reached the edge of the trees that laid between them and Akitora. Instead of standing on the bank where he'd left her, the cat had clasped onto the fabric of her kimono and plunged knee high into the freezing water of the river. The two of them simply paused and stared as Akimora let out a hiss between gritted, yet chattering, teeth.

"...Lady Akitora?" Mizuki ventured.

Her eyes flickered to them, lighting up with recognition as they flickered over the goddess. Without pausing, she instantly leap from the water, landing lightly on the soft river bank and dropping the folds of her kimono. The now damp stuck to her legs, the material only growing darker as a result. As if she hadn't been caught in such a strange stance, she offered them a closed-eyes smile.

"I'll take it that I'm welcome at your shrine?" she questioned.

Yonomori nodded, clasping onto one of Akitora's hands with an even brighter smile than usual. "Of course, of course! I'm going to call you Aki-chan, alright?"

Surprise flickered across Akitora's face, but was replaced with her smile just as quickly as it'd appeared.

"That's fine. Oh, and I only wish to stay the night. You understand, don't you?"

Yonomori simply nodded and tugged on her hand as she turned back towards the shrine.

"I do! Come on, if you're only staying one night I'll have to have Mizuki bring us a bottle of his sake right away! He makes the best divine sake I've ever had!"

As Mizuki trailed behind them, he could only stare at his mistress' bright, happy expression. He hadn't seen that for some time. Not since the number of prayers their shine received had begun to dwindle. She'd smiled, but nothing like this. At the same time, as far as he could tell, the yokai and his mistress had never met before. At least, Akitora hadn't acted as if they'd met when she'd first questioned him about the shrine.

So what was special enough about this cat yokai to make Yonomori so happy?

And what could he do to keep that smile on his lady's face?

A/N: Welp, here you go! The timing for part one is during the decline of Lady Yonomori's shrine. Most chapters will be longer than this, I just figured I'd give this to you guys to give you a taste of what's coming! Hope you enjoyed!