Zashiki écoutait Hidari lui rendre la faveur et la braquer avec des questions. Elle l'a amusée, et le petit sourire revient à ses traits. C'était comme un jeu – le giggle grincheux, à haut point, a ponctué ses questions. Bébé? Je ne suis pas un bébé. Loin de là, en fait – Je suis probablement plus vieux que vous. C'était la bonne idée de qui? C'était des Gaignun, pas les miens. Je n'ai pas signé pour ça. Non, je ne suis pas la sienne, je ne veux pas être associée à des gens comme elle. Tu parles beaucoup, humain. Pourquoi est-ce que...
Les rugissements de Gaignun rugissent immédiatement le petit irritant ; elle s'incline instinctivement et semble s'élever légèrement dans l'air pendant que la caravane se balance du coup. Abaissant gingembre ses bras, Zashiki tenait sur la caravane d'approvisionnement alors qu'elle regardait vers Gaignun, l'air un peu perplexe. Avec un soupir las, Zashiki a disparu dans les limites de la caravane d'approvisionnement... et est sorti de sous le lézard géant. Elle ne remonta pas sur l'animal en arrière, mais se tint au soleil, une main sur le front, se branlant à Gaignun avec impatience. Elle n'a même pas tourné son regard vers le garçon quand il a traversé la ligne d'arbre et sprinté vers le groupe de travail. Elle ignorait Kotori lorsqu'elle se déplaçait et s'occupait du garçon, et elle sourit quand elle entendit les arbres s'écraser et tomber dans les bois. "Commandes?" Zashiki a demandé sournoisement, un sourire malveillant jouant sur son visage.
Gaignun a couru juste devant elle pour attraper le garçon et le placer sur le lézard. Zashiki s'est moquée de lui; -Comme vous le souhaitez maître,,, elle a continué à se moquer avant de ramper sous le lézard et de disparaître une fois de plus. Tamotsu a appelé une stratégie, mais le petit oni avait déjà disparu. Elle était assise dans les branches de l'arbre, regardant le chaos de loin en haut. Elle a appelé apologétiquement à la forme fulgurante de Gaignun qui battait les bêtes ci-dessous. Trop ensoleillé, j'ai peur!
Un autre rire enfantin échappa à ses lèvres alors qu'elle tomba à l'envers des branches et réapparut plus profondément dans les bois, plus loin de la bataille. Elle gardait incroyablement immobile et écoutait; il n'y avait aucun moyen que ces Oni massifs puissent glisser à travers les arbres sans briser quelques-uns.
Name: Zashiki Warashi
Age: Unknown
Race: Zashiki Warashi Oni
 Zashiki Warashi are an incredibly small population of Oni that reside primarily in the Western province. Despite their few numbers, these creatures have created quite a reputation for being mischievous tricksters, thieves, and spies. They are the most racially diverse subspecies of Oni; their size and shape differs drastically between individuals but they all share the same dark appearance with black hair, black skin, black eyes and black nails. They refer to themselves as a particularly large family and treat each other as such, making them very guarded and wary of outsiders. Legends say that Zashiki Warashi are a small group of rebels from the Shadowlands who escaped into Igan under the cover of darkness many millennia ago, and have adapted to live in the world of light.
Zashiki Warashi are seen as some of the most harmless and, in some cases, pathetic examples of Oni to walk on this plane. They're annoying, cheeky, greedy Oni who universally delight in the misfortune of others and go out of their way to be a nuisance. Legends say that homes and villages were first lit artificially at night to keep Zashiki Warashi at bay, as they are all capable of using shadows to move about and damage property. Compared to the powerful Yokai or the mysterious Kitsune, Zashiki Warashi are seen as a laughing stock - their reliance on darkness and their weakness to light makes them easy enough to banish with a simple flame.
There's only one catch - Zashiki Warashi are voracious eaters. Their preferred meal? People.
A ravenous Zashiki Warashi is nothing to scoff about. The hungrier they get, the brighter their bioluminescence becomes; they fluoresce and become easier to spot with glowing eyes, hair and nails singling out a hungry specimen. All of a sudden their harmless ability to move through the shadows becomes a deadly trap - one foot out of the safety of the torchlight is more than enough for these fast, strong and agile creatures to drag you down and rip you to pieces.
These days cases of attacks are few and far between; it's been around 50 years since the last innocent was devoured by a Zashiki Warashi, and the culprit was executed a few weeks afterwards. Nowadays Zashiki Warashi are bargained with, supplying livestock or copious amounts of raw meat in return for leaving one's belongings alone. Sometimes they are even hired to gather intel or spy on others, especially between the wealthy merchants around the Western Province. Their danger has been extremely diluted over the years; their reputation as mere annoyances was much better than being feared and attacked for being bloodthirsty monsters, so the Zashiki Warashi worked hard to maintain their image.
Gender: Female
Appearance: A short, vaguely feminine looking creature. Zashiki is almost completely pitch black with incredibly dark skin, a short bobbed haircut and a liquid, tar-like sheen on her eyeballs. She only stands at 3ft, adding to her infantile appearance - she sports the large eyes, pouty lips and chubby cheeks of a toddler. Zashiki has thick dark nails which are usually cut very short and blunt, otherwise they will grow into long sharp talons.
Weapon(s): Zashiki mainly uses Hand-to-hand combat or her Kyoketsu-shoge
Class: Ninja
Bio: When Hakumei was first put forward to the public, everybody presumed it would be a select few of the finest warriors Humanity and the Oni had to offer. Nobody thought it would become a melting pot of misfits and outcasts; even fewer thought a Zashiki would be even considered for membership. When the family approached Gaignun and offered up a candidate, many villagers scoffed at their audacity. However, any Oni worth his salt would know to be just a little wary of the Zashiki's track record, even if they claim to have changed their ways.
"This one seems fairly disappointing," admitted the Warashi Elder, "but I can assure you she is the best daughter we have on offer at the moment." Yes, as it turned out, the juvenile Zashiki scarcely left the shadowy seaside grottos where many Zashiki lived due to a recent complication. 'Recent' in Oni terms, of course; she had crept onboard a merchant's vessel in a bid to run away and her hunger nearly cost the lives of the sailors. Were it not for some speedy intervention from her older brothers and a lot of lanterns, the runt would've created quite the scandal just off the coast of the Western Province...
In typical Zashiki Warashi fashion, money was passed and the incident was hushed before it became too big of a rumour. Pretty easy to cover up, the girl hardly made a name for herself in the towns so there wasn't any suspicion when she was 'grounded' to the family grounds after that little stunt. As you already know, Zashiki Warashi are notorious for playing tricks and annoying the locals, but they make damned good spies when you need them, and they're greedier than dwarves. Their reputation's already pretty filthy as it is, the last thing they needed is a near-massacre adding another mark on their name.
Why send out such a defiant and unpredictable brat to a supposedly high-calibre taskforce, I hear you ask? Think about it; the little creature's grown up around dozens of very experienced shadow-walkers, most of them are already informants and stealth agents, the others are far too cunning to be tied down in any binding contract. And the Zashiki Warashi family isn't like your human families - they care for each other dearly because they're all liable of causing another family disaster. Nobody is ignored, and everyone keeps an eye on each other. So how did she manage to slip past thirty-or-so highly skilled and very intelligent Oni in one go? Furthermore, how did she manage to go through the harbour unnoticed, then board the ship? There are more Zashiki crawling in the alleyways of those port towns than there are in the caves, I can assure you.
It's the only way I can think of that saved her life; the Zashiki are a bunch of fun-loving pranksters but they don't take kindly to relatives muddying the name to the extent where they pass the thin line separating 'annoyance' and 'threat'. They also don't turn a blind eye to potential just because the kid made a mistake - even a big one like that. The sentence was a good 40 years of being locked up at home, but they didn't treat her like a prisoner. Some of her older siblings trained her, showed her a few tricks. Everyone became her prison guard, though; whenever she attempted escape she was always caught, brought back, and punished for it. According to the elders, she lost her right to go out when she risked the lives of innocent people.
Three years into her punishment and suddenly the Elders offered her up for this new taskforce thing. I don't think they're going soft...it's a business agreement, see? A way to clear their name - something the Zashiki Warashi desperately need. No doubt a deal was struck - 'behave yourself and bring honour to your family, and we'll let you go.' Boy, you should've seen the look on her face when she realised she was being traded from one prison to another! I'm not too sure if she has people in Hakumei acting as her parole officer or not, but if she ran away from the General's specialist taskforce, she'd be a wanted fugitive. No town in Igan would be safe for her. By the time she realised that though, it was too late to back out, she was signed up by the Elders and off she went.
Just goes to show you, not all chains are visible. That Zashiki is eager to see the world but she's also pissed. I wonder what kind of shit she'll stir up within the ranks when they meet her properly.
Special Ability: Shadow-Walking.
Every Zashiki Warashi is capable of this ability. In the absence of light, Zashiki Warashi are said to be capable of moving around as they once did in the Shadowlands. They become weightless, able to float around in the darkness and pass between shadows like spirits. Their dependence on darkness means that they become stronger, faster and much more dangerous in the dark, but their shadow-walking is restricted to any shadow they can see that is large enough for them to squeeze through.
This ability ties in with their weakness to light. Zashiki Warashi become sluggish, dizzy and nauseous if exposed to light. They burn very easily, and are increasingly weakened if they are constantly kept in bright light for an extended period of time. It is known as lightsickness - the only cure for it is to return them to the darkness and wait for them to recover.
Misc: Culturally, Zashiki Warashi do not have individual names until someone they wholly trust names them. Every Zashiki Warashi responds to either Zashiki or Warashi or both.