The sun was blaring brightly today; pleasantly warm and unobstructed by clouds. A calm breeze sent ripples across the grass and tickled at Junji's sides and legs.The sound of overhead chirping birds made Junji's ears twitch in irritation.<span style="font-style: italic">Just a little bit longer</span>he thought as he placed an arm over his face to block out the sunlight and mute the animal songs around him. Regardless of his efforts, the birds seemed hellbent on getting on his nerves. Junji let out an annoyed groan before sitting up and glaring at the shade tree. With a quick hop, Junji swiped the creature out of the tree and into his hands. The bird tried in futility to flap away but it only managed to get a single black wing free.<br/><br/>"You know, If I didn't have something to do today I'd be cooking you right now, ya pest," Junji weakly tossed the bird out of his hand and it fluttered away in a panic.<br/><br/>"You think about what you did!" he shouted after it before turning back to the tree and retrieving his clothes. Junji dressed carefully, trying to remember what exactly would look out of place in a town. Junji raised his arms over his head and pressed his hands against his ears. The fuzzy appendages disappeared like a slight of hand magic trick. Still holding his hands on his head, he slid them down and lifted them away. A pair of old-fashioned human ears adorned the side of his face making Junji grin in satisfaction. The action wasn't necessary, but why not add a little flair?<br/><br/>Junji gathered the rest of his supplies and clothing up before heading towards the small village.<span style="font-style: italic">Get in there, find a map of the area and get out, Junji. Simple enough, nothing else,</span>His stomach grumbled noisily in protest<span style="font-style: italic">Maybe snag some food... Shoulda ate that bird,</span><br/><br/>The village was far from spectacular or significant but there was still quite a bustle. Stores were open and people attended to their daily duties with great purpose. Children ran about excitedly and a few visitors perused curiously among the wares and food...<span style="font-style: italic">FOOD!</span>Junji quickly scrambled toward a fruit vendor who was preoccupied with a question from a rather pale man. Within an instant the fruit was slipped into his sleeve and Junji was out of sight. Junji smirked at his own ability as he rolled the peach in his hand before taking a ravenous bite.<span style="font-style: italic">That old man knows his stuff because this is incredible!</span>he thought to himself as he bit hard into the fruit once more.<br/><br/>Junji hadn't been paying attention to where he was walking, his senses had been occupied but now that his stomach was calmed a bit, he realized he'd wandered straight into the confines of a shrine. A visible frown colored his expression as he stopped his approach and prepared to do an about-face. Junji wasn't a big fan of priests; they were prideful and believed they understood things they didn't. "Tanuki like you are a bad omen!" he said mocking the warbly voice of an old priest before scoffing  "tch, old men with hippo teeth should be the bad omen, at least we look good," he grumbled to himself as he found a path back to the main village. He was about to head down the path when he spotted the man that had been his cover. The man was outfitted like a high-class samurai and he had a  funny smell, at least he didn't smell like the other humans in the village... which meant he must be a traveler?<span style="font-style: italic">It makes sense that he would travel to a shrine; most human warriors would travel to them to give themselves some mythical boon or another.</span>Junji thought to himself<span style="font-style: italic">A traveler like that could have a map!</span>his face became a mix of determination and excitement as he walked perpendicular to the path of the swordsman and focused in on a large pack he was carrying. With a slight increase to his pace, the boy gently brushed against the man. In that instant, he had managed to feel about the pack. Unfortunately, a bedroll had been covering anything else in his pack. The boy let out an audible huff in agitation before continuing on his way, making sure to give the man a brisk "sorry," as he moved. Of course it would've seemed rude, but Junji didn't care right now. He was focused on getting that map.<br/><br/>At that very moment, a voice interrupted Junji's train of thought and made him visibly jolt.<span style="font-weight: bold">"Allow me to introduce myself; I am Brother Hoshoku Mushiba." </span>the man had proclaimed in a raised voice. Junji was almost amused at the spectacle he was looking at... almost; A demon in a cannon fodder's clothing proclaiming himself as a missionary of some faith?  Someone in hell was losing their shit. The demon was standing at a shinto shrine, blindly proclaiming in the hopes that people would gather about him and not try to chase him off or skewer him. Maybe he was hoping that people would be captivated by his looks and would take it as some great symbolism; that there were spirits protecting this village or some other nonsense.<span style="font-style: italic">Why are the pretty ones always crazy?</span>Junji thought as he walked towards the man.<br/><br/>Once he was close enough, he took a chomp of his peach. Making considerable noise when the man had taken a pause. He took a moment to chew before speaking again "Soooo..... A demon priest..... that fights in wars?" he took another bite of his peach and made a humming noise "Is that even, I dunno, allowed? Seems like a conflict of interests," Junji just realized he'd spoken his mind with the candor of a child but the observational awareness of someone a deal older. Luckily, Junji was pretty sure this guy was crazy so he'd probably pay no heed to it.<br/><br/>"Seems like you were supposed to find this place," he said casually "and a village this small isn't something people find by heart or memory," Junji looked up at the man with a barely contained grin spreading across his face.<span style="font-style: italic">Good Job, we just found ourselves a backup plan.</span>