Love at First Laugh-Part 1

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The time was a good one, when Akuma was at 100% health thanks to the accumulations of greed in the world. She no longer needed to try to tempt others into craving whatever it was they desire, and ignoring the cost of achieving set ambitions. No, these days she was relaxed and was often meddling in other's affairs for the pure amusement of it all. 

Akuma happened to be exploring the woods, one of her favourite places to hide and peer out at the villagers from the sidelines. There was a group of hefty peasants riding in a simple, poor quality horse's buggy built from wood travelling up the long dusty trails of the town. They appeared to be transporting goods- most likely to sell in the town's market. However their ride had paused for a moment, and as Akuma glanced over to see what was up, she realized that the horse had begun dropping a lovely cow patty behind him before continuing along the poor excuse for a road. 

The yokai grinned as she surveyed the group of men from behind a tall, thick tree trunk that had accumulated moss over the years. 'Perfect.' She thought, a mischievous idea swelling in her brain. With a poof and a small puff of smoke that quickly faded away, a small mouse was revealed- she had transformed. She swiftly ran out of the forest's outskirts and up to the buggy, her plot almost reaching its climax. As she grew closer, she could hear the men speaking of profits and such of their goods. 'Too bad there will be a small interference on your way to the market today.' The excited little mouse thought. 

Her fast rodent legs had carried her all the way out to the road where she soon threw herself in front of the horse, spooking the animal. It whinnied, throwing its hooves up before stomping them back on the ground, sending dirt flying into Akuma's eyes. Nevertheless, she cleverly managed avoiding being trampled on by the frightened horse, expeditiously dodging it's hooves without a problem.

The men on board were confused, doing their best to try and calm the horse once again but one man, the youngest of them all with pretty brown eyes spotted Akuma. "It's the mouse!" He shouted, sending all the men to their feet and their eyes to the ground as they tried spotting the creature. The two of the three shielded their eyes from the harsh sun rays in their attempts to locate her. "I don't see it" one spoke. "Me either" The other replied. Akuma just thought the two older men were simply buffoons, although, the other... with his big brown eyes locked on her, seemed pretty capable or at least the most capable of them all. 

'Time for part two.' She halted in a safe position beside the cart, focusing her energy into what she was about to do next. The ground raised itself where Akuma had focused her energy, enough so that when the cart's wheel ran over the area, it sent the men flying out the back of the buggy. All except the youngest, who managed to hang on tight to the structure. The others however were flung far enough that one of the men landed his face flat in the dung left behind by the horse, the other simply landed in a clear spot on the road not too far behind. Everyone turned their heads and gawked, including the horse. Eventually the man, eldest of the three-or so it seemed- raised his head from the muck, his red face covered in brown splotches and furious enough to kill. The other two attempted to stifle their laughter.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU TWO ARE LOOKING AT?!" The man blared, glaring at the two. The middle man, also on the ground (although clean besides a bit of dirt) immediately rushed to help the older male up, offering suggestions of how he could clean himself up. The youngest, however, could no longer hold in his laughter and he let out his giggles abruptly, causing the man to become angry again. He wiped the dung off of his face with a cloth offered to him by the considerate man next to him. "What's so funny?" The words slithered out of his mouth like venom as he burned a hole through the youngest male's head with his eyes. 

"You!" He answered frankly, barely able to keep himself up as he clung to the sides of the buggy. "Hey, hey." He spoke again, trying to get the undivided attention of the humiliated man. "Y-you got a little something-" He points to his own face before bursting out into laughter once again, falling backwards into the buggy, arms on his stomach as he rolled around in there.

Akuma had begun running back to the forest since the man's face had plopped into the excrement of the horse, snickering the entire way-until she heard another laugh, one that wasn't her own. Immediately after placing herself behind a tree, close enough to hear, she transformed back into her normal appearance. Wide-eyed, she carefully listened in on the conversation, her eyes glued on the attractive younger male... the one laughing. 

She had never seen anything like this before, normally people would be humiliated, angry and extremely serious about the whole thing or if they were simply a witness to the act, they would be concerned and attempt in aiding the person. But he... he was different. It was as if she felt this strange connection between her and this man simply through their shared humour. 

By the time the boy had took a hold of himself and managed to grasp onto the sides of the buggy to pull himself up, the oldest man threw the feces-covered cloth at him. He ducked, panic on his face, but he successfully dodged the attack. "Screw you, Michio!" The eldest yelled at him.

"Michio...?" Akuma muttered quietly under her breath. The name was to her liking. 

"Brother, don't say such harsh things." Michio said with a grin. It was at that moment that Akuma understood that the trio were brothers. "Yoshiro..." The middle brother spoke in attempts to calm his older brother. Yoshiro simply let out a huff of anger before climbing into the buggy, resuming their trip to the market. Michio plugged his nose and held his breath. "You... smell... awful." He spoke right before Yoshiro gave him a good slap on the face. "Ow!"

These three-well mainly Michio- interested the yokai, so secretly she stalked the group by walking through the forest, all the way to the market. Once they reached the incredibly crowded environment, she decided it would be best to travel in a different form. With a poof and a puff of smoke she transformed into a small, five-tailed kitsune. Not many villagers observe her long enough to notice that she has a pile of tails, so they normally think that it is just one tail swaying, but even the ones that do notice don't care- it's harmless. 

With her well-crafted disguise she slipped into the crowds of people, searching for the buggy and the men on board. She found the trio setting up their products in an empty stand; they were selling fish. 'Mmm...' She thought, looking at the delectable seafood being laid out. Akuma took her time crossing the street to the men's stand, attempting not to get trampled on by the crowd of humans passing by in every direction. She made it across relatively safe, besides one kick to her side.

The three had paid her no attention whatsoever as they unloaded the buggy, so she slipped around to the other side and hopped onto one of the stools, awaiting their attention. Once they had finished unloading, Michio turned to his seat to see a small feline looking back at him. He tilted his head, wondering just what it was doing there. He smiled, then picked her up, turning around to his two older brothers. "Look at this. Isn't it adorable?" He asked, the kistune staring widely at the two boys, as fluffy as ever. 'Adorable?' His brothers simply waved him off, not interested in whatever dumb thing he had found now. He sighed, sitting down on his stool with the cat in his lap as he stroked its head. Akuma purred, enjoying this a bit more than she should have. He felt her nuzzle her head into the palm of his hand. Michio had a feeling this was going to be a long day, but at least he had this little feline companion keeping him company. 

The middle brother sat down next to Michio while Yoshiro began attempting to lure customers in with sales pitches. The pitches annoyed Michio, but he put up with them; his brother was so into fishing and the fish themselves it was ridiculous. The only thing Michio really enjoyed about it was being out on the water- when it was nice and warm out that is. It was at this time that the middle brother, Tatsumi, whom was sitting next to Michio noticed the small animal in his lap.

"Oh, you weren't kidding, she is cute." Michio looked down at Akuma and then back to Tatsumi.
"How do you know it's a she?" He questioned. 
"It's pretty obvious, her appearance is quite feminine. If it's a male I'd be surprised." Immediately Akuma liked this one, at least better than Yoshiro. 
"Huh... I suppose you're right." 

Yoshiro paused from his sales pitches as his ears picked up on what Tatsumi just said. 'What in god's name are they talking about?' He thought, walking over to the stand to see what was up. Immediately his eyes fell on the feline who was currently cuddling up to his youngest of brothers. "You, you're letting a cat sit up there?? It's going to eat the fish!" He stated as Akuma's eyes were locked on the yummy treat, her tail swaying with the excitement of perhaps nibbling on some later. 
"She." Tatsumi corrected him, but he simply glared at him as in to say 'shut up'. After that look, Tatsumi sort of shrunk in his seat, regretting having revised his brother's words.
"She won't and even if she does, I'd congratulate her." Michio responded, sticking out his tongue. The feline sat up straight and proud, grinning on the inside.
"Whatever." Yoshiro rolled his eyes. Akuma scowled at the man, before a pleasant idea popped in her head in spite. Using her telekinesis, she made a small pebble hit Yoshiro on the back of the head. He turned around, shouting.

"Who did that?!" He began looking around for someone to accuse, but everyone looked back with confusion in their expressions, wondering what this man could possibly be going on about. Michio snickered, causing Akuma to enjoy this even further, wanting to do more to hear the boy full-out laugh like he once did before. She made a fish float in mid-air from the stand before swatting Yoshiro over the head with it hard enough to send him stumbling into the orange stand before him. The spherical fruits tumbled from the stand that had collapsed under the weight of Yoshiro and everyone gasped in shock. Akuma turned her attention to Michio, awaiting his full-blown laughter, but she heard nothing. She was befuddled; why hadn't he laughed like earlier? Why was his expression that of worry rather than joy? It made no sense to her. 

The boy stood up, setting Akuma carefully on the ground before rushing over to the eldest brother with Tatsumi. The boys were cautious helping their brother up. "Are you okay??" Michio asked with concern. "I'm fine." Yoshiro replied, dusting himself off, although his body did ache. He apologized to the woman selling oranges for ruining her lovely stand and he even offered to pay for all the damaged products. She denied his offer, saying it was a mistake but he insisted and left some money for her there. 

The yokai rolled her eyes at the scene. Her brain could not comprehend their compassion and selflessness and worst of all her mission to make Michio laugh had backfired. Perhaps she had misjudged him; he now seemed just as serious as the rest of them. However, seeing the blue look on the youngest's face sort of left her heartbroken. She had caused that. 

The feline lowered her head in a melancholic way, allowing for one last glimpse behind her at the trio before traversing back into the forest- one of the places she felt most homey in. For the first time in her centuries-old life she actually felt guilty.