How you met your demon and died...
Falling in love
Growing up, I knew that I was destined to be more than a fisherman, but what else could I do?
In my little village, either we are born as a merchant, as a farmer, or as a fisherman and our father, like his father before him, had all been a fisherman. Same for my uncles and their sons.
My sisters, my female cousins, well, they all married fisherman. Those that didn't, will when they are told enough.
Sure, there are farmers, but they marry the daughters of other farmers.
Only the merchants have social mobility, and only for two reasons.
First, there are multiple types of merchants and marrying is within the class, and not the type. This means that a fish merchant's daughter can marry a crop merchant. Second, a merchant's daughter can instead marry whoever she pleases in the farmers or fishermen's single men.
Why would she stoop down? Well, in my little village, men make the first steps in their class, but a merchant's daughter has all the power to pick her own husband in the lower classes.
Because, yes, the merchants do outrank us, but they aren't the top dogs. The noblemen were even higher in position, and between then, the licensed traders.
We didn't have a nobleman. Our town was too poor for it. The few times we needed a judge, or a noble, we would have to go to the next town to get help.
We did get traders. They came with silk from across the sea, on the other side of our land. They came with leather, in excess to what we could produce. Tools, clothes and other goods were brought to get part of our fish and our grain, but never our meat or leather.
That's because we were a fish and grain town, not a leather town. This is the way it is.
I wouldn't say I didn't try to catch the eye of a merchant's daughter, but they knew that our houses were small and that the life of a merchant's wife is much better than the life of a fisherman's wife.
For once, they actually get to have a husband for most of their lives, as well, fisherman rarely get to live long. My father is still alive, but most of his brothers were lost at sea.
Some fisherman's widows go fish with us, but most help prepare the fish for selling. Someone has to do it, right?
It's not like women can't do anything, it's that it's not their primary duty. Once out of the child bearing ages and widowed, sure, they can come fish if they don't kids to raise. No one will bat an eye.
There is every a woman's merchant in town. She sells spices, including the salt we use to preserve some of the fish. Her husband was good to us, and when he dies, heirless, she took over.
Another merchant's youngest son is her apprentice, now, she didn't have kids, but the young lad was the 4th son and didn't have a way to inherit, well, anything.
This is the way in the village. When we celebrate, everyone celebrates together. When a levy breaks, everyone able to help lends a hand, even the merchants. And when there is drought, everyone helps move water from the mountain to irrigate the fields.
Everyone is happy... but none of the women will be my wife. Not that I am not important, but I am the victim of fate.
There was a fire when I was a baby, and a few of the babies didn't make it. Our house wasn't touched so I survived, but as bad luck have it, more girls than boys died, so I am out of luck.
This is the sad thing in the village. We marry around our 18th winter, but if you don't find a girl, the next year, those at their 18th winter will marry the boys coming into their 18th.
And I am now in my 21st. It's just bad luck.
My neighbors were all boys, who dated their other neighbors, who were girls. Luck of the draw. If I had grow up next to a girl... no, better not think of that.
Sadly, merchants live in the other part of town, so they got paired up.
That day, in my 21st summer, I had given up on having a wife when I was helping move fish to the market.
Well, we call it a market, it's mainly just the only crossroad in the village. Toward the sea is the Fishermen's houses. From there, to the right are the merchants and to the left, most of the farms. Sure, some are on the other side of the merchants, but it's tight to the next mountain while on the left, it's fields until the eye can't see.
And if I continue forward, I make it to the road that leads to the next town over.
I sometimes went. There are days when the fish won't bite because the water doesn't please them, and on those days, I sometimes helped to trade with the next village. How knows, maybe I can get a merchant's daughter to spot me...
They have a lot more animals than we do, so we get leather, and they produce more lumber for our boats, tools and houses.
But that day, I was at the crossroad when the most beautiful girl arrived. She wasn't old, she wasn't that young. She looked my age, but perfect. Not battered by work, not damaged by the sun.
Just, perfect.
She wore the more beautiful clothes I had seen, and her hair seemed... light. Not heavy like ours. Her hairs looked like after we washed them, not like after a trip.
She obviously was a noblewoman, but wasn't in a palanquin, and didn't arrive by boat. This was... unexpected.
"Hi there", she says. I look around, and I am the only person.
"Hi"
"I was sent to survey your village. Would you have time to show me around, handsome?", she says, smiling and blushing.
"You are a surveyor?"
"I am! I know, Old men usually do this job, but my father died, and well, I had to take over his duties until a replacement is named. You are my last village and then, I can retire", she says, laughing.
It's such a cute laugh.
"Retire were?", I ask
"I have no idea. Surveyors don't tend to stick around, and my mother died a few years ago, so I have no town to call my own"
"And no husband"
She laughs.
"Didn't stick around long enough to get one. What, do you know an interested man I could marry?", she says, with a weird tone. Is she flirting?
"Well, I am interested"
"ooh, nice, so let's first survey your village and then, maybe we can spend some time together? I am Inari", she says, smiling.
Yes! My luck is turning. I might marry a noblewoman... But then again, she doesn't know which class I am in.
So, we start with the merchants. Inari has a few pouches made with leather in her bag, but are of different colors.
One, the largest, has pebbles in it, of different colors.
You watch as she takes a light pebble for each of the adult women, and a dark pebble for each of the adult men, and places them in a pouch. Then, does the same for the merchant children in another pouch, and the teenagers in a third one.
Quickly, the same process is repeated with the farmers, and finally, with the fishermen.
"This was fast", you say.
"The reason it's slow is the time to travel"
"Did you come far?"
"I walked 8 days to get here from my last assignment"
"There is a village only a few hours away"
"I know, I slept there, but it was surveyed last year, but they forgot your village"
"So, what do you like to do for fun, now that you have done your job?"
"Oh, I am not done. We surveyed the people, now, we survey the farms"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, I need to get an idea of the crop production per year"
"Oh, Aki can tell you that"
"Aki... the old grain merchant?"
"Yeah, she knows all this stuff"
So, we went and spoke to Aki, and more pebbles were moved.
"And now, I am retired. Well, almost. A runner should come in a few days to pick up my bag."
"A runner?", I ask.
"You don't see runners? They transport goods around"
"You mean, traders?"
She laughs.
"I guess. I mean, it's not that different. Traders move slowly between villages, runners, well, run between them."
"I like you", I blurt out.
"I like you too. So, where can we eat? I have coins..."
And so, she treats me to a great meal in the merchant part of the town. We laugh, trade stories, and that night, she sleeps in my house, and in my bed.
We don't have sex, but she is right there... even cuddling at night for warmth, and she was very warm...
The runner came 2 days later, and was soon on his way, leaving Inari behind.
We got married a few weeks later. She helped me fish! Saying that despite being raised a noble, all she knew was hard work.
I was not convinced that surveying is hard, but then again, these were people I knew. She was a stranger, and I helped her a lot. She reminds me almost every day.
Sex is even better than I imagined it to be, but companionship beats it. Inari knows things. She can spot fish better than anyone. She can tell us when not to go out because the weather will not be gentle.
Sometimes, I surprise her helping the farmers, but she just says that she is talking to friends. Still, crop output went up. Some farmers no longer farm all of their fields every year, and they rotate a few crops now.
Previously, when a yield was bad, the field was laid to rest, but now, they cycled them, and it worked considerably better.
She even, subtly, gave me ideas on how to improve the irrigation from the stream coming from the mountain. I became a village hero, and she was proud of me despite everything being from her.
Thanks to that, the farmers give us extra grain, and Inari revealed that she is able to cook things she learned from far away towns. New types or shapes of bread, new noodles.
All delicious.
But as the years went on without kids, we wondered. Inari told me not to worry, and each time, I would listen to her, but the next day, on the water, I would worry until I would see her beautiful face again.
When it was too bad for my mood, she would come fish with me and then, all would okay.
I grew older. My hair got some gray. Inari aged more gracefully, usually weeks after I would be surprised that she didn't, but she claims that she has no control over this. Why would she? Her mother, apparently, looked young until she died.
Sex was still wonderful with her. Some of my friends complain their wife no longer wants any, but Inari is still interested!
She did go away often, to go see family, or to take one "last" assignment as a surveyor, but that was after we both realized that kids were not in our future.
Sometimes, I ask her if she misses her original village, since she has different cultural aspects that you see. She celebrates other holidays, she doesn't pray, she even had a weird wedding ceremony when we got married in which she wasted a ton of salt. Ok, not a ton, but a fisherman would never waste any salt!
Whenever she left, I would feel sad, and tensions would heighten in the village. It's like she was always able to keep the peace.
Today, she is out of town and has been for almost a week. She had to go far, and promised to return as soon as she could. Sex before she left was even wilder than usual.
What I didn't know, is that it would be our last time having sex in the flesh.
The very last time...
It was 3 days in. She wasn't there to warn us of the weather, so we went on the water to fish, and the storm took us by surprise.
There were signs, we were just too stupid to see them. Maybe we became complacent and too reliant on Inari? Perhaps the poor harvest due to a heat wave last summer made us too eager to enrich the village.
I don't know why, but we were mostly careless and even went a little further to catch more fish in our little boats that can barely support waves.
It's not that it took us by surprise, it's that we thought we have more time to return. We didn't. Well, some of us didn't.
I saw a few make it to shore, and even more fall in the water where they could swim to shore. But a few of us, including me, wouldn't make it.
My boat split in four or five parts, and none were big enough to let me hang on to it. I tried to swim to Shen, but he barely floated on the piece of his boat he managed to hold on to.
Yuu wasn't that further away, and had a much bigger piece. This boat split in the middle, lengthwise, and he was trying to swim in my direction to help me.
As I swam, however, I began having cramps. The water temperature had dipped, and I was feeling cold.
I couldn't keep my head out of the water, so I tried to swim under the surface, and then, peak out to breathe. This allowed me to get faster and closer to Yuu, but he was still so far away.
Once, I could barely breathe, the next time, I didn't have enough air in my lungs to fully emerge and I got some water in my throat.
I struggled to swallow the salty water, keeping my mouth shut, but my lungs were burning.
I shook from the cold, from the pain my lungs, and then, tried to kick myself out of the water. My feet barely moved, but I managed, I think, to rise enough for my hair to be out of the water.
I can hear Yuu yell my name, he feels too far away, just as the surface is.
I gather all of my strength for one last push, but I realize that the surface is even higher than I realized. I am sinking.
My body slows down as pain invades all of my nerve endings.
Last thing I remember, I was passing out.
"Drowning huh?", says Inari.
I open my eyes. She is standing in front of me, with elaborate hair decorations, with a ponytail.
She is naked, but has a sort of nice blue cape or something around her left shoulder.
But she is young again, as young as the day I met her.
We are in a cherry blossom field that stretches in all directions. We have a few in town, and Inari's favorite way to pass the time was to sit with her back to a sakura tree and just speak with me.
"Inari?"
"I was hoping to see you one more time. What happened?"
"A storm. Where are we?"
"Oh, my dear husband. Are dead. This is your afterlife"
"What? I died? But you..."
She laughs. "I am immortal. I can't die. It's a good thing we got that binding ceremony done, now, we will eternity together", she comes closer, and kisses me.
I kiss her back, but I can't really feel it.
"Why can't I feel you"
"Honey, you are dead."
"Oh. So were are we?"
"In me. I am not... human. That's why we couldn't conceive a child. I mean, I am working on something, I might be able to fake having a daughter, but then, I would need to die, since I can't be in two places at once."
"You are not human?"
"Don't be sad. Of all of my husbands, you were the most delicious. Your whole village was a mess. When I arrived, tensions were high, revolt was in the air, and I spent way too much time with you because of that. Listen, I'll put you with others, I have another husband to focus on"
"Another husband?", I say, confused.
"I am immortal. I can be married to you all of your life, but you can't be married to me all of my life. I can't die... But sometimes, I'll do see you. Relax, stay calm, enjoy not having to fish. I leave some Sakura trees in my dimension, sit against one. Talk to the others, run around, do what you want, I'll see you in a generation or two for a few days"
"That's all I get?"
"Now, don't be greedy." she says, kissing me, before disappearing, and I am suddenly in a cavern that is lit from a weird lighted ceiling.
I am naked, but I see other people. Mostly men, but also some women. Most are like me, but some have different skin colors.
Most of them look passive and are sitting, lying down or even just standing there.
I walk around, and find a few of the trees she mentioned, but they aren't in flower. They are dead. It's just a trunk.
I sit, and I think about what I want to do.