Oni Ko

The demons of Hell were always jealous of the angels in Heaven. Ever since their fall from grace, life hadn’t been so sweet. Sure, building a kingdom was a major success. But, there still needed work to be done. Oh, one day everything would be just perfect. That was the problem. Everything was promised to be done in one day. (If they actually believed that!) For the time being, the fallen angels had nothing to do but to watch the angels in Heaven enjoy their kingdom. They always had it so easy. Some of the demons of Hell wanted to destroy Heaven. Others wanted to invade it. You see the main problem was the angels of Heaven always got supplies. New and better weapons, clothes, even better security. For a while, the demons sat on their anger and watched in envy. That was until they saw the cute little tenshi-chi that popped up all over Heaven little wild flowers all of a meadow. That did it! Heaven always gets nice things, why shouldn’t they? And thus, a meeting was called to order.

“For too long, we have endured the jealousy that Heaven has fueled into us! We are always promised better supplies. But have we ever seen them since they were promised to us.” Ismal shouted out. “NO!!!” the fallen angels roared. “Exactly! We have dealt far too long with shotty tools while our nemeses in Heaven delight in brand new things.” the council leader called out. “Now, they create these angel children!” “YEAH!!!!” the other demons cried out. “So what will we do about it?” Ismal cried out. The demons paused and thought about that for a moment. “Destroy them!” one of them yelled. “YEAH!!!” the rest all screamed out. “But they’ll just make more of them angel kids.” Ismal pointed out. “Oh.” the rest of the demons said quietly. So then the fallen angels thought about a plan for a moment. Soon, a wise fallen angel rose to his feet. “We shall make devil children for ourselves.” He said. The rest thought about this proposal for a moment. Then, Ismal rose up and said, “Fine then, we shall make these children for ourselves.” A fallen woman rose up. “But how do we do that?” she asked. Again, they all thought about how they would execute this task.

The fallen angels sent out a spy to investigate how a tenshi-chi was made. So far, he drew up nothing. Then one day, the scout took a rest on a college campus. He saw a young student dropping his books and scrolls everywhere. It was clear he was studying to become a priest. Religious figures had a strong connection with Heaven. This gave the scout a great idea. He rose to his feet and walked over to the young student. The young man was trying to pick up all of his books when he felt someone standing over him. He slowly looked up to see a man above him. He looked like an elder monk in his black robes. The student hadn’t seen this man before. “He must be new.” the young man thought. The monk smiled at him nicely. “Here, let me help you.” he said kindly. Then the old teacher sank down beside the young student and helped him gather up his books. The young man rose to his feet once he had them in his hands. “Arigato san!” the young student said. “It’s okay.” the monk replied. The young man bowed and hurried straight class. The monk watched the young student with a devilish grin. “Now to activate the glowing charm!” the scout thought in malice. Then he began silently chanting to himself.

Just when the student had made it to the temple, he felt himself getting sick. Something was taking over his body. He tried to fight it but the effort was all in vain. When he opened his eyes, the young student saw a sea of blood red. “Good, it has taken it’s affect on you.” a voice in his head echoed aloud. “Now go to the Temple of Fuji-Tenshi and contact the angels in Heaven!” The possessed student slowly rose straight to his feet. “Yes master.” he said in a low voice. Then, the students headed straight to the temple.

Inside the temple was cold and silent. Perfect for meditation. The possessed student walked up to the statue of Buddha. He placed his hand on the statue. “Now concentrate.” the scout said through his head. The student shut his eyes and began channeling Heaven. Above, one of Mi-chan’s students was picking up the signal. He paused and looked around in caution. “Hello?” he asked nervously. No one was in sight. “I am here.” he replied to the channel. “I am a young student training to become a priest. I have something to ask of you from my teacher, my lord.” the student said quickly. Mi-chan’s own student was and newly made angel and couldn’t tell the difference between a normal learning priest and a demon possessing it. So, on the surface there was no threat answering a simple request. “Okay.” the angel said. “What is it?” The scout didn’t waste time with the question. “He wants to know what are your angel children and how are they made?” The young angel student grinned in pride. “They are tenshi-chi.” he answered simply. “They were made with Heaven’s pure water, clouds, stars, children’s hairs, rose petals, time, cherry blossom petals, mums, and the most important ingredient to their existence, one drop of angel’s blood.” As the angel spoke, the scout took the information down on his scroll. He looked at the notes in shock. “That’s it?” he thought. “Thank so much, my lord.” he made the student say. The young angel smiled in pride. Then the channel was cut off. “Excellent!” the scout thought. Then he broke the student free of his possession. The young man looked around confused. “What am… I doing here?” he asked at last.

The scout returned to Hell in a flash. “I have the ingredients for these angel children!!!” he called aloud. All of the fallen angels of Hell crowded around him. Ismal stepped front with strong grace. “Let me see them!” he ordered. The scout handed his scroll forward. The council leader took it and read the information to himself. “Heaven’s pure water, clouds, stars, children’s hairs, rose petals, time, cherry blossom petals, mums, angel’s blood.” he said at last. Ismal threw down the list. “These won’t do!” he roared. “Their too pure! We have to change some of the ingredients!” “YEAH!!!” the other fallen angels yelled aloud.

And so, the process secretly began. The project was named Fire Cat. The fallen angels filled an old glass tank half way with Hell’s blackest water as a base. They dumped in lumps of coal, dust, children’s hairs, and crow feathers into the water. The base changed into a hazy grey color. Foam formed instantly on the surface. A faint scent greeted them. “Now, to wait!” Ismal ordered. And so they did.

Summer came and went. The fallen went to check on Fire Cat. To their satisfaction, a body had formed perfectly in the water. She looked just like Baby Cat except with long black hair. She was a pretty child. (But then again, aren’t most fallen angels?) The child was almost perfect.

“How come she’s dead?” a young fallen angel asked. Ismal said nothing. He just drew out his knife, stabbed himself in the hand, and placed it over the dead girl. The black blood dripped into Fire Cat. “Now to wait.” Ismal said. And so the fallen angels did. Seven whole weeks past. Fire Cat had warmth to her small body. But she was still motionless. The female fallen angels dressed Fire Cat in a black silk robe. “The heart isn’t together.” one of the elder women said. Then, she took bits of black cherry blossom petals, fireflies, and lotus petals and crushed them together. She repeated this six more times. A small perfect thin crystal disk was formed. The elder woman placed each disk in Fire Cat’s arms, legs, chest, abdomen, and nape. She then lit a fire under Fire Cat. “Keep the fire running, girls!” the elder woman ordered.

Soon, winter came. The fire was still running strong. By Christmas, Fire Cat’s heart was beating and could breathe on her own. She was still in a coma. The fallen angels had to wait yet again. On January first, Fire Cat woke up and acted like a normal demon. She was perfectly alert and healthy. It was time to present her to Lucifer.

Lucifer himself was impressed but he too had many questions. “What do you call her?” he asked Ismal. “Fire Cat.” the council leader answered. “But what is she?” Lucifer asked clearly. Ismal thought about that for a moment. Then said, “Oni-chi.” "What are those disks in her body?" Lucifer asked. "Chakas, my lord." Ismal answered. "They keep her power even. Just like the tenshi-chi." "And the disk in her heart?" Lucifer asked. "A kame heart." Ismal answered. "Does the same thing."

Weeks later, Fire Cat was approved of. Soon, all of the demons wanted an oni-chi and began making their own. There were as many Oni-chi as there were Tenshi-chi.

End