Weasel
The story of a family of weasels living in harsh times, and the struggle of one to always surpass himself.
Long ago in Nippon, a new litter of weasel kits were born into the world. Deep in their burrow the tiny kits did not have to worry about the wars of humans going on just outside on the surface. Their parents were skilled and swift and brought back tasty morsels for them. Weasel kits are very slow to open their eyes, and remain blind for a long while after being born, though are able to eat solid food long before their eyes open.
Mostly they ate bugs. Their parents tried to retrieve them rodents when they could or down an unaware bird, but the wars ravaging the lands made animals scarce as well in many areas. When their father was killed trying to break into a farm, the family decided it was time to break off. Food was getting too hard to find- if they all remained in a single location they would starve. The land simply didn't have enough for them all. So as young as they still were, the weasel children scattered, leaving their old burrow to their mother.
At first they tried to stick together the best they could, but as time went on and they each started to chase their own resources they had to drift farther and farther apart. One weasel in particular managed to find his way to a small human village. It was far enough in from the borders that war had not yet ravaged this place, but far enough from the heart of the region that it was not overly populated. He found himself a nice small home with a tiny garden and best of all- a chicken coop.
The only problem here being, the coop was well protected. There was a tight mesh wire fence around the area, and at night as the weasel watched carefully, someone else watched carefully as well out a window facing the coop. Twice a night the flicker of a lantern would pass the window as the owner patrolled. Did they already have a pest problem here? That seemed a bit much.
The weasel created a hollow under a tree on the opposite side of the house and returned at night. He waited for the owner to patrol past the window and look out. As soon as his first look was over the weasel made a break for it. A normal weasel wouldn't be able to squeeze through the fence but because this one was still young, he did manage to get through. Their very long flexible bodies were adept at slipping into even the tiniest of spaces. He did not try to kill a sleeping chicken- it would have made far too much noise and he didn't need to give himself away after only his first break in. The weasel carefully snatched up eggs and slipped them out- having to bend the wire with his hands to even be able to fit those through. He filled his burrow with many eggs, rationing one and knowing to keep the others in the cool dark for later- weasels were smart enough to store food later.
He did not try to get greedy and empty the coop out, so the farmer did not notice. Or he did, and just assumed it was under-preforming chickens. The weasel was able to live comfortably off the eggs for some time, and for the most part remained in his burrow, not wanting to attract any attention. He occasionally slipped out in the cover of darkness, usually just before dawn to run through the streets looking for any other possible sources of food. The more sources the better off he was, even if one was plenty for now.
Eventually his egg supply dwindled and he waited for the cover of night once again. He attempted to repeat his heist from last time since it worked so well. As soon as he approached the chicken coop though, he was yanked off the ground by his tail and held up by a much larger weasel! The larger one eyed him up, muttering a few human words before properly speaking in weasel.
"So, you are the one behind it. Me and my men come here looking to evoke our 'land tax' on this farmer, and lo and behold there is a very low egg count already."
The dangling weasel noticed two other larger weasel on either side, and one spoke up. "We were watching your house, not wanting to step into your burrow thinking it would be a trap. Haha, but you are just a runt!"
The one holding him up spoke again. "My name is Tozoku, we are Itachi, understand?" The hanging weasel just tilted his head causing Tozoku to sigh. "We have ascended into yokai. Basically, we are a lot more powerful than you, and this is our turf so...get out."
They let the weasel go and the three itachi turned to the coop and took nearly all the eggs themselves and a chicken. Weasel were already very fast and craft creatures, but these yokai were far beyond that. They moved so fast the naked eye could not possibly keep up, making them appear to blur or go entirely invisible. They were able to steal eggs out from under the chickens without disturbing the birds at all. The one chicken they took was decapitated faster than it could wake up- killing it before it knew anything was happening and removing its body so quickly none of the other chickens knew anything was wrong. They are the reason the farmer had tight security on the coop! Little did he know it was no mortal animals doing it, and they would get in and out no matter what sort of security he used.
The next day the weasel attempted to sneak in during the day when most of the chickens were out in the sun and only a few sat half-asleep in their roost. He snuck around to the far side and attempted to dig his way into the pen so he would be able to sneak the eggs out faster- the itachi did not take ALL of them. Tozoku appeared in the blink of an eye again though, yanking the weasel back and reminding him who this area really belonged to. One of his friends grew the claws on one hand into blade-like talons and told the weasel they would gut and eat him if they caught him again, and they released him again.
The weasel searched the village from top to bottom the next day, looking for another source of food but could not find one. With itachi in the area most humans had their resources locked up tight, only the house the weasel already lived beside was too poor to have better security. It only made things still more frustrating. The itachi could get into all of the locations, and did. That meant the three of them were more than well fed, yet still stole from his location and threatened him.
The next day the weasel stole something no one expected him to, and only later as the sun started to fall did he make his move on the coop. Not during the day, and before the owner made his patrol. Again Tozoku's buddy appeared seemingly out of nowhere to attack the weasel, but the weasel quickly rolled over revealing he was carrying a set animal trap! The itachi set it off but was so fast he easily pulled back, swatted the trap out of his hands and picked up the weasel before the trap closed. The itachi scowled at the mortal weasel, as his claws nearly scratched his face, almost having been fast enough to attack.
When Tozoku appeared a moment later he laughed at his friend for almost being hurt. "How slow are you, you almost got caught by a runt. I think I will name this guy...Fuku."
"Clothes?"
Tozoku smacked his face before using his tail to write the kanji in the sand for 'fu'(abundant) and 'ku'(long time). "It is supposed to be ironic. Anyway, let him go. As long as he continues to fail to actually steal anything he is no threat. Just have to keep slapping his hands off till he starves to death or gets a clue."
Fuku trained himself over the coming weeks. Taking out small birds occasionally for food, or getting lucky and finding an insect colony ripe for the raiding. He was almost always hungry, but he struggled and found enough to survive. He made a few attempts on the coop here and there, the itachi always stopping him. They were so arrogant they did not even realize that a few times he actually did steal an egg or two without them realizing. Once they realized how he was surviving they started to intercept him again, but he just had to look harder and in more locations. They could not find him in time to stop him every occasion. He continued to hone his own strength and skill, sometimes deliberately allowing humans to spot him and try to kill him, forcing him into real danger to train himself. Tozoku insisted still that Fuku was not an issue, though his two friends thought otherwise and were more and more insistent on trying to wound Fuku. Finally, things came to a head.
Tozoku went to the house with the coop again, ready to collect the newly renewed supply of eggs. The poor, tired owner was pulling his hair out by now. So many chickens produced so few eggs and nothing he did to protect them made any difference, the itachi were in and out whenever they wanted. Tozoku's men swept into the coop while he waited outside watching. He was going to glance back toward Fuku's burrow, curious if he was around when he seen the owner with a tanegashima gun pointed straight at him!
The man fired the gun the moment he was spotted and Tozoku exploded into action, dashing to the side and firing up toward the man so quickly he was able to run on the air itself. He transformed his tail into the blade of a scythe and swiped at the man's neck before the led pellet left the barrel. The man vanished though the gun remained. Fuku appeared behind Tozoku mid-air! Driven by the onset of starvation, their constant fighting, and his deep loathing of Tozoku and his men, Fuku had ascended to become an itachi himself! He used shape-shifting to take the form of the owner and try and ambush Tozoku!
Tozoku grinned and attacked with his claws and Fuku countered. The two of them clashed several times across the barrel of the gun as it fell through the air. By the time the pellet was halfway to the ground, Tozoku grabbed it with the scythe tail and flung it back at Fuku faster than the gun was able to fire it, but he still dodged. Fuku transformed his own tail to slash at him but missed. He grit his razor sharp teeth in rage. He had to get faster! He had to get stronger! Tozoku hooked his tail in the barrel of the falling gun and swung it up at Fuku simply as a distraction. He spun his entire body in the air, gathering the surrounding wind into a blade around himself but stopped his attack part way in when he seen Fuku did not dodge the gun- he vanished when it touched him! It was a illusory decoy! Fuku raked his claws down Tozoku's back, slamming him down into the ground. In the time it took for the gun to fire and fall to the ground, their fight was decided already. They had been moving so fast that to anyone who was not an itachi, it was just an explosion of dust and nothing could be seen because the air was being whipped so fast it distorted the view.
Tozoku's men appeared behind and to Fuku's right, but Fuku already had his scythe tail against Tozoku's throat, pinning him in place. This time, it was they who were too late.
Tozoku grit his fangs in a bitter smile. "I wanted to see how far you would get if we shoved you around enough. I...never thought you would be able to catch up to me. We both hone our skills every day to survive, but I was already so much farther ahead than you...heh. I guess you just tried that much harder, brother."
"I am no brother to you."
"Actually you are. You were from mother's second litter. I was the first. We are literal brothers, though the first litter left very shortly after yours was born, so you had not yet opened your eyes to have ever seen me." Tozoku looked at the scythe blade. "It does not matter now. I did not attack you before because we would not be able to stand on equal ground, and I will not be known as a coward who kills weaklings. I trust you to return the favour now. Don't you dare go easy on me."
"I had no intention to." With a single motion Fuku sliced his elder brother's head clean off and killed him with a movement that was so fast the air left a cut in his tree several feet over from the convection of momentum.
Tozoku's men started to follow Fuku as if they were friends, without asking or even speaking to him. Itachi travel in groups of three, and Fuku now defaulted to their leader as he was the one to kill their last leader. Fuku deliberately ran into trouble occasionally just to torment them, though he supposed Tozoku likely had done the same. Itachi were bandits and raiders, ruthless to the core. If you wanted respect from them you had to earn it. And in spite of how little effect Tozoku's death had on Fuku, he did take his elder brother's lessons to heart. He would always fight to be faster. Stronger. The other animals could have the resources in this village- Fuku left to find more challenging prey.