The Roof is on Fire

Was that a light?

The little mouse kami crawling through the rafters of a truly titanic structure couldn't be sure. It took all of her strength and mental stamina to run through the hole in the stone that ultimately brought her here. Her sort weren't so welcome here, as could be expected... especially someone as small and apparently defenseless in her true form as she was.

She'd woken up and hardly remembered the scenario, but it came back to her as she'd woken up and began crawling behind the walls of the structure, and eventually she came to the source of the light: a richly-appointed fixture the proper size and shape for her to sit and get a bearing on her surroundings.

She wiped her face with a fuzzy white forearm. Was the climate in Onitoshi always so hot? No wonder the lower sorts of spirits that originated here were so consistently ill-tempered.

The spirit had hardly been sitting on the light fixture a full minute before she came to a realization.

Her seat was very, very hot.

She jumped without realizing her hop would make her lose her grip. Down and down into the richly-appointed room she fell. "Oh dear," she spoke aloud as the warm air rushed past her face. It had been so long since she had cause to fly, she'd plainly forgotten how.

Apparently she wouldn't have to. What met her head wasn't the hard floors beneath her, but the lap of an oni sitting on a throne.

"Whew. Than you mister--" At that point she realized that perhaps she should've put more effort into remembering how to fly. "Oops. I am... umm... very sorry. I should leave."