Shikieiki herself didn't seem that threatening - short green hair and a pair of surprisingly bright blue eyes. Even the dark blue uniform of the Yama wasn't enough to make her frightening to Byakuren, but what shook her more was what Shikieiki represented. This was the confrontation she'd been running away from for eons, and she would have been terrified of it if the judge was Nazrin in a paper hat.
"I assume you realise your visit here is long overdue."
Shikieiki, not bothering to introduce herself, immediately got to the crux of the matter. Byakuren, too caught up in her own fear, found her mouth refusing to open and simply stood in silence.
The judge hit her rod against the stand, producing a deafening shockwave that threatened to blow Byakuren off her feet.
"I said, I assume you realise you should have come to me some time ago."
Her voice had a newfound severity and (above all) volume that caused Byakuren to stand to attention like a metal bar had been stuck up her back. Whatever punishment she was due for her crimes, clamming up now was guaranteed to make it several times worse.
"Y-Yes, Miss Yamaxanadu. I-"
"You will refer to me as Your Honour. Not Miss Yamaxanadu. I am a judge of the dead, and I expect to be treated as such. Are we clear?"
Every time I open my mouth, I make things worse.
"...Yes, Your Honour."
"Good. Now, what were you saying?"
Shikieiki spoke with the tone of a schoolmaster hearing a child admit to a petty theft or a school brawl. It made Byakuren feel horribly inferior, but she trekked on regardless.
"...I realise that I've prolonged my time among the living, yes."
"And not fairly, either. Indulging in black magic for the sake of self-preservation? You can hardly be more selfish."
Shikieiki quickly jumped at the first opening to break into a lecture. The judge's words beat down on Byakuren like punches, and she couldn't bring herself to deny any of it.
"And to further the matter, you exploit people left, right and centre to keep yourself alive. If I recall, you spent some time as a famed youkai hunter, correct?"
"...Yes, some time ago."
"And did you ever so much as pull a hair from the head of a youkai in that time...?"
Byakuren couldn't bring herself to look the judge in the eye as she responded.
"...No."
"No, of course not. You lied to every single human who asked you for aid, and chose youkai ahead of your own kind. A betrayal of the worst possible degree."
Byakuren felt like she was shrinking, getting smaller and smaller as she continued to be reprimanded. Desperately, she tried to produce some form of resistance to the yama's words.
"B-But Your Honour, the youkai needed my help! If I hadn't taken a stand they would have died out and-"
"Don't act like you ever bothered to consider that at the time. You helped them because doing so was what kept you alive. Nothing more, nothing less. Your apparent generosity was fueled solely by your greed."
Almost in unison with her own apparent shrinking, Shikieiki seemed to be growing by the second. Her eyes stared down at the stunned Byakuren, merciless, unforgiving and heartless. She felt her stomach sink as those eyes looked down on her.
"There is a famous saying outside of Gensokyo: 'The last temptation is the greatest treason: to do the right deed for the wrong reason'. Looking at your history, Byakuren Hijiri, I can see no better example of this than you. To the humans, you were a hero whose promises were never met. To the youkai, you were a false saviour whose kindness was a cruel facade!"
Anger began to seep into the judge's voice, as her sheer moral outrage at Byakuren's crimes began to overwhelm her. The monk no longer had the bravery to speak up for herself, silently accepting her sins.
"Do you realise what legacy you've left behind?! Hundreds, thousands of humans and youkai who owed their lives to you and praised you! Worshipped you! And all of that faith goes to the coward who hid under the shroud of sainthood to disguise her own self-service! Think about that for a moment - imagine all of those people dying in their beds, going into the netherworld thinking they lived so long thanks to a con artist like you! And did you feel even the tiniest fragment of guilt?! Of course not, because as long as you stayed pretty for all eternity nothing else mattered to you!"
Shikieiki's eyes burned with a passion for justice, and she pulled no punches as she laid out Byakuren's shortcomings in front of her, then shoved them in her face for good measure. She could already feel the flames of hell licking at her feet as the judge took a deep breath.
"...I brought you here so that you could be judged for your sins. With the facts laid out like this, my verdict is clear - a liar like you deserves to suffer eternally for your crimes."
Byakuren was crying silently, scared to make a noise in case she further angered the judge. She had expected this since the beginning, since Komachi had burst through Shou to get to her, but she'd spent the whole time in denial, hoping that maybe there was something else happening. Now there was no avoiding it - she was going to hell, and there was nothing she could do about it.
Goodbye, everyone...I'm so sorry...
---
"...Or at least, it would be if that was the full extent of the facts."
"Hm...?"
Byakuren was pulled out of her own depression by the judge's voice. It wasn't the harsh, violent tone she'd used up until now, but something completely the opposite: something gentle, calming, like a mother tending to a lost child.
"What I said about you was true a long time ago, Byakuren. And based on those facts and them alone, you would most definitely be sent to hell."
Shikieiki stepped down from the judge's stand, walking over to the stunned Byakuren. She seemed shorter when she didn't have the stand supporting her, and it just made the compassion in her eyes seem that much more genuine.
"But somewhere, deep down inside...you changed. The years of working with the struggling youkai didn't go by without leaving some sort of effect on you."
Walking over to the witness stand, Shikieiki waved her rod in Byakuren's direction, poking at her forehead with it.
"And your reasons changed one day. You stopped thinking about yourself, and really did look out for the best interests of youkai. You stopped thinking with your head, and started to use something much more important."
The rod dropped slightly, now pointing at Byakuren's chest.
"Once, you were a false prophet. That is undoubtedly true. But in following that path, you experienced things that turned you into a true saviour of youkai. You corrected your own sin, and so I have nothing to judge you for."
Byakuren was silent for a moment, struggling to grasp the concept of being forgiven of her crimes. Her eyes began to well up again as she started on a response.
"But...what about the sin of immortality? Have I been pardoned of that as well...?"
"I am a kind judge, and am willing to overlook that shortcoming on one condition."
Shikieiki momentarily fell back to her more severe expression.
"You must continue your work. Aid those in need, those in peril. Give to others in spite of yourself, and all in all become a force for good."
Byakuren smiled, elated as she wiped tears from her eyes. Shikieiki's words had both revealed her crimes to her and exonerated her of them - a learning experience, as well as a weight off of her shoulders. As she continued to grin, Shikieiki was pondering something to herself.
"Hmm, I'm trying to remember now...there's a term for that, isn't there? A being who willingly accepts the sins and hardships of others out of compassion alone..."
Byakuren's distant memories of her time in the Buddhist temple flashed back to her.
"You mean...the bodhisattva?"
Shikieiki clicked her fingers.
"Yes, that's it, the bodhisattva."
The judge, seeming much more friendly now, put her hand on Byakuren's shoulder.
"Consider yourself Gensokyo's first unofficial bodhisattva, then. Do your duty well, okay?"
Byakuren flinched as the yama touched her, but she relaxed and accepted it as Shikieiki's way of being friendly. She was still slightly enawed, though, and her reply came out slightly stuttered.
"Y-Yes, Your Honour. Thank you for your kindness."
Shikieiki shook her head.
"Oh no, don't thank me. You've earned it. With all of those people out there who have so much faith in you, it'd be a crime for me to stop you from helping the world. Now, get out there and make a difference for me."
The judge nudged her in the direction she'd come, the lights revealing the path back to the riverside.
"Komachi should be waiting for you...presuming she hasn't dozed off again. Honestly, I have the worst taste in employees..."
Byakuren laughed a little at that, the judge suddenly seeming almost comical in terms of her subordinates. She waved the judge farewell as she made her way home, the faces of all the youkai she had saved over the years fresh in her mind. Knowing all those people had been grateful for her help, she couldn't help but look ahead to her new future with fresh hope.
But first of all...I need to return home. Shou will be worried sick by now...
-----
The case of Byakuren Hijiri is, without a doubt, a borderline one. A judge could potentially have fallen on either judgement without being accused of being unfair. Regardless, I feel that Byakuren has absolved herself of her sins - or at least that if she hasn't she will given sufficient time.
Perhaps she was not truly welcome in the court of Higan. This is a place of judgement for the souls of humans, and after her dabbling in the dark arts she was something else entirely. I expect to suffer some criticism for my decision to take time with her than with judging the souls of the recently deceased.
But I honestly feel that this time with Byakuren will be wholly beneficial to Gensokyo in general. Without her guilt weighing her down, Byakuren will do great things for both humans and youkai, leading them to better lives and inevitably better final judgements.
And above all else, in the end Byakuren was willing to put the lives of others before her own. She may have turned herself into something else to cheat death, but by being so willing to give to others while expecting nothing in return, Byakuren Hijiri proved that deep down, she was truly human.
Or perhaps...she has become something greater entirely.
~ Log of Shikieiki Yamaxanadu, Judge of the Dead
-----
Now to get back to writing Case Files. -_-