After debuting previously on the Patreon 2 weeks prior, October's patron-voted artpiece is here for the public! I originally wanted to make this four steps, with another image of the oni punk Rekkako's hair springing to life to grab the tsunokakushi headdress, but ran out of time to include that- sometimes less is more, and hopefully that proves true here.

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Rekkako looked down at the old-fashioned headdress in her hand with scorn; she didn't buy the traditions in most of her culture's clothes or paraphernalia, but the tsunokakushi- "horn-hider"- particularly pissed her off. It wasn't that she didn't believe in Shinto stuff; it was hard not to when you were a 6-foot Oni with the strength and the temper to match all the stories. It was more that she didn't like someone else having power over her; the idea that some dinky little headpiece like this could hide a woman's 'horns of jealousy and anger' or whatever to make them a good wife. She'd dealt with outside expectations all her life to that point, the way people feared she'd go on a rampage, right up to high school when she'd internalized all that fear to just assume what people thought of her. The thought that some little headdress could make you instantly peaceful, what a bunch o' bullshi-

She must have been crushing it too tight, or perhaps it was reacting to her mental sailor mouth. Because without warning, the tsunokakushi glowed pink in her hand, and before she knew what was happening, her hair had sprung to life, latching onto the headdress like a den of snakes to pull it on top of her head. Surprise, confusion, and rage all flashed through Rekkako as she stumbled forward, trying to pull the thing off- but every little touch against her hair sent a rush of power down her spine, scrambling her thoughts as her once-pale white hair found itself darkening to a sleeker black. Her skin paled, losing its fiery red color as she felt the weight of her sukajan jacket & improperly-worn uniform growing heavier, becoming a thick layered silk garment that wrapped around her like a loving embrace. The baseball bat she'd grown used to carrying shrank in her softening hand, its nails becoming the shell for a kaiken knife and the wood becoming brocade for the hakoseko purse that were sliding into the kimono forming out of her old clothes. She wanted to fight, she wanted to... resist? Did she? Somehow, fighting felt... unbecoming. Undesirable.
The headdress's power crystallized itself in the kanji that floated before the oni, entrancing her vision with the strokes for 'sealing'- compartmentalizing all of her hot-blooded instincts and willful resistance into the back corners of her mind, sealing them away in the golden comb that looked to nestle itself comfortably upon her shimada updo. It was easier to just let herself be lost in the warmth, to abandon the fight as her body abandoned its muscular strength, to let herself be... cleansed.

Nadeshiko blinked softly, with eyelashes that now fluttered like a princess as the hypnotic swirls and the sealing kanji receded. Her hands gently clasped the sensu folding fan in her hands, for a moment feeling that she should have been carrying something heavier- but what? A proper oni had no need for clubs, especially not a lady oni such as her. Fighting was such a base instinct, a relic of cultural expectations for her kind. It was a woman's place to set a better example than that. Especially one to be married so soon. Surely she must be on her way to a wedding, yes? There could be no other reason for her to be wearing a perfect shiromuku kimono; it was such obvious tradition. She smiled, happy for the simple clarity of a fact she didn't even think to question, and walked forwards towards a ceremony she was sure was being held for her- a bride mustn't keep her future husband waiting; the almost-imperceptible horns hidden beneath her beloved tsunokakushi were a sign of that dedication.
The questions of who her husband was, or where the ceremony was taking place, or why she was getting married were best not dwelt upon too long, she thought. The Shinto legends always had a way of answering these things if you let their power guide you.

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