Author note: I do not own Yakitate! Japan or any Japanese myths that inspired this fanfic.

...to try to get back into the spirit of writing, since summer has begun, I have decided to do something I usually don't go into much-and that's the horror genre. XD I'll be using some Japanese myths in this fanfic, so hopefully I get those right...XD

Warning: Violence, gore (not graphically described), possible pairings, OCs

Constructive Criticism would be great, and I hope that you read, review and enjoy! Thanks! XD


He struggled to get up, but the effort was in vain. The legless child looked back at him quietly, crawling over to him using her elbows.

He observed her quietly, before speaking up.

"I-is it alright if...if you can teach me?"

The young girl looked back at him with a somewhat confused expression.

"Teach...?"

He gestured to her elbows. "The way you walk with your elbows. Please, can you teach me? I..." He looked around. "I can't just stay here. I need to find my friends, and I can't walk with my legs at the moment...Please..."

The child paused, before crawling closer to him and positioning his arms so that his elbows were now sticking into the ground. The girl then crawled around so that she was right beside him, before he heard her voice in his head.

Watch.

Slowly, carefully, she repeated her 'walking' movements with her elbows, one after the other.

And then, after a moment, he started to do his best to imitate the 'walking,' knowing that if he didn't do anything soon, his friends could die because of him.


Fight or Flight


Why was he doing this?

Why did he decide to go get himself lost?

He didn't really mean to. Honestly, he didn't mean it. He got lost in that beach festival, and then the next thing he knew he was in the woods.

Why was he even at this beach festival again? He just wanted to stay in the beach house and sleep, not stay up all night with Ken Matsushiro and everyone.

Not that he minded, but still. He preferred sleep over staying up too late. That's what he wanted to do when he went on this group vacation with his fellow co-workers, to sleep some more. He didn't get the best amount of sleep whenever he had to stay up late doing paperwork, after all.

Instead, Matsushiro goes and forces him to stay up all night.

This vacation was lasting for a good week. Meister Kirisaki just hoped that he could get some more sleep than usual...as long as he got more sleep, things would be fine.

Right now, though, he was lost in the woods and he needed to find his way back to the festival and back to the others.

The grass crunched underneath his sandal-adorned feet as he walked through the woods, looking around. Oh, why didn't he bring Coo with him, or any of his other birds? He could have sent them ahead to tell him if he was any closer to finding the others or not...

A cold breeze blew past him, and he shivered, wrapping his arms about himself. Wearing only pants and a tank top did not help him, or wearing sandals. He kept a less fanciful version of his mask on (none of his coworkers really seemed to recognize him without it, sadly, except for maybe Kuroyanagi, and besides people were wearing masks at the beach festival for the fun of it, so it would help him blend in) on, his light blue eyes gazing around the woods.

What do I do...?

That was when he noticed something nearby.

Is that a house? In the middle of the woods? How strange...

He quickly rushed over to the house. If there was a house, it could mean that there were people around. And maybe they could help him...

Unfortunately, he realized soon enough that this 'house' was nothing but some broken down shack. The front door was broken, barely hanging off its hinges, and some of the windows seemed to be boarded up. Despite this, though, curiosity got the better of him, begging him to explore a bit.

No, I shouldn't, I should get back to the others...

Why not? It's not like anyone is living here. Besides, maybe you can find something useful.

Eventually, Meister gave in to temptation. He slowly walked to the shack, taking a small flashlight out of his pocket and turning it on. He mentally facepalmed himself, wondering why he didn't use it earlier, before he tried his best to open the hanging door.

The door fell with a rough thud, the sudden noise scaring him. He let out a soft scream, but he muffled it with one hand, mentally calling himself an idiot.

Stupid Kirisaki, it's just a door for crying out loud...

He looked around the interior of the cabin. It was surprisingly quite empty. There was no furniture, except for a chest. He paused, before walking over to the chest and opening it.

Inside the chest lay a red yukata, adorned with some sort of feather design. He looked at it quietly, looking to see if there was any part of it where there might be some sign of someone else owning it, but there was none.

A yukata? In the woods? All by itself? How strange...

It would be some nice coverage to protect at least part of himself from the cold wind. And no one else was around...

But it could be stealing! What if someone else originally owned it?

But he knew he couldn't just stand here and wait. The dark forest was getting darker, and the night would not be so young anymore. He had to make a choice, now.

He slid on the yukata, whispering an apology to the open air before continuing to try to find the others.

Without him noticing, something stirred.


He wasn't any closer to finding the others.

...That wasn't good, obviously.

He had to find them-he had to-

That was when he heard the crunch of grass underneath feet that weren't his own. He turned, seeing nothing, but then turned again and realized a woman was standing right in front of him. This alone made him yelp in fright, stepping backwards a bit.

"M-my apologies..." He started, worried that he'd scared this woman, but before he could even finish his sentence the woman spoke up.

"Am I...beautiful?"

He blinked a bit. Wha...? Wait second...

The woman in front of him wore a beige trenchcoat, with a one of those surgical masks covering her nose and mouth from view. But it wasn't even cold or flu season yet, which was odd. She had long, long black hair that trailed past her shoulders, perhaps as long as Meister's own hair.

He had a feeling that this was from some familiar urban Japanese myth he'd read about before, so he decided to experiment and answer her.

"Yes."

In one quick movement, the woman ripped off her mask-and Meister's eyes widened at the sight.

The woman's mouth was slit ear to ear. It looked like a permanent smile was on her face, her skin reddened around the scarred smile she had on her face.

"How about...now?"

I know this. I KNOW this. It's...Kuchisake-onna...

He did not want to get killed, nor get that kind of smile that she did. He couldn't answer yes or no otherwise he could really suffer. And running away wasn't an option, either.

Or was it? There was something he remembered, a rumor as of how to get away from her. He just hoped it worked.

"So-so."

The woman looked confused. "Wha...?"

And immediately Meister took off running.


"Hey..." Kuroyanagi looked around quietly. He and the other co-workers were at the beach festival. "Where's Meister Kirisaki?"

Matsushiro looked around. "Huh. You're right. I wonder where he-"

That was when Meister ran into Matsushiro, nearly toppling him over. Matsushiro managed to stay upright, though, and grabbed Kirisaki by the shoulders to help him straighten himself. "Kirisaki, where were you?"

"Th-that woman, there-" Meister looked incredibly distressed, panicked. His eyes were wide with absolute fright as he looked around. "She-she's gone...?"

"Was it a fangirl of yours?" Matsushiro joked, chuckling a bit. "I wouldn't be surprised-"

"No, it was Kuchisake-onna!"

Matsushiro started laughing even more, as well as a few others. Meister glared at them a bit.

"I-I'm not kidding! It was her!"

Matsushiro let out a final chuckle, before putting a hand on Kirisaki's shoulder. "Hey, I'm sure you just got frightened or something, being tired from running around looking for us. We were going to head back to the beach houses soon, so I'm sure you won't be hallucinating anytime soon..."

Meister nodded quietly, though he kept looking around.

He thought he saw the woman again. But then before he could speak up, she vanished as soon as she came.


Kuchisake-onna (Slit-mouthed Woman): A woman who has her mouth slit so that it resembles a deformed smile. If approached, she will ask if she is beautiful. If you say yes, she will take off the mask she wears and ask it again. If you say yes, she'll give you the same smile she has. If no, she will kill you. Rumors as of how to get away from her include claiming that you have a previous engagement, in which she will apologize and leave, saying 'so-so' or 'maybe' to the second time she asks and run away while she is confused, or tossing candy or fruit at her to slow her down.