"...yeah."
meatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeat.
That was all that was on her mind at the time. Hunger, gnawing at her like an animal trapped in her stomach, didn't care on anything but satisfying itself. It didn't care for the biting cold of that January night. It didn't care that this deer was crying in anguish and pain as it tried to limp away from it's attacker. Once she ripped it's torso open and feasted on it's variety of organs and muscles, the hunger began to dissipate. Her mind began to slowly regain it's senses once she licked any stray brain matter off the cap of the skull. When she saw what she had done. She looked at the carnage she had committed and ran, with her tail between her legs.
Natsume woke up that morning is a strange position. Not only was her elevation lower and not on her comfy mattress, and her back sore from laying in a fetal position upon the floor, but her eye and lips were injured and hurt. She didn't even have to touch them to feel the sting. A small trickle of blood ran down her lips and onto her chin, giving her the look of wearing lipstick. Natsume winced when she sat up, sucking in air to not yelp. She quickly pulled herself up from the plywood ground only to have her back dully send out a shock of widespread each. She rubbed the affected area before thinking of why she was in this position.
Did she fall off the bed? It made some sense; it would explain her beatup face and sleep on the floor. But it didn't make a lot of sense, though. If she fell hard enough onto the ground to leave a black eye and busted lip, she surely would have woken up. It would be like snuggling up while your hand was on fire. Plus, she was a very light sleeper. Even dropping a pencil on the floor could wake her up quickly.
She groggily stumbled to her bureau, examining her wreckage in the mirror. Thankfully, weren't too huge, but still noticeable. Her right eye was swollen and the skin around colored black and blue. She could barely see out of it as it was almost completely shut. Her lips seemed to have suffered the brunt of the damage as they were swollen and had a ugly red cut along the latitude of her lower lip.
She thought of more ways this would have happened. Her parents would be asking questions.
"What a what to start off my day." She mumbled to herself.
She peeked out her bedroom door for any signs of life. So far, there was none. It made sense; it was 6:07 on a Sunday. The mostly dark hallway had the staircase to the right and her parents and brother's room to her left. At the end was the bathroom door, half ajar. A black void peeked out of this crack, darker than the rest of the house. Natsume creaked her door open, careful to keep it's hinges from squeaking.
In a tip toe manner, she padded her way to the bathroom, all while thinking of explanations.
Yokai. It had to be yokai. It was cliche thing to do, but it was much more rational than her other ideas, one of which was a mysterious stranger coming into her room, punching her face and throwing her floor before leaving.
Then again, who would want to do this to her? Word had gotten out into various yokai communities of her, Touma and Akinori and what they had done. If they, with all their variety of power and curses, wanted to hurt her, they would've have done something much more long lasting and impactful.
She cringed and momentarily recoiled as a floorboard creaked under her foot.
"Shit." She breathed. Her eyes scanned the doors in the hallway. No sounds came from the rooms. Good.
Tightening her hands into sweaty fists, she soldiered on.
More thoughts arose as she stepped on cracks, ignoring the proverbs of childhood.
Maybe this was a hallucination. Maybe once she splashed some water on her face, the sleepiness would wash off and bring out her real face and everything would be splendid and normal.
Normal to her.
Maybe.
With her hand reaching out for the door knob, she looked behind her to make sure no disturbance had woken anyone. The hallway still was a black void, her bedroom door still open like a gaping maw.
Slowly she pushed the white door open and flipped the light switch on, adjusting her eyes to the sudden brightness reflecting off the porcelain and ceramic. She slipped in soundlessly and closed the door behind her in the same manner. Natsume looked at her condition in the mirror for a second before opening the cabinet up. Taking out some cotton balls and hydroxide, she began the disinfecting. She resisted the urge to hiss and she rubbed the tender lip with a hydrogen peroxide soaked balls. Spitting out any loose drops of the solution that fell on her tongue, Natsume looked up and nearly fell over in shock.
The bottle fell over and began pouring out it's disinfectant insides as the young teen looked up at the mirror from the floor, scared by what she had saw. Her breath was shaky from what she saw in that mirror.
This HAS to be a dream, she thought. How else could she have seen that?
Sucking in some air, Natsume pushed herself off the ground, crouching, but on her feet now. Her hands grasped for the edge of the sink, gripping it for dear life.
Pulling her body up slowly, she held her head down so she wouldn't be surprised again by that... thing. Her legs felt heavy and shaky and barely straightened out for her to stand up tall. Natsume squeezed her other onto the porcelain sink. She stared at it, looking into the drain and it's empty pit.
Gulping, she slowly craned her neck up, preparing herself for the sight.
Making eye contact with herself was hard when she got a good look at it.
The thing had the same hair color and that was it. It's body barely fit in the mirror and it had to crouch to look at Natsume. It almost looked like a giant wolf but with less bulk. Actually, it didn't have a wolf look at all, but Natsume couldn't put her finger on what it was.
It was skinny, too. She could see some ribs poking out of it's chest and the curve in it's hollowed cheeks. It's maw was half open, matching her own confused and frightened expression, exposing a lines of white teeth, sharp enough to tear through any carcass.
What scared her the most, though, was it's eyes. They weren't anything like an animals. Not the pools of brown and black as one would see on a dog or yellow like a wolf's. Instead, they were white, the pupils being black and the iris being a light brown.
They were human. They were sentient. They were her eyes.