...
Chapter 1
"A Youkai Who Looks Like A Man"
…
The nighttime forest was no place for human travelers.
The saddest thing about it was that Haru knew that. And yet, for some strange reason that even he wasn't quite sure of, he was out here, in the forest, traipsing around in the lights and shadows that made up a dark, eerie world. He paused by a large and comparatively well-lit tree, catching his breath and casting wary eyes about his surroundings. It was quite beautiful around him, in an odd, unsettling way that left him feeling somewhat sick and certainly nervous. The lights that did make it through to the forest floor were like silvery sprites that peeked through the black shadows between leaves. The rotten leaves that had fallen to the ground in the past seasons and recent rain muffled his footsteps as he walked. Not a breath of wind stirred past him. It was like he was in a hidden world, frozen in time.
It was unsettling, really, to feel like the only living thing in such a silent world. Forests weren't supposed to be silent and still. Forests were meant to sound alive, meant to be breathing. Keen to avoid dealing with that unnerving silence, Haru set off again. He'd been trekking through this wood for the past few hours, but it had only been the past twenty minutes or so that the sun had set. Someone in the village he had left had told him about a road in the forest that would be a shortcut to the village of Kimonai down to the Southwest of where he had once lived in the far North. Especially when he was wandering in an unfamiliar and dark wood, though, Haru couldn't be exactly sure whether the hungover man had been completely honest, or indeed completely sober. He thought he had been honest, but then again he himself wasn't exactly sober either at the time. He smiled ruefully to himself; festivals spared no one, not even casual passersby just passing down the road.
Of course, Haru could simply have missed the road in the dark, or when the man had been talking to him, Haru had still been in just that spot between soberness and intoxication when the man had informed him of the road that he had completely misinterpreted what he'd said. A frightening prospect, really; one that had a shiver running down his spine as he continued on his way.
At least - as terrible as it sounded - he hoped that was why there was funny, cold prickling at the back of his neck.
Licking his lips, Haru gazed around, peering as best he could into the dark spaces between trees and picking up his pace. There was good reason why the forest was no place for travelers at night, and even more so for him. He'd always lived a rather cloistered, sheltered life (though nothing compared to his elder brothers and younger sister), and had thus far been able to escape the horrors of the real world, but rare was the soul who lived their life without encountering demons, including him. Even with the sword at his side, Haru was wary of demons. He'd been trained to use his katana, of course. He'd even put that training to use a few times before, against bandits when they had attacked his father's house. However, those times he had been on obviously the more powerful side of the fight, and he had been battling alongside his brothers and his father's guards. Just now though, he was alone. He was alone, and demons weren't something he was exactly sure he could fight against and come out alive.
Haru was the seventh son of a village headman, somewhere far, far North of where he was now. That meant he had six elder brothers who were much better than him, much more able, and who received far more attention. Even his younger sister Saki got more attention than he did, though of course this could also have been partly due to the fact that she was the only daughter of his father; an important bargaining tool, and just coming to the age where she could be put into play. But for poor Haru, he was pushed to the margins, always. His mother loved him, of course, but she couldn't do much more for him than that. Not when he was a comparatively useless pawn in his father's game to gaining greater power.
And so, one thing led to another, and he had decided to leave: a few day's food over his shoulder, water at his side, and his katana at his hip, stepping down from his father's mansion with a smile on his face and not a single person to say goodbye to.
It had been the simplest thing to walk out the door. Nobody stopped him. Nobody bid him farewell. Nobody even acknowledged him as he left the comfortable mansion and the bustling village, making his way to the road and far, far away.
That was the saddest part of his story, truly. The small, almost insignificant fact that nobody cared when he'd left with the pack on his back and the sword at his hip would have cut a normal person down to the marrow. The only thing sadder than it was the fact that Haru was used to to his character, however, he was not disheartened. He had dreamed his whole life for that day; a clear day in early spring, when he would leave the village by himself and travel the world, fighting demons and living by the sword like the heroes of legends and myths. A day when he could shed that useless title of the seventh son of a small village headman at long last and follow his own heart, live by his own will.
For several days, Haru had walked. He'd walked and he'd walked, and he never crossed swords with demons or man, not even once. On the roads, he met only simple farmers on their way to market to buy new seeds for the coming year, monks as they traveled the land preaching, caravans of merchants selling foreign weirdities. At night, he slept by the roadside, sometimes sharing a fire with a few others, sometimes simply with his own thoughts and dreams under the lights of a hundred thousand stars and galaxies. And when the sun rose once more, he would gather his modest belongings and continue his journey.
If he were being completely honest with himself, it was all slightly anti-climatic in a sense, and yet it wasn't. He hadn't had the chance to fight demons yet like he had somewhat hoped, but the world was a wondrous place, and he had never realized it until now. The world was full of interesting people, and it was full of colors, and it was full of fascinating wonders. He'd only seen a few Shinto shrines before in his life, but in only the past few weeks, he'd seen more than ever before. He'd heard music before, but he'd never had the chance to feel music. He'd tasted sake before, but he'd never had the opportunity to drink sake, to dance with a hundred men and women as he stumbled into their festival.
That had been a fun night. There was music and dancing, laughing and singing, drinking and eating. He wasn't quite sure what the festival had been for - he thought perhaps it was something to do with a local god or seasonal event - but it had been wonderful.
This, however, had of course led him to his current predicament, tip-toeing in the darkness and among the ancient trees in search of a road that he suddenly wasn't sure even existed.
A branch behind him snapped, and he spun around, reaching for his sword hilt. Heart beating a violent rhythm against his throat, he stared around. Nothing stared at him from between the trees, no great dark shadow moved suddenly closer until it revealed itself to be a hulking, terrifying monster. Nothing at all moved. He looked over his shoulder. There was nothing behind him either. Stooping a little, Haru turned and began to walk again, dark eyes darting here and there, his own breath loud in his ears. Perhaps it had been nothing. Perhaps he had just imagined a branch breaking behind him. Perhaps this was a nightmare, or there was just a rabbit or something running around in the bushes, or maybe-
"Hello?"
Haru yelped, jumping and nearly falling over in his haste to scramble away from the little voice to his left. This time, there was a shadowy figure in the darkness, but it wasn't big or hulking. As a matter of fact, it was quite small and slight, hardly any taller than his elbow. He pressed a hand to his heart, felt it beating erratically through his chest in confirmation that, yes, he was still alive, he'd just about had a heart attack, though. The shadow cocked what he assumed to be its head to the side in question, but he didn't move. Thoughts and stories of demons disguised as children meeting men in the forest and taking them in before devouring them alive rushed to the forefront of his mind - horror stories told to keep little children out of the woods and out of trouble. He had to bat them down, pushing them away so he wasn't more scared than he already was.
"Are you lost?" asked the little shadowy figure, taking a step forward.
"I should ask you the same," Haru said with a nervous, breathy chuckle. "Are… Are you from around here?"
The shadow shook its head. "No, I'm waiting for otou-chan to come get me."
Haru blinked. He had decided that this little figure was female, from the sound of its voice, and certainly young. He knelt down with one knee in the cold grass, squinting into the darkness, but couldn't make out any fine details other than the faintest light of wide eyes reflecting the moon. All else was grey and midnight blue, vaguely humanoid and very short. "Do you live in the village?" he asked.
"I live in a village," the little girl answered, "But I think it's far away. Are you a bad man?"
"What? No, of course not," Haru said, taken aback by the question. He was young, and he wasn't exactly the most perfect angel person alive, but he wasn't a bad man. He would have been somewhat offended, but then again, if he was right in this little figure being a young girl, then it wasn't exactly surprising that she was just as wary of him as he was of her.
"Oh good!" chirped the little girl happily. "Why don't ya come with me? My little brothers and I are waiting for papa to come get us, so when he does then he can help you get home too!"
Haru wasn't exactly sure what a 'papa' was, but his brow furrowed yet again as those stories pushed themselves on his consciousness once more. Wasn't this how all those tales went? The youkai invited the unwary traveler to come with it, brought it to its lair before it ripped the skin from the traveler's face, disemboweled them while they were still alive? He shuddered, swallowing hard when another story came to mind, this one far more recent than those terrible bedtime terrors he had been forced to endure as a child. As a matter of fact, it had been that very morning that he had heard from the miko of the very village he had left that only a few nights ago, a neighboring village had been attacked by youkai, scaring many of the children that had lived there into the forests. Everyone who was passing by, the young miko had told him, had been asked that if they found any children in the nearby woods, that they were taken back to the village and their parents.
Perhaps this little girl - and what sounded like two more little boys as well - were some of the lost children? Haru didn't have a heart of stone. He could imagine what it was like for those mothers to be praying to the gods that their children were alive and would be brought back to them safely. A surge of protectiveness suddenly flooded him, and he gripped his katana a little tighter. This little girl couldn't have been much more than six or seven years old. It was a wonder that she and her brothers were even alive, let alone confident that their father was going to come get them. Haru would have thought them to be gobbled up by youkai on the first night, and yet here they were, and it was suddenly up to him to protect them until he could bring them home. It made him feel rather good, actually. Important. That wasn't something he was used to, even if he was also absolutely terrified at the same time.
"Alright," Haru conceded, standing and walking forward. "Take me to your brothers."
"Okay!" The little girl rushed forward and grabbed his hand. He had the slightest glimpse of long black hair and shining eyes on a grinning face before he was pulled once again into the shadows. Her hand was so tiny - he could have wrapped his own around it twice over - and her palm was warm, though her fingers were icy cold, like any normal human's would be on a dark night in the forest. Demons didn't have warm palms and cold fingers, surely. She pulled him about a minute into the woods before coming to a tiny clearing and calling out, "Tamotsu! I found a man in the woods!"
Another figure, this one even smaller than the little girl, rose from behind a bush, rubbing its eyes. It gave a huge yawn as the little girl and Haru walked closer, just like any small child awoken from a nap. Demons surely didn't yawn, either. "Izzy, is chichi-ue here yet?" the smaller child asked. This one seemed to be the little girl's brother.
The little girl - Izzy? - shook her head wildly. "Nope," she answered before turning back to Haru with a wide smile. She was missing one of her top teeth; a canine from the looks of it. "Hey, what's your name?" she asked.
"I'm Haru," Haru answered.
"I'm Izayoi," the little girl said brightly, "But you can call me 'Izzy'. This is Tamotsu, and Gesshoku's still asleep. Here, come here, we've got food!"
Izayoi tugged at Haru's hakama, and he walked forward into the bushes where Tamotsu had emerged from. A small space had been cleared on the forest floor, where was scattered several things; a few small rag dolls, a wooden sword, a long, straight stick, and a large tied cloth, obviously full. Izayoi skipped over to the bundled cloth, untied a corner, and reached in, pulling out an orange and handing it to Haru. "Here, si'down, si'down," she demanded, tugging again on his clothes until he sank to the forest floor, leaning against a tree. He looked to his left, and saw another bundle of cloth, this one rising and falling steadily. Judging by the shock of black hair he could see through the folds, Haru supposed that this was the second brother, Gesshoku.
"Nee-chan, who's that?" Tamotsu asked with another huge yawn, plopping down on the ground as well.
"He was walking around in the forest. He was the one making all the noise," Izayoi said as she reached once again into the cloth, pulling out two more oranges and handing one to her brother, peeling the other for herself. "Hey, what are you doing in the forest?" she asked suddenly, looking to Haru.
"I'm, uh, I'm a traveler," Haru said lightly, passing the orange from hand to hand. "I was looking for a road I heard was out here, but I guess I might have missed it."
"Where you goin'?" Tamotsu asked, peeling his orange with slightly more difficulty than his sister. He had wide dark eyes and strangely light hair that was partially covered by a green cloth that tied it back. Haru blinked as Izayoi traded oranges with Tamotsu, taking the unpeeled one and giving him her already peeled fruit. He'd never seen hair that pale before. Maybe this all was all a dream, or he was just so tired he was hallucinating.
"I'm on an adventure," he answered the little boy, picking at the thick skin of his orange. The citrusy fragrance hit his nose like a gift from heaven, and his stomach rumbled. He really hadn't realized how hungry he'd been. "I left my home about two weeks ago, and I'm looking for, um…" He paused here, popping one of his orange segments into his mouth. He figured that it'd be too much to ask for a small child to understand what "fortune and glory" or "make a name" meant, so he decided to improvise. "Well, I just want to travel."
"Ooh, we've been traveling too!" Izayoi piped up. "Me an' Tamotsu an' Gesshoku an' my otou-chan have been walking all day yesterday, and then this morning papa comes and he tells us to sit here and wait until he gets back, and not to go anywhere or else we're in big trouble." Izayoi's eyes widened. "Promise ya won't tell otou-sama that I went'n' got you? Pretty please?" she asked, obviously aware that she had disobeyed her father.
"Okay," Haru agreed with a single nod, but he was suddenly troubled. These children weren't lost? They weren't runaways from the village?
"Tell us a story," Tamotsu said brightly, popping one of the orange segments into his mouth and chewing. He didn't close his mouth as he ate, just like any young child wouldn't. Youkai didn't do that, did they? Surely not. "Tell us a story that happened to you. Pretty please?"
"Well, there's not much to tell," Haru said awkwardly, but grinning nonetheless and reaching into his pack. "It's been a lot of walking, really."
"What are you doing?" Izayoi asked, staring at his hand as he pulled it out of his sack, holding a sweet potato. "What's that?"
"Here, have some," Haru said, digging his fingers into the side of the cold but cooked tuber and handing it to her. She stared hard at it for a moment, skeptical, and sniffed at it, like she were judging whether or not it was safe to eat. Haru raised a brow. That had been odd, but either way, Izayoi seemed to have decided that the sweet potato was safe, and took a huge bite. She chewed for a moment, her face screwed up in concentration, and swallowed.
"It's good!" she pronounced, looking up at Haru with a huge, gap-toothed grin.
Haru grinned, then turned to Tamotsu, offering him a piece, which he took greedily and began to eat the small treat. They were silent for a while as they chewed, focused on their orange treats and leaving Haru to his steadily more troubling thoughts. It had taken him a couple minutes to figure it out, but the gears were finally beginning to turn. If he - and they - weren't mistaken, these children had been left by their father here in the forest only this morning. Izayoi seemed absolutely positive that he was going to be coming back for them, probably at any time,, and when that happened…
Haru frowned. He wasn't an idiot. He knew how a father would react if he found a stranger around his children, discovered that he had been befriending them and giving them things. He'd have to leave right now. He had to go.
"Hey, where are you going?" Izayoi asked suddenly, watching as Haru stood.
"I've got to go," he said shortly, somewhat disturbed all at once as he looked around.
"But why?" Haru couldn't exactly explain to the little girl that it was a very bad thing for a father to come back to his children expecting them to be safe and alone, only to find them in the company of an unknown stranger who had been in the woods, with a sword at his side and coin in his pocket.
"I just need to go," he answered instead. He took a step forward, then was nearly knocked over as something small collided with the back of his knees. "Hey!" Izayoi had wrapped her arms as best she could around his legs, staring up at him with shining eyes.
"You can't go!" she said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "You're lost!"
"I'm sorry, but you need to let me go," Haru said, grabbing her hands and prying her off of his middle. He kneeled down, holding her wrists tightly, and stared into her face. "It was nice meeting you, Izayoi," he said as kindly as he could muster, "But I need to leave."
Izayoi scowled, her gaze flickering to something over his shoulder. Something above her head twitched, but before Haru could see anything, or even try to look, Izayoi screamed shrilly, jerking away with terror in her wide eyes and pointing at something behind him. Something growled. Something big. His stomach dropping with dread, Haru spun around.
Unfortunately, he was greeted by something awful. Something terrible. Something that made his blood run like ice through his veins, stopped his heart, made him sweep Izayoi behind him and draw his sword even though it was probably pointless.
The moon was nearly full that night, its soft quicksilver beams shining kindly down on the world where it could. Where Haru was just now, it shone almost directly into his face when he looked up. However, the gentle, silvery light only made to make the beast staring down at him all the more frightening. It blocked the moon, cast him in its shadow, tongues of flame leaping from its nostrils as it huffed and stared at him with its mad, red gaze. Of course it was just Haru's luck that the first youkai he came across on his journey would be a bull youkai, and almost certainly would be the death of him. He staggered back as it stepped forward, pawing the ground with a cloven hoof that could have broken both Haru's legs at once. The demon seemed to swell with evil and size as it towered over him, and when it roared, Haru thought his eardrums might have burst as his hair was blown out of his face. It was a massive, earth-shattering bellow that reverberated in his chest and smelled of rotten meat and death. Without conscious thought, Haru fell to one knee, still staring wide-eyed at the mad, bellowing youkai with its clawed hands outstretched, about to devour him alive. The young man scrambled back, and gathered the still-screaming Izayoi into his left arm as she clutched at his clothes; a pathetic attempt to shield the child.
The demon lunged, and Haru swung his sword. The swipe left a deep cut all along its arm, a bloody red gash running the length from its furry wrist to its elbow. The bull jerked back with a startled snort, but with another bellow swung its other arm at the two pests. It caught Haru in the side, and he grunted as he was thrown several feet away, crashing into some bushes with Izayoi still in one arm. His head cracking painfully against a stone as he collided against the ground, all the air in his lungs leaving him with a loud cough. His vision went fuzzy for a moment as he hissed with pain, blinking and struggling into an upright position as he regained his lost breath. When he could see somewhat clearly once again, the bull was bearing down upon them once more. Haru screwed his eyes shut, preparing to feel the massive fists crushing his body, to feel arm-length horns impale his chest, for quarter-foot fangs to tear into his flesh. This was how he was to die.
"SANKON TESSOU!"
A flash of light, a rush of wind, another furious bellow that faded to a wet gurgle, and something thudded heavily onto the forest floor, making the ground shake. Haru gripped Izayoi tighter. Her tiny frame trembled in his arms, and she gave a short sob. Something else landed in the grass, this one far lighter, and then footsteps. Haru had barely time to look up when he was yanked into the air and flung to the ground, Izayoi ripped from his arms so violently she shrieked. The earth came up behind him and caught him hard, his breath leaving his lungs in a cough, his sword jumping out of his hands with the impact. He slid a couple feet, then stopped. Once again, he looked up, and quailed in sudden terror.
What a terrible sight this was as well: sharp and bloody claws, blazing eyes, an evil, pointed leer. There was no doubt in Haru's mind that this was a demon.
With a ferocious, feral snarl, the youkai lunged at Haru, raising its claws in a menacing threat. The human - who had tried getting to his feet to run away even though he knew he was no match in speed for this terrifying creature - scrambled backwards with a small yelp, losing his footing and landing on his rear so he had nowhere to look but up into that savage, unshaven face of the white-haired demon. Haru wasn't going to die by the hands of that bloody, shredded mass that used to be a bull youkai. He was going to be slaughtered by this terrifying spectre. A youkai. A youkai who looked like a man. A youkai with tangled white hair that hung around its hips, with bloody, inch long claws, with bared fangs and a shadowed face. A youkai which towered over him like a red clad spectre of Death itself.
He couldn't stand to watch. Curling in on himself with his arms over his head, Haru prepared once again to feel claws tearing through his flesh, fangs ripping through his throat and a final rush and agony that was to be the inevitable end of it all. Instead, he was greeted by something gripping the collar of his kosode and yanking him upright. His eyes flew open reflexively, to reveal that he was only inches away from the demon's face. "What the hell do you think you're doin', kid?" it snarled. Its voice was masculine and guttural, like he was halfway growling - which Haru supposed he was. "You got a bone to pick or somethin'? Or maybe a death wish?"
Haru stammered something indistinct. The ability to formulate coherent thought had suddenly escaped him at the sight of shining white fangs, those bloody claws wrapped in the sky blue fabric of his yukata, disheveled and wispy white hair framing amber eyes glowing with a murderous fervor.
Those were the harrowed eyes of a desperate man and a starving beast all at once.
"Answer me!" the youkai barked, a hand releasing his clothes and shooting forward to grip Haru threateningly around the neck.
"N-no!" Haru yelped. He swallowed hard as the youkai's fingers flexed around his throat, realizing quite quickly that his answer wasn't going to cut it, and added, "I m-mean, no I don't have an issue with you!"
"Then you stay the hell away from me an' my kids," the demon said harshly. He let go of Haru's throat so fast, he had barely time to register it before the apparition had thrown him to the ground again. Haru gasped as he landed, his head smacking hard against the forest floor, and screwed his eyes shut, coughing.
A sudden pattering of little feet on the soft earth. "Papa, no!"
Panting hard, his head throbbing, Haru dared look up a third time. The demon was no longer looking at him, but at the little girl who had grabbed his clawed hand and was pulling back on it for all she was worth. "No, no, don't hurt him! He's a nice person! He's just a human!"
Just a human?
"Let go, Izayoi," the demon growled. He attempted to pull his arm out of Izayoi's grip, but she didn't let go.
"But he isn't hurting us! He's nice!" Izayoi suddenly pulled her legs off the ground so she dangled from the youkai's forearm. Her sudden weight pulled him off balance for a split second, then without so much as a need to change his footing, he lifted his arm up and peered into Izayoi's face. She was grinning.
The demon was silent for a long moment - a long moment where Haru became suddenly aware of the shrill crying of the baby Gesshoku, and the stifled sobs of Tamotsu from in the bushes - then glanced once at Haru. "Did he hurt you?" he asked the tiny girl shortly.
"Nope!" Izayoi chirped.
The youkai growled, then lowered his arm so Izayoi dropped to the ground. She bounced up and down on the balls of her feet as the demon turned once again to Haru. He shrank a little as the youkai stepped forward, far too close for comfort, then crouched down so their faces were only inches apart. Haru could see that, like most demons, the youkai had a handsome face, with dark brows and startlingly amber eyes, like gems. The odd part about him was that there were bluish shadows underneath them, and his jaw was covered in dark stubble not unlike a man who had spent a little too long working the night previous. "You got lucky this time, kid," the youkai hissed threateningly. "But the woods are a dangerous place. Next time, ya probably won't be." Baring his teeth once more, the youkai stood swiftly and began to walk away.
Breathing hard, Haru pressed a hand to his heart once more. It thudded painfully against his fingertips. Honest to goodness, if this wasn't the most terrifying experience he'd had in his entire life, then he was a fish. Shifting to his knees, Haru watched as the youkai paused beside Izayoi, passing under a shaft of silver moonlight.
Ears.
Pointed silver ears atop the head of the demon.
Pointed black ears atop the head of the little girl gazing up at him.
He hadn't noticed them before, because they had been pressed flat against the youkai's hair, blending into the silver of the moonlight and the blue-blacks of the shadows, but now there was no mistaking them. There was no mistaking them sitting pricked atop Izayoi's head either, twisting towards the demon standing above her.
Haru swallowed hard and ran a hand through his hair. Gods, he was an idiot. He hadn't only met two demons tonight, but three. Perhaps even five, when he considered Tamotsu and Gesshoku. He chuckled, but it was a breathless, humorless thing, more to keep himself sane than to express any real amusement. Two weeks of traveling without meeting a single demon, and in one night he meets five, almost dying at the hands of two of them. This was why man wasn't meant to travel the forests at night. Strange things happened in the forests. Strange things that seemed more the stuff of nightmares than of reality.
The youkai had stopped behind the bushes, leaning over and gathering everything that had been in the small space occupied by Izayoi and her brothers. Haru stood, stepping forward without really realizing it. The demon stood up as well, turning and fixing Haru with a narrow stare, a wailing bundle in his arms and the cloth of things tied around his shoulders. After a long moment where the human froze, the youkai turned again and began to walk away, momentarily running his hand over the top of Tamotsu's hair and pushing the cloth aside before holding Tamotsu's hand at his left and the youngest child in his right arm. Haru watched them, open-mouthed. Tamotsu's hair was just as stark white as the demon's, and atop his head as well were two little pricked ears.
It was only then that Haru realized with an unpleasant jolt for the first time that this must have been the one for which Izayoi and her brothers had been waiting. This was Izayoi, Tamotsu, and Gesshoku's father.
"Come on, Izayoi," he said gruffly, voice clipped as he glanced back at the little black-haired demon girl. She hadn't moved from her spot where her father had passed her, standing between the demon and Haru. A huge pout crossed her lips, and she scowled. "Izzy! C'mon!"
"I want Haru to come with us."
The youkai and Haru both stared dumbstruck at the little demon girl. Obviously, the youkai had not expected for his daughter to say something like that. Similarly, Haru had not expected to be thought of like a small animal of some sort, something that could be claimed by the likes and whims of a small demon girl.
"No!" the demon said, though he sounded more like he was pointing out the obvious rather than denying the little girl something. Haru secretly had to agree. He liked Izayoi, really he did. She was a cute little girl, and her personality was endearing even if she was apparently a demon, and he would have been lying if he had said he wasn't nervous about leaving her in the hands of this terrifying youkai even if he was her father. He'd heard tales of youkai devouring their own children if they were annoying or if they were desperate enough. However, the idea of being around the demon any longer than he had now - especially after nearly being mauled by him - made his hands clench in fear. Honestly, he was somewhat grateful that the demon didn't want to be near him any more than he wanted to be near it.
Izayoi, however, obviously wasn't having it. Her wide amber eyes welled up with sudden tears, and her lower lip trembled. "But daddy," she sniffled. "I like him! He smells nice, and he puh… Proteck'ed us when the mean demon attacked." She pronounced the word 'protected' very carefully, yet still managed to say it wrong.
Haru glanced back at the silvery-haired youkai, and had he not been dead terrified for his life he would have laughed. The scruffy face which had only moments before scared him out of his mind now looked positively "Uh, Izzy," he tried, voice losing a bit of its frightening, feral quality. He suddenly sounded like a man. Just a man. A young father trying to explain to his daughter why she couldn't have what she wanted. "Izzy, um, I don't… We can't... " The demon opened and closed his mouth several times, looking back to Haru in confusion. "You attacked a full on youkai with a pathetic human sword?" he asked at last. Haru nodded, bewildered. The demon gave him a suddenly appraising frown. "Keh! Obviously not very good with that blade, are you?"
Despite himself, Haru scowled a little. Who was this demon to judge him anyway?
"So can he come with us?" asked the little demon girl hopefully, clasping her hands together and looking hopefully up at her father.
"No."
"But papa!" Izayoi wailed.
"I said no!"
Haru expected the little demon girl to break down into tears. He expected her to cry, and then submit to the violent, silver-haired demon's will and slink to his side, leaving him mercifully alone. What he didn't expect was for her wide eyes to harden, her mouth pressing into a thin line and her brows to draw together as she seemed to swell with indignation. With a loud huff, Izayoi crossed her arms into the sleeves of her faded pink yukata and stomped over to Haru before resolutely plopping down beside him and grabbing ahold of his sleeve.
"Izayoi!" The youkai let go of Tamotsu's hand, giving the still faintly crying bundle of cloth that was Gesshoku to the little boy and storming over to Haru and Izayoi. Haru flinched as the youkai came to a stop in front of them, anger radiating off his stiff, towering form in waves. Izayoi, on the other hand, seemed unfazed, glaring up at her father with determination. "Izayoi, let go of him now."
"No," Izayoi clipped back, and Haru had to somewhat admire her bravery at denying the demon with such a point blank disobedience. If it had been him, he would have given someone like that anything he had asked for, bowing to him as he left. Then again, Haru wasn't a youkai, and Izayoi was. "I'm not letting go of him until you let him come with us."
The demon growled, and Haru shivered. Izayoi tightened her grip on his sleeve, and for several long seconds, she and the youkai were engaged in a wordless, electric staring contest; a silent battle of wills.
Without warning, the demon groaned and straightened, running an exasperated hand down his face. "Dammit…" He abruptly folded his arms into his red sleeves, scowling furiously. "Fine," he barked after a long moment. "Fine! He can come with us. But you listen, kid, and you listen close." He glowered down at Haru, who shrank a little. "You make one wrong move, and you'll wish you'd never crossed paths with me. Got it?"
Haru nodded, somewhat lost and thinking to himself that he wished he'd never crossed paths with this terrifying creature as it was. With another loud "Keh!", the demon spun around on his bare heel and began to walk away. Izayoi grinned brightly at Haru, then reached for his hand, trying to lead him away. "C'mon, let's go." Puzzled beyond belief, Haru stood, brushing off his hakama and shaking his head like a dog ridding its fur of water, leaning down briefly to pick up his fallen sword before being led away by the little demon and her father at a brisk pace. He wasn't exactly sure what had happened or why it was happening, but there was one thing he was sure of now; he wasn't going through the woods alone anymore tonight.
