A/N: This fic is dedicated to Sonanoka21093. Sonanoka, please forgive me if this bites.
Rumia and the Saint
It was dark.
Granted, it was always dark around Rumia, but tonight it was so even though she had dismissed the ball of darkness usually surrounding her. The clouds above, obscuring the stars and the crescent moon, guaranteed that.
Rumia didn't care. The moon was important to the youkai, she knew, but she didn't remember it ever doing her any particular favours. And it certainly wasn't going to help her catch her prey tonight.
What was her prey tonight? At this moment, it looked like it was going to be the same as last night, and every night for the last week: nothing whatsoever. She didn't need to eat often, just like most youkai. Still, she had to eat sometimes, and the dull, hollow feeling inside her told her tonight was one of those times.
She floated around the forest aimlessly, occasionally bumping into trees, not caring. She needed a plan. She would never catch a human so deep within the Youkai Forest, but her failures to do so anywhere recently had driven her back to this safe haven to lick her wounds.
What was to blame for her failures? She wasn't sure. Perhaps she hadn't been tenacious enough. Perhaps the people living in the village had caught on to her actions and now avoided the areas around her usual hiding spots. Maybe some bigger youkai had come and gobbled them all up before she had a chance.
All she knew now was that she couldn't remain in these comforting woods for long. She had to go out there and hunt. She had to do it now, before her strength faltered and left her without the means to catch anything. She needed to get lucky. SHe needed a miracle.
Then, out of nowhere, something in the forest around her changed. It was for only for a millisecond, but the hairs on the back of her neck stuck up, and she knew she wasn't imagining it. Something strange had happened, and she had proof of it, too: a new smell perforated the air, one she was very familiar with.
Blood. Human blood. Lots of it.
Rumia's head turned almost by itself towards the source of the smell as her mouth began to salivate. Why here? Why now? Did some bigger youkai drag its prey into the woods? If so, maybe she could sneak in and scavenge a bite. It might be risky, depending on the youkai. She had to try it, anyhow, to sate the vicious gnawing beast within her before her vision began to dim.
Even as she was pondering this, she had been unwittingly floating towards the tantalising smell. She swallowed and made the thing her target, her only focus in the world. She needed that meat.
She ignored all the trees in the way, all the bumps she suffered trying to take the most direct route possible to the source. Soon, the smell became so overwhelming she thought she would faint out of sheer joy.
The blood had led her to the ancient burial mounds within the forest, covered in centuries worth of moss and stubborn little saplings reaching towards the distant skies. Rumia had been here before, even taken a nap on the soft sheet of moss that covered the biggest mound. Now, however, something other than the strange monuments caught her eye. There was a figure lying on the foot of the mounds, the source of all the blood.
It was a human woman, with short back hair, dressed in weird clothes and covered in sweat. Outsider. Free for all. Rumia couldn't pay much attention to her, however, with all the delicious blood seeping out of her and into the moss beneath. All of it was coming from the same source, and despite her lust for blood Rumia could tell something was wrong: the prey was missing her left leg, with a festering wound with charred black parts where it should have been. She could tell the prey had tried to crawl away without her leg, at least, as the stream of blood trailed down towards where Rumia was floating.
Rumia tilted her head. She wasn't a huge expert on people, but she could tell her bite marks from one another, and there was no bite mark that looked like this. Maybe her leg had been hit with a fireball? That was the only explanation Rumia could think of. But where? And how?
More strange, however, was that there was no other youkai in sight. That wouldn't last, Rumia knew as much; the smell of fresh meat would soon bring every other youkai in this part of the forest snooping over. It was strange that they weren't here already, really. Not terrifyingly strange, as Rumia had seen no-one else trekking around for the better part of an hour, but still uncommon.
Rumia's eyes darted around. Still no-one. She gingerly approached her meal, forcing herself to move slowly for the fear of a trap. Could this even be real? A dead human in almost one piece (and the legs never tasted that good weren't that great anyway), waiting for her with no competitors in sight, just when she needed it the most! It was so incredible, in fact, that she didn't buy it. However, it was too late to worry about that. She NEEDED this food. She wouldn't find another opportunity this good in a million years, and if this ws a trap, so be it then. She'd have to risk it.
She circled the body, glancing around every once in a while just to be on the safe side. Where should she begin? The sides were her favourite, but should she start with them or leave them for last? Or should she just sunk her teeth in her before someone came to hassle her or she fainted out of hunger?
Why was she even bothering asking all this?
She touched the body on the shoulder and reached down to take a bite out of its arm. Just then, the body coughed and turned its head. Startled, Rumia jumped backwards. In her enthusiasm she hadn't realised that the prey was still alive. Weird, really? From what Rumia knew of humans, they died really easily, kind of like bugs die when you pull their limbs off. Something had pulled this prey's limb off and yet she was still alive?
As she pondered this, the prey's eyes fluttered open. Rumia froze in place. The prey's head barely moved as she looked around, like in a daze. Even Rumia, admittedly no expert at reading humans, could tell she wasn't all there. She eyes fell on Rumia.
"A child?" she said, her voice faint and hoarse. "Are you an angel?"
"Angel?" Rumia tilted her head. What were angels? She'd never heard of youkai like that, that was for certain. "No, I'm not."
The prey made a strange sound that soon turned into a cough. Rumia realised it had been a chuckle.
"That was too much to hope for, yes."
Rumia leaned in closer, half drooling. The prey looked so tasty, but the smouldering wound on her leg made her hesitate. Maybe it wasn't because of a fireball and she had some strange disease from the outside world? If it came down to it, she would risk catching it over starvation, but she wasn't quite there yet. Not quite. "Are you edible?"
"I beg your pardon?"
"Are you edible?"
The prey was silent for a while, and it almost seemed to Rumia like she had finally died. Then, she began to chuckle again.
"Take and eat; this is my body," she mumbled.
Rumia perked up. That had to be a yes. "Can I eat you right now or should I kill you first?"
The prey raised an eyebrow. "Why do you wish to eat me, poor child? You need bread and wine for the holy communion."
Rumia blinked. This prey was strange, even for a human: most of them screamed and ran away when she approached. Obviously, this one couldn't run, but spouting gibberish instead of screaming was just as odd. Odd, but intriguing: they said humans tasted much better when they weren't afraid to die. "What's the holy communion?"
"It's when we commemorate the..." her voice faltered away and she began to fumble with the collar of her shirt. "I'll show you..." her arm fell back down on the undergrowth, limp and powerless. "Please, can you help me...the crucifix around my neck..."
Crucifix? Either way, Rumia reached out and jammed her hand down the prey's blouse. She was so close now, so close to so much tender meat she could barely stop herself from sinking her teeth on the exposed neck in front of her.
Not now. Not right know. I want to know where she's going with this. Just a little longer...
Her hand met something metallic on a chain and she pulled it out. It was a pendant shaped like a cross, with a miniature of a human hanging onto it. The miniature was looking up, like it was reading the Latin letters carved atop it.
"Is he a ten?" Rumia asked, twirling the pendant in her hands.
The prey smiled at her wanly. "That is the saint who was crucified on the cross."
Rumia frowned. "Why would they do that?"
"It's a long story, my poor child." The prey took a deep breath. "Are there any hospitals nearby, child?"
"What are those?"
"That is a no, then." The woman chuckle-coughed again. "It was a fool's hope in the first place." She blinked slowly. "I should have enough energy left in me to tell you the tale of the saint if you wish to hear it."
Rumia hesitated. She was curious, but her stomach was growling.
"Dunno. I'm too hungry to listen." And for emphasis, she let go off the pendant and lay down next to the prey, her hands on top of her stomach. "I haven't eaten in a week."
She felt the prey shiver next to her. "Don't your parents feed you?"
Rumia frowned. "I don't have parents." The only memory she had of her birth was of spawning directly out of darkness, and even that might have been a dream. "I look after myself."
The prey was silent for a long time. When she finally spoke again, her voice was quivering. "Is there no-one to watch over you? How long have you been wandering on earth all alone?"
Rumia shrugged. "I've forgotten." She meant it, too. Beyond a certain point, her memories were a fluctuating jumble of various uncertain fragments. It didn't really bother her, but it certainly seemed to upset the prey: her entire body was shaking now. Or maybe she had finally understood what Rumia was and was starting to fear her. "It's alright most of the time, actually. Just not when I can't catch anything."
"Perhaps the saint could help you?"
Rumia raised her head from the ground and met the prey's glazed eyes. "Telling me stories about him won't make food suddenly appear." She sighed. "That's why I want to eat you. I don't think I can fly anymore."
Again, the prey fell silent for so long Rumia was about to turn to her side and dig in. "I...have a suggestion to make."
When Rumia said nothing in reply, she continued: "I will certainly die soon. If you are willing to wait until my natural death, and listen to what I have to say, I give you my permission to eat me once my soul is gone."
This was new. Rumia had never even heard of a youkai being given a permission to eat someone. That wasn't how it worked. "What do you mean?"
"You must eat, after all. It will not...be a sin if you have my permission. And my body, in this broken state, has no other worth. I would rather do one last good deed with it and save someone else than throw away two lives." A light briefly appeared in her eyes. "Can you wait for a while longer? Do we have a deal?"
Rumia considered this. The choice was in her hands: she didn't have to wait if she didn't want to. She could easily refuse and overpower the prey, no question about that. She could sate her hunger right here and now. It was all up to her.
But still...
She sat up and took a more comfortable position. "I can wait for a little longer. Tell me the story."
The prey's smile returned, faint but genuine. "Very well. First, let me tell you about angels..."
Rumia was in paradise. The world was her hunting grounds once more. Even the clouds had parted, and the waning moon did its best to illuminate the forest in its sickly glow. Anything was possible with a full stomach.
She zipped happily through the woods, full of vim and vigour. She had just had the meal of her life, and an interesting story to boot. It had been weird, though: something about multiplying fishes and throwing down stall booths. Or something.
She didn't bother with the small details, anyway. She remembered the main gist, and that was what counted.
...Well, she couldn't remember the main gist, either. But she did remember one thing. And she wasn't going to forget it, either, nor the nice lady who had offered her salvation.
She kept her legs straight and raised her arms to her sides.
"And this is how the saint was crucified on the cross."
THE END