Sayuri is seen on her knees, covering her mouth as she coughs due to water ingested from the waterfall mishap. Mizuki pulls out the remaining seaweed from a strand of her sapphire hair and disposed of it in the water.
"Well that was refreshing. Right Sayuri?" the wolf girl questioned with a grin.
Sayuri's coughing concluded and she glanced at Mizuki. "Uhm…Right" she muttered, not wanting to disagree, and glanced timidly at the ground as before.
They had found themselves washed up on the shore of a different section of the forest, this one having a sparse amount of landscaping. Sayuri stood up in the ankle-deep water, the section around her left leg slowly fading into a diluted crimson color. Mizuki's ears tensed into a stiff, upright position as the scent of blood filled her nostrils.
"Sayuri, you're bleeding" she said, glancing at her crimson and raven-haired partner, not looking too worried at all.
"Huh? …Oh, I must've cut it on one of the rocks. I-It's nothing to worry about."
Mizuki shook her head and shoved Sayuri onto the grassy shore to swathe the wound using a remnant of cloth.
"No, I don't want it getting infected. It's better to take care of it now than having to deal with it later."
She paused for a moment, Sayuri blushing shyly as her ankle was attended to.
"There."
Mizuki had bent down to treat the wound and stood upon finishing. "It wasn't too deep. It should be fine."
Sayuri nodded faintly, "T-Thank you. Hm…?"
Mizuki turned her head to face the pond to the left of her. "Hm, what?" She too glanced at the pond. "What is it?" There was a concise pause. "Oh, I'm sorry. I just…thought I heard something. It's probably just my mind playing tricks on me."
Then, as if on queue, ripples formed around the area Sayuri had been staring at and a water creature morphed out from the pond. It was only a few feet taller than Mizuki (who's 5'6") and had dark, muddy looking colored skin and a beak. It had the head resembling that of a squid's with dark mossy colored fins going from its forehead to the nape of its neck. These same fins also decorated its spine down to the very tip of its tail. Its eyes, that were black in color, had bags underneath them. It had arms and legs resembling that of a frog's, but slightly more advanced. Scales, only slightly darker than its skin, dotted every body part found on the creature.
Sayuri stared in shock, "W-What is that?"
Mizuki narrowed her eyes at the displeasing creature. "This must be your first time seeing a water demon. It must've been roused from your blood."
Sayuri's bit her lower lip, "I'm…I'm sorry. It's my fault."
Mizuki's Aries mark began to glow and she tugged on her gloves, the blades ejecting almost instantly. "Nah, don't be. Just watch and learn."
She leaped into the air, only to be slapped out of the way by the tail of the kappa as it twirled around. Mizuki faltered back a few steps before catching her balance, a small amount of blood trickling from the scrape on her cheek.
"Ha! You'll need more force than that to be me."
She attacked it head on this time around, the water demon deflecting her blades with his armor like fingers and claws. Mizuki smirked and dived into the water. The water creature dismissed Mizuki and neared Sayuri at a slow pace, once he grew close enough he retracted his arm, which caused Sayuri to scoot back and stare in fear. Once he was about to unleash the devastating blow, she clenched her eyes shut and held her hands close against her chest, whimpering softly. When she hadn't felt anything, she opened one eye slowly, the other soon following. Mizuki had sliced his arm completely off, so it now seeped blood, yet didn't seem to notice at all.
"Miss me?" Mizuki asked sarcastically. She spin kicked him in the head, sending it back a few steps, but not with nearly enough force to send it flying backwards. She tore through its stomach and flipped onto its back, grasping its fin for support while she launched the final attack. She sunk the blades into its neck and severed its head off, the neck bone of the creature snapping under her fingers. The creature fell back into the now crimson colored water with a splash, as well as its head once Mizuki discarded it carelessly.
"That was fun. I needed some entertainment."
She tugged off the gloves and they disappeared as she walked towards Sayuri, offering her hand out towards the shaken young cat girl.
"Let's go. Water demons like that can regenerate their limbs as long as their heart is still beating."
Sayuri, still awe stricken from the whole ordeal, stared at the pond and then slowly transfixed her attention towards Mizuki's hand.
"Y-Yes…" she uttered, grasping Mizuki's hand until she retained a standing position.
The twosome made their way through the forest; Sayuri's pace fastening to get away from the pond as soon as possible, and they stared at something in the distance. "There it is. Rabbit Country." Mizuki said, her voice hinted with excitement.
