Warning: Brief mention of nudity in end of chapter (literally one word, nothing graphic)


As it turned out, life was quite pleasant. She lived somewhere out in the English countryside in a classic English cottage with her mother, her father and her younger brother. It was the middle of the summer holidays, and it seemed like the sunny days filled with sweet apple juice and a swift yet warm breeze would never end.

She especially loved the small river located a few minutes' walk behind their home. It's flow passed through a lush, green forest where the cool air was always welcome when the sweltering heat became unbearable, and as far as she knew, it had always been her favourite summer activity to take her shoes and socks off and splash around in the icy cold water. Even as an 18-year old, she loved it more than anything else and made sure to visit the small river whenever she had a spare moment away from her stressful life as a student.

One day, she sat on the edge as usual with her bare feet submerged in the cool water. The therapeutic flow of the river tickled her ankles as she gazed up at the trees towering over her, gently swaying from side to side in the wind as she leaned back and supported herself with her hands firmly placed on the ground behind her back. She could not help but smile to herself, closing her eyes to concentrate on the sounds of nature surrounding her from all sides. The bird song, the trickling of the water flowing over the stones, the rustling of the leaves in the wind... It was all so calming.

"Hey there, Human!"

She jumped, a surprised gasp escaping her as she opened her eyes wide and glanced behind her, not seeing anyone. "Huh?"

"You can hear me? That's unusual... you must have the Sight. I like you."

She finally noticed a young, shirt-less guy with shoulder-length hair that shimmered an elegant sea-blue in the sunlight peeking through the leaves. He had his arms crossed on the ground as the rest of his body appeared to be down in the river. His jade-green eyes sparkled with amusement as he beamed at her, raising one of his arms to give her a small wave.

"W-who are you?" she stammered as she stumbled backwards, blushing furiously, not used to seeing shirtless guys who looked around her age and who randomly appeared in front of her.

"Your friendly neighbourhood spirit animal, of course! You may call me Baku."

"I...I'm Chise."

"Ah, a beautiful name for a beautiful lady." This casual comment, as if he was stating the obvious, made her cheeks discover a whole new shade of redness. "So, tell me, Chise. You're clearly no mere Human, so what are you, exactly?" He rested his chin on the grass, gazing up at her with a curious look in his eyes.

"Uhhh...? There's more than one kind of Human?"

"Obviously. Although some would generally be thought of as more cursed than others. For instance, there are the Sleigh Beggies who already are extremely rare, and those gifted with the Sight are even more so. They are known for being capable of harnessing great amounts of magic, which unfortunately does tend to shorten their life span dramatically, as their frail bodies aren't particularly well built for such things. Speaking of which, do you mind if I run a little test on you, seeing as even you don't know much about yourself?"

"...Alright. But what kind of-" Her scream echoed around them, birds flying off in panic when she felt a searing pain in her arm as Baku launched himself forward and sank his teeth into her arm. "What the hell?!"

Baku retreated to his previous position, with a smile. "Knew it. You're a Sleigh Beggy gifted with the Sight. What an honour it is to finally meet one eye-to-eye! The harmonic taste of your blood is truly unique. You'd do well to keep it away from those who would love to feed off it."

"What?! You just bit me, and now you're warning me to watch out? And not just that, you're acting as if biting me without warning is perfectly acceptable?!"

"I don't see why it shouldn't be. You agreed to it, after all."

She opened her mouth to argue back but closed it again without saying a word. "That is some seriously messed up logic, you know." She nursed her arm, fresh blood trickling down it.

"Allow me. In order to seek the lady's forgiveness, I must first take care of the mess I made." He pulled himself up onto the edge to sit next to her, and to her relief, he was wearing a grey pair of shorts. Oddly, they were completely dry as if he had not even touched the water, but she decided not to question him about it. She didn't want things getting weirder than they already were.

At first, she backed away from him, fearful of him biting her again or doing something even worse. However, he simply held out his hand to her and silently inclined his head to her injured arm.

"...First, you bite me, and now you want to help me?!"

"Just give me your arm."

"No."

He sighed heavily and reached for her arm, only to have his hand violently slapped away. "Hey! I'm trying to help you!"

"No, you're creepy!"

"Fine. Have it your way. You can stubbornly sit around and die from an infected wound that no doctor can heal."

"...I-infected?"

He nodded grimly. "Precisely. You should always treat a bite like that right away before it gets nasty."

"Ugh, fine." She reluctantly held out her arm to him.

As he held her arm, he whispered some words in an unknown language before giving the bite marks a slow lick, sending chills down her spine.

"What are you doing...?"

"Shhh! I'm concentrating." As he slowly ran his tongue over the wounds, they began to close up and fade away, leaving no trace of ever having existed. Once they had all been closed, he let go of her arm and got up from the ground. "I could totally do that every day, if it meant that I could taste a Sleigh Beggy's blood every time."

"...You're disgusting."

"D-disgusting?" He stared at her in shock, wide-eyed. "That's a little harsh, don't you think?" He grunted in pain as she gave him a sharp kick across the leg in response. "Alright, alright! I won't do that again." His eyes glittered as he gave her an entirely different look. "If you agree to being my mate... Chise."

She gaped at him in disbelief before frowning and violently pushing him away from her. "Get away from me, you creep! I don't know who you are, but I don't want to have anything to do with you!" She turned around and stomped off back down the path.

"...You can evade me that easily?" He reappeared in front of her, his smile gone. "This isn't just any regular dream for you, is it?"

"What do you mean?" If she wasn't already completely and utterly confused before, she definitely was now.

"You're dreaming right now." He paused to think. "But you've been at it for two weeks in a row. That's not normal, even for a Sleigh Beggy. It's as if you're in some kind of coma, but then you'd be semi-conscious and able to hear things around you in what you'd call the 'real' world. My best guess it that you're under someone's spell, which explains why you can see me. Even those gifted with the Sight take time to fully attune to the dream plane but never hang around long enough to achieve that."

She didn't understand even half of what he was telling her. It was all so mind-blowing, and she couldn't do anything else but gape stupidly at him.

"Poor Sleigh Beggy. You've been set adrift at sea and placed in the pitiless hands of Fate..." he began, suddenly straightening up and puffing out his chest proudly. "Do not despair, for I, the great Baku, shall protect you from the evil that plagues you! After all, you haven't seen a single monster here so far, have you?" Without waiting for a reply, he continued. "Well, that's all my doing, you see." He patted her head with a wide grin. "You've been blessed - by yours truly!"

"W-what?"

"How about I set you on the right path, hm? Here's what you need to know..." He placed two fingers on her forehead as her body froze, and she was unable to move.

"In every bright aspect of your life in this world, there is a flaw carefully hidden somewhere," he began, his voice echoing in her head. "It can manifest as anything, from the peeling corner of wallpaper," As he spoke, some of the possibilities flashed before her eyes, "to the flawed morality of a special someone. Your task is simple; Locate these flaws and uncover them. Only once you've uncovered all of them, will you be able to return."

She stumbled backwards, blinking multiple times. She stared at him with wide, fearful eyes. "B-but... how? How is any of this true? Isn't this reality?"

He tutted at her, shaking his head. "Nope. You've been horribly deceived, little one. This isn't your home. Now, I don't know who you messed with to get this curse hurled your way, but I doubt that uncovering all the flaws will be as easy as it sounds. After all, whoever has done this to you currently has full control over your mind. He may even try to tear this knowledge away from you and make sure that I stay well away next time. When and if that time comes, you will be left alone to face your fears. But I can already tell that you're unusually strong, so you should be fine."

It didn't take more than a glance to see the desperation in his eyes that he clearly was attempting to hide. He wanted something from her in return but was hesitant about asking.

"You want something from me, don't you?"

He seemed flustered as he rubbed the back of his neck with a sheepish grin. "Well... yeah. You see, I've practically been dying to see the 'real' world since the beginning of my existence, so... I was sort of hoping that I could hitch a ride with you on the way back," he admitted. "Only if you're okay with that, of course," he quickly added with a nervous chuckle. "I'm kind of restricted by what others agree to and what they don't."

"Hmm..." She thought about it for a moment, looking thoughtfully at the ground before looking up at him again with a small nod. "Alright. But only if you promise to help me in any way you can - and don't even think about trying to make me your property."

"You can count on me!" He strutted proudly, making her think of a male peacock during mating season.

She let out a tired sigh at his display. "If you're going to help me out, could you at least change into something less... revealing?"

"As you wish." He performed an elegant bow before shifting into the form of a large tapir-like creature to her great surprise, instantly baffling her beyond words.

"...Oh God, no! I meant for you to change your clothes, not change form!" She groaned with a pained expression.

"Ah, I see." He shifted back into his Human form, this time butt-naked.

She shrieked and spun around, blushing furiously with her back to him. "That's even worse! Could you at least do a dog or something?"

"Sure thing." He didn't seem to even take notice of her embarrassment as he shrank down into a golden retriever. "Better?"

"Much better..." she mumbled in relief as she slowly began walking back to the house with him at her side, her legs feeling as if they had turned to jelly.