Hanzo knelt down next to the large paw prints he had found on the ground and ran his hands over them gently. Beside the paw print were human footprints that were so small they looked like they belonged to a child. These tracks were left by the demons who he had seen the day before. He had grown confused with these creatures. After he awoke from their attack he had found, that in fact, he wasn't dead. Nor was he injured. They had left him unharmed and with a few gifts as well. He woke up with a large animal skin draped over him that had been carefully tanned and was thick and warm. Along with the pelt was an addition to his campfire. More sticks had been left for him and there were two black rocks with them as well. Hanzo found that these rocks made sparks when he banged them together and therefore, after many trial and errors, was able to make a fire. He couldn't remember the last time he had been so happy. Maybe it was desperation.
Hanzo stood up and began to follow the direction where the tracks went. They had walked along the sandy beach and were heading into the forest. Hanzo broke into a jog and scanned the tracks on the ground as he came deeper and deeper into the forest. When the tracks reached the forest floor they vanished. He skidded to a halt and scanned the ground for any other tracks but he couldn't see anymore. He had lost them.
"Kuso," he muttered before a strange sound came to his ears.
It sounded like something was crying. Like a human crying. Hanzo strained his ears and then picked up where the sound was coming from. He took off into the trees, toward the sound that he was hearing. He ran through the trees and thicket as he listened to the sound getting louder and louder. He heard loud rustling beside him suddenly and from the corner of his eye, he saw a few deer bound away into the brush and timber. He kept his pace as the sound got louder and finally he came to the edge of a small valley where the sound was coming from. His eyes widened at the sight of a small child, only maybe five. Was sitting against a tree and crying his eyes out. From what Hanzo could see he was bleeding from his temple and his jacket was ripped up. How did a child get here?
Suddenly there was the sound of leaves rustling from the thick brush on the other side of the valley. He saw a large white wolf emerge from the trees and its eyes were set on the small child. On its back rode a human of some sort but they had the ears and tail of a wolf. Hanzo spotted the long auburn hair on the demon's head and the noticed how tiny they were. A girl most likely. They were dressed in animal skins and wore the mask that was shaped like a wolf's face. The being twitched their ears slightly as they stared down at the child before swinging their leg over the wolf's side and jumping down to the forest floor. In their hand, they had a large machete which made Hanzo's eyes widen. He froze for a moment, watching as the yokai started to approach the boy who was staring up at them. Hanzo quickly grabbed an arrow and nocked it on his bowstring before pulling the string back and aiming for the yokai's head.
They came closer to the child. Hanzo took a deep breath and started to loosen his grip on the string before freezing yet again. He watched in surprise as the demon sheathed their machete at their side and knelt before the boy that stared up at her with curiosity and a tinge of fear but that soon went away when the demon pulled up her mask on her head. Hanzo couldn't see her face from his position but he saw the little boy tilt his head in curiosity at the sight of her face though. Slowly the boy reached up and touched the ears on her head, making the demon become very still and relaxed. The white wolf slowly then walked up to them and lowered its great head down to their level. Slowly then the yokai pulled her mask over her face again and lifted the boy up in her arms and placed him on her hip. The boy wrapped his arms around her neck as she carried him to the white wolf. The giant wolf laid down allowing the wolf girl to climb up on its back with the young boy. She lifted him up on the wolf's back and then climbed on behind him before reaching around him and grabbing the wolf's long white fur in front of her.
Slowly the wolf climbed to its paws and stood up tall and proud. The boy started to giggle in excitement when the wolf began to walk slowly into the trees. Leaving a stunned Hanzo, who was questioning everything he had heard of the demons. The way the female yokai handled the boy was simply unheard of when it came to demons. As a boy, listening to the tales of his father about the terrifying demons, made him fearful of them at a time. Demons were supposed to be bloodthirsty beings of evil and chaos. He didn't believe in demons until the day he saw the large paw prints and the demons themselves.
He suddenly realized that the demons were disappearing back into the thicket. He then quickly placed his arrow back in his quiver at his back before bounding off after them. He kept a great distance away from them but not so much he couldn't see them.