Chapter 3

Yuuji went to the woods where Ryujin insisted they speak alone.

When deep enough, Ryujin said out of the blue. "Show her the real you,"

He froze instantly. "Wait, what?! NO!" he protested. "It'll freak her out! Not to mention, she never knew before that I was a demon vessel, how can I show her this side of me!?" he demanded and took off the veil that covered his body. He stared at himself; the four arms alone were unpleasant for people to be around. Even at the school, they are still startled to see them on his body and in use.

"She has known something has been off about you for a while," Ryujin said offhandedly. "Have you ever peered into her eyes? She has been observing you with such care and caution. She has wanted to say something but hasn't been able to get the words out. Have you not noticed?"

Yuuji began to think back, but she was always so meek and quiet, perhaps he overlooked it. "Ozawa has always been soft-spoken…" but then he began to think of the time they were getting the smoothie for Suiryu; she kept opening her mouth, wanting to speak, but held off when people kept walking by. Was she holding off for his sake? She didn't want him to stand out or let others know? The more he thought about it, the bigger of an idiot he felt.

"Damn it! How did I not see it!?"

Ryujin snickered. "Dear fledgling, you are still maturing, are you not?"

"Yeah…" he muttered in defeat. He sighed aloud. "If I show her and it blows up in my face, I am blaming you!"

"Very well, and if she doesn't scream or run from you. I have the perfect place to take her for you to court her!"

Yuuji paused. "Wait, how would you know…"

"Trust me, fledgling. This will impress her, to say the least!"

Despite his better judgment, Yuuji went with his advice well… it couldn't be worse than some ideas he took from Gojo sensei… especially when he came back after everyone thought he died…

#

Later that evening…

He arrived at her apartment. With a gentle knock on the door, Ozawa answered; she peered out but appeared somewhat surprised. "Yuuji?" she asked in great confusion.

"Hey, I… uh… wanted to talk to you if you have a moment."

The surprised look didn't leave her face. "How did you know where I lived? I never gave you my address…"

He froze. 'Damn it, Ryujin, you could have said something about this!' he thought. But there was no use in hiding it now. "I can explain, but… I wanted to explain something else, and I noticed you have wanted to talk to me but never could get the words out. Is there a place we can go?" suddenly, she grabbed his jacket and yanked him into the apartment. The door locked; she was quick to go around and block the windows.

He was stunned by her actions as she appeared to settle down slowly. "Yuuji… what happened to you?" she asked with great worry. "You aren't the same guy I knew in grade school, in fact…" she approached him oddly, her thumb gently went over where his demon eyes were, despite the fact they were closed, she pegged them instantly!

Then she looked to his hands. Her fingers traced around his wrist, where some of the marks were. "You see them, don't you?" he asked gently of her.

Her head nodded. "Yes,"

"How?" now he was curious. "If you can believe it, I'm doing my best to conceal my presence right now. No one has been able to look beyond it or see what I am hiding until now. How can you see it?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "I… Had a near-death experience when I first came to Tokyo," she said offhandedly. "Something or someone pulled me out of traffic before a truck came barreling through a stop sign. I was thrown back but hit my head rather hard since then. I've been able to see things no one else has been able to."

Yuuji tried to sense it in her, and there was no curse energy. There wasn't divine either. If that's the case, what caused her to look beyond his power? "Do… you want to see what I really look like?" he asked. "I warn you it's not pleasant, and I got a lot to explain about my appearance…"

"Show me," she said fearlessly. "I want to see who you truly are."

He nodded his head. Stepping back, he slowly took away his curse power, and his clothing turned to what he was wearing, revealing his extra arms, curse marks, and eyes to her. When he looked up at her, she was silent. "Yuuji…" she whispered.

"I've been through a lot…" he said and tried to smile it off. Yet before he could continue, her arms wrapped around him! He became taken aback as she held him tightly. He couldn't resist the urge to return the embrace with all four arms. "Ozawa… I have much to tell you about this. But at the same time, I am being told there isn't time to tell you this all now…"

He released her from his arms as she stepped back, appearing confused. "What do you mean?"

"Uh… do you want to go out and see something amazing? I do advise that you dress warmly."

She was confused, but curiosity got the better of her! She excused herself from the room.

'That went better than anticipated…' Ryujin chimed in Yuuji's mind.

He smiled and nodded in agreement. 'So, where exactly am I taking her?' he asked.

'You talk, I'll drive,'

'You are getting too accustomed to the human tongue…' Yuuji thought but smirked at the notion.

She came out of her room, dressed rather warmly, and took a winter jacket with her. "Where…"

He merely extended his hand to her. She didn't hesitate for a moment to take it as they were suddenly on the roof. He moved that quickly! She was stunned by his speed until he sweeps off her feet! "Wait, Yuuji!" he started running. The next thing he knew, he was jumping off the roof!

Before she could even scream, they were airborne, flying through the sky over the city below. She gathered her courage and peered down. Her eyes sparkled to it all. "You can fly!?" she demanded.

"I… can do a lot of things I couldn't before," he said nervously. "This is one of them, but it's just the start!" They suddenly began to pick up speed! They were flying faster than ever before until suddenly they descended.

Looking about, Yuuji didn't know where they came to, but Ozawa did. "Wait, isn't this the Kumano Kodo trail?!" she said.

"Uh…"

Looking about it was, yet there wasn't a soul in sight. "Strange, this is a tourist destination. Why is it empty?" she wondered.

There was a massive sign before them. There was no entry for the time being, yet still, why did Ryujin come here?

"Yuuji, is there something going on here?" she asked curiously.

He sighed. "I'll be honest. I don't know. I wasn't the one flying… part of the thing I had to explain." He broke down his story as best as possible from eating a cursed object, being possessed by a demonic sorcerer, then a dragon of all things.

When he mentioned a dragon, she snickered. "Really?" she laughed aloud. "That's silly!"

He held up his four arms. "You can believe everything else, but not a dragon being in me?" he demanded sarcastically.

She giggled, of course, and yet Yuuji felt compelled to go forward. He grabbed her by the hand gently as they walked past the sign. When they did, the trail began to appear different. His third eye opened as he found the whole place glowing! "Whoa…" he whispered.

"What is it? I can't see a thing," Ozawa protested.

Suddenly, a mask blew at his feet. Curious, Yuuji picked it up and sensed divine energy coming off of it. "Put this on,"

"What?"

"Trust me?"

She nodded. With great care, she placed the mask over her face, and then her eyes widened in shock as a gasp came out of her. "What…"

"I don't know, but it's the reason why we are here, why the dragon in me wants to be here. Come on," he said gently.

There wasn't a soul to see, not a single human or curse around. But the divine creatures were starting to gather oddly. The moment Yuuji began to move forward, more and more of them appeared out of nowhere. "What's going on? Do you know?" she asked.

He shook his head. "No, but it's the reason why we are here." He said gently. They followed the string of divine creatures that were starting to gather at Nachi Falls. There a waterfall and an odd rock formation at the base, but he felt something radiate out of it.

"Yuuji…" she whispered.

'I need to take over from here…' he heard Ryujin say.

"Excuse me a moment, okay?" Before she could answer, he jumped off the ledge where tourists would stand and admire the falls before he made his way towards them…