The little girl walked through the familiar path back towards the mountain. Her thin arms carrying the bucket of water at her side, struggling to move through the harsh slope of the land. She had gone down earlier with her bucket to gather water on the small river on the foot of the mountain, her bucket would be providing her for a few days until she had to go and refill it once again.

Throughout the day, her mind had kept on wandering on the strange boy she met earlier. Now that the threat of her precious lavender melons were out of the way, the girl took the time to reminiscence the event that took place.

The boy was strange. He had white hair and red horns. Crimson eyes that shined with mirth and happiness, so different from the monsters she was used to seeing. He also had a red horn and strange markings on his face. She tilted her head to the side wondering if he was human, she didn't think humans would look like that. From what she could vaguely remember from the previous inhabitants of her small home, humans weren't supposed to look like that.

Maybe he really was different—like her.

She was a Tengu. She had black wings hidden under her skin, only called upon when she was in immediate need or in danger. A tengu's speed is said to be nearly unrivaled, which had proven itself true numerous times for the little girl. Her black wings had saved her far more than she can count while living in the mountains plagued by evil monsters.

She was a Tengu who was simply abandoned in the mountains exactly because of her heritage. Despite that, she had great respect for her fellow clan.

She had heard about the Tengu warriors who are known to possess magical items known as feather fans. When wielded by a tengu, a feather fan can have various effects; while in the hands of ordinary people, it is only capable of "making one's body lighter" when in mid-air.

She herself, had a feathered fan of her own, hidden safely at the comfort of her own barely standing house. It was the only momento that connects her to her heritage, the last gift she was bestowed upon after they had abandoned her on the mountains.

The water splashed on her leg as she stumbled over the rocks, with a grunt she held the bucket more securely, making sure not to waste precious water more than necessary.

As she crossed paths with the familiar melon tree from earlier, she was surprised once again to see the white haired boy with horns. He was leaning on the tree, arms crossed, while his foot patted down on the ground rather impatiently.

Whatever he was doing there, the girl had no idea. Presumably waiting for her. When his red eyes caught her, finally noticing her presence, he bolted away from the tree, skimping towards her. The girl eyed him wearily, why was he such a bolt of energy?

"There you are! I've been waiting! Come, let's have our match!"

She raised her brow, "Now?"

The boy rolled his eyes, "Well, duh! When else should we have it? Now is a good time! Come on!" He urged her tugging on her purple lock.

"Hey!" She snapped, moving away from him. "Stop that! Don't pull my hair! Do you want me to pull yours?" She glowered, raising one hand threateningly.

The boy took a step back, eyeing her hand he swallowed heavily. He could still remember the sharp scratches her hand did to his person. It might look wimpy, but oh boy, appearance can do fool you.

"Sorry..." He mumbled in defeat, "But come on, we should go!"

"To where exactly?"

"The Byakko Plain! Our sumo match, remember?" He then gave out a horrified sound, "Don't tell me you've forgotten? An admirable foe never forgets his fights!"

"I don't even know what you're talking about!" She snapped, "Sumo this, Byakko that, I don't know those things! I live in the mountains you idiot!"

The boy gave her an exasperated look, "What? How come you don't know any of that? Sheesh," He scratched the back of his head, "Guess I'll just show you."

The boy grabbed her arm, pulling her towards the direction of where she saw him walk off earlier in the morning. Her bucket of water fell down on the ground, the contents spilling everywhere. She let out a cry, her precious water!

"Hey, what do you think you're doing?! Do you know how hard it is to carry that bucket?!"

The boy rolled his eyes, "Don't sweat the small stuff. After our fight, I'll help you get another one. I bet I can carry ten of those!" He let out a boisterous laugh.

The girl only gave him a deadpan look, obviously seeing through his lie. He was a scrawny young boy like her, so how could he even dream of carrying ten buckets back up the mountain.

She stumbled after the boy, his grip on her wrist was tight, but not strong enough to hurt her. As they moved through the mountain path, she recognized the unfamiliar terrain. It was the part of the mountain she didn't dare to venture forth, simply because she didn't have any courage to do so, dreading the idea that the creatures might be hiding there, and that she really had no reason to go to this side of the mountain.

They came upon a clearing, the boy let go of her hand as they stood at the center, facing each other. The boy had a wide grin on his chubby face, hands firmly planted on his hips, eyeing the challenge before him.

The girl simply stood there, crossing her arms and raising a brow at the boy. What exactly did he expect her to do? She has no idea about what nonsense the boy had been talking since earlier.

"Well?"

"Well, what? Now we fight!" He hollered, bending down on the waist, hands on his knees as he raised one foot up, stomping down roughly on the ground, repeating the same process with the other foot. The girl couldn't help but think that he looked like a wild animal.

The girl stood absolutely still. Eyeing the boy blankly. A moment of silence passed between the two, where the boy was stuck on that ridiculous pose of his.

"What are you doing?!" He cried, annoyed by the lack of response from his oponent. Did his abdominal foe deem him not strong enough to take him on a serious battle? He found it ridiculous that his foe didn't regard him seriously. Nevertheless, he was not the type to back down. Her lack of response only encouraged him more to prove to her that he was worthy of an honorable fight.

"Get in position, we're settling our sumo fight! I will win and defeat you! Bwahaha!" He proclaimed proudly, he might've lost to her earlier, however, he didn't consider it as a fight in his book since he was taken by surprise.

The girl didn't understand a word he was saying but it was clear that he wanted to fight her. She had no clue what a sumo fight is but she did get in position. Squaring her shoulders proudly, she also crouched down, ready to bolt in an instant. He wanted to fight, so a fight she will show him. And after she won, she will bathe in lavender melons for weeks.

"Start!" He declared, both launching at each other at the same time.

The boy was taken by surprise once again when the wind got knocked out of his stomach, feeling the girl delivering a headbutt on the soft skin of his middle. His eyes widened comically when he caught sight of raven wings on her back.

He was sent flying back, rolling on the ground a few times. He spat the dirt that got on his mouth as he glared at the girl, "Hey! That's not fair!" He sputtered.

The girl stood proudly, raven wings fluttering behind her. "I am a Tengu. And you are a..." She trailed off, unsure of what the boy's heritage was. "An Oni!" He snapped, insulted that the girl hasn't heard of his clan. "Yes, an Oni. Fight between Tengu and Oni are supposed to be like this." She lied her way out perfectly.

His eyes widened, "R-Really?"

A small smirk graced her features. Pleased with herself since the boy seemed to buy into her lie. "We are both from different clans, it's only natural that we use the powers we are gifted with."

He took in her words, taking it deeply inside his heart. The girl was right, he was an Oni, and she was a Tengu. She was proud of what she was, and so does he, a proud crimson oni. With a cry of determination, he stood up and launched towards her, the girl moving away quickly with a flutter of her wings.

They parried blows, the girl dancing through the air like a fallen leaf while the boy attacked her with all his might, calling upon his enormous strength. They fought each other like the proud Tengu and Oni they are.

The girl blocked his fists with her arms, with a push of her wings, she maneuvered her body to throw a vicious kick at his side, both grunting at the pain of their blows.

Even with their Tengu and Oni powers, they were still children—therefore, incredibly week. They are, after all, still scrawny brats as what people liked to call the children.

The boy grabbed her arm while she delivered her kick once again, causing him to stumble backwards, pulling the girl along with him. The unexpected force caused the girl to crash into him as they rolled on the ground, tousling each other, trying to come up as winner as best as they could.

The two children didn't notice how dangerously close to the cliff they both were, and as another roll came, they both slipped through the cliff, pummeling down the ground before any of them could take on what had happened.

The girl's instinct quickly acted on its own, feeling the familiar feeling of being suspended in the air. Her raven wings flapped widely, saving her from falling to her death.

The boy, however, had no such power, he cried out towards the floating Tengu. "I CAN'T FLY!!!"

The girl quickly snapped into action, letting her wings follow after the boy. She flapped faster, noticing how close he was to the trees, with a determined flap, she forced herself to go faster despite the strain that came with overusing her wings. She could already feel the sharp pain tingling over her shoulder blades, ignoring it with all her might to save the boy who had made a change to her daily life.

Her arms reached out to him, embracing him close to her body, sharp branches scratching through their skin, with a forceful flap, she stopped their decent, barely hovering above the ground.

They were both panting, adrenaline still pumping through their system, they shared a glance, red meets gold.

With a sharp cry, the girl let go of the boy as she fell on the ground beside him, quivering as she reached out over her shoulders, holding onto them as if it could stop the pain that was eating her back side.

At the sight of her distress, the boy quickly reached out to her, wincing as a pain on his ankle made itself known to him. He ignored it and attended to the girl that had saved him.

"What's wrong? What's going on? How can I help?!" He spoke, panic crossing his features. The girl was whimpering, her wings were trembling badly, she was tightly grabbing on her shoulder blades. His hand flew in the air randomly, unsure what to do with himself, he was scared of touching her, given his reputation he never make anything right, and he was afraid that he might hurt her as well and add to her pain, which he absolutely didn't want.

"I'm fine." She said through gritted teeth, seeing his distressed look over the purple locks that covered her face. She didn't like that look on him, the girl decided. He was the rainbow and sunshine type of person, the type to find every positivity in everything negative. The look he was giving her didn't suit him, she preferred him happy and bright. Solemn looks was totally out of place on the crimson oni's features.

She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself while waiting for the pain to settle into a dull state. She did it repeatedly, taking deep breaths while lying on the ground completely still. Somewhere along the way, she noticed the boy reaching out to her face, moving the purple locks away. As he sat beside her, not knowing what he could do to help, he did the only thing he could think of.

The boy had always liked the way Grandma Oni petted his hair whenever he was troubled. It was calming and soothing, and he hoped that he could deliver the same feeling towards the Tengu who had saved him. While she laid completely motionless, he let his fingers run through her purple locks. Surprised by the softness of her hair despite being disheveled, the purple color mesmerizing his red eyes.

Her eyes fluttered close, embracing the calming effect of the oni's actions. She was surprised of how gentle his fingers were in her hair, combing softly. She couldn't comprehend how such an hyperactive person had gentleness hidden inside his body. It was tranquilizing, in the back of her mind, she briefly wondered when was the last time a person had touched her with such care and gentleness. It seemed like a long time ago that even her memories had started blurring together.

After a while, the pain had finally settled down into nothing but dull ache on her back. Although reluctantly—not wanting to stop the gentle touch he was showering her with—she pushed herself up. The sun would set soon and she had to go back up the mountain before sunset or else the monsters would devour her.

"It's getting late, we should go home."

"Are you okay now, though?" He inquired, worry lines crossing over his features.

The Tengu nodded and stood up, reaching her hand out to help the Oni as well. Her keen eye didn't miss the way the boy winced as he stood up, eyeing how he was preferably leaning on one leg, almost dropping all his body weight at one side of his foot. If there was something the girl knew about the boy is that he was a proud person, and proud people usually stands up on their own two feet determinedly.

"You're hurt." She stated, watching him wince."

"Yeah? And so are you." He huffed, crossing his arms across his chest.

Her golden eyes inspected his other foot, taking note of the subtle purple coloring his skin. "You strained your ankle."

He pouted, moving his face away from her direction. Stubbornly not wanting to admit the fact that she was right.

The girl knew that the boy could not go anywhere with an injury like that, and the sun would set soon, the mountains were dangerous. She reached out and grabbed his arm, throwing it across her shoulders, while her other hand wrapped around his waist. He sputtered for a moment, surprised by her actions.

The girl rolled her eyes, "I'm trying to help. Come on, let's get you home."

The boy let out a grumble. "Fine."

He reluctantly accepted her help, because he knew as well that he wouldn't be coming home with his ankle in that situation, instead of getting it better, he was sure he'd end up making it worse before he got out of the mountain. And with the girl here helping him, her assistance was a huge relief.

Although it hurt his pride to have a girl save him twice, he didn't dwell onto it too much, because a proud man accepts help with out discrimination especially when he truly needed it. She might be a girl, but the Tengu was strong and had proven herself as an abominable fighter, and that was enough to earn his respect.

Before sunset, they were already out the mountains, she dropped him off at the nearby village she hadn't realize was there. She didn't linger long, just making sure that he was alright and taken care off before slipping through the crowd silently.

The Tengu took the path back up the mountains, casting one last glance over her shoulder, wishing that she could've asked for the Oni's name.

~~~

(A/N: Sumo fight? More like wrestling. One more chap till we go through timeskip and they become adults.)