AFTER DARK

Rengoku could understand now why Hanabi had such translucent skin. The area around Akami Village was a dark and dreary place with hardly any visible light. The skies above had a silver hue with muddy dark clouds, and if he listened carefully, he could even hear the sound of rolling thunder in the distance, along with the smell of rain.

"I fear that it might rain soon." Rengoku spoke up as Hanabi walked ahead of him. "Should we stop for now?"

Hanabi paused mid-stride and looked over her shoulder. She thought about it for a bit before shaking her head. "No. It shouldn't be long now. If we go above this hill here…" She slowed her words down as a sudden vacant look flashed across her eyes, only for a moment before blinking it away. "We should be able to see the village."

It was brief, but the sudden change in her eyes didn't go unnoticed by Rengoku. It immediately warranted concern and made him wonder why she was acting like this. Acting so detached and nearly emotionless. He didn't want to speculate too much since she was still nothing but a stranger to him, and he had already figured she wasn't much of an expressive person. The only exception was her crying fit the other day…which still didn't sit well with him. It made him feel uneasy and unsure.

As Hanabi resumed walking, Rengoku quickened his pace to catch up. "Hanabi-san," he spoke up without knowing what to say next.

Hanabi cocked a brow and gave him a side glance. "Yes?"

"Ah…uh, well… Has it always been dark here?" he asked, struggling to think of any question at all. He didn't like the silence between them and was willing to talk about anything to pass the time.

Hanabi appeared quite perplexed by his question. "Hm…yes. As far as I knew...it's always been dark here. It's a much different atmosphere here than back in the bigger cities. The gray skies just…never cease," she answered, her words sounding just as dark and dreary as the sky overhead.

That answer surely didn't help the tense atmosphere. He thought it was a harmless question, but it seemed to have done more worse than good. "The night that I arrived; it looked like the village was having a celebration of some sort. I saw many fireworks in the night sky," Rengoku said, hoping to ease the tension.

Hanabi blinked and thought to herself. "Ah, you must be referring to the Blue Light Festival. It was meant to celebrate the founding of the village. It was said that the first party that they had…they used blue fireworks."

"Ah. So that's what was going on," Rengoku said with a wide, dazzling smile. "I must say…I never seen such beautiful fireworks before. It's quite an exquisite craft. The people who created them must be proud of what they accomplished."

Hanabi stiffened as her eyes grew wide. Redness flushed to her cheeks, and she quickly lowered her head as she walked, hoping to bury the small amount of pride she felt upon hearing that. "Do you…really think they were beautiful?" she hesitated to ask.

Rengoku nodded enthusiastically. "I do! I've seen fireworks before, but never ones quite like those. If I didn't know any better…I would've believed they were made of magic," he said with an awe-stricken face. He looked down at Hanabi and saw her trying to hide her face, but he knew she was blushing because of her red ears. It was then a thought dawned on him. "Ah, Hanabi-san? Perhaps…you were the one who made those fireworks?"

With overwhelming embarrassment setting in, Hanabi swiftly brushed past him and hurried to the top of the hill. Rengoku followed after her, and just as she said, the village could be seen in the valley between two mountains. There were dense woodlands all around, with very little light coming from the village.

Hanabi let out a shuddering breath. "Back again…" she said half-heartedly before heading down the hill. "Rengoku-san, if you want…you can start heading back."

Rengoku immediately felt his heart clench at the sound of her cool words. "No, no… I'll stay with you for a bit longer." He insisted before walking beside her down the hill, but this time being cautious. For some reason, the moment he could see the village, he was overwhelmed with a sense of dread and foreboding. He didn't like the thought of leaving Hanabi just yet, and to ensure she was safe, he decided to stay around for a bit longer.

Hanabi looked slightly displeased to learn this, but she turned her face ahead and continued. "Fine. Do what you wish."

They walked down the hill in this ominous silence neither of them liked. Rengoku looked on guard while Hanabi just appeared uneasy. She wrapped her new haori closely around her body and stuck close to her escort. Once they were at the bottom, they noticed an approaching light on the trail. Multiple lights, actually. As the lights got closer, Hanabi and Rengoku realized it was a group of people in a mourning march. They were all dressed in dark clothes and huddled close behind a large coffin leading the way. Hanabi was already at a loss for words and didn't even react when Rengoku grabbed her shoulder and pulled her off the trail.

As they stood off to the side, they could hear the grieving people talking amongst each other.

"He was just torn apart. I don't know how it happened," one said.

"Perhaps it was an animal," another followed.

"What kind of animal does that?"

"Whatever it is…we all must be careful."

Through their hushed whispers, it didn't take Rengoku and Hanabi long to figure out what happened. Before running into Ameya…the demon must've found someone else.

"The demon…" Hanabi muttered in a sharp whisper, but apparently, it was loud enough for some people to hear. Some of the elderly mourners lifted their heads and were shocked to see Hanabi again.

"Hari-san?"

Hanabi physically flinched and turned her head away. "Excuse me…I…I didn't mean to…" she rambled on but didn't know what she was saying. Her mind became scrambled as it tried to comprehend that the demon had killed someone that night.

Attention was gathered, and the mourners stopped right beside them. Their haunted eyes stared intensely at Hanabi, making her whole body feel cold and achy. Breathing was starting to get difficult, and she wished for nothing more than the world to swallow her whole. She didn't like being stared at; it made her feel like a freak.

"Hari-san…where in the world were you this entire time?" one of the mourners asked.

"Yeah. Your house went up in flames…and you were nowhere to be seen. Ameya was practically hysterical and was talking on and on about you and some…creature of the night."

Hanabi sucked in a deep breath and tightened her jaw. "That's…I…What had happened was…" she stuttered out as she began to shake. Her heart pounded hard against her ribs, and she heard the sound of thunder rolling in, along with the smell of approaching rain.

"Isn't it obvious! She was the one who caused this misfortune!" someone suddenly snarled out.

Rengoku immediately snapped his head up. "What?" His eyes grew wide with shock, but his astonishment couldn't compare to how Hanabi looked at that moment. She looked a mixture of both fright and disdain.

The wailing woman continued. "This is just like what happened last time! She was the one who killed her parents and set her own house on fire! She was the one who killed my son!"

As the outcries settled into cruel echoes across the valley, suffocating silence followed. Before Hanabi could even react though, Rengoku suddenly pulled her close and caught something flying toward her. He quickly snatched it in his hand and saw it was a large rock.

Hanabi shuttered. "What?"

"Get out!" the villagers started to scream out.

"Get out of here, you demon!"

"You'll cause nothing but misfortune! Leave this please!"

The mourners suddenly started to reach down and pick up rocks, hurling them at Hanabi as if she was a plague upon the earth. They showed no mercy even after she hunched down low and tried to shield herself. They all shouted, screamed, cried their hearts out, and threw the rocks as hard as possible. Rengoku was swift, though; he snatched Hanabi up in his arms and dashed away. Even though their voices were becoming distant, they were like banshee's screams within Hanabi's head.

Rengoku carried her all the way to the outskirts of the village, and once they were alone, he slowed to a halt and sat Hanabi down. He took a breath of relief and looked over his shoulder to make sure he wasn't followed, but luckily it looked like he outran them all.

"We should be alright here for now, but I don't know for how long. I imagine things to get worse if we stay," Rengoku said.

"It's always been like this..." Hanabi suddenly spoke in a small, quivering whisper.

"What?" Rengoku turned to her and watched Hanabi step back a couple of feet, the same vacant look in her eyes from before.

There was a split in the sky, and the rain fell through the clouds, soaking them entirely in seconds. The drops were freezing cold, and Hanabi's clothes and hair stuck to her body like a second skin. Still, she hardly reacted at all to it and just stood there…never looking so lonely until now.

"Hanabi-san…what are you-"

Hanabi immediately cut him off. "They're right, you know. About what happened to my parents. Everything that they said…was true. The day my parents died…I had accidentally knocked over a barrel of black powder…and had forgotten to clean it up before I went out. Next thing, there was a spark inside the workshop, and my home erupted into flames…along with my mom and dad," she said with a sharp hollowness in her voice. "I really was the one…who killed them," she finished, her voice sounding as sharp as a knife.

Rengoku felt his chest begin to tighten. "Hanabi-san…"

So his intuition was accurate. The time that she cried back at the Butterfly Estate…was probably the first time she had cried in years. All those emotions had burst forth in a single moment, and she didn't know how to deal with them. She had no self-control, and the emotions rushed in like a tidal wave, breaking through a dam-like façade.

Hanabi closed her eyes and sighed. "Thank you for bringing me back here. I don't know what I'm going to do next, but…I guess I'll figure it out." With what little courage and respect she had left, Hanabi bowed her head and turned to leave.

"Hanabi-san! Wait!" Rengoku rushed forward in a flash and grabbed hold of both her hands. Hanabi flinched at how fast he moved and stared up at him with wide, watering blue eyes that resembled moonlight. "Until you figure out where to go…would you like to stay with me?"