SHORT chapter! Koichira plays with cute furry critters. Sort of.
Ch 6: The Hunt
Unsettled, Koichira followed a raised path between the rice paddies. Men in broad-brimmed hats waded in the water, carefully pulling out the weeds.
"Wait! Please, Onee-san, wait." The fire demon turned in time to be almost knocked over by Yota's exited hug. "Did you see? Did you see? I ran! My leg doesn't hurt at all."
"I'm glad, Yota-kun, but I must go."
"Take this!" The boy pushed something into her hands. "It's to say 'thank you'."
Koichira unfolded the four-inch blade of a handmade knife. It was clearly very precious to the boy. "I can't take this."
Yota pouted. "Don't treat me like a little kid. I'll be insulted if you refuse my gift."
"Is that so? Then I'd better accept it. Thanks, Yota-kun." The child beamed at her, then ran back to the village as fast as he could. He still favored his right leg slightly, but it was probably just from habit. Koichira wasn't quite prepared for the rush of loneliness she felt leaving this village. "Strange. I only spent one night here, but it felt like . . ." She shook herself mentally and didn't look back again. If she had, she might have seen the monk in yellow robes standing at the outskirts of the village, watching her leave.
Koichira stopped to rest at noon. The heat of the sun couldn't penetrate the leafy canopy, but the air was still and hot. Her stomach growled in complaint: she hadn't eaten anything but rice, beans and daikon radish for five days. The fire demon grinned as she decided to catch her own lunch; it had been too long since she'd had a good hunt.
Koichira refrained from searching for the rabbit's spirit; instead, she tracked it the usual way: bent double to examine the faint prints and the scat. She found it nibbling at a low shrub, its ears twitching every which way. The fire demon approached soundlessly, then pounced. Screaming, the rabbit scrambled out of reach of her initial lunge. Koichira crouched and leapt, knowing it was her last chance to catch this one. She grabbed it and her full weight came down on its back, snapping its neck.
"It was a fine chase, friend," she murmured into its fur. "I will honor your spirit and I give thanks for your meat." Koichira bit into its throat, her fangs tearing through skin and fur to reach the flesh inside. Hot blood gushed into her mouth and dribbled down her chin. "To think I considered giving all this up for a monk," she said self-mockingly.
Dusk was falling when Koichira scented putrid smoke. All of her senses alert, she crept forward to find that her path crossed the trail of a large animal. It had burned a wide east-west path through the forest. "A firerat." She looked at the size of the burned path. "A really big one." Firerats are born the size of large cats, but continue to grow throughout their lives. A long-lived rat can grow larger than a horse. Judging from the footprints, this one was three times the size of a full-grown ox. Firerats are predators who stalk the plains. Koichira could think of only one reason why one would be headed west into the mountains. "It's none of my business if a demon's after the Shikon shards. Why should I care?" the fire demon asked herself. She was already running along the swath of destruction in pursuit of the firerat before she could think of an explanation.