' "She kept all the magic out of sight,
how else to achieve what you feel?"
...
"If that love was just a curse,
then I have only tears to shed."
We will do what we must!
Let it all turn to dust!
...
"Can't believe all the fools I see!
You fed them dirty lies!"
...
Searing flames rising higher
as the sun begins to die.
Feel now the weight of death and soon...'
~Witch Hunt
Jubyphonic (English Cover)
Consciousness returned to Narumi slowly.
'This feels oddly familiar.' She thought. 'Alright brain. Catch up to my body and tell me what caused it this time.'
Sure enough, Narumi's memories did flood back, and boy did she not like them.
Turns out, Muzan's dad got really mad when he saw Narumi. So mad in fact, that he chucked her scroll at her, yelling about how Muzan was 'dishonouring the family by being in the company of a commoner-witch'.
Which, first of all, rude. Second, Narumi probably would've told him so if the scroll didn't hit her in the temple, rendering her unconscious.
She had to give the man credit. Knocking someone unconscious by throwing something at their temple wasn't an easy feat.
Still, complimenting that waste of oxygen wasn't really what Narumi planned on doing. Next she took stock of her surroundings.
'Oh. I'm in Muzan's backyard.'
She looked up. 'Well thank goodness it's cloudy. I should probably go and look for-'
...huh?
'Why can't I move?'
Narumi looked down, and balked.
She was tied to a post. Securely tied to a post.
Said post was shaped like a cross. Her arms were tied perpendicular to her body. There was so much rope wound around them she could barely see them.
Her torso wasn't any better. Thick rope was wound tightly around her abdomen, calves and ankles. There wasn't any wiggle room.
The only weird thing was the purple flower-leaf things tucked into the rope.
Oh, and she was gagged. This was possibly the 4th worst day of her life.
'Well this sucks.' Narumi dryly thought. 'No matter, I'll just Shunshin outta here and go find Muzan and hopefully Sakura.'
...
...
...
...
'...I'll just break the ropes. Brute strength's never failed me before.'
...
...
...
...
...
"Ok what the fuck?"
"Don't worry. The feeling's mutual."
Narumi whipped her head around, or at least tried to, eyes stretched wide.
"Who the hell said that?!"
"Muzan, Tomato-chan. And can you stop yelling, please? You're giving me a headache."
"...Muzan?"
"Yeah. I know you can't really move right now, but try to look behind you."
Narumi craned her head, the rope creaking in protest, and sure enough, there he was.
Muzan.
He was crouched behind some shrubbery at the edge of the woods. His eyes were narrowed as he stared at her. When they made eye contact, he raised his hand in a silent wave.
Said hand immediately came down to grab the collar of a second, smaller figure attempting to dart out of the shrubbery towards Narumi.
Sakura.
If Narumi could, she would sag in relief. Sakura was ok. Sure, she was still dressed in a ridiculously fancy kimono, but she was unharmed.
"Tell Sakura I'm glad she's alright."
Muzan blinked at her, before leaning down and whispering something into Sakura's ear. The girl immediately whipped her head in Narumi's direction and frantically waved, a bright grin on her face.
Wait...
"How the hell are we talking to each other right now?"
From within the bushes, Muzan shrugged. Narumi threw him her best glare, which he ignored.
"No clue." She heard Muzan's voice echo in her head, and wow wasn't that weird. "Probably one of the side-effects of Fuseijitsu-teme's crappy medicine." Narumi hid a snort. "All I know is that there's this kind of... string, I guess? that's connecting you to me."
A string? Narumi narrowed her eyes and tried to focus, but couldn't find anything.
"I don't see it." She eventually said. Thought? Said-thought?
"Really? Weird. Must just be a 'me' thing then I guess. Any idea why your rope is decorated?"
Oh yeah. Narumi looked at the purple blossoms again. The little voice in the back of her head that started screaming when she stuck her arm in the sun was screaming at the blossoms, but it was more muted than the first time.
"My brain's telling me to stay away from 'em."
"Same here." Muzan replied.
From the corner of her eye, Narumi could see Sakura tugging on Muzan's sleeve. When he finally looked down at her she opened her mouth and made a couple of gestures. Muzan tapped his temple and said something in reply. Sakura visibly brightened and began frantically gesturing.
Muzan raised a brow before thought-speaking again. Ok that name has to change.
"Sakura-chan wants to know why you aren't using your 'cool Kunoichi skills' to break free."
This time Narumi made no attempt to hide her snort. Classic Sakura.
"Believe me, I've tried. Something on this post seems to be weakening me."
Muzan did not look happy with her response. If anything he looked both mad at the post and worried for Narumi. Simultaneously. Which gave him quite a funny expression to be honest.
Sakura, being the impatient girl that she was, began insistently tugging on Muzan's yellow kimono sleeve until he turned to look at her. The two of them quickly became engrossed in the other and they sat behind the shrubbery, quietly chatting.
Wait a minute.
"Muzan, are you wearing my kimono?"
Even from so far away, Narumi could see Muzan flush.
"...Otou-sama was really insistent about getting rid of all of your belongings. I grabbed them and jumped out of the window."
"What?"
"Was I... not supposed to?"
"No, it's just... you. You jumped out of a window?"
"Oh shut up."
Narumi was about to reply when something slapped her across her face. She turned to look, and came face to face with Muzan's dad.
Oh. This bitch.
"I see that you have awoken, Witch."
"And I can see that you're apparently a bastard with no respect towards women."
Is what Narumi would've said, if she weren't gagged. Instead, she used her telepathy, that's what she decided to call it, with Muzan to say what she wanted to say, even if her intended target couldn't hear her.
Instead, she glared down at the man, her position on the post making her slightly taller. He kept on talking, either not seeing Narumi's glare or doing a very good job of ignoring it.
"Do not waste your already weakened magic in an attempt at escaping. The ropes that bind you have been strengthened with Wisteria. Which, as all knowledgeable people know, is the prime weakness of all witches, demons and magic-folk. As an intellectual myself, it is only expected that I be aware of this. Truly, the-"
"How the hell did you manage to grow up sane with him as a father, Princess-chan?! I'd have killed him off years ago. Or at least have cut his tongue out. Kami, does he even know what the meaning of 'shut up' is? And let's not even mention his ego. It might somehow become sentient, hear us and become even larger."
Narumi could hear Muzan choke down a laugh from the bushes. Good. That poor man needed to laugh more often. And not that fake laugh that all rich people do, a proper laugh.
"-name is Ubuyashiki Osamu, but you must already know my title. My mistake of a spawn, being the blabber mouth that he is, must have already told you all of our family secrets."
How... dare he?!
If looks could kill, this Osamu guy would've been dead 3 times over with how hard Narumi was glaring at him.
How dare he insult Muzan like that?! Treating him like... like a piece of gum stuck beneath his shoe.
Osamu, once again, ignored Narumi's glare and kept on babbling. Though what he said next made her blood run cold.
"As per tradition. We shall burn the witch, being yourself, during sunset to cleanse our family of sin."
Excuse me, what?!
"He's... he's not serious, is he?"
"..."
"...Muzan?"
Osamu went back to babbling nonsense again, only this time to the... crowd of people? Huh, looks Like everybody who works in the mansion is here.
When did they get here?
Anyways, with him thoroughly distracted, Narumi risked a peek backwards.
Ah.
Seems as though Muzan and Sakura's roles have been reversed. Now the little girl was using all of her strength to just barely hold Muzan back. Narumi suspected that she was using chakra to strengthen her arms and stick her feet to the ground. Muzan was... he looked livid.
His eyes were, quite literally, glowing. His face was contorted into a snarl and veins were bulging from his neck. His hands were wildly swinging in front of him. Long, sharp nails were viciously slashing in his father's direction.
"...Muzan? Buddy? Can you hear me?"
Still nothing. So he was either ignoring her, which she doubted, or he was so caught up in his rage that he didn't hear her. Alright then.
"Oi! Princess-chan!"
Yelling seemed to have done the trick. Muzan's head jerked back, the glow in his eyes fading. Unfortunately for Sakura, this meant that he stopped resisting her. The two of them went tumbling backwards, disappearing from Narumi's view.
From her position on the post, Narumi winced. 'Oops. Didn't mean to do that.' She thought. Narumi then sent a mental apology for good measure.
"Sorry! Are you two ok?"
For a short while, the only sound in Narumi's head was her own thoughts. Just as she began to panic however, she received a reply.
"Your gesture is both appreciated and not appreciated, but we're fine. Just a bit scuffed up. Which is understandable, given how far we fell."
"I'm kinda scared to ask, but how far?"
"Only down a cliff, we're fine. Has my father finished rambling yet?"
"What do you mean 'Only down a cliff'?! Is Sakura ok? Are you ok?" Narumi yelled. Sure, Muzan could theoretically just regrow and repair whatever got damaged, but Sakura was only human. Sure, she was a chakra-enhanced human, but she was also a child. A child that Narumi cares about. A lot.
"We're both fine." Muzan replied. "Sakura-chan yelled out a "throw me!" while we were falling, which was confusing at first, but then I remembered that you, quite literally, walked on my ceiling. She's chilling in a tree somewhere nearby, and I'm in a ditch."
That... was mostly reassuring.
"You ok in your ditch?" Narumi asked.
"As well as I can be with two broken legs."
"I'm sorry. Two broken WHAT?"
"They're in the process of fixing themselves, calm down. Sakura-chan and I will be back as soon as-"
Muzan was clearly still going to say something, but Narumi didn't hear him. Her focus was diverted to the sudden pain that bloomed in her feet. She looked down, and her mind went blank.
Fire.
She was on fire. Her feet were burning.
Narumi looked up and made eye-contact with Osamu. He smirked at her and chucked the lit torch in his hand at her, adding fuel to the growing fire.
His mouth opened, but no sound came out. Why wasn't he making a sound? Narumi could clearly see his mouth moving. Osamu lifted his hands and head upwards and shouted something to the sky. Narumi followed his gaze.
Huh?
When did the clouds go away? The sun had apparently also set, since she could see the moon and stars. It was a full moon tonight, she noted.
Narumi looked back down.
Osamu had moved back to the crowd of people watching. All of their mouths were moving, almost like they were chanting something.
Narumi still couldn't hear them. Why couldn't she hear anything?
The flames were rising higher. They were up to Narumi's stomach by now, with small wisps licking at her arms and neck. Strangely enough, she didn't feel any pain. That can't be right though, she was burning alive. Surely she'd be in pain, right?
There was a movement in the corner of her eyes. A small shape that was gradually growing larger. Narumi wanted to look, but she suddenly didn't have the energy to turn her head. When had she gotten so tired?
The shape was still growing larger. Suddenly it split into two. A small pink one and a large yellow one. Narumi's eyes focused on the yellow one and followed its movements.
It was heading straight for the crowd of people. Why was it doing that? It barrelled straight into the mass of people. Almost immediately, wherever the yellow shape went, people dropped like flies. It was almost like... they were dying.
A massacre. It was killing them.
Strangely enough, Narumi didn't feel sorry for them. In fact, her moral compass wasn't making any attempts at trying to tell her to help the people. Quite the opposite, in fact. It was rooting for the yellow shape.
'Huh. Well, who am I to argue with my instincts?'
Suddenly Narumi was pitching forward. She was seconds away from getting a face full of grass when her vision was assaulted by pink. For a few minutes that was all she could really see. Pink.
Just as quickly as it came, it vanished. Now Narumi was looking at an endless expanse of black with white dots. What was she looking at? Oh right, the sky.
The pink shape was flitting in and out of her field of vision. Its movements seemed almost frantic. Was it waiting for the yellow one to come back?
Lo and behold, the pink one's flitting ceased when the yellow one returned. Only, it wasn't quite as yellow as it was before. Narumi could spot spots of dark red mixed in with the yellow.
Now Pink was flitting around Yellow, making exaggerated arm gestures. Yellow, in response, placed both hands on Pink's shoulders, ceasing the agitated flitting. Wait, they had arms? Since when? Narumi could only recall seeing them as blurry blotches.
Then again, the longer Narumi looked, the more she could make out. They weren't blotches at all! They were people. Pink was a little girl with long, black hair, and Yellow was a tall, pale man with short, black hair.
Narumi hummed softly. Yellow was kinda cute.
Her vision was assaulted by pink, red and yellow. Again? Really? Can't she just have a singular colour to look at for more than 10 minutes?
"...ru..? Y... ght?"
"...an... y... ear..?"
"Oka..."
They were saying something, or trying to at least. Narumi couldn't make anything out. She let out a confused hum, trying to convey her confusion to them.
Pink and Yellow shuffled around for a bit before Pink disappeared. Now Narumi was only looking at Yellow. Something prickled the back of her head, but she was suddenly hit with a wave of exhaustion. Why was she so tired?
"...ay awa..."
"-ru..!"
Narumi's eyes began to droop against her will. The prickling became more insistent, but her exhaustion won out.
"Narumi! Please stay awake!"
"Okaa-san!"
'Where had that come from? I'd be a terrible mother.' Was Narumi's last thought before slipping into unconsciousness.
Shunshin = Body Flicker
Otou-sama = Father
Okaa-san = Mom
Oh my word I've had a rough last few months. You would not believe!
Anyways, I got the chapter out. Eventually. I'm sorry for taking so long.