Lone Scarlet Lily, Hidden in the World of Snow: Waiting for the Spring.
Chapter 8: Good and Bad, Strong and Weak
The scent of humans and burning wood caught my attention as I crept through the fringes of the small forest just outside of the dead village Midoriko was toiling over. A few days had passed since I told her to meet me back at her village's forest, but I had long since calmed myself. As my mind cleared, I decided that letting Midoriko journey home alone was a fairly bad idea (as she seemed to attract and seek out danger with that 'good' nature of hers) and so the shaded areas beneath the forest's canopy had sheltered me as I watched for her figure leaving the village.
But, I had never expected to sniff out the humans who had pillaged that very same village to show up just when I needed a little entertainment.
Peering out from the trees, I could see around twenty humans loudly talking around the large campfire they had constructed. From my place in the shadows as I crept as close as I could without alerting the more attentive humans to my position, I could see crude-looking armour and weapons that had seen much better days.
And a truly wicked idea came to mind as I marked them as easy human prey. One that would put even Kitabayashi to shame, but would hopefully keep me entertained until Midoriko finished her foolish work and headed home. I stealthily crept further back into the shadows, my breath clouding the air as I planted my energy into the ground and readied my Misdirection.
My fingers ran through my black strands, removing the red ribbons from my hair and allowing it to fall freely down my shoulders and back. After tying the fabric around my wrist with the help of my teeth, my hands occupied themselves with straightening my hair and hiding the pointed tips of my ears behind the fine black shroud. With this, I could pass as a human and show them exactly what a real demon was capable of – and show them how their measly raid of the village was nowhere near as gruesome as a demon would have left it.
The dancing sway of bright orange flames illuminated the tree trunks in a golden hue as I approached the group yet again. Struggling to conceal the sharp smile my lips twitched themselves into, I took a moment to collect myself. An act, to put them off-balance and create some enjoyment from killing humans (who were often so weak that the idea of killing them was laughable), and then a… show… to lengthen that entertainment.
Serving as retribution for those dead bodies in that village was simply a coincidence – one that I would never mention to Midoriko, but if these 'spirits' were still floating around (which they weren't), I'll consider them put to rest (a path far easier than burying all of their bodies).
With that, I managed to wipe the smile from my face and set Katashi's bow and quiver in the hollow trunk of a nearby tree, and took another deep breath as my energy now covered the ground the bandits stood on. As my face mimicked that of the terrified – yet relieved – faces of the humans that we had come across in our travels. Trying my best to play my part whilst attempting to keep my amusement from creeping back into my features, I ran down the slope (stumbling a little for added effect) and towards the bandits, "Help! Please help me!"
My pleas caught their attention and they clumsily scrambled to grab their weapons, squinting into the darkened forest, before they fully picked out my figure as I stepped into the illuminated ring their fire provided them. The change was immediate once they saw the dreadfully hopeful look I portrayed on my face. Their bodies loosened from their alert stances, and their rapidly collected weapons were just as quickly discarded or slung over shoulders smugly.
While my hackles raised at the thought of being underestimated by humans, I stilled myself in dedication to my ploy. Misdirection, through my energy or my appearance, was a useful skill. Besides, at the end of this, they'll recognize their mistake.
Too bad it's a fatal one.
"Well, girlie," The leader leered at my body as I pretended to pant to implant the idea that I had come all the way from the village, "whattaya doin' out so late? You lost? Me an' the boys'd be happy to help a pretty little thing like you… Ain't that right, boys?"
They laughed, gathering around the leader that towered above all of them as a wall of muscle and scars, "I'd reckon so, boss!"
Nearly all the men had a scar somewhere visible, and while they probably thought that it made them seem fiercer, it only proved to me that they frequently got into battles they couldn't handle. A few of the men had fresher wounds, and judging by the boss's equipment outshining the rest, they'd probably given (or he claimed) all the higher-quality spoils the villagers had to offer (which were still terrible, it seems) while the rest of the bandits fought over his unwanted scraps. All in all: a pathetic pack of humans. But I wouldn't let that fact stop my fun, of course.
"I-I just came from the village, a-and-!" I gestured in the direction of the village before taking a few steps and curling my fingers in the fabric of the leader's clothes, tilting my head to look up at him imploringly, "T-they had to have been attacked by demons! They… they were all…" I trailed off, finishing my sentence with hiccupped breaths as I released the bandit from my clutches and buried my face in the sleeves of my kimono.
An arm found its way onto my shoulder, drawing my covered face into his chest as the leader pulled me closer. The sound of the crackling fire was drowned out by the shifting movement of the group as they encircled us – I felt the muscles of the human before me move slightly as a nod was given. I resisted the urge to skewer them all where they stood.
"Whatcha say, girlie? Demons?" The leader's large hand squeezed the flesh it encompassed, and the shaking caused by his boisterous laughing transferred uncomfortably into my smaller frame, "'Ear that, boys? Demons attacked the village!"
His laughing seemed to be infectious, as it spread to his underlings once more. Suppressing the twisted grin that would surely disrupt my guise, I removed my face from the light-blue fabric and looked around at the men with wide unbelieving eyes before shrugging the man's hand from my shoulder as I took a hesitant step backwards.
"W-why are you laughing? The demons could still be-" The men laughed harder at my supposed confusion, and after a while of wildly looking from one human to the next, I turned to the leader with a perfectly creased brow for some clarification.
"Ain't no demons kill all those people in that village..." He shot me a toothy grin as he leaned his face down to mine, "Y'see, robbin' the dead is a lot easier than robbin' the living."
Well, that certainly was a lot easier than I thought it would be – these bandits were just as foolish as they looked. And they were just begging to be played with… but not quite yet. I could draw out the 'innocent human' a little longer to mess with them.
So even though one of the men behind me crept close enough for me to feel his body's heat, foolishly leaning over so that his warm breath burned the back of my neck, my energy remained buried and unused in the ground beneath our feet.
"W-what? Surely you aren't saying that all those people… died by your hands?!" Once again, dark chuckles arose from the crowd that had gathered around, creating a ring around me that grew smaller and smaller as the ruse went on.
"That's exactly what we're saying, girlie. Do ya want to be one of 'em," He gestured towards the direction of the village, "or do you want to have a little fun with us instead?"
The smug smile of the bandit leader morphed into a confused smirk as my frightened demeaner straightened, my eyes flashing dangerously as my lips grew into a diminutive smile that held all sorts of warnings within.
"Oh, I think I'll have fun with you all, instead. Try to make this at least somewhat entertaining, alright?" A dense fog filled the area, summer's heat preventing me from calling a snowstorm without wasting more energy than these humans were worth. But, it disguises my presence just as well. Confused murmurs filled the clouded air, and as the leader immediately reached for his weapon, I disappeared into the fog – their senses now mine to warp.
The water bucket beside the campfire easily put out the flames that gave the humans some sort of directions, and I threw the empty wooden container at the feet of the humans (who were currently walking in circles, unable to find the 'innocent girl', and one another in the dense fog as I led them to stray from each other one by one). The sound startled them enough to immediately swing at the harmless object with their weapons as I rounded up their provisions – making sure the paths of the wandering fools didn't cross with my own – and settled near the edge of the forest where I had appeared from.
Eventually, after I grew bored of their incessant calls and their leader's poor display of trying to organize his subordinates, I drew them all together and created an illusion of my figure in the fog in front of them. Smoothing out my hair, replacing the ribbons wrapped around my wrist into my hair once more as two buns trailed with my remaining length of hair opened my neck back up to the warm breeze of summer's night, I watched as the bandits tried attacking every single illusion I created to replace the one they cut through.
"She's playin' with us! Huddle up and keep track of the man next to ya!"
Then, I watched as they all attacked one of their own as my illusion had taken the bandits place – the men failing to heed their leader's command as panic set in at my antics – and a pained cry snapped the affected humans out of their blind attacking as one of their own fell to their own blades. A silence ensued, they all looked at one another. They were frightened, unsure what to believe, but all hesitant to attack my image again, for fear of doing the same thing that caused human blood to spill.
While things had gone according to plan, misdirecting humans without Misdirection was easy enough. Killing humans in general was far too easy to be entertaining. As I considered killing them all outright, a better idea came to mind before more blood spilled, and I created more illusions in the thick fog, so that my image surrounded them (the image that they had seen previously – with my hair down to conceal my ears and appear more human than I was).
"What do ya want from us, demon?"
As I spoke, I made sure that Misdirection made it impossible for those located within my Range to pinpoint where it was coming from, "Did you not hear me before, human? I want nothing but some entertainment. And you all were simply unfortunate." My illusions grinned as I continued, "You have two choices in front of you – kill your fellow humans…" The men all looked warily at one another, "Or starve."
"What? Are you crazy?!"
"We just have to find you-!"
"We have enough food to find her – the fog can't be that thick! We can find her before the sun comes up!"
"Yeah, that's right! All we have to do is find her, and-!"
Their voices all sprang out at once, noisily making plans and such to escape with only shedding my blood. Some looked panicked, some looked like they were considering their fellow humans closely, and others ignored every word I said. Their leader, the burliest of them all, seemed like he was in the second group of humans.
As he spoke up, shattering the noise, I felt that it was truly unfortunate that the humans had rallied behind a man who does not care for their wellbeing, "And what happens when ya can't kill anymore?"
"Boss?"
"What are you saying, boss?"
"C'mon, you're not serious, are you?"
"The… The demon took our supplies... The foods gone!"
One of the humans called out and seemed to cause enough unrest that I didn't have to insert any more. All the men now looked at one another suspiciously, all clutching their weapons closely as eyes darted from one another.
"Well, the last one alive will have proved his strength and find himself able to leave my fog…"
Those words seemed to be enough for the leader, and he turned on the closest human without another thought. With powerful swings of his sword, the leader took out his allies one after the other, cutting through the ranks and spilling more crimson blood across the ground. I recalled my illusions, perfectly content to allow the humans to destroy themselves now that they seemed quite determined to do so.
While the other bandits froze in place, their surprise ended quickly as their leader didn't stop in his bloody path, and with cries of betrayal in the air, they also jumped into the carnage.
The leader, beset by his former allies, quickly went down with several gashes gushing onto the red-stained grass. With the instigator defeated, to my surprise, the remaining humans quickly turned on one another. The first to fall victim was the man hurriedly trying to strip the recently deceased of his armour, and then the one who had slain him fell. In this way, there was only one barely left alive by the time the sun appeared on the horizon. I returned to the tree that held my bow and quiver, retrieving them and adding them to my person as a small frown pulled at my lips.
It seemed like my source for entertainment didn't last as long as I wanted, but there were only twenty or so to go through. To be fair, watching them starve would've been the longer death. Perhaps that would've been more entertaining? I shook my head, ridding myself of thoughts about what could've been as I slowly dispelled my fog, approaching the figure that collapsed to his knees, covered in blood – both his own and that of those that lay motionless around him. This only proved to show how easily humans died – not to mention how fast they would turn on one another as soon as there was no escape except for betrayal.
…Midoriko had yet to display such qualities, though. Could she be trusted not to? Were these the indications of 'rare' humans that would simply turn on their own – just as these bandits ransacked the village? Were these outliers in mankind, or were people such as Midoriko the outliers? It wasn't just a Demon Slayer trait – to be 'good' and considerate to other humans – as that human… Fujioka? Seemed to fall into the same category as the humans lying before me.
Now that I think of it, what exactly made a human 'good' to others? What made them 'bad'? Why did such a distinction start? I shook myself out of the line of thought – to me, there were only 'strong' and 'weak'.
Speaking of which, I addressed the human that was still alive.
"You did well, human." His head sluggishly raised, the weight no longer being supported correctly by his neck with his exhaustion, "But unfortunately, I slay things that slay humans: a category you fall under, it seems." Pulling an arrow from my quiver, I pulled the feathered end with the bowstring, aiming it in the middle of the bandit's forehead as the wood easily bent at my command.
"W…hat? You said…"
He struggled with his words, and I cut off his attempts quickly with a cold reply, "I did exactly what I said – you no longer stand within my fog. However, you've proved your strength doesn't amount to much, and so I take no pleasure in this." Before the man could respond, my arrow sunk into his skull, and his body slumped over without as his muscles failed to function.
I scoffed at the bloodied bodies on the crimson field, "Humans are such easy prey. Too bad you didn't spend your time killing something much more entertaining: you might've lived a little longer." Glancing back towards the village, my eyes tracking the path Midoriko would take to return home, I discerned no need to hide the bodies in the forest and so left them where they died without another thought.
Returning to the forest, I continued my shadowed watch for Midoriko's figure leaving the village.
As the sun rose halfway into the blue sky, Midoriko left the village. Whether she felt my eyes on her at all on the uneventful journey back to the village, I wasn't quite sure – even though I made sure to keep a great distance between us and stuck to the shadows (the latter was more for escaping the sun's heat than remaining undiscovered).
The old shrine once more found itself host to my presence after seeing Midoriko to the gates of the watchful Demon Slayer Village, and as a week passed I still patiently waited for her word – diligently avoiding the other Demon Slayers who made their way to the shrine before leaving on their missions.
Whether we were still allies, whether we were now enemies… Whether we were something in between…
It was her choice now – and she could take all the time she wanted to figure that out.
But just as boredom once again settled into my being, her kin showed up.
O
"C'mon, c'mon! You're not hurrying!" Brown eyes looked back at me as he made his way through the leaf-filled branches of the forest, "I told you that we needed to hurry!"
He stops suddenly, waiting for me as I watched him carefully – my slow pace purposeful as I tried to decipher the young cub's intentions. No strange smells filled the warm air, only the sounds of calling birds and swaying leaves reached my ears… everything seemed normal. While I had met the cub again in the spring – as he seemed to wander into the forest quite often, despite his father's rulings – and he had approached me hesitantly to spew out all sorts of questions. Most, I did not answer, but Midoriko's kin filled the silence well enough on his own.
Still, it was strange to see him so eager to see me when we crossed paths in the forest by the shrine: the excitement unable to be hidden as he immediately wanted me to follow him deeper into the woods. Exclaiming, 'I need your help with something, you need to come with me! Hurry, hurry!'. Curious, I followed. But it seemed it wasn't quite fast enough for the impatient cub.
"Do not overstep your boundaries, cub." As my pointed look was promptly ignored, I narrowed my eyes at the young human and continued, "Perhaps I would hurry if I knew what I was hurrying to?"
Stepping up to him, he turned his face away for a moment before meeting my gaze – a guilty look I've seen on his face many times whenever Midoriko finds him in the forest with me. Before I could question what he had done – lest he become a bad influence on me and drag me into all sorts of misadventures – the boy asked a question I didn't expect.
"You're a priestess, right?"
I raised an eyebrow, "…Excuse me?"
"I mean, Midoriko said that you could heal things. And because you head out with my sister, you slay demons… So you're like a Demon Priestess, right?" His innocent eyes looked up at me, and he reached out and grabbed my sleeve tentatively before pulling me along.
The movement snapped me out of my surprise, "Don't pull on my sleeve, cub." He seemed to ignore me once again, and I was about to wrench the fabric from his grasp when he let go of it on his own. Instead, his small hands grabbed onto mine – enveloping them in the warmth that humans emanated from their bodies. It was uncomfortable, the warmth seeping into my skin and raising the temperature of my hand slowly.
It was uncomfortable… but I could grow to enjoy such a thing.
As I realised that, I didn't remove my hand from his grasp – as weak and feeble as the child's hand – and instead enacted my own grip on the boy's hand. A grimace appeared on my face, hidden from the view of the child, as my mood darkened. Midoriko's kin had wormed his way into a position of endearment. Yet another human who held some sort of sway over my heart and my actions…
What did that mean?
I pushed the thought away, content with trying to fool myself instead: I only cared for Hotaka because he was Midoriko's kin. Nothing more, nothing less. Having the younger Yanagi speaking kindly of me would only help to further my friendship with Midoriko – and that's exactly what I was doing right now. Ensuring that I had his support.
That's all.
"…You are ignoring my question, Yanagi. Where are you leading me?" As he continued to obstinately ignore my words, my eyes narrowed, and I easily stopped his movement by pulling him back towards me, "If you do not give me a clear answer, cub, I will tell Midoriko that you've been out here, and that you've been up to something that requires my help."
"No!" The loud sound of Hotaka's immediate response startled the singing birds and scattered them from the trees around us, "You can't tell her anything, okay? You can't tell her!" He spun around, brown eyes gazing up at me as his hand joined the other in holding my hand, he tugged on it lightly. Looking at his wide imploring eyes, I crouched down to be at eye-level with the cub.
"Alright, then tell me what's going on."
"You have to promise, first! You have to promise not to tell her!" He removed a hand and held out his pinky to me. I raised an eyebrow at the action but shrugged faintly and mirrored the human child. Hotaka wrapped his pinky around my own, and watched me, waiting.
Unsure of what he was looking for, he clarified after a moment, "You have to promise me now."
"Ahh, I see." So this was some sort of human ritual, one in which promises were cemented in place by this act? It was strange, as Kitabayashi demons did as they promised after stating their intentions aloud, but I suppose humans as a whole didn't take statements as seriously as demons did, "Alright, but then you have to promise to tell me what's going on."
"Deal!"
After checking for any signs of deceit and only finding an earnest child looking back at me, "I promise to not tell Midoriko what you have gotten yourself into."
"I promise to tell you what's going on." With that, the young boy pressed his small thumb to mine, "There! The promise is sealed, so you can't break it!"
While I didn't exactly believe the validity of that statement, putting in all that extra effort to make a promise probably had some sort of effect on humans. But, seeing as I never saw Midoriko use such a thing against me, it could just be a human cub game instead… Or Midoriko did not want to be 'forced' to uphold her promises…
I pushed the thought away, noting several instances in the past that she has done as she said and gave the boy a pointed look, which he understood almost immediately.
"…I found an injured demon, and I want you to help it." He muttered the reply, sheepishly admitting what he wanted and seemingly expecting some sort of angry outburst.
Surprise trailed across my features, "Oh? What type of demon did you find, Yanagi? I suspect it isn't any sort truly dangerous demon, or you wouldn't be here."
'Here', meaning in the woods bringing me to this demon, or 'here', meaning still alive. Both worked, and I meant both. But it seemed that the young human in front of me only understood the former meaning.
"It's just a little creature, it looks like a cat with two tails, and it was crying out pretty badly – it can't move! It got injured somehow, and I'm worried about it – I don't want it to die!" I let out a chuckle at his statement, causing the concerned look on the boy's face to fall into a confused one.
"Trusting a demon, no matter how harmless they seem, is a bad idea, Yanagi." I stood up, leaving Hotaka to think over my words as I did the same.
What the boy seemed to be describing was a *nekomata – a demon creature that looked as harmless as they come but were just as capable of killing off humans once they changed into their true form. The fact that Midoriko's kin was still standing before me is likely only because of luck – the demon was probably too injured to attack the child.
"But, you're a good demon, Nozomi!" He turned, tugging on my hand and continuing to lead me around the tree trunks and over the sprawling root systems that tripped him up a few times on our way here. The birds had returned, Hotaka's outburst forgotten as they sang above us once more.
A coy smile spread itself across my face, curious about the judgements a human child of 'good' and 'bad', "Oh? And what makes me 'good'?"
"You bring my sister home safely." After a moment, "I don't have to go to the well anymore."
I fell silent at that, the smile dropping from my face quickly. How simple a human cub's mind is. In the spring, Hotaka had mentioned that carving a name into the well's posts would protect those in their family on their missions. Something about the well granting them protection when the person the name belonged to was either too young or too old to do so themselves. A foolish human sentiment, but one that seemed to carry great weight in the child's weighting of my 'goodness'.
My eyes caught the sight of my hand wrapped around his, and for a moment I saw an image of my fingers wrapped around the arrow that killed the human bandit. I saw my hand pulling back yet another arrow to fire at the demons Midoriko and I were tasked with slaying. I saw my hand release an arrow at my own – at the Kitabayashi demons.
They had all fallen at my hands, not because of 'good' and 'bad', but because of strength and weakness.
So what good was distinctions of 'good' and 'bad' when their rulings changed based on whose judgement attributed those characteristics? The bandits would think I was 'bad', the demons would think I was 'bad', the Demon Slayers still thought I was 'bad'…
That this child thought I was 'good' meant nothing.
"That is not the work of a 'good' person, Yanagi. It is the work of a strong one."
"…I guess. But, you use your strength to protect people, right?" He glanced back at me, "That makes you good!"
Foolish humans and their unwavering beliefs in overarching connections for everything.
"Look, we're here!" He stopped suddenly, pointing to an opening in the small upward slant of the grassy terrain, "It's in there, that's where I saw it!"
It seemed to be a den of some sort, potentially that of the nekomata. While it was incredibly dangerous to approach the den of a creature, I couldn't deny that I was a little curious to see why it didn't attack Hotaka. Seeing a nekomata in person was also interesting enough to run some risks…
Sensing Hotaka releasing my hand and starting to run for the den, my fingers clamped down on his wrist before he could get any closer, "And where do you think you're going?"
He looked confused, "I'm going with you-"
"I think not, Yanagi."
"What? Why-!?"
"I'll not have some cub with me when I heal this demon. Especially not a human cub." I bent down, staring the child in the eye, "Go home, Yanagi. I will take care of this demon."
"But I want to-!"
"You want to do what? Help? You can do so by listening to me. You want a household creature? A demonic creature will not want to follow a cub around. You want to look after it until it heals? Unnecessary with my skills." His body only tensed at my words as he glared defiantly at me, drawing out a frustrated sigh from my lips, "Since you aren't thinking of this creature as a demon I'll put it this way – this is a feral creature who cares not for you or anyone else that encroaches on its territory." My blue eyes careened into his rebellious brown ones as I gritted my teeth, "Go. Home. Know that I will ensure this creatures safety. Never return to this area in your secret excursions: this is the den of a demon and you are far too young to deal with such things."
"But-!"
"Do not believe me unable to alert the Demon Slayers to the nekomata's presence nearby their village, Yanagi. If I believe you'll return, I will tell Midoriko and she will gather the slayers to take care of the demon – as they've been trained to do."
"You promised-!"
"I promised I wouldn't tell Midoriko of your knowledge of this demon. Keeping my knowledge of this demon from her is something I didn't."
He frowned, effectively silenced by my threat. His accusatory eyes scanned my face, anger burning deep within them, but they failed to sway me. The last thing I needed right now was Midoriko's kin getting himself injured on my watch. As he saw that I wouldn't sway on this issue, he brushed past me, purposefully making sure his shoulder shoved my arm to the side as he made his way back through the woods.
I scoffed, watching his figure fade from view. He struck out at the leaves and branches after picking up some sort of stick – the sound reaching me as I waited until I could hear his angry path no longer. When the calls of birds returned to the area, I made my way towards the den, breath clouding the air as I implanted my energy into the ground as a precautionary measure.
With my senses focused solely on the small split in the earth, leading downward into what seemed like a small hollow that was just large enough for me to crouch into, I heard the light breathing of a creature as I approached. It didn't seem to be moving around much, as the sound of soft paw-steps failed to reach my pointed ears, and I slowly crept into the nekomata den.
The sweat that had found its place on my skin cooled with the breath of air rising from the damp cavern, and as soon as my shadow darkened the entrance a low growling sounded from within. Instantly, my body stilled as my eyes quickly adjusted to the darkened interior. The growling continued as I slowly moved inside, seeing that the nekomata was incapacitated and looked like it could barely lift its head. My back kept to the curved earthen rounds and cleared the exit as soon as possible, treating the demon cat as a cornered animal and giving it an escape.
The low grow continued as the wounded creature weakly tried to scamper away, but with each attempt to turn towards me, its limbs gave way and failed to enact its wishes. Deep gashes stretched the twin-tailed cat's flank, and one of the back legs seemed to be a little tender, as the cat kept its weight off of it as it tried to move around. With all of its struggling, it only managed to tilt its head towards me, red eyes glaring at me as I continued to stay still.
The nekomata had probably gotten into quite the fight, especially if it sustained too much damage to heal itself – as it had been in this poor shape long enough for a human child to find it and lead me to it. Though most of its tan-coloured fur was matted red, I could see that the ears and paws were darker, with darker lines on its two tails and there was a curious diamond-shape marking on its forehead.
All and all, it was an adorable – and fluffy – creature. The snarling only made it more so, in my opinion – shows a lot of spirit to try and fight when you have nothing more to give. But, as my intent was to help the demon I could only hope it would allow my approach – while I was willing to heal the wounded fluffball, as I had nothing better to do as I waited for Midoriko's decision, I certainly wasn't willing to waste the whole day. Luckily, the demon cat would probably pass out before that could happen, and I could weave my energy into its tiny body and help the healing process along.
"There, there. I'm not going to harm you, nekomata. If you'd allow me, I can help you."
With my intentions made clear, I made myself comfortable. The cool earth pressed up against my back was much better than the heat bearing down outside the small den, and perhaps when the demon cat left it, I would use it to escape the searing midday heat.
The low growling continued for quite some time as I waited, but after an hour the cat seemed too exhausted to continue. I waited, my body only moving with my slow breaths. After another half-hour passed, I slowly moved closer, carrying my body carefully as I positioned myself to sit next to the demon. Its growling once again filled the cavern, and its tails furiously whipped back and forth as it no longer tried to move. I remained still.
Within the next half-hour, I allowed my fingertips to near the demon as I offered my scent to the cat's sensitive nose. While it's sharp canines had sunk into my flesh, I refused to pull my hand back as its eyes challenged me, and soon, its jaw slackened and released my bleeding finger. It's growling ended, and while its tails still whipped around furiously, it hardly flinched when my hands made contact with the demon's soft fur.
I smoothed what I could of the tangled pelt, twisting the hairs around gently in the knotted areas that were a safe distance away from the nekomata's wounds. After untangling much of the fur, the cat slowly relaxed and its bristling tail slimmed down as the hairs no longer stood on end.
"Now, I'm going to help you heal, alright? Just relax… It might feel strange, but I'm not hurting you." I kept my voice low, nothing more but a murmur in the hopes that the nekomata would understand.
As its eye caught mine before falling closed, I believed it did.
With that, I gently placed my hands on the cat's frame, taking a deep breath and closing my eyes as I dismantled my energy to match that I felt coming from the small demon. As I drew my energy out of my own body and guided it to entwine with that of my patient, I could feel the nekomata tense at the strange sensation. Murmuring reassurances under my breath, I felt it slowly settle as I magnified the demon's innate healing abilities and focused it on one wound at a time.
Little by little, the wounds closed themselves up with my energy focusing the regenerative demon qualities. Under my guidance, the would-be scars (at least for a while, anyway) fade and short hairs covered the bare skin before I moved onto the next gash. As strength returned to the little demon, it remained still and allowed me to continue my work.
The little nekomata was nearly completely healed by my hand before a voice sounded at the entrance to the den.
"Woah… You really are a Demon Priestess!"
My body jolted, not expecting the disturbance, but I kept my hands pressed into the demon cat's flank and started to withdraw my energy as quickly – and as safely – as possible, "Yanagi, I told you to-!"
Heat licked my palms as the small form of the nekomata flared up, burning the skin of my hands and trailing up my arms as I continued to try and draw back my energy through the intense pain. My muscles shook, bearing the flames with admirable strength, as the large growling form of the demon emerged from the flames.
The demon cat took up nearly the height of the cavern, and I estimated that its shoulders would reach my waist or higher. Its paws and tail burned with fire, but didn't seem to harm the demon, and two long and sharp teeth stuck out of the sides of its mouth. Its red eyes glared at the young boy, and as it took a step towards his shaking figure, he immediately disappeared from view. With a bounding stride and a loud growl, the nekomata bounded after him.
Falling to my knees as the furred beast brushed past me, the last of my energy safely withdrawn from the demon, I pulled my hands close to my body as I hunched over them. They trembled lightly, and with my breath coming out in deep gasps, I sensed that withstanding the weak flames had taken much out of my body – my healing powers unable to soothe the burns.
Fire… Was quite dangerous for a snow demoness, after all. It had long-lasting effects as it burned through not only my being, but most of the energy in contact with the flames. Healing from such a wound takes a lot of time and energy to repair – as they don't heal on their own. Having to draw my energy back to the areas that the fire had burned away was the additional downside to my already unfortunate weakness.
My fingers curled up into tight fists, wafts of steam drifting near the burnt patches of skin as the warmth emanating from the burns met with the cool temperatures of the undamaged skin surrounding it. The sleeves of my kimono brushed against the burns and incited a fresh wave of pain as my body shivered without my consent – somehow both cold and hot. Lifting my hands up so that my sleeves fell down and away from my sensitive skin, I felt my mind release itself from focusing on the pain. Taking a few deep breaths, I followed the nekomata.
As light revealed the horrid red blotches that now covered my pale skin, the waning heat of the day still served to make the marks burn more. Katashi's bow would remain useless on my back, along with my quiver – my fingers were far too sensitive, and the fact that I couldn't shake the trembling of my hands would impair my aim as well…
The snarl of a demon caught my attention, and as I exited the den I saw Hotaka scurrying away from the nekomata as it stalked him around the root-covered forest floor. Hotaka seemed to have made a loop, crawling back towards the den as the nekomata approached from deeper within the wooded area. With quick footsteps, I placed myself in between predator and prey as my heavy breaths clouded the now swelteringly warm air.
"Nozomi!" His frightened voice held relief in it, and I gave him a sharp look over my shoulder as I squared off against the demon cat.
Said demon seemed to falter in its stride as it saw me step between itself and the human child and tilted its head curiously at me. Intrigued, and hoping to avoid battle so I wouldn't have wasted my time healing the demon, I opted for convincing it otherwise.
"This human is under my care, demon. Should you harm him, you will have me for an enemy."
The red eyes looked from me to the human child behind me. Returning its gaze to me, flames burst from its figure once more as its form shrunk to the smaller size that matched a non-demonic cat. With the consuming thoughts of water running over my burns, and seeing as I no longer felt the demon cat was a threat, I left Hotaka behind in order to make my way to the small pond hidden within the forest.
"Nozomi?"
I ignored the child, walking into the more shaded regions of the woods as I stumbled my way to something that would soothe the pain flashing through my body. I only managed to make it a few feet towards my destination before my body dropped from exhaustion. Unable to stave off my body's immediate need for rest, my eyelids fluttered closed as I felt my skin press against the uneven ground and pull at the taught and reddened skin.
Before my senses could fail me, something furry nuzzled into my side.
*PLEASE NOTE*
*Nekomata: A type of yokai (or demon) from Japanese mythology. It's a cat-looking creature that has two tails instead of one and thought to be evil. Considered to be a lesser form of the Bakeneko (monster-cat). Descriptions say that they lived in the mountains and ate people.
Hey, guys! Important note here: FF seems to be doing a lot of behind-the-scenes work, and it's messing up the uploading capabilities of this website. I'm unsure if it's temporary or what's going on - FF hasn't said much about the errors being experienced by other writers - but I will continue to try and stay on this platform as well. If you guys are interested, I have these stories posted on AO3 as well, and it seems to be the faster way to upload things currently (as this is hopefully coming out a day or so after I updated the other one)...
Just saying, I'm trying my best here!
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-Disclaimer-
I do not own the InuYasha movies, manga, or anime. The only thing I own are my characters and the fanfic!
O Reviews O
CaptainKicky: Thanks for enjoying the pacing and the kind words! I'm planning to try my best to keep power levels even - we'll see how it turns out! Hope you enjoyed this chapter just as much (even though it was a long time coming)!
Guest: Hey! Thanks for leaving a review! I know it's been a while since I updated this - school has been insane, I've been putting a lot of time into Oddly Prismatic with Amaranthyn (a Stardew fanfic), and I've also picked up the new hobby of DMing a Dungeons and Dragons session, which is a huge drain creatively (although its teaching me a lot about improvisation), but now that I have a good outline started for that, I should be getting back into the swing of things.
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Been a while, but I've been busy! Been working on some Oddly Prismatic with Amaranthyn (a Stardew fanfic) and also started up a D&D Session, so that's taking up a lot of creative writing time... But it's a whole lot of fun!
Anywayyyy...
Next time on the LSL, an Inuyasha fanfic...
Ooohhhh... Fire is bad for an Snow Demon? Go figure...
NOZO SEEMS TO BE TAKING A LIKE TO HOTAKA
Is a betrayal coming?! If so, who will it come from?!
Kirara has arrived!
Do Midoriko and Nozomi reconcile?
You'll have to tune in next chapter to maybe find out... :3
