Hate
Chapter 6
Bound
Slowly my vision began to clear and I saw the forest surrounding me. It appeared to be midday judging by the brightness of the light that filtered through the tree tops. I almost immediately noticed something was wrong with my body.
I was lying on my side and there seemed to be some invisible force pushing me down. Usually I'm filled with darkness which I can feel rippling inside me with my every move and emotion. However, right now my body felt withered, like if I made a single move my whole body would crumple and fall apart.
Without looking, I could tell that the sacred arrows were still embedded in my body. My whole body was pretty much numb, so I felt no real pain from them. Just an uncomfortable feeling like having a splinter in my skin, only these splinters were big-ass pointy sticks stuck in my skin rather than small slivers of wood.
As I began to focus more on my surroundings, rather than my body, I could make out several conversations from the forest.
"Will the demon-restraining barrier work against t-th-this THING?!"
I faintly recognized the voice as the woman who I had heard screaming last night. The obvious disgust and fear in her voice caused a slight pain within me, but I was not overly surprised by her reaction. Demons are rarely liked no matter the circumstances.
"It will do for now. Once the priestess is done preparing, she will bind the demon with a rosary. Then it will be under control."
This voice was unknown to me. It seemed to be male and sounded deep and calm.
Bind me? Haven't they already done enough? I can barely twitch let alone harm a human. I don't know how much longer I can stand the bindings I already have. My body is so used to the seemingly unending supply of darkness to provide strength when my will is not enough that I don't think my body can handle being without it for too long.
I could feel my eyelids begin to close as I heard the sound of footsteps coming near me. No matter how much I willed my body to get up and face the person I could hardly keep my eyes open.
Once again I fell into unconsciousness where I dreamt of light.
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3rd Person POV
The smell of incense filled the air, effectively masking the normal scent of the forest. Holy energy crackled in the clearing as it fought to control the cat demon that laid on the ground, as if it were sleeping.
There were numerous candles laid out around the cat in a large circle around where the demon-binding barrier had been placed. The light of these candles along with the light of the setting sun showed the outline of the priestess with a long rosary with many small beads that appeared to be ruby red.
Normally a demon would be wide awake and struggling to escape the power of the rosary, but the black cat barely moved except for the steady rise and fall of its chest as it breathed.
The priestess rubbed the beads of the rosary for comfort as she approached the giant cat. Demons rarely grew to this size without having been captured by humans, so she was worried if the rosary would be able to contain the power of such a powerful demon.
She crouched down by the head of the cat and slipped the rosary around its neck, nearly screaming as the giant cat's body gave a violent shudder as the rosary encircled its neck.
The priestess tried to stand and get away from the demon but before she could move the cat's eyes met her own.
From the green depths of the demon's eyes she could see intelligence that suggested this demon was not a mindless killer like many of its kin; however, this fact seemed to frighten her. Many demons that showed signs of intelligence ended up wiping out whole villages if not properly bound by a priest's (or a priestess') will.
For a moment her body was chilled to the bone by the cat's intelligent gaze, but then for an instant she thought she saw the cat's pupil contract into a circle and its green eyes become warm, almost human.
As quickly as their gazes locked, the cat closed its eyes and its body ceased to move and seemed to fall back asleep.
Stunned, the priestess sat there for another moment before regaining her senses and retreating back to the forest to wait for the cat to regain consciousness.
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As the sun began to rise behind him, the demon hunter watched as the giant cat began to wake up and struggle to get to its paws. Beside him the priestess did her best to calm the beast with the power of the rosary so that it would not go on a rampage.
Noticing the cat's attempts to get up, the demon hunter removed the seal which maintained the demon-binding barrier. Without the restraint of the barrier the cat staggered to its paws and began to approach the two humans.
"Woah, Atsuko be careful!"
The man stepped in front of the priestess and placed a hand on the hilt of his sword as the cat stepped clumsily towards them.
"Don't worry, Minoru, it doesn't want to hurt us."
Atsuko replied calmly as she stepped out from behind Minoru's protective stance in order to face the demon.
She stared into the demon's eyes, hoping to see if there was still a trace of humanity within the depths of the cat's green eyes. Clouded green eyes stared back at her as the cat dully stumbled forward.
Atsuko jumped back as the cat fell forward, barely avoiding being caught between the ground and the cat's body. The cat's sudden movement prompted Minoru to jump forward and draw his sword.
The cat meowed weakly and gazed upwards towards the two humans standing above it. At the strangely domestic sound Minoru sheathed his sword and watched as Atsuko crouched down by the cat as it weakly tried to get up.
Slowly she reached a hand out to stroke the thick, black fur on the cat's head. In an instant Atsuko felt how weak the demon's power had become; it seemed as though the beast's power had been entirely sucked dry by the sacred arrows and there was only an empty shell of the cat's former power.
Atsuko was surprised at how the cat had managed to survive the binding of the rosary if its power had been depleted to this extent.
She stood back up as the cat began to lift itself back up, the same dull expression plastered on its face. Strangely she felt slightly disappointed by the cat's lack of expression, the only thing worse than a smart demon was a dumb one.
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Waka POV
The sunlight shone brightly down from between the branches of the guardian sapling. From where he was sitting, Waka could see a young woman dressed in a simple, light green kimono sitting beside him. Noticing his gaze, the woman turned to him and he couldn't help but notice her scarred yet tan skin and bright green eyes. Her raven black hair seemed to flow down to her mid back.
He could feel himself smile at her in his vision. In response she smiled and leaned over to kiss him on the cheek. In an act of playfulness he turned his head so that she would kiss his lips instead. As she pulled back he could make out a slight blush dusting her cheeks. She narrowed her eyes in a way that was probably meant to be threatening but he couldn't help but smile at her instead.
Seeing his smile, the woman frowned and her blush seemed to darken, but she still did not look away. Waka reached up and grabbed the woman's waist, pulling her into his lap. He heard the woman weakly protest as she squirmed in his grasp.
In response he held her more firmly against him as he laid against the guardian sapling. After a moment, the woman stopped struggling and leaned back against his chest.
"I love you, Waka."
"Junko, I-"
Waka jolted back to reality and found himself staring at the remains of Kamiki village. His hand lay against his heart as an unknown feeling assaulted him, carried over from his future self in the vision.
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Okay so if anyone doesn't understand what's going on then you can message me and I'll try to explain (be careful though sometimes I can't remember what I have planned for the story and what I've already written XD You might get more info than you bargained for)
I don't know what I was thinking back when I wrote these chapters because the way I have them saved on my computer is super messed up XD So I have to fix that too :'( I'm doing my best to fix everything and start writing that new chapter though!