Saigyou's first destination was the lake he first woke up at. He still owed an apology to the ice fairy he met before. Having learned to fly, something that surprised him on how easy it was to do, he decided to favor that over walking. He flew under the cover of the trees, unsure of how many people knew he was back ever since the battle. Even if everyone knew, he still didn't want to fight. As night fell over the forest, he chose to make a quick detour.
He walked into the village, looking around for any residents walking about in the moonlit night. Seeing none, he began his mission. If he succeeded, he wouldn't be attacked too much. If he failed, he would have to live out his life in hiding. He approached the doors to the building the kids were once clustered in front of when he was here last. Nervously, he knocked on the door. He waited for a few seconds, until the blue-clad woman opened the door, rubbing her eyes.
"What do you wa–?" she lazily said, before she looked up at the visitor. "Wh-wha–?" Obviously, she hadn't expected him to come here.
Saigyou, with a serious look on his face, said, "Can I come in? I wish to talk about our last encounter."
"U-uh..." The girl was absolutely speechless from shock. Quickly, she gained her composure. "How did you survive!?" she loudly whispered, her voice barely containing her inner fury. "Yuka killed you!"
"She drove you two away, and only saw me after you left. The only things threatening my life were you and the fire girl," Saigyou corrected.
"And for good reason!" she interrupted, no lo. "Who knows what you were planning to do!?"
Saigyou was starting to get agitated. "I was planning to leave the village to–"
She didn't let him finish. "To what!? To figure out how to revive your old tree body!? To get revenge on that lady who stupidly killed herself when there were other ways to–!?"
Saigyou slammed his fist into her gut, sending her to the ground, clutching her stomach in agony. "Don't you ever talk bad about her!" he yelled, his rage momentarily getting the best of him. "She killed herself to rid the world from me before I killed again! If she didn't, I would...!" He stopped himself, taking a deep breath to calm down. Looking at the woman writhing in pain before him, he said, "Listen, I know what I did back then was cruel, but I've changed since then. I'd rather not repeat history and get killed again. If you don't believe me, fine. Just don't tell others I'm back to kill everything. You would be spreading lies." As he finished talking, Saigyou summoned a thin root from the ground, which swiftly entered the girls belly. After a second, it returned to the earth. "That will numb the pain. If you want to talk in a civil manner, let me know," he said as he began to fly off towards his intended destination.
The sun was beginning to rise as he approached the lake. What Saigyou saw surprised him. At the edge of the lake was a small fortress made of ice, about the size of a small house. Inside, he noticed two fairies, one being the one he wanted to see, through the translucent ice wall. They were sitting, apparently having a conversation.
"Excuse me? Can I speak to you for a moment?" he inquired to the slightly distorted fairies.
The two fairies' heads looked up and towards him. The smaller one looked back at the taller one and whispered something inaudibly. The tall one nodded, and they simply stood there, the tall one shaking her head slowly. After about half a minute, Saigyou realized they were being silent to avoid detection.
"Um, you do know that I can see you, right?" he reminded them.
"No, you can't!" The small one replied, slightly muffled by the ice walls. The tall one sighed loudly, walking out of the miniature fortress.
"I'm sorry, but Cirno doesn't want to see you right now. Please leave," she said to Saigyou.
"Look, I just want to apologize to the girl. I feel rather bad about what I did. I didn't even mean to choke her," he explained, smiling inwardly at the fact that the girl in front of him was more civil that the were-hakutaku.
"Choke her? She said you swung a tree at her," she said before giving a glare at the blue fairy in the ice fort. "Cirno, come here!"
As the fairy exited the fortress, the expression on her face showing that she knew she was caught, Saigyou asked the tall fairy something that was bugging him since he arrived. "So, are you her mother, or something?"
"No, we're just good friends," she replied, chuckling slightly. "By the way, my name is Daiyousei."
"Sagi," he replied, deciding to use his alias.
As the two finished conversing, the blue fairy, identified as Cirno, approached Daiyousei with a smile. "What is it, Dai?"
"You lied to me, Cirno," she replied in a stern voice. "What did I say about lying?"
Cirno's smile quickly faded. "But eye didn't lie!" she defended herself.
"You exaggerated the facts you told me. That's the same thing as lying," Daiyousei stated, scolding her.
"Eye'm sorry..." Cirno solemnly said, drooping her head.
Daiyousei's strict behavior towards Cirno softened. "That's good." She turned to Saigyou. "Now it's you turn."
He crouched down to the now teary-eyed Cirno. "Hey, I'm sorry for choking you," he said, sounding like a father calming down a crying child. "You startled me, and I thought you were a threat. Can I do anything to make up for what I did?"
The little blue fairy's head jolted up, no longer crying. "Play with us!" she yelled hopefully.
Saigyou laughed at the simple request. "How could I refuse?" he questioned, as he followed Cirno into the ice fortress.
Saigyou stood on the top of the fort, accompanied by a hyped-up Cirno and a smiling Daiyousei. When he first heard about what the game they were playing was, he momentarily questioned the ethics of it. After a little pleading, he finally decided to play with them.
"Ready?" he asked the blue fairy, who was currently zigzagging around the icy building.
"Pull!" Cirno shouted.
No sooner than the words left her mouth did Saigyou command a few nearby lily pads to rocket up a foot and suddenly stop, launching whatever happened to be on them into the air. Cirno then proceeded to fire ice blasts at the former residents of said lily pads: frogs. One by one, they were frozen in mid-air. Saigyou was surprised at Cirno's aim. He watched as the frozen frogs fell into the lake below, before rising to the surface.
After about fifteen minutes of this, the sun began to set. Saigyou decided to start exploring again. "I should probably get going," he said. After he jumped ten feet to the ground below, he waved at the two fairies.
"When can you come back? That was incredibly fu–!" Cirno cheered, before stopping mid-sentence at what she saw.
"I'll probably be back... what's wrong?" he asked, worried. The two fairies just pointed behind him. When he turned around, he noticed a young girl. She had blonde hair and a oversized white kimono. What caught his eye, however, was the fact that she had a straw hat with eyes on her head. The girl looked unbelievably pissed, a dark aura emanating from her.
"Who are you and why are you here?" Saigyou asked, visibly unnerved by the girl.
When she spoke, it sent shivers down his spine. In a sadistic voice, she replied, "I'm here to destroy you." She then proceeded to lunge at him. He summoned his blade from the ground, prepared to block the attack. He learned to keep his weapon underground, moving the nearby roots to transport it underneath him. Ten feet away, the girl jumped incredibly high. As she passed overhead, she fired frog-like danmaku below. Saigyou jumped back, narrowly avoiding the attack, and flew straight up at high speed, ramming the dark girl in the gut with the flat end of his sword. She immediately fell to the ground, clutching her stomach in pain. Her hat was still on, for some odd reason.
Saigyou landed next to her. Threateningly, he asked again, pointing the tip of his blade at her head. "Who are you and why are you here!?"
The girl menacingly chuckled, looking up at him from her crouching position. "I... am your worst nightmare... we will meet again soon, Saigyou Ayakashi... and next time... you will not stop me..."
"Wait, how–?" Before he could finish, however, she collapsed to the ground, unconscious. The dark aura dissipated from her, rising into the air. Cautiously, he prodded the girl with his sword. After he got no response, he planted his blade into the ground, which returned into the soil below. Daiyousei and Cirno dashed towards the aftermath.
"Yeah! Take that, frog lady!" Cirno taunted the knocked out figure.
Daiyousei's reaction was a more concerning one. "This is very unlike her," she said as she bent down to check on the girl. "She never attacks first."
"Who is this girl?" he asked Daiyousei.
She replied, "Her name is Suwako Moriya. From what I've heard, she's the god of the Moriya Shrine on the mountains."
"I see..." Saigyou said, trailing off. "What was with that dark aura around her?"
"I don't know. Whatever it was, it's gone now," she assured.
"I doubt it," he interjected. "I fear that whatever it was is still out there." He turned around to leave. "Make sure the girl is okay. I need to do something."
Daiyousei turned her head from the girl, only to find Saigyou long gone.
AN: Wow, this chapter is slightly longer that the last one. Thank you to all those who reviewed my story so far. It really motivates me to dish out chapters more efficiently. I would also like to say that in the next chapters, SHIT IS GOING TO GO DOWN!! That is all.
Oh, and a hint at what is going to happen is hidden in the chapter. It's in very small text.