Ai: The man-eating, monster girl from hell
Disclaimer: I don't own Nurarihyon no mago or any of its characters
The large dining hall was completely full with many chattering yokai, enjoying their breakfast. Yusuke was sitting quietly between Awashima and Reira, attempting to not make any eye contact with any of the larger and scarier yokai that sat across from her. Though being a naturally slow eater, Yusuke tried to eat as fast as she could without choking in order to have time to clean all of the dishes. She also tried her best not to start any conversations since it would only lead to distraction. Her mind began to wander a bit as she shovelled small portions of rice into her mouth with her chopsticks. It had already been seven days since she had come to Toono and throughout those seven days, she had managed to become slightly closer to both Awashima and Reira. The two of them were great people and Yusuke was very glad that she had them to talk to. Yesterday she had made the mistake of getting into a long conversation with Awashima during breakfast which only resulted in a late start at the rest of her chores but it really didn't bother her too much since she had managed to learn a lot more about Awashima and his fear. Awashima had also explained to her about the usage and affects of Hatsu. He explained that it was the first stage of activating fear and is used simply to frighten the opponent by releasing a strong aura and that having the ability to cut through Hatsu/fear is an important part of yokai combat. Yusuke found the information extremely useful but unfortunately she could not put it to use no matter how hard she tried. It seemed that she could just simply not use fear at all. Yusuke was unsure of whether it was her human blood that was holding her back but Awashima had said that as long as someone has the tiniest bit of yokai blood then they should be able to use fear. The only thing that the human blood affects is how strong your fear would be and how long it would take to learn how to use it. Yusuke was planning on stopping by the training arena later on in order to ask if Awashima could consider being her training partner. Reira had told Yusuke that she didn't have to learn how to use her fear or learn to battle but the half demon was quite determined to find out more about herself.
Yusuke set down her bowl and chopsticks and began to examine her left hand. She had a small, bumpy scar on that hand from her uncle ever since she was a young girl. Yusuke was sure that it did not come from a wound since it clearly showed where there had been stitching. She normally subconsciously rubbed it with her right thumb as a bit of a habit but the odd thing was that Yusuke could not quite remember how or why she had received it. Whenever she tried asking Yamato about it, he would either not answer or say that it is a merely for her own protection. Yusuke had no idea what he meant by that but after a while she had managed to cease her growing curiosity on the matter. Yusuke ran her thumb up and down the scar, feeling the all-too-familiar bumps on it from past stitching. Yusuke let her hand fall back to her lap in a somewhat lazy manner. Her silvery-grey eyes began to study the room and all of the people within it. Her eyes wondered briefly from yokai to yokai, most of which she was unfamiliar with except for her friends of course. Her gaze landed on a seemingly small male yokai with messy auburn hair and large fox ears. With every sound that was made, the boy's fox ears seemed to flinch and move, making them even more noticeable and cute. Yusuke could not hold in the small giggle that slipped out of her mouth. She truly hoped that she looked something like that in her yokai form (if she had one that is). Yusuke continued to observe the rest of the yokai until she caught a glimpse of an unknown girl sitting next to Itaku. She continuously sent glances of longing towards him which he seemed to completely ignore. Yusuke was sure that that girl must have been one of Itaku's admirers that Awashima had mentioned on her second day there.
Yusuke examined her more closely now. She was very beautiful, sporting very long red hair that fell to her bum like a waterfall of blood. Her pink-tinted lips were very full and her ocean coloured eyes were big and bright. Her body was very curvy and they could even be spotted through the dark blue kimono that she wore. Her slightly tanned skin had a natural blush to them which resulted in the fact that she needed very little makeup at all. After a moment, the girl took notice of Yusuke staring at her. She sent the half breed a kind smile. For a moment Yusuke had caught a glimpse of a bit of force in her smile as if she was merely faking the polite gesture.
"Oh, you must be that knew girl...Yuri, right?" she spoke in a sickeningly sweet tone of voice.
"Uh, actually my name is Yu-"the girl quickly cut her off.
"My name is Ai. It's nice to meet you." Her smile grew larger as she gave a small nod. The amount of fake kindness in her tone made Yusuke unnoticeably cringe but fake or not, she didn't want to be rude, especially if Ai was being so polite.
"Oh, uh, nice to meet you too, Ai." Yusuke gave a small smile but it went unnoticed by Ai as she whipped her head back towards Itaku.
Yusuke was quite sure that she had heard the name Ai before but she couldn't put her finger on it.
"Where have I heard that name before? I know that I haven't met her before..." Yusuke sat for a moment, piecing her thoughts together. She tried her hardest to remember where she had heard that name but had no luck.
"Damn my bad memory." Finally realization had found its way to her. Just as she remembered, she smacked her fist onto her palm with a triumphant smile, unfortunately causing a few eyes to turn towards her. Yusuke ignored the strange looks she was receiving as she finally remembered that the name had been mentioned by Awashima. Ai was the girl that had an obsession with Itaku. Yusuke regained her previous posture and sent a glance towards the redhead. Yusuke seemed slightly surprised to learn the identity of Ai. She was so pretty and seemed so polite and kind, how could she have been turned down eight times in a row...or was it nine? But judging by the looks of passion she was sending towards Itaku, it did not seem very unbelievable for her to be the one with the obsession. After a while of sitting in cluelessness, Awashima had finally taken notice of the half demon studying Ai. He slowly leaned done to Yusuke's ear (since Yusuke was quite short compared to Awashima) and whispered silently to her.
"Don't be fooled. Ai might seem nice now but when she finds out that you're friends with us or that you've had any contact with Itaku, that's when she'll turn into the man-eating monster that she really is." Yusuke nervously gulped at the blonde's choice of words. He said when not if. That could only mean that there was no escape for Yusuke...and she was so young too. Being a half yokai, she had hundreds of years ahead of her but now they were all draining away because of the suspicions of a love struck girl. Yusuke mentally kicked herself for over exaggerating things. Finally Yusuke parted her chapped lips to silently reply.
"So...she's the one with the stubbornness condition, then?" Awashima quietly began to snicker at Yusuke's comment, with said half breed soon following suit. Yusuke had a feeling that this would now become a new inside joke between her and Awashima. Reira sent the two a look of confusion as they continued to snicker and whisper amongst themselves.
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Breakfast was finally done and Yusuke had managed to clean up all of the dishes in record time. By now she was already at the river doing the laundry (which was the one chore that was the most time consuming next to cooking). Yusuke took a glance behind her at the many bags of laundry that seemed to tease and mock her. If they could speak, Yusuke was sure that they would be saying "Look at how much work you have to do! Think of how long it will take!" There had to be at least twice as much as the day before. The half yokai let out a loud sigh before continuing to scrub the laundry up and down the wash board. After about twenty minutes of doing laundry, Yusuke finished scrubbing one last garment before setting it aside. She stood up and quickly stretched her spine and arms. Hunching over a washboard for almost half an hour was pretty bad for your back and caused a lot of stiffness.
Yusuke's plans were to try to activate her fear again, which had become a daily routine for her now. Yusuke took a few steps back before planting her feet firmly on the ground. She let her mind grow calm as she relaxed herself. Her eyelids fell as she closed her eyes and began. Awashima said that you would have to channel or invoke your fear in order to perform Hatsu. Yusuke slowly began to channel her own fear (or at least what she thought was her fear) around her. Yusuke waited like that for a few minutes without having any luck before losing her posture and allowing her bum to fall to the ground with a large sigh. She had failed yet again.
"Why won't it work? Itaku said that this was something I had to figure out on my own...but..." yet another sigh escaped the half breeds mouth, this one much more irritable. "I'm pretty sure that I'm doing everything right...no, if it isn't working then I must be doing something wrong." she muttered to herself.
"You're not doing anything wrong...I think there's something else that's holding you back." came another voice, sounding quite familiar. Yusuke bolted to her feet, sending glances in every direction in an attempt to locate the source of the voice. Before she could do anything else, the silhouette of someone jumped down from a tall tree, landing safely on their feet. Yusuke whirled her head around to meet the piercing gaze of Itaku. He stood staring straight at Yusuke with his arms folded over his chest. Yusuke's grey eyes widened slightly with surprise at the sight of the *kamaitachi. For some reason, she had not expected him to be the unknown voice, especially since he did not show much interest in getting to know her better. There was a short pause between the two yokai before being broken by Itaku.
"If you still can't activate your fear by now then you're either more incompetent than I thought or there's a seal involved." Yusuke's face dropped slightly at the word "incompetent" being spoken, leading her to ignore his second suggestion. It was not the first time she had been called "incompetent" but it didn't mean that it hurt less. Luckily, Yusuke was able to brush off the feeling rather quickly. A moment later, after she had managed to process Itaku's words better, a look of confusion swept over her face.
"Wait, a seal?" the half breed questioned.
"Yeah, considering that you were raised by yokai exterminators, it's pretty likely. Of course...it's no easy task to pull off. These sorts of seals can only be placed by exterminators that specialize in it. The purpose of the seal is to prevent the yokai's fear from being activated."
"And you think that this sort of seal was placed in..." Yusuke paused for a moment in mid-sentence as she remembered the small scar on her left hand. There was a small voice that began nagging her to tell Itaku about it but instead her hand had subconsciously moved behind her back in an almost defensive manner. Despite how slowly and unnoticeably Yusuke's hand had moved, Itaku had still managed to catch a glimpse of it.
"What's that on your hand?" Itaku asked as his gaze fell to the hand behind her back.
"Nothing." she answered quickly. Yusuke's actions were terribly betraying her. Why was she so nervous around Itaku? Deep down, Yusuke knew that she should have just told Itaku about the scar on her hand. Was she afraid of what he would do to remove it?
"Don't lie. Now let me see your hand." Before Yusuke could move back, Itaku grasped her wrist, pulling her arm up to examine the scar closely. The sudden contact caused Yusuke to flinch slightly. Shivers ran up and down her spine as Itaku pulled her hand inches away from his face. He stared at the scar very intently, occasionally brushing his thumb over it, which only caused even more shivers to flow. Finally after what seemed like ages to Yusuke, Itaku brought his free hand up and grabbed the hilt of one of his various sickles and pulled it out of its holster. Soon the cold blade came into contact with the small scar, as if he were aiming at it to get a clean cut. As soon as Yusuke realized what the yokai was planning to do, she attempted to yank her hand away from him but failed miserably. His grasp tightened as the half breed began to vigorously try to pull her arm away.
"W-what do you think y-you're doing?" she asked helplessly.
"How else do you expect me to remove the seal? You do want to use your fear, don't you?" Itaku questioned. Yusuke could feel beads of sweat form on her forehead as she finally stopped trying to pull away.
"Y-yes, but...c-can't you remove the seal another way? A-and how do you know that this scar is where the seal is o-or the fact that I even have a seal in the first place?" Yusuke stuttered. Itaku merely stood silent for a moment before answering.
"I'm sure that it's a seal." That answer did not suffice for Yusuke.
"B-but you don't really have to cut it out, d-do you?" Yusuke waited hopefully for an answer but instead, Itaku remained silent as he stared straight at her with no emotion brushing over his features. The half demon opened her mouth to speak again but was stopped by a sudden searing pain in her left hand. Itaku had dug his sickle deep into her soft skin and dragged it out, leaving a very deep gash in her flesh. Blood began to pour from the wound and the hot pain that came with it did not make the experience any better. Yusuke barely had time to let out a scream of agony before a strange dark liquid mixed with her blood began to shoot out of the wound, making the sound of a waterfall as it did so. The half breed's eyes were now as wide as saucers, not only because of the pain but also because of the strange purple substance that was vigorously flying out of her hand. Itaku watched the entire occurrence without the slightest bit of emotion crossing his face while he released his grip on her wrist. He casually slid his sickle back into the holster before folding his arms once again. Finally the blood-mixed substance had finished flowing out and the loud rumbling sound it caused ceased. All that was left was the great amount of blood covering Yusuke's pale hand and the ground around her. She carefully brought her hand towards her chest, still wide-eyed from the event. Soon her legs had begun to feel weak from either shock or blood lose (she was unsure of which) and Yusuke fell to her knees, still grasping onto her wounded hand. The crimson liquid soaked into a part of her white priestess uniform but Yusuke showed little care, in fact she had not even noticed that fact. A lump had set itself securely into the raven-haired girl's throat, making it a bit of a challenge for her to speak.
"W-what was t-that?" she choked out, giving the unfazed Itaku a desperate glance.
"That was the seal dispersing." He answered simply. Yusuke did not reply. She took a few moments to regain herself and recover from the overwhelming pain that was now slowly fading but still remained. She stared back down at her wounded hand, examining the extremely deep cut with a look of sheer horror written all over her face. After giving the young yokai a moment of space, Itaku untied his bandana and made his way towards Yusuke. He knelt down in front of her and grabbed hold of her injured hand. He carefully began to wrap the bandana around the wound in order to stop the heavy bleeding.
"You should be able to activate your fear now that the seal is gone." he spoke before tying a tight knot to keep the bandana on the injury. "There, that should be enough to stop the bleeding for now but you should go see Reira to get it properly treated."
Yusuke had finally managed to recover from the slight trauma that she had experienced. She gave a small nod before slowly lifting her head to meet Itaku's gaze. Her face immediately heated up as she noticed how close the two of them were. Their faces were merely inches apart from each other which gave her such a close up view of him. His messy black hair that used to be propped up by the bandana, was now hanging loosely, reaching his naturally furrowed eyebrows. He looked much better without the bandana on. It was surprising, how much of his most flawless features the bandana managed to hide. Yusuke had to admit that he had a very good looking face and there was something about him that really...attracted her in a way. Yusuke quickly sprung to her feet before anymore strange thoughts could enter her mind. Itaku stood as well, soon after.
"T-thank you, Itaku!" she blurted out, slightly louder than she had intended. The weasel yokai turned on his heel before replying.
"Really, don't mention it. Oh, and I'll expect that to be washed and returned." He said while turning slightly and pointing his index finger towards Yusuke's injured hand. She lowered her head in an attempt to hide her flushing cheeks behind her ragged bangs.
"Uh, o-okay." Yusuke stuttered faintly. Itaku turned back around and swiftly jumped back into the trees to take his leave. Once Yusuke was sure that Itaku was out of ear range, Yusuke let out a loud huff before allowing herself to fall to her butt. She had quite a lot to process which resulted in a bit of stress for her. First of all she had just learned that her uncle had actually placed a seal inside of her that prevented her from using her fear (which in her case was quite understandable). Second, the seal had just been literally cut out of her by Itaku. Third, she also just learned that she would now be able to activate her fear (which would probably not happen today since she was a bit preoccupied with other things). And finally, Yusuke was unsure of how to explain any of it to Reira or Awashima. Yusuke let out another sigh, examining the red cloth around her hand. She then placed her hand on her cheek to determine if she was still blushing or not. Her face was still slightly red and radiated with heat.
"What is wrong with you, Yusuke? Stop blushing already." she scolded herself silently. After a while of sitting, Yusuke had lost herself in thought, completely forgetting about her chores at the moment.
"Oh, hi there, Yuna!" came an all-too-familiar voice from behind Yusuke. Her head whirled around to meet the ocean blue gaze of a certain redhead.
"Actually, my name is Yu-" the half breed was cut off yet again by Ai's sickening voice.
"Have you seen Itaku anywhere?" Yusuke sat silent for a moment. She hated lying, but Yusuke did not want to make any enemies in Toono, especially accidental love rivals.
"N-no, sorry." She answered before standing up and brushing any dirt off of her bum, trying to look and sound as casual as possible. Ai was not so easily convinced.
"Are you sure?" the red-haired yokai pressed. Yusuke gulped, nervously.
"P-positive." Yusuke said while turning to face Ai, a nervous smile twitching on her lips. Ai had a look of disbelief and slight impatience curled onto her soft features. She was just about to speak before spotting the splattered blood on both Yusuke and the ground. She raised a fine brow before asking with fake concern: "What on earth happened here?" Yusuke faltered for a moment as she attempted to think of a good explanation.
"Oh, well, um...y-you know, it was just a...uh, a little accident, that's all." Yusuke had a feeling that her excuse was very unbelievable. She stood there and awaited further questioning on the matter but to her surprise, Ai just simply returned to the subject of Itaku.
"Oh...well, whatever. So anyways, have you seen him?" A small look of surprise brushed over Yusuke's face before she quickly recomposed herself. It was obvious that Ai did not care very much about anything other than Itaku.
"Like I said before, I haven't seen him." She answered, feeling some of her confidence returning. Ai pursed her lips together at the half demon's answer. It was as if she would not be satisfied unless she received the answer she was looking for. The blue-eyed yokai began to twirl a long lock of smooth, red hair, which was a clear sign of her patience running thin. Yusuke's recently obtained confidence began to drain out of her like water in a sink. She was not sure what sort of answer that Ai was looking for. Any confidence that Yusuke once had, completely disappeared as Ai began to look her up and down, as if she were searching for any signs that Yusuke was lying. The half breed feared that if she were to hide her face behind her bangs, then that would be a clear indication that she was hiding something so Yusuke stood strong, staring straight back at Ai with all of the strength she had. Yusuke felt incredibly small and defenceless beneath Ai's gaze, as though the redhead were eating her from the inside.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Ai gave in and let out a huff of defeat.
"Fine then, but if you do see him, make sure to let me know. Bye, Yuna!" Ai exclaimed, the fake sweetness finding its way back to her voice. The red-haired girl turned on her heel and ran off in the opposite direction. Once she was out of sight, Yusuke let out a sigh of great relief.
"Awashima was right, she is a bit of a man-eating monster...when she's not pretending to be so sweet." she thought to herself. Just as she was about to turn and continue with her long forgotten chores, Yusuke remembered that she needed to see Reira about getting her injury treated. Yusuke took a short glance at the laundry she had been in the middle of doing long ago before running off in the direction of the arena. Yusuke was sure that was where she would find Reira and the others, considering that all they ever seemed to do was train. Well, really, it was just Amezo, Awashima, Dohiko and Itaku that seemed to train the most. Reira and Yukari would usually just sit back and watch. After a short run, Yusuke had finally reached the large training area. The echo of clashing blades and attacks was not at all a surprise to her as she emerged from the forest, into the open area. Amezo and Awashima were the two in the arena, facing each other while Reira stood off to the side along with Dohiko and Yukari. Itaku was observing the sparring match from up on a very large branch, in fact so large that it had about the same width as a slightly smaller tree. Once Yusuke had spotted Reira, she inhaled deeply before starting towards the Yuki-onna. As soon as Reira's golden eyes had seen the sight of a blood-covered Yusuke, she ran towards her with a deep look of concern molded onto her pristine face.
"Yusuke! Are you alright?! What happened to you?!" she called out while quickly approaching said half demon with the small Yukari stalking behind. The pinkette's loud words had caught the attention of everyone else in the area. The noise of the match had ceased and Yusuke could now feel all eyes on her.
"Did someone attack you?!" asked Awashima as he jumped down from the arena and ran towards his wounded friend.
"N-no, nothing like that. It was...um..." The situation had now earned Itaku's full attention. He was curious to see if Yusuke would tell them about the seal he had removed. Itaku leaned down slightly to hear the conversation better.
"Well?" asked Awashima in an impatient manner.
"I-it...uh, it was just an accident while I was...um, cutting the firewood, that's all." Yusuke flashed the two a weak yet reassuring smile.
"Hm, well that's why you should just stick to cooking and doing the laundry. Next thing you know, you'll lose an arm." said the blonde as his hands propped themselves onto his hips. The concern in his voice seemed to have disappeared completely. He was slightly more intrigued by the very familiar bandana that was wrapped securely around the gash. Reira on the other hand, still sported a very concerned look on her pale face.
"Right...lets head back so that I can treat your wound, then." Said Reira as she gently grabbed hold of Yusuke's uninjured hand and began leading her back to the temple.
Itaku leaned back up to his previous posture, losing interest quite quickly. Somehow, he had a feeling that she would not mention the seal on her hand. As Reira and Yusuke's figures grew smaller and smaller with each step they took, Awashima leapt up onto the same branch that Itaku stood on. While Awashima faced him, Itaku did not bother to turn towards his comrade.
"That red cloth around Yusuke's hand...that's your bandana isn't it?" Awashima paused for a moment, not waiting for a response before continuing. "Tell me...what exactly happened?" there was yet another pause, this one much longer before Itaku finally answered.
"Do you really want to know?" he asked, sending a glance towards the golden-eyed yokai. He received a simple nod in return before explaining the events.
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Reira carefully unwrapped the bandana and slowly removed it, wincing slightly at the sight of the very deep gash in Yusuke's hand. Some of the blood was already beginning to dry and crust over. She set the bandana aside and quickly reached for the wet cloth that had been soaking in the small bucket of warm water that Reira had fetched. She rung it out a bit before beginning to wipe off the blood from her hand and arm, being very careful as to not cause Yusuke any pain. She then tossed the now blood-stained cloth into the water bucket before grabbing the nearby sake jug.
"Now...this is going to hurt a bit." Reira spoke softly, attempting to make the process of pouring alcohol onto an open wound sound less painful. Yusuke bit her lip nervously before giving a faint nod. Reira nodded in return and tipped the jug, allowing the strong liquid to soak the gash. Yusuke let out a small yelp of pain as the sake engulfed her wound before dripping to the wood floor, her eyes being clamped shut. Reira quickly set down the jug and grabbed a dry cloth to wipe off any remaining sake. Yusuke decided to keep her eyes shut for the rest of the procedure of mending the wound. Suddenly she felt something pierce the skin of her hand and be quickly pulled through, along with what felt like a thread. That same painful feeling repeated until the sound of Reira's soft voice entered her eardrums.
"Okay, it's all done now." Was what she said before Yusuke's eyes slowly opened to look at Reira's handy work. Her hand was now wrapped in white bandages that came down to her wrist and the blood was all gone. Yusuke finally began to breathe again and fill her dry lungs with oxygen once more.
"Thank you, Reira." the half breed spoke very quietly. Reira gave her a warm smile before parting her pristine lips to speak.
"Don't worry about your chores for today, okay? I'll take care of them; I just want you to rest." Yusuke gave a small nod. Usually she would decline the offer but ever since the seal had been removed, she had been feeling slightly sleepy and drained. Reira flashed her another warm smile as she reached behind where she sat, and handed Yusuke her pajamas. Yusuke happily accepted them, giving the yuki-onna a small smile. Yusuke stood up and slipped out of her crimson-stained priestess uniform and handed it over to Reira. She pulled on the pajama that she was given just as the pinkette made her way towards the door.
"Get some rest." she said before exiting the room.
Author's note: *I remember that at one point in the anime, Itaku mentioned that he was a kamaitchi which I'm guessing is what kind of yokai he is so I just used it to be descriptive.
Well anyways, that's it for chapter three. So what do you think of Ai? Personally, I hate her but I needed someone like that in this story so I kind of had no choice in the matter. So, yeah! Thanks for reading, please review since reviews really inspire me to write and...um...yeah :3
~FlammingAxel