Midoriko's gaze lingered on the fine silks lining the market stalls. Vibrant golds, dazzling blues, stunning reds, all embroidered with the tiniest details of flowers or animals or fruit. How much did they cost? Certainly more than her meager earnings could afford. Even the humans market's she'd ventured across in larger cities could not match the sheer quality of the fabrics in the youkai market she stood in.

She'd known, of course, that youkai were born to lure in and kill humans—but how did one resist when even youkai-made clothing insnared one to temptation? How many humans had she followed into the woods, enticed by the lowest, most ugly of youkai? She did not have enough fingers to count the humans she knew who would fall to the temptation of one dressed in such finery. How many would follow a youkai just for the chance to be near such glorious beauty?

"See something you like?" Masashi up to her elbow and followed her gaze to the silks spread out before them. "I did not take you to be one for such attire," he said quietly.

"I wondered how many humans had been lured and killed by youkai wearing silks like these," she answered, and turned away from the stall as the vendor sneered at her.

"I see."

She glanced over her shoulder at him, unaccustomed to the tight tone of his voice. No emotion lingered on his face, not even the usual half-smile he typically wore. "Have I finally offended your royal person?"

He stopped walking and dropped his gaze to his booted feet. "It's not that. You are correct about the silks, no doubt."

She paused and hesitated. How unlike him to be so reticent. In the almost year since they had begun traveling together, words had never failed him—even when she'd lambasted him with anger and venom. Turning to face him fully, she took a step or two closer until less than a step remained between them. "What is it, Masashi?"

His eyes drifted to the left towards the linen vendors on the other side of the market street. She followed his attention to the two female vendors with their heads bowed together, their hands hiding their mouths as they whispered and laughed together. "Have they offended you?"

He turned back to stare down at her. "It does not matter."

She watched as he clenched his jaw, the muscle ticking in the side of his cheek as he tried to step around her. She put a hand on his chest instinctively. "Then why are you so angry?"

For a moment, her palm against his chest distracted him. It was the first time she had initiated contact with him. The desire to dwell on the warmth of her touch nearly overrode his anger, but the incessant whispers of the youkai vendors surrounding them quickly ruined his satisfaction. He grasped her wrist and carefully pulled it aside but did not let go. "Their words are disgusting lies, and their tongues should be ripped from their mouths for daring to utter such things in my presence."

His declaration settled around them like a blanket in the dead of winter, the conversation around them dying off in tense, rigid silence. Angling her free hand down to the wakizashi tucked against her hakama, she considered their escape routes and asked, "Is it worth fighting over?"

He stared down at her, close enough that for the first time he could just see the faintest of freckles to the left of her right eye. "Any insult to you in this one's prescence is worth fighting over." His fingers curled more tightly about her wrist, the tips of his claws just barely biting into her flesh. "I could sunder this village down to the tree roots for the insults to your honor, Midoriko."

She spared another glance around them, noting the pale faces and disgusted sneers. Were they angry or scared? "Choose one." Tugging her wrist free of his before his claws could break skin, she drew both of her wakizashi. "Which one shall I make an example of? Which one would you like on their knees before you?" Even as her words spread around them like petals on the wind, she imbued her weapons with reiki. "Where would you like me to start?"

Her wrath simmered like heat at the end of a long day, a sunset bursting with vibrant potential. He drank it in like a man deprived and felt his rage quenched as seconds passed in the beat of her ferocious heart. "You would kill for this one?"

Her eyes drifted from the quiet villagers back up to his. Silence passed between them for several seconds before she said, "You would fight for my honor. The disgrace of letting you fight alone is intolerable. I would not have my name besmirched in such a way."

He did not try to stop the chuckle her denial raised. "Of course not, Miko-sama." Taking a step back to the distance she preferred between them, he dropped a low bow. "If your curiosity has been sated, we can take our leave of these hateful people. Let their gossip rot the fangs from their mouths."

Color cascaded over her cheeks, and she looked away. The word 'friend'' hovered on the tip of her tongue, but she did not dare let it fall. Since that night around the fire a few months ago, they had not formally discussed their odd relationship. She did not know the rules of friendship, but the thought that he had been angered on her behalf…

She sheathed her blades and turned away from him. "Wait." The avenue of stalls still sat silent and wary, and though Masashi had not disclosed the insults that had distressed him so, Midoriko was not a fool. She did not bare insult quietly. She drew in a deep breath and glanced at the two youkai that he had focused on before she quietly exhaled—and with her breath, a wave of purity washed over the village. Not enough to hurt, but certainly enough to shock. To warn. To remind those feckless women what walked amongst them.

He did not step back as her powers washed over him and past, seeping up and down the avenue of vendors and customers. At fourteen, almost fifteen, the sheer strength of her abilities took his breath away every time she used them so boldly. How much power would she wield after she reached her majority? As a child, she already stood as a threat to countless youkai. A saner youkai might have eliminated her then and there at the danger she presented, but Masashi only closed his eyes and reveled in it.

When she was finished, when not one set of youkai eyes rested on them in curiosity or otherwise, only then did she withdraw her powers and glance back at him. "Now we can go…my friend."

o.O.o

Word count – 1160

a/n – I know most of you aren't here for the Midoriko/Masashi pairing, but I appreciate your sticking around. I promise there's a point to this side story line, and we're heading there slowly but surely.

Also, in reading up more on Midoriko, I discovered who Kirinmaru is and I'm going to completely disregard that canon information and focus on Masashi/Midoriko. I hope those of you who are die-hard fact checkers can forgive me and continue to read despite this.

Additionally, I've created an Instagram account ( shewritesexcerpts), where I'm going to post deleted scenes, or scenes that didn't quite fit the direction I wanted to go, from all of my fics and my original works. Just started today. Feel free to add/follow. :DD