Chapter 5: The Search
Yuki was named Onigumo by his father, the demon Naraku. He was born after Naraku had acquired the sacred jewel and when his father casted him out of his own flesh, Naraku had told the demon Rain that he wanted this one, this baby that he had just created to be his heir.
"Every king needs an heir." He had said, someone in line to repay old debts should he ever wish them to. With a proper heir Naraku would be able to move onto others goals of his. His past incarnations had all failed him but this one would be different now that he had the full strength of the sacred jewel. He would raise this last incarnation to be his capable heir who would never sway in loyalties and be stronger than the incarnations before.
When Naraku had gotten pulled into a meido during his final battle, Rain and Onigumo were pulled in as well only to emerge out of the meido 4 years after Naraku had been defeated.
To them their time in the medio had only lasted a few cold and horrifying hours. Rain physically didn't change from the experience he looked the same as when he had been pulled in and Onigumo was still a baby but hen they were freed from the meido they had returned to a world that was 4 years older.
They had left this world in the spring and now it was snowing. The day that they returned, Rain gave Onigumo his second name Yuki, and Rain understood that this child was going to be his only chance at ever avenging the demon that he had dedicated his life to.
Yuki was raised by the demon Rain to be relentless. From an early age Rain would try to show Yuki that he was the only one that Yuki would ever be able to trust and he would do this through any means that he thought necessary to keep Yuki at his side and under his control. This same demon called himself Yuki's uncle and would treat him well when he did the things that he wanted and harshly when Yuki acted differently than he was teaching, especially if Yuki ever showed too much mercy to his enemies. This sort of transactional relationship was all that Yuki had ever known.
His uncle would often speak of how Great his father Naraku was and how many wished to harm him and steal his power and the jewel that he was destined to have. Everyone was envious of what Naraku had and all that he had accomplished and no one held more vitriol and disdain for Naraku more than the descendants of the great dog demon Toga.
Rain told Yuki of Naraku's conquest and great feats and of his siblings who Naraku held dear to him. His siblings were great demons as well, the ones who he loved to hear about the most were his sisters who could control the wind and see through mirrors and his brother who rode a horse from hell and fought valiantly.
Rain told him that they all would have been at his side had his father never been slain, had the descendants of the demon Toga not have sought vengeance on Naraku for besting them one too many times, Yuki would have had a very different life. One filled with strength and allies and he would have been the heir to it all as were his fathers last wishes. Yuki was told ever since he was born that Inuyasha and Sesshomaru took everything from him and because of that he hated them.
Rain didn't care for Yuki like a father or any real family member would, they had a mutual respect for each other and Yuki could tell that Rain did care for him in his own way but deep down he always knew that when he was with Rain, his uncle only saw the shadow of Yuki's father whom he had devoted his life to. Rain wanted badly for Yuki to take the place of his father but even when Yuki tried to do what his Uncle wanted it wasn't always enough.
"This is why you haven't earned the right to be called by your true name. You are weak and your father would be just as disappointed as I am." Rain would always bring up Yuki's true name and berate him by saying that he would never truly earn his name or the place that his father had met for him to have.
Rain's hostility towards him would occur mostly if Yuki was merciful or didn't do what he said to a T and Yuki could never help the fact that he wanted to please the only family member that he had ever known even if he shouldn't and even if Rain could never care for him the way that a normal family member would he was important to Yuki and he cared about Rain who had raised him and made him strong.
Yuki didn't even know if he really wanted to have the name Onigumo, that name to him had always belonged to someone else. Though it was the true name that his father had given him he was seldom ever called by it, so he more saw Yuki as his own name and the expectation of earning Onigumo as his duty. His duty to right the wrong that had been done to his family. Though he wasn't sure if he wanted to earn his true name or not he did want to earn Rain's approval. He wanted him to stop looking at him as if he were a shadow. He wanted to be enough.
Yuki's whole life he had traveled with Rain.
"One day the dog demons will come to finish you off. If you're weak they'll kill you as brutally as they can." Rain told him over and over as he instructed Yuki to have conflicts with demons and torment humans all over the continent, leaving a path of destruction in their wake and gaining enemies all the same. Rain told Yuki how his enemies were thriving, cherishing the very things that they took from him with their families and stealing his fathers lands. This never ceased to anger him that they had what he would never know.
Once Rain had finally deemed Yuki strong enough after they had gained control over a specific village with Yuki's shape shifting powers he had allowed him to be called by his true name and then they had set into motion their plan to avenge his fathers death. They had taken over a village in the east and Rain had told him that just the rumors alone of Onigumo the heir of Naraku would be enough to bring the dog demons jealousy his way and when they were lured away from their homes he would strike them where it hurts by attacking the children that they would left behind.
Yuki was to go during his time of weakness and scope out the abilities of the children of his enemies and then he would strategize on how to best move next.
His period of weakness had always been an uncomfortable time for him when it came to how his uncle treated him. Rain hated all humans and that didn't change just because Yuki was half demon, he was the only one of Naraku's incarnations to possess this trait of being half demon and losing his demonic power for a time. When Yuki became human for two midnights each month his uncle would always cast him out wherever they were and make him fend for himself alone in demon infested woods.
"Your father had a time of weakness and he never relied on others' protections. If you can't survive being in such a worthless state then you don't deserve to live with the name that he or I gave you." Rain had always said and because of this Yuki had always tried to put off his days of weakness as long as possible he at least inherited being able to choose when it happens from his father but sometimes Rain would still force him to start his process early as punishment for doing something that he didn't like.
The night that Yuki was supposed to go to the village where the dog demons families lived, Yuki ended up fighting off some bandits who had tried to rob him in the woods naering the village and his uncle's words rang in his ears again and again of being worthless and pathetic in his human state and for some reason it kept ringing louder and louder in his mind. That was when something in him snapped as those stupid humans tried attacking him so he fought them cold and relentlessly as he slaughtered them without any hint of remorse.
The bandits had met him before his change and as a result he had killed half of them in mere minutes before he lost his demonic abilities at midnight right in the middle of their fight. The injuries that he had received from the bandits during his reckless assault immediately started to throb now as he was human and this calmed his mind from his initial rage so he allowed the bandits to flee as he went the opposite direction. Rationalizing everything in his head as he did so.
His task was to observe the pieces that would soon be a part of his revenge. If he left those bandits alive it could serve as a good alibi later on if his presence ever came into question and if others have similar experiences with those bandits.
Yuki was never too good at tending to his own wounds and unfortunately he almost always had to try and heal himself almost every time that he lost his powers, because of this he had started to carry essential medical supplies during his times of weakness.
The night that he had a run in with bandits he was sure that he was far enough from where he had been attacked and he had moved as far as his injuries would allow him. He did his best to patch himself up with what he had. He did believe that he had done a better job than he normally did even with his mind blurred by the pain that threatened to become overwhelming in his human state. He told himself that he just needed to hold out until he regained his power then he would heal faster and his pain tolerance would be much more.
He told himself this but that didn't make the pain any less unbearable as the night went on. He wouldn't be able to accomplish any of what he had come here to do in the absence of the dog demons if he couldn't get his wounds under control.
This was all for nothing he had thought before he soon found himself lost to the sweet relief of unconsciousness.
He had fallen asleep with his mission in mind. He didn't know how long he had been out for but at least he didn't feel as much pain. He felt someone touch his chest and he reacted ready to kill whoever had dared to place hands on him until he opened his eyes and met her soft and startled gaze that quickly changed to that of determination as she started speaking ridiculous request of undress, taking him completely off guard and making him feel defensive in response as she pushed his kimono off his shoulders and started touching his wounds he barely had time to be flushed about being with a pretty girl like this when all she did was bark orders and smirk at him.
He had noticed that she had no medical supplies at all which made him suspicious of her as she taunted him that she was going to make his wound worse.
He should have known from the start, why would she want to help him when they had no relation? People didn't just do things for no reason and her sly smirks made him more certain that she did intend to do him harm as he protested once again. He had no way of fighting her off in his injured state and the way that she had him pinned he was at her mercy but when he suddenly felt his pain ease and the bleeding stop he became speechless.
He had never been healed by spiritual power before. Usually he was recoiling from the heavy damage left from feeling spiritual power like that but because he was human the powers didn't hurt him. He didn't know what to say as she turned from him and left and all he could wonder was why did she do that?
People didn't just do things for no reason, people always expected something in return, even the so-called righteous priests and priestesses in his experiences. The girl who healed him surely must have wanted something in return, he couldn't trust her, she had to be planning something. There was no way that she was just going to heal him and leave it at that. The only person who Yuki could really trust was Rain. He thought as he confronted the wild woman who had laid down on the opposite side of the tree from him she knew nothing about him or who he was but she had no fear of staying alone in the forest after healing him to near perfect health.
He was armed, he could have killed her had he wanted to and no one would be wiser. She was either insanely capable or insanely naive and the way that she smirked at teased him as he questioned her made him think the first was correct. They barely knew each other but he could tell from what he heard in the short time as they spoke that she was unlike anyone he had ever come across in his whole life and he felt more confused now about her intentions and who she was then he had felt before they had properly talked, but then she told him a truth the shook him to his core and it all made sense her mother was a priestess and her father was a half demon and he was where she got her strength from. She was one of them. No wonder she acted as if she had no fears.
The plan hadn't been to meet the pieces that would become a part of his revenge, he was simply supposed to observe them but his conversation with Moraha didn't bring him as much clarity as he would have liked. Meeting her had only made him more curious and as he spent more time with her he found himself to be more and more curious as she proved herself to be the exact opposite of everything he had ever known and the complete opposite of how Rain told him that the families of the dog demons would be.
She liked to do things for no reason. He still didn't know why but she said that it was just something that she wanted to do. She didn't want anything in return and was happy with exchange's much smaller in comparison to what she would do for someone else. He didn't understand her but he didn't dislike her. He found himself amused with her quick remarks and fast talking when she wanted to change the subject and she was a smirking, teasing menace whenever she got him confused or flustered.
His whole life he had been told to be on guard with everyone. He had to be because the smallest weaknesses can be exploited but Moroha was as free as the wind and he could tell everything that she thought and felt just by looking at her face. How strange that once he met her he had thought that all he had to do was figure her out and then he'd have no feelings about betraying her. He was wrong.
When he met her family and he saw first hand the love and warmth that they all shared despite their differences, he couldn't bring himself to want to hurt any of them, and the person who had brought him there to begin with, the person who had guaranteed that he would never be the same after he met her talked to him all night until her eyes were heavy and she had no choice but to go to bed. Yuki had never met his own family and he had never had any real friends before but with her he felt like he was someone else and for the first time in his life he wasn't dreading being a half demon.
The night that he slept in her home he had to remind himself of his mission and what he came there for multiple times so that he wouldn't get lost in this illusion. He didn't want to hurt them so maybe he could leave them out of his plans after all his other enemy Sesshomaru had children as well and he'd be able to see them up close the next day. Inuyasha and his brother deserved to pay for what they had done to him. Yuki had thought all of this too but then he met Maroha's friends and they treated him like he was their friend too, like he was capable even as a human and he was having second thoughts about hurting all of them now, these people made him question himself to his core and he was on limited time he wouldn't be able to find out everything thing that he wanted before his second midnight was over and he'd have to leave Moroha before she found out the truth about him.
He had planned to leave before morning right after she would heal his wounds for the last time. He wanted to remember how it felt to have spiritual powers used on him in a way other than violence but she was too smart for her own good and figured him out because of the scare on his back.
He never wanted her to find out the truth about him. All he had wanted was to enjoy this last stolen moment and then disappear from her forever as the human she had admired, but when he turned around and saw the look on her face he knew that the two of them would never have found memories of each other now, and he knew that he couldn't leave her be since she knew who he was. He had to take her with him the plan couldn't be jeopardized he was the son of Naraku and she was the daughter of his sworn enemies their story wouldn't have a happy ending even if he no longer planned on killing her he had to go through with his plans and adjust it so that no one else would be hurt besides his true enemies.
The night that they walked through the forest both of their thoughts were haunted and they were both quiet but then she had to break the silence and make him question his own resolve even more and he almost wavered just the tiniest bit but when he looked past her he saw Rain in the trees behind them and he knew that if he didn't assert himself now and he brought her back with him after wavering no matter how small, Rain would kill her and because he couldn't tell her the smallest of truths about how he really felt they fought that night.
They fought until she was on the verge of collapse and when he finally could reach for her as she fell through the bone eaters well she vanished so fast and suddenly. He jumped in after her once he could no longer see her and he hadn't heard a thud but the bottom of the well. The well was empty. She was gone, and he didn't know if he should feel relief or regret that he wasn't going to be taking her hostage tonight.
Yuki jumped out of the well and Rain was already at his side the moment he came out.
"Where is the half demon girl?" He asked
"She got away." Yuki said and his uncle looked at him critically before jumping into the well himself to confirm.
"Where the hell did she go? Did you not properly assess her abilities before your fight?" Rain questions him sternly.
"I observed her in great detail over the last two days. I know how she and our other enemies fight. This was unexpected." Yuki answered honestly.
"Onigumo, you didn't let her false words rot your mind did you? They betrayed your father once before. I would hate to see you fall victim to their schemes as well."
"No uncle, I know what is real and what I need to do. The only one who is living in a false reality is that girl." He stated and Rain looked at him for a moment before nodding his head in agreement and asking him to share what he found during his time in the lion's den.
Towa had woken up early to go and eat breakfast with her cousins. Her aunt was from the future and that was why she and her cousins knew all kinds of yummy recipes that no one else had thought of yet. She only wished that she had a talent for cooking and then she wouldn't need to worry about waking up so early to join their breakfast before her demon slaying jobs.
She was surprised to see that Moroha had already left for the slayers guild when she arrived at her cousin's house. Yuna and the boys were eating but Moroha and Yuki were both already gone. Yuna and Towa had just assumed that she had gone to see Yuki off since he had said that he planned on leaving today so they all went on as if nothing were wrong.
Moroha had always been enamored by the travelers who would come in and out of their village from time to time. Their village was still relatively small so they didn't get many travelers visiting often but when they did get visitors especially those that were interesting Moroha always wanted to know everything about them. Yuki was one of the only travelers who had been closer to their age too. So it was no wonder why her cousin seemed to really enjoy his company so Towa wasn't worried when she didn't see Moroha that morning.
However when she never showed up to the slayers guild to do their job she did start to become more concerned about her. It wasn't like Moroha to not show up for a job with no word at all or to leave so early without even leaving a note. Setsuna and Hisui were concerned too but after discussing it further they decided to go off on their mission and if she still never returned when they got back then they would investigate. Moroha was strong and could take care of herself and Yuki had proven himself to be more than capable yesterday. The two of them were most likely together too so the group decided to go on with their job thinking that Moroha will most likely have returned when they get back.
Their job had gone by a lot easier than it had the previous day with only one demon this time just as it was reported and it had been weaker than they had expected so the teens got to return to the village earlier in the evening than usual.
"I'm going to check on Moroha, she better have a good reason for ditching us today in favor of running off with Yuki." Towa said, pretending her best to not be worried.
"I'll go with you." Setsuna said. She was worried about Moroha too and she knew that if she hadn't come home that night then Towa wouldn't know how to process the situation and it would freak their younger cousins out. It was best that she go with her sister to help everyone stay calm until they found Moroha.
That idiot had better just be making them all worry for no reason Setsuna thought.
"Well if you're both going I had better go too." Hisui smiled. "We're a team after all."
The three of them looked at each other for a brief moment before laughing. They all knew each other too well and knew exactly what they each were thinking.
"When we see her, let's force her to polish all of the weapons at the slayers guild as punishment for making us all worry." Hisui added.
"Agreed." Both Towa and Setsuna said as they made their way to Moroha's house and when they got there they found her siblings all in one piece but the person that they were looking for was nowhere to be found and now they were all worried.
Towa and Setsuna immediately went to sniff her out with Yuna following close behind them while Hisui stayed behind to try and calm Moroha's brothers down. Sora had immediately started crying at the thought that his sister might be missing and Haru was in terrible shock as well adamantly denying the fact that she could be missing at all and insisting that she had to be playing a joke on them.
The girls immediately tracked her scent to the bone eaters well where they could still smell the faintest scent of her blood and the three girls froze as that old saying creeped into each of their heads. Fall into the well and you'll disappear forever just like lady Kagome almost did.
Setsuna was the first to move towards the well where Moroha's scent had been the strongest and she looked straight down into it her sister was by her side a moment later and then Yuna and the three girls peered into the dark well that they could barely see into.
"Maroha!" Yuna yelled into the well and her name echoed back at them.
"Are you down there!? Do you need help!?" She called and the three girls held their breath as they waited for a reply but only received silence.
Setsuna's brows drew down as Yuna stepped back and Towa kept staring into the well trying her best to will a response into existence. Setsuna took a deep breath before jumping into the well herself making both Yuna and Towa gasp.
She wasn't afraid of old tales. She and Hisui had met here so many times before she knew that she had nothing to fear so she jumped in to see for herself if her cousin had fallen but she couldn't smell her at all down the well.
"Setsuna!" Towa yelled.
"She's not here." Was all that Setsuna shelled up in return and Towa jumped into the well too now. Her eyes scanned the area thoroughly before slamming her first hard into its stone walls.
"Where the hell is she!" Towa yelled and Setsuna placed her hand on Towa's shoulder.
"Hey calm down, if you freak out, how do you think Yuna will feel? Haru and Sora are a mess already. The last thing everyone needs is for Yuna to break in this situation as well." Setsuna whispered. "Moroha is strong, she'll be okay until we find her, and once we do, whoever is responsible will have hell to pay." Setsuna said before climbing out of the well before Towa could even think to respond.
"I smell someone else's blood not as much as my sisters but it's still blood." Yuna said once Setsuna appeared from the well.
"Towa, Hisui and I will go find her tonight, don't worry about your sister. She's strong. She probably just ran off with Yuki and lost track of time. You shouldn't worry. I'm sure that she'll be back soon." Setsuna said.
"Then why didn't she tell anyone?" Yuna asked as Towa came out of the well.
"You know her, she doesn't think things through, we'll go find her tonight so don't worry about anything." Towa said doing her best to sound put together and be her usual self and Yuna ballad her fist at her sides.
Her cousins weren't being straight with her. They were treating her like a child.
"You're both liars." She said looking at her cousins with serious eyes. "You wouldn't lie to her so don't lie to me. What are you thinking? Do you think it was someone working for that Naraku guy's successor? Or maybe a demon with a vendetta against her from one of your jobs?" Yuna asked.
"She told you about Naraku?" Towa asked with sad eyes and Yuna nodded.
"Yuna the truth is that I have no idea where Moroha might be, I can't smell her anywhere other than here and I don't smell Yuki anywhere either. We can try and track down this other scent and I hope that it will lead to answers but I just don't know." Towa said.
"It doesn't matter if we can't smell her past here, we're going to find her even if we hit all dead ends tonight. We know her better than anyone. We know all the places that she goes and where she might be. We will find her no matter what and if someone has abducted her then they'll be dead the moment I find them." Setsuna said with a deadly calm expression and both Towa and Yuna could sense the murderous aura coming from her.
Yuna released a deep breath as everything sank in and she considered her next words.
"I'm trusting you two, I believe in my sister so I know that wherever she is she's fine. She may be reckless but she's great at taking care of herself and I believe in her strength to hold on until you find her. Maybe she will return on her own in the morning." Yuna said as she tried to keep a brave face. "I'll try and keep my brothers calm so you two do what you promised and find my sister." Yuna said, deciding to believe in her sister and her cousins to all come home.
Moroha's eyes felt heavy and her body ached as she willed herself to sit up. She had fallen into the well. Her last memories rushed back to her as her head pounded.
Why was she still at the bottom of the well? Surely Yuki would have pulled her out and taken her away with the current state that she was in. Why had he left her alone? She thought as she looked up.
It was still dark. So she figured that she must not have been asleep for that long. She wondered what time it was as she gingerly stood up before retrieving her sword that had been laying beside her. She could still move fine though she ached as she did so.
She had been injured but from what she could generally assess her wounds weren't too severe she'd need to clean all of her cuts and stab wounds but other than that she would probably be healed within the next few days. She looked around the well and noticed the worn ladder against the stone wall behind her. She wondered how long it had been there.
Did people fall into the well that often to where a ladder needed to be here?
She couldn't recall ever hearing about such issues and looking at the ropes they looked discolored and worn from years of being down here she questioned if the ladder would even hold until she made it to the top but nonetheless she climbed up and when she did she noticed that she was inside some kind of building and the light of day was spilling through the room. A chill ran up her spine.
Yuki had to have taken her, she thought.
There could be no other reason for why she was in this unfamiliar place. She pulled her sword out and walked to the doors calmly before peaking out. She was surprised to not see any trees or forest at all. Only the stone steps and another small building, she stepped outside with her weapon still drawn and slowly stepped down the stairs trying to sniff out any familiar scent. Something about this air didn't smell normal.
She took a few more steps until she came face to face with two people who were going in the direction that she came from. They were both dressed strangely, the man and the woman that she was face to face with.
The man looked to be maybe a few years younger than her mother and the woman was an older lady with short black and gray hair. Both of them froze once they saw her and Moroha held her sword high.
"Where am I? Why have you taken me here? You're both going to show me how to get home or else." She demanded but she couldn't feel any negative aura from either one of them. There could be a good chance that they had nothing to do with Yuki's plans.
The man smiled at her sweet and warm like she was endearing him with a nice memory. "You speak the way that Inuyasha used to." He said.
"And you look just like Kagome." The woman added as tears welled up in the corners of her eyes and Moroha let her guard down. Neither of them seemed hostile and they didn't have weapons so she trusted that they wouldn't hurt her. She was confused and they would be the only ones who could help her so after taking a deep breath she asked.
"How do you know my parents?" She said finally putting her sword away and the woman laughed cheerfully with a big smile on her face as she wiped her tears.
"I'm your grandmother."
The next morning Towa, Setsuna and Hisui set out to find Moroha. Their search the night before had been uneventful and the teens decided that the best course of action would be to regroup in the morning. They started their investigation by asking the villagers if they had seen anything before setting off again. So far they had one witness say that they saw her heading east out of the village with a man who had short white hair. So they at least had that to go by and with this new information it was becoming more clear to them that Moroha might have actually been abducted.
Moroha wasn't fighting and she didn't seem scared, the villager had told them. The group then assumed that that man with white hair had to be the one who's blood they had smelled along with hers by the bone eaters well. Though Moroha's scent disappeared at the well the other scent stopped past the well in the north direction so Hisui and Setsuna set off east while Towa and Kilala went north. They decided that Kilala should go with Towa in case she found Moroha and she couldn't fight that way Towa could get her out of harm's way and take care of the demon should she need to. Before leaving they established a rendezvous point to meet up at a north east position after a few hours of searching to decide what to do next should any evidence appear all three of them determined not to return empty handed.
Towa walked through the woods with Kilala on her shoulder as she searched for any hint of Moroha's scent as well as the scent of the blood of the other person. Towa walked for hours gazing and listening as well in case her scent was being covered. The woods were thick over here so flying overhead with Kilala wouldn't have served much of a purpose and she wouldn't have been able to smell as well being that high up in the air.
She was able to find a good vantage point from the trees though and it didn't inhibit her sense of smell too much either so she jumped from the branches in order to cover more ground. She could smell water near now. If they had taken her cousin this way there was a good chance that they had stopped by the water for some time to rest and if they had she'd surely be able to find more clues as to what happened to her.
Towa clenched her fists around the hilt of her sword.
If she see the person or people who took Moroha they're dead and if they've harmed her in any way she wouldn't make it quick. She thought murderously and restless at the idea that she may find whoever took her, camping over here. She almost was so lost in her own thoughts that she almost didn't dodge the knife that had been thrown her way.
Towa dodged a knife that had been thrown down fast at her with the slightest tilt of her head and the knife landed between her feet she then looked up with a smile on her face.
"Looks like I'm getting too close." She pulled out her sword and jumped to another tree branch and more knives rained down from the trees at her as she leaped into the air and she countered deflecting each flying knife as her energy blade shone and dispelled the knives in different directions making the forest sparkle as the knives flew and landed throughout the trees.
She landed gracefully onto another tree branch, looking in the direction that the knives had been thrown. She could smell the poison that the knives had been laced with pretty thick now and it made it almost impossible to smell anything else but the overwhelming smell of the poison.
Had that been their plan? Towa thought. She carried antidotes with her when she fought now so poison wouldn't be an issue for her anymore.
More knives whizzed her way and she deflected each one of them again. Her energy blade looked like a ribbon of light as she yet again met every blade before each could touché her, before setting out in the direction that the knives were coming from. She was getting closer and closer to her attacker as the distance that the knives were being thrown became shorter and shorter until she could clearly see a demon with long dark hair and pointed ears at the highest point. They made eye contact and his eyes looked as though this hadn't gone quite according to his plan while hers held a murderous look.
"Why don't you stop this already, I just want to talk." Was all Towa said and it made the demon sweat as he threw another knife fast past her and she didn't even try to deflect it as it was out of her range but when it landed she heard a scream which made her pause and look down and she saw an old man now bleeding out in pain having been struck in his ankle.
Towa's expression must have waved for a few moments because the demon smiled at her before he began to target the old man instead of Towa now having found a saving grace in this fight and she scrambled to try and save the old man who had been stabbed yet again and a few knives grazed Towa now in her fight with the demon though it wasn't enough for her to need antidote. Her body could naturally fend off small to mid sized amounts of poison but the old mad was a different story he was human.
In this haze Kilala rushed to the old man as if sensing on her own what Towa needed. The demon had completely ignored Kilala until she got big and was able to pull the man behind a tree to safety which helped Towa be able to change her focus to now mainly dodging the knives that were being thrown at her rather than rushing to block knives so that they didn't hit the old man.
Saving the old man and getting him out of here would mean potentially losing a lead on where Moroha was but the demon didn't appear for no reason. There had to be something that she had been getting close to that he didn't want her to see. If she was quick enough she could save the old man and still return in time before a move had been fully made.
Towa finally reached the old man and protected him from getting a knife placed between his eyes and she put him on Kilala's back before flying fast up and out of the trees. Towa wasted no time giving him some of the antidote that she would typically carry with her and it stopped the effects of most demon poisons.
The man seemed like he was barely holding on behind her and her nose was slowly clearing from the almost dizzying stench of the poison that had blocked her senses moments prior and when it did now all she could smell was the familiar stench of the man's blood and she urged Kilala to fly lower as the neared the gravel edges of the river she had initially been headed to. As Kilala now flew low Towa threw the old man off of Kilala's back and he hit the rocky ground hard before Towa's foot slammed onto his chest keeping him down and he coughed up blood. She then pressed her blade into his neck. As she looked at him wide eyed and menacingly.
"Where is she! What did you do with Moroha!" She demanded and the man tried to resist and sit up but she only pushed her foot down harder.
"I won't ask again, your blood was the only other thing that I could smell by the bone eaters well so I know that you know what happened that night." She said cold and harsh and the man lost his shape and reverted back to what she assumed was his true form a white haired demon with red eyes. She looked him over for an extended moment as the realization hit her.
"Hello again, Towa." He coughed her name along with blood and he raised his hand as if to counter or attack but it was quickly stabbed through before he could do anything and he screamed out in pain as Towa pressed her foot down on him harder cracking some of his ribs now making him winch even more and she maintained her energy blade that had stabbed through his hand.
"You're Yuki aren't you? You had better do what I say or this will only get worse. I don't think that you'd like for me to ruthlessly test the limits of your pain tolerance." She stated, still cold even with the realization about who he was. Her cousin was still missing and it had to be his fault.
Yuki looked up at her with a scowl and she started wiggling her sword that was lodged into his hand.
"She fell down the well!" He said. "We were fighting and I wanted to take her hostage. We fought until she couldn't anymore and when she passed out she fell backwards and disappeared into that cursed well by your village. I tried to reach for her. I went down the well to retrieve her but she had vanished. I have just as good of a clue as you do about where she really is." Yuki stated fast and honest while Towa only offered him a cold stare for a long while. While she decided if he was telling the truth or not.
Her blue energy disappeared from his hand and more blood gushed out of it and she took her foot off of his chest before pulling him by his collar.
"You better not be shitting me here. I'll kill you dont think I won't for a second."
"I'm telling the truth, I didn't want her to be hurt either but once she found out the truth she wouldn't do what I asked so I had no choice." Yuki said and Towa threw him down as she thought about what to do next. She didn't think that he was lying from the look on his face to the way that he spoke. She believed what he was saying. She needed to get to her sister and Hisui and tell them what had happened. Now it made sense as for why Moroha's scent had disappeared but how on earth were they going to get her back if none of them could get to her wherever she had gone.
She looked at Yuki for a long moment now as she pondered what to do with him now as well. She couldn't let him go, not when she didn't know what he was planning or why he had even been fighting Moroha in the first place. She quickly came to the conclusion that he would just have to become her hostage until they could properly decide what to do with him. That made sense, she thought with a shrug.
"Towa!" A voice cut through the air and Towa turned to see Moroha standing back in the way of the forest.
"Towa, is that you?!" Moroha asked and Towa glared at Yuki. Who coughed again.
"I didn't lie." He coughed and Towa rushed over to Moroha, she was farther than Towa had initially thought but Towa kept running until she reached her cousin.
"You really are here." Moroha smiled. "Let's get out of here." She said.
"You idiot don't go off like that again. Do you know how worried everyone was?" Towa said as she went to hug her but the moment that they touched Moroha burst into mist and Towa screamed shocked in the moment.
How could she have been there one minute as real as anyone else and then disappear the next? What was going on? She thought as her mind flashed back to what Yuki had said.
I didn't lie, was all that he had said and she rushed back to where she had left him but he was gone now and Towa understood that it must have been an illusion created so that Yuki could be saved. She clenched her fist she may not have had Yuki anymore but she believed him about that night and at least now she knew what had actually happened. The key to finding Moroha was the bone eaters well.
The old saying crossed her mind again as she made her way to the rendezvous point. Fall into the bone eaters well and you'll disappear forever just like lady Kagome nearly did. Moroha couldn't be gone forever, she just couldn't.
After school Haru and Sora went to see their sister at the village shrine where she normally studied to be a priestess each day and she looked thoroughly annoyed to see her brothers interrupting her in the middle of her lessons and she quickly ushered them outside.
"Yuna, why aren't you doing anything to find Moroha?" Haru asked.
"We talked about this this morning, Moroha is strong, you should have more faith in her. Towa and Setsuna are—"
"I don't care about what Towa and Setsuna are doing! Why aren't we doing anything?" Haru cut his sister off.
"She's still not home. We checked already." Sora said and the three of them looked at each other for a long time until Yuna broke the tense silence.
"I don't think that you boys understand that I want her to be found just as much as you do. I tell you not to worry and I tell you that she'll be fine because I know Moroha and I know that she would never put herself into any situation that she couldn't handle. She'd never need us to rescue her." Yuna said with her bravest face. She knew that they'd crack if did, even in the slightest. "Listen to how that sounds. She'd hate it if we tried to do that. That's why Towa and Setsuna left this morning to assist her. Assist not rescue. I promise that when she'll return she'll be perfectly fine so you two should just go home and not worry about this anymore you believe in our sister don't you? Mama and Papa wouldn't be worried so neither should you." Yuna said with soft and honest eyes as if she believed every word that she said while Haru only looked at her as he carefully considered what to say and Sora looked angry.
"Mama and Papa aren't here, if they were she wouldn't have even gone missing!" Sora screamed and Haru put his hand on his brother's shoulder.
"Sora calm down, Yuna's right you know. Moroha wouldn't want us to save her." Haru said after taking a deep breath.
Sora looked at him like he had just punched him in the face. "But you said—"
"I know what I said." Haru cut his brother off. "But Yuna's right, we should leave it up to Towa and Setsuna. Let the grown ups handle this, it will be okay." Haru said and Yuna gave him a silent thanks for seeing reason and calming Sora's unrest.
"I'll be home in an hour or two. We can talk more about this then okay." Yuna said and the boys nodded as she went back inside and they left the shrine Sora notably giving Haru the silent treatment for flipping sides on him.
"Sora stop that." Haru said nonchalantly. "We're going to go find Moroha. Yuna would have never let us out of her sight had we both pressed her too much back there. No one's taking her being missing seriously and if dad were here there's no way that he'd sit still." Haru said and Sora smiled.
"Why didn't you tell me back there?" Sora huffed.
"You're horrible at keeping secrets. Let's go where Towa said her scent stopped."
"The bone eaters well?" Sora asked with a small hint of fear in his voice.
"Yeah, if she fell in, she'll need our help. I don't care if she wants to be saved by us or not. She shouldn't have gotten lost in the first place. I'm sick of everyone acting like this is no big deal." Haru huffed.
"Haru if we fall into the well we might disappear forever just like mama used to." Sora said scared.
"Sora you don't have to come with me if you're scared. I'll go rescue Moroha and you can stay home."
"How are you going to fight a demon that even big sis can't kill by yourself!?" Sora questioned.
"How do you know there's a demon?" Haru asked.
"Why else would Moroha be gone for this long? She's got to be in a huge fight." Sora said. "I wish Papa were here." Tears threatened to fall from his eyes again and Haru looked at him annoyed.
"Sora if you keep saying that I'm going to hit you and if you cry again I'm going to hit you. We don't need dad or Yuna or anyone else. We can do this on our own, we're strong just like Moroha and our cousins and I refuse to sit still while everyone else does nothing."
Sora took a few deep breaths before calming down and following his brother to the bone eaters well where Moroha's scent had stopped.
Sora recalled the first time that he and Haru had ever heard about the rumor of the well, Fall in and you'll disappear forever and get eaten by demons. When they asked their parents about it their father had laughed before saying that it's true which scared both of the boys shitless and their mother told him to sit not even a moment later before claiming that it was just a scary story and to not be afraid of that. And it was just a scary story to them until their sister's scent seemingly vanished at the pit of the well.
Now the two boys looked down into the well. It was sunset and both of them hesitated. Sora's eyes met his older brothers as soon as he lifted his head and Haru's mouth set into a thin line.
"Sora you don't have to go with me. I'll go and you can tell people what happened if I don't come back" Haru said before climbing on to the edge of the well and Sora gripped Harus shirt tight stopping Haru from going forward and Haru turned around.
"No! I'm going with you." Sora said though he was shaking. "I am just as tough as you and Moroha and dad and I'm not afraid to go down the well." Sora said Stern and Haru nodded before taking another deep breath.
Sora let him go and they both climbed on to the edge of the well. Sora patiently waited for his brother to jump first but he was instead pushed back and onto the safety of the grass as Haru jumped down into the well. Sora quickly sprung up before running back to the well and looking into it seeing no trace of his brother.
"Haru!" He yelled but he got no reply and tears quickly began to annoyingly burn the back of his eyes as he clenched his fist.
Haru needs me Moroha needs me I can't stay put. I have to go, he repeated to himself. As he climbed on to the ledge of the well yet again and closed his eyes before jumping through and before he knew it his feet were on solid ground again.
"Wow you actually went through with it." Haru said surprised, and Sora opened his eyes to find his brother halfway up the ladder behind him and Sora couldn't help it he cried again.
"I told you I was coming." Sora mumbled as he tried to calm down and Haru smiled.
"I knew you could be brave, come on. Don't you smell Moroha's scent all around here?" Haru asked and Sora nodded, happy to finally be closer to finding out what happened to his sister before both of them claimed out of the well and into the world around them.
A.N:
I am so sorry for the late update. I ended up being out of town a day longer than I had planned and once I got home I didn't have the time to post until now. The next chapter is titled misplaced and it should be up sometime this weekend. Thank you for reading.