Chapter 11: Out Of Place
The Gemini manor was left devastated after the various fights that had taken place in that evening. Moroha and Yuki found it particularly difficult to get around some of the collapsed spaces as they made their exit with Eris over Yuki's shoulder. Especially with both of them having no prior knowledge about where the exit might be.
Once they finally managed to navigate their way out the group was reunited outside of Gemini Manor. Setsuna and Hisui had evacuated most of the humans that were in the manor and tearful reunions were exchanged between Tai and his sister as well with other villagers who had been victims of the Gemini twins. Some of the other villagers that had been freed were also feeling strong emotions once they realized that the Gemini twins would no longer be a dark shadow over their village.
Not everyone residing within the Gemini twins manor was there willingly and now after what had been some of the worst years for many of those who were at the Gemini manor that day, they were finally allowed to return home.
The village lord had been killed years ago by the Gemini twins so there was no de facto leader once the news of the Twins passing reached the village that night. Most rejoiced at the news but there were still those within the village that had grown to worship the Gemini's as the gods they claimed to be. It was going to take a lot of work to undo the damage that the Gemini brothers had done. Some of the elder villagers got together later that night to discuss what the village should do going forward now that the people didn't have to worry about appeasing the Gemini demons anymore.
After saving Tai's sister, the teens went with Tai and his sister Yara to their home in the village. They had offered that the group stay with them the moment that it was mentioned that they wouldn't be resuming their travels until the next day.
Tai and Yara's home wasn't anything too fancy. They had a two bedroom home that was the typical standard for the time period, but it was still much smaller than any of the teens were used to back home.
The space did happen to feel somewhat cramped with so many people there at once but both Yara and Tai wanted to thank the group by extending them this hospitality and insisted that they stay with them as thanks for saving them from the Gemini twins.
The teens had quietly taken Eris with them carefully making sure that no one saw them taking her along. If someone were to see Eris alive after the death of Mars and Titan there would most likely be a mob of villagers who wanted her head, but Moroha had insisted that Eris had been a victim in all of this too and did not want to leave her behind.
When Eris woke up several hours later that night after Moroha had treated her wounds. She truly had no interest in vengeance just like Moroha had anticipated earlier. Eris woke that night with a somberness about her once she realized that her brother's were truly gone. Moroha and Towa had both tried speaking with her but Eris would have none of it. She reiterated that they weren't friends and had no common ground despite the situation as she thought and made sense of everything for a few short moments before telling the teens that she was leaving this village for good almost as soon as she woke up.
Eris said that she was going to the place where she belonged now that her brothers were dead. They had the ancient blood of flame gods flowing through them. Eris thought. She would return to the volcano where she and her brothers were born. As that was the place where she felt she belonged now secluded with the flames of her ancestors. She needed to find guidance now that she no longer had her brothers.
She didn't hold any resentment towards Moroha or any of the group over what happened. Mars and Titan had terrorized her her entire life but she always thought that if she stayed loyal to them and showed that she could be useful that one day they'd love her like she loved them but neither of them ever cared about her. To them she was worthless just because of her blood. Eris didn't want to be in this village anymore.
She said very little to the group besides her plans to return where she belonged before leaving, though she did swallow her pride and privately say thank you to Moroha for what she had said to her during her fight with Titan.
What Eris really felt she needed to do was find her own identity outside of being the Gemini twins unwanted sister. Those were the thoughts that she left with that night as she said goodbye to her fathers village for the last time.
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After Eris left everyone soon went to would be resuming their travels the next day so everyone needed their rest. Hisui and Yuki Slept with Tai in his room while the girls all slept in Yara's room.
The girls all spread out across Yara's bedroom floor. All cleaned up and exhausted from the day, especially feeling more fatigued thanks to the sleeping powder from the moths.
Everyone went to sleep right away except for Moroha who was having trouble sleeping that night. As she looked up at the ceiling and tossed and turned. Knowing her restlessness undoubtedly was annoying Setsuna in the process. Who she knew most likely wasn't sleeping just yet and wouldn't sleep if she kept tossing the way that she was. While Yara and Towa slept soundly as they both had almost immediately fallen asleep after they all entered the room.
Moroha knew that if she kept this up it would only be a matter of time until Setsuna chewed her out for making too much noise and she didn't want to talk about why she couldn't sleep so she sat up slowly taking a deep breath as she looked around the room before deciding to go outside to calm her thoughts.
She didn't even bother to tie her hair back before leaving. She was sure that she'd only be a few minutes anyway but still the absence of her bow was always something that felt foreign to her as her hair touched her shoulders and moved about as she did.
She slowly made her way out of Yara's room, careful as to not wake anyone up as she made her way out of the home and her feet carried to the small wooden fence posts behind Yara and Tai's house that overlooked a grassy field. Here her mind was finally able to settle as she looked up at the sky and breathed slowly.
Looking at the stars always calmed her mind but tonight it wasn't working for whatever reason. She stared up at the stars for what felt like hours but in all actuality it had only been a few minutes since she ventured outside.
Watching the stars had only ever been a part of what made her feel at peace. What she really missed was sitting at her place under the tree of ages whenever she needed and just sleeping under the warmth of the sun but more than that she missed her family.
It had been a full month now since they all left home and she was sure that her parents had returned home by now and knew that she was gone.
As she looked at the stars, she wondered how they reacted when Yuna told them what happened. She imagined that her father's reaction was probably explosive and her mother most likely tried talking him down in response as she herself tried to keep her cool and reserve her own anger about the situation in front of her siblings. Yuna and Sora probably snitched to them too, about everything that she had done in their absence.
Moroha smiled at the stars as a gentle breeze blew through her hair. Yeah that was definitely how her parents must have reacted. She supposed that it was good then that she was so far from home and would not be receiving that long awaited reprimanding anytime soon.
She did however wish that she could have gotten to see her mothers face when she read those letters that her grandparents and Uncle had written to her. Moroha was sure that those letters at least would calm some of her mothers anger at the situation.
Moroha's dream was to one day travel the world. She had always assumed that being a traveler would be great. She'd go everywhere and see everything but she didn't count on missing small things that seemed unimportant about home.
Like sitting under the tree of ages on a hot day or teasing her sister about little things that would cause them to bicker farther. Going to the market with her brothers when everyone else was too busy to go and getting bread.
She missed training with her father until her mother came to get them because it was too late or they hadn't eaten dinner yet and learning about all kinds of medicines and herbs that only her mother knew about. She didn't get to tell her parents goodbye before she left home to find Yuki so maybe everything was just hitting her all at once, especially after seeing the way that Eris was treated by her family for simply just being a half demon.
Towa and Setuna were half demons. Her father was a half demon and he could do anything. She had never once thought of herself or any of them as less than. Sure sometimes people in the village would be harsh to them because they didn't understand but the way that Eris was treated by her own brothers was completely different from what she was used to sometimes experiencing from humans.
The way that some demons viewed half demons made traveling dangerous and maybe if Moroha was alone she'd give more thought to what that might really meant for her alone but she didn't want to ponder that thought more right now.
Right now Moroha was home sick. She didn't leave the village in the way that she had imagined she would but after they finish everything with Rain she would go home again and she would leave the right way this time. Then she wouldn't feel as home sick or guilty that she only left her parents one hastily written note the morning that she left the village.
"You've been out here for a while." Yuki's voice cut through her thoughts as he came around the corner of Tai's home and stood beside her.
His hair looked messy from laying down after trying to sleep and he looked more at ease than he had been earlier at Gemini manor and even when Eris was around, as if he had thought that she could still possibly be a threat once she would wake up. Yuki often looked like he was on guard. It hadn't been long since they had started traveling together but Moroha was happy whenever she got to see Yuki relax.
"I can't sleep." She smiled fakely trying to hide how she really felt. "What's your excuse?" She asked him hoping that he didn't see through her.
"Tai snores very loudly and Hisui and I can barely sleep in there with him." Yuki said and Moroha laughed.
She couldn't tell if Yuki had seen through her or not. She was just grateful that if he did he didn't press her for the truth.
"Maybe you should try counting some sheep." She joked.
"How would counting sheep help with the sound of snoring?" Yuki asked skeptically.
Moroha shrugged. "I'm just giving you options, since you can't quite figure this one out."
"Maybe if I count loud enough the sound of my counting will wake Tai up long enough for Hisui and I to get a decent five minutes of sleep." Yuki said as he leaned on the wooden fence in front of him while keeping his eyes on Moroha.
"You're welcome." Moroha smiled smugly at him and his eyes met hers for a few stretched moments before they both couldn't help but laugh.
What was she doing to him, he never used to feel at ease so freely before but something about the way her brown eyes lit up under the stars and the way that her midnight hair fell over her shoulders as she laughed just made him want to smile.
"You never sleep with your bow in your hair, do you?" He asked. He recalled her taking it out the night before as well.
"I don't want to ruin it, so I always take it off."
"What's the significance of that bow to you anyway? Is the style some kind of trend in your village?" Yuki asked and Moroha's eyes lit up at the question as she shook her head and recalled the memory with a smile.
"No, my mom made that bow for me because I wanted to look like my dad. He has ears on top of his head and when I was a kid I wanted to be just like him." She blushed under his crimson gaze as she realized just how embarrassing that sounded.
"I guess it's a little embarrassing to say out loud." She broke eye contact with him as she tried to evade his gaze. "I, more so, wear it now because it's just special to me."
Yuki chuckled. "Don't be embarrassed. I think that it's sweet that you still wear your bow." He scooted closer to her trying to show her that he was not judging her at all.
"Hey don't go speaking soft to me. Where is my broody friend who won't even hold my hand when he's upset?" She teased as she tried to calm her embarrassment at what she had just admitted.
"You held my hand today and was I the one to pull back first?" He said seriously never once taking his eyes off her and the closeness made her cheeks turn pink.
"I guess you weren't."
"I never did apologize to you, about earlier." Yuki said, while looking away from her. "You and Tai were taken on my watch and you ended up getting hurt because of me."
"What are you talking about? Everyone passed out from the moth dust. It wasn't anymore you than anyone else and any of us could have been taken. Eris just happened to choose me." Moroha shrugged. "Had you not woken Setsuna up after everyone passed out I might have been in trouble. So you have nothing to apologize for."
"You and your friends allowed me to accompany you after everything that I did. I just feel like the least I can do is not make any trouble for you. To me failing to keep you and Tai safe today was me bringing trouble to you." Yuki said seriously and Moroha reached for his hand. Giving it a firm squeeze as she spoke.
"Me and my friends?" She questioned. "Yuki I think that you mean to say our friends. We're all your friends too. Even Setsuna, she just has a harder time trusting people, but I see you and who you try to be when you don't have to worry about what others want for you." She smiled. "Even if you want to consider what happened today your fault which it wasn't. I'd forgive you because that's what friends do. What's important is that you came to save me."
Yuki squeezed her hand back. "It's like you said we're friends now and I will always be loyal to you all who still wanted me around even after Rain betrayed me." He said sincerely while looking into her eyes and she smiled.
"I told you that we would accept you. Half demon or not you're one of us."
Yuki sighed. "I suppose you're right." He smiled briefly recalling the night that she found out that he had betrayed her. "You can't blame me for feeling the way that I did back then. You saw how Eris was treated by her family for simply just existing as a half demon. How you and the twins were brought up isn't the same for all of us and back then when you had just found out that I had been lying to you about who I was. I couldn't imagine that you'd still see me the same after knowing the truth." Yuki said while still holding Moroha's hand.
"Yuki, you are not your father. You're you and you get to decide to be whoever you want, that's your choice and nobody else's."
"I'm starting to understand that now that I don't have Rain with me anymore." He said with a hint of sadness in his voice.
"You miss him don't you?"
"He wasn't always bad." Yuki stated seriously. "My whole life he was the only family that I ever knew. I thought that he was the only one in this world that I could always trust but he was just playing his part until I was no longer useful to him." Yuki laughed bitterly and Moroha rubbed her thumb in a circle over his knuckles, easing his mind and keeping him calm and he sighed. There was something strange about the calmness that he felt with her but no one else.
"Until I was no longer useful, just like what he taught me to do with every alliance that I have ever made. At least I know for sure now that he at least practices what he preaches."
"Hey, it's okay to miss parts of him. What happened with Rain doesn't make how you feel any less than. He was your uncle and he lied to you."
"I just feel like if I wasn't so desperate for his approval for all of those years. If I stopped wanting what wasn't there then maybe I would have known, maybe I would have been able to see that he never cared about me." Yuki said being more honest with her than he had been with anyone in his whole life.
"I care about you." She said honest and sincere. "I care and I promise that from now on you'll never have to worry about being alone. Not as long as we're friends."
Yuki just stared at her for a long moment in response. She didn't punish him for his honesty like Rain would have. She didn't chastise him or tell him that he was weak because everything was somehow his fault for failing to see what was going to happen before it did. She just listened and made him feel heard for the first time in his life. She couldn't mean it.
"You can't mean that." He said but he didn't want to let go of her hand. She couldn't mean what she was saying but he still wanted to hold on so he simply just loosened his grip on her hand allowing her to let go if she wanted to but she didn't not once even as he spoke again. "Eventually you'll have to go home and I'm not so naive to think that you all would stay with me forever. There's no way that I'd be welcome back there again. I'd be out of place."
"Nonsense, I said that I forgive you for back then and that's that. When we return to the village then so will you. Yuki stop trying to find excuses for why you can't be perfectly in place with us and just be happy." She said.
"I don't know if I can be perfectly in place with the four of you. I've never known anything like this. Maybe I'm just meant to be alone."
"No one is meant to be alone. You met me that day in the forest for a reason because you and I were supposed to find each other. If you don't know how to have friends then I'll just teach you." She said the last part matter of factly "But if I'm being honest I don't know if you even really need my help because you've been doing just fine this whole time." She said and he decided that if the dream of having friends and being a part of a team was going to continue, that from now on he'd allow himself to accept this and he'd let himself be happy with them for as long as he could.
"Thank you. I hope that I can learn how to naturally be in place with you one day." He smiled. She would never know just how grateful he was to have met her that day in front of the tree of ages.
"You will, I told you already that I don't think that you're that far off. To me you're all already perfectly in place." She smiled and they stayed outside together watching the stars and holding hands for some time until they decided to retire back to sleep later into the night. Completely unaware of the four eyed owl that had watched and listened in on their entire conversation.
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Setsuna had been able to sleep perfectly fine that night. She had needed the rest, after the day she had had. Evacuating those humans from the Gemini brothers manor had been a long task and once the place caught on fire things had gotten even more hectic.
As soon as they arrived at Tai and Yara's small home she couldn't help but fall asleep almost as soon as her head landed on something soft. Though she did have trouble staying asleep when she heard her cousin tossing around in the spot across from her but that quickly passed and she was able to sleep again.
Setsuna slept throughout the rest of the night but something was missing. She only realized what when she felt herself being gently nudged the next morning.
Her eyes fluttered open and caught Hisui kneeling beside her with a lazy smile gracing his face.
"Hey, we need more supplies before heading out." He whispered and she rolled over facing opposite of him now as he kept his voice low trying to not wake the other girls.
"You're really going to make me go alone?" Hisui complained and Setsuna groaned.
"Just wait a few more minutes." She said.
"Okay." Hisui said before soundlessly leaving the room and Setsuna stole a few more minutes of sleep before sitting up from her place on the floor and stretching her arms.
That boy was lucky that she loved him. She had thought as she willed herself to wake up and Moroha were still asleep and Yara was still sleeping soundly too in the aftermath of Hisui's sneaky attempt at waking her up.
Setsuna then got dressed putting on her more casual kimono before going to meet Hisui.
She caught him outside of Tai's house waiting for her. She tried her best to muster up her best glare for him for waking her up so early but she couldn't do it because the moment that he saw her, his features lit up the way that they always did whenever he was excited to see her and he told her good morning and all she could do was just answer with silence.
"You're not mad at me are you?" He asked.
"Listen, I like having time alone together too but I was sleeping really decently this morning. Early meetings need to be discussed the night before." She said matters of factly.
"Did you sleep more decently than when you sleep next to me?" He asked with a face full of pretend concern and she rolled her eyes.
"Not that decently." She said and he smiled while taking her hands in his and then kissing the back of them.
"I'm sorry, I guess I was just restless from my night without you. It's hard to get used to sleeping alone again since I'm so used to having you in my arms at night now." He said.
"It's fine this time." She gave in, finding it near impossible to be mad at him when he was being so sweet to her. "I missed sleeping next to you too." She said before pulling him along "What all supplies do we need?"
"We're out of rice and need some more of the healing herbs the Moroha uses to make the tonics for our wounds sometimes. After that we should get moving again as soon as possible."
"I see, a very lengthy and taxing endeavor that you most definitely did need my help for." Setsuna said sarcastically as she squeezed his hand.
"For someone who claims that they're tired I don't see you rushing back to bed now that you know how light the load will be."
"I mistakenly thought that you would need my help hauling supplies back but since I'm awake now. I have no choice but to accompany you." She said and Hisui kissed her face making the rest of the words that she had planned to say die on her tongue.
"I really missed sleeping next to you last night." Was all that he said as his cheeks started to turn pink and she smiled.
"Yeah I missed you too."
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Towa had woken up before Moroha and was not surprised to find that her sister was nowhere to be found. She was probably off with Hisui again. How she never noticed before was still beyond her as they had always been obvious Towa just never given it much thought.
Towa quickly got dressed and left Yara's bedroom to find Yara and Tai talking about some of the village's plans moving forward from the Gemini brothers. Tai seemed happy to have his sister back and she seemed at ease now that she didn't have to stay at the Gemini manor anymore.
Tai's sister was a tall girl with deep brown hair and her eyes were a pale gray color. She was pretty but her unique beauty was still distinctly human with her uncommon features.
Yara again expressed how greatful that the was that Towa and the rest of their group had saved her and Tai and Towa reassured her that it was no big deal. Yara told her that the villagers would have loved to throw a party or give the teens a well deserved banquet but they just didn't have the resources.
Towa reassured Yara that they were okay not being celebrated. Celebration like this for slaying demons was new to her. Usually Kohaku would tell them where to go and then they'd return and that would be the end of it, but the people out here didn't have the luxury of being near a slayers guild that would solve any demon problem.
Towa spoke with Yara and Tai for about all of 10 minutes before waking her cousin up and then the both of them wanted to go sightseeing in the village so they barged into Tai's room to interrupt Yuki's sleep inorder to drag him along with them.
"Looks like you were able to get some sleep after all." Moroha smiled. "Did counting sheep work?" Moroha asked once they left Tai and Yara's.
"Hardly, by the time you and I returned I was considerably more tired which made sleeping under the sound of Tai's snores a lot easier."
"The two of you snuck out together last night?" Towa asked. "I thought that was my sister crawling out to meet Hisui last night. It hasn't even been a week yet. When did the two of you start that kind of relationship?" Towa asked, surprised.
"The night that I started traveling with you all, Moroha asked for my hand in mirage. Of course, I told her that she would have to properly court me before I could even consider." Yuki smiled charmingly and Moroha rolled her eyes.
"We don't have that type of relationship. We both just happened to be having trouble sleeping." Moroha said.
"Why does that excuse sound familiar?" Towa said accusingly and Moroha rolled her eyes again.
"You know very well how I feel about romance. Those relationships are unnecessary for my dreams and I don't want anything to do with that."
"Okay, I believe you for now but you better not be keeping secrets like my sister and Hisui."
"Never. I would tell you first always." Moroha said.
"And what about you Yuki, would you tell me first as well." Towa asked seriously.
"If that would please you I guess." He shrugged.
"Good then." Towa smiled. "Let's go find something to eat you late risers."
"I'm pretty sure that you barely woke up before me." Moroha said.
"Whatever second place." Towa Said and Moroha sent her cousin an annoyed look while Yuki chuckled at the two of them.
"What's so funny, third?" Moroha asked Yuki.
"Nothing, I just want to get the two of you some food as soon as possible." He said with a genuine smile on his face that made Moroha stare at him for an extended moment and Towa most definitely did notice.
"It would seem that you fit in well with our group Yuki, I'm glad that you're with us." Towa smiled.
"I'm grateful to hear you say that Towa, traveling with you all has definitely been different from what I'm used to but I'm going to try to understand you all better."
"No need to be so formal we wouldn't want you to act like someone you're not. The way that I see it you've been understanding us all perfectly fine." Towa said.
"I told you." Moroha whispered to Yuki and they finally came across a little restaurant that sold sweet dumplings and the three were happy to have that as their morning meal.
The three of them ate together before deciding to go sightseeing around the village. The village was bigger than where Moroha and Towa had grown up and even had its own marketplace so Moroha and Towa wanted to see if they saw anything that they liked.
They still had a decent amount of money from slaying Tokotsu and the girls wanted to splurge a little. Yuki was just taken along for the ride, not that he minded. He simply just liked being in their company so it didn't matter what they were doing.
"Yuki let me know if you see something that you like. We got a lot of money from slaying Tokotsu so we're pretty set for a while when it comes to cash."
"No need, I have my own money." Yuki said.
"We got a gold ingots worth of coins." She whispered.
"A gold ingot's worth!?" Yuki gasped and both Moroha and Towa laughed.
"Are you really carrying that much? Someone's going to try to rob us." Yuki said.
"Let them try." Towa smirked before she gasp and rushed over to some fancy weapons merchant stand. Moroha followed her quickly once she saw what Towa had seen, and Yuki followed right behind her. He couldn't help but smile at them as they looked at different swords with starry eyes.
"Maybe this is the day that I finally replace my sword." Towa said with excitement as she looked at one blade in particular. She held it close to her eye as she admired its craftsmanship. It didn't seem too strong but the blade was cut beautifully and the hilt of the sword was a pretty maroon color.
"Are you really going to buy that? You'll have two broken swords at your waist by the end of the week." Moroha said.
"If that happens then I'll just learn how to wield two swords."
"It's not too difficult, I'm sure you'd catch on quick." Yuki said.
"That's the kind of attitude that I need right now." Towa said.
"You always get so excited to buy new blades but nothing human crafted ever holds up in a real fight." Moroha said as she looked at some beautifully crafted arrows.
Did she need any more arrows? Moroha asked herself. Arrows were something that anyone could craft and they'd still be effective most of the time as long as they were sharp enough.
"Is there something that I can help you with?" The weapons merchant finally asked.
Yuki had noticed him staring at them with content from the moment they started looking at weapons. He didn't even greet them until he heard that they were considering buying something.
Looking at Moroha and Towa like that. The man must have had a death wish, he thought.
"How much for a dozen arrows?" Moroha asked.
"And this blade?" Towa added.
"The arrows will be 300 silver pieces, and the sword I'm afraid is not up for sale. I don't do business with the likes of demons. There's another merchant stand that sells weapons farther along the way. I'd suggest trying your luck there." The merchant told them.
Moroha clenched her fist while Towa glared at the man. He was only willing to sell weapons to Moroha because she didn't look like a demon unlike Towa and Yuki who had noticeable features such as their snowy hair colors and unnatural eye color. He was only willing to do business with Moroha but he had completely overpriced the arrows by more than 10 times what they should be.
"Towa, Moroha, do you want me to kill this guy?" Yuki asked and the shopkeeper gasped.
"You do that demon and this whole market will turn on you." The shopkeeper stated.
"Is that a promise?" Yuki smirked. This guy had some nerve, when the three of them had just saved this whole village from the tynary of the Gemini twins yesterday but of course this man wouldn't have known this as a traveling merchant.
Moroha patted Yuki's shoulder. "It's okay you don't have to kill him, Towa's got this." Moroha smiled as Towa motioned her arms in weird ways that to Yuki looked like some kind of ridiculous dance before clapping her hands in a circle in front of the merchant. "It's done," Towa said seriously.
"Good." Moroha smiled before tossing the arrows onto the ground and they spilled out messily. "Let's go." She said, The merchant looked at them dumbfounded as they attempted to leave.
"What did you just do?" The merchant asked Towa and she and Moroha exchanged, knowing glances with each other before turning around.
"You should think about what's important to you over these next few weeks. I placed a curse on you so you don't have much time left." Towa said seriously.
"You really shouldn't have angered my cousin." Moroha said. "You idiot now you've got less than one month left to live."
"A curse!" The Merchant screamed. "Nonsense there's no way." He said trying to convince himself more than them but Moroha and Towa knew that they had him right where they wanted him.
"Your back is starting to hurt, isn't it?" Towa asked, scary calm and the Merchant freaked out as realization hit him and he had to swallow his pride.
"Lift the cure! Please, I didn't know that you could do that. I'm sorry." The merchant stammered and Yuki smirked. These girls were good at playing people. The old merchant was scared shitless right now. Yuki held back from laughing.
"You can have the arrows and the sword for free just please lift the curse." The merchant bowed his head.
"Why should I? You don't do business with people like me so why should I do business with you? That sword was cheaply made anyway."
"And those arrow heads looked dull. We don't want any of your cheaply made trinkets." Moroha added.
"P-Please, I can't die, I'll do anything."
"Anything?" Towa repeated.
And that was how she sent that merchant off on a quest to find a flower that didn't exist to cure the curse that he didn't have.
"Serves him right." Moroha said as they were on their way back to Tai"s house. None of the other merchants gave them any problems after that so their day had gotten considerably better.
"That was way better than killing him." Yuki said.
"Moroha and I have been doing that since we were kids. Sometimes when they're really nasty to us, Moroha will beg me to lift the cure on behalf of the other person and I don't budge at all and they always start to wail uncontrollably over my non-existent curse." Towa smiled mischievously. "Ahh it's so much better than revenge." Towa smiled while Moroha laughed.
"I can't argue with that." Moroha said. "You spooked him too there for a minute Yuki when you asked us if we wanted you to kill him." Moroha smiled.
"I was serious." Yuki stated matter of factly.
"Believe me we could tell, that's what made the merchant take us so seriously." Towa said through her laughter as the three continued on their way.
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Setsuna and Hisui returned to find Yuki along with the usual suspects missing so it would seem that they wouldn't be leaving the village early like Hisui had hoped.
"Stop looking so down." Setsuna told him.
"I don't like it when we don't follow the schedule."
"The schedule that you just made up this morning?" She smiled an hour or two behind won't kill you my love."
Hisui sighed. "Maybe not but it's still better to be on our way rather than give Rain the time to lay traps for us. He does have 3 rainbow pearls in his possession."
"The rainbow pearls have a similar effect to the legendary sacred jewel in that they amplify the abilities of demons. I wonder what the origin of the pearls are." Setsuna said.
"It's concerning how such powerful things can exist and we're only now just hearing about them. We need to pursue Rain with caution." Hisui said as he placed his hand on his chin. "We probably haven't heard too much about any rainbow pearls in the past because of the position that our village is in. A lot of demon slayers live in our village as well as your Aunt and Uncle who have a reputation for being the ones who destroyed the sacred jewel and killed Naraku. Any demon with enough sense knows better than to attack our village. So no wonder we don't hear much about this kind of stuff."
"Now that I think about it, very rarely has our village ever been attacked directly by demons in the past. We are very well guarded. Too much so for just any demon to risk attacking us." Setsuna said.
"That's probably why Yuki had originally targeted us during his time of weakness, to avert our suspicions. Our village has too many strong fighters to act carelessly and both Rain and Yuki know that. That's why they wanted to split everyone up." Hisui said.
"Do you think that Yuki will really be willing to kill Rain when the time comes? What if Yuki doesn't want to take care of Rain for good?" Setsuna asked Hisui.
"I don't know if Yuki will change his mind, but I do know that if we don't kill Rain it's obvious that he won't stop targeting us and our families." Hisui said and he and Setsuna exchanged a long look with each other.
"In the event that Yuki betrays us again I want you to let me handle it."
"Setsuna." Hisui said. "Rain made it clear how he feels about Yuki back at Kindo castle."
"I know and if he decides to betray us again despite everything Moroha won't see it coming and Towa will want to give him the benefit of the doubt but I won't hesitate. I just don't want you to try and stop me." She said seriously and Hisui took a deep breath.
Setsuna sounded as though she had already thought so much about this. The thought of Yuki betraying them again had only briefly crossed his mind before Hisui shooed those thoughts away. Even if he didn't want to acknowledge it. It was still a possibility and he had a responsibility as their group leader to look out for everyone.
"I won't stop you if Yuki betrays us again but right now he hasn't done anything like that so Yuki is still our friend now and we can't let Rain hurt him either. If Yuki starts to have second thoughts about killing rain then we'll have to figure things out before our parents come to kill both him and Rain."
"I suppose we won't know Yuki's intentions until we meet Rain again. I hope that he doesn't betray us like before because I want him to be a part of our team too. But if it comes to that we won't have a choice because it will be more than just having second thoughts about killing Rain." Setsuna said.
"I agree. Talking about this now is important so that we're not blind sided again. I just hope that these concerns end up being over nothing but we really won't know until we find Rain."
The two of them talked more about what to do going forward when it came to Rain and not too soon after they were finished. Towa, Moroha and Yuki arrived back at Tai's home about an hour after Setsuna and Hisui had returned and once they did so Hisui was eager to start moving again.
"There the three of you are." Hisui exclaimed, already ready to leave as the three walked through the door of Tai and Yara's house.
"Here the two of you are." Towa replied.
Hisui rolled his eyes. "I hope that you all got what you needed we're heading out as soon as possible."
"You make traveling so boring when you act so strict Hisui." Moroha complained and Towa smiled.
"Moroha you owe me 10 coins, I told you he'd be cranky because we were gone for so long."
"I do not get cranky." Hisui said and now Setsuna smiled small too as she silently made eye contact with Towa.
Hisui did in fact get cranky.
"I don't see any harm in wanting to keep our priorities straight. Rain's most likely already been at the location for a while now and has had the time to figure out how he's going to try and deal with us so we shouldn't give him more time to get ready." Yuki said.
"Exactly, I'm glad that at least one of you understands." Hisui said.
"Rain and I have a number of rendezvous points that we've established over the years and the closest one is located in a mountain area that's only a couple of days away from here. He's most likely waiting for us there."
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's end this fight." Towa said and the teens got what they needed before saying goodbye to Tai and his sister who thanked them once again for saving their village and the group was off.
"That was a different experience." Yuki said once they were out of the village.
"What do you mean?" Moroha asked from beside him.
"I've never been the hero before or saved anyone from anything." Yuki said and Moroha smiled at him.
"Well did you like it?" She asked.
"I did." Was all that Yuki said in response.
"Setsuna likes being a hero too." Towa said. "Though she's too cool to admit it."
"Towa likes to be the center of attention. Though she thinks nobody knows it." Setsuna responded nonchalantly, causing her sister to glare at the back of her head while Moroha laughed.
"I'll remember this next time you want me to take your side in an argument." Towa told her.
"Yuki is here now, so there won't be any more ties." Moroha said.
"But you'll never have your way again if I switch my vote." Towa said.
"Come on Towa don't be dramatic. I wasn't laughing at you, I saw a bird flying funny and that's what I was laughing at." Moroha said.
"How could you see birds, when you weren't even looking up when you laughed at Setsuna's jest at Towa." Hisui said.
"I think you're mistaken, Hisui you were smirking in response too. You must have seen the same bird that I did." Moroha said as Towa glared at him now.
"You're right." Hisui smiled. "I actually did see birds, we weren't laughing at you Towa." Hisui said.
"The four of you never have any dull moment together do you?" Yuki said.
The weather hadn't been bad earlier in the day but after traveling for half of the day, dark clouds started to form and the sky got darker.
"We should probably start setting up camp now." Hisui said as soon as they were lucky enough to have spotted a cave.
"Absolutely not." Towa said.
"The sky is turning gray, it's going to rain and then we'll be out here soaked and uncomfortable." Hisui said.
"Towa I am not walking in the rain. We are setting up camp here." Setsuna said.
"If we book it, we can probably find a village nearby and stay at an inn." Moroha said determined to not sleep in a cave and an owl landed on a tree branch near the group.
"It would take us half the night to arrive at the next village." Yuki said.
"That's why we need to stay focused and move quicker so that we might avoid the rain and get to the next village sooner." Moroha said.
Had they left earlier like Hisui had wanted they would have made it to the next village before the rain came.
"Let's put this to a vote." Hisui smirked, he thought that he knew what the outcome of this was going to be and he was right. It really was nice to not have to worry about having ties anymore.
The aftermath of this vote was what led to Yuki and Moroha walking silently in the woods together in search of firewood. While Hisui, Towa, and Setsuna stayed in the cave to set up camp.
"Are you really not going to speak to me because I voted to sleep in the cave?" Yuki asked.
"You've betrayed me for the last time." Moroha said.
"It's going to start raining soon and you're only quarter demon, you'd probably get sick from running all night in the rain."
"If I was running I wouldn't be cold enough to get sick."
"No?" Yuki asked.
"And for your information I don't catch colds easily, I've barely ever gotten sick in my life and I never complain about being cold like Hisui does."
"Oh really?" Yuki smiled and Moroha clenched her fists and briefly shut her eyes as she let out a deep breath.
"I am not talking to you. I wish that we stayed with Tai again and you had to hear his snoring just like last night." She said as she continued ahead of him and Yuki held in a soft laugh.
He didn't know how it was possible for one person to be this adorable but here she was. He'd have to make sure to side with her next time even if he disagreed and ended up in the pouring rain. It wouldn't be so bad if he was next to her.
"This looks like it'd be decent fire wood." Moroha said once she came across a few broken tree branches and Yuki stopped in his tracks when he saw the four-eyed owl sitting in the tree above Moroha.
"Yotsume." Yuki clenched his teeth. If he was here then Kyuki was involved and after Moroha and the others had killed Tokotsu she had most likely sided with Rain in all this.
"Yotsu who?" Moroha asked just as the rain finally started to fall and Yuki was brought out of his daze as Yotsume flew away.
"We need to go back to camp. The others might be in danger." Yuki said urgently.
"Calm down, what are you talking about?" Moroha asked him, lost as to what he meant. His attitude had changed in an instant.
"That owl was Yotsume, he's one of Kyuki's allies and she's most likely sided with Rain after the four of you killed Tokotsu. She's one of the four perils." Yuki said as they forgot the firewood and rushed back to camp and sure enough Towa Setsuna and Hisui were being attacked but it wasn't by Kyuki it was her other underlying Fubuki, an ice and snow demon beast who roared loudly once Yuki and Moroha arrived.
Fubuki moved to attack Setsuna as Hisui and Towa repositioned themselves outside of the cave as the weather turned from rain to snow.
Setsuna attacked Fubuki with her scourge of swallows attack but to no avail as the beast regenerated where she had struck. Towa then followed with her own attack, jumping up high and going to strike Fukuki head on but her attack didn't do any damage either and she was knocked back easily. The beast roared once again as Hisui flew high on Kilala's back catching Towa before she could hit the ground.
Fubuki then roared powerfully and rained a powerful ice attack down at the teens scattering them. Moroha shot an arrow at Fubuki in this haze which only managed to split his attack off in two directions. They were all at a loss for how they were going to fight Fubuki until Yuki yelled out.
"None of our attacks are going to work against him. His body is all fog."
"Then how the hell are we supposed to beat him!?" Towa screamed down from her place behind Hisui on Kilala's back as the teens all scattered to avoid another attack from Fubuki and Setsuna attacked the bear again in an effort to buy the group some more time to talk.
"The main body is hiding somewhere else. That's our only chance at beating him." Yuki yelled so that everyone could hear him and Fubuki released a massive ice attack in response that caused all of the teens to have to take cover as the giant bear attacked relentlessly.
"The two of us should go find his main body." Yuki said to Moroha. "I know what he looks like and Towa and Setsuna are our strongest fighters so they should stay here and hold him off."
"My cousins are strong but they can only hold out for so long when their opponent takes no damage at all and has endless stamina. We need to be quick." Moroha said.
"We will be, you can see if you can sniff him out once we get away from here so that we can find him sooner." Yuki said andMoroha nodded her head before pulling a small piece of paper from her pocket and scratching out a note as fast as she could before tying it to the end of one of her arrows and calling Towa's name. The two made eye contact before Moroha shot a normal arrow straight at her cousin who caught it from the air.
Towa untied the note from the arrow and read the piece of paper on the end and smiled.
"I'll cover for you!" She screamed before using her dragon strike which gave Moroha and Yuki the cover that they needed to slip past Fubuki and look for his main body.
"Do you smell anything unusual?" Yuki asked as they ran through the forest in the pouring rain and snow mix.
"No, it's raining too hard. I can barely smell anything right now and I can't sense any other demonic aura's near either." Moroha said.
"That's okay we'll find him. When he projects like that he can't be too far from his body." Yuki said but as time went on Moroha got more and more anxious about her cousins and Hisui and exactly how long they would be able to keep fighting Fubuki under these conditions.
They were all tired after walking all day and Fubuki appeared out of nowhere and seemed to have endless energy. She believed in her cousins and she knew they were strong but that didn't matter if your opponent can't be killed. Moroha couldn't help but feel helpless in this situation and wished that one of them had gone with Yuki to find the bear instead.
"Calm down. I know that we've been at this for a while now but it won't be much longer I promise. Your cousins can handle themselves for just a little while longer. You don't need to worry." Yuki said, sensing her anxiety and saying the words she needed to hear to calm down.
"Besides you know that Towa would be mad at you for worrying about her especially. All of them will be okay." Yuki said and Moroha smiled small. He was right. They had all been demon slayers for most of their lives. The four of them could handle anything so she shouldn't worry about them.
"I wasn't worried." She lied.
"Of course not." Yuki said just as they both sensed a demonic aura. The pair rushed to the source and they saw a smaller Fubuki sitting atop a tree. Moroha quickly shot her arrow towards the main body but Fubuki was saved by another demon.
The demon had silver hair and his eyes matched his hair color. The demon carried a sword that he had drawn now and the demon grit his teeth as he was now face to face with Yuki and Moroha.
"This is as far as the two of you go. I've been given orders by my mistress and I won't fail her."
"Mikal, So Kyuki's decided to ally herself with Rain?" Yuki spat.
"She's decided to avenge her fellow Peril Tokotsu and retrieve his rainbow pearl. She's not too fond of half demons either so you'll be killed right alongside the four who killed Tokotsu and Jakotsumaru per Rain's request." Mikal said.
"His rainbow pearl? We don't have any pear—"Yuki said and Moroha cut him off.
"Move out of our way, we won't be handing anything over to you so either move out of my path to Fubuki or die with him." Moroha said and the demon scoffed at her.
"I don't think that you heard what I said." Mikal said ominously, just as he multiplied into ten clones of himself. "The two of you have been sentenced to death by my mistress Kyuki and the dead make no request." All 10 Mikal's pulled out swords and rushed at Moroha and Yuki who quickly countered all of their moves but these clones were different from the apparition of Fubuki they were all solid and just as strong as Mikal and it was impossible to know which Mikal was the real one as as soon as either of them killed one of Mikal's clones he would multiply into more.
As clones came at her and slashed at her in each direction it was taking all of her effort to counter them while she and Yuki both covered each other's blind spots.
Moroha grit her teeth, this Mikal guy wasn't even that strong. It was just the fact that he had multiplied into so many that was making him difficult to fight. If he hadn't multiplied she'd have already killed Fubuki by now.
It was becoming more tedious to fight Mikal and Moroha knew that her cousins were still fighting their best against Fubuki and their fight had gone on for much longer than necessary at this point so Moroha finally made up her mind as her back hit Yuki's and she took out her rouge.
"I've only got one minute so please make sure that you kill Fubuki." Moroha said. She didn't even give Yuki time to respond before she put on the rouge and he realized at that moment that she had the red rainbow pearl.
Her demonic energy changed dramatically and she turned to the Mikal clones slashing at each of them and not giving Mikal any time to react or replace his doubles as she relentlessly killed each one of them while Yuki did as she asked now that he was finally able to get close to Fubuki and take out the beast and the weather settled just as Moroha killed the original Mikal and all of his clones vanished into dust as he died.
"How on earth did you manage to hide the fact that you've had the red pearl this whole time?" Yuki asked and Moroha just looked at him for a moment with her blade still drawn before she took up a fighting stance against him.
"I can sense that You have a ruthless spirit about you. Heed my warning should you make yourself my enemy, I won't hesitate to cut you down." She said before rushing him and he barely had time to summon his barrier but he did just in time.
But for the first time his barrier wasn't enough and it started to crack under the force of her blade. What was the pearl doing to her? She'd never do this if she were in her right mind.
It was like she was a completely different person. Her aura was almost unrecognizable to him and he didn't know how he was going to fight her off as his barrier threatened to shatter any minute but then she suddenly fell limp and passed out. Her sword fell from her grip as she hit the ground.
Yuki's chest heaved as he caught his breath in the aftermath and he watched Moroha defensively as he did so.
What had happened? I've only got one minute. He recalled her saying. Was this how the power of the rainbow pearls affected her? He wondered as he waited a few more minutes before getting closer to her and seeing that she seemed to be back to her old self now as she slept. He picked up her sword and put it back in her sheath before scoping her up in his arms and carrying her back to camp where the others were.
"Don't tell me that she was so upset that forced you to carry her back while she slept because you voted with Hisui and Setsuna." Towa said.
"No, she used a rainbow pearl to help me kill Fubuki." Yuki said and the teens got serious.
"Did you see her use it?" Hisui asked. "She almost becomes someone else entirely."
"She does, she threatened to kill me." Yuki said.
"That's new, she wasn't hostile towards me the last time she used the pearl but who knows why." Hisui added.
"She can only use its power for a minute before she passes out. It's because she's only quarter demon." Setsuna said.
"This is bad. If Rain finds out that she has the red pearl, he'll become relentless in his attempts to counter us."
"It can't be helped. Moroha doesn't want to part with that Perl so there's nothing that we can do." Setsuna said.
"Yuki, tell us about Kyuki. This Fubuki that we just slayed today. Fubuki was one of Kyuki's underlings. Should we assume that we will have to fight this demon now as well?" Hisui asked.
"Yes and since Fubuki and Yotsume have seen us. Kyuki most likely already knows everything and is watching us right now through her crystal.
A.N:
Thank you for reading and sorry for the late update. The end of my semester is near so I've been more busy than usual. I don't have any more chapters for this story stacked and with finals coming up soon unfortunately I don't think that I will be able to update again until sometime in June. Thank you to everyone that has read this far and I hope that you've enjoyed what I've written so far. I still have a lot that I want to write for this story and I plan to be back to doing weekly updates again sometime in June.