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"you have no clue who you're defending, do you?"
note: this chapter may not follow canon events.
"it's late," muichiro said. "we should stop here."
haku, who was walking behind him, stopped immediately and gave him her usual friendly smile.
she had bought camping tools at a store in the town before they had left, and before too long, they had a miniature camp set up in the forest. however, she had made an error in her purchase...
"i'm so sorry, muichiro-san!" she exclaimed, "i only bought one tent..."
muichiro was, surprisingly enough, not at all panicked by this. after all, the tent was large, and it wasn't like he would be doing anything besides sleeping with haku, so it was fine, right?
as the two of them laid down next to each other, muichiro looked at haku's face, peaceful and beautiful like a statue in her sleeping form, and an image of hotaru passed through his head, accompanied by a strong feeling of guilt.
he moved as far away from haku so that their bodies were no longer touching, and the guilt faded a little, replaced by a profound feeling of sadness.
where is hotaru? will i ever find her? i've been searching for almost a week and there's been no sign of her...
earlier that day, haku had innocently asked, "isn't it possible that the girl you're searching for could be dead?"
she had asked the question genuinely, not knowing how much it would upset muichiro thinking of how the girl he loved more than his own life could be dead.
"never say that!" he had snapped with uncharacteristic rage. "she's not dead! she can't be dead!"
ever since that outburst, haku hadn't been speaking to muichiro, and she seemed scared of him. knowing that he had caused haku pain hurt muichiro greatly, but he was too ashamed to bring it up with her and apologize. he was drowning in shame and she was drowning in pain, and between the two of them, they'd already gotten several feet closer to the grave.
muichiro sighed and looked over at haku again. she appeared to be having a nightmare, her body curled up in the fetal position, her eyes filled with tears. he reached out to caress her cheek when he was suddenly attacked by the offensive scent of a demon closing in on his position.
"no... not now! any other time but now!" he hissed, taking his sword and quietly and slowly moving out of the tent.
he moved around in a circle, sniffing the air to see what direction carried the strongest scent of a demon. it appeared that the northeast held the greatest scent, so he stood with his body facing that direction and his sword ready.
the sound of something flying through the air behind him caught his attention, and he turned around just in time to dodge a small white strand coming at him from behind.
this demon is wise, muichiro thought. he tricked me by placing something that has the scent of a demon in a direction he wasn't coming from. this battle may be harder than i anticipated...
from the shadows of the forest, a demon stepped out. he had light pink, almost white hair curled at the ends to appear like the legs of a spider, and his eyes were red and blue. his white kimono was decorated with black designs of spiderwebs. despite his young appearance, he exuded a powerful air, and muichiro couldn't help but be reminded of himself.
"i don't want to kill you," the demon said. he had the voice of a child, he must've been young when he was turned into a demon.
muichiro looked confused at this, and the demon spoke again to clear up what he wanted.
"the girl you're with, nakamura haku. i want her."
"why?" muichiro asked, drawing his sword and brandishing it before himself.
"what's going on?" haku called out in a tired voice.
muichiro called back to her telling her that it was okay, that he'd be back in soon.
he could only hope he wasn't lying.
"enough talk," the demon snapped. "will you hand her over or not?"
"what do you take me as, a fool?" muichiro replied. "mist breathing, first form: low clouds, distant haze!"
the demon scoffed and commented, "you have no clue who you're defending, do you?"
and then the fight began.
a/n: sorry that this chapter is short, but i promise the coming chapters won't be! we're getting to the exciting part of the story, and i can't wait for you all to see what i have planned for this story!
hopefully there won't be many more chapters of this story left to go! i planned for this story to be short and sweet, and i think we're nearing the end.
i hope you all are enjoying the story so far! i'll see you in the next chapter!
