Requested by: melsness9
*Witch Au
Summary: Shinobu was a witch, as stated above, and needed a subject for her experiments. She caught you wandering around after the sun went down, and figured you'd be the perfect fit. Despite all the horrors she put you through, you were a child, and acted like one. You won over Shinobu's heart, and she started seeing you as her own.
You gasped, a hand flying up to your heart as the bird shot out in front of you. It had certainly surprised you, and you waited until your heart calmed down before starting through the forest, much more wary than you were before.
According to some of the kids in your village, these woods were inhabited by a witch. Though you weren't necessarily sure how much of that you could believe, as those kids were jerks who liked to scare the younger ones.
Just to prove them wrong- and that you weren't afraid- you went in.
If you returned, there was no witch, and they'd been lying. If you didn't, the witch had taken you.
According to what those kids had said, the witch didn't seem evil at first. She seemed like a kind and sweet woman, always with a smile on her face.
At least, until someone was left alone with her. Then, she'd kidnap them, and use them for vile experiments.
No one knew why she experimented on people, she just did.
But you didn't believe it. If there really was a witch, why hadn't the village taken care of it? Surely the witch couldn't handle all of them at once, right? Which meant she was just made up.
You straightened your shoulders, and strode forward, eyes scanning the trees and bushes surrounding you to make sure no other animals would come out and scare you.
You walked like that for some time, long enough for the sun to pass into afternoon. It was almost time for you to turn around. Only when you had turned your back did you see the faintest hint of brown.
You stilled, and slowly turned again, to see if it had been a trick of the light.
It was not. It appeared again, and your curiosity got the best of you, and forced your feet towards it.
You came across a home, a quaint little cottage with smoke flowing from the chimney. Someone was home, someone lived here.
You made as if to take a step forward, but memories of what the kids said to you made you hesitant. Not that it mattered.
Though you didn't wish to go near the house yet, an unfamiliar feeling overtook your body, and it began to move on its own.
It led you to the home, even forcing you to open the door and step inside. It made you pick a seat at a small round table, to sit there, and stay there until the owner of this house came back and decided what to do with you.
You could only hope the witch- for what else could have caused a phenomenon like this- wouldn't be as bad as she was portrayed in the stories.
She wasn't as bad as se was described.
She was worse.
When the sun had long since set, she had finally came home, the sight of a tear-stricken child awaiting her.
Although most would have felt sorrow or confusion or some sort of sympathy, all the witch would feel was a wicked sort of joy.
She had a new test subject. And it was time to put it to use.
A few weeks later, exhausted from the latest test you'd gone through, you'd passed out in the room she'd taken you to.
No amount of poking, magic, or anything else would get you to wake up long enough to move, so the witch- who you had found out was named Kocho Shinobu- had to carry you herself.
She ignored how right this felt, holding a child in a way that sparked maternal instincts. She ignored it. It was a one time thing.
As you slept, Shinobu mixed together more batches of things to test on you when you woke up, ready to put how you had tugged on her heartstrings out of her mind.
It was no surprise to you when you inevitably passed out from her experiments again. And it was no surprise when that feeling returned to Shinobu.
This time, it can with an overwhelming desire to protect you from harm. To stop hurting you, and to raise you on her own.
Not one to deny her own instincts, Shinobu listened.
She erased your memories of her hurting you, erased the memories your village had of you, and fed you stories of how she had adopted you.
In the end, all worked out fine.
803 words
