Hinata Shouyou / Yachi Hitoka - Plot twist
Yachi shivered in the cave. The fearsome beast in front of her blocking her view of the outside.
A witch had captured her and dumped her in a cave with the witch's dragon. It was huge and hulking. It breathed out smile from its nostrils and its scales were sharp as knives. Its wings had fearsome claws and it had the sharpest talons Yachi had ever seen.
It growled as Yachi bumped against a rock, its fierce eyes peering through her.
Suddenly, it turned and headed out the entrance, its wings dug into the ground, for it had no arms, or maybe the fact that its wings were its arms.
"I have come to save you, princess!" A knight in shining armor was on horseback, tearing through the meadow to the mountain cave.
"Oh, knight!" Yachi yelled in desperation. "Save me!" She screamed.
The knight raised his sword proudly, but was killed with a single blow from the dragon's wing, knocking him to the ground.
Yachi relaxed her tensed back. There was no hope...
The dragon trudged back into the cave with its mouth smoking from burning the dead knight to ash with its fiery breath. It sat back down with a thump.
Yachi stayed in the cave for a week. The dragon provided her fresh meat to eat. When Yachi discovered the dragon went to hunt at night, she tried to escape, only to get caught in the act by the beast, nudging her roughly back inside.
After another two days, something strange happend. When Yachi woke up, there was no dragon. But a man with orange hair walking towards her with something in his arms.
"Who are you?" Yachi shouted from her hiding spot behind a large rock.
The man did not reply and only walked closer, or crawl closer, on all fours. Yachi saw his face in the dim light from behind him. He had fiery eyes and wild hair. Clothes made from animal furs and a knife on his belt.
He stared at her intensely and flung the hunk of meat he was carrying in his mouth to her feet. He crawled to a corner and slumped there against the wall, looking like a cat curled up, head facing the entrance of the cave.
Yachi stared at the meat. Why was he feeding her and not freeing her, saying it will be ok, princess, and then fleeing with her hand in hand?
Yachi stood up and stomped over to the man. She used the toe of her shoe and nudged his body. He growls and goes on all fours, growling louder.
Yachi draws back and the man approaches her, backing her up against the cave wall.
"Please, stop!" She shields herself with her arms as he reaches for her throat.
"Gah!" The man shouts. He stares at his outstretched hand, studying it carefully. Yachi holds her hands up still.
The man tries to stand on his feet, only to wobble side to side before falling back on his fours.
"I-I-I..." He stutters. His mouth moving wildly as he tries to talk.
"Are you ok'" Yachi asks.
"I-I am sorr-r-y! I r-r-eally am!" He blabbers worriedly.
"What?"
"C-c-curse! The witch-ch! She d-did this to me!" He leans against the wall and tries to stand again.
"I was c-cursed to protect the c-cave and stop anyone from saving you. I-I was under her mind and t-transformation curse!" He stammers. Yachi places a had on his shoulder nervously. He did not snap at her like he would if he were under the curse.
"Unacceptable!" Yachi and the mysterious man turn their heads to the source of the sound. The witch had returned!
"You, boy! Have broken your master's order and you!" She pointed her crooked wand at Yachi. "Will be cursed by an unbreakable spell! No magic in this world can break it!" The witch waved her wand and started chanting.
"Into a beast!" She shouted.
Yachi screams as her body starts to undergo its magical change. Her bones elongate and her skin goes scaly.
"Now nobody will recognize you as princess!And as for you! You are cursed till the end of your days!" The witch spat.
She hit the man with the back of her wand and he fell down, blood trickling down his head. And the witch left as soon as she came.
Yachi looked at herself. Her hands were claws and she had tattered wings. Her body was scaly and she was huge. Her head bumped the top of the cave without even raising it. She caught sight of the mysterious man and tramped towards him.
Was he dead?
No, his breathing is weak but he was barely alive.
Yachi managed to haul him over her shoulder as gently as she could with her clumsy claws and teeth. And as slowly as she could, so as not to stir him and open his wounds any further, she trudged on all fours to the nearest village possible.
Unfortunately, for many days and nights, she found no village. The man had woken up on the third day as Yachi rested by a pond. Yachi managed to carry out a small hunt for them both and they shared a fat rabbit before the man treated his wounds.
"I'm sorry you were transformed into such a creature."
As Yachi opened her mouth, no words came out. Only a loud growl and roar. She sighed. As a beast, she lacks the ability to speak. The man smiles awkwardly.
"My name is Hinata Shouyou, by the way." He takes another bite of the rabbit that Yachi managed to cook by breathing fire onto it. Yachi fumbled about before fumbling with her giant claws to scratch the dirt, and wrote her name.
Hinata stared at the words, puzzled.
"Sorry, but I can't read." Hinata shyly scratches his head. Yachi groans sadly and rests her head on too of her folded hands.
And after that unexpected meeting, they journeyed the world together to find a cure for this curse.
Into the sunset they walked.
Off on a great adventure.
