My Little Monster {A KiriBaku Beauty and the Beast AU}

Chapter 2 - The Beast

~ Kirishima ~

Dad had told me not to worry.

And I didn't.

I didn't worry after he left.

I didn't worry when I went to bed.

I didn't worry when I got up to go to school.

I didn't worry the next day.

I didn't worry the next evening.

I didn't even worry when I got home on Friday and saw that Dad wasn't home yet. I just assumed that he'd gotten delayed somehow or was having trouble selling. I've always been level headed, I'm not really the type to fluster and get panicked. I've always been emotionally stable and good at keeping it together like a real man.

But I did worry I was doing the dishes in the early evening of Friday when I looked out the window and I saw Hercules returning home without the cart.

Because he was alone.

Dad wasn't there.

I immediately ran outside and went straight towards the frightened animal. I knew. I just knew that something had happened, he seemed so shaken.

"Hercules!" I said, grabbing his muzzle, trying to calm him down. "Where's Dad?! What happened to him?!"

This wasn't working. My demands were just making him more nervous. I exhaled and lowered my voice. "Easy boy, easy boy..." I gently rubbed his muzzle. "You're okay...easy, boy..."

His breathing became steadier and I looked at him right in the eyes.

"Take me to my father."

***

I didn't notice the falling snow at first. I'd spent hours searching on Hercules but we couldn't seem to find Dad. Hercules would seem certain of where he was going at times but sometimes he'd stop and slowly trot around before picking up his speed at an uncertain pace. I was worried sick by then, terrible theories and possibilities running through my mind so the snow was the least of my concerns. But when I realised that it was inches thick and falling heavily, that became another question.

It was summer. The weather had been blistering hot for days like almost every single summer. But here was some kind of winter wonderland, the crisp, cold snow thick on the branches, a huge, deep blanket of it on the forest floor. I was beyond confused but then something more important caught my interest.

A fallen cart, half buried beneath the snow. I leaped down from Hercules and ran over to it, frantically brushing the snow off to reveal a bunch of kakejiku hanging scrolls. The ones Dad made and sold for a living. He'd been here. Something had happened.

Hercules suddenly neighed and I whipped my head back to him. "Do you know where to go from here?"

Another neigh. I took that as a yes.

I hopped back up onto the horse, gripping the reins. "Come on, boy, take me there."

He galloped through these woods, ignoring the cold snow beating down upon us. My heart was soaring with hope but also drowning in worry. Hercules knew where he was going...but if I didn't like what we found?

I suddenly came to a halt.

Before me were iron gates guarding a huge, huge castle. My eyes widened. What was this place? Since when had there just been a castle like this lying around in the woods?

"Is this the place where Dad is?" I whispered numbly as I slid down off Hercules.

Before the horse could give me any kind of a sign, I saw something past the gates, lying on the snowy ground. It looked like a...pale pink piece of paper or something.