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"..."
Hoshi's eyes slowly opened. His head ached, he winced and sat up after being slumped behind to a tree for an unknown period of time.
He slowly raised up his hand and touched the side of his head, he examined his fingers and saw blood, Hoshi stood up and grunted, it felt like he had been stabbed, he stopped halfway and lifted up his shirt. A massive bruise on the side of his stomach,probably bigger than his two hands together. His eyes squinted as he examined his surroundings. The only thing he saw was an array of tall forest trees, he looked up and saw a spot of the blue cloudy sky.
His mouth opened but then he closed it again, he knew it would be dumb to yell because that could alert people he didn't want alerted.
Hoshi was abandoned, he didn't know where Inari or Hayase was. He ran his fingers through his brown hair and sighed, "What am I going to do?" He asked himself in a low whisper, his eyebrows knitting together in confusion.
Opening his ninja pouch, he grabbed a kunai-knife and began to walk. Silently, his golden eyes shifted around, keeping an eye out to see if anyone was
watching him.
He kept his kunai close to his chest, quietly reciting the things Kiyomi has taught them this past year—how to not get killed.
Sweat slowly rolled down his bruised forehead and swallowed the large lump stuck in his throat.
Hoshi felt like he walked miles in miles in the seemingly never-ending Forest of Death, his eyes closed as he tried to recall what happened before he was knocked out.
Inari gone...
Hayase gives me something—
ninjas...girl...
The rest was a blur, Kiyoko put his head up to his head and sighed, there was no time to think—Hoshi knew he couldn't think.
He had no clue what was happening, he didn't know if his teammates were dead or alive—Hoshi tried shaking his doubts, if anything—Hayase and Inari know how to handle themselves. But he was scared for himself, without his colleagues with him, he feels like an easy target.
Hoshi is a coward.
And he knows it.
All his life, he has always been a bit of a coward. He's not that smart, he has no special attributes to him, he comes from a wealthy family, he is easy on the eyes, he is well-known but not likable.
Hoshi is the only son, he has an older sister who wanted to have a quiet life and who now lives with her husband in a secluded area, the land is owned by the Cho's but it had been unoccupied for a while.
His dad calls him golden boy, if Hoshi gets a good grade, it's a 'Good job, son.' If he fails a test, 'That's okay, son.' Learns a new skill, 'Good job, son.' Get's beat up by a girl after school, 'That's okay, son.' Hoshi can't remember the last time he had a real conversation with his dad, just a good job or a pat on the back is how his dad communicates to him. He doesn't understand why he is called a golden boy, Hoshi doesn't see anything he can offer to the world at all.
Hoshi probably has it better than a lot of other kids, at least he has a figure who actually appreciates them, but Hoshi doesn't feel any appreciation. Maybe because he really doesn't appreciate himself. He just wishes that his dad could talk to him, tell him what's right and wrong, why he can do this but not that.
Hoshi would never admit it but, he loves it when people actually talk to him, even if it's negative. He fees if he didn't constantly have attention from his peers, he'll be nothing at all. Hoshi envies Inari and Hayase, he looks at the way they just—do. So effortlessly and without any fear, he wishes he could swap bodies with one of them, just for a day.
A twig snapped.
He quietly gasped and hid behind a tree. Hoshi leaned and looked over, there was Hayase being carried by a girl.
The girl stopped walking and looked in Hoshi's direction, his eyes went wide and he turned back around.
He gulped, his sweaty hand clenched onto the kunai handle. His chest rose and fell quickly, before he held his breath. Praying that the girl didn't see him.
"Dammit, Hoshi snap out of it!" He thought to himself while his eyes were sealed shut. Hoshi had to come up with a plan to save Hayase—and quickly.
"What would Inari do?....she would probably distract the girl and grab him...and Hayase? He would also wait and carefully wait for the perfect moment. I'll do what Hayase does." Hoshi looked back and to his horror, the girl was gone.
He took a deep shaky breath and closed his eyes, "Hayase is out of the table...what do I do, what do I do?"
Hoshi paused.
"What would I do?"
"I would stay quiet and listen to the forest, like Hayase and clear the state of mind, I would stay on guard and go for it when I find the opportunity, like Inari."
He nodded his head in approval. Hoshi is a learner and observer, maybe he can't be Inari and Hayase, but he can combine their methods and make it make sense for Hoshi.
"Hello."
Hoshi flinched and gasped, the girl who was originally holding Hayase was hanging her legs on a branch, her creepily, large eyes stared into his soul. Hoshi was even more creeped out from her blank expression, it was like Inari's but ten times worse. He also noticed that Hayase wasn't there, his eyes squinted at her.
The girl hopped down and pointed at his pants, "Scroll." She spoke with a quiet, soft voice. Hoshi looked at her confused, "I don't have the..." He looked down and saw the scroll so obviously sticking out of his pocket.
Mentally face-palming himself, he got into a defensive stance and looked at the girl with his golden eyes lighting up, "Listen, girl! Where is the boy that was on your back? If you let both of us go, I'll show you mercy." He announced with a deep tone.
She tilted her head slightly and raised up her arms, her long sleeves had eyes on them, like the wings of a moth. The girl, in the blink of an eye she spun like she was dancing and hit Hoshi in the face, so hard his cheek swelled up.
Holding his cheek, he looked at the girl with a startled face. He didn't know what he was expecting but he didn't expect her to hit so hard.
The girl tried to hit him again but he dodged her, she did it again, he still dodged her. They repeated it so many times it seemed like the were dancing, and Hoshi was sure that she was enjoying every second of this, there was a small smile on her face while they 'danced'.
He threw his kunai at her, she ducked down and went for his legs, he swept her off her feet. Before she could fall down, her hands touched the ground first and she pushed herself back up. She grabbed his arm and pulled him close to her, his face turned red as she began to move her face closer to him.
Hoshi snatched his arm back and went into punch her, she easily blocked his fist with her hand and he took the chance to go in for another hit and punched her across the face.
She stumbled back, stunned, and then her smile grew wider. Spitting the blood from her mouth, she moved her hair back and raised up her arms. Her pupils shrunk and she moved her arms up and down, as if she was flapping her wings. Moths appeared around her and flew toward Hoshi. He kept his eyes down low and grabbed a kunai.
He charged at her and she punched him in the gut, he winced and then smiled, Hoshi grabbed her arm and kicked her back, he uses the kunai to pin her to the tree and grabbed another one and used it to pin her other sleeve.
The girl stared at him, "Hey, bug girl! Where is he?" He questioned, getting up in her face. She smiled at him, he scoffed, "You were enjoying this weren't you?"
She moved her head to the side and he looked over, Hayase was tied up in a large bush.
"Hayase!" Hoshi ran over to him and sat him up, Hayase groaned and Hoshi removed the cloth around his motu and undid the ropes.
Hoshi examined him, Hayase weakly shook him off, "I'm fine." He responded quietly, Hoshi smiled, "I thought that you died, what happened?" He asked as he helped him up.
Hayase put his arm over Hoshi's shoulder, "We let our guard down." He sighed and put his hand on his head, "How could I be so stupid?!"
Hoshi glanced at him with a reassuring look, "It doesn't matter anymore Hayase." His blue eyes shifted towards the ground before they widened, "Inari—Where's Inari?" Hoshi stopped them, "You've been beaten up Hayase, we're gonna find her."
Inari glared at the girl, snakes were slithering all over the place, they saw snakes just fall out of her skin, hair, legs, arms, basically everywhere— like her skin was melting.
She tilted her head, "Hoshi is getting closer." She muttered to herself, and sighed.
The female ninja grunted nervously and charged at Inari. They were face-to-face, she had a kunai in one hand and another hand reaching out towards Inari.
In a blink, Inari grabbed her arm and small snakes started crawling from her arm to the ninjas arm- and fast. "Ugh!" She gritted her teeth in disgust and went to stab Inari in the arm, a snake- that emerged from her back, half the size of her, opened its mouth and bit the knife, breaking it in half.
Her eyes widened and Inari grabbed her other arm and looked her dead in the eye, "Don't blink." She whispered but the ninja did and both of them were in Inari's world.
The ninja noticed that Inari suddenly vanished, "Wha-" She looked around distraught, soft whimpers echoed in the space as she ran around, the quiet patter of the water followed her around and she fell to the ground, "Alright you win! Get me out of here! We'll leave you alone!" She shouted.
Silence.
For a moment.
Inari appeared with a smiling face, she walked towards her. As much as the ninja wanted to back away she didn't, Inari's fingers ran through her long dark blue hair, her eyes followed the silky blue and then shifted to her, "Then you'll return back to Earth."
She lifted up her arm and a small snake peeked it's head up, Inari moved her hand to the girls forehead and the snakes mouth and she was out of Inari's illusion.
The blue haired girl opened her eyes and roared, "I'll kill you, you bitch!" She revealed another kunai and darted towards Inari, until a light poke touched the nape of her neck and without even noticing she was falling down.
Inari watched her fall to the ground a with a blank face. She decided not to kill her—just put her in an unconscious state for a while.
She scrunched her nose and walked over the the girl, Inari stood over her and tilted her head, "I'm starving." She bent down and grabbed the girls arm, she put her against the tree and grabbed tree vines and tied her to it, tightly.
"Hey, Inari." Inari turned around, her face softened when she saw the two and walked over to them, "You both look horrible." She commented, a small smile formed on her lips.
Hoshi rolled his eyes, "So do you! You look like you were dragged to Hell and back!" He retorted, Hayase grumbled and Inari held his hand, "I'm glad the both of you are okay." Hayase muttered under his breath.
Inari looked at him in confusion, Hoshi snorted and leaned closer to Hayase, "What was that? I couldn't quite catch that, can you repeat it one more time for us?" Inari snorted softly and then laughed, Hayase looked away, completely flustered and Hoshi laughed even louder.
"I really hate you guys."
Hoshi put his hand to his chest and pouted his lip with a fake sympathetic look on his face, "Aww, we love you too, Hayase."
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