Hitomi stared blankly at the twitching body of the demon formally known as Mosu. She felt nothing even as she stared at a gruesome scene. She turned around, causing her limp arm to hit her side and headed into the cabin and with her (barely) good hand she picked up a bag. Whether it was the right one or not she didn’t know nor did she care.
The sky got a bit brighter as she stalked her way up the mountain, completely ignoring the map that laid in the snow uselessly. She was already taking much longer because she had to drag her damaged leg with her.
She didn’t care though.
Not like it hurt anyway.
There were no thoughts in the girl's head as the hours flew by. Even as the cold light froze the blood that seeped through her sleeves and torn pants she made no reaction and didn’t even pause once even as she found her way just outside of the cabin she was looking for.
Once she was in front of the door she didn’t bother to drop the bag but instead brought her forehead back and slammed it into the door multiple times in place of knocking. After she “knocked” a number of times she used the elbow of her (barley) good arm to open the door and the moment she stepped in she was greeted by a horrified Akio.
She didn’t even hear her voice say something as she dropped the bag and slowly fell over to the shaking floorboards. She didn’t feel herself hit the floor though, it felt as if she just drifted away.
~˚ʚ♡ɞ˚~
Don’t cry, okay?
It will be alright now.
I’ll keep you safe.
So please Hitomi, please don’t scream or cry.
I’m here.
~˚ʚ♡ɞ˚~
Hitomi opened her eyes slowly, she squinted slightly at the harshness of the sun's rays and moved her hand to rub the crust off the lids. The girl had no problem doing so and carefully sat up. A feeling of lingering sadness felt like it had just left her.
She soon forgot it.
She at first thought she was in an unfamiliar place until she recognized the pink clothes that were hung on a chair with what looked like rips and dried blood in the fabric. Something about it was disturbing to her. The girl noticed that she was in an oversized light green kimono that was large enough to cover her body up until her thighs.
She suddenly felt an itch on her arm and looked at it, seeing dark patches of skin lining down her arm, as if her skin ripped open. Hitomi flinched when she touched it and forcefully had vague memories of what happened to her arm appear and disappear within her mind almost instantaneously.
She groaned and looked at her lap seeing bandages on top of the blue blanket covering her body. She deduced that they must have fallen off in her sleep and in order to fix it she used her less scarred hand to messily rewrap them. She didn’t have to but she wanted to take her mind off of well… nothing.
Hitomi heard the sound of footsteps approaching the door and it opened revealing a very confused Akio with a bowl of water and a towel in his hands. He stayed silent and knelt beside her, putting the bowl down and plopping the towel inside of it.
There were several things Hitomi noticed about him. First, from the bags under his eyes it appears that he has been tending to her for a while, though he did have previous eye bags so this may not be new. Then, the look on his face was trying to convey neutralness but from the faint, almost invisible scowl on his face as if he was uncomfortable around her. Lastly, he has a weapon on him. He tried to hide it behind himself but Hitomi could see it.
Though there were no red strings near her and she grew to look for them for some reason but found none so her life wasn’t in danger currently. If she wasn’t in danger then she wouldn't bring up his discomfort.
“Do you know what happened to me?” Hitomi asked, making eye contact, “I know something did but I can’t remember.”
Akio’s tired eyes widened slightly but held a look of determination.
“You were attacked by a demon again. Though before anything could happen, I saved you” he said as he bit the inside of his cheek. He looked up and was surprised by the shocked look on the previously apathetic looking girl.
“A demon? I didn’t remember that… I don't remember what happened. Why can’t I? This isn’t fair...” Hitomi was holding her head and her face was that of stress and disbelief. It was even more of a shock when she paused then easily returned to the blank, stoic look on her face before turning to her savior. She did so naturally that Akio questioned if she was faking her previous feelings.
“I see. If that’s the case thank you for saving me again. Why was I out? Did I have a goal in mind?”
Akio couldn’t bring himself to address the speed of the girl's expression changing. He chose to answer her instead.
“I don’t need thanks. I-I am not sure why you left. I just discovered you being attacked. Demons are stronger than humans, it makes sense why you would feel overwhelmed. That’s all”
He knew damn well he was lying to her. He wanted to avoid the possibility of her discovering the events of that night. He was expecting her to have more questions because his answer to her previous one was pretty bland. He isn’t even shocked when he’s met with a simple: “I see.”
Akio positioned himself to stand, sensing the end of their oh-so-exciting conversation. He was cooking and didn’t want anything to burn.
“Well you must be hungry we can talk more about this lat-”
“How can I kill it?”
The question was asked so casually. As if she would say the same thing to a sibling or a parent. There was no extra emotion in her voice except for a small tone of dread.
“What?” Akio doesn’t know why he was so shocked.
Hitomi tore the covers off of her body and forced herself to stand. Even as she swayed and almost tumbled while regaining her footing she stood up. Her brown and white hair stuck to her face along with the slipping of clothes and bandages of her body. None of the signs that lead to her looking sad and damaged were able to dampen the pure resolution in her eyes.
“I don’t fully remember what happened but I felt a feeling that I haven’t ever felt in my life. I remember that clearly. Demons… I want to learn how to kill one” Hitomi declared. “That weapon behind you, can it kill demons?”
This was probably the longest she had talked without prompt. Akio couldn’t help but stare at the ten, maybe twelve year old. He felt inclined under the gaze of her crimson eyes to answer.
He brought out the hidden weapon (which was right behind him) and placed it in front of him. He drew it out and placed the two items side by side. It was a sword, more specifically a dull orange katana with a mandarin coloured scabbard. It had a white star pattern and was held by a white knot. The design was odd because for a lighter color like orange a pattern with a darker color like black would pop more.
Hitomi bent down to trace her fingers over the blade but Akio picked it up before she could touch it. He held it close to himself before taking a deep breath and returning eye contact with her. A more determined look crossed his features.
“This is a blade blessed by the sun. This is one of the only weapons that can kill demons” It was an odd way to describe the sword but he didn’t care at the moment.
“Can you teach me how to use it?” Hitomi asked him as she slowly lowered herself back down to get a closer look. She was staring at the scabbard and when she looked up her breath hitched as she was under the intense glare of Akio. Any atmosphere of joviality died under his eyes that forced her once determined gaze to lower and cower.
“This is not a game. This sword is not a toy. Killing demons is not easy. A wimp like you almost died twice. Why bother wasting my time knowing you’ll die. Demons are stronger, faster and heal better than humans. Even if I did agree, the training is cruel and you will die from that before a demon has another chance to kill your hopeless ass. Look at yourself, you are hurt and can barely move. Even after having two encounters with death, you still want to fight? Don’t be foolish.”
Akio didn’t even attempt to hold back on his words. It was unfortunate enough that fate had lead her to him but he was not going to sign her up for her death knowing he can prevent it by scaring her-
“I don’t care. I want to rid the world of demons and recover my memories. I don’t know what happened to me before I was discovered by you the first time but I know it was something I could have avoided by being stronger. I was saved by you, I want to be strong enough to save others. This feeling of…hatred won’t leave me until I rid the world of demons.”
Hitomi looked down at her bandages and took a deep breath, feeling the strings around her float about. There was not part of her that was joking. She felt like instead of warning her about dangers, the red strings with her were leading her to the answers she needed. It started with this.
She lowered her body to bow. She could feel the small chills of the floor as her forehead made contact with it. She knew it was crazy. He owed her nothing, yet she owed him everything. Asking him for more is selfish but right now she knew that her goal was worth being selfish over.
It may even be worth dying over.
~⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆~
Akio stared at her for an unnaturally long time. She was bowing at him. He didn’t understand why she was so stupid. She at least remembered the fear of her own death, yet she continues to insist on going into a fight she could not possibly understand. He opens his mouth to say no.
He waits for the words to leave his mouth again.
Nothing happens.
He believed in fate and all of the stupid crap but he never wanted to use it as a reason for doing important things in his life.
Though for a reason he can’t explain. It feels like the strings of fate were put in place to guide him to her. He bites his tongue enough to steel his resolve.
“Raise your head,” he says as he sees Hitomi slowly sit back up and deep down he questions how she isn’t constantly wincing in pain, “I hope you know that you will regret this. First, let's fix your motivations. Helping others will only last for a little while until you realize no matter how much you help, someone else will die. Then, finding your memories is also not the way to go about this. You can probably find them with a safer method than risking your life. As for your hatred…that’s pretty good. I did it out of hatred as well. But I might warn you that you may feel dull afterwards. Cause I pursued my anger and now I'm stuck here with a creepy ten year old, so personally I don't recommend it.”
He simply let out an annoyed huff and laid down on his back with his head facing her. For someone maybe a decade older than the girl he seemed pretty immature at times.
“So does that mean you’ll help me?” Hitomi asked, completely ignoring the way he insulted her.
Akio looked up and sighed for what felt like the tenth time that day before nodding and sitting up to sheathe his sword back into its scabbard. He then went up to Hitomi and made her lay down so he could fix her bandages. It was only after he finished rewrapping the bandages that he stood up.
“Okay, that’s enough about that for now. In order to learn, you have to recover. Stay here and rest and I’ll be back with food for you” Akio said as he picked up his sword and walked out the room, though before it closed he heard the mixed haired girl call out.
“Thank you. What’s your name again?”
He looked back with annoyance.
“It’s Akio. I told you this already so this will be the last time. Remember this carefully my name is Satou Akio. But I guess you will be referring to me as teacher.” He said that last bit with a shrug. Then he paused, remembering he never actually asked her for her name but he can make small assumptions.
Before he could ask though Hitomi beat him to it.
“Hitomi.”
“No last name?”
His question was met with a shrug from the girl. He wasn’t surprised.
“That just leaves us to make you one.”
Even though he didn’t see her face, he could feel her eyes lighting up a bit.
Maybe this won’t be such a bad idea.
He already has an idea of what to do.
~⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆~