Oni are horned, ogre-like creatures in Japanese folklore. They have also been described as orc-like, demon-like, goblin-like, and troll-like. However, an oni is best categorized as a type of Japanese yōkai, which includes wicked otherworldly monsters, goblins, gods, ghosts, and spirits.
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Once long ago there was a very powerful shogun, and he married a beautiful woman. Together they were happy with no want for anything in their comfortable lives. Except for one thing.
A child.
Even though they tried for many years, they still went without children. One day the woman of the couple decided to take a long walk in the woods to try to forget about her troubles when she came across a mysterious healer.
"My lady, you seem quite troubled. Would you like to tell me?", the man offered.
"Why? You wouldn't even be able to help me. It's no use."
"Try me. I might surprise you."
"My husband is happy with life and we wish for nothing but a child however it seems that the gods do not seem to want to bless us with one."
"Oh. Is that all?", the healer laughed before reaching into the folds of his cloak and pulling out a small box which contained three seeds. *I have the exact solution. Take these flower seeds and plant them in your garden in a place only you'll know. One month from now on the night of the blue moon, three flowers will appear."
"What good will flowers do me?"
"They're blessed by the goddess of fertility," the man explained, "Of the three there will be three flowers. A white lotus, a red spider lily, and a black rose. If you eat the white lily you'll gain a son as pure and kind hearted as the heavens. If you eat the red spider lily you'll receive a son as fast and strong as the fiercest warrior. If you choose the black one you'll receive a son as smart as a hundred scholars! Eating any two of the three will result in twins with all the traits of both flowers!"
The woman was so pleased with her gift. It would be the solution to all her problems and she left with the seeds. However the healer gave her a grisly warning.
"These flowers are enchanted by magic no mortal body can handle so there's a limit to how much you can have without a blessing turning to a curse. Remember. You may only have up to TWO. Eating all three will have deadly consequences that even I don't know what could happen. Heed my warnings, My Lady. Or disaster will befall thee."
The woman promised to remember the warnings given to her and that night planted the seeds in a place only she knew about telling no one. A month later on the blue moon she went back out and found the three flowers the man spoke of. She had already decided to eat the lily and lotus, but at the last moment decided to eat all three. It was a blessing from the goddess of fertility after all. Nothing really bad could come from a blessing. And she wanted her children to have all the traits the flowers promised.
Against the healer's warnings, she swallowed the black rose petals right after the first two flowers. Sealing her fate by her foolish mistake.
Soon after the woman indeed fell with child. Twins. Both husband and wife were so happy and the entire countryside rejoiced with the news. Nothing truly was wrong and the woman forgot about the consequences of her actions. Until nine months later-
Her husband was called to battle, while away his wife delivered their children in the middle of the night. However the children born that night were not infants.
But horrible monsters from nightmares.
The woman screamed in fear and horror as the doctors looked on in shocked silence as the cursed infants cried out into the darkness. Both grotesque and disfigured. Monstrous and horrifying to look at.
One they say was born with horns like an oni and eight limbs like a slightly humified jurogumo. The other one was more horrible. Half it's body writhing and squirming like an upsidedown centipede and so many eyes that they were spinning in different directions at once. They cried but no one dared touch them or show them any empathy. Their own mother scrambled away and shrieked out in fear.
"Take them away!," she cried out, "Take them far away! I don't care what you do with them just take them far away and be rid of them! I'd rather have my husband think we suffered a loss than look upon these ugly things! No one shall tell him of this!"
One of the woman's most trusted servants placed the crying children in a chained basket and took them away that very same night. No one knew what became of them. They were never seen again. The maid never did return either. And the woman never told her husband what had happened. No one else who was there that night never dared repeat what they saw in fear of drawing the cursed creatures back to them.
However they say that they still roam the lands. And if you are unlucky enough, you shall be the next to run into such a horrible monster.
It was a quiet night when it happened. The birth of the fated one.
The sobs of the woman didn't even stop as she held her baby close to her crying her eyes out in sorrow despite healthy little girl in her arms. The father just sat there in silence staring at his wife and daughter.
"He can't..H-He can't!" Was all the sobbing woman could muster out between tears.
This wasn't supposed to happen. They had just a few more days and then it would've been summer. They wouldn't have had to worry about anything then. It would've been someone else's problem. Someone else's daughter to be fated to become the bride to the beast. But his child unexpectedly had been born this night in spring. If only she waited just a few more days. If only he had a son instead.
Then he wouldn't be loosing his child to the demon.
It wasn't their fault really. The last few years of harsh drought and little rain caused hunger, famine, and most of all desperation. The many offerings and prayers to the gods seemed to be doing nothing! The local priest blessing the stubborn soil did nothing. It was still cracked, hard, and as barren as a rock. There seemed to be no hope in sight. The people were desperate loudly cursing whatever deities were responsible for this plague upon them and pleading to anyone who could hear them to end the suffering, the starving, the deaths caused by the drought.
It was then their pleas were answered by the monster.
He showed up right out of the blue one day, as of he manifested out of the very air. He may have walked like a man, but he was a monster that would devoir them all because of their desperation would be their destruction.
"I couldn't help but notice that you people seem to be on hard times." He hated how he smiled at them, like he was doing them a great service. "I can help you surely. All I ask is one thing in return."
He'd fertile the lands. Bring forth rain. End the suffering. All for the price of one life. He'll return in twenty years and request the hand of the first maiden to be born that spring. Without thinking about the consequences, they agreed and as mysterious as he arrived, the monster departed back into nothing.
The creature kept his word. Rain storms came back to pour water into the ground. Soft soil nurtured new crops, and the hunger of many satiated. However the price was not forgotten. At least not by the local doctor and his wife. Now here they were staring down at the one who was going to be made to wed that monster in twenty years. Out of all the children born in the village, why must it be their child?! It wasn't fair! They never agreed to this! They had no say in it at all! But-
"W-What are we su-supposed to do?!"
"Hush woman. The others will hear you. Nobody will know about this. About her!"
"H-How? We can't just hide her! S-Someone will notice sooner or later."
"Then we'll make sure no one knows of her existence. Get up. We must make haste."
"For what?"
"We'll leave. No one will know about her if she's not here to be seen but we must go immediately. Tonight. We'll let one of the other families deal with the fate they brought upon themselves."
"Where will we go?"
"Somewhere. ANYWHERE! As long as it's far away from here."
Your parents fled in the middle of the night. Walking slowly due to your mother's condition but left either way. The small village left behind and forgotten about in return for giving their daughter the freedom she deserved. It wasn't easy to start all over in an entirely new place so far away, and they had to live on the streets for almost a year. But eventually a doctor would get clients and they were able to get a nice small home in a nice town far, far away from the dangers of demons and threats of never seeing their daughter again as you grew.
You had a normal and happy life honestly. Going to school, exploring the nearby forest, making friends, and gaining a job at the nearby tavern once you were nineteen. Waiting tables, bringing orders, and helping to clean up at the end of the day. There was even a local man your age that took interest in you. Your parents encouraged you to accept his offers to court you, but you haven't decided if you liked him that way.
However things were about to change.
The winds churned and a faint storm rolled along the sky on your twentieth birthday. Exactly twenty years after the dreadful move long ago.
The pub you worked at was alight with excitement. A group of hunters were in the middle of the large space. Laughing over the successful hunt they managed to bring in, celebrating by drinking ale and feasting. A few other patrons also were around the area minding their own business and eating away in the cozy warmth the tavern provided in the middle of the windy storm outside. You gathered up the plates from the hunters' table from their third round of food and just did your job of bringing it up to the bar to be taken away by another worker. Nothing out of the ordinary for you tonight-
That was when the door opened up with such a loud sound that it startled everyone who was in the pub to stop talking and look over. Wind from outside swept throughout the building and made you blink from the sudden rush of air hitting your face. Candlelights flickered but thankfully didn't go out.
Silence continued on around the gushed pubs and many of those faces turned from curious to horrified.
A clattering tray fell to the floor from a fellow waitress's hands as she stared. Many eyes continued to stare at the thing that came in from the storm. The door slowly creaked closed again behind him allowing the wind to be closed off once more. No one moved. No one spoke. No one dare looked away.
...STEP. STEP. STEP. STEP.
His feet turned as he began walking around the massive group of men seated in front of him and towards the other side of the room.
STEP. STEP. STEP. STEP.
Each step he took seemed to heavily echo through the bar entirely as the tallest figure they've ever seen slowly walked with heads turning to follow his movements. Walking, walking, and walking. You froze in your tracks as the tall form just slowly walked past you without a word or even looking your way or really at anyone for that matter. Going all the way to the farthest table in the far corner, silently pulling out the chair allowing the legs scraping against the floor to sound out, before he wordlessly sat down in it. Staring straight ahead at nothing. The silence was deafening with only the fire crackling in the fireplace, and the wind outside to make sound.
"I'd like a bowl of tonkotsu and onigiri with unsweetened green tea please."
His voice made you jump. It wasn't because he said it in a rude or threatening way, but because he still didn't look at anyone. Just kept staring into the void at nothing. It was incredibly eerie. In question you finally broke away from staring at him to look at your staring boss. The chef looked as stunned as the rest of everyone else in the tavern but eventually he turned to slowly walk back into the kitchen area. Maybe he had the right idea. Give the man the food and hope he leaves once he was done.
You only turned back to watch along with everyone else as the faint sounds of food being made in the back carried on. What was the creepiest part of it was that whoever this man was, never stopped staring ahead. Didn't even move once the entire almost half hour you all were anxiously waiting for the food to be made. Like he turned to stone. Felt like eternity before the chef slowly came from the back, startling you with his footsteps. He went back to staring at the man as you slowly and shakily picked up the tray scooted towards you. It felt very heavy in your hands as you held it and slowly took step after step towards the table at the farthest corner of the building. Your very steps seemed to echo through the building itself as you approached closer and closer and closer. His eyes never looked up at you as you approached. Never moved an inch as you got close enough to place it down on the table. That's what you were gonna do. Just place it on the table and scoot it closer to him.
Until his hands reached out.
You completely froze as a hand reached out to grab the bowl of hot tonkotsu off the tray. A second hand grabbed the cup of tea next.
A third hand grabbed the small plate of rice balls. And a forth grabbed the chopsticks.
You stood still and frozen as the man finally moved. Four of his six arms reached out and grabbed the food from you while his other two remained sat neatly upon his lap. The entire time he still didn't look at you until the hot tonkotsu bowl and chopsticks were raised to his face, and finally his face reacted. Turning up to you with plum red eyes and a gently smile upon his lips.
"Thank you."
You were too frozen in shock and slightly fear to respond..but the gentle smile on his face brought a bit of hope that no one would be harmed tonight. However you couldn't bring yourself to stare at the smile for long, too focused on the fangs between those lips and the two black horns protruding from the tops of his head and the pointed ears where two hanafuta earrings dangling from and swaying with his movements.
Oni.
This man..was an ONI.
A spirit no one would dare mess with in fear of enduring it's wrath. Why on earth was there an oni in the middle of your town and in the tavern ordering food? You had no idea. Perhaps it was just passing through and got hungry. You just hoped that he wouldn't stay. Shaking you only bowed before slowly backing away a few steps as he continued to smile at you gently. Before he turned back to start quietly eating the food.
The entire time the entire plate remained silent and watchful as he ate. What felt like an eternity must've really been only maybe half an hour before his bowl and plate were emptied and the cup drank. Not wanting to offend him you tried to remain calm and polite as you approached him again and shakily began to pick up the dishes and place them back on the tray. His now smiling face stared at your work before you bowed to him again and turned to return the tray to the bar-
"I would like some momiji and daifuku with more tea please."
You paused mid step taking the tray back to the counter before whirling around wide eyed at the man who was still looking right at you with that small smile before you exchanged shocked glances with the chef. How did the Oni know that there was daifuku and momiji in the kitchen when your boss hadn't written it upon me sign behind the bar with the other food items for the day?! After a moment your boss motioned for you to silently come over. You did and the same pattern repeated after he took away the tray. Only this time he wasn't looking into the void. Instead he just stared at you softly with a smile.
It wasn't creepy or had you feeling anything bad though. It felt more like a customer politely waiting for service to be provided to him which technically it was since he ordered desserts, which arrived quickly and you took to him but it was so strange to be serving an oni sprit. The same thing played out. Everyone watched in silence as he ate what you served him silently as you waited to collect the dishes. You once again did again and this time when you turned-
"I'd like your name please."
Once more you paused wide eyed and turned to look at the smiling spirit staring at you... Everyone's shock reignited anew as silent looks were given to one another in question. What should you do?! He wanted what?! Your name?! Why did he want your name?! You didn't know what to do! Looking around it looked like no one else did either. Feeling your throat tighten you swallowed thickly before shakily replying.
"Y-Y/n."
"Thank you."
"What's your name?"
The words left your mouth before you could stop yourself. It surprised both yourself and the man who blinked before again smiling at you gently.
"Yoriichi."
"That's..a very nice name."
"Thank you. Yours is beautiful."
"Oh. T-Thank you."
You just turned back to get the remaining dishes to the bar as the man slowly took his time getting up, pushing in his chair, and reaching into his pockets for some yen to leave on the table and pay for his food. By the time you were done with the dishes and turned around, you found the man smiling down at you. Gosh..He was..tall.
"I'd like to walk you home please."
You were put on the spot right in front of everyone else staring at you with the man still smiling at you. He wanted to walk you home?! Why? Did he plan on robbing you?! He was an ONI spirit so was he looking to haunt you?! Your parents?! You didn't know what to say. You wanted to say no..But would he be offended if you did? Would he become angry? What would happen if you made him angry? You didn't know what he'd do. He's..been pretty nice so far but no one did anything to make him angry.
Deciding to bite the bullet, you gulped again before nodding. "A-Alright."
You felt like you were walking to your death sentence as everyone watched you silently make your way outside in the windy air with the spirit right behind you. The squeaky door closing behind you like a coffin lid behind closed.
You stiffly walked your way down the street home with the wind blowing your hair back. You didn't look at him but you knew he was there. You felt his presence looming next to you and saw his many arms out of the corner of your eyes. You could run. Maybe if you were fast enough you could lose him and get home before he knew which house was yours. However you dreaded what might happen if you offended the spirit so you kept your mouth shut and walked. Maybe he was only doing this to return what polite service you gave him? You hoped so and hoped to not see him again after this.
Five minutes of silent walking later and you felt relief full you as you came upon your front door. Hoping to end this as fast as possible, you turned to politely bow to him. "T-Thank you for walking me home."
"Your welcome. May I have your hand please?"
...You blinked. Looking up at him. "What?"
He still smiled softly at you. "May I have your hand please?"
"M-..My hand?" On instinct you clutched your hands together. Was he going to cut one of your hands off?! "I-..I d-dont think I taste good. The food at the tavern is much more tastier than I am, I promise you."
He simply chuckled. "Not in harm." One of his hands extended out to you. "May I have your hand please?"
He wanted to...hold your hand?? Was that what he was asking? Why? What could he possibly want to do that for? You were so confused staring at him, then his still outstretched hand, then back to him. He remained unmoving other than the wind blowing his hand and earrings and clothing about. Why? His smile remained unwavering as he still smiled at you.. before you slowly looked back at his hand. Not in harm? Well at least he didn't want to hurt you. Maybe all he wanted was a grateful handshake. Either way it was better not to offend him.
"Y-Yes."
You shakily reached out a hand until it touched his warm but calloused hands. Slowly the much larger hand closed around you before a second one came to be placed on top of yours.
"Thank you for accepting."
Accepting? You looked back up to him. "A-Accepting what?"
His only answer was to lean over and to your surprise kissed your forehead.
Kitsune, trickster foxes from traditional Japanese folklore. They are a type of yōkai, a class of supernatural creatures with godlike powers, often equated to the English ghoul or demon. Kitsune are noted for their paranormal abilities, particularly metamorphosis. As they age, these abilities can become more powerful.
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A young lady's wedding day.
It's supposed to be the happiest day of her life ever.
And to be fair, your wedding was a good one. Hilarious too. However only because your dancing husband sprouted a pair of fluffy ears and nine tails while dancing to music after the ceremony much to the horrified looks of all the other guests as not one but three Kitsune spirits had infiltrated the ceremony and were now chuckling at their mischief making.
"How did this happen?," they cried in fear watching them dance and cackle around you.
It was quite simple really. It started with a hello. A hello from one child to another. Long ago back when you were very little, and your Aunt was the shrine maiden to the local Kitsune shrine. You went there all the time to play under her supervision and run through the trees and splash in the small stream in the back. Plenty of hiding places to find and new things to explore. On one of these escapades you bounded down the stone path and up to where your aunt was cleaning up the inside of the shrine, with some baked sweet potatoes to leave as offerings in hopes the spirits will continue to bring good fortune. But there was something new about the shrine today and it was the child sitting upon the steps to the shrine about your age.
He played upon the stone steps with a small stick throwing it up and then catching it again over and over. He didn't even look at you as you toddled up to him with the basket and just stared at him continuing to play by himself until you spoke.
"What game are you playing?"
The boy let out a fox like yip in surprise before whirling around to stare at you wide eyed. It was only then your child eyes realized that he had giant fluffy ears on his head amongst his wild blonde hair and a bristled up tail behind him. However in your child innocence, those details went right over your head. Meanwhile the boy stared at you in absolute shock.
"You can see me?!"
"Duh. You're standing right in front of me, Silly," you giggled as he blinked again. The stick he was playing with falling to the ground with a thud.
His face scrunched up before making a motion for you to shoo. "Well stop seeing me. You're not supposed to be seeing me!"
"But why?"
"Because my father says so! Humans aren't supposed to be able to see us unless we want them too and I don't want you to."
"But why doesn't he want me to see you?"
"Uuuuhh...I dunno. I never asked."
"Y/n? Is that you?" Your aunt walked out of the shrine with a broom in her hand blinking. "Who are you talking to?"
You smiled pointing to your friend. "My friend!"
You aunt seemed to stare right past the boy as if she couldn't see him before chuckling. "Oh. A friend. And would this friend happen to be imaginary?"
"Nu uh! We were just talking about his stick game!"
Your aunt laughed at you before turning away. "Sure you were. You better bring those offerings in here before an animal makes off with them."
"Ok!"
"I'm your friend?"
You looked back to the strange boy. "Do you wanna be?"
He lit up brightly. "SURE! I never had a friend before!" He sniffed around before looking at the basket. "Are those sweet potatoes?"
"Want one?"
"Yes please!" You held out the basket and he immediately took one, taking a large bite. "UMAI!"
You two had lots of fun together playing games and watching him perform small tricks with fire. No one was the wiser to his true nature only passing him off as your imaginary friend. It didnt matter in the moment. You both were just children at play. One day your friend brought someone new to play with you both. His toddler younger brother who was the spitting image of his older brother but smaller and cuter. You didn't mind. That just meant you had two friends now! Playing tricks on each other was a favorite past time for them. Harmless little games like keep away or throwing mud or even sneaking up and scaring you.
However the day you met a third person like your friends was the day those around you started to worry with horror in their minds.
"Hey! You wanna come home with me?", your friend asked you one day.
You looked up from the frog his little brother was poking at and blinked. "Your home?"
He nodded before pointing at the gate that you had to cross under on your way to the shrine. "It's just through there! Normal people can't come in, but I can take you and you can see my really cool house!"
"I don't know. My aunt won't like it if Im not back before sundown."
"I'll bring you back way before dinner time!"
"Well ok. Let me tell my aunt first!"
You did but the adult laughed it off as a cute little interaction between a child and her imaginary friends. She didn't even notice how your friends took you by the hands and lead you under the gateway, disappearing into the air without a trace.
Your eyes were filled with amazement at the sights of a beautiful mansion. Way more beautiful than the shrine your aunt took care of. It was beautifully structured and seemed to be straight out of a fantasy. More so was the two people sat up on the front deck of the building. A man who looked exactly like your friends, only older and instead of one fluffy tail there was nine majestic long ones splayed out behind him. And a woman who didn't look much older than your aunt at the time. Both looked up at the incoming children but completely paused up on seeing you getting pulled towards them.
"Mother! Father! Look! We brought home Y/n!," you friend announced gesturing to you. "She can see us and cross the gates!"
"What?! She's real? I thought you both were making up something again like that mermaid," the older man barked but his face still looked surprised to see the young girl before him.
"Nuh uh! And Tengen is too real too! You just haven't met him yet either!"
He ignored the boy in exchange for staring at you up and down. "So...You can see my kids huh? What's your name?"
"I'm Y/n! You look ready fluffy, Mister!"
"He IS fluffy! Father's tails are the perfect napping spot! You should try it sometime!"
The man sputtered and shot the woman an embarrassed look as she chuckled. "Well this is a surprise. Do you children want some mochi? I made some fresh from the oven."
"YAY!! Mochi!"
You didn't know how long you stayed exactly running around and playing with your friends but eventually it was time for you to go home. Instructing you to just cross back through the gate and you'd be right back home. However before you left, your friend gave you a smile.
"Y/n, when we're all grown up I'm going to marry you!"
"Ew! Like kissing and stuff? Yuck! That's so gross! No thanks!"
"Yes I will! Just you wait and see!"
When you came back you were met with quite a sight. At least twelve people including your aunt and parents was sweeping throughout the shrine and nearby woods now staring in shock at the girl who suddenly appeared out of thin air. Everyone stared at you stunned by the fact before demanding that you tell them where you were. And your innocent self did.
From your friend's home to playing and having so much fun! While you happily smiled, the others looked on in horror. You hadn't just been seeing an imaginary friend but a real spirit who had already set his sights upon yourself.
It's why you were so sad when your aunt banned you from the shrine anymore and a few weeks after your parents sent you far away to live with your grandparents. You didn't understand why? Did you do anything wrong? You were happy where you were.
But all things fade.
Years passed. You grew up and had forgotten most of what happened with your childhood. Convincing yourself too it was all just pleasant childhood memories. You grew up, moved on, and began starting you own life. Working away on your grandparents small farm until a knock came to your door one day. You all answered it to quite a sight indeed.
A man was standing on the other side but he had very unusual striking features. Firey blonde hair that faded to red at the tips and a pair of striking flaming eyes to match. He stood proud and tall in the doorway staring down at your surprised grandparents with the politest of smiles.
"GREETINGS!!," He greeted in a booming voice making you all jolt at the sheer volume. "Is this the L/n residence perchance?"
"Y-Yes. Who are you?"
*I am Kyojuro Rengoku and I am here to court your granddaughter!"
The announcement so bold and blunt was very off guard. It stunned you all but the man, Kyojuro, was so very polite. He asked to come in, complimenting your home, and even asked for permission from both yourself and your grandparents to start courting you. Your grandmother unsurprisingly jumped to an immediate yes whilst your grandfather was more reluctant..but agreed after seeing him produce a small gold bracelet as a courting gift. It was a plain gold band, not even with gems or patterns, but the fact that it was a GOLD bracelet said something about his wealthy status. You however were more taken aback by everything and...
Why did this man seem so familiar to you?
You asked him that very question and he was happy to answer. "A long time ago we met as children! You probably don't remember me as we were very young but I remembered you!"
That wasn't too far out there and it explained the deja vu but there was... something else you couldn't put your mind on. And he was very honest about everything you all asked if him.
Why did he want to marry you? "I liked you from the moment we met long ago! Your personality is still the one I want!" What did his family do? "We have an estate not far from here! It even has a shrine sitting upon it!" Oh. So his family runs a shrine? "Partially!"
That explained the wealth you guessed. Well he didn't seem that bad so you accepted his courtship with your grandparents' approval! It was a beautiful relationship. Kyojuro was everything a girl would want in a husband. Kind, compassionate, understanding, respectful- If the word perfect was a human then Kyojuro was it. He was also very playful... However you couldn't help but feel strange whenever you heard him laugh or crack small jokes. It was like you were reliving some forgotten about past ..but you couldn't put your finger on it. Oh well.
All that matters what that you fell heads over heels for this man so when he asked you to marry him, you didn't hesitate to say yes! It was perfect. The planning was perfect and you were able to chose whatever you wanted. However Kyojuro only wanted one thing-
"I want our wedding to take place at the Fox shrine in your hometown."
"Huh? Why?"
"It's a good meeting spot for both our families since it's right in the middle between them! And it's a sacred place to me, so I'd really like to have it there."
Well you didn't have any objections to that, and neither did your aunt when you sent her a message asking about it. Plus you didn't think anything of it. Just that you were going to be getting married to the man you loved, your family would be there, and you were going to meet his family too! It was the perfect story scene out of a fairytale.
Nothing went wrong at all. The travel back home was pleasant. Kyojuro swept the rest of your family off their feet the same smiling way he did your grandparents. You got to meet his little brother and parents..whom while we're very polite, ignited another round of deja vu that you ultimately brushed off as the nerves getting to you.
The ceremony was so beautiful.
You cried three times throughout that you just gave up on trying to make sure your make up was good. Not that your husband seemed to mind, holding your hand as you cried and just kepr telling you how beautiful you were. It was only after-
After the ceremony.
The exact second after he officially became your husband.
You heard him give off a noise. A sound like the small giggles of a fox. That's when you looked at his smile. Perfectly white teeth were replaced with fangs and two large ears sprung up on the tops of his head as he looked at you grinning.
The first shriek from a woman bled out into the opening as the spirit sprung up, tails swaying and a wide smile on his face as the humans screamed in horror at the trickery he managed to pull over on them. You stared shocked as spirits danced humans screamed out in terror and fled from the smiling Yokai and you were only left there to watch in shock and slightly fear at the mischievous grin wide in front of your face.
"..Why?"
"Because, Little Flame.~ To trick the trickster is to be rectified by the greatest deceivement in return."
A corpse supposed, in European folklore, to leave its grave at night to drink the blood of the living by biting their necks with long pointed canine teeth.
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Never go out at night. Especially near the old cemetery.
You never understood why. Aa a child growing up you just assumed because the place was scary and full of ghosts so you were happily in agreement of staying far, far away from the old cemetery down the road. You'd never go there, and stayed very far away which pleased your family. It wasn't until your sixteenth birthday that your grandfather pulled you aside one day under the guise of coming to help him carry vegetables to sell at the nearby town square however as soon as you two were alone, he pulled you both behind the barn and had a very scary serious face.
"Y/n, listen to me. You're sixteen years old now. In two more years you're going to be all grown up and be able to make your own decisions and that's why I have to warn you before it's too late."
You blinked at him in shock. "Grandpa, what are you talking about about?"
"I'm talking about vampires!" His tone was so blunt it made you blink.
"Vampires?"
"Do you know why the old cemetery was abandoned and the new one was built right behind the village? Or why no one goes near the old one? Or why no one stays out at night?" You shook your head. You just assumed because it was creepy and haunted. He scoffed. "Of course not! No one's ever bothered to tell you the truth! Folks around here like to pretend nothing bad happens around here!"
"But...Vampires?"
He nodded. That sounds.. unbelievable. There hasn't been any cases of people going missing or being found dead with their bodies drained of blood or with bite marks on their necks. And there hasn't even been any livestock killings other than the time your uncle caught a fox in his henhouse last year..But that was just a fox.
"Let me tell you the entire truth. Back even before even my own parents were born, there was a clan that lived in the abandoned estate right next to that cemetery, it's so long no one even remembers their name, but long ago tragedy struck them. The entire clan turned on one another over a family dispute which left only two standing. A pair of brothers one of which left his clan after the incident while the other took over the entirety of the estate."
"That's very sad, but what does that have to do with anything with Vampires?"
"The brother who left died." His tone suddenly became very grim. "His body was found one day alongside the road as dead as roadkill. Instead of burning the cursed corpse, he was brought home to his brother so he may be buried in the family cemetery. However that mistake would prove to be fatal. The very next day after the funeral, the remaining brother was found dead in his bedroom! His entire body was drained of blood and a look of pure horror was etched onto his face."
Your eyes widened in shock at the words that left his mouth.
"It didn't stop there. A distant member of the clan's family went missing the next week, and then a week after that two other girls from the surrounding area also went missing. Not even their bodies were ever found."
"That's all very sad..but how do you know that it was vampires. Couldn't the girls have just ran away from home? Or the brother have a heart attack and died?"
"Because when the local priest investigated the cemetery alongside the towns men, he ordered all the clan members graves to be dug up and the bodies examined." His gaze turned grave as a shudder physically shook his body as you gulped. "One by one each and EVERY member was dug up from the ground for the priest to examine and each one was the same with some form of destruction until they got to the final one. The brother who left the estate. "
Your skin got goosebumps and a shiver ran down your own spine at the way he was looking at you in fear. This story..Even if it was fake, sure was scary.
"When they pulled his cursed coffin from the ground and tore it open, his body was in perfect cold condition. As if he has just died within the last hour." His fearful expression became more scared. "But he wasn't the only one in that grave. Within the soft earth they found the three girls who had gone missing. Their bodies in as perfect condition as their devilish husband now. He had claimed them as his brides of the undead!"
"W-Why didn't they just burn the bodies then?"
"Because they had already angered the spirits and committed a sacred crime by digging up all the bodies! No one wanted to risk angering the spirits on top of having a vampire! All the bodies were reburied with the exception of those cursed with vampirism. They were taken to be locked away in a mausoleum, and a steak was driven into the man's heart to return him to the dead! That place was abandoned since."
"If the vampire was killed, then why is there still worry?"
"Because someone removed his stake! A vampire is only dead as long as the stake remains in his heart! However it was discovered someone had broken into the crypt and removed it. The bodies were gone and since then it's always been the same. Don't go out at night. Stay away from the old cemetery. You're a young woman so you're going to be the most vulnerable. Heed my words, Child. Do not be fooled by them."
Since then you've been scared of going outside at night by yourself which your grandpa approved of until his eventually death a year later..but with you becoming older and older, you noticed that everything really wasn't as scary as your grandfather made it out to be. Your parents never before seemed to mind you going outside at night so long as you stayed away from the old cemetery they seemed perfectly happy.
Plus LITERALLY NOTHING EVER HAPPENED!!
Nothing but the usual animals in the night. You never saw anything dangerous other than maybe a wild animal. Even IF there was a vampire running around, he must've been long gone by now or wasn't interested in the humans here. In fact he might not even exist at all! You came to the conclusion that he DEFINITELY didn't exist when you were out stargazing fell asleep and woke up perfectly okay on your balcony. If there was a vampire then he would've taken advantage of a woman fast asleep in the night.
So you began to wonder what else might've been made up? Fairies? Ghosts? Imps? You've never seen anything like that even when you visited the cemetery and your grandparents' graves. No ghost, spirits, or spooks. So was the old cemetery they told you about really that bad either? Your curiosity only continued to grow and grow as you turned twenty and it was one day that you decided to go and check it out for yourself.
Walking down the old path long since overgrown and completely covered in grass and flowers. You barely were able to find it from how much it blended into nature. You didn't know how far exactly you walked or how much time had passed by but eventually you came across something you were sort of expecting. The starts of a rock wall..the sight of it in the sunlight made you slow down to a stop. Staring wide eyed at the monument like it was something forbidden.
You should probably turn back now...but there's a reason why you came here during the day instead of night. Taking in a deep breath, you slowly approached.
Old rocks crumbling away slowly from the elements and overgrown by vines. The wall was old and looked one step from crumbling away entirely as you approached it before slowly grabbing on some semi looking non rumbling parts and started pulling yourself up enough to look over the wall. The state of the inside was like a something out of a ghost story alright. Giant grass and wild flowers growing up and taking over the stone walkways that cracked badly with neglect, a few trees had grown in random places and a few stones looked like they were entangled in their roots.
Your footfalls were the only things that sounded around the place as you slowly walked around looking at everything. There was so many stones laid about everywhere. Misshapen by the elements over time and overgrown like everything else around the place. There was symbols that might've been named long ago but they were too worn away to really make out what they were when you curiously peered at a few. Continuing to walk around until you stumbled upon something. Something big.
A giant structure like building that was as big as a shed made of stone.
It stuck out like a sore thumb in the middle of everything. A giant tree growing out of a giant crumbling crack in the top and side coating the entire structure in shade. Where a door might've been was now covered in vines like a nature prison cell. Was that the famous mausoleum from the story? Your form walked up and pushed the nearly roots apart enough to poke your head in. Only to cough and sneeze at the amount of dust accumulated inside. But there was nothing inside. Not even a body.
So that proved there was nothing here. Whelp. That debunks everything everyone else said. Wrestling with the roots until you were able to pull your head out and relax back. Now that your curious itch was satisfied, you could leave and never look back. This place was creepy even in the daytime. You turned to leave, grass crunching under your feet as you took a few steps-
"Who are you?" You immediately jumped with a gasp looking around wildly for whoever talked. "Up here."
You looked up and paused. Up on top of the mausoleum was a man. A very BEAUTIFUL man. Soft looking white flowed down his shoulders and broad muscles tensed up from where he kneeled on top of the ancient structure looking at you. His clothes fit him in such a way that reminded you of old ninja uniforms seen in some history books from school, but what struck you the most was the magenta eyes that seemed to be staring right through you.
"Who are you?," he repeated making you jump.
"Oh! I uh-..I just wanted to look around and..stuff!"
"Uh huh." His eyes narrowed more looking you up and down before stopping on your side eyed face again. Seeming to calculate something in his mind.. before smiling. "Well you know what they say." He quickly switched from a kneeling position to a sitting one with his legs hanging over the side of the structure and scooted further into the shade, head in one hand. "Curiosity killed the cat."
Your brow rose at him. "And who are you?"
"Uzui. Tengen Uzui. You happen to be trespassing on my territory lady, so I can ask you the same thing."
"Territory?" You looked around again at the creepy damaged old graves. Who'd want this as their property "No offense but have you seen where you are?"
"Every day and night but Im curious now. Why are YOU?"
"Huh? Oh. I'm Y/n. Look. I didn't mean to bother you-" You held up your hands and took a step back. "-and I'm sorry but I should really get back before someone worries about me."
"Why would they worry about you? It's not like these dead people can hurt you."
"Well you're not going to believe me if I told you."
"Try me. You'd be surprised by what I've seen in my lifetime."
"Well they say this place is crawling with vampires."
Instead of laughing at you or looking at you like you were crazy, he hummed again and smiled wider. "Vampires. You don't say."
"Yep. That's why I was here. I came to see if anything was here but there's nothing. Just a fairytale like everything else I've been told."
"Not true. There's me and I happen to be rather flamboyant if I do say so myself!~" he purred gesturing to his muscles and making you snicker.
"Yeah. Right. Well I'd better be going. It was nice to meet you. Sorry for trespassing."
"Hey. Wait a minute." A loud thud sound went off as he pushed himself off and landed on his feet, and you gawked at how much taller he was than you were. Smiling still. "It's been a long time since anyone else visited me and it's pretty lonely up here." His hand gestured to the far left. "My wives and I have an estate just a little away from here. Why don't you come back to visit tomorrow?"
You blinked again. "An estate? I thought everything up here was abandoned.years ago."
"Right. I bet they say that it's haunted too."
"Is it?"
"No. But sometimes my best buddy comes by." He smiled at you in an almost joking way. "He's a Kitsune spirit. Even has a flashy shrine in the town over."
You couldn't help but giggle. "Ok. Sure. It'd be nice to visit someone knew. I'll come by next week since I'm not busy that day."
"GREAT! I'll have my wives fix you a feast! It's been years but my Suma can make a delicious shishkabob outta venison and veggies! I used to eat it all the time."
You didn't know what you've done that day. Waving goodbye as you climbed back over the wall. You didn't see him yawn before climbing back up the tree to rest again making sure to avoid the sunlight peeking in through the leaves.
You did end up coming back next week without telling anyone. Past the cemetery and even further past it. You were surprised to find a small mansion in the middle of the woods right smack dab in a clearing. You guessed that someone must've moved in and fixed up the place. You ended up knocking on the door which slid open and you were met with pink eyes blinking in surprise.
"Oh my...He wasn't kidding when he said you were coming" she sounded surprised but opened the door widely beckoning you inside. "Please come in! We've been expecting you."
"Thanks! Are you Suma?"
"No. I'm Hinatsuru but it's so good to see someone new! We don't have much visitors."
Hinatsuru. And the other two wives Makio and Suma. They were all so different from each other and Mr. Uzui was there too happily smiling and talking to you. With the food they promised you. It was so good! But they didn't eat anything.
"We ate before you came to visit us, so don't worry about it."
That didn't bother you. Nor did it bother you when Tengen offered to walk you home once it got too dark. Your parents weren't worried since they didn't worry about you going out (they had no idea that you went near the graveyard) and were surprised seeing the stunningly beautiful man standing in the doorway.
"Charmed I'm sure!" He posed making your mother even blush. "Tengen Uzui.~ I know we just met but I think I want to start courting your daughter. With your permission of course ~"
That's how the entire thing began. Almost as if your parents were hypnotized by him. They agreed much to your shock and you were suddenly counted by not only the beautiful man but his three beautiful wives. It certainly does seem like something out of a fairytale having so many beautiful people fond over you.
Especially when he kissed you for the first time. A blush coating his face as you held his cheeks. Surprisingly cold lips kissed yours. And then your cheeks. And then chin. And then stopping at your neck. Eyes going slit feeling the rush of pulsing blood under sharpened teeth.
"So beautiful. You're so beautiful. So flamboyant. So M I N E.~"
"T-Tengen? W-What are you doing?" His hug suddenly got tighter.
"It's alright, Princess. It'll only hurt for a second." You were suddenly aware of the adoring smiles on the wives faces as fangs poked out from between lips. "After all, a vampire's kiss is eternal.~"
A mythical monster resembling a giant reptile, sometimes shown as having wings. In European tradition the dragon is typically feared and tends to cause chaos or evil, whereas in East Asia it is usually a symbol of fertility, associated with water and the heavens.
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Matagi.
Only the most fearsome hunters of the village were allowed to be hunters and go up into the mountains and bring back big game of elk and bear. It's always been this way generation after generation to not displease the gods. And honestly whoever heard of a woman matagi anyways? It was unheard of. A woman's place was at home tending to children and keeping up the housework.
At least that's what you've always been told.
By both your parents.
Since you were little, you had no interest in becoming a typical housewife. Staying home all day and night, doing laundry, scrubbing floors, and being at the beck and call of whatever man was 'gracious' enough to take you as a wife. No. No you weren't going to do that. You wanted to go hunt and earn your living the same way your father did before you before he passed away from a bear attack when you were very little.
Unfortunately both your parents agreed that it wasn't an option for you. Your father was more gentle about it always refusing to teach you how to use a bow and arrow but he did show you how to make traps for game capture. Meanwhile your mother was so much stricter. If she so much as saw you holding a mere rope or just even looking longingly at the weapons your father would use, she yell, scream, and drag you forcibly by the back of your kimono and 'set you straight'. Which meant she'd make you scrub floors until your hands and knees were numb, practice embroidery until you couldn't feel your fingers, or other things 'a proper woman is supposed to be doing.'
You came to resent her after that, because after your father's death her insistence became overwhelming. You couldn't even go outside without her checking you for weapons. Not even the other matagi hunters thought you were a good enough hunter. One even offered to marry you because-
"If you can't be one you might as well marry one to continue your father's legacy."
Your mother agreed but you refused. But jokes on them! You hid everything you needed in the woods near your home. All you had to do was go out and set up the traps just like your father taught you! And not just any traps! Bear traps! If you brought back something as big as a elk, moose, or especially a bear then everyone have to take you seriously as a matagi hunter! So the very last night when your mother was asleep, you had snuck out into the snowy night and gathered up the ropes from under the rock you hid them under, and ventured up into the mountain to set up your trap. There was a small pond up in the mountains that they say is the home to an ancient dragon-
However no one believed it.
If asked by the matagi hunters then they'd laugh at you and say that some old superstitious ancestors who thought everything revolved around spirits and spooks. You've been up to the pond several times yourself out of curiosity and to see if the water would attract wildlife but you never saw anything either. But do you know what you DID see last time you went there? TRACKS!! They were all misshapen by the new falling snow and the fact whatever it was had been dragging something, but they were big enough to be a bear's! The trail ended just at the Water's edge which was strange but it was snowing so the trail must've been already gone.
But there was definitely some big game going through there!!
But first things first! You needed to have all the advantages you could get! So along with the rope, you brought a long some homemade ohagi and some yen. Even if there was no dragon, an offering might at least bring you good luck. Plus it never hurts to be on the safe side.
The snow crunched under your feet, and your breath turned to fog around your head as you huffed and puffed through the night. Trying to be quiet to not disturb the wildlife in case a good buck was roaming about. Step after step you took until you got passed some bushes. And-
AH! THERE IT WAS!
The moonlight sparkled off the snow and shine on the water like little stars floating on the surface. It was peaceful without any life in sight. Human or animal and no sounds except for the breeze coldly rustling through the branches and your steps as you walked forward and stopped at the Water's edge. Smiling down at the pretty reflection before giving a breath, getting on your knees, and bowing.
"Please, Oh Great Wise Dragon. Allow me to capture something to show for my actions. I humbly offer you this offering as appeasement."
Snow crunched softly as you gently placed the food and money, wrapped up in a cloth right by the Water's edge before standing back up and dusting yourself off and turning around starting to lift the strings of heavy ropes off your shoulders. Ok! Time to get to work. You'd set up a really big trap here for the bear and then add a lot of little traps around the area! The more traps the better chance you'd have to actually catch something.
You didn't notice the soft hand gently reaching out of the pool to wrap itself around your gift before disappearing back down into the water without so much as a sound.
You made sure to set up one big trap hidden in some snow a little bit away from the pond before going around to set five smaller traps in various places near the biggest one making sure to study and remember where each one was before quickly leaving the area. You needed to get back home before your mother woke up and found you gone muttering to yourself.
"I'll come back tomorrow night and see if I caught anything."
And then you promptly left. Back home with just enough time to skip inside and hang up your winter coat before your mother got up to start working again. You had to wait all day and then a little bit into the night for your mother to sleep again before you could slip out by night and run up to the place where you set up the traps. Giddily looking at each one until you stopped by the smallest one furthest away from the pond. Your eyes widened at what you saw-
Oh my. It was.. beautiful!
The purest of white rabbits sat there in the rope trap with its back leg caught up in the string. It's fur so fluffy and white that it rivaled the snow itself. Perfect for making a muff that could sell for a good fifty yen. It's neat could make good soup for at least a week. Pink eyes blinked up at you oddly calmly wide eyes catching the moonlight and sparkling like rubies. Ok! Ok! You can do this! You can do this! Just one slice! Hands fumbled for the dagger tied to your side, shakily reaching it up into the air. Moonlight gleaming off the silver metal-
... Before you lowered it staring at the innocent face blinking up at you..And sighed.
You know what? This rabbit is too small anyways. It's not worth the effort and anyone could catch a rabbit. You decided to cut the rope around it's foot. Immediately it bolted off. Shooting up snow before it stopped just a few yards away looked at you for a few seconds before scattering away disappearing into the snow.
You sighed again picketing the blade. "I'll come back again tomorrow. Maybe something bigger will be here by then."
You did just that. Coming back the next night you found yet another prize even more beautiful than the fluffy rabbit. A absolutely BEAUTIFUL red fox. It's sleek fur shiny and such a beautiful orange like a tiger lily just blooming. It stared at you with beautiful eyes as it dangled from the rope wrapped around it's middle. ..That looked painful for the poor thing as it just stared at you with big eyes-
No. This wouldn't do either. It was...still too small even if it's pelt would've been worth at least a good hundred yen. So you cut it down and watched as it ran off into the darkness and disappeared from sight leaving only a few tracks for your work. You'll come back tomorrow night and see what else you might get.
The next night was possibly the best one.
For there was the most beautiful creature of all.
A doe. Graceful and as beautifully brown as chocolate. Her big body and meat could go for more than the fox and rabbit combined. Her hide could make perfect bags. Her head sold as a trophy to place on the wall and yet-...
She ran away as soon as you cut the rope from her neck. Bounding quickly away through the trees like she was flying almost. She was...still too small. You needed something like an elk or moose to really show your worth and how well your traps worked!
"I need something really special in my nets," you thought out loud to yourself. Instantly the mental image of your mother nagging you to get married already popped into your mind. Making you huff. "Like a husband. That way my life can be completed."
You chuckled to yourself as you started home. Imagining the funny scenario of one of those rude hunters dangling and yelling from your ropes like a fish on a hook. It made you feel the tiniest bit better about the losses you had when you went home to wait for the fifth night again to go back to the pond.
You took your time just imagining what could be in your next trap. A juicy elk. A big moose. Or maybe a majestic bear! Your traps have been so successful so far so that proves you could be a successful matagi! When night finally fell and your mother slept you took your coat and exited back where you came. Through the cold and snowy night. Carefully trudging through the snow towards your destination until arriving again to check the remaining three traps you didn't destroy cutting the animals free. The two little ones were empty upsetting you. But you had high hopes for the last one. As you slowly approached the bush. AND perking up as something large moved from inside the bushes. As your hands grabbed your dagger and slowly pulled back the branches ready to strike the bear-
"Oh hello. It's very nice to finally meet you face to face."
You stood there frozen. Your eyes meeting purple orbs with black cat like slits.
Sitting in the snow before you was a man. Or.. what looked like a man. Aman a little bit taller than you say there perfectly content in the snow with beautiful robes draped over his body. Now a man dressed like a wealthy noble sitting in the middle of the woods would've been so weird enough...if he didn't have two white horns poking out from his head, cat like eyes, and a long purple lizard tail poking out from the base of his spine. The tail had white fluffy hair running down it's length ending in a fluffy tuft of hair and a rope was wrapped around it suspended it in the air as he sat.
However despite everything he smiled at you.
You still stared at him wide eyed. Dragger dropping from your hand to land with a thud in the snow. There was silence for another minute before you finally spoke. "I-...W-Who?"
"My apologies." He slightly bowed to you. "My name is Ubuyashiki. I am the Guardian of this mountain region. You'll forgive me for surprising you like this, but I haven't had any visitors for quite some time. "
"I-..V-Visitors?"
"Indeed. You see I used to have many visitors coming to leave me offers but I think sadly I've been reduced to a mere legend until you came by days ago and left me that delicious food. So in return I tried my best to grant you your wish of a good prey."
Wait a minute-
"Wait. So this entire time..it w-was YOU who put those animals in my trap?"
He nodded. "However you never seemed satisfied with what I brought you but then you mentioned wanting to catch a husband within a trap." He slowly stood up making you realize how close you were. "And I have been rather lonely these past ten thousand years." His smile was gentle, kind. Despite having sharp claws they gently scratched your face as he tilted his head up to you with a smile. "It would be so nice to have a companion as kind hearted as you for my partner."
You swallowed the lump in your throat under his gaze. Perhaps your hunting skills were a little too much.
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They say that motherhood is supposed to be the highlight of being a woman.
The greatest achievement a woman could do ever was becoming a mother.
....Yeah. screw that logic.
You hated the very idea of society telling you that you HAD to be a mother. That you have to get married to some man, any man and be his perfect stay at home wife being at his neck and call (life long servant was more like it-) and do nothing but do all the housework as he went out to do whatever he wanted to as you slaves away keeping HIM happy and giving him as many kids as HE wants without any expectations for him to lift a finger to do anything at all to raise them. Leaving you to go through all the sleepless nights and raising and dealing with fights and tantrums and no more free time-
....
As soon as you found out your parents were planning on engaging you to the laziest boy in town just because his father was town leader, you ran away. Packed up everything in the middle of the night and skedaddled as fast as your legs could carry you. There was absolutely, definitely, positively NO WAY IN HELL you were going to be wed off and suffer the same fate as lots of other miserable women in your village. Nope! You'd rather die alone with a hundred cats than allow yourself to be trapped in an endless unhappy marriage for the rest of your life.
But traveling around wasn't that bad.
You often had to find shelter or stay in one place to work for a long time through the cold months but you didn't mind. You got to see lots of cool places and many different kids of people. Humans, dwarf blacksmiths, an elf or two, and once even a traveling merman salesman traveling up a river you were crossing but stopped by to look through his wares. In the end trading him some pieces of silver for a small kit of bandages. Never knew when that might come in handy.
"Where might a young lady like you be heading off to all by yourself?," he asked repacking his things into his bag with the sounds of water sloshing around him.
"I'm on my way to a village past Mount Vermillion." You pointed a hand across the bridge and towards the large mountain in the distance which made the merman pause. "I heard there's plenty of job opportunities there."
He looked at you with a furrowed brow. "Mount Vermillion? Why go past through the Harpy territory?"
You blinked confused. "Harpy?"
He nodded. "They're bird folks. Live up in and around the mountains there, and they aren't really too kind to strangers encroaching on their territory. Least that's what I heard. You sure you're going through there?"
Harpies? You've never heard of them before but in any case it's not like you were going to be intruding on anyone's property. You were going to strictly stay on the roads and just walk on through. So they shouldn't bother you.
"I'll be alright. Besides it's the fastest way to get to the city."
"Well it's your decision, but heed my warning and be careful. Places like that aren't always pleasant."
He left after gathering up his things and disappearing back into the water before you proceeded on across the bridge and towards your destination again. Bird beings huh? Never encountered any of them before but they shouldn't bother you as long as you don't bother them. So you continued on your way. Through the day, setting up for the night, before walking again. It'd take you an entire day and night to cross the mountain by foot so you figured you'd just walk all the way through and sleep in the day after you passed by the harpies' territory.
At first it seemed fine. The path became steeper because of the mountain making it so you had to take a break every so often hindering the tine it took to get past the mountain. But that wasn't the only thing you've noticed.
The feathers.
There was feathers everywhere. It started out with just a few feathers here and there in a random tree branch of on a bush but as you got farther and farther inside, they became more and more numerous. And more and more BIGGER. To the point that they literally covered everything from the spaces between the trees to the smallest blade of grass. The only thing that wasn't covered in feathers was the road that you continued to travel upon. You had to admit IT WAS pretty scary but you didn't see any harpies. Perhaps they were all too busy with what they were doing or asleep? Either way you just kept on walking.
Just stay on the path. Keep walking. Don't bother them. Get through. You'll be fine.
And you were as the day passed and slowly turned to night. The night was mored scary. The moonlight shined making the night shine with an eerie glow, and you shivered continuing to walk through the dark.
Until a scream shattered the night silence.
You stumbled a few steps before you completely froze. Above you crows fled into the air, their wing beats and caws echoing out the scream as all the sounds slowly fizzled out into the darkness. And then silence resumed. ..WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?! The scream sounded like that of a woman...But it was over now. Maybe it was just a mountain lion? You didn't get a chance to think-
Another scream tore out into the air and you stumbled back, falling on her behind before scrambling back until you turned to quickly crawl on hands and knees until you safely were hidden inside a bush. There you hunkered down panting and looking around the dark sky and tree tops for the noises. You didn't have to wait long because a sudden gust of wind over you made you yell and duck down as two more figures suddenly flew over you. You stayed ducked down as there was some thudding and flapping sounds. You only opened your eyes once.
And was shocked to realize what you saw.
There was HARPIES!! REAL HARPIES!! About three of them in total. Two were obviously male. One was big and VERY pale. He almost looked like a snowy owl with his the white wings splayed out from his back and the clawed feet that held a second smaller male to the ground. The second one had a darker complexion and dark brown wings and that flapped against the ground uselessly. He gave some kind of turkey squawk sounds as his head was pinned to the dirt road you were walking on previously. The third harpy was a strange one. It was obviously a woman, with a cloth tied around her upper chest, and blue and green feathers that ended in a long peacock tail. You even had to admit she was very pretty. She stood there looking bored and impatiently chewing on something that must've been an animal at some point.
Eventually after another minute the larger male got off him, and you watched the smaller one immediately scrambling away from him and two his feet. The two males hissed at each other before turning away. The larger one nodded at the female who didn't stop eating but both turned to walk away into the brush. The smaller male watched them go with a scowl before turning, spreading his own wings, and with a loud WOOSH sound took off the ground. You watched as he flew through the air before just landing on a nearby tree branch. With a distant sounding grunt, he pulled one of his wings around and began preening it...At least you thought he was preening it. It was hard to tell in the dark. You stood there watching him before silently turning to peek through the bush at where the other two disappeared.
You wanted to get out of there.
But you were afraid of those bird people attacking you.
You stayed there in your hiding place for what felt like twenty minutes or so. The couple didn't come back but the other male was still there already switching to rub his hands through his other wing. You couldn't just sit here like a sitting duck no pun intended. ...He seemed distracted. You could probably sneak past if you were quiet enough. Sucking in a deep breath, you slowly approached the outside of the bush and peeked out. The man was turned with his back towards you so he didn't notice you silently and slowly crawling your way out of the bush and slowly making your way down the path. Ok. It curved and the rest of it was blocked from sight by tall bushes. All you had to do was make it to the curve and you'd be free to walk away quickly. You just had to-
S N A P-!!
You froze. ... Before you slowly looked at your hand.
And saw that a twig you didn't see in the dark had snapped under it.
You remained frozen where you were. Before slowly looking behind you. And COMPLETELY FREEZING. Yellow eyes stared down at you from the tall branch. In the moonlight you could make out his confused face. However that confusion turned into surprise and then slowly a wide, hopeful smile spread across his face. You just felt your eyes go small in fear. Ok. Don't panic. When faced with a predator back away slowly and make yourself as nonthreatening as possible. Slowly you stood up still making eye contact with the Harpy, before slowly turning and began to walk away stiffly.
You froze as a large flapping noise filled the air-
THUD!!
And you shrieked out as a massive just dropped down in front of you. You took a few massive leaps back and stared in fear at the creature in front of you. The Harpy while smaller than the first make was still a good foot and a half to two feet taller than yourself. He shook out his wild head of hair before fixing you with a rather large grin that had you frozen like a mouse in front of a cat. Neither of you moved. Until he did making you flinch back more.
He didn't move far from you just lean forward as you leaned back, looking at your form up and down... before quickly going towards your left just off the road.
You terrified just only watched him. He was a little bit aways from you... pulling up...grass?? And... jumping?? You blinked and just stood there watching him shuffle about one specific area jumping up and down, stomping in certain areas, and grabbing large handfuls and talonfulls of grasses and nearby small bushes and twisting his head this way and that before stomping again and placing the grass and bush parts and flowers down.
But he didn't look at you just continued to do what he was already doing. It made you raise a brow totally lost and confused... Maybe he was digging? Or dropped something and was trying to find it? After a moment he stopped and stepped back as you looked down. And blinked at what you saw. It was an almost perfect circle of grass stomped down flat and around the edges of said circle of stomped down grass was a pile of bush branches, leaves, grasses, wild flowers, and whatever else Urogi grabbed. Wow...He was fast. He did all of this in such a short amount of time too. You blinked as he hopped out of the circle and you just....stared at the thing before you..What the heck was this? Was this some kind of weird symbol in harpy language or something?
Coo.
Your attention was drawn back to the demon as he finally looked at you. But you could've SWORN that you heard a dove cooing. As soon as you look at him the demon puffed out his chest and his wings splayed out poofing out his feathers and looking proudly.
You just blankly stared at him .....And slowly just looked around before back to him.
CHIRP!!
You jumped hearing such a loud sparrow like tweet and snapped around only to see him..Hopping?? You blinked as he again puffed out his just and poofed his feathers up before taking quick bird hops. Three hops to the left and then three hops back to the right. His head tilted in question at you similar to an owl-
CHIRP?
You blinked again as an honest to gods bird chirp left his throat but it sounded more...questioning before he made his feathers ruffle again and hopped twice backwards, twice back forwards, and cooed like a dove. You just ... stared at him.
"Um...Nice dance??" That was literally the only thing you could think of to say. What else WERE you supposed to say??
That seemed to be the wrong thing to say because immediately he let out a happy almost dove like trill and began to make small hops around you in a giant circle. You could only watch in a mixture of fear and complete confusion as he circled you three times before stopping in front of you and looking expectantly.
"Uuuuhh..Riiight." You slowly side stepped far around him and began shuffling away as he intently watched you. "Thank you for the...dance but it's getting late so... we'd both better get home and sleep. Y'know?"
He lit up immediately. "You want to go home?! Of course! I made a huge nest!"
"Uh huh. G-Good for you- AH!!"
You shrieked out as he charged forward at you. Suddenly wrapping you up in strong birdlike talons, and feeling a rush of air as you were lifted off the ground. He laughed like a giddy child in a toy store hearing you screaming and flapping his wings.
"Don't worry! You'll love the nest I made! I've prepared it in advance for when I finally got my own mate."
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The waters were extremely calm today.
The river lazily rolling past carrying leaves and sticks by in it's surface. Your legs slowly feeling the current push by as they kicked back and forth in the water, creating ripples swirling where the water made contact with your skin. It was cool compared to the warm sun above you as you sat there weaving your new basket to be used for carrying fish back home later. It was certainly a good day.
However you didn't see the massive shadow under the cool moving water. It's black and blue massive body blending in perfectly with the shadows under the currents and cloaking it from view. As it got closer and closer and closer to your unsuspecting form.
You didn't see two strong hands reaching out from the depths and pull up a large body from below the dark waters. Pulling it's soaked body from the river as water dripped off its body in thick droplets as blue eyes focused on the girl still oblivious to the creature's presence behind her as it silently dragged itself forward. A maw of fangs opened up wide and clenched around a large chunk of prey in its mouth as it crawled ever closer to you. You continued to weave your basket until you slowly stopped. Scrunching up your brows before turning around to face the large thing right behind you.
FLOP!!
A large catfish was dropped two feet away from your body before the merman immediately crawled backwards towards the water. You watched with a smile as the large blue and black tail slid across the grass wetly until he pulled himself back into the water with a large splash noise. A few seconds later the top of his head and eyes poked up from the river watching patiently for your reaction to his gift.
"Hi, Giyuu. Good to see you again." Your eyes looked at the fish again before pointing at it. "Is this for me?" He nodded and without hesitation you reached out to pull the flopping fish towards you. "Thank you. I'll be able to make good fish fillets tonight."
He still didn't approach you awaiting for the female to give him permission to get closer. You've been doing this song and dance for years since you both met at children. It seemed like only yesterday that you were a little girl wondering around to play in the river and found him as a guppy stranded on land. In your innocent mind you didn't really comprehend the gravity of the situation that a literal MERMAN was before you, you only helped him get back into the water after he had begged you to help him get back to his older sister.
Since then you've seen him on multiple occasions at the same river and you'd become fast friends. Playing games and going swimming together your parents just thought you had an imaginary friend which just worked out quite well for both of you. However it wasn't until you both were teenagers that he started to change his behaviors from innocent child to lovestruck puppy. Bringing you trinkets like little seashells to shiny rocks and maybe a homemade necklace or bracelet. Teenage you thought nothing of it and kept them in your room assuming it was just a thing mermaids did. It wasn't until you were speaking to his sister on one of the rare occasions she'd visit that she gave you a confused look after you showed her the conk shell he gave you.
"You do know he's trying to court you right?"
You blinked at the red herring mermaid as she rose a brow at you. "What?"
"My brother's giving you gifts. That's how our kind court each other. If you've been accepting them all, he's under the impression that you definitely are romantically interested back. I thought you already knew that."
"WHAT?!" You nearly dropped the conk shell into the water.
"You'd better talk to him and straighten things out before he starts bringing you prey. That's the next level of our courting."
It was ironic because right after she said that, Giyuu showed up with an armful of lobsters for you. His sister laughed and you felt mortified at the sudden innocent smile he gave you hopeful and excited. You didn't have the heart to say no and only accepted them with an awkward smile. That's how it's been for years now, although the shy behavior didn't come about into you both were about twenty. He'd wait for you to give him permission to approach you sometimes giving you a gift of fish or a shiny piece of jewelry he got from who knows where. Which you thought was sweet with how shy he had suddenly become.
"Well come here then." You beckoned him forward.
He didn't hesitate now. Swimming up again to heaven himself out of the water and crawl across the bank towards you. You only smiled when he pressed a kiss to your forehead before flopping over to wrap his arms around your waist and lay his head on your lap with a content sigh. It made your dress wet but you didn't mind. Just reaching out a hand to comfortably run through his hair. Despite his constant swimming it never seemed to be tangled.
Eh. You didn't mind being courted by a merman in the end.
In folklore, a werewolf[a] (from Old English werwulf 'man-wolf'), or occasionally lycanthrope[b] (from Ancient Greek λυκάνθρωπος, lykánthrōpos, 'wolf-human'), is an individual who can shape-shift into a wolf (or especially in modern film, a therianthropic hybrid wolf-like creature), either purposely or after being placed under a curse or affliction (often a bite or the occasional scratch from another werewolf), with the transformations occurring on the night of a full moon.[c]
(Genya and Y/n are both 20 for this so slightly aged up Genya.)
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You really should've just stayed home tonight but no. You just HAD to go to that party. You just HAD to offer to stay late to help clean up. You just HAD to decide to walk home to save money. And you just HAD to decide to take the short cut through the woods home to save you time. Well now you were lost in a stupid costume from the party and stranded in the dark!
The moon shined red as blood tonight as shadows moved.
Quiet night. Unholy night of beasts. Feasting their sights upon the stray women who dare stay out at night when the full moon rises, lighting the pathway for the beasts to claim their prey. Gnashing teeth, snarling fangs waiting to take a bite into innocent flesh where the terrible claws miss. Waiting to snatch you away down into their dark abyss never to return. She was none what so ever concerned about traveling alone tonight. She had better places to be and anyone who dared be foolish enough to tangle with the night would never be heard from again. One look at it would deter most creatures away. But hier business was not with them.
You shivered in the wind that picked up clutching your phone and the small bouquet of flowers closer as you rubbed your shoulders in a vain attempt to bring what limited warmth you had back to your body.
Partially through what was left of the limited moonlight, you passed by some wild trees that made your stomach flip but it came a different feeling.
The feeling of being watched.
It didn't start out that way. At first it was just an aspect in the back of your mind you brushed of as paranoia of the manor's old ghost stories echoing in your mind. The feeling first came around when the sun had just started to set and it wasn't strong enough to warrant anything more than a two second thought and hand waving them off. However thing's changed. The sun soon disappeared over the horizon to be kissed good night by it's counterpart, the moon, and the walking woman was glad that it was a full moon, for it brought moonlight strong enough for you to see the pathway as your feet continued to walk. With it came the feeling but tenfold. You've only felt this way before back at Zephyr University whenever someone wanted to get your attention, that same feeling also returned with the feeling of being followed, but every time your head snapped over your shoulder towards the Darkness behind you....
There would be nothing.
Literally nothing. Nothing but the cold wind starting to pick up. You brushed it off as just your paranoia getting the better of you and you set your jaw against the wind. There was nothing there anyways so what did you have to worry about?
You shivered letting shaking your head. It's just shadows in the dark and your mind playing tricks on you. It urged you to walk faster and faster.
"Come on, Y/n." You thought to yourself with a shake of your head and a deep inhale. "You're just being irrational is all. You need to get your barrings and figure out what to do with a clear head."
It was probably just an animal. Yeah. The world was full of animals so they must've been a deer. Footsteps fast approached you from behind as you walk. Just a deer. A very BIG deer! You picked up the pace walking and walking soon turning to sprinting with the fast footsteps right behind you following you through the dark forest until you got to a clearing. You ran until you made to the middle of it before sharply stopping and snapping around-
Only to be met with nothing.
Your lungs heaved as you stared at the dark trees behind you with nothing but limited moonlight and shadows. You heaved at the silence other than the rustling of wind through the leaves. Nothing was behind you. No footsteps. Nothing was chasing you. Just..Nothing was there. You inhaled before giving a large sigh of relief before turning around.
And your shriek echoed throughout the night as you were met with shattered blue and yellow eyes.
A. GIANT. FIGURE. WAS. STARING. AT. YOU!!!
A beast of large dark furred mass. Riding up high with the height of a bear, two yellow eyes gazing down at you as another shriek called out into the night.
She didn't hesitate for a moment. Not even a second. Not when the woman turned around and RAN.
Every runner knows that the first warning sign of danger is a sense of dread, a feeling of impending doom. You are about to run away from a monster. But how do you prepare for this? Y/n had always hated dark forests with its lumbering tall trees. It was a place where she felt fear. The dark teased like taunting bullies, each sway of a branch creaking it's maniacal glee and every whistle the wind whipped by your ears whistled their sick pleasure in watching her panicked state of mind. THUD, THUD, THUD!! Went the sounds of her heels against the GROUND ground and curling tree roots, like spiderwebs under her feet, ready to snag her and make her join the abyss any moment. The darkness caged you in with the mockery of noises, a canopy of night shrouding the way out. But for now you only knew one thing.
RUN.
Your body felt light, only being able to feel every time your feet slapped against the ground which would surely be sore later, but you didn't care. You could be hurting for the next ten years for all you cared! Please gods just let you get away! Your eyes darted around for any signs of escape only being shown endless darkness instead. Your only hope was to get back to Taylor! Or to get back to the manor! A place you could at least take refuge. Your arm were partially extended in front of you, to push and swipe down any bush, branches, and other plants in your way as you ran, other hand holding up your dress in a vain attempt to keep from tripping. Stumbling and half tripping over large tree roots and clumps of grass in your wake, but still making good distance. Until the burning in your lungs threatened to make you drop, and you were forced to start slowly down step by step until you were hugging the side of a tree for life, your arms desperately gripping the rough bark until the imprints were deep in your palm and your knuckles were deep white, forcing your body to step around the tree until you reached it's front and you hid yourself behind it from the direction you just ran from. Your back hit the hard tree and your head tilted towards the heavens, hands clutching your pounding heart. And there was silence other than the mockery of wind and branch creaks. Your throat and lungs were on fire. Your heart pounded almost painfully in your chest. And you did not dare move in fear of seeing that-...that-....MONSTER somewhere behind you.
That-....That wasn't real r-r-right? It COULDN'T be real! It was just a figment of your imagination projected by your fear! T-That must've been the case!...But then..How were you able to make contact with it if it was just a hallucination? You felt your hand make contact with that thing's grip and you felt the struggle you gave. You stood there, shaking harder than a tree in a tsunami in dead of winter. Other than the gasps of air your body forced you to make, you dared not make a sound. Not a noise. The whole time you stayed perfectly still as ever so slowly your heart rate decreased the longer the silence went on and the longer nothing appeared. Slowly your lungs and throat's fire extinguished with the help of the cold wind you swallowed, and what was left behind was just a dull soreness. The rapid beating of your heart calmed slowly until it was just a little above what it would normally be beating. Your eyes slowly regained focus from the sheer panic. And your body calmed down but not your mind. Your mind still raced in fear from what you just saw and you stared straight up at the creaking branches of the tree you hid behind. The panic still clear and making you do nothing but listen in anticipation, like a rabbit hiding from a pursuing fox. But still...nothing but silence. And when your eyes slowly looked to the right and your face followed until your cheek and side of the face was pressed against the rough tree bark awaiting for any sounds, but nothing still came.
It was a stupid decision...A bad one really but-..
You slowly scraped your back against the back of the tree slowly inching your way to the side of the tree, and ever so slowly, poked your head out. Not all the way. Just enough to look out at the direction you ran from and saw...nothing. Nothing but darkness and trees. And that made you pause. There was...nothing? Nothing at all? Slowly you pushed your head fully out to see better, and took your time grazing your eyesight around the darkness, straining your eyes in the limited light that seeped between the leaves and branches. Quietly listening for anything running after you, but still nothing came. ...You-..You must've lost whatever that was. You exhaled a shaky sigh of relief and slumped back against the tree. Eyes closing as a wave of relief washed over your tired body.
''What am I doing!? Don't just stand there like an idiot!! RUN!!''
You listened to your inner voice, you turned on your heels and began running again taking the opportunity given to you by the gods. You didn't care if you got lost this time, you only cared about living. And so through the darkness the abyss had to offer, you again ran. Not which direction you were heading. Not sure who you'd run into or if you got more lost, but you were darned determined to not be eaten tonight by anyone! Not today demons! Or..zombie.OR WHATEVER THE HECK THAT WAS! You only did what you did before. Your heels clicked against the ground which would surely be sore later, but you didn't care. Your f/c eyes darted around for any signs of escape only being shown endless darkness instead. Your arms were partially extended in front of you, to push and swipe down any bush, branches, and other plants in your way as you ran. Stumbling and half tripping over large tree roots and clumps of grass in your wake, but still making good distance. Until the burning in your lungs threatened to make you drop, and this time the roots claiming your feet snagged onto a particularly large root, and a few feet you went tumbling.
Your screams of tumbling over a few feet were cut short as it felt like you hit every single root, rock, and hard spot on your way down. Pain exploded everywhere your body made contact with the ground until finally with a final thud, your body fell hard onto soft grass. Knocking the air out of your lungs and you gasping for air on your side. Your body was in pain from everywhere your body hit the ground and you were sure it would leave bruises and scratches later. You coughed and gasped for air, lungs burning but you nearly stopped breathing again when load ghost like moaning came from up the path that was DEFINITELY NOT wind making your body feel like it was dipped in ice as your heartbeats sore. No. Not more of them. Not again! Adrenaline kicked in now as your body wobbled and felt so light, not to mention hurt, as you forced yourself to stand and start walk-running away, swaying as you still gasped for air but your panicked state didn't care about the pain or anything as you somehow quickly got your balance back and started running through the dark. The sounds and darkness of the forest blocked almost all moonlight as you blindly ran to try and get away from the giant demons, to keep from being eaten. You ran...and ran...and ran blindly in the dark with your hands in front of you. Branches and other plants hitting your legs and face as you did, the sounds of the things behind you disappearing as you kept running. At one point you had the brilliant idea to look behind you to see if anything was following you-
"AH!"
Your foot once again got caught on something. You screamed as your body went tumbling head over heels down a hill in the dark. Your already sore and hurt body becoming even more so as you rolled and rolled and rolled until you finally came to a stop at the bottom of it onto your back, with your body facing the sky. Your vision swam and your head spun as you stared up dizzily at the sky as your vision slowly went around and around and around until it focused. And you gave a cough as your burning lungs heaved against your chest. Your heart feeling as if it'll explode any moment it was beating so fast, you couldn't stop it! You just sat there gasping and panting and clutching your chest. Your brain felt foggy. No...No. Don't black out now! Get up! COME ON GET UP!! Muscles burnt. Barely able to breath. The dirt and grass felt stinging cold and burnt your skin as you turned on your side to weakly lay on your stomach, your face gasping the sweet scent of grasses for a moment as you laid there for a sweet few silent seconds, before you allowed yourself to look up and you stopped..gasping heavily and staring at what was before you.
A pair of feet.
Slowly you looked up at where the feet were attached to crouched legs and the legs were attached to a torso. You looked up higher and higher until you were inches away from a pair of yellow eyes. And you froze.
The moonlight shown down from the sky and illuminated the face of a-..Man. You blinked as a man's face looked right back at you with a curious expression and tilt of his head. He looked early twenties and had a scar running across his left cheek over part of his nose. He suddenly leaned forward causing you to help and scramble back away from him as he sniffed around the air.
What the heck?!
He also paused as you scrambled back and you both stared at one another. It was then that you noticed something else. A pair of fluffy black ears sprouted from the top of his head that twitched. A giant bushy black tail swaying side to side with the next tilt of his head. What in the- Was another person out here lost in the woods wearing a costume? He stood there for a long time before his face turned a pink and he looked at the side lightly.
"Um...D-Does this mean you accepted me now?"
You stared at him for a while before blinking. "What?"
"W-Well we were playing chase, and I-I caught up-..You were-..." He suddenly looked very very guilty. "W-Were you not p-playing hard to get?"
"I-...What in the world are you talking about?"
He blinked finally looking back to you. "It's full moon." He said gesturing to the moon in the sky. "Once a moon we always go out to find life partners. How come you don't know that?"
...You slowly stood up still incredibly confused about what this man was trying to say. "I have no idea what you're talking about about. Or why you're running around in that ridiculous costume."
"Costume?"
"Yeah. Costume." You reached up and shocked him when you pulled off the headband that still had your fake wolf ears from your costume still attached to it. He looked absolutely shocked as you held it up to him. "It's Halloween. Everyone dresses up for it."
"I-..I-..." He sputtered in a panic looking between your headband and you clearly shocked and panicked. Before he finally gulped. "Oh no... Sanemi's going to kill me when he finds out. W-W-Why are you running around in the woods wearing that?!"
"I was taking a shortcut but I got lost then you showed up and chased me through the woods."
"I'm sorry!" Immediately his face busted out red again. "I thought you were BEAUTIFUL and no other shewolf had bothered to give me the time of day so when you didn't try to attack me and ran off I thought you were just playing chase and-"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Stop! Time out!" You held up your hands to stop the word vomit coming out from his mouth and blinked. "First of all why would you think me running away in terror was me 'playing' and secondly what the heck are you talking about?"
"Im..a werewolf." You only stared at him before he gave a kicked puppy whine and grabbed his ears pulling them down in worry. "This is bad. This is bad. Now a human knows about me and I'm still single. I mess up everything. Sanemi is going to kill me and think I'm still a wimp-"
You stopped listening after he said 'werewolf'. Werewolf?...This guy who was having a midlife crises was a vicious man eating werewolf? There wasn't anything even remotely monstrous about him! Well other than those ears and the tail and his black and yellow eyes and his black claws and those fangs- OK! He DID look monstrous but he didn't look like that stereotypical werewolf you've seen in movies and books. You jumped when you noticed that he had stopped the second round of word vomit and looked at you hopefully.
Face red and ears back tail wagging like a storm. "I-...I have a solution. W-Will you please be my partner?"
You blinked. "Will you be my partner?"
"YES!" You jumped as he suddenly grabbed your shoulders with a bright red face. "I accept! I-ILL be a good husband I swear! I can't wait for you to meet my family!" With a cute smile he looked relieved. "They'll love you too! I promise."
