running away from oni!acheron because she's so fucking evil but, in the end, your efforts are all futile.
it was the dead of night and you somehow managed to free yourself from acheron's prison of a grasp she holds you in when she's asleep. you still have sweat clinging to you from the heat of her massive body pressed firmly against yours, and your clothing only dampened further with the effort you took to sprint through the yokai-infested woods just outside of your home. with how many monsters there were crawling through these trees, it might've been more dangerous there than with acheron herself, but hiding among humans would've only brought unnecessary causalities when she inevitably came to hunt you down, so you took your chances anyway.
acheron didn't stay asleep without you for long. she felt your absence in her sleep when she squeezed and the usual soft resistance of your body wasn't present. her eyes snapped open then, red and fiery as she dropped her gaze from the ceiling to where you were supposed to be. your side of the bed barely held any of your warmth at all. acheron's eyes grew wide as disbelief surged through her. she shot up like a missile, huffing deep breaths of the air to catch any trace of you. when there wasn't one, she was out of bed the next second, stomping through your home and sliding every door open right through their hinges in a frantic search for you. your name seethed its way through acheron's fangs in growls, similar to that of a curse, when she realized it wasn't your usual bathroom break apart from her. she dragged her nails across the walls, leaving visible trails of her rage in their wake. the ruckus woke just about every surrounding villager in their homes nearby. her anger was potent, polluting the air like a sickness, and none of them dared to leave their homes to check on what was going on—lest they lost their heads to the angry oni.
no matter how far you'd gotten, you felt the energy of the forest bend and break into despair the second acheron stepped into the woods. the trees grew thicker, the roots snappier, and every bit of green began drooping with the impending doom of her arrival. with a clumsy fist, you swept away the tears blurring your vision as you pushed yourself further, as if you could reach freedom as easily as crossing the finish line that was the end of the thicket. but acheron was fast, faster than anything you'd ever seen before. you could already hear her thunderous footsteps vibrating through the earth beneath your feet as she gained on you at a frightening speed. your stomach carved itself hollow with fear at her bellowing of your name, near rabid in her pursuit of you as she clawed her hands into trees to throw herself further into the woods. one quick glance behind you offered the view of nothing but her red eyes glowing beneath the midnight canopy of the woods. there was no outrunning her, so you swung yourself behind behind a thick tree, letting the bark bite into your back as you hid for as long as your dwindling fortune would allow you to.
the forest grew quiet in a moment's breath, and you could hear both everything and nothing at all in the lush of the forest. it was unclear if it were the trees or your bones that were creaking with every humid breeze that blew past, fleeing acheron when you yourself couldn't. you kept your ears as alert as they could be, but the thundering of your heart against your eardrums wasn't helping your effort to distinguish what little noise was acheron and what little noise wasn't. the sudden hush of the woods was more of a nuisance than anything, especially when you had to keep quieter than silence itself. the cocoon of your hands clamped over your mouth didn't help to suppress the burn of your lungs, desperately crying for air as you tried your best to calm your heart. you couldn't hear a thing except for yourself. with that, you assumed the same for acheron, and sent a silent prayer to whatever god that might have had an ear out for your salvation.
a few more moments of anxiety concentrated passed, and the forest seemed clear of acheron's hulking figure from where you peeked out from behind your tree. it took everything out of you to even look, fearing the worst when you bent to your left, bracing your hand against the tree trunk to keep you from kissing the dirt. you swung your eyes around several times, jumping to every shadow that flickered in the darkness. you calmed just the slightest at the apparent tranquility of the forest, and you blinked once before you felt her hot breath warming your cheek. with a whipping of your head, you met acheron's wide bloodshot eyes with your own terrified gaze. even the leaves shook less than you did, and her nails dug into your shoulders before you could even scramble away. they pierced right through your skin and stained your clothes crimson, to which her nostrils flared demonically as she practically foamed at the mouth at the sight of you.
"you run?" acheron growled the question. she hunched over like it hurt only to meet your height with her own towering one. you couldn't see anything else but her as she violently glared at you. her nails dug in further, feeling as if they were about to reach your bones. you imagined she'd carve her name onto them if she truly did claw that deep. your cry pierced through the air before you could register it and her pupils dilated into pools of black at the sound, leaving only rings of red behind.
"answer me!" she insisted, jostling you with no concern for how suddenly your head swung back and forth on your shoulders. you had no idea how you didn't hear her panting earlier. she sounded like a dog the way her shoulders heaved, each breath falling out from her lips in messy waves. you could taste how furious she was with every breath you drew in.
acheron's kimono was barely wrapped properly. its state only worsened when you desperately grasped onto them, piercing through exactly no layers of fabric as you shook your head frantically. you throat was petrified shut, only offering rasps and sputters as you tried so eagerly to work the words from your chest. a rumbling sprouted from her own, animalistic and raw as her fangs grew longer. they protruded from her mouth like any real oni's would, and she looked more monster than human as they curled around her lips. red markings lined down her cheeks furiously while her her horns scraped the air above her, even with her head lowered so. she watched you like a predator, breathing only through her mouth. her maw widened just a fraction before she stopped it herself, blinking as she held herself back from biting your face clean off your body. she would've swallowed you whole if she truly wanted to. your bladder threatened to betray you at the thought.
"come back to bed," she ordered, like you had only gone out of a leak. her voice was grave and rough as a rock. it would settle as your tombstone if you disobeyed, yet she didn't move, and her claws didn't allow you to either. rooted still like the tree beside you, acheron waited for you agreement, just barely holding back the beast inside of her. she only stood up to her full height when you nodded, casting a shadow over you where the moonlight now could not reach. even with your agreement, acheron wasn't gentle. she dragged you back like a disobedient dog, practically throwing you inside the ruins of she made of your home the second you returned to your door. you didn't know anything else but the indoors for the next few weeks. that ought to be enough for you to learn your lesson.
