Chapter Four - To Endure

"Hello, dinner!"

Kougetsu's breath hitched in her throat at the sight of six Demons emerging from the shadows, a malicious grin on their lips; they all looked the same—with a large, overly-muscular build with gray, peeling skin; a mouth full of blood-stained razor-sharp teeth akin to that of a shark with bits of flesh stuck in between its teeth, and pupilless red eyes with bulging veins.

How disgusting.

They genuinely seemed like something that came out of a nightmare.

Her grip tightened on the katana, feeling Seijuu's back muscles tense up as well. There were many Cursed Ones; however, she had faith in both their abilities to kill them.

Kougetsu pursed her lips, eyes scanning the Demons in front of her. Since they were the same, then the Demon could be using some sort of cloning magic…

If that was the case, where were the Demons behind the village disappearing and the village border?

Kougetsu bit the insides of her cheeks, her brows twitching into a slight frown.

'Shoot—they're hiding, aren't they?' She cursed in her mind.

No longer having the time to think anymore, three cloned Cursed Ones charged towards her, jaws unhinged like a snake and nails sharp as a lion's.

Jaw taut, Kougetsu quickly moved out of the way. Seijuu was fighting the other three Demons, whilst she had to fight the other three.

"Don't run away, princess! You're only delaying your inevitable death!" One giggled, attempting to slash her with his nails.

She narrowly dodged, hissing at the stinging sensation on her cheek. He managed to scratch her cheek, blood ebbing out slowly, dribbling down her right cheek and onto the tip of her chin.

"Your blood smells so good!" Another one of the Demons grinned, a high pitch giggling erupting from his throat.

"Lunar Arts: Winter Moon," She muttered, the tips of her fingertips glowing as her magic merged within the katana, the area surrounding her going cold, the blade encased in a layer of ice. She jumped up, twisting her body as both of her legs were lifted off the ground—keeping her torso as straight as possible while waves of silver-white flowed out of her sword, beheading two of the Cursed Ones before slashing their heart.

The last remaining clone had wide eyes, looking at his disintegrating counterparts. He large out an ear-piercing roar, eyes glaring at her with such ferocity that it could even make the most seasoned warrior shake; however, she stood her ground.

She is a Peacekeeper—no matter how frightening or dangerous a Demon is, they need to hold their ground and face the Demon.

Like a mountain, she will not shake, nor will she tremble. Not even the most formidable Demon on earth could move mountains. Not even the most powerful Demon on earth would make her shake or tremble in fear. That was her philosophy.

She's not allowed to show any fear to anybody, much less Cursed Ones.

They're not allowed to see her in such a vulnerable way.

Adrenaline pumped through her veins; heartbeat quickening as she took in deep breaths. She needed to focus on her breathing. She needed to focus on her magic.

She needed to focus on killing the Demon.

However, what drew her out of her focus was a painful shout coming from Seijuu—her attention now on him, her chest filling with panic.

That proved to be a mistake.

'Gods above.'

The Demon had stabbed her forearm with two of its nails, his loud chuckle ringing in her ears at the sound of her pained hiss.

The only good news? It wasn't her dominant arm.

She took in a deep breath, trying to even out her ragged breathing.

'Don't scream. Ignore it. You can endure the pain. You can hold it in.'

Kougetsu quickly ripped off a piece of her sleeve, tying it around the wound before he caught her off guard once again. She jumped back when he attacked once again, causing her to slide backwards on the dirt.

She kneeled, placing a hand on the ground to prevent friction. She put her hands on the hilt of her sword, silver eyes glinting dangerously.

The Demon in front of her jaw tightened, clenching his fists as he elongated his nails.

"Lunar Arts…" She muttered, raising her head as her palms glowed. "New Moon."

Everything surrounding Kougetsu and the Demon went dark; only she could see what was in front of her—the black, beating heart of the Cursed One clear.

She charged forward, sand flying behind her as she ran towards the Demon, a silver mixed with black light flowing out of her sword.

In less than a second, his head had fallen onto the ground—and so was the heart.

"N-no…!" He gurgled, blood spewing out of his mouth as he began to disintegrate.

As the shadows disappeared from Kougetsu's magic wearing off, the silver rays of the moon shone on her as she gazed at the tearful Demon.

The only thing she heard from it was a faint 'my daughter, Aiko, is that you?' before he completely disintegrated.

'I suppose he saw his daughter in me as he died...they say that some Cursed One's memories come back from their human life as they die.' Kougetsu noted, eyes lingering on the spot where the Demon had disintegrated.

Kougetsu's ears caught a deep groan, whipping her head to Seijuu's hunched form. She hurried over to him, kneeling beside him.

"Seijuu—" She started, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder.

He slapped off her hand, his glare evident, even through his mask. "I'm fine! I don't need you to pity me!"

Kougetsu tilted her head. "What are you talking about? I cannot show concern for a fellow Peacekeeper?"

"I don't want you worrying. I'm fine! In fact, I can do this." He reasoned, before stretching his body backwards and gripped his feet with his hands, head between his legs.

'I...see. He has a flexible body. That doesn't prove anything, however.'

"Seijuu, I understand. You feel fine. However, your shoulder is bleeding. Again." She sighed, pointing to his shoulder; thankfully, it wasn't deep, but it was bleeding profusely. She didn't want a repeat of what happened at the assessment.

"I am a god. I can endure it," He huffed, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Even gods can bleed, Seijuu. Get injured. Need healing."

"Argh! Fine. Do your shit."

Swiftly, before the Demons who she suspected were responsible for the village border and the one who made the village 'disappear' arrive, her palms glowed—a soothing warmth emitting from them as they began to heal the wound.

"Seijuu, you have a Sixth Sense, no?"

Seijuu looked over at her, nodding. "Yeah. I have an enhanced sense of touch."

"Alright, can you feel any more Demons around here? Or can you locate them?" She asked, placing a glowing hand over her injured forearm. "I think those Demons weren't the ones responsible for making the village sink, nor the one that killed anyone who stepped out of the village. I think they're in hiding, or want to ambush us."

He jumped up, causing her to stumble a bit out of surprise.

"Of course I can locate them! Watch me!" Though she couldn't see his facial expression behind his wolf mask, she could tell that he had some sort of menacing grin.

He kneeled, both arms out while he took in a deep breath. He slowly exhaled, focusing intently on his surroundings.

"Beast Magic: Seismic Sense."

She held in her breath as she watched him, deciding to stand behind him in case anybody attacked him from there. Her hands gripped on the hilt of her sword, wincing slightly at the sharp, sizzling pain in her forearm.

'Gods, I can still feel the pain even though the injury is a bit healed…' She sighed in her mind, jaw tightening ever-so-slightly.

"Haha! I found them!" He shouted, unsheathing both of his swords and pointed towards the far side of the field. Just as he exposed their supposed hiding spots, the two Demons emerged from the shadows.

"How disappointing," One of the Demons drawled; it was a woman who was extremely tall and voluptuous, her figure showing through her form-fitting qipao. Her eyes were here hidden by bangs, snow-white hair stopping at her waist. Painted lips curled into a grin, showing off her incredibly sharp teeth. "Eitarou couldn't even finish off these little kids."

The Demon beside her chuckled. He was large and muscular, towering over the female Demon beside him. He had snow-white skin and short, lavender-colored hair and piercing yellow cat-like eyes.

"He was weak. Especially to little girls who look like his daughter, Aiko," He spat, rolling his eyes.

"Hey, quit your chit-chat! We're here to fight, you shitty Demons!" Seijuu shouted angrily, pointing at them with his swords.

"How cute and vulgar!" The female Demon giggled, clapping her hands excitedly. "I want you!"

Kougetsu held in the urge to roll her eyes, stance ready for any attack from the male Demon beside her. If she had 'claimed' Seijuu, then the male Demon would surely go to her now.

The female Demon charged at Seijuu, leaving him occupied while she had a stare-down with the male Demon in front of her.

He grins, leaping forward as two more arms come out from his sides of his abdomen, nails sharp and ready to slice her into bits and pieces.

"Lunar Arts: Wrath of the Lunar Dragon." She muttered, a white dragon forming out of the silver-white mist flowing out of the sword as she raised it, the dragon letting out a roar as she sliced his arms.

Not even with a moment to spare, the Demon regenerates his arms and looks over at her, up and down, gaze skeptical.

"How sad. Were you even aiming for my neck or heart?" He taunted, the grin never leaving his lips.

Kougetsu rolled her eyes, brushing off his insults. "How sad. Are you even trying with those childish insults of yours?" She retorted mockingly, holding her katana right in front of her as she prepared for another attack.

He growled. "Shut up, little girl. Take one step, and you'll be cut in half. Chop chop."

She clicked her tongue. The last thing she needed was her movements to be hindered.

Luckily, she had her beautiful, beautiful bow.

She sheathed her sword, quickly taking off her bow from across her shoulder, taking out three arrows from her quiver.

The Demon realized what she was doing and growled, quickly moving towards her.

Once she hit the anchor point, she released the arrows, whizzing towards him.

Two of them missed.

Only one hit the side of his neck.

Her eyes widened ever-so-slightly, jaw tightening.

'How can I miss?'

Quickly, she reached over her shoulder and took out two more arrows, but he managed to reach her already—dodging his nails and turned around, twisting her arm as she felt the cold metal slide down her arm.

Kougetsu flicked her wrist, sending the kunai to his chest—he let out a roar and scratched her back as he keeled over.

'Agh, that hurt.'

But, she had to endure it.

If she couldn't, what sort of Peacekeeper was she?

She looked over at the Demon, watching as the iron and cherry blossom poison seeped throughout the insides of his body.

All she needed to do now was take out the heart, by shooting two more arrows at his chest. Then, she would have to cut off his head to get him for good.

With a deep breath, she took two of her arrows and aimed it at him.

Once again, the arrows were at its anchor point.

"Lunar Arts: Striking Moonlight."

Much to her relief, the arrows hit him—one right on his forehead and another one at his heart, the organ falling behind him. His body went limp, falling to the side as he began to disintegrate.

Does that mean his magic had worn off?

She bit the insides of her cheek, looking around with a cautious gaze. Earlier, she noted when she had stepped into the village that there was a faint line of white—the same faint white line that was trapping her.

It was gone. So, did that mean she was safe?

She hesitantly placed a bit of her toe outside of her 'safe circle' to test it out. Thankfully, it didn't get sliced off.

Ignoring the pain from her forearm and back, she stumbled forward—but quickly shook it off.

Or, well, tried to.

She coughed, her sword slipping out of her grasp as she kneeled, both of her arms just barely holding her up. Sweat dripped down her face and trickled onto the sand, her vision going blurry.

'Ah,' she realized, 'his nails had a bit of poison in them.'

Along with the blood loss, she was sure that she was going to bleed out and die.

As she faded in and out of consciousness, dots of black beginning to increase in her vision, she could hear the faint calling of her name before slipping into the dark, murky world of darkness.

∞

◜"Wrong!" was all she heard before she felt a sharp, hot pain on her hand, the stinging sensation causing her eyes to burn.

"You messed up the same note again! You're so incompetent," The male fumed, words sharp and tone harsh���the feeling of both his hit and his words felt like she had been stabbed in the heart multiple times, leaving behind a dark, murky stickiness inside of her. The man straightened his back and held the whip behind his back as he resumed his pacing.

Kougetsu bit her bloodied lip, sniffing. She couldn't cry. She's not allowed to. It was forbidden to cry when she was in his presence.

She tried to control her trembling hands, adjusting the picks on her fingers before she proceeded to tune the yamatogoto, trying not to mess up under his watchful gaze.

She slowly began to play Oeda Nihonbashi, holding in her breath in case he would suddenly tell her to stop and whip one of her hands.

Just as she moved her fingers to play the second note, the string broke off, causing the sound to go off-key.

She winced quietly, closing her eyes to wait for her punishment.

"You…you…! You're so awful at playing the damn instrument that it broke! Useless! You're absolutely useless!" He roared, grabbing her by the collar of her kosode.

She felt the warm tears slowly coming down her cheeks, squeezing her eyes shut.

The tears came out.

Now her punishment is going to be ten times worse.

She fell to the ground once he let go of her collar, her side colliding with the wooden floor as the man's arm raised, the whip in his hands whizzing towards her face—◞

Kougetsu's breath hitched, waking up with a jolt. She quickly regretted the sudden movement, however, since her back and forearm began to throb violently, before lulling to a dull ache after a few moments.

She sighed, wiping her face that was slick with cool sweat.

Why did she get that dream?

Why?

She hasn't dreamt of such things for so long, but they just had to come back.

"Yozora? Y-you're awake?" A familiar voice stuttered, floorboard creaking.

Before the girl could process anything, arms engulfed her form.

"Get off," Kougetsu hissed, pushing back the person who hugged her.

'Gods, that hurt.'

"Oh, sorry." The voice apologized, bowing their head.

Kougetsu sighed, rubbing her eyes, her vision focusing on the person in front of her. Silver eyes widened slightly in recognition at the sight of the boy.

"Shoji Akio?" She mumbled, unsure.

He looked up, nodding.

"Yeah, it's me. Yozora, I'm so glad you're okay."

'How does he know my last name? More importantly—'

"Where am I?"

"At one of the Peacekeeper Family Safe-houses," He smiled, making his way to the tray he placed on the ground left as soon as he saw that Kougetsu was awake. He picked it up, approaching her and placing it at the table beside her. "This is a place where as long as you're a Peacekeeper, we will offer you services in exchange for nothing. We work for the organization."

Kougetsu nodded. "But you get paid by the organization, don't you?"

Akio nodded his head, lime green eyes focusing on the task at hand—which was redoing the bandages for her forearm. She didn't mind, since she was too tired and in too much pain to resist. While yes, she was still upset from his words earlier, she let him.

"The Peacekeeper Safe-houses are located all over Japan. We give Peacekeepers a place to stay, food, and, if needed, medical attention while waiting for their next mission."

Kougetsu nodded, watching his palms glow a faint blue.

'Ah, he's a Healer in training.'

"How'd I get here?" She asked after a moment of silence, watching him wrap the bandage.

"Uh…what was his name—ah! Asahi Seijuu. Your partner. He carried you on his back into the village, and my grandmother was outside tending to the garden. She saw you both and quickly got you guys inside."

Kougetsu raised a brow. Seijuu did that, huh? She should thank him when she got the opportunity.

As rude and judgmental as it was, she didn't expect him to go that far to get her help.

Though Kougetsu thanking him would probably inflate his ego a bit more, she, ultimately, didn't mind. She genuinely appreciated his help.

"Oh, by the way, it's time for dinner. Would you like to join us in the irori, or would you like me to bring it to you?" Akio offered, placing the supplies he used back on the metal tray before getting up.

"I'll join you. I need to stimulate my body a little after a while of laying down and sleeping," Kougetsu told him, slowly sitting up. While her back hurt and stung, she ignored the pain and carefully stepped onto the cold, tatami floor.

"Thank you, Akio. For you and your family's help," Kougetsu started, stumbling a bit before carefully balancing herself. She took a deep breath, making slow and steady steps. "However, I still don't appreciate what you did when we first met."

He sighed, grip on the tray tightening. "Yeah, I know…I'm sorry. After you scolded me like that, I realized my mistake and reflected. I'm not joking. I really did. Even after being told off so many times, you...your words actually got through to me," He scratched the back of his in a nervous manner. "So, I apologize. I sincerely do. Will you forgive me?"

Kougetsu hummed, looking over at the taller boy. "Yes. I can see and sense your sincerity. However, if you do not follow through with your words, I will hurt you."

Akio laughed nervously. "R-right, thank you, Yozora. Though it'll be hard to change my ways at first, I'll work on myself slowly and steadily."

She nodded. "Uh-huh, you do that. Listening to me will do you good."

His cheeks reddened, eyes wide from her actions. He puffed out his cheeks in a childish manner, bottom lip jutting out in a pout.

"Why are you talking to me like I'm a dog?"

"Well..." She began, looking over at him.

"Don't answer that," He groaned, rolling his eyes.

Akio stopped in front of the door of the irori, sliding it open. He placed the tray to the side before greeting what it seems like his grandmother, mother, and father.

She greeted his family with a bow, thanking them for their services before sitting down next to his grandmother.

"Is Asahi-san still sleeping?" His mother asked in a gentle voice, hooded amber eyes looking over at Akio, who sat beside her.

"Yes," Akio sighed, looking defeated. "I tried many times. He won't budge."

"I suppose I should go. We can't start dinner without him." His father said, running his hand through his long, strawberry blond locks.

"Ah, pardon me," Kougetsu spoke, carefully getting up from her spot before the man in front of her could. "I'll go. I know how to wake him up. I had to learn how to during the assessment."

Before anyone could object, however, she already slid open the door and made it towards his room. She remembers Akio muttering about him staying in the room across from her.

She slid open the door, taking light steps towards his futon. Beside the table were his wolf head and a glass of water that had remained untouched.

With a soft hum, she kneeled beside the futon and leaned down (much to her back's horror), lips barely brushing against his ear before she whispered:

"God Seijuu, wake up. Your food has been prepared."

He shot up from his futon, lips stretched into a wide grin, golden eyes radiating.

It was like she was looking right into the sun when she met his gaze.

"Alright, little lady, show me where the food is!" He demanded, taking her hand into his.

Kougetsu rolled her eyes. "It's not little lady, Seijuu. I'm Kougetsu. Say it,"

Seijuu huffed. "Kougetsu, show me where the food is,"

She nodded, tugging on his hand. "Good. Follow me."