New morning
The next time I wake up, I can tell a large amount of time has passed; half a day at least. My body hurts not only from the trauma of earlier, but from sleeping against a hard stone wall as well. I carefully raise myself to a sitting position and try to look around.
The cave is much darker than before, now that the sun is gone. I don't see Yubi or Yumi, but In this darkness they could be less than a meter away and I wouldn't see them. Still holding the necklace Teruma gave me, I look up towards the door of the keep. I can scantly see any moonlight.
Should I try to climb out? Would it do any good? If I even made it to the top without Yubi catching me and breaking my legs, I have no idea where I am. I could easily wonder into another yokai tribe and end up dinner or worse. And if I die, then so does Sakura. So would Teruma- who cares enough to try to protect me. So would Arakan who earnestly asked for my affection. So would Nobu, who was starting to show a gentler side.
No, I will stay and do the least I can to keep those I care about alive. Hum, I pondered in my head, so I actually care about those three? I mean, it's not there fault that I was forced to be in that cave. I wasn't even forced, I chose to give up my freedom to save my life and my friends. They didn't get a choice on if they wanted to be stuck in a cave for two months with a girl who may not chose them. They were forced to be there, to feed and protect me, or face death. They were just as stuck as I was.
I silently promise myself that, if by some miracle I make it out of here, that I will do everything I can to be nicer to all three of them. To give them all a fair chance.
However, sitting in the darkness, with a giant rock above my head and a murderess spider somewhere nearby, this seems like an impossible promise. I close my eyes and try to sleep.
I wake up to Yumi staring at me, her face a hair's width away from mine. I startle and hit my head on the rock behind me.
"Ouch" I cry and reach to rub my head. Yumi smiles and walks towards Yubi, who is reaching up to one of the two remaining ovals hanging on the wall.
"So weak" she mutters as she pulls the top off the oval. The stench of rotting meat again fills the air. It's all I can do to keep the bile in my throat. Yubi drinks and then hands it to Yumi, who takes a deep drink. She then carries the oval to me and extends it out. She looks at me expectantly and, with unsure arms, I accept it. I make the mistake of looking inside and see a partially dissolved rabbit inside. I manage to shove the oval back into Yumi's arms before I dry heave , having nothing left in my stomach.
"If you want to starve, that is fine by me. You'll eat when your hungry enough." Yubi takes the last drink of the oval and tosses it to the far side of the keep.
She sits down on the other side and Yumi goes and sits in her lap. Yubi lovingly braids Yumi's hair. "Mommy has to go hunt today. I am going to leave you in charge of the trash. If she tries to climb up, break her legs and if she tries to hurt you in any way, just break her in half." Yumi nods and smiles at me. I just sit and shiver, not wanting to think about how easy it would be for either of them to kill me.