Under the Sakura

[ Thunder Mist Mountains, Thunder Sakura Gardens. ]

Yakujin is currently lying down, under the Sakura trees at night, while Shiro is still asleep beside her as she brings him in.

*Yakujin's tail covers Shiro like a blanket.*

Shiro is still asleep, while Yakujin who guards him sees his deeply asleep face, the boy snores peacefully even after experiencing great pain with her.

" Look at you, how could you sleep well even after all of that...? " Yakujin says while remembering the wounds she saw on him during her time healing him, realizing that before she did it, the boy actually received many wounds beforehand.

" That must all the villagers work, isn't it? " Yakujin asks to the asleep Shiro.

" I believe the cut wounds in your body must've been their attempt to test how tasteful your blood is to the monsters' noses. " Yakujin says.

" I've seen it before, back in time when those like you were still so many in Easterion... "

" I've seen many people test the 'Sacrifice Lamb Blood's effect by gradually slicing the holder's very skin one-by-one... "

" But to think they would also do it to those who were discovered to have it at a young age... " Yakujin thinks about it, remembering the previous sacrifices given to her at that time, those who had the same blood as Shiro.

*Yakujin scratches the ground.*

Yakujin reflects on her ignorance over her sacrifices, despite her still thinking of them as their prey, but somehow, after meeting Shiro, there's a part within her that begins to care for those sacrificed to her.

"( If they were discovered younger like this boy... )"

"( Would the villagers offer them to me, without any second thought? )" Yakujin thinks, wondering what's inside the villagers' minds as they sacrifice the 'Special Blood (Sacrifice Lamb Blood) ' without any mercy or even pity after they discovered those who had it. 

Thinking that, makes Yakujin wonder how the Sakurazaka villagers discovered those who had the 'Special Blood' in the first place, wondering how they found it, was it by magic? or by gradual inspection?

" Oh my, it... "

" I don't know what to think, now I began to wonder, how they even found them all out in the first place, for goodness sake!? "

" In each offering, they somehow managed to find the 'Special Bloods' who happen to possess the greatest scent and effect to increase my power. "

" Perhaps it is all thanks to the Head Shaman who happens to govern the Village as the village head? "

" I believe the Yamagami Clan is responsible for all of this if I remember. "

" *Sigh*, I better ask Akafushi more after this... " Yakujin says while hearing Shiro's snore going louder than before.

" It seems your sleep gets better when you're with me, aren't you? " Yakujin asks the sleeping Shiro as she lays down near him.

" Fufufu..., after thinking about it... "

" You must be some interesting child, aren't you...? "

" Dear, Shiro. " Yakujin says as she chuckles while seeing Shiro sleep as the two spend their time under the Sakura tree during the long night.

...

( Meanwhile. )

[ In Shiro's Dream. ]

( Years Ago. )

" Grandson... "

" Yes, grandfather... "

" We must bring prosperity to where we live, even if the people reject us... "

" For that is our mission, to spread care to others even if they hated us... "

" Um, okay... "

" Is that what god orders us to do, in his scriptures, Grandpa? "

" Yes, that what the god told us... "

" One which we must follow, to maintain our faith... " said Shiro's grandfather to him and Shiro nodded as he just obeyed what he said.

After the scene with his grandfather, the setting suddenly shifts into flames as Shiro sees himself brought by his grandfather's people to flee as the villagers bring their torch to chase them.

" Grandfather...? " Shiro asks after seeing all of it, as she sees it all, suddenly.

*Shiro wakes up from his dream.*

" You're awake!? " Yakujin asks him as she sees him waking up, just like that, without any yawn or stretching, nothing.

* Shiro looks around. *

As he looks around, he sees himself filled with Sakura Petals everywhere, he looks up, and sees a giant sakura tree with a branch that looks like a fox.

" That branch statue is based on my predecessors' design... " Yakujin tells Shiro about the tree.

" A totem of my very Roots, to show the others the dominance of a Kitsune, my dear... " Yakujin tells Shiro about it, and Shiro just watches silently as he sees Yakujin who lies down beside him.

" Master Yakujin, where are we? " Shiro asks after Yakujin explains it all.

"( My goodness, do you even hear what I told you just now? )" Yakujin asks him, sighing at how naive the boy is towards anything.

" My dear, we're on my Thunder Sakura Gardens. "

" This place is on top of my lair, so we're basically on top of the mountain I lived in. " Yakujin tells Shiro about the location they're in.

" Uh, okay... " Shiro responds bluntly, just like that while scratching his hair.

" So how do we get down? " Shiro asks.

" My dear, you, kekeke... " Yakujin slaps her face with her paw while chuckling hard, trying to hold it before it becomes a laugh.

" Can you please respond to things logically, you're too-...pft! " Yakujin chuckles and takes deep breaths to stop her from laughing even more.

" Master Yakujin? " Shiro asked while seeing her laugh, hearing that Yakujin who was still tickled by Shiro's blunt, made her approach her lips to him and smooched his cheeks, continuing with a lick.

" Oooh, you're so sincere, you are really just a child, aren't you? " Yakujin asks Shiro as she cuddles him for being able to at least entertain her with such a blunt answer, which was followed by his plain-cute-sincere-and-honest expression that comes with it.

As Yakujin hugged him, she realized that the boy was different than the humans she used to meet, for in her life, she had never seen someone talk to her so bluntly without any second thought, as they all fear and revere thanks to her status.

But now, she sees a little child, so naive and blunt in this world, a child who only 'fears' her because he was simply instructed from his early days, which made Yakujin realize how wrong she was to punish him earlier, for seeing him now based on this few interactions, already made her sure that the boy didn't have ill-intentions towards her treasures.

" Oh my, Shiro... " Yakujin hugs him more.

" I'm sorry to ever harm you *smooch* " Yakujin smooches his cheek, showing her affection to him which Shiro sees with confusion.

" Hmm... " Shiro says to himself in his blunt confusion as Yakujin shows him affection, trying to apologize to him for what she did.

"( Master Yakujin hugged me so hard, does Master Yakujin think I'm a pillow or something...? )"

"( Reminds me of a pillow I used to have back then, guess it was all destroyed, isn't it? )" Shiro asks himself during the hug.