𝕃𝕖𝕥'𝕤 𝕊𝕖𝕒 (FEM! Reader X Arataki Itto)

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ²

A soft groan left my mouth as I groggily opened my eyes but quickly shut them when they were met with a bright light.

I flipped myself over so I was facing the ground and hacked up some sea water. I coughed a few times and weakly tried to push myself up. "Where am I...?" My voice felt sore from the salt water and sounded raspy.

Sand? Am I on a beach? My hands scrunched up the surface beneath them and sure enough there was a soft, wet texture. I coughed and attempted to look around but my head was still in a daze.

There was a slight buzzing in my head and my body tingled strangely. My arms and legs felt like I had exercised for hours on end.

I could hear seagulls in the distance and the ocean waves behind me and the smell of fish and smoke was in the air. Smoke? A fire?

I shook my head, trying to get out of my disoriented state. Had I suffered a concussion? I've never had one before so I wouldn't know. I believe one of the symptoms is confusion such as the kind I have now.

I lifted my head towards the smell and sure enough, I spotted a campfire under a covering made by a rock formation beside the water. It was almost like a small cave and the fire was right on the outer edge of it.

What I didn't notice was the person staring at me with wide red eyes and a stuffed face. He sat on a wooden crate besides the fire with a huge piece of meat in his mouth, the bone in one hand. He reminded me of a squirrel with full cheeks.

He sat there, frozen, and staring at me. "Uh hi...?" His muffled greeting sounded more like a question.

"W-Whoa!" I fell onto my butt and stared back at him. His appearance baffled me, I wasn't sure if he was human. He had long white hair and two red horns protruding from his head.

He wore an outfit that left most of his torso exposed and had strange red tattoos all over. His crimson eyes stared at me with confusion and I noticed the large club resting next to him.

"I uhm..." I stammered and attempted to get away by crawling backwards. He swallowed his food before loudly asking, "Who the heck are you?" His tone made me squeak and freeze immediately.
"Y-Y/n..." I answered with a shaky voice.

His brows creased and he hopped off the crate he was sitting on. He slowly strode over to me and I trembled as he stared with possible anger in his eyes. He stopped in front of me before dropping down to rest on his haunches.

I stared at him in fear as he eyed me with narrowed eyes. "You alone?" He sounded like he was demanding more than asking. "Y-yes..." I was terrified. I saw how big that club was and we're alone. Who knows what he'll do to me.

He looked me up and down, his eyes slowly traveling across my each and every feature and I shrunk under his gaze.

He lifted his hand to rest on his chin while his eyes narrowed once again in thought.
"Why're you so small?"
"...Huh?" I stared at him in disbelief.

"Like, you're freakishly tiny." He said as he tilted his head to the side. I couldn't tell if he was genuinely trying to mock me or it was just an observation.

My mind was reeling. I was scared for my life when this guy approached me and now he was making fun of my height?

"I-I'm not that small, you're just really huge!" I blurted and slapped a hand over my mouth. His eyes widened and looked dumbfounded, before a grin slowly crept up onto his features. "Oh really? Ha! Rich comin' from a pipsqueak!" He mocked me.

I glared at him, crossing my arms.
"I beg to differ. Look at you, are you even human?"
"No, actually," He stated matter-of-factly. Standing up, he raised his fists dramatically and said, "I am the Great Oni Sumo King! Haha!"

His words caught me off guard. "O-Oni...?" I didn't know they were real, I've only heard tales of such creatures. Seeing one in front of me was quite surreal. But I quickly countered with: "See? You can't compare us since we're t-technically different species." I huffed and turned away from him.

He chuckled while still looking very proud, "Whatever, Shortie! So tell me, you here to arrest me or what?" I looked up at him in confusion.
"Wait wh-"
He summoned his club and rested it on his shoulder, making me anxious again.

A wicked smile made it's way to his face as he stared me down, his eyes nearly glowing. "W-Wait there's been a misunderstanding-"
"I'd like to see you try, Shortie!" He raised his club and I panicked, scrambling onto my feet. I ran, hoping that the headstart will help me get away from him.

"Huh? Nobody runs from the Oni Sumo King! Get back here and fight me like a man!"
"I'm a girl!"
"Er, y'know what I mean!"

'Why is he saying king?! And... sumo?' I couldn't tell if he's high or serious. Perhaps even a form of sun sickness.

He quickly gained on me. I looked over my shoulder to see him grinning as he chased me. "Go away!" I shouted and made a sharp turn. "I thought you were here to arrest me?! And you call yourselves soldiers! Hahaha!" He cackled menacingly.

Unlike my voice that sounded out of breath, his sounded fine. I bet he wasn't running at full capacity... He was just messing with me!

I tripped on something and fell. I looked back to see him gaining rapidly on me and crawled towards the rock pile, attempting to hide.

"Where'd you go?" He slammed his feet into the ground and stopped himself, kicking up sand as he did. "My oni senses tell me you're around here somewhere..."

'Wtf...'

I held my breath and squeezed myself up against the wall as I stared at him, not moving an inch. "Moo?" I froze, slowly looking down to see a small, brown, cow-like creature. It's expression looked mad for some reason and I took note of it's relatively sharp horns.

The oni guy turned around and his eyes fell onto me. He grinned widely, "Found ya..." I threw my hands up and screwed my eyes shut. "Don't hurt me! Please!" I cried and he stopped, looking at me like a lost puppy.

"Hah? This sucks, you're supposed to fight me! Not be boring! You're a terrible law enforcer..." He pouted childishly. "What are you talking about?! I'm not here to arrest you! I was thrown overboard at sea and got washed up here!" I eyed the cow thing as it just sat on it's butt. I noticed it had a small roof on its back?

"So... you're not with the Tenryou dudes?" I looked up at him incredulously, "That's what I've been trying to tell you! I'm running from them, that's how I got here!"
"Ohhhh... Heh." He sheepishly smiled and I deadpanned.

"So you're on the run?"
"Yeah?"
"Oh sweet, same as me. What're the odds!" He laughed but it quickly died down when I didn't laugh with him. He stood there awkwardly, playing with his spiky arm brace things.

"Sooo...Want something to eat or...? Cuz I got a small camp nearby, but you probably already saw it... and stuff." This whole one-sided conversation was cringing the hell out of me. I was about to decline but then my stomach growled loudly. "Yeah sure."

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