Fading Cinders

Chapter 3

We were all silent. Mokou was glaring at the woman, while she was just slightly smiling, staring at me.

"Mokou, that's a human isn't it?" The black haired woman finally spoke up, she hasn't looked away from me ever since she appeared. Her eyes were cold, her gaze made me shiver. I unconsciously got up to hide behind Mokou, who then whispered to me.

"Human, you need to run, but stay close so I can find you again once I put her out of commission for a while." I looked at Mokou while she said this, but she was fiercely glaring at the black haired woman in front of us.

"You know I can hear you, right Mokou?" She giggled to herself, Mokou clicked her tongue.

"You just had to take one of your walks today, didn't you Kaguya? You'll stay right over there, you hear me? I'm getting her out of here. No one deserves what Eirin wants to do. Now let us leave." Kaguya sighed, shaking her head.

"Now why would I do that? There's a perfectly fine human right behind you," she pointed at me, and I hid behind Mokou some more, "and you really should know by now that every human that enters this forest-" Kaguya started walking closer, "-is the property of Eientei." So that's what that gaze was, Kaguya was looking at me like a lost item, and now she's coming to reclaim it. Mokou pushed me back.

"Run, now! And if you see a building in the forest STAY THE HELL AWAY!" I followed what she said, and started running from the two. But before I was too far away I looked back at them. Mokou had set her arms on fire, and Kaguya had started to float. It finally dawned on me just how Mokou lives in this forest. Only monsters can live here. I ran until I couldn't hear the sounds of fire and magic anymore, finally away from their fight. I was so focused on running that I forgot to stay close. I was lost again, the bamboo started to look all the same. The fog began to get denser, and the wind became still. I looked around and tried to strain my ears to hear their fight, but I couldn't find anything.

"M-mokou...?" I tried to speak up, hoping that she could hear me. Only silence responded. Once again, I was alone in the Bamboo Forest of the Lost. I couldn't just stand here, but I can't tell which direction I came from. The forest blends together in front of me, so I just pick a direction and begin to walk. I walked and walked but nothing changed. The forest looked all the same, and I couldn't hear Mokou fighting. I was nearly going to stop to catch my breath when I came across a clearing in the bamboo. I thought I would find Mokou and her house again, but an unfamiliar building towered above me. Mokou's words echoed in my head. I need to leave. This is it. Eientei, the one place I shouldn't ever get near. On the outside it looks like a normal building, but something about it makes me nauseous. Just looking at it is giving me a headache. I turn to leave when I hear a voice.

"Hey Miss, are you lost?" I turned to where it came from but I couldn't see anything... until I look down. A small girl with black hair in a pink dress with rabbit ears looks up at me. She's looking at me just like Kaguya did. I took a step back defensively. She's so small, but that horrible gaze chills me.

"N-no, I was just leaving..." I start to take some steps back from her while I say this. She doesn't move, all she does is smile at me.

"Is that so? You had to have come here for a reason, right? How about you come in and let the good doctor see you?" She grinned while she said this. Her words were inviting, but her eyes were filled with malice. She waved her arm towards the door of Eientei. I kept taking more steps away from her.

"I-I think I'm just going to leave, thanks for the offer...!" I start to run after this. But before I'm out of earshot I hear her giggle and say something to me.

"Well, you might not need a doctor now, but that'll change pretty fast..." What could she mean by-

I trip, my right leg falls into a hole and a horrible pain shoots through my body. I look down at my leg. It's caught in a bear trap, and it nearly took off my entire foot.

"A-aa-" I try to scream but I barely make a sound. The excruciating pain drowns out anything else I can do.

"See, I told you going to a doctor was important!" The rabbit girl is back, she's standing over me with a sinister smile. "Now come on, pry yourself out of there and I can take you back to Eirin!" Her words barely even reached me, I tried to stop the shaking in my hands as I moved to pull the trap apart. I slowly pull the teeth of the trap out of my ankle, I focus everything I can not to have my hands slip and have the trap slam back into my foot. Through the giggles of the rabbit girl and the intense pain, my foot becomes free. I can barely feel it. "Hihihi, there! It wasn't that hard, was it? Now come on," She places a hand on my shoulder. "Let's go to Eientei." She was right up in my face. I slap her hand away and scramble to my feet, trying to limp away as fast as I can.

"S-stay away from me!"

*Sigh* "Hey, don't say I didn't try. I hope you can get out of the next couple of traps!" Of course there were more. Why is everyone in this forest a lunatic?!

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*Wheeze* *wheeze* "Man, I'm outta shape. *pant* Just like old times, ey Kaguya? Haaah... how many years has it been since we last fought anyway?" Fujiwara no Mokou stands over the limp body of Kaguya Houraisan. Both of them are covered in blood, and Kaguya is missing half of her head. Mokou grimly stares at the girl below her. "That'll put you down for a while, but you'll probably want a rematch once you're back up. You always were a sore loser." She softly chuckles to herself, then focuses. She doesn't hear anything around her. "Hey, human! Are you still nearby?!" She yells out into the bamboo, but receives no response. "She couldn't have walked all the way to-" Mokou cuts herself off, and breaks into a sprint. She has only one destination.