Ink Stained With Blood (Yokai!Ichimatsu x Reader)

Chapter 17

Totoko's eyes widened in shock as my blood-red hues calmly gazed back, a coy smile tugging at my lips while my fingers teased the hem of the veil, "Didn't think I'd use it?"

"I'd rather you use it in my presence," The priestess scoffed, quickly pulling out more ofuda and breaking their binds, "Easier than hunting you down."

My breath passed between my lips with a deathly chill, pursing them until a bristling gale formed, Totoko fleeing from the freezing sigh. It was difficult to track her movements in the warehouse and I had no intentions to aim anywhere near Jyushimatsu. The yokai living within me was certain that the inugami was still alive, merely unconscious from the talismans that kept his physical body comatose.

The winter winds outside responded to my presence, growing ever colder as frost began to creep into the warehouse, spreading along the crevices and joints closest to me before spreading out to other areas.

"You won't be able to survive, Totoko," I tried to plead with our childhood friend, feeling an overwhelming urge to let loose a blizzard within the building, "If you let us leave now, Nagoya won't lose decades of history."

Chanting was my only response, stepping aside as more ofuda sheets attempted to attach themselves to my body.

Colder.

The warehouse temperature plummeted into sub-freezing, the previously warm air chilling quickly while the moisture became trapped in particles that swelled into snowflakes. I could hear the wooden bookshelves creak and groan at the drop in ambient temperature, some of the thinner shelves snapping and allowing their load to topple to the floor.

Wind ripped through the doorways, screams of innocent bystanders growing as I moved back towards Jyushimatsu.

"I c-can't let you flee, traitor!" Totoko's voice betrayed her shuddering, taking a step out from one of the aisles behind me. I only looked at her from over a shoulder, my red hues focused on her determined expression, "I will be the one to f-fix your mistake!"

"You refused the brush, so you have nothing to do with this," I could see her fingertips growing blue with cold, tears freezing on her eyelashes. The yuki-onna begged to drain her dry; it took everything I had to not reach out and take Totoko's life.

The priestess tried to keep her grip on the ofuda sheets, failing to hide her fear when the sheets flew from her fingertips and tossed away by the constant wind blowing within the warehouse. I took the chance to pick up Jyushimatsu, careful to not touch the ofuda binding him, and turned back to Totoko who had fallen to her knees trembling with cold.

Without sparing her a glance, I walked by Totoko and out of the warehouse as the snow began to accumulate along the ground outside. Cradling Jyushimatsu in my arms gently, I urged the wind to carry us away from here, a northerly wind graciously picking me up and allowing me to ride it to the west.

My veil kept us hidden from mortal eyes as we passed a mountain range, feeling myself grow weaker as the sun began to set. The wind no longer cared about me, quickly dropping me towards the ground and throwing me onto a snowy field with abandon.

I held onto Jyushimatsu as long as I could, stifling a cry as we tumbled to a stop before sliding further down as the valley tapered from a cliff. Snow caked onto my clothes and bag from the roll, my hands clearing off what I could reach before a black stick caught my eye a few feet from us.

No...not a stick.

A fude brush, completely swallowed by darkness.

My brush.