The Sakura Witch

~Hina~

As Yae Miko and Raiden Ei traversed the remains of small villages dotted along Narukami Island,  they knew that Hina was nearby. they carefully snuck through Tartarasuna, noticing all the knocked out Fatui skirmishers.

Yae Miko peered around, looking for any traces of Hina. She knew she had to sneak in, but she was worried she was going to get caught.

"Ei, I have an idea." She finally said. "I'm going to transform into my fox form and sneak in that way. If anything happens, send out a lightning bolt and I'll come see what's wrong."

"Okay..." Ei said as she glanced around, pulling out her polearm.

Yae transformed into her fox form and made her way across the terrain of Tartarasuna. She swiftly darted between structures, crates, anything that she could hide behind. She made it to the small group of houses at the top of Tartarasuna, when she heard someone begging for mercy.

"P-please, lady! I didn't do anything! I was just looking for Naku weeds! That's all!" The man said. Yae looked up from behind a crate and saw the man holding a basket of Naku weeds and sitting on the ground, cowering in fear.

"Your wife is a shrine maiden at the Grand Narukami Shrine. That's what you did. And those Naku weeds are used for rituals." Hina said in a low, angry voice.

"B-but I only was picking these so I could make medicine! my son is sick!" The man was hugging the basket of Naku weeds.

Yae Miko slipped, so she couldn't see what happened, but all she heard was the sound of someone running away and someone else walking towards her direction. She had to get out of there in case it was Hina.

Yae pranced away and transformed back into a human once she reached Ei. Ei still had her polearm out, but her posture relaxed when she saw Yae come back unharmed. 

As they were talking, they didn't see Hina looking down at them from the top of a nearby cliff. Her straight black hair was blowing behind her back in the wind, giving her a mysterious aura. Yae looked up, and her and Hina made eye contact.

Hina scrunched her face and quickly departed from the location. 

"Ei, we need to go. Hina saw me." Yae ushered Ei towards a nearby beach. 

As they made it back to Inazuma City, they saw several pink flashes coming from Higi Village. Ei ran towards a waverider waypoint as fast as possible, killing several Hilichurls blocking her path. Yae kept up, and they began sailing to the village.

Hina was tearing up the village. several members of the Watatsumi Army stationed there attempted to hold her back, but they were knocked out. Their camp was destroyed, with weeks worth of food rations and medical supplies gone. 

"How could the electro archon let this happen?" A wounded soldier said, wincing as another soldier applied a solution to a nasty cut.

"Because she sucks..." The other soldier mumbled as he wrapped the soldier's arm.

As the soldiers gathered around to look at the aftermath, they noticed bloody Sakura petals everywhere, the majority of them covering the dead bodies.

Some of the soldiers near the entrance to the camp saw Yae Miko and Ei coming in and ran to tell the other soldiers. 

"Guys! The electro archon is here!"

Ei brushed past the soldiers clamoring for her to answer questions and walked up to one of the higher-ranked soldiers.

"Do you know where General Gorou is?" She asked calmly.

"He's over there." The guard answered, pointing to Gorou collecting some of the intact rations. He looked up and saw Ei and quickly ran over.

"Hello, almighty shogun, um, I'm assuming you're here about the pink flashes coming from here?" Gorou asked, holding the left over food rations in his arms.

"Yes, me and Yae Miko came here to tell you that we are working on a plan to stop the perpetrator. So please, know that all hope is not lost." Ei said.

Yae Miko watched as the rest of the soldiers tended to their wounds and buried the dead bodies. She felt sad seeing the carnage Hina left behind, and decided that she had to figure this dilemma out now. 

"Ei, we have to go." Yae said. Before Ei could question why Yae was being so sudden, they went to the relative location as to where Hina was. Yae suddenly felt the sting of electricity, and Hina was watching her in a tree. 

"Hello, Yae Miko." Hina said in a voice that almost sounded like a teenage girl. Ei looked at Hina, then back at Yae Miko, who had the sigil that the woman possessing the sacred Sakura gave her.

"Miko, wait!" Ei lunged in front of Yae, but before she had the chance to block Hina's attack, Yae's ear was slashed by Hina's sword.

Hina looked back and saw she finally hit the person that fired her and caused her to become homeless. 

As Hina was celebrating her success, she suddenly heard Ei yell something.

"Torn to oblivion!" Ei said, performing Musou Shinetsu. Hina screamed and didn't have enough time to duck before Ei slashed her. Hina fell back, parts of her skirt torn, and a piece of her kitsune mask chipped off, revealing a stitched up scar on the corner of her mouth.

Ei then grabbed Yae Miko and quickly ran out of there. They got to a safe spot outside of Inazuma city, and Yae sat back and winced at the large gash on her ear. Thankfully her vision wasn't damaged, but there was a lot of blood coming out of her ear.

Ei tended to the wound, and looked off into the distance. Hina had gotten almost every place in Inazuma, except for Inazuma City and Ritou. She knew Ritou was next.