Hakuouki: Demons Within

薄桜鬼 19

I couldn't believe myself. I had passed out. On entrance to the forest I had believed that I'd have plenty of time to look for Souji. But now I lay dazed and confused, weary from my hour sprinting and the injection given to me. My body felt like it was on fire. Dirt covered my hands and settled under my nails, as well as it was smeared onto the side of my face. The front side of my hakama and kimono was dirty as well. I collected myself, frowning as I realized the sun had set and everything was pitch black. I was terrified. I had no weapon to defend myself against wolves, and nobody even knew of my whereabouts. What if Souji was like this too?! No, he takes his sword everywhere and he can handle himself. But his illness... What if he heard what Hijikata and I were talking about? What if he shot himself because he felt like a burden? Once more, panic overwhelmed my body until I threw up. I was disgusted, and I dragged myself away from where I was and walked about one or two more miles. My entire body felt numb. Just my luck, the skies began to open and poured. The forest seemed to grow much larger in size and area, and I felt as if I had shrunk. I was desperate, vulnerable, and lost. I was getting very cold, quickly. If Souji was out here...He'd be dead or dying. I was so worried. I couldn't start a fire- as the midnight torrential downpour made everything soggy. I huddled beneath a thick patch of bushes- which did a somewhat decent job of keeping the rain off of me. Fear rippled throughout my body as I heard sticks crack from a couple yards away.

"Please...don't be a wolf..." I silently prayed. I couldn't make out what the animal was, it was simply too dark. It was heavy, and large.

"Oh hell. Not a bear!" I screamed, internally. It's fur, wet with rain, smelled earthy and filthy, not the distinct smell of wet dog. My horror of it potentially being a wolf subsided. It came close enough for me to hear it was breathing heavily.  With it's characterizing snort, I identified what the animal was. I caught glimpse of two small white tusks, that the moonlight illuminated just enough for me to make an image of. I was thankful that it wasn't a bear or wolf, but tusked boars could be dangerous as well. I hoped it wouldn't come any closer to smell me- being covered in mud helped mask my scent, but it was too late. The boar squealed, stamping its hooves, and from what I could hear, it was backing up to charge at me. I screamed.

~Earlier That Day~

"Where is Kaori?!" Souji asked the housekeepers and his comrades. Even Heisuke had no answer, yet one young housekeeper claimed she was looking for him.

"I shouldn't have stormed off, but..." He couldn't help but feel guilty about his illness. Everyone was making sacrifices and burdening hardships for him. He hated how pathetic he had become. It was night now, Kaori had been missing since ten that morning. Souji assembled a group to look for her- his men, Heisuke, Shinpachi, Sano, and Hajime, and some of his men. Even Hijikata agreed to come along, but Kondou had to respectfully decline to tend to his duties. The other squad leaders, stayed behind to defend the estate.

"We need to hurry." Souji stated, holding out his hand to collect raindrops.

~Back To Time~

The boar came at me, and I rolled out of the way, into the bush. The boar's screeching only grew louder as it slipped in the mud when it tried to turn back to attack me. This time it hurled itself at me, it's tusk clipping my arm and leaving behind a significant gash. I was so tired...My mind felt hazed and my body seemed to move in slow motion. The rain pelted through the bush now, so I stood a couple steps away from it to give myself more room to evade the pig. I was thankful it was shrieking and snorting so much, it gave away it's location . I jumped to the side and to the back until I too, slipped in the mud. In no later than a second, the boar was upon me. I used all my strength to stop it, but couldn't. I tried to grab both of the boar's tusks, but only was able to catch one. The other pierced my hand, not breaking through it, but enough to where I felt like I lost three of my fingers and my blood splashed back on my face. My wounded arm was the one that grabbed the boar's tusk and kept hold of it. I was too weak, and it ran over me. It's hooves trampled my stomach, slicing me open. I kept hold of it's tusk and, it being unable to drag me with it's current momentum, it spun to the side and lost footing in the mud, flipping onto it's back. I threw myself onto it and wrapped my legs over it, between the boar's front and hind legs. It writhed in the mud, and I struggled to keep grip of it. My injured and bloody hand that hurt like hell, I used to grab a nearby stone and used it to smash the boar's head. It broke it's tusk- a minor achievement, but only infuriated it. It threw me off of it, and rose to its feet with stunning speed. I lost grip of it's remaining tusk. It lunged at me, driving its tusk into my body, right below my rib cage. However, my rib cage felt the full power of the impact of  it's snout. I was sure I broke a rib or two as the boar's tusk rived my abdomen. I screamed out in pain, begging to the vacant forest for mercy.