Frostbitten

Running, and then Warmth

   A/N : Rikuo and Tsurara are both 17, and Rikuo is a bit older than her.

🈷  P.O.V.

Tsurara was running, sprinting as fast as possible through the alleys and the roads of the city. 

   Or rather hobbling, since it's really difficult to run when you have a knife protruding from your leg like she does. The weather was conveniently spring time—the traces of snow would slow down the crowd that chased her, and the cherry blossoms could disguise the blood that flowed from her wound—making it perfect for hiding and running from Yokai.

   It was also conveniently night time, which attributed some coverage... but that meant more Yokai were out. She was becoming exhausted and her gasps for air felt like knives in her chest. The real knife in her leg was because she got careless, and a Yokai she thought was defeated had taken a cheap shot. Naturally she froze him on the spot, but more came before she could remove it from her leg.

   The pain and constant blood loss was taking a toll on her stamina. Gasping for air, her golden eyes searched for a place to hide from the Yokai. Spotting a shadowed alley nearby, she ran to it to take a breather, collapsing against the wall.

▪▫◾◽◻◼♠◼◻◽◾▫▪

   Unbeknownst to her and most of the city, a young Yokai lord was at that time starting to patrol the area of his territory. He jumped from building to building alone, not wanting to attract too much attention with a group of his yokai. The buildings were brilliantly lit in hues of gold and yellow, shining upon his beautiful features generously as his black kimono and blue haori fluttered in the breeze, his traditional Japanese zori easily scaling buildings effortlessly.

   He slowed down, landing on the roof of a particularly tall building to take a rest from all the running and to properly observe his surrounding; the area he was in was quite active with Yokai at night. 

   His gaze swept over the beautiful cherry blossoms that fluttered through air like spring snow,  quietly pondering over how the pale, milky white light of the moon that shown through the cloudy night sky and smiled, thankful that tonight was peaceful. That is until he saw a mob of yokai chasing a young yokai. 

"There goes my peaceful night," he sighed, a tired look in his red eyes. Jumping towards the Yokai aura, he saw what the running Yokai, a girl, looked like.

   She had snow white skin that complemented her golden eyes and her long dark hair very nicely. Even bedraggled and running, she was beautiful in her white furisode with black crystal shapes on the long sleeves and a black zigzag patterned scarf. She suddenly spun around, her raven hair fluttering in the wind, and blew in the Yokai mobs direction. A spiked wall of ice blasted forth that both froze and skewered several unfortunate Yokai.

   The yokai looked at her, his blood red eyes gleaming in the moonlight. 

"Maybe she won't need help," he murmured, a smirk playing over his face as interest twinkled keenly in his crimson eyes, ''though I should still go down if she should be in need of any assistance.''

   He continued to monitor her progress through the city, watching she ran into an alleyway. She rested against the wall and seemed to try and catch her breath. The yokai tore his gaze away (rather reluctantly) from her and looked to see the mob approaching.

 And they were mad.

   Making himself intangible using Kyouka Suigetsu, he was able to silently jump and fall into the alleyway as soon as the Yokai hoard came into the narrow opening and began surrounding the girl.