Quiescent | Dororo X KnY

Chapter IV, Pt.2

They both made it out alive, as Urokodaki predicted. With their backs facing him, he was only able to detect their emotions through their scent.

The girl pulled out a knife out of its sheath, holding a fearful scent. This action made Urokodaki frown slightly under the mask.

She’s too hesitant to take its life; the scent of kindness still lingers within her…

It was there that Urokodaki decided to make himself known to the pair to see how they would react; not only to test their survival instincts, but to test if they have the capabilities of reasoning and thinking when slaying demons.

So walking out from behind the porch, he made his way over to the girl. It was clear to Urokodaki that calling out to her would startle her too much, so he went with a silent gesture with his hand.

Before he even had the chance to tap her on the shoulder, however, she spun around with the blade shaking in her hands, her eyes were wide with her brows creased in masked concentration. Urokodaki’s observations were confirmed from her actions:

When he said that her intuition was keen, he must have been referring to her perception of danger; a very strong and useful tool when in danger on missions.

Without moving from his position, he called out to her in a stern and calm manner to observe how she would respond:

“You can’t finish him off with that.”

The girl’s eyes widened slightly, probably due to the fact that Urokodaki, with his red Tengu mask on, was giving her advice on how to kill a demon that was lodged into a trunk.

“How-How can I finish him off?” She stuttered slightly, lowering her guard with a slow descent of her knife.

“Don’t ask me!” Urokodaki wanted to test her further; her keen perception is not the only weapon she has to wield, “Can’t you use your own head to figure that out?”

The girl stepped back in surprise, before concentration took over her expression, revealing that she was thinking about how to kill the demon if stabbing was not going to kill it.

Urokodaki took that short time to observe her demon of a brother who was staring back with a blank expression on his face. Three details stood out to Urokodaki just from glancing at the boy: a dark scar located on the top left of his forehead, a clean cut bamboo on top of where his lips should be… and his eyes.

His eyes… Should never look that human for a demon; blank, calm and dark eyes were staring back at Urokodaki’s mask in a nonchalant manner, almost akin to a curious cat.

While that detail was certainly unheard of from his years of studying demon behavior, another matter Urokodaki paid closer attention to was the scent the demon gave off;

Though the demon blood was certainly there, another underlying scent of human kindness was something Urokodaki was not expecting from this strange demon...

Urokodaki furrowed his brows underneath the Tengu mask,

A demon boy… harboring the scent of kindness only humans would possess…

Did he stop transforming halfway and…?

The soft footsteps of the girl turned his attention, temporarily, away from the demon boy.

She was now standing in front of the head with a rock in hand. Her scent of fear slightly faded, but it was still present on her being. Urokodaki could only watch in slight expectancy.

She only has a second to make her decision.

Raising the rock above her head, she was only a breath away from making her decision before the demon started to scream in agony.

She was too slow.

The first light came up, dousing the area around them in a warm light. Unfortunately for the demon, it's body does not cope with the rays. It withered away in ashes within a blink.

Urokodaki observed the girl who was trembling at the sight before her. He could only sigh internally.

She still has a long journey ahead of her if she wants to be a demon Hunter.