•Tomoe x Reader: Book 2•

7. Shallow

Tomoe swore colorfully, and shoved you away just in time for a large serpent to shove itself out of that soft meadow grass. It was huge and scaled, but instead of some type of dragon it looked... slimy. Gross. Multiple eyes decorated it's skull and nape, two tiny little arms sprouted from its belly and seemed to serve no purpose.

From where you had been shoved, you only had that amount of time to see it before it burst into blue flame.

Tomoe's hair had come undone again, and he looked irritated as ever. His flames burned so hot they turned purple, and the creature screeched so loudly it rattled your skull.

Within minutes, it was over. An awkward silence hung between you.

"You alright, Tomoe?"

"We... have to keep moving." He managed, still seeming flustered and confused from the sudden change of pace which had occurred.

You flushed as well, grateful for the mask around your neck that you could slide up over your face.

You tapped a hand to your stomach. The odd tugging had... lessened a little. Strange.

"Tomoe, we need to go into the forest a ways."

You approached the burnt skeleton of the snake, and found it's marred skull, nearly throwing up in your mouth from the awful stench. You spotted one bleached-white fang, which was about as long as your forearm, and grabbed onto it, pulling.

It was gross, and the crinkling of charred flesh and sinew was a sound that made you nauseous, but the sharp thing finally broke free.

You tore a bit off your sleeve, using the sharp tip of it, and wrapped the edge of the monster's tooth as a handle.

Tomoe's voice was soft, raw. "Name. You're bleeding."

You hadn't noticed. It was a small cut from the tugging, really, and in return you had a good stabby-stabby weapon.

Tomoe's face seemed to swell with anger. He swore.

"You arrogant, stupid child." He hissed, covering his mouth. "You think I'm not a yokai like any other. Cover up. Your blood's stench is vile."

Ah... so that was what he meant by 'this world is changing me, back to what I was'. His senses must be sharpening again. Ah, well.

"Or what? You'll eat me?"

Tomoe scowled. "That's the snake's thing, not mine. I'd just-... throw you in a pit or something."

You laughed. "Weak response."

You both gathered your things, and you stuffed your bag with apples before the both of you ventured into the forest. The trees seemed to blend together, and the hours did as well. Kissing Tomoe in the sunshine seemed like such a far away memory.

After a long while, you came to what seemed to be a clearing... with a huge, black pit in the middle of the brown grass.

You began to go around it, and froze.

"...Tomoe?" You began softly, your voice quivered.

He halted in his tracks. "Yes?"

You turned your head, wishing that the compass in your chest was wrong, that it wasn't pointing straight down.

"...remember what you said about throwing me in a pit?"