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A Questionable Decision [Story/Solo]
Nanami Hanabana
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OOC Name: searoads
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Post by Nanami Hanabana on Apr 16, 2022 6:59:43 GMT
In the end, hiding was all she could do. Mukuroyukihime clutched the tear in her torso, trying not to dwell too hard on the fact that a portion of her body was now probably in the stomach of the Fangmon pursuing her. Thankfully, the agonizing pain the Falcomon was experiencing helped in that regard.
It is a pleasant thing that the brown one is not here to see me in such a state... The Falcomon thought as she hid in the rocky outcropping as the predator loomed nearby. The red-furred canine Digimon sniffed the air as he slowly got closer. It seemed that hiding wasn't going to be of any use.
Mukuroyukihime hadn't been in the Dark Area for very long, and coming here was a last ditch effort in the first place. She had fully expected herself to meet such a fate, though as her end encroached ever closer, the Falcomon found herself regretting her choices nonetheless. Perhaps if she had returned to her home village and begged to be forgiven for abandoning her training, she could have found a safer way to become stronger. But... it was her own selfishness that caused her to abandon her duties as a ninja in training, and to request that she resume her training after all that was beyond unforgivable. Besides... she had associated herself with pirates. And she knew very well how her family felt about those folk.
And the main continent was too soft for someone like Mukuroyukihime to become stronger in such a short time. No... only the constant struggle for survival would work, so the Falcomon had snuck aboard a ship heading towards the Dark Area. What the ship was doing here she didn't bother to find out. The Falcomon had her own issues to deal with.
But it was only natural that Mukuroyukihime would meet her end so soon. After all, she lacked power in the first place. It was hard to survive against the constant thread of predators when you were at the bottom of the food chain.
She could the sense the Fangmon getting ever closer, and Mukuroyukihime lost her balance and fell over. Perhaps getting a chunk of your stomach bitten off was a bit more devastating than she had initially thought. Or maybe Mukuroyukihime was truly that weak. Probably a good deal of both, in all honesty.
Everything after that was a blur to the Falcomon. Her vision was nearly entirely black, and she could only rely on her other senses as she slowly accepted her fate and passed out. The approaching footsteps of a four-legged beast, as well as a terrifying stench that threatened to awaken the ninja birb if she weren't in such critical condition. When a howling yelp of the Fangmon, the sound of a four-legged beast running away. Then she experienced the soft touch of a warm pelt of fur and a hushed, quieted voice.
"You're not looking so good... but I think there may be something I can do. If it doesn't work out, though... well... I guess you'd be dead, either way. So... here's hoping it goes well..."
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Nanami Hanabana
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OOC Name: searoads
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Post by Nanami Hanabana on Jul 13, 2022 6:38:23 GMT
"You're a failure..."
A single voice whispered within the darkness of Mukuroyukihime's mind, as the bird Digimon began to come to.
"Wh-what...?" She groaned. She started to stir, but felt a terrifying agony at her side. She stifled her urge to scream and laid still until her suffering ebbed away to acceptable levels. She had noticed bandages wrapped around her torso. Someone had treated her.
"A failure..." The voice repeated. Mukuroyukihime opened her eyes, and slowly, and carefully sat up. She was in small cavern by the looks of it. Ragged rugs of various patters lay across the floor, while Mukuroyukihime found herself elevated atop a pile of thick rugs. There wasn't anything else that seemed interesting, however. A couple of buckets with food and water in them, and a small firepit in the center. But even so, Mukuroyukihime thought that there was something off.
Just out of range of the corner of her eye, Mukuroyukihime felt that there was a presence watching her. A pair of eyes that seemingly vanished into the shadows whenever she would spot them. Yet as she reached out to her other senses she didn't detect anything. By all accounts, there was nothing there, yet Mukuroyukihime decided to trust her instincts. "What do you mean that?" She asked as boldly as her tired voice would allow.
There was a long pause, and Mukuroyukihime had begun to wonder if she were hearing things, until finally she heard a response. "I've delved into your heart... You abandoned your home in order to protect the life a complete stranger that protected yours... someone you care deeply for, yet this someone special to you doesn't reciprocate your feelings..."
Even within the small cavern, Mukuroyukihime couldn't detect where this voice was coming from. It was like a surround sound, yet she heard nothing at all. Mukuroyukihime closed her eyes, slowed her breathing and focused on her surroundings. But perhaps it would be best if she let this creature talk. She answered, "Every action begets consequences. It is a cost of following your heart. I will not regret this."
"And your so-called lack of regret has brought you to this land..." The voice replied with an almost mocking tone. "You would willingly harm the one you love by abandoning them, because you were too much of a failure to protect them."
"I will not deny that much," Mukuroyukihime admitted, slumping just a bit. "I am well aware of my weakness. But I do not see how any of this is your concern."
"You're a failure..." The voice repeated. "But... I just as much a failure as you are... You seek strength, while I seek a home to use my strength."
"...What do you mean by that?" Mukuroyukihime asked the faceless voice. She tensed up as she began to sense someone approaching. She prepared a feathered dagger, just in case. "What are your intentions?"
"This is not the place for that... Seek me out. Follow the shadows beyond what your eyes can't see..." Mukuroyukihime heard a footstep as she immediately tossed her dagger which as much might as she could muster. She opened her eyes to see a violet-furred fox Digimon glaring back at her, giving Mukuroyukihime an irritated stare as one of her feathered daggers stuck cleanly out of her forehead.
"Just my luck..." She muttered in a voice unfamiliar to Mukuroyukihime. Louder, and after a long sigh, she exclaimed, "Glad to see you up and about. You can call me Kumi."
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Nanami Hanabana
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Post by Nanami Hanabana on Jul 13, 2022 7:36:49 GMT
One awkwardly-worded apology later, Mukuroyukihime and Kumi sat down to break bread. Moldy bread, with a side of what seemed to be mostly rotten vegetables. It was, in all honesty, atrocious, but Mukuroyukihime wouldn't dare to say so after assaulting her upon meeting her. Though she had to wonder why she was able to make friends with people she's stabbed. Especially in a place like this.
"Mukuroyukihime, huh? Man, your friends must hate having to say all that..." Kumi dryly mentioned.
"Well... I suppose that is probably more true than ever, now..." Mukuroyukihime admitted, her eyes downcast on the awful-looking rugs on the cavern floor. There was a bit of a long pause after that.
"Let's see..." Kumi noted after a long lull in the conversation. "You attacked me on pure accident, then apologized profusely. And you were running around being chased by wild Digimon like a lost babe. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that you're not from around here. The Dark Area, I mean."
Mukuroyukihime nodded. "That would be correct. I was raised in a small village near Cipher Jungle, to be precise."
"That so? I'm from the South, myself," Kumi responded in kind. "Small island in the Binary called Wihnset. Ever hear of it?"
"I am afraid that I have not. I apologize."
Kumi smiled in return, shrugging. "Not many have. The people can be a bit eccentric sometimes. It's a pretty intense place for outsiders."
"I see. If you are like me and come from... somewhere else, why did you...?"
"I could ask the same of you!" She interrupted, letting off a forced laugh before her expression saddened just a bit. "Let's just say... the hermit life befits me. I tend not to play along well with others, and every other time it's the other way around."
Mukuroyukihime nodded, and gently placed her hand on her bandaged side. "Then I suppose that I should be grateful you were feeling sociable on this day?"
"Wanting not to be bothered by others, and not bothering to help someone in need are two things entirely," She responded, shaking her head and taking a large gulp of particularly foul-tasting stew. "Besides, I can't be a hermit if there's no one around to avoid, right? I'd just be... some Digimon in a cave."
Mukuroyukihime stared blankly at Kumi for a brief period before answering. "I... I do not think that I can fully comprehend your line of thinking, but... I am grateful for my life, nonetheless."
"It's no problem at all!" She answered cheerfully. "Now eat up! I know it smells gross but it's still good for you. Nothing I ever cook ever turns out tasting quite right, but at the very least it's healthy and edible... usually."
"I... I understand..." Mukuroyukihime nodded, scooping up as much of the foul-smelling stew as she could with her moldy bread. She doubted Kumi's vouch for her cooking, but she wasn't in a place to argue, and she did need to keep her energy up. "Thank you for the meal..."
One gut-wrenching meal later, and Kumi put Mukuroyukihime back onto her pile of rugs.
"Feel free to rest as long as you need," She stated. "But the longer you stay here, the more likely things will go wrong, but I'll try to make your recovery as stable as possible."
"I am afraid I do not understand," Mukuroyukihime replied, leaning back onto the soft bedding prepared for her. She wondered if her upset stomach would even allow her any of her required respite.
"It's... kind of hard to explain. But just know that so long as you remain here, you'll be safe. I've set some wards around the general area. So long as there aren't any Digimon that have come looking for us, they'll likely stay away from here."
"I... I did not know that was possible..." Mukuroyukihime stated.
"It's part of the perks of being a hermit witch," Kumi joked, patting the Falcomon on the head before taking a section of the cavern to curl up in. "I'll have to do the same thing tomorrow, so you'll likely spend most of your time along in here. I don't have much in the way of entertainment, so you really won't have anything else to do other than rest."
"I understand," Mukuroyukihime acknowledged. "And thank you once again, Miss Kumi. For everything." But Mukuroyukihime wasn't planning on staying for very long. What did that voice in the darkness tell say?
"The shadows beyond what my eyes can't see..."
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Nanami Hanabana
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OOC Name: searoads
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Post by Nanami Hanabana on Jul 13, 2022 9:04:01 GMT
Two days later, Kumi had left to go... check on her wards, or whatever it was that she did, and Mukuroyukihime decided it was time to leave. She still wasn't sure what that strange shadowy voice meant, but sitting around wouldn't provide any solutions. She wasn't sure what had caused it, but Mukuroyukihime had recovered quickly enough that she was able to run, sticking to the shadows and avoiding any roaming Digimon. Most of them hadn't seemed very friendly, so she supposed that Kumi was the rare exception in such a terrifying land. But if Mukuroyukihime was going to thrive at all, then she needed to learn to survive on her own. Or else she'd simply fuel someone else's need for survival.
But that was simply the law of nature. Adapt, overcome, or perish. Mukuroyukihime had forgotten that law, having traveled so long with a frail human girl and her bunny partners. Yet thanks to their bonds, they were able to overcome the challenges they faced, Mukuroyukihime had learned to accept that she wasn't the same. Yet despite all her failures, being saved by Kumi had made Mukuroyukihime realize something about herself.
She didn't want to die. To die would be a disservice so all of the people to Lady Fujinakagamiya and Lady Hayatemurasaki, who had raised and trained her for so long. To Lady Nanami, Lady Cream, and even the brown one... to Mocha for saving her life and allowing her company. And of course, most recently to Kumi, who had gone out of her way in this dangerous land to rescue her.
Perhaps Mukuroyukihime may not have cared if her life was spent being of use to someone, but to simply die out here would be a waste of her pathetic life, that had to be saved and nurtured so many times. Mukuroyukihime needed to survive, and to become stronger. Even if she could never return home, and she could never face Lady Nanami ever again, Mukuroyukihime needed to become stronger so that no one would have to risk getting hurt in order to protect her ever again. So that... maybe one day... she could protect another.
Mukuroyukihime had no idea what this shadow that had creeped into her mind could offer her, but she had to at least find out. This creature was offering her something, and she couldn't afford to simply ignore it.
But... Mukuroyukihime was having issues trying to decipher whatever this shadow creature meant. "Follow the shadows beyond what your eyes can't see"? What was that supposed to even mean? What purpose did giving directions in the form of a riddle solve? How was she supposed to follow something that she couldn't see, and if she couldn't see them, how would she even be able to tell if they were shadows or not? The Falcomon groaned as she exerted every ounce of her admittedly limited intellect into this puzzle.
Her ninja training never prepared her to solve riddles! The young Falcomon wasn't prepared for such... tomfoolery! But perhaps... Perhaps she shouldn't even bother trying, then. Mukuroyukihime wasn't sure what it was, but she had sensed something when speaking with the shadowy presence. Perhaps if she could focus on that feeling. That unsettling feeling, that was both there and not there at the same time.
Mukuroyukihime closed her eyes as she tried to reach out her senses to their fullest, trying to find any sort of feeling at all. She could feel the cold ground beneath her talons, the chill that threatened to pierce through her feathers. She could sense the presence of other Digimon far away.
And... she could sense that shadowy presence once more. And even with her eyes closed, she envisioned a pale, yellow eye staring back at her. Mukuroyukihime screamed in shock as she opened her eyes once more, whipping out a pair of feathered daggers, scanning her surroundings only to find no one there. But if that presence she sensed wasn't in near her, then...
"You finally noticed..." The shadowy voice rang inside her head once more. "You can't sense me, because you're not accustomed to sensing yourself..."
"What is that...?" Mukuroyukihime closed her eyes as she allowed the yellow eye to stare back at her once more. "What do you mean by this?"
"It should be obvious by now," The voice answered. "You won't ever find me anywhere else but here. You and I... are now one and the same..."
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