Chapter Text
The first time you heard the rumor of the mysterious Pig Demon, you laughed so hard your sides hurt and then shooed the children away, telling them to go back to their chores with watering eyes. It was the most ridiculous story you had ever heard in your life: a creature wearing fur-lined pants and no shirt, with a muscular human torso, and the head of a silver blue-eyed boar. That dual-wielded Nichirin swords. And talked, mostly in swears . You were sure your drunkard uncle had been telling weird stories to scare the village children away from the forest again.
It wasn’t the first time he had gone too far in his mission; 4 years ago the man had lost his only daughter to a man-eating demon, and since that night he had never been quite the same, fearful and suspicious and prone to dark muttering. It hurt to see him this way. Your uncle was a good man deep down, and when he wasn’t lost to the bottle he took great joy in teaching card games to the local children that liked to tease him after his hangovers. He feared for their safety more than anything else- and if he had any purpose in life now, it was to warn the young ones away from the forest’s hidden evils. You promised their parents you would have a word with him about toning down his tales, and made a mental note to be as gentle about the subject as you possibly could. His heart was in the right place after all.
But the rumors persisted long after your lecture, and the children were becoming inconsolable. They spoke of the pig-headed monster roaming in the nearby the evergreen forests as if they had seen it themselves, and they swore there was dried blood on the serrated blades it held. A little girl in a pink kimono clung to your leg one autumn day with tears in her eyes as she babbled incoherently about spotting the beast lurking through the trees just beyond her family’s crop field. She whimpered even when you soothed her and brushed the tears from her tiny face. Your uncle’s stories never did this kind of harm; he never made a child cry no matter what awful things he told them.
That had been the final straw.
You were by no means an intimidating figure; at 16 years old, the axe you carried was clearly built for your father and you struggled to swing it for too long. The village women often whispered about you in hushed tones and worried over whether you would ever find a husband with your brutish habits, despairing over your dirty fingernails. ‘Let birds chatter’ was your personal motto. You knew the death of your little cousin was by the hands of demons, that no one was truly safe when in a world where demons must feed, and so you knew one would never catch you unprepared again. The blade you wielded was covered in poison made from wisteria flowers. No demon would ever take a life from this village again without a fight, and you were ready to fight to the end.
The sun sank low in the sky when you began your vigil. Along your hip you carried a flask of wisteria poison, as well as several small throwing kunai you had bought on your own coin. The village elders had refused to take the sightings of the Boar Demon seriously- no demon they ever heard of had wielded Nichirin swords, and nor did they wear boar’s heads, they reminded you with dry smiles. You felt stupid standing before their counsel, but you held firm, determined to get to the bottom of the situation for the children’s sake at the very least.
The moon rose full over the pine trees, the pale blue light bright and eerie as it illuminated twisted shadows along the dead leaves of the forest floor. You took care to step quietly, hand at the wooden hilt of your axe at all times, your breathing soft and inaudible just as you practiced. The forest was alive all around you. A silent owl rose from a nearby tree and glided away to hunt. Something scurried from the underbrush far ahead, maybe field mice. It brought your attention to footprints left in the sandy soil, winding along the forest path just as you were and leading on. Someone had been here, maybe even recently.
Did the children say if the Boar Demon wore shoes? A lump caught in your throat, somewhat unsettled and mostly amused at yourself. It wore pants, if rumors were to be believed. You shook your head of silly thoughts and doubled down on following the tracks; whatever had been here left tracks clearly made by heavy, careless, stomping footfalls, and they circled erratically all over the forest like an animal in pursuit of chasing down prey. Some of the higher hanging branches of bushes and shrubs were mangled, while the trunks of trees were occasionally shredded of bark and you noticed slashing cuts deep into the wood. The path of destruction disturbed you. Demons didn’t have much interest in attacking anything but humans, as far as you knew. Why would one bother hacking away at foliage? The image of some kind of wild animal stalking you from afar became alarmingly clear in your head. You walked for nearly two miles, stopping more and more frequently to listen for any oncoming sounds. The crickets had stopped chirping nearly an hour ago, and there were no longer sounds of frogs croaking or nocturnal birds carried in the wind. All had fallen silent. Almost, you realized, as if in hiding from something.
A clearing formed in the trees, and that’s when you finally came upon the ruins of a camp beneath a great fir tree. The tracks you followed circled its base but were too messy and overlapped to follow elsewhere. Burnt ashes and twigs smoldered in a little pit dug in the sand- a fire had been lit here, and not too long ago judging by the flickers of dying embers. Your heart hammered in your chest as you tightened your hold on the handle of your axe. Was it abandoned? There was no sign of a sleeping area or personal belongings. Brushing your hair behind your ears, you strained to listen for a single sound. The night was dark and still.
That’s when you heard it.
Breathing. Ragged, raspy breathing.
Somewhere nearby and yet impossible to pinpoint, something large was breathing- loud. You swung your head around blindly, scanning the dark forest around you with terror building in your chest. Something was undeniably here with you, and you had no idea where or even what it was. Your back fell against the tree, pulling out your axe with shaking hands as you forced yourself into a guard stance.
Stupid, so stupid, you scolded yourself in despair, mind reeling and hopeless in the dark. Did you really think you could protect anyone? What did you hope to accomplish by coming out here by yourself and playing swordsman? You can barely defend yourself, let alone stop a demon. That thing will pounce on you any minute now and then it will be all over. Your uncle was right. Tears formed in the corner of your eyes, and you wanted desperately to rub them away, trembling instead in helpless frustration, loathing the terror that made your pulse batter against your skin. Who will look after him now? You stupid, stupid-
“OY.”
As a deafening crack from the branches above froze your blood, you craned your neck just in time to see something huge and black hurtling down at you as it threw itself out of the tree. You screamed, axe swinging wildly with all your might, whistling sharp through empty air. The black shadow grunted from deep in its throat and then twisted away from the arc of your blade with almost boneless ease. Before you could react it landed on the ground with a crash, still on its feet, staggering and oddly bent at the waist. It was barely human, a beast on two legs, and white jets of steam blew out of its snout as it stared at you from the shadows. You readied your axe with an inarticulate cry, and then it charged straight at you.
Laughing .
“Kuhkukukuk...krrrrruhahaHAHaHaHA!!!” It laughed maniacally, inhuman, a living nightmare that roared in delight at your fear.
“No!” You cried in horror. The thing was on you in seconds, with two strong arms already grappling to pry the axe from your hands. You struggled against its massive pull with every bit of your power. “I’ll- I’ll kill you! I swear it! I won’t let you kill anyone…! You’ll starve before I let you, y-you hear me?! I’ll break every single one of your teeth! I’ll- I’ll-“
The axe was ripped from your hands regardless, and then it was soaring into the air over the creature’s shoulder as it tossed it aside with eass. You roared in fury. The will to live had overcome you at that moment, the instinct so desperate that you resorted to clawing and kicking and scratching with all that you had, fighting without thought, your nails digging into the bare chest of the demon until it growled in pain. The moonlight shifted from beneath the clouds; you realized with sickening revulsion that all of the children’s stories were true: the monster before you was a hulking beast with the body of a man and the head of a boar. Its manic, bulging blue eyes caught the glint of moonlight and glowed like hellfire. It was close enough to feel its hot breath on your face, the ragged, raspy breathing of a primal animal, the senseless guttural screams it made when you clawed into its skin and drew blood. It was real. Your heart was a war drum; your blood raged like the sea. You would not surrender.
The Boar Demon was furious as it took the bulk of your assault, roaring strange insults and waiting for a break in your movement before one appeared: in one instant it finally locked hold of your wrists and pinned them against the fir tree’s trunk, hard. You kicked wildly at its chest, satisfied with a sharp blow to its side that nearly took its breath away, but it recovered and its knees dug themselves into yours, caging you against its body. All you could do was thrash, and scream.
“ AAARGH ! ARE YOU FUCKING DONE YET, YOU CRAZED BITCH?” The voice that suddenly snarled through the boar’s head was choking with rage. “RELAX ALREADY AND I’LL LET YOU G- OY! WHAT DID I JUST SAY?! WOULD YOU- UGH , FUCKING- HEY - NGH, STOP IT- ENOUGH!”
Your breath came out in heaves, lungs burning for air as you spat out words of hatred between your violent flailing. “I’ll never stop, you worthless demon! I’ll kill you! I’ll never let you go! I’ll kill you if it’s the last thing I do, I’ll never let you feed on my family again, never-“
“ARE YOU STUPID? LOOK AT ME. DO I REALLY LOOK LIKE A DEMON TO YOU, YOU MORON?” You thrashed in response, and the Boar Demon snorted in frustration, clearly sick of your struggling. “I’D SHOW YOU, IF YOU WERE SMART ENOUGH TO STAY STILL FOR A MINUTE! JUST- I SAID STOP ALREADY, YOU LITTLE-“
You spat- silver and wet, it slid down the Boar’s fur. You were smirking, blood dripping from the corner of your lip, eyes ablaze. Feral. The Boar Demon hissed. Its body quaked in fury.
There was no reasoning with you- and the beast had long reached its limit. The grip on your wrists tightened painfully; any more and your bones would break. You realized the game was ending and the cards were out of your hands.
“FUCK IT! YOU ASKED FOR IT, THEN!”
The Boar Demon’s head lurched backwards- what the- and then cracked down against your own in one swift motion that forced the back of your skull to smack against the tree behind you. Stars of light blinded you; in a daze, you felt yourself slowly falling, and from somewhere you could hear the ugly cursing of the demon growing further and further away, almost like it was calling out to you. Your eyes looked upwards without seeing, searching for the moon one last time before the shadows overtook your vision and the world fell away.
I’m done for , you thought lazily. You were detached from the pain; the darkness was soft and inviting, and you were so tired. The monster was real. But who will tell the children they were right?
Then, nothing.
The first sensations you felt were slow, pleasant. Crickets chirping. Something crackling. But most of all, you were warm, so warm. Your face felt hot. Was someone there? You remembered the night your house went up in flames. Your voice felt rusty; groggily, you cried the word Mother , imagining the smoke filling your lungs until they stung, the red blaze that burned away everything you had ever known bright behind your eyes. Mother . No one responded, and a cold chill down your spine made you shiver.
Something touched your shoulder, a soft pressure. You flinched. Vaguely aware of it remaining there, you were scared and yet oddly comforted- a sense of being watched over, of not being alone anymore. Time passed without meaning until something was eventually laid over you.
Warm. You smiled and fell further into sleep.
You awoke to the sound of birds and the feeling of your back aching. Wrong . Your head pounded with an ugly pain. Boar. Boar’s head . The thought meant nothing to you until your memories came rushing back, and with a sudden jolt of adrenaline you tried to wrench your body up before falling heavily back to the ground. Your eyes darted all around to take in your surroundings like a hunted animal.
The sun hadn’t risen yet; the sky peeking through the treetops was soft blue to black as the final stars receded to the west. Your body was resting in a pile of leaves (quite a few were still stuck in your hair, to your dismay), and you noticed a fire pit nearby with the embers inside glowing faintly red beneath gray ash. You were still here. Alive.
Against the fir tree’s trunk, your eyes widened in alarm at the sight of the Boar Demon- backed against the tree, the monster rested its hideous head against its knees that bent up toward its chest (covered in dried, bloody scratches)- in relief you noticed that it rose and fell with steady breaths. Asleep. Your hands tried to fly to your belt before a shot of pain halted your attempt. Your wrists were tied together. You were restrained by a length of thick, knotted rope. You wiggled in irritation at the bindings, gnawing at them savagely as you tried to escape from the scratchy blanket and jacket wrapped around you.
The dead leaves beneath you rustled as you moved. What if I wake it up ? You realized in dread that you had no answer to this; your axe was nowhere to be seen and your hands were tied. The creature sleeping peacefully nearby had taken the time to protect itself, though it hadn’t used its perfect opportunity to eat you alive. This was worrying in its own right, but altogether impossible for a demon. You stared at it in hopes something would eventually make sense.
It was large, tall but not much so than you, you realized- in the light of day, the boar’s head it wore was clearly just some kind of mask above an oddly mesmerizing neck. Its body was muscular but by no means otherworldly, and it was clearly some kind of man by its shape and proportions, probably young, maybe even your age. Your eyes traced over the patterns of scars along its arms and trailing over its pale chest, but your recent handiwork stuck out vibrantly- your nails had cut deep angry lines into its skin, and several of the wounds looked to have only just stopped bleeding.
Your inhaled sharply out of guilt. Human. He’s human. No demon would still have those wounds. It was said that demons had supernatural healing abilities, so powerful that even a lethal sword strike to vital organs could stitch itself together in minutes, and inexhaustible- their bodies were simply beyond humans in regenerative abilities. Superficial cuts like the ones you had left were nothing to a real demon.
He told me so, I guess. He’s no demon, but I’m definitely a fool... The blanket around your body had kept your warm during the night, and the morning was cold enough to frost the autumn grass- yet he wore nothing to cover himself but his boar’s head and pants. You stared at him in bewilderment, this odd and frankly terrifying stranger more beast than man, kind enough to leave you alive and yet more than happy to greet your challenge.
What should I even do in this situation? You wondered helplessly. Beyond your view, birds greeted the morning in a growing chorus, and the sun broke over the horizon.
The Boar Man grumbled to himself in his strange, raspy voice, startling you, and then after a moment yawned suddenly with all his strength as if awake all at once, stretching his arms over his head casually as he began to sit up. He apparently took no notice of you watching him, content to itch at his pantleg and kick a stray leaf off of his sandals, his boar face staring serenely into the morning forest as if content with himself.
“Um.” You managed to speak, though far more timid than you had hoped to sound.
“Tch!”
The Boar Man leapt to his feet in an instant, and in a hurricane of movement he was in front of you and pointing a serrated Nichirin sword at your face. He was burning with energy, alert and taught like a wild animal ready to strike. You blinked at him quietly and waited for him to remember your bindings. The moment stretched into an eternity.
“Ha? Oh! S’just you,” he said at last, looking down at you and sounding uncertain, as if he only vaguely remembered you at all. You were just as incredulous. He seriously forgot about me... ?
After a little thought, your memory must have resurfaced to him- his voice became guttural as it rose suddenly, booming with indignant rage. “So you’re finally awake! A lot of trouble you caused me, and for what, ahn?! Stomping into my camp, picking a fight- did you want to die?! I haven’t forgiven you yet, so don’t think you’re out of our fight, you madwoman! You’re lucky I took pity on you. You woulda been eaten up by those demon bastards out here. ‘Got the temper of one.” You could almost see the sneer from beneath his mask.
Is this guy serious? He didn’t even remember I existed a second ago, and now he’s all fired up again…! “I, um...I was wrong to call you a demon, and strike at you. I’m sorry.” Your words were slow and reluctant, unable to sound any more sincere as you struggled to grasp the bizarre man with a hairpin temper. “But your face has been scaring the children from Hakamo Village, and I’m the only one who agreed to investigate what you’re doing here. So...untie me, and I promise I’ll tend to your cuts in exchange for you coming to explain you’re not a threat to my people.”
Your words were like fuel to a fire- with a snort of irritation, the strange man crouched over you as if provoked. “Ahnnn?! You make demands after you’re the one tied up- the hell?! I won’t listen to a thing you say, and no way am I going anywhere near your nasty village. I’m no prisoner. You’re the one who’s in trouble here, idiot!”
You glared up at the lunatic blue eyes of the boar head, willing away your urge argue and failing spectacularly. His loud voice was already giving you a headache- you hated it. “You’re the one who surprised me! Who even jumps out of trees at people like that?! You were some kind of freakish monster in the dark, it’s not my fault I defended myself!”
The Boar Man laughed at that, cackling with the sharp, bark-like noises of a madman. “Hah! You were terrified. You should’ve seen your face! Like a little baby lost in the woods. You’re real vicious, for a woman. I’ll give you that. I thought you’d cry and run away. What’s your problem? I didn’t do anything but hop down after you made all that noise coming to find me.”
Your face flushed. “Noise? How! I was silent- you didn’t even know I was hunting you,” you sputtered, but he was already boasting to himself, his chest puffed in pride.
“In your dreams! I sensed you from the beginning! Ha! You better respect my power before you start asking for another beatdown. I knew you were chasing me from the moment you started kicking up pine needles everywhere with your giant gorilla feet. No way you ever were gonna surprise me with that racket!” His laughter drowned out his words, mocking you gleefully as you tried to kick at him from the ground.Your cheeks burned, your wrath venomous, and your pride on the line as you frantically swiped at his legs. It was futile.
He turned his back on you after you shouted a flurry of curses, completely content to ignore you for the rest of the morning while he sharpened his swords with a whetstone. His boar’s head bobbled in delight with laughter at your insults, though a few times you could tell you got under his skin; his neck tended to flush when you mocked his height or his swords, and this became a game of its own, riling him up so that he dropped his weapons and made threatening gestures at you as if tempted to brawl. You refused to play nice- never to that brute.
But hunger panged a little after the sun had risen high in the sky, and when you realized there really was no reasoning with your captor, it was time to swallow your pride. You forced yourself to be humble.
“Look.” You tried again, tense and unwilling to look at him (you really would snap if you saw his stupid, gloating pigface, no matter how dire you knew your situation to be). “Can you just let me go already? I won’t bother you anymore. C’mon. I have family waiting, and I’m the one who cooks in my household. They’re waiting for me.”
This must’ve piqued his interest; the boar’s head was still turned away from you, but his hands had stopped from polishing his blades. “Cooking, uhn? I hope you cook better than you fight.” More cackling.
ASSHOLE, you wanted to scream. You bit your inner cheek and smiled weakly instead. “I...do. You can have some, if you let me go. I need to go home. You’ve beaten me. Please.”
The boar looked over, and there was an unmistakable glint of something in those dead blue eyes. “What food, then? Meat? Tempura?”
Your smile was twitching with murderous intent. Poison if you keep it up. “Whatever you want! I’ll feed you. Just untie me already and we have a deal.”
He came closer on all fours, crouching over your head to stare down at you with suspicious caution. “Finally tame, huh? Get it straight though- any funny business and I’ll have you pinned down and tied up again. I’m way too strong for you to ever take on. Admit it and let’s get going already. I want shrimp tempura...a lot of it!”
The ego of this damned boar for brains
…! You regretted ever bothering to seek put the myth of the Boar Man, and never more so when he bickered with you all the way back to your village. Maybe a demon would have been better, after all.