Chapter Text
The sky looked pretty with a purplish blue hue amongst its stars and his eyes couldn’t help but stare at the moon up above, wondering if it contained the answers to all of his questions. Would he be able to save the people he cared about? Could he really be strong enough to be known throughout the world? Was there a reason that the ring on his finger, all black with the prettiest gem he’s ever seen, had been gifted to him only nights prior, shining as he held his hand up to the stars and scrutinized the piece of jewelry with cherrywood eyes.
It looked expensive, as if bought from a lavish kingdom and not a dingy old storefront from a merchant, and the clear cut stone in the middle was clearly as valuable as gold—shaped into the image of a rose quartz, he could see his reflection as if he was looking into a mirror. Pretty, like the twinkling stars in the sky. Hand falling back down to his side, he tried to ignore the way his boots crunched dead leaves under his weight, kicking up dust as he maneuvered his way down the dirt path, cloak dragging along behind him. He was almost glad that he could keep the hood up to obscure his face, exhaling lightly as a soft breeze blew up and ruffled up his bangs.
Quickly turning when the path began to be more green grass than dirt, his legs picked up in a jog before it was a full on sprint, dashing through trees and over fallen logs with his hands scraping the bark before slipping away. His feet skidded to a halt when his face nearly planted into the floor of a clearing—chest heaving as he gulped in air. Running was not his forte. Eyes scanning the vicinity, he caught sight of trees that stood tall enough to brush against the clouds, grass that looked as if it was glowing as the moon shone down on it, bushes that held berries and a red book with a golden tassel lying closed on the floor, ancient golden runes etched into the cover. Slowly, his feet walked forward, body tensing as he carefully made his way over, crouching down to brush his fingers along the etched over runes.
The grooves bumped against the pads of his fingers as he dragged them along the wording. Each rune stuck close together, different grooves forming as he went from one rune to the next, and just as he was about to exhale a sigh of relief—something snapped behind him and his head whirled around, neck protesting at the action when dark golden eyes peered at him from the darkness of the forest that surrounded the entire clearing.
Likewise, he snatched up the book and fell back on his butt with a muffled scream.
The eyes narrowed, comically almost, and then a quiet laugh slipped into the silence, only getting louder as the head of a staff, curled and wooden with a large red gem in the center, protruded into the light. “You don’t have to act surprised, you know,” a small voice broke through the silence, laughter ebbing away as the person made themselves visible. Their outfit looked atrocious, that stupidly large cape held together by too large golden clasps, the most hideous thing had to be their striped pants and he thinks if he looks at it any longer, he’ll puke. “You already know I was following you, wasn’t that why you ran, to get away?” The other boy comes closer, messy hair and two floating white orbs getting illuminated by the moonlight.
He wants to get up and run again, spit out curses and cause the ground to rise underneath his feet but his hands are shaking, his voice feels like it’ll crack if he so much as opens his mouth, and his fingers are curled into the grass in a pitiful attempt at self reassurance. The other couldn’t hurt him, wasn’t allowed to hurt him. “You can stay silent all you want.” Huffing, the sorcerer doesn’t waste time in stomping his foot on the floor, the earth shaking underneath them as a chair of wood rose from the dirt, a stump of a tree was what it really was, and he had taken a seat with no qualms, legs crossed over one another and leaning on his staff. It looks too big for him, cherrywood eyes are following his every move. “Not that it’s going to help your case here, tell me, why do you think I followed here anyways? Surely it wasn’t to gloat about my magic and pull you into my hands, right?”
The honest answer makes him want to puke even more than the atrocious outfit in front of him. Hugging the book to his chest, he chewed on the inside of his lip as he scooted as far as possible. “After all,” the sorcerer continued even with his everlasting silence, “a powerful sorcerer like you doesn’t even need the likes of me, isn’t that right, Mitsuba-chan?” Hearing his name come out of the boy’s mouth makes goosebumps rise up on his skin, a chill going down his bones as he tried to stumble to his feet only to squawk when they wouldn’t budge no matter how much he tugged. “Ah, ah, I took some precautions to make sure we could have this talk, I can’t have you running away from me now!” There’s grass tied around his ankles, thick and tightening with each move he makes, Mitsuba finally decides to use his voice.
“A-asshole!” The word quivers in the air as he spits, “you’re nothing but a perverted magician who likes making things difficult for no reason!” Their brows shoot up, eyes widening as their grip on the staff tightens. Mitsuba gulps, feels his heart beating in his ears as they frown at him.
“That’s not so nice you know, cursing me out like that,” the so called magician gives a sigh, shaking his head in the process, “do you really think that lowly of me that I’m not even a sorcerer to you?” His orbs float around him, bobbing in the air as Mitsuba shivers and uses both arms to hug the runes book to his chest.
Hanako was vile, twisted, the very epitome of demonic in every sense of the word, and yet—here he was, staring Mitsuba down and smiling with perfect pearly white teeth. His outfit looks atrocious, his actions even more so. “I know you’re lowly,” he hisses despite the tremble in his voice, “you gather up this group of yours to fight off demons and get money, a dumb knight with a lame fashion sense, a girl who has a weird pet bunny and can’t even swing her sword right—” he forgoes mentioning the abnormally large ankles she has, Hanako’s gleaming eyes at his description of his supposed heroine was enough to make his skin crawl, “—and then you decide it’s not enough because you’re a greedy bastard and now I’m here and your rag tag group of demon hunters is all complete, huh?”
Mitsuba doesn’t know where he gets the confidence to spit out such words but Hanako seems to enjoy seeing him seethe silently underneath his gaze. Eyes glinting under the light of the moon, he smiles when Mitsuba hunches up his shoulders and tries to scowl despite his predicament. “Bold words for someone who's stuck,” Hanako muses, twirling the staff to and fro as he tapped his horrendous looking boot on the floor. Seriously, couldn’t he have picked a better outfit? “They wound me so, don’t you care that you probably hurt my feelings?” Mitsuba doesn’t think he does, not really, but the odd sorcerer before him has glinting eyes and a serpent’s mouth and he doesn’t want to eat the apple from the tree of knowledge, even if it granted him access to all the questions he wanted to have answered.
“Leave me alone,” he feels the words leave his mouth in a rush of air, “I know what you want and why you picked me out of all the sorcerers and sorceresses that were around, I’m not dumb , Hanako.” He may be a bit of a coward with only one friend willing to defend his pompous behavior (the earring they have is lame , their cape looks gross ) but he wasn’t gullible, or stupid, or whatever manner of low IQ that Hanako thought he was, and while breaking free of the grass ropes tying him down was not an option, flipping open the book and staring down at the language scribbled all over the white pages was. It glows with a fervor, runes lighting up as he holds his head up and upturned his nose. “Do what you want, I’ll never stoop to the likes of you.”
Hanako laughs just as he expects him to, Hanako stands up and twirls around with a snicker and eyes glinting like a predator that has finally spotted its prey. “Silly, silly, Mitsuba-chan,” he tutted, shaking his head in disapproval, “for the sake of your friend and that girl striving to protect the innocent, I’m afraid you have no choice.” The moon shines up above, surrounded by twinkling stars as the sorcerer with a serpent’s tongue begins to retreat back into the forest, his last few words only an echo of the wind.
“Remember to come back for supper soon.” A side glance makes Mitsuba shiver at those glinting golden eyes, bright and narrowed with a smile of pearly white teeth, “I wouldn’t want everyone to worry, after all.”
His body disappears into the shadows and Mitsuba breathes a quiet sigh when the tightening on his ankles loosens up and the ropes tying him down disappear into the soil. Stretching his legs out, the boy flops down on his back, exhaling quietly as the sky meets his gaze.
He had a lot of explaining to do when he got back to camp.