Chapter Text
Amazing Artwork by arcprz
The fading sunlight filtered through the trees, casting long, dancing shadows over the moss-covered ground. Higurashi Kagome hadn’t realized how far she had hiked into the forest until she looked up at the sun, and saw that it was lowering in the sky much faster than she thought that it would be. She needed to hurry back to the trail, so she could return to her cabin before nightfall.
She sighed, her feet making crunching sounds as her hiking boots met the sticks and rocks that littered the forest floor. A quick look at her phone told her she had about an hour until sunset; she’d already hiked close to six hours that day, and would have to pick up her pace if she wanted to meet her goal of reaching the trailhead before nightfall. She had been stupid, getting so lost in the beauty of the day: the twin waterfalls at Ryuzu, the picturesque foliage on Mt. Nantai and the sparkling blue waters of Lake Chūzenji...Kagome’s hike had been exhaustive, taking in all that Nikko National Park had to offer, but now, all she wanted to do was get back to her cabin, make herself a nice pot of ramen, and curl up with a good book in front of the fire.
It had been a long, and grueling semester for her, marking the end of her first year of her PhD program in history. Kagome had a tradition of celebrating the end of the school year with a trip to a national park, where she would spend a few days alone, communing with nature, meditating, doing yoga with the sunrise. Reading. Maybe doing a little art. Things that she lost when she was buried under all her semester work.
This was her first time at Nikko, and so far, she was enjoying herself; the trails were easily marked, and even though today she’d ventured off it a bit on her way back, she could easily follow the direction she needed to go thanks to the clear line of sight she had to the sun. And now that it was setting, she knew to keep it to her right, to continue heading south, back to the trail, and back to her cabin.
Because while Kagome didn’t want to be caught out in the forest after dark, she definitely did not want to be caught in this particular forest.
She’d heard the rumors. That the forest off the trail was haunted. That the entire park was haunted. That her cabin was haunted. Not that Kagome believed them, of course. Ghosts didn’t exist, and ghosts definitely would not find her interesting. She was just a graduate student, living off her stipend, enjoying a few days of relaxation before she had to return to the grind of her research and her writing.
But here, in the lengthening shadows that were the mark of a forest at dusk, Kagome couldn’t help but shiver. She couldn’t help but quicken her step. She couldn’t help but…
Listen to her stomach grumble.
Also because, in her hurry, Kagome had forgotten to eat. For several hours, from the feeling of emptiness in her belly.
It would only take a moment. Kagome would just stop, get a bite to eat from her bag, and eat it on the way.
A quick dip into her pack resulted in Kagome locating a granola bar. Her face broke out into a wide smile of relief, even as her stomach rumbled its appreciation. Quickly, she unwrapped it, and as she walked, she began to devour it. In a few bites, the entire bar was gone, and Kagome was momentarily sated.
She could do this.
She could get back.
She could find her way to the trailhead.
To her cabin, where a hot dinner and a hot bath awaited her.
In her enthusiasm, while she was thinking about what she planned to put in her ramen, her hands began to pump in time with her steps. She was so anxious to reach the trailhead that she didn’t notice the way that the wrapper rustled against her fingertip, or how, when a gentle breeze brushed over her, and she reached up to tighten her ponytail, the granola bar wrapper—the one she had been holding in her hand the whole time, dropped from her fingers, and drifted slowly to the forest floor.
Kagome didn’t notice the granola bar wrapper crinkle and catch the last rays of the sun, but someone else did.
A pair of red eyes, which had been following her for several kilometers now.
Because they thought she was cute, and were a little bit worried that she was a single woman, hiking alone in their woods.
But now, that she had dropped this wrapper?
How dare she.
The owner of the eyes dropped down from his tree, grabbed the wrapper, and gave it a long, deep sniff.
Oats, and chocolate, and…
Vanilla, and jasmine.
Fresh, and clean, and…
How dare she.
He could not let her delicious scent get in the way— no . It would help him stay on track, help him follow her back to wherever she was staying, help him…
Help him make her pay.
For littering in his forest.
For deigning to not carry out what she carried in.
No...what she had done...no matter how beautiful she was, no matter how she made his heart thud so hard it was about to burst out of his chest…
She had disobeyed the rules of the forest.
And, as such, he was going to make her pay.
Two hours later, Kagome finally unlocked the door to her small, two-room cabin a ways down from the main road in and out of that part of the park. She had hiked much farther than she had intended, and as such, had really needed to pick up the pace in order to not return home too late. It was already dark, and she’d had to use the flashlight on her phone to guide her the last half-kilometer or so.
But, she had returned to her warm, cozy, inviting cabin, with its overstuffed sofa and big fireplace. Kagome entered, untied her boots and kicked them off, then took a moment to just be.
She was there. She was safe. She had made it back.
Her first order of business was to use the bathroom. Her second was to build a fire, where she stood for a long moment once it was roaring, holding out her hands and allowing the warmth to cover her like a weighted blanket. When she felt properly restored, she went into the small galley kitchen and got out the ingredients for ramen.
Kagome hummed while she worked, cooking the egg, chopping the vegetables, cooking the noodles, putting it all together. Her hands warmed first from the constant motions of chopping, stirring, and seasoning, and before she knew it, she was heated up all the way through, like she had just eaten a bowl herself.
It was a simple, yet delicious meal, one that Kagome enjoyed.
Her bath was equally simple: the cabin had a modern bath, complete with a temperature gauge, and Kagome added some of the salts she had brought from home, making the water pop and fizzle as it poured into the tub. The water lapped at her muscles and wrapped her up, Kagome sinking into its heat gratefully. She closed her eyes, leaned her head back, and, for the first time that day, was completely silent and completely still.
Even though she was not alone.
Even though, through the windows of the cabin, the red eyes had found her and continued to watch her, closely.
Kagome’s bath left her tired, her body succumbing to the warm heat of the water, to the exhaustion of the day. She had planned to read, had planned to play some music, but she just could not stop yawning, and so, she changed into her pajamas and crawled, gratefully, into her bed.
Her eyes closed as soon as she hit the pillow. Her breathing became regular shortly thereafter.
Through it all—through her dinner, through her bath, through her getting ready for bed—the eyes watched. Because the eyes were sharp, and careful, and patient.
But this time, the eyes saw that she was alone, and vulnerable, and it was nearly time to strike.
They said the park was haunted.
They said it was haunted by ghosts.
They said that those ghosts roamed the hillside, the lake, and the forests themselves.
How long those rumors had persisted, no one could really be sure. And most simply ignored the rumors, or stayed out of the forest altogether.
But see, that’s the thing about rumors. They often have some grain of truth to them.
The rumors that Higurashi Kagome had heard about Nikko National Park were true.
And tonight, Kagome was going to find out just how true they really were.
He had snuck up on her slowly, carefully: a big cat stalking its prey. She’d been easy to follow, so easy, with her hiking boots and the little tune that she hummed as she moved through the forest with some skill. (Only some, because damn, she was noisy!) He’d managed to follow her back to her cabin, the granola wrapper still clutched in his clawed hand.
Every step that he’d taken had filled him with more and more rage. Every step reminded him that she had come into his forest, and that she had violated the contract between the humans and the creatures of the forest.
Every step reminded him that she had dropped a granola wrapper in the forest—in his forest—and now, this lovely young woman, who smelled of vanilla, and jasmine…
Would pay.
He needed to show her.
He needed to stop her.
Would she do it again tomorrow? Would she litter? Would she defile the forest some more?
He couldn’t even begin to think about what that might look like—his body twisted and recoiled and burned with a rage reserved only for the most vicious of violators.
He watched at the window; he listened at the door.
And, when he was sure that she was asleep, he entered.