Chapter Text
Author's Notes:
Welcome to this new story, a spin-off (or something like that) of my other fanfic, "Flying on the Wind." Although that other story focused primarily on Ayaka and Kazuha, the truth is that Itto and Sara also played essential roles, and I wanted to explore them further. From that desire, this other project was born: a parallel story (set slightly later) to "Flying on the Wind," focused entirely on Itto and Sara, both on their individual development and their relationship. You'll see some events already shown in the other fanfic, but from their perspective, as well as new scenes centered on the two of them.
This might raise a valid question: Do you need to read "Flying on the Wind" before reading this story? Absolutely not, as this story stands alone. In it, I'll explain everything you need to know about the main characters and the main plot. However, if you haven't read the other story, you might notice some subplots happening in the background (mainly involving Ayaka and Kazuha). Still, these don't affect the understanding of everything.
Another question that might arise is: If I've already read "Flying with the Wind," is this story worth reading? Well, it depends. Honestly, this story will be more geared towards fans of Itto, Sara, and their dynamic. It doesn't add any crucial information to the main plot of the other fanfic, so if that's not what you're interested in, you can skip it without worry.
I'll try to keep everything clear for new and old readers, but if anything confuses you, feel free to ask.
Finally, it's worth mentioning that, like my other fanfic, this one also functions as a reinterpretation of the Inazuma arc from the game: a kind of prequel with changes to events, backgrounds, and some motivations. It maintains the essence of the canon while taking creative liberties that bring it closer to an Alternate Universe or a Divergent Canon.
And with that said… let's begin!
Chapter 01.
A tengu and an oni were playing in the forest…
Strangely, it all began and ended with a fall, albeit under very different circumstances.
By the time their paths first crossed, the little tengu girl had already been wandering aimlessly through the mountains for at least three days. Alone, hungry, and cold, she used every last bit of strength in her small body to search for food and shelter to alleviate the latter two, paying little attention to the first, though deep down it was the one that hurt her the most.
She moved cautiously, almost trembling, through the uneven forest terrain, hugging herself for warmth, and occasionally adjusting the red mask that covered most of her face, except for her mouth and chin. The weather had grown colder with each passing day, and the tengu girl feared that the first snowfall of winter could begin at any moment. And if that happened…
She preferred not to think about it. She needed to focus on her immediate needs, just as her father had taught her. And that need was food.
After several hours without significant progress in his search and with dusk approaching, she heard heavy footsteps. The tengu girl quickly hid behind a tree, crouched down, and peered around. The enormous, dark figure of a wild boar soon appeared in her field of vision.
The tengu girl swallowed nervously and brought her right hand to her waist, taking the black obsidian dagger and gripping its hilt tightly. She breathed slowly, trying to calm her heart's insistent pounding. She felt a trickle of cold sweat run down her back as she pondered what she must do.
There was no resentment or ill will toward the boar, but her situation was desperate. It was either her or it.
She crept stealthily toward where the boar had stopped to sniff the grass, her body close to the ground and her weapon firmly gripped in her hand. She positioned herself directly behind it, took one last breath, and lunged at the animal with a sharp cry. The boar reacted, thrashing and attempting to flee, but the tengu girl managed to reach it, clinging tightly to its back. The boar squealed and thrashed violently to throw her off, but the girl held fast with her free hand and legs.
She raised the obsidian knife as best she could and slammed it swiftly against the animal's back. However, she stopped abruptly before the dangerous point touched flesh. She hesitated for a moment at the thought of actually having to hurt it, and that moment was all it took for her to fail miserably.
The boar thrashed even more violently, and the tengu girl inevitably slipped from its grasp. Her small body fell backward to the ground, hitting the ground hard. And when she tried to get up, she was met head-on by the boar's hind legs, which sent her slender body flying through the air until she crashed against a tree.
The tengu girl whimpered with each blow, then lay still as she collapsed to the ground. She lay there for a while as the boar trotted away through the trees. Her body ached intensely, and the pain intensified as soon as she made her first attempt to rise. When her mind cleared enough, she realized something that instantly made her tense: she wasn't seeing through the holes in her mask, as it had been blown off by the boar's kick. Her face, white-skinned though smeared with mud, and with its deep golden eyes, was exposed to the cold air.
She whimpered in fear and panic and began to crawl desperately across the ground, searching for her mask. Luckily, she didn't take long to find it, as its intense red color stood out against the foliage. She quickly grabbed it and put it on, covering her face again except for her mouth. The anxiety and worry gradually subsided, but at the same time, the pain returned much more intensely.
But none of that mattered. Wearing her mask helped her feel safe. On one hand, of course, because of everything her father had taught her about it, but also because wearing it reminded her of him, as if he were still there, watching over her somehow.
That day, she didn't manage to eat anything either and went to bed early, hoping that sleep would somehow ease her hunger. It didn't…
— — — —
The tengu girl woke up very early the next day, when the sky was just beginning to turn blue. With no other choice, she began to drag her feet, her hands clutching her aching abdomen, her weary gaze fixed on the path. Her movements were weak and slow. Deep down, she felt that if she didn't manage to eat something that day, she might not survive much longer. If not from hunger, then from her body becoming so weak that she would collapse to the ground and remain there, awaiting death's sweet kiss.
And the idea, in truth, didn't entirely displease her. Perhaps it would be best to put an end to all this suffering once and for all, rather than prolong it. But her father's voice, repeatedly telling her to be strong and survive despite any obstacle, echoed so loudly in her mind that she could not stop.
She had to continue; she had to make an extra effort.
And then she did something she very rarely did: she raised her eyes to the sky above her, and whispered a prayer in a low voice.
"Almighty Shogun Raiden… If you hear my insignificant voice, please, I beg you… Allow me to live… If you save my life, I promise to dedicate it to you. I promise to be forever your most loyal servant…"
Many of those words were fueled primarily by despair. But if there was ever a time in her life when that despair was justified, it was surely then.
And a few steps further on, as if it had truly been the Archon's answer to her prayer, a miracle materialized before her: a tall, sturdy tree stood in the center of a clearing, bathed in sunlight as if trying to guide her path. But most importantly, its branches were laden with large, succulent, purple fruit.
Finding a fruit tree like that in such a dense forest was quite an odyssey; her days of aimless wandering had made that clear. And now one appeared before her. This had to be a miracle from the Almighty Shogun; there was no other explanation.
The girl felt her mouth water, and a small burst of renewed energy coursed through her body. She moved swiftly to the foot of the tree and spread her wings to soar to one of its branches. Flying was a skill her father didn't quite manage to teach her thoroughly, but she knew enough to rise and perch on one of the tree's lower branches. She reached out, her fingers gripped one of the juicy fruits, and she plucked it from its stem with a swift tug.
The girl's heart pounded with excitement as she held the fruit before her. It smelled good, and surely its taste must be even better. She would eat until she was full. The fruit would give her energy, settle her stomach, and then she could hunt. She would be all right; she would survive, just as her father had instructed.
She opened her mouth wide and brought it close to the fruit.
"Don't eat that! Wait!" a frantic voice suddenly howled, so loud it almost made the entire forest tremble.
The tengu girl shuddered on the tree branch. Her sharp reflexes sent one hand flying to the dagger at her belt, while the other remained clutching the fruit. She glanced down, just in time to see a figure emerge from the bushes and run toward the base of the tree she was perched on. He was halfway there when he tripped and landed face-first on the ground. That seemed a minor setback, though, for he immediately got back to his feet and continued onward frantically, waving his arms wildly in the air.
"Don't touch that fruit! Throw it! Now!" the person shouted insistently. From a distance, the tengu girl recognized him as a boy with spiky white hair, dressed in a somewhat old, worn purple jinbei. But all of that paled in comparison to his most distinctive feature: two large, long red horns protruding from his head amidst his white hair.
The tengu girl's gaze sharpened beneath her mask as she stared at those horns; the horns of an oni… And on top of everything else, a red-horned oni. She recognized them instantly thanks to her father's stories and warnings. And with just one look at that boy, she realized he was exactly as her father had described them: impulsive, dangerous, reckless, and loud…
"Leave me alone!" the girl growled from the branches in a raspy voice. "This fruit is mine! If you want yours, find another tree!"
And having uttered that threat, she opened her mouth wide again, ready to take that longed-for bite.
That put the boy under the tree even more on alert.
"Don't do that!" he spat out desperately. And without thinking twice, he bent down, picked up the first rock he found, and threw it at her with force.
The stone flew in a straight line, hitting the tengu girl directly in the shoulder.
"Ouch!" she exclaimed loudly, in pain. "What are you doing, you idiot?!"
The horned boy neither answered nor waited, and instead picked up more rocks, beginning to hurl them one after another. Each throw was accompanied more by anguish than violence. One stone struck the tengu girl in the hand, causing her to drop the fruit. Instinctively, she reached out to catch it in midair, just as another stone hurtled toward her and struck her on the back of the head. This, combined with her poor posture, caused her to lose her balance and plummet from the branches to the ground.
The sudden change took the girl completely by surprise. She tried to spread her wings to steady herself, but she had reacted too late, and the most she could do was cushion the final impact a little. Even so, she ended up crashing to the ground and rolling a couple of meters across the grass.
The oni boy shuddered at the sight of her falling, and at the dull thud she made upon impact. Her hand opened, releasing the stone he was still holding, and he hurried towards her.
"Are you alright?! I'm sorry! I needed to stop you!" he exclaimed forcefully as he walked toward her. When he reached her side, he extended a hand to help her up. However, the tengu girl's instincts awakened at that moment.
She quickly rolled across the ground, leaped up, and charged at him. Startled, the boy stumbled backward, but the girl's body pushed him to the ground, and she positioned herself over him to subdue him. With one hand, she gripped her obsidian dagger, holding it against the boy's neck. Her breathing was ragged, and her furious gaze peered out from behind her mask.
"Do you want to die?!" she spat ferociously. "If you dare lay a finger on me..."
"That fruit is poisonous!" the boy exclaimed loudly so his voice could be heard clearly.
The tengu stepped back a little and looked at him in bewilderment.
"What?"
"I swear!" the oni insisted. "If you'd taken even one bite, you would have ended up vomiting blood. My grandma always told me to stay away from that tree, because it's very treacherous. You have to believe me, I didn't mean to hurt you."
The girl hesitated. Was he telling the truth, or was it some kind of trick? She raised her thoughtful gaze to the tree and its purple fruit. She thought she remembered that her father might have told her about such a tree; the memory was there, peeking through a haze of confusion. If only she weren't so hungry and could think more clearly…
She lowered her gaze again to the boy's face, which was looking at her expectantly, perhaps waiting to see what her next move would be. The girl then noticed the red marks running along his face, his thick eyebrows darker than his hair, and the curious crimson and gold hue of his eyes.
Suddenly, the oni child smiled at her, in a rather silly way, which he surely thought was meant to inspire confidence. Surprisingly, it worked more or less.
The girl sighed in resignation. She removed the knife from the boy's neck and stepped off him, sitting down beside him on the grass.
She was back to square one. And the burst of energy she'd just experienced was beginning to wane, and the overwhelming hunger was returning.
"If you're hungry, you can eat my food," the strange boy suddenly suggested, and the girl turned her attention back to him. The boy was sitting down, and from the satchel hanging at his side, he took out two objects: two perfect and beautiful onigiris. "Here, if you want…"
The tengu girl didn't even wait for him to finish speaking. She immediately reached out, took the rice balls, one in each hand, and without a second thought, began to devour them ravenously. The oni boy, rather than being annoyed, seemed pleased. He smiled broadly as he watched her eat like that.
"My name is Itto," he informed her in a confident voice. "And you?"
The girl paused her ravenous biting for a few seconds and turned to look at him out of the corner of her eye through the holes in her mask. However, she gave him no answer.
"What's wrong?" the boy asked curiously. "Did you fill your mouth with so much rice that you can't talk?"
The oni boy instinctively leaned toward her, trying to get a closer look at her face. The tengu girl reacted, quickly backing away across the grass, creating distance between them. She also moved the rice balls back, away from him.
"Relax, I'm not going to take them off," muttered the boy, introduced as Itto. "What's wrong?"
The girl let out a sharp growl, as if it were a warning.
"My father always told me never to trust other people," she muttered in a hoarse, aggressive voice. "Not humans, not other youkai."
"What a distrustful person your father is," Itto remarked, a hint of offense in his voice. The comment didn't sit well with the tengu girl. "If you don't trust me, why did you accept my onigiri so quickly? Didn't you think they might be poisoned?"
That sudden allusion took the tengu girl by surprise, and she jumped in fear. She looked down at the rice balls in her hands, trembling and frightened.
"But they're not!" Itto quickly clarified. "Hey, if I wanted to poison you, I would have let you eat the fruit, wouldn't I?"
The tengu girl had a feeling there was a way to refute that claim, but for the moment, her tired mind wouldn't allow it. Perhaps hunger was stronger than her imagined fear of poison, so she continued eating, albeit with much more caution.
"So, where's your dad?" Itto asked curiously. "If I go and talk to him, he'll realize I'm not a bad kid and tell you that you can trust me, right?"
The next few seconds were filled with silence, except for the barely perceptible sound of the tengu girl biting the rice balls and the sound of her throat swallowing.
"I don't know," she confessed after a few seconds. "He left a few days ago and hasn't come back..."
The oni child's optimistic and friendly smile gradually faded upon hearing that. His entire face darkened.
"I'm sorry," he whispered softly, lowering his gaze. "My parents... they died too..."
"I didn't say he was dead!" the tengu girl exclaimed harshly, turning towards him with a clearly aggressive attitude.
"Okay, okay," Itto replied, raising his hands in a gesture of peace. "I'm just saying that I was alone too, not so long ago. Until my grandma took me, and now I live with her in the village."
That fact surprised the tengu girl quite a bit, enough to almost completely extinguish her outburst of anger from a moment ago.
"Do you live in the village?" she whispered slowly. "With humans?"
Itto smiled, though more subdued than before, and nodded.
"With my grandma. She makes sweets, the best in the region. And I help her."
"But humans…?" The girl hesitated for a moment before she could finish her question. "Don't they attack you? Don't they hurt you?"
"No... Well, not really," the boy replied ambiguously, shrugging his shoulders. "They're not as bad as you think. Not most of them, at least."
The tengu girl remained silent, for she had nothing to say in response. She had never truly lived among humans, but her father had always warned her, above all else, never to trust any of them. Therefore, even in her most desperate moments of searching for food and shelter, she never considered leaving the mountains and descending to the village.
Well, that was the reason, and because she wasn't allowed to. Not until she was an adult.
The girl continued eating distractedly while thinking about all of that, until she suddenly realized that her hands were empty, because she had already finished the balls without noticing.
"You did like them, didn't you?" Itto remarked with an amused smile. "My grandma's cooking is the best. If you'd like, I can bring you more tomorrow. Same time, right here?"
The girl turned to look at him with disdain and quickly stood up, spreading her wings.
"Don't you ever come near me again!" she threatened. "Or you'll regret it, you stupid oni!"
Having said that, she flapped her wings, lifting her small body just enough to stand on the branch of a nearby tree.
"Stupid or not, I'll be here tomorrow!" the boy shouted from the ground, using his hands to amplify his voice.
"I won't be here!" the tengu girl replied reluctantly. And using her wings for propulsion, she flew away, moving from branch to branch, taking advantage of the sudden burst of energy those rice balls had given her.
Itto would keep his promise, and the next day at the same time, he would be in that same clearing, with his satchel full of delicious dishes that his grandmother had cooked for his new and mysterious friend from the mountains.
The tengu girl would be there too. And the next day, and the next day…
— — — —
From that day on, Itto returned again and again to the same clearing in the forest to meet with his "Tengu Friend," as he had begun to call her. And every time he went, she was there waiting for him, at the foot of the same poisonous fruit tree where they had first met. Itto always appeared with filled buns, fruit (which was edible), strips of meat, or more onigiri.
Itto couldn't come every day, of course, but it didn't matter. With her energy renewed, thanks to all the snacks he provided, the tengu girl managed to recover enough to hunt and gather on her own. Even so, she knew that without the boy's help, she would likely have died that day, either from the fruit or from starvation.
"Why do you always wear that mask?" Itto suddenly asked one day, sitting on the grass beside her, while the tengu girl ate the dish he had brought her that day: some fluffy egg rolls.
"Every tengu wears a red mask like this," she replied thoughtfully. "It protects us from danger and evil spirits."
"And do they have to use it always?" the boy asked curiously.
"Yes, always," the tengu girl replied seriously, though the truth was she wasn't entirely sure. Her father didn't use his all the time, but he had instructed her to always carry it with her. She didn't know if anything bad would actually happen if she didn't have it.
Itto didn't seem satisfied with the answer, but he didn't press the issue. Instead, he asked something else, a question that wasn't actually new, since he usually asked it at least once every three visits.
"When will you tell me your name? Haven't I proven myself trustworthy enough yet?"
The tengu girl remained silent for a while, chewing one of the last bites of the egg roll. She could refuse to answer or simply remain silent as she had done before. But this time, for the first time, she chose to be honest with him.
"I don't have a name," she confessed suddenly, taking the boy by surprise.
"Don't you have a name?"
The girl slowly shook her head.
"Only tengu who have proven themselves capable enough to be considered adults receive a name."
Itto tilted his head to one side, confused. He found this tradition rather challenging to understand.
"And how do you prove you're capable of being an adult?" he inquired while looking at the sky, not quite sure if he was asking her or himself, but she answered him anyway, more or less.
"There's a test you have to pass... but don't ask me about it anymore," she ordered brusquely, and continued eating the egg roll. Itto complied and let her finish eating in silence.
— — — —
Eating and asking questions weren't all they did; the oni boy was a big fan of many kinds of games: hide-and-seek, tag, races, marbles, among many others. But his most noticeable obsession was onikabuto fights, a sport (if it could be called that) that the tengu girl had never heard of, until the day Itto appeared in the clearing, and besides the food, he was carrying something else: a creature.
"Tengu Friend! Look what I found!" the boy exclaimed excitedly, holding out a large, purple insect with several legs that flapped in the air. And the worst part was that the oni had the nerve to place it quite close to her face.
"Get that insect away from me! What's wrong with you?!" she exclaimed, scandalized, swatting it aside.
"It's not an insect, it's an onikabuto," Itto firmly retorted.
"Onikabuto are insects."
"I mean, it's not just an insect. This one you see here is a warrior, a champion of the fighting arena! Look at him, can't you see the fire in his eyes?"
"I don't even know exactly which his eyes are," the tengu girl explained reluctantly.
"It doesn't matter. You want to have a fight? We just need to find another onikabuto to be your champion, and we can have a real clash of titans."
"No, thank you," the tengu girl replied curtly. However, she would end up doing it anyway.
She wasn't a big fan of games in general. His father had always taught her to make the most of daylight for more productive tasks. However, in return for all the trouble that boy went to, going all the way there to bring her food, she felt the least she could do was play with him. And sometimes, she even had a little fun.
Furthermore, in most of the games Itto proposed, the tengu girl almost always won, even those she hadn't played before. It was hard to say whether she had a natural talent for such games or if the boy was truly bad. Either way, the outcome was quite similar on that occasion, though the tengu girl couldn't take all the credit, as the real champion was the onikabuto she had chosen to fight for her.
"It can't be!" Itto exclaimed, his frustration evident, running his fingers through his white hair. "I want a rematch!"
The tengu girl snorted, exasperated. That was quite typical of him, too, refusing to accept defeat easily.
"Don't be so proud," she replied reluctantly.
"It's not pride," Itto muttered. "It's perseverance. My grandma always tells me that if I fail, I should try again and again, and sooner or later I'll succeed."
"I don't think she meant something like this."
"You're saying that because you're afraid to face me!" Itto exclaimed confidently, puffing out his chest.
The tengu girl snorted again. If he really thought she'd fall for his silly childish provocations… he was right.
Itto got his rematch, but the result was the same.
— — — —
Although at first she still held out hope that her father would return, as the days, and then the weeks, passed, it became increasingly clear to the little tengu that this would not happen. She didn't know if her father had died or not, but what she did know for sure was that from then on, she was alone; except for that oni boy, of course, who gradually managed to gain her trust, and even a little more than that.
Between awkward conversations, shared meals, and peaceful silences, the tengu girl began to feel that the small moments she spent with Itto were the closest thing to a new home.
But the reality was that they lived in very different worlds. Itto lived down in the village with the humans, and she lived up in the mountains alone. No matter how hard the boy tried to visit her, they both knew that sooner or later it would have to end. And one day, that end came.
Author's Notes:
In games as big as Genshin Impact, it's easy to get confused between canon and fan-created content. The shared past between Itto and Sara is a perfect example: I never saw it explicitly stated in the game, but so many people mentioned it that, for a while, I thought it was official. Today, I think it's more of a popular headcanon… but one that I personally love. And that's why I decided that these first two chapters would be a flashback inspired by that idea, combining elements I read from the community with my own details to create my version of their childhood.
We'll continue with this scenario in the next chapter, but once it's concluded, we'll move to the present, to the main story as seen through the eyes of our two protagonists. Meanwhile, there's another important event from the past that we need to explore.