♦ THIS IS LOVE, THIS IS WAR, IT'S INSANITY

The forest was truly home to the young raccoon dog, who, despite growing up in many various regions, had always found peace in a happy, musical, woods. Perhaps that was why she was here now-- to find some peace and solitude. Though despised a good amount of the time, the Bakedanuki no longer felt safe enough to be around others. She was not concerned for her own safety, but rather, the safety of others. Dark energy seeped from her body, one or two places after some others. The flow remained consistent, and unforgiving, while shooting aches of discomfort through various regions of her body. No pain-- she knew pain, and could not describe this as such. Still, it was a sensation far from how she wanted to feel.

Izayuki continued to stumble through the woods, in her semi-human form, finally regained after weeks of weakness. A small gash in her arm had re-opened, revealing obsidian-hued blood rising to the surface of her skin. It was not familiar, and the smell of the blood somehow seemed like the presence of the dark energy still weaving itself through her auras and very being. She grimaced and lashed her tail in her displeasure and irritation with that which could not be explained.

As her negative emotions began to brew again, the Bakedanuki’s open arm injury began to bleed more, with the black blood eventually consuming everywhere from the gash in her lower arm, to the tips of her fingers. Within seconds, her lower arm and hand had been transformed into that of a pitch black beast-- a thin, but strong wrist and wicked claws. Her full form as a monster was not the prettiest sight, with her as nothing but a savage animal, eager to kill. In that form, instinct was all she knew, as reason, logic, and emotions were forgotten. Clenching her teeth, Izayuki grasped the open wound to apply pressure, and attempted to calm herself in order to avoid any further transformation.

Dark energy now directing itself to her transformed hand, Izayuki tried to slow her breathing, while quietly praying to whatever benevolent deities that were out there that the energy would contain itself. She slowly sat down, having no care about having her back exposed to the surroundings, while she tried to calm the flow of energy, which reacted on even the slightest of negative emotions or ounce of adrenaline. She had to calm herself, or else risk transforming again into that beast and destroying anything and everything in the vicinity. This was precisely why she was avoiding the cities. At least out here, no person would be harmed if she lost her reason and logic.

The scent of the feline had been missed as Izayuki tried to focus on calming herself. It was only the sound of a nearby voice that finally brought the pink-haired and pink-furred being to the Bakedanuki’s attention. Suddenly she noticed the trace smell of smoke from the cigarette, and recognized the soul of the tanuki in cat’s clothing. Nothing could hide her voice, either.

“Kim,” Izayuki breathed, growing agitated. Her arm continued to hurt, and now she was struggling more than ever to remain calm. What did this witch want with her this time? Their last encounter had been no good. What would make this any different?

Her guard was up, and that was not a good thing. If her guard was up, so was her adrenaline, and her emotions on edge. If something set her off, there was no telling what she would do as a monster. Perhaps she would not mind tearing Kim to shreds. At the same time, what was the power of the witch? Had she grown stronger, much like the silver yokai had?

There was no telling, though Izayuki was in no mood to destroy and curse yet another land. “What are you doing here? What do you want?” the tanuki girl asked through clenched teeth, still applying pressure to her large wound. She highly doubted that the rabbit-eared witch was here to help her.

Kim’s voice persistently agitated the pink-haired tanuki, who felt the dark energy in her blood growing stronger the further the witch provoked her. Currently, Izayuki was tempted to destroy the plant that Kim wanted, that she had not noticed she was crushing as she sat, holding her arm and still applying pressure. The idea of Kim leaving her alone was pleasing, but the thought of pissing her off also struck a sense of comfort into the Bakedanuki.

Not only that, but the witch was the one who had kept Izayuki from dying of old age long ago, before her yokai powers had really awakened. Of course, at the time she had assumed she had witch blood, only to later learn that was not the case. Her heritage was a mess, and despite the patches of stories she was given, here and there, she could not weave them together to make any sense. The witch certainly had plenty of knowledge, though she doubted Kim would be so fond of assisting her once again.

In a way, the guildmaster thought of a way to nonverbally allow the feline to know what was going on, while also doing what she asked, but not allowing her to have her way. Removing her free hand from her transformed arm, she allowed the black blood to continue seeping from the wound at a rapid rate. She began to rise, but allowed the blood to trickle down, while ever so subtly manipulating it so it would hit its target-- the purple flowers that Kim desired.

Once the black blood made contact with the plant, the flora would wilt away and begin to dissolve, as if someone had dumped acid right on top of it. Within heartbeats, the plant was dead, contaminated, and unable to be used for anything like an herbal remedy or room decoration. “Oops,” Izayuki stated, standing up straight and moving away from the place she had been sitting. She gazed boldly at the witch, as if daring her. There was a flicker of satisfaction she could feel, and it was evident in the tiniest of a confident grin.

She hated her condition; always being on edge, worried about her monstrous transformation. However, she hated the idea of Kim having her way even more. “I’ve moved. Get what you need and leave,” she said, with a low growl rising from the back of her throat. What Kim needed was likely destroyed; as such, she would not get what she wanted, and would have no reason to stay. Her hand moved back to cover her wound, as the transformation of her arm was rising up to her shoulder faster than before. If she transformed into a monster in front of Kim, there was no telling what would ensue.

Teeth clenched harder as Izayuki witnessed the plant being remade in Kim’s hands, and magically sent off somewhere to remain protected from the destructive behavior of the young tanuki. Suddenly, the string of words issued forth from the witch’s mouth, sending the dark energy and aura to leak from her body and spirit far more than before.

The transformation of darkness continued up to her shoulder, and started again on one of her silver-furred ears, leaving the appearance of wispy shadow elongating from the tips of her canine features. “You’re lying,” she hissed through gritted teeth, crimsons eyes narrowing as she continued to gaze upon the pink-furred feline.

The witch would not show up out of the blue just to assist her with the problem of the darkness inside of her, but her words appeared to be none other than a promise of death. The transformation could not kill her; it did not before, though if taken down by the right person at the right time, naturally there would be no rescue. Who would save a monster, after all?

Only another monster could.
Kim’s words dug deeper, like freshly sharpened daggers, into the young Bakedanuki’s mind, planting seeds of doubt, anger, and despair. “Shut your damn mouth,” Izayuki threatened through clenched teeth while her aura of darkness continued to slip from her body and spirit. “You know nothing… and what would you, a raccoon dog witch who exists only to stir chaos in this world, really know about ‘humanity?”

Perhaps in her younger years she would have accepted or rejected the words, and unleashed her wrath and violence on the speaker. Now, however, she simply questioned them. Neither of the two were human, so what would either of them know about humanity? In the end, all they had was instinct. A tanuki witch’s inclination towards chaos; a tanuki yokai’s inclination towards survival.