Ichimatsu darted away from the fight, Jyushimatsu immediately covering his retreat as Karamatsu turned his full wrath onto the inugami. My fingers scrambled for a brush blindly, keeping my focus on the fight before the ao andon refocused his attention back to me. I could only gasp before he was back on top of me, a large gash cutting from his left forehead to his right cheek. His blood dripped down onto my face as a look of fury was exchanged between us.

"I've had enough, little storyteller," Karamatsu leaned close, his taloned hands ripping apart my kimono while I barely heard Ichimatsu's roar of anger over my thundering heartbeat, "You are mine."

I shouted out my protest, thrusting the brush against his skin.

Black bristles drew my attention against Karamatsu's white grin, my eyes growing wide in horror as I immediately released the grip on the cursed brush. The smiling yuki-onna carved into the brush handle seemed to mock me as the black-stained wood fell between us, my hope of sealing away the ao andon falling with it as I looked up at Karamatsu in fear.

"(Y/n)!" Ichimatsu's yell was distant, my thundering heartbeat pounding within my ears as Karamatsu's hand pulled my kimono closer to him.

His cold lips pressed against mine before darkness immediately swallowed my vision, silence flooding my hearing as Karamatsu completely disappeared from my sight.

One by one, candles flickered to life in a large circle around me. One hundred in total.

"Karamatsu tripped me!" I heard my childish voice cry out past a sob as a candle was snuffed out by some unfelt wind.

"Momma, he bit my hand!" Another candle died in the wind.

"It's not fair! Karamatsu made me fall!" A third choked out.

My own voice called out to me, growing into a cacophonous noise as my childhood years turned into teenhood. Each statement was an attempt to garner attention to the abuse that I was starting to receive from Karamatsu.

Fifty remained.

Thirty.

Five.

My eyes locked onto the last flame, seeing the hand holding the candle carefully as the small fire danced on the wick while a pair of icy blue eyes smiled down at me. Karamatsu took a step forward from the darkness, his red markings alight with some inner glow while his blue horns shared the same hue as his eyes. The white clothing wrapped around his frame didn't seem to make him stand out against the dark, the straw hat hanging behind him by the string around his neck.

"Karamatsu."

"My little storyteller."

I tried to step away from him, noticing the yokai getting closer with every breath. My back pressed against some unseen wall, completely catching me off-guard and leaving me nearly breathless.

"I will have to give you some credit," He ignored the butterflies that began to swarm around him, drawn to the single candle in the vast darkness, "I never thought that you would hold on to the last story for as long as you did."

"I never should've given the brush to you."

"Ah, but you did," Karamatsu stepped even closer, the candle unwavering as my panicked breath hit it, "This is all your fault."

"No..."

He gave a soft smile, but the emotion never reached his eyes. Leaning down after stepping right against me, Karamatsu's lips brushed against my ear, "You gave me freedom to be myself."

His sharp exhale quenched the candle flame, plunging my vision into true darkness.

I could still feel Karamatsu against me, could feel his lips press against my cheek before his hands ripped apart the fabric over my chest.

I screamed out as loud as I could, clamping my arms down over my breasts in some vain attempt to protect myself. His laugh trailed down my spine, his cold fingers wrapping around my neck and tightening.

"Did you truly think that I'm interested in such vulgar things, (y/n)?" Karamatsu chided me, the wintery glow from his eyes fully focused on me, "I have no desire for the flesh, no draw to your sex. The only thing that I want from you--"

He disappeared in a blink, my eyes widening as a sneering Ichimatsu replaced him. My fiance's tongue coyly licked his upper lip as his eyes became frenzied while his sharp talons began to dig into my skin, tightening his grip even more.

"--is your fear," Ichimatsu finished Karamatsu's sentence, laughing out as tears began to fall from my eyes. My throat was slowly crushed under his vice-like grip, my head throbbing with every struggling heartbeat as I tried to pry his hands away from my neck.

"I never loved you, (y/n). Only toyed with the engagement because none of my brothers were interested in you," Ichimatsu teased, "We loved Totoko, not you."

I could feel my heart breaking with every word, desperately wanting to not believe what I was hearing.

"Yes, Totoko was our love. There wasn't any room for you in our hearts. You bored us, truly. Always wanting to be around when we had spare time, always doting us with gifts that we never showed interest in. We hated you."

The glow in his blue eyes grew more fierce as I began to choke on my tears, losing control of my limbs.

"Poor (y/n). Unwanted by everyone, even her doting fiance."

The visage of Ichimatsu faded into Karamatsu's sneering appearance, the ao andon drawing closer before placing a chaste kiss on my tear-stained cheek.

"Don't worry, little storyteller. No one will miss you."

Releasing one of his hands on my throat, I had a short rush of oxygen before the same hand plunged deep between my breasts and yanked my torso forward, some mass of red pulsating in his fingers before my vision grew blurry.

A sickening crunch, a moan of ecstasy, a slurp of finality.

The last thing I could see was my heart being bitten into like a hard candy between Karamatsu's sharp fangs.

----

The quiet was calm, my eyes slowly opening to see a dark blue sky like the sun was stuck in permanent dusk or dawn while black clouds sped along the endless canopy of blue. The ground that my back was flat against felt uncomfortable, the gravel pieces not quite small enough to contort to my shape.

As I sat up, the torn kimono I had been wearing was replaced by a simple white robe, my bare feet warmed by the stones underneath my body. The weariness that I had experienced seemed to fade as something caught my eye in front of me, snapping my gaze to it as I realized that the 'something' was a 'someone'.

The deep black hood cast a dark shadow over their face despite the squatting position they were in, both arms propped up on top of their knees while their fingers remained limp. The edge of the hood was outlined with smooth silver studs, trailing down to their shoulders before the sleeveless cloak they wore became an empty canvas. The shirts underneath the cloak, however, were tattered and exposed the fishnet undershirt, revealing pale skin even underneath that.

They stared at me with glowing green eyes.

"So you've made it."

The darkness didn't reveal much as they spoke, the voice too familiar for me to not know. I backed away from them when some light revealed the right jawline of their face, fear replacing hesitancy.

"Karamatsu...!" I bolted up and sprinted away from him as fast as I could, turning my head as far as I could to make sure that I was staying ahead of the ao andon. When I didn't see him behind me, I looked back forward to see him standing only feet in front of me, shouting out in surprise as my feet veered off course to continue a different path.

In a blink, he was in front of me again. Once more, I altered course.

When he reappeared in front again, I tried to stop and run back the way I had come. His hand reached out and latched onto my wrist, pulling me close into a hug that held none of the animosity he had only moments ago.

"Shh...take a breath, (y/n)," His voice held the same timbre as before, but the kindness in it caught me off-guard, "Breathe."

My heart began to ease from its racing as Karamatsu held me, his hold gentle, "I don't...understand."

"I know," I felt his chin rest on my shoulder, pressing me closer, "I'm so sorry."

"You're...not the one that needs to be sorry."

When I had managed to catch my breath, he released me from his hold before one of his hands held one of mine, beginning to lead me somewhere, "You're close, (y/n). Once more should be enough."

I followed the man, his hand guiding me forward as I forgot who he was, what I was scared of, what had happened, with every step I took.