Umeko is yanked out of her sleep when she feels movement around her body in the single bed room she found.
Laying in the middle of something that could sleep her whole family comfortably, blurred vision blinks awake. Drawn to the low flame of a single oil lamp held by Mei, Sanemaru crawls into the bed beside the girl.
Cinnamon eyes adjust to the light just in time for Mei to blow out the lamp, blinding the girl with darkness.
Rolling her eyes when she feels Mei climb into bed on the other side of Sanemaru, Umeko cuddles with his hot, hard body, avoiding the other woman's hand and knee until she regains comfort.
Noticing they smell like sweat and sex even though they recently bathed, she keeps her discontent to herself. Knowing that Sanemaru is there to keep her safe, Umeko drifts into a deeper sleep than before.
*****
~Sleeping horse~
Sanemaru is trapped in battle with faceless, evil spirits; making it impossible for him to feed on either female laying in his arms, what little time he thought he would spend kicking the spirits' asses turns out to be lengthy and exhausting.
Fighting with fire and spear to defend himself from a spiritual onslaught, he picks up the aura of Mei's powers attempting to subdue him amidst minions that Ryu dispatched to wreak havoc and track them down.
Amidst the sleepless battle within his spirit, he fights to keep from being trapped by her spell or giving away their precise location to the pesterous assailants.
Realizing this witch can weaken spirits through their sleep in the way that he drains them for food, Sanemaru knows if he succumbs she will be able to petrify his flesh and eat him alive while imprisoned in his own sleep.
Determined to slay every attacking spirit and prevent Mei's magic from completing its cycle, he knows success will awaken his physical body.
Hoping Umeko can hold out long enough against Mei for him to come to the rescue, his need to protect the girl strengthens his resolve to be quick.
*****
Crawling like a hunched over, humanoid spider-creature around the bed, monitoring her two sleeping captives, Mei recognizes a new force attacking Sanemaru, too.
Holding him tight in her clutches so nothing else can steal her prey out from under her, the hag hones in on Umeko's spirit as an easy appetizer.
*****
~Sleeping Human~
Stumbling onto the pure energy of a divine being locked inside of the mortal Umeko, the old hag's true form and cursed energy is exposed to reveal a half-decomposed corpse with shadow tendrils and gnarly teeth.
Faced with the memories of her long forgotten past, Mei remembers she was an old woman that got voted out by her family; times became the harshest, and though she lived to see three generations, there were too many young mouths to feed and never enough food.
Alone in the barren wilderness of winter in the mountains, Mei searched for food and shelter rather than submitting to starvation or hypothermia.
On the brink of lifelessness as her body fought with frostbite and malnourishment, the old woman offered her soul to a nearby spirit waiting to feast on her frozen corpse.
Hearing her plea and turning her into a monster filled with rage by merging into her spirit, the creature lengthened her lifespan; leading Mei to retrace her steps back home, the malevolent spirit was quick to act.
Convincing Mei's grief and anger to take ahold of her actions, Mei maimed and ate her entire family; three generations of loved ones were gone in a matter of gruesomely bloody hours. Showing no remorse or shame for her actions, since no one spoke up on her behalf to stop her from being kicked out, the old woman's humanity was shattered.
From then on, the newfound witch would use her wicked power to mask the hideous, true self hiding underneath. Parading around as a kind and gentle woman in her mid-thirties, countless victims were lured back to the home she stole from a wealthy family.
Out of hunger or boredom, over time, the witch allowed the forest to respawn around her estate. As years went on feasting on human flesh, her strength and diabolicalness grew as she learned many kinds of dark arts.
Faced with a beaming light of purity and grace, one that she's never seen before, Mei tries to touch the moonlit energy emanating from the heart of Umeko's spirit.
Drawn in like a moth to a flame, the beautifully magnetizing light instantly purifies the old, evil hag.
All of this transpires while Umeko sleeps soundly, dreaming of Tsukiyomi; the girl has no inkling of the power hidden within her heart, and remains unaware of what transpired with Mei.
Oblivious to being under attack as pleasant dreams calm her mind and restore her, Sanemaru defeats the final shadow minion in time to absorb the residual energy from Mei's spell before slumbering peacefully.
*****
In the morning, Umeko wakes up shortly after dawn when Sanemaru returns from finishing all of the witch's chores. He tells her he gave up looking for the woman and got to work.
After they search for her together, to no avail, they decide to gather things that they need for their trip.
Sanemaru ends up going through all her stuff, being nosey, while focused on acquiring anything useful or valuable before they leave. In search of food and other important things they need to take for the trip, or as offerings to Izanagi-no-Mikoto, Umeko refuses to do anything that feels like stealing when he tells her to.
Storming off from the grifting bastard, the girl gets her clothes from outside to find they're still damp. With no other option, Umeko borrows a knee length, wrap-tie dress with short sleeves in solid red from a room with a closet that turns out to be filled with potions instead of socks or shoes.
As though Sanemaru heard her surprise from the other side of the house, he storms into the room to stop beside her. Inspecting the shelves of lidded pots and corked bottles, "No way!"
Afraid to touch anything as he scans random labels, high and low, Umeko asks, "What are they?"
Excitedly, Sanemaru's ears dance, "Potions."
Reaching for all the securely closed bottles in front of him, "Gimme, grabby, steal-y," he hides them in the folds of his clothes and belt.
"Open your bag," he turns to face her. Lifting the flap and preparing to open the satchel that Tsukiyomi gave her, she slaps the bag shut when she sees three vials in each of hands.
Annoyed and offended by his constant ignoring of her principals, "No! We can't steal this stuff!"
Rolling his eyes, even more agitated than her until he's almost out of breath, "How often do you get to try out witch potions?"
Getting close enough to press his nose to hers, "Especially when you KNOW it's the real deal."
Pushing him away, Sanemaru dances happily on his toes, "Like, look!"
Shoving the bottles onto the shelf then holding one up for her to see clearly, he points to a label, "Angel wings?"
Glancing from the bottle to Umeko with a mischievous grin, "I don't even know what that means but I can quickly change that by finding out!"
Uncorking the vial with his painted thumb, Umeko tries to stop him from drinking down the mystery green liquid bubbling inside of a pale blue glass.
She fails.
Almost instantly bawling over in pain, Sanemaru hugs himself to claw at his back until ombre fire-feathered wings sprout from his back; tearing off his shirt in a blaze of glory, Sanemaru flaps his non-burning, fiery feathered wings until he hovers off the ground.
"Wow!" he flutters around Umeko, nearly bumping into the ceiling and one of the walls, "I've always wanted wings!"
Once the residual gusts stir up dust and her hair, he lands then dashes back to the closet. Grabbing one in pink glass, storm gray eyes go wide, "This one says be unseen!"
Shoving the bottle in her face as his wings illuminate the room around him, "People can't see you if you drink it."
Gently lowering his hand as she juts her face back, "It might not mean that since we can see the bottle. . .right?"
Umeko tilts her head. Cocking his head back with a long, drawn out, exhausted exhale of boredom, "Why you trying to ruin all my fun?"
Invading her personal space with a dash, grappling a resistant Umeko to the ground, "YOINK!"
Sanemaru wrenches the satchel from around her body to fill the magical bag that doesn't get overstuffed or resound with clinking glass.
Dusting herself off as she stomps over to him, smoothing out her clothes with a glare, "How can you raid her stuff after she gave us so much?"
Kindly presenting the satchel back to Umeko with an innocent smile, "Easy."
Nodding with a charismatic grim, he raises a finger for every point, "I'm a demon. She tried to eat us in our sleep. Witch disappeared before we woke up because the shady hoe knew she couldn't show her face to me without getting it burned off."
Placing a hand on Umeko's shoulder to rock her gently, "Mei violated our trust first. While we were at our most vulnerable, no less."
Muttering under his breath, "After I took my sweet ass time sending that dried up, shriveled old bitch into euphoria. Wasted my time and energy on that ungrateful cunt. Even offered her a cure from loneliness and you still turned out to be right about her. So," shrugging, "Fuck her."
"Ew!" Umeko palms his face to push him back.
"Wait," lowering her hand to see him unphased by her reaction, "Didn't you plan on feeding off her from the very start? She didn't come after me while I slept. Maybe she knew you were full of shit?"
"Yeah right! My system is flawless. Give it to them in real life so good that when it's beddy-bye time, when I'm sucking them dry in their dreams they're all, "Damn!"
Dramatically fanning his face with his hands and mimicking a woman's voice, "That horse-dicked son of a bitch hit so good I'm even dreaming about it!"
Sliding in close to Umeko, "Here," he starts guiding her to the floor, "It's easier if I show you what I mean."
Slapping and punching him away, throwing her hands up to question, "What kind of brother does this stuff?"
Pointing in his face, fed up for the last time, "Stop calling me sis if you're gonna keep trying to fuck me!"
Crossing her arms over her chest and turning her back to Sanemaru, "If you really believed you did nothing wrong and robbing Mei is okay because she broke our trust first, why'd you do all her chores, you maniac?"
Walking around Umeko to see her face, he gathers her hands in his, "At the very least, Umeko," pulling one to place it on his naked chest, the fiery wings on his back burn brighter, "Should I become nothing in the end, I will always be remembered as a prince of my word."
Yanking her hand from his, "You're so full of shit!" Hitting him in the back of the head, finding the act of violence does nothing to him, "Yesterday you said Ryu got you to agree to everything!"
Umeko's fists ball until they shake in the air. Staring at her simply with a serene smile, "I can't become he who is not in sight of the me I wish to become."
Sanemaru nods prophetically, "I believe in myself to be of sound mind and reason, so I will die trying to keep my word. If I must."
Stroking her upper arm, "And to be fair," he pulls Umeko close to whisper in her ear, "Even you can't deny that Ryu's tactics could get anyone to agree to all sorts of nasty stuff."
Letting her go to stomp his foot and hug himself with a shimmy, "Even Mizu nearly convinced me to bring you back to the palace with that fierce ass body of hers."
Snapping his finger, "Oh, and she said she can't risk accidentally killing you when she looks at you, which means you're safer with me, too."
The muscular steed shudders uncomfortably, recalling the evening before, "Magical mouth, wicked wrath."
Relaxing upon a soothing breath, "I do what she wants until I don't want to and by then she doesn't care anymore because who else she got?"
"Wow, Sane," Umeko tilts her head to look at him like he's twisted, "If that's how you feel about her then that's not a friendship. . ."
Putting his hands up in defense, "Don't get me wrong! I love her like she's my own flesh. Mizu's my baebitchboo."
Twisting his index and middle fingers together, "We like this," he nods confidently, "There's nothing we wouldn't forgive each other for because we know each other's heart. Each other's reason."
Patting the top side of his head with the palm of his hand, "I just don't know the kind of unforgiving power Ryu'll unleash when he realizes I killed his wolves."
Biting his bottom lip with a tornado on the horizon of his distant gaze, "And if he commands her to do something for him, to us," he points between them with one hand, "It might not be good for our overall health."
Incapable of asking with a straight face, "You don't think he'll just. . .give up?"
Umeko cringes at the sound of uncertainty bleeding from her own, pointless-to-ask question that she already knows the answer to. Looking at her disappointed, knocking gently on her forehead, "You really want me to recognize that question with an honest response?"
Blinking dumbly, Umeko suddenly grasps his top and stands on her toes to pull him closer as she looks deep into his eyes, "You know more about him and his plans than I do!"
Shouting much louder than intended to, in his face, Sanemaru's horse ears lay back. Snapping his fingers excitedly, "You're right!"
Placing his hands on top of hers until they loosen, allowing him to stand upright, "And, based on what I know. . ."
Tapping his foot while stroking his chin, "Ryu will send people that he owns to kill me before personally coming to recollect you as his. Then when everyone's demise is accounted for, he'll fully reclaim his throne and enforce his unstoppable, ruling dick over all the realms."
Murmuring under his breath, "I wish I could've gotten more juice from the old hag before she disappeared. I'm nowhere close to being at half power."
Groaning frustrated enough that she spins slowly in place, grumbling noisily, Umeko finally sighs and calms down.
Patting his left, bouncing pec with her right hands, "Let's go straight to the shrine without stopping. I just know Lord Izanagi-no-Mikoto will guide us from there."