Thanks for your request ♥
Warning: Yandere, Violence (Blood, Biting, Death/Fighting, Bruising)
You had never seen Itto like this.
He was more of a laid-back, idiotic kind of guy, cracking jokes even in the worst situations. He was easy to talk to, a little childish, but kind. Itto would stay by your side when your fever spiked, and take you down to the river in his arms even when you couldn't walk from the exhaustion but needed the change of scenery. But even when he stood taller and broader than most other men you knew, he never quite struck you as dangerous. Strong and capable of doing manual labor with ease, but the oni never really struck you as the prevalent gene in Itto.
At least, until you saw him through the gaps from your hiding spot, rabid like a dog, only missing the foam around his mouth as he tore down the door of the shack the treasure hoarders had brought you to.
It never crossed your mind to be scared of Itto when he seemed to laugh all day long, but with the fury edged into his features, it was almost like you didn't know who he was. With what you could only describe as a furious battle cry, he tore through the treasure hoarders, their weapons breaking in his claws and scraping only the surface of his muscles. Regardless, blood splattered everywhere, your captors', Itto's, and whoever else dared to stand in the oni's way.
You wanted to look away, but without a warning, you had to witness it all. By the time you turned your gaze away from the happenings and sank your throbbing head into your hands, the massacre was already over. However, you were still shivering like crazy, long after the last scream lapsed into silence.
Whimpering, you flinched when you heard your name being screamed into the uncomfortable silence. You felt like you were going to throw up as the smell of blood reached your nose, your gut already sensitive from you being chronically sick all the time. "H-Here...!" you croaked weakly, heavy footsteps shaking the cold ground.
The wooden crates and barrels were mere annoyances in Itto's path. They had no chance of survival as he burst through them in the maniacal search for you. All you could do was shield your face, your strength already dwindling from your body's exhaustion and the time spent out of bed and away from the fire. Your captors had hidden you from plain sight out of precaution, but now you suddenly weren't so sure if you wanted to be found, Itto's fury burned into your mind.
A part of you had always hoped that the hoarders would just move on from their insane plan of using you for ransom. You had witnessed them speaking about being mad at Itto for some reason. Still, neither you nor they could have known the lengths Itto would go to get you back before it even came to a letter demanding money. When his head finally craned out from behind the boxes you cowered behind, he was nothing like the Itto you knew. He was sniffing the air like an animal, and you held your breath, almost too scared to be rescued by this unfamiliar man in front of you.
But all of him snapped in your direction the second he caught your scent, and so did the wood, cracking pitifully as he pushed it out of the way, freeing some space to get to you. Fury burned in his wide-open eyes, blood staining his cheeks, chest, and arms, and there was nothing left of the Itto you knew. He merely looked like an oni now, a real one. A gruesome monster of old tales, red and big and angry.
Yet, when he slumped to his knees before you, squeezing himself between a crate and the wall, it was like a switch turned all of this off instantly. Worry clouded his gaze, his expression softening as did his voice as he started to coo your name.
"It's okay, I'm here. Everything will be alright. You're okay now," Itto mumbled, his voice stricken with that childish, kind undertone. It almost made you feel like a child, getting reassured by a brotherly figure. More tears dripped from your eyes as you were caught between being happy to be rescued by him and scared shitless after what you witnessed through the gaps in boxes you had hidden behind. Which one was real? Why did it seem so easy for him to eradicate the Horders' existence? And if he changes so fast... could he switch again?
"Itto..." you sobbed, feeling like you had to share these questions with him and get the answers. But you were scared. So scared of these hands reaching out, stained red with human blood, able to snap necks with one squeeze if he wanted to.
"Yes, yes! It's me! The one and oni! Come here, come... come to me," he encouraged you, his voice cracking into a plead. "I'll take you home. Let's get you warm and cozy, and I'll make some soup for you! I'll carry you, come."
Squeezing himself further and further into the small space between wall and box, all you could do was crawl backwards, trying to hide in the corner and watch as his expression turned from worried to confused and even... hurt. "Let's go home, okay?" he whispered, sounding desperate as he watched you hurdle away from him.
"Why won't you come to me?"
Suddenly, his voice changed to monotonous, a hand wrapping around the ankle closest to him even though he couldn't quite fit into the space with his whole body. Yanking at you, you let out a squeak and another as he began pulling you out. "Stop!" you yelled, your lungs burning up as a sudden cough ripped through you. "You're hurting me! Itto, stop!"
Undeterred, his expression undefinable, he kept pulling you towards him, his other hand gripping your knee until he could tug you out of hiding by your waist. And then he... hugged you. Tightly and breathtakingly. Uncomfortable only for you. "I thought I lost you," he whispered, and the rancid smell of blood intensified as you were pressed to his chest, vomit collecting in your mouth.
"L-Let go," you protested, almost sure you were going to throw up. But his embrace only tightened, pressing you further into him as he refused to let go.
"Why?" he asked, and you felt his body tense underneath your touch. "Why didn't you come to me? Why can't I hold you? Why didn't you scream for me when they came to your house? I would have come, ya know? I could have prevented all of this... Why do you never rely on me? Why am I...."
Itto choked on his words, his body shaking as you could hear the anger rise in his voice. However, the next time he spoke, his voice was almost non-existent, a pained whisper in the wind.
"Why am I never good enough for you?"
You felt his shoulders slump, as did his head, buried in the space between your shoulder and neck. Taking a deep breath, Itto seemed to calm himself with his nose buried in your body, your simple nighttime garment dropping off your shoulder, baring your skin.
"What's this?" he asked, finally holding you a bit farther away from him, enough so you could turn your head and take a deep breath of fresh air before covering your nose in your sleeve. "W-What?" you asked, hazy from the blood smell and unable to see what he saw, staring at your shoulder.
You felt one of his claw-like nails rake over your skin, drawing the shape of something you didn't know was there. "You're bruised... did these bastards... what did they do? Don't tell me they..." Itto gulped, his body growing tense. "Don't tell me they did something...?"
Desperation vibrated in his voice as he grew louder and louder, pushing you away to be able to see into your eyes. You avoided his gaze, not out of shame, but because you simply couldn't bring yourself to see him in the same light as before. And if you knew anything about nature, you didn't look a predator into his large, concerned eyes, in fear of aggravating him.
"Nothing... I just... maybe I hit something, I don't know..."
"It's really big," Itto whispered, his voice sending an ice-cold shudder down your spine. "They marked you..."
"What? No, they didn't, they..."
You didn't get to finish your sentence, your eyes darting back to him just in time to see him opening his jaw wide, baring his fangs. The pain wasn't immediate, shock masking it so well you thought it was almost non-existent. But the blood immediately pouring out of you began to throb as your body panicked to close the wounds inflicted by his teeth sunken deep into your shoulder.
Ideally, there would have been a reaction from you. Screaming, crying, fighting, or even just fainting. But you merely stared at Itto's hair, feeling his jaw loosening around your shoulder, teeth pulling out, his face now stained anew. This time, it was your blood dripping from his lips, the sight as disgusting as it was captivating.
"Delicious," he mumbled, his tongue parting his lips to lick off the excess red in a mesmerizing display. "Aren't I a genius? Now, no one will dare to put their hands on you when they see your mark of an oni! If they do, I will come and find you again. I will find you wherever you are. This time I'll be able to follow the scent of your blood everywhere. So from now on, you can rely on me-- [Name]?! Hey!"
You faintly noticed him shaking your body before lifting you into his arms and rushing into the cool night air. But losing blood on top of your already frail disposition was too much for your body to take. That and the shock were finally knocking you out—perhaps for good. His voice made him almost seem like the childish dumbo you knew. The same kind soul that snuck you candy to help eat your medicine and brought you flowers when you couldn't even get up from your bed.
But that face... the rage and mindless slaughter of whatever stood in his way. That wasn't him. It just couldn't. Him sinking his fangs, which you rarely ever noticed, even in his big smiles, into your body because he thought it was a good idea to mark you without consulting you. That wasn't the Itto you knew. It was some kind of monster you had never even suspected to slumber inside him. The sight of your blood dripping from his lips wouldn't leave your thoughts until the last one disappeared in the darkness. The dreams awaiting you would be dark and lonely, but by the archons... at least, there would be no more blood.
And until you opened your eyes again, no more monsters would be waiting for you either.
