Chapter Text
When a new hiking trail was announced in the city, Aizen was excited and vowed to be one of the first few people to jog through the trail and take pictures of the scenes when it opened. Maybe he could find someone to do the trail with him since it was a few miles long and being by himself wasn't ideal. He could definitely do it on his own with no problem, the issue came with the experience being better when you have someone to share it with. It should have been easy for him to find a partner; 20 year old handsome guy, medium length black hair, striking silver eyes, beautiful smile though his canine teeth were sharper than most. Yes, most girls and even a few guys adored him but he was looking for the right one to fulfill him.
When the trail finally opened he was stuck at work for the first three days regretting not being able to go visit the trail. On the fourth day though there was a story on the news of people who had started going missing while walking the trail.
'7 people go missing after walking on the city's new forest trail, police are investigating but advise citizens to avoid the trail until the investigation is over.'
"Well fuck… this really puts a damper on things"
His friends that had offered to go with him were shocked too.
"It's a miracle that you got stuck at work I guess."
"Yea, at least we haven't gone missing."
"I guess you're right but aren't you curious about what is going on?"
"Well yea but I'm sure it will be on the news soon. Then we can go on that walk ok?"
"I really want to investigate."
"Zen, you can't just ignore police orders especially in a dangerous situation like this… come on."
"I know, I know. We have to wait for the investigation to be done."
"Good. I think we are gonna go grab some food. Pizza ok?"
The three agreed and went out to eat, having a nice day even without the original plans.
*
A week had passed and a handful of people who disobeyed the police order to investigate themselves had also gone missing. There were no clues as to where any of them went or why until the afternoon update.
'New information discovered about the city's trail. Police have found the severed hand of a 24 year old female whose name will be kept anonymous for now. The attack looks to have been done by an animal. The city urges people not to enter the trail and those who do face up to 5 days jail time plus a hefty fine.'
"Yea, ok. Who is gonna be scared of that if they are just going to end up dead anyway…"
A few days after that another headline.
'Police look up to the trees as they discover the blood stained leaves throughout the nearby forest.'
Finally the town got sick of it and hunters ventured out to kill the beast against orders. Out of the 12 who had gone out only 7 had returned. All they could recount was their buddies screams as they were dragged away and killed. Many of them thought to seek therapy after the harrowing experience. None were given the punishments announces and finally Aizen has had enough. He was going to find out what this thing was if it killed him, and it very well might but at least he will be able to leave some pictures on his camera of the damn thing.
He packed his bag with snacks, water, extra clothing and an emergency supplies kit. He brought a can of mace with him, not that I would matter. He knew he was probably going to die and he didn't care, he never had. He grabbed his camera pack, lenses, cleaners and covers. He made sure the flash was off to help hide his presence. Before he went out the next morning he decided to go to his favorite restaurant for some of his favorite food. If he was going to die he was at least going to die happy.
*
The next morning he woke up in excitement and curiosity, not realizing he had absolutely zero self preservation instinct. He could finally fulfill his goal of hiking the trail and getting pictures of everything he came across and hopefully the animal too.
'I wonder if it is some kind of mountain lion or bear. Maybe something that escaped from a zoo, although they probably would have announced it if that were the case.'
He ate breakfast and double check his packs before going on his way. He took out a map of the forest where he had marked up most of the crime scenes. He made a plan to take one of the other paths and cut over through the forest in a place nobody would catch him. He realized he would probably have to cut directly through the new path and go a few hundred feet away to avoid the police. He drew up his plan, checked his supplies one last time and started down the path. He crossed over at the part selected from his plan and finally got to walking on the new trail taking pictures of the new scape.
A fourth of the way in the trail and he walked deep onto the woods gauging how far off to go and avoid the investigation. He safely made it passed but decided to check out the area, first marking a tree so that he knew the way back to the path. He marked several trees before it was starting to get late. He was nearly 3/4s of the way back to the trail when he froze up and crouched down behind a bush.
He had seen a large animal bounding through the forest occasionally stopping to listen. He took a few pictures as it ran off and zoomed in on them to see the crystalline creature. It looked ethereal in a place so natural. Aizen checked the time, 4:55, and decided to attempt to catch the creature. He chased it until it was completely out of sight. In front of him was a large mountain showing through the trees but he hadn't reached it yet. He marked the place on his map and drew his path back. He left the woods before nightfall and never came across any killer beasts.
That night he kept looking at the pictures. He brought them up on his computer and tried to find anything that could have matched the creature. He couldn't find an animal like that so he finally gave in to searching for something that wasn't an animal. He came to the conclusion from its wings that it could be some sort of angel. And if that existed then is it possible the thing killing people was some sort of demon? He was determined to find out so he made a plan to go up to that part of the forest again next week.
*
The next visit to the creature's territory had him trying to escape the cops' view as one had spotted him while walking up to the second scene. Curious as to where the other man was headed the officer followed as quietly as he could.
Aizen was quietly stalking through the forest as well until he finally found the creature bounding off quickly into the distance. He ran after the creature until it stood in front of him 6 times the size it had been when he was chasing it. It had blood dripping from a mouth across its chest. He looked down to see what it had been eating and there was the head and claws of a bear laying in pieces before it.
Aizen stood as quietly as possible and snuck a few pictures of it but the wind blew from behind him. The beast caught his scent and whipped around to see the man with the camera in his hands. As it turned he realized the creature had one of its wings broken so it couldn't escape. When it seen the camera it automatically grabbed the man in its tendrils squeezing around his hand tightly till he dropped it. It growled at him and dangled him above its mouth but he didn't panic. When he didn't react violently it lowered him to look him in the eyes.
"Hello!"
It looked at him surprised at the lack of fear and animosity toward it.
"I wasn't going to hurt you. It's just a camera."
It looked down at the device and lifted it up to him tilting it's head.
"So you can understand me. That's good at least for now. Look ill show you how it works."
He pointed the camera away from the demon and at himself before hitting the button.
"That's probably a bad picture but look at the screen. See, it didn't hurt me."
He tapped the screen and the demon looked at the picture. It used a tendril to tap at the button and looked at the screen. Aizen purposefully dropped the camera when the demon held him above its mouth again so that someone would find it.
"You're still going to eat me. It's ok, I came here knowing that. Food, I suppose that is just what we are to you. That's just the way life goes, prey gets hunted and eaten by a larger predator. Go ahead."
The demon was about to let him go before it heard another voice.
"HEY YOU! WAIT UP, DON'T YOU KNOW THIS IS A RESTRICTED AREA."
The demon growled again that it's meal was interrupted a second time and shot a tendril deep into the forest digging its teeth into the back of his neck and dragging him along the ground back to the demon. Sanehiro looked up at the creature and shouted pulling his gun.
"HOLY SHIT!"
It growled at him again. Aizen raised his voice as neutrally as possible.
"Calm down. It's reacting to your voice. And put your gun away before it breaks your arms or killed you."
"ITS ABOUT TO FUCKING EAT YOU!"
"I said calm down. It will only react badly if you yell and attack it. Just breathe and it will probably let you go. I can handle this situation but if it does let you go grab the camera I dropped. You are a cop, aren't you trained to be chill under pressure."
Hiro took a few deep breaths and calmed himself as much as possible, putting the gun away but having his hand around it just in case. Aizen reached a hand out and gently touched the creature signaling it is ok now.
"He won't harm you now."
It brought him in front of its eyes again and looked at him before releasing him into it's hand. He kneeled there as the mouth snapped shut and he was at less of a risk of being eaten.
"Are you done trying to eat me? I don't actually believe you intended to but you are probably still hungry. I'm sorry I startled you but I really didn't mean any harm. Even if I had been eaten it serves me right for trying to chase you down. You are safe with us though and I would protect you."
It made an appreciative purr and pulled the other man up over its mouth.
"HOLY SHIT! DO SOMETHING!"
It growled at the loudness.
"Hey, I would appreciate it if you didn't eat him either. He was just doing his best to keep me safe. Is that ok?"
It released Hiro into its hand as well and after looking at the two closer it purred even louder in satisfaction.
"If you let me down and sit I will help fix that wing of yours."
He lowered Aizen and Hiro on the ground, shrunk himself down and laid on his stomach so the man could reach his wings. Aizen looked through his pack to find elastic bandages, a suture kit, gauze and alcohol.
"This might hurt a bit but it will make you feel better in the end."
He pointed at Hiro.
"You help me."
The creature made it's crystal wings slightly more like liquid. The two of them worked to clean out the bullet wounds and help close them up before they got bandaged.
"This should be ok for now. Just don't get too big again or it will snap. And don't try to use them for at least two weeks."
Another voice was heard from the forest.
"HIRO, WHERE THE HELL DID YOU GO?"
Genya finally found them standing with the creature.
"Oh… Oh no… This is gonna be a problem…"
It growled at him and Genya walked up and slapped it.
"Don't you dare fucking growl at me."
The other two were speechless even though they wanted to yell stop. It slammed a Tendril down next to him.
"No. You don't get to pout now. Look at what you've done! You broke your fucking promise, Nemi would be so disappointed in you."
It looked over to Hiro for an answer and Genya scolded him again.
"No, That's not Nemi, and he isn't your friend either. I'm not sure about him, but Hiro is one of Nemi's grandchildren. I'm sorry but Nemi isn't just magically going to come back from the grave. Why don't you use your voice instead of making me play the guessing game."
It put its hands to its throat and gave a sadder look blood red tears fell from its eyes.
"You lost your ability to speak while hiding out here for so long? Can you even change back?"
It looked at him in complete distress. Then it pointed behind him at the two. Genya looked back to see them standing there.
"Are you telling me they have been behind me this entire time and you didn't shut me up? And that you two came across a monster and you didn't take the opening to run…"
Hiro looked at him terrified of him more than the monster.
"W…what is he?"
"A demon."
"But they don't…"
"And yet he is here."
"I thought he was an angel."
"You thought this mouthy aggressive thing was an angel."
"I didn't know about all the teeth. Just saw him for a second before and saw he was pretty."
"Well he isn't Aki but it seems like he still likes you."
Tengen looks at him unsure.
"What is your name by the way."
"Aizen Gomen."
"Oh, see he is one of Akihito's kids."
"What about you both?"
"Sanehiro Shinazugawa"
"Genya Shinazugawa"
"Genya, how do you know so much about him?"
"At one point we were friends but I thought he had died... That's how I know."
"You knew this Demon existed?! How the hell were you friends with a killer like this?!"
"Because the killing part is quite recent. He was SUPPOSED to eat DEAD bodies if he were to eat humans. I can't believe you broke your fucking promise. Why?"
He pointed to the mountain and then to Hiro's gun extending his broken wings.
"I see… so you did keep your promise. The path was just built too close to your home and people got aggressive when they saw you."
He nodded and Genya sighed.
"Is it fair to say that these two added to that list."
He shook his head no.
"Did you try to eat them too?"
He nodded.
"You didn't see who they were?"
He shook his head and Hiro looked at Genya.
"Does he at least have a name?"
"His name is Tengen. Tengen Uzui."
"No fucking way… I have a friend who is am Uzui. Does that mean he is a demon too?"
Tengen perked up and Genya answered.
"No, no it doesn't. Although he is probably one of Tengen's great grandchildren as you two were of his friends. It doesn't not make him a demon. This is more of a curse or a disease but his daughter was born before he became this way. In fact, Hiro probably has more demon's blood than your friend."
"I what… Genya… you know too much about this…"
"There are a handful of family journals about everyone including him. I'm sure if we worked with him a bit he would be able to speak and possibly take on his human form again."
"He… can become a human…"
"Yes."
Tengen's stomach growls and the two look at him anxiously.
"Calm down, do either of you have any food on you?"
Aizen looks in his pack and pulls out a bag of jerky, trail mix and sandwiches.
"Perfect. Give him the jerky."
Be takes out a strip and holds it up for Tengen to bite. Tengen happily accepts.
"Tengen you can feed yourself."
"Oh, I don't mind at all."
"Your funeral if you lose a finger. But he is more manageable to feed at this size."
"Why wasn't he like this before then?"
"Living out in the woods where would you find something so small to fit in his mouth, especially when he needs to be large to hunt anyway because of the dangers. He never had a chance but now he does if I take care of him."
"We. I promised to protect him."
"Protect him from what? He almost ate you."
Tengen yawned and turned to walk away.
"Where's he going?"
"Home to his bed. Leave him be, if he wants to interact with you or invite you he will. Let's get headed back. I need to cover up this mess now. And he probably isn't the only demon around."
"You said that i had more demon blood than the other boy… what does that mean… will I end up like him…"
"No. It's so minimal that it won't affect you at all. Nemi's mother was a demon so our family had the power to eat demons and steal their powers temporarily."
"So if i bit him…"
"You would royally piss him off, break your teeth and risk becoming a demon yourself."
"Oh… yea I won't do that then."
"Good, and in case you haven't noticed yet, his heart denotes his emotions so you'll never have to ask. Black is depression, dark red is sadness, normal is exhausted or hungry, glowing red is joyful and bright glowing red is flustered. Deep glowing red is anger."
"Well that's helpful."
Genya grabs the two by the arms and walks them back. They drove Aizen home so he avoided any charges. Genya tried to find a way to cover up the whole thing. He decided the best way to cover it up was to say it was a pack of wolves and fake a few bigger than normal foot prints. It was a safe enough bet since wolves weren't common in the area. The town finally decides to fence off the forest to keep the large animals from entering the path in that area and reopen it, hiring rangers to hide in watch towers for extra security.