[center]WHEN THE SUN SETS WE GO HOME TOGETHER
EPISODE HOTARU - CHAPTER 0
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[color=black]CRIES FROM THE MOON VALLEY [/color]
[color=white]CRIES FROM THE MOON VALLEY[/color]
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The sight of Tsukitani put a momentary stop to the trio’s quarreling, shutting all of them up for a solid minute.

They could see most of the village from the hill they were currently descending from. The wide fields which, this time of the year, should be green and filled with growing crops that would be harvested during Fall, were all withered, ragged and overrun with weeds. A good percentage of houses and barns were actually fully destroyed, looking as if a powerful tornado had passed through; even though the weather gracing most of the Land of Fire had been nothing but stellar the past month. 

Despite all the delays, it couldn’t be later than 4pm at the moment; they’d made good time. It should be enough to get settled and find exactly what was the problem. 

[color=FF4500]“Probably not a bear,”[/color] Chisato commented, scratching the back of his neck. [color=FF4500]“This is going to be a mess.”[/color]

Hotaru scoffed but it was Sayuri who commented. [color=00FA9A]“Some of the houses are still up, we should check for survivors. Someone had to be alive to send the request for help.”[/color]

Nodding, they climbed the rest of the hill and started exploring the village. The roads, most of them dirt rather than pavement, had large gashes and a few dents that had them pause a few times. Hotaru was in the middle of inspecting one of them, trying to picture what kind of monster they were dealing with here, when he heard Chisato curse. [color=FF4500]“Holy shit.”[/color]

Alarmed, he quickly jogged in the direction of the blond’s voice, Sayuri trailing lightly behind him.

Around the corner of a particular large house, a mansion of sorts, a large portion of the floor had…seemingly been burnt off, the attack had, presumably, taken a good chunk of the house with it but what was curious was the state of the edges. Rather than black and brittle, as a fire attack would leave them, they were darkened but molten. It was as if a large ball of acid had been dropped in the area.

[color=FF00FF]“Don’t touch anything,”[/color] Hotaru ordered, mostly for Sayuri’s sake. Chisato would know better.

A trail of sorts lead from the mansion into the surrounding forest, the edges withered and rotten. [color=FF4500]“What the fuck has been happening here…”[/color]

The small click of a gun having its safety switched off made them all turn around, alarmed. 

[color=FF4500]“Who’s there?”[/color] Chisato demanded.

[color=DCDCDC]“Could ask ya the same, sonny,”[/color] an old man stepped out from behind the building, the direction they’d just come from. An old dog following him, one of his legs bandaged and limping. [color=DCDCDC]“You kids chose the wrong forest to hike through. Nothing but death roams these grounds.”[/color]

[color=FF4500]“You wanna try lowering that before you warn us off your property, old fa-”[/color]

Sayuri intervened before Chisato could finish. [color=00FA9A]“Konoha has sent us to inquire after a request for help was sent from this village.”[/color] She blushed a little and hesitated before taking a small black case she opened to reveal a metal badge, Konoha’s leaf engraved into it. Cute.

The old man blew out a breath, though he sounded more frustrated than relieved at their appearance. He did lower the gun, though, and the dog’s tail started to wag a little. [color=DCDCDC]“Y’all telling me Konoha sent kids to deal with this crap?”[/color] He took off his hat and scratched at his balding head. [color=DCDCDC]“Follow me, we’ve been staying underground these past couple of weeks and…”[/color]

The dog snarled and Chisato growled almost at the same time. [color=FF4500]“OI! Something’s coming!”[/color]

On cue, the trees around began to shake, and a few actually fell, those that did withering into an ugly purple. The air stank of something rancid and disgusting. 

[color=DCDCDC]“[b]RUN![/b]”[/color] The old man shouted, turning on his heels and pulling his dog by the collar to make him run faster. The trio lagged behind just the fraction of a second, morbid curiosity keeping them in place as what could only be described as a demon out of their childhood horror stories parted the trees, making a b line towards them. It had multiple legs that moved eerily like a spider’s, blood red eyes and some sort of black miasma covered its entire body, dragging behind and contaminating everything it passed by.
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