𝕃𝕖𝕥'𝕤 𝕊𝕖𝕒 (FEM! Reader X Arataki Itto)

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ⁸

"Ow..." I groaned and slowly opened my eyes. There was something big and brown in my line of sight and it was... Sniffing me?

My vision focused on the object before me and realized I was staring at an angry looking cow. "Ushi?" I recognized him immediately and he excitedly mooed at me with his usual frown. I looked around again, I was at Arataki's camp.

The crate had my belongings sitting on it and the campfire had red coals within. "Half-Oni?" My eyes scanned the area around me but didn't see the white haired oni. I hissed as I sat up, my head was still pounding. "Moo?" I patted his head reassuringly, "I'm fine, Ushi."

I threw off the blanket and got up, using the wall to support me. I peeked my head out before taking a step forward, grimacing with each step. Ushi followed closely, walking right next to me and looking up at me worriedly.

I stood out in the open while I surveyed my surroundings. "Where is he?" I remembered what happened before I blacked out and my hand went to my pocket. "Phew. Still there."

I sighed and stumbled back to camp and waited for him to return. My stomach growled but I tried to ignore it as I rested the back of my head against the crate. "Hmf." I lifted my hand and patted his head. "He'll be back soon." I smiled and Ushi snuggled into my side.

I was starting to worry after another half hour passed. Still no sign of him. The fire was long gone and no longer provided warmth.

Restless, I got up and decided to search for him again while Ushi slept. I grabbed a dead branch I found beside a tree and used it as a walking stick. I searched the beach, then the other beach, before walking back.

I went back to lay against the crate and wrapped the blanket around me and Ushi. It wasn't too big or thick but it'll have to do. Once again, I began to doze off. I closed my eyes and quickly fell asleep.

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"...?" I opened my eyes and saw that it was nighttime. A figure was sitting by the newly lit fire with his broad back to me. I recognized his long white hair and crimson horns. "Half-Oni?" He turned his head so I could see his profile, and a grin appeared on his face.

"You're awake! Man, you sleep a lot." I narrowed my eyes at him, "I was awake earlier but you weren't there." I felt around the area next to me but there wasn't an Ushi with me, he was warming up by the fire.

"Aw, were you worried?" I grumbled incoherent swear words and got up with much effort. "When's the last time you've slept?" He asked as I sat down on the other side of the fire. "A while. Why?" I answered. "I can tell. You slept like a dead person. I had to poke you every so often to check if you were still alive."

He tilted his head, "Why haven't you been sleeping?" I hesitated, unsure of what to tell him. "I uh, just couldn't. I tried to, but couldn't. Must be missing my bed, haha..."
"Oh. I getcha." He replied with understanding and flipped the meat to cook the other side.

My stomach growled as I watched him grill the meat, the smell was intoxicating. I wasn't even sure what it was but I didn't care. I was starving.

"I didn't know you had a Vision?" My eyes widened and I smiled nervously, looking at the fire instead. "Y-yeah! Didn't I tell you? Pretty sure I did."
"Nope," he brought one of the pieces to his face so he could examine if it was cooked enough before putting it back on the fire.

"So it's Cryo? That's kinda cool. Mine is cooler though. Obviously."
"Huh?" I snapped my head towards him in bewilderment. "Judging by your face, I'm assuming you didn't know either. Anyway, mine is Geo! Only the most badass of the elements! But it uh... got confiscated." He said embarrassedly as he rubbed the back of his neck. My presumption from before was correct.

"I'm sorry to hear that?"
"Nah, I'll get it back! Just have to get off this island first..."

My mouth formed an 'o' and slowly nodded in agreement. I looked down and fiddled with my fingers, thinking about how I had to get off this island, too.

"That's if we can make a raft or something to get off this island. I just don't think we have the resources for it. It might take a few weeks for more debris to wash up, maybe even longer..."

I noticed his sly grin from the corner of my vision and narrowed my eyes suspiciously, "What'd you do?"
"Oh nothing~ Why don't I show you?" His mischievous smile unnerved me. He hopped onto his feet and gestured behind him. "Right this way!"

His loud voice startled Ushi. He blew steam from his nose as he looked up at Arataki. "Eh... Sorry!" He whispered loudly and smiled apologetically, allowing Ushi to curl up again and continue to snore. "Anyway, let's go!" He whispered with the same amount of enthusiasm.

He began to lead the way to some unknown location. "While you were out, I might've done a few things." He spoke louder when we were a safe distance away from Ushi. I stood beside him to see what he was looking at and I gasped.

I saw that our plank pile had double and a damaged row boat sat before me. "When did you-"
"I took the liberty to go check out the other islands! Turns out, one of them had this busted boat! You can fix it or whatever with what we already have laying around here."

He smiled proudly and I was still taken aback. "You went alone?"
"Yeah! Don't worry, I didn't run into any more rock puppies. I did find these weird mechanical things, though... But they were no match for Arataki 'The Man' Itto!" He flexed his arms and smiled like a child.

"That was dangerous! You could've run into something way worse! You didn't even let anyone know where you were going!" He sagged his shoulders and looked at me like a puppy being scolded.

"But... I appreciate the effort. It paid off in the end and you saved us a lot of time. We can actually start working on it immediately. Thank you, Itto. But don't do that again." I gave him a genuine smile and he scratched the back of his head while looking away. "Psh. It was nothing~" Modesty didn't suit him one bit.

"Wait a minute..." I walked over and examined the boat, ignoring him as I crouched down beside it.
"This is my boat! I used it when I escaped from Inazuma. These marks are from the lightning."
"Uh lightning?-"
"I think we can fix it by tomorrow afternoon, maybe? If we don't take breaks, that is. But another problem," I looked at him from over my shoulder, "Do you know where we are exactly? Which way Inazuma would be?"
"Already figured that out, c'mon!"

Arataki eagerly lead me atop a hill that gradually becomes a cliff. This point was probably the highest out of the entire island. He pointed far off in the distance, "See that?"

I squinted my eyes, then nodded. It was dark but I could still see it. It could possibly be Ritou. "Yeah, that's it!" I felt hopeful again. We had a plan. We had the resources. We were getting off this island. I started to feel bubbly and smiled widely.

"We're saved! Woohoo!" I cheered loudly, earning a surprised stare from Arataki. His mouth soon grew into a broad smile and raised his fists above his head, "Hell yeah! Whoo!" We both laughed at each other.

"When I get back, imma get my freakin' Vision back!" He raised his fist as if he was swearing it on his life. "Yeah! And when I get back, I'm gonna... I'm gonna eat real freakin' food! Not seafood!" I threw my fist up as well.
"Hey..."
"And I need a trip to the bathhouse!"
"Okay, that's understandable."

We laughed and stumbled on our feet from the lightheadedness, holding our sore stomachs. I laughed so hard I snorted, which made me laugh even more.

"Did you just... snort?!" He laughed louder and threw his head back. We both laughed hysterically, finding every little thing humourous.

"HAHAHA- Woah!" My foot slipped and I teetered towards the cliff. Arataki's hand shot out and grabbed my shirt, his eyes wide like mine. It was silent until I looked him in the eye, "Pfft-"

He yanked me back and I began to laugh again, him joining in. "I nearly DIED! You see that?!"
"Yeah! Haha! That was close! I think I almost crapped myself!"
"HA! Okay... Phew, Okay..." I calmed myself, wiping tears from my eyes. "Lets- Let's get back down before someone actually dies. We have a boat that needs fixing, after all."
"Whoo!"

And so, with Arataki's help, we spent the entire night until day, fixing and repairing the boat and occasionally making a joke like: "Remember when you nearly died?" To which I'll laugh.

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