✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* Homeward Bound • Sukusato *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* One *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

Once Megumi was safely secured to Satoru's chest, the exiled god took flight. Megumi awoke but instead of crying, he looked around in amazement as they flew through the sky. The child giggled, reaching an arm towards the sky.

Satoru smiled softly. How could anyone want to hurt something as innocent as this?

Satoru felt something tug around his neck and he looked down to see Megumi tugging at his pendant and staring at it in awe. Satoru reached behind his neck and unclasped the pendant, letting the little boy have it.

"Baa!" Megumi babbled as he shook the pendant. "Ah ah!" The child cheered as he admired the pendant.

Satoru chuckled. "You like shiny things? Good to know."

The child started crying again after a few minutes, getting bored of the pendant. There wasn't really anything Satoru could do, so he just let Megumi cry, no matter how much it tugged at his heart.

As they flew, it started to rain. Satoru landed to camp for the night, sitting just within the tree line of a forest for protection and easy escape if need be.

Satoru was so distracted that he didn't notice Megumi had calmed down until he turned around and found the child staring at the pouring rain in awe. The baby started giggling and clapping his hands together.

Could the baby have a rain-based cursed technique?

Cursed techniques were what people called magic. Satoru had been a god, so at one point, he had many cursed techniques, but the only one that remained after he was banished was the manipulation of the four elements, fire, water, earth, and air.

Children didn't receive their actual cursed techniques until they were almost five years old, but children as young as infancy could show signs of their cursed technique.

Satoru had never seen a baby so excited about rain, so maybe Megumi had some sort of cursed technique to do with rain. Maybe summoning or creating it.

As Satoru watched Megumi giggle and play in the rain, he wondered how anyone could ever want to kill this child. Megumi was just a baby, and yet the whole world wished him dead.

Satoru gently picked Megumi up, setting the child in his lap. The baby giggled and bounced, happily clapping as rain fell on his head. Satoru gently wrapped his wings around the child, leaving a gap so he could see the rain but wouldn't get too much more wet.

Satoru's wings were curious. When the elder gods had created him, they'd modeled his wings after the original ender dragon, but something had gone wrong in creating him. Which yes, I know, the elder gods don't usually make mistakes. This time they did. Instead of having black, scaled wings, he was given mossy, blue-feathered wings. He looked closer to an avian elytrian than a dragon elytrian. When his father banished him, he allowed his child to keep his wings out of pity.

"We should probably get you some better clothes, huh?" Satoru said as he watched Megumi shiver in the cold. He brought his wings tighter around Megumi and his hands sparked with harmless but warm fire, warming the child up.

Megumi giggled as he ran his tiny hands through the fire. Satoru knew this would come to bite him in the ass later, as he'd need to teach Megumi that only his fire was safe to touch, but he could worry about that later.

Megumi's wings started to flutter sleepily as his eyes closed. Satoru let out a sigh of relief once the baby was asleep. However, he would not be sleeping. He was too wound up, listening to the sounds around them, watching out for sounds of either man or curse. They were both his enemies from now on.

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When the sun began to rise and the rain stopped, Satoru lifted as carefully as he could into the sky. Megumi thankfully slept soundly as Satoru flew towards the nearest village. When he got there, what he found was a group of people with fire and swords. They didn't seem to be aimed at him, yet, but he knew what they were for.

"Hello, traveler! Heard any news about the monster children?" One of them asked. Satoru felt fear, but he knew they couldn't see Megumi under his cloak.

Satoru shook his head, trying to appear calm. "Is that what they're being called these days?"

The villager nodded. "They're going to destroy the world, so we're just calling them what they are. They're monsters."

Once Satoru was away from the crowd, he let out a shaky breath of relief.

Monster children. How could anyone feel that way about a baby? Did no one feel empathy for these children?

Satoru quickly found a seamstress and went inside, making sure to keep Megumi as hidden as he could.

"Welcome! How can I help you?" The lady at the front counter said.

Satoru asked, "Do you make children's clothes? Specifically toddlers?"

The lady nodded, smiling. "Yes, we do! Anything particular style you're looking for?"

Satoru frowned. "Anything warm, preferably. It gets very cold in the winters where we're going."

"Oh, would you like to get some for summer as well? Summer isn't that far away, you know."

Satoru thought about it for a moment. "I guess I should."

"Alright, I will need some measurements of the little one." The lady said, pulling out a roll of tape measure.

Satoru knew this was going to happen, so he secretly used his power to lock the door and disable any alarm system that she could use. He then opened his cloak to reveal the sleeping baby in his arms.

Predictably, the woman let out a terrified gasp seeing Megumi's colorless skin, small wings, and horns. She went to press her panic button, only to find it wasn't working.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you. All I want is some clothes and we'll be out of your hair." Satoru said with a sigh.

The woman let out a terrified squeak. "You... you have..."

Satoru rolled his eyes. "Look at him, do you honestly think he'd be able to hurt you? He doesn't even have his cursed technique yet. He's just a child."

The woman looked closer at Megumi. "He... he's supposed to..."

"Yes, he's supposed to destroy the world, but look at him. He's just a child."

The lady watched Megumi with scared eyes, watching as the boy giggled in his sleep and chewed on his fingers. She took a deep breath. "Alright, I'll get you clothes for him, but you do know I will have to call the hunters once you leave, correct?"

Satoru nodded. "I'll be long gone before they even realize I was here."

Satoru set Megumi down on the counter and the seamstress reluctantly measured the baby. She went into the back and came out with a pile of clothing. She helped Satoru put Megumi into some warmer clothes. He whined loudly when they put shoes on him, but he stopped complaining when Satoru handed him a shiny coin. The baby promptly put the coin in his mouth, but he wasn't crying so Satoru let him.

Satoru bundled Megumi up in his arms, walking to the door.

"Wait!" The woman said.

Satoru turned around and the seamstress walked up, handing him a grey striped blanket. "Take this. There isn't another village for miles, and it gets cold at night. Just something to keep him warm."

Satoru smiled softly. "Thank you. That's very kind of you."

The seamstress just shook her head. "Just... make sure you keep his feet covered."

Satoru nodded and went out the door, making sure that his cloak covered Megumi. He spread his wings and took to the sky, smiling when he heard Megumi's giggling laughter.

They weren't in the clear yet. Not until they found the other three children.

One hadn't even been born yet.