Hanako x Nene (Oneshots)

Sneaky Devil~ [p2]

A few days later, Nene was training with her sword against a dead tree, one that had the life sucked out of it by the evil spirits.
She frowned, not liking how easy it was becoming to destroy, she was able to move the tree around easily. Not that she ever used her strength, but it gave her plenty of practice with wielding her sword and using the katana. The problem was the constant need to find new targets, as long as the spirits didn' come closer than 2 yards away.

After several swings she stopped for a moment, breathing deeply, and looking around the clearing. "Well...that was nice. Maybe we should stop today though, there is more to learn..."
As she started walking away, she heard a small chuckle behind her. "Training hard I see, but whatever for? I'm usually the one you go to for protection, seeing as it was you who asked me to help the villagers..." Nene paused, sighing to herself as she turned, not expecting the change in expression from Hanako, this made her question what was wrong with her look or outfit. "Is there anything wrong? I don't think I got wood chips in my hair or on my clothes-"

"You look lovely."

Her eyes widened, and a blush rose to her cheeks. 'Cute...'

"Tha..." Nene cleared her throat, shaking her head slightly, pushing back the feelings of embarrassment "Thank you...but I don't take false compliments from a trickster spirit." The Angel pouted and dusted herself off, going over to a spring and looking in the water, sure spirits don't need baths, but it would be nice to remember for once, considering she still remembers...

[flashback]

Both Nene and Aoi would hang out around the springs of Kyoto, happily humming the tunes they would hear on their walks to the springs, yet this day was a little different, at least to Nene. at the time she had no care for anything else except for spending time with her friend, sometimes she would hear the whispers of the other villagers saying it was strange how she hadn't gotten a husband yet, it was the same for Aoi, although she was to be betrothed to a man that lived in Tokyo. "Nene! Look!" Nene's head turned toward where Aoi was pointing to, seeing a misty white deer, almost rushing to it before halting herself, bowing to it deeply out of respect.

"Aoi- bow! they are good spirits that will increase our luck if we respect them-" At the time Nene thought nothing of the visible spirits other than to respect them to get their will of luck and even fortune. "But Nene- that's usually where we sit! It's blessed area now-" Nene stood up after sensing there was nothing staring at them, shaking her head at the area, if it was blassed, then only the current holy maiden can go there. "Still wondering where Maiden Shijima went after her awakening, the spot where she was chosen is now so sacred that no human can go to it... and the village leader chose it-" Aoi had looked up towards the mountain, the small cave at the center of it looming over the valley below, almost ominously "Wasn't it up there? I hear there was a bright light there and black smoke- the leader said it was Maiden Shijima banishing the evil spirits from there, although we never saw her leave."

Nene sighed she never knew what happened, nor was it her business, but all the leader said was that the maidens chosen would use their holy essence and remove the spirits, leaving nothing but a black spot where both the maiden and the evil spirit fought. "Well, we must tell the leader then- maybe Miss Yako will be taken- she is a bit feisty..."

[time Skip]

After the two told the village leader what they saw, he nodded, gathering the village elders and calling for their help in figuring who to go. most of the other villagers didn't know what was going on other than a normal meeting, some understood what was happening and ushered their children and wife into the housing that they had, the elderly in the village knew it was down to the youngest maidens, most being the children and unmarried teens.