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“Hifumi.” A voice so low and gravelly it’s almost a growl he has to strain to understand.
“Hmm?”
“Will you marry me?” A single gold rose fills his vision.
“Ehh! Beast…” He tries to brush it off with a light-hearted laugh, even as his heart pounds in terror. The large paw holding the rose has crushed skulls, according to village rumours. “You’re too eager! I just got here yesterday, y’know!”
“...indeed. My apologies.”
-
“Thank you for the meal! That was de~licious!”
“It was.” A pause. “Hifumi.”
“Yeah?” He worries his lip as he glances surreptitiously at his dining companion, his eyes roving over the sharp fangs glinting through the matted fur stained with food and red wine.
Not the same question as yesterday, and the day before, and the day befo–
“Will you marry me?” Another gold rose appears before him.
“Nope! It’s only been two weeks! Wait a little more, Beast!”
-
“Hifumi.”
He doesn’t look up from his embroidery. “...yeah?” He responds anyway, even if he knows what’s coming.
“...I seem to have heard sobbing every night for the past few weeks.”
He glances up in surprise. “Oh? You must’ve been hearing things!”
“The sobbing came from your room.”
“Fiiiiine, you got me there.” He peers closely at his project as he searches for an excuse. “I’ve just been getting migraines lately… Real awful ones!” He pouts, eyebrows raised to give himself a pitiful air. He tries not to stare at the grotesquely twisted horns arching above its head.
“Is that so. I shall try to prepare some medicinal herbs for you, then.”
“Thanks, Beast! You’re a good one~” A thought strikes him. “Hey, everyone in the village calls you Beast, but you must have a real name, right?”
-
“Hifumi.”
He dashes his tears away as he chokes back a sob. His back to the doorway, he stuffs the farewell letter under his pillow again. “Y-yeah?”
He hears heavy footsteps, hard claws click-clacking against the parquet.
“What causes you such anguish?”
His mind gropes for another excuse, but only the truth offers itself. “I've been here for more than half a year and...I miss home.” His heart clenches at the thought.
“Is your home not here now, with me?”
He can’t bring himself to answer. He turns around to face the Beast, wide eyes pleading. “Will you let me go home one last time? I’ll come back!”
A pause. Then a low sigh of resignation. “I can refuse you nothing, Hifumi; but it will perhaps cost me my life.”
-
As it watches Hifumi ride away on his horse, the beast reaches out for the single ray of hope that he will return as promised, before the final rose petal falls. Its heart aches with the weight of the words it yearns to tell him.
Judge not by your eyes, and, above all, abandon me not, but release me from this terrible torment which I endure.
-
“Jakurai!”
Heavy with fatigue, the beast stirs, tearing its eyes from the last petal hanging precariously from the rose. Only thorns remain.
“Sorry I took so long!" He holds out a gold rose. "Will you marry me?”