The demon cat spent a very uncomfortable time on the ground that first night. She tried to escape at least three times but the pain from the collar as she strayed from his side kept her coming back. As the first light of the false dawn stained the sky she huddled down in a shaking ball and tried to drown out the smell of the human that had caught her.
Aizawa slept peacefully. He heard her moving about but ignored her escape attempts. She couldn't harm him or leave his side and eventually she would realize she had to atone for her actions.
Most demons gave up after several days.
The cat did not, although after three an incident occurred that he wasn't sure how to handle. They were passing a small village and a ball rolled towards them. It landed on her foot and she glanced over, startled. He tensed inwardly but didn't want to frighten the child that came rushing up. She pointed shyly at her toy and Elly nudged the ball over to her with a gentle push. The dark haired man frowned when he saw her drop her head to hide from him.
"Hizashi."
"What is it, boss?" The thunder demon raised an eyebrow.
"Why didn't she ..?"
"Eat the kid or something? I don't know, maybe we're not all bad, as I keep trying to tell you."
"Cat." Aizawa frowned harder and walked the couple of steps over to her. She refused to acknowledge him, staring at the ground instead. He sighed wearily and cupped her chin roughly in one hand, pulling her face up. "Look at me, demon."
Her dark purple eyes were filled with tears that she was fighting against. She glared at him and hissed, but it was a weak gesture of defiance at best. She was forced to obey. "Leave me be."
"What's the scam here? To make me think you're not a vile beast? I'm not going to let you go just because you were nice to one human being."
"<i>Leave me</i>! You're taking me back to perpetual imprisonment, and most certainly repetitious torture. Couldn't you at least leave me alone?"
"My job is not to leave you alone until I drop you off. Answer my question: why did you act that way?"
"I hate you. I hate what your kind turns into. But the - the little ones ..." she shook her head, her eyes far away. "Humans aren't born with their prejudices."
There was a commotion near the river they were following at that moment and the group ran towards the noise. One of the group of kids that had been playing had fallen into the water. Several adults stood fearfully on the bank, screaming in terror but not moving.
Aizawa swore loudly. "Why isn't anyone helping?"
"We can't go in, there's a kappa in there. That's what took her!"
"Idiots!"
Both Hizashi and the demon hunter paused at the rage in the cat woman's voice. Aizawa was in the middle of pulling his shoes off so he could jump in, still not close enough. She pelted past him, screaming much differently as the binding spell struck. Before anyone could do anything she grabbed the child's arm and pulled her to safety. The youngster ran off sobbing to her mother while she lay on the sand clawing her way on her belly back to her captor so the pain would cease. Stunned, he said nothing but Hizashi caught her and lifted her up when she came within range.
"We'd better go," he said nervously, eyeing the people who were coming up. "You know how people act around us."
Their latest capture lay limp in his arms, shivering from pain, cold from the chill of the water and possibly more. Aizawa nodded and they slipped around a nearby house and headed off before more people arrived.
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