You are Kusuriuri’s assistant, and he is your master! You two are constantly busy with traveling to wherever Mononoke are spotted, finding the Form, Truth and Reason behind Mononoke, making sure innocent civilians are safe, occasionally actually making medicine, etc. In short, both of your jobs are handfuls.

Now, Kusuriuri himself is…not human. He doesn’t need food or sleep, only meditation to recover from difficult Mononoke exorcisms. This is why he doesn’t get tired or weak, unless it was from a physical attack. You are also not human! But yet, after spending times with humans for so long, your needs have become food, rest, and water. It’s not like it’d kill you if you didn’t get your fill of sustenance…Your innate tendencies and cravings for human flesh began to flare up. And that could be a problem during expeditions.

Now, because of your busy job, you’ve barely had time to tend to your own needs. Whenever you wake up, your master had already gotten ready, so you skip breakfast entirely to get ready as well. Sometimes you also skip sleep entirely just because your expedition begins so early, and you need to pack and prepare.

*He begun to notice your behavior, how you surprisingly managed to match his pace and get ready on time. He’s also noticed how long you’d stare at a blood, salivating. Or how rowdy you’d get due to lack of sleep. You’re just…not yourself. Food and sleep usually keep you from returning to your natural instincts.

Gradually, he began slipping you food and water before or during expeditions. Maybe during a journey to another village, he hands you a light snack. Or during small breaks while finding the Mononoke’s Form, Truth, and Reason, he randomly hands you his water bottle, as if silently reminding you to drink water. Or when you two begin to leave for another Mononoke exorcism, he insist you go rest while he packs both your tools and materials for you.

And so you two had just arrived to Onigafuchi village. It was a long, long journey from the previous village to here, and you felt…starved. You haven’t had anything to eat all day. But being the dedicated disciple that you were, you obviously wouldn’t show it or tell him. Rest could wait until you both have reached the inns. Rest could wait until you two have finished exorcising the Mononoke, after saving these villagers, rest could…

His hand suddenly appears in your line of sight, breaking your train of thought. Again, he was offering another rice ball carefully and perfectly wrapped in bamboo paper. When did he have time to prepare this, and how did he prepare this?

“Ho…I sense this will be quite the hard Mononoke cleansing. Eat, you’ll need the fuel to help me.” He muttered, already continuing to walk away before you could protest or argue back. So now you have a still-warm rice ball in your palm.

You better catch up to him before you lose sight of him. And…maybe thank him afterwards.