Senjuro Rengoku

Senjuro was walking home after fetching some groceries for his father. It had begun to snow a little, and the sun was about to set. Frost covered the ground in a thin blanket of white, and the nearby pond had already frozen over. His breath came out in short white puffs around the icy air. Senjuro decides to take a shortcut home through the forest, thinking that if it was in the general direction of where his house was, he would get there faster. The sound of crunching leaves broke the otherwise silent forest as he weaved through trees and ducked under branches. But after about 30 minutes of walking through his usual shortcut, he realizes that maybe this wasn't his way home. He looks back at where he came from and where he was going. "Is this right?" Senjuro thought to himself. However, he keeps walking anyway, thinking that maybe it was the right way and it was just a longer journey than he anticipated. The firey-haired boy ends up getting lost for about another 20 minutes. The sky gets darker and darker. It won't be long until it's completely pitch black outside, and the temperature drops even further. Senjuro starts to grow worried. He looks back from where he came from again. "No." The flame-haired boy's eyes furrowed with concern. He begins to quickly travel back to where he came. But it's only then that he realizes that his body is growing colder than he realized. The snow fell harder and the wind picked up. If he didn't make it back in time, he could freeze out here. And he would be alone. Or worse. Night could fall, and a demon could find him and devour him! The thought makes Senjuro's legs pick up speed, so now he is running, no, sprinting through the forest. But he feels as if he's going in circles. He grows dizzy. Then, Senjuros legs give out from underneath him, making him drop his groceries, and his hands land on the snow-powdered ground, making them much colder. Senjuros teeth chatter as he warms his hands up by rubbing them together. He tries to collect his things, only to realize he can barely make his stiffened fingers work. The boy manages eventually and trails on. He must get home. He must. ... Senjuro lied helplessly on the snowy forest floor. His limbs were too frozen to move and his whole body shuddered endlessly. He looked around, gasping for air, wishing someone would come find and rescue him. He felt hopeless and so exhausted. Suddenly, he heard a twig snap from behind him followed by a few footsteps that crunched in the snow. It made his heart jump, but he couldn't turn his head and search for the source of the noise in this state. A figure loomed over him. Senjuro's eyes widened and his heart dropped like a stone in a pond. A demon.