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"Ten,"
Madara runs. This probably won't help him, but he might as well try. He runs through tall grasses and wildflowers and clustered trees, and even though he's a youkai he still might not be fast enough, so he runs a bit faster.
"Nine,"
He knows better than to only hide. The last time he simply hid she found him in half-a-minute. Thinking back on it, hiding behind a tall blade of grass probably wasn't a good idea.
"Eight,"
Or maybe it's that youkai don't normally have to hide. They normally can't be seen and are generally left alone by other youkai (though maybe that's just him).
"Seven,"
Madara is not lonely.
"Six,"
She's annoying. Very annoying. Too annoying, with her calling on him all the time and making him do ridiculous things like this. He's a youkai, a powerful youkai, not a doll for her to play with! He could get rid of her if he wanted to.
"Five,"
He doesn't really want to. He just likes humoring the little human, seeing how far she will go in her ever-lasting quest for friendship and love and all of the other things that makes humans so idiotic. If she had any real power over him, she'd be dead in an instant.
"Four,"
A very quick instant.
"Three,"
But she is an amusing human, though, and it gets boring, being a near-immortal almighty god-like youkai. One more drinking game with the idiots from Yatsuhara and he might slaughter them all, their ability to find the best sake in the area non-withstanding.
"Two,"
Watching her cow other youkai with her little paper book is even more fun than terrorizing them in her place most days.
"One,"
Then there are days like this. He'd rather be gallivanting with Misuzu than doing this. When exactly, did Madara get relegated to the equivalent of a playmate?
"Ready or not, here I come,"
Madara shakes his fur, ready for a long and winded chase. A poke on his shoulder and,
"Hah! I found you. Now it's your turn."
Madara sighs, but turns around. He hears the sound of her feet hitting the ground. She has not yet learned to be quiet.
She stops, and the pitter-patter of her breaths slows. She waits.
He starts off this time.
"Ten,"
****
Madara finds Reiko instantly, standing right beside him.