![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mindlessadriNotes: The second chapter of who knows how many. It picks up right where chapter one leaves off only changing perspectives. Once again I apologize if my fantasy sucks.
~o~
Somebody was watching him, Kurogane could feel it. It was probably a special talent he had picked up being a hunter: the ability to know when being hunted. The presence didn't seem threatening only curious, still he drew both of his double edged daggers from their holsters hidden by his cloak and held them poised at his side. If the presence started moving he would strike, but not until then. He was nearing the fountain now in the middle of the square when he heard the unmistakeable sound of somebody jumping to the ground. With all the practiced skill of a person who had been around knives their whole life Kurogane spun the dagger in front of himself catching it by the bladed tip and threw it just to the left of his stalker.
“I won't miss a second time,” he asserted with his dagger in position to attack if need be. Instead he found the blond from earlier staring dumbfounded at the knife pinning his cloak to the ground.
“There is no need for you to attack a second time, Kuro...,” he paused. “And I was just thinking it too. Why is your name so long?” He whined.
Kurogane scrunched his forehead together irritated disbelief. This idiot couldn't be seriously wasting his time. He had places to be and he would be damned if he let this guy – what was his name again? Fai? - he would be damned if he let Fai keep him from them. He walked over and knelled beside the other and extracted his blade from the stone underneath with little effort. He stood and holstered his weapons at their respective spots against his ribs and through it all the idiot kept mumbling himself.
“I got it!” Fai snapped, “Kuro-rin!” The idiot smiled at him as if he was unbelievably proud of himself for remembering, or misremembering really.
“Tch,” Kurogane shook his head and began to walk away. “Not even close, idiot.” Part of him thought about correcting the new found nuisance but he didn't have time to deal with the man.
He heard Fai picking himself up behind him and honestly thought he would either stay put or walk back inside to that good-looking redhead, but no, footsteps began to follow him. “Kuro-pi?”
“No.”
“Hmm, Kuro-pu?”
“No.”
“Kuro-san?”
“No.” He was becoming increasingly irritated and though he knew it showed in his voice the blond continued to follow him.
“Kuro-dagger?”
He abruptly turned around to face his follower causing the blond to nearly collide with him a second time, “Now you're just making shit up.”
“Well, Kuro-pon has a mouth doesn't he. Besides he hasn't asked me to stop yet,” Fai replied inching his face closer to the others provoking no reaction.
“Stop. My name is Kurogane. Can you remember that?” He poked the other in the chest roughly to assert his point. Fai nodded, a huge entertained smile on his face. “Good. Now if you'll excuse me.” Kurogane turned swiftly, his cloak making a circular sweeping motion as he did.
Fai stared after the retreating man a moment before walking after him, “Just because I remember doesn't mean I'll do anything differently, Kuro-min.”
Kurogane looked over his shoulder and snarled, “Stop following me,” he punctuated each word hoping to ward the nuisance off.
“Aww, but Kuro-chi, I was hoping you could point me in the direction of an inn or some other form of lodging.” This was hardly true, he was supposed to be reporting back in a matter of hours on the condition of the newly fallen Prowler and possibly pick up a new assignment.
The taller snorted in mild cynical amusement, “Go back to the tavern. It looked like that woman was willing to point you in the direction of more than an inn.”
Fai smiled to himself, his intrigue for this human only growing the more he talked. “I can hardly go back to the tavern now. You have gone and gotten me lost. Besides I already told her I have urgent matters to attend to.” He wasn't really lost. Scaling one of these buildings would be only too easy, and looking out over the small village to find his way back even easier.
“And do you have 'urgent matters to attend to'?” Kurogane asked turning a corner out of the alleyway he had walked them through.
The blond paused, “Well of course! I had to talk to you, Kuro-rin.”
He put a hand to his face and rubbed in aggravation, “I thought you had to find an inn.”
“Well we could do that too, but I must say I think you are being awfully forward,” Fai replied.
Kurogane looked behind himself confused, “Wha-?” The impact of Fai's implication hit him and fire crept up his neck. “I said you not we you idiot! Besides I could do much better than an annoying blond who can't shut his trap.”
Fai scrunched his face in a private pout, twice he had been denied by this man. Once at the tavern when he was confused and now when he had been putting forth an earnest effort. Most humans would have dropped whatever they were doing to point him in the direction of an inn but not this one. He was different, and not in some cliché romance novel way but in a “he's-not-affected-by-me” way. Fai wasn't necessarily upset that Kurogane was impervious, if anything he was curious as to why and it only fueled his attraction. The attraction he felt wasn't necessarily physical nor sexual either, the taller just pulled him in like a magnet. The irony was that the magnet was trying to push him away. “What's in the bag Kuro-myu?” Fai asked thinking a change of subject might be in order.
The taller glanced back again at the blond, the man really did seem to want an actual answer. “Distilled alcohol for my mother. She's the closest thing the village has to a doctor,” he answered matter of factually. Kurogane picked up his pace remembering why he was in a hurry. If you asked him the kid that had been brought in didn't look like he needed any procedure done that would require alcohol to sterilize a wound or medical instruments. He was probably another one of the crazies. God bless his mother's soul but the day he actually started to believe she was some kind of 'spiritual link' was the day the town got raided which was far fetched. Nihon was home to one of the strongest if not fiercest volunteer militias in fifty miles. They trained when they had time, worked on actual military tactics, and had a constant patrol around the outskirts. Not to mention the village was largely made up of formidable fit men who made their money hunting animals or cutting trees in the surrounding forest and selling the meat or lumber at the port city twenty mile east. It wasn't like the village had ever been disturbed but it was better to be safe than sorry. Other than the occasional wolf Nihon was safe.
“Is there an emergency?” The blond asked increasing his pace so he was walking beside Kurogane instead of behind him.
Kurogane rolled his eyes, “Didn't I tell you I was in a hurry?”
Fai thought a moment, he supposed that made sense. Perhaps that was why the other was so irritable and wasn't responding to his curiosity fueled advances. Then again, probably not. “If your mother is the town doctor does that mean she had cots?”
“Yeah what of it?” The darker asked raising an eyebrow. All to late did he realize what Fai was suggesting.
A smile crept across Fai's face, “Would one be available for the evening? I assure you I can pay.”
Every nerve in his body screamed for Kurogane to say no, but it wasn't his house nor his profit that he would make letting Fai stay. “That's for my mother to decide,” he stated begrudgingly.
“Well then we better hurry. We shouldn't keep them any longer what with the way you've been lumbering along. How far until we reach our destination?” Fai asked suddenly taking the initiative and walking ahead of the other as if he had any idea where he was going.
“Lumbering? I seem to remember my trip back much differently. I remember it with an unwanted guest, who can't be quiet, and doesn't have the decency to remember my name.” Kurogane made a disgruntled noise in his throat, listing the reason for his annoyance only fueled it. “It's the shop with the lights still on, so not far.”
The shop he was addressing was one of the few two story buildings in the village and the window was allowing light to spill out over the cobble stone street. The two quickened their pace to both get out of the cold that was only made bone chilling by the wind in order to deliver the alcohol.
The bell overhead within the shop rang as they entered. The shop was systematically cluttered with various containers of herbs that sat on low wooden platforms that provided a warm and flowery fragrant “Kurogane?” Came a woman's voice from beyond the clutter, probably, if Fai had to guess, from a back room.
“It's me mom. I got the alcohol you asked for. A pest follo-” Kurogane began only to be cut off by a large crash from the back room. “Mom?” He called out gruffly setting the bag down and making for the back room. “Mom answer me!”
Fai watched as Kurogane headed for a doorway covered by a red curtain only to be stopped when a slight woman, who only came to Kurogane's pectoral, with long flowing hair raven colored hair emerged an ran into the taller. “Oh, Kurogane. You're back. What took you so long?”
“That's not important right now, what was that noise? Are you hurt? I told you I would get everything for you. You should be resting.” He crossed his arms about his chest and stood up straighter.
“Kurogane,” she said sternly, “I may have had an asthma attack earlier today but I took care of it and I rested all morning and afternoon, now let me do my job.”
Her son breathed out through his nose with a distressed look in his eyes that he tried to cover by frowning. She gently laid her hand on his cheek and he would have leaned into the touch affectionately if she didn't think he hyper-aware of the stranger standing by the door. She was just as aware as he was. All day she had felt the presence of a Demon within the village, it had arrived suddenly as if it materialized out of thin air. Normally when Demons came to town they approached at a steady pace allowing for her body to compensate for the strain of the afflicting Aura. But the Demon's sudden arrival to the northwest of the village, less than a mile, away from the edge of the woods had sent her body into a state of shock causing her to have what she had always explained to her son as just another asthma attack, he was accustomed to seeing them enough that he accepted her explanation.
When Kurogane had been younger she had sensed that he possessed the same ability as she did. Within the secondary world, that humans were unaware of, they were known as Demon Links. They acted as ambassadors of sorts to those from beyond this realm, helping them if they chose to do such. Not every Demon was bad, much like the one standing in her shop now, and every Link had the freedom to decide who they would assist. More importantly though Links had the very special ability to feed Demons Essence needed to exist within the mortal realm without losing anything themselves because they were touched by the Reaper, the most powerful of all creatures. However, they had to consciously push their Essence into the Demon.
Reapers we're the closest thing to the conceived notion of God. They decided life and death and the fate of Souls but they were hardly immortal and could hardly do much else. They lived surround by Angels who were sent as messengers to the mortal realm, messengers who took and delivered Souls from and to Bodies, human vessels, when the Reaper decided it was time for the Soul to return. It was then decided weather the Soul would become an Angle or return to Earth as a new born. Being on Earth was meant to allow the Soul to gain knowledge in order to gain internal peace through relinquishing desire, if this was achieved the Soul became an Angel. However this was very hard to achieve and most Souls returned to Earth seeing as they had to overcome want and desire. Even after becoming an Angel though one could fall, and these fallen Angels became demons who could neither return to peace or Earth without first experiencing death. Demons both wanted and avoided death. Avoided it for self preservation and craved it so that they could begin the process of finding peace again.
The Angels that fell were sent to one of the four Demon Keepers until an opportunity presented itself to posses a Body seeing as the only way to satisfy both instincts was to be placed in a situation in which the host kept the Demon living but dormant or allowed for it's Soul to be consumed and set the Demon on a path of destruction to gain power, once this path was started the Demon would be hunted and killed thus fulfilling the other desire. The Demon Keepers chose the humans they thought would continue to do the first and could utilize the power given to them by the Demon that possessed them.
Demon Links were the Souls of angels who requested to be sent back to Earth, knowing full well they may not be able to find peace in their new lifetime. And because they volunteered to go to Earth and relinquish the peace they had found they were granted the ability to feed Demons and sense them. Tsumebe, had tried to explain to her son their place in the world but he hadn't be able to go any further after his first encounter with a Demon because after the horrific event he had forgotten everything he had been taught and began to think his mother crazy. Which is why she had been surprised and fell off her step stool when she felt the Demon presence follow her son into the shop.
Kurogane uncrossed his arms and ran a hand through his hair. “At least let me help you.”
His mother smiled warmly, “As if I could do any different with you at my every beckon call. And stop scowling so much, you are much to young to look so displeased.”
Her son 'hmphed.' “Just be more careful. I'm the only person here to look after you and I can't be everywhere at once.”
“Alright, my dear boy. Now what was this you were saying about a pest?” She asked acting as if she wasn't acutely aware of the Demon possessed blond in her shop.
Kurogane's scowl deepened, “This babbling idiot is the reason I was late in returning. He insisted on following me while spouting bullshi-” his mother raised an eyebrow, “- I mean, spouting nonsense. I had to stop several times just to collect myself.” Normally he restrained himself from cursing in front of his mother out of respect but his irritation with the blond standing just inside the shop while feigning innocence annoyed him to no end.
“Kurogane, that's no way to treat a guest,” she chided lightly. “Have you offered him a cot for the night?”
Fai decided to use this as his opportunity to interject, “I can pay milady. I am good for one nights fee and I will depart at first light.” He smiled politely.
Tsumebe made her way to the blond and took his hands in hers, “There is no need to hurry. You are welcome here, Lust,” she whispered.
The Demon inhaled sharply, losing his composure for the slightest moment before regaining his polite smile. “I am humbled by your hospitality but I'm afraid I must return home,” he emphasized to attempt to determine how much the woman knew of his existence.
Understanding flashed across her eyes, “Well if you must. But I will not accept money.”
“Mom! Don't just open your home to a complete stranger without compensation,” Kurogane threw out hastily.
His mother smiled patiently at him, “Kurogane, we have plenty of money between your hunting and my healing. If you had let me finish you would also know I do not plan on letting him stay for free. I believe he can help me upstairs.”
Kurogane groaned, just as he had suspected, the blond was one of the crazies
The upstairs was simply a plain room with a few cots pushed to the sides and on one lay a boy no older than fifteen panting as his chest rose and fell rapidly. His face shined with sweat yet radiated fever. The boys mother was knelled at his bedside obvious worry twisting her face. Fai and Tsumebe had left Kurogane down stairs to retire to his room located beyond the store front once he had gotten the items his mother needed from the store room.
Tsumebe went forth and placed herself at the center of the room with the things she had carried up: Dragon's Breath, a goblet, and a shallow basin filled with water. “What is it exactly that you are hoping I can do for you?” Fai asked in earnest.
“The boy has a Soul Parasite. Normally people are brought to me much sooner and I can extract the Parasite through herbs and prayer alone, but the Parasite it so tightly wrapped around the Soul and I wouldn't be able to remove it without a long drawn out ritual that would drain both me and him. Honestly, he doesn't have much energy to give. So I was hoping you would-”
-draw it out with Demon blood.” Fai finished for her. Humans possessed by Demons found that their blood created portals to the Demon Realm. If this Soul parasite took the bait it would try to go through that portal and ultimately fail. Blood portals could only be seen and used at speeds incapable of any human or animal of the mortal realm. “I can do that for you.”
The healer knelt in front of the water and said a quick prayer that caused to water to momentarily glow. She then stood and carried the basin and other things over to the boy's bedside. “Miss,” she addressed the boy's mother, “It would be best if you waited downstairs. We'll be done in just a little while.”
“B-but Thomas, what if-”
“Milady,” Fai chimed in. He walked over to her and took her hand in order to pull her up. She followed his lead without question. “Thomas will be just fine. I'm sure if you go down stairs it'll all seem over much quicker.” He took her to the staircase and she descended without question. Sometimes his dashing good looks could be used for things other than evil.
Tsumebe handed him the goblet when he returned and looked intently at the boy to allow Fai privacy. He relaxed his right hand that he held the goblet in and allowed for his claws to extend from his finger tips in to gruesomely long points that were sharp to the touch. He touched the claw of this pointer finger to his left wrist and drew it across smoothly forming a deep gash and red liquid began to surface. Before a single drop could leave him his claws retracted and he held the goblet underneath the collecting blood. He upturned his hand and allowed to blood to flow freely into the cup. Once half full Fai set the goblet on the night stand next to the bed and applied pressure to the cut to staunch the flow of blood.
The healer reached across the bed, grabbed the cup and held it in her lap.
Thomas' body began to shake violently and the veins throughout his body bulged in an alien way. He sounded as if he were choking and deprived of air. His back arched inhumanly away from the mattress as his limbs went taught. All to suddenly he vomited, the vile substance landing on his chest. The parasite was coming, it had released the Soul and the body was reacting violently as it tried to restore internal balance and repair itself. The boys eyes popped open as he convulsed on the bed but there was no iris nor pupil just white but even then you could sense the terror within the child. He opened his mouth as if he were about to scream only to be silenced as the Parasite began to exit through it, worm like and slimy, roughly the size of a fist in diameter and a foot long in length. The worm dove straight for the blood placed in Tsumebe's lap. She let it come and when it was close enough she grabbed the Dragon's Breath from behind her and placed it in the goblet. The Parasite tried to redirect it's course but it was futile it's head landed in it's intended, but now tainted, target. It made a noise of pain and fell to the wooden floor with a dull thud. On the floor it withered and continued to cry as it began to shrink in size until it was no more than the size of a plump centipede. Seizing her chance Tsumebe grabbed the awful thing and dropped in into the purified water unceremoniously. The water boiled upon contact and stopped once the Parasite had been completely incinerated.
Thomas lay panting in the bed asleep but well. Fai still gripped at his wrist as Tsumebe stood. “Thank you very much Fai. I'll finish up here. Please go down stairs to the back and ask Kurogane to give you some bandages for your wrist. You may be a Demon but your wounds still need time to heal albeit less time.”
“Isn't Kuro-puu asleep?” Fai asked giving less pressure to his wound to see if it had slowed. It hadn't, he must have made the cut to deep.
“Kuro-puu?” Tsumebe repeated quietly as a smile spread across her face. She now understood why her son had been so irritated and couldn't help but laugh. “No wonder he's so bothered by you. And no, he might have said he was going to sleep but he never sleeps until I'm in my own room.”
Fai descended the steps, quietly passing by Thomas' mother who had fallen asleep in a chair, he went through the curtained doorway making a left in the hallway. Earlier he had learned that going right led to a storeroom so it was safe to assume which way their living quarters were.
Kurogane turned over in his bed when he felt somebody approaching, he had left his door cracked so he could see his mother when she came down from the crazy room. However he knew his mother's presence and was aware that the person slowly walking down the hall was none other than the crazy blond. It was easy to pick up on his presence it was one that made him edgy in one sense and at ease in another. A knock came drifting through his room, light and tentative.
“Kuro-sama? Your mother said you could get bandages-” No sooner had the word escaped his lips was the door pulled the rest of the way open with incredible force.
“Did she injure herself? Is there blood?” Kurogane rushed out.
Fai's eyes went wide, in the door frame stood the most well crafted man he had had the privilege of seeing in all his years. Damn Kurogane for not wearing a shirt to bed because Fai found it increasingly difficult to talk the longer he stood there staring at the well sculpted chest. If only he could touch it, he reached his left hand out intent of spreading it over the muscles of the man's lower abdomen and slowly pushing it upwards over the other well defined muscles, up his neck, curl a hand in his hair and then - “Shit!” Kurogane barked. “Why didn't you say it was you that was bleeding you idiot!”
Being pulled away from his daydream Fai followed Kurogane's eyes to his wrist where blood was still freely flowing even if at a much slower rate. The taller growled and clamped a hand over the pale wrist. “Don't just fucking stand there and watch yourself bleed.”
Kurogane dragged him down the hall past two closed doors and through another curtain at the end of the hall which gave way to the darkened kitchen. The taller dragged Fai around causing the slighter to trip over unseen objects until they reached the oven where embers still glowed. He grabbed a thin yet long wooden stick and stuck it in the embers waiting til is caught fire to drag Fai to the middle of the room and expertly light the oil lamp the hung from the ceiling thus giving light to the room.
The taller sat Fai in a chair at the table just to the left of them. He took Fai's other hand in his and looked the blond in the eye. “Keep pressure on it while I find the bandages and antiseptic.” He removed his hand and placed Fai's own where his had been.
The blond used this opportunity to take in the cluttered kitchen. It wasn't dirty by any means just packed full of boxes and other miscellaneous items. No wonder he had been tripping so much as he was pulled through the dark.
Kurogane returned from behind him with the bottle of alcohol his mother had sent him to get earlier and hadn't needed in the end, a rag, and a roll of white bandages. “Let me see it,” Kurogane commanded quietly his voice losing it's usual gruffness as he concentrated. He pulled up a chair and sat across from the blond.
Fai complied holding out his wrist to the other, “Kuro-sleepy, I'm capable of doing this myself.”
“Pft. As if. You'd probably forget to disinfect the wound get and infection and die a slow agonizing death as your flesh was eaten by bacteria,” he said pouring the alcohol onto the rag.
Fai's face twisted, “Is this going to burn?”
Kurogane shrugged in response.
The blond tried to pull his wrist away, “Let me do it myself.”
The other scowled as if that would stop it from burning if it was going to burn. “Just hold still and let me do this!”
“I'd rather take my chances with the flesh eating disease!”
“Stop being so irrational you idiot!” Kurogane groaned, how old was this guy anyway. Twelve? “Fai,” he said firmly catching the blond off guard, “Purple elephants walking in the street in dresses.”
Fai looked at him confused and to distracted to stop the other from laying the soaked rag across his wound. He flinched just a bit at the slight burning sensation. “That's not fair Kuro-sneaky. You tricked me.
Kurogane rolled his eyes as he took the rag in hand and began cleaning the cut. “I wouldn't of had to trick you if you hadn't acted like a bratty kid.”
Fai smiled warmly and adjusted his position so his elbows rested on his thighs and his chin in his free hand. He studied the sharp lines of Kurogane's face and tried his best not to stare to much at the mans biceps and otherwise tone figure. He watched coal eyes concentrate on his wound and he wondered if perhaps it was a common eye color in his village. Most northern villages had blue eyes and fair skinned people like himself. Tsumebe didn't have them so perhaps it was something else her eyes were a light brown. “Do you get your eyes from your father Kuro-sama?”
The taller looked up locking his eyes with blue ones, “My mother says I do.”
“Oh and is Kuro-papa off hunting in the woods while you hold down the fort?” Fai teased.
Kurogane sighed reaching for the bandages, “No. My father is off being dead.”
Fai's face fell, “Oh. Sorry. I didn't know.”
“Did you kill my father?”
Blue eyes widened in horror, “No!”
“Then don't be sorry. To be honest I don't even remember.” Kurogane blew over the wound causing a cooling sensation over the alcohol and began to wrap it tightly. “Clean it everyday. Don't let dirt get in it.”
“Ay ay, Kuro-sir!” Fai flexed his hand
Kurogane ran a hand awkwardly through his hair. He supposed the idiot wasn't so bad once he got past the nicknames. Not to mention he felt an unexplainable sense of responsibility for the blond and the thought of just letting him leave and not seeing him again was not a welcomed one. “Do you plan on coming back through town anytime soon?”
Fai stopped making a fist. “Mm, perhaps. It all depends on what my next assignment is and where it is. But maybe if my boss gives me a break and sometime to enjoy myself Nihon will be on my list of places to visit.”
“Don't go out of your way for my sake.” The taller leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms about his bare chest. Wait – his chest was bare. In front of the most attractive blond man he had ever met. The realization embarrassed him to no end. He cleared his throat and looked away, there was nothing he could do about it now without stopping the conversation. “What do you do for work?”
A coy smile crept across Fai's face, “I find people who have strayed from the path of good and deliver punishment.”
Kurogane scoffed. “Are you trying to tell me you are some sort of mercenary?”
“Some sort.” He smiled.
The other looked Fai straight in the eyes, “So my options are I accept you're a mercenary or I assume you're a liar.”
“Hmm, quite a conundrum you find yourself in. I will tell you this. My life requires me to be both of those.”
Kurogane stared a him for a moment waiting for any sign that the man was lying. “Bullshit.”
Fai chuckled contently. “Well we better head to bed. I'm sure your mother needs help cleaning up so I should go do that.”
“Right. My mother.” Kurogane had forgotten about her for a few moments. “Make sure she gets down the stairs safe then.”
“Will do Kuro-puu.”
Fai stood and made for the kitchen exit. “Wait. Earlier. I was going to ask you to get a drink with me if you come back here. I'll buy.”
The other's smile could have melted an iceberg, “I'm sure I can make time for that.”
“Like I said, 'Don't go out of your way for my sake.'”
“I wouldn't think of it.” With that Fai left throwing a wave over his shoulder as he went through the curtain.
Then Kurogane did something he didn't normally do he smiled, full and happy. And he went to bed that way.
Upstairs Fai found Tsumebe busying herself making up one of the cots with a thick quilt. She fluffed a pillow and set it down at the head of the bed. “So you fed off my son?”
She didn't sound upset but Fai chose to stop in the middle of the room just in case. “I only ask because I can sense his energy in you.”
“I did so by accident. I don't think he was even aware anything happened. Quite honestly I don't know what happened. One second I'm nearly drained and the next I'm fuller than I have ever been.”
“It's interesting if you say he didn't seem aware of it seeing as it's normally a conscious thing when a Link pushes their Essence. Kurogane has the same ability as me, but he isn't aware of it at all.”
“Excuse me, but I don't even know what this ability is. What are you and Kurogane?”
“We're Demon Links.”
The two of them talked for another hour in the upstairs room that had been vacated shortly after Fai had went downstairs. She was patient with him as she explained to him what Demon Links were and how they operated. When he asked why he had never heard of Demon Links before she reasoned it was because they were so rare, seeing as most Angels had no reason to return to Earth unless they fell and became Demons. Most Demons she met over the years hadn't known what she was, she didn't think they were secret just unknown.
“So if you know that Kurogane had the same capability as you why is he unaware of it?” Fai asked once she had concluded.
“When he was younger he knew what he was. And I was training him to become a healer like me. One day we were walking through the woods so I could show him the differences in wild herbs and we came across a young boy. He looked like he hadn't eaten in days. In reality he had just failed to satisfy his Demon. He was possessed by one of the more dangerous Demons: Gluttony.”
Fai flinched. Each Demon required something different to gather Essence and stay dormant. Every Demon required Essence, however each could only gain it through certain means. Gluttony required flesh. Fai would have been dead long ago had he been possessed by that Demon and he was a grown man. He couldn't begin to imagine having to eat humans and the affect it would have on a child's mind.
“I sensed what he was right away. Kurogane was still young and couldn't differentiate the Aura of humans and Demons yet so seeing the boy he made a mad dash for him. I had every intention of feeding the boy, but Kurogane got there first and when they locked eyes the boy was filled with Essence again. After that we took the boy home and he begged for us not to turn him out on the streets. He was only a child hardly capable of an impure thought and yet there he was in a situation where he would have to commit a heinous act everyday for survival.
“My son saw this and he too begged for the boy to stay. He said he would feed him everyday and that we couldn't just let him go. The boy had been a new Demon turned out by his family for whom he accepted the Demon for he later told me. After discussing it with Toriho we agreed knowing in a few years time we would have to move to avoid suspicion seeing as he would never age.
“However just a year after he came to live with us tragedy struck. Him a Kurogane had gone exploring in the woods, about two miles east, to some caves that the villagers thought safe. There was small tremor that day, not even strong enough to knock paintings off walls but in the mountains it must have been stronger. It caused the entrance to cave in, trapping the boy inside and Kurogane outside.
“He raced back to town to alert the villagers and they went with shovels and pickaxes to remove the stones. A full day passed and our family became worried knowing what would happen but we could do nothing, nobody believed us that when the boy was free the first person he would need to see was Kurogane if he was still even human at that point. I felt it when the Demon ate his Soul and I looked to Toriho and he knew too. He hurried to round the militia hoping they could stop Gluttony before it ate enough Souls to take it's true form. But that was only a hope.”
Gluttony was a demon with no self control, Fai knew. While other Demons could strategically stalk souls and hide, when Gluttony was released it ran rampant.
“There were to many villagers at the cave and they could hardly out run a Demon, let alone one that has no self control. Which is typical of the Gluttony Demons. He managed to eat the Souls of all the town people at the caves. When he hit Nihon we were prepared, the militia had been gathered but Gluttony had taken it's true form by then and quickly did away with most of the militia. I went to face the Demon knowing I was the only one who had a chance at stopping it by hopefully summoning a human possessed by Gluttony. It was the only way.
“I told Kurogane to guard the shop. He was confused he kept hearing me telling his father the boys Soul was gone when it initially happened but that meant nothing to him. After I left he followed, though I was unaware at the time because I as intent on finding Gluttony and summoning a Demon. I took a path that took me behind the Demon and Kurogane took one that planted him directly in it's path. I must have got to my destination first. I remember it being unbearably hot because of all the fires that were catching in the panic. When I got there I got busy summoning, successfully I might add. As soon as the Demon arrived though I felt the presence of a much stronger Demon. I felt Wrath just beyond the Demon and suddenly it's huge body exploded and on the other side of the smoke stood Kurogane clutching his father's sword.
“Wrath was showing him what it could provide my son but I couldn't let my son become possessed. I rushed forward throwing out the only spell I could think of at the time. A memory charm. I locked the memory of that pass year inside of him and without a source of rage to allow for it to take over Kurogane, Wrath relinquished my son. I still don't know what happened that day, though I have an idea.”
Fai stared in stunned silence. He gulped, how was a person supposed to process a story like that. Let alone one about a person you hardly knew and who themselves didn't remember it ever happening. “Why did you tell me all this? What am I supposed to do with this information?”
Tsumebe sat on the bed and looked at her hands as she fiddled with them in her lap. She exhaled heavily and looked out the window on the east wall. “It felt right to tell you. I'm not a Dreamseer or a Clairvoyant, but maybe I was in my past life. I'm nothing more than simple Healer and a skilled Spellcaster who happens to be a Link as well. However, even if I can't see the future I know you need to know this.”
“One last thing. If a Link has to give their Essence up knowingly how did-”
Tsumebe put her hand up to keep Fai from talking, “Believe me when I say that I don't know. More than a few Demons have come through since then and it has never happened before. All I can say is you must be different.”
Fai mulled this over momentarily. He had told Kurogane he would come back but had he really meant it? Part of him had and that same part had fluttered at the thought of talking with a person and not to fulfill an ulterior motive but just to talk. Another part of him, the part who had lived many years and didn't hold on to the optimistic nature of his twenty-two year old body knew that forging any relationship with a human was inviting heartache no matter how platonic that relationship might be.
Chapter 1
no subject
Date: 2012-09-04 05:47 am (UTC)( also I love you forever for using those names for Kuroparents)
no subject
Date: 2012-09-07 04:48 am (UTC)Wait – his chest was bare. In front of the most attractive blond man he had ever met.
Lmao, so self conscious. But uh, I will never say no to his bare chest. >.>
By the way, I'm still giggling at that crack fic you wrote. How he died was gruesome, but still. XD
no subject
Date: 2012-09-07 05:04 am (UTC)I'm glad you like them because coming up with them gave me hell like most o the things that don't exist. It's just so hard for me to expand my writing into the realm of fantasy if only because I don't have that sort of imagination that can just come up with col magical or mythical aspects. Also that real boosts my confidence. Somebody told me it was to long winded. I mean I acknowledge it's long winded but I just wanted to make sure the concepts were understood. yaknow?
I yes his chest is bare. I make many a references to it later. :3
You can handle the arm appreciation, I'll handle the chest appreciation ;)
Also I realized while I was Target that I had basically written the equivalent of a Xia/Kurogane fanfic. Pretty much I have become the first fan of your appreciation, relationship, fangirlin' of Kurogane.
You are the ultimate Kurogane fan so it's a ship and yeah.... this made more sense at Target.
no subject
Date: 2012-09-15 05:34 am (UTC)"My father is off being dead. Did you kill him? Then don't be sorry." I had to laugh! Kurogane can be so snarky when he's short-tempered. Which is always.
The story of the little boy and Kurogane was so sad though... ;_; Now I see the reason for the chapter title. Okay, onwards.
no subject
Date: 2012-09-15 07:00 am (UTC)Also I really like that scene and I'm sure I didn't write it with the intent to be funny but afterwards I couldn't deny that it was entertaining.
Part of me wishes I had give the little boy an identity I thought about making him Syaoran but I gave him another part in the world despite the fact he might never appear. Oops