"Koto. Hey, Koto, wake up."
She groaned, having expected to wake up on her own, entangled in his arms and pleasantly sleepy. She never liked being woken up—normally, she'd sleep for hours into the morning when she could.
She rolled over in the grass, opening her eyes just enough to peek at the demon sitting up next to her with a smile on his face.
It was still dark, the sky a deep, murky indigo.
"Why?" she grumbled, lazily sliding her arms around his waist.
"'Cause I want ya ta see somethin'."
She took a long, sleepy breath, nuzzling into his hip. "What?"
"Ya gotta come up here with me an' look."
"But it's just dark," she protested, her words a languid drawl.
She could hear him snickering at her, then his hands were untangling her grasp on him and gently tugging her upward. "C'mon. Promise it's good."
Another irritable groan was her initial response, but she eventually conceded to his badgering and hauled herself upright, propping her weight against him.
"What am I looking at?" she asked again, squeezing her eyes closed and open again as she warded off her exhaustion.
"Right over there."
She squinted in the direction of his gesturing finger. "I still don't see anything."
"Just a second. Ya gotta be patient, now."
The sky remained a sea of black and purple, and she huffed a rather impatient breath. He had woken her to stare at the sky in the early hours of the morning, and there wasn't even anything to see.
She was just about to give up and plop back down on the grass to reclaim the rest of the night's sleep when she saw a glimmer on the horizon.
Her breath stilled.
The first streams of orange and yellow glinted just above the grass, just a hint of the brilliance that would encompass the daytime world, but it wasn't the only thing to light the sky. The moment the faintest hint of the sun appeared on the horizon, an array of different colors sprang to life, twisting and dancing in front of the celestial body that gave them life.
They were intangible rivers and streams of color, pouring ceaselessly from the wellspring of light and shimmering with an unearthly radiance, and Koto was chilled to see it. They snaked across the sky, always moving but never once merging, each seeming to possess a life more furious than its companion.
"See? This is what I wanted ya ta see," he murmured, seemingly just as breathless as she was.
"What—what is it?" she whispered back, hardly daring to pull her gaze away for a moment.
She could feel his breath against her cheek as he pulled her closer. "Magic."