Ch. 1: The Truth
"Is that her?" It was a voice. That of a young (if you might) man.
"Yes." this was that of another. Lighter, feminine. Yes…. that of a girl. Sitting in the position from the tree they were in, they could see a young girl. She was about 15, and had long black hair. She was wearing a black sweater, and slightly baggy black pants with red trim on them.
"An outcast, Shira?" he said, as he motioned to the young girl, how her clothes didn't fit in with the uniforms the others were wearing.
The one that had been spoken to turned. "Very, Kist….." she jumped from the tree, landing in a most "catlike" position.
Kist looked up, jumped from the tree, and landed on both feet with no hint of pain revealed from the height of the jump. "Shira?" he asked
"Kist?" Shira asked, in reply.
"As sure as you and I are cat and wolf demon" he paused, thinking for a bit, then finally added "we are also her guardians and teachers?"
"As sure as we are" she replied.
They both sat on the ledges next to the entrance to the school.
Kist's ears twitched. "Ah!" he sat up. "Shira! Let's go!"
Shira twitched her tail, and jumped from the ledge. Kist and Shira leaned against the building wall, and a flood of students came out of the school.
Kist stared at the crowd, his ears pricked forward, and he singled her from the crowd. "There..." he said, pointing at the girl. He and Shira stood up, walking to the side of the crowd. They had hidden their true selves, hiding their animal ears and tails, appearing human. Following close behind her, they soon reached her house.
The girl opened the door. "MOM! DAD? I'M HOME!" she yelled. There was no answer, and she sighed. "Looks like they're working late again……." she walked to the fridge and pulled a note from under a magnet. It read "Dear Ayaminin, we're working late again, make dinner for yourself, do your homework! We won't be home until lunch tomorrow. Love mom and dad. " Ayaminin sighed, opening the refrigerator. "Uh! There's nothing to eat!…….as usual……" She walked to her room, closing her door.
Kist smiled, his sharp ears catching what she said from outside. He opened the door, sneaking in with Shira behind him. "Wait here….." he whispered to Shira, and she nodded. He snuck up the stairs towards her room as quietly as he possibly could, but her old wooden floors, given slight bend to his weight, creaked with all their might.
Ayaminin stopped working on her homework, sure of the creak from the floors. Someone's in the house?
She got up and walked towards her door, reached for the handle, and
swung the door open. "Huh?" she looked at the hallway. Emptiness,
complete emptiness. Was it just my imagination? She closed her door.
Kist
sighed in relief. He had jumped up just in time, pushing his hands and
legs against the wall, and bracing himself against the ceiling. "Uh!"
his hand slipped "Oh no!" he crashed to the floor. "Ouch…."
Ayaminin sat up. I knew it! She picked up the wooden bat from her closet and swung open the door, whacking Kist with it. "Who the hell are you, and what're you doing in my house!"
Kist scrambled across the floor, dodging and blocking the swings. "Calm…….down…..will ya!" he disappeared, and then reappeared behind her, pinning her arms to her sides. "Okay, we'll try this again…"he said, adding a smile. "Shira!" he shouted.
Shira appeared from her hiding place around the corner. "Miss Kouraana?" She stared Ayaminin in the eyes.
Ayaminin found it hard to look away. "Yes?"
Shira, now sure that she was listening , sat down sighing. "You are the one……who's supposed to come with us…….your powers lie within you , and you must find them" she paused. "You have to come with me and Kist…."she motioned to Kist, who walked up rubbing an arm that had been hit by the bat.
"My powers? Wait! What! Who are you two, and go where!" Ayaminin yelled in confusion.
"You're coming with us to the DTPA." said Kist, who was still rubbing his arm.
"The DTPA?" asked Ayaminin.
"The Demon's Training and Protection Agency" answered Shira. "C'mon!" she said "We don't have all day……." She stood up, and following Kist, went down the stairs. She paused and turned around. "Well, Ayaminin, are you coming?"
Ayaminin nodded slowly, trying to figure out how they knew her name. She figured that she since no one would call her to go anywhere, or her parents wouldn't be back till later, she would go. She looked at the stairs, then grabbed her shoes, and hopped down the steps.
"Walk quickly…….." said Shira as they got outside. Ayaminin picked up the pace, and followed them. They came upon an unusually large cherry tree, and Kist motioned to them to come behind it. Ayaminin watched as Kist put his hand to the trunk.
"Marvin a ma mouric na tou, la sta mouy uven ma noy" Kist chanted as a portal appeared. "Work quick" he said. Ayaminin stared at him, and he growled. "C'mon, it's about to close!" He shoved Ayaminin, and she let out a scream, then Kist jumped in after her.
Ayaminin continued to scream as she came through the portal. Kist and Shira stared at her. She looked at them, then stopped. They soon landed in a land with green grass and a bright clear sky. Kist shook his head and his wolf ears sprung up. He then winked as his tail appeared, and he swayed it. Ayaminin stared in surprise at him, then turned to Shira just as she showed her cat tail. It flicked back and forth as if it had a mind of it's own.
"Well…….." said Kist.
Ayaminin, finally recovered from her surprise, answered. "What are you? And where are we? "
"I
am Wolf demon, my name is Kist, and we " he stopped with a dramatic
pause "are in the land of demons." He bowed, then turned to Shira.
"This is Shira, cat demon, and Co-trainer of the DTPA." Shira smiled as she heard her part of being Co-trainer.
Shira turned towards the luscious woods. "We're heading there." She pointed, her tail flicking from side to side. Shira headed off, Kist behind her, and Ayaminin behind him.
They had gotten a little ways into the woods when Kist stopped, and he frowned. "Wait……." he whispered. Shira had only the time to ask "Wha---" before Kist silenced her. "Shhh……." he whispered. "Listen……." he swiveled his ears left and right, and his eyes widened in surprise. "DUCK!" he yelled, as he tackled Ayaminin to the ground. As soon as they hit the ground, an arrow flew over their heads and jammed into a tree trunk behind them.
"Seems we're not alone." said Shira, her ears lain back as she looked around for the follower.
"Hey!" yelled a voice.
Kist closed his eyes and let out a groan of disgust as he recognized the voice. "Oh no…….." he sat up "It can't be…….."
"What?" asked Ayaminin, who was brushing herself off.
"Marvin…….Kist's worst nightmare…….:" answered Shira.
"Marvin?" asked Ayaminin. As if to answer her question, a guy with pants that had different shades of green, a dark green shirt with brown, a light green hat with leaves on it, and childish green eyes came jumping through the trees. He had a bow and a quiver of arrows.
"Nice dodge.." said the guy as he smiled at Kist.
"Marvin……" asked Kist, in a really annoyed voice.
"Yup?" answered the guy, or rather what we will call him, by name, Marvin.
Kist gave him a hard stare. "You could've killed her……"
Marvin raised an eyebrow. "Who?"
Kist growled and laid his ears back. "HER!" he pointed at Ayaminin, who looked from Kist to Marvin, then back. "She's the one we left for, stupid. You could've killed her, and you would've gotten in huge trouble with the DTPA, you know that! You can't just go around aiming and shooting at people!"
"I…….uh…..well, you see……….and " Marvin rubbed the back of his head, unable to think of what to say after Kist's outburst. He was right, after all. If he had hit Ayaminin with that arrow and it hurt her, he'd have trouble. The DTPA would strip him of his title as "Youngest Master Archer". It was true, he was the best with bow and arrow in the DTPA, not to mention the youngest. To be stripped of his title, and who knew what would happen after that. He winced as he thought of it.
Kist sighed, then stared at Marvin. "Well, why are you here? Don't you have some special mission to do?"
Marvin sighed with what sounded like calm gratis-ness. "I'm actually free today……surprised?"
Kist nodded. Usually members of the DTPA had missions all the time. He thought about it, then sneered at how he had never gotten a free day, yet here was a demon, a half demon, that was younger than him, and he had gotten a free day. That thought only made Kist hate Marvin even more. He cleared the thought from his head and turned to the group. "Anyways……we should get Ayamini--"
Ayaminin cut him off. "Excuse me, uh……Kist. Could you guys call me Aya?" She preferred that name.
Her friends, if she would have had any, would have called her that for short.
Kist rose an eyebrow. "Uh, sure, I guess………anyways we should get AYA to the DTPA."
Marvin nodded. "I could be off doing something else, but I think I'll tag along….." He jumped from the tree he had been sitting in, and landed next to Shira, who just flicked her tail in annoyance.
"It'll be about thirty more minutes….:" exclaimed Shira, flicking her tail to the left. Ayaminin nodded, and her stomach growled. "Eh-heh…." she blushed some.
Kist looked at her. "Hungry, are we?" he smiled and swayed his tail with amusement. Aya nodded slightly.
"Hey! No problem!" Marvin grabbed an arrow from his quiver, pulled back on the string to his bow, and distinguished a spot. He let the arrow go, and a vibrant buzz followed it. A few seconds later, the horrible cry of a dying animal pierced the air. He smiled. "Sounds like a small boar!" He ran from his spot, and came back carrying, as he had mentioned, a small boar.
Aya frowned. "I can't eat that just like that."
"Oh, yeah…" Kist, being wolf, had no problem eating it raw, but Aya was "human". He sighed. "Leventanto al Pegon ta mie" The boar rose into the air, then floated over to him. Kist motioned his hand towards the ground, and the boar dropped. Taking out his small dagger, he stripped off a piece of meat. "Shira, if you will?"
Shira looked at him. "I need sticks…"
"I'll get them!" Marvin ran off and came back later with a few branches. He threw them into a pile.
Shira arched an eyebrow at him, the swept her hand over the sticks. A fire grew up, the flames licking at the area around. Kist threw the meat into the fire, and soon a mouth-watering aroma drifted into the air.
Marvin closed his eyes and sniffed. "Oooh……man that smells good!" he sniffed again then swallowed. His mouth was watering. "I think boar is the best to eat in the land……..second best at least. I think that the Rainbow Tailed Fire Fiearst is the best. It's a rare bird….but it's delicious, none-the-less." He sat down, crossing his legs.
Shira looked up. " It's getting dark….we should eat and get rest."
Kist looked at the sky, now a darkening, cloudy, purple-blue color. "Hmmm……." He pulled the meat from the fire, and after it cooled, he handed it to Aya.
"Heh…it looks good!" She took a bite, then tilted her head. "It's a bit different than what I usually eat, but it's still good. In fact, it tastes a little bit like chicken."
Marvin, Kist, and Shira both looked up at the same time. "Chicken?" They asked in unison.
Aya frowned. "Uh, yeah…..chicken, you mean you've never had it before?"
Marvin shook his head. "Never even heard of it…"
Aya stood up. "What! How's that……that's weird. You have boar here, no chicken, but you have a bird called a Rainbow Tailed Fire first…."
"Fiearst…." Marvin corrected her.
"Fine, Fiearst……..but you don't have chicken?"
"Nope" Marvin said.
"Oh well……" Aya looked into the sky, picking out the first few stars of the night. She took another bite of her meat.
Kist watched her, then grunted as he got up and stripped another piece of meat from the boar. He came back, seating himself between Ayaminin and Shira. He sniffed the meat, then huffed. Opening his mouth, he revealed two large canines and a few sharp teeth.
Aya looked at him as he leaned forward to bite the meat, then blurted out "You're gonna eat that raw!"
Kist, who was slightly startled at her sudden outbreak, sat up straight again. "Yeah, why you ask?"
Her face contorted into a sickened frown. "It's…..well….raw. Won't you get sick….and doesn't that taste disgusting?"
Kist half smiled. "Aya….I'm wolf…" and with that, he leaned into the meat and took a bite. A splort sound was made, and he tore the meat off. He chewed, then swallowed, looking at Ayaminin. She looked sick.
Kist frowned and wiped the dripping blood from his chin. "Aya……you alright?"
Aya shook her head. " I think I'm gonna be…!…" she covered her mouth with her hand and ran into the bushes.
Kist sighed and shook his head. " I sure hope she gets used to that….."
Kist finished his meat, then looked up as Ayaminin walked from the bushes, looking pale. He smiled.