Distance…is that even possible? Can you keep a distance from somebody's heart? The one they cherish more than anything else in the world? More than air? More than water? More than life? Because that can never be possible. Is it possible to put a price on love? Is love something that you can just buy anywhere? Is there a price for love, besides giving up your heart or your life? Please…I wish for an answer! Is there not anyone out there that can help me with this question that's been troubling me for years? Is there anyone who can help save my heart from all this pain and hurt it has suffered through? Where there may be nothing left or worth for my existence? Please…I only wish to know what may be of my damned and wretched fate!

"Nothing, but only goodness and peace."

"What was that? Oh what pleasant angel dare speak such words to soothe my aching head of all the darkness it contains inside! Please…show yourself, dear saint! Perhaps you may hold the key to put a halt to my endless suffering!"

"…"

"Hello?"

Could I have possibly believed myself to hear a voice actually responding back to me in the distance? I must have imagined it for no mortal being worth his soul would speak to someone whose life as well as fate has been stained so horribly such as mine! I'm considered a disgrace and a monster amongst my own kind. Sometimes I can feel the demons within actually writhe and coil, begging to be set free and cause destruction and pain to the ones who dared treat them this way. So why have I not removed the seal and end this wretched pain? This sweet, angelic voice has called to me and refrained me from giving in to the demon's power and destroying the things and people I care about, even though they give me no more than evil glares, as if I may sprout fangs and spit poison at any who dare give me a second glance or even a kind one, even if they don't mean the kind, soft looks I crave so much for! As for my question of love…for all my life, I have craved for that special warmth that most humans take for granted. For so long I have always imagined what it would be like to be wrapped in the arms of someone who loved me, the warmth of their body pressed against mine, to feel the comforting beating of their heart, the human symbol for life and love. All this I was hungry for! I wanted this strange yet sweet feeling more than anything I could ever imagine! But who in their right mind would give something so wonderful and beautiful to me? Who would dare give a demon the same love and respect you'd have for a friend, family, or loved one?

"…I would…"

Again that beauteous voice! How it is I just wish to know the owner of that voice who has kept me calm and blissful (if only for a little while!) for all these years! I swear it eats me up inside to know that there is someone out there thinking about me but never being able to see their face! If not for their wondrous words and beautiful voice, I could just kill for being teased so cruelly!

"Hopefully you didn't point that last comment to me, my demonic friend!" the voice let out an amused chuckle.

"You speak to me in hopes of a conversation? You only speak to me once or twice in a day yet when I wish to talk to you, dear angel, you seem to disappear! Pray tell me why you must tease me like this and never come out and face me. Is because you are ashamed of me?"

"I'd never be ashamed of you, my dearest one"

"Then please!...show yourself! Let me know who you are and that you are real so that I know this wonderful conversation and feelings are not just some long and painful dream!"

"…"

*sigh*

Again, no answer, no sound, just only silence, something that I had once enjoyed and loved I now resent! (Almost)

"Very well, if you insist. Although, it was entirely depressing to be speaking to you like this and never being able to hold and condole you, my son" the voice had said, but this time it was no longer in my head but it was behind me.

Cautiously, I turn around at the tunnel of light that appeared behind me all of a sudden, the type of light that is calm and soothing and it chased away all of the bad and evil thoughts my demons have given me. A tall, lone figure stood in the light. (He almost seemed angelic…strange that I should know what a creature such as that should look like considering what I am!) He carried a significant air about him as if he was some great and powerful ruler of some sort and he wore a brilliant white and red robe around his broad shoulders. He looked familiar, but at the moment I could not remember (which is strange since I never forget the face or smell of a human I have met, never!)

"There… I hope this is better. I was very lucky to have had the gods and Buddha allow me to appear to you like this. For the past seventeen years I have asked to be able to come to you in solid form but they would not let me. Said it was "too dangerous" or some other garbage like that. So… is this better now?" the blond haired man asked, his face neutral and strong.

It was now that he made that face that I recognized him. A face I have seen hung up on the walls in the Hero's Tomb, the leader of the village under siege of the wretched Demons of the Winds, the man who had saved his people from these creatures…the man who had made me what I am today.

"Katsushika No Kumara! It's you!"