First fic for Uraboku, hope ya like it! Reviews greatly appreciated. By the way, thank you to Tishikari for pointing out my little error. I had originally intended the story to take a different route, but then that route was... ridiculous, so I changed it. At any rate, thank you!

1

"Luze, do you know?"

"My lord?" Luze asked as the man motioned for him to approach. As per usual, Reiga was seated on the windowsill of the great Demon Cathedral, fiddling with one of the rare blue roses he always kept around. Luze, being Reiga's right-hand man, usually remained a few feet away out of respect for his master. However, this evening Reiga wanted him right by his side.

"Do you know?" Reiga asked again, still fiddling idly with the rose in his hand.

"My lord, I'm afraid I do not understand," Luze said, kneeling before his master. Despite his cold attitude, Luze was completely and utterly devoted to the man before him. He would do anything if Reiga asked it of him.

"Do you know why Shouyomi was executed almost twenty years ago? The one famed for being the Duras among Duras?"

Luze blinked, "He committed treason, didn't he?"

"Yes, but I take it you don't know the specifics?"

Luze shook his head, "I don't, Lord Reiga."

"He had an affair with a human woman," Luze looked at his master in shock. Reiga chuckled, "I know it seems unbelievable, but it happened, and the woman actually survived his love despite his being an Opast."

"She must have been a strong woman," Luze said in awe.

"Yes," Reiga said, "Before he was executed, Shouyomi sent her a letter, one I believe contained some very important information. Luze, I want you to go to the human realm and find this letter. Act on its contents as you see fit."

"Yes, Lord Reiga."

"You seem happy today, Yuki," Touko said as he sat down. The amber-eyed boy smiled brightly as Toma served breakfast.

"Yes, Takashiro said it would be okay if I went and saw an old friend of mine. I haven't seen her in ages and it means a lot that he's doing this for me." He looked at Touko hopefully, "will you come and meet her too? Takashiro wants me to have extra protection and I want her to meet my relatives, so will you?"

"Of course we will," Tsukumo said, "We'd love to meet your friend. Is she from the orphanage?"

Yuki shook his head, "No, we went to the same school until she was in eighth grade, when her father was transferred and she had to move. She lives in Osaka now."

"When are we going?" Touko asked eagerly.

"In a couple weeks," Yuki said, "We have to wait for break to start."

"What is she like?" Tsukumo asked.

Yuki thought for a moment, "Well… she's a little older than me and she's really nice, but she's always been a little aloof. She's really good at piano and loves to paint," he turned to one of the other occupants of the table, "You might like her too, Senshiro."

Hotsuma laughed, "She sounds like a combination of him and Kuroto," he said, ruffling the latter's head playfully, "Maybe we can ask her how to make you look more effeminate that you already do, Kuroto."

"DON'T YOU DARE!" the younger teen shouted, swinging his fist at Hotsuma, who leaned back sharply, consequently slamming into Shuusei, who fell into Tachibana's lap, who's hat went flying into Toma's face, causing the young chef to pour scalding tea into Luka's lap, rather than his empty cup. The subsequent surge of dark aura that sprung up was pointedly directed at Hotsuma, who slowly backed away as the irritated Duras stalked towards him, seized him by the collar, and hurled him, head first, out of the room. The crash of the breaking vase was ignored as everyone calmly went back to their breakfast.

Just another morning at the Twilight Mansion.

"Alright everyone, time for school," Takashiro said as he came into the dining hall, "And will someone please extract Hotsuma from the wall? I can't make repairs if he's in the way."

Shuusei sighed, "I'll do it," he said, standing up and walking out of the room. A few moments later, he poked his head back in awkwardly, saying, "Tsukumo, Senshiro, Tachibana, if you could come and help me that'd be great. He's… pretty stuck…"

The group laughed as they all came to see the spectacle that was a v-shaped Hostuma crammed into a small hole in the wall. He flushed as Tachibana and Toma nearly fell over with laughter while Touko clutched to wall for support as she doubled over, tears of mirth in her eyes.

"SHUT UP!" he cried, "This isn't funny!"

"Yes it is," Senshiro said, coming forward with Shuusei, taking one of his arms while the latter took the other. After several moments of tugging, Hotsuma came free, dusting plaster from his uniform and glaring at Luka.

"You didn't have to throw me that hard!" he growled.

Luka ignored him as he took Yuki by the arm, "I'll drive you to school," he said.

Luze tugged absently at the tie around his neck, ignoring the small group of women who were staring at him with excited grins. In all honesty, he preferred his uniform to the clothes he was wearing now. His shirt wasn't tucked into his pants, which fell lazily around his boots. The sleeves of his button down were rolled up to reveal his forearms, the red tie the only color in otherwise completely black ensemble. Coupled together with the absence of his uniform hat and gloves, Luze had come to hate his current attire. It was too informal.

How can humans possibly enjoy dressing with such classlessness? All he'd seen so far was scantily clad women like the group that was watching him now and men in ripped denim trousers and loose hooded jackets. The only men that were dressed similar to himself seemed to be suckering the women into becoming the whores that they appeared to be. All in all, he was thoroughly disgusted with the human world so far and longed to be in his comfortable room back in Reiga's fortress.

The large black dog at his side nosed his hand gently, bringing Luze out of his thoughts as he knelt down and scratched his familiar behind the ears. Fen was probably the only thing in his life that he was genuinely attached to. Normally Luze would let the creature walk around in his full wolf form, but for the sake of his mission, he'd confined Fen to his current state. Although, given the numerous stares he'd been getting from the human women, it seemed a rather pointless precaution.

He checked the wristwatch that Reiga had given him before his departure and saw that the target was due to appear any minute. Sure enough, he saw her as he looked up again.

She looked to be in her late thirties, possibly early forties, and looked like a business woman. Luze was surprised to see how quickly she walked despite the height of her black heels and lack of elasticity in her similarly hued pencil skirt. The grey tie around the collar of her white blouse fluttered about in the small breeze that had picked up. Her hair was pulled up into a tight bun and her jacket was slung over her arm, a satchel hanging across her shoulder.

He watched her as she stopped on the bridge and looked at the watch on her wrist. From where the Opast stood, it seemed like she was waiting for someone. He found he was correct a moment later as he saw her smile at the two figures approaching her. The first was a tall man with glasses and a fatherly countenance, obviously the woman's husband. His chestnut hair fell messily into his eyes, a trait inherited by the boy who held onto his hand, though the latter's hair was black like his mother's. He seemed to be around twelve or thirteen years old and was dressed in some sort of sports uniform. The father was dressed just as respectably as his wife, clad in dark grey slacks and a white button down, a pale blue tie hanging loosely around his throat.

"How was work, dear?" the woman asked as she gave her husband a quick kiss.

"The same, and you?" the man asked.

She laughed, "Just as boring as ever," she said, then smiled down at the boy, "how was your soccer game, Kanto?"

"We won!" the excited boy cried, grinning and hugging his mother around the waist, "ten to nothing, it was awesome!"

"It certainly was something," the boy's father said with a warm smile, "Kanto scored the winning goal too."

"That's amazing!" the woman cried happily. The overall image was that of a normal, happy family. Luze found it quite hard to believe that the woman before him was the same one that had survived being courted by Shouyomi. She seemed so ordinary, just as fragile as the other humans around him. He shook his head mentally, humans were so unpredictable.

"Hey," the boy said, looking around, confusion on his face, "Where's Kai?"

"Yes, I thought you two were supposed to meet at the station," the man said to his wife.

She nodded, "She called me and told me she'd be a bit late. She said something about a project not going as smoothly as she'd have liked it to."

"That's because my partner doesn't have a working bone in her body." A young woman approached the group. She certainly seemed to be related to the family, but Luze had his doubts. For one, her overall figure didn't fit with any of them. She had a lean build, her limbs long and supple, and judging by the lightness of her steps, she was probably a dancer. Her mother's build was also light and airy, but her shoulders were broader, her gate heavier than her daughter's. The only resemblance between them lay in the their jet black hair, though the latter's hung about an inch below her hips and the former's would probably only reach her shoulders unbound. It was also the only thing that signified any relationship with her younger brother.

As for the father, there was nothing common between them. Not even their height showed any hint of relation. The girl was tall, but she was thin and lightly toned, the father was broad-shouldered and quite muscular. No matter how hard Luze tried, he just couldn't find any inherited genes in the girl from the man. They were speaking again and had begun to move, forcing Luze and Fen to follow at a discreet distance, but still remain close enough to hear their conversation.

"You're kidding," the mother was saying, "I thought your teacher knew full well that you hated each other! Why on earth did he pair you with that awful girl?"

The girl shrugged, "it was a substitute that assigned the project and it was too late to switch by the time the professor came back. He came back today, actually, and the project is due tomorrow. Don't worry," she added, "I plan to let him know who actually did the work."

"That girl better fail without affecting your grade, Kai," the man said, "I don't care if her father's on the board of trustees, that girl has no right to behave in such a way."

"The professor's a good guy," the girl, Kai, replied, "he'll handle it." She stretched as she walked, "Anyway, how's this Okonomiyaki place?"

"Best I've had since we moved to the city," the man said with a grin, "minus your mother's, of course."

Luze wandered among the various shops while the family went into the restaurant, waiting for them to emerge before making his move. As he vaguely inspected the various wares, his thoughts lingered on the young woman in the family. He wondered again if she really was their daughter, for there was something about her that seemed to put her above the rest of them. Her overall bearing was quite graceful and she seemed to be well disciplined, though perhaps it was just her upbringing.

Her attire wasn't exactly pleasing to him, but her black pants, boots, and jacket combined with her simple dark blue top were much more conservative and thus much more appealing to him than the skimpy clothing he'd seen on the other human females. The only gaudy thing about her was the choker he'd seen around her throat. A large black cross, inlayed with various silver designs and set with a dark red stone in the middle, hung from a black band about an inch and a half wide. Two silver chains also connected the band to the cross on either side. With the girl's simple attire, it seemed a little out of place, but not distastefully so.

Luze had to admit that, were she not a human, he just might have considered the girl somewhat attractive.

Somewhat.

The family finally exited the restaurant and Luze saw his chance as they walked toward him, unaware of his presence. He walked forward briskly, purposely accidently bumping into the man, who had his wallet out in his hand.

"Ah, excuse me, let me get that for you," Luze said in a falsely apologetic tone. Luckily the man seemed to buy it seeing as he smiled, waving his hand dismissively.

"Oh no, I wasn't paying attention," he said jovially, "Thank you," he added as Luze handed him the wallet.

"Is this yours as well?" Luze asked, holding out the man's driver's license, "I think I saw it fall out of your wallet earlier."

"Thanks, I'd be in trouble if I lost this," the man said with a laugh, "What's your name, son?"

"Yura," the Duras replied, noting the look of skepticism on the girl's face. She turned away a moment later as her brother tugged on her sleeve, kneeling down as he whispered in her ear. She smiled softly, then stood again, a more friendly expression on her face as she addressed Luze.

"If it's alright," she said, "My little brother would like to pet your dog."

Luze blinked, humans really were unpredictable. He nodded and knelt beside Fen as the girl ushered her brother forward, "It's alright," he said, playing up his mock-kindness act, "he won't bite you."

The boy edged forward and hesitantly put his hand on Fen's head. Luze was a little taken aback when his familiar leaned into the human's touch, inwardly praying that the wolf wouldn't end up like Luka's Sodom. He was grateful when the boy backed away and Fen stepped back to stay by his master's side.

"Thank you," the boy said quietly, clutching his sister's arm again.

As they walked away, Luze smirked to himself, pulling a replica of the man's driver's license out of his pocket. A rather simple spell that takes less that a moment, that was all he needed to get the family's address. He'd wait until they were all gone for the day, then proceed with the next stage of his mission.