Diablo

She is one of a very short list of people who actually initiated contact with him, one of the few who actually chose to be around him, and his interest in her was born from this realization. Misao was not commanded to be in his presence, was never ordered to give him any acknowledgement. She came completely of her own free will. Even if this truth is tempered by the fact that she relied on his ability to keep away smaller demons, that she was to a small extent using him, in his mind it is still better than treating him like a social pariah. (He knows that it's his poor disposition that drives people away. He doesn't care, it's the principle of things. He is the Tengu clan heir, lousy personality or not.)

It isn't his fault, really, that he doesn't know how to react normally to certain situations or know what social behaviors are expected of him. How could he when he so rarely has the pleasure of having a playmate? His own brother won't play with him. Therefore it isn't his fault, he thinks, when he hurts her feelings sometimes. He doesn't know any better but for the first time in his life he is actually putting in some effort because he finally has a reason to try. So it really isn't his fault when he discovers jealousy for the first time, watching her laugh and play with Kyo instead of him. Kyo got everything, all Shou ever got was responsibility. Misao was the only thing that was really his, didn't she know that? He can't just let her go; he refuses.

And so this is her punishment. (And his, because he cannot punish Misao without punishing himself.) If Kyo is going to play the superhero and come charging to her rescue like a knight in shining armor, then Shou will play his part as well. He will be the boogeyman, the monster under her bed, the devil at her back. He will terrify, torture, and traumatize her. He will even take her, if necessary. If he has to turn himself into something nightmarish in order to have a presence in her psyche, so be it. Let Misao think him the devil just as long as she thinks of him; to be forgotten is a fate worse than death.

It's hurting her, going about things this way, he can feel her inner turmoil. (It's not like she's any good at hiding anything, anyway.) But it's okay because he's suffering too; they're sharing the same pain, and technically isn't that supposed to bring them closer together? It only serves to enrage him when she calls for Kyo. They're only talking, he isn't even doing anything to her, and still she calls for his brother. (And he doesn't even know when she started this habit. Hadn't the one to always come to scare away her fears been him? Even tiny demons weren't intimidated by Kyo back then, since when was he her official protector?)

And the weight of his sorrow is colossal now, much too large to bear, to the point that he doesn't know what to do anymore. He has tried purging all memories of Kyo from her brain. He has tried seducing her. He's even tried killing his brother, a risk that would thrust him back into the damning position of responsibility he loathed, yet all attempts end in failure. (Of course they do, he can't do anything right.) And finally he can't stop himself from asking the question that's been burning like a poison in his chest for years now.

Why.

Why is it that Kyo holds her heart (effortlessly) when she won't even give him a chance to prove his worth?

...

"It's just that I can't forget that outstretched hand, the person who said to me 'come by my side'."

...

For a moment, the world is silent and still.

A lie. Is she lying to him? No, she's never told him lies. She's being completely honest, and he thinks his heart just might burst from shock. He smiles and, as the ceiling comes cascading down threatening death from above, he pushes her out of harm's way.

Misao may not call to him, cling to him, or love him the way she does Kyo but at least she remembers him (even if she doesn't recognize that).

For now, it is enough.

A / N : Shou needs more love.