Okay. Thanks to you all who are still reading this. It makes me very happy to know that some people are enjoying this. This chapter was written for Sora Sotara, who wanted to see a dangerous side to Touya, the part of him that isn't timid or meek. Now, everyone, continue on and read chapter two! Read and respond, if you can!
I yawned, stretching. Oddly enough, I had slept like the dead after meeting Shishi. I must have been even more tired than I thought I was, since I usually don't sleep for very long, especially not after having a nap earlier in the day.
I stood up, unable to stifle another yawn. My eyelids felt heavy, and I was strongly tempted to go right back to sleep. Trying to clear my drowsy mind, I shook my head again. Sleeping in late was not something I normally did, and I didn't intend to repeat. There was no point in developing a bad habit.
Limping, I made my way into the kitchen, looking for something to eat.
"Hey there, sleepy. What are you doing up so late? Usually you're awake before the sun comes up!" Tal remarked.
"I stayed up a bit later than usual," I replied.
"Do you feel any better? You looked pretty beat-up yesterday."
I nodded. "My leg still bothers me, but no, it doesn't hurt too much."
"That's good to hear. Why don't you go get cleaned up?"
I nodded again, and walked down the hallway to the small washroom. It wasn't particularly big, about the size of a broom closet, and it only had a washbasin, a cabinet, and a chamber pot. There was a towel thrown over the edge of the cabinet, and I picked it up, dunking a corner in the water contained within the basin. Shutting my eyes, I thoroughly scrubbed my face with the cloth, getting dirt, grime, and any traces of blood off me. Afterwards, I dunked my head into the clear water.
I shook out my long mane of hair, droplets of water flying every which way. Soaked through and through, not even my bangs' stubbornness held up. They were as drenched as the rest of my hair, and, instead of sticking out as they typically did, they hung completely in front of my eye. I couldn't even see out of the left one because of the band of mint green covering it.
I tucked my bangs behind my ear. Seeing how I looked without the usual splash of color across my eye, I looked into the water.
Slanted, almond-shaped eyes stared back at me, with irises that seemed like shards of the sky itself: light blue, yet sharp, edged, almost. At least they appeared that way to me. I had always disliked my eyes (hate was too strong a word, really), disliked their lack of discernable pupils (they were there, all right. They were just a hair darker blue then my irises), their natural narrow shape, their ability to only show veiled emotion, never truly expressing what I was feeling. I had always wished I had been born with fiery red eyes, ones shaped like everyone else's, instead of the strange blue ones I had. Either way, I couldn't change my eyes any more than I could change the species of demon I was…even if I didn't know what that was.
Sighing, I shook my head vigorously to clear my mind. As would be expected, those troublesome bangs of mine came loose, falling over my eye again. I didn't mind that much. After all, I was used to it. Still hungry, I strode into the kitchen.
Tal watched on with mild amusement as I clambered up on the counter. Due to the height of the cabinets, I could only reach the bottom shelves of them. I had to climb up on the counter to reach the higher shelves. The bat demon, being almost seven feet tall, had no problem with it at all. He knew I would take offense if he tried to help me with getting down my breakfast, so he sat back in his chair and did nothing.
The chair was of an unusual variety; instead of having a full back, it only had an undersized strip of wood that fanned out at the top to make a headrest. The entire rest of the back was cut out to make room for Tal's wide wings.
I grabbed a loaf of bread, still fairly fresh from when we had baked it yesterday morning, a wheel of cheese with a third missing, and some strips of jerky. Jumping down, I winced. I had completely forgotten about my leg, and I bit my lip to keep myself from crying out in pain. I opened one of the drawers in the kitchen, pulling out a small metal knife. Carefully, I cut two slices of bread and a slice of cheese. I stacked the bread, cheese, and meat together to make my usual breakfast: a sandwich. The knife was cleaned on the inside of my shirt, and I put it away. Climbing up again, I replaced the rest of the food in its cabinet before cautiously lowering myself down to eat.
"Do you need anything else done?" I asked the bat demon, sitting down in one of my own, normal, chairs.
"Hmm…yes, I need to get those bolts of cloth I ordered," he replied.
"I'll do that after breakfast."
I had no real need to worry about the bullies. They wouldn't pick on me again, not as long as I showed the proper humility to them. A hierarchy like in most cities or towns in the Makai dominated our town. Since I was much weaker than them, and thus lower on the social ladder, I had to show my humility. That was the real reason as for why they were cruel towards me; I was different from them, and weaker, so they asserted their dominance by giving me a licking every now and then. It had the added benefit, for them, of being fun. Because if this, if Tal interfered, they had to punish me extra because I was out stepping my bounds. This wasn't just disorganized chaos.
Tal handed me a couple of silver coins.
"This should cover the payment for them."
Briefly, I considered shoving the rest of my sandwich in my mouth and leaving on the errand. But no, I had been raised much better than that. I had been taught plenty about manners, and I tried my best to obey them all. After eating, I waved good-bye to Tal and left to complete my task.
It was still blazingly hot outside. I could almost feel my body temperature rise. Shaking my head, I trotted down the road to the clothiers'.
A certain blue-haired swordsman rested against a wall of someone's house, looking completely at ease.
"Oh! It's you again," I said, stopping.
"Nice to see you to, Blue," he replied.
"So…I'll be going now," I murmured, starting to walk away.
To my complete shock, he followed, falling into step beside me.
"W-what? Why are you coming with me?" I asked, aware that I sounded like a complete idiot.
"Like I said, you're interesting. I said I thought we'd make good friends, so I intend to pursue this. I don't give up easily, in case you couldn't tell," he responded, flashing me a fanged grin.
"Um…okay, Shishi."
"What kind of response is that? 'Um…okay, Shishi'? What the hell?"
I blinked in confusion. He seemed fickle, capricious. If a usual, hesitant statement by me was enough to get him to yell at me, then I needed to watch it around him, even if he didn't intend to be mean to me.
"Like light in night or fire in ice," I murmured.
"What was that?"
"Hm?"
"I was wondering what it was you had just said. Sounded like a poem to me," he elaborated.
"Yes, it was. I was referring to the lines 'Like light in night or fire in ice, It's as unpredictable as darkness bright'. You just seemed rather unpredictable to me at that moment," I replied. Never mind the fact that the poem was referring to a particularly bloody battle, I thought.
"Weird, but whatever floats your boat, Blue."
"Um…thank you?"
We walked in silence for another minute or so before the two of us reached the fabric merchant. I waved Shishi good-bye, and I opened the door into the shop.
After a couple of minutes of haggling and talking, I paid and threw the huge bolts of black, tan, and red fabric over my shoulder. Murmuring my thanks, I exited the shop.
"That's what you were here for? Hell, you must be a real sap if you're going to run errands willingly for your parents."
I couldn't help but wince slightly at that. Yes, I had Tal, but it wasn't the same as having real parents, and both the bat youkai and I knew it.
"My old man's always yelling at me to do this, and don't do that. I am who I am, right? So who's he to tell me that I'm not allowed to transform outside of the house or stay out too late after dark? It's just not fair! I'm plenty competent enough to protect myself, so why should-"
"I don't have parents," I cut in, unable to keep a melancholic tone out of my usually soft voice.
"W-what? But…then…if you can't…then why…" Shishiwakamaru spluttered.
"I'm adopted," I elaborated. "Cotalyn took me in."
I wasn't sure why I was saying this.
"Well…that's too bad. Still, I'm sure he gives you more freedom than mine do. After all, you were wandering around past midnight, and you didn't seem at all worried, as if you were used to it. You're lucky that you have-"
"Don't say that," I whispered, annoyed. I felt like something in me broke right then. Probably my patience, I thought.
"Say what?" he asked.
"Don't you try and tell me that I'm 'lucky' to have Tal as my guardian. I know that that's all he could ever truly be: My guardian. Not my dad, but my guardian. I never knew them, Shishi. I never knew my own parents. I can't remember anything, not the blurriest image of a room that I used to stay in, not the faintest idea of what they could have looked like. Please don't tell me that I'm 'lucky' for this ever again," I calmly stated.
I hadn't yelled that at him, but my cold indifference seemed to have had a greater effect on the blue-haired teenager than any bellowed words. I was beginning to shock myself, what with my willingness to call him out. Maybe I was more of a fighter than I had realized. The swordsman seemed absolutely stunned that I had said that. Frankly, I could relate.
My words themselves were true and untrue at the same time. Tal was not and would never be my father; that much was true. But it was wrong for me to say that that was all he could ever be. I loved Tal as much as I had when I was much younger, when I thought that he was my real father. He told me the truth fairly soon, of course, but it hadn't changed how I saw him.
"It looks like a struck a nerve," he said at last. "Fine. I won't bring this up again, Blue. I didn't know, okay? How was I supposed to?"
"Yeah…I know you didn't. But...the way that you had said that I was… was… lucky… to not have parents… It made my blood boil. You can understand, right?"
He was silent for a bit.
"Yes. I can understand. My temper isn't exactly something that's easy to hide. Some things just set me off. I'm sure that certain things will piss anyone off," he reasoned.
I nodded, gaze dropping back to my feet. When I had snapped at Shishi, I had stared him straight in the eyes, yet not glaring.
"I still want to know why you insist on being friends with me. Please don't say 'Because you're interesting', because I'd like to have a real reason," I said.
"But that's essentially what it comes down to: You are different, interesting. That's my reason. Look, I was gone for half my life. How many people are going to be quick to accept me back? Not many, I can tell you that," he muttered, rolling his eyes. "Then, I see you. You're willing to talk to me, and you don't treat me any different than you do the others. Who wants to be alone out there? It's a big world, Blue, and no one wants to have to handle it all on his own. That's what friends are for, right?"
I blinked. That wasn't what I had been expecting. Still, I was starting to realize that Shishi seemed to take pleasure in doing the unforeseen and saying things clear out of the blue.
"Look, this is my house. I'll…see you later," I said.
"Great to hear it. Hey, by the way, do you sleep naked or anything?"
"WHAT?" I exclaimed. Out of the blue was one thing, but that was uncalled for! I could feel my cheeks turn bright red.
"Well, you know, if I sneak out to say 'hi'. I don't want to…well, let's just put it this way: You're a nice person, Blue, but I really don't want to subject myself to that."
"No, no I don't. Now that the kind of…um, personal, questions are over, I'll be going. Bye."
"See you later," he casually said, slowly making his way down the street, perhaps to do those chores he so despised.
I could only shake my head. His nonchalant attitude about most of life was one I had not seen before. Shishi was laid-back, yet I could tell that he was far more somber than he showed himself to be. I was sure that he wouldn't be making jokes and such if we were in a serious situation.
Pushing the door open, I walked into Tal's house.
"Did you run into any trouble?" he asked.
He needn't have bothered. It would be painfully obvious if I had gotten myself into another mess.
"No, I didn't. Here's the cloth you wanted," I replied, placing the fabric on the table he was sitting at. I reached into my pants pocket, pulling out the extra money I hadn't used.
"Keep it, Touya. Buy yourself some candy or something," Tal offered.
I nodded. I wouldn't actually spend it, not yet; instead, I would keep it in the drawer that was in the table beside my bed. I had been saving up for quite some time, keeping any coins Tal gave me, and if there were something I truly wanted, then I'd spend it. Of course, that didn't stop me from dipping into the fund every now and then to indulge my sweet tooth. I didn't have enough self-restraint to keep myself from doing that. I happened to quite like candy.
"Thank you," I softly responded, walking down the hall to my room.
My room wasn't particularly big, but it was large enough to house a young demon such as myself. Directly across from the door was a tiny, round window that was about twice the size of my head. A latch on the inside let me open it to catch a cool night breeze, if I so desired. Right under the window was my bed, with a table with a stub of a candle in a candlestick on top, the table right next to my bed, by the pillow. On the wall to the right, a huge bookcase took up most of the room, and in the corner to the left, closest to the door, was a periwinkle armchair. My dresser was up against the wall that had the door on it, off to the right. A snow-white rug with little birds embroidered into it took up the middle of the floor, but other than that there was nothing on the ground. I was a neat freak.
A few drawings were tacked up to the walls, providing a bit of decoration for the otherwise plain, light, light blue, almost white, walls. Almost all the pictures were done solely in pencil, such as an inquisitive owl and a wolf, but there were a few exceptions, like a painted snowy landscape. I had done most of them, but one or two had been gifts from Tal. My ceiling was a similar color to the rest of the room, and the floor was dark wood. All in all, it was calming to me, if for no other reason than the fact that this was my place and my place alone.
I pulled one of my books off of its shelf, sat down in the armchair, and started to read.
It was dark out. My day had passed as they usually did, with me locked up in my room for most of it. I was nearing the middle of my book when I heard a tapping sound coming from my window.
Looking up, I saw a pair of glowing yellow eyes. An owl-like face stared down at me. It had skin instead of feathers, and two ribbed horns stuck out from its forehead. Long, pointed ears stuck out from carefully preened blue hair. Seeing that it had my attention, it knocked on the window again with a clawed foot that vaguely resembled an eagle's, except three toes stuck forward and none pointed backwards and it was covered in skin, like the rest of the strange owl-imp. The little creature was wearing a purple kimono. I didn't know what to think of it.
It seemed quite intent upon coming into my room. Hesitant, I grabbed the candlestick as a makeshift weapon, and then opened the latch. I stepped back a few steps, brandishing the candlestick in case it proved hostile. The owl-imp, as I decided to call it, flew in and landed on my bed, where it proceeded to die laughing.
The small thing was rolling on its back, luminous eyes shut, as it flat-out guffawed. I didn't know whether it found something funny or whether there was something wrong with it. Watching on, I waited for it to do something.
All of the sudden, the owl-imp vanished, and in its spot was Shishiwakamaru, laughing his head off.
"You should have," he chuckled, "seen yourself. With your candlestick-"
He couldn't continue talking, he was laughing so much. I blinked in utter astonishment for a second, before carefully setting said candlestick back on the table. I did not like being laughed at, not at all, and I felt the powerful urge to throw him out of here. Instead, I threw myself down in the armchair, arms crossed and head bowed. Brooding, I waited for him to apologize or something of the like.
"The candlestick! You were holding it like it was freaking Excalibur or something!" he choked out, rolling with laughter.
I was quite indignant.
"How was I supposed to know that that was you? You never told me you could turn into a little owl-imp! I was afraid you were going to gouge my eyes out or something!" I replied, in a huff. He managed to contain his laughter, wiping the tears out of the corners of his eyes.
"Yeah, whatever Blue. I better be careful, though, 'cause you might poke me with your candlestick!"
It was too much for him, and he started laughing anew.
I glared.
"Fine, if that's it, then you can leave. I don't remember inviting you," I growled.
"Aw, c'mon, it was just a joke. Lighten up a little!" he said. Seeing as I was not smiling back, his grin faded. "Look, I'm sorry if I offended you, but that was just too funny. You'd have laughed if I was the one doing it."
I supposed that was as close as I would get to Shishi admitting that he had done something wrong. Nodding slightly, I stared up at the ceiling.
"I was only stopping in to say 'hi'. I can't stay. So, I'll be seeing you later…hopefully without the candlestick," he couldn't help but add.
"Sure thing. Bye," I replied, feeling a bit less than happy since he burst in and started making fun of me. Sure, it was good-natured, but I still didn't like it.
"Bye," he called back, turning back into the owl-imp and flying out my window.
I couldn't help but think as I shut the latch, I make the oddest friends!
Yeah...I think I'm going to have a lot of fun writing Shishi's character. I've always seen him as an unpredictable, yet kind of easygoing kind of guy. Plus, you all know you'd have been laughing at the candlestick too if you had been there...if you aren't laughing already. Just trying to lighten the mood. That last moment, the one with the Shishi imp...that's all for you, SwisArmyRomance. Anyway, please review. As far as constructive criticism goes, I can take quite a bit of "well, this is a bit hard to understand here" and "so-and-so seemed out of character here" or even "I didn't really like this chapter because". I want to improve, so tell me where I've screwed up and I'll try and fix it.