Chapter Two

As night fell across the sky the three of us gathered around a fire. There wasn't really much to this 'guard duty' stuff, you just sit outside and talk; which of course I was fine with, being in my current state. I didn't do much of the talking anyway. Ginta and Hakkaku, I swear, could have a conversation with a wall. I nodded every now and again when they asked me to agree with something, not that I could keep up anyway. My mind was mostly fixed on the fish slowly cooking around the fire. I can't remember when my last meal was, and when the time came, I was going to completely destroy these fish. My stomach suddenly growled rather loudly at the thought. I guess they heard because both of them turned to me, and my face light up bright red.

"Should I have gotten more fish?" Ginta laughed and Hakkaku slowly joined him.

"Don't laugh at me!" I reached up to cover my face with my hands, but leaving enough room between my fingers to still see them.

"They should be ready, so hurry up and eat." Hakkaku grabbed two of the fish and handed one across the fire to me.

"Hey that one was mine!" Ginta whined. When I went to hand him the fish though, Hakkaku pushed my hand away.

"There's more fish, stupid."

"But I wanted that one.." He whined again, flashing Hakkaku his puppy dog eyes.

"Those don't work on me, Ginta" but they certainly worked on me, how can you say no to such an adorable face?

"Here, Ginta, you can have it." I flashed him a bright smile. "I had my eyes set on that other one anyway." I lied, but can you blame me? I had to stop that adorable face before my heart exploded.

"Can I really?" his face lit up as he took the fish from me. "Wow, thanks, Mizune, you're the best!"

"I don't know about all that now." I smiled half sarcastically. It was just a stupid fish, why does it matter who eats what one? Well that's what I thought, until I realized that his was the biggest, jerk.

It was so much more difficult to eat a fish without any fangs to rip through it. I sighed, pushing some of my blonde hair behind my now rounded ears; wishing that it would just teleport into my stomach and get it to shut up. I was also more or less surprised that neither of them said anything about my now human looks. They may be stupid, but they're not oblivious, are they? Well I guess it was a relief, the one thing I hate talking about above all else, is about being a half demon. Then out of nowhere they both froze in place, looking through the trees, examining something. I was sure now that they weren't oblivious.

"What is it?" I whispered, not knowing what they were looking for, and it's not like I could sense anything in this state.

"Something's coming this way." Ginta whispered back to me, and they both stood up to get a better look over the fire.

"It's a demon" Hakkaku corrected. I quickly got up and grabbed for the two daggers I kept hidden down in my skirt.

"I thought you said you couldn't fight as a human." Ginta looked at me as I went to hide myself behind them.

"I can fight, just not that good."

"It's no problem, just stay behind us, sister" Ginta turned back around and we both followed Hakkaku into the trees. Neither of them seemed too worried, but I had bad feeling regardless.

"Well where is..." I was quickly interrupted by Hakkaku pushing me out of the way of a falling tree. It had answered my question though. The demon was that of a large, black scorpion, at least ten men in height. They both started to beat up on him with their fists and feet, but to no avail. Why the hell don't these guys carry weapons? With the attention of the scorpion turned to them, I threw one of my daggers at its large tail. The beast retaliated with a shot of poison from its tail in my direction. I tried to jump out of the way but being a human slowed me down dramatically. I tried not to scream out in pain when the poison burned at the skin on my shoulder. With Ginta and Hakkaku's attention now turned to me in worry, they were then thrown into the trees by one of its large claws. I tried to call out to them, but I got no response.

Now it was just me against the beast, with only one dagger, and a crappy human body. Of course, this was just my luck when it came to these sorts of things. Without much further thought I jumped on top of the beast, if I can just reach the tail I can get my dagger back. The demon thrust his tail at me, scraping my leg as I tried to move out of the way. What surprised me the most was that the tail went straight into his own body. Now I know how to defeat it, thank the god's I'm dealing with a demon so stupid. After the demons tail struck itself, and I a few times it started to succumb to blood loss. I was able to then grab my other dragger without further distractions and finish him off. Conveniently, Ginta and Hakkaku came back just as the beast was slain. I put my daggers back into skirt and hurried over to see if they were okay. Although before I could make it I fell to one knee, gasping for breath and clutching at the poison on my shoulder.

"Are you okay, Mizune?" they both called to me in harmony, rushing to my side. All I really had the energy for was to nod in reply. Damn this human body, I hate it, and I hate being weak. I wrapped my left arm over Ginta's shoulders and my right over Hakkaku as they helped me back towards the small camp we made. I didn't really want their help though, I could walk, but they insisted. I don't like having to depend on anyone, it makes me look weak.

When we made it back to the camp they set me down next to the fire that seemed to still burn just fine. Only problem, all of our fish were gone, must have been carried off by some of the other wolves. Ginta and Hakkaku also noticed and whined at the empty sticks. My loud stomach growl interrupted them yet again. "Don't worry, Mizune, I'll get some more!" Ginta started to laugh at me yet again.

"It's not funny!" I yelled at him, but he had already left. I looked over at Hakkaku; his eyes were fixed on my shoulder. He didn't seem to want to join in laughing with Ginta or go with him. "Is something wrong? Why didn't you go with him?" his expression changed, and a big, goofy grin crossed his lips.

"Someone has to stay here and protect you!" He chuckled lightly. Who the hell was he trying to fool with that fake smile and fake laugh? Did he feel bad that I got hurt? Couldn't be that, they had only really just met me. I mean, yeah, I was now part of the family and everything, but that still doesn't change much.

"I'm okay really, it doesn't even hurt." I hoped he couldn't see through my fake smile as easily as I could his."I'm just glad that you two were okay..." I wasn't just saying it either, I really was relieved.

"Oh, don't worry about us." He mumbled, a slight brush of pink across his cheeks. Okay, something was seriously wrong with him. My thoughts were cut short by the light of the sun coming up over the distance.

"Finally!" I shouted up at the sky. As soon as the light hit me, my hair went back to brown, my ears pointed, my claws and fangs stretched out, and my tail popped back out. I was feeling better than ever, although the poison still gnawed at my shoulder. I could ignore it though, especially since Ginta was on his way back with the fish. I could smell it, and my mouth began to water, but wait, what was that other smell? I know that smell, it was something tasty, and then it hit me, it was a boar! Without further thought I grabbed my daggers and took off running towards it. I could hear Hakkaku calling after me, but I couldn't stop. I was hungry and I wanted that boar, now!

I stood there, the boar and I at a staring death match. I growled under my breath and it kicked dirt up with one of its hooves. It was ready to charge, and I was ready for it. I nibbled on my lower lip with one of my fangs, the anticipation was killing me, but I had to be patient. Being only a half demon, I'm not fast enough to ever out run a boar of this size. Then finally, after what seemed like forever, the boar charged at me with a large squeal. I let out a small growl in return; the wolf in me loved the hunt, half the fun of eating something so tasty was watching it wriggle in fear. When it got close enough to me I pounced on it, driving my daggers straight into its back. The boar let out a large squeal and I growled back at it, sinking my daggers further into its skin. After I was sure the boar was dead I took out my daggers and licked one clean before putting them away. It had been a long time since I've hunted like that.

When I dropped the boar down by the fire, Ginta and Hakkaku's eyes were big and bright. I laughed slightly when I saw the fish that were around the fire, calling them tiny would be an understatement, and an insult to small fish. Ginta then flashed me his puppy dog eyes, and I felt bad for laughing. With that I determined he should have the first slice, until Hakkaku decided to join him. I smiled at them and could feel my cheeks warm up.

"You guys have got to stop doing that!" That only made things worse, now that they knew those eyes worked on me. "You act like I'm not going to share!"

"I want the ribs..." Ginta mumbled, still continuing to crush my heart with his puppy face.

"And… I want the stomach..." Hakkaku followed with his suggestion. I sighed and pulled out one of my daggers. These two, what am I going to do with them. Of course I had to give them what they wanted before they killed me with that look. I settled for the other side of the boar without even bothering to cook it. Before I knew it, I had eaten just about all that was left, other than the face, rear, and organs. I may be part wolf, but I'm very stingy about what I eat. Ginta and Hakkaku were fast asleep by the time I was finished. Ginta was curled up next to Hakkaku, using his chest as a pillow. It had been a while since I had gotten a good night sleep as well, even though it wasn't night anymore. I wonder if they would mind… I crawled over to the other side of Hakkaku and rested my head on his stomach. My heart skipped slightly when I felt Hakkaku's arm reach over my shoulder, but I didn't think much of it after that and was fast asleep before I knew it.