An endless black sky covered the view above as no stars seemed to be twinkling, having instead been replaced by the large amount of lights here below. Floating lanterns of all sorts of shapes, sizes and colors gently glided with magic in the cool night breeze, spreading joy and life to the many crowded stalls underneath. It seems that Lenalee had been transported somewhere else - where it was she didn't know, but one thing for sure was that this was no longer the festival she knew of.

She had just gone through the invisible gate to land herself right in the middle of the aisle filled with various yokai, and upon appearing had attracted their many, many hungry stares. Of course, as one would expect she soon found herself surrounded, and with no way out as the demons began closing in.

"Human..."

"I smell fresh meat!"

"A human! A delicious human...!"

Their mumbles slowly grew louder and louder as more attention was attracted to her, and shaking slightly in fear she tried to back away, but was stopped by the counter of a stall. She looked back and was met by a large, red ogre who, carrying a cleaver, violently chopped a wriggling tentacle. She nearly shrieked in surprise, and gulping, Lenalee knew she'd have to find a way out or else she'd end up like that, too.

As she tried to find an empty path among the growing numbers of yokai and ayakashi, she wanted to but couldn't fend them off, afraid that their large, sharp pointed teeth would sink into her flesh if she did. With each step back against the wall they came closer, closer, and closer, and finally the last bits of her hope began to fade away, and she regret having ever come through the portal in the first place.

Lenalee closed her eyes, hating how she was so helpless but accepting her death, and she waited. Waited for the rows and rows of razor-sharp teeth to bite into her, for clawed hands to latch onto her skin, for each demon to rip her to shreds.

But nothing happened.

Instead there was a whirling of air, its loud whoosh filling her ears along with the gasps of a many demons, and tentatively the girl opened one eye. In front of her was the back of a man, his long, dark blue hair tied into a ponytail. He wore a black yukata and with a sword in hand he stood, defending her, it seems, from the greedy yokai.

"Get back," he said menacingly. "All of you, or so help me I will rip you to shreds." His voice was deep and rough, and turning back to face Lenalee, he narrowed his dark eyes threateningly.

"What are you doing here, mortal?" He asked her, and she didn't reply. She didn't know what to say, exactly. If she said she was looking for Allen, they might throw her into whatever prison they had and feed her to the others.

"Well?" He lifted his sword, pointing it to her now. "I don't have all day, so spit it out."

She thought for a moment. What if Lenalee said that it was an accident? That she was just heading towards a festival, and had somehow stumbled upon the wrong one? Maybe then they would let her off the hook, but she wanted to find Allen. She wanted to return his handkerchief, apologize, and see him in his true form because he was beautiful. She was attracted to him, and for some reason she couldn't just let it go, so she decided it was worth the risk.

"I'm looking for someone," she finally stated, calmly. The crowd grew silent, egging her on, but she shut her mouth. The man made no other expression, and brought his blade closer to the girl's chest. "So? You need to leave."

"Now." He rumbled, and Lenalee trembled slightly. But gathering her courage, she boldly defied him.

"No," she answered, simple and flat.

The man narrowed his eyes even further. "No?"

"No," she confirmed.

He stayed silent for a second, then decided to grab her arm, yanking her away as the crowds of demons made way for the two. He dragged her along as she clumsily stumbled in an effort to keep up, her wooden sandals making it hard to walk so quickly and unreadily.

"Hey- let- go of me-!" She tried to pull away, but he only gripped her wrist tighter. "Shut up, unless you want to get eaten, woman." He growled, and she effectively kept quiet, not wanting to go through earlier's events again.

He led her towards the spot she had come through originally, and Lenalee frowned at having to return already without seeing Allen again. But nonetheless she didn't fight it, as the man's demeanor was frightening and powerful.

They were only one step away from the portal, and Lenalee held her breath.

But instead of passing through it back to her world, they stayed in that same festival crowded with magic and yokai, and a look of confusion formed on her face. "What...? I thought..." She began, only to be answered with "Shut up. Didn't I tell you that already?"

Again she frowned, and from behind him she demanded, "No. I want to know what is going on." The surrounding demons to the sides were all staring at them in curiosity, others with hunger as they noticed the human before them. She was confused, uncomfortable, and lost - so she wanted to know what exactly was happening so she could get away and find Allen.

"You want to know what's going on?" He said, irritated. "Fine," and stopped in the middle of the road, swiftly swept her small body up in his arms, and transformed - yes, actually transformed - into a large, graceful blue dragon the color of his hair. Lenalee had been placed on his back at some point and now she was taken high, high up in the air as he flew towards the night sky, stopping once they were as far from the ground as the top of a skyscraper.

She was too surprised to say anything, her breath having been taken away when she had yelled during their ascent, and now she couldn't afford to look down at the deathly ground below, so she stared at his long, scaly body as it waved gently like the wind.

"That is a festival for demons. I'm sure you know that by now," the dragon spoke, and Lenalee jumped. Her heart was racing faster than light and she could barely process the fact that this - this beast was the man she had been dragged by just a minute ago. She was so stunned that she had no words, and he continued.

"If you want to die, then go ahead and stay here. But if you want to live, then I suggest you come with me to find the next portal which leads back to your realm, or else you'll be in trouble soon enough."

Lenalee couldn't see his face, and didn't dare to move an inch for fear she would fall. "But... what..." she whispered, out of breath. "I don't understand," she mumbled, and Lenalee heard him grumble something about stupid humans and their lack of understanding.

"What?"

"I said," he repeated, annoyed, "that you humans are so stupid that you don't know the difference between something safe and something dangerous. You just think that whatever is unknown is one of the two depending on how you feel about it, and you're always wrong. But you do what you want anyway."

Insulted, Lenalee retorted, "Not always! We do get it right sometimes, you know, if not most of the time." She heard him scoff at that, and he replied, "Really? then why did you come here? Because you were forced to? Because you thought it would be safe?"

She opened her mouth, but closed it again, unable to fight back.

"See. That's why you listen to me. You stupid humans and your stupid emotions always get in the way of what should and shouldn't be done, and now you've put yourself in danger because of it."

She huffed, defeated but unaccepting of it. "Won't you at least help me find the person I'm looking for?" She pleaded. "I promise to leave right after, but I have to return something to him."

"No," he said sternly.

"Please?" She asked again.

"I already told you, no." He grit out dangerously, but Lenalee ignored him. "I just need to return this handkerchief to a white-haired boy- I mean, fox- named Allen. Please?"

She sensed him freeze for a minute before resuming his air of indifference.

"Did you say 'Allen'?" He narrowed his eyes.

She tilted her head. "Yes... why?" She asked, curious.

She heard him curse under his breath. "Stupid fox and his stupid..." she didn't catch the last part, and he gave in with a "fine."

"Thank you," she said afterwards, and he clicked his tongue.

"Hold on," he commanded, and the girl obeyed. A few seconds later they were suddenly soaring through the air, so quickly that the view and lights of the festival below them became a blurry streak of bright and dark colors, her hair wrestling furiously with the gale wind as she closed her eyes to shield them from dust and the like. As shocked as she was she tried not to scream, and gripped his scales tighter in an attempt to let out her energy. And with no idea of where they were headed, other than maybe to meet Allen she supposed, she felt both anxiety and excitement make their way into her stomach.

Lenalee wasn't sure how long they flew through the sky like that - maybe ten, twenty minutes, and with the speed they were going at she thought they might have made some progress. But taking a peek to the side she saw that the festival was still there, its numerous stalls and even more yokai and ayakashi bustling about with life, so either they hadn't actually gone that far, or the celebration really did stretch so far into the distance. It must have been the latter, and once more Lenalee was amazed by the Realm of the Demons.

Then slowly, she noticed that the man, currently dragon, had begun to descend, heading towards a large tower painted red. Its roof was traditional, Japanese and temple-like, open windows lit up with bright yellow hues lining almost every part of the walls, save for the bottom-most area where a large, golden double-door awaited them closed. As each second passed they came lower to the ground, the surroundings of the building being a dense and dim forest that acted as if to close the area off from the rest of the world. Silently, she wondered if this was where Allen lived. It was mysterious and somewhat foreboding, but she waved away the thought as they landed onto the grassy earth.

"Get off," came the grumpy voice, and she did so, stepping lightly onto the soft grass in the dark, illuminated slightly by the lights from the windows above. Then the man transformed back into a human, his black yukata being undamaged and his midnight blue hair still in a ponytail. His sword was in its sheath and by his side, and she turned to thank him.

"Thank you, um..." Only now did Lenalee realize that she hadn't gotten the man's name as of yet, but was promptly ignored with a "Tch," as he walked past her towards the front of the building's grand entrance.

Thrice did he knock on its doors, the loud banging seeming to echo throughout the vast forest around them. Then he stopped, waited - but after a minute or so resumed his impatient pounding.

Finally, a few seconds later one of the large doors opened wide, revealing just enough space for a person - namely, Allen.

"Oy, BaKanda," he started with a pissed-off smile, "Can you please not bang on the doors this late at night? Or did that instruction still not get through to your tiny brain the last few, oh, I don't know, hundred times I said so?" By the time he finished his forced smile had turned into a scowl, and "BaKanda" glared at him.

"Shut up, beansprout. You've got a visitor."

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And ta-dah! An unusually long (for me, anyway) chapter 3! I'm really happy I'm actually continuing a story for once, and it's all thanks to you guys! You readers really motivate me to write, so thank you! As for some things that need to be clarified, don't worry, I'll explain them in the later chapters, and as always, hope you enjoyed! (Even if Lena was a bit OOC)

- animellow