Hsi Wu groaned as he woke up. His head hurt worse than a tree-year hangover, and the rest of his body wasn't much better, but he wasn't exactly a stranger to pain. Opening his eyes, he took in his surroundings. He was in a blind alley behind a dumpster.
Cheering was not the normal reaction a person would have to waking up like this, but in this case, the cheer was more for the fact that he woke up at all...because he made it. He was in the human world.
Getting himself under control, he scaled the wall of the taller building and climbed out onto the roof.
This vista...he knew it well...too well. The sloping roads, the bay, the bridge in the distance...looking down, he saw what he knew he would: a large sign reading "Uncle's Rare Finds."
He was here...exactly where he wanted to be. Now, all he had to do was turn himself human, go find Jade...
And lie to her. Pretend to be someone he wasn't. Walk along the same demonic path that had made her hate him before.
He stared down at the road, seeing yet unseeing. He couldn't approach Jade in human guise. She had been hurt enough. He would not cause her more pain if he could avoid it.
Why did this human girl cause such strange thoughts in him? WHy was she so special to him?
Seeing the door open, he shoved aside his thoughts as he was on the verge of discovery. Jade had stepped out. Judging by the sun, she must be heading to school. Apparently she lived her now. That made things easy...but also complicated. He knew exactly where she was, but the anti-demon spell on the shop was as strong as ever. He could not enter.
SO he would not. Watching as she headed towards school, he spread his wings and flapped experimentally. The pain hit him in a wave, and he folded them. Okay, flying wasn't an option. Seeing her path, he took a running leap, clearing the alley to the next rooftop easily. He continued this, one eye on where he was going, one eye on where she was going, following her all the way to school.
Maybe he couldn't go to her yet...approach her, explain himself...but he could watch over her. He chuckled to himself as he watched her through her classroom window. Imagine, a demon becoming a guardian angel.
He had been following her like this for nearly two weeks now. His wings weren't getting better yet; they still caused him pain whenever he tried to flap them, so it was likely at this rate that he'd never fly again. A small sacrifice.
He stiffened. Three young toughs were following Jade. Looking at them, he knew the type. As a demon, he had an instinct for the evil in the human heart, and he knew exactly what was on the minds of these three.
He watched through eyes narrowed to slits. He knew Jade well enough to know a premature rescue would not be welcome, and these three looked like they lacked training of any sort. Jade should be able to handle herself...but just in case, he would stay close.
Jade walked on, trying not to be obvious that she was aware of their presence. If they knew she was aware of them, they'd make their move too soon, and right now she couldn't face them head on. SHe needed to escape.
She hated to admit it, but ever since losing her family, she'd let her martial arts slide considerably. Sure, she was still pretty physically fit...but in a fight, she knew she wouldn't do well against three street toughs. Seeing an alley, she ducked into it...and cursed her luck. She would find the ONE alley in the city that was shadowed enough to hide in but too wide to triangle jump out of...and a dead end to boot! Moving towards the back, she tossed her pack aside and turned to face the opening. The three toughs stood there, leering at her.
"Well, well, boys...looks like somebody's eager to get it on, wouldn't you say?" the obvious leader said, grinning. The others chuckled appreciatively.
Jade snarled. This would happen the one day she went to school in a skirt! "Well, come and get me...if you think you're man enough!"
The three toughs charged in, and Jade quickly found herself outmatched. It wasn't that she didn't have more skill than the three of them put together...it was just that her training in multi-opponent fights had been limited. She could take any one of them down with ease...if the other two would give her the time and room to manuever properly. She managed to get a few good blows in, but then the largest slammed her into the back of the alley, wrenching her arm. She screamed as her shoulder popped, dislocated.
The three toughs laughed, and the leader said, "Well, that's a nice scream. Let's see what other noises you can-" Something moved up from the shadows behind him, and he was thrown hard against the wall.
The two other toughs turned to see what happened to their leader, and there was a snarl. Something grabbed the first one and tossed him aside like a sack of potatoes. He screamed as he sailed out of the alley.
Then the shadowy presence seized the last tough, the one that was still holding Jade. A crack was the extended arm breaking, causing him to scream and release her. Then he was pulled into the shadows, and several brutal cracks and thuds were heard, and the tough repeatedly screaming for mercy. Then he was tossed out, bruised, battered, and bleeding, to land on the leader who was just waking up. They scrambled to their feet and ran.
Jade fell to her knees, clutching her arm. A gentle hand grasped her arm and guided it gently back into its socket. She felt magic moving in her, deadening the pain. She glanced up and saw whoever it was backing into the shadows.
"Wait!" she said, and the figure stopped. "You...you saved me. Thank you. Won't you...won't you let me see you?"
There was a long quiet, then a voice spoke. "Are you sure you want to?"
She froze. She knew that hissing voice. "...Hsi Wu?" she asked, disbeleivingly.
He stepped out of the shadows...and she hardly recognized him. Crossing his blue skin in the pattern of veins were glowing green lines of chi magic. He was even more wizened than before, looking almost emaciated. His eyes, while still red, no longer glowed with the same light. And his wings...his wings were in tatters, and from the look of it, the bone was broken near the back joint in the left wing, and hadn't been seen to. Much longer, and it would tear through the skin.
"Hsi Wu...what happened to you?" she asked, concern in her eyes and voice.
It was more than he could take. Seeing him, her first reaction hadn't been fear, loathing, or an uncaring face as he had anticipated...but concern for his well being? Her first question wasn't How or WHy he was there, but what had happened to him? Did that mean...
Sinking to his knees, unable to face what was in his heart now, he wept bitter tears of joy and relief. Jade went up to him, concerned.
He heard a ripping and tearing sound, followed by the sound of something wooden being broken. Then he felt a painful jerk in his wing, and he turned. He could see the break...couldn't figure out how he had missed it for so long, he'd wondered what caused the pain in his wings. He saw Jade's hands on the break, gently guiding it straight.
"If I don't set this bone now, it will break through the skin," she said calmly as she splinted the break straight. "It will need more expert care later, but that should do for now."
"Thank you..." he whispered, unable to say more in the face of his emotions in the moment. Realization began to dawn on him, as several things his brother and sister had said to him came together in his mind, with the warmth in his body that seemed to spread from the point of Jade's touch on his wing, and painted a picture of the truth in his mind. A truth he knew she would never accept.
"How did this happen to you?" she asked again.
He blinked a few times. "This is the price a demon pays...for using a good chi spell." Jade's eyes went wide, and he chuckled. "There is a spell, hidden in a library hidden deep in teh center of the demon netherrealm, that contains a spell that can allow a demon to cross into the human world...and become a part of it. I...am the first demon to ever survive casting the spell."
"Why?"
"I don't know why I survived it, but-"
"No, I mean why would you do something like that?"
He sighed sadly. "It was the only way to reach you...so I could apologize."
"Apologize? For what?"
"Many things...pretending to be someone I wasn't and hurting you...causing you pain...but most of all, for not being able to stop what my brother and his son did to you." He looked her in the eyes. "No one should have to face that pain...especially not you."
She stared at him for a bit, then slipped his arm over her shoulder. "Come on, I'll get you to TOhru. He'll figure out how to fix you up."
"Are...are you sure he'll want to help me?"
"He'll help you if I tell him to." After they'd walked a ways, she spoke again. "We'll talk about what you said once you're better...and about what you didn't say."
He nodded, content to let himself be led. His fate was in her hands now...and he couldn't be happier. He understood now...the question that had plagued him, that plagued every demon, since birth.
He now knew his why.