Author's Note:
I'd just like to put a special 'thank you' out there for two readers of mine, Shadethedemon and Superiordimwit.
Both of you have written things that have brought a smile to my face and actually give me so much motivation to continue with this story. I sincerely appreciate you taking time out of your day to read and review this and am /so/ glad that you are enjoying it.
I just hope it doesn't disappoint! ;0;
Thank you so much!
And thank you to anyone else who is reading this. It means a lot to me~
It wasn't too long after Neuhaus had taken his leave (more of, I made him leave) when the passage leading into my room slide open and my brother nonchalantly walked out. At first, I didn't as much as glance up at him, well aware of who it was. However, when I noticed something strange about him by seeing him through the corner of my eye, I raised my gaze with interest.
Amaimon's mouth was stuffed to the brim with what I believed to be sticks of Pocky, his eyes almost seeming to bulge over the amount that he had somehow fit between his lips. For a moment, I just stared at him blankly, but as soon as everything registered, I immediately bolted out of my seat with a startled sound of disapproval. "Where did you get those?!" I asked and made my way toward him, lips curled.
His blue eyes flashed toward me and he made a few muffled noises as if trying to speak. When the demon realized that he could, in fact, not speak with his mouth full, he instantly spat the food onto the floor- my nice, clean floor. If I didn't have more self-control, I would've screamed upon seeing such a thing occur.
"I found this tasty food in your underwear drawer," Amaimon explained, wiping the corners of his mouth where the chocolate from the Pocky had gotten. "I figured, since you were keeping food in your drawer with your underwear, you didn't want it, so I ate it." He looked down at the floor where he had spat them out, picking one up to nibble contemplatively on.
There were so many questions running through my head that it took me several moments to actually form words. It took me even longer to form intelligible words. "Why were you in that drawer in the first place?" It was a completely logical question, yet my brother looked at me as though I had gone insane.
"I didn't have an extra pair of underwear, and I thought you'd want me to change my underwear rather than wearing the same pair over and over, so I borrowed a pair of yours," the demon commented, finishing off the stick he was currently eating. "Then I found a box of food and decided to try some since I was hungry. And it was in that drawer, so I figured it wasn't too important to you."
I felt my hands slowly clench into fists and my shoulders hunch. Not only was he eating the last box of Pocky I had (and put in that drawer to save it), but he was also wearing my undergarments. Clearly, this demonic brother of mine had no sense of personal boundaries. Deep down, I wanted to ask him why he thought it was a good idea to stuff the entire box into his mouth at once, but I decided it wasn't an explanation I really cared to hear.
It wasn't long after Amaimon had answered my question when his hobgoblin came bounding out of the room excitedly. The creature looped through my legs- causing me to stumble slightly- before running a circle around Amaimon and stopping to sniff at the Pocky on the floor. Within a couple of seconds, the familiar was munching on the bread sticks hungrily, bringing a grimace to my face.
"Behemoth enjoys them, too!" my brother exclaimed with astonishment. "These sweets are good; I don't understand why you didn't want them."
My eyes followed Amaimon as he knelt down alongside the hobglobin and joined in on the feast. "How wonderful," I grumbled irritably, turning on my heel. "Make a memo to yourself that you owe me a box of Pocky." My brother looked up at me as I stepped off toward the door, one brow raised with confusion.
"Where are you going, Brother?"
"I'm just going to take a walk around the academy and check up on things," I answered over my shoulder. Once I pulled the door open, I murmured numbers in German under my breath and transformed into the dog I normally took the appearance of when strolling about the school.
"What do you want me to do?"
"You," I replied, resenting how high-pitched my voice was in this form, "can just sit right there in that spot and not move an inch until I've returned." My eyes met his scornfully (though, I'm not sure how scornful I could look as a fluffy white terrier), then continued forward, not looking back again until I was way out of sight.
In all honesty, I had planned on staying in my office most of that day. It seemed that the only way to get away from my brother and have some peace was to leave the area entirely. Not many would call walking around the school with a bunch of kids "peaceful," but, compared to what Amaimon had put me through so far, I rather enjoyed it. Rin's return to the academy couldn't come soon enough. Once he was here, I'd be able to rightly plan when Amaimon could "toy" with him; once Amaimon carried out the deed, he'd be able to go back to Gehenna and all would be normal, again.
When I returned that day, it was well into the evening. My entire day had been spent both inside the academy and out amongst the streets, choosing to eat lunch and dinner at local restaurants. Thankfully for my brother, I actually had enough heart in me to bring leftovers back to my office, knowing that he hadn't eaten anything (other than my last box of Pocky) all day. I was quite certain Amaimon was unaware of the just how much I thought of his well-being. Even though I'd never show it, I did care. I actually found myself caring a bit more when I returned to my room that night to see that it hadn't been made a complete mess.
I stepped through the door to my office (no longer a dog, by the way) and gently closed it behind me with hardly a noise, adjusting the bag I was using to carry the food I had saved for my brother. "I'm back, Amai-" My voice was cut off abruptly when I saw the green-haired demon off to the side of the room. He was sitting on the floor, legs crossed, and staring up at me with curious eyes, obediently in the same exact spot I had told him to stay in. Behemoth rested next to him, looking as though he had been sleeping before my return as he raised his head groggily.
"Welcome back, Brother," Amaimon said and pushed himself up to his feet. "Was your day well?"
I blinked at him a few times, then shook my head to rid the stunned look on my face. "Yes, it was perfectly fine." I would've asked him the same question if I didn't already know the answer. To avoid that topic, I simply strolled past him and placed the bag on my desk. "I went out to eat while I was gone and brought you some food."
Amaimon followed me, a slight bounce in his step. When he reached the desk, he stood on his toes to peer over my shoulder, cheek brushing over my ear. "What kind of food?" the demon asked as I stepped a few paces away from him, not wanting his hot breath on my face.
"There's some octopus in there. And rice if you'd like that with it," I explained to him and went around to the other side of my desk to sit. My eyes began to scan the papers on my desk, again, finally getting to them after the interruptions throughout the day.
"Oh!" Amaimon's sudden exclamation caused me to lazily raise my gaze. The demon was rummaging through his pocket, tongue sticking through his teeth with effort until he plucked a small box from its depths. He placed it on the desk before me, returning his hands to his sides.
It was a box of Pocky- chocolate Pocky, at that- completely new and unscathed. My eyes widened and I picked up my head from its previous spot resting on my hand. "How did you-"
"I got Behemoth to go and get some while you were gone. He brought back strawberry at first… so I had to send him back, but he did eventually get it right," Amaimon explained while rummaging through the bag for his food.
I looked over the desk and to the floor where Behemoth was resting, meeting his eyes for a brief moment before he shifted his position and fell back into a doze. Even though millions of questions ran through my head concerning how Behemoth had done that, I chose to simply ignore them and accept the gift without a fuss. Though, I was completely unsure of how to properly thank my brother for it. In most cases, I wasn't one to give 'thank yous' for gifts of the sort.
"Brother," Amaimon said to break into my thoughts. "Where can I eat this?" He picked up two containers from the bag and held them before his face speculatively. "Should I eat in your bedroom since you have work to do?"
My brows furrowed with thought over the question, but I soon smiled and shook my head. "No. You can stay in here as long as you're quiet and don't make a mess." That was enough of a 'thank you,' right? Letting him stay in my office with me was a treat… so, it should be thought as a way of thanks. Even if he didn't interpret it that way, I did and accepted it as a valid way of gratitude.
So, with my permission, Amaimon went right back to that spot he had been sitting in all day, carefully eating the food I had given him to avoid dropping any onto the carpet. I watched him for several moments with my chin on my hand, involuntarily smiling when he gave a few pieces of the octopus to Behemoth (who was now wide awake). It took me a long while to actually regain my motivation to do any of the work given to me, but when I did, I was happily biting on a stick of chocolate pocky and deciding that this particular package tasted ten times better than pocky had ever tasted before.