He had been deceived. Fooled. Tricked by himself, in truth. The demon only realized this the next morning, though. That was when he continued to sit there, in his secluded world from society, doing absolutely nothing. For the first time in his life, he was bored. It should have been that there was no reason to be bored, so he simply wasn't. That is what he should have been able to say, but the blue haired man was never very good at completely lying to himself. He let out a low breath of air, his chin resting on his palm as he looked down the stone path. Because of the foliage lining it, he was only able to see halfway.
How long had he been like that? Just sitting by himself with nothing to do. It was almost ironic, in a sense. Before there was almost too much to do in his day. Now he couldn't even recall one of the tasks he was supposed to do. He just sat there, complete silence weaving its way around him. It calming. And soothing. And peaceful. And driving him crazy. What happened to the comfort that he usually flourished in with the same silence? He felt restless, like he needed to get up and do something, or he just might explode.
Not that the village people would mind if that happened.
There it was again: his cynicism. The demon frowned, still watching the quiet path. Somehow, he felt that he would go crazy if he had to deal with himself any longer. Just the itching irritation was bad enough. Now he had to deal with his own mental ramble.
A bird fluttered down onto one of the lower branches of the tree next to the path. He had forgotten what kind of tree it was -- didn't really care -- and pushed it from his mind. The brilliant little blue bird then started to sing, shattering the blanket of silent peace. It sung a happy melody of chirps and twitters, sharing its own delight with the rest of the world. His frown turned to a grimace. He couldn't stand listening to it and realized how he had just contradicted himself. The horrible quiet had been broken, but not by what he wanted it to be. He didn't want some bird to hold his attention. He wanted to hear... actually, he didn't know. He didn't know what he wanted and, oh, how it frustrated him.
Grimace still in place, the demon in his fine silks lay down against the polished floor. He closed his eyelids, suddenly tired, and tried to drift to sleep. Being asleep would certainly be better. The demon switched to only paying attention to his senses, pushing away his constant trail of meaningless thoughts. There was the soft, silk robes that he wore every day. The light and airy tune sung by the little bird. The sweet and enchanting scent unlike anything he had the pleasure of smelling before. And-
He opened his brilliant blue eyes and sat up with a tired groan. Far too curious to lay back down, the blue haired demon slowly stood up, now focusing on the path. It was an opportunity to actually do something and move. Heaven forbid he'd stay laying there all day. After he slipped his sandals on, he let out another breath of air before starting down the unused path. With no other way to occupy his time, he let his mind wander to guessing about what could be at the village. Of course he wouldn't enter it. Goodness no. He wouldn't even cross the bridge, but he would still look. But what could it be? Had someone made a new pastry? A new perfume? Perhaps a merchant had stopped by? That seemed to make sense. After all, a merchant would have interesting goods from other places all across the land. If it was a new good, then what colors would it have? Shades of blue were always pleasant. Then again, the color blue was starting to annoy him. He was already surrounded by it all day, so why have more? White seemed more appealing. Yes, a white... whatever-it-is would be nice.
There was no longer that grimace painted across his face, and now he had a better mood as he traveled down towards the village still. He pushed a branch out of his line of vision, not bothering to just move over on the path, and just stopped. He stopped walking. He stopped thinking. He almost stopped breathing. There she stood, waiting, her eyes covered by clean bandages that were in turn covered by her unique, blue-green hair. She held a white flower that he had never seen before against her light green kimono, and still remained in place. Was she waiting for him...?
"Miku?" he called out, not sure if she was really there, but enjoying the way her name felt.
"Kaito," she whispered in reply, her lips twisting into a sad smile of relief. "You came." It sounded like she was ready to cry.
Well, what now? He imagined himself saying something like, "Of course I did." But then it would seem like one big cliche. If he tried to comfort her, it would come out as something like, "Um... Sorry. I- uh, I'm glad you're okay." Obviously, that was a no. Saying nothing would make him seem like a jerk. Actually, wasn't he doing that now by just thinking to himself...? He panicked and said the next words that came to mind; "That's a pretty flower."
Idiot.
The demon felt like he should slap himself in the face at the very moment, or at least mutter harsh curses at himself. Again, though, those options were rude. He settled for harshly running his hand through his messy locks of hair. When he looked back at her, he saw the salt water running down her face from the soaked bandages and had two initial thoughts: she has an amazing smile, and she was even prettier when she cried. He felt like a dirt-bag for thinking of making her cry purposely, even if he only thought of it for a second. That wasn't what he should be concerned about though. Did he hurt her feelings? He didn't think so, but he still wanted to know. "Are you," he started, but trailed off as he brought his right hand up to her face. He hesitated, not sure if he had the right to actually touch or not. "Are you alright?" He pushed his hesitation out of his mind and placed his palm against her left cheek, gently brushing the tears away, while being careful to not hurt her with his nails.
She made a small nod, pausing to choke down more tears before speaking. "I'm just..." She paused with a short sob again. "I'm so happy. You're really here." There she went again, saying things he couldn't quite understand and giving a smile without reason. Miku held his hand to her cheek, and he winced back the reaction of pulling away. There the two of them stood, just outside the village on a little bridge. They merely stood there while time played its trick of stretching out each second to an eternity. At the first breeze through the tree tops, Miku released his hand and smiled up at him.
The demon could have sworn that her face would stick like that if she smiled anymore than she already did, not that he would mind. That sort of expression suited her. Now he was unsure of what to do next. Should they just stand there and talk awkwardly? No, he couldn't do that. Heaven forbid the villagers saw him. Actually, most of them wouldn't recognize him unless they saw those horrible horns poking out of his skull. The only one who could instantly point him out was Dell Honne, if he remembered correctly, but that was only because Dell was given the task to bring him whatever he needed weekly. The blue-haired demon almost laughed at that because that man was viewed as the unlucky soul to deliver whatever was needed to keep the demon away.
Focusing away from his ever-present cynicism, he carefully took her hand to lead her up the path to his prison of sorts. "This way," he muttered, suddenly feeling guilty again. If this situation was seen by anyone, he would guaruntee that they would think of him as the demon stealing the maiden away from her family. Of course, it was assumed that the demon would eat her, wed her, or keep the maiden. The maiden would be depressed and lose all hope, of course. Then some hero would come, slay the demon, and take the maiden away who instantly falls in love wit-
"Kaito?" the blind girl called, her voice slicing its way through his mind. "Why don't you live in the village?"
He flinched, pausing briefly before continuing to guide her up the smooth pathway. In the back of his mind, he wondered how she had yet to trip or fall, considering she was blind, but ignored it. How could he answer her question? Lying...? But that would leave such a bitter feeling. The truth...? Pfft. No. That would be condemning himself to a life alone again. "I... just like the quiet," he lied. It was so painfully easy to preserve their peace with that one lie. Actually, he was able to say it so effortlessly that it frightened him. He didn't want to lie to her, ever.
"Well, as long as you're happy," she chuckled, her tone showing she believed every bit of it and was relieved. He already knew what a naive, innocent, and pure girl Miku was. He knew, and maybe that's what made him feel sick with himself. Because he knew how charmingly ignorant she was, he abused it.
"I am." He said it with false happiness. As expected, she didn't pick up on it. The demon didn't want her to, though, so it all worked out. His lips were currently pressed into a tight, thin line and his eyes held a pained guilt. He started to wonder if wanting to spend time with her was a form of masochism if he felt this way. Leaving his mental self-abuse for a moment, the demon noticed that they were, in fact, at his secluded house. "We're here," he breathed out with relief. He glanced back at Miku to see her expression light up and that trademark smile glow even more. He felt a little proud of himself, being able to create that look.
When he had led her to the stone slab used to place sandals on, he let go of her and sat exactly where he was before leaving to investigate the new scent. Glancing at her right hand, he saw that she still held that curious white flower. His lips turned up into what felt like a small smile, and he instantly noticed his own unusual expression. The sliver of a grin disappeared instantly. He watched her slip off her sandals, most likely new, also noticing that she still had the bandage from yesterday around her foot, and she cautiously took a seat beside him. Her precaution was obviously from not being able to see, but he couldn't help but think it was because he was there. Why was he always so cynical? It was getting ridiculous.
"Miku," he started while looking at her, once again finding a small joy out of the way her name felt. "Do you-" This time he stopped himself from asking a stupid question like, "Do you like me?" Another one would have been, "Do you want to stay?" There were a few others that he could blurted out if he spoke without thinking, but he wasn't about to delve into what those were. "How was your morning?" he asked as he turned away and his cheeks warmed slightly. It was a bland question, but it would obviously have the best results.
I have to admit, that was pretty good. Not much really happened, but it was a good Kaito development run.
On a side note, I'm looking for a Beta Reader if anyone is interested. It would help out a lot. Especially on chapters like the last one where I end up trying to throw an almost poetic feel into it (a bad habit of mine).
Be on the look out for when Kaito starts referring to himself as "Kaito" instead of "the demon" because it just shows how he's changing. I also like to do meanings behind names and all that jazz.
You can stop reading now because the rest of this is just to clear up any possible questions or confusions. xD
Alright, now when you come across Kaito saying "Do you like me?" and "Do you want to stay?" I think it's good to point out he never actually says those. He stops himself from saying one of those or some other question, but yeah.
Another thing about those, he doesn't actually mean those word for word. Like, when he thinks "Do you like me?" he means "Do you enjoy my company?" Likewise, "Do you want to stay?" means "Are you sure you want to spend time with me?"
Yeah, I'm a spaz with hidden meanings and crap. I know.
Anyway, thank you everyone for reviewing! I seriously love/appreciate it.
But that doesn't mean you shouldn't review some more. xD
