Chapter 7
"Where is he?"
The words rang through the great hall that was serving breakfast to the demons that followed Yoko Kurama and Kuronue. Everyone stopped what they were doing and turned to look at the doorway. Hiromi stood, dagger in hand, her eyes like storm clouds gathering to unleash an unholy storm about to break above their heads. Behind her Audra stood, her hands resting at her side as if they were on a simple stroll through the garden. Behind these two were Takji, Yukia and Grethi who had joined them after Hiromi had slammed her way out of the room.
It was breakfast time and most of the demons were in the great hall, attempting to have a breakfast of filling food. Despite being surrounded by so many demons, Hiromi only had eyes for Kuronue and Yoko who stood over a table with a map over it. They had both turned as the words echoed over the words of a hundred demons. They exchanged glances before Yoko motioned for the demons that had risen, about to grab the human, to back down and eat their breakfast. Kuronue's glance returned to the human, locking eyes with her to show, he wasn't afraid of what she could do. She was a human after all. If she even tried to hurt him, he could break her silly little head against a wall.
"He, Hiromi?" Kuronue asked, fingers fiddling with a pedant that caught and held the human's attention for only a moment.
"Edmund you sorry excuse for a demon," Hiromi spat, starting down the aisle that had been made for her to go down towards the head demons. "Who else would I mean? You told me that he had the night! I wake up not even near dawn and he's no longer in the room. Audra tells me that he wasn't there when she came to change guard with Night at midnight. So you tell me Kuronue right now, where is Edmund?" Her voice had chilled Kuronue a bit. It was like stepping into the middle of a snow storm with no clothing on.
He shook off the feeling and walked down to meet her halfway. He put on a small smile and raised an eyebrow as if her words didn't affect him at all and he found her nothing more than a silly pet that had done an unusual thing.
"Why would you think that I had done anything to him? He changed his shape to try and kidnap you. He could have changed shape to escape without you. He is a demon after all. And from what I remember, he was a very slippery demon too when I knew him." Kuronue teased her, knowing full well what had happened to Edmund.
"Damn you! Edmund was my friend, he'd never just leave me here," Hiromi hissed, though a part of her mind had wondered that when she'd started to go towards the great hall after getting directions from Audra.
"No, he wouldn't. I'll admit that." Kuronue said as he saw the hand the gripped the knife tighten as if the girl was seriously about to try and stab him. "But he did barter for his freedom last night. He swore that he wouldn't return with Lord Koenma's army to fetch you if I swore you would be released when you'd given me everything you know about other demons." Kuronue was surprised when his news seemed to hit the girl hard.
Hiromi, although she'd fought with him the night before, had truly been glad that she would have had a fellow prisoner; a prisoner that knew her and was her friend. They had fought like that before, bickering over how well she could do her job alone and such. To know that, maybe, because of their fight he had decided to leave her here in exchange for freedom hurt her more than she cared to admit. She had known that demons were fickle creatures that went with whatever tide came and went. But she had thought that maybe Edmund was different. He worked for Lord Koenma after all.
When she saw a wave of sympathy roll over Kuronue's face for a split second, Hiromi blinked away the tears that shown in her eyes and raised her head a little straighter, looking around her slowly to see the other demons watching her. Finally when she thought that she could control her emotions, she looked back up at Kuronue.
"What demon do you want to know about first?" she asked, looking over his shoulder rather into the eyes that held a sort of respect for the human that she did not like.
Kuronue had watched emotions plague the girls face before she had noticed the sympathy he felt play out on his own face. Then he watched her as she schooled her face flat and returned to an obedient human. He found that part most interesting. She really did want to be released and was willing even to lower herself in order to accomplish that goal. He tilted his head to the side and watched her for a moment.
"Kuronue, stop undressing the human with your eyes and get her up here. We do not have all day after all." Yoko Kurama told the demon, refusing to look at the human, as if that was going to make her change her behavior.
Kuronue sighed and rolled his eyes at Kurama's attitude before taking the girl by the shoulder and leading the girl the rest of the way up to the head of the room. When they reached the table he released her and turned back to the dining hall which was still unusually silent as the demons looked at the human that Kuronue had conversed with.
"If any demons lay a hand on Mistress Hiromi while she is here, they will no longer be safe under this roof." Kuronue said, his voice echoing over the silence. Whispers began cropping up among the bravest of the demons. He let it go as he turned and looked back at the map until a particularly loud whisper caught all their attentions.
"So do you think he'll have her in bed by the time this winter is over?"
Before Kuronue could explain that his words were not to be taken lightly, Hiromi strode forward to stand in front of the table with the map. The look on her face sent the room silent again. On it was a cold, calculating smile that threatened to turn anyone that spoke to ice.
"If Lord Kuronue did not make it clear, I will restate and stress to you that you listen to me. I may be human, but if any demon lays a finger on me, even Lord Kuronue, then I have some very special friends here that will do their best to make your deaths slow, painful, and in the best to their abilities, torturous, until you wish that death would come and take you. But you will not be allowed to die until I put the dagger through your heart." She said, looking at the demons before her. She delivered this speech with the smile remaining on her lips. Her voice carried cheerfulness as she spoke the words. During this little speech, the four demons that were her guard came to stand behind her, Audra to her immediate right and Takji at her immediate left while the other two stood directly behind her.
With that said she turned and went to stand across the table from Yoko to the Left of Kuronue. "So which demon do you want?" she asked, keeping the cheer and smile on her face as she spoke. She studied the map as Kuronue stood speechless for a moment. Kuronue finally chuckled and shook his head before pointing to a marker on the map.
"This castle is deserted but long ago a demon named Thuki lived there. Do you know that demon?" he asked, looking at her from the corner of his eye.
Hiromi looked up at the two demons, giving Yoko a scorn filled look before looking at Kuronue. Was he testing her?
"You must be mistaken. That castle belongs to the demon named Wesni. He's a rain master and has lived there for thirty years. He has a guard of 300 demons, most of which are water demons like he is. The castle doesn't have very good walls and could fall easily with a few well placed hits," Hiromi told them as she looked back down at the map. One week, she counted happily to herself. She would not have to really deal with these demons for one week. She had seen from Kuronue's face that she'd passed the little test he had put up there for her.
Except that that wasn't the end to her knowledge. They pried every ounce of information she had on Wesni out of her before letting her go get breakfast. By this time the hall had emptied of all other demons except for Kuronue, Audra, and Yoko. She rubbed her neck and went to the table that had the food and good some of the fruit and meat to eat before sitting at table farthest from the demons who were still conversing. Audra had gotten some food as well and sat across from the girl.
"You did really well. Not many people have that kind of memory," Audra finally said while she was taking a break of eating between a grape-like fruit and a piece of what Hiromi could only call pork.
"It's my life if I can't remember." Hiromi said softly, not wanting to gain the two taller demon's attention any more than she already had.
"I suppose you are right about that," Audra said softly, copying her tone before looking up as Kuronue and Yoko left the hall without saying a word. She watched them go and frowned, tilting her head to the side. Hiromi watched with in silence as she took a bit of a strawberry like fruit.
"I don't think you will have to worry about going out to the garden for a few days. Yoko and Kuronue will be gone." Audra finally told her after the look she had had on a moment before vanished.
"They are going after Wesni then?" Hiromi asked.
"Yes," was all that Audra said before she threw away the rest of her food and led the human out of the room when she was done. Instead of leading her to Hiromi's room she led Hiromi to a room that was almost like one of the dojo's that Hiromi had seen once.
"What are we doing here?" Hiromi asked as she looked around. Grethi, Takji and Yukia were there already. Takji and Grethi were facing off in the middle as Audra led Hiromi around the outer edge to stand next to Yukia who was acting as a referee for the match. The fight distracted Hiromi though before Audra could reply. Her eyes followed the two go back and forth using hands, knees, and feet without pause. It was like watching a dance as well as a battle. Where Grethi was kicking, Takji was blocking and when Takji punched, Grethi ducked.
Finally Audra stopped the fight with a sharp command and motioned for Hiromi to come to the center of the room. Hiromi's eyes widened as she remembered Night's thoughts that she should learn some fighting. She hesitated, biting her lip. Years of her mother telling her that fighting was for the men and not for women plagued her for a moment. Hiromi looked around the room and realized that her mother had never had to worry about demon's pushing themselves on her. She straightened her back and untied her kimono top and folded it up and placed it in the corner. There were only other females in the room anyway so it didn't matter if they saw her soft cream colored skin that had been hidden beneath the kimono. Standing in a breast band and the pair of slacks that she had worn when she had followed Kurama and Kuronue, Hiromi smiled sheepishly up at Audra who was using Takji as an example as she demonstrated how to throw safe punches.
Time sped past for the next week. As Audra had stated she had gone from the garden to the dojo to the dining hall and then back to her room throughout the next seven days without running into Yoko or Kuronue. A few demons had tried to touch the human, but Audra, or one of the other guards had always been there to persuade them that it would be a very bad idea for them to do anything like that. It was the last day of the week, when Kuronue found the young woman sitting peacefully in the garden, watching a butterfly jump from one plant to another. It was Takji's turn to guard her, and the tattoo user had summoned the butterfly to entertain the human who had started to get almost depressed over the last day when she had run out of new things to explore.
Kuronue waved Takji off with a nod and sat next to the young woman on the grass before laying back to stare up at the sky. Hiromi didn't say anything until Takji was a good three hundred feet away and out of earshot.
"Was your mission successful?" Hiromi asked, turning her gaze to look at the tall demon that sprawled next to her. She noted that he had binding around his upper left bicep, but she didn't mention it. Kuronue closed his eyes and fished with his good hand in his right pocket. He pulled out a small necklace which he held out to her without saying a word.
Hiromi took it and looked at it. In the shape of a rose, the white paint glittered in the sunlight the poured down on them. In the center of the rose was a ruby that was almost as bright as the white paint under the sun.
"This is what you stole?" she asked softly, holding it up to the light to look at it without it gleaming in her eyes.
"No. What we stole is in the treasure room. This is just something I saw and thought I'd steal to say thank you for the information." Kuronue corrected, closing his eyes as he relaxed back.
A breeze rushed past them, fluttering the young human's black hair into her face as she turned to look down at him. She had a new kimono on, one of the new ones that the girl guards had brought her the day after Kuronue had left. This one matched the green of the grass with no designs on it. Her pants were a slightly darker green though all one saw was an inch at the bottom of her kimono. Her hand clutched the pendant as she stared at the demon.
Finally, Kuronue opened an eye and looked at her to see what was keeping her so silent. He found a young woman with hair blowing around her, her blue-grey eyes calling forward images of a sea from above to Kuronue's mind. His dark purple-dark blue locked with hers. They sat there, staring at one another for a good five minutes.
Hiromi was thinking about the dream she had had the first night she had been living here at the demon castle. It had repeated the next night. In both she had chosen the hand of the bat demon, and now she found herself almost glad that she had made that choice.
Kuronue was thinking about days long past that would never return. He was thinking about how the pendant had reminded him so much of those days and this human that he had had to risk getting injured in the arm in order to get it before he left the castle.
It was Hiromi that looked away first. She clutched the necklace before pulling the pendant over her head slowly. She hadn't felt any curses in the little necklace and really did think it was beautiful. When it was resting against her chest, she smiled over at Kuronue.
"You aren't such a bad demon Kuronue. Thank you." She replied before looking back at the garden ahead of her. She didn't see the happiness that bloomed on Kuronue's face when she'd thanked him.
'You aren't going to ask what we stole?" he asked instead of commenting on the thanks.
"No. I have no interest in that," she told him before lying out next to him to bask in the sun. Her eyes closed as she turned on her side to face him. She didn't trust him to not try anything if she laid with her back to him. "But I am interested to know something else, if you won't mind me asking Lord Kuronue."
Kuronue relaxed back, staring up at the ceiling. "Let me guess, how did I know Edmund and why did I let him go?" he asked quietly.
Hiromi's eyes opened wide, surprise chilling her. Could he read her thoughts as well? "How-?"
"Audra told me when we got back an hour ago. She told me that you'd been wondering it," Kuronue told her, cutting off the question. "Edmund and I have run into each other before. We fought back then as well. Never did get along. At that time I was the one held captive by him and a human woman who had joined Edmund in his ambition to become a top rank demon." He sounded almost as if he longed to be back in that time, that Hiromi couldn't look at him. The longing in his voice she had only heard once before when a girl she had known had been talking about her lover. It embarrassed Hiromi a little that Kuronue could feel these kinds of emotions and tell her about them, but she didn't stop him from speaking.
"The human finally got Edmund to let me go after about six months. But I had to promise not to kill Edmund as long as the human was alive. So I felt compelled to offer the same choice to Edmund when I caught him here trying to take you back." Kuronue said, remembering the woman that had help free him before turning to look at the young woman who lay there looking at the grass.
They looked so much alike it was uncanny. He knew that the woman from so long ago would have liked the necklace as well. He pushed the memories away though and returned to look up at the sky. A comfortable silence came over the two as they laid there. Soon they both had fallen into a light nap next to each other.
