Oh god, I am ADDICTED to this song. It's Madilyn Bailey's cover of Safe and Sound by Taylor Swift. Check it out if you want:
watch?v=WT491Q7lOYo
I just wanted to say thank you to everyone for following my story, favouriting it, or even the simple act of reviewing it! It means a lot to me. Sorry, I'm not funny at all, so please don't expect comedy. (:
And sorry for being late! I was having a Fairy Tail marathon. GOSH, I LOVE THAT SHOW~
Anyone who hasn't watched, I suggest you do. But go to sleep at nights, not like what I did. I feel really sick.
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Chapter 10: It talks!
Haru's heart was still beating even after Belphegor turned away. "Hahi? Calm down!" She ordered it.
"Oi, hurry up Peasant! I'm hungry."
Haru immediately went back to her usual self. "Yup, he sure knows how to ruin a moment." And so, Haru continued her baking session, laying out a pan and greasing it before tossing it into the oven and waiting for it to bake. She walked over to the table and sat on a chair opposite of Belphegor's. "Um...Belphegor-sama?" Haru said. "Could I please ask you something?"
This caught Belphegor's attention. He liked it when she referred to him as 'sama' but found it slightly awkward and out-of-character. The girl only called him "Belphegor" until now, suddenly calling to him respectfully was out of nowhere. "Hm?"
"Um...I've been wondering for a while now," she started, fiddling with her fingers like a girl during a (awkward) confession. "But...can you teach me how to fight."
This completely threw Belphegor off. She wanted to fight? "Ushi shi shi, how is that possible Peasant?" he questioned. "In your current situation, you're too weak. Besides, didn't I already say that I'd protect you?"
"B-but that's the point! You can't always be there to help me! I need to learn how to protect myself. I want to be useful for once...I don't just wanna spend the rest of my life cooking for the others. I want to be strong...an-and protect everyone..." she frowned.
"Ushi shi shi. Peasant, you can't even protect yourself, how are you going to protect everyone else?" Belphegor laughed.
"I know...I know that it seems impossible. I know that...that I'll probably fail and perhaps die, but everyone else, even though they may not even know someone personally, they always put their lives on the line for them. I'm sick of waiting for people to come and rescue me! I-I want to be worthy of their help!" Haru explained. "I want to be worthy of your help..." she whispered a few seconds after.
Belphegor looked at her through calculating eyes. "Ushi shi shi. We'll see," he grinned.
"Ding!" the oven chimed.
"It's done!" Haru cheered, getting off of her seat and skipping over to perfection.
"Hurry up and give me some," Bel commanded
"Hahi? No, not yet!" Haru yelled. "First we gotta put icing on it!"
"Ushi shi shi. Ignoring my order?" he asked, laughing with amusement.
"Bel!" Haru called, irritated. "Just wait a while. I promise you it will taste better!" Belphegor glared at her. "I promise," she reassured.
"Fine, Peasant. It better be good."
"It will be! I promised, didn't I? What kind of woman would I be if I broke a promise?" she inquired.
"A real one." Belphegor snorted before hopping off the chair and walking down the hallway to the living where the TV currently resided.
Haru was ticked off by his answer. How could he think so lowly of women? She pouted, mentally cursing him, before she walked over to the cake, taking out the icing.
Before she could start decorating the cake though, Belphegor casually walked into the kitchen.
"You done?" his voice was sharp, and his expression silently warned Haru that he wasn't going to be patient.
"No," she responded. "Wanna help me out here?" Haru gestured towards the icing tube. This probably wasn't the best thing to say at the moment, considering how Bel was not only a psychotic bastard, he was a hungry psychotic bastard. Still, she personally couldn't give two poops about such trivial manners. Really, she was going through the whole emo phase (without the cutting) at the moment, feeling that she really had nothing to live for.
Belphegor examined the tiny tube curiously. "What the hell is that thing?"
"Icing tube...?" Haru said, not completely sure of it's proper name herself. "To decorate the cake!"
He stared at the weird instrument the quirky girl was holding. "What's it taste like?"
Haru smiled at his innocent question. "You don't eat it, dummy! You use it to decorate the cake. Like this," she demonstrated, making a giant rose in the middle of the moist and soft delicacy. Belphegor walked over to her, and she handed him the weird utensil. But, instead of putting the icing on the cake, he chose instead to squeeze the little tube and make the frosting pile into his mouth.
"Bel!" Haru scolded, trying to make him stop. But of course, he never forcefully grabbed tried to grab it from his hands, but instead ended up squirting some on cheek. "Hahi?" Belphegor stopped eating from the tube, and instead faced Haru, staring at her for a couple of seconds, before swiftly moving his face closer to her cheek and licking the drop of frosting off. Then, he went back to acting as if nothing happened, finally deciding that he should put the rest of the icing on the cake, he outlined the rim of the cake, much like he had seen the professional chefs do at the Varia base.
Haru's heart was practically bursting out of her chest. Having Belphegor invade her personal not one but two times in less than one minute was giving her mini-heart attacks. Haru took a secret glance at Belphegor, and noticed that he was completely engrossed in decorating the cake, and, it turned out that he was pretty good at it.
"Hahi?" she said, slightly surprised as well as impressed. "Belphegor, where'd you learn to do that?"
"Ushi shi shi. Don't be surprised, Peasant. I was always good with my hands," Belphegor bragged as he continued making small life-like roses around the top of the cake. Haru couldn't help but expect that there was a hidden meaning to his remark, and she childishly tried to stop herself from grinning, a light blush warming her cheeks. "You're not thinking some indecent joke right now, are you?"
Haru immediately stopped trying to hide her grin and straightened up. "Hahi? Of course not! What do you take me as-desu?"
"It's back!" Haru cursed.
"Ushi shi shi. You can't lie to me, idiot."
"Haru is not an idiot!" she defended.
"No! It came back too!" Haru internally cried.
"You horrible psychopath! You made them come back!" she overdramatically cried.
"Made what come back?" Belphegor asked, honeslty confused.
Haru looked at him with an extremely serious expression. Well, her best imitation of a serious face. On her, it looked rather constipated. "Them," she said with utmost hatred. "My "hahi" and "desu"! I tried so hard to get rid of them!" Haru pouted.
"Irritating," Belphegor said, before starting to walk away.
"W-wait! Where are you going?" she inquired out.
"Ushi shi shi. What's it look like? We're going to go train."
Haru face slowly turned into a grin as he continued walked out of the kitchen, towards door to the backyard. "M-mmhmm!" she hastily followed him out.
"Don't be surprised if you get stabbed though."
"Hahi..?" Haru stopped in her tracks.
Belphegor tilted his head to the side, facing her. "Heh? I thought you wanted to get stronger."
"I-I do...but do I really have to get stabbed to become powerful?"
"Ushi shi shi. Of course you don't have to be stabbed," Belphegor laughed. Haru sighed in relief. "If you can dodge the knives, that is."
Haru gulped. "Have to get stronger. Have to get stronger." And with that, Haru followed Belphegor into her giant backyard, protected by a thick concrete fence, where no one would be able to see her getting stabbed. She knew that she was willingly walking right into the sharp teeth of suicide, but to be honest with herself, Haru really couldn't care anymore. After losing both of her parents, realizing that the man she loved loved her best friends, being (attempted) kidnapped by various members of her own famiglia, learning that she was a princess of that weirdo mafia, and their main goal was to bring down the 'traitor' (a.k.a: her) within her first week at Namimori, while living with a tiara wearing assassin, and to make it worse, it was her time of the month. What difference would it make if she were just to dissapear, besides Belphegor dying from hunger.
Haru sighed, hopping off her patio and feeling the cool grass beneath her bare feet. But instead of being greeted by the relaxing gentle breeze, and hiding in the comfort of the shade her patio top provided, Haru was instead greeted by the ferocious sound of swift knives. "H-hahi! What-what was that foor? You could've killed me! The least you could' ve down was warn me!" She shouted, exasperated.
"The enemy neverwaits. If you keep your guard down like that, you'll be gone in a few seconds."
"O-okay..." She was starting to have second thoughts. Wouldn't it just be easier to take a rope and go to the nearest tree? Being stabbed to death wasn't exactly a very happy way to kick the bucket. Heck, even the damned creepiest masochist ever wouldn't like the pain. "So...are you gonna stab me now?"
"Of course not," he reassured. Haru sighed with relief. "Yet." And that was when her world came crashing down.
"Hahi? So you will stab me at some point?"
"Well, I was planning on stabbing you right now, but I realized that would be no fun! I'm just gonna have to train you first." Bel laughed.
"A-and how will you train me?" Haru questioned, hoping it wouldn't be too brutal.
"Well, first we're gonna work your stamina. In other words your 'running away' abilities." He laughed, clearly enjoying himself.
"My running away abilities?" Haru scoffed at his rude joke. "Seriously? Your gonna train me to be more useless than I already am?"
"Ushi shi shi," Belphegor sniggered, moving unnaturally close to Haru, to the point where she was backed up against her solid fence, which was two heads taller than Belphegor, so it must've been three tall for her. "You wanna die that badly?" He inquired, playfully swaying a shiny metal knife near her neck.
"He he..." she gulped, smiling sheepishly, hoping not to die. "No thank you."
"Then run around Namimori!" he yelled pointing towards a wooden door that was a part of the fence. Haru looked between the two hecticly, for some reason, slow to ctach up with his words. "Or be stabbed." And with that, she was out of the yard within a couple of seconds.
"Hai!"
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Haru had already ran a few kilometers, and was feeling tired. "Gosh, guess I'm in less shape than I thought I was." Suddenly, Haru heard the distant cries of a mewing kitten, and felt compelled it save it. She stopped her jog, and focused on trying to listen for the cat..if that was what it was. She followed her instincts for a few seconds, until she heard some kids shouting.
"Stupid cat! So annoying, just shut up!" the first kid insulted.
"Is that thing even a cat? It looks like some cat-fox hybrid to me!" another boy said, before the two started laughing together. "What's that mark on it's head? It looks so stupid!"
Haru was shocked to hear such crude insults from little children, and decided to run towards the sounds of the pained mews and laughter. When the three were finally in her line of vision, she ran even faster. "Stop right there!"
"Eh? What do you want?" a little boy with black hair spoke.
"Why are you hurting this little animal?" she asked exhasperatedly.
"Because it's so weird! I mean, so at it. It has blue markings on it for godsakes!" and with that the two children laughed again.
"It's not weird! It's unique. Right now, just like you think this cute little anime is weird," she said, gently picking the creature and cupping it in her arms, "it thinks that you are weird, because you are not like it. There is nothing and no one that is 'unnusual' in this world. Just because you haven't seen something like it before, doesn't make it right to bully it and it doesn't make it abnormal. Heck, if you really thought about it in that sense, then everything in this world in 'weird'!" Haru lectured. "I mean, look at it," she held the vulnerable creature in front of them. It was trembling in fear and looked as if it were about to cry, it's ears were pointing down with it's startlingly blue eyes looking at the two scaredly. It was humming helpless little mews. "Are you proud of hurting such an innocent thing?"
The kids looked at Haru and then back at the creature for a second. "Sorry," one said stubbornly, looking away from the two, regret slightly visible in his eyes, but the other was full on crying, and Haru panicked a little. Hopefully his parents wouldn't come to take their revenge on the girl who made their child cry.
"I'm sorry!" Haru's face warmed at his reaction, and she smiled at him, bending down to his level and patting his head.
"It's okay, you don't need to cry. Just promise me you won't hurt anymore animals, or people, and that you will be kind to all things, okay? Even the smallest aunt has a life and a family that will be sure to miss it! And, even if someone else finds their lives insignifant, try to make them understand the beauty of all lives, and their significance. Don't let anyone ever tell you that their lives don't matter!" the two nodded, and they all parted their ways.
Haru was set on bringing the cute little creature home to rest. While walking, she heard the little boy who had stubbornly said sorry speak. "Kaito, careful, you might step on that ant!"
"Oh, you two! There's one right there too. Careful To-kun!" the other boy sniffed.
Haru had an expression of pure bliss on her face. "Those two are so cute! I'm happy they actually listened. Usually they just step on my foot, call me old and leave me..." she thought, remembering the last time she had encountered a similar situation. She pet the beautiful creature in her hands.
"Hm...that symbol on your head it weird...Did someone maybe paint that on you? Look, even the ends of your tails are blue!" Haru giggled, until she snapped out of it and realized what she had just said. "Wait a second, you have two tails?" this creature was definitely not a cat. It looked like a hybrid between a cat and a fox. "Hm...maybe that's why you have two tails? Because your genetics were off?" Haru decided to ask Bel about it when she got home. Surely, living with a genius would be useful.
"Bel-chan!" Haru called, entering the backyard, but he was not there, so she decided to look inside of her house, yet again to no avail. "Did he seriously ditch me?" sighing, Haru made her way to the kitchen, taking out a milk carton and pouring some into a bowl, placing the cat-fox on the table with it. It sniffed around a bit, then licked the milk with it's small tongue. Haru almost died from the cuteness. She turned around, seeing if there was anything edible for the cat-fox in her fridge. While searching, the creature unexpectedly jumped into the fridge and pulled out a chocolate bar Haru had put into the fridge a while back. "Oh? Oh no, you can't eat that! You might get sick."
Haru tried to pull the chocolate away from the cat, who was unexpectedly strong. "Wow, you really are strong for a cat," she said, questioning exactly how weak she really was.
Instantly, the cat dropped the bar. "C-cat? Did you just call me a cat?" a cute little voice cried out. Haru immediately let go of the chocolate and with a 'kyaaaa' fell down to the floor, backing away as far as she could. "How dare you compare me to that insolent cat?" it demanded. Sure enough, at that voice hadn't been so cute, like a little boy talking, then Haru would've complied, but she just couldn't take him seriously with his cute exterior and voice.
"D-did you just talk?" Haru questioned.
"Crap! I was supposed to keep it a secret. Look at what you made me do!"
"W-wait! Why-how are you speaking?" she shouted.
"It's not like humans are the only ones that can learn Japanese. I can speak any language I want to!" the cat bragged.
"Wait...if your not a cat, what are you?"
"I am a Canis Lupus Familiaris."
"Sorry what?" Haru asked, honestly confused.
"A canine, you know? A dog? Woof woof?" he elaborated.
"Oh! Why didn't you just say so in the first place?"
"Forget that. More importantly, why are you acting so normal with this? I'm a talking dog from the Royal Family of Estrellas. You really should be weirded out by this."
"Four days ago, I would've been, but now noth- wait a minute. Did you just say the Royal Family? You mean the Royal Family of Estrellas?" Haru eyes widened.
"Mmhmm!" he agreed happily.
Haru looked around for something to protect herself with. "Oh no."
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Haru's cat thing looks like O-chan from 'Hiiro No Kakera'.
Oh, and remember Matisse from chapter 5? To me she kinda looks like Kirara from 'Inuyasha'!
Ai is portrayed by Mirai Suenaga. I don't think she's from a show.
Mai as a boy is played by Shiro from Seiyuu-Ka, and as a girl by Hinata Kusakabe from 'RPG Academy'.
Mysterious New Girl is portrayed by Setsuna Akatsuki from 'Kourin No Machi, Lavender No Shoujo'.
Anyway, R&R people! I'd like some consrtuctive criticism!
