He had been corrupted.

There was no other explanation for it.

Somehow, at some point he had been unaware of he had been corrupted by her.

That was the thought in his semi conscious mind as he floated in the revival tank, healing from what should have been life ending injuries. That his life would have ended last made him the clear victor but that point was not what occupied his mind.

That said point was not foremost in his thoughts only added to the certainty of corruption.

Why should he care?

Why else would he be finding himself feeling of all things compassion for the reality that was Muruko?

He should if nothing else be noticing the weaknesses in her. He should be keeping careful note of anything that would give him an advantage though clearly he had one just in being who he was it seemed. He should be uninterested in the things being revealed to him through the Jagan to the point of annoyance.

Instead because of that corruption he was paying more attention to the outpouring from Muruko then he would have before. He could easily agree that they had much in common. The constant struggle for survival. The drive to be stronger. The past that had so enveloped them that it became their present and future as well. Hate that caused all else to dim in comparison.

For someone of obvious psychic abilities the demon that stood before him was remarkably without true insight into herself or into him for that matter. Her interest in him bordered on obsessive though he could tell she had no real idea why it was she was so drawn. She imagined they shared so much in common that it superseded any other consideration.

The basic fact was she only knew him through the touch of the stone and from study. Quick perusal of his surface thoughts would give her no real information and in that she had been lax. The addition of the Jagan had taught him the necessity of hidden depths and therefore his surface thoughts even semi conscious were of only the things he allowed to be there.

Muruko spoke of reading his heart and soul which he found laughable. If she had been able to, if she had been truly interested to search him she would have found much more then what she claimed to know.

Muruko was incorrect in assuming that stone was the only thing that had made him feel calm and at ease. There was something else, someone else who had always created much the same affect in him since the first moment they had had been drawn together.

Nor was he searching for death. He had been told very pointedly not to die and the agony he had witnessed when those words had been spoken still echoed in him. His own mortality was a fleeting thing to be considered. He never entered a fight without the knowledge his death might be the final outcome. Might was never a term he found as something to concern himself with.

He did not search for a sense of belonging which was the genuine thing her soul so cried out for. He was unsure when that had become a part of his reality but it was the truth.

All it brought to mind was an event that he had experienced with Shizuru, one of the rare times her abilities had been brought to bare infront of him.

They had been spending time in that artificial nature area outside of her building when she had frowned, stood and headed towards the back portion of it where a young human had just seated himself on one of the benches.

He had not interrupted, curiously watching as she stepped up to the human.

"You shouldn't be here you know." she said to the young man who glared up at her.

"Who the hell are you? The garden police?" he snapped at her.

"There's someplace you know you should be," she had went on taking a drag of her cigarette in every way seeming unconcerned with the youth's anger, "Someplace you belong and it isn't here."

"I don't belong anywhere."

Shizuru chuckled, "Everyone belongs somewhere kid, they belong to someone at least. Whoever it is that cares about you that's where you belong. Now get the hell out of here before I knock you into next week."

The youth had fled soon after. Knowing Shizuru it had been because of the look in her eyes that had chased him from the area.

She returned to sit beside him, her eyes a little distant.

"Why do you bother?" he asked.

She cast a derisive glance at him, "Same reason I do anything. He just needed a kick in the pants."

"You believe that nonsense you said to him?"

"Of course I do," she replied shifting so that she was closer to him, "I'm a firm believer that when someone cares about you that you sort of belong to them. Not crazy, psycho belonging. I mean the kind that everyone needs to feel to be happy. That way no matter what you think or what happens in your life you always belong somehow."

"You find comfort in that?"

"Yeah...and so do you."

He had been faintly entertained by the entire scene, by her surety of his reaction to her words.

It was not until he was locked in that semi conscious state a world away from her that he understood he had taken her words to heart.

More so then he could have imagined considering that as he listened to Muruko that pity he felt was fueled by knowing without a doubt he at least belonged to one person.

To make matters even more wretched, to make the reality of that damning corruption more bothersome as it dug into him he also felt a perturbing want to ease that pain in Muruko.

I knew nothing good could come from associating with humans.