Tak raced after me as I sped down mainstreet and took a sharp left onto the road that eventually led to Rema's house.
"Are you mad?" He yelled as he ran beside me, anger plastered upon his face. His snarl only made me want to get to Rema faster. "What the hell do you think you're doing? You're going to ruin everything!"
I ignored him for the most part, continuing my run to Rema's house. The only time I acknowledged his presence was on the few times he tried to make a move to stop me- and only then did I dodge his attacks and continue on my way. He stumbled behind me as I made a sudden stop, turning to face Rema's dimly lit house. My plan seemed to click together in his head as I stepped onto the demon's porch.
"Don't do this Ryo." He warned, anger flaring up and wrapping around him. "You still have a chance for forgiveness while there's food on that plate."
His comments fell on deaf ears as I knocked on the door. It was slid open by Rema's father, Yamumatsi, not a second later.
"Good evening sir." I said, politely bowing in the slightest. Too much so and it would look forced. His eyes widened as he recognized me. Yamumatsi bowed deeply from the waist, but I noticed that he caught Tak's form still in the street as he stood back up. As if he didn't notice Tak, however, his eyes went right back to me.
"What can I do for a member of the main house this night?" He asked, hand tightening around the door in the slightest.
"May I come in?" I asked, and he nodded, opening the door up further; he faced a chance of treason if he didn't. I stepped in at once, and the door was shut behind me. As soon as I walked in, I noticed many things in the illuminating torchlight. The first was the person closest to me: Yamumatsi.
I hadn't seen it earlier, but he seemed to have all the strength stolen away from him. Dark circles coated under his eyes, and his slightly tanned skin told me that he had spent many fruitless days hunting. The usual muscles I had spied in the market once or twice had all but died away, as if he had spent so long without food that his own body resorted to cannibalism. Though his shirt hid it, I was sure his stomach was nothing but a cave. The second was Dile, and the thing in her arms as she sat on the small couch that was placed in the center of the room. Dile herself had seemed to have stayed up far too many days caring for the baby, with holes under her eyes as dark as her iris' themselves. Her hair was stringy, as if she had missed her past three bathing sessions at the stream. A tattered and dirty yukata didn't hide much of her boney legs and small frame, and it even dared to emphasize the lack of stomach upon her. Rema stood over a stove, cooking in a small pot that gave of no scent, and looked like it would serve two people at best. Though her back was originally to me, she turned to face me when she felt my eyes upon her. I couldn't help but pity them all when I saw her face- so hollowed and starvation stricken, just like the rest of her family. Her eyes held something between uncertainty and hesitance as she glanced to the now cold plate in my hands and back up to my face.
In fact, the plate in my hand seemed to be grabbing more attention than myself, as only one pair of eyes never even glanced at it: the thing in Dile's arms.
Its eyes were trained upon me from the moment I showed up inside the door. A pair of dull and musty, yet still attentive, dark purple eyes held onto mine. They were slanted back onto his curved head, and the skin around them seemed to almost cover them up as it stretched across his dipping forehead and longer skull. An extended jaw and outward curving set of teeth made him look something like his father, but on a more minor scale. It seemed merely abnormal, more like a birth defect rather than an actual trait. His lips were the same color as his tanned skin, and they sat relaxed and natural over his mouth, unlike the rest of his stretched face. Even his nose seemed to have pulled skin as it pointed slightly upward, a trait I noticed Rema had on that week that wasn't so long ago. Small hands had tiny claws on each of his fingers, and his abnormally curved feet each tipped a toe with a pointed and curved talon as well.
The one thing that set him apart from his family, however, was not his deformed features. No, it was the full belly that protruded from him proudly. Baby fat, no doubt, but it was still something to be envious over in these times.
As me and the child studied each other, Rema went back to cooking her small meal, eventually pouring it into two different cups, filling them both halfway up. Taking the steaming liquid, she carefully maneuvered herself over to the demons sitting upon the couch, and handed her mother both cups. Dile nodded with a small smile to her daughter, who took a seat beside her, and gratefully swallowed one of the cups down. When she was done with her cup, she handed it back to Rema, who ferried it to the sink while she attempted to get the squirming baby in her arms do drink down the liquid food.
"Excuse me, Ryo-sama, but ya have yet to tell us of what your business is here." Rema spoke with her back to me as she began to wash the cup.
"Business?" I asked, hand tightening around the plate. I watched her as she moved throughout the kitchen, quickly grabbing a towel and beginning to dry out the cup. She completely avoided my eyes the entire time.
"Rema is right, you never answered my question." Yamumatsi nodded, taking another glance at the plate. I sighed, moving around their house to the back of the room, where a low table had been stood. Once there, I placed the plate on the table.
"I apologize for coming by so late, but I wanted to deliver this. Being in the main house limits ya somewhat as to what's going on around ya, outside the walls; and I hadn't become aware of your situation until today, and for that, I apologize again." I stood up straight, turning to face the head of the household, Yamumatsi. "This meal is for your family. It isn't much, but it's all I've got."
His eyes widened so much that I would think that they'd pop out of his head. I could see it in their eyes- the gratefulness, the happiness, and the craving. But all of that Yamumatsi pushed away, shaking his head, and I could feel myself frowning.
"As grateful as I am to the bloodline for taking care of Rema, who will one day carry on the bloodline, I feel that I must reject your gift-"
"You will not." My command was something not to be trifled with. Albeit I was just a woman, and I was younger than even Rema, I was still the strongest in the room. He had no right whatsoever to deny my meal.
Yamumatsi seemed to get this, but he didn't respond yet. I wasn't finished.
"That meal is not just for Rema, although if you wish to give it all to her- so be it. It is not from the bloodline as some sort of homage or offering as to help keep her alive, it's from me, from a person to a person."
My last statement caught them offguard. They weren't used to hearing someone of the bloodline say such a thing. We were often considered better than everybody, on a higher plane. With how strongly power flowed through each and every person's veins, it was no surprise that we were treated with such reverence.
At times like this, however, that treatment was nothing but a barrier- something that kept me from my people. Something that separated us, and made them different from me, when in truth, they really were no different from anybody on the bloodline.
"Ryo-sama…" Rema whimpered, eyes watering as she stared at me, I looked to her. I could feel my body instinctively tense under her gaze. "Thank you…"
I shook my head, attempting to push myself past that uneasiness. "Just eat, Rema. That's all I ask. Just eat."
Her lips drew into a thin line as she nodded. Quickly she brought a hand up, and wiped her eyes on her sleeve. Yamumatsi looked away in shame. He knew he shouldn't have put up a fight in the first place.
A howling scream broke the tense air as the baby began to cry. Dile tried to shush him by rocking him, bouncing him, making calming noises. No matter what was done, however, he continued to cry. I motioned to Rema and Yamumatsi to take the food, and Rema nodded as she went and sat down at the table. Yamumatsi sighed, shaking his head at his adoptive son's antics as he followed his daughters lead.
"Are ya sure it's alright?" He asked in a low voice as he passed me, head bowed.
"If it wasn't, I wouldn't be here." I responded, and my eyes went back to the wailing child. Dile, noticing that my full attention was now upon her infant, tried even harder to quiet him. She was obviously scared of me for some reason or another. Perhaps she thought I would take the food away if he wasn't quieted. For whatever the reason, she had a fear in her eyes as she looked between myself and the baby, a fear that made her look both pathetic and weak all at once.
I turned on my heel, preparing to leave the house and the crying infant. Seeing me leave brought some measure of comfort to Dile, and she started using even softer tones with the baby. As I got to the door, I paused.
A weird aura was starting to come off the baby. I looked over my shoulder, seeing the same wailing infant from before. He tucked his clawed hands into his chest, and as he cried, his lips curled back to show green gums and deadly looking pointed teeth. His tongue, at least, was of a length normal to his jaw size. Just as my eyes met him, his wailing went up. He reached a grating pitch, making me wince and scowl. That was extremely annoying.
On top of that, his aura kept fluctuating. As if he were trying to control is, grab a hold of it, and draw it out. To compare it with other aura's around him, to be the dominant figure in the room.
To beat me.
My eyes narrowed. That wasn't going to happen. But to test that theory, I began to summon my aura. His spiked before immediately fading.
Bingo.
"What's his name?" I asked Dile, moving back inside the room to stand in front of her on the couch. She tucked the creature closer to her bodice in some attempt to protect it as I leaned down to put my face by his.
"Garudu." Came her short, tucked response. Something told me that the only reason she answered was because she had to.
"Garudu? He's quite the attention hog." My comment made her stiffen, and she dared not pull away as I lifted a hand and ran my finger down his cheek. His wails worsened. "I killed your Pops ya know."
Silence instilled the house.
Large, dark purple eyes looked to me with interest. A hesitant, innocent interest, but one that screamed intelligence.
I smirked, chuckling to myself.
He'd be strong. He'd be very, very strong in the future. He didn't even need a push in the right direction. I could feel the ambition rolling off of him. This was one demon the world would remember. Dile gulped, and the two at the table stared upon me and Garudu's interaction.
"Since it's obvious ya understand me, I expect ya to listen to me too, got it?" He just blinked, but I took that as a yes. "Stop giving ya Mom a hard time. She chose to give birth to ya, to give ya life, so be grateful ya brat. And be happy Yamumatsi puts up with your shit, because I know no other man who would be so patient with a punk ass who isn't even his child. You're smart, I'll give ya that. You'll be a hell of a commander one day, but until that day comes, keep smart. Be strong. Prove you're tough by protecting Rema over there, and I'll consider fighting ya one day."
His eyes flashed, gleaming as something along the lines of murderous desire began to roll off of him. A small grin formed as his lips pulled back over his sharpened teeth.
"We got a deal, little General Garudu?" I asked, lifting a finger and placing it on his nose. Instead of swatting it away, he grabbed onto my finger, digging his claws into my skin deep enough to draw blood. When the first plop landed on his lips, he licked it away, and I drew back my finger.
"Then I'll be seeing ya, Rema. Enjoy the meal, everyone." I said as I stood up straight and headed to the door.
The silence stayed in the house long after I shut the door behind me.
And we're back on schedule :D Woohoo for plot developement!
Thanks for sticking around after my laptop crashed everybody, I really do super-duper-appreciate it :] Especially my stupendous reviewers: Torin, OhhTaylorJade, Jasmin Liertha, ilikethatsmile, NA and Kage Hakari :D I'm sorry I didn't recognize your awesomeness in the last chapter (wait... did I?) but I really do want to thank you guys from the bottom of my heart :] You guys make it all worth it!
Also, WOOT! 100,000+ WORDS! HECK YEAH! :D Longest story I have ever stuck with! And Im so glad I have! ...Now that I think about it, this story has been through a lot, huh? My minor depression, a computer crash, and far too many late chapters for my liking :p Wow. And it'll only continue to grow. Oh, and something that you guys my have debated feelings over: Ryo's Arc is halfway over. And from there, onto the Dark Tournament! :D
I'll see you all next week then :D Please REVIEW!