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Chapter 24
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Miyuki, Mika, and Aliza were still in Hinode for one more day and had decided to explore a little. One interesting spot was a cute little ice cream parlour a few blocks from their hotel. Miyuki looked down at Aliza as she lapped up milk from a bowl.
"I wondered why no one brought up the fact that there was a strange creature wandering the streets...You look just like a cat don't you?" she sat her chin in her palm and raised an eyebrow.
"I'm no feline, M'Lady. You know this. I'm an imp," Aliza scoffed, igniting a spark on the end of her slick tail. Miyuki couldn't help but laugh at their snappy remark while Mika rolled her eyes and smirked.
"Speaking of strange...I'm going to run to that food stand. Whatever meat they're cooking smells delicious," the demon half-breed gave in to her cravings as she looked around at the various food vendors around the area. It was the village's best attempt at a food festival since they could only rope in a few cooks.
"Get me one, too!" Mika called after her, hoping that her travelling companion had heard her shout since she didn't want to get it herself. A brief moment of silence passed by and the brunette let out a somewhat confused grumble. Aliza cocked their head to the side slightly.
"What's troubling you?" they asked in a polite tone that contradicted her feral visage. Mika rested her jaw on her fist and thoughtfully stared at nothing.
"What happens when we find her mom? If she's even alive, I mean…" the brunette inquired while absent-mindedly picking at the skin around her chipped nails.
"Something good can surely come out of this. M'lady's able to find the light at the end of the tunnel, no matter how hard the road ahead may be," Aliza's fanged smile grew, covering up a large portion of their face. Mika smirked at that. This small demon was bizarre...but oddly comforting to be around.
While she gazed around at the passersby, waiting on Miyuki's return, her emerald eyes caught on to something strange. There was a brief flash of pink, followed by a pale-blonde coloured blur then brown. Lifting her eyebrow inquisitively, she searched for the colours again, only to find two of Miyuki's old classmates and the kid-teacher staring back.
"Hey, demon," she kicked Aliza to get their attention. The imp hissed at her in retaliation but then stopped when they followed her line of sight.
"It's only been a few days. How did they—" "We need to go. Where's Yuki?" Mika quickly rose from her seat and frantically searched around. Despite her best attempts, she could not find the demoness anywhere.
"She was just here…" she gasped, almost breathlessly. Aliza took a quick lap from her bowl of milk before turning tail and getting ready to run. Yukio and the other exwires were already closing in.
"There's no time! Run and I'll look for M'Lady," Aliza growled, whipping her tail around until the crackling sparks ignited into a small flame at its slicked back end. The two took off in separate directions, not daring to look back in case someone were to give chase.
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Miyuki stood in line for what she found to be some sort of cooked pork that had been shaped then put on a stick. Once she had obtained the strange food truck item, she happily paid and smiled like a kid who had been given candy. As soon as she walked away from the truck, she sunk her sharp canine teeth into the pig meat and tore it apart rather viciously.
"Oh, crap," she suddenly froze, jaw hanging open ever so slightly, "Mika wanted one, didn't she?" With an exasperated sigh, the Yuki-Onna ran a hand through her straight, shoulder-length noir hair. While doing so, she felt a hand roughly grab her from behind and pulled her into an alley. Her eyes went wide when another hand came up and covered her mouth.
"Don't scream."
Her heart stopped beating for a moment, the blood in her veins turned cold, and her lungs quit functioning properly.
That voice…She recognized that voice. It had scorched its way into her memory like a searing iron to flesh. Reluctantly, she nodded and acknowledged his demand.
"You shouldn't be here," she whispered snappily while keeping her face turned away from the boy that has been plaguing her mind.
"What made you think that you could run away and I wouldn't come looking for you? In what crazy world would that be okay?!" he hissed in response. Miyuki folded her arms across her chest and closed her eyes, wishing she were anywhere but in front of him.
"Look at me, Miyuki."
Her breath hitched. "...You need to leave."
"Look at me, damn it!"
She flinched partially when his voice rose. There was no way out, now. After letting out a low growl to signal she was not happy, she gradually turned to face her fellow halfbreed.
Rin looked a bit dishevelled at first glance. His hair was a mess, his eyes were a clear indication of his lack of sleep, and it was obvious he had hurriedly thrown on whatever clothes he could find before rushing out of his dorm.
"What do you want, Rin?" Miyuki asked since why are you here seemed like a stupid question. She knew he would follow but wouldn't let him stop her.
"I want to help you find your mother," he answered more earnestly than she expected. Once again she froze up. Her jaw snapped shut and her expression hardened when his words began to sink in.
"You can do that by staying out of my way. I don't have time for this," she spat nastily while Rin scanned her face or any emotion other than annoyance. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, head bowing down in defeat when he had given up. He wasn't going to fight her.
"I miss you, you know?" he pulled her into a tight hug that went unreturned. Miyuki was trying so hard not to feel anything but he was making it so goddamn difficult. Rin's heart dropped when he saw the disinterested look on her face and he tried to convince himself she was putting up a front.
"You can't stand there and pretend that everything we had was a lie," he hissed while keeping his voice down. His right hand came up to cup her cheek but was stopped in its tracks by Miyuki promptly snatching his wrist.
"Whatever's going on between us can't happen. I'm sorry but that's just the truth," she tightened her grasp on his arm, unconsciously digging her nails into his skin. Rin winced but she showed no indifference. "I don't want to spend another minute trying to fit into a world where I don't belong. You, however, fit the bill perfectly."
Rin was quiet for a long while. He slowly pulled his hand away from hers and wondered if he really had just dreamt up their entire relationship. Did she ever even care for him at all? He believed so. This whole show what just that. She was being stubborn simply because she couldn't afford to be anything else.
A lightbulb seemed to go off in Rin's mind as he looked into Miyuki's eyes. She furrowed her brows but was prevented from speaking by the second pair of lips that came up to silence her. This moment was less fiery than that they shared on the rooftop, but it had that slowness to it which told Miyuki Rin had seen through her performance.
"Don't speak, just listen," he muttered while they parted, gasping for air after not taking a breath for so long. He put his hand on the back of her head, pushing their foreheads together while they sat there and took in air. "I'll give you a two-hour head start. You can run or hide but when time's up, I'm going to find you and bring you home. Got it?"
Miyuki nodded slowly. Her heart felt as if it was about to shatter into a thousand pieces and fall into her stomach. No words could describe how horrible she felt but still, she had no regrets. Defeating Satan was Rin's destiny and saving the Yuki-Onna race was hers.
"The temple," she sighed and ran a hand through her messy hair, "We're going to the temple. We will fight our way out if we have to." Rin nodded, a small smile of pride creeping onto his face.
"Good luck," he muttered with an undertone of sadness. When he stepped aside to let her pass, he expected her to run out of the alley and leave him once again. However, when he felt her cold hands grab his warm ones and squeeze tightly, he couldn't help but drop his jaw.
"I don't know how you always see through me," she shook her head. Rin grinned stupidly and pointed to her form as it began to change.
"Well, it's pretty easy to do when you're made of mist," he quipped, earning a short snort of laughter from Miyuki that graced his ears. The demon prince let that sound resonate in his mind long after she had disappeared from his field of view.
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Mika had been so worried about Miyuki. So, it made sense that when the familiar sight of ashen skin and coal-black hair appeared in her motel room, she practically tackled the teen.
"Where the hell were you?!" she shouted, holding Miyuki at arm's length before bringing her in and wrapping her in a tight hug.
"I'm sorry, I got distracted…" her eyes dodged the confused looks her comrades gave her. With a sigh, she began throwing things into a bag. "We need to leave soon. The exorcists are here and I have a feeling we're not exactly in good graces."
"Nevermind that," Mika huffed, releasing Miyuki and looking her up and down for any signs of harm, "I just want to know you're okay." Miyuki sighed and forced a smile as she held her hand up. A small flurry of ice and snow twisted around in her palm before bursting into a cloud of frost. Her eyebrow raised in an "I told you so" sort of way.
"See?"
Mika rolled her eyes at the display. She allowed Miyuki to walk away and continue packing what she could: snacks, clothes, bottles of water, bandages (all stolen, of course.) "Let's at least think of a plan before we go charging off into some demon prison." Miyuki stopped in her tracks and realized that her emerald-eyes friend was right. Aliza, map in hand—or rather, mouth—jumped onto the bed.
"Here," she tapped a marked location, "is the only place I can think that she would be held. I don't know exactly how she is being guarded so we'd be going in blind. Cautious but blind."
Miyuki furrowed her brows in thought, "How do you know she's there?"
"We don't," answered Mika. "We're on a wild goose chase but this is the only lead we have." She sighed while fastening Kusanagi to a black saya (scabbard) on her hip. Miyuki glanced down at the map again.
"An old temple?" She turned towards Aliza with a doubtful expression.
"It was ordered to be closed by the new Paladin for holding demons prisoner instead of cleansing them. It's the only place that would be qualified to hold your mother," the imp explained swiftly.
"We leave now," Miyuki announced with narrowed eyes that glared at the spot on the map. She swore that she felt her necklace pulse when she looked at the temple.
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On the other side of the small village, Yukio looked up at the hand-painted sign above a nicely decorated building. He huffed and adjusted his glasses then led the group of teens inside "Z's".
"Where are we?" Shiemi asked, a puzzled expression on her innocent face. Shima grinned and nearly began to salivate as he looked around.
"The greatest place ever!" he cheered, drawing the attention of the two women at the front desk.
"Hey, welcome to Z's, do you have—" the younger one froze mid-sentence and looked the group of teenagers up and down. Her chocolate eyes stopped on the True Cross insignia that Yukio dawned on his coat. With a turn of her head and a roll of her eyes, she scoffed. "Great. Those idiotic humans are sending kids, now?"
"Don't be rude, Marnie. You're technically their age," the older lady chastised calmly. She leaned against the counter and smiled. "What brings you all to my business? I've seen many faces but yours don't look like ones who would be interested in my line of work."
"Uh, Teach? Who is this?" Suguro gave Yukio a confused look. The brunette stared at the woman for a little while longer before responding.
"This is Zanevni. Queen of the Succubi and owner of this brothel."
"S-Succubi?!"
"Brothel?"
The many shocked and bewildered exclamations made by the students were quieted by a single chuckle from Zanevni.
"The True Cross and I have a mutual agreement made about my work. I'm not a danger so they have no justification in taking me or my girls," the well-endowed woman crossed her arms over her chest and smirked.
"They're probably here for the girl, Miss Z," Marnie pointed out as she scrolled through shopping websites. Zanevni's eyes flicked from Yukio to his brother almost instinctively. She licked her lips in a way that could only be described as hungrily.
"Well, you'd have to be more specific, darling. Is it the spunky human with the heart of a warrior? Or...maybe they're targeting that troublemaker of an imp?" She took two steps towards Rin with her long legs, placing her right in front of him. She tilted her head ever so slightly and studied his face for a moment. When she found what she was looking for in his determined demeanour, she giggled.
"No, I think not. You're here for the Yuki-Onna…"
"She was here?" Rin's eyes shot wide open. Shiemi grabbed his arm to keep him from doing anything harsh. Zanevni raised an eyebrow at that.
"Why would she come to a place like this?" Kamiki scrunched up her nose distastefully. Marnie clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth, finally looking away from her screen. She sent a judgemental look up and through her glasses towards the girl.
"And why would you want to look anything like that?" she hissed. A volt of electricity nearly sparked up between the two as they glared menacingly at one another.
"Hold on a second," Suguro interrupted, "how did you even know that we were looking for her?"
Zanevni's ever-present smile seemed to grow, "We Succubi feed off the love harvested from humans who come into our shop. As long as we disclose our demonic origins to our customers and don't cause any harm, we can stay. That is our agreement with the exorcists." She turned back towards Rin and once again stared deep into his eyes. "In all my years of living in the human world, I have become quite good at learning who wants what in which way and how."
"What does that mean?" the demon prince asked with a gob-smacked look.
"She can read your heart, fool," Marnie scoffed before turning back to her computer. Rin snapped his head in her direction, astounded by the idea of being able to look into one's soul like that.
"Really?! That's awesome!" he gasped.
"Thank you, My Prince," Zanevni bowed her head for a second. Rin was about to ask her how she knew who he was but she interjected. "It's easy to tell when someone is demon royalty, just like it is easy to tell when someone's heart is yearning for another."
"It's hard not to with the mark she left on him," Shima whispered to Konekomaru and Suguro, earning himself both a laugh and an elbow to the ribs. Rin's face flushed as Zanevni's expression became one of intrigue.
"Marked by a Yuki-Onna? You really are something else, then," she reached out and pulled Rin's collar down an inch to see the mark on his skin. The skin that was once purple and bruised a well smooth, and freezing cold to the touch.
"Does it hurt?" Shiemi asked worriedly. Rin had no time to answer as the Succubus Queen did so for him.
"Markings do not cause pain as long as there are no inconveniences." She covered up the mark then patted the boy on the shoulder.
"What do you mean by inconveniences?" Konekomaru's fearfully shaky voice asked.
"She means death…" Suguro spoke up, causing the room to go quiet. Everyone turned to him then to Rin as his eyes widened a fraction and his hand rubbed the mark on his skin. For a minute, his mind ran through all the moments he had seen her hurt.
He recalled his brother telling him of the night he lost control of his powers in the forest. He briefly mentioned that Miyuki had been badly injured by the then unfamiliar swordswoman but never explained what really happened. He wondered how he'd react if he lost Miyuki but quickly pushed the thought to the back of his mind.
"That's not something we have to worry about," the azure-eyed boy growled promptly. The room stayed quiet so he took the opportunity to ask Zanevni questions. "Did she say where she's going?"
The Succubi hummed in thought before answering back, "She should be going to the old temple a few miles from here. There's a spring inside known as Suijin's Prison. There you'll find what you're looking for."
"Thank you," Rin grabbed her hands and squeezed them lightly. The Succubus smiled and nodded as he glanced at a clock up on the wall then booked it out of the brothel. The remaining members of the Cram class called out to him before following him out of the brothel. Marnie sighed as she watched them go.
"How many of them do you think will die?" she rested her chin on her palm and pouted slightly.
"I have a feeling that we aren't done with them, Marnie..."
