Chapter 2

It had been a week since Darien, which was his name, and Serenity had started traveling together. And still no leads as to the demon they were hunting.

"You know I thought the less known about an assassin the better but we haven't gotten anywhere for a week!" Darien yelled getting agitated.

"Sssh! You imbecile! Just because we don't know who this demon is doesn't mean he or she doesn't know were looking for him or her! They could have spies telling them of our whereabouts!" Serenity scolded losing her patience with her employee.

Serenity was starting to regret letting him come along, only because of his promised payment. 'There isn't enough money in the world to have to be forced through this' she thought.

But alas until she killed this demon, and he saw the demon's last breath, se was stuck with him.

"And besides I let you come along because of your promised payment in advanced. And that is the only reason you're here. However I have yet to see a I yen piece, so you can pay up, or shut up!" Serenity added.

"Well I won't pay you until we know for certain where he is. I mean if I gave you the money now, what's to stop you from running off with the money and never completing the job" he said.

"True, but I always finish the job no matter what. I'm always looking for fight, which is why I got into this business. I figured I might as well get paid for doing this," she said.

"I still don't trust you. Most assassin's would say or do anything for money and I've only known you for a week so how am I supposed to know if you are, 'one of the most assassins', I was talking about!" he yelled finishing there argument.

It had been like this from day one, they bickered constantly and the winner was always unknown. This time Darien had one.

They had been walking down a path through the forest, when all of a sudden Serenity's keen nose smelled the blood of a demon nearby.

She stopped immediately, her demon self-taking over, as the idea of a bloody fight entered her mind.

Darien noticing that she had stopped asked, "Serenity what's wrong?"

"A demon's nearby" she answered looking around their surroundings to see where the smell was coming from.

"Really! Maybe it's the demon were searching for!" he said getting excited.

"Don't be so sure" she whispered.

All of a sudden Serenity heard a rustle in the bushes right next to them, then lunged in that direction claws reading to make a blow.

But suddenly she realized the demon she had smelled was only a pup, not yet fully grown.

"Put me down! Put me down! Put me down!" he yelled, as Serenity held his shirt with her right hand.

The kid was trying desperately to wiggle out of he grasp, but to no avail.

Serenity put him, down, but made sure he stayed put. The little boy was shivering in fear.

He was only about 3 ft tall, and looked around the ages between 5 and 6, but with a demon you can never be too sure, because our bodies age differently than humans. He had short, messy, dark brown hair, and bright green eyes. Unlike my ears that were pointy and on the sides, his were on his head and looked like coyote's ears.

He wore Green shirt like Darien's, but held together by a black cloth. He had on black pants, and no shoes, but again our bodies are different then humans we don't need to wear shoes we just do it to blend in sometimes.

By now Darien had come over, and asked, "Hey kid who are you?"

"My name is...is.is" he stuttered.

"Don't worry we won't hurt you" I said seeing how frightened he was.

Though he didn't stop shivering that much, the boy calmed down a bit and said, " My name is Kitsu".

"Alright, Kitsu, have you ever seen a demon with cat like yellow eyes, white hair, and a scar across his or her face?" she asked thinking of if that if this kid knew something she would be free of Darien in no time.

"No" he said, and her hopes vanished.

"But", added, "My dad might know, he's very well informed on all the different kinds of demons there a are, but."

"But what?" Darien asked hopefully.

"He got taken away by some demons, who needed his knowledge for their evil purposes. My family isn't much of fighters, we seek to find more information on as much as we can find" Kitsu said, while looking as if he was about to cry.

Serenity could tell, by what he meant when he said his family was looking for answers on how to turn into humans, but since Darien is a human he couldn't say that in front of him.

"Well who were the demons that took you're father?" Darien asked.

"They were three of them. Two were snake demons and the other was a hawk demon, he seemed to be the ring leader" the little fox demon said.

"Darien we can't get involved. I was hired by you to kill that demon, unless you or the kid is willing to pay me extra for this adventure, we keep moving" Serenity said coldly.

"But you heard the kid, his dad might know something about the demon were looking for, and plus don't you ever do any good deeds" he said.

"All right, All right, but only if they give us some food, and other supplies," Serenity said.

"Sure we'll give you anything if you can save us. I'll even become you're slave if you save my dad" Kitsu said desperately.

"I don't want a kid hanging around me, so we don't need to go that far. Now do you have anything of your fathers?" she asked.

"Ah.sure!" he said, while reaching into his pocket and pulling out a handkerchief.

Then he handed it over to Serenity, who sniffed it once, and then started sniffing around them trying to locate the scent in the air.

"What are you doing?" Darien asked.

Kitsu looked from Serenity to Darien and then said, "You're stupid!"

"What!" he yelled.

"Can't you see that she smelling around for his scent. Our senses are stronger than humans are. I swear you humans are so funny," Kitsu said.

"Wait a minute she's a human too. Aren't you" he said looking over at Serenity.

"She's not a human! She's a demon! You can't see she's a demon! I could do what she's doing, but I'm to young and wouldn't get an accurate smell".

Darien stood there stunned for a few minutes. Looking as if he was either gonna faint, or be sick.

"The kids right Darien you are an idiot. I didn't say anything when you didn't realize it, because of the look on your face now. It's priceless" Serenity laughed, for like the first times in her life.

"It's not funny! And had I known this I wouldn't have hired you. So after we help this kid out we'll talk. But now that I think about it a demon is probably better than a human assassin going up against a demon lord" he said sarcastically, but with a hint of disgust in his voice.

"Hold it a demon lord!" she yelled, "You never said anything about a demon lord!"

Kitsu was now hiding behind a rock, shivering from just hearing Demon lord.

"Oops! Guess I forgot to mention that!" he laughed nervously.

"I thought you said you only knew what he looked like! You didn't say we were going after a demon lord" Serenity hollered.

"Well that is all I know. I'm not sure which one though. Does this mean you won't kill him?" Darien whispered trying to get Serenity to calm down a bit, though it didn't appear to be working.

"No, I'll still finish the job! But before we find out where he is, we'll have to take a detour. I'm gonna need to become a little stronger" Serenity said.

"Hey! But what about my dad!" Kitsu spoke out all of a sudden.

"Don't worry I already found him, this may help my training anyway. Follow me" she then darted off through the trees.

"Hey wait for us!" the two left behind screamed and ran after her.

Serenity was slowed down thanks to Darien and Kitsu, because she had to make sure they saw where she went.

'This is why I don't associate with humans. First when they find out you're a demon they give you this disgusted look, and plus they're really slow. And the kid be faster, but I noticed he had a leg injury' she thought, while she stopped again for them to catch up.

They finally reached an old temple on a hill, and both Serenity and Kitsu could smell the demons. They're were thousands all under the command of the three.

Kitsu looked afraid, but Serenity was only thinking about those three demons and how powerful they must be to control these many demons.

"Darien you stay here. You'd get yourself killed real fast" Serenity whispered so the other demons wouldn't here them.

"Hey I already told you I can take care of myself, and besides how can I be so sure you won't join them, and come after me and Kitsu" he whispered, but it was as load as he could go without them hearing.

"In case you haven't noticed Kitsu's a demon too. He may be young, but he could probably kick you're ass. And also you're my paycheck why would I turn on you?" she said.

"But Kitsu's-" he started, but Serenity cut him off.

"A Demon".

Before he could argue, Serenity had run off to kill the demon's that surrounded the temple.

Instead of using her sword, Serenity made her claws grow to an even larger size, and then jumped high in the air, and assault on the demon temple began.

The fight was over within five minutes, and by the time Kitsu and Darien had arrived, all they saw were puddles of different colors of blood and scattered body parts everywhere.

Darien gave Serenity another disgusted look, and even Kitsu looked scared.

"Come on pup! Time to save you're daddy" she said.

Darien and Kitsu went in first, but were thrown back because of force field over the entrance.

Serenity however walked right through without any problems, and told them to, 'Stay right there. And this time listen to me'.

'These demons must be strong to put up a magnetic force field this strong' she thought as she walked down the hallways of the old temple, and let her nose guide her.

Eventually she came to a big door, and the trail stopped right behind it.

She was about to walk through it, but the door opened automatically, but Serenity still had an emotionless expression on her face.

Inside the room there was a fireplace, and four mats in the center. And on three of those mats sat the three demons. And then there was another demon tied up in the corner.

She slowly looked all around her, making sure she didn't miss anything.

"Well if it isn't the demon who was able to penetrate these walls. Hmm you must be powerful than" said the Hawk demon.

She was pretty sure it was the hawk demon because of his brown wings coming out of his back, and his beak. He had amber eyes, and long brown hair that went to his waist.

The demon to the right of him was a girl with scales on her body and bright yellow eyes. Her hair was also brown and tied into a ponytail that stopped about midway down her back.

And the demon to the left of the hawk demon also had scaly skin, but he had green eyes and hair.

"And I'm guessing that's the coyote boy's father over there" she said.

"Yes, and I presume you've come to rescue him for one reason or another. However before a battle I always like to have some tea, so please sit down and drink tea with us" the hawk demon paused before adding.

"By the way I'm Takanoi, and this" he said gesturing to the woman, "is Edra, and her brother Greki".

"They call me Serenity," I said, sitting down on the empty mat.

"That's funny you didn't seem very serene when you killed our men. You didn't even act graceful in the way you killed them. You just went on a rampaging kill without thinking of who you were killing," said Edra laughing.

"I must agree with my sister, which causes me to wonder how much you control the demon inside. It seemed you went into a state where killing was the only thing on you're mind," Greki said with an evil grin on his face.

"Yes it is true that I do seem to go into a state of mind where killing seems to be the only thing on my mind" she amended. "But".

"But, like I said, 'it seems'. I am in complete control of myself when in battle no matter how it looks, but what about you," she added.

All of a sudden her eyes became black, and a cold wind had entered the room. And then those winds all of a sudden forged together a small tornado.

The winds were so strong that it cut the ropes off Kitsu's father.

"Go now!" Serenity ordered, "Unless you want to die".

The elder coyote demon didn't need another word said before dashing out of there.

"Well than now that the casualties are out of the way. Why don't we find out the answer to my question? Shall we" Serenity, said turning her attention back to her newest victims. And of course flashing her ever famous, 'you're so dead smirk'.

Meanwhile, back to Kitsu and Darien.

"I wonder what's going on in there," Kitsu asked yawning.

When he received no reply he turned to look at Darien, who was currently sitting down arms crossed and deep in thought.

'How could I not of noticed this, I mean she's a demon! Her aura screams it, and I didn't noticed' Darien yelled at himself.

'I mean I hate demons, I wish they'd all shrivel up and die. But then again, I don't think I ever seen a demon like her before' he thought, closing his eyes.

'I mean she not like all the rest, who act all arrogant. She seems that she'd let things slip unless it was a battle. And then there's that look in her eyes that makes her seem that even though she's right her, she's o far away in her own little world'.

"Kitsu" a voice called merrily, and caused Darien to snap out of his trance.

"Papa! You're ok," cried a happy Kitsu.

Soon father and son were locked in an embrace.

"Kitsu was so worried, but I see that nice man and lady took care of you?" he laughed. "How can I ever repay you.

"It was no problem, however have you ever heard of a demon with yellow cat like eyes, scar across his face and white hair?" Darien asked.

"Yes, I think I have. But all I heard was that he was somewhere down in the south. But I heard that over a year ago" he answered.

"That's ok it's something at least-" he trailed, off as he watched Serenity come toward them.

"I see you made it out safely," she said with an actual joyous grin, like she'd won viscous demon of the year award.

"Yes. No how about we go back to our house. I want to thank you for helping us. By the way my name is Teki" he said offering his hand, to shake.

Darien took it and shook, "I'm Darien and this is Serenity".

They all went back to Kitsu's and his father's house, and after getting a big thank you dinner, and the supplies they needed. They all sat around while Teki opened one of his maps of the southern region.

"Here you guys can take this. I thing it would be best to start in the Minami village. That's where the rumors started," Teki said, pointing out the village.

"Alright. Thank you for everything. We'd better get on our way" Darien said.

With a quick goodbye, Serenity and Endymion were on the road again.

"So Darien, have you accepted that I'm a demon? I'm mean you haven't said anything about it" Serenity asked.

"Well I guess I have. There are many kinds of demons good and bad. Kitsu and Teki showed me that. However I haven't decided what you are yet. And I think I want to find out" he answered.

Serenity gave him a small smile, before returning to her usual emotionless expression.

Darien glanced at her, and for a second he thought he saw a tear fall down her check, but the wind blew at that moment and her hair blew in the breeze and covered her check.

But the wind only gave her a more mysterious look, and then he smiled thinking, 'I think I already have my answer'.

Hello loyal fans. Did you like the chapter? I had fun writing it. It was nine pages long by the time I finished it. Anyway R&R. And what do you think should happen next? I may get a blast of inspiration from you're reviews. BYE (oh aren't I evil for leaving out the gorey battle. I just wanted to keep you guys reading before finding out what Serena can really do)