(Attack of the demons)

The walk that she wanted to take in absolute peace was disrupted. Now not only were a flock of the birds of paradise preying on her, her sword was knocked out by one of the demons and it lay a couple of feet away from her hand.

She struggled to move, but nothing worked; her back was pinned to the ground by one of the bird demons and its beak was going for her head when suddenly out of nowhere, she heard a yell.

"Duck, you stupid bitch!"

It was Hiten. Manten was followed by his presence as the younger thunder brother destroyed a pair of the bird demons that hovered above them viciously.

Hiten flew over to the small one that had her trapped between the ground and its claw, and struck it in half with the Raigekijin. Chunks of burnt flesh and bones scattered all over the ground as blood spewed from its decapitated head.

"Why did you go so far away from the house, you stupid girl?!" Hiten growled. "You could have been killed by these bloody demons!"

"I'm sorry." Sakura panickingly said as she reached out for her sword that had been knocked out of her hand. As she struggled to stand and to catch her breath, Hiten could see a gash across her back that was beginning to bleed. Gritting his teeth, he flew up into the skies with the aid of his fire wheels with Manten on his cloud by his side.

And so viciously, they ripped the demons apart limb from limb as Sakura watched on. It was painful for her, and the demon had merely stepped on her. She didn't want to think about what would happen to either of the thunder brothers if they were critically hit by them.

After what seemed like forever, Sakura let out her breath she was holding and sighed out of relief. For her, they were demons that she couldn't even encounter...and yet for the thunder brothers, this only seemed to be a warm-up as it was what Manten's expression had told her.

"We've killed them all, Sakura." Manten assured her as the duo lowered themselves to the ground, their backs to the open space of the grounds. "You don't have to worry. Let's go and treat your wounds." The younger thunder brother said as they set foot on the ground before her as the rain pattered on the ground harder than ever. It was getting quite hard to see now.

"Thank you, guys." Sakura said half out of gratitude that they came for her in the first place and the other half out of relief that no one got hurt...maybe except for her. However, her expression turned cold and hard as she gazed at what was coming behind Hiten's head.

It was one of the demon birds, but this one wasn't as huge as the ones that she had encountered. It was small, maybe the size of Manten's head. But who knew what kind of damage it could do? It could kill Hiten for all she knew.

"Get down!" Sakura yelled as she saw the bird demon fly at top speed towards the back of Hiten's head, its beak dripping with murder and blood. She tackled the older thunder demon to the ground as she could think of nothing else to do. The malicious beak of the bird demon cut Hiten's tanned cheek, but thankfully missed his head.

Instead, the beak drove itself past Sakura's right side, ripping through not only her clothes; but her fair skin as well.

'It's okay...' Sakura thought to herself as she saw a flash of lightening from Manten's mouth go out to the bird demon. 'Hiten's okay...he didn't die...he's safe...'

Everything around her went pitch black as she fell; not on the wet ground, but in Hiten's strong arms. But it was too late for her to know that as she passed out first.

The sun slowly started to set, and the dark silhouettes of the objects in the room started to appear. The bloodstained top that he had on was crumpled and thrown carelessly into the corner of his room, but that wasn't what Hiten was concerned about.

This girl...

She knew that he detested her...

But why did she save him?

If it wasn't for her, then he probably have found himself unconscious or even worse, killed by such an insignificant creature. He probably would have been able to take a blow. After all, he was a full demon who could take a cut here or a bruise there as if it was nothing.

But Sakura...

She was a human attacked by a demon. Now not only were her feet and hand hurt, but her back and side as well. It had been quite a while after he had peeled off her bloody top and had applied ointment that he regularly used after a brutal battle. He hoped it would work as quickly on her as it did to him.

"You stupid girl..." Hiten muttered to himself, rubbing on his faint wound on his cheek that had almost healed itself. "You stupid...why'd you do that?"

Hiten felt the bridge of his nose tingle with a sad sensation as he refrained his whole life of killing and almost getting killed. No one cared for him except Manten after the death of his father and mother, which was a long time ago.

Of course, he had been looked down upon many who insulted him; but he knew their fates were coming closer to them in a horrid, twisted form of death. The end of life. All demons and humans weaker or stronger than he was who faced death in front of him and his lightening blade had asked for mercy. No one got away alive to tell the tale of his lack of sympathy.

He had seeked for guidance in his Raigekijin, pleasure in various geishas and prostitutes, happiness in mass murders, and pride in himself.

Never had he seeked for caring, love, or affection...not to mention pity. No one pitied him. No one cared, loved of showed affection towards him. Why should they?

He was a powerful demon who killed innocent victims without remorse, without after-guilt. He had taken the lives of tens of thousands, maybe more; and from what Manten had told her, Sakura probably knew.

So why did she risk her own life for him?

Why did she risk her life to save a demon with a heart of ice?

An ice-hearted demon was what he was. An ice-hearted demon...

And this scarred, grungy girl was putting his life before hers, and her action resulted close to death.

"You stupid bitch..." he muttered sadly as he looked down at her face twisted with pain and tiredness. "You stupid, stupid bitch..."

Aww! He really cares! (squeals) Why am I getting so fussy over my own fanfiction? Ah, well. I still didn't make Hiten call her by her name yet, I want to save that for a really special occasion which is coming up.