The glistening silver snow sprinkled down from the heavens onto the cold and desolate grounds below it. The tiny snowflakes lightly sprinkled midnight black hair on a young pale woman. She pulled her parka tighter around her slim form as she marched on through the snow. Her free hand made its way up to her neck until it found its destination. Grasped tightly in her small fingers was a small deep blue colored stone.
As the wind howled ever so much more, the young woman turned her head looking all around her. As if someone was following her, she quickened her pace. The snow, now up to her knees continued to rise up.
Finally, the freezing snow became too much for her as she fell to her hands and knees. She sat there for a moment, before she let out a desperate cry. The cry was both out of misery and for help. Tears of sadness streamed down her face like a river.
A loud crash from deep in the heart of the forest caused her to jump to her feet. Fear was plainly seen on her face as she backed up into a tree. The crashes became louder and louder until there was silence. A deep voice came out of the darkness. The voice said something as darkness consumed her.
Golden rays of warmth and kindness shinned down on the earth as a new day began. The deep snow, still somewhat cold began to slowly warm up and began to turn into slush. Sunlight made its way to a deep part of the forest, where a large group of creatures began to awaken. The group of demons yawned and stretched as they began to rise with the morning sun.
There were golden brown tents of every shape and size in the area. The demons normally sleep outdoors, but because of the extreme cold the previous nights they were forced to take shelters. The large number of tents covered a good amount of the area.
One young fox demon, who has been up for a few hours now, makes his way down from the tree branch he had been sitting on. As he gracefully landed on the ground with one small leap, he shook snow out of his fiery red hair. His golden eyes seemed dazed as he walked over to a smaller female demon that began to start her morning chores.
"I'll be back later," he whispers in her ear as he races of into the forest. The female demon turned when she heard a voice behind her, but found no one there.
The young demon had been restless lately for a reason he could not understand. As he jumped from tree to tree he caught a whiff of a peculiar smell. He stopped on a tree branch to get a better sniff. It was a human, and from what he could tell a young women. She smelled heavily of blood.
Before he knew what he was doing he found himself standing in front of the young women. She lay against a large tree unconscious. Snow covered various parts of her long midnight black hair, her paled body, and her torn parka. Her long midnight black hair was fanned out around her. Her pale skin was bruised and cut in many places. Her face was thin, so she had not eaten in a good number of days. She wore a thin fur parka that was falling apart in many places.
The young demon studied her intently. Most demons would either eat a human this badly wounded or leave them where they lay. In the present world they lived in demons thought little of humans and despised them with a passion, while the humans feared and loathed demons. The two groups just didn't mix and when they did they were disowned by both races.
He kneeled a few feet in front of her, praying she would not wake. Not only would the cold snow killer her if she stayed this way much longer, but her wounds and the lack of food would too.
The young fox demon rose slowly and made his way from the area when something tugged at him. It was not a physical pull, but more of an inner feeling that could not be explained. Whatever it was, it was pulling him back to the woman. A part of him that he did not know existed told him to save the woman.
He hesitated for a moment before he made his way back over to her. Why was he giving this a second thought?
She looks absolutely delicious, his inner demon told him.
She is a human; he told himself and his inner demon.
Why not just eat her now, the demon asked.
Just shut up, he said shaking away any vial thoughts the demon might have put in his head.
When his head was cleared and he could think properly he reached out for the human ever so slowly, almost expecting her to awaken at any point and tell him to get lost. When she had made no movement still, he placed an arm underneath her head and one underneath her upper legs and slowly brought her to his chest.
As he held her in his lap, his nosed checked to make sure she was alive and was not the mate of another. For a male to touch another's mate would cause much trouble and chaos.
She is alive and has not been claimed by anyone, he thought with a sigh of relief.
As he rose gently, he shifted the human female, so he held her in his arms bridal style and made sure she was comfortable. When he was content with her placement in his arms he began to speed off, back into the forest to where his clan was. While he raced from tree to tree he would occasionally look at the sleeping beauty in his arm.
Why, he thought, am I saving this mere mortal? He had not been feeling like his normal self lately, but this was the most peculiar.
What, he thought, will happen when the clan finds out?
The young demon landed with grace at the clearing not long later with the unconscious woman still resting peacefully in his arms. The young female fox demon that he had talked to briefly before smiled when she looked up at him, but when she saw what he was carrying she did nothing to hid the look of disgust and shock that was now etched on her face. She hurried over to him as others began to crowd around.
"Who is she?" one said
"Is she your prey? If so do share some, for she looks positively delicious!" Another said with hunger written in his eyes. The young female fox demon pushed through the crowd until she stood in front of the others.
"Brother, what is the meaning of this?" she inquired. Many eyes stared at the fox demon intently, all waiting for an explanation and a good one at that. The fox demon inhaled before he began to speak.
"I was making my way through the woods when I caught this woman's scent. I found her lying in the forest as you see her now. I know not as to why I saved her, but what I know is she needs medical help quickly or she will not live much longer."
"Brother, why help a human? Are they not what we feast on and is it not they who slaughter our people by the hundreds everyday? You tell us to help you save a human whom we know nothing about. I ask you, why?"
"I have had a strange feeling lately that I cannot explain, but I feel this young woman has something to do with it. I want to find out a little about this human, before she dies. If any of you hurts or eats her you will have to answer to me." As he said this a murmur went among the crowd. A large dog demon stepped forward as the crowd hushed.
"If you wish us to help this human than we will, but know that if she does anything to betray us, nothing can stop us from hunting her down."
The young fox demon smiled as he carried the woman away from the crowd, to a group of tents. Once inside a fair sized tent he laid her down on a soft pile of blankets. He turned his head when he sensed another presence in the room. His sister stood at the door with a dazed look on her face. The fox demon turned his attention back to the human that lay before him. She was badly bleeding and would have to be shed of the clothes she wore in order to tend to her wounds.
"Get out of the way, so I can strip her of her filthy clothes," his sister said shoving him out of the way.
He smiled as he moved to the side in order to watch what would happen. The female demon gazed at the human for a moment with large curious golden brown eyes.
"Brother, I need you assistance for a moment, so please come over here. I need you to hold the maiden while I remove her bloody clothes," the demoness stated after much pondering.
Her brother kneeled next to his sister and waited for further instructions. Once they were given he carefully put his clawed hands underneath the woman's neck and lower back and placed her in his lap, so her back was to his chest.
His sister's delicate hands carefully removed the maiden's parka, 2 layered kimono, and undergarments. The only thing that remained was the young woman's deep blue colored necklace. Knowing humans and their lust for money and jewels, she decided to leave it, so when the woman awakened she would not lash out at them.
While removing the human's clothes she made sure to not scrap the woman's skin any more than it already was. The young woman had already lost too much blood, even a demon would faint for lack of blood.
"She has lost a great deal of blood and her wounds appear to be getting worse," the female demon said while reaching out for a bowl of water and towel that lay off to the side, "you will need to hold her for me while I clean and treat her wounds."
While his sister had been removing the maiden's clothing he could feel his inner demon inside growing restless. The woman was very beautiful even underneath all the dirt and blood that soaked her body. Had she been a demon and they met under different circumstances he would have wished to mate her.
Human girl is beautiful and make good mate, his inner demon thought.
The mating of humans and demons is forbidden in our clan, he told his inner demon.
"Though she may be a human, I do don't wish for you to get any perverted ideas and if you touch her in any way that you would not touch our mother than I promise I will make you suffer." The demoness threatened, sending a glare towards her brother. When he heard his sister speak he almost jumped out of his skin, but when he heard her threat he shivered. His sister may be younger than him by 3 years, but she could be dangerous when she wanted to be.
"You have this fox demon's promise," he replied seriously.
The demoness stared at him intently and unblinking for a moment, before she became satisfied with his reply and got back to work. She took the small cloth and dipped half of it into the cold water. After it had soaked for a moment, she brought it back out to squeeze out most of the excess water.
Gently she dabbed the wet cloth against the woman's face, but froze when the woman moaned slightly. The moan was quiet and when no more sounds came from her, the female demon began to wipe away dirt from her face.
I have to admit for a human, she is very beautiful, thought the other female.
She proceeded to gently wipe away the blood from the human's body, pondering all the while.
She was wearing a double-layered kimono when Katsu found her, which means she is of some form of royalty the sister thought.
"Katsu?" the female demon questioned.
While his sister had been working, Katsu's mind began to wander. What was a female human doing so far out in the forest on a night such as that? The snow had been pouring down on the earth relentlessly for the past few days, so no humans dared travel in such weather. Another thing that had him curious was what was a noble woman doing out there alone? When he looked up at the sound of her voice the demoness continued speaking.
"I'm sure you have noticed by now that this woman was wearing a double-layered kimono, which signalizes royalty in both the demon and human world. Her beauty matches that of a royal too. My question is why was she out in the forest so far by herself? Do the humans not guard their royals like mother's do their young?" she said proceeding the apply medicine to the wounds.
"I ponder over the same thing and have come up with nothing." The frustrated demon replied.
The two remained silent as the younger sister finished cleaning the human's wounds and put thick bandages on all of them. The wounds she possessed were very deep and still bleeding, so they would have to change them constantly. Bandages covered most of her body.
"That should do it for the time being. Her wounds are very bad, so someone is going have to change them quite often. As for the issue of clothing, for the time being she can borrow one of my spare kimonos." The younger demon said after much time. She placed a thick blanket over the human's body and turned to leave when she said.
"I will be back soon with some spare kimonos for her to wear, so in the mean time you may lay her down on the mat," she said before she left.
When they demoness left the tent, she came face to face with a large group of demons, all of whom had most likely been ease dropping on what ever was said inside the tent.
"Ease dropping? That is even low for a human to do, so scatter or you will have to deal with a very pissed off demon," the female fox demon warned, which caused the other demons to run for safety.
Much time later after the female fox demon had returned with the promised kimonos, the brother and sister carefully put one onto the sleeping maiden and laid her back down onto the mat.
While the woman remained in a deep slumber for about three days, Katsu never once left the tent she lay in. His sister made many trips in and out of the tent to get more bandages or tell their fellow clan members an up date on her current condition.
Companions of Katsu searched the area where the woman had been found, for other humans whom might have heard of the woman. When the humans they found did not run away in terror or try to kill them, the demons asked many questions and gave a description of her, but none had heard of the sleeping maiden.
The leaders of their clan discussed and argued over many questions and things related to the woman. Once she was healed, should they leave her or help her find her people? Though they may be demons they were not as rude and heartless as other demons. Somehow this one woman, who had been slumbering since they first met her, was able to cause so much chaos without even being awake.
The young woman began to moan as warm golden rays streamed into the tent, gently rousing her. She squinted a little before finally opening her icy blue eyes that held no expression as she gazed around at her surroundings. Pain shot through her body the moment she tried to move.
"You have very deep wounds covering your entire body, so I would relax for the time being if I were you. We spent a good amount of time cleaning and bandaging those wounds, so it would be a pity if all that work went to waste by you opening your wounds up," A voice said.
The maiden turned her head slightly to see a young fox demon sitting next to her. He had fiery red hair tied back into a small ponytail and his fluffy tail, which appeared to be a good few feet long was a light brown color. The demon's skin was slightly tan. Like many other demons he had pointed ears. The young woman looked up into his golden eyes and saw worry and concern.
The demon wore a kimono of a deep blue color and the inner layer of the kimono was white. It was very simple, but from what she could tell it was most likely very strong. The sleeves were bell shaped and hung much longer than his arms did. The bottom of his pants clutched to his ankle, reveling his bare feet.
"When I found you in the forest you were badly wounded and unconscious. I brought you back to where my clan has been staying for a few days now and tended to your wounds, with the help of my younger sister. You have been in a deep slumber for about three or four days now." He said gazing at her.
She turned away from him as she slowly began to rise, but with much trouble. Two strong arms grabbed her and helped her get into a sitting position. When the strong arms let go of her, she turned to face a pair of golden eyes again.
"Take it easy or you'll open up your wounds again. At first we had to change you bandages every hour, because the bleeding was so bad. If we had not found you, you would most likely be dead now," he said with concern in his voice.
The maiden looked down at herself to see that underneath the kimono she wore bandages consumed her body. Looking up slowly she replied to him with a voice so quiet only a demon would be able to hear her.
"Thank you for your kindness sir, but I have nothing to give to you in return," she said quietly. He looked at her in shock for a moment, before he let out a large laugh.
"We demons care not for humanly possession like the rest of your kind does. I saved you, because I wanted to. When I saw you in the forest there was something to you that intrigued me," the demon said smiling at her.
Who is this demon, she thought, he saved me and yet he wants nothing in return.
She sat trying to figure the demon out when he spoke again.
"Now if you wouldn't mind I have a few questions for you, like who are you and what happened to you?"
"Who am I?" the woman said repeating him. She thought for a moment, trying to remember, but to her shock she could not. She could not remember anything about herself or where she had come from.
Why can't I remember anything, she thought with terror.
As she thought harder the demon stared at her in curiosity. He could smell her fear and worry as she brought her hands to her head. After a few moments she spoke again.
"I am sorry, but I know not of whom I am or where I come from. I tell you the truth when I say this. If I did remember anything I would gladly to tell you," as she spoke tears came to her eyes. As the tears began to flow she pulled her knees to her chest.
When the woman began to cry the demon started to get nervous. He had not intended to make her cry and he knew not what to do. He began to panic until his sister walked into the tent.
"Brother what have you done now? Making an innocent woman cry is even below you. You should be ashamed," she said with hate in her voice.
"He did nothing to upset me, so do not flare at him. I merely overreacted and I am sorry for that," the human said looking up. She made a few more sniffling noises, before her tears stopped running.
There in front of her was a young female fox demon. She appeared to be a few years younger than her older brother, but she was still very beautiful. Like her brother she had red hair, but hers was more of a cinnamon color and there eyes were almost identical. The male demon's face showed little emotion, while the female's had a certain kindness to it. Her skin was slightly tanned like the other demon and she wore a simple kimono like he did. The female fox demon wore a light purple kimono, with a white under kimono. The obi was a light shade of pink, like a peach. All over the kimono stars and moons were sown in.
"Oh, how rude of me to come barging in here and not introducing myself. My name is Kirei and I'm pleased to make your acquaintance." The female demon said holding out her hand enthusiastically. The other woman stared at it for a moment like it was death its self, before she shook it.
"It's a great pleasure to meet one such as your self, Kirei. If I remember my name I would gladly tell you."
"You don't remember anything? What a tragedy that is. Well until you find out than we will have to come up with something to call you by. Brother, what do you think we should call her by?" Kirei said turning to her brother. The demon blushed for a moment, before he quickly turned his head to the side.
"Why ask me? It's not going to be my name, so what do I care," he said trying to hide the fact that his face was still red.
"Do not mind my elder brother over there. He may seem a bit rude and uncaring at sometimes, but he is really a great guy." Kirei said smiling. At that the young woman couldn't help but giggle. Her laugh was sweet and pure.
"I've got it! Until we figure out what your real name is you shall be known as Emiko. In my people's language it means beautiful, so it fits you perfectly. Don't you think so brother?" The brother demon turned to look at the human for a moment.
"Like I said earlier it does not matter to me. What do you say stranger shall you be known as Emiko or shall you go on without a name?" The young women blushed when she realized that she had just been called beautiful.
"I am flattered that you would give me such a beautiful name and will use it with pride." The young woman said pleased with her new name.
"My guess is that you are famished, seeing as you have been asleep for a good many days now. I'll be back in a little while with something for you to eat. Until then!" the young lass said as she left as suddenly as she came.
"Your sister is very sweet and kind," Emiko said turning to face the demon, "you must be proud to have someone like her for a sister."
The young demon jumped when he heard Emiko speak to him. Her voice was as gently as the purr of a kitten and as beautiful as a bird's song in the early morning. When she looked at him with her playful crystal blue eyes he began to blush again.
How is she able to do that to me, he thought. Demons showed little or no emotion and yet she was able to make him blush so easily.
"She's alright I guess," the demon said trying to gain his composure again. The young maiden let out a small chuckle when she noticed this.
"I'm sorry to laugh, but I could not help myself. That reminds me I don't believe I ever caught your name."
"Katsu."
"Your name is Katsu? Well it is an honor to meet you!" She said holding out her hand enthusiastically. Katsu shook it for a moment, before he stuffed his hand back into the sleeve of his kimono.
Emiko grabbed her chest and let out a cry of pain, causing Katsu to jump to her side. He allowed her body to fall into his arms as she continued to let out cries of pain.
"Emiko! Emiko! What is wrong? Where is the pain? Please speak to me!" Katsu cried out worrying over the young maiden.
After a few moments the cries turned into small whimpers. She looked up at the demon with teary eyes. Her head slowly let go of her chest as she spoke again.
"I'm sorry to have worried you again, but I'm alright now. I must have just over done it or laughed a little too much," she said with a small smile.
Though she said she was fine, the demon still gazed at her with worried eyes. When she tried to get out of his grasp he only held on tighter, causing her to become frustrated. This demon was not going to let her go and she was determined to get out of his grasp.
"Now didn't I warn you about getting perverted ideas?" A voice said jokingly from the entrance to the tent.
Both demon and human looked up to see Kirei carrying a tray of many different foods and drinks. A smile was etched on her face from one ear to another. Kirei had a way of appearing at the worst moments possible. Both human and demon began to blush a furious color of red.
"I would never sleep with a human if that is what you were thinking, Kirei," Katsu said turning his head away, while muttering under his breath "damn bitch"
"Ah ha. You keep telling yourself that, but while you two are snuggling how about we fatten you up Miss Skeleton. I can't possible imagine how you have survived so long without food. Even a demon such as me would begin to grow hungry after so long," joked the demoness.
She made her way over the two, who still were unusual shades of red, and knelt beside them placing the tray down next to the mat. On the tray were different kinds of pain relievers, water, soup, and other things to help the maiden regain her strength.
Katsu, now holding the maiden in his lap, reminded himself to hurt his sister later for her little comment. While Emiko looked over the foods, Katsu, couldn't help but think how nice it felt to have this woman in his arms, but quickly shook those thoughts away.
Katsu, get a hold of yourself, she is a human remember, he thought.
Emiko smile when she saw how much work had been put into gathering and preparing the food. There was an excess amount of food on there and the thought of consuming it all made her sick. Did these demons not realize that she was only human?
"I know I brought a lot of food options, but I have a few good reasons for that. For starters you haven't eaten anything for a good three days! There is also the fact that you are badly wounded and will need much food and rest to recover. Also, I had no idea what you do or don't like, so I just grabbed a little bit of everything. I'm almost positive that eating might be a little painful, so I brought pain relievers and I advise you eat slowly," Kirei stated. Kirei picked up on of the pain relievers and glass of water and handed it to Emiko, who took it with shaky hands.
Emiko gazed at the medicine for a moment, studying it, like it was some unsolved riddle. She placed the medicine in her mouth, swallowed, and made a funny face, while doing so. She quickly guzzled the water as fast as her body would let her.
"Slow down or you'll wind up killing yourself," Katsu said when she started to choke.
"Can I help it if the pain reliever tastes horrible?" Emiko replied, still gulping for air. Katsu gently patted her back until her coughs had quieted.
Emiko put the glass to the side after a few more sips and unsuccessful tries of getting rid of the awful taste. The pain reliever tasted like acid or cow manure, and it burned her throat.
"Excuse me if I may seem rude, but are you trying to kill me?" questioned the human.
"Darling, if I had wanted to kill you I would have done that will you were asleep and I would have done it with my own two hands and not some poison," the fox demoness said sternly.
"Why thank you, I feel so much safer now that we got that figured out!" replied the maiden sarcastically. At that the two women laughed, while a certain fox demon sat very confused. Unlike the woman whom knew what the other said was a joke, he thought they were serious.
"Katsu, is something wrong, dear brother?" the young female demon said once her giggles were under control.
"You woman scare me, even when you aren't in your time of the month." Katsu stated. The two women turned a bright red color before the female demon yelled at him, "How dare you say something like that!" She picked up an empty wooden cup and threw it at his face and made a small cheer when it hit its target.
Katsu had no idea what he had said to make his sister so mad, and was not expecting to have a wooden cup fly towards his face. He had no time to move out of the way, so he winced as the hard object crashed into his face.
"What the hell do you think you are doing?" he growled.
"Teaching you a lesson about minding a female's special needs and emotions!"
"Wench!"
"Bastard!"
"Bit…." Katsu was in mid sentence when he heard a light snoring sound, and looked down to see Emiko had fallen asleep in his arm. The demon laid the maiden down gently on the matt and pulled the covers up on her, before he followed his sister out of the tent.
"How a human managed to fall asleep through all that yelling is beyond me," his sister stated when they were seated outside of the tent. Katsu nodded his head when his sister spoke, while he watched the sun slowly make its way across the mid morning sky.
As the moon started to make its way across the night sky the group of demons began to go to their sleeping places. One extremely tired fox demon made his way to a large tent. He had spent a good part of the afternoon trying to force medicines down Emiko's throat. After she had fallen asleep she had begun to cry out in her sleep and when they tried to awaken her, she would continue to slumber in her nightmares. When the sun began to disappear in the horizon, Katsu left Emiko in Kirei's care so he might stretch his sore limbs and get fresh air.
When Katsu entered the tent he saw a group of male demons being pampered and waited on by female demons. When the demons before him acknowledged his presence he gave a quick bow before he walked in more. There before him was a dog, wolf, cat, panther, and fox demon.
In his clan all the demons lived as equals, but since there were so many demons they appointed a leader for each kind of demon. The strongest of each kind was made the leader and they watched over the rest of the clan. It had been like that for as long as any of them could remember.
"Tell us Katsu what you have learned about the female human," the great dog demon said.
"The human girl was badly injured and would have died if she had not been treated to when we did. What ever happened to her caused her to lose her memories and haunts her dreams. I'm almost positive that she tells no lies. She is no threat to us and is unlike any other human I've seen. It was decided that until she regains her memories that she shall be known as Emiko," replied the young demon nervously. The elder demons sat there pondering for a moment, before the wolf demon spoke.
"So what are your intentions? Emiko, or whatever it was you said, will not remain in her present condition forever and the clan will grow restless."
"You can not expect us to take in a human just like that," the cat demon said to the other demons. The leaders started to talk amongst themselves, occasionally shouting or shaking fists. While they argued Katsu remained where he was; waiting for them to come to a conclusion.
"Katsu we have come to this conclusion. If you wish for the human to remain with the clan then so be it, but we have a few condition. If she is to remain with us then she must abide by our laws and live like we do. If she betrays us then we will punish her like we would any other demon. Emiko may stay until she either regains her memories. Is that understood?" the fox demon said once they leaders were done discussing the matters.
The young fox demon had been expecting them to cast away Emiko, but to his surprise they didn't. For some reason this human had affected them as well and she would be allowed to stay. Katsu smiled slightly when he realized all of this.
"I understand completely," Katsu said bowing slightly. After he said he goodbyes and bowed once more he left the tent and headed on his way. As he walked through the quiet night he thought of what had happened and what the future might hold for him.
Emiko slowly started to stir as the morning sun once again roused her from her deep slumber. As she slowly rose to a sitting position she looked around herself trying to remember what had happened. Katsu, the fox demon was sitting close to her and from what she could tell he was asleep.
She recalled little bits and pieces of the night before, but most of it was a blur. After she had fallen asleep, she had gone into a deep slumber that seemed to control her. Nightmares caused her to wake up screaming, but still be half asleep. Katsu remained by her side the whole night through thick and thin, or at least it seemed like it.
When she tried to turn to face him better terrible pain shot through her entire body, causing her to cry out. She would rather die than suffer this pain another moment. As Emiko grabbed her stomach the demon beside her woke suddenly.
Katsu had fallen asleep after keeping watch over the young maiden for many hours. After forcing medicine down her throat for many hours he was exhausted, so it was a shock that he had been able to stay up at all. When he heard a cry of pain he awoke abruptly thinking that Emiko was being attacked. He let out a sigh of relief for a second when he realized she was somewhat safe, but began to panic when he saw her clutching her stomach. He moved to her side and grabbed her shoulders to steady the now shaking woman.
"Emiko are you ok?" questioned a concerned Katsu. Fear was etched in his eyes and he held the woman in his arms.
"Thank you for your worry Katsu, but I'm fine. Really I'm fine." Emiko replied once the pain began to subside. Even though she said she was fine Katsu did not let go of Emiko and still worried over the young maiden.
"I promise I'm fine. I probably sat up to abruptly and caused my sore muscles to over react or pulled on a recovering wound. I'm sorry for scaring you if I did," the maiden said trying to calm the worried demon.
Hesitating, he ever so slowly released her delicate body from his powerful grasp and gently laid her back down on the blankets. When she lay in a comfortable position facing him, she drew the blankets up to her chin like a child would during a storm.
"How did you sleep last night?" questioned the demon, when she had stopped stirring.
"I recall myself waking up a few times through out the night, but when I did most of it was a blur. I'm deeply sorry if I woke you up."
"Don't worry about it. I was going to be getting up soon, so you actually helped me and I thank you for that." Emiko giggled at his comment. He was trying to be such a gentlemen and he was doing a pretty good job. She stopped laughing when she heard her stomach start to rumble.
"It appears my stomach is hungry," giggled the young woman. The demon sighed as he stood to leave, when he replied, "Stay put and I'll go find something for you."
While Katsu was gone looking for food, Emiko pondered a few thoughts. She wondered why this man had saved her. For one, he was a full fledged demon and from the conversations she had heard outside of her little tent she could tell demons and humans did not mix well.
Emiko also wondered as to why demons and humans did not get along well together. She, Katsu, and Kirei were getting along together just fine, or maybe they were just being nice because of her current condition.
As Emiko thought about these ideas and much more she began to grow restless. Though she was badly wounded, she longed to see the sun face to face again and feel the wind dance across the meadow.
When she rose again she looked down to see she wore nothing but bandages across her chest. As she looked at the damage on her thin form she saw something that caught her eye. A deep blue shaded necklace hanging around her neck that seemed oddly familiar. Emiko made a mental note to herself to ask Katsu and Kirei if they knew about it.
Emiko looked around the room slowly, until her eyes fell onto a kimono lying in the corner. She slowly inched her body closer and closer to it, not wanting to repeat early events. The kimono was gorgeous. The inner layer was a light blue color that was almost identical to the color of her eyes. The outer layer of the kimono was a water blue color, with a most intriguing pattern. On the front lower flap of the kimono was a silver fox demon etched into the kimono.
When Emiko slowly picked up the kimono the silver obi that goes with it fell to the ground. On it was the same design as the kimono. Both layers of the kimono were made out of an almost silk like material, but felt very strong at the same time. Lying next to the kimono was a pair of wooden sandals. Emiko didn't know if it'd be right for her to take the clothes, but either way she needed to get out of the tent and nothing was going to stop her.
While Emiko was decided whether or not to borrow the kimono Katsu was searching the camp high and low for the one female that could help him. Since humans and demons did not interact together all that often, he had no idea as to what humans preferred to eat and what they could eat. He also knew that females tended to be a tad bit picker on what they ate.
Though his sister, like all his other clan members were still unsure and upset about caring for a human, he knew she would help. Kirei may not like something, but she would most always help. It was this quality that he loved the most about his sister.
As he scanned tent after tent and grouping after grouping he began to pick up a certain scent. Fear consumed him when he recognized the scent. Emiko had left the safety of his tent and was now wandering about the area. As to how she had to strength to move he did not know. Katsu immediately turned in the direction that her scent was the strongest and followed it.
After much debating Emiko decided that wearing the kimono would be fine as long as Katsu did not find out. Katsu had been very kind to her and she did not want to do anything to upset him or get him mad at her. She also decided that the kimono must have been set out for her, for it fit her almost perfectly.
As she stepped out of the tent her legs wobbled for a moment or two, before she gained her balance. The sun that she had been denied of seeing for so long shone down brightly on her as she took her first few steps.
When she had balanced herself Emiko gazed around herself with wonder. She had no idea the tent she had been staying in was part of such a large grouping. There were tents of all sizes in every direction and demons of every kind. The sights, sounds, and smells excited her to a point where she thought she might burst.
Emiko pondered for a moment as to where to start her adventure. After a moment of thinking, she decided to just wing it and set out on the path that lead straight in front of her. As she walked demons looked at her with curiosity and disgust written on their faces. Though some of the demons were rude, she smiled at every single one of them.Eventually her feet lead her to a large tent at the edge of the camp. She pondered over what it could be or who could live in it. When the flap to the tent opened she jumped and worried that she had done something wrong. Out of the tent came an older looking fox demon.
He had golden hair, but his eyes were a hazel color. His tail, which was the same golden color, was much fluffier and longer than Katsu's. The demon had his tail wrapped around his waist and it went over his right shoulder. His kimono was white, while the obi was gold and etched on the lower front part of the kimono was the same fox demon pattern that was on her kimono. At the demon's waist was a sword.
Emiko brought her face up to get a better look at the demon's face. He appeared to be in his late adult years, but at the same time he looked very strong and the kind of person you wanted to befriend. His eyes stared at her intently.
"I'm so sorry sir if I was intruding, but my curiosity got the better of me. When I saw the large tent I just had to get a better look. Please forgive me," Emiko sputtered out quickly, while giving a deep bow. The demon gazed at the young maiden with curiosity.
"So you are the young human that everyone is talking about. We have never had a human in our presence before and many of us have never met a live human face to face before. So tell me young maiden what is your name?" the demon stated.
"I unfortunately remember nothing of my past or of who I am, but one of your comrades has given me the name Emiko for the time being," nervously replied the young woman.
"Well my lady Emiko, if you would please grant me the pleasure of occupying me I have something I'd like to show you."