Tohru's Demons
Chapter Seventeen: Realizations And Perverted Enactments
The demon that was approaching them looked a bit... off. It was a small, humanoid, bug-like thing with antennae and insect wings and whatnot. It was flying through the air towards them, or rather zigzagging in their general direction, and was singing a very raucous and extremely discourteous and sordid song.
"Does he look a little drunk to you?" Tohru commented wryly, watching the demon weave his way towards them.
"Doesn't matter if he is. He's going to tell us how to get to Lucifer's," Artemis snorted and leapt off Tohru's horse to snatch the demon out of midair. Then in a few more jumps he was once again crouching on Tohru's horse, looking at the thing lying in his palm.
"Oh, it looks like a fairy!" Momiji squealed, extending a hand to touch it.
"Don't you lay yer stinkin' 'ands on me, human!" the fairy shrieked, his voice slurred slightly from obvious intoxication, slapping the Rabbit's fingers away bad-temperedly.
"That's a demon?!" Kyo snorted incredulously.
"No! I'm a swan!" the fairy snarled sarcastically, staggering to his feet and buzzing furiously. Artemis pinched his wings together to keep him from flying away.
"What did you say?!" Kyo challenged angrily.
"Watch it, parasite," the demon growled.
"Aw, go shove it up yer asses!"
"You're a little low in the food chain to be mouthing off!" Artemis barked.
"Quit it, Artemis, you won't get anywhere by arguing with him." Tohru admonished gently. "And no, Kyo-kun, this is not a demon. He's a fairy." And turning to the so-called fairy she asked, "What's your name, please?"
"Why the hell should I tell you?!" the fairy demanded. Artemis closed his hand firmly around the miniscule man.
"You want me to squeeze you until your head pops off?" the demon menaced, and then let out an enraged yell as the fairy sunk its teeth into his finger. "Let go of me you little insect!" he roared, shaking his hand frantically. Tohru quickly took the fairy into her hands to keep him from being hurt.
"Give it back, I'll snap it in half!" Artemis bellowed.
"But we need him to take us to Lucifer's..."
"I'm not tellin' yah anything! And my name's Pol! Pol! Not insect, or parasite, or bug!"
"Look you little cockroach..." Artemis snarled, raising a fist.
"It's Pol!!!"
"Artemis, stop arguing with him and try to be polite," Tohru cried. "Pol, can you please tell us how to get to Lucifer's castle?" Tohru asked kindly. Pol opened his mouth, and then snapped it closed again, looking affronted, when Artemis let out a contemptuous snort.
"There's no use being polite to a lower demon, all they understand are insults and threats," sneered the demon. "That's the only way to gain their respect, is by making them fear you."
Pol let out a furious scream and shot himself right into Artemis's jaw, shouting, "I'M NOT A LOWER DEMON!!!!" Artemis retorted with a thunderous shout and took a swipe at Pol, who dodged easily out of the way.
"Nyah, nyah!" the fairy scoffed, fluttering just out of the demon's reach. "Can't catch me, can yah? That's cause yer fat an' slow an' ugly! My ol' grandmother could hit something faster'n you!"
"Come down here and say that to my face, you little coward!" Artemis roared.
"Why don't you try an' make me?"
"QUIET." Hatori ordered, and both Artemis and Pol stopped what they were doing at once, their heads turning to look at the Dragon.
"Thanks, Hatori-san..." Tohru sighed in relief. "Now, Pol, will you please tell me where we can find Lucifer? It's very important."
"I will if tha' idiot says he's sorry fer insultin' me," Pol said stubbornly.
"LIKE HELL I'M GONNA—" Artemis started furiously, but Tohru clapped a hand over his mouth, saying, "He may not show it, but he's really very sorry for causing you any offense. Now, please, we would be greatly indebted to you, Pol, if you would lead us to the castle. That is if you know where it is, or course." Tohru told him in her sweetest and most persuasive voice. At first, Pol looked slightly taken aback, but he recovered himself quickly.
"Do I know where it is? O' course I ken take yeh there, t'would be my pleashure!" he said cheerfully, and fluttered away, chatting with Tohru nonstop.
While Tohru kept Pol happy, Yuki sank into his own little world, not paying attention to where he was going, and trusting his horse to take him to wherever they needed to go. His mind was bursting with information, and he was glad he was left alone to mull it over. One thing in particular kept coming back to him.
You didn't do anything wrong, understand? If you hadn't killed it, I'm sure we all would have died. You did what you had to do, so stop tearing yourself up about it.
Kyo's words to Tohru after she had killed the Familiar Cage kept replaying themselves over and over in his head. What had possessed the Cat to say something like that to her? And why of all people did it have to be the Cat that said it?
It should have been me... thought Yuki, feeling ashamed for thinking it. I should have been the one to tell her those things. I'm the one that's supposed to have an answer for everything... an explanation for everything... not Kyo. Why couldn't I say anything?
He had frozen up. When he saw Tohru shoot it, saw Tohru in pain, he couldn't do anything...
Or I wouldn't...
Yuki shook himself, feeling sick. No...! That's not it... that's not it... I wanted to help her, I did, but... but I...
He had been too afraid. Too afraid of what he had seen and heard when everything had gone dark... And of what he had thought when he saw Tohru pull the trigger... It was then that he had begun to realize, to really see, that things were very bad. That his life had changed, and that he couldn't go back to the time when all he had to worry about was getting hugged at the pool... So he had been unable to say or do anything to help Tohru.
I'm a coward...
But he was not going to allow that to happen again... He would never hesitate out of fear when he knew someone needed his help... He would never stand by and do nothing ever again.... He was not going to be a coward. And he was not going to let that idiot Cat get the best of him.
The sound of an explosion interrupted his thoughts. Yuki looked back and saw a sight he was sure was going to scar him for life. Ayame had changed back. But as he was still in Shigure's clothes when he transformed...
"GET OUT OF THERE AND PUT SOME DAMNED CLOTHES ON YOU SICK PERVERT!!!!" screamed Kyo in appalled horror and outrage.
"Oh, Kyo, don't hate us just because we're different!" Ayame cried gaily, while Shigure giggled lightheartedly, like he didn't have a stark naked man in his kimono.
"GET... OUT..." Yuki intoned darkly. Ayame quickly got up off Shigure's lap and scurried away to get dressed.
"It's getting kind of dark..." Tohru said when Ayame returned fully clothed, sounding like she was used to that sort of thing and had just resigned herself to those types of happenings long ago. "I think we ought to stop here for the night."
Yuki's horse stopped and he slid off of it stiffly. In a sort of daze, he pulled his blankets out of his pack and spread them out on the ground. After a quick dinner, he lay down. He hadn't realized how tired he was, and felt like his head had barely hit the pillow before he felt Tohru shaking him awake. Yuki groaned and rolled away from her, burrowing deeper into his blankets. The air was still chill, so he knew the sun had barely come up.
"Come on, Yuki-kun," he heard Tohru murmur and peeked out from under his blankets blearily at her.
"Wah... toom... uhst...?" he muttered groggily.
"Sorry, Yuki-kun, didn't catch that. Here, drink this," Tohru said, pushing a cup of tea into his hands as he struggled to sit up. He stared at it through puffy eyes for a moment, as if trying to figure out what it was, and then slowly looked up at Tohru.
"Time...?" he finally managed to say, his voice still not working properly.
"It's about seven o'clock in the morning. Artemis wanted to get an early start, so that we'll reach the castle by late noon," Tohru said. "Just drink that and you'll wake up, I guarantee it."
"...'kay..." he replied thickly, raising the cup to his lips. It was a moment after taking a few gulps that he realized that the stuff sliding down his throat was delicious, and before he knew it he had drained the cup and felt wide awake. Which for him at seven in the morning was saying something. Yuki looked around, hoping to get more tea.
Shigure was off a little ways, talking quietly with Akito and, as Yuki suspected, distracting him from any of the other Sohmas. Kagura and Isuzu had disappeared to clean themselves up, and Artemis, Kyo and Haru were also not in sight. Hiro, Kisa, Momiji, Ritsu and Kureno were seated nearby, though, eating breakfast, as were Ayame and Hatori, though they kept shooting looks over at Shigure and Akito through the corners of their eyes.
"Ah, Yuki you're awake!" said Ayame cheerfully. Yuki ignored him, still incensed about the incident of the previous day.
"Honda-san, did you make this...?" he asked Tohru, indicating his glass.
"No, that was Artemis," Tohru replied casually, making the final adjustments on the horses' saddles. Yuki looked up, surprise written all over his face.
"Artemis...? I would never have guessed that he... Where is he, anyway? I would like to thank him."
"I think he went with Kyo and Haru to find more water," Tohru replied. "They should be back any minute..." she trailed off at the sound of yelling and cursing drifting towards them.
"It sounds like they're coming back." Yuki observed blithely.
"You're never going to win, so why don't you just give up now while you're ahead and still in one piece?" Artemis said as he came into sight. In answer, Haru let out a furious yell and tried to body slam the demon, but ended up flat on his back.
"LIKE HELL!" shouted the Ox, picking himself up. He was sopping wet for some reason, and his whole left side was streaked with mud. "Look what happened to my clothes, god dammit!"
"May I remind you that it was you that attempted to attack me whilst my back was turned?"
"Yeah, after you made that crack about my martial arts skills!"
"Well, I was right wasn't I?" While Artemis and Haru bickered, Kyo, also soaking wet, was seething behind them. He stormed over to his horse, and pulled a towel out of his pack.
"Um, what happened...?" Tohru asked him.
"That bastard demon threw us both into the damned stream!" he burst out, shooting Artemis the filthiest look he could muster.
"Only because you practically threw that stupid Cow into me!" Artemis interjected furiously.
"Um, I think maybe you should start from the beginning," said Tohru. It was several minutes of shouting and cussing before Tohru could get any sense out of them, and when she finally got them to begin explaining themselves, they kept angrily interrupting one another. Apparently, Haru had once again challenged Kyo to a fight. Kyo had ended up getting angry and kicked Haru straight into Artemis's back. Artemis had of course lost it then and threw them both into the stream. Haru snapped and turned Black and tried to attack the demon, but ended up getting thrown into the ground, which clarified why he was covered in mud.
"Oh, I see... And you didn't bring any extra clothes... No worries though, I believe there are extra clothes in those packs. They're probably too big for you, but it's better than walking around in wet clothes." Tohru told the two boys cheerfully. Haru nodded and began to dig around in his pack. Soon, he had pulled out a pair of breeches and a shirt, two sizes too large, and went away to change. Kyo, after he had finished with Artemis, or rather, after Artemis had finished with him, also found an extra set of clothes and disappeared.
Yuki took one look at the fuming demon and decided to save his thanks for some other time.
Half an hour later, everyone was back on their horses and on their way to Lucifer's castle, though after five minutes Yuki saw that it was not going to be nearly as quiet as it had the day before.
"Dammit Kagura, get the hell away from me!" yelled an infuriated Kyo.
"Aw, Kyo you're so mean!" whined Kagura.
"Why can't you just leave me the hell alone?"
"Because I love you so much!"
"Well I don't love you!"
"WHY... NOT....?"
"I'm so sorry!" Ritsu shrieked. "I don't know what I did, but I'm SOOOO SOOOORRRRRYYYY!!!!"
"Would you please shut up, you stupid Cat?" Yuki requested in annoyance.
"Why don't you try and make me?!"
"—RRY I'M SORRY I'M SORRY I'M SORRY I'M SORRY I'M SORRY I'M SOR—"
"BRING IT ON YOU DAMN RAT, I'M GOING TO KILL YOU THIS TIME!!!"
"Are we there yet?" gritted Artemis through clenched teeth.
To be continued...
Disclaimer: I do not own Fruits Basket, and I can say it without flinching, sobbing, fainting, screaming, howling, moaning, choking, gagging, vomiting, curling into a ball, or having an apoplectic fit.
Next chapter you'll get to meet Malacoda and Lucifer and the other people, I promise!!! Just be patient please... And I'm sorry it took me so long to get this one out, but due to delays that I could not control (my mom was playing on the computer ALL DAY) this was a little late.
Let's see, I usually ramble on and on about this time, but now I really don't have anything to say. I'll just sit here I guess and twiddle my thumbs. La dee dee, dee dee, deh dum...
-Raha-
