Ch. 5

Kenny could almost exactly guess what was happening as he looked at the tiger-demon. It was so predictable. Firstly, there was the slight glow in Rei's eyes whenever he looked at Kai for a longer period of time. Secondly, the tiger couldn't keep his eyes off the demon that still remained a mystery. Rei was falling for Kai. And he was falling hard.

There was one other thing that bothered the priest in training. Kenny had the distinct feeling that they were being lied to. The human suspected that the whole quest was just one big lie, but he didn't have any evidence to prove it. Neither did he understand why Mr. D. would lie about something like this. So he kept his suspicions to himself, for the time being.

Tyson and Max where having the time of their life while talking about anything and nothing. Tyson was flailing wildly with his arms, nearly hitting Max in the process as he told the shield-demon about the training with his grandfather. Max was simply laughing at the dragon's eagerness. It was evident that the two of them were becoming very good friends. Rei smiled occasionally at the younger demons, but stayed mostly out of the conversation.

As the day went by, the friendship between Max, Kenny and Tyson grew. Of course they would have liked to count the others as their friends as well, but as it was, Rei kept more or less to himself, while the forest-demons including Kai and Tala made their own little group.

The eight demons and one human walked the entire day, only stopping a few times so that Kenny (and Tyson since the dragon was a real sloth) could rest a little. At one point Spencer even offered to carry the priest so that they could keep moving. An offer which Kenny respectfully declined.

The forest turned out to be quite big and hadn't it been for the forest demons the group of adventurers would most probably have gotten themselves lost. With Bryan in the lead they reached the other side of the forest by nightfall, just like Kai had promised.

"We'll rest here," Kai said and let his bag slid to the ground.

"Finally..!" Tyson groaned and fell on his back. Kenny looked towards where they were heading but couldn't distinguish any lessening of the trees that would have shown that the forest was ending. The priest shrugged and sat down on the ground where Tala with years of experience made up a fire. It didn't take long for the half dried wood to burst into flames.

As everyone gathered around the warmth, Rei noticed Tala, Bryan and Kai discussing something in hushed voices. The tigers sharp hearing picked up the words 'stay', 'danger', 'hunters' and 'mask' before the three seemed to come to an agreement.

"What are you thinking about, Rei?" Kenny asked softly. Rei glanced at the priest in training, startled that he'd been caught.

"What do you think about Kai and Tala," he wondered. Kenny tried not to look at the demons in question as he answered.

"I don't know…" he admitted quietly. "I sense something really weird in Kai, but I can't place my finger on it. And even if it doesn't seem like it, I think Tala and even Bryan and the other forest-demons seem really protective of him." Rei nodded.

"I've sensed it too… It's like he doesn't belong in this world, and the others are trying to hide it…" he whispered, looking at the bluenette. "I'm also starting to have my doubts about this entire mission."

"Me too…" Kenny agreed. "They're hiding something."

Suddenly Tyson's voice rose, most likely to try and engage the others into his discussion with Max:

"My grandfather told me once that a long time ago, demons actually had king!" The entire group turned to look at him in various degrees of surprise. …And some with a "No Duh"-expression. Tyson mistook it for interest and continued:

"According to him the last of the royal bloodline were slaughtered some years before I was born. Before that the king went insane and tried to prevent his son from taking the throne. Grandpa said that the king sent out assassins to kill his son, his son's wife and their only child. Apparently the king disappeared the same night that the heirs died."

"I've heard about it too," Max spoke up. "Apparently demons used to live among humans during that time. Some say that the humans didn't like the demon king's power so they sent out hunters to kill the bloodline." Kai stared into the small fire and slowly shook his head, though no one except for Tala noticed. Kenny also shook his head, a bit more visibly.

"No, that's not entirely true," he said. "The demons' royal race was, to the humans, a symbol of eternal life and unlimited power. Besides, hunters didn't exist before long after. From what I heard, demons that were tired of monarchy were responsible for the king's disappearance."

"Well, there is a nasty rumor about cat-demons killing the king's only heirs," Bryan remarked, sending Rei a dirty look. Kai seemed to twitch slightly and stared at the falcon with an unreadable expression. Tala wrapped his arms around his younger brother and rested his chin on Kai's shoulder. The red eyes turned to look at Rei, waiting for an answer. The tiger-demon seemed both offended and annoyed.

"Not true!" the black-haired demon snapped. "Cat-demons have always been loyal to the true king! It's the human rulers that we cannot stand!" Tala could feel the tension in Kai, even though the bluenette hid it well, so he decided to ask the question he, Kai and the forest-demons were all anxious to know, adding some sarcasm into his voice as he did. After all, anger usually speaks the truth.

"So you're saying: If the king suddenly reappeared to claim the throne, all cats would stop rebelling?" Rei didn't even hesitate before answering.

"If it were the true king, then Yes." After saying this, the tiger-demon paused and looked at the position the two brothers were in. For a short moment he wondered what it would be like to hold Kai the way Tala did, but then he turned his eyes away, partly because he was still upset, partly because he felt slightly jealous. There was an odd silence surrounding the group after that, and feeling unnerved by it, Kenny decided to continue the story:

"Anyway, it seemed demons and humans ended up blaming each other and finally the hunters were established and all demons were driven to the mountains." Bryan let out a dry laugh and leaned his back against a tree.

"You speak like one who reads history, and makes the reality less bad than it actually was," he pointed out with a sour look.

"Well it's not like I could have experienced it myself," the brunette answered a bit bitterly. "I'm human! I'm younger than Tyson and Max put together!"

"What about you, Rei?" Tyson wondered.

"Yeah, you're old enough to have lived then," Max agreed. Rei shook his head with a sigh.

"I was too young to remember," he said.

"But we weren't," Bryan muttered. And again the odd silence settled over the group.

That night Tala snuggled up next to Kai instead of Bryan. The redhead felt that his brother needed the comfort.

TBC…