Huh?

Maou looked below at the girl before him speechless. Was he hearing things? He glanced at her eyes for reassurance and found they were expectant, waiting for his answer. The only problem was Maou didn't have an answer.

Although he had been determined to make Emi unafraid of him, Maou hadn't thought about what to afterward if he got to that point. He scratched the back of his head.

"Um, well…"

The tiny fist that partially held his pants tightened as he was interrupted.

"Please don't say no! Papa works in the fields most of the day and I feel so lonely…"

The younger Emi's expression looked downcast for a moment, but then swiftly changed to hope as she balled her little hands into fists and gazed up at him with sparkles in her eyes.

"So, please play with me Mr. Demon!"

Maou was amused by her overexcitement. He knew that he shouldn't get too involved and get back to his own time, but seeing how his energy was still not fully restored, what the heck? It would be hard to say no to a face that eager anyway.

"Okay, I'll play with you, but on one condition."

Emi's enthusiasm was quickly replaced with confusion.

"What is it?"

"Don't call me Mr. Demon."

Emi slumped to her knees as she landed on a nearby rooftop.

How long is this battle going to continue?

Gritting her teeth, Emi cautiously glanced sideways to her right and to her left. Seeing that Chronos was no longer in sight, she quickly hid herself behind a large statue that was conveniently placed on the roof.

Closing her eyes, Emi sighed as she tried to force herself to get a little rest.

No matter how hard she tried, Emi still hadn't managed to defeat Chronos. His movements were so quick and he had already hit her with attacks numerous times.

Emi winced from the pain of her wounds. How could she, the Hero, be such a failure?

A Hero's responsibility was supposed to be strong in order to protect people and yet she couldn't even defeat a cowardly angel whose main method of fighting was to run away and attack by sneaking up from behind. The thought disgusted her.

For the very first time in her life since becoming the Hero, Emi felt helpless. What was she going to do or was there even anything she could do…

An image suddenly flashed in her head.

Maou.

Emi quickly shook her head to try to get him out, but his face remained plastered there in perfect detail.

He was in his human form, wearing his signature red MgRonald's cap while doing a goofy smile. His red eyes looked so warm and bright that it seemed like he was staring straight into her soul…until he suddenly began to change.

There was no longer an MgRonald's cap on his head, but a pair of horns. The smile he had was now replaced with a deep frown and his red eyes which had held so much warmth a moment ago were now icy cold and glaring at her. She was staring at the face of Maou, the Demon Lord.

Emi's heart tightened. Why did the picture in her mind turn to this?

She was about to try to erase it until she saw Maou's lips begin to move.

"Emilia, I am very disappointed."

His dark voice rang deeply through her head as he continued.

"To think that the Hero is actually cowering in fear."

Anger began to well up inside Emi as she mentally shouted.

"I am not afraid! It's just I don't know how…"

"Then why do you doubt!?"

Emi froze at his words. Although she was putting up a fight, she knew she wasn't battling with her best ability either. She was exhausted and had no idea what else she could do to turn the situation around. Maybe she was scared?

Deep within her heart, Emi knew her fear was not of Chronos, but that she wouldn't be able to protect those around her. That she wouldn't be able to protect him. She was afraid of failing as the Hero.

Emi remained silent as Maou began to speak again.

"You are Emilia, the Hero. The only one who was able to defeat me and you dare to even think about giving up? Are you the same person or have I mistaken you for someone else!?"

His voice sounded almost as acidic as his words.

Emi clenched her fists. She really felt like being angry, but she knew he was right. This was no time to sit here, feeling uncertain about herself because she didn't know what to do. If she couldn't find the answer, she would just have to create one herself!

Her mental voice began it rise in retaliation.

"I am she! The one who isn't afraid of you and the one who will win this fight!"

The frown on Maou's face turned into a smirk as his eyes looked at her amusingly. His image was starting to fade away, but before he completely disappeared, Emi heard a faint whisper.

"Then don't make me ever regret losing to you."

Emi quickly opened her eyes. Had she been sleeping?

Though she knew it must have been a dream, it had felt all too real to her. Since when did she make Maou her conscious?

She evaded her thoughts so she wouldn't think about it any longer. Now was not the time for that. Filled with a new determination, she began to think about her next move.

Emi knew there had to be something she could do to turn this battle around. There just had to be. There is always a way…

Her eyes suddenly lit up.

Reaching into her pocket, Emi pulled out last Holy Vita β as the corners of her mouth began to go upwards.

She had a plan.

As if those words were a trigger, Emi's face lit up with a new realization.

"Oh, that's right! Since we're playmates now, we should know each other's name. Mine is Emilia."

Looking at her hands, Emi began to count out her fingers and held them up.

"It has 6 letters!"

Emi looked triumphant. Apparently knowing how many letters your name had was a big deal.

"Now, it's your turn! What is your name Mr.D-…I mean what is your name?"

"My name is M-"

He stopped midsentence.

If Emi was a child in this time period, that means that his conquest of Ente Isla had already begun on the other islands. His name was already well known amongst the humans by now, so using it would probably not be the best idea.

"Sadao. My name is Sadao."

Emi stuttered as she began to sound it out.

"S-Sadao.."

One of the corners of Maou's mouth started to move up. Who would think that his arch nemesis could actually be kinda cute?

"That's a weird name."

Okay, maybe she is not thatcute after all.

Maou's mouth began to twitch, but subsided as she spoke again.

"Now that we know each other's name, let's start playing!"

Is playing all this kid ever thought about?

"Fine, what do you want to play?"

"Tag!"

Maou raised his eyebrow. He was not familiar with human children games.

Seeing his expression, Emi noticed that he had no idea also.

"Don't tell me you've never played tag before!?"

"No, demons don't play games."

"Really!? Not even with your parents!?"

"I don't have parents, at least not anymore."

"Oh…"

Emi's face saddened. Was she actually concerned about him not having any parents?

Way before Maou had become the Demon Lord, he had only been a mere goblin child of a low demon class. At the time, a stronger demon had attacked the tribe, killing his parents. Though he had seen their dying figures, he had not shed a tear. Unlike humans, demons never shared close bonds with one another; it was either be strong to conquer the weak or do everything you could to survive. Relationships could be a hindrance, even if it was your own blood.

Kneeling down so he could be more at her level, Maou reached down and placed Emi's face between his hands. She had been looking at the ground disheartened so she didn't notice what he was doing until he suddenly lifted her face upwards so she could look at him. Even though Maou was on his knees, he was still much larger than her.

"What kind of face is that? It doesn't suit you."

"B-but Sadao doesn't have any parents. It's so sad…"

Her voice became muffled as Maou gently grabbed her cheeks and began to stretch her face.

"Who told you to worry about me? Besides, being sad isn't going to change anything. If you want to make someone happy, smile would ya."

"Ow, ow, ow! Stop, it hurts!"

Finally letting go, Maou watched as Emi started to rub her cheeks.

"Feeling better now?"

Emi shot him a quick glare, but then to his surprise, started to laugh.

"Sadao is a weird demon after all."

Again, definitely not cute.

Emi's laughter cut short as she remembered something.

"Oh yeah! Since Sadao hasn't played tag before, I will tell you how! One person is "it" and chases after the other person who runs. If the person who is "it" touches the person they are chasing, then he or she will become the new chaser and do the tagging. Got it?"

"Is that it?"

"Yep!"

Emi's mouth formed a huge smile. The game sounded simple to Maou, but he recalled seeing it played before by a group of children in the park on his way home to work one evening. He didn't really understand what they were doing then, but he guessed human children must like these odd types of games.

"I'll be "it" first since this is Sadao's first time!"

"Um..sure."

"Good! Let's start in 3, 2, 1.."

"Wait, huh?"

Before he could say anything else, Emi had already touched him.

"Tag you're it!"

Giggling, Emi had already started running away in the opposite direction. She looked back and shouted.

"Do you see how it works now Sadao?"

Maou stood there dumbfounded. So that's how she wanted to play?

Slightly curving his lips upward, he vanished from the spot he had occupied in a flash and was stood only a few inches above where Emi was heading. Quickly kneeling down, he carefully poked a claw to Emi's forehead before she crashed into him, stopping her in her tracks.

He looked down at her with a defiant grin.

"Like this?"

Emi's face puffed up.

"Sadao is a bully!"

Maou chuckled softly at her words.

"I was just playing by the rules, speaking of which, I think that would make you "it," right?"

Emi blinked for a moment and finally realized she was in tagging distance.

Moving her small arms as fast as she could, Emi tried to reach Maou, but ended up grabbing thin air instead. He had already moved.

Twisting her head to the side, Emi saw that he was now a few feet away from her with an amused look on his face.

Emi stared at him for a moment and then looked at the place where he had been in front of her only moments ago. She continued this pattern of looking back and forth until she finally decided to stand up and charge at him.

By the time she reached him, he had already moved again. Swiftly turning her head around, she caught sight of him again and started to head toward that direction. He stood there without budging an inch and Emi already had her hand out just centimeters to tag him, but he simply moved again before she could touch him.

This routine went on for a while until Maou decided it would probably be a good time to stop toying with her and let her get him. Although Emi put forth a good effort, there was just no way those small legs could catch up with his demonic speed.

Standing completely still, Maou waited patiently for Emi to tag him. The only problem was, she was nowhere in sight.

Maou started to have a bad feeling. Although when he had escaped her the last time, he traveled a little bit farther than the other times, it shouldn't have taken her too long to get here. He had been going the same direction for a while so she should know where to go, right?

He waited a few more minutes, but there was still no Emi.

Sighing, Maou finally went to look for her in case she did end up going the opposite way. Retracing his steps, he searched where they had been, but didn't find her. Their little game had spread out through a good portion of the forest so maybe they had just missed each other?

Weaving his way through the trees, Maou eventually came to a different clearing.

It was pretty much empty except for a huge rock near at the farther side. He was about to leave and go look somewhere else when suddenly he caught sight of something red standing on top of the edge of the rock.

Maou's heart froze. He could recognize that red hair anywhere.

"Emilia!"

Hearing her name, the small girl turned her head toward where it was being called, but at that instant, the piece of the edge she was standing on began to crumble. Maou saw the flash of red falling toward the ground.

Running in a blink of an eye, Maou stood below and caught her just in time.

Gazing at the tiny girl in his arms, he quickly checked to make sure she was alright. She had a few scratches, but she would be fine.

Relief washed over him. That was a close one.

Emi didn't stir for a few moments, but Maou noticed she was beginning to move. She opened her eyes slightly and moved curled one of her small fingers around Maou's claw. She closed her eyes and smiled.

"You're it."

What?

Maou stared at the girl with disbelief.

"Emilia, did you do this on purpose!?"

Emi lifted her gaze, her eyes full of guilt.

"I tried to catch Sadao, but he was just too fast! I thought that if I could get him by surprise, I could tag him, but there was no good hiding place. I found this rock and thought that if I stayed on top, I could jump down and do a sneak attack…but I didn't plan on falling, it just happened!"

"But you still risked your life anyway!?"

Emi winced at the harshness of his tone.

"No, I wasn't trying to!"

His face darkened. The rock she had fallen off of was a fairly good height; someone Emi's size would most definitely be gravely injured or dead if they had fallen off from it. If he hadn't of gotten here in time, she might have lost her life all because of a silly game.

Maou's grip on her tightened as he raised his voice.

"It doesn't matter if you were "trying to" or not. You could have died! What were you thinking!? How reckless!"

Maou's eyes sharpened, but soon turned wide from what they saw.

Tears were rolling down Emi's face. Maou tried to wipe one away, but she quickly pushed his hands away and squeezed out his arms, landing on the ground. Steadying herself as she got up, Emi turned around and looked at him with a sorrowful expression.

"Sadao is an idiot!"

After saying those 4 words, she ran into the forest.

What had he done?

Maou stared at the spot where she had left. He mentally kicked himself.

What was he thinking? This Emi was just a child, of course she wouldn't use better judgment, but when he had heard that she was the one who willingly put her life in potential danger, anger boiled up in him.

The one he was angry at wasn't her, it was himself. He was mad because his teasing was what caused her to do it in the first place. Mad because he was almost too late. Mad because he could have lost her.

Maou glanced at his claws and clenched them together. He knew he was angry at himself, but he had taken it out on her instead.

Feeling that his head got a little wet, Maou looked up at the sky and noticed that it was now gray. It was about to rain. How ironic.

Moving his gaze back toward the forest, Maou began walking toward it. He had to find her.

The younger Emi ran aimlessly through the trees as she rapidly wiped tears from her eyes.

Sadao was being mean!

After running a little farther, she decided she should be far enough and stopped to catch her breath.

She didn't understand why Sadao was so mad. It's not like she had asked the rock to break so she would fall! Emi brushed off the last of her tears.

All she had wanted to do was to catch him. At first she had just wanted to prove to him that she could win, but after seeing that she was unable to get him no matter how hard she tried, a new fear crept up inside of her. For some reason, she felt that if she didn't get him in time he would disappear, leaving her all alone just because she couldn't catch up. She didn't want that, she wanted him to stay…but now she had made him angry at her.

Emi suppressed new tears from forming as she remembered how he looked at her. When he had helped her earlier today at the apple tree, his eyes were so gentle and he seemed very sad when she was afraid of him. He didn't seem like the scary demon her Papa had told her and something inside her told her that she could trust him. She didn't understand why, but she knew he wouldn't hurt her.

Though his eyes had seemed to be angry just a few moments ago, Emi felt something was off about them. Like there was another emotion hidden behind them. Worry.

That's when is dawned on her. Sadao had only been concerned about her and yet she pushed him away and called him an idiot.

Emi had to make things right. Twisting her body around, she was about to go back when suddenly rain started to pour down. Her eyes squinted in an attempt to see through it, but there was just so much of it.

Unable to make sure if she was heading in the right way, she chose to continue walking, hoping she would find him anyway.

She had traveled a good piece until she heard a loud noise. Emi trembled as she saw a big flash of lightning across the sky. She was scared of storms.

Panicking, Emi ran away from that direction and decided to take another, but the lightning kept getting worse. She steered herself as if to escape the storm around her and went back and forth in all kinds of paths, which caused to her end up going in circles.

Realizing that her she couldn't get away, Emi went to a nearby tree and placed her hands on the trunk as if it could give her support. Burying her face in it, she shielded her eyes from the storm around her.

Emi knew she must be lost, there was no telling where she could be since the rain was hard and she went in too many different directions. How was she going to find him now?

A deep pain began growing inside her. What if he had already left? After the way she acted, he probably wouldn't want to play with her again; he had every reason not to.

Her voice cracked as she yelled.

"Sadao!"

Instantly the rain that had been hitting Emi stopped and the space above her became dark.

Lifting her head, Emi's gaze was met with a pair of deep red ones that were staring down at her. Maou had his head against the tree to where the droplets wouldn't hit her, drenching him instead.

"You know you didn't have to yell so loudly. I can hear just fine."

"Sadao is going to get wet!"

"If you haven't noticed, I'm already wet, so don't worry about it."

"B-but…"

Emi tried to gather her words.

"I said mean things to Sadao when he was only worried about me. I shouldn't of have done it, but Sadao would always get away. I was scared that I couldn't reach you, that I would be alone to play again."

She turned herself around and bowed her head.

"I'm sorry Sadao!"

Maou's eyes widened as she finished. She was blaming herself?

His gaze was hidden behind his hair as he scooped the small girl up in his arms. He held her tightly to his chest, but not too strong so he wouldn't unintentionally harm her.

"I also said some things that hurt you, I'm sorry for making you feel alone. You won't have to afraid about that again. I'm right here."

Even when soaked wet, Emi still managed to smile.

A crack of lightning flashed and the thunder that surrounded them grew even louder.

Emi slightly shook as she closed her eyes and covered her ears.

"You don't like storms, huh? Let's find some shelter."

Still carrying her in his arms, Maou continued searching until he finally came upon a cave. Luckily it was just the right size for his tall demon form to stand in. Checking the girl he was holding, he noticed that her eyes were beginning to droop. She was sleepy.

How does she expect to sleep with all this noise?

Maou silently pondered this to himself until his thoughts were interrupted by a soft whisper below.

"Sadao?"

"Yeah, what is it?"

"I forgot to say it earlier today, but thank you for the apples."

Maou was about to reply, but she had already fallen asleep.

Sighing to himself, he waited for the storm to be over.

Author's Note: I am so sorry about how long it took to update! This chapter was really supposed to be up 2 weeks ago, but then I had computer and internet issues for a while and had to go back to re-type and edit things. ;_; Anyways, thank you for reading and leaving comments, they really mean a lot! If you have any ideas, critiques, etc. please feel free to leave any, hope you enjoy this chapter! :) (It's a little longer than the other two)