Notes from the author: I am so terribly sorry my dear readers for my long absence without anything to show for it. First off I've been having a terrible time with school and the like. Especially since Monday through Wednesday it more or less from sunrise to sunset. This has meant that I have little to no time to write because the rest of the week I'm catching up with homework or working with the club I've joined. But here, I will repay you with a beautiful chapter—at least I hope so, since I'm writing this note before I actually start writing or even thinking about the chapter. xD Haha! Rosey is back people, and she'll try her best. –ROSEY

Chapter 13—Ryota Meets Charlie

Weeks passed. Hika grew closer and closer to newly found older brother while making sure that he never ran into Charlie. Soon a month had passed and there had been no activity from the Demon that had attacked. It was like having wounded Hika's wing, it was going to wait and attack when they least expected. The girl was even able to keep her brother and her boyfriend from running into each other seeing as she wasn't sure how that meeting was going to end up.

Hika was laughing. For the first time in weeks, the girl was fully relaxed as she hung out with Kuronue, Charlie and Inane. They hadn't been attacked. No one that they knew had been interfered with mentally. Lord Koenma, though Kurama, had informed them that they still didn't know the identity of the demon, but they were still looking and it might take some more time.

Hika was teasing Charlie about his reluctance to eat one of her demon world recipes—chicken marinated in a demon herb that was supposed to give one excessive energy. One could already see the effects it was having on Kuronue, who was tapping the table with more energy than he knew what to do with. Inane had refused to eat it simply on the concept that they didn't know how humans and demons would react. She would try it the next time if Kuronue didn't erupt from the experiment. But Charlie, being an elemental, had no logical excuse to say not to her cooking.

"Stop," Charlie said with a laugh. He grabbed the hand that Hika was using to hold a piece of the chicken up for him to take a bite and held it out of the way as he swooped in for a kiss. Hika eagerly complied. She was surprised about how addicted to his kisses she had become. Each seemed brighter than the next, as if she stepped closer to the flame every time they touched. She wrapped her free hand around his neck and returned the kiss before pulling away and plopping the chicken into her mouth.

"Hika?"

The young bat demon blinked and looked around. Her eyes landed on Ryota as she bent her head backwards. She couldn't help but laugh as she fell backwards off the bench she'd been sitting on. It seemed so humorous. Maybe it was the energy chicken. Maybe it was because she was tired of being on edge all the time and just wanted to have some fun with her friends and boyfriend.

"Hey Ryo," she said as she pushed herself up from the table, brushing the back of her skirt to get the dust off it as she sat back down next to Charlie. "What are you doing here? I thought we weren't meeting up until after track practice."

"I was worried since it was taking so long. Normally it doesn't take this long," Ryo said, stuffing his hands into his pants pockets as he watched the girl blink a few times and then look for her phone in her bag. She cursed, bringing the attention of Kuronue, who had been kissing Inane rather passionately, back to the situation.

"We missed practice Kuronue," she said. The two of them had been doing a good job of staying out of any situation that might lead to another midnight forest rendezvous. Despite waking up occasionally from an odd memory here and there, they had been surprisingly able to put the past away. Neither of them would admit that when they were racing against each other that occasionally they felt a tad bit of admiration that bordered love that they would push back and become even more determined to ignore the other except in a friendly sort of way.

"That'll spread some rumors, except that Inane and I missed our club as well if yours is already over," Charlie said, blinking up at the man that he had heard so much about and yet had not meet. "Hello, I'm Charlie." He stuck his hand out to the older brother of his girlfriend.

Ryota looked down at the hand offered before looking up at Charlie's face. His eyes lingered on the sealing tattoo around his neck. If the older man had fur he would have bristled a little. Instead the man took the teenager's hand and gave it a shake, the pressure on Charlie's hand increasing slowly. "Ryota, Hika's older brother."

"I've heard a lot about you," Charlie said with an incline of his head, though he didn't take his eyes away from Ryota's, taking the increased pressure on his hand as a challenge to see how long the younger man could keep up. A part of him that was not all nice and happy surged up, accepting the challenge. It was much like the part that allowed him to take charge of the situation when he was alone with Hika. "I'm Hika's boyfriend."

Hika looked between the whole males as their knuckles whitened as their grip tightened on each other's hand. She could hear a snicker coming from Kuronue and Inane as they watched the scene as well. She wasn't quite sure what was so funny about this? They were trying to break each other's hand! Fear for the human body that Charlie was in control of hit Hika as she rose to break them up.

"Are you now? Since when, may I ask?" Ryota asked before Hika could stop him.

"Since about the time that you showed up from what I've heard," Charlie answered, rising to be level with the bat demon.

Hika looked at Inane who just shook her head and motioned for Hika to sit back down quietly. 'Let 'em, it's interesting,' the other girl mouthed. Hika stared at her friend and slowly sat back down. She had to admit that seeing Charlie stand up in front of the others was a wonderful change, though she personally liked saying that that part of him was hers.

"And why do you date my sister?"

Hika felt her cheeks start to brighten as she looked down at her laps. Why indeed? That was a good question. She had never really thought about it. She'd started to fall for him; he'd expressed interest in her. They had simply started to date after that. Why was it so important to others that there be a reason? But the other side of her wanted to know as well why there were so many questions that others came up with that she hadn't thought about that were worth being answered.

"Why wouldn't I want to date Hika? She's fun. She's got such a way of looking at things that it makes one think harder about what one is doing. I haven't laughed as hard as I have in the last month and a half before I met her. She's always worried that her friends are hurt or in trouble. She has this way about her that makes one believe that she could really defeat that demon that is after her," Charlie said in a calm manner that made one think that yes, he really did have all those reason to want to date her. "In short, the woman you call your sister and I call my girlfriend has overcome more than most women her age and for that I find her to be extremely interesting. I hope that by dating her I can get to know her better and see just what makes her tick the way she does."

Ryota blinked a few times and then frowned. "Why do you have a binding tattoo? What kind of creature are you?" At this question, Charlie hesitated, looking over at Hika as if to ask for confirmation that this was really a question that Ryota would ask. Charlie wasn't going to spill all his secrets to just anyone that might be controlled by the Demon. That would be the worst thing to happen to them. It was really suspicious since the Demon had not attacked recently.

Hika looked up at her brother and waited a few moments before nodding. She couldn't sense anything wrong with her brother, though she understood Charlie's hesitation. There was really no way to know if someone was controlled except for the way they acted and Ryota was acting like a concerned older brother.

"I am fire," Charlie said shortly as if forming a one line riddle, his grip on Ryota's hand not slacking one bit. Ryota watched the young man again for several moments before pulling his own hand away, letting it fall to his side silently as he continued to watch the fire elemental.

"Hika, we should get going. We have training and there is someone moving into our house that we are supposed to meet," Ryota said before looking at Inane and Kuronue and blinked a few times as if seeing them for the first time that afternoon. "Miss Inane, it is a pleasure to see you again. And who are you?"

"Kuronue, Inane's boyfriend and Charlie's best friend. Pleasure to finally meet you Ryota. Hika's been going on and on about what you are like and we've kept asking when we could get to meet you and she just kept saying soon," Kuronue said and raised a hand in greeting, not wanting to be given the same treatment as Charlie had been given.

Hika hopped up from her seat and smiled at her friends. She had completely forgotten that she had been supposed to meet up with her brother—just like she had forgotten the time as she had watched Kuronue eat the chicken and Charlie refuse to try it. "Sorry guys, I do have to go. I promised this big brute that I'd beat his skinny butt," Hika joked, winking at them as she packed up the 'energy chicken' and stuffed it into her bag.

"As if you could. You say that every afternoon and I still beat you," Ryota said with a laugh as he took the girl's bag and slung it over his shoulder.

"Oh shut up Ryo," the girl said before leaning up and sharing a sweet kiss with Charlie that lasted a few seconds before she pulled away. She smiled up at Charlie and then waved to Inane and Kuronue, her eyes lingering only a second longer on Kuronue before she turned and skipped after her brother that had, with a heavy puff of exaggeration, started to walk away.