Chapter Five
Kerima frowned at Kuronue when he walked into her home without knocking, a smile on his face. She could easily guess who he had slept with. She'd seen Seila earlier, and her cousin had been far too smug. Kerima knew what Seila was trying to do; it wasn't hard to figure out. Seila was as clear as glass with her intentions… she wanted to catch Kuronue permanently. She would gain so much status in the village if she could catch the bat demon with marriage or bear his child. Whether Kuronue knew this or not was hard to tell, but Kerima wasn't about to enlighten him. What he did was his own business.
"No, please, come right in," she muttered, mentally sighing. She wasn't ready to deal with him yet, not after last night, but she didn't think she had a choice.
"Thank you, I will," Kuronue chirped back, obviously in a good mood, his blue eyes bright with humor. He took a seat in front of the door, blocking her only exit. He wasn't going to let the little healer escape him again. "I take it now is as good of a time to talk to you as any?"
Kerima took a deep breath and then slowly let it out. She did need to talk to him; her grandmother would be upset if she didn't finish the explanation. But dammit, she didn't want to get any closer to the bat demon than she had to. Couldn't he just leave her alone?
"We might as well get this finished now," she agreed, if only because she doubted he would let her get away again.
Kuronue smiled gently at her. "I promise, I'll try to make this as painless as possible."
She frowned thoughtfully, trying to remember where she had left off the other day. "Then I will try to finish the explanation this time." She paused, gathering her thoughts. "When I saved you, we became connected, in a sense. Unfortunately, you will now feel my physical pain, and if I die, so will you. There wasn't any other way to save you, and for that, I apologize."
He thought for a moment as the cute woman paused to catch her breath and drink some water out of her mug. Healing was a rare gift, and the worse the wound, the harder it was to heal. Considering he had been on the edge of death, he wasn't surprised that his continued life had come at such a cost. Still, she had taken a great risk by tying herself to him. If she hadn't been able to heal him after using the technique, she would have died too. She didn't even insist on him sticking around, where she knew he would be safe. For all she knew, he could have gone out and gotten himself, and therefore herself as well, killed. If her clan hadn't owed Youko a life debt, he would have owed her.
"There's no need for you to apologize to me. I am quite happy to be alive, and I'm sure Youko would be more than happy about that too, if I could find him." He chose his words carefully, so he wouldn't upset her anymore than he had to. Her grandmother had said Kerima was skittish, and he believed the old woman.
"Still, it would be better for you if you left again. I tried not to let the others find out that I used the technique on you, but they did." Kerima gave a soft sigh, looking away from him, a strange expression in her grey eyes. If he didn't know any better, he would say she was conflicted.
"I see no reason to go anytime soon," Kuronue replied, leaning back against the door and stretching out his legs, his foot touching hers. "It's quite nice here, and you, my little healer, are rather cute." A pained expression flitted across her face as he watched her. "What is it, sweetheart? What's wrong?"
Her face immediately became blank. "It's nothing, but you really should go. You'll be safer from the elders then."
He chuckled, honestly amused. She had no idea how strong he was, otherwise she wouldn't have said such a thing. "I've walked through this village, and honestly, there's not a soul here who could kill me. I have nothing to fear here."
"That's where you're wrong." Kerima turned away from him, running her hands through her hair. The man was so frustrating, and he didn't even realize it. "I'm the weakest one here. They could hurt you through me, and they will do it if they feel they must. Plus, it's not just physical harm you should fear. Those in this village lack the kind of power you have, but in its place, we've developed another type of weapon."
Kuronue's amusement slipped away. "Has anyone here threatened you?" He kept his voice low and quiet. He didn't want to startle her, but he wasn't just going to let this subject pass. She had healed him at great cost to herself, and he wasn't going to let her be threatened by her own people simply because he was still alive.
She turned around, fire in her eyes as they met his. He was so goddamn stubborn, so sure in himself that he just couldn't see the threat her people posed. "That is not the point. The point is you are safer elsewhere. Now that you are here, they may try to force you to stay."
The bat demon stood up, eyes serious. He gently gripped her chin to keep her eyes on his. "Has anyone here threatened you?" he asked again, keeping himself calm. Scaring her was the last thing he wanted to do.
Her anger erupted. "Why won't you listen to me?!" she snarled at him, trying to shove him away from her. He kept a firm grip on her, and a small sliver of fear shot up her spine. This demon wouldn't listen to reason, he wouldn't listen to her. There was no way she could keep both of them safe if he didn't listen. "Do you not think they will find a way to force me to bind you here? I cannot keep them at bay forever!"
Kuronue stared down at her, seeing the fear in her eyes that she tried to hide under a layer of blankness. "Who are they? Who are these people that scare you so? I will kill them for you," he told her, blue eyes serious.
Her eyes widened from shock as the blood left her face, leaving her pale. For a moment, all he could see was her shocked expression. Had she never had anyone offer to protect her before? Kuronue wasn't sure, but he knew she had relatives. Normally family protected its own, but obviously not in Kerima's case.
Kerima forced herself to calm down and schooled her face to blankness. She had to get her point across, and anger just wasn't going to work. Nevermind the torment she had gone though when he left, the punishment she had endured when the elders, including her father, had realized she hadn't bound Kuronue to her more securely. He was just going to throw it all away because he felt he had to protect her.
That part was her fault. She had tried to minimalize the effects her saving his life would have on him, but her magic only allowed so much leeway. Because of how they were connected, he would instinctively want to protect her. It was as much of a survival instinct for the patients as it was a defense mechanism for the healers that employed such a technique. What was worse, was that the more time he spent with her, the stronger the instinct would become. He would become better if he would just distance himself from her, but she doubted he was thinking clear enough to do so.
Still, she could have bound him much more firmly, but she was her mother's daughter. She was not about to force someone to be her protector… or anything else for that matter. And she wasn't about to have Kuronue try to kill her father and her grandfather as well as the other elders. Despite how badly they treated her, they were still family, and she owed them at least a little bit of loyalty.
Perhaps she needed to try another way to convince Kuronue to leave. Reasoning that it would be safer for him wasn't working. Maybe if she used his instincts to protect her, she could convince him to leave. She didn't want him to stay in her village, not when she knew he would be forced to stay, especially not when she knew she would feel every time he slept with a woman. As long as he was farther away, she would feel nothing but his own pain, which was much better than feeling both his pain and his pleasure. He would never be hers, and it hurt her heart for him to be so close and yet so far.
"With you gone, I will be safer. They will have no reason to force me to bind you once you're gone, and eventually they'll forget this whole thing and leave me alone again," Kerima told him, voice calm and reasonable. She could not let her anger get away from her again. She would not let her temper have reign over her.
"I don't believe you." His blue eyes blazed in an all too serious face. Normally he was light hearted, and normally he wouldn't become so hot and bothered over such a less than beautiful female, but he felt rage over the idea that she was in danger. It even baffled him that she was trying to protect him… the weakest adult in the village was trying to get him to leave to keep him safe. She would obviously even lie to achieve her goal, but he wasn't going to back down so easily. "What would they do to you if you left?"
"They would not kill me nor harm me too badly, for fear of killing you. There will be minor punishments, minor pain… nothing more," she assured him.
Kuronue wasn't sure if that was completely true, but he would let that slide for the moment. For now he needed to get as much information as possible so he could protect the girl. "What would they do to you to force you to bind me here?"
Kerima looked at him, face still expressionless. It was starting to piss him off. Did she have no concern for herself? "Minor to medium punishments or pain, since they know you are here among so many healers, and thus much less likely to come to harm. Since they know where you are and what is around you, they have little fear that if you are hurt because of me you'll die from some random demon attack or accident. You'll be much more likely just to stay in bed and be attended by our healers." Her voice was even empty of all emotion, and he wasn't sure if that was because she had that much control or if she just didn't care about herself.
Suddenly, it hit him. All the strange wounds or bruises that had appeared on his body for no reason had been because her people had punished her for letting him leave. While he had been running around free, she had been tortured, and he abruptly felt sick to his stomach. All her suffering had been because he had left.
"Tell me who punished you," Kuronue ordered. He was not going to let them get away with hurting her again.
"No." Her reply was clear and concise, her eyes serious.
The bat demon could tell that she wasn't going to answer him. She would tell him nothing she didn't want him to know. Only in her anger had she given anything away, but she was calm now. "Then you have two other choices."
Kerima shook her head, frowning at him. Before she could protest more, he covered her lips with his hand. She tried talking, but all she could get out were unintelligible mumbles.
"Now, now, now. You haven't even heard your choices yet," he said, voice light and gentle. He had attempted to be his normal, light-hearted self, and had succeeded, making himself feel much better. "First of all, I can stay here with you." She shook her head vigorously. "But since you hate that idea so much, option two is you can leave with me." He removed his hand from her mouth. "So, which will it be?"