Hey, people. I know these updates are fast but I'm hoping to have the first five or six chapters of Demon Battle Rises out before I go on vacation to see how well they do. This project shouldn't have been neglected but seeing how well it fairs on this site is just another part of this process. So I'm figuring if I get a lot of the stuff sent in before the full swing of the Xenolith arc hits, I can see if I really should begin writing this story and even be able to tell you the ending I have all set up.

Or maybe I'm just a washed up writer looking for somebody to believe in me and the stories I create, either way, I want my readers to be just as involved in this project as I am. I want you to feel like all of your ideas and your wishes for this story are taken into consideration. This project belongs to all of us and for that, allow yourself to review the negative and allow yourself to ask questions or suggest something. This is everybody's story, I just get the pleasure of telling it.

Anyways, I shouldn't be babbling so much, you should enjoy this story. Enjoy chapter three of DBR everybody.

xKiha

'Where are you? Why did you just take off on me after that? I promised that I could and would fight alongside you but you left anyways. Why? I thought this meant we were partners, that we were supposed to work together as a team.'

Kimiko was staring out the window in her classroom as she normally would do, frowning as she watched the clouds. This time it was different, she had something important to think about instead of daydreaming of whatever came to her mind.

It had been a week since she had opened the spell book and released the first spell. A week since even though she agreed to fight with Tsumi he instead turned his small back on her and walked away without even explaining why.

A week since she had heard from him, a week of not knowing if this newfound partner of her's was even still alive.

It hurt, not only that he didn't want her to be his bookreader but because now she was surrounded by questions and things she just didn't understand about what had happened to them both. For example, all she could think about was what must have been in that poison attack Tsumi called his first spell to eat right through the metal ball. It wasn't a solid but a gas and yet it seemed to eat right through the thing without any difficulty. But she had taken the time to inspect it and somehow, it almost seemed that instead of being eaten through, it may have been burned through.

Well, she was taking Chemistry this yeah.

Kimiko looked up at her teacher and raising her hand with a bit of urgency. "Mister Kincad?"

The man with blond hair turned, smiling in the ever patient look he gave all of his students imbedded in his understanding eyes. "Yes?"

'They're all going to laugh at me for asking such a weird question out of the blue like this.' Kimiko drawing in a breath before managing to find her words. "Is there any way something toxic could eat or burn through something like solid metal?"

"If it was acidic then yes, but otherwise no."

The teenager slowly looked at her feet, nodding as those words revolved inside her mind in a tornado like fashion. So Rachido was powerful and acidic, meaning it could easily severely burn the skin of anybody it came in contact with. Tsumi's spells weren't as simple as they seemed, which meant that this child could in fact be a danger or even lethal if he wanted to be.

This wasn't just a game and she needed to remember that religiously. Just in case Tsumi came back. After all she did have his book with her and was keeping it safe for when he did decide to return.

'Just come back. You know we can fight together, that I want to be your bookreader. You've got nothing to be afraid of; we've already used the first spell. I know that wherever you are you're afraid, but I also know that deep down, you know you can't quit now.'

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'Nobody really said anything after I asked such a weird question, guess that means I'm safe, at least for now.' Kimiko gathering her stuff as she looked around her classroom, picking up the purple spell book which until then she hadn't thought much about hiding from the eyes of the others. Something just made her doubt the possibility of running into any kind of threat here. However, when she turned around and placed the powerful little thing in her book bag she found eyes on her.

This girl was rather unfamiliar, her skin a pale ivory and her eyes a blank teal. Her uniform looking a bit big on her tiny figure but not enough to make it sag. Scars seeming to somewhat decorate her face while long black bangs covered her forehead. She was silent, never said a thing as she only watched Kimiko for a while before getting up and walking away.

'Who was that?'

The brunette wasn't sure why, but she was intimidated beyond belief just by the look she was getting, watching the girl coldly walk away and resisting the urge to scream out and get her to turn around. You can't just stare at a person like that and then walk away like nothing happened! You just don't do something like that!

As if she hadn't been annoyed enough with this week, this had to happen and for some reason the brunette just couldn't shake this feeling that this little encounter was going to mean something much more important in the future.

She was more than right.

Leaving the school and taking a step out into the harsh wind of fall, she looked up at the early setting sun and began to wonder if Tsumi would ever come back or if this was going to all fall apart before it even really began. Little to say she was scared at the idea of him being all on his own in a place like Japan, the country seemed small on the map but once you began to live here you realized just how big such a small place can be. And once you watch the news, you're reminded of what a dangerous place it can be as well. Of course, thinking this way only made Kimiko panic more, which in turn didn't help in the slightest.

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Tsumi sat on the outskirts of Hokkaido, his arms holding his cloak close to his body to keep himself warm as the cold October air continued to blow around and make his hair more than a little messy along with ripping his cloak from his shivering form.

He felt incomplete, not having either his book or his dignity to speak of. No, he wasn't just incomplete but he was nothing. Well, nothing but a weakling and a traitor.

He finally got his partner, got his chance to really fight back to prove his worth and become stronger, he even won a battle! And what did he do after he finally won something? Nothing but run away from everything and leave his book reader all by herself along with the book that was keeping him in the human world.

He always ran away, this was always how it was and how it would always be. He had been a baby before coming here and nothing could change him.

Not even Kimiko.

Damn it, he really didn't even want to be here. He had begged Gash not to send him, crying that he would never be a fighter and that nobody could ever force him to battle if he didn't want to do it. The King however had none of that and even the Queen wouldn't come to Tsumi's defense and he bawled and begged for the reason why he would have to fight and why he had to go. Gash only really told him one thing and Tsumi never really understood the meaning behind it.

"You are strong and nothing can stand in your way and your destiny, I know this better than anybody else. Nobody had faith in me. Everybody saw me as a weakling, but I wouldn't allow them to stand in the way of my goals and my ideals. I also know the power that you are holding back from yourself and just how strong you are. Tsumi, the only way you can see that is if you fight for it and teach everybody who has ever failed to believe you what you really are."

How could he fight for something like that? And what was he even fighting for in the first place? God, he hated all those riddles Gash had told him, none of them ever made a lick of sense! How was he supposed to unlock the powers he didn't have in the first place? He couldn't just snap his fingers and give himself some form of ultimate power.

"Hn, what do we have here? A little demon all on his own?"

Tsumi turned around in shock at the teasing voice, looking up a tree only to find a single pair of grey eyes staring right at him from within the leaves. He froze right away, his entire body growing ridged. Something about those eyes were familiar in an uncomfortable way, looking up at the silver irises but saying nothing. He wasn't sure his words could come out even if he wanted them too.

"Frightened?"

The little boy backed up, shivering as he tripped over a stone and landing on his back side, trying to walk backwards on his hands. Any distance he could put between them both could be wonderful. "N-No!"

Right away he knew this was a demon child and judging by the silver eyes that resembled what Tsumi guessed to be a feral animal, he wasn't sure just what was about to happen if this demon chose to pounce. He wasn't even sure why she was speaking to him. If she had a book reader and was hoping to wipe him out here and now or if she was alone and only wanted to speak with him.

"Well, you are brave for talking back to me." The darkness of the night covering the demon child as she jumped out of the tree but kept her distance so young Tsumi could only make out her shadow. "And even more brave for going out of here on your own. Don't you have a bookreader?"

Tsumi nodded, thinking maybe it would make him look tougher even if he had no thoughts of returning to Kimiko any time soon. "Yes, I have a book reader. She's just not with me right now"

"Do they have your spell book with them wherever they are?"

He nodded again; after all she really did have his book with her. The good thing about this was not only that he was telling the truth but he wouldn't have to fear her noticing any lying and basically beat him to death even without his book. But then again, this also meant he was still stuck on earth.

"That's too bad, I guess I can't destroy you the way I wanted to just yet." The sound of what may have been a blade being taken out of its sheath ringing in Tsumi's ears as this figure began to get closer to him, the moonlight reflecting on the area as he noticed the blade it wasn't what he expected. No, instead of a sword or any kind of bladed weapon this was a nothing other than the razor sharp claws on her hands. All of them glinting in the moonlight, perfectly curled in a way that made Tsumi fear that they were all too used to doing jobs like slashing the throats of her enemies wide open. His shaking hands brushing against his own neck for only a second before he looked back at her with a trembling fear

"No! Please!" The figure began to get closer to the defenseless Tsumi, the boy backing up on his hands as he begged for the forgiveness he didn't need. "You don't have to do this to me! I don't even know you! We're not enemies and we've never met before!"

"We're both in this fight, that makes us enemies." The figure only got closer, her sharp claws shining in the light of the moon while Tsumi continued to back up. Knowing he wasn't going to get away from this one as tears began to glisten in his eyes.

"H-Help! Somebody, please!"

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Kimiko shivered from where she lay on her bed, something felt very wrong as she put down her pencil. She stood up without a word, walking over to her window and beginning to stare out of it for a reason she didn't know. It was almost as if something was beckoning her to look, opening the window and feeling the cold wind on her face. She was never all that fond of cold weather, but she just couldn't back away from the window, her eyes slowly opening and beginning to look around the area to see if there really was anything she was supposed to be seeing or noticing outside.

It was then that her eyes fell upon a single figure limping down the road, the girl unable to make out just who it was for a moment and just watched the figure begin to get closer. Her eyes getting wide as she realized just who this was and in what condition they were in.

Moments later, wearing nothing but some very light pajamas Kimiko was down the street with her hazel eyes wider than silver dollars. "Tsumi! Oh my god, are you okay!?"

Sure enough it was none other than Tsumi who was struggling to even walk as he gazed up at the girl now by his side. "Hey, Kimiko." His voice soft and raspy as he continued to try and balance himself. "Didn't think I would see you again, not this soon."

The girl blinked, slowly reaching out and touching his shoulder slowly and watching him wince at the mere brush of her fingertips. "What happened to you!"

"I-I...got into a fight." The little boy laughing softly but whimpering in pain just by his chest moving up and down thanks to this gentle laugh. "I was too weak to even fight back to a demon with no..no...no...bookreader."

His voice faltered for a moment and without a warning the boy fell forward, his book reader gasping in horror but catching him just in time so his body made no contact with the pavement. She turned him around to see his eyes empty, biting her lip in worry and checking his heart rate. His pulse seemed normal enough, the girl sighing in relief as she realized that he had only passed out from exhaustion.

"Ssh, it's going to be okay!"

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Tsumi's soft purple eyes shot open, a strong pain in his body as he tried to sit himself up.

"Don't try and move, you're hurt."

The demon child hesitated as he shifted his weight, turning and finding Kimiko sitting beside the futon Tsumi had been sleeping on before he left them both. He was stunned to see her only because he hadn't remember what happened or that he walked over to her street basically mindlessly after taking the beating he did. "Kimiko."

The girl sighed, standing up as she began to look at the window and the morning sun shining down on them both. "You really scared me when you showed up, beaten and bruised. Thank God you just needed some bandages and rest or else you might have ended up in a hospital. And I'm not sure I want to know just how a doctor would react to finding out the child they were fixing up wasn't even a human, but a demon child from some other universe"

Tsumi pulled the blankets of the futon off his body, trying to stand up and whimpering in pure pain when he realized that just by trying to move himself in this state, he'd only be putting his boy through what he could only describe as pure agony. "Thank you, for helping me out."

Kimiko frowned, sitting him back down before crossing her arms in a motherly manor. "No, no. Don't even think about leaving for one second, I lost you once and I'm not going to let you go off on your own again! We're partners, Tsumi. If I'm the only person that can help you work towards the entire reason that you're here, I think that honestly means something. I'm meant to fight with you, to fight as the team some destiny decided we were going to be."

The demon child hesitated for a moment, shaking his head in a bit of upset. "I can't fight with you. I shouldn't even be in this world fighting in the first place!"

The brunette didn't listen, standing up and taking the purple spell book off her night stand beside her bed. "Then tell me what this means." Holding the book out and showing the cover to the demon child. "We are partners, this book is something special I can read for you. That means something to me and it means something to the rules of this game. You are my partner and I'm not going to lose you again."

Tsumi whimpered, biting into his lip as he realized she was being honest, that their partnership really meant something important to her. Even though he didn't want to accept it before, their partnership meant something to him as well. It wasn't that he was predisposed to love her or feel drawn to her, but they had taken time to know one another and now, he felt bonded with the brunette.

His eyes beginning to water as he looked to the brunette and his purple spellbook, a single tear slipping down to his cheek. "Yes. Please, help me fight! F-Forgive me please, forgive me and fight with me. I want to be a team and grow stronger together. I want us to unlock new spells and make friends, to work towards deciding what kind of a king I would like to be and how I could help the demon world if we became strong enough to win something like the demon battle!" Tsumi beginning to shake with the strong emotions filling his tiny body, allowing his tears to begin to flow down his thin cheeks in a flow of emotion.

Kimiko smiled gently, sitting down beside the child with her arm comfortably slipping around his shoulder. He looked up at her for only a moment before the girl set the book down on the futon before the both of them. This tiny little thing was more than either could ever understand and now it was what bonded them together. What proved to the rest of the world that they were going to be a team by the hands of destiny and fate themselves.

"Of course I forgive you and yes. Let's fight together, as partners."