Irumi knew her grandfather had asked her to deal with Professor Kalego for one more week, and while she knew the time wasn't long, she wasn't going to give the man any more opportunity to harm or possibly kill her. This found her sitting on a bench on the courtyard's expansive greens watching Alice and Clara bicker before class.
She smiled softly at their shenanigans. Before coming to the demon realm, she had never had an actual chance to make friends, real friends who knew her name and cared about how she felt. Not like Alice who had seen her distress about arriving to Kalego's class early. He'd noticed her dragging her feet to delay their arrival to class and made a suggestion.
"Lady Izu…If it is too much of a hassle, we could spend our day out of class. It would be my utmost pleasure to escort you through the school." He said gleefully, all too ready and willing to ditch class to please the young woman.
"Yay!" Clara cheered running around the greens of the ground, delighting in the thought. "Play day with Izu-chi, Play day with Izu-chi!" The green haired demon spun round and round. Izumi smiled as she watched pleased as Alice launched himself after Clara. He loudly scolded her as the demoness threw her body around with vigor.
"They seem to have found their bond type." The voice that was becoming ever increasingly familiar sounded from behind her. The voice was no longer as obnoxious as it once was, whether that was because of him or how she now viewed him, she was not entirely sure. The bluette looked up to see Sabro standing above her, his own height dwarfing her more so than usual as she sat on the bench. He had his arms folded over his chest as he observed Alice trying to wrangle Clara back to their mate. "It would seem that Asmodeus has become his mate's caretaker." Sabro looked down at her with a look. "You have not figured out what our bonds are, have you?"
Izumi shook her head. "Not yet…I'm not really sure where to start. Opera…they said that I should just be who I am with each mate…I doubt things are so simple as that." She told him. "Wouldn't my mates want to know how I view them?"
The yellow haired male looked at her deeply, the electric yellow eyes staring almost into her soul. Like he felt something off in her words, as if the meaning or phrasing had not "Indeed," He nodded sagely. "None expects you to know or choose now." His voice was loud even when he was speaking softly. "Thou mayest recall the lesson you taught me. A path is not straight. And a bond may start out as one direction and yet may go another."
Izumi looked to the ground in thought. "You…you almost sound like you know what you are talking about." she told him soft and without malice. She meant it as a genuine compliment and he took it as such.
"Besides…" he continued. "You needn't fret. You need only to keep your eyes on me for I, Abro Abnock, shall be your top mate." He declared much more in line with how she was used to seeing him. Only this time, she had been unprepared for the declaration of his intentions.
While Izumi was stunned, and perhaps a bit flustered, the young lord's ears twitched from further away at the loud declaration. In fact, many a demon's eyes were drawn to the bold and top tier demon confession. It was a statement of commitment but also a declaration of war. Alice's back stiffened in anger at the sheer audacity of the Son of House Sabro, who would dare to just swoop in to try and steal the spot next to her from him. He promptly abandoned Clara to wreak havoc on some poor unsuspecting demon. Instead he marched with scorching steps towards the yellow haired menace as his lovely blue haired mate looked up at Sabro with such a stunned look and the barest hints of red to her cheeks.
Alice wrapped his arms around Izumi holding her to his chest while placing a hand over her ear that was not against his heart. He cradled her there with soft but firm hands. "Don't listen to his nonsense, Lady Izu. This cretin is the self-same demon who dishonored you yesterday. Challenging you and implying that he was better." Alice bristled as he glared up at him. Flaming pink eyes met electric yell in challenge as Alice listed the demon's transgressions for her and all to hear. The students around the greens stayed absolutely still, barely breathing as they waited for the fight to break out. It was very common for demons to duel for a mate. Though the winner was not always the victor. Demonessess loved to see their mates duel, contingent on the fact that the winner was their favorite.
Alice was so caught up in defending Izumi's 'slighted honor' that he had not put much thought into getting her away from Sabro. No, she was still pressed against his chest, which was not at all the soft touch of what she thought nobility would feel like. She had honestly imagined Alice to be spoiled and maybe a bit pampered. The male had not acted, when they first met, like he was used to being denied anything. Even though she knew he could wield his flame sword well, she had never given much thought to the fact he might be muscular. However, as he held her gently to him and cradled her there, she knew him to be toned. She looked up and could see the determination in his eyes and the tightness of his clenched jaw. She should be stopping the two from going at it but…her heart fluttered. Protected…that was the feeling she got around Alice and around Opera. They were protective. It was, well it was rather nice and it made her chest tighten in a way that was both uncomfortable but also made her crave more. It scared her in a way.
"Enough you two." Professor Dally, she believed his name was, scolded them. His voice startled her as she had not noticed him approaching. "No, you must go to class. The bell will ring shortly. There will be no fighting." The brown haired professor seemed almost disappointed to have to break up whatever fight might have commenced, however duty was duty after all. "Away with you all." He shooed them towards class, dispersing the growing crowd and distracting the feuding mates.
For the rest of that morning Izumi was in a daze of sorts. Her three mates corralled her to class, even though Asmodeus still wanted to skip. Anything, in his opinion, was better than having to listen to the arrogant dog demon belittle and discourage his small mate.
Even so, she didn't pay much attention to her surroundings. She had been so taken off guard, so utterly distracted by just a split second of someone's facial expression it was almost laughable. Was this the mate bond? The threads of destiny pulling them closer together or was this ust her laughably small experience of male attention? Or perhaps she was just finally in a position where she could allow herself to like and care for those around her without them wanting something physical from her, without paying them back in deeds of labor or favors they might expect of her?
The thoughts whirled in her mind. She was so distracted that the homeroom period had flown by with neither a look towards Professor Kalego, nor a thought of him or the previous day. She would forget that day if she could, she didn't like the negative feelings it gave her. However it was hard to focus on that with the current situation at hand. Her mind spun with thoughts of why her heart thumped heavily at the thought of that look of Alice's as her left arm was clung onto by Clara and her right side pressed firmly against the pink haired demon. Strangely, or perhaps unsurprisingly, Sabro had smashed himself into the small space left on the bench to sit next to her. Even going so far as to sit Clara on his lap so they could fit properly.
She was snapped out of her head when the bell screamed to dismiss homeroom, or rather the small green haired girl throwing herself on to her back with an elated cry. "Izu-chi!" She cried happily. "We've got a new class today. Familiar Studies!"
"Familiar Studies?" The blue haired girl asked inquisitively. "Shouldn't we have been learning about them before now. I mean we've had our familiars for two weeks now?" She asked following the pink and yellow demons through the forested area of the school grounds. She easily carried Clara on her back holding her thighs to insure she was secured. Clara didn't weigh much more than a bag or two of feed. She was used to the weight.
"Yes," Alice turned his eyes to her, the glare that was on Sabro morphed almost instantaneously into a gentle look as they rested on her. "It was supposed to be a class that began before our homerooms, with the groups for the ceremony, however the teacher did not show up until today."
Sabro butted past Alice. "It makes no difference, any demon worth his salt should have an easy time with their familiar." Sabro boasted loudly and proudly. He wanted to show his mate his skills. "Such feats are nothing to me as the future demon king."
Once more, the two males were at each other's throats, growling at one another as they spit barbed comments at one another.
"Oh Wow!" a bubbly voice called out. "You guys are sure an excitable bunch," the entire misfit class looked over to see a demon who was not very tall. He had light green/yellow hair and eyes that matched the color. Izumi would guess the closest color to be a lime green, or perhaps neon green. The bluette looked from the newest demon to Clara's hair, the colors looking very close. Perhapsy they were related? The energy he exuded was definitely like Clara's bubbly personality. "If everyone is ready…Let's summon our familiars." the man cheered.
Izumi's throat went dry. "Sir," she spoke, her mates looking at her as well as the rest of the class. "I can't…summon my familiar." she told him. No way in hell she was going to bring Kalego here…absolutely not. After yesterday, and the cafeteria, she was sure if she summoned him he might just lose it and throttle her the next time he saw her.
The teacher looked puzzled and tilted his head. "You can't? Why not?" He asked, clearly not knowing who her familiar was. She heard some of the misfits snickering. But she ignored them.
"My familiar is…temperamental." she said, trying to not insult the demon directly.
"Oh, well…" Professor Robin pouted. "That's no good. All the more reason to summon your familiar to make a firm bond with them." She opened her mouth to protest again but Robin hit her where it hurt. "I'll have to fail you for today if you don't."
Izumi closed her eyes but breathed. A failing grade was much preferable to dealing with Kalego even if it smarted.
"It's a shame for you to fall behind so early in the year." the professor said and she cringed. No, no. Still…still preferable. The will to persevere was fading faster with each word. "This will put you at the bottom of the class." There it was…the final straw. She could not be at the bottom of the class. She was already just a level one demon and last place in the race, she could add bottom of the class to the list.
Her mouth snapped closed on any protests as her pride got the better of her. She gritted her teeth and made a circle of blood on the paper. A bright light formed the shape of her familiar and she steeled herself for the coming fight.
Kalego's plans were thrown out the window the next day. If he was going to resolve the conflict that had risen between the two of them…he would need to know exactly where he stood beside her. How far he'd fallen from her graces.
However, she was making an extreme effort to avoid him. Arriving exactly on time to class leaving him no room to talk to her that morning save from taking time out of class, which he was greatly considering. No, instead she stuck close to her three mates in his class. Irritatingly so.
Kalego sat in his office brooding. He wasn't going to get help from Opera, and Balam was not the peak of social grace. He was alone in this endeavor for now. Balam had offered to extend Izumi his regrets but Kalego squashed this immediately saying that he disallowed it on the grounds that Balam's support would be too suspicious. It would reveal his status as her mate, something he was still against. It was a demon's nature to take any advantages they could. Kalego refused to be one of hers.
As he worked, he felt an uncomfortable feeling he'd felt only once previously as a bright light engulfed his body.