Life was pretty hard with parents like Izumi's. They were exactly the type of people who shouldn't have children. They weren't cruel but they felt like life should be taken by the horns. Having a baby shouldn't stop that. They had traveled with her all over the world. This presented problems of all its own. One of the glaringly big ones was since she could remember she had been working.
Whether it was legal or illegal. Honestly most of it was illegal because of her age, but she had gotten all sorts of jobs. She had to or else she would have starved with her parents' neglect. It got so bad that she had never been in a proper schooling setting. Learning what she knew from her parents and the limited home schooling she had.
While her parents never physically harmed her, they did often forget that she even existed from time to time. They viewed her as neither positive nor negative. Almost like a plant they had forgotten to water.
Being a very intelligent child, she had learnt at a young age to be quite independent, almost to the point of totally antisocial.
Due to working at inhospitable places some of her older male coworkers worried that she would make a target of herself, being a young girl working late at night. Objectively she was pretty. Her hair was long and a dark shade of blue while her eyes were doe eyed and a lighter blue. She appeared thin, but was rather toned from the hard labor she often had to stoop to. Not that she had to stoop much with her height…or lack thereof. She stood at a whole 4'10 and that was without the cute hair that always stuck up no matter how she tried to tame it. All in all she seemed at first glance…vulnerable.
So they got together and taught her self defense starting with aikido. Which she excelled at. Unfortunately she had to use it often so much so that when in danger her first instinct is to strike first and ask questions later.
All in all if she had one fatal flaw though it would be the need to prove she is not weak. While it doesn't bother her to not be the best at something she also can't stand being the worst. Whatever she couldn't physically accomplish she used her intelligence to overcome, which led to her being very popular for manual jobs.
The girl was no stranger to having to work hard and she didn't have the luxury to stop even on special days like say, her 18th birthday. Otherwise known as today.
She had gotten hired at a semi respectable price on a fishing boat. It was large and manual labor was always needed, plus no one was looking for a fish gig this time of year. And just as her luck would have it she had chosen the WORST time to do extra work. A freak storm had kicked up at sea and was jeopardizing the quality of the cargo.
Something that would have their pay docked and she couldn't really afford that. "Izumi hurry and grab that side!" Cried one of the workers, whose name escaped her at this moment.
"Roger." She called back darting around the corner to secure the latches on each door. She was reaching for the last lock when she assumed a huge wave hit the boat tilting it and making the floor almost 45 degrees and causing the door that wasn't latched to fly open and the large tuna came sliding straight at her. She had lost her footing at the sloping of the floor and didn't have time to knock the fish out of the way so she tensed and waited for the impact
An impact that never came. She looked up to see the frozen fish's open mouth inches from her face, its dead beady eyes staring at her.
"What the heck?" She mumbled, moving to the side and examining the thing. She couldn't believe what she was seeing so she turned to call out to one of her coworkers. However her field of view was clouded by purple. Her eyes moved further up and she saw far above her an old man in a purple suit. He was bald and had yellow horns protruding from the top of his head. He had a silver bird skull nestled in a ring of fur that circled the man's neck. She stepped back but was unable to accomplish much more as rope materialized around her tying her up. "Hey let me go."
The old man opened his mouth and spoke in a language that was deep and guttural. She couldn't understand but the words raised hairs on the back of her neck. Was this man a monster? A little sign appeared on her ropes and she glanced down and was shocked to see the sign was written in a language she could understand and read 'SOLD'.
Sold? What kinda joke was this? The man made no sound and the fish cargo bay vanished and they were flying through a blackened void. He had large leathery wings flapping from his back while she was being dragged behind him with no choice in the matter.
"Hey, what's going on?" She yelled, she wasn't as tense as earlier. Whatever this wizard man was she didn't have a chance… not yet at least. She would have to wait for the perfect moment then make a getaway. Being anything other than seemingly relaxed would keep his guard up too.
The man spoke in the deep guttural way again before snapping his fingers. Izumi felt something in her mind tingle as he continued. "Now you will understand our language. Izumi Suzuki, you now live in the Demon world."
What? She could understand that...how convenient… Wait. Demon world? Her blue eyes looked over the surroundings and then back to the old man's back. "Why?" She asked. She could ask about the demon world and other things later. Right now her only thought was that clearly this wizard/demon/person had cast some curse or spell on her but she couldn't understand. Why her?
The man looked back at her briefly. She looked pretty sad with her long hair skewed and rumpled and large eyes that almost looked tearful. She seemed smart enough to figure it out given a few more pieces of the puzzle. "I am a Demon, the great demon Sullivan. Your parents sold you to me."
Izumi took a deep breath to rebuke him, thinking for a split second that her parents would never do that. But then reality hit her. Who am I kidding…They would try whatever weird thing they found. This really wasn't unexpect. Carpe diem, right?
She sighed resigned to the fact that she was sold to a demon. There was nothing she could do about it right now anyways. She hadn't thought they were real to be honest, the demons. However, as the curled and barren black trees that stretched before her and the sky that was pure and unpolluted, she did have to admit this didn't look like the Earth from where she came. She could see that on the horizon, where they seemed to be headed was a castle that had spikes and horns and wings adorning it.
Izumi's eyes widened. She had never seen something so spooky yet appealing before. But now the question was what was this great demon going to do with her?
The demon as it turned out had owned this manor and had a cat man waiting for him. The red headed cat man bowed softly as Sullivan landed with a soft thud. As her luck would have it she found herself floating behind the old man unable to rest her feet upon the ground. "I can walk Mr. Sullivan." Both men looked at the teen for a moment.
"Right, I'll let you down when we get to the next room. It's just a little further." Izumi looked at him oddly. Has his tone changed? Yes, it definitely wasn't as deep now than it was earlier. She also gave the cat man a side eye. He seemed puzzled but was taking the old man kidnapping a young woman in stride.
Although she supposed she wasn't kidnapped she was bought. Still her eyes landed on a black tail and she glanced between it and the bright red hair on the top of the cat demon's head. Did…Did the cat man dye his hair or was he just multicolored? Somehow it amused her to think that he was changing his hair color. Guess demons might not be as different to humans as she had thought.
Sullivan threw open a door and bright colors and delicious smells assaulted her senses. She had to slowly look around the room to see it all. A table of food sat upon the side of the wall with questionable substances but they smelled mouthwatering nonetheless.
Along the back wall was a brightly colored armchair with horns and on either side was a large vase of…eye flowers. They had different color eyes that moved around randomly and the eyes were surrounded by purple and teal rose petals. They were grotesque, but also kinda pretty. Above the chair was a large baby mobile.
"We're here." The old man said in a sing-song voice. Then with a long finger he pointed to the chair. Her body rocketed forward and was put sitting on the chair. Yes, now she knew this demon was a wizard demon. As her butt touched the seat the ropes disappeared. She was able to flee now, but she really didn't have anywhere to go back to.
Now that her parents had sold her she didn't have a semi-home to go back to. "So, what now?" She looked up at the great demon that loomed over her. "Why did you buy me? Am I to be something you eat?"
Sullivan knelt down and grabbed the woman's hand. "Izumi Suzuki, please, won't you be my granddaughter?" Silence struck Izumi and the cat man behind Sullivan. But despite them being in shock he continued as he stood and hugged himself. "I don't have any children but it has always been my dream to have a cute little grandchild to spoil."
"What?" The girl was too stunned to speak and the older and taller demon dropped to his knees in front of her tears spilling from his face.
"Please, I'll spoil you rotten. Levi and Belial have been bragging about their grandchildren and it makes me so jealous. I'll give you everything you want. Please say you will." He moved closer to her face, tears starting to soak his cheeks and fur.
"Did you just buy me to make me your grandkid?"
"Yes, please! I even got flowers." He said and might have said more but Izumi couldn't hear.
Her eyes glanced at the clearly decorated room. Flowers and food. It wasn't much but it was nice to be welcomed for once. Just because it showed someone cared.
"Please, I'm desperate." He cried. She looked back to the tall demon. Who was still crying. Did she even have anywhere to go? And moreover, should she leave someone who was crying his heart out for a grandchild?
She tilted her head with a sigh. "Look, no funny business right? You just want a grandkid not some…I don't know…a house cleaning cook?"
"That would be me." The cat man raised his clawed hand. She glanced at him but he said nothing more.
"Yes, I only want a grandkid." He cried more and she nodded.
"Fine." She said defeatedly. It wasn't like her choices were plentiful. He whipped out a paper that looked ancient. At the top was the words Contract of Blood. Well that didn't sound good.
She skimmed the document and found why it was called that. It was an adoption sheet.
"By signing this, you, the contractee, are giving up your old blood, i.e. bonds with your parents, siblings, friends and any other bonds previously made, and taking on a new bloodline." She read out loud while Sullivan nodded excitedly. "This seems pretty serious. But I don't have any bonds, not really, is that still okay?"
"That just makes the transition easier." The overly enthusiastic demon cheered. A soft smile graced her face. Has she ever had someone this excited to be family with her? "Then you'll slowly take on my bloodline."
"So do I just sign the bottom?" She asked, staring closer at the paper. She had missed the wording of the demon. Sullivan nodded rapidly and gave her a pen.
"This is a contract pen, it'll prick your finger so you can sign with it." He nodded happily, having already signed his name.
"I see." She looked at the pen warily. As soon as the tip of the pen hit the paper she felt a stinging in her index finger. The ink came out blood red and as soon as the last character of her name was written, the contract glowed brightly.
The words rose from the paper and became chains that lashed out and wrapped around her right arm and Sullivan's left. She felt energy swirling around them before everything calmed as if it never happened. Everything was the same except for the contract which was now blank, not even her name was left.
"Welcome home, Izumi." The old man smiled. Yes, perhaps in time this could be her home.