AN bleuxe: I'm back, I took a break way longer than I thought way too much work really...holidays always got me working too much & so enjoy this. Happy New Year & Happy Lunar New Year as well as Happy MLK day. Year of the Snake!

Lydia needed some time alone because she was sick of being stuck in the Kyogoku house. She was confined to two rooms either with Daki or the bedroom by herself. But she could understand why Daki was always in a bad mood. The sounds and smell here were constant and was overwhelming for someone like her who freshly changed demon. Lately she has been promoting her bad smoking habit just to block out one of those senses.

"I wish I could go back to being human...control this is a lot harder than I thought," Lydia said frustrated looking at a mirror.

"Yes, because you are making it harder than it needs to be, changing your eye color is the easiest part!" Daki stood behind her in disapproval.

Her eyes refused to turn anything, but dark gray. Well none of her features that she gained as a demon refused to change back.

"Daki have you ever thought maybe that the reason why I can't change these things is because I'm hybrid!" she sighed, not liking to refer to herself as hybrid. It reminded her of a cannabis strain or a car.

"Hmm you may have a point..."

Daki hated not knowing anything about her strengths or weaknesses anymore. Things were not going to be as simple as she first thought. She wanted to teach her things since Lydia was in the early stages of being a demon. The first years can be the scariest and most dangerous for someone like her. The fact she didn't have complete control of her strength or that devil tail of hers, will make any human question her. Well her being a foreigner made everyone stare at her already.

"Can I get out of this place and just go outside!"

"Why?" Daki was annoyed at such a sudden outburst.

"I can't stand being in this place anymore, the noises, the smell...it is disgusting!"

"And where would you go?"

"Back to the abandon house,"

"Alone?"

"Well I'm a big girl, I don't need to be supervision!" she was in desperate need of some alone time anyways.

"How would you get there without being noticed?"

Lydia had to think for a second. Before she remembered Akaza jumped out the window and across the street on the rooftop with her on his shoulder.

"Rooftops! I'll travel by rooftop,"

The older demoness thought about this for a second, wondering if this was even a good idea? She did start to think if this was some kind of ploy because ever since Gyutaro told Lydia that they had to get married by the next full moon. She has been oddly quiet about it and usually she was the type to make a fuss about everything.

"It has been a while since I've taken a client..." she nodded and waltzed over to the window. Opening it as flurries of snowflakes swirled in. Daki wanted to know her true intention if Lydia would become a runaway bride.

"Fine then, show me you are able to land on that rooftop without being noticed," she pointed to across the street.

"That should be too hard I-"

"If you can't do it, then you can go into my belt without having to worry about anything anymore..." Daki smiled smugly.

Lydia didn't like the sound of that and shuddered when she thought of the sensation of her legs sinking in that belt. Her eyes became lazer focus on her landing spot, darting across the room and out the window. Before she knew it, she was on the snowy roof and was a light landing too. Daki scanned the many humans below making sure no one had noticed, then looked up toward her.

She smiled triumph then waved her goodbye and took off running. While Daki sent a piece of her belt after her, just to keep an eye on her.

Lydia made it to the abandoned house with any problems and was about go in. When she paused at the door and thought she never had the opportunity to exploring the forest before. Technically speaking she was alone, finally alone and to be able to think without anyone intruding it. Why would she want to go be confined to another place and a small one at that.

Right away she turned toward the forest and thought to herself she wouldn't stay long. Ume narrowed its eyes in the shadows behind her. The belt glided soundless in the crisp night air making sure there was a good distance between it and her.

Lydia was in a winter wonderland, it truly was serene and picturesque. This was one of the few glad moments that she was a demon because this freezing weather had no effects on her. Even though this freezing cold reminded of her city at night. During the day it could get so hot, but the night was always the polar opposite. That was the desert life, but she never experienced so much snow before.

She started to pick the pace and wanted to see how big this forest was. Soon Lydia was running at full force because she felt like she was flying on how fast she was moving. Then started to see how high she could jump. It was so exhilarating, feeling the snowflakes pelt her face as they quickly melted into raindrops when passing by.

Laughing all the way as she made it to the treetops and truly feeling like a ninja as she sat on a large branch. Staring up at the night sky because it was another thing to marvel at. A sea of stars as far as the eye can see with the half moon in the center of it all.

"It's almost a full moon..." Lydia whispered to herself.

The mating ritual was supposed to happen soon and she didn't have a choice in the matter. Thanks to that awful demon king and Gyutaro was as happy as can be, while she was not. She couldn't ever express that between the siblings because to them this was such a great idea. The customs and the cultural differences were really constrainting her.

Wondering what she could actually do in this situation, when she heard screams. Leaping down to the ground and dashing towards the noise. Ume cursed underneath it and knew sooner than later she would head towards trouble.

The first thing she saw was ruby droplets of blood staining the snow. The Oiran dropped to her knees holding the right side of her face with more blood spilling between her fingers.

"Damnit, why did you ruin the merchandise! We could have gotten money for her and now nothing!" the shorter man sneered.

"Shut it up, Saito! What was I supposed to do? Let the bitch scratch out my eyes!" The brute looking man snapped with a bloody dagger in one hand and rubbed his scratched up face with his other hand.

"Besides she is not completely useless, there are other uses we can do to her," the third and final one said with perverted intention.

Lydia had heard enough because she went through a somewhat similar event when she first came to Yoshiwara. Her devil tail wrapped around one of her legs and up curled under her foot. Easily launching her like a torpedo, where she slammed the biggest one in his back making him face planted into the frozen ground. Hard enough to make blood splatter and bones break.

"Three vs one, a woman isn't fair, but I wouldn't expect much out of scum like you..." Lydia tsked having her tail now wrapped around her belt like an objime.

She was now kneeling on the dead man's back and not expecting the nameless man to run up and stab her with a spear hidden on his back. He rammed it into a nearby tree, knocking the wind out of her.

"Where the hell did she come from?!" Saito shouted bewildered, poking his partner on the ground unsure if he was really dead?

"I don't know, but look at her? Her skin is really dark and that hair of hers looks wild... definitely an outsider!"

The pervert was now leering at her cleavage because where he spearheaded her was straight through her solar plexus loosening her kimono and pinning to the tree. She coughed up blood, this was painful, but this wasn't as bad as when she had one of her limbs chopped off by a nichirin blade.

"Still alive foreigner?" the man asked surprised and was getting real close to her for some reason.

"Maybe you and I can have some fun before you go?" His fingers were way too close in touching her lips.

"(snap) AHHHH! (crunch)" she bit his two of his digits clean off as he fell back holding his injured hand.

"Niiiice one Lydia! Though you still shouldn't have let a lowlife get one over you like that," Gyutaro chuckled, making her look up in the same tree that she was pinned to.

Lydia forced herself to spit out the man's fingers because for some reason she almost ate them. As he jumped down from the branches next to her and swiftly pulled the spear out of her, with the blade already rusted up.

"You still need to learn to be more gentle because that really hurts!" she grimaced holding her wound with her tail turning metallic like.

"Hm you need to learn to regenerate faster, if this was another demon you would be in bad shape right now!" he was actually pissed that she gotten hurt.

None of this should be possible was all Saito could think and that green haired man that also came out of no where look like a walking skeleton. No he was a monster and so was that foreign woman next to him.

"Monsters!" Was all Saito could utter as he began to back away, ready to leave everyone else behind.

"Monsters?" Lydia cocked her head to the side not liking being in pain. Her devil tail unravelled from her waist and flared up into metal spikes.

"The only monsters I see are the sex traffickers and rapists in front of me!" As she shedded the spikes sending them flying into Saito's body before he could take off running. Essentially turning him into a cactus, as he died on the snow.

The scared Orian who was still kneeling on the ground, saw this as an opportunity to stand up and escape.

"I'll take care of this," Gyutaro suddenly remarked, pulling out his scythe.

"What!? Just let her go because she has been through enough!" Lydia was already in front him block his view as the woman in the background struggled to run with her injured eye.

"And have demon slayers all over us like the pest they are! She saw that we are demons!" he shook his head because he wasn't letting that happen.

"Please Gyutaro I'll never ask you to do this again! Please spare her!" she had her arms were wide open pleading with him.

He considered what she was saying for a second, but it was so illogical and stupid of her. If the roles were reversed there was no doubt in his mind the other woman would throw Lydia to the wolves just save her own skin. Just watching her stumbling around in the snow and not even thanking them for saving her. Like a coward and how he hated cowards.

"I'll make it quick and painless," was all he could promise.

"NOOO!"

When Gyutaro toss his scythe, Lydia literally tried everything in her might to get in the way of it. With ease he liquefy his weapon to avoid hitting her completely and going for the intended target. Gently as the snowfall the Orian's body fell with her detach head, slowly rolling away.

"Why!...why don't you ever listen to me..."

She wanted to scream at him, but it only came out into a whisper. She wanted to go insane, holding back her tears because it wasn't going to help the dead woman. But wanted him know she was anger.

"In a relationship there has to be compromise and it can't be just be your way or the highway!" just as Gyutaro was about to open his mouth to retort was when Lydia's tail cracked in the air like whip actually startling him.

"I'm-not-done-talking!"

Lydia's eyes were steely and cold like a blade ready to strike, with the air fill with tension. While her tail slither towards the lone human survivor trying to despairly crawl away from them.

"Like this whole mating ritual and marriage thing! I very much hate that I'm being forced to do this, when all of this should just come natural!" she gritted her fangs while adding bitterly because everything was coming out on how she been feeling lately.

"I get we can't go against what this demon king wants, but you and your sister are not going to just dictate my life forever!"

Her tail, which he really believed she wasn't paying attention to it, throughout this entire rant because it had seized that person by the throat. The more the man tried to pull at it the more aggressive the tail gotten. Until it looped around his wrists as well and raised the frightened man in the air. In complete chokehold now and futility kicking his legs unable to breathe which was highly entertaining for Gyutaro.

"I don't care if I'm in feudal times. You need to respect my wishes or you will kiss me and this relationship good-bye! And another thing... Are you even listening to me!?" Lydia yelled with an anger mark appearing on her forehead while hearing a sickening cracking sound behind her.

She looked back only to see that her tail snapped that slimy guy's neck along with his wrists and then dropped his body like the crumpled up trash he was.

"Damn... I really wanted to torture him some more before killing him..."

This only made Gyutaro laugh uncontrollable at this point.

"Sooo violent! I love it, I love you!"

Lydia gasped and watched his eyes widen as well because he didn't mean to just stupidly blurt that. Quickly turned away and began gathering up the corpses to put in a pile.

"Do you actually mean that?" she followed behind him with her heart a flutter.

"Of course I meant it, but you don't feel the same way," he saw no point in being in denial about it.

"I feel the same way... I-I love you too!"

Gyutaro stared at her for a long moment and she looked flustered with snowflakes beautifully decorated on her curls.

"I-It is just that marriage is a big step and-"

"And your afraid and you think we are not ready?" he took the words right out of her mouth because he heard this before.

"You think I don't listen to you," he stepped to her, putting his hand on her chest.

"I listened to you when you sleep, when you were sick and could barely move," she put her hand on top of his.

"When you are heartbroken, hell even now I'm listening to a heart that shouldn't even be pounding this hard at all...does this heartbeat for me?" Gyutaro was staring so deeply into her eyes.

"Y-Yes!" Lydia leaned in so close to nuzzling to his lips.

He kissed her forehead making her feel like he straight up curb her. This caused her glare at him as her tail twitched in annoyance while he moved away with a grin on his face.

"Oh you think your hot shit now!"

"Thank you Lydia," Gyutaro merely crouched down in front of the bodies.

"For what?" she asked still pouty.

"For the meal because you always make the best of meals," he did a single clap of his hands ready to eat.

"Hopeful you don't choke on it!" Lydia huffed. She refusing to watch him eat deciding to look out into distance instead and avoiding all the blood spots in the snow.