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The air is cool - that crispness that says the last chill of winter is departing in it.
Shiemi breaths it in, the early rays of the ancient sun shine down on her and her corner of heaven. This world- her world - growing and waking with spring as it crawls into it.
She grows and flourishes right along her fruits and flowers as she skips, small bare and clean feet pad gently over the soft velvety thick moss beneath them. She blows and the wind answers. Swirling around her, golden sun colored strands dancing with the gentle flutter around her elegantly pointed ears. She laughs and dances, answering the call of nature with her own words as she looks up and breathes the beauty above her.
The sky is liquid blue - clear like crystal bright and wide above her high hammock and thick oak.
It would not rain today it seems. Shiemi doesn't mind, she'll get the water herself. With a smile and a wave at her bird friends that twitter by and land on her beckoning hand and head, she flitters to her babbling brooks, listening to its gurgles and splashes. It greets her, happy to be thawed once again
"It is a beautiful day isn't it?" She smiles, holding out her last dried seeds in her palm for her birds, they flock and peck and flitter back into the trees with joy.
Shiemi dusts her hands off and kneels by the brook, thanking it and dipping hands into the water. It gathers and she raises it out of its place and heads for her garden around her thatched roof home.
With a flourish of hands, the suspended water shoots into the air and falls in a beautiful rainbow filled sprinkle over her lilies and roses. The buds unfurl and open, greeting her as if she was the sun.
"Spring will be wonderful this year." She smiles and bends down to breathe in the scent deeply of her white roses.
Then, something in the air shifts. The birds stop singing; the trees start to tremble in their roots. The clear blue of the sky turns a deep indigo, marred by a sudden gust of thick grey clouds. Shiemi feels the earth shake beneath her bare soles... Something wasn't right here. The wind’s gone frantic as it turns from fluttering wisps to frenzied gusts, she blinks rapidly, her gold hair sticking to her watering eyes and mouth.
What is that?
The sky gives a thundering shake and Shiemi can't hear the scream that rises out of her throat when one of her trees is struck, a flash of blinding light, harsh and deadly, unlike the soft rays of her sun, it burns her eyes. She blinks rapidly, unable to breath against the gust of wind in her face. Then, the sky lights up. Shiemi gasps, earth green eyes wide as the flash of blue turns to a ball of flaming sky. And it's- it's falling?
Its falling right towards her home! Shiemi cries out, desperate to make it stop. But she can do nothing against the sheer energy and force of it.
The flaming piece of the sky lands, and it lands hard, the earth shudders louder, the trees scream, she screams, as something in her precious forest burns, the acrid smell of burnt wood, burnt bodies of her friends, rises and fills her nose. No, no, no, no! This can't be! She can't understand, what's happening.
The wind blows like a whip against her and throws her harshly against her home. And she see or feels nothing more until her eyes open and sees the sky a dazzle with splash of deepening purples, pink clouds, and soft fading into white blues of the setting sun.
Her heart jolts as she scrambles to her feet, fingers digging into the mossy earth beneath her, she breaths, her hands absorbing the energy and words of the ground.
The sky fell... And it landed on her earth. She must go find it and expel it from their home. With a shudder, Shiemi dragged herself to her feet and trudges towards where the trees are guiding her. The wind hasn't spoken to her yet and all her animals hide. Whatever invaded their sanctuary, it had them scared.
Shiemi wonders if she should be afraid and hide as well.
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It shocks her when the earth cries out. She can smell it before she sees it, her pointed ears burn from the pain the collision caused, the area around the impact was singed, charred, black and lifeless. Her heart mourns their lost brethren.
Then she sees the sky... Or at least what looked like the flaming sky. Body, intact from her place between her trees, face down in the blackened dirt, uncoiling. Something tells her it isn't dead. Shiemi fears the worst, she's never seen another body aside from her own. She was, after all, the last Forest nymph in this region, her mother had passed to the wind some time ago... She'd been alone ever since.
Something trills through her, fear and perhaps a bit curiosity. With deft, quiet, bare footed steps, she edges closer until she can clearly see him. Her body shudders at the lifeless earth under her feet. It cries to her, morning all its growth. Shiemi mourns with it and presses soothing palms to ease its sorrow. Her eyes close and she winces when she absorbs the pain, like a stagnant burning sensation inside her veins. She shudders, the pain aching.
After a moments breath, she crawls forward slowly, green eyes catching the last rays of the setting sun, hair glittering as she moves and reaches for the still body, she doesn't think it's dead... She can still feel life thrumming from it.
She reaches and places a hand on the shoulder. Instantly she gasps, a heat crawls up her limbs so fierce and fast she doesn't have time to pull way before it engulfs her entire being. She closes her eyes and wills the rushing heat away.
Please, please, please stop!
Then she realizes... She's not burning... It wasn't... She's not burning. She looks down at herself, nothing was wrong... Then what had that odd electric sensation been?
Carefully, heart thumping in her ears, the forest crooning at her to not be so brave, she grabs the rough clothed shirt and tugs, hard - with all her merger weight and flips it over. The front as dirty as the back. Shiemi feels slightly pity for this creature’s dirty state and rushes to gather some water to clean off his face.
Once she's manages to wash off most of the dirt and soot she stops.
An ethereal creature looks black at her... Well not really, he's alive, but he is unconscious. His face was sharp, skin so white it was almost translucent, thick tousled tufts of midnight colored hair cover his head and, with some surprise, she discovers he has a tail with a fluffy end at it wrapped loosely around himself. Gingerly, curiosity getting the better of her, she pokes at his lips.
Fangs.
The forest goes wild and shouts at her. Shiemi peddles backwards, heart thundering with the forests panicking. Demon - a demon had broken into their sanctuary and once he awoke... He’ll destroy them all.
Mother told tales of Demons, tales of the King of demons... And his offspring... What if this one was one of the princes? What if he's come here to take control of her home and suck out all its life she's worked so hard to preserve and grow!
Pain laces her heart and she doesn't know what to do... Slowly, the trees whisper solutions. Return it to the earth seems to be the most common one... But that would mean...
She has to take his life first . . .
Shiemi has never taken a life before, when nature does it, it pained her, she used to cry when the wolves had to eat.
But nature was balance, and she existed to hold that balance... but for her to willingly kill...
Although - he was a creature of the darkness... Born of blood and evil, destined to burn all he sees and devour all he touches.
He must be destroyed before-
A soft grunt startles her so badly, her flight senses freeze and she's caught utterly off guard when thick eye lashed eyes flutter open, hazy and unfocused and... stunningly blue - blue like the fire she saw- blue like endless water- blue like the sky before midnight- blue like... Like
"Who're you?" He croaks.
And Shiemi is startled, realizing she’d forgotten how to breathe for a desperate moment, and not out of fear either, when her senses return she panics and jumps away. The forest scolding her for her flightiness. Now he's awake, now they'd all die.
"Where am I?" He groans and sits up on elbows, cringing and clutching his head, tail sweeping across the ground slowly as if it was a snake lying in wait.
"I - please don't eat my soul!" She gasps, hands slapping over her mouth, green eyes wide in terror.
That’s when his blue eyes focus on her. He doesn't seem to be able to feel the forest shuddering around him. "Your - soul? Why would I want that?" He looks baffled and in pain as he sits up and rubs at his obviously injured shoulder. "Ow- stupid Mephisto and his idiot games. . . Ugh-"
"I - um- I'm not very tasty you know, please - please don't harm us oh great and powerful demon Prince!" Shiemi trembles and he looks at her again, his eyes making her freeze.
There was nothing vicious or evil in them, in fact, they glowed with a soft, confused light. A warm light... A light not born of darkness, but born of heart.
"Hey, stop tremblin’ already. I ain't gonna eat you alright just... Just help me up, would ya? My ass is killing me and I think I broke a molar." He makes a point by moving his jaw and wincing.
Shiemi, hands shaking, totters closer - the forest warning her it was a trap - and dares reach for his outstretched hand, setting her weight into her bare heels and pulling him up, he groans and hisses all the way, tail flickering sharply back and forth.
"Man... I definitely broke something this time. Yukio's gonna kill me when I get back." He mutters, clearly unhappy as he checks his shoulder.
"Get back? Get back where?" She can't help it; her fear is second to her curiousness. And he hasn't actively harmed her or even looked at her much since he woke up. Besides, he looks to be in too much pain. She thinks he's dislocated his shoulder.
"Back home- back to my family and. . . What a second. Who are you again?" He stops, and takes her in, really takes her in, from head to bare toes. "You - You lost?"
She shakes her sun colored hair. "No, but you seem to be. You fell out of the sky and I thought you were the sky, only on fire. So - are you really a demon?"
"Half. . . Only half." He mutters, looking ashamed. "Sorry I - uh-" he points at the scorching around them. "I can't control my fire very well yet."
Half demon? "Then what's the other half?"
He looks at her; eyes blink in confusion. "Uh, I'd think that was obvious. Human... Aren't you?"
She shakes her head. "My names Shiemi... I - I'm a forest Nymph. The last one actually. " She tries not to let that sadden her like it usually does.
"Oh." He rubs at his ridiculously fluffy hair. "That's sounds... Lonely and-" he suddenly turns from pale to yellow and gasps. "Shit." He grabs at his middle and falls to his knees, pulling his hand away red.
Shiemi stares and he looks up at her, eyes going unfocused.
"Guess I did a lot more damage than I thought." And resumes to promptly fall back on his face, out cold once again.
Shiemi is glad nobody but the trees see her panic.
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She barely manages to drag him to her home.
The sun had long since set and with it came the night and the silver moon and the hoots, howls, and scuffles of the night creatures, looking and watching her as she dragged a bleeding unconscious body into her once empty home.
Grandmother always said she was too kind for her own good.
This was like the time she dared bring home and injured bear cub... Only to have the mother Bear highly upset about it until she returned him to her. But Shiemi had grown many Suns since then, and she was deft at caring for injuries now too. He was just like the many wounded animals that came to her.
Only taller. . . And more human shaped.
With a quick word to her wicker candle, it lights up and casts a cheery glow to her small, single spaced home, a soft bed of feathers and thistle woven into a thick matt in one corner next to the open window, a few lamps, she made herself from empty pods, and a stove for when she needed to wash and heat water.
Comfortable and small. It filled up when she lay him on the soft mat though. He was taller than her, jarringly so, Shiemi had never seen such a tall person, or any person for that matter other than herself and her kind, and his hands, she found while trying to wipe at them, they were larger then hers, rougher too. She quickly peeled his clothing off until he was very nearly bare in front of her.
Curiosity made her reach for the final piece of clothing around his waist. . . But she stops short, fingers inches away from the waist band. Would it matter to him? It might matter to her if a stranger saw her in her birth clothes. Perhaps he wouldn't appreciate...
But then she doesn't know what a male looks like. Not like her, she imagines. She's seen the opposite gender in her creatures, she's seen mating happen too, and it's often feral and quick amongst warm blooded creatures.
Shiemi wonders if it would be the same between two relatively same beings. . . The forest shrieks at her from outside. She realizes her thoughts are veering off terribly. . . Imagine, her a pure Forest Nymph... Mating with a demon, and not even a full blooded one.
One half human... She's heard of those, Grandmother used to tell her stories about how the humans used to be foolish enough to try and catch their kind, believing the Nymphs had the power to grant wishes or some such nonsense.
They seemed like stupid, terrifying beings though. So... What was he? He was two terrifying beings in one. She wonders, again, if she should help him.
Against the forests protests, she makes up her mind and follows curiosity through, it makes her what to know what he knows, what he can tell her, what he's seen... Besides. If he was going to kill her... He would have done it already.
Her minds eyes see his eyes again, they had been warm, not cold and vindictive. Eyes don't lie. That she knows.
Quickly, with deft hands and natures blessing, she makes a poultice and cleans the wound in his pale torso. He was hard under her fingers, ridges and dips, the complete opposite of her soft skin and curved body. His ears were pointed slightly, like hers, though... But he covered his feet, until she removed the heavy things from them.
He had ten fingers and toes... A tail... She didn't have a tail, but most of her animal friends did. Fangs, four of them.
She carefully brushes his fluffy hair away, and places her cooling poultice across his hot forehead, he seems to be overheating and sweating, groans of pain come out of his mouth as she carefully massages his shoulder back into place and wraps it up deftly. She’d dislocated a limb or two climbing trees and caves when she was a few Suns old.
She knows better now.
The forest outsides shudders now, appalled at her exploration of this creature.
Shiemi shakes her head, face coloring with anxiousness and gets off her bed, deciding she should leave him alone for the night... In case he wakes up and sees what she's done and kills her or something.
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Shiemi waits until he awakens the next morning.
His fever was still rather high, she’d boiled roots and herbs for him and forced him to drink in a delirious state. He doesn't wake fully that morning.
Or the next.
Or the next.
Shiemi forgets her fear and curiosity over a few days worn for worry that he might not live after all. The forest tells her to toss him into the brook, nature will handle it. But Shiemi cannot find it in her little nymph heart to get rid of her new creature. She continues to nurse him, despite the forest urges and complaints. Even the wind warns her. She's starting to feel exhausted because of the lack of harmony between her and nature.
Grandmother has said a nymph out of touch with nature was irritated easily and sad. But she tried to keep the bond and nurse her creature. Nature didn't like it.
Shiemi grows tired but stays vigilant, feeding and washing and dressing his wounds day after day, his fever breaks on the third day, thank nature but... But he still doesn't wake.
After a quarter of a moon cycle, she awakens to a blinding blue light surround him on her bed.
He's on fire! Shiemi gasps, panics, and cries out as the fire licks at her. He's shaking in pain seemingly. Shiemi gasps when the fire touches her - it doesn't burn... It shocks her. . . Why was it not burning? The blue flames lick up her arm and fill her with that unexplainable hot sensation inside her veins. As if it's speaking to something inside of her she hasn’t discovered yet.
Quickly, she rushes forward and tries to snuff the flames out of his body, because, even though they don't harm her, he seems in agony. She straddles his convulsing torso and flattens the flames around him desperately.
"No!" He gasps, eyes flying op e, flames alight in his eyes, his horns engulfed in them and his eyes gone sharp, like black and red slivers in the blue, fangs and claws growing and Shiemi relizes, with fear, that she's sitting on a demon.
He’s going to kill her now.
"No-" he shudders and closes his eyes, taking in deep gulping breaths, his hands and body shake with the effort and Shiemi doesn't understand the sudden wave of terror that crashes into her. . . It's him. He's the one afraid. She can feel his fear. His pain - his. . . She reaches for his clawed hands and holds them with her small hands.
After a tense moment, his flames die out, his labored breathing calms, but he hasn't opened his eyes yet, still shaking as he grits his teeth. The moon spreads soft silver rays on his skin and face, tuning him almost silver too.
"Are you- " She doesn't know what to ask him.
After expecting him dead for so long she doesn't know what to say to him. When he's conscious anyway. She talks to him when he's asleep a lot lately.
"I'm good, I'm fine..." He opens his eyes breathlessly and the blue in them is black.
"I’m sorry." He whispers., “I didn't mean to scare you I-" he suddenly feels utterly hopeless and pitiful.
Shiemi’s never felt this sort of desperation before. "It's alright. I’m glad you’re finally awake. I was starting to believe you were going to die a little bit ago." She admits softly.
The darkness envelops their bodies like a soft embrace and she realizes he is incredibly warm underneath her. She’s suddenly struck by the thought of how nice it would be to sleep with such a warm body during the Winter season.
"Thank you uh-"
"Shiemi."
"Right. Shiemi."
She's stunned by him saying her name. It sends tingles through her body, send a jolt of electricity through her veins she's never felt before. She hasn’t heard anyone say her name in so long. It brings a wave of tears in her eyes at the memory of her mother and grandmother.
“Shiemi-" He says it again and her heart beats loudly. She's still straddling his body and neither seem to have noticed or care. "That's a nice name... I’m- I’m uh- my name’s Rin. You can call me. . . Rin." He says quietly.
She's still holding his hands. "Rin."
"Yah?"
"I like that name."
Something happens to his face in the dark, it turns from silver to rose colored. "Than - thanks... Er - um - Thanks."
Shiemi feels heat grow on him.
"Um... You - you think you could maybe... Um - Get off of me now? Please?" He colors hotter.
Shiemi nods and moves to slide off, sad that he wasn’t as comfortable as she felt.
"Wait I -!" His voice goes unnaturally high and desperate, cutting off when she moves over an odd bulge covered by his remaining piece of cloth, he gasps when she slides off innocently. "
“Are you alright? Does something hurt again?" She reaches for his brow and he shakes his head. A tight look on his face
"N-no! No - nothing hurts I - um... heh - uh... " he squeezes his eyes shut and rolls onto his side with a groan. "I'm going back to sleep; see you in the morning Shiemi. Thanks." He mutters, breathlessly and Shiemi feels an odd energy crackling around him now. Not fear or anger or sadness... Something else. She can't quite place it... But she thinks she's felt this before around her creatures during mating season.
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"What is this stuff?" Rin looks at the bowl of blue sludge in front of him as Shiemi hums a strange sounding song, her bare feet padding around the ground as she tidies up her modest living space
"Oh, it's blueberry soup, the bushes were kind enough to let me use their fruit this morning. Please, I hope you like it." She says, beaming at him sweetly.
Rin looks down at his bowl, dark brows furrowed, his good arm lifts the bowl up to his lips, they quiver in uncertainty before he lifts it up and swallows, squeezing his eyes shut. Shiemi thinks it's a funny looking ritual he's doing.
"Do all demons make such funny faces when they eat?" She asks, genuinely curious.
"Hm?" Rin's blue eyes open and meet hers. He's still confused about her and everything round her but - when their eyes meet, he always feels this odd heat and pull as if he's supposed to know her forever.
"You don't like it?" She asks then.
"Oh - no, this ain't half bad -I just - um - " He flushes, porcelain skin turning a hot shade as he takes another gulp of the oddly addicting stuff - it wasn't gourmet sushi but. . . its earthy, hearty and filling at least. Besides - he hasn't eaten anything filling for a week at least. Shiemi was sweet enough to feed him though - but a berry seeped liquid diet was hardly healthy for a growing demon – er - boy. . .
"I can get you whole blueberries?" She perks up and jumps to her little bare feet.
"Oh no I - '
She waves her hand out the window and the bushes underneath seem to reach out towards her, practically handing her more berries. Rin's eyes widen in surprise when she hands him several ripe juicy blueberries. "There you go - my blueberry isn't too angry at me today."
"Angry at you?" He raises dark brows at her. What does she mean - angry?
"Oh um- nothing." Her soft skin flushes a pretty pink and she stands, feet bare and he wonders if she knows what shoes are.
"Where are you going?" He asks -suddenly afraid of being left alone.
She smiles gently at him - every time she does it looks like the sun - it warms him up. "I'll be back – I just need to check some of my plants outside. Rest - you're still healing." She points at his wrapped arm and scabbed torso.
Rin nods slowly, having gotten over the whole being practically naked in a strange beings bed. "Ok - I’ll - um - take a nap I guess."
Shiemi smiles wider and disappears behind the leafy doorway.
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"Where do you come from?" She asks him one day, curiosity finally too much to bare as they walk through the forest towards her brook together. He needs a little exercise now - he's still sore though, she hopes it stops hurting him soon.
"Not from around here. I grew up in a monastery and - "
"Monastery?"
"It's - er - never mind." He shakes his dark head at her, Shiemi wonders what he can't seem to explain to her.
"It was a huge place, me and Yukio - "
"Whta's a Yukio?" She interrupts, bending down to dip her feet into the cool water, the sun was hot today. Rin crouches slowly next to her and dips his hands in. She marvels at their size still. so much larger then hers.
"Yukio's my twin - he's my brother."
"Brother?" She's only ever heard that term used for litters of wolf pups . . . males born in the same litter - perhaps Rin and this Yukio were the same litter when -
"Yah, he's younger than me a minute - He's probably going to be soooo pissed off when I get back though." He snorts to himself, his tail swiping across the forest floor lazily.
Shiemi's eyes rivet to the appendage’s movement. "Get back?" The words were logical - she knows he comes from somewhere. . . of course he'd want to go back wherever that somewhere was but - a sudden painful pang hits her heart.
Rin stops talking and looks at her through dark fringe. "Well - yah – I - um – I gotta go back sometime you know, once I’m good enough to jet I - " He drops his dark eyes to her feet in the brook. "I have to go back. They'll miss me ya know?"
She doesn’t know. Nobody's ever missed her - she's only ever missed. Mother, grandmother and now - now when he leaves... she’s' going to miss him too.
It hurts her heart a lot more then she'd expect.
"Hey, Shiemi?" His voice is curiously soft, and she finds herself, not for the first time, wondering how he was supposed to be the horrible demon Gran always told her about. Whenever she meets his eyes - she doesn’t understand the gentleness in them.
"Yes?"
"Do you - er- have anyone else around here?" He asks, looking around the trees.
She nods. "Oh yes – I have plenty of friends. Do you?"
"Sure - besides Yukio – I have Bon and Shima and - wait - there are more like you?" He looks around more urgently, as if expecting to be jumped or attacked by hidden beings.
Shiemi’s heart sinks again. "No – I - it's just me. I'm the last forest Nymph here."
"So - who're your friends?" He looks genuinely confused now.
Shiemi finds the wrinkle between his brows adorable. She reaches a thumb forward and presses it against the spot, stunning him when she rubs at it to smooth it out. "The trees - my roses, the brook, the wind and sun - "
"Oh." He seems to lean into her hand subtly.
"Are your friends all demons too?"
"N-no - um - they're human. . . good humans. My brother too - mostly." He admits quietly.
Shiemi drops her hand and sighs. "Oh-that must be nice. The earth around here has been angry at me lately." She mutters. loneliness evident in her soft face.
"Angry? Why?"
"Because I - " Her bright green eyes meet his blue ones. "I saved you - and they - they didn't want me to." She finally admits, ashamed of their feelings against him.
Rin's brows drop. "You mean - you’re getting the cold shoulder from a bunch of plants?" He sounds offended.
Shiemi giggles. "I suppose so?"
"Because they're pissed at me?"
"Mhm - " She giggles again, her sadness waning at his ridiculous affronted expression.
"Well - that’s not fair." He humphs and glares at the nearest tree. “They should just suck it up, I ain't gonna burn them or anything. Jeez."
"They don't trust you at all." She smiles warmly at him and reaches for his crossed arm, marveling at the hardness of the muscles he has - so unlike her own. He's started covering his bottom half more though, his top half remains blessedly bare.
"What about you?" He asks, suddenly looking concerned down at her.
Shiemi feels warmth rush through her like water after its sat in the sun - "Me?"
"Do you trust me?"
Her heart flips unexpectedly, Shiemi realizes she's suffering more and more odd things internally that she can't explain because of him. But she finds, despite the symptoms being slightly uncomfortable, she doesn’t seem to mind them all that much as she hugs his bare arm to her soft chest. "I do." She mutters against the skin of his shoulder and glances up at him from under wind sweep gold hairs.
"Oh." His eyes drop to her face and - and she notices them darken. Something unrecognizable flits in them and he forcefully pulls them away from her. She wonders what this odd charged energy is around him all of a sudden.
"Thanks Shiemi. For trusting me."
"Why wouldn’t' I?"
"Because - because I’m half demon maybe?"
She flushes, that would be the reason, wouldn’t it? "But you aren't hurting me - or anything else. . . you're kind to me and warm and – I like you - " She smiles widely, cheeks flushed with warmth and comfort.
"You - me?" He stutters, eyes wide and blue as his face turns an interesting shade darker.
"Yes?" Why shouldn’t' she? She likes warm and beautiful creations - and Rin was warm and beautiful and alive and -
"Oh." He looks away, suddenly very stiff. "Um – I - I like you too . "
This make her heart swell with joy - to have another speaking being care about her existence again - was beyond words.
"Thanks for being my friend!" She hugs his arm tighter and giggles excitedly.
Rin's silent for a full moment, before she can ask why, he huffs softly into her hair.
"Friend - of course. Yah - no problem."
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"Don't hurt him!" Shiemi shouts and bursts from the foliage in between terrified Rin and a snarling wolf alpha.
"D-on't hurt him? He was the one planning to make me into lunch!" Rin gasps, hand pressed against his heart, it thunders in his ears. "That guy’s a vicious predator! Shiemi don't - " He stops.
The petit girl drops to her bare knees in front of the alpha and coos something into his ear, petting his chest fur gently.
"What are you?"
"There, there, don't mind Rin - he doesn’t understand you like I do - there you go - have a good hunt!" She calls and waves the giant hunkering wolf away with a bright smile.
Rin hates to admit it to himself - but he's suddenly jealous of that wolf. He wishes Shiemi would pet his ear like - gah! Back up – stop . . . no - she's your friend, that’s it - she made it clear that -
"Come on Rin- I collected the roots I needed - you really shouldn't be so rough on the wolves. He just smelled your demon - it makes them uneasy you know."
"Right -" Rin shakes his head and lets her help him up, shoulder still achy from the strain as he rubs it, He forgets natural things could sense his demon side - it made him wonder, if common instincts said to avoid him - then maybe he's not all as good inside as he wants to be.
"Come - let's make some sugar root juice to drink!" She smiles and takes his hand, butterflies erupt in his stomach as he tightens his grip around her small soft palm, his calloused one brushing up against hers greedily.
He'll take what he can get.
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"Here, let me - " Rin smiles at her and Shiemi finds she likes his lopsided smile more and more - despite the fangs.
"What are you doing?"
"I'll cook for us tonight ok? You always do it and - " He looks up at her from his bunch of berries. "I'd like to return the favor."
Shiemi beams. "Oh! What are you going to make?" She hugs her legs and drops her cheek on top of her bare knees as she settles to watch his hands. She likes watching them - they were a bit rough and plenty warm and gentle when he held her hand or patted her hair or -
"Blueberry soup?" He tries.
Shiemi nods. "That sound delicious."
He hums and returns focus on the fruit he's carefully cutting with a sharpened stick he'd found. Shiemi watches him concentrate, warmth enveloping her in the silence of her small hut - outside the nightingale was twittering softly, the moon was full and the trees where blessedly silent. They'd stopped talking to her out of anger by now. She doesn’t miss it though. Not with Rin here to fill the silence.
"Rin?"
"Hmm?"
"What's it like - back where you come from?"
"You mean the True Cross academy?"
"Yes."
He shrugs, bare shoulders glinting under the soft rays of the moon and candle she has next to him. "It's burning when it comes to the technical stuff - but I’ve made some awesome friends there, and Yukio - the smart ass - he's a teacher there so - yah. It's nice I guess. Most of the time. When I’m not getting into stupid trouble or dares or - "
"Do your friends do what you do?"
"Fight Demons?"
"Yah."
"Sometimes - but we're student so - we shouldn’t - um - technically." He laughs sheepishly and rubs at his night black hair, eyes still on the small stone pot in front of him.
Shiemi smiles. "What do you eat?"
"Lots of stuff - sushi, omurice, Ramen's my favorite though – I make pretty much anything out of - "
"What is Sushi made of?" She asks, often hearing him speak of foods she's never heard of - she wonders what they're made of. Strawberries? Grass - what plant could they possibly -
"Fish and rice and - "
"Fish?" Like - like the ones from her brook? That alarms her.
Rin looks up suddenly. "You never ate a - "
She stares at him, eyes wide and bordering horrified - did they - kill animals where he comes from?
"Oh. Um - never mind it's just - seaweed and stuff, yah." He mutters sheepishly and looks down again.
Shiemi stares at him, more curious now as he takes the hot stone bowl out of the fire with bare hands. It doesn’t burn him it seems.
"Here we go!" He grins, toothy and sharp and hands her a bowl he divided the soup into. "Have a taste!"
She carefully sips it and gasps, face flushing with pleaser - "Oh! Oh that's tastes so much better than mine?!" She’s stunned and drinks again as Rin laughs, rubbing shyly at his hair.
"Yah?"
"Mhm!" She beams.
"It's the sugar root –I thought you'd like something sweeter." He explains but she's too buzy sipping and sighing with joy.
If food he makes back at his home tastes half as wonderful as this - she won't mind eating it, whatever it's made of.
"It's so good Rin!"
"Thanks." His voice geos gentle again and Shiemi looks up at him through the dark.
His blue eyes are black in the gentle shadows and they look soft as they take her in. "You're really alone out here... huh?" He asks quietly.
She nods. Why's he asking again?
"Don’t you - don’t you ever wonder... what's outside of your forest?" He asks, still quiet, uncharacteristically still. Even his tail isn't swishing like it normally does.
"Oh - no -not really. I never thought there was anything out of it. Never really thought of an -end really."
"What?" He looks at her again, eyes wide with surprise. "What, did you think you were the only being in the entire world?"
"No – I just - never thought about it is all." Its' true - she never had reason to leave and the only other beings she'd really heard of were humans and demons in Grans stories - but they weren’t true - where they?
"Shiemi I - what if I - um - " He looks troubled and confused for a moment.
"Yes Rin?"
His eyes meet hers again. Suddenly, his face becomes an unrecognizable emotion and his hand reaches for her stray gold hairs, gently brushing them behind her ear with his finger tip. Shiemi gasps softly at the odd delicious shudder that goes through her when he drags his finger behind her ear, she didn't know it would be sensitive there. . . His hand is warm when he carefully cups the side of her soft skinned face.
"You shouldn't be alone you know?" He says, quiet and contemplative, he was closer - face flushed pink and soft and -
"Rin?" She doesn’t understand the torrent of emotions rushing through him and over her. . . it makes her clench and melt all at once.
"Um – I – I - uh - " He colors furiously, his eyes dropping their hold on hers and he takes his hand away, the warmth evaporating. "S-sorry."
Sorry? For what? She was confused and - and suddenly extremely desperate for him to look at her like that again.
"Rin- ?"
"I'm beat." He yawns and stretches suddenly loud and it makes her flinch away as he stands, tail twitching in agitation. "G'night Shiemi." And he dives for the matt in the corner, rolling over and promptly starts snoring loudly.
Shiemi doesn’t understand where this sudden chill came from.
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He feels great.
And it's making him incredibly miserable.
His shoulder isn't sore anymore and the scab is small and barley itchy anymore, he's pretty sure he was all healed up a week ago - but - but he couldn't bring himself to tell her.
He couldn’t. He tired - every day he tried. . . but then she'd look up with those beautiful life-colored eyes and smile like the sun - ask him questions and touch him softly and warm him with giggles and her sweetness and her kindness and - and he can't tell her he has to go.
Back to all the hell that was waiting for him.
But Yukio's probably gone crazy and their all probably looking for him and - and it isn't fair. He made a promise - he has to keep it.
But then she smiles.
And his heart tightens and yanks out of his chest and drops at her feet. It belongs to her. He knows it does - he couldn't stop it anymore than he could stop his own existence. Or being the son of Satan.
"Good morning Rin! Look - my red roses are open today!" She smiles wide and bright, eyes glittering with happiness he can't bring himself to crush.
Her gold hair fluttering softly around her covering her cute pointed ears as she dances around bare footed. He'd had to stop himself from touching her feet more than once.
They were just so cute and bare.
"They look nice Shiemi - " His heart feels like a rock - or was that the hole where his heart was supposed to go?
"They are, they’re smiling at the sun - " She breathes in their scent. "Oh - it's wonderful. The birds are singing today and the wind tells me he isn't too upset anymore and - Rin? What’s wrong?" She stops, crouching in the dirt, her fingers pressed into it like usual when she's trying to hear whatever it's saying to her.
He doesn’t understand that but -
"Nothin’ – I just um - "
"Rin?"
His chest feels too small for his lungs. he suddenly can’t look her in the face anymore. He wants to kiss her - he's wanted to kiss her since - since forever it feels like - he licks at his fangs and shakes his head. No - no you can't - she's beautiful and pure and magic and you're - not.
" – I need to tell you something?"
"What’s wrong? Do you hurt? Lt me see." She's on her feet, little hands touching his bare arms and sides in a frantic search to find what's harming him to fix it.
Only she won't be able to - she can't - it's too deep a wound.
"Shiemi - Shiemi it’s-
"Tell me please, I don’t' want you in pain and - "
She smells like the sun and the wind and warmth, flowers and life and he wants it - he's not sure if that's his human side or his demon side being possessive and ugly - he isn’t' sure and it's freaking him out. He needs to go before he hurts her or scares her or worse -
"Shiemi, stop." He takes her searching hand and presses it to his chest, surprised he can feel his heart still.
Shiemi looks up at him, eyes wide and curious and confused. "What is it Rin? Why do you feel so sad?"
She could feel it -he forgets she could do that with animals. . . guess he counts as one at this point. His heart aches.
"I – I - I’m feeling fine, I’m feeling great actually I don’t- hurt physically anymore.” He mutters, eyes dropping, unable to handle the warmth and concern from her.
"You - well that's good isn’t it? Rin why do you -?” She stops.
He breathes carefully through his nose and dares to look at her again, to see the moment the pieces click into place and -
Her eyes - they shatter - his heart follows them, and she suddenly looks so distraught he thinks he can't breathe anymore.
He’s hurts her – he’s made her sad – he’s a monster, "Shiemi I - "
"You're leaving."
It was a statement, as heartbreaking as it was - she knows. And that’s it.
There's no going back.
Rin nods, swallowing the lump that threatens to choke him.
"I'm leaving." He says softly, the words a knife in his already bleeding heart.
"Oh."
He panics, she pulls away and wraps her arms around herself, suddenly - spring seems cold and dead and everything seems to dim - even her. Like a flower wilted in winter. It makes him panic.
"Wait - don't - don't go yet - please - " She looks at him suddenly, eyes watering and lip wobbling. "If you go - I’ll - I’ll be all alone and - and - " a sparkling tear drops down her smooth pale cheek.
Rin hates himself, he selfishly reaches for her face and cups it, letting her warmth seep into his palm and brushes the tear from her eye. "D-don't cry. Don't cry Shiemi - you – I have to go." He's disgusted with himself, confused, terrified - and desperate. . . he has to go - he has to leave, he'll never see this beautiful Nymph again and he - he doesn’t know if that's better or worse.
"But - but I - "
"You have the forest." He tries lamely, his words stale even to his own ears. "You have the wind and brook and - stuff." He's trying to remind her what she'd told him.
She shakes her head. "But I want you."
His chest constricts so tightly it shocks him with the pain. "I - "
She pulls way and covers her face, running into her hut, Rin cringes at the sob he hears from her. It’s like multiple stabs to the chest.
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She doesn’t want him to go - she'll be all alone forever and - and what was she supposed to do? She was a forest nymph first – she was meant to take care of her forest. Just like Gran and mother - it was why she existed... wasn't it?
And he had to do something else - not stay here with her - he had - his own destiny.
She couldn’t stop him. She knows - but the gaping hole in her heart doesn’t want her to accept it. The forest seems happy enough at this development though. She supposes she should be too - for them.
But she isn’t. She feels like she's dying - slowly. Like a plant dying of thirst under the summer sun.
But he has to go.
Shiemi takes in a deep shaking breath and wipes at her leaking eyes. He has to go. She can’t stop him.
"Shiemi?"
She looks up at him, he's standing at her door, looking down and uncomfortable, she and forces a smile, eyes still watery. "Yes?"
"I - can you come out please?"
She takes in a shaky breath and climbs out of her matt, "I'm sorry Rin – I just - " Her heart aches at his miserable look. "I'm sorry."
"Me too -" He says quietly, his tail swishing slowly behind him.
It does that when he's sad is seems.
"Let's get you some things for your journey?" She tries to make this easy for him. It's slightly comforting to know he'll miss her maybe. Perhaps he won't forget her at least.
"O-okay."
Yes - at least he won't forget her.
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They stand at the clearing he'd burned what felt like so long ago - she would stop here, he's going to continue, perhaps catapult himself with his flames in the sky- a piece of flaming blue sky.
"Well - here we are I guess."
She nods. "Yes." Her fingers twist behind her in sadness. She wouldn't see his smile, his hands - feel his happiness, sadness, curiosity. Watch his face and ears color when he's embarrassed, see his emotions in the twitch and flicker of his tail, hear his voice and laughter - she'd never experience any of that again once he went.
She tries not to cry.
Rin looks at her, shoulders tense, she feels the tightness in him. "I – I’ll miss you – you know."
Her heart swells, tears spill unbidden and invade her vision rudely, she’s trying so hard not to cry!
"I - I’ll never forget you Rin." She sniffs and wipes at her eyes sadly.
"Me neither - " He goes silent.
The forest is cheering for his departure.
Shiemi’s heart is breaking.
"Shiemi - "
She looks up when his hand takes hers and he pulls her closer. "Don't cry- " His face is pink and he wraps strong arms around her. Shiemi instantly breaks and sobs into his shoulder, he's redressed in his odd clothes again, her arms tighten around his torso and grips into his back.
"Don't cry." He shushes her gently, pressing his nose into her hair. "Please."
She feels something wet drip into her golden strands. He's crying - she knows he is. He hugs her tighter.
"I'll never forget you." He mumbles against her hair, voice cracking. "Ever."
They stand there, in the clearing he'd burned forever ago - just them, no trees or wind or animals. . . just them, he world melts away and Shiemi realizes, with a heart shuttering stop - that he's become her world - or at least a window to another one for her.
"Come with me."
The air goes still and Shiemi stops breathing, she pulls away, eyes wide and wet and green - "W-what?"
His face, red and shiny too, looks, suddenly, very determine. "Come with me. You can come with me." He says again, hands on her shoulders "You can come and see all the things I told you about, eat the food I make, meet new people, humans - demons, whatever - just – I don't want you to stay here alone anymore."
She'd never thought - never dreamed - ever . . ."I – I c-can't."
His ears droop, so does his tail. "Why not?"
"Because - because I - the forest, I’m it's Nymph I don't- what if it dies without me?"
"You're telling me - you're letting things that are stuck where they are forever stop you from going somewhere else?" He sounds saddened by this and gives her a gentle shake. "No Shiemi – I don't think this is what you should be doing anymore. There isn't anyone left - natures survived before you and it lives without you - you have feet, eyes and hands!" He throws his arms out, face flushed. "And you're supposed to go places with ‘em, see things with them, feel things- you can't just - be alone until you die."
Shiemi's heart thunders in her ears, she clasps her hands together, they've started to shake as she looks at him with wide green eyes.
Earth meets the sky.
The Sky calls her - begs her - please Shiemi - "Come with me. See the world. You're a part of it." He reaches a hand for her.
She hesitates - one more moment. Her family died here - all of them, left her here to care for - but - but surely they didn't want her to remain alone forever, they didn't - the wouldn't mind if -
She looks into his blue eyes again - and she knows, her heart already left with him. She reaches a small hand for his and he grips it, firm and gentle and warm.
His grin is wide and toothy. "Let's go see the world."
She feels her heart lighten instantly, the forest is silent - it knows its lost her, its lost her to the demon boy. It can do nothing but watch her nod and laugh.
"Show me."
The demon boy that fell from the sky takes her away. Takes her away from it - the forest feels her lose terribly, it cries for her once she's gone - once it knows she won't ever return. The last forest Nymph fell in love with the flaming being that fell from the sky.
The frost knew - it knew this would happen.
It knew it the moment he burned its children and they'd looked at each other. . .
Once the Sky met the Earth - they fell in love.