Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Affliction ❯ Chapter 2 ( Chapter 2 )
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
By: XIShadowxDemonIX 
More introductions.
Miscellaneous: Original Stories Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Angst / Fantasy / Adventure / Action | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 06.11.2006 | Updated On: 07.30.2006 | Pages: 2 | Words: 3.6K | Visits: 138 | Status: Work In Progress
More introductions.
Miscellaneous: Original Stories Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Angst / Fantasy / Adventure / Action | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 06.11.2006 | Updated On: 07.30.2006 | Pages: 2 | Words: 3.6K | Visits: 138 | Status: Work In Progress
Author's Note: All characters and ideas depicted in this story belong to the author.
Chapter 2
A girl with long brown hair in pigtails sitting at a table surrounded by men giggled and smiled innocently as she pulled a large pile of money towards her. The men groaned, and a couple growled at her, but she just stared back at them with a bubbly sort of grin. Her look was innocent, but there was a hint of something more in the corner of her smile that threatened to stretch into a smirk. One of her wolf ears was turned forward, and the other was turned to the side, and she had a tail that was swinging lazily from side to side.
“How the hell do you do that?” One of the men said angrily, looking slightly bewildered.
“Every single time…” Another groaned.
“Aw, sorry guys. Do you want to play again?” She asked with a grin. They looked at her incredulously.
“No way.” Said the first.
“Not a chance.” The second shook his head.
“Aww…” She pouted a little.
“There's only one way she could win every single damn time…” One of the other men growled. “She's cheating!” Her grin had immediately turned from feigned innocence to dangerous, daring him to continue.
“Is that so…?” She asked him with narrowed eyes.
“You cheated, and we want our money back. Or else…” The grin faded from her face completely as she glared at him openly. Another man walked up then and smacked him on the side of the head. He blinked, dazed, and looked up at him.
“Leave Ritsuko alone, you. Just because you were stupid and couldn't resist challenging her when you very well knew what the outcome would be, that doesn't mean she was cheating. Right?” He looked over to the girl whom he had called Ritsuko, and she pouted again.
“Of course…I'd never cheat.” With that, the man gave a nod of finality, and motioned for the men at the table to leave. He was the owner of the tavern they were in, and he was quite a big man. He looked after Ritsuko like she was a daughter to him, and he was very protective of her. She gave him a great big smile and thanked him, put all of her winnings into a big pouch, and ran off back to the apartment she shared with her best and really only friend, looking excited.
“Livia, I'm home!” The coins in the pouch jingled as she walked through the doorway and bounced into the small two-bedroom apartment. She walked down the short hallway to their living room and plopped down on the circular rug in the middle of the floor, dumping the contents of her pouch in front of her. She laid down on her stomach on the rug with her legs bent and her ankles crossed, counting the money.
“Welcome home.” The girl she'd called Livia replied as she walked into the room from a doorway that led to the kitchen and sat down on their couch along the back wall of the room, facing Ritsuko. Livia looked down at the pile of winnings that Ritsuko was sorting into dollar amounts so she could count them. “Did you have fun?” She asked as she pushed back the strands of her orange-red hair that had fallen into her face. Ritsuko grinned.
“Yup. I think they're all tired of losing, though, so I might not have a challenger for a while. One of them today even accused me of cheating, but Mr. Arasaki straightened it out.” Ritsuko kicked her legs back and forth in the air. Livia smiled.
“Well, that's what happens when a 17-year-old girl plays poker with the big boys and always wins. Even if you WEREN'T a 17-year-old girl, you'd still have the sore losers that would accuse you of cheating. Regardless of whether or not you actually were…” Livia raised an eyebrow at Ritsuko, who only grinned back. Livia couldn't help but giggle at Ritsuko's enthusiasm. She was so happy; it was hard to believe that those charming bubbly eyes used to hold grief and devastation in their depths. And it had only been about a year since Livia had first stumbled upon her. Livia's eyes clouded somewhat as she remembered when they'd first met.
She had been going for a walk, trying to figure out a few problems that she had. It was quiet, perfect for being alone to think. She had needed a job; she'd just been fired. She wasn't sure how she was going to pay for her apartment; if she didn't find a job soon, she'd lose it, and then where would she be? Livia had been walking through a path just inside the edge of the forest even though it was supposed to be dangerous, and she'd come across a small clearing.
She'd been walking along, lost in thought, when she'd noticed something red on the path she was walking. Upon further inspection, she realized it was blood, and there was a small trail of it going across the path towards the middle of the clearing, where a huge boulder sat. Cautiously she followed it, thinking it to be an animal wounded by some of the demons that lived in the forests in packs and clans. As it turned out, she was very close.
She saw her tail first, it was sort of sticking out from behind the boulder, and there was blood all over it. Here and there, patches of brown fur were missing. The next thing Livia saw as she neared the boulder was scratched, bloodied, and bruised legs. There was a particularly nasty gash on one leg, and most of the wounds on them looked like bite or claw marks. She walked around the rest of the boulder and saw her, lying there, looking pitiful and helpless.
Her face was stained with tears and blood, and her eyes were open even though she didn't seem to be seeing anything. She apparently had had on clothes, and the blood-soaked shreds that were left just barely covered her. The same wounds on her legs covered her entire body, looking like bite and scratch marks. None of the wounds looked as though knives or swords or guns had made them. Along with her tail, she had two wolf ears on the top of her head, but they didn't move to pick up sound.
At first Livia thought she was dead, but she saw her breathing, so she knew that she wasn't. It seemed she were just in shock, and a lot of pain. Slowly she knelt next to her, in her line of sight, not wanting to scare her but wanting her to know she was there. The girl was a demon, but even so, she needed help. Livia would take her back with her, and take care of her, but she wasn't strong enough to carry her, and she didn't want to leave her to find someone else. She tried very carefully to rouse the girl, but she refused to move, lying there listlessly, though for a moment her eyes turned to her before going out of focus again.
Livia jerked upright and looked around the boulder, having heard the crashing sounds of someone big coming through the forest towards the clearing. She didn't move out from behind the boulder, hovering over the girl, watching the spot where she knew whatever it was would emerge. The crashing sounds got very close and then the plants parted and a man emerged from the forest. He was a big man, very tall with big muscular arms and he was somewhat pudgy. His short black hair was tousled and his hands were huge as the pushed the plants back around him as he walked into the clearing and looked around. Livia sighed in relief and stood up from where she was behind the boulder.
“Mr. Arasaki!” She said as she walked around the boulder towards him. “You scared me, crashing around like that.” She knew him, he was the owner of a tavern near her apartment.
“Livia? What are you doing in here alone? It's very dangerous!” Mr. Arasaki was surprised and upset that she was there by herself, and the look on his face was of fatherly concern. He'd once had a daughter, and she'd have been only a year or two younger than Livia had she not been afflicted with a virus, which gave her a sickness that she couldn't recover from. Livia had met her the year she moved to the city, and a year after that the girl, Nao, was taken by the illness. Livia had been with her when she died, and had stayed with Mr. Arasaki when he was grieving, and so they were close. He was always looking after her, but she didn't mind. She was an orphan, so she'd never known her parents.
“I was trying to get somewhere quiet, so I could think, and I saw that blood on the path over there.” Mr. Arasaki turned immediately to the blood, and then followed the trail with his eyes. Livia motioned for him to follow her behind the boulder, and his eyes widened as he saw the girl lying there. “I think she's a demon…” Livia said quietly as he kneeled beside her.
“Half demon. Wolf demon.” He corrected, as he looked her over. “That must be why…Wolf demons are very proud, they won't accept half bloods into their packs…” He leaned closer to her, and looked at her eyes. “Her eyes are different colors. Look, silver and gold. That must be why they left her alive.”
“They kept her alive because her eyes were two different colors…?” Livia asked, looking puzzled. Mr. Arasaki nodded as he checked the girl's wounds to see how serious they were.
“Yeah. Different colored eyes are incredibly rare, and the wolf demons hold them in very high regards. Any wolf demons with two different colored eyes are held in the highest respect. I'm not sure why, but the wolf demons with different colored eyes can even take over the pack as the leader, without opposition.” Livia didn't say anything else, despite the fact that she thought it was silly and wanted to know more, because he very carefully slid his arms underneath the girl's back and began to lift her off of the ground.
“We need to find some place for her to stay…” He sounded concerned.
“She can stay with me.” Livia volunteered quietly. Mr. Arasaki looked up at her.
“Are you sure?” He asked. Livia nodded, looking at the girl in his arms.
“She needs somewhere safe to stay, someplace quiet, where she can rest and get better. I can take care of her.” He looked at her for a long moment and finally nodded, turning to leave the forest.
They took the half demon girl back with them to Livia's apartment and bandaged her up the best they could. The girl seemed to drift in and out of consciousness, though even when she was awake she would simply lie there, listless. Her eyes always seemed empty, and sometimes when Livia was changing her bandages the hairs on the back of her neck would stand on end. She had to constantly check the girl's pulse to reassure herself that she was still alive. Mr. Arasaki came over often, checking in on the girl when Livia was at work.
After the girl had been there for a couple of days, Livia noticed that when she was awake her eyes would sometimes follow them around the room, watching them. Livia started softly talking to her while she was changing her bandages, about the weather outside and how nicely she was healing. She told her about Mr. Arasaki, and how his daughter had passed away, and how his wife left him after that. She told the girl how he'd carried her back out of the woods, and how he'd taught Livia how to dress her wounds and how and what kinds of food and drink to give her.
A week passed, and the girl was able to stay awake and conscious for long periods of time. Livia and Mr. Arasaki were pleased, because the girl's wounds were healing very well and she no longer looked wary or nervous when they were around. The girl still wouldn't speak to them, but she had pulled herself up so that she was sitting up in the bed, propped up with a large pile of pillows. Livia came home from work and opened up the blinds real wide, and opened the window so that the warm light and fresh air could come in. The girl closed her eyes and breathed in the air longingly.
“You seem to be feeling better.” Livia said as she sat down in a chair beside the girl and gazed out the window. “I'm glad. I was worried that you might have gotten worse instead of better.” A moment passed and a soft cool breeze drifted into the room, carrying the sound of the birds chirping outside. It was such a peaceful day, even in an integrated demon/human town, where peace was almost scarce. The girl's eyes were full of longing and her expression was forlorn as she gazed out the window at the forest-covered mountains behind the apartment building. Livia looked over at the girl curiously.
“I know that you can understand me…but you don't talk. Can you really not talk, or do you just choose not to?” Ritsuko simply stared back at Livia, her expression saying nothing. Livia sighed and turned back to the window. “Is it that you don't trust me…? Or is it because of whatever happened to you back there…?” Livia speculated. The girl looked down at her hands in her lap, and Livia looked at her sadly, and looked away. Another minute passed in silence, and both girls' eyes were clouded over in memory.
“Sorry to bring up bad memories,” Livia said quietly. “It's just sometimes I feel silly, like I'm talking to myself. Of course, it's ironic that I, of all people, would feel silly talking to myself. My parents died when I was very young, in a fire, so I was alone for a long time. To pass the time and break the silence I'd talk to myself, like there was someone else there. This of course was in another town, far from here. The people of the town were at “war” with the woodland fairies, and my parents were doctors. They weren't on any specific side–they healed whomever was hurt.
“One day out of nowhere the people of the village attacked a group of fairies, and some were injured very badly when it was over, those that were left alive. My parents took care of them until they were well. The townspeople were furious and they set fire to our house…” Ritsuko was watching Livia intently. “My parents…they were able to get me out of the house, but they were trapped, and they died…After that, the townspeople banished me, not that I would have stayed, even though I was only nine. Well…I dunno, I guess I just wandered from place to place until one day I came here. That was a couple years ago…”
“My people banished me too.” A small voice in the room spoke up. Livia's head turned in the direction of the voice, and saw that it was the girl, staring down at her hands. “My mother was one of the nobles of the Wolf Demon Tribe. She was respected, and the others listened to her. They considered her very wise. But she did something stupid. She met a man, an angel, and she fell in love with him. He left, and she had me. A half-breed. A mutt, by the tribe's standards. I didn't do anything wrong, I was just born, but the wolves of the wolf demon tribe shunned me. I was a thing to them, nothing better than a human, no offence.” She bowed her head sadly.
“They killed my mother, for having relations and a child with an angel. We're wolves, but we're demons too, they said. They would have killed me too, but my eyes…are two different colors. They revere wolves with two different colored eyes, I think because… A long time ago, the wolf demons had a savior, and he had two different colored eyes. He saved them from dying out, and brought them to these mountains. So every time a wolf demon is born with different colored eyes, they believe, or they used to, that his spirit is inside of them.” She was quiet for a moment, and Livia waited.
“Anyway…they let me stay until I was 10, and then they made me leave. In the old days it was thought to be bad luck to kill a wolf demon who had two different colored eyes, and the elders of old had long decided that banishing any demon under the age of 10 was the very same as killing them, so they had to “raise” me. When I was growing up, I was kicked around, given ridiculous orders, looked down on, ignored…but I didn't want to leave. I kept trying to go back, to beg them to take me back, but every time I was painfully turned away with the reminder that I was worthless and that I'd never be accepted. I'm going to show them, though. I'm going to prove that I'm not just some dumb half-breed, I'm go into prove to them that I'm not worthless. I'm going to make them accept me.” She looked determined as she said it, but after, her face fell again.
“That's what I told myself, at least. I trained. I learned. I went back to them, to try to convince them. I was so sure that they'd take me in, at least as the same status I was when I left, so that I could show them, convince them, that I'm not a worthless mutt. I thought that they'd see how hard I was trying, and that they'd shun me, but at least allow me in. Instead, they…they sent the wolves after me. That's what happened when you found me. Again they didn't kill me; they left me alive. But if you hadn't of found me, I probably would have died…” She looked up at Livia, her eyes full of pain and sadness. “I am grateful for that. I hate myself for being a half-breed mutt, but I…I don't want to die…I don't want to be alone, either, though…” She looked away and shut her eyes, a couple tears escaping and running down her cheeks. Livia put a comforting hand on her shoulder, but nothing more, so as not to make the girl feel uncomfortable.
“You won't have to be.” Livia spoke comfortingly and confidently. “You can stay here, with me. We'll find a way to make it work, and that way neither of us will ever have to be alone. My apartment is small, and I don't have much, but you are more than welcome to anything I have, and you can stay as long as you want. On that note, by the way, my name is Livia.” She smiled a little sheepishly, as though apologizing for not telling the girl her name earlier. Ritsuko was looking up at her, and she smiled a very faint, tiny smile. Her eyes were still sad, but there was a tiny glimmer of hope in them.
“My name is Ritsuko.” She said in her small, quiet voice.
“Livia. Livia! Hey, Livia!” Livia's eyes focused and she jerked in surprise, staring at a happy, energetic face that had once belonged to a sad, hurt young girl. The differences between the two were amazing–if you hadn't seen her as she was back then, you'd never know that that troubled little girl was now this bubbly young woman. “Dinner's ready. Sorry I didn't try to shake you out of it sooner, you just spaced out and I figured that I'd leave you alone.” She was smiling, and her different colored eyes were bright.
“I'm sorry. Wow, dinner's ready? Has it really been that long?” Livia asked. Ritsuko nodded, and Livia turned and looked out the window to see a beautiful clear night sky, complete with a full moon. “Wow, Ritsuko, come look at the sky.” She said in awe as she stood and walked over to the window. Ritsuko stood beside her and looked out, then turned to Livia and grinned.
“Yup. It's a night sky alright.” They giggled and stood at the window for another moment, gazing out at the perfect night.
Chapter 2
A girl with long brown hair in pigtails sitting at a table surrounded by men giggled and smiled innocently as she pulled a large pile of money towards her. The men groaned, and a couple growled at her, but she just stared back at them with a bubbly sort of grin. Her look was innocent, but there was a hint of something more in the corner of her smile that threatened to stretch into a smirk. One of her wolf ears was turned forward, and the other was turned to the side, and she had a tail that was swinging lazily from side to side.
“How the hell do you do that?” One of the men said angrily, looking slightly bewildered.
“Every single time…” Another groaned.
“Aw, sorry guys. Do you want to play again?” She asked with a grin. They looked at her incredulously.
“No way.” Said the first.
“Not a chance.” The second shook his head.
“Aww…” She pouted a little.
“There's only one way she could win every single damn time…” One of the other men growled. “She's cheating!” Her grin had immediately turned from feigned innocence to dangerous, daring him to continue.
“Is that so…?” She asked him with narrowed eyes.
“You cheated, and we want our money back. Or else…” The grin faded from her face completely as she glared at him openly. Another man walked up then and smacked him on the side of the head. He blinked, dazed, and looked up at him.
“Leave Ritsuko alone, you. Just because you were stupid and couldn't resist challenging her when you very well knew what the outcome would be, that doesn't mean she was cheating. Right?” He looked over to the girl whom he had called Ritsuko, and she pouted again.
“Of course…I'd never cheat.” With that, the man gave a nod of finality, and motioned for the men at the table to leave. He was the owner of the tavern they were in, and he was quite a big man. He looked after Ritsuko like she was a daughter to him, and he was very protective of her. She gave him a great big smile and thanked him, put all of her winnings into a big pouch, and ran off back to the apartment she shared with her best and really only friend, looking excited.
“Livia, I'm home!” The coins in the pouch jingled as she walked through the doorway and bounced into the small two-bedroom apartment. She walked down the short hallway to their living room and plopped down on the circular rug in the middle of the floor, dumping the contents of her pouch in front of her. She laid down on her stomach on the rug with her legs bent and her ankles crossed, counting the money.
“Welcome home.” The girl she'd called Livia replied as she walked into the room from a doorway that led to the kitchen and sat down on their couch along the back wall of the room, facing Ritsuko. Livia looked down at the pile of winnings that Ritsuko was sorting into dollar amounts so she could count them. “Did you have fun?” She asked as she pushed back the strands of her orange-red hair that had fallen into her face. Ritsuko grinned.
“Yup. I think they're all tired of losing, though, so I might not have a challenger for a while. One of them today even accused me of cheating, but Mr. Arasaki straightened it out.” Ritsuko kicked her legs back and forth in the air. Livia smiled.
“Well, that's what happens when a 17-year-old girl plays poker with the big boys and always wins. Even if you WEREN'T a 17-year-old girl, you'd still have the sore losers that would accuse you of cheating. Regardless of whether or not you actually were…” Livia raised an eyebrow at Ritsuko, who only grinned back. Livia couldn't help but giggle at Ritsuko's enthusiasm. She was so happy; it was hard to believe that those charming bubbly eyes used to hold grief and devastation in their depths. And it had only been about a year since Livia had first stumbled upon her. Livia's eyes clouded somewhat as she remembered when they'd first met.
She had been going for a walk, trying to figure out a few problems that she had. It was quiet, perfect for being alone to think. She had needed a job; she'd just been fired. She wasn't sure how she was going to pay for her apartment; if she didn't find a job soon, she'd lose it, and then where would she be? Livia had been walking through a path just inside the edge of the forest even though it was supposed to be dangerous, and she'd come across a small clearing.
She'd been walking along, lost in thought, when she'd noticed something red on the path she was walking. Upon further inspection, she realized it was blood, and there was a small trail of it going across the path towards the middle of the clearing, where a huge boulder sat. Cautiously she followed it, thinking it to be an animal wounded by some of the demons that lived in the forests in packs and clans. As it turned out, she was very close.
She saw her tail first, it was sort of sticking out from behind the boulder, and there was blood all over it. Here and there, patches of brown fur were missing. The next thing Livia saw as she neared the boulder was scratched, bloodied, and bruised legs. There was a particularly nasty gash on one leg, and most of the wounds on them looked like bite or claw marks. She walked around the rest of the boulder and saw her, lying there, looking pitiful and helpless.
Her face was stained with tears and blood, and her eyes were open even though she didn't seem to be seeing anything. She apparently had had on clothes, and the blood-soaked shreds that were left just barely covered her. The same wounds on her legs covered her entire body, looking like bite and scratch marks. None of the wounds looked as though knives or swords or guns had made them. Along with her tail, she had two wolf ears on the top of her head, but they didn't move to pick up sound.
At first Livia thought she was dead, but she saw her breathing, so she knew that she wasn't. It seemed she were just in shock, and a lot of pain. Slowly she knelt next to her, in her line of sight, not wanting to scare her but wanting her to know she was there. The girl was a demon, but even so, she needed help. Livia would take her back with her, and take care of her, but she wasn't strong enough to carry her, and she didn't want to leave her to find someone else. She tried very carefully to rouse the girl, but she refused to move, lying there listlessly, though for a moment her eyes turned to her before going out of focus again.
Livia jerked upright and looked around the boulder, having heard the crashing sounds of someone big coming through the forest towards the clearing. She didn't move out from behind the boulder, hovering over the girl, watching the spot where she knew whatever it was would emerge. The crashing sounds got very close and then the plants parted and a man emerged from the forest. He was a big man, very tall with big muscular arms and he was somewhat pudgy. His short black hair was tousled and his hands were huge as the pushed the plants back around him as he walked into the clearing and looked around. Livia sighed in relief and stood up from where she was behind the boulder.
“Mr. Arasaki!” She said as she walked around the boulder towards him. “You scared me, crashing around like that.” She knew him, he was the owner of a tavern near her apartment.
“Livia? What are you doing in here alone? It's very dangerous!” Mr. Arasaki was surprised and upset that she was there by herself, and the look on his face was of fatherly concern. He'd once had a daughter, and she'd have been only a year or two younger than Livia had she not been afflicted with a virus, which gave her a sickness that she couldn't recover from. Livia had met her the year she moved to the city, and a year after that the girl, Nao, was taken by the illness. Livia had been with her when she died, and had stayed with Mr. Arasaki when he was grieving, and so they were close. He was always looking after her, but she didn't mind. She was an orphan, so she'd never known her parents.
“I was trying to get somewhere quiet, so I could think, and I saw that blood on the path over there.” Mr. Arasaki turned immediately to the blood, and then followed the trail with his eyes. Livia motioned for him to follow her behind the boulder, and his eyes widened as he saw the girl lying there. “I think she's a demon…” Livia said quietly as he kneeled beside her.
“Half demon. Wolf demon.” He corrected, as he looked her over. “That must be why…Wolf demons are very proud, they won't accept half bloods into their packs…” He leaned closer to her, and looked at her eyes. “Her eyes are different colors. Look, silver and gold. That must be why they left her alive.”
“They kept her alive because her eyes were two different colors…?” Livia asked, looking puzzled. Mr. Arasaki nodded as he checked the girl's wounds to see how serious they were.
“Yeah. Different colored eyes are incredibly rare, and the wolf demons hold them in very high regards. Any wolf demons with two different colored eyes are held in the highest respect. I'm not sure why, but the wolf demons with different colored eyes can even take over the pack as the leader, without opposition.” Livia didn't say anything else, despite the fact that she thought it was silly and wanted to know more, because he very carefully slid his arms underneath the girl's back and began to lift her off of the ground.
“We need to find some place for her to stay…” He sounded concerned.
“She can stay with me.” Livia volunteered quietly. Mr. Arasaki looked up at her.
“Are you sure?” He asked. Livia nodded, looking at the girl in his arms.
“She needs somewhere safe to stay, someplace quiet, where she can rest and get better. I can take care of her.” He looked at her for a long moment and finally nodded, turning to leave the forest.
They took the half demon girl back with them to Livia's apartment and bandaged her up the best they could. The girl seemed to drift in and out of consciousness, though even when she was awake she would simply lie there, listless. Her eyes always seemed empty, and sometimes when Livia was changing her bandages the hairs on the back of her neck would stand on end. She had to constantly check the girl's pulse to reassure herself that she was still alive. Mr. Arasaki came over often, checking in on the girl when Livia was at work.
After the girl had been there for a couple of days, Livia noticed that when she was awake her eyes would sometimes follow them around the room, watching them. Livia started softly talking to her while she was changing her bandages, about the weather outside and how nicely she was healing. She told her about Mr. Arasaki, and how his daughter had passed away, and how his wife left him after that. She told the girl how he'd carried her back out of the woods, and how he'd taught Livia how to dress her wounds and how and what kinds of food and drink to give her.
A week passed, and the girl was able to stay awake and conscious for long periods of time. Livia and Mr. Arasaki were pleased, because the girl's wounds were healing very well and she no longer looked wary or nervous when they were around. The girl still wouldn't speak to them, but she had pulled herself up so that she was sitting up in the bed, propped up with a large pile of pillows. Livia came home from work and opened up the blinds real wide, and opened the window so that the warm light and fresh air could come in. The girl closed her eyes and breathed in the air longingly.
“You seem to be feeling better.” Livia said as she sat down in a chair beside the girl and gazed out the window. “I'm glad. I was worried that you might have gotten worse instead of better.” A moment passed and a soft cool breeze drifted into the room, carrying the sound of the birds chirping outside. It was such a peaceful day, even in an integrated demon/human town, where peace was almost scarce. The girl's eyes were full of longing and her expression was forlorn as she gazed out the window at the forest-covered mountains behind the apartment building. Livia looked over at the girl curiously.
“I know that you can understand me…but you don't talk. Can you really not talk, or do you just choose not to?” Ritsuko simply stared back at Livia, her expression saying nothing. Livia sighed and turned back to the window. “Is it that you don't trust me…? Or is it because of whatever happened to you back there…?” Livia speculated. The girl looked down at her hands in her lap, and Livia looked at her sadly, and looked away. Another minute passed in silence, and both girls' eyes were clouded over in memory.
“Sorry to bring up bad memories,” Livia said quietly. “It's just sometimes I feel silly, like I'm talking to myself. Of course, it's ironic that I, of all people, would feel silly talking to myself. My parents died when I was very young, in a fire, so I was alone for a long time. To pass the time and break the silence I'd talk to myself, like there was someone else there. This of course was in another town, far from here. The people of the town were at “war” with the woodland fairies, and my parents were doctors. They weren't on any specific side–they healed whomever was hurt.
“One day out of nowhere the people of the village attacked a group of fairies, and some were injured very badly when it was over, those that were left alive. My parents took care of them until they were well. The townspeople were furious and they set fire to our house…” Ritsuko was watching Livia intently. “My parents…they were able to get me out of the house, but they were trapped, and they died…After that, the townspeople banished me, not that I would have stayed, even though I was only nine. Well…I dunno, I guess I just wandered from place to place until one day I came here. That was a couple years ago…”
“My people banished me too.” A small voice in the room spoke up. Livia's head turned in the direction of the voice, and saw that it was the girl, staring down at her hands. “My mother was one of the nobles of the Wolf Demon Tribe. She was respected, and the others listened to her. They considered her very wise. But she did something stupid. She met a man, an angel, and she fell in love with him. He left, and she had me. A half-breed. A mutt, by the tribe's standards. I didn't do anything wrong, I was just born, but the wolves of the wolf demon tribe shunned me. I was a thing to them, nothing better than a human, no offence.” She bowed her head sadly.
“They killed my mother, for having relations and a child with an angel. We're wolves, but we're demons too, they said. They would have killed me too, but my eyes…are two different colors. They revere wolves with two different colored eyes, I think because… A long time ago, the wolf demons had a savior, and he had two different colored eyes. He saved them from dying out, and brought them to these mountains. So every time a wolf demon is born with different colored eyes, they believe, or they used to, that his spirit is inside of them.” She was quiet for a moment, and Livia waited.
“Anyway…they let me stay until I was 10, and then they made me leave. In the old days it was thought to be bad luck to kill a wolf demon who had two different colored eyes, and the elders of old had long decided that banishing any demon under the age of 10 was the very same as killing them, so they had to “raise” me. When I was growing up, I was kicked around, given ridiculous orders, looked down on, ignored…but I didn't want to leave. I kept trying to go back, to beg them to take me back, but every time I was painfully turned away with the reminder that I was worthless and that I'd never be accepted. I'm going to show them, though. I'm going to prove that I'm not just some dumb half-breed, I'm go into prove to them that I'm not worthless. I'm going to make them accept me.” She looked determined as she said it, but after, her face fell again.
“That's what I told myself, at least. I trained. I learned. I went back to them, to try to convince them. I was so sure that they'd take me in, at least as the same status I was when I left, so that I could show them, convince them, that I'm not a worthless mutt. I thought that they'd see how hard I was trying, and that they'd shun me, but at least allow me in. Instead, they…they sent the wolves after me. That's what happened when you found me. Again they didn't kill me; they left me alive. But if you hadn't of found me, I probably would have died…” She looked up at Livia, her eyes full of pain and sadness. “I am grateful for that. I hate myself for being a half-breed mutt, but I…I don't want to die…I don't want to be alone, either, though…” She looked away and shut her eyes, a couple tears escaping and running down her cheeks. Livia put a comforting hand on her shoulder, but nothing more, so as not to make the girl feel uncomfortable.
“You won't have to be.” Livia spoke comfortingly and confidently. “You can stay here, with me. We'll find a way to make it work, and that way neither of us will ever have to be alone. My apartment is small, and I don't have much, but you are more than welcome to anything I have, and you can stay as long as you want. On that note, by the way, my name is Livia.” She smiled a little sheepishly, as though apologizing for not telling the girl her name earlier. Ritsuko was looking up at her, and she smiled a very faint, tiny smile. Her eyes were still sad, but there was a tiny glimmer of hope in them.
“My name is Ritsuko.” She said in her small, quiet voice.
“Livia. Livia! Hey, Livia!” Livia's eyes focused and she jerked in surprise, staring at a happy, energetic face that had once belonged to a sad, hurt young girl. The differences between the two were amazing–if you hadn't seen her as she was back then, you'd never know that that troubled little girl was now this bubbly young woman. “Dinner's ready. Sorry I didn't try to shake you out of it sooner, you just spaced out and I figured that I'd leave you alone.” She was smiling, and her different colored eyes were bright.
“I'm sorry. Wow, dinner's ready? Has it really been that long?” Livia asked. Ritsuko nodded, and Livia turned and looked out the window to see a beautiful clear night sky, complete with a full moon. “Wow, Ritsuko, come look at the sky.” She said in awe as she stood and walked over to the window. Ritsuko stood beside her and looked out, then turned to Livia and grinned.
“Yup. It's a night sky alright.” They giggled and stood at the window for another moment, gazing out at the perfect night.