Pet Shop Of Horrors Fan Fiction ❯ Predator and Prey ❯ Chapter Five ( Chapter 5 )
[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
By: Sesshy81 
Anime/Manga: Pet Shop Of Horrors Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Angst / Supernatural / Romance | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 05.09.2007 | Pages: 2 | Words: 3.1K | Visits: 290 | Status: Work In Progress
Anime/Manga: Pet Shop Of Horrors Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Angst / Supernatural / Romance | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 05.09.2007 | Pages: 2 | Words: 3.1K | Visits: 290 | Status: Work In Progress
Predator and Prey
Disclaimer: Petshop of Horrors not mine, someone else's. I just wished I lived there. Also, Lee Sinhg, Coyote, and Entai are the sole property of Akita and Subu-chan, who have graciously allowed me to write my own fic that ties in with their PSOH fics. Any other characters from any other series that may pop up also belong only to their respective companies.
Co-authored by: Kita and Subu-chan.
Chapter Five:
Silence descended on the three after Ronan's declaration. Even as her body trembled with exhaustion, she fought to stay on her feet and facing Count D. Her eyes never wavered; the determined spark in them a blaze of light. Finally, D sighed and gently pulled her back to the bed, urging her to sit. "I must say, that is a most disturbing statement. I'm given to understand the one who bestowed this upon my grandfather was a regional lord of some sort in ancient Ireland. Perhaps you could tell us of its origins, as even he did not know the full story."
Crossing her arms over her chest, she turned and stared at the far wall, blindly tracing the patterns in the vines painted on the wall. "Fine," she said softly. "But you have to understand, this is only the truth so far as it is written down in the family records."
Huffing, T-chan leaned against a wall. "As in, it may not be the complete truth?" he asked sarcastically.
"No!" She shot back. "All of this was written down by the one it happened to. That journal has been handed down from generation to generation. When my father died, it and a few other things, among them a sketch of the door, were given to me, so 'that I might know why things were done a certain way' in my family." Her words had the sound of something heard so often that it had become rote.
"The Irish have always taken pride in their past history," observed D soothingly. "It is not so surprising that such records were kept through the years. But, please continue."
"Now, according to that journal, five hundred years ago the first of our family line fell in love ..."
"Like that really matters," snorted Tetsu.
"You shut up," she snapped back, spearing him with an angry glare. "Anyway, he fell in love and the one he fell in love with loved him just as much. However, there was a slight problem... She was ... She was a selkie, one of the seal-people. Nevertheless, after a great deal of pleading and arguing, both with the people of the village he lived in and her family, they were allowed to wed. The villagers and the selkie clan made a bit of a trade off, I'm given to understand, the selkies would lead the villagers to the fish schools and the humans would not hunt seals in return. According the journal, the pair had a private agreement, that he would never prevent her from returning to the sea when she was called, and she would always return to him when the call was satisfied."
"Very even-handed," noted Count D softly.
"Yeah. So, everyone was happy. The village always had plenty of fish and the selkies could come and go as they pleased without fearing for their lives. Many years passed and the couple had several children. One day she went to visit her family in the sea and he had to go out in the fishing boats, leaving the oldest child in charge of the younger ones. When the selkie returned to their home, the children were gone and there was a note left in the house. Apparently the source of the village's good luck on the sea had been discovered by the neighboring Lord. Since the village was outside of his lands, he wanted control over the one responsible for it and demanded that she turn her selkie skin over to him or he would kill the children."
The sound of a vicious snarl rippled through the room and Ronan looked up, startled. "T-chan?" she asked.
"The children?" The words were only barely recognizable through the growl in the Totetsu's voice. His posture was one of barely suppressed violence and D raised a hand to still him.
"Yes." Ronan continued her narrative, staring at Tetsu in wonder. "She could not let any harm come to her children, so she took her skin and gave it to the Lord but only after he released her children. They took the story of what had happened to their father and village, but by the time they were able to act, it was too late. The selkie was dead, having taken her own life rather than be used against those she cherished most. The man was heartbroken, and threw himself in to the sea after his children were grown, by the definition at those times. The eldest, a boy, took the surname Ransom and named his first-born Ronan, swearing that his mother's sacrifice would never be forgotten, and that every first born in his line would be named Ronan. I am the last of the family. I do have a distant cousin, Mitchell, but he's only sixteen and not even of the main line. But anyway, the point is, that door was carved by the selkies and was their wedding gift to the pair."
After a moment of silent, but for the soft growls of the Totetsu, contemplation of the implications of Ronan's story, Count D made a sudden noise of understanding. "I see. Is it possible that you still possess this journal? I would very much like to see it. Also, this explains something which I have sensing from you."
"From me?" She looked confused and uncertain of D as she watched him pour a cup of tea from a small pot and handed it to her.
"Indeed. You have about you an aura of magic. I would say after hearing this that you may have no active magic, but the blood of your selkie ancestress runs quite strongly in you. It would explain how you have been able to see the other's true forms. After so many generations, it is surprising to see it so strong that it would affect your basic makeup. Hmmm ... " Trailing off in thought, Count D took no notice of Tetsu sliding up on her left.
T-chan, for his part, had finally gotten control of his desire to rip something to shreds. "Well, it certainly explains your smell," he said sardonically, through the undercurrent of rigidly controlled anger.
"My smell?"
"Yeah. You smell like ..." He moved close enough to stand over her and sniffed, his nose almost buried in her hair. "Ocean and heather. Rather odd for a human, to say the least."
"Odd? How so?" She asked, sipping the tea, now that it had cooled sufficiently.
"Most humans do have their own personal smell, but every human also has a scent of ... well ... death I guess. You all smell like you're all dying."
"Well, in a way, we are. Every human is dying, slowly."
"You do not have this smell," said D absently, still lost in thought.
“What he said,” said Tetsu, grinning at D’s absorption in his thoughts. “I’m not Ten-chan so don’t take this wrong, but could you take off the top so we can get a look at how your wounds are healing? By the way, that tea is medicine. Lee Sinhg, that's the doctor who put you back together, left it for you. It's probably the same stuff he left for the idiot Detective when he got injured in that explosion a few weeks ago.”
“Detective?” she asked, perking up enough to stare him in the eye.
Tetsu nodded, grimacing. No matter what D said, he doubted he would ever like the human. Orcot just rubbed him the wrong way. “Yeah. He stops by here fairly often. There’s a little boy who pretty much lives here, Chris. The Detective is his brother. Right now, they’re out at the beach, as it’s his day off.” Tetsu stepped away from her, looking like he’d bitten into something sour once he saw her face. It was bright with interest, the slight tuck of her lip telling him she was biting it.
“I … I really … should talk to him. About what happened to me, I mean,” she said looking away from him, an expression of distress melting away the interest.
D looked at the two for a minute. “I believe that can be arranged, my dear. Come, let us see to the wounds, then we have things we need to do before we close the shop.”
“Do you want any help?” she asked as she carefully let the top of her kimono drape lower on her back so he could see the injuries she had sustained.
The earnest question caught him off guard. “Ah, no, I don’t think that will be necessary. But if you wish to, you may assist T-chan on his rounds. It would be an excellent way for you to meet the other residents in a controlled manner.” He completely ignored Tetsu’s outraged look. “I heard about your encounter with Saabra and Jabor. It is fortunate that they are as yet youngsters,” he said as he ran gentle fingers over the stitches, after having taken the light bandages off. “These are healing nicely. Lee Sinhg does excellent work.” D replaced the bandages and gently assisted her in pulling her kimono back into place. Rising with boneless grace, Count D turned to the once again fuming Totetsu, with a smirk. “See to it that she is never mistaken for food by any of the others. If she is to remain here for any length of time, we can not have our meat-eating friends assume she is part of the menu.”
Spluttering, T-chan was unable to make a coherent response as D let himself out of the room, and much to his dismay, Ronan was giggling softly as she resettled her clothing into its proper places. “I guess you’re coming with me, then?” he asked rhetorically as she finally gained control of her laughter.
“Sure, why not?" She giggled again. "I have to say, the look on your face at having to “babysit” was just priceless! It was just about the perfect mix of disgust, outrage, and resignation! Wonderful!” It occurred to her that perhaps she should not be feeling so comfortable with these people, but after so long without one, something about this whole place screamed “home” to her. It felt like … like perfect safety, perfect contentment. The one place where she would always be surrounded by those who were friends. T-chan in particular gave her a feeling of … for lack of a better word, relaxation. Like she was able to let her guard down, and let someone else protect her for a change, rather than being the one doing the protecting. Here... she didn’t have to be the strong one.
Shaking off her rather dark thoughts, she yawned and scrunched her shoulders together. With a half-smile twisting her lips she staggered slightly to her feet and blinked a few times before fixing T-chan with a pointed look that said "lead the way, kimosabi!".
Wrinkling his nose at the girl, Tetsu stalked with feline grace to the door and held it open for her in a rare show of courtesy. "Coming?"
Sticking her tongue out at him she shuffled as fast as she could to the doorway. She was tired, sure, but she wanted to see more of this strange place she was now allowed to call home, even if only temporarily. "So where to first?"
Growling out a sigh, he ran a somewhat distracted hand through his tawny-bronze colored hair. "I suppose we'd best start with Zeriah, she's a hippogryph, by the way."
"Not a gryphon? I thought they were the same?" she asked.
Tetsu shook his head, reminding himself to be patient with her. Humans were so very blind to differences until those differences became too much to ignore. "No. A hippogryph and a gryphon are two separate species, but they are similar. The difference is that a hippogryph is the offspring of a gryphon and a horse. They were never numerous, and only very rarely bred amongst themselves. Zeriah is one of only about twenty or so that still exist today." He looked over his shoulder at Ronan. "Like so many other creatures, selkies among them, humans have hunted them to near extinction. The Count's trying to convince a few of the others to relocate here, to protect them, but most don't want to give up their territory; they're much like lions in that respect. Zeriah was injured and D took her in. After she healed, she chose to stay." He turned a corner and then reached back to grasp her hand, tugging her along. "This way. Zeriah prefers to stay out of the way. Her injuries were the result of a fire, and in some places her feathers and fur never grew back. Whatever you do, don't stare, she gets nasty when people do."
She giggled at him. "You sure talk a lot when you find a topic you like. Otherwise you seem to clam up and talk about as much as a rock." She smiled at him when he turned an icy glare on her. "It's kinda cute."
The glare faded and confusion took its place on his face. "I'm only telling you what you need to know."
Shoving him playfully, a bright twinkle in her eyes, she said, "But that's the most words I've heard you string together all at once. Well, when you're talking ta me anyway." Putting her forefinger up to his forehead, she poked him gently. "Seriously, we should at least make an effort ta get along, you know. So what else can you tell me about Zeriah?" She was making quite an effort to supress her accent, something she'd very concious of ever since arriving in the United States. So far it was working, so long as she didn't get too upset. Maybe the medicine was helping in that, she thought, cause right now she'd never felt better, injuries and all. She giggled again at the look on her companion's face.
He stared at Ronan, not really quite sure what to make of someone so ... accepting of the strange. Then again, considering her own family history, she probably had quite a shock buffer for what she'd see here. He supposed that after finding out you weren't entirely human, anything else would seem almost normal. Turning on his heel, he lead the way further into the depths of the petshop, intent on introducing her to as many of the inhabitants as possible.
****
Break
****
Lowering herself carefully into a chair in the reception room, Ronan groaned in mock suffering. Casting a pout at the Toteteu, she complained, "I am not going to try to do that again for a few days. You could have warned me we'd be walking for miles!" She shook a finger at him, smiling to let him know it was all in fun. And it had been fun, even if her injuries didn't agree. She'd never seen so many strange and wondrous things in all her life.
"You didn't ask. If you had told me sooner that you were getting tired I would have returned you sooner," Tetsu huffed at her. Sliding around the chair she sat on, he headed for the kitchen, knowing it was time for another cup of her medicine. To his surprise, he found Count D already there, his hands busily preparing a small fruit salad. "Yo."
Looking back over his shoulder, D smiled at his Totetsu, his mismatched eyes sparkling. "Hello Tetsu. How did the introductions proceed?"
He shrugged. "Well enough, I suppose. Rikoda was actually rather happy to see her."
D's hands stilled instantly. Very carefully he turned to glare Tetsu, feeling very cold. "You took her to see the basilisk?" he asked softly, coldly.
Leaning against the counter, T-chan faced D, crossing his arms over his chest. "I don't really see the problem. Rikoda behaved himself admirably, and promised not to eat her if she would visit."
Taking a deep breath to calm his anger, D put the knife he had been holding down and stalked out of the kitchen. "She is not to visit him on her own. Not until I'm certain she is safe from him." he cast over his shoulder in command.
With a heavy sigh, Tetsu stepped up the the last remains of the fruit D had been cutting up, deciding to finish the salad for him rather than let the food go bad. He hadn't been quite entirely truthful to D. All of the others had been pleased to meet her, a few taking to her warm personality like wet on water. Zeriah had even let Ronan stroke her tawny-gold feathers, something she allowed no one save the count to do. Some of them were so lonely that they would take kindness and friendship from even a part-blood human. And that same warmly infectious charm was even working on him, despite all he did to ward it off. Whatever else was to happen from here, he was certain with her around nothing would ever be the same.
***Chapter End***
So chapter five is done. It will probably take me longer to get the next few chapters out, since they're gonna be hopping all of the timeline. So enjoy this and REVIEW!!! Lots o' Luv Sesshy81
Disclaimer: Petshop of Horrors not mine, someone else's. I just wished I lived there. Also, Lee Sinhg, Coyote, and Entai are the sole property of Akita and Subu-chan, who have graciously allowed me to write my own fic that ties in with their PSOH fics. Any other characters from any other series that may pop up also belong only to their respective companies.
Co-authored by: Kita and Subu-chan.
Chapter Five:
Silence descended on the three after Ronan's declaration. Even as her body trembled with exhaustion, she fought to stay on her feet and facing Count D. Her eyes never wavered; the determined spark in them a blaze of light. Finally, D sighed and gently pulled her back to the bed, urging her to sit. "I must say, that is a most disturbing statement. I'm given to understand the one who bestowed this upon my grandfather was a regional lord of some sort in ancient Ireland. Perhaps you could tell us of its origins, as even he did not know the full story."
Crossing her arms over her chest, she turned and stared at the far wall, blindly tracing the patterns in the vines painted on the wall. "Fine," she said softly. "But you have to understand, this is only the truth so far as it is written down in the family records."
Huffing, T-chan leaned against a wall. "As in, it may not be the complete truth?" he asked sarcastically.
"No!" She shot back. "All of this was written down by the one it happened to. That journal has been handed down from generation to generation. When my father died, it and a few other things, among them a sketch of the door, were given to me, so 'that I might know why things were done a certain way' in my family." Her words had the sound of something heard so often that it had become rote.
"The Irish have always taken pride in their past history," observed D soothingly. "It is not so surprising that such records were kept through the years. But, please continue."
"Now, according to that journal, five hundred years ago the first of our family line fell in love ..."
"Like that really matters," snorted Tetsu.
"You shut up," she snapped back, spearing him with an angry glare. "Anyway, he fell in love and the one he fell in love with loved him just as much. However, there was a slight problem... She was ... She was a selkie, one of the seal-people. Nevertheless, after a great deal of pleading and arguing, both with the people of the village he lived in and her family, they were allowed to wed. The villagers and the selkie clan made a bit of a trade off, I'm given to understand, the selkies would lead the villagers to the fish schools and the humans would not hunt seals in return. According the journal, the pair had a private agreement, that he would never prevent her from returning to the sea when she was called, and she would always return to him when the call was satisfied."
"Very even-handed," noted Count D softly.
"Yeah. So, everyone was happy. The village always had plenty of fish and the selkies could come and go as they pleased without fearing for their lives. Many years passed and the couple had several children. One day she went to visit her family in the sea and he had to go out in the fishing boats, leaving the oldest child in charge of the younger ones. When the selkie returned to their home, the children were gone and there was a note left in the house. Apparently the source of the village's good luck on the sea had been discovered by the neighboring Lord. Since the village was outside of his lands, he wanted control over the one responsible for it and demanded that she turn her selkie skin over to him or he would kill the children."
The sound of a vicious snarl rippled through the room and Ronan looked up, startled. "T-chan?" she asked.
"The children?" The words were only barely recognizable through the growl in the Totetsu's voice. His posture was one of barely suppressed violence and D raised a hand to still him.
"Yes." Ronan continued her narrative, staring at Tetsu in wonder. "She could not let any harm come to her children, so she took her skin and gave it to the Lord but only after he released her children. They took the story of what had happened to their father and village, but by the time they were able to act, it was too late. The selkie was dead, having taken her own life rather than be used against those she cherished most. The man was heartbroken, and threw himself in to the sea after his children were grown, by the definition at those times. The eldest, a boy, took the surname Ransom and named his first-born Ronan, swearing that his mother's sacrifice would never be forgotten, and that every first born in his line would be named Ronan. I am the last of the family. I do have a distant cousin, Mitchell, but he's only sixteen and not even of the main line. But anyway, the point is, that door was carved by the selkies and was their wedding gift to the pair."
After a moment of silent, but for the soft growls of the Totetsu, contemplation of the implications of Ronan's story, Count D made a sudden noise of understanding. "I see. Is it possible that you still possess this journal? I would very much like to see it. Also, this explains something which I have sensing from you."
"From me?" She looked confused and uncertain of D as she watched him pour a cup of tea from a small pot and handed it to her.
"Indeed. You have about you an aura of magic. I would say after hearing this that you may have no active magic, but the blood of your selkie ancestress runs quite strongly in you. It would explain how you have been able to see the other's true forms. After so many generations, it is surprising to see it so strong that it would affect your basic makeup. Hmmm ... " Trailing off in thought, Count D took no notice of Tetsu sliding up on her left.
T-chan, for his part, had finally gotten control of his desire to rip something to shreds. "Well, it certainly explains your smell," he said sardonically, through the undercurrent of rigidly controlled anger.
"My smell?"
"Yeah. You smell like ..." He moved close enough to stand over her and sniffed, his nose almost buried in her hair. "Ocean and heather. Rather odd for a human, to say the least."
"Odd? How so?" She asked, sipping the tea, now that it had cooled sufficiently.
"Most humans do have their own personal smell, but every human also has a scent of ... well ... death I guess. You all smell like you're all dying."
"Well, in a way, we are. Every human is dying, slowly."
"You do not have this smell," said D absently, still lost in thought.
“What he said,” said Tetsu, grinning at D’s absorption in his thoughts. “I’m not Ten-chan so don’t take this wrong, but could you take off the top so we can get a look at how your wounds are healing? By the way, that tea is medicine. Lee Sinhg, that's the doctor who put you back together, left it for you. It's probably the same stuff he left for the idiot Detective when he got injured in that explosion a few weeks ago.”
“Detective?” she asked, perking up enough to stare him in the eye.
Tetsu nodded, grimacing. No matter what D said, he doubted he would ever like the human. Orcot just rubbed him the wrong way. “Yeah. He stops by here fairly often. There’s a little boy who pretty much lives here, Chris. The Detective is his brother. Right now, they’re out at the beach, as it’s his day off.” Tetsu stepped away from her, looking like he’d bitten into something sour once he saw her face. It was bright with interest, the slight tuck of her lip telling him she was biting it.
“I … I really … should talk to him. About what happened to me, I mean,” she said looking away from him, an expression of distress melting away the interest.
D looked at the two for a minute. “I believe that can be arranged, my dear. Come, let us see to the wounds, then we have things we need to do before we close the shop.”
“Do you want any help?” she asked as she carefully let the top of her kimono drape lower on her back so he could see the injuries she had sustained.
The earnest question caught him off guard. “Ah, no, I don’t think that will be necessary. But if you wish to, you may assist T-chan on his rounds. It would be an excellent way for you to meet the other residents in a controlled manner.” He completely ignored Tetsu’s outraged look. “I heard about your encounter with Saabra and Jabor. It is fortunate that they are as yet youngsters,” he said as he ran gentle fingers over the stitches, after having taken the light bandages off. “These are healing nicely. Lee Sinhg does excellent work.” D replaced the bandages and gently assisted her in pulling her kimono back into place. Rising with boneless grace, Count D turned to the once again fuming Totetsu, with a smirk. “See to it that she is never mistaken for food by any of the others. If she is to remain here for any length of time, we can not have our meat-eating friends assume she is part of the menu.”
Spluttering, T-chan was unable to make a coherent response as D let himself out of the room, and much to his dismay, Ronan was giggling softly as she resettled her clothing into its proper places. “I guess you’re coming with me, then?” he asked rhetorically as she finally gained control of her laughter.
“Sure, why not?" She giggled again. "I have to say, the look on your face at having to “babysit” was just priceless! It was just about the perfect mix of disgust, outrage, and resignation! Wonderful!” It occurred to her that perhaps she should not be feeling so comfortable with these people, but after so long without one, something about this whole place screamed “home” to her. It felt like … like perfect safety, perfect contentment. The one place where she would always be surrounded by those who were friends. T-chan in particular gave her a feeling of … for lack of a better word, relaxation. Like she was able to let her guard down, and let someone else protect her for a change, rather than being the one doing the protecting. Here... she didn’t have to be the strong one.
Shaking off her rather dark thoughts, she yawned and scrunched her shoulders together. With a half-smile twisting her lips she staggered slightly to her feet and blinked a few times before fixing T-chan with a pointed look that said "lead the way, kimosabi!".
Wrinkling his nose at the girl, Tetsu stalked with feline grace to the door and held it open for her in a rare show of courtesy. "Coming?"
Sticking her tongue out at him she shuffled as fast as she could to the doorway. She was tired, sure, but she wanted to see more of this strange place she was now allowed to call home, even if only temporarily. "So where to first?"
Growling out a sigh, he ran a somewhat distracted hand through his tawny-bronze colored hair. "I suppose we'd best start with Zeriah, she's a hippogryph, by the way."
"Not a gryphon? I thought they were the same?" she asked.
Tetsu shook his head, reminding himself to be patient with her. Humans were so very blind to differences until those differences became too much to ignore. "No. A hippogryph and a gryphon are two separate species, but they are similar. The difference is that a hippogryph is the offspring of a gryphon and a horse. They were never numerous, and only very rarely bred amongst themselves. Zeriah is one of only about twenty or so that still exist today." He looked over his shoulder at Ronan. "Like so many other creatures, selkies among them, humans have hunted them to near extinction. The Count's trying to convince a few of the others to relocate here, to protect them, but most don't want to give up their territory; they're much like lions in that respect. Zeriah was injured and D took her in. After she healed, she chose to stay." He turned a corner and then reached back to grasp her hand, tugging her along. "This way. Zeriah prefers to stay out of the way. Her injuries were the result of a fire, and in some places her feathers and fur never grew back. Whatever you do, don't stare, she gets nasty when people do."
She giggled at him. "You sure talk a lot when you find a topic you like. Otherwise you seem to clam up and talk about as much as a rock." She smiled at him when he turned an icy glare on her. "It's kinda cute."
The glare faded and confusion took its place on his face. "I'm only telling you what you need to know."
Shoving him playfully, a bright twinkle in her eyes, she said, "But that's the most words I've heard you string together all at once. Well, when you're talking ta me anyway." Putting her forefinger up to his forehead, she poked him gently. "Seriously, we should at least make an effort ta get along, you know. So what else can you tell me about Zeriah?" She was making quite an effort to supress her accent, something she'd very concious of ever since arriving in the United States. So far it was working, so long as she didn't get too upset. Maybe the medicine was helping in that, she thought, cause right now she'd never felt better, injuries and all. She giggled again at the look on her companion's face.
He stared at Ronan, not really quite sure what to make of someone so ... accepting of the strange. Then again, considering her own family history, she probably had quite a shock buffer for what she'd see here. He supposed that after finding out you weren't entirely human, anything else would seem almost normal. Turning on his heel, he lead the way further into the depths of the petshop, intent on introducing her to as many of the inhabitants as possible.
****
Break
****
Lowering herself carefully into a chair in the reception room, Ronan groaned in mock suffering. Casting a pout at the Toteteu, she complained, "I am not going to try to do that again for a few days. You could have warned me we'd be walking for miles!" She shook a finger at him, smiling to let him know it was all in fun. And it had been fun, even if her injuries didn't agree. She'd never seen so many strange and wondrous things in all her life.
"You didn't ask. If you had told me sooner that you were getting tired I would have returned you sooner," Tetsu huffed at her. Sliding around the chair she sat on, he headed for the kitchen, knowing it was time for another cup of her medicine. To his surprise, he found Count D already there, his hands busily preparing a small fruit salad. "Yo."
Looking back over his shoulder, D smiled at his Totetsu, his mismatched eyes sparkling. "Hello Tetsu. How did the introductions proceed?"
He shrugged. "Well enough, I suppose. Rikoda was actually rather happy to see her."
D's hands stilled instantly. Very carefully he turned to glare Tetsu, feeling very cold. "You took her to see the basilisk?" he asked softly, coldly.
Leaning against the counter, T-chan faced D, crossing his arms over his chest. "I don't really see the problem. Rikoda behaved himself admirably, and promised not to eat her if she would visit."
Taking a deep breath to calm his anger, D put the knife he had been holding down and stalked out of the kitchen. "She is not to visit him on her own. Not until I'm certain she is safe from him." he cast over his shoulder in command.
With a heavy sigh, Tetsu stepped up the the last remains of the fruit D had been cutting up, deciding to finish the salad for him rather than let the food go bad. He hadn't been quite entirely truthful to D. All of the others had been pleased to meet her, a few taking to her warm personality like wet on water. Zeriah had even let Ronan stroke her tawny-gold feathers, something she allowed no one save the count to do. Some of them were so lonely that they would take kindness and friendship from even a part-blood human. And that same warmly infectious charm was even working on him, despite all he did to ward it off. Whatever else was to happen from here, he was certain with her around nothing would ever be the same.
***Chapter End***
So chapter five is done. It will probably take me longer to get the next few chapters out, since they're gonna be hopping all of the timeline. So enjoy this and REVIEW!!! Lots o' Luv Sesshy81