Kiri's Story

"Fine. Alright then, fair enough. Wis gonna do sumthin like that anyway. Ya just saved me the trouble.", Rei replied, shrugging in a non-commital way. He knew that these two didn't trust him, and that his constant mood changes would be confusing to them. One minute challenging, next minute relaxed. That was just how Rei worked though, he had gotten used to doing this. Just to keep people on their toes. He was annoyed that the Magi had decided to be such an ass about putting up the barrier though. He was just making it obvious that he didn't trust Rei not to slaughter them in their sleep. Rei wouldn't do that though, not yet. Not until he got paid to anyway.

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Kiri sat down on the ground, glad to be off the horse. Her legs were sore now, because she wasn't used to it. She was glad that Kuen had decided that they would all get some sleep, but didn't like the look the other man was giving him when he thought Kuen wasn't looking. Not so much as if he were going to kill Kuen, more like he had a problem with him. As if there were something about Kuen's attitude that annoyed Rei.
She watched as the male demon in question proceeded to set up a fire, though the wood he used was odd. It didn't give off any smoke for one thing, and the flames were a dark blue colour, not the orange she was accustomed to. The colour was proably a good thing, since it was quickly getting dark, and such dark flames wouldn't be noticed outside of their little 'camp'. Rei noticed her staring and grinned, and Kiri noticed that his teeth were oddly sharp and pointed. Probably because he was a demon.
"Shade-oak, if you were wondering, or Shadrin, in the demon language. Useful for us right now. Means we won't be seen.", he explained, confirming Kiri's theory. She nodded in response, then looked at Kuen. He seemed tense, which was probably how she looked as well. Completely at odds with Rei's calm demeanor.

The magi had turned his back to both Kiri and Rei, while he checked Perch over for any wounds. He noticed a new nicks on his legs from the twigs lashing at him during their gallop, but all together deemed that the horse would be perfectly alright by morning. It was not hard to notice that his shoulders and back were a little tense, but that was normal for a horse that was near a demonic presence. Kuen rubbed his hand down the horse's now bare back and legs to clam him a bit before thinking of Vira. It was not often that the woman of the ocean came to his thoughts, but it seemed that Kiri and stress was starting to bring her up more often.

Shaking his head, the dark haired man let the horse go to graze in the grasses near them before looking at the the Shadrin fire that the demon made. He was happy to see that he chose a wood that produced a dark flame instead of a bright one, but was not happy that it was Shadrin. Some people reacted poorly to the dark demonic wood, though he doubted that Kiri would be exposed to it like a normal human. Her magic should keep her safe from the deep poisonous dreams Shadrin could produce.

"Kiri..." Kuen held his hand out to her. "We will came out near Perch, away from the demon and his wood." He said, his voice staying calm but untrusting. He waited for her to take his hand before drawing her in close and walking out a far distance to be in the open next to Perch before beginning a spell that made a tent for them both to sleep in. Though the tent was very deceiving, being that it was small on the outside but was as big as a two-bedroom town house in Raz'ira.

"Sure, fine...Suits me better anyway. Just don't make too much noise in there, kay?", Rei couldn't resist making a snide comment about the tent thing that Kuen had set up. Those two made a cute couple, Rei had a sense about things like that. This arrangement worked out better for him though, it meant he could check on his newest injury without it being noticed. He had hidden his wings for quite a while now, he had no intention of revealing them at this stage. Best that these two didn't know too much about him.

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Kiri was grateful to be away from Rei, he was creepy. To say the least. She knew she shouldn't be surprised at anything Kuen did by this point, but the weird thing he did with the tent was just...well...weird. At least there would be no worries about privacy. Not that Kiri's childlike body had anything that she would need to hide just yet (she could easily pass for a boy if she had to), she was still uncomfortable at the thought of sharing the same space with an older male, one that wasn't her father or brother. She and Mikuo had shared a room up until he got married, houses on the islands tended to be small.

Kuen ignored the comment that Rei made as he entered the tent behind Kiri. He was happy to see her relax a little more now that she had a wall between her and the demon outside, but it was no surprise to him that she was impressed and confused by the largeness of the inside of the tent. He pointed out toward a room that was decorated in light blues and greys to mimick the sea. "That would be your room over there." He stated, then started toward a large black door that was shut tight. "If you need me knock." He said, opening the door quickly and disappearing inside without another word. Just as he closed the door though, the tent's door closed behind them and locked, leaving them inside and leaving the demon tightly shut on the outside.

"Thank you...", Kiri said, watching Kuen go into his room, glad that Rei was to be kept outside. She felt a little guilty about that though, even though she had a feeling that the demon would prefer to be left alone. She just got that impression from him.
Best not to worry about it though. She'd never get any sleep if she did. And she needed sleep, even if she was too rattled to actually feel tired just now. She entered her room, the light blues and greys instantly calming her down. It was as close as she would get to being home. She missed the islands, as much as she had been glad to get away from them. Home was familiar, not like here, where so many strange things happened.

Laying on the bed that was in the room, she stared up at the ceiling, trying to get to sleep. Her mind refused to cooperate though, and she ended up singing to herself again, trying to lull herself to sleep.

"Close your eyes, little darling
Evening is here
Close your eyes little darling
Mama is near
Go to sleep little darling
There's nothing to fear
Go to sleep little darling
Your mama is here
Close your eyes . . .
Go to sleep . . .
Mama is here. . ."

She had always liked that song, her mother had often used it to get her to sleep as a child. Mikuo as well, though her brother was a good deal older than she was, and so she only knew that from what she had been told. At least six years older, now married with a child...a little girl, who looked more like Kiri than she did her own parents. Kiri had always liked that fact, and had carried on the tradition of singing that song to the baby.

Weirdly enough it seemed to help, though she still couldn't sleep. She was a bit calmer though, and that was the main thing.

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Once he was sure that the two teenagers wouldn't leave the tent again, Rei pulled his cloak aside to examine the injury to his wing. Yipes...worse than I thought..., he thought as he examined his wing. The wound was pretty deep, and his blood had stained the already dark feathers to an even darker black. He would have to put up with it though, he couldn't heal himself. His demonic blood had closed the option of healing magick off to him. He healed pretty quick on his own though, so he would be fine in a few days. It just meant he couldn't fly for a while. That annoyed him, he liked flying, liked the feeling of freedom it gave him.

Bored with singing, Kiri had moved off the bed and started stretching, trying to relax her body as much as she could. She was flexible to start with, so could bend her little body into highly complex stretches, something that Mikuo had always been jealous of. He was the stronger of the two, and better at magick, but what he had in strength he lacked in agility. Not to say he wasn't fast, but certainly wasn't as fast as Kiri was, or as agile. Kiri was better at climbing as well.

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Rei stretched his wing out a bit, the movement opening the wound a bit more. That had hurt. A lot. But the only sign that he was in pain came from the slight frown that had formed on his face. He was pretty used to pain, he had been in plenty of fights before. Then there was his scars. Many of them were from fights, but not all. Some of the older ones were from...other things...Things he didn't want to think about right now.
Leaning back, he kept his wings out, figuring he was safe for now. he might as well get a nap, while he was here...

Still bored, Kiri decided to find out where Kuen was, if only for a distraction. She left her room and quickly found him, lying on a couch, fast asleep. He actually looked...vulnerable...when he slept. Almost childlike, in a way. Then again, he wasn't that much older than Kiri was, at least physically. Kiri had to remind herself that Kuen was probably way older than she could ever imagine. And yet...Kiri saw a kid when she looked at him. A kid who had his own worries, his own fears. He just wanted his 'parents' back, even if they weren't actually related to him. It didn't matter to him, she assumed.

Smiling softly, Kiri joined him on the couch, lightly resting her head on his chest, the simple motion making her sleepy. And about time too, she had just spent the best part of the last hour trying to get herself to sleep.
Within minutes though, she was also asleep.

A new warmth entered Kuen's mind as Kiri joined him on the couch. Without much conciousness, the man wrapped his arm around her and pulled her closer to him enough to snuggle his head into her hair. She smelt warm like the salty breeze of the ocean and in his dreams it immediately translated to Vira. She was dancing around in his dreams, showing him how to move much like he had shown Kiri in the ball room the day before. He was not sure, but it was calming to him, to see his love happy again.

She twirled around, her silky clothes floating in the air as if pulled up by water, making a wave ike notion as she swirled around. Her voice rang clear in the room, taking on a song her mother had taught her when she was a child. A song that always reminded Kuen of his own home. And then it was all gone. All he saw was Sheela staring down at him with her evil grin and dark laughter. He woke with a start, and was startled when he saw that Kiri was resting on his chest. He had not expected her to come this close to him, besides, he was not good for her.

He laid his head back down and wathed the tent start to warm as the sun began to filter into the world.

Kiri snuggled further into Kuen, not realising he was awake. Unconsciously, her hands found themselves gripping onto the front of his shirt, and entwining in his hair. She didn't realise she was doing it though, her sleeping mind just registered him as something warm, and was trying to keep ahold of it.
She sighed in her sleep, and a small smile played on her lips, as if she were having good dreams.

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Rei woke with the dawn, as he often did (whether he did so willingly or not was another story), and stretched. Ouch...not one of my better ideas..., he thought, wincing as the movement hurt his still-injured wing.
"Note to self: don't do that again...", he muttered as he made sure his wings were hidden again, and went over to the tent, rattling the door a bit.
"Hey! Rise 'n shine, kiddies! We got a long trek ahead of us!", he shouted, his voice unusually cheery for it being so early. that was unusual in itself, Rei had never generally been known as a morning person.

The banging on the front door brought Kuen back to his senses as he day dreamed. Not really sure he wanted to wake Kiri, he moved slowly and then shook her shoulder gently. "Hey, its time to get going..." he said softly, his voice still thick with sleep, though he had been up for at least an hour now. "Kiri... time to wake up..." he said again, gently shoving her shoulder enough to rouse her from her sleep.

"Kiri... time to wake up..." , Kuen said, and it made Kiri stir slightly.

"...Hm? Oh...morning, Kuen...", she said sleepily, then yawned, stretching her arms up behind her head as she sat up. She tried not to pout, she had really been quite comfy there, lying on Kuen like that. Probably more comfortable than she should have been, but she didn't care. Her face started to go red though, would he think it was weird for her to be so comfortable around him?

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Rei heard movement from the tent, so he assumed that the two inside were awake. Satisfied that they would probably surface soon, he went back to his belongings, checking that they were stowed away properly, as well as making sure that there was no evidence of the fire from the night before. That part was fairly simple, Shadrin was a demon wood, and so it responded to his own abilities.

It was strange, Kuen thought. That the girl before him resembled Vira so much and seemed so comfortable around him. It was not often that he would tell someone that he believed in re-carnation, but at that moment, with the girl waking in his arms, looking up at him, and even blushing made him all think about his love. And somehow that made him sad and happy. His heart fluttered with the same joy he had around Vira, but his brain was filled with sadness, as he thought of all the differences the woman also had compared to the one he once loved.

"Morning," he said, still hazed a bit from waking up. He unwrapped himself from her and then slowly moved over her so that he was not longer on the couch with her in his arms. It was starting to hurt to much to have here there against his chest. How could it be that Vira would find him in a second life? Did she want him to live in regret for what he had done so many years ago? Shaking his head, he snapped his fingers and soon he was in a new outfit, one similar to the last but the color was much darker, giving him a little more depth and sadness to his look than he had earlier. "It seems that the demon outside our doors is ready to leave. Just come outside when you've gotten cleaned up, changed, and something to eat. Everything should be provided for you." He said, his voice slightly off, not exactly filled with cheer as it had been the days before.

He then stepped toward the front door, unlocked it and left her alone in the tent. He immediately spotted the demon trying to hide the fire. Deciding to allow the man to do his own work, the magi began to focus on the barrier he had put up to protect them the night before. Nothing had tried to get through except animals, which were allowed, and nothing tried to leave, which meant that Rei stay within the barrier limits the whole night. Interesting, thought the magi.

"The fire giving you troubles yet?" Kuen called over to the demonic man that was still not completely trusted. "Or are you just teasing it?"

"Screw you, Magi.", Rei muttered, just loud enough for Kuen to hear it. He really couldn't be bothered with any of this, he just wanted to get these kids where they were supposed to be and get paid. preferably without getting hurt. Again. He finished with the remains of the fire, it now looked as though no one had been there.
"Where's the girly? We gotta head soon", he asked the magi, looking towards the tent again.

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Kiri went back into her room, and sure enough, Kuen was right. There was spare clothes and food there for her. Even a bath! That made her happy. She had been away from water for too long...She couldn''t take too long though, Kuen and Rei probably wanted to get going...

Once she felt that she was clean enough, she got dressed, surprised that the clothes were the right size. She now wore a dark blue dress, which reached to her knees, and had short sleeves. Under that was her usual shorts, she did far too much climbing to risk not wearing them.

"Where's the girly? We gotta head soon", she heard Rei saying as she left the tent. He seemed annoyed about something. Then again, it seemed that was normal for the demon.

"I'm ready...shall we go?", she asked.

Kuen was entertained by Rei's frustrations with Kiri and the fire. He was not sure why he found it amusing, but it brought his spirits back up from the memories he was feeling only moments before. Perhaps this man was not to be trusted, but what did it matter now? He could have easily told Kiri to go her separate ways in Ra'zira, but instead he asked her to come with him. So he had to at least keep her safe.

His attention turned to the woman as she spoke up behind them. She had done everything so quickly that it was rather surprising, for a woman that was. He took in a deep breath and then whistled for Perch, who came running over the hill side. "I'm ready as well..." he stated, just as the horse's nose nudged his shoulder with some annoyance. "I know. I know, you're ready as well." He chuckled.

Kuen seemed rather surprised at how quickly she had gotten ready, for some reason that amused her. Rei, of course, looked livid at the further delay to their journey. Good.

"Okay...let's go then. Kuen?", she asked, looking towards Perch, as if to ask for a hand up. Perch was huge, and Kiri was tiny, and while she probably could have climbed up on her own, she didn't want to risk the horse throwing her off, or risk herself falling and/or looking like an idiot.

((sorry these are so short, and that they took so long. Loads of stuff happening lately...))

"Not too far. 'Bout another day's travel, I reckon. Maybe less if we keep up the pace.", Rei explained, in an unusually chatty mood today. These two younglings were amusing. How could the Magi not see who his little friend was? Her soul resonated with another's energy. It was quite odd actually...but still funny. He wondered how long it would take for the Magi to realise...

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At Rei's explanation of how long it would take, Kiri groaned. She didn't want to spend any more time in this demon's company than was neccessary. But there was another reason for her suspision, aside form what this man was.
She couldn't shake the feeling that he wasn't taking them to where they were supposed to be at all, or that he was, but was going to betray them...

Kuen sighed as well. He was not exactly happy about having to be on the road again for another day. He knew this would only make his mission to find his parents even hard. He wrapped his arms around Kiri so he had a better hold on Perch's reins and followed after the demon who was leading the way. Unlike Kiri though, he did not have a bad feeling, he had already noticed that the other was up to no good, but he was ready for this. He was waiting for something terrible to happen because of the islands they were looking to go to. The camps were not a happy place to be and the only means to get there was through some harsh areas especially people.

Rei, making sure his motion wasn't noticed, stretched his wings a little under his cloak. Not using them much lately was making them stiff and sore. Damn, he just wanted to fly. But he couldn't risk his secret. Hybrids like him were abominations, at least to everyone outside of Reeper's Lands. And to some within them as well.
As he walked, he was subtly leaving signs, a small scratch on a tree, a shifted pile of leaves, that kind of thing. That way, those that were following their progress would know the trail. He just had to make sure that Kuen didn't notice what he was doing, and he would be golden. They would be here soon, but he wouldn't give the order until they had stopped later that night. Earlier that morning, he had left three of his feathers at their previous campsite, a sign that one of the brats could use magick. One feather meant there was no danger, two meant that their target was a good fighter, Three meant one or more magick user. It was a code he had used for years...

Kuen's eyes watched the demonic closely. There was just something about his patterns that did not make sense to the magi. He kept his mind off of it though, hoping that his judgement was not completely wrong in this area. He did not want to cause problems for Kiri at any time now. Their horse trudged on, and he kept his mouth shut while he paid close attention to their leader.

"We should be coming close to the area now... don't you think. The travel plans I had toward the shore of Reeper's Land should have gotten us there almost an hour ago," he mentioned, showing that he was suspicious of the man now.

"That might be the case, Magi. But your plans involved ya goin' through the main gate, right? Trust me, that ain't the best o' plans jus' now. Better to go round the side, less chance o' gettin' caught, eh?", Rei's answer would no doubt annoy the Magi, but it had to be done. Plus, Rei enjoyed pissing the guy off. Meh, he got bored easily.
"'Sides, if yer goin' straight ta the Camps, then ya wanna be rested up, right? 'Specially the girlie. The Camps are rough places, or so I've heard, and she ain't gonna last long without her magick, are ya, girlie? ", he asked without looking back, earning a small squeak from Kiri, as she jumped at being adressed. That was just plain cute, in Rei's opinion, and he laughed at the image in his head of what the girl looked like. Though she might have been even more nervous if he'd actually looked at her, due to his eyes.