Isogashi City (Fictional; Similar to Tokyo)

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"'Wait here,' she says - like I'm planning on going anywhere," muttered the boy to himself, sighing as he cracked open an eye to follow the girl's movement into the kitchen and the progress of her shadow across the wall as she wandered about, fetching something or other. His body felt too weak at the moment to reliably do much, so he dematerialized. To his surprise, however, when the girl returned, she didn't look around in confusion to see where he'd gone, or do anything that indicated that she couldn't see him. So, she was aware of the Spirit World as a whole and not just that one disgusting Demon? Maybe that's why he'd been so keen on having her.

That Demon couldn't return for a while, but even so, with something that powerful on the prowl, it was likely that other, lesser Demons might make their presence known, trying to snatch at and extinguish this girl's delicious hope. But if he couldn't protect her from those, then he wasn't worth his salt anyway.

Re-materializing briefly to grab the cup she handed him, he took a long gulp, giving a sigh of fatigue as the warm liquid splashed down his throat, barely taking enough time for him to take note of what it had tasted like. "Thanks," He said quietly. "Don't exactly have a place to stay, so I hope you don't mind if I take you up on that offer," Shrugging, he rose, pulling himself over a ways into the corner, not wanting to lie too close to her bed. After what she'd just been though, that would only alarm the girl. Taking another sip of the tea, he gave a slight grin. "It's good," He said.

Naturally, he wasn't planning on abandoning her the following morning, but he wouldn't take up that issue right now. He was far too tired, and she too stressed. He'd just deal with the issue of finishing what he'd started tomorrow, after he'd gotten to sleep and recuperate. Downing the rest of his tea without any regard to the burning in his throat, he set it aside, decorporealized, and curled up in the corner like a guardian dog, shutting his eyes.

"Thank you," She said softly, a smile smile creeping onto her lips. She moved over to the bed, sitting on the edge of it, looking over at the boy in the corner, curled up. She wrapped her arms around herself, and then looked behind her and admired the empty space in her bed. Zetsubo was gone, at least for a little while. She was free!

She thought about the years of torture she'd been through. She thought about her grandmother, and her brother. She thought about what could have been happening to her at this very moment if the blonde-haired demon boy hadn't saved her. She felt tears sparkling in her eyes and her bottom lip quiver. She held her gaze on him for a while longer, watching him peacefully at rest. It made her feel so... warm. "Thank you," She said again, quietly, before she slipped under her covers, pulled them up over her shoulders so she was completely tucked in and covered, and slipped off to her first sleep without nightmares in so, so long.

When Sayuri woke up to golden sunlight streaming in through her window, her initial response was fear. She was waiting for the punch - the moment when Zetsubo hit her, or screamed at her, or told her she was worthless.

But it didn't come.

She sat up, rubbing her eyes and blinking in confusion as she assessed the room. Only when she saw the boy sleeping in the corner did it all come back to her. Her heart skipped a beat. With a sudden new motivation to make it a great day, she hopped out of bed, tiptoeing when she got close to him to avoid disturbing his rest, and made her way to her closet. All of the clothes in the front were the few outfits she'd recycled and reworn for the past couple of years straight. She dug into the back and pulled out a cute dress she had bought before everything went wrong, and since she hadn't grown much it would still fit her.

After getting changed and doing her hair, she inspected herself in the mirror. It was a blue strapless vintage-styled dress, the same color as her eyes. It cinched tightly around her waist and then flowed out, collapsing in on itself in tons of ruffles and pleats. It fit her form well, and made her feel girly and cute. She took in a deep breath as she exited the bathroom and went in front of the blonde boy, sitting down on her knees and leaning forward so her face was close to his. "Hey," She whispered, "Wanna wake up and tell me your name?" She'd been wondering about it last night before she went to bed.

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[font=occidental]The young man cracked open one red eye beneath the matted mane of hair that hung down over his face. He yawned, rolling over and stretching himself out like a dog who does not particularly wish to rise, even if he has awakened from his nap. The ceiling overhead didn't look familiar to him, but that was a feeling he'd long since gotten used to. Where had he been staying this time, he wondered, trying to think back and remember what had happened on the previous night.

Just then, however, a girl with silver hair and rather pointy ears knelt abruptly in front of him, her face looming close enough to his that his keen nose could take in every last aspect of her scent, her breath warm on his face. He quickly shut his eyes, trying to avoid the inevitable contact that this position would force upon him. He had to resist the urge to groan. He was pretty sure he didn't remember charming any girls just to get free lodgings. He might have been a Demon, but he refused to stoop that low. However, it all came back to him a moment later as he processed the girl's scent, recalling tracking that same smell before the rain could wash it away, and how he'd charged into this same room to attack a Demon only seconds away from doing the unspeakable. So, she hadn't decided she didn't trust having a Demon in her room enough to stab him while he slept, or something, huh? That was kind of new.

"'Mornin'," Akatsuya mumbled, forcing himself into a half seated position and rubbing his tired eyes vigorously - although this gesture was more of an excuse to keep them open than anything. "Oh, right, I guess I never introduced myself, did I? The name's Izayoi. Izayoi Akatsuya. And yours?"

Izayoi... She liked the way it sounded in her head. It fit him, really. She couldn't have imagined a better name, and that made her happy. Though she still was not nearly willing to open her heart up to him, she definitely felt a bond with the boy who had saved her.

"My name's Sayuri. Hama Sayuri." She found her voice coming out timid and shy as she fell onto her knees and brushed a piece of hair out of her face. "I was wondering if you wanted to go somewhere today. Somewhere fun." Luckily, it was the one day of the week she was off work. Usually she loathed these days, for it just gave more opportunity to Zetsubo to attack her, but for the first time in a long time she felt glad to be rid of responsibilities.

As she inspected the boy, she began to notice more things about him. He reminded her a bit of a golden retriever puppy, so cute and restless. He seemed almost childish, in a way, when he let his guard down. His parka reminded her of a big fluffy coat of fur. It seemed soft and cuddly, and she imagined what it would be like to snuggle up in something so soft.

Not that she was thinking of snuggling up to him or anything.

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A day off, huh? The canine Demon had to admit, he rather liked the idea. He'd been wandering from place to place hunting down Demons ever since the day everything had gone wrong, protecting people from those creatures that would harm them, and protecting Demons like himself from those who would harm them. He walked a fine line between two races that existed to fear and be feared by one another, not quite standing with either party. Although he technically didn't have a "job" to take a day off from, the prospect of finally getting some rest and relaxation was certainly an ideal alternative to lurking around indoors all day just waiting for that bandaged freak to come back, like some sort of overzealous guard dog. Besides, they'd be safer from Demons in public, where there were plenty of Humans around, their collective denial of the existence of such supernatural beings weakening the powers they possessed. Only the very most powerful of Demons would ever dare to strike in the midst of a crowd.

...The most powerful Demons being those like the one he'd just antagonized. Right. So maybe it wouldn't be very advantageous after all, but assuming that shithead actually kept his word - which he probably would, just considering how much preparation it took a Demon without a physical body to manifest itself - he had at least two days to prepare himself before he'd actually need to deal with the bandaged freak again, which meant for now, all there was to worry about would be much weaker creatures. Even so, he needed to come up with some way to level the playing field against his main enemy, or else in two more days, he'd find all of his efforts coming to naught...

Still, for now, the best thing to do would be assuage this girl's fears. Doubtless, she didn't trust a mysterious, homeless Demon kid who'd jumped through her window in the middle of the night using a steel pipe to try to explode the head of a ghost. Furthermore, she was probably worried that, within a couple of days, her old tormentor would return and he'd skip town, leaving her to suffer as she had been for god knew how long. Even if he doubted that he'd be able to stop the Demon from coming back, he wanted her to know that he wouldn't stop trying, regardless. So, for now, he'd play the role of the knight in shining armor, escorting his princess to wherever she wanted to go - even if that meant making stupid metaphors about fairytale logic that presented COMPLETELY the wrong image and were probably just conjured up by his Incubus side to torment his dignity.

Still trying to avoid making any sort of extended eye contact - although given the way she was looking him over, and the feeling of curiosity turning to interest his spiritual senses were perceiving, his efforts might have been for naught - he nodded, extending a hand in a curiously canine fashion, almost like a dog might extend its paw for its master to "shake."

"Nice to meet'cha, Miss Sayuri," He said, giving a slight grin. "If there's somewhere you'd like to go, then I'll go with you. It's safer that way. Although, I might not be able to stay corporeal all the time... I don't exactly have much power to spare on manifesting myself at the moment." He tried to downplay his situation like it was no big deal. The last thing she needed to know was that, win or lose against that Demon, he was going to be disappearing regardless...