Yasssss
17. Michishige Sayumi Michishige Sayumi was not someone who courted danger. No ma'am - in the face of danger, she'd run the other way! Unfortunately for her, they were smack dab in the middle of the sea with not a dry patch of land in sight and all the confidence she had in being invisible went from a hundred to zero in a heart beat. If she had transformed to heal the sailors, that would put her at way too much risk of dying again. If she had ventured on deck, she would surely be trampled and die a bunny's death.
Having already experienced death quite painfully, she would most
certainly do her best to not relive the experience with arrows exchanged for feet! It was sheer luck that she'd gotten a second chance at life, but she didn't want to tempt fate again.
Their ship wouldn't last much longer, with the shelling that it was receiving from cannon fire. She was sure they wouldn't have much time before the ship gave way.
She did know a spell that would allow her to breathe underwater but she had spent so much time perfecting the art of autotune that she wasn't sure if she could handle adjusting her magical pitches to extend the spell to someone other than herself. She would have Reina for that in the past but Reina wasn't here and the only person with decent magic was Riho, but that girl was fighting above deck where all the danger was!
Maybe she had died for a noble cause, but that part of her disappeared with the 50 years of demonhood she had attained. She might have been braver as a human, but when one was an unbirthed demon with disposition amplified to the
nth power, she would very much like to cling to her life!
That said, staying put would do absolutely no good at all. Staying still meant being a potential target of cannon fire and she wouldn't have that! She peaked out between the barrels she was hiding behind and saw a group of slaves huddled in a corner, frightened. That's right, she was in the brig... She noticed a familiar face among them, one of Ayumi's friends?
Fortunately, the fighting on the deck hadn't made its way down here yet... and she'd rather keep it that way too. She sat down on her hind legs and began to utter a spell. She hadn't sensed another demonic presence other than Riho so that they were dealing with an all-human enemy. Her barrier spells were perfect at deterring and reflecting people away. She had used it before when they were nearly run down by the insanely fearsome four horsemen entities.
Just when she had the spell ready to go, she felt Riho's presence disappear and heard Ayumi's scream.
No...She snapped her head to the direction of the other, only to find Riho's presence getting weaker and weaker.
Oh gods no no no no...She had failed again hadn't she.
She was supposed to watch over Reina's daughter.
No no no no... She ran up to an upper deck and found a freshly blown hole in the wall and she looked over.
Although she couldn't see her, she could sense that Riho had been badly injured and was sinking further and further into the sea.
Reina... I...Sayumi backed up slowly.
The bunny went over to the passenger cabins, taking care not to get stepped on along the way. Luckily enough for her, the doorway was completely shattered and blocked, but there was an opening small enough for her to squeeze in. She went through and found Ayumi's pack. Seeing as she was the only soul in the cabin, she transformed back and quickly threw on her priestess garb.
While she could still use magic as a bunny, the more complicated spells required a human form. The only offensive spell she knew wasn't even offensive as it was more of a basic skill that allowed one to simply
push things backwards. With all the concentration in her hands, she stuck her index finger and middle fingers out and thrust at the air. A pink aura pushed out and shoved the wreckage in front of her, but it wasn't enough to budge completely.
Blowing her bangs out of her face, she vied for a stronger thrust. Again, no progress other than a slightly stronger jostle. This wasn't good. Sayumi felt a very strong demonic presence getting stronger and stronger and she definitely did NOT want to be in this room when things went down.
She planted her feet firmly on the ground, taking on a very unladylike pose with her legs spread so wide. Breathing in and out, she inhaled and put her all into the thrust!
KABAAM!
With the planks above her cracking apart, a man fell from the ceiling next to her and scared all the blood out of her! Well, so much for blowing the door away! Someone very conveniently did the work for her. Sayumi squealed as the ceiling caved in along with him, though not enough to reach her end of the room. She looked up at the hole in the ceiling, the sounds of fighting and thunder rumbling overhead.
Although she meant to get out through other means, this way was okay too. She prayed she remembered how to do a jumping spell now. Despite being a bunny demon, she could barely keep up with her demon physically and would have made a very pitiful one meter hop in human form.
Climbing was out of the question too, so she started dragging everything she could find around here towards the hole, forming a makeshift mound of humans and supplies. Once tall enough, she cautiously made her way to the top and hopped.
She managed to get her upper body out onto the deck, but she was knocked over by people stepping all over her arms during their fights.
"Are you serious?!" Sayumi cursed at the men before trying again.
Once she reached the top deck, she looked around, and...
A white dragon was suspended in air menacingly, curled up in mid air with its teeth bared and claws all flared out. There wasn't the shine of a scaled coat... The dragonskin didn't catch any of the lightning's light very strongly...
Fur? the demon thought to herself. Suddenly, she recognized that magical signature.
IT'S RIHO! Of course Reina's kid could survive. She
was Reina's kid after all. And being the Typhoon's daughter,
obviously her chances of survival well surpassed any mere human or even the best of demons
Though she had to say... Riho's true form was astoundingly impressive. Who knew a cat and a dragon would produce a fearsome offspring that was as long as 16 men!
Riho surged forward, becoming a white blur and crashed into the pirate ship. When Sayumi thought she had disappeared, the dragon appeared just outside another section of the ship, barreling through everything.
She's weaving in and out of the ships... She's trying to sink them all...! Welp, so much for trying to stay afloat somewhere if all Riho was doing was causing mayhem and destruction. Sayumi had to find Ayumi now. That cat dragon was more than capable of taking care of herself (especially in
that form) so now she needed to find the one girl who didn't know how to swim. She made he way out of the hole, grabbing hold of a stray rope and pulling herself up, she looked around.
Too many bodies on the floor... Now Sayumi got worried again. Riho was fine, yes, but hopefully Ayumi hadn't gotten hurt. She looked around the bodies, trying to find the human girl. Her heart quickened when she spotted Ayumi lying on the deck near the edge of the boat.
She darted over and was sent flying as Riho suddenly appeared up next to her, having crashed in from the floor and then spiraling into another pirate ship nearby.
Resolving to get this done quicker, Sayumi threw herself in Ayumi's direction, landing with feet on either side of her and hand on the railing.
She called out the girl's name but to no avail. She placed her hand on Ayumi's chest, sensing for heartbeat and found it, though very faint.
She's passed out....Sayumi could fix that.
It was all in the head, so she lowered herself and brushed Ayumi's bangs up and kissed her on the forehead. She could feel Ayumi's life force stabilize the longer she kept her lips there. She lifted the short girl by her arm-pits and prayed to the gods that she'd wake up eventually to find a way out of here.
Unfortunately, it was hard to escape when one was in the middle of a raging whirlpool storm with a psychotic dragon rampaging out of control. The ex-priestess did her best to carry Ayumi by an arm around her shoulder and looked around. Honestly the only way to survive was to get into the water, find some debris to grab on, and pray for the best while
that dragon calmed down. Uttering a waterbreathing spell which hopefully was enough for the two of them, Sayumi jumped off the ship, Ayumi in tow.
The water was painfully cold. It felt like needles prickling her body all over and Sayumi began to breathe heavily. This was too much like the way she had died before. Anxiety flowed through her veins and she felt her heart beating faster and faster.
Then she realized she was no longer holding onto Ayumi.
That little dragon... in Riho's fury, the dragon was stirring all sorts of underwater currents that separated Ayumi from her and worse yet, she was losing control over her waterbreathing spell.
She had no idea what to do. Ayumi was now being swept away and she was just swimming around in circles, never
up towards air seeing as there was no surface to break and thus no air to breathe. It was starting to get hopeless again. So much for trying to be the hero. That never did her any good except being killed. And now she was going to die a second time for it. That's fine. Seventy years of existing was good enough.
She stopped struggling and simply stared into the abyss. A faint light was seen and Sayumi knew her time was about to come again.
However, with that light, came ... people?
They looked to be soldiers marching towards her. Funny, even though they were in the water, they were marching as if they were on land...
What human could accomplish that sort of feat?
No.
They weren't human.
They were demons.
They were armored demons wearing mail of bright gold and teal, which, tempered by the marine environment, appeared more orange than gold. Their ears were like bones with thin webbing between them. There were antler-like horns coming out of every one of them too.
These are sea dragons... Sayumi thought. When they got nearer, two of the soldiers walked on either side of her and grabbed her arms.
At the moment of contact, she could suddenly breathe. She gave out a coughing fit, spitting out all the water she could muster. She felt like throwing up too but nothing came out.
"Save Ayumi...Save Riho...!" Sayumi managed to sputter. When she looked around, she found that her vision cleared immensely too. Was the gift of sea sight bestowed from her being in contact with two sea dragon soldiers?
"Her..." Sayumi found the human girl, who had regained consciousness and now choking in the expanse of water "The one in the blue! That's Ayumi!"
Soldiers suddenly swam past, forgoing the marching stance. She had never seen anyone swim that fast! Granted, they were sea dragons and this was their territory. They grabbed the human and swam just as fast back to their general area.
"What is the meaning of this?" From the bottom of the ocean rose another soldier, though judging by the headdress made of the spines of fish and the fancier regalia, this person was certainly a commander.
"Pirates," Sayumi responded, surprised that she could hear so well underwater.
"No, not that, that is significant. What is
that," the female commander pointed upwards at the rampaging demon.
"The one who saved our lives," Ayumi uttered under her breath.
"That half breed is out of control," the commander commented. "We have to kill it."
"NO!" both Ayumi and Sayumi cried out.
"That abomination's
non-dragon blood is wrecking havoc. What do
I care about showing mercy to such half-breeds?" The commander looked back at Sayumi specifically, ignoring Ayumi. "Tell me, Mano Erina, Commander of the Ryuuguu-jou forces, why that
thing deserves to live?"
"What's making all that noise?" came a sleepy voice, entering the fray. The demon called Mano Erina seized up and immediately saluted, and all the other soldiers did the same.
Sayumi looked over to find a gorgeous demon with long voluptuous hair, springing in the ocean waters. She was adorned in orange garb and various silver and coral accessories. Judging by her clothing and the others' deference, she had to be someone of royal status in the water.
"Hime-sama! It's dangerous for you to be here! That half-breed is tearing things apart on the surface and could even disrupt the seabed!" the commander pleaded.
"It's fine," the princess raised a well manicured hand. "Nothing new about dragon storms waking me up rudely..." with the flick of her sleeves, she shot upwards, leaving her soldiers at a loss of what to do.
There was a brief silence, then a loud rumble, and silence once more. The soldiers looked at eachother in confusion and Mano Erina simply sighed as if this was something normal to behold.
The princess came back from the left side of everyone's vision, skipping a bit before turning around and simply waiting.
The ex-priestess felt Riho's presence also following the princess too. Was Riho going to ram into the princess of sea dragons?!
Like a white flash, Riho came forth like an arrow!
...Only to be stopped by a simple hand to the nose. The princess's hand glowed bright orange as it managed to stop one hell of a raging demon. When Riho's snout was stopped, the rest of her body came fumbling forward like a snake crashing into a wall. The princess then grabbed Riho by the nose and then slapped her with the other hand, somehow causing the gigantic dragon to revert back to a knocked out humanoid Riho.
"I was having a wonderful nap too..." the princess cooed, as if talking to a pet dog. However, her eyes went wide open and she brought Riho closer to her, sniffing at her hair.
"Hime-sama?" Mano looked on incredulously.
"This girl... smells like my ex..."
"I wouldn't touch her if I were you," Sayumi suddenly called out, "She's the daughter of the Cerulean Typhoon
and the Golden Cat of Hell."
The princess jumped back, letting Riho awkwardly drift in the water's suspension. "REINA HAD A KID?!"
"H-Hime-sama...?!"
"AND IT WASN'T MINE?!" The princess slapped both hands to her cheeks, genuinely shocked.
"SHE'S NOT MINE EITHER!" Sayumi let out without thinking. If she could slap a hand to her mouth, she would have! The princess looked at Sayumi while the bunny stared right back. She wasn't technically Reina's at any point of time but she would certainly vouch for their past attraction way more than whatever those two had!
"We're going to have a nice long talk..." The princess said, pulling Sayumi's chin up to meet with her bright fiery orange eyes.
"I am Michishige Sayumi. And how shall I address you, your highness?" Sayumi asked, nearly challenging the other.
"You are speaking to Ryuuguu-jou's esteemed princess and heiress to the throne, Kame-no-miya. However, I permit you to use my name - Eri."
17.5 Tanaka ReinaReina walked into the hut, fascinated by all the strange trinkets and gadgets all around her. The human girl she was with earlier was incredibly intelligent. She must have come from a line of ridiculously smart people. She could tell they spent a lot of time inventing judging by all the contraptions lying around.
The distinct smell of her love was certainly getting stronger too, but too faint. Sad to say, it meant she hadn't been here a long time. She couldn't refuse the hospitality of nice humans either (most would run her out) and had to be honest - it was nice to rest in a human dwelling now and then. Soon, she was led to the tatami room, and that's where her eyes locked onto the relic hanging in the midst of it.
To anyone, they might have mistaken it for a giant piece of carved metal. White metal done so neatly and treated so well that it looked so organic; it shined like a lively eye.
"Do you have questions for me?" the elder made a move to sit, but his grand daughter quickly attended to him to help.
"Where did you get that dragon scale?" Reina pointed to the relic behind the man. She suddenly had an inkling of everything that was happening. She remembered bits and pieces of the other's journey.
"It was a gift."
"From The Typhoon," Reina added. She was getting annoyed now. "How did you two meet?"
"Hnn..." the man thought to himself, "I personally didn't meet her. It was my father before me. He told the story so much to us that I have it running through my veins," the elder man laughed. "I suppose if you were looking numerically, it would have been... 70 years?"
Reina did mental calculations in her head. That meant this was way before she herself had met the Typhoon. Unlike her significant half, she actually remembered all their anniversaries and meetings.
"Ahhh, he wouldn't stop talking about how a dragon fell from the sky..." the elder smiled, reminiscent. "Injured from a great fight, he thought. She remained in her dragon form for weeks, but despite that, he kept tending to her wounds, cleaning and dressing them as best as he could. When she finally trusted him, she turned into the most beautiful lady he had ever set his eyes upon."
Reina nodded, repressing those pangs of jealousy. She hand't seen
her in a very, very long time...
"And then she gave him a scale as thanks which has been in our family ever since."
"So since then, she had not stepped foot in this area?"
"Not since. The only reminder we have is this scale which has protected our village from dreaded storms and blessed us with plentiful harvest for years. My father has preached of his kindly demon encounter to people and that was how this village was founded. That's why we accept anyone, human or demon, with open arms."
"Count on her to have foresight for this..." Reina slapped her hand on her face and laughed weakly. The scales of storm dragons, when given as a gift, would always bring gentle rains when seasons became dry, or warded off terrible storms that dared to come near. Truly a blessing to have if one were to be farmers. And dragons very rarely gave away their scales...
That meant that if it weren't for Reina, the typhoon would have returned. If she hadn't come back to this place, that meant Reina was the reason why.
"Thank you for enlightening me."
Reina stood up and was about to go, but was stopped by the grand daughter. "Are you leaving so soon? Didn't you say you were going to rest?"
The tiger-cat demon waved her hand off gently, "Thank you for your kindness, but I shall be fine." She couldn't bear being near her typhoon's presence without the lady herself in question, it was maddening. It was like her first few years after her disappearance and the cat was being needy and rolling around in the typhoon's belongings. She was more mature now and did NOT want to relive that again.
"I'm leaving now," She looked at Marin, who rose on her little legs and scurried over.
Although she hadn't met him, she knew who he was. That lady mentioned how she had met a human who changed her views on humanity. Reina laughed quietly to herself again as she stepped out into the sunlight. She knew she shouldn't be jealous but couldn't help but quietly seethe at the idea of someone else having that much impact on
her. Marin climbed onto her back, paws grasped firmly onto skin.
She broke out into a run and allowed her inner demon to unleash itself from her human guise. A deafening roar shook the entire area, causing clouds of birds to rise and fly off.
I'll find you again, I swear...Adrenaline flowed through her veins as she ran so fast, feeling the ground scorch slightly with burns.
I will definitely find you and we can do a little dance or whatever the hell it is, just SOMETHING...Yeah, she would like that. She would definitely like that. She knew how she worked. Reina sprinted faster. She would always say sappy stuff to her and Reina would always complain.
"Let's have a dance... My dear..."She missed that voice. And all the sappyness it spewed.
She had to get rid of negative thoughts now though. She needed to get to the sky villages and find the chief. They'd know where she'd likely went.
Feeling invigorated, Reina let out a hearty roar.
18. Sayashi RihoRiho woke up, awakened by a constant, tingly sensation on her left shoulder. She smelt the sea all around her and calmed down a bit more. While her feline side protested being surrounded by so much water, her dragon side felt rejuvenated.
That's right Riho thought,
I got impaled and transformed... The transition between forms was agony with that piece of wood lodged in her. The trauma caused her to take on her true form just out of sheer reaction. However, the fatal injury forced her to act in survival mode. After she transfomed, she was completely lost and couldn't remember a thing that happened.
My dragon storm is still going... Her energy was still running rampant in the air. She felt the maelstrom above...
Wait,
above?
She opened her eyes to find lips approaching her mouth at an alarming pace.
Riho quickly slapped the offender. Yes, she was now completely awake.
"Mooouuuu!" The pale lady backed off immediately, holding onto her reddening cheek. "Is that any way to treat your bunny!?"
Bunny? The lady had long black hair as dark as night, but with two prominent bunny ears sticking out at the very top. Her eyes were as large as her animal's nature dictates, and she had a beauty mark below her lips. Why was she in the priestess robes that Ayumi had in her pack?
Riho paused.
Beauty.
Mark.
Below.
Her.
Lips.
"MEAT!?"
"It's finally a pleasure to finally meet you in my wonderful true self!" the lady smiled as she rubbed at her cheek, wispy white aura leaking from her hand as she healed it. "You were out for a whole day."
"wait wait wait wait," Riho looked at the other top to bottom again, "
Meat!?"
"Yes?"
"You were a demon this entire time!?"
The lady nodded. "Michishige Sayumi at your service!"
Was that why Ayumi kept calling her Michishige-san? "Did Ayumi know the entire time?"
Sayumi nodded.
That certainly explained a lot...
Wait, if Sayumi was a demon this entire time... That meant all the times they slept together... All the times they cuddled... All the times they kissed... All the times they bathed...
"It's here!" Sayumi gushed, "Rihoriho's great expression!"
Great?! What did she mean,
great?! Riho was absolutely
mortified!!!!!
"In any case, your shoulder isn't gonna heal itself! It'll take a month if I don't tend to it..." Sayumi began to zero in on Riho's lips, licking her own in anticipation.
"Okay," Riho placed a hand between the bunny's lips and her own and pushed the other back
away as much as possible, flinching at the pain of her shoulder, "is violating me necessary to do so, Michishige-san?"
"Awww," the bunny pouted onto Riho's hand. Riho had to admit, she
was ridiculously adorable. "I liked it better when Rihoriho was so hellbent on eating me," Sayumi placed both of her hands on her cheeks and feigned a maiden's blush.
Words could not describe Riho's expression.
Seriously. This lady was traveling with them the entire time?!
"You have bone fractures in there. I can heal simple flesh wounds with a touch but for things that require the mending of bones... A far more... Intimate approach is needed."
"I'd rather just wait out the month," Riho would cross her arms, but the pain in the shoulder prevented her from doing so.
Sayumi pulled back in a wince, "Ouch, that's painful."
"Why didn't you tell me that you were a demon!? It would have made our jobs a whole lot easier if I had known we had a demon who was skilled enough to cancel her own aura out ("Autotuning," Sayumi corrected) with us!"
"Rihoriho, I understand you are upset... But here is not the time and place."
Oh that's right. Where
were they now?
They were in a bright red room with white accents and accessories everywhere. The bed Riho laid on was woven with the finest silks and the feel of the bed reminded her of a soft sponge. She looked out the window to her right and the sight outside made her freeze in her tracks.
There were
fish. Fish were swimming in the sky.
No... We're underwater... Riho widened her eyes.
"We are in an underwater palace right now...You know... THAT one..."
Well that certainly explained the white and gold scheme all around them. And the fact they were underwater...
"I didn't expect us to be welcomed by the Sea dragons... "
"Well, we were lucky that the princess recognized you and allowed us to rest and treat your wounds, otherwise we would have drowned out there."
"The princess knows me?" Riho quipped an eyebrow. Strange. She did know a princess, but she didn't know one who was a sea dragon. Her nose twitched at certain scents and suddenly, her stomach growled.
"Oh, I'll be right back!" Sayumi stood up with a bounce and left in a hurry. Catching a whiff of something
tasty, Riho could only wait in increasing anticipation as the lovely smell drew closer. Sayumi came back with a plate of raw fish. "Cooking doesn't mean much to sea dwellers, but I doubt that matters to a cat, right?"
Riho was already stuffing her face by the time Sayumi finished talking. The delectable pieces of fish fell apart on her tongue with a simple touch. A sense of the sea and a renewed freshness traveled through her body after finishing up the entire plate.
"So about that shoulder..." Sayumi murmured in anticipation.
Riho started and moved as far away as possible. "You are not touching me."
"We have to find Ayumi's friends... You need to heal it
now." Riho pouted, refusing to meet Sayumi's eyes, and then winced as she felt the throes of pain shoot up her body again.
"I can only heal you through magic, and yes, that involves touch whether you like it or not," Sayumi sat on her bed in front of her.
The halfie didn't dare look at the other in the eye. First Meat was actually a person and now this person is invading her personal bubble?! She'd been nestled comfortably -
maybe too comfortably in her clothes for crying out loud!
Regardless, she had promised to help the human, and that took priority over dealing with disturbingly over-friendly demons.
"Fine," Riho nearly muttered her consent, but Sayumi did not do anything. Did the lady not hear? She said it a little louder.
"What was that?"
"Make it quick..."
"I can't hear you," Sayumi sing-songed.
"Fine, I take it back and wait a month."
"Awww, you silly girl," Sayumi chuckled, "Can't take a joke, huh," she inched closer and closer.
Riho backed up into the wall, no place to go but to lower herself onto the bed. Sayumi lowered herself right after, her soft black hair falling onto Riho's sides as she came up onto Riho. The switch of position definitely caused a surge of agony through Riho's veins but she trusted that the other would heal it up to par.
Sayumi pulled aside one half of Riho's top, revealing the shoulder in question. Ignoring the twitch as she looked over, Riho noticed the lack of blood. There wasn't even a scar either, so she assumed that Sayumi had already closed the wound during her sleep. She let out the breath she was holding as Sayumi's lips made contact with her shoulder.
Riho let out a cry as she felt a searing hot pain flash within that shoulder, and her bones seemingly melting with the heat to reconfigure back into their proper structure. Minutes of reconstruction felt like hours to Riho! She couldn't hold back anymore, she grabbed onto Sayumi's shoulders and squeezed hard, letting out another cry. It felt like she was being torn inside out!
"WHAT'S WRONG!?" Ayumi stumbled into the room, worry all over her face. Sayumi lifted her head from Riho's shoulder. The pain of bones reforming subsided as both demons looked over at Ayumi.
Then it dawned on her that Sayumi was straddling her, with Riho's kimono top practically off of her, and well, that explained Ayumi's expression quite clearly.
"This is... um, ah, NOT what it looks like..." Riho managed to say, out of breath. Oh jeez, why did her voice come out like that!?
"I should probably probably just let the two of you
be alone together..." Ayumi's face darkened and shuffled back out.
Sayumi jumped off the bed, tackling Ayumi and pulled her back into the room. "I was only healing her. My magic comes from the mouth, remember?"
...
Why would you say that...? Riho dulled.
"Yeah..." Ayumi looked away.
"I healed your legs that way too, remember?"
Riho sat up rigidly. Michishige-san... made it to Ayumi's legs?
Remembering, Ayumi lit up, "Oh yeah that's right!" She then walked over to Riho, but all the halfie could focus on were Ayumi's legs as she came up to her.
Did our lecherous Meat(-chishige-san, the polite part of her added)
lay her lips... on Ayumi's legs...?! "How's your shoulder now?"
Oh yeah, her shoulder. She didn't feel any pain anymore. She lifted it up and moved it around slowly, testing different positions.
"A little stiff but workable."
"Yay!" Ayumi hugged the demon immediately.
Instantly, he shoulder twitched again, and Riho yelped in surprise.
Ayumi backed off immediately.
"Was that too strong?"
"A little," Riho raised her hand and made a tiny motion with her fingers.
"Give me a few more minutes to adjust everything and you should be good to go, okay?" Sayumi knelt down by the two of them, pulling at the top again to reveal the spot from before. "You went through the most painful part, so all that's left will just tingle."
"Good!" Riho gave an exasperated sigh. She never wanted to go through that again, as much as possible. Sayumi lowered her head and connected with Riho's shoulder again. She was right in saying that the rest was just tingles. Though, in the healing process, Ayumi grabbed her hand and gave it a squeeze.
Soon, Sayumi lifted her head. "When you were unconscious, I had already worked on getting that heinous chunk of wood removed. Getting the splinters and leftovers in your skin was annoying but doable. Skin was patched up right after and now your shoulder bones are welded back together. You should be lucky that the area of effect wasn't too big!"
"Yeah, that was scary! That pirate just shoved you and all of a sudden, we saw you with that piece of wood pierced through you! I thought for sure you were staked at the heart or something!" Ayumi pressed forward, worried, "and then you had to play the hero and literally pull away WITH that stake still in you! And then you fell in the water! Did you have any idea how scared I was!?"
When Riho was in her true form, all she remembered was being surrounded by feelings of fear and hostility. "I'm sorry... I'll find other ways to be badass."
"You'd better!" Ayumi pouted.
"I'll let Eririn know you're awake!" Sayumi hopped off of the bed with glee and retreated.
Riho blinked. "Who's... Eririn?"
"The princess of Ryuuguu-jou," Ayumi replied, "It took some time for her and Michishige-san to warm up to each other and now they're practically the best of friends, while you were out."
"That's....strange..." Riho sat back down, staring at the ceiling.
"Yeah, I thought they were going to fight, it sounded like they were both your Mother's exes..."
"Meat...is my mother's ex....?"
"I am just as confused as you are," Ayumi sighed. "I'd reconfirm with Michishige-san later if I were you."
"Meat was a demon all along..."
"Yes she was..."
"Meat really likes me..."
"Yes she does..."
"Meat is Michishige-san who also liked my Mother..."
"Okay okay now I really think you should ask her just to be sure of things."
Riho was getting a headache. First the revelation of her snuggle buddy being a really touchy-feely demon and on top of that, one who knew her mother...?
Meatchishige-san returned, the sea-dragon princess gliding in behind her. She was very pretty, wearing a long flowing kimono of orange and white. The designs were very coral-like and she had an especially extravagant head piece attached to the top of her hair.
"Pleasure to meet you, Sayashi-chan! I'm Kamei Eri, your almost-mother!"
Riho and Ayumi nearly fell off the bed.
"Oh silly Eririn, you'll give her a heart attack if you say that," Sayumi waved her hand dismissively.
"I'm just humoring her, Sayuchan, did you see the their reaction!?" Princess Eri laughed hard, holding onto the taller bunny for support. "They almost f-fell off!"
Sayumi cradled the princess back upwards, "they most certainly did!"
Princess Eri stood up properly once more, deftly adjusting any stray accessories that may have gotten tangled up in her antler-like horns. "How are you feeling, Sayashi-chan?"
"Better, thanks to... Michishige-san," Riho warily looked at the other.
"That's good to hear!" the princess jumped forward, giggling, "if you need anything,
anything at all, feel free to give a servant a call! Rest is super important!"
"Says the one who sleeps years at a time," Sayumi laughed.
"Hey! There's nothing wong with quantity AND quality!" the princess smiled widely, showing a fanged visage. She began to retreat, pulling Sayumi by the hand with her, "again, if you ever need anything, just tell us, okay?"
Riho nodded stiffly watching the bunny and sea-dragon sail out the door. Ayumi was about to leave too but Riho immediately grabbed her wrist.
"Sorry, can you stay with me a while longer?" the halfie looked away, unable to meet the human in the eye.
Ayumi paused, causing Riho to slowly turn her head to look. Thankfully, she wasn't giving her a strange look. Instead, she gave more of a slightly exasperated smile.
"What will I ever do with you?" Ayumi sat down, squeezing into the bed with Riho and slipping under the covers as well, "but no really, how do you feel?"
"Honestly? I'm actually fine," Riho said matter-of-factly. "Michishige-san healed me up pretty well, although it was a painful process..." suddenly she remembered, "so what was that about your leg?"
"Ahhh!" Ayumi scooted downwards, resting her head on the same pillow as she was on, "Well long story short, I got caught in a maze spell and I was about to be fried by a demon. She managed to rescue me! So I'm very thankful towards her. She's done a lot for us."
"Yeah, Michishige-san is special..." Riho thought aloud, staring at Ayumi. "You did a lot of things too for us as well"
Ayumi chuckled, "you're welcome."
Having a human by her side had made her journey go a lot smoother. Where previously, she was stuck foraging for food in the wild when stopped from entering human villages, having Ayumi around meant she wasn't as lonely and could eat a bit more. She actually had room for more food, but she was too fatigued to leave the bed and having Ayumi with her just made her feel that much lazier.
"I really was scared that you were going to d-die though..." she saw that the human was tearing up.
She would have turned on her side but she feared what it would do to her healing process. Not knowing what to do, Riho took the hand closest to her and awkwardly pet Ayumi's shoulder from her laying flat position.
"Mou... It's okay... I'm here now..."
Ayumi sniffled, and let out a sob.
"I'm here..."
18.5 Miyazawa Marin Why are you like this...
I am thinking in haiku
because Tanaka-san...
That is... Well, to start...
Shall we begin this story?
Once upon a time
There was a forest
In fact, it used to be here
But she was called short.
Unfortunate man.
He mistook her for a kid;
one who had cat ears.
Thankfully I'm safe
because I ride her shoulder
away from the blaze.
Why am I still here...?
So much anger stored inside...
Tanaka-san please.
For those who asked, here's a lil drawing of what Reina and Riho look like in their demon form xD