Heirot

Zaraxi ripped two strips of cloth off the bottom of Chien's coat and held them out in the rain until they were damp with cool water, tensely tolerating the sting of the rain on her fingertips. She turned back to Chien. "Lie back and relax your muscles," she recommended."

Chien listened to the demoness and lay back in the mud. He relaxed himself as best he could. He kept his eyes opened and looked at Zaraxi however, watching her do what she was doing. Thinking about it, it seemed like an odd situation, a demon taking care of a demon hunter.

Zaraxi placed one wet cloth across Chien's forehead just above the eyes, and the other onto his bare chest to alleviate any tension there, being careful not to accidentally shock him as she did so.

She sat back afterwards and watched him watching her. There was a brief, strange silence. "You'll feel better if you close your eyes," she said quietly, almost gently.

Chien silently agreed, feeling weariness drift upon him and closed his eyes. He hadn't slept in a while, not having a chance to in the hotel and only having a shock induced unconsciousness for an hour. He soon found himself drifting to sleep under Zaraxi's watchful gaze.

Zaraxi watched Chien carefully throughout the night, the sounds of rain patting on Kyosuke's umbrella. Every fifteen minutes or so she would carefully take and replace the cloths on his head. She noticed a rock just outside the umbrella that she could drop the cloths onto to soak and avoid the rain except for a few drops. Night passed without incident, and soon the faint light of morning began to glow through the forest.

Chien continued to sleep several hours past sunrise. The fight with the other demon hunter then ight before and running from town had tired him out. The excessive amounts of electricity he had received from Zaraxi didn't help much either.

When he awoke, he first saw Zaraxi and nodded in greeting, noting that his headache was gone. "Thank you for taking care of me," he said. He normally rarely slept in areas like this, too many demons around that would try and kill him. With Zaraxi around, he felt safe enough to enter deep sleeps no matter where.

"Good morning," she said to him, her mood becoming energetic when she saw that he was awake. "Has your headache calmed down?"

Chien nodded. "Yes," he replied. He looked up at the sky and saw that the clouds were starting to clear, and the rain was now a light drizzle. "We should be fine to travel in an hour or two," he said. He was also feeling hungry, but he couldn't hunt quite yet. The weapon he used for it was now an umbrella. He suppressed the complaints his stomach was making as well.

After a few hours of chasing the thing that followed him, Kastor grew weary. His target, was faster than him, and was easily an hour or two ahead of him. This was bad. "Why am i constantly being followed?! Why do they torment me so?" He thought to himself. This had happened too many times before, he was getting sick of it.

Coming to a stop on a relatively low branch, Kastor looked down through the branches and saw something that made him have to do a double take. An umbrella with two people inside it was on the forest floor, not something he had ever seen. "Perhaps they know who was following me" Kastor thought, and took a seat on the branch, deciding to see what kind of people they were before he introduced himself.

Zaraxi reached her fingers curiously out past the edge of the umbrella's shelter, pulling them quickly back when the water touched her hand. She looked back at Chien, halfway between wondering at what a strange creature he was to be able to touch and even drink water and wondering how strange it was that she couldn't. She peered at Chien curiously, knowing nothing of the human taboo of staring.

Chien didn't notice the being that had hidden himself in the branches above them. However, he did notice the fact that Zaraxi was staring right at him. "Is there anything wrong?" he asked plainly, his voice at its usual monotone. Even with his emotions sealed away, it still felt strange to have someone continuously stare at you.

"No," Zaraxi said matter-of-factly, not taking the hint nor averting her gaze. She probably would have gone on that way if the light pattering on the umbrella above them had not slowed and then stopped altogether at that moment. The demon looked out from the shelter they had and saw only occassional stray drops, which fell at times from the leaves up above. "It stopped," she said, poking her head curiously out. She was eager to stretch her wings again after the long night spent there. She looked back at Chien for confirmation that it was safe.

Chien stood up and took the umbrella by the handle. Right after he shook the excess water off of their shelter, the demon hunter reverted it back to its dagger form and returned it to its sheathe. "Are you ready for travel?" he asked.

Zaraxi stood back up to her full height and stretched all four wings luxuriously, fanning the feathers out and flapping them twice before they folded behind her again. "I'm ready," she said, looking up at the canopy above them and wondering how often rain fell.

Chien nodded in acknowledgement. "Let's get going then," he said and began walking off. Since Chien's senses were attuned to sensing demons, he did not sense the presence of non demonic beings. Therefore the figure that was watching him and Zaraxi went on unnoticed by the demon hunter.