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Neko quietly stepped into the bedroom, closing the door softly behind him and leaning against it a little bit, gold eyes cast down to the floor to prevent eye contact with the blonde haired man sitting on the bed. Something was wrong in his eyes, and already he'd blown up once at the human, going as far as throwing one of his own priced vases at the other and spending the afternoon trying to see if he could salvage the shattered pieces. It was a good thing Ares and Merrimack were gone, he'd told himself, and that Tahki spent most of her time in Neko's old room. If they'd actually seen his anger...

The demon hanyou turned his eyes slowly to the white sheet that hung behind him, just barely touching the floor. It was hiding the door-mirror, hiding the reflection Neko had grown to hate during the course of the month. ...Approximately 42 days...about 996 hours, 24 minutes, 36 seconds... Obsessed? Very much so, and it was driving him mad. The two men spent all day yesterday taking down any mirrors they could find, putting up sheets on the ones actually attached to the doors and walls, and hid them in the basement. Neko even did his best not to look at the glass cabinet, the sliver knifes, even the water being used. He wanted to change, he wanted to return to normal.

He just wanted his regular life back.

Finally stepping away from the mirror, his tail flicking slightly behind him, he turned his golden gaze toward Domonic, still silent as he made his way to stand in front of the other.

Domonic sat quietly on the bed, almost oblivious to the demon's entrance, his hands folded together and his eyes closed. His head was bowed, his forehead resting upon his entwined fingers, his lips softly whispering a faint plea; a prayer, if one may want to call it. Or at least, that's what it looked like. Were one to listen more carefully as Neko always did, they'd hear a different language of sorts, one lost from humanity for thousands of years. However, very few knew it, and it was still a mystery as to why he knew it himself.

As Neko stopped in front of him, he whispered a quiet ‘amen', his blue eyes opening slowly. He'd been here alone for most of the afternoon, and silently wondered what time it was as he shifted a little bit, lifting his head to rest his chin on his fingers, calm eyes looking up into Neko's puzzled ones. It was almost amazing that he wasn't mad at the other for the earlier outburst, completely understanding why he was getting so frustrated.

Neko's ears flicked slightly as he watched the human, furrowing his brows as he tried to understand. Domonic had been whispering this language a lot lately, and it had sounded so familiar to him, but still he didn't know why. While he knew many different tongues, this one sounded very close to the ancient demon language he used to know back when he was known as Mira. It wasn't the same, though...it was different. It was so different...

He continued to look at Domonic for a moment after he looked up at him, his tail curling a little bit to the left. Why did he always have to look so innocent...? He knew the other was hiding something. He'd known for about half a month now, and STILL he wasn't talking. Why? What could Domonic possibly be hiding that couldn't be said aloud? He said things would be clear soon...he promised that. So why...? Why was this all still so confusing?

Glancing off to the left for a moment, the demon hanyou sniffled a little bit as he thought, lifting a hand to stretch at his neck. Silence like this was always so awkward...and he'd come up here for a reason, as well. Sighing softly, Neko leaned down a bit, reaching his arms in-between Domonic's to rest his hands on the soft bed, using his forehead to force the man to lean back a little bit.

"I'm sorry..." he muttered quietly, feeling guilty over the event from earlier.

Domonic dropped his hands as he leaned back, propping himself up on his elbows. He knew the apology would come sooner or later, smiling slightly upon finally hearing it. Shifting his weight a little bit, he lifted a hand to gently stroke the demon's tan cheek, moving the red bangs away from his face so that he could see both eyes.

"You know I don't want to keep this from you," he said softly, leaning up to brush a gentle kiss under Neko's scar over his right eye. "I wish I were able to just explain everything."

"Then why don't you?" Neko whined, closing his eyes at the feel, a more sad expression crossing his face. He was tired of hearing that same line over and over again every time that he asked about it.

Wrapping an arm around Domonic to hold him up where he was, he felt that he just needed to be close to the other man at the moment, some hidden fear of losing him showing a little bit. Being alone wasn't what he needed right now, and he realized that while trying to put the vase back together.

Domonic sighed softly, lifting his other hand to place on Neko's cheek in order to hold his head still. So stubborn, he was...always asking why. And his answer was always the same.

"If I told you, I might have to kill you," he half joked unknowingly, kissing the corner of the demon's lips lightly.

Neko frowned slightly, opening his eyes as Domonic held his head. "I highly doubt you would, given that you don't even have the heart to kill a house fly," he stated flatly, unaware of the joke. "You can't say anything? You can't explain anything at all to me?"

He looked away for a moment, needing to think about that question. Surely there was something he could tell the other to get his frustration to ease a little bit. After a moment, Domonic looked back to Neko thoughtfully before sliding his hands down from his cheeks to his under his arms, and heaved the demon hanyou onto the bed next to him, smiling innocently.

"E-eh??" Neko blinked, blushing as he was tossed onto the bed. Quickly, he squirmed to turn around, hardly calming down as he watched Domonic.

Domonic could hardly keep himself from chuckling a little bit, blushing slightly himself as he turned around to straddle the other man, crawling slowly over him to gently lay on top of him, lightly placing a finger over the demon's lips.

"Shhhh..." he hushed him before leaning his head down and kissing him deeply, slipping his fingers through the red hair to hold his head, making sure he wouldn't struggle.

"Mmmph!!" Neko gasped against the human's mouth, blushing furiously. W-w-why was he doing this?! Well, not that he could complain as he was certainly enjoying this himself, but...this just wasn't like the other to do anything like this. Normally, if anything happened, it was his doing, not the other way around.

For a moment, he merely laid frozen in the other's grasp, but upon calming down, he slowly eased, bringing up his arms to wrap around Domonic gently. Kissing the other back, he closed his eyes, settling his spirits for now as his ears drew back and his tail thumped lightly on the bed.

After a few moments, Domonic hesitantly broke the kiss after placing a shorter, sweeter one upon Neko's lips, looking down at the man a bit hopefully.

"I'll tell you some of what I know...but only if you promise not to get frustrated over the things I can't explain very well," he tried to bargain, stroking Neko's cheek lightly.

Blinking his eyes open, he smirked slightly as he realized the reason for all of that. "Mmm...you like to do that sorta thing on purpose, don't you?" Neko commented, loosening his arms a little bit. "Fine...I promise I won't get mad. I just get edgy when I don't know something..."

"Understandable," Domonic smiled, carefully sitting up a bit and shifting his body so that he could sit on the demon's stomach, still straddling him. Sliding his hands along Neko's arms, he stopped when he reached the fingerless-gloved hands, entwining his pale fingers with the tan ones. "So tell me...what do you want to know?"

"Who sent you?" Neko immediately asked.

"Mm. Try again."

Neko raised a brow at him, swinging his hands a little bit with Domonic's. "I thought you sa—"

"I said SOME of what I know," he corrected. "I can't tell you the answer to that one, so please...choose a different question."

"Hmph...fine. Why do you have an angelic relic?"

Domonic frowned slightly, hoping he wouldn't start with that one. It was so difficult to explain.

"It was my father's," he stated, and noting that Neko's mouth opened to ask another question, he immediately assumed what it would be. "And no, I don't know why he had it."

Neko thought for a moment. "All right, then what do you know about it?"

"Nothing more than what you know right now," he sighed, letting the demon's hands go and lowering himself enough to rest his hands behind Neko's shoulders so that he could look down at the other. "I've had it ever since I can remember, and neither of my parents would explain it to me."

"I can accept that, then," Neko admitted, idly reaching up his hands to fiddle with the buttons on Domonic's shirt without completely realizing it. "After a month...you knew all along that eventually I would realize that I need to go back to your village to fix all of this, didn't you?"

He bit his lip softly before nodding slowly, looking down as he noticed Neko unbuttoning his shirt.

"Yes...to tell you the truth, I even knew that something would be happening," he said quietly, shivering slightly as he felt the cool air against his chest. "However, I didn't know when, or what it would be."

Neko tugged on the shirt a little bit, pulling the man closer to himself. Damn the male hormones...he'd have to make sure to make Domonic suffer later when he finally returned to being a woman.

"We'll talk more about that later," he sighed, blushing a little bit again. "Tell me...am I gonna have to meet your folks at all if I go?"

Domonic blinked a few times, blushing a little himself. He was actually thinking about going finally? After all this time, desperately trying to find a way around visiting that town, he was giving up?

"Well, no...unless you really wanted to for one reason or another, we could always wait until you turn back if you wanted," he replied, lying back down on top of Neko, still a bit puzzled.

Neko sighed softly, closing his eyes after a moment. Damn...this trip wouldn't be pretty. After visiting that place 5 years ago, he swore never to go back, and now he didn't have much of a choice.

"Fine," he said flatly leaning up to softly nibble on Domonic's bottom lip. "One condition."

"What's that?" he whispered, closing his own eyes as his fingers lightly brushed against the demon's cheekbone.

"You owe me big time," Neko stated before kissing his partner deeply. Yep...this was going to be a long night.

It had taken Arturo longer than he had expected, and truthfully, every part of him worried about Nero in his absence. But they had arrived at last, and as Arturo led Ares through the thick forests, dipping and ducking easily between branches, his mind wasn't back home. Because, in a way, that was never home. This was, and there was a weak sensation in his stomach.

He hadn't ever wanted to come back here. It was too painful, but with Ares with him, it was surprisingly easy. He looked over his shoulder and shot her a rare smile before landing on a branch. It wasn't near the graveyard, but he might as well tell her about some parts of the forest that he knew.

Arturo pointed to the trunk and smirked - it was covered in small cuts, made by a knife or blade of some kind. Running his fingers over the cuts, Arturo explained, "My first fencing partner."

Ares sighed lightly, trying to take slow breathes as the seemed to stop for the moment, a bit tired from all the flying. Glancing to the tree for a moment, she lifted a hand to gently touch along some of the marks, as if entranced by the mere lines.

"Didn't put up much of a fight," she couldn't help but comment.

Arturo laughed. It felt easier to be cheerful back in the place where he HAD been cheerful. More relaxed, somehow.

"Well, better the tree than my friends," he replied, shaking his head. Though he and his friends had often sparred, they waited until they could at least hold the swords he made right before they even attempted as much.

"Actually..." Arturo trailed off, realizing he was thinking aloud. Without a word, he dove from the branch and disappeared from sight. There was the sound of leaves rustling at the base of the tree, and soon Arturo was back in a flash of metal and red, a real rapier held in his hands.

"I made this a while ago," he explained, offering it to her. "Back when I had more magic."

Ares blinked a few times, glancing at the rapier. That was...real? She reached out a delicate hand to touch it, rather intrigued that it was something their size.

"You made this...?" she whispered, drawing her hand back. Wait... "You had more magic?"

Was it possible to lose skill one had?

Arturo was staring affectionately at his old sword. It was fairly ornate, for an amateur's work - it was one of his first. The hilt swirled and twisted delicately, and the weapon itself had fairly good balance, though the hilt itself felt a bit too heavy in his hands. He had done better work.

Ares' words pierced his reverie and he glanced at her, nodding. "I did. Much more, in fact, though swords like these aren't too difficult for metal Feien. I believe I lost most of it in the bonding process, however, just like I gained a mutation while it was occuring."

The miniwings still felt vaguely alien on his head, though he had grown fairly accustomed to them.

Ares looked up to the miniwings for a moment, reeeaaaching her hands up to touch them lightly.

"But they're just so darn cute," she joked lightly, smiling a little bit before bringing her arms back down. "I had no idea magic could be lost when being bonded to another. But...I suppose such magic isn't needed where you live now, am I right?"

She didn't want to bring him down, but she was trying to make sense of it for herself. Her tail flicked a little bit as she looked back to the sword.

"Why didn't you bring it with you?"

Arturo's wings flicked slightly under her hands, feathers soft under her fingers. He shrugged slightly, though there was the faintest traces of a smile on his lips. "Human bonds provide well for their Feien. I prefer to take care of myself, but admittedly, it does make magic used for practical purposes a bit obselete. It wasn't a huge loss. There are times where I wish I could use it to ease a situation, but nothing horribly severe."

Why didn't he bring that particular sword with him? He'd done better, for one. Actually, now that he thought about it, the worksmanship on that was fairly shoddy. Ah, well. His better swords were buried elsewhere. But that wasn't her question.

"I was dying Ares - I had little strength as is, and it's a long flight, and I was carrying my book. I couldn't afford the extra weight, and I figured I would just make more once I was settled. I didn't expect to lose my magic." he explained.

"Oh...so you could carry a book, but not a sword?" she smirked. "But you're right...had you kept your magic, you could have made something like this again."

Ares folded her wings down over her shoulders for a moment, looking around the surroundings again. No matter how many times she looked, she just couldn't get over how beautiful the forest was, it being must different than the one she visited back home.

"It really is quite nice here," she sighed, smiling a little bit. "But, I've probably said that serveral times already."

"It was an important book to me; irreplacable, even. It was heavier than the swords, but I could just as easily make one again, had I the magic."

Arturo went quiet and stared around, smiling a bit. "It is. I enjoyed living here. It's more peaceful than back at the labs."

Infinitely so.

Arturo gently took Ares' hand in his and smiled. "I want to show you something." he muttered, then took off, moving just as quickly as before. He zig-zagged through the tress, occasionally noting a familiar landmark to show that he was heading in the right direction, then settled lightly on a branch. Soon as Ares was there with him, he pushed away a few leaves and stepped on to the end of the branch.

Directly below them was a small, clear stream. Arturo sat down carefully, crosslegged, and leaned forward to stare down. His hair slid over his shoulders and caught the colors of setting sun reflecting off the stream. "That's where the water feien used to play," he explained, glancing back at Ares. "I was never partial to water myself, but I always thought it was lovely here. When it wasn't so busy, I came here to think often."

Ares had quickly opened her wings again as they flew off, flapping her wings a little bit before they landed. Using her wings for balance, she peered down toward the stream curiously, her three red eyes filled with a bit of wonder. Water feien... It made her curious if the ones bonded to humans did the same thing. For her, the sound alone was quiet relaxing, carefully sitting down next to the taller feien.

"It's beautiful, Arturo," she said calmly, her tail curling around herself a little bit. "I love to just look at the water...it makes rather wonderful music."

A warm arm was soon wrapped around her waist. "It does." Arturo replied sedately. "This was where I made my rapiers, too. Inspired by the flow of the water, maybe. Either way, it was peaceful enough so that I could concentrate."

A bird flew by overhead and Arturo kept his eyes on it, watchfully. More than one of his friends had been seized by predatory birds, but this one presented no danger, and so Arturo relaxed, leaning against Ares slgihtly. "I sometimes wish we could move back here."

Ares gently rested her head against Arturo's shoulder, moving a hand to lightly rest over his around her waist. Move back here...? Alone, or with his bond? Surely that would be rather difficult, but not labeled as impossible.

"Have you ever asked about the possibility?" she asked curiously, turning her three eyes up to him.

Arturo smiled at Ares, shaking his head. "No. I'd rather not have a human and all her 'pets' running amok in my forests, and I'm sure the triplets wouldn't be pleased to be taken away from the shop. I know Nero would."

He trailed off for a moment, yellow eyes distant as his mind ventured elsewhere. "If I die, I'd like my gem to be put here, though." Arturo said finally. The prospect was terrifying, but unavoidable, he supposed. He'd already cheated death once - it was only a matter of time.

Ares frowned slightly upon hearing that last comment, her wings folding down again to rest on her shoulders. Death... It was one part of life she didn't particularly like very much. First Seamus, and now...

She shook her head lightly, closing her eyes for a moment. The one thing she feared most about choosing Arturo over the other was that he would leave too soon. Thinking about that right now would only turn this trip from good to bad. Reaching her arms over, she hugged the metal feien lightly, opening her eyes slowly.

"I would stand by your grave until the day I die myself if you leave before me," she whispered softly.

Arturo chuckled and looped his arms tightly around Ares, kissing her affectionately. "I don't intend to die any time soon," he muttered, nuzzling against her slightly. "It would foolish to, with so much to live for."

Ares was warm in his arms and the stream was cheerful beneath them, muttering nonsense as it flowed over rocks and pebbles. Everything just felt... right. As it should be. All worries, all cares, sort of just melted away as Arturo carefully leaned his forehead against Ares', wary of her third eye.

"We should vacation more often," Arturo chuckled, twirling one of Ares' longer pieces of hair around a finger.

Ares closed her third eye and looked up at him, a faint smile upon her lips. She always like being this close to him...a rare feeling that she only allowed very few people to see.

"Hmmm...that might be nice," she said softly, her tail thumping softly on the branch once. "Though I don't know how many times I'd be able to manage getting all the way over here...so closer to home might be nice sometimes too, hm?"

Arturo smirked. "Maybe we should take the triplets one time, too. No reason for them not to be as well-travelled as we are."

He was getting sleepy, and it was quickly turning dark, the first faint glimmers of stars appearing on the blackening horizon. "This place will be just for us, though," he muttered, bending his head down to kiss her again.

"Mmm," Ares hummed against his lips as she kissed him softly. "I think I like that plan."

"Let's finish tomorrow," he said, smirking as he leaned back, Ares resting somewhat on top of him. "It's peaceful here, and safe. A good place to sleep."

Ares smiled a little bit, nuzzling against him, her tail curling over his leg a little bit. It was getting pretty late...and so much had gone on through the day, it was slowly catching up to her.

"Then we'll sleep here," she agreed, resting her head lightly on his shoulder.

Large red wings folded over her, feathers tickling slightly but providing warmth as the night slowly grew colder. Arturo gave Ares one final kiss before resting his head back and closing his eyes.

It was just like before everything had changed. Only... better.