"You know where they are?" Whispered (Y/N) as Tuca shrugged.
They were in the art room away from the other two demons. Tuca didn't want them possibly overhearing him talking about his family. "There's this school across town that is hard to get to. But when I got close, I could sense my family being there. I didn't check because I wanted you to meet them first."
"But..." she thought about it. This whole time, she's wanted to meet his father for the possibility that he'll help her. But what if the family isn't at that school? What if his father isn't willing to help a human? What if Ki and Akai won't let any of this slide?
Tuca could see that she was crossed about this. He knows that she's in danger of this I9 thing and wants to help her as much as he could as well as get her away from those two. She is his second favorite human after Mr. Khan. She's been nothing but kind and caring towards him, his father will be more than willing to help her because of that. "We can go tomorrow? And if they aren't there, I can try looking around some more."
(Y/N) nodded but something was stopping her from fully agreeing. "What about Ki and Akai? They still don't know about your family and I don't think they'll like the idea. I'm surprised they even let you tag along."
She checked on Akai after the whole... incident with Ki and saw that the demon was, as described, passed out at the bar with a bottle in his hand. Ki was still on the bed unconscious and he's likely to wake up with a hangover.
"I can tell them that I found food there. It's not really a lie, someone I know found a seed shop a couple of years before I got captured. She's been hooked on gardening since then."
"Who is she?" She knows that his family consisted of more than just his dad but he never talks about them besides him.
He looked at (Y/N) as he tilted his head at something he thought of. "I grew up with her. We're very close. She's like my other half..." He seemed sad as he thought about the demon he's close with.
(Y/N) nodded. She can understand how he felt. She missed her sister just the same, it's been years since they were last together.
The next morning came slowly since (Y/N) spent the rest of the day and even the night learning more about Tuca's family. He talked about his father some more and how Tuca met him. About 50 years ago, Tuca was doing his usual hunting tricks with some Capturers he found. Instead of things going smoothly, one of the Capturers saw through his trick and pulled out a weapon that he had never seen before. The weapon was similar to the cross (Y/N) used to wear but this one was more like a bomb. It went off, Tuca got badly injured and was close to getting captured. But a demon, who later became his father, rescued Tuca and killed off two of the Capturers while the rest retreated. His father took care of him while Tuca healed up and was given the choice to either stay or leave. Since Tuca was still in a childlike mindset at the time, he automatically looked at the demon as his protector and decided to stay. He started calling him father soon after and the demon didn't seem to mind. He did the same with the other demons in the group, calling the females his sisters and aunts, except the demon he was talking about earlier while calling the males his brothers and uncles.
When (Y/N) asked about any mother figure, he simply replied that none of the females wanted to be referred to as a mom. He kind of prefers it to be that way since his dad treats them all like children or siblings.
As the sun started to shine through the windows, (Y/N) came back from using the bathroom to find her two demons finally awake and, as she predicted, hungover.
Akai was slumped over the bar on a bar stool massaging his aching head while Ki was laid out on the couch with his arms tossed over his face. When she saw him, she immediately felt uncomfortable. How was she supposed to face him after that stunt he did yesterday?
Deciding to avoid looking at Ki, (Y/N) went over to the blond who was groaning at every pound in his head. It was like someone was taking a hammer to his skull. He hasn't had liquor in so long so maybe it was a bad idea to have some now, especially ten bottles...
(Y/N) placed a hand on his head and tried getting a peek at his face. "You alright?"
He didn't respond, instead, he turned towards her and wrapped his arms around her waist while laying his head on her chest, still groaning at the pain in his head.
She huffed and tried moving away but he refused to let her go.
"I did a bad thing, babe..." he mumbled, his voice was low and scratchy.
"Yep." She patted his head, wishing he would let her go.
Tuca entered the room shortly after and propped himself up on the bar. He was holding a large teddy bear he had found in the kids' room and it reminded him of his back at the labs. Too bad he wasn't able to grab Sunny before I9 attacked him back at the labs. This one will have to do for now, he's sure his child self would love it.
He looked at the two demons who were hungover, questioning why they would get intoxicated while protecting (Y/N). He didn't like them, they were irresponsible and bad. "I found a school that has a garden with food. We should go there."
"No." They both replied. (Y/N) sighed, that was too fast of an answer.
"She can't survive on just meat alone. She's human and not like us."
Akai pointed a finger at him while not looking at the boy. "We know what we're doing so shush."
Tuca mocked the demon with a hand before turning towards the bear in his hands. "Apparently not." He muttered.
Akai's head shot up, he clearly heard what the boy had said. "What you say you little shi-"
"Calm down!" (Y/N) took his face and turned it towards her, hopefully keeping a fight from starting. "Tuca's right. You three can eat all the deer as much as you want. I can't."
"Why?" He asked, unconvinced.
"I can get sick." But also, she's just tired of smelling cooking flesh. She's never wanted to eat vegetables this much before in her life. "Besides, I think I'm all good on meat for a while."
"Where's the school...?" Ki muttered from the couch.
Akai rolled his eyes and placed his head back on (Y/N)'s chest. His head was in too much pain to be arguing.
An hour later when the demons were feeling better, they started setting off towards the school Tuca was talking about. Akai and Tuca went off to find something that floated and was big enough to hold all four of them, leaving poor (Y/N) with Ki.
She sat on the roof with her legs hanging off while he stood close by. Whenever he walked by her, she would tense up or move away. He was starting to notice after the fifth time and it was starting to make him worry. He approached her and bent down by her side, and again, she avoided his gaze and got uncomfortable. "You alright?"
"Yep." She kept her (e/c) eyes on the water below.
Of course, Ki didn't believe her and wanted to make sure she was really fine. "Did something happen?"
Her eyes widened and she finally met his gaze before looking away again. But wait... why is he asking that? She looked at him, now confused. "You don't... know?"
"Know what?" Now he was confused.
"While you were drunk you...." Should she say it? It seems like he doesn't remember, otherwise he would've known straight away. What he did was sudden.
"Did I do something? I don't remember much after Akai dared me to drink some bottle. I'm never listening to him again..."
Ki could see her visibly relax. Hopefully, he didn't do anything while he was intoxicated, normally he can handle alcohol but it's been a while, and maybe he had too much...
(Y/N) did her best to relax but she was glad that he doesn't remember anything. Maybe he won't do it again. "You didn't do anything... it was just... weird seeing you drunk."
"Hey! We're here, hop on!"
They both looked down at the water below and saw Akai and Tuca standing on a large board of wood with barrels tied underneath that helped them float. They've only been gone for fifteen minutes and they managed to build a raft that quickly.
Ki snaked his arms underneath (Y/N)'s legs and back and lifted her up then teleported down to the raft.
Yet again, she was overcome with a freezing sensation that left her clinging to Ki for warmth. She hated getting teleported.
The raft ride was rather bumpy and seemed like it'll sink whenever it hit the roofs of vehicles and street signs that were poking out of the water. Akai and Tuca had found a small hardware shop that wasn't damaged from the flood. The attic was a storage area and that's where they found the wood board, rope, and barrels.
As a way for them to paddle through... Akai forced Tuca to jump in the water and push the raft.
However, he didn't expect for the boy to actually do it so he was shocked when Tuca started taking his shoes off and shifting his feet into fins. He's been useful for many things lately.
When the school started to come into view, the height of the water started going down until the front doors were only partially flooded. When the raft got close enough, Tuca changed his feet back and started pushing the raft towards the front of a locked gate.
(Y/N)'s eyes wandered over the school's exterior. The building had a pretty old modern look but also looked to be straight out of a horror movie. Mother nature had reclaimed this place with all the ivy and shrubbery that grew from the ground and trees into the inside through windows. There were many broken windows that showed a subtle view of the dark inside and the furthest part of the top floor was leaning on its side, looking like it'll collapse at any second.
(Y/N) stared up into one of the windows and she could imagine something staring right back at her.
"This the place?" Akai looked at Tuca suspiciously. The whole building looked like a trap to him.
Tuca was too busy staring at the building to respond. This was the closest he's got to the school since yesterday and his senses were stronger. His family has to be here. Tuca was the first to start walking towards the building so the others began following. The water only went up to their knees and they had to watch where they walked because there was some metal debris and trash that they could hit their legs on.
When they reached the door, Ki noticed that there was a large slab of wood that blocked the doors from opening. It couldn't have fallen like that, it was positioned too perfectly.
Akai saw a piece of the wood that was weaker than the rest and kicked it in, creating a hole for them to crawl through. He turned towards the boy and made a gesture towards the hole. "After you."
Tuca crawled in and soon, he pulled the rest of the boards down to open up the door. The interior was way more intimidating than the exterior and (Y/N) was starting to have second thoughts about this.
Ki entered after the rest did and he immediately started feeling on edge. Something about this place just didn't sit right with him. "Where's this garden at? Let's just take what we need from it and go."
(Y/N) looked at Tuca worried but he didn't seem bothered by anything. Just in his own little world. He started walking deeper into the school's halls without saying anything. Akai narrowed his eyes at him and grabbed (Y/N)'s hand, pulling her close to him. "Stay close to us. I don't trust this place."
The two demons, along with the Keeper, followed Tuca through the halls. Believing that he's leading them to that garden he was talking about. But the more they walked, the more that started to seem unlikely.
Tuca would poke his head into classrooms, take halls that went into different directions, and pause every now and then like he was listening for something. (Y/N) looked around too, thinking someone from his family will appear from one of the rooms. But so far, it's just been them.
That was until shuffling sounds coming from a classroom they had past alerted Ki and Akai. They both whipped around and they knew that there was another demon here, they can smell the scent of one. Tuca smelled it too and unlike Ki and Akai who backed away cautiously, Tuca went straight towards the room.
Akai watched him go like he was crazy. "Little shit, what are you doing!"
Tuca didn't have time to respond to him when a figure darted out of the room and up the walls like a giant spider. The figure was too fast to keep in line of sight and just looked like a white blur that jumped from wall to wall until it went straight for Ki and Akai.
Ki immediately pushed (Y/N) behind a fallen table that lay on its side and created a portal in front of the figure that sent it flying into another room and crashing into the desks. Tuca went to run into the room but Akai quickly snatched him up and shoved him up against a locker. He knew this place was suspicious!
"Did you lead us into a trap?! Who the fuck was that?!"
Tuca held his hands up but tried getting out of the angered demon's hold. "Don't attack her."
"Her?!"
The figure came out of the room again and went straight for Ki. He didn't have time to make another portal when the figure tackled him and held him down to the floor. Since it wasn't moving anymore, they all got a chance to look at the new demon.
It was, as Tuca said, a she. She was skinny but slightly muscular with short curly platinum blonde hair and her skin was very pale. Her eyes were completely white and she had two sets of arms that she used one pair to hold Ki down by his arms and legs while the other pair held a sharp blade to his throat. "Move and I'll cut ya'!"
"Vam." Tuca called out, getting her attention in a second. Before she looked towards the boy, her hand did a weird motion and suddenly Ki's body was being pressed down into the floor, preventing him from moving. (Y/N) saw her hand movement and instantly recognized what type she was, a manipulator.
She turned around to look at who called her name and her eyes widened. "Tuca...?"
(Y/N) watched the whole scene from behind the table. The two stared at each other for a long time until the female demon had a huge smile grow on her face. She immediately got up off of Ki, letting him go in the process, and sprinted over to the boy in under a second. "BABY!!!!"
'Baby?' (Y/N) thought as the female demon shoved Akai off of Tuca like he was nothing. She threw her arms around the emotionless Tuca and buried her face deep into the crook of his neck, smelling his scent to confirm that it was him. The boy hugged her back but not as tight as she was hugging him.
Akai and Ki both watched the scene, extremely confused. 'Tuca knows this girl?!'
Then suddenly, the female demon pulled away and instantly showered the boy in loving kisses all over his neck, jaw, and cheeks before landing on his lips while he just stood there and let her kiss him.
(Y/N)'s eyes widened. What was going on?!
She was about to leave her hiding spot since the female demon didn't seem like a threat anymore but before (Y/N) could stand, she felt a heavy breath at the back of her neck that made her freeze up.
Akai looked up after noticing something was behind his girl, he immediately stood up and fire quickly flamed down his arms. Ki noticed Akai and turned around too, he made a portal and teleported (Y/N) to him as he pushed them both back while growling at the newcomer.
Tuca was still being showered in kisses but he sensed an extremely familiar presence and looked over the female demon's shoulder.
"Vam." An extremely deep voice vibrated through the halls and she had stopped her affection towards her long lost boyfriend to look at the newcomer. She instantly smiled and pulled Tuca off the walls and in front of her excitedly. "J'IRAIYA, LOOK WHO CAME BACK!!!!!"
(Y/N) peaked out from behind Ki's back with wide eyes.
When Tuca said his father was huge... he wasn't lying.
The demon looked to be about eight feet tall, having to hunch down to avoid hitting the ceiling. He was very muscular and his rough skin was so pitch black that you wouldn't be able see him in the dark at all. His head seemed to be fused with the skull of a deer with two sets of antlers that jutted out from the top and back of his head with an extremely tattered dark grey scarf that was wrapped around the rest of his head. He had long jet black hair that reached to his lower back and was pulled back in a messy low ponytail. The demon was way bigger than Ki and Akai combined and the two seemed to notice that. If this demon was going to attack them, they might not have a chance at winning.
The demon faced Tuca who looked back at him with a blank face. Everyone stayed silent, besides the female demon who was giggling in excitement, as Tuca strode over to his father and once he reached him, he wrapped his short arms as much he could around the huge demon's torso. For the first time since Tuca has been in his true form, a small smile started appearing on his face as his father placed a monstrous hand on his back. "Welcome home son."
(Y/N) watched the scene with a bittersweet feeling. She was happy that Tuca was finally with his family but... will this be the last time she sees him? She was so focused on the scene that she jumped when Akai took her arm and both him and Ki started pulling her back while trying not to draw attention. "We're leaving. Let's go." He whispered.
"What?" She didn't whisper and this caused the female demon that both Tuca and his father called "Vam" to look back at them with squinted eyes. "Tuca, who are they?"
Tuca looked back at them too and he can sense Vam and his father didn't trust them. He moved out of his father's hold and went to stand between the two groups. "The human is my friend. The two demons are just protecting her. They aren't threats."
"A human is your friend? Why?" J'iraiya spoke. The demon's slow deep voice sent chills down (Y/N)'s back.
Tuca looked at her before looking back at his father. "She helped me escape the other humans and took care of me while I was with them. That's why I was hoping you can repay her kindness by helping her."
Vam observed the human and the two demons who were guarding her from them. "Help her from what? From them?" She pointed at Ki and Akai with three of her arms.
Tuca stayed silent which J'iraiya soon took as a yes. He observed the two demons closely. He can tell they both had their guards up high and were keeping the human out of sight.
Ki gritted his teeth and grabbed (Y/N)'s hand. Him and Akai started backing away and pulling her with them, intending on leaving the school and Tuca behind. "We're going. Now!"
(Y/N) widened her eyes at them, she didn't want to leave! Not until she gets an answer to the request she's been wanting ask since they got here. She ripped her hands out of their holds and turned around, running up next to Tuca and holding her hands up to show she wasn't a threat.
"(Y/N)!"
J'iraiya looked her deep into her soul with that deer skull of his but she kept herself from cowering away. "I'm being hunted by a demon that wants to kill me and possess my body! I don't know if it made it out but those two won't let me go because of it! Tuca said you would be willing to help so please-"
"(Y/N)!" Ki went to go grab her but stopped when the much larger demon emitted a deep huff.
She doesn't seem threatening but all humans seem non-threatening at first. His head turned towards his son, Vam had her hands wrapped around Tuca's arm as she laid her head on his shoulder. "Is she really a friend of yours? Are you sure she isn't tricking you?"
Tuca shook his head no. "I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for her breaking me out. She's like a mom to me."
The Keeper was shocked to hear him say that as a small smile started growing on her lips. His father seemed satisfied by this answer as he turned back to her and leaned down close to her level with his eyes on the two demons who were preparing to fight. "Then so be it."
"(Y/N) get over here!" Akai growled. She turned around quickly to see them both with the most darkest looks she has ever seen on them. Ki was close to shifting into his demon form and Akai was ready to start throwing fire as his eyes started turning completely red. She knew this would happen...
"Are they your friends too?" Spoke J'iraiya.
Tuca shook his head no. They never wanted him around to begin with and they always treated him like trash. They weren't his friends and never will be. "No."
The father was satisfied with this answer. The two looked like trouble the moment he laid his nonexistent eyes on them. "You two will leave my territory and never come back. Refuse, and you will be killed."
(Y/N) gasped. She wants to stay with the father and his family but she didn't want anyone getting hurt in the process! Ki and Akai will fight for her no matter how peaceful the other party is...
Akai smirked at the big demon while his horns started growing larger. "We're not leaving without her. She's ours, so get over here..." He said that last part to (Y/N), almost as if he was commanding her to. Ki on the other hand was started to lose his sanity by the second, his hands gripped into fists as some parts of his hair were starting to turn white.
At this rate, the two were going to attack eventually... (Y/N) didn't know how many more of Tuca's family was around but it was clear that her demons were outmatched by a long shot.
She can't stay here without anyone getting hurt, she has to go back...
Tuca saw that she turned around and started walking back to the two demons. He quickly grabbed her arm and looked her in the eyes when she looked at him sadly. "Where are you going?"
Without a word, (Y/N) pulled Tuca into a tight hug as a tear ran down her face. She doesn't want his family or her demons getting hurt just because of her. Her hand gripped into the boy's shirt as Tuca hugged her back closely.
"Goodbye Tuca..."
He was starting to understand what she meant... but he didn't want her to go. "But-"
"This won't end well if I stay. I don't want anyone getting hurt..." she held back a sob. She hated Ki and Akai for kidnapping her but... she didn't want them to possibly die for her. Tuca's father looked to be a challenge as is.
"Goodbye Ms. (L/N)..." Tuca whispered.
She pulled away before her tears started running down her face but Tuca held onto her for just another second. She could see that he was looking past her with a dark look towards her kidnappers. "Don't trust them after what they did to your friend."
(Y/N) peaked back at them, seeing them calm down a bit but were still high on guard. She didn't understand what Tuca meant but nodded anyways. Who was he talking about?
Reluctantly letting go, Tuca allowed her to return back to Ki and Akai. Instead of stopping next to them, (Y/N) walked straight past the two with an angered look across her face, heading back towards the way they came in.
Akai grunted and sent a last glare towards the family before following after her.
Ki looked straight at the father with evil intent before turning to walk away as well.
"The last time we let anyone come with us..."
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Author's note
Checking in to see how people are thinking of the revamp again lol
Also just a reminder, make sure to not spoil anything in the comments for those who have read the original. I've had to delete a few already so just remember that pls 😅