Ayato was a little tougher. I figured that I'd just go with a classic schoolgirl outfit for him. It was a very short button-down long sleeve that only went two thirds of the way down my breasts. It was cottony and comfortable even though I wasn't wearing a bra. The plaid skirt I wore went to just above mid-thigh and the white stockings sat just beneath that. The underside of my breasts peaked out from beneath the top and the low rise skirt allowed for the frill of my panties to be seen. Even the stocking holdups were of lacy appearance.
Embarassing? Yes. Effective? Let's find out.
As I bumped the door open with my hip, I balanced the tray of breakfast.
"Let's get some things straight, Chichi Ippai-"
I started, but kept the tray from jarring too much as I turned to find Ayato already sitting up in bed. He was shirtless, something that made me swallow with a nervous excitement.
"-I'm going to call you that and there's nothing you can do about it. You will refer to me as your Senpai, is that understood?"
"Y-yes," I muttered, blushing gently.
Chichi Ippai...? My breasts aren't that big but... well sh*t, I feel flattered.
"Looks like you picked an appropriate outfit. Come to Oresama."
I did as I was told, setting the tray to the side and crawling onto the bed.
"S-Straddle me," he ordered.
Without question, I followed orders. His face looked similar to mine. What was with that? I thought he'd enjoy ordering me around.
"Tch," he clicked his tongue and roughly pulled my head to the side by grabbing my chin. His fangs sunk viciously beneath my flesh and I flinched, my hands falling against his chest to steady myself.
"Senpai?" I asked tentatively and he pulled away, narrowing his eyes. "Aren't you hungry?"
"Food doesn't interest me. Only your blood."
He latched on once more, choosing just below my collarbone instead. He seemed hesitant, like he wanted to do something else, but couldn't bring himself to. Was he nervous? Was he stalling by sucking my blood?
He's acting nervous like this is a novel experience...
Despite my anxiety, I arched my back toward him and presented my chest to his face. He grinned to himself, his poison green eyes flashing up at me with a rather hesitant lust. I wasn't expecting... the chagrin that shadowed each of his actions. It wasn't like Kanato or Laito who had simply done as they wished.
"You want Oresama this badly?"
"Yes..." I crooned, looping one arm loosely around his neck as he ducked his head into my chest and nuzzled to find a new place to suck my blood from. "Ayato-"
He let out a growl and hand came down with an electric smacking sound upon my butt. A small yip escaped my lips.
"What did I tell you?"
"S-Senpai," I corrected, ducking my head and staring at him uncertainly
"What?" he demanded, narrowing his eyes at me.
"Laito and Kanato were misleading yesterday," I murmured, pulling him close and hiding my face in his neck for a moment as I recomposed myself. "We really didn't do anything... so you don't need to..."
"Tch," he scoffed, putting his arms behind him, hands braced against the sheets, and leaning back on them. "You think I'm trying to make up for somethin', huh? Do you?!"
"N-no," I stammered. "I just... don't... I..."
"Look, Oresama just does things the way he wants, understand?" he said, covering the shyness with a harsh tone, but I could see it in the way his eyes couldn't meet mine.
"Y-yes Senpai."
His eyes were staring down into my face with a look I couldn't make heads or tails of.
"Do you want to wash up?" I whispered, enraptured by his glittering eyes.
"Go do that."
I escaped into the bathroom, stripped down, turned on the shower and waited for the water to turn warm. With my hand under the crystal droplets, I waited half-in-half-out.
"Just a shower?"
"Eh?!" I jumped slightly from my daze and looked over at Ayato out of the corner of my eye. He was stark naked, his hands splayed on his hips as he surveyed me. Self-consciously I crossed my arms over my chest and stared at the opposite corner of the room. "Y-yeah, I figured it would be faster so I didn't bother filling up the bath."
"I suppose there are other things I'd like to do today," he allowed, walking up beside me and putting a hand in to test it as well. "Don't act so shy, we're not doing anything. I want you to wash me."
"Right," I answered shyly, tying my hair up into a bun and following him under the water. "Ah! It's still cold; why'd you go under?"
"Heh," Ayato chuckled, spinning the dial back to warm. "I just wanted to watch your ni pples harden."
He reached out and flicked one, before I could even process the prior statement.
"Senpai," I mumbled, crossing my arms across my chest. "I should get to washing you."
I grabbed the showerhead down and drew it over his body, taking care to keep water from getting in his ears or eyes. All the while, his green eyes followed me as if mesmerized. My mind was focused on not letting my gaze linger below the v of his hips. His eyes weren't the only things mesmerized.
"Would you sit so I can soap your hair?" I asked, turning off the water momentarily.
"Mm," he muttered and did as I asked.
I squirted a dollop of pearly shampoo into my palm and began sudsing his hair. The bright red turned white with soapy bubbles and smelled sharp, masculine. I took care to gently massage behind his ears.
"You're a gentle woman."
"I'm glad you think so," I said mildly, "I wasn't always this way."
"I can't let anyone else have you."
"Well..."
"Shut it, you know what I mean," he snapped and I smiled secretively, rinsing away the soapy bubbles. They made little glistening trails over his back. "You won't leave us, right?"
I started, blinking a few times. He was staring at me out of the corner of his eye so I tried to tone down my surprise as much as I could. Am I really talking to Ayato right now?
"No, never," I answered smoothly. "And if I had to, I'd come back as soon as I could. A girl's got have a little time for herself every once in a while, but I'd never be gone long."
"Those guys who showed up at school..."
"It's been a week or two since you've seen them, right?"
"We still smell them around."
I began soaping Ayato's body, his arms and chest.
"What do they have to do with anything?" I asked, shaking my head.
"Well they left when you left and only spoke to you while they were present. Reiji and Shuu seem very uncomfortable with them and Subaru... well Subaru would hit anyone but he gets really worked up talking about that blonde haired one. Not that I don't. I want to rip that guy's arms from his torso so he can't touch what's mine ever again."
Ayato's green eyes glared morosely into the tile.
"None of you have brought them up again. Like I said, I only saw one of them. How many were there?"
"Four different scents and we only saw two faces: the cheeky blonde and the giant with a man-bun."
"Well the blonde guy said he was an idol; did Reiji do any research on him?"
"An idol, tch, like I'd believe that."
"Who knows, but there's no use talking about this stuff. I don't really want to think about other people when I'm supposed to be spending my day with you."
"That's my chichi ippai," he said with a smirk as he sat up more straight. "Now, let me wash you."
~
"A basketball tournament?" I wondered aloud.
"Yeah!" he enthused, grabbing me around the waist and heaving me up over his shoulder.
"Hey!" I squealed as he paced toward the gigantic fitness center. I propped my forearms on his back, trying my best to see where we were headed.
Ayato made a bee line straight through the crisp looking lobby after passing us through the entrance. The workers passing out sweat towels and checking group fitness passes stared at us curiously. Besides the fact that I was being carried like a sack of laundry, we didn't look too out of place.
I'd been allowed to change into athletic shorts and a tank top while Ayato had on basketball-related sportswear. It was a black sleeveless shirt with red and white detailing for the family name and number. His shorts completed the matching set.
"So uh, why are we dressed like this if we're watching a tournament?" I asked, trying to get a good look at his face but my ponytail of long hair kept sweeping into my face.
"Because we'll be competing, duh."
"What?"
"Well technically we can't join but who cares. We're joining anyway and you'd better not make me lose, chichi ippai!"
"What do you mean we can't join!?"
"Well they've been narrowing down the ranks a bit already but everyone who's competing will compete today to determine final rankings!"
"We don't have a full team how do you expect us to beat anyone?!" I cried exasperatedly.
"Stop questioning Oresama."
He plopped me down on my feet then hauled me through the door to a large indoor basketball court. It was very bright from the fluorescents and smelled like rubber, but it was cram-packed with people. There were actually two courts right next to each other, enough rooms for stands on the opposite end, and a scoreboard.
"Oh, so they're two on two matches?" I asked, looking at the lineups. "How strange."
"Not really, seeing as they're all demons," Ayato said matter-of-factly. I drew a little closer to him upon hearing that. "There aren't too many demons in the human world, at least, not many that like to have a little fun, cowards."
"It's still a fair amount..." I wondered, staring at a man who, while he laughed, displayed a large set of pointed canines.
"Some are other demons come to spectate, but most are idiot humans coaxed into becoming demon food or here on a stupid belief that they can become a demon if they hang around us enough."
"Oh," I murmured, shying away from a demon woman in a sports bra who grinned at me. Her eyes were slitted like a snake's. "I've never seen so many."
"Let's register."
"I thought we couldn't-"
"Oi, shut it."
He towed us past a line of people and straight up to a plastic table at which moderators and paper pushers sat.
A man with black hair and a bored expression looked up at us.
"You'll have to wait, sir-"
"I don't have to wait," Ayato said with a cocky grin while I shied slightly away. The man was clearly a demon – I could tell from his teeth the moment he cocked his lip in disgust at Ayato's self-assuredness. "I'm Sakamaki Ayato son of Karlheinz and I'm here to play basketball."
He reached out and ensnared me around the waist, "With my girlfriend."
Girlfriend... My heart thudded. Never mind that now. I don't like the way that man's looking at me.
"She's human, she can't compete."
"She's enhanced," Ayato said with a wave of the hand. "And trained; a demon hunter. She's faster and stronger than most of these b*stards."
"Er, Ayato-" Prickly stares stuck my back and I clench my fists to steady their shaking, "You can't just say stuff like that."
"You'll enter us," Ayato insisted and the man shrugged.
"Demon hunter?" A woman with sky blue hair and brown eyes stalked up to us, her eyes narrowed. "And why the f*ck would you bring someone like that here?"
"Don't question me," Ayato snarled in the woman's face swatting her wrist away from grabbing at my elbow, "If you do, I'll send her on you."
Ayato looked at me out of the corner of his eye. Every nerve in my body was buzzing with electric adrenaline, but it wasn't all fearful. Even with all these demons here, I was with Ayato, after all.
"It's his Birthday, I'm to do anything he asks of me," I said, tilting my chin up and gazing evenly into her eyes even though she was a head taller than me. "Even if he orders me to tear you limb from limb and consume your heart."
"Ah hah~" Ayato chuckled, letting his eyes slide back to the woman with a lethal intensity. She was glaring at me only, ignoring him. I continued to meet her gaze.
"Hunters are pathetic, miserable humans who don't stand a chance against demons," she told me firmly.
"I call your bluff," I said lightly. "You're an Aadora, therefore you answer to Aquarius which is descending in the night sky. You've been experiencing bad luck, spells of sickness, general weakness, yes? You shouldn't be too hard to take care of."
"There's nothing to those superstitions-"
"You immediately retracted your arm and held it gingerly when Ayato swatted at it. Did you have an accident while flying? Maybe you got into a turf skirmish? It hasn't seemed right since, has it?"
It was a guess, but one of the scenarios hit a nerve.
"Tch," she clicked her tongue and batted Ayato off with her less tender arm.
"That's what I thought."
"Pretty scary, Miyako," Ayato chuckled, putting a hand on my head and ruffling my hair. "I'd expect nothing less."
Our general vicinity had grown eerily quiet. In fact, when I looked around, I realized that only the humans around the court were talking. All of the demons had gone stiff and wary.
"Of course Ayato would do something like this," said a rather tall, blonde demon-man. "I'd expect nothing less from a Sakamaki."
"Enough of this," Ayato said, sounding rather bored and waving the man off. "I'm here to play basketball with my girl. That's all. C'mon, Miyako."
"Right," I murmured, still eyeing the Aadora woman.
We walked away into the crowd, Ayato towing me by the wrist to a spot in the stands. He set me roughly onto the seating by pushing at my shoulders. He doesn't seem aggressive even though I rubbed at my bottom where I'd hit the seat rather hard. Perhaps it was excitement making him more forceful...
"Wait here, I'm going to get some takoyaki."
"Man, this is why I never come to demon gatherings," someone muttered behind me.
"But you are a demon," I said aloud, eyeing the Vibora man out of the corner of my eye.
"Well, emotions run high and there's always something unexpected that happens."
I blinked, studying the man out of the corner of my eye. He seemed calm, well-mannered and sat beside two women; a strawberry blonde and a younger looking girl with the same hair. It was calm demons that were the most cunning and lethal. However, Father and other vampire hunters with similar attitudes also had an air of sadistic disdain and self-righteousness. This guy didn't have either of those auras.
"So you're a demon hunter?" the man inquired.
"Yeah," I answered.
"You seem young though. Who were you trained by?"
"Seiji Komori," I answered, turning halfway toward him. A little conversation wouldn't hurt.
"You're one of Seiji's disciples then," he said, leaning away. The woman beside him, presumably his wife, tightened her grip on his arm and drew the younger girl in close.
"Er," I said, shaking my head. "I'm his daughter not-"
"We should go," the woman said.
"No, wait, I'm sorry," I mumbled, shaking my head. "I don't mean to intrude on your plans, let me explain."
The woman glared at me with accusatory pink eyes eyes, "I don't want to hear what you have to say. Seiji killed my mother – that man is insane and anyone taught by him-"
"He killed my mom too," I said softly, softening my body posture. "His carelessness got my twin sister murdered by First Bloods – I'm the first to say that I hate his guts. He may have taught me, but I'm not his disciple in any way. And in truth, I haven't killed for anything more than self-defense.
"Anyway, that's got nothing to do with anything anymore," I said looking out at the basketball court where demons and humans were chatting. "I've chosen what I want to do."
"You're in a relationship with a Sakamaki," the younger girl said. She looked to be about fifteen with her father's icy green eyes. "Is it true love?"
I smiled softly, feeling a warmth like the flickering of a candle alight in my eyes, "That's a long story."
"Who are you?"
"Miyako Komori, and you?"
"Yana Mizuki," she answered despite the squeeze she received from her mother.
"I'm Natsu and this is Shelia," the man said, gesturing to himself and his wife. "We're Yana's parents."
"Nice to meet you Yana, Natsu, Shelia," I said, extending my hand. She shook it in a friendly way and had a rather reassuring grip. Shelia ignored my hand, but Natsu took it. I turned all the way around on the bleacher I was sitting upon and sat criss cross facing them. "I'm eighteen so I still go to school, what about you, Yana?"
"Er, sixteen and no. I'm homeschooled – I wish I could go to school."
"Well there are some good programs that a school could provide, but my younger sister is about your age too and she's homeschooled," I told her fondly. "Her name is Rin."
"R-Rin? Rin Komori?"
"Yeah," I said, cocking my head uncertainly. "What's wrong?"
"Do you stay in contact with your sister?" Natsu asked his brow furrowed with suspicion once more.
"No, Father said he wouldn't let me stay in contact while I was out on mission. Since I defected, I haven't had any contact anyway. I do wish I could speak with Rin though. Father was always... demanding. He doesn't accept failure. I feel bad for leaving her with him."
"She... is she like you?"
"Yeah, I imagine so. She dislikes demons but she's not a killer; she doesn't have the stomach for it and struggles every time she has to do so. Her preference is the critical care sector of the demon hunting community. She sees a lot of innocent, unknowing people die at the hands of demons so she's rather callous about them regardless of her ability to complete a hunt."
"She came after me once," Yana said quietly.
"Really? What for?" I asked, furrowing my brow. "Rin doesn't hunt young demons if she can help it."
"I did attack a human girl... maybe Rin was in charge of her in the critical care sector or something and wanted revenge for her."
"Come to think of it, that makes sense," I murmured, leaning forward and propping my chin on the heel of my hand. "I remember that instance - it was a rather special friend of hers."
Yana nodded, taken aback.
"What a small world," I murmured staring in awe into Yana's face, wondering if Rin would remember her. Wow, the resident demon community on the human side must be rather small for this meeting to occur. I estimated that only about forty-six demons were here. "Well, I'm sorry – Rin was really upset about that. They were dating after all. She dropped out of public school after that, actually. She thought her girlfriend was targeted for dating a demon hunter. She took it really bad; thought it was her fault, poor kid."
"T-targeted? N-no, it was random..."
"Yana here was going through a rebellious phase," Natsu sighed, shaking his head.
"I'm glad the girl, Marlene, got better," Yana said gently. "I always thought about that."
"Yeah, sorry Rin went after you, she's rather hot-headed and stubborn. If it makes you feel any better, she probably wouldn't have been able to go through with it."
"No, I'd be really upset too," Yana said, shaking her head. "Rin was scary though... even if she wasn't going to..."
"Yeah, she and I were pitted against each other all the time. She sliced my shoulder open with her Kantana once. Even when treated with demon tonics, it still didn't function right for weeks."
"How is it that you and she didn't just run away?" Shelia demanded suddenly, her eyes flaming.
"We can't, if you know of Seiji then you'd know he's not human. He's able to use simple spells – he's had us marked, tracked, you name it. We're his livestock so to speak... I slipped away by a streak of luck, but I can't rely on that forever. My luck will end eventually."
I shook my head to shrug off the helplessness I felt edge into my tone.
"Oi, Miyako!"