Bleeding Hearts

AN: Disclaimer- I don’t own demon diary, etc, etc, etc.

Chapter Two:
Cutting Ties

Eclipse stood outside on the balcony attached to Raenef’s room. Not
surprisingly, it was much larger than his own smaller, though by far adequate
balcony. The comparison of balconies set the strange for nearly every difference
between Eclipse’s quarters, and those rooms belonging to Raenef.
His own quarters weren’t as extravagant as Raenef’s, but they were
lavish in their own rights. bed bed as massive enough to fit several people his
size with ease, and it was furnished with heavy brocade drapery, hung thickly
over the posts to create drapes and a large canopy. Such decorations weren’t
normally to his style, but the dark-haired demon was willing to admit that the
thick coverings were nice to be able to pull around his bed in the mornings,
since his window faced east. Eclipse had no problem getting up early, when
required of him, but as Raenef couldn’t function in the morning, Eclipse had no
desire to get up with the sun, and the curtains did allow him to continue
sleeping.
In comparison, Raenef’s curtains were soft and light. Then again,
Raenef’s windows faced West. Privately, Eclipse thought it wouldn’t have mattered
if Raenef’s windows faced east and he still had the curtains he had. The pale
haired boy could sleep through nearly anything, the dark-haired man had
discovered early on.
Various other pieces of furniture, like his desk, dresser, table, and
other such things, were designed with the same opulence as the bed. Made from
beautifully carved wood, stained a deep red, and carved with delicate designs,
they were beautiful, but rather too ostentatious for his own tastes.
The only things the demon was willing to admit to being fond of was the
balcony that overlooked the courtyard, and the ridiculously large bathtub. The
demon would kill himself before admitting to the fact publicly, but he liked
being able to soak in blazingly hot water, especially since Raenef had come
along. Being able to wallow in water that was practically scalding not only
soothed away the days aches, mainly caused from Raenef’s clumsiness and lack of
care, but the constant tension he seemed to have in his back and shoulders,
ever since he had brought Raenef back to the palace.
The demon stood on his balcony, watching as the sun sank low in the
horizon until it vanished behind a mountain, and the moon crested high in the sky,
reclaiming the sky for her domain. The bright stars twinkled above him.
Patience had always been something he had been good at.
The wind picked up as time edged onwards, and the temperature dropped
steadily. Still, Eclipse remained standing outside, observing. His long black
hair twisted and twined through the air as the wind tugged on it, writhing with
the strands in mid air.
Though he could sense the drop in temperature, Eclipse was not troubled
by it. Demons had more resistance to extremes of temperature than most evens,
or even clerics did. Beyond that, Eclipse had long since trained himself to
endure various climates and weather conditions.
Only to himself was Eclipse willing to admit that he would have much
rather gone inside where it was warmer and less irritating. That, of course, was
his dilemma. Going back inside would mean going back into Raenef’s room.
After Raenef had told Eclipse the whole story, it had not taken long for
the blond lord to dissolve into tears again. Oddly enough, they had been
silent ones. No harsh sobs had wracked his slender form, no cries. Only pale,
crystalline blue tears rolling down pale cheeks and dropping silently onto the
comforter below.
Eclipse had held him through his silent tears, and finally until the
blond boy had fallen asleep. It had taken hours. His arms and legs had been numb
by the time Raenef’s mind had been lulled into blessed unconsciousness once
more.
The worst part about it, even worse than seeing those soundless tears,
had been being able to pick up stray thoughts. Raenef’s mind had kept drifting
back to the night of his rape, reliving memories, thoughts, emotions... The
young blond’s shields around his mind were still raw from Eclipse’s forced
penetration, and the emotions were so intense the dark-haired demon hadn’t been
able to block them out entirely.
He still couldn’t believe something like that had happened to Raenef.
The blond teen had always come a crossed as being so innocent, so naive to the
real world. Raenef was so gentle, and kind. How, Eclipse wondered, could
someone experiance what Raenef had endured first hand, and still come out in the
end as Raenef had. Most would have been turned bitter, maniupulative, and
cruel by such an event. Yet Raenef had remained so kind that even when he had
become a demon lord, he still could barely stomach the thought of using magic lik
e the “death drill.” He hadn’t even been able to kill Erutis, the female
knight who had come with every intention of slaughtering him!
A soft, quiet mewl of pain came from the bedroom behind him. Eclipse
turned quickly, headng inside. He shut the door softly behind him so as not to
disturb his lord’s sleep any further than he already had.
Raenef was caught in the throes of a nightmare. Eclipse could catch
vague flashes of it. Asleep, Raenef’s mind was even more unaguarded then awake,
especially with his natural mental shields weak from Eclipse’s earlier assault
on them. In this state, the demon lord was projecting thoughts and images
clearly into Eclipse’s own head. He could block the brunt of it, but wisps still
escaped past his own fortified shields.
The blond was tossing and turning, tangling himself in his bedsheets.
The more he entrangled himself, the harder he thrashed and fought, murmuring
incomprehensible words.
Eclipse sat down beside his shuddering lord, and began to stroke the
tangled hair. Just as he had earlier, Raenef quieted quickly under the soothing
touch. He stopped squirming, and finally went still enough for Eclipse to
carefully untangle him from his blankets.
“Little master... I’m sorry for what I did... Now, more so then ever,
it is my job to protect you.” Eclipse couldn’t help but think that, lying in
the massive bed, swaddled in layers upon layers of blankets, the young blond
looked so very small and helpless. The demon found himself wondering, not for
the first time, how it was possible that such a small, innocent boy could be
a demon lord. How could anyone honestly expect him to be able to “wreak h
avoc, terrorize, torture, and terminate terribly?” For a
moment, as he watched the small demon lord sleep, Eclipse was filled with such an
intense surge of hatred, for anyone who could ever hurt someone so innocent
as Raenef was. Images of Genji and his gang, laughing at Raenef’s pain and
shame, came to him. Long-nailed fingers clenched into a fist as a wave of fury
sweept over him, and he remembered his words of promise. “I will kill them,”
he snarled, low in his throat.
Eclipse leaned over, hesitantly, placing a gentle kiss on Raenef’s
sweating forehead as he laid a heavy sleep spell. The demon nudged at the tightly
coiled mind mind as it slipped even deeper into unconciousness, checking its
progress. Finally Raenef’s mind slid deep enough forr him to feel comfortable,
and Eclipse stood.
So silently that he resembled a shadow more than any living, breathing
being, the demon left the room behind him for the stretching halls of the
palace.

*******

“Get up, Knight! Wake!” a voice snarled in her ear, jarring her from
her deep sleep, and from a lovely dream where she was just about to hack Eclipse
into several pieces. A tense frown overcame the slow smirk that had been
previously etched onto her features.
Erutis groaned, muttering something meant to be tantamount to “Fuck
you.” Then the young knight rolled over, pulling her blanket and pillow with her,
and wrapping them over her head in hopes of drowning out that damned voice.
The girl struggled to immerse herself in the pleasent image of that damned
proud face as she claimed her victory.
Eclipse scowled down at the form below him, crossing his arms over his
chest. Unlike Master Raenef, there was nothing cute or adorable about this
idiot that Raenef had taken on as his so called “Page.” Eclipse had never seen
the knight do anything useful. It was high time that Erutis did something to
pay for her staying here, alive.
The answer to his requestion, garbled as it was, came acrossed more than
clearly to the irrate demon’s superior ears. He glowered fiercely as the
comment registered in his thoughts.
With a sudden smirk, Eclipse waved his hand in the general direction of
the bedspread. Seconds later, a satisfying curl of orange-red flame appeared
on the corner of the blanket and began to make its way eagerly towards the
knight. The flame quickly began to eat at its new found fuel.
Tendrils of grey smoke began wafting up from the mound of sheets.
Eclipse stepped back, and waited.
It took a surprisng amount of time for the knight to react. She frowned,
poking her head out from her pillow, sniffing at the air with a curious,
dazed expression on her face. “Som’in...bur’ing,” she muttered absently before
dropping her head back onto the pillow. Quietly, she returned to snoring.
Eclipse’s smirk deepened into a flat-out smile of
triumph as he waited for the inevitable to occur.
The flame had reached the mound of blankets the knight was centered under.
“Who’s bur’ing som’tin?” the question came again, interrupting a
particularly vocal snore. There was a pause, another cautious sniff, and then a
statled scream. “I’M BURNING! FIRE!” With more energy then he had seen her
display yet, she sprang out of bed, falling flat on the floor as she took all
her blankets with her. Eclipse knew he would hold the image of the proud
knight, sprawled acrossed the floor as she writhed in a rather wormlike fashion,
dear to him for many years to come.
Shrieking as she struggled out of the burning cloth, the girl finally
managed to scramble away from the merrily burning blaze, crabwalking back into a
wall.
The knight sat there, gawking at the fire now consuming her bedclothes
for a good few minutes before she seemed to notice him in the light of the
blaze. “YOU!” she shrieked, springing to her feet. “You did that!” she
exclaimed, pointing at the pile of ashes and flames. A bare foot stomped imperiously
on the hard stone floor of the room.
“Yes, I did,” Eclipse agreed calmly, staring at her. Daring her to
continue to question him.
The knight paused, took another look at the dangerously pleasant face of
the frightening demon. Unbidden, images and stories, came to Erutis. Tales
of the Hangma War, an a d a demon named Eclipse who was ruthless, and
bloodthirsty. “Oh,” she offered, suddenly suspiciously demure. “Well, just
checking,” Erutis said, with a sharp, forced laugh.
Eclipse glared at her, his hands twitching. He’d been half hoping
that the young knight would continue on her train of thought and give him an
excuse to get rid of her as he’d been aching to do since the moment he’d
returned from his meeting and found her at the palace. Unlike Raenef, he did
not possess a gift for forgiveness. He still held a deep grudge for how she
had managed to slip past the defenses he had left about the palace, and for
the fact that she had nearly killed his master. Instead of following his
instincts, he forced himself to take in a deep breath to calm himself, and folded
his arms over his chest. “I have to go away for a short time.”
Erutis raised an eyebrow, frowning at him. “And that’s supposed to
mean...?” “I want you to watch over him. Protect him.” Eclipse glared at
her, “Make sure some knight doesn’t come wandering in and hurt him.” The look
he gave her said all it needed to. His sharply clawed fingers, Erutis couldn’t
help noticing, twitched menacingly/ “Hey! I resent that!”
she protested, hands on her hips, foot tapping against the floor. “I’m a
Knight, and I thought a demon lord was going to be here!”
Eclipse frowned at her. “A demon lord was here. Is here.”
“Well, yeah... I mean a real demon lord, though. I mean, seriously, you and I
both know it. Raenef’s no demon lord. Not a real one, anyway. He’s too nice.
I still think you need to find a new one.” The knight gave a careless shrug,
before quailing at the dark expression rapidly overtaking Eclipse’s face.

The demon’s eyes narrowed at the barb to his teaching skills. Even if it
was, some annoying voice deep within him spoke up, true. “Raenef is the
demon lord, and no other shall take his place!” he snapped. “However, your
observations are why I’m here. I need someone I know will help him, while I’m
gone, if it becoems necessary. I don’t wish to leave him open to attack, as I
did the last time.” He directed a pointed look her way. “Some will not be as
noble as you are, choosing to destroy him for his leinency instead of simply
accepting it for what it was and attempting to escape. You have formed a
friendship with him. I trust you to aid him, if the time came.” Eclipse sighed,
took a deep breath, and whispered a word. “Please?”
Erutis frowned. As much as she hated to admit it, she’d gotten to know
Raenef through the month’s she’d been trapped here, and she liked him. He was
too sweet for her to look at him as a demon lord. He just wasn’t. Despite
all her training, all her hatred for demon lord’s, she could not hate Raenef.
Even more so, she knew that she was perfectly willing to do as Eclipse asked.
The idea of anyone wanting to hurt such a pathetic little kid made her angry.

God. Listen to me. I want nothing more than to help a demon lord.
Erutis sighed. “Yeah. Sure. Why not. I’ve been getting bored anyway.” The
female knight shrugged, watching Eclipse closely. Sure enough, a quick look of
relief spread over his features. It was shuttered almost instantaneously, but
it was definitely there. I was right. Eclipse definitely feels way more for
Raenef then any teacher should for his student. Although considering it’s
Raenef we’re talking about, it’s not surprising. That kid can make anyone feel
sorry for him.
“Very good, then,” Eclipse said. “I won’t be gone very long.” The
demon turned to leave when he was stopped by Erutis’ curious question.
Erutis frowned. “Where are you going, then?”
“Somewhere. It doesn’t matter.” The demon vanished quickly, the
darkness encompassing him easily. “Eclipse,
you have got it so bad,” Erutis laughed. The young knight looked at the pile
of ashes left on the ground, all that remained of her blankets, then at her
burnt bed, and sighed. “Damn. Well this is great. Where the hell do I
sleep?” the young knight grumbled in annoyance. kicking at the ashes.

The kick only served to scatter them, and uncover the still smoldering
embers. Howling, and hoping around clutching her foot, Erutis cursed Eclipse to
the depths of hell.

*********************

“Gooooooooodmooooooorning!” Erutis trilled in Raenef’s ear in an effort to wake the sleeping demon
lord. Raenef didn’t even flinch, merely
continued sleeping peacefully. Well, as peacefully as he could, Erutis
mused, taking another glance at the position the demon lord lay in. His arms and
legs were sprawled carelessly. It looked painful, the young knight though.
The blankets had all bunched up, wrapping around his waist and halfway around
one of his arms and face, so that only a few wild strands of blonde hair managed
to escape. The demon lord’s bed looked as though a tornado had
passed over it. Erutis couldn’t help but wonder what on earth the kid had been
doing during the night, to make his bed look so completely messed up.

Erutis sighed in annoyance at the problem presented to her. She knew,
from overhearing Eclipse shouting at Raenef in rebuke for being late again, and
Raenef in turn protesting that it wasn’t his fault he was a really deep
sleeper, that the boy could sleep through just about anything.
“Wakey, wakey,” Erutis crooned, poking at the sleeping boy.
Not even a hint of reaction. The knight’s face scrunched up into a frown.
“Grrr...get up you lazy oaf!” the knight glowered. Erutis shook the slender
shoulders that peaked through the blankets. Raenef grunted, and
rolled over, succeeding in breaking her hold on him. “Ok, that’s it then!” The
girl fastened her hands on the blankets knotted tightly around Raenef’s small
form, and pulled with all her might. The blankets came free easily. Raenef,
wrapped up in the bedclothes as he was, came along with them. With a loud
thump, Raenef landed on the hard floor.
Emerald eyes shot wide open, and a startled sound escaped from the
young boy. “Hey!” Raenef protested at awaking to find himself on the floor. A
chuckle startled him, and he looked up to find Erutis snickering at him.
“Sorry,” the knight laughed. Raenef looked so very
confused at being on the floor, she couldn’t help her amusement. Really, it
was just too funny. “You wouldn’t wake up, so I kinda...well...pulled you out
of bed, I guess.” “That wasn’t very nice,” Raenef
pouted, as he began to try and untangle himself from the blankets. It was
rather difficult. He was wrapped in them tightly and they didn’t want to let go.
Despite his valient struggle, it quickly became apparent he was fighting a
loosing battle. Erutis watched
his slow progress with a raised eyebrow. “Geez, kid, what were you doing last
night to get yourself so tangled up?” the young knight asked curiously.
Raenef blinked emerald eyes as he stared down at the blankets. The demon
lord didn’t look at Erutis, as vague memories of his dreams assauged him
suddenly. Dreams? he thought, disgusted, More like nightmares.
Raenef shook his head in answer to Erutis’s question. “I don’t
really remember. Probably some stupid dream,” he breathed.
“Whatever,” she said with a careless shrug. “I’m going, so you can get
dressed or do whatever it is you do.” The young knight bounced out of the
room Raenef sighed, hauling himself free of the last of the
stubborn blankets, kicking at them to get the cloth to relinquish him entirely.
Erutis’s innocent question, “What were you doing last night to get yourself
so tangled up...? and his false answer. The young demon lord shivered,
suddenly feeling cold, and wrapped his arms around himself. He felt
dirty. Unclean. Used. He always did, after remembering what Genji and the
others had done. He couldn’t help but feel so. Shudders rippled acrossed his
form uncontrollably and the young demon fled to the bathroom.
Raenef yanked the hot water handle on the tub so hard he heard the caulking
around it crack. Hot water surged forth from the faucet, steam billowing out
into the bathroom. Within moments, Raenef could feel his shirt clinging to his
damp skin. The hot dampness in the air tamed even his wild hair, the strands
sticking to his flesh.
Raenef yanked at his shirt, wanting to get it off, wanting to immerse
himself in that boiling hot water, wanting to feel clean again, even though he
knew fro experiance it wouldn’t help. The humidity had made the fabric swell
around them buttons, and his fingers were shaking too hard to be of much use
anyway. The boy yanked at the shirt, eventually ripping off the buttons in his
haste to get the cumbersome piece of clothing off. He all but threw
himself into the bathrub. The water was hot. So very, very hot. He could
almost feel his flesh burning as it made contact with the liquid. Oddly enough,
he felt a sort of masochistic relief at the pain surging through his nerve
endings. It made him feel cleansed, and the pain helped him keep his tenuous
hold on the real world, not allowing him to slip back into the painful memories.

He let the bathtub fill completely, up to his chin, before he turned off
the hot water. Mechanically, he reached for the soap, beginning to clean his
body thoroughly in a desperate yet futile attempt to purge the remembered
filth from himself. He scrubbed at his pale flesh until it was raw and, in some
places, bleeding from his intense effort. Part of him regretted the harshness,
as the hot water burned the open wounds, but more of him felt it was
completely necessary.
Raenef began to sob, brokenly. “God, I’m acting like such a baby. And
in front of Eclipse, to. He already thinks I’m a weak fool, and this is just
going to reinforce that.” What was worse, was that now, with those awful,
horrible memories brought to the front of his mind once again, the thought of any
sort of intimacy made him feel naseous. Even the idea of looking at Eclipse,
in any way toher than as his teacher, made Raenef want to lunge for the
nearest toilet, and empty his stomach.
Raenef wasn’t even sure he could force himself to go to his lessons
today. He didn’t want to go and to have to sit while Eclipse talked about Wars aBattBattles and violence and death, and about how he was expected to not only
play a role in such things, but to be the instigator. How could he, when he had
been on the other end up such horrible things. Not to mention, having to sit
under Eclipse’s watchful, penetrating gaze, knowing that the older demon knew
precisely what Raenef was thinking about. He didn’t think that he could bear
the scrutiny of that dark, fathomless gaze, that gaze that now knew his
greatest moment of weakness.
Eclipse was constantly berating him for his inability to do as a proper
demon lord should. Raenef had tried to force himself to “wreak havoc,
terrorize, torture, and terminate terribly” but the young demon simply couldn’t. It
wasn’t in him to cause that sort of violence. Even when he had been with the
guild, Raenef had had no desire for power. Now, for Eclipse to not only kow
that his student was an ultimate failure in terms of all demon lords, but for
Eclipse to have seen what Genji and the others had done...
Now Eclipse’s beliefs that Raenef was a weakling were only supported. Poor
Eclipse, Raenef though miserably. The great Eclipse, 3rd ranking, the perfect
demon, chosen by the gods themselves to teach the new demon lord...and who does
he get? Me. The demon lord who couldn’t even kill the knight who was trying
to kill him. Even Erutis thinks Eclipse needs to get a new demo lord. The
only reason Eclipse hasn’t abondoned me yet is because I’m the only one... He
can’t get another. Raenef splashed angrily at the water.
“It’s not fair!” the young boy shouted. “It’s not...fair,” Raenef
repeated, miserably. He sighed, and reached for one of the scattered bottles of
shampoo. The one that smelled like rasberries. Eclipse had commented, once,
while he was teaching, that he liked that smell. Raenef hadn’t touched a
different shampoo since that day. Automatically, he began to wash his hair,
scrubbing at the blonde locks until they were slippery, and submerged his whole body
into the deep bathtub. The conditioner, one that also smelled like rasberries,
came next. The young demon lord emerged from his second
dunking with his hair hanging like a curtain in front of his face. Gasping in
water, he hurriedly tossed it back, wincing at the thuds the water droplets
made as they hit the wall. He’d have to wipe up the mess later, something he
hated doing. Raenef stared at a strand
of pale hair, stroking it and twisting it in his hands absent-mindedly.
After Genji, he’d shorn it all off. The boy couldn’t stand the wild tumble of
hair. Several times during the...incident-Raenef struggled to call it “rape,”
somehow that only seemed to make it rea real- they had commented on his
hair, burying their faces in it, laughing at how it made him more “feminine,” and
a better screw... Feeling slgihtly sick and unable to stop
the sudden surge of memories, Raenef recalled every moment someone had buried
their face in his hair, stroked it, touched it, commented on it... Shivering,
Raenef forced himself from the repulsive thought, continuing to fumble with
the pale strands. It had been cut so short, in places there were bald spots
peaking through. He hadn’t been particularly careful where or how he was
cutting, just knowing he wanted it off.
It had taken years to grow back, and even now it wasn’t as long as it had
been. By the time it had grown long enough for him to notice, he’d had
enough time to begin to put everything behind him, and he’d missed his hair. Even
if it did make him look like a porcupine, and had some bad memories with it.

The young demon rinsed his hair again and abondoned the water, which was
starting to cool anyway. He still didn’t feel clean, but he didn’t want to
wait for the water to drain, and refill it again. Not to mention, he thought,
glancing at his hands, that he was beginning to prune rather badly.
He hefted himself out of the tub after yanking at the plug, and pulled a
fluffly towel off the rack. Oddly enough, there were always towels waiting
for him. Idn’tdn’t matter how many he used in a day, nor that he had never
replaced them. BUt they were always there when he got out of the bathtub. When
he’d asked Eclipse about it, and other such occurences, the demon had said
something about servents. When Raenef hn tun turn, asked the demon why he had
never seen them, Eclipse had gone off into an achingly long spiel about spells
and incantations and such. Raenef, his head spinning after the talk, hadn’t
bothered asking again.
Raenef pressed the white towel to his nose, smelling deeply. He liked
the way they always smelled. Clean, and fresh, and just washed. Not to mention
how soft and huge they were. A single towel covered his whole body, from
shoulders to knees, without any problems, and would probably wrap around him
three times if he tried. Admittedly, he had once, attempted, to see how many
times he could encircle himself with in it, and subsequently, had not only nearly
broken his leg, the faucet on the bathtub, and half of the bottles around the b
athroom, but had been entangled in it for three hours before, horror of all
horrors, Eclipse had come to see what was delaying his master for s long, and
freed Reanef in seconds.
He hadn’t been able to look at the handsome demon in tye fye for several
days.
Raenef sighed, and headed into his bedroom. The majority of his clothes
were scattered acrossed the floor. Interesting, since the servents seemed to
be able to replae towels, ensure soap and other body washes never ran out, and
other such things, but never ever picked up his clothes, or the mess of water
he tended to leave lying in puddles acrossed the bathroom floor. Raenef had
a sneaking suspicion, that, after learning of his lord’s predispotion to not
pick up his clothes, had commanded the servents not to do so, either. Only, it
seemed, when said clothes had been scooped up off the floor, and placed in a
neat, orderly pile by the door, would they ever seem to vanish, and
mysteriously return, perfectly clean and smelling of soap.
Raenef hadn’t gotten dangerously low enough on clothes to force himself
to clean them up, just yet. In fact, he still had several outfits that he had
only worn a day or two, and even, he was fairly sure, one that hadn’t been
worn yet.
Kicking various items of clothing out of his path, the demon lord stopped
in front of his dresser, pulling the door open. There was a lump of clothes
at the bottom. At one time, when he had first arrived, in fact, he had opened
the wardrobe door to fine a neat line of beautiful clothes. It hadn’t even
been three hours befohey hey had all ended up on the floor, in various stages
of disarray. He’d never bothered to hang any of them back up again Why
bother, was Raenef’s logic, when you’re simply going to be taking them off to wear
anyway, and then tossing them on the floor. It aved a few steps, afterall,
right? He picked a shirt and set of pants that seemed to match well enough, and
pulled them on over his body.
The fabric clung to his skin in the way only dry clothes can stick to
skin still damp from a shower. It took a rather impressive series of contorsions
to pull the clothes on. By the time he was fully dressed, Raenef was panting
from exertion, and felt like he was sweating enough to need another shower.
Not to mention his hair, which was already frizzy from the shower, was
sticking up at random places, making him resemble a giant walking cottonball.
It took him another 20 minutes of wrestling with his hair brush to get it as
flat as it was going to go, and even then it was only after a handful of
conditioner. Raesighsighed, tugging on a wayward strand of hair in annoyance, before
shoving it all into a ponytail. Raenef paced, buying as much time as
he thought he could. He wandered aimlessly back and forth acrossed his room
for the next fifteen minutes, as much time as he felt he could legitemately
give himself. Besides, as embaressing as it was going to be to have to face
Eclipse, it would be even more embarassing for the older demon to have to come
looking for him. Raenef wanted, at the
very leato bto be able to face Eclipse on his own terms, to be able to decide
when and where their meeting would take place. It would give him a sense of
control, something he needed desperately after what had happened yesterday.
Raenef wandered down the halls, going slower then he usually would have.
Normally, he would have flung himself in a head long rush down the corridors
in hopes of managing to make it class on time, and subsequentally, avoid the
lecture Eclipse always had ready for him for whever he was late.

By the time he reached the library, it was far later then it should have
been. In fact, Raenef was slightly surprised that Eclipse hadn’t come to find
him and drag him to the study. Then again, Eclipse might be aware that
Raenef needed some time by himself. The demon had a startling ability to be very
perceptive of Raenef’s feelings, when he wished.
Hesitantly, the young demon lord prodded the door to the
study open, wary emerald eyes searching out the large room. He half expected
Eclipse to leap at him, snarling about being on time and such. Instantly, his
nose was assailed with the familar, cmforting smell of musty old books, and dusty
paper. He liked this room. Of all the rooms in the palace, this was
probably his favorite. He didn’t mind being trapped within its walls for the
countless s Ecs Eclipse demanded of him. Raenef frowned
slightly as his search came up empty. He opened the door fully, letting the
heavy wood swing open wide, and winced when it crashed into the wall. Oops. The
demon lord stepped forward, turning his head to scan the previously hidden
parts of the room. Eclipse
wasn’t here. Odd. Very, very, odd, in
fact, Raenef thought. In all the months Eclipse had been tutoring the demon lord
to be, the older demon had never once been late. On the contrary, Eclipse
was usually ridiculously early. More than once, Raenef had come to a morning
lesson to find his tutor hovering over an open book, wearing the same clothes as
he had been yesterday. Eclipse was never, ever late. It would be beneath
him. Frowning at the break in a pattern he had grown accustomed
to, Raenef left the study in search of his dark-haired tutor.
Could...could he have slept in? I...suppose it’s possible,
even if unlikely. He was up with me late last night. The demon lord paused
outside the door of the library, hesitated a bare instant, and turned left. The
direction in which Eclipse’s room lay.
It occured to him, as hist tet tentatively traced out the path from
memory, that he had only been to Eclipse’s rooms once since Eclipse had brought him
to the palace to begin training as the next demon lord. That single time had
been on the very first day at the castle, when Eclipse had taken him on a
tour of the grounds that would become his home for however long he lived, a tour
that had lasted hours.
He came to an intersection of three hallways, including the one he was
on. Pausing, he thought back to that tour so long ago. Right, I think. Yes,
it has to be right. The blond boy turned in that direction, his each and every
footstep echoing in the corridor. Two more rights, and a left later, Raenef
stood in front of a single door, the only one in the small hallway that
branched off from the one he had just left. Vague words, scrawled in a language too
ancient for him to understand, were written in the heavy wood. Yes, this was
right. This he remembered.
Raenef raised a cautious hand, and, after a slight pause, knocked gently.
The rapping of his knuckles was so quiet, even Raenef himself was barely
able to hear them. Well, that’s not going to do you any good. Harder. Don’t be
so stupid. He knocked again. This time, his knuckles made a satisfyingly
loud bang, one that echoed down the halls, against the thick wood. Raenef
winced, drawing hchinching hand back, and sucking absently on the flushed and
stinging skin. Maybe too hard, that time, he mused as he waited. After
what he deemed to be a satisfactory amount of time ticked by, Raenef clutched at
the handle of the door reluctantly. The demon lord knew that his own quarters
had powerful spells woven in them. The magic bound in the walls of his rooms
would react advertantly to anyone who attempted to access them who was not
specifically keyed into the spells. He was fairly sure that as the demon lord,
he would be allowed access to any room, but then again, Eclipse being Eclipse,
could very well have attempted to ensure Raenef never gain access to his
quarters without permission. Raenef couldn’t help but breathe
a small sigh of relief when, as his slander fingers wrappped around the cool
metal of the door knob, nothing happened. He gave it a cautious tug.
Surprisingly, the door opened with little resistance, aside from the quiet groan of
old metal in need of some oiling.
Raenef stopped, simply standing there in the doorway, staring into the
dim room, indecisively. To step past the boundary of the threshold, was to
willingly enter a place he wasn’t entirely sure he wanted to. He was here, after
all, without Eclipse’s permission. It was quite possible that his tutor was
still sleeping, or doing...who knew what else. Raenef was vaguely
startled, and horribly embarrassed, at the flush that sprang unbidden to pale
cheeks. A flush that wasn’t entirely from being flustered at what those
“other things” might entail.
“Eclipse?” the demon lord called cautiously into the darkness. “Eclipse?” he repeated
when there was no forthcoming answer. Raenef simply
stood there, nervously shifting his weight from side to side, his hand still
cupping the metal knob. Well, he’s obviously not here. I should go. He
reamined, staring into the room. Well, let’s go then...why am I not moving? The
temptation was so irresistable.
No! No, no, no, no, no! Bad, bad idea! But even as he screamed at
himself, his feet were already moving, already stepping past that threshold that
signalled the point of no return. Once he got past that, it was suddenly much
easier to ignore that part of his brain shrieking at him that this was very,
very wrong.
It took several moments for his eyes to become accustomed to the dim
lighting. There was a large window off to one side, but heavy drapes hung in
front of it, blocking out almost all sunlight. The fact that it was a cloudly day
certainly didn’t help much either, Raenef thought.
As his eyes slwoly adjusted, the young demon lord began to be able to
pick up vague outlines, which slowly solidifed into roughly defiend shapes, and,
finally, into detailed furniture.
Eclipse’s room was, somehow, just how he had pictured it in his mind. It
was dark, not becaus of the lack of light, but because of the room itself.
The walls, he could tell, were painted osme sort of color that couldn’t
quite be called light, yet, at the same time, couldn’t be called dark. the the the heavy drapery, hung around the room, however, that really made the room
feel gloomy.
Emerald eyes scanned over pieces of furntiure. A wardrobe, desk, table,
a few chairs, and a massive four poster canopy, vaguely similar to his own bed
back in his room, though a more massive, and darker version.
All of the furniture was made of darker wood. Even in the dim light, he
could tell that, in proper light it would be a very deep, rich color.
Mahogony? his mind supplied tentatively. That was the only type of wood he was
familiar with that was dark.
Overall, the room was smaller than his own, though, really, Raenef
thought, that was to be expected. Demons were so very concious of their wealth an
power, and were all the more greedy for it. Raenef was quite certain that the
architects who had built this palace, hadn’t dared design a room as grand as
the one he resided in curently. Even so, if one such room had existed, the
young boy was quite certain Eclipse would have refused such a thing upon
principle. Eclipse was extremely touchy about the whole “I am your servant,a nd
therefore, beneath you, my lord.” Of course, inevitably such a conversation led to
Eclipse sulking about the rest of the afternoon, and being particularly
unbearable in face of any errors on Raenef’s part, while the demon muttered about
Raenef’s embarrassing debut to the demon circle.
Somehow or another, the entire room managed to tie together. One ight
thik that the heav furniture and drapery, along with the dark coloring would
create a heav and unpleasant feeling. Somehow, it instead came off as rich and
elegant, and muc much Eclipse. The room was so very ideal for his tutor.
Dark, foreboading, impressive, yet elegant, graceful...
Raenef tore his mind away from that road of thought, and took several
steps futher into the room. He was brought close enough to the desk to be able
to trail his hands over its polished surface. Unlike the one present in his
own room, this one was neat and well organized.
Papers were stacked meticulously and, most likely, sorted into seperate
piles bsed on some certain classification method known exclusively to Eclipse.
His dark-haired tutor was funny that way. He was neat and precise to a pin,
but sometimes, the way he went about being neat and organized was a very odd
one indeed.
The pends lay in neat order, arranged from largest to smallest in
descending order. They were all turned so their clips, if they had them, were on
top, and the tips of the pens were lined up perfectly. Raenef picked one up. It
was fat, and a pretty silvery r thr that shimmered and reflected the light in
a multidude of colors, when it was twisted just so. Promptly, the entire
stack of pens rolled to fill then spn space, and their momentum slammed into the
front few hard enough to send them all tumbling over the edge of the table and
scattering acrossed the stone floor.
“No!” Raenef wailed, hastily jamming his newly acquired pen into his
pocket relfexively. “No!” the demon lord moaned, taking in the pens rolling
around on the ground. The demon lord sank to his hands and knees to begin the
task of recovering all the pens. He crawled around he fhe floor until his knees
and palms aches, and dust and grim from under the bed was collecting in his
hair. It took hi a frustratingly long amount of time to organize the pens in
descending order of sizes, each with their tip lined up perfectly with the
rest. Then, just as he’d placed the last one down, he realized that several of
the pens with clips hadn’t been turned upright, and he had to go back and redo
the entire line simply to fix them.
“How does he do it?” the blond demon lord asked in amazement. 10
minutes of organizing a buncho f pens and he was already grating his teeth in
agitation.
The demon lord took his time wandering aimlessly through the room. Just
like the desk, everything else was meticulously ordered. Even Eclipse’s
rather large library was in alphabetical order. Not only that, but it was divided
up into subcategories which were alphabetized as well, categories like;
Battles and Wars, Magical Theory, Practical Magic, Fighting Techniques... The list
went on and on. Raenef trailed a finger over the spines, gently. “I wo
if
if he’s really read all of these,” the young demon mused absetnyl. If Eclipse
had, that would be very impressive indeed.
Raenef didn’t like reading. He had never learned, properly, so it was a
struggle for him, even now. Not to mention how embarassing it was to have to
sit down in front of such a regal man like Eclipse only to stutter his way
through the very first sentence in the book Eclipse had given him. Eclipse had
taught him, slowly, how ead ead and write, be ste still struggled.
Eclipse’s entire room was as orderly as his damn pens and his damn
library. It made Raenef shudder. The demon lord had to restrain himeslf from
marching around and messing things up. It just wasn’t normal, he thought. To have
everything so completely tidy. It didn’t look lived in.
Raenef realzed abruptly as he stood in he middle of the room that he had
explored the entire room, a proces which had taken at least an hour, if not
more. The knowledge that, not only had he wasted a significant amount of time,
but that he still had not found Eclipse, and even worse, that Eclipse could
very well walk in on Raenf poking aorund in his private quarters, made Raenef
flee hurriedly, only stopping long enough to shut the door behind him.
Raenef tiptoed down the halls as fat and quietly as he could. Guilt made
him nervous, and every sound made him jump. He half expected Eclipse to
appear befor ehim, demanding to know what the hell Raenef had been doing in his
quarters. He was half thankful, half not, that the older demon didn’t show up. Ad Admittedly, when Erutis suddenly popped up in front of him, he nearly had
a heart attack.
“Heeeeelllllooooo!” the knight shouted cheerfully. “Where have you
been?” she demanded accusingly.
Interestingly enough, the two had become fast friends after Erutis had
first become his “page.” Raenef was quick to forgive and held no grudges
againt he girl. Erutis, though stilla knight, couldn’t find it in her heart to try
and fight sucha clueless demon lord. In fact, she had almots begun to look
at him as though he were a younger brother.
Raenef shuddered, drawing in a deep breath. His hands lay over
his pounding heart, interlinked. The young demon sighed in relief as he
realized that it was only Erutis, not, as he had feared, Eclipse. “Oh, well, I’ve
been looking for Eclipse. I can’t seem to find him anywhere. We were supposed
to have a lesson today, but he wasn’t in the study. Have you seen him?” he
asked plaintively. Erutis blinked. “You don’t know?
Well, he came to me last night. he said he had to go away for awhile, wouldn’t
tell me where or for how long!” the knight decalred, obviously miffed. “He
was rude, too!” she declared, hands on her hips. “Wok up up in the middle
of the night, burned me blankets...” Erutis trailed off, mid rant, at the
distressed look on Raenef’s face. Uh oh. Bad move, Erutis. The kid definitely
didn’t know about Eclipse’s little excursion. What the hell happened between
those two?! Hastily, the knight tried to calm his fears, “But, hntednted me to
make sure that you were safe. That was why he came to me. He asked me to
protect you.” Poor idiot, she thought affectionately.
Left? He...left...me? He...promised he wouldn’t leave.
But...but now he has. And he had to ask Erutis to protect me. That’s how
incompetant he thinks I am. He asked the knight who I defeated, admittedly, mostly
by chance, to protect me while he left...I’m such a stupid fool, and now he’s
left because of it! Raenef’s thoughts flowed ina vicious, unforgiving
circle, within the demon lord’s mind. WHen he finally managed to draw hismelf
from them, he realized Erutis was watching him expectantly. Raenef forced
himself to pull his thoughts together. He would not break. Not here, not now,
not like this. Still, when he spoke, his voice quavered noticeably. He could
tell by the cursory glacne she gave him, and the way the frown she was wearing
deepend ever so slightly, that she had noticed. “Oh, well. Thathenthen!”
Raenef forced a laugh in hopes of fooling Erutis into thinking he was fine.
Even as he did so, he knew it wouldn’t work. THe laugh was forced, obviously
so, and it was a broken, hollow sound. Erutis’ frown darkened to a scowl.
“Tha’s good,t hen! No classes for a few days! NO getting up early! No having
to listen to boring stories!” The words came from his lips, pourinast ast and
furious. To not hear his voice, for days...to not see him... “Well, I’m
going to go back to sleep, then! bye!” He darted backwards, waving
frantically, and disappeared with a shouted, “GO!” before the ht cht could question him.

********
Erutis stared at the empty spot where Raenef had stood only moments before he
had vanished with a trembling, “GO!” That tremble told her all she
needed to know. The young knight put a finger to her lips, thoughtfully,
recalling the deeply hurt look in Raenef’s huge, emerald eyes.
Eclipse definitely had forgotten, or perhaps purposely left off, that
he was leaving. Raenef, of course, was upset by that, if she didn’t miss her
guess. It was obvious that the boy had a massive crush on the elder demon,
he practically worshipped the ground that Eclipse walked on. Though, Erutis
couldn’t help but think, the young demon lord certainly couldn’t have done much
better. It certainly made sense, though, that Raenef would be hurt that
Eclipse hadn’t seen a need to tell him anything.
There is something fishy going on here, Erutis thought.
Eclipse was a stereotypical, death, destruction, and mayhem, by the book, demon.
That he had not told his demon lord, his superior, what as das doing, meant
either of two options. One: Raenef had worn the demon down to the more
relazed, friendly relationship it was so obvious Raenef desires between the
two. Which was, of course, doubtful. Not that she was sure Raenef couldn’t get
Eclipse to loosen up. Quite the contrary, in fact. If anyone would ever get
Eclipse to pull that tree out of his ass, it would be Raenef. It was just that
Erutis though was was going to take Raenef quite a bit longer than the few
months he’d had. Two: The more likely of the
options, something had happened between the two. Eclispe had looked
rather...well, he ws too hard to read, but he had looked rather something. A mix of
annoyed, sadness, irritation, regret, maybe? She couldn’t be sure, but there had
been a definite something in those unfathomable eyes. Now, with
Raenef’s reaction...well, Erutis was beginning to smell a rat. I suppose, the
young knight thought, that it all depends on where Eclipse ran off to.
Something happened between those two... Raenef...he was more upset then he should
have been, even with Eclipses’ having run off. I need to find out from Raenef
what exactly happened between them, because soething must have! Raenef’s acting
too strange. Not to mention Eclipses’ little thing last night. ’re ’re
both hiding something, and I’m going to find out what it is.
Erutis still wasn’t particularly fond of Eclipse. He made her nervous.
Neither of them had quite gotten over their first few meetings. She herself
had never been fond of the demon, and Eclipse had always hated the fact that
she was living testament to his student’s weaknesses. The young knight had a
feeling though, not that Eclipse would ever admit to it, of course, that the
demon had slowly been coming to grasp that, though Raenef might not ever be the
best demon lord, Raenef was Eclipse’s demon lord.
So, despite the fact that she didn’t like Eclipse all
that much, she loved Raenef, and often times felt towards him what she would
expect to feel towards a younger brother. A desire to protect, to help, to aid.
For that reason, she wanted to see Raenef happy, and if that meant nudging a
few pieces here, and hammering away at some things there, in order to get the
demon lord and the demon together, then by all means, she was prepared to do
it! Erutis grinned, suddenly. She
had seen Chris, on her way to find Raenef. If she was going to attempt some
mathcmaking, she was going to need some help. Despite the fact that Chris was
not overly fond of either Eclipse, or Raenef, he did enjoy her company, and he
would be willing to do as she asked, espcially with the threat to beat him into
submission if necessary. Grinning, the young knight ran off in search of the
head cleric.

AN- Do I have any clue where I’m going with this story?
Nope, not a damn, fucking one. On the bright side, this chapter is finished,
and, if you’re reading it, out! Yay, go me! Especially since my computer(s)
are still not fixed, and it’s a nightmare to have to switch to a different
machine every time I want to use the theasauras, or the dictionary, or the
spellcheck, or to even type. I’m serious, every time I wanna use some different
application, I pretty much have to switch computers *sighs* It sucks, royally.
Hmmm...anyway, just so you’re forewarned, I’m leaving on a
vacation pretty soon, down to Florida. I’ll be gone for a few weeks, so it’s
gonna be awhile before I can update again. Especially since AnimeIowa’s coming
up, and I don’t have any part of my costume done...urgh.
You know what else I’ve suddenly realized? I do not like dialogue. In
fact, I loathe it. Of this entire story, I’d estimate that there’s probably
only about one page of dialogue... Oh, well. Oh, and another discrepancy I’ve
realized, is my sometimes, sometimes not italisizing of thoughts. I blame my
computer, and the subsequent transferring to various other computers, and
then the internet. Everything is so messed up. I apologize for the wait, I had this chapter updated everywhere else but here. When I first tried to update it, it kept trying to replace the first chapter...

Thanks bunches for the reviews!!!