Chapter 5- Snake Mother.

I walked along the road with Akashi, heading towards Rakuzan on a dull morning. The weather was completely off, it's cloudy and cold. Reo materialized beside us, saluting Akashi on one knee. We stopped our movements.

"Sei-chan," Reo spoke. "Celestial need you. It's an emergency."

Akashi glanced at me then back to Reo. "Send Kotarou to guard her." He ordered.

"My Lord." Reo nodded and disappeared.

Akashi turned to me. "Stay close with Kotarou. Don't let your guard down. I'm going." He said then disappeared. I pouted and Kotarou appeared in front of me. He reached for my lips and pulled them.

"If you keep doing that, your face will wrinkle by tomorrow." Kotarou said.

He let me go. "Who told you that? It's totally ridiculous." I said.

He chuckled. "Let's go."

I followed him.

* * * *

"So the half equation for Lithium, do you still remember?" the Chemistry teacher, Ikiya Sensei asked.

The class responded with a weak 'yes'. Obviously, no one were paying attention. Including me.

Pay attention, Seiryuu. Akashi's voice rang into my head.

I gasped and flinched. Ikiya Sensei turned to me. "Anything wrong, Akami-san?" he asked. I quickly shook my head and excused myself to the toilet. There were a bunch of girls fixing their make-ups and I pretended to talk to someone over the phone by placing my phone on my ear.

Don't get shocked, it's me. I can communicate with you telepathically.... oh but you can't. he continued.

Another heart attack.

Seiryuu, you have to get used to this.

"How do I talk to you back?" I asked.

I can hear you even like this.

"Oh.... that's great."

We all can do it. Well, except for humans.

"So unfair!"

Everything is.

"..Mm, what's the matter over there? You doesn't sound so busy."

There was an attack from demons at the southern gate. We're clearing it now.

"YOU'RE CLEARING IT NOW!? LIKE SERIOUSLY YOU'RE TALKING TELEPATHICALLY WHILE BATTLING!?" I shrieked.

No need to be so shocked, Seiryuu. If I weren't able to do this, how else can I receive and give orders to attack, defense and stuffs?

"You're right.... But hey! How did you know I wasn't paying attention?!"

I know everything.

"Give something more acceptable than your quote."

I heard him chuckled. You're easy to see.

"Humph!"

Suddenly I was aware of the surroundings. Everything were completely quiet. I looked around. The girls that were laughing just now had gone. The lights flickered and water ran out from all sink faucets provided there. I backed away, putting up a defensive stance.

Seiryuu, what's wrong?

"I thought you know everything."

Demon from toilet room three from your left.

I turned around and went to the door. "Um, anyone there? I need to use the toilet." I spoke.

Stay back, it's going for ambush.

I did as I was told and waited. Sure enough, soon after, the door exploded and revealed a weird creature; upper waist part of the body is a woman's body while the lower waist part of the body is a that of a snake. I almost screamed but remained my composure, controlling my breathing.

Snake Mother, Akashi hissed. Seiryuu, run. You're not good enough to face a Snake Mother!

I smirked. "That's a Snake Mother? Interesting."

Don't!

It lunged at me and I ducked underneath and kicked its back. Its head crashed onto the sink and blood spluttered from the forehead. I made a disgusted face and stepped backwards as the Snake Mother rounded on me. It hissed in pain and slithered towards me again. I rolled sideways but its tail caught my leg and sent me flying towards the door. I winced, got up and the creature charged towards me again, coiling its tail around my waist before I could even recover from the hit.

"Delicious!" it said in a menacing manner. I sucked on some air as the tail tightened its grip. I gritted my teeth, fighting the pain.

"Alright, stop right there." A voice said followed by a clap. We both turned to the voice source. There stood the Demon King, with the usual spiky black hair, bloody-red eyes, pale skin. This time he's wearing a black t-shirt with maroon jeans.

"Demon King!" I hissed.

"You can call me Cyril." He smiled.

"Why did you attack the southern gate of celestial?" I asked and coughed when the Snake Mother tightened its coils.

He shrugged. "No idea," He turned around. "Bring her along," he glanced at the Snake Mother over his shoulder. "Don't. Hurt. Her." He emphasized.

The Snake Mother hissed something unintelligible and then the world gone dark.

* * * *

I woke up with a gasp and sat up straight. I was in a room where nothing is there except for a door and the bed I'm sitting on. "Good to see you've woken up." The Demon King appeared, leaning one shoulder against the door frame.

"What are you planning?" I asked.

He chuckled. "I want him to come here. It has been a long time since he visited me."

"Why won't you stop bothering him?"

"Why do you care?"

I wanted to reply but he held up his hand and concentrated then shrugged at me. "Oh, they're here already."

I turned my gaze to the door. It exploded and Akashi stood there, with his sword on his hand, his face masked with anger, the place where he stood was frozen, frost spreading from it.

"Don't get too angry, I didn't do anything to her." The Demon King said, raising both of his hands, palms out. Akashi walked towards me. I stood from the bed but immediately fell and felt a sharp pain on my body. Akashi glared at the Demon King.

The Demon King grinned. "Wasn't me. Good luck staying alive, creatures." He said then disappeared.

Akashi went to help me, he pulled my arm. "You okay?" he asked softly.

I was facing difficulties to even stand properly. "I think my left rib is fractured." I answered.

"Stay still, I'll heal you." He said and I went silent, unmoving.

He placed one hand on my forehead and concentrated. I felt a cold sensation rushing within my body. I shivered. "Sorry, too cold." He muttered and then the cold thing warmed up a bit.

"Hm, fractured ribs, swollen thigh, what happened?" he said.

"I thought you knew everything."

"Stop saying that, the connection got cut off when you were brought here."

"I think the Snake Mother's grip were too tight." I replied.

There were silence again. And then, "Done, good as new." He said and released my forehead. I tried to stand and succeeded.

"Awesome," I looked up at him who stood up at well. "Let's get out of here."

"Teleport." He said.

"No!"

But it was too late.

* * * *

Four days later Saturday morning, Reo, Kotarou, Eikichi and Chihiro were called into the training room, as well as myself. We saluted Akashi on one knee and sat in front of him, cross-legged.

"I was planning on doing this later, when you are ready, Seiryuu, but since you encountered a Snake Mother yesterday, I'll have to do this sooner." He said. I nodded in understanding.

"First, identifying demons," he said. "Reo."

Reo stood. A big black box appeared and Akashi took something out from it. He threw at Reo and two identical Japanese man appeared in front of him. Reo frowned, concentrating. He was trying to tell those two apart; which one is demon, which one is not.

"Right." He said.

Kotarou cut in. "Left."

"Left." Eikichi said.

"Left." Chihiro continued.

"Seiryuu?" Akashi asked. I stood and went to those two men.

"How do I tell them apart?" I said.

"There are differences, look closely." He replied.

I concentrated. No, nothing. I turned to Akashi and shook my head. Akashi nodded and motioned me to sit.

The right man disappeared, leaving the left man alone. Reo muttered something under his breath as the demon lunged. He ducked his head and crashed his shoulder onto the demon's abdomen. The demon got up, punched and kicked but Reo did well, blocking it all. Once, Reo grabbed its hand and threw it to the wall. The demon dissipated.

"Faster, Reo. You aren't fast enough." Akashi commented. Reo grinned and ruffled his own hair. For the next twenty minutes, we kept on doing demon-identifying. Reo had got it right almost all the time, Kotarou, Eikichi and Chihiro answered half of them correct. I got the time to study them though and I think I know what's their difference.

"Eikichi, Chihiro, dismissed, come back one week after, we'll revise this." Akashi said. Eikichi and Chihiro saluted him on one knee and walked out of the door.

"How was it, Seiryuu? Can you tell the difference already?" Akashi asked.

I shrugged. "I think so."

"Try." He said and two women appeared in their mid thirties. I narrowed my eyes and stepped back. "Right." I said.

"Reo?"

"Right."

"Kotarou?"

"Right."

I GOT IT RIGHT! I giggled and watched the left woman disappeared.

"Kotarou." Akashi called.

"Let me!" I cut in.

Every eyes turned to me. "You sure?" Akashi asked. I nodded and stood. He went to the weapon rack, gave me a sword and I pulled the blade from the scabbard. I readied myself.

The demon's face changed and spoke, "I am unarmed. Are you that much of a coward?"

I stepped back and passed the sword behind to Reo without looking away from the demon.

"Be very sure, Seiryuu." Akashi said.

I moved forward, faced the demon and moved into a left guard stance. I felt uncertain for a moment, then I couldn't hold back the huge that spread across my face. I didn't feel a hint of fear; only the thrill of battle.

The demon didn't move. I gestured a come-on. Reo hissed under his breath and Kotarou hushed him.

The demon wasn't trained. She threw a fist at my face and I blocked it easily, and tried to hit her in the face with the other hand at the same time.

It didn't work. She was faster than me. She somehow thrust through me but I blocked it again. I did a spinning kick to take her feet from under her and she fell on the her back. Hard.

I lunged forward to hit her in the face but her palm lashed out and struck me in the nose. My eyes were full of blood and my face was a mass of pain but my fist went through her and she dissolved.

I straightened to stand upright and the floor moved under me, making me stagger. I tried to wipe the blood out of my eyes but before I could, strong hands grabbed me and tipped me gently onto my back. A towel swept over my eyes, clearing the blood, and I saw Akashi. He was holding me with his hand behind my neck.

He put his other hand on my forehead, took it away and smiled gently. "It's not broken, you'll be fine." He looked up. "Reo, icepack."

Reo went out the door.

"Will she be okay?" Kotarou asked.

"She'll be. Dismissed."

Kotarou disappeared. Akashi spoke, "You have the makings of a fine warrior, Seiryuu. You have a great deal of raw natural talents, combined with the courage of a tiger."

Reo reappeared with the icepack and Akashi put it on my face.

"You were terrific," Reo spoke.

"Yeah, look what I let it do to me," I said. "It nearly broke my nose."

Akashi moved the icepack away. "It's stopped bleeding now. You can stand up?"

"I'll try." I said.

Reo took one arm and Akashi took the other. They raised me easily. They released my arms, then stood ready to grab me if I went down again.

I swayed slightly and steadied myself. I raised my hands as they moved to help me. "I'm all right."

They followed me to my room anyway. When I reached the door I turned back, "I'm all right really."

"Don't hesitate to call me if you need help." Akashi said.

"You sure, Seiryuu?" Reo asked.

"I'm fine!" I turned and opened the door, went in and closed it in their faces. Realizing something, I went back to the door and slammed it open.

"You left the demon box open," I said.

Both of them cursed and ran.