Later that night, I fell asleep to the sounds of Tomoko's light snoring after being restless for hours not being able to shut my eyes peacefully.
I was strolling the streets with my mother in my dream like any other day if I had stayed in the Human world. She was smiling her world stunning smile, cheeks full of rose blush and eyes sparkling full of happiness.
My mother, the light of my life. The one who gave me the amazing life I had was smiling back at me as if the fate she met didn't occur.
A pain struck my heart then cause I knew that's not what she was doing now. She was burned away by the demon who had a grudge against our family for generations. I was alone and finding my true self was all I had left.
Finding the Lotus in me.
I smiled at her with a warm smile enjoying this familiar memory until a voice interrupted me.
"So this is your fondest memory, human?" I whip around to see a man with fiery red hair leaning up against a wooden crate.
"Who are you?!" I yanked on my mother's arm to stop her but the shape of her arm disappears. I look to see that her figure is walking away from me with my figure still with her.
"Huh?"
"Your in a memory, not a dream this time. Everything will go on as it has in your memory. You are just experiencing it, again." The figure says.
"Oh... That doesn't explain who you are or why you're here."
A chuckle comes from the red-headed man, "Well, I'm your demon."
My body freezes, "A... Akuma?"
"Yes."
I glare at his figure. He stands there with a dark smirk stamped against his human-like skin. His eyes look at me in a sinister way. Eyes gold with tints of orange and black on the whites of his eyes.
Black horns stuck out of his fiery hair like a staves of smoke. My stomach churns in anxiousness, "Why are you in my memory? I didn't allow you to be a bug inside my head. I said I would let you live freely. Why?"
He looks at me with a curious dark gaze and smirks, "Well aren't you the persistent one. The reason I am here is that I'm curious as to why after all the years I have lingered inside of your body that you finally call out to me. To find out the greatest clan, is now ashes is..."
"How do you know-"
"Silence, girl. I'm speaking," He walks up to me, and stops to lift my chin to meet his gaze. "I'm the demon of your body; So of course, I know what happens to you. I know everything from your childhood to now."
"Then how come you didn't warn me or tell me that I was part of a demon hunting clan?" I snark at him.
His eyes roll as he lets go of my chin, "I couldn't because you never were taught how to. You almost died last night because of your unstable connection. Coming into my realm inside your brain without any knowledge of how is putting yourself and me at risk."
"I was fine, I had Aiya to-"
"That dumb girl and her fox spirit? Please, I could kill both of them in an instant if I wanted to." He walks off into the crowd nonchalantly.
"Hey! Where are you going?" I run up to him following suit beside him.
"Beliath may be powerful but she is not that much powerful than me. If you were to use my power to train then you would have no problem in beating her. It's just a matter if you can or not."
My eyebrow furrows, "So you're helping me now?"
A scoff comes from him, "Only if you wish."
"How are you even my demon? I thought I only had the blood of a demon. Not one stuck inside me." I shake my head trying to wrap my head around the situation.
"I assume Aiya told you every person in your clan has a demon gifted to them out of the curse from the demon hag, yes?" I nod my head. "Well, other than you I had one other member of your clan as my host.
"He was the worst boy you could ever imagine. Stubborn, crass, ignorant of his surroundings, has little to no respect and was foolish enough to believe anything that was said to him if it benefited him."
He spoke as we walked into the market.
I snort and mumble, "Sounds like Orochi..."
"Well, one as stubborn as that demon could be. But, my host so foolishly threw his life away when he lost his mind. Years of abuse to his body with drugs and sake." His face grew darker with his comment.
"So what happened after?" I ask out of curiosity.
He smirks, "Well, decades went by and I was finally gifted to you. A small and fragile female who knew nothing of the demon world. You could imagine how furious I was. But, when your father found out that it was I, who was in your body. He tried to hide everything of this world from you."
I frown at Akuma's statement, so my father did know that I was gifted with a demon. Did he keep me from the world out of his worry?
"Don't. Judge him by his actions but of what he could have done it for. He was trying to protect you from death finding his only daughter as any father would. Sure, there were a few moments of your life when the occasional demon found you and I had to protect you but it never seemed like something that you needed to know. Until now."
We both stop at a bridge and stand in the middle of it as I look down at the water.
"So you reveal yourself out of worry for me because Beliath harmed the clan you served?" I ask.
"I didn't always serve your clan. I had a life of my own once. But, I am cursed into this clan for my reasons." He leans his body onto the railing places his elbows on the railing behind him, tipping his head back.
"Okay, but why are you here? Chatting isn't going to hold Beliath back." I look over to his face that is taking in the afternoon sun.
"I will be only a force in the demon world when you wake. Use me like a shield, use me as your strength. I am the demon who rests in your body, you can use it like if you were using my own. In your mind, I will be a person or form. Aiya will train you with skills, I will train you with your body."
I close my eyes and take a breath in, "But how can I get better than her?"
He laughs, "Be confident in yourself, Ren. You aren't from a long line of demon hunters for nothing! That tattoo on your arm proves that."
My eyes go wide at the thought of it on my arm. I raise my sleeve to see the familiar pink flower that I have forgotten so much about. My thumb runs over the colored skin like I'm seeing it for the first time again.
I am a demon hunter by birth and by blood. But, am I a demon hunter by heart?
That was the challenge that Akuma is giving me.
The challenge of becoming something I'm proud of like the generations before me. Like Aiya who was the most fearless warrior out of my entire clan.
I'm the last living breathing female of it and I've cowered away from my enemy because I am unsure?
"Of course, you're right. I am a demon slayer of the Lotus clan."
I blink and realize that I'm staring back at a sleeping Tomoko in front of me. "Huh? I'm back in my room?"
The familiar dark brown of the wood and the green bedding on top of me surround me leaving me clueless as to how I spoke with Akuma.
"Then act like one." Echo's in my ears as I sit there in confusion.
The snoring of Tomoko stopped, "Miss, why are you awake so late?" She barely manages to make out with her raspy sleeping voice.
I shake my head, "Nothing, just taking in the surroundings."
She nods and curls back into the position she was sleeping in as I lay back down into my bed looking up at the ceiling again.
One thing was for sure now after visiting Aiya and Akuma:
I had found my reason to keep trying.
Trying to keep me alive and the way to end Beliath for all the wrong she has done to my clan.
"Beliath, I'm coming for you," I whisper to myself as I close my eyes again letting sleep take a hold of my body yet again.