Great Demon Hunter Daiki

[Blind Hemingway]

[nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3bi3cowRYY"]YouTube- Last Exile OST2 - Malicious Queen[/nomedia]

Location: Somewhere in Rural Japan

A young man was wandering around the local park. It had been a rather slow night for him at work and now all he wanted to do was go home and have a wild night with his wife.

"Fuck, it's cold out..." He said to himself as he felt an icy breeze blow around him.

"Come hither."

The young man then heard the soft voice of a young woman. He glanced to his right and saw a strange sight. Before him stood a vaguely Middle Eastern woman covered from head to toe in a long black and red outfit. Her face was covered by a veil.

"Who-who are you?" The young man asked.

"Come hither. Come hither young one."

"And why should I?" The man asked the young woman skeptically.

"You do not do as I ask?"

The long tails from the woman's outfit then coiled themselves around the legs of the young man.

"Hey-Hey!!!"

Soon his entire body was wrapped by the serpent like coils. He would scream for several seconds; however, no one would hear him, for he was now in the world of Greyspace.

"Mistress..." Anglova then spoke.

"Anglova, you promised me stronger souls from this island. All I am finding is low level sinners. This man wasn't even worth absorbing." The veiled woman said as wiped blood off from her face. "You better make damned sure you find me a good meal soon or I'll consume you and all your demon pets.Is that understood?"

"Yes, mistress."

 

[Alarice]

Daiki muttered something under his breath and turned his attention back to the TV. But then something appeared floating in front of him! It was Kate--and she was empty-handed!

"What's the meaning of this. I told you to bring back supplies for the human," the young man growled.

Kate raised a fist and coughed politely into it. "Ahem! You and Irene are years overdue with the necessary paperwork to continue operating and holding your demon-slaying license with the Organization! That means, if you don't come to HQ and get all the paperwork done, your license will be stripped, you will be forced to start as a novice Slayer, and Irene will be reassigned! You have approximately twenty-four hours to complete the paperwork at the nearest HQ. Until you get it done, I and all other Organization personnel are prohibited from aiding you in anyway. Good day!"

And then she was gone!

***

With her back against her room door, Irene closed her eyes and sunk to the floor. She brought her knees up against her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs. Maybe she was getting too old for this.

She pulled something out from under her dress, a large oval-shaped locket on a silver chain. When she opened it, there was an old portrait of three girls who seemed human enough. They looked in their early teens and they were clearly triplets; the resemblance was undeniable and they all had the same pair of dark golden eyes. The only difference lay in the color of their hair. One had white hair, one had red, and the other had black. They were hugging each other tightly and they looked happy.

It was a portrait of Irene and her two sisters before they were cursed.

"For desecrating my temple to have intercourse with the god, Poseidon, Medusa, I curse you!"

"Sisters ... I am scared!"

"Everything will be alright. Hold onto us."

"I shall not rest, Athena! I shall slaughter, I shall feed, and I will tear the Greek pantheon apart!"

Irene snapped the locket shut.

 

[Blind Hemingway]

Daiki then slumped in his chair.

"Great...Just fucking great. I go out of my way to help humans against the yokai and they bitch slap me with paper work. What do I look like? A chump...Fucking bastards."

This wasn't the first time that the Organization had tried to slap the paperwork rule on him and Irene. The problem now was rather blatant to him, he had a human. Normally, this wouldn't have been an issue; however, Manami had not presented any psychic powers of any sorts. The leaders of the Organization probably assumed he had merely saved a human and showed her the real state of affairs. However, he suspected something a little more sinister behind the heads' rational: since he had saved a human girl, that meant he fell in love with her, increasing the danger of him becoming fully kitsune instead of just 1/4. If he were to become a literal kitsune, he would be one of the yokai and a danger to humanity. It was generally better to remove a potential cancer ahead of time...

He then sighed, did he really want them to assume such things? Did he really have much of a choice?

Daiki then stood up and walked towards the room where Manami was changing.

He then knocked on the door, "You dressed yet? Looks like we'll have to go shopping to find you some decent items. The Organization decided they weren't going to help."

 

[Diana]

Manami had TRIED to take a nice quiet shower. Until she was peeped in on by who knows what! It was gone before she could do anything else but scream!

...she wasn't so sure she'd like the apartment now.

She had barely stepped out of the shower and put on the clothes Daiki had given her when he pounded on the door and demanded her to come out. She was mimicking him with her hands until she realized her said shopping. That changed things!

"Shopping?!" Manami had swung the door open in a flash with that wide-eyed sparkling gleam of a girl that just had her wishes come true! "Fantasic! Ooh, this is going to be so much fun? Where is Irene? I guess she'll show up later! Oh my god, I am SO glad, there was no way I could wear these weird robes all the time! They're so scratchy against my skin!"

Manami continued to chatter about fashion and fabric, even as she was grabbing Daiki's wrist and dragging him out of his own apartment. She might not have known exactly where they were, but like a hound, she was able to sniff out a shopping mall within minutes!

"Hope you have a credit card!"

 

[Blind Hemingway]

If there was one thing Daiki hated, it was being dragged around. He was one of those semi-cynical sorts that preferred moving at his own rate and ideals...Now this flaky girl he was now stuck with was busy dragging him along in the human world.

"Credit is a false notion. It's not even real money. When I spend money, it's cold hard cash." Daiki also had a bad habit of making everything he did sound logical.

He and Manami were now in the middle of a busy walk way full of non-Shade humans, meaning no Greyspaces had phased this section of Tokyo. In fact, the entire city was more or less demonic proofed through the hard actions of the Japanese branch of the Organization. Several people watched the young woman lead Daiki around by the palm of his hand.

"Manami...Remember, we are not a fling. This makes us look like we're dating."

"Hush you. I gotta make sure you don't try running away from me while we're going shopping! This is going to be great fun. I'm gonna first get new shirts, shoes...Oh, and maybe a hat or two...And then, I'm going to like get you a make over as well. Long trench coats and vests are only things weird nerds wear."

"Hey! I don't need a make over. My style is what makes who I am!"

His counter agrument was going to be ignored.

 

[Diana]

There they were at the biggest mall in Tokyo! It was teenage girl heaven!

The first stop she made was a girl's boutique. Manami might of spoken terrible Japanese, but she had a perfect handle on the right words for fabrics, clothing sizes and styles. She knew how to haggle for sale items and discounts with ruthless efficiency! Getting herself out of boring scratchy robes was priority number one!

Manami made Daiki stand nearby while she ran through changing clothes like a speed-champion. Occasionally she would pop out of the dressing room, gauge what sort of face he was making (whether he looked bored as hell, annoyed, or actually looked at her!) and zipped right back behind the doors again.

Finally, Manami settled on a cute flowerprint dress, jacket and totally stylish heels! ...Not to mention a few other necessity items. If a girl wasn't allowed to go home, she really needed some clothes for the week.

Once they stepped out of the store, Manami gave Daiki the lookover. It was that examing look girls gave boys when they were about to pull their clothes off and torture them.

"This look definitely isn't working. Hmm... Oh, I know!"

Before Daiki could even throw in another protest, Manami had him dragged over to the next shop. A men's clothing store where most of the items looked like golfer's and preppy college boys should be shopping in there, not demon hunters! Manami shoved Daiki in the first empty dressing room she found, then she was throwing pairs of khaki pants and polo shirts over the door at him.

"Try these on! ...and don't make me come in there and help, cause I soooo will!"

 

[Blind Hemingway]

Daiki didn't mind the fact that Manami wanted to play dress up. He figured that since Irene had her own lolita fashions that all beings of the female gender most have their styles.

In all of the hundreds of years being alive, Daiki lived through the Meiji Restoration, Victorian Japan, World War 2, the American occupation, and then modern times. It seemed to him with each new decade, came some stupid new looks. He prided himself with his quasi-Victorian looking outfit consiting of a long black coat with stand and fall collar, his grey pants and shirt, a dark green vest, and tall cowboy boots...

But now... He was going to look mainstream... Daiki was an asocial cynic and such a notion disturb him.

"You might as well barge this door down then." He said, "I am not the preppy sort. I'm a non-conformist Manami, if you didn't pay close enough attention."

 

[Diana]

"Only people that don't how to dress say things like that!" Jeeze, he made it sound like she was trying to put him in a straight jacket. She just wanted to see if he looked good in khakis and polos!

Unfortunately for Daiki, Manami was in no way bluffing when she threatened to come in there and help. When it didn't sound like he was even trying, she swung open the dressing room door and attacked! She was fighting with his pants and trying to pull them off a leg when some ladies in the store ran by gasping!

"Give them up! It's only going to delay the inevitable!

 

[Blind Hemingway]

"What the hell!?!!?!" Daiki yelped. "No, means no Manami! I hate polos."

However by this time, Manami had successfully gotten a hold of his other pant leg, revealing Daiki's choice in boxers. Low and behold was a pair of undies with the American flag printed on them.

"Oh, god...How can this get any worse?"Daiki thought to himself.

Coming into the changing room to see what all the commotion was about, stood a young man with orange hair and bright blue eyes.

"Hey Missie, what seems to be the matter? Is your boyfriend, being oh so rude and not trying on the nice clothes you chose for him? If so, that is like so dang rude."

 

[Diana]

"He's not my boyfriend, he's just a big pain in the-... uh... Hi!" Manami had Daiki's pants in her hands and was previously about to beat him with it. But then the blue-eyed gorgeous mancake showed up! She was staring at first, but caught herself quick.

"I'm Manami!" At this point she had tossed Daiki's pants over her shoulders and back at him. She offered her hand to the cutie. "I was just helping my friend get some new clothes. He's really not my boyfriend at all."

 

[Alarice]

About twenty minutes after Daiki and Manami left, Irene emerged from her room. Elvis (the ghost) asked her if she knew when his birthday was. Charlie (the inugami) wanted to know where she'd hidden the fortune cookies. (And, as if she needed to be reminded, he pointed out fortune cookies were among his favorite food to which Irene stunned him into blessed silence by demanding he name one food he didn't like.)

Irene got her coat from the closet, a lovely black coat with a gray faux fur collar and fringes on the sleeves and left the ghost and the demon alone in the apartment. She wandered around for sometime, the park, past a playground, finally coming to the largest mall in Tokyo, coincidentally the same one Manami and Daiki were at.

She walked in and stopped by a small cafe just inside. "One chocolate sunrise, whip cream, chocolate sprinkles, low fat milk and a cherry on top."

 

[Blind Hemingway]

"Why hello there, Miss Manami. I am the most sexy demi-god, known as Perseus. You may know me best as the slayer of the most evil gorgan named Medusa."

Perseus then lowered his head and kissed Manami's hand, "You are a most fair damsel in this Land of the Raising Sun. I would like to speak to you some more. I already feel a strange emotional connection to you. They say that's one of my many awesome powers."

"Wait...Perseus...Aw, crap."

"Do I know you, most noble Boxer Man?"

"We'll just say we've never met. Anyways, why do you Greeks keep showing up in Japan?"

"I'm in Japan? Weird."

Daiki quickly put his pants back on and gave both Perseus and Manami a dry look. He did have to admit, from his brief interaction with this demi-god, he figured they were a match made in heaven; especially since they were both dumb.

"Yes, you are. Anyways, Manami have fun with your new friend. I have some work with the uppers I really should take care of."

He then put his hands in his pockets and walked away from Manami and her new blonde buddy. While in the world of humans, he didn't stand out as much as one would have guessed. With the ability to mess with human minds, he just appeared like a young high schooler wearing a dark blue school uniform.

"Dammit Anglova. How could you have lost my half brother? This is just pathetic."

"Well, Mistress, if we didn't teleport around as much as you like doing..."

"Shut up. I'm a goddess, I can do as I damn please. Now go find my brother, while I go shopping for some new clothes."

The goddess then just so happened to walk into the same small cafe as Irene. "Bus Boy, I'd like to order one chocolate sunrise, whip cream, chocolate sprinkles, low fat milk and a cherry on top."

"Bus boy? I'm a girl..." The waitress behind the counter said...

"Like I care."

The waitress then was about to prep the order but then discovered that there were no more cherries left...

"Miss, I'm so very sorry but we had a bunch of German tourists come by earlier and they ordered them all out...The last one went over to that lady with white hair..."

"Is that so?"

The goddess then jumped off her seat and walked over towards Irene. "Okay you. Since I'm rich and you're not, I demand that you give me that drink. You have the last cherry and I want one."

 

[Alarice]

Irene was cradling the cup with her drink in both hands, taking small sips at a time. She hadn't eaten the cherry yet. She opened her eyes when the woman approached and looked up at her sideways. She studied her for a few minutes without blinking, then took another sip--and this time ate the cherry! She pulled the stem out from between her teeth and held it up as she swallowed the tiny red fruit. "Oops."

Irene finally finished the last of her chocolate sunrise, then stood and walked away from the woman, throwing her cup in the trash can on her way out. Today, the mall was having a sidewalk sale and she wasn't going to miss out on it.

 

[Blind Hemingway]

The goddess scoffed in disgust as Irene "accidentally" ate the cherry. This mortal chose the wrong day to mess with a less than thrilled and hungry goddess hell bent on devouring souls. Back in ancient times, she could have just zapped said mortal and turn them into some hideous monster or a variety of other things. However, in the modern world no one worshiped the Greek deities anymore, some hippie from the Holy Land had stolen their zeal around 300 AD. So she had to improvise.

"Hey B-cup!," the goddess taunted, "That wasn't a wise move for you to do. Seeing, as I already established the fact that I am rich and you are not."

Irene ignored her.

"Oh, I see how you want to play this game. Anglova get your moldy ass over here!"

The old man then appeared behind her.

"Mistress, I do not recommend picking fights with mortals..."

"Just shut up and eat her."

 

[Alarice]

Irene stopped and glanced over her shoulder when the woman called for Anglova. When it turned out to be the Living Zoo himself, she turned around. She smirked. "You know, he could try ... but he didn't have much luck the last time he was trying to eat my partner."

Anglova moved a bit closer to the woman. "Mistress, this is the one I told you about. The Gorgon Daiki had with him."

Irene crossed her arms. So Anglova was working for this spoiled brat, eh? Daiki was always missing when she found out these juicy bits of information! "Look. This is a bad time to be harassing me or looking for that partner of mine, so why don't you be smart for once and just walk away."

 

[Diana]

Manami didn't seem to care at ALL that Daiki just ditched her and ran off. She was completely enamored with what was apparently a real Greek Demi God! She so totally knew his dashingly good looks weren't humanly possible!

Manami was still holding his hand after he kissed hers, and didn't seem intent on letting go any time soon. She was smiling wide.

"Do you really feel a connection with me? We just met..." Of course the way she said it suggested she was delighted at the thought! It was kind of romantic!

"I've not been in Japan for very long either. Maybe we can tour the city together?" Like on a date. Ooooh, she would LOVE a date with such a hottie!

 

[Blind Hemingway]

"Oh yes! We shall spend many great hours together touring this strange set of islands. I must say, this Land of the Rising Sun reminds me a lot of the islands near Troy."

He saw Manami grin with much glee as he spoke in flowery prose to win her heart over.

Perseus then grinned, "Oh, my dear Manami, you so remind me of my first love, Andromeda. I saved her from a rather nasty whale. I used the head of a gorgon and turned the evil fish to stone and then I punched it, breaking it into thousands of tiny pieces. It was the second most epic thing I have ever done."

He then flexed his muscles again.

 

[Diana]

"Oh my god, that had to be really scary!" Manami learned all about those legends in school and here she was talking to one! That was soooo cool! Well, talking about an ex wasn't so cool, but boy he had HUGE muscles!

Manami wasn't at all shy about placing her hands on his flexed arms and giggling. "You ARE strong. If you can punch a whale to pieces, can you pick up and whisk girls away too?" She had a great mental image with cherry blossoms and rose petals and being swept away by a Greek god on a flying horse. Manami would be in heaven.

"Here, I think there is an icecream shop here and the mall. We can share a milkshake!"

 

[Blind Hemingway]

"I can soooooooo whisk you off your feet. Just watch!" Perseus then boasted.

The demi-god then knelt down and picked Manami up into his arms. Compared to most of the weapons he was used to lugging around, this young mortal girl was a rather easy carry.

"Yes, that whale didn't know what he had coming when I punched it into oblivion. Did you for doing that, I was considered the very first whale hunter in all of the Western World? Can you imagine that? Granted, I consider myself more of a demon slayer more than a whale hunter. It takes a special breed of hero to take on the forces of evil and slay them. Not for the faint of heart. Of course, my dearie, with me by your side no demon shall lay a smiley finger on you! Oh...And yes I like milkshakes."

 

[Diana]

"I think I'm in love!" Manami exclaimed with a huge wide grin. Her feet were twitching up and down, and it really was the most awesome thing ever. If only her girlfriends could see her now! Manami threw her arms around Perseus' neck, not intending in the least to let go.

"If you'll just step out and take the next right." Oh wait. She was supposed to be here shopping with Daiki. Where DID Daiki go?! How was she supposed to get back to his place?

"Um... I think Daiki totally abandoned me! Do you know how to get back to his apartment after we have a milkshake?"