I walked out of Hatsurin's bedroom. I had just placed a bowl of freshly made chicken broth on the bedside table for the werewolf I stitched up. I looked around for Hatsurin. I needed to talk to her about her new habits of inviting strangers to live with us. It was crowded as is, but I didn't need her bringing in any more.

I found her sitting in the living room with Hemlock, and Rou. I sat with them and cleared my throat. "Hatsurin, do you remember what not only I, but Alex as well told you about strangers?"

She seemed to think for a moment, leaning up against Hemlock. "Hmmm... that even if they're handsome, to be cautious?"

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I knew she wasn't this stupid to forget anything like that. I spoke slowly because I could feel the buddings of anger from stress. "No. What we said was that strangers are dangerous. You'll never know just who you're dealing with. How long have you known that orange haired guy? Like seriously known him."

"Uh, two days?" She responded but then looked confused.

"Um, the name's Nikolai. And for your information, your grandfather sent me to check on you girls."

"We don't have any other family. I don't know what you're talking about." I huffed and clenched my fist. "And even if we did, the fact that he waited till now to find us, and that he didn't even come to see us himself proves that he doesn't deserve us as family!" I just about seethed in rage as I stood up.

Rou stood quickly as well and grabbed my wrist, "Let's go outside for a minute and get you some fresh air."

When we were outside and far enough away from the situation inside, Rou and I sat down and he looked me in the eyes. His expression was worried. "Amaya. There's no reason to be so angry about all of that stuff from them."

My eyes stung with the beginnings of tears. "Yes I am upset about the whole bringing strangers in. My sister is an idiot for doing that. They're called strangers for a reason. But the fact that this new stranger claims to know our grandfather. No one, absolutely no one from any family has reached out to us since we lived in...in that place."

"What do you mean when you say that?" Rou asked. I looked at him with burning eyes. "If you don't want to share you don't have to."
I shook my head. It was something I needed to get off my chest and talk to someone other than my sister about. "My sister and I grew up in an orphanage. It wasn't the best environment. We were constantly picked on because we were different. I was always a bit smaller for my age, and my sister was always as aloof as she is now."

Rou rested his hand on top of mine and gently rubbed the back of my hand with his thumb as he listened quietly. I took a deep breath and continued, "Once we were old enough to leave, we did just that. I had a job for a bit before we got a weird check in the main for an insane amount of money we've ever seen. There was no name from the sender to send it back, And all the letter along with the check said was 'grow strong' or something. It was years ago I don't remember exactly. We took it as a saving grace and I have been budgeting off of it since."

I looked up at him, and when he didn't say anything as he stared at me I blurted out, "What are you looking at?"

"Only one of the most courageous and talented woman I've ever seen." He said, his face as stoic as the rock he sat on.

I blushed heavily and pulled my hand away from his, slapping his arm. "Shut your face, you liar. I thought you were different from other demons at first, but you're proving to be just as manipulative. You must truly be an incubus and one of the best."

He grabbed my hand again, pulling me closer, frowning and looking very serious. "I don't have any reason to lie to you, Amaya. And I am actually one of the worst Incubi in the demon realm. Worst meaning in skill level. I don't have the right looks to compare to the rest and meet the majority of the standards Akuno-oji seems to have set for my race."

"Seriously?" I tried to push away from him. "Seems like a pretty unachievable standard to me."

"Tell me about it." He gave up trying to bring me closer and stood up and against the wall opposite of me, I sat on a tree stump right in front of him. The tree had been cut down years before Hatsurin and I moved in so the stump has been smoothed with age.

I thought to myself for a moment before I gave him a small smile. After calming down, I was suddenly very very tired. "Can I ask you something, Rou?"

"Anything." He smoothly answered.

"Why is Hatsurin and Hemlock suddenly so close? They literally just met what feels like a few days ago."

"Good question. I can not respond for Hatsurin's part, for I believe you'd have a better point of view with that answer, but for Hemlock... it's because Hatsurin is his soulmate. That I know for sure."

"How do you know?" I frowned.

"As an incubus, I can tap into like a power where I can see red strings around people's small fingers. That's the red string for love. I saw that Hatsurin's and Hemlock's were tied together firmly. He is meant to love, cherish, and protect her forever."

I felt a twinge of jealousy stir in my gut. Hatsurin was always in a relationship or looking for one, while I was stuck protecting her. I slowly looked down at my pinky finger, then slowly to Rou's, hoping that we would not be tied together and at the same time that we would be. When I looked up at him, his eyes were full of sadness as if he knew exactly what I was feeling.

"Alas, my fair maiden, we are not soulmates, but I can see other strings of fate as well. We are, however, linked by a thick purple thread around our necks. It means to signify loyalty and honesty, as well as an unbreakable friendship."

It made my chest hurt slightly to know that this crazy chill and nice dude in front of me, who met all of what I thought my expectations of my true love would be, wasn't who my soulmate was. I had to be honest with myself as I secretly wanted him to be deep down. He must have guessed what I was thinking to myself once more because he then smirked.

"Now now. Don't get all sad on me. We can still be wonderful friends with benefits." He chuckled softly.

I blushed, smirked, and kicked some stones at him gently to where they just bounced off the tops of his shoes, "Shut it, you weirdo. That's not going to happen."

We laughed softly for a few moments in slight awkwardness, then when it died down, we sat in silence for a few more moments looking at each other. He spoke up eventually, "It doesn't mean we can't try to be more than just friends. I don't control the fates and they are able to change. Who knows, if we get closer over time, we could become much more than the classic friend zone."

"You're just wishing now." I smirked and stood, walking over to him and prodding his chest with my finger. "You're just a lonely loser like me."

He pointed back at me, "Hey now, that's not very nice."

I chuckled and raised my hands up to show surrender. "I was just saying."

He raised his hands in the air, then slid them up my arms and grasped my hands in his. He pulled me a little closer and we took a ballroom dancing position. "You've got me, but what does that make you? Are you truly a lonely loser like me?"

"Well... I may just be too stubborn and overly possessive." I commented back with a straight face as he began to sway and move us back and forth to some invisible music only he could hear.

He laughed and shook his head as he spun me in a circle, then tilted me back with an arm under my back, "You're also rather feisty if I may add."

I smiled evilly as he pulled me back up, "Yeah. I am a bit aggressive aren't I."

"Why are you so aggressive?" He asked quietly, his face having a twinge of a smirk as we danced to our own music.

"I guess it's a habit. I must have picked it up from somewhere." I knew exactly where I had gotten my bad habit of aggression from, and when noticed me frowning, he pulled me close into a hug.

"You don't need to tell me if you don't want to. We all must have our own secrets in order to survive in this cruel world." He held me close as he soothed out my hair, my face buried in his neck as I hugged him back. It had been so long since I had such simple physical contact like this with someone.

My head hurt slightly and pounded from not eating anything as of yet, but also from the remembrance of the orphanage and my past. My stomach growled and I blushed softly.

"Let's go get you something to eat shall we?" Rou smiled sweetly, stepping back, tucking some of my dirty blonde hair behind my ear.

I nodded and he guided me upstairs back to the apartment. When we got in, the long russet haired werewolf was sitting on the couch laughing with Hatsurin and Hemlock. He obviously was able to heal faster than I thought. Following Rou into the kitchen, I nearly bumped into him when he stopped all of a sudden.

He rushed out of the kitchen and up to the couch, "Who ate the rest of the pot of soup that Amaya had made?"

"Lendall did." Hatsurin smiled as she motioned to the werewolf. "He's healed up fabulously fast with food in his system but it made him really really hungry so I gave him the rest."

Rou's eyes glowed with anger, "Amaya has yet to eat anything! What is she supposed to eat now?!"

"Rou, it's fine." I held up an apple I had just retrieved from the fridge.

He stormed over, seething, then took the small apple for me and held it up to my face, "Is this even going to be enough? You haven't eaten all day!"

I knew it wasn't going to be enough, but the world wasn't ending. I could eat other meals. I could live with an apple for dinner, so I nodded and took the apple back from him. "I'll be fine. Don't worry. There is always breakfast."

I lied to myself and to him. I hated just about all breakfast foods, so I probably wasn't going to eat anything in the morning either, not to mention that I had to meet up with my old friend Tyler for lunch because he wanted to hang out for a little. We had made the plans before everything went down and I don't want to cancel on him. I wouldn't be able to eat lunch, I used to have a small crush on Tyler because he was the only other person to actually stick up for me so I should be able to survive till dinner tomorrow. I'll just have to start drinking a lot of water to keep my stomach full. Rou looked at me as I took a small bite of the dull bitter apple. These were the cheapest, but also not the best tasting. Hatsurin and I have always suffered through disgust for the expense of money, but will this disgust really hold me from the hunger rumbling through my stomach?