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RPC Background Stories Part Two: Second Encounter (sec. 1) |
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The temperature was abnormally low, even for winter. Rei was too cold to even roll out of bed that morning and she didn’t until Kuro nearly set her bedclothes on fire.
“You need to wake-up faster,” Kuro said when Rei got mad.
“You still don’t need to breathe fire at me to wake me up!” Rei snapped as she laced up her sandals.
Kuro ruffled his scales and puffed a ring of smoke out of his nostrils. “Your father told me to make sure you weren’t late for the meeting today. If you had stayed in bed much longer you would’ve been late and your father wouldn’t be too pleased with me.”
Rei sighed and held her arm out to Kuro who jumped off her dresser, climbed up her arm and curled around her neck. “Hey, remember that demon slayer we met a couple months ago?” Rei asked as she walked through the crowded hallways of her family’s estate. The Nerio Clan was very, very large. It was big enough for Rei’s distant cousins to be barely related to her.
Kuro hissed. “Of course I remember him!” Kuro snapped. “I’ve been sharpening my claws especially for that little worm.”
Rei ignored Kuro’s last statement and said, “I’ve been thinking. He’s a Somai and, according to Dad, a demon slayer captain.”
“So?”
“So, he could’ve killed me. But instead he just gave me a strong dose of electricity,” Rei said. Then she quietly added, “I wonder why.”
“Well, you’re never going to find out because I’m killing that guy the next time we see him,” Kuro growled.
“No you’re not!” Rei snapped as she slid back the door to the meeting room. Inside was a large round table covered with maps, documents, paperwork and books. The table was empty except for two men sitting at the end that faced the door.
“Ah, Rei! How kind of the princess to grace us with her royal presence,” said an old man with short slightly spiky silver hair and dark gray eyes. He had an old scar across the bridge of his nose and he wore a gray yukata. Around his right forearm he had a brilliantly colored phoenix tattoo. He spoke to Rei in Italian.
“Dad will you stop it!” Rei snapped back in the same language. “And aren’t you cold in that thing? It’s winter, not summer.”
“You did oversleep again,” the old man’s guardian, a shining golden phoenix with silver eyes, said from his perch on the back of his partner’s chair.
“No, I’m not cold.”
“Sorry for not getting her up in time, Darius. She’s just so slow in the morning,” Kuro said to the old man.
Darius laughed. “I didn’t think it was your fault. My daughter likes her sleep.”
“Dad, leave Rei alone,” said the other man. He was about seventeen with black eyes and matching short, spiky hair. He wore a dark blue shirt and pants that were similar in style to Rei’s clothing. He was straightening a stack of papers as he spoke.
“Thanks, Ichiro,” Rei said gratefully to her younger brother.
“No problem, Sis,” Ichiro said, setting the stack of papers down. “Hey, Stella Mare, mind getting that book over there for me?”
Ichiro’s guardian, a large snow leopard, nodded and carefully picked a book up off the table with her mouth and brought it to him. Ichiro took the book from her and Stella Mare resumed napping under the table.
Rei plopped down in the chair next to her brother and yawned. “So, what was the meeting about? Did I miss anything important?” she asked, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.
“Well, some fire apparitions have been terrorizing a village on the other side of the mountain. Think you can get them to stop?” Ichiro said as he flipped through the book. “I could send a couple fighters with you if you want.”
“I think Kuro and I can handle a few fire apparitions by ourselves,” Rei said as she suppressed another yawn. “We’ll leave this afternoon.”
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 Kyokiri · Sun Jul 22, 2007 @ 09:46pm · 3 Comments |
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