Kasumi
Ever since she cast that spell on the three shared Sites of Power, like Alkoth had told her to, Kasumi had gone right back to doing what she did best.
Sleeping the day away.
Only, of course, since Pearl had been destroyed, she was forced to switch from the flowery, colorful surroundings of her home city to the white and gold walls of Jade. Wanting nothing to do with the Saviors or their nonsense, she had purchased a home with what was left of her money and was currently resting in a small, one-bedroom house.
Before, she'd been plagued by the memories she'd shared with her daughter, Nozomi. Now, her situation was the same, only that every now and then, she'd also be reminded of the few talks she had with Ash.
The heart-to-heart they shared just before heading for Onyx was still on her mind, even though it happened almost a full month ago at this point. She and the half-demon had come to the agreement of working on improving their lives, together.
But...
It's just not that easy, Kasumi thought as she yawned, waking up late in the day.
Still, she had to eat, unfortunately, so she made herself a bath, got ready, and several minutes later, she was about to walk out of her home wearing a brown cloak, a white shirt, and leather pants, all of which were the first things she saw in her drawers and were picked indiscriminately.
However, as she opened her door, instead of a white street being bathed by the sun above, she was met with the smiling face of the Royal Council's representative, standing there, with their hands behind their back.
"Hello!" Talo eagerly said.
"Fuck you," Kasumi quickly replied. "Go away."
"Hahaha, do not worry, Savior, we believe this will interest you."
"Nope, no. Get someone else to do whatever it is you're thinking of. I'm done," Kasumi replied, firmly shaking her head at them.
"Ah, our apologies, are you having a bad day, Savior?"
"Not particularly, but seeing you leave will definitely make it better."
"Hm. Well, it is as we predicted then. We will not waste your time, Savior. We will get straight to the point."
"There's no need," Kasumi replied. "I'm telling you, I'm not planning on-"
"We want to take back Pearl," Talo cut her off.
And, Kasumi went silent. At first, she wondered if she heard them correctly. The smile on Talo's face faded and they became ever so slightly more serious.
"What the hell do you mean?" Kasumi asked.
"Exactly what we just said."
"But, how? That city was reduced to nothing but burning rubble. What is there to take back?"
"Anything that was made by men can be rebuilt," Talo shrugged. "That much is no issue. Rather, the only problem was that, when the battle for Pearl happened, the demon army was, quite simply, unstoppable. We lacked the strength and information to put up any meaningful fight. Since then, however, things have changed."
Talo lifted a finger up, as Kasumi took a deep breath.
"Firstly, Ash. As she is able to close these demonic rifts, her existence has given us our first real weapon to use against the demonic armies, or, to at least, extend the amount of time we have before they overrun us completely. Second, the recent battle at Onyx. See, the demonic army's numbers grow every day as their Nightmares turn more humans into demons, however, they do not possess infinite soldiers. And, due to the battles of Sapphire and Onyx, we believe that their numbers are as low today as they've ever been. And so, if we ever planned on taking back Pearl, now would be the time."
Kasumi looked away for a moment.
"What the hell does any of that have to do with me though?" She replied quietly, as the information she'd been given ran through her mind.
"Well, there is one issue which we could certainly use your help with, at the moment, and it pertains to our half-demon friend, Ash. Simply put," Talo shrugged uncaringly, "we have no clue where she is or what she's doing."
Kasumi raised a brow at that.
"She and her group came here a few weeks ago, but left just as quickly as they arrived before we were able to speak with them, and they did not say where they would be going. We have one solid guess, but, even if our guess turns out to be true, she would likely not be persuaded by us to return here. So," Talo gestured at her, "that is where you come in."
"... Let me get this straight, you want me to find Ash and tell her to stop whatever the hell she's doing so she can come here and help you retake a ruined city?"
"That's fairly accurate, yes," Talo nodded.
"..." Kasumi breathed in, trying to calm her nerves. Admittedly, she was curious as to what the half-demon was doing, if only because Alkoth had made it clear that, once Kasumi's mission was done, as it was, the rest would be in Ash's hands.
"Where is she?" Kasumi asked.
"We believe she is currently staying in Amber. Does this mean you'll consider it then? Splendid, we will-"
Before they could finish, Kasumi slammed the door shut.
Of course, they knocked twice but Kasumi simply turned around and walked back to her bedroom.
I fucking swear, if it's not Alkoth it's them.
As for the deity, thankfully, after Kasumi had fulfilled his wishes, he'd upheld his end of the bargain, and had not contacted her at all since. However, the Royal Council, unfortunately, seemed to not quite understand that Kasumi wanted nothing more to do with the war against Niven.
Still, she couldn't deny that a part of her was curious about this.
Could we really take Pearl back? She wondered. Before long though, Kasumi dropped the clothes she'd put on and covered herself back up in her bed.
Eh, eating is overrated anyway, she thought, closing her eyes.
---
Ash
After Zafir had left the group to figure out their next step for themselves, they'd quickly settled in and now, Ash was standing at the back of the manor, overlooking a vast, nearly empty land ahead.
Everyone else had headed back into the city to look around for a while. Of course, they made sure to carry no valuables, just in case anyone got any ideas.
Ash put her hands down on the white stone railing that separated the manor from that territory, and with narrowed eyes, she wondered what would be the best move right now.
"This is kind of lavish, isn't it?" Keiko told her as she walked up and stood next to her.
"Hm?" Ash raised a brow. "You're not gonna go into the city with everyone else?"
"I... No, I'd rather just stay with you for a while," Keiko replied.
"Oh. Uh, shit, sure," Ash cleared her throat as she looked away.
"This place is beautiful," Keiko stated. "Feels like we got lucky, doesn't it?"
"... Doesn't really matter if I don't take advantage of this," Ash muttered.
"Of course, but... It's okay to enjoy some higher-living for a little bit. After all the work you've put in, the work we've all put in, leading up to today, maybe a bit of rest and relaxation is needed."
"I'd say, I've had way too much of that already," Ash sighed. "Remember those weeks we took off after Sapphire?"
"Yes."
"Maybe... I dunno, I keep thinking back to those days, and other days like that and I wonder, you know, how much would have changed if I'd just put in more work."
"You didn't really have a reason to, back then. Kaori was fine, I was fine. You can't blame yourself for that," Keiko said as she placed a gentle hand on Ash's shoulder, which prompted the half-demon to look over at her.
"Maybe," Ash replied before she changed the topic. "So, what are you going to be doing? While I'm out there fighting, I mean."
At that, Keiko looked away.
"Well... I've been thinking, and..."
"Yeah?"
Keiko paused for a moment, looking back at Ash. Their eyes met, but just a second passed before Keiko looked away.
"I think I'd like to talk to that mage, uh, what was his name? Alys? I... I have a couple of questions for him. But, that can wait till I'm a little more settled."
"Hm. Shit, is there anything I can do to make this place feel more like home?" Ash asked and Keiko blushed a bit.
"Maybe after you come back from your training," she chuckled shyly. "I guess I could help you relax a bit..."
"Sure, but I wonder if you're still gonna be into me when I'm trying to kiss you while I'm covered in monster guts."
"Don't worry about that, you always smell like blood and guts of some sort. I'm used to it by now."
At that, the two of them laughed a bit and Ash felt her worries easing up a little. In truth, just having Keiko near her was comforting. At that moment though, something came to Ash's mind and she took her hands off the stone railing.
"Actually," she said, "I can probably get a little training in before I head out. It's still early. You know where Yumi's at?"
"Oh? On my way here, I think I saw Yumi in her room, she might still be there."
Really? Guess she didn't feel like looking at the city either, Ash thought.
As Luvine and Opah were sharing one room, Metsumi and Satsuhiro another, and, of course, Kaori, Keiko, and Ash would all be staying in the same as well, the only person left with a room all to herself was Yumi.
"You can go on ahead," Keiko told her, "I walked a lot to get here... My legs are a bit tired."
"Okay," Ash nodded, "I'll be right back."
As soon as Ash walked away from Keiko, it almost felt like a piece of her was missing, but she'd return to that spot just after getting an answer from Yumi, so, she walked with purpose, returning to the Manor.
Inside, she passed by a few servants on her way back to the rooms everyone was using, who all looked at her with curious, but almost anxious eyes. Ash ignored them and made a beeline for the hall they were staying at.
Here, she found that every door was closed, save for one, which was just slightly open.
Gotta be Yumi's room then... Let's see if...
"Ohhh~ Ahh~"
Ash froze on the spot when she heard that.
What? She thought as, suddenly, her heartbeat was far louder than it had been just a second ago.
It sounded like someone in that room was moaning, and breathing heavily. Ash gulped as she took a light step closer, rounding the door.
Then, with a trembling hand, she pushed the door open, just a little.
She only stopped when she saw Yumi on her bed, naked. The woman was on her knees, her face down, and pressed into the sheets. Her ass was up, and from where Ash was standing, she could Yumi's right hand playing with herself. Her other arm was wrapped around a pillow that she was currently using to muffle her sounds, although that earlier moan had escaped.
She was taking deep breaths, her back arched as she was lost in what she was doing. And, as much as Ash wanted to look away, she simply couldn't. If it weren't for the armor she was currently wearing, the half-demon knew she'd probably be doing the same thing Yumi was at this point.
However, since she had it on, all she could do was stand there, enthralled by the sight. Until Yumi said:
"... Ash, Ash..."
That was when the half-demon took a sharp breath that made Yumi's eyes open.
And, of course, their eyes met. Yumi, still where she was, and Ash, at the door frozen still.
Then Yumi said her name again but in an entirely different way.
"ASH!" Yumi freaked out, trying her hardest to get up out of that position as fast as she could.
Ash closed the door hard, slamming it shut.
I... Didn't see anything. Yep, I didn't-
However, Yumi opened it a moment later.
"Ash!" She said as her scent entered Ash's nostrils and the half-demon damn near growled. "S-Sorry, I was just..."
Before she could even start though, Ash stopped her. She put her hand over Yumi's mouth and said:
"... Look," Ash took a deep breath. "Just... It was a mistake, okay? On my part, I shouldn't have opened the door, I'm sorry, I'm just gonna walk away and we're gonna pretend this-"
But she stopped talking when Yumi got closer.
"... Ever since what we did at the portal, I... I feel like..."
Yumi didn't finish her sentence, instead, she looked up at Ash with the most lustful eyes she'd seen in a *very* long time.
Ash couldn't find anything to say for a while, which proved to be a problem since she was watching Yumi's restraint disintegrate in front of her, as the Zayama wrapped her arms around Ash and kissed her neck, pretty much asking her to cancel every plan she'd made up for today.
But, before that could happen, Ash, as gently as she could, pushed Yumi away.
"Nope, no..." Ash bit down on the insides of her cheeks. "Believe me, I would absolutely do this but... there is a part of my mind that's screaming at me to talk to Keiko first. So, yeah."
For a second time, she closed the door and walked away.
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