Between Us

Atsuko nodded softly. "I might try to nudge Tomoya in the right direction if there's a girl that would make him happy and he's just being oblivious, but I'd never force him to be with someone..."

"I'd lose respect for you if you did." Rebecca's tone was obviously teasing though for once. Another long pause then. "..I suppose if you're sharing..I could as well. Have you ever wondered what exactly happened to Elsa's father or anything? But what I say doesn't leave this room."

Atsuko raised a brow. "I've wondered, yes, but going by how you were, and what you've said... I have a feeling you might have killed him, honestly."

Rebecca nodded a bit slowly. "Yes..I did kill him. Verrad was his name. My mother and father..they're worse then I was. They know how to put on a act and know when to change things up as needed; they're smart at least. I do not contact them and more or less keep them out of me and Elsa's life. Even then, I thought they would do more harm then good."

She took a sip of her tea, but seemed more like she was reigning in some emotions she was surpressing. "In the beginning, Verrad was actually quite charming..and..we'll, I suppose I did actually love him at one point. It began to change once it was certain I was to be 'his' as if I was some property after getting married. Imagine, all the status and treated like a common piece of luggage. To be used and discarded as pleased."

"I more or less blamed myself for his change. So I opted to change in order to please him. Though..no matter what I did or tried it never did seem good enough for them. It began to effect my self image and self esteem. I wondered why I seemed so undesirable. Eventually, Elsa was born. Verrad paid no attention to her. If anything, it was as if her entire existence was annoying inconvience to himself. He was..rather cruel to her."

Rebecca gave a tired sigh. "I found out a bit later that had further damaged my self esteem was the fact Verrad had been with other women for as long as I was with him. I caught him one time in Elsa's bed with another woman, I was so enraged. That was the ultimate sign of disrepect and I was disgusted by him. I didn't think...I just acted. He was stronger then me though and easily slapped me aside. Then he told me I was worthless, and if not for him, I'd grow into a old lady with no one to keep me company."

The other woman wiped her eyes, allergies. "..Later I overheard him talking to a friend. He had promised when Elsa became old enough, she could be sold to him as a gift for more influence on the vampire council. I snapped then..I just remember breaking his neck..I can't remember..much else. I covered it up afterwards and..the rest is history. Ironically..I forgot a bit of the lessons I learned. I was trying so hard to be strong that I didn't realize I was hurting Elsa in my own way.."

"I still have trust issues in regards to that..but..but I get jealous of seeing happy people together walking hand in hand. So I'd like that for myself..maybe..one day.."

Atsuko, by the end, was looking down at her own cup rather blankly. "...Makes my troubles rather trivial, really... I should be happy that Naoyuki is such a good man... Rebecca... I'm so sorry you had to go through that..."

Rebecca sighed. "I am..but I got Elsa out of it so there's that at least. It was a rough time but I'm stronger for it." She patted Atsuko on the back. "I'm not sure how to further advise you with your husband. Though at a certain point, you have to ask yourself if living in a lie to keep things as they are is worth it. You don't love him, and probably never will. You can't be the best mother to Tomoya you can be if you're not happy. And no matter what age you separate, It'll probably hurt Tomoya on some slight level but its something to think about. That's all I can say.."

Atsuko thought about that for a long moment, then sighed. "You're right... of course you're right... but... I think I want to wait at least until Tomoya is old enough to understand. I don't want him to end up hating his father, or me..."

Kazenabi was busy on some vacation time(she partly needed a break from her work at the moment) She was more or less simply traveling at the moment but had finally come back to Japan after her round trip. If she was going to go elsewhere she wasn't quite sure yet, she'd find that out on her own.

It had been about two years knowing Atsuko, Rebecca and the others. She enjoyed meeting all of them; they were a delight to be around. Ruby, at the time had been still closed off a bit but over time had opened up a lot more to her family and those around her. It was a good thing.

She was debating visiting Tomoya and the others when she felt it. It was Tomoya's energy..diving for some reason rapidly. Something was wrong. Without thinking, she concentrated, her form turning into a ball of light before she teleported towards the location.

Kazenabi had to find out what had happened.

Kanzenabi would come across a rather horrific scene. A pickup had sped through a red light as another car was making a turn, and plowed into the other car head on. The smaller car was totaled, but more alarming, was that Kanzenabi would pick up the very strong scent of blood from the smaller car. Inside, was Naoyuki and Tomoya. Naoyuki's chest had been caved in when the steering column was shoved forward into him. Tomoya thankfully had been wearing his seat-belt, but his legs were pinned between his seat and the one in front, and glass from the windows had blown inward, cutting him up badly. There was also a nasty cut on his forehead, and he seemed to be struggling to breath.

Kazenabi winced at the scene, she had never been particularly close to Naoyuki but still he hadn't deserved to die like that. However, she pushed it to the side hurriedly rushing to Tomoya, ripping off part of the car to free him. She had to act fast, even if she teleported him to the hospital there was no guarantee's he'd make it out alive. So she came to a decision. She clinched her hand, drawing a bit of blood and placed it on Tomoya, which would seem odd. That and the fact her hand was glowing faintly with demonic energy. The process took less then a minute--she was in a hurry to get this done.

Not wasting anymore time, she gently grabbed Tomoya and teleported to the nearest hospital. Instantly doctors and nurses scrambled, taking the young boy away in the emergency room.

Kazenabi watched..feeling a bit helpless as there was nothing further she could have done. Her mind was rushing a mile a minute..but she knew she needed to talk to Atsuko, so she hurriedly dialed to tell them what happened. Odds are; she'd be there before she even completely finished her sentence. On her way at any rate. She also made a call to Rebecca.

Kanzenabi proved to be quite right; Atsuko had dropped the phone upon hearing the news, and was next to her within mere minutes. "Kanzi! How is he!? Is Tomoya alright!?" It wasn't that she didn't care about what happened to Naoyuki; of course she did. She may not have loved him, but she did care about him a great deal, and he was the father of her child; but the time for grieving was later, when she was sure her son would be alright.

Kazenabi looked tired. "..He was in bad shape when I found him. I gave him some of his blood to make it through to here and with the doctors he should be fine. But..Naoyuki wasn't..I'm sorry. He didn't make it."

Atsuko closed her eyes tightly. "I see..." She staggered over to the wall, and leaned against it, sliding down it to the floor, burying her face in her hands. "Oh god..."

Kanzi didn't know what to say..and there honestly wasn't anything she could say so she just went to comfort Atsuko the best she could as she grieved. A bit later, Rebecca, Ruby and Elsa came.

"I came as soon as able after I heard.." Rebecca sincerely hoped Tomoya was all right. She was indifferent towards the husband not having a real bond with them but the little boy had managed to worm his way into her heart and wouldn't quite let her go.

Elsa started to panic of still not seeing Tomoya eyes starting to tear up. "Where's Tomoya, where is he?!"

Rebecca frowned, crouching down. "He's..resting now..okay? I need you to be strong, all right? Tomoya..will be fine."

Elsa didn't seem to completely believe her. "..Okay.." She said in a small voice.

Eventually, after what seemed like forever, they were led to a hospital room. Tomoya was actually awake, sitting up in bed, though he looked tired.... he also had furry ears on top of his head... that was new. They were a dark blue, like his hair, and twitching a bit. He didn't seem to have noticed... nor did Atsuko, as she was at his side and hugging him within half a second. The doctor explained that whatever Kanzi had done, it had not only saved Tomoya's life, it had led to a sudden, rapid recovery and physical change.

Elsa didn't care either(she would later) as she was trying to find a good place where she could hug Tomoya. However, due to being short this left her little room to do as she wanted with Tomoya on the bed.

Rebecca smiled softly. "...You changed him into a Dog Demon, didn't you Kanzi?"

The other woman nodded a bit. "I did. I wasn't given much choice, but considering the alternatives..we'll small price to pay." She was probably going have to teach Tomoya a bit about his powers and the like. Even if he had no interest in fighting, it was important to enough some basics so he didn't accidentally harm anyone. For now though, she'd wait for Atsuko and the rest to calm down before saying anything else.

Eventually, Atsuko calmed a bit, and let Tomoya go, though this just made it easy for Elsa to get to him, especially after Atsuko helped Elsa onto the bed. "...How are you feeling, sweety?"

"Um... okay... everything seems... different though. I can hear really good! And see, and... smell... this is wierd..."

Elsa instantly went to curl against Tomoya hugging him, though not too tightly it would hurt. With his new strength it wouldn't be a problem but there was the fact he still might be a bit tender after everything.

"That's because I changed you." Kanzenabi said, coming into the conversation. "You're..a Dog Demon now. You were in a accident so I had to help you." She..really didn't look forward to the other part of the news, about his dad's death but it couldn't be avoided. Probably best to let his mother handle that one.

Tomoya blinked in surprise, then nodded. "Oh... cool. Does that mean I can do alot of cool stuff now?"

Kazenabi grinned, nodding. "Many things. Besides your senses, you can do all sorts of things with your energy. You'll able be able to feel different types of energy." She held up a hand, and briefly a glowing green ball was there before she made it vanish. "If its all right with your mother, I'd like to teach you. It would also help with learning to control if nothing else so you don't accidentally break anything."

Atsuko nodded a bit. "I want him to know what he can do..."

A few months later, things turned back to 'normal'. As normal as they could anyway in light of what happened. Elsa had been hovering around Tomoya a lot because of the news of his dad, but with his mother there he'd be completely fine sooner or later.

Currently Rebecca was..trying too cook something for her daughters. She wasn't exactly the best cook but she wanted to try because she cared about them and wanted to show a bit of her affection in other ways. Cooking was something of a art, it was also used to share things, Rebecca had noticed.

Elsa came into the room spotting Ruby, she came over and handed her what seemed to be a small gift wrap. "Um..this is for you..from me and mom."

In it was a beautiful necklace with the Isshan family pendant in the middle. "Hope you like it! It's the Isshan family pendant." What was a bit different was the color, it matched Ruby's favorite color.(Which ever that may have been)

"Nobility, strength, honor and integrity." Rebecca's voice cut in. "That's the Isshan noble virtues. I think you'll live up to them just fine, don't you think so? We care about you a lot Ruby..and you're part of the family now. I just thought it time do something like this. It's past time."

Ruby had opened up a lot in the past months, and she'd come to care about Elsa and Rebecca a great deal. When she opened the gift, she'd quickly put it on, clearly pleased with the purple pendant. "I love it... thank you..." She hugged Elsa, grinning. It was nice to see her happy like this.

Elsa smiled and returned the hug and Rebecca smiled at her girls warmly. "Why don't you two come into the kitchen? I'm cooking something." Trying too.

The young vampire perked up. "Okay!" She was practially bouncing with energy at the moment due to being in such a good mood. Ruby being happy made Elsa happy and that was more then enough for her.

"Here, turn these." Rebecca motioned to a bowel of something for Ruby to turn that had a wooden spun; there was a mix of some kind in there. "One other thing, the Isshan pendant? Notice it glowing faintly when in close contact with Elsa's?"

And it was true. There was a very faint glow every once in a while when the two were in close promixy to each other.

Ruby blinked a bit as she looked it over. "Oh... yeah. What kind of magic is this?"