Once Again In Business

Camila was glad they finally got out of the bus, seriously the trip was killing her with how much it was long she had to sit still cramped up. She honestly didn't mind down time but she hated sitting on the bus that long, but she had never liked them really.

"Finally, we're here." She said to her ninja friend as they both stepped off. "This your first time In New York Ty?"

Ty stretched and looked the area over. Metropolis to metropolis; America was quite a sight. He'd never been anywhere without express orders to be there. This felt like a vacation of business, or something to that effect. At the very least he was excited to be somewhere new.

"Yeah. This place is all new to me." Ty felt the need to ask; "Say, is New York where you're from? Sorry if that's a bad question, you've said you and your dad don't get along too well..."

Camila thought about it, then shrugged and continued walking. "Yeah. New York is the city that never sleeps, I grew up here and I love it here. There's no other place I'd really rather be for the most part and I travelled a lot. Don't worry about things with my old man, he was a dick but I've had a pretty blessed life later so I can't be emo about it."

"What about you?" The Dhampir asked, moving through the crowds of people in the forever busy New York streets. "I mean, your folks. You never really talked aobut them, but if not its cool. Its your business."

Ty weaved through the crowd, matching Camila's pace. The noise and bustle of the big city resounded through the streets as he 'responded.' "I grew up in my village; without leaving very often. I only left to go on missions. My parents were in the ANBU. They're like a special task force. Ah, but that doesn't really matter anymore. Mom's the head of the village now. She's the only family I've got left, I guess."

"What's your mom like? Is she in this city, too?"

Camila's lips quirked into one of her trademark half-smiles. "No, no, its cool. My mom is pretty nice, she's a bit more traditional, I guess. My old man, we'll my step dad but he's basically my dad is a doctor. If you met them, I'm sure they would like you. Just wondering something, you guys have a normal school? Besides the ninja thing, that is."

Ty observed Camila's smile and chuckled to himself. He was beginning to become accustomed to it; it was even attractive in her own way. "We have a general schooling system. Our studies are still split by year, but we're not so formal about it. We don't have elementary and middle schools, just continuous "grades" to pass each year until we decide to either take the Genin Exam or to focus on getting a career. That school back in Tokyo was the first I'd ever been to. Did you go to a special school like me? Your fighting style isn't exactly mainstream."

"Special school?" Camila echoed, thinking on it. "No, not really. I went to a normal school, got decent grades, all that jazz. There is a special school for supernaturals called Youkai Academy, but its more private then anything. Now a days, since supernaturals don't have to hide or anything there isn't really need for one, but some go there anyway. Back in the day, a lot of the races didn't get along, that was until the Dragon Lord Reifer and his wife, Iilara and their friends began helping out. They live in the Demon Realm, and no its not evil."

"That was a long time ago, but they're still around people like them live for a long damned time." Ty might of not of heard of this, but it probably left him with more then a few questions. "If you have any questions on it, just ask. We got nothing but time right now."

Dragon Lord? Iilara? Demon Realm? Ty felt as if this was common knowledge that he should have known. "Um, okay. Let's start with this Demon Realm. Is that an entirely separate world from ours or something? This is the first I've heard of it."

Camila nodded, shoving her hands into one of her many pockets as they stopped to cross the street, having to hit the 'walk' button once and wait for the signal.

"Yeah. See, the Demon Realm is just one of many out there but its one of the main ones connected ones to the Earth Realm. That's the reasons there's so many demons on earth, but a lot of them were born here The Netherworld is Like the demon realm, in the since there's a lot of demons and supernaturals, but its different. Reifer is a dragon, but he has a human form like most true dragons. Anyway, an abridged version of it, he along with some others made it to where supernaturals could live out in the open with humans. Then he went to live with his wife, who's an Wind Demon in the Demon Realm. But you can thank him and those in his circle for the peace we have now."

She seemed to think about it. "Say, are supernatural races commonly known or live where you're at?" She asked Ty. "The thing about Reifer, the Demon Realm and such is pretty common in most of the world but maybe some places are more isolated then most."

Ty continued his flow through the crowd to keep up with Camila. "To be honest, we usually only deal with aggressor demons and monster types that prefer violence over diplomacy. There've been some species diversity in our village, but not nearly as much as I've seen since leaving. The cities I've traveled to have been larger than my village however."

As Ty thought the whole thing over, he felt light headed. It was as if his brain was attempting to access something that wasn't there. He also felt a little stupid. This was something he should have known, what with his village's extensive information system. Why hadn't he been told this information? Who in the village already knew? More importantly, why did he feel like he already knew this information?

"Could you tell me more about the connections between the Earth Realm and the Demon Realm? Is it common/easy to traverse between realms?" He felt like the knowledge was on the tip of his mind, but couldn't quite get to it himself.

"It's not that hard." Camila thought back a bit. "Nexus city is the main way to get back and forth to that realm and here. It's also sorta of a gateway to other realms. You see, a while back from what I know earth was basically the clusterfuck to dimensional baggage. What I mean is, for whatever reason earth attracted a lot of kill happy freaks from other dimensions. Eventually, from what I read on, a lot of mages and such got together to correct that. That's where Nexus city came to be. It fixed the dimensional rifts and made a place where it was easier to travel back and forth through the known realms even if you were normal."

It took some time, but Camila finally reached her destination, a unsuspecting building that had nothing out of the ordinary about it. In the front was a desk with a woman behind it typing away furiously on a computer.

"Excuse me." Camila said once she came to the front with Ty in tow. "I need to talk to Lexington. Is he in right now?"

"He should be, but he's still away. He's actually on his way." The older woman looked at the two. "If you want you and your boyfriend can wait in the chairs over there. Shouldn't be long."

"He's not my boyfriend. But thanks." Camila went over to the 'waiting' area to wait along with Ty. "Also, you wanna know something interesting while we wait? The Demon Realm, politics wise is lead by the demon council. Half of them are dicks, the others are progressive in they're thinking so it works out but that's mainly because they're a lot of old farts stuck in their ways. Anyway, one of the most important there is the Demon King. Basically, its an power that picks one person at a time as long as they have a tiny bit of demon blood. Usually, they live in the Demon Realm and over see things.

"Thing is.." Camila voice was amused. "The Demon King this time around is Miki. The power passed down to her when the previous Demon King died so she's sorta stuck looking like she's fourteen. You wouldn't think a hyperactive pink-haired girl with a bad sweet tooth has enough raw power to blow a country easily. It's kinda humbling when you realize she's hardly the strongest person out there, it put things in perspective. Not that I ever had much of ego problems. My old man though, he's someone who needs a slice of humble pie."

The world blinked (in Ty's perception). He knew it. The information about the portal. The status of worlds before its establishment. Most of it he already knew, but at the same time... didn't. The thought of having dormant memories didn't worry Ty nearly as much as his ever-growing suspicion. If this knowledge was so readily available, what the hell was his mission for?

Ty did his best to keep a calm front. As the two entered the building he took note of how... plain it was. He expected a more grandiose structure. "Ah, but that would only draw attention." He thought to himself. After being labeled a couple yet again, an optimistic prospect, he sat down with Camila and listened to the rest of her recap.

"The way you describe the Demon King; it's almost as if the power has a mind of its own. It's kind of hard to imagine such a young looking girl sitting council with a bunch of old demons. Actually, how old is she really?"

Camila chuckled a bit at that. "We'll, not all of them are old farts but point still stands. As for your question I think she's over five-hundred years old. I'm not really sure. Also, the power sorta does have a mind of its own. I don't know much about it, but apparently, the first Demon King was a bad guy. So because of that, Miki had to learn to control that power. It was corrupting otherwise, but because of her nature she's more or less okay."

Before she could continue, the lady at the front desk called out. "Miss Camila? They're here to see you now. Just go up the stairs to the top room."

Huh. That was fast..

Camila shrugged and stood up. "That's our cue. I'll talk more about that later." She walked to elevator, tapping a button before stepping in and it closing behind her a few moments later. The ride was a short one and soon both of them found themselves on the top floor. After she stepped out, she headed straight towards the end of the hall to one room in particular, knocking once.

"Come in."

The Dhampir didn't pause, and opened the door.

Inside was a bit more decorative, there was interesting pictures and old pictures and items from an era that had since passed. There also seemed to be a strange creature, likely a monster of some kind with its head mounted to the wall. It was green-skinned, had eight eyes and no mouth with a long neck.

In the middle of the room was a middle-aged man, abnormally handsome and in a black business suit. Just something about them didn't seem human, whether it was their subtle difference to appearance or just the way they walked.

"Welcome back." The man said kindly. "Did everything go well?"

"Yeah. Not too shabby." Camila dug into her many pockets, giving a note pad to him. "Here. I wrote some stuff down. Also, there's something about a Latria and Tohr. I'd like you to check into that for me, maybe help Tohr get into our school."

"That can be arranged." They put it away, then focused on Ty. They seemed to study them for a moment and then extended a hand. "You must be Ty Camila told me about. I'm Lexington, its an pleasure to meet you."

F-five hundred...?! Ty couldn't imagine meeting someone of such an age without making himself appear stupid. He equated the meeting to a wise old man conversing with a two year old. No, that simile did the scenario very little justice. When the two were called to the elevator, Ty followed suit.

Upon entering the room at the end of the hall, Ty felt like he'd stepped into some sort of bizarre museum. This had to be the lounge of a weathered adventurer. Or the business office of a capricious philanthropist. Either way, he was beginning to feel more 'normal' by the minute.

Ty watched the man's disposition as he walked. No hostility, of course, but his movements were different. Maybe he was a fighter of some sort? Or his body was currently in an unfamiliar form. Ty chastised himself for thinking to much yet again. In response to Lexington's greeting, Ty shook his hand and respectfully bowed.

Lexington chuckled lightly to the bow. "A bit more respect then I deserve; but I appreciate the gesture all the same. I heard you were mute, I can understand sign language so if you need to say something then feel free too. It's not often we get ninja from the Elemental Countries all the way here, so I hope we made a good impression."

"Huh.." Camila was confused about something. "I got a question. The place where Ty comes from, does it have connections to here?"

Her old teacher nodded. "Yes. It's mostly we stay out of their affairs and visa versa but we do have travelers from back and forth. One of the few real times we interact with the leaders there is during global crisis, such as cross-dimensional invasions and the like. Basically, anything that effects everyone's way of life on earth. It's in a hidden location, even I'm unsure where it is exactly." He was mostly explaining this for Ty's benefit.

Ty listened intently to Lexington's explanation. It was good to know that the people of Earth were so willing to work together for the well-being of its inhabitants. All he'd ever seen and met during his missions were conflict. At the same time, Ty felt sick to his stomach. No matter how badly he wanted to deny it, he knew his mother had something to do with his bogus mission. As leader of the village, she had to be well versed in world occurrences. Why didn't this seem obvious before? He was beginning to fear she was related to his memory issues as well...

Ty 'responded' to the man somewhat sarcastically, "Our leaders are pretty good at keeping to themselves." Ty smiled inwardly and continued. "But that's enough about me. I was curious as to what exactly you do. I had assumed you dealt in information and business, but this office is... misleading."

"You have that about right. I run my school, but I also do a fair share of other things." They said before going behind their desk and pulled out a package, giving it to Camila.

"..And this is?" She asked, taking it but looking confused.

"It's a delivery." Lextington then added. "For the Demon King. I would deliver it myself but I'm letting you take it for two reasons. One, so your friend gets to meet them in person. And two, so they could get to see what the Demon Realm is like. Of course, that's up to your friend if he wants to come."

Camila looked at the package, then pocketed it away before turning to Ty. "We'll, how about it? You want to tag along with me?"

Ty scratched the back of his head. They spoke of traveling to the Demon Realm so nonchalantly. He'd assumed it would either be extremely dangerous or there would be clearance issues. Was it really so simple? Maybe so.

After a few moments, Ty nodded. "Sure, why not? I've got nothing better to do. How do we get there?"

Lexington chuckled lightly to that., mostly because Ty seemed slightly confused about how the whole process worked. "I can take you two there myself, teleporting isn't that much harder with a few more people unless you don't have the skill."

"Yeah, right. I was thinking of going to Nexus City instead but this is just as good." Camila shrugged and moved closer to Lexington just as the old Devil pulled out a small pocket knife, knicking his hand which drew blood and fell on the floor. After that, he retrieved a small piece of chalk and made a plain circle of some kind.

"Not everyone can teleport the same." He explained in case Ty asked. "I don't have the natural ability too, but its a skill I learned and not something I can just do at will. There's the more technical side but I don't want to bore you all day. Just step into the circle when you're ready."

Ty was starting to get excited. Exploration was one thing, but traveling to different realms was just incredible! He'd only seen blood techniques used for summons or dark rituals so he wasn't sure how the teleport technique would work. Ty simply stepped closer, into the circle. He wasn't worried about the village. He didn't care at the moment.

There was a dark flash of magical energy and the room Camila and the others found them out was suddenly empty as they vanished.

(All characters are out, I'll let you know when the new thread is up. Which should be soon)