Demonic Hollow: Mask of Courage - Season Two: Behind The War

Episode Eight - The Human Slayer Pt.1

"Your words don't fall on deaf ears, my son."

"Then who do they fall on? You lied to me, you made me a monster!"

"A monster? No, my boy, you are perfection! Do you not understand?!"

Tsuzuki runs his hands through his hair, sighing anxiously. It had been several weeks since he last felt an energy spike from Ryu. The survival of his clan depended on him, but he had gone missing. Tsuzuki looks into the mirror in his bathroom, his eyes baggy, skin pale. He felt weak, as if an important connection to his life had been severed.

He turns, and walks into his bedroom. In his bed laid Chūjitsu, asleep, none the wiser. He looks at her longingly, as if there were hundreds of unspoken words he needed to speak, but couldn't. He walks over to his dresser, pulling out a single drawer, inside was several neatly folded shirts. 

In the weeks since Ryu's disappearance, Chūjitsu had moved in with Tsuzuki, and the two had solidified a relationship. Her entire being meant the world to the young demon, but regardless of that...he felt ill. It felt as if a void was created in his heart, a void in which Ryu filled previously - and he was unsure of what exactly that meant.

He sighs, laying down next to Chūjitsu. He looks to the ceiling, his eyelids lower as he ponders about Ryu's whereabouts. He slowly closes his eyes, and drifts off to sleep.

"Mom! I'm home!" a young Tsuzuki cries as he walks through his front door. He looks around the living room, unknown to his mother's location. He takes a few steps in, softly caressing his hands, nervousness. He looks around, "...mom?" He searches the home, walking into the many different rooms, checking for his mother's presence. She was found nowhere, and this concerned Tsuzuki.

He and his mother were very close, very tight-knit. He was found by his mother at infancy, seemingly abandoned by his biological parents, and thus his mother took him in, and fostered him to his age. He was attached to the woman, clinging to her for every slight feeling the boy had, it was a loving relationship indeed. 

Her absence was unnatural, she would always be around - somewhere...but where was she now? The young boy leaves his home, and runs into town square to talk to a familiar face. After a while, he made his way, standing before a closed door. He pants softly, knocking gently on the door, "Ms. Mara, Ms. Mara! It's urgent, please open up!" He waited, and waited...he knocked again. Thankfully, someone answered.

It was a young, beautiful lady, her youth was shining, much like her smile that greeted the boy as she answered the door.  "Why if it isn't the young Tsuzuki! What's going on, buddy?" She asks kindly, kneeling to meet the boy's eye-level.  "My mom is missing...she isn't home," the boy says, in a panic. He was fumbling with his hands, nervous tendencies were visible in the poor boy. Mara nods, "okay, come inside, I'll give your mother a call." She ushers the boy inside, sitting him down on her couch, which to the boy was remarkably soft.

To Tsuzuki, Mara was a best friend, but she was simply the boy's babysitter when his mother was gone for whatever reason. While he was uneasy whenever his mother had to leave, he knew that he was safe with Mara. Although, this time was different, normally his mother would give him a kiss on the cheek before she would leave the boy to Mara, and the two would have a wonderful night doing things he enjoyed.

However, he knew that he wouldn't be getting that kiss. Hundreds of thoughts ran through the boys head as he frantically bounces his leg, trying to stave off his anxiety, to no success. Eventually, Mara returns to the boy, kneeling before him, her face pale, her eyes sad -- she came with bad news.

"So, Tsuzuki, it seems like you're going to be staying with me for a while, okay?" Mara says gently to the boy, placing a hand on his cheek, "your mother she...she had an accident, and is in the hospital -- but she'll be okay, don't you worry! She just needs some time to heal. Do you understand?"