Unaffected female

Chapter 3

As the two cats slept, Konoe rolled over. His arm wrapped around Ran-Rei's waist. The female simply snuggled closer to the male as Konoe nuzzled his face into her long hair.

Hours passed as the two slept. Ran-Rei was the first to awake, to a voice calling out to her and the burning sensation of her stomach. The curse marks her brothers had placed on her years ago...and the voice of that green hairs devil kept bothering her. His laugh was annoyingly ring in her ears. He was near by. She knew it.

Before Ran-Rei could move, her face heated up. Konoe's arm was wrapped around her waist, pulling her close to his body, his tail brushing against her arms and legs. Happiness filled her heart. If only, the words felt heavy and was hurtful. Ran-Rei knew they couldn't be together-yet, her dreams still filled with the two of them together living in the island off Sisa.

That island was called Vernda. It was where the majority of the female Ribika now lived. It was where Celmira, Celmira's daughter-Fukayna, and her best friend, Yue, all lived. After spending up until now on that island, Ran-Rei was extremely confident in her skills and her ability to hear the voices from nature-which she was still trying to figure out if it was magic or something to do with Rikiba herself. Something wasn't right about her and she knew it.

"I found the pretty kitty~!" Ran-Rei knew that voice and the laugh that followed. She growled and carefully moved away from Konoe's grip. He stirred slightly, but didn't wake up, only switching sides to evade the light. "Hey, Moon Kitty~!"

"What do you want, Froud?" Ran-Rei glared around, looking for the green flame that devil traveled in. The laughter lead the female outside, where she was met with a taller figure with red hair. She gulped. Her heart drop and her mind had already knew she was fucked. "R-Razel..."

The taller devil didn't say a word. Ran-Rei, out of her two brothers, did honestly prefer Razel over Verg-mainly because Razel didn't try to force his power over her.

The blue eyes meet the sliver eyes. "Tsukiko."

"That's not my name, I don't know why you keep calling me that, Razel."

Things she didn't remember was what her name was under, along with who her mother was. Her father was some human-devil thing-she was too confused to process if he was human or not, her mother's identity and race was hidden in the shadows. When Verg and Razel had first found her, Ran-Rei knew they were her brothers, and she was there incorrect little sister who was always helpless.

"You're running out of time, Tsukiko. You either join us or die trying to stop us."

"Razel, if she joins, can she keep her cat ears?" Froud asked, his grin getting wider as he flew over. His fingers touched her white ears and tail, playing with them as his chin rested on her shoulders. The cruse mark the devil had left on her back began heating up with his touch. It burned horribly. "I'm fond of them. I and I think she looks cuter and sexier like this."

"Why are you asking me? She'll have horns and a devil tail." Razel's expression did not change from it's normal, serious look. Froud smiled slyly. His hand took Ran-Rei's chin and lifted it up, showing her neck and a black string hanging from it. The green devil's fingers touched it, pulling it up. Out from Ran-Rei's shirt was a green pendant with his cruse mark engraved into the dark green stone.

"Tsukiko is to be my wife, is she not?" The words came out slimy in Ran-Rei's ear.

"She is, but that doesn't mean you could start. You have only two weeks left, Tsukiko. You better have an answer."

"Bye, Moon Kitty~!"

The two devils disappeared into flames and flew off somewhere. Ran-Rei gave a deep sigh as she clutched her chest. The burning sensation on her stomach and back finally disappeared. At least it was only Razel and Froud, and Ran-Rei was overly thankfully for it, if the other two came, she would have been in huge trouble.

Fear began to built inside of her. They knew where she was, the time was still marching forth, and none of her memories of the past came back. All that rung through her ears were the voices of nature and the words "Flower from Hell", aimed towards Ran-Rei.

Verg called her that. He called her "Flower from Hell" for no reason, or for a reason she did not understand and not seem to know. Razel called her "Tsukiko". That name sound extremely familiar, but Ran-Rei could never understand why.

If anything, it could be the name if someone she knew.

"Ran-Rei, are you okay?" Konoe's voice came from behind her, causing the female to jump.

"F-Fine." She mumbled, looking away from the male cat.

Konoe stared at her. Her arms hugging her frame as she seemed to be slightly shaking. Ran-Rei's ears flicking back and forth, her tail slightly bristled.

"You don't look fine. Come back inside."

"N-No, we need to get moving. Your friends, were do they live? We'll visit them." Ran-Rei turned to him. "The new void is going to grow. Let's get going..."

"Ran-Rei, how do you even know about the new void?"

"It's been causing problems were I live. My friends, well, more like family, can't keep up. We need help." She went back inside to get her bag. Konoe watched her. "I came to you because I had a feeling you'd be able to help."

"I'll do what I can." Konoe gave a smile toward Ran-Rei. She looked towards him wide-eyed as her lips turned into a smile.

"Thank you!" Her arms wrapped around Konoe's neck as a relived and joyful smile tugged her lips.

Konoe hugged her back, a slight worry filling his body in doing so. He had heard Froud's laugh and Razel's and Ran-Rei's conversation, which only left him confused. Was she working for them or were they just tormenting her like they did with him?

"Ran-Rei?"

"Hm? What is it, Konoe?" 

He stood quiet, unsure if he should ask. It felt unbearably rude to say that he had listened to her conversation with the devils, not to mention that she might not even answer in a way he wanted. Those devils had to be up to something, and it wasn't going to be good—but it was more then obvious it wasn't going to have anything good come out of it. 

"Um, would you like to visit a few place before heading out? We could stock up on food..."

The female only blinked. She gave him a strange looked for a quick moment, then began thinking. Konoe watched her tail swing back and forth, the tip of it barely touching the dirt below.

"Sure, you did say you wanted to bring a few friend along, right? I'm fine with that, I'm in now rush to head back."

Konoe titled his head at her, "Why?"

Ran-Rei rubbed the back of her neck and sheepishly smiled. "U-Um...I may have left with out saying a word to those I see as family..."