Pale Blue – Chapter Three: Memoirs Ink

During one of these innocent games Tenchi had complained about how he was given double chores as a punishment for getting lost and having to resort to making a deal with a devil. His father tried to object, saying it was punishment enough that he had to see Ryoko every day (once he found out exactly who she really was of course,) but his words were overruled by Katsuhito. All things considered, the demoness felt Tenchi had gotten off rather easy, and that the old man was only punishing his grandson as a formality.

Eventually, over the next few weeks, her young friend had grown ostensibly concerned, and when she tried to console him he spilled out a flurry of pent up emotions. School was starting soon, he was nervous, scared that he wasn’t smart enough, having never lived or even visited a city before. When asked why this should matter he explained how on some new age device called a television, essentially a box with a window that could both show and tell stories, whenever he saw a school it was always in a city or large town with city-like folk. What Tenchi was scared of was that these people were supposed to be smarter than people like him, who lived in a rural area.

“How about I tell you a story, hm?” The demon asked, laying down on a cushy blanket Tenchi had brought for a picnic and stretching out fully. She turned to him, propping her head on one hand, and using the other to demonstrate with a wavy gesture its relevance to his concern.

“Alright,” Tenchi agreed quietly, seeming unsure of how a story could help him now, but trusting her all the same.

“Schools have existed since my time, long before I was ever trapped in these woods. I remember them well; young men, for only human men were allowed in back then, would come from all around and listen to older men rattle on about spirituality, morality, history, mathematics, and all that boring stuff. My point is these were all boys who had come from respectable families, but only knew as much as their families could provide. Schooling costs money, understand, and you could only learn if you had the money and social standing that came with it.

“It was because of this exclusive presence that I wanted to crash one of their classes. You know what I did? I found a slacker dawdling behind, knocked him out, and stole his clothes. It wasn’t a perfect fit, but I can do things with a belt and sash you wouldn’t believe… Err, anyway, after stuffing my hair as best I could into one of those silly hats your people’s academics wore, I trailed closely behind a group of students into the school.

“You know I tried being inconspicuous, sitting in the back of the class and just listening. But I guess everything just bored me and I sort of dozed off. The next thing I know I’m surrounded by a priest and a handful of the local authority enforcers. They had come to dispatch me, a well known demon by that time, and probably to make a name for themselves. Well, you know how powerful I am… err, was, and so I made quick work of them and trashed the building before making my escape,” she finished without ceremony, save a slight grin of pleasure gracing her pretty lips.

When she noticed the awed, though slender and timid look about his features, Ryoko decided to make an amendment, “Err, the moral, yeah… So what you should get from all of this is that you are a perfectly clever human child that can even get a demon to smile, so you should have no trouble fitting into a classroom full of other kids.”

The smile Ryoko offered Tenchi was warm, though somewhat quirked. Never the less he couldn’t imagine seeing any other demons or monsters parading as human children at his school and snoozing in a back seat. He snickered slightly at the thought of it, and immediately felt an inner weight lift.

The forest demon seemed pleased by her friend’s light laughter, and found it as a cause to continue conversing, “See? No worries then. And if you do end up feeling nervous still, just remember nothing they throw at you will ever compare to escaping me unharmed.”

Tenchi’s warm expression slackened a pinch. Seeing Ryoko’s bravado didn’t fill him with the confidence he was sure was meant to come from it, but rather a plunging sensation. She had spoken of it so offhandedly he didn’t realize exactly what she had said, made it feel like the events were to be thought of as a game or some such. But by ‘making quick work of them,’ and ‘trashing the place,’ did she mean hurting others? Or even killing them? Then again, she said they had come to dispatch her, which meant she was defending herself, right? His uncertainty must have shown through his now weakened smile, for his companion interrupted his thoughts.

“What’s wrong now, kiddo?” she asked kindly, well, kindly for her.

“Oh! Um…” he focused his gaze at his feet and tried to quickly think of something to cover up his wayward imaginings.

“Come on, you can tell me, no one here but us! Besides, who would I blab to anyhow?” Ryoko offered a toothy fanged grin. She knew there was something else troubling him, that was plain, but he was acting as if it was something he would get in trouble for.

“Uh… It’s, well, kinda embarrassing,” now he had to assume an embarrassing story on top of being relevant to the topic at hand. His brain was racking its self into a stupor. This is why he hated lying, not only did he feel horrible inside, but it was so hard to do straight faced; and had to be done quickly and convincingly, or else he would immediately be called on it. The truth was so much easier.

“More embarrassing than being indebted to a demon?” she prodded.

“Wha? Oh, well…” then an image of his mother flashed by his mind, it was of her laughing at the TV because someone was doing something embarrassing. That was it! “Its, uh, my mom…”

“Hm?” the demoness pushed on, though not nearly as forceful now, the topic of his mother was one she preferred to avoid.

“It’s just, umm, well, all the other kids will have their moms walk them to the bus or school, and… Dad will be in the city and Grandpa never leaves the shrine. They say I can do it by myself, but the other kids will see I don’t have a mom and… and some already laugh…”

Ryoko didn’t like how quiet his voice had become. At first he sounded almost fevered, and then lulled into a reserved, introspective voice. Seeing him curl into a compacted sitting position and hang his head didn’t help much either. She sighed half way to concern, half to guilt, and scooted next to him, placing what she hoped was a comforting hand on his shoulder. He turned to look at his new friend with wet eyes, and she almost lost her composer. Stupid children, how come she couldn’t bring herself to hurt the motherless?

“Say, Tenchi, if it really bothers you so much, not like it should, but how would you feel if I walked you down to your bus stop?” She hadn’t meant to say anything of the sort, but there was something about his lonely brown eyes that just cried out for her consolidation, or would it be more accurate to say her reprimand?

There was no reason for her to think this was the wrong thing to say though, for his expression immediately returned to one of hope and wonder.

A few days came and went in a flurry of autumn leaves breaking free from their tall parent homes and falling gracefully to their deaths. Ryoko had not expected the prospect of walking down the mountain road to his bus stop, which did cut through her forest prison, to be so exciting to her. Yet sure enough, hours before the sun even had the chance to rise above the steeped horizon, there she was, waiting just outside his gate. Perhaps it was the odd feeling of nostalgia that the idea instilled, or maybe

it had something to do with being yet another change from her once boring existence that Tenchi seemed to bring about constantly. Whatever the reason, she was stoked.

Noboyuki had exited first, backing out of the driveway in a monstrously loud vehicle that moved without the brute force of any beasts of burden. She of course knew of these mechanical wonders, but had yet to see one operate so close before. Part of her even wanted to chase after the horseless carriage, but Tenchi was counting on her. She also assumed Noboyuki had been informed of her proctor role, because he did not seem surprised to see her waiting there, and even gave her a wave of greeting before speeding off. She supposed he must be running late, despite how early it was, for whenever the middle-aged man had gotten over her abrupt appearances near the Masaki property, he would usually stop whatever it was he had been doing to try and hit on her. In her cunning mind it was better when he hadn’t gotten over that she was a demon and preferred to keep his distance.

She watched the sun rise to pass the time, thinking it a beautiful morning to be going for a walk. Slowly, gracefully, the great warmth filled the air and brought the birds to life all over the forest. It wasn’t soon after that Tenchi came bounding out of his house in such a hurry, dressed up in an adorable little uniform, that he immediately slipped on a rather large wet leaf and fell onto his bottom with a thud. Ryoko was still snickering as he reached her, rubbing his rump tenderly and looking only dully pained.

“Good morning Ryoko,” Tenchi greeted properly, just barely remembering to stop himself from bowing.

“Mornin’ Tenchi,” Ryoko responded in kind, holding out her hand for him to grab onto, to which he gladly did.

The early risers set out into the dawn, him recanting what he had seen on TV the previous night, then moving on to his worrisome dreams all having to do with going to school, “But when I woke up I didn’t feel that bad, because I remembered you were going to walk with me down the mountain to the bus stop, and, well, it just seemed really… like it was going to be ok.”

Ryoko put on a playful grin in response, “Of course, I make everything easy; didn’t you know?”

They shared an ironic laugh before Tenchi asked a question he had seemed to be holding back since setting out, “Um, Ryoko?”

“Hmmm?”

“I was just wondering, err, a long time ago, did moms and kids walk like this too? I mean, to school and to town and things.”

“Why do you ask?”

“Just… um, just wondering…” there seemed to be more behind his question, but Ryoko didn’t pry for the moment.

“Well… As far back as I can remember it seems so. Actually, the only thing that has really changed is that the father of a family would be willing to walk their kids around if the mother isn’t up for it. Heh, you know, my mother contributed men’s ‘too proud’ behavior to the stupidity of human customs.”

“Your mother?” Tenchi asked with a genuine air of surprise, having gotten used to her occasional absent minded insults to mankind by now, “you have a mom?”

“What do you mean, ‘you have a mom?’ Of course I do!” Ryoko felt slighted, but held back most of the spice from leaving her tongue, “Where else do you think I came from? The stone of the Earth?”

“Oh… umm, well, I- I never thought of it before I guess. I mean, it makes sense, just, you know, demons having families and all…”

“Rarely,” she muttered under her breath, “Guess I get to break it to you then… Yes, demons could have families, but we are usually so greedy or selfish it never happens. Look at foxes, for instance, demons are much the same. A male comes along, makes babies with the female, and depending on their personalities he will either stick around long enough to help raise the pups, until she is ready to give birth, or just outright bolts for it. Though you can’t blame him too hard, the mom can get scary and kick his ass. Though that’s probably because he might eat the pups, you can never really tell.

“Anyways, yes Tenchi, I have a mother. She was one of the first demons, in fact, and could very well have been the most powerful. She loved philosophy and the innovations of your kind. For hours she would go on and on about the rise of human civilizations, how their weapons spawned from tools and vice versa, or how their indulgence in math held the key to all the world’s mysteries. I think it’s what she left me at a young age for… The pursuit of knowledge I mean. Kind of lame how I don’t have very many memories of her actually acting like a mom, huh? Well… I do remember her holding my hand when I was a child though, walking down a mountain much like how we are. That image sort of stands out in my mind. Her hair was red… almost pink. And she had these hypnotizing green eyes that reminded me of the most vibrant jade. She was also usually kind to me, unless… well, she could be scary when she wanted to too.”

“Scary?” Tenchi asked, fairly astonished to hear Ryoko found anything frightening, but wouldn’t dwindle on the subject if she didn’t want to delve into it.

“She…” Ryoko paused for a moment to think of the best words to use, “Well, she really liked to figure out how things worked. Or to be more precise, how to make them work better. So as a demon that meant even if someone didn’t want her to, she still would. You seem a bit confused. Here, let me put it like this: my mother would sometimes go down to a village disguised as a human, dispose of the local doctor, and take his place as his ‘assistant.’ Then, when someone would need care, she would use it as an excuse to cut them open and tinker with their insides. Sometimes it would go according to plan, not only would they get better, but would end up stronger or faster or living longer than a normal human. Other times… well, she would have to experiment before getting the right results. You know what that means? Experiment?”

“Umm,” Tenchi breathed, barely opening his mouth.

“It means to test, to try something out and see what happens. Why I say she was scary was because even I, her own flesh and blood, was not safe from her testing. In the end I guess it worked out, I wound up being pretty much a perfect life form, as she called me; but being paralyzed on a icy slab while she jeers over you with a knife was still unsettling.”

The small boy felt his skin run cold. Though she spared him the more grotesque details, his mind’s eye was able to fill in the blanks and run rampant with the vague implications set before his untamed imagination.

By the time the pair had arrived at the bus stop, indicated by a rusting old post hammered into the earth beside a roof covered bench, he was holding tighter to Ryoko’s hand than she could recall anyone ever doing with her, well, at least innocently, “Still worried?” the cyan haired caretaker asked casually enough, then continued without concern when he offered no sensible response, “You’ll be fine. I know I keep saying that, but it’s true. You… You’re special, Tenchi. And I’m not just mouthing off, I mean it. I wouldn’t have heard you out when we first met if I didn’t feel something… something was… um, you know, that you were worth knowing.”

Tenchi took a long, shallow breath. He wished he could find the words to respond, but right now he was at a loss. Instead he only nodded his head and pressed his modest fingers into Ryoko’s hand all the more, to which he was thankful she returned the gesture in turn. They sat hand in hand on the smooth wooden seat, sharing a quiet moment. Every so often they would hear a vehicle approaching, to which the humming engine would deposit a perplexing tingle to the child’s extremities, causing another chased inhale.

Finally the big one arrived, as Ryoko so amply named it after picking up the sound well before Tenchi could. The bus was indeed large, much larger than the other automobiles. Though while Ryoko looked delighted that such a massive metallic object could move all on its own, Tenchi stirred up something deep within to steady his mounting nerves. As the monstrosity came to a halt, the antique demon made note of the change coming over her young friend’s demeanor. It was a sign of his considerable courage, this ability of his to face forward at such a young age and do what he must despite any fears, troubles, or intimidation. She had seen it the first evening they had met, and a minor chill tiptoed up her spine as she witnessed the spectacle unfurl before her. He was indeed special, she thought as she hugged him goodbye for the day and reassured that she would be here to receive him later, more special to her than he should ever know.

She watched as the bus drove out of sight from atop the bench covering. Having not much else to do that day, she decided to watch the clouds drifting by high over head as she reclined into a relaxed position. Every now and again a car or van would speed by, and if she bothered to watch it she would inevitably find faces gawking at her. The most interesting instances where when other buses made a stop, releasing older looking people (who didn’t seem to care much for Ryoko’s outlandish appearance) onto the side of the road; they avoided eye contact and immediately headed up the trail leading to the Masaki shrine. Human beings could be such strange creatures, she thought. After a long while with no gasoline driven interruptions, Ryoko’s mind fell back onto the subject of her mother. Ever since Tenchi had come into her life, she seemed to be thinking of her own childhood quite often, which predictably led onto that… monster.

The great demon from the west, they had called her, who stood witness to the beginning of man. Ryoko’s tail twirled about, if her mother was still alive, which was very likely, then she was either too busy researching all the constant changes in the world caused by the ever growing human population, or had been sealed away somewhere like her daughter.

Of course, if she was dead, then Ryoko could hardly say she would be surprised. Most of the demons in the world had been exterminated centuries ago, either by the hands of other demons, or the holy weapons of humans. It was only the most powerful and cleaver, like herself, who survived by either going into hiding, blending in, or becoming sealed.

When the sun started to settle against the horizon Ryoko’s ears perked. A familiar, large humming had filled the air. Sure enough, as she turned her head, she could spot Tenchi’s cylindrical transport approaching far too fast for a craft of its magnitude. As it slowed to a halt for a second time that day the awaiting demon noticed again how the small faces of children were tightly pressed against the windows of the vehicle, their wild eyes all fixed on her. Tenchi was the only one to step off of the bus, and before she could offer him a warm greeting she noticed something was slightly amiss.

“Hey there Tenchi, welcome back!” she said cheerfully enough, though wondering now what had brought about his slouched demeanor. Perhaps he really did have a horrible day? If there was a bully about then there would be hell to pay.

The sorry looking boy only responded after the bus driver had stood up to correct the behavior of some children rough housing in the back of bus, “Err, um, hey Ryoko,” he mumbled half heartily, his eyes downcast, though every so often sparing furtive glances towards the mushed faces watching over them.

“Bad day?” Ryoko asked, trying her best not to let any concern to bleed through.

When Tenchi finally met her eyes he found himself inhaling sharply. It was time to fess up, for he knew all too well how a normal person took concealing secrets from them, let alone a trigger happy demon. He straightened up and flattened his lips, frowning slightly but looking determined none the less, essentially letting a dam of information break forth from his mouth, fast and concentrated,

“I got to school but then I was sat with Kamikura and Ikeda! Kamikura found out that I didn’t have a mom and tried to make fun of me so I just, uh, I just sort of didn’t think and said that I was descended from a great samurai and have a demon servant who serves my family and takes care of me and will put a curse on anyone who does my family wrong!”

The second Tenchi stopped spouting his confession Ryoko closed her eyes and knocked him with a tight fist on the top of his head. She could never recall feeling so insulted in her life, and at the same time confused, as it was only a child’s foolishness that affronted her, though this did little in cooling her tongue, “You brat! I would never be the slave of any human!”

The sudden collective intake of breath from the fogged windows gave her pause though. Not like she cared if a bunch of kids knew she was a demon, but Tenchi’s word was at stake here. If he was branded a liar from the get go then it could be all the difference in branding him an outcast or not. And as much as Ryoko would hate to admit it, she never particularly enjoyed that role herself. Then an idea on how to save this situation formed in her mind. Noticing the boy still crouched and holding the top of his head, she used her mammalian tail to wrap around his belt and lifted him up off of the ground just as the bus started up again and began to roll away.

There were even more gasps and whispers of astonishment, giving the demoness incentive to add to her little display, “Come on, little lord, looks like this evil demon has to teach you some manners still,” she announced quite loudly to a squirming boy in the throes of protest, they set off up the mountain pass, leaving behind the departing bus.