AN: I'm not sure if I still need to say this, but I'm going to anyway. This story is NOT abandoned, and most likely never will be.

I happen to really enjoy writing this, and am just a slow updater. With that said, if for some unknown reason, I do decide to abandon this fic, then I'll at least post my outline or put it up for adoption or something. Oh, and you can thank ThePhenakism and Karsz for this update. They are the ones who inspired me to buckle down and finish this chapter, so thanks guys.

On with the story.

xxxxx

Raki was becoming more human.

Not in the literal sense, of course. His body remained the same, with mismatched eyes and inhuman strength and speed to keep even Riful on her toes, it was his aura that was changing. At first, the Abyssal hadn't noticed it, but three days ago, she and Raki had been doing aura exercises when she tried to break through his human aura. Only to find that she couldn't.

When questioned, Raki had claimed to be working on a new aura suppression technique, something he hoped would help him with his overall control.

And now, sitting next to him around the fire, her aura engaged his in a serious battle. To anyone else, they were just sitting there. Raki stirring the fire with a serious look on his face, and Riful with her legs drawn up to her chest and staring into space.

But on the inside, Riful was furiously battering Raki's wall of an aura with everything she had in an attempt to break it. Thus far, it had been fruitless, but she was determined to win tonight.

Raki closed his eyes and yawned magnificently, and, furious that he could be so relaxed while she was doing her best to force his blue youki out of hiding, she hit him with another ruthless barrage of attacks.

Raki winced, and finally, Riful found the crack she'd been looking for. A small bit of blue showed itself before the crack resealed, but it was enough.

"YES!" Riful jumped to her feet and punched the air in victory. "I did it! I broke your aura! Bwahaha!"

Raki groaned and covered his eyes with his hands. "Dang it." He said, "I totally thought I could keep it up too."

"I WON!"

"Yeah, yeah." Raki grumbled, pouting.

"But man, that took forever! I'm exhausted. Are you exhausted?"

"Three days of non-stop aura defense will take a lot out of you."

"No kidding. Well now that I've won, we can sleep! I am so tired."

"Why are you so stubborn, Ri?" Raki complained as he laid out his bedroll.

"You're the one who's stubborn! If you had just given up we could have avoided three whole days and nights of an aura battle."

"I wanted to see how far I could push myself."

"Yeah, well, now you know."

"I do indeed. Let's never do that again." Placing his armor and sword next to his bedroll, Raki sat down and waited as Riful pulled her cloak from her bag and put it on before sitting down next to him.

"You're warm," She muttered, leaning against his chest.

"And you're cold. Why are you so cold?" He asked wrapping his arms around her small body.

"I was so focused on breaking down your walls that I guess I forgot to keep my body temperature up. Oops."

"You should be more careful, Ri." Raki said as they both lied down.

"Okay, if you say so." Riful smiled as she curled into Raki's warm body. "Goodnight Raki."

"Goodnight Riful. Sleep well."

xxxxx

"I'm going to make a run into town for some food and supplies. Do you want to come?"

Raki asked as he tied up the palomino, (whom he had named Ichabod.)

"No thanks. I'm going to stay here and groom Ebony."

Ebony was the name Riful had finally decided on for her mare, and Raki had been pleasantly surprised at how much the Abyssal actually seemed to care for the horse. At the very least, she tended to it.

"Alright then, I'll be back in about two hours or so." And with that, Raki strapped his sword to his back and zoomed off in the direction of the nearest town, which was some thirty miles away.

Riful watched him as he ran away and smiled slightly. Since the incident with Diana, they hadn't discussed it again, nor had Riful mentioned the fact that Raki had kissed her. Which was fine, Riful wasn't sure what she thought about that yet.

On one hand, she really liked Raki, maybe she even loved him. But still, she couldn't forget about Dauf, whose death was still fresh in her mind a few months later. So she had decided to wait and see what happened. And though he hadn't said anything, the Abyssal had a feeling that Raki had decided the same thing. Silently mulling this over, Riful began to groom Ebony, methodically working the dirt and grime out her coat and mane until the black horse practically gleamed in the sunlight.

Not half an hour after Raki left, a glowing gold aura surrounded by many sickly yellow auras entered her range, and Riful stopped what she was doing, cocking her head to one side inquisitively.

It was a Warrior, and she was fighting no less than twenty-seven yoma. A bit peeved , since this was her territory and large gatherings of yoma and awakened beings were strictly forbidden unless under her own direct order, Riful went to investigate.

The Warrior in question was strong, but not strong enough, as she was definitely at a disadvantage. Still, she had taken out twelve of the yoma, and wasn't giving up. She had chin-length straight hair and short bangs, and for a moment when Riful saw her, she was sure it was that loathsome girl who had somehow managed to avoid becoming one of her pawns. But no, this was another girl, and not nearly as pretty.

Observing for a few more moments, the Abyssal finally became bored and decided to intervene. The way things were going, the Warrior might actually win, and then there would be no yoma left for Riful to make an example of.

With a dramatic sigh, Riful launched herself to the edge of the battlefield and within moments her hair had everyone trapped in an inescapable bind, Warrior included.

"My, my." She said, "what do we have here? Fifteen yoma and one Warrior? Oh! And look… twelve dead yoma." Riful absent-mindedly speared one of the corpses and held him up in front of the Warrior.

"Did you do this, Warrior? What sloppy work! Really, children theses days…Well, no matter, I suppose I owe you a thank you for taking care of this unruly band of ruffians."

The Warrior looked at her with wide eyes and didn't say anything.

"Mistress!" One of the yoma choked out, "We thought you were dead!"

"Silence, fool! You have broken one of the strictest rules of the west! And for that," Riful smirked and stroked his face with the flat edges of her blade. "I shall make an example of you all."

xxxxx

An hour later Riful stood in a blood-soaked clearing with twenty-six dismembered, disemboweled, beheaded, laceration covered yoma corpses. She had tortured them, one by one, until all but one was dead. The single remaining yoma was currently lying on the ground, weeping. His arms and legs had all been viciously sawed off, was well as his tongue and eyes.

"Ah, dear yoma, can you still hear me?" The yoma did nothing, which she took as a yes. "Well, yoma, thank your lucky stars, for today is your lucky day. I am going to let you live!" The sobbing intensified.

"But in return for my mercy, you must do something for me. After you regenerate, you must journey across the west and tell any yoma you meet to abide by the laws which I have so rightfully set across this land. Do you think you can do that?" A small whimper signified 'yes'.

"Lovely." Carelessly tossing the limbless yoma away, Riful turned to the Warrior. The Warrior was completely unharmed and had not moved at all during the past hour.

Turning to her, Riful spoke. "And last of all, we have you, my dear. Do you know who I am?"

The girl said nothing, too terrified to speak. A bit impatient, Riful used the tip of her blade to stab into the girls flesh slightly, not enough to actually hurt her, but enough to shock her back to reality.

"Do you know who I am?" She repeated.

"Y-yes. You're… Riful of the West." The Warrior whispered the last few words in terror.

"Yup! What's your name?"

The Warriors eyes cleared a bit and she answered uncertainly, "Minerva, number 24."

"Alright, Minerva. Now this is how its going to work. I'm going to ask you some questions, and you're going to answer truthfully in short, clear sentences. If you don't, or if you lie to me, I will do the same to you as I did to them." Riful gestured to the scene of gore that lay around them and the Warrior paled considerably. "Do you think you can do that?"

"I-I won't reveal any of our secrets to you-!"

Riful giggled, "You say that now, but I'm sure you'll be much more polite in a few minutes. And anyway…" Riful stroked the Warriors cheeks softly with her hair and smiled sweetly. "I'm not after secrets, just some basic knowledge is all. Shall we begin?"

xxxxx

"Hey, Ri!" Raki sang happily as he walked back into the clearing they'd made camp. "Do you like apples? They're red! Like blood!" Looking around and noticing his companion's absence, the armored man frowned seriously. "Riful?"

Shutting his eyes tightly, Raki stretched out his inner eye and searched for the tell-tale signature of the Abyssal's hidden aura.

Moments later he took off speeding through the forest.

Raki smelled all the blood before he saw it, dozens of yoma, all dead, were brutally cut up and dismembered. Despite his level head for gore, and general hatred for yoma, Raki felt himself grow queasy at the sight.

His stomach lurched even further when a strangled scream broke the silence of the woods, and a bloody arm fell to his feet with a thud.

"Ah!" Raki jumped back in shock and he raced to where Riful's aura was. "Riful!"

Riful turned around in surprise to see Raki behind her.

"Oh, Raki. You're getting a lot better. I didn't feel you at all just now."

Raki stared wide-eyed at the empress, and then looked past her to see the Warrior she had caught in a web of her metal-gray blades. The Warrior was obviously terrified, and looked to Raki in a frightened confusion. Her right arm ended in a bloody stump, and numerous cuts criss-crossed her body.

"Riful?! What's going on here?!"

Riful followed her companions gaze to the Warrior and blinked. "Oh, yeah. Raki, this is Minerva. Minerva, say hi to Raki."

"Riful! Are you torturing her?"

"Don't worry, Raki. Her name is Minerva. Not Clare."

"That's not the problem here, Riful!"

Riful looked confused, "There's a problem…?"

"Yes!" Raki growled as he walked stiffly to Riful.

"What's the problem?" She asked, placing a hand on her hip and turning to face her furious companion.

"The problem, Riful, is that you are torturing this girl!"

"So? If she would just tell me what I wanted to know I wouldn't have to hurt her."

Raki stared at Riful uncomprehendingly for a moment. Was this really Riful?

"Ri! You can't just torture people! Its wrong, sick, and definitely not okay!"

"Excuse me?" Riful arched an eyebrow and tightened the ribbons restraining the warrior. Smoothly, she slid blades over Minerva's mouth and ears.

"I'm getting information, Raki." She said coldly. "Information that could save our lives if and when the organization comes after us."

"That doesn't make it anymore right!" Raki growled. His hand itched to reach for his sword and free the poor girl, but he held himself back. This was Riful, after all.

"Yeah?!" Riful growled becoming frustrated with the whole situation and Raki's hypocrisy. "What about those bandits you slaughtered, huh, Raki? They were more human than this Warrior!"

"I didn't torture them!"

"You did too!" Riful glared at her companion accusingly, "you murdered all but a few of them and then mentally tortured the survivors! Then you gave them to me! To eat."

Raki took a step backward in surprise.

"You may be right about that, Riful, but those bandits deserved what they got! The Warrior did nothing to hurt you or anyone else! Let her go!"

Riful scoffed. "And who are you to decided who deserves death and pain, Raki? For all you know those bandits had families. Wives, children. Maybe that was their way of life. You can't condemn them for that. You're not God!"

"They're murderers!" Raki yelled, his eyes blazing.

"So am I!" She shrieked back. "So is Minerva! Minerva kills Yoma as a job. Yoma have feelings too! Surely I and your companions before me have proven that to you?! And yet I eat people to survive, Raki! How can you justify letting me live and killing a yoma?" Stepping closer, Riful extended her limbs so she was of an equal height to the silver haired man. "And you, too." She growled softly.

Raki took several steps back away from Riful.

"I can see it in your eyes, Raki." Riful said. "You've done unspeakable things haven't you? Things you want to forget… things you wish you regretted, but don't."

"…Ah." Raki's face slowly shifted into one of terror as the truth of Riful's words sunk in. "Th-that's…"

"You've killed people. And not just bad people either, anyone that stood in your way on your path of survival and strength. I'm right, aren't I? You don't need to pretend to be good anymore, Raki."

Riful took a step backward, slightly smug. She'd hit the nail on the head, so to speak. Raki may act happy and carefree, but Riful was old and experienced; she knew he wasn't entirely what he appeared to be. Speaking with a slightly softer tone, the empress continued, "You don't need to pretend, because I'm just like you. I won't hate you for anything you've done."

Raki stared straight ahead, his face frozen in horror as he remembered the things he'd rather forget. "She will." He whispered.

"What?" Riful cocked her head to one side and leaned in closer.

"She'll hate me." He breathed, Putting his hands to his face, he shuddered And looked down with wide, unseeing eyes. "If she ever finds out about the things I've done… she'll hate me for sure."

Riful took a step back and said nothing.

"But it was all for her… Everything! I've torn myself apart… I've thrown my humanity away, to keep our promise."

Riful expected Raki to start crying, but he didn't. He just looked up at her through his hands with sad eyes.

"Let the warrior go, Riful. Please. For me." Turning away, Raki stumbled back into the woods, hastily making his retreat the way he'd come.

The Abyssal stared after him coolly. Silently unwinding her blades from the frightened Warrior, she thought, I didn't expect this. His Clare… she really was a selfish bitch. Making a human boy promise to stay alive and search for her. Of course it would end up like this! Humans don't have the luxury of choosing their battles or only killing those who deserve it. They're not strong enough for that. Becoming inhuman must have secretly been a relief for him.

"Well, Warrior." She said aloud, "It seems an angel has graced you with its presence today, for I'm letting you go."

Picking her arm up, Minerva stared at the Abyssal suspiciously. "Why?" She asked. "Why not kill me?"

"Oh, I want to. Believe me. But like I said before, an angel's given you a visit. Now beat it before I decide to ignore him."

The Warrior did just that, and Riful sighed in annoyance at how slow she moving. It would barely take her a second to catch up if she wanted to.

xxxxx

It was close to midnight when Riful returned to their campsite. Unsurprisingly, Raki was not there. Sighing to herself, she untied the horses and let them graze for the night before retiring to sleep. I've really gone and screwed things up now. She thought bitterly. Why did I say those things? Not that they aren't true, they are, but it probably really hurt Raki… I wonder if he'll come back.

Through the tree branches above her, Riful could barely discern the soft lights in the sky. Reaching her hand up, she pretended that she could hold them in her hand.

If he doesn't come back on his own, I can't even bring him back by force. If it's a serious fight of course I'd win, but to do that I'd have to find him. Riful made a fist, crushing the stars she was holding. He's become too good at hiding his aura. If I put all my effort into finding him, then at best I'd say I have only a 5% chance at locating him. Less than that if he's actively hiding from me.

Riful turned on her side and scowled. She hated this feeling of… sorrow. It had occurred to her, more than once, that her biggest weakness was by far her loneliness.Even when she was a Warrior she had constantly sought the company and affection of others. Even going so far as to start conversations with humans. And when she awakened, that was one aspect of her personality that did not change. She wanted friends, she wanted to be loved. If only I wasn't like this, it would be easier. I wouldn't care if Raki came back or not. Well, maybe I would, but only because I have lost a valuable pawn. But I'm not like that; I don't miss his strength, I miss him.

Riful decided to give him one week, and if he didn't return, then he obviously didn't want to be around her anymore. Then, she decided, she'd hunt him down for being an asshole.

xxxxx

"Hah!" Raki lunged forward, defending from an imaginary enemy. His sword whistled sharply through the air and sliced through the waterfall, creating a momentary lapse in the river's course. He was naked from the waist up, and standing knee-deep in a frigid river. He strove his muscles, slashing his blade through the water repeatedly, honing his technique.

The water was good, because it offered a subtle resistance that open air did not, and he could work on his endurance and strength. Before his 'transformation' it had been one of his favorite exercises, as it required his full focus and was always challenging. He turned to this training when he needed to get away, or needed to not think.

He didn't want to think right. He didn't want to their faces, the faces of those he had killed. But Raki was strong now, too strong, and the exercise no longer offered him a challenge. His mind wandered, and Riful's words sang through his mind like a mantra, you don't need to pretend to be good anymore, Raki. Finally he could ignore the voice no longer, and he sat on the edge of the river to think.

xxxxx

It turned out that Riful had been unnecessarily generous by giving him a week. He came back after two days. She was amusing herself in the clearing by scratching pictures and words into the trees with her hair. Then, when she was done, she cut up the tree in a blur of movement into firewood. She estimated there was enough firewood to last a whole winter. Etching a detailed scene in the base of a tree, Riful's sensitive ears picked up the soft sound of footsteps. It was too quiet to be human, and she spun around quickly.

Raki looked tired. He had dark bags under his eyes, and dirt covered his skin and mussed his hair. His clothes were oddly damp, and bore several new holes and tears. Leaves and twigs stuck out in odd places. A long cut hung under his right eye, and a bit of dried blood mixed with the dirt.

Riful stood up. "Raki, I-"

"Wait." He interrupted. "Before you say anything, there are some things I want to say first. I've been thinking really hard about what happened, and what you said."

Riful stood, patiently waiting for him to continue.

Raki took a deep breath, "It was wrong of me to try and put 'good' and 'evil' labels on everything. I know that I am not an evil person," Raki sat down tiredly on the ground and looked up at Riful. "But I have certainly done some things that could be considered 'evil'. And there is no way that I could ever think that you are evil or bad. But its true that you eat people." With a sigh, Raki's face grew sad. "I think I've known this for a long time, actually. I thought that, if I become a good person now, and help people, then maybe some of the terrible things I've done will be forgiven, or better yet, forgotten. But in the end, that's just selfish."

Moving to him, Riful placed a soft hand on his cheek.

"I'm sorry." She said.

"For what?" Raki's eyes were questioning and tired, but Riful was relieved to see the same passionate fierceness that he'd always possessed still resided in his brown and silver eyes.

"Everything." She responded.

Silently, the armored man considered this. After a while he sighed. "I… am trying to forgive you. But I haven't forgiven myself yet, for things that happened years ago."

Riful pursed her lips. Evil actions or not, Raki was still good, even if his point of view was definitely skewed.

She couldn't say the same about herself.

Looking down, Riful dropped her arm and felt strangely… well, she didn't know how she felt exactly. She didn't feel good, that was for sure.

"Hey…" Raki reached up to grasp her hand, but stopped himself. "I'm not mad. Just… upset. And confused." He sighed. "I really like you Riful. And I'm really happy when we're together. I just need a little time, is all."

Unnoticeable to Raki, Riful's eyes hardened.

She would give him the time he wanted. She would give him his space, and let him mull things over. But she sure as hell wasn't going to let him come to any other conclusion than the one she wanted. She wasn't letting Raki go anywhere. Especially not now that he was back of his own accord.

"Okay." The child-like empress smiled sweetly and patted his hand before releasing it. "You can take all the time you want Raki. There's no rush."

"Yeah… about that. You know, I think we've been wasting our time this far west."

Riful picked up the change of topic gratefully. "What do you mean?"

"I don't know…" Raki scratched his head thoughtfully. "It's just this feeling. Something big is about to happen, I think. And we need to be there for it."

"So where do you want to go then?" The small girl looked up at her companion curiously, her face pale as porcelain and her dainty lips turned downward in a thoughtful frown.

"East, I guess. We could go to Rabona; I have a few acquaintances over there who would probably help us out."

"And then what?"

"Then we keep looking for Clare… and maybe figure out whatever it is that's making me uneasy."

"Well whatever. A plan's a plan anyway. Do you want to leave now or in the morning?"

"It can wait until morning, I think." Raki yawned, and rubbed at his face a moment, pressing on his cut. Riful reached up and examined the scrape closely. She thought it looked okay, but wasn't sure as she didn't really have much experience with human wounds.

"It's fine, Riful." Raki said, pushing her hands away, and she winced. He'd called her Riful, and not 'Ri'. That in itself wasn't all that unusual, it was the way he said it, his tone spoke volumes of the distance that had opened between the two.

That simply won't do. Riful thought, her cunning brain already supplying her with numerous solutions to the problem. "Don't be stupid, Raki." She snipped. "Sit down and let me clean it out for you. Otherwise it might get infected."

Riful hoped she wasn't wrong. Human wounds got infected… right?

"Alright," Raki grumbled, and sat on the ground. Riful skipped over to a nearby spring and filled up Raki's canteen to the brim with fresh water. Skipping back, she poured a bit of the water on the clean strip of cloth before bringing it to Raki's face.

"I can do it myself…" Raki began to offer, but was silenced by a firm glance from his companion. Riful used one hand to cup Raki's face gently and prevent him from moving, and the other hand to clean the dirt and grime from his face. She made small circle motions with the damp cloth, and hummed a soothing tune while subtly massaging the taller mans face. For the moment, she steered clear of cut, deciding to get rid of the thick layer of dirt on his face first.

After a few moments, Raki closed his eyes and made a soft sound of happiness in the back of his throat. Who knew that washing your face could feel so nice? Riful wrung the cloth out, and dipped it in fresh water before continuing to clean his face. She got behind his ears, which made him smirk; his mother had always insisted that he wash behind his ears, although he could never figure out why. Riful ran her small hands through his scalp next, pulling out errant twigs and leaves. Then she washed the back of his neck, ridding it of the caked-on dirt and dried sweat.

"You need a bath," she said with a smirk. "You kind of smell."

"I'll bathe tomorrow." He promised.

"Let me get your cut now." Riful changed the water once more and delicately began removing the bits of grime and blood from the shallow cut.

Raki winced once, when she pressed too hard, and Riful apologized, stroking his cheek tenderly.

"It's fine," He reassured. "It needs to be cleaned anyway. I got an infection once, in my shoulder, I almost died."

"Really." Riful murmured, more focused on ridding the parted skin of dirt.

"Yeah. A fox bit me when I was traveling alone, I barely made it to a healer in time. She had to reopen the wound, and clean it out. One of my more painful experiences, I think. Fortunately I was only semi-conscious during the process, but the afterward…" Raki shuddered. "She made me drink this horrible… blend thing… of medicine. It took me weeks to get the taste out of my mouth!"

"Alright. That should do it." Riful said, patting his unmarred cheek before turning away. "You need to be more careful with that side of your face, Raki. If you receive a serious wound there, then you really will die."

The silver-eyed soldier nodded in agreement and set up his bedroll before promptly falling asleep.

Riful rolled her eyes and stared at Raki contemplatively for a moment. Despite her efforts there was still a bit of distance there, he trusted her, but was now more wary than he had been before. She had shown him one of her less pleasant sides, and he had reacted in a way she hadn't anticipated. To be honest, she had assumed that after his less-than-clean past he wouldn't mind a little torture and interrogation, but it had deeply bothered him, and that little slip-up on Riful's end had resulted in… this.

The she-demon sighed. Raki would come around, she was sure, but this was likely a major setback in their relationship. If she wanted a loyal pawn and powerful companion, then she needed to tread carefully for a while. But at the same time, she could not go back to how she had acted before. If another instance came up like the yoma, she absolutely could not show mercy or attempt to hide it from Raki; he was too smart for that and it would just make him suspicious.

Reaching out, the abyssal one smoothed a bit of hair from her companions face.

It'll take a lot of work, she mused, but it'll be worth it in the end. Now… how should I go about convincing him to help me destroy the organization?

Riful contemplated this for several minutes, before deciding to just explain her reasoning.

She had decided while Raki was away that that should be their next course of action, although she'd been toying with the idea for several weeks now. With Raki helping her she was fairly confident she could do it. After all Luciela had almost done it, and she had been newly awakened, with no experience at all, and she had been the weakest of the three Abyssals.

But back to the point, they'd been in the west for awhile now, (Riful for over a century) Clare probably wasn't here, and the small abyssal had a feeling that Raki wouldn't want to be left out of anything important.

Smirking, she too laid out her bedroll before going to sleep. Her last thought before falling into unconsciousness was, those idiots in the east had better watch out, because we're coming for their heads.

AN: And now we have a bit of internal conflict between Raki and Riful. I hope their arguments and respective viewpoints turned out well. Please let me know what you think! This chapter was little short, but it was mainly all transition.

We got to see a little more of Riful's plans. She's really devious isn't she? And Raki's playing right into her hands… mostly. Next chapter will be a bit more exciting, as Raki and Riful's inevitable meeting with the ghosts draws closer. Any suggestions on individual reactions? (Keep in mind Clare is still inside the blob-thing).

Remember to review!

-Ember