Exhibiting interest.

_Chapter 4_

"Haaaah? You'd like to know more about 𝙢𝙚?" It wasn't exactly strange to hear, nor was it odd to be asked such a thing, however, the strange part was the person in question asking in the first place. As previously stated by me before, the demon, known as "Runē" has shown no concern, nor has he exhibited any sort of interest towards knowing me formally, talkless of intimately, hence that is why I assume he probably calls me "𝘏𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯". I can't think of anything else, aside from that or he is being respectful and not assuming my gender as I also stated a few chapters ago, but then that too doesn't really make a lick of sense.

We stared at each other strangely, making light of the fact that I was shocked, while he stared right back with a bit of confusion evident in his eyes, "What? Is it so strange for me to learn about the 𝘄𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘀𝗽𝗮𝗰𝗲 that 𝘀𝘂𝗺𝗺𝗼𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝙢𝙚?" Said he with a hint of annoyance behind his tone. Eventually, he sighed and shrugged his shoulders with indifference, turning his head away from me as he then would say undoubtedly, "Fine then, don't get acquainted. Suit yourself, Humans are always so foolish like this, it can't be helped." He lamented bitterly. I can't help but feel vexed at the constant use of the word "Human" as a way of addressing me and as well as for the fact that he continuously proceeds to condemn, insult, and belittle my kind, any human in my place would be very insulted, but, I will be the bigger person and handle this with grace and wisdom.

In doing so, I glanced away and responded calmly, masking my fury, "Yes, of course. My most humble apologies, I just now realize that it would make much more sense if you knew at least a handful of information about me... " I held up a front of prestige, after all, it was Runē I was dealing with. I know very little but have learned the best way to deal with him is to give him a taste of his own medicine. Lifting my gaze from the bed and onto him, staring intently into his golden eyes as I said honestly, "But, promise me that you'll tell me a bit about yourself too, will you not?" adding a dash of politeness to my sentence, let's not upset the possibly thousands of years old, six foot, towering titan, almighty and definitely deadly demon, folks, I sincerely don't feel like dying right now.

Meanwhile, Runē simply gaped at me, disbelief raining his features, but to my surprise, he said nothing concerning my little display of attitude and instead would humor me by saying this, "Alright, as you wish. Go on, speak." His large hand reached forth, waving at me and ushering me to speak now.

A tiny smile took to my lips, allowing me to appear less vexed, "Alright!" I said with glee and continued, "My name is Yuki Obi! It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance." Then I paused, just in case he had any snarky remarks or comments, and of course, as everyone would expect, he did, "Yuki Obi, is it? Such a name does not sound all that interesting…" He then scoffed, grunted, and glanced elsewhere, portraying nothing but revulsion towards my introduction, "And what gives you the impression that it's a pleasure to have you be graced by me? Stop acting like it is, thank you." After he was done speaking to me in such an obnoxious manner…and adding salt to my wounds, I found myself forming a sneer out of annoyance, he has indefinitely vexed me once again. I mean… I just got insulted for introducing myself, and anyway, I didn't choose my name, so, what the fuck? Does he take pride in insulting people, or is he just naturally mean?

I tried, oh, tried desperately to move past the ever-so-painful ridiculing taunt that this handsome jackass of a demon had thrown my way, and merely swallowed my pride, replying meekly, "Yes… thank you, for your… 'Honest' opinion, I will remember that." And trust me, I will, glaring at him from the corner of my eyes, as I too looked away, using that as an opportunity to silently swear at him.

Anyhow, I adjusted a little in my position and posture, then huffed a bit and regained a speck of my composure, pushing on for his sake and my sanity, "Can I continue?" I politely inquired in a soft voice, my eyelids relaxing and giving me a less enthusiastic look, he returned his gaze my way to reveal a expression of ennui of his, only giving a nod as his signal for me to continue, so, I did, "Right then, I'm an African, West African, but I was taken to Asia… More or less sold off by my mother, but that's a story for another time…I stayed with the people who adopted me off her for quite some time…" I paused once again, but this time to think a little, doing well to remember vividly the past. Although, I also considered not telling him anymore than this, but something kept pushing me to spill, and so I ended up picking up where I left off, I also noticed that I had fully grasped his attention... Neat! "I believe I was only 9 when I was adopted… I think? And have been living here since after that up until I moved out of their home to stay on my own, I was 19 when I did that." Lowering my gaze to my hands, which were neatly nestled on my laps, I twiddled with my thumbs as a gentle smile broke its way on my face, letting out a soft laugh. I caught myself remembering just how my Japanese mother so desperately didn't want me to move, she was even crying. My father had to console her, and I had to promise to call them every day…. I miss them. It's been four years since I've seen them in person. All these part time jobs and University studies have left me so little time for family..and so I get lonely.

"𝗛𝗨𝗠𝗔𝗡."

I jumped in fright, abruptly feeling the sensation of something shaking me and snapping me out of my dreamy state, followed by worried pair of eyes staring down at me intensely, "Human! What is wrong with you? I've been calling you for the past few minutes!" Runē roared furiously, but there were signs of concern under his unrivaled display of anger. I stared at him, perplexed as to why he would be calling me, but then it dawned on me that I must have spaced out, again. Oh dear. "Sorry…I got lost in my train of thought." Said I apologetically, still feeling a tad lost but present. The larger male heaved a sigh, one that sounded like he was relieved, maybe he was worried about me? I'm touched. But, I can already see him denying it if I asked…

"Were you worried about me? Runē?" I decided to ask, because, why the hell not? Plus, I wanted to see if he would get flustered. At first, he was silent, then he cocked his head to the side, completely turning away from me, and said dismissively, "That will be the day, Tch. Foolish mortal." He spat out harshly, leaving me in a state of hurt, but at the same time, I was expecting such a reaction. He then further said, turning to face me again, "I was calling you so I could find out why you were sold off in the first place." His eyes would gleam with interest, awaiting my answer patiently. I remained mute, thinking of a way to avoid the question. However, not a single idea came to my head, so I went for the truth. Averting my eyes from his, I spoke in a blunt tone, coldly,

"Money. My birth family is poor, and so they sold me off, that is all. To ease the stress of finical burden."

It was agonizing to admit, but it was the cold hard truth, a truth that I haven't told anyone, aside from the people who already knew, and those were my Japanese parents and well… her. I trailed my attention back to Runē, just to study his facial expressions, and to my bewilderment, he appeared to be taken aback by my words, yet not fully surprised. "Is that so? Humans are truly something. No wonder you've gone and dug your own grave, you poor thing." He spoke sincerely, and for once I didn't sense any sort of sarcasm or rudeness in his tone, regardless, I still didn't want to hear him say those words, "Yeah, save it. I'm not a charity case, nor do I need your sympathy. However, I will say that I'm shocked that you of all people would show me such a tender side. So you do have a heart?"

"Please, don't take my sympathy as something else, I simply felt sympathetic, nothing more, nothing less. Whoever said you were a charity case to begin with, don't put words in my mouth either." He insisted and warned, gravely, letting out a lowly grunt from his nose and facing away from me once more. I see that we are going to be going back and forth for a while.

"I'm sorry," I said plainly, not having the mental strength to humor him as he may want, I just continued with my story, "Moving past that, I'm a 23-year-old college student, studying at the Kyoto University of Arts, Majoring in English and Languages, Asian History, Fine art and Literature, when I'm not at school, I work part time at a flower shop or at the bakery down the street, they pay well and the owners are very kind to me. I've lived by myself and never once had a roommate…" I then trailed off as I thought of what else to add, suddenly, I snapped my fingers and said in a slight burst of excitement, "Oh! And I'm part of the LGBT community, I identify as Bisexual, my pronouns are He/Him, have no intentions of changing my gender yet, I'm a very quiet person, I don't like noise, I've been told I've got a sharp mouth, I enjoy intellectual type of games, but I also like sporty games, I'm very dynamic and diverse when needed to be.. And… Er… That's all I can think of, sorry. " I finally would end my long-winded narration with a shrug, staring at him and whimsically waiting for his reply.

He stared me down silently, his eyes reflecting his seeming lack of interest, but his tone betrayed him as he gave a thoughtful nod and spoke, "Very well," He first lowered his eye then lifted his gaze from the floor to meet mine, his eyelids lowered, hopefully taking note of each detail I've just shared, "I must admit, you are quite an interesting individual, I take back what I said earlier. To think you summoned me here, what a treat." He flashed a short smile, a teasing one, before returning to his simple grimace, "As agreed, I will share some information about myself." Listening to him say that made me oddly exhilarated, I couldn't help but inhale sharply as I waited patiently for him to begin, hopefully, my eagerness was not showing.

Runē leaned back on the headboard of my bed, crossing one leg over the other and folding his arms across his chest so as to get comfortable. "I am not like any demon you've ever encountered before." He announced with much seriousness, almost comical if you asked me, looking me dead in the eyes as he continued, "My powers are beyond anything you could imagine; I was born from the earth itself, forged by the magical energies that course through it. As a result, I possess an affinity for fire and heat—it is my preferred form of sustenance after all." His heated stare then left me and trailed to his body, causing me to do the same, my eyes trailed over his amazing body, taking in his defined muscular features and bulging pecs, what a day to be alive!...but then, what he said next caught me completely off guard. Grasping my attention, he said at first, "But, don't worry," He then added a devilish grin, "I can control myself around your delicate human body." Then paused for dramatic effect. Allowing me to become hot and bothered by his words. Exactly what did he mean by that!? Yet, he continued as if he had not just made an outrageous claim,

"There's more to me than just raw power though. Despite my initial disdain for humans, as you've already understood by just hearing me talk," Ahah, he didn't even need to tell me about the whole "Hating humans" part, his tongue has lashed me well enough to know that much. I did my best to hide my amusement though, and continued to listen attentively, "I have gained quite an appreciation for knowledge over the years. In fact, many refer to me as "The Great Demon of Knowledge" due to my insatiable thirst for learning new things and vast understanding."

After he was done narrating, he closed his eyes and huffed, a hum escaping from his being as well, before later opening his eyes, then throwing me a glance with those majestic pools of gold, "if you have questions, ask." I assume that I was being given the chance to ask for more info? How kind and gentleman-like of the demon.

Taking his gesture into consideration, I couldn't deny that I was fairly intrigued to learn more about Runē, his way of explaining his coming of existence was like reading an old book. It got me really interested in him. After coming to a conclusion, I responded with coy yet playfulness, "Woah, Runē-sama~ You're so amazing." I cooed with delight, over-exaggerating my tone a tiny bit, I was just merely humoring him whilist being honest and sharing my opinion, "You've caught my attention, you're far more cooler, so please, continue and enlightened me further for I am so ignorant." I teased and sighed with a lot of exaggeration, a cheeky grin forming my lips as small heaps of giggles escaped from my throat. Runē only stared at me, for quite a long period of time actually, ogling at me as if I were mental without actually voicing it out to me, before he just resolved a simple shake of the head, showing that he was a bit disappointed in me, for whatever reason be.

"Hmph."

He later snorted, to my delight, he sounded amused. He leaned forward slightly, his eyes narrowing as he studied me, the guy in front of him. "Very well then," He sounded with a grin that revealed those lovely sharp fangs. "As I mentioned earlier, fire is my preferred form of sustenance. But did you know that it also serves another purpose for me? It fuels my magic and allows me to absorb the power of others." He then adjusted a bit in his position and came narrowly a wee bit closer to me and continued with earnest enthusiasm, "In fact, demons are quite adept at harnessing magical energy. You humans though seem to also have attain such as well, over the past hundreds of years. Over time, each side of the races has built up an extensive knowledge base on how to manipulate and control these forces in their own way, the way it is done by us demons, you humans can only dream of mimicking, as the way you humans do, leave us demons absolutely entertained." He then sighed deeply, conveying his tiredness as he then tilted his head, his eyes flashing a teasing glint my way, "And so, Human,This is where our arrangement comes into play, do you understand me?" Right away I nodded vigorously, as to not delay him or agitate him, he appeared to be satisfied by my quick response and voiced out his appreciation by saying, "Good boy." That left me feeling weird again. I could feel heat creeping its way to my face, but brushed it off as I asked with some boldness, "I'm curious, you've said a lot.. But may I ask why you dislike humans so much?" As soon as I poked at the subject, his eyes darted my way, inciting me to dart mine away to the window as I continued with less confidence, "...You speak very ill of us, have we offended you in any way?" After I was done with passing my question to him, I watched his facial features twist in discomfort, taking note of it mentally. After probably much disagreeing with himself to share, he made a noise, yet another, "Hmph." As his eyes flashed with annoyance at my query, naturally I flinched and was about to say something, but quickly noticed that he was displaying calmness before answering thoughtfully, "Humans are... ungrateful creatures. They tend to misuse and disrespect the power they possess without fully understanding its consequences. It seems that every time one gets close to reaching their full potential or finding inner peace—bam! They get snuffed out by some meddling human who couldn't comprehend the power they're playing with." He took a moment to pause, shooting me a glare that implied that he was also referring to me. I simply just stared in silence, dare I say anything disrespectful or try to act smart. He however, huffed softly, glancing away and trying to refrain himself from getting excited and annoyed by the very thought of it all. Managing to do so, he continued. "However," Then he added with a smirk, "That doesn't mean you can't be an exception. If you prove yourself worthy of my time and teachings. To be honest, I wouldn't be opposed to forging something more meaningful together—a bond that would be more than just our contract entails." He remarked flatly, suggestively giving way for myself to assume I had a chance with him… that's if I played my cards right, how sweet, and flattering. I decided to take the initiative, since he has been so kind as to tell me this much. I nodded thoughtfully at Runē's words, being able to understand his point of view and replied smartly, "I see, I suppose I can understand where you are coming from, and I do apologize on the behalf of my fellow humans ignorance and probably mine up until now... I'm also quite grateful that you see me as an exception, that melts my heart." I smiled softly, giving a genuine smile, at the very least, I wanted him to know that, "You're actually a very nice guy, a sweet and gentle soul when you aren't frowning or spouting out all forms of profanities at people's existence, Hm?~ Mr. Runē?" I then teased in a playful manner, trying to mess with him for a bit. He just showed me a dismissive look and rolled his eyes, shaking his head at me in a mocking gesture before returning to gape at me with narrowed eyes, the corner of his lips twitching in a mix between annoyance and amusement. "Sweet? Gentle?" He repeated as if trying to understand how such words could be associated with him. And out of the blue, I caught wind of a small hint of blush creeping up on his cheeks from the compliment, most likely something he hadn't experienced in quite some time, depicting from his body language, he looked uncomfortable but happy by my words, I was pleased and refrained from teasing, allowing him for only just this moment to feel embarrassed without jest.

"I am many things... But those are not among them." He muttered under his breath before clearing his throat and regaining his composure. "Now then," he began more seriously, "Is there anything else you'd wish to know? Human?"

Taking his question into consideration, slowly but surely I shook my head and said casually, "No..Not at the moment.." At first that's what I said, till I remembered something. Gasping, I snapped my fingers and shot him a excited, wide eyed stare with a grin, "Runē-Sama!!~" I yelled loudly, which made the towering demon sit up erect and frown in displeasure at my noisy levels, I continued regardless, ignoring his obvious annoyance with me,

"I think I'd like to make some tiny adjustments to our contract!"