Days after, Tomia was cleaner now, walking through the forest as a beautiful ghost, her hair flowing behind her like strands of snow.
And the tail she once dragged behind her now slightly coiled up and raised up in the air so it won't not get dirty.
As Tomia was walking around she heard something, loud in the distance through the trees.
The sounds of rock and wood breaking, the sounds caught her curiosity, she gently ran towards where the sound was coming from to see what it was, curiosity getting the better of her as she eventually saw a temple in the distance, she crouched down at top of a hill overlooking the temple and peered down into the courtyard of it.
Then she saw it, 3 people…humans perhaps?
"No, it can't be, one of them is cracking the rocks with his fists…humans are not that powerful."
She mumbled to herself as and looked on with curiosity, something in her heart told her to stare the boy who was training. As was staring at him from afar, something tugged on her heart and made her wanna move closer.
She also saw an older looking man with a scary look on his face , then a girl that Tomia also found quite interesting.
A girl with blonde hair that seemed to radiate with positive energy and happiness as she appeared to be conversing with the other two and chuckling softly.
Tomia's body tensed up, she frowned and thought to herself again.
"I want that…I wanto have what those people have."
She whispered and stood up slowly and caught herself walking closer, her heart pulling her there even though she herself was worried to move, cause she'll be seen as a monster again.
In the time Tomia was moving up, the Kawakami family slowly dispersed as their father ordered a break. Though Kaito had the duty to clean up the courtyard so he remained there.
Yui stood off to the side and teased Kaito with a playful glee on her face.
"Sweep better Kaito! See you left a spot there!"
She said with a chuckle and pointed towards a random spot.
Kaito looked back at her and pointed towards a broom that was placed against a wall not far from Yui.
"You know, if you're so smart there's another broom for you to take and give me a hand!"
Yui raised her hands in the air and smirked.
"Not my job Kaito…dad gave you this job and thus it is your duty"
Kaito snickered a bit and turned back to continue sweeping.
"You're impossible"
After a short time of silence, Yui called out to Kaito with a bit of a worried voice.
"Hey…Kaito–?"
Kaito waved his hand to dismiss her.
"Yea yea, I know I missed a spot."
Yui raised her voice and stood up pointing to the gate.
"No! Kaito look!"
Kaito, a bit confused, looked to Yui then to the gate, at the gate stood Tomia, her legs shaking gently as she stood there staring at the two, tears running down her face, as she took a deep sigh and fell to her knees.
Before she could fully collapse Kaito ran ahead to catch her before she could fall down fully.
"Hey! You okay? Speak to me!"
Tomia looked up at Kaito, her expression with a soft smile as she looked into his eyes, the tears still running down her face as she reached her hand out to his cheek and felt his warmth. She opened her mouth and let out a soft and sheepish.
"Hello~"
Then she passed out in Kaito's arms, the exhaustion finally catching up to her, since she had not slept in days, and finally let herself rest where she felt safe.
Kaito, panicked a little, called to Yui who was frozen at the door to the temple, staring at what was happening.
"Call for dad!"
Yui hesitated for a moment, but soon she snapped out of it and shook her head, nodded and rushed to the temple and called out.
"Daad!"
In the meantime Kaito picked Tomia up and started carrying her slowly to the temple.
"She's so light"
He thought to himself, the fact that such a young girl who appeared out of nowhere and was wearing a DHC trench coat, barely crossed his mind. All he knew right now is that he had to help her.
Within a couple of seconds Yui came rushing to Kaito with Hiroshi.
Their dad spoke loud and clear.
"Bring her to the guest room. Yui go get some warm towels and prepare some green tea. I'll go with Kaito to take a look at her!"
Kaito carried her to the guest room, it was a simple room with a futon in the middle of the room. He placed her down on it and covered her with a blanket, he tried to pull away but noticed that Tomia was holding onto his shirt tightly, not letting go. Kaito crouched down beside her instead.
After some time of examination, Hiroshi sighed and turned to Kaito and Yui who were both in the room.
"She's just exhausted, appears to be malnourished and her body heat is very low. We should let her rest, she is also a demon and a young one at that. Around your age. So I'll be expecting you to keep an out on her. What worries me though, is the DHC coat, they spoke in the news about a demon escape and this girl very much fits the description. I hope she won't bring any trouble to our temple."
Yui nodded and looked down at Tomia, with a gentle smile.
"I'm glad the girl's okay, she seems to have been really distressed…maybe that's the reason why she escaped, we know how the DHC feel about us demons. Otherwise she's also really pretty, the hair is like snow."
Kaito was looking down on Tomia, she had long let go of him..but it kept crossing his mind. What the hell was all that? Her touching his cheek and saying hello? Did she know him or what? Then her holding onto him? Was she just confused or did it mean something more?
The three stood up one by one slowly, with Kaito last as they slowly started to leave the room. Kaito before he left, turned up the heating in the room and closed the shoji-sliding door behind him and walked to the kitchen.
As Tomia woke up, she nuzzled into the blankets that were covering her, they were so soft and warm.
"So nice.."
She muttered to herself and opened her eyes, the eyes fluttering in confusion.
"Where am I?"
She thought to herself, the place was unrecognizable to her. All she remembered before passing out was the boy who held her, his face and his warmth and the energy of the place making her feel safe enough to take a rest.
Tomia slowly sat up, looked around and found a long yukata folded beside her with some food and a note next to it on a tray.
She picked it up and started reading it.
"Here's some clothes and supper when you wake up :) - Yui "
Whoever was this Yui, seemed to be a nice person. Tomia stood up and picked up the gown, it was a pure white winter yukata, that may have been a bit too big for her, but she got out of the dirty trench coat, and dressed into the yukata, though she did not know how to properly dress it up, the sleeves were longer than her arms and the skirt of it so long that it touched the ground. She knelt down in front of the tray and looked what food was prepared for her.
In the bowl was some Miso soup, on the side there was some grilled fish along with some rice, it was still warm..though not hot, Tomia didn't care.
To her it smelled amazing and without hesitation she started gobbling up the food, her eyes filling with joy and spark as she stuffed her mouth, some tears appearing in her eyes again and a big smile tugging at her mouth.
"Sho ghood!"
She mumbled to herself through the food in her mouth, she didn't get to eat food this good in ages, it was like a luxury to her.
After she was done with the food she glanced around the room, it was a very rustic and historical styled room. Only difference was the windows installed for better insulation. She walked to the window and looked out into the forest the window looked into. It was evening already, she looked up at the sky and saw the stars, the smile on her face growing a bit more.
She hugged herself and sat down onto the futon again.
"These people are…nice"
She nuzzled a little into her own shoulder.
Abruptly the shoji-door opened and in the door stood Yui. A big smile appeared on her face as she saw Tomia awake, she knelt down to get a bit lower and not be intimidating, she remained in the door, still smiling.
"Hey there"
She said in a soft tone.
Tomia's eyes fluttered, she was hesitant to speak, but soon found the confidence, the smile Yui gave was welcoming and she spoke so softly to her, the room itself didn't feel like a cell to her either.
"H-Hello…"
Her voice was a bit sheepish as she looked towards Yui.
Yui smiled and pointed towards the tray of food.
"I heard the dishes clanking, I assumed you were awake. Did you enjoy the food? How's the yukata? I see you had a bit of trouble with it."
Tomia gulped a little and smiled…this must be the Yui that wrote the note to her.
"Very good…and the yukata is nice and soft. Thank you…"
Yui gave an even bigger smile as she scooted closer, grabbing the tray.
"I am happy to hear that, when you feel ready come to the living room, it's on the left down the hallway from here. Before you feel ready, rest up, and if you need anything just call for me. Oh! And what is your name?"
A small tear slid down Tomia's cheek from her eye the gesture of caring about her name made her heart crack. A big glee appeared on her face as she spoke.
"Tomia…"
Yui nodded with a smile and stood up with the tray in her hands.
"That's a nice name, as you know I am Yui, the boy whose arms you fell into is Kaito and our dad is Hiroshi, but you can also call him Mister Kawakami. I'll get going now, like I said…when you're ready come say hello to Kaito and dad"
Yui bowed and took a step back and closed the door behind her.
Tomia sat there, tears of happiness slowly spilling from her eyes, feeling overwhelmed with happiness.
Tomia spent some time in the room, hesitating on if she is allowed to leave the room, Yui said she can but what if they'll still yell at her.
After even more contemplating, she walked over to the door and slid it open. The wood under her feet feeling cold, but welcoming, not like the white floor of her cell. As she stepped into the hall was she looked around, then heard some chatter coming from where Yui said the living room is and walked closer.
"She's like a doll! Kaito and the way she held onto you was so cute! Your first attention from a girl!"
Yui laughed a little, and Kaito's voice broke through.
"What is that supposed to even mean?! The poor girl was exhausted, lost and was probably just happy to see someone for the first time in a long time!"
Kaito said with a flustered voice, clearly being caught by Yui's teasing.
As Tomia stepped through the doorway, Hiroshi who was sitting in an armchair gave her a slight nod.
"Did you sleep well young miss?"
Both Kaito and Yui who were sitting next to each other turned their heads back to look at Tomia.
Tomia was a quite flustered and scared, blushed and nodded.
Hiroshi gave a nod back and took a deep breath.
"You gave us quite a fright there. Please take a seat, and tell us where you are from. And where are your parents?"
Tomia sat down on a armchair not far from the couch where Kaito and Yui were seated, the cushions under her felt nice. She smiled and looked up, thinking for a second.
"I…I'm from nowhere, I ran away from a laboratory about a week ago, the same people who I ran away from, killed my mom many years ago, I never knew my father."
The three grit their teeth at the mention of that, hitting a bit too close to home.
Hiroshi spoke up and frowned.
"I see…the DHC really are terrible. Well…considering you have no home, we'll see what we can do for you."
Yui spoke out loudly, shifting on the couch as she snapped her head to stare at her dad.
"What can we do?! Not like there is an adoption center for demons!"
Kaito looked at Tomia who was staring holes into him. Her gentle smile and blush on her face made his heart ache, he quickly looked to Hiroshi also, feeling his face heat up.
"Can she not stay here with us? We have a spare room afterall, and we're doing well with food, we can't just send her back out into the Wild, the DHC is after her."
Hiroshi looked at Kaito and shook his head.
"That is exactly why we can't keep her here, you know what co–"
Kaito abruptly stood up, making everyone look at him. And with a loud voice he spoke.
"I don't care what could happen! We can't send a girl out there to be hunted down like some animal, mom would not want that!"
Yui looked up to Kaito then to their dad.
"Dad…please, he's right. What would mom do?"
Hiroshi closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
"Something foolish like that…you two are really her children. Fine, we'll take care of you Tomia, but don't cause any trouble. And you two are gonna be responsible for her."
He said and stood up from his armchair. Looked to Tomia and bowed, then to his children.
"I'm gonna go to bed, you two take care of her."
He said and left.
Tomia felt odd, something in her body stirred…but in a good way, it was a nice feeling. She kept staring at Kaito, nobody ever stood up for her like this before…maybe except for Gokkumon, but she felt safer around Kaito.
"Kaito…"
She whispered to herself as she smiled.
Yui took notice and glanced at Tomia, then to Kaito. A smug smile appeared on her face as she understood what this meant. She stood up and patted Kaito on the back.
"Tuck her into bed for me will you? Imma head to bed too"
Yui said, and as Kaito opened his mouth to reply she was already gone.
Kaito, a bit confused, sat motionless.
Tomia on the other hand got up and moved closer to Kaito, before she stood over him and clasped his cheeks and looked down onto his face, and with a bright smile she said.
"Hello! Nice to meet you, I'm Tomia!"
Kaito, even more confused now looked up at Tomia and mumbled through the squeeze.
"Yes, hello Tomia…I'm Kaito. Can you please let go?"
Tomia nodded and let go ,but continued smiling at him.
Kaito in the meantime wondered what to do, he thought that maybe Tomia took it seriously and wanted to be tucked in…with a slight blush he stood up and gestured to her to follow him.
Tomia followed, her gentle steps making no sound against the wooden sliding floor. She kept staring at Kaito's back with a smile.
Kaito opened the door for her and gestured for her to walk inside.
She walked in, sat down on the futon, looked down on it and laid down.
As Kaito got closer to try and tuck her in, she looked up at him and a big glee appeared on her face.
"Are you going to sleep with me?"
She said with an excited voice, clearly happy that she'd not be in a room alone.
Kaito, taken aback by the question, froze up a little and quickly shook his head.
"N-No! I was just gonna tuck you in!"
Tomia tilted her head to the side and nodded.
"Hm…okay! That works too"
She smiled and nuzzled into a pillow, laying on her chest.
Kaito, still flustered, looked down at her.
"I can't believe I'm doing this for a stranger"
He said and covered her with a blanket.
"I'm in the room across from yours, I might be awake for a little bit longer than others so if you need anything just knock. In the meantime get some more sleep, you didn't rest as long as you probably should."
As Kaito finished his sentence he noticed that Tomia was already deep asleep, the moment the blanket was placed over her, the exhaustion, warmth and sense of security overwhelmed her and put her to sleep.
Kaito couldn't help but smile a little at the moment, he slowly stood up and walked out of the room silently and closed the door behind him, only a slight light from the hallway peering into the room from under the door.