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Dance With the Devil [Ryu_Momochi and Seraph]

S

Seraph

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Jan 24, 2009
Sam was late, not even a little late but late-late. Her alarm clock hadn’t gone off, her car wouldn’t start, and she had missed the only bus heading towards her job. And to top of it all, it started to rain as she walked to the library. She kicked at a puddle and scowled, “Great, just great. You’re laughing at me, aren’t you?” She didn’t believe in a higher power, but today, she was willing to give the benefit of the doubt since everything that could go wrong was going wrong.

She was a small woman, barely 5’3, with short brown hair. Sam had stopped growing when she was thirteen and if she didn’t wear make-up she looked rather young for her twenty years. She would have preferred to look like a hag so she didn’t get carded everywhere she went, she couldn’t even get into the movies without proving her age sometimes. It was a pain; the worst memory she had was when a police officer accosted her in the mall and tried to take her back to the local high-school.

Since then, she moved into a slightly larger city where looking young was the disorder of the year. People paid thousands to stay young and she paid hundreds in cosmetics to look older. Not that it would help today, the rain all ready washed off her make-up. She’d have to change when she made it to the library, if she had a spare change of clothes there…Sometimes she did, sometimes she didn’t. Going off her luck today, it would be one of the days she didn’t leave a pair of jeans and a sweater tucked under the desk in case it got cold in the library.

Sam looked up and squinted at the onslaught of rain as she tried to see the tops of the buildings—no luck. The rain was thick enough to block out everything; it looked like it was going to be an all day thing. She glanced to her side, the alley to her left was a short-cut, it would take at last twenty minutes off her route if she ducked in that way. It wasn’t her favorite thing to do, but if she was going to keep her job…She took off running down the alley.

“I hope this day gets better…”
 
Ryu sighed softly as he walked,'Damn it all... how could I have been so foolish...?' he thought, his vision already slightly blurry. He walked with a limp, and the cuts and gashes all over his body showed he had been in a battle. His short black hair was matted with blood, some his own, some not, as he winced with every step,'Fuck... should've known better... should've planned better...' he thought as he used as much power as he could affored, slowly turning his dark blue skin to a more normal color, as well as forcing his wings into his back. He panted softly as he sat at the edge of a building, his clothes tattered, and his body sore. He looked up at the sky,"Damn it all... damn it all..." he said softly as he watched the clouds turn black, starting to allow for rain. He closed his eyes, first the blue, then the green. It had been a habit of his ever since he'd been down there, something he just did naturally. He took a soft breath,"Damn... forgot... how this feels..." he said, enjoying the cool sensation of the rain on his normally hot skin. He sighed softly, taking a deep breath before he fell forward, landing hard on his face after passing out, his body and mind exhausted beyond all belief. He just needed rest right now.

He rarely dreamed anymore, but something caused this one to come out. He could see it all, he was looking up at two people he recognized, but he didn't know who they where. He could remember bits and pieces of his life, remember faces, names, but never at the same time. That was what started it all, started the wars, and the fights... rememberance... wanting, no... needing to remember what life was like before... and the refusal of the higher ups to give them that one, simple... need. He knew he was in the human world, at least that much, but he didn't know where. His mind trying to come up with something, some sign of where he was, but he was too tired, too exhausted to think. He just let the rain fall on him, stinging his wounds a bit, but not enough to wake him. He felt... at peace...
 
Sam jumped over a pile of junk and slipped on a puddle and landed hard on her hands and knees. She whimpered softly and looked up and froze; there was a man who looked dead in front of her. She stifled a little scream of terror as she looked over his limp form. The rain had cleaned some of the blood from him, but it was still apparent. He had been mugged, was the only thought that ran through her mind and she looked around fearfully before she crawled over to the other person. Her fingers shook slightly as she pressed them to his pulse point, it was weak but it was there and she heaved a sigh of relief…

“Hey…sir? Sir, can you hear me,” she asked softly and gently shook him. She couldn’t quite remember what first aid said in these situations…she knew she should call 911 but…she didn’t have a cell phone and she wasn’t sure that leaving him alone was the best idea. “Mister? I’m going to get you some help, all right? Can you hear me?”

Same shifted on her knees and hissed as her scrapped knees pressed against the asphalt of the alley, “Hey?” She really was never the best in stressful situations, it came from being the youngest in a family with seven brothers. She had been the little princess and protected by them most of the time.
 
He gave a soft breath, the heat of it causing steam to rise from his mouth, showing her he was still alive. He wasn't concious though, but his body seemed to move on it's own. He never thought he'd come to the human world, but he always had a backup plan. He'd set up a safehouse not too far from here, someplace he could recover if the need ever arise. His eyes opened slowly, as his hands moved, spreading apart as he slowly started to try and lift himself up. He didn't even notice the woman nearby, his mind on trying to get to safety before anything else. He coughed a bit, spitting up some blood but nothing too major. He looked to the street, seeing the safehouse just inches ahead of him,"What... a night..." he said to himself, reaching out for the house before falling again onto the asphalt with a soft wet thud.
 
Sam scrambled back a little bit when the man tried to move and succeeded in getting a little ways away before falling back to the ground with a wet thud. She winced before she stood up and moved to him. She thought about it for a moment before she limped over to a payphone just at the end of the alley. She kept her eyes on the man while she punched in the emergency number. She waited a second before a man spoke on the other end, "This is emergency services, what is your emergency?"

"I think a man's been mugged. He's really hurt," she glanced around and squinted at the sign, "It's the alley on Freemont St um...it crosses with 4th st."

"What's you're name, miss? Do you know him?"

"Sam...Sam Winch, please hurry," she insisted.

"An ambulance is on it's way, miss," the receptionist spoke calmly, "Remain with him and calm until help arrives."

Sam hung up the phone and limped back over towards the fallen man, "I called an ambulance...they'll be here soon. So...you'll be okay now, right?"
 
He heard a voice as he breathed softly, heard her talking, something about an ambulance..."N-no..." he whispered softly,"C-can't... n-no d-doctors..." he said as he tried to get up again, slowly making it to a knee,"G-gotta... g-get home..." he said as he coughed again, spitting more blood onto the ground. He knew that if he went to a doctor, they'd be able to tell right away that he wasn't human, and that was the last thing he needed right now. He slowly began to move, his eyes locked on his safehouse, moving slowly towards it as he made it to the middle of the street, on his hands and knees, once he got there, all it would take is a little rest before he'd be better again.
 
Sano bit her bottom lip and shook her head. Short strands of hair plastered against the side of her face as she looked from the man to the house. She looked worriedly at him before she nodded, "Al-Alright. I'll help you get inside...?" She reached over to him and hesitantly tried to pull him to his feet. She wasn't the most athletic of people, so it was harder than it would first appear. She groaned softly and mumbled, "You gotta be one of those religious people right? The ones that believe medicine is bad?...Well...I'm not too good at helping out, but..." She started to pull him towards the house he seemed so set on getting to, "But I'll help you, all right? It just wouldn't feel right..."
 
He coughed a bit, half from all the movement, and half from laughter. He let her help him as best she could, making their way to the house as he unlocked it. He had to admit, the rain had felt really good on his body, but now that it stopped, it was making the pain come back. He moved siliently to a nearby couch and laid down on it, letting his body sink into the cushions and give a soft sigh of relief,"Th-thanks..." he whispered, his eyes closing before he let his hand move, pointing to a cabinet nearby, knowing it would have some bandages and things. He took a deep breath before passing out once more. It had taken all his strength to just get to the human world and look normal, he wasn't sure he'd be able to stay awake now even if he wanted to.
 
She relaxed slightly when he was on the couch and listened as the ambulance arrived. She didn't have the heart to go outside and explain the situation, worried that she would get in trouble for a prank call. They had her name, but she could always try to pass it off as someone just using her name...couldn't she? She called from a pay-phone...She fretted a little more as she watched the man, "You...You're welcome." She moved hesitantly towards the cabinet he pointed at before he passed out again. She opened it and pulled out the assortment of first aid supplies before she looked back at him. She had, technically, passed her first aid courses when she was in high school, as long as his wounds didn't need snitches, she could clean them with peroxide, put Neosporin on it, bandage him up and be done with it...right?

She took a deep breath and moved back over to the unconscious man and looked at his tattered shirt. She fidgeted a moment longer before she finally began to tug it off him and let it fall to the side before she started to clean his wounds.
 
He slept quietly, his body managing to keep it's form even though he was exhausted. He breathed gently as she cleaned him up, unable to do much else as his body tensed every now and then from her cleaning him. He had used up any healing magic he had within him to heal the major things, so it was mostly a few cuts and scrapes and a few gashes that wouldn't need stitches, just rest. After a good while his eyes slowly began to open, a bit of disorientation about him as he tried to figure out where he was,"Hmmm... wh-where... a-am...?" he said softly, a bit groggy. His vision was a bit blurry, but he saw someone, he didn't know who, over him. He could feel a few stings here and there on his body, but most of the pain was gone,"Wh-what... h-happened...?" he said, starting to try and remember.
 
Sam jumped slight and her fingers trembled as the man came too, she normally wasn't so skittish but being around someone who was injured...she made a confused tsk-ing noise and tried to remember how her mother would look when taking care of one of her brothers when they got into a scrape, but only called up a blank. "Um...we're at your house, remember? You wouldn't let me wait for the ambulance and you really want to get inside, so I helped you inside and I felt really bad that you--" She closed her mouth with a click and quieted down for a moment to try to collect her thoughts rather than just ramble.

Sam paused in cleaning his small injuries to brush her hair out of her face and she mumbled, "I think you were mugged."
 
He coughed a bit, slowly moving to a sitting position as he gave a slight wince, some pain rushing through him,"You should go..." he said simply, his pride getting the better of him. He tried to stand but only suceeded in wincing even more as his body didn't respond to him,"Ung..." he groaned as he sat back on the couch, looking and seeing all the bandages on him,"where... is my shirt...?" he asked softly.
 
Sam drew herself up and frowned at him, and shook her head, "No! I said that I'd help you because you wouldn't take the ambulance...If something happened, it would be on my head." She lightly pushed him back against the couch and ducked her head as she reached down and picked up his shirt and handed it to him, "You should rest though...really." She looked up at him and looked so earnest that it hurt.
 
He hated himself for sounding the way he did, but he didn't know better,"Fine... whatever..." he said, taking his shirt and slipping it on. He could see she was worried about him, but his pride wouldn't allow him to show thanks. He groaned as he tried again to get up, pushing his body off the couch as he slowly tried to make his way towards the kitchen. He had always hated weakness, and this was the reason why. It didn't allow for anything else, he couldn't even get all the way to the kitchen without stopping to keep himself upright.
 
Sam watched him get up with a bemused and disgusted expression. She had seven older brothers and instantly saw through the 'I am macho-man' act; in her experience, men didn't admit they were hurt and would try to everything themselves, and it seemed like she was helping one of those out. She had half a mind to walk out that door and never look back, but knew that her conscience would bother her until her dying day.

"What do you need from the kitchen," she asked as she stood up and looked at his back, "You could just sit down and stop acting all tough and focus on something better. Like remembering who mugged you so you can call the police?"

She huffed softly, "Men."
 
He coughed a bit,"I don't need your help..." he said, pride dripping from his voice,"I... I can get it..." he said as he spat, blood hitting the floor and resting there as he moved slowly into the kitchen. He moved to the fridge and opened it, pulling out a bottle of vodka and opening it. He needed something to dull the pain, and this was just the thing. He took a deep swig, not even flinching as it went down. He sighed a bit,"Why do you care anyways...?" he said softly, lowering his head. He wasn't used to kindness, so this was confusing him why she would help him.
 
She watched him limp into the kitchen and followed behind him with the used supplies from the makeshift first aid kit she used. She walked passed him as he took a deep swallow of Vodka and suppressed a shudder as she dropped the waste into the trash bin. Sam gave a shrug, "I don't care, I just...feel obligated." She chewed her bottom lip, "I can't very well just let you bleed to deal--what if you have internal bleeding and pass out? Someone has to make sure you don't have a concussion and slip into coma."

She nodded to herself, "Since I helped you, you're my responsibility." It was an old world thought, but one that her family took to heart. If you helped a stranger you were obligated to see that they made it safely to where they were supposed to go. Really they only applied it to senior citizens who seemed like they really needed the help.
 
He looked up at her, his eyes looking into hers,"That's a little... old world..." he said as he took another swig before putting the bottle aside. He knew he would be on bedrest for a few days, but his pride wouldn't allow him to show weakness infront of a human. He coughed slightly, this time into his hand, a few splirts of blood on his hand that he could see before he wiped it off on his shirt,"So... what, you want thanks or something...? Someone you can take care of?" he said, his voice just a bit mocking as he closed his eyes, taking a deep breath and trying to get his body to start to heal.
 
Sam gave a little shrug, "It was how I was raised." That was her answer for everything, when her ex had told her that he wasn't going to meet her family, she called it off. He had been stunned and asked why it was so important, and all she could reply was that was how she was raised. Family meant a lot to her and living on her own meant that she missed it at times, but it was freeing without them.

She frowned at his coughing before she looked a little hurt at his mocking. Sam thought it over for a moment before she glared, "Look here, I could have just left you lying in that alley and you wouldn't have made it in this house at all. You'd be dead. End of story. Rather you want to thank me or not, it's up to you. But I'm not leaving until you stop coughing up blood every few seconds." She stomped her foot rather childishly and drew herself up to her full height, though the latter made no difference given her short stature.
 
He saw her try to act tough and try to be tall. he slowly pushed himself up off his chair, his full six foot frame towering a bit over hers,"Listen here... miss 'it's how I was raised'..." he said, his eyes looking into hers,"I'm not the kind of person you want to be around... now you bandaged me up... made me feel a bit better... but if you think I'm going to pay you, or something else to that effect, you're mistaken... so if you'll excuse me... I'd like to rinse the blood off my body, and maybe try and get some sleep... you can stay, or you can go... I don't care..." he said as he slowly started to try and make his way out of the kitchen, going even slower this time.
 
Sam glared at him but honestly was a little cowed as he towered over her. She dropped her gaze after a moment and spoke to his back as he was leaving, "It's Sam. My name is Sam. And I hope you drown!" Her eyes widen after she said that and clapped her hands over her mouth. "I didn't mean that," she stammered out, and looked guilty. She watched him limp out and considered her options, he had basically told her to get out but her upbringing nagged at her and she sighed softly. Before she brushed passed him easily and reached into her purse before she pulled out a pen and scribbled down her number on it, "In case you do need help. Here."

She put the note on the couch and started to walk to the door.
 
He watched her and heard her speak, giving a soft chuckle as she got a bit of courage. He watched her scribble down her number and shook his head,"Don't have a phone..." he said, still limping his way to the bathroom,"Tell you what though..." he said, trying to come up with something on the fly, his mind not too clear right then,"How about I hire you... as something as a helper... until I get better...?" he said, closing hsi eyes and opening them, the difference in color obvious as the light glinted off of them. He didn't want her to go, but his pride wouldn't let him do anything less.
 
Sam frowned a little before she nodded, "All right...?" She looked more than slightly annoyed at the idea that her help had to be bought rather than freely given, but at least this way she would know if the man lived or died, right? "I think that will work..." She watched him limp to the bathroom and walked over to him and considered it for a moment, "Lean on me until you get to the bathroom, because that's as far as I'll go."
 
When she moved over to him he looked away a bit, slightly embarassed still that he needed help, but he didn't refuse. He moved a bit, putting a hand on her shoulder to help steady himself as they moved towards the bathroom. He opened the door, the large bathroom appearing, showing a large shower,"There's an extra room if you need it... just down the hall..." he said with a soft sigh, moving slowly towards the shower, wanting to wash.
 
She didn't smile or make a comment as he finally accepted her help to the bathroom, though when the door opened she let out a low whistle. The bathroom was at least twice the size of the one she had at home, and probably a lot more modern. The building she lived in could only be called, 'old' it wasn't that it hadn't stood up well to time, just some of the features inside were...debatable. She glanced up at him as she back away and nodded, "Thanks...um...really, I didn't mean what I said earlier about drowning so don't."

She gave a little flash of a smile before heading back towards the leaving room. She let herself wince as soon as her back was turned to him. She had skinned her knees pretty badly when she had fallen but hadn't taken care of them yet, but every time she walked she could feel the coarse, wet denim slide against her skin. She mumbled softly, "I should've taken care of myself too..."
 
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