Third-person POV

The hallways resounded with the sound of their footsteps. Flickering lights illuminated the pathway just enough to see by. Towa and Riei kept walking, though, still not getting anywhere. The walls shift and creak and the looming emptiness of the building was unavoidable.

"Are you sure about this? Aren't we practically trespassing on someone else's property?" Towa whispered as she followed behind Riei.

"Why? You're scared? A half-demon being scared of an abandoned house, and it's not even night time yet. Now that's new." Riei chuckled.

"I'm not scared! Who said I am?!"

"Shhh. You're going to make a scene."

Towa heaved a sigh while keeping it to herself. She had no clue whatsoever as to why Riei requested her to accompany him to this abandoned house after school. Besides, he's still in his day form.

"What exactly are we searching for, anyway?" Towa asked.

"A clue."

"A clue to what?"

Towa unexpectedly collided with Riei's back. He then spun around to face her.

"You can start sniffing."

"Don't treat me like I'm your dog!"

Towa grumbled but start sniffing nonetheless.

"I don't smell anything suspicious though..."

"Just continue sniffing."

As they reached the living room of the deserted house, the two of them immediately started exploring it. That was when Towa stumbled upon something suspicious. Although it was a built-in cabinet, there was a gap between the wall on either side of it. In addition to that, there was a peculiar odor emanating from beyond the cabinet.

"Hey, Riei. I think you might wanna see this." Towa called and the boy walked towards her.

After that, he examined the cabinet and started searching through the old book until it rested on a lever that moved the entire cupboard away, exposing a massive hole in the wall and a stairway behind it.

"A hidden passage..."

"It's just like in those haunted movies," Towa commented.

Still, she was astounded by how quickly Riei was able to identify the book that concealed the hidden lever. He was just like the detective in the movies. However awestruck Towa was, she soon turned horrified as Riei started to walk down the stairs.

"Whoa, hold on a second... you're going down there?! It could be something dangerous."

"We won't know unless we check it out."

'This guy got no fear at all!' Towa screamed in her mind.

✲'*。.❄¨¯'*✲。❄。*。¨¯'*✲

Towa's jaw dropped when she saw what awaited them at the bottom of the steps.

The basement live as under constant shadow as if the sun keeps reaching for those walls that shrink away. Its windows stay black without the rippling effect of the light, never knowing that the dust that clings and the dirt of years.  The walls are so cold to the touch, stealing the heat from these warm fingers. In addition to that, there was some outdated electrical equipment that was coated in a layer of dust. If one had to put it into words, the setting would be comparable to the workplace of a scientist in the past.

"A secret lab...?" Towa uttered under her breath.

"An abandoned one," Riei added before he starts walking in, ignoring the spiderwebs that cling to his shirt.

"Don't stop sniffing. I want you to remember every scent you smell here."

"Right..." Towa rolled her eyes as she sniffed the room. That's when the stuffy air invaded her lung which caused her to gag.

In the basement, Riei's gaze swept over the leatherbound books. The book had a muted earthy tone to it, as though it had become more worn with time. Inside, the pages appeared as though they had been turned over a thousand times, and several of the pages were ripped and torn in various places.

Blue eyes scanned each page slowly as Riei examined the fading script. After that, his eyes fell upon something that seemed to be familiar, and he started flipping the book over. His eyes were shaking as a result of what was written on that page.

'This is... Alchemy...?'

There was a picture of a transmutation circle with some alchemical runes drawn inside of it. How would he recognize it? Of course, he could, he had seared that image in his mind. That was the very same circle that had been utilized by the humans to torment him and his sister five years ago.

His eyes were burning with indignation and rage, and he tightened his grasp on the pages. Whoever wrote this book was accountable for what he and his sister went through five years ago.

Meanwhile, Towa was still sniffing the air when suddenly she felt the urge to throw up. She couldn't describe what the smell was but it was like there was a metallic scent of blood mixed with the stench of excretion. It smells so bad that it felt like fingers of decay were forcing their way down her throat.

"Hey Riei, something smells off," Towa said as she covered her nose but the boy was too engrossed by what he discovered that he didn't even reply.

Through the darkness came the glow of two crimson eyes, like sallow red lights eight feet off the ground.

'It's a rainbow pearl... I can feel it...'

"Hey, Riei. Don't you think we should leave? I'm getting a bad feeling here." Towa said oblivious to the new presence.

'Hah! It's the silver pearl!'

With rapid acceleration and a more bounding motion, it came for her. In less than two seconds, Towa was on her back gasping for air.

"...?!" Towa's eyes were literally out of their sockets.

It was so huge that it could easily fit an elephant inside! Yet much more terrifying than that, it turns out to be a spider demon!

"Towa!" Riei couldn't believe he didn't notice another demonic presence until it pounced on Towa.

"The silver pearl, give it to me!" The spider demon demanded as it extended its tongue over Towa's face and began to lick it.

"What— the... hell..." her face crunched up in disgust. Yet, the reason for this was primarily due to the demon's putrid breath.

Towa's entire being shook at once as a strange sensation swept through her. Suddenly, her red eyes began to shine silver, and the next thing she knew, a silver pearl was emerging from it and going into the mouth of the spider.

Whatever goodies the devil was able to steal from her eye enabled it to grow in size and grow increasingly terrifying than it had been before.

Towa was lucky enough to brace herself from its prominent attack. But now she was hoping for a bit of extended luck as it shoved her arms and aimed for her jugular vein.

"Hands off!"

SLASH!

During a brief moment of darkness, there was a sudden burst of light, and before you knew it, Towa was already on the ground hacking up air. Riei was standing next to her with his sword unsheathed as he stared at the spider demon which was wailing in agony.

"You alright?" Riei got down on his knees next to her as she stroked her sore chest.

"Yeah... I'll manage... BUT WHAT'S WITH THAT DEMON!?"

"You mean; what's with the pearl coming out of your eye and giving it a boost of power?" Riei raised his eyebrow.

"I SWEAR TO GOD, I HAD NO IDEA WHERE IT CAME FROM!"

"SKRIEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKKKKKKK!!!!" The demon let out a scream, and in an instant, the hand that had been cut grew back. Because of its enormous size, even the slightest movement it makes does tremendous damage to the dilapidated laboratory.

'I see, so you're sent here to erase the trail, huh.' Riei concluded.

"In any case, you need to deal with it first." He said with his arms crossed unfazed by the scary demon in front of him.

"Who—What—Me?!" Towa pointed to herself with her eyes wide.

"More... more... I want MOREEEE!!!" Because of the demon's outburst, the entire room began to shake, and the ceiling tiles on the outdated and shaky ceiling began to fall off.

"You seriously think I can defeat that thing?!" Towa whirled around to face Riei with a shocked expression on her face.

"Well, you almost did it before that night, so, here's a proper weapon." Riei grabbed her hand in his, unsheathing his blade to rest on top of it.

"You can't be serious?!"

"Never been more serious in my life."

'Wah... the audacity of this guy.' Towa couldn't believe that he would still have such a brusque attitude even though their lives were about to be taken away any minute.

"Just listen to what I say and you might have the chance in keeping your life." Riei grabbed her by the shoulder and rotated her body to face the raging monster.

"You're not helping here!"

Even with her constant refute, Towa still pushed herself to face the demon. Yet, her assaults were incapable of doing even the slightest bit of harm to the monster.

"A normal attack wouldn't leave much damage to a demon. You need to channel your demonic energy into the sword." Riei stated while keeping his arms crossed across his chest.

"My what now?"

"Don't tell me... you don't know how to use your demonic energy?" The corner of his eyes twitch. What did he expect from her anyway?

"SKRIEEEKKKKKKKK!!!!!" The shriek of the monster caused the entire chamber to quake violently. Towa was becoming increasingly concerned that the room was about to cave in at any moment, but Riei maintained his composure.

"Just focus. You can feel its presence inside of you. Let it flow to your hand and into the sword." He said.

Towa had no idea what he was talking about, but she gave it a shot nonetheless and tried to close her eyes. Although it was faint, she could feel a subtle sensation flowing through her body. If that was indeed her demonic energy, then she has to release it and let it flow. Instantaneously, her entire body began to become hot. The manifestation of her demonic energy started to become more obvious as if it were trying to make Towa aware of its presence.

She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but she was thrilled. It was almost as if something that had been hidden away deep within her was starting to surface. An instinct that she never knew she had until this very moment.

As Towa held the sword in the correct stance, she could feel the heat radiating from her palm and traveling through the blade. The pulsation on the blade seemed to indicate that it was absorbing her energy. Once Towa shot her eyes wide open, a blue light had already enveloped the blade and without wasting any time, she lunged the lightsaber at the demon.

"Hyaaa!!!!"

SLASH!

With one swift motion, Towa was able to cut the demon in half and landed on the other side of the room.

She was still gasping for air with her eyes widened. It took a second or two for the new information to sink in, even though it was right before her eyes, the glowing blade was larger than life. Then she felt her lips stretch wider into a gaping grin and her eyebrows arch for the sky.

"Holy shit, I did it..."

"Riei, did you see it?! I slice the demon in half like smooth butter!" Towa ran over to Riei with stars over her eyes. Amazement doesn't nearly capture it. It felt like someone took a spark of wonder and poured on kerosene.

Pat.

Towa felt a chilly touch on her hand, and as she peeked up, she saw that Riei had stretched his hand to her head. 

"Yeah, you did. Well done, Towa." He flashed a smile. A genuine smile that caused her cheeks to be tinted red.

"Now, the big issue here..." Riei then got up and started heading towards the disintegrated body, where he stooped down to get a glowing sphere.

"Why is this thing coming out of your eye?" He examined the pearl between his finger.

"I'm not sure... It looks like a silver pearl. Ah-" Towa was unable to continue because her eyes began to glow silver again, but this time the silver pearl flew back into her eyes and disappeared as if it had never been there.

Despite their shared disbelief at what had happened, Riei could be seen rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

"It might be something to do with your forgotten past."

"...?!" Towa's eyes became wider.

"Wouldn't the demon from earlier know anything about it then?"

"I doubt it, that thing was just an underling." Riei rose and started cleaning the dust off his pants. "But I do know someone who might know something about it."

"Who?"

"Nevermind that. Now, once we get back, you're gonna need a 'youki' lesson from me." He turned his back on Towa and started making his way toward the stairs.

"Wait— you're going to teach me?" Towa was taken aback by what he said.

Riei stopped on his track and turned to face her while wearing a devious grin on his face.

"Brace yourself, I'm quite a strict master."

✲'*。.❄¨¯'*✲。❄。*。¨¯'*✲

A/N

I'm starting to love writing about this couple. With his indifferent demeanour, Riei resembles Setsuna in certain ways. Meaning he also resembles Sesshomaru's character. What can I say, research has shown that girls are drawn to boys that are like their fathers. I bet Towa resembles her mother on liking cool men like that. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Stay tuned for the next.