Nakime POV:

"Now that he's gone, do you have anything that you would like to ask me?" I tilted my head towards the young girl, my dark aura dissipating, a friendlier one taking its place. She thought for a moment and placed her finger on her chin.

"How is Douma-sama still alive? I saw him holding his head, and there's no possible way anyone would survive that." The girl seemed like she was confident in her answer, yet she peered down at the floor nervously.

"Uhm, that's a question I'll answer just before you go, dear. Apologies, but I do not believe that you would want to hear my answer just yet. Do you have any other questions for now?" She frowned and quickly glanced up at me, however it was only for a moment. 

"Who was that woman with Douma-sama? She had a male voice, and she was extremely beautiful." The girl curled up into a ball, hugging her knees as she continued. I bit my lip as I thought of how to answer the young girl's second question. 

'Shit, what do I say? Oh yeah, she's actually a he and the king of all demons, la de da!' I began to be frustrated with myself, racking my brain for a suitable response.

"Well..." I started, forming my words carefully. "'She' is... our boss. Also, 'she' is actually a 'he'." I answered, correcting her as I seated my biwa and bachi carefully down beside me. The human girl, (Y/N), kept asking me different questions, and I replied to them with short yet concise answers.

"What is this place?"

"This is the Infinity Castle, also known as the Infinity Fortress."

"Does anyone live here?"

"Not officially, but I suppose I do stay here a lot of the time."

"Do you dislike Douma-sama?"

"I'm not sure how to answer that, but to be honest, he's quite the annoyance to almost all of the de- uhm, people that visit the castle." In response to this answer, (Y/N) leaned back on her hands and spread her legs out into a pike beside me. 

"Oh, okay then..." She hesitated for a moment before continuing with her next inquiry. 

"Who was the man with the blue tattoos and pink hair?"

"His name is Akaza, and he's Upper Moon Three. He's actually not half bad; you should meet him sometime." (Y/N) looked like she was having an inner monologue, so I didn't speak until after she decided to. 

"What is an 'Upper Moon'?"

"The Upper Moons are the strongest demons next only to that man." I froze after I realized what I had revealed.

"Demons? Like the fantastical creatures from children's bedtime tales?" (Y/N) looked up at me and attempted to study my face, forgetting that most of it was covered by my long raven hair. I sighed deeply and scolded myself for being so careless.

"Yes (Y/N), demons. I'm only telling you about this because as far as I understand, you're apathetic and won't be frightened about this." I warned her, picking each of my words carefully.

"As long as you don't kill me, I absolutely don't care." (Y/N) gave me a thumbs-up, causing me to let out a small chuckle. 

"Uhm, anything else?" I readjusted my position on the wooden boards we were seated on, my head still faced towards (Y/N) to show that I was listening. However, nothing happened for the next few minutes, and I was getting slightly bored.

"Nakime-san, why do you hide your eyes?" The girl innocently questioned. I gulped nervously and started fidgeting with my hands nervously.

"Eye." This singular word was the only comment that came out of my mouth until she responded. 

"Eye?" How I wished this girl would stop asking me about the one thing I had no confidence in. Much to my dismay, she continued on and on, disregarding my obvious discomfort at the subject.

"Yes. I only have one eye. I was told to hide it because it appeared to be 'hideous'. I don't want to speak about this anymore, so can we move to a different question?" I unsuccessfully tried to avoid the topic, and I reached for my biwa. The girl stared straight at me; it felt like her watchful gaze was piercing through my very being.

"I want to see." The young human stated suddenly, and I started to fidget with my instrument. 

"Can we move to a different question?" I repeated myself more firmly. The girl's eyes widened as a gesture of guilt, and she bit her lip.

"Apologies, Nakime-san. I did not read your emotions well, leading me to make a decision that made you uncomfortable." Her head dipped down as an apology, and I returned the gesture.

"It is alright, I understand that you meant no harm t-" Douma burst into the room, rudely interrupting me. (Y/N) immediately jumped up to her feet and Douma dove towards her, knocking her back down onto the floor.

"What do you want." I hissed, tapping my fingers on my knee impatiently. The fragile room started to shake, being a result of my vexation with the Upper Moon. The tall bookshelves against the wall started to spill out books, and one of them started to dip slightly before it came crashing down, straight on top of Douma and (Y/N).

I grabbed my biwa and strummed it, panicking for the girl's safety. The two appeared from under the heavy piles of thick paper books, and the space stopped rattling instantly.

"Sorry." I admitted under my breath softly, yet still loud enough for both of them to hear. Douma was still holding onto (Y/N) tightly, his arms wrapped around hers. He stuck his tongue out at me playfully, and just for the sake of it, I stuck my tongue out right back at him.

(Y/N) blatantly yawned, breaking the empty silence. She then proceeded to lean her head against Douma's shoulder, and promptly fell asleep.

"I think that it's time for you two to go. Apologies for almost killing the human, (Y/N)-chan." Douma shrugged his shoulders and laughed softly.

"I don't think she minds, Nakime-dono." Those were that last words I heard before I teleported him and the sleeping girl back to his atrocious cult.

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Douma POV:

The Infinity Castle dematerialized, and the cult reappeared before us. I could feel a presence near the room, so I hurriedly rolled her onto her futon and threw her sheets over her body. Just as I did that, I heard a soft rapping on the shoji. I slid open the door to reveal Touko standing outside in the hallway carrying a wooden breakfast tray.

The contents of the tray was some fresh salmon daikon, a plate of sticky white rice, and a small cup of steaming hot green tea. 

"Thank you dear, I'll make sure to hand it to (Y/N)-chan when she wakes up from her nap." I smiled widely, not waiting for the young girl's answer as I gently snatched the cuisine up and strolled back into (Y/N)'s bedroom. Touko seemed confused as she bowed and took a small step backwards, before quietly dashing down the lengthy hallways of the temple.

I placed the tray of delights onto (Y/N)'s dresser, and stared at her intensely, waiting for her to wake up. I could've watched her sleep forever, the peaceful yet repetitive motion of her chest rising and falling with each subtle breath she dared to draw from the air around her.

However, everything good must come to an end sometime, and this situation was no different. I felt a twinge of annoyance as a short boy was standing in the doorway, gazing at my tall frame nervously. 

The boy seemed like he was around the age of 16, and had platinum violet hair that reached around his chin. However, the most prominent feature that I noticed on the teenage boy were his fearful (e/c) eyes that reminded me so much of (Y/N). 

"I apologize tremendously for the interruption, Douma-sama. I was ordered to give you two different things that another follower found somewhere and thought might be yours." The boy reached into his pocket and pulled out my list of questions for (Y/N) and a lavender-shaded hydrangea hair pin. 

I reached out and took the objects from the boy's hand before welcoming him inside the room. Motioning for him to sit down on the floor so we could speak, I glanced over at the peacefully dreaming (Y/N) and put a finger to my lips to warn him not to awaken the girl.

"What is your name, child. Also, do not worry, you're not in trouble." The boy relaxed slightly and played with his fingers as he mumbled a response to my question. 

"Uhm, I'm (L/N) Enji, sir." My eyes noticeably widened. No, that couldn't be right. 

"(L/N)? Did you just say (L/N)?" Enji shifted uncomfortably, and he looked like he was silently panicking. He nodded quickly. 

"Again, you're not in trouble, you can go now if you would like to." The teen abruptly jumped up, bowed, and dashed out of the room. I turned back to (Y/N) and clipped the flower hairpin onto a lock of her hair. 

'I wonder where this is from?' I had never seen the clip before, but I decided then that it suited her perfectly. The flowers on the top of it reminded me of those we saw at the lake that night, and I brushed my hands across the smooth top of the clip before taking it out again.

I picked up the paper from before the whole Infinity Castle ordeal, and realized an extremely important detail: I had left the paper inside the room before we left. Someone had to have snuck inside the bedroom, taken the note, and lost it again. 

'How idiotic.' I thought. 'If you're going to steal something, the least you could do is ensure that it was not going to get lost.' 

"(Y/N) dear, it seems as though I might need to cause some bloodshed today. Don't worry darling, it'll only be a few humans." I flicked out my fans from my pocket and went on my way. 

Word Count: 1752