Chapter Text
Celine held her breath as her hand hovered over Rumi’s face, checking to see if the kid was asleep.
Her breathing was even, and her expression peaceful, which meant that it was time to finally escape the clutches of this tiny Demon.
Carefully, ensuring that she made no sound as she slinked away, Celine moved, every second increasing the distance between the both of them until she reached the edge. This was the most crucial stage, if she messed up, she’d be trapped in here for even longer than earlier.
Slow and steady, she lifted herself, silently setting one foot on the floor, and looking back at the slumbering girl. A rush of fondness overcame her heart, almost convincing her to join her back into the bed. She shifted to move back towards her, but the sudden motion reminded her of just why she had to leave and rush away.
Steeling herself, she softly jumped away from the bed, and rushed urgently to the door leading out of the room and away from Rumi.
As she finally entered the room she’d been desperate to after hours of waiting, she forgot to lock it behind her in a hurry. It didn’t matter anyways, since Rumi was asleep, and would likely be for long enough for Celine to finish what she should’ve done hours ago before Rumi got to her.
Quickly, she sat down and felt a rush of relief as she finally let go.
However, just moments later, a shadow fell onto the bathroom floor, along with the unnaturalness of an approaching Demon.
Even with her pants down and her pee still flowing, her fingers
itched
to draw out a weapon from the Honmoon to
kill
the person who dared to attack her where her
friend’s
daughter lived.
The Celine from eight years ago would’ve done it, harnessed a weapon and flung it at the filthyDemon who dared to attack her in her own home, heck, even six years ago, she wouldn’t have been able to suppress the trained instinct to kill anything with patterns on sight.
Right now, after seven years of living with Rumi, her hand trembled in anticipation as she waited for a second to check . To check if it was Rumi or not.
She would
never
forgive her if she hurt her
friend’s
daughter, years of instincts were not an excuse.
She could live with having to be extra brutal during Hunting due to the delay caused by this new habit of checking, of risking injury if the extra second gave the Demon in front of her an edge, if it meant that she would never raise a weapon at her friend's daughter.
She relaxed as a grumpy Rumi entered the room, glaring at her with the cutest little pout on her face. She fondly smiled at her
friend’s
daughter, before remembering exactly why she’d been so careful while leaving. Why was it not over yet? She’d been peeing for almost a minute now, wasn’t it supposed to over quickly if you’d held it in for hours?!
Rumi scowled at her and said, “Get back in the nest, Celine.”
She offered a pleading smile at the kid, before saying, “Rumi-ya, I’m almost done. Give me just one more minute.”
The scowl didn’t ease up, but Rumi nodded and sat down on the floor with a thump.
Celine blinked, and said, “Go back, Rumi-ya, I’ll join you soon.”
The scowl deepened, and Rumi said, “You had tried to escape the nest-” she paused and counted her fingers before continuing, “- nine times, and you managed to this time. I won’t let that happen again.”
Celine balked at the audacity, “I had to go to the washroom, Rumi, and you wouldn’t let me out of the bed-”
“Nest”, Rumi corrected.
“Out of the nest , it was urgent, what was I supposed to do?”
Rumi’s face scrunched up as she said, “You can’t leave me, Celine! How am I supposed to keep you safe if you keep leaving the nest?!”
Celine resisted the childish urge to remind the kid that she was way stronger than her. It was something she totally would’ve done had Mi-yeong been here, then she would’ve been the cool and funky aunt rather than the responsible adult.
She took a deep breath, and said, “Rumi. Kiddo, I would’ve finished my business and been back within a minute, I can keep myself safe for a minute while you rest in your- your nest.”
This was new to Celine, calling the bed a nest , but it was important to Rumi, so she tried to keep it in mind.
Rumi stomped her feet on the ground and said, “Then you should’ve brought me with you!”
Celine’s jaw dropped as she stared at Rumi, “ What do you mean brought you with me? I needed to pee! I’m not doing that in front of you! ”
Rumi made a face and pointed at her, saying, “You are just now.”
Peg you, Mi-yeong, and peg the stupid Demon you fell in love with! Your daughter just had to inherit your sass, didn’t she?!?!
Her jaw worked as she tried to not curse out the child in front of her, she chanted ‘ you are the adult here’ in her head before saying, “ You barged into the bathroom, Rumi-ya.”
Rumi said, “It was open.”
Celine had a glaring competition with her
friend’s
daughter while sitting on the
freaking
toilet of all places, and she lost, because of course she couldn’t win a staring contest against a literal
half-
Demon.
Rumi sighed as if she was carrying a heavy burden and asked, “Are you done?”
Celine blinked at the unexpected question and just nodded dumbly.
“Then get back into the nest already, Celine !”
She slumped down and said, “Coming, right after you.”
She waited for Rumi to leave so that she could dress back in peace, but she just kept staring at her.
“Well? Get out so I can put my pants back on-”, Celine prompted.
Rumi shook her head violently and said, “Nu-huh, you’ll try to escape again.”
Her mouth opened and closed dumbly as she tried to come up with something to say, anything . She finally settled on releasing a strangled sound.
Rumi impatiently tilted her head as if ordering her to hurry up.
Celine frantically waved around her hands, saying, “At least turn around!”
The girl responded by just narrowing her eyes.
Celine crossed her arms stubbornly, “I am not getting up with you staring at me- Rumi, no! ”
Rumi had lost her patience, and had lunged forward and picked her up. Picked. Her. Up. Like she wasn’t twice her size and thrice her weight.
Of course .
Of course, there are consequences of Mi-yeong falling in love with that Demon.
Of course Rumi got Demon strength, while all Celine got was the novel experience of being half-carried half-dragged half -naked out of the bathroom by someone who was half her size, and half -Demon. So many halves were lining up to create a whole experience where Celine was just done with everything.
Mi-yeong better have passed onwards from afterlife by the time Celine died, because if she caught that woman, she’s kicking her ass, and her Demonic lover’s as well.
She tries her best to pull up her pants and fasten them around her waist as Rumi stomps back to their bed, before she’s unceremoniously dumped onto the bed with Rumi leaping onto her the next second.
Celine sighs exasperatedly before growing fond of her
friend’s
daughter, who soon nuzzles their cheeks together, rubbing her tiny wrists all over Celine wherever they reach. Soon, after this weird ritual is done, Rumi sniffs deeply, before purring in satisfaction.
Celine tries her best to figure out if there is any new smell, but just like always, even her Honmoon enhanced senses don’t reveal anything. She’s sure by now that it’s a demon thing, feeling conflicted as she realises that it doesn’t bother her as much as it used to a few years back.
She wonders if there will come a time where the thought of Rumi being a part-Demon won’t bother her at all.
If all the fear she feels at the thought of Rumi being exposed, or worse , captured by Gwi-Ma, would ever abate.
No, it was safer for Rumi to become a complete human. She wouldn’t be under the risk of that monster hurting her, or the next generations of Hunters mistaking her for the monsters they kill.
No, she’d find a way to keep her
friend’s
daughter safe, even if it was the last thing she did.