League - Chapter 2

 Authors note: Make sure to check the main fanfiction page for gameplay to story changes so you are able to follow along.

Make sure to also check out the Yokai Tamer game page for more information and to play the game yourself

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Darius awoke the next morning to the feeling of something warm and heavy in his lap. Looking down, he saw a familiar pair of brown fox ears. Why am I not surprised… Sitting up, he eased her off him. Stretching and glancing at the clock, he rolled his eyes before leaning down to pinch her ear and pull it back slightly. "Ember…" His voice was rough and irritable. "Wake up Ember."

"Hmm?" She uncurled and looked up at him. "Oh… You woke up." She smiled slightly before she drew back to look at him better. 

"Why didn't you wake me for dinner instead of sleeping on me?" His expression was unreadable. Ember tightened her tails around her unconsciously. She felt threatened in that moment. This tengu knew a lot about her, including a bit about her hidden past, and she became afraid of him using it against her. 

"Sleep seemed like the better option," she replied trying to sound strong. She couldn't understand it. Why was this feeling of fear rising in her? 

Darius watched her closely before becoming more irritable. "I'm not attacking you. Why are you recoiling like that?"

"It feels like you are," Ember tucked herself in behind her tails and used them as a shield. She didn't want him to see her break. "Go eat then if you're hungry."

Darius once again opened his mouth to say something but decided against it and turned to leave the room, Just before closing the door he said softly. "Perhaps we should just speak less to each other." The door closed and she listened to his footsteps walking away. 

Tears rolled down her cheeks. She was afraid and hurt. She couldn't understand where this feeling was coming from. Getting up, she ran from the room and down to her old room before anyone else could see her.  She needed time out. Time to be alone. To work through why she got so afraid of him. 

~~~

Darius walked into the dining room and stared at the sight before him. This tengu… Closing his eyes, he went to turn and walk away before a hand grabbed him and dragged him into the room. "Totoy…"

Totoymola danced amongst the tables pulling people into the room as he watched them leave. It had been common knowledge that he had been slowly becoming more insane. Ever since his spouse, Pandan, left almost a year ago, his filter for things had slowly begun to diminish until it became the regular evening meal entertainment. Darius stared at the tengu as he swayed his hips and danced as if he was in a strip club.

I should have stay sleeping upstairs with Ember on my lap instead of watching this. Darius thought as he was dragged into a chair and a Totoymola gave him a cheeky wink. This tengu… Really…

Siegheart stood leaning against the wall nearby watching his friend's antics before speaking up. "You know that tengu that attacked you while you were helping the miko?"

"Yeah," Totoymola ran a finger along the table before continuing his dance, dragging others onto chairs so they could watch his performance. "He seemed to be on auto-pilot."

"He wasn't," Siegheart replied. His face remained neutral to the dancing tengu before him. "I killed him for you."

Totoymola came over and placed a hand on Siegheart's chest. "Bradass…" His voice was soft and grateful for his friend doing that for him. "I'll give you something nice." Dancing away, he blew a kiss at Siegheart before sending an Eternal Love gift via his mobile to him as well. "Bradass for life!"

Siegheart smiled slightly before continuing to watch the scene before him. "We ride together, Totoy."

Yukkii and Takoyakii stared at each other before rolling their eyes. "There's something about this Bradass thing these two have that we don't know about…" he whispered. Takoyakii nodded, uncertain how to respond to the situation before them. "It must be because neither of them have had any pewpew in a very long time."

They both watched as Totoymola focused his attentions on Darius once again, the latter looking unimpressed at being the recipient of the show this time. "I wonder if Ember knows that Totoy strips for Dari…" Takoyakii asked slightly louder so that Darius could hear her as well.

"She knows," Yukkii mimicked Takoyakii's volume. "She's already addressed it with Totoy and got a strip tease herself for her trouble." The pair laughed and Darius raised an eyebrow at the two of them before going back to looking unimpressed at Totoymola's antics.

Pet: Wood Crown

Ember sat in her room looking out the window. She watched League members going about their day. Absently, her hand pet Sushi Shiba who yipped happily at times from the attention. She didn't know how long she sat like this until Wood Crown interrupted her thoughts.

"Mistress…" The soft voice floated to her ears drawing her out of her limbo-like daze. "Mistress… You need to eat something." 

Ember shook her head. She didn't feel hungry. She felt numb and empty, a feeling that was all too familiar to her. She knew what happened now. Darius' aura had triggered her memories. She reacted in response to the memories and not him. She looked back out the window. Maybe its time…

Wood Crown sighed and floated down to sit next to Ember to keep a closer eye on her. Out of all of Ember's pets, she was the most intuitive and often would follow Ember when she went hunting. She waited, hoping that someone would come and draw Ember back out of her thoughts.

~~~~

That night, Darius laid in bed looking at his phone. Ember was once again on his mind. Her activity log on their shared guild forum told him she had not done any training that day. Sighing, he dropped his hand down and stared at the ceiling. Did I upset her that much? Shaking his head, he closed his eyes and tried to get to sleep.

After a few minutes of tossing and turning, he growled and got up again. He had heard of tengu being unable to sleep well without their spouse next to them but he didn't think it would be this bad. Stalking over to the wardrobe, he pulled on a robe and left the room. He had an educated guess as to where Ember was and he was going to move her back to their room if he had to.

Reaching the door to her old room, he paused and took a few calming breaths. The last thing he needed was to be more irritable when he spoke to her. Slowly, he opened the door. The room was dark with the light from Fire Crown being the only thing stopping the room from being pitch black. He glanced at the bed and found Ember asleep curled up against 2 pillows like how she would be positioned when sleeping next to him. 

"It took a long time to get her to sleep," A soft voice said in his ear. "Please don't move her. Sleep here with her."

Darius turned his head to find Wood Crown floating near him. "I didn't see you awake," he replied with a sigh. "Has she been here all day?"

"Yes," Wood Crown replied. She took hold of his hand and guided him to the other side of the bed. The other pets on Ember awoke as he passed. "My Mistress was triggered by her past. It's not something that can be helped until she learns to accept it."

Darius watched as the pets gently lifted Ember and moved the pillows allowing him to settle down and arrange his wings so they weren't in an awkward position before they set her back down at his side. He waited wondering if her sense of smell would wake her up, alerting her to his presence. Instead, he got a pleasant surprise. Ember purred softly in her sleep before snuggling up to his side like she usually did when they went to bed to sleep for the night. He felt the restlessness in his body settle down and he relaxed letting himself drift off to sleep.

The next morning, he opened his eyes feeling warm and comfortable. Ember had shifted in her sleep. Her back was against him and she was snuggled in again. Her tails were draped over him. He gently stroked one of her tails, enjoying the softness before his awareness of where he was smacked him hard. 

His eyes widened. The walls of the room were white, not the mauve of Ember's old room. No pets were to be seen anywhere in his line of sight. Rolling over onto his side so Ember's back was against his chest, he got a better look of the room. It looked like their bedroom… but bigger. The couch that used to sit under the window now was part of a pair and made a little corner library. A small table with 5 dining chairs sat in the centre of the room and on the table sat a shallow dish with Rumdul flowers in it.

He pinched Ember's ear and pulled it back towards him. "Ember…" he called. He didn't want to yell like Moon had but he also wanted her to wake up. Ember stirred making a little growling sound before settling again. "Ember. Wake up." Again, she stirred and flicked her ears taking it out of his grip. He pinched again, slightly harder, and pulled it back towards him. "Ember!"

"What?" she asked sleepily. She rubbed her right eye with a paw-like hand and shifted herself onto her back so she could look up at him. "Why are you in my room?"

"We aren't in your room anymore," Darius replied patiently. "I need your nose. I need to know where we are."

To his amusement, she reached up to grip her own nose as if to try and take it off to give to him. "It doesn't come off…" she replied confused. "You can't borrow my nose Dari. It's stuck to me."

He bit his lip trying not to laugh at the absurdity of the moment. "I need you to use your nose to find out where we are."

"Okie okie," Ember sniffed the air. She tilted her head and sniffed the air again. "All I smell is you." Darius flopped onto his back unsure how to respond to her now without getting frustrated. Ember's laughter caused him to shift himself back onto his side again to glare at her. "I was serious that all I could smell was you. You being so close actually floods my senses." She got up and continued to laugh. "Smile Dari. It won't kill you." Darius rolled his eyes and watched her walk around sniffing the air. "It's strange…" Ember paused at the corner library. "This place smells like our room but it isn't our room. It's larger… much larger…"

"Anything out of the ordinary that smells different?" Darius asked sitting up. His eyes kept drifting to the centre table. "Anything at all?"

"Other than those Rumdul flowers, which we didn't have in our room before…" she said trailing off and walking up to the bookcase and sniffed. "There's something here…"

Darius got up and pulled his robe around him before coming closer to her. "Something?"

"It smells like the Rumdul flowers," she replied sniffing before pulling a book out that was on guild management. "Here…" She opened the book to reveal a letter. Darius took the letter and opened it only for them to be blinded by a bright light. A soft thump could be heard before the light died down. Ember gasped and stared at Darius' wrists. 

"What!" Darius yelled staring at the twin cuffs that signified him as the Guild Leader of League. He looked at the letter still in his hand and pulled out the paper contained within. "Nagito…" he growled as he read the letter. Ember stepped lightly over to him and peeked over his arm to read the letter herself.

Darius,

I've gone on a journey. I want to see how kitsune and tengu in other countries live. I don't know if I'll be back so I place the leadership of League in your hands. I know the guild will be safe with you.

Nagito.

Ember blinked before looking around the room again and then back at Darius. "This is the room of the Guild Leader…" She stepped back from him slightly. "We were moved here by the Gods from my room because you were needed here to receive the leadership this morning," She bent down to pick up the single cuff that had fallen off Darius when the twin cuffs appeared. "I suppose," She handed him the single cuff. "Your first order of business is to elect a new co-leader."

Darius took a deep breath and sighed. "I have a better idea…"