Emalf started to open his eyes. And almost inmediately, he felt his body burning in pain. Everything hurt. A lot. Mostly around his stomach area. His throat was burning, he couldn't ask for help, he couldn't speak. He could only lay there, trying to stop the pain. "Touko! He woke up!" he heard a voice that probably belonged to a child. He couldn't see them.

"Coming!" he heard a girl's voice. She was probably older than the first voice. As stated again, he couldn't see them. And then, the burning sensation in his body slowly started to decrease. Instead, it was replaced by a nice, chilly feeling. All the pain went away. Not suddenly. Just... slowly.

"Are you okay?" the girl asked. He guessed that the girl was the person named 'Touko'. His vision started to become clearer, finally being able to see his saviour. They were a teenage girl with long, inky black hair tied up in two low pigtails, her bangs hanging over her dark blue eyes. He quickly blinked, not recognizing where he was. He tried to move, but his wounds sent pain through his whole body. It was like a needle stabbing you. Short, but painful.

"Don't move. Your wounds aren't completely healed, and they can open again." she told him, trying to hold him in place. It took a while, but he finally managed to calm down.

"Who are you and where am I?" he demanded, looking straight into the girl's eyes.

"My name is Kage- I mean Touko Kageyama." she corrected herself "And for your second question, right now, you are in my house." she added. Emalf slowly started to remember what had happened last night. How Poemi had stabbed him. He clenched his fists. She had just betrayed him like that. It hurt. God dammit, it hurt a lot! Poemi and him had a... strange friendship, but he still considered Poemi his friend. She was his first friend in the Flame World.

"You're... You're Froze..." he stammered, realizing the last thing he saw was her summoning her box staff and hitting Poemi. Kageyama nodded with a neutral face. She sat on her knees, next to the futon Emalf was in.

"Why did you save me? You could have just left me there to die." he asked, sitting up.

"I could. And honestly, a part of me wanted to." she admitted, making him look at her, as if he demanding for the rest of the answer "Because, we have fought a lot, and that makes us enemies. Besides, when you almost killed me... Basically, yeah, a part of me wanted to leave you there to die." she explained, looking down to her lap "However. I'm not the same. That would have been what past me would have wanted. But I don't want to be that type of person." she stated, looking at Emalf directly into his eyes.

"You're strange." he deadpanned, making Kageyama look at him in surprise. But then, she cracked a smile.

"Maybe. But that just makes me unique." she said, getting up "I'll get you some food." she added before leaving the room. 'Unique, huh...' the demon thought.

_______________________________________________________

Kurai watched as Kageyama prepared some instant noodles for Emalf. He didn't understand. Why help her enemy? "I still don't understand why you decided to help him." he admitted, shifting into his human form. Kageyama sighed before turning to him.

"First of all, get off the fridge, you're not grounded." she deadpanned, pointing to the floor. The shifter grinned evilly.

"Kurai. Get off of the fridge." she repeated, a bit annoyed. The shifter sighed before jumping down.

"There you go. I'm down." he huffed. Kageyama rolled her eyes.

"Second of all, I wanted to help him because I wanted to, okay? Besides, he could be a great assist to our team." she told him, crouching down to be at the same level. Kurai didn't mind that she did that, in fact he didn't pay attention to that.

"I know! But..." he argued "What if he betrays you in the end? What if he ends up going back to that demon?" he asked.

"I don't think he won't." Kageyama started, ignoring the 'seriously?' look Kurai gave her "But if he does... Then I won't hesitate." she said, a shadow casting over her eyes. The shifter slightly shivered. It was that scary look again. The one where she seemed to want to kill someone. The crow had only seen it once or twice, when she thought about the fallen crows.

"We fought before. And you know that. So, if he ends up betraying us, I will not doubt in fighting against." she sighed, staring at nothing. Her gaze was lost in her thoughts. There were a few seconds of silence. It could have been easily cut with a knife. But then, they heard the ding of the timer the setter had set. Which meant the food was done.

"I'll bring our guest the food." she said before taking the cup in her hands, not even caring how hot it was. Kurai watched as the raven left the kitchen. He didn't follow her. He stayed there, alone, with the darkness. He needed some time alone.