Ran fidgeted from where sat beside Mukoku inside the Wraithwagon.
This was his first time ever sitting beside her, also his first time alone with her.
They were the only ones within the Wraithwagon, she'd summoned—said no word to him when he arrived—beckoned him to follow her, and that was how he ended up here now
Still he wanted to know where they were going. An adventure in hell was dangerous enough, an unknown adventure—
That was suicide.
"Where are we headed, Mukoku?" He asked.
She looked calm now, for which he was grateful. One wouldn't know by her expression as her face was as hard as stone.
But, apparently, he had years of experience with her. And had memories of those years too. And that experience taught him exactly how to gauge her mood.
It was by her aura. Her aura was, dare he say it, serene. Which meant she was even in a jovial mood aside just being peaceful and relaxed.
His judgment was confirmed when she turned and regarded him with a smile. "You are two feet taller now," She said. "And more handsome, I should add. Be careful to never find yourself in the City of Lust, my dear knave. You will return half the man you were."
He frowned, not understanding what she meant. He knew he looked good now, especially with the white forelock. He'd heard of the City of Lust, or at least one of his Kagami-hankyos had heard of it and thus he'd also heard of it.
Every demon of lust one could think of from the lores and myths of Kurana called that sodomic city.
It was a city of sins and vices.
He guessed he could understand Mukoku's meaning but he found the subject uncomfortable, so he asked again.
"Where are we headed?"
She gave his soft look of admonishment but relented. "We are going to meet one of the most evil Princes of Hell."
Ran snorted at that, he could not help it.
Mukoku side-eyed him. "What?" She said, sounding a bit crossed.
"I have read your history, you know." At least one of his Kagami-hankyos had. "You have murdered virgins, bathed in their blood like your mother. You have massacred hundreds of thousands in slavic locales in Kurana. You have betrayed, tortured millions, and even unleashed abominations on your own people."
She folded her arms defensively, giving him a curious look. "And you feel I don't have the right to call someone else evil."
Ran shrugged. 'If the shoe fits' he wanted to say, but he was not an idiot. "I don't know, just felt that I had to point that out," he said instead.
She scoffed at him. "Cowardice doesn't suit you, my knave, lose it." She was smirking now. "Don't worry, I can never torture, murder, bathe in the blood of, unleash abominations on, massacre, or betray someone under bound service to me. You are even the one who tortures me."
I gaped at her at such a ridiculous accusation. "Me?" I asked, patting myself on the chest. "H… how can…. How would you… That does not even make any sense."
She giggled at him, evidently enjoying his confusion. "Ah, so you never really researched how an aura of protection works?"
He blinked, wondering where she was headed with this.
Smiling evilly at him, Mukoku proceeded to explain. "My beloved Knave, nothing in Naraku is free. There's a price to be paid for everything, especially something as powerful as the aura of protection. Have no fear though, you are not the one paying the price. That would be a counterproductive countereffect."
He was almost too scared to ask but Ran knew he needed to. "So, what's the price?"
"You are not being protected from anything that could harm you in hell, what the aura does is send that harm to me."
Ran felt his mind stop. He had to give himself a while before he could think again.
He felt… he didn't know what he felt. But it was beyond pity, beyond gratitude.
It was not love but an amount of gratefulness and appreciation that rivalled it.
"I… I don't know what to say."
She snorted. "I had to do it as you are mine. At least for twenty years, of which we have already seen five of now. I can't have what is mine becoming broken. As your people say, that would be a bad investment. You have nothing to worry about still, I am the Queen of Severance, anything that would cause great harm to you feels like an itch at worst to me."
He looked at her to see if she was being truthful. He had this sense, a sense he didn't know he had but felt very familiar with.
Another effect of the Kagami-hankyos? He wasn't certain.
But this sense was telling him right now that Mukoku wasn't being entirely truthful to him.
It took just a bit of thinking for him to figure out which part of her words was the lie.
"If you say that then how come you and everyone in your service collapsed during the incident with limbo?" He asked, speaking kindly.
She still took offence regardless of his tone. "That is an incident I try not to think much about, Kaito Ran," she said, frowning, her tone carrying a hint of warning.
"I'm sorry," he said, which he was honest about. He didn't know how, or why, but he did know that he'd been the cause or, at least, the source of the limbo debacle.
She sighed and patted him on the head. "You are a good Knave, one with more mysteries than there are stars but that was why I made you my Knave in the first place. Naraku can be boring, you know. Or maybe that's just the immortality that comes with the nature of it. Regardless, even things that the Lagarakei attack stop being interesting after you have seen thousands of events like it. You, you are something new, Kaito Ran. You have enough mysteries that I feel I won't be bored for a few thousand years to come. And now, now that you have been aged by your soul, things will get even more interesting."
Ducking to avoid her patting him on the head again, Ran asked, "What do you mean by aged by my soul?"
"I mean you have matured spiritually, even though not fully," she said. "You can consider it an equivalent to reaching adulthood. Your soul now has developed a strong kin after the years that have gone by since I corrupted it with Assarian essences to heal you."
"Does that mean I can learn the arts of kin now?"
"Indeed. You just need a good teacher. Haru does nothing but speak to that cambion friend of his all day, you could convince him to help you with that."
Ran did his best to keep a frown off his face. He hadn't seen Haru since the Blaze and wasn't sure if the acolyte was avoiding him or not because this wasn't the first what felt like weeks have gone by without them seeing each other.
But with how they're conversation had ended when they last met, he wondered if this time it wasn't merely down to coincidence.
"What's the quickest way to master one's kin?" He asked, deviating from that.
Mukoku gave him a searching look then leaned forward, a playful grin on her face.
"Let me tell you about the power of the tongue."