Chapter 24 - Take responsibility

After the devil died Tatsuya cleaned the area with his magic and then walked towards the cat. He bent down to her level and asked, "you okay?" and then started using his healing spell. After her injuries were healed Tatsuya looked at her and said, "Now let's start from the beginning my name is Tatsuya Shiba, Nice to meet you." Tatsuya said with a small.smile. The girl who was about the same age as him blushed a little but still introduced herself, "Nice to meet you as well I am Himari Noihara."

After introducing herself Himari thought for a while and snapped and then said, "Wait a minute, it is not a time for introductions. Tell me who---no what are you? And how did you know that I was the cat?" Tatsuya heard her but didn't cared about that he was currently focusing on her ears.

Tatsuya got his concentration back and said, "Well I am a human though I can use magic as you have seen and I knew that you were the cat as I had infused some of my magic in you while I was healing you so that I could track you or know whether you were in danger because every night you went out after you thought that 'everyone' was asleep."

Himari didn't said anything as she was digesting the information that she just got. After a while she looked back at him and asked, "did you knew that I was a Youkai when you saved me?" Tatsuya just nodded his head in reply. Himari just scowled and asked, "then why did you saved me, do you want me for my power too."

Tatsuya still in his expressionless mode said, "well I didn't knew that you were a Youkai till I picked you up from the river and to why I saved you because you were gravely injured and also you were cute and your fur was very soft...oh it felt so good~. And before you ask why I let you stay even after you were healed. The answer to that question is simple I didn't felt any ill intent from you towards me or my family and it was also fun being with you, you should see your face which you make while eating."

Himari who heard his reasoning didn't knew what to think about him, she was confused whether Tatsuya was foolish or kind but shrugged it off. She got up from his spot and said, "Thank you for taking care of me during the entire week. Now I will be going." Before she was about to move Tatsuya grabbed her hand and asked, "do you have any place to go?" Hearing no answer from her Tatsuya only sighed and said, "Why not live with us, join our family it will be very fun."

When she heard Tatsuya's question she was happy and was about to accept it but shook her head in denial. Tatsuya didn't reacted and asked, "may I know why?" Himari was a bit reluctant to tell him but decided that it would be okay as he was trying to help her. She took a deep breath and said, "I don't want to cause you any trouble and I don't want your loved ones to die because of my curse."

Hearing the word curse Tatsuya became curious and asked, "what curse?" Himari then started to tell him about her curse.

In the nekometa tribe there were mostly females and hence they require to find a male from other species for child birth. Himari was a nekoshou with her being a half nekometa and a half Human but she was declared a cursed child as her ears were of different colour then her hair and it was evident that she was cursed as she had the power of darkness which made her loose control and even attack the allies. She and her mother were abandoned by the tribe at a very young age. Since then no one had cared for her and a few years later her mother died as well. Though it seemed that some devils heard about her cursed power wanted to have it for themselves and started to attack her because of it. She could easily slip pass through them but a devil planted a tracker inside her body and she was unable to remove it and since then she had been on run from those devils till she met Tatsuya.

Tatsuya who heard her gave her a light head chop and said, "there is no way you are cursed your ears look beautiful to me." as he said that Himari blushed a bit. Tatsuya then gave her another head chop but this time he applied a bit force to it. Himari clutched her head and said, "why the hell are you hitting me." Tatsuya didn't answer her and said, "And there is no such thing as cursed power in this world. There are only power which can be controlled or power which cannot be controlled. And yours is the second kind, you just need to work hard and make sure to master that power of yours. I will help you so what do you say?"

Himari looked at him for a while and said, "I cannot I don't want you people to get troubled because of me remember those devils can still track me, what will you do if they harm the others dear to you?" Tatsuya who heard her said, "They are more than enough to take care of themselves and if you still not feel satisfied then here take it." Tatsuya then gave Himari something. Himari took the thing in her hand it was a small sphere like thing. Himari was confused and looked at Tatsuya for explanation. Tatsuya looked at her confused expression and said, "it is the tracker they planted in you, I took it out of your body with magic."

Himari was shocked on hearing him. Tatsuya stood up and moved his hand towards Himari and asked, "I will ask you again are you willing to join us in our family Himari Noihara." Himari took his hand and said, "I am. I want to live with you." Himari then started crying as she was feeling happy that she now has a family. Tatsuya looked at her crying and gave a tired sigh. He went towards her and hugged her and started to pat her back slowly. Himari shoved her head in his chest to hide her crying and blushing face from him.

Once she stopped crying she looked at Tatsuya and asked, "so you knew about me being a nekometa all this time right?" Tatsuya nodded. Himari who saw him nod her head said, "and then too you ravaged my body daily, don't you have any shame? How are you going to make me feel that I had not been ravaged tell me?" Tatsuya who heard her sighed and asked, "ok I will do any one thing that you want to ask for forgiveness, is that all right?" Hearing his words Himari smiled mischievously and said, "simple you have to take responsibility for it."

Tatsuya was about to retort but suddenly Himari came near his face and liked his cheek and nibbled his ear. Seeing that there was no way out of it. Tatsuya sighed and stopped thinking about it and rather started thinking on how to make the others accept Himari, he knew he would hear an earful from Miyuki about all this matter.