[Blood Brothers]

Growling, Sato stalked down the street, eyes sweeping from side-to-side as he walked. Ayaka's bunny was missing, so he had to help find it even though it was bright and sunny outside.

Today was definitely a day that he would have preferred being inside on, working to create a new candy. However, his fate was not of a busy creator in his own lab, but a dog sent out to track down something for his (temporary) master.

A few times, he had dredged up enough energy to ask the townspeople if they had seen the wayward hare, but he'd had no luck so far. There was a couple coming down the street that looked like they had been crawling through the forest on their knees and the red-haired vampire wondered if the annoying animal had gone off and gotten lost amongst the trees.

"Hey, you two kids, have you seen a rabbit boy around here?"

[Alice]

They had finally arrived in Hopeless and whether or not she did the right thing with the Hare still weighed heavily on her mind, she had asked Maou, but he couldn't answer her. Alice looked up to see a tall redhead walking towards them, asking for a rabbit boy, could it be that this person knew the Hare? she eyed him suspiciously.

"Yes actually, but why are you looking for him?"

Alice said protectively, looking the broody redhead over, nothing too terribly menacing about this one...

[Maou]

He rather felt sorry for the dark-haired girl, but whether that bunny boy was in good hands or not, he had no definite answer. His imps had led him straight to Hopeless, as he knew they would, and now he was eager to see what sorts of tasty treasures they had laying around for him to partake of.

Unfortunately, he found his way blocked by an extremely rude redhead. The white-haired demon seethed at the creature that dared call him a 'kid' as he was neither a child nor a goat. There was no way that Maou would give him any information on the rabbit boy since that seemed to be whom the bastard was asking about.

Ume landed on his shoulder, clinging to his hair as if there was nothing wrong, but once again the other two were shifting against his back uncomfortably.

Unfortunately, he was not the only one who knew where that bunny boy was and she was rather lacking in the head, seeing as she gave away that she had information about him before discovering the purpose behind why the jerk was asking.

[Blood Brothers]

"He works with me at Ayaka's little shop down the lane. Since he's been missing, my employer has sent me out to track him down. Personally, I think she worries too much. If nothing has gotten him until now, I doubt anything will in the future. She won't listen and thus I am out on this bright day, crisping under the horrid sun," Sato explained at length, trying to keep the whine out of his voice.

It wasn't easy.

Out of all his brothers, Tenshi and Seishin could tolerate the sun best, then there was a large gap and him. That didn't mean he could be out and about much, but he didn't shriek like a banshee as Nanashi tended to.

The snippet of memory surprised Sato, making him stumble slightly and blink rapidly. His head immediately began to ache.

[Alice]

"Well he is my friend, though he has been acting quite different as of late"

Alice thought back to the Hare's hands around her neck, of all the people in this new strange world she never thought that the Hare would do something that, he was after all her only friend. These were the thoughts that ran through her mind the entire trek over to Hopeless, she had hardly said anything to Maou, and the sun continued to beat down relentlessly which in turn made her feel quite dizzy.

"He is now being looked after by a friend of mine, i expect they should come here when he feels better.."

[Maou]

Maou was very displeased.

If it wasn't for the damn girl, he'd have walked off several minutes ago, but for some reason he felt that the dark-haired girl shouldn't be left alone with this new person. There was a predator's intent behind those purple eyes, even if it seemed to be a bit lazy.

None of his imps seemed particularly pleased with the redhead, either.

[Blood Brothers]

"Yes, did he molest you, too?" Sato huffed, tilting his head slightly as he observed the girl in a blue dress. Now that he knew that the Hare was taken care of, his curiosity was turned toward the two people who had, apparently, made it through the Goddess Woods unscathed.

It was said that if one was lost in those wood, they could end up in a ghost town where all nightmares are real. So far, Sato hadn't had any extra time to check out the rumor, but some of the older boys of the town had been trying to talk to him away from Ayaka.

The woman with dual-colored hair seemed to have an idea about what they wanted and had been keeping Sato exceptionally occupied and away from them, which he didn't mind at all. It was probably something stupid like a test of courage so that they could allow themselves to accept that Sato was an all-around cool guy.

Whatever.

[Alice]

"M-molest?, Why Mr. Hare would never do such a thing!"

her hands reached up to touch her neck it was sore the bruising had probably gotten darker.

"Well, maybe he would....do you know of a place where we could freshen up a bit we have had a very interesting trip to say the least."

[Maou]

If there was one thing that Maou was least eager to do at this point, it was go to where this snobbish creature called 'home'. The girl practically just asked for the redhead to take her to his abode where he would be free to ravish her at his leisure with no one the wiser.

Why did he feel so responsible for this bint?

The disapproving eyes of the other redhead in the forest might have played a part in it. Today was a very anti-redhead day, apparently. No matter the shade of hair, Maou would have to tag along to insure that the girl did not lose anything dear to her. He sighed in annoyance, but said nothing.

He didn't even know her name.

[Blood Brothers]

"I suppose you'll have to come back to the shop. We don't have any public baths or hot springs around," Sato sighed, running a hand through his hair. His 'big sister' was always so trusting and giving and he was sure that if it ever got around that he had turned out these weary travelers she would not be particularly pleased with him.

It was bad enough that she was planning on making him attend some sort of school. Perhaps his life wasn't shitty enough yet. That Destiny bitch had to throw him a few more challenges to make sure he wasn't enjoy his unlife.

"Come along," the purple-eyed vampire insisted coolly, turning towards the Random Shop to lead the way.

[Alice]

Alice nodded

"Thank you"

she waited for the redhead to lead the way, she looked back to Maou who hadn't said a thing this whole time, on top of that he didn't look very pleased to be going with the redhead, she didn't really ask him either, something they probably should have discussed before she made the decision.

"Maou, are you alright? You haven't said thing this whole time, and i didn't even ask you where you wanted to go."

[Maou]

"I'm well enough, miss. It's not as if there are droves of townspeople begging to have us stay with them," Maou pointed out with a slight sigh. If there were, he wouldn't know what to do, anyway. That would definitely be creepy.

Ringu crawled up onto his shoulder, flapping his blue wings absently to keep balance, while his green imp remained attached to the back of his shirt. The purple nuisance perched stubbornly on his other shoulder, having already fought the fight for her right to shoulder-ride whenever she pleased. Maou was almost positive that was why female imps had sharper, needle-like claws.

Reluctantly following the creep, the white-haired demon discretely checked to see if there were any motels or hostels.

There weren't.

[Blood Brothers]

Arriving at the shop, Sato glanced back and noted that the other two were taking their time. He poked his head inside, not hearing or seeing any sign of Ayaka. This was both a good and bad thing because telling her that he knew something about the Hare's whereabouts was important but her being out and about allowed him time to use the two travelers as guinea pigs for his latest creations.

Nibbling on the inside of his lip, he looked again and sighed out of a nearly abandoned habit. What was taking them so long?

[Alice]

"Alright, I would like thank you again, I'm sure if you hadn't shown up when you did i would have stayed with my friend, and in his condition, i don't think I'd have stayed around for long"

Alice managed a smile at Maou and the peculiar little creatures on his shoulder, she turned to catch up with the Red head, but stopped a few steps away and walked back to Maou.

"My name is Alice, I'm not sure that I've properly introduced myself, I apologize for not doing so earlier, must have slipped my mind. Lets catch up with our host, I don't think he's the patient type.."

[Maou]

"It was no trouble as I was headed this direction," Maou said, verbally waving off her thanks and apologies. Their host really was the impatient sort, though he also looked to be plotting something. The white-haired demon was not pleased but neither could he deviate from the path he was being led on.

"However, Miss Alice, you should be wary of this person," he murmured after turning his head to look at her over his shoulder (and over the imp situated there). Said imp crouched down to make it easier to see and glanced back at the girl himself.

[Blood Brothers]

"Head in when you're ready," Sato told them, displeased that he had to raise his voice to tell them that. Heading in, he went directly upstairs to make sure that there were clean towels for the two of them.

At least they had picked up some clothes aside from the Hare's dresses, so the white-haired male wouldn't be subjected something so dastardly and dignity decimating - if Sato would be so kind as to allow him, that is.

For now, he was still mentally debating between allowing it or making the guy cross dress lest he be forced to run around naked.

[Alice]

Alice blinked, it hadn't occurred to her that their host couldn't be trusted, perhaps she should have put more thought into talking to strangers, but it was much too late for "should haves", she would be careful around the redhead as Maou had said for the time being, she nodded in agreement and proceeded to go inside the shop.

[Maou]

Following the two inside, Maou looked around carefully, taking note of all possible weapons and escape routes. It seemed like a normal shop, except for the books and knickknacks covering the shelves along the wall. There was also a particularly large pile of books in one corner that seemed to be stacked to act as shelves for more knickknacks.

How odd.

Their host reappeared at the top of one set of stairs and seemed to be staring at them curiously. His blue imp shuffled restlessly on his shoulder and he could feel Midi crawl up the back of his shirt to peek up at the redhead through his hair. Ume was unimpressed.

[Blood Brothers]

"The restroom is up those stairs, but the bathroom is located just a little behind me. Please, make yourself at home," Sato stated graciously as he padded down the stairs toward them. For now, it was best to just watch them.

From what he had seen so far, the two were not particularly close, but the white-haired boy seemed rather protective of the girl. They didn't look related nor did they have a similar scent. Now that they were in a closed space, the vampire could smell his co-worker on the girl in the blue dress.

"I am called Sato and this is Ayaka's Random Shop. I use one of the kitchens to make sweets and she uses the other to create whatever suits her fancy," he informed them, reaching the floor and heading toward his kitchen. "Call me if you need something."

[Alice]

Random shop was most definitely right, this place had a little bit of just about everything, and two kitchens at that, Alice wondered what other sorts of surprised were just sitting around waiting to be found.

"Well"

She looked to Maou

"Would you like to go first?"

[Maou]

"Perhaps it would be best if you did. Ladies first and all that," Maou insisted, glancing toward the redhead's kitchen to see what he was up to. From what he could see, the other male was digging through one of the cabinets for something he didn't seem to be finding.

Truly, he wanted a little alone time with Sato to ask some pertinent questions. It depended on the answers, but at least then he would have a better idea of how far he could trust the redhead.

At least, that was the idea.

[Blood Brothers]

Grumbling to himself, Sato dug through his kitchen in an attempt to find something that wasn't sweet related. This was the dessert kitchen, but he was almost positive that he had seen a loaf of bread in here the other day.

Perhaps the Hare had been carting it around and set it down in here, though why the rabbit boy was in his kitchen was beyond the vampire. The tiny brunette tended to avoid places he had claimed as his pretty well, mumbling something about how he never went to Hatty's place and there was no way that he'd go to the redhead's place, either.

[Alice]

Alice smiled, at least Maou knew how to treat a lady, much unlike that horrid King.

"Thank you"

Alice turned to walk up the stairs and remembered that her only clothes were the ones she was wearing. This might prove problematic, it would be silly to put on dirty clothes after you've just cleaned up.

"Sato, do you by any chance have anything that i may borrow until i can mend my dress?"

[Maou]

Maou nearly groaned at the girl's weak choice of words. How had the girl managed to get by this long without getting picked up by some pervert? She definitely didn't seem the type to wear pants and those frilly skirts seemed to just beg to be flipped up.

Waiting for the redhead's response, he took a deep breath and focused on their host.

[Blood Brothers]

Padding out of the kitchen, Sato looked up at the girl where she stood near the stairs. As much fun as it would be to make the male wear some of the Hare's clothes and insist that the girl wear some of his, he doubted that it would go over well.

"There are dresses in the closet. I doubt our mutual friend, Mr. Hare would mind you borrowing one and in the chest of drawers there are clothes much more suited to those of the masculine persuasion. Choose what you like," Sato answered, smiling blandly.

Hopefully, one of them would use the shampoo that he had concocted and left for the Hare in the bathroom. So far, he didn't think that the silly, little thing had used it.