• The light from the fireplace dimly lit the entire study. Rich burgundy walls became a dancefloor for the shadows of objects throughout the room and hanging lamps on the ceiling. The deep gold carpet, which kept the footprints of prior guests, glimmered in the dull light. A dark brown chair sat lonely in front of the fire, warming itself from the dust of snow outside.

    In the chair sat a golden blond haired young man no older than nineteen or twenty. Yellowish green eyes gleemed under the glow from the flames and his pupils revealed themselves to be cat's eye's pupils as they dialated. Skin the same as the color and feel of a ripe peach shadowed itself along a sharp jawline. It was soft and easy to manage; not the type of thing he caught himself worrying about often, but he did often tan in the summer. Must have been the cat in him.

    A book lay in the man's lap, not a novel, but a leather bound journal. A few entries had been made, mostly intense theories and scientific algorithms. In the back of the front cover his name was written in beautiful black calligraphy; Raiken Desrio. A smile tore his face.

    "A name that will one day be remembered as the savior of peace." A small shuffling came from the small crevice between the bookshelf and the desk, which created the most inconvinient nook that inanimate objects always took the opprotunity to jump in. Raiken's ears twitched on his head and he felt around the nook until he came across a patch of hair. He gripped it and tugged lightly. "I win again Luin." Raiken boasted, lifting Luin from the crevice, smirking. "That's one more cup."

    "That's three now Raiken!" Luin whined.

    "Yeah," Raiken looked around the room and sat Luin down on the small loveseat jammed in the opposite corner of the room. "It wouldn't be so many if you knew how to be quiet Luin." He picked up his notebook from his desk and jotted something in it as if Luin's whining wasn't happening. Luin's cheeks puffed in anger.

    "You cheat!" He griped.

    "Do not."

    Luin stuck out his tongue and Raiken took the advantage to poke Luin's tongue with his pen and watched him jump. "Meanie!" He yelled.

    "You just suck." At this comment Luin smiled. It was nice to see Raiken in such a chipper mood. Normally he hardly showed emotion and just barked orders to him all day. When these games were tolerated or played, something had gone right.

    "Maybe," Luin chimed, watching the smile on Raiken's face grow wider. "But i can at least fit in that crevice!"

    "And?"

    Time for a subject change.

    "So how are the others coming along?" Bad idea. Raiken just shrugged and walked over to his chair.

    "That isn't an answer." Luin continued.

    "Were you expecting a novel?"

    "No," Luin shrugged. "Only a few chapters." The argument was fast approaching, he could feel it.

    Raiken threw his journal. "We are not doing this again Luin!" The walls made the yelling seem that much louder.

    Luin smirked. One of his favorite things; pushing Raiken's buttons. "And why not?"

    "Because you are a child."

    "A child you made Raiken."

    Raiken began to get enraged, his cat ears lying back on his head and tail wrap around his legs, the rainbow running through them became a colorful tyrant. Half-demon lineage showing itself with those and his flaring temperment. "With aspiration of a silent obidience!" He shouted. A year ago Luin would have cried if his "father" had yelled, but now he smiled. Emotion was rare, but good. And Raiken was showing more and more. Finally, after ten years, something was happening.