Pet Shop Of Horrors Fan Fiction ❯ Why are there no humans here? ❯ Discovery ( Chapter 1 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: meemzy 
Things start out and I admitt now, I don't have the whole time thing going on too well. So bad meemzy and plz don't eat my soul >.<
Introduction and Teaser to why D doesn't have any humans living with him in the shop. Truth be told there was one... and this is why there is no more
Anime/Manga: Pet Shop Of Horrors Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Hentai | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 08.01.2005 | Pages: 3 | Words: 5.2K | Visits: 1.1K | Status: Teaser
Things start out and I admitt now, I don't have the whole time thing going on too well. So bad meemzy and plz don't eat my soul >.<
Introduction and Teaser to why D doesn't have any humans living with him in the shop. Truth be told there was one... and this is why there is no more
Anime/Manga: Pet Shop Of Horrors Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Hentai | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 08.01.2005 | Pages: 3 | Words: 5.2K | Visits: 1.1K | Status: Teaser
A/N- this is my first PSOH fic... Wooo!
Disclaimer- I do not own PSoH... but I can dream and I apologize for my lack of time… it’s bad
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D: If i do this fic...does this mean that I get chocolate?
MeeMz: Maybe....
D: **puppy dog eyes** pleaseeee
MeeMz: .... ok ^.^
D: WOOOOOOooooOOOo
MeeMz: If you can get past this angry panda of death!
Angry Panda of Death: **stomps on the ground and gets into attack position** Grr!!
D: O.O oh my... that’s a very angry panda... do you think she'll be my friend?
MeeMz: Probably not...
D: WHY NOT?!?!
MeeMz: Cause she's a psyco....
Angry Panda of Death: Grr!! **tries to eat D's head**
D: AHhHhH!! WHAT DO YOU FEED THIS THING?!?!?!?! **runs away**
MeeMz: Told you so, but nooo you think you know everything! **watches D run from the Angry Panda**
And now for my personal enjoyment...
Chapter One
----> Discovery<----
Everything isn't what it seems. The pace we set ourselves at is only a speed that we can truly understand in death. In the afterlife we see if we did in fact, not spend enough time on the little things that should have consumed one's heart with glee, or if we rushed into things headstrong, looking for something better and leaving others behind. We judge ourselves so cruelly, thinking if we had known of some ill-fated event we could have stopped them or interfered. We forget that life itself only bows down to one of two things. Fate and death. That is the point of change or eternal nothingness. This eternal nothingness is obtained in death. It is this nothingness that we seek. For at that point, there is no looking back at past mistakes and no further pain of the heart.
Do people even care? No. No one cares of anything that doesn't affect him or her at the present moment. There is no thought of future generations as we continue to pollute and destroy a world that can never be replaced. We continue to populate a place that isn’t fit enough to raise the current generation let alone another age of babes.
My race is different. We don't fear anything because we know something that keeps the humans constantly fighting and destroying. Our knowledge is that we cannot die. Our lives cannot be taken by force or choice. Our ageing process stops the moment we turn twenty-one. And at that age we remain in our prime for eternity. And in our prime we can do whatever it is we please, as long as we please.
My grandfather and my father have both been extremely fond of animals. Such creatures do not take pleasure in unjust sport as the humans that hunt them do. The only show signs of danger when they themselves are in danger. In danger of death or of starvation. This danger applies also to their young or mates. In that thought I have also found myself drawn to these creatures.
At first it was only an attraction to them and now it is a desire that is hard to suppress. This desire is to be near them and to care for them. So I have surrounded myself with them. I seek them out and try to find suitable homes for those that need more individual and personal attention. It saddens me to see them go, just as it saddens me to let them walk out the pet shops doors in the arms of others. But I hope for more then just the best for them. In these dieing ages of purity, honor and life I hope to also teach them. Them being both the pets and the humans. The pets must learn lessons of compassion and loyalty, while the humans learn the value of a contract. A contract that binds the pets to their owners and the owners to their lives. For a breach of this contract is of no direct concern of mine. It is the men, women and children that learn the fierce brutality of the truth... I do not lie.
Feed the pets what I tell you too, care for them in the order that is pacify listed and never expect me to clean up your mess. For walking into my pet shop you ask for compassion, friendship, riches, death or maybe life. In giving you what you fact desire and granting your wishes I hope to do so much more. My pets need care also. They are lonely creatures that also fear such things as rejection, starvation and mistreatment.
Parting is indeed sweet sorrow. They will learn their lessons and if in fact they don't, they'll never face the fear of making the same mistake twice.
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Some say that gods are high and mighty, that they are only spectators. That might be true but some of us prefer hands on approach. We do tend to play with the minds of the mortals and screw with their hearts. Being the one with all the cards in their hands is indeed both amusing and trivial. On one hand we seek to find a place of enlightenment higher then achievable. But at the same time a darker and more terrible side calls for chaos and bloodshed. I know that if I chose to; I could in fact turn loose every creature imaginable onto the humans. Humans would surely die and some pets along with them but at the cost of my soul and all since of rationality I possess.
I've been alive so long that this thought has indeed found it's fair share of time in my head. The same things continue to plaque me time after time again. An immortal such as myself rarely finds them self-considering the future. For one it is a sure thing and a thing that can't be altered. For this fact will always be there. I cannot die. I will not die. There will never be a place in time where I am now living. But a persons since of living varies.
For many centuries I have been an object of disgust to both my father and grandfather. Was I living: yes... alive? No. I couldn't find myself after loosing something I treasured above all else. This thing was actually a person.
I had found her in my travels with my grandfather; Sofu. I had seen millions of sights and things above any normal person walking the earth. But when I found her everything seemed smaller. A beautiful little child that had been crucified alive. Her eyes weren’t suppose to be that color. Sofu walked strait past her without batting an eyelash. But I couldn't. She was so small. Blood poured from her wounds. There was nothing I could think of to comfort this child. Her skin was so pale for someone of this area. The sign under her read in Latin, stating that she was a princess from a far off land that had rejected the affection of a high-ranking general. Her penalty was to be torture and then death.
She hung there after the humiliation of being beating and raped in public by the "authorities". They had apparently not wanted her wide eyes starring at them, as they preformed these acts for they had placed a knife of some sort above the eyebrow on each side of her perfect face. They laid a long cut down her forehead, down her brow; eyelid, eyes themselves and then her cheeks, stopping just about even with her mouth.
Her eyes apparently had taken some damage for the whiteness had been filled with the blood. A robe had been given to her at one point but now it hung in slithers as gashes and cuts shown through the missing fabric that hung in threads around the base of the cross.
"A poor occurrence, yes. " I turned around expecting anyone but the face of Sofu to be starring at the girl. I would of thought that he had merely left me standing there in my own thought, as he often did. "It is sad in the ways the mortals continue to make each other suffer. I can only frown at the thought of the future devices and contraptions that they will make to kill each other. A sad thought indeed..."
"Sofu, is there nothing we can do to ease her pain?" I asked timidly trying to find a way to urge him to help her.
"D... there are things in life we cannot help. This child is what can't b-"
"PLEASE! I know that I am indeed the trouble some grandson and I haven’t been someone to be proud of. But I can't leave her suffering so! It just isn't right." I never had spoken against Sofu let alone interrupted him. Fear quickly came into my mind as I thought of the wrath I might have invoked. I looked at my grandfather but he wasn't looking back. His eyes seemed so old. They seemed to be the only part of him that in fact aged. His eyes stayed on the girl for longer then I wanted. He didn't seem to mind as the day passed by but then again, what’s one day when you've seen millions?
The girl’s blood continued to drip to the ground. Her eyes though stayed wide the whole time, starring back at Sofu. Every time she blinked, a tear of blood came from her red eyes. I could see that the knife or whatever they had used went through the lens above the cornea.
(A/N: I don't know if that’s true but it all makes since in my own little blond head... MAUHAHAHA)
After waiting for the longest two hour of my life Sofu tore his eyes from the child’s. He looked dead into my own eyes and smirked. "Tell me grandson, what has made you stop at this cross and stare at this child? We've passed hundreds on this road and thousands on previous roads. What's so special about her?"
Everything I rationalized and the pity I had for her had just blown up. My grandfather had just ripped that idea to shreds. I had thought I stopped because she was just a child, but the thought of the previous roads and the other children was something. I had seen many people hung just like this on my journey with Sofu.
I tried three times to make words come to me while looking at me feet, but as I looked up at her I felt power surge into me. "I have to help her, and I need your help to do so grandfather. It's not the fact that she's just a child but it's the fact that she's still living. Many others we have passed have been decaying and dieing. Some call out pleas of innocence and others of mercy. Some call out rude comments to make themselves feel superior before passing on to a land of death." I took a breath and looked at her. Beads of blood sliding down her cheeks into the groves the cuts had made. Red corneas behind such bright blue green eyes had an eerie and mystical look to me.
"But what is different about this child D? What is it that draws you to her?" My grandfather had no longer a look of arrogance or amusement. His eyes were serious and drawing. I felt the wanted to know my inner thoughts and self.
"Her silence... she no longer looks to feel pain. She doesn't call out to us or ask us for anything. She merely is observing us through a high stand point. Her look is not one that is in agony but in fact a look of a god. Watching yet never interfering with our way of life down this path. She mystifies me and I am drawn to this."
I spoke in hushed tones but Sofu never made any attempt to move closer. His eyes were level with mine as I let out a deep breath. He laughed at that and tore his eyes away in attempt to stop the muffled sound but it was too late. I was angry. Here I was pleading for the life of a child and he laughs in my face!
"I-" my grandfather started to say as he caught he breath. "I have never seen you with such passion my boy! I will be glad to help in your aid in this young in." Sofu slightly bowed to me and I returned the gesture not to sure of myself. Had he... had he said yes?
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With a combined effort we pulled the cross from the ground and propped it against a tree. We had no fear of any passer Byers for there was no light on this road at this time at night. Getting the girl off the damned thing was another matter all together. If I had the thought that trying to convince my grandfather was hard I had seriously never considered the amount of effort on all three parties that the rest now endured.
Both grandfather and myself had to take turns holding the girls hands and switching to try and pry the nails from her. But the bastards hard bent the back of the nails, making any effort completely painful for her. I had put a stick in her mouth to keep her from biting her tongue or calling out. It would have broken my heart to hear such pain in verbal form.
After long hours we had pulled all three nails from the child. She now slept in my arms, covered in a blanket with only her face peering through, and even that was barely seen due to extensive bandaging. I had wrapped her whole waist and chest area with clean white shreds of cloth from my other kimono. Her hands and feet were going to need some aid in the near future from Sofu's vast knowledge, but for now I waited once again. Grandfather had barely said anything while we took her down, while I treated her wounds, or when we continued our walk down the cross infected roads. Everywhere I looked there had been more and more people hanging on crosses. People of different races and religions, some innocent and others guilty.
We arrived at a pub and grandfather simply told me to wait while he attended to business. Noting the panicked look I had he placed a hand on my shoulder, gave me a brief nod and then went inside. That was at least half an hour ago. I took no pleasure in staying in the direct line of traffic for the bar, so I stationed myself across the street. I sat on a bench with the girl on my lap, her head on my shoulder. Passer Byers gave me sympathetic looks. Their guess was probably my daughter had gotten leprosy and I was grief stricken, still clutching to her decaying body.
I did nothing to affirm or fight these sympathetic looks. This was just how this time was. Sickness dominated the lives of these people. Everyone know someone weather friend or family that had faced these illnesses. One man even had the nerve to tell me to take pity on her soul and kill her now. The thought disgusted me.
"People will never understand something greater then their own personal needs, do not dwell on their hypocritical thoughts and measures..." I looked up to see my grandfather standing extremely close. He had snuck up on me when I was spaced out... bastard, did it every time. "So tell me D, what do you intend to do with your little pet?"
His brashness astonished me. How could he ask me the plans for something such as what I intended to do with only living creatures life? It seemed unorthodox. "I'm going to care for her. I will make the things of the past a mystery to her so that she no longer fears it. With my help she could become beautiful again and learn to fend for herself." I tried to reason it out as I explained it to Sofu.
"So then let these pieces fall into place as the way they should." Sofu stepped closer to the child and me and placed a small seed on her forehead. The plant grew from it and spread into a vine that crept into the blanket and around her wrist and ankles. Flowers bloomed at the end of the vines and a sweet smelling aroma filled the air. The smell lingered around her wounds and they started to close. Skin and muscle reconnected and forged it together again. The scars took the shape of four pointed stars. They were a lighter color then own skin, making them stand out to be something of beauty. The scars on her face, chest and stomach healed and left no scars though. Yet the only thing the plant's magic did not effect was her eyes...
"What of her eyes Grandfather? Is there nothing to be done for them?" I asked, covering her up with the blanket and shooing away the vine that had taken a liking to myself. Sofu stood and straitened out the cloak that hung over his shoulders, covering his oriental clothing. He tilted his head to the side and smirked in an away that was often preserved for those about to meet a most fearsome death.
"The people of these ages say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. These people are scholars that continually try to find the answers to life itself in the sort lifespan that they're given. What will they say when the beholder is in fact a child plagued by the memories of such brutality that she was forced to fight back, unlike any other girl of her time. What will they say if this young princess is seen again? Will they redo the injustice that has already been preformed once? Will they bow to her and claim she has risen from the dead?" Sofu's voice was one of ultimate wisdom and knowledge. Though I had no idea in the slightest for old he was, I had infinitive respect of anything and everything he told me. How could I take into account the reaction of the normal people seeing one they gave to death? "If you want to keep her safe, then you only have one choice."
Looking at my grandfather I felt something like a stab of humanity. This was the man that one could idolize and claim a savior. He could also change his mind or perspective and become ones worst enemy and the image of pure evil. "So to save another; I must sacrifice my ability to walk freely with you in exchange for her safety? Such if a fate I am willing to accept."
"Very impressive... Let us be off back home."
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There was no trouble for either Sofu or myself while journeying back east. No questions were asked about the child. She barely moved at all accept when to readjust herself on my back. Sofu questioned me for carrying her piggyback but I thought it would be easier for her. Holding her in my arms was nice for me but she would have become uncomfortable with her back slouched all day long.
We traveled for three days strait down a road paved with bodies and decay. We never batted an eye to their calls. We took a boat to our homeland. The boat journey itself was two weeks long. By the time we arrived in port, the girl’s eyes looked back and forth between Sofu and myself. Yet still her eyes held no emotion. They were empty yet full of such pain and agony that watching her for too long gave me the impression of depression and other emotions not meant for one so young. Never once did she speak or make any gesture that she understood me. When Sofu talked to her however, even without any response he still had improvements over me. She would gaze at him and stare into the depths of his eyes.
Arriving back in our Chinese residence was a blessing for me. Everything was where I left it and I was pleased at that. The odd thing was it was one of the first times that Sofu had also come into the home. Usually he was off at once on other business, leaving me at home alone. I sat the girl down in the kitchen, leaving her with a piece of fruit while I went into the back room. Sofu was there and staring at a solid wall as if deciding something.
"Grandfather? Is there something wrong with that wall?" I walked up behind him and looked at the wall with him. There was nothing that I could see about it out of the usual. But I waited for his response.
"I was just thinking D.... would you be willing to take care of other creatures as well as your human pet?" He turned and looked at me, almost waiting for the words he knew would come.
"I would think it a pleasure to care for any creature of this planet or another. Seeing that I am no longer going to be traveling as often, I think I would have the opportune chance to care for any animals in need of help."
Sofu accepted my answer and looked back to the wall. A grin spread across his face that wasn't just in sarcasm but also in something I couldn't name. "Save them from what? Danger? Pain? Or maybe you'll be able to save them from the humans that threaten their very existence."
"Humans don't mean to cause such pain to other animals, they're just ignorant to what their doing." I tried to defend the creatures with such potential.
"Even so, the only thing they do is destroying each other. Killing other beings, and with them, other possibilities. I think you should open this place as a resort and shop for animals that face these things. Things as great as evolution and as terrible as human interference." Sofu turned half way to me, a grin forming on his lips. He turned and walked into the kitchen to a bag I didn't know he had placed on the ground sat. The bag was small and black and my grandfather reached into the top and pulled out a long paintbrush and walked back to the wall. I watched him with interest as he stared at the wall for several minutes before he stepped forward. "Don't worry, I've done this before".
Sofu put the brush onto the wall and drew a scene of a hallway disappearing into shadow. He placed doors every so often and a table on either side of the wall. Everything was done without ink or water but the lines seemed to bleed into the wall and become solid and transparent at the same time. They faded several feet back into the wall until I realized that they were becoming three dimensional and real things. The wooden floor no longer stopped at the wall because it simply didn't exist. It kept going and led down a deep hallway with on end and a limitless supply of rooms.
My grandfather took a step back and admired his handiwork. "Every room is different in this place. Everyplace has something to be filled with." He placed the paintbrush behind his ear and walked back into the kitchen and stopped at the front door. He turned and looked at me and the child in the chair. "Make sure you don't get lost, dear grandson."
And with that he left...
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It was a couple of years later that I realized exactly what my grandfather had truly meant. Every time I opened a door, there was something different. It also changed depending on what type of mood I was in. On a depressing Wednesday morning, a door once opened revealed a room filled with books and writings of ancient myths that captivated my interest for hours. Later that afternoon when I was feeling hungry I came back to the library room and when I opened the same door I only found the a small kitchenette with fresh cookies and milk on the counter. The amount of attention I wanted to spend exploring and the time actually done so was different.
The day after Sofu left the animals became to come. Birds that would sit on windowsills and birds that would dive from the sky and grab children as prey. They came followed by land by cats, dogs and reptiles. I opened my door to the entire array of them. Each welcomed and each accepted. I opened doors to them in more ways then one. Their majestic appearances as animals smaller in comparison to the mental images they implanted upon my mind. Beautiful people and exotic children all climbed to my lap. A monkey and a small unicorn even ventured into my home.
The animals seemed to have a bond that couldn't bring them to fight with each other. They lived happily and smiled lightly. They enjoyed the others of their kind's companionship and revolved around my compassion for them. But all of that changed when they ventured into my chambers one day.
It was only three months since my grandfather had left me with his odd idea for a pet shop that I was accepting openly. Some of the animals spoke to me about their fear and hate for the humans and their devotion for me as a kami that saved them. I smiled peacefully as always and stayed silent about the young human girl that slept in my chambers on the floor. I referred to her only as child for she rejected any attempt I made to learn her name. I figured something from Europe but the place of her birth remained a mystery to me. She slept on the floor and stayed in my room, crying her tears of blood at the smallest notion to go outside.
It was the bigger of the dogs, some of wolf mixed blood that found her. She had finally made the attempt to leave my chambers but the dogs frightened her bringing her to cry tears of blood. Weather or not she could see them and feared that or if she couldn't see them at all I would never know. For her tears of blood drove the wolf dogs into frenzy and they killed my little girl.
I found my human in a pool of her blood in front of the door to my bedroom. Her eyes were wide and staring at nothing. One of her arms had been ripped off and the other lay reaching for the door itself. Bite and scratch marks covered her arm and face.
Never again did I love a human or keep one as a pet. The pets cried for my loss but offered no words of compassion or of apology. Walking by a door a couple days later I over heard them speaking to one another. They were pleased with themselves for ridding the shop of the child, saying it would only grow into another murderous human. The wolves sensed my presence and drew back in fear of my evoked wrath. But I only could stand there and look at them with a coy smile on my face.
“Count? Please say something?” asked one of the she wolves as she stepped closer with her arms open to me. She was indeed a loyal and fierce beast. Hair wild with silks hung around her private parts, long silver claws to match her hair, and deep solemn blue eyes. Truly loyal not only to her pack and it’s safety but to me as well.
“I seemed to understand so little until now... You feared a “murderous human” and became…” my words trailed off as I looked at them. They had no place in my heart but their place in my soul could never be destroyed. “You became…” again I trailed off. The pack came closer to me, I noticed a few still had blood on their faces and it drove me wild. “You became murderous beasts”.
“How dare you!” Howled an oversized male, enraged with my insult and yet… covered in my human’s blood.
“How dare you… you, one of those that took it upon yourself to “cleanse the shop of human blood”, there’s still some on your snout. You think you can raise your voice to me? I am the one that has invited you all into the safety of my shop from prying eyes and greedy hands. I asked nothing of you! And you’ve stolen from me! You stole the reason for me to even have a pet shop to begin with! You’ve taken the small child that did nothing to the world to deserve a punishment neither of crucifixion, nor of death by beast!”
“Crucifixion? But why…” Said the she wolf, looking startled and taken aback. “But she was so young! And never did we sense ill will or violence in her soul…oh my…” She put her hand to her mouth in horror.
“Never ill willed or violent was she. She was small and lost, her own race turned against her because she didn’t want the affection of some man. A child of such age shouldn’t have to even face that choice! So they raped her, tortured her and then hung her to die.” I spoke quietly but I knew they heard me.
“I will not punish you for you were truly at that moment in time what the humans call dumb animals…” tears rolled down my cheeks as I left. Later on that day I heard the howls of sorrow. Sounds that the wolves only gave off at the loss of one of their offspring. And in the lead of the choir of cries was the she wolf, and she was loudest of them all.
Never again did I appreciate a wolf’s song so much…
Disclaimer- I do not own PSoH... but I can dream and I apologize for my lack of time… it’s bad
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D: If i do this fic...does this mean that I get chocolate?
MeeMz: Maybe....
D: **puppy dog eyes** pleaseeee
MeeMz: .... ok ^.^
D: WOOOOOOooooOOOo
MeeMz: If you can get past this angry panda of death!
Angry Panda of Death: **stomps on the ground and gets into attack position** Grr!!
D: O.O oh my... that’s a very angry panda... do you think she'll be my friend?
MeeMz: Probably not...
D: WHY NOT?!?!
MeeMz: Cause she's a psyco....
Angry Panda of Death: Grr!! **tries to eat D's head**
D: AHhHhH!! WHAT DO YOU FEED THIS THING?!?!?!?! **runs away**
MeeMz: Told you so, but nooo you think you know everything! **watches D run from the Angry Panda**
And now for my personal enjoyment...
Chapter One
----> Discovery<----
Everything isn't what it seems. The pace we set ourselves at is only a speed that we can truly understand in death. In the afterlife we see if we did in fact, not spend enough time on the little things that should have consumed one's heart with glee, or if we rushed into things headstrong, looking for something better and leaving others behind. We judge ourselves so cruelly, thinking if we had known of some ill-fated event we could have stopped them or interfered. We forget that life itself only bows down to one of two things. Fate and death. That is the point of change or eternal nothingness. This eternal nothingness is obtained in death. It is this nothingness that we seek. For at that point, there is no looking back at past mistakes and no further pain of the heart.
Do people even care? No. No one cares of anything that doesn't affect him or her at the present moment. There is no thought of future generations as we continue to pollute and destroy a world that can never be replaced. We continue to populate a place that isn’t fit enough to raise the current generation let alone another age of babes.
My race is different. We don't fear anything because we know something that keeps the humans constantly fighting and destroying. Our knowledge is that we cannot die. Our lives cannot be taken by force or choice. Our ageing process stops the moment we turn twenty-one. And at that age we remain in our prime for eternity. And in our prime we can do whatever it is we please, as long as we please.
My grandfather and my father have both been extremely fond of animals. Such creatures do not take pleasure in unjust sport as the humans that hunt them do. The only show signs of danger when they themselves are in danger. In danger of death or of starvation. This danger applies also to their young or mates. In that thought I have also found myself drawn to these creatures.
At first it was only an attraction to them and now it is a desire that is hard to suppress. This desire is to be near them and to care for them. So I have surrounded myself with them. I seek them out and try to find suitable homes for those that need more individual and personal attention. It saddens me to see them go, just as it saddens me to let them walk out the pet shops doors in the arms of others. But I hope for more then just the best for them. In these dieing ages of purity, honor and life I hope to also teach them. Them being both the pets and the humans. The pets must learn lessons of compassion and loyalty, while the humans learn the value of a contract. A contract that binds the pets to their owners and the owners to their lives. For a breach of this contract is of no direct concern of mine. It is the men, women and children that learn the fierce brutality of the truth... I do not lie.
Feed the pets what I tell you too, care for them in the order that is pacify listed and never expect me to clean up your mess. For walking into my pet shop you ask for compassion, friendship, riches, death or maybe life. In giving you what you fact desire and granting your wishes I hope to do so much more. My pets need care also. They are lonely creatures that also fear such things as rejection, starvation and mistreatment.
Parting is indeed sweet sorrow. They will learn their lessons and if in fact they don't, they'll never face the fear of making the same mistake twice.
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Some say that gods are high and mighty, that they are only spectators. That might be true but some of us prefer hands on approach. We do tend to play with the minds of the mortals and screw with their hearts. Being the one with all the cards in their hands is indeed both amusing and trivial. On one hand we seek to find a place of enlightenment higher then achievable. But at the same time a darker and more terrible side calls for chaos and bloodshed. I know that if I chose to; I could in fact turn loose every creature imaginable onto the humans. Humans would surely die and some pets along with them but at the cost of my soul and all since of rationality I possess.
I've been alive so long that this thought has indeed found it's fair share of time in my head. The same things continue to plaque me time after time again. An immortal such as myself rarely finds them self-considering the future. For one it is a sure thing and a thing that can't be altered. For this fact will always be there. I cannot die. I will not die. There will never be a place in time where I am now living. But a persons since of living varies.
For many centuries I have been an object of disgust to both my father and grandfather. Was I living: yes... alive? No. I couldn't find myself after loosing something I treasured above all else. This thing was actually a person.
I had found her in my travels with my grandfather; Sofu. I had seen millions of sights and things above any normal person walking the earth. But when I found her everything seemed smaller. A beautiful little child that had been crucified alive. Her eyes weren’t suppose to be that color. Sofu walked strait past her without batting an eyelash. But I couldn't. She was so small. Blood poured from her wounds. There was nothing I could think of to comfort this child. Her skin was so pale for someone of this area. The sign under her read in Latin, stating that she was a princess from a far off land that had rejected the affection of a high-ranking general. Her penalty was to be torture and then death.
She hung there after the humiliation of being beating and raped in public by the "authorities". They had apparently not wanted her wide eyes starring at them, as they preformed these acts for they had placed a knife of some sort above the eyebrow on each side of her perfect face. They laid a long cut down her forehead, down her brow; eyelid, eyes themselves and then her cheeks, stopping just about even with her mouth.
Her eyes apparently had taken some damage for the whiteness had been filled with the blood. A robe had been given to her at one point but now it hung in slithers as gashes and cuts shown through the missing fabric that hung in threads around the base of the cross.
"A poor occurrence, yes. " I turned around expecting anyone but the face of Sofu to be starring at the girl. I would of thought that he had merely left me standing there in my own thought, as he often did. "It is sad in the ways the mortals continue to make each other suffer. I can only frown at the thought of the future devices and contraptions that they will make to kill each other. A sad thought indeed..."
"Sofu, is there nothing we can do to ease her pain?" I asked timidly trying to find a way to urge him to help her.
"D... there are things in life we cannot help. This child is what can't b-"
"PLEASE! I know that I am indeed the trouble some grandson and I haven’t been someone to be proud of. But I can't leave her suffering so! It just isn't right." I never had spoken against Sofu let alone interrupted him. Fear quickly came into my mind as I thought of the wrath I might have invoked. I looked at my grandfather but he wasn't looking back. His eyes seemed so old. They seemed to be the only part of him that in fact aged. His eyes stayed on the girl for longer then I wanted. He didn't seem to mind as the day passed by but then again, what’s one day when you've seen millions?
The girl’s blood continued to drip to the ground. Her eyes though stayed wide the whole time, starring back at Sofu. Every time she blinked, a tear of blood came from her red eyes. I could see that the knife or whatever they had used went through the lens above the cornea.
(A/N: I don't know if that’s true but it all makes since in my own little blond head... MAUHAHAHA)
After waiting for the longest two hour of my life Sofu tore his eyes from the child’s. He looked dead into my own eyes and smirked. "Tell me grandson, what has made you stop at this cross and stare at this child? We've passed hundreds on this road and thousands on previous roads. What's so special about her?"
Everything I rationalized and the pity I had for her had just blown up. My grandfather had just ripped that idea to shreds. I had thought I stopped because she was just a child, but the thought of the previous roads and the other children was something. I had seen many people hung just like this on my journey with Sofu.
I tried three times to make words come to me while looking at me feet, but as I looked up at her I felt power surge into me. "I have to help her, and I need your help to do so grandfather. It's not the fact that she's just a child but it's the fact that she's still living. Many others we have passed have been decaying and dieing. Some call out pleas of innocence and others of mercy. Some call out rude comments to make themselves feel superior before passing on to a land of death." I took a breath and looked at her. Beads of blood sliding down her cheeks into the groves the cuts had made. Red corneas behind such bright blue green eyes had an eerie and mystical look to me.
"But what is different about this child D? What is it that draws you to her?" My grandfather had no longer a look of arrogance or amusement. His eyes were serious and drawing. I felt the wanted to know my inner thoughts and self.
"Her silence... she no longer looks to feel pain. She doesn't call out to us or ask us for anything. She merely is observing us through a high stand point. Her look is not one that is in agony but in fact a look of a god. Watching yet never interfering with our way of life down this path. She mystifies me and I am drawn to this."
I spoke in hushed tones but Sofu never made any attempt to move closer. His eyes were level with mine as I let out a deep breath. He laughed at that and tore his eyes away in attempt to stop the muffled sound but it was too late. I was angry. Here I was pleading for the life of a child and he laughs in my face!
"I-" my grandfather started to say as he caught he breath. "I have never seen you with such passion my boy! I will be glad to help in your aid in this young in." Sofu slightly bowed to me and I returned the gesture not to sure of myself. Had he... had he said yes?
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With a combined effort we pulled the cross from the ground and propped it against a tree. We had no fear of any passer Byers for there was no light on this road at this time at night. Getting the girl off the damned thing was another matter all together. If I had the thought that trying to convince my grandfather was hard I had seriously never considered the amount of effort on all three parties that the rest now endured.
Both grandfather and myself had to take turns holding the girls hands and switching to try and pry the nails from her. But the bastards hard bent the back of the nails, making any effort completely painful for her. I had put a stick in her mouth to keep her from biting her tongue or calling out. It would have broken my heart to hear such pain in verbal form.
After long hours we had pulled all three nails from the child. She now slept in my arms, covered in a blanket with only her face peering through, and even that was barely seen due to extensive bandaging. I had wrapped her whole waist and chest area with clean white shreds of cloth from my other kimono. Her hands and feet were going to need some aid in the near future from Sofu's vast knowledge, but for now I waited once again. Grandfather had barely said anything while we took her down, while I treated her wounds, or when we continued our walk down the cross infected roads. Everywhere I looked there had been more and more people hanging on crosses. People of different races and religions, some innocent and others guilty.
We arrived at a pub and grandfather simply told me to wait while he attended to business. Noting the panicked look I had he placed a hand on my shoulder, gave me a brief nod and then went inside. That was at least half an hour ago. I took no pleasure in staying in the direct line of traffic for the bar, so I stationed myself across the street. I sat on a bench with the girl on my lap, her head on my shoulder. Passer Byers gave me sympathetic looks. Their guess was probably my daughter had gotten leprosy and I was grief stricken, still clutching to her decaying body.
I did nothing to affirm or fight these sympathetic looks. This was just how this time was. Sickness dominated the lives of these people. Everyone know someone weather friend or family that had faced these illnesses. One man even had the nerve to tell me to take pity on her soul and kill her now. The thought disgusted me.
"People will never understand something greater then their own personal needs, do not dwell on their hypocritical thoughts and measures..." I looked up to see my grandfather standing extremely close. He had snuck up on me when I was spaced out... bastard, did it every time. "So tell me D, what do you intend to do with your little pet?"
His brashness astonished me. How could he ask me the plans for something such as what I intended to do with only living creatures life? It seemed unorthodox. "I'm going to care for her. I will make the things of the past a mystery to her so that she no longer fears it. With my help she could become beautiful again and learn to fend for herself." I tried to reason it out as I explained it to Sofu.
"So then let these pieces fall into place as the way they should." Sofu stepped closer to the child and me and placed a small seed on her forehead. The plant grew from it and spread into a vine that crept into the blanket and around her wrist and ankles. Flowers bloomed at the end of the vines and a sweet smelling aroma filled the air. The smell lingered around her wounds and they started to close. Skin and muscle reconnected and forged it together again. The scars took the shape of four pointed stars. They were a lighter color then own skin, making them stand out to be something of beauty. The scars on her face, chest and stomach healed and left no scars though. Yet the only thing the plant's magic did not effect was her eyes...
"What of her eyes Grandfather? Is there nothing to be done for them?" I asked, covering her up with the blanket and shooing away the vine that had taken a liking to myself. Sofu stood and straitened out the cloak that hung over his shoulders, covering his oriental clothing. He tilted his head to the side and smirked in an away that was often preserved for those about to meet a most fearsome death.
"The people of these ages say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. These people are scholars that continually try to find the answers to life itself in the sort lifespan that they're given. What will they say when the beholder is in fact a child plagued by the memories of such brutality that she was forced to fight back, unlike any other girl of her time. What will they say if this young princess is seen again? Will they redo the injustice that has already been preformed once? Will they bow to her and claim she has risen from the dead?" Sofu's voice was one of ultimate wisdom and knowledge. Though I had no idea in the slightest for old he was, I had infinitive respect of anything and everything he told me. How could I take into account the reaction of the normal people seeing one they gave to death? "If you want to keep her safe, then you only have one choice."
Looking at my grandfather I felt something like a stab of humanity. This was the man that one could idolize and claim a savior. He could also change his mind or perspective and become ones worst enemy and the image of pure evil. "So to save another; I must sacrifice my ability to walk freely with you in exchange for her safety? Such if a fate I am willing to accept."
"Very impressive... Let us be off back home."
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There was no trouble for either Sofu or myself while journeying back east. No questions were asked about the child. She barely moved at all accept when to readjust herself on my back. Sofu questioned me for carrying her piggyback but I thought it would be easier for her. Holding her in my arms was nice for me but she would have become uncomfortable with her back slouched all day long.
We traveled for three days strait down a road paved with bodies and decay. We never batted an eye to their calls. We took a boat to our homeland. The boat journey itself was two weeks long. By the time we arrived in port, the girl’s eyes looked back and forth between Sofu and myself. Yet still her eyes held no emotion. They were empty yet full of such pain and agony that watching her for too long gave me the impression of depression and other emotions not meant for one so young. Never once did she speak or make any gesture that she understood me. When Sofu talked to her however, even without any response he still had improvements over me. She would gaze at him and stare into the depths of his eyes.
Arriving back in our Chinese residence was a blessing for me. Everything was where I left it and I was pleased at that. The odd thing was it was one of the first times that Sofu had also come into the home. Usually he was off at once on other business, leaving me at home alone. I sat the girl down in the kitchen, leaving her with a piece of fruit while I went into the back room. Sofu was there and staring at a solid wall as if deciding something.
"Grandfather? Is there something wrong with that wall?" I walked up behind him and looked at the wall with him. There was nothing that I could see about it out of the usual. But I waited for his response.
"I was just thinking D.... would you be willing to take care of other creatures as well as your human pet?" He turned and looked at me, almost waiting for the words he knew would come.
"I would think it a pleasure to care for any creature of this planet or another. Seeing that I am no longer going to be traveling as often, I think I would have the opportune chance to care for any animals in need of help."
Sofu accepted my answer and looked back to the wall. A grin spread across his face that wasn't just in sarcasm but also in something I couldn't name. "Save them from what? Danger? Pain? Or maybe you'll be able to save them from the humans that threaten their very existence."
"Humans don't mean to cause such pain to other animals, they're just ignorant to what their doing." I tried to defend the creatures with such potential.
"Even so, the only thing they do is destroying each other. Killing other beings, and with them, other possibilities. I think you should open this place as a resort and shop for animals that face these things. Things as great as evolution and as terrible as human interference." Sofu turned half way to me, a grin forming on his lips. He turned and walked into the kitchen to a bag I didn't know he had placed on the ground sat. The bag was small and black and my grandfather reached into the top and pulled out a long paintbrush and walked back to the wall. I watched him with interest as he stared at the wall for several minutes before he stepped forward. "Don't worry, I've done this before".
Sofu put the brush onto the wall and drew a scene of a hallway disappearing into shadow. He placed doors every so often and a table on either side of the wall. Everything was done without ink or water but the lines seemed to bleed into the wall and become solid and transparent at the same time. They faded several feet back into the wall until I realized that they were becoming three dimensional and real things. The wooden floor no longer stopped at the wall because it simply didn't exist. It kept going and led down a deep hallway with on end and a limitless supply of rooms.
My grandfather took a step back and admired his handiwork. "Every room is different in this place. Everyplace has something to be filled with." He placed the paintbrush behind his ear and walked back into the kitchen and stopped at the front door. He turned and looked at me and the child in the chair. "Make sure you don't get lost, dear grandson."
And with that he left...
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It was a couple of years later that I realized exactly what my grandfather had truly meant. Every time I opened a door, there was something different. It also changed depending on what type of mood I was in. On a depressing Wednesday morning, a door once opened revealed a room filled with books and writings of ancient myths that captivated my interest for hours. Later that afternoon when I was feeling hungry I came back to the library room and when I opened the same door I only found the a small kitchenette with fresh cookies and milk on the counter. The amount of attention I wanted to spend exploring and the time actually done so was different.
The day after Sofu left the animals became to come. Birds that would sit on windowsills and birds that would dive from the sky and grab children as prey. They came followed by land by cats, dogs and reptiles. I opened my door to the entire array of them. Each welcomed and each accepted. I opened doors to them in more ways then one. Their majestic appearances as animals smaller in comparison to the mental images they implanted upon my mind. Beautiful people and exotic children all climbed to my lap. A monkey and a small unicorn even ventured into my home.
The animals seemed to have a bond that couldn't bring them to fight with each other. They lived happily and smiled lightly. They enjoyed the others of their kind's companionship and revolved around my compassion for them. But all of that changed when they ventured into my chambers one day.
It was only three months since my grandfather had left me with his odd idea for a pet shop that I was accepting openly. Some of the animals spoke to me about their fear and hate for the humans and their devotion for me as a kami that saved them. I smiled peacefully as always and stayed silent about the young human girl that slept in my chambers on the floor. I referred to her only as child for she rejected any attempt I made to learn her name. I figured something from Europe but the place of her birth remained a mystery to me. She slept on the floor and stayed in my room, crying her tears of blood at the smallest notion to go outside.
It was the bigger of the dogs, some of wolf mixed blood that found her. She had finally made the attempt to leave my chambers but the dogs frightened her bringing her to cry tears of blood. Weather or not she could see them and feared that or if she couldn't see them at all I would never know. For her tears of blood drove the wolf dogs into frenzy and they killed my little girl.
I found my human in a pool of her blood in front of the door to my bedroom. Her eyes were wide and staring at nothing. One of her arms had been ripped off and the other lay reaching for the door itself. Bite and scratch marks covered her arm and face.
Never again did I love a human or keep one as a pet. The pets cried for my loss but offered no words of compassion or of apology. Walking by a door a couple days later I over heard them speaking to one another. They were pleased with themselves for ridding the shop of the child, saying it would only grow into another murderous human. The wolves sensed my presence and drew back in fear of my evoked wrath. But I only could stand there and look at them with a coy smile on my face.
“Count? Please say something?” asked one of the she wolves as she stepped closer with her arms open to me. She was indeed a loyal and fierce beast. Hair wild with silks hung around her private parts, long silver claws to match her hair, and deep solemn blue eyes. Truly loyal not only to her pack and it’s safety but to me as well.
“I seemed to understand so little until now... You feared a “murderous human” and became…” my words trailed off as I looked at them. They had no place in my heart but their place in my soul could never be destroyed. “You became…” again I trailed off. The pack came closer to me, I noticed a few still had blood on their faces and it drove me wild. “You became murderous beasts”.
“How dare you!” Howled an oversized male, enraged with my insult and yet… covered in my human’s blood.
“How dare you… you, one of those that took it upon yourself to “cleanse the shop of human blood”, there’s still some on your snout. You think you can raise your voice to me? I am the one that has invited you all into the safety of my shop from prying eyes and greedy hands. I asked nothing of you! And you’ve stolen from me! You stole the reason for me to even have a pet shop to begin with! You’ve taken the small child that did nothing to the world to deserve a punishment neither of crucifixion, nor of death by beast!”
“Crucifixion? But why…” Said the she wolf, looking startled and taken aback. “But she was so young! And never did we sense ill will or violence in her soul…oh my…” She put her hand to her mouth in horror.
“Never ill willed or violent was she. She was small and lost, her own race turned against her because she didn’t want the affection of some man. A child of such age shouldn’t have to even face that choice! So they raped her, tortured her and then hung her to die.” I spoke quietly but I knew they heard me.
“I will not punish you for you were truly at that moment in time what the humans call dumb animals…” tears rolled down my cheeks as I left. Later on that day I heard the howls of sorrow. Sounds that the wolves only gave off at the loss of one of their offspring. And in the lead of the choir of cries was the she wolf, and she was loudest of them all.
Never again did I appreciate a wolf’s song so much…