Moonlight Demon

That moment between Keiko and Ash helped the half-demon, but those troubling thoughts were still there. Although the Zayama convinced her to rest for the day, her mind would drift, wanting to push her to leave and go crack a few monster's skulls. Still, as she'd agreed, she settled on a type of compromise and instead, focused her energy on learning the spells she'd been given. 

First up, for obvious reasons, was  Burst Heal. Taking her affinity and her Demon Form into account, considering how effective her base healing spell already was, she wondered how much better she could be if she adapted this into her toolkit. She could take far more damage, and be fresh again before things took any desperate turns. The prospect of that was very enticing. 

That was why Ash found herself laying in her bed, by Kaori's sleeping body, as she let her eyes roam a page full of words that she could barely understand, while the bar over her head let her know the process was working. 

On occasion, the progress she was making would halt, however, as her eyes would move to Kaori's dormant portrait. 

One would think that Ash would have gotten used to this, but seeing Kaori in this state continued to feel so strange. Despite the turn that Kaori's mood had taken after the events of Sapphire, Ash's mental image of her was still that of a girl so bubbly that she'd never spend too much time staying still of her own volition. 

The bar over her head was about halfway done when Ash closed the book and turned towards Kaori. A bit of the blonde's hair had fallen over her face, between the two horns that had appeared as an indication of her near-transformation. Ash pulled the strands back and gave her a regretful look. 

... We really didn't handle anything too well, didn't we?

As this came to her mind, the door to the room opened and Ash turned around. Keiko walked in and sat down near her, as Ash pulled her legs away to make space. 

Just like her, Ash noticed Keiko's eyes passing over Kaori briefly, before she spoke. 

"How, ehm, how goes the learning?" Keiko asked. 

"Hmph," Ash huffed, "staring at a piece of paper for a few hours is just as boring as you think it would be... Glad you're here now, though." 

Keiko giggled a little and shifted her position on the bed closer to where Ash was. She leaned down then, placing her head on Ash's chest in a way that made the Savior feel much warmer all of a sudden, while she looked up at her. 

"... So, I guess reading's done for now," Ash muttered as she put the book away. As sweet as she looked at the moment, Ash couldn't resist teasing her a little though. 

"By the way," she started, "are you into being watched? Or was what happened out there with Yumi just a one-time thing?" 

As soon as Keiko heard that, her face went red. 

"... That..." She looked away. "That was an impulsive action that I shall not repeat in the future, and I apologize." 

"I wasn't being serious, Keiko," Ash replied as a grin appeared on her face. "Besides, I liked seeing you like that. It kinda brought me back, actually." 

"Hm?" Keiko tilted her head. "What do you mean?" 

"Well, remember when we first started doing this?" Ash asked. "After I'd come clean about my whole  Lust  situation?" 

"O-Oh... Please, do not remind me," Keiko sighed. "I was... Quite pushy, for a while." 

"Well, I didn't really mind it too much back then and I don't mind it much now. I like seeing you get all, what's the word, assistive?" 

"Assertive." 

"Yeah, that." 

When Keiko heard that, she turned her eyes back up to Ash. Again, she moved up, and this time, she gave the half-demon a soft peck on her lips. 

"After..." Keiko said, her lips hovering over Ash's own, "after 'this' is done, do you think we could get back to training together?" 

Hearing about that made Ash freeze for a couple of seconds, but as Keiko waited for an answer, she nodded. 

"Y-Yeah. Of course. You don't even need to ask." 

"Well, I was asking in case you got used to Yumi's style of training... Which, actually, leads me to something I wanted to tell you." 

"Hm?" Ash tilted her head a little as she placed her hands on Keiko's back. 

"... I spoke with Yumi, about... what you'd said earlier." 

Oh. 

Ash had just about forgotten that, but now that she heard it, it was like another problem had been tossed into her open skull. 

"No, uh, you can just ignore..." 

Keiko cut her off. 

"I told her that I am okay with it," Keiko informed her, and Ash stopped. 

That hadn't been what she expected to hear at all. 

"What?" 

"Like I said," she nodded, looking deep into Ash's eyes. There was a certain vulnerability in them right now, that did not go unnoticed. At the same time, there was a resolve in her voice that clashed with it, and Keiko continued. "After thinking about it... I decided that, um, whatever the two of you do in bed wouldn't take away from the relationship we've built. So, if you wish to spend a night with her, I am alright with it." 

Too many things went through Ash at once when she heard that. 

One part of her, the one that had been wanted to screw Yumi again ever since what happened at the portal, was absolutely buzzing. Another felt like she was doing an injustice to Keiko, and another felt guilty for a different reason. She felt greedy like she was taking too much and giving nothing in return. 

"I'm not..." Ash started, but, Keiko stopped her with a simple shaking of her head. Then, she smiled brightly at her and added:

"Ash," Keiko said, her voice low and sweet, "I appreciate this restraint you are showing. Admittedly, I was worried you would begin cheering as soon as I told you this, but... I have decided already. Will I be jealous? Of course," Keiko breathed in. "But..." 

She stopped. 

"I l-..." She cut herself off. "I treasure you greatly. If these desires are just a natural part of you, then I will not stand in the way of them." 

To say that Ash was stunned to hear this would be an understatement. She'd fully expected this matter to go completely ignored, and she was ready to have to punch herself in the gut any time she caught herself being lustful towards the older Zayama. She wondered if she'd gone to sleep in the middle of her reading and was now purely imagining this. 

"Keiko..." 

Her face must have been funny or something because Keiko giggled before placing a small kiss on the tip of her nose. 

"Don't act that surprised! Were you thinking I was going to berate you?" 

"... I kind of feel like I deserve it," Ash replied. 

"I happen to disagree, then." 

She placed another kiss on Ash's lips. The two spent a few seconds there, embracing each other before Keiko got up and walked over to the door. 

"I'll let you keep studying then," Keiko chuckled. "Maybe later, we can do something together." 

"I'll be honest, I'm totally down to call off studying entirely," Ash told her. 

"Hence why I have to leave," Keiko winked at her. "I'd like to think that I know you, at this point, Savior~" 

And, on that note, she walked out and closed the door behind her. Ash stared up at the ceiling for a while. She reached up and touched her own lips, wishing she could continue feeling Keiko's on hers. 

So... Now that she was alone, she internalized what she'd told her.  It's funny. She just told me she's okay with me fucking Yumi, but right now, she's all I can think about, she thought as she  shook her head with a little smirk. 

Her eyes naturally fell on Kaori, to her left. 

"... We fell for someone kind of amazing, didn't we?" She asked Kaori, imagining that she was agreeing with her. 

---

Satsuhiro 

"I like this for them," Metsumi told the Savior, as the two of them sat outside, watching Yumi teach the girls some fighting techniques. 

"Okay," Yumi said, in front of them. "You are going to want to put your back into it. A blade must flow like a steady stream, smoothly and confidently." 

Luvine, who was holding a small sword nervously while Opah cheered her on in the back, then ran up and tried to thrust her sword forward. Yumi easily dodged the attack. 

"Again, put more force behind it!" Yumi directed as Luvine swung her blade clumsily. 

Metsumi watched them with a smile, clapping anytime Luvine did something half-well, while Satsuhiro's mind was somewhere else. His wife noticed that and asked:

"What is it, dear?" 

"... The Arcane," Satsuhiro muttered. "Nothing about this seems right. Hopefully, the Royal Council will respond soon."