Sumiko looked up at him when he started talking, she could see that something was bothering him but when she heard him ask about her collar she looked down and thought about it. After a moment she looked back up and said “No not at the moment, but it does get irritating sometimes because it is a little tight but you get used to it” she smiled at him. She continued to eat then looked up at him and said “You know if something is bothering you, you can always ask or tell me” she smiled at him then went back to eating. She wondered what was bothering him but she learned that asking too many questions could get her in trouble. She looked up at him again after she was finished what was in her mouth to wait for him to see if he would tell her what was wrong.

Gothika looked at Hikaru as Gaia climbed up next to Harold and started to guild the carriage to the house. Gothika jumped a little when Hikaru asked her a question about the carriage, "Of course it is, I was just joking about the eating you part, it's a vegetarian so you're ok." she said to reassure Hikaru that everything was ok. "This carriage was a gift from the demon king a long time ago. He gave it to him due to losing a bet or something." Gothika said with a soft smile on her face then giggled lightly as she looked at Hikaru, "I hope you will like your new home and I would like it with you can keep a secret about my father, no one knows this expect for the ones that work for us. Would you like to know it?" she asked lifting her hand on placed it on her cheek then looked around. Harold and Gaia sat in the chair and listed closely, they already knew the secret but it was still terrifying to them as they all rode down the path to the woods.

Zenja began to bite his lip, not fully aware that he was making the action, as he thought. "I am not exactly sure what I would have you paint," he said at last, his eyes fading to a deep golden color. "I would like to leave that up to you, if that is fine. There should be no limits on any work of art."

As Zenja shifted his gaze down slightly to meet Vera's eyes, he noticed that they were settled on a young woman in the cage behind him, who was just beginning to turn around from doing something behind her. That is right, he thought, I need another slave. That is why I came to this place. The damned-to-hell Gustavo escaped three nights ago. Though he may not have gotten far, I do not want to go after him - the fool is probably dead by now, he concluded, a small pout forming on his face.

That slave was supposed to get the packages from the post office. Without those, I will have no food, and will have to eat that disgusting human stuff, he thought.While those packages did contain food, they were not what vampires considered as food. Though Storm himself could eat human food, he preferred not to. As he had been drinking blood his whole lifetime, he, like the vampires, thought that the human food was incredibly tasteless, and pretty much just disgusting in general. Despite himself, Storm let out a long, heavy sigh.

There would definitely have to be a lot of color, mused Vera. The painting had to be him, but not necessarily a portrait. She needed to know more in order to do Zenja justice. Vera wanted to see him smile when she gave him the painting, and she couldn't be sure of that reaction unless she knew what he liked. It was adorable that someone as dangerously handsome as Zenja was biting his lip. A smiled plastered itself on her face.

"What's wrong?" said Vera when she heard his sigh. She was still thinking about getting that slave. There were prices somewhere she was sure, so all that needed to be done she supposed, was to give the money to the owner and he would give them the keys. It was giving her a headaches just thinking about it.

As Daigo heard that the collar she wore around her neck didn't really bother her but rather hurt her at some points. He just tilted his head with his usual smile slowly vanishing away; pain was never really good thing no matter what kind of form it was in. "Well..if you want. When we get back to my home, we can try to break that collar off you." he stated pointing right toward the collar she wore around her neck; truly, that thing didn't look really that comfortable either. To him, it looked almost as though it were choking her. So it was kind of a shocker to see and be able to hear her talk so normally with that thing on. Although, while he sat there finishing his own food; hearing from Sumiko that if anything was bothering him he could ask or tell her. Daigo just returned the small smile and shook his head. "I could tell you. I know, but the thing is..I can't tell you here. Don't worry. I'll tell you when we get back to my home." he stated finishing the rest of the ramen in his bowel and taking a small sip of the water that was in the bowel as well. "So? you done yet?"

Hearing that the carriage that could possibility eat him was actually a vegetarian and was a gift from the demon king from long ago for some reason. Hikaru just gave a little sigh of relief as he looked right around the inside once more, it looked rather beautiful from the inside to him; so to be honest it was kind of a shocker to even hear that this carriage could actually come alive and eat something or someone. Although while he looked around the inside of the carriage; his attention was brought right back to Gothika when she spoke about holding some kind of secret from her father. Tilting his head curiously he watched her place a hand onto her own cheek and smiled warmly nodding. "Yeah, sure. I'd love to know the secret..and I promise. I'll keep it to myself."

Sumiko looked at him when he said that he could try and get it off she smiled then said "That would be nice, thank you", she smiled again. She nodded when he said that he would tell her what was bothering him when they got back to his home. She watched as he finished off his ramen then finished off hers then said "I am now" she smiled at him. She looked around then back at him saying "So are we leaving now?" her voice was lower as she continued looking at him. She tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear and smiled. It would be nice to go outside again it was nice weather.

{Ugh another short one sorry}

Gothika smiled happily then looked around, making sure that no one around the carriage outside. "First let ask ask you this.Didn't you find it a little odd how my father knew your full name without asking the shop-owner or even looking at the papers at the time?" Gothika asked as she brought her legs on the bench and curled them on the side of her, causing her upper body to lean against the armrest of the bench she was at. Gothika looked at Hikaru with the same look Grim gave Hikaru when he was in the cage, she then took her free arm and went under the seat and pulled out an strange looking hourglass that carried dark green sand. Gothika gently placed the hourglass right in front of her as Gaia and Harold closed the little door and stopped listening going through the dark woods to the Grim Home.

Grim a.k.a Joe decided to walk around the shop and looked at the other slaves that were in their cages either too scared to look at him or too nervous to speed. Seeing people going to cages and looking at the slaves in them. Joe knew his daughter wouldn't like this, seeing people and creature other people and creatures. Joe merely smiled as he leaned against the wall and took out his silver chain watch. "Well it seems like Gothika is telling him the secret about me, this should be interesting." he said looking at the time and started to see what was going on in the carriage by looking through the hourglass.

Zenja stopped biting his lip and answered, "Not much. My slave, Gustavo, has run away. He is probably dead by now, from running through whatever forest he did to try to evade me if I had went after him. He usually prepared my meals, and I was just thinking about what I would do for food." Storm thought that he himself could get his own source of food, but that would require thousands of either willing or unwilling victims to supply him for a whole year. Gustavo had had some sort of doctoring liscense to where he could buy blood from donors legally and have it shipped to the post office, from where he would pick it up. Without him, Storm was useless, so to say.

"I was hoping to find another slave to help in that area, and in other chores. Everything I touch seems to be destroyed," Storm said, humoring himself with the truth of his words. He wondered if Vera knew who he was, or if her knowing smile as he bit his lip was just something that was natural to her.

Vera laughed a little. "Well I wouldn't mind helping you out in the cooking department until you find someone else. And chores too. Actually it would help me figure out what to paint, since right now I'm coming up with a jumble of ideas that just don't seem to work." She shrugged a little, but her eyes were lit up with the idea of getting to know the man better.

At the mention of Zenja destroying everything he touched she frowned. "But if you destroyed everything, this shop would be in ruins and so would the street. So, it's isn't everything you touch." Vera smiled, her green eyes sparkling. She had a strange humor, pointing out the obvious sometimes. A well, she was strange which was why she was an artist. Vera like being as eccentric as she wanted to be without worrying about what others would think.

Right as soon as Sumiko thanked him for taking the collar off of her later, Daigo just returned with a smile and nodded. It didn't really bother him to do something like that since he couldn't really stand to see how much that thing must've been hurting her while she wore that. He couldn't really stand having someone hurt like that in front of him forever as he stood up from his seat when he had noticed that Sumiko had also finished her food. Giving a soft smile he nodded to hear question and grabbed out his wallet from his own back pocket. Pulling out a 20 dollar bill, Daigo simply just placed it right onto the middle of the table and took a step backwards. "C'mon, lets get going." he said standing there waiting for her to get up to her own feet as well so that they could head out.

((It otay. o.0 im getting a slight writers block too. @.@))

Hikaru at this time just stared at Gothika as he heard her question; originally when he was inside the shop he hadn't really thought about the fact of why or how the older man named Joe had known Hikaru's full name. Since when he was in there, all his thoughts were mostly focused on were the facts that if he was going to be bought by Gothika or not. Now that had thought about it though, his eyes immediately widened up as a quick gasp escaped his lips. "N-..now that you mention it..y-yeah. Th-..that is kind of weird." he stated tilting his own head curiously at the thought. All of a sudden, when she had pulled out an hourglass with a strange greenish colored sand; Hikaru tilted his own head even more to the side as he scratched the back of his head. The hourglass looked rather strange, it didn't really look like a normal one that would be bought in a regular shop; and last time he checked, there was no such sand to be actually green. "Uhh....what is that?"

((Man, I feel like my posts are crap. @.@))

Sumiko smiled and stood up once he put the money on the table and looked around the place still seemed to be full and getting more crowed. She was glad that they were going to leave now, she waited for him to start heading towards the door then asked "What do you want to do now?" She didn't know if anything had changed but she also didn't know what he normally did during a day. She smiled then thought to herself today has been a good day I finally got out of that place thanks to Daigo this made her smile even more. She still thought about what was bothering him becasue it was the one thing that was stuck in her mind, he smiled a lot but the only thing that gave it away was that he wasn't smiling. She was glad that he was going to tell her later she didn't know if it was becasue of her or not but if it was she wanted to know what it was.

(whos in the slave shop so Grim a.k.a. Joe could have someone 2 talk 2)

Gothika tapped the hourglass and smiled a little, "This is an hourglass, but not just any hourglass...This is your hourglass, a newly formed one." she said with a soft voice and gently patted the top of the hourglass as the sand continued to go through the it going to the bottom. "I guess you died before and your hourglass was normal until it changed. I can see what happened to you through this if I knew how to." she said leaning back in the bench and looked at Hikaru, "Here are the clues to help you figure out the secret Hikaru. My father always carries hourglasses of everyone, he knows your name without even meeting you a day in her life and he has the arua of a cold and cruel human." Gothika said holding the hourglass even ckser to her.

(many people are, I'm one of those people just sitting around and waiting~)

((Sorry, I thought I had responded, Sezumie. :sweat: Don't you just hate writer's block?))

Jaycie stared at Makoto for a few seconds, trying vainly to come to a decision quickly, a feat that was superhuman to the young girl due to her Dependent Personality Disorder. "Sure, I wouldn't mind," Jaycie said after a lengthy pause, deciding that Maki was someone she could trust and an able judge of character. Relieved that the decision-making had passed, she sat back in the warm ashes, subconsciously heating them to a more comfortable two hundred degrees.

((I know it's sad, but that's all I got right now. :())

By the time Daigo had finally paid for the food and had already headed out of the ramen restaurant. The very first thing he did was stretch his arms out over his head with a long groan, it was mostly due to him eating so much and just being a bit too full that he let out such a loud groan. Looking up to the bright blue sky he noticed as how this day didn't seem like it was going to turn bad anytime soon. Although even when the day was perfect like this Daigo would usually be heading home right now and working right on his experiments; it was really rare to ever even see him outside of his own home to be honest. Although now that he had bought Sumiko his thoughts were wandering a bit further around in his head as he looked right back around with a little smile oh sis face. She had been stuck in that slave shop for a while now..or at least to his knowledge she probably did. So probably heading home now and basically having her stuck in another dark house wouldn't really be the best of ideas. Shrugging his shoulders lightly to her question he dropped both his arms down to his sides and looked around the area once more. "Well...I doubt you want to get put back into a stuffy old house again anytime soon; and the day seems quite great today, so how about we just wander around town a bit?" he asked trying to keep the mood up rather than having to bring it down immediately with the problem that was bothering him in his head.

Seeing as how Gothika just tapped the hourglass lightly and told Hikaru that the hourglass basically was his own hourglass, he just simply tilted his head. It was a bit shocking to see her holding something like that, although part of him wasn't too shocked as well to see it. He had already known from the beginning there was something weird about all these people that had bought him. So just trying to believe the fact that the hourglass she held in her hand was his; kind of just gave away the fact that it was his lifeline. Giving a little sigh, Hikaru just lowered his head and shook it a bit. Even if it wasn't really sounding much like a threat; it kind of gave out a little imply that she was threatening him indirectly. As though, if he had messed up and made her mad to the point where she would become furious; either that older man at the shop or her would destroy his hourglass causing him to die. Staying completely silent he looked right out the small window of the carriage and watched as they rode through the darkness to reach his new home where he'd live. Man, how he hated to be threatened; sometimes it gave a slight bit of jolt of anger throughout his heart that made him want to kill everyone around him. Although even with that problem within himself, Hikaru made sure to keep his temper at a steady limit so that he wouldn't go insane like he did when he first found out he was a demon.

Hearing from Jaycie that she wouldn't mind at all, Makoto's once usual shy smile turned a bit brighter as he looked over at P-KO in a slight bit of excitement to know that they could possibility have Jaycie as a second companion. Even though she told him that it was his choice to either of Jaycie as a second companion or not; Makoto had to confirm it with his new owner just in case that she didn't want this girl or not.

(I wasn't too sure what to post for Makoto. @.@)

Storm began to tell Vera that she couldn't help him at all, unless she offered herself for his food source, but thought it better to not let her in on that part of his world. He didn't want her to think that he was some sort of freak and go screaming down the sidewalk about what he was - then, he'd have to kill her. He didn't want either of those scenarios to happen, and it puzzled him as to why, turning his eyes to black as he became nervous. She is the only woman, human or other, who has ever made me so... so... bipolar, he thought, resuming the attack on his lip. He supposed he could eat that human food. He was perfectly capable of it, and it would only hurt his tastebuds.

"I suppose you could help me with the food. I think you may want to reconsider the chores half, seeing as my home could very well be called a manor," he said. He only gave a small noise of agreement when she made the hint of getting an idea what to paint. Wouldn't she be suprised when she saw some of the original Picasso, van Gogh, Da Vinci, and other famous artists' paintings? Maybe he would set aside some time to put a few of them away into a closet or something of the likes.

Zenja snapped back into consciousness when he heard Vera's words, which were underlined with a sort of sarcastic humor. Once again, Storm resisted the urge to smile. She was a pleasantly odd human, as she was turning out to be. "That may be so, at least physically. Mentally and spiritually, however..." he said, trailing off the end of his sentence and raising a delicately shaped brow.

Akira turned into her cat form and walked toward the front of her cage. The bajang could have squeezed through the bars if it weren't for her collar. Even though it was velvet, it was too strong for her. Must have some enchantment on it or something. She laid down in the sphinx-style with her chin on her front paws. Well I have get out of this place? I need to wreck havoc on those vampires that had put me in this hell hole

What was she to do? She didn't have any "persuasive" powers like some other creatures. She could threaten someone that she'd drink their blood if they don't let her out, but what good would that do? She couldn't get to them for the threat to even be plausible. "Hello, I'm a talking cat. Anyone want to buy me? I'm cute and cuddly," she said sarcastically.

(Can I have a list of those who have not been adopted yet?)

XXXXXXXXXXXXX_Adan_

"I can't believe I'm out of another damn slave..." Adan mumbled to himself. He pushed open the front door to the Slave Shop. He took in a deep breath. Aww, the smell of blood is delicious in here. I'm looking forward to finding the right woman. He took a few more steps inside to get a good look at everyone. He turned his head towards Arianna. His eyes grew, then relaxed. Adan walked up to her cage with a grin. He crouched down and smiled. "Well hello, did you miss me?" He grabbed her head and forced her to look in his green, mysterious eyes. "You can't forget me right? You were one of my favorite Slaves. Your blood was so....delicious....." Adan said as he slided his hand down to her neck. "Ha."

XXXXXXXXXXX ღ Arianna ღ

Arianna looked at the ground just waiting to be bought. Can't wait. What got her attention was her old Master, Adan. She looked at him in terror as he greeted her and grabbed her chin. "Adan!" She his hand glide down to her neck. So many painful memories.... "A-Adan, I thought you were...dead." Her eyes moved around everywhere so that she wouldn'thave to look him in the face. Arianna looked down to her wrist. She read the word to herself, Adan.

XXXXXXXXXXX_Adan_

Adan laughed to himself. "Of course you would think I'm dead. Since, after all, you tried to stab me in the night. But it would take more than that to kill me Arianna. Maybe you forgot but, I'm a Vampire, feasting off of creatures blood helps heal me. I assumed you would remember that since you had to heal a few times." He laughed once more. "What fond memories I have of you. I would like to buy once more but, I already noticed that you were taken. That's too bad. I might have to visit you sometime. And don't worry, I'll find you. Goodbye, my sweet Arianna." He stood up and left her cage. Now whose the lucky girl this time? Adan looked around once more for another.....Slave or maybe even, victim.

Gothika jumped a little then held Hikaru's hourglass close to him. She sat up and sat normally and looked down, "I-I'm s-sorry. I didn't mean to make you mad in anyway, to be honest you're one of the few friends I've had in a long, long time. I was always alone when my friends died because it was their time." she said standing up holding the hourglass close to her the walked to Hikaru and hugged him tighter. The hourglass was pinned between them as Gothika hugged Hikaru, "I apologize, it's just very difficult to tell you who my father is and it's required for me to tell the new slaves." she said letting Hikaru go and sat next to him and placed the hourglass on her lap. "I must tell you who my father is though before you seen in and scream yourself to death." Gothika said giggling softly crossing her legs and straighten out her short dress.

Grim listened as his attention was taken by the sounds he heard in the slave shop, hearing some slave talk and beg for they're lives from the people around them. Grim looked in disgust, this was getting out of hand and he didn't like it. "It's disgraceful how you treat servants, I have every right mind to treat you that way." Grim said in a low voice as he started to make an upset face as he disapproved how things were happening. "Good thing my daughter isn't here, she would have been very angry." he said walking up the cages with slaves in them and started looking at them with a sort of sad look in his eyes.

Hearing Gothika's apology for a moment, Hikaru didn't really say anything as he just stared out the window. Seeing the hourglass and being told that it was basically his own than the fact that her father's true identity was actually quite frightening. Hikaru had a strong feeling already knew who it was. All of a sudden though, when she had wrapped her own arms around him and gave him a hug; his own eyes widened right up as he looked back over at Gothika in shock to see that she was hugging him. A deep frown stayed on his face as he was hugged by her; he was actually a little sad due to the fact that ever since he died and was sent to hell to live the rest of his life as a demon. No one had ever really given him a hug before. So when she had hugged him; it immediately brought back those horrible memories of living his own life alone in hell. "You do not need to apologize for anything mistress..you had done nothing wrong..and I know..how it feels to be alone..so whenever you can. You may tell me about your father's true identity is.." he stated already having a feeling that he already knew who it was; having a strange doubtfulness that he would really be that shocked when he heard it.

It was a wonder someone hadn't snapped up this mysterious, good looking, man. Vera caught herself staring at him, and averted her eyes quickly. It was rare for her to do that, actually turning away from observation was almost a painful thing for the young woman. She wanted to document everything with her paintings, show everything and everyone as seen trough her eyes. It was the strangest feeling, not being able to place a scheme for Zenja.

A smile brightened her face at the prospect that he might actually accept her help. "O well, it would just give me an excuse to wander around a bit. But, I promise to only stick to rooms that are open! Which reminds me... I am planning on buying someone and we made certain arrangements, but with this new development I believe I will need to pick someone else." She eyed the young woman again, and nodded to herself. As soon as things were figured out with Zenja she would purchase her. It didn't seem like she would mind spending more time with the man.

Laughter came forth when she listened to his response to her humor. "But Zenja! Aren't I disproving your words as we speak?" The young woman winked at him playfully, letting a side of herself out which she didn't usually. It was only with her friends that she teased like this. Vera could only conclude the captivating young man was already on her list of friends.

{I am sorry Holleh for not replying to Arianna I thought I did :(}

Miko smiled at Arianna when she laughed and then explained why, he paused then said “That is a bit different.” He stood up and said “I will be right back to get you out”, he smiled then turned and headed towards the desk so that he could pay for Arianna and then head home. When he reached the desk he realized that the owner was still busy with other people, he searched around for a bit before finding the price list he looked for Arianna’s name and then pulled his wallet and got the amount of money out of his wallet. Then placed it on the desk with a note saying that he had bought Arianna. He had not noticed that another man had walked into the shop and went to talk to Arianna before going to look for another slave. He walked back over to Arianna and opened the door saying “Alright come on we are getting out of this place”, he held the door open of her and waited for her to get out.

Sumiko followed Daigo out of the building and laughed a little at him when he stretched, she smiled then looked around but when she heard him talking again she looked back at him still smiling. It was a nice day to be outside, she let him finish talking before she said “It would be nice but if you want to go back home then I could always be outside there and you can do what you want to do.” She wanted to give him the option because when her family didn’t giver her a choice in if she wanted to be a slave or not she didn’t like being forced into anything. So she learned to not force anyone else into anything because of that experience. She smiled and looked around again before looking back at Daigo to wait for an answer.

Storm's lip quivered when Vera laughed. If only she knew, he thought. He managed to regain part of his control when he answered her, listening to her little plan about her walking around his home. He was quite suprised when she winked, however, and lifted his eyebrows slightly. Was she... flirting? With him? The way she said his name... He began to believe that she had a thing going for him, and how stupid he was to not notice it earlier.

However, his body had responded, and colored a light pink blush over his cheekbones while he thought.

"I rarely keep any of the rooms in my home closed." Zenja then inwardly cringed. Did I just say that? he asked himself, the little blush becoming slightly darker as he turned his gaze away from her. He heard her ramble on and his attention snapped forward. "Oh. I was supposed to be looking for a slave, wasn't I?" he mumbled, but then again realized that like before, all the better slaves had been chosen. That woman in the cage behind him certainly wasn't cutting the deal, either.

His mind had been wandering a lot in the past few minutes, but one thought kept circling around his mind. Vera... what a captivating human. I want to learn more....

Gothika smiled when Hikaru started to talk to her again, "But I have to tell you now. Where we're going a little different than most homes. I am a Reaper but I'm not a normal reaper. I'm the Daughter of Grim as in The Grim Reaper. I think my father seen you before and I am sorry about your travel to Hell and how long you stayed there." she said with a sad look then started to hug his hourglass tighter, making sure to not add pressure on it. "My father didn't have much of a choose, he may be the high king of Death but the decisions were made by the Keeper." Gothika said afraid to look up at Hikaru. She knew that he would probably be mad at this point, "Please don't be mad at my father, you can be mad at me if you wish. I am still a young reaper, even though I'm older than Earth itself but I'm still vulnerable to attacks so it will be fairly easy for you to win." she said in a gentle voice then finally looked up at Hikaru with a sad look on his face.

Gaia and Harold listenclosely but tried not to hear too much, their mistress was sad about the event of Hikaru and meerly continued riding them home. Seeing the gate of the Grim Castle, they shifted the rings and made the horses run fast to the gate.

Vera noticed his blushing, and found him adorable. It was a funny thought, to think of someone so dangerous looking as adorable. "Zenja, what exactly are you insinuating?" The young woman raised an eyebrow as she regarded him. A smile was plastered on her face. She hadn't even thought he might be interested in her at all. The red-head let herself start imagining things that were probably as fat fetched as a cow flying.

Nervously she began twiddling with her thumbs. Vera wanted to grab her sketchbook to start drawing, but knew that would be incredibly rude. Still, it was hard to resist because that was one of the only ways she knew how to relax. Swimming was something else she loved, and never really got to indulge in.