Yokou faked nonchalance. "Hm? Oh, no, nothing. Just lost in thought. Are you all set to go?" He asked, climbing up into the drivers seat of the carriage.

" Ready." Athena climbed up beside him " Can I try?" she gestured to the reigns.

With a shrug, Yokou handed over the reins. "You know how? Saber is an easy horse to guide, so don't worry about it." He said. As if agreeing with the statement, the big black Arabian snorted softly.

" I know a little." Athena clicked her tongue guiding them home yelped as a thief jumped out in front of them spooking the horse " WHOA!" she struggled against the horse nervously watching the thief approach them.

Yokou whistled, which seemed to calm the horse. "Stay up here." He said, before jumping down to face the thief. "I will give you only one warning. You have chosen the wrong person to target. If you leave now, you might get away unharmed. If you stay, I cannot assure that you will live."

Athena gripped the reigns tightly in her hands nervously watching them " If you give me all your money I'll leave now." the thief chuckled and grinned at Athena " Or you could see me that pretty little slave you have so I can sell her for even more money."

Cracking his knuckled, Yokou stepped forward. "Well, you had your chance. Before you die, I would like to inform you that the lady is not a slave, but a free woman. Also, I would like you to know that I would not sell a dead cat to the likes of you, as you are not worthy of my time." He said. Then, he moved so fast that he was nearly a blur, disappearing and reappearing directly in front of the man within seconds. Smiling a terrifying smile, he drew a fist back and let fly, punching the thief in the face with the force of a horse's strongest kick. The punch alone was enough to kill a normal human, but in case that didn't work, Yokou followed up by appearing behind the man's now flying form, and kicking him hard enough to break his spine.

Athena squeezed her eyes shut as the fight started but blinked them when she saw how fast Yokou moved " Wow." she blinked more.

((Puppy...won't...sleep...trying...not to...kill...self...))

The fight was over as quickly as it had started. The thief lay dead on the ground, and Yokou left him there. As he turned to walk back to the carriage, his eyes, for just a moment, would look bright ruby red. Only for a moment, before they were back to normal. "Are you alright? I hope I didn't frighten you." He said gently as he reached the carriage.

((OH GOD HE JUST FARTED AND IT SMELLS AND WOLFIE CAN'T GET AWAY GAH!!!!!!))

((XD Lol))

" I'm alright just curious." Athena asked with a raised eyebrow " um...dare I ask how you moved that fast?"

Yokou looked away, not meeting her gaze. "You would not believe me if I told you. Can we just pretend you didn't see it?" He asked, without much hope. After seeing that kind of thing, most people wouldn't just let it go.

" No." Athena said honestly " But I can ignore it for now." she smiled then frowned " I want to know at some point."

Yokou sighed. Well, he would have to explain eventually, anyway. Might as well get it over with. "Alright. Might as well tell you now- it's only fair, after all. You'd have found out sooner or later. Just...try not to freak out too much." He said, leaning against the carriage. He didn't want to sit up next to her, in case she did freak out. "It's a strange story. It started when I was just a kid, back when my family was still alive. See, the mansion I live in used to belong to my parents. It was always full and busy, since my parents had four children. Two girls and two boys. Then there were the servants...anyway, everything was pretty good. I was the youngest of the four siblings, by three years. As a child, I was always very social. I was sickly and weak, though, so I couldn't play with the others like I wanted. I was lonely..." He shook his head. "That's no excuse. But I was lonely. And over the course of my life, though my siblings all seemed fine with me, my parents were so distant and cold. The one thing I wanted, more than anything in the world, was for my parents to love me. Unfortunately, this was never to be. It all started one night, when I was only ten years old. I was feeling better than usual, and I was playing hide-and-seek with my siblings. While I was hiding, I overheard my parents talking. I'll spare you the details, but the basics were that my father wanted to get rid of me. And my mother...she said she had wanted to drown me at birth. A "useless, sickly whelp." That's what she called me. I thought it couldn't get any worse, until my oldest brother and sister- they were twins- walked in. Father asked if they had managed to find me yet, and they said no. As it turned out, they were all scheming to kill me. They wanted to get me to hide outside, and then just leave me, so that I would freeze to death and it would look like an accident. The only one not in on it was my sister, who was three years older than me. She was always kind to me...anyway, I never was a stable child. I had...issues. Hearing that exchange must have...I don't know...broken something. Sent me over the edge. I ran to the kitchen and found some matches and kerosene. I waited until everyone was asleep, then doused the floors with kerosene and lit a match. I intended to burn with the rest of the family, but my sister found me sitting in my room. She tried to get me out, but...the fire blocked the door. She got burned badly. I cried, realizing that the one person who ever really loved me would die. A that moment, time froze. I don't mean figuratively, I mean the flames stopped in their tracks, nothing moved, time literally stopped. A great, terrible beast rose out of the flames and smiled at me. I will never forget that smile. It was horrible. The beast offered me a deal. My body in exchange for my sister's life. Desperate, I accepted. The beast flew into me, merged with my soul. With it's power, I was able to get my sister out of the house. I watched the mansion burn all night. It died down just before dawn. At dawn, my sister woke. She took one look at me and seemed to know what I had done. She wouldn't speak to me. For two days, she stayed silent, until the day I came back with some berries I found, and found my sister laying on the ground, dead. She simply gave up on living, and died of a broken heart. The beast within me had saved her from the fire, only to let her die days later. I buried her, then started to rebuild the mansion. After that, I lived alone, researching demons and possession, learning to control the creature that dwells in me to this day. Recently I couldn't bear the loneliness anymore, and decided that I had enough control to be around humans. That's when I went to buy you. Every once in a while, the demon's power leaks through, which is what happened just now. You can go ahead and either freak out or call me insane now." He finished, glancing up at her to see her reaction.

((And that's why it's fantasy instead of historical. Also, Wolfie apologizes for the wall of text. She didn't mean for it to be that long. ))

(( holy shit))
Athena blinked " whoa...did you even pause for air?" She blinked again. " So you have a demon in you...I would doubt that if I hadn't just seen your eyes turn red. Should I be worried about the beast hurting me?" She asked frowning slightly.

((Hehehe.....))

Yokou blinked, looking up at her. Of all the reactions he had expected, that was not one of them. "Oh...no, no...the risk is next to zero. The only time you'd have to be careful is during the week of the full moon, and I usually lock myself in my room for that. But otherwise, no, it won't hurt you. I won't let it." He said, not daring to hope that she could be so accepting.

''OK then this will take some getting use to...should I tell Lori? Actually you better tell her if that's what you want."

Yokou turned comically pale. "Oh no. Please, don't tell Lori. Not unless she asks or gets suspicious. That woman wouldn't think twice about spearing me through the heart with her bare hands." He said, obviously afraid of Lori.

" She would especially if you ever hurt me...You couldn't run far enough or hide deep enough to escape her." Athena laughed " Thanks for protecting me." she blushed.

Yokou went from pale to bright red in ten seconds flat. "I wouldn't hurt you, Athena. Ever. And you're welcome. Let's just...not tell Lori about this little incident, shall we?" He asked, getting up onto the seat now that he was sure it was safe to do so.

" Deal." Athena chuckled urging the horses on heading back to the manor. " At least I know you like me." she chuckled.

If possible, Yokou turned a brighter red. "Uh...well...I...um..." He stammered, unsure what to say. After a moment, he opted for silence. It was much less awkward than anything he could have said at the moment.

Athena pulled the horses to a stop and glanced down " Can you help me down?" she asked him not wanting to trip on her dress.

Yokou nodded and stepped down, then turned and offered his hand to help her. "This way, my lady." He said semi-sarcastically.

" I'm no lady." Athena sighed them yelped slamming into him as her dress caught under her.

Yokou reacted quickly, catching her and spinning them both around so that they wouldn't fall. He set her gently on the ground, holding onto her just a second or two more than he needed to. "Are you okay?" He asked, blushing as he let her go.