Shuku paled at the ridiculous selection of food in front of her. Hebimaru eyed the food with a hungry lust, probably from his lack of prey recently so he wasn't going to be picky. Shuku sat on the left of Rin, who sat at the end of the small dining table, and across from the teacher. Hebimaru was coiled next to her, occasionally eyeing Izumo, then back to the food.

"Thanks for all the hard work. Dig in!" Teacher Sideburns said, and everyone just stared at the food. Shima and Izumo started naming everything on the table. Every dish shared one basic aspect; the main ingredient, squid.

"Everything here's got squid in it." Polka-brow sighed, slightly disgusted.

"That's right! Bon appetit!" The teacher gave a closed eye smile.

"Yeah, but, it's like, don't we have anything besides squid?" Rin asked, uncertainly.

The teacher put a finger on his face, and leaned closed, "No. We don't. You know why? No one has been able to catch anything in these waters except squid. It's driving everyone squiddy! However, on the upside, you can all squid out till you get sick." The teacher gave everyone a thumbs up, and everyone, but Hebimaru, who was probably going to eat a fair portion of it, sighed.

"That's why no one bought our squid, and Shuku made good business because it had nothing to do with squid! It figures." Rin sighed.

Everyone started to reluctantly make their plates, and Shuku made one for Hebimaru and filled it up, since an eight-foot snake can eat more than a person could on average, and then she looked at her plate.

"Teacher, I understand everything can be healthy in moderation but this is not healthy nor moderation so this endangers my well being." Shuku said, then gave her plate to Hebimaru, who Shuku saw almost eat the plate as well.

"If you're not going to eat the squid, then what are you going to eat then?" The teacher asked skeptically, eating some of the weird back squid noodles.

Shuku leaned back and went into the cooler of her stuff, then pulled out an almost empty thing of half melted mango icecream. She had plenty left over, and this was just the leftovers from today's sales. She took out a small scoop and ate the ice cream right out of the container, much to everyone's surprise. Shuku smiled internally in contentment and ate the ice cream.

Hebimaru ate a large portion of the squid on the table, then slithered off to take a nap. With the table cleaned off, and Shuku still eating the ice cream (and refusing to share), everyone went back to business.

"The Kraken?" Rin asked in confusion.

"If we're talking about ink spewing demons of the sea, then that's my guess." The book that the teacher had out was one Shuku recognized from her studies. He had the page flipped open to a mid-level demon that greatly resembled an enormous squid.

"This book, the natural history of Norway, has a passage that tells about how if a Kraken's around, the sea will turn pitch black from its ink." The teacher explained, and Shuku half paid attention. As the emergency backup, she wouldn't have to go near the thing, or the ocean... right?

"So that things the reason the fisherman can't catch anything but squid." Shima assumed. "Ok, we figured out the Kraken's doing this but is their anyway to destroy it."

"Shima, the calamari thing was a joke." Shuku discouraged but was ignored.

"One would have to know the demon of the deep sea's fatal verse. It's believed to be the letter to the Ephesians, Chapter one, verse 18, other than that the options are limited. I'm afraid your little friend won't be able to destroy it by himself." The teacher said and Shuku paused, scoop halfway into her mouth.

"Woah-woah-woah, the brat's planning on fighting a big squid by himself, that's stupid!" Shuku exclaimed, but it's not like she hadn't done worse, or stupider things before. But that was out of necessity.

"Yeah, he said something like that on the way back from the pets store. Shuku, do you have any incarnations that can blow it up?" Rin asked, and Shuku blinked.

"Uh, no. But if push comes to shove, I could help Hebimaru electrocute it." Shuku said, thinking about facing the creature, without going into its domain.

"I have heard you, Ms. Murasaki, are a very talented incarnate, but the idea of electrocuting it with the help of your familiar could possibly injure it and inflict some for of damage. Very clever." The teacher complimented.

"Electricity? Why would that be so much more effective?" Izumo asked, and Shuku scoffed.

"Use your head, it lives in the water. Water conducts electricity. Therefore, if Hebimaru zaps it with high voltage, and I amplify it with an incarnation, it'll explode and I won't be half dead." Shuku explained like Izumo was an idiot, and her face reddened.

"I knew that! I just wanted to make sure you knew what you were doing!" Izumo huffed.

"Actually, as the emergency backup, I won't be taking part in any of it unless need be. So you still have to come up with your own plan." Shuku smirked, she made Polka-brow mad.

"Hmph, you just sound like you're afraid of the thing. You didn't even get near the water today! I thought you were stronger than that Shuku?" Izumo prodded Shuku, and the room went silent.

"It's not the giant squid. Hell, I couldn't give a rats ass about it! There are much scarier things, and people out there. But everyone has their fears, so shut the fuck up! Is this the only way that makes you feel strong! HUH! You're the one always picking fights! And I'm tired of your bull shit!" Shuku argued back, and Izumo reddened. Slamming her hands down on the table, Shuku stormed out of the room.

The people left in the room went dead silent, Izumo almost bright red in anger. The silence was broken by the sound of a ringing phone. The teacher blinked and pulled out his ringing phone. He gasped, his face going red, then got up, answering the phone.

"What is it, honey? What, again? Don't worry kitty cat I'm on my way." He said to whoever was on the other side of the phone. Then turned around when he saw everyone looking out from the room.

"Uh.. yeah, something just came up so I have to go for a bit. You can take the day off tomorrow. We hired a proper employee to work part-time at the ocean house," then walked around the corner.

"What does he mean proper employee? What are we? Interns?" Izumo grumbled.

"Who cares about that? I wanna know who kitty cat is." Rin said, practically laying on Shima.

Shima blinked in realization. "Okumura, you know what this means?"

"What?"

"Where gonna swim our asses off! And make Shuku go swimming too!" Shima announced, the two up and they high fived.

"Right on!" Rin agreed.

"What the?" Izumo asked, confused, then the teacher leaned back in.

"I'm sorry, I forgot to tell you. I want you to make sure that Yohay boy doesn't get anywhere near that demon. That right! You're babysitting tomorrow, Buh-bye!" The teacher waved off at a shocked Shima and Rin.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Izumo undressed and slipped into the bath. The water was warm and soothing, and she was thinking about Yohay, the boy from before. The door to the bath opened, and Shuku walked inside, her eyes lost in thought, and she didn't notice Izumo as she undressed to go into the bath as well. Izumo was frozen in horror.

It wasn't that Shuku was there, or that she was going into the bath as well, in fact, it didn't even have anything to do with Shuku's personality. It was the scars. The white lines, some still red, coated her body like some sick artist's design. Shuku probably had some sort of makeup on her torso when she had the bathing suit on to hid them, actually, probably most of the time. There were a few lining her arms that looked like scratches, others on her were old stab marks or slashes. A few were burns, staining her skin like splatters of white paint.

Some looked deeper than others, but none were probably pleasant to receive. There was one long, deep looking scar right from her abdomen across her hip. Izumo realized what that meant quickly, Shuku wouldn't have children. Shuku looked up and gazed into the water, glaring at it before cautiously moving into it, and sinking into it with a long sigh.

"Hey, Izumo. I'm sorry for my outburst. I just have my issues with stuff that I can't see. It freaks me out. I can't see what's in the water, so it freaks me out. I'll fight the demon if I have to, I won't abandon everyone. I'm not that much of a coward." Shuku apologized, then sunk into the water. If Izumo wasn't there, it would've looked like she was talking to herself.

Shuku was lost in memories, painful ones. She hadn't meant to snap and loose her composure, it was just something she didn't do. As a kid, one of the tests to be a hunter had been to slay a mid-level demon, a strong one, under water. Shuku had nearly drowned when she reached the shore, the aquatic demon dragging her into the water with it. She couldn't see it, she couldn't hear it, and she couldn't breathe. After that, Shuku had used a strong incarnation to evaporate 80% of the water in the lake and kill the demon, her last memory had been of the demon' sharp teeth and the cloud of her own blood in the water. Water incarnations were never her specialty.

Izumo got out before Shuku did, giving her one last glance, Izumo dried off and got dressed. Shuku wasn't going to run away, not this time, not when someone could die.

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