Ari stirred from his sleep as he heard the clatter of pans and a chair scratching against the wooden floor. As his eyes opened, he turned his head away from the window beaming blinding bright rays of light onto his face. Drool was on the side of his face, causing him to wipe it with the back of his sleeve before rubbing his eyes. He had been so tired he had fallen asleep somewhere downstairs where Raoul and he were once speaking. Just as he was yawning, Ari jolted awake as noticed a set of brown eyes gazing down at him.

Sai smiled then and moved closer.

"And so you are awake... " His voice was much smoother than what he remembered it being. It was soothing to hear and his light smiles seemed to disarm him. He was a much different blood demon than he was used to being around.

"Are you hungry?" Sai said, pulling him out of his thoughts.

"I'm not," Ari mumbled back. His stomach grumbled, making Sai give way to a little laugh.

"I can feed you. Don't be so shy. I want nothing from you... other than your company... " He gave him a look that made Ari's eyes soften. "Perhaps."

Ari made a motion to rise, but Sai pressed a hand to his chest keeping him put.

"Tell me what you like and I will bring it to you or would you like for me to guess?"

Sai bent down and took a quick whiff of his neck before Ari had any time to react. He pressed his nose closer, causing Ari to grow still, heart beat rampant.

"... Strawberries."

Ari looked up at him as he backed away and put his thumb to his lips. "You smell like strawberries... So must like to eat them. They are your favorite food."

"How did you know?" Ari tried to smell himself, but he did not smell a thing like strawberries.

"I can tell a lot about you. As could anyone of us," Sai said offhandedly. Ari felt his warm hand on his chin, turning it to the side where Auovin had bitten him. "Just as I know someone will be coming for you soon."

Sai rose and continued on to look at him, making Ari shy away from his eyes. He was pretty like Auovin and Cyrus. Ari could not help but notice. He also had a curious way about him that made Ari want to learn more about it. Unlike the rest, Sai seemed to be honest in not holding any interest in him and that was what made him feel so comfortable.

"Stay here. I'll bring you something in a moment."

His creme shirt was unbuttoned at the top and his hair was unkempt but still did not deter away his beauty. Ari could not help, but stare. Sai was slimmer than Auovin, but he seemed to be much wiser and less drawn to violence. If blood demons were all like the ones he had met then it is no wonder why Sai would rather keep to himself.

It was some moments before Sai came back with a bowl full of ripe strawberries along with a plate of thin crackers. He placed them down in front of him and sat across from him, eyeing him. His head rested against his hand and closed his eyes before moving some stray hairs from out of his face.

Ari stared at the strawberries before looking back up at Sai.

"Go on. It will put some food in your belly until you decide to take blood again. Starving yourself does more harm than good. Especially when you are so young."

"I do not mean to... "

"If you want to get stronger and not be this weak... human thing then you must."

"I know." Ari pushed a couple strawberries into his mouth.

At the tavern, Sai could care less about him. Now that he was not in his cups, he seemed more reasonable and mild-mannered.

"It's been awhile since I last seen one of my own kind," Sai said, breaking the silence.

"Why?"

"Why? Well, do not feel it in the air? The tension broke and war has broken out."

"With us and the humans?"

Sai's eyes lowered. "It is a bit more complicated than that. But, yes, simply put."

"And you're not involved?"

"Why should I be?"

"We are of the same kind... " Ari answered.

"And should that make me more loyal?" Sai laughed. "We are solitary creatures, by nature. We do not band together for the greater good unless it is for our own individual gain."

Ari chewed and swallowed the strawberries and grabbed a couple more. They were sweet and juicy, which took all of him to not smile in delight. He had not had these in so long. And here was an entire bowl of them right in front of him just for him.

"What will they gain from winning over the humans?" Ari said, not really wanting to know the answer. Auovin was cruel and malicious. Behind all of those pretty smiles, Ari knew what he was. What worried him was the fact that he cared less and less about the way he was. Auovin treated him well since finding out what he truly was. Was it love? Ari did not think so, but that did not deter him away from him in the slightest.

"The humans, over the years, have been overstepping their boundaries. Creating weapons to harm us, taking blood from us, to create poisons, and now hunting us to figure out all of our secrets."

"That is not true," Ari breathed.

"Secrets such as the markings on our bodies and what they mean."

Ari's eyebrows furrowed.

"They cannot think to go against old ones such as I, so they bother with the young ones which are very far and few between... "

"That... " Are mumbled.

"The humans have no end to their hunger for knowledge. Nothing can sate it."

Ari could not say a word. He looked horrified at the thought that the humans were the aggressors. He thought it was the blood demons. He thought it was Auovin.

Sai looked up from the table finally and gave Ari a look which made him swallow dryly. He rose and walked around the table towards Ari. Ari could do nothing but stare as Sai pressed a warm hand to his cheek.

"The way you are staring at me... you must find me attractive."

"You are pretty," Ari agreed, causing Sai to smile again.

"It is only natural, I suppose. We are of the same kind."

Ari looked down, ignoring Sai's eyes trained on him.

"Are you not with Raoul this way?"

Sai gave him a half smirk before moving away from him.

"Ra is someone who I had raised. I cannot see him as anything more than a child. Would you see the person who had raised you as a potential lover?" Sai sighed. He is human, and I do not take human blood."

"So you do not find him attractive for such a reason? You find him useless?"

Sai's head lowered as he laughed again.

"Tell me, Ari, have you found any human attractive in your life? You had been raised by them, so your answer should come fast."

Ari shook his head no. He had never quite noticed that before. It was forbidden in The Khaeo, so he never gave it much thought as to why he never suffered through that period as his peers had until now.

"They are quite like a different species, to us. That is why. Sure, some demons take their blood and want their bodies as well, but that simply means their blood is not as pure as ours."

Ari looked into Sai's eyes, noticing how gray they are becoming for the first time. It was a darker gray than his which reminded him of storm clouds on a rainy day. They did not enrapture him as Auovin's did time and time again, but they did make him feel relaxed. A feeling he has not truly ever felt sense finding out what he was.

"I love Raoul dearly, but not romantically. I tried to pawn him off somewhere, someplace far away from me, but he finds his way back each time like some lost puppy."

"Because he loves you. I am sure it is for that reason," Ari said.

"I will be with whoever can give me the blood that I want. He can offer me nothing but a fragile human body and company. All I want from him is his company. The rest he can give to someone else."

Ari felt a soft hand on his chin again.

"Is that not the same for you?" He licked his lips as he noticed Sai staring at them. "The reason why you left?"

"... I did not leave for that reason. I left to learn more about myself and what I am."

Sai grew more and more attractive to him as the seconds went by. If it is as Sai said, it is because he had the blood he wanted. It was the same for Auovin and Cyrus, he gathered. Instead of kissing his lips as he thought he would, Sai kissed his forehead, causing Ari to blink a couple of times.

"I can answer all of your questions. However, what will you be willing to give me in return?"

"Friendship."

Sai backed away, but Ari grabbed onto the cuff of his shirt. "Because it seems like you are very lonely and in need of a friend much like myself."

"Oh?"

"I know how it feels... even when you do have someone that loves you... Somehow, you still feel empty and alone."

"You are quite cute," Sai answered back full humor. "Must I say again how we like to be alone?"

"... No one likes to be alone." Ari held his hand in his. "No one."

Sai twisted their hands around until he held Ari's in his and laid a light kiss on top of his skin.

"It is true, we like the touch of one another. We cannot go long without feeling as if a piece of us is missing." His voice was soft and his eyes held a meaning behind them. Ari could tell he was strong and had power behind these light touches and kind face. Cyrus would take to him quite well, he knew.

Ari looked at him again, feeling the most intense desire to kiss him and be kissed by him. He was charming in an odd sort of way. He also did not come on as strong as the others. But he did not feel that deep longing that he felt with Auovin.

"Just because you feel the desire to kiss me does not mean you should act on it."

Ari's face flushed at the sound of his voice so near his ear.

"It is quite natural and because you are so new to all of this, I know you find it to be a rather hard temptation to resist, but you must show some restraint. As I said before, I have no interest in you."

There laid some silence between the two of them for awhile. Ari busied himself with the last of the strawberries and some crackers. Sai twisted his hair around his finger, ignoring him as he did at the tavern. He did not understand him, nor would he ever, it seemed.

"Do not be so upset that I rebuffed you. If someone says no then you must adhere to it."

"I know this already," Ari said, cutting his eyes away from him. It was a strange feeling to be had, whether he had any actual intentions of acting on how he felt or not.

"You have been flattered and spoiled so much you think you can have everything that you desire?"

Ari sucked in his bottom lip and tried to look elsewhere, but his eyes always found his time and time again.

"I cannot kiss someone who I hold no interest in, unlike most blood demons."

"I was not going to kiss you... or so I think... "

"Because of that old one, I suppose."

Ari looked up at him with wide eyes.

"How did you... "

Sai pointed to his neck.

"It is because you have feelings for him and they fester and manifest themselves into want and longing."

"Feelings? What I feel for him is... confusing, to say the very least. I do not know whether I should feel anything at all for him because of our conflicting views on things."

"Conflicting?" Sai laughed. "I think that is hardly the word for it. Old ones are not known to be kind to much humans."

Ari sat there contemplating everything, but no matter how he thought on it, he still wanted to be with him. He knew of his cruelty and all of his wretchedness, but Ari could not shake the feeling of want and longing for him. It was his lips, he wanted to kiss and his hands he wanted to feel in his. That was what he was sure of.

"Worry not. He will be here soon to come and collect you. I can see the worth he sees in you... "

"My worth... "

"You are refreshing to be around. As naive and ignorant as you can be, you have a way about you which amuses me so."

Sai rose again and walked closer to Ari, causing Ari to stand abruptly and back away from him. However, Sai was quick to grab onto Ari's arm and yank him towards him.

"What my question is... What is it about you that he wants so badly...?" Ari felt his fingers brush against his skin as he raised his shirt. "Is it this perhaps?"

Ari moved away from him and looked at him with cautious eyes.

"Do not give me that look. I am not the one being used here. It is you."

"He would not use me."

"Do not be so naive, young one."

"He would not."

"I am trying to help you," Sai said as he reached out a hand, but Ari shirked it away.

Sai pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head. "I am, truly, if you just let me. I will tell you all it is you need to know if you just let me see."

Ari looked at him, this time, with less suspicion and reluctance.

"See what?" Ari was apprehensive of everything that he was saying. However, he had to settle his mind and give way to reason and truth. It was what he wanted and there was someone willing to give it to him, so he had to accept it. No matter what it may be.

"The marks on your back," Sai answered. "They may seem like nothing, but there in those runes tells a story."