Chapter Two: The Shower Will Wash Me Clean

Gladeke's attempt to deal with what he may have done to Siveka with Yoshiro to help.

Chapter 2: The Shower Will Wash Me Clean

Gladeke reappeared in his home, a series of tunnels and rooms carved inside a shear rock face in the Demon Realm. The shower room was where he’d ended up, and to soothe his body he turned on the shower to the most scalding temperature and sat down on the beveled stone floor. He funneled vim into his wrist to mend the broken bones.

Under the hot spray of water the boiled on blood mixed into a purple tint. Multihued hair themed in fire colors stuck to the sides of his face while he sat there miserably wondering if the girl was alive. He rubbed the aching scars that were all that was left of her bite, the cold still deeply imbedded in his shoulder.

“Hey,” a smooth familiar voice said from the door.

Gladeke looked up depressed through the fringe of his bangs at the 21-year old leaning against the frame dressed in only a pair of long grey pants. His white-blond hair hung loose in waves to the middle of his back. Dove colored eyes watched Gladeke from behind a pair of wire-rim glasses.

“Hey, Yoshiro,” Gladeke greeted his roommate.

Yoshiro came into the shower to sit beside his friend in the hot water. He wrapped his arms around the smaller man. “What’s wrong, Gladeke?”

Gladeke rested his head on Yoshiro’s shoulder.

“I think I’ve killed someone.”

The older man pulled his friend into his arms.

Yoshiro was sympathetic to how upset Gladeke was, but he was secretly glad that his friend had done it. In their kingdom it was dangerous to not be able to murder, a danger Gladeke had been in for a very long time. Yoshiro couldn’t remember how many times in the centuries they’d known each other that he’d worried himself sick wondering if Gladeke was going to be murdered. And with Gladeke’s position in life, his very existence was a threat to it.

“Come on Gladeke, don’t worry about it. You did what you had to do, I’m sure,” Yoshiro said soothingly. He got Gladeke on his feet and lead him out of the shower. Once in the Flame Demon’s bedroom, Yoshiro convinced him to strip down and let him hold him till he fell asleep. When Gladeke’s breathing evened out, signaling sleep, Yoshiro finally took the liberty of inspecting his friend’s face. He smoothed hair out of Gladeke’s face. A troubled look had come over him, sending a pang into Yoshiro’s chest. He funneled a tiny steam of vim through his hands and into Gladeke, a soft grey light illuminating them both. With intense concentration he urged his energy to infiltrate the troubled man’s mind, to let him make changes; however, he ran into walls with every attempt till finally he accepted defeat and resorted to cradling him, trying to sooth him.

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