They did this every day. Raid would come down to the river just after noon, and she would be waiting, and he would sing. And Sion would sit here and watch, every day. It wasn’t exactly a chore – until recently, the reason for his existence had mostly been to sit perfectly still and look pretty, like some life-sized shell doll. At least here there was something to watch, and Raid seemed to have gotten over his unease at his presence.

Although perhaps it was starting to return, Sion considered as raid shot a quick look in his direction. Until now, the Innocent has focused her instruction on technique. Raw emotion was not something Raid needed help with; he had more then enough of that. But today, she had made a specific request. Something all sirens could do.

“Have you ever tried to sing seduction?”

Raid wasn’t much good at hiding his emotions. To someone like Sion, who spent most of his time just watching people and trying to discern how he should react from their body language, Raid was an open book. Right now, Raid was agitated, and teetering on the edge of attempting to cover up his unease with aggression. That was the way he always reacted when cornered. Such a strange response, Sion thought. But then, Raid often acted in strange ways, and protested against the most unusual things.

“Uh... no, I figured I was a bit… young for it. Y’know?” Raid responded carefully. There was no way The Innocent could have missed the unease there.

“To be fair, you’re almost three times the age I was when I learnt.” She replied.

“But I’m not a Siren, I’m a Fox!” He responded sharply.

“No, you’re not.”

That visibly took Raid aback for a moment, as though he had completely forgotten what he was. He had told Sion once that he didn’t know exactly what he was, just that he was looking for it. That had been when they had met some few years ago.

Raid dug his claws into the rock they were seated on. “Whatever. I can’t do it.” He looked up at the Innocent for a moment as though daring her to contradict him before he managed to force his eyes down into something more passive. A good move, but perhaps a moment too late – the Innocent’s eyes narrowed at the obvious aggression before she forced herself back to calm. She was far better at that then Raid was.

“Try it. Just once. Then we will see if you can. But you have to really try, remembering I’ll know if you don’t try.” Se said calmly. Raid looked back up at her with the expression Sion recognised all too well. He was subjected to that expression regularly. It was an expression that implied that he thought you’d gone completely crazy for a moment.

In response, The Innocent lent forwards and whispered something in his ear. Sion couldn’t hear what was being said, but judging from the way Raid was looking over to him, he figured it was about him. But whatever it was, Raid only nodded and closed his eyes, face distorted with concentration.

He opened his mouth to sing, but no sound came out. The only sound that could be heard was the sound of claws working their way deeper into rock. He tried again, with much the same effect. Growling to himself, Raid looked up to the Innocent.

“That’s not trying, Raid. You need to actually make a sound.” She responded. Raid growled louder. “That doesn’t count. Come on boy, at least give it a try. You’ll be glad you did when you’re a couple of years older.” The Innocent smirked, which only managed to irk Raid further. She was teasing him. Now it was a challenge. Raid turned his attention inwards again. Frustration rolled off of him in tangible waves, not the least reason being the fact that he couldn’t seem to make a sound.

Then the Black became visible. Creeping up around his collar, visible through the tears in his clothing, black veins laced across his skin like some fungus. Sion couldn’t keep the horror off of his face when he saw them, and immediately recognised what they were. The Innocent’s looked started by them before tarting her hands forwards and tugging up the bottom of Raid’s shirt, exposing his stomach. Raid gave a startled yelp and attempted to jump away from the hands, but was thwarted by his claws, still embedded in the rock below him. He yanked them out and swiped at the Innocent, who easily pulled her hand out of the range of his swing.

“Raid…” The Innocent looked at Raid with sadness and… compassion? Raid sunk out of his aggressive posture and gave her a shocked, confused look. “If you had just told me, I wouldn’t have asked.”

It was a moment before Raid caught up to what she was talking about, realisation dawning on his features just as the Innocent lent forwards to place a hand on his shoulder.

And Sion couldn’t just sit there any more. Guilt washed over him, the feeling only strengthened by the compassion in the Innocents voice as she continued to speak softly, enough so that only Raid could here the words, but he could hear the tone. So he left.

No, he fled. He tried to remind himself that it wasn’t his fault. He hadn’t been there when Raid had gained those marks, hadn’t known anything… So why didn’t he didn’t believe that it wasn’t his fault? Somehow, he couldn’t’ work out how, it was his fault.

- posted by Washi @ 2:58 am