1 World Peace

World peace. Can world peace really be accomplished? No, it can't. Not that it's an impossible goal. The problem is that there are a lot of stubborn people in this world and when you add other species within the mix conflict is unavoidable. Iris, a young woman in her twenties now a mother of two, saw this as a never ending cycle of stubbornness. Thinking back, she was even affected by that stubbornness when she met her husband. As she sat in her rocking chair feeding her newborn son, she was happy with the little bit of peace she acquired.

Bang! A loud noise came out of nowhere followed by multiple screams. The little one within her embrace immediately started crying accompanied with the cries from another child sitting by their front door. Looking over in the direction of the second wave of cries she saw a little girl, whom was wearing a light green long sleeve dress, curled up against the main entrance crying her eyes out made her heart tighten. Startled by the cries that were coming from her unhappy loved ones, Iris went into a state of panic. Firstly, she gently rocked the one in her embrace, in an attempt to calm him down, then she called for the other child to come to her side.

"Ayamae…...What's wrong? Come to mommy," she said in a soft and caring voice.

Ayamae looked at her mother with red eyes full of tears. Ignoring her mother comforting gesture, she turned away removing her mother's figure from her eyesight, refusing to move from that spot.

Iris sighed a little frustrated at the fact that she was only one person.

At this moment she was only able to console one of her children in this position, so she tried again, "Sweetie, please come to Mommy. I won't know what's wrong if you don't tell me," she said softly trying to coax her over.

Little Ayamae thought about it for a minute. 'Before her little brother was born her mother and father would rush to her side, to see what was wrong with her, each time she cried.' She took a quick look around to see if her father was around.

Sadly, he was not, and she really didn't want to give in to this traitor parent, who was hosting a little demon in her arms. She was happy to have a little brother, except she's didn't realize she would have to share her mother with him. Since her father wasn't around, she finally submitted to the traitor's plead. Even though she was a traitor, she didn't like to see her upset. She stood up wiping her face with her long sleeve, before she walked over to her mother.

Iris smiled when she saw her daughter finally walking over to her. She held her right hand out hoping that Ayamae would grab hold of it. Ayamae looked up at her mother's beautiful smile as she grabbed hold of her hand.

"My dear little Ayamae, what's wrong?" she asked trying to console her, now that the baby in her arms had calmed down and was drifting off to sleep.

Ayamae pouted not wanting to speak. She sniffled a few times trying to force back her tears, which persisted on despite all her effort. Seeing her little daughter being stubborn she gave her a gentle pat on the head.

"Sweetie, no matter what it is….mother is always on your side."

Ayamae looked down before she spoke. Her tears then continued to fall more fluently like a running faucet. "Hiro....a human boy that's visiting his aunt in town, told all mmm…..my friends that monsters can't be fri….ends with humans. He said...that mon…sters are meant to be hunted by humans. I'm not a monster…..right mommy?" Ayamae stuttered in a whimper trying to explain her dilemma.

Iris's eyes began to watered as soon as her baby girl finished speaking. 'It was a fact that her husband was not a human, making their children half-breeds, nonetheless this does not mean they are monsters.

Nowadays even humans can be described as a monster based on their personality. In her heart she wanted to give that little brat a good spanking and his mother or father a few unpleasant words. She'll just have to handle that issue another day, right now she needed to calm down her baby girl.

"No. You are not a monster. Your father may not be human, but he's definitely not a monster." 'Maybe an A class pervert, but not a monster,' thought Iris. "Our town is unique and is visited by many people from humans to demons of all levels. In the past, humans would hunt demons saying that they were their natural enemies. The truth is...not all demons conflicted with humans. Only a few demons caused problems for humans. In our town having a demon as your neighbor is pretty common for us, but not so for those who are not from around here," Iris clarified while stroking her daughter's soft black hair.

Ayamae sniffled as her tears fluidity slowly came to a stop. "So…what do I do about my friends. How do I stop that mean boy from turning them against me?" asked Ayamae with a slight gleam of hope in her watery icy blue eyes.

"You need to break his stubborn personality?"

"Huh?" Ayamae look at her mother with a perplexed expression.

"I do not follow….mother."

"Should I tell you how?" Iris asked with a mischievous smile. Ayamae smiled upwards with her rosy puffy cheek as she nodded her head. "Alright...I will tell you, but I'm not sure if you are old enough to learn this story."

Ayamae shook her head placing her hands on her hips, then she held up six fingers. "I am too old enough! I'm six!" she said triumphantly.

Iris laughed a little finding her little one proud stance adorable. She was so happy to see her finally stop crying.

"Alrighty then. This is a story about how a small town traded their stubbornness for an ounce of world peace."

Ayamae ran to grab a cushion to sit down on with a curious expression on her face. Iris smiled seeing how interested her daughter was before she told the story.