Chapter 63 - Burning Candle

Arata comes back with a blue box. He opens it up with his teeth and brings out some ointments and bandages.

He nudges the items at Ryota as he says, "Whenever I touch someone I can relieve their pain. Like... I can lessen their pain or heal their injuries if it's minor."

Ryota nods his head as he frantically opens the container with ointment, "O-okay! Go do that! Yes!"

Arata nods but raises his eyebrows, he's never seen Ryota this frazzled. Arata is a bit used to the beatings, if someone could get used to it, and was able to keep his emotions in check as he healed Miyu.

Worried that Ryota will do more harm than good with his emotions running wild, Arata said wisely, "Calm down, Ryota. You don't want to hurt Miyu even more with those shaking hands, do you?"

Ryota looked at Arata and nodded his head, taking his advice, "Thanks... I'll try not to."

Arata sighed, hoping Ryota would keep his promise. He heads over to Miyu's leg and nuzzles his head against it, trying to force his energy into her body. If he had to rate the beating, he would say that this one was quite harsher than the others. Miss Kokoro doesn't hold back, it seems.

While Arata was at her leg, Ryota was the top half of her body and focusing on her back. He ripped off her kimono, the shreds of stained cloth flying away because of the wind that is coming through the window. He ripped the kimono until the backside was completely removed, and Ryota saw the aftermath of the beating. Because Miyu's back was facing Kokoro the whole beating, her backside got the brunt of the kicks. The back was so bruised that you couldn't even see any specks of her original skin color on it. There were mixtures of colors of past bruises and the new, blooming bruises that scattered her body. Her back was a rainbow of colors, and a bright green was added to it when Ryota splattered the healing ointment all over her back. He sniffed it and it smelled like a harsh mint.

When he was finished with her back, he left it to dry and tried not to touch it, since it was very sticky. Not worrying about his expensive clothes, he pushed himself closer to Miyu and into the pool of blood surrounding her. The whole room smelled of mint, herbs, flowers from the garden, and the coppery scent of fresh blood that has been spilled. Ryota and Arata were choking on the scent as they tried to heal their only burning candle in their life in front of them, that is right now quivering from the pain that has been brought upon her.

Miyu continued to sleep as the hardworking prince and fox worked till the sun fell down and the moon rose up, making it dark and black. It was night time, and everyone knows what comes out at night.

Monsters.