life moves on.

looking toward Desmond and Ash Kira recalled how she had seen them beg Inari.... her mom.. to take their lives as punishment for being unable to protect her, it was a loyalty she couldn't fathom existed outside of fairy tales, but then again wasn't that just another one to the checklist since she woke up.

"You guys begged me earlier to forgive you

as I understand you got caught unaware by a betrayal you had not expected, I personally don't think there is anything to forgive you spent every single moment up until now searching, which is all you could do, please be at ease and feel free to return to whatever demon stuff demons normally do"

Turning around to the white majestic fox lady which was supposedly her mom once more.

"Mom, I don't reject you like you accused me of earlier, but I will need to collect my thoughts can I please return home and be given a way to contact you?"

Kira suddenly felt extremely tired, it was like the energy burst she had received earlier had escaped just as sudden as it had arrived, oh I would be good to get home and snuggle up in her bed.

"It's not that I don't desire to grant your request but I cannot" her mom said.

Kiras eyes widened, is she really going to to me trapped here she thought, maybe Inari was worried she would dissapear again.

"I can guess what you're thinking and it's nothing of the sort, the vessel you inhabited was destroyed with the seal, Earth have natural protections against demons, and until you can recreate a physical vessel of your own to inhabit and tether you to earth you will keep ending up here, we do have a portal you're free to use if you want to see for yourself, but just know that being forcefully rejected isn't exactly a pleasant experience

One last thing, I can already see your appearance shift as you're likely unconsciously trying to weave back the appearance that's familiar to you, while I'm not against if that is how you desire to to appear, but know that we demons are spirits, our sense of self is extremely important and rejecting yourself can be extremely harmful, most other demons would have collapsed by now if they were any weaker than you were, some risk outright stop existing, your being were prior being held together by what would be best described as a prison, that is no longer the case and I don't desire to loose my daughter so soon after finding her, so while you might think this is cruel, I'm going to seal away your magic for a bit, until you adapt"

Kira watched as Her mom once again got up and at an astonishing speed before Kira could react had Inari reached her and slammed her hand into her back, she felt a weird sensation it didn't hurt but it wasn't comfortable either.

and just as her clothes was slowly starting to fit again it now once again seemed like she had stolen her boyfriends oversized hoodie, only bright side was she felt a bit less exhausted.

it was funny initially she hadn't been able to place Ash age, she had thought late teens maybe early adult but definitely younger than her, although she knew other females older than her just as short as Ash, but she had never considered she would be joining that club, even amongst the females in school she had always been the tall one, didn't help she also developed earlier than the rest which further caused attention.

shaking herself out of it, why was she suddenly so stuck up on her past school life, she had been away from it for almost a decade, and she saw no reason to remember what she ultimately considered bad memories and waste of energy.

As Kira attempted to get up from where she was Desmond and Ash immediately appeared behind her with Desmond taking her hand and Ash pulling out her chair, they had been in the other end of the room a mere second ago, like seriously!

Standing up she now realized that Ash was actually a tiny bit taller than her, part of her felt horrified, while the other felt slightly amused as she had always wondered what it would be like to be one of those smaller cute girls she always saw around, she had fully acknowledged Desmond had been tall, even at her former height he had seemed tall, but taking in his height while she just shaved a good 30 cm of her own gave it a whole different perspective.

one thing confused her though while not as tall as Desmond her mom was much closer to her former height, maybe a tiny bit shorter it was kind of hard to eyeball but definitely closer unable to hold in her confusion any longer.

"Mom, I gained your sorry to call it this but animal traits which is logical since I'm your daughter but why did I shrink?"

was that a snicker, had her mom just laughed at her question.

"Sweetie, you're still a child you have room to grow, you've not even obtained your second tail yet"

Tail? Kira thought to herself while she suddenly remembered that while she only had 1 Inari had 9 of them, but then the second word hit her and she was struck with indignation.

"I'm 27, by all means I'm an adult and not a child"

This time Ash was the one to give a small snicker

"Actually you're 29, but that is still very young by our standard, most demons don't even aquire sentience before 50 years old or older, I think our youngest maid is 340 or something around that"

Kiras eyes bogged out of her head, 300 ... well that makes sense.... No It so does not!

Desmond suddenly spoke up

"Sorry for interrupting the mood princess but since you're going to be here for a bit would you like me to bring your familiar along with some of your mundane human toys ?"

Toys? Kira felt rather offended by that term until the other word sunk in.

"Familiar?" Kira asked with a questioning voice.

"Yes indeed, the weak demonic cat spirit you have been keeping as a pet, it was guarding the hole they had forced you to live in quite fiercely, it made it rather hard to come close enough to investigate your habits as we didn't want to alert you, neither did we want to hurt anyone in your service, its intelligence is still low but it is fiercely loyal which is quite unique for spirits so young and without a contract none the less."

Kira just gaped at Desmond.

"You're telling me my cat is a demon?"

Desmond looked around as if looking for something but not finding it he refocused on Kira and answered.

"Yes, the mortal vessel is indeed that of an ordinary house cat, but within it resides a Demon, with a feline nature who are fiercely loyal to you.

It will eventually outgrow its vessel but for now it seems you've nourished it well and while taking care of it have it, has it submitted to you completely, I sense it have the potential to grow quite strong given time.

Now please princess, let me know if you desire me to bring you familiar, The portable video game system and your laptop or not ?"

Kira had a slight inkling she wouldn't get a chance to use her so called toys but if they could bring her cat regardless of what they said it would mean a lot to her, he had been her only companion for many years and the thought of loosing him was horrifying to her, it had honestly been one of the main reasons she wanted to return back home.

"Yes please do Desmond" She said as it was becoming clear he wanted her to voice the request out loud and she wasn't going to get any more answers

barely had she uttered the words before he gave a deep bow walked 3 steps and dissapeared, the dude quite literally just vanished, not even a dust cloud or anything just puff gone, this was going to take a bit to get used to.

"I know you just woke up, but I think it would be wise for you to get some rest, your spirit is still acclimatising to being free, and you need to process the souls you've been provided refuel yourself, you have effectively been starved and kept at the minimum amount of energy to sustain yourself for many years, it will likely take a bit for you to get over that"

Her new mom voiced.

Deciding she was atleast right about her being tired Kira thanked her bowed and headed towards the door upon reaching out for it Ash had an almost panicked expression before she with a whush appeared before Kira holding the door for her, this was getting slightly awkward, much to her surprise at the other side of the door she found the girl who had initially escorted her in the first place, but as she was about to move Ash immediately cut in.

"You're dismissed for the day you did a great job, go to Inari she got a soul orb prepared for a job well done!"

the girl had initially looked confused but hearing her reward her expression looked like she had just won the lottery, Kira couldn't help but wonder what was so special about a soul orb.

Kira was quickly finding that walking was getting a bit frustrating as her pants had become too long and didn't quite fit in the waist anymore so she had rolled up the bottom part, and was holding the pants up as to not drop them, not that anyone would notice because the hoodie had gone from fitting perfectly to now covering her body down to her knees, and let's just completely forget about the bra....

As they reached the room she woke up in she didn't care any longer and simply kicked off the pants, they were both women, until she turned around and saw Desmond with mischief in his hands, blushing slightly she decided to pretend it didn't just happen, upon seeing her the cat immediately clawed at Desmond and came running towards Kira and jumped up into her embrace, the poor thing seemed scared out of its witts and not too happy with Desmond, it was also eyeing Ash with the same weary expression.

"Little one, we have already pledged complete loyalty to your master, there is nothing to be concerned about"

Ash said while moving towards the Cat.

as she uttered her words mischief somehow immediately calmed down.

Kira rolled her her eyes, "just like that you take them at their words huh mischief."

"Princess, nothing in that sentence left room for misinterpretation why would it suspect subterfuge"

Desmond pointed out.

"uhm... lies exist" Kira retorted.

Desmond just grew a challenging grin

"Then little princess why don't you tell me a lie"

baffled Kira decided to humor Desmond

"Desmond your hair is ...."

wait why couldn't she say pink.

trying again.

"The color of Desmonds hair is ....."

looking towards Ash who was just giving her a knowing smile.

"No way...."

Kira exclaimed as she sat down on the bed still holding mischief.

Mischief immediately jumped out of her arms and onto the bed, and started rubbing itself against Kira until it finally found a cosy spot and laid down still leaning against her.

completely ignoring she was currently going through a minor existential crisis.

Ash spoke and pulled her out of her mental whirlwind.

"This doesn't mean we can't cheat and weave our words in ways that is easily guided unto a certain mis interpretation of our desire.

however this is important you understand this, to us words are binding, hence we cannot lie, and promises are binding, this doesn't only include our own but also promises others make towards you will immediately form a contract in which cannot be broken, the default reward for fulfilling a contract to anyone would be their soul but you can define more specific rewards upon completion during the initial creation of the contract, the reward can also be changed if both agree.

Broken promises will by default mean forgetting your soul and is the reason you yourself cannot actively break nor promise anything you cannot fulfill, if anyone promise you anything you are not required to pay any price for their fulfillment unless it is explicitly agreed upon during the promise to which it becomes a contract.

in short words you say are binding, words aimed towards you are binding, although other races don't have the same instinct in regards to avoiding things they cannot fulfill, if you had died so would we, as we have sworn to protect your life, wording is very important while we failed to protect you back then we never betrayed our promise and you didn't die, hence our contract kept standing, it was likely the main reason Inari kept us alive as we were living proof you were out there somewhere."

Kira was listening intently these were rather important rules, she hadn't realised just how drastic a change her life would take but one thing was for certain she was taking Ashes words as absolute truth, they just proved they can't lie and she couldn't see a reason to make something like this up.

Rubbing her eyes she now noticed a tiny red thread going from both the siblings to her, it was almost imperceptible, just like when you see dust moles after rubbing your eyes, but now focusing on it she could definitely see them, she had been way too preoccupied before.

"So, I'm assuming that red thread is sign of a contract, why didn't you just follow that to find me?"

Kira asked eyeing both of the siblings as it seemed like a bit too big of an oversight.

"Unfortunately we cannot see it" Desmond said as he further elaborated.

"Only the contract holder can see the thread, and only a demon, the contractee cannot, we made an oath towards you, hence you hold the contract."

Kira frowned, this was definitely not ideal, he had just outright stated she owns both of them, in a very literal sense.

"Please let me clarify from all information I've gathered so far, your contract entails serving me and protecting me, is that correct, please respond with a simple yes or no"

Desmond almost looked proud, it was slightly eerie.

"Yes" both of the siblings said in unison.

Just great, Kira thought to herself, while she roughly understood that her human logic couldn't be used here, it didn't stop her from feeling frustrated and slightly disgusted, no way did she want to "own" another being, besides she didn't need servants or servitude, while she knew they literally couldn't go against their own oath it didn't mean that she signed up for pretending to be some rich kid with butlers and maids running after her, acting on her every whim, that stuff was reserved from the rich snobs who thought they were superior to everyone.

Regardless of how good looking they were, seriously it had to be a crime.

"Well apparently I can't lie so I can't sugar coat what I'm going to say"

Huh, so expressions is allowed Kira thought to herself so it's likely based on intent along with my own perceived meaning of the word.

"I've lived my life until now by my own just fine"

to which Mischief gave a discontented meow.

Sighing before continuing "With mischief by my side to keep me company, all in all, I don't desire nor have any need for servants, I live a humble life, the hole.... as you called it might not seem like much, but it was my own and I earned it by myself, and I don't need some privileged snobs to judge me, I will stay here for a while because I have to, but my current intent ...."

Somehow Kira just felt that her own words got overwrote as she said them, she had in no way meant to say "Current" but it just came out by itself as she spoke, but before her pause became too awkward she continued.

"Is to return home, and maybe find another job so I can return to my life"

there it was ... she had just inserted the word <maybe>, while what they said prior made her painfully aware that those words functioned as safe guards, it was also uncomfortable loosing that kind of control over what you were saying, it might seem small to some but to Kira it was truly jarring, had she been doing it since she woke up and only now paid attention to it?

Instead of getting upset as she expected them to be both gave her an extremely formal bow.

with Desmond being the one to speak up.

"What the princess is saying is she believes us to be unneeded as she doesn't believe us capable of being useful to her current life plans is that correct?"

Taken slightly aback at their demeanor Kira replied.

"That would be a rather accurate summary yes.

but while you're at it, my name is Kira, please stop calling me Lady or princess"

without as much as changing a beat Desmond continued.

"Is that an order or a Request?"

Fuck! Kira internally screamed, if she said yes she effectively acknowledged that she had the right to control their actions, but by saying it was a request she effectively gave them free Reign to dismiss it, hence she couldn't ask it again later without challenging the former, and would have to keep her objections to herself, did he know how she felt about servitude?

Looking at him he gave her a demonic smile, yep he most definitely knew, bastard!

"It is a request" she voiced out loud.

Desmond smile grew wider.

"Then before I make my decision whether to fulfil your request, do you wish to disassociate yourself from your mother and deny her as kin?"

wha? Kiras thought reeled what did that have to do with anything?

"No that is not my current desire"

Desmond just kept that eerie smile plastered and continued.

"Then are you in denial of your true nature and position, and its simply because you wish to cling to the fake human persona you've been acting out until now"

... To say Kira right now wished to strangle him to wipe that smirk off his face, surprised by her own aggression she quickly rained it in and calmed down, he was really getting under her skin.

"If you know everything then why even ask?

Yes my current desire is to cling to the life I built for myself, regardless of how fake or demeaning you think it is, secondly I, yes you're absolutely right in case you were indeed testing me, I don't currently feel comfortable, rather I feel outright disgusted by the idea of being able to control anyone, as I consider that something done by rich kids who see themselves as superior to others and don't value individuals right to free expression and that is also one of the main reasons for dismissing you as unneeded, as I don't particular get a high by making others do what I'm perfectly capable of doing on my own

was those the answers you sought?"

Desmond just kept smiling, and to make matters worse Ash held the same frustrating smirk right beside him while staying perfectly quiet.

"My my, Lady Kira you were actually bold enough to admit it to us directly and it didn't take all that much prying, Ash my dearest sister seems like we have quite the task ahead of us to prove our value.

Lady Kira, You clearly don't seem to understand that we aren't just calling you princess, your status is 2nd in this entire realm only below the queen herself, it might have been different in the past, but Inari eradicated any and all competition after the accident and not a single one dares to challenge her, so by the status of being her kin, you hold the second highest position in the entire realm, and now that your seal is no longer hiding you, you can be guaranteed you will attract attention.

my sister and I will ofcourse be more than happy to both advice and protect you when those unwanted individuals seek you out

Finally, just because you're physically capable of doing stuff, doesn't mean that someone of your stature should lower herself to do such demeaning tasks just because she can, neither should she live in a hole because she somehow disillusioned herself that is all that she is worth due to years of mental conditioning by a race far inferior to her

with that I believe I've voiced what needs to be voiced and we will leave you to gain some rest"

Both Desmond and Ash gave a deep bow synchronised with each other, and left the room.