Chapter 23: Naked Honesty

We were welcomed by a cloud of steam that told a thrilling tale of roasted garlic and hot pepper. Mixed with the aroma of cooked meat and stir-fried vegetables only one thought remained: Divine! My belly rumbled like crazy. To be alive means to eat, someone once said. I can understand that. Not even the distinct odor of the sweaty men could dampen my appetite.

"Go wash up first! No food!" Hong said while crinkling his nose, "not until you get that muck off of you! Feng, take them upstairs. No peeping, you hear?"

"Uncle!" Feng was taken aback by the sudden accusation. "I would never!"

"Tell that to big sis Lynn. I seem to remember you walked into her bathing once," the guys sitting at the tables started to laugh and whistle like a group of excited chimpanzees.

"Shut up, Kevin! We were kids, and I didn't know she was in there, okay!?"

But Feng's words were meaningless. Rose and I looked at him like he was a creep on a train with his hands in his pants. Feng panicked and tried even harder to defend himself, not knowing why everyone suddenly turned on him. Rose and I then shared a conspiratorial glance and burst out in laughter.

The guys at the table joined in and even the old Hong's eyes showed some amusement. Feng sighed in relief. His panicked face was cute, though. I felt a bit more relaxed.

Hong waited until the laughter trickled away. "Boy, you can take two fresh sets of clothes from Lynn's room. And you better burn the stuff they are wearing now."

Feng answered: "Won't she be angry that someone went through her stuff?"

"Not at me." The restaurant owner shrugged and continued cooking. For him, the discussion was over.

"Lynn will kill me." Feng scratched his head but moved toward the back of the restaurant to an inconspicuous door. We went through. The busy sounds of the restaurant were muzzled in the stairway, creating a bit of awkward silence between the three of us. Looking at the lively bird at Rose's shoulder, I corrected myself. The four of us.

"Who is Lynn?" I asked to fill the void.

Feng looked back for a second without stopping. "She's one of the Wudang. She lives here with Uncle Hong and me. But she has some sect business to do. Their leader was imprisoned a while back."

'Their leader'? "So, you two aren't part of the Wudang?"

He laughed. "No! No, we aren't. But we are, how to put it, very friendly with each other. I'm something like Uncle's assistant and he values being neutral. He says he only cares about food these days. I'm not so sure if that's true."

"That geezer was always peculiar," Rose commented mysteriously.

"You really know everyone." I couldn't decide if I wanted our heart-to-heart talk at this moment. But she ended the conversation anyway by announcing, "we are old acquaintances Also, that blonde fellow will be history if he peeks. Better tell him that."

"I won't!" Feng's voice went up a pitch.

"I think he heard you," I said while keeping a straight face.

Rose shrugged. "Who knows? He might pretend to throw our clothes away to take our panties for his collection. It is known that boys his age think more with their lightsaber than their heads."

"I won't! Also, I'm not collecting panties!" He really was helpless against a bit of teasing. "Tell her that!"

"I think she heard that!" I covered my mouth with my hand to stop myself from bursting out in laughter.

Meadow got closer to me and playfully whispered in a loud voice, "did you notice he only denied collecting panties? Who knows what dirty stuff he is hiding under his bed? He might be into smut or little girls. But don't worry Song, I'll protect you."

"How do you know about my stash under the bed!?" He jumped and fled up the few remaining steps. He ran down the hallway only to return a moment later. "The bath is on your right. You can find soap and shampoo in the cupboards. Towels are on the shelves. Throw your dirty clothes in the hallway. keep your panties if you must! I don't fucking want them! You will find a change of clothes in front of the door. Goodbye!"

He is presumably going to destroy his treasured stash of hidden magazines. "You went a bit overboard with your teasing!" I wiped the tears from my eyes.

Rose grinned and stuck her tongue out. "Tehe! It's like asking the wolf to not eat the lamb. His innocence was way too enticing. Now hurry let's take a bath. I can't be in these clothes a second longer."

Rose started to undress before we even reached the bath. throwing her dirty boots and socks in every cardinal direction. "What if Feng comes out of his room and sees you?"

She took off her ripped shirt. Her shoulder blades were punctuated by her cyber interfaces. Rose's slim but muscular arms were covered in intricate tattoos. On one side was a horde of demons grasping for the sun, on the other was one of the demons falling into a bed of grass.

I took off my shoes and socks as well. Urgh, they were full of that icky demon heart stuff. Disgusting. But I put them down orderly in front of the bath. Rose, already stripped to her underwear, was taking off her bra when I asked, "Say, what do the tattoos mean?"

She threw the rather plain-looking bra towards Feng's room. "Never liked that one. Maybe he can put it to better use. What were you asking? These things?" she turned toward me.

I mustered my secretive friend "Oh."

"What do you mean 'oh'?" she crossed her arms.

"We are nearly the same."

Rose followed my gaze. "I see. Well, it makes moving and shopping so much easier. Now, let me see yours!"

She approached me like a lecherous old man. I swiped at her grabbing hands. "You wish! Let's go inside first. By the way, where is Feathers?"

Something moved under Rose's torn shirt. I grabbed it and saw Feathers's angry face. Cute. "Don't throw him around like that!"

"You gotta pay the price if you wanna ride this dragon," Rose said while leaning against the wall showing off her entire slim body.

"Don't you have any shame?"

She shrugged. "Not really."

I asked, "then why tease Feng?"

"Cause it's fun? Now stop dilly-dallying and let's go inside! It's freezing out here!" Rose rubbed her tattooed arms.

We made sure to lock the door behind us. I sat down Feathers on a towel. I didn't know if he was waterproof. And I wasn't in the mood to experiment. I disposed of my clothes in an orderly fashion, or as orderly as one could. Including my panties, because I trusted Feng, I think. My body was in comparison a bit plumber than Rose's. I wasn't fat but I sure wasn't slender.

"We are not the same," complained Rose.

"If you consider my additional fat then we are nearly the same." I covered myself best as I could and waddled towards the big tub. "Why are we even taking a bath together?"

"No, Song. That's not how it works. How did you even get the idea that we are the same!?" Rose sighed, "anyway, because they think we are girls and have nothing to hide?

"What a stupid reason!" I hugged my knees in the rising water "You hide a lot from me."

"I'm not allowed to have secrets?' Rose tried to tease me but I glared at her.

"Fine. Where to begin? Right, you asked what the meaning of the tattoos was. It is a very long story but I'll keep it short for now. I, uhm, once was known as the Heavenly Demon. You are not surprised? No? No comment? Fine, I'll continue.

Let me start with a shocking revelation: I'm not from Heaven's Gate. I come from a tribe roaming the mecha beast plains. Life is tough on the plains but not impossible. Right after my birth, my body was enchanted by blood magic. These dark rituals were invented to enhance a mortal body into a celestial being. I'm not sure if they knew that this process warped the impurities into something abject like a demon. But I wasn't made into an angel of salvation. No, I was an ugly demon with the mind of a child. And I wasn't the only one. But I was the one who survived the longest. We were taught to seek the Heavens to become pure, whatever that means."

Rose traced the pile of demons grasping the sun on her left arm. She then switched to her other arm.

"Every demon pursued this goal steadfastly. Leaving behind mountains of corpses, sometimes their own brothers and sisters. But their conviction was real. Every demon had a small following of demonic cultivators that called themselves a church. The names are kinda random. There was the Celestial Demon, the Sun-Eating demon, the Seven-Star demon, their churches, and many more. As long as the name suggests upward they were good. I was named rather ordinary, in comparison. At some point, I evolved a conscience. My mind wasn't limited as before and after I saw my siblings building a path with their corpses into the limitless darkness, I decided it was not what I wanted. I split up from the others but couldn't bear the thought to be alone so I convinced my own church to follow me. They were the closest thing I had to a family. I considered them my friends."

Rose's shaking finger traced on her arm her descent into the lush grass fields.

"We found the frontiers. There is no grass on the plains. There is no vegetation at all. It is an unending field of rugged earth. If you are lucky you will find a river or a stream. If you are unlucky you will find a silver beast. But we never expected to find something as legendary as plants. As you know, the frontiers are only lightly guarded so getting in wasn't much of a problem. The problem lay in fitting in. I was a red fat bastard of a thing. People ran away screaming when they saw me. It really hurt. I wanted to be one of them. I thought I might have found Heaven. Succeeded in the journey the others failed in. I asked the nuns if they knew a way to make me human. They told me there is a chance if the black blood stopped flowing through my veins. But they urged me not to do anything drastic. But I didn't listen.

I ripped out my own heart. Unimaginable pain jolted through my body. My hands and feet fell off creating other so-called relics. The torso melted and reformed into the charming form you see in front of you.

The nuns were unhappy with my decision and demanded that I had to repay my selfishness to the church. I then signed a blood-contract with the clergy. It demanded me to be loyal to the Church. Unknowingly, I sold myself into slavery for hundreds of years.

Even worse, what we found wasn't Heaven, it was just another human tribe living a more luxurious life. The disappointment of the clergy was enormous. It was my fault for leading them astray so I had to pay the price. At least until the Heavenly Demon was reborn and they once again could roam the plains or until the black heart stopped beating.

And thanks to Feathers I'm free I guess.

Any questions?"