Chapter Text
Shang Qinghua froze in shock. “P-princess?” he stuttered as his mind raced. “I’m afraid you are confused young master. While my daughter is quite lovely, I'm afraid she is no princess.” He laughed lightly even as he shifted to keep Xuebao out of sight. He felt Lin Tai tensing up next to him, but didn’t risk a look. Play along, he silently pleaded.
“Kai?” the bunny demon asked. “Are you sure?”
“I’m certain.” Kai said his eyes locked on Shang Qinghua. “The color threw me at first, but I recognize a hybrid when I see one.” His expression turned dark. “And I know all the hybrids in this area.”
“Ah, I see the confusion.” Shang Qinghua rushed to say. “As I said earlier, we are travelers on our way through.”
Kai snorted. “Still trying to lie your way out.” He turned and gave his companion a pointed look. Getting a bad feeling, Shang Qinghua started to take a step back, but the other demon had already thrown out a talisman. He felt the illusion slide off his skin.
“Ge,” Lin Tai hissed as she shifted to stand against his side.
Kai smiled darkly. “There you are, and…” he shifted his head to the side. “I can just see a white tail behind your dress. Nice commitment to the scheme by the way.”
Even with the thick face he’d spent lifetimes building up, he still flushed. It’d been a while since he’d been caught out so soundly.
“What do you want?” Shang Qinghua asked as he dropped the act. Feeling tiny hands pulling at his dress he risked a look down to see a trembling, teary eyed Xuebao looking up at him. He quickly scooped her up into his arms. She wrapped both her arms around his neck before turning to glare at the wolf demon.
“Won’t go back.” She declared in a sulking voice. Kai’s eyebrow shot up.
“Well now, that's a bit unexpected. Your name is Qiaoxue, right.” Kai asked in a gentle voice as he moved closer.
“No.” She snapped.
“She doesn’t like that name.” Shang Qinghua said.
“Then what would you like to be called?” The bunny demon asked from beside Shang Qinghua. He flinched back a step. When the hell had he gotten so close?
She stared at the bunny demon. “I like Xuebao.”
“Xuebao then,” He gave a soft brotherly sort of smile. “I’m Yazhu-ge. Would you like to come with me?” He held his arms out for her.
“Hey!” Shang Qinghua snapped as he backed up. From the corner of his eye he saw a blur of black hurling toward him. At his side Lin Tai leaped to meet the wolf demon in combat. Palm strike against palm strike sent a shock wave through the air. Shang Qinghua hastily dodged out of the way of their fight.
There was a tug on his arms as Yazhu began to pull Xuebao out of them. He clung tighter, but the demon was stronger. Then Yazhu abruptly let go. He looked down at his arm that now sported a tiny bite mark.
“No, I wanna stay with Mama.” Xuebao snarled.
“Mama?” Yazhu asked in surprise.
“She doesn’t want to go back and I’m not letting you take her.” Shang Qinghua said as he continued to back away. He could see Lin Tai pulling herself from a tree with a snarl. Shit, these guys were seriously strong.
“So we’re supposed to believe you really took in a cursed hybrid?” Kai sneered as advanced on Shang Qinghua.
“Screw you!” Shang Qinghua said with a snarl. “She’s just a child.” The two demons just stared at him.
“Kai, I think he’s serious.” Yazhu said. Kai blew out a breath as he scratched his neck. Lin Tai flashed over to shield Shang Qinghua, her arms engulfed in flames.
“I think it's time we sat down and had a more…civilized discussion.” Yazhu suggested.
“Why should we trust you?” Lin Tai asked, not ready to drop her guard.
“If you're honest about your intentions toward the child, then we’re not your enemy.” Kai said then smirked, his eyes flickering to Lin Tai’s demon mark. “And I think you already have your fair share of enemies.”
Shang Qinghua felt chills go down his back. Fuck! Why did they have to be smart too? He placed a hand on Lin Tai’s shoulder. “He’s right. Let's hear what they have to say.”
She hesitated before letting her flames die out with a sigh. “Fine,” she pouted.
He patted her shoulder before going to sit down in front of what was supposed to be the campfire. The fighting had scattered the wood, so they sat in awkward silence as Yazhu rebuilt it.
“Why don't we start with how you ended up with the princess in the first place.” Kai said. “The Fox Clan has been very…annoying in their guarding of her. We haven't been able to do more than catch glimpses of her from afar. And yet somehow you two managed to smuggle her out of fox territory. How did you even manage to get into their inner domain?”
Shang Qinghua and Lin Tai shared a look. Xuebao yawned against his chest as she fought to stay awake. Shang Qinghua handed her a piece of dried fish and she happily perked up.
“Truthfully?” Shang Qinghua said. “We didn't. She stumbled across the cave we were hiding in.” He told them most of what had happened since meeting Xuebao, leaving out some of the more sensitive information, like him not being from this world.
“That's…not exactly what I expected to hear.” Kai said. He turned to Xuebao. “How did you escape the Fox Clan's inner sanctum?”
She thought for a moment before replying. “It's a secret.”
“You can tell us.” Yazhu coaxed softly.
Xuebao shook her head. “If I tell, it's no longer a secret.”
Kai laughed. “Fair enough.” Then he pinned Shang Qinghua with a look. “If you're serious about her, why haven’t you done a bonding ritual?” The air grew thick with tension again.
“A bonding ritual?” Shang Qinghua asked, confused. Lin Tai shifted uncomfortably at his side. When he glanced over at her she avoided his eyes. He glared at her in annoyance.
“You know, a bonding ritual. What did you just crawl out from under a rock or something?” Kai said with a cold laugh.
“Something like that.” Shang Qinghua snapped annoyed and wanted to slap himself for the slip up. The two demons shared a look. He could sense them speaking with each other without words. He felt a spike of jealousy that he ruthlessly trampled down.
“Well now, that's…hmmm.” Kai said. He eyed Shang Qinghua up and down, then snickered slightly. “Would you like something to change into?”
Shang Qinghua's cheeks burned. “Yes please.” He grumbled. He passed Xuebao to Lin Tai. Yazhu handed him some spare clothes. He scurried behind a tree to change. He wasn’t too surprised when as he was stuffing the dress in his pouch, Kai approached him.
“You really don’t know, do you?” He asked as he leaned against a nearby tree. Shang Qinghua felt his eye twitch. His mind raced and he reached for the first lie he could think of.
“I have memory loss.” He said shamelessly using the oldest lie in the book. Hey, it was a classic for a reason alright? “I’m still figuring things out.”
“And you ended up traveling with the most wanted criminal around by accident?” Kai drawled.
Shang Qinghua shrugged. “I woke up in the forest only knowing my name. The foxes captured me and she freed me. She’s just a scared kid in over her head.”
“She calls you ge.” He asked, his tail slowly swinging from side to side.
“She needed somebody.” Shang Qinghua said fighting a sudden wave of sleepiness. When was the last good night of sleep he’d had? “We both were alone so why not team up? It's kinda nice having a sibling.”
“And the little demon girl? Why deal with that trouble?” Kai asked. Shang Qinghua watched his tail still slowly swaying from side to side.
His mind felt fuzzy. He gave his head a hard shake and felt the sleepiness disappear. He glared at Kai. “You did something.”
The wolf demon shrugged. “Maybe I did, maybe I didn’t.” With a smirk as he walked back toward the campfire. Shang Qinghua stood there a moment wrestling with his desire to punch that smug face. Instead he plastered on a polite smile and rejoined the campsite.
“Aww, you were so cute in the dress.” Lin Tai pouted.
“You want it?” He asked as Xuebao crawled into his lap. She went to respond when a heavy yawn took over. So much had happened that he almost forgot she’d spent an entire night fighting. “Why don’t you get some sleep? I’ll keep watch.” She warily glanced over at the demons who were having their own soft spoken conversation.
“Are you sure that's wise?” She whispered.
“If they were going to do anything they’d have done it by now.” He said with a shrug. “Might as well get some rest while you can.”
She didn’t look convinced, but curled up and made a show of going to sleep. On the other side of the fire Yazhu was doing the same. Now it was just Shang Qinghua and Kai facing each other across the dancing flames. Xuebao had fallen asleep in Shang Qinghua’s lap. He gently stroked her hair.
“You don’t know what hybrid means, do you?” Lang Kai asked quietly.
Shang Qinghua scowled at him. “It's a child born of two different demon races that looks like both.” He was embarrassed it had taken so long to figure it out. It seemed so obvious in hindsight.
Kai sighed. “That's the literal meaning, but it goes much deeper than that. Hybrid born are looked down upon. We don’t have a proper demon heritage and are often the scapegoats for all the ill that happens around us. Most of us don’t survive to adulthood.” He was silent for a while as stared off into the fire, the pain in his face clear. Shang Qinghua shifted uncomfortably.
The wolf demon looked up, piercing him with an intense look. “That is what it means to be a hybrid. Xuebao’s life has already been rocky. If you claim her as your daughter, that rocky path will be yours to walk too. You will be looked down upon, mistrusted, mistreated, even hated. Is that truly the life you want to live?”
Shang Qinghua stared back with a mirthless smile. “I already live that life.” He looked down at the sleeping child in his lap. Part of him was shaking its head in disbelief. Taking on a child was a huge responsibility, had he really thought this through? He could still run away before things got too serious. But he knew that was a lie, it had been over the moment she appeared. He had his Xuebao back and he wasn’t letting go.
“We could take them for you.” Yazhu said softly as he shifted to a sitting position. “You could continue on without worry.”
“I’m not handing my daughter and sister over to some random demons I met on the side of the road.” Shang Qinghua snapped angrily. “I don’t know you. I don’t trust you. The answer is no.”
“Well, they aren’t yours.” Kai started then held up a hand when Shang Qinghua went to protest. “Not yet at least.”
“You’ll need to do a bonding ritual for that.” Yazhu said.
Shang Qinghua let out an angry sigh. “And how does one go about doing this ritual?”