If fire would ever be able to embrace me, I guessed it would feel like this. It was as if every muscle in my body hurt, my skin stretched and swollen and broken. Exhaustion had claimed my lungs, my brain, my everything and I haven’t moved from the spot on the couch where I managed to fall down a good couple of hours ago. Sunrise had already greeted me. It must be noon by now and I still just lay here, drifting in and out of sleep, in and out of pain.

I had to admit that I had badly underestimated M’haku, that damn cocky bastard. Warrior of Light or not, I had fought bragging, hard-muscled and puffed up characters like him a hundred times and all it took where some well placed punches and some patience and they fell down like empty ballsacks. But M’haku was different. I guess it were his experiences he had made outside of Ul’dah. During saving the Star or whatever he was doing those last years and when he wasn’t accused of having poisoned the Sultana. I felt my jaw hurt as I gritted my teeth. I had clearly overexerted myself in this fight. Got reckless and greedy. But at least he had finally lost his stupid grin and looked like he had expected it easier with me. The Warrior of Light as dirty, bloodied and exhausted as a common street rat. Good.

When my throat told me that it demanded water, I urged myself to stand up, hoping my right knee, that had suffered a very painful kick, would be able to hold my weight again. At least my leg didn’t shake anymore, so I just pulled myself together, found a waterbottle in the cupboard and drained the whole thing. Standing upright again gifted me a headache though. Ugh, I hated it. As my gaze wandered to my entrance door, my mind crept to Demjin.

He knew now where I was living and I just had a bad feeling about that. I had successfully kept that away from him since I knew him and had been proud of it. But yesterday was just the most nasty day I had in weeks. I could have tried more to let Demjin stay away. But I didn’t. Maybe because deep down I had expected something from him that just didn’t fit into his greedy brain. And what was that even? Comfort? A pat on the back, telling me I fought so bravely?

With a growl I pushed those thoughts away and took a quick shower instead before tending to my cuts and bruises more thouroughly. Sterilizing and bandaging my arms to just cover those cuts, salve for my broken lip, untangle the mess of a tail, clipping all my claws on my left hand because two had broken off in the fight and I wanted them to grow back the same way together. Would take some days. After some cooling the bruises had to heal on their own. I had no healing powers myself and would definitely spare the coin to consult a real healer. You get used to care for your own leftovers from brawls over the years. It’s not that I wouldn’t have the money now to afford better care. I could even afford to pay a whore now every other week but that didn’t mean I would just do that. The street usually made everyone stingy.

Just dressed in long comfy pants I went searching for a painkiller for my headache, when a knock on the door made me freeze. Whoever that was, in my state any kind of visitor could just go to hell. I ingored the first knocks. And the second. But as they didn’t stop in their third round, I limped to the door with a growl and pulled it open.

Bright golden eyes, perfectly brushed back orange-blond hair, that slight smirk on the lips. Demjin.

In a second my aching head decided that I had no nerves for him now and aimed to close the door again as energetic as I had opened it, but the bastard put one of his feet between door and the frame so quickly, that the door bounced off of it a little and he let out a painful whimper.

“Arrgh! Come on you big oaf!” he hissed but didn’t move his foot. “Just let me in.”

I only opened the door some ilms again, secretly feeling satisfaction for almost having crushed his foot.

“What do you want?”, I growled.

Demjin tried to push his way more into the doorway and towards me. Calf, leg, thigh. He never broke eyecontact and if the foot still hurt him he didn’t show it. Stubborn bastard.

“Bring you food. You can’t tell me you have any kind of supplies in that pathetic thing you call kitchen.”

I just now realized that he did carry a simple bag. But if he really just wanted to bring me that, he could have left it on the floor before my door. Because my headache was making me impatient, I gave in and just let him enter. He gave a satisfied sigh, walked in as if he owned this place and put the bag on the small couch table. Then he sat down and carefully felt his maltreated food, as always clad in some elegant leather shoes.

“Don’t be a pussy.” I snorted, looking at him while crossing my bandaged arms in front of my chest and standing next to the table.

“Oh, you know that I am not.” he said with a sly smile and leaned back on my couch, one ellbow on the backrest and leaning his chin against the hand. “Eat.” he casually said like an order and nodded towards his so selflessy delivered food. “You denied me bringing a healer, so I went to plan B.”

“I’m not hungry.”, I said out of defense and even if it was just half of the truth, I definitely wouldn’t feed his ego by touching his food as if I had begged for it. As my leg was acting up again, I also sat on the couch, almost at the other end, so we could better eye each other.

Demjin wore a dark blue buttoned-shirt that left a good view on his chest because the upper buttons were left open. Together with those rather tight black pants he looked as perfect as ever. Ever the classy rich guy, walking the town. He looked out of place in my simple apartement that could need some cleaning.

When we didn’t speak for some seconds and just sitting there like petulant children, he grinned softly and said “You won’t make me leave with drilling your gaze into me, X’rahdis. Relax. Have you slept? How is your leg?”

It was hard for me to see if he really meant it out of concern or because he wanted to make light conversation. After yesterday I just wanted it to be quiet around me. Returning to the Arena seemed so far away and impossible with my wounds that Haku had left me with. I wanted to be angry at him but had no energy currently.