In my heart - Forever (Beleth and Iba)

Beleth was not very good with emotions. It was kind of his duty as a lust demon to distract people from their emotions with the pleasures of their bodies and hence his understanding of said emotions was... lacking to say the least. But over the many years that he had known Iba he had grown to understand some emotions and the relationships that came with them. But the only relationship that he actually really much cared for was his relationship with Iba.

She was his greatest friend and the only person in all the three realms he knew for certain that he would always care about. She held permanent residence in his heart. It... it might not have been love. He wasn't sure if it was love; he had no experience of love. But he knew that he cared much too deeply about Iba to hurt her in such a way and not seek to repair the damage as much as he could.

And that was why he was now seeking Iba out in the forests around the manor.

She had taken to wandering around in the woods to find peace and he would follow her to show her that his friendship had not waned in the least. That he was still able to make her happy... wow what a depressing series of thoughts!

He chuckled to himself as he carried the picnic basket into the forest with all of her favourite foods. Salmon included for the cat side of her,

"Iba!" he called out, "Oh Iba! I've managed to get my naughty little hands upon some salmon and picnic foods if you're interested!"

Iba had been wandering around the forest, climbing trees to look up high at the sky and it was on some occasions she thought that she could even touch the clouds they were so close to the tips of her fingers. Of course, when she wasn't climbing trees she was hanging upside down and attempting to read Dante's Inferno, it always interested her because he was so right in some cases but so completely wrong in others...

Then, she heard it, or rather, heard him.

To be honest Iba had been trying to avoid seeing, Tom Nyx or Beleth since her little explosion because she felt no better about it after all of this time. The issues were still very raw in her mind, and part of her was telling her that she should go to her friend who was obviously trying to make things right between them, and another part was telling her that she should just stay hidden out of sight.

It was the first part that eventually won over, the other placated by the presence of salmon.

Poking her head out from behind one of the large oak trees in the forest she blinked as she watched Beleth for a few moments, she had missed him in these few days, it was strange that they were both up on Earth and not spending time together.

"I might be interested in the salmon." she stated, softly from behind the tree "I'm not sure whether I should make it to go yet though..."

Beleth knew that Iba was probably hiding up inside the trees. She was doing that because she enjoyed the height that she could get, the view, the relaxation and it was a great place for her to do some light reading apparently. He had never had much talent in magic but Iba, obviously, had a heck of a lot of talent and she used casual amounts of magic that other demons, and humans, would have had to use very sparingly. She was more powerful than she knew.

He blinked a little bit when just her head popped out from around a large oak tree to look at him. Sometimes she did act amazingly cat-like and this was just one way in which she did it. Chuckling a little bit, he hummed a little bit,

"Oh really now? Well I've got some salmon steaks all ready for you Iba." he told her with a little grin before pouting a little bit, "You have no time for salmon and a friend trying to apologise for being an asshole?"

All joking aside for a moment, he set the picnic basket down before unfolding a picnic cover and sitting down on it, giving Iba a smile as he reached inside the box and began to pull out picnic food as well as the salmon steaks she was interested in... as well as salmon sandwiches,

"I just want to talk to you really..." he sighed a little bit, "We've spent very little time together since I came up and I want to remedy that as we talk."

Iba tilted her head to the other side as she popped her head out of the other side of the tree, watching Beleth as he sat down on the grass and began to get out the things that he had packed in his basket, of course she caught the scent of salmon and that made her blush softly. It was a great weakness of Iba, salmon, and here was Beleth producing two types of it! However would she resist?

Maybe she didn't want to resist? She didn't want to  be mad at Beleth any more, but she didn't want to automatically forgive him either, it wouldn't be good to do that, the same thing might happen later on and it would be even worse then!

"Well I suppose the least I could do is listening to said grovelling apology while I steal this friends salmon sandwiches...what are friends for after all?" she asked with a playful smile on her lips as she stepped out from behind the tree finally, having gotten the reason why Beleth was here, and that he did actually have salmon.

Sauntering over to the blanket that he had laid out for them to sit on, she did so, crossing her legs and resting her hands in the little well that was in the middle of her legs. Eyeing up the salmon, she gently picked up one of the sandwiches and began to eat it in her small bites. Iba hoped that they would be able to make up today, she really had missed him.

"So...what is it that you wanted to talk to me about then Beleth?" she asked quietly, nibbling on her crust.

And again, poking her head out from the other side of the tree to give her time to scope him out. It was an incredibly cat-like thing to do and it honestly made him smile every time. He had brought the salmon because he knew that she would be unlikely to resist his attempts to talk when he had brought her the most favoured of all fishes by the Iba-kitten. He smiled a little bit when she seemed to be weighing up whether or not she should accept the offer, all from behind a tree. It was rather cute he had to admit,

"Ah you already know my surprise! It was going to be the most grovel-filled apology that you have ever heard!" he teased her lightly with a playful wink, "It would have been an apology that you told your grandchildren about, it would have been that strong! But alas, you know the secret! I hope you can at least act mildly surprised...?"

When she sat down he got out the drinks, including some muggle vitamin water and some white wine (the best for fish apparently). He smiled a little bit as she ate her salmon sandwiches. She really was rather cute at times and all the while she would refuse to acknowledge such a claim. When she asked what he wanted to talk to her about he nodded seriously before bowing to her so low that his forehead touched the ground,

"Please forgive me for my actions and words before!" he asked her firmly even as he remained bowed to her, "I never meant to hurt you and it is a grievous crime that I have done so despite my intentions! From now on such games will not occur with my involvement and I shall do whatever else you see fit for me to atone for my sin."

He paused before looking up at her,

"Filled with enough grovelling?" he asked with a wink, "But I really do mean it Iba."

Iba hummed a little bit, and she tilted her head as she thought about the apology that Beleth was going to offer her, he had made it seem like it was going to be a truly amazing feat that she would never forget. Probably she would never forget it because Beleth had never really apologised a lot to her, only when he had done something to really upset her like he had done today.

Hesitating slightly, before she reached out and took one of the vitamin waters, Iba uncapped it and took a long sip from the cool water. It was another hot day and she was happy that she was finally getting this all off her chest, maybe if she talked through it all with Beleth it would make her feel better? Iba would find out because that was her intention.

"What actions and words are you specifically asking forgiveness for?" she asked, poking a blade of grass that had ended up on the picnic blanket "What games have you finally seemed to realise always make me sad?" Iba asked again, turning her gaze to look up at Beleth.

When he said that he really did mean it, Iba didn't really get that impression. Although Beleth really did seem sincere about it, and never had apologised that articulately before, there were still things that were being unsaid between them and they needed to be said before she thought that the issue was over and done with.

"Not just yet, I think that there is more to be said than just that." she stated with a small pout "You got me all excited and it wasn't really that great Beleth, normally you never overcompensate." Iba teased softly before continuing "I guess I was hoping more for a conversation as opposed to something that sounds like you rehearsed it all night."

Beleth sat upright from his bowing position after listening to Iba explain what she thought about his apology (or that part of it at least) and what she thought the problem was and how he could apologise to her better. He paused for thought for a moment before he spoke,

"I'm sorry Iba... I know I'm not the easiest person to be friends with." he admitted quietly as he looked away slightly, "I don't write, I don't call, I'm constantly sleeping around and we don't spend as much time together as either of us would like. I know that being friends with me... you have to put up with a lot. Make a lot of sacrifices to stick by me through thick and thin. And I just wanted to let you know that I'm sorry that at times I just take that for granted."

Looking up into her eyes, his own was blurring slightly with some tears that were beginning to well up as he opened himself up to the feelings he had for Iba,

"I'm sorry that my games and my actions cause you harm.... you have to believe that it's never my intention." he told her quietly, looking down again slightly, "You are the single most important person to me in all three worlds Iba and I swear to you that I will be a better friend to you, just like you're an amazing friend to me."

He smiled a little bit,

"From now on you can count on me to be there for you, to support you, to listen to all your problems, to help you deal with them, to keep you company when you feel alone and to make sure that no one else hurts you. I will be your shield from such people and be the best friend to you that I can be."

Iba was glad that Beleth had known all of the things that she had done for him, she wanted him to be able to understand that she wanted the same in a friend, she wanted to talk to Beleth about what made her sad without feeling like she was burdening him, or that she was intruding on his time because he was so often busy having sex, or working for Lilith.

Maybe now that this small fight had happened he had woken up to the fact that he needed to be there for her the way that she was there for him.

His pledge, which she would hold him to, made her feel a little bit better, like she was more willing to give him a second chance whereas if he hadn't have spoken his true feelings right then, she would have been beyond angry. Iba was never beyond angry, or, wasn't often. Picking up her salmon sandwich again she nodded.

"Alright then, I'll believe you." she stated with a small smile "I'll make sure that I remind you of that pledge you made to me, friendship is a two way street, and I'm just glad we seemed to have removed the congestion that was on your end..." Iba giggled a little bit "Honestly Beleth, it's not like I've asked you to sever a limb or something, cheer up."

The last part of his speech rang through her mind again and she bit her lip softly, maybe it was time to tell him about why she was also so upset that night, although Beleth was smart, he had probably already figured that out.

"About...you know, listening to my problems, can I talk to you about something?" Iba asked, shyly her ears perking up from where they had been laying flat against her head.