"We're going on a trip…" Liam started, getting simultaneous groans from everyone else in the car. "Gotten old already, huh." He grinned, totally undaunted.
"Shut the fuck up." He got matching glares from the twins and their cousin.
"I swear, if anyone wakes up one day to find him dead, I'm the murderer," Korū growled.
Alina grunted in acknowledgement, leaning back into the seat to sleep. Linda was tempted to glare, but could only do so to the innocent road in front of her.
"Wake me if you get lost." Alina murmured to her, ignoring the sounds coming from the backmost seat of the eight seater they were in. A carload of explosives. They had stopped by Bloodmoon to leave the weapons they had borrowed, along with Kaito, behind, after coming back from Kanazawa.
Korū's katana somehow ended up poking Liam's neck. Yes, the sharp part of the katana. One flick of Korū's wrist, and Liam would either be dead or bleeding out on the floor. "Shut up and don't even try to move."
Liam just stared at him, not looking particularly bothered. "I already did."
"I really wonder how you pulled that out without killing anyone." Cayne commented to Korū.
"I have my ways."
Hikari snickered. "Don't question my brother's abilities. We've been trained to be quiet and sneaky because we can't exactly accidentally kill a random innocent bystander on an assassination mission, can we?"
"We're in a fucking car." He pointed out. "It shouldn't be physically possible for you to even maneuver that blade around."
Alina snickered. "If there's a will, there's a way." Before trying to fall asleep again.
"I'll try it with a machine gun someday."
"I take that back." Alina murmured. "It's just a lie people tell themselves when they're desperate."
"There's no harm in trying."
"Yes. Yes there is." Kumori turned to glare at Korū. "Don't even think about trying that. I swear I will kill you.��
"What the hell, as a frickin' peacemaker you're supposed to NOT kill people-"
"Shut up before I kill you." Alina and Cole said together grumpily, both trying to have some peace, quiet and sleep.
"No you-" Liam said.
"Guys just shush before you get the driver, also known as me, mad." Linda said. Alina had bounced around too much last night from a coffee and sugar high, making both she and Linda irritable, while Cole had to deal with Liam being naturally high, going on and on about a girl-
"I can drive," Korū offered.
"Why replace a driver that's going mad with a driver that's already mad?" Linda mumbled.
"I'd drive but I wanna sleep," Kumori chipped in unhelpfully, causing Linda to groan and be tempted to bang her head on the steering wheel. Unfortunately, they were in a relatively populated area with relatively busy roads, so it was a risk that she refused to take.
There was silence for a while.
"I guess I'll just stay quiet then." Liam said, breaking the silence.
"YES. YES. PLEASE FUCKING DO." Basically the reactions of everyone else in the god forsaken car.
Outside, a random driver was staring quizzically at the car that contained the eight weirdos.
Suddenly, Cayne's eyes snapped to his face and he glared, effectively making the driver turn away.
"Damn, don't scare the living shit out of random people," Korū drawled.
"If I scared the living shit out of him, he wouldn't be there anymore." Cayne answered.
"...whatever you say."
"How long more?" Cole asked.
"Ten minutes if we don't get lost." Alina told him, eyes still closed, before they flew open again, "You guys said there was a possibility that we would get attacked going to find the dragons and back, right?"
Kumori shrugged.
"Is it queer that we didn't?"
"A little. Maybe we were just lucky." Hikari told her.
Alina gave her an unimpressed look, "When are we ever lucky? You're travelling with me, for goodness' sake."
***
"Oh my goddess, we made it alive." Alina exclaimed, tumbling out of the car. Figuratively.
Korū thankfully and surprisingly hadn't killed anyone yet. He casually sheathed the katana and dragged himself, his sister, and his cousin out of the car.
They stopped in front of a very modern-looking apartment building. Alina led the way up, stopping in front of a door.
"Knock knock." The doorbell sounded.
"Who the hell makes their doorbell say 'knock knock'?" Cayne asked, disbelieving. Alina shrugged.
"Remember guys, be civil." She warned quietly, as the door clicked open, revealing a young man, who grinned on seeing Alina.
"Well, if it isn't my troublesome ball of fire."
Alina gagged. "Ew. But apparently. Mind letting us all in so that we can dump our problems on you?"
"Always a pleasure." He opened the door some more to allow them to step through, before closing it behind them.
"Guys, this is Richard. A fellow Okhrana with more brains than all of us combined, excluding Linda."
Korū's first thought was "this guy is weird". His hand was on the hilt of his katana as he gazed warily around. Beside him, Hikari was ready to pull out that trusty pistol of hers any moment. Kumori, who they didn't trust to protect herself because that idiot didn't bring any weapons, was between them. A very secure spot. She most likely wasn't gonna die anytime soon, with how protective her cousins were being.
"Guys, you trust me right?" Alina asked.
"No." Cole, Cayne and Liam said the same time Linda said "maybe."
"Absolutely not," Korū, Hikari, and Kumori added.
"I know, but you can trust this guy more than you trust me." Alina reasoned.
"Wow, the honour of being trusted." Richard sighed. "I know your visits come with a price, so what do you want?"
"I trust this guy less than I trust you," Korū deadpanned.
"Doesn't make a difference because you don't trust me at all," Alina shrugged, before turning to Richard.
"Almighty wizard Okhrana and the wonderful mentor of the prodigy yours' truly, please aid us in locating the great Fujihana family." Alina said dramatically, collapsing on a sofa. "Don't mind me, I'm feeling poetic today."
Richard didn't even bat an eye. He took a seat in front of her and gestured for the others to sit down. "How 'bout you introduce yourselves first before we talk business?"
"Mrrrrrr!" Kaguya leaped up onto Korū's lap.
"Okay, who the fuck let him get into the car?"
Hikari and Kumori were not feeling guilty as they hugged guilty looking Kage and Kagami.
"...You know what, never mind."
Linda shook her head at her friends, letting out a chuckle, before introducing all of them.
"I'm Linda Jones, this is Korū, Hikari, Kumori, Cayne, Cole, Liam, Kaguya, Kage and Kagami."
Richard nodded. "Okay, so you want to find the Fujihana family, huh?" His eyes settled on the twins and their cousin. "I see."