Vail grunted as his body shifted in his sleep. His eyes slowly fluttering open to see a young looking boy with orange hair and two different colored eyes staring down at him. At first he did not take in what was going on but after a moment he realized that he had woken up in a strange place with someone he did not know. All of his defenses kicked into action as he tried to fling himself up to his feet but instantly found himself collapsing to the floor from how weak he felt.
"You really are an interesting one!" Aki smiled brightly as he leaned down to take a closer look at Vail. He was already aware of who Vail was from his observation of Duan Cai in this world. "It's not every day you see someone risking their life to protect someone unrelated to themselves."
"I don't know what you're talking about." Vail slowly turned his head away as he recalled falling unconscious from his duel against Juniper. He remembered the girl who screamed in the alleyway he had saved. From the start Vail had not planned on getting involved in the situation but after realizing it was Duan Cai's sister his body had reacted on it's own.
"Sure~ you~ don't~" Aki Kitsune's smile formed into more of a smirk as he pulled a sucker from his pocket, opened it, and popped it into his mouth. Crouching down lower so that he could see Vail's face more clearly he considered his thoughts for a moment on what to do with the man.
"Who are you and where have you brought me?" Vail glanced around the guest room with intent to find a way out as quickly as possible.
"Aki Kitsune," there was a slight playful laugh in his tone as he responded to the confused man. "you're in one of Duan Cai's follower's home."
"Duan Cai.. You're a cultivator under him? You hide your cultivation level well.. you seem normal.." Vail seemed to ponder whether or not Aki Kitsune was a cultivator or not. Most cultivators gave off a certain kind of powerful aura that caused them to stand out to others who cultivated. When a cultivator was powerful enough they could hide part of their aura to help blend in but very rarely did one have the ability as a cultivator to completely look like an average person.
"You're quick to assume I am an underling!" Aki almost felt insulted being called someone's underling. He would never let himself be controlled by someone else. It was not in his nature to kneel to someone else.
"You're not? Then why are you-"
"I stay here with the man who is! Don't just mark me as you please!" Aki's teeth ground together almost looking like his teeth were like that of a canine's.
"Sorry." Vail flinched slightly. He could not understand why he felt pressured by the presence of this boy.
"Forget it." Aki sighed. "Are you ready to get back to your post now?"
"My post? What are you-" Vail wanted to ask him what he meant by his words however he was brought to silence when he realized Aki Kitsune's hand was slowly reaching out towards him.
The hand that he stretched out carefully paused right in front of his face as a small blue flame appeared, floating, above the palm of his hand as his hand twirled around to lay flat in front of his face. The blue flame seemed calm and mystical as it's blue glow flickered slightly. It was almost mesmerizing to watch but quickly Vail was startled at the flame as it began to move and float towards him. His body began to glow a baby blue hue until his figure began to dissipate from the room until there was nothing left of him there. A heavy silence enveloped the room in his place as Aki smirked slightly at what he'd done.
"Task complete!" Aki boasted to himself.
Meanwhile somewhere across the city a sudden baby blue light shone out of nowhere in an alleyway. It only lasted for a moment before the light vanished and in it's place stood a blue haired ninja, Vail. Confusion was written all over his face as he tried to think of an explanation for what had just happened to him. His wounds still ached and he felt weak but his mind was clear as day. Scanning his surroundings he quickly realized that he had somehow appeared back at Duan Cai's, Inferno Nexus, mansion. He was not certain how many days he had been unconscious for but he knew he would have died if he had not been taken away by that boy and whoever he was staying with. Not a single answer had been given to him to know who the place had belonged to.
"As I thought.." Vail muttered to himself quietly. "Those around that man are far from ordinary."
Vail was quick to shake himself back to his senses and submerge himself into the shadows of his surroundings. He could not leave himself exposed to those who worked around the mansion because nobody knew about him. They would not want to leave him alive if they found him because it was still his mission to kill Duan Cai if he could find the opening. When it came down to the mission, however, Vail was more interested in the fact that everything seemed mystical as though Duan Cai and those around him were from some foreign world.
His instincts on the matter were spot on to the truth to think of them as almost alien to earth but it was not something that would be quickly accepted as the truth without proof or Duan Cai to at least admit to such a thing. It was not like a known number of people from other worlds were openly announced around the world. The whole thing made him what to learn more as he observed them all though he could not allow himself to forget his task at hand. Vail would never openly admit to saving Duan Cai's sister from certain death but he could only hope she got away with her life and managed to keep it. There had been another man there that night that he caught helping her escape from Juniper's grasp from the shadows just as he had done. For a moment he wondered if the girl was still alive and if she was where she was now.