"-?!"
The shachihoko's teeth were blocked by the metal of Kyuu's sword, and it bit randomly, inches from Kyuu's face, forcing her a step back as its huge body unbalanced her.
Kyuu sliced her sword forward, but it was too late. She inhaled a huge breath before being blown in the water, trying to adjust her eyes to the murky water, looking around for the demon.
Kai scrambled at the edge of the dock where Kyuu had been a moment ago. He turned to Hitashi, who was clearly about to jump in. Kai put his hand to his chest, stopping him.
"We are NOT going in there. Kyuu knows to get out, we stay out here, and lure the thing out, protect Yoen, and figure out is there really are-"
He suddenly turned to Yoen, "Wait a minute … did you know about this?"
Yoen, who had been trying to see through the murky water, jumped, "No, of course not! You heard the cries too. There's never been a trace of shachihoko!"
Kai stood up, his katana exposed, "Believe you or not we need to kill these things! Hitashi, protect-"
"No need."
As an Imu Inu, a dog-faced fish yokai weaker than the shachihoko snarled as it jumped through the water and straight at Yoen. The dark blue skin of the dog was suddenly sliced open, and as Yoen closed up her golden fans, the two halves, split down the middle, dissolved once they reached the ground.
"IF YOU COULD DO ALL THAT WHY DID YOU NEED US!"
Yoen smiled sheepishly, "Apologies. I couldn't find the kawa. I thought it would be better if I asked professionals. You have swords and all. You can fight."
All of a sudden, Kyuu's soaking hair and face broke through the surface of the water, gasping for air. Her fire-red hair was undone and was plastered on her face. She treaded the water, breathing heavily.
She turned to Kai and Hitashi in the water, grabbing onto the wooden beam of the dock. She coughed up water, moving the hair from her eyes.
"There's not just one! Theres three of them-!"
"KYUU!"
Kyuu's lungs filled with water as the ragged teeth of the shachihoko dug into her calf, dragging her down in the murky depths as bubbles clawed their way out of her mouth, following her attempt to scream. Blood spilled out of her leg, and she was unable to even cry out, the attempts only met with the little bit of air she had in her lungs escaping above her.
The shachihoko tore its teeth out of Kyuu's leg and she hovered there. Her eyes blurred, both from the lack of oxygen and the murky water. It seemed to be closing in around her, trapping her in an abyss that had no clear direction.
Yoen sliced through the group of smkaller umi inu, almost dropping her fans as she watched Kyuu get dragged down. Next thing she knew, Hitashi dove through the water.
Barely seeing through the thick water, Hitashi pushed his stocky build through the marsh, barely dodging a shachihoko attack. Suddenly, something tugged at his waist. He squinted behind him, trying to figure out what was going on.
Suddenly, a force ripped him out of the water and sent him crashing behind the dock, behind Yoen and Kai. He spat out water, and anger ripped through him.
The anger just as quickly dissipated as Fukai stood over him, his platinum blonde hair dirty as he stood over him next to a hosoi. A small band of Gin-ranked hunters galloped behind him.
Hitashi looked around and realised what had dragged him out the water. His haramaki had become almost completely undone and Fukai, Kai, and surprisingly Uma had all grabbed it, mustering the adrenaline strength to yank him out the water.
Fukai checked his palms for any marks from yanking so hard, frowning a little more at the rope burn before nodding at Kai. "She's in the water-?"
Kai nodded desperately, "I'm not going to ask but there's a pack of-"
"Umi inu and three shachihoko."
"W-how-what?"
"Don't ask!"
Dammit!
Kyuu, who felt she was being dragged into an abyss drowsily, tried to open her eyes. She vaguely recounted bite marks around her body from the strong-jawed demons around her, having lost interest in their prey.
Scarlet appeared in the water around her, and the salty flavour of her breakfast came back to her, the now iron-tasting water waking her up.
No!
Ah dammit where's the Hunter's member! I tele-phrogged them, why isn't she being dragged out of the water! She's not this weak!
Who…who was talking to her?
Oh…Kyuu! Uh-come on! You're not just a puny human! You got magic in those bones! Use it! Please don't die! Ohhh…I am so screwed if you die! I am screwed on another level if you die! Don't die! How'd it get to this!?
Who are you?
Mmmm…unimportant. I'm not sure if this'll work, but hopefully I can just…I wonder if this would kill me if it failed–
Kyuu choked out a cry as a burst of energy shot through her back, her claws sharpening only slightly as a few bubbles, the only thing she had left in her lungs left her body.
Kyuu! For lord's sake, you're a kitsune. I don't care if you haven't used your magic in, I don't know, 20 years, if it'll save your skin, you better start kitsune-ing!
How did you…
He knew Kyuu's secret. The very secret that kept her trapped in her body. The reason for her strength, her speed. The reason she didn't have parents. Anger coursed through her. Whoever it was clearly wasn't surprised. How did this voice know?
Oh. Oh shit oh shit that didn't work. I'm just gonna-
A shachihoko sped towards her, deciding to add more blood to the water. The flesh torn from her left leg, the bite at her side. The cuts on her face.
The shachihoko drew closer, its jaws opening as it prepared to lunge for her chest. In Kyuu's slightly ajar mouth, her sharp canines slammed down, and as the shachihoko lunged at her-
Kyuu's claws ripped through the shachihoko, gutting it and killing it immediately. She looked different, almost savage. Her boots kicked off some rock wall, propelling her right through three umi inu.
Fukai jumped backwards from his place on the dock, swinging his arm to motion Kai and Hitashi away. He grabbed a sword, the second one he had in his hand now. "What are you-?!"
Kai, Hitashi, and Yoen's jaw dropped as Kyuu, bloodied and battered, her long fire-red hair undone and down her back, her uniform now dirtied with blood and dirt, dragging herself in a half-jump out of the water. Fukai, seemingly unfazed, threw the second sword at her, and Kyuu expertly caught it.
"H-Head Priest!"
Kyuu, her eyes clouded and blocked by the choppy red hair in front of her face, stood passive next to Fukai, if not out of breath and ragged.
The head priest which Yoen had called out appeared from a few buildings. Yoen took a few steps towards him, her eyes relieved. The relief didn't last long.
"Head…Priest..?"
"What has eight small legs, two large legs, walks sideways, and has eyes pointing to heaven!?"
"What?"
The priest ripped off his hat, and Kai, Hitashi and Yoen stared in horror, along with the small band of about five Gin-rank members who hid behind their hosoi as the priest's head and face morphed, and soon the head of a crab poked out of the robes of the former priest. Two huge crab claws erupted from his sleeves and eight small legs came from the bottom of the robe.
"A CRAB!"
The crab lunged at the group, huge claws outstretched. Fukai swung to the side, putting his hands on Kyuu's chest, " You're losing too much blood. I'm not even sure how you got out of that-WHAT."
Kyuu wasn't even there, and wind blew almost everyone down to their knees as two of Kyuu's swords, in an 'X' position clashed with the Kanibozu's claws. Kanibozu, demon crabs disguised as priests.
The crab, who had somehow retained the ability to speak, laughed, "You fool! My hard skin is-"
Crack.
The sickening crack of the crab's outer shell sounded like bones breaking. Yoen trembled, staggering backwards. Whoever–whatever Kyuu was she had been strong enough to crack a kanibozu's shell with a single blow of her swords.
The kanibozu roared, blindly swinging its claws at Kyuu, who weaved through them with ease. Not bothering to look back, Kyuu lunged once more at the Kanibozu, and the onlookers could barely keep watching.
Blood kept flying, but it was hard to tell if it was new wounds, or the ones from the shachihoko. Either way, blow after blow, it was clear there would be a looser soon.
After a particularly heavy hit, the kanibozu scrambled back, priestly outfit mostly torn up.
"F-fox! Witch! You cannot be a human!"
It was hard to tell the expression on the kanibozu's face considering it was…a crab and all, but it was clearly trying to figure out why Kyuu would not fall.
Kyuu stood perfectly still for a moment as the kanibozu gatherers itself, and in a fit of anger, it swung a claw right at her head.
With a sickening, crack, it connected.
Time slowed once more and Yoen watched in horror as Kyuu was forced back, blood spilling from her face as her swords fell from her grasp. Yoen, just close enough, dove to catch the woman, almost dropping her as her white robes started to match her bright red hakama.
She turned to the head priest with tears in her eyes.
"Head Priest–what is this?"
The kanibozu, relaxed after Kyuu had fallen with that blow laughed, a deep throaty chuckle of a demon who new he had won.
"This–this is the fall of the humans! This is my uprisal–"
Hitashi tackled the huge priest, slamming the crab to the ground. In his rage, his fist connected with the tough shell of the crab, doing virtually no damage, but blinding the horrid beast as he beat at it's eyes.
The kanibozu snarled and Hitashi had to roll of to not get impaled by both its claws. The kanibozu got up, angrier than ever. It's eyes went bright red and it's blue-yellow shell turned more dark reddish-orange as it's seething hit a crescendo.
However, before her could say anything, he choked.
On Kyuu's swords.
It shuddered as a sword was thrust through it's mouth and out the other end of his neck, making blood rise and spill from his mouth. They all looked down to see Kyuu's arm still static after throwing the sword. Her dark gaze may have been the fatal blow to the crab.
It screamed and roared in anger and pain as it struggled. Grabbing the other sword, Kyuu managed to thrust it into it's throat again, and as parts of it's body began turning to ash, the kanibozu screamed retched curses at her.
Kyuu finally went limp in Yoen's arms, hair making way so Yoen could stare into her glassy eyes, not a single thought behind the battle worn stare. She tore off Kyuu's haori, horrified to find the lacerations that shredded her, trying to use the haori to tie up Kyuu's wounds. It looked like the kanibozu had dragged barbed wire over her.
"What the fuck was that..?"
Kai was shell shocked, and Hitashi had to keep him up. Problem was, noone had an answer. Fukai looked down at Kyuu.
Kyuu's eyes were barely open, and they stared at him, almost confused. Her eyes had almost dulled and lost colour and they stared into Fukai as if Kyuu didn't know who was holding her.
"JIN!"
Fukai turned around to yell at one of the Gi-ranked members, specifically one who had been hiding behind Hitashi's tall figure. He jumped. Jin, who slowly trembled next to and not behind Hitashi, was pale and had an almost fully shaved head.
"Y-yeah-"
"DID YOU TELE-PHROG-"
"Y-yeah! Th-they're coming!"
"...WELL GOOD BECAUSE SHE'S DRY DROWNING!"
"What…is…dry drowning..?"
Yoen and Fukai, Kyuu in their arms, stared at the seven crouching guys in front of them. Poker faced, all falling way behind the two's conversation.
"DO YOU NOT LISTEN TO THE FIRST AID CLASSES?!"
"WE DON'T EVEN GO!"
Fukai looked down at Kyuu's bloody face, "You hang out with these guys?"
Yoen shook her head, "You have men coming right. Because if we don't get her to safety soon, she'll die either of blood loss or drowning."
Fukai nodded, "Yeah, I've got people coming. In fact-"
The ten people all turned heads at the same time as a squadron of Hunter's corps warriors and medics arrived. One of them stepped up to Fukai and Yoen, flashing a Hunter's Emblem at them. He nodded to Fukai, letting two men with a stretcher in front of him. They all wore medical masks, and had swords at their sides.
Fukai reluctantly watched as Kyuu was lifted away by the two men, pursing his lips as the white canvas already began bleeding red. The man in front of them first turned to Yoen, "Are you alright miss? If you are, we'd still like to give you a checkup and also investigate what happened here. If you don't mind."
Yoen nodded respectfully, bowing with her head, "Of course, I understand the situation."
The man nodded, "You can ride with one of the fellows' Hosoi, if we're lucky you'll be out by dark.
****
Kyuu was bloody. She could tell. But…that was about the only thing she could do. She felt almost blindfolded, only slightly aware of the blood that crusted around her wounds. The blindfold came off.
Kyuu 'opened' her eyes, appearing in a white abyss. She looked at her arms. Still bloody. She could keep her left eye only slightly open , and she clutched her shoulder. Her view was still hazy, and she struggled to focus on it.
Go play with the other kids, Kyuu.
A small house appeared. The same houses that every other person in the village lived in. Kyuu peeked in through the window, watching a middle-aged woman coax a young child from under a desk.
Kyuu walked through the walls of the house, only feeling some sort of breeze as the walls did nothing to stop her. She looked under the desk for the kid. She smiled as she recognized who it was.
Herself.
A small scraggly red-headed child with a bandage over her nose glared right back at her. She was probably like, four or so, but seemed the height of a five year old. The child snorted, hugging her knees once more.
"Tch, if the other kids wanted to play games they'd ask me."
The lady dragged Kyuu out from under the desk, met with much resistance, "They're waiting outside the door, come on. I'm sure their about to barge in themselves-"
CRASH
Both the lady and Kyuu, who had almost slipped out of her arms, stared as two little boys crashed out the windows. The younger Kyuu stared at them. She looked back at the woman, "I'll lose brain cells playing with them."
The lady let Kyuu go, pushing her in front of the boys. Younger-Hitashi smiled at her. He suddenly tapped her shoulder and sped off, "YOU'RE IT!"
"OI!"
Kyuu ran to chase the two boys, and being slightly taller than them, began catching up.
The 'real' Kyuu and the lady watched contently. And as the woman walked through Kyuu, a thought rang through her head.
Do you even know why you're here?
Do you not remember anything before that?
Was it the same voice as before? No. This one was…darker, she shivered as it's cold voice trembled her once more.
Amusing.
This is the first time we have interacted in a very long time.
There is more to your past than you think.
Kyuu had never met someone like this…
The blindfold came back on as everything disappeared at once.
See you…whenever…
****
Chirrp!!!
As Fukai swung the door open with Yoen behind him, Daichi ran around the room, chirping madly and hopping around in a blur. Fukai bent over, letting Daichi run into his arms and put his front claws on her shoulder.
Yoen gave Daichi a finger to sniff as Fukai shut the door behind them with her foot, dodging the messed up sheets on Kyuu's floor. She set Daichi down, calming the senzados enough that he'd sit down peacefully.
"This," he said, motioning to the room around her, "is Kyuu's room. But it's also where me, Kai, Hitashi, and basically anyone else we know get to hang out and party, and whatever else."*
Yoen looked around the room, "Why specifically this one?"
_______
*Food Wars
"Because we like annoying Kyuu."
Fukai plopped down on Kyuu's futon and lay on his back, stretching. The two had been checked, and Fukai offered to let Yoen stay the night, considering Kyuu wasn't going to be there and Bubo village was going to be under investigation, the few others there leaving as they should have a while ago, to different villages.
Yoen fanned herself, "Well, I'm slightly bloodied now. Do you suppose Kyuu would mind it if I found something to change here?"
Fukai shrugged, "Probably not. Dig around in the closet, you'll find something. No dresses, kimonos, or skirts though, nothing remotely femme in there."
"Wonderful. Could you help me pick something out?"
Fukai stood up and buried his hair into Kyuu's closet, rummaging around for some clothes. He picked out a white shirt and some random grey hakama. He pulled his head out, clothes in hand.
"Here, I got this-WOAH THERE."
Yoen stood in front of him, no top cover except a concerningly full bra and red hakama she was starting to take off.
Fukai threw the clothes at Yoen, grabbing the nearest sheets and covering her up with it, "WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO DO!?'"
Fukai then ran back into the closet red-faced as hell, hugging his knees as he heard Yoen laugh outside.
Yoen laughed, "For a knight in shining armour today, you're rather sensitive."
Fukai inched his red face outside the closet door, "Yeah. But I don't want you to start stripping in front of me."
Yoen just continued laughing, a tinkling noise that filled the air. She continued to change, and Fukai just locked himself in the closet.
"I'm done now, you can stop being such a mouse," Yoen exclaimed, a little too bright, just enough teasing in her tone that Fukai felt he could trust her. He cautiously opened the closet door, still red-faced.
"Interesting. You seem so cocky, I thought you'd be a lecher~"
Yoen poked her face in front of him, playfully tapping him on the nose as she turned around, allowing Fukai to finally gather himself and get out of the closet. Fukai gathered himself on Kyuu's thin futon while Yoen petted Daichi.
"How long have you known Kyuu?"
"Hm?" Fukai's eyes sharpened and he turned to stare at her questioningly. He shrugged, "Since she arrived here."
"Arrived?"
Fukai rested his hands behind his head, still lying down, "Biggest event in the village at the time. She arrived one day. We were probably five. Nothing like she was today. Mostly. Short and bitter. Refused to play with anyone else. Growled at us."
"...Growled."
"Yeah, we still make fun of her for it. Hitashi and Kai got her to be more friendly and after almost 20 years, here we are."
Yoen thought for a moment, her now let down hair touching her shoulders. Her brows furrowed and she put her hand right under her chin in thought. Kyuu seemed so normal. Such a well-made mask that no one would think otherwise. But she knew something was off.
"Whatcha thinking about?"
Yoen shook her head, "I can't put my finger on it…but something's off about Kyuu."
"There usually is."
"No, not like that…" Yoen bit her tongue, glancing over at the relaxed Fukai. Should she tell him this? Perhaps she should just keep this to herself. She wasn't too sure herself anyways. Perhaps she could give Fukai and Kyuu the benefit of the doubt, let them live their normal lives. Perhaps Kyuu just had an extremely strong aura.
"Now I'm intrigued. Tell me more." Fukai edged closer to Yoen.
"Huh?"
"You're brooding. It's cute, but I want to know what it is about. Your hesitation intrigues me." He closed his eyes.
Yoen couldn't stop rolling her eyes as she heard Fukai pretending to act smart. Fukai opened one eye and smirked when he saw Yoen's oh please look.
"Ugh…anyways. Fukai, I assume you can't see any auras?"
"Not at all. Isn't that some gene thing?"
"Correct, and it's usually kept within priests and priestess for maximum potential. I happen to be one of these people. Of course it's not that powerful, I can only see strong aura and magic."
"And..?"
"Kyuu had one of the strongest aura's I've ever seen. They looked like flames coming from her body. And her eyes didn't even seem human. For a moment, it looked like she would kill us as well."
Fukai opened his eyes as he lay on his back, staring at the ceiling in utter confusion.
"I know Kyuu's strong, I've been body-slammed enough times to know that, but a demonic energy-aura emanating from her body? Nope. She's only a rank above me and I figure I'll get a rank raise with my performance today."
Yoen rolled her eyes once more, and then narrowed them at him. She also had something to ask of him.
"Oh really? Anyways, how did you arrive to 'save' all of us. As far as I know, the Hunter's Corp doesn't just alert some lower-rank whenever an upper-rank is having some trouble. Very specific too, and you weren't surprised at all at Kyuu. Care to explain-?"
Fukai laughed nervously, picking himself up, "Haha, good one Yoen, anyways I'll be leaving, you can just stay here-I'm sure Kyuu won't mind-"
They began speeding towards the door, saluting as he dove at the handle. Yoen lunged for him, dropping Daichi to grab at Fukai's clothes. Yoen, faster than Fukai, grabbed the collar of his shirt, pinning them to the ground.
Fukai let a wistful tear slip out his eyes as Yoen smooshed his face into the floor, sitting on top of him with a fistful of his hair, "Not so fast."
Fukai sighed, "Number one, fine, I'll talk, number two, if someone walks in on us here, it's going to look pretty sexual."
Yoen immediately jumped off him, grabbing him once more and throwing him into the closet, "You are SO INDECENT!"
Fukai dusted himself off, gingerly rubbing the spot where he'd been thrown into the closet. Yoen, her face tinged with blush, sat down once more unto Kyuu's weathered chair, arms crossed, "I want to hear it. Explain how you arrived."
"I got a call."
"Huh?"
Fukai sighed, taking out his tele-tad, "I was back in my room after breakfast when I got a call. I assumed it would be one of the three, or just one of my friends, but when I answered it was no one I knew."
Tele-tads, tadpole versions of tele-phrogs, used to make simple calls over distance. Most common people had a single tele-phrog in their households, but many of the Corps had tele-tads with them. You could call pretty much anyone as long as you owned one and it recognized you.
"Well who was it?"
Fukai shrugged, "That's the thing. I got the call, and he explained that Kai, Hitashi, and Kyuu were struggling with a Yokai commission ranked far above what they should be. He said to go to Bubo village, and take another sword with me and at least three others. I asked him who he was but he said it wasn't important."
"How did you know it wasn't a prank call? Some guy pretending?"
"He told me to check Kyuu's room. All rooms have a board that has a list of commissions they've done, or a few achievements. I checked, and sure enough Kyuu was in Bubo Village. I figured if he got that much, I may as well comply. It would be better if I went just in case than not at all and risk something worse."
Yoen nodded, "Interesting. I wonder who this was. And because you don't know who they are, you can't call them I suppose. Annoying thing about that. And it was a tele-tad too, so no visual references either I assume?"
Fukai shook his head, "Actually, there was. The tele-phrog gained grey eyes and developed a grey-ish-green-ish colour with–like, I think a streak of red. It doesn't happen with anyone else, so I'm not sure what it was."
Yoen sighed, "It's getting so late. And I won't be able to return to Bubo Village until after the investigation. I doubt I'd return anyways, all the villagers left and the priest was a crab."
Fukai smirked, while holding a laugh, "Hehe, the priest was a crab."
Yoen glared at him, stopping Fukai's small laugh. She stood up again, heading into the mini 'kitchen'(it was a small tiled space you could use for minor cooking) and rummaged in the cabinet, producing three orange-sized fruits; amethyst melons.
She tossed one to Fukai(where it bounced off his face) and dug into hers, finally calming as the sweet lime-green juices of the 'amethyst fruit'* enveloped her tongue and dripped onto the snack's purple skin. She closed her eyes in bliss as she savoured the sweetness; not even the seeds were sour.
Fukai casually bit into his, "You seem to like these a lot."
Yoen, now yanked of her world of bliss, glared at him once more, "And?"
Fukai smirked at Yoen's annoyed expression, which only made her more annoyed, furthering his glee.
Wanker. She muttered under her breath.
Yoen watched as Fukai polished off his fruit, wiping the sticky juice on his white pants, then hurriedly trying to wipe the sticky residue off of them, trying to avoid a stain that had already set in. She watched as Fukai managed to get more of his clothes messy, watching him stick his tongue at his hands, now encrusted with lint.
"Well. I suppose it's time we sleep."
"We?"
"Yes. You will stay in this room until morning with me. And if you resist I will fight you."
______
*Paimon?
"THIS IS GETTING OUT OF HAND!" Fukai cowered against the wall, "You can't trap me here! I wanna leave!"
"No."
"WHY?!"
"Please…?"
"FINE!"
Yoen clapped and smiled, even as Fukai brooded. She found the light charm, next to the door frame that allowed her to power-off the shining crystal that had lit the room before. She lay under Kyuu's blanket on the futon, just enough space that if Fukai wanted to she could just barely squeeze in behind her.
Even in the darkness, Fukai fumed, red faced. He grumbled about having to share an already small futon, laying on the hard wood ground, even as the cold floor caused goosebumps to dot themselves onto his arm. He angrily stared at the ceiling, barely any blanket covering him.
But he did slowly fall asleep, somehow. And he furrowed his brows as he felt Yoen's bare arm mindlessly touch his, almost flinching.
Just this once you'll do it for her.
And then never again.
You swear.