shallow sleep
by: oONekomataOo
DISCLAIMER: I don't own YYH and I fall asleep sobbing every night because I don't own Kurama, Kuronue, or even Teh Smexy Hat (giggle, snort).
WARNING: Probably some OOCness, language, Pocky conspiracies, and flirty bats.
Neko: Meant to get this up sooner, but work kept getting in the way. Stupid work.
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Cloaks. The D-Class apparition fashion accessory of choice. Cloaks could conceal just about anything from battle scars to underdeveloped muscles. They were a cheap alternative to plastic surgery as well. Plus they made youkai with low self-esteem feel all manly and stuff.
While some of the higher class badasses of the Demon Plane chose to wear cloaks to dramatically rip off whenever they were about to beat their enemies into a bloody pulp, the majority of cloak-wearers didn't rate much better than D to C. In fact, most youkai could tell each other's class by looking at the condition of their cloak as easily as scanning their power level. The rattier the cloak, the weaker the wearer. It was this skill that Kuronue had been depending on for the last few days he spent in the woods where he had been restored to life.
"Now, Mikata!"
The small koumori quickly cut a rope hidden in the treetops, allowing a large net to fall over a group of four bull-like youkai.
"What the hell is this?!" hollered one of the bulkier beasts.
"Who dares to attack soldiers of Lord Okomesu?!" yelled another, steam coming out of his ears.
"You guys aren't soldiers, you just couldn't cut it as hamburger," laughed a voice.
"Who's there? Show yourself!" the cattle demanded.
"I've seen F-Classes with cooler uniforms," Kuronue sneered, walking out from his hiding spot in the shadows.
"You're a fine one to talk! You look like a beggar in that outfit!"
"What'd you say, you fat cow?!" Kuronue shouted back, his cool demeanor quickly losing to his short temper. It wasn't his fault he hadn't been able to change out of Nebo's tattered clothes.
"Yeah, at least we have cloaks! You only got rags!" Bovine Brother #3 laughed.
"Big talk from a bunch of dumbasses that walked right into a net trap of all things," sneered the bat.
'At least I only fell for traps that actually required a brain to create.'
"We work under the Great Lord Okomesu, you puny little bug!" roared one of the bulls. "Let us out of this stupid net now, and we might let you live!"
"Oh really?" Kuronue said smugly. "Well, I work alongside the legendary Youko Kurama! If you think a threat like that's gonna intimidate me, you've been out on the pasture too long!"
All of the bull fighters looked at each other in confusion.
"Who?" they all chorused.
"Whaddaya mean 'Who?' Youko Kurama! The King of Thieves!" snarled Kuronue, losing his patience with the cloaked cows. "I don't know what kind of greens you guys were eating, but they definitely messed you up."
"You're just making people up!"
"If somebody was good enough to be called The King of Thieves, they'd be famous and we'd have heard of 'em!"
"Even if that Youko guy's real, he probably got gutted before he made it big!"
It was right around there that Kuronue snapped.
"That's it," growled the angry bat. "I'm sending you fuckers to the slaughterhouse."
Moving faster than his prisoners anticipated, Kuronue launched himself at them, weapon drawn. The bat landed three blows separately on each soldier. Every strike was pressure point, immobilizing the bovine youkai easily.
"H-How'd you…?!" sputtered the bulkiest bull of the group.
Kuronue smirked and dropped the two wooden dagger-like tools he had been holding. Because the 'blades' were dulled from use, none of the blows had been fatal. Unfortunately, they had also cracked from the cows' thick skin and were now beyond repair.
"No way…"
"Yes way," the bat smirked. "And now I'm gonna personally send you to hell…"
Somewhere along the line the seemingly defenseless beggar had turned into a dangerous killer. His aura emulated anger while his eyes had become as cold as ice. The band of bovine trembled under his glare. They liked the hobo a lot better.
Twenty nine screams, sixteen broken bones, twelve pleas for mercy, and a couple of unidentifiable snap, crackle and pops later, Kuronue felt satisfied with his revenge.
"Okay, Mikata, you can come down now," the taller bat called upwards.
Mikata hesitantly poked his head out from one of the tree branches. He looked at the pile of once threatening cowmen and then his victorious role model standing over them.
"Kuro-nii!" he squealed and jumped down beside him to give Kuronue another bone-crunching hug. "You won! You won!"
"Of course I did!" laughed Kuronue. "Guys like these never stood a chance! Of course with your help it went even easier than if I was alone."
Mikata beamed.
"Now let's rob these bastards blind!" grinned the thief. "I'm satisfied with my revenge, but I won't be happy until we grab every coin these flunkies are carrying."
"So you won't have to kill them?" asked the tiny bat.
"Nah, I figured I'd let them take a Walk of Shame back to their loser boss instead." The other answered. He had seen the boy's reaction to his brother's death, so he tried to avoid killing others in front of him.
"Okay!" smiled Mikata and continued over to the nearest unconscious bull to pilfer every gold piece on his person.
As soon as his back was turned to Kuronue, the older bat let out the deep breath he had been holding in. Even though the group of bull yokai didn't rank much above your average youkai jerkoff, the thief felt a little tired after what normally wouldn't have been light exercise for him. He joined his companion in raiding the bulls' pockets after he caught his breath once more.
'I guess I overdid it again…' he frowned. 'It's been too soon since I was revived for this sort of thing…'
Despite being one of the deadliest youkai in his prime, it took Kuronue two full days to be able to easily walk without any help from Mikata. Even with his youki steadily returning to him, Kuronue used it only as a last resort.
'And those times seem to be happening more and more often…' the bat noted darkly. 'If Mikata hadn't been around to help make that net and then drop it on those idiots, I would have probably had to summon my sythes. Feh! These assholes aren't even worth it.'
The bats had managed to create a small campsite near the creek nearby the clearing where they meant to rest and build up their strength, but each day ended up becoming a battle and didn't do much to help restore the older bat's true energy level. In his present state, Kuronue fell somewhere in between middle to high D-Class.
'I haven't felt this weak since I was five…' Kuronue's internal dialog glowered. 'If I knew where the hell we were, we could at least go to a town somewhere! Less assassins would be nice.'
"Kuro-nii?"
"Huh? What?" the thief snapped out of his thoughts.
"These people didn't know your friend either?"
"Yeah, guess not. We must be farther away from Youko's territory that I thought," replied Kuronue with his best comforting smile. "No big deal. We'll be safe once we get there."
"Okay," the boy smiled, relieved.
Secretly, that had been exactly what worried the older bat the most. None of the hostile forest wanderers that Kuronue had mashed into the ground had ever even heard of Kurama. He wasn't exactly lying when he said that people farther away from Youko Kurama's territory would know less about the kitsune, but the fox's fame was so widespread at the time of Kuronue's death, that he was practically a household name as far away as Reikai. Kuronue refused to believe that Youko had been killed or just gave up on thievery, so he was at a complete loss as to what could have happened to him.
'I'll just have to find him.'
"Ready to go, Mikata?"
"Mikata is ready, Kuro-nii!"
Eager to please, the little bat scampered over to his foster brother and showed all the gold he had found in his cupped hands.
"Mikata found lots of money today!"
"Good boy," Kuronue grinned and ruffled the child's hair.
Kuronue had never considered himself a kid-person before, but as much as he hated to admit it, the little koumori was growing on him.
'Stupid Puppy Eyes…'
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Waking up the day after his revival seemed even more difficult to Kuronue than even the first time he opened his eyes in his new body. He felt more weak and exhausted in that moment than he could ever recall feeling in his entire life.
Slowly, Kuronue tried to move his legs expecting them to feel like lead weights. Surprisingly, it was just the opposite.
'Who replaced my bones with Jello?'
The thief grumbled a bit more before attempting to open his eyes. It was nearly noon in Makai time, so Kuronue settled on squinting instead.
"How many times must I be blinded this week?"
Next to him, Mikata stirred and blinked his large violet eyes a few times to wake up. Kuronue couldn't express his jealousy enough at the child's ability to adjust to the glaring sun, stand up, and stretch with little difficulty.
"Kuro-nii? How do you feel?"
"Like….shit…."
The older bat saw no reason to hide the truth. He hoped Mikata didn't expect him to be able to protect either of them in his current state.
'With my luck I'll probably get eaten by a stupid dandelion…' he scowled internally, glaring at the nearby weed. 'Not even Youko would feed me to a bloody dandelion, no matter how pissed he got at me……probably.'
Kuronue blinked at the thought.
'That's right…I gotta find him again. I gotta find him and tell him I'm alive again.'
Ignoring the pain that shot up his spine when he pushed himself up into a sitting position, Kuronue's face became determined again.
'He probably still blames himself, the stupid fox. I gotta tell him that it wasn't his fault and that everything's fine.'
Even if his new body was protesting his movement, the older bat's mind was refocusing towards his goal.
'That fluffy-tailed bastard still owes me a beer.'
And with that, Kuronue burst into laughter, forgetting his situation for the moment. Worried that his companion had misplaced his marbles, Mikata crawled closer to the older koumori who was currently laughing like a lunatic and clutching his side in pain.
"Kuro-nii?"
"I'm fine, I'm fine," chuckled Kuronue. "I just need a minute to gather my strength…"
"Mikata will bring Kuro-nii some water!" the boy exclaimed. "Then Kuro-nii will feel better!"
"I, uh, don't think it'll be quite that simp-"
But Mikata was already charging towards the stream a few yards away.
"Whatever," Kuronue sighed. "Don't fall in, kid."
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Gathering the gold from Mikata's hands, Kuronue combined it with the pouch of money he found. After securing it to his belt, the dark-haired man picked up a few tools from the satchel one of the bulls had been carrying. Mikata watched him in confusion.
"What is Kuro-nii doing?"
"I'm taking some stuff we'll need for our next trip."
"Where are we going?"
"Anywhere but here," Kuronue replied. "Let's see, broken compass, half-eaten muffin, cheap-ass pocket knife...don't these guys have anything useful?!"
Mikata continued to watch his new "brother" raid the knapsack.
"Score! A map! Now I can figure out where the hell we are!"
After snatching a few rations and reluctantly bringing the flimsy pocket knife just in case, the boys were ready.
"Alright, kiddo, we're gonna head back to camp to grab the last of our supplies and then head out to the nearest town on the map."
"Okay, Kuro-nii!" the boy smiled for a moment before looking worried once more. "What about your wooden knives? The bad guys made them break…"
"Then we'll just have to go buy some new gear when we get into town," replied his new nii-san, kicking the nearest unconscious youkai. "Stupid cow! Those took me hours to carve!"
Twenty minutes later found the two bats on their way to the closest demon settlement.
"Where is the place we're going to, Kuro-nii?"
"A couple more miles this way," Kuronue answered. "It doesn't have a name on the map, so it's probably more of a trading post than a town."
Even if that group of bulls had been a pain in the ass to deal with, Kuronue had to admit that their map was worth it. From what he could tell, they were currently somewhere in Northwestern Makai, which explained why nothing looked familiar to the older bat. Kuronue had grown up with Youko in Eastern Makai and by the time he died, their territory had expanded into Central and Southeastern Makai. Neither thief had spent a great deal of time in the Western parts of Demon World aside from a few raids, and Kuronue couldn't remember ever setting foot in the Northern areas.
'Oh, well. We'll just rest up here and then head back to our territory once I figure out where Youko is…'
Along the way, Kuronue made them walk near the main path, but still stuck close to the shadows. If possible, he had hoped to avoid any more fights and conserve his energy. The trip would be much more difficult if either of the bats was injured. Especially since they lacked any real medical supplies.
"We should be able to make it there by nightfall if we don't stop for too long."
"Okay, Kuro-nii!"
"But…uh, if you need to stop to rest just say something," Kuronue said reluctantly. He was still getting used to this 'older brother' stuff after all. "A break now and then wouldn't kill me either."
"Mikata will do his best!" the child said happily.
Kuronue nodded and continued down the shadowy route he had pointed out to the younger bat. Sure, he was eager to get to the trading town, get a set of decent clothes, eat a warm meal, and relax as much as he could in a demon town, but he knew enough not to push Mikata—or even himself for the matter—too hard, or end up crashing on the forest floor for the night.
Along the way, Mikata would stop to pick up colorful plants or strangely shaped rocks, but would never stray too far from Kuronue. Dashing ahead of him, the young koumori chased a tiny frog-like creature into the brush. He peeked over his shoulder at Kuronue and smiled. When he was near his adopted brother, Mikata felt much more secure.
Finally, Kuronue smelled smoke and sensed the presence of a large group of youkai. Fighting the urge to sprint down to the nearest store and steal everything they had, he tried listening to the voices to determine whether this was a safe place to stop or not. It just wouldn't do to get this far, rush into a village full of other bandits, and get lynched. Thanking his enhanced hearing, Kuronue focused on the sounds coming from the trading town. All he got was a lot of cursing, haggling, and cheering. Typical youkai.
"Dammit…I can't tell if these guys are normal or nightmares…" growled the older bat in annoyance. "Too hard to tell with all of them spread out and…"
"Kuro-nii doesn't know if they're good guys or bad guys?" worried Mikata asked.
"Yeah, I don't know if they're gonna welcome us or attack us—wait a minute…"
It dawned on him that when he first met the small boy beside him, he could immediately tell that Kuronue wouldn't hurt him by his aura. He also knew that he was a bat spirit right off the…bat.
"Mikata, why don't you have a look?"
"Huh?"
"Just like you did with me, remember? Focus your mind on some of the youkai in that town to see if they're good guys or not."
"But there's so many, Kuro-nii," stated the boy uncertainly. "I don't think I can--"
"What? C'mon, kid!" laughed the dark-haired man. "Just reach your mind out a little farther than you do with normal youkai, 'kay? It should be real easy for you; you're good at this stuff!"
"O-Okay, Mikata will try…"
The boy shut his eyes and focused all his energy into scanning the town's inhabitants for any "bad guys." It was a little bit of a strain to reach out with his mind out on something as distant and wide as the whole trading town, but Mikata wanted to do his best for his new big brother. That meant ignoring the slight dizziness and nausea that the effort was inducing.
'If Mikata does a good job, Kuro-nii will be happy…'
This strengthened the boy's resolve, and the tiny koumori nearly doubled his effort. After another minute or so, Mikata was satisfied with what he found and plopped down onto the grass. He rubbed his forehead a little, but looked up at Kuronue with a grin.
"Easy there, Squirt," warned the taller bat with a little concern in his voice. "What'd you find out?"
"Um, what is a 'hooker,' Kuro-nii?"
"It's a…I'll tell you when you get a little older," sweatdropped the thief. "Was there a lot of basta- uh, bad guys there?"
"No…Mikata saw lots of different youkai trading and selling things. Some bad people were fighting, but they were all in one building over there."
Kuronue followed the direction of Mikata's pointed finger to a run-down building on the edge of the little town. Sure enough, he could feel faint traces of fighting youki when he tried to focus on that area himself.
"Probably a botched arms trade or something," mused the koumori. "Don't worry about them, anything else?"
"Ov-Over there…"
This time the boy pointed to a larger building resembling a bar. Squinting, Kuronue could see that was indeed. Not many other places had people passed out over the railings and drunks wandering aimlessly around the side walls in search of the door, even in Makai.
"That's normal too," laughed Kuronue. "I'd be concerned if they weren't acting like that in a Makaain bar!"
Mikata still didn't look convinced.
"Relax, we'll stay away from those places if I can help it," the older bat promised, helping the boy to his feet. 'That scan must have worn him out more than I thought.'
Together, the two koumori started to head down into town. Each was a little worse for the wear, but relieved to be headed somewhere they could recover some energy nonetheless. As soon as they entered the small trading town, Kuronue guided Mikata over to a clothes stand where a young girl took one look at them and nearly dropped her jaw.
"You guys look terrible!" she winced. "Where'd you come from, anyway?!"
"The Underworld," Kuronue responded only half-joking, picking up the sleeve of one of the folded shirts in disgust. "Got anything that doesn't come in swamp green or neon yellow?"
The pink-haired salesgirl laughed at his comment and gestured them to the other side of the wooden stand.
"Sure, sure, right over here!"
Kuronue grabbed a sleeveless black tonic and pair of baggy pants. Cheap, but effective and much better than the rags he was currently sporting.
"I'll take this, do you have anything in kids sizes?" the thief gestured to Mikata, who was currently half hiding, half sleeping behind him.
"Ooh! He's so cute!" the girl squealed, much to the displeasure of both bats' sensitive hearing. "Is he yours?"
"Nah…we're brothers. Mom and Pop's kicked it in a raid on our town a few months ago," Kuronue answered, the lie flowing smoothly off his tongue.
"Tch. Was it Okomesu's little gang again? They've been hitting all the nearby towns recently," the former bubblehead said angrily as she grabbed a few shirts and things from the shelves below. "Those damned cows are so full of themselves just 'cause they got a few B-Classes in their ranks!"
Mikata gripped Kuronue's shirt tighter and huddled away from the noisy girl. Her expression softened a bit.
"Aww, I'm sorry kiddo!" she apologized. "Didn't mean to scare ya like that! I get so carried away sometimes!"
"S'alright…" Kuronue answered for his little companion. "Oi, Mikata, how about this blue one?"
He held up a navy blue tonic similar to his own, with a white shirt and pair of pants to go under it. Slowly, the boy peeked over his new nii-san's waist and nodded, eager to escape the scary pink salesgirl.
"Hey, don't be so shy around the ladies!" grinned the taller bat. "How do you expect to get a girlfriend if you can't even talk to 'em?"
"I-I'm sorry…" Mikata mumbled and blushed.
"Oh my gawd, he's so adorable!" the girl gushed. "You don't see too many kids in these parts anymore. What's your name sweetie?"
"Mikata."
She blinked.
"That's a….different name, but you're still so cute!" giggled the pink-haired youkai. "I want a kid just like you! Let me get you a discount on those outfits for being so darn cyuuuute!"
She happily hopped off to her money pouch and Kuronue grinned. Maybe traveling with a four-year-old wouldn't be so bad after all. Even if they encountered the occasional female that stubbornly refused to fall for his own charm, Kuronue could let Mikata do his thing and use their motherly instincts against them. One look at the kid, and Kuronue doubted too many women could tell him 'no.' Grinning again, the older koumori ruffled Mikata's hair playfully while the girl returned.
"Okay, it'll come to 35 gold, please," she beamed. "D'ya need bags or anything?"
"Nah, we've been dying to change outta these clothes for days!" he answered with a wave. "Thanks again, babe."
"Come again soooooon!" the salesgirl called after them.
After quickly ducking in a back alley to change into their new outfits, the duo returned to prowling the streets. Confidence restored, the taller of the two felt a little stronger despite lacking a good two-thirds of his former power level. The younger bat settled on playing with the rolled up hem of his sleeve. Even though their outfits didn't fit them perfectly, anything was better than the peasant garb they had been wearing for the past couple of days, as far as Kuronue was concerned.
'I almost feel intimidating now,' Kuronue smirked internally. 'Amazing what a new set of clothes can do for you.'
"Ok, we got ourselves some new clothes, so whaddaya say we make some more money to stay at an inn tonight? I don't know about you, but I'm getting kinda sick of camping out every day."
"Yeah!" agreed Mikata "But…how?"
Kuronue retrieved the pocketknife he had pilfered off the obnoxious bulls earlier from his belt.
"Watch your big brother work."
After telling Mikata to stay quiet (not that he had totally expected him to instantly become a chatterbox), they walked off to another stand selling miscellaneous items a few feet away.
"Good evening, sir!" Kuronue greeted the aging shopkeep that looked like a cross between an ogre and a turtle. "You seem like a reasonably sharp man! Can you tell me what this is?"
The man running the stand stared at the cheap-looking piece of camping equipment resting in the koumori's hand.
"A…pocketknife?"
"Ah, to the untrained eye, it would appear to be a mere pocketknife, but when wielded under a full moon…oh, never mind!" Kuronue sounded disappointed. "I couldn't help but notice your high-quality wares and assumed you were familiar with the legend of the Five Fangs of Lycaon…"
"O-Of course I've heard of that tale!" boasted the proud shopkeep. "But…you can refresh my memory a little, young man. I'm worn out from all my sales today!"
"Sure thing," the thief grinned. "Lycaon was king of the Werewolves hundreds of years ago in the Northern region of Makai. Cursed by a vengeful sorcerer, Lycaon was doomed to wander the ice lands in search of a human child to kill every full moon. He did so, and because his bloodlust was so strong, he sprouted a fifth fang in the center of his jaw."
"Yes, yes, now I recall the tale…" the merchant nodded untruthfully. "Please continue."
"When he died, his werewolf clan was losing more and more members each day to a nearby hunting village," Kuronue rambled on, caught up in his own story. "To increase their numbers, they removed the five fangs from Lycaon's great jaws and carved them into inconspicuous pocketknives. During every full moon, five of his bravest warriors went out in search of lost humans and youkai in the woods. Under the full moon's spell, the knives would take on their original form and become fangs. Any creature cut by the fangs would eventually become a werewolf themselves…"
"Splendid! Splendid!" chortled the dimwitted youkai. "So that's one of the original fangs then?"
"It is," smiled Kuronue. "And for a reasonable price, I'm willing to sell it to someone of your nature that fully understands its true power."
"Oh? But I'm a little suspicious, my friend…" frowned the merchant. "Why would you wish to part with such a valuable tool?"
"Because I've already gotten my use out of it," replied the bat. "I promised to look after the Young Master here while the group of youkai I've turned into werewolves finds us a place at the inn. Why just two days ago, I cut six additional hands with this Fang of Lycaon!"
Kuronue paused to make sure he still had the man's attention.
"Although the full moon has passed us, the effects of the fang were practically instant! I assume it gathers its power during the weaker phases of the moon to release them during the full moon."
"Incredible…" breathed the shopkeep.
"It is, isn't it," the thief agreed. "Why else would I risk traveling through the forests at night with Okomesu's gang wandering about? Didn't you hear how he has B-Class youkai in his ranks?"
"I'll give you 1,000 Gold for it!"
"Sir, surely you should know the value of such a rare artifact!" Kuronue scolded the man. "As the name implies, there's only five of these in existence!"
"Y-You're right! 5,000!"
"Raise it once more."
"7,000 Gold, and not a penny more!"
"Sold!"
As the two bats pocketed their money and handed over the crappy knife stolen from the band of murdering moo-cows, Kuronue felt Mikata's eyes on him.
"Yeah?"
"Kuro-nii is amazing!" the boy said in awe. "I didn't know that knife was so famous!"
Kuronue checked over his shoulder to make sure the shopkeep wasn't watching them. He wasn't, the ugly ogre-turtle man was practically drooling over his new piece of merchandise. The thief made a mental note to leave town before the next full moon.
"That's 'cause it's not really one of the 'Five Fangs of Lycaon,' Mikata," he laughed. "I just made that up to get more money off it! He wouldn't have paid nearly as much if I told him we just stole it off a couple of thugs in the woods."
"So…Kuro-nii lied to him?"
"It was more of a survival tactic than anything," Kuronue sweatdropped. "Hey, I never claimed to be the poster-boy for proper family values and good morals, did I? We need the cash more than that old fart anyway."
"…."
"Sorry…" the thief groaned, not entirely sure why he was apologizing to a four-year-old. "Guess I'm not much of a big brother, huh?"
"No!!" shouted the boy, surprising them both. "Mikata thinks Kuro-nii is a great big brother! Kuro-nii saved Mikata and takes care of me, and is funny, and…"
"Stop, kid, you're making me blush!" Kuronue laughed, scratching his head. "Let's go find an inn, shall we?"
"Y-Yeah!"
"Remind me to tell you some of the crazy shit I pulled with Youko sometime!" he laughed. "If those don't make good bedtime stories, I don't know what will…"
----------------------------------------- END: Chap. 2
::A/N::
Neko: (shakes head) Mikata is going to be so corrupted by the end of this fic…
Kuro: And what do you mean by that?! I'm not that bad of an influence on him!
Neko: (shows him the rough drafts for later chapters) Wanna bet?
Kuro: Oh….Well, you can always change that stuff up…..right?
Neko: Thanks for reading this insanely long chapter, people!
Kuro: Answer my question, dammit!
Translation Corner------------------------
I tend to include foreign words in my fics, so you can see definitions here. Feel free to correct anything wrong, or add anything you think I've missed. To shorten this list, most character names will appear in the chapter they were first introduced.
Koumori (Jap.) "Bat"
Youkai (Jap.) "Demon"
Youki (Jap.) "Demon Energy"
Makai (Jap.) "Demon World"
Kitsune (Jap.) "Fox"
Reikai (Jap.) "Spirit World"
Okomesu (Jap.) A made-up name combining "Okotteiru" ("mad") and "Mesu" ("cow")
Lycaon (Gk.) In Greek mythology, he was a bloodthirsty tyrant that angered Zeus by serving him the flesh of a human child. To get revenge, Zeus turned him into a wolf, but some of his human features remained. There's no such thing as the 'Five Fangs of Lycaon.' Everything I had Kuro' say was either BS or borrowed from werewolf legends.