Disclaimer: I don't own anything!

~~ Friend or Foe ~~

~~ 12. December, Morning ~~

They howled, growled, and screamed from the pain. They fell on their knees, their hands clenching their chests and throats, trying to hold their burning hearts. It couldn't be, could it? Was it too late? Did they come too late? The burning pain increased and they all hissed from the toxic feeling inside of them. They couldn't breathe neither could they move because of the horrible pain. It was as if they were inside of a tornado with fire around them. Everything moved in front of their eyes but they themselves weren't moving, their bodies ached and got weaker and weaker with every further minute. Their throats got dry and the air didn't got through to their lungs. The shots stopped outright and happy laughing filled the air. It couldn't mean something good for them.

"Ochi...bi…" Whispered Eiji out of breath. Thump. His heart thumped in an unsteady rhythm and slower than normally. Thump. Eiji wasn't the only one who had problems with breathing, moving and speaking. Thump. He looked through his pained, nearly closed eyes and saw most of the younger manbeasts already lying on the ground. Some had lost consciousness, others were breathing harshly through the teeth which were pressed hardly together to suppress the screams and hisses.

Thump.Some others of the youngest generation were in the middle of transforming into their manbeast form because of the strong emotions. Thump.

"Ryo…ma!" Momo hissed at all fours and pressed his right hand against his chest. His friend needed his help but he couldn't move! Their little master was dying from something and they couldn't do anything. Helpless. The spiky-haired male hoped the three five-tailed ones could safe or at least weaken the pain from Ryoma and leave the house still alive. Every pain which Ryoma felt, felt every manbeast, too. Thanks to the new one-sided blood connection between Seiichi and him. Something small and dark showed up from out of nowhere and stood in the middle of the crowd. The manbeast who where still aware of their surroundings looked up in horror and fear.

Syusuke fell on his knees; the burning pain ran across his trembling body and the cheerful thoughts of all hunters in the house crashed into his head. Too loud, too hard to block them out of his mind and he got weaker with every minute. Where was his precious love? He put all his strength into the movement and opened his tightly closed, golden eyes a little bit. His vision was fuzzy and his hands were clenching his head - in the hope the heavy headache would go away. Where was his Ryoma? Syusuke viewed slowly around the room, he saw Seiichi curling at the ground in his manbeast form and staring to the left. Blood came out of his friend's wounds around his stomach, chest and shoulder.

The brown-haired boy followed the gaze and looked at a scene he didn't want to see. Ryoga sat at the wall and leaned against an old desk, held his baby brother once again tightly in his arms, after Syusuke had let Ryoma fallen down to the ground because of the sudden fire inside his body, and stroke protecting the green-tinted hair from his angel. Next to them was a hunter with a sharp sword, holding it in both hands and waiting for him and Seiichi to give up. If the pain weren't so bad and unbearable, the two tensais would have snapped their kitten out of Ryoga's hands anew and would have run away. But they could hardly move, their love was dying and they could feel every pain their master was going through. They needed to help and safe him!

'Why is… he dying? What had happened? I can't move... or breathe!'

Seiichi asked mentally. His voice wasn't more than a wheez even in his thoughts. It was hard to have even a clear thought.

'We need… to get out of here! I'll take…him and you distract them!'

Replied the boy and looked for a second in his friend's eyes. They nodded to each other in agreement and everything went on in high speed. They pulled their last power together, moved their hurting and aching bodies to fulfil the plan. Seiichi stood up in his manbeast form and growl loudly at the hunter with the sword who was surprised at the sudden movement and sound. The manbeast wobbled a bit, could hardly hold his balance but he let never the hunter escape out of his glowing eyes. The bluenette's body was on fire, ached and felt heavy as he had never felt before. His eyes were mostly blocked from a fog and his feet wouldn't hold him much longer if he wouldn't hurry to deflect the hunter and escape afterwards.

In the same moment was Syusuke by Ryoga and reached out, with his shaking and bloody hands, for Ryoma who lay still unconscious in his brother's lap. It was a plea, to give him the little boy to them and a promised that they would take care for him. But sadly Ryoga didn't understand it and clenched his little brother stronger. The brunette's sapphire blue eyes were open but nearly blind. Everything was a blur and waving in front of his eyes but the worst thing was - he was thirsty of blood and Ryoma's blood was the sweetest thing in the moment. He fought with every cell in his body against the desire to drink the younger sibling's red liquid. Ryoma got weaker with every moment, would be dead in a few minutes if no one would help him now! Syusuke's hands went a little bit further to the sitting boy. His breath was thin and stopped every then and now.

"Please… give him to us…and we'll promise you… to take very good ca…" Fuji broke up, wavered more and more with his now frail body. He stopped the incoming impact with his hands and landed on his very four. Cold sweat ran down his face from the effort. Why did his strength leave him when he needed it?

Ryoga looked shocked at the young man in front of him. The voice was rough, not more than a whisper and his body was ready to collapse but even then, the manbeast hadn't given up yet to take Ryoma away. Why was his small brother so important to them? What the hell was going on here? When his father told him about creatures who wanted to have his baby brother, he hadn't further listened. His decision was clear – everyone who wanted to take his little brother was an enemy to him! But were these creatures really the foe? He began to doubt. He saw the male's eyes; they were filled with love when he looked to Ryoma. What did they want to do with him?

Tezuka grabbed his shirt over his chest and tried to breathe deeply and steady. His all so emotionless face was now a pained and worried one. Pained from the fire inside of him and worried for Ryoma who had this pain and lead them to all manbeasts. Since he was bounded to Seiichi, he could understand the thoughts and emotions of every manbeast – well, if the manbeasts let it happen and wouldn't block the connection.

The hunters grinned joyfully at the sight of the unfocused leader of the manbeasts. They came closer to the leader, totally concentrated at the one right before them. They made their guns ready and shot at Tezuka. He screamed from the sudden pain and wanted to attack his chasers but something dark brown crossed his way. The humans hadn't seen the other manbeast which had tiptoed with all his strength and golden glowing eyes right to them. The creature jumped from behind at one of the hunter and bit him in the neck. The first hunter was immediately dead and the other nine were shocked at the sudden change of situation. Some of the guns fell out of their hands while the other hunters were in a trance or deep shock – like a statue. Their faces turned from white to blue and back to white.

The dark brown furred manbeast went to them and killed one after another. Tezuka tightened the grip around his left thigh and right arm where he had gotten shot. He was too weak to help but he asked himself how this manbeast could move so freely without much pain and an aching heavy body. Most of the shots missed their goal or brushed the fur. The merciless manbeast jumped once more, pinned the last alive hunter to the ground, scratched his back which ruined the clothes, made the back bleed, and bit with his long fangs in the neck to kill him. The ally let go of the man and blood streamed out of the beast's mouth. The creature changed to human.

"Thanks… Yanagi. How are Atobe and Kirihara?" The leader sat down and sighed out loud. He was at the end with his power. "Look for Yukimura and Fuji, help Ryoma!" He breathed deeply in and pointed with his unharmed hand where he had seen his two friends the last time. Yanagi opened his brown eyes for a little moment, closed them anew and walked to his friend.

"Atobe is doing fine. Kirihara is outside and helping our family. He wanted to help, I have brought him with me. Here. It'll ease the pain. When we're in a good condition, maybe our master will be too." Yanagi held out a little silver bottle which Tezuka took with sceptic. It smelled ugly and strange - something from Inui. Should he really drink the substance? The dark brown-haired male disappeared and was on his way to help the other three.

A pained, shrill squeak ran out of Seiichi's mouth when the hunter cut him along his shoulder and arm. The cut wasn't deep but it was deep enough to let little red rivers run out of the long wound. The foe smirked hateful and full of amusement. How he loved it to kill these monsters. He could take revenge for his little, dead daughter after so many years. "Is it all you got? It seems like the toxic injection starts to work inside of the little boy. It's truly a pity that we needed to poison him to get ride of all of you shitty monsters. Well, couldn't help it!" Ryoga's eyes widen by the sentence. Had he heard it right? Had this person just said…

"You have what?" He yelled and looked shocked and deadly angry to the killer of his baby brother. The older brother embraced Ryoma stronger, kissed the sweaty temple, sat him carefully between the wall and desk and stood up. The brown-haired teen was immediately up of his two feet but everything wavered too much and he couldn't view where the male exactly went and to his surprised, he felt a body next to him who supported him and held him up. Syusuke looked up, and saw, trough his blurry vision, the person - Ryoga.

"If you want to kill them so badly then have more courage to do it with your own hands and not with a shitty trick where other innocent people suffer, you bastard!" Ryoga screamed at him with teary eyes. Did his father know about the toxic? Had he known it and allowed it? True or lie? It couldn't be true... They had been a happy family a week ago. His father wouldn't allow a person to kill... No! It couldn't be!

The manbeast leaned stronger against him but he tried to stand straight even with the heavy weight. Seiichi took the chance as the hunter was completely focused on the older sibling who supported surprisingly his best friend, and jumped with his aching body as good as he could to the unfocused man. The manbeast bit in the head of him and crashed it between his fangs. It was the revenge for poisoning his master. The blood ran out of his mouth, his teeth were bloody red, his tails were still waving around his body from anger and his eyes were glowing in a horrifying color of gold.

'Ryoma, please! We need you! You can't die, please! Say something, do something, let us hear you! Please!'

He closed the distance between him and the other two. Syusuke and Ryoga fell down as the human couldn't hold the weight from the manbeast in human form anymore. Seiichi wanted to help but also his power had its limit. It gave a loud, dull sound as the bluenette made an impact with the floor. A dark brown haired young man supported the two falling boys right in time. Dark brown eyes opened and Yanagi spoke with his monotone voice. "We need to hurry. He isn't dead but he'll be in a few minutes if you two don't hurry and give him enough blood to survive."

"G-Give him your blood?" The older brother stuttered, looked with wide eyes at his little brother and to the bloody manbeast next to him. His Ryoma should drink the blood from a creature like this again? Yanagi sat Fuji carefully down and took something out of his jacket pocket. A little silver bottle – a colored liquid swam inside of it. He pressed softly the bottle against Fuji's mouth, the liquid streamed in the mouth and he leaned his friend's head with his own hand a little back. The brown-haired tensai drank the refreshing drink gratefully and breathed in and out after the bottle left his lips.

'Taste pretty good and it's refreshing. I can feel my strength coming back and the pain gets numb.'

Yanagi walked over to Seiichi who changed into human form and lay with his back onto the ground, with a bloody face and clothes. The dark brown-haired boy crouched over the blunette and put the bottle carefully, just as he had done by the other brunette, on the red lips. The weaker one took two small sips, turned his head as soon as possible away from the strange liquid. His strength came back but the aftertaste was disgusting.

'How the hell can you call it tasty?'

His question was ignored by Fuji who had Ryoma in his arms and cuddled his face against the little boy's hair. The golden eyes closed with a gentle and lovely expression and returned to blue. Their master was back in their arms where he belonged to and the first group of hunters was already dead. His arm which got shot by the stupid father of Ryoma wasn't anymore as painful as before and the other wounds were only some cuts. He would drink some blood this night and the wounds would heal a bit sooner. It would take two or three days, still better than three or four weeks.

"We should hurry and run before the second herd of hunters find us. The others are waiting outside for you." Yanagi took the bottle back into his pocket and they headed to the window with their lovely master. They needed to hurry if they wanted to safe his and their own life. Ryoma breathed slowly and unsteady, his body was unmoveable and only small pants rushed out of his mouth. They wanted to jump down the window just when the three plus Ryoma were stopped by Ryoga.

"W-Wait, please! I-I don't want to leave my brother. I won't do anything to you so…please let me follow you and help to safe him." The three looked at each other, Yanagi jumped outside first – he was only a three-tailed one, it wasn't his decision to let the boy follow them or not- Seiichi waited for a minute and nodded with Syusuke in unison. Ryoga's thoughts were 'clean'. He really only wanted to help his little brother. The violet-eyed male jumped out of the window after his blue-eyed friend did and walked with him to the other nearly thirty manbeasts.

Ryoga, confused if he was allowed to follow or not, took a knife out of his pocket, ran out of the room and heard a quiet moan coming out of Chibisuke's room. He took the knife in his right hand and tiptoed in the room. At the first sight, the room looked truly as if a massacre had taken place. The walls and the floor were full with blood splatter and the furniture was mostly destroyed but Ryoga saw the little things which were still undamaged. The big brother took hurriedly some clothes out of Ryoma's wardrobe, put them in the bag under Ryoma's bed and walked out of the room with his knife in the hand. It was the moment when he saw his father on the wall with a serious wound on his neck and shoulder.

"D-Dad?" He went slowly to the man who moaned anew out of agony and his eyes opened slowly.

"Ry-Ryoga? Oh thank god, they haven't killed you. Y-You need t…" Nanjiroh hissed from another wave of pain in his shoulder and breathed heavily. "Run!"

"Dad, did you know what they had planned for Ryoma? Did you know about the plan.. about killing Chibisuke?" The boy's eyes were sharp and full with fear. Ryoga waited eagerly. He stood only 3 feet away from his father.

"I….." Nanjiroh broke up and his eyes fluttered closed. "I'm sor…." Nothing more, he fell silent. Ryoga let the bag out of his hands and grabbed his cell phone out of his pants pocket. He typed the number of the ambulance and ordered them to hurry. Afterwards he hung up, cut off the woman on the other side of the phone and touched his father on the forehead.

"I'll not leave Ryoma alone, I need to go now. Please forgive me for leaving you here. Goodbye, father." Ryoga stood up in a rush, took the bag with Ryoma's clothes once more in his hand, ran down the stairs and quietly along the floor. The hunters which had held guard on every door were already dead.

'Must have done the boy with the dark brown hair but where is the leader from the manbeasts? Wasn't he at the floor when the hunters had surrounded him?'

A step from behind took his attention and he turned around.

'Ryoma, please! We need you! You can't die, please! Say something, do something, let us hear you! Please!'

A voice reached him in his deep sleep. Who was it? It sounded so familiar and gentle. He had heard it before but whenever he tried to think, whom the voice belonged to, the pain and the intense headache would come back to him. It was easier to rest in the easiness as to go back to the agony and pain. But it was pretty lonely in nowhere which made the voice a welcoming guest to him. Who called him?

'I want to move but can't. I want to shout but no tone comes out of my mouth. My throat is dry, I'm thirsty. I have not enough strength to move. Help me!'

The boy screamed in his mind to the stranger but as sudden as the voice came, did it disappear again.

'NO, WAIT! DON'T LEAVE ME ALONE!'

The pain hit him right in the face and his heart thumped hardly against his chest that the small boy feared it would break through his chest. His head was full with noises anew and from time to time flickered memories in front of his mind.

'Golden eyes? Fur? Soothing words? Warmth? What does it all mean?'

One more hit in the face and Ryoma screamed from the fire inside his body. He was back in reality.

Seiichi and Syusuke stopped abruptly in their movements and stared down to their screaming Ryoma. Had they heard it right?
As if their master wanted to prove them right, the body in the brunette's arms arched his back and moaned loudly. The manbeasts stood up and their heads turned like a lightning to the heavy breathing kid. The boy pressed himself closer to the warmth, his hands grabbed Fuji's bloody shirt until the bones of his hands turned whiter as they already were.

"He's still alive!" They all cheered and ran to their family member. Forgotten was the small pain. Inui and Yanagi spoke with one another while the other ones stared with sparkling eyes at Ryoma.

"Everyone can move without much pain so my Inui Juice Special Deluxe had worked, IData…" Inui scribbled in high speed his newest ideas and results in his book which he had with him all the time.

"I feel sorry for them if they knew what they had drunk earlier but it's a good thing our little one is still alive." Yanagi said with his close eyes and walked to his friends. Tezuka came around the corner and frowned. His whole folk was way too happy right now. Even if the little boy would open his eyes, there was still the chance of him dying this evening. They couldn't let their guard down!

"Everyone, we need to hurry!" He spoke up and broke the noises. His friends and family looked at him with smiles and grins, happiness in their eyes. He couldn't stand it when they didn't note the seriousness of the situation.
"More hun…" he didn't come further as he was cut of by two happy and cheerful tensais who had read his thoughts.

"C'mon, Mitsu, the biggest problem is cleared. We have him and we'll bring him to Atobe's mansion. We'll spoil him until he never wants to leave us! Problem solved." Syusuke opened his eyes and showed his icy blue eyes. He pushed the boy a little up, Ryoma's head lay on his unharmed shoulder. Fuji carried him carefully and lovely like a princess. Tezuka frowned more as he heard his pet name instead of his respectful name.

"The old and ruined building is not the right place for him, don't you think so too, Mitsu?" Seiichi smiled and ran his hand along Ryoma's lightly bloody hair and face - a gentle and soft touch which brought a soft moan from the sleeping boy. Tezuka got angrier at these two. He needed to do something to stop them before they read his mind when he thought about them or Keig…Stop! The tensais' smile widened.

"Inui, give Ryoma something from the…liquid. It should help him to breathe clearer and steadier." Inui put his little notebook back in his pocket but didn't take out the bottle.

"It's a bad idea to give him something which is specially made for manbeasts, Kirihara. The chance that he will get better lies by 3.27%. We should give him our blood, it should fully sufficient if my research is correct and…." Inui crossed his arms and looked at the whimpering boy in Fuji's hands. "…we should hurry to do it before the poison takes any more effect."

"There is only half of the dose inside of him, it shouldn't be too effective. I had slapped the syringe out of the boy's hand before everything could get inside of Ryoma's body." Tezuka talked mostly to Inui. He wanted to take his new master in the arms but the overprotective lovers seemed to think different. They backwards and Fuji nearly squashed the poor boy while Seiichi made a step forward to shield his love. The group went silent but after a little moment they all giggled at the lovers' scene. The leader could clearly see the troublesome future. He didn't want to think what will happen with Ryoma and these overprotective and jealous lovers in the future. A headache made its way up in his head.

"Alright, all guardians will meet up at Atobe's mansion. Sanada, Yanagi, you two will go to the old building and bring Atobe back to his mansion. The leftovers will hurry back to their daily life. Dismissed!" The manbeasts sprinted away in different directions, left alone the guardians and Ryoma. Just then Seiichi noticed another thing, the brother wasn't here yet.

'What is with Ryoga? It takes him pretty long to come outside.'

Sirens approached the street. It would be filled here with policemen soon.

'We have no more time to wait for him and risk our lives! We'll see him some other time!'

They ran out of the place in full speed and stopped only as they saw Atobe's mansion - their new home for the next time.

Ryoga turned around and looked in one of the hunters' faces who had survived the hell-like massacre. The man held a gun in his left hand, his right arm was bitten off and blood ran down his entire body. His expression was it which caught the boy's attention. It was hate, pure hate, which filled the man's face. "You'll go and follow them. Befriend with them and let your pretty brother drink the substance…." The man said and pressed a little glass bottle in Ryoga's free hand. "….or I'll kill you and your father!"

Ryoga swallowed hard but even after repeating the action, his throat felt dry. Cold sweat ran down his spine and his head was all fuzzy. It was a joke, wasn't it? He should kill his brother or his father and he, himself, would die?

'What do I do now? Ryoma?'