Chapter 7: We're not lost. We're ADVENTURING!
It was supposed to be a simple job. It turned out to be anything but simple. His mind reeled time and again, reviewing that situation, hoping that it would go away. But it would not. It was here to stay. An innocent victim of an atack can weigh heavily on the heart of anyone, even the coldest of assassins.
She had been killed. A kid. The target was a total coward, using her as a human shield. And he botched his shot and missed. And hit her. It was a mortal wound, and it pained him daily. He made sure the man didn't get away with his life. But the fresh image of a girl, sprawled out in front of him, bleeding and dying, would never go away.
He consoled her to her dying breath. He didnt know the girl. He never knew of her past, her life, her love. But for any unknown reason he had, a single tear was shed.
The sun woke him from his nightmare; that and his partially loud scream. Covered in sweat, he quickly wiped his face and rid it of any anguish it had on it. It was ages ago, but her face contorted in pain and anguish would seemingly stay with him, a scar on his mind. And it was the second time he thought that the emotional pain it brought would drive him to death.
Pull the trigger. End the pain. Simple as that. But he knew deep down he would have forsaken the man who not only took him in, but healed and raised him. But to honor the mistake, he gashed his left palm. The scar kept him from straying to dark thoughts, or betraying the bits of good left in him.
He gently smoothed out his hair and slowly assumed a sitting position on the side of the bed. His clothes were on the dresser, and he was only in a pair of boxers and a light t-shirt. Kuro let out a large yawn, and practically dragged himself out to the living room.
Rin was still snoring contendedly. "Guess she didn't hear the yelp." he thought, and in a more quiet demeanor, slipped into the shower room. A hasty undressing, and he welcomed the hot blasts of water relaxing every muscle in his body, as if it were washing away all his sorrow and anger.
The torso was scarred, as well as his arms and parts of his legs. The price of survival, he called them. They were all healed, and none of them hurt anymore. It also nagged at him constantly of why he kept at such a dangerous line of work, as he could easily become the best chocobo jockey ever. Or easily various other occupations.
Maybe it was something to prove. Maybe he had nothing to lose. "Nothin to lose..." He muttered, and it hit him. Kit was the only guy who knew he still existed, and they were like brothers (despite Kuro's malcontent to his twenty-four seven cheery mood). Rin's nice, but did she care for him much? Let alone feel sorrow for him if he should die?
He shook his head and sent water flying. "Better not to focus on this and rather the task at hand. So the shadow demons are back in action, destroying towns again. If nobody does anything, problems are coming. Any ideas genius?" Kuro smacked his head against the tile in hopes that it would bring up any sort of plan that wasn't suicidal.
"Full on assault is pathetic and a waste of time. The shadow demons are too sly to be fooled. Stealth is a weak option as it stands. Maybe an aerial assault...?" no matter what idea he came up with, they all seemed pathetic. Maybe with a larger group, but with only three, maybe four people? Thats right out insane!
He turned the taps off, and stepped out of the shower. He softly said the incantation for a fireball, and made it hit himself with it. While it wasn't powerfull enough to damage him in any way, it did dry him off quite well. After pulling up his boxers and throwing his shirt back on, he went back into his room and dug around for clothes to suit this trip.
Dismally, he could only scounge up a pair of worn boots, a wind torn brown cloak, and a pair of jeans. "Greeeat." Kuro managed to find a thicker shirt and tossed his off. Slipping all of them on, he decided that a breakfast would be the best thing to start this trip. "Well, I suppose thats enough rest for her." He once again walked down the hallway, boots making a loud thud with each step.
"Oh, so your ready too huh?" Was her cheerful remark when Kuro noticed her fully dressed and rested. "My shower woke you?" he asked. "Nah, but your muttering did. Oh and that headslam. Bet that one left a dent! Might give you some sense back." She replied in an almost sarcastic tone. But if it was, the cheery tone of her voice masked it.
He stared blankly, becoming pensive again. "Maybe..." he thought. A quick shake of the head made Rin give him an odd look. "You ok? Your acting normal." she smirked. Kuro just gave her a blank look and quickly said "Hungry?"
The Devils Drink wasn't exactly meant for food, it was meant to get your ass drunk as hell. But they did serve up a fairly decent ammount of breakfast, lunch, and dinner food. Kuro absent-mindedly poked his eggs and Rin finally noticed. "Your thinking of something thats clawing away at your concience. If you let it get to you, it'll win. Take it easy, and live in the now."
Kuro looked up into her smiling face. Sincerity was a rarity among anyone around here. He let out a smile, and replied "Yea...your right. I've got bigger matters to worry about, and the past is on the lower part of my problems right now." He mentally thanked her for easing the pain. He kicked back and finally started to gorge himself on the plate filled with food.
"S'up bud!" Came a loud voice from behind, and almost made Kuro cough up the food he stuffed into his mouth.
"Oh. I take it your the half vixen, half bitch person he talked about!" Kit said when he noticed rin. "Not many vixens around here...none as cute, mind you." Rin giggled. Kuro unknowingly just threw his gun barrels in Kit's face. "Oh, wanna spar?"
Rin couldn't imagine that he could move this fast, nor Kit. He never moved the barrels, only his face: He slammed the bullets aside as they came out with his catclaw katars, and they went into the walls. But as fast as that happend, Kuro spun around and slamed the side of his gun aimed at Kit's face...into a waiting katar. He did a flip to dodge his free katar which was aimed at his stomach, and used Kit's head like a spring board and his claws to atach into the Ceiling.
This all happend in a mere moment, and they both wore a smile. Kuro flung himself downard and spinning, while both guns were firing madly at Kit. But all he did was spin around and all the bullets missed. Kuro flung himself back away from Kit with one hand, slid backward, and grinned. "Still as spry as ever huh?" Kit merely chuckled and replied, "Well your not losing your touch anytime soon."
Only 4 seconds had passed when they did all this, and Rin missed almost all of it when she blinked. "HOLY HELL!" She screamed in amazement. "What? You expect someone such as myself not to be agile and such?" Kuro cooly replied. He knew she didn't know all of his tricks, and was getting an ego boost from this; that and a bit of revenge for his bruised body. Those earth spells hurt!
"That wasn't anything. You should see us when we're in a caffinated state and got a speed boost from hasteaga!" chimed in Kit, who had seen the effects...if you can call it seeing. It was more like a series of blurs and flashes from the blade as Kuro demonstrated how fast he could go and how hard he could hit at those speeds. Kit had the mix of both, and he was barely visible!
"I'll...take your words for it..." she chuckled nervously, and made it a note not to mess with Kuro when he's fully aware and ready for a fight. Kuro ejected his clips and one had a single bullet left, but the other was dry. "Peachy. Waste of bullets. Man, I am so taking that girl up on her offer of that one prototype gun that has limitless bullets." he sighed, and pulled out a large bulky satchel from behind him. Opening it up, rin saw a huge ammount of 9mm bullets and lots of shotgun shells. He hastily slid the bullets untill the clips were full, and just to re-demonstrate his speed, slammed them into his guns, gave them a few good spins, and holstered them in the blink of an eye.
"Well I still have plenty of bullets to go through. Gonna need them too. Kit, prepare for a fight in the upcoming future. I may not fully know what is going to happen to this place, but if the news reports are true, then there will be trouble here and not of the small variety. Sharpen those catclaws, get anything thats holy enchanted, hell just get holy water itself while your at it. Forget about Dark, he wont do any good for these foes. Alert the armed forces here to keep sharp. Meanwhile, me and Rin will pay a visit to an old friend. If he can get old, anyhow..." He mused.
He turned his gaze to Rin. "Up for the trip?" He asked. Rin gave an uncomfortable shift, and replied, "Well...I dont know. where in the world is this guy? I wanna fully know where the hell we're going beforehand. Otherwise im camping it here." She took a defiant pose, and Kuro just shrugged.
"He's not in this world. He's taken refuge on the world only referred to as "The Planet". I hear it's never been the same since Mako was taken off the market just after Meteor was blown away. He's taken a fancy to hiding himself all around the world, but he spends his time in Cosmo Canyon. Otherwise he's got a place stashed out in the sands by the Golden Saucer. Aparently, hes also taken a fancy to gambling. Just dont enrage him; he's got some nasty atacks."
And with a gulp, Rin reluctantly found herself traveling inside a train built for trips to and from worlds. "Why meee..." She moaned.