As you know for a couple of chapters I misspelled Ogretail… my bad, at least I caught it.

Chapter 11

Walking through the Mesh Hall, Okami heard a lot of gossip going on about her mission with Soma.

She heard Brendan, the buster blade user who talked to her about his unit and the Defense Squad, talking to Gina, Karel, and Shun.

"They say that Eric won't be able to pick up his God Arc for a long time, maybe even ever. We lost another comrade. He was cocky, but that kid was sure to become a great God Eater one day."

"But aren't you glad they made it back safely?" Replied Gina. "It's terrible, what happened to Eric. But what's important is that they all made it back alive, right?"

"But have you heard the rumors?" Asked Shun.

"Rumors?" replied Karel humoring him.

"That kid Eric wasn't a bad Gods Eater, so there has to be a reason why he was taken down so easily."

"Reason?"

"There's a 'Death god' among us, and they're worse than Aragami. Cause you die if you team up with him!" Shun spoke as if he was telling a scary story. "The name of this 'Death god'… is Soma… Whenever he's around, the Aragami always come to you. People who get paired up with him usually die fast. But somehow, he's still alive. His Burst time is also really long too. See? He can't be human… He is Death."

This made her disgusted not only in Shun, but in her pact in general for spreading such horrible rumors about their own members. It was bad enough she had to face Eric's family. His father thanked her for saving his son, but his sister on the other hand began to hate God Eaters for letting her brother get hurt so badly. Perhaps her father was being merciful to Okami by not telling his little one the details that happened. She didn't know if she could handle the guilt if the little girl pointed her hate directly at her.

She stormed to her usual table with the others, sitting down next to Soma with a huff.

"Never had a comrade get severally injured in front of you, huh?" Asked Lindow trying to get Okami to talk instead of letting her frustration eat her up inside.

"No, no. I've had a handful of injured comrades from the herd." She replied then she returned to her grumpiness.

"Come to think of it, we haven't really talked yet. I'm not really much for talking… But is there something you want to ask or say?" But Okami remained silent.

"You know, Eric could be a little selfish sometimes… But for some reason, you couldn't really hate him. After all this time, I still can't get used to losing a comrade." Sakuya opened up hoping it would help Okami to do the same.

"What, Eric?" Soma cut in. "Nothing to do with me. The weaker among us are the first to die, that's all there is to it."

Okami noticed the shell Soma hid behind with his words, as if he was protecting himself from getting too close. And that was the fuse to set off the bomb. She banged her fist on the table.

"Can you believe how the Den is acting, what's up with that?!" She shouted then turned to Soma. "They're going around talking about you like your some kind of beast! We're all in the same pact, how can they bite the throat of one of their own?! If you ask me they're just nasty! And what's this about a Death god, they know nothing of Death! I've met him, he's a nice guy just trying to do his job!" She ripped through giant corn in frustration.

Then Okami grabbed Soma's arm and looked him in the eye with a serious look in her eyes. "We will prove them wrong. We'll prove them all wrong."

Sakuya and Lindow wondered if that Death thing was a joke, but they were so touched by her words to Soma they ignored it for now. Soma's eyes softened at this, he wanted to keep her away from the rumors so she wouldn't look at him differently. But even hearing the rumors she still looked at him the same, she even got angry for him. But then he pushed back into his shell, she was getting too close and that scared him. He yanked his arm out of her hand.

"Man, you're a clingy little brat. Get out of my face! Get use to the daily grind! That's all you can do."

Okami was taken aback by the coldness in his voice; although she knew his words were hollow they still hurt a little.

"Don't let him get to you." Lindow said comforting her. "Soma is one of the top God Eaters in the Far East Branch, but he's misunderstood because he's blunt. Mmm… well, you can't deny he's a brat! But don't think you'll find a kinder person. His worst fear is losing a comrade right before his eyes. That's why he always keeps his distance."

"Quit going behind my back Lindow." Soma growled, then looking from Lindow to Okami. "Bastards! Every last one of you!" Then he stormed off.

"But I said it to your face!" "Don't use the fact that I don't have a father against me!" Both Lindow and Okami shouted back to Soma in protest as he walked away.

"Don't be hard on him; he probably blames himself for what happened to Eric." Lindow replied. "Eric was one of those rich kids. He could be bratty, but he was a good guy who looked after his sis. When you become a God Eater, you're mostly fighting against the weight of that responsibility. In his own way, he fought as hard as he could… Soma knows this, and it eats him that he couldn't protect Eric and his goals."

"Ha, but let's change the subject. That classmate of yours is a good guy. What was his name again?"

"Kota," she answered him.

"Ah, yes. Hard to believe anyone could be raised right these days. Guess we should give credit to the way his parents raised him… There's no greater treasure than comrades you can get along with. Take good care of them! Ah, speak of the devil."

Approaching their table was Kota. "Hey guys, can I join you?"

"Yes of course," replied Sakuya with a smile along with a smile and a nod from Okami.

"Thanks." Kota said as he sat on the other side of Okami, taking bites out of his food Kota tried to state his mind. Looking at Okami he said. "Hey, good work… I heard… about your partner."

Okami tensed at this, from all the talk she heard going around she didn't know if he had something good to say or ill intent. She couldn't take it if the nice care-free Kota participated in the rumors too. So she braced herself and gave him a chance to finish saying what he had to say.

He looked down at his peas as he played with them with his fork. "Mmm… I just don't think it would be any good… for both of us to be gloomy." Then he looked up at her. "Hm… don't worry! Let's be more confident. We're invincible! Anyway, I just wanted to say… Let's try to buck up!" He said the last part punching his fist in the air.

Okami smiled at his antics and nodded at him. 'Such a sweet young man,' she thought, 'to go through all this trouble to try and cheer me up.'

"Oh, that's right! We have a mission together tonight. Apparently, an Aragami that hasn't appeared in a long time showed up. They call it a Kongou. But why would they send two Rookies to fight an Aragami they know little about?"

"That's because we're invincible." Okami grinned. Everyone laughed from that.

"You guys look after each other; make sure you both come back alive. That's an order."

"Yes sir," replied Okami standing up to give him a salute.

"Alright, let's go!" With that Kota and Okami left to head out.

As they walked Kota made small talk. "Glad we both survived so far! That's all that matters in our line of work, right." Then a little bit of Kota's cheer disappeared from his voice. "I don't know what my mom and sister would do if something were to happen to me. So I've got to watch out." So he had a family to protect just like her, Okami was starting to get a better idea of what kind of person he was. In her eyes he was a good guy with the same ideals as her.

Then the cheer came back to him just as quick as it left him. "Oh, so you know Sakuya, are you two close?" She nodded to confirm his assumption. "She's really pretty, don't you think? Friendly, good looking and strong, like an Amazon warrior. How hot is that!" Okami hope Sakuya wasn't like an Amazon warrior, from what she read about them from books they hated men. But she nodded with him anyway.

"Alright, I'm getting pumped just thinking about it!" He pumped his fist in the air. "Let's see who can take out the most Aragami in the mission. I'm going to show Sakuya how awesome I am!"

Okami smiled at his enthusiasm about the mission. But she couldn't ignore a challenge, she'd be sure to give him a run for his money.