Chapter 13: The more the merrier

Kuro slumped to the floor, with a large hole in his head, gushing blood. The Desert Eagle smoked from the bullet, and Rin just crashed to her knees. "Kuro...get up..." She shook his body. "Get up...please...I can't do this alone...and I dont know how to get out of here!" She shook Kuro more violently, but the realization that he was dead finally sunk in, and shecried into his shoulder.

Hikari just smiled. Rin scowled at him and smacked him upside his head. "Why did you do that? WHY?" She began pounding her fists into his chest, hoping that her fustrations would lessen. But eventually, she just slumped to the floor again, crying. But if she knew what Hikari knew, then she would've kept shaking Kuro. His hand crept up to the hole in his forehead, and it yanked out the bullet. A splurt of blood came out, but the wound slowly healed and sealed up, but it left a mark.

"Oww... Dont you have any manners? It's really rude to shoot someone with a gun they made for you!" Kuro was on his feet in a flash and with two berretta's did to Hikari what they did to Kuro. He flew backward into a wall, but the bullets dissolved in his body, and the wounds leaked something clear, but they emitted a light. Hikari got back onto his feet, and there was almost no trace of the bullet wounds in either of them.

Rin shrieked. "Kuro...but he...and then...and you...and...and..." She fell over, and passed out. Hikari scratched the back of his head. "Not one for surprises is she?" Kuro gave a typical shrug, and just picked her up by the armpits. "No, like your not one for being a man of class. Sheesh, why did I make you that gun is beyond me..." He grumbled as he dragged Rin into the kitchen and proped her against a wall.

Kuro eventually revived rin, and put an ice pack on her head from where it hit the ground. "What in the hell was that?" Rin said, both angry and curious at the strange healing abilities of both of them. "Well, it's just how demons work. You of all people should know of the healing factor we generate. It takes a hell of a lot of damage to take us out permanently. And my buddy Hikari here, well..."

"I am what Kuro classified me as. An Elemental Hybrid. We...dont appear often. My body is pure energy, so I never sleep, and I eat only out of the fun of it. No bathroom breaks. But I am a male, in organs. Funny how that organ formed, but nothing else did.. We also...heal...real fast, and very few methoods can kill us. Kuro here has found one, and only one. But It requires excellent execution, and a bit of luck. That, and the fact that I know it means I can counter it." He waved to a hot pot of coffee on the stove. "Help yourself."

After pouring up a couple cups of coffee, Kuro sat down and grew grim. "Lets get serious here now. I came here to enlist your help Hikari. The Shadow Demons are amassing again, and if someone doesn't stop them, they may just take over my homeland and that world itself. They may even spread, destroying as they go. I dont have a great plan to stop them, persay...but I have a few ideas in mind, and if I had you, the chances increase by a bit. I'm fairly sure that you'll reject this, but maybe..."

Hikari just gave him a grim face. "You know I gave up fighting. It was of one mistake..." He looked down into the mug of coffee, which was slowly going cold. Kuro tilted his head, and Rin looked on with interest. "What happend? What could have been so bad?" she said in a sympathetic voice. Hikari scoffed and said, "Spare me the pity. I dont deserve it. But i'll tell you anyhow, as I know how much people hate it to be left in the dark about things."

"When I was working with Shinra, I was one of the rare few cases in which the mako showering had an enhanced effect, from being inhuman. I was tons stronger, and they wanted me on the front lines. Eventually, a rebelious group formed up again, different from AVALANCHE. They were probably from the town of Corel, to get even with Shinra. Me and my squad of 15 people, went to investigate the reactor in the moutains of Corel. Said it was dangerous, but they wanted the power. We walked right into the trap."

"Just after getting in, two people stepped on pressure mines simeltaneously, blowing away 3 people instantly and scorching 2. They all had their guns out, but the surprise atack from above and the shut door behind us created both confusion and chaos. We barely had a chance to fire our guns before more of the squad was killed. only 4 remained along with myself after we fended off the rebels who took pot shots above us on a railing. We had to get the door open to get out. The control room was always located in the far back of all Shinra reactors. And now I curse them for that."

"Out wits about us, and strangely enough no more resistance, we made our way to the control room. But they had another ambush waiting, but it wasn't a pack of rebels; it was a monster. They had sent a creature composed of what I assume to be a mako shower beyond what most subjects were supposed to recieve. It was practically a dog mixed with a dragon, but melting..."

"It was me, three of the soilders, and my buddy nicknamed Ace, against this peice of work. The thing was upon one of the soilder as soon as we opened fire, and was devoured. The screams the man emited...the last female ran it out of there, and the man kept it busy, as well as me and ace. But the man was killed, and we fled as he howled in pain. But, I dropped one of the proximity mines I brought along, and as the bastard stepped on it..."

He let out a hollow chuckle. "The team was massacred. It was mostly my fault; I led them into a trap without even investigating it further, and just brought them all into the place at once. After 13 missions with no casulties, I suppose I got really cocky. I didn't even pay the price. The horrible look on their faces as they got mauled, shot, burned, or blown up...it's pushed me to the edge. I...dont think I can help you."

Kuro scowled. "Get a hold of yourself! If you wimp out on life, you'll do nothing but snivel at every oportunity for it! Dont do that. It's a horrible life, and I think your team wouldn't care if you led them into a trap. You still managed to help out both your friend and a woman you barely knew. Your still a good man, just one who has to lug around a bad memory."

Hikari smiled and took a long draught of the coffee. "Thats not like you at all. Is it because you have her tagging around?" Rin gave an angry look at Hikari, and wanted to smack him. "He's just a good man at heart. Sides, im bugging him more than im helping him." She grinned, and Kuro scowled again. "Okay your right about that...But im mostly helping you out because I need help myself."

He scratched his head. "I dont know much about shadow demons...But if it's something to help redeem myself, I guess its time to come out of retirement. So, is it just you, me, and the lady over there?" Hikari turned to look at her. "Er...the name is Rin. And im not sure myeslf. If we're lucky, we might have Kuro's buddy Kit tagging with us. But even with Kit, we are very short handed."

Hikari looked out the window. "Well, I could enlist Ace. He's still a soilder, and ready to fight. But he's kinda far, and located in Wutai." Even as the word came out, Kuro blanched. "Wu..tai? Are you sure? Really really sure?" Rin and Hikari both gave him a confused look. "Yes, why? There's nothing wrong with that place anymore; they even cleared out the monsters in the moutains. Whats the problem?"

Kuro didn't say a word after that. He could already hear her cheery voice...

"Oh Kuro...I have something fooor yoooou!"