Chapter 29

What Friends are For

A great deal of relief had spread over the city after the execution of Diachi. For the first time in days they could all rest easy and the festival could go on as planned. As for the Meloni and her fellow witches they were all given a well-deserved vacation and as for Ryo and the others, well the actually began enjoying themselves. For the whole day they spent their time at the festival. With how many games, rides and diners there were to eat at there was no shortage of entertainment.

"Hey come on. I thought werewolves were supposed to be fast." Naomi teased as she and Gino watched Diataro smack the many different demon creatures.

"I got this!"

He swung and swung but those damn little creatures just kept disappearing every time he tried to crush them. To him though it wasn't hopeless. He kept swinging and swinging until the buzzer sounded.

"Oh sorry buddy." The curator said.

"Dang man, what was with that?" Gino asked.

All he did was fiddle in the dirt as Naomi stepped up to try it out.

"Watch and learn boys."

Once the buzzer sounded for her to start she went to town on the enemy. One after another she crushed their skulls until the buzzer sounded for her to stop.

"Now let's see that was twenty hits. How many did you get again?" she asked Diataro.

Oh how she loved to win over the boys. Before they proceeded to the next stand though Gino grabbed the back of his defeated friend's shirt and began dragging him behind. His spirit had been crushed. How could he lose at such a simple game? Meanwhile both Oshira and Salena were getting something to eat. Since the sun had gone down and both had not eaten any dinner they decided to go try out one of the diners. One in particular stuck out to them called "Clucking Huge", strange name but it sounded ok to them.

As soon as they entered they knew that they shouldn't have been there. Big, burly men, they were everywhere. Compared to them they both looked like toothpicks. A cold sweat began to run down their faces as they turned to leave.

"Maybe we should go somewhere else and eat." He said as he grabbed her hand.

"Yeah sounds like a good idea to me."

Those guys didn't look to friendly and by their glances they weren't welcome there either. Karma hit however just before they opened the door when they felt two giant hands touch their shoulders which caused Oshira to almost jump clean out of his pants and as for Salena, well she was as stiff as a statue.

"Where do you think you're going you two? Why don't you stick around for a bit?"

"Eh heh no thank you we really must be going." He replied as he attempted to walk away.

The guy looked tough and that showed. With only one hand he was able to keep him right in place before he picked them both up and sat them down at a nearby table. They were all giving them strange looks as they sat there as still as possible. If they moved one inch their heads might have been taken off.

"So kids how tough are you?" the man asked as he held up his hand.

Was he really asking for an arm wrestle? Sure his own arms were pretty powerful as well but his looked almost twice as big as his own when he transformed. Maybe if he tried though they would let them go. After all a man with short black hair, a scar that ran down the left side of his face and with torn of clothes would surely agree right?

"Hah that's a good boy. Now let's see what you got." The man asked as Oshira grabbed his hand.

Once the small napkin was dropped both began pushing and pulling at each other's hands with all their might. His assumption had been correct as well, this man was very strong. His hand felt like it was made out of steel as he resisted the pressure put on by his hand. They both were letting out as much force as they could as they both attempted to push the others hand down, but it seemed that he just wasn't that strong enough. Just as his arm began to give out he felt Salena grasp his other as she sat beside him quietly. That's right, she believed that he could win and as long as she still believed in him there wasn't nothing he couldn't do. His own muscles began to stretch and quiver as he fought back against the immense force.

"Still going eh? Good on ya."

Beads of sweat fell from his brows as he struggled to push his hand back. Once he had his hand back in the center however it was all over. With every muscle in his arm he pushed the hand down with such force that the table split in half before their very eyes. When she looked back to see everyone's reactions they had grins spread across all their faces.

"Well I guess there's no mistaken it then. You really were the kid who beat that punk fair and square."

"Punk?" he asked as he stretched his arm.

"From a few days ago. You threw him across the ocean and to another island. I saw you do it when I was coming to help out the guards." he replied as he cracked his knuckles.

"A few days ago? You mean Maricha?"

"Yeah whatever that fellows name was. I saw you using what you had against his acid spit. You've got balls kid balls."

"Yeah, I guess." He replied with a nervous chuckle.

Suddenly two mugs of god knows what was sat down in front of them.

"The name is Markle and yours is?" he asked as he picked up his mug.

"Oshira and this is Salena."

"Salena eh, so are you his girlfriend or something?"

"Not exactly."

She could feel her cheeks warming up as she sat there. Ever since last October she had had a very strong connection with him, but she wasn't sure if he felt the same way back. Oh well for the time being she was just going to let nature take its course. Maybe he did feel the same way, only time would tell.

The sun was just going down when Tsukune and his friends, Oshiru and Tali, and Minami, Ryo, and Kidea all decided to ride the Ferris wheel. They had heard that if they were near the top of the ride when the sun went down it was beautiful. Still Ryo didn't like being in it with Minami and Kidea. Ever since his fight with Diachi he had been feeling weird. It was as if something was trying to take over his body. He was truly scared.

Inside the cart behind them sat Tsukune, Moka, Kurumu, and Mizore who all seemed to be having a good time. Well everyone except for Moka who just kept staring out the window and out at their kart. At this point her husband was getting kind of annoyed with her attitude. Ever since she met the young electro she always felt she had the duty to watch them very closely.

"Can't you just relax for once? I'm sure he's not going to do anything to her here." He said.

"Seriously you've been watching them both so closely since we got here." Kurumu followed up.

"Ridiculous." She replied.

"Where you or where you not watching them as they slept last night? Your become a little bit to strict with them. If they wanted to they would have already done it by now."

At this point she was going over the line. Of course they understood why she was watching them with Ryo having the Shinso blood inside him and everything, but at it stood it didn't seem to affect him much unless he fought. So as long as he didn't fight for the rest of the trip they would have a chance to take him to get some help.

"You can't keep doing this. You've scared away every friend she made before these came along. You have to give her some space."

"And let him get closer to her? With the blood inside of him he's way too dangerous for her to be around."

"Dangerous? It's true he lost control before, but he was still able to return. He's not like I was. If anything he may be able to control it if we helped."

She didn't understand. He was acting as if he was his father or something. She knew that the blood was probably too much for him and that eventually he would change and not for the better. She didn't want to see her daughter her hurt because of him, but at the same time if she was to tear them apart Minami would still be very depressed. What was she to do?

"You better be right about this. If he so much as raises a hand to her I won't hesitate. You know that."

"Heh you still haven't changed after all these years."

She wanted to see her daughter happy, but at the same time she didn't want her to get hurt. It might have been best if she did trust his word. Still she wasn't going to take her eyes off him until they left.

"Hm, is something wrong?" Minami asked Ryo.

"Ugh I have a feeling someone's staring at me." He replied a shiver ran down his spine.

She didn't have to even look out the window to know her mother was watching. Still the reason they went on this little ride in the first place was so that she could ask him some questions. She had been noticing for the past two days that he had pretty much cut himself off from all of them. He would either be in his room doing nothing or out at the festival.

"What's been up with you lately? You act as if you don't want to be around us anymore."

"I've just been feeling weird. That's all."

She knew he was lying out of his ass. He didn't seem sick and he sure as hell didn't act like it. She knew one way to get inside his head though.

"Kidea, what is he feeling right now?"

"Fear and sadness."

His body tensed up when he was exposed by the one who he had hatched. Damn that ability of hers he thought to himself as his gaze was redirected back towards Minami.

"What are you afraid of? Is it the blood again?"

All he did was shake his head when she asked her questions.

"Then what is it? We're your friends and we are here to help you. Please just tell me what you're afraid of."

As much as he didn't want to worry her he couldn't avoid answering the question unless he wanted to fell to the bottom of the ride.

"You remember when I fought Diachi? I did it again, I used the power of the blood to take him down."

"How is that a bad thing master?"

"Last time I was barely able to control its power, but at the time I lost control. I wasn't myself and all I could think about was killing him. To tear out his heart and feast on it. The only reason I'm still me is because of your dad. He stopped me and talked some sense into me before I could make the mistake of taking his life."

"Why didn't you tell us this? We could have helped you." Minami replied.

"No, I already know my mind is changing. It's as if I can't even control when it takes over anymore. I'm afraid that one day that I fill fade away and become a blood thirsty monster, I'm afraid I will hurt all of you. I'm afraid I might be to far gone for help. I just want you guys to know that if I do anything to hurt you or anyone else I only ask that you can forgive me."

As he lowered his head she thought she saw a single tear fall from his face as he tried to hold back his sadness. In his mind he knew that he was probably to far gone to be helped. The anger had always been beating at his head and for the past few days he had been holding it back, but how much longer could he keep it up? It wasn't from Diachi's gaze but instead the blood that sought to control him. He thought he would lose his friends if he told them what was happening, but when he looked up he saw her hand take his own.

"We aren't going to let that happen. Your strong, you can fight it. You can't give up now after all who would Oshira have to annoy, who would Diataro, Gino, and Naomi have to fight besides me? Who would be my best friend? You're not going to lose this fight and we will make sure of it." She replied as she placed his hand on her cheek.

"But my heart is being consumed by this thing. What chance do I have?"

"That's not true master. When one of my kind are hatched we inherit that person's true nature. Do I look evil to you?"

"No…"

"Even if you do lose control again I'll just have to put you back in your place." She teased.

Suddenly the kart began to shake as the ground below them began to tremble.

"What's going on?" asked Kidea.

When he looked out the window he saw something he thought impossible. The ruins of the fortress, they were beginning to rise off the ground.