Edited 27/6/17: Correcting spelling and grammar errors. Also, Linimal should be Liminal, only just realised this after 11 chapters, oops.
'Here you are, Zombina.' The waitress was handing out drinks to the zombie on the other side of the bar.
'Thanks, Mimi. Just put it on my tab!' The red-head replied with a smirk.
Yuuto, Zombina, and Doppel found themselves at the ''Oni's Tavern'' bar, which was only a short walk from their apartment complex. They decided to celebrate Yuuto's promotion to captain with a few rounds of drinks, but despite inviting Ms Smith and the rest of the squad, it was only the three of them. It seemed that Manako and Tio already made plans to see a friend, while Kuroko had paperwork to sort out, which was hardly a surprise.
''So, what's the occasion?'' Mimi asked while she was busying herself with cleaning glasses. She was an usagimimi with bright pink eyes, long pink rabbit ears, and equally long pink hair tied into a ponytail with long bangs. She was wearing a white long-sleeved dress shirt, black trousers, and a black waistcoat, as well as a little black bowtie.
''Beesh here got promoted to captain of a new squad today, so we're celebrating!'' Zombina pointed a thump towards the blonde man next to her as he took a swig of his beer, which she followed by swigging her own. She was wearing her usual attire of a black tank top and green denim shorts, along with a red bomber jacket and what looked like black army boots.
Yuuto put his bottle down and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand before he spoke up. ''That's great and all, but I wish Smith would've told me about the people I'm going to be working with at least, instead of keeping everything a surprise like she usually does.'' He said with a hint of annoyance. He was wearing a plain white t-shirt with a black, short-sleeved shirt on top, and a pair of navy jeans and white trainers, not to mention his favourite fingerless gloves.
Zombina suddenly wrapped her free arm around the back of his neck and pulled him close. ''Quit your whining and drink up! It's not every day you get to lead a unit of badass liminals! I bet half the guys at HQ are jealous of you right now!''
'Yeah, thanks for the reminder.' He stated sarcastically.
''She's right, you know.'' Yuuto and Zombina looked towards the direction of the snarky voice, only to see Doppel sitting on her stool and leaning forward, resting her crossed arms against the bar, as her hair coiled around her beer. Once she got their attention, the doppelganger continued. ''I mean, think of all the attention you'll get from the position.'' She smirked at him and gave him a playful wink before lifting her bottle to her lips with her hair, staring blankly at him, though she was getting plenty attention herself from the other patrons while she sat there in the nude, only covered by her own silver locks. This was nothing new to her co-workers though.
The pair stared blankly back at her, until Yuuto spoke up again. ''I didn't accept the position for 'attention', as you like to call it. I did it cause I want to make a difference. Hell, maybe this move might get the ball rolling on the amendment of the 'No Touchy' rule. The government's taking its sweet ass time about it.''
To their surprise, Mimi chimed in on their conversation, her ears perked up with excitement. ''I know, right?! My boyfriend and I have been dating for four months now, but we can't do anything about all this built-up tension between us! I just want to…'' She cut herself off as she covered her mouth with her hands, her cheeks now bright red and her ears drooping with embarrassment.
'Do it like bunnies?' Doppel added with a cheeky grin.
Mimi averted her gaze, feeling more embarrassed. 'Well, yeah, but can you blame a girl?' She began to speak softly. 'He was my host for a year before that, and that whole time he was so kind and sweet to me. Once my exchange period was over, I confessed to him and asked if I could stay with him, and he accepted.' The young woman smiled as she recalled their first kiss, but it faded as she continued. ''But it's hard to express our feelings physically with the Exchange Bill as it is…''
As the usagimimi trailed off, Zombina separated herself from Yuuto and propped her elbows on the bar, resting her head in her hands. ''I know how you feel. Being a zombie, it's hard to control my urges sometimes.'' She said with a hint on embarrassment.
''Well, that's an understatement.'' Yuuto stated, his cheeks bright red as she looked at him, grinning from ear to ear.
''Anyway, I know it's hard, but cheer up. Once the amendments have been made, you and your boyfriend can f-MMPPPH! ''. Zombina was cut off as her human co-worker frantically placed a hand over her mouth.
'Yeah, I think we get the picture, Zee.' He said as the waitress started giggling at their antics.
Mimi managed to stop giggling long enough to speak up. ''Yeah, there's no use crying over it. I bet you two must be frustrated as well, not being able to,' She paused for a moment as she chose her words carefully. 'get intimate…' she said while flushing furiously.
''You do realise Zombina and I aren't dating, right?'' Yuuto asked as he removed his hand from over Zombina's mouth.
'Why not?!' Mimi sprung forward, propping herself up with her hands on the counter, her face within inches of his as he leaned back from the sudden outburst. ''I mean, you two are so close! Is it a work thing?! Is it because she's a zombie?! What is it?!'' Yuuto sat there, his hands help up in a defensive posture and staring wide-eyed at the usagimimi, while Zombina was crying her eyes out in laughter at Mimi's and Yuuto's reactions. Meanwhile, Doppel had her hand over her mouth, trying her best to stifle her own laughter.
As this was going on, a young woman walked through the entrance of the establishment. Yuuto and Mimi stopped, and focused their attention at the new-comer. The woman was a hellhound, who had raven shoulder length hair, with large cropped wolf-like ears covered in black fur protruding from the top of her head. Her eyes had bright red irises with black sclera, but Yuuto noticed that instead of a wet button nose that werewolves and kobolds had, her nose resembled that of a human, which he found odd. She also had black fur covering her arms and legs, only going as far as her elbows and knees respectively. Her arms ended with large hands which had paw pads on her palms, and canine-like paws on her legs, all of them had long, dark-pink claws at the ends of her fingers and toes. She also had crimson coloured fur around her ankles and wrists, as well as just below her elbows. Her long, bushy tail was also covered in crimson fur. The rest of her body was bare skin, which was tanned grey, except for a patch of black fur protruding from the cleavage of her large breasts, which were at least DD's. The woman was wearing short, torn denim jeans which ended just above her knees, and a tight fitting grey tank top, which she wore under a short-sleeved leather jacket.
She looked relieved as she sauntered over to the bar next to where Yuuto was sitting, she then sat on the stool two seats away from him, and rested her furry arms on the counter. Yuuto hadn't noticed that he was staring at her the whole time, until she glanced at him, at which point he quickly broke eye contact and continued drinking his beer. Mimi at this point moved away from him and stood in front of the girl from her side of the bar.
''Welcome to the Oni's Tavern!'' She said in a cheery voice. 'What can I get you tonight?'
The hellhound grinned at her, showing off her large canines. 'Just a Bloody Mary,' She said with a gravelly voice. At that moment, bright red flames shot out from the corners of her eyes, which caused Mimi to jump back in shock and let out a cute 'EEP!'. 'on the rocks, please.'
'Coming right up, Miss!' The waitress scrambled in a panic to get the ingredients for the drink.
Yuuto had looked on in wonder as the flames from the hellhound's eyes started to die down. Zombina and Doppel were too busy talking about work to notice the spectacle, so he decided to pluck up the courage to speak to the strange girl sitting near him.
''That's a neat trick you got there.'' He said to get her attention. When she turned to face him, he continued. 'What do I need to do to learn that?' He asked sarcastically as a grin formed on his face. Luckily for him though, she chuckled at the ridiculous question before she calmed down and replied.
''Well, first, it helps if you're a hellhound, though I'm guessing you're out of luck there.'' She answered with a wide grin, with flames whipping lightly from her eyes again.
'Damn.' He exclaimed in mock disappointment. 'And here I thought I finally found a way to look like a badass.'
The hellhound's wide grin formed into a sincere smile at the statement, her tail now wagging happily. ''You know, most people would freak out from seeing my 'flame lashes'.'' She glanced towards the usagimimi waitress frantically mixing the Bloody Mary to make her point, then looked back at him. ''It's nice to see someone genuinely interested, instead of cowering in fear, for once.''
''Well, it's not every day you meet someone so,'' Yuuto paused as he searched for the right words. 'exotic and interesting.' He said with a sincere smile forming on his lips.
The girl's cheeks flushed crimson at his statement, as her tail wagged more frantically. After a moment, she got up from her seat, and sat herself down right next to him. She then extended an open hand towards him. ''The name's Blare, it's nice to meet you.''
Yuuto had a feeling that she wasn't as hostile as she appeared, but he wasn't expecting her to be quite this friendly in nature. Nevertheless, he reached his own hand forwards to grasp hers, which in turn enveloped his, then proceeding to shake it. ''Likewise. I'm Yuuto Kazama.''
Blare's eyes widened and her tail stood on end as he mentioned his name. ''Wait, you're Yuuto Kazama?''
Yuuto's hand stopped moving as he raised an eyebrow in confusion. 'You know about me?'
With that, Blare let go of his hand and placed both of her hands on his leg. She leaned towards him until their faces were only inches apart, her face now plastered with a massive grin with her ears perked up and her tail wagging frantically. ''Holy Crap! You're my new Squad Captain!'' She exclaimed loudly in excitement as her flame lashes flared up again.
Before Yuuto could react to his current situation, Mimi had finished the Bloody Mary and placed it in front of the pair. ''Here's your Bloody Mary on the rocks, Miss! That'll be 550 yen please!'' She exclaimed, still in a panic.
Yuuto and Blare just stared at her, with the hellhound still practically all over him. After a moment, he broke the silence. ''Mimi, you can calm down now. Blare isn't that scary.''
As if to prove his point, Blare pulled herself away from him and took a wallet out from her jean pockets, she then produced a 1000 yen note from it and handed it towards the waitress. 'Thanks, Flopsy. Sorry about scaring you earlier.' She said with a smile on her face.
Finally, after calming down, Mimi took the money from her. ''It's no trouble, I'll go get your change.'' With that she walked over to the till to process the order.
In that time, Blare had already gulped down half of her drink, and let out a sigh of satisfaction. 'Now that hit the spot!' She then looked back at the still bewildered Yuuto and chuckled to herself before resuming their conversation. ''Sorry about that. I guess you've been left in the dark about this whole thing. Ms Smith told me a lot about you and MON in general, but I'm guessing she hasn't brought me up yet, has she?''
Yuuto shook himself from his stupor as Mimi returned with Blare's change. Once she collected it, he replied to her question. 'She has a habit of forgetting important details. But in this case, it turned out to be a nice surprise.' Blare blushed at the comment as he continued. 'So how did Smith find you then?'
''Well, when I first moved to Japan for my exchange period, I enlisted with TALIO, they're a private security firm that specializes in defusing situations involving humans and linimals. Smith was my coordinator at the time and recognised my skills, so she suggested I start out with them. Turned out that my host was already working for TALIO and I was eventually hired on as her partner.'' She chuckled as she remembered the good times she spent with her host, on the clock and off-duty.
Zombina and Doppel were casually listening in on their conversation, and as soon as there was a pause, the red-head cut in. 'Oh yeah, TALIO!' She exclaimed as she leaned past Yuuto with a toothy grin to get the hellhound's attention. 'I actually know a couple of the girls that still work for them. You know Liz and Kinu?'
Blare's face brightened and her flame lashed flared from her eyes as she recalled the lizardfolk and oni pair she had worked alongside during her time working for TALIO. 'Oh yeah! Those two were always a blast to hang out with, though they could be a bit overly eager when it came to the job. Still remember the hassle they caused with that Princess Meroune job.' She said as she rubbed the back of her head. She then eyed up the zombie leaning over Yuuto. ''Sorry, but I don't think we've been introduced.''
Zombina stretched out her arm for a handshake. ''The name's Zombina. I'm the captain of MON's Alpha Squad. Pleased to meet cha, Blare!'' She said as boisterously as she could.
'Likewise.' Was the only response the hellhound gave as she shook the zombie's hand.
Yuuto let out an audible cough the get Zombina's attention, clearly not pleased with her invading his personal space. 'Zee, can you move, please?'
She looked at him and decided to have a little fun. 'Really? Here I thought you were enjoying the show.' She said teasingly as she gave him a playful wink.
''Don't give people the wrong idea.'' He said with a hint of annoyance.
Zombina chuckled to herself as she sat herself back on her own seat, much to his relief. ''Sorry, Beesh. Didn't mean to get in the way of you and your new crush.'' She said in a sultry voice.
Yuuto and Blare's faces were flushed red at her comment. ''It isn't like that!'' He exclaimed in embarrassment, while his co-worker was having another one of her laughing fits.
'Yuuto?'
He returned his attention to Blare as he heard her call his name. ''Hey Blare, what's up?''
She looked anxious as she was facing him, her hands in her lap, and her tail hanging limp behind her, her cheeks still crimson. After a moment, she spoke up. ''I know we've just met, but can I ask you a favour?''
'Sure, ask away.' He said reassuringly.
Blare's face brightened up as she continued. ''Well, I've only just moved into the complex today, and I don't know the area that well. Would you mind if you could walk me back to my place?''
Yuuto's face when red at hearing her request, imagining the possibilities it implied, but he shook himself from his somewhat inappropriate thoughts of his new squad mate, and re-composed himself. 'Sure, no problem!' He exclaimed with a hint of embarrassment. Her earlier advances hardly helped the situation, whether they were intended or not. This didn't escape the notice the attentions of a particular zombie and doppelganger duo, as he glanced to his other side and saw the two of them with teasing grins on their faces.
''If you're lucky, you might get to hold hands.'' Doppel said with a teasing wink.
'Very funny, Doppel.' Yuuto sighed as he furrowed his eyebrows at her. He then picked up his beer and finished it, before placing it back down. ''Anyway, thanks for the drink girls. I'll catch up with you tomorrow.''
''What, you're leaving already?'' Zombina said dejectedly.
''Well we've got work tomorrow, plus Blare wants me to escort her back to her apartment. Can't leave a squad mate hanging.''
As he was talking, Blare finished her Bloody Mary and placed the glass on the counter. 'Thanks for doing this, and sorry for cutting your night out short.' She said apologetically.
''Don't worry about it.'' He said as he got off his stool and headed for the entrance of the bar, with the hellhound in tow.
'Seeya tomorrow Beesh! You too Blare! Take care!' Zombina shouted as she waved the pair off.
'Will do.' Yuuto said as he waved back.
'See you soon, Zombina.' Blare said as she followed the human out the bar.
As the two of them left the building, Doppel spoke up. ''Is it okay to leave Newbie by himself with that hellhound? You know there's going to be trouble.''
'Don't worry, Beesh is a big boy now. He can handle himself.' Zombina replied with confidence before taking another swig of her beer.
''Well, I hope you're right…''
Yuuto and Blare were making their way back to the apartment complex, walking side by side. They were making idle chat as they walked through a side street he often used as a shortcut between the apartment complex and the bar. As they made their way through, Blare suddenly stopped and her ears perked up as they heard subtle sounds behind them.
Yuuto picked up on it straight away. ''What's wrong?'' He asked with concern in his voice.
''We're being followed.'' The hellhound replied.
Yuuto took a quick glance behind them to see a group of four young human men, all dressed in scruffy looking hoodies and torn jeans, all wearing black bandanas over their heads. They looked like one of the local gangs that had been causing trouble recently.
''Wait up! We're just lookin' for a good time!'' One of them shouted out with a sinister grin as the group quickened their pace towards the pair.
'We should run.' Yuuto said calmly. ''I'd rather we not get involved in any trouble.''
'Right.' Blare replied with a sense of irritation. It seemed that she didn't like the idea of fleeing with her tail between her legs, but they could scarcely afford to cause an incident. The pair started to run in the opposite direction of the gang so they could get back home without trouble, though that didn't deter the hooligans as they continued their pursuit. Before they could make it to the end of the side street though, another human, along with an orc, rounded the corner to block their escape. They were both wearing similar outfits as the gang members behind them, with the human wearing a pair of sunglasses and wielding a baseball bat as a weapon. Yuuto and Blare stopped in their tracks as their escape was cut off.
Suddenly, the man with the orc spoke up. ''Found ya, Bitch! We've been lookin' all over for ya!''
'Crap.' Blare muttered to herself, but Yuuto was able to hear her.
'I take it this is why you wanted me to come with you?' Yuuto asked as he took a defensive stance.
''Sorry I dragged you into this. I couldn't do anything by myself, and I was hoping we could avoid them too.'' Blare apologized as she instinctively stood back to back to him.
''And I guess you didn't call the police earlier due to the orc over there?''
''Precisely. Maybe I should've asked your friends to come with us.''
Yuuto smirked at her statement. ''I wouldn't worry, we can handle this situation ourselves, no problem.''
The leader of the group spoke up again as the hooligans surrounded them. ''Why did you run off earlier, mutt? We were only interested in some, 'Cultural Exchange', if you catch my drift.'' He put extra emphasis on Cultural Exchange with a perverse look on his face.
'Yeah, I always wanted to tame me a hellhound!' The orc behind him exclaimed with a lewd expression.
One of the four other humans to the opposite side of Yuuto and Blare pulled out a knife from the back pocket of his jeans. ''C'mon, let us have some fun, and maybe we won't mess up your boyfriend's pretty face.'' He said as he twirled the knife in his hand.
Blare's flame lashed erupted full force from her eyes in anger of the threat they made towards her new Squad Captain. Meanwhile, Yuuto was assessing their situation to find a way to deal with them quickly and without injury. His eyes widened as he came up with a plan.
'Blare, you think you can jump to that building to your right and single out the orc?' He whispered to his new squad mate.
''Shouldn't be a problem, but what about you? It's five against one.'' She asked with concern.
''Don't worry, I've got a plan. Just insult the guy with the bat and move out the way when I say so.'' With that he spoke up to the gang. ''Sorry guys, but we've got more important things to do.''
When he was done speaking, Blare spoke up to the thug with the bat. ''That's right, shit for brains! We haven't got time to deal with you scumbags!'' She snarled at him, her voice filled with rage.
The leader of the group got furious at her statement. 'We tried to play nice!' He shouted as he raised his bat and ran towards her. ''Now we're gonna have to get violent!''
'Blare, now!' Yuuto shouted.
In an instant, she leapt upwards and to her right towards the building as the leader was mid swing with his bat. As he was distracted, Yuuto grabbed the other end of the bat, and pulled the man towards him. He then turned and threw his back into the thug, still holding the bat, and with both hands grabbed the bat, and pulled full force to throw the man over his shoulder. The force of the throw forced the leader to let go of the bat, and land on top of two of the other hooligans, causing them to crash to the ground. The man with the knife managed to dodge to the side as this happened, then charged at Yuuto with his knife outstretched. At the same time, the orc behind the blonde agent moved forward in an attempt to grab him to prevent his escape, though he forgot about the hellhound woman that escaped the fray.
Blare in that time was able to land on the side of the building, and then propelled herself to the top of the lamppost above the group. When she found an opening, she dangled herself under the lamp, then pushed her paws off it as hard as she could. With that, she righted herself mid-air and landed on the unsuspecting orc's head, which caused him to hit the concrete pavement at full force, causing cracks in the pavement where his head landed.
The thug with the knife was distracted by the flying hellhound, and Yuuto used the chance to swing the bat at his assailant's hand to disarm him. The tip of the bat connected and send the knife flying, as well as break a few fingers in the process. As the man screamed in agony, Yuuto turned on the heel of his left foot, and swung his right leg into a reversed round house kick, which then connected to the side of the thug's face. It sent the man flying to the ground next to his companions.
Yuuto readjusted himself to face the final hooligan as he twirled the bat in his right hand, then holding it out in front of him, gripping it with both hands pointing towards the thug. Behind him, Blare was crouched on top of the orc's head, looking up at the group, her flame lashed now erupting at full force from her eyes due to her rage. The humans got up on their feet, now presented with the terrifying scene in front of them, and quaked in fear.
Blare growled at the group before shouting as loud as she could. 'Now, fuck off!'
Without any delay, the gang ran off screaming, abandoning their orc comrade as they fled from the pair of MON agents. With that, Blare's flame lashes died down as she leapt off the orc to stand next to her captain, now feeling a lot calmer.
Yuuto dropped the bat and looked to his side as Blare stretched her arms above her and let out a sigh of satisfaction. When she noticed his gaze, she dropped her arms to her sides and spoke up.
'How do you like that?' She said with a massive grin.
'That was impressive, no wonder Smith hired you on to join MON.' He stated, sporting a grin of his own.
'Are you kidding?! That was nothing compared to what you pulled off!' She shouted as she grabbed his shoulders. ''Are you sure you're not half demon or something?!''
'Not that I know of.' Yuuto replied as he chuckled to himself. He then stepped away from the hellhound as he made his way to the unconscious orc on the ground, and crouched next to him. 'Is this guy going to be okay?'
Blare crouched down next to him as she looked upon her own handiwork. The orc was clearly out of it as blood ran from his snout and mouth. ''Unfortunately, yeah. Orcs are stupidly tough bastards, but this guy won't be getting back up anytime soon.'' She said as she prodded the orc's forehead.
Yuuto got back up on his feet as he stretched his own arms. ''Okay, well we should probably get back home now. All this ruckus will have gotten people's attention, who'll have probably called the police by now. I'd rather not have to go through a shit ton of paperwork over these small fries.''
'Agreed.' Blare stated as she got back up herself. 'Thanks again for helping me out. I owe you one.' She blushed as she said that.
'No problem.' He replied as he walked past the orc. ''C'mon, let's go.''
'Right.' Blare caught up with Yuuto as they jogged off around the corner and headed back to the apartment complex.
Once they got back, Yuuto pulled out a key card and used it to open up the entrance to the building as Blare lead the way back to her apartment. As they walked there, he noticed that they were walking along the corridor to his own place. Before he knew it, they were standing outside her place. This was when he noticed the door to his apartment to the right of hers.
''Well that's convenient.'' He muttered to himself, but Blare with her canine ears was able to pick up what he said.
'What is?' She asked curiously.
Yuuto then pointed towards the door of his apartment. ''That's my place right there.''
''Awesome! Looks like we're neighbours!'' She exclaimed with a massive grin on her face.
''Looks like you're feeling a lot better now with that business dealt with.'' He stated as he noticed Blare's tail wagging and her flame lashes erupting from her eyes.
'Yeah, definitely. Thanks a bunch.' She said as her grin turned into a sincere smile, her cheeks bright red.
''No problem, Blare. I'll see you tomorrow.'' Yuuto said with a smile of his own.
Before he could walk off, Blare suddenly wrapped her arms around him and pulled him into a tight hug, her bushy tail wagging furiously. Unable to escape, he wrapped his arms around her waist to return the favour, his cheek now bright red. After a moment, she finally broke from the hug and opened the door to her apartment. Before she entered, she turned around and waved him goodbye. 'Seeya tomorrow, Stud.' She said as she winked at him. 'Good night!' With that, she walked through the door and shut it behind her.
Yuuto stood there for a moment, confused at the sudden flirting he received. 'Stud? Really?' He complained to himself about the new nickname he got. He then shook his head and went to open the door to his apartment. 'How many more nicknames am I going to get?'
With that, he walked through and shut the door behind him. He decided to go straight to bed, knowing full well that tomorrow was going to be a hectic day.
A/N: Thank you everyone for your continued support, and an extra thanks to FanFiction user brotherben8932 for the Hellhound suggestion. Hopefully people are going to grow to like Blare. Again, thank you everyone who follow, favourite, review, and make suggestions, and thanks for reading.