For disclaimer see prologue.

... - thought speaking

... - Weapon speak

When things are from Will/Yume's P.O.V. all languages will appear as normal text.

Whereas with the other character's P.O.V. then the languages will look different (you'll see)

Chapter 08 Part II

Heirs on the Run

By: Master Yume & Blind Man X

Will sat in the recesses of the basement and cast a critical eye towards his scythe. For the past hour and a half he had been thinking about and conversing with his weapon. What was it that made it so special aside from its ability to kill most living things if the proper energy was channeled into it (having found this out shortly after the dead grass incident out in the front yard)? Now he (and by association Typhous) were thinking about what else it could do.

Under a moment of odd inspiration Will reached into the volumes of his cloak and pulled out the rather odd weapon he had retrieved from Typhous' old haunts. The spear looked much different in the mostly well-lit basement. The handle was a mixture of ebony and silver material, the ribbon that had wrapped around his foot was a deep green, the blade of the weapon was like it was made of the water from the deepest parts of the ocean a deep blue with a hint of green.

'That's weird if anything I'd figure it would have been white.'

Well your blade was black initially wasn't it?

'Well yeah.'

Perhaps the colors were altered from the initial silver overtone and due to the souls that inhabited it for so long after my death.

Will merely shrugged, then put the spear-like weapon back into the volumes of his cloak having got no reaction from the weapon. After that was finished he picked back up his weapon and held it in one hand.

Master, have you found anything about Siren yet?

'Not really, other than your color scheme is better than your counter parts.'

Then there was a zap noise and the smell of burnt chicken suddenly filled the room.

'Wonder what that was.'

Will suddenly was struck as though the zap he had heard was a lightning bolt in a brainstorm of his. Holding his scythe with both hands he concentrated and sent a mental image to Siren.

'Can you try and be that?'

There was a moment of nothing happening then suddenly he could fell the weapon shift within his grasp there was a brief flash then he looked back at his weapon and smiled. The scythe had changed and was now a rather large broadsword the blade had maintained its dark quality and the hilt was of the same dark wood as the scythe handle.

Interesting.

'Yeah and it's pretty cool too.'

Then Will imagined something a bit more complex and again felt the shift of the weapon as it reformed itself to the image Will had sent to Siren. Then the flash happened again and in his hand Will held an electric guitar in his hand. He gave it an experimental strum and was surprised at the quality sound that came out.

'Very nice.'

Master likes?

'Very much.'

That could prove quite useful in a fight. Even more so if we can cut down the transforming time.

'Yeah.'

Will wasn't even really paying attention to Typhous at this point he was mostly concentrating on the black guitar he held playing a few chords on it he felt some of his old guitar lesson come back to him. Quickly as the notes came back to him he play the riff from Deep Purple's Smoke on the Water. As soon as he finished the last note there was a rather faint knocking coming from the door. Holding the guitar by the neck he walked over and opened the door to reveal a rather charred and twitching Michael on the floor.

"Michael did you try to open the door again without knocking?"

"Maybe."

Will nodded and rolled his eyes as he grabbed Michael's arm and pulled him into the room before shutting the door. Sitting the charred form of his companion down by the couch (having no real want of picking him up and getting him on the couch) he proceeded to lounge on the black leather couch as he waited for Michael to recover his ability to properly speak. He didn't have to wait long and the trickster heir soon took a seat in the workbench chair.

"Nice guitar Will. You buy it?"

"Nope."

Will tried to play a bit of a song from memory nodding for Michael to speak.

"So where'd you get it?"

Will sighed and decided to practice later and willed Siren to change back to her initial form, causing Mike to stare wide eyed and gape for a minute. This gave Will enough time to slip the weapon into its place on his back.

"Dude that's so cool how'd you do that?"

"Magic."

Michael stopped and stared at Will incredulously.

"Well duh, but how did you do it?"

"I willed my rune weapon to change into a guitar."

Mike smiled and withdrew his own rune weapon from wherever he kept it and began to concentrate. Will sat back to get comfortable figuring it may take a while, but was rather surprised when Michael's sword began to twist and shift almost as if it were a liquid metal. Eventually the quicksilver solidified into a vaguely guitar-ish shape. Mike opened his eyes and grinned quite pleased with himself. Will felt it best not to burst his bubble and tell him that it was missing strings and probably a good many more components.

"How about that for a first try huh? I bet you were down here all day working to get it, and I got it on my first try."

Then Will changed his mind.

"It would be a good effort if it had strings and could actually work."

Mike paused in his gloating and took note of the discrepancies that Will pointed out and let his shoulders slump. But quickly perked right back up.

"Guess what?"

"What?"

"You're going to help me at the school's carnival on Wednesday."

"I am?"

"Yeah I figure you could do a magic show or something and I could do a balloon booth."

"Since when am I doing this?"

"Since I signed you up after I left school today."

Will stopped and stared at Michael long and hard with one of his more unnerving looks. Mike however chose to ignore the look.

"C'mon Will I already told them I was getting your help."

Will slumped back onto the couch and laid with his leg over the arm of it.

"You got to be kidding me."

"Nope."

Will sighs and sinks further into the plush leather sofa and quietly mutters to himself about how he knows he will regret this.

"Alright I'll help I'll whip up something for it. But you owe me."

Mike waves his hands in a dismissive gesture. Suddenly Will's highly sophisticated warning system let him know of an approaching danger, which gave him a rather wicked idea.

"Oh MY GOD, MIKE BEHIND YOU! A CONVENIENTLY PLACED DISTRACTION!"

Mike quickly turned and looked where Will pointed not really hearing what he said just detecting the measure of panic in his voice.

"WHAT? WHERE?"

"Quick it went up the stairs, after it. I'll be along as soon as I can."

Michael nodded and rushed from the room and up the stairs. Shortly after the door shut completely Will withdrew a small hand mirror from his cloak and willed the spell on it to activate. The smooth glass shimmered and then revealed the scene at the top of the stairs. Just as he thought Grace and Perfume were there getting ready to go down the stairs, both having that rather disturbing 'Shopping-gleam" in their eyes. And there was Michael bursting out of the stairwell and getting ambushed by the girls in need of a human shopping cart.

'Heh heh heh, I'm so evil sometimes.'

That was cruel even for you.

Will merely shrugged, returned the mirror back into his cloak and began to leave the basement knowing the coast was clear.

'I guess I should check on Hotaru.'

With that in mind Will ascended the stairs, taking his dear sweet time. Eventually after a bit of time and a great deal many stairs later he reached Perfume and his room. Which is where he had left Hotaru to sleep. Slowly opening the door he peaked into the room. There sitting up in the bed staring back at him was Hotaru. Seeing her awake caused will to abandon caution and push the door open fully so he could step into the room.

"Sleep well?"

Hotaru apparently not trusting her own voice merely nodded. As Will moved closer he noticed the telltale puffiness around her eyes that indicated she had been crying. Will sat on the side of the rather large four-poster bed, causing Hotaru to bounce a bit. Slowly Hotaru turned and regarded her friend now guardian. Then in a voice barely above a whisper she spoke.

"It wasn't a dream, was it? My… My parents really are gone aren't they?"

Will didn't speak. He merely nodded his head gravely, and desperately wished that Perfume was there with them, she was better …. equipped to handle emotional things like this. Hotaru hung her head slowly and began to cry silently, causing Will no end of grief in his own right. Tentatively he reached out and wrapped his arm around her shoulder and pulled Hotaru close. Moments after he had embraced her she began to sob uncontrollably. Will, who could easily end a life; that could do things that defied the normal laws of physics who may one day wield the greatest power in the universe second only to that of God almighty himself, was completely and totally powerless. So he merely held the small frail girl and soothingly rubbed her back trying to comfort her as best he could. After an almost immeasurable amount of time (at least from Will's perspective) Hotaru clamed down. And took to looking up at Will through red puffy eyes. Will looked back at her and noticed that she had a questioning look in her eye.

"Hmm?"

Hotaru started and then looked away from Will only to look back.

"So were you serious about becoming my new father?"

"Oh absolutely. That is if you're ok with it."

Hotaru smiled a bit and nodded, then began to look a bit troubled again.

"Um this morning before …."

Again Hotaru trailed off into body wracking sobs. Yume being who he was before his 'rebirth' could have handled the situation better, but the new Will he was seemed to have a problem with emotions. Will could almost feel the emotions seeping away from him. He guessed it had to do with the face that 'Death' was a non-partial entity so had little use for most emotions. This however was not a good time for a lack of emotions.

That may not be a bad idea.

'Come again?'

We could use a spell to calm the effects that her grief is causing her, but if something happens in the near future that really shakes her there's a chance that the grief that we calm will return and compound on itself along with whatever grief that she experiences from the catalyst event.

Hotaru still hadn't calmed down so she didn't see the thin line of drool escaping her newly appointed father's mouth.

Spell makes Hotaru feel better.

'Why didn't you say so?'

Typhous could only sigh, and then proceeded to explain to Will just how to perform the spell. Slowly and quietly Will casts the spell over the small girl in his arms. As it took effect he could almost feel the sorrow and grief leave Hotaru. Very soon her shuddering sobs lessened then stopped entirely. She looked up at Will a small look of question in her eyes.

"So what were you saying?"

"This morning you were going to tell me something."

"Mm-hmm?"

Will stopped and thought for a moment and then remembered.

"Oh yeah I wanted to talk to you about your little gift."

Hotaru looked away again but answered Will nevertheless.

"What about it?"

"Well you know I can do magic right?"

Hotaru nodded glancing back at Will.

"Well if I'm not wrong, I think that you could use magic too. In fact I'm almost sure of it"

Startled Hotaru turned and looked at him with wide questioning eyes.

"If I'm right your little healing ability is actually a use of magic, except that you're doing it all wrong. Because of that it's affecting your health and making you weaker."

"So I can use magic?"

Will nodded. Hotaru looked away a bit then turned back and gained a bit of courage.

"Would … would you teach me how to do magic?"

Will smirked and nodded.

"I think I can arrange that."

The little girl that was sitting in his lap smiled and let off cute rays in such high intensity that Will began to feel weak and queasy. The meeting (as it were) was interrupted by the sound of the doorbell ringing and echoing through out the house. Will and Hotaru glanced at each other and got up. Will easily lifting Hotaru's petite form and depositing her on her feet at ground level.

"We'll discuss this a bit more later, now then lets see who's at the door."

Hotaru nodded and followed Will out of the room and down the stairs towards the front door. Will unlocked the front door and walked outside. Together both him and Hotaru approached the gate where their visitors waited. Suddenly at the last instance, before they reached the gate, Will stopped and grabbed Hotaru and turned her around so that he was between her and the front gate, just before it erupted in a rather fiery explosion. Will glanced over his shoulder from the confines of his hood and saw something that really made him think that Loki may have had a good deal more to do with his current universe than he was initially led to believe. There standing with rather sheepish expressions, on the opposite side of a smoking cater, as a group that Yume had definitely not anticipated on seeing.

A slightly older gentleman with white hair, sporting a moustache and a goatee, dressed in a rather odd black uniform. Next to him was a considerably younger girl with bright eyes, blonde hair, and rather pointy cat-like ears holding a rather large and bulky gun behind her trying vainly to appear innocent. The older man was staring wide eyed at where the door had once stood. Yume recognized them almost instantly; they were none other than Theodore and Brianna Diggers.

"Um… Sorry?"

Will sighed and released his protective hold from Hotaru, as he stood up and brushed the debris from his form. Hotaru looked wide-eyed at the crater then to the girl with the BAG (Big Ass Gun) and just blinked.

"Well I would say 'Let me get the door' but it seems you've taken care of it."

Theodore reacted rather quickly and shook himself from his daze (and the subsequent layer of dirt the explosion gave him). Quickly he cast a spell that should have re-assembled the destroyed door, however this wasn't a normal door. The pre-enchanted (though Theodore didn't know this) fragments that should have drawn back together merely lie at the bottom of the no longer smoking crater. As Mr. Diggers puzzled a bit over this development Will walked up and snapped his fingers. As soon as he did that the door and the surrounding area returned to normal. As he opened the newly restored door he smiled as if nothing had happened.

"Yes? Can I help you?"

Theodore recovered first and stared oddly at the black robed figure that was Will.

"Yes. I was wondering if perhaps you would allow me a moment of your time to discuss a few things with you."

Will glanced over Brianna and her father up and down for a moment then looked down as Hotaru peeked from the side of the door.

"Well Hotaru what do you think?"

"Well if it was so important that she had to blow up the door, I guess we should speak to them."

Will nodded even as he realized that Theodore was either speaking Japanese or using a means similar to his own for communication outside his native language. Just as he was about to allow the Diggers entry he had a sudden thought.

"Very well, however I must request that you leave your weapons at the door."

The look on Brianna's face was simply priceless. It appeared as if he just asked her to remove a major organ without the aid of anesthetics. (Which when Will considered whom it was he very well might be doing just that.) However a steady look from her father caused the girl to sigh and relent. A few minutes and a ridiculously large number of weapons later Will welcomed the Diggers inside. As Will showed the Diggers the couch Hotaru took a seat in the lounge chair next to the large black leather recliner that she had deemed 'Will's Throne'. After Will took his seat she was reminded why she had come up with the name. The way he sat and the way the chair was built made it look like Will was a regal ruler surveying his masses of groveling minions.

"So how can I help you mister?"

"Diggers, Theodore Diggers, and this is my daughter Brianna."

'Whew they bought it.'

You're becoming quite the ignorant actor.

'You really think so?'

"Well I'm Will Kokushibyou, and this is my recently adopted daughter Hotaru Tomoe."

Hotaru nodded rather regally as she regarded the guests, confusing Will a good deal.

"Now then Mr. Diggers what is it that you wished to discuss?"

"Well this may seem like an odd question but have you ever heard of the Lich King?"

"Former Aura mage of the Jade Realm, that after death, in a stroke of genius, managed to use his remaining power to tap into the powers of the undead realm giving him a nearly limitless supply of power?"

Will stopped and looked to be in deep thought.

"Nope never heard of him."

Theodore stopped and stared at Will incredulously for a few moments.

"You sure of that."

"Yep absolutely, never heard of him."

Theodore blinked a few times and continued looking at Will until Hotaru giggled. This seemed to shake him out of his shock.

"Well needless to say I have certain interests in his movements. With this in mind I'm here because I sensed a power very similar to his being used in this general area."

Will sighed and looked down in a bit of thought.

Meanwhile near the stairwell that leads to the basement an invisible something was doing a recon mission for its creator. Its sensors were telling it that there was something in the basement that bared looking into so it began to descend towards Will's underground lair, unknowing of the danger it faced.

Back in the living room Will looked up at Mr. Diggers.

"What kind of energy does this Lich King… give off?"

"Generally it is power from a realm outside of Earth, called the Undead Realm."

"So a sort of undead energy?"

"More or less, is there anything that you might know of that could be giving off that kind of energy?"

Will looked over at Hotaru quickly, then back to the Diggers.

"Oh what a terrible host I've been, Hotaru could you go to the kitchen and get some drinks for our guests?"

Hotaru looked up sharply then nodded and went to the kitchen. As soon as Will was sure she couldn't see them, he called upon the powers of his possible mantel and shifted before the stunned eyes of both Brianna and her father. He motioned for them to stay quiet then pointed in the direction that Hotaru had just gone in. Then just as quickly he shifted back and resumed his unknowing regal posture in his recliner. Just in time too, because at that moment Hotaru returned to the room delicately balancing a small tray with a pitcher of ice water and a few glasses.

"Thank you Hotaru. Now then Mr. Diggers I do believe I know what kind of energy you've been sensing. It is my own."

Theodore, having picked up on the subtle hint that Will would prefer for Hotaru to remain in the dark about his apparent alter ego nodded silently looking at Will strangely. He couldn't understand why Will would show him and his daughter something like that and expect them to not over react. But then again he had just shown up at this young man's door, had his daughter accidentally blow it up, then started asking him questions about his own father. Maybe Will lived in an area where weird occurrences weren't so strange.

"Is that so? What makes you think that?"

Will smiled in thanks to the patriarch of the Diggers' clan while said patriarch was motioning to his daughter that he would explain later.

"I acquired my magical ability through certain channels that will remain anonymous, needless to say I draw no power from this Undead Realm you spoke of earlier."

Just as Theodore was about to speak again there was a huge explosion from the stairwell to the basement. Quickly the occupants of the room rushed to see just what had happened. Will reached the stairwell first and rushed down even before the smoke and fire had a chance to really die down. The other people watched in shock as he disappeared into the fiery chaos below. They heard his rather loud footsteps going down the stairs, his subsequent trip, his scream, and this body bouncing/rolling the rest of the way down the stairs, then finally the loud crash that signified his reaching the bottom.

"Ow…."

Theodore cast a quick water spell and extinguished the flames, but there was little he could do to remove the smoke, within the enclosed space they were in. There was a brief shuffling of clothing then some coughing and a few mutter curses that made Theodore cover Hotaru's rather young ears.

"What the…? Hey! Ow! Quit it!"

There was a muted shooting noise and some screaming in a high-pitched voice. Then there was the sound of Will's feet trudging up the stairs then voice and shooting became louder as his footsteps did.

"You meany you killed him you killed my brother."

Will stepped out of the stairwell and was apparently being attacked by some unseen foe that was still shooting relatively small laser bolts at him from the cover of the smoke.

"Take this and that, and a couple of these."

Will sighed and for the most part ignored the lasers as he walked up to Brianna. Needless to say Brianna took a step back, after-all seeing a rather tall guy become an even larger skeleton, was a bit unnerving especially with them currently looming over her their face obscured by the darkness his hood provided. And the small fire his hair had become may have also had something to do with her reluctance to let him approach.

"Yours?"

So saying Will dropped a rather charred hunk of plastic with a wheel sticking out if it into Brianna's hand. This enraged the unseen attacker apparently because the frequency of the flashes coming from behind Will increased greatly. Who still shrugged off the attack and used the hood of his cloak to put out the fire on his head.

"You dirty rat, you killed my brother, you dirty rat."

That time the voice was just as high pitched but it sounded a bit like a gangster was saying it. Brianna finally figured out just what she was holding and blinked at Will.

'How did he know that the Peebo was mine?'

Just as she was about to voice this thought Will interrupted her. (It paid to already know a person before meeting them.)

"I figure it must be your what with your apparent love of explosives and weapons of destruction."

Hotaru meanwhile began to wonder just what was yelling at her new father figure from the smoke. Being the still curious young girl she was, she moved closer to the stairwell. What she saw made her blink in confusion. There in the clearing smoke was a small rather cute looking plastic toy that was shooting lasers at her father while he discussed with Theodore why there was no real reason to worry about damages.

"Um excuse me?"

The small toy stopped shooting the unresponsive Will and turned to Hotaru.

"What?"

"Could you stop shooting Papa Will?"

Will had a sudden queasy feeling and sensed Hotaru was pumping out the cute rays in force.

"But he killed my brother."

It seemed that even Peebos may be subject to Hotaru's potentially fatal cuteness rays, as Hotaru proceeded to defend Will to the accusing toy.

"But he was in the living room with us."

"Then why did my brother 00891 blow up?"

Will at this point interject from where he was speaking with Brianna and Theodore.

"Because he tripped my security system, making it shock him and probably causing him to explode."

Peebo 00890 looked over at Will then back at Hotaru. And seemed to almost shrug.

"Oh well. Alas poor 00891 I knew ye well."

With that said the mini-laser on the peebo retracted and disappeared.

"Security system?"

Brianna queried.

"What kind of security system are we talking about here?"

"The magical kind of course. If someone attempts to open the door without knocking it unleashes a rather nasty electric charge."

Brianna nodded after all her peebos had been known to explore without her direct orders so it seemed that 00891 came up to an obstacle and attempted to bypass it. Now she would have to look into better shielding against electric surges for future peebo models.

'And perhaps better weapons systems.'

After all it wouldn't do to have a target be totally unaffected by her peebos weaponry. Currently peebo 00890 was flying around with a lightly giggling Hotaru in pursuit. For some reason every time the girl approached her adoptive father while doing this his hood would spontaneously rise up over his face.

"I assure you Mr. Diggers I have no intention of using my magic much outside of my own home unless the need arises. For me to try something like taking over a country much less the world would be counter productive for my own future."

"Oh how so?"

It wasn't often that Theodore met someone who wielded power like Will (undead realm energy). Much less one that wasn't evil. Sure he hadn't known Will for that long, so the young man could very well be lying to him. If so that would have to dealt with at a later time, for now he would have to trust Will.

"Let's just say to do so would hinder my career advancement and leave it at that"

Brianna stared at Will with a disbelieving expression on her face, after all what kind of career could offer better benefits than taking over the world. Granted it would be a difficult task to do so and even more so to stay in power. But if you have the means why not?

"Mr. Diggers if you would join me in the basement we can speak more openly."

Theodore nodded then turned to Brianna.

"Stay up here Brianna and keep an eye on Hotaru while I speak with Will."

"But I …."

"No buts young lady."

Brianna sighed and stepped down, she wasn't one to argue with her father when he had his mind set.

So as Will and Theo descended the stairs to the basement Brianna turned to Hotaru and smiled.

"So what do you do for fun around here?"

Hotaru shrugged.

"I don't know I just started living here this morning."

Brianna blinked and sighed as she realized just how boring things were going to get.

'Great just great.'

---------

Will opened the door of his lair and bid Theodore to follow him inside.

"Welcome to my lair."

There was a sound of drums and a cymbal crash just after Will finished speaking.

"What was that?"

Will smiled.

"It's a spell I made up, kind of gives the place a small sense of cheesy retro-ambiance that goes with the dramatic doom and gloom the room projects don't you think?"

Theodore had to nod; after all it did give the room that cheesy retro feel. Almost like being in a B-Horror movie. He gave the room the once over and was surprised at the amount of magic books, scrolls, and tomes that the young man before him possessed.

"Okay Mr. Diggers I'm going to level with you I feel I can trust you and figure you deserve an explanation. I'll tell you what I can, but I am limited in the information that I can reveal to you."

Theodore nodded and took a seat on the leather couch as Will sat on the work chair and faced him.

"I can't stress the importance that what I'm about to tell you must remain secret."

Again Mr. Diggers nodded and so Will began to reveal what he could to his visitor. Who hopefully may become an ally.

---------

Brianna had made her way outside with Hotaru following her. The girl seemed extremely shy have not said more than two words since their respective guardians had moved into the home's basement to speak privately. Hopefully her dad would tell her what was up with the creepy guy, it wasn't everyday one guy turned into a skeleton and back again before one's very eyes. She had planned to use what little time she may have to check over her weaponry, and Hotaru being with her didn't really change that fact much.

"Ms. Brianna, what's this?"

Brianna blinked and looked down at the young girl who was currently holding one of her weapons from the pile she left by the door.

"That's a laser pulse rifle. It can fire either a small laser beam or an energy pulse."

Hotaru unconsciously hefted the gun and took aim with it. Brianna blinked, as the girl seemed so at ease with the weapon. It wasn't often that a little girl walked up and aimed a laser pulse rifle like she had owned one for years. Her form was a bit off Brianna had to admit but in general she had the stance down fairly well. Suddenly the girl squeezed the trigger and the weapon went off. The kick back wasn't as powerful as say a twelve gauge shot gun but it still sent Hotaru's small form flying backwards. Brianna was about to run over and stop the girl from surely hitting the wall when the girl in an impressive display tucked into a roll and lessened the impact and avoided any real damage.

"Are you okay Hotaru?"

The girl who still held the weapon close to her blinked a few times and nodded slowly. Brianna helped her get to her feet then helped steady her.

"If I had know you were going to fire it I would have warned you about that."

Hotaru shook her head and cleared out some of the recently formed cobwebs. She looked over in the direction the shot went and saw a rather large circular burn mark in the side of the wall. Aside from the burn mark the wall was completely undamaged. Brianna followed Hotaru's line of vision and noticed the same thing though she was surprised for a reason completely different than Hotaru's.

"That was so cool."

'That weapon was at half power there should at least be a big gaping hole in the wall, as well as then next couple houses. This place is just getting weirder and weirder.'

"Wow, Mama-Perfume was right these walls are almost as thick as Papa's head."

The seemingly innocent statement from the pale girl set Brianna's mind into several different gears. On one hand she had to ponder the strength and endurance of Will if the girls statement held any weight. Then she also had to ponder just what was going on in this place, but she just shrugged it off for now after all her home life was even weirder than this, most of the time. Brianna then smiled at Hotaru, as the girl excitedly looks the weapon over a few times.

"Would you like me to show you just how to fire that?"

Hotaru's smile reached the Ultra-Violet level, and Brianna could have sworn she saw the house shudder. So she set about showing Hotaru just how to stand properly, hold the weapon, and take aim. She held the gun and showed Hotaru how to check for how much energy was in the battery clip. After replacing the energy pack she handed the weapon back to Hotaru who eagerly took said weapon and readied her self to fire a shot. Now what neither girl noticed was that while checking the energy pack Brianna had inadvertently flipped a switch near the trigger.

"Okay take aim at the target."

As Hotaru took aim Brianna helped herself to a chair that was leaning against the house. The Diggers girl had to chuckle at the way Hotaru was absorbing the information that Brianna told her concerning stances, preparations, maintenance, and a few other weapons' differences. Hotaru now stood ready to fire.

"Okay, Now squeeze the trigger and fire."

Hotaru squeezed the trigger and prepared for the shot's backfire. Slowly she opened her eyes when she failed to feel the gun going off. There at the end of the gun was a slowly growing ball of blue energy. In her surprise she inadvertently released the trigger causing the pulse shot to fire. The pulse shot flew true towards the "target" (which was the circular burn mark from her first shot), only instead of damaging the wall the shot bounced off it right back at Hotaru. Luckily she had the presence of mind to duck, and the shot flew harmlessly over her head and towards the house, where it ricocheted off a window and towards the front gate. Now while there was indeed a spell on the gate meant to keep anyone who didn't knock from entering, there are always a small group of people who can get around such precautions. For Instance Mihoshi in regards to the laboratory of one Universe's Greatest Genius Washu. So with this in mind the front door opened and revealed a rather slimy looking character. He carried a battered box that had tenth rate merchandise for first-rate prices. In other words a solicitor.

"Hello could I interest you in…?"

The shot flew towards the helpless salesman who used his rather tattered box of crap as a shield; the shot bounced away leaving the salesman unharmed. His wares however weren't as lucky and were destroyed.

"Um… yes… well then I'll just… be going excuse me."

The salesman ran screaming from the house swearing to never use his Mihoshi-esque powers for evil again. While the pulse shot flew to the side of the house gradually picking up speed with each ricochet/bounce that it had. Hotaru moved over to where Brianna was calmly sitting.

"What happened Ms. Brianna?"

"I'm not entirely sure."

Brianna walked over to Hotaru and switched the gun back to laser fire, and returned the gun to Hotaru.

"Let's try that again."

Hotaru nodded and took aim, when she was ready she fired the gun again and hit the 'target' dead on, earning a whistle of appreciation from Brianna.

"Looks like you're a natural kid."

Hotaru smiled although it was a bit sinister in appearance and she slowly ran her fingers along the stock of the gun. As her finger ran near the trigger the small fraction of pressure she put on it made the gun go off and fire through the still open gate and into the street.

"OW!"

"Oh no!"

Hotaru dropped the gun in her shock, as she heard a voice scream. The moment the gun hit the ground another laser bolt was fired. Again another scream from the same voice was heard.

"Oh damn that's one spicy meatball."

At this point both Will and Dr. Diggers came rushing out of the house.

"What happened what's wrong?"

Will was the first on the scene and was promptly tackled by a near hysteric Hotaru. Brianna meanwhile was subtly trying to hint to her father that now would be a good time to leave. Will tried vainly to calm down his adoptive daughter and turned with questioning eyes towards the elder aura mage. Theodore shrugged and motioned for him to comfort her. Will nodded and held her closer whispering that everything would be ok.

"Um dad we need to go."

Theodore glanced at his daughter and took her signal; after doing a quick magic scan to make sure no one was killed he nodded and signaled his daughter of their departure.

"We must be going Will I hope to maybe converse with you in the future."

Will who still looked mighty uncomfortable nodded but stayed silent. Brianna bidded Hotaru a farewell but said girl was too grief stricken to acknowledge it. As Brianna finished replacing her arsenal (to wherever it went) she stopped and moved back to Will and Hotaru. She set down a rather simple looking gun and an instruction booklet that made Will's head hurt at the thought of how and where she kept something that big on her person.

"She's a natural sharp-shooter, give this to her later."

Will blinked and nodded, slowly trying to comprehend what it meant that the Sailor of Silence had sniper grade accuracy. With that Brianna and her father left disappearing soon after rounding a corner into an alley.

"There, there? It'll be all right Hotaru don't cry. I'm sure we can fix whatever it was that made you cry."

Those words jolted Hotaru out of her misery.

"Papa, you know magic right?"

"Well yeah."

"Could you heal someone who got really hurt?"

"Uh yeah I guess so. Why do you ask?"

As opposed to answering him Hotaru in an impressive show of strength heaved her adoptive father up and practically drug him outside.

There not twenty-five feet from the gate was a quivering mass of boxes and bags from the shopping district. This in itself was odd but when Hotaru stopped right next to it and frantically tried to move Will towards the shapeless mass.

"Hurry you have to save them!"

Will blinked then looked back at the pile, which was slowly gathering a small crowd of passersby. Will slowly lifted a box and took a look at who was there. Sighing he dropped the box causing a corner to dig into the eye of the fallen individual, and got up and walked back to the house. Earning a grunt of pain from the body.

"Papa what are you doing you have to save him!"

"He's too far gone to save Hotaru just don't worry about him."

Will making her have a nervous breakdown may cause that whole emotion flood thing we talked about to happen.

'Fine.'

Stopping he turned around and gathered up a few of the bags and boxes from on top of the figure. Which was soon revealed as the Kokushibyou roommate Michael.

"See no harm done, but like I said he's too far gone to save."

Hotaru looked like she was about to hyperventilate upon seeing the unmoving body of her father's co-worker or whatever.

"You won't earn any more sympathy Mike now get up and get the rest of those boxes inside before Grace and Perfume come back. After all it wouldn't do to have you be the one who dropped their things in a puddle."

Like a bolt of life giving lightning had streaked down from the heavens the 'corpse' of Mike moved and sighed heavily.

"Aw c'mon man just a few more things?"

"No. Let's go Hotaru."

Hotaru stared blankly and suddenly felt the urge to take a nap. She had had one too many shocks for one day. So she silently followed Will back into the house. While Mike struggled to regain all of the balance the shots had cost him.

"Oh by the way Mike we'll need to talk later about the visitors you scared away."

"I scared away? Was it something I said?"

Will rolled his eyes as he closed the door in Mike's face and smiled softly at the painful smack her heard. It was good to be funny once in a while.

---------

Meanwhile in the act of fleeing from the Kokushibyou home the evil salesman (George) was beginning to learn that not all-high class neighborhoods were good for business. After his near death experience at the one home he almost had his head chopped off by some psycho wielding a katana and shouting about his fiery tigress. Then he had been blinded by a cloud of black flower petals and hit by a whip or something while some girl laughed hysterically (or insanely he wasn't too sure). So now he was running again his clothes were ripped, there were black rose petals in his hair, which was slightly singed but alive. Quickly he turned a corner and almost ran into a young scrawny boy. Both stopped and stared at each other, they were both breathing heavily and looked rather weary. They could see the abject terror in each other's eyes. A screech of righteous female fury erupted from behind the young man, which bolted him into side stepping the salesman and continuing on his way. The same went for George as he began to run again only to get caught up in a firestorm of electricity and pain. As he hit the ground smoking from the intense voltage that was pumped into him, he saw a green haired girl with little horns wearing a scowl and a tiger-skin bikini seemingly fly over him in pursuit of what he guess was the young man from earlier.

'This is it, the big ride. I'm done, cashed in my chips, paid the piper, bought the farm, kicked the bucket. I'm on my way to being the main course of the maggot buffet menu.'

Then a ray of hope shone down on his decrepit form. An angel from above came to deliver him from the icy grip of death. Of course he managed to disregard the ominous thunder and repeated lightning strikes, coming from very close by, in his joy. There not five feet from him was a police officer.

"Officer, I confess I did it take me away lock me up give me to Bubba. Just get me out of here."

The officer looked down confused at the charred man that was clinging to his leg.

"What are you guilty of?"

"Breaking and entering, soliciting where 'no soliciting' is clearly marked. Jay walking and, and wearing white shoes after Labor Day and before Easter."

At mention of the fashion faux pa the cuffs had been snapped on at speeds that would make the Flash proud. Slowly the officer led George away from the street corner and into a convenient alley. Later local resident would report of hearing screams and cries of pain and anguish late into the night. When asked about it the officer who was supposed to have been on duty reported that he had been told not to patrol that area by a person whom he had believed was his superior officer. After confirming that there had been no crimes in the area during that time the case was dropped as being an insane wandering martial artist of some sort passing through.

---------

Back at the Kokushibyou Estate Will sighed as he looked out the window and watched as Mike was repeatedly struck by lightning from a miscast thunder spell. While he was forced to look at yet another ensemble that Grace and Perfume had picked out for Hotaru. Why was Michael allowed to have all the fun and easy life? Oh well such was life Will guessed. Mike twitched in response to Will's mental complaint.

(TBC)