Magic within the City of Beasts
Here is chapter 3 of my crossover story. I hope you all enjoy it.
Chapter three
Kagami quietly walked down the street, while trying to avoid bumping into any civilian that might take notice of her existence. Though there weren't a lot of people walking around within the city. Kagami guessed that it was still early in the morning, so there might have been some people who weren't early risers.
'Hopefully the owners' of the stores or markets are early risers,' thought Kagami.
After a minute of walking, she soon came to an area where there were a few fruit stands and bakery shops already open. Kagami walked up to one fruit stand where they were selling fresh fruits. She came to stand in front of the stand as she stared down at the bright red apples. Kagami looked through the pile of apples as she tried to pick out the best ones to steal.
'I wish I didn't have to steal. But I don't know what type of money this world has so this is the only option.' Kagami thought to herself with a light frown upon her face.
Back on Midchilda when she had been fourteen, Kagami had no choice but to steal food when it came to surviving on the harsh streets of the city. But after earning money through street fights and part-time jobs, Kagami never stole from any store she would come across again. So to start stealing again made Kagami feel guilty and sick to her stomach. She gazed down at the apples for a moment. She then looked up at the shop owner to see that his head was buried in a news paper.
'Okay...I'd better make it quick,' thought Kagami after making sure that nobody was watching her.
She then reached out with her right hand and gently tapped three ripe apples with her index finger. At her touch, they instantly turned invisible before they slowly floated up from the pile. Kagami calmly grabbed them and put two of them into the outside pockets of her vest, while placing the third one in her vest's inside pocket. She then turned and began to walk down the street again before coming to a bread stand. Kagami gazed at the breads that were there before spotting some milk buns on the table. The owner of the stand was a young woman, who cheerfully called out to anyone passing by to come buy some of her breads and buns. Kagami waited until the woman turned her attention to a customer, who had stopped to look at some red bean buns.
'Alright,' thought Kagami before she quickly made her move.
She once again tapped the three milk buns that she'd chosen from the bunch and they too turned invisible. They steadily floated up from the pile before Kagami grabbed the buns and stuffed them into her pockets.
'That should be enough to tie those kids over,' thought Kagami as she began to walk down the street again. 'I'll also need to find them a safer area somewhere within the city. That abandoned part of town is no place for kids like them to be roaming about.'
Kagami walked down the street towards the alleyway that she had landed in. But came to a stop when she heard a couple of teenage girls talking. She became curious and stopped to listen to their conversation. She pressed her back up against the wall of a nearby building to keep out of the path of walking civilians.
"I'm so excited!" exclaimed one of the girls with a smile. "The city's festival is only a few days away!"
"I know," said the second girl in agreement. "I'm going to go with my boyfriend and enjoy it with him. This festival is going to be fantastic. I just know it!"
'A festival?' thought Kagami with a raised eyebrow. 'I wonder why they would be excited about something like a festival?'
Suddenly, Kagami was given the shock of her life. The first girl let out a squeal of joy, before transforming into a humanoid cat with ginger fur and a white muzzle.
'What in the world!' thought Kagami in surprise before the cat girl began to talk again.
"This festival for beastmen is going to be so much fun!" exclaimed the girl happily with her tail curled upwards, while she raised her hands up in front of her chest. "This is what we've all been waited to do without having to worry about humans ruining it for us!"
The second girl gave her friend a shock expression before raising a finger up to her lips and shushed her: "Don't say that or else you'll jinx it!"
The cat girl gasped and quickly raised her paw/hands up to cover her mouth. Kagami stared at the two teenagers for a moment before a rare smiled appeared on her face. She then pushed herself off from the wall, turned and began to walk down the sidewalk again.
'So that's what Kaito meant by beastmen,' thought Kagami as she walked towards her destination. 'This city is a place for anthropomorphic beings who have the ability to change from beasts to humans at will. I'm guessing those kids are also beastmen too. And from what those two girls said, this city is for beastmen only so no humans are allowed to come here. If that's the case, then I'd better find out if they have any orphanages around here. Hopefully they'll take those three children in and look after them until their all adopted by new families. After that, I'd better get out of this city as soon as possible. I don't want to cause any trouble for the beastmen who just want to be left in peace here.'
Kagami soon came to the same alleyway that she had landed in. Before she dropped her 'Shadow Concealment' ability, Kagami used her magic to see if there was anyone watching her. When she sensed nobody around, Kagami let down her concealment magic and began to fly upwards out of the alleyway. Once she was high enough, she headed back towards the abandoned part of the city. But unknown to Kagami, someone was watching her from on top one of the buildings' rooves.
Like her flight to the main part of the city, Kagami's flight took her about half a minute. She landed in the streets of the abandoned city once again. Kagami then began to walk towards the warehouse. It was a minute later that she came to stand in front of the said building. Kagami used her magic to once again to see if there was any danger nearby. Kagami was satisfied when she didn't find anyone or anything around the area. Kagami raised her right hand up and dismissed the barrier before walking toward the hole of the building. She walked through the hole, and headed over to where the kids were hiding before calling out to them as she got closer.
"I'm back!"
The three children popped their heads out from their hiding place to see Kagami walking towards them. They all held a look of relief on their faces as Kagami came up to them. Kagami knelt down to be at their height before she dug into her pockets. After a moment, she pulled out the apples and buns.
"Here you go," said Kagami as she handed the apples and buns to the children. "Eat up."
"Thank you!" echoed the three children as they took the items from Kagami.
Kagami watched with a smile as the children dug into apples and buns before Kaito looked up at her curiously.
"Aren't you going to eat Ms. Kagami?" asked Kaito.
"I'm alright for now," replied Kagami with a reassuring smile on her face. "I can last a few hours without eating."
Kaito looked up at Kagami with a frown before he broke his bun into two halves. He then offered one of the halves to Kagami, who looked at him in surprise. She then smiled and took the offering that was given to her.
"Thank you," said Kagami.
Kaito smiled up at her before he began to eat his half of the bun. Kagami watched him eat for a moment before she began to eat as well. The foursome were quiet as they ate together and Kagami found the silence to be comforting. She finished eating first before turning her gaze onto the children. Kagami watched the three children as they ate with a calm expression upon her face. It wasn't long before the kids finished eating the buns and apples. They then looked up at Kagami with grateful smiles on their face.
"Thank you for the food!" they echoed together.
"You're welcome," said Kagami with a smile before she got down to business. "Now we just need to figure out what to do next."
Kaito, Akira and Kiki looked up at Kagami in confusion before she began to explain the situation to them.
"We all know that this part of the city isn't a safe place for you three to wander around in. So we'll need to find a better place where you'll be protected. That means going into the center of the city. Hopefully we'll able to find an orphanage that can look after you three better than I can."
The three children stared up at Kagami for a moment, before they slowly nodded their heads 'yes' to what she had said. Kagami was about to say something else when she suddenly sensed danger coming. Her face took on a serious expression as she turned towards at the entrance of the warehouse. The three children quickly noticed Kagami's expression and became nervous.
"M-Ms. Kagami?" asked Kiki in a nervous voice.
Kagami turned to look at Kiki before raising finger up to her lips to shush the young girl. The children quickly got the message before Kagami stood up and ran towards the entrance. Kagami stopped short as she pressed her back up against the wall. Kagami closed her eyes before sending out an invisible pulse of magic to see who was wandering around outside. An image of six men walking down the street towards the warehouse appeared within her mind's eye. Kagami sensed them coming closer before she opened her eyes again. She quickly turned to look back at the three children.
"Kaito, you and the twins stay here." Kagami ordered in a firm but gentle voice. "And whatever you do, do not come out of hiding until I come back. Understood?"
Kaito and the twins nodded their heads before Kagami darted out of the building. As she did, Kagami quickly summoned up the protective barrier again, before stopping to stand in the middle of the street. Kagami stood defiantly as she glared at the group of men who were walking towards her. They quickly stopped about six feet when they saw Kagami standing before them. One of the men, who was wearing a blue suit glared at her with a smirk upon his face.
"Well, well, well what do we have here?"
"Looks like a human washed up here within Anima-City," said another man with a disgusted expression.
"That's just what this city needs," grumbled a skinny man in a purple shirt. "We don't need some stupid human stinking up the place."
Kagami only glared at them before she spoke: "I'm guessing you gentlemen are here looking for something that's non-human, huh?"
The man in the blue suit smirked: "Well aren't you the sharp one. As a matter of fact we are. We've heard from a reliable source that a couple of kids have been spotted running around this place. We just came to find them and escort them back to some colleagues of ours."
"Whatever you heard from your source is probably false information," said Kagami in a calm voice. "I haven't seen any children running around these parts. And even if I did, I wouldn't tell you dirt brains where they are."
"What did you call us!" growled one of the muscular men with scars on his face as he shifted into a large humanoid bull dog.
"You best not mess with us, human," warned the man in the blue suit as he shifted into a hyena. "Otherwise you'll find yourself being torn to pieces."
The other members of the group also shifted into their beast forms. They all turned into a hippo, a wolf and raven as they glared at Kagami, who only glared right back at them.
"And I suggest that you boys don't mess with me," warned Kagami as she got into a fighting stance. "Because I'm not like the ordinary humans that you've encountered outside of this city."
"Don't get cocky!" shouted the bull dog beastmen as he ran forward.
Kagami stood her ground as the bull dog beastman charged at her. She surprised him by suddenly disappearing into thin air. The dog beastmen stumbled for a second before he was suddenly kicked in the face. The force of the kick sent the bull dog beastmen flying, and crashing into a nearby building. Kagami had struck the dog beastman from behind by delivering an air born kick to the side of his head. Yet she made sure that she didn't cause any serious damage to him. She gracefully landed in a crouch before standing up to glare at the other beastmen again.
"Anybody else feeling lucky?" questioned Kagami with a smirk.
She got her answer when a wolf and raven ran forward together. Kagami stood calmly as she waited to see what they would do before the wolf and raven split a part. She watched as the two beastmen circled around and began to charge her on both sides.
'Oh please,' thought Kagami with an eye roll before jumping at the last minute.
The two beastmen collided with each other when Kagami had jumped ten feet into the air, and out of their line of sight. Kagami then landed a foot in front of the two beastmen, who tried to get their wits together before she punched the wolf in the face. She then delivered a powerful round-house kick to the raven's head. The force of her punch and kick sent the two beastmen flying in opposite directions as they were sent crashing into either an abandoned phone booth or mail box. Kagami smirked for a moment before it quickly changed to surprise when she heard the sound of a gun being shot. Her surprise quickly changed to shock when she felt pain shooting through the same shoulder that had been injured an hour ago. Kagami grunted in pain before glaring at the one beastman that had shot her. She saw the hippo beastman holding a hand gun in his hands as he got ready to pull the trigger again.
"I don't think so!" exclaimed Kagami as she summoned her magic once again to help her.
She quickly became a blur as she shot towards the hippo beastman before delivering a powerful kick to his head. The hippo yelped out in pain before he was sent flying into a nearby building. Kagami landed on her feet again, then turned to glare at the hyena. The beastman stepped back in fear before she grabbed him by the front of his suit. The hyena struggled to get out of her grasp, but somehow he wasn't able to break out of it. Kagami then surprised the hyena by lifting him up from the ground. He let out a whimper as she was glaring angrily up at him.
"I don't know what you plan to do with those kids. But I sure as hell won't let you or your gang members lay a single claw on them!"
Then, through the power of her magic, Kagami threw the hyena across the street and into the side of another abandoned building. The force of her throw, and him colliding with the building, had knocked the hyena out cold as he laid amongst the rubble. Kagami glared at him and was about to take a step forward when she suddenly sensed someone approaching her from behind. She tried to dodge away from her attacker. But she was too slow a the bull dog beastman from before appeared behind Kagami, and held her in a headlock. Kagami struggled within the dog's the grip, but she could already feel exhaustion over taking her.
'Damnit...I've used up too much of my magic today!' thought Kagami as she began to feel the dog beastman tighten his hold around her neck.
The other beastmen gang members slowly recovered from Kagami's attacks before the hippo shouted at the bull dog beastman.
"Make sure you finish it up quickly! We need to find those kids and bring them back to the boss as soon as possible!"
"With pleasure," said the dog beastmen as he tightened his hold around Kagami's neck.
Kagami struggled as she tried to stay conscious. But it was getting harder to breath and her vision was beginning to grow blurry. She saw the images of the four gang members crowding around her. They shouted words of encouragement to the bull dog beastman, while also throwing out insults at how weak she was.
'No...I can't lose conscious now!' thought Kagami in frustration and anger. 'I have to protect those kids, and take them to a place where they'll be safe!'
Then she thought about one of her magical abilities that she hadn't used in a long time. But she was reluctant to use it against those who weren't at her level or didn't have magical powers.
'But what choice do I have? If I don't use it now, then this will be the end for me!'
With her mind made up, Kagami began to summon up the last bit of her magic to end the five gang members around her. Kagami was about to open her mouth to shout out the incantation of her spell, when the grip that the bull dog beastman had on her neck suddenly loosened. She fell to the ground onto her hands and knees. Kagami coughed and gasped for air before she sensed someone standing beside her. Kagami looked up to see who it was, and saw a male wolf beastman standing tall beside her.
The wolf beastman had white fur accented by teal fur covering his back and the top of his head, and teal fur on the end of his tail. He had a grey patch of fur on the bridge of his black nose, and a white diamond-shaped pattern on his forehead. A disheveled mane of fur grew around his neck, with some of it spilling over the top of a brown silver buckled dog collar that sat around the wolf's neck. He was wearing a light tan trench coat with the collar up, a black sweater, dark grey gloves, dark gray slim chinos that were held up by a dark brown belt and dark brown shoes. Kagami also took notice of the wolf's eyes, and saw that they were an icy blue that held a deep anger within them.
As she gazed up at him, Kagami couldn't help tensing when she sensed a powerful aura flowing around the wolf beastman. The gang members, who had been attacking her, stepped back in fear at the sight of the new beastman. After a moment, the raven was the first one to speak in a trembling voice.
"I-I-It's Shirou Oogami!"
The wolf, now known as Shirou Oogami, glared at the gang members before speaking a with a growl in his voice: "I suggest you six leave before I decide to get rough with you."
Trembling the gang members quickly did what the Shirou had told them as they turned, picked up the unconscious hyena, and bolted back the way they came. Kagami watched them run with a light frown upon her face. She then turned to glance up at the wolf again. The said wolf continued to glare after the gang members for a moment before he turned his harsh gaze onto Kagami. She flinched slightly when her eyes connected with his. Kagami quickly steeled herself as she cautiously stood up from the ground. She winched slightly as she lifted her left hand up to press it against her right shoulder. When she stood up, Kagami saw that the wolf beastman was a head taller than her. She couldn't help feeling a little intimidated by him.
'I'd better be careful with what I say or do around him,' thought Kagami to herself. 'I get the feeling that he's the no nonsense type of guy and that I shouldn't mess with him. I also better not say anything about me coming from a different world either. He probably wouldn't believe me anyways.'
Shirou glared down at Kagami for a moment before he finally spoke in a cold and demanding voice: "What are you doing here in Anima-City, human?"
Kagami frowned at him but answered none the less: "My name is Kagami Kage, and how I got here is a bit of a mystery."
"What's that supposed to mean?" questioned Shirou with a frown.
"I just found myself washed up on the beach of your city's shorelines," answered Kagami bluntly.
Shirou glared at Kagami suspiciously before he asked his next question: "The gang members that you were fighting said that they were looking for three children."
"Yeah they did," replied Kagami as she also gave Shirou a suspicious glare. "What's it to ya?"
Shirou's eyes narrowed before he replied in a dangerous voice: "If you have those children captured somewhere, and you're planning to sell them, then I will take your life without a second thought."
Kagami's eyes widened at what the wolf had said before she snapped at him in anger: "I didn't capture those children! I found Kaito and the twins here in the abandoned part of the city by accident when I first came here! I would also never sell those orphaned children to people who would do terrible things to them either!"
The wolf raised an eyebrow up in surprise at Kagami's sudden outburst. But he still held his stern expression as he continued to look down at Kagami with distrust. Kagami glared up at him for a moment before finally letting out a exasperated huff. She then took on a serious expression as she stared up at him.
"Look...It's clear to me that you're a guy who obviously works with the law enforcement. So if I show you where Kaito and the twins are hiding...will you promise that you'll take them somewhere safe?"
"If I do promise that, what will you get out of it?" questioned Shirou gave Kagami a suspicious look.
"All I want is for those three kids to have a family who'll love and look after them," answered Kagami in a firm voice. "Also, once they're safe, I'll leave this city and go to the other city across the water. And I promise to never set foot in this city ever again."
The wolf stared down at Kagami and saw that she was serious with her promise. After a minute he let out a sigh before he spoke once again as he gave Kagami a warning glare.
"If you try anything cunning then I'll kill you, got it?"
"I understand," said Kagami before she turned and began to walk towards the abandoned warehouse. "They're hiding out in a warehouse just a few feet from here. I'll take you to them and tell the trio the situation before I leave them in your care."
The wolf followed Kagami while keeping a sharp eye on her. As they got closer to the warehouse, Kagami made sure to dismiss the 'Iron Barrier' before they got close to it. Once she had dismissed the barrier, Kagami felt herself stumble for a second. She quickly caught herself and continued to walk towards the warehouse. Shirou had noticed the human girl's stumble and became suspicious about it. They soon came to the hole of the warehouse. Kagami was the first one to step inside with the wolf following close behind her.
"Kaito!" called Kagami as she gazed towards the hiding spot. "You and the twins can come out now!"
Kaito, Kiki and Akira slowly poked their heads out from around the boxes and smiled when they saw Kagami.
"Ms. Kagami!" echoed the three children as they ran out of their hiding spots and raced towards Kagami.
Kagami gave the children a tired smile as they came to a stop in front of her. She saw their expressions of relief on their faces. But their expressions quickly turned to worry when they saw her wounded shoulder.
"Ms. Kagami! Your shoulder's bleeding!" exclaimed Kiki in a panic voice.
"Don't worry, this wound is nothing," replied Kagami in a reassuring voice as she pressed her hand against the injury. "And you don't have to worry about anything else either. I found someone who can take you somewhere safe."
Kagami then turned to look at the wolf behind her, who was keeping a watchful eye on her. The children quickly noticed the wolf and grew a little nervous when they saw him. Kagami noticed this as she looked down at them with a reassuring smile.
"It's alright. This guy's name is Shirou Oogami. He's going to take you to a safe place where you'll be protected from those gang members."
"Really?" asked Akira gently.
"Positive," replied Kagami with a nod.
So, with some reluctance the children walked up to Shirou, who gazed down at them with his icy blue eyes. Kagami saw the hardness in his eyes softened a touch. She could only guess that the wolf only showed his gentler side to those who are his species or aren't a threat to him. She watched as Shirou turned and led the kids out of the warehouse, while she trailed behind them at a short distance. Kagami then had to pause when she felt a hot flare of pain shoot up from her wounded shoulder. She gritted her teeth before falling against the inside wall of the warehouse. Kiki paused to look back and gasped in alarm as Kagami slowly slid down the wall before coming to sit on the concrete ground.
"Ms. Kagami!" shouted Kiki in alarm.
Kagami panted as pain and exhaustion began to spread throughout her body. The wound on her shoulder bled out more blood, which slowly dripped down her arm and fell onto the ground.
'N-no...I can't...fall here now! Not when the children are here…and I promised that wolf that I would leave this city right away.'
Kagami's vision began to blur as the three children rushed up to her and began to shout out her name. The wolf also came up to her as he knelt down beside her. She saw him digging into his pocket for something, but Kagami wasn't able to see what it was as her vision finally gave out. She was soon pulled into the black abyss of unconsciousness and she knew no more.
To be continued