AN: Drop reviews if you enjoyed what was there. I'm curious to know what you all think. Did you enjoy it? Tear up a bit? Find something funny? All hail the fluff?

.

Disclaimer: I don't own any original content; I claim no ownership of DxD or HxH content. With that said, I sure as hell wrote this fic so don't steal my shit.

.

Chapter 5.

Coming out of my deep slumber, I groaned lightly in pleasure.

It felt like I just hibernated for a whole winter, except somehow… my bed was incredibly soft and warm.

Blinking my eyes open, I winced at the light for a moment before relaxing at the familiar feel of torchlight.

All of my hideout bedrooms have torches instead of lights.

Why? Because I liked it better.

There was a special ambience of torches, but considering the hideouts magic, they didn't produce smoke or heat.

They just gave light, ambience, and they could be dimmed like they were right now.

Recognizing I was safe, I turned slightly in my warm bed and snuggled in, only to hear a soft moan from my pillow.

My eyes snapped back open, and I felt my brow twitch when realization hit me.

'Which one of them snuck into my bed this time?'

Actually looking around with a lifted head, my eyes widened at what I saw.

Beneath my body was the much taller and extremely toned but very soft form of Ghislaine, whose naked chest I was snuggling my head into.

To my left and right, were the forms of Leone and Yoru, pressed into Ghislaine and with their breasts on each side of my arms.

And on my legs, was the curled up form of Chloe, also nude.

I rolled my eyes at them.

'Can't they sleep in their own damn beds? At least I'm wearing pants this time.'

It's not like they remove my clothes or anything, but I sometimes sleep nude, expecting my bed to stay empty.

They never seem to care for nudity taboos, it's familial to them, but I still have 'some' reservations about it.

When I say 'some' I mean very little.

They did a wonderful job of eliminating that point from me by ignoring me and using me as a teddy bear while nude.

It's fine most of the time, but not when they fall asleep drunk.

No one likes the smell of booze when you yourself didn't drink.

I sighed and laid back down, but a smile was on my face.

It felt good to be home.

Just then, a groggy voice whispered in my ear from the left.

"Mn… move again and I'm removing your legs."

Yoru's half asleep voice reached me and I peeked to the side to her eye cracked open with a serious look.

I chose not to move for the sake of the ability to walk.

But it didn't seem to matter since she leaned in anyway and affectionally licked my forehead.

"Welcome home kid."

I smiled at her and nodded.

"Mn."

It seems we weren't quiet enough, or maybe they're just that sensitive, but the others seemed to stir from their sleep as well.

Ghislaine's arm circled my chest and pressed me deeper into her chest.

"Welcome home pup."

Chloe uncurled with a stretch and laid down on her chest on my own with and her hands under her chin.

"Welcome home~."

Leone was the last to move as she looked up and sent me a smile and a wink before going back to sleep.

I gave her a worried look but Yoru whispered in my ear.

"She's fine, she's just exhausted after chasing you around the world for two months."

I felt guilty at her words, but Chloe just laughed.

"Don't feel bad about that, she probably enjoyed a worthy hunt, you have other things to worry about."

Her eyes took on a sadistic gleam at the end, and I felt Yoru chuckle beside me while Ghislaine tightened her hold on me.

"Hehe….um…mercy?"

Yoru and Chloe spoke at the same time with a gleam in their cat like eyes.

""Sorry, all out of mercy.""

Ghislaine added her own comment to cement my fate.

"Get him."

"Ah! Wait! I'm sorry!"

Leone rolled her eyes from where she was laying but there was a content smile on her face.

~30 minutes later~

A dead corpse was floating in the hot spring.

The dead corpse being me.

A splash of water threatened to upturn my floating form.

"Stop being so dramatic kid, we just had some fun."

My eye twitched and I turned my head to where Yoru got in.

"You three tickled me mercilessly and then clawed me up for not staying still. I've been mauled by wild animals less violent then you three."

A mischievous laugh to the side and another wave told me Chloe got in.

"Oh come on, didn't you have fun~."

Her teasing voice rang in my ear and I reached over under the water to pinch her thin waist.

"Nya!"

"Our ideas of fun are very different."

She shot me a look before a larger wave of water splashed both of us as Ghislaine got in.

"Now, now, we already welcomed the pup home, why don't we listen to his side of the story. Pup, what have you been up to while you were gone?"

Chloe and I spat out some water and shot Ghis some looks, but before I could say anything another wave appeared, and I was lifted like a toy into the waiting arms of Leone.

"If he doesn't want to say, he doesn't have to. He's home and that's what matters."

Leone rested against the side with my sitting on her lap and pressed into her chest.

I didn't bother fighting, the water was healing me and there was no harm in it.

I owed her at least this much.

I did appreciate her words, but her next ones made me twitch.

"Besides, I tracked his ass around the world, I know the majority of what he did."

I waved my hand quickly to stop her.

"No! It's fine, I'll say it."

And then in a whisper I added.

"Who knows what you will embellish."

"What was that brat?"

"Nothing."

"Hm… fine. Go on, we got time and you need at least an hour in this spring."

I sighed but nodded.

"Wait, let me grab my phone, I don't exactly know how many jobs I actually took in the end."

Chloe rose a brow at that.

"You don't know?"

I shrugged.

"I was a bit out of it."

She nodded and laid back.

I got out and grabbed the phone from a pants pocket before getting back in before I was grabbed back up my Leone.

I rolled my eyes at her before scrolling through the phone.

Thankfully, it's waterproof.

But while I was searching, Yoru decided to add a comment.

"You know kid, you're going to make some girl very happy one day."

I looked up with a questioning look and she mimed her finger going through a circle with her other hand, making me groan and ignore her while she laughed mischievously.

Ghislaine splashed her.

"Behave Yoru."

I muttered while focusing.

"Pervert Yoru."

If anything that made her laugh more.

Thankfully, I could focus on my phone.

I scrolled through my logs and my eyebrows shot up.

Chloe leaned over and looked.

"What is it?"

Leone also looked from her vantage.

"Huh….it seems…I'm eligible for the Gold rank now."

There was a pause before Chloe and Leone laughed while Ghis and Yoru looked confused.

"What's the big deal with that?"

Chloe stopped laughing to answer.

"The reason it's a big deal, is because usually it takes a newly promoted Silver rank around two years to reach Gold rank. You need over 200 successful jobs with a low failure percentage. And why and when is important to.

If you completed 199 jobs but failed 10 in a row, you would need a lot more work to rank up."

Leone nodded.

"Exactly, and our wolf here did it in six months."

Ghislaine nodded in pride.

"He was trained by us, this is the least he should accomplish."

Yoru nodded along.

"Damn straight, that's bringing some face to your teachers."

I smiled warmly at them.

I know they said that to make me not feel so guilty.

I hid my smile and focused on the jobs.

"Well it seems I completed 217 jobs with 8 failures at random points. The first three aside, the other five were due to misinformation and…. Ah, I remember this last one.

The guy tried to ambush me since I killed someone close to him, had a whole fireteam and everything."

Chloe rose a brow.

"So what happened?"

I sent her a smirk.

"Let's just say I used what you taught me well."

She matched my smirk with a proud look and rubbed my head.

"That's my little bro."

Leone pulled me away from her.

"Oi, he's my little brother."

The other three sent her sharp looks but she didn't back down.

And I was being dangled over the water and wasn't actually being healed anymore so I tapped her arm.

"Hey sis, can you put me down."

There was a pin drop silence after my words and I wondered what it was I said.

I looked over and the three of them were sending Leone deadly looks now.

"Sis?"

"Since when did she get that title?"

"You think your better than us?"

I felt Leone tense up.

"Ha..ha..ha… um… Hei, evasive maneuvers tactic #13!"

I rose a brow at her.

"What is tactic #13?"

"It means distraction!"

She tossed me in their direction where I was grabbed out of the air and secured by Ghislaine.

My brow twitched as she ran away stark naked.

"Oi! You're not getting away bitch!"

"Get back here and let me poison you!"

Yoru and Chloe chased after her and I was ever so thankful for making my hideout half an empty chamber.

*Boom!* *Boom!* *Boom!*

Very happy.

I looked up at Ghislaine who hadn't moved.

"Don't want to go have fun?"

She shook her head and gave me a smirk.

"It's fine, wait till they realize they couldn't monopolize you for a while."

I rolled my eyes with a chuckle.

"Oh, I feel honored."

She nodded.

"You should. Now, tell me about your time away."

Her voice was calm and peaceful, but it held a tone of sisterly authority that I didn't wish to test.

I nodded and started talking.

Partway through my tale, Leone showed up with a nice shiner on her face but waved it off by saying she managed to set Yoru and Chloe against each other before escaping.

Those two showed up soon after, Yoru with many small cuts and walking with a limp and Chloe twitching from electrical sparks.

They got in and sighed as the water began the healing process.

But no one interrupted except to laugh at funny points through my tale.

No one pointed out my lack of attention to resting or stopping.

I think my appearance when Leone brought me in should have said enough.

When I mentioned picking up smoking, I got some dirty looks but when I explained it's difference, they backed off.

In Yoru and Chloe's words.

"The stench of nicotine is nauseating from one hundred feet away."

They have strong senses of smell so even if they are not trying, they can still smell it.

I rose a brow at their careless attitudes but it was Yoru who waved her hand.

"We're your sisters, not your parents. Do whatever the hell you want as long as it's not hurting you and you don't disappear.

Or if we dislike it."

I chuckled at the first part but gave her a dry laugh at the ending. She just winked at me and I shook my head and continued.

Some of my kills like the one in Moscow had them clapping in applause, while others had them laughing at the weird situations I ended up in.

When I mentioned the tabby cat in the alleyway, I ended up smothered by hugs much to my embarrassment.

And then finally I reached the end where Leone found me in Amsterdam.

Yoru whistled when I finished.

"You really went all over kid."

I shrugged.

"I was taking whatever job I could complete the same day. So I was moving a lot."

Leone pointed out an issue with that.

"How many of those cards for moving around to you still have left?"

I called out my binder and took a look before slumping forward a bit.

"Not a lot… aside from two special ones, I used most of the other three kinds."

She smirked at that.

"Well it looks like your stuck with us for a while."

I sent her a smile at that but looked thoughtful after a second.

"Hey Leone, think you can show me how you make the teleportation circle?"

Chloe rose a brow at that.

"Thinking of escaping already?"

I shook my head.

"No, it's just that Leone pointed out a big issue I have with transportation. My cards are instantly activated and have their own pro's, but I'm limited with the amount.

If I wasn't in a rush, a teleportation circle would be a big help."

Leone shrugged.

"It's not like I don't want to help, but you don't have the reserve….hm… oi! How is your energy reserves five times higher than two months ago?!"

The others shot me looks of surprise and focused on me, sensing my energy, and I didn't try to stop them.

They all gave me shocked looks as well.

"The hell? How did you do that?"

"You know something we don't kid?"

"How interesting, what did you do pup?"

I pushed Yoru and Chloe's face away from my own and sought solace in Ghislaine's breasts.

The damn things were like walls of iron or soft watermelon sized spheres of tanned flesh depending on if she flexed.

"Down you two! I'll tell you sheesh."

They backed off and I sighed in relief.

"Well… this is actually a secret of mine, only the old man knew about it…"

I looked down at the thought of my father figure, and they gave me a moment, before I shook it off and looked up.

I smiled at their curious expressions.

'Heh, I do trust them now.'

I explained how the 'Trade' spell card worked and they had mixed reactions.

"That's bullshit!"

"So broken…"

"Life is unfair."

"Hm…."

The four of them had depressed clouds on their heads but they shook it off after a minute of silence much to my surprise.

"Heh, whatever, it's a good thing for us."

"Yeah, the kid is going to be a powerhouse in the future."

"Mn, you will be a glorious wolf and step on their throats."

"Plus we have the reassurance of your ability to protect yourself."

I shot Chloe an annoyed look and she put up her hands.

"Hey, I didn't mean it like that. There are a lot of monsters in this world that having the best of skills won't help you against."

Yoru nodded at that.

"Skills are very important, but without raw power, there is only so far you can go."

Leone sighed.

"On the other hand, those lazy bastards with stupid amounts of raw power can reach the top just by spamming end game attacks."

"Mn, it's pathetic."

Even I agreed with that.

But then Yoru's eyes hardened as she looked at the others.

"This is an incredible ability, it needs to stay between us."

Chloe nodded with the same seriousness.

"He could be hunted down by devils if they learned another race had an ability like their own. Not even out of fear, but just out of them imagining their pride was hurt. Stupid bats."

Ghislaine agreed.

"The best kept weapon is the weapon hidden in the shadow of another. We just need to make his other abilities more prominent that no one asks questions."

Leone got on board with that.

"Hell yeah, it's time to take his training to the next level."

All four pairs of eyes focused on me and I felt like a mouse before four large cats.

"You missed 4 weeks of training brat."

"I'm going to have to increase the poison's lethality to make up for it."

"Perhaps another survival exercise."

"Hehe, I'll really make it feel like your legs are falling off."

I shrunk in the water.

"….Parley?"

A hand clapped down on my shoulder and I sighed at my fate and looked on with dead eyes.

"Fine. Bring it on."

Their eyes shined with a demonic light.

'Dad, save me a room at your new place.'

*Line Break*

Once we were dressed and ready to head out, Yoru dropped a comment that made me groan.

"By the way kid, the triplets weren't happy that you were gone."

Chloe came up behind me and wrapped herself around me with a teasing tone.

"They went on and on about their plans to take you down escalating since you ran away from them."

I slapped a hand on my face.

"Those three are going to be the death of me."

Chloe and Yoru perked up at that.

"Hey! You think they will off you? What about me?!"

"Yeah! You think they can do a better job than me?"

I gave them deadpan looks and just walked off without a word.

"Oi! Don't ignore me!"

"Don't make me poison you Hei!"

"Don't poison him! I want him to run!"

"No, Poison is more fun than senseless running!"

"Who do you think you are?!"

"Who do you think YOU are?!"

Leone joined me while whistling a tune with her hands behind her back, and Ghislaine was already climbing up the ladder.

They could come up when they settled their differences.

*Line Break*

That evening, a feast was thrown for my return.

The official story my sisters told the village was that I had some family business to take care of, which in a very technical way was true.

Two months to the multiple century long lifespans of the nekomata was the blink of an eye so many just shrugged and welcomed me back with hugs and licks.

The triplets indeed didn't appreciate my absence.

I was designated as their official seat for the feast and had to promise to play with them a few times to get them off my back.

Literally.

Shi tried to take a bite out of my shoulder, the little girl loves biting.

But overall, my situation blew over and life seemed to go back to normal in the village.

Well, normal in a sense, and abnormal in the occasional screams that echoed around from what the four 17th century torturers put me through.

They weren't kidding about upping the training.

Leone stepped things up to sensing while blindfolded while actively dodging painful attacks.

I was surrounded by dozens of fireballs and forced to dodge or get my hair burnt off or my ass set on fire.

Funny in comics, not in real life. When it happens to you anyway, Leone found it hilarious.

Yoru really did increase the difficulty, except this time I learned she had been using gravity runes on me! This time she openly admitted it and cranked it up to where I felt like I was moving through mud.

Ghislaine decided I needed that survival exercise, but this time it was a test of what I learned so far.

The fact that my path JUST so happened to cross with multiple magical beasts was not lost on me.

She was out there directing beasts into my path.

And Chloe….*shiver*.

Chloe broke out her good stuff.

The stuff that reshapes the body through heavy application and lots of pain.

And she did it by making me escape the string maze, but three times the size of what it once was.

But they switched up my schedule to having one week with them, and a week of honing my other skills so I didn't stagnate.

I still went back to earth to move my cargo to Tom a couple times, and I stopped by Winston to upgrade my rank.

That was an interesting conversation.

*Line Break*

Flashback:

Wearing my mask and cloak, a new mask and cloak, considering the old ones were covered in blood, tears, and cracks that wasn't worth the effort to clean, I walked into the guild hotel.

Aside from myself growing slightly taller and a bit more broad shouldered, not much had changed about me aside from the mask's design.

I still hadn't hit puberty yet much to my joy and annoyance.

Annoyance since I was tired of being small, and joy because I know my sisters are waiting for me to start physically reacting to their nudity.

Like sharks smelling blood in the water.

That is not a day I'm looking forward to.

As for my new mask, it was similar to the old one, bleached white with dark shaded eyes and red lines crossing over the left eye.

Except this time, I added my howling wolf symbol in tribal design on the right side of the mask.

I was officially the new Lupa, so I figured I should make a slight change.

It was around 9PM when I walked through the doors.

Walking through the tastefully decorated lobby, my mind flashed back to when I walked the corridor with my teacher around 14 months prior.

So much happened in that time, and I only stopped by the hotel a few times in the beginning.

Walking up to the concierge, I was met with the smiling face of the man who greeted me before.

"Ah, Lupus, or perhaps I should say Mr. Lupa now."

He said the last part with a sad look while seeing the wolf design and I shook my head.

"Sam, Lupus is fine."

My voice came out in a deeper form from one of my voice changer candies.

He nodded and didn't question it.

"Well, Mr. Lupus, how may I help you today?"

"The manager, is he in?"

Sam nodded and gestured with his hand to a side corridor.

"Always, he should be in the same booth as before. Would you like a guide?"

I shook my head and placed a gold coin down on the counter.

"Sir?"

I just waved a hand and walked away.

"Thank you Sam."

He bowed his head and took it with a smile.

"Anytime sir."

I walked the corridor the same as the first time I was here and came upon the lounge doors.

Walking inside, I noticed it was more packed than the first time I came considering that was right after the sun had set versus now when the sun set hours before in the winter season.

The room had dim lighting, a band was playing, people were mingling in fine suits and dresses, and many were drinking, eating, and making under the table deals.

The lounge was the area for mercenaries of all kinds to relax knowing any act of violence is a declaration of war on the guild itself.

I walked through the crowds seemingly minding my own business, my cloak keeping me mostly inconspicuous with its enchantment, until one person seemed to just happen to look at my direction from where he was sitting and pointed it out to his friends.

Soon more and more noticed me with the passed on message, and to my surprise, there was a round of applause that went through the lounge.

No loud cheers or anyone bothering me, but just an applause of congratulations.

I didn't really know what to make of it, so I just inclined my head slightly and moved on.

The applause tapered off and everyone went back to their things while I arrived at Winstons booth.

He gave me a welcoming smile and gestured to the seat opposite him in his booth.

"Lupus, I was wondering when you would come in. Please sit."

I took a seat and posed a question.

"Winston, what was that about?"

He chuckled at that and twirled his wine glass.

"Are you not aware of your own accomplishment?"

I tilted my head slightly.

"Making it to gold rank?"

He shook his head and took a sip.

"No child, it's because you made it to gold rank, within less than a year. You broke some records with that you know? And what it did for the guilds reputation was wonderful."

I looked at him curiously.

"Was it that big of a deal?"

He chuckled again and set his glass down.

"In the grand scheme of things no. But breaking records among the lower ranks is not so simply done these days.

And boosting the guilds reputation is something worthy of recognition."

"There are hundreds of mercenaries taking jobs, why did doing a bunch at once raise the guilds reputation?"

"Because it tells the world that we still have powerhouses among our elite.

The mercenary guild has many members around the world, but the ones whose names stick out are the ones who are talked about in hushed circles. By having members with names that strike fear, the guild gets more recognition and certification for getting things done.

More jobs come our way, and more are looking to invest in it.

Of course, there is always the bad kind of attention, but I'm sure you can handle yourself."

I went through his words in my mind and it made sense.

At some point in my jobs, my targets actively seemed to fear my presence before I even did anything.

Winston went on and broke me from my thoughts.

"Now, first off, I wish to congratulate you Lupus, for reaching the qualification for gold rank. Your new ID card and package will be waiting for you with Sam on your way out.

Second, breaking the record to gold rank from not only the point of reaching silver, but the point in which you joined the guild, gets you lots of brownie points on your file.

When the time comes for Steel rank and above, you will be looked at favorably and be given some wiggle room even if your record has a few bugs in it.

And finally…"

Here his voice took on a somber tone.

"I should congratulate you on becoming the new Lupa."

I didn't respond to that and just looked down at the table.

Winston sighed and re-filled his glass before pressing a button on the side of his chair.

Blackout curtains wrapped the booth.

"Don't worry, these curtains use both technological and magical means to hide anything that happens inside. You can remove your mask Hei."

I nodded and did so.

My teacher trusted this man to be held to his word, so will I.

I placed my mask on the table and Winston placed a hand on my shoulder.

"He was a good man Hei. A man worthy of respect. Don't hurt yourself now that he is gone."

I looked at him with a curious gaze.

"How did you know?"

He chuckled and leaned back into his seat.

"I am well aware of Amon's personality. He would have stepped up to go beat your ass with a cane if you took so many jobs in a row like that.

So hearing that you just kept going, I knew what it meant.

I don't blame you for grieving, I don't blame you for your actions, but I will step in if you can't bounce back from this.

Amon was my friend, a very good friend, he wouldn't wish to see you hurting like that. Not his heir, you were a son to him."

I gave a half smile and a nod, but I wouldn't cry over it anymore.

"Thank you Winston, he trusted you as well, which is why I will also trust you.

But I have some family still out there who managed to snap me out of it and see reason. If it weren't for them, I would probably have kept going till I collapsed."

He chuckled at that and poured a second glass of wine.

"Good, protect whoever that may be Hei, hold on to them and never let go.

Family is what keeps us sane in this dark world we live in."

He raised his glass and gestured for me to raise the one offered to me.

"A toast, to an old friend and a father finding peace at last, and to family."

I clinked my glass against his.

"Amen."

I downed my drink while Winston scoffed.

"Don't just chug down good wine! That's an insult to the label. You are meant to savor it."

I shot him a look.

"You said it was a toast."

He shrugged unapologetically.

"I didn't mean you had to chug it."

"Then specify next time."

"There won't be a next time the way you insult good wine."

I rolled my eyes and went to put my mask back on, but to my surprise, a re-filled glass was sent my way.

He sent me a small smile.

"I was only joking, well half joking, sit and keep an old man company for a bit will you? I can share some stories I'm sure Amon didn't speak about, ones where he ended up in embarrassing situations."

I looked up in interest and smiled back.

"Sure, I would like that."

For the next hour, I just casually listened and slowly drank wine, Winston was an ocean of information just like my teacher was.

In fact, just speaking with him reminded me of speaking with my teacher.

It was a familiar feeling I didn't know I craved.

When the bottle reached its end, it was time to wrap things up.

I gave him a thankful nod.

"Thanks Winston, this was…therapeutic in a way."

He laughed at that.

"Haha anytime child."

I smiled and put my mask back on before he hit the button and the curtains pulled back.

"Lupus."

I turned to him as I stood.

"If you ever wish to chat, I'm always here."

I inclined my head slightly.

"Thank you."

"No issue at all. Oh! And please don't forget next month's shipment, the last few bottles you brought were delightful."

I chuckled and shook my head.

"Damn alcoholics."

"I heard that! I'm a wine connoisseur, not some ugly alcoholic."

"I brought you scotch last time."

"Semantics."

I rolled my eyes under my mask and turned away with a wave.

"Until next time Winston."

A few might have overheard the last part of our conversation, but nothing important was said.

I headed back out, getting a few nods from those that happened to see me since my cloak obscures senses when one isn't looking directly at me.

When I reached the front desk, Sam was waiting for me with a small box.

"Your package sir."

I gave him a nod.

"Thank you Sam."

He smiled and bowed his head back.

"Anytime sir. Please have a safe trip and come back soon."

I nodded and took the box before leaving the guild with a smile under my mask.

Time moves on, and some things change while others remain the same.

Flashback end.

*Line Break*

Aside from those two events, I didn't leave the village for the rest of the year.

I didn't take jobs, I didn't explore the world for fat sheep, I just stuck around and trained like my life depended on it.

Because it did.

The girls were more determined than ever to see me reach my potential.

And I grew from their efforts.

Before I knew it, the year had ended and I turned 10.

My designated cards reset and I had the chance for a new hideout, not that I had a location in mind at the moment.

My life just fell into a rhythm that I wasn't in a rush to interrupt, but life has a funny way of throwing a wrench in your plans.

And my wrench came in the form of a certain black haired and golden eyed Nekoshou.

*Line Break*

It was late winter, or technically early spring since this section of the underworld doesn't experience winter, when the village got some rare visitors.

It was mid-afternoon when I was training with Chloe in her poison string maze, and there was a commotion from the village.

Me and Chloe paused and closed our eyes to sense what was happening, and what I found confused me.

At first it looked like it was just all the regular villagers, but then I noticed three new signatures.

One average nekomata and two Nekoshou signatures.

Chloe gasped from her spot on a tree and stood up.

"Chloe?"

She gave me a glance and waved her hand.

"It's fine, an old friend came by is all. Continue training and I'll come make sure you're not dead in a couple hours~!"

With such parting words, she took off into the woods and I sighed.

"Sometimes I wonder why I signed up for this shit."

I closed off my unnecessary senses and focused back on my surroundings.

Each movement of my body had to be finely controlled, every element taken into consideration, for a single moment of focusing too much on one limb will have my other limb get snagged by a wire and I really didn't want to test out her new poison.

She had the smug grin on her face like when something funny would happen.

I breathed in and out, let go of the world, and moved through the maze in a strange pattern that only I could see.

I could see the path out, it was around 17 moves away from my current step.

And that's when life decided I was having to easy of a time.

"Hey! Nya, what are ya doing?"

The sudden voice surprised me and I flinched, only for a long wound to open on my arm.

I sighed and groaned, not in pain, but at my mistake and whatever had just entered my bloodstream.

"Nya! What?! Why are you bleeding!?"

Looking toward the source of the voice, I saw a young girl, maybe around my own age.

She had black hair, golden eyes, and was looking at me worriedly.

She started walking forward but I called out before she could enter the maze.

"Wait! Don't come closer! There are very sharp strings here."

She paused and narrowed her eyes looking around.

"Strings? Why?"

I sighed as I felt a burning sensation start filling my arm.

"It's training."

She gave me a weird look.

"Training for what?"

I went to answer before the burning increased and I groaned.

"Nya? Are you ok?"

I held up a finger.

"Please stop talking, let me get out and then I'll answer your questions."

She huffed but nodded, and I took a deep breath to ignore the pain and focus.

I controlled my body very finely, ignoring the blood staining my arm and not caring for how I looked.

One step at a time.

I was five steps from the exit when the girl opened her mouth again.

"Are there really that many string?"

My leg froze midair as a long cut stretched down my pants but thankfully missed my skin.

I shot her a 'shut the fuck up' look and she mimed zipping her mouth and sat down with her hands in the air.

I took another breath and corrected my movement before taking the final few steps out of the maze, and then I fell face first into the ground.

"Nya! Oi! Whats wrong?!"

The girl ran up to me and began shaking my shoulders.

Except she was a lot stronger than I expected and ended up shaking me like a ragdoll.

'Why is she so strong?'

"Excuse me."

"Nya! What?!"

"Shaking me isn't helping."

"Oh."

She put me down and rested my head on her lap.

I didn't fight it considering I was losing feeling in my body.

"Whats wrong?"

"The strings were poisoned."

"Poison!? What kind of training is this?"

I chuckled at that.

"My kind, don't worry about it, I'll be fine in a few hours. Probably."

"Probably? How often does this happen to you?"

I tried to shrug but failed.

"Depends on my teachers mood."

"Nya, she sounds mean."

I laughed at that.

"She's a very loving woman, but she has a sadistic streak bigger than the village."

The girl laughed out loud at that before remembering my wound, and to my surprise, she actually ripped her sleeve to make a bandage to tie around my wound.

"There, that should hold it for now."

"I told you I would be fine, you didn't have to ruin your shirt."

"It's fine, it's my fault you got injured in the first place."

I hummed at that and she gave me a dirty look.

"What?"

"That was the part where you say it's not my fault."

I blinked at that.

"But it was?"

She slapped my shoulder lightly.

"It was, but you're not supposed to admit it! Nya, what kind of gentleman are you?"

I laughed at that.

"I'm not a gentleman, I'm the big bad wolf."

She burst into giggles at that and I found myself enjoying the sound of her laughter.

"Nyahaha, you a wolf? A wolf in a nekomata village?"

I smiled at her.

"I'm adopted."

That just made her laugh harder.

"Nyaha I like you. Oh wow! I never asked your name."

I chuckled at her slight air headedness.

"It's Hei. And you?"

She sent me a large toothy smile.

"It's Kuroka! Nya, nice to meet ya Hei."

My eyes widened at that.

'What the fuck?! No wonder she looked familiar to me!'

She fake blushed and looked away.

"Don't look at me so intensely, don't tell me you fell for my charms already?"

I was caught off guard by her words and burst into laughter.

"Hahaha, sure, let's go with that. Your beauty ensnared me."

She huffed and playfully hit me again.

"Don't be rude you, if you tell a lady such things you better own up to it."

I didn't know why I said the next words, but it just came out in the moment. A spontaneous reaction.

"Maybe I will then."

Her eyes widened and she blushed for real this time.

"N-nya, I see. Well, good! I'll make you live up to those words!"

I couldn't help it; she was too cute in that moment and I smiled up at her.

"With pleasure Kuroka."

"Hmph, stupid Hei."

There was a moment of silence before we both broke out into laughter.

That was the moment a special friendship and bond was sparked between two strangers who met under strange circumstances.

*Line Break*

As it turned out, Kuroka actually came to the village with her mother Fujimai, and her younger sister Shirone.

Fujimai and her husband were apparently researchers working on something, and when she got pregnant, she was surprised to find out she gave birth to not one, but two Nekoshou girls only a few years apart.

She came to the village to find out more about Nekoshou from her old friends, but things didn't go so well.

My sisters were adamant on the girls staying in the village, where it was safe for Nekoshou to live without their secrets getting out into the world.

Especially ones so young.

Shirone was only five years old, and Kuroka was ten like me, but she was half a year younger.

The problem was Fujimai seemed almost religiously devoted to the idea of making a loving family with the man she loved, and holy hell did she go on and on about some dude that didn't seem to actually be caring about her in her stories.

Hell, my sisters were sharing weird looks as they listened to her.

It was like the talk of a Christian zealot talking about performing a massacre in the name of the biblical god.

They even made sure to check her for brainwashing magic but there were no signs of mental control.

The woman was genuinely that devoted.

It was… concerning.

On the other hand, Kuroka and Shirone were full of life.

Kuroka was practically glued to my hip from that moment in the woods. She apparently came up there to wander the woods while her mom was talking to Yoru and Leone.

That's how she wandered in my direction and called out to me which started the chain reaction.

After I was able to move, I got her one of my sweatshirts since her shirt was ripped.

The sight of her in a slightly too big sweatshirt with a large smile was somehow engraved in my mind.

Shirone was a tiny little thing. Smaller than even the triplets in size, but just as adorable.

The four of them were roughhousing on the grass and having fun, and then the triplets convinced Shirone to join them in their ultimate supreme mission of making me fall to my knees.

With the number at four, I had a tiny loli attacking each limb at the same time.

Kuroka fell over laughing at the sight and made no move to help me, forcing me to deal with them or ignore them.

Thankfully, I found that there was one thing the Shirone of now had in common with her canon version.

A weakness for sweets.

I shamelessly bribed the girl onto my team, and we subdued the others.

Shi jumped ship and betrayed her allies when she saw the tables turning for the sweet victory prize of a piece of chocolate.

The allies she cast into the abyss came after her with a vengeance, swearing to drag her into the depths with them.

Meanwhile Shirone sat on my shoulders and ate the chocolate with a blissful face.

Kuroka came in front of me and reached up to tickle Shirone while happening to press her growing assets into my face.

From the smirk she sent me, she knew what she was doing.

'What the hell is wrong with breast size in this world? She's ten for fucks sake!'

Still, it wasn't obnoxiously big, but it was still impressive for a ten year old. A couple more years and she would surpass Chloe, a fully grown woman.

Somehow, even from across the village, I shivered as a feeling of bloodlust hit me from where Chloe stood.

'How did she hear my thoughts?! Yoru! Chloe called you fat!'

Testing my theory, a few minutes later a certain cat fight happened and I was off the hook.

I held a hand to my chest and breathed out a sigh of relief while Kuroka shot me a questioning look and Shirone pat my head for more candy.

Ignoring the explosions in the background, I enjoyed my time with the sisters more than I thought I would.

And that was just the start of it.

Fujimai apparently didn't get what she wanted from my sisters so easily, and she was forced to come back more and more to ask questions.

She was a nekomata and her allegiance was very questionable, so my sisters were keeping her at arm's length for the sake of safety. Chloe and Leone's subordinates were sent to investigate the situation.

In the process however, the sisters came along and I ended up with both of them stuck to me.

Shirone started calling me big bro copying the triplets, and Kuroka got very handsy and affectionate.

I was already used to my sisters so I knew Nekoshou and Nekomata were very affectionate creatures.

I didn't go a day without being smothered by at least one of my sisters for at least half an hour.

Kuroka was also starting some kind of collection with her stealing one my sweaters every time she came.

I didn't even have that many to start with, I never bothered with buying a large wardrobe, but I had to get a few extra's since she showed up.

But if I never wore it, she would adamantly demand I wear it for an hour to get my scent on it.

I swear the girl is more trouble than she's worth.

But she stuck to me like glue, and she had a way of just getting under my guard and surprising me in ways no one else could.

It was as intriguing as it was annoying.

*Line Break*

A few months after our first meeting I was kneeling shirtless by the stream next to my 'tent', I was washing my face and throwing some water over my head to cool down from a very extreme session with Yoru and one of her new ideas for 'fun' exercises.

My legs were still twitching from that and I had no interest in moving for a while.

While letting the water flow down my shoulder length dark black hair, my wine red eyes narrowed as I sensed someone trying to sneak up on me.

A very familiar someone.

Sighing, I waited till she was a few feet away from pouncing before speaking.

"Can I help you Kuroka?"

I felt as much as heard the pout on her face as she groaned.

"Nyrrrrr, how do you always find me! I'm suppressing my energy!"

She complained as she dove forward and latched onto me in a hug with her head over my shoulder.

I chuckled and moved some wet hair out of my eyes.

"You need to start suppressing it before you enter the village. Whenever someone just vanishes from our senses, we all keep our ears peeled for someone moving around."

Kuroka pouted harder.

"Stupid paranoid people."

I chuckled and flicked some water at her face.

"Nya!"

"You live in a village of cats and you learn to expect the unexpected. You never know when a cat will decide to have some fun because it got bored."

Kuroka smirked at that and tightened her hold on me.

"Hehe, and what do you do when a bored cat finds you?"

I turned my head to meet her mischievous golden eyes with a matching look in my wine red ones.

"This of course."

Before she could react, I leaned forward and dropped us both into the stream with a splash.

"NYA! HEI!"

The stream was only a foot deep so I just laid there on my back and enjoyed the cool water.

"Yes Kuroka?"

A pair of angry golden slit eyes with wet strands of black hair falling down her face stared at me from her spot next to me for a moment before she pounced and mounted my prone form.

"That was mean! Nyahaha and fun."

She flipped between angry and laughing in a second.

I smirked up at laughing form as water dripped down her frame and found that I didn't want to look away.

When she stopped laughing, she looked down at me staring up and blushed slightly.

"This again? Am I that charming?"

She said it jokingly but there was a hint of honest curiosity in her eyes.

I chuckled and reached up with a hand to move a piece of wet hair from her face.

"Mesmerizing."

She blushed harder and used both hands to press on my face and push me half underwater.

"Stupid Hei! Don't say such things so suddenly! My maiden heart isn't ready!"

I chuckled even while she tried to commit mock murder by drowning.

So I returned the favor and flipped her around in the water.

"Nya! Grah! Now I'm soaked Hei!"

I chuckled while hovering over her.

Some of the teasing my sisters had piled on me for years bled out of me.

"Already? I'm honored."

She sputtered at that before huffing and tackling me.

"You will die today Hei!"

"Haha let's see if you can pull of what hundreds of others couldn't!"

We rolled around in the stream play wrestling until we made it to the bank with me over her on my elbows.

We both huffed while catching our breath and looked at each other before breaking out in laughter.

After a few minutes we calmed down with a few chuckles and peered at each other.

She smirked up at me.

"Nya, I think I like this more than the other way."

I matched her smirk.

"Tired of being on top?"

She laughed and wrapped her arms around my neck.

"I'm a girl who likes some variety."

There was a feeling in the air at the moment, and our necks leaned forward before a rose rang out.

"Nya. Onee-chan, big bro?"

Our eyes widened and before I knew it, a foot, curtesy of Kuroka, smacked into my gut and threw me back into the stream.

"Oof!"

"Onee-chan, why did you kick big bro?"

Kuroka got up and picked up the tiny Shirone in a loving hug.

She stuttered for an answer before finding one.

"We…ah…I…ah…He…right! He was being a bad wolf and didn't share his candy."

I spat out some water and shot her an incredulous look while tiny Shirone looked down at me with cold eyes.

"Hm. Meanie big bro."

I felt an imaginary arrow pierce my chest.

"Wait! Kuroka, that's not fair!"

She shot me an apologetic look as Shirone tugged on her sleeve.

"Let's go Onee-chan, big bro deserves a time out."

Her heartless words cut into me and Kuroka did her best to stifle her laughter as she walked away with Shirone in her arms.

She turned and shot me a wink as she left.

I laid there frozen in the stream.

'Wow, I can't believe I actually sympathize with Sirzechs and Serafall right now. That little girl owns a piece of my heart.'

*Line Break*

Six months after my first meeting with Kuroka, I was out in the woods with Ghislaine doing a training exercise in which I had to use my energy sense, intuition, and sound to hit a target 400 yards away, in the middle of heavy forestry, and blindfolded.

One very difficult challenge for sure, but my energy sensing had been honed over the months.

With great focus and concentration, I can slowly begin to build a map of my surroundings by sensing the energy flowing through everything.

Not just mana in me or chakra in Ghislaine, but the natural energy flowing through every vine, tree, and plant.

It created an image through my mind not unlike the matrix movies I had seen in my past life, but without the numbers, more consistent energy flow, and more…alive for the lack of another word.

It was truly energy sensing.

Unfortunately, to finely sense like this puts a heavy toll on one's brain and without great focus I can't enter the state all together.

It took a lot of effort and will to focus my mind on a single direction and close off my senses in other directions.

Leone says in a few more years, I would have no blind spots if I continued as I am. Apparently I was making phenomenal progress in the art form.

I notched the arrow on my bow and slowly took aim as Ghislaine's deep and calm voice rang out next to me.

"Good, see your target, envision it, feel it, find that spot, let your instinct guide you."

I subtly nodded and inhaled a long breath before pulling the bow string back.

I let my instincts guide me, finding the spot I knew to be right.

Then I exhaled, and right as I was going to let the string go, a voice called out.

"Nya! Found you!"

"Wha?!"

My hand twitched and the arrow flew just as a form tackled me from behind and threw me off my perch on the tree branch.

"Nyahaha!"

I lifted my blindfold as I flew and blinked at the sight of Kuroka with a wide smile wrapped around me.

"Kuroka?!"

"I found you Hei!"

My eye twitched at her happy smile and with one hand wrapped around her waist, I stabbed my other hand into the nearby trunk to slow our descent.

After all these years and my steroid cards, my skin, bones, and muscles were hardened beyond the human level.

With only minor scratches on my hand, we reached the ground and I shot Kuroka a look that did nothing to diminish her joy.

"Kuroka. What did I say about tracking me in the woods, you don't know what could be out here!"

She stuck her tongue out at me.

"Nya, I'm a strong Nekoshou, I can handle a couple measly animals."

I went to argue but a cold, calm, and deep voice rang out behind Kuroka and my eyes widened at the sight.

"Hoho~. So you think the wild is weak do you?"

A large hand reached out and locked on Kuroka's head.

"Eh…?"

The hand lifted her off the ground like her weight didn't exist and Kuroka came face to face with the calm and glowing eyed form of Ghislaine.

"I think you need a survival exercise."

Kuroka had gone pale at her words and I didn't blame her.

Whenever Ghislaine says 'survival exercise' you can expect her target to go missing for at least a week.

I shot her a look of pity while she sent back a look for help.

I just chuckled and turned to leave before another large hand locked on my own head.

"And where do you think you're going?"

"Eh…?"

Like the one before me I was lifted face to face with a glowing eyes Ghislaine.

"What did I do?"

"Ho~? You missed your target."

I sputtered and pointed at Kuroka, quick to throw her under the bus without any shame.

"She snuck up on me!"

"Hey! Don't blame it on me!"

"You surprise tackled me!"

"I was happy to see you!"

"Well I have mixed feelings at the moment!"

Ghislaine's calm voice cut through the excuses.

"You should have felt her coming, you made no reaction to her surprise attack, one which was well concealed I'll add."

Kuroka beamed at the praise before Ghislaine shot her a look that made go pale again while I tried to put up a finger to argue but the glowing cat eyes of my teacher silenced me.

My shoulders slumped.

"Survival exercise?"

She nodded.

"Survival exercise."

My eyes grew dull and Kuroka snickered at me.

Until Ghislaine turned back to her.

"You can join him."

"Wha?"

"Learn respect for the wild and hone your skills, the weak get eaten and only the strong survive."

She couldn't even argue as Ghislaine marched through the jungle like valley while dangling us from both arms like her catch of the day.

Any animal that crossed her path ran in fright once they saw her face.

Me and Kuroka had similar thoughts at the sight.

''I don't blame them.''

Ghislaine was scary when she wanted to be.

*Line Break*

Eight months after our first meeting.

I sat with my back against a tree smoking a cigarette with Kuroka laying between my legs with her head on my stomach as she held an instrument to her lips.

One thing many who had watched the anime would be surprised about, is that Kuroka has a fondness for playing the ocarina.

Her mother taught her to play when she was younger and although she was shy about it, she eventually opened up about it and let me listen to her play.

And play she did.

It captivated me the first time I heard her play a tune with the sky darkening and fireflies and glowing plants lighting up around her.

She had used an old plastic ocarina to play it, so to encourage her talent, I got her a new one.

Rather than buy one though, I carved one from the bone of magical beast I hunted.

Ghislaine showed me how to do it.

It was that ocarina that she held to her mouth at the moment as she played.

(AN: Song: The Foggy Dew - Celtic Ocarina. I recommend playing it, I listened to it as I wrote this next part.)

The tune echoed out around us, creating a harmony that quieted the forest life as if they wished to listen along in respectful silence.

I blew out a cloud of smoke and listened with a small peaceful smile on my face.

My arm around her waist tightened protectively and her face grew a happy smile as she played.

These moments, ones without words, ones of peace and harmony, they embraced us and told us we were where we were meant to be.

They touched our souls in a beautiful way, as if everything connected together like a thousand puzzle pieces that fit just right.

And the two main pieces were us, connected and bound.

Our breathes were in synch, our hearts beat in synch, our thoughts were in synch, and it felt like the world was ours, it revolved around us in this very moment.

As the song drew to an end, Kuroka lowered the ocarina from her lips but didn't open her eyes.

With a large smile, she half turned and snuggled into my chest, wrapping her arms around me with a satisfied purr coming from her chest that vibrated against me as my own arms wrapped around her, safeguarding her from the world.

No words were said, nothing needed to be.

We were just there, basking in our existence.

And deep in my mind, words I swore to live by resounded in my head.

'"I immediately offer all of my mana to Hei, if he shall agree to carry on my legacy and find love to hold, cherish, and protect with his life."'

The old, weary, and warm voice of my master spoke, and I saw his smiling face as he winked at me.

I let out a light chuckle as I wondered.

'Is this what it feels like father?'

Kuroka rubbed her head against my chest.

"Nya… what is it?"

I looked down at her with the end of my cigarette burning out and smiled.

"Nothing."

She play bit my chest.

"Tell me."

"Ah."

My smile became a smirk as I moved a hand through her hair making her purr louder in pleasure.

"I'm just thinking it might not have even been necessary for me to give you that egg, your musical skills are already captivating enough."

I gave her a present months ago in the form of one of my cards.

#21: Fledgling Musician – Write a musical instrument on the egg and warm this magic egg in your hand for three hours a day for one to five years, and you will become a top musician when it hatches. Actively working toward the goal will decrease the time needed until the egg hatches.

I didn't know if it was possible to give the eggs from my hatchling cards to others, but it seemed it was. They had to be the one to write the word on the egg, but it matched her energy signature after she did.

Kuroka smirked up at me with mischievous eyes.

"Nyaha, it's not enough. I want to see what you look like when I make your brain go blank."

I chuckled and lowered my head to rub against the side of hers much to her joy.

"I don't know what I might do in that case."

She laughed and whispered in my ear.

"I'm looking forward to it~. Nyahaha!"

We laughed and grew still, just enjoying the moment in each other's arms.

It's crazy to think how close we have become in less than a year.

No physical connection was made beyond skin-ship and cuddling, but we have come close many times.

Despite my older mind, I grew accustomed to my physical age, and I was never one to lose my senses to my lust.

I see my sisters nude all the time, and they are goddess's in flesh.

It's not lust I see toward a younger Kuroka, at least not until we're older, but it's something more.

Something beyond the physical.

She just makes me feel…at peace.

*Line Break*

Hidden among the tree's a few yards away from the resting forms of Hei and Kuroka, four pairs of eyes looked on with hearts in their eyes.

"They are so adorable!"

"Nya, my heart is melting!"

"Mn, the pup found his mate."

"I can't believe I'm feeling jealous of the brats."

The others turned eyes on Leone who commented last and she held her hands up.

"I said jealous OF them, not either one. I wish I could have found someone like that."

The others looked thoughtful and nodded.

"It's not like many men can both attract us and earn our trust."

"Yeah, the only ones strong enough to handle us are knee deep in one of the factions."

"Mn, the secret of the Nekoshou is more important than our feelings."

Leone sighed but nodded.

"I know, shame the Nekomata race is female only. Still it never hurts to get out and scratch that itch you know?"

The girls nodded at that.

They had been alive for centuries. Every now and then they go out and find an interesting human for a night before leaving.

Yoru smirked at them.

"It's always nice to get a good roll in the hay, but weaker men never really speak to our instincts."

Ghislaine nodded.

"We need a powerful mate for them to react."

Chloe smiled gently while peering at the resting duo.

"That's why they are so lucky. Hei is 100% trustworthy and his potential is so big we can't even see the end."

Leone smirked.

"And the kitten doesn't even realize she has been imprinting on our little brother."

Yoru matched her smirk.

"She unconsciously staked her claim and marked her territory."

Ghislain surprisingly chuckled.

"Heh, she has beautiful instincts in her. I wish to see what I can make of her."

The others rose a brow at her.

"You want to train her as well?"

"She does have a high natural physical boost even for a Nekoshou. I could see her reaching Touki easily."

"Plus her energy sense is nothing to sneeze at the way she keeps sniffing out Hei even while he is suppressing his own energy."

The four looked at each other before they spoke as one.

""""And the Senjutsu factor.""""

"She needs to be trained."

"We can't let the larger world know about what we can do."

"Did your spies find out anything."

"Yeah… her husband is a human tied to the Naberius Clan."

"Shit, they are known old Satan faction supporters. What is Fujimai thinking!?"

"She had always been an airhead even a century ago, but the level of devotion she shows to that man is frightening. He didn't even do anything as far as we can tell, he's just a human scientist obsessed with creating super devils. A fool's errand if you ask me."

"There are also signs that he abuses her, physically and sexually. Thankfully everything my spies could tell me said the girls are not targeted by it. They shouldn't even be aware, the father barely even looks at them."

The four of them growled deep in their throats at the thought of someone treating one of their sisters, no matter how disillusioned, like that.

Their claws itched to remove the problem and be done with it.

"We can't kill him, Fujimai would break down."

"Isn't it better for her to grieve and move on with her life than suffer like that?"

"Who's to say she wouldn't take her grief out on her fellow Nekomata?"

"You think she would?"

"Grief blinds one from the world."

The four of them hit a dead end.

"We will just have to leave it be for the moment."

"I'll keep my subordinates alert and watching to evacuate the girls in case of emergency. I mean no offense, but Fujimai made her bed, the girls are the priority."

No one argued with that point.

Leone just turned her gaze back to her little brother and spoke with a somber tone.

"Not to mention what would happen to Hei if something happened to her."

Yoru's eyes hardened.

"I don't want to see him disappear in his grief only to come home as a shell of himself again."

Chloe's eye had a glow to them.

"Then we just need to push him harder, to make him stronger."

Ghislaine summed up their thoughts.

"To tear out the throats of anyone who stands in his way."

A ways away, quietly resting with Kuroka in his arms, Hei shivered unconsciously, unaware of the four pairs of glowing and determined eyes looking at his form.

Hell mode was about to become Insanity mode.

*Line Break*

11 months since our first meeting.

"Please."

"No."

"Pllleaasseeee."

"No."

"Come on Hei! Pretty please?"

"I said no."

"Nya! Why are you being mean to me."

"I'm not being mean."

"Yes you are!"

"No I'm not."

"You are."

"Not."

"Yes."

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

Kuroka jumped from her perch and lightly stabbed her nailed into my shoulders from behind.

"I'm coming."

I ignored her.

"You're not."

"Grrr. Why not!"

"I told you, there is nothing for you to gain from going on a job with me."

"But I want to see what you do when you go out on your jobs!"

I sighed and put down my bag to turn and face her.

"Kuroka, my jobs are not games. I'm taking lives in various forms, it's not something to do for fun."

She tilted her head in confusion.

"Then why do you do it?"

I sighed and took her hand in mine.

"I do it for a few reasons."

"Explain it to me then."

"Fine.

I do it for three reasons.

One, it's for my legacy. I explained what the legacy of Lupa is right?"

She nodded.

"You said it was a legacy of assassins and mercenaries dating back to roman times and passed on from master to disciple every generation."

I smiled and patted the side of her head making her smile back.

"You got it. I'm the current legacy holder, it's important to uphold the honor of it and reach at least a certain level before I can stop."

She hummed at that but nodded.

"Ok, fine. What about the other two reasons?"

I chuckled and removed my cigarette pack before taking one out.

Kuroka smirked and held up a small fireball with her kasha that I just chuckled harder at and lit my cigarette on.

My sisters got ahold of her and started training her when they weren't training me so she would stop interrupting my sessions.

Her mother occasionally leaves the sisters in the village and they are all the happier for it much to the annoyance of Fujimai who is a delusional nutjob in my opinion.

I know full well she was the very cause and reason for the Nekoshou massacre in canon. She made endless problems for the entire race all because she fell in love with a jackass who only saw her as a lump of flesh to hump when he felt like it.

She made her daughter's life into hell, began the chain that killed all the Nekoshou and hundreds of nekomata, and even left a bunch of valuable info in Shirone's hairclip that set Hades, the Greek god of death, after her daughters.

She wasn't a bad mother, but what she did makes me sick.

Mostly because of who it involved to be honest. I was very protective of the village and Kuroka and Shirone.

Shirone had me wrapped around her finger and used me like a palanquin when she wanted to, and Kuroka… was special to me.

There are much worse parents out there, many I've killed personally, but when it involves those I care for, it makes it much worse.

I pushed those darker thoughts away and took a deep breath of…cherry flavored smoke this time, before continuing.

"The second is because I am looking for certain humans. I have a special ability I might tell you about one day, and it allows me to gain power from those types of people."

Kuroka raised a brow at that, but surprisingly just nodded and didn't ask.

"And the third?"

"What? Not gonna ask about the second one?"

She shook her head and stepped forward to lick my cheek with a cheeky grin.

"I trust you Hei, you will tell me one day right?"

I got lost in her smile for a second before I coughed and nodded.

She stepped back with a giggle and I shot her a look.

She knew what she did, damn cat.

"*Cough* right. Moving on, the third reason is because I need to improve my rank to get jobs to fight higher ranked beings which also ties into the second reason.

The jobs for supernatural beings will give me access to more experience fighting them, and more opportunities to use my special ability."

She hummed at that and looked at me intensely before turning and looking away.

"I see."

I quirked a brow at her before it hit me and I openly laughed.

"Haha your curious aren't you?"

She huffed and stuck her tongue out at me.

"Damn straight I am! Nya! You gave a cat a juicy mystery."

I laughed and opened my arms, which she took without hesitation and dove in.

"Sorry, it's for your own safety as much as mine. There are a lot of mind magics out there. And…. Your parents worry me."

I didn't want to lie about how I felt about that, Kuroka deserved to know my views.

But she just nodded in understanding.

"I know… mom asks questions about what I get taught here, and sometimes about you, but I keep things vague, I promise!"

I chuckled and rubbed the back of her head.

"I know Kuroka, I don't doubt you."

She let out a breath of relief and sagged into my form while I held her.

"Yoru, Chloe, and Leone sensei have already warned me about it. They explained exactly why it was such a big deal without leaving anything out, and I understand.

I'm thankful for them being upfront and not hiding secrets, and it bothers me the way my mother is trying to use me and Shirone.

It's like that man's feelings for her are more important than ours!"

I soothingly rubbed her back and let her vent.

I've done it many times in the past months, went Kuroka just gets so frustrated she feels like she is about to explode.

Her mom doesn't treat them badly, but according to her, her father's feelings always come first to their mother.

If their father was hungry, Fujimai would make food for him first before them.

If he had a meeting and needed her to come along, she would leave the kids with some money and toys.

Whenever their father needed something, their mother all but abandoned them with only apologies and compensations.

She was so disillusioned with the idea of a perfect family based around her husband, that she ignored her own kids when he called.

Apparently when the three of them were alone, their mother gave them love and attention, she taught Kuroka to play the ocarina, she played with Shirone with her toys.

She wasn't a bad mom, until her husband called.

And Kuroka sees it.

Shirone is too young to understand, but Kuroka had matured very early on to care for her sister and make sure they stayed out of sight of their father.

It might seem like Kuroka is too mature sometimes for her age, but it's because she grew up in a household like that.

She never left her sister alone in the house, she didn't trust her father to come home one day and decide to use her sister in an experiment.

And she knows her mother might not actually stop him which makes her all the more worried.

So when she came here to this village, she never felt so free before.

She can entrust her sister with the other nekomata girls Shirone's age and trust the older nekomata women to watch over them.

Meanwhile she can finally let go and be free.

Which is when she found me.

She found someone she liked being around and stuck to me like glue.

According to her, my scent is really yummy and she can't get enough of it.

I smelled myself but didn't understand, I must have had a dozen scents on me at any point in time from living in a Nekomata village where they are all very affectionate creatures and love hugs and licks.

Still, she stuck to me, and I never complained…*cough* I never REALLY complained about it.

She has her…bad timings.

Like interrupting a training session where the teacher just takes the punishment out on me because she wasn't their student.

That 'free pass' expired about a month since her first visit, then the gloves were off much to her tears and my 'shared' pain and amusement.

I consoled my frustrated cat and spoke softly into her ears.

"It's ok, just keep doing what you're doing. If it's about your health or wellbeing, or an interest in your life, feel free to speak freely with your mother. But if it's an attempt to pry secrets by using her daughter, lie and mislead her.

We never told her about my title or other life, and my sisters never gave out the important pieces of Nekoshou's abilities with Senjutsu.

You're the one in the position of power at the moment, you can decide for yourself what you want to do.

Whether you keep our secrets and mislead her or tell them, the choice is yours, I will never force you to make one."

It would hurt if she did betray me and the village, and I could never trust her again, but I would understand. I care deeply for her, I don't want to control or own her, she has her own free will.

Kuroka purred against me and rubbed her head on mine.

"Thank you Hei. I really like you."

I chuckled and held her tight.

"I like you to Kuroka."

She whispered in my ear with a teasing tone.

"I really, really like you~."

A slight flush came to my cheeks at her tone.

She pulled away from my shoulder with a slight flush as well but there was a large smile on her face.

My hand came up to remove my cigarette and our faces came closer together.

*Cough!*

"Wah?!"

"Nya?!"

Inches from connection, a cough to our side came out and we both jumped.

I instinctively moved a step in front of her as we both looked forward at the smirking form or Leone.

"Whats with this sappy romance scene? You trying to make my heart melt from adorableness?"

We both blushed and looked away.

"Shut up sis."

"Leone sensei is mean."

She laughed out loud and walked up before scooping us both into a hug.

"Aw you two are just too cute!"

She swung us around much to our annoyance before she put us down.

"So what was all the bickering about anyway? I could hear you two from a mile away."

I sighed at the question.

'She just had to ask! I was doing so well on misdirection!'

Kuroka pointed at me and complained like a kid telling the teacher.

"Hei is going on a job and won't take me with him!"

I slapped a hand to my face and groaned.

Leone rose a brow at me.

"And? Whats the problem brat?"

I gave her a stink eye.

"I don't want her seeing that!"

Leone just crossed her arms and looked at me the way a sister looks at her dumb brother.

"It's cute the way your protective Hei, it's admirable even. But you can't just hide the darker aspects of life from her. She has to grow up and smell the air eventually."

Kuroka seemed irritated at that.

"Nya! Hey! I've survived Ghislaine sensei's 'survival exercises'. I've seen death and taken lives!"

Leone and I sent her sad looks.

"It's different with intelligent life brat."

"Kuroka, it holds a different weight."

She huffed but calmed down nevertheless and looked at us with calm and mature eyes.

"Then it's best I learn about it with you then on my own."

I tried to raise a finger but Leone beat me to the punch.

"Exactly! That's the spirit brat."

Then she pointed at me.

"Brat #1, your taking brat #2 along, end of discussion."

I went to argue while Kuroka grumbled at the inventive name choice, but I was silenced by a worse ultimatum.

"I can always go ask the other girls for their opinion and if one of them says no you can go alone."

My finger dropped dead and I inhaled on my cigarette deeply before blowing out a cloud and turning to Kuroka.

"Fine, you can come."

"Yay!"

"But you listen to my orders and do what I say."

"Yes, Hei sensei."

She gave me a cheeky salute and I groaned while sending Leone a death glare.

"I'll have my revenge sis."

She smirked.

"I'll look forward to it, now, you need a ride?"

I sighed and accepted her offer.

I had a card that could take me back to earth and back here, but there was no need to waste them when there was an easier solution.

Kuroka jumped on my back and I couldn't help the small smile at her excitement.

A magic circle glowed around us and Leone sent me a wink.

"Bring her back before dinner Hei."

I shot her the middle finger that was matched by Kuroka doing the same and we were off, leaving behind a chuckling Leone.

'Damn brats… take care of her Hei.'

*Line Break*

Kuroka POV:

We came out of the teleportation in an alleyway.

I furrowed my brows at the feel of the movement.

I always felt like there was a better way to teleport, to make it faster and smoother, but I never had a big enough energy pool to try it.

'Hm… thoughts for the future.'

I turned my attention to Hei, who I was currently riding piggyback on.

"Come down for a second Kuroka."

I looked down at the dirty ground and pouted.

"Can't we go somewhere cleaner first?"

He sighed and I knew I had him.

"Fine you spoiled kitten, hold on."

I did just that and hugged him tightly as he bent his legs and jumped up.

It was dark outside in the part of the world we ended up in.

We soared through the air for a few moments and with a single kick to an adjacent wall that left no mark, we landed on a roof of a building without a sound.

It honestly always amazed me on the skill level Hei held.

For a human, he can jump really high even with me on his back, kick a surface without even leaving a crack or indent, and land silently on a roof.

I smirked down at him and hugged him tighter.

He was strong, and he was mine.

'I've seen the gleam of interest in the eyes of some of those cats in the village. I need to mark my territory before they get their claws in him.'

The sound of tapping broke me from my thoughts and I looked over his shoulder to see him typing on that phone of his.

I never saw much interest in it, it looked complicated.

Hei typed in some kind of ID number and password before the screen changed to a layout of ranks, search categories, sub categories, and advanced options.

It was giving me a headache to look at.

"I think I'll make this a silver rank for today."

I heard Hei mutter and my eyes narrowed.

"Hei, don't go easy on me! I want to see it all tonight. Don't try to protect me."

I loved that he did. It made my stomach do flips and gave me other feelings I didn't want to think about just yet.

But I was also training under his sisters, I didn't want to be a burden to him.

I know how the strong stand on top of the weak in this world, and I didn't want to hold Hei back, I wanted to stand beside him and be able to support him.

Hei turned his head to look at me seriously.

His voice came out soft but firm like he was forcing himself to say it.

"Are you sure Kuroka? There is no going back."

I let go of his back and walked in front of him to look him in the eyes with a serious look.

There was a time to playful and have fun, and a time to be serious.

"I'm sure Hei, don't make me stand behind you."

We held our gazes for a minute before he looked down with a sigh and I know I won.

"Fine, fine. Do what you want."

I laughed lightly and hugged him.

"Nyaha, damn straight I will."

I bite his shoulder for good measure and when he didn't make a sound, I rolled my eyes and bite harder till he made a small sound and I smirked in victory.

"I swear your worse than Shi sometimes."

I laughed at that but my eyes gleamed on his shoulder where I bit him.

'Mine.'

Hei went through his phone for a job until he chose one.

"Ok, here's one not far from out location. We will be removing a drug trafficking operation from a rival gangs territory. No one is to be left alive.

Are you good with that?"

At his serious gaze, I swallowed a bit but nodded.

There was no turning back, I had to learn to face my fears.

He held my gaze and I found myself getting lost in those wine red eyes that feel like they see right into my soul.

I loved them; I could just bask in his gaze forever.

Eventually he nodded and chose the job.

He reached into his belt and took out a candy?

"Voice changing candy, don't speak while I'm on the phone."

I nodded my head with a curious look and watched him suck on the candy for a moment before he made a few coughs and my eyebrows shot up as his voice grew deeper with each cough.

He dialed a number on his phone and after a few rings someone answered.

The voice out of Hei's throat was foreign to me, it sent shivers down my back to hear such a voice from his mouth, but I got over it quickly.

Hei and the client spoke for a few minutes before Hei ended the call and spat out the candy.

"Ok, were set, it will be a bit of a run to the location."

His voice was back to normal and I nodded.

I watched curiously as he removed the small bag he carried.

From the bag he took out a cloak and wrapped it around his form.

I blinked my eyes as his form seemed to somehow get pushed out of my vision and blend in with the dark.

But if I focused on him, he remained fully in my view.

Then he pulled out a mask.

'Ah, so that's his mask.'

Hei told me numerous times over the months about how he wears masks while he works.

It's to hide his face and create an image for his name that strikes fear into his prey.

The mask was bleached white with two intercrossing red lines over the left eye.

One line framed his cheek and the other went up into his forehead.

The right side of the mask had a tribal style howling wolf head that seemed to perfectly fit Hei.

When the mask was placed on his face, I felt the difference.

It was like another person stood before me.

A very intimidating but young alpha wolf was looking right at me, and I felt myself freeze not in fear, but instinctively.

"Kuroka."

Hei's normal voice that I love spoke out and snapped me from my daze.

"Nya?"

"Come here."

He waved his hand and I smiled wide and approached.

I never want him to think I fear him.

He told me of such fears before, and I made it a mission to never make him feel that way.

He held out a cloak with a blank mask on it to me.

I tilted my head in confusion.

"Why?"

"For your protection."

I felt my tail stand up in annoyance at that but he waved a hand before I could go on.

"Not like that Kuroka. There is no harm in gearing up properly before taking on a mission. The cloak helps hide our presence from anyone searching for us, and the mask will keep your face away from any prying eyes in case someone gets lucky and catches a glimpse.

We won't always need them, I'm not sure how long I plan to use a mask myself, but at the moment we are weak in this world.

The weak have their own way to survive the eyes of the strong until we can rise up to challenge them. To rip out the throats of the fat and complacent ones who lord it over."

I felt a shudder at the way he said that.

'Damn that's attractive…'

I shook my head out of such thoughts.

'Bad Kuroka, now is not the time for that.'

I accepted the items and put them on.

The cloak was surprisingly warm and comfy, and the mask didn't really block my line of sight.

It did get in the way of my sense of smell, and it was a foreign feeling, but it wasn't bad.

Hei nodded at me once I had them on and waved his hand.

"Come on, keep up."

There was a slight playful tone to his voice that I caught as he jumped away.

"Nya! You!"

I scoffed in indignation but there was a smile on my face as I chased after him.

We played a small game of tag as we bounced along the rooftops.

There was an unsaid agreement to keep silent and make as little noise with our movements as possible while staying out of the way of any beams of light.

I had the advantage with my tails and could tag him while staying out of his reach, but he was fast and was able to tag me while performing acrobatic moves that left me in awe.

'Yoru sensei made him into a monster.'

But it just spurned me on more and I had a blast.

Hei just has a way of making my instincts come alive and feel so free! So full and satisfied!

I saw an opening and pounced onto his back.

"Nya! I got you!"

His laugh was music to my ears.

"Hahaha, you did. Let's wind down though, we're approaching the location."

I nodded and hugged him again before jumping off and running side by side with him.

We came to a stop at the edge of a building overlooking a warehouse.

"Is that it?"

He nodded and spoke about what he knew from the client.

"The snake hand gang. Each of them has a large snake tattoo on their right hand. They apparently mark members as they enter the gang.

You can only enter if you kill someone and bring the leaders the cut off hand of their kill.

Anyone without the mark is not a target, but if they become a threat, don't hesitate to finish them.

We are here to do a job, and that job doesn't specify saving anyone. Any complications and threats to our lives are to be removed."

He looked at me as he said that last line and there was no joking in his tone.

I nodded to show I understood.

"Good, according to the client, there should be around 35 members all told, they are gathering for a progress report on their various jobs.

They do this every Tuesday, that's why I took this job since it happened to be tonight.

The only thing we need to be aware of is not to do too much damage to the cargo, so we can't just torch or grenade them."

He paused to let me digest that info and I swallowed before steeling my emotions and nodding.

He went on after I did.

"They will all be congregated in the main room on the first floor, but I'll do a scan after we land on the roof to check for anyone who branched off.

The leader apparently watches from his office through a tinted window above the open area on the second floor while the vice leader runs the show down below.

If everything checks out with the info I received, we will drop into the boss's office from above and take him out before setting an ambush on the grunts and the vice leader down below.

Are you ready? Any questions?"

I thought it over before shaking my head and he nodded once more and reached out a hand.

"It's ok to be nervous. Just take a deep breath and count to ten, I'll give you a moment and then we can go."

I took his hand and was actually quite grateful to be wearing a mask right now.

It's not like I didn't kill a living creature before, and magical beasts have a decent amount of intelligence.

But Leone sensei and Hei were right. There is a different feeling about killing intelligent beings.

But I took his hand and did what he said.

I trusted him and closed my eyes while mentally counting.

With each number, my nerves seem to leave me and I when I reached ten, my eyes snapped open and I gave him a nod.

"I'm good."

He only nodded before standing up.

"Let's go."

He pulled my hand and I understood his intention.

I wrapped around his front and hugged my chest to his own as he took a few steps back before making the much longer leap from our roof to the warehouse.

When it seemed like we didn't go far enough, we started gliding slowly through the night air.

'These are those levitation stones he showed me a while ago. Hmph, he better make me something with these things, flying is fun.'

With such thoughts going through my head, we landed on the roof silently and peered into the glass.

Below us was a lit warehouse room with loads of crates and in the center was a group sitting in a circle with a man in an expensive suit in the center speaking.

Hei stopped and I knew he was sensing the energy of everyone in the building.

I followed his example and closed my eyes, feeling the flames of each person's aura appear on my senses.

Hei was far better than me at energy sensing, I couldn't do what he does with it, my skills move toward other areas.

But for this job, it was enough.

I counted exactly 35 signatures just as Hei muttered.

"All here, good."

He turned to me and leaned in to whisper.

"The plan is still good, there are two signatures off the side of the group, keep an eye on them when we go to set the ambush. For now, follow me."

I noticed who he mentioned and made a mental note of it while keeping close to him as he moved across the roof to a window.

He reached into his belt and took out a roll of string before he tied a tight knot on a latch before swinging over the edge and lowering himself silently onto a rafter away from any lights.

I followed behind without a sound.

The sound of the vice leader talking and calling out people to report echoed in the space.

We moved across the rafters and her pointed out cracks I should avoid stepping on.

He didn't have to, but when I noticed he pointed at one I completely missed, I saw the value in him doing it.

It wasn't hard to reach the area above the 'boss's' office.

Hei screwed something onto the edge of his gun, I think he called it a silencer.

We circled around the office to where a small window was on the roof.

The door was lit with lights and a camera so I understood why Hei chose the small window.

Peering in, the 'boss' was clearly visible.

He was sitting behind a desk, smoking a cigar, and seemed to be looking at a screen of the meeting happening below while flipping through papers.

Hei removed two suction cups from his pouch with a handle connecting them, and then he gestured me toward the window.

I understood and extended a claw from a single finger and bent down to carefully cut out the glass.

My claws were sharp, they were my main weapon in close combat, although I didn't prefer up close fighting.

I cut along the lines of the glass and Hei held tightly to the handle as it came off.

Immediately the smell of burning tobacco and the mutterings of the boss became apparent to me, and it made me sick.

The smell more than his random words about numbers and morons.

The smell was nothing like what Hei smokes, it burned my nose.

I found a new hatred for something in life at this moment, the smell of nicotine burning.

Hei held up a hand and looked at me till I shook off the scent and nodded.

He moved without hesitation and dropped from the window, pulled out his gun, and shot the man in his head.

I dropped after him as blood and brain matter painted the wall behind the dead man.

It…wasn't as bad as I thought.

Certainly not pleasing, but not that bad.

Hei's instant reaction and perfect aim between the eyes is what got my attention more.

I had the urge to hold up a scoreboard sign with a number 10 on it, but I shook off the playful feeling.

Hei had moved forward in a flash and landed a hand on the man's shoulder before he could fall to the ground, letting him fall on his desk instead.

Then we moved to the tinted window to look down on those below.

"How are we doing this?"

He hummed for a moment before turning to me.

"Do you still want to take part?"

I nodded. I came here for this after all.

He didn't try to stop me and instead asked a different question.

"You can use Youjutsu right?"

I nodded.

"Yeah, only illusions and poison though.

Both are still a bit weak since I only started when Chloe and Yoru sensei started teaching me."

"Is it enough to effect normal humans?"

I pondered on that for a moment before nodding.

"I wouldn't use illusions unless you plan for them to only last a few seconds, but the poison should work.

It won't be enough to outright kill them, but it can slow their reactions and daze them for a bit."

"Produce a small amount."

"Here?"

"Yes."

I raised a brow behind my mask but did so.

Lifting my hand, I formed a symbol out of chakra and a small amount of purple mist came out.

Hei reached his head forward and to my surprise he inhaled it.

I whispered harshly and cut off the poison.

"What are you doing?"

He shook his head for a second and answered with a clear voice.

"I'm making sure I'm immune to the effect. Chloe has raised my tolerance to scary levels after all. I don't think anything aside from the top five most potent of poisons from the human world could affect me.

With the supernatural's, I would say I could resist the weaker half of poisons. The upper stuff can melt me from the inside at the moment."

He said that with a calm voice that had me looking at him like a strange creature.

"You know that's not normal right?"

He shrugged.

"Thank Chloe for her sadistic tendencies and her expert concoctions that can build my tolerance while making me stronger rather than kill me for the price of pain."

I shivered slightly.

"She won't make me go through that right?"

He shrugged again and I felt the smirk on his annoyingly handsome face.

"Who knows."

I hissed at him and he chuckled but he got us back on track.

"I'm going to head over to that rafter above the group and lay down. I want you to stay here and continuously release poison until they realize whats happening.

You can then cut off the stragglers or remain under cover and use your kasha fireballs to end them, just make sure you don't hit the crates.

The clients want the products in one piece. Some damage is acceptable though."

I nodded at his words. It was a solid plan and I didn't find any issue with it.

He gave me a pat on shoulder before jumping out through the window in the roof.

I took a deep breath and walked up to the window.

I saw him moving along the rafter and began my part.

The tinted window could be opened, so I cracked it and stuck my hands out before concentrating as I drew the symbol for poison in my hands and let my chakra flow through me.

I made an effort to change the color, and very light purple smoke left my palms and began to disperse into the air.

Hei laid down and I poured a large portion of my chakra into the spell, pumping out more and more until there was finally a reaction from the men below.

"*Cough* hey, is it getting hard to breath in here?"

"*cough* you to? I thought I just needed a cigarette."

"*cough* wait, is everyone feeling like this?"

It only took a few more nods before the vice leaders eyes widened and he quickly took out a handkerchief and put it against his mouth and nose.

"It's gas! Everyone spread out! We're under attack! Gem, Reki, Flor, get to the windows and see if anyone's out there, the rest, let's get to…"

He didn't get to finish giving out orders before Hei went to work.

And 'wow' was really my only thought at what I saw.

Hei dropped from the rafter, upside down, and seemed to spin through the air as he held a pistol in each hand.

*bang* *bang* *bang* *bang* *bang* *bang* *bang* *bang* *bang* *bang*

Just as they were all getting up, he fell like a reaper of death and harvested eight lives in a single drop.

Along with that, his final two shots took out the lights directly above the group, but my eyes could see easily in the dark.

The second his feet touched the ground, eight bodies fell to the ground with holes in their head.

He made no pause in his movement before opening fire.

The others came to themselves and fired like mad as they shouted.

"It's the fucking reaper!?"

"What the fuck is he doing here?!"

They fired machine guns without aiming and I found it slightly amusing how they hit their own allies rather than Hei.

Hei was moving like a flash, kicking off the ground to bounce along the walls, ground, and boxes, dodging bullets and firing in kind.

There was no hesitation, no falter in his steps, only calculated perfect precision.

It was a marvelous dance where he seemed completely in control of the entire situation.

The sound of gunfire and the shattering of glass next to me snapped me out of my thoughts and I cursed.

'Shit, I got caught up in staring at Hei. Focus Kuroka.'

I opened the door to the office and ignored the lights and camera, it was set to the office behind me, and no one was paying attention to this location.

I moved quickly behind a concrete pillar and ignored the gunfire.

The sounds of the bullets and the screams were much louder out here and they were actually quite disturbing to my heightened sense of hearing.

I tried to ignore it and focus on the situation.

Hei was down to only four targets, the rest were on the ground bleeding out.

I couldn't see the vice leader though.

'Where did he go?'

Before I could close my eyes to sense for energy signatures, a door to the side of the first floor opened and two people came out, a man and woman half dressed.

'Ah, that's what those two signatures to the side were doing.'

"What the fuck is going on?!"

"Who are we trying to kill?!"

I focused on them as they were in my line of fire.

Two fireballs formed in my hands, burning hot from my Kasha flames.

Yoru sensei said I would learn how to make Kasha wheels soon, but for now I was limited to fireballs.

While they were focused on the sight of the dead bodies in the dim light from the sides of the warehouse, I took aim and launched my fireballs.

They shot straight like bullets and collided with my targets. Unfortunately, in my inexperience, I didn't make the fireballs hot enough to instantly kill my targets.

"AHHHHHHH!"

"IT BURRNNNN!"

My body froze as two agonizing screams came from my targets.

I tried to look away but my eyes were glued to their forms.

The fire ignited along their entire forms like it gained fuel from them and burned off their skin, making a sight I didn't think I would ever forget.

I felt bile in my throat and gagged under my mask.

But before I could do anything else, something pressed into the back of my head.

"Don't fucking move you bastard."

An angry voice spoke behind me and my face paled.

'Theres a gun against my head.'

I could barely hear what he said.

The combination of what I just did and the feeling of death was overwhelming me until a hand roughly grabbed my cloak.

"Oi! Are you listening to me you bastard?! I said to call off your frie..*Gurgle*."

I blinked as I stared into the eyes of the man I knew was the vice leader as he held a hand to his bleeding throat.

I didn't even realize I moved.

All the tension got to me and my instincts just screamed.

The second he touched my shoulder; I spun and swung my claws at his throat.

He gurgled and choked on his blood as he tried to stop the flow.

He fell and his face was turned to face mine, his eyes staring into mine as the light left them.

Looking down at my hand, I saw blood, his blood.

The bile in my throat came back and I ripped off my mask to bend over and throw up.

Tears fell from my eyes as my stomach acid burned my throat.

The gun shots stopped and I felt myself trembling.

The screams, the burning bodies, and the man's eyes as he looked at me….

They made something horrible burn inside me.

I threw up again and started wheezing.

Before I knew it, Hei was standing next to me, holding my hair back and rubbing circles on my back as he whispered calming words to me.

I didn't care if I had puke on me, I just grabbed onto him, onto his warmth, and cried.

I buried my face in his chest and sobbed.

This was nothing like I was expecting.

This was horrible.

"It's alright."

"Your safe."

"I have you."

"It's ok."

"Shhhhh."

Hei's calm and steady voice rang in my ears as I held him and I slowly felt myself calm down a little.

"Hold on tight beautiful, I got you."

I was lifted off the ground and I felt him levitate through the air, but I didn't care where we were going.

I just wanted to be away from there and in his arms.

I felt safe.

The screaming quieted with his voice.

"P-please, talk more."

I hated how weak I sounded; I didn't want to be a burden to him.

But the screams were still there, the sights were burned into my mind.

The disbelieving gurgling of the vice leader as he choked on his own blood and desperately tried to stem it to no avail made me sick, and his eyes as the light was lost in them was haunting.

"It's ok beautiful, I'm right here."

He kept whispering to me, the same words, over and over.

I didn't know where we were, and I didn't care.

I was just holding him while crying and trembling, trying to drown out the memories.

From the corner of my eye, I saw him crush one of his cards before he spoke to seemingly no one but I didn't care.

He took off into the air again, and the next thing I knew, we were in some kind of park with tree's around us.

Hei took out another card and crushed it, again he seemingly talked to something but I wasn't looking.

Then we were descending into some kind of room.

"It's ok love, it's all going to be all right."

He carried me over to something and I froze up when I felt heat, my mind flashing back to the burning, before he whispered.

"It's ok, let's get you clean alright?"

I didn't know what was happening but I still nodded against his chest.

Then I gasped as he carried me right into hot water.

'Are we taking a bath?'

My curious mind overwhelmed my negative emotions and I looked up for the first time to see Hei's smiling face looking down at me as we floated in some kind of large tub.

"Hey there beautiful, I can finally see that charming face of yours."

I wetly scoffed at that.

I knew I probably looked terrible right now with red eyes and dried puke on my lips, but I didn't care and dove back into his chest.

His chest rumbled with his words.

"Theres nothing to fear, your safe, we are safe."

I didn't reply outside of a small nod.

My body was still trembling but at least I managed to stop crying.

Hei slowly started removing my clothes and I didn't fight him.

"Come on love, help me out here."

I nodded slightly again and helped remove my shirt and pants.

I didn't want to look at them, knowing there was probably blood and puke on them.

He didn't touch my bra and panties and internally I couldn't help but roll my eyes even in this state.

The foolish boy still hesitated on nudity after living in a nekomata village.

It was as annoying as it was endearing.

I removed my underwear and threw them aside as he removed his own.

We soaked in the water as Hei grabbed some soap from who knows where and started washing my hair.

His fingers soothingly scratched my scalp and calmed me further.

"Take a breath and close your eyes beautiful."

I did as he asked and felt him take us both underwater for a second before we resurfaced.

"There we go, your hair is clean and enchanting as always~."

His teasing tone made a chuckle come from my chest and I lightly slapped his chest.

"Don't make me laugh Hei."

His chuckle made his chest vibrate pleasantly.

"Theres your voice, it's such a beautiful voice too~ think I could hear it again?"

I wet laugh left my mouth.

"Shut up and hold me."

I could feel the smirk on his face.

"Yes dear~."

'Stupid Hei, now is not the time to tease and compliment me.'

Or maybe it was.

I felt the trembling lesson, the screams quieted to a whisper, and no more tears came from my eyes.

We stayed that way for I don't know how long, just being warmed by the water and his skin on mine.

Skin-ship is very important to Nekomata, it connects us and lets our feelings come into contact. It's an instinctual action that we embraced completely.

And it makes me happy that Hei understands that.

Just being attached to him like this was helping me a lot.

There was nothing sexual about it, it was beyond that.

"Come love, let's get out of the water before we become prunes."

I snuggled into his chest, I had no plans on leaving his protective embrace soon.

"Carry me."

He did so.

He stepped out of the bath and carried me to a chair before using a towel to wipe my body.

The feel of his hands roaming my body with the towel was both relaxing and arousing in an annoying mix.

I didn't need the latter feeling at the moment, this was not the time for my body to react.

Thankfully Hei was very controlled with it and didn't stimulate me, too much.

After we were dried, he wrapped me in something.

"stretch out your arm so I can get the sleeve of the bathrobe."

It was a bathrobe.

'Where is he getting this stuff?'

I had many questions, but they could wait for later.

In robes, he carried me again to what felt like a bed and climbed in.

As he laid down, I curled up slightly on his chest and covered us with a soft blanket.

It was too comfortable.

With the emotional rollercoaster, Hei's soothing words, the bath, and now the bed, I was drifting out of consciousness.

"I got you Kuroka, go to sleep."

I rubbed my head against his chest and neck in a dazed state.

But one thing was very clear to me.

"I love you Hei."

I felt him pause in his rubbing of my back before he tightened his hold.

"I love you too Kuroka, good night."

I yawned and drifted off.

"Night."

I fell into blissful slumber. The terrors of the day were kept at bay by Hei's protective embrace, and I felt safe from the world.

I slept better than I had in a long time.

*Line Break*

I looked down at Kuroka's sleeping form and sighed.

'What a cluster fuck. I hope she isn't scarred for life.'

I rested my head against the pillow in my new hideout, I never used the card so far this year being down in the village all the time.

At least I was in a new city though, so now I have a hideout in Central Park, New York.

I admit I freaked out a bit when I saw Kuroka next to a dead body and her throwing up and crying.

It scared the crap out of me.

But I let my instinct guide me and quickly grabbed her up.

My clothes got stained by puke and tears but I didn't give two shits.

She could be covered head to toe in blood and I would still embrace her.

I wasn't sure what to do, but I decided to get the hell out of there.

The job was done, and I needed to get Kuroka somewhere she could calm down.

Thankfully, the warehouse was on the edge of queens and right across the water from Manhattan, and a short trip floating across the water and a small part of the city during the early AM hours of the day had us touching down in Central Park where I activated my hideout card along with the hot springs card.

On the trip over, I used a spell card to call Leone and tell her we would be back the next day. From the tone of my voice, she knew not to tease me and just wished me luck and to come home soon.

Spell card #35: Contact - Allows mental communication or video calling through the binder with anyone previously met.

I decided to get Kuroka clean before letting her sleep.

It was better to remove our dirty clothes and get washed, to remove that feeling of blood and grime that I know very well, and then get to bed.

The warm healing water of the hot springs are very soothing as well, and like I hoped, it helped calm her down.

Having the warm eyed and fun loving Kuroka curled up in my arms while she trembled and whimpered was not something I ever wanted to see again.

But if it ever did happen, I would be there to remove whatever caused it and hold her like I did tonight.

Her final words before she fell asleep came as a shock to me.

It had been almost a full year since we met, 11 months to be exact, we were still physically young, and yet neither of those things mattered.

She loved me and I loved her.

And I would be damned if I let anything hurt her.

I held her tight to my chest and let myself drift off knowing she was safe in my arms.

Chapter end.

Omake: Michael's Search.

Michael didn't want to burden his siblings with a wild goose chase for the mysterious holder of his fathers experimental gear.

Why his father even had to play around with such items of power and actually enter them into the system if he didn't want them used, he had no idea.

Michael had learned long ago that life was simpler if you stopped questioning all powerful beings on their choices, no matter how illogical it might seem to him.

So here he was, taking a 'walk' or a 'flight' more like over the human cities around the earth, using his limited time away from paperwork to chase a cold trail.

Or more like no trail.

'Just knowing the name of a gear doesn't help me father! What am I supposed to do? Knock on every human sacred gear users home and ask what their gears name is?'

In his mad rave, his eye twitched to the side as he sighed and reached into a passing cloud to grab a certain someone by the back of her shirt.

He pulled her out of the cloud and met the face of a child caught with their hand in a cookie jar with his deadpan face.

"H-hi brother! *Cheery smile*."

Michael's brow twitched and he pulled on the woman's cheeks.

"Don't you 'hi brother' me Gabriel! I told you to go clean up the mess you made in south America!"

Gabriel, the top beauty and airheaded archangel of Heaven pouted and looked at Michael with teary eyes as her cheeks were pulled.

"I dnnnn wnnnnaa!"

Michael sighed and released her cheeks.

"You were saying?"

"I don't wanna! It was all stupid Sera's fault! I want to go have fun with what you're doing!"

Michael shook his head and poked Gabriel's forehead with a finger.

"The fault lies with both of you. Stop getting provoked so easily, it's been centuries."

She pouted and looked away and Michael felt his heart take a hit.

He was always sweet on his little sister and spoiled her.

"*sigh* fine, you can come with me for a bit if you promise to keep it between us, and you go help with repairs after I have to head back to the office."

Gabriel flipped her switch like she was never angry and dive hugged her brother.

"Yay~! Thank you Michael. I knew you were the best big brother!"

Michael chuckled and rubbed her head.

"Yes, yes, I know. Come on."

He began flying in a random direction to start somewhere as Gabriels voice called behind him.

"So where are we going?"

"To find a sacred gear user."

"Oh? A Longinus?"

Michael shook his head.

"I don't know."

Gabriel tilted her head in confusion.

"You don't know?"

A long and deep suffering sigh escaped Michaels lungs as he slumped.

"Another of fathers 'experiments' has gotten loose. A message informed me the sacred gear was awakened and warned me to find the user and confirm their mentality."

Gabriels face lit up like it was Christmas.

"Really!? It's been so long since the last one! It was so much fun!"

Michaels brow twitched.

"That abomination was not fun!"

Gabriel giggled.

"It was funny for me."

Michael rolled his eyes and flew off.

"Yes, yes, for you all free of the great burden of evil paperwork, it must have been hilarious.

The planetwide infection of technology by a mutated sacred gear that developed the most annoying scam phone calls in the world that caused enormous chaos in the world was just sooooo much fun."

Gabriel laughed and looped her arm through her brothers.

"Oh cheer up. Some of them were hilarious. Like that one about their 'car's warranty' being expired hehehe, the reactions were priceless."

"It was most certainly not! I was one of it's targets! I got three of those calls in three minutes from different numbers! How did it even get my phone number?!"

Gabriels laughter rang out as she dug the metaphorical knife deeper into her brothers chest and brought up a dozen more painful reminders of the terror of a spam calling virus infecting the world at large.

It was thanks to her words that Michael spent all his free time between anger and grief.

It would be a while longer before he could begin a searching for the sacred gear holder of 'Greed Island'.