-Oxford - Saturday: Part 16-

Kuon sat listening to the two men talk, well it was mainly General Brown who was doing the talking. He had picked up his phone again sent something out and there had been nothing. No vibrations afterward but neither men seemed troubled by this lack of communication that I was sure had been going on. Instead, he turned back to his tablet, holding it in his hand as the silence filled the room. Unsure what to do he spoke to his hacker friend hoping to get some more information on this Rozu group, the answer was simple. Monsters. That sounded wrong to him, he had always thought of himself as a monster with Rick's death on his hands. 'They are likely worse than monsters...' His mind wondered what that made Tomi, he had always thought the man had a monster within him but perhaps that wasn't right either.

"I'm coming." It was said simply but the look Kuon got from both of them didn't hold up for his personal desire to follow along. Ruto he had expected such a look from. The man rarely spoke unless it was due to orders or apparently translating Japanese to English and back again. He was more like a shadow, a silent one that tended to follow Lory around. Not only that but he had a way to sneak up on people that even Kuon hadn't figured out yet. Kuon had been watching him for the last four years and all he could honestly say about the man was that he was extremely loyal to Lory Takarada. General Brown though, was another matter, his look said it clearly. Kuon knew he was not welcomed and he was also sure had it not been for the connection to Tomi he would have been removed long ago from the hotel room. As the room filled back with silence or at least the clicking of Brown's cellphone with a buzz here that he felt drawn to try and contact Tomi. Why did you threaten the Queen?

Why not? - Tomi
Against the law for one. - Kuon
Man's law. - Tomi
You are a man - Kuon
I am a demon. - Tomi

That surprised Kuon, the man was a lot of things but he never really saw him as a demon. Insane, creepy, dark and maybe even twisted with his own nightmares that caused him to act in certain motions but overall Kuon felt that he had a good side to him. He had, after all, saved him a few times during his childhood, so he couldn't be all dark, not even he could see himself as all dark. To call yourself a demon truly meant there was no light or hope. 'No... don't the Japanese believe that demons aren't always bad or good?' The issue was he wasn't sure if Tomi's thought about demons was the same as the Japanese Yokai but if he had to choose and pick a group. He would go with the one of Japanese belief.

"We finally got a list of possible locations based on the traffic from the parking ramp." Kuon watched as Brown pulled out a large map and found himself standing and recording before he even knew what he was really doing. General Brown touched the first location, "Based on the data, near this airport, there is a bunker under an old abandoned building. It's a good location, they could sell and trade their goods, the sound of the planes taken off and coming in would hide anything fishy going on." Ruto's eyes fell upon Kuon's for a moment before Brown went back to speaking, "The next one is this old hospital, they use it for more storage these days with plans to rebuild it. Thus construction work is being done on it so there are people coming and going during the days, less so during the night... however there is still a sign of people being there late into the nice. It's a large plot of land, nothing around for miles..." Brown lifted his eyes, "the things being kept there storage wise, could be used to keep someone drugged and help deal with smaller medical issues without drawing attention. They don't keep good records." His eyes dropped once more pointing to another section, "The last part is this scrapyard, work all hours of the day, another large plot of land, one could get lose in the mountains of scrap metals, I personally doubt they would take her here. Too many people coming during the day hours, but it is still possible."

"Did you get that all?" Ruto's eyes turned to look at Kuon and he frowned slightly before putting his phone down. "Send it." He said simply, "Send someone here, to keep an eye." He pointed to the last location.

"Is it wise sir?" Brown said looking once more towards Kuon before looking back towards Ruto, "To have him send that information to that boy?"

"All that matters not who gets to her first, only that she's out and that they are killed." Kuon eyes widen slightly as he looked at Ruto, his eyes turned back down towards the map, "It is best you do not get in the middle of this child. However..." he said spreading his hands across the map in front of him, "you may be of use to make sure he returns her to us." His eyes narrowed as he looked at Kuon, "He has come to you, a favor for a favor." Kuon could feel his blood draining but he sent the video anyways.

Reino sat across from his cousin, a cousin he really didn't want to be in the same car with. Actually, he didn't want to be in the country with him at the moment. As Tomi, he wasn't so bad, bad enough that he didn't want anything to do with him but not enough where he wanted ocean between them. Todd Damon was a different matter, the very air in the car was making it very hard for him to breath and it didn't help that Kyoko's little Grudge really seemed to want to be with the man. He had found that as long as he didn't look at her, he couldn't be lured in by the weak struggle to be with him. What bothered him was he couldn't understand why the creature wanted to be with him, couldn't it tell from the energy leaking out of him, that he was a murder at the moment, a bloodthirsty murder. There was nothing warm about Todd Damon, there was barely anything warm about him as Tomi but at least he could understand the lure towards Tomi.

Reino cleared his throat as he looked at the man before him if it wasn't for the dark energy wrapped around him he would almost be peaceful. His eyes were focused on the city streets but we were driving aimlessly around. Reino wasn't sure who the driver was but he could guess it was one of the men who worked for the Family. "I'm not exactly sure what I'm doing here." He trailed off slightly, hoping that the man himself would say something and by the time he began to think that Todd Damon was not going to say anything his red eyes turned towards him.

"You have a piece of my Hana's soul." Reino found himself nodding once not daring to speak out of fear that he would not finish whatever was going on in his mind. "Then should her soul not also react to her?"

Reino gave a deep sigh, there was truth in that. "In theory yes. However, that's based fully on when a living soul is wandering outside of their living body. The closer that living body is to close to death, the harder it is for the living soul to return."

"But it is only a theory." He mused softly, "and if we were to send this piece back to her by force?"

"She'll likely die the moment her soul has been returned if not before." He wasn't certain about much things dealing with this. It wasn't like he had a lot of knowledge about living grudges, everything he knew was based around his life experiences and theories based around what very little knowledge he had gathered or lived through. Spirits, the dead. He understood those far better than those of the living. "However, I doubt she'll last much longer."

His eyes flashed red and Reino own responded with a violet glow of their own only for Tomi to turn his face back out towards the window, "Figure it out Reino, otherwise what purpose do you have?"

Reino knew it was stupid, "I'm the one keeping her alive, what purpose do you have?"

Then the laughter filled the air, it gave Reino goosebumps the mixture of darkness that wrapped around his cousin, followed by the laughter that was for lack of better words pure merriment made everything around him feel draped in true insanity. It reminded Reino of the one and only visit he had to a living insane asylum, he had gone just for kicks but the energy had made him sick for weeks. Sure there were moments in so-called haunted ones that had long been abandon by the living humans that he had felt such things but it was diluted compared to one that was fully functional. His hand reached out touching the top of Reino's head shooting memories into his mind of all the times he had done this in the past causing a small gasp in response. His eyes turned towards Tomi or Todd Damon or whoever he was. 'Perhaps he does care...' and that thought scared him for some unknown reason and he pulled away from him.

Tomi looked down at his phone and I listened to the video that was being played. Then there was another buzz and he grinned, "It seems we are going to go to a hospital or an airport... choices." His eyes turned towards Reino for a moment, "Does East or West sound right to you?"

Reino knew he wasn't talking to him, not really. His eyes looked down towards the little grudge who pointed towards the East "Are you sure?" she nodded her head before looking back longly towards his cousin. "East."

"Then to the hospital it is." His smile caused Reino to shudder and the pleasing joy out of the little grudge as she seemed to swoon. "My guy said as much anyways..." he said putting his phone back in his pockets as he looked out the window.

In a circular room sat Papa Issa, the candies glowing off the skull like paint on his face as he looked down at a woman whose skin was dark as his, the beads wrapping around her neck did little to high her bare breasts and had he been anywhere else he would have perhaps found this attracted but he was in his native land, his homeland. This was the norm and there was no shame, nothing sexual about it. She spoke before frowning as she stared at him she was busy taking care of the little get together they would be having here soon. It wasn't that he was sitting there, on his lion skin throne but she didn't like English language being spoken nor his work dealing with the white man. All these things he knew but he pushed them out of his mind as he tried to hold in the laughter that was bursting to escape at the sound of panic in the voice on the other end of the line.

"Let me see if I understand you correctly." He said chuckling slightly causing the woman to glare at him some as she went back to her work. "You want me to run over to England."

"Yes, that's right." The frustration was heavy in the man's voice.

"To England from Africa?" He could hear the pause the deep breath intake as if the man slowly rose his voice as if he couldn't understand the language at all. His accent might be strong, slightly broken at times but he understood the language well. He was a well-learned man even if those who worked with him didn't believe it to be the case.

"Yes. That. Is. Right." He said each word as if that would somehow help and Papa Issa couldn't help but laugh now. "What is so funny? She will die!" The panic was back now in his voice. The fear of a trapped animal and he found it all the more amusing.

"Ah, but you be the funny man now. You want me to rush over to see a dying girl all because you all disrespect our ways." Anger was slowly seeping into his voice and he could hear the man's panic breathing.

"The Young Master wants her, so does Spider." He took another breath, "You are one of the five poisons loyal to the Rozu..."

"Then perhaps that little carp boy should be the one calling me. I don't take orders from anybody, most of all not that thing calling himself a spider. The girl dies, find a new one. I even so nice as to solved your problem funny man."

"That's not a choice... if she dies..."

"Then perhaps you should see the Devil, you might get a better response... if you sell your soul." His laughter filled the small room as he hung up.