A/N: Chapter 20 of Ginga Densetsu Alayus. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters except my own. Ginga Densetsu Weed belongs to the rightful owner.
Special thanks to the reviewers, I truly appreciate it.
Chapter 20: On the move
Weed's Group...
"Maybe I should teach you some lessons in manners boy."
What the hell is this guy? He's dangerous...Thunder thought as the hair on his neck stood up.
"Leader, what do you want me to do with this guy?" Weed and his group finally got a good look at the other dog thanks to the moonlight. Rocket's eyes widened when he realized who it was.
"Keep your eyes on him Missile. Don't lose your focus." The German Shepherd spoke as his eyes stared intently at Thunder with such intensity that the doberman stepped back. "Tell me under whose order do you follow?"
"My brother and I are professional assassins under Hougen-sama." Thunder responded, keeping his voice as level as he could.
"That snot-face bastard...I should have known." At this John crouched into an attack position, his ears laid back and his jaws wide to show off his ivory fangs. "Any associates that follow his orders deserve divine punishment. I will show you no mercy!" He leaped forward and latched onto Thunder's neck. The doberman whimpered as he felt himself being thrashed back and forth.
"Thunder!" Lector exclaimed as he watched his brother in horror.
"Where do you think you're looking?" He looked at Missile with anger. "You're opponent is me!" Roaring in rage, Lector lunged at Missile with his fangs out-stretched. Bracing for impact, Missile watched and waited until the last minute. Twisting his body to the side, he latched on to Lector's back leg as he felt Lector's fang nipped his left ear.
"What?!" Lector yelped in surprise as he felt himself slam into the ground. Missile quickly let his opponent's leg go and bit into the exposed neck; holding his opponent down.
"Leader! Permission to kill this son of a bitch?" He growled around the mouth full of fur.
"Missile!"
"R-r-rocket!?" Missile let Lector go in shock as he watched his brother run over to him. "How long have you been there?"
"Never mind that!" Rocket panted as he stopped right in front of him. "You were about to kill him! Have you no sympathy?!"
"What are you talking about?" Missile replied in astonishment. "We're assassins! Sympathy isn't in our vocabulary or have you forgotten that!" He snarled angrily. "Apparently hanging out with the Ohu Army has made you soft!" Seeing that the brothers were arguing, Lector quietly slipped away with blood still flowing from his neck.
"Aren't you forgetting something?" John finished toying with Thunder and threw him like a rag doll. His body hit the ground hard and coated the ground with blood.
"Thunder." Lector whimpered as he hurried over to his brother. He looked up frightened as John loomed over him.
"Since you're here I will dispatch you without mercy!" Lunging forward, he gripped Lector's head between his jaws. The doberman shrieked as he felt his skull being crushed. The last thing he saw was his brother watching fearfully before everything became black.
"LECTOR!" Thunder howled as he watched his brother's limp body hit the ground with a thump. "You son of a bitch! I'll kill you!"
"Come." John responded as he licked his lips. Blinded by rage, Thunder rushed forward. The German Shepherd ran to meet him head on, twisting at the last minute and grabbing the unprotected neck. They flipped and twisted until John got a good hold on the dog.
"No! Don't do it!" Weed yelled, running to help but Jerome stopped him. "Jerome! Let me go! He's gonna die!" The sound of a neck being snapped caught their attention and Thunder's body gave a final shudder before falling silent. John had an unreadable expression on his face, blood drenched all over his front as he looked at the horrified group in front of him. Before Weed could say anything a yelp sounded and they turned their heads to see Rocket and Missile fighting amongst themselves. It looked as though they were evenly matched.
"Rocket! Stop this right now!" Weed ordered. "Isn't he your brother?"
"Him?!" Rocket spat. "How can I call him my brother?!"
"We are strangers now!" Missile added. "The moment Rocket ran off with Ohu was the moment Jet and I vowed to never speak of Rocket as our brother. He is our enemy."
"You don't really mean that do you Missile?" John stated. Giving the dog a knowing look, Missile sat on his haunches, ears drooped forward.
"Please forgive me Rocket. I should have listened to you before."
"What are you talking about Missile?" Rocket asked, noticing that his brother was trying to hold back his tears. "Did something happen to Jet? I don't see him with you."
"That's the thing!" Missile cried. "After we split up, Jet and I returned to Hougen ready to give him our report. Little did we know he was a back stabbing son of a bitch. It was horrible! In front of everyone and especially in front of me, Hougen took Jet's life."
"He did that?...Some how I should have known." Rocket hung his head to keep from crying as well. "It was my fault, I should have gone with you."
"Don't blame yourself but that's not all brother." Missile spoke, trying to lift the sadness from his voice. "I would've ended up dead if it weren't for Alayus-sama."
"Alayus?! Alayus was there?" Weed padded up out of curiosity. Rocket stiffened a bit, remembering that it was thanks to his plan that Alayus was cast out of Weed's group. Now that she rescued his brother he was undoubtedly in her debt.
"Weed am I correct?" Missile bowed his head. "I am Missile, Rocket's younger brother. At the last minute before I blindly rushed towards my own death Alayus-sama rescued me. I would've been dead just like that." Noticing that John wanted to speak, Missile directed their attention to him, "And this magnificent dog is..."
"What part of him is magnificent?! He took two lives with his fangs without batting an eye lash!" Weed snarled, interrupting him.
Hmmm? This little runt is Gin's son? What's he so agitated about? John calmly looked at the bristling bundle of fur in front of him. No matter, they do look alike except for the fact that Gin has more control over his emotions.
"Weed, you do know who you're talking to right?" GB asked urgently but Weed ignored him.
"Don't you realize that life is precise? How could you just kill them without a second thought?"
"Kid. When I see an opportunity I take it, regardless of the circumstances." John narrowed his eyes dangerously. "The world isn't going to cuddle up and drop goodies into your paw. An enemy is an enemy."
"No! That's not how it works."
"What if I had left them alive?! They were assassins! They were meant to kill and hired by Hougen no less! No matter how many times you forgive them with kindness they will come back to make sure you're dead!"
"I...I believe that kindness would have reached their hearts." Weed argued. "They could have seen things in another light! You didn't have to kill them!"
"Tch. What's done is done."
"You didn't have to do that though! You could've stopped yourself!"
"Arguing like this won't bring them back!" John spat. To think this brat is Gin's son...how irritating. He caught Missile's eye and nodded. "It would seem that I misjudged you Son of Gin, this conversation is over. Come Missile, we're going." Turning on his heels, John padded away.
"Yes Leader!" Bowing toward his brother, Missile trotted right behind him and they broke into a run, disappearing in a matter of seconds. Weed stood there dumbfounded as well as the other dogs.
"Shit Weed you just threw away a good chance of having John, the Eastern Tiger, run with the pack. How dumb are you?!" Kyoshiro asked.
"A dog that takes away someone else's life without a second glance isn't worthy of running with the pack."
"Damn you really are stupid! An idiot! Stop being so naive!"
"Don't spout such talk, Weed's justice is the real thing." Jerome scolded.
"Yeah! And don't insult Weed's intelligence!" GB added with a growl. "Any insults to the leader is a threat to Ohu!"
"GB, Jerome that's enough." Weed sighed, Kyoshiro's words stung but he knew that he wasn't wrong.
"What now Weed?" Jerome asked as he turned to his leader.
"Follow them."
"Huh?"
"You heard me." Weed turned to address his group. "We will follow them and I am positive that I can persuade them to join the Ohu army."
"Even after all that you still consider that option...whatever." Kyoshiro snorted before looking at his own group. "Listen up! I have decided to follow the Ohu group for now, anyone who objects can leave as they so well please!" Hearing no objections he turned his attention to Weed. "This by no means means I agree with you 100%. However I intend to see things through to the end."
"Thanks Kyoshiro. All right everyone, let's go!"
Alayus's Group...
The fire crackled as Daisuke added more fuel. He helped the young girl chop wood before the weather turned at the last minute which was fine because Gin was still recovering.
"And these are my parents in Hokkaido." The girl smiled as she held out a picture for Daisuke to see. In it he saw the husband and wife smiling with a beautiful mountain towering over them. "Mommy said that this was taken before Daddy proposed to her. It made her happy."
"I'm glad to hear that, have you experienced Hokkaido yourself?" Daisuke placed the photo down.
"No not yet but my parents promised that they will." She looked out of the window and frowned. "This storm isn't letting up huh?" A bark startled them and they rushed to the other room. Alayus greeted them with a tail wag and constant barking.
"What's wrong girl?" Daisuke asked before looking at Gin. The leader's eyes were open and he was looking at him with recognition. "Gin!" Over come with emotion, Daisuke threw his arms around Gin's neck and embraced him. "Thank god you're alive!"
"I'll get him a bowl of food!" The girl disappeared into the kitchen. Daisuke wiped away his tears and smiled.
"Welcome back leader." Alayus spoke as she bowed her head.
"Thank you for your help. Though I'm confused, why is my former master here?" Gin asked.
"He was on business here and he ran into us. He was the one who patched you up."
"I see. You know I never really told anyone this, not even John or Akame. This is something I have kept to myself, the reason why I left Daisuke." He paused, watching Daisuke interact with the girl in the other room while Alayus waited patiently for him to continue."Sometimes we dogs prevent our masters from growing up. When we were young, Daisuke was a reckless owner. I actually followed orders from his grandpa, a hunter bend on killing Akakabuto for giving him a terrible wound. Being reckless, Daisuke and I tried to kill Akakabuto by ourselves, by this time he learned how to use a bow and arrow from John's former master."
"That was Dr. Hidetoshi Sekiguchi right? Dad talked about him A LOT when he was recounting all of his hunting trips." Alayus rolled over with a grown. "I was starting to get sick hearing his name over and over."
"He was furious when he heard what we had done so he forbid anymore hunting. That was when I met the wild dog pack. I felt a connection with them, something was pulling and tugging me to the mountains. Of course I encountered John and the two of us took off after them."
"Then what happened?" Alayus eagerly asked. Laughing, Gin proceeded to tell her about his adventures as the storm continued to rage from the outside.
Hougen's Group...
"What's the status report?" Hougen snarled as he gnawed on a deer carcass. Every single dog could tell that his temper was on the verge of boiling over.
"The squads are still in pursuit but they haven't found anything yet." One of his scouts reported. "Word is that they have taken refuge in a human village."
"Peh! A village run by humans!" Hougen snorted. "What about Weed's group?"
"Reporting!" Another dog rushed up, scrambling head over paws as he addressed his leader. "Thunder and Lector appeared to have been killed sir! Weed and Kyoshiro are on the move!"
"KILLED?! I hired those shit bags to do their job and they were KILLED?!" Standing up abruptly, Hougen crushed the bone beneath his paw. "Hmmm...it would seem that things are getting very interesting."
"What's the news brother?" Hearing a voice behind him, the reporting dog quickly scrambled aside to make way for Hougen's brother Genba.
"Oh, Genba impeccable timing!" Hougen replied. "Gather your troops and start looking for Weed's group. I'll take the rest of these morons to Ohu itself."
"Planning on going to their front door for once brother? An excellent strategy. I'll be heading out then and I will meet you in Ohu." Genba chuckled before taking his leave. Drawing a paw over his ear, Hougen padded out over him and rallied up his troops.
"All right move out! We're going to Ohu!"