Sorry for the long wait. But school has been insane. Anyways, here it is.
The Tale of a Tamer and His Dog God
Ch.4 – The First Mission
-
After the final bell rings, Kaoru, Kenshin, and Sanosuke stand outside in the school courtyard enjoying the freedom. "Hey Kaoru. What are you up to this weekend? I was hoping we could hang out with some of the guys," one guy says from a few feet away, surrounded by the other guys. Kaoru looks towards them and gives them a wave.
"Sorry, but Kenshin and I have some things to do this weekend. I'll see you on Monday."
"Amazing Missy. You've made friends with half the class already. You work fast, don't you?" Sano comments as the three start their way away from the school. Kaoru smirks and lifts her head proudly in the air.
"It's a gift."
"Come on. We better hurry if we don't want Uncle to scream at us," Kenshin says as the other two start falling behind.
"You finally getting yourself a real mission?" Sano says, striding up to Kenshin and patting him on the back, making him stumble a few steps forward.
"Hopefully," Kenshin says, trying to recoup from Sano's pat.
"Hopefully? Of course we are. There's no real reason why he would invite us over. And after how I wiped that demon, it's about time."
-
"Congrats, you officially have your first mission. Complete this and you will officially become the tamer for the Tokyo area for the Seijuro family. Making you and your two friends the official tamers for the Tokyo area, which I am having trouble comprehend," Hiko says, back in the familiar room and familiar arrangement.
"So what's the mission?" Kaoru asks eagerly, leaning forward to hear better.
"You'll be working at the Tokyo Spa. Seems like some type of demon is scaring off all the visitors and the owner wants it taken care of as quickly as possible. The demon seems to like to appear around late afternoon on the weekends, so you'll have time tonight to do some studying. You won't be so lucky like you were last time."
"Of course Uncle. Thank you for the opportunity," Kenshin says, bowing.
"Actually, I take offense to that last remark. Just because you're old doesn't mean you …" she stops as Kenshin slaps his hand across her mouth, stopping her in the act.
"Please ignore her. She's still trying to learn how to adjust to our world." Hiko looks between the two, as Kenshin moves his hand away.
"I see. You better get going if you're going to have any success," Hiko says, getting up from his spot on the floor.
"We won't let you down Uncle." Kenshin gets up, dragging Kaoru with him and bowing before making a hasty exit. Once outside, he spins towards the girl and stares her down. "You need to learn how to keep your mouth shut. He gives us our assignments so he can make it so that we never have an assignment, got it?" Kaoru looks at him for a second, before brushing pass him and heading towards the exit.
"Yeah. Whatever. He just better learn how to talk to people. And did you see Aoshi all smug and stuff."
"I know. I know. But right, now we have to concentrate on tomorrow," he says, catching up with his partner.
"Hey Kenshin, what did he mean by the official tamers?"
"You don't know much for a dog god."
"It's been a while. Refresh me," she says, waving her hand in the air.
"Every country has tamers and dog gods and each country is split up into subdivisions. Japan has three of them- the Northern part is taken care of by the Takanis, the Southern by Sagaras, and the Central is by the Seijuros. People will report a demon problem to one of the houses and then the house will contact one of their tamers to take care of the job, depending on the level of the demon and location.
"In each subdivision, there are further subdivisions or areas. For each area, there are 3 tamers that take care of any disturbances that may happen. These three take care of the everyday and medium level demons. They are called first-class tamers. Second class tamers take medium and some higher demons. Third-class, like Uncle Hiko and Aoshi, take care of the big demons. That's what we're aiming for in the end."
-
After leaving the shrine, Kenshin and Kaoru head into town, stopping at a small dojo. The two walk in and are greeted by a friendly looking old man at the front desk. "Ah Kenshin, what brings you here today?"
"If it wasn't too much trouble, I was hoping that I could crash a class and do some sparring?"
"Of course not. And will your girlfriend be watching?" he asks, looking at an unhappy Kaoru behind him.
"She's not my girlfriend, but she does want to watch, if that's ok?"
"Of course. Class starts in 10." Kenshin turns around towards Kaoru.
"Kenshin, I don't want to sit around and watch." She whines, crossing her arms and looking away.
"The class is only an hour. Then we'll get something to eat and rest up for tomorrow. I'm gonna change and warm-up, so you just wait right here." Kaoru sits in a huff as Kenshin heads towards the locker rooms.
"Why are you doing this to me Kenshin?" she leans her head back, looking at the outside world upside down. She watches for a few before a familiar face appears then disappears. She lifts her head up and looks towards the door to see Sano and Katsu enter.
"Hey Missy, what are you doing here?" Sano asks, stuffing his mouth with a donut from the bag in his hand.
"Waiting for Kenshin like a good little dog."
"He's in class?"
"Yeah. Wants to spar to get ready for the mission tomorrow."
"Your first mission? Congrats. That means you two will become a real team then," Katsu says.
"But now I have to wait around for him to finish." She looks out onto the floor, seeing Kenshin starting to warm up.
"How about you come with us. We need to head to some shops to pick things up and I'm sure Kenshin won't mind if you're with us," Katsu says, following Kaoru's eye.
"Why not. Yo Kenshin!" She screams, waving frantically in the air as Kenshin looks towards her. "I'm going to go hang out with Sano and Katsu for a while. I'll be back in an hour." She waves once more and then leaves taking an arm of each boy and dragging them out with her.
"Kaoru, wait!" HE tries to yell, only to see her gone. HE smacks his hand to his forehead, giving out a loud sigh. "Well, I guess she'll be okay with them."
"Himura, better start warming up."
-
"Thanks for the snacks guys. They were tasty," Kaoru says, licking her fingers of any last sugary residue.
"I gotta say, I think you may have the ability to out eat both me and Sano, though you're only half our size," Katsu says from her right, patting her on the head. Kaoru swats his hand away and walks quicker.
"I may be a bit on the smaller side, but I can beat you guys in anything. I mean, just today I totally creamed him on the track." She looks back at the guy and sticks her tongue out.
"That's because you're a dog god. If you were a normal human, there's no way you would've beaten me." Hearing those words, Kaoru turns back around and starts to slow down, realizing what he said was indeed true.
"That's right. I'm not a human. No matter how hard I pretend to be, I never will be one." She looks down at her hand first, then brings it back to the necklace around her neck, reminding her of what she really is.
"Hey Kaoru, you okay?" Sano asks, putting his arm around her.
"Yeah. I was just thinking about what was for dinner," she smiles, patting her stomach with both hands. The group soon turns the corner to see Kenshin waiting outside and looking straight at them.
"It looks like we made it just in time. How was your practice Kenshin? Missy told us about your assignment tomorrow."
"It was a good workout. I think once I get home, I'll look over some books then go to bed early. I want this mission to go perfect so maybe Uncle Hiko will get off my back."
"He's never gonna get off your back man, you should just give up trying." Kaoru hops over to her tamer and wraps her arms around his neck, hanging off of him slightly and a huge grin covering her face.
"Everything will go just fine. I mean, you have me. What more can you ask for?"
"Oh great Kaoru, I bow to your greatness," Katsu says, getting onto his knees and bowing. Kaoru looks down from her position to see his eyes subtly looking up her skirt.
"Hey, eyes down boy," she says, raising her foot and slamming his head into the ground. Katsu attempts to speak, but all that comes out is muffled as Kaoru keeps her foot pressed hard.
"Well, we better let you two go then. Good luck tomorrow," Sano says, waving off but not before grabbing Katsu by the shirt and lifting him off the ground.
"Thanks," Kenshin says, waving back. He looks back towards Kaoru who now sports an adorable little grin.
"Kenshin, what's for dinner?"
-
For the past hour or so, the two partners sit in their living room, old books with pictures of demons scattered about open. Kaoru takes another unopened one and flips through the pages as she lies on her side, her tail swishing about. "And what am I supposed to be doing again?"
"Just looking through the books and reading about different demons," Kenshin says, looking carefully at another book by the table.
"But this is so boring." She slams the book shut and flips onto her back, hands behind the head.
"When in a battle, you need to know your enemy so that you can find its weak spot and destroy it quickly."
"And reading is going to help how?"
"We can learn about some of the common ones so that when whatever appears, we can come up with a game plan quickly. Hmmm, I probably should've done more training with you. We'll start that on Monday."
"Reading about them don't really help much when you've already encountered a whole bunch of them. Like in hundreds of years worth of battles Kenshin!" she shouts, but leaves the boy untouched. She turns towards the window, looking out at the skyline. While staring, she sees a strange blue light fly by. Though quick, she has an idea of what exactly was there.
"Why is he here?" she asks herself, getting up from her position and opening the window. Kenshin feels the breeze and turns to see his partner with one foot on the ledge.
"What is it Kaoru?" he asks, getting ready in case of attack.
"Nothing. I just need to go check something out. I'll be back soon." She jumps out gracefully and flies in the direction of the light.
-
Kaoru soon finds herself on one of the larger skyscrapers downtown. She looks around until she sees who she was supposed to meet. "I'm glad you could make it."
"What do you want Aoshi?" He pushes himself off from the wall he was leaning on to approach the girl.
"I just wanted to tell you that I'll be watching you and Kenshin tomorrow."
"And you came out here to tell me that because?"
"Just wanted to tell you so that you won't be concerned if you feel another presence in the area."
"Is that all?"
"Yes, it is." Aoshi jumps into the air a few feet, before looking at Kaoru one more time. "Good luck tomorrow." She watches as he flies off and disappears, following with a humph.
"I don't need luck."
-
"So this is it. My first real mission. Concentrate on your surroundings Kenshin. You never know when it might show up," Kenshin repeats in his head over and over again. He stands at attention, a mop in hand as he pretends to be cleaning the spring's area.
"Kenshin, I'm bored," Kaoru says, floating in the water in the bathing suit. "When is this demon going to show up? My trigger finger is getting impatient." She lifts up in finger to emphasize as a little flame keeps flickering on and off.
"Be patient Kaoru, It'll show up eventually." Kenshin suddenly drops his mop as a strange feeling comes over him. Kaoru feels the same thing and lifts herself from the water, ready to attack. "Looks like you won't have to wait that long after all." They both look towards a different pool of water and watch as a huge column of water erupts from it. Spraying water everywhere, a large water demon that resembles a gingerbread man, black dots for eyes appears, starring right at them.
"So you're the demon that's been haunting these grounds," Kenshin says, bring out a hilt which quickly turns into a blade of light.
"These are my lands. I refuse to let some humans disgrace it with their filth."
"I gotta say that its not really all that great," Kaoru comments, angering the demon more.
"Why you insolent fool," he says, bringing an arm back, then whipping it forward towards Kaoru. She sees it though and quickly dodges it.
"Kaoru, watch it," Kenshin says from below, warning her as another spray of water collides with her, sending her to the ground. She quickly gets herself together, standing up and shaking all excess water off of her.
"Damn that's cold considering you overlook a hot spring. Blue inferno," Kaoru sends her attack, which the demon dodges, only to be hit with another. Turning around, he sees that the source of that attack was from Kenshin's sword.
"So your human wants to get involved as well, how about these?" The ground starts to vibrate as odd looking frog like creatures start to emerge from the ground and making their way towards Kenshin.
"What are those?" he asks out loud, his sword out in front. Kaoru looks at them quickly then back to the main demon.
"They're minions," she answers.
"You take care of the big guy. I'll handle these little ones?" Kenshin suggest.
"That's fine by me." Kenshin slashes his sword, letting an arch of white light escape as one of the frogs jump to attack. As he continues to fight them, Kaoru attacks on her own, trying to take down the water demon with her fiery attack.
"Why won't you just die already?" she screams in frustration, dodging another attack.
"Try something else," Kenshin suggests, striking down a few more creatures.
"No, really?" She brings her two hands together, only to pull them apart, blue lines crackling between them. "Lightening Strike." She aims the power towards the demon and it hits, sending volts through the creature's body and sending it to the ground with a large thunk.
"They stopped," Kenshin states as the annoying little creatures disappear. He then looks up at his partner, who is still ready to fight. "You can shoot lightening?"
"Yeah."
"Why didn't you do that before?" he asks, annoyed at her indifference.
"Because it takes a while for me to build enough energy!" she screams down at him as the demon in the background starts to collect himself.
"That's it. It's made of water, so electricity should do major damage. Can you do it again?"
"I told you it takes a while for me to build up enough energy!"
"What else can we use?" Kenshin looks around, looking for another source and soon finds himself staring straight at some heating lamps. "The lights." 'Kaoru, I need you to get the demon into the water as close to the tanning lights as possible.'
'Righty oh.' She returns to attention and sees the demon has gotten back to his feet. "Come on water boy. Give me your best shot." While she continues her fight, Kenshin runs towards his target and with an arc, shatters the glass of the lamp, exposing its wiring and such. He then looks above to see Kaoru as she leads the demon closer to the pool of water closest to the lamp. As soon as it takes its last step, Kenshin pushes the lamp into the pool. But at the same time, the demon attacks Kaoru, sending a rope made of water that wraps around her leg and pulls her closer. As the lamp finally hits the surface, volts are sent through the demon as well as Kaoru. Kenshin uses his arm to shield his eyes from the bright light and steps away. After a few seconds, opens them to watch as the demon spirit disappear, only to be left by a glass bead which shatters.
"Well, that wasn't so bad for a first mission, right Kaoru?" He waits but hears no reply. "Kaoru?" He looks around and soon finds his partner, face down on the ground, tail in the air twitching along with her leg.
-
In a very familiar room, a young tamer and partner sit in front of his Uncle and his partner. Kenshin kneels in his spot, clenching and unclenching his pants, eyes to the floor. His partner kneels to his right, her black tail twitching slightly every few seconds.
"You electrocuted your partner?" Hiko states calmly.
"It was an accident," Kenshin whispers. He looks up to see his uncle looking straight at him, slamming down his tea cup on the floor.
"You electrocuted your partner. You are supposed to work with her, not kill her. How big of an idiot are you? And on your first mission? I will never live this down if this gets out."
"It was my fault sir. I wasn't watching what was happening completely. I mean, except for the first shock, nothing happened," Kaoru says, trying to laugh it off, only to follow her explanation with her left eye twitching. The two watch as the older man starts to regain his composure, taking in a deep breath.
"At least you were able to defeat the demon with minimal damage to the area. Here's your cut of the commission. I took out a chunk that covers the extra expenses that you have incurred." He slides an envelope over towards them, which Kenshin quickly takes and stashes. "Now get out of my sight." The two stand up and bow quickly.
"Yes Uncle Hiko."
-
"So how did we do?" Kaoru asks Aoshi, as the two stand atop the building they had met on the day before.
"It wasn't the worst first assignment."
"I'm not used to working with others."
"Well, you're going to have to." Kaoru looks down for a second, hand wrapping around her necklace.
"Kenshin mentioned something about training together."
"I would advise it. If you don't start working together better, Hiko will keep giving you the low end assignments. And I know that isn't what you're used to." Kaoru looks at him this time, straight in the eye trying to figure out the older looking male.
"Why are you doing this Aoshi?"
"What do you mean?"
"This meeting with you to discuss Kenshin and I's progress. I'm sure that it's not a normal thing among partners."
"The arrangement interests me. I haven't seen anything like it in quite a while. Good night," he quickly ends, before leaving. Kaoru takes leave as well, but not without questions.
"What is he up to?"