Whooo! Out the day after I post a new chapter of my fanfic A Ninja Amongst Meisters! Something must be wrong with the world... Now excuse me while I go hibernate in a cave.
The masked man regained consciousness first, letting out a small cry as he awoke back in reality. He blinked at the sudden brightness that pierced his eyes and struggled to sit up, only to gasp in pain as sharp spasms darted through every part of his body. He lay back down, succumbing to his body's whims. He moved his hands, testing them, only to realize he was still holding onto both of the people that had come with him, and tightly, too. He loosened his grip on the two and tilted his head to look at Mao on his chest. His legs were splayed out, but he looked fine, as if he was just taking a small catnap. Even his tail twitched happily every once in a while, as if he was lost in the lands of a dream.
Next, he glanced at the policewoman, Misaki, who was lying besides him. Her hand, that wasn't holding onto him, was crossed over her chest, still gripping tightly to her gun, as through it was a part of her, and she had been afraid of losing it to the darkness. She probably only a few rounds still in the clip and perhaps a few extra cartridges clipped to her belt. It was probably best that he left before she woke up and decided to point the gun at him once more. He tried to move once more and ignored the pain when it shot through his body. Twisting his hand gently out of her grip, he stood up, repositioning Mao in his grip, holding him in two arms.
Now that he was standing up, he surveyed his surroundings, which was just jagged rocks reaching up to the sky. The sun hung over the land, like a giant eye, heating up the air and creating mirages in the distance. He squinted; sweat already forming due to his dark clothes and beginning to collect under his mask. He glanced back at the Misaki, who looked like she wasn't going to wake up anytime soon. Feeling the heat beat down upon him, he took pity on her and lightly set Mao down and walked back over to her side. Sliding his arms under her neck and knees, he lifted her up and carried her to an outcropping of rock, placing her underneath it in the shade. He stared down at her and then finally turned away, picking up Mao once more and walking away, hoping his guilt didn't make him return to her.
An hour of walking had gone by and he still did not know exactly where he was. The land around him was unfamiliar in everyway. If anything, he wasn't in Tokyo anymore, not even in the area outside of it. The air was too clean for that and the land seemed to be healthy. Mao stirred suddenly in his arm, his ears perking up, and his tail whipping about in a frenzied manner. He squirmed and The Black Reaper loosened his grip on the cat so he could jump out of his arms. Mao landed on the ground and twisted around to stare up at him.
"Oh, it's just you," he said in relief before stretching, his front legs extended in front of him and then shook out his fur, the bell on his collar shaking loudly, "Where exactly are we?"
He removed his mask before shrugging his shoulder in reply. Putting the mask away in one of the pouches around his belt, he started walking away, leaving behind Mao, who complained loudly, bounding after him. He shrugged off his coat and folded it neatly into a small square before tucking it into his back pocket for safekeeping. Immediately, he felt much better, but the sun continued to beat on him all the more. Mao caught up with him, his tiny legs churning in order to keep up with the masked man and whispered complaints escaping out of his whiskered mouth.
"Where exactly are we going?" Mao complained, loudly this time, hoping on top of a small rock and lying down to bask in the sun, his limbs stretched out.
He didn't reply, but instead glanced up the slope next to them, mumbling to himself, "I think I heard a cow just now."
"Hey, are you just saying that so you can ignore my question?" Mao yelled after BK-201 as he scrambled up the side of the rock wall before sighing in defeat and flopping back on the rock. He gave up worrying and contenting himself to lounge in the sun, forgetting all about the man. Meanwhile The Black Reaper continued to crawl up the slope, pulling himself up to the top. He got to his feet at the very top of the wall, walked to the edge of the outcrop and stared down at the ground in front of him. A field of grass spread out in front of him, lazy cows dotting the pasture, their tails whipping the air and the flies that buzzed around them. Near the buildings, he could see people moving about, hard at work moving the bales of hay and other miscellaneous jobs.
"I was right, Mao, I did hear a cow!" He yelled back down at the cat, who just swished his tail to show that he had heard, "There are people too." Instantly the cat leapt to his feet and raced up the steep slope, bounding from boulder to boulder to join the masked man. He over looked the field in front of him, his eyes watching the scenery in front of him.
"Well? Should we go down there?"
"Why not? They just look harmless," The Black Reaper began leaping down the other side of the slope and Mao jumped onto his shoulders, his legs moving to keep up with the man's movements, "Just don't talk," he added to the cat, whose ears swiveled backwards in annoyance.
"I'm not stupid. I'm well aware that it's not normal of cats to usually talk. I'm not going to walk up to them and have a nice little chat with the locals."
The masked man made no move to reply to the cat's snarky and comment but instead focused on where he was putting his feet, well aware that if he placed his foot in the wrong place they would both tumble down the rest of the slope. The masked man would be able to get out of that predicament quite easily, given the fact that he had hands. Mao, on the other hand, wouldn't be so lucky, since he was in the body of a cat at the moment. The Black Reaper jumped off the last boulder and immediately Mao jumped back onto steadier ground. They made their way past the cows, which looked back at them their eyes wide and dumb, slowly chewing on the cud, their jaws working in circular motions. As they neared the people, a few spotted them and stared, probably seeing them as peculiar guests, a grown man dressed all in black, weapons at his waist, and his cat.
"Hello," someone said hesitantly, stepping out in front of them. It was a girl, her brown hair tied back with a giant bow and twisted into a ponytail that reached all the way down her back. Her outfit was comprised of mostly bright orange, a great contrast to the dull colored clothes everyone else around her was wearing, "Can we help you?"
The others muttered, quietly speculating as to who this man just might be. He heard words like "spy," "Alter user," and "HOLD" whispered amongst them.
"I can assure you that I am no spy or alter user and I don't know of this HOLD you people speak of," he addressed the citizens and they looked at him in alarm, "I could not help but overhear your quite audible whispering."
Immediately they all returned to their frantic whispering, many of their words still loud enough for the man's acute ears to pick up.
"Don't mind them. We're just not used to strangers out here. Usually when a stranger comes, they're from HOLY. Where are you from?"
"Tokyo," he muttered deciding to just tell them the truth and it seemed to have a giant impact on the people, as whispers spread through them like wildfire. He was pretty sure this was going to become the hottest gossip for whatever reason.
"The mainland? You're from the mainland?" The girl asked, excited, and ran up to him. He flinched backwards from her, still wary of this group. Mao took this moment to come forward, meowing loudly to get everyone's attention. For a few moments he would act like a cat to distract them. It worked like a charm for the girl at least and she immediately got down on her knees to scratch him behind his ears. He put on an act of purring, leaning into her hand. However, his eyes shot over to glare at The Black Reaper to let him really know how he felt. To be treated in this matter was degrading to him. He was a human in a cat's body, after all.
"Is it okay if I pick him up? It is a he, right?"
"Yes, you can pick Mao up. He quite enjoys being pet by people," another glare was shot his way from the cat, "So, go ahead and pick him up if you want to."
She did so and cradled Mao in her arms, scratching him between the ears. He let out a struggling purr at the touch, trying as hard as he could to stay in her arms. However, he was amused that The Black Reaper had played a sort of trick on him, something a normal contractor would never think of. Everyday he spent with this man only piqued his curiosity in him even more. He was like a puzzle spread out over a table, just begging to be put together, to be figured out. The only problem with this puzzle was that it had no border pieces and a few extra pieces had been thrown into the mix in order to throw off anymore you dared try to piece it all together. Before he realized what was happening, the girl was setting him back down; time had passed without him realizing it. Perhaps he did enjoy the attention and petting more than he dared admit to even himself. Immediately he attached himself back to the man's side, not wanting anymore more attention brought on himself.
"You look tired. Have you been traveling long?" The girl addressed The Black Reaper again, looking up at him with giant eyes. He met her eyes and faked a smile to comfort her.
"No, not that long. Just a few hours at the most. To be honest I have no clue where we are, we're completely lost."
"Aw! The poor little kitty cat had to walk for miles on paw to here!" She squatted down and reached out pet Mao once more, but he pretended to take interest in a butterfly floating by and chased after it enthusiastically, leaping up into the air after it, purrs erupting from his throat. Even The Black Reaper almost couldn't tell whether he was faking it or not.
"Well, to be honest, I would start to carry him whenever he started to complain, so he didn't do much walking at all. He's quite a wimpy cat," Mao jerked to a stop and sent a glare at him once more, but he pretended not to notice but continued up his fake smile.
"You must be hungry, then," she stood back up, "Why don't you come back to my place and I can cook something up for you."
He held out of hand, palm facing her, "No, that's fine. We should keep moving anyways. We still have to figure out a way back to home."
"Oh, no, I must insist you eat something before you move on. It's only right for us to be hospitable to guests," she grabbed his arm and began tugging him away from the field despite his protests. She eventually released him once she knew that he was actually going to follow her, Mao in tow. The man's knives clinked against his thighs as he followed the girl up a hill. She seemed to live a distance from the rest of the town, out here in solitude.
"I don't live alone," she called over her shoulder, "If that's what you were wondering. Of course, he's always gone so I guess I could basically be considered living alone out here. He was still home this morning before I left, though. Maybe we'll be lucky and he won't have run off like usual."
Meanwhile, in the middle of the wasteland, Misaki finally stirred. She murmured in her sleep and then sat up, rubbing her eyes. Why was her bed so dang hard and uncomfortable? She blinked in shock as she realized where she was. Some sort of outcropped rock was over her, shading her from the sun. However, even then, she could feel the warmth of the sun pounding down on her. Her suit was clinging to her as she stood up, her back all wet from sweating in her sleep. She looked around, but there was no one else in sight. BK-201 had abandoned her, she realized in a flash of anger, but once she thought about it from his point of view she figured she would have done the same if she was in his position. After all, she had tried to capture or kill him on numerous occasions. That wasn't something you really wanted to stick around and wait for. At least he had left her with her gun, she decided, and slid it back into its holster. She set off in a random direction, hoping it would bring her so some sort of civilization.
They stopped outside an old two-story clinic under a large tree. Cracks covered the road in front of the building and a lone telephone line kept watch over the rundown building. The place didn't look well kept, but, then again, it didn't look like a place that really cared about curb appeal. It looked like a place that cared more about survival than anything else. It was something that he could greatly relate to. The girl opened the front door and peered in.
"Kazu-kun?" She called into the doorway, peering around.
"How many times have I told you to not call me that?" Came a voice from somewhere in the depths of the house and she turned to grin at the man.
"Oh, good. He's still here," she laughed and then entered into the house, "We have guests, Kazu-kun!"
"What do you mean we have guests?" A man questioned, coming around the corner, a frown on his face. The man had reddish brown hair parted on the left side of his head that flopped down around his face. His collared jacket only had one sleeve with a very interesting white design on the shoulder. It was cut short with a slanting hem, showing his midriff, which revealing a purple long sleeve shirt underneath. He shoved his hands into his pant pockets, his right hand wearing a fingerless glove that seemed padded, as though he was in fights a lot. Just looking at his expression as he glowered at the two unexpected, and probably unwelcome, guests could tell you that he wasn't much of a people person.
"Would you like a glass of water?" The girl addressed the man.
"Sure, if it's not a bother," he replied, trying to be as polite as he could as a guest in this household. She went around the corner, shutting the door behind her as she went. The man didn't even try to find a place to site down, but instead remained standing in the middle of the room in a rigid posture as the two stared at each other. Mao sat down on the ground and flicked at his ear with a hind paw, pretending he had a scratch to get rid of.
"So, Kazu-kun, right?" The man finally spoke, but the other man snapped at him.
"No. I don't like it when anyone calls me that, especially not a complete stranger like you. It's Kazuma."
"All right, Kazuma," He murmured, reaching down to pick up Mao. He held him up, his hands under his front legs, leaving his back legs dangling in the air, "What do you think about cats." Oh, no. He was backing up into his awkward phase that he took on every once in a while as an alias so the police wouldn't suspect him. Kazuma just looked at him as though a second head had just sprouted out of his shoulder and started speaking gibberish. Even Mao flicked his tail about in amusement, his ears swiveling.
"They're okay…" Kazuma finally replied, wearily, just in time for the girl to come back in with a glass of water and a small plate of food. She set it down on the table and Kazuma made his way towards the food, a smile on his face. She slapped his hand away as soon as it reached for it and he retreated with a frown on his face, his hand clasped to his chest as if she had actually injured it.
"Here you go…" she paused, "Oh, my I just realized I never got your name, sir. What is your name?"
"I never got your name, either," He pointed out, trying to stall the time so he could mull his names in his mind to decide on which would be best to tell her. Of course, Misaki was in this world as well, so he would have to go with his alias's name so no confusion was created if he ever ran into her. It would probably be a bad idea to use his codename in this world. But, then again, what was the chance of them running into each other again? While wearing his mission outfit, he would feel more comfortable to be called his by his codename, not his alias.
"Oh, you're right! I never did tell you my name."
Kazuma looked over at her, "Seriously? You invited a stranger into our house when you didn't even know his name and he didn't even know yours? Also, what's with the cat? It's like some creepy add-on to him. Who holds a cat like that?"
He looked down at Mao, who he was still holding in his arms and Mao looked up at him, he tail still swishing, "Mao seems fine with me holding him like this," he noted and immediately Mao stopped seeming so content and began squirming in his grasp, trying to break free.
"Yes, he looks delighted," he retorted sarcastically before returning his gaze to the food that she had brought out.
"I'm Kanami. It's nice to meet you…" she held out her hand and paused to wait for his reply.
He held out his hand, grasping hers in his and shaking it, "It's nice to meet you, Kanami," he glanced over at Kazuma, "and you, Kazuma," he didn't even look over to acknowledge his existence, "I'm Hei."
Hope you guys liked this chapter! Until next time, DFTBA! :D