Let me just say, this WAS going to be one of probably two or three fight chapters, but, well... I noticed an issue with Kantarou's little escape plan. That being, wings. -sigh-
After much debate, it was decided that they had no choice but to walk to Minamoto's hideout. It was determined that Sugino was decidedly not carrying anyone, Haruka was simply not big enough to carry more than two people at most, and Madara couldn't handle four individuals on his own either. ((A/N: Natori, Kantarou, Youko, Taki, Sasada, Tanuma... Minus 2... Four.)) It was also decided that this method wouldn't be fast enough to make a grand escape. "Well this is getting absolutely nowhere. Call me when we're leaving, I'm going to take a nap." Haruka mumbled, yawning as he attempted to escape the bickering people in the kitchen. It was then that there was a sudden clatter as the door opened and a child ran inside and hid behind Kantarou.
"Ah! Rosalie-chan! Just the girl I wanted to see." Kantarou greeted, turning around a bit too quickly, causing pain to radiate through his chest again. He winced, but did his best to keep a brave face on for the girl.
"... What happened?" She asked, somewhat shy as she noticed everyone else in the room, "Who are they?"
"They're-"
"ROSALIE!" As if on cue, Hasumi burst through the door Rosalie had just come from. Surprised to see so many people, he asked "... Ichinomiya, what the HELL are you doing? Aren't you a bit broke to be having a party?"
"Aren't you a bit... I don't have time for this. Get out of my house." Kantarou demanded, though nobody moved an inch. Rosalie tugged at Kantarou's hakama, attempting to get his attention.
"Give Rosalie back!" Hasumi ordered, not seeming to notice Kantarou's condition.
"She came here of her own free will and is always welcome in my home, unlike yo... you... I need a drink. Haruka, make him go away, I need to talk to Rosalie-chan."
Frowning, Youko stated, "You shouldn't get her involved in this, Kan-chan."
"She already is, no thanks to Hasumi there." Kantarou snarled at his rival before turning to Rosalie and doing his best to get to her level without hurting himself, "Rosalie-chan, do you think you can do me a big favor?"
Eyeing him warily, she asked, "What is it...?"
"My friend got kidnapped by a demon, and we're all going to help him, but we need to be able to escape quickly, and there just aren't enough big, flying youkai here to help with that. Do you know anyone who could help us?" Kantarou asked gently.
"Demons? Youkai? Stop filling my Rosalie's head with lies, Ichinomiya!" Hasumi demanded.
This got a rise out of Kantarou, who turned on his heels, not seeming to notice the pain as he pinned Hasumi to the wall with his broken, casted arm, "What did you say? You're one to talk, asshole. You think you can just get away with doing whatever the hell you want and then tell us we're lying when we-"
"Kan-chan, stop it!" Youko and Haruka, who had been caught in a bit of a daze by this sudden personality change, pried him away from Hasumi.
"I... Sorry..." Kantarou sighed and allowed himself to fall back against the two youkai, "Just leave, Hasumi. I don't have the time or energy to deal with you."
Rubbing his neck, the younger man replied, "I told you, I'll leave when you unhand... Rosalie-chan? Where'd she go? ICHINOMIYA!" Everyone turned their attention to where the girl had been and noticed that the space was empty.
"It's like she knows~" Kantarou grinned, "Let's wait here for a bit, then."
"You think that child is going to resolve this?" Natori questioned.
"Of course not. At least not completely. Apparently your dumb ass didn't notice, but Muu-chan left, too. Quite a while ago, actually." Kantarou pointed out, nodding to Sugino's empty arms.
The tengu, not having noticed this himself, glared at Kantarou, "I really hate you."
"Muu-chan will be back soon, Sugino-sama," Kantarou assured him, still beaming. "Now how about that nap I mentioned?"
"I mentioned a nap." Haruka reminded, shooting a look at his master.
"But I'm hurt~ We can take a nap together!"
"Not on your life." Haruka mumbled with a sigh, rolling his eyes a bit.
Pouting even though he knew he should have expected that response, Kantarou ordered, "At least help me to my room."
Dumbfounded, Sasada asked, "So that's it? We're going to have naptime like we're in kindergarten and call it a day?"
"Nobody's calling it a day, I just need some rest. It shouldn't take Rosalie-chan and Muu-chan long to find a couple of worthy candidates. Like I said, they won't kill Natsume-kun no matter what, so don't worry so much. We'll strike at sundown. Until then, I suggest you all take a nap, too. Or go home, if you're Hasumi. Meanwhile, you might want to call your troops in, Natori." Kantarou told them.
Eyeing Kantarou, Hasumi asked, "Just what is it you're up to, Ichinomiya?"
"Nothing you can see, so don't worry about it, jerk." Kantarou grumbled, "Make up your mind. Believe in youkai or don't, but quit using Rosalie-chan or I really will kidnap her. She's not your guinea pig." Deciding he didn't want this to turn into another brawl, Haruka led Kantarou to his room. Things were just getting more and more complicated.
Meanwhile, Natsume is still unconscious
"Well this got boring mighty fast," Minamoto complained, "Why'd you have to go and piss him off?" He asked, looking to the rubble that was once a wall as Ibaragi stood up and dusted herself off.
"That little brat," She hissed, "I'd kill him now if I didn't think he knew the location of that book."
This suggestion somewhat annoyed Minamoto. "You'd give up on the demon eating tengu for that thing?" He challenged.
"Hah! In a heartbeat! That tengu is powerful, to be certain, but even he couldn't take the hoards that could be summoned with the Book of Friends. And killed, for that matter. Supposedly their souls are so bound to that paper that anything that happens to their page in the book happens to their very souls." Ibaragi stated as she returned through the hole in the wall, "You have no idea how much damage I could do with that book."
A rather enraged Minamoto, feeling somewhat betrayed, though he knew he should have expected as much from the demon, was ready to charge at her when his faithful servant Watanabe grabbed his wrist. "Let's go for a walk to cool our heads while the boy rests," The man suggested, knowing that severing their ties with Ibaragi would be detrimental to their goal.
"Fine." Minamoto mumbled, snapping his wrist away from the other man and charging out the door.
That was short
Unfortunately for Kantarou, there's no rest for the wicked until they close their eyes for good. Haruka had no intention of letting his master sleep when they got to his room. Once Kantarou was comfortable in bed, the tengu began bombarding him with questions. "Why'd you bring that girl into this, Kantarou?"
"Mmmph, I told you, she's been involved since she met Edwards. Lemme sleep." Kantarou mumbled.
"No, I won't let you sleep. Order me away and I'll send Hasumi in here. to annoy you. I can't do what you tell me if I don't understand your purpose." Haruka stated bluntly.
"You know why we have to save Natsume-kun." Kantarou heaved a sigh, giving up on sleep for now. Haruka was right, and it wasn't really fair to keep him in the dark when it came to these things.
"I don't. You're a manipulative, cruel bastard who will use anything and everything to his advantage to get what he wants. I know that. I don't know what you want."
"... That was mean." Kantarou muttered softly. "But in answer to your question, I guess you could say I've become attached to him. Kindred spirits and the like."
"...Because he can see youkai?" Haruka questioned. If that were true, he'd be best friends with Natori too, right?
Kantarou shook his head, "Not just that. The book... His grandmother created it so she could control youkai, because she was basically a big bully to them, right? But he's trying to return the names to them and right her wrongs. I may not be correcting an ancestor's mistakes, but I'd like to think that I'm helping both humans and youkai when I talk to them. And what Tanuma-kun said about his being passed around families and never seeming to fit in... I can relate to that. Perhaps not on the same level, but..." He looked to Haruka, "If I wanted the book, I'd just keep it and use it as I please, but I'm not doing that, so don't think I'd go that low."
"But it's okay to use a child?" The tengu countered. He almost felt bad for continuing after Kantarou had, for once, been so open and honest with him, but he had to know more before they went into battle with Ibaragi again.
"I'm not using her, she came to me. Like I told Hasumi, if she comes to me for protection from his 'possession experiments' again, I'm going to kidnap her for real. I wasn't joking about that. Saying "I love you" doesn't make everything okay again, it just makes the one saying it feel better about themselves while continuing to relentlessly corrupt the other-"
"Who are you talking about?" Haruka wondered aloud. When he went on tangents about this particular subject, it was hard to tell if he was talking more about himself or Rosalie.
With another sigh, Kantarou mumbled, "Both of us, I suppose. Haruka, I'm tired and sore, please let me rest until they come back."
"Too late," Haruka replied, sensing Muu-chan before Kantarou was able to. "One more question. Do you really think this is going to work?"
With a grin, Kantarou replied, "Absolutely. We won't lose, Haruka. We can't lose. The combined strength of Natsume, Natori and I, plus you and God knows how many youkai Natori's enslaved... We'll be just fine. Besides, we're not going there to win. We're going there to rescue. Remember that. Don't use all your strength fighting today, alright?"
"I don't understand you sometimes," Haruka commented, though he helped Kantarou to his feet regardless. "If you think we're going to be so powerful, why not just take them out now? You know they're going to keep following us until they get what they want or die trying."
"Yes, but... My grudge against them is personal, 'cause they're after you. Right now, we're all going for the mutual cause of saving Natsume... When I defeat them, I want to be able to say you and I did it ourselves. I don't want help from anybody else because it's not their battle to win." Kantarou leaned into Haruka and allowed the tengu to take him out of the safety of his room, "I'm selfish," He admitted softly, "I don't want anybody else to be allowed to fight for your sake." With this said, he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep with a peaceful smile.
"...You're seriously going to sleep now? You're unbelievable." Haruka stated, though he seemed more amused than angry as he carried his sleeping master to the kitchen in his arms.
Hearing footsteps and expecting her master to be wide-awake and ready to go, Youko stood up and went to greet Haruka in the hallway, "Well you look happy," She commented, noticing his demeanor had changed.
"Do I?" Deciding he didn't want to share the conversation with everyone, he made a face as he said, "Because I'm not. This idiot fell asleep on me right when I told him they were getting close."
"At a time like this? What kind of master is that?" Natori challenged, eyeing the two youkai and their master.
"The kind that isn't awake to tell me not to kill you." Haruka replied simply, glaring at the man. He no longer had to pretend to be angry. Just the presence of Natori in his home was enough to set him off. Thankfully, the slam of the door opening snapped both of them out of battle mode.
"And then I told her-" A woman who was talking rather loudly silenced herself when she came face-to-face with Haruka. "The demon eating tengu? Rosa-chan, you didn't tell us we'd be going against him." she said, looking down at the girl beside her.
Madara opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off by Haruka, which was good, because Sasada was still there. "Hinoe? I thought I killed you."
"You an' me both. I got lucky that day. Misuzu is still around, too. We told him to wait outside. Oh, and the tanuki's here, too..." Hinoe commented, "Why are you carrying a human boy around?"
"He's-"
Haruka was cut off when Hasumi said, "Why on earth would you try to kill Rosalie-chan, Haruka-kun?"
As if on cue, Kantarou sat up in Haruka's arms and snapped, "WHY ARE YOU STILL HERE? GO HOME, DAMN YOU! You're making it extremely difficult to catch up on my rest!"
"So you were faking it. That explains why you fell asleep so quickly. And why you were smirking." Haruka muttered, not bothering to look down at Kantarou.
"I wasn't at first," Kantarou admitted, looking to Hasumi, "He's not talking to Rosalie, he's talking to the youkai next to her. And the three lined up behind her because they're afraid of Haruka. Nothing you can see, as I said, so GO HOME."
"Rosalie-chan, Kan-chan's right. You don't want to stick around to see how this ends. You can come play over here tomorrow, okay? We can make a cake!" Youko offered, trying to come down to the girl's level. Rosalie, however, wasn't going for it, and shook her head.
"Rosa wants to come." She stated bluntly.
"Come where? Aren't we here already?" Hinoe questioned, looking to the girl.
Kantarou sighed and rolled his eyes, "No, we haven't left yet. Rosalie-chan, you can't come with this time. I'm sorry, but it's just too dangerous, and there are too many of us going as it is."
"But what about-"
"We're on the same side this time, Hinoe." Haruka replied before she could finish. "We're going after Douji Ibaragi."
"Iba- You've got to be kidding me." Hinoe protested, eyeing him suspiciously.
"She'll kill us all!" One of the
"She'll kill us all!" One of the Chuyakuu (mid-level youkai) Natsume had previously rescued from the elder Tanuma's purifications warned.
"Kill us all, kill us all." The other agreed. Even Chobihige nodded in agreement.
Kantarou sighed, annoyed, "Nobody's going to die. Why are all of you even here? The big guy outside should be more than enough help- we just need a quick escape. More youkai are just going to slow us down."
"So you're the one Rosa-chan spoke of? Tell me, why is the demon eater holding you? And why is that tanuki here?" Hinoe questioned, eyeing him suspiciously.
"Hinoe, is it? I'm Ichinomia Kantarou. Haruka's carrying me because my ribs are broken and I can't walk too well." He admitted.
"Haruka? I see. So you broke his seal and named him, is that it? I pity him for being enslaved by another human, but it must be better than living in a rock." Hinoe commented, brushing her hair from her eyes. "And the tanuki?"
"Madara's here because he failed at his job as a bodyguard and is trying to correct that problem." Haruka replied.
With another sigh, Kantarou muttered, "Don't try to cover for me, Haruka. It's my fault they took Natsume-kun... I shouldn't have stuck around so long."
"Natsume-sama? They took Natsume-sama?!" The brighter of the Chuyakuu asked, enraged.
Kantarou blinked, rather surprised, "You know Natsume-kun?"
"Of course we know him!" Hinoe scoffed, "He's the grandson of Reiko, how could we not know him?"
"I suppose that's true... I just didn't think you'd know him personally." Kantarou shifted a bit in Haruka's arms, "If you insist on tagging along, you're responsible for getting yourselves out of there."
"We insist! As Natsume's dogs, we have no choice but to help him when he's in danger!" The brighter Chuyakuu proclaimed.
"No choice, no choice," The other agreed.
Kantarou eyed them for a moment before deciding that they were just being stupid and ridiculous. Natsume had the Book of Friends- he could call upon far stronger (and smarter) youkai if he so chose. "Very well then. Let's head out before my house gets any more crowded. Sugino-sama? Please lead the way... And Natori, help those who can't fly find Misuzu. Rosalie-chan, I'm sorry, but you can't come this time, I'm serious."
"He's right, kiddo. This fight's no place for a good girl like you." Hinoe agreed, ruffling the child's hair affectionately.
"Rosa wants to come," She insisted, looking from Haruka and Kantarou to Hinoe hopefully.
"Rosalie-chan," Kantarou called to her gently, "As much as I hate to say it, you're safer with Hasumi's antics and experiments than you would be going with us. I don't want to be responsible for you being hurt, or worse." The two of them looked one another directly in the eye in silence for what seemed like an eternity before Rosalie finally seemed to give up and turned to leave.
"R-Rosalie, wait!" Hasumi rushed out the door after her, but not before shouting a few expletives back at Kantarou.
"That solves one problem. Madara-sama, I'm expecting you to help carry people, too." Kantarou told him, "This is, in part, your fault, too. You should've gotten Natsume-kun out of there before things got out of hand."
"Hmph!" The cat looked away from him and transformed into his natural state. "Don't look down on me, human. You can't even fight back as it is."
Blinking in surprise, Sasada asked, "Where'd Nyankichi go?" She was the only one who still failed to understand that the cat was, in fact, a youkai.
"Put your hand out in front of you and take three steps forward." Kantarou advised, and the girl did as she was told, rather surprised when her hand was met with something soft and furry.
"So soft!" She exclaimed, petting Madara's leg.
"I guess we'll split this up by gender for now. Madara-sama, you take the girls, and Misuzu can take the boys... Haruka will carry me." Kantarou said, being the best party leader he could. I need extra support because of my ribs," He added, in case this seemed strange to anyone. When everyone seemed satisfied with this, Natori, the only one who could see both humans and youkai, helped everyone onto their appropriate mounts and clambered onto Misuzu as well.
"Right then, let's go." Sugino said, and took off.
This one took a long time, but... It's way longer than usual, so that's good for something, right? xD