First update of the new year, hope you like!
Gina & Brianna: (Snuggling with kei) We do!!!
Keitaro: (Face between cleavage) Can't...Breath!
Chapter 17.
"Now then…" the psychiatrist sighed, sitting before two of his hardest cases ever, eternally grateful for the reinforced, bulletproof glass separating him from them. Straight jackets or no, he wanted nothing to do with people associated with Urashima Hina "What do you see here?"
"A pervert." Naru muttered, her red hair frazzled and bags under her eyes as she glared at the indecipherable ink blot that looked, to the doctor at least, more like a butterfly than anything else "He's molesting a schoolgirl."
"I see." The psychiatrist muttered, shaking his head and switching to another slide, this one depicting an inkblot that looked, in his professional opinion, like a rather sketchy sunflower, from the right angle "And this?"
"A vile male whose head as been smashed in and brains scattered across the pavement." Motoko muttered, the kendo-ka looking no better off than Naru, her once flawless ebony locks frazzled and unkempt.
'Where in the hell did Hina-dono find these freaks?' the professor muttered, used to dealing with the Urashima clan's dirty laundry, but never anything this weird.
As it were, both Motoko and Naru had been under his care for several weeks now, as Hina was determined to have the 'rehabilitated' before her grandson's return. Quite Frankly, the doctor thought the two were lost causes, figuring it would be better to lock them up and throw away the key, rather than admit them back into society with their level of psychological issues. He'd said as much to the woman's granddaughter, only for Haruka to shrug, and tell him to take it up with Hina herself.
Not that he WOULD mind you. He enjoyed breathing far too much to want to experience doing so through a tube.
"And this?' he asked, shaking his head with a sigh, resigning himself to repressing these memories through the tried and tested method of going on a week long bender, holding up a picture that looked like two people, neither male nor female, kissing.
"KEITARO YOU PERVERT!" Naru snarled, lunging out of the seat, only to collapse as the shock collar around her neck dropped her like a bad habit, leaving her twitching on the floor, hair spiked out in all directions.
"Five minutes…she's improving." The Doctor muttered, writing the number down on his clipboard, though he failed to see how a tolerance level of Five minutes was any improvement over her old, instantaneous outbursts. "Now then." He continued, holding up another slide for Motoko to see, only to blink as the girl's panicked screams filled the air, turning it over before moaning in exasperation.
"Nurse, fetch me Aoyama's sedatives," he called out, speaking into the intercom as he watched the girl try to climb the walls, doing rather well considering her amrs were tied behind her back by the straight-jacket she was wearing "and next time, when I tell you to remove ALL the slides that can be interpreted as Turtles, I mean ALL of them."
Keitaro whistled to himself, chopping vegetables on the counter as he whipped up a quick lunch for everyone, listening to a cassette Gina and Brianna had made him, containing lecture notes from his online course at Harvard.
It had been several weeks since he, Gina and Brittany had gotten back from Quagmire, and things had settled down considerably at the Diggers' home. The girls had gone off on a mall run, leaving Keitaro and Genn to their own devices. The Rakshasa was currently off playing tennis with Tark and Mesha, while Keitaro had decided to surprise the Diggers' by whipping up something to eat.
True, he had nothing on Shinobu-chan, whose culinary greatness could bring an empire to its knees, but he was pretty confident in his ability to whip up a light snack.
He was interrupted from his musings as the sound of racing feet caught his attention, turning round only to yelp as Brianna came skidding into the kitchen on her back, crashing into the Ronin's ankles, causing him to fall on top of her as Brittany skidded to a halt by the cupboard.
"Hey there Kei." The younger Diggers' sibling greeted, smiling guiltily, though not unduly so, down at the ronin lying on her chest, while Brittany foraged through the closet for Gina's hidden can of tuna "Miss me?"
"Um…hi Brianna-san." Keitaro stammered, the ronin's face resting quite comfortably between the woman's ample cleavage, noting with trepidation that her hands were inching ever so slowly towards his pants.
"Hey! Where's the tuna?!" Brittany demanded, the irate were-cheetah pulling her head out from under the sink, having failed to locate the tinned treasure, only to pause, sniffing the air with a frown, before glaring down at Keitaro suspiciously "Keitaro…"
"I didn't eat it!" Keitaro swore, even as Brianna sniffed him curiosuly, the younger catgirl catching the faint hint of tuna about his person "I was making a snack for everyone and stumbled across some tuna! I used it to make a tuna salad!"
"Really?" the siblings chimed, blinking in surprise as Keitaro pointed in the direction of the fridge, Brittany opening it to reveal a bowl of tuna, lettuce and celery goodness waiting for them, covered in cling-wrap.
"Wow…good on you Keitaro…" Brittany applauded, turning to smile at the Ronin, only to sigh and shake her head at the sight of Brianna nuzzling the poor man to her bosom, cooing about how 'considerate' he was "Ease up there Bri, he might be immortal, but he needs to breath sometime."
Brianna pouted, but nonetheless released the Ronin, who took in a large, grateful breath of air as he extracted himself from marshmallow hell.
"Gah! Air!" the Ronin gasped, taking in sweet mouthfuls of oxygen, his blush dieing down by the second, making a mental note to never come between a Diggers and her tuna "Oh yeah!" he recalled, looking up at the elder cat-girl "Cheetah-san, Stripe-san called earlier looking for you, he said he'd ring back…"
The sound of Gina's Trans-Communicator ringing drew the were-cat away like greased lightning, more eager to chat with her muffin than chow down on Tuna, though it was a near thing, leaving Keitaro and Brianna alone in the kitchen.
"So how was the mall?" the Ronin asked, turning back to the vegetables he was chopping by the sink, as Brianna picked herself off the floor "Did you find anything you liked-!"
He trailed off as a pair of arms enveloped him from behind, two large mounds pressing into the back of his neck, causing him to break out in a cold sweat. "Oh I found something alright…" Brianna purred, her voice laced with suggestion as she let her hands trail down his chest to his pants "And I like it a lot…"
"Brianna-san…!" Keitaro stammered, the sound coming out as a choked squeak as the flustered ronin fought to keep from slicing his own fingers off from the shock "We-We really shouldn't be doing-!"
"Shouldn't be doing this here?" Brianna teased, smiling as she spoke directly into the stammering Ronin's ear, her hand slipping round his waist to grip the front of his pants "This guy doesn't seem to think so…"
"Bri? You in here?" Gina called out, Brianna sighing at the interruption, releasing the Ronin after giving him a peck on the cheek, stepping back to lean against the counter, just as the eldest Diggers' sibling entered "You better not be eating my Tuna!"
"Keitaro already beat us to it sis." Brianna assured her sibling, the youngest Diggers' winking in the direction of the flushing Ronin, who was trying to compose himselfafter her little fondling session "He whipped us up a tuna salad for a snack."
"I love tuna salad!" Gina exclaimed, her baby blues widening gratefully as she walked up to the Ronin, kissing him on the other cheek with a grateful smile, intentionally pressing her breasts against his arm "Thanks Kei, I was feeling peckish."
"Don't mention it." the Ronin assured her, still a little flustered by how openly affectionate the siblings were, flinching as Gina snuck in a pinch to his buttocks before walking over to the table to set out the plates.
"That was Muffin on the Communicator." Brittany revealed, coming back into the kitchen just as they were setting things out to be eaten "He wanted to know when to expect us, I told him we'd be there in a few minutes."
"Blasphemy." Brianna muttered around a mouthful of tuna and celery stick "Tuna salad is not something to be rushed."
Brittany nodded at that, as much as she loved her muffin, there was just no competing with the sweet, tuna goodness laid out before her.
"Mmmm…this is loads better than the stuff we buy at the store!" Gina moaned, the adventurer/scientist/archaeologist savoring the taste as she washed down her own mouthful with a glass of chilled orange juice "You're good at this, Keitaro."
"I've always been pretty good with my hands." The Ronin admitted bashfully, only to curse himself as Gina and Brianna sent him knowing, flirtatious looks from across the kitchen table "I mean-!"
"Relax Kei, we're just teasing you." Gina assured him, the eldest Diggers sibling rubbing her foot against the Ronin's leg beneath the table, unaware that Brianna was doing the same with the other leg.
"I really wish you wouldn't do stuff like that." Keitaro sighed in defeat, referring to the teasing, since he knew if he called them out on the stroking, they'd simply do something else, they'd done so before.
"We wouldn't if you didn't look so gosh darn cute." Brianna chuckled, the youngest sibling smiling cheekily at the exasperated Ronin, even as she wiped her plate clean "Mmmm! All adventures should start like this!"
"I'll second that." Brittany chuckled, the middle sibling picking up her own plate and dropping the lot in the sink for Genn to clean up later, it was the Rakshasa's turn on sink detail "C'mon, let's get suited up."
"You girls go ahead, I got stuff to catch up on." Keitaro insisted, earning a look of confusion from the girls "It's not that I don't want to go along, it's just I promised Doctor Diggers I'd come see him. He wanted to talk to me earlier while you were away."
Cheetah frowned, having a pretty good idea of exactly WHAT her father wanted to talk about, having told the Archmage about Keitaro's little 'berserk attack' back in quagmire. She didn't think the Ronin had any conscious control over the change, but it was better Dr. Diggers dealt with it than letting her friend hurt himself.
Excusing herself to get changed, the middle Diggers' sister marched off, eager to get into her adventuring duds to hang out with her muffin, leaving Keitaro alone with Brianna and Gina, both of whom were likely to torment the poor guy before leaving him feeling hot and bothered.
Keitaro sighed, stepping out of the long, cold Shower he'd put himself through after seeing the Diggers' sisters off. Not only had Gina and Brianna gone out of their way to torment him, in their own, unique fashion, but he'd gotten an eyeful when he'd walked into the dressing room just as Brittany had been changing her tops, his eyes bulging out of his head at the sight of the Were-cat's goodies, just before she and the others teleported off to El Dorado.
'Hope no-one else was there to see them arrive.' He prayed, knowing that while he had escaped a beat down by the skin of his teeth, Brittany had a long memory, and everyone knew to steer clear of cats when it came to grudges.
Shaking the water out of his hair, the Ronin slipped on his glasses, fumbling around in his drawer for pair boxers, khaki slacks and a clean jumper, fresh from the Gap.
Thankfully, Gina had left one of her light-gate remotes for him to use if he needed to move about, as the Ronin had steadfastly refused to borrow one of her cars. With his luck he'd end up crashing the thing, or worse, setting off one of the devices Gina had built into each one of her hotrods and leveling a city block.
Besides, it was kind of cool to walk into the light gate and instantly appear wherever he needed to be. It was like he was teleporting really.
"Ah, Keitaro." Dr. Diggers greeted, the kindly, bearded archmage looking up from his chair by the fireplace, his pipe in one hand and a book in the other, as the Ronin stepped into his study "Good to see you."
"Good afternoon, Dr. Diggers." Keitaro greeted, the young ronin grateful for the older man's tutoring sessions in the English language, which he'dlearned had been much worse than Seta had assured him "You wanted to see me?"
"I did." The doctor admitted, closing his book and rising from the armchair with a grunt. He was wearing a smoking jacket and pants, but Keitaro caught sight of the man's mage suit beneath the clothes, evidence that he'd either come from a magical project, or was prepared to embark on one.
"Brittany told me what happened at the mall Keitaro." Theodore explained, his blue eyes showing only concern for his daughters' newest friend, and possibly more if he read their auras right, as he looked the Ronin over "Are you well?"
"I-yes." Keitaro assured him, bowing his head slightly as he spoke, though he looked uncertain himself "I mean…I felt nauseous after Cheetah-san snapped me out of it…but I didn't throw up this time."
"I wager that's because Brittany kept you from going too far." The Archmage noted, returning the book he was reading to the shelves behind him with a solemn nod "Do not blame yourself Keitaro, it wasn't your fault."
"But!" Keitaro insisted, his arms spread wide and eyes desperate "What on earth is wrong with me?! I've never had anything like this happen to me before!" he shivered, recalling the rush of dark pleasure that had washed over him as he throttled Leiola beneath him "I may not liked being picked on, but I've hated people that bullied others more than that! But when I was fighting Leiola…"
"You lost control." Dr. Diggers interrupted, his tone level and soothing, a feeling of calm washing over the teen when the man placed a hand on his shoulder "I understand what you're trying to say Keitaro, even if I don't fully understand the symptoms."
"Then…" Keitaro began, the nervous Ronin swallowing slightly to clear his throat, grateful for the Archmage's attempt to sooth his fears, though they still remained "Is there anything we can do?"
"Without proper understanding of the cause, all we can do is make hypothesis." Dr. Digger sighed, removing his hand and canceling the 'Calming Touch' spell "However, there ARE several mental exercises I can teach you that may help."
"But…" Keitaro began, looking at the Archmage in confusion "Dr. Diggers, I thought we already proved I couldn't use magic?"
It had been shortly after the mission to El Dorado when Dr. Diggers had sat the Ronin down and tested him for magical awareness. Keitaro, of course ha thrown everything he had into the tests, from Thauromancy to Auromancy, Elementalism to Summoning, hell they'd even tried NECROMANCY of all things, though Keitaro was glad that he'd bombed out of that one, something he shared in common with Dr. Diggers.
In the end, they'd simply had to face the facts that Keitaro, like Gina, had absolutely no magical potential whatsoever. If anything, his magical percentage was most likely lower than his old Todai entrance scores.
"Don't worry," Theodore Diggers chuckled, a twinkle in his baby-blues that was reminiscent of another magic user, currently residing in a School somewhere in Scotland "These exercises require no magic at all."
Keitaro blinked, intrigued at the very idea, as Dr. Diggers waved a hand, summoning two cushions and setting them near the fire, squatting down Indian style on one, instructing Keitaro to do the same.
"Just relax." Dr. Diggers instructed, closing his eyes and inhaling deeply through his nose, "Block out everything but the sound of my voice and your own breath…"
Keitaro did as he was instructed, finding it oddly similar to the drills Grandma Hina had him do when he was a child, back when she'd tried to get him interested in the family style. His breathing settled into a steady rhythm with the Doctor's, matching each powerful breath and gentle exhalation step by step, until it became hard to differentiate between them.
Outside the Doctor's house, the sun had already begun to, set, the streets darkening as the light slowly faded from view. A long, black limousine, sleek and silent, like some mechanical cat, pulled up to the curb half a block away, a tall, baldheaded figure with a barcode on the back of his neck stepping out, his pale skin and blue eyes startling to anyone that had seen him, were there anyone still in the streets so comment.
Narrowing his eyes, he pulled out a mobile phone, flipping it open and scrolling through a list of pictures that he called up.
One of them was the picture of Keitaro, taken during the sacking of Akbar's camp in Iran, showing the Ronin running for his life from an enraged battle camel. The other was a tabloid picture of Gina Babette Diggers, scientist/archaeologist extraordinaire, and her sidekick/adopted sibling/bodyguard, Brittany 'Cheetah' Diggers, in human form.
Agent 47 was many things, but a skeptic he was not. It didn't matter to him whether this supposed 'were-cheetah' was real or not, all that mattered was that if she got in his way, she'd be silenced.
Of course, he'd received several offers from jealous rivals of Diggers to off the duo before, back when he was still working for The Agency, but they had been shot down, as the higher-ups deemed it too dangerous a risk.
He'd already stopped by their home earlier, and despite a minor disagreement with the security system, had managed to discern their absence and extracted himself without any undue distress.
Now he was scoping out the home of, according to his client, one of the prime suspects for the holding of his target, one Dr. Theodore Diggers, a refutable member of several secret societies, and famed Aura Mage.
Agent 47 never really believed in such things as magic, but when one of the Chairwomen of The Agency tells you to be careful around someone, that means you shoot first and don't stop shooting until you run out of ammo or target to shoot.
Not that 47 was the type to get trigger happy, oh if it came down to it he was all set to bring the man's house down around his ears, but why go in guns blazing, when a garrote wire or syringe could buy all the answers you need?
Theodore Diggers opened his eyes, watching as Keitaro continued the exercise, so withdrawn and focused on his breathing he didn't even notice that the Archmage had stopped matching him.
Nodding to himself, his resolve firm despite his earlier unease, Gina's father let the smallest fraction of his power rise to the surface, his aura surrounding him like a light haze as he focused on Keitaro's aura, eyes glowing as he delved deep into the Ronin's soul.
To an Aura mage, a person's aura was like an autobiography, like how certain profilers could tell a criminal from a saint simply by looking at their body language or personality quirks. Dr. Digger's reading ability went deeper than that, reading not only the person's aura, but their thoughts and intentions with it.
Right now, Keitaro's aura was the same, calm gold it always was, a warmth that washed over those receptive to it, like bathing beneath the sun on a warm day. The doctor actually had to focus to keep from getting swept up in the feeling of calm, making a note to strengthen his mental defenses for future excursions.
He pressed on, diving deeper into the flow, brushing tentatively past childhood memories, not wanting to pry without permission, though some things just washed over him, primarily the man's treatment at the hands of the Hinata Harem.
'Were he any other man he would have snapped…' the Archmage muttered, wincing at some of the more…painful memories, a surge of camaraderie washing over him in regards to the Ronin, who if not physically tortured, was mentally tortured by the residents 'Ah to be young again…' he sighed, chuckling guiltily at one of Keitaro's memories of being cock-blocked by Su kicking him in the face just as he was about to kiss Mutsumi.
It appeared so quickly that the doctor almost missed it, but before it could scuttle away, he bore down on it, weaving after it through the flow of childhood memories and emotions, past the trauma of Keitaro's aunt's death and his mother's abandonment, into memories so old and forgotten they couldn't even be called such.
There, he'd stumbled across it, a slight, dark taint at the very core of Keitaro's being, so buried deep in his psyche it was almost unnoticeable, a nigh imperceptible stain in the otherwise golden flow.
The problem was, that stain was getting bigger, tendrils of it slipping into the aura stream at random intervals, like infection from a rotting wound. It certainly WAS like a growth, a cancerous growth that had imbedded itself in the Ronin's being.
'No…' Theodore muttered, eyes narrowing, unwilling to probe the darkness before him, lest he agitate it 'Not attached…it's always been here…buried deep within.'
He scowled, weaving out of the path of a probing patch of darkness, retreating to a safe distance, before going to work with his spell. Auric energy formed in his hands, tendrils of his own aura streaming from his fingertips to form complex patterns before him, a wave of his hand sending several of the glyphs to surround the darkness on one side, while the other bound them to Keitaro's own Aura signature.
It was a complex, and dangerous ritual, which required a subtle hand and a deft mastery of the arcane to even attempt. If he put to much power into it, it could agitate the stain, make it aware of his presence, and he wasn't keen on battling it within Keitaro's psyche.
No, better to ward it off, to create a barrier that would keep it from advancing any further in it's attempt to corrupt the man that had stumbled into his family's lives, than to risk tearing his soul at the seams ridding him of it.
Just as the barrier was nearing completion however, the stain surged, slamming against the still incomplete walls, a wave of anger, rage, of sheer unbridled HATRED, washing over the Mage's spectral form, hold in check by the walls that were even now beginning to crumble.
'Not yet.' Theodore muttered, his brow creasing as he pumped more power into the wards, weaving the incantations tighter, filling in the cracks that were beginning to form in the defense despite the drain it put on his resources 'Damn…stronger than I thought-!'
A spear of darkness punched through the warding, racing towards the stunned mages heart, Dr. Diggers cursing, knowing that if he dropped the incantation to defend himself, the barrier would drop.
A wave of gold, so bright it was almost white, intercepted the darkness, dispersing it like water crashing against a shield. Dr. Diggers blinked, catching a fleeting image of a pair of crossed arms and mane of dark hair, before focusing on the task at hand, sealing the cracks up again, before relaxing, ceasing the spell with a sigh.
The barrier was in place, a fine wall of glyph's hemming in the darkness, which was washing inside the barrier like ink in a beaker, quiet, but nonetheless there, the anger from before filtering through the wards like the distant echoing of thunder.
'It'll hold… for now…' he reasoned, sighing as he drew himself out of Keitaro's aura, rising past the flow of memories and emotions back into his own body, which he realized was wracked with fatigue 'My god…how many hours was I out?'
"Dr. Diggers?" Keitaro asked, the Ronnin looking up from his meditation suddenly, as if sensing the Mage's exhaustion, his chocolate colored eyes looking Gina's father over with a hint of concern "Are you alright?"
"Fine, Keitaro." The Archmage assured him, smiling comfortingly as he got to his feet with a groan "These old bones just aren't meant for sitting so long on the floor…gonna grab some coffee, want some?"
"If it's not too much trouble." Keitaro replied, smiling gratefully up at the mage as he stretched, yawning stiffly as the older man walked out of the study to fetch the drink. 'Whatever those exercises were, they really tire you out.' The Ronin muttered, unaware of the events that had transpired within his very soul.
Sitting up with a groan, he let his eyes wander over the books, noting the magical ones immediately from their lack of any recognizable language on the spines, though there were a few ancient classics on the shelves too.
'Hm…The Legend of the Three Kingdoms…'he noted, picking up a copy of the old Chinese legend with a smile, recalling reading it a few times at Hinata-sou from amongst Granny's things she'd apparently left behind 'Mint condition too…hm?'
He blinked, catching sight of a series of photos on the mantle, lined up in a row. The first were obviously baby pictures of Gina and Brittany, earning an amused smile from the Ronin at how adorable the currently seven foot Lycan once was, she reminded him of a kitten really, lounging on top of Gina like that.
There was one photo that stood out from the rest however, that of a man and women in wedding garb. The man was clearly a younger Doctor Diggers, but the woman had traces of Gina about the face, most notably the look of confidence in her eyes.
'Could this be…' the Ronin wondered, only to shiver as something 'thumped' in the house, pausing to see if it was just the house settling, some internal instinct telling him to be on guard.
His instincts proved correct, for Star Platinum lashed out, swiping a dart out of thin air before it could impact with the Ronin's neck. Keitaro rolled to the floor, ducking behind one of the armchairs with a panicked expression, looking at the dart in alarm, recognizing it as a tranquilizer from the time he and Su had played 'Big Kei Hunter' back at Hinata.
'Worst evening of my life.' The Ronin muttered, recalling how the demented foreign princess had chased him all over the inn, the grounds, and even Hinata city itself, riding atop a giant Mecha-tama, with an overeager Sarah at the controls, a modified elephant gun aimed at his hindquarters the entire time.
"Who's there?" the Ronin called out, Star Platinum's eyes peering over the edge of the seat, the Stand's telescopic vision piercing through the shadows of the room "What've you done with Doctor Diggers!?"
"A mild tranquilizer to keep him from causing trouble." A cold voice assured him in fluent Japanese, Keitaro shivering at the cool professionalism with which the assailant spoke in his native language "Now, if you'd come quietly, Urashima-san."
"Who are you?!" Keitaro demanded, crouching low behind the chair narrowing his eyes as Star Platinum spotted a dash of red in the shadows, the empathic link between Stand and master allowing Keitaro to see the tall, pale, bald man with Eurasian features skulking behind one of the book cases.
"Someone who has been paid a lot of money to ensure your safe return." The intruder replied, much to the Ronin's shock, his bald features as emotionless as a tombstone, and about as inviting as one too.
"My safe return?" the ronin stammered, shaking his head in wonderment, unable to comprehend who would go through the trouble to hire a HITMAN of all things to find him "What're you saying? Who sent you?!"
"I cannot divulge that information." The bald man shot back, the sound of twin safeties going off sending shivers of apprehension through the Ronin's body "All you need to do is come quietly, and this will all be over."
"Like hell!" Keitaro snapped, standing up in a flash, Star Platinum flipping the chair in the direction of the hitman with a roar, only for the bald assailant to roll out of the path of the projectile furniture, raising twin tranquilizer guns at the Ronin's torso.
"Too bad." He muttered, firing simultaneously, Star Platinum's fists deflecting the shots before they even reached it's user, only for Keitaro's eyes to widen as something tapped against his foot "Checkmate."
The gas grenade went off with an audible hiss, Keitaro's panicked coughing filling the air as he stumbled around the room, trying to get clear without inhaling the stuff. A hand snapped out, catching him around the throat and forcing him to inhale a large mouthful of the smoke, his eyes widening at the sight of the cold blue eyes of his assailant, who was holding a red handkerchief to his own mouth.
"The order was to bring you back unharmed." The hitman explained, his tone echoing, even as Keitaro's eyes grew heavy from the sleeping gas "Believe me, it was MUCH harder to do so than I was used to."
"HERMIT PURPLE!"
The assailant blinked, looking down in alarm as several purple vines, invisible to his sight, latched onto him, throwing him off the drugged Ronin and across the room. He crashed into one of the numerous bookcases, sliding to the ground as the whole thing fell on top of him in an avalanche of text, dust and carpentry.
"Keitaro…" Doctor Diggers muttered, the Archmage's Stand's vines vanishing from his outstretched hand as he leant against the door for support, looking mildly concussed, but EXTREMELY angry "You alright?"
"Doctor?" Keitaro muttered, theRonin's head lolling bonelessly on his neck as he fought to remain awake, the Doctor shuffling towards him awkwardly, as if his own body was giving him trouble "What happened?"
"Heh…must be getting old, didn't even sense him coming up behind me." The doctor muttered, grinning reassuringly at the Ronin as he spoke. Truth be told, he'd burnt up a lot of aura putting up the barrier and warding off the darkness inside the teen. So much in fact, that it was akin to going several nights without sleep.
Which meant when the bald assailant had ambushed him in the hallway, the Doctor had been caught almost completely unawares, inhaling enough of the man's knock-out gas to make him sluggish and weak-kneed, before his Aura had snapped up to burn off most of the effect.
'Fortunately, my Stand wasn't as unduly affected.' He noted, smiling down at the barely visible tangle of thorns as they faded from view on his hand 'Took everything I had just to throw the man though…I need to practice with it more.'
Keitaro, having inhaled too much of the gas, collapsed face down on the floor at the Doctor's feet, Dr. Diggers rolling him over and checking his pulse with a relieved sigh, before looking around the trashed study for the phone. It had been so long since he used it he'd forgotten where he'd put it.
Unnoticed by the mage, the bookshelf gave a slight shudder, rising as several books slid off it to the floor.
Keitaro awoke with a pounding headache and the feeling of a damp cloth over his head.
"Awake are we?" Dr. Diggers greeted, the Archmage smiling genially, albeit tiredly, at his guest from where he was conversing with a man in a police uniform "Thank you officer," he offered, shaking the man's hand "we'll be in touch."
"What happened?" Keitaro asked, the Ronin looking around in concern to find several officers dusting the study for clues, sitting up with a flinch, only to be handed a cup of coffee from a female officer in riot gear and a kind smile "Where's that bald guy?"
"He got away while I was calling the police." Dr. Diggers admitted, the Archmage's features grim, internally berating himself for his blunder "Don't worry though, I doubt he'll try anything any time soon."
"And even if he does, we'll have an APB put out on him by morning." The detective the mage was talking to assured the teen "Doctor Diggers' has some pretty influential friends, they won't let this guy off without a fight."
Unnoticed by the group, a tall, baldheaded police officer slipped out of the mansion, a silver briefcase in one hand, the other rapidly calling up a number on speed dial on his customized cell phone.
"Diana." 47 muttered, his tone clipped and to the point as he eyed the mage's house out the corner of his eye "I'm going to need a little more information of Dr. Diggers…"
You thought I was just messing around when I hired 47 didn't you?!
Still, if there's one thing the hitman is good at, it's coming back stronger than ever, he doesn't fail, merely has setbacks.
His setback here was underestimating Doctor Diggers, something you should NEVER do, and Keitaro, which is understandable, considering how ineffective the Ronin was prior to meeting the diggers sibs.
As for that black stain, yes, it has something to do with the Urashima legacy.
Is it Orochi? Is it demoic blood? Or is it some sort of aura-tumor?
Tune in to find out!
R&R!