HOW MUCH LONGER IS THIS ROAD!? Takano was finally reaching his limit. It's now 7:57 in the morning and they are still driving through forest. The purrs of a sleeping Sorata was the only thing keeping him calm. Driving early in the morning is one thing. Driving early in the morning with Haitani is something more horrible.
Haitani just sits in the passenger seat. Every random moment he would tap the door handle, shift his feet, or groan a deep animal noise. He was starting to lose patients as well. The autumn trees did make for an amazing view. That, however, is starting to get boring as well.
The winding road eventually has a break in it. There it is. Takano makes the turn off. He applied a little more pressure to the gas pedal. Haitani was now focusing on the sudden change in speed. "What's up?"
"We're here." Takano was relieved to drive up to the house. A square concrete house stands in a small clearing. Some trees stood throughout the clearing but were branched out from one another. It seems out of place in a forest. But since the distance from the city means nothing to them, it feels like it is part of Tokyo.
They brake in front of the house and killed the engine. Takano said, "Finally!" He takes a deep breath as he gazes at their new house. He realizes something. "It doesn't look like our roommates are here yet." He was right. There were no cars nor moving trucks anywhere.
Haitani steps out and stretched. The air has no trace of any person being there. "Looks like we have to start unpacking without them."
That is when a sound mechanical in nature was approaching. It was hard to see anything through the trees beyond the clearing. Anything unfamiliar is considered a threat. The two stand ready.
"We're almost there," came from the same direction as the noise. This did not put them at ease. Something tall eventually came to sight. At first, it is seen as some alien creature.
Upon coming into the open, it is merely a machine with two guys on top of it. The man in front stood on it with what expression might be confusion. It is hard to tell with his weird-colored hair covering the top half of his head. Something that was noticeable to them is that there was a dim-white glow coming from under his bangs.
Haitani takes immediate action. Hunters. The ground around him starts to rise as dust, and then it contracts to form several spikes. Shiro reacts on this with a snap of his fingers. The metal frame holding the trunks together detach. It got wobbly as the trunks adjust to stand on their own. Ritsu is taken from his reading by the shaking.
A straight punch and the spikes flew. Shiro gestures his hand behind him. The back trunk's lid flies open and throws Ritsu off into some brush to the right. The spikes make their way as Shiro side flips to off the trunks just in time. He brings out the void as he is landing. Only things not covered in the white glimmer are the four of them and the trunks.
Takano and Haitani were quite familiar with this technique. This means that no harm will come to Sorata or their belongings. Haitani is just glad that matter still exists for him to work with. He readies more spikes for fire. Ritsu is still gathering himself from the brush. A perfect opportunity.
Shiro takes notice and charges Haitani's direction. The spikes fly past him toward Ritsu. With Shiro's reached out hand, the spikes began to slow down. He smiles as he pitches his arm toward Takano and the spikes follow his lead.
Takano was shocked at first since telekinesis-like magic can be a formidable ability. A ball of golden energy forms in front of him. He waves his hand and this ball shapes itself to a circular shield. The spikes blow apart on impact. Three new balls form above him. They fire out toward Shiro.
Shiro merely smirks and stands his ground. Gunshots are fired. Bullets whiz past Shiro striking the energy blasts. They dissipate on impact.
Ritsu is seriously pissed off. He stands ready. The Belladonnas are out for combat. "Alright! Who went and interrupted my reading?"
Shiro turns to him, "Don't look at me. I merely saved you from an impalement. Take it up with him." He points to Haitani as if to pass the blame. This was the first Haitani sees Ritsu. One thought comes to mind- He's pretty hot. Shame I might have to kill him. Ritsu's glare was intimidating yet alluring to him. He then adjusts around the craters and they start to rise. They seem to set themselves flat and solid under him. Good to have sturdy earth but he must not lose his footing.
Ritsu asks Shiro, "What's the situation?" He was in the game now.
Shiro was already making observations, " Two hostiles. Monsters. Species are undetermined. They both perform conceptual magic, so they are probably members of a clan. Nature of their abilities - requires further analysis…. Capture them alive for questioning. I'll take the one on the right. Watch out. The other seems to manipulate earth, but at a limited range. Maintain a distance." He raises both hands. The front trunk opened and shot two tomahawks to the air. Upon catching them, he charges for Takano.
Ritsu opens fire at Haitani. Only one strike him; a wall of rock rises to fend off the rest. Cracks were forming, but they start to mend themselves. Ritsu shifts his position around it only to have it seeming stretch around with him. Sections of ground start to stalagmite. He fires at these before they could be used for attacks. Broken, they still come at him. He ducks and dodges only to evade some. The rocks hurt, but a hunter's body is too resilient for that to even leave bruising. There was no getting anywhere with this.
Haitani kept the wall in Ritsu's way. The bullet was already healing out of his body. He just needs the guy to come a little closer. His wish is answered. Ritsu replaces his Belladonnas with a long jagged-blade spear. In one swoop, he slashes the bottom of the wall and twists to give it a good, hard kick. Haitani is forced back with the wall. They both are sent several yards back by the force. Ritsu's spear seems to now have an emerald gleam over the blade. Fueled with determination, the spear not only pierces through the rock, but shatters it like glass. How will Haitani guard himself now?
Now, Ritsu's attack is parried. Haitani now with a rough sword in hand is more than ready to fight hands on. It was a barrage of swings and thrusts at Ritsu who waves the spear in defense. The sword was cracking repeatedly and mending itself. The pole weapon made it difficult to get close; however, Haitani has a trick up his sleeve. Ritsu's steps ceases as his foot sank into the ground and was encased. He lost his balance. Haitani's sword somehow wraps around the spear like a rope. This surprise give Haitani the opening to pull the spear away, after which the sword straightens out for the final swing.
A clash. Two knives caught the sword between them. One twist snaps the sword. Ritsu takes this moment and punches him. There is an intense crackle as the fist sinks into Haitani's lower ribs. He goes flying back and rolls across dirt several times before stopping.
When he pulls himself up, Haitani sees twelve knives flying at him. The ground around him rises as fast as possible. It was in vain as the projectiles blow right through and pierces his flesh.
There was a feeling of imbalance the man felt. He looks to his attacker; the hunter walks wearing fierce eyes. Ritsu twists his wrist to reveal more knives emerging. Haitani feels anger that shows in his yellow eyes. The knives are still inside him, but he does not feel hindered. Metallic dust emerges to repair his broken blade. Round two commences.
Meanwhile, Takano is baffled by this man fighting him. The hunters weaves through the blasts with ease. The tomahawks he swings rip right through the energy. Then he jumps up high. He spins in midair; his tomahawks now orbiting him swing closer. A shield is ready to his right side where they will meet him.
The first one clashes. The second swings farther past him. A moment of shock turns into a instant of sharp pain. The tomahawk came around and is wedged into his left side. Dammit. They're more like chain scythes, is this part of his power?
In the confusion, the Autumn Crocuses were out staring the werewolf down. He moves his active shield to his front. Shiro does not even attempt to shoot. He only smirks as if acknowledging something. The shield folds over like plastic onto Takano's arms.
This suddenly turned into a hand-to-hand fight. In human form, a werewolf is weaker in strength to a hunter. His magic however gives him an advantage. His first strikes are well blocked with the oddly shaped guns angled to where they point to him. They are designed rather strange.
Each strike the guns would fire at him; every time is also when the energy force would strike Shiro's arms. However, Shiro wasn't slowing down. The gunshots arestarting to slow down Takano.
It was time to finish this. Takano forges two balls to make a pair of poles. They swing out; Shiro spirals backwards from their blows. This is it. Takano advances to the hunter who seems bleeding and disoriented. Guns are raised but Takano slides under them. Both fists connects with the torso. Like a rubber band, the energy sprung off his arms into the point of contact. The resulting force blows through Shiro and the air behind him in a rushing wind current.
Shiro flies backwards towards the woods. The velocity was great. Then, he starts to slow down. He throws his feet up and straightens his body. He was a rock in a slingshot. No. Almost like tank ammunition. The wind whistles when he comes back. Takano didn't even realize what happened when his face cracked under the sneakers' soles.
Haitani looks over in shock. He only manages to see Takano falling backwards with his face smashed in. The blur in the air suddenly slows onto the ground and was now sliding to a halt. Shiro just smirks standing up; the blows he acquired don't seem to show any signs of bruising nor bleeding. Hell, there actually weren't any signs of injuries.
Haitani turns back and raises more rock to block the slashes. The knives seem to be able to cut through earth no matter how well it is enforced. The cuts still need a few more minutes to heal. Perhaps it is time for a change in tactics.
The attacks came relentlessly. Haitani drops his sword and he arm blocks Ritsu. He grabs the arm and twists it into submission. Ritsu has his free hand ready to stab the opening. Suddenly, the grabbed arm was freezing over. It was instantaneous with no temperature change to tell it was happening. It just didn't seem natural. Regardless, the next blade went into Haitani's shoulder. Now, the blade and the other arm is encased in this unnatural ice.
Ritsu looks straight at Haitani. Calm and Focused. He leg swings out demolishing the werewolf's ankle. The werewolf falls inward just enough to Ritsu's head level to receive his head butt. Another sick sound occurs. The ice cracks enough to allow him to pull away from this monster. Several feet back, he breaks off the ice. The skin is still red and burning in pain.
The sword floats back to Haitani's grip. He massages his bleeding head. I would be more pissed if that was not pretty badass. You are quite the surprise, Skinny. A bullet whizzes past his face.
It was Shiro. "How about you give me try?" It was really hard to look at this man. The air around him just screams 'danger.'
"I can handle this. You finished your fight. Let me do mine," Ritsu proclaims. Takano twitches as his skull is reconstructing.
"I want the guy to stay in one piece. You can't get serious and expect they'll be alive when you're done…Besides, I still have one more hypothesis to prove." Ritsu seems to drop the subject.
Haitani certainly feels nervous. Is this some form of experiment? Shiro is already making his way over. Haitani gets ready.
He fires his Crocus. Haitani blocks with his sword. Shiro scoffs, "You think that is a sword?"
He releases his gun and brings his hand to his left side. Now in range, Haitani get the ground to spike and skewer-
Wait. The earth isn't moving. He's controlling it but it won't budge. He has no choice but to use his sword. He swings- The sword breaks. A huge gash spurts from his arm.
Shiro stands beside him holding out a katana. "Sorry, but mine is better."
Haitani feels something latch onto his back and his hands. He looks to see a transparent silver rope-like thing on the back of each hand. This is when Shiro just smiles at him when he is instantly yanked backwards off his feet. He heads diagonally up and slams right into a tree trunk. His hands are pulled behind him along the tree. There is no way to move.
There was still Shiro looking at him, but something was different. There were two shiny lines attached to his wrists. They seem to lead to the tomahawks left on the ground; also, the ground he is standing over seems to have that same silver color over it. He waves his hand out and a new line forms linking his finger to Ritsu's spear. Pulling his hand up, the line seems to contract. The spear flies off the ground and into his hand. He spins it into the throwing position and says, "Game over."
The spear flies. OH SHIT!
His eyes were closed when he hears a crash. Nothing. No pain. No bleeding. He looks to see the spear in the wood above his head.
Shiro slides his katana behind his left side; it disappears from sight. He says stretching his arms up, "Well, that's enough."
"Ha! What do you mean it's over? I haven't even started." Haitani was pissed. He wanted to kill this son of a bitch. No one mocks him and gets away with it.
Ritsu went over to Takano to check on him. His face seems to be almost back to normal. He growls at him. It's a miracle he is still conscious. Balls begin to form until gunshots caused them to break apart before they got their shape. "Don't make me shoot something important." Ritsu's courage shined in his glare. Takano is not bothered by this; he was mesmerized by those eyes. What kind of being are you?
"Enough! I learned what I need to know. There's no need to fight anymore." Shiro was the only calm one here.
Ritsu looks to him, "Are you sure we can let them live, Shiro. They'll just bring more monsters here to kill us. We won't be safe."
Takano and Haitani eyes widened. Shiro!?
"We're perfectly fine, Ritsu. They won't be a problem." Ritsu!?
Takano gets up but Ritsu steadies his aim. "Does that mean you're Onodera Ritsu?"
"Yes. How did you know? Have we met before?"
Shiro sighs and snaps his fingers. The silver lines disappeared from Haitaini's sight and he falls. He marches over and grabs Shiro by his jacket. Although he was rather tall, Haitani was still an inch or two taller. "Who the hell are you, you damn psycho?"
The intimidating sensation from him was gone. It is replaced with a warm, cheering atmosphere. He gave a goofy smile and said, "Hi. My name's Kimura Shiro. You must be Haitani Arata, right?" This is confusing. A moment ago this hunter almost killed him. Now he making greetings like nothing happened.
" How in the hell did you knowwwaaahhh-" His jaws was being pulled open and Shiro has his face up close. He was examining Haitani's teeth.
"Long permanent canines… No doubt about it! You guys are werewolves! I had my assumptions what with your height, bone density, and yellow eyes." What is wrong with this guy!? He was a killing machine before and now. All friendly and curious like a child.
Takano scratched his head. "Well I feel like an idiot. Looks like we attacked our new roommates."
Haitani and Ritsu both yell, "HUUUUUUUUUUUHHHHH!?" Ritsu put away his guns while Haitani released Shiro.
Haitani held onto his rage, "If you guys are our roommates, then what was all that about!? You could have said something!"
Shiro replies, "Would you have believed us? Besides, you attacked us. We were merely defending ourselves." The intimidating tone came back, "Had that fight been for real, you wouldn't be here snarling."
Haitani can't help being pissed. Takano wanted to clarify. "For the record, I wasn't going all out. I wanted to take you alive."
"Good. We were holding back too. Just be thankful I stopped Ritsu before he got serious… Now let's just put all this arguing aside until we get inside."
Ritsu interjected, "Hold on, Shiro! Tell me you are not really implying we are going through with this."
"Why not?" There was no sign of worry in his voice.
"They're monsters! How can we possibly trust them?"
"Because they have as much to lose as we do. Both monsters and hunters that act independent from a clan will always be targets for attack. It's safer for us here than taking residence in the city. It is better to cooperate with two monsters than risk facing every other monster in Tokyo. " Shiro is once again serious.
"Couldn't have said it better myself." Takano comes over to them, "It would be better to have you as allies."
Shiro gets scary again when he says, "Also, I now understand how your abilities work. Not only that, I tested your skills so I have a good idea of your limitations. Try anything against us, I suggest you tread lightly." That made things rather awkward. He quickly laughs it off.
Finally calming down, Haitani joined the conversation. He looks over to Ritsu, "Well, at least we can get to know each other now." Ritsu is now his socially nervous self again. That fighting spirit is dead. Takano seems angry by this. Why would this bother him?
No one can see it but Shiro rolls his eyes. He drops the void and the real world comes back. The wrecked ground, the bullet riddled trees, all returned to their undamaged forms. The damage was left behind in the void. It will repair itself to match its real world counterpart in half an hour.
The tomahawks and spear flip and move through air into one of the trunks. The trunks' legs collapse to make shorter versions.
"Let's just start bringing everything in. What do say we have a fresh start?"
Takano seemed to agree with Shiro. This could be the start of a new friendship. Ritsu and Haitani seem reluctant . At least they had that in common. It's a start.
A meow comes from the car. Ritsu flinches. "Tell me you do not have a cat."
"Yeah. What's the problem?"
Ritsu looks over to Shiro. He was still as a statue. His mouth had a blank expression. "Shiro? I know it's hard to resist, but please don't."
No response. Then, he jolts to the car. Takano doesn't know what is happening, but he won't let this guy hurt his cat. His arm is grabbed by Ritsu. "Don't bother. It's too late."
He swings the backdoor open and sticks his torso inside. The three men just watch as they hear a cage open. A voice comes.
"He's…. SO CUUUUTTTEEE!" He pulls himself out of the car. Sorata was cradled in his arms like an infant. Stars and hearts were floating all around his head; and his cheeks were blushing red. "Awwww, I absolutely love him! He's so old and sleepy eyed. I just know we're going to get along!"
Takano is shocked. Haitani is dumbstruck. Ritsu just hangs his head in a cloud a gloom. Shiro looks over to them. "What's his name?"
"Uh, Sorata."
"Huh. That's sort of a dreary name for such a sweet little guy." He continues to hug Sorata.
Takano asks Ritsu, "So, I take it Shiro likes cats." This doting side of Shiro must be horribly annoying.
"And dogs, and birds, and children. He's the doting and protective type when they're around. It's actually scary when someone mistreats any of them in front of him. Once, a man physically hit his eight-year-old daughter where Shiro can see him. Almost broke every bone in his body."
Haitani scoffs, "Caring and violent. Quite a combination." Takano glares at him. It isn't that surprising that a hunter would be like that. Haitani curiously asks, "So what are you like, Ritsu?"
Ritsu, still gloomy that he has to live with what is in front of him, didn't answer. Shiro hearing their conversation yells, "Overworked and introverted!" Gloom is replaced with a popped vein. Everyone else chuckles.
Shiro starts walking to the front door. The trunks follow behind him. He says "What do you say we go see our new home?" Sorata meow as if responding. The hearts above Shiro's head just grow bigger.
"Get your ass in gear and start unpacking the car." Takano's command infuriates Haitani. He still complies. They go to the car and got started.
Ritsu just stands there. We try to kill each other, and now we are getting acquainted. Hunters and monsters together in the same house. What is this world coming to!
He just lets out a good yell. The whole world is probably awake now.
Note from Author: Hello. Sorry this chapter took so long. This past month I have been suffering writer's block. Writing isn't as easy as anyone would first think.
So that is how these four meet. Trying to kill each other, then they decide to talk it out. More explanations in the next chapter.
Please Review. What do you think of Kimura Shiro? He is still a work in progress. I tried to make him 'unique' to the characters we already know. That of course may come off as ….. 'eccentric.' Tell me what you think makes him tick.
Anyway , thank you all for reading. I truly appreciate people taking an interest in my work. I'll try my best to entertain you. Til next time.