"Ugh–Damn." Takano held onto his head. The ground was wet under him and Ritsu's body was pressing on top of him. He received quite the body slam. Ritsu pushes himself up to only then realizing the situation. They make eye contact.
Ritsu lets out a yelp. He jumps to his feet. "What were you doing?"
"Minding my business! You're the one who slammed into me!"
Ritsu straightens up and says, "I meant what were you doing out here? It's not safe." He looks okay, so Ritsu decides to walk back to his trunk.
"No shit! Someone is out here setting traps!" Finally on his feet, he stifles close by to avoid tripping anything else.
Ritsu is annoyed that the guy doesn't just leave. "Hey! It wouldn't have gone off if you just stayed away until I finish; and it was a stun mine. It wouldn't have killed you." It would have caused an hour of paralysis and sensory deprivation. That's a scary thing to go through.
Ritsu steps over the mine crater. He goes forward and ducks under a wire. Takano mirrors his movements to Ritsu's annoyance. He nervously speaks up, "Just go back to the house. I should be alone out here."
Takano didn't like being pushed away. Not when he is this close. The excuse was easy. "Sorry, but Shiro sent me out here to be friendly. Frankly, he scares me more than you or your traps." Ritsu couldn't blame him.
Ritsu made it back to where he was before. Trees were dressed in motion cameras and alarms that are magic sensitive. At least they don't use anything that is lethal.
Ritsu just waves his trunk over and it follows. They walk to a new area. Ritsu continues to pull out more cameras and alarms to place. Takano stands by just to watch with surprising interest. He follows every motion of this peculiar creature. "What brings you two back to Tokyo? Why would you come back?" After everything that has happened, it is curious why you would.
"Seriously? You want to ask that kind of stuff now," says Ritsu. He continues to work although now he feels better that someone is out here with him. "… Fine. It was Shiro's idea. I didn't really want to come back, but he just thinks we've been away from home for too long."
Takano is now interested. "How do you feel about it?" He stands by watching Ritsu place new alarms on the trees. The tensing muscles under the scars of his arms drew in Takano's focus like a light in the dark.
Ritsu moves steady despite his uneasy expression, "I guess I'm okay with it. There really isn't a whole lot we are coming back to–Barley recognized anything… It doesn't really feel like home." Why am I even explaining this?
His distress is quite noticeable. The feeling Takano has is something he doesn't understand. Words with no warning came out, "I guess a lot has changed. Trust me, you will see that things have gotten better." It is unclear why he felt like giving assurance until he sees Ritsu looking at him.
Ritsu gives a nervous chuckle, "Yeah. One can only hope." He was desperate for hope that this all will not go to hell.
A new set of footsteps were coming from the direction of the house. The two of them were too focused on each other to notice until the person was fourteen feet away. Haitani calls, "Hey! You guys out there!"
Ritsu sighs, "We're over here!" He gestures his trunk to close since he doesn't feel like he is going to get any work done with both of them here. They look over to Haitani as he comes through the trees. Their eyes grow wide.
Then, Takano starts laughing. Haitani's left cheek was red and slightly swollen. His forehead has a throbbing bump. The skin around the right eye looks lightly bruised up.
Takano tries his best to talk, "What… happened to you?" Ritsu is disappointed that Takano isn't showing any concern at all for this. Where is that concern you showed me just a second ago?
Haitani still hasn't calmed down; his yellow eyes show that clearly. "What do you think!?"
"I think you f***ed with the wrong hunter." Takano continues to mock him after saying this. Ritsu pushes pass Takano with a nasty look that shuts him up right then and there.
He comes over and asks, "Can I take a look at it?" Haitani feels it wasn't necessary, but Ritsu's kindness is too good to refuse. After getting the okay, Ritsu pulls Haitani's face down to his eye level and examines the damage. A smile was creeping up with Haitani liking Ritsu rough fingers going over his skin. His eyes wander down Ritsu's scarred arms to his undershirt. "It looks like you got struck with blows fused with some magic. This would interrupt your natural healing… It will take awhile for these to heal. Maybe like an hour or two."
Takano watches this physical contact. The way Haitani ogled at Ritsu was disgusting. It was time to end it. "Tch–Do you have to do pointless shit? They're going to heal anyway." Ritsu releases Haitani.
Ritsu changes the subject, "What happened? Did Shiro actually do this?"
Haitani grows nervous, "Well –I may have been pissed off at him. I was just trying to vent my anger out at him. One thing lead to another and I took a swing at him…I can't even explain what happened. It was just so fast. He dodged in the last second, then he raises his fist–Three shots in an instant and I went flying into the living room. I just–How can anyone move that fast?!" It pisses him off that the man keeps beating him down so easily.
Ritsu sighs, "I'm sorry that he's been rough on you. Part of it is just because he's protective of me…I'm also sorry about how I treated you awhile ago. I know to you he is out of his mind, but couldn't even imagine how kind really is. He has just been put through so much... we both have." He hangs his head down.
Takano jumps in, "Hey! You were just defending your friend." He sends out a glare to Haitani. It's not like he needs a reason to be pissed at the wolf.
Haitani grows tired of being ganged up on. "Alright! All is forgiven! For shit's sake, let's just– Hey? What wrong?"
Ritsu was staring off at the distance in the northern direction. He had that battle-ready face. The two others present would be mesmerized if it didn't bring worry. They began to raise questions until Ritsu, eyes glowing, holds a hand out to his trunk. "There's a huge magical presence heading this way. Whatever it is, it's big and full of rage." They were starting to sense it too.
Takano says, "We can handle it." The wolves have fought all kinds of scary-ass things over the years.
Ritsu grabs hold of a long handle. "No. I will deal with this alone." They started making objections to this claim until he states, "I am tired of all this fighting. If this thing wants to cause trouble, then I am ending it before it begins. You'll only get hurt."
Takano hates that this guy keeps pushing him away, "I can take whatever's out there. So stop with the tough guy crap and just–"
He stopped speaking as he is overshadowed by a large hammer head that Ritsu pulls out of the trunk seemingly too small to hold it. Ritsu turns those hard eyes towards him, "I mean I can't guarantee I won't hurt you by accident. My abilities are destructive in nature, so I can't really hold back. Just stay here. I'll end this fast."
He makes the war hammer disappear in his hand and crouches down. There was a gale of wind as Ritsu jumps over the treetops towards the source to the magic. The two wolves could only watch in amazement at this strength until they lose sight of him. They start to make their way through the forest. They definitely did not want to miss this.
Ritsu , now high above the tree, puts all his efforts in focusing where the magic is. This wasn't just one creature. Ritsu brings out a cross-bladed spear into his grip. He focuses his power into the intent to scare them away. He sends it out with one good throw. It flies. After it disappears through the trees, there was a green flash and a huge tremor. Ritsu lands and charges straight for the crash site with the hope he scared whatever it was off.
The spear left a car-sized crater with fissures going in several directions. As he comes up, he felt the presence but can't tell where it is. He may be able to sense magic, but if an enemy is able to suppress their magic, he won't be able to track their location. He could, however, hear movement that were inhumanly swift. There was little time to respond of the footsteps coming at his side. Turning his head was met by a white blur with teeth.
Ritsu brings his hammer out just in time to swing the handle's base out at this beast. It flies back at a slower speed to which Ritsu can now make out what it was. This massive six-foot white dog rolled and scurry to get back to its feet. An inugami. A creature known in legend for misfortune, black magic, and possession. Steps were multiplied as various blurs were moving all about among the trees.
They came in different directions and Ritsu starts to a swing of the hammer. They maneuver out of the way, but continued their attack. The weapon was not suitable this mobility. It disappears as Ritsu jumps and rolls out of his position. He gets back on his feet to swing one leg up to the wedged spear. It is kicked out of the ground and flips right into his hand. Magic glows green on the blade as the spear spins. Ritsu swings it out at the oncoming assault. The result was the force of the magic causes a shockwave to expand outward. Many dogs go flying off as this magic rips up the ground and knocks down the trees.
The dust settles and the inugami are farther back holding their ground. Ritsu responds by changing his spear into a thrust position. When the spears thrust out, the force travels out. This results in a series on explosive blasts around the inugami. The shock runs through the their bodies. They are, however, not out of commission.
Ritsu stands there weighing his options. He could not scare them off. They are too nimble for his guns or melee weapons. Shiro might hate this, but these things are just too dangerous to have around. Now, the spear head envelops in a green fiery magic. The magic based on his intent is now fueled by one thing– his wish to destroy everything around him. There was just too much he has to lose, so he can't let anything threaten what's important to him.
He points the spear down to the ground. No different than dropping a warhead. A few of the creatures sees this as an opening. Ritsu was ready. That's right. Come on. Get as close as you want. He raises his arms up. He starts to bring them down.
That is until he heard voices calling out behind him. Worried, he turns his head to see the two wolves coming his way. This concern was enough to cause the violent magic to fade in his weapon. It could not sustain power if he loses the will to use it. Losing one's focus can prove dire. Ritsu becomes aware of this from a cringing pain.
He could feel the teeth dig a little deeper into his side as the dog bites down. The other ones close in to assist their comrade. Suddenly, the teeth shift off as the inugami is knocked off by energy blast. Takano releases a couple more to force back the others. Haitani, who is close enough, causes a rock wall to form in front to keep them off.
Ritsu catches his breath and yells, "I told you two to stay behind!"
Takano retorts, "You're welcome… Inugami, huh. A whole pack of them, too." The wolf was pretty confident in this fight. "Since we're here, might as well."
Haitani stirs up a chain of blue fire and scoffs, "I could afford to blow off some steam." The inugami regroup and move into formation for another strike.
Ritsu has noticed that he just can't get through to these guys. He pulls back knowing he has to just fight to support those two. Belladonnas ready.
Both sides begin to attack...
Then a mutter, "Enough."
Every living thing stops where it is. The sounds from the birds and insects are silent. Nothing dared to move a muscle. The wind gave a gentle whistle in this quiet moment. The guys and the inugami were like everything else.
Nothing was physically wrong. They were all just feeling the same thing–suffocating, unfathomable fear. They all carry a crushing felling that if they move, they will die. There was just an aura all a around them; but there was no bloodlust, rage, or malice. Why, then, was it so horrific? Completely helpless, the three men just stand waiting for whatever this is to release them. Takano and Haitani have faced many form of dangers, and never once did they feel a third of this kind of fear. Sweat had already been forming, but it worsen that a new feeling emerges. The source of this aura–It was getting closer.
There were no steps or sound of breath. They could still feel it coming. Ritsu just braced himself as best he could for what happens. The other two tried to muster up courage to move, but it was no use. Whatever this was, it has them.
Now, even the wind went still. It was right behind them. Ritsu was picturing what it is now doing. Standing there and slowly… places a hand on his shoulder. He feels that hand and now is able to look at the face.
He looks up at a messy head of reddish-brown hair. The voice comes in a agitated tone, "Honestly? Hasn't there been enough disasters today?" Ritsu finally managed to think clearly, but only thing was on his mind. OH HELL, SHIRO'S PISSED!
Note from Author: Hello everyone. I've been gone for quite some time. To those of you who have been waiting, you have my most sincerest apologize. I make no excuses, but things have just been pretty tough for me. Though I assure that I intend to see this story through. Please review if possible. Thank you for your support, and I swear to do my best to give you some awesome stuff.