Chapter 3
The sound of slamming pots and the smell of cooking food woke Ciaran, he looked around and realized he'd fallen asleep on the sofa in a shirt and his underwear. Rin was cooking breakfast in the conjoined kitchen and she seemed to be making as much noise as possible. Embarrassed he scuttled out of the room and slipped off his clothes, wrapped himself in a towel and went into the shower.
As the hot water washed away the feeling of grunge and being sticky and dirty. He toweled off and put clean clothes on. When he went back in Silver was happily murdering a bowl of food and on the table there were two plates of hot food with a jug of orange juice in the middle.
"Rin." Ciaran stopped her from sitting down "We need to talk,"
"About what?" She glowered
"You know what I'm talking about!" He growled
"About your constant bitching and whining?"
"Don't put it like that I have my reasons!"
"What are they then tell me so I know!"
Ciaran was shocked by how blunt she was being.
"I'm not going to tell you!" He yelled
"Why?" She cried "We're partners you can't hold that sort of shit inside of you!" Rin grabbed him by the shoulders and looked into his eyes. Ciaran's resolve finally broke and a tear slipped from his eye. He told her about how the Rottweiler had savaged him and how he had run away. He pulled back his sleeves and showed the scars, then he showed the ones on his legs and stomach. Tears ran down Rin's face and she embraced him tightly. The two crying humans embraced each other, they parted and Rin ruffled his thick hair.
"I'll take him to a shelter later it's the only way,"
"No." He shook his head "It's not fair on you!"
"Yesterday you were moaning about him," She smiled
"Maybe…" He considered the idea "We could use him as a kind of therapy,"
"I'm not exactly a neuro scientist but that could work." Rin considered it, the sound of a door slamming made the two break contact. Silver ran out to the hall barking.
"Guys…" A broken voice came from the hall
"Come in."Ciaran called
Kayo limped into the room, she looked like shit, her hair was limp and her clothes were stained red.
"Holy shit are you alright?" Rin ran to her and checked her for injuries.
"Eric's dead." She said bluntly
"What!" Ciaran cried
"Kishin killed him," Rin noticed the darkness under her eyes and guided her to the sofa where she collapsed. She seemed small and weak which was a huge contrast to the strong girl they were used to seeing.
"I'll make you a drink." Ciaran boiled the kettle and made a cup of tea for her. Kayo just sat there and stared into space with her untouched cup gripped in two hands.
"I passed out at the gate and woke up in a hospital bed I had all kinds of things jammed into my arms I found out I had a minor concussion and my back had been cut up by loose shards of glass and I'd lost a lot of blood." Kayo struggled to say the rest "I saw him in the morgue he looked so happy like he was fast asleep and I knew I'd never see him again." An eerie smile broke across her expressionless face "I don't understand how I was so attached to him." Crack. Ciaran slapped her, hard.
"What the fuck!" Rin yelled
"You never say anything like that." Ciaran snarled "Ever!"
"Ciaran what the hell!" Rin cried
"I don't give a shit if you're a previous member of the secret service beat me if you want to but you never say something like that, Eric may of had his flaws but he was an amazing person and he loved you like a sister!" He yelled, Kayo looked down at the floor, her cheek glowing red.
"You're right." She whispered
"I'm…sorry." He fell back into his seat, mortified. Silence filled the air like a gas.
"Lord Death has given me some time off and he's apparently got me a replacement," Kayo informed seemingly unabashed.
"Do you know what weapon form they are?" Ciaran asked
"An assault rifle so I guess I'll be right at home."
"Are you still coming over tonight?" Rin asked, trying to change the topic.
"Yeah I am, I'm heading home to catch up on sleep and then I've got to go to a flaming counselling session." Kayo stood up and went to the door. Rin hugged her and Ciaran looked at her sheepishly.
"No hard feelings?" He held out his hand. She gripped his hand, twisted his hand around causing him to yelp and slammed him face first into the wall.
"Owww!" He yelled, rubbing his nose, he became aware of the two girls laughing their heads off.
"No hard feelings at all!" And she left laughing while Silver jumped around barking. Rin picked up the plates of stone cold food and binned them.
"I'll make us some lunch." Rin volunteered
"No I'll make it," He boiled tomato soup and buttered them some rolls.
"I'll need you to run to the shop and pick up the Chinese for tonight." Rin took a bite out of a roll covered in boiling hot soup and gagged, waving her hand in front of her face to cool it down.
"I'll miss Eric." Ciaran suddenly said. "He didn't really fit in with us but he was cool he was nice."
"I will too." Rin bit her thumb "It feels like a dream like it's not even happening but I know it's not a dream and poor Eric is dead."
"Oh crap!" Rin cried "I need to take Silver to get his shots I'll be back later I'm gonna be late!" She scooped up Silver like a loaf of bread then grabbed her jacket and sprinted out of the house without saying anything else.
"What the hell?" He said to the empty apartment and shrugged to himself. Ciaran sat on the sofa and dozed off, then he woke to Rin roughly shaking him with panic etched all over her face.
"Wha-" He grumbled
"Silver ran off I can't find him!" She cried, her eyes filled with tears. Ciaran snapped awake and leapt up, he seized a katana scabbard from his room and sprinted out with Rin on tow. They ran through Death City yelling for Silver, Rin becoming increasingly more distraught. Then they heard his barking and sprinted to the source, in the middle of the park there was a large group of people, thugs.
"Fucking great!" Ciaran snarled
"Hey that's our dog!" She ran to them, seemingly from nowhere a man materialized. They stopped to a halt, he looked about 18.
"He's yours?" The man smirked
"Yes." Rin growled
"How much you want to pay?" He grinned
"What!" Rin screamed, Ciaran sensed a fight and pushed her behind him.
"Or you could let me touch your-" He was cut off by a foot smacking him in the head. Ciaran looked at Rin, surprised. He looked at them with fury in his eyes and pulled out of his pocket a flick knife. Ciaran stepped between them.
"You fucked up!" He spat blood. Another joined him with a baseball bat in his chubby hands.
"Rin go find help."
"No." Rin snarled "They'll kill you!"
"Better me than you!"
"Yeah weak little bitch get out of here go and find your Mummy!" The second thug laughed with his huge gut heaving. Then there was a flash of white and the fat man was flying backwards, bat snapped clean in half. Kayo straightened up and glared at the men. He got up huffing and puffing as the gang laughed at him. He seized a metal bar from one of his cronies and slapped it against his flabby palm. Kayo smirked and looked at the weapon and meister:
"You two deal with skinny arse I've got lard arse!" She charged forward and engaged him. Skinny twirled his knife and Rin transformed into her weapon form. It was a katana, it's blade dark purple and the handle decorated with elaborate red and white fastenings with a dolphin engraved into the pommel. It slipped into the sheaf with a clink, Skinny lunged for them and Ciaran used the scabbard to smack the arm off course then he dodged around and jabbed him in the back of the head with the scabbard. With a roar of fury he charged forward and Ciaran tore the sword out in a flash, he cut him from the top of his head down to his groin in a single graceful motion and sheaved it. The thug screamed and clutched at his face but nothing happened and slowly the beany hat he had sat on top of his head split at the front as did his vest and trousers, as they peeled apart so did his underwear.
"I hear they have surgeries for enlargements!" He smirked as the thug dropped his knife and ran away in shame, covering his groin.
As Rin and Ciaran battled Skinny Kayo was faced with the grim reality of fighting someone twice her size. She had nothing against fat people but this one terrified her with his swinging gut-He was her Goliath. She dodged the swipes of the metal bar and tried to find a weakness but the blitz was keeping her at bay and left no defensive gaps for her to exploit and gain the advantage. Then she realized she'd have to create an opening of her own so Kayo raised her arm and cried in pain as the bar cracked against her arm but simultaneously she stomped on the knee, just like the night Eric died, he fell to one knee with a cry. Kayo looked upon him with expressionless eyes, grabbed him behind the head with both hands and drove her knee into his face with a crack. David had felled Goliath. He lay there with blood running from his nose, out cold.
"No one hurts my friends not anymore!" She snarled and walked to the others as Ciaran brandished the sword and yelled at the gang
"Anyone else?" They dispersed very quickly with as much camaraderie as possible. Silver came sprinting towards Ciaran and a now human Rin. She picked up the puppy and held him close while he licked her face furiously. Kayo walked to Ciaran and he held out his hand, she slapped hers to his and shook.
"No hard feelings." He laughed she twisted his arm pulled him into a hug.
"Kayo thank you so much!" Rin hugged her with Silver wedged between the three. They broke apart and went back to the apartment where they sat down laughing.
"That was one way to blow off some steam." Kayo grinned
"We're so lucky you were there or…" She banished the thought from her mind
"You're welcome," She chuckled "Bastard got me on the arm though,"
"I swear I recognized the fat one," Rin frowned
"That was Dan." Kayo snapped her fingers
"Oh yeah,"
"Who?" Ciaran asked
"The guy who was expelled I told you!" Rin raised an eyebrow with a smile on her face
"I don't have much time for gossip," He stuck his tongue out
"He was kicked out because he almost killed another student in an unsupervised duel, his partner was a morning star so you can tell how that turned out."
"Damn." Ciaran was shocked
"Oh well I suppose he got what he deserves." Kayo dismissed.
"I don't think they hurt Silver," Rin hadn't let him out of her lap since they got back.
"You never introduced me to him," Kayo rubbed him behind the ear.
"This is Silver," The puppy licked Kayo's hand.
"Hello Silver I'm Kayo," She ruffled his fur. Ciaran however could see undisguised pain in her eyes, she was putting on a brave face. There was a knock at the door, everyone looked up and Silver barked.
"It might be them," Rin whispered.
"I'll get it then," Kayo replied quietly and grabbed a kitchen knife.
"You don't need that," Ciaran said and Rin shushed him. Ciaran peeked around the corner as Kayo walked to the door with the knife hidden behind her back. She opened it and Katarina came in.
"Oh hey Kayo," Kat hugged her "I'm so sorry about Eric, wait what's this?" She had felt the knife
"Kat," Ciaran greeted her and Silver ran around the corner barking. When Kat was inside Kayo put the knife away and the others explained what happened.
"Oh my God!" She cried "Did they hurt him?"
"We don't think so," Rin hugged him close.
"Good," Kat clapped her hands together "If they did they'd have to deal with me, Kayo and Rin!"
"What about me?" Ciaran said
"Not you," She stuck her tongue out and chuckled.
"Oh and Rin that was a great kick," Kayo praised.
"Thank you I guess I've never been praised for being violent before."
"Get used to it we're friends with Kayo Senju for Christ's sake!" Then they all laughed.
"Ruby said she's on her way so Ciaran go and get the food now," Rin instructed
"I'll go with him," Kayo volunteered "If we run into that gang I would quite like to blow off some steam before I have to listen to Ruby insulting my clothing,"
"She's not that bad," Rin snorted at Katarina's defense.
"Well better I punch a group of strangers than her so let's get going," Rin gave Ciaran the list.
"Just to clarify we're getting food not a criminal record okay?" Ciaran laughed as they left and the door closed behind them. Leaving the two girls to gossip and go girl things that Kayo held would rather bathe in electric eels than do.
*7:00PM*
The pair came in and the puppy came running to them barking. Kayo handed her share of the burden to Ciaran and picked the dog up. The first thing she picked up was the loud and upper-class accent of Ruby with every word she said she seemed to somehow be an offensive jab despite her rebellious teenager attire and hair.
"Hey everyone." Ciaran said dryly and dumped the two bags.
"Hello Ciaran how are you?" Ruby asked
"I'm good thanks how are you?"
"Exquisite." The way she talked seemed to be mocking but it was not according to Rin and the girls.
"Thanks for asking me Ruby," Kayo said pointedly.
"Let me guess blood soaked and more manly than Ciaran," She smiled sweetly. Kayo's hand clenched into a fist, Ciaran held her wrist tightly.
"Enough both of you," Rin snapped "Ruby Kayo just lost Eric to a kishin please be a little bit more considerate." Ruby was shocked into silence.
"I'm so sorry Kayo…" Ruby had the decency to look down.
"I forgive you," Kayo seemed to deflate. The others seemed to draw around Ruby protectively because they knew when Kayo was this calm she's likely to commit a murder.
"Let's eat." Kayo sat down and grabbed a pair of chop sticks. They all sat down and tucked in to the Chinese. They laughed and discussed, then Rin brought up what had happened at the green.
"Common scum!" Ruby cried "All's I'd have to do is assault them with my verbiage and they'd become so flustered by their inability to independently think they'd collapse!" Everyone laughed at her comment. Then Ciaran tapped lightly on his glass, everyone went quiet and he stood up.
"I want to have a minute of silence for our fallen friend Eric, he was a talented and intelligent person and we'll miss him dearly he may not have fit in with as us well as the others but we will always remember him." Ciaran sat down and after a minute had passed he raised his glass
"To Eric." The others echoed it solemnly. They drank and silence overcame them again.
"I'll never forget him." Kayo choked. "For as long as I live I will never ever forget you!"
*A hours later*
The others had left apart from Katarina who sat with Silver in her lap.
"I'm going to go home," Silver jumped off her lap as she sat up.
"You may as well stay for the night," Rin suggested
"We've got school tomorrow?" Katarina said
"Stay and you can go and get ready early tomorrow," Rin replied
"Erm sure," Silver seemed to sense she was staying and hopped back into her lap where he made himself comfortable.
"You can stay in my room?" Ciaran volunteered "There won't be room for Silver, Rin and you,"
"Sly," Rin muttered
"Pardon me?"
"Nothing at all!" She laughed
Kat and Ciaran topped and tailed, she had her head resting on the pillow while Ciaran had his face pressed into the foot of the bed. He fell asleep quickly but was woken up by a strange noise, he closed his eyes to go back to sleep when he heard it again. He shifted and saw that the noise was coming from Kat who was trying to smoother her cries into his pillow. He sat up and she turned her face into the fabric to hide it. Ciaran squirmed about and sat next to her, she looked at him through tear filled eyes and he touched her lightly.
"What's wrong?" Ciaran went into his nightstand and pulled out a box of tissues. She took one and wiped her eyes. Ciaran put them on the nightstand and rubbed her shoulder.
"Did you have a bad dream?" He sympathized with her "I have them too it's nothing to be ashamed of." Katarina sniffed.
"It's nothing for you to worry about Ciaran go back to bed I really don't want to talk about it."
"If you talk about your problems they'll go away, a problem shared is a problem halved." He spoke softly and tried to be as soothing as possible.
"You always say you hate that phrase,"
"I do, I hate it so much because it's a cliché which makes it sound like the more people you share it with the more spread out it becomes until it's insignificant!" A small smile came across her face at his babbling.
"There we go!" He smiled back.
"I'll tell you but you can't tell anyone!"
"I've got a fair few things I don't tell people," He confessed
"Like what you use those tissues for!" Her smile grew
"Yes I suppose so." He laughed softly and she joined him. They leant back against the headboard and she seemed to struggle to know where to start.
"It was my step-mother, when my Mum died a few years ago my Dad became an alcoholic and neglected me for a long time and over that time I learnt how to cook and survive on my own, then he remarried to some strange woman called "Abby" at first everything was all good but then he tried to break up with her because of some obscure reason she became nasty." Ciaran held the tissues and offered her one which she accepted "She was horrible to me, she would snarl at me and snap whenever I got in the way and she'd make me do everything she wanted. Then it got worse. She began locking me in a cupboard under the stairs. I'd stay there in the dark for hours screaming for Dad but he never came, she began to call it the Dark Room, if I didn't do everything she wanted and exactly how she wanted it done she'd go "Don't make me lock you in the Dark Room." And I guess the appropriate way of putting it is that I'm afraid of the dark." More tears came through and she wiped them away.
"Oh Kat." Ciaran whispered and pulled her in to a hug and she sobbed into his chest and he held her there until it passed.
"I was lucky," She shuddered against his chest "My neighbour called the police after hearing me screaming for Dad, Then the police burst into the house and found me locked in that cupboard I was lucky she'd attached a bolt to the outside so she could lock me in. They let me out and I was handed over to the authorities, they found my Dad punch drunk upstairs and they deduced that it was her who'd done it because my father was too incoherent to be able to do it then I lived with Ruby for several months before I transferred to the DWMA she stayed with her parents and eventually she moved in with me as my weapon." Ciaran's shirt was damp with her tears and he rubbed her back in what he hoped was a comforting manner. "Have you heard from him since?"
"Yeah once when I was living with Ruby he told me he and her were being put on trial he told me how sorry he was and if he could turn time back he would make sure he never got together with that witch."
"What a vile woman!" He spat furiously
"I don't blame my Dad for it, he couldn't cope with my Mum dying and everyone has there own way of coping with things and his was to drink."
"You don't blame him?" Ciaran was confused "Kat you're one of the most wonderful human beings I know you know that!" He laughed.
"I didn't exactly have the best of step-parents it's like a bad cliché isn't it?" He chuckled
"Tell me your story then." Kat suggested, Ciaran shared his story with her.
"I guess we both have our fears don't we." She rested her head on his chest and yawned.
"Kat let's get some rest we've got school tomorrow.
"Good night Ciaran."
"Good night Kat."
A/N: Hello-hope you enjoyed this chapterI just want to point out I hate the cliché but it's nice for the two of them to bond and be friends. Also I'd like to point out violence towards a woman is never okay and it's wrong. So yeah- yaaaay two in one week! See you guys next time and thanks to Rosearrichan for being my first ever reviewer and favorite!