Chapter VI: Repaying Kindness

'Didn't think he was the type.'

Makoto was thinking this the moment she'd overcome her awakening grogginess and turned to face Ragna who was sitting on the same couch they'd had their tense conversation yesterday. While the Reaper didn't appear to be too groggy (he'd been getting plenty of good sleep as of late), he also didn't look like he'd moved much during the night as he'd stayed on guard for any of Sector Seven's splinter cell that could've tracked them down.

What had caught Makoto's internal consideration though was the small notepad that Ragna was writing diligently on. Putting out a few good lines, thoughtfully considering what he'd put down, then either editing it or moving onto his next thought. In the short time she'd been watching, he' already gotten through a few lengthy pages. Coming to a stop for a good few minutes as he flipped through the pages he'd written and let out a half-way content sigh before turning to Makoto to realize she was awake.

"…Morning," he said reservedly before looking at the clock in the corner of the room. 4 AM. Kokonoe had messaged during dinner the night prior to inform them that her craft was going to be taking off close to 6, so they'd need to get moving soon if they were going to sneak in and get Makoto on board. "How long's it going to take you to get ready?"

"Not very long, but I'd like a shower since I'll be cramped and hiding all day," she answered as she threw the blankets off, showing her more modest cream-colored pajamas. "What were you writing about?"

"Just some rough ideas for my next book," he answered. "Figured if the whole traveler shtick doesn't stick, maybe something about Vigilante work might."

"You mean your own exploits?" Makoto asked as she gathered a spare change of clothes to get into from her bag. "I mean, I guess people might read that, but wouldn't you want your privacy? And most of what you did would probably make the news anyway."

"Thought about that and you're right; I guess I could write about my own exploits, but with all I'm able to do most people would think I'm stretching the truth pretty damn far. Plus, unless I want to do an autobiography (which is hella low on my ideas list) talking myself up like that just seems vain as hell. What I could try doing is writing out certain tricks and tips that someone can do to get their mark. Normally that kind of thing wouldn't be too interesting for most people outside of that line of work, but if I got a reputation as the formerly most wanted man on the planet and word gets out that I took out number two then I might be able to get somewhere."

"Not to mention if you play the announcement right and fabricate some bits of the story; whoever's going after Kokonoe might really buy into your lie that you just wanted to track down the bounty instead of helping me out," Makoto added. "Of course, that'd also have to mean that we weren't done with this whole mess by then. I was kinda hoping to get everything wrapped up soon; I'm due a nice vacation."

"Vacation, eh?" Ragna asked before he turned to a different section of his notes. "Where would you want to hit for a vacation anyways? Just so I can check it out for my next travel book if this new idea crashes and burns."

"Uh… back home to visit my family?" Well, Ragna couldn't really write about that. "Sorry."

"Eh, more a hopeful idea than anything," he shrugged off before going back to his first plan. "Go ahead and get showered now; I want to make sure we can get to the port unseen and it'll be hard to manage that if we need to make a break for it, even with my Ars protecting us."

"Fine, but let me take at least a little time to enjoy it," she insisted.

Ragna decided to let her have this and take the chance to continue to write about future book ideas while he could. He quickly went to ideas for food to cook during a steak out and how you'd prepare it without attracting attention (might as well go use recent events while he could). By the time he'd finished off his initial thoughts, Makoto had finally turned the water on. He'd only glanced up from his work for a second to muse over his thoughts, but...

Staring at a naked Makoto in the shower was not what he was expecting to see. Aside from the rising steam, he had a completely unobstructed view of her exposed body. When Ragna had scouted out the bathroom for cameras earlier, he hadn't counted on the wall having an Ars Magus empowered peek in view to watch your partner bathe. It had likely been installed as a form of foreplay, but right now it was just making a hellishly awkward situation for him.

He had to cover his mouth to keep from giving a surprised scream as she continued bathing. His heart was pounding in his chest as she turned his way, but she didn't seem to take any notice of him. Turning his head down to his work, he tried keep his eyes off of… well, what was a pretty grand sight.

Even if Ragna could internally (and sometimes externally by mistake) observe that her outfit left very little to the imagination, getting the full package was something else as her bountiful breasts were now completely exposed with a view of her tantalizing pink nipples. He even got a look at a small patch of light brown public hair down below that was the exact shade as her hair and Beastkin features. And while he and Tao had had plenty of fun in and out of their bathtub, the droplets hitting her smooth skin and how her breasts rippled ever-so-slightly under the shower's pressure was another level of sexy as the water soaked along her curvaceous physique.

'If I tell her, it's just going to cause a scene and we need to keep a low profile,' Ragna insisted in his mind as he fought like hell to keep his eyes glued to his writing. 'This… this is just what I need to do to get the job done. Yeah. Maybe I'll even let her know another time and she won't…'

He stopped himself from thinking about it any further and tried to push the idea out of his head. Makoto deserved more respect and she wasn't just a piece of meat for anyone to ogle at. Even if he himself had taken a fair bit of notice at her revealing outfit and her killer figure.

'I'm doing the right thing here,' Ragna told himself yet again as he kept his eyes focused on his notepad. 'But… is it okay that I regret not taking in the view? …Just a little?'

Later -The Port Section-

"So that's your ride?" Ragna noted as he peered around the corner. "That's not your usual Ars Magus vessel; I know from experience after being shot at by a few of 'em."

"Part of that is because it's a transport ship instead of anything meant for actual combat," Makoto explained as she peered alongside him for a good look at her travelling accommodations. "Other reason is that Kokonoe's still focused on switching us off Seither based Ars Magus. With all of the Cauldrons permanently shut down and the wounds from the Dark Wars finally healing, Seither could eventually start to fade. Nothing we'll have to worry about, but in a few generations there could be an energy crisis if she doesn't prepare something now."

'Few generations? Wonder if she'll be around then? I already know she's been around since the first Dark War, but Jubei's showing signs of being old already…' "You think that might be why someone wants her out of the way? They want her ideas for themselves?" While he was presenting himself as staying focused on the mission with his usual scowl, it was actually a very convincing poker face as he tried not to strain awkwardly after his unintentional shower peak in.

"Never got brought up before, but I guess that's possible," Makoto considered. "I'll pass it along to her once we hook up in Sector Seven; looks like they're finishing their final check of the vessel." Kokonoe's instructions had been clear that after this step, there'd be a hatch that would momentarily open (one that the flight crew weren't aware of and that wouldn't register in the systems) and Makoto would be taking refuge in that compartment until their landing. From there, Kokonoe also had a plan to get her off the plane unseen. "Hope that data we managed to get is worth all this trouble."

"If it's not, she'll come up with a plan to deal with 'em regardless. For now, I just gotta hope that she's actually willing to give my new peace ideas a chance instead of telling me what I want to hear."

"People usually don't tell you what you want to hear unless they don't have a choice," Makoto reminded with a teasing smirk. "Kokonoe especially."

'She ain't wrong.' "Looks like that opening Kokonoe messaged us about it going to show itself. Gotta be ready to act in an instant. My Stealth Ars should protect you until you're a long way into the air, but don't do anything risky."

"Don't worry about me; I got this," she told him confidently before giving a friendly jab to his shoulder. "Thanks for your help, Ragna… I mean it."

"Anytime; not like I didn't end up getting my fair share of reward out of the effort anyways," he answered. 'And a sight I won't be able to forget.'

"Even if you hadn't, you'd still have lent a hand, right?"

"…Probably," he said, smiling softly as he allowed himself partial credit.

Later -Sector Seven-

"So she made it on board," Kokonoe repeated over the phone. "Good work, I'll get to decrypting the data the moment she gets here. I take it you want to stay in the loop if you've come this far."

"It'd be nice for a change," Ragna answered half-sarcastically. "Any signs that they're making a move?"

"I've checked Azrael's containment systems more times than I can count and there's still been no change. I have full control over it, so they'd have to come up with one hell of a program and then some to get past my firewalls… and they'd need my guard down too. I'm almost wondering if they'd want to use him as a distraction at this point, but with all of my assets nothing less could even come close to threatening me."

"Right. Bullet and Tager are worth at least a few armies by themselves," Ragna agreed. "In fact, you've worked with almost every major Ars Magus master alive. Either they don't know that, or they're stupid enough to try anyways."

"Or it could be that they took the bait that I left out," Kokonoe informed suddenly. "I did a study recently and found that the overall concentration of Seither in our air has declined significantly. Most soldiers are able to cast it with little difficulty, but aside from any of the chosen from the Nemesis Horizon, there will soon be a decrease in most users' power output… until we implement my workaround."

"Workaround? Didn't think you'd be worried about Ars while you still had your science," Ragna noted.

"I'll take any avenue that's open to me, but my point is that Ars might potentially have a new fuel source; hydrogen."

"What the-? You mean stuff that's naturally in the air and water?" Ragna sounded more than a little surprised on the other end of the line. In his defense (even she admitted), it was a world-shattering discovery. "…How much of it are we talking?"

"Not enough to cause any noticeable difference in air quality, even after prolonged use with trace amounts. It sounds absurd and it's going to take a shit load of testing, but the possibility is there." Kokonoe narrowed her eyes, though Ragna couldn't see it he could kind of tell by her change in tone. "I know that there's no way that my mother would have ever overlooked something like this and to find it now… There's a chance you might've had something to do with it."

"You mean with the Azure? I guess that this could've been something I changed when I recreated the world, but I sure as hell didn't do it consciously. Wasn't even thinking of Ars Magus at the time." Too much of that was blind luck, and Ragna was more than a little surprised that the changes to their new world weren't as noticeable until this major revelation. "You mentioned something about baiting the shadow sect; how so?"

"If I can convince them that Ars Magus is on the decline but leave out the info of the chosen; they'll get even ballsier since they could think that might just even their playing field. And without my new hydrogen realignment theory, any help they bring in is going to need to rely more heavily on numbers than quality. Numbers are harder to hide and far easier for me to notice."

"Long as I'm at least kept in the general loop of this whole mess like you offered, I'll leave the major strategies to you and just wait for your signal to really get shit done," Ragna affirmed (though he internally admitted that it was a rather sound plan). "So… are we going to rename this from Ars to Air Magus?"

"That's what you're getting out of all of this? You're still the same dumbass that you always were," she seethed at the Reaper on the other end of the phone.

"Hey, I'm just asking. Besides, your mother left her mark on the world by changing how a larger portion of the population was able to use magic-like ability; maybe this evolution is just your own mark."

"Tch, you think I actually buy into that sentimental crap?"

"…Yeah actually, you always seemed the ty-"

Ragna wasn't able to finish as she cut the call there.

"Dumbass."

…She hated how much she'd said that to convince herself.

She'd had to make peace with her mother's demise several times over. She'd only been a child when she'd heard the news and from there her entire life had been dedicated to making sure the man responsible would pay in full. Thoughts of rescuing her mother from the Boundary had never entered her mind with all of the horror stories she'd heard about the domain, but when she'd heard that Ragna had found her mother and even when she'd seen her as Phantom…

'I… dammit, I killed all of those pointless emotions long ago…' she insisted in her head. 'Besides…'

Tapping a few functions on her command console, she brought up two different screens. The first contained an image of the containment tube she'd used on Lambda to delete her memories and turn her into an efficient drone.

'As if I deserve to feel anything after the crimes I've committed.'

The second contained her still active supply of nuclear warheads. Powerful and numerous enough to destroy the Earth more than a hundred times over.

'And the ones that I'm still holding onto…'

Back in Kagutsuchi

'Dammit. Was really hoping that we could've talked about her situation with Jubei… but then again, probably a little too early to push that issue with her,' Ragna considered before he turned his phone off. 'That and I'd probably piss her of before we'd make any progress.'

He'd already snuck out of the ports and general shipping area for a while now and had now found himself on the middle tier of Kagutsuchi proper. He'd already cast his usual Stealth Ars, but he was also starting to wonder if there'd ever come a time where he wouldn't need it.

'Maybe some day, but I'm not willing to risk it today,' he rightly decided. 'Now for whatever the hell my next move should be...'

By now the Sector Seven sect had likely moved on and since there wasn't a risk of being seen with Makoto, he probably didn't need to worry about being followed by them. Even still, it was too soon to head back to Taokaka and the village. Noel and her sisters were probably managing just fine without them… and he had a suspicion that if he did head back, Nu wouldn't be letting him go any time soon.

'Not a lot I can write about in Kagutsuchi for my next book though,' Ragna rightly considered. 'I already wrote about it pretty extensively last time even if I included passages from Ikaruga as well… any reason to stick around wouldn't be for getting it published.' He'd need to write that next book sooner or later, but the pressure wasn't on to develop something just yet… and he still had some ideas for that Vigilante book to keep him busy. 'Guess I'll finally stop in and say hello to Litchi then. She deserves some kind of thanks after those times she's patched me up.'

While he wasn't nearly as close to the street side doctor as Tao or the Murakumo sisters, he'd already known where she was coming from after they'd met in the Kagutsuchi sewers. Despite the fact that he was the most dangerous man in the world at the time, he could see her resolve as she fought him off to save the terminal pile of sludge known as Arakune. Her desperation to save the life of what had once been her old colleague of Roy had struck a core with him and they'd left each other on fair terms… one of few times he could say that. After that she'd patched him up (twice) during his travels and hadn't demanded a single dollar in payment.

Heading down the streets, Ragna started making his way to Litchi's clinic and started taking notice of the Chinese theme of the streets to signal that he was in the right area. People in this part of Kagutsuchi had a tendency to play into this theming with traditional outfits and even some costumes.

…He had to fight the urge to freeze up as he passed by someone dressed up as a leaping ghost.

'Come on, with all of this badass power I should've outgrown that fear a long time ago,' he internally self-chided. 'Wonder if I could (hypothetically) use the Azure to make sure that there aren't any ghosts and put an end to this… but then that would mean that I was right to be scared of ghosts in the first place if it works… and what if there was actually a point to having them around… I'm probably being stupid about this; I'm not using the Azure for anything… least of all that.' Sighing at his continued behavior, he hurried down the street a bit faster now. 'Let's see, her clinic should be-'

"Huh? What are you doing here?"

"Eh?"

That girl that was always around Litchi's clinic, Linhua or something? She was looking right at him and he hadn't dispelled his Ars. He'd never considered if the girl was any kind of fighter, but being able to naturally see through this level of Ars Magus meant she had to be fairly perceptive at least. Had Litchi trained her to defend herself? Either way, there was likely more to this girl than he'd first considered.

"…Hey," Ragna said casually, though he was cautiously side eyeing everyone else who was passing him by. Hardly anyone was looking in his direction and those who were glancing didn't keep their gaze on him for long. The Ars was up, she really just wasn't affected by it. She didn't seem scared of him either, but then again, she probably figured after helping to heal him she was on his good list. "Been a bit."

"I think this is my first time seeing you where you aren't needing to get patched up or right after Doctor Litchi put your organs back into place." She had a bit of an attitude in her; he could respect that. "That is… unless your coat's better at hiding your own blood than we thought."

"Nope; no blood on the Bloodedge today," he answered back as he noticed the bag full of different roots in her arms. "Running errands?"

"Time got away from us and we ran out of medical supplies and food. Food's mostly because Doctor Litchi kept sending those meatbuns over the Kaka village," she informed.

'Right, I was going to ask her for the recipe… eh, it's chance to keep myself busy with something.' "Got a long list? I can carry stuff if it'll help save you trip."

"I guess that'd help, but you're not doing this to give yourself a chance to flirt with the Doctor, are you?" She seemed more exhausted at the idea than critical of Ragna. "After all, we finally got rid of that last guy."

'Right, Bang's headed off for Wadatsumi a while ago. I haven't checked in with him since right after world got recreated,' Ragna figured. "No flirting intended, just doing a little bit to pay back for putting my organ's back in their right place… you did put them back correctly though, right? Spine's been a little off lately."

He'd been joking of course.

"That's a pretty common thing in old age. I'd watch out."

…Now he'd been wounded.

"Kidding, kidding," Linhus defended, though she didn't bother to hide her laugh. "Man, your glare now is worse than any of those wanted poster's I've seen."

"You're lucky I'm still feeling charitable enough to help you grab those groceries," Ragna growled. "Besides, I'm younger than Litchi and you don't think she's old, do you?"

"Trying to get some blackmail ammo out of me?"

"Depends on your answer."

"Then no, neither of you are old. In fact, the only old one here was Bang… wouldn't know it from all of his energy though."

"We're agreed there," Ragna conceded as the two began walking off, him grabbing one of the heavier bags to start carrying. "You explained why you're out of food, but how'd you run out of medical supplies? I thought Litchi ran a tighter ship than that."

"We did, but there's a new player in delivering injuries in town. Word from one of our patients is that someone's been setting up an underground fight club and that's where all of these people have been getting injured. We haven't had to deal with any more than a few broken bones or damaged bits of flesh, but we're worried that we're just patching them up to get back in the ring again. Our supplies are being used up fast and we're not the only clinic in town with the problem."

"Any idea why people are going back?" Ragna asked.

"I can't say if it's the prize money for certain, but it'd have to pay really well if they're that eager to get back after losing," she explained, seeming doubtful. "I couldn't figure where or when they're meeting, they all seemed pretty tightlipped about their little fight club."

'I mean, the first rule is you don't talk about it…' Ragna considered. He'd seen an ancient copy of the cult classic by random happenstance.

"Thinking about heading down to put an end to this mess yourself?" Linhua asked. "You're pretty easy to read, but that'd actually help all of the clinics in town. Might even cause the news to write about you again."

"Again?"

As fate would have it (for both convenience and torment) the two then passed by an open News stand, showing off the fresh papers that chronicled Ragna's capture of the formerly most wanted man in the world, short as their reign had been. Ragna was pleased that the good news was getting out… he didn't like the cover photo they used.

"…Damn… wanted poster…"

He'd put a perfectly usable photo of himself on the front of his book. Sticking with this photo could only be a spiteful play at this point.

Later -Litchi's Clinic-

"Now I want you all to promise me that you'll be more careful this time," Litchi Faye-Ling insisted crossly, her hands on her hips in the iconic authoritative manner. "And by careful, I mean that you won't throw yourselves into that fighting arena meat grinder."

"H-Hey, we never said anything about getting these in any kinda arena," a nervous giant of a man twice Litchi's side insisted.

As he threw his oversized cloak back on, he had to wince as it contacted the healing ointment that she'd applied. Litchi summarized that they'd been hit by an ice type attack Ars. Unless you were exceptionally skilled at the arts like she was, direct contact with that element meant the death of flesh and these wounds ran deep. Even with her gifts in the profession, their body would need time to heal and pushing it any further could lead to near-lethal complications.

"If it means that we'll be able to get to see you again afterwards then I'm fine braving any kind of meat grinder," a tall and lanky man flirted, trying to appear charming despite the several fresh bandages covering his face. No change in Litchi whatsoever… actually, she was starting to scowl at him. "…We'll be more careful next time."

"The point is that I don't want there to be a next time," she said, her tone becoming all the sterner. "Listen to me. As a doctor I won't turn anyone away that comes to me for help, but you aren't the only patients that I need to worry about. With so many of you coming to me with increasing serious injuries, I'll barely have enough medicine leftover to make standard prescriptions for my regulars." Litchi was more than decent at reading people and the three in her office had enough hearts that a bit of careful guilt would get her message across. "And what if someone with life threatening injuries needs my help and I had to spend all of my healing supplies after patching you up for the fiftieth time? I don't want that to weigh on anyone's conscious."

"…We'll keep those words in mind," the third member (a girl who had stayed silent up until now) said as she handed Litchi a small wad of Platinum dollars. Unlike the other two, she had come into the clinic with minimal bruising and a swollen eye, but Litchi had examined her regardless. "Let's go."

"Right, might as well check the hall to see if there's any work left," the lanky man decided. It looked like he was about to make another attempt to woo Litchi (perhaps to the point of asking her out), but the giant of man forcefully escorted his teammate out.

With them gone, Litchi took a look at the money she'd been given and sighed as she went to her books. She didn't much like the idea of charging for medical care, but she needed to keep her doors open if she wanted to continue providing care and medicine didn't come cheap. Even with her skill of stretching resources out and substituting where she could, she still hardly ever turned a profit with what little she charged for care. Her altruism aside, this did mean that she was a valued member of the community and she even had some clients from the more well-to-do sectors of Kagutsuchi who both valued her skill and could afford to pay a little more.

"It's all about taking the good with the bad," she reminded herself. At least she could appreciate that it had been a while since she'd last needed to say that. Glancing up at her old-fashioned clock, she realized that the day had already gotten away from her. "Linhua should've been back with those supplies by now, there's no way she could've gotten the groceries by herself."

It wasn't any sense of concern that she had; Linhua was tougher than she looked and she had a good head on her shoulders. If she wasn't back by sunset then she'd start worry, but for now she could afford to take faith that Linhua had been delayed while she was out.

'Might as well make sure she has a nice warm cup of tea to enjoy when she gets back,' she decided, keeping herself busy. After setting up her kettle, she moved on to balance her logs both from the money she'd earned and the supplies she was running low on… a list that had been growing much longer as of late. 'If this keeps up I might have to turn to… less reputable sources to get the supplies I need.' In all of her years, Litchi had never needed to deal with Black Market traders (not knowing at least) and she had to hope she wasn't desperate enough to start now. Hearing the front door to the clinic open, she could at least keep her mind focused on the hear and now for a change.

"I can't believe you couldn't even wait until we got back," came Linhua's voice.

"Didn't have breakfast, so I needed a snack. I paid for that stop anyways."

'Ragna the Bloodedge?' Litchi headed to the front and saw that her hearing hadn't been playing tricks on her. That was the Grim Reaper with Linhua alright, holding a full bag of groceries in one arm while in his other hand he held the carrot he was munching on as he noticed her.

"Eh, what up doc?" he asked before handing her the groceries. "Just ran into each other and thought I'd lend a hand grabbing your supplies."

"Ah, no wonder she's back later than I would've thought; she managed to do it all in one trip," Litchi summarized as she set bag on the table and started unload. "How were the markets?"

"Find, but prices are starting to rise of most medical materials… the ones they had in stock anyways. Based on your recipes we'll be able to stretch our stock out and cover any gaps with substitutes that have access of… with the exception of Aqualeaf. That's going to hurt us if none of our regulars restock by the end of the week."

"…So does that make me a regular then?" Ragna asked as he went into his traveling case and took out a small satchel. "Take out as much as you need. In fact, I've got other stuff in spades. Mostly I try to use it in recipes, but if you can put it to work in your medicine then have at it."

"Oh my, that's very generous of you," Litchi noted with some surprise.

'…I'll give him one chance.' "Doctor, I got an invite from Lee's family while I was out shopping. Something about having us both over for dinner. We can both go now, or…"

"Feel free to head over; I'll stay to entertain our surprise guest," Litchi finished with a nod. "Give them all the best, and make sure Lee's taking her medicine."

"Sure thing, later. Oh, and thanks for helping me with groceries."

"No problem," Ragna answered back as he gave her a single wave goodbye. Turning to Litchi, he saw that she'd headed over to the now steaming pot and was preparing cups for the two of them. "Have anything that isn't too bitter?"

"All I have is different levels of bitter, and what I'm preparing is the healthiest of my teas," she answered.

"Obviously meaning it's the most bitter of them all."

"Obviously," Litchi answered. "I didn't take you for a picky eater."

"Normally I'm not, but I was just looking for a bit of a different flavor," he answered fairly. "So Doc… is your condition doing okay?"

"Yes, any previous signs that I've had of Seither poisoning or Boundary radiation dissipated after the Recreation. You're sure that you didn't have anything to do with it?"

"Second time today I'm saying this, but I have no idea what I was able to change with the Azure and what I left as is," he answered honestly. 'Right, I gotta keep quiet on Kokonoe's alternative Ars discovery for now. Better change subject while I can.' "So… who's this Lee person Linhua's heading to see?"

"Just someone from a family that moved to the area recently. She's not the healthiest child so she needs more check-ups than your average patient, but at least I can guarantee that they'll live a long and healthy life with enough care. She's also close to Linhua's age, so after all of this time she finally has a friend to talk to and relate to. This is hardly our first dinner invitation from them either."

"Good for both of you then," Ragna genuinely commented before taking the cup Litchi offered him. He didn't think it was possible for anything to smell that bitter. "…Got any sugar?"

"That would defeat the purpose of the tea," Litchi insisted. Ragna wasn't able to hide his mild disappointment that well. "Now… about you and Taokaka…"

"Hey, I've already gotten plenty of warnings/threats from Tora. Besides, anything you really needed to know probably came up when you talked to her yesterday."

"All I have to do is bring her up and you're already on the defensive," she noted with disapproval.

"When you're glaring daggers at me when you bring up the subject, can you blame me?"

"…You're right. I shouldn't be so used to glaring, but I have given plenty of stern talking-to's lately."

"From people getting injured in those fights I'm guessing. We'll talk about 'em in a second, any real reason you wanted to talk about Tao?"

"…Probably nothing that wasn't brought up by Tora. And almost certainly nothing you haven't already discussed with each other," Litchi admitted, mirroring Ragna's earlier words. "Actually no, she did bring up that she'd made you your own Kaka coat, so I'm going to insist on seeing you wear it later."

"Oh that? Sorry to disappoint, but I've decided to leave it in the village with her," Ragna informed. 'Right, the Doc's got a naughty side to her when it comes to getting people to dress up… Maybe I should be more careful here than I first thought.' "I heard they even made a coat for you, but with all the help you've given to the village I'd be more surprised if you hadn't."

"Including helping Tao as she strives to be a good wife for you." Ragna nearly lost his grip on his cup at that revelation.

"…In what regard?"

"Just the general questions that she tends to ask with childlike wonder," Litchi answered, though it was a little too unspecific for Ragna's liking. "Not to worry though; I taught her about the ins-and-outs of sexual intercourse long ago."

"…And you're sure she was paying attention?"

"More than any of my other lectures with her with all of her snickering."

'My fiancée is going to be one hell of a wild card.' If anything, the wistful smile he gave off almost made it seem like he was looking forward to that aspect of their relationship. "You know, you'd make the both of us pretty happy if you'd teach me how to make those special meatbuns of yours."

"Maybe as a wedding gift… maybe." Apparently Litchi wanted to hold onto that recipe like it was some kind of massive secret. "…And provided you can manage to drink your tea without pouting." Ah, and blackmail too.

"Yeah yeah…" Ragna sighed before going for his first sip and cringing at the flavor. Litchi couldn't help but giggle a little at his reaction. "Jeeze, how can you stand this stuff?"

"Because for a time, I didn't have a choice. This tea was the only thing that was slowing down my poisoning from the Boundary. It couldn't halt the process completely, but it would slow it. I thought… I thought it would be the best chance I'd have, until I could do what I needed to." To show she still had a tolerance for the stuff, she took her own sip and didn't react. "Though your reaction reminds me of Bang's. He even wrote to me recently and noted when I shared it with him that first time."

"Written huh? And here I was thinking he'd make a special trip just to see you," Ragna chuckled as he absent-mindedly went for another sip, forgetting the bitter taste he'd be in for. "Urk! …Guess restoring Wadatsumi has been keeping him busy."

"It probably has, but that isn't the only reason," she began with a wistful smile. "I guess you haven't heard that he found someone else."

"Someone to replace you?" Ragna asked. Litchi didn't take offense; the wording was too accurate. "Who?"

"No one you would know, but the story of how they met is something in itself." She was going to enjoy telling this, he could see it in her eyes. However, he was too curious about the story, so he decided to let her tell it at her own pace. "So Kagura's assistant, Hibiki, had to be sent away on a special assignment. I don't know what he was doing, but it might be better that we don't."

"Probably, but go on."

"So Kagura still needed to be assigned an aide because he had a series of important of meetings and many of the higher officers of the new NOL are still apprehensive to his procrastination and other vices. Of course it was taken only in half measures as Kagura got to pick just who his new aide was."

"So… killer figure, huge breasts, and long legs?"

"Exactly. But what he didn't count on was that she was one of the only girls that wasn't receptive to any of his advances, in fact she was shooting him down. Hard. I don't think he gave up, but he had apparently quit trying to flirt with her for a time. Likely to plan out his next advance."

"Again, probably. Go on."

"Eventually, one of their meetings took them to Wadatsumi where the two were supposed to survey Bang's restoration effort. It's one of the new Imperator's main talking points to heal the scars of the old wars, so everyone in the NOL is really counting on Bang. During that visit, they met each other with a bit of a misunderstanding. Bang thought she was Kagura's latest fling and she didn't take too well to that idea, but… after their misunderstanding, they really hit it up. To the point that she requested to have her role changed as the Librarium's permanent contact with the city… and not long after that they'd already begun dating."

"Seriously? …Go Bang." Ragna wasn't too prideful to admit that he'd underestimated his ninja acquaintance, but he couldn't help but feel staggered by the sheer degree he'd done it by. "So how badly did this hurt Kagura's ego?"

"Not much; he was the one that needed to approve of the transfer and he'd already had the papers done before they'd asked. Even left them both with some well wishes… Clearly he knew there were plenty of other girls he could put his attention towards."

'True enough, but I still wish Noel and her sisters weren't on that list,' Ragna thought irately. 'Makoto too now… Dammit Kagura, just find someone and settle down already.' Now he was changing to subject to keep his own irritation down. "Any of that attention going towards this whole fighting ring I've been hearing about? I don't know if Kagura's been assigned that job, but someone's gotta be working on it."

"I'm afraid there's a strong chance he wouldn't know about it," Litchi admitted sadly as they transitioned to their next conversation subject. "In fact, I don't think that many are aware of it in the first place. The only reason I ever learned of it was my duties healing its participants after their matches. There were far too many of them coming in with injuries to be a simple mishap in Vigilante work."

"Fighting ring though… wonder who the hell's gathering 'em, and why," Ragna tried to guess. "Doesn't make much sense if someone wanted to start a coup; they'd just want to hire as many bodies as they could, not put them in the meatgrinder like this and make it obvious to getting caught."

"I wish I could tell you; talking with you right now is the most rest I've had in a week and your supplies won't last me forever," the doctor sighed. "Would it be possible for you to put an end this problem of mine?"

"Linhua brought up something similar when we were walking back, but I don't think I'll be doing anything directly," Ragna denied. "Showing up and solving problems every now and again might be fine, but this world's going to need to move on without someone with god-like power putting it in it's place. Besides, if I start throwing my weight around too much then people are just going to start crapping their pants at the sight of me, all over again."

"Fair enough. Very crass, but fair enough."

"Let's let the NOL solve this mess; they should be the ones bringing us into that prosperous future Homura has been preaching about," Ragna decided, but still admitted he could do more. "If nothing else, I can get a message along to my brother and make sure they're looking into it. Will that help put your mind at ease?"

"It most certainly will," Litchi insisted. "But… if you care enough to put my mind at ease, I do have a few outfits that you can try on. It would really help my-"

"Fat chance! And I thought you only wanted to do it with girls anyways!"

"…Well I'm looking to branch out into other areas."

"Wow. Lucky me. The answer's still no."

'…Maybe with a little more prep time, I could change that.'

'Her eyes are starting to scare me. And not in a hot way.'

Elsewhere

"Bored, bored, bored," Makoto Nanaya sighed to herself as quietly as she could. "And cramped, very cramped… this flight can't end soon enough."

In order to minimize whatever risks she could, Kokonoe had to smuggle her in a compartment that no one else in Sector Seven would ever consider to be there, let alone think to check. That meant that there was no room to stretch her legs out as she crouched over to avoid hitting her head every time the slightest bit of turbulence hit the airship. She was already feeling sore and she had no idea how much of the journey she still had to travel.

This endeavor wasn't just physically taxing either; as she'd been complaining earlier, the sheer boredom was almost mind-numbing and there wasn't anything she could do to stop it. Bringing her own communication device for entertainment was a no-go since whoever was flying the ship had a chance of tracking the signal and even the small electronic output could be detected.

Simply put, she was going to be stuck like this until she arrived and Kokonoe was able to clear the landing field long enough to get her out. That meant that not even landing would be the complete end of her problems and Kokonoe would need to keep her hidden for a time at Sector Seven as well. Her troubles were merely starting… which means she was starting to look back on the time she'd been able to sleep with Ragna guarding her all the fonder.

'Next time I see the guy, I'll do something special to pay him back for helping me out like that, even if he's gonna insist he's fine.' Makoto promised, though it still wasn't doing much to distract from her current predicament as her head slammed against the steel ceiling. She couldn't cry out in pain if she didn't want to alert the flyers and had to remain still for several tensely agonizing minute hoping they hadn't heard that impact… then she was bored again.

'Talk about a low budget flight. No food or movies? First chance I get, I'm outta here.'

Back with Ragna

"Glad I got the hell out of there before she could get the costumes out; that was too damn close," Ragna muttered as he continued to speed walk away from Litchi's clinic. He wasn't completely satisfied in paying her back, but what he had done would have to do for now as he wasn't about to play mannequin for her fantasies… at least that's what he told himself. "Wonder if I'd actually look good in anything she'd put me in. I mean I bet I could pull off just about- No! No! That's how Noel got trapped in that mess."

Obviously he'd reinstated his Stealth Ars as he'd left (to explain why no one was looking at him as he muttered to himself all the way down the streets like a madman) so no one who couldn't meet the level of aptitude would be able to take notice of him. Now though, the smell of roses in the air made it clear that who he was about to be dealing with wouldn't stop from noticing him.

"Well met Ragna," Rachel greeted as she teleported into a shadowy section of the street. It wasn't too populated of an area at the moment, but Ragna knew that the vampiress liked to wait until she was certain the two would be left alone before they ever begun their conversations. Speaking of alone, no signs of Nago or Gii this time either.

"Your toys still nursing their wounds?" Ragna asked. He was able to act a little more casual around Rachel as she hadn't started of this most recent encounter by attempt to surprise or kidnap him. More courteous than she usual was… something was up.

"No, they've both healed by now, but at present they and Valkenhayn are… elsewhere."

Strange word to use.

"Okay… and because everyone's elsewhere, you felt bored enough to come talk with me?" Ragna genuinely guessed.

"No… but I suppose if I keep having you make guesses, we'll be stuck in these streets until nightfall." Ah, there was the usual superiority complex. "For both our sakes, let us not tarry on airs any longer."

'Like I'm guilty of that.' "So what is it then?"

"I've finally committed Nago, Gii, and Valkenhayn to all take vacations. Valkenhayn is in charge of said vacation, and while managing those two is enough of a job in itself, I stand by my demand that three deserved their rest after serving me so faithful these many eternities."

"So not bored, but lonely." Ragna had been joking, but Rachel's fingers cackled with electricity in her usual threat. "Hey, learn to have a laugh at your own expense for once, Rabbit. It's actually real kind of you to think about them like that." He sounded genuine in the second statement, so Rachel let her magic fade. "Still doesn't explain why you're coming to me."

"…Promise me that you won't laugh."

"The hell?" Out of anything, Ragna least expected to hear that out of the prideful vampire. She didn't appear any more vulnerable than she'd been before, but for some reason she couldn't make eye contact with him now. "Uh… Rachel?"

"Promise you won't; tell me that you've gotten in whatever barbs you've wanted to already or I'm not saying a word more."

'Sounds like she really needs my help with something, but that damn pride of hers is getting in the way… guess I'll play along, conditionally.' "Tone back the whole looking down on me side of yours and I won't be throwing any verbal jabs your way. Deal?"

"Very well, we have an agreement," she answered in turn, though she couldn't face him completely. "I… I fear that I might've given Valkenhayn a leave of absence without understanding what those ramifications truly meant. I fear that I might feel a bit…" She cringed at the wording she was about to use. "…Helpless."

"You don't know how to take care of yourself?" If this had been the old Ragna, there was no end to the amount of shit he'd been giving the uppity vampire for this (promise or not), but though the temptation was still there he was mature enough to be concerned instead. "You never learned after all this time?"

"The need had never arrived before now; and I'd thought that the matter would be simple enough. This is why I am requesting your help now. And not for nothing either; you'll be rewarded once the job is done based on your performance."

"No reward needed, I'll lend a hand." At this point he was procrastinating in writing his next book, but the point was to keep himself busy anyways.

"I'll have to insist upon awarding you, my pride wouldn't settle for having to 'owe you one' as you'd put it," Rachel said, allowing some of her noble air to return.

"I guess if that's all your pride can take, then fine, we'll figure that out later," he relented. "So… Valkenhayn didn't leave you with anything before taking off on vacation? Sure as hell doesn't sound like the old dog."

"You're not underestimating him; Valkenhayn left me a number of readymade meals before his departure along with instruction on how to heat them using my castle's microwave… and that's where my troubles started."

"…Uh oh."

Alucard Castle

The perpetual night that Rachel's realm was known for was bathed in a different glow than its blood-red moon. Heavy smoke had already overpowered the usual smell of roses that Rachel's teleportation produced and it looked like her entry point was the one part of the entire estate that wasn't on fire.

…Minus the flowers in the center, but Ragna saw that those were being protected by the absolute defense of Rachel's reacquired Tsukuyomi unit. Still, everywhere else he looked was basically an inferno.

"…I had the mind to blow the fire out using my enchanted winds, but that only seemed to make the situation worse somehow," Rachel admitted as Ragna stared on, awestruck. "So… how proficient are you at putting out fires?"

"WE'RE ABOUT TO FIND OUT!" he shouted as he began desperately looking for a bucket.

This was going to be more difficult than he'd thought.

Author's Note

Happy 2025 People! Finally got a new chapter out for everyone and I'm ready to hit the ground hard this time. Hope you enjoyed reading and I'll see you soon! Ciao!

Vanitas50: Thanks, and yeah I'm trying to mind where I start the… adult stuff.

Wlyman2009: Once it gets on sale, I might join the grind myself.

Reclusive Dork: Eh, it'll get plenty of action here.

Pillager of Twilight: Of all times for his drinking to finally catch up with him.