A Clan of Two

[Levy]

"Aw, man. I just bought that hat." Hana griped, tapping at the spot upon which a floppy sun hat once sat. Presently, she was skipping rooftops, or well, more accurately, running from a mob of angry men. She liked the former better, though.

Earlier that day, at a time when she still donned a hat, Hana was waltzing through the streets of a market place, humming to herself. It was around midday and she was absolutely starving, so accordingly, she was headed for the diner she had spent the better of the past year in. Before she could smell the welcoming scent of freshly baked bread and parsley, however, she heard the obnoxious din of youngsters by the fountain. Upon further inspection, she found they all donned a particular shade of red, and almost immediately Hana tipped her hat, scurrying along.

That was, until, she heard an offhand comment about the owners of the very diner she was bound for. Now, Hana was not a woman of moderation. So, it was only natural for her to whip around and bitterly spout her... well, complaints. It wasn't until she realized that a spiteful Aura had gathered around the men that she remembered who she was speaking to. The Red Eyed Terrors, as she called them, had a certain unspoken line that was not to be crossed, as this was general knowledge. And she had just hurdled over it with reckless abandon.

Thus began our goose chase. The Reds were absolutely livid. Hana was still hungry. Leaping across rooftops was quite draining, and the fall looked dreadful. As she neared the edge of one building, it dawned upon her that she had reached the end of her roof-hopping crusade, because the only nearby building looked to be a whole kilometer away. A glance behind her shoulder told her that the Reds were still hot on her trail. Albeit only a few, but even just one of them could take her down in a millisecond.

She scanned the crowd beneath her feet. It wasn't a very busy day in town square, but even so, people were bustling left and right, carrying shopping bags and calming screaming children. Hana would have loved to take a seat and simply people-watch, but she had pressing matters to deal with. One of which, looked like he could commit assault with battery without batting an eye.

A man, white hair, hefty looking arms and a straight posture. He would have to do. Besides, if he didn't catch her, he would at least break her fall. Hana braced herself and promptly took a leap of faith, in the most literal sense possible.

"Catch!"

 

[AManOnly]

Nenshou usually wasn't one for such large crowds of people… sure he didn't mind if they were large crowds of opponents to defeat but being surrounded by all these people had him a little on edge. He had been spending the day avoiding Homura rather easily, he knew most the places they liked to hang about and so made sure to stay away from them. They weren't a threat to him really but he wasn't in a mood to fight just yet, in all honesty he was looking for a new bar to call home for a while. The last place was wrecked by Homura in their last attack on him. It was a damn shame too because he had just started to take a liking to the bartender there; he was starting to get his drinks right. A sigh of annoyance passed his lips as his eyes straight from left to right as he surveyed just where he would end up drinking now. He shook his head at one bar he saw, it was too close to the main street and had too many people in it. He needed something a little more off the beaten path. Turning onto a smaller side street Nenshou noticed shadows go flying by on the ground which caused him to look up and see what looked like a Homura goon go jumping up above from one roof to the other.

He shook his head and pulled out his pack of cigarettes, taking one out and putting it up to his lips. With his lighter in his other hand he lit the little cancer stick as he took a deep drag. "Haven't had a drink in so long I'm starting to see shit…" He muttered to himself as he left the cig in his mouth and started to walk down the little side street with his hands pushed into his pants pocket as he started to look for another watering hole somewhere that looked more like home. Yet each place he ended up going by seemed to have a few Homura boys hanging about the place. "Bastards… must know I'd be looking for a new place." Nenshou said to himself with a growl of anger as he walked down and made his way back to the man street. He wasn't sure what he was going to do now but he did know that some of those Homura goons had seen him wandering through there. Though he doubted they would just come after him, that would be suicide. The chances of them deciding to take him on with so few numbers were about as likely as him getting hit by a falling star.

"Catch!" He suddenly heard from somewhere up above and Nenshou raised an eyebrow at the sudden yelling. "What?" He muttered and felt a presence very quickly approaching him from above. He looked up at what was approaching him and grabbed what it was out of the air, more an instinctual reaction then an actually thought out plan. He took a quick look and saw it was some girl, at least he thought it was, she was pretty small. "You're no falling star." He said with a shake of his head as he then saw a bunch of Homura goons start jumping down towards him. A grin grew on his face as he tossed the girl behind him out of the way of the goons as they started to come raining down upon him. He blocked a kick, tossed one of them off to the side like a doll with one hand before he took a punch to the face which caused the guy to nearly bounce off and hit the floor like had ran into a steel beam. The last one falling was shaking his head in a panic as he realized just who he was falling towards but it was already too late.

Nenshou started to laugh as he brought his fist back and punched him sending him straight back up into the air where he landed back on the roof where he had jumped from. Out of the side street even more Homura members came running out ready to fight seeing that others had already attacked Nenshou. They started to glow red with their aura as they prepared to attack and a wide smirk grew on Nenshou's face. Flexing his shoulders and back some Nenshou started to exude his own dark grey aura right back at them. "Come on then!" He roared out at them as he took a step, the concrete of the sidewalk buckling and cracking underneath his boot. It was like a small tremor had suddenly rolled through underneath them all. Some of the Homura goons had looks of trepidation on their faces as the display of power that Nenshou gave. Soon enough the decision was clear as they very quickly made a run for it, each scrambling off in different directions to avoid the fight that they suddenly didn't want to partake in. Nenshou washed them run off and shook his head in disappointment as his aura faded to nothing. "Damn, should held back a bit more." He said in annoyance.

 

[Levy]

It required a tremendous deal of pure trust in the goodness of a man's heart, well, that and his reflexes, to be able to jump off the roof of a building into the presumed arms of a fleeting stranger. For a moment, she saw her life flash before eyes, but when she did not hit concrete, and instead felt a calloused pair of hands around her, she stirred. He actually caught her? Holy hell, he actually caught her! She wasn't dead! "Wait, falling star? Awh, that's so sweet of you." She laughed, putting a hand to her cheek. As Hana processed this, she suddenly remembered that there was a part after this, the part in which she actually gets away. Before she could get down on her own, her supposed knight in shining armor tossed her behind him and began swinging left and right. This, she had certainly not been expecting. He even chucked one man all the way to he rooftop, which prompted Hana to rub her eyes in disbelief. Was she dreaming? Yes, that was it. She must have been knocked out or something. Maybe she passed out in an alleyway or something. Hana slapped herself. It didn't quite work. In fact, it just left a red splotch that stung a bit on the side of her face, to which she frowned.

The ground beneath her then seemed to suddenly slip away from her, which made her stumble back a little. Did... did this man just crack the pavement with one foot? And create a mild earthquake? She stared at the back of the man in front of her, still a little bewildered, but content that her life was no longer in imminent danger. All the Reds that had been previously tailing her were either knocked out had fled with their tails between their legs. She unruffled her clothes and gave him a light tap to draw his attention, beaming when he turned.

"Oh man, you're a real life saver. I didn't know what I was going to do, you know, the Reds are kind of a rowdy bunch. I'm not exactly especially trained in any martial arts, nor do I have a fireproof jacket, so I was in a bit of a pickle. So, thank you, kind stranger! But, you know, demolishing public property isn't exactly the way to go about things. You might want to work on that. I think that's considered a misdemeanor. Would that fall under vandalism? Oh, well. That's fine! They can't fine you if you're not there. Oh, I was just on my way to lunch, you wanna grab a bite? On me, as gratitude." She said, laughing, without giving him the slightest opportunity to interject. Hana was a bit of rambler, but she meant well. "Oh! Where are my manners? I'm Hana." She held out a hand to shake. "Pleased to make your acquaintance."

Hana could not help but stare at the man before her. He was almost ridiculously tall, towering over her with an odd shade of almost white hair and mesmerizing golden eyes. The man in general looked a bit rusted, worn down like a junky doll at some garage sale. Scruffy, yes, but if he caught her and put her down safely, then she knew he was at least somewhat of a good person. Everyone's got a heart somewhere in there.

 

[AManOnly]

Dusting off his hands Nenshou was lost in thought when he suddenly felt somebody tapped on his back. He raised an eyebrow and looked over his shoulder to who had interrupted his thoughts. "Who are…" He started to say but was soon interrupted as a torrential flood of words came shooting out of her mouth which caused his eyes to widen a bit. He never heard someone say so much so fast before in his life. "It's not fireproof…" He tried to interject but it was for naught. "And they can charge me when they are able to take me…" He said but he wasn't really sure if she had even heard him as she just kept on going. "Lunch?" He said as he thought about it and nodded his head as he was feeling hungry. Before he could agree she then went on introducing herself and extending a hand to him which made him raise an eyebrow once again.

"I have a feeling you end up in trouble a lot… Hana." He said as he shoved his hands into his pants pockets while staring at her. She was tiny compared to him, he doubted even if she did know martial arts at all if it would even help her. She was pretty lithe, a little pretty in general but everything about her seemed to scream average or just… like a normal person. The thought made him shake his head a bit. The only thing that really seemed to be unique for her were her eyes which shines a rather enticing green. "Your eyes put you in the good looking category." He said nonchalantly as he looked away from her to see if anyone was looking at him. "I'll take you up on the offer of food." He said before looking back down at her. "But bring the talking down a notch." He said as he started to walk down the street his presence seeming to pull at her to follow him. He didn't really mean to do it, it was just something that happened to Kings.

 

[Levy]

"Oh yeah, well, that seems to be a recurring theme, yes." She told him, laughing a little. Indeed, she seemed to fall ass backwards into trouble quite a bit. Though, the way he spoke to her seemed apathetic at best, if she didn't know any better he was straight up contemptuous. "My eyes? I- Is that supposed to be a compliment? That's not very-" She cut herself off as he began to speak again. Frowning as he paced off, brushing past her, she had to jog after him to keep up with his speed. "Well, that's a little rude." Hana muttered under her breath. And yet, despite this, she felt somewhat of a pull drawing her to him. She couldn't quite put her finger on what it was, though, perhaps it was sheer curiosity. But still, she hadn't a clue where he was going.

"Well, anyway, you're going the wrong way. The diner is over here." She told him, jutting a thumb behind her. As they walked, Hana felt inclined to speak. She was never quite fond of silences, even amidst all the hustle and bustle. None of the townsfolk seemed to mind the gaping crater that he had created, nor did they question the explicit brawl that took place just moments ago. Puzzling, but still understandable; everyone had things to do, people to see. "The owners are a sweet old couple. You'll absolutely love them, and the food. They're, I think, former members of <jungle> but-" She paused for a moment, and for two reasons. One being, that she remembered he had told her to curtail her rambling, and two, she noticed that he was aware of the seven clans, which is not exactly common knowledge. She would have to question him about it later. As they approached the diner, however, her worries ceased.

A perky waitress greeted the pair at the door and ushered them to a table swiftly, handing out menus. "Could I please have a turkey panini, black bean soup, the bread bowl but just the bread part, uh.. oh! You added the soba noodle bowl again, I'll have that as well, please. And cherry cake as desert. Oh, and a water. Thank you!" She finished, handing the woman her menu. Hana was, yes, quite the glutton. She didn't even know where all her food went, she just supposed she could thank her metabolism. "Alright... and for the gentleman?"

 

[AManOnly]

Nenshou only shook his head at Hana as she confirmed his suspicion that she was a ball of trouble like he thought. He didn't like people in general but he did have a bit of a knack for knowing what kind of people were around him. He ignored her remarks about her eyes and whether or not it was a compliment, he hadn't really meant it to and he figured if he didn't respond then she would hopefully just let it go. When she tried to speak quietly to herself about how rude he was being he could only let a small chuckle escape his lips. Being called rude was one of the nicer things people would call him. As he was looking around wondering just where he should have her take him she came up to him and told him he was going the wrong way. "Eh? I save your skin and you offer to treat me but I can't even choose where to eat? Now who's rude." He said with a shake of his head. "Doesn't matter, as long as it's edible." He said and turned around to follow after her to wherever she was heading to. He wondered if she was leading him into a trap of some kind but he soon shook the thought from his mind. She didn't seem like someone who would plan that far ahead.

"<Jungle> huh… well the green's don't bother me too much so it shouldn't be an issue." Nenshou said with a shrug of his shoulders. "So as long as they leave me alone and give me food all will be good." He said with a nod of his head as he followed her inside the diner. The place was pretty simple that suited his tastes just fine. He wasn't exactly one to be too flashy at all. He ignored the waitress as she seemed much too happy go lucky for his tastes and sat down as he started to look at the menu. "Yakitori… Momo Yakitori. A lot of Momo Yakitori, and some kare raisu." He said as he threw the menu back onto the table and looked out the window. They were usually the only things he ate when he went about town as most places made them and they kept him going.

 

[Levy]

"One turkey panini, black bean soup, bread bowl, soba noodle bowl, cherry cake and a water for the missus, and Yakitori and curry rice for the sir. Coming right up!" The waitress responded. She was slightly taken aback by the mass of food they had ordered, but quickly recovered to her cheerful mood, jogging back to the open window to the kitchen to relay the order. Behind the counter, an old man stood with a fishnet and a spatula, nodding at the woman. He made brief eye contact with Hana, who waved vigourously at him. He returned the gesture, smiling. "Say hi to your husband for me!" She yelled across the diner, earning the attention of many customers. Hana sunk back into her seat sheepishly, while the man behind the counter turned back, chuckling.

After a few moment of brief silence between the pair whilst Hana recovered from her public annoncement of the owner's sexuality, she turned to the man whose name she was yet to earn. "So!" Hana started, resting her chin on interwoven fingers, "How are you affiliated with the 7 clans? I mean it's not exactly common knowledge, but I guess you aren't common people. You were quite strong back there, I was a little startled! I don't think I thanked you for catching me, by the way. So thank you! I owe my life to you." She told him, beaming. Even though she asked, she was almost certain the man would either not respond or give her some curt answer. Silence simply did not sit well with her.

 

[AManOnly]

Nenshou ignored the waitress when she repeated what they had ordered. Deciding to put his attention to looking out the window and keeping an eye on who was moving through the street. Even just sitting there it was easy to see that his body was tense and seemingly ready to jolt in reaction to any sudden event. Like he was always ready for something to go wrong. When he heard the old man speak out Nenshou moved his head to look about the place. "Your married? A little young…" Nenshou said before looking back to her. "Where is he?" He said though from the reaction she was giving he quickly put the situation together. "Ah, funny." He said without laughing as he eyed her as she started to ask him things and prattle on like she seemed to enjoy doing so much.

Listening to all that she said he shook his head at her. "For one, I didn't save you. You don't owe me anything. Your just lucky I caught you instead of punching you away from me like I did the Homura who followed after you." He said with a wave of his hand. "As for my affiliation with any of the clans…" He said as he eyed her, his eyes showing a lot of suspicion suddenly. "It's complicated." He said, deciding that he would not explain just what he was. For all he knew she could very well be a spy from one of the other clans wanting to get more information on him.

 

[Levy]

"Oh. I see. Me too, I guess." Was all Hana could give in reply. 'Oh that's cool, my parents had this Romeo and Juliet type deal happening and now they're either on the run or dead, haha,' didn't quite seem like an appropriate answer. Either way, this man seemed like he wanted the least amount of anything to do with her, though, she supposed that was only natural. Anyone with a connection to the clans would seem sketchy by association, herself included. She should probably be more on guard as well, as she suddenly realized. Even so, she had an inkling that he was simply being modest, though if she said that aloud, she was almost certain he would follow through on that threat. The thought of it was almost laughable.

"Well, if I owe you nothing, then you owe me a meal. Here, hold on." She dug into her hand bag and clicked a pen, took a napkin and proceeded to write down her number, her name and a little heart beside it. She slid it to him, not knowing if he would take it if she simply handed it to him. "There. Call me when you're free and want to get coffee or tea or something." Hana dimpled a bit. Despite everything, she was still a curious little shit, and she couldn't seem to shake that strange pull she had towards him. A phone number couldn't hurt, could it? No, was her conclusion. It would be a little while until the food arrived, and Hana's face would travel and wonder until that time, eyes darting between the twiddling fingers in her lap to the apathetic man across from her and back. Slightly curious. Slightly anxious. All her wavering thoughts, however, packed their bags once the waitress arrived with two meals that looked like they could've been ordered for two families. She promptly thanked the waitress, before taking a look at her company. It was rude to eat before the treated party began to eat, and Hana was raised to never forget her manners. Even if she pushed them a teensy bit sometimes.

 

[AManOnly]

Her short reply made him raise an eyebrow slightly and look at her more closely. With how much of a chatterbox he had expected her to go off on a tangent about her entire life story and then some. His mind started to go through the possible reasons. A spy like he had thought? Then who was she a spy for? Was there something odd with her as well? He doubted it was to the caliber that his oddity was at though. No the most likely reason he could think of was that she was in fact a spy but didn't have any kind of backstory thought up yet for this character of hers. While he was lost in thought he didn't realize that the look he was giving her was sharp and piercing, fully backed by his kingly aura causing the air around him to feel thick and heavy. When she spoke of how he owed her a meal now he seemed to snap out of it and everything seemed to go back to normal.

"Wait what?" He said as he started to blink some. "How did this end up with me owing you anything?" He said lost in how she had come to that conclusion. When she handed her phone number to him he looked it over before looking back up to her. "I don't have a phone." He said crossing his arms and looking away from her out the window, seemingly showing a tinge of embarrassment about the fact. With his upbringing he had never had a phone at all, hell if he did get one now he wasn't sure if he would even know how to use it. Scratch that, he knew he wouldn't be able to work it. Before anything else could be done though the food arrived. Ignoring the waitress Nenshou started to eat his food without thinking about anybody else at all. He hadn't been raised to do anything at all really so he never saw much use in manners. Especially when he didn't tend to eat with anybody else anyways.

 

[Levy]

The absolutely menancing aura he was shooting her way caused the hair at the back of her neck to stand in a defensive position. Had she said something wrong? Did the very presence of her make him seeth with anger so much?? She was, however, even more baffled when he blinked away the expression that could make the King of the Underworld bow at his feet. What? Was his resting bitch face that bad? Hana almost couldn't contain her laughter. But his response brought on a new slur of questions. Phones, well, really most electronic gadgets, were staple items of possession in their society. Schools handed them out and used them like pencil and paper. Hell, even launder droids were stationed in just about every household. So his lack of such a thing was odd, and only added to Hana's nosy curiosity.

She giggled a little at the man's offputting embarrasment, but quickly dug into her own platter before he could give her any sort of menacing stare. "Well, first of all, I'm treating you to a meal, but I was just kidding anyway. Carrier pigeon works just as well." Hana chuckled, a pitiful attempt at a cover up. Oh, well. The Tokyo metropolis was colossal--even she knew there was no use in hoping they'd run into one another again. She guessed this was her first and last meeting with this odd stranger.

"Do you like the food?" She asked, changing the subject. "It's the best I've had so far. Which, I guess, might be biased because I know the chefs, but it doesn't overshadow the fact that it's good cooking! And anyway, they are wonderful people. Did I say that before? I feel like I said that before."

 

[AManOnly]

Nenshou shook his head when she brought up using a carrier pigeon, deciding to ignore the little joke or jab or whatever she was going for so that he could put his attention to the food in front of him now. Still even as he was eating like he had never eaten before the thoughts of his days back in school flooded him. He was deemed a waste of funding back then, the school board believing that he would end up stuck in poverty just as his mother was and so providing anything for him would take away funding from a student that would more likely make something of themselves. The thoughts of his treatment were starting to get to him, causing his eyes to storm with a dark grey gleam before he heard her voice calling out to him. His eyes returned to normal as he looked up at her with his mouth full of food. He chewed it with lots of effort before finally swallowing it down and nodding his head to her.

"No, you were right. This place does serve some pretty good food." Nenshou said as he looked back over his shoulder. He was doing a once over of the place making sure nobody was watching him and also to memorize the place a bit more. "I'll have to come here a bit more. Not too many times though…" He said as he looked back to his plate. "Don't want to close it down…" He said as he started to eat again. He chewed and swallowed as he nodded his head to her. "And yes, you did say that before. You do that a lot." He said with another nod as he went back to eating.

 

[Levy]

"Close it down...?" Hana mumbled under her breath, puzzled as she started picking apart the bread bowl that sat in front of her. She'd already gorged down the soup, and was eager to get to the dessert. "Oh, haha. Sorry about that." She told him sheepishly. She decided not to push his offhand, and slightly alarming comments--she was most likely to be met with something similar to the vagueness of "It's complicated".

The rest of their meal breezed by with few more attempts by Hana at conversation, and some aloof responses from him. Towards the end, the chef that had previously accused the pair of lawful partnership stopped by their table. 'A friend of Hana's is a friend of ours!' He had announced, greeting them both. She'd left a handsome tip and made sure to tear up napkin she'd written her number on, a little embarrassed herself at the thing, before they would inevitably part ways. Hana paused just outside the revolving doors, staring at the back of the man. It was a frisky thought, but she had it so suddenly that she didn't realize the tug she'd made at the back of his shirt.

"I-" Hana took a deep breath. "I never got your name." She said, a bubbly grin returning to her.

 

[AManOnly]

"No need to apologize to me about it." Nenshou said before he started back into his food. How he hated that word. Sorry, something said easily and flippantly to try and put a band aid on something broken and damaged. He had gone without for most of his life and only started to hear that word when he started to gain his own power. When he started to make people stay out of his way instead of begging them to. He shook the thoughts out of his head as he eventually finished his food altogether. There wasn't much conversation between he and the girl except for a few nothings said here and there. Which is the way that he liked it usually. Finally it seemed that everything was done and he stood up from the table with a stretch. "Well, thanks for the meal." He said as his eyes fell on the girl that had kept him company this last little bit.

"Try to stay out of trouble and stay away from those Homura goons alright." He said as what could be described as the faintest of smiles spread on his lips. "I won't be there to save you next time you know." He said as he turned away from her and started to walk away from the little diner, giving her a wave over his shoulder as he put a note in his head to remember this little place. Before he got too far away though he felt a tug at the back of his shirt which caused him to stop and look back over his shoulder at the person grabbing at him. He was a little surprised to see that it was her standing there. He listened to her ask for his name with that ridiculous grin on her face and he shook his head a bit. "Yeah? Why do you need it?" He said a little suspicious before he gave a sigh. "Fine, it's Nenshou. Nenshou Daikarai." He said before he looked around them. "Just keep it to yourself though. Start saying my name a bunch and you will get more attention than you had before… and not just from Homura."

 

[Levy]

Hana was, honest to goodness, surprised at the man's apparent show of... what she could only interpret as concern. Mild concern. She paused, searching his eyes for something she wasn't sure of, and was instead greeted with a smile. A small one, the corners of his lips were barely upturned, but it was there. She returned the gesture. "I make no promises!" Hana giggled.

Standing outside the diner, the young lady was met with yet another source of amazement. "Nenshou?" Hana tested the name on her tongue. It rolled off a little crooked. "Nen... shou. Nen. I'll calling you Nen. Is that okay? Oh well. It doesn't matter." She decided for herself, before stepping back with a slight jump to her step. "Bye Nen! You're the sketchiest person I've met today, you know that? Have a good one! Look both ways before crossing the street! Don't do drugs! Remember to hydrate! Bye!" Hana called out the flurry of cautionaries as she left, still waving vigorously at the man. She practically skipped her way back home, jittery from the whole experience, curiosity bubbling in the pit of her stomach even still. He was nice. He was a nice guy. A little aloof, entirely more honest than a person should be, and quite vague at times, but he was nice. The man who kind of saved her life even though he refused to admit so, the man who she treated to lunch, the man whose very existence intrigued her to the point that she could've turned around and sprinted back to him, asking him a flurry of questions that she wasn't even sure she wanted to know the answer to.

"Nenshou Dai... what was it? Dango? Wait, no, that's a snack. Daichi? Daigohu? No, there was a 'k'... Daika... Daikarai! Sounds an awful lot close to daikirai... I hate you. Well, that's odd. I can't find one reason to." She rambled on as she entered her home. No, the talking didn't stop even when she was alone. If it was physically plausible, she'd be giving her own eulogy at her funeral. The flat she lived in was positioned in a fairly nice apartment complex; it was gated, there were a few parks and lakes, a running route, the technology within the buildings themselves were up to date and easy to use. She quite liked it. The only thing that kind of bugged her was the silence. The loneliness. The nights spent with headphones jammed in her ears in place of her mother's voice. The freetime passed playing Solitare on hardwood because there wasn't anyone else to spend hours playing suspenseful card games with. Ordering takeout because there wasn't anyone to cook for, apart from herself. Looking up at the dinner table to start up a conversation, but being met with an empty seat and some probably cold soba.

 

[AManOnly]

With a sigh Nenshou stuffed his hand into his pocket and fished out his smokes. Pulling out the pack he took out a cigarette and brought it up to fit between his lips. He shoved the pack back into his pocket as he lit the cig with his lighter, inhaling the intoxicating flavor that flooded his mouth. She sure was a strange girl, as strange as one could be in a city like this. Maybe she was what normal people were like. He wasn't sure anymore, he never really considered himself normal anyways. No reason to get caught up in normalcy now of all times. Taking another long drag he filled his lungs with smoke as he looked around to find a place to crash for the night. He made his way further away from the nicer area he was in towards the dirtier part of town, the place that good parents told their good kids to stay out of.

Looking around he found what looked like an old rundown apartment building with balconies all over the side of it. Stretching his legs a bit he leapt up into the air farther up then any normal human should be able to go. With his free hand he grabbed onto one of the balconies and lifted himself easily up onto it. He looked into the apartment and saw a pretty nice looking gal sleeping inside and so made another leap moving further up the apartment building. Soon enough he came to the top and set himself down on the edge of the roof with his feet dangling off the edge. Another night spent looking at the moon. Another night spent smoking all alone high up in the sky. His face became cold and blank, like a sheet of metal. Another night as a king without a kingdom.

 

[Levy]

The few weeks after her encounter with the man were, well, in a word, normal. As per usual. She woke up every morning when the sun rose and slept as it fell, she painted until her hands began to stiffen and met with stiff clients, she went out for groceries and tried to avoid and simultaneously eavesdrop on any clansmen that crossed her path. Not because she was planning some sort of heist or ambush, but it was simply nice to stay in loop by ear. Well, that, and she was always a curious girl.

It was a Sunday. A tiring Sunday. The client she had just met with had been difficult. He was a politian from China asking for a logo, some branding deal with some company she couldn't pronounce. The man was filthy rich, but the way he spoke sounded demeaning at best, his very presence almost irked her. Hell, he even began lecturing her on color theory. At some points, Hana had to physically restrain herself, but she got through it without any hiccups. After that, groceries, art supplies, replacement nibs.

"9:47, huh? I should really be getting back..." Hana quietened as she saw a few blue clansmen approaching. The street she was scurrying across was further inside, away from the hustle and bustle of Downtown Tokyo, even after the sun had clocked out. She pulled away a strand of hair from her ear.

"Red coat... white hair?" Hana immediately perked up. Didn't Nen have white hair? Yes, she remembered distinctly, it was the first thing she noticed about him. "... doesn't he look...highschool...yeah, we used to fuck..." Hana repositioned herself. He's gay? Well, this was news. "Oh, hell fucking no." Or maybe not. "That puny little shit? I highly goddamn doubt it. The only thing they have in common is their shitty hair." Hana was getting closer now. "Have you seen his power in person? It's fucking terrifying. They're worlds apart. Kid won't even give out his name, no one knows where he is ever, and rumor has it he's got a new member in his clan." Wait, his clan? "Seriously? Who the hell does he think he is, starting his own-"

"Hello! I'm sorry, I couldn't help but listening in, I'm Hana. I heard you were talking about a guy with white hair and a red coat? Yes, well, I sort of-"

"Hey, isn't that that girl? That was seen with him a while back?"

"Oh dear, you aren't listening. I was hoping you'd be able to tell me more about him? You know, ma-"

"Yeah, dude. I think so. Should we take her back to HQ?"

"Th- that's not-"

"Probably."

"If you would just let me-" Hana felt a pair of hands grab her shoulders. She dropped her groceries. "Erm. I hear personal bubbles are wonderful concepts!" And just like that, she'd stumbled face forward into another pothole of a mess. She'd, of course, been kicking and thrashing with all the might a girl of her size couldn't muster, knowing very well she was not in friendly company but still trying to weasel her way out of it. They'd backed her up into some shady looking alleyway she didn't even know existed. "Yes, alright, but if you'd just hear me out- hey! Don't touch me there! Personal bubble!" Hana grew a little more irked by the moment. "Get the chloroform." Did they just carry this stuff around?

 

[AManOnly]

A few weeks went by like they always did. Nenshou found himself getting by surviving night after night, usually ending up in a fight here or there depending on where he went. Every once in a while his mind would wander back to the day he spent with that talkative girl. It had been a change of pace that day, something he felt like he wouldn't be against too much even if he didn't want to admit it to himself. Would it really be so bad to make a friend? Just one? Hell even if she did talk as much as she did wouldn't it be worth having someone around? Anyone around… anyone to kill the endless silence. He shook the thoughts out of his head and decided that he needed to go and drown all these weird thoughts away in some good old booze. He made his way to one of his favorite establishments and proceeded to drink and drink and… well drink. He drank like had hadn't in quite a bit which even the bartender started to notice. Before the bartender could even say the first two words Nenshou just told him to shut up and keep pouring him shots and when someone like Nenshou says that you usually just shut your mouth and do as you're told.

A couple hours went by and soon enough Nenshou had found himself in the center of a group of people who were cheering him on for his amazing ability to hold his booze. He was a few bottles down at that point and all them were drank all by him. After a while Nenshou got tired of all the people around him and left the bar, stumbling out as he looked around to think of just where he should go. He saw a nearby alley and figured that would be a good place to collect his thoughts. He stumbled on over and started to move down the alley in the dark when he started to hear voices. Sounded like a guy or two and definitely a girl. He wasn't too surprised, this is the kind of place ladies of the night would work and taking care of two at a time must cost extra, right? But as he grew closer he realized just who the voice of the female was. Hana? Huh, who knew she did that kind of work. He didn't care all that much considering he knew how bad things could get but when he heard one of them speak of chloroform he very quickly realized things weren't as they appeared.

Straightening himself out he went rushing through the alley and crashed into the two men sending them flying back away from her. He stood in between them and her in a protective manner and looked back over his shoulder at her. "Didn't I tell you to not get in trouble?!" He said angrily, though his words were slurring heavily from his pretty drunken state. "I'm not going to do this all the time you kn…" He was saying when his eyes drifted back to the men who had been accosting her. He stopped mid word when he saw their faces and memories came flashing back to him. His hands clenched into fists as his body straightened up like he was very suddenly sobering up. That aura that she had felt once before, the one that seemed to permeate extreme danger and the risk of sudden death was rolling off of Nenshou once again but it was much… much more intense.

 

[Levy]

Hana blinked. She staggered back as the two blues that were trying to apparently stuff her into a body bag just moments ago were very suddenly bulldozed by something her eyes couldn't catch. When this something held a defensive stance in front of her, she could see very clearly his white hair, and the broad back that first caught her eye when she scanned that crowd. She took a step back as he roared at her. Wait, was he drunk?

"I- I wasn't trying to! You act like... Nen? Hey, dude, are you okay?" Hana's defensive tone faltered to half concerned and half scared. She took took a tentative step forward to get a look at his face, peering over his arm. Chills ran down her spine. Oh dear. This didn't look good. "Yo, what the fuck man?" One blue spat. "You're getting in our damn... holy.. dude, that's- you're- holy hell- fuck, that-" If looks could kill, he would've dug his own grave and slept in it. The man looked petrified to his core. The other, however, couldn't have been less bothered. "Get your shit together, man. We could take him down in two seconds flat. He's nothing. He's less that the dirt beneath my feet. You hear me, Daikarai? You're less than dirt. A wuss. A fucking-"

"Hey, here's an idea. How about we use our nice words? What you're spitting is very distasteful." Hana interjected, setting a gentle hand on the man in front of her. From what she could gather, she'd missed the 'with' that came after 'fuck'. "They're not worth your effort." She said quietly. Sure, she had been the one to approach them in the first place, but as she quickly learned, it had been a bit of a bad move. She sighed and hoped her groceries were still intact, she'd dropped them a while back and wasn't exactly keen on making another trip this late at night. Her dinner was in there too.

 

[AManOnly]

Nenshou's face was slowly twisting into one filled with rage, a sneer growing across his face before it became a full on snarl as the man started to breathe heavy as if preparing for something. He stretched his shoulders as his fists shook, clenched so tightly he could feel his nails piercing his skin. He didn't respond to any of the words that Hana had said to him though in all honesty he was so focused on the bastards in front of him that he didn't even hear her. As the sound of dripping ring out from the blood falling from Nenshou's hand he started to step forward towards them. Mouth open, teeth bared and breathing heavily like he was an animal ready to attack at any moment. The one that had been bad mouthing Nenshou suddenly started to feel like he may have said too much. When he looked over to his friend for support he found that the guy was already running away as fast as he could, screaming at the top of his lungs like he was already being murdered.

Nenshou tried to keep moving forward but felt something press up against his chest stopping him. Golden eyes that seemed to be gleaming inhumanly slowly looked down to the small girl that had stepped in his way. As soon as his eyes fell on her the entirety of his presence came weighing down on her, like the air was suddenly thick and gravity itself was pushing down harder than before. He continued to breathe heavily, almost raggedly as he looked back up to the man who was standing there uneasily then back to her. He raised a bloodied hand and pointed it at the man which caused the man to flinch. "He has to die." Nenshou said, and that was all he said as he went back to looking at the man.