Inukami Byakuya

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A sigh of relief left Byakuya when Mei began mending Kookie's wounds. "Thank you."He told the girl before answering the pixie's question. "We fled, things were getting out of hand at the bar." That was putting it lightly. Admittedly he had participated in the rumble as well, he snapped for a moment, but that was enough to make him a part of the problem. Still, he wasn't keen on going to prison, even if it might have been a short stint. "We're at the forest now, away from all the trouble where it's safe. As for your last question...I do not know. To be honest, none of us know each other."

He decided now would be a good time to introduce himself. "My name is Byakuya Inukami, a pleasure to meet you all." He nodded his head to each one before looking to the older of the two dragons, slightly bowing his head in thanks to her. "Arigatou, you helped us out of a tight spot. I couldn't afford to be apprehended right now." He was on an aimless mission, after all.

He walked over to the stream and dipped his hands in the waters, scrubbing away at them before gathering some water in his hands and washing his face. The whiskey from before had left his head, hair and face rather sticky. He swore there were shards of glass stuck in his hair as well, so he would have to clean that out as well. "I'm not normally one to visit such a place, but...well, I had a feeling something interesting would happen."

And it seemed like that feeling was right, even though it wasn't what he thought it was, whatever he thought it was. He'd met new and, well, to put it lightly, strange people, got into a bar fight, had a bottle smashed over his head and saved by a dragon. To top it off, they were in a place he'd never been through. The forest was beautiful though, so he couldn't complain if he was a tad bit lost.

"What brought you to the bar?" He asked the group as he started to rake his fingers through his hair, a subtle wince gracing his face. "Particularly you young one, you're much too young to be in a bar, aren't you?"
 

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"Arara, I called you Ojou-Chan, not San." It had been hard for Aki to keep the teasing lilt out of his voice, and frankly he probably hadn't want to keep it out anyway. "But if you insist, I'm more than happy to concede and call you by a loftier title, Ohime-sama." He had the winked, though alas as she had been walking behind him, she didn't get to see it.

It was a bit of an annoyance, being caught by the dragon, though that gave the kitsune a chance to take note of the girl's powers. They were fascinating, that was for sure. Even he with his heavenly path could not heal, as Meilin seemed to be doing for the little pixie.

In fact, he seemed to momentarily forget that he'd caused something of a ruckus when the blasted dragon broke his cover.

His ears twitched, however, hearing the pixie's question. "Merely a passing by kitsune who found such a motley crew interesting to peruse." And as shady as that sounded, it was actually the truth.

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For the time being, Mizuko was not interested in food. She was rather annoyed by the kitsune who seemed so nonchalant and daring to come near her when she could eat him in one bite if she wished! Though, he did have five tails... so she knew he had to be more powerful than the average kitsune.

Deciding she was going to ignore him and treat him as one would a pesky fly, she looked instead to Byakuya, who seemed to have addressed her and Kohaku. "If someone does me favour, I return a favour in its stead. All of you helped Kohaku here, and for that I am grateful." She placed a hand on the younger dragon's shoulder, her haughty look softening as she looked at his black hair.

"I have had dreams for days, and they were all the same... They showed me another dragon, a young dragon. I knew I had to find him, and that bar was the only lead I had. When I saw Kohaku, I knew he was the dragon from my dreams."

 
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Meilin



There was no being subtle about the snort that escaped her the moment that Aki corrected her and then some. If it wasn’t for how smug he looked, she would have thought him innocent and clueless to her sarcasm. That she didn’t actually mean for him to call her Ohime-sama at all. She wasn’t accustomed to it and hoped that it was only this one time to annoy her. And it did irk her some, Mei was always too quick to emotions. Or at least, that was what her father had said and while she strongly denied it, he was absolutely right. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have been so upset with the man who threw a full sized man on top of her and felt compassion for the injured pixie. If that wasn’t the case, she wouldn’t have stalked the group out to the forest.

Once the pixie was almost standing on her feet, she smiled, proud to the creature in a tremendously better condition than earlier. It was such a shame to see a beautiful little thing in the bloody state that she once was in. The glow in Mei’s hands faded once the pixie’s wounds were closed. The rest of the healing was left up to her body to take on, but she wouldn’t die, she only needed rest. Of course, Mei could have finished the job, but she always found it better to only heal as much as needed and not extend all of her energy to someone else.

With a smile, she nodded at the white creature and said. “It was no problem at all.” And delicately she picked her up only to cautiously put back on the shoulder she once laid. Mei figured it was safest place for her and didn’t know what else to do with her. After the little creature was situated, Mei took one, two steps back until she was standing next to the teasing fox whose name she had yet to retrieve.

Out of them all, she was the most comfortable by him even if it wasn’t be a lot and overshadowed with a slight annoyance. He had saved her from drowning in a strange liquid and unlike the others hadn’t caused any sort of trouble so far. The dragon girl seemed more peeved by his existence that Mei was by his comments. If she recalled, dragons ate kitsunes, did they not?

Before she addressed the others, Mei supposed she would start with him. “What is you name again, a merely passing kitsune?” She crossed her arms over her chest. “If the dragon tries to harm you, I’ll help you out. Only because I owe you.”




Kohaku





“Sugoi!” The small dragon couldn’t help but bounce on his heels excitedly when a steaming hot bowl of Beef Udon appeared in his hands. His eyes looked up at Kage and down at his bowl once or twice, as if waiting for an okay. And he did wait until Kage responded to grin broadly, plopped down, legs folded and dug into his much anticipated meal with a quiet , “itadakimasu.” He nearly didn’t see the chopsticks that came along with the bowl, but grabbed them as soon as his eyes caught them. He may have been hungry, but e shouldn’t forgot manners. Still, even with chopsticks, he wolfed down the bowl all while the older ones around him talked. The young dragon almost missed hearing Byakuya’s question and Mizuko’s response.

He decided then and there that Mizuko was the best. And of course she was, after all, she was a dragon. And a strong one at that, he had never met a stronger dragon in his life before. What he felt for her in the bar was admiration, respect and familiarity? Though he couldn’t place why he felt the last feeling until now. “You dreamed about me?” Or at least that was what he meant to say, but with his face stuffed with the last bit of udon and beef from his now empty bowl, it sounded more like, “bou dweamed bout e?” He realized his mistake and quickly swallowed before sitting up.

Now that he had a full belly, his head was clearer and he realized that he was the youngest and the smallest, second to the pixie. They had all but came to his defense back at the bar, and he hadn’t been able to display even a little of his power. Kohaku could not let them think he was a weak and foolish baby dragon! He was a might and ferocious one and all sense of the word, awesome! Maybe not as awesome as Mizuko, or as cool as Byakuya and Kage. But he could prove his worth, impressions mattered.

“I went to the bar because I was hungry.” He answered simply, scratching his unkempt dark hair. “I’ve been having strange dreams too. A lot of them including Mizu-nee!” Kohaku paused and blushed. He hadn’t meant to call her Mizu-nee, but it felt right, as if he called her it plenty of times before. And he would love to have a sister as cool as her. “Um, I mean. Mizuko-sama.” She deserved the respect.
 

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Aki's eyes widened a little at Mei's words, and for a little moment the smirk that usually lingered on his face wavered. When he replied it was there, but a little less snarky and perhaps more of a smile.

"The name is Aki," he replied, eyes lighting up. He pointed up at the trees, looking up as he did. "Named for the season of autumn, when I was found." Looking away from the leaves, which unfortunately for him weren't the yellow, orange, red and brown he had hoped for, Aki patted at his clothes, which were very autumn coloured. "I chose to dress in these shades in respect and memory of the one who raised me."

His tails swayed slightly, and for a moment he was lost in his thoughts, but he broke himself out of them easily enough. Who wouldn't have, with a pretty girl standing right before them and offering to help defend them. The smirk returned and transformed into a full blown grin as Aki leaned forward, tapping a finger against Mei's cheek.

"How generous of you, Ojou-sama. I daresay we have to worry though, but I shall forever cherish your words."​

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Mizuko blinked down at the young dragon. A rare smile found its way on her lips as she reached over and gently patted his hair. "Mizu-nee is fine, Kohaku-kun. If it is as I believe it to be, then you are my little brother and we are equal. Yes... I have dreamed of you for many days, and at last I found you."

She paused a moment, looking at the others skeptically before returning her gaze to the young dragon. "I do not know what your plans have been, nor do I know what our companions intentions are, but mine as to find our father. I have my suspicions of whom he may be, and I wish to know if they are true." She also wished to know why, if they were, but she didn't need to bother Kohaku with such thoughts.

"It would mean heading out to sea," she continued, raising her gaze from Kohaku to include the others. "Kohaku and I were made for water. What of you all? Would you still wish to accompany us?"​
 
Kagemaru
"I am but a shadow, and as a shadow, I shall be the darkness so there can be light."
Kage was not a man of introduction or banding together with random strangers. The only reason he had tagged along so far was due to their common interest of avoiding the law after the trouble they had caused at the bar. Now Kage wanted to go back to his usual solidarity, especially in such a quiet and peaceful forest. It reminded him of times from long ago, but most of his memories were as he had been lingering in this world for far too long. The rest introduced himself, but Kage decided to avoid the question instead. An introduction was the beginning of getting to know each other, and he didn't help out at the bar with that in mind. While the forest was peaceful, the masked man wished to get back to the boat he had planned on taking. Had it not been for those drunk sailors, he wouldn't have gotten caught up either.

However, it seemed as if avoiding the group would not be as simple as it should have been when the oldest dragon revealed their destination was at sea. Whether he liked it or not, or even if he lied, the chances of him running into the duo were too high to ignore. "I was on my way out to sea as well," Kage broke the silence he had created around himself, though he still stayed seated on the thick branch with a thin tendril-like shadow swaying back and forth. "Since we have a common destination, I don't mind tagging along for a bit longer," he added. It wasn't the most pleasurable of offers he had given out, but there was a saying of strength in numbers and something like that. The time would come where Kage would go back to his lonesome road, but for now, it seemed as if Kage was sharing a path with a bunch of young troublemakers. He wanted to sigh but decided against it to not seem rude.

A pixie, an inuyokai, a human, two dragons and a kitsune. What a group to get himself mixed into. And by the looks of it, he was probably the oldest. Five tails would make the kitsune, Aki, only five hundred years old. Oh, what he'd give to go back to being five hundred. It seemed such a long time ago now, but years were nothing to someone who had lived for that long.

Having stated his mind out loud, Kage decided to return to his usual silent demeanor and left the planning to the others. He never thought of himself as a leader, it required too much talk and too much effort to be such a flimsy thing.




Kukiko "Kookie"

Kukiko allowed the human girl to pick her up. The pixie was not a fan of unfamiliar hands to do so, but Mei, as her name was, had helped her plenty to have the honor of picking her up and placing her back onto Byakuya's shoulder. It saved her the trouble of walking or flying, being unable to do both, so she just sat down and held onto the inuyokai's hair just so she wouldn't slip off while he cleaned some of the alcohol and blood off. Getting caught up on things was great, so they had basically run away from the guards after the entire barfight went sour. Nothing new to the pixie, being no fan of anything related to rules, so it was nice to know that the rest had helped her escape yet another town jail. Usually, the pesky guards would put her in a little jar, and while efficient, it was profoundly humiliating. Bars looked cooler at the very least! A bottle made it seem as if she was some twisted giveaway gift to a child!

"I'm Kukiko!" The pixie smiled as she introduced herself without any issues. She owed them all, which wasn't something she was happy about, but nonetheless, it gave her a reason to stay with them. Plus, they seemed like a fun bunch! Maybe not the stick in the mud on a branch, as he didn't really talk much, but the rest looked like they would bring plenty of fun troubles her way! "Most of my friends call me Kookie though, so feel free to do the same," she grinned and adjusted her small kimono. Fortunately, her clothes didn't get too bloody. There was a little spot of light blue on white fabric, as her blood wasn't red like other creatures', but nothing that washing wouldn't fix. That would have to wait though, she was not about to undress in front of a bunch of strangers for the sake of cleaning. Her legs wouldn't move, and her wings couldn't fly, sitting on Byakuya's surprisingly comfortable shoulder was the best.

"I'll tag along!" Kukiko answered Mizuko's question. "I was just having a drink at the bar anyway," and she had been sober for far too long now. They were probably not going back, but there were plenty of bars ahead! Sailors were great drinkers anyway, undoubtedly, there would be alcohol on a ship!
 
Byakuya was silent for a moment as he thought over his response to Mizuko's question. The group so far seemed nice enough, if not a little quirky. He wouldn't mind traveling with them, especially since their cause was noble. They simply wished to find their father and discover their origins, what could be nobler than that? But he couldn't just up and leave his brothers, could he?

He had prior responsibilities...and yet, he felt somewhat inclined to at least see them off safely. His brothers could survive without him for a short time, surely. They were many, and they were strong and, for the most part at least, smart. They'd known he'd set out looking for something anyway. Perhaps this was what it was. It wasn't every day you met not one but two dragons.

"I shall join you on your journey." He finally responded to Mizuko. "It is a cause as good as any. To not know where you come from...that is truly a tragedy. I shall lend you my aid. Besides," He glanced at the pixie on his shoulder, "Someone must ensure this little one does not receive any further injuries." He chuckled.

"The sea is as good a lead as any, but where do we go from there?" He asked, his tone slightly curious. "The sea is vast, far more than the land we stand on, which is pretty large in and of itself. Do you have an idea of where to go from here?" It would likely be dangerous as well. The sea would be riddled with dangers, not to mention the land on the way to the sea itself. If they hadn't a clue of where to start, they'd have to figure something out first.​
 

Meilin Zhao


Mei hummed softly. "Aki is a pretty name," she thought out loud, glancing at the aesthetic colors of his clothing. His reasoning for the color scheme of his attire was a sweet one. Yet, before she could say anything about it as her brown eyes flittered back to his face, she had been tapped on the cheek and greeted by a grin. Not knowing how to react, she slapped her had a hand against her cheek as if she had been bitten by a mosquito, but her flushed face said otherwise.

Was he antagonizing her again? Fox's were so tricky, she could never tell. She wasn't sure whether this kind of affection was warranted because he was genuinely grateful or because he was teasing her. The fact that he called her Ojou-sama was proof enough that he was poking fun at her still. A small huff fell from the human woman's lips, but she said nothing. She would accept his words as they were, even if he was only joking around, she wasn't.

"Well, even still." Mei folded her arms over her chest, "I won't let them eat you." Dragons or not, Mei didn't care. At the moment, they looked to be amicable, somewhat. She doubted she would need to worry about any of them attacking her or Aki, even if Mizuko clearly had something against him. It was likely the nature of a dragon and fox to dislike one another.

They were heading out to sea? If Mei remembered correctly, the spirit that had gotten free vanished in that direction. She could only guess that it was heading back to its home. Unfortunately, Mei could not return home unless she had a vase with an evil spirit in tow. The Zhao clan would see her as nothing but incompetent otherwise. Mei couldn't bear that. "I can tag along, for a little while."




Kohaku


Regardless of all that had happened, from the bar fight to the hopeless feeling of wandering around for so long, Kohaku felt something new spreading across him. It was a warm feeling spreading from his chest throughout the rest of his body, giving him a new found source of energy. He was both happy and confident. Everything was happening so fast, but he was keeping up just as easy. And how could he not? Being the awesome dragon that he was, surrounded by beings who were nearly just as good aside from Mizu-nee -- she just was that good, likely better.

He had a sister. And she was awesome. Perhaps she could teach him how to control his abilities better along with other skills a dragon like him should know. She seemed to be very wise. He was also very fond of Kookie, Kage, and Byakuya. Kookie was tricksy, fun and she had stood up for him. She would be fun to have around. Kage was cool, he had that whole silent but deadly and cool thing going on. And he could conjure food. Kohaku liked him. A lot. Lastly, the inuyokai was kind and smart from what Kohaku could tell. Since Mizu-nee kind of liked him, so did Kohaku.

As for the fox, Kohaku ate them for breakfast. Well, not really. But foxes and dragons just didn't mix well and if Mizu didn't like him, neither did her. The human girl with him was still a mystery to Kohaku. They seemed to be a pair in his eyes, so he guessed they were traveling together or something of the like. Eh, Kohaku didn't care for humans much at all. He could have cared less if they joined them.

"Don't worry, my good dog sir," Kohaku smirked, balling up his fist and resting them on either sides of his hips. He was radiating confidence, especially now that he had something to eat. It was time that he also added input. "With a strong group such as ours, I'm sure we can handle anything thrown at us. And don't forget, I and Mizu-nee are sea dragons." Anything in the sea, they could handle. At least that was what he believed. "And with Kage-ni, we will never starve!" Because that was his biggest concern.

Pointing to the direction that he thought was east, Kohaku exclaimed, "We shall head east! It is our origin place, perhaps we can find the biggest clues there?"

 
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