Drawing Blood [Open]

[Namine Joy LeBeau]

On the way to see Aqua for our usual weekly get together I stop, my spine shuddering as a smell drifts up to me. Like the gates to Hell have fallen open and are now leaking out its source know as evil has just happened before my eyes, I can feel it coming on... Almost as definitely as the dancing music in my head begins. I am more than well armed today, this could prove to be boring, or maybe this could prove to be stupid.

Despite the odds that bounce around my mind I make a snap decision, send Neku a text. He may wonder why I'm such in a pain filled situation if I don't... besides... this feels big... bigger than it should...

I thought we solved this mess!

Anyways I also ask him to not interfere, to not send help, but he can if he wants... Just not to come himself... Better to keep his damn truth a secret a bit longer...

Then, I can feel it, I can feel the notes tumbling and shaping themselves into words.

I can taste it... A dragon! Tainted, tainted, tainted...!

Humming to myself I close my eyes as the worlds over lap, normal sounds ripping themselves away as birds intelligently fly away. The ground itself crying as it shivers and changes, the air becoming different to me. And when my eyes open they have changed.

One green eye glows with rage while one yellow-gold one flickers with fury. My blond locks flutter past my vision, but they have changed, become black and I smirk with teeth that are perfectly aligned. My wrist flicks and a knife slides into my awaiting hand. My deadly gaze watching as the lessers scramble forward to face the new world, in their way is one single and vicious defender of the weak.

Their black-brown eyes glint with primitive instinct and forked tongues flick out, tasting the air. These are but shadows, underlings, simple minded creatures covered in mud brown scales and with sharp, unkempt claws. Some of them have horns and wings while others are just winged.

Little, small, primitive dragonlings. Demons of the night, creatures of fright.

I hate them.

With a passion that cuts so deep I rush forth, tossing my knife into one's left eye as they raise their heads. Finally they notice me and snap at my thin legs with powerful jaws, but I am more so powerful. A foot connects a scaled nose and a few jump at me from a forming circle.

One a dodge, another I cut down with a knife from my other sleeve, but the last lands on its mark. Pain. Sickeningly sweet and massively displeasing, wracks my body. Their teeth sinking into my shoulder, claws trying to scramble for purchase on my side clad in silk.

I don't cry out, just pry it from me and throw it onto the fray, the mass. Too many of these damn things to count. Now some of them have sharp fans on their backs as well. Spikes. And some attack some smaller ones for no reason.

Ugh...

Demons!

Kicking another away from me I feel the music kicking up in pace.

Let me in, let me in... I can protect you...

Liar, you only hurt people!

It whispers sweetly to me as I stab another small lizard in its gut, growling under my breath. These things will die, Die, DIE! And I can do this all myself thank you very much!

Dragging my first knife from the first downed I slice at an on coming air assault.

I can do this.

I can win this...

Just need to focus!

Heh... yes, focus, Namine... Focus on the goal...

Damn music, go away!

Another dragon.... lizard.... whatever jumps onto my back and begins biting at my neck. Now I scream. Oh no, no, no! Get off me! And I try to throw it off...

[Haraken]

That sick feeling came over me again. It was weird.... it used to be that I could just barely see or feel what was going on when this happened, but now, it was as if my whole body really was going in, even though it was supposed to just be my virtual projection. Even so, I couldn't let her get hurt anymore.

I pulled the spear from my pouch, having programmed it just a few days ago, took aim, and threw it at the creatures biting into her.

[Namine Joy LeBeau]

The demon squeals, digging move firmly into my back as its ripped away. I can feel my heart pulsing in my head as my gaze snaps on a new comer, "Thanks!" And then stab at another demon.

[Haraken]

"Not a problem." I pull a Brick Wall out of the pouch, throw it up behind us to keep them from attackuing us to the rear, then draw my sword. "Are you ready?" I ask her. "We'll have to keep on our toes, it looks like!"

[Namine Joy LeBeau]

I can't help it...

My focus broke on that...

A brick wall...?

From a bag?

"Uh," My head shakes. "Right, toes... Here we go!"

[Haraken]

"Oh, sorry... I dind't... I didn't realize you wouldn't be.... used to this kind of thing... It won't last forever, it can only take so much damage... I havne't been able to program another steel one yet, sorry..." I took up a defensive stance next to her, waiting for the bad guys to reach us.

"So.... um... good luck..."

[Aqua]

[Sini]

Blondie is late...

She's never late.

Frowning to myself I shout to mom that I'm gonna go check the road for Namine. So I slip out and begin my brisk walk... Which is cut short as my internal sensors send off warning bells. Perfect. A crossing.

So I summon my sword and with a battle cry leap into the action, cutting down one demon as I race in. Seeing a... wall... I head for it, might be a spell or something...

[Namine Joy LeBeau]

"Alright!" Jumping forward I catch a demon in the side, downing it and moving on. You don't stop during a war and you certainty don't relent.

"Yo, Goggles!" Sini's voice cuts through the area like a knife does butter. "Long time no see!" And he's leaping up next to me, whacking a demon from landing on my exposed side.

"Thanks Lil' Blu!"

"No problem~!"

[Haraken]

"S-Sini!" I call back, swinging my sword at the small creatures, taking a moment to hit the 'record' shortcut before returning to my attack patterns. "Nice to... to see you again." I stabbed forward, then sliced to the side. "THoug... I wish it had been in... better circumstances."

----
The demon boy known as Rin ran towards the sense of other demons, that feeling he got when a Crosing opened and it poured some of his... he hated to call them this, but, brethren, kind of... into a city street or quiet park, ripping the world he lived in to shreds.

He found his path blocked by a wall, and he blinked. It flickered and kinda shimmered, and it was also incredibly, oddly familiar. It was also not supposed to be there.

He shrugged, took a running, flying leap over it, and came down with his still-cased sword onto the head of a demon.

----

"....R-Rin?!" I asked, incredulously, as a familiar dark-raven-haired boy came crashing down from over my wall. There was something idfferent about him, but he looked exactly the same as he always had, so I focused on slicing a 'demon' away instead of wondering.

"....Haraken!?" he asked, his tone almost more surprised as a creature caught him across the face. "But, you're not...... nevermind, toss me a sword or something, you have an extra?"

I nodded, throwing him a program that he deftly caught, despite not wearing the glasses he'd worn almost constantly during his time in Daikoku.

"Dunno who the kid and the girl are, but you're a surprise, Haraken," he said casually as the virtual sword took the head clean off a demon. "Kid, girl; name's RIn Okumura; just thought you oughtta know before I clean these guys' clocks."

[Namine Joy LeBeau]

"Oh gawd dammit!" That voice, that person... Great... Now the OPed has showed up! I growl under my breath. "Find your own crossing, Rin!" I can't believe we're fighting again.

Oh.

My.

Gawd!

Meanwhile Sini just laughs and gives me a playful shove, "Ease up blondie." And he whacks another demon, this time directly onto my blade. "Keep yer head in the game, hmm?"

I glare at him and he laughs again before shouting back, "Sini, call me Sini!"

[Haraken]

"Hey, whoah, do I know you?" I hear him ask, but my mind is working ninety miles a minute.

Did everyone from Daikoku know about the demons? The Otherworld and these people who called themselves Otherborn? Rin did, Jeremy did... I hadn't met Izzy yet but it seemed likely he did as well. ALl of Kanna's friends..... I closed my eyes, struck out blindly, stabbed into the heart of one of the dragon creatures.

I opened my eyes to see Rin swing his sword around to catch another demon in the jaw; he seemed to be aiming them into the paths of our strikes, but never drew the sword.

That was odd.... I'd never seen him draw it even before... but it would make sense if he drew it now, when his life was in danger, wouldn't it?

I was confused, but I didn't let it get to me. He stabbed the sword I'd let him borrow into another demon. He borrowed my sword instead of using his own... what was so important that was in that case? It wasn't fragile, because he didn't appear afraid of breaking it. But maybe it wasn't a sword? He'd always told us it was a sword. An heirloom.

There was something odd about him.

"To your left, Haraken!" he yelled, and I spun, slicing a demon in half that was about to flank me. My wall was starting to chip around the edges... it wouldn't be long until they had full ability to surround us again.

[Shizuo Heiwajima]

The cries and screams of demons attempting to retreat reverberates around the little makeshift battlefield, clearly sounding some sort of fall back towards wherever they had come. A moment of wonder may have crossed those who were stood there fighting, what possible divine force could send demons backing into Hell?! A cry grew in volume as a soaring demon suddenly appeared in the sky and slammed heavily into a couple of demons, sending them flying in all directions like bowling pins, as yellow bolts of electricity jumped off of a nearby figure who stepped forwards, a cigarette in his mouth, and his hands in his pockets.

"Well, well, well..." Shizuo growled through constricted vocal chords as he surveyed the scenes before reaching up to his face and pulling his shades away from his eyes, slipping them into his breast pocket. He grinned, removing the cigarette from his mouth and exhaling a cloud of smoke. He threw what was left of the tab to the floor and ground it down with his heel, before loosening the bow-tie around his neck.

"What do we have here..?"

[Aqua]

"We've fought together before, Rin!" Blondie shouts and she cuts into another demon. I sigh and then blink as Shizuo shows up, a smirk appearing on my features as I whack another demon a crossed the top of its head.

"What's up Dad?" I shout as a ROAR echos around the crossing, a few larger dragons, they probably came to my shoulder if we were face to face, soar into the area. One has a mane of gold and fire, another had spikes and horns, its colors dark green with red slits for eyes. The last is completely white and looks gentler than the other two, thinner and feminine, blue flames lick out around her muzzle. "Oh.... great. Just perfect!"

[Haraken]

"What... what are they...?" I asked quietly, retreating back to my quickly-vanishing wall.

"Some kinda dragon things, but I thought dragons weren't on the demons' side anymore?" Rin asked, raising an eyebrow in the direction ofthe black-haired girl named 'blondie'. I was beyond questioning the people who lived here, honestly.

I shrugged.

"They certainly don't seem friendly..." I mumbled to myself, looking them over with the glasses' readouts.

The blonde man.... he glowed with crackling power, the glasses marking him immediately as using demonic power, though.... not the kind of demonic power that the dragon-creatures were displaying. Not the kind of demonic power that....

A shiver ran through my body.

Why was Rin glowing with such dark strength?

[Namine Joy LeBeau]

The smaller dragons scurry away and some take flight as the two male dragons stalk forward, their eyes alight with a gleam that is almost human, bit is so wrong. The last takes to the air, flapping high above, probably preparing for an aerial attack. I on the other hand stand my ground, "Well... They looks like dragons, walks like dragons, and sure as hell smell like dragons!" And the dark green one digs its claws into the ground, its huge body coming barreling at us.