Cardfight!! Vanguard G: Z World

#40: Zero

"Well... we're at my humble home... You remember this well, don't you?" Izanoku asked, holding two plastic bags filled with mainly cans of soup. She stepped to the entrance and put down her bags to scour through her pockets for the keys.

"Of course I remember well, the first time I came here I was unconscious." Masaru said, walking to the entrance and looking to the streets. "The rain cleared up well, didn't it?"

"Yeah..." Izanoku said, opening the door. "But I like the rain. It keeps me company."

"Are you seriously that lonely?" Masaru asked.

"There are some things you don't ask a maiden about." Izanoku said with a serious voice, entering inside.

"Right..." Masaru muttered, following her. As they took off their shoes and put it on some cardboard, Izanoku took off her coat and hung it on the staircase. Masaru raised a brow, and took off his bomber jacket, hanging it on top.

"Would you like some soup?" Izanoku asked, walking into the living room. Masaru laughed and followed.

"No, I'm good thanks." Masaru said. "Okay, lets get my priorities straight this time. Let's find the Zeroth Dragons!"

"Well, if you say so. Let me go ask Zak and Cal- Kakashi." Izanoku said, entering the kitchen and putting down the bags.

"Sure, sure. I'll set my stuff on the table if you don't mind." Masaru said. Izanoku shook her head.

"I don't mind at all." Izanoku said, leaving the living room. She wandered to Zak's room, and knocked on the door.

"Mistress... you're back late." Zak said, opening the door. Izanoku let herself in, and closed the door behind her.

"I was wondering if you wanted soup..." Izanoku said, her eyes trailing to the floor. "But it seems like you have more pressing matters."

"He's been unconscious for awhile. Don't worry." Zak said, looking down at the floor where Inu laid just in his boxers - however, it wasn't a pretty site. On Inu's once gentle face was a flurry of swollen bumps and dark bruises, with a deep gash in the side of his face, and splotches of dried blood running down his forehead and eyes. A few cuts ran down his cheeks, and his nose was broken and leaking with watery blood, even now. On his torso and limbs, there were deep marks of abuse and trauma, mainly from lots of garish yellow and purple bruises and vicious tearing of skin that left his pale pink flesh exposed and bleeding. Zak lifted his foot, and let it come crashing down on Inu's face once again, opening up the wounds that tried to close and heal themselves once more. With crimson blood covering the soles of his boot, he laughed hysterically and manically.

"So, what did he do to... cause this?" Izanoku asked, kneeling next to Inu and inspecting his body.

"Oh... it's a long story." Zak said, kneeling across Izanoku, and grabbing Inu's reddened throat. Letting a bone-shattering punch hit Inu's face, he began to explain. "His name is Inu. An ally of Shika, also known as the boy who took your Zeroth Dragon. He spying on me, and was on the phone talking to Shika to not come out of the school until the coast was clear. A hooded figure known as "Sin" then appeared out of nowhere, and challenged me to a cardfight for Zoa. Knowing that hanging around the school was a bad idea, and that I needed to draw Shika out to get your Zeroth Dragon back. So, I accepted this Sin's challenge and fought him. What happened... was that I lost..." Zak muttered, lifting his fist, and letting it pound on Inu's head again.

"We don't have Zoa anymore?" Izanoku said in shock.

"Yeah... And that pissed me off... that Sin bitch ran away the moment he got my card... and then it hit me... this was Inu's fault." Zak used both of his hands to wrap around Inu's neck, and begin choking him. "So... I decided. If I'm going to let my anger on someone, why not the person who got me into this mess in the first place?!"