The click-clacks of the train making its way down the tracks soothes its young female passenger. Her pinned back shoulder-length, dark navy-almost black hair blowing against the breeze from the open window and her apple-red colored eyes glisten in the setting sun.
The young girl of 16 years is petite in size for her age, but still holds an air of grace and maturity. But that doesn't stop people from babying her and referring to her as cute in the childish sense.
Patiently awaiting to get off at her stop, she munches on a homemade bento she cooked before she'd left her home in the city.
Don't get her wrong, living in the city had its perks. But she's a simple girl who was living in a place that was moving too fast. She was someone who liked to stop and smell the roses now and again. She disliked the rushing and loud noise, but she put up with it for the sake of her parents jobs they had there.
Despite the front she put up, her mother and father could see that she was unhappy in the big city, having had to leave her childhood friends of her old town. So the both of them came up with a compromise. She could return to her beloved hometown, under the watchful eye of her grandmother, uncle and aunt-in-law who still happened to live there, as long as she continues her education.
The girl was absolutely ecstatic! She couldn't say 'thank you' to them enough, but it didn't stop her from chanting it like a mantra anyhow while clinging to their legs.
And that's how she's found herself currently on a train heading to hometown of Morioh with the largest suitcase she's got. She would have left earlier in the day but her normally tough as nails father went all sleepy on her, going on about 'his baby girl growing up so fast' and him 'not wanting her to leave him' and blah, blah, blah.
The teen girl loves her father but it gets weird when he gets like this. Thankfully, her just as tough mother is there to pry her groveling husband off their daughter at the train station just as she's about to board.
She bids them farewell and that she'll call immediately once she's off the train and a second time when she's reached Grandma's house.
Since then, it's been nothing but a peaceful ride. She's enjoying her late-late lunch and the beautiful passing scenery. She's even taken up listening to a sweet CD her penpal has ripped for her.
The pink-orange hue of the sky is just about to give way to night blue. The street lamps are already lit by the time she gets off the train. The town had barely changed at all and that's how she liked it.
Wanting to savor the scenery, the girl called ahead to her grandmother telling her that she was fine walking from the train station to her house. Her grandmother agreed, albeit reluctantly. But the elderly woman knew her granddaughter was perfectly capable of looking after herself. Doesn't stop her from worrying though.
The walk is peaceful enough. Passing by convenient stores and markets, beautiful houses lined both sides of the clean streets.
As promised, she calls her parents on her cell.
"Mom, Dad! I've made it to Morioh~!"
{Sweetheart, that's wonderful to hear.} Her mother's stern, yet sweet sounding voice replies through the phone's speaker. {How is it there? Anything changed?}
"Everything and nothing." The girl answered, smiling warmly as she wanders the near empty streets. "I'm actually walking passing by Uncle Dante's boutique right now."
{Wait, YOU'RE WALKING!?! BY YOURSELF?!?} Her overprotective father's voice can be heard shouting on the other end. {Someone was supposed to pick you up! My little girl can't be walking around on her own at this time of ni—AARGH!}
{She wouldn't have to walk on her own at that time of night if you weren't so overbearing and let her leave sooner.} Her mother's voice cuts back in after what sounds to be like her shoving her father away after he took over the phone call. {Besides, she's our daughter; Have some faith in her that we've taught her how to hold her own.}
"Thanks, mom. And don't worry dad I'll be fine. You both taught me how to defend myself since I could practically walk. I'm sixteen, now. I know that you love me but you can't keep babying me forever."
{But Apple Pie...}
"Dad, I only said you couldn't keep babying forever, didn't ask you to outright stop. Not that you ever could." The daughter mumbled that last part.
{Oh, Apple Pie! I knew you were still my little girl deep dow—Hurk!"}
The sound of the girl's father being struck over the line causes the teen to giggle at her family's strange way of showing affection.
{Cool it, Papa Bear. We've got to get back to work. You be safe now, honey.} The woman bids her daughter farewell, followed reluctantly by her husband over the phone.
"Don't worry, I will. Call you again soon once I get to Grandma's."
"Take care, sweetheart." Before her mother hangs up on her end, the daughter can just make out the sound of her father's choked cries of over dramatic farewells and threats about boys getting close to their daughter.
The girl chuckles, rolling her eyes before stuffing her phone into her pocket and continuing on her way.
In the midst of her walk, her stomach begin to growl. "Ooh, that's not good. Better step it up."
Just as she's about to take off into a sprint, she's stopped by small cries coming from an alleyway she just passed by
Nyaaaaa~
'A cat?'
The girl has an intense love for pets and to hear such an anguish cry coming from the creature broke her heart. She looks down at her stomach. "Sorry, tummy. Kitty calls. Hope you can forgive me for delaying us dinner."
She turns on her heel, returning to the darkened alleyway. Passing by a few trash cans, she follows the continued cries of the cat.
Nyaaaa~
Tip-toeing cautious down the shadowed alley, The girl is shocked to find a figure in the dark, standing over a trio of cats.
The white female and black male lie in pools of their own blood while their battered grayish-purple kit is held from the scruff of her neck by the shadowed stranger.
The teen girl gapes at the outright animal abuse the stranger is engaging in.
Her blood boils in her veins and the girl unknowingly begins emitting a red aura. Dropping her luggage, she moves to confront the abuser.
"Hey! Put...the kitten...down." She growls lowly, stalking forward enough to where the light from the street behind gives way to the shadows of the alley.
The stranger drops the kitten none to kindly between her heavily injured parents. Her beautiful fur becoming stained by her own and parents' spilled blood.
"So the little girl wants to play the hero." The stranger snickers, pissing the girl off further. If there's one thing that the girl hated it was being referred to as a child or remarks about her height.
"That's funny coming from the big man taking a couple stabs at some helpless cats probably just to make himself feel strong. What's the matter? Get kicked around in the sandbox one too many times?"
"Dumb brat! You haven't the slightest idea of my true strength." The darkened character retorts calmly, stepping just enough out of the shadows to reveal him holding a bow and ornate arrow. The tip of the latter dripping with blood, most likely from the cats. It also gave the girl the minor features to the stranger's appearance. Based on the stranger's voice, obviously male. Slight above-average height and medium build. His hair is also folded onto itself above his head in the sculpture of a flat-top from what she can make out from the shadows he's concealing himself in.
"Then get over here and prove it." The girl snaps, taking a defensive fighting stance.
The navyette teen is the first to make her move, lunging at the male with her arm reared back ready to throw the first punch. But she's inexplicably curt of by a searing pain in her leg, causing her to falter in her attack and force her to miss punching the male right in his more than likely smug face. She also could have sworn she heard a round of gunshots. She looks down at her leg to see tiny holes embedded into her skin just above her ankle.
'What the..?! Where did...!?'
"As I said before, little girl: You are out of your league going against me." The stranger chuckles darkly.
The girl clutches at her heavily bleeding leg. Her growling stomach offering her no comfort. And the guy's gloating laughter wasn't helping either. But what was really adding fuel to the fire was the weak cries of the the severely injured, if not already dying, cats.
The stranger hovers over her crouched form, notching the arrow to the bow. "I'm not sure whether or not to call you very brave or very stupid for interrupting my mission, but it won't matter much now. You'll either be reborn with a newfound power of your own or dead."
Time seems to slow as the faceless stranger reels the arrow back ready to let go of the sharp-tipped projectile. The is time, however, it's he who's cut off. The sound of something growling loudly echoed off the walls of the alleyway.
'Is that the girl's stomach?' The stranger can't help but wonder mentally.
In his mental distraction, the stranger starts when his arm holding the bow is snatched into a vice grip. He looks down to see the girl sporting a burning red aura and, upon closer examination, there's now a pair of wolf ears with fur, the same color as her hair, atop her head.
The girl's head whips up to reveal her apple-red eyes have become less human and more animalistic. Her canines have noticeably sharpened. She even sprouted a dark navy tail just above her butt.
She lunges even faster than before at the male, forcing him to dodge her incredible speed. She sharp-toothed maw wide and ready to take a bite out of him but instead take a chunk out of the brick walls that closes in the alley.
The man was right to be afraid of the teen girl now. He can only gawk in slight terror as the wolf-girl chews the bits of brick in her mouth like rock candy before swallowing with no trouble. There's also the fact that he can make out a faint silhouette of an anthropomorphic wolf with large ears and an even more massive tail in Edo-period styled garb hovering behind her.
"Scared? I guess you should be." She growls. "Not only have you cut my trip short and destroyed my good mood in returning to my hometown, but you've also made me late for dinner and had the gall to harm some innocent animals who have done absolutely nothing to you right in front of me."
Despite staring down the now dangerous wolf-girl, the shadowed character chuckles. "Well, well. Seems like you didn't need this after all." He lifts the arrow up, causing the girl to go on the defensive again. "I wonder what would have happened if it pierced your body anyhow."
The girl's wolf ears then pick up the sound of readying firearms and she immediately takes cover behind a few trash bins.
Forced to obstruct her sight with the trash bins, in exchange for not being shot, the girl can only rely on her heightened sense of hearing. What she did hear the first time was gunfire. The holes that pierced through the metal of the trash can were something to go on as well. But their diminutive size made it look like they were fired from something the size of a toy soldier. Yet the throbbing pain in her leg was telling her whatever took out her leg had power packing behind it's small stature.
Her ears twitch at the sound of fast retreating footsteps and can safely put together that her attack has turned tail and ran. As the male retreats, the gunfire slows until it comes to a complete stop, soon leaving her in a deathly quiet alley.
Nyaaaaaaaaaaa~!
'Oh, shoot! The cats!' The girl swiftly rounds from behind her makeshift shield, that have since been turned into swiss cheese.
Cautiously approaching the bleeding felines, the girl looks for any sign of life. And to her luck, they are all still breathing, albeit faintly, which is truly remarkable, since they've all been pierced through their heads by that weird arrow. They haven't got much time left.
The girl shudders a sigh. 'No time to make it to any vet's office, if there's even one open right now. There's only one hope for them I can think of: Uncle Dante. I just hope he still remembers his stuff from his vet practice.' Without any concern for the jacket she's wearing or if any of the clothes she's packed get bloodied, the girl carefully swaddles the three cats and holds them in her arms.
Scooping up her suitcase, she takes off high-speed in the direction of her grandmother's house.
With her heightened speed, she made it to the front door within a few seconds. She bangs on it hurriedly.
With precious time wasting, the girl was ready to bust down the door with her enhanced strength, being pumped up on adrenaline. Luckily it doesn't come to that, as an effeminate man in lavish, oriental sleepwear answers the door. He has short black hair and claw like fingernails. His eyes are two different colors, one yellow and one purple. His feminine features often led him to be mistaken for a woman.
This man is the girl's uncle, Dante. The almost female-looking man's eyes go wide at the sight of his niece covered in blood. But upon her showing her the injured cats wrapped up in her jacket he silently agreed with her pleading eyes that it'd be best to save questions for later.
☆☆☆
After leaving the cats in her uncle's care, the girl's grandma and aunts usher the girl into a nice, relaxing bath.
But even wading in the warm waters, the teen navyette is feeling anything but relaxed, and probably wouldn't be until the verdict is out on her new feline friends. Even her grandmother's home cooked meal, nor the comforting gesture of her uncle's pet pig, P-Chan, wasn't cheering her up and that was saying something.
She ate like she was on autopilot, only eating just to eat and not with her signature enjoyment of food.
It wasn't 'til the near end of the shared meal that her uncle finally joins them. All wait with baited breath awaiting the condition as the feminine man washes blood from all over his arms at the kitchen sink and removes the bloodied apron from around his front.
...
...
...
"They're going to be just fine."
Everyone releases the breath they'd been holding in. And with her worries abated the girl digs into the rest of her meal with vigor.
"It was remarkable really. All three had been stabbed in the head with a sharp instrument, yet still breathing fairly well. Minako-chan did you happen to see what the assailant was using?"
Swallowing down her food, the girl, Minako Akahoshi, explains the events prior to arriving. "It was some kind of arrow. And I think he might also be a User. He managed to catch me off guard and injure my leg." She nods in the direction of her now bandaged leg.
"I see." Minako's grandmother, Sakura Akatsuki, hums. Though being a woman of small-build, she and being in her 70s, she has this air that demands respect. She has light, wavy pink hair that stops at her shoulders and brown eyes. And despite being on in years, she's a master in martial arts and runs a successful dojo in Morioh. "This is a problem. Lately, I've been feeling more energies popping up here in Morioh. Thought it was just my age finally catching up with me."
"But then we notice some bizarre patterns occurring around town. Strange deaths have been occurring as of late, all with the same form of injury." Minako's aunt, her uncle's wife and daughter in law to her grandmother, Suzu Hamasaki-Akatsuki, adds. A red-headed woman in her early 30s but still manages to look in her 20s. She runs the most successful cafe/patisserie in town. Her skills in baking are what made Minako's Uncle Dante fall for her.
"How should we proceed then, because I want to give that guy a piece of my mind and part of my foot." Minako growls, radiating her red aura unconsciously.
"Mina-chan, your ears are showing." Her second aunt, twin sister to her uncle and blood daughter to her grandmother, Tomomi Akatsuki chuckles. Both she and Dante run a boutique and share a certain flamboyant nature in both personality and fashion. Sharing an affinity to Chinese clothing. She is a tall, thin woman with pale skin and long black hair down to the back of her knees. Her hair is cut in many layers having front bangs up to her eyebrows, then another layer, reaching up to her jaw, and a layer at her hips and a final one at her knees. Her eyes are a near exact shade of red to Minako's, often leading to them to be mistaken for mother and daughter, or, in some cases, sisters.
Minako starts, patting down the wolf appendages sprouting from the top of her head until they vanish completely. "Gotta get that worked out."
"Well, it's late, child. Best head off to bed." Grandma Sakura advises.
"And I start school tomorrow." Minako grumbles, slamming her head on the table in depression. "What a way to start my return to Morioh."
With grumbling not doing anything, the navyette decided to suck it up and limp herself to her bedroom her aunts so graciously made for her.
Already changed into her PJs, she wiggles into her cover. Seconds later, she finds herself being accompanied by the adorable P-Chan offering his continuing comforts, to which Minako welcomes whole-heartedly this time and brings him into a gentle hug.
Before she could succumb to her exhaustion and completely fall into the world of sleep, she looks out her bedroom window into the soft night light of her hometown. 'If this is what happens during my first evening back, I wonder what tomorrow will bring.'