Playing in the garden after nightfall

She had made it quiet the distance away from her village and as she walked through the area they all seemed to look at her funny. Why? Had they never seen a girl dressed in the attire of a Ninja before? Since leaving the hidden village she had walked into a whole different world. Her village was like stepping thousands of years into the past old world Samurai laws, no cars or telephones nothing....of the sort like out here. Out here? Out here.....she was wearing a hard leather top black with long panels down on either side closing off just above her belly, a black skirt with a metal belt and odd Rose Ruby's. She wore thigh high boots with straps around her tighs and thick unique blades in the sheaths. Her long hair pulled up in a ponytail and a very unique necklace one that had belonged to her birth father. A Rose Ruby or Ruby Rose stone in the metal work.

She was running down the street the side walk and then moved jumping and hitting the lamppost and continued to move and run swinging and jumping and finally landing in a large park like area trees and grass.....seemingly more remote from the outside world a area of the city still full of lush green life. She paused as she knelt there closing her rose pink eyes the same stunning color of the stone that adorned her outfit. She could scent many many things but....she moved jumping flying from branch to branch and looked down at the figure sleeping there....in the middle of the city against the tree.....as if it was safe. She back flipped and landed lightly on the ground going low and pausing his hair was such a shade of red....red like crimson flame. She had never seen anyone with hair that vibrant a shade. She had only enough money to eat and as to working? Where she was from a woman was a healing and medicine woman she tended family and had children she did not work. Her father broke rules...no her adoptive father broke rules teaching her the art of Ninjitsu. And she played sports that all the girls did hidden in the wooden area....But....

"Like crimson flame...." she breathed lowly out loud.

He had been sleeping in the park after having picked the spot closest to the location he had believed something interesting would happen and satd down. He had been having a nagging feeling all day that something was about to happen in the park, so he had decided to finally seek out the source of his curiosity. Even if this wasn't his normal personality, he was too concerned about the nagging feeling he had thanks to his power of Intuition.

But while he was sleeping, he felt the nagging feeling growing stronger and he slept with more unease. It wasn't until he heard a woman's voice that he awoke, opening his eyes to look up at her. He was still sleepy, so it took his eyes a minute to adjust to the change in light. However, once he had adjusted, he was staring at a rather pretty young woman with pale pink tinted hair and rose colored eyes who was staring at him.

"Crimson...?" he mumbled sleepily as he looked at her. Was she talking about his hair? He wasn't sure.

She sat back on her heels looking at him and nodded a bit. "Yes, crimson....like flame your hair...." She said looking at him and letting her arms rest on her booted legs. She was watching him a moment or two he scented so different but as far as she was running it simply was not....far enough. Her eyes widened ever so slightly as she caught it. Only four days out.....constant running barely sleeping. And yet they still caught up to her. Why? Why she did nothing to them.

Mayo stood her hands moving to the chained handles at her legs and grabbed them as she shifted. Looking at the shadows of the tree's.

"You should go now....Mr. Crimson." She said turning her back to him he didn't scent like those of the village those who were coming moving about the edges of the park. She did not intend on dying here today....but....she pulled the large daggers loose the blades gems igniting and glowing a bit as they picked up her energy. "It's not going to be safe in a moment...."

Five men approached all the more they felt needed to take out a half breed like her. And like her they were dressed oddly like out of some weird peirod drama play but there weapons were very much real. "Be careful and make sure to kill the beast....we need to be certain to leave something distinguishable though so he knows....the animal is dead." The leader said as they approached Her. Swords and spears in hand....Oh yeah she felt bad now...she just hoped the sleepy man got out of here. These men would not spare him for being an innocent bystander.

He chuckled as he stood up slowly, steadily from where he had been sitting under the tree and looked at her. "Guess my hair is kind of bright..." he mused lowly. He made no move to leave like she had told him to do though. He was more interested in what was going on to care about any possible danger- not that he would care about any possible danger normally anyway.

"Mm...I think you'll come to find that I'm not defenseless..." he told her as he put his hands in his pockets and yawned. Those men who were going to attack...well...they'd be in for a big surprise.

He moved to stand between her and the men, hands in his pockets, black leather jacket with a fur collar hanging open to reveal a white V-neck shirt underneath. He looked pretty normal, but he certainly wasn't one to be messed around with. "I don't know who you guys are, but you're interrupting my conversation...I'm asking you once politely to leave...you'll get no other requests from me after..."

She went a touch wide eyed as he chuckled then stood up and moved between her and them.....saying that he was not defenseless. But neither had her adoptive father been and he still died at there hands. "Oh please....no...." She said softly shaking her head. "Please I don't want to see them....kill someone else because of me..I just lost two important people in my life to them...I don't want to see someone else die....." Her mothers and fathers deaths still fresh in her mind still fresh was that wound and now this man. But they had been ordinary people not gifted with powers. There greatest treasure had been Mayo.

The leader actually started laughing. "You? You have no idea what your protecting. That thing behind you is not worth dying for leave now and we'll let you live. That animal has no right to draw air. To breathe....that demon should not have been born." The leader said as he gestured with his hand and moved to fan out a bit. "But stand in our way show that you are a demon lover....and you're going down ....it's the least we can do to save your soul before she eats it."


"Eww..."Mayo said behind the crimson haired fellow. "I have never and will never eat a persons soul..." She said less then pleased she wasn't that type of 'spirit' or demon or beast whatever they wanted to call it.

"That thing only looks like a sweet young girl right now...it's really a beast that needs to be put down. An animal...and if your wise you'll listen to us and get out of the way." The Leader advised him again. "I don't know why your here but saving that animal isn't it."

Bara sighed as he stood there, looking at them. "That right?" he mused as he glanced back at her and then back to them. "Guess that makes me even more of a monster to you people then..." he said before he took a step forward as the red aura began to form around him. Heating up the air was easy, and so was roasting people to a nice golden brown or turning them to ash completely.

"I know what she is...don't try to put ideas into my head about who I should and shouldn't want to protect...I'm not as nice as she will be..." he told them lowly as he pulled his left hand out of his pocket and held it up as flames formed in his palm.

They cursed fighting demons was one thing they were equipped for that fighting a P.K. User who could lit up with flames was another they seemed to look at each other before backing up they didn't have any means of stopping his flames and they would go up....they would burn alive so they backed off. Turning and running off into the tree's taking off and leaving. They would be back another time for her...."Regroup....he's a P.K. User we're not equipped to deal with one of those..." The leader said and could be heard as they moved through the trees and away.

She stared as they ran away from him from the flames not wanting to fight him. She slipped the blades back into the sheaths on her legs and let out a sigh as they ran taking off and from there scent not coming back any time soon if that fear in the air was any clue. But Mayo just....sat down in the grass her legs going out from beneath her as she crumpled tired...so very tired as she sat there. "You didn't have to do that Mr. Crimson." She said after a moment when they were gone and things went quiet again.

She looked down at her hand he knew what she was and he protect her anyways. "Why stand between them and me? Why protect me like that?" She asked looking up at him curious. "It could have ended badly for you Mr. Crimson."

Bara tisked and let the flames extinguish before he put his hand back into his pocket and turned to look down at her. "I did have to do that..." he told her lowly, but simply none the less. He was distant, but he wasn't cold or hateful.

He wasn't too concerned with the men who had tried to attack her. They were too afraid of him to be coming back any time soon, but what he was worried about was answering her question. "Because I promised my best friend that I'd protect those that I can..." he told her, leaving out the "because I couldn't protect him." "I'm not going to be killed by people like them...I didn't sense it to be so..."

May nodded as she listened to him. But when she couldn't sense feel the threat returning smell them on the air anymore she stayed sitting like that. Just hoping she could stay there for a while longer. "Mm well thank you Mr. Crimson." She said after a moment smiling although that smile did not reach her eyes. She shifted and stood but she was tired and wasn't sure how much longer she could keep running from them. And finding a safe place to hide against Demon Hunters was not easy. Especially since they seemed to track her where-ever she went.

May stood up and looked at him. "Mmm. I'm sorry for interrupting your nap and bringing trouble to you. Thank you for helping me." She said bowing slightly to be polite manners. Tired hungry worn out and yet....thankful. That perhaps she had met one kind person before....they would finally catch up to her.

"I should go now, although small it's a bit of time to get a lead on them again....Thank you again Mr. Crimson." She said constantly and that lead would not last.

Bara sighed and shook his head before he reach out and took her by the arm, keeping her from going anywhere. He wasn't sure when he had closed the distance, but he had. "My name is Moeru Bara...I prefer being called Bara...so please, call me by my name," he told her lowly, yet it wasn't harsh or angry, it was actually rather soft and gentle.

"You're tired and it seems like you've not eaten in a while...you're not leaving. Come on...come with me..." he told her as he held onto her. He was too nice to just let her walk away looking so tired and worn out.

May looked at him as he reached out and caught her arm keeping her from walking away and told her to come with him. That....it was obvious even to him how tired she was and that she was no doubt hungry. May nodded. "A place to rest sounds nice...." She said softly but to afford it but he didn't seem to want it any other way. "I'm Mayonaka Shinibana." She said looking at him as she shifted to walk with him.

She took a deep breath as she looked at the tree line and nodded. "Although May is fine....." She looked at him as he said that she wasn't leaving but it was more of a tone of concern for her well being then anything else and she nodded.

"Alright, I'll go with you Bara." She said his scent wasn't bad, it didn't scent hostile towards her despite the heat of his P.K. his energy. If anything there was a bit of comfort to it like laying in the grass in the sun for a while. As if it could warm her fur when she shifted that is.

"Your different then....the people of my village..." May said just knowing she was a half breed would be all it took to abandon her normally her step father was different, and now Bara...he didn't reject her for being a half breed.

Bara let go of her as she agreed to go with him and he turned to lead the way to his house. "In my job, everyone is different..." he told her as he walked along, leading her closer and closer to his own home. "I've heard rumors of an Ex-Monk who is a half-demon...I think they said he was half Rakshasa...so this isn't all that surprising to me..." he explained as he walked along, hands in his pockets once again.

"Working with people like I do, you tend to run into some pretty weird things...over the years, I've come to not really question much...people are people, no matter their bloodline...."

May walked with him as he spoke to her about an ex-monk who was half Rakshasa, so she wasn't all that surprising to him. She stepped along easily with him but as they drew closer she looked at the sights actually able to take them in now that she was walking. The cars and buildings. They were all so different. "People are people....no matter there bloodline." She said as he had said that to him.

"In my village, My father was....my birth father was killed before I was born I never knew him he was a full blooded Nine tailed Kitsune.... My mother was forced into a marriage to another by the Head of the Village . But he loved me as his own...despite the fact I was born with the ears and tails of my birth father. I was born.....showing that I was part Kitsune." She said closing her eyes. "My mother told me that the midwife went to inform them then and he stopped her, then gave me my name and hide me in the village unable to leave or draw attention to my differences he instead taught me his art....taught me Ninjutsu....because I could not shift when born to hide them. When I finally learned he continued." She said as she walked. "I grew up happy in a loving family until four days ago....the 'Prince' the Lord region....he came to our home and killed my mother....slaughtered her saying she was the source of the orginal sin she brought it there....and then my father....who told me to get out while he...fought them...." She closed her eyes a brief moment. "I saw the killing blow...they pierced him through and yet he kept fighting to protect me.....I ran....I didn't know what else to do. There was so many and it was my fathers...will.....and I've been running ever since....."

May looked over at him. "That's the sort of person I am.....I've been running...non stop for four days....running while my parents were killed by them....like a coward instead of fighting them...." Signs of the beginning of self hatred....and loathing. She had left her family for dead...she ran and let them die...

Bara looked at her and sighed. "I don't think you understand the true meaning of being a coward just yet," he told her lowly, but gently. "Running away doesn't make you a coward. Running away means that you valued what your adoptive father told you was the right thing to do in that situation...what makes a coward, are those who refuse to listen to reason even when they're faced with a terrified child..." he explained and finally came to a stop at a rather nice looking two bedroom house in a good neighborhood.

As he opened the gate though, he stopped to turn and look at her. "Cowards don't feel regret or remorse like we do..." he told her and opened the gate and walked in, leading her to the front door. "As for running....I wish I had ran..."

She looked at him as he said that she didn't understand not yet what true cowardice was, that what she did was value what her Adoptive father told her was important and listened. Doing as she was told despite the fact she knew she would never see him again. At least not in life. She watched as he pushed the gate open to a nice two bedroom house and looked back at her. Saying that....he wished he had ran.

"You had to go through this sort of pain?" She asked the pain of seeing a loved one die at the hands of another and knowing that there was nothing you could do to change it. She looked at him as he said that his scent his spirit felt good. Although he felt rough too. Abrasive around the edges as tempered as a strong flame. Whose heat served to keep a person warm was strong and provided so much but that was also dangerous in its own right for it could burn down all in it's path, brilliant and yet sad. His scent was so sad, and she realized that....was what drew her to him this deep scent of sorrow that ran deeper then oceans. As if not even a flame that burned as brilliant a crimson as his hair could light and warm the depths of.

"Bara?" She asked as she looked at him the words 'I wish I had ran...' his words were rather cryptic....and she was a touch confused by them. What....did he wish he had run from?

He had stopped now, not reaching into his pocket for his keys or even moving to go forward any at all. It took him a long time to even form the words, let alone voice them but when he did, what came out was a low, hushed whisper of a voice answering Mayo lowly, sadly, "Yeah...I've seen it..."

Sighing, he finally moved, pulling his keys out of his pocket and unlocked the door before he walked in without another word. It wasn't really something he wanted to do- locking people out of his heart all the time. He just didn't know how else to face his reality.

Mayo looked at him as he walked in, and seemed to fall silent. Letting her in as well but that sadness that pain she knew it too, and part of her wanted to cry and keep on crying. But she was afraid if she started she'd never stop but he had moved in and now, seemed to collapse in on himself and May being May and not thinking not really giving herself time to weigh out if he'd be upset about it or not. She moved Seemingly to flicker from the front door to behind him.

"I'm sorry." She said softly as she hugged him from behind not something that was forced or that he couldn't pull away from and if it upset him alright she hadn't thought about that. But....May despite her own heartache hated seeing others suffering as much as he was. It was like he was broken inside. "I'm sorry so sorry....I know how much it hurts." She said and the pain she was referring to was all of the terrible 'what if's' what if she disobeyed and turned and fought beside them would her parents be alive? What if they had fled what if she hadn't been born a half breed, what if, what if, what if....and if she let even one of them creep into her mind....it would start to break her apart.

"I'm sorry." She said softly again. Sorry that she couldn't do more then this to take away the pain and loneliness he felt, the isolation because it simply hurt to much to let people in.