There Once Was A Time That Made Sense. (Rave/Open)

[Nukdae]

Kurama waved a farewell to his human mother, Shiori, as he left their house. She was busy in the kitchen, preparing to host a small party. Only after his mother insisted that he need not help her, he had decided to leave. He was a fairly good cook, and could have assisted her, but she rejected him and told him that she was fine by herself. So, he excused himself to get some fresh air. Kurama did not want to get in her way, so he had decided to go for a walk. He was not even sure if he wanted to return to attend the party. His mother told him that he could do whatever, once again insisting that she was fine by herself. Besides, it was only going to be a little get-together between Shiori and a few of her friends from work. Kurama did not really want to stick around and be doted on by these older women who absolutely adored him.

Kurama stepped onto a train and headed toward the city, where there were plenty of more things to do rather than wander around the more rural areas. He could go back to his own time while he waited, perhaps spend the night there as well, Shiori never minded. And she never questioned him whenever he disappeared for a few days. He was quite capable of staying caught up with his schoolwork, as well, so he could miss a few days and still be at the top of his class. But, the Feudal Era could wait.

He wanted to enjoy himself in this human world for a while longer, where he could assume the form a human and still easily be able to defend himself. There was very little danger here. It was a peaceful place. Demons of this time were weak and easily disposed of.

The red-haired human in disguise got off the train and exited the train station. He stood on the sidewalk for a moment, trying to decide what he wanted to do. He shrugged to himself and chose a random direction to walk in, hands stuffed into the pockets of his jacket.

[Raveik]

"Don't come near me!" The words were yelled from the top of the girls lungs. Her teal colored orbs were furious as she backed up. Her back hit the brick wall of a building and she felt the coolness of it sinking into her skin. Although right now, her concern was on something before her. A group of men were approaching the young girl and she couldn't do a thing to defend herself because she didn't want to expose her power. Oh wait no, she wouldn't mind exposing it but she had been told not to.

Her eyes shook with emotion, but most of all fear. Fear that she'd lose her life now because she was so loyal to her father's request, and because she couldn't kill a human even if she tried. There was no way she'd allow herself to fall down to the level of her twin brother, Shadow. He'd kill a human if they looked at him wrong. She was sure that he had no problem doing something like that. The thought made her sick to think about. How could he be so cold all of the time?

He red black tipped ears pinned back against her skull as she stared back hard at the men that approached her. The eighteen year old inu hanyou's tail flickered behind her while she bared her fangs. "Aw, what's wrong, princess? Are you scared," said one of the men. "Well no one is going to come and help you. You belong to us now." Did this have to happen to her because she was different because she had ears and a tail? Was it because she was a Shuurai shinobi? She just couldn't figure it out at all.

The man that had spoken to her before, obviously the leader then approached her again. He had her totally back up against the wall with no place to escape to unless she used her power to protect herself. Raveik glared at him and then the man grabbed her by the chin, making her stare into his eyes. "You really should have just listened to me, love," he said wickedly at her. If you had, then maybe you would have lived," He held a gun back up to her with his other hand right at her head, and began to lean in to try and kiss her.

[Nukdae]

Kurama saw this scene out of the corner of his eye as he passed by. At first, he ignored it. Sensible humans often did, not wanting to get involved in something that did not concern them, especially when there was a gun involved. But, his chivalry overcame him. He had been around humans for too long and now felt obliged to help all in need.

He turned and returned the way he came. Keeping out of sight, he peered around the corner of the building to see what was happening. Assaulting a girl, how crude. Quickly, he analyzed the situation and attempted to find the best solution with minimal injuries.

With an inward sigh, he stepped into view. He leveled his emerald gaze with the man who had the girl pinned. "Excuse me," he said, gently so as not to startle anyone, always the one for negotiations. He wanted to avoid a fight, though if he had to, he would defend himself. "I believe it's best if you don't commit a crime, here." There was no threat behind his words. He remained relaxed and calm, which was usually his first reaction to potential enemies, so he could read them, while they could not read him.

Kurama barely registered that this girl had a tail and nonhuman ears. It was only until he caught her scent that he actually noticed. He was so used to these sights, but that was in the Feudal Era. He remained unfazed by this, though, pretending not to notice the obvious and kept his eyes on the man with the gun. He wondered what, from the scent, a hanyou was doing in the city. And she looked so human, well, except for the ears and the tail, that Kurama thought that she would have been powerful enough to take care of herself. She must have her reasons.

[Raveik]

She was about ready to slap this guy across the face but then something had stopped her and him both, a voice that had come out from the front of the alley. Raveik's eyes ventured forward to capture the red headed man in her gaze, and her ears pricked forward. He was coming to save her? Why though? Humans didn't know of-wait no, he wasn't a human. Even though he took on the form of a perfect human, she could sense a demonic aura coming from him. She wasn't sure if that was good or bad.

The leader of the group snapped his head to look at Kurama and a smirk crossed his face. "Run along now, boy. I've got no business with you." He shot just one glance to his men and then they all pulled out guns and started shooting bullets at Kurama. They didn't care to take a life which was obvious. If this guy wanted to go and get in their way, then they would just kill him. There was nothing wrong with that in their eyes. People died everyday and it would just be one more body to add to the pile.

'How come I've never seen or sensed him around here before,' he asked herself in thought. The girl had lived here all her life and not many of those with demon blood came around here. So she knew who most of them all were, but not this guy. She was a mystery to him. "Get you filthy hand off of me," she suddenly shouted back at the leader, seeing as he was distracted by Kurama. She lifted a hand an grabbed his wrist, digging her claws into his arm. The man yelled out in pain, released his grip. "You stupid bitch!" He then went to punch her in the stomach before she could react.

[Nukdae]

Acting quickly, he dove out of their firing range, taking shelter behind the wall. A few of the bullets managed to graze his skin, though he barely felt them. Apparently, these guys meant business. Guess he should just drop the nice guy routine and take this seriously. With these kinds of humans, it was pretty much useless to try and talk them out of their bad deeds.

He ran a hand through his hair, locating a seed he had hidden away. He held the seed in between his index finger and thumb. The seed gave off a soft glow as he infused it with his energy and shortly, it sprouted and was suddenly a red rose. He plucked some of the soft petals off, feeding them his energy as well. Once there was a pause in gun fire, he took a deep breath and stepped out from the safety of the wall, lunging at the group of humans. He threw the rose petals like knives, they had hardened and were now sharp and deadly. Though they were just petals, they could have been mistaken for shuriken, which is what he was going for. No need to expose himself for what he really was, though, having shuriken on him in the first place could be deemed odd.

While the lackeys were distracted, Kurama went over to the supposed leader and aimed a punch at his face with no hesitation and giving him very little time to react. Kurama had been using a bit of his demon powers, moving quicker than a human eye could see.

[Raveik]

The men themselves hadn't been expecting these rose petals to do anything to them. So they began to laugh when Kurama threw the petals at them but soon screamed in horror as they were cut with the petals. As soon as they could, they ditched their boss and ran away. This guy here that they had been firing at was a freak and they had barely hit him! Although, stalking a girl with dog ears and tail, fangs, etc... could have made her freak too. Maybe it was because Kurama was a 'human' in their shallow point of view.

The boss man didn't even have a chance to react either when Kurama had come and punched him in the face. He was weak himself anyway so it wouldn't have taken much force to send him flying. As the force of the impact sent him back, teeth and blood flew out of his mouth. It was only within seconds that he had crashed into one of the other buildings that had surrounded them. He hit his head, hard, and it knocked him out cold. The cops could go and come find him later or something of that sort.

Raveik looked back up at Kurama, surprised that he had even dared to use his powers here in this era? Was he crazy? That was a risk of exposure to all of them! Although, she was starstruck when she'd finally looked into his emerald green eyes, surprised that he was even real. Out of sheer instinct, she ran over to him and hugged him for a thanks. It was something she did because she'd always had people coming after her and always hugged her savior. "Thank you, umm," she blushed and cut herself off because she didn't even know his name.

[Nukdae]

Kurama surveyed his newly empty surroundings, just to make sure there were not any stragglers that were planning a sneak attack. He hoped that he had not overdone it. It was just self-defense, they had drawn guns on him first, anyway. He had tried to resolve this peaceful, but they did not seem to care for negotiations. Oh well, it was too late now. They got what they deserved.

When he returned his emerald gaze back to the girl he had saved, he was greeted by a sudden hug. At first, he was not too sure how to react, but he allowed it, thinking that the girl just needed something to cling to for comfort. It was obvious what would have happened had he not intervened, so she might be suffering from a bit of shock, or perhaps she was still afraid. Though, it probably was not too safe hugging strangers, even if they had rescued her.

"I'm Shuichi Minamino," Kurama said with a charming smile. He was in his human form and he was in the Modern Era, so he used his human name. "Are you all right, miss?" he asked, concern evident in his eyes. While he had been in this future time, he had been raised by a kind human mother to be gentlemanly, so his politeness was a bit of a habit. "You should be more careful."

He did not question her about what she was doing here, or why those thugs were assaulting her. Nor did he ask why a hanyou was in this kind of place. He wanted to, but decided not to pry. This would probably just be a change encounter, after all. After this, they would probably never meet again. Tokyo was a big city, and faces were always easily forgotten.

[Raveik]

Shuichi Minamino. She kept the name in her head and it would stay there forever. Her ears pricked forward to his question if she was alright and she nodded, looking up into his eyes, she was dazzled. Someone else besides her family had shown a concern for her. That was like a once in a life time thing but also what her had hooked on this guy now. "I'm doing just fine now. Thank you, Shuichi Minamino! I'm forever in your debt." There, she'd finally gotten to give him a proper thanks now that she knew his name.

When he told her that she should just be more careful, he ears fell back slightly. "I would have fought back but father and mother said that Shadow and I couldn't use our powers here because then humans would think we're even more of 'freaks,'" she tried to explain to him. Her tail flickered slightly and she just then realized how rude she really was being to this guy. "My name is Raveik Revirra. Would you like to go out to lunch of something? It's on me!" A cheerful smile crossed her eyes then and her eyes shined.

[Nukdae]

Kurama was a little taken aback by the girl's enthusiasm. Sure, he encountered such personalities when he was in school. He was just not expecting this particular girl to be that way. Perhaps he really had spent a little too much time around humans, that he had forgotten how youkai could be so similar. Then again, she had the scent of a hanyou, which meant she had human blood. He was just not sure about these things anymore.

When she asked him if he wanted to go out for lunch, his smile was a bit more hesitant. "Lunch?" he asked. They had just met and all they knew about each other were their names. Well, except he knew she was not completely human, and she probably knew that he had some sort of demonic abilities.

"Well, Miss Raveik, I'm not really hungry at the moment, but if you insist, I'll gladly accompany you," he offered politely. He was definitely not needed anywhere else. His mother was preoccupied, he had finished all of his schoolwork, and he had currently been looking for something to do, so he could not deny Raveik's request. It was odd. He could not seem to stand lying while he was human, but in his own time, he was always lying through his teeth... or fangs.

[Raveik]

Her ears almost pricked up against when he had agreed to go out to lunch with her. Though she remembered he said he wasn't that hungry. She really wasn't really that hungry either but it was just something to do. Maybe she could manage to swallow some food, seeing that she was at least half hanyou. He appetite was bigger than that of some humans because she used up more energy then they did on a daily basis. So who said she wouldn't be in a fight later on? Not that she planned on going back to the feudal era.

Though for now this was the only way that she could think to thank him properly. It wasn't like she could ask him to go to the park or go to the movies. She didn't even know if he liked that kind of stuff. Although, everyone needed to eat so that gave taking him to lunch the right option in her mind. "Great! I hope you like kurama mixed rice," she happily said, unaware that his name in his other form was "Kurama." She flashed him a fanged smile before grabbing his hand and running off to a restaurant.

It was only about a minute later that they arrived at the restaurant, Umami. The place wasn't to far away from the alley Kurama had saved her in. It was an indoor/outdoor restaurant with many different things on the menu that anyone could dream of. She took her seat and looked back at the menu when the hostess led them to their table. "You can get whatever you like, Shuichi. I'll still pay for it. I'm getting the kurama mixed rice. It's sorta like a chestnut rice mixed with soy sauce-infused chirimen jako and sansho. It is really amazing!"

[Kyoso no Oni]

The would be mugger was beginning to wake up only to notice a figure was standing close to him, well over him to be more specific, a darker skinned woman with yellow eyes that seemed to bore into him. He coughed slightly from the injuries he took as the figure studied him. "Great, another freak. What are you gonna do." He was struggling to get up when he suddenly felt a tug and then found himself held up straight, several inches above the ground with nothing holding him there.

"Well, that was rude, but another freak? Do tell me more. Actually, no, your just a dumb human, I think you will show me instead." The figure said with a creepy smile as her mouth opened slightly. As her mouth opened a black mist seemed to open, releasing the mists of Jigoku, a cloud of taint enveloping the man and several rats in the alley. All in the area who could sense auras or had some kind of mystical sense would feel the darkness, cold and utter evil of the cloud. The man began to cough and convulse violently as the mist was absorbed into his body and he began to change immediately.

His eyes began to glow with a sinister green glow, his fingers grew and elongated into six inch claws made of obsidian. A thick, viscous poisonous fluid dripped from his claws, producing a hideous, ammonia like smell hung in the air around him, and finally his skin became rubbery and tough. As the woman inhaled the remaining mist back into her the beast that had been born of the fell mist remained there, handing in space. And as for the rats that had gotten caught in the mist, they were now the size of small dogs, the same ammonia smelling fluid dripping from sabertooth fags.

"You were strong, strong enough to survive the Dark One's blessing. Now, seek out the freaks who hurt you, and show them pain." With that said the creature was lowered to the ground and he began to shuffle off, his bones no longer quite straight and he had a tough time walking as a result, but he was going straight toward the restaurant where the two that had beat him earlier were now eating their lunch, the 8 mutated rats following him. In the alley, surrounded by a dozen dead rats and god knows how many dead roaches, stood the woman who caused this, and she had a vile smile on her face as she watched.

[Nukdae]

Kurama showed no reaction besides another hesitant smile when Raveik made a reference to a dish that shared his true name. It was not like he would ever reveal that to her, anyway. At least, that was what he thought.

He allowed himself to be dragged over to the nearby restaurant and took the seat opposite of the girl at the table they were given.

"No, really, I'm not hungry. And there's no need for you to treat me to anything, Miss Raveik," he protested politely. A true gentleman would never allow the lady to treat him. It always had to be the other way around. Though, this was just another human influence on him for the most part.

He was about to start a nice conversation with her, just so there would not be any awkward silence, when he sensed something. His carefree expression turned serious. An awful stench reached his nose, faint, but growing stronger. Maybe whatever it was would not notice them. No... anyone would notice Raveik with her ears and tail. Kurama looked up and around. The feeling he had could not be good. Why would someone reveal their powers so easily and suddenly in this place? Then again, he had openly used rose petals to fend off a group of thugs.

His emerald gaze caught sight of an approaching figure with a deadly aura. He wanted to ignore it, but could not help it. He could feel the danger. What happened to this era being peaceful?

"Um, Miss Raveik?" he said, still looking at the approaching figure that he had just now recognized as the man who had tried to assault the hanyou girl earlier. There was no way that thug was human now.

[Raveik]

Well now it seemed like she and Kurama wouldn't be able to join a nice lunch and get to know each other after all. In a way that was fine with her because she still didn't want to be the only one to sit there and just eat food herself. That would have made her look stupid in a way. It would have left Kurama sitting there watching her eat kurama mixed rice too.She'd caught the scent before the creature had even appeared. It burned her nose, and made the fur on her tail bristle up.

Her teal light-blue gaze shifted back in the direction the creature was coming from. She could see 8 other figures coming up along side it. Rats? Looking back to Kurama again through those red black bangs, she spoke. "Shuichi, do you think maybe we should leave here? If it's coming after us we'll be putting to many lives in danger." Her voice held concern for all of the people around them. They didn't need to suffer or even see a creature like this. It was a huge problem and she didn't like the looks of it.

Where was her father or Shadow when she needed them? Wait no... she had to be able to take care of this herself, maybe with the help of Kurama. She couldn't just always stand back and watch people fight for her. It made her look weak. The girl didn't even bother to place her order and stood back up, her ears pinned back, looking at this creature. That was when she saw it was the guy from the alley just moments ago. "But how," she randomly thought aloud. The aura it gave off was to sinister for her liking.

[Kyoso no Oni]

The thug continued to walk toward the restaurant where the two of them were located, the rats following in his wake, and it was still moving unnaturally. As it approached it stopped and began to cough, a wet, hacking cough that brought up a thick, black blood. Some of the blood splattered on the ground and one of the rats rushed forest and licked it up as it boiled on the ground. Once the coughing fit ended the horror spasmed as if in agony then lurched forward toward the resturant. While most people that noticed it started to move away, pone man didn't move fast enough and was backhanded over five feet by the corrupted thug. He was not cut by the claws. The former thug looked up through the window at Kurama and Raveik and in a labored, out of breath voice said, "Need to..... Die..... Kill......me...."

In the shadows of the alley the woman watched, she had decided that this would be entertaining, and definitely worth it. While she tended to me reserved in her more overt actions, she was still a creature of Jigoku and that meant that chaos, destruction, and terror was her part of her very being though she was cunning enough and patient enough to be patient and as a result this was but a test, to draw out the other so called freaks and see what thy were, if they were just humans, she would kill the horror and giant rats and leave, if not though..... well, she would decide then.

[Nukdae]

There were just too many people around for his liking. When the former thug shoved a man aside, just for being in the way, he wanted to rush over and slay the corrupted creature right then and there. He would not stand for it, but this was the city and there was very little he could do without exposing himself. He completely agreed with Raveik about leaving. He did not want to involve innocent people that had nothing to do with this.

Kurama stood from his seat when Raveik did. While she was distracted by pondering how the thug was what he was now, he discreetly went further into the restaurant and promptly found and pulled the fire alarm, but not before he planted a seed that would make it so the alarm would still sound, but the authorities would not be alerted. Everyone who had not yet noticed the odd figure got up from their meals and left in a rush while the employees either left as well, or looked confused and frightened, but they, too, followed the departing group of people.

Now that the place was empty of any innocent bystanders, there would be less of a problem confronting this problem. There were still people outside, so he thought it would be better to stay in the restaurant and lure the creature in. Kurama looked over at Raveik from where he was, "Shut the blinds on the windows," he said as he cut off the fire alarm's blaring siren. He wanted to make sure that a random passerby would not see anything, either. Only the door stood open.