Chapter 2 – A new companion?

Authors note: Props to anyone who gets what the repair scene is a take off of.

*Ex-script from the diary of Haruka Rotama, August 4th 2042, South Okinawa*

The next morning, I headed downstairs after getting ready to make the journey to Naha. The rest of our clan was already waiting for me, and like Sunanomi said, Dasu, Xia, and Connor, had come back. The others apologized for leaving, though Dasu noted that he only returned to avenge Kio and Lelu, and find out what exactly they died for. Xia responded to this, by smacking his head. Sunanomi pointed out that to get to Naha, we had to take the north tunnels. We grabbed our belongings, and left the Inn.

Before leaving town, we stopped by the various shops to stock up on medical supplies, ammo, and food. At the weapon shop, Sunanomi talked me into trading in my old police revolver for a 9mm Beretta. That old gun had served me well for the last few months, but as he said, it was time for an upgrade. Sunanomi carried a Dragunov SVD as his primary weapon, and a makeshift pipe shotgun as a backup.

"I wish I could get a better back up weapon," he said, as I payed for my new handgun. "These pipe shotguns are designed to be as cheap as possible. Though most new age guns don't compare to pre-destruction." I caught Joshiro eyeing a katana, but talked him out of buying it since he was more suited to using spears. On the way out, we ran into Yin. He said nothing, but flipped us off. This made me realize just how much resentment he had been bottling up the last few months, and it made me feel even worse. We had to drag Joshiro out of the shop before he could start a fight.

We left town, and headed to Ozato tunnels, which were the only way to get to Naha with out hitching a ride on a fishing boat. The tunnels themselves were dark, but a string of lights laid out by the hunters showed us which tunnel we had to follow. Xia and Connor followed us in the rear, since they weren't fighters. There were no signs of demons yet. We came to a fork, and Sunanomi read the sign that looked like it had recently been posted.

"Warning: The main tunnel has collapsed again. Those who need to get to Naha, will have to use the maintenance passage to the right. Ask the watchman to unlock it for you."

"Well, I don't see any damn watchman," Dasu said.

"Maybe he's by the cave in," Joshiro replied, and we headed to the left passage. After a bit of walking, we found out why we hadn't seen any sign of the guards. A number of Pretas were picking at the remains of hunter.

"Well that's just great," I said. "Any ideas, guys."

"Way ahead of you," Sunanomi answered. I saw him pull out a grenade from his equipment belt.

"Wait, you'll destroy the key!" I said, but he had already pulled the pin. He tossed it at the demons and covered his face. Turns out it wasn't a regular grenade at all. An extremely loud bang and a bright flash left me stunned. I could barely make out the sounds of gunshots, spear strikes, and magic being cast. When my eyes finally cleared, the Pretas were dead, and Sunanomi retrieved the key from what was left of the hunter's corpse.

"What the hell was that?" I asked in an irritated tone.

"Stun grenade, also known as a flash-bang. Sorry I didn't warn you, but I thought you knew." I suppose he was right. Most hunters would have a wide knowledge of weaponry. I decided to drop the issue, as we headed to the maintenance passage. After walking for what seemed like an eternity in the empty tunnel, we finally found the exit, and could see light coming in.

"It's about damn time." Dasu said, as he walked forward. Sensing danger, I quickly pulled him back just as a Tengu tried to attack him.

"Shit, ambush! Quick, get behind me!" Joshiro yelled. A pack of Pretas and several Tengu were blocking the exit. Dasu quickly cast a maragi spell to push them back, and Joshiro leaped at the Pretas. "Sunanomi! Get the Tengu!" He yelled, and Sunanomi blasted the nearest Tengu with his shotgun.

As I started to cast a media spell, my mind suddenly became muddled, and I was unable to finish the cast. I looked over, and saw a Knocker that we somehow missed. It had hit me with the Makajamon spell. Dasu ran over, and chopped me on the head with his hand.

"Get a hold of yourself!" He yelled, and burned the Knocker with another agi cast. "Go help Suna!" To my right, a Tengu was attempting to bite off Sunanomi's arm. I quickly took a shot with my handgun, and knocked the demon away. This allowed Sunanomi to recover, and finish it off with a shotgun blast. As Joshiro finished clearing the Pretas, I cast a media healing spell on my allies.

"You okay, Sunanomi?" Xia asked, as her and Connor walked up to us. "Let me take a look at that."

"I'm fine," He responded and moved his arm around to show her. "Haruka's healing was enough." That made me feel a little better, I'll admit. Dasu started heading toward the exit.

"Well that was fun. Let's get out of here before something else pops up," he said.

"We should stop be Haebaru first. I think we all need a break," Sunanomi responded. We exited the tunnels, and stepped back into the waste land. Agreeing with Sunanomi's suggestion, we headed for the town just north of us.

Haebaru itself, can be a rather socking spectacle for first time travelers. According to some of the villagers, the original Haebaru had been ground zero for one of the nuclear missiles, which atomized the town. They founders of new Haebaru, rebuilt it from the ground up, and it looked like a village out of the old story books my mother used to read to me. The buildings were mostly made of wood, and the town was surround by various plant life. Yes, plant life. A direct contradiction to an endless waste land of brown dust and dead trees.

"It's pretty relaxing, isn't it?" Connor said as we entered the village. "This is one of the few places you can still grow food with out an artificial green house. Apparently the demons don't seem to bother them, either."

Joshiro looked around before he replied. "You should see the Nakano district. It's practically a forest now. Kinda creepy with the rest of the country a dead wasteland, if you ask me."

"Looks like something is going on over there," I said, and pointed. Several older villagers were surrounding an old well. We walked up, and one of them turned to us.

"Oh, hunters? Excuse me, but I'm Torhu, the leader of this village. Normally we welcome travelers, but we have a little problem on our hands at the moment."

"What's the problem?" I responded.

"For the past several hours, we have been hearing what sounds like a girl crying. It's coming from that well. Most of the villagers aren't fighters, so no one is willing to take a look."

"If my husband were alive, this wouldn't be a problem," An older woman said. "A few years ago, a pixie got trapped down there, and he saved her. She actually still lives with us." Just then we heard a sound from the well. It was a low 'nyaaa' sound. This caught Sunanomi's attention, surprisingly.

"What was that?" He asked.

"That's what I've been telling you about. Look, we can't offer you much, but will you please help who ever is down there?" Torhu said.

"What do you want to do, Haruka?" Joshiro asked. We heard the 'nyaaa' sounds again, and Sunanomi spoke up.

"I think we should take a look." Dasu and Connor stared at him in disbelief.

"What the... since when do you stick your nose into other peoples problems?" Dasu said.

"Yeah, you usually don't care much outside getting payed." Connor added.

"Shut up!" He snapped. "Stay up here if you want, but I'm going in." Sunanomi started to descend the rope that the villagers had prepared. I told them to 'knock it off', and we descended after him, while Xia and Connor stayed behind.

"It's just a well. How deep could it be?" Joshiro said, as he climbed in. That question was quickly answered, as we reached the bottom.

"How deep could it be... You had to open you're big mouth!" Dasu said in irritation. We were interrupted by another 'nyaaa'.

"There's that sound again," Sunanomi said. We started to move into the narrow passages. "I wonder if it's what I think it is."

"I really wish we had some flashlights. I can barely see a thing," Joshiro said, as he took the lead with his lighter. Thankfully, the back part of the the passage opened up a bit. Suddenly, we spotted a figure on the ground.

"I-is that a cat?" Joshiro asked. The figure started to rise.

"No, look closer," I responded.

"Just my luck," The figure said as it emerged from the shadows. "First I get trapped down here, and now a bunch of humans show up." Hissing at us, the figure revealed itself to be a Nekomata.

"W-wait!" Sunanomi said. "The villagers sent us here to help you!"

"Hiss, Humans are liars!" The Nekomata replied.

"Stop!" He tried to reason with her, but she lunged at us. Joshiro swung his spear at her, but he missed and the Nekomata started grappling with him.

"A little help here, guys!" He yelled, as he tried to break free. Both Sunanomi and I, had our weapons raised, but we couldn't fire. I don't know what his reasoning was, but for me, it was her eyes. There wasn't any sign of blood lust that you usually get from a beast type. The only thing I saw, was fear. As Joshiro broke free, the Nekomata was hit by a zio spell from Dasu. The Nekomata jolted back, and was stunned for a brief moment.

"What the hell are you idiots doing! Shoot it!" Dasu yelled. The Nekomata recovered from being stunned, and knocked Joshiro and Dasu back with a mazanma spell. Then she turned to Sunanomi, and lunged at him. For a moment, I thought he was going to shoot her, but he swung the pipe shotgun down like a sword, and stuck her shoulder. This knocked her onto her back, and caused the shotgun to break in half. He quickly tossed it aside, and drew his rifle.

"STOP! Just stop! I don't want to hurt you."

"Hiss... Ouch... You jerks," She angrily replied. "D-damn! I lost to humans..."

"We were sent here to help whoever was making those sounds. This doesn't have to end in bloodshed!" Sunanomi tried to get through, but the cat demon didn't respond. The rest of us were to shocked to do anything. Finally, Dasu broke the silence.

"Holy crap! Are you guys seeing this? I think Suna has lost it."

I finally regained my composure, and shouted at him. "Shut the hell up, Dasu!"

"Why are you getting mad at me? Why is Suna being nice to a demon of all things? Hell, he's never this nice period."

"Maybe he likes... cats, I guess?" Joshiro responded.

"Just watch," I said, as I tried to get them to stop bickering.

"We can help you, if you stop fighting us," Sunanomi said. The Nekomata finally started calming down.

"Fine, you win," She responded, and appeared to give up. I sighed with relief, since I didn't want to take her life either.

"Do you have a name?" Sunanomi asked.

"No... I've never had such a thing."

"Well, I'm Sunanomi. Those are my teammates, Haruka, Dasu, and Joshiro." Sunanomi paused for a moment. "Um, you're a Nekomata, yes? May I call you Neko, for now?" I heard Dasu mumble something like "Seriously? That's the best you can come up with?" I never got his thoughts on this, since Dasu didn't keep a journal of his own.

"I guess so," The demon replied. "But Sunanomi... That's a strange name, even for a human."

"Well, I don't think that's my real name," Sunanomi responded. "Big mouth over there, was the one who started calling me that."

"I heard that, Jackass!" Dasu yelled, as he turned back to Sunanomi.

"Nyahaha! You're funny," The demon finally started to relax a little. I was glad to see that this would end with out any more fighting. Sunanomi thought for a bit, before continuing.

"Do you have a home to return to? If not, then why don't you come with us? We're heading to our new place in Naha." Joshiro and Dasu looked at him with expressions of loss.

"What the hell? Are you insane?" They both said, but we ignored them.

"Huh? I'm a demon, you know. I don't think you're bad like the other humans, but... why do you care what happens to me?"

"Who knows," he responded with a shrug. "You can come with us and find out, or part ways at the surface. Your choice." Joshiro and Dasu started whispering to each other.

"Geez, Dasu! He treats demons better than his own kind."

"Hey, this is news to me! I mean, I knew he was weird and a cold heart-ed bastard, but... what the holy hell, man?" The Nekomata walked up to Sunanomi and stopped right in front of him.

"I think... I think I would like that. Is it really okay? Can I really come with you?"

Not missing a chance to add such a cute kitty to our group, I jumped in before the others could protest. "It's alright with me! You should come with us!"

"Nyaa! I'll go!" She said, happily.

"That's a good kitty," Sunanomi said, and started petting the top of her head, and she purred with a happy expression. This made Joshiro extremely jealous.

"I want to pet her too!" He said, and I gave him a rather nasty glare. Suddenly, Neko started rubbing her head on Sunanomi's chest.

"Whoa, whoa there! Not so close!" We all gave him exasperated looks.

"Nyaha, the first humans I found that are nice. This will be interesting."

"You guys are the ones who have to explain this to Connor," Dasu said, who appeared to have given up.

"Oh, I've seen you humans adapt our magic into your weapons. I'll lend you some of mine!" With that, Neko showed Sunanomi how to channel charm magic into his bullets.

"I think it's time we get out of here. Follow us, Neko," I said, as we lead her back to the surface. As we came out of the well, I got a better look at her. She was a little different than the cat demons I had previously encountered. Her fur was lighter, and her hair was a pinkish color. She also wore tattered clothing, which was also unusual since most Nekomata just shamelessly walk around nude. Her tail wasn't split at the end, either.

Anyway, the villagers rewarded us with food, which surprised us. They didn't seem to care that we did all that work for a demon, and we accepted their hospitality. The fresh food was quite delicious, though Neko, Sunanomi, and Dasu, only ate the beef. After filling our stomachs, we left Haebaru, and made our way towards Naha.

It took several hours to reach the city. Thankfully, we didn't encounter too many roaming demons, though we were almost ambushed by a group of angels. Thanks to Neko ratting them out, we were able to get the upper hand on them. I was just glad we made it to the city before sunset.

"Takuya said our new base was just outside the city," Connor said, as he looked around the city limits. "I guess it's that building over there?" He pointed to a two story house that looked rather run down. A sign at the entrance said, 'Private property of Hunter Clan Sabre' and under that was an amended notice 'Under new management'. Having answered that question, I swallowed the bad feelings I was getting, and we entered the building.

"This place... Is a wreck!" Dasu said, as we looked around the main hall.

"Yeah, a real dump. Was Clan Sabre a bunch of lazy pigs?" Xia responded.

"I guess we know why Gara said 'that house' with that stupid grin on his face," said Sunanomi.

"Yeah, and Takuya was trying so hard to not laugh," Connor chimed in. "They must really be laughing their asses off at us, right about now."

"Lousy bastards.." Dasu said, as he started taking a closer look. The state of the building really concerned me. It would clearly need a lot of work.

"Do you think we can still use it?" I asked.

"I don't know," Sunanomi responded. "I'm not sure if we can fix this mess."

"No kidding. Clan Sabre could have left the place in a SOMEWHAT decent state," Joshiro said, as he walked over to where Dasu was.

"Wait! Watch out for that-" Sunanomi's warning came too late, and Joshiro fell through the floor. "Broken floor board... Idiot!" We rushed over to the new hole in the floor.

"Son of a BITCH that hurt!" Joshiro yelled from the basement.

"Are you alright?" I asked.

"Yeah, I think so," he yelled back. "Wait.. what is this? It's... IT'S A SSSPPPIIIDDDEEERRR!" We heard him run to the other side of the room, "Stairs! I'm getting the hell outta here!" We looked over and saw Joshiro emerge from the basement.

"Well that was fun. OH, we got a basement full of broken bottles and cobwebs. And Dasu, it looks like you were wearing that same pair of socks for weeks. That's disgusting!"

"I don't need a lecture from someone who screams like a girly girl over a spider," he snapped.

"We'll see how you fair when that spider is bigger than you!" Great, we had spider demons in the basement. "I'm going to go check upstairs." The rest of us continued assessing the damage.

"Man, even if we start now, it's going really late before this building is even remotely serviceable." Sunanomi said. I noted the fact that would also be expensive. Neko didn't seem to have a care in the world.

"Suni! I'm tired, can I take a nap?" She asked. Sunanomi turned, and gave her a bewildered look.

"...Suni? Seriously?"

"Ha! You got a nickname," I said, and Xia said that she thought it was cute.

"This is going to be fun," Dasu said with a smirk. I had to agree with him.

"Shut up!" Sunanomi responded, and turned towards the ceiling. "Hey Joshiro, How's the upstairs look?" As if on cue, Joshiro fell through the ceiling, and landed right in front of Sunanomi.

"Where did you get that scar?"

Sunanomi sighed, and handed me a list that he had been writing. "Can you and Xia go get supplies? We need to get started, or we are going to be pulling an all night-er." I nodded my head, and took the list from him.

"But I wanna take a nap with Neko!" I heard Xia say. Seriously, woman?

"Nyaha, that's a good human!" Sunanomi just face palmed at this.

"You know what? Maybe you should stay. Who knows when Dasu will shove a nail through his hand."

"Oy! Screw you guys!" He yelled.

"Ugh, Never mind. I'm going, okay?" Xia and I got left to go buy supplies. While in the city, I noticed that the further towards the center, the better the reconstruction effort was. The area near Takuya's headquarters looked like it was never destroyed in the first place. I also noticed a building with a strange symbol over the door. Another hunter noticed my gaze, and walked over.

"That's Clan Kuzunoha's detective office," he said. "They specialize in gathering information. If you're a hunter too, you will probably end up dealing with them at some point."

"Kuzunoha, huh? That sounds familiar." I said. "Thanks for the tip."

"Well be careful," He responded. "Their leader is really cute, but she's also a total hot head." We departed from the Kuzunoha building, and headed to the shopping district.

This ends my account for the day. Attached is Sunanomi's audio log that goes into the details that I had missed.

*Ex-script from the audio log of Sunanomi, August 4th 2042, Naha.*

As the girls went to go buy supplies, we looked around to figure out where to start. I figured the best thing to do, would be to plug up that hole, and fix any remaining broken boards. Dasu went over to Connor.

"Get the tools."

"What tools?"

"The tools we've been using for the last two years!"

"Oh, those tools."

"Yeah, those tools." Thankfully, they didn't get into another pissing contest, and we began to unpack the over sized backpack that Connor had brought. I will never know how he manages to lug that thing around all day. Anyway, the girls returned, and we began to work on repairing the floor. After a while, we got most of the floor fixed, except for the hole that Joshiro made. Haruka and Xia came back from another shopping trip, and brought in a large storage crate. Joshiro and Dasu were standing in the middle, taking a break. I sat on the far right side of the room, and leaned against the wall.

"I want this to go on the right," Haruka said, indicating that she wanted the new crate to go where I was.

Dasu, who wasn't paying attention, looked up. "Supply crate on the right, let me see." He looked over to HIS right. "Right."

Joshiro, who was standing opposite to Dasu, interrupted him. "Wait a minute. Haruka said, the crate goes on the right." Joshiro pointed to his own right.

Dasu gave an irritated sigh, and raised his fist out in front of him.

"See that?"

"Yeah, it's a fist."

Dasu swung it down on Joshiro's head. "RIGHT OR LEFT," he yelled at Joshiro, who didn't respond. "Ignorant, eh? Fine, I'll explain so even you can understand it. When I say go, we both point to the right. GO!" Both pointed to their own right again.

Dasu called over Connor, who was resting on the north side. "Hey, porcupine! point to the right for this idiot." Connor responded by pointing to his right, and Dasu hit both of them. All three of them didn't notice that they were wrong, and Haruka already told them where she wanted it.

"You're all wrong. It goes over here... Never mind, I'll do it myself." As I moved the crate into position, the others started to work on the hole in the floor.

"Get me a board!" Dasu said to Joshiro.

"Get me a board!" Joshiro passed to Connor.

"Get me a-" Connor tried to pass it on me, but Dasu Yelled at him.

"GIVE IT TO ME!" As Dasu walked towards them, he got too close to the edge, and fell through, making the hole even larger.

"What are you doing down there?" Joshiro said.

"COME'ER!" Dasu roared from the basement.

"I think he wants you," Joshiro said to Connor.

"BOTH OF YOU!" The two sighed, and headed downstairs.

"What happened?" I could here Joshiro say.

"NOTHIN'" And I heard the distinct sound of someone getting punched.

"What are you getting so upset over?" Connor said? "You only fell fourteen feet!"

"Was that all it was? Oh well, I'm sorry, guys." Another punch. "I'LL MURDER YA!"

"What the hell?" I said, and turned towards Haruka. "Guess I'd better go break it up."

"For crying out loud," She said, and did a face palm.

*Audio feed was cut due to numerous expletives. Entry continues after midnight.*

It was 3 in the morning before we finally cleaned the place up enough that it could be considered livable. The floor was completely repaired, most of the debris was cleared, some new carpets and a few pieces of furniture were brought in, and Neko cleared out that damn spider demon from the basement. I sure as hell wasn't going to go down there. We still needed to plug up the hole in the second floor, but for the time being, we were done.

"Man, I'm tired!" Joshiro said. "I'm think I could pass out at anytime." Dasu rolled his eyes at him.

"I love how we did most of the work, yet the girls are all tired out." Yeah, even I know that was a dumb thing to say, smart guy. I could see the Haruka's face become instantly pissed.

"I'm getting really tired of that mouth of yours!" She roared. "Kio may have put up with it, but I won't. If you have a problem with that, then leave!" Surprisingly, Dasu backed off.

"Tch, I'm going to bed." Dasu stormed off, and I turned to Connor.

"Holy crap! Did we really see that?" Seeing Dasu get successfully told off was a rare spectacle. Usually the only two that would get away with that, were Kio and Lelu.

"Yeah, that was awesome," Connor replied. "I think I'm starting to see what Kio saw in her."

"Yeah, this is quite an interesting girl we came across." I couldn't help but to smirk a bit. "But perhaps things may work out for us after all."

Haruka turned to us. Now that her anger had subsided, she looked embarrassed. "Haha... thanks for the vote of confidence, I guess. Sorry about the shouting. Lost my temper again."

"Well just remind us never to get on your bad side." I responded, and Connor sat down at the desk. I don't know what possessed him to want to try to get our registration finished at this time of the night. I walked over and sat down next to him.

"Alright, give me some of those. You aren't doing that alone," I said. Connor looked at me like my head had exploded.

"Wait, seriously? You're going to help? YOU!" I felt like smacking him, but we really needed to get started. We both began filling out the forms, when Connor spoke up again.

"Wait, do you guys think we should change our name? I mean, now that Kio is gone, I feel like we shouldn't just take his Legacy from him." I guess this is true. I don't think Dasu would like it if we just continued using his name when someone who wasn't original member was taking over leadership.

"Okay, then what do we call ourselves?" I asked.

Connor thought for a minute, then suddenly shouted. "Oh, I know! Orange Tigers! RAWR!"

"SHUT THE HELL UP, DOWN THERE!" I heard Dasu yell from the hole in the ceiling.

"No.. no, we aren't doing that" Haruka said, and I had to agree with her.

"Got any Ideas, Haruka? Names aren't something I'm good at." I said. We all thought for a few minutes before she responded.

"How about... the White Wings? I bet that isn't taken." It wasn't the greatest name, but it had a nice ring, and as she said, probably wasn't taken.

"I'm okay with that. Connor?"

"Works for me," he responded. White Wings it is. At that time, Xia had finished sorting the medical supplies.

"I'm turning in? You coming, Haruka?"

"Yeah, just a second," she responded.

"Oh, like I said before, I'll be coordinating our jobs," Connor said. "I'll try to get some work for us in the next few days." Haruka nodded in response.

"I think I'm going to pass out for real this time," Joshiro said, and starting walking to the stairs. "Wait a minute, how are we doing the room assignments?"

"Well, Xia is the only girl, so that's who I'm rooming with," Haruka said.

"Dibs on Sunanomi's room!" Connor quickly said. I assumed he only did this to avoid the predicament Joshiro was now in.

"Great, that leaves me with Dasu. Thanks, guys.." He walked upstairs, and was out of sight.

"Nyaa, I'm tired." Neko said, who was leaning on me."

"So what about her?" Haruka asked.

"Nyaaa, I'm sleeping in Suni's room!"

I gently stroked her ears before saying, "Like hell you are! You can sleep with Haruka."

"Nyuuu, awww." Though she didn't move, and ended up falling asleep with her head in my lap while I worked on the paper work. This would end up being a very long night.

This ends my audio log for the 4th of August 2042.