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It was going to take Kinjin awhile to work off the payment for the tattoo, but it'd been worth it. His hand tingled and ached right now. And he still had to face his parents.

Cringing inwardly at the thought, Kinjin walked even slower as he tried to think about what to do. It wasn't something he could disguise. Suddenly he grinned. Why bother? He had wanted it afterall. Instead he'd see how long it took them to notice.

When his father had told him he was shieldborn, Kin had liked the crest on his shield even more. The idea of a tattoo on his hand had formed even then, rolling around in the back of his mind. And the idea that it should be on his right hand where he could see it had appeared at that moment also. That idea had finally come to fruition.

He walked in the door, his hand shoved into his sleeve for the moment. His mother was waiting. His father was walking in from another door. Both glanced up at him.

"Go clean up for supper, Kin." she stated, giving him a cursory once over.

"Sure." he said, turning for the staircase as they both watched him for a moment.

"Don't be long." his father reminded.

"I won't." His reply was short and both noticed.

Several minutes later, he was clean and walking into the dining room. Sitting there, Kin remained silent for a few moments. A secret snicker in his eyes as well as a slight smirk on his face. Neither had noticed yet. Just as he thought he'd get away with it, his father blinked, nearly choking.

The man reached out, taking Kin's hand in his arm. "A tattoo?! What did you do today?" he growled as Kin flinched at the sensitivity of the image and skin on his arm.

"Umm.... got a tattoo?" he snickered slightly.

"A tattoo...?" his mother echoed, moving so she could see.

His father's hand popped upwards smacking him on the back of the head. "Try again."

Kinjin explained about wanting a tattoo for a long time. His left hand reached up to rub the back of his head. That had stung.

"If I'm shieldborn, then why shouldn't I have a tattoo like my shield does if I want one?"

"Why? Because you are still a child, Kinjin." his mother growled. "It won't come off."

Kinjin shrugged as his father raised an eyebrow. "Is that why you got it? What did it cost you?" he finally sighed.

"Of course, it's why I got it. I wanted it. I wouldn't just have any old thing put on my hand. I like our crest. Um... well.. you see... " he began to hesitate as he thought about the price.

"Kinjin. What did it cost? And how did you pay for it?"

"I... um.. well.. I didn't.... exactly. You see... what happened.. was... " In a few minutes he'd told them about the dare, the daring escape, running into Caer, and the rest.

His father said a few choice words that had his mother blinking in surprise. Even Kinjin stared at him.

"125 Newts?! 125 Newts?!" Shaking his head, the man snarled. "You WILL work it off faithfully and you will still do the chores given to you for here. Do I make myself clear?"

Kinjin stared at him, nodding. "Of course, I will. I didn't go into this without thinking about the consequences, Dad. The man is paying me 5 Newts a week to sweep and run errands. It'll take awhile, but he agreed."

"Fine, but I want to meet this man myself. And your friend Caer. I should at the very least apologize to him for the trouble you caused."

Kinjin suddenly grinned. "You'll like Caerdwyn. He's interesting. He told me that I'd never be good enough to get him muddy. I will one day. His fault he never gave me a time limit on the challenge."

"Oh lord..." his father sighed. "Another plot in there already."

"Sure, what did you expect?" Kinjin smirked. "I'll wait until the proper moment though and when I'm entirely certain that he'll be in the mud. Of course, I'll most likely be in there with him too."

His mother glanced at Kinjin and then his father when he suddenly burst into laughter. She scowled when her husband shrugged.

"That's my Chaos Blade for certain."

"No kidding." she sighed. "Now eat before the rest of the meal gets cold." What was she to do with them? She honestly didn't know.

Kinjin slips in and waves to the newest, though he only knows a few. He continues to stare at the tree for a few minutes, shakes his head as he sits down on his knees beside Belle to watch her.

"She needs more flowers, Caer. I think you should go pick her a bouquet." he states, his lips twitching upwards into a slight smile full of mischief. "Afterall, it's not proper for me to give them to her yet. I don't know her well enough."



Kinjin sat still watching Belle for a few minutes. Then getting to his feet, he grinned, "I'll see you both later. I have to go to work now."

Then he stopped, turning to stare at Caer. "And yes, Caer, the tattoo." he smirked. "I still think you should pick her a bouquet of flowers. Or I will when I get older." Then with a laugh, he disappeared out the doorway.

Kinjin stopped by the HQ on his way home. The tattoo was still no paid off, but it was getting there. Only another 20 weeks at the rate he was going. That wasn't too long at all. At least at this point, but is certainly didn't leave him time for anything else. And it was time to feed his horses at home. Shaking his head when he saw noone was around, he headed home. There'd be just enough time to take care of them, give each a piece of apple, and pet them for a minute or two before he'd be called to supper.

Somedays were just too busy. Even if it was his fault.

leave room for leadin..

Arzo grinned back, he had done some damaging things, even if no one here knew about them.

He had not ever met Caer, either that or he did not remember him at all. However he though that seeing someone like Kin try to accomplish such a mission would be fun to watch, he just had to keep himself away from the battleground.

Kin laughed and then smirked. "Maybe we can get Brifin and Caer at the same time, Mas. Now that would be a challenge."

He thought for a moment. "I wonder how many people we could get in on this. Of course..." he frowned suddenly, "the more know, the more chance of the target finding out and the harder it will be."

Edward roared along the dirt packed road on his black motorcycle, leaning over the bars as the afternoon sun warmed his back. Wind rushed across his lean form, making his blond, braided hair fly about wildly. A small smile could be seen on his lips as the increasingly cold air caressed his form as he traveled at high speeds down the road, kicking up a trail of dust behind him. His immature red wings were spread as he rode, letting the wind blow around them, giving ed the sensation of the flight he would one day achieve. His automail arm glinted in the sunlight as he traveled.
Before long a familiar building appeared on the horizon, a tall oak tree rising from the middle of it. His smile grew wider at the sight of it. He was suddenly grateful that Hakari and his brother Jing had come and ousted him from his lab in the demonic citadel. They were right, he really had been spending to much time in there with his alchemic experiments.
He came up to the door and cut the engine and dismounted. He put down the kickstand and pulled the keys from the ignition before heading inside.
He spotted three malpharin there, and approached them, hands in his pockets. He recognized Mas, though the other two didn't really ring any bells.
"Hey Mas. Long time no see." the alchemist said, speaking up once the others had finished talking so as not to interrupt.

caught more his attention than the Malepharinn himself.

Mas turned around only to see Ed. He hadn't seen him in so long. It seemed his appearance reflected it too! Ed was a child when Mas last saw him. It seemed he had gotten in an accident of some sort as his eyes stared at the metal arm. He looked back at Ed and grinned.
"Hello Ed! It's been a while indeed! What have you been up to?" He leaned on his staff remembering throwing water balloons from the towering oak growing out of the headquarters. He chuckled as he remembered Brifin's reaction to it.

Ed rubbed his metal arm with his white gloved hand as Mas asked him what he had been up to. "Oh, alot. More than I care to share." He said with a choked kind of laugh. He shook it off though and looked over at Arzo. "Who's your friend?" He asked Mas. Arzo looked to be his own age, though seemed to have bat-like attributes.

Mas nodded as he respected people's privacy. He looked back at Arzo the Ed.
"THis, is Arzo. A good friend of mine. He's our age, not that it should matter." He smiled

Arzo wondered what Mas meant by such a statement, but again, following his usual maners he greeted Ed "Nice to meet you, Ed" he answered, staring at Ed the same way he had done at Kinjin a while ago.

Edward gave Arzo a friendly smile and held his right, automail hand for him to shake. "Nice to meet you Arzo. My full name is Edward Elric, but you can just call me Ed." he said as he ran his left hand through the blond strands of hair hanging down in his face, brushing them away from his golden eyes that met Arzo's stare steadily.


Arzo took Ed's hand, and grinned a bit "I'm just Arzo", he said finally smiling, but only for a very short moment.

Edd nodded and released Arzo's hand. The alchemist turned slightly and looked up at the silhouette of the building. The tree he had made once in a battle still stood in the center of the building, rising up through a hole in the ceiling that Ed had made for it.
"Good, it's still there." Ed said with a smile as he gazed up at it, it's green leaved turned silver by the gentle light of the moon. They whispered to him as a cool breeze blew through them. A stray leaf fell from it's branch and drifted down slowly as Edward watched it. He reached up and snatched it out of the air before bringing it down and looking at it, idly twirly it between his metal thumb and forfinger. THe smile faded though as he looked at the hand holding that leaf. He had made that tree quite some time ago, back when he was still whole.

"What's wrong?" said Arzo quickly as he noticed Ed's change in expression. He gazed around without moving, trying to figure out what it was.

"Oh, nothing...just memories." Ed said with a shake of his head. He dropped the leaf to the ground and then said "Oh hey, want to see something cool?" He asked with a mischevious gleam in his eye.

Arzo was curious about what Ed meant "Sure, what something cool?" he asked with a pretty stoic expression, not really seeming excited about it.

"Okay. So...let me see now..." he muttered to himself. Ed looked around and spotted a large rock nearby, not far from the door to the hq and walked over to it. "This should be good...a fountain maybe...yeah..." Edward clapped his hands together and then placed them on the boulder. Lightning flashed forth from the palms of his hands and crackled across the surface of the stone. When the light faded, an ornate fountain stood in place of the boulder that had been there only moments before. There was no water in it, as there was no pipes to provide it with water, but it was a magnificent piece of art none the less.
"How's that?" he asked, looking at arzo as he dusted off his hands.

Arzo lowered his ears, like big cats do when on the hunt, and smiled widely "That was extremelly nice", he said. This Ed boy looked like someone he could get a big advantage of. "Real nice" he said as he moved forward to take a closer look at the fountain "How did you do it?", he used his lantern to light up the darkest spots and not miss any details on it.

"It's called Alchemy." Ed explained. "I'm a creation alchemist. Alchemy is a kind of science that allows a person to take the matter of one object and transform it into something of equal proportions. That is called the law of equivilant exchange." he explained.

Mas laughed at Kinjin
"Oh you don't pester me! You amuse me and keep me on my feet!" He threw his hands in the air while on his tiptoes to make things clear and add a little action in the convo. They had been sitting around for a bit anyways.
Kinjin snorted slightly at Mas. He was fun to be around. "Me? I'm really nobody, but my name is Kinjin Konran. Kin or Kinj will work. Caer calls me trouble, but that's his problem. Or I should say that I am." He broke into a small grin, shrugging.

He stared at her briefly, mischief suddenly gleaming brightly in his golden gaze. "Who are you? And what's YOUR business here? Should we hang her for a spy from the nearest yardarm?" He scratched his head, his lips twitching as he glanced over at Mas. "Can we do that or is it only reserved for pirates and dunking?"

Arzo smiled "I'll help you with that!" he said at Kinjin. Even though he didn't intend to do so he tried to seem serious about the matter. "I'm sure it's not just for pirates and dunking".

Aly grumbled at the younger male. "Why would you even think I am a spy? It doesn't matter, what I do and what I am are of no importance to the likes of you." her purple eyes glared at him. "All I wanted to know was who you were. Though I suppose you aren't important enough to have a name." The teen was annoyed to begin with and this little upstart of a man was getting a very edged Aly.

Arzo smiled at her, this was the first time he met a femalepharin (?) and had now, what he cosidered, a fair idea of her reactions. "Relax, it's not like a really meant that". Unlike the others, whom he usually kept a good distance with. He seemed to quickly take a liking to the girl, of course he was not going to show or tell anyone that.

Aly lifted an eyebrow and looked at the bat malepharin, "What if he did mean such things? Then don't I have a right to protect myself? And since I'm such a slight girl, I'm better at confusing and exasperating people with words rather then anything physical." It wasn't completely true, but who would have to know? There was only some who would know and currently the ones here who knew her at all were Edward and Mashiro.

"I never said you didn't have such a right. In fact you're in all your right to do so." Though, by the way he saw her moving, he knew that she was probably a good fighter, Arzo had experience in his job, and now knew fairly well how to distinguish someone dangerous form someone that was not. He nods at her closing his eyes, "If you feel like I am aggressing you in some way tell me and I shall stop. However I must say I would never do such a thing to a lady or allow someone to for that matter"

Edward snorted and coughed at Aly's claims before breaking into a bout of coughing to hide his laughter. When he had regained his composure he said "If it pleases the lady, this is Arzo." Ed said, gesturing to the bat malpharin with his gloved hand.
The thunder of hooves could be heard on the approach, and from the darkness of the surrounding night, a tall man in an orange trench appeared astride a black stallion with red eyes. The creature whinnied as it approached the group of malpharin, and snorted as it's master drew it to a halt. Jing leapt from the demon horses back and looked around with a cocky grin. "Hey Ed, Aly." he said with a nod to each as he patted the neck of his steed, who he called Daemon. The horse it'self was much larger than a normal horse. Standing proudly at twenty hands, the demon horse snorted and pawed the earth impatiently, clearly wanting to run. The light of Arzo's lantern bounced off of his glossy black hide and main, lighting up his blood red eyes till they glowed with an inner fire.
Jing looked around and saw a boy he had never met, and nodded to him. He looked at Arzo and thought for a moment before saying "I have not met the other young man, but you I have, if only briefly. Your name was arzo, wasn't it?" he asked the bat malpharin.

"That's right" Arzo said glaring deeply at him, he hated Jing since the instant he met him. His fangs were now clearly visible, he made the lantern light shine less and wondered what Jing carried that he could actually steal.

Jing kept his stance and voice casual, though the experienced eye could see that he had all of his weak spots covered. Any sudden movements would result in the appearance of the large blade he kept latched to his arm under the sleeve of his coat. It could extend with a flick of his wrist, but he wasn't worried about being robbed, as like any intelligent theif, he did not keep his loot on his person.
"Something wrong Arzo?" he asked with a raise of his eyebrow.

Somehow Arzo managed to grin "Not at all" he said, following Jing and trying to keep his casual tone too. He had gotten better and Arzo could see that, at least he did not seem to carry a huge bag of gold anymore. Jing, he thought, would become a good business enemy in a while, but for now Arzo still considered himself superior.

Alianne had nodded and even gave Jing a small smile when he came up and that over-grown horse oh his. But what was more interesting was Arzo's reaction to the theif. She smirked and crossed her arms while watching the exchange.
He raised an eyebrow at the girl and snickered. His name had been given. It meant something to him, but he didn't care if it meant nothing to her or anyone else. He was who he was inspite of family or what anyone else said. But as he watched them, Kinjin decided she was very much different from Belle. She he could see already liked to fight and argue in order to distract and confuse people. He'd watched it often enough to know it when he saw. Rather, he'd done it himself to recognize the actions.

"Just to save further fighting, it was a joke. If I was serious, you'd have known it. Of course," he grinned widely. "If you two like to fight, then by all means go ahead. I'm more interested in the horse." With a slight smirk, Kinjin moved slightly closer to the creature. "He's beautiful..." he said softly, eyes drawn to the creature. Then, "Sign me up for one of those."

Lowers his ears obviosuly disgruntled, however his eyes and face expression didn't show any kind of emotion anymore. Deciding he didn't like Jing nor Alianne anymore, he slowly walked moving a bit farther from them and closer to the tree. Even Kinjin seemed less bothersome now.

He relaxed reclining on the brown tree trunk and studied them from that distance. 'He'd have his revenge on those two later', he smiled at the thought and dedicated himself to watch the beautiful light of his own lantern. He liked the yellows, purples and reds that came from it, and how they mixed nicely with each other in the shadows of the night.

Silver eyes watched Arzo from the branches of the tree he sat beneath.
"Hello there." A soft, feminine voice called to him, for his ears alone. "What are you doing here, all by yourself?" the quiet voice asked again.

Edward rolled his eyes at Jing and Arzo. Thieves...always competing to see who was best. What a pain when one wanted to have a decent conversation. The alchemist leaned boredly against his motorcycle, yawning and inspecting the metal joints of his robotic fingers.
Jing patted his horse as Kinjin approached, and smiled at the boy's admiration towards the animal.
"I can see you have a good eye for horse flesh." Jing said with a grin. "This is Daemon, one of the demon horses the king of the demonic citadel raises for himself and those he trusts. Stole him right out from under the kings nose." he said with a chuckle, remembering that night.
Daemon snorted, head held high as blood red eyes examined the small boy that approached him. He stomped one platter sized hoof and shifted his weight as he watched to see what kinjin would do.

Kinjin grinned suddenly remembering the apples he kept in his pocket just for such an occasion. One moment his palm was empty and the next the bright red fruit was laying in the middle of it although his distance from the creature was proper. He'd been around horses enough to know to treat them with respect and let it be their choice whether to take the offered fruit or a pat on the forehead.

"I don't suppose he likes apples. I usually put a couple in my pocket every morning so I can share with Indigo and Zephyr." he said, entirely unafraid of the creature. How he loved horses in all shapes, sizes, and colors. "Does Daemon eat the same as other horses? I've never seen a demon steed until now. I'm sure he's faster than Indigo is, although I wouldn't trade Indigo for all the treasure in the world. I can count on him when I need to."

Daemon sniffed the apple curiously before snorting and pulling his head back and examining the fruit with disgust.
Jing only laughed and explained "Sorry Kinjin, forgot to warn you that Daemon only eats meat, and prefers drinking blood. Of course he'll eat grass on occasion, water too, but only when there's nothing else available."
Jing ran one hand through his hair and chuckled "Finding a meal for him when we're traveling can be a little akward to say the least. I generally have to find a farm and buy a sheep or two off of them."

Kinjin laughed shoving the apple back into his pocket. A hand slipped through his hair absently as he studied the creature a moment.

"Soooo.." he drawled slightly in amusement. "I'm thinking he'd like a steak better. I'm sure I'd get into trouble taking one of those out of the house, but I'll see what I can do next time. Of course, it wouldn't be the first time I've been in trouble. Most likely won't be the last either."

Tilting his head slightly, he said, "I still think I'll have to try for one olike Daemon at some point. A good horse is worth the effort. And I'm sure it will freak my mother out. That's always a bonus."