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Being set free of her captor’s hold, Mitsu went crashing to the ground as well. Jolted by the impact she lay there a moment trying to gather her senses about her. What had just happened? Pushing herself up on her elbows she looked back just in time to see Yuki fall to the side and the stranger now laying on the ground. Staring uncertainly for a moment longer she was suddenly hoisted to her feet as Neko grabbed hold of both of her arms and practically threw her behind him. “Stay behind me, Mutt.”

The insult never registered as Mitsu obediently hovered as closely as she could behind Neko staring around him at the two men on the ground. Reaching out she took hold of the back of Neko’s shirt like a small child would do to a parent. To that Neko made no acknowledgement that she was there but instead focused on the man on the ground and what he was going to do to get Yuki out of there.

Riyo laid on the ground in writhing pain, biting her lip and letting out little moans of discomfort as her eyes started to well up with red tears. "N... Nya..." She mumbled as she tried to get up and cringed as her efforts became futile. She fell back into the dirt and just layed there... Until she heard footsteps coming toward her. They weren't too far off, either! Was it the person she had seen?! She hoped! She prayed to whatever god would listen that it was! Her tail swayed happily as she saw a figure approach in the darkness, tears of blood falling out of her eyes. Though, the question now was wether they were tears of pain or happiness.

The girl stared up at Hitsu as if she was speaking a forigin language. Her cat ears twitched slightly, and her tail continued to sway. "Nyah." Was her simple reply.

Carefully, she tried to sit up once again, but no dice. She fell back into the dirt. Her body was achey from the fall, and moving wasn't a pleasant thing right now, but she wanted to get closer to this person! She wanted to look at them, sniff them, touch them, just to make sure this wasn't all some twisted illusion her mind was playing on her. She'd had enough of those, not that she remembered anymore. "M'nyaa.." She sighed out pitifully and continued staring at Hitsu as if she was the most amazing thing ever.

His jaw clenched against the stupefaction of Yuki’s move. Stars popped in front of his eyes like amoebas, his mind far, far away. He felt something edge through his glove, slick, wet and warm – the scent of copper permeated his nostrils. Blood. His blood.

He had cut himself on his own blade.

As though through a funnel, the world rushed back to him with an explosion of anger. He hefted Yuki off and rolled atop of him, fisting his bloody hand against his shirt and yanking him upwards. His elbow jerked back, his fist came down, and the sound of fist meeting flesh was only muted by the glove he wore – he slammed his fist back again and backhanded Yuki, shoving himself up the moment his hand disconnected from the younger man’s cheek.

His momentary fury dissipated, and he stepped back from the feline, turning. Yuki was already forgotten.

Though he may have calmed, his hair had become disheveled, falling across eyes that were still lit with a monstrous glow. He took several rigid steps towards Neko, knife pressing back into his sleeve as he held out his bloody hand.

“You have no idea the blood that covers her hands – if you do not give her to me your own blood will soon cover her body like war paint.” The timbre of his voice was like gravel, low and rough from breathlessness.

Taking a step back, Neko made sure to keep Mitsu behind him as Yuval stepped closer, his bloody hand reaching out. “Blood on her hands?” Glancing back at Mitsu, Neko searched for an answer but there was none as she avoided his gaze all together. Her face looked solemn as she looked to the ground still clinging to his shirt for protection. “I don’t buy it.” Neko growl summoning up dark energy in the palm of his hand again, his gaze focused on Yuval. The energy began to grow as a black aura swirled in his palm, devouring small debris from the alleyway as it expanded. As if throwing the swirling mass like a dodge ball, Neko chucked it at Yuval as hard as he could, not worried about hitting Yuki since he was already down. With as little energy as he gathered it would only cause a small explosion but hopefully enough to keep their enemy occupied while they all escaped.

When Yuval mentioned spilt blood, the canine’s ears drooped like a whipped pup. In truth she couldn’t remember much about it, just faint blurs through her rage as she had sought to destroy them but for the most part her memory was blank. It has been like she was a prisoner within her own mind and when she had come too, Mitsu had stood amongst a field of her own destruction. The lab and the people that worked within it scattered in pieces as far as she could see. An alarm was sounding so she knew there would be people there shortly to contain her so taking the opportunity she ran. She had escaped from that place and ended up here.

The girl looked up at Hitsu with surprise as she took her hand back. Had she done something wrong? Had she offended this person in some way?

'Now look at what you've done..'

A voice spoke in her mind again. Her ears went back like a guilty animal's. She hadn't meant to upset them.. As Hitsu looked away, Riyo painfully forced herself up into a crouch and jumped off into the bushes. There was something familiar about the feeling of fear aimed at her presence. But she simply shrugged it off. She could smell someone else in the distance. Lotsa other people, actually. The thought of that perked her up a little.

When Yuval went flying Neko promptly ran to Yuki’s side. He had taken a few good hits to the face but nothing a little time wouldn’t heal. Taking hold of Yuki’s arm, Neko hoisted the other feline onto his back and glanced back down the alleyway where Mitsu stood, nervously eyeing him. Wasting no time, Neko ran to her with Yuki on his back, took hold of her wrist and ran back out of the alleyway heading toward the forest. Tonight was turning out to be such fun. All kinds of strange people were showing up. When did their hidden village become no so hidden anymore?

Mitsu followed behind Neko keeping his pace as they sprinted toward the woods. She didn’t speak, she didn’t know what to say. Despite how much Neko apparently didn’t like her he didn’t seem to believe what that man had told him, even though it had been true.

It wasn’t long until Neko had reached the edge of the forest, but he wasn’t quite sure where Hitsu was. “Hitsu!” He kept running as he searched, refusing to stop incase that mad man had somehow managed to follow. He would have to go back and get his knives soon, there was no way he was going to keep himself unarmed like this. “s**t. HITSU!”

A few more feet and Neko almost ran into Hitsu as she came running out of the forest’s brush. Coming to a halt he swung his arm around and roughly deposited Mitsu on the forest floor. After that was done he set Yuki down as gently as possible before he hovered over Mitsu. “What was that guy talking about? I want an answer!” Apparently he wasn’t going to fully let it go and was either quite worked up over it or was still catching his breath from the run since his chest was heaving in and out. What the man had said had made him curious not to mention worried about what kind of company they were keeping. “What was he talking about ‘blood on your hands’ huh?”

Stunned as she hit the ground, the canine looked back up at Neko fearfully as he came at her demanding answers. Not sure what to say she just dragged herself backward until she had no where to go. “Nyu…I…I.” The more nervous she grew the more the words coming out of her mouth sounded like incoherent noise.