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Kazuhiko tilted his head. "Who would fight us?" he asked, climbing out of the car.
Eara stepped outside, stretching and grinning in a large patch of sunshine. "Beaaaaaaaautiful..." she beamed, reaching towards the treetops. "Are we under a mile away?? What a nice day today..."

"EXCUSE ME!" Kazuhiko started shouting, "I NEED STUFF TO BE THE NEXT HUNTER! CAN YOU HELP US PLEASE?!!! You better be nice, too, because we're not trying to be mean..." he muttered, floating into the air. "HELLLOOOO?!!! Watashi wa KAZUHIKO TARNB! Ka-zu-hi-ko! Kitaria was training me, and she was really nice, but she isn't with us anymore! Can you help us?!! BETTER BE NICE!" he reminded again. "I don't like mean people at all! We brought PRESENTS!"
Eara lit a cig herself. "Guess that answers that question."

Kazuhiko frowned. "He's not stupid." he warned adamantly. "He's just doing his job. If he was stupid, he'd put this off longer and leave Herne the hunter. Duh."
Eara smiled a bit at this.
The boy wasn't inducted, but he was a self-dedicated rat all the same.
"So let's go get them." he nodded promptly. "All business. I have to save my parents, thank you, before a demon-god decides to eat their souls and I literally never see them again."
He was an impatient little bugger.

Kazuhiko glared. "You shouldn't make us feel like prisoners of war instead of guests.... How very rude."
But he kept civil.
His mother would have killed him if she knew he went and pissed off the Korreds.
"If you think you need to be protected from us, well, you're extra stupid." he muttered, slowly following them. "Auntie Kit woulda told you so. I know so. She spoke her mind, like me! She taught me that...."
Even if she did have silence as a stronger ally, and he knew that.
When she did speak however it was usually sharp and biting and to the point.
"Kazuhiko." Eara soothed him, pulling him close. "Would Fir let just anyone into the Fir Darrig base?"
"No..." he looked up at her, the childlike innocence erasing any malice from moments before. "He has to keep the rats safe..."
Eara nodded.
"I understand..." Kazuhiko smiled a bit. "They have little rats of their own?? STILL being silly at least." he giggled, rolling his eyes. He was being quite silly himself, actually, sprawling out in Eara's arms as she carried him, watching Bright Eyes upside down. "Mum always stipulated the point of being a good host... You should never make respectable people or anyone for that matter feel unwelcome. She'd be sassy."
"Yes, she would.." she kept her cig away from him, blowing to the side. "Why don't you snug Fir?? I bet he'd like that."
"YEAH!" he hopped over, hugging the Korred tightly. "Fir, your home is pretty." he whispered. "But I think I know why you left..."

"No. That he was exiled. But he---hang on a minute."
Kazuhiko opened a few portals, peeking into Shiori's dream and finding Aled.
"I gotta borrow those for a sec." he whispered, touching his shoulder. "I'll let you keep them safe here in a few hours or so."
And the Hunter powers were his again.

When he dropped out of the portal, there was definitely a new radiance about him. He kept close to Fir, eyes narrowed on all of them. "I am the Hunter!" he shouted, "And he is the one Kitaria, Kiaran, designated to teach me! You will NOT, I repeat, will NOT interfere with my learning." he warned. "I will NOT tolerate ignoramus ******** preventing me from saving these worlds!"
He hated Herne; if they threatened to keep him, he wasn't going to even hear it.
They would all have to fight him if that was the case, diplomacy be damned.
Kazuhiko was a fiercely loyal kid.

Eara nodded. "He's sorta like his grandfather... Now, Kazuhiko, what would your father say?"
The boy paled immediately, between Fir and Eara.
"Gomen nasai." he apologized quietly. "You just better let him leave..."
He snuggled Fir close, sighing deeply. "I don't care, I'm not losing anyone else ever..."
"He's gone through a lot." Eara apologized, her voice calm and utterly serene. She offered a sad but slightly warmed smile. "He hates Herne, doesn't he?"
The boy wrinkled his nose. "Yeaaah! I-don't-like-him-at-all." he growled. "He keeps hurting people.."
"And he certainly is worried about a lot of people... And somehow, I doubt he's been very good about getting much sleep, has he??"
She glanced at him knowingly.
The boy peeked out from Fir's arm, softening to sadness. "How can I sleep when Mum never stops screaming???" he asked her, and suddenly he looked very ghostly and tired himself. "If I sleep he'll get me like he got Mum and Da. I can't. He's waiting for me to slip and fall asleep so he can eat us all."
"He hasn't been trained yet either." the bard glanced to Forrest in particular for some reason. It felt like out of anyone, he'd know the most about Hunter lore. "It's getting harder and harder for him to control his temper and his outbursts. It's consuming him I fear...."
Clearly, Eara was the diplomat of this mission. Full Fae upbringing, respected and well-known bard and magick-worker, able to calm Kazuhiko, Fir, and anyone else it seemed like... at least when she was in a good mood.
"He's right, though. He really does need the training. He should be a polite guest as well, right Kazu-kun??"
"I already said I'm sorry, and I meant it, I don't say what I don't mean... ..........I'm sleepy." he yawned, clearly drained. His energy would spike and drop like that, it was hard to keep level.
But he didn't sleep.
He only stared at the forest floor blankly and sadly, trying to pay attention to something else to keep him awake.
He didn't want to hear her screams, feel her pain.. her fear was almost disabling.
Whatever was happening to Morrigan lately wasn't good.
"Demon-god's impatient." he whispered. "He'll consume her if we don't hurry. For some reason, I think he already started.... He's waiting... He's always waiting, he and Aoki, the wind... Could have followed us here..... can't sleep... Oh, no, what about Da???" he asked suddenly, sitting bolt upright, "I, I, I left him, on Tarnbsei, and, and, and he's alone, and what if, oh no, what if, Aoki, Aoki-baka he, he's gonna, gonna hurt him, oh, oh no... And, and OJIISAN! Kaguyo-lady's the only one there, she and Susan, and, and that, that won't be enough..."

The stress the kid was going through was clearly pulling quite a number on him. Like his grandfather, he was struck with occasional paranoia, but then again that was when Aled was possessed. He was going through panic attacks the longer he was untrained and without his parents, in particular; the thought of his family having their souls consumed was fear-inducing enough for him.
Eara tried to scoop him from the Korred's arms but he freaked, clinging tighter to the man.
He didn't yell, didn't make much of a scene, but while he tried to help heal the Korred, it was a subconscious action. He was first and foremost concerned with the possibility of being separated from him.
No way in hell he'd let that happen, not once.

"He really needs trained." Eara whispered again, stroking his hair. "He's usually much happier.."

Shiori bit her lip, nodding slightly.
"Alright." she whispered. "But... it might take me a bit to get used to this." she warned gently, stroking his cheek. "I... I..."
She shook her head. "It's been a very, very long time since I could trust anyone.. but... I want to trust you." she closed her eyes. "I... I just... I don't want to hurt you... or anyone..."
She opened her eyes, watching him closely for a few moments.
Even Kazuhiko's appearance hardly phased her.
But with the rain raising goosebumps all over her skin---or was it??--she leaned forward. She kissed Aled with such a sweet and innocent passion that it was truthfully endearing.
She didn't understand how it happened, but something about Aled was enchanting.
But while awake, she was going to play just a little harder to get, play it safe.
She couldn't take gigantic leaps. What if he got sick?
What if she scared him off again?

Yuki quickly went through them, thinking over his suggestions. "Take a sample, I'll start the analyzing procedures immediately Watari-san." she smiled, handing him a syringe. "Don't worry Po-ar-sama... We'll figure this out."

Kaguyo kept close to Ainsu, frowning. "Iie... but you have his mother there, and Po-ar's been there before. He could figure it out, I don't doubt.."

Kazuhiko just snuggled Fir. "Good..." he whispered softly. "I won't lose you, Oniisan... I promise... I won't..."
He glanced to Forrest quietly, watching him, curious but sad. "He won't hurt anyone." he whispered after a while, sighing deeply. "I'm so tired..."
"Sleep, kiddo." Eara glanced over. "You're safe here."
"Nuh-uh." he shook his head. "No where's safe. Just Otousan's realm..."