Reborn

(It is still an open RP, just sign up in the RP Headquarters if anyone would still like to join.)

Katsuo's ears were ringing with sound of his own heart beat and the heavy breaths he took. His knees buckled and he had trouble keeping his balance as he rounded one of the thickest trees that surrounded him. Practically clutching the tree for balance, he tried his best to stay hidden amongst the foliage. A loud roar came from somewhere near by and Katsuo cursed under his breath. "D*mn it, how many times do I have to kill these guys?!" He lifted his hand to wipe away some of the sweat that was stinging his eyes but stopped himself when remembered they were covered in blood. His hand fell to his side and the odd feelings began to run through him again. The guilt, the pain, the confusion, the image of the prince's dead body next to his....all of it was attacking him at once and were making him tremble.
By the time the next roar reached his ears and he was suddenly flung backwards he knew it was too late to run anymore. He would die at the hands of the tainted souls that caught his scent when he fled the palace and there was nothing this gift from the death god could do. As the demonic looking creature lunged at him its giant clawed hands went for his neck, trying to rip his throat before he could put up a fight. He couldn't make himself move let alone breath. This was atonement for what he had done, the payback for his betrayal and he welcomed it.

All of a sudden, a large white bolt of lightning struck the side of the creature, sending it flying into a nearby tree. From the source of the attack was a girl, who looked only a bit younger than Katsuo. She quickly glanced to her left and saw the wounded person. She quickly bolted over to him and lifted up his head gently. "Are you alright?" she questioned the boy. The monster managed to recover from the attack at this point and went for Katsuo again. The girl saw the monster's advance and lifted her hand to create a large white forcefield, with sparks of electricity shooting off of it. The monster his the forcefield and the field bent slightly like rubber, but soon ricocheted, sending the monster flying through the air. The girl kept her arm raised, but turned her attention to Katsuo. She saw that her hand was slowly being covered in blood. "Where does it hurt?" she asked.

Katsuo hadn't expected the lightning or anyone to really come out of nowhere to help him. He didnt want help, he wanted death. He glared at the girl, showing her his obvious irritation. "Yeah yeah, back off already." Katsuo growled and pushed himself up to a sitting position. "I'm fine-" he winced when a sharp pain blurred his vision for a moment and looked down to see the cut from the monsters claw trailed across his lower abdomen. 'Great, just awesome-' another roar came from behind them just as another horned beast charged from the brush. It hit the sheild and staggered back a little. Katsuo gritted his teeth and got to his feet, pulling one of the swords from his waist. "Thanks for getting the first one but there are a couple more of his buddies coming this way." he pointed the sword at the monster and flicked it upwards in a taunting fashion. The monster let out another howl and charged at them. Katsuo darted forward, breaking the sheild with a slash that caught the monster in the face. It sprawled back clawing at its bloodied eye making Katsuo snicker. A couple more monsters came from the foliage and readied attacks towards the two. "You going to join in or am I going to have to take care of them myself?"

She sees Katsuo's wound and tries to help, but he already got up and charged at the new beast. She sighed and stood up. She lowered the shield and shot two bolts of lightning at the new beast, one hitting the beast's shoulder and the other hitting its head. The beast fell over in pain and before it could regain its ground, the girl obliterated the creature. She then put her focus on the others when one of them jumped forward and knocked her into a tree really hard. She slumped onto the ground in pain, but managed to roll out of the way of another attack from the monster.

Katsuo glanced at her fighting after he'd driven his own opponent to it's death and saw the beast suddenly disappear. His face fell in confusion but snapped out of it when he realized the girl was struggling with another one of the monsters and sighed. The monster reared to take another bite at her but it came to stop mid leap and fell with it's back legs missing. "How did you just make that thing disappear?" he asked but couldn't wait for an answer. The last monster was with the injured one, snarling at them. "Can you do that thing again?" he asked, preparing his sword for any sudden attacks.

The girl looked up at Katsuo and tried to answer his question when she saw the snarling beast. She aimed her arm at the other injured one and shot a large and powerful bolt of lightning, turning the beast into a pile of ash. She then focused a few bolts at the new beast, hitting it a few times, then finished it off the same way as the other two.

Katsuo's stared at the ash and his brows furrowed in confusion. 'How did she get rid of them with just a few spells?' he thought then felt his side smarting again. His shoulders sagged and he fell to his knees, his sword landing beside him. "That was pretty good-not perfect-but definately useful." he said, using the tree next to him for support. Everything seemed to blur around him and he felt dizzy. He wanted to say it was blood loss and maybe stress related but he suddenly felt light headed. "Wow I didn't know the grass was blue" he said, shaking his head to clear the blur.

The girl turned to Katsuo and was about to reply to his "compliment" when she saw him sag to the ground. She quickly ran over to him and knelt down next to him. She tore off a bottom part of her shirt and tied it around most of his wound to help slow down the loss of blood. "I have to get you to a doctor," she stated. She helped Katsuo off of the ground and slung his arm around her shoulders, using herself to support Katsuo. "I'm Akiko, by the way," she said before walking through the forest towards a town.

He let out a grunt of protest at her help but was hardly right minded enough to shake her off. "Akiko, has a certain...well it has something to it." Katsuo said, trying to keep himself walking straight without stumbling too much. "I guess this is the part where tell you my name, eh?" he smiled crookedly, "I'm Katsuo. Don't even try calling me Kat or So or anything stupid like that. Just Katsuo." he was most likely being more of an *ss than usual to Akiko but he was a bit out of his element at the moment. He'd never had to accept a strangers help or really socialize with people period. But he'd admit internally that he needed her help, just not directly to her. "Ah hell, what would a doctor know?" he grumbled, not noticing the direction they were headed was a town bordering the royal city, the place where the royal guard wanted him dead. "Doctors around here are just highly paid pompous jerks who think a bandage and a pat on the back solves everything." he added but made the mistake of misplacing his feet and nearly sent them to the ground.

She tried to block out Katsuo's rambling with his mind, but was jolted back into reality when he tripped. She quickly balanced both of them and continued walking. "Yes, well, those pompous jerks are going to be the ones saving you from bleeding to death on the ground. Now, shut up and keep walking." Akiko was usually very tolerant of rude behavior, but she was starting to get really tired of all the bull she had to deal with almost everyday. She sighed and continued to maneuver Katsuo towards the town.

Katsuo's eyes narrowed at Akiko but he didnt say anything more till they reached the town. Since the sun was setting, very few people were out and about by the time the reached the entrance. A couple lantern boys ran past to light the street lamps while the people kept to closing their shops or heading to a nearby tavern. Katsuo was having trouble keeping his mind focused by the time a young woman ran up to them, her eyes wide at the blood covering the two. "Oh my, here let me take you to our local doctor. He's just a block away." the girl guided them down the street and to a small business that had worked it's way in between two bakeries. Katsuo cringed at the smell of cake that practically wafted over the place, not even finding relief in the smokey smell of the doctors clinic. A man sporting a spectacle and graying hair came out of a room in the back, took one look at the two and his face fell in shock. "What the-? I mean come this way you two. Get him on the table." When they both had worked Katsuo onto the table, the doctor looked back at Akiko, a brow raised in question. "I'm guessing that blood on you is from your friend? You aren't hurt are you ma'am?" he inquired as his hands worked at the make shift bandage covering Katsuo's wound. Katsuo hissed out a string of curses in response when the doctor touched the cut but the man simply chuckled in response.

Akiko looked at the young woman and thanked her for the assistance. After entering the doctor's office, she helped lower Katsuo onto the table. She turned to the doctor. "I am unharmed. I feel like I might have a bruise, but I should be fine." She looks down at Katsuo with slight worry.

The doctor nodded but something seemed to be on his mind as he worked on tugging off Katsuo's shirt.
"Ah that's a nasty cut you've got there. It's not a very clean slice either, looks almost like something from an animal." The doctor grabbed a cloth that was beside a basin of clear liquid and dabbed the cut.
Katsuo sucked in a breath at the burning sensation that attacked his side and sat up, instantly slapping the doctors hand away. "What the hell-are you trying to kill me old man." he snarled, his hand resting on the sword at his waist. The doctor shook his head, raising his hands as a sign of innocence.
"No!-this is just a mixture of rum and a few herbs to clean the cut." Katsuo stared at him a moment but another twinge of pain forced him to lie down again. The doctor sighed in relief at not losing his head and seemed to relax.
"Jeez, son you act like you've never seen a doctor before." Katsuo fell silent and suddenly looked uncomfortable but the doctor hardly seemed to notice. He went back to his work, finishing up with stitching the shut to help it heal. Katsuo stayed silent, sometimes shifting uncomfortably or letting out a muffled noise of pain till the procedure was over. Finally the doctor turned to Akiko, drying the blood off his his hands.
"Might I speak with you for a moment miss?" he said then motioned to his daughter, the woman who'd shown them the clinic. "Give the boy something to help him ignore the pain while I speak with his friend." the daughter nodded and reached for a bottle of liquor as the doctor left to the back room with Akiko.
After the cloth that served as a door to the storage room covered the frame, he sighed and placed his hands in his pockets.
"Your friend is fine. It was a deep cut but it didn't damage anything serious. But that's not what concerns me." He cleared his throat before continuing. "It was the blood on his clothes that peeked my curiosity. See his cut was here, just bellow his stomach on his right hip," the doctor pointed to the spot and made a slicing motion, "but the blood on him was all over him, prevalently to his left side," he looked at her with a serious face that almost seemed a bit too pale, "and the blood was old...mostly dried into the fabric. I searched him for other injuries but found nothing else to explain this." he paused and seemed to back peddle over his words. "Um-but I'm not accusing him of anything or-or saying that whoever or whatever he was fighting wasn't the cause-I just wanted you to know...just in case." he said and offered her a key.
"There are a couple vacant rooms up stairs from patients that moved out. You and your friend are welcome to stay here for the night, at least till you two get a safe ammount of rest." he shrugged off his coat and walked back into the room where Katsuo was buzzed from the half bottle of alcohol he'd consumed.
"Hey, Akiko, I was starting to think you ditched me." Katsuo snickered with a lopsided grin.
~~~
Outside on the streets, a couple of palace guards were holding up a paper, questioning people if they had seen 'this man'. Everyone shook their heads or claimed to have seen someone that looked like him in the next town over. After a while of searching, they tossed a few of the wanted posters into the crowds that had gathered, sketches of Katsuo's face and bellow an impossibly large reward floated through the air.

She listens to what the doctor has to say. "Alright. Thanks for letting me know. I'm sure it's not anything too bad." She smiles at the doctor reassuringly. "Also, thank you for letting us stay here. We'll try not to be a bother." She walks back into the room. She rolls her eyes at Katsuo's drunkenness. "Come on. Let's get you upstairs and in bed." She gently lifts Katsuo off of the table and leads him upstairs to one of the vacant rooms.

"Ah, you're no fun." Katsuo grumbled and pulled away from her to walk ahead. He pushed on one of the doors and it gave a creak in protest. "Stupid doors-annoying, useless-gah!" He gave up on trying to open it by pulling at the knob, even thought about kicking it down but was too tired to want to do that. Instead he leaned against the wall next to it with a huff and waited for Akiko to open it. "I have no idea what was in that bottle but it works." He muttered thinking to himself that he had to grab a bit more of it before he left. He liked the way the drunk made it so he didn't have to think about things in the past, that it made the memories even hazier right now, that he was too numb at the moment to really understand how close he'd come to letting himself die. "Ne, Akiko can you just turn this stupid door to ash or something?" He said only half joking.

Akiko continued to roll her eyes at Katsuo's drunk shenanigans. She opened the door for him and led him into the bedroom. She sat him down on the bed. "Let me know if you need anything." She then turned and walked to the doorway.

Katsuo fell back onto the bed, sighing at the softness of it. "Yeah okay." he said nonchalantly as he folded his hands behind his head. He however glanced over at her. "Akiko, thanks." he said then looked back up to the ceiling. "Just wanted to let you know that not letting those creatures kill me is appreciated. Just in case I decide to disappear in the morning." he yawned and his eyes fell closed.
He was technically asleep, just thinking. He was wondering why she was putting up with him, why this girl was out in the woods by herself when people were known for being eaten by those rogue souls? But that wasn't his business and it wasn't like he needed to know. 'I hope she gets wherever she's going..' he thought slowly falling asleep on himself. 

Akiko was curious about Katsuo's comment about leaving in the morning, but she shook her head. She smiled at Kasuo and said "You're welcome. Good night." She walked to the door and shut it behind her. She then walked over to her room and flopped down on her bed. She thought about what the doctor had mentioned about Katsuo's shirt being covered in blood. She frowned, but soon shrugged it off as being from another conflict he was in. She tucked herself in and slowly fell asleep.

Red, he kept seeing red. Every time he closed his eyes, everywhere he looked. Everything was stained with it, that liquid that was spattered across the marble floor. He felt the sickening twist of his stomach as he sat on his knees in the middle of the horror, staring at everything with frightened eyes. He tried to distance himself from the gore but only felt his hands and feet slip and slide in the pool that already surrounded him. Terror was setting in, not from thought of himself, but for the life he was supposed to be protecting.
“Take!” He called out but only received an echo in all the silence. His heart was beating a mile a minute and he could hardly take in all that his eyes grazed over in search for that familiar face. When he finally found Take, the world around him ceased to exist. “Takehiko!” He scrambled to his feet, darting to the boys side where he lay on the floor. Katsuo instantly rolled Take to face him and froze when he saw the boys blood stained, lifeless frame. “Take-who-who did this?!” He demanded but no response came from him. Katsuo worked in a panicked trance, over the boy trying to staunch the wounds on his chest, only regaining some form of consciousness when he heard a whisper escape Take’s lips. He leaned forward, bringing his ear close to Take’s lips.
“Traitor.” Take's soft voice rasped right before the blinding pain hit Katsuo and everything turned white.
~~~
“Take!” Katsuo awoke from his dreaming in a fit of fear, stopping his struggle when he realized it was only the blankets that were holding him down. He cast them off and hurried to the window. He hoped that when he looked out he would see the lush green palace’s grounds, the place he had called home since he could remember. Instead he was greeted with the sight a dark street, barely visible in light of early morning. Confusion colored his expression till the pain in his side called his attention. At the sight of the bandages on his torso that were slightly bloody from where he had pulled one of his stitches, the memory of yesterday came back to him all at once and his panic was instantly quelled. He could feel himself trembling as he sank to floor, his hands cradling his face to hide the shame that shone through it. ‘My fault…all my fault.’ He thought and felt an odd pain growing in the back of his throat. At that his eyes narrowed and he swallowed hard, trying to stifle all the emotions except for his frustration. ‘What kind of man am I-I’m acting like some kind of child.’ He pushed himself to his feet and took a seat on the window sile. He sighed, letting his cheek rest on the cool glass as he looked down at the street below. “It’s going to be one of ‘those’ days isn’t it?” He wondered aloud as he waited for the first sign of dawn to tell him that all of this was in the past.

Akiko slowly woke up. She stretched out and sat up slowly. She swung her legs to the other side of the bed. She stood up and walked out into the hallway. She knocked on Katsuo's door softly, trying to see if he was awake or not. "Katsuo, are you awake?" she asked tentatively.

Katsuo jolted from his daze, his eyes having to adjust to the new light that poured in from the window. The sky looked a bit lighter, or at least a much lighter grey than it had been before. He blinked in shock that so much time had passed without his notice. Before he could fade back into his thoughts, he reminded himself of the knocking and got to his feet. He opened the door and gave Akiko a smirk. “Well good morning to you Ms. Akiko.” He said and ran a hand through his hair, his eyes revealing he hadn’t received much sleep but was still wide awake. “Hmm, besides a slight headache, missing shirt and lack of anything to eat, I’d say I’m pretty much ready to start the day.” He walked past her into the hallway and jerked his head towards the stairs. “Let’s see if the doc has anything to eat. I’m starved.” As they walked down the hall he glanced over at her and tried for conversation. “So..did you sleep alright?” He asked though it was obvious that he was just trying to fill the silence.

Akiko noticed the tired look in his eyes. "Yes, I slept well....but you look like you didn't get any sleep at all," she noted. "Maybe you should head back to bed. I'll try and get us something to eat," she said, trying to persuade Katsuo to get some sleep. She wondered why he couldn't sleep, especially since he looked so exhausted the day before. She then thought about what the doctor said and wondered if there could be a possible connection.

Katsuo shrugged. He felt tired but he knew he didn’t have luxury of more sleep. Besides he wanted to keep his dreams as far away from him as possible. “Maybe I should but I don’t want to. There’s too much that needs to get done today.”
‘Like figuring out my next move.’ He thought then sighed. "And besides aren't you headed somewhere?" He asked. "Helping out the passed out guy is going to put a damper on your traveling."

Akiko sighed sadly. "I'm not really heading anywhere. I just wander around, looking for a place to stay. I haven't found a place yet, obviously," she told Katsuo. "Besides, I enjoy helping people," she said, smiling. She turned to the doorway. "I'm going to go get some breakfast," she said before leaving the room and heading downstairs.

‘So she’s different aswell.’ Katsuo thought, but wasn’t sure in what way. Since she could use magic she had to have some gift but he didn’t know much about those godly gifts anyways. He was just told at a young age he had been ‘blessed’ with some power and not much else, left to wander kind of like her.
Katsuo raised an eyebrow at Akiko then smiled a little. ‘Odd girl but at least she’s honest.’ He followed after her but was stopped at the foot of the stairs by the doctor’s daughter calling to them. She ambled over to them, in her arms were some fresh clothes. “Oh! Seems you two are up sooner than I thought.” She said then offered the clothing to them. “They’re very simple but comfortable. I just thought you two might like something a little less blood and dirt covered.” She said, her eyes on the floor awkwardly. Katsuo was a little suspicious to the girls charity but accepted the shirt.
“This is better than nothing I guess.” Katsuo said and the doctor’s daughter blushed.
“Ah there you are my boy.” The doctor chimed, taking Katsuo by the arm. “We need to switch those old bandages before you leave!” Katsuo protested but the old man’s grip on his arm was pretty strong. They disappeared into the back of the shop before the daughter looked to Akiko.
“Um Akiko,” She began, having heard her name from Katsuo the other night, “If it’s not too much to ask-once you’re ready I mean-would you mind helping me get a few things from the market? We seem to be running low on ingredients for fathers tonics…and I know the bakery might have something nice for you and your friend to eat.” She asked, her shy demeanor only adding to her awkward stammer.