An Assassin's Respite

How Do You Take Care of a Kid?

Kazuna was walking through a dark cave, ignorant of where he was. He uses the walls as a guide as he searches for a way out of the cave. It felt like he was walking for an eternity before he starts to hear what sounds like a heartbeat and an inhuman type of breathing. He heads towards the noise before a deep, booming growl shakes the tunnel he was walking through. The growl was so loud that he felt like his ears were bleeding. He forges on until he reaches an open cavern that was being lit by purple crystals on the ceiling. 

At the far end of the cavern was some sort of shrine, one that he recognized all too well. As he approaches the shrine, the growling he heard turns into a bellowing voice.

"You're the one that's supposed to stop me? A boy?" The voice questions.

Kazuna searches frantically for the voice but there was no one else there. The voice lets out a laugh that was so boisterous, it felt as if it was going to shatter his bones.

"Those three must have forgotten how terrifying I can be if they left their fate in the hands of a mere child," the voice bellows.

Kazuna drops to his knees. He wasn't sure how long he would be able to take this noise. He looks around and notices that the area around him was changing. Once the changes were finished, he was at the foot of an enormous mountain. Before him lay several dead bodies. He moves to the closest body and inspects it only to see that it was Kagura's. A horrified look passes over his face as he realizes that all of these bodies belonged to everyone he was close to.

"What you are seeing now is what lies ahead for you. I will kill everyone you care for, destroy everything precious to you, and leave you for last so that you break under the weight of your failure," The voice threatens.

Kazuna looks at the mountain with a cold, murderous expression.

"I won't let you," Kazuna states in defiance.

The voice lets out another bone-rattling laugh. 

"Do you think that you can stop me when you have such a weak will? It will be a simple task to crush that paper-thin resolve of yours and drown you in despair," The voice shouts. 

The ground below Kazuna's feet starts to crumble as he starts to fall through the world.

"My awakening draws near, boy. Your final hours are not far away," The voice finalizes.

As his vision goes black he wakes up and opens his eyes. His heart was racing and his breathing was heavy. He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath to steady his breathing and his heart. He goes to get out of bed but feels something pull him back. He looks over and is reminded that Kari was there. He gently detaches her hand from his shirt and goes downstairs to make breakfast.

"I guess I'll let her sleep for a little longer, I'm not going to go to school today anyway," He thinks as he turns the oven top on to start making breakfast. He grabs his phone and texts Kagura that he won't be going to school today so she could just leave without him.

"Kazuna, we must talk," Bahamut says as he appears on the countertop. Kirin and Karma appear as well, perching themselves in different places.

"Talk about what?" He asks in an attempt to avoid what he thought was coming.

"Don't play dumb, you know what I'm talking about," Bahamut says.

Kazuna sighs as he cracks open some eggs.

"I had a dream, or maybe a meeting with him," Kazuna says.

"With the king of dragons?! What happened?" Bahamut asks in concern.

Kazuna stares at the eggs he scrambled.

"He said his time of awakening was drawing near," He responds.

An eerie silence passes through.

"I didn't think that bastard would be able to weaken the seal so quickly," Kirin states.

"It is quite concerning that he was able to weaken it to the point that he can already converse with you," Karma adds.

"There is no point in worrying, we should focus on what we can do," Bahamut says.

"What can we do?" Kazuna asks.

"We can travel to the location where the dragon king is sealed and tighten the seal," Bahamut informs him.

"I can tighten the seal?" Kazuna exclaims in surprise.

"Yes, although it will only delay his awakening and it will take a couple of days. You will also be severely weakened after," Bahamut explains.

"When can we do it?" Kazuna asks.

"We should probably wait until you regain your strength. It will be very taxing to seal him, if you try and tighten the seal now, you may die," Bahamut states.

Kazuna puts bacon and sausage on pans and starts cooking them.

"So, for now, I guess I should focus on the problems that are in front of me," He decides.

"You mean the girl?" Bahamut guesses.

Kazuna nods and as if called for, Kari pops up in the kitchen. Kazuna looks at her and can see tears in her eyes. 

"What's wrong?" He asks.

Kari rushes him and hugs him.

"When I woke up and saw that you weren't there, I thought that you had abandoned me," She cries.

Kazuna hands hover over her, unsure of whether he should embrace her or push her away. He stands frozen before he remembers something his grandfather said when he brought Ria home.

'She was scared and alone, no kid should feel that way. I'll do what I can to make her happy. If she wants a hug, I'll give her a hug, if she wants candy, I'll get her candy, and if she wants to leave, I'll let her leave.'

Kazuna snaps back to the present and comes to a decision on what to do. He crouches and hugs Kari back.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to abandon you, okay. Now, why don't you take a seat at the table, breakfast will be ready soon," He assures her.

She wipes the tears out of her eyes and gazes at Kazuna before giving him a smile.

"Okay," She replies as she takes a seat.

Kazuna finishes cooking and makes a plate for both Kari and himself. Kari stares at him and starts to imitate how he was eating. Once they finish eating, Kazuna takes the dishes to the sink and washes his plate. Kari takes her plate and does the same.

Once they finished doing the dishes, Kari looks at him as if waiting for orders. 

"Why don't we get you changed, we're going to go somewhere," He says.

Kari nods and Kazuna grabs her a change of clothes and the pair head for the city. While they were walking, he looks over at her holding his hand.

"I wonder if this is what it was like when my grandfather would hold my hand as we walked?" He thinks to himself.

"What are we doing here?" She asks as he takes her into a kid's clothing shop.

"Buying your clothes obviously. You can't go walking around with no underwear and clothes too big," He states.

He walks around paying close attention to any clothes that Kari seems to be eyeing, but she just seemed to be drawn to everything. He could only guess that it had been quite some time since the last time someone took her clothes shopping.

"I'll just have to ask for some assistance," He notes to himself.

He walks towards a girl with a familiar head of red hair.

"Excuse me, but could you help me find-" He starts to ask but stops once the girl turns around.

"I thought that hair looked familiar," He says to Mia.

"Ka-Kazuna, what are you doing here? Are you following me?" Mia asks.

"No, of course not, I'm here to buy some clothes," He states.

"Are you one of those weirdos that buy kid clothes for themselves?" She asks with a gasp.

"No, obviously I'm buying them for this girl here," He replies in annoyance.

Mia looks to Kazuna's side and notices Kari. 

"Oh, and who's this," She says with a gentle smile.

Kari hides behind Kazuna's legs.

"Someone that I'm watching over-under Yuu's orders," He answers.

He decided that it would be better to lie a little than explain their complicated situation. His story wasn't too far off the truth anyway.

"Oh, I see, well let's see what we can do," Mia responds.

"What kind of budget do you have?" She asks.

"I'll buy whatever you think looks good on her," He answers.

"So no budget? Alright, then let's go wild," Mia says.

And she does just that, she grabs blue jeans, skirts, blouses, dresses, bows, and everything in between. By the time they were ready to pay for everything, Kazuna was hidden behind a mountain of clothes.

"Thank you and have a nice day, oh, and tell anyone about this and I'll burn you to a crisp," Mia threatens a little too nonchalantly as Kazuna and Kari leave.

Kari follows behind Kazuna while holding onto his shirt. They walk for a couple of minutes before Kari pulls on Kazuna's shirt a little to get his attention.

"What is it?" He asks.

"Uh, Mr., uhm," She stutters.

"My name's Kazuna, and you don't have to be afraid to speak," He assures her.

"Um, Mr. Kazuna, why did you buy all those clothes for me. It must have been really expensive. Wouldn't it have been better to just leave me in the clothes that you found me in? And not only did you buy those clothes, but you also fed and bathed me, am I not leeching off your kindness, " She states.

"It seems that whoever had her before me must have devalued her worth to the point where she herself thinks that she is worthless," He notes to himself.

"You were a little girl who was dirty, so I bathed you. You were hungry, so I fed you. You had no clothes, so I clothed you. The way I see it, you aren't leeching, you're living," He replies.

Kari just stares at him, unsure of how to respond.

"We should get going, we're almost at our next destination," He says.

Kari nods and continues to walk alongside Kazuna. They walk for a few more minutes before arriving at Momo's house.

"Are we going in there?" Kari asks.

"Yes, it's the home of an acquaintance of mine," Kazuna answers.

Kazuna knocks on the door and hears the usual crashing of someone falling before Momo opens the door.

"Oh, Kazuna, back so soon," She says.

"Yes, but not for me," He answers as he gently pushes Kari forward.

"Who's this?" She asks.

"Her name is Kari and her situation is a little, complicated. I can explain once we're inside," He states.

"Hmm, I see, so, what do you need me for?" She asks.

"I need you to do an evaluation on her," He says.

"Ok, I can manage that. Come in, you can put your things in the living room." Momo says as she waves them in.

She takes them to her office and Kazuna sets Kari on the bed. Kazuna tells her of how he and Kari met.

"I see, that sure is a complicated scenario," Momo says.

Kazuna looks at Kari and sees that she looks frightened.

"Don't worry, she's only going to examine your body and make sure you're healthy," Kazuna assures her.

Momo rolls toward Kari in her chair and pulls out a stethoscope. She starts to get anxious and grabs Kazuna's hand before the stethoscope rests on her chest.

"It seems she finds comfort in you," Momo states.

"You think so?" Kazuna says in surprise.

Momo removes the stethoscope and checks her ears.

"Yes, when children are in unfamiliar territory and are afraid, they search for things that they can feel safe through. If she didn't find comfort in you, then she wouldn't reach for your hand like that," Momo explains.

Kazuna looks over at Kari who was tightly holding his hand as Momo was inspecting her. Momo inspects the inside of Kari's mouth and thoroughly examines her bone structure through some x-rays.

"Okay, from what I can gather, she is nine years old and it seems that she's healthy, although she's a little malnourished which intern makes her seem frail at the moment, it's nothing that a healthy diet can't fix," Momo states.

"I see, do you think you can figure out what her power is?" Kazuna asks.

"Let me see," She says.

She places a hand over Kari's heart and blue light begins to emit from Momo. She was able to tell what a person's power was through an examination and she could figure out how it worked through this method.

"Oh, well this is something unexpected," She states.

"What?" Kazuna asks a bit concerned.

"It's nothing to worry about, it's just if I'm reading this right, her power allows her to copy the power of others," Momo states.

"Are you sure?" Kazuna asks.

"I haven't been wrong before, but it wouldn't hurt to check. Kari, could you try and copy Kazuna's power," Momo asks.

"But, I don't know how to," Kari says.

 "Don't worry, I'll help you. You're already making contact with Kazuna by holding his hand so all you have to do is feel for Kazuna's power. Feel for what is different between the two of you," Momo explains.

"That seems vague," Kazuna points out. 

But just as he says this, Bahamut perches on his shoulder.

"No, she's copied your power," Bahamut notes.

"Really?" Kazuna asks in surprise.

"Can't you feel it? Like she's calling for you?" Bahamut asks.

Kazuna stares at Kari for a moment.

"It does feel like there is something drawing me to her," He says in agreement.

"So she can copy the powers of people that she is in contact with," Momo surmises.

"I would like to know if she permanently keeps the powers she copied or if there's a limit or if she can just copy powers she's copied before from a distance over making contact. But that can wait for another day," Kazuna states.

"If you're really that curious you could just 'ask' the people that held her captive," Momo suggests.

"No, I'm not sure who I would be looking for or going against. Besides, that would put her in danger since I don't have anyone that can look after her. Not to mention that I can't use my power to its fullest," Kazuna says.

"True, you could end up running into someone troublesome," Momo says.

"Well then, we'll be taking our leave," Kazuna says.

"I would offer a ride, but my car is getting fixed," Momo says.

"You wrecked it again, didn't you?" Kazuna says.

"You know I've always been a wild driver," Momo laughs.

"Whatever makes you feel better," Kazuna says.

"Okay, make sure you keep this cutie safe," Momo says while handing her some candy.

"And make sure you stay safe yourself," Momo says to Kazuna.

"I will," Kazuna says while leaving the house.

Kazuna and Kari had been walking for a couple of minutes before Kazuna started to feel like they were being followed. He starts thinking of an escape plan, but they approached them before he could come up with something.

"We've finally found you," The man in the front says.

"And who might you be?" Kazuna asks, but his question was answered by Kari's reaction.

She hid behind Kazuna legs and was trembling. She had acted shy in front of Mia and Momo, but she was afraid, terrified in the face of these people.

"We're the guardians of that little girl there that you kidn*pped," The man in the back states.

"Oh, so you're the ones that treated Kari with such care. I've got some questions for you guys, but those can wait," He says while placing the bags of clothes on the ground.

"Mr. Kazuna, you're going to fight? But didn't you say that you weren't at full strength?" Kari says.

"True, I'm not at full strength, but I'm pretty strong," Kazuna tells her as he faces off against the three assailants.