The village

"Well...I think we're still in Japan. Just not regular Japan." Deirdre murmured to her friends, hearing the fox child yelling off in the distance. Once she was positive that none of her friends were badly injured, she took off jogging toward the sound of the yelling fox child. She couldn't help but be intiruged by this mysterious world. Sure she was rather shaken by what had happened back at the well...the bizarre creature, and yes she was worried for her friends, but they still didn't know how to handle themselves out here...maybe they needed help from the fox creature or something. She wasn't sure if this was all a wild dream created by that good knock to the head she'd recieved or what, but this whole place looked eerily familiar, she thought to herself as she heard the fox child's shouts getting louder and louder before slipping through the trees and approaching the village.


Once inside the village, Deirdre let her eyes scan the new area she'd just stepped into, biting her lower lip in nervousness. People were looking at her oddly, murmuring amongst themselves about her school uniform and such. She listened, trying to tune out the village chatter and focus on finding the fox creature.

There! Deirdre spotted the fox demon and...she froze mid-step when she saw Jin, her emerald eyes widening slightly. Why was the perky fox talking to nicely toned, rather attractive man. She realized he wasn't much taller than her as she forced herself to move forward, hearing the villagers point out more things about her - rather loudly - that were strange.

Tahra glanced over her shoulder as Jin approached, pausing in her continuous call to offer him a wave of greeting. She did a double-take as she realized that he was shirtless.
"Well, I could probably yell a lot louder, but I figured that might scare off the weird people. You know, you could walk around like that a lot more often." she was still a bit distracted by the fact that there was a very well muscled guy standing there.
"Er. Anyway," she started talking faster, "there were these really strange people that came out of the old well. I was over there looking for acorns, since that's the best place to find them, and all the sudden I heard these weird noises coming from in the well and then these people climbed out and the girls were wearing these really tiny outfits and there's no way they'd been in the well a minute before 'cause I'd been there all along and I would've smelled them, right? So they climbed out and this one girl looked really freaked out when she saw me, so I asked them where they were from and one girl said some place. Ameri-something-or-other. Then I had them follow me but I went ahead to come get you guys and they haven't come yet, and you should really walk around shirtless more often. It really works for you, so you should 'cause you know, there are girls and you don't have one and I'm pretty sure everyone would appreciate it. Oh look, one of the strange people! Hi well-person!" she waved at Deirdre, who she had spotted walking into the village.
"And see, I'm not crazy, that's one of the well-people!" she bounced to her feet and ran over to the girl, who was already being talked about by the villagers, whom had come out of their huts to find out why Tahra was yelling.

Grabbing the girl's hand, she led her over to Jin. "Jin, meet one of the well-people. Well-person, meet Jin."

He was about to pull his friend back behind him when someone jumped down from above scaring away two women. When the new arrival began to approach Keisuke noticed that it was the same person that he'd caught a glimpse of when he'd rushed over here and immediatly became more tense. He watched every movement looking for any sign of ill-intent towards them and prepared himself to leap into action when he reached out his hand to touch Deirdre. As the new arrival moved his hand back and gave some advice he pulled his friend behind him once more. "All head injuries are serious, no matter how small. Now please let Saeko-chan take a look at you Deridre-chan," he asked.

As he turned back to the person(?) in front of him, he was about to ask that he not act too familiar with them when he called over to someone. Immediatly he turned his sights in that direction, looking for the new threat that he hadn't noticed before as he cursed himself. His posture became more anxious until he noted that the person in front of him didn't seem to like the newest arrival all that much so he figured that he wouldn't have to worry about them teaming up against them. If they were lucky then the two would start fighting each other and they could make a quiet get-away.

He tensed when he saw something go pass him and he wanted to turn around right then and stop it, but he knew that he needed to watch their front. The only reason that he was able to stop himself was because he knew that his friends could handle themselves and that Saeko, especially would make sure that all of them were safe. Sure enough, almost as soon as he heard Molly cry out he could hear Saeko refusing the fox then Molly nervusly trying to cover up her small fright, a quick glance back showed Saeko standing between the fox and their friends. Keisuke was able to further relax when Deirdre reluctantly agreed to allow her friends to take care of her, he knew that she hated to be taken care of but there was a line between being looked after and being watched out for. It was something that they both had trouble distinguishing most of the time. When he felt Molly slide up to him nervously, he knew immediatly that something was wrong, and he soon found out that she had now slipped from manic mode to depressed by the tone of her voice. Reaching back he grabbed her hand and squeezed it reassuringly as he whispered to her, "Molly-chan, try to relax some, we'll wait and see what happens first. It looks like these two guys are going to sart fighting and when they do we might be able to slip away unnoticed."

"We are all just... people challenged I guess you could say and this crowd and people poping out of nowhere is not really helping any," Keisuke answered hoping that it would get everyone to back off. For some reason, the odd animal ears and tails on what looked to be normal people and them saying demon and halfdemon wasn't really bothering him all that much. As he took the time to think about it he came to the conclusion that maybe he'd read way too much fiction and should probably start reading more educational material, like science magazines or something. Mentally shaking his mind of these thoughts, he looked at his friends wanting to go back to the well and try to figure everything out, he didn't trust the man with the weapons or his compainions and he was even less inclined to trust the monk, especially around his friends.

"I second that," he said as he hurried up, almost dragging Molly behind him, forgetting that he still held her hand. "*Gomen kudasai," he whispered under his breath as soon as he entered and removed his shoes before moving aside to allow the others room to get in as he ignored Katu's gruff attitude. "**Domo sumimasen for your hospitality Katsu-san," said louder to convey his gratitude, "We will be sure to get out of your hair by tommorrow if at all possible, but it might be a bit difficult since I have no idea how we got here." Here he finally let go of Molly's hand and took a seat in the far corner so that no one could sneak up on him and so that he could see anyone that entered.

*forgive my intrusion (something you say when you enter someone else's home)
**thank you very much (polite)

He nodded to the monk, signifying that he'd heard him and that he appreciated his advice, but since it seemed that it was going to be a warm night he made no effort to move to gather any wood for a fire. As he left he watched the small ball of energy carefully as she approahed and snuggled against his leg even though he knew that she wasn't much of a threat. He didn't say anything about it, but he couldn't help it when is muscles siffened ever so slightly at the contact. Letting her be, he hoped that she didn't notice anything but a feeling of guilt crept in him when she perked up and moved away instead offering to watch the door. "Sumimasen," he apoogized but didn't say anything more not wanting to answer any questions.

Damnit, I can't just sit here, I need to move, I need to do something... shit that sudden crowd really messed me up, Kiesuke growled in his head, not showing any ouward signs that anything was wrong with him. Looking up he saw Deirdre walking out for some fresh air and figured that she had the right idea so he stood up as well and looked back at the remaining people in the hut. "Three hours," was all he said so that they knew when he'd be back and not follow him as he walked out.

On silent steps he walked away, making sure to keep a keen ear out for any unusual sounds as he remembered Katsu's warning as he looked for a place to train so he could calm his nerves. When he found himself near a river he set about starting his training by first going through the different stances, letting each one flow into the next, soon he started fighting his own inner demons. His movements were quick and precise, no energy wasted as a sweat started to build up, it was obvious that he practiced a lot as he began to get lost in his own world. He hated the way that he could hear them taunt and laugh at him, saying that he was still weak, that he'd never be able to protect himself, that he should just give up already because all of his efforts were useless and that no matter how hard he tried he would still be the same pathetic little boy as he was that day.

Suddenly out of nowhere he turned around and jumped into the river with a loud splash, cannonball stye. Uncurling his body, he allowed himself to float back up on his back as he just laid on the surface of the water, after a few minutes he swam to shore and removed his shirts and pants and wrung them out showing his scars to the world. Sneering at his scars in disgust he layed his clothes on the rocky beach to dry out as he removed his socks, having forgotten his shoes, leaving him in just his boxers then went back in the river to cool off and relax by floating on his back for his remaining hour.

He was enjoying his time just floating on the water's surface when he first heard a sound he quickly made it to shore and stood up in a ready stance to defend himself. However, when he saw that it was just the monk he just as quickly jumped back and sumerged his body up to his neck back under the water. "Evening, I was just trying to relax," Keisuke answered, looking down at the water, with a glance upward he noticed that something was off. The monk wasn't as relaxed as he was when they'd first met him, making him wonder if he'd seen anything as he looked at him suspiously, "Why are you here? Did you follow me?" He wondered how he was going to explain if he started asking questions or if he'd even say anything at all.

Searching the man's face as he spoke he couldn't tell if he knew or not, if he'd seen them, his greatest shame, the marrings on his body that showed just how weak he was. He paid little attention to his comment on having rather found an attractive girl, aready guessing what a pervert he was and as an afterthought made a mental note to make sure he knew where he was when his friends went to the river if they had to stay here long. However his mind was more focused on what the man might have seen and he didn't want to take the chance of him asking any of his friends any questions. His mind stepped out of its panic just as the monk was walking away and calling over his shouler to call if he needed any help. Just as he was about to shout out the man was already gone so he quickly got out and put back on his still damp clothes before running after him. By the time that he was fnally able to catch up he was close to the shack; afraid that he'd get closer he took a hold of one of the monk's sleeves as he came to a stop, signaling for the other man to stop as well. "You saw them, didn't you," Keisuke's question came out as more of a statement as he stared at the ground in shame, once the words had left his mouth he was certian that they were true. "Please, don't tell anyone about them, just... just keep it to yourself," he requested softly still not looking up as he drew back his hand and cradeled his left arm once more.

"Maybe, I will tell you about them someday and then you might understand. Even now it's something that's difficult for me to talk about, so far only one other person other than my parents know about them and how they came to be. Thank you for the encouraging words though," he said quietly as he smiled not knowing what else he could say to that. but a battle would indicate that I thought that I had some chance at winning and that I saw it coming, he thought to himself.

Keisuke was starting to respect this guy, he seemed to understand if the scar on his back was anything to go by and didn't push for any answers. However, he also wondered where he got his own scars and what the tattoo meant but he gave him the same space that he'd been granted and didn't ask any questions about them. As the monk bowed to him and walked away, offering to be a sparing partner, he was a little taken off guard but he nodded anyway in gratitude, now beginning to regret that he hadn't payed attention to when he'd introduced himself as he called back, "I will be sure to keep that in mind."

After that he heard someone walk out of the shack an when he turned to look he saw that it was just Molly. He felt bad that he hadn't been able to tell her and Deirdre about what he'd gone through yet. As she came over to where he was he noticed that something was off, but he didn't say anything about it knowing that she'd say something when she felt like it. "Yeah, everything is fine, sorry for disturbing you, I was just talking to the monk," Keisuke explained, "How are you holding up without your medication?"

"What too much quiet and fresh air for you?" he teased gently letting her avoid his question. "But no, I never said that he was a bad guy, I just thought that he was a major pervert, which unfortuantly turned out to be true and as such I don't trust him around you girls. I know that all of you can take care of yourselves, but I'd rather that none of you had to do that and just avoid it altogether," he cleared the confusion and defended his choice before she could protest. "Anyway, he was just offering to be a sparing partner if we end up being stuck here for a while. He's interesting to say the least and very insightful, it might be beneficial to get to know him better, but you know how terrible I am with socializing..." he trailed off, true he'd been the first person to befriend her when she first transfered to their school but he hardly spoke a word to her just sat next to her to offer some company and a friendly greeting and smile and answering any questions that she'd had. "That and I forgot his name already, could you tell me what he said it was again Molly-chan?" Keisuke asked sheepishly as he scratched the back of his damp head.

"I don't know and right now that isn't the question that I would be asking..." he trailed off looking up at the stars, so clear and bright and numerous, he was quiet for a few minutes sorting out his thoughts before opting to speak again, "What I want to know is how we got here and how do we get back, if we can even get back." At this he looked back down at his friend, trying to read her on how she was doing. "That guy with the changing cat, he took me down so easily. It just proves that I still have a long way to go, I need to be stronger. For that I might take up Kiske on his offer," he stated thoughtfully before adding, "Arigato for telling me his name."

Keisuke smiled down t his friend knowing that she didn't fully understand what he was saying and he knew that it was hs own fault because he never explained it to them. So instead of protesting or attempting to correct her he just nodded along with what she was saying, but when she got to the part about the guy being inhuman a doubtful look came into his eyes. He knew that there was more to the guy, but he didn't think that he wasn't human, it was something different, something that was both familiar and foreign at the same time but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. "Why don't we sleep on it for now? Maybe we can get some real answers in the morning," he suggested as he turned to go back inside waiting for her to follow him.

Keisuke just shook his head knowing what his friend was talking about as he held the door open for her then following her inside and retaking his seat in the corner to set himself into a light doze.

Hours later he was startled awake when he heard movement and when he opened his eyes he saw that it was just the fox girl leaving the hut. Instead of going back to sleep he stretched his tired body, looseneing up his tired muscles and waited for his friends to wake up, but before they could the fox girl returned with her spoils of hunting and srted shouting for everyone to wake up. Before he could protest her loudness she had already dropped her prizes and left once more and instead sighed when he saw that Molly-chan had been woken up. Seeing no use in complaining he simply looked around the hut until he found a knife and started cleaning and skinning the fresh kill before placing them in a pot so that they would stay clean until he figured out what to do with them.

He hated any blade with a passion, even if it was being used by himself, but he knew that that hate was just a cover-up for his fear of them, a fear that he knew that he may never get over. However he also knew that he couldn't avoid them forever, so he'd trained himself to be able to suppress that fear whenever he had to hold one, but he still had to just stop and drop it every ten minutes or so that he could relax his nerves again. That wasn't a problem this time though because he hadn't needed to pause once before he deemed that he'd readied enough of the kill and looked at the pot wondering how he should cook it.

That was when he heard it, the fox girl had shouted from outside that someone was back and he knew that it couldn't have been the monk because the names didn't match. Instantly the image of the guy who'd taken him down so easily came to mind, the guy with all the blades and suddenly he felt trapped in the small hut rooted in his place. He looked up to see the fox girl re-enter and he gave her a small smile that seemed genuine, wiping all traces of his anxiousness and fear from his face and body language.

Immediatly he looked away as soon as his suspicions were confirmed, forcing himself to relax as he once more picked up the knife and began to cut the meat into sizeable chunks removing bone at the same time. Even tough he didn't look up at the now identified Jin or acknowledge either of the men's entrence he was aware of every move they made but for different reasons for each of them. He kept tabs on Kiske to make sure that he didn't get too close to his friends and he was tracking Jin, so that he wouldn't be caught off guard, in case he did anything, though he admitted that he himself was more likely to do something. Keisuke just moved from the meat to cutting up some veggetables for the stew he was prepareing, his hand shaking only the slightest amount. When he was done with that he put the knife down as fast as he could without attracting attention to himself then added in most of what was left of the drinking water and put in some hebs before lifting it and settleing it on the the hanging hook to boil above the fire. He shook Saeko awake so that she could watch over things for him while he was gone then grabbed the bucket and left for the river to refill it, nodding to Deirdre as he passed her.

Keisuke was relieved as he was able to make his way out of the hut and to the river. As he was there he quickly refilled the bucket and set it to the side. He ran a hand through his hair and took deep breaths to steel himself for going back. The only reason that he'd been able to leave his friends there with that guy with the swords was because Saeko was now awake and no one seemed to mind him. Shaking his head to clear his mind of his thoughts he stood up and went back with the now filled bucket. When he reentered the hut, he seemed to be calm, even to the most trained eye, he was only able to hide his nervousness thanks to years of practice. Keisuke set the back to where it was before, then stirred the soup so that it wouldn't burn or that it wouldn't cook unevenly, it would be done soon, it didn't take that long for soup to cook. "Tokyo," he answered Jin's question haveing caught it just before entering the hut. "We were just taking a walk through the woods and we'd stopped to rest next to the well as usual. Next thing I know we were at the bottom of the well and when we climbed out we were here," he elaborted on their situation, keeping his eyes on the pot but his main focus was on Jin and Kiske.