BLOOD IS THICKER

TC

A/n: so yeah…if there’s anything super-wrong with this chapter, spelling, grammar, OOC-ness…R&R or email me or talk to me at school…yeah…^.^ luv the brother…hehe…

"So." Aishin had recovered from his shock and was just sad now. "You’re the one who’s hunting me."

"Yes, it’s me." The young man standing in the rubble was slightly taller than Aishin, which meant he was very tall indeed. His build was lighter that Aishin’s, thin and wiry but not frail. He also looked more wolf-like than Aishin, with longer black ears and a plumed black tail. His eyes were also more yellow-golden than Aishin, whose eyes were green and gold, but they both had long faces with narrow jaws, and a somber look to them. His hair was long and voluminous, separating into thick, rich locks and was swept back into a loose ponytail. His bangs fell haphazardly over his face, veiling his beautiful amber eyes. Or rather, eye. The man only had one working eye, the other was sealed shut by a criss-cross slash scar. Somehow this did not detract from his beauty though, it was more like a feature than a deformity. Perhaps it was because he did not try to hide it in any way, nor did he seem ashamed or embarrassed by it. He didn’t seem to care at all… In fact the only thing he seemed to notice at the moment was Aishin. "I’ve grown. I got a new scar." There was a moment of vulnerable hurt that flashed across the young man’s face as he gestured calmly at the smaller of the two crossed scars across his right eye. "Still me though." The young man was almost as emotionless as a doll.

"My brother is dead. You cannot be him." Aishin said coldly, the rigid lack of expression on his face betraying how difficult it was to keep his cool. "My brother was killed when I was sixteen and he was fourteen. You. Cannot. Be. HIM!" The last was said with a snarl.

"Hmm." The young man’s expression remained flat he seemed almost as if he hadn’t heard Aishin. "Doesn’t matter what you think. Will you come peacefully?" The young man’s eyes showed even less emotion that Aishin’s did, it was almost like he was asking the price of an onion at the market, not whether he’d have to kill the man he seemed to think was his brother.

"No. If I return they’ll only kill me anyway. I can never return to their world, not after…"

"I heard. You helped an Angel spy escape. My job to bring justice." The young man’s face twisted very slightly on the last word, one of his first displays of emotion. "Spirit -shield has this whole apartment walled off so you can’t escape and no one will hear your cries." Thin ropes of light shot out of the glow surrounding the young man and wound around Aishin’s wrists, ankles and neck. They seemed to hold for a moment, then shattered as if crushed by an immense hand. Aishin stood steady, facing his opponent, who wasn’t fazed in the least. "You’re stronger, I see…" The young man cast out his hand, flicking his wrist a little, and needles of light shot towards Aishin. Aishin was able to deflect some with his own magenta light, but many penetrated, and blood welled up in several of the cuts. The young man seemed intent on his quarry now and seemed to have disregarded the humans. He threw various projectiles and attacks at Aishin and Aishin stood up to all of them. However Aishin was beginning to stagger, while his opponent was barely winded. "Still recovering. Should give up now. Only making it harder." The young man shot again and a solid bolt of crimson light was barely deflected by Aishin’s parry, which shattered on impact. The young man lined up for another shot and fired, but his shot was thrown off-course by the fact that Tesha had jumped on his back and had him around the throat. Although Tesha was trained for many types of combat, she had never been trained to fight a youkai. Therefore, lacking any knowledge of tactical advantages, she went for the old ‘hang on and don’t let go’. A tactic that worked more often than not on humans, but not on youkai. The young man used his crimson tendrils (no..not tentacles…>.<) to pry Tesha off his back. Then he promptly hurled her at a nearby wall. She hit the wall hard and bounced to the floor like a rag doll.

"Tesha!" Marl flung himself at the young man, snarling. However Aishin, having seen this coming, restrained him.

"Stupid human, you’re no match for a youkai! Stay back!" He wrestled angrily with Marl.

"I can’t just stand and watch him hurt Tesha -and you- like that!" Marl growled, still trying to break free from the youkai’s grip. He succeeded, but only because Aishin had let go of him to lunge forwards. Marl was puzzled at first, but when Aishin was knocked backwards into him, he understood. "Did you just save me?" He said incredulously. The youkai was barely conscious and swayed when he regained his feet.

"That would have killed a human. Now stay back." Aishin growled, not taking his eyes from his opponent.

"You’ll die." The young man stated flatly.

"I told you, they’d kill me anyways." Aishin suddenly flung the last of his energy at the younger youkai in a magenta stream. The young man met it easily with a similar attack of crimson. Slowly he pushed back the magenta beam until it was only feet away from Aishin. Beads of sweat stood out on the injured youkai’s forehead as his muscles quivered with the effort of maintaining his contest against the other. Inch by inch the crimson ate up magenta and second by second Aishin swayed more and more. All of a sudden a pale blue sphere slammed into place around Aishin, severing the mostly crimson beam. The young man was thrown into what remained of the back wall by the backlash, and his impact with the wall created a large dent. Aishin was barely hit by anything, which was lucky, since he was barely on his feet as it was. There was a sudden flickering in the air above Aishin and the body of a teenage boy appeared. The youth fell as if in slow motion, to be caught by Aishin, who stared at the boy as if he was something very dangerous. The boy certainly didn’t look dangerous, he was small and thin with fine blond hair and a childlike face. He was clothed in loose white clothing and his pale skin, when exposed, was as smooth as a baby’s. However Aishin still stared wide-eyed at him, holding him almost as if he was afraid to touch him. On the other side of the room, the ebony-haired young man staggered to his feet and wiped blood from the corner of his mouth.

"Didn’t count on reinforcements. Angel spy of yours came back to help. Have to report this." And with that he was gone, and the apartment was strangely empty. Even with two humans a youkai and their new arrival. There was a moment of silence before Aishin staggered and collapsed, him and the unconscious boy landing in a tangle of limbs on Tesha’s living room floor. Marl was the only one standing and dithered for a moment before springing into action. He couldn’t move Tesha because he didn’t know what injured she had sustained. The boy didn’t look hurt at all, and Aishin, well it seemed Aishin healed whatever was done to him so he decided to go with Aishin. Marl was shorter than Aishin, and he found it difficult to carry the youkai to the guestroom. Somehow he managed it, and he finally laid Aishin down on the guest bed. He then went back for the boy, who was surprisingly light, even for his small size. However as soon as Marl picked the boy up, he began to wake. His eyelashes fluttered for a moment before revealing pure pale blue eyes. The boy looked up at him for a moment before speaking in a clear voice.

"Please put me down." He tapped Marl’s arm as if to remind him of his burden. Marl obliged and set the boy on his feet. The boy looked around. "What happened here? Where did the Hunter go?" He asked.

"Well he disappeared after you appeared and fell on Aishin. Didn’t seem to like the way the shield hit him with his own energy. Did you do that?" Marl asked, frowning.

"Yes, otherwise Aishin would have been killed." The boy looked at his feet. Suddenly he looked back at Marl. "I fell on him?? Is he okay? Where is he?" The boy managed to look worried and embarrassed at the same time.

"Heh, well actually he caught you, but then you both fell down. I think he was injured pretty badly by that other guy. I put him in the guest room because I don’t really know how to treat youkai wounds and last time he just sort of healed himself." Marl showed the boy to where he had put Aishin. The boy ran to the bed and kneeled beside it, putting a hand on Aishin’s forehead almost like he was feeling for a temperature.

"Hmm, he is injured, not fatally, but some ribs may be broken, and he’s exhausted himself. Nothing I can’t fix." The boy then closed his eyes and put his hands on Aishin’s chest. A pale blue, the same pastel blue colour of the shield, glowed around his hands, and Aishin stirred. Then the young man got to his feet and turned around. "Mmm…should be fine with some rest." Marl stared at the youth.

"You…healed him?" He asked incredulously. "Just like that?"

"Yes, it’s one of my Talents." The boy suddenly found himself being dragged from the guest room by Marl.

"Can you do that for humans too?" Marl asked feverently.

"Umm…I’ve never tried…" The boy replied, taken aback by the sudden display of zealous energy.

"Would you mind trying?" The boy realized the reason behind the outburst when they rounded the couch in the living room. There was a young woman lying crumpled on the floor beside the wall.

"No, I wouldn’t mind." The boy said kindly, smiling to himself. He leaned down and placed his hand on the girl’s forehead. He found that he could sense her as easily as he had the youkai. However her injuries were fairly serious.

"Well?" Marl prompted.

"Hmm... I can sense her. Her injuries are bad. I’ll try healing her. What’s her name?" The boy placed his hands on the girl’s stomach and head.

"Her name is Tesha, Teshalanna Dzahai."

"Okay." There was a long period of silence where Marl barely remembered to breathe. The boy was intent on Tesha, his eyes closed and his palms glowing. Minutes crawled by like hours until finally the boy collapsed once more into unconsciousness with a final sigh of "Done."