[Cross Fox] Long Time No See...

It has been a while since those poison-green eyes had been locked on the exotic dance club, at least a goof five or six hours at this point. The green glowing dots surrounded by shadows that originally dragged attention of those around now easily over looked. Like a statue, Mephis stood close to the entrance without actually allowing himself to be seen by the creatures that came in and out from the place he used to frequent so much two years ago, before he was sent of that…unfortunate mission by his former owner. It has been at least a full year since their contract had ended, but still, here he was, though not exactly on the best of moods.

It was until the place started to get empty and the doors started to close, that he quickly dashed towards them and got in barely second before he was locked out. He was planning to wait until Yoka walked out, bit if she wasn’t going to do so he was going to go looking for her. If his memory was as sharp as always, this was the hour of closing (Or the lowest business hour for the club if it doesn’t closes), and it would make things work out just as well. After all, the reason he had been waiting for so long was to not risk losing his temper in front of a large crowd near nor inside the Cross Fox and potentially leave a stain on the club’s reputation. Yes, the contract may be over and he was no longer obliged to care for the kitsune business anymore, but even if he was quite angry he still had hopes of renewing it and having such a bad start wouldn’t exactly work on his favor.

The lights of the now nearly empty club casted some light on the dark figure of the pet demon. The usually proud and elegant feline form he liked to be in had shaggy fur, with some parts stained on a dark red dried liquid that pulled it apart barely enough to reveal cuts and even an awful burn over his right shoulder, the most noticeable wound being a half-healed stab located on his flank only an inch or two above the heart area that still had some fresh blood on it and, if on any mortal creature, it would obviously require immediate hospitalization and stitches. Half of his ear was missing in a not exactly clean way, it looked as if somebody had grabbed it and forcefully ripped it off his head…which wouldn’t be that far from the truth anyways, good thing at least half of its original length had grown back.

With a soft snort, he walked right past the place that used to be his favorite in the club and padded towards the farthest, loneliest place of the club with a noticeable limp before jumping on top of a table and wrapping his tail around his paws with whatever elegance he had left. More than once a waitress or a dancer tried to approach him, whether it was to ask him to leave, engage in a conversation or simply offer him something to drink he couldn’t care less, as soon as they got anywhere close to him he hissed at them, showing his fangs, unsheathing his claws, lowering his ears and puffing up his fur. It was clear that for the first time since he discovered this place two years ago he wasn’t interested in any of the breathtaking employees nor the drinks. His eyes kept scanning the place, searching for the owner of this place. Yoka was somewhere around here and he knew it, so he wasn’t going to leave until he found and shared some words with her.

The black cat's ears quickly raised when he finally noticed Yoka approaching. His usually mysterious eyes unusually cold and emotionless as he waited for her to get closer, the only indicator of his foul mood being the black tail that lashed from side to side. When she spoke to him and offered him a drink he simply shook his head. Just like he did the first time he spoke to her, he jumped onto one of the seats to not be on one of her tables anymore, shifting into the same masculine figure she had grown to know while he worked for her.

Mephis' hair was as shaggy as his fur was on his cat form, and just like if the fur had turned into his clothes the usually formal attire he liked to shit into when talking to her held several slashes, the wounds clear underneath those. While it would be hard to believe if he wasn’t standing in front of her, it was clear that he was in worse conditions that he was letting her know. With a deep sigh he reached to his collar and pulled several carefully folded sheets of paper from the tight space between the cursed leather and his skin, all of which now held stains of blood, both from him and from other men, even if he had been as careful as possible with them. After unfolding them he handed them rather angrily at Yoka for her to see take and see them.

The code for the encrypted letters she sent him to investigate two years ago, along with some others.

“I wish you had told me…” His voice was hoarse, like if he hadn’t drank anything in a long time, as well as deeper than usual “…told me that those wanting to kill YOU also are be willing to torture and kill ME” His last words sounded more like a mix of a growl and a hiss than actual words.

His poison green eyes locked on those of the kitsune, no longer hiding the rage that he felt. And while not all of it was directed to her, those that had caused most of it were already dead and their souls trapped inside his medallion, so he literally had none else to direct this anger to even if he wished it. He was going to regret talking harshly to the one he wanted as an owner again right after his enraged state faded, but at the time the emotion was so powerful that he couldn’t even attempt to guess the potential consequences of his actions “Two years, Yoka, two stupid years! I’m lucky they didn’t find out how to permanently kill me on time, but they still had their share of fun through torture since I refused to give them the info they wanted, because I refused to give YOU to them even after the contract ended!” He pointed at Yoka as he basically hissed the last fact at her “I’m surprised you didn’t suspect that something was wrong when I didn’t return nor sent any kind of message through the mental link we shared while the contract was still on. I would’ve at least expected you to try and figure out why I disappeared like that. And let me remind you, I’m not the kind of demon that can teleport. If I hadn’t managed to successfully impersonate one of their staff right at the very last second I would be gone!” From Yoka he then pointed to the awful still bleeding cut on his side “They missed only by a mere couple inches if not less…”.

With a long sigh and running a hand across his messy and bloodstained hair, he allowed himself to lean silently on the table. The rage that ran through his body was still strong enough to keep the prideful demon from apologizing, but he was starting to realize that he probably just had screwed up badly by talking to her like that “However they got what they deserved, they won’t bother you anymore…”.

Mephis sighed, still with a clear frown on his face as he played around with the medallion on his collar, not even noticing the panic of the souls trapped inside it as his hand approached and toyed with the crystal object that caused the moving smoke-like colors produced by them inside to shift and move even faster.

Yoka’s apparent indifference to his words was really starting to rub him the wrong way. Usually when dealing with mortals they felt regretful, sad or even angry while trying to get rid of the blame. He was used to those reactions, so much that he could handle them so well that he could use them as a weapon to fully vent his anger…but Yoka wasn’t showing any of those. His cold gaze, his emotionless expression, even his posture! This was new for Mephis and it wasn’t sitting well for him.

Then again, he had to remind himself he wasn’t dealing with a simple mortal, but a kitsune.

He wanted to yell, to hiss, even part of him was starting to cause his claws to grow sharper on his current form as it tempted him to go from words to physical action since Yoke wasn’t reacting. But he bit his tongue and closed his hands into tight fists. He wasn’t stupid, he wasn’t on his territory, not even in neutral territory. This was the fox’s home and giving in to his rage in here would only cause him trouble, trouble that in his already pitiful state he wouldn’t be able to handle even in neutral territory.

It was then when Yoka got up. His body tensed as his fierce eyes followed her every move. His tongue was ready, his claws were ready. While the small voice of reason inside his head told him that fighting back would be his greatest regret later on he wasn’t going to let her do anything to him without trying to fight back.

The sparkles on the floor raised his guard, when she leaned over a soft feline growl left his throat and he raised his hand, now with long powerful claws on the end of each finger, and then…

She hugged him.

He froze completely, the growl dying instantly in his throat as the soft thankful words left Yoka’s mouth. He was utterly confused, each time he felt he started to understand Yoka, that he felt he finally could predict her, she successfully did something that took him completely off-guard. With so many years of experience on his side, the demon pet had forgotten how it felt to be in this kind of situations, no longer surprised of anything…then this kitsune sensually walked into his life.

His hand returned to its usual human appearance and he carefully wrapped his arms around her, returning the hug “You’re welcome?” His voice mirrored his confusion in all its glory. Well…at least his rage had been replaced with a confusion just as great.

“You really are an unpredictable creature…”

Mephis had to bite his tongue to not let out a curse when he felt Yoka’s fingers touch the sensitive area around the wound. However, the pain was enough for a soft feline hiss to escape his throat. She didn’t mean to hurt him though, he could easily tell, and that was the only reason he didn’t lash out at her as an immediate reaction to the pain as his instinct told him to. He had always said it before and he simply would never grow tired of it, he hated holly weapons more than anything else in this universe.

He just sighed as he was asked what he needed to heal, not interrupting her as she listed the first aids that she had around “Time. Usually I heal rather quickly from most injuries, but these were caused through the use of holy weapons. I don’t know how large your knowledge on demons is, but most of us are rather weak to these kinds of weapons” He looked at some of the not exactly few scratches that were slowly healing on his arms, he hated how slow these used to heal when caused by holy weapons, as slow as a regular human’s healing speed in not slower.

He, however, had never before received any kind of help from creatures with healing powers though. He almost never needed it, and the few times he did he was well aware that asking for it would only lead to his death at the hands of the one he decided to seek in his weakened state.

Mephis shook his head at Yoka’s question “Unless you kept the apartment you allowed me to borrow from you two years ago, thing I highly doubt, no” Usually the first place he would try to go when injured would be a home or refugee to be as safe as he could be until he was fully healed and ready fend by himself again. However, taking in consideration he never managed to make a second contract before he left on his mission and the time since his contract with Yoka had expired was considerable it would be safe to think of him as a stray yet again, meaning he had no such place.

His eyes scanned the female in front of him carefully. He couldn’t say he got to know Yoka well enough to say that he could predict her nor expect something in specific of her, but he had been around long enough to pick up some info about her habits, quirks and routines. Now that he was back he could say that the Yoka standing in front of him was…different.

Not in a bad or good sense, simply different.

Plus, he had no real way to judge someone in such ways taking in consideration that his own moral code would be fairly twisted and ambiguous on the eyes of those considered good citizens.