Broomsticks And Owls

Buta dragged the limb body through the forest ground, enjoying the contorted face on the mudblood face as he screamed in silent pain. Although both his legs were already broken and crushed beyond recognition, the auror still felt the pain from the intact sensory system as he was helplessly dragged across, leaving behind a trail of dark blood. However, he could only scream in silent after Buta cast a silencing charm to mute him.

Suddenly, he felt a jerk as he was pulled up and thrown against the tree.

"Petrificus Totalus!" Buta cast, temporarily binding the thin auror. He knew in that condition, the wizard was in no shape to escape but he wanted to be sure. Buta was just planning to check out the manor up front. He needed to be sure he was not falling for yet another of the devious Ministry trap.

Inu sensed the movements and noticed that one was being dragged by the other. Strange. He stood up slightly, the darkness still blinding him. Inu scanned the trees, but could see no one. He reached for his wand and tapped the deck with it, thinking. Then he closed his eyes and muttered a spell that sent an orb of light into his opposite hand. He stood up and threw it with all his might up into the sky above the treeline. As he stood there, the breeze was not strong enough to send the scent back now; he was relying very much on his sight. The orb exploded and the whole area was illuminated with green light. Night vision, Inu thought as he scanned again. He was very much aware that Buta would be arriving, but what if this person being dragged was him? Inu scoffed. He would like to see the guy who could drag Buta. And then he saw him. A very tall, very broad looking man, near the clearing. Inu squinted. The green light faded, and the wind started to blow away from the house. The hair on the back of Inu's neck stood on end. It was like he had just switched a light on in a room and noticed someone menacing standing near him, and then someone had turned out the lights. Inu listened hard, but the wind was against him for sound too. He cursed, and then started to run in the direction of where the man had been standing. He would try to intercept him, somehow.

Buta stood still, there was a faint running sound and before he could differentiate the scent of the intruder from the blood of the filth mudblood, a fist collided into his face.

Buta stumbled backward, managing to stop his fall with a hard stomp on the ground as the soft earth beneath trembled slightly. The punch was surprisingly strong for even someone his size. His primal instinct kicked in. The attacker charged in and Buta tried to grab him by the shoulder but failed as the man was too fast for him. The attacker sneaked from behind and with a sleek move, he landed a punch on Buta. But correspondingly, Buta swung his arms across and hit the attacker on the abdomen with blunt force.

Inu doubled over, amazed at the accuracy of the punch and how it winded him, He rolled to the ground and as he did so, swung his leg out and took out the man's legs too. He heard him fall hard to the forest floor, and then he was rolling to recover. Inu was on his front now, and pushed himself up to stand again, only to be body checked across his chest. The man had taken a run at him and was successfully pushing him backward. Inu collided so hard with a tree that he heard the wood splinter and the trunk crack and creek. The man started to swing punches into his ribs and Inu could hear his bones cracking. He reached up and grabbed the man's head and squeezed, causing him to cry out and stop. Inu continued to crush the man's skull, pushing him back and forcing him to his knees. the man was trying to pry Inu's hands away; he dug his nails into Inu's skin so deeply that the blood pooled and dripped warmly off of his hands. Inu didn't even flinch. Then the man tried a new tactic. He brought his hands down and then brought them up, managing to knock Inu's grip off enough to pull away. Inu could not see properly or smell properly but the man retreated, and from the sound, he was circling. Inu pulled out his wand yelled out. "Before I kill you, why don't you tell me who you are and why you chose this house to creep around?!" Inu could hear the man stop in his tracks.
"Inu?" The man said. Inu stopped moving too. He pointed his wand in the direction of the voice.
"Lumus!" he shouted. And his wand glowered, casting light in front of him. The man stepped into the light, breathing heavily. His eye was already brusing, but it was now clear. This was Buta. Inu smiled.
"It has been too long, and you have faired too much for me to recognise you in the dark anymore, Buta, my friend. Where have you been?" Inu brought his wand out to show himself too; the light must have been like a torch in a tunnel.

Yuta was just lifting her mug of hot tea to her lips when she heard a commotion. Flicking her gaze out the window, Yuta barely stopped herself from jumping and sloshing the tea over herself in surprise as she saw rustling in the trees. Leaning across the sink to open the window, Yuta sniffed the air experiementally. Damn. The wind wasn't nearly cooperative enough, her sense of smell being far below that of Inu or Neko. Hearing would have to do. Yuta cocked her head to the side, listening intently. The sounds of fighting had stopped, now there were voices.... Inu, and someone else. Buta? No, the two wouldn't have been fighting. Surely if it was Buta. Inu would have known? Perhaps not. And perhaps Buta was different from the person he had once been. Shutting the window quietly, Yuta headed to the door. But just as she was walking out of the house, she saw the two striding out of the forest, looking a bit worse for wear. Better wake Damien, Yuta thought to herself, turning to walk back inside.

Inu was close enough to Buta now to sense him completely. He couldn't help but stare at him, in spite of the darkness. He was a huge man, but he seemed like he had grown even more. And not just physically. Buta had been through something Inu could not put his finger on. Inu tried to ponder what it could be. An encounter? With whom? Suddenly it struck him. Buta seemed more mature somehow, almost like some important even had wounded him. Inu wondered who or what could hurt Buta like that. He had definately changed; his scent and his stagger. Inu placed his hand on Buta's shoulder. "It is good you are here. Tell me," Inu said, looking back into the trees. The one who had been dragged was still out there. "Who is the near corpse in the forest?"

Yuta knocked politely on Damien's door. No answer. Yuta knocked again, a bit more impatiently now. Still nothing. Yuta sighed, and gave the door such a large thump that the wood splintered. There, that should do it, Yuta thought to herself, shaking her slightly aching hand as she heard swearing from within the room. "Get up, Inu's hurt!" Yuta called in to him.

"And that's suprising how?" Damien groaned through his pillow. Freaking woman, had to wake him up this early. He rolled over and rubbed his eyes. Taking his hands back down, he noticed that Ouki was already standing, getting ready. "What're you so worried about?"

"Unlike you, I care about Inu's safety," she retorted.

Damien cracked his back as he sat up and pulled on his clothes. "Is there even a point? His healing ability is so advanced that he could take a charging rhino head-on and be fine." He cracked his neck twice, and then pulled on his shirt, then his potions jacket. As he looked up, he saw Ouki glaring at him, and quickly said, "But it wouldn't hurt to help out."

Nodding in approval, Ouki, pulled Damien out of bed, and began dragging him to the door. Opening the door, the two saw Yuki scurrying past. Seeing the two others, the house-elf squealed, "Master Inu is hurt? No, he can't be. He can't die. I have to go save him."

"Woah, woah, woah," Damien yelled out as he grabbed the houself by the arm. "Inu's fine. And who said anything about kill. I actually feel sorry for the moron who attacked him." The house-elf was sobbing, the idea of her master in pain being unbearable. Good thing she didn't know that Damien himself had once attacked Inu. "Now, get ahold of yourself, and we'll go check it out. The law of averages say that the idiot who attacked Inu is already dead."

Yuki wiped her eyes on her pillow-case shirt and nodded. "Master Damien, if Inu is hurt, will you help him?"

Damien didn't know what to say. He didn't particularly like Inu, he'd rather that the werewolf was dead, but he himself couldn't do that. Then, seeing the pleading in the house-elf's eyes, he finally succumbed, and said, "I will do everything in my power to ensure that Inu stays alive." Smiling, he began walking down the stairs with the house-elf and Ouki. "Not that he needs my help, mind you."

"It's not just Inu you might need to save," Yuta called from the kitchen as she peered out the window at the forest, "looks like he brought a friend."
"Careful," Ouki said as she walked into the room, "his 'friend' might not be all that friendly."
"Nah, he probably is," Yuta heard Damien cut in, "otherwise Inu would've probably already killed him."

Inu noticed the others had gathered in the kitchen as he and Buta approached the house. The old man Buta had brought with him was bound and unconcious; he had passed out from whatever painful curse Buta had him under. He lay across Inu's arms limp as a rag doll. Inu stepped into the outside light of the house and as soon as he did, the front door flew open and Ouki dashed out and practically lept off the balcony, missing the stairs.

"Inu, what is it?" she shouted. With one hand she pulled her very long hair out of her face as the wind whipped it around. With the other hand she drew her wand. "Who is this... oh!" she stopped and stood still. "Buta! What has happened here?" Buta approached her and gave her a crooked smile. She looked from Buta to Inu, and then to the face of the man in Inu's arms.

"There is much to explain, I'm sure, Ouki." Inu sighed. Ouki looked at Inu's face and brought her hand up to his cheek, her eyes wide with shock. "Is that... a black eye?!" Ouki felt herself begin to laugh, and brought her hand up to her mouth. It was too late to hide it though. "Did this old man.. hit you?" she scoffed.

"No." Inu smiled. "Buta got a punch in." and now Inu's smile was crooked.

Ouki stared at him and then glanced at Buta. He was also beaten looking, but oddly not as bad as Inu. How strange that he was able to inflict an injury deep enough to cause brusing on a werewolf! "Come inside. " she ordered. On the front porch Damien, Yuta and Yuki stood waiting.

The first thing that Damien noticed was the fact that Inu was actually hurt. It was a rarity for such a thing to occur. Then he noticed that Buta looked just as beat up as Inu. Not as rare, but still, rare. Then he saw the old man. He was a mess. No surprise there.

Yuki immediately ran to Inu's side, sobbing, asking if Inu was alright. Damien watched to see how the werewolf would react.

Inu started to climb the stairs as Yuki clutched at his side, sobbing. He rolled his eyes. She had always been so affectionate to him, and he had no reason to be cruel to her. In spite of his disposition to be violent, he never saw any reason to pick on something that could not fight back. Well, physically anyway. Yuki knew some pretty amazing magic, and could be terrifying if she used it for something other than servitude. Inu cleared his throat and knelt down to speak to Yuki. The old man was still in his arms.

"Yuki. I need you to leave for a while, I have to do something you will not like." To this Yuki gasped.

"Oh master! I promise I won't get upset again! Please don't send me away! I can help you! " Yuki rubbed at her wet eyes, trying to compose herself. "I... I could help you! Yes, I could... well I guess I could get you your knives..." she began, looking off into the forest. Inu set the man down, and placed his hands on Yuki's shoulders.

"You haven't the stomach for it, Yuki. You never have. But you have always been loyal and loving to me. I cannot change, but I am grateful that you are still here, in spite of how much it must frighten you." Yuki turned her head from the forest to face Inu. She sighed.

"I have known you all your life, master. You are a wonderful boy." she put her hand up to his face. "You must do what you have to do. And I, will obey you. You are a kind master. " She stepped back a few steps and Inu stood up. A loud crack filled the night and then she was gone.

"Where did she go?" Ouki said softly.

"I expect the same place she always used to go, when the screaming got too hard to take.." Inu smiled and scooped up the man once more. "Now, according to Buta, this man has some information I'm just itching to extract." Inu pushed past the others and entered the house.

The kitchen table seemed the best place, and Inu set the man down gently and then went to a hall closet. Inside it was a large roll of plastic sheeting. He placed it on the tatami mats and kicked it toward the table. It rolled out a protective layer along the floor. He heaved the table up on one side, pushed the plastic roll under and then went around to lift the other side and pushed the rest of the plastic across. He looked up at Yuta who was eyeing him curiously.

"They're nice floors... Bamboo stains from the grease in blood... I hate that." Inu shrugged. "Now.. what do you suggest? Shall we simply let him talk, or slice it out of him..." Inu pulled a very sharp blade out from under his arm, the light in the kitchen glistened off of it. He turned and looked at Damien, who was still in the front door way.

"What do you think Damien? Do you have a potion you would like to try? "

Yuta walked over to the table, where the man had been set down, and smiled serenely down at him. Frightened, yet determined eyes looked back at her. Perfect. The spineless ones were never much fun. Yuta pulled out one of the chairs from the table and sat down, still keeping the man's eyes locked with hers. Placing her elbow on the table and resting her chin upon her upraised fist, Yuta tilted her head sweetly at the man, like a child staring at a new dolly. "My, what an interesting night this is turning out to be." she commented, looking up at the others.

Inu turned to respond to Yuta. "Ah. You're awake then." The man groaned. Inu allowed it, and started to walk around the table. Then he reached into the man's robes and found what he was looking for - identification. He opened the wallet and the badge within it was the symbol of the United Kingdom Ministry of Magic. He grinned. "An Auror. And by the look of this badge, a representative for the London Police Force. How clever..." Inu turned the badge and like a hologram it changed, now looking like a London police badge. "What are you doing so far from home? " Inu set the badge onto the man's chest and patted it. The man started to breath faster.

"He seems to know you, Inu." Ouki interupted, judging the man's responses.

"Yes, I know you. I know all of you." the man rasped. He turned onto his front and tried to sit up. Ouki drew her wand and held it on him.

"Careful." she threatened. The man looked at her and he sighed.

"Of course. I'm not a fool." the man coughed and then he pulled his hankerchief from his sleeve, and wiped his mouth. There was blood in his phlem. "I have something to exchange with you. Information, for my freedom. " the old man looked up at Inu now, that determination still there. Inu smiled at how sure this man seemed to be of himself.

"Information, eh?" questioned Yuta. "No blubbering promises, no bribery or threats?" she smiled. "Looks like we might actually have gotten a smart one this time."