Broomsticks And Owls

"Travel by car?" Damien accidentally let slip out. He hated cars, they were so slow. "Hey, Ouki, how about we take the Shinkansen, because driving to Fuk..." Ouki had put her finger to his lips.

"We'll take the Shin, ok?" Damien couldn't help but nod. Of course she knew that the Shin was better, he didn't have to explain. After all, every sane person who grew up in Japan knew that the Shin was better than any car.

When the plane landed, they went on their way to customs. Damien swore. He was carrying around 80 pounds worth of potions, acids, bases, and other things that were definitely not allowed in a suitcase. As he approached the customs officer, he slipped his wand into his hand and pointed it at the man.

The officer was the normal Japanese man, ready to ask every person the same freaking question because he was doing his part in the economy. "Do you have any liquids, meats, vegetables, or fruits in your luggage."

Damien quickly pointed his wand at the officer and whispered, "Confundo." They he replied, "Of course I don't have any of those. Now may I go through?"

The guard nodded and allowed Damien through the customs gate. Whoops, Damien accidentally made the guy forget to check his passport. Going back, he told the man, "Stamp my passport, please." The man complied, and then Damien went back through the gate and watched to see how Ouki would get through her gate.

Ouki was instantly pulled to the side and asked to put her bag on the table. Ouki complied sweetly. Beside her two other girls were being told to open their bags, and it was just by chance that she was randomly selected. IT was all procedure; they had to be seen as doing their jobs. The custom officer opened her suitcase. Ouki smiled. She had already put charms on the items inside to trick any muggle who looked at them. She watched as they picked up the blades she had packed, the cruel wooden weapons she had created while on the island. They turned them over and looked at Ouki, and Ouki simply smiled. she tried to laugh at how they were so calmly picking up item after item which would normally envoke terror, but instead, no more emotion than if they had picked up some plush toys. They zipped up her back, and let her through. Ouki walked out of customs looking un phased. She met Damien in the foyer outside.

Damien leaned against the wall. "I've got 500,000 yen [roughly 5,000 USD, 3,500 Euros]. Let's find a hotel, drop off our stuff, and take a look around Hiro."

Ouki looked at him, excited. "We get to tour Hiroshima? I love this city! But, since when did you have that kind of money."

Damien smirked as he began walking towards the exit. "Since I learned a little spell called 'Accio.'"

Yuta was jolted out of sleep and was on her feet in a ready position when she realized that the sound sending alarm bells through her head was simply the phone. She never would get used to muggle appliances, she decided, leaned over to pick up the reciever. It was Inu, saying that Ouki and Damien were coming back. How nice it would be to see them... But still she hesitated on an answer as to whether or not she'd be joining them. These past months had been a breeze, like another life, and oh, how she loathed to leave such carefree times. But she knew how stagnant happiness grew when left to simmer... Yuta bit her lip. How different would things be now? Inu and Neko knew some of her secrets, more than Damien and Ouki. How would these splits of knowledge affect them? Would they tell them? And would the six ever work the same way again? Yuta had saved both Inu and Neko, shown her prowess where before she'd been nondescript. She felt like Inu and Neko were, well... friends. How would that affect Inu's leadership, and Yuta's response to it? Yuta swallowed indecisively. "Can we talk?" she asked. "Before we go to meet them, before I... decide, I'd like to talk some things over."

Inu knodded and then spoke. "Of course. Meet me in 10 minutes. I could use some of the delicious french pastries they have on for breakfast. We can talk there." he put the phone back on it's receiver and then pulled out a drawer in the table where some hotel stationery was kept. He pulled it out, along with a pen and started writing Neko a note.
"Gone downstairs for breakfast. Will bring you back some chocolate crossants. xx" He set the note delicated on the pillow next to Neko so she would find it. Then he threw on the rest of his clothes, pulled on his muggle jacket, and left the hotel room.

The man strode along the wide street, following the fragrance of the well-known delicacy of Hiroshima - okonomiyaki, much to the surprise look of the passerby. He was a huge man, unusually tall and bulky, not a sight one would expect in Japan.

"3 servings," Buta ordered, much to the astonishment of the chef.

He has been on the road for 2 months, ever since that fateful night. He was napping soundly when a loud sound tore through the house. Then, the sudden appearance of aurors threw him out of orientation as he fled into the darkness, seemingly in a total opposite direction from the others. The aurors gave a quick chase, not knowing that it would be their final chase. Buta had brutally slaughter every single auror that came his way throughout that night, but not without injuries. By the time the sun broke out in the distant east, Buta, weakened from the curses and various spells, slipped into an abandoned trap hole built by the muggles where he laid there, unconscious for a few days.

He recovered later but the track of his missing companions were all gone. Were they captured? Buta had to investigate. The next few weeks he learnt to transfigure himself into an eagle and soared through the skies continuously for a week around the headquarters of magic in Japan but found no traces of the other five. Convinced they were free, Buta continued his journey to seek them...

The piping hot okonomiyaki was served. Buta gobbled it up happily.

Damien and Ouki were walking down Hondori street together. It was crowded with Japanese, and a few Americans here and there. Several stores had sales associates standing out front, trying to get others inside their stores. The smell of several restaurants wafted to them inside.

They had already spent around a hundred dollars playing arcade games, and it was now lunch time. As they walked past a restaurant, Damien thought saw something inside he thought he recognised. There was an oversized man sitting in two chairs at once downing a tremendous amount of food. "OUKI, It's BUTA!!!" Ouki whirled around to see their oversized friend eating down three servings of Okanomiyaki. "Buta!!!" Damien yelled.

Going inside, they sat down next to the big man, who was still stuffing his face. "Can I get some Ramen, please?" Damien asked the waiter. Then he turned to Buta. "Buta! How've you been?"

A familiar voice came from his side. He wheeled around and caught sight of his beaming pal.
Buta gave him a big bear hug instantly.

"Stop, you're choking me-" Damien croaked.
"Sorry..." Buta said sheepishly. Ouki stood in the distance and ran towards the duo, giving Buta a gentle hug as well.
"Where have you been!" Ouki asked out of concern. Buta then gave a quick background story about his endeavors for the past 2 months.

"And so, you'll be meeting up with Inu and the rest?" Buta asked.

Ouki looked around. She leaned in and spoke a little softer. "That's the plan. Will you come with us?" she looked into Buta's face, and his eyes gave him away. He adored Inu, and he was dying to get back to him just as much as she was.

"Yeah," Damien said. "You could be our comic relief when Inu's being an absolute butthole." He slurped some noodles out of his ramen. It was good. He loved Ramen.

[I meant for him to be disrespectful towards the person that the two others idolize.]

As the door closed with a soft ‘click’, Neko was jarred from deep sleep into a gentle doze. Hearing no one else in the room, she was content just to lie there on the bed for a little longer. It was safe here, and she was extremely comfortable.

The past few months had gone well, despite their difficulty. Neko hadn’t woken up until after a week had passed since their flight from the hideout. When she had, she had been weak and jumpy- but this hadn’t lasted too long. She wasn’t going to become an invalid trapped by her own nightmares, she refused to. She began training physically whenever she could, regaining her strength and dexterity slowly but surely as the days passed. Shifting seemed to take more effort to hold than usual, until she realised she was trying to shift into the same form as before- a creature not marred by a run-in with cultists. When Neko tried to shift while not attempting to remove the scars it was a lot easier, and they were barely noticeable anyway.

In fact, they could only really be seen in direct light. Otherwise, her stomach just seemed to shimmer slightly- an effect that could be mimicked by a subtle glitter on the rest of her skin, making her seem less tangible in reality. A nice effect for seducing the unwitting when necessary, she’d found. While still ill Neko had lost a fair bit of weight, but most of that had been put back on in the form of muscle. If anything, she looked more beautiful now than before- at least, so she was told.

With a small meow, Neko opened her eyes to the empty room. Her dreams were much less torture-orientated then they had been two months ago, they were filled with glorious moments with Inu. Even just that passing thought was enough to bring a warm smile to her face. She rolled over, and found a note on the pillow beside her. Reading it, her face lit up. Chocolate croissants! Oh he knew how to please a girl. While waiting, Neko thought she would take a quick shower and proceded to slink out of bed to do so.

Ouki and Buta turned their heads slowly to stare at Damien. Ouki was frowning. Damien gave a fake surprised look, but Ouki didn't buy it. "You'd think you would get over your differences after 2 months? What are we, in high school or something?? You know how much this means to me..." she leaned in, putting her face in Damien's face, "What he had done for me? You've always had it exactly how you needed it. You never needed building up, training, assistance. Not like I did. Inu has always been there for me in spite of his, how did u call it.. butthole moments? Geeze Damien." Ouki stormed off to the counter to get herself something to eat. Damien still had not learned the etiquet of getting his girl a drink. She scowled. He had a lot to learn.

Damien stood up, and walked quickly over to Ouki. "Turn around, Ouki." She didn't. "Turn around." This time was more forceful. Ouki whipped around to look at Damien, anger in her eyes.

"I'm going with you, aren't I?" Damien asked. Ouki didn't answer. "AREN'T I?!!!"

This was the first time Damien had gotten rough or loud with Ouki. She didn't like it. She looked down at the floor. "Yes you are." she knodded, and looked up into his angry face. "You are." she put her hand on his cheek, and he put his hand up to keep it there. She smiled. "I.... I don't know why I get so defensive. Inu is ... he always has been diffferent. I just want him to be cared for. He never had friends before us."

Damien embraced her. "I apologize for my harsh words," he whispered in her ear. "It's just that we've had a lot of bad blood between us. Don't you worry, though. When we meet face to face, I'll be as cordial as possible." Something Ouki didn't know is that her words had hurt Damien more than Damien's had probably hurt her.

Things weren't rosy and dandy on his side, but he couldn't bring himself to yell at her again. He already felt like a dirtbag, and didn't need that feeling anymore. "Ouki, people are staring," he whispered. "We should leave, in case one's wizard and decides to contact the ministry." Ouki nodded.

As they were leaving, Ouki rembered, "Oh, Buta, remember, tomorrow at 6 in the evening. Be there." And then Damien and Ouki were back out into the Hiroshima streets.