Fifteenth Jump (Blazblue) Part 6

Yan-Confusion

            Yankaka donned her newly-dyed jacket, her ‘face’ appearing once more now that she was fully clothed. The dye had caused her jacket to be a solid, navy blue color as to hide her identity. Well, once she had hid her tail and braid inside of the jacket, no one would be able to recognize her… Not even Tadek, if she didn’t speak. It wasn’t like he would find out and, while it brought her guilt to be hiding actions that he didn’t approve of, she knew that it had to be done. She couldn’t have him, if there were people in the way!

            Now that she was nice and disguised, the Kaka left home and went on her hunt for that red-headed woman who had sat down and obviously tried to console him when he was angry… Yes, she had been following him for breakfast. Her hunt for the competition could never be halted!

            It took her a good half-day to actually find the harlot who had actually touched Tadek’s hands… Something she simply could not allow as that meant she was ahead of her! Tadek never allowed her to hold his hand… Not even his arm, no matter how often and how hard that she tried. The Kaka was not exactly happy about that fact… Perhaps if she removed this one, she would finally get to show him some classic, romantic affection.

            It was unimportant, however… She followed that woman around for the better part of the day, trying to find a prime opportunity for her to actually attack her. During this time, she actually caught the red-head talking to Tadek again. “How dare she, nya!” The Kaka muttered to herself. He was claimed already… even if it wasn’t official, she laid claim to that man.

            She couldn’t hear what they were talking about from her position, but they seemed on friendly terms. It made the Kaka’s blood boil, her cloth-covered ears pinned back while her giant claws slipped out from the holes in her jacket every now and then. Though, as she was thinking of how much closer this would bring her to him, something crossed her mind… He did not like the fact that people were dying.

            “If Sweet Guy finds out what Yankaka is going, he might leave Yankaka, nya.” She said to herself as she moved to stand over an alleyway, looking down as the redhead started to go on through. “Maybe Yan simply scare her? No… She will tell others, nya. But, Yan is disguised, nya… She wouldn’t know.” The Kaka shifted back and forth from the edge of the alleyway, physically debating as to whether or not she should attack or simply leave it be. Was the risk of losing her prize really worth taking out the competition through bloodshed? Was it worth losing someone who showed her care and helped her?

            Yes… Yes, it was. He wouldn’t find out, she thought. There was no way he could find out when she had such a wonderful disguise! She wouldn’t have to tell him… No, no, no. Without further thought, she leapt down from her perch, her claws unsheathing from the claws in her jacket. Yan would make it nice and quick… That would be the right thing to do.

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            With my plan in mind, I left home rather early this time around and went off in search of that red-haired woman who had approached me just yesterday. It would be a cruel action to use her to find the murderer, but on one hand I might actually be saving her if she was already a target. It took me a good portion of the day, but once I found her, I set about doing what I had to… For one, I actually did need to find her for a much more mundane act.

            That act was simple… To apologize for my behavior yesterday. While she did seem a little weirded out by the fact that I looked for her to simply apologize for my attitude, she accepted the apology with a smile and went on her way. It was quite an easy task to follow her once he brought up some of his perks. If he wanted to hide, practically no one in this universe could find him. (Except for perhaps certain Observers.)

            He was going to find that murderer and put a stop to them… After all, this involved him and, at this rate, Yankaka was probably going to be attacked if the murderer was, in fact, attacking women who interacted with him. Hmm… Why hadn’t she been attacked before? Hmm.

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            Yankaka was close to landing on the other woman, her claws outstretched and mere inches away from sinking into the red-head’s pale flesh. The Kaka’s eyes grew in size and her fanged smile turned upside down as Tadek seemed to appear from thin air, his hand clasping around the feline woman’s wrist. With a small flick of his wrist, she went flying across the alley and into a far wall, bouncing off of it and to the ground with a hard thud.

            While Yan was recovering from the shock of being thrown against a wall and the fact that her beloved had appeared to stop her without so much as a second of hesitation. Her vision was blurred, but she could see him approaching and, as it cleared she took painful notice of his expression. He seemed angry with her. “Wasn’t too difficult to find you, you know. Your targets were predictable and the weapons were always the same. Don’t know why I didn’t figure that it was a Kaka.”

            He didn’t recognize her… That fact both frightened her and ease some of her worries. As he spoke, she could see him take out one of those flaming sticks he liked to burn, fitting it between his lips and lighting it with nothing more than a flame that appeared on his finger. She didn’t speak… She didn’t want him to know it was her. That would make things even worse.

            Thinking quickly, the Kaka tried to climb to her feet and run away, but as she turned, she felt a hand close in around her ankle. He… He was twenty feet away… How did he close the gap!? “Where do you think you’re going? You’ve caused me and plenty of innocents some grief.” She heard before pain shot through her frame, her vision going black for a moment as the next thing she realized was that she was pinned against a wall by Sweet Guy’s foot, the wall itself having caved in from the impact.

            Her body wouldn’t move, both physical and emotional pain keeping her from moving as she just looked up at his glowing, red eyes. Why were his eyes red? It was a carry-over from some of his perks, something of which she wasn’t aware of. Her heart was sinking, her eyes welling up as she realized two simple things… One, she had been causing him actual grief, and two… He was cruel at times. No, that couldn’t be it! He was treating her like a murderer because he wasn’t aware that it was her. That had to be it! He was kind to her, but she knew that he was mean to those who caused difficulty in other people’s lives… He broke thugs that he ran into, but that was because they were trying to hurt people! She… She was trying to hurt people…

            As that realization dawned on her, she felt her windpipe shut from the pressure of Tadek’s shoe against her throat, holding her up off the ground. She knew that he was strong, but she didn’t realize how strong… However, that wasn’t important right now. She looked down at him with teary eyes, her paw-sleeves grabbing at his leg and she tried to mouth the words ‘I’m sorry’, but because of how her ‘face’ worked, it didn’t get across. It did, however, allow him to pause for a moment, taking the pressure off.

            “Hmm? What was that? Could you repeat yourself… I can’t read your, uh… lips.” He stated, leaving Yankaka to try and catch her breath before speaking once more. “Y-Yankaka sorry…” She sobbed, lines of water pouring down the abyss of her face as she was slowly lowered to the ground.

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            I paused as I heard the Kaka say that she was sorry, the voice and the name used causing me to simply lower the woman down to the ground before kneeling down in front of her. I had no idea where the red-head had ran off to… Probably nowhere that would be good for me. “Yankaka?” I asked softly, taking a moment to pull out a talisman and cast the healing spell that had been bound to it on her. “Yankaka sorry, nya… Yankaka done bad…” She repeated, her paw-sleeves reaching up to rub at her ‘face’ and try to hide herself.

            With a sigh, I thought it over for a moment before reaching out to gently take a hold of her shoulders and pull her into a tight hug. First I had to do was calm her down and then get some answers from her. Yan clung to me, sniffling and sobbing in my arms even as I tried to pick her up and get her away from the alleyway before any NOL Agents arrived… They would be an issue, considering their choice of weaponry. Being mindful of myself, I took her back to the Kaka village and to her home so that we could have somewhere private to actually speak.

            I set her down on the edge of the bed and, while it took a moment to get her to let go, she eventually pulled away and curled up on the bed. I only had one real question… “Why?” I asked simply, trying to keep my tone even and void of emotion. She slowly straightened up on the bed, her tail finally coming into view, the small amount of fluff and the salt and pepper coloration giving away that she was, in fact, Yankaka. “Yankaka like Sweet Guy... Yankaka heard of competition… Yankaka didn’t want them to take nyou… Yan no want to be alone and scared, nya.”

            Thinking about it, I finally put out the cigarette I had between my lips and toss it away. “Alone and scared?” I asked and it took a moment, but I finally remembered back to around the 632 month… She had mentioned something about being born outside of the Kaka village and, as a beast-kin (Especially one who was somewhere that didn’t have Kaka.), she had to deal with a heavy amount of prejudice up until she made it to the village and, once she made it to her own kind, things did improve but she always had to deal with such things whenever she went outside of the village.

            Such things included physical violence, being left out in harsh weather, and various other bouts of hatred and the like, so… I could kind of understand parts of not wanting to go back to such things. I allowed her to repeat the stories, though, simply trying to keep her calm the whole while. “Yankaka wants to be safe… to be happy… but, Yan scared, nya.” She stated and, after a moment, I simply reached out to slip my hand underneath her hood and gently rub the top of her head.

            “Well… That’s a better reason than I had for some of the things I have done in my time... You know what you did was wrong, right?” I asked simply, offering her a little grin and, in return, she gave a little nod of her head. “Good. You have some sins to make up for, but… I forgive you for your actions and apologize for hurting you when I didn't know it was you. Sometimes all someone needs is forgiveness… Even for things they were blamed for, but never did.”

            She suddenly leaped up and tackled me to the ground, clinging to me rather closely with a big, toothy smile on her face. “Sweet Guy, Yankaka's!” She tried to claim, but I sadly had to push that off to the side after a moment and, while it saddened her, at least she knew I wasn’t mad at her now. She just needed some guidance and kindness to help her come to terms and overcome her suffering.

            I knew just who could help me with that… You know what, I am bringing both of them along. Bang and Yankaka have been added to the party! Fuck… I need a break.