Kitsune

As the sun rose and... Well, nevermind. There's no light to shine through the windows, no birds outside... It is a cave, after all.

Either way, at one point, the two did wake up. Layla stretched her back as she let out a big yawn, covering her mouth with her hand, and she slowly but surely got out of bed. He, on the other hand, threw off the blanket that was covering him and groaned, hard, as he rubbed his back and sat up.

"This floor sucks so bad!"

"That's too bad."

He sighed at both the fact that he lost rock paper scissors last night, but also at the fact that he lost specifically to her...

He got up, neatly folded the blanket and placed it at the end of the bed, then also made the bed she slept in.

Layla looked surprised, and clapped slightly for a bit with wide eyes.

"Ohhh~ So you're a clean freak, huh."

He let out a little "Tch." as he finished making the bed, her bed.

"Shut up. You're noisy."

As she posed dramatically behind him, and exclaimed "How rude can thou be?!", he put his hoodie on and tightened his gloves. He grabbed his mask and put it on his hip, attaching it to his belt.

"Let's just go already."

After that, he opened the door and made his way out. Layla let out a small sigh, stopped posing, grabbed a backpack, and then quickly followed behind him.

"Aren't you a bit too in a hurry?"

He yawned, "And aren't you a bit too annoying?"

She clenched her fists and, through her teeth, said "I'm talking to a man-child...!" while dramatically pointing the clenched fist at the hospital's ceiling.

He didn't pay attention and kept walking forward. After a while, he eventually stopped, and coughed twice.

"...I have no idea where I'm going, I don't know where Marry's office is."

Layla's jaw dropped, as he stared at him. When she finally woke up from her shock, she said "Say that sooner! Jesus!"

After making an 180 and walking back and then some, they arrived at a door saying "Marry Buttocks."

He burst out laughing, before quickly covering his mouth. Layla glared at him. He cleared his throat, "Sorry. Couldn't help it."

"And why's the dude with no name laughing?"

"Okay, touché."

After knocking on the door and hearing a "Come in!", they did just that. As they walked in, a tired looking Marry was in her chair, looking at some papers. She didn't bother looking up at them, and put a coffee mug on the table.

Layla did a little wave at her.

"Morning, Marry."

Marry yawned, and picked up the mug again, taking a sip of it then putting it back down.

"Mornin' Layla. What d'ya want?"

Layla let out a small sigh, and he let out an inaudible little chuckle while covering his mouth and looking away.

"Straightforward as always, I see. But it wasn't me who wanted to talk."

He calmed himself down, cleared his throat, and raised his hand slightly.

Marry took another sip of coffee, "This isn't pre-school. Just speak up."

He put his hand down and let out a little "Oh."

"Well, I was wondering if there's any work you have for me... Or, unfortunately... For us."

Layla exclaimed "Hey!" and then Marry spoke up.

"Oh, obviously. God, there's a thousand things to do in this goddamn city."

She rummaged through a few files in her cabinet, and threw three of them onto the desk.

"Pick your poison."

He took all three, and started going through them, reading them all thoroughly.

"Man wanted for arson... Multiple suspects wanted for theft... And finally, woman wanted for... Prostitution? Really, someone put a bounty on her just for... That?"

"Oh, you'd be surprised...", said Layla as she sighed.

Marry sighed as well and took a big gulp from her coffee instead of the usual sip, "It can be a husband who's suspecting her wife of cheating, a jealous ex-boyfriend... Who knows. We don't ask questions, we take requests and do them."

"...Wasn't this a hospital?"

Marry smirked and said proudly while looking up at them, "On paper, yeah, sure."

He just sighed and tossed two of the files back onto the desk, "Didn't know my doctor was some kind of underground vigilante group leader."

She placed a hand on her cheek and smiled, "Oh, you flatter me, truly."

"Yet it wasn't a compliment."

He turned around, then left while re-reading the file that he took. Layla quickly followed behind him.

"Hmm... So theft, huh."

Layla tilted her head, "Why didn't we take the arson one? That's way bigger than just theft."

He flipped the page, and kept going through all the details again, "No reason to. We'd waste time."

Layla tilted her head in confusion, "Eh, what? Why?"

He smiled slightly, yet didn't bother looking in her direction, "Why do you think? I took the dude down yesterday, did I not?"

"Ohhh... So it was Ronny?"

"Y'know anyone else down here who has fire?"

"Not really. I mean, there's John, but he's a pretty cool guy."

"See. And that's why we didn't take arson. I choose to trust this Juan."

"It's John."

"So it's Jall... Either way, arson's off the table, for obvious reasons."

Layla put a hand on her chin and slowly nodded with her eyes closed, trying to look smart. It wasn't exactly working.

"Mhm... I knew that, I knew that."

"No, you didn't."

"No, I didn't."

The two continued walking, and eventually made their way out of the hospital. He continued going through the file, and while he understood most of it, something wasn't making sense...

"Where's this?"

He tilted the file towards her, and pointed at a street name.

"Oh, Crystal High Street. If we go forward for a bit then take a right, we'll get there."

He nodded, then started walking according to her directions. Eventually, an old, rusty sign, reading "Crystal High St" came into view. He pointed to a closed building, that looked roughed up.

It was boarded up, with the windows of its door broken, alongside some other ones. The place also looked rather empty.

"Is that it?"

"Yup, yup. That's it."

He handed her the file, "Put this in your backpack."

Layla looked at him, with an unpleased face, and waited.

He let out a small sigh, "...Please."

Then, she smiled, taking the file and putting it inside of her backpack.

He sighed once again, and asked, "Why are we coming here though? Clues? We aren't detectives, y'know."

"No, no, we're gonna wait."

His jaw slightly dropped, and his gaze went towards her as she sat down on a nearby box that was hidden in the shadows and made herself comfortable.

"...We're gonna what now?"

"Wait. For them to show up again."

He sighed and rubbed his temples, and started saying prayers inside his mind. A lot of them, each aimed at a different god or goddess.

"Why would a criminal come back to the crime scene...?"

Layla giggled slightly, before answering, "This is not your usual city, tiger. This is the underground."

"Stop calling me that, it's cringe."

"Nopey~"

"That as well."

He, too, sat down on another box, and leaned forward, simply... Waiting.

"...We're gonna be here for a while, aren't we."

Her smile faded slightly, "Absolutely we are..."

And, she wasn't wrong at all. Seconds turned into minutes, minutes into hours, hours into... Okay, I'm exaggerating a bit. A few hours later, as the two continued sitting down in the shadows, a group of men could be heard talking in the distance.

His eyes perked up, and his hand went from resting on his knee to his hip, then to his face. As he put the mask on, its eyes started glowing blue.

Layla whispered, loudly, to him, "That's not very stealthy, tiger!"

He took a big breath, and the light slowly but surely faded. They continued waiting for the men they heard earlier.

And eventually, not even a few minutes later, a group of about three men appeared from around the corner.

They were wearing all black, with strange masks on their faces. The masks clearly had the same properties as his own, but differing in design, as they were all of different animals, with no paint on them.

"They're smart, using these kinds of masks...", he thought to himself. He then slowly started getting up, while tightening his gloves.

The men continued walking towards the building they had already raided once before, probably wanting more loot, or to become even more infamous.

"But not smart enough to not steal...", was another thought of his.

He did a little nod to Layla, and she, too, got up. She pulled out something from her backpack, and put it on her face.

The three men were laughing and having idle chit-chat with each other, probably about other things they want to steal from this building that they saw last time but didn't grab. Two of them had crowbars, and one had an axe.

He held up his hand, with four fingers lifted.

One of the men's crowbar started taking down the boards, and eventually, all of them fell down to the ground with a "Thud!"

One finger down.

One of the men's crowbar went into the crack in the door.

Second finger down.

He pulled a bit, moving it back and forth, before the door was finally forced open.

Third finger down.

All three celebrated, then proceeded to high five and low five each other.

Last finger down.

His hand fell to his side, and he smirked beneath the mask, "All yours."

Suddenly, as they were about to go in, a bright pink light came from the alleyway, and a masked girl with pink hair slid between them with incredible speed, holding daggers. Her mask looked like the face of a fox.

One of the men screamed, "Wh-What the fuck! It's Kitsune!?"

As she was still in the sliding position, she did a spin, cutting the men's legs, and they all jumped back in pain.

The man holding the axe screamed out, and took a swing at her.

She held out her daggers in an X shape, blocking the attack. After that, she jumped back, but she didn't have time to properly gather herself.

Suddenly, a crowbar came flying at her head, and it wasn't looking good. With a foot still in the air, it seemed a bit hard to dodge the attack coming at her.

She tried to brace herself to the best of her abilities, but suddenly, the crowbar stopped halfway.

When she looked to her left, she saw none other than the retired Guardian, holding the crowbar.

The man screamed, "L-Let go, motherfucker!"

He just chuckled, and the glow in his mask's eyes came back stronger than ever, as they started glowing a crazy looking bright blue.

"Yes, sir."

Then he let go of the crowbar, and punched the man in the face so hard, his mask cracked.

The man fell down on his back, and he, who punched him, started shaking his glowing hand a bit.

"Phew, what a punch! Hurt my hand."

Kitsune then grabbed his head, and the two ducked as an axe came flying at his head, barely missing them.

"Are you suicidal?"

"Not lately, no."

He then, from the crouching position, kicked the man who'd swung the axe in the stomach and spun back up.

"Surprise attacks suck!"

Suddenly, a weird projectile went past his head. He had titled his head slightly to the side, and it barely missed him, though a bit of orange hair could be seen flying around him.

"Thanks. I needed a haircut."

He looked back, and saw one of the men holding up his hand, surrounded by a weird indigo light.

"Ohhh... What was that one again..."

All of a sudden, the man did another hand movement, and another projectile barely missed him, penetrating a nearby wall.

He looked backwards and whistled, then looked back at the man, "Now I remember! Ice, isn't it?"

The man with the indigo light screamed out, "Sh-Shut it! Or else I-I'll make you swiss cheese!"

"Wha... With that aim...?"

The man got angry, as he held up his hand again, and shot another icicle. This time, it was headed straight for his head.

He then quickly muttered something under his breath, and the light from his hands and eyes started distorting, while, as usual, his head was ringing with the words...

{Blue. The Guardian.}

His mind was screaming this phrase over and over again, and he held up his right hand, now glowing a mix between orange and blue.

The icicle exploded on impact into a million pieces, leaving the three burglars and Kitsune in awe.

Then, the one with ice powers started laughing, "Haha! How's that!? Good luck living with a hole in your hand, ass–"

Suddenly, through the mist created by the icicle, emerged a hand that grabbed onto his mask tightly.

"–Hole?!"

Then, the man got punched by another hand that emerged from the same mist, breaking both the mask and his nose in the process. He quickly fell on his back, unconscious, with his mask smashed to bits.

The same orange eyes appeared in the mist, slowly making their way towards the other two as they left an orange trail behind them.

One of the men screamed out, "W-Wait! Please! S-Stop it!"

One of the glowing fist could be seen clenching even more, and footsteps could he heard. Loud ones, getting closer and closer.

"Aaah! N-No!"

"Run, r-run away!"

The two men that remained then started running away, only to be met by a pink blur, holding up a dagger to each of their throats.

"Where are y'going, boys?~"

Immediately, the two men raised their hands, and threw their masks on the ground.

"W-We surrender!"

"Y-Yeah! Just keep that demon away from us! P-Please!"

The same familiar pair of glowing eyes appeared behind them.

"Who's a demon now?"

The two men screamed in unison, in very... Unmanly, loud voices.

"N-Nobody, sir!"

He then sighed, and hit both of them behind their neck with the side of his palm. The two fell unconscious, and almost fell over Kitsune.

She let out a small shocked "W-Woah!" but he grabbed both of them by the hair just in time.

"So... Mission success, I'm guessing?"

Layla took off her mask and let out a pretty big sigh, "You're not very stealthy usually, are you?"

He put both of the men down on the ground, and also took of his mask.

"Says you, Kitsune."

"Oh, sh-shut up. I didn't come up with it. All of these thugs are calling me that because of my mask..."

"What did you have in mind, then?"

She then posed dramatically, and exclaimed, loudly, "Zig-zag!"

He put the mask back on his belt and turned around, before walking away.

"Never name anything ever again, in your life."

"Hey! That's rude! You nameless douchebag!"

He simply kept walking, then looked back at her and stuck his tongue out at her.

She put her daggers and mask back in her backpack and grunted, "Ughh! I'm working with an actual child...! Can't believe it!"

She then called the proper authorities to come pick up the unconscious men, but didn't stick around to see the actual arrest. She quickly followed behind him.

After the two got back at the hospital, they went straight to Marry's office. He knocked, went in, and Layla put the file back on her desk, "Hey, Marry. We're done."

Marry took a sip of another coffee, probably her fifth or sixth for the day, and looked pleasantly surprised.

"Oho. Good job, you two. Did y'all get along?~"

The two spoke up at the same time, "No."

He pointed towards her with his thumb, "Her naming skills suck."

Layla looked at him, a bit offended.

"You don't get to criticize! You don't have a name anymore!"

"Well duh, I can't go around using it, can I?!"

Marry laughed, "True, you can't go around using Guardian anymore, can you?"

He facepalmed, hard, "Why did I bother even wearing the damn mask at that time?!"

She chuckled, "Don't worry, your little secret is safe with me. I say me, because I can't account for Layla."

After letting out a small "Hey!", she sighed.

"I won't tell anymore... Except Marry, since she found out from me."

"You're the one sleeping on the floor tonight."

"Whaaat?!"

Marry looked at the two, confused, "Floor? How come?"

He looked at her, slightly annoyed, "There's only one bed in the room."

"Why didn't one of you ask to be moved to another room? Why didn't Layla tell you that you could do that?"

His head slowly twisted to Layla's direction, "Yes, I too wonder about that smaaall little detail~"

"H-Hey, wait, don't blame me, I didn't know!"

After the two continued arguing for a while, Marry suddenly completely lost her composure, and started laughing pretty hard. The two looked at her, confused.

"What?"

"Oh, nothing, nothing. You two make an interesting duo. I'll get someone to bring you another bed in your room soon, alright?"

He raised a finger, confused, "W-Wait, what about the different rooms...?

Layla chuckled, "Thanks, Marry. I didn't wanna sleep on the floor tonight, really!"

"T-The separate rooms...?"

Marry smiled warmly, "No problem, Layla. Don't worry about it."

"...Can I... Get my own room, or...?"