"Let me go!" yells a certain amethyst-eyed blonde, as one of two thuggish looking men in black business suits grasps her arm, attempting to restrain her as she tries to break free. "I dont want to do this anymore..I dont want to hurt people!" Unfortunately, she's in a somewhat lonely district of town, a few blocks away from the populated shopping center for anyone to hear her.
One of the thugs, bearing the unmistakable 'Easter' logo on jacket sleeve, grunts. "We've got our orders, Miss. No more running away like this, or there will be serious consequences."
Narrowing her eyes, she stomps suddenly on one of the men's toes, which kinda hurts in her spiked high heels. It's enough of a distraction for him to briefly loosen his grap on her arm, allowing her to break free and run down the street. If she can get to the shopping district, perhaps she can hide better.
Sora had seen these thugs harass one of her favourite musicians, and one she had recently had a friendly meeting with to boot. This, she could not allow, so in a nearby alleyway she pulled out an old tome, leather-bound with pentagrams made out of gold on both covers, whispering an incantation in ancient sumerian, pulling the shadows into her body and clothes.
Right as Utau wrests free and runs of, shadows coalesce along the ground, clawed humanoid hands coming forth to trap the legs of those Easter thugs and prevent them from giving chase. An unnerving, high pitched giggle announces the source of those shadows.
"Didn't your parents teach you that, when a girl says no, it's awfully impolite to be insistent?" Shiniko asks, one of her shadowy hair-hands pointing at the thugs, "If not, perhaps I should correct their error."
Kukai Souma is having a sore day. This is meant literally, in that he was sore all over after the events of the last few days, too sore to work out or patrol or anything else. But, being who he is, lying around all day would have been mental torture, so he's out wandering around. Utau's on his mind - well, Utau, Hoshi, Reiko, everyone who'd been involved in the fight the other day.
He'd gotten a text from Reiko that Hoshi was ok, so that just leaves Utau. He in fact is thinking about her voice and the guy she'd had working for her earlier. Who was he? Why was she working with someone like that? He's so lost in thought that it takes Daichi calling his name three times. "Kukai! I think there's some Guardian Charas nearby - I think it's Iru and Eru! That means~"
"Utau." Kukai knows exactly what it means. With Daichi's guidance, he rounds a corner just in time to see Utau sprinting towards him at full tilt - and a figure in the distance doing... something... with her hair and shadows .. wait, are her shadows hairy? He can't make it out. But it's holding two grown men in place! "Utau? What...?"
"After her! Don't let her get away!" Yells one of the thugs as they start to give chase. However, they are literally stopped in their tracks as creepy shadows rise from the ground, trapping their legs in place.
"Ughh, what is this? Some kind of magic!? It's the girl, I'll bet! She'll be severely punished for this! Especially after she promised not to use magic on us!" However, it soon becomes evident that Utau is not the one behind this but some creepy witch girl with creepier hair. "What is this! Let go of us at once!" one of the thugs points a gun at the witch girl, "Or I'll shoot!"
However, distraction has proved enough for Utau to run away, making it to the shopping district. But where could she possibly run, knowing that no matter what, there would be consequences? Even so, she's confused and scared and continues to run blindly into the shopping district, right until she crashes into Kukai, stumbling to the ground.
"Baka! Watch where you're going!" she snaps, not yet realizing who exactly she ran into.
"You'll shoot? Am I supposed to be scared?" Shiniko giggles, as those shadowy hands that extend from her hair fling forwards strands of shadow, simple bands of darkness that seek to form blindfolds around the eyes of both thugs. "Hard to fire those things when you can't see, is it? Don't worry, you can go soon. But first, your punishment."
She walks up to them, using that shadowy prehensile hair to do the job, and reaches out for both with her shadowy hands, intending to give both of them a single character written in shadows. 'Misfortune' it spells, and should they be placed, they'll soon fade into their hands, sapping their fortune until the curse is lifted.
And with that done, she rushes forwards to Utau and Kukai, those red eyes looking mightily amused. "So what did those men want from you, miss Hoshina?" Yup, she knows who Utau is, of course that's one of the prices of fame, "Don't worry, the magic I've used to root and blind them will fade when we've got enough distance." She doesn't mention the curse.
That does it. Kukai's already foul mood snaps, but he still takes action, reaching down to pull Utau up to her feet and around the corner out of the line of sight of the Easter thugs, while the ... witch?... continues to enspell them. "That is so like you! I've only known you a few weeks and I can already tell it's just like you!"
He looks back at her, for some reason unsurprised that she'd shown up near him, or that he'd found her. "You're like a bad penny, and you just barge along, and when you bang into someone you blame them for being in your way!" He looks up as the witch approaches them. Disgusted, he lets go of Utau's hand, looking back and forth between the two of them. "So you're saying we should get some more distance?"
"Ahh! We cant see! What's going on!?" the two thugs flail in the darkness as Shiniko casts her shadow spell. AT least for now they are immobilized and helpless to pursue the pop idol.
Utau blinks as she gets dragged to her feet, and starts running again. No need to ask her twice! She has no more desire to be around those thugs than Kukai does! "Oh, Kukai? I didn't realize it was you." Utau blinks in surprise, frowning slightly at the akward situation. Oh, of all the rotten luck..
Glancing over her shoulder, Utau realizes that they managed to shake off the thugs - for now. Briefly, she wonders who the witch girl is, and why she is helping her. Indeed, Kukai's words ring true for her. She's certainly not used to asking for help, or thanking people.
"Why are you helping me, Kukai-san? I'm your enemy, remember? I nearly killed your friend..I'm sure you're wanting revenge on me now." She pauses a moment, glancing around. "I've already caused enough trouble, you shouldn't get involved."
Shiniko is more than willing to leave the thugs behind, eager to in fact, and once enough distance has been put between them, she looks at the two, "So what's the story, lovebirds?" She sounds far too amused by the choice of phrasing, flipping the book she has in her real hands to a different set of pages.
"I am Shadow Witch Shiniko." The shadowy girl introduces herself, "And I know you are Utau Hoshina, but who is your boyfriend?" She does bother listening to what the two are saying to eachother, "And they say love can't bloom on the battlefield." There's that creepy giggle again.
Kukai Souma blinks, looking at Shiniko for a moment. Daichi is hovering over his head at this point, glaring down at Iru and Eru, his hands on his hips, as Kukai gets control of his emotions again for the moment. "Lovebirds? Us? No! It's not like that - not at all!" He looks back the way they came, still watching for the thugs that never come. "My name's Kukai Souma. Wait. Don't witches get power over people if they know their real names? In any case thank you for helping her."
He doesn't seem to mind the giggle too much as he looks back at Utau, unconsciously mirroring Daichi's crossed arm pose. "I told you I help every student at Seiyou Public Academy, and beyond that as many people as I can. And you may be my enemy, but just because you're a rotten brat who keeps stealing X-Eggs!"
He looks away for a moment. "You didn't kill anyone. Not even that scythe-wielding psychopath you brought along killed anyone. Apparently he pulled his swing at the last moment and just knocked Yellow out. But he could have." His hands grip his arms for a moment. "You can't use him anymore. Whoever he is."
Indeed, Utau's not used to being kind with people, or thanking them. Kinda comes with the territory, after losing her father, rarely seeing her sick mom, and being kidnapped by an evil corporation that worked her like a slave, and used her magic to force her to do evil things.
Her expression softens briefly when she realizes that these people are actually trying to help her. "I..I apologize. I suppose I should be thanking you, for helping me..Both of you, although I still don't know why you did.." She arches a brow at Shiniko, clearly not recognizing her from anywhere, although she seems to know Utau. But then again, a lot of people know Utau.
When she suggests that she and Kukai are like *that* however, her expression sours again, folding her arms. "Hey, it's not like that at all! He's the bad penny, always turning up, wherever I go!" Immediately she goes back into her haughty mode, nose in the air as she looks the opposite way.
"They won't hurt me. Those men..Are my bodyguards. I ran away, because.." She hesitates, wondering just how much she can reveal about the predicament she's in. "Well, let's just say they were trying to make me do things I didnt want to do. However, I suppose that's show business.." There's a lot she's leaving out of course, but it's gonna be tricky, getting information out of her.
"I was silly, I should never have run away. Now they'll mark you, for getting involved.."
When Kukai mentions the Yellow girl is alright, Utau actually breathes a sigh of relief. "I'm glad. I dont even know who the scythe guy was, myself. I suppose they brought him in for backup, but I didnt want people to get hurt. I just want....I needed those eggs."
"Nobody can make you do things you don't want to do, if they say otherwise, just tell them off." Shiniko provides questionable life advice, unsollicited though at least relevant to the situation at hand. "And if they still won't listen..." The shadowy hands that extend from her hair open up their palms, dark shadowy flames appearing above them, "Mayhaps they need to be taught how to listen."
She ignores the whole objections to it not being like that, clearly not believing a word of it. "It's nice to meet you, Souma-san, Hoshina-san; and no, I don't need to know your real names to have power over you." She giggles, again, "Then again, it helps. Thank you."
As for the (lack of) killings of prism keepers, she listens but does not mention anything concerning it.
Kukai Souma looks at Utau for a moment, then shakes his head. "You should think about what would happen if someone took your dreams away." He nods at Iru and Eru. "I know if I lost Daichi I wouldn't know what to do with myself. As for the scythe guy..." He frowns. "If you don't know who he was, then I guess it's Easter I should be mad at, not you." He looks at her, then grins faintly. "I lost a battle. That's ok. I'll win the war, especially if you keep fighting on my side too."
He looks back over at Shiniko for a moment at those shadowy flames and shivers. "That is really spooky but you seem kinda nice. It's nice to meet you...?" He erks. "It really... gives you?" He takes a step back.
Utau frowns at Shiniko's seemingly simplistic view of her situation. As for Kukai's comments, it leaves her feeling a little guilty. Certainly, it's a reason why she felt bad enough about helping them that she tried to run away in the first place. However, "I'm afraid it's...Not quite that simple. There are a lot of factors at play, and I'm not really at liberty to discuss them all."
She peers coolly at Kukai as he insists on continuing the battle. "You really are persistent, aren't you." Kinda reminds her of herself, as annoying as that is. Ugh, bad pennies!
"However, I've already said too much. Forget I said anything." She simply nods to Shiniko as she returns the greetings. "Likewise, I suppose. Those jerks really deserved what they got. However..."
However, at the end of the day, if she doesnt want Ikuto to get hurt, Utau will have no choice but to return to her bodyguards, no matter how controlling they can be. No matter how many dreams are crushed or how many people are hurt. She may just be selfish, but Utau has few people in the world she cares about, and Ikuto is probably the only one out there that she has devoted her life to. But for right now, she just wants to do things her own way.
"I'm hungry. I'm gonna eat something. I suppose..You might as well join me, in return for helping me to 'escape'.."
"No it doesn't, but the look on your face was hilarious." Shiniko answers Kukai, one of those odd giggles following up her statement immediately, and then turns towards Utau again, "If it's not that simple you have to make it that simple, eliminate all complexities and your life will be better, it's as simple as that."
Then Utau offers food, "Sure, I'll claim a reward for my efforts." Shiniko seems surprised to be offered one, practically shocked, and still eager to accept it. "Where are we going?
Kukai Souma nods after a moment, then shrugs. "I won't try to force you to say something you don't want to talk about, but really. It's not healthy to be so secretive."
He nods. "A bad curse is nicer than they deserve for pulling a gun in a public place like this." Kukai hears the word 'food' and hmms. "Well as long as you don't call me one of your crazy fans again." He looks over at Shiniko and grins. "I don't even think I've heard any of her songs yet. How could I be a fan? And thank you." He indicates Utau with a jerk of his head. "I've been trying to tell her to be good this whole time and she doesn't listen."
"Really? That's what you did? You cursed them?" She's not familiar with real curses, but she can tell this witch girl is pretty powerful..Let's hope Easter doesn't catch up with her or they may try to use her for their own ends.
Utau just smirks at Shiniko's other comments comment. Of course, it's not so easy to make the matter any simpler than it could possibly be. Nor does she respond to Kukai's comment, choosing to keep her secrets, not wishing to give anymore explanation than she already has.
"Hmph." She just shakes her head and starts to head towards an upscale Sushi Joint called 'Goro Gun'. "Let's go there. It's a bit expensive, but I'll treat you for today."
Glancing sidelong at Kukai as he mentions not hearing her songs, she just smirks. "Well, I guess I'll have to sing you a song later. But right now, I'm starving!"
She's totally ignoring the 'telling her to be good' comment.
"There's being good and there's being a selfless fool who ends up destroying himself because he's so focused on doing what's right that he forgets to take care of himself." Shiniko states quite firmly, sounding like she's confident that this is relevant to the conversation at hand.
"Yeah I cursed them, it's no big deal though. Just a simple little curse that will drain their fortune, it powers itself." And Shiniko distinctly avoids mentioning where else that stolen fortune goes, "Sushi sounds good."
Kukai Souma huhs, looking up at the sushi restaurant. Normally a place like this is out of his brothers' range unless it's a holiday, so he can't help but be curious. He makes it to the door before the two of them and holds it open for them, even as he hears Shiniko's words.
"I take fine care of myself! I just can't stand by while... oh, forget it." Kukai sighs. "At least for right now. I'm not in the mood to hash it out again. Sushi sounds really good." His eyes follow Shiniko as she enters, wondering how much she knows or can discern...
Utau actually looks amused at what Shiniko says, even if she finds Kukai's goody goodiness a bit irritating from time to time. "Actually, I think it's just a mark of dedication. Kukai's so determined to do what's right, he sometimes forgets to take care of himself. I'm dedicated that way to my music..But tonight, just for once, I want to take care of myself, and not be pushed around by anyone."
As for this curse, it does cause her to frown again. "And you do this to people often? To what end..?"
However, before she can wait for an answer on that, Kukai's holding open the door and she enters with a smirk. "Yes, this is an expensive place, but I feel like treating myself. Sometimes it's good to splurge a bit." Of course being a famous pop idol, money's probably no problem for her anyway.
Now, they just have to find a place to sit..
"Not that often, it's a punishment for poor behavior." Shiniko explains her actions, and goes into the Sushi place right behind Utau, not worrying at all about being in her henshin. "I don't want to see them hurt, and I can't really chase them around to see if they behave better, so this has to do."
She orders something actually quite cheap, and lowish-class, apparently she has no patience for the fancier meals. "See, the difference is that you're a musician, you work for your music, even if that takes effort you get money for it." One of her shadow-hands, at least more subtle this time, points at Kukai, "What reward do you get?"
Kukai Souma ends up ordering a few pieces of tuna and shrimp nigiri - rice balls with the fish atop them. He looks over at Shiniko for a moment, letting out a breath. "A reward? I mean... I don't get a reward. Not out of money or power or anything." He shifts, facing the two girls, a faint frown on his face as he considers what all to say.
"There's a lot of things that have to be done out there, not just X-Eggs. A lot of people all fight to make sure we're all safe and protected. They asked me to help them - all of the Guardians, really. I can't say no." He grins faintly. "I mean, I'm not running away from a fight. And everyone I've helped has become my friends. It's dangerous, but we can't stop."
For a moment, something crosses his face, a memory, something he actively pushes away and replaces with another wide grin, the irrepressable joy of the Jack of Guardians beaming out over both of them.. "I do get something from trying to help. I get to make sure everyone comes back and that everyone has the chance to pursue their dreams, just like I want to. Isn't that enough?"
Once they're seated in a nice booth, Utau orders some rainbow rolls and rice noodles, extra spicy. It's quite a nice place, all dark inside with moody lighting and elegant music. Most people here are dressed in fancy business attire and look to be pretty rich. Utau still has a bit of a disguise on with her sunglasses and floppy hat, so no one has recognized her yet, and she likes it that way.
"Hmmm. Maybe she's right, maybe you spread yourself too thin. I mean, what, are you some sort of professional hero, then? Not everyone needs or wants saving. And sometimes people do bad things for a good reason." Like, maybe her.
"I don't think I could go around helping people for nothing. Even singing comes at a price. If I made my concerts free, how would I ever make a living?"
"Idiot." Shiniko responds to Kukai's last statement with some kind of clear contempt, like she really doesn't respect that line of thinking, and even more, /hates/ the very idea of it. "If you derive your joy from others, you're giving away all control over your own joy."
She then points at Utau, "She has the right idea there, if you want to help people, go ahead, just make sure you're getting something out of it that is concrete and cannot by them being ungrateful idiots who blame you for getting involved, or other quirks that people are prone to."
Kukai Souma leans back from Shiniko for a moment as the venom in her voice digs at him, but he shrugs, dismissing it with no seeming surface effect. "Well, maybe. I get my joy from everything in life - from my friends, from playing sports, from pulling pranks, from sweets, from everything, even from school."
He looks away from the two of them, thinking for a moment. "So... If I got something out of helping people, but it wasn't something I wanted to talk about, to you, or the Guardians, or anyone else. Something I can't get anywhere else, something that helps me sleep at night. Would that be a good enough reason for the two of you for me to keep doing it?"
The sushi arrives, and after the first bite Kukai does his best not to attack it outright. "Wow. This is amazing!"
Utau shrugs as she munches hungrily on her sushi rolls. She seems reeally hungry, because her plate's pretty big, and it doesn't take her long to empty half the plate without even breaking a sweat.
"Hmm, Shiniko-san has a point, you know. But then...I'm not a hero, so I couldn't say, really.." she smirks at Kukai, looking rather amused. "I'm not exactly the best person to talk to about that. I dont really get joy out of risking my life to save others. It's just not in me. Besides...I'm your enemy too so it's a moot point."
Actually it's kinda strange to be eating a meal with one of her enemies, although it's a little sad too. Most people her age are hanging out with their classmates, laughing and playing and having fun.
She spends a majority of her time alone, isolated, practicing so hard that she's exhausted at the end of each and every day, then forced to hurt people. But really, it's a necessity more than anything else. Besides, she wouldn't stand a chance if she struck out on her own as a musician, without the backing of Easter.
Utau seems briefly sad for a moment, falling into silence as she busies herself with munching away on her sushi, and drinking the wine that she's probably not legally allowed to drink, but hooray for fake IDs!
"You keep lying to yourself, Souma, but I'll have no part with it. I have no patience for ungrateful fools." Shiniko's shadows leak out to cover the windows, the lamps. It doesn't quite remove all light from them, but it dims it significantly, and the corner of the establishment they're in gets ever darker, until such a point it's hard to see more than a silhouette of the girl.
And when Utau falls silent, so does this silhouette. Over time. as the shadows fade, it becomes ever clearer that this silhouette is a construct made of shadow, fading last out of all the shadows here. Shiniko has left, her impatience apparently causing her to seek to depart.
Kukai Souma draws back against the wall of the rapidly darkening booth as Shiniko begins filling it with shadow. For the most part Kukai isn't afraid of anything, but one weakness he has is how superstitious he is. So an angry, curse-bearing witch may make him breathe quite a bit faster and start thinking about ways to get to the door and change into Sky Jack.
But then she begins fading away, and after a few moments, the silhouette and the shadowy girl are gone, leaving the normal light of the restaurant behind. Kukai pries himself away from the wall of the booth, letting out an exhalation he didn't even know he was holding, and after a moment looks over at Utau, trying to recover his nerves. "Damn."
A few moments later, a little blue-haired figure peeks up out of Kukai's jacket pocket, trembling. "Is she gone?" Kukai looks down, then pats the pocket. "Yeah, she's gone. Eru and Iru are still here if you don't wanna come out though." Daichi pops out, however, and stands on the back of the bench, looking around for the witch, not sensing her anywhere.
Utau arches a brow at Shiniko's sudden outburst and rather creepy shadowy display, before vanishing from sight. "Let her go." She shrugs. "She has her own issues to deal with. I'm sure she's fighting her own inner demons too. Not everyone can be happiness and sunshine." Well, Utau certainly isn't.
Even so, Eru was certainly creeped out by the witch girl too, and she also peeks out from her egg at Utau's belt, quite relieved when she's gone and popping all the way out to nibble hungrily on one of Utau's Sushi. "Thank Goodness. She was scary!"
Iru also pops out, although she just smirks, "Heh, I though she was pretty cool! I hope we can be friends!"
Utau glares at Kukai when he makes his comment. "So what, Daichi's afraid of Iru and Eru too?" Well, Eru at least seemed not to mind Daichi.
Daichi moves over to Kukai's shoulder and shakes his head, responding to Utau's comment by blowing a raspberry at Iru and waving to Eru. "Nope! I'm not scared of you or them!"
Kukai chuckles and takes another bite of his sushi. "Well, you heard him." He's quiet, munching, for a moment. "Thanks for the food. I'll have to take you to my favorite restaurant at some point." He takes a sip of his water, having turned down either alcohol or soda with his meal. "I mean, once we're not fighting."
Utau smirks. "Of course, you have no reason to be afraid of me. However, you should be wary of Easter. Unfortunately, I work for Easter, and I doubt that will ever change, even if it's not what I want.."
Her phone beeps for a moment and she peers down at the text message from her manager with a little sigh, as Eru cries and apologizes profusely for her owner's behavior. "Dont worry, Kukai-kun! Someday, I'll turn her aroud for the better..With your help of course..Ack!" she's interrupted by Iru's vicious kick, sending her running back to her egg with a sob.
Utau sighs, finally rising from the table, slapping the money down to pay the bill, plus a generous tip. "Well. I guess I have to go. They're waiting for me.." She peeks out the blinds and the two thuggish bodyguards are waiting outside with a black car.
"It's been nice, Kukai-san. I'm sure we'll bump into each other again!" and with that, she's gone.