The house was empty. The Nakamura manor lied on many private acres of land. Her great grandparents bought the property a long time ago as a get away place from Hargeon. LeeAnn was the only one in the house besides the servants and butlers that took care of the house. She walked down the flight of stairs leading to the front entrance of the home. Elegant nicknacks and expensive paintings lied all over the walks and tables. LeeAnn was dressed in her normal red robes and purple shirt with white pants. A pink sash was tired around her waist. She stepped into the dining hall where there lied a single plate full of food on a silver platter.

The servants knew about her condition and didn't ask questions. It was a human liver boil and brothed in whisky much like Manzo had made. She had given them the recipe Manzo used when she first arrived at his apartment in Astera. She missed him, he was a pleasent and quiet guy who did his own thing. She like that kind of person. Kazimir was a great guy but the thoughts of him left a bad taste in her mouth. The kind of taste where your mouth grew salty and had a feeling you're going to hurl. The meal waiting for her made her mouth water. She sat down in the lavish red velvet chair and began to eat. The taste was close, close enough for her to almost think it was Manzo's cooking. "Close enough, still good though" she whispered. It was chewy and tender, but the taste melted in her mouth. Only she was able to appreciate the taste of human flesh. Many forbade her to do such an act but it was the only way for her to survive. The only thing her body craved and allowed her to eat. She still felt guilt eating this meal, but she remembered Manzo's words. She couldn't disobey him.

The plate was licked clean without a speck of dust laying on it. A servant gently taken the meal as LeeAnn thank her for the service. She walked out of the dining room and into the family room where lied books, an old lacrima radio and couches. Laying on the couch was a man, a man she almost recognized as her brother. "Hikaru?" she called out. The man looked up almost making her stumbled back. It was Ryu. He yawned and rubbed his eyes. Usually, his hair was slicked back but somehow he didn't this time. Ryu and Hikaru were carbon copies of her father. You knew right away they were Nakamuras. Slowly, Ryu looked at his younger sister then smiled. "Hey, baby sis, good to see ya" she smirked. She froze in disgust.

"Why the fuck are you here?! I thought you were told to never step foot on this property again" she hissed. She marched right up to him getting into his face. Ryu was taken aback a littlle, never seeing this side of his younger sister. He put his hands up and laughed a little. "Get out of my house now" she ordered.

"Hey, hey, hey, calm down. Cool it, let me explain" he said. LeeAnn hissed. She didn't like his presence being here. It was unwanted and always brought trouble. Ryu sighed in relief when she backed away. "Fine! Explain why you have come back home" she ordered with her arms crossed. Ryu rolled his eyes. He sat up and put his feet on the coffee table making himself at him. "I heard what happened to Aunt Paisley from your mother. Dad seems to be completely silent as per usual. I came to check on you. I figured you'd be here" he said. LeeAnn checked any sign of lying, she was loss for words. Quickly, she pined him to the floor with her arms at his throat. "How do I know you're not here to cause trouble?" she hissed. Ryu was gasped for air much like last time they had met. He manged to croaked out, "I would of already done something by now".

LeeAnn released the pressure causing him to cough. He rubbed his throat, massaging it. After a while, LeeAnn looked really threatened and aggressive. "God damn, LeeAnn. I know you hate me but dont try to kill me. Sheesh" he said to her. She only gave a small growl. He stood up and dusted himself off. "I also have some information that you may want. As much as you hate me, I have something to give you. Something that I know you may need to help solve who killed and why kill Aunt Paisley" he began. LeeAnn sat down looking a bit conflicted. She didn't know what to make of this whole conversation or situation. Ryu was atually helping her? What did he want out of it? A scowl came from her furrowed brow. "What is it you want out of this" she asked. He gave a calm reaction and hurt one too. "Find who fucking killed her and take revenge! Who ever did this to her should die" he said, with a depressed expression. LeeAnn could feel her older brother's heavy heart and the guilt of her attacking him. LeeAnn sat there shocked.

Tail 8: 1/100

She only could stare at him in shock. Ryu crossed his arms waiting for her to respond or to come back to reality. It taken a while before she did. Her mix-atched eyes stared at her eldest brother. He was here in the flesh and not trying to taunt her. This was all new to her. He cleared his throat and carried on with what he was saying. "Anyways, its about the Rune Knights and the time you were in there" he said. She tilted her head a little, her right ears drooping to the side a little. Her fox ears twitched out of curiosity. It perked her interest that he would say something like that. How was it related to everything that was going on right now?

She couldn't put together the puzzle pieces. He grabbed an old book off the shelf and flipped through it. LeeAnn read the spin in gold old lettering.


Her face scrunched up thinking about the Rune Knights. Ryu's face lit up a little when he found the page he was looking for. He paced to the couch across from LeeAn and started to read out loud. "Chapter 1, section 124. All Rune Knights are guaranteed to not destroy any property of the Magic Council's other wise result in punishment. Now tell me, you've broken that code right" he said. LeeAnn thought for a moment. It had been a while since she had thought about it. IT took a while for her to dig through her past. She remembered a time when she destroyed the whole training ground as a training page. The whole course was put off for a whole two months whilel the grounds were getting repairs. Her father had to pay them for a new one. She never recieved any sort of punishment for it. "I remember destroying the whole training ground. I didn't receive punishment for it other than dad paying for a new training ground" she said.

Ryu turned to another section of the book and ran his fingers along the fine print. His face lit up onces more and settled himself a little before reading. "Chaper 3, Section 14. A Rune Knight shall not attack their superrior officer otherwise shall result in termination. If managed to kill, they shall recieve a death sentence. I know for sure you have attacked multiple officers in your time there. Ontop of that, you nearly killed an officer for even looking at you the wrong way" he said. LeeAnn sank a little in her seat. She remembered all of that. The last time was when she just got back from being kidnapped by the Church of Illumin. She attacked a high ranking officer for putting down her family. The fox ears went back a little in response and not meeting her brother's eyes. He went on. "I don't need to go on, but you get my point. What does this all have in common he asked. LeeAnn felt dumbfounded.

She thought about it and shrugged. Her mind was too scrambled to think. If she could, she knew she could piece together every, but with the stress piling on top of her it was impossible. There was no answer from her besides a shrug from her shoulders. Her brother closed the book causing a loud sound to make her jump. He laughed a little in amusement. "Like old times....Anyways, if you couldn't figure it out. All of them have no sort of punishment towards you. The most was to pay for something or absence of leave. It was barely a slap on the wrist. If it was dad, they would of had his head cut off or something. The Rune Knights are the strictest unit of training men and woman in all of Fiore. For them to not discipline is not normal, you were given special treatment compared to the rest of the family and all of the Rune Knights. What for?" he finished. He placed the book back on the shelf. While he roamed the room, he let LeeAnn think.

It did make sense. They never punished her for anything. "Leave of absence is more of a vacation and paying for something is nothing for us. Perhaps, they favor the Nakamura family" she said trying to be hopeful. A loud facepalm came from her brother then a distinctive huff. He sat down in front of her with his eyes closed trying to process everything. "If they favored our family, we wouldn't be talking. Think Lee! I know you can do this" he pressured her. Lee held her head trying to think but she was just too tired and exhaustetd to process anything properly. "Forget what I said, looks like I have to spell it out for you. Think about it. wasn't it odd that you out of all people weren't punished. Okay how about this, you went to the doctor a lot, right? The Rune Knight's doctor" he said. Leeann nodded, agreeing with this.

"This was required every few months for you wasn't it?"

LeeAnn nodded silently. "Yes, blood test, swab test, and mental health exam. Why?" she would asked. Ryu was trying his hardest to keep his cool in front of her. "LeeAnn stop being naive! I know you know something fishy was going on. They never let you see any other doctors. You had to go to them. Even when you were healthy, they insisted you get your blood work taken. Did they do anything odd" he asked. All of these questions were starting to overwhelm her. She thought about it. There was one thing. They always gave her a shot. A shot taht was very painful and they never spoke anything about it. "Yes, I was given a shot. It was super painful and they never seemed to tell me why" he added.

Ryu stood up. He made his way to the window looking out at the Rune Knights marching. They were practicing their routine. He watched them carefully. "Whatever Aunt Paisley found they didn't want her to see. I think it has something to do with you and your mother. Think about it, they banned the whole family go after she was murdered. For what? All of them smells fishy" he spoke. It did make sense and he had a point. LeeAnn needed sometime to think about this. Why was he all of the sudden now wanting to help her?

That itself was fishy to her. Though, she was in no mood to play that game. She was too tired and stressed. LeeAnn felt a pain in her stomach. Instantly, she bent over in her seat and grunting a bit. "What's wrong" asked Ryu. LeeAnn started to breath weirdly, she felt pain crawling up her spine and all over her body. Her nerves were on fire, not the good kind of burning sensation either. The fire mage took off her robe and over shirt revealing her white tank top. Her showing skin revealed black veins growing to her the base of her skull. Ryu taken a look at him as his eyes widen in horror. "Holy shit! What the hell is this" he spoke.

"What? What is it" she asked. Ryu covered his mouth. LeeAnn instantly felt more pain this time coming from her head. In addition, she had grown one more tail. Was it like this for a kitsune to grow a tail? He assumed not. Ryu taken off her tank to look at the markings. They were black and looked like veins growing all over her torso. The markings started at the base of her hips or navel. "Damn. I never seen anything like this before. You're lucky I majored in medical science" he spoke.

Tail 8: 2/100

LeeAnn lied on the couch in aggony. Ryu took her vitals and did his procedure. He had never seen anything like this. Weakly, LeeAnn's nerves began to fire off and felt like her whole body was on fire and cold at the same time. She was shivering a lot. Quickly, he felt his sister's head which felt hot and cold at the same time. She held a fever that was high. Instinctively, he snapped his fingers at one of the servants. "Go get the painkillers and stat! Strongest you can find in the medicine cabinet. I know my father stored some for her somewhere" he ordered. The servant didn't hesitate to follow his orders given seeing LeeAnn in the condition she was in.

He grabbed a box of old matches from the drawer in the old end table. Swiped the match and threw it into the fireplace. Instantly, the flames spurred up already heating the room. Ryu moved LeeAnn near the fire by moving the couch. He laid there with his sister, petting her hair. "Ryu...were you really a dark mage all along" she asked, quietly. He looked down at his little sister and smiled. He felt bad for all the years he was away and tormenting her. It was all an act really to protect her and the family from danger. A long and heavy sigh was all he responded to. "Yes and no. It was all apart of a job the old guildmaster of Blue Pegasus gave me. Considering he knew our family history, I wanted to figure out what was going on behind closed doors. So he sent me on a job to infiltrate a dark mage when I was eighteen. You were thirteen, a year before you became kidnapped. I had to find out something about the Rune Knights dark connections and illegal drug trades. I had to keep my cover hidden. Reason why I tormented you all those years and pushed you to look up to Hikaru was to protect you. The family doesn't know except you" he explained. LeeAnn now understood why he was so secretive about it. Ryu was always a jerk over the years towards her. He was always playing the bad guy to make her hate him. It was all for protection purposes. All of this clicked for her.

She remained still and just rested. She gave a small glance at most at him with a smile. "You are forgiven. You're still family" she spoke. Ryu felt the waterworks coming up. For so long, he felt bad for what he had done to her. To hear his little sister say those works made him smile as his eyes grew watery. His lips quiver looking down at his baby sister. LeeAnn gave a smile and wiped away a tear. "Its okay. Please dont cry dude...its...awk..ward" she spoke slowly. You could tell she was trying to smile through the pain. Though, it was clear she was really in a lot of agony. "Thank you...thank you so much sis. Also...some other news. You're an aunt...i found out recently I had a son. His mother had passed away and I was listed as the father. A past girlfriend I broke up with years ago. He's four years old and his name is Takumi" he said. At this point, LeeAnn was trying to pay attention. She gave a nod and managed to croak something out. "That's...great....you know I...would be there to..AH...help. I...need AH...Manzo here...he knows what to do" she said, she grunted trying to keep push their the pain.

The servant came back with the pills. It took her a while to find them since the manor was so big. Quickly, Ryu took them. Pouring a few pills out for her, he let Lee take them. Though, she was too weak to move. He literally shoved it down her throat and help her swallow. Whatever was making her sick taken her energy pretty badly. LeeAnn was already asleep. He lied there with his sister, hoping who ever this Manzo person was to come quickly. Ryu may of been a doctor in the past, but he had never seen anything like this before. This was out of his relam of expertise.

-exit-

Tail 8: 5/100