Dragon's Fire and Twisted Wire (Rin/Shin/Guo/Vash)

[Kato Shin]

I have no idea how a girl with no arms can drag a man as fast as Rin dragged me, but she did, and I sighed, realizing that I would need to spend several extra hours tonight fixing the damage that was happening to the sword I'd been reforging.

"Rin, slow down!"

Not that I thought it would be any use. When she had her mind set on things, no one could sway her from her task. It was an interesting thing, to be friends with Rin.

[Rin Tezuka]

"I'm not slowing down." I say flat, pushing him into the inn. "BLONDIE! GET OUT OF BED, LAZY." I yelled at him. I never yelled.
I make sure Shinny is sitting down in a chair. "Waitress lady. Get a box of donuts, here. I'm hungry. And a rag too. I need to clean my feet.."

[Vash, the Angel's Moon]

"I'm not in bed, Rin; that's 'Guo," I said, approaching from the corner of the room. "Who's this?"

"Kato Shinobu. Shin," he said, looking somewhat irritated with the girl.

"Nice to meet you," I said.

[Rin Tezuka]

"This guy. We're taking him with us, okay, Blondie? He's been a friend of mine since I was a kid..." I say flatly. It wasn't even a request. It was a command.

[Zhen Anguo]

'Guo rolled out of bed with a small groan, having recovered from his earlier mishap involving his ritual, he was feeling far better, the flower in his hair back to it's usual vibrant self.

"Ow..." he grumbled with a stretch and a yawn before a grin spread across his face for seemingly no reason whatsoever.

"Oh! Hey!" He said to the newcomer. "My names Zhen Anguo, but everyone just calls me 'Guo! Why are you coming with us, huh?" He asked, looking from Rin to Shin and then across at Vash.

[Kato Shin]

"I honestly have no idea," I said dryly. "All I said was that I wanted to meet you two. Especially after..." I trailed off, then changed my mind. "Rin did something strange. She said you taught her how to do it."

[Vash, the Angel's Moon]

"Strange?" I asked, then paused. "Her Lunar abilities?"

Suddenly, his eyes - yellow - looked up at mine.

"Lunar?" he asked, surprised. "What do you mean by Lunar?"

I shrugged. "I'm sure you've heard the rumors coming out of Crepusculum and Ketulunanox by now?"

He nodded, looking down at his hands. "Yeah. They say the Lunar Knights are back.... so that means, you two are..."

I nodded. He snorted.

"Yeah. Like I believe that for a second. Just what I thought - you guys really are phonies." He stood violently, but I heard disappointment in his voice. "Excuse me, I have to get back to the sword I just ruined and figure out if there's a way to fix it or if I have to tell Lord Carmichael I messed up his family heirloom and hopefully avoid getting sold to a Roccian arena..."

[Rin Tezuka]

"...You know we're not phonies, Shinny." I say, voice soft and also firm. "You saw what I did... The spirit Ryn gave me that power... You know it's not fake. You saw it... In fact, I can do it again and hit you this time, to prove it." A soft smile touched my cheeks. "Stop being blind, Shinny..."

[Zhen Anguo]

'Guo stood up to his full height, and picked up his halberd, with the weapon in one hand he rested the shaft on the floor, so that the spear towered over him. In theory he shouldn't even be able to carry the weapon at his size, but he did so anyway, as a show of his strength.

"Seriously? You think we're phonies?" He chuckled softly, out of literal amusement, not in any form belittling Shin. "Well... I can carry this! And I can hear a smarmy spirit in my ear every now and again! So... I guess we're the real deal, huh?!"

[Kato Shin]

I shook my head, my back still to the three of them. Half of me wanted me to believe them, the other half wanted me to drag Rin out of there by her sleeves and never look back.

Lunar Knights. Like I was supposed to believe that. Half the stories couldn't even get themselves straight, let alone mesh with the other stories.

I crossed my arms, left hand instinctively gripping the metal band around my right arm. The brand still felt warm, and the metal around it was also warm to the touch, warmer than just sitting against my skin would justify.

I could feel their stares - especially the blonde one. Something about him just got to me, somehow. I couldn't really place the feeling.

I heard his footsteps, coming up behind me.

"We're the real thing," he said to me. "I know it's hard to believe, but you have to trust us."

He put a hand on my shoulder, the fingers which were exposed by his gloves cool against my bare skin.

At least... they were cool. Almost cold - and then, they suddenly felt blazing hot. I was aware of a shock of energy, like zapping yourself on a doorknob after dragging your feet across a cheap rug, and the fragile cage I'd erected around the fires within shattered apart like it were made of fine china.

THe last thing I saw before everything went black was a shocked look on his face, and his mouthed, 'Oh shit.'

-------------

Shin collapsed to his knees with a scream. Vash stood there with his hand out, as if still resting on his shoulder, for a brief moment that seemed to last forever, an expression of extreme shock on his face, before he yelled,

"EVERYONE! OUT, NOW!"

And fire started to come from Shin's body....

[Zhen Anguo]

"He's on fire..." 'Guo muttered, first with bewilderment and wonder, before Vash's yell finally registered. "He's on fire!" He wanted to stay and help, but Vash had yelled at them to leave, and he had never even hear Vash yell before, so he took the command as seriously as possible.

Bursting out the door, with halberd in hand, he skidded to a halt, and turned around to check on the others, taking a cautious step forwards, ready to head inside if need be, he wouldn't leave his friends behind.

"Rin! Vash!"[/b] he cried back towards them.

[Vash, the Angel's Moon]

No... 'Guo and Rin, and Kurai - but he wasn't here - were the only ones who could possibly deal with this.

"Guo!" I shouted, as Shin slowly climbed back to his feet, "I need you to get the civilians out of here, but come back afterwards! We're the only ones who can stop him!"

His eyes, as they locked onto mine, were glowing with orange-and-yellow flames, the pupils swallowed by the molten color of his irises. He was calling more and more fire to himself, gorging on power that he'd been keeping carefully locked away until I'd carelessly caused an accidental transfer of pure Lunar into his body.

Dammit!

I shouldered him out the front door of the inn, getting out of the enclosed space full of civilians and out into more open territory. I grunted as the flames touched my face, causing a painful burn that would take a day or two to heal. My coat was fire-resistant, but I was going to have to ditch it.

We both came to our feet and I took that opportunity to do so, tossing it aside and letting some of my strength flow back to me.

[Rin Tezuka]

I was bewildered by the flames... They were beautiful. Is it because fires can make steel? In that same sense... could steel affect the flames...? I heard shouting to get people out. To get out... But I couldn't move... The flames were glorious... I could feel the fire stinging at my ankles.

And then an actual burn. "Ow! That was mean, fire... What did I ever do to you? Or do you not like it when I stare? ...That's mean." I complain at it, but turn around and face the door. "There goes my donuts for the day... Shinny's paying for this one..." Mumbles as I storm out through the burning building.

[Kato Shin]

Being in the presence of the blonde man just seemed to increase his rage; he kicked the man away, flames engulfing his foot as he did so. It was a strange kind of berserk - berserk men usually don't retain any sort of learned skill, but he was just as sharp as ever with kicks and punches and blocks as he went hand-to-hand with his obviously more-skilled opponent.

Vash couldn't use his gun without hurting the boy more than he wanted to - and he couldn't use his power because in this state, Shin would just absorb the Lunar component and become even more out of control. Indeed, it was as though the fires were feeding on his very presence, expanding, reaching out, trying to find anything they could use as fuel for their endless, hungry rage.

Shin yelled a wordless battle cry, striking again and this time, sending his opponent flying backwards with a severe burn on his crossed arms, where he'd barely blocked the blow.

[Zhen Anguo]

'Guo had already got to work in clearing away the civilians, not that it took much work to be honest. Usually, when an inn spontaneously combusts, the people nearby make it their primary objective to get the Hell out of there. As such, it wasn't long before 'Guo was returning to the scene. Seeing Rin storm out onto the street, he quickly jogged over, he had no doubts that Vash could hold his own, as such he saw it fit to check on Rin first.

"Are you okay?" He asked "You're not burnt or anything, right?"