Ryu

His master feared him.

Ryu swallowed around a lump in his throat. It was only natural. Claire was a gentle soul; the kind of person who took in injured birds and stray kittens, probably. She was obviously a stranger to violence; witness the fact she had no idea what to do with a gun and had refused even to hold one.

Ryu had relished taking down the two men. He would not deny the satisfaction it gave him to hurt them, just a little. He hadn't done anything past what was necessary to stop them from further harming the children. Still, it felt good to finally be able to fight back instead of just standing there and taking it. The shock in their eyes had been delicious.

He could have killed them without shooting them. Could have snapped their necks, crushed the throat, bashed their heads against the wall. The gun had just been... expedient. He'd wanted them dead. Still did. They'd hurt two innocents, children who had helped and sheltered Ryu. They'd threatened to kill his new lady master.

He did not regret his actions; his Master and her friends were safe and that was the important thing. To a young woman who had probably never seen a serious fight up close, though, it must have been terrifying. He understood her fear. It still sat wrong in his chest. But there was nothing he could do. She would accept that he was not the helpless child she had thought he was, or she would reject him. He could only wait.

“So, what do we do now?” Josh asked.

Ryu looked around the room. It was a mess, again. His former master's hired men had trashed the room, even knocking over a bookshelf. Had they thought he was hiding there? Or were they only being vicious?

The children weren't in much better state. Jacob and Josh were battered, frightened, and shaken. Jacob had barely spoken and even with the men bound stood back against the wall with his arms wrapped across his chest. Josh was almost vibrating in his uncertainty, moving between standing next to his brother and leaning against Claire's shoulder. Dare kept his eyes on Ryu, his expression mistrustful. Small wonder. Claire... Claire was interesting. She exhibited the same fear as the others, the same shock. But the moment the question was asked, her back straightened. Her expression went from fear to careful neutrality, and her eyes focused. Her hands steadied. She took command of herself, and then she took command of the situation.

“Josh. Call the police. We don't have a choice; we can't keep these guys tied up forever and we sure as Hell can't just let them go," Claire said.

Josh nodded and reached for his phone, which proved to have been kicked under a couch. Probably after he used it to call for help.

“What do we tell them?” Dare asked.

Claire tapped her lower lip twice, thinking. She looked at Ryu, at the bound men, and over to Josh, who held the phone ready.

“The truth, up to a point,” she said. “These guys broke in, started trashing the place and attacked you two. You got a text out. We showed up, and the door was busted open so we came in to see what happened,” Claire paused, and glanced at Ryu, “And from there. Um. Okay, we saw these guys standing over our friends. They had guns but they were in the holsters. With their backs to us. We rushed them and knocked them into the bookshelf, which came down on them and stunned them. Then the duct tape. We took their guns and put them... Ryu, put those things over there, on the table. Yeah. Everyone okay with this?”

Ryu nodded. It was better not to tell the police that he was the one who'd fought the men. They would find it hard to believe and ask uncomfortable questions. Claire's story was close enough to the truth to be believed, and simple enough the police would likely not bother to follow up with the incident.

“What about them?” Dare kicked at the men writhing on the ground. “What if they tell them what they were really here for, or who actually knocked them out?”

Claire tilted her head and looked at the men, who had lost no part of their hearing.

“I suppose it's possible they might decide to admit that they came here to kidnap a teenage boy and kill a bunch of college students, sure. And I suppose they might admit that they got their asses utterly kicked by that same teenager. But I kind of think they won't," Claire said.

“Attempted robbery is probably a shorter prison sentence than attempted murder and kidnapping,” Dare agreed.

The bald one nodded slowly. So they would cooperate. Good.

“What will you tell the police about me?” Ryu asked. “Should I hide?”

Claire chewed her lip and shook her head. “No, too risky. They might mention you, or someone might've seen you with me and Dare at the campus. It's not likely but we need to keep as close to the truth as we can.”

Ryu nodded. She was right. It was clear that the girl was not a practiced liar, although she knew enough principles of telling a believable tale that he really wanted to know more of her background. She was far too... collected, in the face of this mess, for this to be the first time she'd had to decide what to tell the authorities. That was a line of questions for later, though.

“Brother, or half-brother anyway,” Claire declared after a pause. “It would be too easy to check that my mom only ever had one kid, sure, but my dad ran out on us when I was five. I could have a dozen siblings out there I don't know about. He's dead so no one can ask him. We say you found some stuff in his paperwork, enough to find me. You got in touch and we're just hanging out. Getting to know each other. That explains why we don't know each other well and lets me act as adult of record if you need to make a witness statement.”

There was some irony in her statement that he was in no way prepared to explain. There would be time for that much later.

“I suppose it is believable enough,” Ryu said, “so long as no one digs too deeply into the story.”

“They shouldn't,” Claire said, “and if they do... well... we hope they don't. Josh, go ahead and make the call.”

Josh took his phone into the next room, and Ryu heard him explain that his home had been broken into to the dispatcher. His voice trembled but he answered every question quickly and steadily. In a few minutes, the dispatcher promised to send the nearest patrol car and advised them to leave the house if it seemed likely the men would attempt to escape the duct tape.

If they made the wrong move Ryu was going to kill them before Claire had a chance to order him not to.

He'd take the punishment from the authorities if it came down to that.

“I am sorry,” Ryu spoke softly to Claire.

“For what?” she asked.

“For this trouble. It is me they came for," Ryu said.

“It's not your fault. It's their fault, and whoever sent them,” Claire said. “Anyway, we're fine. Because of you.” She wrapped her arms over her stomach. “If you hadn't stopped them...” She trailed off and shuddered.

He rested a hand on her shoulder, ready to pull back if she rejected his touch. Instead, she smiled.

“Thank you,” Claire said. “I should've said. Before. You saved us.”

“You were shocked, it's understandable.” Ryu smiled. “Besides. No Master need thank their familiar merely for doing our most basic duty. Protecting you is my first task, always.”

“Oh. Huh.” Claire looked away. “Protect yourself first. I can look after myself; I can't survive watching you get hurt because of me.”

“That was... dangerously close to an order I cannot follow,” Ryu said, certain she hadn't meant the words to be an actual order but, because of his nature, needing to hear it.

“I didn't mean it as an order, just. Be careful? That is an order.”

Ryu nodded. “I will be.” He paused. “I am also sorry, about your father. It is no easy thing, to lose a parent.”

“It was a long time ago.” Claire shrugged. “You must have had parents, right? Are they... um...”

“My mother died birthing my sister. My father was murdered, the very day I became as I am now.”

"What?” Claire asked.

Ryu glanced down at the men. Did he want them to have this information? No. He didn't know what they could do with it, but he did not intend them to know any more about him than they already did. He pointed to the nearby stairs, silently asking that they take the conversation somewhere private.

Claire nodded and led him upstairs. There were four doors up there; two open leading to bedrooms, two closed. Claire sat on the top step and patted the floor next to her. It put Ryu close enough that their arms couldn't help but touch. She didn't flinch away from him, which was a good sign.

“So. Um. We were talking about parents?” Claire asked.

Ryu nodded. “Yes. I realized there's no reason for them to know that I was once human.”

Claire blinked. “Really?”

“You believe I'm still human,” Ryu stated.

“Well, yeah. Sorry, I don't mean that I think you're lying but...” Claire shrugged.

“My story is unbelievable,” Ryu nodded. “Regardless. All, or well, most familiars were human once. We made a choice or a series of choices, in some cases, that led to us trading our humanity for... well. Power. The strength to protect others. Escape. It's different for all of us.”

“For you?” Claire paused. “Or was that way too personal of a question?”

“A little. But it's your right to ask,” Ryu knew she'd assume it was because she was his master. “And it was long, long ago. I made a bargain with an elder familiar, giving up my human life to save the life of my little sister. My father and brothers were slaughtered; she was all I had left and the fate our attackers planned for her..." Ryu shivered, "I couldn't bear to watch and I couldn't protect her as I was. So I became what I am.” Ryu shrugged. “I don't regret it.”

“Even after,” Claire waved her hand vaguely. “all this?”

Ryu nodded. “Even after.” He smiled. “My sister lived. Married well, had many children and saw them grow to have their own children. She was happy. She died of old age, warm and safe in her own bed with her grandchildren around her. Not bleeding on a stone floor, beaten and raped to death. I made the right choice and I'd make it again. Even knowing what my future held,” Ryu rubbed at his wrists. “I'd make that choice and I would smile while I did it.”

“You're a good brother,” Claire said. “Is it okay that I said we'd call you my brother? We can go with a cousin or something.”

He shook his head. “I do not mind. I think I'd enjoy being your, heh, little brother.”

“What's funny?” Claire asked while Ryu tried to contain his chuckles.

Ryu took a deep breath. “I'll explain later. Come, a car has arrived, it must be the police.”

“Okay,” Claire said, standing and offering a hand to help him.

They reached the bottom of the stairs just as a man in a navy suit jacket reached the door. He paused.

“This is normally where I would knock and offer my badge to the peephole,” he said. “But,” he shrugged.

“It's fine,” Claire said, head tilted to study the badge he held out in his left hand. “Detective Charles Morgan? I thought they'd send out a patrol car.”

“I was in the area. A uniformed officer is on the way behind me, I just wanted to make sure everyone was okay,” Detective Morgan said.

Ryu shifted uncomfortably. This was not the usual way the police behaved. They did not send detectives to simple break-ins, even detectives who were “in the area.” But how was he supposed to protest without drawing too much attention to himself?

“We're all fine, mostly,” Josh said.

“No offense,” Dare said, “but is it okay if Josh reads your badge number to the dispatcher? Just, you know, so we're sure?” He shrugged. “I mean, two guys in suits already tried to bust up the place.”

The detective nodded and smiled. He held out the badge, flat on his palm so that Dare could take it.

“Good thinking and I'm not at all offended. It's your right to ask that. Tell Heather I said hi, by the way.”

Josh took the badge from Dare and read it off, and 'Heather', the dispatcher, was quick to reassure him that the man was, in fact, a police detective. Ryu made sure to wait until the boy relayed that information to the rest of the room, who couldn't hear both sides of the phone conversation before he relaxed.

Detective Morgan put his hands on his hips and looked down at the two duct tape bound men. “So. Can anyone tell me what on Earth happened here?”