Shin

gogglevision​:

Admittedly, he hadn’t actually expected the guy to deign him with an answer. He’d fully been prepared to be brushed off, probably with a scoff or a “none of your business” but instead he received a fairly decent explanation. It made sense, he supposed. He could understand in a way. There were plenty of situations where you had to be quick or you’d have to go without food. It was one of the many reasons why they usually had to order more than one pizza whenever they happened to have it. Between the four of them, if you didn’t act fast, it’d be snatched right before your eyes.

He hummed slightly, once again observing the empty ramen bowls. “I suppose I can understand that in a way. Though my circumstances are different, my brothers are absolute goblins so I’ve lost out on more slices of pizza than I care to count.” Dear sweet Michelangelo was usually the worst about it. He didn’t even realize it half the time. 

As the man continued, Donnie couldn’t help but let out a snort. “Likely too intimidated by your appearance, I assume.” But things like that didn’t put him off one bit. It was kind of hard to be bothered by appearances when your entire family had developed a weird strain ability that was honestly far too similar. As for his bulk and height..well, Raphael would likely end up in a similar state once he stopped growing.

“A curious mind will always question the things it’s presented with. If I see something unusual, I have to investigate. I like knowing how things work and why they work, the role they fulfill and so on,” he continued with a smile of his own, though perhaps it was more like a smirk than anything. “I couldn’t very well call myself a scientist if I didn’t question the things I don’t know.”

Granted, he did enjoy the study of robotics more than anything else, but all areas of science interested him. It wasn’t a lie to say he really did enjoy learning about the things he didn’t know.

Laughter spilled from Shin at the kid’s explanation. Honestly, the way he ate had always just been such an integral part of his routine that he’d never put any thought into it, much less it being all that weird. More than that, he would say that the kid had no boundaries or something with that type of intrusive question in the first place, and it kind of reminded him of his rowdier youth.

“So you aren’t intimidated, then?” Calming down from his burst of amusement, Shin levied this question at the kid. Then, he brought the glass of water he’d ordered with his food up to his lips and drank for a moment. “So you really have nothing better to do then, huh? I just thought a kid like you should be in school at this time or something. You could have a bright future with that whole science gig, you know, you shouldn’t waste that playing hooky. Anyways,” he withdrew En’s card from his pocket and offered it to the restaurant worker, “I was just finishing up. My boss doesn’t like to be kept waiting.”

So Shin bent over to pick up the large, tied off garbage bag that had been sitting at his feet. The contents within made a sloshing sound as it was jostled, drawing concerned stares from the patrons nearby. Well, normally he would have left it in the car. For that matter, normally he wouldn’t be working alone. This had been, as En put it, some kind of “special job”. But really it just reeked of last-minute preparation, though it wasn’t really in Shin’s nature to question his employer.

bloodhorned​:

Your phone rings. It doesn’t matter if you decide to ignore it because it will ring. Endlessly. Forever. This girl has a lot of time on her hands and she spends none of it productively. 

When you finally decide to pick up a voice on the other end shouts.

“HEY!! IS YOUR REFRIGERATOR RUNNING!?”

The first few times his phone rang, Shin didn’t notice. Stuffed away in one of his pockets, the ringtone was undetectable over the shouts of doomed men as they rushed him from every angle, drowned by the swooshing of his hammer as it arced through the air to crush the opposition one after the other in smooth transit, imperceptible over the squelching of his shoes treading through the bloody mess left behind. So, unknown to Shin, who was simply carrying out one of his duties as a Cleaner of En’s, the phone in his pocket rang and rang and rang.

The clamor of brutal violence eventually died down and, leaving strewn in his wake the carnage and death he had so callously wrought as he approached his true target, the one he actually wasn’t supposed to kill, he was stopped. Once again, his phone went off. Only this time, aside from the drip drip dripping of blood from the hammer in hand, and the fearful chattering of teeth from the last man left standing, silence reigned over the room. And Shin heard his phone.

Not many people had his phone number. Aside from En and Noi, he had given it to maybe a handful of other people, nobody of which would call him out of the blue for no good reason when he was out on a job. So he didn’t think it important to glance at the caller ID before picking up. He assumed, if anything, it was En calling him with some information he’d forgotten to brief him on beforehand.

“Hello, this is--”

He was not prepared for the voice that screeched utter inanity into his ear the instant he brought the phone to it. Shocked, he nearly dropped the device. However, there was an important detail he couldn’t ignore, either.

“Who is this and how did you get this number?!” Holding the phone a short distance from his head so that any shouting could not blow out his eardrums again, he spat this question towards them.

healinghitman​:

It didn’t escape notice that her genuine words for her partner made him a bit flustered, and Noi laughed a little. She loved teasing Shin, and it wasn’t incredibly hard to do so. They’d been through all sorts of things together, but where gore and murder didn’t make Shin nervous, heartfelt conversations did. The irony wasn’t lost on her, but she was sure not to bring it up too much.

Anything she could say, he already knew to begin with.

“Aww, thanks, Senpai! I feel the same way.” She knew that Shin even saying that much spoke volumes about how he felt, since he usually closed himself off to anyone else. It felt like a secret that only she knew about him. “Let’s keep up the good work, alright?”

She returned to looking at her own menu, and eventually, a waiter came by, though he seemed a bit uneasy. “Good evening. Can I get you two anything to drink?” he asked. Even though his body language showed his anxiety, his voice showed no such hesitation. Noi had to commend him for keeping it professional.

“I’ll just have some water. Thank you!” She waited a moment as he wrote on his paper before continuing, “And I think I’m ready to order. Could I have a triple stack house burger with a side of the bottomless fries? I’d also like a 12 ounce steak, medium rare.”

The waiter seemed a little concerned about the volume of the order, but wrote it down faithfully before looking to Shin. “And you, sir? Can I get you anything to drink?”

Painfully aware of his breathing, his heartbeat, the itching of his recently closed flesh as the awkwardness of the situation between them expanded, Shin struggled to keep it together. Though his eyes darted frantically about the menu, the only thing his brain processed was Noi’s voice, saying such embarrassing things, the types of things that caused the heat to rise to his face. Even though he’d been at death’s door just earlier that night, and had desperately held his own skin together while searching for his partner… Even then, he didn’t know if he felt the same level of panic as he did now. Just because he didn’t really know what to do in this situation.

Finally, the 6’5”, well-muscled hitman felt a cool relief wash over him as he was rescued by the emergence of a waiter. He was able to pry away the hand he’d at some point began scratching at his cheek with, and tried to focus on the menu as Noi rattled off her order first. Of course, everything looked good. After sustaining such a grievous injury and pouring out so much blood, it was hardly surprising that he was feeling even more famished than usual, on top of having a throat as parched as the Sahara Desert.

Clearing his throat with a brusque cough as he was addressed, Shin glanced up from his menu as well. “Some water’s fine for me, as well. And me, I’ll take… that triple stack house burger, bottomless fries, and I was looking at this Double Bacon Decker on your menu as well. I think I’ll have soup on the side with that.”

Although Shin certainly felt better knowing that food was coming soon, the look on the waiter’s face was ghastly. No doubt intimidated by the pair of hitmen and their monstrous appetites. Despite this, his voice still never wavered.

“Coming right up.”

“Ohhh, I’d almost forgotten that this place advertises their fries as bottomless! We could really put that to the test!” Noi thought about it for more than one second and realized that might cause some problems since while their stomachs certainly were bottomless, the store’s supply and the workers’ patience probably were not. She’d gotten to know a few of the employees of En’s ramen shop when she worked there herself, and so she knew all too well the gripes of food service workers. “Or maybe we can just half-test it.”

She stepped into the restaurant and the host saw them to their table after balking for a moment at their builds and Shin’s ruined shirt. Once they sat down, that’s when it hit Noi. “Oh, right, I can fix your skin but not your clothes… no wonder we were getting strange looks. Well, stranger than usual.”

Noi had to admit that she really liked the fact that after this sort of scare, Shin was able to go out to eat with her. The nature of their relationship was so unique to them, able to be casual like this not even an hour after Shin was grievously wounded. “Hey, Senpai? I know I don’t say it enough, but thanks for letting me work with you. It’s really fun and I don’t think there’s anyone I’d rather work with.”

The askance glances garnered by Shin’s torn and bloodied clothing ultimately did little to bother him. If people shuffled away from him, that just made it easier for him to carry on his own way. Not to mention, the instinct that drove them to do so, that he was dangerous, wasn’t ill-conceived. Anyways, none of it even mattered to him. What strangers thought of him, how they responded to him, had no effect on his own life, and there were so very few people whose opinions he truly cared about.

However, as undaunted as he was by the reactions of all these people, it was a different matter entirely when it came to Noi. In fact, in complete contrast to his utter nonchalance in such matters, that he struggled to comprehend his own emotions was unfitting enough to be almost laughable. Noi was not so similarly inclined, and where Shin struggled to put words to how he felt, she never had any problem doing so. The disparity was something he could never prepare for, left him with heat flooding his face and him hurriedly looking away as awkwardness overcame him.

“U-ummm…” Absentmindedly, his hand moved to scratch at his cheek as Noi’s impassioned words left him flummoxed. His heart, pounding thunderously in his chest, felt like it would explode and render Noi’s healing of moments ago worthless.

Well, how was he supposed to respond to that?

Wasn’t it an unspoken agreement between them that they were each other’s partners, that they had each other’s backs no matter what, and that they’d be bound together as such forever? Or something? Why did she have to actually put a voice to it and put him in such a rough, awkward spot like this?

The heat in his face grew more and more intense, and his chest tightened, causing him to struggle to draw in his breaths. “I-I don’t know what you’re saying so suddenly. I mean… Obviously we make a great team and there’s no one else I could trust with the job.”

healinghitman​:

calmingflow​:

Okay so this may have been a bad idea.

The man shoved the gun harder into Tanjiro’s stomach. “Answer the fucking question!”

Okay definitely a bad idea.

Earlier that day, Tanjiro had decided to explore a new area of the city in search of anyone who needed some hired help. Unfortunately, the further he got into the city the more certain he was that it was a fruitless endeavor. When the sun began to set, Tanjiro took it as a sign to head back. He had just turned around to make the trip back when he smelled it-

-and before he could lay a hand on the hilt of his sword he was grabbed and  shoved against the wall of an alley. Looking around there were 6 men, all fairly intimidating, surrounding the leader.  Tanjiro began to center his breathing and reach for his sword.

Then he felt the cold metal on his stomach. 

“Don’t think of trying anything, punk. Just hand over your wallet, and you’ll get to go home to mommy.”

Quickly, Tanjiro tried to think of a way out of this mess. He needed a way to take down the leader before he could fire the gun, but any movement he made would be too obvious. Think, Tanjiro, think-

It’s an interesting thing, dying. Tanjiro could hardly feel the pain in his stomach as he slumped to the ground. The last thing he saw as his vision darkened were the men running away from the scene. He thought that he could almost make out the figures of his mother and young siblings appearing in his view.

I’m sorry, Nezuko.

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

Noi was able to navigate the alleyways of the city with relative ease, having ventured down them time and time again during her jobs, and soon enough, she had found what she was looking for.

A kid, laying an an alleyway, bleeding from the stomach. The thugs that were circling his body clearly wanted his possessions, still rifling through his clothes. “Hey!” Noi shouted, pulling the attention of the men. “Do you enjoy targeting guys smaller than you? Why don’t you pick on someone your own size?” She began to walk closer to the thugs, bringing her hands in front of her chest and cracking her knuckles as she did so. “Or maybe someone bigger?”

She hadn’t even gotten within range of them before the men took off, scrambling to leave the alley. “Huh.” Well, it stood to reason that people who targeted a young boy like this wouldn’t have the guts to target someone of her height and broadness.

She quickly went over to where the kid was and she knelt beside him, looking for the source of the blood. At least he seemed to be alive, but if she didn’t do something, it wouldn’t last for long. “Hey, hang on, okay?” She placed a hand on his stomach and began to focus, using her ability to start to mend his flesh together again. “It’ll be better in a few minutes.” 

Shin’s arrival on the scene came moments after Noi had already gotten there. His timing, incidentally, happened to be perfect. Cowed by the towering woman that was his partner, Noi, the thugs had bolted off, scattering with their metaphorical tails between their legs. Shin kind of thought it was pathetic. By the state of the red-haired kid’s slumped body, blood pouring from the open hole in his abdomen. Luckily, as Noi had been the first to arrive, she was quick to respond and was already putting her healing power to work on him.

So, as Noi put her healing skill to use, Shin managed to grab one of the fleeing thugs by the arm. With the iron-tight grip latching onto his arm, preventing any further movement, the thug - a skinny kid, no older than twenty, with freckles covering his face, and some kind of shoddily-done tattoo on his bared wrist - let out a yelp as momentum snapped his body back. Unfortunately, the rest of his buddies had been able to escape, but capturing even just the one would have to be good enough.

With this kid in tow, Shin stepped further onto the site, closer to where Noi was tending to the victim. He knew he could trust her to save his life. If anyone could do it, it’d be her. Though his treatment had clearly been rough, by the agony sketched onto his face, at least he would be alright.

Breathing a deep sigh, Shin yanked his charge forward by the arm firmly locked in his grasp. Something popped in the boy’s arm as he did so, eliciting a scream from him as his shoulder was pushed in an awkward angle.

“You guys did this, huh?” Shin intoned, his deep voice carrying the disgust he felt at the act.

“N-not me, it w-was--” The boy he’d grabbed had started to spout off some excuse, but Shin wasn’t interested and interjected.

“And what’s the purpose of this? Are you going to tell me this kid was threatening you? Or do you guys just kill people for fun?”

“I-I--”

“Not interested.”

Need Healing | Noi and Shin

Noi waved a hand dismissively at her partner’s warning. He was worried for no reason, in her eyes. Nothing could take them down! Even without her, Shin was formidable and vice versa. But her boasting could only go on for so long before it became repetitive. Her senpai already knew her strength, after all, so she didn’t need to prove anything to him.

Her stomach growled loudly and she nodded. “Yeaaaah, thinking too much about it right now won’t do anything. Can’t think when I’m hungry.” Noi felt her pockets to ensure that her phone and wallet were in them before grabbing her keys from the table. “Let’s go, senpai!”

Her worry was seemingly all but gone, replaced at her enthusiasm at the idea of burgers and fries. “Oooh, what should I get with the fries this time? I think they came out with a new kind of burger with a lot of hot sauce on it… I think En tried it, but only because they put sautéed mushrooms on it, too. Oh! Maybe I’ll see if they have anything with three, no, four patties on it!”

She continued to excitedly chatter about food all the way until they got to the eatery, which thankfully wasn’t too far from her residence, else she would’ve talked herself into a grumpy sort of hunger. “What’re you thinking of getting, senpai?”

One hand in his pocket as they walked to the restaurant, Shin absentmindedly kept running his hand over the exposed skin of his abdomen. Smooth. Noi’s healing ability had left nary a mark to indicate that there had even been a wound. The lingering discomfort and ache was all internal. He thought he felt parts moving around inside as he walked, but whether that was in his head or something was slightly amiss… ultimately it wouldn’t matter much, so he just continued on like nothing was amiss.

Typical of Noi, she was good at filling the silence with her inane babbling as she spoke aloud her thoughts freely. After coming back from the brink of death, there was honestly nothing Shin wanted more. Maybe it was just all the time he’d spent with her, getting accustomed to her various wiles and habits, but he found comfort in it.

“Hmmmm.” Upon reaching their destination, Shin put a hand to his chin in contemplation of Noi’s question. His appetite bordered on extreme even under ideal circumstances, so naturally, after having his life nearly slashed away and having an inordinate amount of blood spill from his body, that appetite had now ascended way past ravenous. And, well, truthfully, part of the reason he wanted it on En’s card instead of his was because he didn’t want something like funds to hold him back. Even just thinking about the possibilities he could order, combined with the enticing aroma wafting to him from the restaurant, was making his stomach rumble and his mouth water.

Surprise laced Yata’s features as his blow was blocked not by the masked man with the hammer, but another masked person who dashed forward in time to block it. “What the hell?” Yata was easily forced back thanks to the wheels that helped propel him back. He slammed his sneaker onto the ground to halt the movement just far enough away that he could assess the situation and put a fair enough distance between them. 

This new person who had shielded the other was masked but the voice that this person had was feminine in nature. While Yata normally wasn’t good with women, he was mostly focused on the fact that they appeared one after the other. Just how many of these freaks were there? Either way the odds weren’t looking so good. When it came to taking out grunts he was no push over, but these two were pretty sizable in build, not that that mattered to Yata much but still something to take into consideration. 

Of course, Homra’s vanguard was still assured of his own strength. Homra wouldn’t lose to anyone! That was his own personal mantra and he believed it in wholeheartedly. If they wanted to dance two on one then Yata would still wager the odds were stacked against them regardless. 

“Hah!” Once more Yata’s lips curled into a smirk at the first assailant’s declaration. “I’m more than enough!” He kicked off at the ground again, heading straight for the male. He’d prefer not to deal with the woman if it could be helped. One of his many assets was his speed, that coupled with his flexibility to fight on a skateboard made it easy for him to wind through attacks to dodge and parry. 

The man made the first move, swinging something sharp at his face. He caught onto it right away, his staff spinning expertly between both of his hands, twirling it so that it would slam against the weapon a few times, knocking it just enough off course that he could avoid the attack by dodging out of the way. He spun around on his skateboard, circling the man, his staff gripped in his hand behind him as he brought his arm back, hand balled into a fiery fist, mustering all the strength and fiery aura into it as he could as he swung it upwards in the hope to connect with the man’s throat. 

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

Noi whistled at the red clansman’s boast. “I hope you can back that up!” Excitement was evident in her voice, but she was also just as confident in her and her partner’s abilities to win, especially against one person. He was fast and small (or at least smaller than they were), so he might’ve had a mobility advantage on them, but the two strains had survivability.

That would definitely come in handy as the vanguard uppercut with a fist shrouded in fire, and Noi didn’t have time to try and intervene as it made contact. She dashed around to where Shin had been hit, placing a hand on top of the burn and funneling her healing ability into where she made contact with Shin’s skin, attempting to heal the burn.

At the same time, she lifted her leg and swung it around in a roundhouse kick, putting power behind the motion, but not enough to compromise her balance as she multitasked with healing her partner.

HOMRA possessed fire-aspected abilities. Of course that would include their vanguard, and so Shin had known to expect the boy to produce flames at some point in the battle. But unfortunately, knowing to expect something and being prepared to deal with it are two different things.

After having his attack parried by Yata’s twirling staff, Shin drew the hammer closer to him, resetting his stance. He gripped the handle tight, tensed the muscles in his arm as he searched for an opening. The skateboard flew around him, again and again. Fast. If nothing else, the kid definitely had speed and agility on his side.

As he watched, a fiery red hue began to glow around Yata’s fist, pouring heat into the surrounding air. Realizing what was happening, and what was about to happen if he didn’t do anything, Shin raised the weapon he’d been preparing for a strike to intercept the boy’s blazing fist. But--

“Rrrkkk--!”

Scorching heat assaulted his senses as Yata’s fist connected with Shin’s throat, displacing and burning through the skin there with a sizzling crunch.

Although Yata lacked the same physical prowess commanded by Shin and his partner, the force still proved enough to make Shin stagger back a step, coughing and grasping at his neck. Some combination of physical force and the heat exuded by HOMRA’s flame tore open the skin of his neck, and blood spilled out from that wound to soak in to darken the collar of his suit.

“....”

The split in his skin was small, and not too deep, but the unbearable, searing heat encompassed everything in his neck. Every inhale brought new waves of pain, every wavering exhale brought darkness creeping into the edges of his vision. But still, he remained standing, eyes fixed into a glare on the vanguard. None of it mattered. Not the pain, not the bleeding, not the charred flesh clinging to his neck. Because Noi was there. And as soon as her palm touched his damaged neck and poured her healing into him, the scorching heat receded, the bleeding stopped, the pain diminished.

He considered himself and Noi an unstoppable duo.

Noi was about to chastise Shin for trying to sit up so quickly, but she knew that Shin couldn’t be kept out of commission for very long. Besides, he was stabilized enough that moving wouldn’t reopen the wound, and that would have to do for now. He could recover on his own from here, even though the pain would be a nuisance for a few days. “Well, senpai, if I’m there, he probably wouldn’t even try to attack you. He wouldn’t be able to think about it before we got him!”

She stood back up and held a hand out to her partner to help him to his feet. “Alright, then let’s go eat! It’ll help you gain your strength back!” Noi herself was also beginning to feel a little sluggish, having expended a lot of her energy patching up Shin’s abdomen, but there wasn’t a better use of her energy than helping him to begin with, in her opinion.

“And if you don’t want to pay for it, then I can just use En’s card. We’ll just call it compensation. Occupational hazard pay.” Although she was outwardly joking, she couldn’t help but wonder… were Shin’s attackers related to the ones who tried to kill them all those years ago?

Dull pain throbbed persistently in Shin’s gut, flaring up each time he moved to serve as an irritating, grating reminder of the damage he’d sustained. Well, it wasn’t like pain was anything new to him, and it definitely was nothing next to the searing, stabbing pain that had accompanied him up to now. Basically, it wasn’t anything he couldn’t handle.

“Noi… just be careful.” Though at first he’d thought to caution her against doing anything rash with respect to this enemy, ultimately he settled on just this simple warning. Because, no matter how he looked at it, the only reason his life had been in such a precarious situation was because Noi hadn’t been there. Her healing abilities made her an extremely tenacious opponent to go up against, and she was very powerful besides. But still, should she find herself backed into a hopeless corner… Well, Shin didn’t want to think about that, so it was better if she just didn’t repeat his same mistake.

“Anyways, we’re better just thinking of this incident as a one-off. I just wish one of them could have told me what the goal was…” Unfortunately, he’d killed most of them before that kind of information could be leaked. And then the lone surviving member hadn’t said anything before maiming him and fleeing.

@lovethatremains

“Alright, now just to take you to En.” Shin mumbled these seemingly nonsensical words at the large trash bag in his stitched-together hands. Naturally, having just completed a job, his typical suit was splashed with the crimson blood of the people he’d just killed, and so was the mask pulled down over his face, though it was hard to see against the natural red of the fabric. Actually, before he went anywhere with his hapless victim, he’d have to find Noi, who still had to be somewhere within the winding alleyways the group had claimed as their hideout in this abandoned, rundown area of Shizume.

The contents in the bag sloshed, accompanied by a muffled shriek, as Shin hoisted it over his shoulder for easier carrying. Then, stepping over the countless bodies strewn about the narrow pathway, he began making his way back down the way he’d come, bloodied hammer still gripped within his free hand in case of stragglers.

Then, further down, a high-pitched scream rang out, reverberating down the alley’s walls. Following it was a deeper, gruff voice, yelling something indistinct.

Shin hastened his steps, tightening the grip on his hammer as the alley’s entrance-way, and the scene came into view. Simply, it looked like one of the gang members had accosted some unaffiliated passerby, an auburn-haired girl.

As Shin neared, the gang member, recognizable by the shoddy tattoo of a weasel that had been inlaid into his bare shoulder, continued shouting, clenching the poor girl’s arm tightly enough to turn his knuckles white. “Just do as I say and I won’t hurt you!” were the words coming from his mouth, though Shin’s perspective made that look like a lie already.

Sighing, he set his bag against the wall of the alley, certain that nobody would touch it - and even if they did, there wasn’t much they could do with it - and stepped closer to the raving lunatic. “Whoops, guess I missed one.”

Before the man could turn his head to see who had approached from behind, Shin’s arm flashed out, and he hooked the claw of his hammer firmly beneath the jawline. One firm twist, and the man’s head popped off, rolled to the ground, followed shortly by his now-headless body collapsing where he’d stood.

healinghitman​:

girlphobic​:

“Guess it’s about time..” Yata mused as he held his wrist up, eyes scanning over the watch adorning it for the time. The bar would be opening soon so that was Yata’s cue to get lost for a bit. Sure, he could have just gone upstairs to his room but he didn’t like being cooped up there for hours. A crow needed to spread his wings. When it was time for bed he’d return and then go promptly to bed. Until then he had a few hours to kill. 

The bar master waved him off as he got to his feet, bending over to pluck his skateboard gingerly from off the ground (so as not to damage Kusanagi’s beloved floors) and then exited the building. Yata dropped the skateboard to the ground as soon as he exited through the door and it shut closed behind him. He planted one foot on the skateboard to keep it from rolling off then looked into the distance, admiring the sunset for a moment as he tried to think of his next destination. It was too late to call anyone up to hang out so tonight maybe he’d head to the skate park to catch some air. 

Yata wasn’t exactly known for his sixth sense or ability to know just when someone was landing a surprise attack on him, far too many times he’d be caught off guard or had to be rescued by someone else’s quick thinking, but this time something just felt out of place. There was a prickling sensation in his spine as the hairs on the back of his neck seemed to stand up and he managed to glance back over his shoulder just in time to see a hammer swinging right at him. 

With his foot still on his skateboard, he raised it and slammed it down on the end which forced it to jump up into the air. It would be just enough to serve as his shield and a distraction as he reached into his pocket, pulling out a small rod which he configured to expand, becoming his staff and he raised it just in time to keep his skateboard from also smashing into him along with the hammer. The skateboard, having served it’s purpose clattered to the ground loudly as Yata kept his staff positioned in front of him as he eyed his attacker. 

“Hoh.. You got balls pickin’ a fight with me here.” He placed his foot on the skateboard, pushing it forward slightly and then sliding it hard backwards. It rolled fast and he jumped up and then right onto it, his staff still raised defensively. “Don’t ya know? Kusanagi-san hates it when there’s fights outside the bar.” He gave the other a hardened smirk, the bemusement lost at the sight of the other’s bizarre and if he were being totally honest, nightmarish looking mask. Though if it were just one on one, Yata could take this hammer wielding freak no problem. Though Yata was always overly self assured and overconfident in his abilities. 

“Not very smart, huh? Pickin’ a fight with Homra right in our own front yard. Well, if ya got a death wish you’re in the right place!” Fight first, ask questions later. It didn’t matter what this guy was after, but as far as Yata was concerned if it was a fight he wanted it was a fight he was getting. He kicked off on the ground, accelerating towards the masked assailant, his staff drawn up then brought it down hard, aiming straight for the other’s face.

Noi wasn’t the type to question orders. If she was ordered to go after another gang, as long as her partner was with her, it didn’t really matter. The two of them were nigh unstoppable, even if they were just a couple of strains going up against clansmen. The intel they had been given informed them that not only was HOMRA a gang, but they had a king chosen by the slates leading them.

Which meant that this particular assignment was going to be very fun indeed.

She waited patiently for Shin’s signal, and as soon as she saw her senior pull his mask onto his face, she tugged her leather mask down in kind. Noi followed him closely, not yet revealing herself until the swing of the hammer her partner wielded was blocked and the vanguard began his counterattack.

Noi dashed in, holding her arm up in front of her face to take the full brunt of the attack from the metal staff. The injury definitely hurt, and if she hadn’t been as strong as she was, it would no doubt have led to a major break in her arm, although it did fracture her bone. Ignoring the pain, she pushed back with that arm hard, shoving the target backwards just enough to give her and her senpai some space.

“Ooh, you’re gonna fight on a skateboard? Maybe you’ll be able to keep up with us!” She got into a fighting stance rather than rushing in for another attack, taking some of her energy to heal the fracture in her arm. “It won’t be as easy as you’re thinking! We’re pretty tough!”

Shin’s arms shook as the hammer abruptly collided with the boy’s skateboard, sending tremors reverberating up the weapon’s handle as the loud, raucous CLANG! shook the air. As soon as he regained control of his arm, he drew the hammer back to his side. Of course it wouldn’t be that easy. This wasn’t HOMRA’s Vanguard for nothing. Then again, if he could have been nice and given in without a fight… well, that just wouldn’t be any fun either.

And watching the boy jump onto his skateboard, wielding the long, slender staff, the sense of excitement stirred his heart into rapid thumping. His mask of course hid his face, making him appear as impassive as ever, but beneath that his mouth pulled up into a fierce grin. Holding his hammer up, he watched and prepared as HOMRA’s vanguard barrelled towards him, swinging the staff with impressive coordination with his speed. He was ready to raise the hammer to meet that blow head-on, but instead--

The dull thud as the rod instead slammed full-force into Noi’s upraised arm, followed by the distinct crack of bone as her arm bowed beneath the weight of the attack, was what rang out instead.

That his attack could do so much damage to someone as bulky and hardened as Noi was nothing to scoff at. Even still, Shin’s heart remained unwavering, fairly unconcerned about her health. What would be the point, after all, in worry about someone whose ability was healing?

Shin was beginning to talk more, and Noi began to smile a little. That was a very good sign indeed. She’d never not been able to make sure her partner pulled through his injuries, but he had also not been injured this seriously since that one time… Noi had needed to recover for days afterwards, but as time had gone on, she’d gotten more used to her power, able to ration it out so as not to overexert herself.

“I’ll just have you pay back my worry through steak or something. Oh! Or that burger place around the corner. I’ve been craving their fries lately,” she mused.

“I just think it’s odd… you don’t really stand out unless you’re on a job, senpai, but if you’re dressed up, people usually know that you’re one of En’s cleaners.” She paused, gathering her thoughts. “I wonder what gang they were part of… if they were part of one at all.”

More and more, as the healing energy Noi infused into the gash in his abdomen, Shin felt relief seeping in, allowing the tension in his muscles - the same tension that, no doubt, had been the main factor in keeping him as sharp as he’d been, upright and walking, and by all means alive up until this point - to spill out in a fatigued sigh. Sluggishly, prompted by his partner’s energetic suggestion, his thoughts turned over to the burger place she mentioned. Despite the close encounter he’d just had, he couldn’t help but feel a stir of hunger in his gut at the mention of food. And the fries she mentioned were definitely crave-worthy. More than that, he himself could go for a burger.

“I don’t really know what they were thinking. But damn if they didn’t come close to doing me in.” The thought that perhaps they had been aiming to take him out unawares flashed through his mind. Their line of work could leave behind the type of wounds that could fester and lead someone to seek revenge, so it wasn’t impossible. Still, even if so…

Shin was certainly in terrible shape, and even given his aptitude for surviving such injuries on sheer willpower and force alone, Noi still worried for her partner as she put the things that should be inside back inside and placed her hand over the large gash running across Shin’s abdomen, beginning to heal him.

“Geez, senpai… you scared the hell outta me, showing up like that. It must’ve happened pretty fast if you didn’t even have time to call me.” She could chastise him plenty later on when he wasn’t on the verge of passing out from blood loss already. At least it was only passing out. Had he not been able to make it to her in time…

“Another strain did this to you? Huh. You’re the only one I know with any sort of cutting ability. I wonder what a one-on-one fight between you two would be like.” Noi wanted to keep idle conversation just to make sure Shin was still conscious as she worked on repairing his flesh.

“Though I’m absolutely certain you would win, senpai! You’re the strongest person I know.”

Over the buzz blaring in his skull, past the dark spots blotting his dancing vision, Shin was aware of Noi’s presence. She was talking to him, moving hands over his split and bleeding abdomen, adjusting, shifting, although the area had long become numb from exposure and he could scarcely feel anything she was doing. Still, that she was here was itself a blessing, and he held no doubts that his partner would be able to drag him out of Death’s cold clutches.

“...Sorry, Noi.” His breath leaked out in an airy wheeze, accompanied by blood seeping out of the corners of his mouth. “I didn’t mean to scare you.” He just needed her healing touch, to stitch his flesh back together, mend the damaged tissue, replicate lost blood.

And, of course, as she poured her power into him doing just that, little by little, he could feel life returning to his body, making it easier to breathe, see, talk. Slowly, but noticeably over the course of his stay.

@healinghitman @girlphobic

“HOMRA, huh?” These words left Shin’s mouth in a whisper as the clan’s famed bar came into view. No doubt, if he and Noi were to just step inside, there was a high chance of finding the person they were sent after. Of course, if they did that, things would also get really messy really fast, because there was no telling how many other clan members were assembled within. Their orders were pretty clear that they were to target the vanguard, whose appearance they had been briefed on beforehand.

For now, Shin settled to stand in the alley flanking the bar, leaning against the far wall so that he could keep an inconspicuous eye on the door. The darkening sky as the sun sank lower and lower in the sky assisted the alley’s natural shadows in concealing him and his partner from the non-prying public’s eye.

It didn’t take long before that door opened and out stepped the youth matching the description of their target. “Hey, that looks like him. Looks like we’re up.” With a brusque nod towards Noi, Shin quickly pulled the familiar mask over his head, shaped like a human heart although he wore it backwards with holes torn into the fabric for him to see through. The mask’s main purpose was of course to conceal his identity, though there was no doubt that the sight of such a thing could evoke fear in others too.

Then, clenching the hammer tight in his fist, his eyes never leaving his target as the male departed the bar, Shin moved.

Need Healing | Noi and Shin

@heartthrobbingkiller

It’d been a pretty slow day, really. Noi had spent pretty much all of the day inside, snacking and reading some books. Some downtime wasn’t bad at all, and she’d been feeling a little lazy since she had first woken up. Hard work needed to be rewarded with self-care, after all.

A dull thud against her front door drew her attention away from the pages before her, and she furrowed her brow, confused. Normally if she was needed by En or Shin, they would just contact her phone. She put the book aside and made her way to where the odd noise had come from.

She didn’t have to wonder about it for very long, for when she opened the door, a large figure all but fell into the doorway, and the form was immediately recognizable to her.

“S-senpai?!” Her shock gave way to worry as she realized there was blood soaking through his clothes, and a lot of it. For someone of Shin’s stature and strength to be unable to hold himself upright, the damage must’ve been way worse than she could see. She dragged her senior into her home, laying him carefully on his back on the floor. “What the hell happened to you?!”