Dark Innocence.

Blood splatter covered the walls of the restaurant, bits and pieces of what could be once called a living being stuck to everything from the tables to the floor. The fool had been utterly shredded. Utterly ripped apart. In the middle of this gory scene laying on a table on his side was Ren, a small young vampwolf pup laying there against him, badly ripped apart looking like he had been half eaten, his ribs gone on the one side his heart being held together by Ren as he laid there the pup weakly lapping at the blood that Ren offered having surpressed his 'demon' half to allow it to be safe for the pup.

Killing was bad. It was what others said told him all the time and while he had killed the attacker of this pup he had not played with the pup. All he was trying to do now was get the red from leaving the pup. He couldn't move him, if he did the pup would die. This place was said to be run by the brother of the vampire king. Last night he had come across that monster of a beast attacking and killing the pup throwing him in here. Rensa looked at him the pup was dying but there was so many things Ren didn't understand. He didn't understand that damage this bad could not be fixed. Could not be saved even if the pup did curl against him on the table taking comfort in his presence in his caring.

It wasn't that he overly cared although it seemed like it....it was only that you didn't play that deadly game with children because they couldn't survive it and he never had.....Ningyo wasn't here he had gotten separated from his partner last night he'd think Master but that was wrong.

"I'm....dying....aren't I?"

"I...don't know what dying is." Ren answered lowly..........the resturant was beyond trashed and not even open yet.....and no one to help him right now. "But I can not get the red to stay inside....." He said trying to heal the pup unable to.

This part of his job always saddened him. A dying child who had done nothing wrong, nothing to deserve the pain that they were going through. He knew that illness played a major part of death among children, but this child...had been perfectly healthy only hours ago. Now, this child was dying, unable to heal and there was nothing that even Mujo himself, could do.

With a sad expression, he shook his head. He had managed to get in thanks to his magic, but the sight before him was heart-breaking. "It's ok Ren...you can stop now...there's nothing else you can do for him..." he said lowly, sadly. Even his cold, gray eyes held deep sadness. This was a situation that he hated to be put in, but he had no choice.

Ren looked up at him the chain shifting against the table some as he held the pup. "I...don't understand." He said knowing Mujo. Having met him before. The pup shifted weakly the warmth of this fox this kitsune so close and he was falling asleep despite the pain.

"I....I didn't.... but it won't stop. I can't get it to stop coming out....." He said looking down he had used fox fire given the pup blood done everything he could to save him. The small vampwolf whined lowly and closed his eyes. He hadn't played and he had stopped that thing from playing with the pup......

"Thank you." He said lowly to Ren. Realizing at once this one despite his age didn't understand heck he didn't either but he knew he was dying. "For staying with me." the boy said lowly as he let out a weak shuttering breath one or two more at most and he was gone.

Ren looked down at him at the pup confused and ran his fingers over the fur. "He's....sleeping now?" He knew right and wrong knew he didn't do anything wrong knew he had been trying to help him and couldn't get it to stop but he didn't realize dying and death were the same or even that you couldn't save everyone.

Mujo frowned at Ren and gave him such a sad, pained look. This was such a hard lesson for the still innocent fox to learn on his own. "He's dead Ren...." he told him lowly, sadly as he moved over and took the little one from Ren's arms and watched as the body began to turn to ash.

"He was beyond saving...whatever or whoever did this to him...destroyed his body's ability to heal...he would have died even if you had been able to stop the bleeding. The poor little pup would have died a slow, painful death full of sickness and infections...." he said, letting the last remnants of the ash fall to the floor as he looked at it in sadness. To guide a soul was simple. Mujo had done that before the boy had even physically died.

Ren looked up at him. "Dead?" He asked he knew they said he killed when he played that they died and would never get back up but he never saw them die. Never knew what came at the other end as he had wondered off getting bored when they could play no more and they died alone.

Ren looked at his hands looked down at them covered in the beautiful shade of crimson that belonged to the pup then at the ashes and moved dropping off the table to touch them. "So....his family will weep for him?" He asked Mujo had told him once that a loving family would cry for the lost one. For the one who died........but right now it was Ren who cried. He felt them hot falling down his face that pup had cried and curled into him on the table had taken the comfort and shivered for a while in his arms. Ren who had never once shed a tear in his life cried now, he reached up and touched the hot liquid running down his own face. "I was bad...." he breathed that pup had he acted sooner on the bad scent he picked up....had he moved instead of yawning and looking about before the scent of the pups blood hit the air would he still be alive? He had no idea that when he caught wind of the scent, it was already to late for the pup....all he did was give the pup peace in the end.

Mujo looked at Ren in sadness. It was such a painful sight to see. This was the first time Ren had ever seen someone die, the first time Ren had ever understood the concept of death, and yet he had to learn the harshest lesson of all now, as he had to watch a child die in his arms.

"Unfortunately, his family will indeed weep for his death..." he told Ren lowly, sadly as he moved to put gentle arms around the fox and pulled him in close to his chest. "You weren't bad...he was dead the moment they got hold of him...his first injury was the one that killed him..."

Ren looked up at him as the tears continued to fall and then found his shoulders shaking before he closed his eyes. Dead.........what it meant that pup was gone. He would not be held again, would not be touched or grow up. His shoulders shook four centuries old and this was the first time.......he curled into Mujo as for the first time in his long life Rensa cried. He had never shed tears for himself never for anyone until now. "I tried......" he whispered lowly he tried so hard to save the pup. "He stopped crying after a while but it wouldn't heal....the red kept falling." He whispered and just clung to Mujo. Held to him not knowing what else to do.

Ningyo said he would not kill. Not unless it was to protect someone......the four who had been after the kid were nothing more then scattered remains now in the restaurant. Destroyed Mujo had said they destroyed his ability to heal. That cold darkness in Ren wasn't there as he seemed nothing more then a child himself clinging to Mujo as if he was the only thing keeping the darkness away. "I couldn't do anything for him...."

Mujo sighed and closed his eyes. It was horrible for Ren to learn this lesson this way...but...it was best that he learn this lesson now before something possibly happens to Ningyo. After all, Ningyo was a wanted man for murders....it was only a matter of time before his reputation killed him.

Even with these thoughts, worries, and fears, Mujo put a gentle hand on Ren's head and ran his fingers through his hair in an attempt to soothe him. "No one could have done anything...all that could be done, you did...it's not your fault he died Ren..." he told him lowly as he ran his fingers through Ren's hair. "Sometimes, life is cruel...and now...you are learning that lesson...even if it is this way..."

Ren looked at the floor and nodded slowly it was horrible he had tried so hard and yet that pup had died in his arms. Unable to save him life was cruel that way and then he closed his eyes. "I'm like them." He said lowly as it slowly dawned on him and he felt sick..........so very sick to his stomach hurting and upset on top of it. All of those people he played with he was told died. The pup died. He had done this to them. He looked at the silly stuffed bear under the table the very thing the pup left the safety of his home to get and shifted only enough to pick it up without leaving Mujo's embrace. "That pup.....I couldn't save him....all he wanted was this and they.....they killed him." He closed his eyes.

"I'm no better though all those people.....I played and they died........I did that to them what happened to that pup." And the tears continued to fall as he closed his eyes and curled into Mujo holding the silly beaten up Teddy bear to his chest. "I could do nothing for him....."