Weekend Assignments.

Kiten's answer was a howl of his own as his release curtailed Damon's release his hand working to help him fully find his own as Kit's hips moved lost with the sensations of his own release each movement leading into the next one after the other it didn't help it was at the same moment that Damon found his so that his body was more then happy to take on all that that pleasured head. But once Damon collapsed onto the couch so too did Kit unable to move or pull away not yet he collapsed onto his back such a light weight against his Handler spent and tired but oh did he feel good and relaxed at the moment he could go to sleep right here right now cuddled up against him like this. If his tail was out he would be wagging it to show how happy he was at the moment. At the moment Kit knew he had earned his fragments of light.....towards a strike being removed.....he had shown love.....now as long as that dingle berry over there didn't mess it up on him by being stupid.....Kiten was sure it was alright....it had to be right? Saigo wouldn't take it away from him because of that boy right? He just wanted the freedom to love Damon with out the constant fear of the condemned having over his head.....

"Are you alright?" Ichigo asked although who he was asking he was asking he wasn't sure he was thinking he was asking Damon it had to be Damon not Kit. "You looked like you were about to be broken in half most of the time....and twisted into a pretzel.....I'm sorry for watching i just....I was worried you were about to be broken in little pieces."

Damon laid there, eyes closed as he tried to regain his thought process, panting as he let Kit rest against him, making no movement to pull away. He wasn't in any hurry at all to forget his pleasure. Even if he was laying in a warm sticky mess of his own creation, he was perfectly content to lay there on the leather couch. But when he heard Ichigo's voice, he groaned and turned his head to face the kid's direction and opened his golden eyes to gaze at him, with a very tired, but content expression.

But he was confused, and he couldn't help but look at Ichigo like he was being dumb. "Ha? I'm fine..." he had started to ask what Ichigo meant, but it dawned on him that Ichigo hadn't really been paying attention that well, so he chose to continue and tell Ichigo that he was fine. He moved though, finally able to shift and removed Kit from himself before he sat up easily lifting Kit's weight along with his own. He stood up and looked down at Ichigo. He didn't really care how he looked, he knew he was 'dirty' right now.

He shrugged and answered lowly, "I'm flexible, so it doesn't really hurt..." It was true though. He didn't really feel any pain from that position, only pleasure. He stretched and yawned a little before he began to make his way towards the stairs that lead to the bathroom. "Try not to kill each other while I'm gone...I'm going to take a shower..." he told Kit and Ichigo lowly as he made his way up the stairs and disappeared into the hall, the sound of a door closing resounding lowly as he went to the bathroom to shower.

Ichigo blinked as he watched Damon walk off to go take a shower and then glanced at Kit whose head was bowed and eyebrow twitching. Kit was less then thrilled at the moment thanks to the kid Damon had gotten up sooner then normal had broken out of 'rest' and 'relax' sooner and went for 'shower' and work' and 'sleep' a whole heck of a lot sooner.

Ichigo put his hand to the back of his head before sighing and took a deep breath. "Um sorry about that I didn't mean to upset him."

Kit's head bowed still and a low almost inaudible growl was leaving him.

"I....I really thought he was in pain before no one I know bends the way he does doing what no matter how hard they try....it just isn't possible..." He spoke again....

and against the growls got louder Kit really didn't like this kid....if he didn't shut up soon....Ichigo would find out why it wasn't wise to not be around one of his kind without a handler....the hard way....

Ichigo sighed. "I mean I woke up and you seemed to be going nuts and attacking him and he seemed to be turned into a pretzel with his face buried into the couch with you dominating him of course he's not going to say he didn't want it......" Ichigo mused "There's simply no way a monster could be allowed to control to manipulate a man...." Ichigo started to say but never finished as the lower growling stopped and suddenly he was dogging and just barely mind you fangs and claw of a fully grown and pissed off Death Hound.

Kit had shifted back to his true state and landed on all fours. His tail landed swishing behind him as his ears pinned back his maw curled up exposing long shinning white fangs as a feral growl left him and he was moving.....and Ichigo was summing was trying to summoning his weapon and did only to swing it and have Kiten bit down on it the metal of the scythe bend and cracking in the great hounds mouth the Death hound was breaking it......Ichigo made a mistake he threatened an Death Hound in it's territory......

Damon had come out of the shower only to hear growling and snarling. Sighing, he pulled on a pair of jeans and ran, jumping off the stairs and landing on the lower level. Within a few moments, he was there, jerking Kit away from Ichigo. Eyes narrowed, he glared down at Ichigo. "you never learn do you, aho?" he asked lowly, coldly, but very angrily.

"I warned you more than once, but you keep pushing that stupid bullshit through your ignorant ass mouth," he said as he worked on calming a very angry Kit. "I swear, it's like you want him to kill you!" He was obviously angry, but he had reason to be so. Ichigo had purposely goaded Kit by saying what he had.

Tisking he looked away and focused on getting Kit calm. He put a hand on his head and began to pet him, trying to soothe him once again. "I ask you to try to get along just for a few minutes and this is what I get...how fucking hard is it to just let things be, huh?!" he asked as he turned his anger back towards Ichigo.

Ichigo was quiet breathing heavy as he backed up and away he stood there almost trembling as he looked slowly down as he was called an dumbass in not so friendly of terms and almost side glanced at his sword it was cracked all throughout. The stygian darksteel was almost useless against the Death Hound. Ichigo opened his mouth to speak but could still hear the low growling but Kit wasn't pulling against Damon who had pulled him away.

Kit was growling but he was calming and after a few more minutes he sat down and quieted down his ears still pinned back against his head his tail still curled against his legs and his eyes still following Ichigo's every move all warning signs with a Hound that he didn't trust the one in his territory not to make a wrong move not to step out of bounds. Ichigo was the outsider. Ichigo was the one who didn't belong. Kit had tried....he really had to allow this one into his territory to allow him in and to let him learn but all he did was attack. So know the only thing between Ichigo and Kiten was Damon and that was honestly the only thing keeping Ichigo alive at the moment....his scythe would not keep Ichigo alive his worm eater would not protect him from a death hound's claws Kiten could tear through it. It was why even Mujo would not goad a Tod Hund into attacking.

Ichigo backed into a wall and stayed there keeping distance between him and the hound. Damon seemed pissed at Ichigo not at the hound who had been attacking him instantly he had come out and figured it was Ichigo who had been in the wrong and maybe it had been him and he was quiet replaying the few minutes ago. He thought about it and maybe spouting off about what he had been thinking his confusion and un-settlement about what he had woken to wasn't the best of idea's. He buried his face in his hand and slid down the wall just deciding to sit there and be quiet now. Although now might be a little to late. "I'm sorry...." He said looking up as he laid Zangetsu down cracked all over the place. Boy did he make a mess of things in a few minutes. "I..."

The loud angry growl shut him up and Ichigo closed his eyes as Kit moved going up the stairs of the penthouse moving away from Damon to the upper levels disappearing before he really did kill that brat and get himself sent to hell.....Ichigo flinched as he looked down....

"And here I was finally relaxed and comfortable...what a waste of a good session..." he grumbled lowly as he glared down at Ichigo, his golden eyes burning with anger. "Sorry? Sorry my ass. You're not sorry, you'll never be sorry...you're going to be one hell of a lucky ass kid if you live through the rest of this weekend...pissing him off like that..."

He was so sick of this already. He was half tempted to call Saigo and just tell him to take the kid and fuck off. But he moved over to the empty chair and flopped down, head going into his hands as he just sat there for a long, long time in silence. "Whatever the hell you did, whatever the hell you said, you'd better keep it to your fucking self next time...you're not in some dumbass high school. The shit you do and say can get you killed when it comes to him, what part of that shit is so hard to get?" he told Ichigo lowly, coldly. He took in a deep breath and let it out before he spoke again, "I'm getting sick of repeating myself kid. You either learn to deal with him, or he's going to kill your ass...and if you keep pissing him off, I'll help him...he doesn't deserve your bullshit anymore than I do..."

Ichigo opened his mouth to repeat that he was sorry. He really was but instead he fell silent and then shut his mouth and instead he sat down against the wall he was dressed in solid black at the moment the sword cracked but mending on it's own and wrapped his arms about his knees he remained silent resting his arms on his knees he wasn't pouting but nor did he argue the point with Damon. He didn't say your wrong. He didn't say he didn't deserve it. He didn't say anything for a while. And when he did speak he spoke low after a long period of silence. "I deserve that.....I deserve all of that and a lot more actually....I wouldn't blame him if he had ended up killing me he would have been in rights with the way I was behaving...." he said having been reflecting over his actions as of late.

It had seemed like he had been sulking he hadn't been. He had been doing what Ichigo had always done he had gone silent and simply started thinking about everything pulling together all of this thoughts about everything since the moment he met up with them. Since the first moment and realized he had been nothing but a total jerk to Kit. He had been actively pissing Kit off as if seeking out. Ichigo drew his knees up wrapping his arms around them closed his eyes.

"Kit didn't deserve that, he didn't deserve my treating him that way. I've been around the bullies in high school so long that I've begun to think like them begun to emulate them it's not excuse. It's not right. And it's certainly not acceptable behavior not now or ever....I owe him an apology an sincere one." Ichigo said as he stood up leaving Zangestsu there on the floor although he had a second weapon the point was he didn't pick it up he wasn't out to hurt Kit he did though look at Damon. "I have been a Jerk. I know better then this. Kit did nothing to deserve anything like that out of me. I have been behaving like the scum I usually reap. And for that I have no excuse.....but....would you be there Damon? So that when I do apologize if he can not accept it I can leave with no further harm coming to him."

Kiten was in the bathroom in the shower hot water streaming down over his frame as he began to work on getting cleaned up and cooled off before he killed the stupid kid. Honestly that boy pushed all his buttons fired him up and rubbed his fur the wrong way. Why did that kid persist on doing it? Why did he insist on doing it? On goading Kit until he shifted and attacked? Is that why Saigo sent him? Was it to force him to jump that last line and break it to force that last strike and end up bound and condemned? Kit stood there feeling the water was the shampoo and conditioner down the drain the body wash as well as he leaned his head against the cool tile his fingers against it as he thought about the kid and what he said his eyes closed as he tried and tried to think of any reason at all why this kid would hate him so much that he would want to push him like that into attacking? Why he would want to get his anger going like that? Why.....why did Ichigo So want want him to attack? Did he have a death wish did he want to die? Was that it? Did he truly want to die and was afraid to admit it.....was he.....Kit rose his head and looked out towards the bathroom door and growled lowly..."That little bitch the hell I will...." He said annoyed as he slammed his fist into the wall.....there was no way in the world he would play into that boys hands and do his bidding.....no way in the world at all.

Damon had sat there in silence after that, hair dripping all over the floor and himself. He was too pissed off to care. He had been right all along- this kid was nothing but frustration. He cursed Saigo with his every thought, knowing full well that he was listening in. But his thoughts- his mental curses were cut off when Ichigo began speaking again. Deserved it? Damn right he deserved it. "You deserve getting your head snapped off your shoulders, but I'm not letting Kit get sent to his death because of your dumb ass..." he said lowly, still as cold as ice.

He finally rose his head, turning to look coldly at the strawberry blond. "That gave you no right to treat us like shit. We let you in, told you shit we never let other people know, and even fucking show you how close we are and you fucking spit on it like it's trash? Some way to make friends..." he said as he stood up to glare at him.

"You're damn right you owe him an apology. This whole damn time you've done nothing but attack us for how we are when we can't help how we are. You're going to go fucking apologize, and then you're going to keep your mouth shut for the rest of the fucking night.." he told Ichigo as he turned and began to walk, going to the stairs and then up them, too angry to even care if Ichigo could keep pace.

Ichigo followed quietly he didn't protest to the harsh words and verbal beating he got. Hell he knew he deserved it. They had let him in and he had hurt them. He hurt them both. But he hurt Kit the worst. Damon had asked him not to lash out at Kit and he had. He had lashed out at him had spoken out against him and in the end had hurt him and he hadn't deserved even a small fraction of it. Ichigo took every tiny little bit of what Damon lashed into him with.

He'd take it and that much more. He knew he deserved it. He had done the deed. Following him up the stairs he arrived at the top. Feeling like a heel. Once he reached the top with Damon however he paused as standing there wearing his jeans and a towel around his shoulders bare foot was Kiten.

Ichigo could see the black claw's at his feet that bent down allowing him a firmer grip then Ichigo could ever dream of. The firm toned torso and stomach no tattoo's or anything on his frame although there were two lash marks on his back that Ichigo could not see right now on his back the third would seal his fate these two would heal and go away if he could get the crimes to be cleansed and go away.

But as it stood Kit stood there arms crossed ebony black hair dripping water down his frame as he glared golden daggers at Ichigo who looked down sheepishly. "I'm sorry I....."

"Bull fucking shit...."Kit growled lowly as he narrowed golden eyes. "You don't really have a fucking problem with me at all do you? You're not attacking me at all I'm a Tod Hund I'm the only being that can get through your Worm Eater and kill you. You stupid little fuck....." Kit moved past Damon and slammed Ichigo against the wall. "Some part of you wants to fucking die....some part of you is subconsciously trying to piss me off to the fucking point I loose control and kill your sorry fucking ass.....well tough fucking shit Ichigo....I'm not going to do it. I won't be condemned for the likes of some piss ass sorry little shit like you." Kiten said as he let Ichigo fall to the floor and stepped back.

"I won't leave Damon for the likes of you. He's worth more then your sorry little ass to me. You better figure out what part of you has a fucking death wish and straighten it out....because if if surfaces again around the others were tracking down and they get a hold of it your one dead fucker....." Kiten turned and walked back to Damon and looked back at Ichigo sighing. "And don't fucking apologize to me unless you fully know what it is you are apologizing for.....idiot. Figure it out....Figure out fully what it is....and then apologize because it's not just ME you owe an apology to." Kit said as he placed his hand on Damon's arm and guided his Handler and lover, his partner in all things back down the stairs leaving Ichigo there to think wanting to spend some time with Damon.

He hadn't said anything, only stood there in silence as he seethed in his anger towards the kid. He wasn't thinking clearly, he knew that. He would kill the kid soon enough if he kept pushing his insults. Damon was a lot of things, but a gentle man he was not. He had already been sent to prison once as a human, but got out of it thanks to an overthrowing of the ruling in his favor, which had gotten the blemish on his record expunged and allowed him to roam free as a model and actor who moved to Japan. Had he still had a criminal record, the Japanese government would have refused his entry and denied him any citizenship in the country. He, in some ways, could be much more dangerous than Kit.

When he had been taken by the arm, he didn't say a word, had only flinched at the sudden touch, because he hadn't been paying attention to Kit. His burning gaze had been fixated only on Ichigo, watching every single move he made, just waiting for him to say another insulting word about him or Kit again. But when he had been snapped out of it, he followed along with Kit, knowing that it was dangerous for him to continue being around him right now.

When they were back downstairs and away from Ichigo, his fist went slamming down on the table in front of the couch, breaking off a chunk of the solid oak. "I'm going to end up back in prison because of him...or worse, fucking executed by the fucking king..." he growled lowly as he sat there, body tense and nearly quivering with anger. "I'd rather kill the little bastard right now than let him continue breathe in my direction, let alone give him breath for another chance to insult me or you..." he growled lowly, his anger so much more than he could ever hope to control right now. This was why he had chosen to become a handler and requested to work with only his partner...but Saigo never listened.

Kit looked at him as he punched the wooden table and broke off a chunk of the wood not a problem for either one of them replacing it so it wasn't even a concern for him. Nothing being broken here was. Heck Damon could break anything he wanted in this penthouse and none of it mattered in the least to Kit. What did matter to him was the high level of stress that he was under at the moment. Kit looked at him looked at Damon as he was seething in anger and rage at the Kid's insults as the kid was seemingly attacking them and sighed it was a nasty circling going around and around. Right now it was getting them all no where fast. "No you won't. I won't loose you any more then you will loose me." Kit said firmly. "I have no more of a desire to earn that last strike then I do to loose you. In my life I have had a total of four Handlers. And among them I can say I have only had only one true Partner. I will not loose you Damon not because of some child whose misplaced placed desire survivor's guilt." Kit said as he ran his hand over Damon's hair.

Kit sighed as he looked back at the stairs. "I realized it after I calmed down, after I went upstairs and to the shower. The undercurrent of the scent of his tension. He has a survivor's guilt, he feels terrible for being the only one to survivor the loss of his family of his of his loved ones. But more then that.....he feels like the reapers are to blame somehow. When he see's us he feels an instant anger I can scent it, it's like....he was told something by someone. There's something we're not understanding Damon a piece of the puzzle we're missing. That he has that we don't understand and it's eating at him. I have a feeling he's been hurt and until.....and the reason he's here isn't because of the so much because of the case but because perhaps Saigo felt that perhaps you were the only one who could reach through all that pain and reach the boy help him.....before all of this ends up killing him." Kit sighed and looked back at Damon. "I think Saigo thinks you have some sorta power that allows you to see past a person's personal grievances and pains and to see to the core of a person and help them heal. Honestly though with this kid it's in his scents the hormone's of his responses that I'm picking up to us."


Ichigo slumped down up stairs and didn't bother moving. Was he truly sorry......was he? He didn't know if he was. He didn't know.....did he hate them.....did he like them why did he lash out at them the way he did? He always seemed to lash out at the reapers the new ones he met and it got worse and worse the longer the time went on and these two it got even more worse then it had been in the past why? He did know why didn't he? Ichigo just closed his eyes and sighed.

He clenched his fists as they rested on his knees, his hair still dripping and his body still so tense he looked like he was about to tear all of his muscles apart. "Even if I had some kind of power like that...he knows how dangerous I am when I'm threatened...he's putting that little idiot at risk and both of us at risk of being labeled criminals....sometimes I wonder what goes in that fucking skull of his..." he ground out lowly, his voice seething as much anger as his expression.

"I don't give a damn about a puzzle or missing pieces. All I care about is that the fucking brat learns his place. He's nearly caused you to kill him twice now, and has me on the verge of breaking my vows...I can't put up with much more...so help me Kit, I'll tear his fucking head off...." he told Kit as he finally moved his gaze, which was still burning with what could only be described as pure hate. He looked almost like he was a wild beast himself.

Kit sighed as he moved and stood before Damon slipping his arms around the taller and resting his head against him. He knew he couldn't really stop him nor was he really trying but he didn't want him leaving just yet. "He'll learn his place he isn't coming down just yet. I think that boy has learned that not everyone out there plays nicely with snoty children like him." Kit said lowly as he reached down and laced his fingers through Damon's and brought there hands up to look at them both But he sighed softly as brought it to his lips kissing Damon's knuckles. "Give him a few more minutes up there then if he still spout's shit I'll carry the boy by the scruff of his neck to Saigo and drop the disobedient pup back at his feet were he belongs and tell him we'll handle this case without the little crotch sniffer." Kit said as he leaned there speaking about Ichigo as if he was nothing more then a lowly dog who was out of his masters control in which case that was what Ichigo was.

He was out of control he was behaving as if a wild dog without a collar or leash out of control baring fang and claw at any who came near him and daring any to approach or be bitten. "We have no use for a yapping pup who does not know his place and causes more problems then he's worth if all he can do is make nose then he's useless to us on this mission. And needs to go back to be trained again on how to do his job." Kit said and looked up at Damon. "All of which is not our job. Our job is that of Handler and Hound....Our job is to hunt down the Renegade decayer's or the Zombie's as many call them and send kill send them on since they decided to cheat death. It's not teaching some little Reaper how to wield his scythe and take off his training diapers." Kit said looking at Damon and then smirked. "And it's not you having to keep some smart mouthed teen off my ass so I don't go bitting there ass off." Kit said reaching up to brush the side of Damon's cheek with his finger-tips.

Ichigo got up and walked into the bathroom upstairs turned on the water at the sink and splashed his face with cold water trying to collect himself he could to this day still hear there screams the screams of his sisters and his father. Could still see there last moments there deaths and then Tamashii's last words....'We did know and there was nothing we could do about it' we did know....and we left them to suffer because the longer he fed on them the longer we had to find him and lure him out. Your family was bait.....That was what being a reaper was about was it? Sure he'd live he'd become one of them. One of the monsters he'd gain the powers and he'd figure things out until he finally found a way to deal with them all one by one for what they'd done.....they'd known and they'd let them die....they'd let his family die.......Ichigo....cursed and slugged the mirror the sound of the glass mirror exploding in the room was....almost music to his ears....

He hadn't flinched this time, but he was still tense. Even though he had relaxed a little in Kit's embrace, he was still far too upset. "I should have gave him back to Saigo the first time he pissed me off...if I had, I wouldn't be feeling like this now..." he said lowly as he turned his gaze back to the table to stare at it. If his gaze were able to melt through objects, he would have already killed Ichigo and burned the penthouse down to the ground.

"The dumbass...he's really gotten us in such a mess..." he breathed lowly, his anger slowly subsiding. He wasn't sure if he was talking about Saigo or Ichigo now. Perhaps, he was really talking about them both. At the sound of breaking glass, he narrowed his eyes again and tisked. The little brat was breaking things in the penthouse now too. He wasn't even fucking paying for it, yet he was breaking things. "Annoying ass punk..." he grumbled lowly as he drew his legs up close to him, hugging his knees and burying his face in them. He wasn't built for large amounts of stress, he would either shut down completely, or he'd end up wanting to kill the person responsible for it. Now, he was moving from wanting to kill Ichigo, to simply shutting down so that his body wouldn't suffer for it.

Kit sighed as he moved to run through his hand through Damon's hair petting him. Running his fingers comfortingly through his hair as he looked up the stairs realizing he needed to solve the problem if he was going to be able to get through to Damon at all. If Damon was to be able to go back to being Damon. Right now he was going through the various stages of shut down to destroy and that wasn't good. The kid wasn't doing them any good at all. He leaned up and kissed Damon on the cheek nuzzling him a bit whining softly. "It will all work out just hang in there. I will get the pup to stop his rampage....without killing him or invoking any more stress I swear to you I will do nothing that will mean your loosing me." Kit said softly as he ran his fingers through Damon's black hair. "But if I do not deal with this we will end up loosing each other because we both will spiral downwards and break."

Kit got up and walked up the stairs then and into the bathroom to look at the broken mirror then at the brat and narrowed his eyes. "Are you happy now brat? That you have broken something you are not paying for and costing us something?" Kit asked as he leaned against the door-frame.

Ichigo turned to glare at Kiten. His hand bleeding. As he looked down, his eyes pained, he looked down at the marbled floor of the bathroom shaking his head as he did before looking up. "You fucking asshole's knew. He said as much.....he said it. 'We all knew...and there was nothing we could do..." he said said it....." Ichigo said angry as he glared.

Kit rose an eyebrow as he looked at Ichigo. "Come again brat? Say it again....what was his words exactly? What did this person say to you exactly?" "

"We did know and there was nothing we could do about it!" Ichigo yelled at him as now the tears began to fall. "He looked at me right in the eyes that fucking Tamashii.....he looked at me all of you fucking Reapers knew and there was nothi....."

Ichigo was silenced when Kiten was there in a moment placing a gentle finger against his lips shaking his head sadly no. "No....I'm afraid non of the Reapers no matter the rank did know about it." Kiten said sadly. "The 'We' that Tamashii was speaking of was the many of the Library.He is many and he is one, but he is bound to the rules of the Divine Council he can not move unless they let him he can give no files no orders unless the divine council lets him and he can not let us know if something is wrong unless the divine council lets him. That being said if there was any when was it that you speak of? How long ago Ichigo?" Kiten asked pulling his hand back as the Strawberry blonde trembled before him.

"About six years ago now.....I was ten when they were first killed and then made to parade around like dolls until I was fifteen when Mujo found me...." Ichigo said clenching his hands into fists. "That bastard Ningyohsi said he fed from them all that time...."

Kiten looked at him sadly. "Even if you don't believe me....had I been here in Japan then I would have caught scent even the smallest hint of decay I would have gone and Damon would have insisted we would have broken every rule to get to him first. Damon would have taken any punishment to take him down Ichigo.......but we weren't here....we were stationed all this time in America until a few days ago. We just arrived in Japan. You can tell him who killed your family Ichigo....tell him it was Ningyoshi the Puppet Master....I think you might be surprised by the answer you get from him.....there was a reason we were sent to America."

Ichigo looked at Kiten and then walked down the stairs hurting and upset according to that hound.....and if he thought about it Damon had said the same thing he walked up to where Damon was curled up on the couch and narrowed his eyes. "According to Tamashii 'We knew and there was nothing we could do to save my family.......nothing...that the Libarary knew that that Bastard Ningyoshi had sank his fangs into my family and was killing them and nobody non of the Reapers cared to stop him!" Ichigo said upset. "And Kit's trying to say had you been in America you would have broken every rule to stop him that you had been sent to America because .....of something but...." Ichigo was having a hard time forming words but the hurt the anger was there was coming out now Kit was making him drag it out making him voice what was making him lash out at them....the real reasons why..... "Had you been here in Japan.....nothing ....nothing would have stopped you....."

Damon had stayed like that, even though Kit was trying hard to comfort him, he was in shut down mode. But when he heard the mention of Ningyoshi, he looked up at Ichigo slowly, anger on his features all over again. "That bastard...we were sent there to chase after his ass...yet he managed to evade us at nearly every turn...by the time we had ran ourselves ragged, we were given new orders to deal with the corrupt reapers rising in America," he breathed lowly. "We nearly tore down cities to find him then...and would have done the same had we known..." he told Ichigo as he looked at him, a cold hate filled his eyes, yet there was sorrow there too.

"Had Tamashii been able to tell us, had the council not forced him to be silent...we would have came and would have done everything...to end his rampage before it ended like it did..." he told Ichigo before he lowered his head back down onto his arms. "I was born in America, so for the longest time, I didn't know anything that was going on over here, or even in any other countries....I hated not knowing when I was finally told, I nearly beat Tamashii for it..."

Kit walked down the stairs and walked up to where Damon was sitting he crawled up onto the couch on his hands and knees moving over to him to lay down on it in his human form and look over at Ichigo his golden eyes looking at the angry young man. "I hunted down any remote scent of decay I could trace no matter how minor I could pick up in hopes it would lead us back to him." Kit said lowly. "I swore to Damon that if it was there I would scent it....and I did any that there was..."

Ichigo sat down and shook his head. "He made them dance like dolls and Tamashii said 'we all knew' that everyone knew and did nothing....that everyone stood back and did nothing as that bastard played with them for five years...." Ichigo said as tears fell down his face...he didn't understand didn't understand at all how they could look at him all of them so straight faced as if nothing was wrong with any of them....if they had all known.

Kit sat up then and shook his head no. "But that's just it Ichigo we didn't know and from what I can tell none of the Reapers knew. Not any of the Reapers not Saigo, as Lord Death himself, Mujo, the Keepers, or Erasers. None of the Handlers or it would have gotten back to us quickly enough. None of the Ranks knew from what your saying that 'We' is the the Imperial we as in the 'Royal' we or rather 'I' knew but there was nothing 'I' could do and it would change nothing had I even tried."

Ichigo looked up at Kiten through his tears with an confused angry huh and managed to make the sound as well.

Kit sighed. "Tamashii often refers to himself as 'We' because he is both singular and many. He is both one being and many beings in one. So at any given point he often speaks of himself as 'we' but. The hounds know better then anyone that Tamashsii is bound more then we are. Tamashii belongs to Soren Rasul The Deity of death he is the living death tomb but with Soren's the Divine council took over control of Tamashii and have so many binds and leashes and ropes and chains on him that he can not move without there permission....he can not even sneeze without there blessing. Ichigo I imagine the fate of your family is one that if one could catch Tamashii alone he would be crying over every night since it occurred....unable to let go of the pain of it's passing because he was made to sacrifice them and there loss was not necessary to maintain the balance of the greater good......otherwise he would have done it....he would have called Damon here in a heart beat at the mere glimmer of a shadow of a Ningoyoshi."

Ichigo looked at Kit and then at Damon and looked down before taking a deep breath. "Tamashii....would have called Damon...." He breathed. "If he had been given a choice he would have called you if he but caught just a hint of Ningyoshi and you would have come....my family....you would have my family....they would be alive...you would have stopped him...." Ichigo asked looking for some sign....that....some that...he didn't know what....

Kit laid there curled up on the couch on his side next to Damon looking at Ichigo his eyes taking in the boy as he had spoken to him Ichigo was looking for something some answer but it wasn't answer that Kiten could give him. He was a Tod Hund. A death Hound he was the one who tracked the dead the decaying and the thing that no longer belonged in the world of the living and dispatched it if it was to far gone, among various other things. But his partner was a Reaper of sorts. He was the one who saved souls and lives the one who could save a Soul that was just hit with decay but the dead among other things or so the rumors said. Any way you looked at it.....they were Handler and Hound they were the team that were assigned to handle the 'Zombies' the things that the Human's believed ate brains which was way wrong they didn't eat brains it wasn't anything nice like that. They ate other people alive sliding into them and using there skin for there own as there bodies were no longer usable there corpse's decaying flesh rotting slowly and yet they didn't get rid of the old body they layered it over the old.....it was....disgusting.....really.....gross....Ichigo's family had been drug into it by the Puppet master himself the 'King of it Ningyoshi' Damon had been hunting him for years. Had been given the case of that Monster who liked to attack young women and children. He didn't like going after men and adults but the little ones. And never over himself he used them as if they were his china dolls. And it was this....Kiten had been nearly destroyed his nose trying to find him making it bleed at times driving it into things sniffing until it was raw.....hunting until he was raw....it didn't matter they had had to find him....they just had to it was this Ichigo just didn't know...

Damon looked back up at Ichigo, who was searching for some type of answer, answers that even Damon himself couldn't give him. It might have been his case to begin with, but the moment Ningyoshi left American soil was the moment it no longer became his to deal with- the moment the council refused to say anymore was the moment they were sent running in circle looking for a phantom that would never appear in America again. "We spent night and day looking for him...not even sleeping at times, blistering our feet and nearly starving ourselves...we worked ourselves raged trying to find him..." he told Ichigo lowly.

"If Tamashii would have been able to tell me, he would have called me to come...it was my assignment, but they stopped sending us information and we ended up chasing our tails for two years before they told us we would be changing missions..." he admitted lowly as he looked sadly at Ichigo before he looked away and put his head back down on his arms. "If any of the other reapers knew, I'm sure they would have at least tried to stop him. They swore the same vow as everyone else...to protect the living and to destroy any rogues who break their vows....if anyone would have known before it was too late...they would have saved your family...but the council refused to admit their mistakes and refused to let anyone else help...instead it took a tragedy to get them to let us known anything else...by then it was already too late..."

Ichigo listened to Damon and then looked at Kit who was curled up next to him then looked down at the floor. He closed his eyes as he stood there rocked by that information. If any of the Reapers knew if any of them had any idea of what was happening they would have tried to help his family. If Tamashii wasn't tied down and held down restrained worse then a slave was by vampire law it as it was explained to him then....then he would have done something would have told Damon who had run himself ragged. Himself and Kiten who laid next to him and Kit offered no anger at it. At chasing after a phantom at being made to chase after something that evaded him to end up with noting just that same bitter sadness that Damon had. That they had not been able to catch him. That there chase had ended empty handed.

Ichigo stood there looking at them and then closed his hands into fists. "Why....why did he kill them! Why attack them! Why didn't he go after me alone! Mine was the one he wanted... " He yelled into the room on chocked tears which began to fall as he hit his knees. He honestly didn't want there pity he wanted to understand why....why was he the one who lived when they were the ones who died. Why what reason was he alive was it stupid luck? What reason.....no one could tell him and it was eating him alive.

Kit looked at him and not knowing was killing him and perhaps it would be worse to know and perhaps it was wrong of him and it would be the one things that would earn him that final strike and so be it. But Ichigo had a right to know for some reason he was looking to them to get that final healing in and for whatever reason it was them that needed to give it to him. Fine then they would be the ones it seemed to give it. "Your wrong, and your right....he did want you but he didn't want you alone." Kit said as he moved and sat up on the couch shifting around until he was sitting up one knee drawn up so that he could wrap his arms around it and rest his chin on his knee. He looked at Ichigo and took a deep breath as he looked at him. "You see he wanted you to suffer. He wanted your soul to know the Ultimate anguish. He wanted you to know fear and pain, to know sorrow and despair unlike any other. He wanted you to break. Ningyoshi thrilled in making his targets suffer and know the worst of the worst. To know the sorrow and despair. To know despair and suffering. It then that he would pull there souls from there bodies and dine on them. But he had to make yours the worst. He had to make yours build slowly over years Ichigo....you said he started yours when you were ten. I believe he intended to jump from his body to yours to not only dine on your soul to but take your body as well Ningyoshi didn't have long in his he was dying in his body. You see Necromancy the art that he was using the form that he was using is nasty it has a terrible price it destories the body decays it from the inside out and he was running out of time. It's not meant to be used in the way he was using it and so he needed a new host and you....you would have provided him with a means of continuing on for a very long time. But all of his plans no doubt came to ruin when Mujo So found you first." Kit sighed softly looking at Ichigo his gaze soft and sad. "I'm sorry Ichigo I wish I could give you answers....that weren't so painful but.....that was Ningyoshi. That was the Monster that we hunted. But that is the Nice version. Damon knows this monster so much better then any file could possibly cover. This monster....this mad man was a personal goal of his for a very long time. I don't know the full reason and we never talked about it."

Kit paused as Ichigo was quiet and wiped the tears from his eyes much calmer now as he looked at the duo he no longer looked so hateful at them both but he did look at them both full of regrets for his behavior towards them both. He had been horrible but he had been horrible believing that they had stood back and watched his family be slaughtered and murdered by that sick mad man just to lure him out and laugh at his loss like it was something funny and then laugh at him every day at his pain at his heart ache. It hurt.

"I know he and Ai once searched for him before Ningyoshi was well known as a problem among the Reapers when he was quiet about his efforts. Although there is a story passed among the Hounds Ichigo a terrible one whispered in the dark between both the Tod Hund and the Hellhound's. Over a Century ago there was a little known Reaper who was said to be up to Mischief no one really knew what he did, he wasn't doing enough to be on the radar of Death incarnate but he was gaining the attention of A Handler and his Tod Hund. It was said that the Tod Hund was hearing things that this Reaper was doing that other Hund's weren't hearing. But one day they came to a park and like all Handlers the Handler let his Hund walk off her leash and go a distance off a bit to walk through the park on her own the park after all was safe. It was evening and nothing was there. Then it happened. The To Hund Screamed, the death scream a sound a Tod Hund makes when it's dying and the Handler came to her, and found her broken frame and in the shadows another Reaper disappearing while it finished devouring his Hund's soul. They say that the Handler to this day searchs for the Reaper who crossed the uncrossable line and devoured his Hund's soul. Who took his Hund from him. The story is passed down from Hund to Hund from season'd to new Ichigo. It's passed down not to scar any Hund from doing our job. But to remind of not to leave our Handler to never forget the importance of the contract of Handler and Hund. That so long as we outside of the safe zone like the apartment and out in the public view. Anywhere that we can be attacked that we should never go further then the leash allows. For that is the length of the connection of the link between our the length of our Call. It is that length that at any time our Handler will be there should we come under attack.....or visa versa. We as hunds are not unstoppable Ichigo we have our weaknesses if our attacker can find them." Kit sighed. "That story is to remind us that even we Hounds have them. That even we are not perfect." Kit said softly lowly sadly.

Damon had been quiet, choosing to avoid talking for the most part because Kit, oddly enough, was the more calm one of the two right now. Even so, he rose his head to look up at Kit and then at Ichigo. "I haven't told anyone the reason I had for tracking that bastard down...not until now at least," he began lowly as he finally lowered his legs down to the floor. "I wanted to end him for what he'd done...I'll never forget that face...the face of the man who commanded that hound to attack..." he breathed as he looked from Kit and Ichigo to the floor, eyes narrowed.

"He was the man, the handler who had commanded that rabid hound to attack my family...I survived out of pure luck...and ever since I had recovered, I swore that I'd hunt him down...I became a reaper and a handler because of those reasons...however, Ai died before we could make any headway...and the new hound that I had made a partnership with...was the one in that story. Dai was a young pup, barely out of his training. He hunted me...that man...he wanted to do the same thing to me...to take over my body....but I wouldn't break...."

Ichigo went wide eyed and then looked between Ichigo and Kit. He stared at them then looked at the floor. "He....killed your partner..." he said lowly putting two and two together he killed Nigyoshi killed Dai the pup the young Hound just barely out of training just new to the whole hunting down the bad guy thing but then how and why then did he end up with Kiten? Why would he end up with another Hound knowing that Ninyoshi targeted his Hound's killed them? Why would he choose to take on having another hound that could end up getting killed?

"I choose him." Kit answered seeing the confusion dancing in his eyes. "Normally when a Handler looses his Hound he is given another right away. There really is no time to mourn his loose of hound as we die doing our job so it's an acceptable death. however when he lost his last partner he didn't choose another partner choose to travel without another hound and for several years traveled alone. When our paths crossed. My Handler made me take in something that makes me sick and makes me loose control. It's incredibly painful and sickening for me." Kit said as he sat there looking at Ichigo. "I had already been through this torture twice before and this third time should have been my last all I could see was a blood haze of pain....I was attacking everything I could see tears of blood matting down the fur from the corners of my eyes running down my nose it's a pain worse then death I can't see anything as everything is burning red.....and I turned and bit down on something beside me near me....that arm that was so close to me was Damon's....I nearly bit clean through his arm Ichigo. My fangs were almost touching each other. His blood was splashing into my mouth and instead of scolding me he drew in a low shallow breath....I'll never forget his words spoken through that blood pain..." Kit said softly. "You poor boy...the pain he's put you through take it, it'll do you more good then me, take all you need it's alright, I'll not be the one to stop you so you need not panic it's yours...' for whatever reason it reached me through the pain and I calmed enough to go from tear in painiced pain to feeding and kept feeding until the pain stopped the entire time he was petting me as if I was a good boy....and he said as much too. Then took my leash and changed my fate claiming me for his own. From there he told me what he sought who he was hunting down and I told him I would lend him my nose as it was far keener then his. If I but scented his stink of decay a barest hint I would lead him there." Kit grew silent and Ichigo went wide eyed as he realized.

"And you did.....you hunted him you ran yourself ragid for Damon and Damon was ready to drop you two hunted Ningyoshi down until there was nothing left inside of you and kept on until there was nothing left of that.....had you even caught a whisper that he had went to Japan...you would have come here then even though you had nothing left to give....even though it might mean you two might be dead now as well as my family....or instead of them....if would not matter you would have come...had you heard he was here even if it was nothing but a faint rumor."

Kit nodded. "Even if it was a whisper....I would follow Damon to the ends depths and back...I would hunt to the farthest reaches of the darkness and further if he needed it of me. He need not ask. I would simply go." Kit agreed Damon never needed to ask it of Kiten he would go.

Ichigo looked at them and then realized.....he had never really understood it. Never really understood what it was that they had because he never really had that with anyone. A relationship with anyone that it meant going with someone no questions asked no hesitation no remorse no second thoughts. Nothing holding you back from following them you simply did it right or wrong because it was them.

Damon nodded in reply when Ichigo repeated that Ningyoshi had killed his partner. "He crushed Dai's body so badly that I got sick to my stomach...the poor pup was nearly unrecognizable...." he told Ichigo lowly. "When we were told we were changing assignment, we had to be given recovery time because we were both so weak. I refused every chance Kit gave me to feed...so I spent a week recovering just to be able to go back to work...because of him..." he explained as he brought his gaze, which was nearly tear filled.

He wanted to cry, but managed to choke the tears down. He hadn't been this emotional in a long time. This kid had brought back a lot of memories, memories that he had long buried. Despite this, he looked at Ichigo and told him in a sad tone, "I wanted him to pay for what he'd done...to keep anyone else from having to go through what I did...but I wasn't able to help...not my parents, not my sister, not my brother...not even Dai and especially not you and your family...and for that...I'm sorry..."

Ichigo nodded as his tears fell but for the first time in his life....he felt...peace settling into his heart. Not false peace not sorry we tried but we knew but there was nothing to be done. It was always like a cop out answer like no one really cared no one really tried. No one really....Ichigo sat there as he cried and but he looked up at Damon and spoke again. "Thank you." he said lowly finally feeling things settling in his heart. He knew they would never come back. He knew his loved ones could never come home again he'd never hear his twins voice again. He's never hear his little sisters again. Or dodge his crazy dad. But it was okay now because now he knew there really had been someone who had truly cared. Someone out there who had truly known and who had been truly trying to stop him and even if he couldn't get there in time he had been trying. Even all the powers in the world didn't change the ultimate truth they were all only human. They all had there limits. Ichigo looked at Damon again and spoke. "Thank you for trying to stop him. Thank you for going after him for pursuing him." Ichigo said lowly. "Thank you for knowing what kind of monster he is and for being honest with me. For telling me the truth." Ichigo said softly. "For telling me what I needed to hear not what you thought I should hear." He said as he sat there he felt better for it, it hurt oh did it hurt and he felt the tears fall. "Ningyoshi is dead....he came after me boldly came after me and one of Saigo's brother's Neikan he intercepted his attack on me. Ningyoshi wanted me to spike my spiritual pressure wanted me to cut loose he said he couldn't sink his fangs in until I did and I refused. Neikan used some blade he created and killed Ningyoshi with it....ending him once and for all." Ichigo closed his eyes.

Kit shifted up and moved so that he was sitting behind Damon moving so that Damon was leaning back against him and wrapped his arms around him pressing up close to him and holding him as much as he could knowing how painful it was to talk about it but knowing there really was noting he could do about it. He wasn't Damon's family he wasn't Ai, or even Dai....he could never replace them in Damon's heart either or what they meant to Damon he was Kiten and all he could ever be was Kiten and so all he could do was offer what comfort he could as kiten. Which was this holding him and snuggling up even as Ichigo thanked and apologized in his own way for dragging up painful memories.