お帰り [Welcome Home] - Chapter Seven
Title: お帰り [Welcome Home]
Authors: curionenene and yeonah
Chapter: 7/?
Fandom: SS501
Pairings: KyuMin, HyunSaeng
Rating: PG-16
Warning: Angst, AU
Summary: Black and white... white and black. It isn't always possible to tell what is good and what is evil; and four players in the never-ending fight for freedom would know. In a world where things are painted by shades of grey, taking a stand could mean life or death. And the struggle to be free, truly free, may tear them apart until there is nothing left but ash.
A/N: KyuJong and HyunJoong are played by curionenene , while JungMin and YoungSaeng are played by yeonah .
“JungMin…we’re here to see if we can find a felinefolk…not stuff our faces full of food.” KyuJong sighed in exasperation as his master practically frolicked from food stall to food stall, buying whatever caught his fancy and sometimes stuffing KyuJong’s mouth as well.
He had initially been glad for the human’s short attention span, making it easy for him to buy another seal ring from one of the many stores that sold such products. But now, it was getting a little bit tiresome. And KyuJong had to control his ego - having not put on the new seal ring yet - he needed to make some adjustments to it first, otherwise it would block all his powers rather than just some.
"But you're so skinny!" JungMin pouted at him, in the middle of trying to get his partner to open his mouth. "You can't track people on an empty stomach, and don't think I didn't notice you barely eating anything at breakfast again." He needed to practically tie KyuJong down to get him to eat enough sometimes.
"Felinefolk are tricky to track, you need all the energy you can get."
And he hadn't been in the marketplace for ages; he couldn't help it if he was a little flighty.
KyuJong sighed, turning his head so that JungMin couldn’t stuff him with whatever he had (it looked weird and mushy) in his hand, “Your lack of attention doesn’t have anything to do with me eating!” He said petulantly, rubbing his face.
“Please concentrate, master. What if the felinefolk is here and we’re not paying attention?” He asked, turning back when he thought it was safe in order to stare JungMin in the eye.
JungMin blinked at him, and the playful pout on his lips faded. "I told you never to call me that." Shoulders stiff, he bowed politely to the shopkeeper he had been talking to before moving on, darkened eyes scanning over those in the area. He absolutely hated it when KyuJong called him 'master'.
"I never even saw the guy, and I doubt he would have his ears and tail out for the world to see."
KyuJong had been concentrating so hard on other things that the name had accidentally dropped from his mouth. “Sorry.” He muttered at first, before sighing when he noticed the stiffness in JungMin’s pose. “Min…I’m sorry, please don’t be angry?” He reached out and tugged at JungMin’s arm.
It quickly became clear that JungMin was angry for the first time in a long time, the human pulling his arm out of KyuJong's grip. "I don't want to be your master. I want to be your equal, but you keep calling me that. Hell, maybe I'm not even fit to be your partner; you end up doing all the work anyways. Is that why you won't call me your partner?"
The light in his eyes was dimmed and dark as he looked back at KyuJong, the smile his lips twisted into nothing like his usual. "I don't even know why you still put up with me when you could do much better than a useless newbie." JungMin turned and walked away, disappearing into the crowd to start searching for a felinefolk he had never seen.
KyuJong stood there, stunned for a moment. In all his time with JungMin, he’d never seen the human so…angry before. Snapping out of his daze, he ran after JungMin, following his life energy in order to track him through the crowd - that was pretty easy.
Keeping his temper while trying to get through the said crowd however was something entirely else.
“Excuse me!” KyuJong shouted, trying to get past a gaggle of students blocking the road. “Excuse me! Please let me through!”
“JungMin!” Panting as he finally got through, he looked around for JungMin’s life energy to track him again, finding it easily despite all the others it crossed with. However, there was one particular energy that caught KyuJong’s attention - it was familiar, the sense of it wild, willful and independent…almost like a cat…
And then KyuJong realized…that it was a cat’s. Or rather, a felinefolk’s - the felinefolk they had been searching for.
Biting his lip, he looked up in the direction where JungMin had gone, before he did the direction that the felinefolk went. Should he go find JungMin? Or should he follow the trail before it went cold?
Making a decision, KyuJong turned right into an alleyway, away from the crowd. He looked down, steeling himself against turning back to look for his master.
JungMin could be angry at him, he decided. As long as he was safe.
YoungSaeng wasn't aware he was being followed right away. Being around HyunJoong had become a bit too much for the felinefolk to bear, and he had decided that even the discomfort of binding his tail and covering his ears was worth getting out of the apartment for a bit.
Shifting his grip on a small bag of groceries, YoungSaeng padded through the back alleys towards the apartment again. It was then the wind shifted slightly, blowing back from the marketplace and carrying back the smells from the vendors...and the scent of an ankou.
Stiffening slightly, YoungSaeng resisted the urge to glance behind him. Carefully, he rolled the grocery bag up in his hand to make the least amount of noise as possible.
Then...
...He ran.
KyuJong had spotted the felinefolk a few minutes after he began following the trail, and trying to hide his presence as much as possible, he had trailed behind the felinefolk, managing to hide for a few minutes. He had thought himself safe when suddenly, the felinefolk paused… and then, before KyuJong could react - the felinefolk began to run.
Cursing, KyuJong quickly gave chase - he’d already abandoned JungMin because of this. He couldn’t let it all come to waste.
YoungSaeng darted down alley after alley, momentarily cursing the daylight that left him unable to scale the rooftops as he normally would have. He would be spotted in an instant. The daylight left his tail and ears equally trapped, his balance slightly off without the use of the former.
Even so, he wasn't discouraged. Even if the ankou could follow his trail, YoungSaeng had navigated these streets too many times to be caught that easily. Let the ankou try to catch him.
Vaulting agilely over a dumpster, YoungSaeng scaled a wooden fence separating alleys and dropped onto the other side, taking off down a side street without so much as a pause.
KyuJong gritted his teeth as he slid to a stop to prevent himself from accidentally being eviscerated by a clothes pole, and quickly ran around it, trying to catch up with the ground he had lost, but to no avail.
The felinefolk was fast, even without his tail to balance him, and KyuJong didn’t know these back alleys at all. He gritted his teeth as he crashed into a trashcan, losing sight of the other man once again. He was going to lose the felinefolk if he didn’t do something soon…
Looking around, he quickly closed his eyes, and seconds later his wings were out, silver eyes apparent. This way, he could fly over obstacles and maneuver a lot better than on his feet.
He just hoped no one dangerous saw him like this…
They were getting close to Hunter HQ, and YoungSaeng still hadn't been able to shake the ankou off his tail. He didn't want to have to plow straight through hunter territory to lose the other non-human; that would cause HyunJoong no end of trouble. So instead he skirted around the outside of the territory, being careful where he landed.
Even so, it wasn't long before he skidded around a corner and stopped dead, spotting all too familiar people at the other end of the alley. Great. They hadn't seen him though, and YoungSaeng took the opportunity to duck into a concealed doorway and hide behind a large pile of crates.
Hopefully he'd lost the ankou.
KyuJong had no idea of where they were, dutifully following the trail, flying as fast as he could so that he could catch up.
And so, it was in this way that he nearly crashed headfirst into the hunters who had noticed him, immediately recognizing him for what he was.
“Well, well, an ankou! What a surprise!” one of the hunters caught onto KyuJong’s arm, his grip tight, and KyuJong yelped trying to get away.
“Hey! Let go!”
This was bad. Really bad.
YoungSaeng bit his lower lip hard to stop from cursing as the fool of an ankou barreled straight into the hunters. Fantastic. Those hunters weren't some of the nicer ones either. The ankou wasn't going to get away alive.
Thankfully they were probably lacking enough brain cells to not question why an ankou was flying full-tilt through Seoul, but that was small reassurance right now.
Listening to the conversation carefully, YoungSaeng slowly inched closer, keeping his head down so he wouldn't be seen. An ankou was too rare to kill on the spot.
But going to HQ would be worse than even death.
Somehow, YoungSaeng was going to have to make them let go.
KyuJong tried to struggle against the strong grip, but it only tightened, and another joined in, catching his shoulder and wrenching painfully.
“Ah!” KyuJong let out a yell, trying to struggle harder but only succeeding in paining his shoulder. “Please! Let go!”
“Well, well. This is quite a prize isn’t it? I get dibs.” One of the hunters said with a sneer, ignoring KyuJong’s request entirely.
“Hey! I said, let go!” KyuJong squirmed, his leg lifting up and kicking the second one who was holding him, only to receive a hard punch to his head. “Shut up, trash. Before I make you regret it.”
By this time, YoungSaeng had maneuvered himself closer, trying to think. There were too many of them; he couldn't just run in there or he'd be caught as well. And then HyunJoong would be in trouble. They would recognize him off the bat as soon as the hat was off. He would need a distraction.
He was passing by a wooden gate when he smelled them on the other side. Dogs...big ones. Their presence sent shivers down his spine and made him want to run.
Then he glanced at the hunters, and slowly smirked. Why not?
They had just started tying the ankou up to transport him back when there was a loud creak, the wooden gate swinging wide open. Agitated German shepherds spilled out into the alley, rushing on past and crashing into every hunter in their way.
The hunters were caught off guard, and the grip on the ankou was loosened. Perching carefully on top of the gate to avoid the dogs, YoungSaeng threw a pebble at the ankou to get his attention.
"Run," he hissed, before taking off into the yard just vacated by the dogs and scaling the brick wall, running along it's length to drop into the empty yard behind.
KyuJong had been panicking - he could feel the seal on his powers weakening even more as his instincts struggled to get at that power in order to free himself. But he didn’t want that - the way he was now, he’d probably have killed everyone there if that happened. However, the way things were going, it seemed that he might have to in order to prevent himself from getting captured.
Then suddenly, there was no need to - the hunters’ attentions were taken by a sudden mass of dogs stampeding towards them, and his own attention taken by a pebble thrown at him.
Looking up, he saw the felinefolk he had been chasing urging him to run. And he blinked, watching blankly as the felinefolk ran off as well, his mind a little slow on the uptake.
Then a German shepherd pounced onto the hunter that had been holding him, forcing the man to release his hold on KyuJong entirely, and the ankou snapped out of it, quickly flapping his wings and following in the direction that the felinefolk had gone.
Working his way back out into the alleys, a different alley this time, YoungSaeng glanced behind him and saw the ankou was following. He had hoped the other man would head in a different direction; the hunters were sure to follow as soon as they got their bearings back. And when that happened, wings like that would be a give away.
Climbing over walls and being careful to stick to the shadows of the buildings, he finally landed in an empty alley. YoungSaeng headed away from hunter territory, weaving back towards the marketplace where the chase had began. Any hunters following would lose them in the crowd.
Losing balance suddenly, YoungSaeng slipped off the ledge he'd scaled and just managed to land on all fours, wincing. He hated not having the use of his tail.
KyuJong got rid of his wings the minute he felt safe enough to do so, landing lightly onto his feet and folding them back into his body. However, he did not do away with his silver eyes - it was easier to see life energies this way, and quickly, KyuJong found the felinefolk’s amongst all the others, quickly running after the felinefolk, who had turned into a new alleyway while KyuJong had been preoccupied.
He neared the felinefolk just in time to see him fall, and his heart thumped as he ran forward, hoping that he hadn’t hurt himself, and he loosed a sigh of relief when he came near and saw that the felinefolk had managed to land safely.
Head shooting up as footsteps approached, YoungSaeng's golden eyes found the ankou again, this time right in front of him. It was the first time he'd been able to see the other non-human clearly, eyes taking in the man's features and committing them to memory. Then he realized the ankou would be able to see him just as clearly, and belatedly tugged his beanie down a little more.
Rising from his hands into a crouch, he slowly backed up and away from the other man, poised to run with his eyes narrowed into slits.
Now that he could see the felinefolk clearly, KyuJong wasn’t surprised to see the lithe form of the felinefolk - however, he was a little surprised at the gender. The life energy seemed a little… feminine for a man, but hey, he’d seen weirder things.
He was staring at the delicate features of the fellow non-human when he sensed the movement, and reaching out, he shouted. “Hey! Please wait!”
YoungSaeng was all for running off again; the hunters could find them any second, and he wasn't going to get HyunJoong into the kind of trouble he would be in if YoungSaeng's face was seen. When the ankou asked him to wait, the felinefolk paused, still set to spring as his eyes darted around the area for a way he could escape quickly.
"Leave me alone," YoungSaeng hissed angrily. "Get out of here before they catch up."
KyuJong ignored YoungSaeng’s request, instead taking a few steps forward. “Wait! Please, just tell me…are you the one who has been sending us tip-offs? And if you are, why are you doing this? Aren’t you a hunter’s pet?”
KyuJong had only thought of one plausible explanation for the felinefolk’s actions - and that was the felinefolk was in an unwanted contract, trying in his own way to get back at his owner, and KyuJong wanted to save him from it - he was pretty sure that if this was the case, JungMin would want to as well.
Eyes narrowing at the ankou, YoungSaeng felt his lips curl upwards. So they were smarter than he thought…or at least the ankou was. Not smart enough though.
"You must be mistaken, ankou. I'm not the one you're looking for. Now find your master before they catch us both."
And it wasn't a lie. Not the way he phrased it.
He made no comment on being a hunter's pet.
“What?” KyuJong’s voice held a note of disbelief as he stared at the felinefolk. No…he couldn’t have been mistaken. The felinefolk’s life energy was exactly the same as the one they had been tracking. “Please! You don’t need to hide the truth from me! If you’re in trouble, just tell me. My master and I will save you! Just tell u-”
He cut his sentence off, eyes widening as he sensed some hostile life energies coming their way. And cursing, he looked around for a way out.
YoungSaeng heard them approaching, ears twitching under the beanie. Their time was up. He inched away slowly.
The confusion he saw in the ankou's face made him smile. "I am not in trouble. I don't need saving. There's one major flaw in your logic, ankou. I'm with my master by choice."
With that, he darted away, climbing over a low wall with the agility his race was known for. Glancing back at the ankou, YoungSaeng disappeared just as the hunter appeared around the corner, gun out.
“What?” KyuJong blinked at the felinefolk’s cryptic statement, but he had no time to dwell on it as a hunter appeared behind him.
Biting his lip, KyuJong tried to find a way out and couldn’t see any - not without the hunter shooting him in the back as he ran. Cursing his luck, he closed his eyes, reluctantly tapping into the power he had sealed.
He would have to kill this hunter.
The hunter smirked, raising his gun. He wouldn't shoot to kill, an ankou was too precious to kill needlessly, but he wasn't letting the non-human get away that easily.
BANG!
The hunter staggered forwards with the force of the impact, a bullet tearing through the arm holding the gun and forcing him to drop it. Suddenly he fell flat onto his face, pushed from behind.
"Never try that again." JungMin hit the man hard enough on the head to knock him out, and ran to KyuJong. "Hurry up, shinigami!" He grabbed KyuJong's hand and pulled him away, whirling around to shoot at another hunter taking the corner.
KyuJong’s concentration was shot when JungMin suddenly appeared, knocking the hunter out. “Min?” He exclaimed as his hand was grabbed, and they were both running full tilt away from the hunters that were beginning to swarm the place.
“I…I thought you were angry with me?” Was the first thing out of KyuJong’s mouth as he pushed JungMin out of a the way of a barrage of bullets, then catching a knife that flew past, throwing it back. “And how did you find me?”
"I am," JungMin grinned at him. "But that doesn't mean I'm not going to try to find you. You have no sense of direction."
He directed them back towards the marketplace, where they'd be able to lose themselves in the crowd. Even hunters wouldn't be so trigger happy around a bunch of innocents.
"If there's a crowd of hunters running around like their lives depend on it, there's got to be a reason, right?" JungMin laughed, firing another few shots before hiding his gun, pulling them down a side street.
KyuJong blushed a little at the stated fact - it was something he was embarrassed with. Sure, he could play with the strings of life and death, but he couldn’t even remember if home was right or left on the turn. But he turned even redder at the second statement, realizing that he’d caused a lot of trouble because he hadn’t been thinking straight.
“I’m sorry.” He said, quietly at first, before he repeated it, louder. “I shouldn’t have gone off on my own.”
"Why not? I do it all the time." JungMin glanced behind them as he took them through a few more streets. "You can tell me what in the world happened once we're not being shot at."
KyuJong blinked at the carefree answer, before a smile stole across his lips, his fringe tumbling over his eyes, even as JungMin lead him.
He didn’t need to open his eyes really - JungMin would lead him just fine, making sure that KyuJong wouldn’t even trip over his own feet.
Finally they arrived in the marketplace. JungMin was able to weave through crowds without a problem, and it wasn't long before they were far away from the hunters. Even so, JungMin didn't stop, getting them towards home. "They didn't hurt you, did they?"
“No, they didn’t. Don’t worry,” was KyuJong’s answer to JungMin’s question. “You showed up just in time.”
JungMin grinned at that, but didn't make any of his usual comments about what KyuJong would do without him, remaining quiet and concentrating on where they were going.
KyuJong was surprised at the lack of quips at his person, and the abundance of concentration - extremely rare for KyuJong. And he could feel his heartstrings tug - he loved the normal JungMin unconditionally, but every time his master showed care for him…he couldn’t help but wish there was more beyond just the kind heart KyuJong knew his master had.
The human only slowed when they had cleared the marketplace and there was no chance of them still being followed. Making sure, JungMin glanced around the area before turning them towards the apartment. "So what happened to have them all on your tail like that?"
“Oh…” KyuJong blinked, focusing on the question JungMin had asked. “Ah! Right! Min, I found the felinefolk we were looking for!”
And quickly, he began to relate everything that happened after JungMin had stormed off.
JungMin blinked, listening to KyuJong explain. That the felinefolk had helped KyuJong escape from the hunters was surprising, and his words after confusing. "If he's a hunter's pet, why would he help you get away from those hunters?" He thought about the situation, chewing absently on his lower lip as he walked. "Was his master around?"
“No…” KyuJong shook his head at the question. “It was just the felinefolk. But here’s the thing - I thought that perhaps the felinefolk might be rebelling against his master or something, but he told me that he was with his master by choice…which…can’t be possibly true…can it?”
"By choice?" JungMin frowned. "Did it look like he was lying?" But then again...why would the felinefolk have reason to lie? "There's no reason for him to lie to you though...unless he was bugged. But if he was being monitored, wouldn't he get into trouble for helping you?" It didn't make any sense.
“Yeah…” KyuJong ran frustrated finger through his own hair, sighing. “It doesn’t…unless of course, the hunter’s been the one helping us…but that idea is just…ridiculous.”
JungMin nodded. "Why would a hunter help us? Especially one who took out that vampire like that." The sight of the vampire with his head ripped open wasn't one he was likely to forget.
"Either way...were you able to get any other information that would help us track them down?" It went without saying that, no matter who their mysterious informant was, they would have to keep an eye out for those two in the future.
“I know what he looks like now - the felinefolk that is.” KyuJong said. “But other than that…nothing much…except that I think he was hiding his ears underneath a beanie and he couldn’t balance properly…which mean that he was also probably hiding his tail in his pants…”
That was odd in itself - most felinefolk would hide their cattish features the same way KyuJong did with his wings. Unless of course, this felinefolk couldn’t for some reason or another.
"Huh...” The human thought about that. "That narrows things down a lot at least. If he's hiding his ears and tail like that, I guess we won't be seeing too much of him during the day." He could only imagine how uncomfortable hiding cat features would be. The darkness would be easier to hide in than broad daylight.
"Maybe we should look around again when the sun sets?"
“Perhaps.” KyuJong rubbed his chin. “Although we should take it slow. Since they’re probably wary of us already…”
He sighed, rubbing his neck - he felt exhausted. Controlling his powers was taking up a lot more than he’d thought. He would need some time to fix the new sealing ring that he bought, and he hoped that JungMin wouldn’t want to pounce on their new lead immediately.
Spotting the expression on KyuJong's face, JungMin gave a wry smile as they arrived at their apartment, unlocking the door and waiting until they were both in before closing it again. "I think I'll take another look at those letters, or something...” He padded off to find them, determined to find out whatever information he could.
KyuJong heaved a sigh of relief when JungMin didn’t immediate pull him out of their apartment again (which had happened several times already), and he stretched, lethargically walking to his room and plopping down on his bed, unable to move.
He knew he should modify the sealing ring now…but he was just too tired.
‘I’ll do it tomorrow.’ Was KyuJong’s last thought before he closed his eyes, and was dead to the world.
JungMin looked up from the drawer where they'd hidden the notes to see KyuJong disappear into his room. Once the ankou was out of sight, the human's smile turned bitter and a little sad.
He really put too much strain on KyuJong...everything they did properly was thanks to the ankou, everything they found out because of KyuJong. JungMin was only good at messing things up.
It had always been like that, but it hadn't bothered him so much to be the laughing stock of the anti-hunter organization...until recently. Until he actually had a reason to fight.
Looking down at the notes in the drawer, he decided firmly that he was going to be serious about this. No more goofing around. He would show them all he could be an asset to the organization rather than just a good distraction.
He would show KyuJong he could be an efficient partner.
And with that, JungMin got to work.
*********
YoungSaeng sighed tiredly to himself as he finally returned to the apartment with the small amount of groceries he'd picked up. At least he hadn't been carrying anything that could be squashed, or it would be mush by now.
Debating whether to tell HyunJoong about what had happened or not, the felinefolk opened the door and stepped into the apartment, closing the door behind him with a soft click.
HyunJoong had been waiting for the felinefolk, contrary to the nap he usually took at this hour - he had woken up when YoungSaeng had told him that he was going to get groceries and after that, he found that he couldn’t sleep.
And so he’d spent a good hour sitting on the couch, waiting for YoungSaeng to come back. The first half hour was of usual - he knew that YoungSaeng usually took some time. But after another fifteen minutes had passed, HyunJoong was getting a bit worried. But he thought he might have been too paranoid, especially after what had happened recently.
But at the hour mark, HyunJoong had just been about ready to get up and go out to search for the felinefolk. He was just getting his keys when he heard the telltale click and he turned in time to see YoungSaeng closing the door behind him. “Saeng? Where have you been? I was just about to go out and find you.”
Looking up to see HyunJoong apparently getting ready to leave, YoungSaeng chewed on his lower lip for a moment. Should he tell him?
Normally YoungSaeng would have kept the information to himself, but the fact that he'd run into hunters meant he needed to tell his master what had happened.
YoungSaeng shrugged slightly, slipping out of his shoes and tugging the beanie off his head, freeing his ears and causing his fringe to fall into his eyes. "I ran into a few people..." He padded towards the kitchen to put the groceries away. "Our ankou friend for one."
HyunJoong’s eyebrow rose and he frowned, following the felinefolk to the kitchen, leaning against the doorway. “And…? What sort of trouble did you get into this time - something serious definitely, since you’re telling me instead of making me find out myself.”
A soft sigh left YoungSaeng as he placed everything away, not looking at HyunJoong. The human obviously knew him well enough to know YoungSaeng wouldn't bother saying anything normally. "As expected, the ankou chased after me for a while...even took out his wings, the idiot. He couldn't put on the breaks fast enough and crashed right into a group of hunters."
YoungSaeng looked at HyunJoong then, expression carefully blank. "I helped him get away, and didn't let them see my face...but if any of them happened to look over, the beanie and stance might have been a giveaway." He wasn't normally so careless; he had been caught off guard by the sudden situation and the need to act quickly.
HyunJoong stiffened at the news, letting out a sigh and looking up at the ceiling. He wasn’t angry at YoungSaeng though, just that the situation was troublesome - especially if the hunters had seen YoungSaeng. “Hmm…”
He chewed on his lower lip, trying to think of how they could get out this. “Well…this is troublesome.”
"The ankou suspects as well, but he doesn't seem to have pieced everything together properly yet," YoungSaeng commented quietly.
He was silent for a long moment before looking down, ears flat. "...I'm sorry. I should have been more careful than that."
HyunJoong waved the apology away - everyone made mistakes, HyunJoong knew. Even someone as capable as YoungSaeng. “Don’t worry about it. Just help me think of how we’re going to get ourselves out of this…as dumb as our fellow hunters are, I still think we might be in a bit of a spot of trouble if word gets out…”
"It is possible to just leave the blame where it belongs," YoungSaeng said, gaze focused on the floor. "You had no part in what happened, no one would think twice about it." The felinefolk knew that admission to foiling a hunt would cost him dearly, but there were things more important than that at stake. And he would never let them touch HyunJoong...not that he would ever tell the hunter that.
HyunJoong snorted at that. “No. There’s no way I’m going to let you take the blame alone.” As if HyunJoong would ever let YoungSaeng be hurt - besides, if YoungSaeng did take all the blame, then the one who needed to punish him would be HyunJoong - and that in itself had more than one problem.
“We’ll just see what happens and react accordingly, I guess.” HyunJoong shrugged, running a hand through his hair.
Finally YoungSaeng looked up at the other man, frown clear on his face as he took a step forward. "HyunJoong, there are more important things at risk. We can't jeopardize that. It was my blunder, so I will take the consequences."
He was worried that 'reacting accordingly' could mean tossing all they'd worked for out the window.
HyunJoong raised an eyebrow at the felinefolk. “Even if that means that I have to punish you in front of the whole organization? It probably won’t be pretty you know - insubordination from a non-human means entertainment to most of them.”
"I am fully aware of that, HyunJoong." YoungSaeng's expression was distant for a moment, focus elsewhere before he looked at his master again. "But unless you know of a way to talk us out of it, there isn't much else that can be done. And a public...demonstration...would stop their suspicions cold. We can't give up all that we've done for a mistake."
HyunJoong’s lips curled in distaste at YoungSaeng’s train of thought. Folding his arms, his expression was that of stubbornness as he eyed the felinefolk. “…Then I’ll talk my way out of it. Whatever it is, I’m not going to play circus for those fools.”
YoungSaeng's expression was sad as he smiled faintly. "I don't want to play circus for them either...and I really hope talking works."
He took a few steps closer, looking up at HyunJoong. "Just promise me that if you can't, there won't be any heroics. I'm serious, Hyun. I'd rather take the punishment than watch this all fall apart."
HyunJoong sighed, running fast fingers through his hair in exasperation. “Yeah, well. We’ll avoid that…or Hyung will slaughter me for sure…” He knew that his position was…valuable. And that he sometimes needed to do things that he didn’t like.
It didn’t mean he couldn’t complain.
“We’ll just see how it goes.” HyunJoong pushed himself away from the wall, taking a few pacing steps when he suddenly thought of something.
He wasn’t exactly sure if it was a good thought to have, although it might solve their problem.
Nodding silently, YoungSaeng watched the human pace around, absently flattening his hair. He wanted to go change out of the constricting jeans, but didn't say anything, trying to think about how they could get out of the mess he'd stuck them in.
Noticing the expression on HyunJoong's face, he looked up at the other man curiously.
Turning, HyunJoong thought that he might run by his idea with YoungSaeng, but at the curious look on YoungSaeng’s face, he paused, re-thinking that idea.
Then he gulped, waving a hand in front of his face, his cheeks turning scarlet. “No, nothing. It’s nothing.”
Okay, now YoungSaeng was very curious. "What is it?" he asked, narrowing his eyes at the hunter. The very obvious blush was confusing him, as well as the strange reaction. "Do you have an idea?"
“Well…yeah…” HyunJoong said slowly, the blush on his face deepening. “But it’s not a good idea. Really…it was just a thought I swear!”
He began to back away, his lips thinning as he got more embarrassed just thinking about it.
"Well, I want to hear." This was definitely new, and even if the idea was totally ridiculous, YoungSaeng wanted to know what was making HyunJoong act like this. When HyunJoong took a step back, the felinefolk took a step forward, ears pricked up curiously.
HyunJoong shook his head, gulping when the felinefolk took a step forward to his step backwards. “No…I don’t think you want to.” He said firmly, the red in his cheeks only deepening.
And he took another step backwards.
YoungSaeng pursed his lips slightly. "Considering the best plan we have right now is either trying to talk our way out of it, or you beating me to a pulp in front of HQ, I don't think any suggestion can get worse than that." It was clear from his eyes he wasn't going to back off until he heard what was on HyunJoong's mind.
“Oh yes it can.” HyunJoong muttered to himself, before he sighed at the look on YoungSaeng’s face. He knew that the felinefolk wouldn’t back down until he heard what he wanted to hear with that look on his face.
“Oh…fine.” HyunJoong sighed, looking anywhere but YoungSaeng. “My idea is that we tell everyone that it couldn’t have been you because you were…preoccupied.” His cheeks were flaming red by now.
The felinefolk blinked at him, not comprehending. "Preoccupied? Preoccupied how?" It sounded the same as denying he was there to him.
“Er…” HyunJoong searched for a way to put his thoughts across in a more refined manner. “Preoccupied with…me…in…bed.”
‘…God…’
Authors: curionenene and yeonah
Chapter: 7/?
Fandom: SS501
Pairings: KyuMin, HyunSaeng
Rating: PG-16
Warning: Angst, AU
Summary: Black and white... white and black. It isn't always possible to tell what is good and what is evil; and four players in the never-ending fight for freedom would know. In a world where things are painted by shades of grey, taking a stand could mean life or death. And the struggle to be free, truly free, may tear them apart until there is nothing left but ash.
A/N: KyuJong and HyunJoong are played by curionenene , while JungMin and YoungSaeng are played by yeonah .
“JungMin…we’re here to see if we can find a felinefolk…not stuff our faces full of food.” KyuJong sighed in exasperation as his master practically frolicked from food stall to food stall, buying whatever caught his fancy and sometimes stuffing KyuJong’s mouth as well.
He had initially been glad for the human’s short attention span, making it easy for him to buy another seal ring from one of the many stores that sold such products. But now, it was getting a little bit tiresome. And KyuJong had to control his ego - having not put on the new seal ring yet - he needed to make some adjustments to it first, otherwise it would block all his powers rather than just some.
"But you're so skinny!" JungMin pouted at him, in the middle of trying to get his partner to open his mouth. "You can't track people on an empty stomach, and don't think I didn't notice you barely eating anything at breakfast again." He needed to practically tie KyuJong down to get him to eat enough sometimes.
"Felinefolk are tricky to track, you need all the energy you can get."
And he hadn't been in the marketplace for ages; he couldn't help it if he was a little flighty.
KyuJong sighed, turning his head so that JungMin couldn’t stuff him with whatever he had (it looked weird and mushy) in his hand, “Your lack of attention doesn’t have anything to do with me eating!” He said petulantly, rubbing his face.
“Please concentrate, master. What if the felinefolk is here and we’re not paying attention?” He asked, turning back when he thought it was safe in order to stare JungMin in the eye.
JungMin blinked at him, and the playful pout on his lips faded. "I told you never to call me that." Shoulders stiff, he bowed politely to the shopkeeper he had been talking to before moving on, darkened eyes scanning over those in the area. He absolutely hated it when KyuJong called him 'master'.
"I never even saw the guy, and I doubt he would have his ears and tail out for the world to see."
KyuJong had been concentrating so hard on other things that the name had accidentally dropped from his mouth. “Sorry.” He muttered at first, before sighing when he noticed the stiffness in JungMin’s pose. “Min…I’m sorry, please don’t be angry?” He reached out and tugged at JungMin’s arm.
It quickly became clear that JungMin was angry for the first time in a long time, the human pulling his arm out of KyuJong's grip. "I don't want to be your master. I want to be your equal, but you keep calling me that. Hell, maybe I'm not even fit to be your partner; you end up doing all the work anyways. Is that why you won't call me your partner?"
The light in his eyes was dimmed and dark as he looked back at KyuJong, the smile his lips twisted into nothing like his usual. "I don't even know why you still put up with me when you could do much better than a useless newbie." JungMin turned and walked away, disappearing into the crowd to start searching for a felinefolk he had never seen.
KyuJong stood there, stunned for a moment. In all his time with JungMin, he’d never seen the human so…angry before. Snapping out of his daze, he ran after JungMin, following his life energy in order to track him through the crowd - that was pretty easy.
Keeping his temper while trying to get through the said crowd however was something entirely else.
“Excuse me!” KyuJong shouted, trying to get past a gaggle of students blocking the road. “Excuse me! Please let me through!”
“JungMin!” Panting as he finally got through, he looked around for JungMin’s life energy to track him again, finding it easily despite all the others it crossed with. However, there was one particular energy that caught KyuJong’s attention - it was familiar, the sense of it wild, willful and independent…almost like a cat…
And then KyuJong realized…that it was a cat’s. Or rather, a felinefolk’s - the felinefolk they had been searching for.
Biting his lip, he looked up in the direction where JungMin had gone, before he did the direction that the felinefolk went. Should he go find JungMin? Or should he follow the trail before it went cold?
Making a decision, KyuJong turned right into an alleyway, away from the crowd. He looked down, steeling himself against turning back to look for his master.
JungMin could be angry at him, he decided. As long as he was safe.
YoungSaeng wasn't aware he was being followed right away. Being around HyunJoong had become a bit too much for the felinefolk to bear, and he had decided that even the discomfort of binding his tail and covering his ears was worth getting out of the apartment for a bit.
Shifting his grip on a small bag of groceries, YoungSaeng padded through the back alleys towards the apartment again. It was then the wind shifted slightly, blowing back from the marketplace and carrying back the smells from the vendors...and the scent of an ankou.
Stiffening slightly, YoungSaeng resisted the urge to glance behind him. Carefully, he rolled the grocery bag up in his hand to make the least amount of noise as possible.
Then...
...He ran.
KyuJong had spotted the felinefolk a few minutes after he began following the trail, and trying to hide his presence as much as possible, he had trailed behind the felinefolk, managing to hide for a few minutes. He had thought himself safe when suddenly, the felinefolk paused… and then, before KyuJong could react - the felinefolk began to run.
Cursing, KyuJong quickly gave chase - he’d already abandoned JungMin because of this. He couldn’t let it all come to waste.
YoungSaeng darted down alley after alley, momentarily cursing the daylight that left him unable to scale the rooftops as he normally would have. He would be spotted in an instant. The daylight left his tail and ears equally trapped, his balance slightly off without the use of the former.
Even so, he wasn't discouraged. Even if the ankou could follow his trail, YoungSaeng had navigated these streets too many times to be caught that easily. Let the ankou try to catch him.
Vaulting agilely over a dumpster, YoungSaeng scaled a wooden fence separating alleys and dropped onto the other side, taking off down a side street without so much as a pause.
KyuJong gritted his teeth as he slid to a stop to prevent himself from accidentally being eviscerated by a clothes pole, and quickly ran around it, trying to catch up with the ground he had lost, but to no avail.
The felinefolk was fast, even without his tail to balance him, and KyuJong didn’t know these back alleys at all. He gritted his teeth as he crashed into a trashcan, losing sight of the other man once again. He was going to lose the felinefolk if he didn’t do something soon…
Looking around, he quickly closed his eyes, and seconds later his wings were out, silver eyes apparent. This way, he could fly over obstacles and maneuver a lot better than on his feet.
He just hoped no one dangerous saw him like this…
They were getting close to Hunter HQ, and YoungSaeng still hadn't been able to shake the ankou off his tail. He didn't want to have to plow straight through hunter territory to lose the other non-human; that would cause HyunJoong no end of trouble. So instead he skirted around the outside of the territory, being careful where he landed.
Even so, it wasn't long before he skidded around a corner and stopped dead, spotting all too familiar people at the other end of the alley. Great. They hadn't seen him though, and YoungSaeng took the opportunity to duck into a concealed doorway and hide behind a large pile of crates.
Hopefully he'd lost the ankou.
KyuJong had no idea of where they were, dutifully following the trail, flying as fast as he could so that he could catch up.
And so, it was in this way that he nearly crashed headfirst into the hunters who had noticed him, immediately recognizing him for what he was.
“Well, well, an ankou! What a surprise!” one of the hunters caught onto KyuJong’s arm, his grip tight, and KyuJong yelped trying to get away.
“Hey! Let go!”
This was bad. Really bad.
YoungSaeng bit his lower lip hard to stop from cursing as the fool of an ankou barreled straight into the hunters. Fantastic. Those hunters weren't some of the nicer ones either. The ankou wasn't going to get away alive.
Thankfully they were probably lacking enough brain cells to not question why an ankou was flying full-tilt through Seoul, but that was small reassurance right now.
Listening to the conversation carefully, YoungSaeng slowly inched closer, keeping his head down so he wouldn't be seen. An ankou was too rare to kill on the spot.
But going to HQ would be worse than even death.
Somehow, YoungSaeng was going to have to make them let go.
KyuJong tried to struggle against the strong grip, but it only tightened, and another joined in, catching his shoulder and wrenching painfully.
“Ah!” KyuJong let out a yell, trying to struggle harder but only succeeding in paining his shoulder. “Please! Let go!”
“Well, well. This is quite a prize isn’t it? I get dibs.” One of the hunters said with a sneer, ignoring KyuJong’s request entirely.
“Hey! I said, let go!” KyuJong squirmed, his leg lifting up and kicking the second one who was holding him, only to receive a hard punch to his head. “Shut up, trash. Before I make you regret it.”
By this time, YoungSaeng had maneuvered himself closer, trying to think. There were too many of them; he couldn't just run in there or he'd be caught as well. And then HyunJoong would be in trouble. They would recognize him off the bat as soon as the hat was off. He would need a distraction.
He was passing by a wooden gate when he smelled them on the other side. Dogs...big ones. Their presence sent shivers down his spine and made him want to run.
Then he glanced at the hunters, and slowly smirked. Why not?
They had just started tying the ankou up to transport him back when there was a loud creak, the wooden gate swinging wide open. Agitated German shepherds spilled out into the alley, rushing on past and crashing into every hunter in their way.
The hunters were caught off guard, and the grip on the ankou was loosened. Perching carefully on top of the gate to avoid the dogs, YoungSaeng threw a pebble at the ankou to get his attention.
"Run," he hissed, before taking off into the yard just vacated by the dogs and scaling the brick wall, running along it's length to drop into the empty yard behind.
KyuJong had been panicking - he could feel the seal on his powers weakening even more as his instincts struggled to get at that power in order to free himself. But he didn’t want that - the way he was now, he’d probably have killed everyone there if that happened. However, the way things were going, it seemed that he might have to in order to prevent himself from getting captured.
Then suddenly, there was no need to - the hunters’ attentions were taken by a sudden mass of dogs stampeding towards them, and his own attention taken by a pebble thrown at him.
Looking up, he saw the felinefolk he had been chasing urging him to run. And he blinked, watching blankly as the felinefolk ran off as well, his mind a little slow on the uptake.
Then a German shepherd pounced onto the hunter that had been holding him, forcing the man to release his hold on KyuJong entirely, and the ankou snapped out of it, quickly flapping his wings and following in the direction that the felinefolk had gone.
Working his way back out into the alleys, a different alley this time, YoungSaeng glanced behind him and saw the ankou was following. He had hoped the other man would head in a different direction; the hunters were sure to follow as soon as they got their bearings back. And when that happened, wings like that would be a give away.
Climbing over walls and being careful to stick to the shadows of the buildings, he finally landed in an empty alley. YoungSaeng headed away from hunter territory, weaving back towards the marketplace where the chase had began. Any hunters following would lose them in the crowd.
Losing balance suddenly, YoungSaeng slipped off the ledge he'd scaled and just managed to land on all fours, wincing. He hated not having the use of his tail.
KyuJong got rid of his wings the minute he felt safe enough to do so, landing lightly onto his feet and folding them back into his body. However, he did not do away with his silver eyes - it was easier to see life energies this way, and quickly, KyuJong found the felinefolk’s amongst all the others, quickly running after the felinefolk, who had turned into a new alleyway while KyuJong had been preoccupied.
He neared the felinefolk just in time to see him fall, and his heart thumped as he ran forward, hoping that he hadn’t hurt himself, and he loosed a sigh of relief when he came near and saw that the felinefolk had managed to land safely.
Head shooting up as footsteps approached, YoungSaeng's golden eyes found the ankou again, this time right in front of him. It was the first time he'd been able to see the other non-human clearly, eyes taking in the man's features and committing them to memory. Then he realized the ankou would be able to see him just as clearly, and belatedly tugged his beanie down a little more.
Rising from his hands into a crouch, he slowly backed up and away from the other man, poised to run with his eyes narrowed into slits.
Now that he could see the felinefolk clearly, KyuJong wasn’t surprised to see the lithe form of the felinefolk - however, he was a little surprised at the gender. The life energy seemed a little… feminine for a man, but hey, he’d seen weirder things.
He was staring at the delicate features of the fellow non-human when he sensed the movement, and reaching out, he shouted. “Hey! Please wait!”
YoungSaeng was all for running off again; the hunters could find them any second, and he wasn't going to get HyunJoong into the kind of trouble he would be in if YoungSaeng's face was seen. When the ankou asked him to wait, the felinefolk paused, still set to spring as his eyes darted around the area for a way he could escape quickly.
"Leave me alone," YoungSaeng hissed angrily. "Get out of here before they catch up."
KyuJong ignored YoungSaeng’s request, instead taking a few steps forward. “Wait! Please, just tell me…are you the one who has been sending us tip-offs? And if you are, why are you doing this? Aren’t you a hunter’s pet?”
KyuJong had only thought of one plausible explanation for the felinefolk’s actions - and that was the felinefolk was in an unwanted contract, trying in his own way to get back at his owner, and KyuJong wanted to save him from it - he was pretty sure that if this was the case, JungMin would want to as well.
Eyes narrowing at the ankou, YoungSaeng felt his lips curl upwards. So they were smarter than he thought…or at least the ankou was. Not smart enough though.
"You must be mistaken, ankou. I'm not the one you're looking for. Now find your master before they catch us both."
And it wasn't a lie. Not the way he phrased it.
He made no comment on being a hunter's pet.
“What?” KyuJong’s voice held a note of disbelief as he stared at the felinefolk. No…he couldn’t have been mistaken. The felinefolk’s life energy was exactly the same as the one they had been tracking. “Please! You don’t need to hide the truth from me! If you’re in trouble, just tell me. My master and I will save you! Just tell u-”
He cut his sentence off, eyes widening as he sensed some hostile life energies coming their way. And cursing, he looked around for a way out.
YoungSaeng heard them approaching, ears twitching under the beanie. Their time was up. He inched away slowly.
The confusion he saw in the ankou's face made him smile. "I am not in trouble. I don't need saving. There's one major flaw in your logic, ankou. I'm with my master by choice."
With that, he darted away, climbing over a low wall with the agility his race was known for. Glancing back at the ankou, YoungSaeng disappeared just as the hunter appeared around the corner, gun out.
“What?” KyuJong blinked at the felinefolk’s cryptic statement, but he had no time to dwell on it as a hunter appeared behind him.
Biting his lip, KyuJong tried to find a way out and couldn’t see any - not without the hunter shooting him in the back as he ran. Cursing his luck, he closed his eyes, reluctantly tapping into the power he had sealed.
He would have to kill this hunter.
The hunter smirked, raising his gun. He wouldn't shoot to kill, an ankou was too precious to kill needlessly, but he wasn't letting the non-human get away that easily.
BANG!
The hunter staggered forwards with the force of the impact, a bullet tearing through the arm holding the gun and forcing him to drop it. Suddenly he fell flat onto his face, pushed from behind.
"Never try that again." JungMin hit the man hard enough on the head to knock him out, and ran to KyuJong. "Hurry up, shinigami!" He grabbed KyuJong's hand and pulled him away, whirling around to shoot at another hunter taking the corner.
KyuJong’s concentration was shot when JungMin suddenly appeared, knocking the hunter out. “Min?” He exclaimed as his hand was grabbed, and they were both running full tilt away from the hunters that were beginning to swarm the place.
“I…I thought you were angry with me?” Was the first thing out of KyuJong’s mouth as he pushed JungMin out of a the way of a barrage of bullets, then catching a knife that flew past, throwing it back. “And how did you find me?”
"I am," JungMin grinned at him. "But that doesn't mean I'm not going to try to find you. You have no sense of direction."
He directed them back towards the marketplace, where they'd be able to lose themselves in the crowd. Even hunters wouldn't be so trigger happy around a bunch of innocents.
"If there's a crowd of hunters running around like their lives depend on it, there's got to be a reason, right?" JungMin laughed, firing another few shots before hiding his gun, pulling them down a side street.
KyuJong blushed a little at the stated fact - it was something he was embarrassed with. Sure, he could play with the strings of life and death, but he couldn’t even remember if home was right or left on the turn. But he turned even redder at the second statement, realizing that he’d caused a lot of trouble because he hadn’t been thinking straight.
“I’m sorry.” He said, quietly at first, before he repeated it, louder. “I shouldn’t have gone off on my own.”
"Why not? I do it all the time." JungMin glanced behind them as he took them through a few more streets. "You can tell me what in the world happened once we're not being shot at."
KyuJong blinked at the carefree answer, before a smile stole across his lips, his fringe tumbling over his eyes, even as JungMin lead him.
He didn’t need to open his eyes really - JungMin would lead him just fine, making sure that KyuJong wouldn’t even trip over his own feet.
Finally they arrived in the marketplace. JungMin was able to weave through crowds without a problem, and it wasn't long before they were far away from the hunters. Even so, JungMin didn't stop, getting them towards home. "They didn't hurt you, did they?"
“No, they didn’t. Don’t worry,” was KyuJong’s answer to JungMin’s question. “You showed up just in time.”
JungMin grinned at that, but didn't make any of his usual comments about what KyuJong would do without him, remaining quiet and concentrating on where they were going.
KyuJong was surprised at the lack of quips at his person, and the abundance of concentration - extremely rare for KyuJong. And he could feel his heartstrings tug - he loved the normal JungMin unconditionally, but every time his master showed care for him…he couldn’t help but wish there was more beyond just the kind heart KyuJong knew his master had.
The human only slowed when they had cleared the marketplace and there was no chance of them still being followed. Making sure, JungMin glanced around the area before turning them towards the apartment. "So what happened to have them all on your tail like that?"
“Oh…” KyuJong blinked, focusing on the question JungMin had asked. “Ah! Right! Min, I found the felinefolk we were looking for!”
And quickly, he began to relate everything that happened after JungMin had stormed off.
JungMin blinked, listening to KyuJong explain. That the felinefolk had helped KyuJong escape from the hunters was surprising, and his words after confusing. "If he's a hunter's pet, why would he help you get away from those hunters?" He thought about the situation, chewing absently on his lower lip as he walked. "Was his master around?"
“No…” KyuJong shook his head at the question. “It was just the felinefolk. But here’s the thing - I thought that perhaps the felinefolk might be rebelling against his master or something, but he told me that he was with his master by choice…which…can’t be possibly true…can it?”
"By choice?" JungMin frowned. "Did it look like he was lying?" But then again...why would the felinefolk have reason to lie? "There's no reason for him to lie to you though...unless he was bugged. But if he was being monitored, wouldn't he get into trouble for helping you?" It didn't make any sense.
“Yeah…” KyuJong ran frustrated finger through his own hair, sighing. “It doesn’t…unless of course, the hunter’s been the one helping us…but that idea is just…ridiculous.”
JungMin nodded. "Why would a hunter help us? Especially one who took out that vampire like that." The sight of the vampire with his head ripped open wasn't one he was likely to forget.
"Either way...were you able to get any other information that would help us track them down?" It went without saying that, no matter who their mysterious informant was, they would have to keep an eye out for those two in the future.
“I know what he looks like now - the felinefolk that is.” KyuJong said. “But other than that…nothing much…except that I think he was hiding his ears underneath a beanie and he couldn’t balance properly…which mean that he was also probably hiding his tail in his pants…”
That was odd in itself - most felinefolk would hide their cattish features the same way KyuJong did with his wings. Unless of course, this felinefolk couldn’t for some reason or another.
"Huh...” The human thought about that. "That narrows things down a lot at least. If he's hiding his ears and tail like that, I guess we won't be seeing too much of him during the day." He could only imagine how uncomfortable hiding cat features would be. The darkness would be easier to hide in than broad daylight.
"Maybe we should look around again when the sun sets?"
“Perhaps.” KyuJong rubbed his chin. “Although we should take it slow. Since they’re probably wary of us already…”
He sighed, rubbing his neck - he felt exhausted. Controlling his powers was taking up a lot more than he’d thought. He would need some time to fix the new sealing ring that he bought, and he hoped that JungMin wouldn’t want to pounce on their new lead immediately.
Spotting the expression on KyuJong's face, JungMin gave a wry smile as they arrived at their apartment, unlocking the door and waiting until they were both in before closing it again. "I think I'll take another look at those letters, or something...” He padded off to find them, determined to find out whatever information he could.
KyuJong heaved a sigh of relief when JungMin didn’t immediate pull him out of their apartment again (which had happened several times already), and he stretched, lethargically walking to his room and plopping down on his bed, unable to move.
He knew he should modify the sealing ring now…but he was just too tired.
‘I’ll do it tomorrow.’ Was KyuJong’s last thought before he closed his eyes, and was dead to the world.
JungMin looked up from the drawer where they'd hidden the notes to see KyuJong disappear into his room. Once the ankou was out of sight, the human's smile turned bitter and a little sad.
He really put too much strain on KyuJong...everything they did properly was thanks to the ankou, everything they found out because of KyuJong. JungMin was only good at messing things up.
It had always been like that, but it hadn't bothered him so much to be the laughing stock of the anti-hunter organization...until recently. Until he actually had a reason to fight.
Looking down at the notes in the drawer, he decided firmly that he was going to be serious about this. No more goofing around. He would show them all he could be an asset to the organization rather than just a good distraction.
He would show KyuJong he could be an efficient partner.
And with that, JungMin got to work.
*********
YoungSaeng sighed tiredly to himself as he finally returned to the apartment with the small amount of groceries he'd picked up. At least he hadn't been carrying anything that could be squashed, or it would be mush by now.
Debating whether to tell HyunJoong about what had happened or not, the felinefolk opened the door and stepped into the apartment, closing the door behind him with a soft click.
HyunJoong had been waiting for the felinefolk, contrary to the nap he usually took at this hour - he had woken up when YoungSaeng had told him that he was going to get groceries and after that, he found that he couldn’t sleep.
And so he’d spent a good hour sitting on the couch, waiting for YoungSaeng to come back. The first half hour was of usual - he knew that YoungSaeng usually took some time. But after another fifteen minutes had passed, HyunJoong was getting a bit worried. But he thought he might have been too paranoid, especially after what had happened recently.
But at the hour mark, HyunJoong had just been about ready to get up and go out to search for the felinefolk. He was just getting his keys when he heard the telltale click and he turned in time to see YoungSaeng closing the door behind him. “Saeng? Where have you been? I was just about to go out and find you.”
Looking up to see HyunJoong apparently getting ready to leave, YoungSaeng chewed on his lower lip for a moment. Should he tell him?
Normally YoungSaeng would have kept the information to himself, but the fact that he'd run into hunters meant he needed to tell his master what had happened.
YoungSaeng shrugged slightly, slipping out of his shoes and tugging the beanie off his head, freeing his ears and causing his fringe to fall into his eyes. "I ran into a few people..." He padded towards the kitchen to put the groceries away. "Our ankou friend for one."
HyunJoong’s eyebrow rose and he frowned, following the felinefolk to the kitchen, leaning against the doorway. “And…? What sort of trouble did you get into this time - something serious definitely, since you’re telling me instead of making me find out myself.”
A soft sigh left YoungSaeng as he placed everything away, not looking at HyunJoong. The human obviously knew him well enough to know YoungSaeng wouldn't bother saying anything normally. "As expected, the ankou chased after me for a while...even took out his wings, the idiot. He couldn't put on the breaks fast enough and crashed right into a group of hunters."
YoungSaeng looked at HyunJoong then, expression carefully blank. "I helped him get away, and didn't let them see my face...but if any of them happened to look over, the beanie and stance might have been a giveaway." He wasn't normally so careless; he had been caught off guard by the sudden situation and the need to act quickly.
HyunJoong stiffened at the news, letting out a sigh and looking up at the ceiling. He wasn’t angry at YoungSaeng though, just that the situation was troublesome - especially if the hunters had seen YoungSaeng. “Hmm…”
He chewed on his lower lip, trying to think of how they could get out this. “Well…this is troublesome.”
"The ankou suspects as well, but he doesn't seem to have pieced everything together properly yet," YoungSaeng commented quietly.
He was silent for a long moment before looking down, ears flat. "...I'm sorry. I should have been more careful than that."
HyunJoong waved the apology away - everyone made mistakes, HyunJoong knew. Even someone as capable as YoungSaeng. “Don’t worry about it. Just help me think of how we’re going to get ourselves out of this…as dumb as our fellow hunters are, I still think we might be in a bit of a spot of trouble if word gets out…”
"It is possible to just leave the blame where it belongs," YoungSaeng said, gaze focused on the floor. "You had no part in what happened, no one would think twice about it." The felinefolk knew that admission to foiling a hunt would cost him dearly, but there were things more important than that at stake. And he would never let them touch HyunJoong...not that he would ever tell the hunter that.
HyunJoong snorted at that. “No. There’s no way I’m going to let you take the blame alone.” As if HyunJoong would ever let YoungSaeng be hurt - besides, if YoungSaeng did take all the blame, then the one who needed to punish him would be HyunJoong - and that in itself had more than one problem.
“We’ll just see what happens and react accordingly, I guess.” HyunJoong shrugged, running a hand through his hair.
Finally YoungSaeng looked up at the other man, frown clear on his face as he took a step forward. "HyunJoong, there are more important things at risk. We can't jeopardize that. It was my blunder, so I will take the consequences."
He was worried that 'reacting accordingly' could mean tossing all they'd worked for out the window.
HyunJoong raised an eyebrow at the felinefolk. “Even if that means that I have to punish you in front of the whole organization? It probably won’t be pretty you know - insubordination from a non-human means entertainment to most of them.”
"I am fully aware of that, HyunJoong." YoungSaeng's expression was distant for a moment, focus elsewhere before he looked at his master again. "But unless you know of a way to talk us out of it, there isn't much else that can be done. And a public...demonstration...would stop their suspicions cold. We can't give up all that we've done for a mistake."
HyunJoong’s lips curled in distaste at YoungSaeng’s train of thought. Folding his arms, his expression was that of stubbornness as he eyed the felinefolk. “…Then I’ll talk my way out of it. Whatever it is, I’m not going to play circus for those fools.”
YoungSaeng's expression was sad as he smiled faintly. "I don't want to play circus for them either...and I really hope talking works."
He took a few steps closer, looking up at HyunJoong. "Just promise me that if you can't, there won't be any heroics. I'm serious, Hyun. I'd rather take the punishment than watch this all fall apart."
HyunJoong sighed, running fast fingers through his hair in exasperation. “Yeah, well. We’ll avoid that…or Hyung will slaughter me for sure…” He knew that his position was…valuable. And that he sometimes needed to do things that he didn’t like.
It didn’t mean he couldn’t complain.
“We’ll just see how it goes.” HyunJoong pushed himself away from the wall, taking a few pacing steps when he suddenly thought of something.
He wasn’t exactly sure if it was a good thought to have, although it might solve their problem.
Nodding silently, YoungSaeng watched the human pace around, absently flattening his hair. He wanted to go change out of the constricting jeans, but didn't say anything, trying to think about how they could get out of the mess he'd stuck them in.
Noticing the expression on HyunJoong's face, he looked up at the other man curiously.
Turning, HyunJoong thought that he might run by his idea with YoungSaeng, but at the curious look on YoungSaeng’s face, he paused, re-thinking that idea.
Then he gulped, waving a hand in front of his face, his cheeks turning scarlet. “No, nothing. It’s nothing.”
Okay, now YoungSaeng was very curious. "What is it?" he asked, narrowing his eyes at the hunter. The very obvious blush was confusing him, as well as the strange reaction. "Do you have an idea?"
“Well…yeah…” HyunJoong said slowly, the blush on his face deepening. “But it’s not a good idea. Really…it was just a thought I swear!”
He began to back away, his lips thinning as he got more embarrassed just thinking about it.
"Well, I want to hear." This was definitely new, and even if the idea was totally ridiculous, YoungSaeng wanted to know what was making HyunJoong act like this. When HyunJoong took a step back, the felinefolk took a step forward, ears pricked up curiously.
HyunJoong shook his head, gulping when the felinefolk took a step forward to his step backwards. “No…I don’t think you want to.” He said firmly, the red in his cheeks only deepening.
And he took another step backwards.
YoungSaeng pursed his lips slightly. "Considering the best plan we have right now is either trying to talk our way out of it, or you beating me to a pulp in front of HQ, I don't think any suggestion can get worse than that." It was clear from his eyes he wasn't going to back off until he heard what was on HyunJoong's mind.
“Oh yes it can.” HyunJoong muttered to himself, before he sighed at the look on YoungSaeng’s face. He knew that the felinefolk wouldn’t back down until he heard what he wanted to hear with that look on his face.
“Oh…fine.” HyunJoong sighed, looking anywhere but YoungSaeng. “My idea is that we tell everyone that it couldn’t have been you because you were…preoccupied.” His cheeks were flaming red by now.
The felinefolk blinked at him, not comprehending. "Preoccupied? Preoccupied how?" It sounded the same as denying he was there to him.
“Er…” HyunJoong searched for a way to put his thoughts across in a more refined manner. “Preoccupied with…me…in…bed.”
‘…God…’