He must be stupid or stupid [J]

To put it gently, Aki probably should stay home and avoid communicating to the world of the living...but he's not keen with playing with the world of the dead.

Unless they have something he wants.

But right now, there's supposedly an entire world out there that has more than what the eye can see and his birds. Maybe his bird can carry him places, too. But with his broken wrist freshly placed in a cast and walking out of the hospital free of any charges, Aki was out on the hunt for the supernatural. Or something like that.

What was he hoping to find in downtown at 3 AM was beyond him, but dressed like some assassin creed character, Aki had hopes. He even had that quest book thing that Koshi mentioned shipping to him now.

Probably should've read that first before he wondered the nearly empty streets.

It was late, close to the Witching hour as much as his nose could tell. J found himself skulking around the tepid side of the city, doused in shadow and doubt. For some twenty odd years the winds picked up a scent that felt too familiar to ignore. It was a scent he remembered from a long time ago…a time before the First Men.

He told himself then that it was sheer absurdity, that his nose was playing tricks on him, but as the years rolled by he found that scent growing stronger and stronger still. No matter what he was doing, the winds brought that scent to him, coaxing him and pressing him. Now he knew he had to see what two decades of his instinct was trying to tell him and he followed it here, out of his fur and into the pink.

He knew the bearer of that scent was coming close. That bump of shoulder against shoulder.

It belonged to a youth. A male, what?! J's scowl grew darker. Fate was making a fool out of him.

Shouldn't have come here.

Best he kept walking and pretended they never crossed paths.

Aki was creeping over the streetgs and looking around stores and making notes of what he liked and what he didn't like. But none of them seemed to fill that void that he was looking for: Supernatural beings.

Why? No reason, just confirm that the Mouthy jerk face wasn't lying about nonhumans existing. Considering how he broke Aki's wrist, he'll take a chance. But his patience was gone...it was long and he's bored out of his mind.

Picking up a rock, he figured, he might as well just set off a few alarms and break some windows. But a bump against another's made him dropped the rock. Aki did the classy thing: raised an eyebrow then doubled over grabbing his cast.

"OW! You just offset the broken bone in my wrist!" Aki exclaimed, looking at the scruffy man. "Pay up or I'll sue your ass to hell and-"

Oh shit, no way in hell this guy own anything other than...damn, those eyes practically glow.

"Are you a jibakurei?"

Good stab in the dark.

What the hell is a jibakurei?

"……."

J immediately regretted turning his head back to stare at the youth, who was obviously lying through his teeth about his bloody bone. How bloody and how broken it would truly get when he sank his teeth right in.

He turned away and continued to walk farther from the noisy pink, ignoring the scent that was calling out to him with his jaw set firmly.

Too bad, the stranger stalled. Looked at him.

Aki knows now: The other is nonhuman. And because he didn't learn his lesson after the last meeting with one, he reached out and grabbed the back of the other's collar.

"I caught a nonhuman!"

VICTORY!

Before J realised what was happening, his neck was choked by a sudden rough yank from behind. Immediately his anger flared hot red but he managed to keep his calm, feeling his worn flannel shirt getting even more strained at the seams after he was done stumbling.

"The fuck is wrong with you, kid?"

His hackles were rising and his claws threatened to lengthen and slash hot pink meat into ribbons. The air was thick with tension when he finally turned to meet the foolish baby pink straight in the eye.

Promise of blood spurting from a torn throat was a mere breath's away.

Whatever tension there was, Aki contributed to it via his own twitch of the eyebrows. Part of him was expecting another fight that might not end as peaceful. But that didn't stop him from looking at the stranger as if he was the biggest felon on the face of the earth.

"....Don't give me that look. Your mouthy buddy broke my wrist and didn't didn't pay for the medical bill and I'm out a good sum of cash."

A name would've been useful but he goes with what he got, a jibankurei.

"Funny, I always thought Jibans are cute kids."

Eh, what does he know about supernatural things.

"I have no buddies."

J took pride in being alone. It was a hell less troublesome on the whole even though at times he wished he had support.

"Move along, kid."

Before I move you into my stomach.

He snatched back his shirt and turned away to continue on into the alleyway. Aki was lucky he just had a good meal and managed a few glasses of liquor to have a nice warm belly. All he wanted right now was to find a good dark place to sleep, and a corner in an abandoned building worked just fine with him.

"Ha...Ha....No."

Aki stared at him. "I'm not stupid."

When the Jiban pulled out of his grasp, Aki considered what to throw at the other's head. When he didn't have any, he came up with the best idea ever.

It started with a run, jump, and cling.

"YOU'RE COMING WITH ME UNTIL I GET MY $100K!"

This might be a kidnapping.

"…….."

Okay, so far so good. It was only until a big growth appeared on his back that J's scowl grew deeper. He wasn't in the mood to cause any commotion in the middle of the city, granted that it was late. He didn't like blue pinks sniffing around and the noisy pinks with their new hi-tech snappy boxes and talking into machines and things.

So he decided to just keep on moving. Chances are the baby pink will let go or give up…Eventually. Or, he could go into a deeper, darker alley and take the youth out there. No one would notice then and he could FINALLY get some peace and quiet.

All of that booze was starting to make him feel sleepy.

Unfortunately, Aki's birds weren't there to give him guidance again, therefore, he hung on for dear life.

"...Umm...I'm still here...?"

Silence.

"So, I'm wondering if you can maybe, I dunno...consider stopping or something?"

More silence.

"...Ya know, I know you're supposed to protect some place. I don't think it's safe to take me there...."

Of course, more silence.

Sigh. Aki took a deep breath, "RAWR!" And he bit on the stranger's ear.

The farther J walked, the sleepier he became. He realised only too late he must have spent far too long away from the woods. It seemed as if only the multitude of trees and warm soil gave him good proper rest. Aki's voice slowly tuned out to a tiny buzz around his ear as the gaffer wolf continued on.

He finally found a good spot to settle, some abandoned garage behind a suburban shophouse and he went down on all fours, having totally forgotten that he was still wearing the pink. That buzz went on but he was happy enough to drown it out as his limbs became wearier and wearier still. Even that squeak of a roar did little to rouse his senses, and that bite was like a mosquito.

SWAT.

"Shut up. I'm going to bed. Talk tomorrow."

J curled up on the concrete floor then, snatching up a flattened cardboard box to use as a blanket. Pinks got cold so damned easily…unfortunately this was no place to house a 600 pound wolf so he had to deal with all he's got.

"…morrow…"

Zzzzz………..

"....."

Nothing. No response. If anything, the were silence. And Aki stared as the other literally curled up with him still attached and went off to snooze.

Under cardboard.

Aki's eyebrow twitched. He was used to having a soft bed, a comfy blanket and all...now he got this. He didn't steal to sleep on the ground. Sighing, he finally unattached, reached for his wallet, cab money is there. Calling a cab from his cell, he wasn't going to leave his newly caught Jiban. How hard was it to stuff him in a cab, take him home and leave him locked in the bedroom?

Koshi would be so proud Aki is taking care of a stray mutt. *-* <3

After an hour of lugging the stranger out of the cab, dragging him into the elevator, dropping his condo's keys twice, and then finally through the door. Aki was proven that it was a lot harder than it seem to drag someone so heavy home, even when he was chanting "All for revenge and $200K!" Yes, the amount is increasing drastically. Once inside he literally just let both of them flop onto the couch.

Stolen riches from 'monsters' have proven to be quite.....luxurious.

It was warmer...but he can't tell if it was cause he was sweating so bad from the work out or cause he had the heater circulating.

".....I give up. You're heavy."

And that ended with him just pulling the couch throw over them. If he slept on the stranger, the stray can't run without waking him!

Genius!

The ground was far softer than he remembered, and there was a slight pressure atop him. J didn't think cardboard boxes would grow that much heavier from humidity absorption but then again the world was one hell of a screwed up place. His ears and nose worked first before his eyes did, picking up unfamiliar scents and a far quieter street than he recalled.

…This smelled like a completely different district. Opening his eyes in shock, the gaffer wolf scrambled off the couch with a mighty roar that sounded like:

"RRRRARRRRGHHHHHHRRRR???!!!!"

He was on all fours. On his butt. Staring with his jaws wide open at the whole house interior. What the fuck happened to the garage?!

"The hell you did, kid?!"

Aki on the other hand just rolled closer into the couch, wrapping the thin blanket tighter around him.

"Mm...your ass is heavy."

That's what he remembered, sitting up on the couch. Rubbing his eyes a bit before he sat up straighter to look at the mutt.

So cute.

".....I took you home for a good night's rest in exchange for a crummy few $300K."

Stretching Aki got up, "Don't think about leaving without paying...." Aki looked at him. "We'll go with J, Jibankurei is way too long of a name."

There he goes, renaming people again. "Want a shower? I think I have spare clothes that might fit." There were a few items he picked up from the neighbors with no intent on returning.

That was when J stiffened. Did he promise anything last night? Why would he?!

"I don't remember anything!"

Three shots of rum and a stout wasn't enough to inebriate him, was it?! A rush of panic seized the wolf. If he did give his word, he was bound to it by the law of claw and fang.

"I have no money."

He tried hoarsely, getting up with a deeper scowl than he had the night before.

"And I don't like owing boons to nobody."

Shit. He had to come up with something and fast.

"Tsk...First, you force me to take you home and then you forget about me." Aki give out a forced sigh. "How rude, what kind of man does that?"

His ear literally twitched at the phase "no" and "money". Two things, Aki hate hearing together.

".....Well, what do you call this? Freeloading?" He leaned over J on his floor, noses barely glazing each other. "Well the, Mr. J, what are you going to do to repay my kind deed? YOU OWE ME BIG. I COULD HAVE JUST LEFT YOU TO DIE."

God, not only is the Mouthy one never going to pay up (nevermind suggesting Aki has his kids, the nerve!), HE HAS A PENNILESS ASSOCIATE. Argh.

"Guess you're going to have to work off the debt you owe me. Lucky for you, I'm not 'nobody', you may call me Master Aki."

Okay, he might be pushing his luck.

"I did NOT force--"

Goddamnit he couldn't remember shit! J glared right back with a deep growl rumbling in his throat.

"I wasn't DYING."

Fuck why couldn't he recall ANYTHING?! In his frustration he kicked the couch and shoved Aki away from his snout. Stupid pink. When was the last time he made promises to one anyway?!

……..HE COULDN'T REMEMBER THAT EITHER!

"……."

J held onto his head. Either he was way too old or he was developing amnesia. Or something. The pink's next preposterous words shook the wolf out of his own worries.

"I am my own master."

J's roughened voice turned darker with a rich deep growl, something almost inhuman.

"KNOW your place, pathetic worm. Before I tear you apart and feast on your intestines and warm steaming flesh."

….A slow smile spread across his scruffy features, one that was gleaming and toothy and sharp.

"I will pay my debt…but I do not recall granting you your life to spend it."

"Ow...broken wrist, asshole."

Aki pulled himself off the ground and back on his feet, where he was staring at the other.

"Yeah, my place is nice, your place was in an abandon garage with a piece of cardboard as a blanket. I think between our situations, I totally come out on top."

Just saying.

"I steal gold and liquor from some neighborhood demon, your threats are less terrifying than birds. Now get cleaned up before I get fleas."

Neighbourhood demon?! Since when could pinks walk between worlds? That thought caused a crease in his brow but J did nothing to Aki's orders. He was his own master after all.

"I am clean enough."

Well then. This familiar scent that had been worrying his instinct to bits turned out to be a quest of sorts. Something that needed to be done in the bigger picture of things. As long as he got to wet his muzzle with this imbecilic pink's blood at the end of it, he was a happy wolf.

…Then again, was idiocy contagious? Maybe he should leave the carcass for the crows.

"...Trust me. I slept on you all night, you smell like wet dog."

Aki opened the fridge to get a glass of orange juice and then a bottle of champagne.

"....you want one?"

Mixed one part orange juice, one part entire bottle of champagne.

"I think we got a good deal, you get me what I want and attempt eat my half-pickled organs. I thought Jibans were vegetarians."

His plan, like his organs, were half pickled.

Talking to the pink was making his head hurt. J rolled his eyes and resigned himself to the near future. At the most, this farce would last some fifty years. Pinks had such a sad short life span. The gaffer wolf was patient. He could wait centuries if he had to.

Champagne in the morning was a bad idea.

"What the fuck is a Jiban, and where the fuck are you going to get 300K?! Robbing banks are not my forte-I DON'T SMELL LIKE WET DOG!"

ROAR! WHOOOOOOSHHHHHHHHH~!

He was just THIS close to roaring the wall off Aki's apartment. The windows went off first.

CRASHHHHHHHH!!!!! The drapes followed, so did some pillows and a picture frame. Aki's hair got blown backwards and all that champagne and juice got blown off the glass, all over Aki's face and then blown dry.

J's glare was glowering. One more smart-ass, senseless remark and the couch goes too. And that wall.

"I saw your kind in a manga. You're earth-bound spirits, duh." Well, he's sort of right." Aki picked up the mixture that might just leave the rest of the day quite nonexistent. "I can think of a few ways of getting $300K, know any rich neighbors? I like nonhuman kinds, they keep it under their beds."

He took a sip. "Your nose might be going, if not wet dog, I would go with cat vomit."

And before he can take a good solid swing, all he heard was a roar, air, and shit breaking.

"....DAMMIT, J. I HAD TO STEAL THAT CHAMPAGNE." He literally turned to find a notepad, where he did the math of the damage, the landlord fees, Aki fees, and then the amount of effort that it took.

"Make that $600K for damages and stuff."

He raised an eyebrow at J with a smirk.

"Keep it up and even selling your body won't be enough to pay off the debt, Jsweetie."

Cat WHAT?! A large vein protruded from the corner of his brow. J felt his jaw clench more than he heard his teeth grind.

"…Let me see that."

SNATCH!

Wolves aren't really good with math but even so he took one look at the nearly incoherent scribbles and growled.

"$150,000 Aki fees?! $100,000 effort?! $50,000 goods and servicing tax?! Are you tricking me?!"

Tufts of thick grey fur sprouted from J's pink form, all over his back and face and arms. What's left of his worn clothing tore a little bit more. A swift pounce had the young pink pinned against the wall, cast and all.

"Do you know what happened to the last pink who DARED to trick me?!"

"Hey!"

Aki looked indecently J who has stolen his notepad, slightly impressed the man could read his handwriting. What was more impressive was the fact that he's practically growing in size and getting.....fuzzier.

With a thump and he felt the tingling of pain from his back spreading. He didn't even finish his drink to help dull out the pain in the morning.

"...you're right, my bad. Should've thought things through, add in another $3,000 for my back pain."

He really could careless about pink other than the fact that he looked good in it.

"You're pretty stupid to be tricked by a color, by the way."