I'll give you the first shot.
Tahno sighed as he looked over a recent report in the Kagamino office. He wasn’t quite certain what he’d been thinking when he’d asked to be assigned to Karakura division headquarters. It surely would have been easier to just move his new “protégé” to the Vatican or Czech Republic. And there were undoubtedly other, equally qualified candidates for the task of running this division of the Consecro. He supposed that things might be a bit more interesting for him if he were in Japan, in addition to making life a little easier for John. The reality was that he was still as bored. He just had piles of paperwork and large numbers of people to direct added to the tedium of his life.
He wrinkled his nose. He almost wanted to personally take care of the issue in the report. But the reported power level of the demon in question was far below his strength. It was hardly worthy prey. He supposed he should assign some Proxy or Guardian to it, then. He stepped out of his office and snagged the first Proxy to cross his path – a Jace Knight, if he recalled correctly. He still had to get used to the fact that this boy looked exactly like the Gray Fullbuster he had recruited some time ago. Their resemblance was uncanny.
In any case, he gave Knight the assignment and told the boy to take care of the issue. As far as Tahno was concerned, that was all the direction the Proxy should need. Evil was meant to be summarily slaughtered by any within the Consecro’s ranks. So when he left the Kagamino office a little while later – having completed everything of urgency – he was surprised when he wandered through the shopping district and found the Proxy walking away from what was
clearly the Togabito’s reiatsu. He could hardly believe it and he very nearly leapt after the woman himself after she casually tossed a civilian into traffic.
Of course by that point, Knight had already taken off after the woman. Fuming, Tahno sprinted over to where the injured woman lay groaning in the street. Several onlookers were crowded around her. He cursed and pulled out his cellphone, dialing 1-1-9. He rattled off the situation and location to the dispatch before hanging up and taking off down the road. He was going to rip that Proxy a new asshole. Now, thanks to Knight’s inaction, an innocent woman would wind up in the hospital – or worse, die – simply because she’d had the misfortune of running across a demon in human form. It was unconscionable that Knight had allowed this to happen. Honestly, did the Proxy think this was all some kind of joke?
Tahno skidded to a halt at the top of a hill just in time to see Knight take a swipe at the demon with his Sigil. At least the boy was taking action. It had only taken some woman being injured for him to act. Lord forgive him, he was going to kill Knight. As he caught his breath, he suppressed his reiatsu and took stock of the ongoing battle. The two combatants seemed fairly evenly matched, though the Togabito probably had at least a slight advantage over the inexperienced Proxy. Her power was greater than had been reported, which caused Tahno to curse vehemently. A Guardian or experienced Proxy would have been a better fit for her. Still, Knight wasn’t doing
too terribly. And perhaps this would be a good lesson for the Proxy – never underestimate the enemy and
never allow them the opportunity to gain the upper-hand. Tahno crossed his arms over his chest. Yes, that was the route he would take. And should the Togabito get uncomfortably close to killing Knight, Tahno would simply step in and wipe her from the face of the earth.
He didn’t have to wait long for the battle to finish. The Togabito quickly dispatched Knight, removed her ruined clothing and took off back up the hill. She passed not far from him. He could have stopped the monster’s progress. Indeed, he probably should have. But he owed her for both teaching his Proxy a valuable lesson and letting the idiot live. He sighed before using Bringer Light to land besides the battered, bloody Proxy. He needed to stabilize Knight before moving the idiot to a safer location. Shaking his head, he plucked Tianshang Shengmu from his belt and knelt beside the Proxy.
“
Mateřská láska,” he muttered as the jade comb began to glow eerily. Water erupted from the comb and flowed down to both cover and fill the wound in the boy’s abdomen. Most of the other wounds were minor, but this one was blatantly life-threatening. “
Máte štěstí být naživu, hlupák,” he said as he funneled his reiatsu into the wound. This was a dangerous situation, considering the concentration required to use Mateřská láska; if the Togabito returned, he would probably not notice immediately. He could only trust that God would keep them safe for the time being.
Seconds stretched into minutes. Eventually he managed to stop the bleeding, healing the damage to the internal organs and circulatory system. That would have to be good enough for now. Grimacing slightly as he gathered Knight into his arms – the blood was getting on his coat and this was a dry-clean-only item – he stood up and thanked God for the lack of interruptions. Once he was certain Knight was securely in his grasp, he took off for the division office with Bringer Light speeding him along. It wasn’t long before he was back at the office and had Knight squirreled away in the infirmary. The small medical unit had set up an IV and had begun a blood transfusion.
While they were dealing with that, Tahno had looked up various dry-cleaning services, found one that looked promising, and sent a Proxy off with his coat to get it cleaned. The Obelisk felt naked without the protective warmth of the coat, but he wasn’t going to walk around in a dirty coat either. At least his pants hadn’t been stained. He looked down at the dark grey linen trousers to make sure this was the case. He sighed in relief. This pair of pants went best with the
Chinese jacket he was currently wearing. He straightened the white collar that peeked out over the jacket’s collar. It was so strange to be without his coat. He huffed in irritation as he waited for the medics to inform him that Knight was conscious again.
A few hours later:Tahno almost wished he’d just gone home and waited to deal with this tomorrow. If it got any later, that’s exactly what he would do. He didn’t have anything better to do, but he could probably be organizing the small house he was renting just outside Kagamino. He yawned, stood up from the desk he’d been relaxing at for the past few hours, and stretched. This was getting ridiculous. He had long since removed his jacket to become more comfortable, leaving his toned, scarred arms bare. He normally wouldn’t have taken the liberty, but it was late afternoon – nearly evening – and there were few members around to ogle him.
He should just go home. He picked up the jacket and flung it casually over his shoulder, keeping a tight grip on it as he walked out of the office. He shut and locked the door, tucked the key into his trouser pocket, and started to head out. He was almost gone when he heard the clatter of running feet headed to him. “
Ten kluk bude moje smrt.” He turned to face the approaching medic. “
I assume our darling little Proxy has finally regained consciousness?” The medic nodded and Tahno sighed before following the man back to the infirmary. He glided with an almost unnatural grace into the room where they were keeping Knight. He stopped by the bed, looking down at the patched-up Proxy. “
Do you have any idea how lucky you are?”
