Homija [RP thread]

Once all the children had climbed inside, the old man hit a button, and the trailer door lifted and clanged to a shut behind them. It was dark, cold, and still inside, and the sound of the metal hitching together reminded her uncomfortably of the palace. She leaned on a pile of clothes, finally letting out a breath of relief and letting the angry facade slip. We're safe. At least for the moment, and at least they hadn't been eaten like Chiyo, and that was reason enough to be thankful. If she heard the Himura kid complain one more time, she'd knock out his teeth and throw him out the back. Kasumi only wanted to be back in her bed in Maezuma, with her window open so she could hear and smell the sea. Soon enough... Whatever reasons the old man had, he had to have snatched them away from certain death for a reason, right?

The truck rumbled to life, and soon they were lurching forward through the ruined streets of Fujiwara. There were no windows, but she could smell the fire and hear the screams, and whenever they passed beneath a street lamp that was still working, she could see the old man's shape through the metal grate. "Now," he croaked, his rasping voice breaking the momentary silence. "What do you want to ask first? I will answer whatever I can, but I want questions, not arguments or insults." His tone made it perfectly clear to who he was warning.

Kasumi let her head fall back, tugging at the collar of her bloodstained kimono. There were a million questions that burned through her mind, so she asked what felt easiest.

"Who are you?"

He didn't answer for what felt like a long time. Finally, after a few minutes of silence, he took a hand off the steering wheel, removed the guard mask, and turned to look at them through the grate just as they passed underneath the glow of a flickering street lamp. A spotted bald head, a scraggly gray beard, one eye that didn't point to where he was looking, and another that rolled in his head like a glassy gray marble. Her mouth fell open, aghast, and Kasumi wrinkled her nose and recoiled.

"You're him!" she yelped, her tone caught somewhere between disgust and disbelief. The street lamp's light was gone, leaving his face back in shadow, and he turned to face the road.

"I have a name, you know."

"You're the old man from earlier! The street preacher! You were shouting into a megaphone!" Kasumi moved to stand, but the truck suddenly lurched sideways, and she went spilling back into the pile of clothes. The old man let out a wheezing chuckle as he watched her squirm and struggle on the ground. Oh gods, we really were rescued by a lunatic.

"Yes," he admitted, once his laugh had subsided. "But the term 'old man' grows tiresome. My name is Yamauchi."

Kasumi thought she felt her eye twitch. No, it couldn't be. Not an actual Yamauchi. I misheard him, that's all. No Yamauchi would go around in rags screaming into a megaphone. "Yamauchi...?" she repeated, just to make sure.

"Noritada," he answered plainly, without missing a beat. "Yamauchi Noritada. Now, what else do you want to ask?"

Yashushi gasped in pain as he settled into his seat, tears welled into his eyes when he leaned against the side of the truck for rest. Biting his lip, the boy shifted into a position where his wounds, whatever they are, weren't aggravated. Moist brown eyes watched the two, unsure what to do. However, there was one question he couldn't help but ask. "Why where we attacked?" His voice was small, and laced in pain. Through the mist of agony, he could tell that it was a common question in all of them. Everything had been so sudden...A the car jolted and sent another wave of pain, causing a lonely tear to drip out of his left eye.

Taking one last glance around for anyone that could be following them, Akio quickly took to the sky once again on his Noivern as the truck took off at a rather fast pace. Thankfully it was easy to keep up, but the young noble started to feel a little stupid about not getting in the truck. He just felt like he needed to do something for the others. He had been so powerless inside the palace and now that he had his pokemon, it felt more like an obligation to try to fight away anything that came near them. As long as they were safe, he was good. Although as he finally got a better look at the chaos surrounding them as they moved through the broken city, Akio couldn't help but feel the fear coming back inside of him. How did they manage to get themselves stuck in this situation? It was so aggravating, but there wasn't anything they could do now other than just leave.

"Ah..." Lord Yamauchi went silent for a moment, the only sound being the gentle rattle of the trailer and the rumbling of the truck down a lonely wooded road. "I was wondering when that'd come up. It's a long and complicated story, but the boy king is not..." He paused, choosing his words carefully. As Kasumi gathered what remained of her dignity, she realized how much more suddenly withdrawn he was, compared to before. "...well, the attack was not without reason, I will tell you that much. Kaito was assassinated. It was a poison dart that caught him in the neck, laced with Vileplume powder and Toxicroak venom. He was bedridden for weeks of miserable agony, bloating up until he... well, I'll spare the young one the pretty details." The old man gave a queasy smile into the rear view mirror. "But rest assured that there was no body to recover afterwards. Now, I could tell you why this all happened, right here, but I want you all to promise that you won't lash out. I won't have you destroying this truck or drawing attention to us. The real story will... upset you.