League - Chapter 4

Authors note: Make sure to check the main fanfiction page for gameplay to story changes so you are able to follow along.

Make sure to also check out the Yokai Tamer game page for more information and to play the game yourself

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The next morning Darius awoke to the sound of someone banging on their bedroom door. Not feeling Ember stir near him from the noise, he looked down. She had tucked her head just under his arm, forcing her ears to flatten against her head. She won't be able to hear this racket. Rolling his eyes, he propped himself up enough be able to talk to whoever was at the door but also not to wake her up. Pausing, almost like a secondary thought, he pulled the blanket that sat low along their waists up so it covered up to Ember's shoulder.

"What!" he yelled controlling his tone to sound rather irritable at being woken up. He didn't have long to wait for the answer.

The door flew open and a frantic Kirei burst in. He paused, looking around the room before looking at the bed. "Oh…" He went bright red before shaking his head hard. "Sorry sorry."

Again Darius rolled his eyes. "What has you banging on my door so early this morning?" 

"Choco's missing," he said before pacing back and forth frantically. "I've looked everywhere. I don't know where she could be. She didn't come to bed last night and I've been awake all night waiting for her to come back." He spoke fast, barely breathing between his sentences.

"Chocky is missing?" Darius asked clarifying he heard Kirei right. Kirei paused in his pacing to nod in response. "Why can't you use your retrocognition to find her?"

Kirei shook his head. "I'm too wound up. It won't activate to let me find her." He crossed his arms in front of him. "Besides, Choco and I haven't developed our instinct enough to use it without physical contact." He looked at Darius' hopefully. "Please. I need help finding her."

Darius sighed before gently shifting to move Ember's head out from where she had tucked it. "Ember…" She flicked her ears at him but barely moved. He gave her ear a pinch before calling again. "Ember!"

"No more Dari…" Ember purred softly. "I'm going to be too sore in the morning if we keep going." 

It was Darius' turn to go red. "It's already morning!" He watched her crack her eyes open slightly to look at him. "We need your nose again."

"I thought we agreed it doesn't come off?" she asked confused. Kirei couldn't help himself but start to silently giggle at the interaction between the two. He knew Ember took a while to be aware of what was going on when she wasn't startled awake. 

"Ember…" Darius' voice was stern with a hint of frustration seeping through. "Not a time for jokes. Chocky is missing. We need you to try and find her."

Ember tilted her head at him before she replied "Okie okie," before moving to get up. Darius quickly grabbed a hold of her and looked up at Kirei. The two tengu stared at each other before Darius pointed at the door. Kirei blushed again and darted outside before closing the door. Ember looked up at Darius confused. "I thought you wanted me to find Choco."

Darius sighed and let her go. He watched in amusement as she got up and stumbled into their ensuite. It had to be my spouse that is the only one with kitsune features… He got up and started to get himself ready for the day. Where could Chocky have gone? 

It never ceased to amaze him the transformation from the half asleep and very confused Ember to the one that came bouncing out of their ensuite. Her green eyes were wide open and bright. She stood watching him for a moment before giggling. "I don't think those match…"

Looking down, he noticed his outfit indeed didn't match. Sighing, he decided to change again. Smiling, he picked out a rather interesting outfit. "How do I look?" 

Ember looked at him up and down. "Candy demon?" He nodded. "You look very pink…" He went to change again. "Too bad pink tengu, we're going to go find Choco with you looking like that." She dragged him out the door and over to where Kirei stood waiting.

"I was worried you two might take longer," Kirei said after receiving a look from Darius. He wasn't going to comment on the overly pink look of the candy demon outfit. "This belongs to Choco," He handed Ember a white veil-like hat. "Hopefully you'll be able to find her."

Ember didn't answer and wandered off following the faint scent. The two tengu looked at each other before shrugging and following at a distance. She guided them downstairs. They continued going down past the second floor for Dynamo and Elites, the first floor member dorms, the ground floor meeting hall and dining room, all the way to the basement floor. They passed the indoor training rooms to a set of double doors. 

"The library?" Kirei asked curiously. "Why would Choco be here?" 

The three entered the library quietly. Inside were many members moving amongst the shelves looking at the books. Ember led them to an area with long tables. Immediately, Kirei dashed past her and latched himself onto Chocolatte, hugging her tightly from behind.

"Chocky…" Darius said sternly when he got closer. "Do you know how much trouble Kirei caused me this morning?"

"Sorry Dari," Chocolatte replied with a sigh. "But Master Liu asked me to learn some new skills so I could get stronger. He gave me 2 weeks to learn before he tested me on them."

"Master Liu?" Ember asked tilting her head before adding "Oh! Snowbunny! Really? Is Yukkii giving you a hand to get stronger?"

"Yes," Chocolatte said with a smile. She was a little concerned that Kirei had not yet let go of her. "Kirei?"

"That reminds me…" Darius turned on Ember who immediately shrunk back not sure what he was going to do to her now. "You skipped out on your training the other day." He grabbed her wrist. "You're going to do double today to make up for it."

Both Kirei and Chocolatte giggled watching Darius drag her away as she cried "Nuuuuuuuuu!" 

Once they had gone, Chocolatte turned to Kirei. "Sorry. I was so excited to be getting stronger that I forgot to come tell you."

"It's ok," Kirei buried his head against her neck. "Just… Don't do this to me again." Chocolatte patted his arm trying to comfort him. "I was afraid that what happened to Ember in the past happened to you. He's still out there and could come back and attack you."

"Who?" Chocolatte asked. It was the first time she had heard about Ember's past, however vaguely it was mentioned. She knew Kirei and Ember had known each other for a very long time and she knew there was an event that happened that caused quite a lot of pain in the pair of them.

"No one…" Kirei replied quietly. "You don't need to know. I'll protect you."

~~~~

Ember lay draped over one of the benches near the outdoor training arena. Her ears and tail drooped like as if they were wet as she tried to catch her breath. "Meanie…" she whispered. Darius had put her through a series of rather difficult training exercises and she was very tired and even more sore than she had been already. "I'm aching all over now instead of just only my lady bits."

He laughed at her and leaned over to pinch one of her ears playfully. "You've been lazy, wifey." She let out a huff in response that made him laugh even more. "Perhaps we need to look at your equipment again and increase the difficulty of your training."

"Weren't you going to nether today?" Ember asked trying to change the topic. She oozed off the bench like as if she was made of water and laid on the ground. She just wanted to curl up and go to sleep. 

"I'll go later," He picked her up and carried her over to centre of the training arena before setting her down on her feet. "Again." 

She looked at him with big puppy dog eyes. He smiled and waved his hand in a 'pay attention in front of you'. She rolled her eyes. He's immune to my eyes now. Sighing, she held Nether Candle in an offensive position and waited. The ground rumbled and she stared up at the monster Darius had decided for her to play with. Holy… Suzume stood looming over her with her wings outstretched ready to attack. I'm so dead!

She leapt into action, dancing and spinning, Nether Candle acting like an extension of her own body instead of an addition. She was gaining the upper hand until her phone starting to ping, distracting her.

"Focus!" Darius yelled at her when he noticed her falter. "You'll get hit otherwise."

Ember pulled her phone out with her other hand and threw it at him to get the distraction away. Darius caught it deftly and looked at what the message was that had appeared. The screen flashed red with an SOS. Flicking through, he say it was Zhillion who had sent it. Kings attacking him and Rain in Illu? Darting forward, he helped Ember get rid of the boss. She gave his a strange look. "You need to go to Illu. Zhil and Rain need assistance." He held up her phone to her with the red flashing screen. "It looks like Kings are trying their attacks again. You should be fine against them without me."

"What will you do?" she asked taking her phone from him and scrolling to the teleport button. 

"I'll go to nether," he replied as he kissed her forehead. "Call me if you need my help but I think you'll manage on your own." Ember nodded and pressed the button to teleport to Zhillion's location.

~~~

Darius flopped down on the couch. Another day of no luck trying to find upgrades for his equipment. His irritation came off him in waves. He had been to the forge with what little he had and managed to break some decent equipment. 

"Are you ok?" Ember asked him, a little timidly. She had seen him this irritable before but she wasn't sure how he would react to her. "I could help… Maybe try my technique while forging…"

"I have no luck," he replied with a sharp bite in his words that made Ember flinch a little. "It's not a matter of technique. No luck is no luck. Why put blame on self for no luck?"

"I was only asking a simple question," Ember's voice became heated. "No need to have a dummy spit at me because your luck is currently bad."

Darius looked up at her even more irritated than before. "I wasn't having a spit at you. I was just stating what I think."

"Well it felt like you were having a spit at me," Ember fired back. She could feel her anger rising in her. 

"Well… You think too much…" Darius replied. Silence spread between them. Ember bit her lip and tried to formulate the correct words to say.

"Right then…" Ember's voice wavered but remained steady. Tears prickled the corners of her eyes. "If that's what you think, I'm leaving before I say something I regret." She stalked off towards the door. Turning, she added "That hurt Darius…" Leaving the room, she slammed the door behind her. Darius sighed and leaned back against the couch. His irritation still holding him tightly in its grip.

Ember stalked down to the hotspring. Her steps became less pronounced and back to their usual light step the further she was from their bedroom. She knew that at least she needed time out before she tackled him again. She couldn't talk to him when he was in this heightened, irritable state. They would simply start snapping at each other again. Sitting down, she took her shoes and socks off and dipped her feet into the water before lying back on her tails to watch the clouds drift by overhead.

~~~~

The guild could sense something was wrong with the two. Neither were present as much as they had been during events and when they were they weren't close to each other. Sukablyet and Cav-Laoshi both decided to do some investigating. It felt strange to them that Ember and Darius both were avoiding each other.

"Momshie?" Cav-Laoshi plopped himself down next to Ember and waited until Sukablyet sat on her other side. "Did Popsie upset you? He keeps looking over here but you aren't looking back."

"Yes and no," Ember replied. "Yes he did hurt me a bit but also no because it's how he normally responds to things. Can be so blunt at times." She flopped back on her tails so that both tengu were in her line of sight. She smiled internally. 

Out of all the tengu in the guild, these two were a rare breed. Not only were they married to each other, but they were also the left-white right-black winged variety of tengu. Their temperament were always more collaborative and open than left-black right-white winged tengu. Envisioning her own tengu spouse and his left-black right-white array, she let off a mild sigh. He was protective and dominant. Though, and she would never openly admit this to anyone, she loved when he was like that with her.

"Then why are you staying away?" Sukablyet asked curiously. He had gotten use to seeing the affection between the two ever since Cav-Laoshi and him transferred from HiVN to League. It felt really strange to see the two of them apart.

"I'm doing something that he'll probably blast me for…" Ember replied with a small yawn. "Can you two keep a secret for me? Since it might take a while and I may need some help with easing Dari's worries."

"Anything Momshie!" Cav-Laoshi replied with a smile. He could sense Ember's tiredness and also her wish to tease and be playful. "Just what are you up to?"

"He got irritable because he's having the worst luck with improving his gears," Ember said with a small smile. "I just poked him at the wrong time and got told I think too much for my trouble. That did initially get me upset but I have a plan…" She quietly outlined her plan to the two tengu. She watched their expressions change from confused to bright and almost giggly. She knew she could rely on them to help her pull off this plan. "So… Going to help me out?"