Crippled Flame

She shakes her head "Nope. Not really sure what'll happen in the next month, let alone the next few years. Besides, isn't it better to live in the, Now?" she asks.

Hiroshi nodded a bit slowly. "A lot of the time, yeah I learned. There's the extreme of never ever thinking ahead or planning which gets you in trouble too, but other times you focus on that you forget what's in front of your face."

Taki nods slowly, still reading her manga "Deep." she says "But it's always worked for me, so I see no reason to change things." she points out.

"Except... her way of thinking... lead to... the enslavement... of her mind... and the death... of her sister..." the Obliterator growls.

Being That blunt would be counter productive, making the person defensive and not hear their points, for most anyway. It wasn't so much what you said, but how you said it, even if you were right about something. He thought of another angle after a long moment to use his own experince as a learning experience and cautionary tale of not thinking.

"Take me for instance. With the situation with Suki.." He paused. "What's done is done, but one thing that has stuck out to me if things would have been different if we had waited a bit more and planned things.  It may not have changed the end result, but I'm confident in saying if it had been with the Unknown Heroes it wouldn't have been the same.  My point is, it Never hurts to plan fot the bigger stuff Taki and I had to learn that the hard way. Or just ask for help. We didn't have a bigger game plan, and we didn't ask for help since we thought we could handle it since that how you should live your life just something to think about."

Taki was eyeing Hiroshi after his little speech "You're hiding something, aren't you?" she asks as she turns and crawls down her bed towards Roshi, her loose shirt giving anyone the chance to peek down it to see her braless, little breasts.

She stops as the foot of her bed and pulls her legs under her in a crouch, one that Suki use to use all the time to pounce on Hiroshi with "What are you hiding from me? It's something important, isn't it? Spill it." she says, readying to jump as soon as she hears an excuse.

Hiroshi did have a peek, technically he had seen it before but this was under more..positive conditions. That and crawling towards him did make part of him want to jump her bones, he could safely say it was hormones of why he had the urge to pound Taki's brains out. "Huh? How did you get that from advice I gave?" He asked, a bit amused but also curious.

Taki sits back in her haunches "A few reasons. First of all, you're a Terrible liar. Secondly, you are lousy at keeping secrets from those you care about. Third, you wear your emotions on your sleeves and have been looking guilty ever since last night." she points out, then gets ready to pounce again "So spill it, what are you hiding?" she asks again.

He suppose he Should feel guilty about the boy, but he honestly didn't. Only thing he did feel guilty about was not saying about what was going with him yet and such. He came clean. "Okay you got me. You remember uh, that creature that called itself the  Obliterator? When they were destroyed their powers and such transferred to me, that's why I can't use my fire powers. I got some special items to keep them in check if need be when I was visiting the Hunters. I'm more or less stuck with them."


Hiroshi was toying with going with he knew about what had happened with that boy but that had to be a sensitive subject still and he didn't want to breach it until they were ready. Taki was correct he wasn't the best liar, but he was good at half truths at least and there was nothing(Yet) linking him to the creature that had scared the boy. Maybe he should think of a alternate name for them as a secret Identity. The Darker Emperor? No too Power Rangers and 90's cartoons.

Dark Reaper? No. Too much edge that sounded like a teens angsty grim dark fanfic. He'd think of something if he had to and he supposed for now it wasn't important but he did need a alias for when in that armor and he didn't want to reveal his identity. "Sorry I didn't say anything early, just not something I like talking too much about There's more to it, but you have to ask if you really want the answer to it but I'll answer any questions you have.

"Telling her that... was a mistake..." the Obliterator snarls.

Taki's face was blank for a bit as she processed what was just said to her "Wait, what? The Obliterator?" she asks "You're being possessed?"

"She and I... have never met... at least... not while she was... of sound mind..." he growls.

Taki replays what was just said to her "Wait, if you're being possessed, we need to Do something!" she says as she jumps off her bed and scrambles to get her spell book.

"And here... we go... again..." the Obliterator hisses, sounding slightly annoyed at having tongo through the whole "We need to exercise the demon!" thing again.

Hiroshi shook his head a bit. "That won't work, the Hunters couldn't get it out either. He's not doing anything, and even if he did as long as I have my items they can't if they wanted to. There's a reason I'm still not at their HQ still. There is something else important I need to tell you if we're being honest with each other. But I need you to calm down before I can tell you. since its important I come clean to you about it."

She turns to Hiroshi "I Am calm and I have access to magics that the Hunters don't. Why else would the Oni be after Me and not the Hunters?" she points out as she grabs her spell book "And what could Possibly be more important than being possessed?" she asks, flipping through the pages.

"Because I'm not in immediate danger with how things are at the moment, I'm more concerned your well being." Hiroshi said to the point knowing that comment would catch her attention. Too late now, may as well tell her everything and let his secret out,. "You probably remember some creature scaring a boy but not actually attacking them even though they had ample time to right? That was me in some new armor." He mumbled.

"..I know what he did the other day, but I obviously wasn't going to kill them or rough them up. So I ended up scaring him so he wouldn't harm you anymore. He's in the mental ward since the scare worked a bit Too well but he won't be black mailing you anymore.."

Taki pauses in what she was doing, replaying what was just told over in her head "So... you know I was being... so that means you must have saw..." her face goes crimson red.

"This was... perhaps... too much information... all at once..." the Obliterator hisses.

Still trying to make sense of the world "And then you must have saw..." she continues "Waaahhhh!" she screams as she drops her spell book, and jumps off her bed, then runs out of her room "I can never be a bride now!" she cries, covering her face, as she runs into the bathroom.

"Taki wait!"

She was already gone though, having rushed out he really needed to calm her down before he could talk to them. Only issue was he wasn't entirely sure what to say. At this time he decided to take his own advice when he was talking to Taki and know when to ask for help. His partner was extremely old with a lot of life experience so why not try?

'Probably so. I need some advice, I don't know what to do or say to her to calm her down.'

The Obliterator was silent for a bit, likely he was thinking "Let her be... for now... she will calm... in time... then... talk with her... just don't... corner her..." he advises.

That sounded reasonable. 'All right . We'll leave them be for now and talk to them later.' Proably best to let them come to them. So for now he decided to leave the home for now, she did know where he lived and she did have his number so it wasn't like she couldn't get a hold of him when he was ready.

There was still a full day ahead.

"In all likelihood... she will not... contact you... but rather... go about... her daily business... striving to forget... the events of today..." the Obliterator growls "Tomorrow... talk to her... in person... that way... she Has to... speak to you..." he snarls.

'I guess its worth a shot. I could talk to them after school if they go or at home. If its the later the excuse could come up she's not feeling well and not seeing visitors if her parents answer, and if its just her refuse to if they know its me. Besides won't this feel if I'm trying to corner her? Which is something I'm trying to avoid..ignoring my screw up.'

Something a comedian once said, relationships no matter if just friends, family or whatever was like a phone contract. Easy to get into, hard to maintain since the bill and fine print would bust your ass eventually.

"You... did not... cause this... misunderstanding... you... settled this..." the Obliterator growls "Strange... this is... the first time... I have used... my power for good... in such... a very long time... it feels... somehow... nostalgic..." he snarls.

As Hiroshi was heading home, a group of middle school girls were heading towards Taki's. One of them he recognized as Sarah, the young woman who told Hiroshi about what was going on.

That was a reminder of once again how old they were, since they had been around since what? At least Egyptian times?

He noticed a group school girls, not knowing any of them save for Sarah who he waved to. Maybe they would make things a bit better after talking to them and calming Taki down, though he doubted she'd say anything about had happened with that creep.

"Nixa... will likely... go to school... tomorrow... it is... when she is... heading home... that you should... talk with her..." the Obliterator snarls "There is... another problem... one... that I am... surprised... you did not... address sooner..." he growls "One of Nixa's friends... is an Oni..."

'I thought about it, but its really only a problem if Sarah is a bad person or some ulterior motives. I'm starting to learn its a lot less black and white with the Oni. The other issue if Nixa doesn't know her friend is one and finds out and does something stupid. You know, thinking they're doing something.'

He went silent a bit as he waited to cross the road. 'Also been wondering, is Oni more a racial catergory then a single race by itself? Because a lot of the Oni look different from each other, Blader has red skin and horns while Sarah looks completely human. Kinda like me.'

"The Oni... are a single race... with many different... variations... to how they look... much like... Humans... and other races..." he says with a snarl "But Oni... Are... a singular race..." he growls "Perhaps... we should... observe Nixa... to see... if she suspects... or knows... one of... her friends... is an Oni..." he growls again.

'Observe to see? Might not be a bad idea, I think all her other friends are human though but didn't really focus on them. ' It wouldn't surprise them if some were, but it also wouldn't if all the rest were completely human as well.

'Oh man this has the potential be a mess.'

"It is likely... the Oni... planted the girl... to spy on Nixa..." the Obliterator snarls "If that... is the case... what shall... we do..?" he asks.