SEASICK

75- Capture If You Can

Amun sighed, not finding the energy to attempt to remove the seething man.

"Mamoru," Amun repeated, not finding the harm in revealing a name as long as he did not reveal his profession as a royal assassin, ex-personal guard. "Alana's childhood friend."

"Why would he take her? Where would he take her?" Kazumi pushed.

"I am not sure, but I would not worry. He won't hurt her." Amun assured. "He has always been a mischievous one, I am positive the 'fun' he was talking about was not the 'fun' you assumed."

Kazumi discarded Amun like yesterday's trash and spun on his heel to get his thoughts strung together.

"They can't be far, probably in the nearby area." Kazumi started aloud but could not continue as Amun spoke.

"Uh, probably not." The king corrected. "This friend is imbued with a Nine Tail fox, and if he is carrying her, they could be fairly far from here by now. Though, as I said, I would not worry. He will probably return her."

"Probably?" Leven hissed.

Amun spun on his heel to make for the door. "If you would like to search, stick to rooftops, they could be atop one or you will have a better vantage point, either way. But I must warn you, he will know you are near long before you know he is. It is impossible to sneak up on him, so whatever you do, do it quickly."

Amun's long legs had carried him to the door and out with just enough time to catch the tail end of Leven's curses.

"Captain, do we let him just leave?!" Leven turned to Kazumi; arm swung out in the direction of the fleeing man.

"We have more important things to handle than him." Kazumi cut back. "I want all of you to split up, we will go in all directions. Cover as much as you can in thirty minutes and meet back in the square to regroup. Leven has east, Leopoldo south, I will take west and Ivo you will go north." Kazumi ordered heading for the door right after Amun.

"What do you want us to do if we find them?" Leopoldo asked right on his tail, though he knew exactly what he wanted to do.

"Kill him." Kazumi flatly stated without any hesitation. "But do not, under any circumstances, transform. Alana fears us enough as it is, and she will not take her friend dying in front of her lightly. Our demons will only scare her more."

"You want us to fight a Nine-Tailed without our demons?" Leven questioned as the group emerged from the alley.

"We were great before our demons, that is why we wield them perfectly." His eyes cut back to Ivo. "We can kill a fox ourselves."

"You want me to do what?" Alana looked up to Mamoru as if he could not be serious.

"Stand there and count to sixty," Mamoru grinned under his mask. "Well, actually, make that forty-five."

Alana's brow cocked as she looked around herself, people swarmed around the heart of the marketplace.

"Are we playing hide and seek?" She deadpanned. "I really don't have time for that right now, Momo."

"It is something like that," Mamoru held back a giggle. "And yeah, you are running out of time so just do it. Twenty seconds now."

"Momo—" Alana went to scold the fox, but he vanished into thin air, as always.

She released a frustrated groan, running a hand through her hair.

What am I going to tell the guys? They're going to be so mad at me, but maybe I convince them Mamoru isn't a bad guy. That is true, but I doubt they will be happy that he took me so suddenly.