Back here again {DragonSong}

[Lowen Thorn]

It was a huge mistake for these men to barge into Hana's house uninvited. Ipsen's eyes widened in excitement as she transformed into her fox form and lunged an attack. Someone was going to die today.

These two were clearly amateurs and scared out of their wits over the situation they had just gotten themselves into.  Out of panic, one of the men crashed to the ground attempting to jump out of Hana's way. When the intruder returned to his feet, Ipsen was behind him.

Ipsen quickly grabbed the man from behind and placed the tip of his dagger to his throat. "Well look what we got here! It's my lucky day," Ipsen hissed into his captive's ear. "I was just starting to get bored, too. Hana! What'ya think? Kill the cunt or what?"

[DragonSong]

"Don't you dare." Hana curled her lip at Ipsen now. She was crouched over the other robber, one heavy paw pressing into the center of his chest, ensuring he was spending all his energy on focusing to get enough breath rather than try to fight back. "Knock him out and dump him outside. We don't kill needlessly."

[Lowen Thorn]

"Sure thing, boss," he said while rolling his eyes.

Ipsen eyed the man he held captive, facing an internal conflict as he decided what to do. Obey Hana and keep ol' Lowen in her good graces, or do what he really wanted and slit the bastard's throat for sport. It would be so easy. He grinned softly, contemplating and tightening his grip on his blade.

'D-Don't you fucking dare!' Lowen cried out from within Ipsen's mind.

Ipsen ignored the plea, glancing back over to Hana as he held his dagger steady on the man's throat.

"G-Get off of me!" the captured man huffed with slight panic in his voice. "Our boys know where we are! If anything happens, they will come looking for us! If that happens, all of you are good as de-"

He couldn't finish his sentence before Ipsen made up his mind. Taking his free hand, he grabbed the hair atop the man's scalp and yanked his head back. Without another moment's hesitation, he traced the blade across the man's throat, blood spewing from the man's neck and onto Ipsen's hand.

The body dropped to the ground with a heavy thud, leaving only Ipsen standing there with a blood-stained dagger and an insane look in his eyes. "What were you saying?" he hissed quietly at the man he just slaughtered. "Who is as good as dead?"

[DragonSong]

Hana snarled. She couldn't move in time to save the robber for risk of releasing the one she pinned. With a frustrated howl, she grabbed the man beneath her by the collar of his shirt and slammed his head back into the floor, knocking him out cold.

In the next moment she sprang away from him, shifting in her her natural half-way form as she did to grab Ipsen by his shoulders and slam them both back into the wall behind him, glaring up into his face.

"Lowen, wake up," she bit out, reaching out as best she could with her magic, praying that it might help.

[Lowen Thorn]

Ipsen's head clung against the wall as the woman slammed into him, though it not immediately phase him. With the wild fire remaining in his eyes, he began laughing hysterically. He laughed for several moments until-

"Lowen, wake up."

The laugh dissolved and Ipsen's face dulled into a blank state. Shortly after, he began blinking his eyes rapidly with a grimace as if he was fighting a migrane, eventually shutting them all together.

It took several more moments, but the change was clear. When he opened his eyes, they were ones of innocence. Lowen snapped to, looking at Hana with a confused, and frightened, glare. He peered at her hands as pinned him against the wall, and then quickly back to her.

"H-Hana?" he asked softly, out of breath. "What happened? Why are we out here?"

'Did I black out again?'

His eyes trailed off when he saw the bandit lying on the floor, soaking in a puddle of blood.

"H-Hana! What the hell happened? What have you done?!" he cried out as he looked upon the dead man in horror. Instantly, he broke free of her grasp and tried to run away, before tripping over himself and collapsing onto the dinner table. The table went sideways and thudded to the ground along with him.

'Shit!'

As Lowen began to peer back up at the Kitsune, he noticed something. His hand. It was covered in blood.

He shot Hana one more pale-faced glance before his head dropped back to the floor, passing out.

[DragonSong]

"Fuck!" Hana darted after him when he pulled away, afraid he might hurt himself...or Tobin, who was standing wide eyed in the hall that led back to their rooms.

The kitsune barely managed to get to him in time to keep his head from cracking against the floor. She sighed and shifted her grip to hold him a little awkwardly against her chest, hefting his weight with a grunt as she got to her feet and shuffled him into one of the two empty chairs.

"Da, go back to bed," she murmured, glancing toward the hermit. Blood stained her hair, face, kimono. Her eyes were dull. "I'll take care of this."

Tobin hesitated, then nodded slightly and turned to shuffle back to his room. With a sigh, Hana got to work cleaning up.

She dragged the dead bandit outside and burned him quickly, foxfire eating away at his form faster than a natural flame ever could. The living robbed was bound by the hands and feet and dragged out into the woods, left near a trail. If and when he managed to free himself, hopefully someone would be along to find him. Either he'd be arrested, rescued, or...she didn't know. She didn't have the mind space to think about it.

Cleaning the blood out of the cottage honestly was the most trying part. She had to control her fire very carefully, burning the blood away while leaving the walls and floor untouched.

Finally, she turned to Lowen. With a soft sigh, she heated a bucket of water and lugged it over to settle beside him, taking his bloodstained hand and starting to clean it with a scrap of cloth, dipped repeatedly into the water in an attempt to clean the blood.

[Lowen Thorn]

After Hana did her best to clean the little cottage and himself, Lowen started to come to. He let out a soft groan as he opened hazy eyes. His vision was blurred at first, but when he could finally focus in on his surroundings he found Hana next to him. His eyes went wide, remembering what he saw right before passing out. He attempted to escape the chair he found himself in but a sharp pain jolted through his body.

'Shit! My whole body's sore. I feel like I've been run down by a horse.'

He looked to Hana and cleared his throat. He didn't know what to think. One minute he was in a bed, the next he was standing over a dead body with the woman pinning him to a wall. Could she have done this?

No. Hana was a good person. There's no way she could have done this.

"H-Hana," he began with a shaken voice. "What happened?"

[DragonSong]

"Shh." She glanced up at him, eyes dull and tired. "Take it easy a moment. How do you feel?" She got to her feet, carefully laying one hand under his chin and tilting his head from side to side so she could search his face.

Internally she argued with herself. As she saw it, she really only had two options: truth or lies. which would serve him better?

[Lowen Thorn]

He let out a heavy, distressed breath, but managed to muster a weary smile. "I feel like shit," he answered honestly. "I am a little light-headed and my body is aching all over."

He studied her eyes for an answer, still unaware of the situation he was in. "Did you beat me up in my sleep or something?" he asked, mostly kidding.

[DragonSong]

Hana smiled tiredly. "No, dear," she murmured, touching his shoulder. "How much...what exactly do you remember?"

[Lowen Thorn]

He shook his head blankly. "Not much," he said quietly. "After we said goodnight, I went to your bed and tried to go to sleep. I remember having a terrible headache, and then a terrible dream. After that it's all a blur until we were standing in here."

His heart starting pounding, growing upset at the thought of the slain man from before. "Hana," he started again. "Who was that man? Where did he go?"

[DragonSong]

"I don't know who he is," Hana replied woh a sigh. "And he's dead now. I burned his body."

She was purposefully blunt, watching Lowen's face carefully.

[Lowen Thorn]

His face went pale. He felt dizzy.

'I think I'm going to throw up.'

He didn't want to know what happened to the man. By the way she was acting, he had an assumption of what really happened. He lost his memory four years ago. Since then, he tended to black out and lose bits and pieces of time. It was happening more frequently as time passed on.

"Hana," he muffled. "Tell me the truth. Did I do this?"

[DragonSong]

The truth.

She sighed and knelt in front of him, taking his hands in hers. "No," she murmured after a long moment, staring up into his eyes. "No, you didn't."

She paused, then turned the hand that had wielded the dagger over in her grip. "Something...else controlled your body. He did this. Not you."

[Lowen Thorn]

He sat there for a moment, mouth agape.

What?

"He," he mouthed in disbelief. "What do you mean he? Who did this? Was I possessed? Did he have a name?"

[DragonSong]

"Easy." Hana placed her hands on his shoulders, brow furrowed. "Lowen, look, I want to tell you, but to be honest I'm a little worried about what might happen. For now, everything's alright. Why don't you sleep on this, and we can talk in the morning?"

[Lowen Thorn]

Everything's alright. Somehow Lowen couldn't find it in himself to believe that. He didn't want to cause the woman any more trouble, though. Something happened, something beyond his control that he would need to find answers for. At least for now, he felt safe in her company.

He gave her a slight nod, agreeing. "Okay," he said cautiously. "But, it may be better if I sleep just outside the house. You can lock the door and check on me in the morning, if you don't mind. If I am indeed possessed by something, I could never forgive myself if something were to happen to you or Tobin."

[DragonSong]

"Hey, no." She frowned and shook him lightly. "You're not a rabid dog, Lowen. Just...head back to the room, okay?"

Despite her professions, she was a little wary of leaving him unsupervised. She'd spell the door shut, so if Ipsen made another appearance he'd be stuck in just the one room.

[Lowen Thorn]

Shooting her a weary smile, he gave her another agreeing nod. No use arguing with Hana on this one. He would try to find out more tomorrow.

"Sure," he said, getting to his feet. "Goodnight, Hana. And... thanks."

With that, Lowen walked back to the Kitsune's old bedroom and laid down once more. This time, exhaustion over took him and he slept throughout the night without interruption.

[DragonSong]

"Goodnight..." She watched him go, biting at her lower lip. With a soft sigh, the kitsune got to her feet and crossed to Tobin's small bookshelf, selecting a thick, dusty tone, before sitting by the window and opening it to read by the light of the foxfire in bed palm.

She didn't sleep that night.