GxG 26
"So this is where you got your freak on?" Kunou asked as she took in the sight around her, slowly walking the area.
"Please don't say it like that, but yes, this is where Hana formed." This woman always words things in the worst way possible. I don't know if it is because of kitsune tendencies, or if she is just like that.
I was currently showing Kunou my base in the woods. After all, it was the place I spent most of my adolescence before Hana came along. It is a special place to me.
It felt nice being back within my own ward formations. The wards in Kyoto were stronger by far, they had thousands of years of refinement and much more expensive materials.
In contrast, the wards around my base were downright simple. The upside to that is I build my wards from the ground up, and I understand them on a deep level because of that.
While my wards may be weaker for now, I had 8 months of near daily contact with other formation masters, and Formations soaked up every morsel of data it could. I can't wait to remake everything with what I learned.
"I can feel what you've done with the place, it's crazy. Did you really tap a leyline?" Kunou asked while kicking at the dirt, as if that would help her get a better view of the natural energy flowing beneath our feet.
"Yeah, that's why I picked this spot. The pond and the leyline made it so I had everything I could ever need for messing with Ki and Senjutsu." I answered honestly, and Kunou stared at me in silence.
"Nathan, you said you did this when you were like 10 years old right? How are you not dead? Mama needed to be Ultimate-Class to do the leylines back home, and even if this one is way weaker you should have still popped."
"Sounds like a skill issue." I shrugged. I just worked slowly and was careful about where the power flowed. Sometimes my motes picked up the slack, but I don't see what the issue is.
"Speak properly!" She snapped as she jumped at me. Too bad she's half my size and I easily caught her out of the air.
"Air jail for you." I laughed as she struggled in the air.
"Honestly with half the insane stuff you say sometimes I could almost accuse you of being a Himbo. Tall, nice muscles, nice personality, zero filter when you talk. The only problem is that I know you are wicked smart when you aren't playing stupid." Kunou pouted after she stopped struggling.
"Me? Himbo? Those are bold words for someone in creampie distance." I teased back.
"You don't got the nerve. I bet you don't want to mess up your base with cooties." Kunou stuck her tongue out at me. We truly were the epitome of maturity.
Thank goodness Hana wasn't here to see this, I don't need her picking up any bad habits.
"I would totally rail you in my base." I declared with bravado. Jokes on her, I can regrow this place in minutes at this point. Some of my early Faux-Sage Formations were a little energetic, and I got good at putting this place back together.
It was really good plant manipulation practice for my senjutsu too.
"Buuuuut?"
"But having sex near a coma patient feels weird." I said as casually as I could. My plan worked too, as it took Kunou a moment to fully register what I said before her face changed.
"Coma patient? Is that why you wanted to learn all that healing from us?" She asked with genuine curiosity in her tone. At this point I had let her out of air jail, and she was looking around to try and spot what we were talking about.
"Yeah, come see." I tapped my foot, causing part of the floor to unravel and reveal a basement. It was technically unnecessary, but a little showmanship really goes a long way to making life fun.
Kunou followed me into the depths, pausing when she finally saw the patient.
"A devil?!" Her head snapped to me, demanding an explanation, which was fair.
The yokai and the devils did not have a good relationship, what with the Peerage system being used as an excuse to poach yokai. If it was consensual, there would be few issues, but young noble devils don't exactly know restraint when they see a catgirl.
"A stray devil." I gently corrected, not taking any offence to her earlier tone.
Kunou didn't move, a myriad of emotions playing across her face before settling on unrestrained glee.
"You can fix them?" Kunou was neatly vibrating where she stood.
"I am certainly trying." I said as we moved towards the patient.
I had made a lot of progress since I first saw them all those years ago. From an utterly inhuman slathering monster to an exotic woman, she had truly gotten better.
She was tall for a woman, built for battle and had short silver hair. The hair was my fault, as it wasn't salvageable when I was healing her and my stasis formations have slowed her hair and nail growth as a side effect.
With the Evil Piece sealed with formations she was near fully physically healed, with only small bits here and there being monsterized. I won't lie and say that it didn't detract from her beauty, but it was the best I could do at the time.
Now only her soul remains injured from the pain and trauma of going stray. Hopefully my newfound skills in Senjutsu healing are enough to get her lucid again.
"Nathan." Kunou's voice rang out with uncharacteristic seriousness. "If you can do this, you will be one of the most popular people on the planet. You would have to search hard for a powerhouse that hasn't at least lost a distant relative to an Evil Piece"
"I didn't think that far ahead, I just wanted to help the lady in front of me." I said, causing Kunou's eyes to soften.
"I know you did. I didn't get with you for your long term planning, that's for sure. Are you going to try to heal her now?" Kunou asked with little patience. Too bad for her.
"Not even close. I'm going to spend a few weeks going over her physical healing again. I need to make sure I didn't give her super-cancer in my inexperience, plus a better body will help later too. Healthy body, healthy mind, and all that." I laughed as I waved her off.
Kunou pouted, but she understood.
"Once I am confident I have healed her body to the best of my ability, only then will I start poking at her soul. Hopefully everything I learned in Kyoto will be enough to figure out what I need." I explained my thought process to my lovely girlfriend who was hanging on to every word I said.
"This is entirely new ground. Nobody has managed to heal a stray devil before, at least publicly. Some gods probably have, but nobody has ever claimed that feat." Kunou nodded, following along easily.
For all she acted like a horny ditz, it was easy to forget that she has been trained as a princess from birth. It just rarely ever shows. Very, very rarely.
I'm dating a delinquent.
"Yeah, most of the texts you had were more for soul injuries, and this is more of a soul taint. It is gonna take time."
"Well then get to it, Himbo man." Kunou declared pompously.
"Your mouth keeps writing checks your ass can barely cash." I deadpanned back, and her smirk just grew.
"I'm hearing words, but not seeing any healing happening."
Kunou was lucky she was cute.
[LINE BREAK]
"Thank you for taking the time to meet with us." An older man wearing a suit said. He was completely mortal.
"It's no problem. I was in the country and the invitation was nice enough." I nodded back, my eyes not leaving the other man in the room. He felt strong, but I wasn't entirely sure why that was.
"That was the idea. I am agent Magnus Rose, and this is General Smith." The now named Magnus introduced himself and his companion.
"A General? I'm not joining the military..." I trailed off, giving them time to correct the misunderstanding.
"Ha! We don't expect you to either. I handle 'supernatural policy' in the federal government, but that is just fancy speak for 'knowing who to grovel to so that we don't get wiped off the map'." General Smith just laughed and explained why he was there.
"If you don't mind me asking, how did you get that role when you are so weak?" I asked genuinely. The supernatural world is very much 'might makes right', so a powerless man being in charge of anything is very odd.
I managed to learn some stuff from Yasaka's lectures. I don't know if I learned more or less because she had her tits out during them though. Flawless memory I might have, but a simple mortal man I am.
"I had a talent for negotiation and sort of just fell upwards into my role. A few of my predecessors mouthed off to the wrong people and got turned into a smear, and here I am." General Smith explained cheerfully.
"And you? What do you do?" I turned and asked Magnus. He was strong, and I was curious what he did.
"I'm a field agent for the CIA. My main job is mostly making sure no rogue supernatural topples our government." He explained like that wasn't my newest worry.
"Does that happen a lot?"
"More than you would hope, less than you would think." He shrugged.
"What do you mean?" I asked. I did not want my parents getting caught in some stupid coup attempt led by a random guy hopped up on his own power.
"The average supernatural being is about as smart as the average person. Not very. That means anyone actually smart enough to cause damage to the government is already in the big leagues and doesn't care about us. Mortals are small potatoes to anyone who is an intellectual threat."
Oh, that actually explains his reaction to his job. He doesn't actually deal with high level layered plots at all.
"Your job is just stopping morons with more power than brains, isn't it." I said, and he just smiled and nodded.
"You would be surprised how many people can't even figure that out." He chuckled to himself.
"Now that introductions are out of the way, let's get down to business." General Smith cut in.
"What do you guys want anyways? I already said I'm not joining anything." I asked. I had some idea what they wanted, but I was going to let them do the talking first.
"We wouldn't even think of it. America's supernatural divisions are mostly like Magnus, just keeping the riffraff in check. We physically don't have the resources to pay someone of your caliber." General Smith explained.
That was roughly what I was thinking too.
"So what, you want me as an advisor or something?" I asked. That didn't sound like that bad of a role actually, depending on the rights and responsibilities of the role. If they tried to sneak something nasty in the contract I was going to be upset.
"An advisor and a contractor. You are the only Sage living in either of the Americas, and we were given a blank check to make sure you don't get anything even resembling a bad impression." Smith continued.
"Oh? Go on." If they need me for my Sage abilities, I have no problem. It would help me honestly, as using my Sage abilities is a win-win for everyone, and having them point me at problem areas would only help.
"Essentially we were hoping to have you help cleanse some of the more cursed areas, among other skills you have for sale." General Smith laid his cards on the table.
"That honestly works fine for me. I won't be here long though, I plan on traveling the world for a few more years at least. Plus, I am dating foreign royalty, so I don't know if that affects anything." I replied honestly. Both these guys have been forthright this entire time, my senjutsu didn't pick up any nasty surprises.
"The kitsune? No problem there. Nice going by the way." Magnus added with a knowing smirk. He seems like he knows his way around.
"Do you have any urgent requests, or was this just a courtesy call to get a feel for each other?" I asked, which made General Smith perk up.
"Oh yes! In preparation we have flown in Doctor Beddington from the UK, a leader in Native American history! He should be able to point us at some lesser known cursed areas. Our glorious country has a... checkered past, one that we are hoping to start fixing with your help." General Smith explained animatedly, clearly proud of his initiative.
It would have been good, if not for one thing.
"You flew someone in? From the UK?" I asked in disbelief, staring at the older man.
"Yes?" He slowly replied, trepidation heavy in his voice. He really didn't see his mistake.
"You couldn't have gotten into contact with an actual local Medicine Man?" I asked bluntly.
General Smith paused for a moment before deflating while Magnus winced.
"That would make more sense." Magnus agreed. Smith seemed almost sad his plan didn't work. He seemed so proud of it too.
"How about we call it for the day? It was nice meeting you two, but I think you guys could use some time to regroup." I offered them a lifeline, one they grasped with gratitude.
"Yes, it was nice meeting you too young Meyer. I thank you for your help cleaning our country." They both did a small bow. It felt a little odd as that wasn't really the culture in America, but it is much more common in the general supernatural comminutes.
"It's no issue, it is my duty as a Sage." I waved them off.
"We still thank you anyways." Smith smiled as they left, Magnus trailing behind him.