until

Kyouya stumbles when he's abruptly ejected from the flame travel and he barely manages to catch himself on a tree. He looks around and sees a sparse forest but no dragon with him.

Kyouya straightens his back and strides through the trees. He needs to keep moving. Hunters can track portal traces far better than any supernatural with the widespread technology they have access to, and that firestorm wasn't exactly subtle.

Kyouya stops and stays absolutely still, slowing his breathing and straining his hearing for the slightest of warnings. There's a faint rustling of trees as a flock of birds take off far away, startled by something.

Kyouya runs.

Hunters blur through the forest, going faster than a normal human is built for and quickly catching up as stolen Otherside blood pumps through their veins. Kyouya takes out his tonfas and whirls around, striking at the closest.

Maria bends back, a foot whipping up, but it's blocked. Kyouya is thrown to the ground from her strength regardless, rolling back over his shoulder and getting swiftly to his feet again as more surround him.

Kyouya grips the collar of his jacket, ready to throw it off, but the hunters move faster, forcefully wrapping it around him. Kyouya kicks out someone's knee and cuts deep into another's chest with his spikes but it's not enough.

...

Kyouya wakes sluggishly, slow from a throbbing head injury. His arm hurts, and he may have a broken rib but the pain can be ignored. He glances around and finds himself in his bedroom. He immediately looks to his wrists and sees markings in black ink, plain as day, stretching from his fingers all the way up his arms.

He scrambles to rip off his shirt and haul himself up so he could stagger over to the mirror on his closet doors. He can only blink when he sees the markings weave up to wrap his throat. It's not painted on, because then the symbols would have only flared into sight when activated.

These are tattoos.

Kyouya lets out a slow breath. These are permeant, already completely healed from words of power. They don't only specify binding either. He catches symbols that mean alert and warn, most likely linking to the main hunter house.

And on his arm, the one that hurts, is his red armband. It's sown into his skin; the edges of the cloth dyed a deeper red from Kyouya's blood. He slowly turns so he can see his back, freezing when another line of runes runs down his spine. He understands, even with his limited education.

Pain and hurt and destroy.

Kyouya lets out a humourless laugh, because they'd rather he die than make contact with a creature.

...

Byakuran prowls along the edge of the Namimori barrier. He doesn't specialise in barriers. He can't get through without ripping everything down and exhausting himself, not to mention alerting damn near every Otherside on the planet.

Byakuran frowns and decides he needs backup. He shifts using his tails and the earth around him moves, rushing past in a blur as he stays steady. He passes through mountains and buildings and people before he finally comes to an abrupt halt at the entrance of a cave.

Byakuran steps through the gaping entrance and makes his way down the main tunnel, ignoring the other offshoots until he comes to a stop at the threshold of the cavernous room. It's completely full of mattresses or soft cushions, clearly a bedroom.

Byakuran smiles. "Cosy."

Dino looks up from where he's stretched out on a mass of pillows but doesn't move past that. "What brings you here, Byakuran?"

The kitsune moves closer, tails hanging low to brush the soft furniture. "What happened to you?" he asks curiously.

The dragon isn't showing any signs of injury or distress but Byakuran can feel the significant decrease in power, which means the Alpha needed to use a whole lot of energy to do something. Besides, just because there's no visible injuries on the outside doesn't mean the inside is perfectly intact as well.

"Oh, you know," Dino begins dismissively. "Got a little splinter."

Byakuran only senses truth from the dragon so he drops it for now. "Do you know where he is right now?"

Dino's eyes become molten gold with slits for pupils.

Byakuran rolls his eyes. "I'm asking because I do know, and I might -maybe- need a little bit of information to help the child."

Dino seems wary but his eyes snap back to human form. "Where?"

"His family caught him," Byakuran explains. "I can't get through the barrier."

"I threw him, they shouldn't have been able to…" Dino sits up with a struggle, the effort making sweat bead at his forehead, and it doesn't seem like he can do much more than that. He grits his sharp teeth. "I can't – give me time."

"Tell me," Byakuran demands. "I'll deal with it, you focus on your splinter problem."

Dino watches the kitsune for a long moment. He falls back into the bedding with a sigh. "Do you know where Hana lives?"

"The fey?"

"She'd know," Dino says. "She'd know how to take the barrier down, she's the fey Alpha for the Unseelie court."

Byakuran's tails thrash behind him. "I'm aware but that doesn't mean she'll jump at the chance to help-"

"She owes Kyouya," Dino cuts in. "Just explain it to her. I'll…I'll join you when I can."

...

Two days later, Dino staggers when the flames flicker out around him and then he follows his instincts through the Namimori forest to where the fey is standing at the barrier's edge.

Dino tries to walk like his bones aren't scraped up and cracked but he's not sure he pulls it off. There are still pieces of vines inside him, either too deep or too tightly wrapped around important parts for him to dig out. He can't shape shift anymore or it'll tear through him. Dino just has to wait until his body slowly burns it up.

Hana cannot leave her forest so the air around her is warped, fractured strangely to superimpose two spaces onto each other. Hana is still inside her forest, but she is also here. The power needed to do such a thing is immense but for an Alpha this is nothing.

"The fox is already inside," Hana explains shortly. "I didn't bring the barrier down, there are sensors, but I did manage to open a path. I'll key you in and you can go through."

"Are there patrols along the perimeter?" Dino asks as he feels the fey magic brush his skin.

"None that can see you. The fox took care of that."

Dino huffs out a laugh. "So his illusions are worth something." He looks at Hana seriously. "Thank you for this. If there's anything I can do-"

"I'm repaying a favour," Hana interrupts as her magics pull away from the dragon.

Dino gives her a nod and then strides through the thick curtain of overlapping hunter wards.

...

Byakuran immediately races for Kyouya's life signature and slips through the window, hovering unsurely at the edge of the bed. He pulls down the quilt and sucks in a sharp breath at the markings on the boy.

"You shouldn't be here," Kyouya murmurs, keeping his eyes closed and his back to the Kitsune.

"Come on," Byakuran says instead, sliding an arm under the teenager and forcing him to sit up. "We're leaving."

"I can't," Kyouya snaps.

He presses a hand to the kitsune's shoulder to push the creature away but Byakuran doesn't so much as sway from the force the teenager is exerting. Kyouya grits his teeth and pulls the quilt up around him, glaring at the Alpha.

Byakuran sighs. "Of course they're binding your strength. Is that the armband you have?"

Kyouya doesn't reply, nor does he stop glaring.

"Do you honestly think I can't figure a way to unchain you?" Byakuran snaps out suddenly, his teeth unconsciously sharpening as his tails thrash about in agitation. "What happened to the boy who threw himself at an Alpha and won? Why have you just given up without even trying?"

"These are permanent, kitsune," Kyouya spits out. "Even if I wasn't illiterate, even if I knew how to control runes - the magic is under my skin now! It will never wash out no matter how much of my flesh I carve away."

"I am a god of karma, human," Byakuran says with a wide, hollow smile, looming over the teenager. "I am fire and lightning and I am by far the strongest. You think I can't overcome some petty hunter tricks?"

"This is not a team sport!" Kyouya snarls. "If you're strong then you're strong alone! Those who need help are weak, pathetic herbivores who are destined to live for the sole purpose of feeding another. If I'm to die then let me die with dignity, not struggling desperately for every extra minute."

Byakuran takes a deep breath. "Do you know why Alphas always have Guardians?"

Kyouya just lies down again and pulls the blanket over his head.

"Am I weak, Kyouya?" Byakuran demands. "I have Guardians to help me with fighting, with paperwork. Kikyo practically runs the kitsune in my stead. Am I weak to you? Am I pathetic?"

"Do you rely on them when it counts?" Kyouya scoffs, voice a bit muffled under the blanket. "I used the dragon for transport, I used the odd mechanics to fix my belongings. That is ordering and dictating, not begging for help. When you became the Alpha, did you need someone to hold your hand? When you showed your strength, when it mattered, was it propped up by the people behind you?"

"When I fought the Vindice, was I weak?"

Kyouya says nothing for a long moment.

"You dragged my Guardians and I away and healed us. Did I not deserve death then?"

"You weren't asking for it," Kyouya finally says. "That was my own volition. I moved first, not you."

Byakuran claps his hands happily. "Wonderful, now we've come in a full circle. You see, Kyouya, I think you missed the fact that I wasn't really looking for your opinion when I came here. I'm going to do what I want regardless of your consent."

Dino picks this moment to hop up onto the open window that Byakuran had opened to get inside, tail curving up behind him like a scorpion about to strike. "Byakuran, please explain yourself or I'll set you on fire."

Byakuran smiles cheerfully as if he didn't hear anything. "Out of the bed, Kyouya, so we can see what we're working with."

Kyouya doesn't move for a while but eventually drags his quilt with him to the low table in the middle of the room and sits on one of the cushions there. The Alphas stare at Kyouya but the blanket from his bed is wrapped around his shoulders so the only thing they can see is Kyouya's head. He looks like he's still considering kicking them out.

"Hey, Kyouya, sorry about the bad throw," Dino greets lightly, taking a seat right beside the boy so he can sling an arm over Kyouya's shoulders. "I hear you need some dragon blood."

Kyouya rolls his eyes and looks away.

"Can I see?" Dino asks, completely serious now.

Only when the Alpha dragon gets a nod does he start gently pulling the blanket away. Kyouya's folded arms are resting on his raised knees and the ink stands out against his pale skin.

Dino reaches out and places a hand against Kyouya's spine, feeling the power that radiates out from the line of runes. With his other hand he traces the gold bird on the red armband. It's only because Kyouya is looking away that Dino lets his absolute horror show.

He looks over to Byakuran, the fox looking angry and hopeless for only a second before Byakuran controls himself. Dino flinches away because it means that the kitsune doesn't know how to help either.

Both kitsune and dragons don't use runes sets or words of power because their ability is innate, they're born with everything inside instead of taking from the universe. Dino breathes out his own fire to travel, not like demons who summon the tar of Hell to them. Byakuran stabilises illusions with his own soul, he doesn't construct things by weaving reality like the fey do.

They've researched other races, they know how to use such things, but it's a shallow understanding.

Dino forcefully sets his expression to light-hearted. "Is this what you're so concerned about?" the dragon hums teasingly. "A few little runes and some string?"

Kyouya looks over, a flicker of relief in his eyes.

"I've heard of this before. I mean, come on," Dino laughs. "I'm a dragon, do you know how long I've lived for? We'll sort this out easily."

Only Byakuran can hear the lies.