Standard disclaimer applies.

Howling to the Moon
Part Seventeen: Two Men and the Moon

Rei could almost hear the drum roll of the punch line sounding when the words cut through the haze that clouded his brain and finally registered in his mind. "Takao," he whispered out, half with relief and the other with amusement pinched with worry. The reality of the whole scenario hadn't regained full clarity to him beyond Takao's arrival. But when he realized that Takao was here with Max and Kyoujo (he vaguely wondered where they'd been) and Balkov was here with his battalion of armed henchmen, he nearly gasped; his mothering instincts deciding that it was time to take over. He opened his mouth to shout for the three boys to run away as fast as they could since Balkov might have been too startled to do anything. Shaking away his thoughts, he looked over to where Max and Kyoujo had previously been standing in the frame of the door only to find them gone.

"DIEEEEEEE, VILLAINS!" Max yelled. Rei snapped his head around so quickly that he nearly pulled a muscle in his neck, in time to see Max flip one of the burly men in black over his shoulder and throw him ungraciously to the floor where here lay writhing, hands pressed against the small of his back. "The Magnificent Mizuhara Max, reporting for duty," he gave a mock salute to the fallen man before running over to help Takao who was currently engaged in a two against one, rattan broomstick against Uzis match. Fortunately, the two people he was against seemed to still be in a state of dumbfounded shock and merely stood there as Takao rammed the pointy part of the broomstick into one of the man's stomach and when he doubled over, brought it down hard against the back of his head. His partner, slowly coming to his senses, raised his gun to aim at Takao, but at that moment, Max came up from behind, swiped his feet right from under him and sending him to the floor where he landed on his backside before promptly being whacked repeatedly over the head with a laptop by Kyoujo.

"Three down," Takao muttered approvingly, wiping the nonexistent dust off of his hands.

"Three to go," Max added. He wore a smile of his face that wouldn't look out of place at a free candy convention.

Fortunately, they were right. It was now a seven against four match (not counting Kai and Yuriy) in favour of the good guys. Unfortunately, the four still had the guns and during Takao and Max's superior-than-thou speech, had managed to come to their senses.

"Why you-I'll kill you all!"

"Oh, yeah? Well, we…err…what'll we do, Takao?"

"Kick some old, Russian ass!"

"Yeah! Let's kick ass!"

"Takao, Max," Rei hissed under his breath. "Don't do anything stupid!"

The two boys still caught in their adrenalin euphoria, either didn't hear Rei, or chose to ignore him. Reaching into their pockets at the same time, both brandished their blades and launcher.

"Let it rip!"

"Draciel!"

The twin blades shot off their launcher and spun as full speed towards Balkov and his three remaining henchmen. Takao's grey blade landed in a screech on the floor, leaving a burnt trail mark on the otherwise spotless carpet and Max's right next to it.

"You go, Takao. I'll defend."

Takao nodded his head in affirmative. "Go, Dragoon!" he shouted at the top of his lungs, feeling the wind against his face and his ponytail whip back and forth as his powerful scared beast emerged.

The powerful winds sending two of the men flying back and crashing into the wall before sliding down the length and landing in a heap at the bottom. The final one joined them soon enough. Balkov, much to the surprise of everyone present, seemed to be able, though barely, holding himself in place. He'd raised his hands up to block any sharp objects that were flying around from cutting into any important parts, and he'd dug his heel into the carpet. But bit by bit, he could his grip loosening and his body being forced back until he nearly hit the wall behind him. To the surprise of Takao and the rest, he raised his eyes, a disdainful sneer at his lips and he scoffed.

"You're lucky this time, but trust me, one of these days your luck will run out. When it does, you can be sure I'll be right there waiting with a smile on my face. You think you've won this time? Believe me, this is far from over. I'd advice you insolent little brats to not remain so cocky, because it'll-" his head suddenly snapped forward with such force that one had to wonder whether he'd suddenly been beheaded with a blunt object before he tilted precariously forward and landed face first on the cold floors. Immediately, the winds stopped and Takao recalled his sacred beast into its blade. No one moved in that instance, as if trying to make sense of what had happened.

"H-He talks too much," came Kyoujo's timid reply, immediately attracting the stares over to him. He stood sheepishly a few feet away from Balkov, one hand scratching the back of his head, while his laptop lay in two piece just a few inches from an unconscious Balkov's bumped and bleeding head.

Slowly, the realization dawning, Rei began to laugh. The tension that had built up in the past hour overflowing, just like his tears. It wasn't tears of sadness or fear though; it was droplets of water of accumulated relief, anger, joy and humour combining into one emotion that had yet to be named. "You guys," he said, exasperation dripping from every word as he moved forward, grabbed Takao, Max and Kyoujo and pulled all three of them into a tight hug.

"Hey, hey, hey," Takao yelped after a few minutes passed and Rei still hadn't shown any signs of letting go. "Enough of this touchy feely mumbo-jumbo, it's grossing me out."

"Ditto to that," Max added, wriggling out of Rei's grip.

After an additional few minutes, he finally released them, raising his hand up to wipe the dampness of his cheek. "That stunt you guys pulled was just so amazingly stupid, dangerous and just…there are no words to describe it; but I do know that I'm proud to call you my teammates."

Rather that seeming touched by Rei's honest statement, Takao's brows furrowed and he gave Rei a dirty look. "You mean that you weren't proud to be our teammate before, huh? Is that what you're trying to say, Rei?"

Rei laughed. "You know what I mean."

"No, I don't. Enlighten me."

"Shouldn't we contact someone right about now?" Max said, pointedly ignoring Rei and Takao's ongoing debate. "I mean, not that it wasn't fun, but I doubt that Balkov or any of his goons are going to take it lightly that we totally kicked their asses."

"I agree with Max," said Kyoujo from where was crouching, picking up the broken pieces of what used to be his faithful laptop.

"You call the old man," came Boris' reply, attracting the attention of the four boys, "We'll go and look for Kai."

Rei eyes immediately snapped over to the now empty stop where Kai had been previously only to find him and Yuriy gone. "Wha-where did he go?"

"If we knew that, then we wouldn't need to go out and look for him, would we?" Boris replied cynically, walking over to the now open veranda and looking at footsteps imprinted into the blanket of snow that covered the floor. "Looks like he jumped off here," he motioned to the spot on the rail where the snow had been swiped off.

"I'll come with you," Rei suggested, walking up to Boris' left and eyeing the spot he was pointing to intently.

Boris scoffed. "I don't think-"

"I may not be as used to the cold as you are, but I'm one of the more agile persons here. And we'll cover more ground between the both of us. Sergei can keep an eye on Balkov lest he tries something when we're not here and Ivan can go with Takao and Max to look for Daitenji-kaichou."

Boris seemed to be considering his words, but Rei wasn't finished.

"Besides, Kai is as much a friend to us as he is to you."

No one said anything after that. Boris merely motioned for them to start their search and with a nod in the direction of his teammates, leaped over the frozen, metal rail and landed in a crouch on the street below.

"We'll leave the rest to you," Rei said before following Boris' lead and they both disappeared into the dark alley.

Kai wondered aimlessly through the cold streets, following wherever his feet led him. In his arms, cradled gently against his chest, was Yuriy; his head lay unmoving on Kai's shoulder and his arms folded over his stomach.

Kai didn't exactly remember how he came to be where he was, walking the streets without a cause or destination, with the body of his childhood friend clutched possessively in his muscular arms. He vaguely remembered when Takao made his entrance, but everything after that became a blur. He could feel his body moving to its own accord, getting to his feet as Takao and Max called out their sacred beasts and leaving the room through the entrance to the veranda. No one noticed his departure, and he was glad for that. He didn't really want to be in the company of anyone other than Yuriy.

"Yuriy," he whispered softly, his breath coming out as puffs in the freezing cold air. He ignored the looks people gave him, their curiosity apparent as to why someone would venture out into the cold clad in a thin black tee-shirt, pants and shoes. Kai didn't care for other people's curiosity; he neither felt nor acknowledged the cold. His body was numb even without the chilly air blowing over him. He knew that Yuriy did not care for the cold either; he didn't before, and Kai doubted he did now. Feeling the cold skin beneath his fingers as the brushed over the uncovered part of Yuriy's arms chilled him like no snow storm ever could.

Kai was a master of fire; flames eternally burned within him just like Yuriy was the master of ice. Their bodies had been thought to adapt to the extreme temperatures. Kai's skin didn't burn and his blood didn't boil when the flames consumed him just as Yuriy's temperature remained the same no matter how cold the weather was out. Fire and ice were their elements and Kai thought it proper that Yuriy be one with his.

The wind whistled and the snow continued to rain in, people rushed in the steps, eager to escape the biting cold. Kai paid no heed to their rush. Kai ignored their looks. The only sound that registered in his mind was the echo of emptiness and the sudden, distant howling that resounded in his ear.

His head snapped up immediately, blood-red eyes scanning the area for the source but he found nothing. Deep inside, he knew the search would have been futile anyway. The spirit of Wolborgs' could not been seen by anyone other than his masters. He walked on anyway, following the dimming howl as it slowly disappeared into the distance. Kai knew that he was being called in Yuriy's stead; this time, he would not let his best friend down.

End Part Seventeen.

Let's just believe that they're occupying the room on the second floor.