Now I know it's you [KyouHaba]

Chapter 4

He got woke up by loud banging on his door. Annoyed, he got up, only to be greeted by Hanamaki's wide grin.

"Morning, sleepyhead," he chirped, and Yahaba already wanted to smack him over the head with something. "It must have been a great dream you had if it made you miss the breakfast. I bet it was about one grumpy Slayer, wasn't it?" he added with a mischievous glint in his eyes.

"That's none of your business," sputtered Yahaba, which certainly didn't help as Hanamaki just smirked. "What do you want anyway? It's still my free day."

"Oikawa wants to see you. He said it's urgent, so I'd not leave him waiting too long if I were you."

With that, Hanamaki turned around, tossing an apple on Yahaba, and walked away. Yahaba frowned. What could be so important he had to be called on his free day?

He arrived in Oikawa's office shortly after. The Castle's leader seemed in a bad mood as he paced around his table, tapping to his palm with a parchment. He looked at Yahaba apologetically and handed him the letter. It was a plea for help from a small village about one day away from the Castle, offering a great reward for the Guild's intervention.

"I know you aren't supposed to go on any task now," he started, rubbing the back of his neck, "but I need you to go there to investigate. The people are getting murdered there, and the Headquarters is pushing me to resolve it."

Yahaba frowned. That was weird, to say the least. The Headquarters rarely mingled into the individual Quarters' business, they usually just distributed the tasks to the Quarters nearest to the place.

"But why? That sounds like a problem for the army to solve. Why do they need us?"

Oikawa sighed, pointing at the lower lines of the letter.

"They already tried but couldn't find anything, and people are getting nervous. They say it's a work of a monster, not a human."

"Why me then? Wouldn't it be better to send a Slayer or Gunslinger with Protector?"

Yahaba shivered under Oikawa's cold gaze.

"Because they say it's a demon. And if that's the case, we need Cleric. Besides, you are smart. If it's human's work, after all, I know you can solve it."

That was high praise coming from Oikawa, which made Yahaba a bit suspicious. There had to be something else.

"And I will be sending a Slayer with you," continued Oikawa. "Kyotani will go."

Yahaba flinched as the said Hunter barged into the door, earning a disapproving look from Oikawa. He didn't even have to look at Kyotani to know he was scowling. The blond flopped on the second chair, glaring at both Yahaba and Oikawa. Oikawa smiled widely.

"Great timing as always, dear Mad dog. You can get at least some of the instructions now. Yahaba will fill you up on the rest."

Yahaba noticed a slight twitch in Kyotani's face at the nickname. If he knew anything about Kyotani, it was the fact he absolutely hated it. He couldn't understand how Oikawa didn't pick on that with his otherwise sharp observing skills. Or maybe he did it on purpose to rail up the blond?

"When are we going?" he grunted while having a staring contest with Oikawa.

"The sooner, the better. Your equipment is prepared, just pack your other things. It's not your typical hunt, so better be prepared for anything. And remember, if you think you can't do it, send a word for backup."

Yahaba certainly hoped they wouldn't have to do that. It was an unwritten thing in Guild that two Hunters were usually enough to deal with the problem no matter how big it was. There were only three incidents when the Hunters had to call for help in the Castle's history, and Yahaba prayed they didn't repeat.

Next to him, Kyotani huffed and got up, throwing a quick look at Yahaba before walking out of the room.

"Well," spoke up Oikawa again, "I think that's all. Go get ready. And please remember: you are partners right now, ok? Teamworks is the key."

There was definitely something suspicious about the whole thing. Yahaba frowned.

"This better not be some crazy get-together scheme from Matsukawa and Hanamaki."

"Nope, that was my idea."

"That's not much better. You are even worse than them."

Oikawa put on his best offended face, clutching his heart theatrically.

"I'm wounded, Yahaba. How can you say such a thing? I'm just choosing the best people for the task. You two work great together. And who knows, maybe you'll discover some hidden companionship along the way."

"So it is your scheme," muttered Yahaba under his breath.

Oikawa cleared his throat.

"As I said, I'm just choosing the best people I have. Besides, we don't have another Slayer here right now, remember? Iwa-chan is on a hunt right now."

That was technically the truth, as Iwaizumi was on a training hunt with Kindaichi to test if the youngster was able to hunt without the seniors. But Yahaba still couldn't shake off the feeling this was really playing into Oikawa's cards.

He sighed and nodded, hiding the task letter in his pocket.

"Fine. I'll do my best not to kill him on spot. And we'll do what we can to hunt that thing or person down."

Oikawa smiled at him.

"Good boy. Now shoo~, go get ready."

They hopped on their horses not even half an hour later. Oikawa wasn't lying when he said this hunt is different. They even got specially crafted armour with engraved protection runes against demons- a personal gift from Matsukawa.

Kyotani didn't seem to appreciate the new armour much, grumbling about having restricted movement in it and not needing any extra protection so far, so why now?

Yahaba rolled his eyes, already looking forward to another task with just two of them.

He took a lead as they left the Castle's grounds, checking on Kyotani over his shoulder. The blond was scowling like always, his eyes burning into the back of Yahaba's head.

They rode in silence until about halfway to the village, when Yahaba got to the end of his limit.

"Aren't you going to ask what exactly are we doing?" he called over his shoulder, hoping to get at least some talk going on.

"Should I?"

Never mind.

Yahaba stopped the horse and turned to face the other man.

"Shouldn't you be at least a bit interested about what are we hunting?"

"Shouldn't you fill me in? Besides, I know what I need to know."

Yahaba huffed and spurred the horse to move.

"Should've known you listened behind the door," he mumbled.

There was a snicker behind his back.