Heritage

Revelations

Shirasu lead a skittish, half blinded and completely naked Chuutaro out of a manhole, gas masks on both of their faces; the fumes in a sewer were not something a person should generally be breathing in. Luckily for both of them Shirasu's timing had been accurate and they didn't have to walk in any of the muck. The smell still clung to them though, which was an imensely nasty thing to smell when they took the masks off. Both of them made disgusted faces and started breathing carefully.
Chuutaro looked around as his eyes adjusted to the light and rapidly became overwhelmed by his surroundings. This was not the world he had left; he couldn't recognize anything at all. Shirasu watched him carefully, waiting for his reaction. He had warned Chuutaru of how diferent everything had become, but apparently that hadn't really been enough of a buffer. Then again, several years worth of preping probably wouldn't have been enough.
And then there was all the time that Chuutaro had lost to the labs, the tests and the darkness inbetween. At least his brothers were still around. They could probably help him adjust. As Shirasu watched Chuutaro slowly started moving around the deserted street, his neck craning as he looked up and up and up at the sky scrapers all around him. The exit location had been chosen to ensure no prying eyes would see them, so Shirasu wasn't in a hurry. He was, however concerned when Chuutaro finally caught sight of his own reflection.
He froze.
Slowly, sluggishly he moved towards the reflective glass. He stumbled once, twice, three times. He fell to the cement (Shirasu winced), his eyes never leaving the glass in front of him. Chuutaro picked himself up - still hyper focused - and continued foreward. He stumbled over the curb, almost going down again, but caught himself and closed the last few paces, his hand rising to touch the glass.
His scaled, clawed fingers met cool glass as he stared, transfixed by what he saw. The cold seeped into his hand incrimentally until it drew his attention. Chuutaro regarded the appendage in mild confusion, pulling it off of the glass to inspect it. Realization crept up on him, then horror as it sank in. He frantically examined his scaly body with mounting fear, realization and emotional pain.
Chuutaro stood frozen for several seconds. Shirasu held his breath, waiting. An inhuman scream ripped out of the younger, reptilian man's throat and shattered all the glass within ten feet of him.
Shirasu's hands flew involuntarily to his ears at the onslaught. It was difficult just to keep his eyes open and on Chuutaro. Blessedly, he stopped screaming once he was out of breath and Shirasu tentatively let his hands drift away from his ears as he panted for air, only then realizing that he had been holding his breath.
Chuutaro fell to his knees, tears streaming down his scaled cheeks then sank into a sitting position. He stared straight infont of him, his eyes blank and sightless. Cautiously, Shirasu approached, forcing his breathing into a normal rythm and depth. He needed to proceed carefully; there was no telling what Chuutaro might do.
He turned his head to stare at Shirasu, his expression unchanged. The other man froze in place wondering what Chuutaro would do and detesting that he didn't and had no way of knowing until he did do something.
Chuutaro blinked and life came back into his eyes. He lurched back from Shirasu, then continued to crawl backwards, flipping over and onto his feet at the same time. Shirasu proved himself to be blindingly fast when he managed to take two rapid steps towards the other man before he bolted down the street, terror written clearly across his face.
Shirasu didn't hesitate to chase after him.

It had taken half an hour, but Shirasu and the fastest in his clan had managed to catch up to Chuutaro and then heard the truamatized man into an abandoned building. Shirasu was just glad that he'd had his people waiting for them at the planned exit.
Shirasu stepped into the derelict structure, wary of his surroundings... And of Chuutaro. The place looked like it would fall down at any moment and he had no idea where in the building Chuutaro was.
"Chuutaro?" He called cautiously, "I can help you."
"No! You just want to use me like you did Soramaru! He told me what you did! I don't trust you!"
He had a fair point unfortunately.
"You're right; I did use Soramaru. At the time it seemed like there was no other choice. But that's not why I'm here. I came and got you. We're going to go see Tenka and Soramaru, remember?" Shirasu answered.
"Go away! You're nothing but a liar!"
The shouting made it easy to pin-point Chutaro's location and as he approached it Shirasu waved his people back. They reluctantly complied.
"Chuutaru," He called, "It's not safe here. The building is ready to come down on our heads. We need to get you someplace safe."
"What do you care?! You abandoned me last time! You betrayed us!"
"I knew where you were the entire time. And I took the only course of action that I could see available - as I already said."
"There's always another option! You just have to look harder!"
"...I know. But you also know that sometimes there's only one path when you have little time. You've had to face the murderer in your soul."
"How do you know about that?!"
"Your eyes. Your mother was a Fuuma - like me - and one thing that's become apparent over the years is that our eyes turn purple only when we've had to face and come to terms with that part of ourselves. You had to kill someone and accept that you have a murderer, a killer, lerking inside of you."
"Shut-up." Chuutaro said weakly.
"Accepted, but, it seems, not come to terms with it."
"Go away!" Chuutaro screamed, bursting out of the shadows to attack Shirasu.
He barely dodged in time. The two of them traded blows back and forth until Shirasu managed to retreat out of the buiding, hoping to lure Chuutaro out. No luck. He refused to follow and disappeared further into the shadows of the building. Shirasu knew then that he was going to need some help to get Chuutaro out. He was going to have to contact Soramaru.
He had been hoping to avoid that for the time being.
Thankfully, he had been working for the governement - in disguise - since WWII. It would make getting to Soramaru without being attacked by the (no doubt) angry man easier.
It was never easy with them...