Red 003: Criminal

"Tch, looks like we finally made it," Ragna groaned as he carried Ruby through the busy streets of Kagutsuchi. With all of the time it had taken him to defeat the Seither beasts in his path, find a way to infiltrate the city, and climb upwards to Orient Town, the sun was already starting to set off in the horizon. "You still with me kid?"

"I'm here Red," Ruby he told him, using the name Ragna had told her to call him by. Glancing back, he could just see out of the corner of his eyes that Ruby was looking around at her surroundings with a sense of awe and amazement. "You... you can put me down now," she tried to remind him.

"Not just yet," Ragna told her as he shook his head, unintentionally brushing his spiky silver hair across Ruby's face causing her body to go ridged for a brief movement at the contact. "You're feeling fine now, but just because you've recovered slightly from the Seither doesn't mean that you're in the clear just yet. I'm making sure we don't have any more surprises until I get you to a doctor."

"A-Alright," Ruby told him as she continued to hold on.

'Let's see... where the hell am I going to find a proper doctor around here?' Ragna thought to himself with a sigh before a strong smell hit his nose, the smell of fresh food. 'Damn, I haven't eaten in a few days... I should find that doctor soon and eat before I collapse from the hunger.'

"Meoooooow..."

"What the?" Ragna began before looking near his feet. Lying on the dirty ground was a strange creature in a cream-colored coat with cat ears on the hood. Twin tails seemed to be peeking out from under the coat.

"Soooooo hungry..." the creature groaned.

'C'mon, I don't have time for this shit, I've got to find Ruby a clinic and take the branch down before the NOL finds out I'm in Kagutsuchi,' Ragna thought to himself as he stepped over the cat.

"MEOW! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!? YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BUY TAO FOOD! NOT JUST IGNORE HER!"

The cat from earlier had sprung to her feet, her 'too-weak-and-hungry-to-move' ploy apparently a weak hoax that Ragna had seen through readily. The Reaper didn't decide to address it and continued walking forward.

"Uh... Red?" Ruby tried to tell him.

"Ignore it... Please," he begged as he kept walking.

"You're the worst you... you... dog person!" the cat shouted.

"Wow, great insult there, I'm feeling real shaken," Ragna groaned as he noticed people starting to pay attention. 'Shit, this is where I need to start moving and-'

"Red! Behind you!" Ruby shouted suddenly, forcefully yanking on her carrier's hair.

The sudden pain coupled with her shout caused the Reaper to duck forward, narrowly dodging the metal claws that had sprung out of the creature's strange gloved paws. Ragna quickly spun and held onto Ruby with one of his arms while taking out his blade BloodScythe with his other one.

"What the hell was that for!? Are you trying to kill me!?"

"Spiky head won't give Tao any food, so Tao's gonna fight him till she gets fed!" the cat declared.

"You're a real pain in the ass, you know that!?" Ragna shouted as more and more people started to notice the conflict as they passed by. "Fine have it your way," he muttered as he set Ruby down against a wall.

"Don't you want some help Red?" Ruby asked him as she managed to stand with little difficulty.

"I'll be fine, just give me a minute," Ragna promised as he stared down the creature before him. 'My master used to tell me stories about the Kaka clan's warriors, but this is my first time facing one in an actual fight. I'll have to finish this quick and I shouldn't try using my Ars Magus so... let's keep this as basic as I can.'

"Meow! Here we go!" the figure known as Tao shouted before leaping into the air, once she was high enough in the air, she changed direction and lunged toward Ragna with high speed leading the Reaper to side step the attack, only for Tao to change direction when she came to a stop, leaving Ragna to guard against the attack that came at him from behind.

'Wow, she's pretty agile,' Ruby thought as Tao's claws emerged from her paws and she tried slashing at her guide with great ferocity, leaving him to deflect each attack as she came at it. 'Is that another type of a speed semblance?'

"Tao's gonna get you Spiky!" the cat promised as she charged up her hands behind her before unleashing a powerful double palm trust on Ragna, who actually lurched slightly under the force of the strike. "Got ya neow!" Tao shouted as she went into grapple him.

"As if," Ragna grunted before spinning into a powerful roundhouse that caught Tao in the center of her chest and sent her flying back. Tao screamed as she was sent through the air before crashing into a large trash pile. "All talk and no fight..."

As soon as Ragna had muttered that, however, one of the garbage bags from the pile was flung at him with great force. Ragna sighed as he caught it with a single arm before throwing it to the ground, only to see Tao was sending a barrage of waste bags at him.

"Tao's not done yet!" she shouted as she continued to throw waste bags at him. The Reaper continued the avoid the garbage, now noticing as some of them were already partially torn open the that the garbage would torn out when Tao threw them.

'This cat's fighting dirty, literally,' Ragna thought to himself as the streets became further cluttered with garbage. He then leaped into the air and dashed forward, avoiding the mess on the ground.

"Tao's got ya now!" the cat shouted as she pounced at her airborne opponent, only for Ragna to grab her when he was within range. "Meow?"

"Shut up!" Ragna shouted as he kneed her in mid-air, sending the Kaka warrior into a wall with enough force that she bounced off of the impact. Once she'd returned to him, Ragna roared as he unleashed a massive haymaker with his fist, catching Tao and sending her into the ground with enough force to leave a large indent and create a large tremor.

'W-wow, he's pretty strong," Ruby thought as Ragna stared over the downed cat.

"Meow... Tao lost..." it whimpered pathetically before a low groaned was heard from its stomach.

"..." Ragna didn't say anything as he looked to the beaten cat before glancing back at Ruby. "Hey kid, you're not feeling too sick to eat are ya?"

"I-I guess," Ruby admitting, thinking it was kind of mean for Red to ask while a hunger prone individual lie on the ground in front of him.

"Guess I don't have any choice," Ragna muttered as he picked the immobilized Tao up by the scruff of her coat and threw her over his shoulder. "Let's go grab some grub then..."

"Meow? GOOD GUY!" Tao said, instantly perking up and throwing her arms around Ragna in an affectionate hug. "Yay! Good guy's going to treat Tao to food!"

"Calm down, I'm only feeding you 'cause I couldn't just leave you on the floor after kicking your ass," Ragna muttered. 'Then again, she did recover pretty quick when I brought up food.'

'He's actually going to by her food... Maybe Red's a lot nicer than he tries to let on,' Ruby thought to herself before looking around the area. "Uh... what about all of the garbage?"

"Right... Give me a second," Ragna told her before he pried Tao off of him. He then headed to where he was opposite of the alley where the garbage had been. Bracing his sword for a short moment, he unleashed a massive slash that was powerful enough to create a heavy torrent of wind that violently blasted into the garbage forcing it back into the pile. "There, that's one mess cleaned up..."

"Good guy shouldn't litter, it's a grim-in-all offense," Tao tried to lecture.

"That's criminal, and it's your fault for throwing trash at me in the first place," Ragna groaned leaving Ruby to giggle slightly. "Whatever, are we grabbing food or not?"

"Oh! Oh! Tao knows a good place to grab food! Follow her!" Tao shouted as she started walking down the street.

'Looks like no one's going to grab the cops,' Ragna thought to himself with a relief as he noticed the onlookers returning to her business. 'Now that I think about it, the NOL should've been here by now, aren't they supposed to be on high alert since they heard I was coming?'

"Something wrong Red?" Ruby asked. "Your face got all serious all of a sudden."

"It's always serious," the Reaper tried to tell her leaving Ruby to roll her eyes as Ragna came up with a lie. "...Just thinking about how much this damn food might cost me."

Later

'I was right to worry,' Ragna thought to himself. "Hey Tao! For the love of god slow down! You're going to make yourself sick at that rate!"

"Meow! Tao's not slowing down! These meat buns are almost as good as the ones Tao gets from Boobie-Lady!"

"Boobie-Lady?" Ragna repeated in confusion. "That some sort of strip- Ruby! Why the hell did you only grab your dessert!?"

"Are you kidding me? There are so many cookies here! It's be a crime if I didn't try all of them!" Ruby shouted with a blissful smile where she was seated beside Ragna.

"All of that sugar's going to put you in the hospital," Ragna groaned. 'Damn it, when the hell did I turn out to be such a parent?' "So Tao, think you can stop eating long enough to tell us both why the hell you were lying on the side of a busy street?"

"Tao was trying to catch grim-in-alls!" Tao told him happily.

"For the second time, that's criminals," Ragna said with a sigh. "So (dare I ask) why were you out trying to catch criminals?"

"Tao's trying to become a Vergil-Auntie-!"

"Vigilante," the Reaper muttered. "And you're trying to do this because...?"

"Tao's doing this to earn money for food!" the cat told him. "The Kaka village doesn't have much money, so Tao's going to beat up a bunch bad guys and get lotsa money!"

"How noble,' Ragna responded with great snark as he finally managed to start digging into his rice.

"Yep, they're even posting pictures of a guy with a lot of money on him, take a look," Tao said, showing Ragna a wanted posted a hideous, fish-lipped, glaring, and filthy criminal.

"Jeeze, who's ugly? That face is crime enough," Ragna said as he tried to resume eating.

"He's the HISS-HISS class criminal, Rawrgna the Blood-fridge!"

"Ragna the... Blood-fridge?" Ruby repeated while Ragna had a clearly horrified expression on his face as he looked over the picture. "Wait... this sort of looks like..."

"THERE'S NO RESEMBLENCE!" he shouted at the top of his lungs, leaving the restaurant to grow quiet for a moment. Ragna sighed at his involuntary outburst before realizing that most men were starting to eye him with growing suspicion. "I... I mean..." He then looked at Ruby who was only staring at him with a terrified expression. "Aw... Shit..."

"Hey! That's Ragna the Bloodedge!" a man shouted as he rose from his chair with an Ars Magus lance in his hands.

"Doesn't look quite as hideous as the guy on the poster, but there's no mistaking him," a female vigilante said as she rose carrying a mini sub-machine gun.

"I heard that the bounty on his head is so high that you can buy a small country with it!" another person said as they rose with a sword.

"This... is looking bad..." Ragna said, while he was sweating, unaware that Tao had just ordered the entire restaurant out of food. "Just so we're clear... how many of you are vigilantes?"

All remaining restaurant patrons then rose from their seats, all of them carrying a weapon.

"The whole damn restaurant is full of bounty hunters... of course, WHAT WAS I EXPECTING!?" Ragna shouted as he violently stood. 'Damn... Run or fight? What am I supposed to do here?'

"Hey, what about those two girls with him?" another vigilante asked.

"Maybe they're fans of his or something?" a tall muscular one commented. "Still, they look a little young to be seduced by the Grim Reaper."

"SEDUCED!?" Ruby shouted as she stood and had her weapon transform into a scythe, a display that left Ragna surprised for the briefest of instances. Ruby then charged her semblance to spring forward for the knockout. "TIME TO-!"

She couldn't continue as Ragna grabbed the back of her clothes and took off running with her under his left arm and Tao over his right shoulder.

"MY MEATBUNS!" Tao shouted.

"SHUT UP AND TELL ME HOW TO GET OUT OF HERE!" Ragna shouted.

"DINE AND DASH! DINE AND DASH!" the restaurant owner shouted while the bounty hunters took off after him.

"GET HIM! THE REWARD IS OURS!" one of them shouted as spears, bullets, knives, and countless other weapon flew around the Reaper, narrowly missing him and his girls he was carrying off.

"PUT ME DOWN! I CAN RUN ON MY OWN!" Ruby shouted hitting against Ragna's chest which he did his best to ignore.

"THEY THINK YOU'RE WITH ME! IT'S YOUR LIFE ON THE LINE!" Ragna shouted as he continued to run. "TAO! WHERE THE HELL ARE WE GOING!?"

"TO THE KAKA VILLAGE!"

"GIVE ME SOME DIRECTIONS THEN!"

"YOU'RE TAO-TOLLY GOING THE WRONG WAY MEOW!" Tao shouted.

"For the love of..." Ragna muttered before turning and charging towards the bounty hunters.

"Here we go, PAY DAY!" one shouted as he readied his rifle and fixed it on the Reaper's head.

"Not today!" Ragna shouted as he dodged all of the fire by leaping over the entire group of vigilantes. The entire group was awestruck as all of their attacks missed before he landed behind them and took off running down the street. They tried to pursue, but quickly started to fall behind with his speed.

"Damn... running on a barely full stomach," Ragna groaned to himself before he glanced to Ruby who was glaring daggers at him. "...Seems to be the least of my problems."