Work Text:
It all started like any other case.
Narumi got a call from a client who wants some help with supernatural occurings.
The client, a middle-aged man, has been experiencing paranormal activities in his house with his family.
Narumi, with his creation of toothpicks almost being done, ask Raidou to head-on over first to the man's home to check his house out.
---
"How lazy", Raidou's cat partner, Gouto, said disdainfully as they walked brisquely from the detective agency.
As usual, Raidou said no response.
"I had thought he had become more responsible after the Army incident, but it seemed that it was short-lived."
They stopped on the side road as an automobile went past. There have been more automobiles as of late, and more people supporting the modernization.
"Mr. Narumi went back to normal after you came back, Gouto."
Using the waiting time to think, Raidou seemed to have come to the realization & conclusion that Gouto was the trigger to Narumi converting back to being a lazy bum.
"How does that even add up? And what do you mean 'normal'? You shouldn't think of that as 'normal' behavior, Raidou. It'll corrupt your integrity. Think of Narumi as...hmm..."
As Gouto seemed to be thinking for the best comparison, the traffic lets up and they began to cross the road.
"A sack of potato? No, that's still useful for throwing and eating... how about..."
"I think mr. Narumi was relieved that you were back," Raidou added between Gouto's musing.
"And why is that?"
Gouto asked curtly, he doesn't think highly of Narumi, and he's worried of Raidou being close with Narumi means that Raidou will inadvertently caught some of the bum's habits and way of thinking. Specifically the bad habits and thinking. After all, the XIV is the successor to the Raidou Kuzunoha name, and he's still so young, Gouto has the duty to raise him properly to be a respectable Kuzunoha.
"..."
Raidou looks at Gouto for a bit, then thinks. After a while, Gouto realized that the XIV has no intention of answering his question and has gone back to his usual quiet self.
"Raidou."
Gouto asked again, wanting an answer to his question. But Raidou just continues to walk on brisquesly. Whatever the XIV has in mind, it seems he has no intention of divulging it towards his mentor and partner. Such is the boy sometimes.
After having watch over the XIV for quite a while now, Gouto knows that it is useless to ask any further, so he just lets out a sigh and continues to walk alongside his mentee.
---
Arriving at the house, Raidou is greeted by the man and ushered inside.
From the man's story, the supernatural activity started about a week ago. However, the incidents that happen aren't just small ones like hearing weird voices or items moving on their own.
The man shows Raidou the hole on their roof, the broken floorboards, a broken door handle, and a wall that was busted through.
Since a week ago, suddenly there will be loud sounds during the night, and when they checked in the morning, there will be damage on the house. As if there was a fight going on inside the house. However, only the man, his wife, and their still small son live there together, none capable of making such huge damage and they have no reason to.
"Hmm. Raidou, maybe demons are fighting in the Dark Realm, impacting this house in the real realm."
As always, Gouto gave the capable Raidou the answers. Goto would give him an earful of he was here, but he wasn't so it doesn't matter. Gouto can't help but give Raidou the answers when he saw Raidou made a difficult face.
Raidou gave Gouto an appreciative nod and heads on to the Nameless Shrine at night to search through the Dark Realm.
---
True to Gouto's theory, there really were demons fighting close to the house.
"Vritra."
Raidou called upon his demon's name and released his tube, calling forth a fiery red dragon.
The dragon immediately hunts the demons responsible for the wreckage on the man's house under Raidou's orders.
All seems to be going well, until some of them decided to call their friends. Not long after, Vritra was very outnumbered.
"Mishaguji."
To help Vritra, Raidou decided to call upon his 2nd demon, the charming volt demon.
Mishaguji unleashed volt of attacks on their enemies and they were defeated.
Raidou then joined on the action too, slashing and firing on the demons until they all fade away.
"Raidou!"
Following Gouto's signals, Raidou unleashed Devil's Bane onto their last enemy, finishing them off.
"Good."
Raidou said as he called Vritra and Mishaguji back to their tubes.
---
Back in the real world in the middle of the night, Raidou goes back to the detective agency to first report to Narumi.
"Hey, Raidou! How's it goes? I trust everything went well?"
Narumi waved at Raidou and flashed him an easy smile.
Raidou nodded with an exasperated Gouto by his side.
"As expected!"
Gouto sighed, "He's the head of the agency, and he didn't even do anything. We were the ones that surveyed the area and solved the case."
Raidou responded by petting Gouto's head.
"Stop that! I'm not just a cat, Raidou!"
Gouto angrily responded as he purrs into the pet.
"Look, even Gouto's saying we did a great job Raidou!"
Narumi gave Raidou a thumbs up and began preparing to leave the office.
Raidou gave Narumi a questioning look, and Narumi responded, "Oh, we're gonna go see the client and report that the case's solved. I know it's in the middle of the night, but the client requested that we inform them as soon as the case's solved, his son is too scared to sleep at night cause of all that demon shenanigans."
Raidou stared at the phone to give Narumi the hint.
Narumi got the hint.
"Oh no, see, we haven't even celebrated Gouto's homecoming. Thought we should go out and have dinner together once in a while. And the client's house pretty close to the izakaya, so I thought we could deliver the good news on the way."
"Ohoh, so Narumi can be pretty generous sometimes."
Gouto replied favorably.
"And, it wouldn't be so bad to get our payment to pay for my tab at the izakaya too. The deadline is getting way too close for my liking... best get it over with before I'm banned for life and got handed over to the police."
Narumi honestly divulged as he put on his jacket and ready the key to close up the detective office.
"And there goes my favorable impression..."
Gouto sighed as loud as a cat can be, and hopped onto Raidou's shoulder for the walk.
---
"Mr. Narumi, is the case really solved? No more supernatural occurences in my house?"
"Yes, that's correct. No more supernatural occurences in your house."
The man beamed upon hearing Narumi's answer.
"Well, I'll be-! C-come in mr. Narumi, let's have some tea first. It's a cold night, let's not talk outside!"
He cordially invited Narumi with thanks. Narumi then turned around to face Raidou and hushed in a small voice.
"Crap, he's inviting me in. I was just gonna ask for the reward and go, but he looks so happy, I can't possibly refuse him... But then again, the izakaya gets crowded really fast..."
Narumi thinks for a bit with a troubled expression.
"Raidou, could you go and reserve a spot for us first? I'll have 1 cup of tea here, get the reward money, and then immediately catch up to you. Is that good?"
Raidou looks at Gouto nuzzling into his shoulder and realized that it really is a cold night, they should find a warm place soon.
Raidou responded to Narumi with a nod and began walking down the road to the izakaya.
"Alright, see you later buddy! Gouto, make sure Raidou doesn't get lost, okay? And Raidou, be careful not to walk off the path, okay? There are scaawyyy people out and about during the night, with kids like you being a favorable target."
Narumi waved them off with an easy joke and hurriedly went into the man's warm house to get a cup of tea.
"Bah, who does he think he's talking about? You're Raidou Kuzunoha XIV, you're the scary one!"
Gouto exclaimed, but then he noticed Raidou's expression becoming sour (not that it changed much. Raidou always has a deadpan face, but Gouto has been with Raidou long enough to see when he makes a subtle change in his deadpan expression). Gouto immediately tries to rectify his mistake in choosing his words.
"O-oh, not that you are scary, Raidou. I just mean you're way more powerful than those scary people Narumi mentioned..."
Raidou fixed his hat and went on his way, with Gouto still perched on his shoulder.
---
"Raidou, you feel that?"
Raidou nodded as he kept walking while scanning the area around them.
"We are being watched, and not just that...this is-!"
Bloodlust!
Before Gouto managed to complete his sentence, he's whisked away by a powerful grip.
"Urgghh! Rai-! Dou!"
"Gouto!"
Raidou immediately began to chase after them into the small forest area.
Inside the forest clearing, the figure is illuminated by the moonlight.
It's one of the demons from before, the ones wrecking havoc beside the man's house!
And slowly, as Raidou's eyes gets used to the darkness of the forest, he could see numerous more demons encircling him.
"You! You killed my friends! Now I will kill yours! Revenge!"
"They escaped from the Dark Realm to chase after you...? Guh!" Gouto muttered in shock, his small feline body crushed by the demon's painful grip.
"...!!"
Raidou looks at Gouto's pained expression and grimaced. He gets ready to pull out his tubes.
"No call demon friends! Or your friend gets crushed!"
The demon held Gouto out in it's death grip, and Raidou hesitated.
Then immediately, the demon's friends all attack Raidou with their magic.
"Guah!!"
Receiving the attacks from all angles, Raidou let out a pained scream.
"Raidou!"
Gouto tried to wriggle out of the demon's grip to no avail, as Raidou fell to one of his knee.
"Damn it! Raidou...!"
The black cat tried to attack with his claws and bite with his sharp fangs, but just one hand gripping him small feline body is all it takes to immobilize him.
"Now, you die!"
The demon gave the orders for his friends to simultaneously attack Raidou one more time.
"RAIDOU KUZUNOHA XIV!!"
As Gouto's desperate scream reached him, Raidou's Spirit burned.
"-Kuzunoha's Terror!"
---
Before Gouto realized it, Raidou had unleashed the Kuzunoha's most powerful technique, and, in a blinding light, all the demons surrounding Raidou had vanished. With nothing to hoist him up anymore, Gouto fell to the ground with a thud.
"Ugh! Raidou!"
Gouto hurriedly stood up with an aching body, but nothing serious, and immediately went over to Raidou's side.
Raidou was back down on his knee.
"Raidou, are you okay?"
As Raidou look over Gouto safe form, he lets out a relieved sigh and fell to the ground.
"Raidou! Raidou! Can you hear me?!"
Unlike Gouto, Raidou isn't okay. He has been hit with numerous powerful magical attack and unleashing Kuzunoha's Terror has used up all his strength. He's fatally injured.
Worse still, Raidou's eyes keep on trying to close. If he sleeps with body full of injuries in such a cold night, there is no guarantee he will ever wake up again.
"Raidou, you can't sleep here!"
Gouto tried to slap Raidou awake, he tried to bite his collar to wake him up, but he's so small that anything he does doesn't have an effect on Raidou.
"Raidou, come on!!"
Desperation overwhelms Gouto, and so does guilt. He can't let the XIV's life end like this.
Because of his mentor's mistake. Because of his partner's powerlesness. Because of Gouto.
The XIV is still so young, his world outside his village is still only limited to the Capital, he has such a promising future as the successor to the Raidou Kuzunoha name.
And most of all...he doesn't want his time with the XIV to end yet.
Gouto has watched over many Raidous, and has woven relationships with each of them, some are good and some are even bad... but the XIV is different.
He wanted to watch over him not only as Raidou Kuzunoha the XIV, the successor to the Kuzunoha name and capital's great protector, but also as Jouhei Kuzunoha, the young man with a kind and selfless heart who has sacrificed himself numerous times to protect what he held dear.
"Jouhei..."
Gouto muttered his treasured family's real name and stood up tall.
"Wait here, I'm going to go get help. Don't sleep! You've always listened to my advice, listen to this one as well! I'll be back soon."
With that, the black cat runs as fast as its little legs could carry in order to save an irreplacably important person.
---
"Yeah, thank you very much for the tea. And I indeed have received the payment in full. I sure hope your son wins that competition, haha."
Narumi let out a carefree laugh as he said his goodbyes to the man. He then began walking down the road to the izakaya.
"Damn, that took quite a bit more time that I'd thought. Hope Raidou manage to procure my seat."
Then a powerful bump on his legs.
"Mrowww!"
"Whoa!! Huh? Gouto is that you?"
Narumi looked down quizzically.
"It is you! Why are you here? Where's Raidou?"
Narumi's fast instinct from back when he worked as a spy on the army told him something isn't right.
"Mrow mrow mrowwww!!!"
"Are you telling me to follow you? Did...something happen to Raidou?!"
"Meowww!! (yes!!)"
Gouto stared Narumi right in the eye as he began running into the small forest where Raidou is incapacitated.
"Alright, lead the way kitty!"
Narumi then hurriedly followed Gouto without even a speck of doubt.
---
"What the heck? Where are you leading me?"
Narumi ran as he followed Gouto's long and nimble strides.
"Is Raidou really here? Or have I finally gone mad and mistaked a stray for Gouto?"
"Mrow!"
"Okay, okay, you're Gouto!"
As they ran, they finally reached a small clearing. And lying on the ground, was the weak Raidou.
"Raidou!"
Narumi cane over to Raidou and began to assess his injuries.
"What the? What happened? These injuries... are they from demons?"
"...mr...Narumi..."
Raidou weakly replied.
"Yeah, it's me Raidou! It's Narumi!"
Narumi tried to gently shake Raidou awake, to no avail.
"Don't worry, buddy. I'm gonna get you outta here and right to the hospital!"
Narumi shifted Raidou as gently as possible to carry him on his back.
"Mew?"
Gouto looked up at Narumi and Raidou on his back, and seemed taken aback.
"Gouto, thanks for leading me here. Now leave it all to me!"
Narumi then began sprinting at full speed out of the forest, towards the hospital.
The black cat took a moment to break out of his thoughts to notice Narumi had already gone and immediately hurried after him.
In that moment, he thought about how strong and reliable Narumi is...unlike him.
---
In the blinding light, Raidou blinked his eyes open. It took him a moment to realize he's on an unfamiliar bed, then another moment to realize he's all patched up.
He then immediately began surveying his situation for information and to look for a certain being.
"Raidou! You're awake!"
His boss, Narumi, beams at him from the stool beside his bed.
"...mr. Narumi?"
"Yeah, it's me, your boss. Glad to see nothing's wrong with your memory."
Raidou gave him a quizzical look.
"You see..."
Narumi gave him the rundown of what happened, from when he left their client's house, Gouto leading him into the forest, and him carrying Raidou on his back to the hospital.
Raidou gave an understanding nod of Narumi's story.
"Anyway, good to see you're awake and well. The doctor said it was quite the bad situation, with your injuries and the cold temperature, it could have been worse."
The devil summoner gave him another quizzical look.
"Well, it's all cause I was able to get you to the hospital fast enough that you're able to get away with minimal consequences."
He proudly announced in a joking manner.
"Seriously though, I've never seen Gouto like that before. I think this time you scared him, and me, a whole lot, Raidou. I was seriously, really worried."
He put his hand on Raidou's shoulder.
"I know your job as a devil summoner is always filled with dangerous stuff, Raidou. But, I want you to promise not to overextent yourself, and to tell me if anything happens. You're my one and only subordinate, and an irreplaceable friend. So, promise me, Raidou?"
Raidou's heart cleared, and he gave a small smile and a firm nod.
Narumi returned it with a mature smile.
"Well, now that that's settled. Let me settle some things with the doctor too. You don't need to worry about anything, just lay down and rest, okay Raidou?"
And with that, Narumi left the room.
Raidou's eyes continued to search the parameter after Narumi's gone, but he can't seem to find what he's searching for.
Judging from Narumi's story, the one he's looking for should be safe and sounds.
Suddenly, the door opens again, revealing Narumi.
"Oh, and Raidou, careful over there."
Narumi points to Raidou's side, on the bed, there lays the sleeping Gouto.
His boss gave a be quiet signal, then left once again.
Gouto is sleeping peacefully, he doesn't seem to have any big injuries and the small ones have already started healing.
Raidou gave the black cat some pets.
"Nngh, I told you... I'm not just a cat!"
And suddenly, Gouto woke up with a jolt, surprising even Raidou.
"Oh, huh, Raidou?"
Raidou immediately regained his composure.
"Glad to see you safe, Gouto."
Gouto looked displeased.
"Don't- just don't. Stop. You got injured badly because of me. You could have died, Raidou."
Raidou made a slightly surprised expression.
"And I- I couldn't do anything..."
Gouto's voice is laced with sadness, but something else is also there, even more prevalently. Regret? Fear? Helplessness?
"You saved me."
Answered the XIV simply.
"Narumi was the one who saved you! I couldn't even fend off a single demon! I was...useless...and weak."
Self deprecation laced the cat's voice. He remembered back when he was powerful, back when he could stood tall, fight, and commanded his own demons. Back when he could protect the people important to him. But that was eons ago. Just a bygone memory of a bygone time.
"That's not true. Gouto is smart and reliable."
"Yeah right, what use is being smart when normal people only hear cat gibberish coming out of my mouth."
"Even so, I need Gouto with me."
Gouto looks taken aback at the XIV's resolute words.
"What are you...?"
"Because Gouto's not just a cat. Gouto is Gouto."
"What does that even mean...?"
"Gouto is Gouto."
"I said, what does that even-!"
Raidou pets Gouto's head.
"Gouto is smart and reliable. You give me the perfect signals during life and death battles. You have answers to questions I don't even get. You teach me various stuff about the world. I feel safe with Gouto around."
The gentle and true words carressed Gouto's broken heart and makes it whole again.
"Raidou..."
The young man gave him a smile, and the black cat snuggled in closer to the blanket, hiding it's tears.
Because just as much as the successor to the Kuzunoha name wants to protect the people of the capital, he foremostly wants to protect his irreplacably important people.
Today, for all of their sakes, Raidou Kuzunoha XIV continues to strive for peace.
~ end ~
---
OMAKE
Some time in EP 12 of Raidou Remastered: Mystery of the Soulless Army:
"-and that's why I suggest we fuse that particular demon."
Gouto is currently discussing with Goto, himself from another timeline, future plans of his Raidou's demon team.
Raidou is amazed, really, that his mentor could give out such perfect advice for a future demon.
But...
"You're giving too clear of an answer. I don't think that's doing any good for the XIV of your timeline."
"Wha- excuse me?"
"As I've said before, the XIV is chosen as the successor to the Raidou Kuzunoha name for his skills. Which means we have a duty to raise those skills."
"Which is exactly what I'm doing!"
"No, what you're doing is being an overbearing guardian to the XIV. You're not raising his skills, you're basically giving him all the puzzle pieces and solving it right in front of him. He doesn't even get to try!"
"Overbearing guar- I'll have you know I'm only giving him the answers because he looks so lost. What sort of person ignores his village successor's plight? And besides, weren't you the one giving him all the answers in the previous mechanism?"
"That was only because he begged at me!"
"He did not! He was quiet the whole time!"
"He begged at me with his eyes!"
And thus Raidou Kuzunoha XIV journey to stop his future successor, accompanied by his overbearing and overprotective guardian cat partners, continues...