Midnight Run [Catherine, Isamu]

"Oh, piss off. A man likes what he likes, alright? I'm not an addict... Anyway, fine. You're on. Dinner and we don't ever discuss any of this again."

Moving past the fact that he was a man clearly in denial, they arrived at the location in short order. Since there was no clear time where this hollow might appear, Isamu clearly wasn't going to spend it by remaining awake for hours on end. He would simply be proving the ginger-haired brat right, and his pride couldn't let that happen.

No, he would ensure he came out on top in this bet of theirs. And so, he ate when it was his time to eat, and rested when it was his time to rest once the sun sank down to slowly welcome the moon and her endless band of stars. There was nothing complicated to his routine.

It had carried him this far, and he no doubt believed it would carry him even further in the future. The ringing of a firefly in his ear would wake him from his rest as he yawned loudly. Stretching his arms, he cocked his head upward to notice a peculiar reality. That is, Catherine was not currently present in the clearing.

"...What the hell?"

Where had she gone off to? Was there a change in game plans? Had the ghost already appeared? No, that couldn't be. He was spiritually sound enough to recognize if something was amiss, and he was assuredly certain that she would have slapped him across the head if it appeared. Rising from his bed roll, he grabbed his prized katana, Kotetsu, darting forward and away from the clearing to explore the area, using his reikaku to pinpoint Catherine's location.

"Where the hell did you go, Cath?"

"...Papa?"

Isamu could hardly comprehend what prompted her current shift in behavior. Knowing how alert she was at all times, he didn't put much weight into the theory that a hollow had gotten to her. In fact, he removed the possibility in his mind altogether. Did it sneak up on her? Or had she injected her system full of drugs to keep herself awake again?

Spinning several possibilities in his head, he carefully set his katana down as he exhaled softly. Shit, he should've brought a bottle of water if she was gonna pull this again. Sheesh. At any rate, the only way he would be able to discern anything is by approaching her. Her listless tone was a little unsettling, but he hardly let it phase him much as he approached her, leaning down to observe her, his body prepared in advance for the likelihood of an attack.

"Hey, are you alright? Why are you here of all places and not at the shrine clearing? Were you feelin' restless or somethin'? Or did ya take a drug to keep you awake again?"

Isamu was truly at a loss for words here as the series of events unfolded before his eyes. The glassy gaze was bone-chilling, her tone doubly so, momentarily giving him pause.

His onyx eyes widened the moment she lifted that machete and suddenly stabbed her arm with zero hesitation. Then, there was what only could be described as a unified scream, shared between Catherine and whatever had attempted to invade her body.

Whatever the hell it was, it certainly didn't want any part of Catherine anymore. He would've followed after it to finish the job, but that wasn't important right now. He had a more pertinent issue to address at the moment. Without wasting a second, Isamu rushed to Catherine's side before she could get any further, grabbing onto her to hold her in place for a moment. At the very least, she needed to give herself a moment to breathe.

"You're not killin' anybody or anything with the state you're in right now. Come on. I'm carryin' you back to the clearing so you can recover for a moment. And I'm not lettin' you tell me no, either. Are we clear?"

"Hm..."

Isamu expected her to reject his assistance, to stubbornly turn him away and attempt to wrest herself free from his grip. That was characteristic of the woman he had come to know for some time. Someone who was, at once, a rival and business partner.

Now? She was someone he simply couldn't allow to suffer freely. In some aspects, her rant was justified, but if she wanted him to treat her so nonchalantly, she certainly shouldn't have gone out of her way to perform an act of kindness on him and his mother's behalf.

As it stood now, her words amounted to little than the ramblings of a woman who was clearly shaken and infuriated by whatever that foxlike creature did to her body. He couldn't imagine it was a pleasant experience, and so he simply walked forward, lifting the woman into his arms as he looked at the blood pouring out of her bicep. He needed to wrap that up soon before she passed out. Focusing reiryoku around his feet, Isamu paused for a moment to answer her violent ramble.

"What about you, huh? Up until now, I thought I meant little more than piss in yer eyes until you decided to help my mother by crafting a healing agent to combat her illness. If you wanted to treat me like an assassin, why not pay me in money? Movin' past all that, if I someone put a hit out on you and told me to take you out..."

He exhaled softly as he turned his head to the side, grumbling to himself as he found himself faced with revealing genuine feelings that weren't hidden beyond a veil of nonchalance. God, this sucked so much, but he was here now. Whatever.

"I'd turn it down without a second thought. I care about ya, alright? I know you love talkin' about how no one can be trusted in this line of work, and I get it. People fuckin' suck. I got crossed pretty badly myself a few times, but that doesn't mean I'd go back on my word. Like I told you before, I'm here when you need me, and unless want me out of yer life, I'm not gonna change my stance. Anyway, let's hurry up before you bleed out on me. Maybe finally you'll get that damn rest I keep talkin' about."

In a stride somewhat akin to a flash step, Isamu darted from his current position to the camp within the space of a few moments. When he returned, the first thing he did was gently set her down on his bed roll, carefully pulling her arm up as he grabbed a medical box. He prided himself on being a man of resources.

Did he expect either of them to get injured? Maybe not, but it always helped to be prepared in his books. Observing the wound, he figured the best he could do at the moment was wrap it up tight enough to stop any more blood from pouring out freely.

"Here, relax for once, will ya? I'll keep watch just in case that freaky hollow comes back. Though, I don't expect it to be approachin' you any time soon after the way you ruthlessly tore it from yer body. Heh, yer a real battleaxe of a woman, ya know that, Catherine?"

The sudden revelation of her true name temporarily stunned him. Unsure of whether or not this was the result of that hollow disorienting her system, he simply coughed softly to avoid looking like a deer in headlights, his hand following Catherine's instruction.

Well, formerly Catherine. Had that been a false name this entire time? Why was she revealing it just now? His hand explored her belongings until he found the ointment. The minute he opened it, he certainly understood what she meant when she said it smelled awful. Furrowing his eyebrows for a moment, he exhaled softly as he ignored the strong order, applying a studious amount with gentle precision.

One hand kept her arm held up, while the other smoothly handled her wound without applying any pressure that might cause her to wince. Drawing up the words in his head, he offered a genuine opinion on what he thought of her true name.

"Anisse, eh? Pretty name. I think it sounds nice on ya. Here's where I'd reveal I got some other name, too, but uh... nope. Hagane Isamu. That's my country-born name through and through. Why're you suddenly droppin' yer real name on me all of a sudden, Ca- I mean... uh, Anisse?"

Honestly, it was going to take him some time to get used to that if he intended on referring to her by that name exclusively. Here she was again, slapping him in the face with revelations out of nowhere. Goddamit.