14 Loathe

The world descend into chaos, wherever one might look poeple were on the floor screaming in agony. Pregnant women took the worse of it as not only has they felt something severing from them and making them feel such a dread that nothing could ever compare to it.

But they have to also face a sudden miscarriage, be it those that were on their first weeks, or those that were almost on their date. All of them were forced with an abortion that made most of them pass out from the exhaustion and pain. Or in some cases, be near death due to blood-loss.

Even after two minutes of the start of the event, only a handful were able to recover barely and yet the heavy feeling didn't disappeared. Although the dread was now replaced by hollow feeling, those who recovered couldn't help but feel that something precious was severed from them.

Something that should never have been taken away from them.

Yet here they were, surrounded by people who were still in agony.

In some places around the planet, some that recovered didn't waste time and tried to find the cause of such event. Yet there wasn't any sign of attack, and what was even worse and more disturbing, it seemed for them that whenever they go, the scene was the same.

And a particular individual in the moon, was the one that proved this to be correct, a man with white hair, white skin and alien features looked over the blue planet with concern, confusion, anger and fear.

He was unable to understand what happened, and what was more concerning, what took away from him.

When he looked over his clansmen all over the floor, he swore to himself he wouldn't let such thing to be left unresolved, and more importantly, unanswered.

Meanwhile the person that caused all of this, was still unable to grasp the situation and remained unable to move.

Ryuuji tried to sit down again and flow the chakra the way he did, trying to see if just like the way he triggered such situation, he would be able to reverse it.

Yet nothing happened and the only change was hearing less people screaming around him.

Frustrated at the outcome, he continue trying over and over again. And yet when he was about to open his eyes and scream in frustration, a feeling of danger encroached his being, just in time to see a villager looking at him with utter rage and disgust on her face.

On her had was a kunai that she seemed to use on the field, yet now said kunai was trembling just a few centimeters from his face as Ryuuji's hand stopped her attack and held her wrist tightly.

"DIE! DIE YOU MONSTER!" She screamed at him while Ryuuji was unable to comprehend the reason behind her attack. Yet not wanting to deal with someone in such state, he simply knocked her unconscious with a punch on her face.

*Thud* letting her body on the floor, he stand up on his feet with alertness as he looked around him, trying to discern if someone else was holding the same intentions of the woman.

Yet all he saw was Syntax sitting on the ground, looking at him intensely.

"...What are you?..." Is all Syntax asked as he continue looked over Ryuuji. In his voice Ryuuji was able to hear confusion, anger, disgust and sadness.

Looking over him with confusion Ryuuji asked "What do you mean?" but he quickly changed his question "Hey are you okay? How are you feeling?"

Yet his concern was unwelcomed and unanswered as Syntax asked him again "What are you? And who are you?"

This time, Syntax tried to raise on his feet, grasping tightly on the katana on his waist.

Looking over at him and his action, Ryuuji closed his eyes in resignation and with a quick thought, he answered to Syntax "I am Ryuuji, your friend and more importantly your boss." With an intense gaze, he saw Syntax slowly withdrawing the katana.

"I'll be going to my house, when everyone can get on their feet, come towards my house and we will speak, it is an order." His deep voice carried an authority that seemed to resonate with Syntax, who stopped moving and after a few moments, nodded his head to him.

Yet Ryuuji was still able to feel the extreme hostility from Syntax. But since he wasn't in position to think further about it right now, he quickly moved towards his house eyeing his surrounding.

His mood continue to further dampen as gloominess took over his being after seeing the entire village in the same state. And he was deeply aware he was the cause of it.

'Just what the hell happened!?' It was all he could ask to himself as he entered his house and fell to the ground.

Looking over the ceiling, he waited over five minutes on the same spot until he decided to walk towards his living and wear his armor since he was only wearing the kimono he took from the bandit.

Not wanting to be unprepared if the situation went to the worst outcome, Ryuuji hastened on his preparations as the time went on. The screams and groans luckily died down after a few minutes, yet the village now gained an eeerie silent and a heavy atmosphere surround it.

After putting his armor and making sure his water canteen was filled and had some rations on a small piece of cloth, Ryuuji sat in the middle of the floor while waiting for Syntax and the other to appear.

He had to wait more than forty minutes until he heard some footsteps on his doorstep. Breathing deeply and preparing himself, he heard the door being open while quickly people entered into his house.

Syntax was being followed by Manin, Beep, Minami, Sarui, Stenn, Kang, Masaru, Seto and Ruka.

Most of them was equiped with their weapons.

Noticing it, Ryuuji felt a disappointment on his heart, yet he steeled his gaze and eyed every person on his house.

He was met with gazes filled with confusion, disgust and concern. And in the case of Ruka, worry and fear, yet those weren't directed at him but at the other people.

Letting out a deep breath, he closed his eyes and started "I guess something went wrong."

Yet instead of hearing a chuckle or another sigh, he was met with silence.

Opening his eyes, he continue "I don't know what happened, and I wish to know what have I done to deserve the looks you are giving me right now."

As he said that, he saw Kang approaching at him and with barely contained anger, he grasped his shoulder and through grithed teeth he said to him "You are the most disgusting being I've ever laid my eyes upon, yet know this boss, I am with you even if I only wish to cut your throat right now."

The grip on Ryuuji's shoulder tightened, yet after a moment of silence, Kang let him free and sat behind him.

"Fuck! If it wasn't for what just happened I would have never woke up from my bed" everyone heard Kang groan on the back, clearly uncomfortable not only by the pain, but by the presence of Ryuuji.

Yet it was the actions of Kang that made people such as Minami, Syntax and Manin to stop gazing with hostility towards Ryuuji and lessen the grip on their weapons with wariness.

Before any of the three could open their mouth, they were beaten by Ruka who put herself between the group and Ryuuji, "Ryuuji is right, he has done nothing to deserve your attitude until now..."

A fiery glint flickered in her eyes as she eyed Syntax and Minami "...But know I won't let you nor anyone to hurt him, so you better do as you said Syntax and let's talk about what happened."

Syntax nodded his head at her and looked over Ryuuji while answering directly "There's something horribly wrong with you, Ryuuji, I cannot explain you in words the extreme need of killing you I've been feeling since I laid my eyes upon you." The chilling words of Syntax resonate with a couple of the people around, with Kang nodding his head with fervour.

"Do you have any idea of what might...happened?" He looked inquisitively towards him. Minami bite on her lips, holding back her own questions. Her gaze remained on Ryuuji as she couldn't believe that a person like him could exist.

Shaking his head in negative he answered at him "I don't have idea, I only felt something akin to being unbound and the next thing I knew was that every person around me seemed to agonize in pain."

"Because we were in pain, you took something away from me! You... Your whole self is wrong! What are you!?" Manin hysterical voice was the one that cut him short as he pointed a finger at Ryuuji.

Ryuuji looked at him with a strange look on his face as he asked "What do you mean by saying that I took something away? I didn't do anything at all..." He trailed off his words, "...I need every single one of you to explain the best you could what you experience. Everything."

It may be the way he said those words, or maybe nothing at all, but hearing him ordering them seemed to irk something within the people in the room, yet nobody lashed out and one by one started explaining what they experienced.

Yet it was the same thing, from all but Sarui and Minami. Whilst the squad experienced something akin of felt their whole body being burned, erased or wipe out, it was followed by the incomprehensible feeling of being devoid of something from within them. Feeling a connection with something special for them being lost.

While Sarui and Minami only experienced that something was severed from them. Which was a painful experience by itself.

All of that was just what made them feel pain, yet their explanation for what Ryuuji made them feel, left the latter speechless.

All of them agreed on something, Ryuuji was an abnormally, an abomination that they were made aware of the moment he awakened his chakra. Someone that shouldn't exist and only made them feel repulsion and a deep feeling of loathing, disgust and many others negative emotions.

When he asked to put into words, Syntax made a good euphemism by saying "How would you feel looking at a human without a face, at someone without presence, at a void figure that doesn't reassemble at a anything around it? That's how I feel about you. That's how 'wrong' you are."

Hearing their words, Ryuuji remained silent for a few minutes, trying to come up with something that could fix the issue as the problem for him was clear.

If he were to remain like this, he will undoubtedly be dead by tomorrow's evening.

Seeing his plight, an unusual individual opened her mouth "Before everything happened, I... I've got a gut feeling that something might go wrong..." Sarui's words made everyone look at her with surprise.

"I do reckon that whatever might happened, it is not Ryuuji-san fault, if nothing, it could be attributed to something that he inherited from his ancestors." She paused briefly as she eyed with a complicated gaze at Ryuuji.

'It's not his fault what happened.' was all she could say to herself as she continue fighting back those same feeling that were descript previously.

"I know of someone that might know what happened to you and how to fix it, but it all remains in the realm of 'if' as I cannot assure you anything on their behalfs." As she finished saying that she returned back to her silent self.

The people in the room looked over her with surprised expression on their faces.

"What do you mean by that? Who's this person?" Inquired Ryuuji.

Sarui met his gaze for a moment, and the desperate look on his face made her reminisce of her own self. Yet the same loathe quickly prevented her from continuing sympathize with him.

"Well, he is a capable monk and he's the only person I could think off that might have an idea of what happened to you, yet like I said, there's various 'if' in the middle." She moved her gaze away from him, unable to continue look at him if she wanted to remain level head.

Minami's eyes seemed to lit up in acknowledgement, while Syntax quickly added to Sarui's words.

"That 'if' is what he needs... No, what we need to know, as he is right now it's a matter of time until raises a problem within the village or someone else's attempt to his life." Syntax couldn't continue with his words as Ryuuji cut him off.

"Someone has already tried to kill me." Hearing his words, only Ruka looked at him back with clear concern on her eyes, while the rest seemed unfazed by it.

"Well... more the reason in that case, you cannot continue to stay here nor any place if you expect to live." He looked over at Ryuuji once again and said to him in a chilling tone "I'm sure the only reason you're still alive in front of us, it's because every single person in this room has some sort of respect and appreciation towards you." His words made the whole room felt chilly.

"...indeed..." and Seto's agreement only further worsened the situation.

Ryuuji remained looking at Syntax, as silence deafened the room.

It was finally Minami, who keep looking at Ryuuji all this time and didn't uttered a word that decided to say "We're indebted to you and the least I could do is lending a hand towards you during this time, but I have to agree with Mr. Syntax on this matter, you cannot stay in the village with your situation."

She bit on her lips as she lowered her head "And I'm sorry for that since I was the one that did this to you, but the village well being is before anything, and is my duty to ensure the safety of it."

Ryuuji looked away from Syntax and smiled at Minami as he replied with a calm voice "It's not your fault Minami, we really don't know what happened and what you're asking makes a lot of sense. I don't want to make the situation more complicated than it already is, so I'd better set off in the direction of this monk."

Saying the latter, he turned to look at Sarui and continued "If it wouldn't be too much trouble to ask you for your guide in this one."

Sarui shook her head as she avoided his gaze as she replied "It won't be a problem."

With a pat on his lap, Ryuuji sentenced "Very well, I'll try to leave tonight as soon as possible so we avoid even more inconveniences. I'm very sorry about what happened."

With these last words, Ryuuji rose to his feet and grabbed Ruka's hand as he backed into the backyard of his house, leaving the rest in the middle of the living room with complicated expressions.

"As much as my head understands that boss is still the same, I can't help but want to cut off his head and spit on every word he says." Stenn expressed with deep dismay.

"Well, it is more than clear that there is something else that caused us this reaction, boss does not deserve that we let go of his hand even in this situation, so I hope and know how to accompany him during this trip, today more than ever is when he needs us the most." Masaru raised his voice as he looked at each of the individuals in the room.

Minami turned around and with a pained expression left the house in the direction of Asa's house, with the clear intention of updating the others on what happened.

While Syntax watched Minami's figure disappear, he he lost himself into his own thoughts. Thinking through various scenarios and theories.

Observing the situation in the room, Sarui decided to remain silent as she looked for a place to sit in the meantime since she was appointed to lead them.

...

"Thank you for not being against me." Ryuuji said to Ruka while hugging her, letting the tension being washed away in her warmth as she returned back the hug.

"I could never, I failed you once and I wouldn't commit the same mistake twice." Was all Ruka answered as she nustled her face on his neck. Being successful in overcoming the gut wrenching feeling of repugnance over him.

Something she thought that would've never felt on her life.

Yet, even when touching him pained her, she didn't even flinched and gave him the reassurance he needed.

Breaking the hug, Ryuuji leaned over her and asked her with concern "How are you feeling? And what about your wounds? I don't think you recovered yet." He finished that eyeing her countenance after seeing some small twitches when she moved.

When Ruka saw the saddened look on Ryuuji's eyes, she didn't bother answering his questions and cupped his face with her hands while assuring him "You don't need to worry Ryuuji, we're going to fix this and if that's not possible, know that you'll always have me by your side."

Hearing Ruka's sweet and comforting words, a small smile formed on Ryuuji's face as he brought their foreheads together, and raised his hands to caress Ruka's cheeks as well.

"I really appreciated not only your words, but knowing that you will be there for me, thank you Ruka." and with these words, Ryuuji kissed Ruka's head, right where her horns were once severed.

She, far from feeling the same feeling of disgust that she felt moments before, only felt her entire being shudder and melt in Ryuuji's warmth.

Closing her eyes, Ruka enjoyed the gesture until Ryuuji's deep, husky voice asked her again "But you haven't told me how you are, I wouldn't want you to be straining while you're hurt."

With a goofy smile the only thing that Ruka answered was "I'm where I want to be, and I couldn't be better elsewhere than here."

Smiling at her answer, Ryuuji enjoyed the small moment of peace.

It was comforting for him to know that someone will hold him dear amidst the entire world loathing him.