He really hadn't expected Kenji to tackle him. A grunt issued forth from his lips as that wolf slammed into him. He struggled to get up almost immediatly, but Kenji was quick and that knee on his chest kept him down. Krinn stopped struggling for now at least. He did listen as Kenji spoke. And sighed lightly.

"I don't care if you want to be the Alpha. Take it, the position is open. But I am leaving. I can't stay with you. I can't stay with people that are only going to get themselves killed by acting rash. Both of you could have been killed easily, effortlessly if Alderan had wanted to." He frowned a bit. "I'm glad that you can protect your female..I lack the ability to protect anyone and so I can't stay with you and watch as you both get killed in the name of 'protecting' me or 'fighting' for me." Krinn's head fell back, hitting the floor a bit hard when Kenji let go and got up, now offering his hand. Krinn took it and pulled the wolf down, ontop of him but he rolled so that now he had Kenji pinned down. "I am alone. I will always be alone and it is my own fault. I am not fit to be around anyone, I only get people harmed. No..No you are not burdensome, but I am. I am a heavy burden." He stood, once again moving towards the door.

Kenji groaned, actually having expected Krinn to pull him down too. He rolls into it, keeping himself from being hurt. When Krinn was done talking and stood up to walk away again, Kenji kicked his feet, whipping himself around on the worn polished floor, his fur helping him slide around. He grabs Krinn's ankles and pulls harshly, dropping the stubborn thickhead to the floor once more. With a growl, he leaps upon him, flips him over, and presses him into the floor viciously. "You are not hearing me! You're not listening! You will listen to me now! You will hear me now!"

Kenji wasn't merely straddling him like he'd done before. He knew the only reason he'd had him last time was because Krinn let himself be pinned. This time, he pushes down on Krinn's arms and legs at the same time, crouched in such a manner that he truly looked like a wolf that had taken down it's prey...and was yelling at it. "You are not acting your age, old man. You're being childish. And I'm tried of it. I'm tired of you claiming defeat, claiming that you're the burden, that you have to protect us, that you're the almighty rogue wolf who clearly knows more simply because he's two hundred years old! I'm sick of it! You will listen to me now! You will hear me, and you will understand me, am I clear?"

He doesn't await an answer. Instead, he gets off Krinn, grabbing him by the throat, and lifts him off the floor like he was a rag doll. Once up, he pins Krinn against a nearby wall, not caring about anyone who might be staring at him in fear. It wasn't often he got to use his elven strength unless he was toppling a tree for firewood. "You've been using the same bull ever since I followed you to fight with Alderan by the stream. You've been claiming one stupid thing or the other the entire trip since you joined with us. We like you, we want you here and we want you to stay safe. Not once did we ever say, 'oh no, we're going to die, Krinn save us'! We WANT you with us. It doesn't matter if you turn into our weakest link, though given that Yuzo doesn't seem to reliable in fight..."

Really he should've expected that Kenji wasn't about to let him just walk away. He hit the floor with a wince, and didn't really have time to think or struggle before Kenji had flipped him over and pinned him rather efficiently. He wriggled his body a bit, mostly because being pressed into the floor like this was uncomfortable and he wanted to see how much he could actually struggle...Not enough to do any good..

"Kenji.." His words were lost, Kenji had taken him by the throat and pinned him against the wall. He was beginning to get another headache. His eyes didn't meet Kenji's looking away and down from the younger wolf. He grit his teeth, forcing his body to relax in Kenji's grip. His lips moved for a moment and then stopped. He didn't really know what he could say...actually...there wasn't much he could say. Kenji was right..more or less..He nodded slightly. Hoping that would be enough to get Kenji to let him go.

Then he noticed it. The entire Inn had gone quiet. Everyone was staring at them. Some of them looking as if they wanted to join the fight but not sure who they should jump in to attack. Krinn shivered and wriggled a bit.

Yuzo could barely keep himself from choking on his honey tea in surprise when the recovering wolf made a mad dash for the door. He turned to put the cup down on the table when Kenji followed Krinn out the door, listening as he assigned Merisa to him once more. After wiping the tea from his mouth, he turned around to see where they were, or rather weren't, and his eyes landed on the satchel of money the elder wolf had left on the bed.

"Where's Korai?" he heard Merisa say, yet he was as puzzled as she was about where the little one had gone off to.

Instead of answering her question,Yuzo picked up the money from his bed and tossed it once playfully before turning to Merisa. "Maybe we should return this to it's owner." he said, having faith that Kenji would stop Krinn. Soon a loud crash was heard from the lower level of the inn when Kenji had landed from his high dive and Yuzo went out to investigate. He didn't need to go far from the room, however, to hear the loud heart to heart talk the two wolves were having. Words were accompanied by sounds of scuffling on the floor and the prince could only surmise that they were doing more than just talking. Patiently he listened while Kenji convinced Krinn to stay with them. He even heard the comment the younger wolf made about him. 'Hey, I resent that...' he thought with a smile, but either way it was true that he had been a little too pacifistic. Not that there was anything wrong with it.

Downstairs, the other inn goers had stopped their activities to watch the two struggle against each other. They were surprised, not only by the fact that someone had come falling from the second floor but also by the fact that it appeared to be a werewolf. Some tried staying away from the young looking boy and the wolf-man as they fought while others got closer. They thought that the beast was going to tear the teen to shreds but were startled when the apparent werewolf began to talk. They stayed where they were, silent until the two had finished and finally noticed who was around them.

"Hey," one man said with a little nervousness as he finally summed up the courage to step forward, albeit slightly. "Keep your pet out of the city. Werewolves are too dangerous to be allowed in here." He was directing this request and statement at the human looking one. While it looked like others agree with him, there were some who did not see a potential threat, but rather, a prize to be killed and whose odd black-blue pelt could be sold for a high price.

Kenji shakes Krinn again, ignoring the looks and comments behind him. His back fur along his spine was raised in a line, indication that he wasn't playing around. His fingers tighten reflexively as he shakes Krinn, but that wasn't something he had much control over. "I'm not done with you, Krinn. You will not forget this moment. I'd hate to have to repeat it." He lowers Krinn to the floor, removing his hand from around the elder wolf's neck and turns to face the crowd with a growl rising in his throat.

"What makes you think I'm the werewolf? This change is recent. Shall I change more for you? This scared pup against the wall will attest to what sets the change in motion. Shall I change for you?" As he was speaking, the growl was mixing more in his words. "The scared little dragon saw me change with his own eyes." Kenji's words were becoming more resounding in force as the fur began to ripple toward a change in his physique.

When Yuzo left the room and followed Korai to the main floor, four stories down, Merisa followed behind, but didn't make herself known, even though she was sure that Yuzo knew she followed. She was hiding among the shadows of the stairwell, watching Kenji yell at Krinn, and while it hurt her to see the cobalt male get yelled at like that, she knew Kenji did it for Krinn's own good.

But when Kenji turned to the crowd and openly asked for a fight, she sprang, literally, into action and leaped over the crowd to land between Kenji and the angry onlookers. "Kenji, no! They aren't going to bother you if you don't bother them." She looks past Kenji at Krinn, but continues speaking to Kenji. "Why don't you collect Krinn and we can take this back to the room where you can pummel sense into him in private and let these kind people get back to their evening."

One of the faces in the crowd looked out, watching the changing elves with widened eyes. "Amazing. They're shifting." Kiyoshi vanishes into the crowd once more, not letting himself be known as he watches the elves.

Kenji nods to Merisa, "Yes, you're right. I'm sorry, I was still angry at Krinn." He grabs Krinn around the waist, lifts him like a sack of potatoes, and heads back to the stairway once more.

Oh no, I don't want to think about what I have to fix... Why do injuries always follow you guys everywhere you go? Korai was resting on Krinn's body as it draped over Kenji's shoulder.

Krinn didn't want to fight Kenji and he didn't want to fight a group of drunken people. When he was let down, he didn't move. He didn't want to fight and he could have slipped out the door while Kenji was distracted but he didn't feel like dealing with an angrier Kenji. He rubbed his throat lightly and frowned deeply. Krinn didn't seem to be damaged much. A few bruises here and there, he closed those light blue eyes for a moment and opened them when he heard Merisa's voice. Looking up at her for a moment, and then his body tensed as Kenji had picked him up, slung him over a shoulder and headed back upstairs.

Krinn only sighed lightly and reached down and ran his fingers over Kenji's tail. Or rather, the part of it he could reach. He was silent.

"I think you'll have to get used to it Korai." Yuzo advised to the little dragon. "Especially since they look like they'll be attracting a lot of attention now." He peeked down at the crowd of people as he said this. Some were watching the group head up while others had moved on with their business. There was a mix of anxious and amused faces. Yuzo returned up the stairs with the rest of the group, having moved only when Kenji, Merisa and Krinn had gotten close enough to his position.

Kenji was talking to Krinn while walking, every now and then jostling him to remind the elder wolf that he was still mad at him. "When is it going to occur to you that having friends is not a bad thing? When are you going to realize that we don't want you around for your fighting expertise, or anything else, we want you here for you being here." He shakes Krinn just hard enough that Korai takes flight briefly before landing on Krinn's butt again. "Are you understanding what I'm telling you, or are you just ignoring it as the ramblings of a younger wolf that hasn't learned his place yet?"

Merisa was walking just behind Kenji, watching Krinn fondling her wolf's tail. "Krinn, we care about you. I know it was only a short time that you joined us, but we like you. That's why we want you here. We don't need you to protect us, we're learning how to fight on our own. We just want you with us." She leans over, looking Krinn in the eyes as he bounces up the stairs on Kenji's shoulder. "You know Kenji won't let you leave like you've been trying to go."

As Korai was sitting on Krinn's butt, he was slowly seeping healing magic into the elder wolf's damaged human body. Why do you keep doing things that get you hurt? I'm not really good at healing yet, but at least you're giving me good practice.

Down below, in the Inn's lobby, Kiyoshi politely persuaded the other guests of the establishment to go about the rest of their business without pursuing the changelings. "Does anyone else want to mess with me?! You know who my father was, you know who I am, and you know what I can do. Don't make me do it again! You all leave them be!" He drops the last fight-seeker, turning toward the stairs even as the body falls limp and unconscious to the floor. His claws recede and his tail vanishes as he follows the group up the stairs, staying a couple flights behind them. His eyes are the last to change, going from fiery purple back to their normal silvery blue.

He would grunt occasionaly at the jostling that happened every now and then. For a few moments though that seemed to be his only response to Kenji's words. His eyes were on the floor, sometimes Kenji's tail, and he still ran his fingers over that soft fur. Krinn sighed. A very deep sigh.

That gaze flickered up to Merisa's face and with his other hand he reached out as if he were going to pet her softly on the head, but he let his hand drop. He wriggled and squirmed just a little in Kenji's grip but didn't really try to get away from him. "Everyone needs to be protected, Kitten. Be it from outside forces or themselves, and I know I cannot protect you from yourselves." He squirmed again, raising his head and turning, trying to look at Korai. "You don't need to do that..really. Bruises and scars are evidence of lessons learned. Usually." He was frowning just a little bit.

I do it for the same reason that Kenji wouldn't let you leave the way you wanted to go. I want you safe, I want you happy, and I want you to stay with us. We might be selfish, but you seemed happier earlier, before Alderan showed up and these two changed. You seemed like you were having fun being with us. I want you to be alright, Krinn. The little dragon was crying as he continued to seep healing magic into the wolf. Little tears fell from his eyes, sparkling in the meager light as they fell to Krinn's bare back.

"Who said you can't protect us from ourselves? It's not your fault we changed like this." Merisa stayed behind Kenji, but not so that she could see Krinn eye to eye anymore, since it was hard to walk like that.

Kenji shakes his head, resisting the urge to snicker. "Please stop petting me, Krinn. It feels weird and it tickles."

A yawn escaped from the dragon prince's mouth. It had been a long and rather exciting day. It was about time to actually use the good beds Krinn had so graciously paid for. Of course, the food still needed to be finished. That wouldn't take too long though. " And also, protecting people isn't just about physical strength you know. Trust is important too. Like trusting people to be able to take care of themselves or trusting people to be able to take care of you. Even guardians can't protect their wards if there's no mutual faith between the two parties." It was only after he said this that he noticed Korai was crying. "Hey, don't cry." he tried to comfort the little healer. "I'm sure Krinn understands." He smiled at his green friend as he said this but soon looked to the side and below in surprise. Out of the corner of his eye, he thought he saw some scaly wings and possibly a reptilian tail on the first floor of the inn. But when he looked, it was gone. "That's odd.." he said to himself, before continuing on up. He didn't realize that his hallucination had changed back to its human form and would follow up the stairs behind them.

Krinn shook his head some at Korai's words. "There's only one thing that could ever make me happy again.." The hand he wasn't using to pet Kenji's tail clenched into a tight fist. The hand that was petting Kenji's tail had stopped. Only for a few moments and Krinn's body relaxed again and those fingers ran along the soft fur of Kenji's tail some more. Those eyes had flickered to Yuzo. "I'm not worthy of anyone's trust. I'll only disappoint."

"...Maybe.." He frowned again, in response to Merisa's words, and when Kenji requested that he stop the petting, Krinn reached down with his other hand and ran those fingers through Kenji's fur as well. Petting with both hands now. "I'm calming you down..see?" That frown momentarily turned to a light smile with those words.

Kenji stops just as soon as he reaches the top floor, the fur along his spine jacking up again. "Maybe you were, but your comment changed that." He lifts Krinn off his shoulder and holds him as though he were a toddler or a puppy. In the process of movement, Korai falls off and flitters to Merisa's arms where she hold him and comforts him. "What is wrong with your twisted brain that you have to keep spewing out swamp gasses like that? Why must you foul the air with such awful words such as those? Do you like making us think that being near us is the worst punishment that could be brought upon you?" He'd begun to shake Krinn in emphasis with his words. If Krinn were a child, Kenji could be in serious trouble.

Does he hate us? Is that why he doesn't want to be around us? He wants to leave so badly, is it my fault? Is it because I showed up? Even the Great Dragon implied that I'm a burden on this party. He said I wasn't strong enough yet. Is that why Krinn hates us? Because of me? Korai was crying harder, not being soothed by Merisa, even though she did try.

"I wonder why Krinn doesn't just go wolf and avoid this altogether..." Merisa was running a finger down Korai's back, trying to calm the hiccuping little critter. "Shh, honey. Calm. That's right, calm."

Just a flight below them, Kiyoshi waits in silence. Now was not the right time to announce that he'd like to join them.

'Oh boy...' Yuzo thought. 'If there isn't one depressed, there's one mad.' He was happy when they reached the floor where their rooms were at.
"Maybe we all need to calm down." he suggested. Not that it would help the situation much. "Or maybe we're all just tired and cranky..." he muttered as an after thought. "We should probably call it a night. Please stop shaking him Kenji. You might hurt him worse than that white tiger." He turned to also try and comfort Korai but it looked like any words wouldn't stop the young one now. It was probably best to let him cry it out of his system. That always worked for his baby brothers.

He turned his head to the side, not looking at Kenji. "My brain isn't twisted, just my soul and spirit. Besides..I never once said I didn't want to be around you..I just..think..it's better if I'm alone." He bit his bottom lip and sighed softly. "However, if you really want me to stay.." He lifted his head to look at Kenji. His gaze strong and fierce. "You'll stop man handling me. I'm not some domesticated dog, I am a wolf, I am wild and feral....The only reason I haven't fought back against you is for fear that I might hurt you." His eyes had narrowed. Krinn was tired. Mostly tired of being man handled and partly tired of just...well..existing.

Korai was upset and that was his fault. His fierce gaze wavered then fell completely. He was defeated. He sighed..a very deep sigh.

Kenji sets Krinn down, watching him and waiting for him to bolt again. They weren't in the rooms yet, but he didn't doubt that Krinn would want to run all the same. "How can I 'man' handle one who claims to be a wild and feral wolf? Wouldn't that be wolf handling?" There was no child-like wonder tones in his voice, as he wasn't actually asking a question. His tone was sarcastic, his voice full of mirth, and his expression was a slight sneer. He kept waiting for Krinn to bolt. "And speaking of 'feral', why is it that you let yourself be caught so easily if you wanted to leave so bad?" He pokes a toe claw into the wood floor, marring the surface. "I didn't shake you hard..."

He doesn't like us... He wants to leave because he's tired of playing up to the lie of liking us... Korai was still crying, but he was curled up in Merisa's arms, nearly all of him hidden from sight except for the wings poking up and the feet poking down. I'll bet its my fault.

Behind the party, Kiyoshi emerges from the stairs and leans against a wall unnoticed.

Krinn couldn't help himself..he had become agitated and aggravated and annoyed at continously being man handled..but..He couldn't stop himself at Kenji's words, he couldn't fight it back. That fierce gaze and hardened look in his eyes completely broke. Replaced with a smile and laughter. Those eyes bright with amusement and those lips were parted as his gentle yet a bit uncontrollable laughter poured forth. The question had completely struck him as funny. Made even funnier by Kenji's seriousness.

Once his laughter was under control, a smile on his lips and those eyes twinkling with amuesment, he reached out to put his hands on Kenji's cheeks. Looking the wolf in the eyes. "You have a lot to learn pup..but it seems I do as well...Perhaps..we can teach other. It's what a pack does, afterall." One hand dropped and the other moved up to pet Kenji on the head softly. "You'll be a good pack leader."

That hand dropped and he was moving around Kenji, those arms out and he had grabbed Korai. Gently. Softly and brought the dragon up to be cuddled close to his face. "Shush now. I'm the only one in this pack allowed to feel sorry for himself." His words were very soft, an almost unnaturally gentle tone. He nuzzled his face against Korai's head. "I may be many things, Korai..But I do not lie. There's not point in it, and if I didn't like you..I could have killed Kenji when he tried to stop me. You are my friends, and I will not raise claw or fang against my friends." He nuzzled Korai again and then his tongue poked out to lick the dragon's cheek.

His voice lowered to a very low whisper though he assumed the others could hear him. "Besides..I like you the best of all. Your just the right size for holding and snuggling..See?" He planted a soft, gentle kiss on the top of Korai's head.

Merisa sighs deeply, her eyes rolling in an exaggerated manner. "Does that mean we can stop with the fighting thing and go to bed without having Krinn running off while we sleep?" When Krinn approached her, she allowed him to pull Korai from her arms, disentangling the little dragon from her shirt and arm fur.

Kenji was about to say something about being pet again, but he stopped when Krinn mentioned pack leader. "Will you be my Beta then? Will you help me and guide me when I do something wrong?" He followed Krinn with his gaze, his eyes were hopeful, but hesitant. "That would mean you'd have to stick around. Will you be Beta?"

Merisa moves beside Kenji, hugging his arm like she did in the room, leaning against him. "Please be Beta, Krinn."

Korai, when pulled from Merisa's grip, protested at first, not wanting to be snuggled then left again. He liked Krinn. He thought of the three changelings as his family, since he was clearly an orphan. Yuzo was more like a brother than a parent figure, but he was part of the family too. If you like me, then why did you want to leave me? He discreetly seeps healing magic into Krinn again. Korai merely wanted his family safe and allowing bruises weren't the way to keep them okay.

Kiyoshi was going to poke his head into the party discussion, but he knew better than to interrupt them when they were finally working things out. He sighs quietly and goes back into the stairwell. He was feeling dejected, rather hesitant to ask to join their party, and afraid they'd tell him to go home or go back to his shop.

It was good that he'd gone back to the stairs though, as some of the braver customers of the Inn had snuck up the four flights of stairs and were waiting to burst into the hall and overtake the furries with the expensive pelts. "I see. You were waiting for the wolf, is that it?" As he was speaking, his skin was hardening and turning a reddish purple. "Clearly you do not know who you are dealing with here. Let me educate you."

He looked at Merisa. His gaze sharp and swirling with a myriad of emotions. He looked as if he were going to say something but then thought better of it as his gaze shifted from Merisa to Kenji a soft smile on his lips. "For now, I suppose, pack leader." Then his attention was on Korai again. "It's complicated Little One...someday I'll explain everything...do you forgive me for being such a bad Uncle to you?" Once again Krinn was nuzzling against the dragon's head. Suddenly his own head jerked up. He heard something..no...he smelled something. It was both. "Something is happening behind us." His arms still around Korai, but now a bit protectively, a bit possesively.

Kiyoshi had wings, a tail, and claws now, and he'd thrown two of the fight-loving morons down to the main floor by dropping them in the shaft between the flights that Kenji had jumped down earlier. He'd taken a couple of hits against his side, a couple of cuts that seeped black blood along the purple scales, but nothing too major. He'd heal in a couple hours anyway, so nothing would come of the injuries. He leans against the wall, wrapping his wings about himself protectively, as he calms his nerves. He wasn't too fond of killing, but fighting came so easily for him. "Damn you father. Damn your blood."

Kenji looks to Krinn for reassurance. "Really? You'll help me out then?"

Korai was nuzzling Krinn's bare arm as he was held, trying to show him that he was wanted where he was. The Great Dragon said that you had to stay with us to the end, Krinn. That you'll find what you seek then.

Merisa was looking behind them, nearly hiding Kenji behind her, but she looked over at Korai as he spoke. "What great dragon?"

For a moment, his attention were on the things he heard. The scuffle or whatever it was..sounded like a fight to him. His eyes had narrowed a bit and then he relaxed, his attention on Kenji for a moment, long enough to give him a slight nod before he looked down at Korai. His entire body had stiffened, tensed for a moment at Korai's words. Those eyes widened for just a moment and he took a step back..though still holding Korai protectively, possesively and gently. "That's..." he frowned. It seemed his destiny was already laid out infront of him. Fate had already decided the pathways of his life before him. "....That's what Alderan told me...." His frown deepened.

As the three were having their heart to heart conversation in order to further convince Krinn to stay with the 'pack', the Water Dragon quietly listened. He kept his attention on their behaviors and took their words to heart as well. His heart was even relieved of anxiety when Krinn started laughing at Kenji and when Korai finally cheered up. But then, his attention was soon drawn away from the group when he heard someone talking at the stairs. When he went to look, he saw the helpful merchant from earlier but something was definitely off. He watched as the man grew scaly and a dark color covered his body. Wings and a tail protruded from his back. 'It can't be...' he thought, and watched as Kiyoshi -no, the NyteFyre Dragon, beat up a few armed men and dropped two of them over the side of the stairs. He was paralyzed with shock. Not only was the half-elf a half-dragon but his dragon half belonged to the NyteFyre Clan. A clan whose leader wished to subjugate the other clans and was currently at war with them. 'What should I do?' he asked himself, unsure if he should help a potential enemy. But the man was injured and some of his conscious opponents were climbing closer to him. Finally, Yuzo decided to jump between him and the other armed men and held out his staff horizontally before him. He just hoped it wasn't a bad decision. "What's a NyteFyre doing here?" he asked the merchant, keeping his eyes on the other men.

"I'm fighting off these wastes of flesh so that a party of changelings doesn't get killed and skinned for their pelts." Kiyoshi answered the question before actually looking up. He gasps and flinches his head to the side, hoping the killing blow wouldn't come. "Dragon prince! Please don't kill me, I just wanted to help... They were following the tiger and wolf..." He was still a dragon, still had his wings around his shoulders, and still hiding the most of his injuries from sight. When he saw danger approaching the royal dragon, he opens his wings, spreading them wide, and moves the dragon prince out of harms way, once more fighting to protect the party. Only once everyone was dead or unconscious did he collapse against the wall once more, wrapping his wings around himself again, hiding more wounds on his arms and sides.

In the hallway, Korai tells the others about his dream when he'd passed out. And the Great Dragon who spoke to me said that our party must defeat a great evil and that we would all find what we seek at the end of the adventure. The way it was worded, I think that it means we all have to stay together, or we won't find what our hearts desire.

"What we desire? You mean free shifting?" Kenji was looking at the little dragon, an odd look of mystery on his face.

Only Merisa looked to Kenji, silently thinking about what she desired at the end of the battle. Free shifting had been put on the back burner of her mind after having shifted more toward tiger to protect Krinn from Alderan.

"Hey!" Yuzo didn't like being pushed out of the way without warning, and on top of a flight of stairs too. Neither did he like it when Yoshi had killed some of the fighters when he could have easily knocked them out. His strength was nothing short of what one would expect from a NyteFyre even if he was injured. Bright green eyes gazed over the fallen bodies before turning to the dragon shielding itself with its wings. "There may be times when one definitely would need to kill but I don't believe this was a situation that called for such deadly force." he scolded. He could hardly believe himself. Lecturing a war-loving dragon on minimizing fatalities wasn't something that often, if ever, worked. It definitely didn't work for his aunt and uncles, ambassadors to the NyteFyre Family a while back. They're now soaring with the Great Dragon in the after life. He began climbing back up the stairs before stopping a step higher than the half-elf. "But thanks for helping us all the same." His expression softened back to its laid back state as he extended a hand to the wounded friend. Korai's skills are definitely being polished tonight.

Kiyoshi shakes his head, drawing within himself further. "They were knocked out twice already. They wouldn't have stopped. I didn't want to kill them. I hate killing. I hate fighting. Damn my father and his hateful blood. Damn him to the deepest level of hell." He slides down the wall, trailing a smear of black blood behind him. He came to rest in a crouching position with his tail between his legs. "I'm sorry to have moved you like that, he would have hurt you. The royal family shouldn't be harmed." When his head drooped forward, a mark on his neck stood out, a black mark that was imprinted on his scales. The mark of the NyteFyre royal family's insignia that all children of the royal line are imprinted with at birth. Now, given his wounds, the mark bled slightly, with a cross mark from a blade going through it.