Shady Dealings

Junko yawned as he walked away, and decided to look for some place to hunker down for a nap. He was in the mood for someplace sunny and looked for a decent building to scale. Being a Hunter, reaching roof tops wasn't much of a problem what with his jumping range and sharp claws. He found a building only a couple stories tall and leaped up from window ledge to window ledge until he reached the roof. Junko yawned and flopped down before dozing off.

Jiji Managed to catch Tyler before he really got out of her reach. The young Hunter, though caught in his tracks, babbled his baby nonsense cheerfully. He was in a happy mood, with having this nice shiny "whaj" thing and his new "best friend" the "story-telling-guy-with-the-pretty-shiny-stuff". Jiji held Tyler close with a firm grip to be sure he couldn't get away from her this time.

"So that pretty watch belongs to your friend? Let's give it back~" She said with a smile, it then hit her. Returning the watch meant confronting that Hunter again and that was exactly what she wanted to avoid! But she just couldn't live down with ignoring the opportunity to give back what was not hers and keep it instead. That was clearly stealing. As much as she wanted to just leave the watch behind, go home, and assume he'd find it, even that didn't pass through her conscience as "honest". She had to give it back personally. Plus... I guess he wasn't such a bad guy... he considered Tyler a "friend". Then again, so would a pedo! She sighed, it didn't matter if he was a freak'n devil who was out to devour your soul, it HAD to be returned.

Jiji then started sniffing about for the Hunter. After a few minutes she eventually found him sleeping on a rooftop.

"Hey..." She spoke up with a subtle hint of uncertainty. Tyler had fallen asleep in her arms as a small bundle of warmth during the trip.

Junko's response was a loud snore and rolling so he looked like a heap of cloth and hair. Not that he didn't before, but he balled up with his back to Jiji which hid any exposed flesh. He was one of those sleepers who could sleep through a hurricane, but tap him and he's up like a startled deer.

Though Jiji didn't know he was easy to wake up, she looked around and noticed a spare brick. She quite gingerly picking it up.

"I said, Hey!" She then chucked it at Junko's rib, hopefully not throwing it too hard. She bit her lip nervously as she suddenly realized what she was doing right when she was already throwing the darn thing.

"He's not a grouchy waker, is he?" were her thoughts at that split second. From her experience back during the apocalypse days, waking someone from their sleep was usually a bad idea. Some were more than just grouchy, they were terribly aggressive as they would get in an angry fit and try to kill the person who interrupted their sleep. That was usually the case with Tanks, Chargers, occasionally Hunters, rarely with Smokers, but most almost absolutely a death sentence with Witches... But this wasn't the Apocalypse or the Savage Zone... was it going to be okay? She immediately backed off away from Junko just in case.

Junko yelped when the brick hit him, jolting awake. His natural instincts said "run or it'll happen again." As a result, he scrabbled onto all fours and skittered off the roof, landing hard on a dumpster below. He grunted on impact and rolled off before running away.

Well, that was almost unexpected. She gave chase after the hunter, following from above from roof to roof.

"Hey! Come back! You forgot something, Darn it!" Dang, this guy STANK BAD now that she really thought about it. Sure, after the apocalypse such smells weren't that bothersome anymore, but you'd think you'd aught to be running away from a gross-smelling guy that looked like a street bum rather than chase after him. Oh well, like was full of irony, and she loved that. Her main concern now was whether this ruckus would wake up Tyler or not, and then of course, getting the watch back to the dude.

"Come on! Stop running! I'm not here to kill you or anything!"

"Why the crap was he running?" She thought. Sure, she already had a few guesses why, but she wanted to know for certainty. Though she was rusty and therefore not as fast as she use to be during the apocalypse, she still had some oomph in her, at least she could keep up with him, right?

Junko didn't have much energy in him due to being inactive for so long. He started panting heavily relatively quickly and collapsed. "Damned...punk kids..." he huffed. He clearly didn't realize the real cause of his "troubles" was Jiji. It wasn't uncommon for adolescents to bother him though, kids can be cruel some times.

"Punk!?" Jiji exclaimed almost insulted as she finally landed before the large hunter. Sure, she was very short and young-looking for her age, but punk?!

"Of all the nerve!" Jiji thought in annoyance,

"I go through all the trouble of not only fetching my son but returning this stupid pocket watch to this pile of rags and he calls me a PUNK?? Wait, okay! Calm down! You don't know why he called you that, I mean, it's not like he called you his whore, right? Right... okay... just forget it and give him the watch already, polite and quickly."

"You forgot something, I think. Is this yours?" She held up the nice old pocket watch in front of the male hunter, almost expecting him to lie that he owns it but at the same time mentally reminding herself the watch did in fact smell like Junko in the first place.

Junko sat up and looked around before standing up, swaying slightly. "Huh? I forgot...?" He scratched his head before moving his bangs out of his eyes to help hims see. His dull brown eyes quickly spotted the watch and the result was a cocked brow.

"I didn't forget it. Gave it to the kid since I got a bunch more. S'a bit broke anyway, gotta whack it to get it ticking again," he said with a yawn. He then paused and frowned. "Wait....are YOU the one who attacked me and chased me down...?" he asked with a slightly annoyed tone. He wasn't fond of the idea of his ribs getting bruised just because of a broken watch.

Jiji paused a bit, remember what she did.

"Er, it was a brick, okay? I was just trying to get your attention was all... eh... sorry about that... um........" There was a long pause.

"...... Yeah....... Well, here's your watch anyway." She tossed the watch back towards Junko.

"Okay, well, that's settled. Bye, have a nice day... or something..." Just as she was about to leap away all the way home, Tyler slipped out of her arms and hopped over to Junko, hugging his arm. He had heard the metal clinking of the watch when it fell and thus it got his attention.

"Sdah-wee!" He chirped as if thinking that was Junko's name. Jiji stared back with wide eyes at Tyler, the kind of eyes that could easy say "Crap, I'm busted now".

Junko had a bit of a snarl as Jiji revealed she WAS the one who threw the brick, and twitched when she threw the watch he said he gave to Tyler. His snarl turned to a smile when Tyler hopped out of seemingly nowhere though. "Hahaha, there yah are kiddo," he said and patted Tyler's head. He found it hard to stay mad when the energetic kid was around.

"Here, this is yours," he said and placed the watch in Tyler's hands. "Be a good kid, ok? No chasing white rabbits about or your mom'll worry, alright?" He then stood up and left, waving over his shoulder to say good-bye.

Jiji watched as this man kindly and willingly gave the watch to her little boy.

"He seem to be a good man after all... I guess...." She couldn't help but feel very guilty for giving back the watch and try to leave as a means of having nothing to do with him so rudely... it was then she got an idea. She quickly picked up her child into her arms and called out to the dirty-looking Hunter.

"Wait! I'm sorry about this whole mess... I can't thank you enough, really... um, would you like to stay for a few days?"

"WHAT are you DOING?? This man lives in the streets for crying out loud! Let alone, a dumpster! All sorts of scum come from there, and you're willing to bring him home so he can make messes and probably steal what little you have? What if he's a pedophile?? What if he's only nice because Tyler is a helpless baby? Think of what he could do to him behind your back! Oh, calm down, there you go again! Must I remind you there is good in all people and this man has proven just that! I don't think he's likely to hurt Tyler any time soon... tch, for now. Ugh, didn't you see how friendly he was to Tyler? What kind of creep would give away something like that to a kid? Besides, giving him a place to stay for a few days is the LEAST I could do to thank him for watching over him before he got into any danger! Have a heart, will ya? Well, not everyone wants a home, Oh hush up! If he refuses, HE'S GET'N A HOME ANYWAY, ha ha. Wow, I'm insane, aren't I? I don't know, maybe you are if you seriously are considering taking a man that smells like the worst of things home. Huh, maybe. Oh well."

Junko stared at Jiji for a few minutes, stunned at her offer. Then his mouth began to twitch into a grin before he burst out laughing. Very loudly. To the point he started coughing and wheezing. "Y-you serious? Ahahaha! Y-you'd invite ME into your HOUSE?!" It took a few more minutes for him to calm down and catch his breath. "Ah, that was a good one...er...sorry, but I'm going to have to decline." Junko shuffled his weight from one foot to the other.
"Y'see, I'm not exactly an...'indoors' guy anymore. Sorta just feels...weird now," Junko said with a shrug. "Was nice meetin' yah though." He turned and started walking away again.

Suddenly Jiji POUNCED Junko's back, sending him flat to the ground on his stomach.

"You UNGRATEFUL lousy LOUT! You are staying at least ONE NIGHT whether you like it or NOT! Besides, how else can I thank you for being so kind to my kid? huh? HUH?? Now ACCEPT my generous offer like a gentleman and get up!". She then hopped off of him and let Tyler climb onto her back for a piggy back ride.

"Stoh-wee, mah!" He giggled before trying to clap his hands.

Junko grunted in confusion at being pounced and refused to get up. The contact would probably make Jiji smell fairly bad due to Junko never washing. He made his opinion noted and if he was going any where it was as dead weight. "Don't have to thank me. Did it cuz he's a good kid," he said bluntly.

Jiji somewhat narrowed his eyes at him, my GOSH he smelled bad. He seriously needed a bath!

"Well, what if I want to thank you even if I don't have to? Besides, it really really really really... really means a lot to me that Tyler is safe. You have absolutely no idea how much. and BECAUSE I'm so indebted to you, I INSIST on thanking you SOMEHOW! Okay?" She refused to get up as she waited for his answer, Tyler was still clinging to her back in sleep.

"I don't need thanks. Kid was fun to talk to so I kept him safe. It was nothing," Junko said with a snort. He continued to lay on the ground like a big, hairy lump. Just the IDEA of going to some person he just met's house made him uncomfortable.