(BL) Hunting The Field Guide novel Chapter 46

Chapter 46: A weird friend

While Kellen sat in a daze, trying to stop his nose from bleeding, the three powerhouses had a rather serious conversation to the side. Kellen kept an ear out for what they were speaking about, since they weren’t being quiet, and was able to gather quite a bit of information.

Turns out, this was a planned attack. The group who attacked were an Esper organization that hates Guides. In fact, they had been aiming for all of the Guiding Centers, with Guiding Center A being their first target. Their belief was that Guides had too much power now, and Espers had none. Kellen found that ridiculous.

That was rich, considering in the past Guide’s had been treated like objects. Some still were. The crimes committed against Guides were still high, since most Guides were paired with Espers who were known to be stronger, and legitimately prone to insanity without the proper care. Sometimes even with the proper care.

Either way, Kellen was disgusted with their fucked up beliefs. So were the three Captains, who all seemed to be quite angry. The only reason their plan hadn’t gone the way they wanted was because they had a sudden meeting at the D.E.C. that hadn’t been disclosed to the public. The group had wanted to attack on a day when the powers weren’t downtown, making everyone think they were weak. Kellen was sure that had backfired, given the incredible display of powers from the Captain and Captain Sergei. But, that didn’t solve the problem that they were facing. This was the first time a group like them had actually attacked their city. They had heard about it happening elsewhere, but now it was at their front door. The Captain’s now needed to decide what they were going to do. Like the Captain had said, there had been casualties, and that was only going to spur on both sides. The extremists would use it as fodder to feed their crazed doctrine, and the regular folks would use it to try and wipe out the extremists. It was going to be a headache.

The sound of crunching gravel signified more people approaching. Kellen looked up and froze. Oh shit. The one person he didn’t like seeing when he wasn’t at his full strength.

It was the Captain of the Peach Guild.

The woman was the definition of feminine, often found wearing flowers in her hair. She was 6’2 without heels, and 6’5 with them. She had long limbs, dainty features, and long, pink hair. She hadn’t always had pink hair, and in fact dyed it quite often, but the colour went well with her blue eyes. Along with the dozens of accessories she wore, she was the perfect image of a woman. Kellen had known her since they were in high school, long before either of them had awoken their powers. The only reason Kellen wasn’t comfortable with her was the simple fact that she looked at him like she was a five course meal and she was starving.

No, it wasn’t romantic. Kellen was certain of that. Freaked out at one point, he had directly asked and she had seemed appalled that he had thought so low of her. No, she was after Kellen because of his body. He knew that she wanted something from him in regards to him physically, but he had never figured out what. He knew though that she had wanted him to be her exclusive Guide. Kellen had been glad they had never gotten tested, and he knew from the few times he had guided her in emergency situations that they weren’t as compatible as she wanted them to be.

Kellen watched the group approach as Captain Sakura glanced over the three men with disinterest. Beside her was her favourite lieutenant, and Hill. All three women seemed exhausted, but when Captain Sakura’s gaze landed on Kellen, she lit up. She bounced over the Kellen without a second thought. Kellen prepared himself.

"Kellen! My little honey bunch! What happened to you? I didn’t think I’d see you around here!" She cried, and before she could even get close enough to touch him, the Captain was there to intercept her.

"Honey bunch? Please refrain from calling another Espers’ pair like that, Captain Sakura." Sakura blinked, before giggling, smiling at the Captain and gently slapping his shoulder.

"Oh, you know I didn’t mean anything by it, right Captain Thatcher? I’ve known Kellen since we were kids, and it’s been such a long time since I last saw him. I was just excited. Forgive me?" Kellen would trust her giggling, ditzy act, but he knew her. She’d made every single mean girl in their high school cry tears, and sent more than one of them to the hospital after her awakening. Hell, even before her awaking too. Captain stared at her when she didn’t back down.

"No, I don’t know that. I don’t care if you two knew each other in the past, Mr. Woods is my pair and I would like you to treat him with the respect he is owed. Everyone here is well acquainted with him, yet you are the only one treating him this way." Sakura pouted, clearly upset that he hadn’t fallen for her tricks. Kellen was sure it worked on lesser folks. Even Sakura’s lieutenant had to turn her head to the side to hide her smile.

"Awe, you’re so mean Captain Thatcher. I just wanted to say hi." Captain wasn’t budging.

"You can say hi from there." He told her, and the two of them stared each other down. Kellen could tell that the both of them were flexing their powers simply from the fact that Sakura’s eyes changed to the light grey of her powers, and the reaction from the others around them. Kellen coughed, knowing he was going to have to be the one to break this tension. Having two sets of S Class Espers’ eyes on him made him sweat, and he coughed again.

"Captain, I ran out of shakes. Could you be a darling and ask Hill if she could grab me a couple more?" Sakura’s eyes widened at the way Kellen spoke. "And maybe a cloth to clean up the blood?" Her expression froze.

"Blood? Where are you injured? Who injured you?" Her voice dropped, and Kellen could feel the wind around them begin to pick up. Normally, she used her powers to spread flower petals, like her name suggested. Kellen laughed.

"Oh, it’s nothing like that, Captain Sakura. I just over exerted myself since there was such a large incident and there were so few Espers around to help." She stumbled as if Kellen had struck her. She had grown up with him. She knew what he wasn’t saying. "But we can’t blame anyone. After all, we had the Captain here helping, along with Captain Sergei and Captain Tom." He smiled and she stared at him, her eyes turning back to their blue shade.

"You know I would have been here if I could have Kellen. I was busy with my own work." She was upset by Kellen’s words, but he only smiled at her warmly.