That was perhaps the only word which could describe the neighbourhood at this time, when the sun was just beginning to rise.At the (uncivilized and insane) hour of 6am, majority of the students ought to have gone to school, but since the Break was still on, none of them were the least bit interested in waking up. Or waking someone up as a matter of fact.
Except of course for the occupants at the Flame Inn.
Already, the infamous blonde, Kyoyama Anna was long awake, dressed with the characteristic black dress, blue itako beads and of course, that vivid red bandana. At age 15, her features were still sharp and defined, the same way they were 2 years ago, the coldness of her personality was still there of course. No one could possibly forget how mean she acted, nor how sweet she can really be when she wanted to be nice... which was so rare it could probably be the human's equivalent to a solarstorm or something similar.
But, back to the story at hand.
Without hesitation, she twisted the doorknob, and entered the room. All light was denied from the room when the door was closed, she could tell, but she could change all that, and she sure was about to. Flinging open the tightly shut windows, she yanked the drapes apart, allowing the little light to stream in steadily.
A sharp hiss was heard behind her, and covers were jerked roughly above the head as though to defend themselves from the light, keeping the darkness retained. Immediately, Anna flared, hands automatically re-positioning themselves from the window to either hip, "Yoh, Hao!"
Immediately, the elder of the two was up, scrambling from his bed which was situated to the right of the room. In no mood to test his future sister-in-law's patience, which he knew from the previous years of experience, was not very long lasting. The younger however, only groaned something garbled and inaudible as he sunk deeper into his covers and pillows, ignoring everything from his side of the room - the left. Without asking, everyone knew what it meant: "5 more minutes, Anna.."
As always, Anna could have always asked..no, scratch that, commanded Hao to wake his younger brother, but she had her pride. No one, repeat, no one - in the right mind, of course - would dare disobey Kyoyama Anna unless the were attempting a show of bravado, were obviously not thinking straight or simply had a death-wish. Ripping off his blanket, ignoring his whimper as she did so, she seized her fiancé's shirt collar and proceeded to give him a good shake, ignoring his whimpering cries of 'I don't want to get up' and '5 more minutes'.
"Wake up, now," the tone held no room for any protests, and almost reluctantly, he opened his brown eyes, squinting as they adjusted to the light finally, as they focused clearly on the sharp thin face of his future spouse, a lazy grin flitted across his face.
"Ohayo, Anna," he greeted, almost cheerfully. Hao was eternally exasperated with the pure immaturity of his younger twin. He never seemed to 'grow up' or learn anything in his life that could help him evade trouble. It was a wonder he even managed to keep his nose clean all this while.
"Get dressed, both of you, the usual regime with an additional 20 push -ups since it took you forever to get up, and get the groceries while you're at it," the instructing voice was crisp and stern, leaving a long-lasting impression.Yoh had to bite back a groan as, even in his half-awake state, he knew better than to bargain with his future spouse - someone whom he had a great affection and respect for.
"Get on with it, you heard her," Hao added, after she left them to change out of their night-wear, closing the door with a sharp 'click' of finality. Yoh only mumbled something, and then, flopped back down to his tangle of warm blankets, eyes closing rapidly as he mumbled out those accursed words once again:
"Another 5 minutes, aniki..."
It took Hao a full 5 minutes to finally get Yoh properly awake (by kicking him straight off of his bed when he realized that verbal persuasion just did not work) and finally, after a few minutes, dragged his sibling to the kitchen for breakfast and finally,Yoh was awake (the prospect of food seemed to refresh him, especially if there were oranges) they went out to train.
"I'm telling you, we are going to wrong way," said she, folding her arms across her chest which remained hidden under the dark red-brown cloak that hung down to her ankles, hiding her clothes. Light auburn hair framed the girl's sharp oval face and expressive blue eyes, the former of which was hidden and the latter shaded from the glare of the sun.
"That can't be it, we've double-checked the map and we are following directions as written. Everyone we asked directed us to this direction..." replied the other, scratching her head a little as she studied the map once again, head tilting as her bright yellow or, more accurately, gold eyes which were only a fraction different from a feline's, blinked with confusion.
She was not wearing a cloak as her friend was, but her long black hair,unlike her friend's, was tied back loosely with a simple purple bow whose colour matched her top.
"Directed. You just said it, directed. You realize how vague it sounds?" as she spoke, her feet were still continuously walking, closely followed by her companion who paused every once in a while to stare closely at the unfurled map she held in her hands.
"Whatever, anyway, how did you know this is the Funbari district? It isn't written anywhere on the map..."
"Road signs! Xenia, as always, you are downright concentrating too much on the map and directions!" The girl threw her hands into the air, drawing the front of her cloak open as she did so, revealing her long pale arms and her attire; a white buttoned shirt that was tucked loosely into a honey-coloured skirt with wide loose pleats all around.
A sweatdrop slid down the side of the named girl's slightly-tanned face, as she knitted her dark eyebrows together,"Ahh, that complicates matters... Oh! Right! Osiris could help, Xephy can come along too!" Xenia grinned as she waved the map happily.
Breathing out a long breath to vent her exasperation as she lowered her arms back to her sides, the cloaked girl gave Xenia a long look, her features (which were a world apart from the other girl's distinct Asian ones with the characteristically tilted almond-shaped eyes) arranged in a look of utter exasperation."Don't act as if you have forgotten what LiYing-San told us," there was pause as she adjusted one corner of the hood, a thin silver wire bracelet around her wrist flashing in the light,"Need I continue? And again, the name is supposed to be Xepherus, not Xephy."
Xenia laughed as she held up her right arm and angled her own identical wrist ornament to the light."I'd never forget my own mother's instructions Reisa, I was kidding. Sorta', kinda', maybe nota' all. And I know that he's Xehperus, Xephy is just so much better a name!"
"Xenia, you do know that you speak like you don't think, at all. Amazing for a student capable of jumping grades and still excelling..Come to think of it, have your parents settled your schooling matters while you're in Tokyo?" Typical Reisa behavior, school school school. You'd think this whole world revolves around excelling in Academics rather than the sun.
"'Course. They've never let me skip school ever since I scored straight 'A's... gah, 'tis so irritating to manage without being able to ask the Locals, Mother's masking charm sure masks out everything, even my contact with Osiris is cut off, feels kind of weird," her words were disjointed, for she was concentrating on her map-reading, turning the map 360 degrees and studying it,"Nope, we didn't read it upside-down."
"Didn't we just settle that matter a few hours ago? Why does your family's house have to be in such a..remote region?" Reisa asked matter-of-factly as she meddled around with the many twists in the metal of her charm.
"It isn't remote, compared to your house, which is like so... so... cliché! It's dark, it's a mansion with a black roof, situated in one of the most civilised but remotest areas, and when there's a full moon, it's like one of those houses people in the Vampiric novels live in.You know, like Dracula!" Xenia's bright feline eyes flashed with the usual light of cheery joy, one that made it hard to believe that the owner was actually very serious in what she did, regardless of her actions, or the way she spoke.
"No it doesn't, you've just read to many horror stories. Let's just concentrate on our hunt. We'd be in major trouble if we can't find that house. LiYing-San has a definite flair for the dramatics," Reisa muttered the last sentence with a kind of monotone like one who was addressing a close friend who one could not help but like and feel exasperation at.
"Ha, mother and her princess-cy behavior's awesome! Handkerchiefs for the knights..." Xenia shook her raven-haired head as she laughed, shaking out the folds in the map, before she furled it back up again and tucked it into a random pocket in her shorts."I think I've got it, straight down, left turn, then turn in right at the third driveway. Yay for me and my map!"
"Actually, you still need to turn left one more time after that, your map said so."
"Right you are, Reisa-chan! Glad that you've better sense than me!"
"... Cut out the chan, it makes me feel old."
"You mean to say you aren't?"
"... I am NOT going to answer that."
"Say Reisa, doesn't that guy look just like WenXia?"
"You mean that twerp who happens to be your younger brother? No. Your younger brother has a weird hairstyle of long black hair at the front and short black hair at the back. And, his eyes are orange like your mother's and your sister's. Not to mention how he's much shorter-Or do you mean his aura?"
"Ahh, welcome to My World Reisa, that was exactly what I was pointing at. Such a pity these little trinkets mask off everything with a wobbly barrier into this confined little world of our's. I'd say we need to be two inches away before we can even sense his element." Xenia sighed, as she tucked a loose strand of her shiny black hair behind her ear.
"Fine, you and your math. The directions again?"
"Uhm...A left turn, a right turn after...crap, after a number of driveways. Darn why in the world did I forget to trace out the route again?"
"By the time we reach there, I think we'll be eighty years old. Forget the map, let's go by directions. Pen; over, and follow me," Reisa snitched the fountain pen from Xenia's fingers, and spun on her heel. Xenia stashed the map into her pocket, and set off after her immediately, her ribboned plait bouncing behind her as if it were alive.
"Summimasen ga!" Xenia was the first to react, as always since she liked..no, loved being first, the two paused, halting in their conversation (or maybe it was an argument or something else), and turning to focus on both of them.
Reisa who had stopped walking towards the since they were already a reasonable distance apart, had to grab hold of Xenia's hand and jerk her back as the Chinese kept on walking, as though she really meant to stand just two inches away so that she could properly gauge both's elements or something similar."We just wanted to ask, if you knew-" Xenia felt around in her pocket for a moment, before she yanked out the map and held out the side on which the address was written to them,"-where this place is suppose to be?"
Yoh and Hao both gave each other a long look, blinking as they tried to comprehend the situation .The Funbari District was not really a tourist hotspot, though there was the occasional foreigner. But, they were different in a way that they did not dress like the usual tourist, and that they or rather, she since the other had yet to speak, were pretty much fluent in the local language.
Both the brothers studied the directions written out in the spidery font that was a little hard to read, and shared another look between themselves, before they made a silent pact to help each other if either was punished for this little 'skive'.
"Turn right down the third drive and then-" Yoh began, just as the more Asian looking girl of the two cut in.
"How about you bring us there instead, please?" the girl with the hood frowned a little, or at least seemed to since the hood was shading part of her face,"unless 'course Reisa has anything to say about it?" the named girl shook her head as she folded her arms, the action barely visible since it was hidden under her cloak.
"Alright," Yoh agreed for his brother and himself, though his eyebrows were slightly knitted as he studied the hooded one of the two whose name seemed to be Reisa,"Mysterious friend you've got there," he said, casually as he turned, setting off purposefully.
Hao knitted his eyebrows even closer together as his eyes warned Yoh of the impending 'danger' they faced from the blonde who was probably watching TV at home that very moment. Yoh simply shrugged it off, and Hao did not bother to remind him another time, as he studied both of the girls with something akin to mistrust and pure dislike.
Humans...
Xenia laughed, "Nah, she's just quiet, now, could you please take the lead?" Grinning cheerily, Xenia clasped both hands behind her back,"Thank you...uh.. both of you. By the way, my name is Xenia! She's Reisa!" she added as she quickly moved to follow the twins, just as her friend followed with the sedated pace she was used to.
"Right, my name's Yoh, he's Hao. And you're very welcome."
"I had no idea your names are all single-worded like the Chinese!"
Reisa rolled her sky-blue eyes, which were shaded from the bright light of the sun, before she reached up with one hand to tug the hood down lower till the shadow reached her high cheekbones - so that her pale skin did not burn - unaware of the apparently curious gaze set on her as she did so.
This sounds like a long boring conversation... she mused sadly, just as a silent whisper of a voice complained to her in muted tones in her head, making her smile almost ruefully, Once again, sorry Xepherus.
So, I'm back again, with a new fic and a new beginning, this time with the plot properly scripted out, and (I hope) no more loopholes.But, there's a drawback since I've started my high school life which is much more taxing than expected so my updates will probably come pretty slow, and I can't promise that everything will be this long.Sorry to all of you who are eager to read the next chapter, but I don't have that much time anymore to log on and write chapters every single day.
Thanks for reading! Please review and critique, constructive comments are love.
Ja mina-san! -Riviea