Hey, yeah, Heat's no where done, and I have a billion other fics to work on, but this bunny bit-down and I just couldn't shake the bugger.
Anyways, I don't own Jungle Fury.
Please enjoy .
Ladies danced about the young girl bedecked in fine gray silks and spring flowers weaved in rings and loops.
"You'll bring such honor Temple Guardian." A woman said, inspiring a chant of echoes from the other women going about in intricate patterns that made the young girl dizzy trying to watch. They froze as the drum beat stopped and parted for the Elder Guardian. She was escorted by eight female pallbearers who lifted her frail old body across the scorching sun-baked tan stone into the main hall where the young girl sat. They hefted her softly to the ground without a sound. All motion stopped as the two stared at each other. The girl gazed with the reverence and fear of a child looking at their parent during an important ceremony. The old woman gazed back with a sadness that things must come to pass, which her charge was not prepared for, but must accept anyways.
"Young one, soon you shall be alone. Alone as I was for eighty years before your arrival. You gifted my life with light and laughter in my last years." The woman spoke in a frail creak of a voice.
Eight years, today would have been her eighth birthday... the woman thought slipping into her own mind for a moment of nostalgia.
"I do not want to be alone..." The girl whispered as her face screwed up with tears as she became afraid of what was happening. Why was the elder speaking of leaving her?
"I am sorry my little one. You are far too young to be left to this task, but I cannot withhold death any longer. You are the new Guardian of this Temple." The elder crooned softly before raising her voice. "Honor her! Honor her and pray to the gods that she be kept safe! Honor her, for she is the new Temple Guardian!" The old woman cried out, getting back into the ceremony, to the other occupants of the room.
"We honor you!" The women cried, drowning out the sobs from the little girl, falling to their knees, foreheads pressed into the floor. Tears spilled down her cheeks, Why were they leaving her?
There were a few moments silence until the old woman's eyes widened in alarm.
"Hurry, the procession must pass the last step of the temple before sundown! Hurry!" Everyone scrambled to get up, including the small girl who climbed down the large stone chair.
"Nay child, you stay here." The old woman told her gently as her pallbearers turned around and hefted her up before rushing out of the temple grounds. "Be good, and remember to wash up every night, and scrub your teeth! And water the gardens and feed the livestock everyday! And practice your reading and writing and Martial Arts!" The woman cried as she was lead out of the temple, holding on to the pallet less she be spilled off.
The girl followed, far too young to keep up with the rushing adults. Down she went over steps and bridges through the emptied corridors to the very last steps of the temple grounds.
Just as she was about to touch her bare feet to the dirt beneath the step, the last ray of the sun slid behind the cliff the temple nestled under, and the shadow of the cliff touched the dirt first. Ghostly arms wrapped around her preventing her form reaching the party not ten feet way.
The girl's blue-grey eyes went wide as the elder woman was propped up on her feet and stretched her arms wide before bringing her hands together in a mighty clap.
And the outside world was clouded in darkness impenetrable.
The glaring summer morning woke the Temple Guardian. Blue-grey eyes flicked open with no flutter before being squeezed shut again as the woman stretched in her bed. She pulled her body up off the pile of furs and cloths before padding across her chambers to a table with a large cleaning-bowl of fresh water for her to refresh herself with. Her stomach rumbled well naturedly as she dried her face and donned a fresh set of frayed and worn robes. The sleeves went to her fingertips, the product over calculation on her arm growth, with heavy patches on the elbows. Her pants were worn and shredded up to her knees; she wore no shoes, instead she bandaged her feet with strips of cloth from clothes she's long outgrown. She next wrapped her wrists and hands, before pulling her hair out of the way with a comb and pin. There were no mirrors to judge herself with so she left her room to catch her breakfast and start on her chores.
As the fish she caught roasted on a stone slab in the large oven–like fireplaces in the kitchen, with boiled fruit-juices and herbs bubbling on top of them, the woman used the cooking time to get a head start on some of her easier chores. She pulled large pouring pots of water from the well and watered the gardens from which she gathered her food, and fed the chickens in their pen and the cows in their pasture with grain she harvested herself before taking the food garbage out to the pigs' pen for their feed.
By the time she was finished, her breakfast was done.
Casey sat up straight from lacing his hiking boots and tapped his heel against the floor to settle into them completely. Dom walked into the room, munching on a hero sandwich as he bobbed to a generic MP3 player. He paused as he watched Casey get up and shoulder a backpack.
"Going somewhere?" He asked loudly over the music, his words muffled by the half-chewed sandwich in his mouth.
"Yeah, hiking in the Estrella Mountains, wanna come?" The front counter of JKP was in the process of remodeling, so the store was closed for the week. Dom paused his bobbing to the music for a moment. The Rhino swallowed before responding.
"Nah man, I'm good." Casey nodded.
"Hey where are you going?" Lily asked as Casey passed the bar where Lily and Theo where playing a card game.
"Hiking, you guys want to come?"
"No." Lily and Theo both declined in unison. Casey shook his head before hitching his slipping backpack up further and thudding down the stairs, the key to the jeep in his hand.
"Whoa! Where are you going?" RJ asked, grabbing Casey by the arm.
"Hiking in the Mountains Southwest of here, wanna come?" RJ frowned.
"Pass, but thanks anyways, make sure you have plenty of water, sunscreen, a hat and your morpher." The Tiger gestured that he had it all in his bag. "You taking the jeep?" Casey nodded. "Fill her up on your way back." The younger male saluted and jogged out the door to the parked jeep.
Sweat dripped off her forehead as she carefully scaled the cliff side to visit the Hawk nest perched in an old abandoned Indian cave. With a final heave she pulled herself up and next to the roosting mother's relocated next. The bird cawed softly at the woman as a finger stretched out and rubbed the bird's head.
"They are going to be adorable when they hatch." She spoke softly. The bird cawed again in response before flapping her wings to settle more properly on her eggs. The woman was worried, the bird laid them rather late in the year, what with fall around the corner, and the eggs where taking longer to develop than usual. But the bird had always produced strong offspring; this time should be no different. With a push the woman launched herself off the high ledge and let her spirit, the Grey Hawk, catch her in the air, letting her drift down slowly.
She could feel it in her feet the instant she touched down on the stone, the temple's disapproval of such antics. She had been there long enough to pick up on the temple's subtle ways of talking. Much like the ghosts that once inhabited here centuries ago, and now trapped by the magic that kept her here as well, she could tell what they were saying in their silent way.
Her stomach grumbled.
"Right, lunch then practice."
Casey panted as he wiped his forehead and chugged the last bit of water he had brought with him. He winced as his face felt hot and gummy from sunburn. He squinted into the strong afternoon light, stumbling a bit.
"I need to take the... right path to main trail leading the picnic-table area, where there's water fountains." The Tiger murmured as he accidently took an old Indian trail, the sign saying "Keep Out" hidden behind a creosote bush.
He stumbled along, cursing the crappy quality of this path, not even noticing he was going uphill again until he found a shady wide area next to a series of stone steps.
"Must have taken a wrong turn." Casey muttered as he sat down in the shade on the steps and pulled out the map he bought for five bucks at the gift shop in the beginning of the park.
The map began to distort in his vision so he pulled it away from his face, leaned back and closed his eyes.
He coughed as cold water was forced down his throat, shooting up into an upright position, his face hurt like hell now as he discovered himself sitting on scalding steps, the way late afternoon sun baking everything.
"Oh. You are awake." A female voice spoke from behind him. "Lean back and close your eyes. Your sunburn is very severe; I have ointment that will heal your skin." Casey, in too much pain to argue, did as told and sighed as a deep cooling sensation was smoothed over your skin.
"Ahh, thank you. So what do I do... about this stuff I mean?" The woman frowned as she struggled to figure out what he meant.
"The ointment? Leave it on, when it completely absorbs in, your sunburn will be gone." She spoke. "Now drink, slowly, you are very dehydrated." Casey accepted the ceramic container of cold clean water gratefully and did as told.
"I'm Casey by the way." The woman panicked and thought of an appropriate name to tell the stranger.
"T-Tee-juh." Her voice wobbled at the untruth.
"Teeg? What kind of name is that?" Casey asked laughing as best he could with a dry throat. "Teeg" turned sharply so he couldn't see her panic.
"It is mine own." She bit out to hide her alarm. Casey held his hands up in defense.
"Okay, sorry. So uh Teeg what are you doing out here by your lonesome?" The Temple Guardian's eyes widened.
"Practicing Martial Arts." She said before she could think of another untruth. Casey nodded.
"Ah, I getchya. A quiet place to practice. I practice Martial Arts too you know." In fact she didn't. But she bit her tongue; she hadn't had another person to talk to in... How many years now? Since the pervious Guardian left her to go die in peace knowing a new generation was in charge of protecting the secrets of the temple.
"So... What music do you like?" Casey asked to break the quiet that descended on them as he drank another small sip of water.
"Music?" She repeated slowly.
"Er, how about TV? Like TV?"
"T...V?" Casey eyed her in amazement as she looked at him blankly.
"Movies? Videogames?" He said incredulously as she shook her head, shrugging. This chick was starting to weird him out. Even Master Phant and Master Swoop could tell you what TV shows they liked.
"What do you do for fun?" He asked finally.
"Fun..." She frowned.
The cliff's shadow caught her attention.
He must be out of the temple completely by the time the shadow touched the ground beneath the temple steps.
"I think you are fine to get up and move around, and besides it is getting late." She said nervously as she stood him up and shoed him off. Casey was jarred by her abrupt change in attitude, but made no comments as she was right, it was almost dark. He shouldered his pack and bid her goodbye before he left down the trail, the tiger made it all the way to the path he split off from before he turned around to look at the path behind him.
"I can at least offer to walk her to her car, even if she is weird." Casey muttered before jogging back up the trail.
The sun had already set, shadowing the area, but the steps weren't there.
"What the... I could have sworn..." They weren't there. Even in the dimming light, he could see they weren't, but the strange woman was right, so the Red Ranger turned and walked back down the pathway, determined to comeback the next day.
Stone steps just don't disappear...
He arrived before the sun had fully risen yet. To the exact same place he was before, and this time he brought an entire cooler full of water, and more than enough sunscreen.
The steps weren't there...
Casey frowned, maybe they were merely a mirage... the idea was ludicrous. There was a woman, on the steps, dressed in a thin grey cotton long sleeve and a pair of dark knee-length shorts, who gave him water. That couldn't have been an illusion.
Teeg. His spirit sneered; he knew it was a lie. But hadn't pressed it. At the time he thought if she didn't want to trust him with her real name, so be it. But when an entire flight of stone steps vanishes without a sound?
"And to leave not even the faintest trace of having ever been there?" He watched the shadows retreat slowly until the sunlight reached the very spot where the bottom step once...
Casey jumped up as once again the stair were there. Hoisting his cooler up, the red pounded up there stairs.
The woman shot up as she felt Casey's presence on the steps. Hastily she threw on her clothes, not bothering with her bandages or hair and literally flew from her room window to the top of the steps before rushing down them to interfere his progression.
"You do not need to go any further Casey."
"Why am I not surprised to find you here... Teeg. Want to tell me your real name? How about this, why do these stairs disappear at night and where do they go?" "Teeg" swallowed and gapped.
"What do you mean? Teeg is my name, and these stairs merely lead to an empty camp site, I was camping here and..."
"Bullshit." She blinked, never having herd that term before.
"Excuse me?"
"I can smell your lying. Now I will ask once more..."
"You can smell I am lying?"
"I come from a school of people with animal spirits..."
"You are Pai Zhuq?"
"Will you quit interrupting me?"
"Apologies, but, you are Pai Zhuq right?" Casey sighed.
"Yes..."
"I see, then perhaps it will be much simpler for you to follow me."
"Now, firstly, my apologies for deceiving you, but the secrecy of this place must be maintained at all costs. Yes, my name is not Teeg, and this is the Xiang Temple." She said as they mounted the last step and stood before a massive sprawling temple. This time Casey's jaw really did drop all the way open.
"You live here?" He asked. The woman nodded, starting to feel a little uncomfortable.
"I-I have chores to do, but your welcome to follow me while I do them." Casey nodded following her out of shock. They passed over a rather ornate bridge filled with deep water. He leaned over the railing to see fish of all sorts swimming beneath the water. He turned back to catch up with the woman.
"So..." He began once he found his voice. "What's your real name?"
"I do not have one." Casey blinked.
"Well what do people call you?"
"Temple Guardian." She said, biting her lip in worry that it was not sufficient.
"Didn't your parents give you a name when you were born?"
"I am unaware if they did." She spoke as she came to a well with two large spouted terracotta pots next to them. She hoisted a bucket out of the well and emptied it into one of the pots.
"So, your just Temple Guardian huh? Mind if I go a head and call you Teeg?"
"If you wish to." The silence resumed as Casey let her go about her daily business.
"So what animal are you?" He asked over the lunch she had made for both of them.
"Grey Hawk." She said shortly, not that she wasn't grateful for the company, but she wasn't used to talking so much. Her throat was starting to get sore.
"Ah, and I haven't seen anyone else around... where are all the people?"
"Just me." Casey nearly spit out his soup.
"For how long?" She placed her bowl down from her lips and thought.
"I do not know, a long while, I was a little child when the previous Guardian left to die." Casey worked his mouth open and closed in shock and horror.
"How long have you been here?" He asked hoarsely.
"All my life. A Guardian is chosen when a child, still in the womb, receives their spirit. When the new Guardian is born, The Elders will send someone to collect the infant from their parents, for both the infant's and the parents' safety, then the babe is taken to a temple to eventually replace the current Guardian." She took a long slow sip of her soup from the bowl as a distraction. Casey sank back in his seat in shock.
"What'd the reason behind that? I mean, it's a lovely temple and all, but what's here worth guarding?"
"Evidence of Pai Zhou's existence. A thousand kings ransom worth of treasures collected over the centuries... other things..." She muttered the last part behind a deep drink of her cooling soup.
"Treasure?" The younger male asked, perking up.
"Not that you will be seeing any of it, but yes."
"Oh come on." Casey whined, causing Teeg to smile slightly.
"What kind of guardian would I be if I let you into the heart of the temple?"
"Did I mention to you this is very good soup?"
"No, you did not thank you for the compliment." Casey laughed.
"That was a joke Teeg."
"Oh." She said shortly, wondering if her cooking was bad. Casey immediately started to back pedal.
"No! No, that's- it's very good soup, I was trying to butter you up to let me see the treasure." Her face showed her confusion.
"What does butter have to do with anything?" Casey laughed again.
"It's an expression; it means I was trying to compliment you so that you'd be inclined to do me a favor." She frowned.
"That does not seem like a nice thing to do... is that how things are done?"
"Wha? Oh! No, your right it's not particularly nice, but I meant it as a joke, if you say no, then it's no. I was just being humorous."
"Oh, should I have laughed then?" Casey sighed.
"Nah, it was a bad joke anyways."
"Ah." She didn't feel completely relieved of the idea that he was being nice to her because she was ignorant.
As the day ended, Casey bid her good bye.
"Mind if I come by tomorrow? I can bring some stuff from the outside world for you, like new clothes and pizza."
"I do not mind, but it is most puzzling as to why you wish to."
"Well, you're my friend right? I want to spend time with you." Teeg bit her lip anxiously.
"We are friends?" She said slowly.
"Well, yeah, your cool, weird but cool, and we definitely need to work on your language skills."
"Oh, I am sorry."
"And your need to apologize, see ya!"
"See ya?"
"I means see you, as in I will see you later, or in this case I will see you tomorrow."
"Oh. Then "See ya", yes?" Casey smiled and chuckled before hoisting his unused cooler down to the jeep.
"So lemme get this straight, this chick, lives in the middle of freakin no where, doesn't know what electricity is, doesn't even know what music is, is probably a total au-natural, has been completely removed from society her entire life, and lives completely alone and has for most of her life... She's nuts right?" Casey shook his head.
"Not really, she's just..." He drew off with a shrug.
"Oh I get it, she's hot right? That's why you want to go back." The red tiger tilted his head back and forth.
"Eh, kinda, the hotness factor's toned down in the light of her lifestyle." He admitted. "No but seriously. She's cool for being a weirdo." Dom closed his eyes.
"Describe her."
"Eh, on the small side, blonde, tanned, blue eyes."
"I'm getting hotness vibes, what she got like a beak nose or something?"
"No. she's just... well a chick who's lived her entire life away from people."
"Alright alright, I get the picture. One final question, are you going to be talking about her non-stop now? Because I seriously don't care." Casey scowled and threw the dirty rag he'd been using to clean the tables at Dom's head.
So dearest readers who have managed so far, what do you think? Reviews are much loved, but I won't twist your arm for em.
And regarding continueity with the show, I will go ahead and update regardless of what's currently happening in the show, but my general timeline for this to be started is sometime immediatly after they defeat Dai Shi and rescue Jarrod, however, it's AUish because there are some details I'll leave out (or, as the case may be, ignore entirely.) until it's revealed in the show so I don't spoil anything for anyone.
In addition, no it is NOT a Casey/OC, since while I tolerate Casey more than most reds, I severely dislike red-rangers in general, and besides, I'm a Masters' fangirl anyways ;)