The smoke was coming from the trees to his left. It was colourful, the colour of rainbows. And it smelled heavenly. What was this? Yata wondered. Should I follow it? Why not, right? So the ninteen year old boy in red followed the smoke to where it led him to. How did he know if he was following the correct pathway to its source, even he did not know. He simply walked and trusted his senses. Then he heard his tummy grumble.Am I hungry? When was the last time I ate? Humph, better get outta this hell hold soon.

As Yata kept on walking and following the rainbow smoke, he came onto grounds where no trees grew anymore. Now there were large mushrooms in its place instead. Under the mushrooms there was no snow, but grass. The mushroom caps were so large and close to each other that they prevented snow from reaching the ground. The ginger kept following the smell and sight of the smoke until he crossed paths with a blonde man leaning on a mushroom stem. He was wearing purple tinted shades and was smoking a pipe. `The smoke`s coming from his pipe!` Yata realized.

"Glad you found me" the blonde said, smirking.

"Izumo! I don`t understand what the hell is going on here! I chase a rabbit man and the fool disappears, then Anna and a bear Rikio walks away from me too! At least Kosuke and English speaking Eric-dog talked to me!" Yata yelled, secretly glad to see the bartender. Izumo was smart, he kept things under control. Besides, it was his precious bar that was destroyed. Surely he would be angry, right?
"Oh! And Homra bar! It was fucking trashed! Like, destroyed! I bet it was those bloody blues!"

Izumo puffed out more colourful smoke into the air and smiled.

"Here. You`ll need this if you`re planning to make it to the castle on time. The Red King asked me to give it to you." Izumo walked over to Yata and handed him a skateboard. Yata was slightly confused, but accepted his skateboard from the bartender with greatfullness. He missed his skateboard and his feet were sore from walking. But, how was he supposed to skate in snow once he passed the mushroom forest? Yata gave Izumo a quizzled look.

"They`re waiting for you at the castle, better hurry." Izumo said, slowly disappearing.

"Crud! You`re going too?!"

"See you there." Izumo winked, then completely disappeared.

The ginger sighed and placed the skate board on the ground. He missed his skateboard. It was like a part of him, an extention of his limbs. He got on it and used one leg to give the beginning thrust. As it slowly gained momentum, he began cheering and shouting. He loved the feeling of exhalaration he got when he skated. Where he was heading he did not know, but it was fun to skate among giant mushrooms.
As he reached the forest again, he cursed and got off his skateboard, carrying it under his arm. Entering the forest, he heard voices coming from not too far away.

"Are you sure it`s dead?"

"It`s not moving now, is it Kuroh?"

Yata walked past a few snow covered trees and came across a circular forset clearing. A white haired boy was poking what seemed to be a dead creature hanging upside down from a tree with an red umbrella. Beside him stood a man with raven hair. They both seemed ordinary at first glance, but then Yata noticed that the Black Hound had a pair of ears and a tail covered with fur as black as coal.
The sight of them filled him with such rage. That stupid boy! How could he! He had murdered Totsuka and now the bloody Black Hound was helping him! Yata searched his grouds and saw a large branch. Picking it up, he charged at the murderer and his accomplist in fury.
"YAAA!" he swung the branch at Shiro. Before hitting his head, however, the Black Hound had cought it. So close! The three of them stared at each other in awkwardness.

"Hello there, friend!" The white haired boy said with an annoying voice. The raven haired man just stared at Yata, his face all stern like. His fist still hold the branch.

"Oh, come on Kuroh! That`s no proper way to greet a guest!" He offered his hand to be shaken. Yata ignored it.

"I`m Yashiro Isana, but you can just call me Shiro. And this is Kuroh." Shiro said, gesturing to Kuroh, who still did not smile nor let go of the branch. "What are you called?" What the heck is wrong with these two?

"I`m called none-of-your-bloody-business!" Yata said, pulling the branch from Kuroh. The ginger made no second attempt to attack the white haired boy.

"Ok, none-of-your-bloody-business, would you like to have a picnic with us?"

"Huh?"

"We found this lamb here, hanging around all dead like. We plan on eating it." said the white haired male. He and the Black Hound removed the upside down lamb from the tree and carried its body. Out of curiosity, Yata followed as they came across a red mat on the forest grounds. They laid the limp body of the dead lamb on it, sitting around it. Shiro patted the empty spot beside him, offering Yata a seat.

" No use letting perfectly good food go to waste, you know. Wanna join in?"

Without a reply, the ginger sat as far away as possible from the two freaks. He was starving, after all. And who knew when his next meal would be?

He examined the brown furred lamb. It had a fang tooth necklace around its neck that looked awfully familiar to the boy. Yata`s eyes widened as Kuroh took out his blade and began measuring the body of the lamb, planning on which part to slice first. He turned his head around to avoid being an observer to the gross act.

After a considerably good amount of time slaughtering the lamb and night falling had past and the pieces of lamb was cooking above a fire beside the mat, Yata had decided to ask, his voice considerably soft with a tone that had hints of sadness in it :

"Why did you do it?"

"Hm? Do what?"

"Murder Totsuka. What did he ever do to wrong you?"

Shiro scratched the back of his head. Kuroh seemed to be alerted by this question. "I didn`t kill him. I was framed. But no one seems to believe me, and why should they? I have no proof..."

Was this freak telling the truth? Why would he lie about it now, when he had the black hound`s protection and could easily get rid of me? Yata contemplated. But then, who the heck did it? Mmm, the smell of meat being burned. Then he squinted his eyes at the lamb`s body parts being cooked above the fire. That lamb, could it be? No! that`s impossible!

Suddenly, Yata had lost his appetite.

"I`m leaving now, freaks." he said, getting up.

"I suggest you stay the night." Yata turned around, surprised. This was the first time the hound had spoken. And just when he was starting to convince himself that the raven haired man couldn`t speak!

"Shadows, ghouls and Master Ichigen knows what lurks in these parts of the forest. Best stay around a fire."

"Yeah. Can`t have you getting lost now, can we? We`ve got a message to give you!" said Shiro as he chewed on the leg of the lamb he was eating. A message? I bet it`s that same stupid message about that same stupid castle.

"Oh, no. It`s not identical to the message you`ve already received. You`ll know of it when dawn comes!"

Nyeh, i`m so lazy to continue _ But I shall! I hope...