Disclaimer: FY belongs to Watase Yuu, *sob*. The Guardians belong to me.
Chapter 3: Of Heights and Such
After about another hour of riding, the two stopped and broke camp for the night. Each maintained their silence as they went about starting a fire and ate dinner. Naruku felt like crying, everything had gotten so complicated! All she wanted was to go on an adventure with her dream guy, and all that was happening wasn't what she had wanted. She wasn't acting like herself at all. When people are in love, they usually don't act like themselves, Naruku told herself.
Naruku looked over at Chichiri, who was sleeping. Figuring she should do the same, Naruku lied down and tried to sleep, but couldn't. Just start over, and be the person you want him to see , Sabriel's words ran through her mind. Naruku let a tear escape from her eye, she knew that being a crybaby wouldn't help but she hated it when things went wrong on a mission. She bit her lip to keep from crying out loud, gathering the blankets more tightly around her because she didn't want to wake Chichiri up. She suddenly felt someone pulling the blankets down, uncovering her face. She turned over to see Chichiri looking at her, smiling his masking smile. He pulled her into his arms and stroked her hair a little. Naruku was shocked and started to tremble. Chichiri pushed her back a little and wiped away a tear as it gently rolled down her cheek. Then he took his mask of and smiled a genuine smile. "you really don't need to be ashamed no da. I don't think less of you, I don't even know you yet no da. We can't erase what's already happened, but we can start again na no da."
Naruku looked into his eyes utter shock passing across her face. "H- Honto? you don't hate me or think I'm a freak?"
"Of course not. We often do in our dreams what we would never think or dare do in reality." Chichiri pulled Naruku to her feet and bowed to her. "Watashi wa Suzaku no shichi seishi Chichiri no da."
Naruku wiped the tears away and sniffled a little bit, then smiled. "Watashi wa Naruku, Guardian of the black flame."
Chichiri smoothed his mask back on over his face. "I'm glad you have come to help save our world, Naruku-san, and I will do my best to protect you no da."
Naruku smiled gratefully at Chichiri, then climbed back into her sleeping pallet. "Arigatou, Chichiri-san." Naruku felt a smile spread across her face. What luck, I didn't even have to do anything! I guess Sabriel does give good advice. Feeling better, Naruku went to sleep.
In the Guardian homeworld, a black Unicorn was staring into a large circle of water that was completely thin and floating a couple feet of the ground. A tall man with long, dark, shaggy hair and fangs came up next to her and peered at the scene in the pool. "Sabriel, you shouldn't spy on her." He scolded.
"I know Kitsune, but she is just so stupid when it comes to love." Sabriel replied.
"That may be, but it would be more effective towards our friend if we just left her alone to figure her own way through. Meddling might hurt the situation worse, and she needs to learn by herself. She's young, let her live her own life." Kitsune told Sabriel as he left the room.
"Easy for you to say, you weird fox vampire thing. You're not up against our greatest enemy alone, and I think that she may need more than just the seishi's help." Sabriel whispered as she gazed back into the water.
The following day, Naruku and Chichiri packed up and headed on their way. Chichiri been surprised at the difference in Naruku's personality, and was finding that she was pleasant. He knew how embarrassing situations could be mortifying so he had tried to make her feel welcome around him. He noticed that she still was a bit embarrassed, but tried to alleviate it with asking her questions about what she liked. Naruku gradually began to relax and be herself, bringing up intelligent points but also throwing in some jokes, not all of which Chichiri understood. "Oh no!" Naruku groaned suddenly in mid conversation. "I left my cake with Taiitsuken and I KNOW she's eaten it by now. That thing took me all day to bake too!"
Chichiri laughed a little bit. " You seem to be familiar with Taiitsuken no da."
"Hai! When I was still an apprentice I used to come to her for extra magic training. She was very nice and taught me how to make sugar cookies and stuff. The only problem is that she keeps coming and eating my baked goods." Naruku said with a frown.
Chichiri raised an eyebrow. " I never pictured Taiitsuken as the baking type no da."
Naruku shrugged her shoulders.
After a couple of hours the journey became silent, each lost in their own thoughts. Naruku admired the local scenery and was extremely interested in the local wild life. Being an elf, she liked to know which creatures she could communicate with. As they started getting higher up into the mountain, Naruku began to get nervous. 'I'm the Guardian of the black flame, next in line to the Guardian throne and I'm afraid of heights' Naruku thought as she looked down to the level ground beneath her. It was a good thing she was on a horse, otherwise she wouldn't be here at all. Chichiri could obviously sense her discomfort as he broke the silence. "Daijabou, Naruku-kun?"
Naruku looked at Chichiri warily. 'He would probably think I'm stupid being afraid of heights.' she thought. Speaking aloud she said "Um, Chichiri-san. Maybe we could not mention how I was first,...introduced to you, ne?"
Chichiri nodded understandingly and moved on. Hoping that would distract him from her discomfort, Naruku tried to hide it as best she could. Unfortunately, she never had mastered instantaneous transportation on will very well and when she tended to wish something in her mind, sometimes she accidentally did it. For the next hour all she could think of was that she wanted off this mountain and her powers, always obeying the mistresses wishes, did just that.
The transportation spell went of, causing Naruku to disappear and end up at the base of the mountain, were it was flat. Chichiri had sensed the chi and was looking around frantically, calling her name. Naruku, meanwhile, was trying to remember what had just happened. This tended to happen a lot with her and every time it took a while to realize what happened. Just as she figured out where she was, she heard a screaming voice echoing through her head. "Naruku, are you all right no da? Why are you at the base of the mountain no da?"
Naruku's eyebrow twitched at the loud voice. "DO YOU HAVE TO YELL?!" she screamed back through the telepathic link. Naruku sighed then concentrated, reappearing next to chichiri. She looked over at him apologetically. "Sorry 'bout that." she mumbled. "It kinda happens a lot."
Chichiri just stared at her and her bewildered horse, who surprisingly wasn't freaking out. "How, what did you DO no da?" He asked her.
Naruku blushed a deep red, something that was happening way to often in her mind. "Well, you see, when I wish something really hard, to be in another place, sometimes it just happens.( I slept through the instantaneous transportation class) and I'm afraid of heights soooo..." She trailed off.
Chichiri resumed riding, silent. Naruku looked at him, and his shoulders started to shake. It took her a moment to realize that he was laughing. "YOU JERK!" she yelled at him, which only caused him to laugh harder, not bothering to hide it anymore. "How DARE you laugh at me! Just cause I'm afraid of heights..."
Chichiri sucked air into his lungs quickly, trying to speak. "It's, it's not that no da. Heights can be a very real fear no da. It's" chichiri had to stop because he started laughing again. "You SLEPT through instantaneous transportation class and now you disappear when you don't want to be someplace na no da!"
Naruku's eyebrow twitched. "And explain to me WHY you think that's so funny?" she asked with a deadly tone in her voice.
" I don't know no da. It just IS no da." Chichiri replied as his laughter changed from high pitched to a low, rich sound. Naruku found herself amazed at the laughter coming from him, the laughter that she had incited. She knew that he never laughed anymore and it was a good feeling that she had made him laugh. Cracking a smile herself, Naruku began to laugh too.
They had made it to the bandit stronghold in a couple of hours, turning to a relatively flat area to Naruku's relief. Chichiri walked up to the gates, Naruku behind him. Other bandits that had paid them no heed on their way to the doors suddenly turned to stare to witness the reunion of the two seishi. the doors opened and a flame haired bandit came out, tessen strapped firmly to his back and showing a fanged grin. "Oi, Chichiri-chan. Been a long time since ya visited, ne?" He spoke. Chichiri came up and grasped Tasuki in a firm hug. "Hai no da. I'm sorry Tasuki-kun, I've been busy no da."
Tasuki released Chichiri from the bear hug and simply smiled at him. "Eh, nevermind. As long as ya come ta visit once in a while. We need someone to spread temporary sanity for a little while."
"I wish I had come for just that no da." Chichiri , replied.
Tasuki's mood became somber. "Yeah, I can sense it. Just the other day a small creature attacked one of my men, killing him. I sensed bad chi from that thing. Looks like we got another adventure on our hands." Tasuki finished, a smile brightening his face on the last sentence.
Naruku, having been utterly forgotten, surprised both men when she spoke up. Her eyes had a far away, stary-eyed look in them as she stared at tasuki and sighed. " You are SO much hotter in person! *giggle*" Tasuki found himself blushing and staring at Naruku. Chichiri just stared at her, an unbidden wave of jealousy flooded through him. His mind screamed at him 'Why would you be jealous, she doesn't like you. You barely even know her!'
Tasuki looked at Naruku, then at chichiri. "so, chichiri, who's yer' girlfriend?"
Chichiri suddenly grew to emenous proportions. "NANI?! Naruku is NOT my girlfriend no da!" Naruku feigned a hurt look as chichiri blushed. "But, Chichi-chan, I thought you LOVED me. Oh woe is me, the only man I ever loved can't even admit it to his best friend and fellow warrior that I'm his lover. *Fake sob*"
Chichiri's face went red, mortified. " Naruku- san, please don't joke around like that no da. Someone could take it the wrong way na no da."
Naruku's fake sorrow turned to anger, her eyebrow twitching. "ARE YOU SAYING I"M EMBARRASSING?! All I want to do is a have a little fun, and you are so fun to tease. I don't believe you! I was joking ! I'm going inside! hmph."
Tasuki looked at Naruku wide-eyed as she went into the stronghold, then grinned at Chichiri. "Boy, do you have your hands full." He chuckled. "At least she's hot, ne?"
Chichiri pulled his kasa more over his face as he and tasuki walked inside. "Daaaaaa."
Authors note: Yes, I actually stayed on track this time! Please review and tell me what you think of the new chapter! Oh, and this will get around to NC-17 sometime, if not for the, uh, sexual content but the violence as well.
