Chapter 4
A Warm and Cold Welcome
The pale morning light crept slowly out from the rainy clouds of last night, and Touya stretched while yawning lazily. 'Why is that every time I'm the only one who remembers training times?' he asked himself, suddenly aware of the stench of blood.
"Blood coming from the woods?" he wondered, and then running into the forest to see what was dead or just injured.
About a mile up the steep hill, he found a girl stuck in a tree with a collar around her neck. 'This can't be good, she's a runaway from that camp of demons from the Netherworld,' he thought, cursing as he tried to get her out of the tree, falling over as she was pulled and landed on top of him.
But then he remembered Jin talking about a girl met a long time ago who ran away from the camp, and she matched the description. 'I better get her back to take care of her, but what about Ryshio finds out?' he asked himself, but shrugged and got her onto his back. "Screw what Ryshio says, I'm doing this for Jin's sake."
Glad to know everyone was still asleep or just lying in bed, Touya took the bloody girl into his room where he prepared to mend her wounds. He was wondering of how to get the collar off, but every time he tried to pry it off, it shocked him and knocked him against the wall.
"Crap that thing's stubborn! Oh well, I'll figure something out soon enough," he decided and got together the right herbs and hot water, using his ice powers to numb her body so no pain would come to her.
Jin tossed and turned in his hammock as images of Loreena came back to him, he always dreamed about her ever since she was taken back to the camp. He heard Ryshio's voice at his door and sat up quickly, falling out of his hammock…again.
He rubbed his behind and cursed as he stepped out to do training for the next Dark Tournament. "Doncha yu have respect fer the ones sleepin' Ryshio?" Jin asked impatiently, welcoming the new day with his usual lazy yawn. Ryshio ignored Jin and went to wake Gamma and Touya up, leaving Jin to think about Loreena again.
Touya jumped when he heard knocking at his door, knowing it was Ryshio to remind him about training. "GO AWAY RYSHIO, I'M COMING DOWN ALREADY!" the ice demon snapped and the footsteps faded away along with suspicious talking from Gamma and Ryshio.
Touya sighed with relief, finishing the head wound on the girl and used his ice healing abilities to heal her minor wounds. He wiped his forehead and stared down at her, and decided to tell Jin later. Grabbing his weapon, he jumped out his window and went to do training with his comrades.
The sun was setting when Loreena opened her eyes and sat up to see her surroundings, not sure where she was. The last she remembered was screaming when she threw her knife at Rathan and Jacknife, then blackness when she felt herself rolling down the steep hill.
'I'm not dead, I thought jumping down would end my life,' she thought herself, checking for her weapons and her half the Power Wing stone, sighing with relief they were still in their places.
Voices of two men made her turn around, and she saw two figures standing in front of the doors talking to each other, not noticing she was awake. She suddenly heard an Irish voice speak up, and she listened close, gasping to know that Jin was out there!
Jin opened the door and stood there to see Loreena staring at him from Touya's bed, the silence lasting a long time. "I found her this morning, stuck in a tree and seriously injured," Touya explained, breaking the silence and making Jin turn around as he told him what happened.
Then Jin turned to Loreena and walked closer to see if it was really her, his expression the same as hers.
"I con' believe 's yu Loreena," Jin whispered quietly as he sat by her side and took her hand. She smiled and hugged him tightly; he was still shocked but hugged her back and held her for what seemed like forever. "Wha' happened t' yu tha' night?" She wanted to say everything, but pointed to the collar and Jin sighed sadly, then they turned to see Ryshio and Gamma standing in the doorway.
"Why is this girl here Jin, no one is allowed here!" Ryshio exploded, seeing the collar on Loreena's neck and suddenly smirked evilly.
"She's that runaway from that camp by the mountains isn't she? She's worth reward money after all…" he was cut off as Jin and Touya stood in front of her.
"She's going nowhere, NOT IN HER CONDITION!" Touya shot back, his ice energy building up if the two walked closer, a massive wind picked up around the room.
"No' dis toime Ryshio, 'he's with me," Jin warned, his wind picking up furiously. Ryshio just laughed and pushed them aside to get a good look at Loreena, taking her face in his hand.
"This is her alright, I got a message from one of the leaders last night of her disappearance," he said lowly, stepping back when Loreena smacked his hand away, her claws cutting his hand deeply, then slipped back into her fingers.
Ryshio stepped back in frustration of his cut hand, his earth energy threatening to burst any second. "Get this wench out of here now Jin, you know she's will never be one of us," Gamma threatened, but stepped back as Loreena sat up and faced Ryshio, her half of the Mirror Stone glowing brightly and her true voice was heard.
"Let me fight you Ryshio, if I win I become one of you, no exceptions. If I lose you can kill me any way you wish, but no one else helps or cheats during the fight or they'll get an even worse beating than this bastard in front of me," she explained coldly, grabbing Ryshio by the neck.
"Never use the word "slave" in my face again, keep your mouth shut if you don't want to be humiliated in front of your comrades by a Night Maiden."
Gamma and Ryshio stepped back in fear of what race she was, Night Maidens were known to be superior S-class demons with power strong enough to destroy two worlds without even breaking a sweat.
"Give me two days to train and rest, then we'll see who'll get a harder butt kicking," Loreena whispered slyly, the stone's glow fading and she was mute.
For a long moment, the demons were silent then Ryshio and Gamma gave up and stormed out the door. Touya and Jin caught Loreena before she hit the ground, and helped her back in the bed.
"The stone drained your energy didn't it?" Touya asked coolly, Loreena nodded and yawned sleepily.
"I'll take 'er t' me room Touya, yu need yours after all," Jin said quietly, lifting Loreena up and carried her bridal style to his room, leaving Touya tired for sleep.
Jin set Loreena into his hammock gently and pulled the white thin sheet over her and smiled, taking her hand again.
"'S so good t' see yu again," he whispered, getting in next to her. "I thoug' I would never see yu again." Loreena nodded again and snuggled closer to his arm for warmth, her head rested gently on his shoulder. He held her hand and stroked it with his thumb slowly, watching her fall asleep, glad she was together with him again after eight hundred years.
The moon shone brightly into the small, almost empty room and Jin looked at it with admiring eyes. He felt Loreena stir and look at him with soft eyes, turning to see the moon. "'S beautiful isn' 't?" he asked her and she nodded, her hand still in his .
Suddenly, Jin thought of an idea and got of the hammock and walked to the open balcony. "Come wit' me Loreena," he whispered softly, holding out his hand. She was curious about his idea and a little afraid, but she could live for a little adventure and took his hand and stood on the balcony.
A soft, swift breeze whipped across the cloudless sky and the night air smelled salty of the sea and the pine from the trees.
"I wan' t' take yu fer a ride, do yu wan' t'?" he asked, pointing to the sky. Loreena was freaked out, but she trusted him and nodded, holding his hand tightly. He smiled and stroked her hand. "Don' be afraid Loreena, I'll always hol' on." His assurance made her calm down a little, but the sudden lift off made her gasp, but soon they were 200 ft. in the air.
The wind felt good against her face as she flew beside Jin, smiling as they dove for the ground then flew just above the sea. She dipped her hand in and let it trail across the sea, suddenly flicking water on Jin's face.
He was shocked for a second, and then flicked her back harder and they had a flicking water fight, Loreena's face and hair were soaking wet after a while.
Soon after that they gave up the water fight and continued to explore the starry sky, but Loreena suddenly was thrown up in the air by Jin. She soared through the air but she started falling after a few seconds, but Jin caught her bridal style and gave a goofy smile.
"Sory, di' tha' scare yu?" he asked nervously, but she hugged his neck lovingly and he gave her another goofy, cheesy smile that made her laugh silently.
Jin whispered words of his race and placed two fingers on Loreena's forehead and whispered the short chant twice before letting her go and she was floating just like him. "I gave yu soom o' me power," he explained, laughing happily. "Go on, try 't out."
Loreena flew skyward and twirled around freely across the sky, shocked she was living a dream she had when she was little.
She had dreamed that one night Jin came to visit her, gave her his power and she waltzing in the sky like a free person like she used to be. She felt tears of happiness come to her eyes as she spun and did flips higher into the night sky, the air carrying her like an invisible river.
Jin soon joined her and he taught her some defense moves for the fight against Ryshio, but they screwed the training after three minutes and decided to play tag for a while.
Jin eventually got tackled by surprise by Loreena four times. They laughed together like they were chibis again, but got tired and lay on their backs for a long time just looking at the sky.
Jin pointed out constellations and told her about every one of them, even told her what happened after she was taken by Rathan. "I joined th' Shinobis after me house was destroyed by a huge storm. I though' bout yu every noight, wonderin' if yu weren't dead I did," he explained, yawning and sat up. "Yu tired?" She nodded and yawned with him, taking his hand as they flew back to the Shinobi dojo.
It started raining just when they got on the balcony, and they sighed with relief they weren't out any longer. Loreena got back in the hammock but Jin sat up against the wall with another thin white sheet. Loreena looked at him in confusion and he sighed and explained.
"We aren' allowed t' sleep wit' anyone who's no' in our clan," he said, mocking with Ryshio in a funny voice, she snickered and turned to sleep.
"Goodnight Loreena," Jin whispered, yawning again loudly before lying down on the cold wood floor. She wanted to say the same but she sighed in defeat and went to sleep, not aware of the intruder in the shadows holding a sword that faintly gleamed in the dim light of the clouds.
TO BE CONTINUED…