Oopsies. My laptop broke again... (Sniff, Sniff) I'm typing this on my old laptop, which is really slow. I'm also severly addicted to Final Fantasy X-2.
Dailyangel - I'll read that story. I like Sakura, but Hinata is my fave. Oh, yeah, sorry, but my fave couple is SasuSaku. I look at NaruSaku as a sibling type thing. Yes, I know what Kingdom hearts is. I'm in love with the game and praying the 3rd one comes out for PS2 also. (soooooooo not wasting money on PS3) Thanks for the review. I hope you like this chapter.
Mushra: She better. You put more than 10 hours into this.
My own laziness and boredom. I got distracted a lot. (cough) video games (cough) so don't bite her head off.
Disclaimer: WHAT THE HECK! I don't own Shinzo?? (goes to cry in corner)
Hikari walked through a meadow of lush grass. The puffy white clouds stood out against the smooth blue sky. The bright sun was behind her. She walked at a steady pace, staring up at the sky. The wind played with her hair and made grass billow in waves.
"Hikari, Where are you going?" a woman's voice asked. The smooth, silky voice seemed to come from everywhere, as if the meadow were speaking.
"To the west." Her mouth did not open as her voice answered back. It was as if her thoughts were projecting themselves to the entity.
"Why?" It questioned.
"Shinzo's to the west."
"Why are you going?"
"I...I think for Takashi and Seru. They wanted to see what humans were like."
"That was the excuse to leave. Remember?" The voice was calm and patient.
"Not really. I don't remember a reason. My heart seemed to urge me to go one day. It was strange."
"As I expected. You've seemed to have forgotton everything."
"What have I forgotten?" She asked curiously.
"I can't say, dear. I'm stretching the rules enough as it is by contacting you. It's still a shame you forgot him and your promise. He must be heartbroken."
"Who? What promise?" Her eyes continued to stare up at the sky in a strange trance.
"I really can't say. I'm sorry." the voice apologized. "Your heart seems to remember, though." it pondered. "Or else, you wouldn't be going on this journey."
"Who are you, and what are you talking about?"
"I can't tell you that. Besides, I feel a presence. It's separating your consious and subconcious minds completely. I doubt you'd remember this when you woke up."
"I'm confused." she admitted.
"I know."
"Not about the things you aren't telling me, though. I wonder... Is this a dream, or is it another dream-slash-spirit world place."
"I guess you could say the second option. It's much more complex than that." the voice paused. "What do you mean 'another'?"
"A boy caught me, in an in-between place. It was like a dream, but it was real. He was in the Gateway," she thought for a moment, "between the world of Real and Non-existance. He said it wasn't a dream. I believe him. I couldn't have dreamed up something like that place and him."
"Strange." it pondered. Hikari noticed the view ahead of her shimmer and fade. The voice spoke again in a hurry. "I must go now. He's trying to stop me." The grass and sky began to swirl slowly in darkness. A black cloud began to creep around her body. "You must continue to Shinzo. Don't quit, no matter what happens." The last trace of the sun disappeared behind the black fog. Hikari was left alone in darkness. It was quiet for a minute. Then, the sound of footsteps could be heard. They steadily grew louder until Hikari knew the person they belonged to was very close.
"Ha!" a deep voice scoffed. A dark form rose from the ground ahead of her. "Let's see you find light from this darkness." It slowly walked towards her as it spoke. Hikari's lips pulled back into a snarl.
"YOU!" she hissed. "You bring them back now!" The figured chuckled in his deep sadistic voice.
"What will happen if I don't?" he threatend. Hikari's arms and legs constricted to her sides as she froze on the spot. She began to lift a few inches off the ground. A low growl vibrated from her throat as the figure neared. His broad face had a malicous grin across his thin lips. He had pale skin that stood out against the blackness around him. His dark, crimson eyes stared up at her. "I control the darkness now, thanks to my new servants. You can't do anything here." He chuckled victoriously.
"Why couldn't you have taken me instead?! You were going to get me anyways. You could've left them out of it!" she snarled.
"I needed their powers, too. It would be too resistant if you weren't weakened first."
"What would?" he held out his hand and put it on her forehead. The corners of his mouth rose further into an animal like grin. His eyes stared at her greedily.
"Your life force." Hikari's eyes widened and she struggled against her invisible bonds. "But now," his hand began to glow a deep purple, " I'll be all-powerful!" The glow strengthened and Hikari's scream of agony peirced the quiet atmosphere. His eyes blazed brighter at the sound of her pain.
There was glow from behind her, and a burst of golden light rammed into the figure. He fell backwards and hit the ground hard. The light around the newscomer began to fade. They had a cloud white top and black pants. Their armor and wings were a bright gold. They grabbed Hikari in their arms and flew upwards without a word.. The wind blew against their hair as they gained speed. Suddenly, they stopped. The two were in the place from Hikari's first dream. The figure sat down with her in their arms. Her breaths were heavy and ragged.
"Are you alright?" Their voice was calm and quiet. Hikari managed a nod and tried to steady her breathing. The person holding her stroked her arm gently. "It's okay." they soothed. "He won't come here again." Hikari's breathing had steadied. She sat up on her own and looked at the person. Her eyes widened as sapphire met sky. It was the boy from her first dream.
"How'd you save me?" she asked in disbelief.
"That man was using his spirit to travel in this world. He won't come back though. He knows some other force is here."
"Thank you." she smiled in gratitude.
"Your welcome. I see you learned a little tonight."
"How did-" she stopped and let the question drop. She began again. "I don't know what to make of it. Aparantly, I made a promise from before-I-can-remember. I think you said something like that the first time I saw you, before I woke up. I'm not too sure. I'm having trouble remembering anything lately." she sighed dejectely. "It makes me wonder if I really know myself. It's a helpless feeling, not being sure what to think or do."
"Don't ponder too hard on it. You'll figure something out." he smiled encouragingly. She used her knee as an elbow rest and propped her head up with her hand. She pursed her lips and creased her eybrows as she thought.
"I have a feeling there was something important before I woke up in the woods." She finally said. She didn't explain her words. She had a feeling he knew somehow.
"There had to have been something. You'll figure out." He smiled at her, and her eyes glanced up at him with a suspicious glare.
"You know, don't you?" It was more of a statement than a question. He nodded and put his index finger over his lips. "I knew it. There's just something strange about you."
"What do you mean 'strange'?" he asked curiously. Hikari looked at him dubiously.
"For one," she counted off on her index finger, "you seem to know more about me than I do. Two, you're stuck inbetween real and non-existance. Three," she paused to put her thoughts into words. "you have a strange 'presence'." He looked at her with confusion in his sky eyes.
"What do you mean?" Hikari thought for a moment.
"Even in that first meeting, I felt drawn to you. It really hurt me to leave you alone here." She blushed a bit. "I've never met you before then, but I felt so comfortable and peaceful around you. It's as if I knew you my whole life. Wouldn't you call that strange?" The boy thought for a moment.
"I guess I would if I were in your place." he admitted.
"See?" she prodded. He nodded his head 'yes'.
"Before, you go," he said suddenly, "don't worry about going to sleep. That man won't ever come here or your dreams again. He won't risk his soul." Hikari nodded.
"I won't."
"Good." he smiled. "Now," he put his hand on her forehead, "You need to rest. You have enough problems without frying your brain." she smiled at his joke. His hand glowed light blue and her eyes began to slowly close.
OoOoOoOoO
Hikari felt a hand shaking her shoulder. She reluctantly opened her eyes to see Mushra hovering over her.
"Good morning, Sleepyhead." he grinned widely at her. Her eyes widened and she sat up suddenly. Mushra jumped back. Her mind was in a turmoil as thoughts pushed to get through first. She couldn't concentrate on one for more than a moment before another shoved it out of the way.
"Was that?!... Who?" She glanced at Mushra. "Who did I see? Weren't we..." Her mind struggled to comprehend her thoughts. Unknown things seemed to slip away and she was trying to grasp a hold of them. "What... Where... I know there's something I need to remember. Why?!" She clenched her fist in her hair as she struggled. Mushra watched her confused. When everything had slipped away, she let go of her hair and huffed in irritation.
"What was that about?" Mushra questioned skeptically. Hikari jumped at his statement. She had forgotten he was there. She grinned sheepishly.
"I was... uh... trying to remember a dream. I completely forgot." she sighed. "I think something's wrong with my head." Mushra rolled his eyes.
"Is that all? I thought you were having some wierd seizure. Don't worry, though. Most people forget a lot of their dreams. I think mine had something to do with a chocolate city." Hikari pursed her lips and nodded slowly. Mushra's grin faded at her serious look.
"I know there's more to it than that." she thought desperatly. "It was more than a dream, but..." A pair of light gray cargo pants thrown at her face snapped her out of her thoughts. She looked up in time to catch a belt thrown toward her. She glanced to her right and spotted Mushra digging through his bag of clothes again.
"Hey." he said while he started to put the clothes back. "Ask Yakumo for a shirt. She might have one that fits. We're going to wash clothes today since we're by a river."
"Okay."
"Hurry and get dressed. Kutall is done with breakfast." he informed. He picked up the bag of laundry and left the tent. Hikari stood up and opened the tent flap. Kutall was serving oatmeal and toast to Binka and the kittens. Mushra was walking towards the woods with his clothes. Saago was close behind with a bag of his own. Binka looked up and smiled.
"Good morning, Hikari." she greeted cheerfully. "Did you sleep well?" Hikari nodded curtly and Binka chuckled. "I'm suprised, really. His snoring didn't keep you up?"
"No." she replied as she sat down next to her. "He was quiet as a mouse." Binka looked a bit suprised. "Where's Yakumo?" Esty jumped up onto her lap.
"She's in her tent." The little kitten pointed towards the tent as she spoke. Hikari lifted her off her lap and onto to the ground as she stood up.
"Thank you." She walked towards the tent and heard humming from inside.
"Hello?" she called out.
"Come in!" Yakumo's voice called from inside. Hikari lifted the flap and ducked in. As soon as she did a blur of white flew at her. She caught the soft missile before it hit her face.
"There's a shirt that might fit. There's a purple tee that might fit too, but it's going to be hot today."
Hikari unbundled the shirt. It was a short sleeved white t-shirt. Along the bottom, it had a three rows of black and white squares arranged in a checkerboard pattern. The sleeves had two rows of checkers. A golden-eyed cat stared at Yakumo from the middle of the shirt. The cat's eyes glowed fom the back. Yakumo watched as she held it against her form.
"It looks like it might." the human female stated. "Go try it on." She urged. Hikari left for her tent for a moment. When she came back, She was wearing the shirt and jeans. When she enteed, she was in the process of fastening the black belt.
"I'm glad he left this." She stated gratefully. "The jeans are a bit big on me."
"I would let you borrow mine," Yakumo sighed, "but they'd be much too long."
"It's okay. I'll just have to do some work at the next town and buy some clothes."
"You can use some of our money if you need clothes." she offered.
"I'm fine. I do it all the time."
"If you're sure." Yakumo said reluctantly.
"I'm positive." Hikari smiled at her, then remembered something. "I wanted to know why you're so excited about Shinzo." Yakumo stopped folding the shirt in her hands and looked up.
"It's my duty." she said calmly.
"How so? You're an innocent young woman. What could possibly make you go on such a journey? Many Enterrans would not hessitate to kill you because of your blood."
"I'm not really that young. I'm probably around 506." Hikari's face fell and she remained silent.
"Are you okay?" Yakumo asked while waving her hand in front of the silent girl's face. Hikari nodded meekly while her expression remained.
"Okay then. I guess it is hard to comprehend. Fivehundred and six years old." She sighed as she rolled the thought over in her head.
"H-how did you..." Hikari was at a loss of words.
"Oh! That? That's part of the story. During the Great Enterran War, many humans were killed. The remaining are said to have fled to Shinzo. My father, Daigo Tatsuro, was a great scientist. He put me into suspended animation to awake fifty years later. He hoped that I would be able to save the remaining humans in Shinzo. Something went wrong with the machine, Hakuba, and I slept for five-hundred years, instead. I've only aged 10 years."
"You slept in Hakuba for 500 years?!" she said in disbelief. " Wow. I'd hate to imagine the neck cramp when you woke up." Yakumo smiled.
"It wasn't that bad. Hey, why are you going west? Are you headed to Shinzo?" Hikari's eyes widened as if something really heavy just hit her.The color drained from her face in a second.
"I, uh, well I'm just traveling around. it's fun." She grinned sheepishly. Before Yakumo started to ask another question, she went on. "Well, I think I'm gonna see if the guys need any help with the clothes. Save me a bowl of food, please!" She ran out of the tent in a flash. Yakumo looked out the tent flap to see the teen already at edge of the woods.
"Okay then." She knew she couldn't hear, though.
OoOoOoOoOoO
"Ugh!" Saago exlaimed as he held up a pair of torn blue jeans. "How come all your clothes smell like charcoal?" He dunked them in the river as he started scrubbing. He and Mushra sat on their knees as they leaned over the cold waters. Saago had used a path of rocks to cross to the other side and worked a little ways upstream from Mushra. the water moved past their hands in a slow current as the sun glittered off the clear surface.
"It's not my fault." Mushra informed. "At least they don't smell like cheap perfume, wine, and ciggaretes whenever we come out of a town."
"What are you saying?" He challenged.
"Me?" Mushra asked innocently as he hung a large pair of pink pants over a low tree branch." I'm not saying anything, ecxept for the fact how our money seems to dissappear."
"Hey!" Saggo objected. "That slot machine in Ponzuko was rigged!"
"Whatever, what about the other-" Mushra stopped when he noticed his friend sniffing another black shirt. He seemed to concentrate on it. "I don't wanna hear it. I know it smells like burnt wood." He rolled his eyes.
"It's not that." he said calmly. "This one smells like," he sniffed the cloth again, "like lavenders and cherry blossom."
"Hey," Mushra said defensively. "I don't use any perfumes or anything so don't say anything. Wait, what shirt is that?"
"It's your favorite shirt." Saggo held up the black shirt by it's sleeves. It unfurled to show a phoenix flying up into the black.
"Oh!" Mushra stated in suprise. "That's the one Hikari slept in last night. It must be her, not me."
"Of course. She smells much nicer than your charcoal smell."
"That's both flattering and creepy at the same time." A voice said from behind them. Mushra and Saago looked up as the green bushes rustled noisely. Hikari emerged from the green. Her clothes were ruffled and a few leaves decorated her hair. She walked up to the river and bent down on her knees.
"Why exactly is he sniffing what I wear?" She pulled her chestnut hair into a messy bun and grabbed a tiny pink skirt from the pile of clothes. She dunked it into the water and started to scrub.
"I don't know." Mushra answered.
"Is he a pervert?" Mushra burst into laughter and Saago's face fell.
"That's likely." He said once his laughter calmed down. He looked back to where Hikari had emerged as he heard more rustling.
"Hikari, what's a pervert?" Esty's small voice questioned as she jumped out of the bush. The small kitten was wearing a green skirt and a pink flowered shirt. Mushra laughed more when he turned to look at Saago's crestfallen expression.
"What is it?" The small kitten insisted. She tugged on the bottom of Hikari's shirt.
"It's a person with dirty thoughts. Kids shouldn't be around them."
"Ohhh." Esty said in understanding. "Saago's a pervert?"
"Apparantly." She answered. Mushra had stopped luaghing and nodded in agreement. The bush rusteled once again and luaghter followed. Ren and Sen jumped out of the woods laughing. They danced around each other as they started to sing.
"Saago's a pervert! Saggo's a pervert!" The brothers laughed and sang loudly. They wore their normal pants, but Ren wore a light green shirt with a darker green star on it. Sen wore the same shirt in shades of blue. Hikari giggled at their fun.
"I am not a pervert!" Saago yelled defensively. His face was tomato red.
"Really?" Mushra said doubtfully. "Prove it. There's more evidence against you, though."
"Like what?" Saggo asked. The twins started to sing again.
"You know 'what'." he accused. "Admit it. You're just a dirty perv." He smirked at the labled lecher.
Saago's teeth gounded audibly against each other as he glared at the boy. He leaned down to toward the water and dipped his arm in. He smirked as he splashed the water high out of the river and toward Mushra. Mushra ducked and avoided getting soaked. It hit the unsuspecting girl behind him. Time froze once Saago realized his mistake.
"Saago..." Hikari's voice was sickingly sweet.
She caught his frightened eyes with her predator like ones. She jumped and flipped over the river. Her body turned around smoothly as soon as her feet hit the ground. She spun on one foot as she brought a roundhouse kick to Saago's gut. He flew bacward a few feet.
"Nyahh!" Hikari stuck her tongue out at the young man who lay in a heap on the ground. Mushra burst into another fit of hysterics as the kittens mocked the unfortunate Enterran.
OoOoOoOoO
"I'm so boooooooooooored!" Ren comlained. He and Sen were riding in Yakumo's lap. The three boys were riding there ussual vehicle. Hikari had refused to ride with a pervert and sat cross legged on top of Hakuba. Binka and Esty rode in her Turtlemobile.
"So am I, but complaining won't help." Mushra was sitting upsidedown as he moved ahead. Saago rested his arms on the front of his pink scooter.
"Well I'm hungry." Kutall stated. He was sweating bullets under the intense sun.
"You're always hungry." Saago mumbled.
"I'm hungry, too." Hikari stated. She moved her legs over the ledge and let them dangle above Yakumo's head as she lay back.
"You didn't eat breakfat, though." Binka reminded her.
"Oh yeah." Her stomach growled in rememberance it's lost meal.
"I think there's a town up ahead." Hakuba informed in his calm voice. The kittens cheered as a few tall buildings appeared on the horizon.
"Good food, here I come." Kutall announced. He sped on ahead toward the buldings.
Hikari stood up on Hakuba and jumped down. She landed behind Mushra on his hoverboard and grabbed his shoulders.
"Follow that cat!" She ordered. Mushra saluted and raced after Kutall. Saago moaned.
"Great. With those three, I doubt there will be any food left by the time we get there. Yakumo and Binka giggled as they sped up there pace toward the town.
Yes! The fourth chapter is done! It might be much longer untill the fifth one though. I still need to rewrite the chapter I was working on for Truth or Dare Shinzo... If only my laptop hadn't of crashed. T.T I also want to try and get the 2nd chapter for Itsu Made Mo rewritten. I was almost done with it when my laptop crashed. I'm still addicted to Final Fantasy X - 2, but I've almost completed the game. I just want to win the blitzball game. Stupid blitzball... I'mgoing to work on other things after I finish that. The fourth book in the Twilight Series, Breaking Dawn, will be out in a month. Everything is stopped once My friend is done reading it. I can't wait! they're very good books. I like them a lot. The first is Twilight by Stepanie Meyer.
I have a good idea of what my fifth chapter will be. I'm sure it won't be one of my better chapters. It's the uneventful one, most likely...(unless I make it really long.) That's all for now. Please review. I really like constructive critism. No flames, please.
Buh bye for now,
Mushraluvr