X-Laws


Aiko

"Ah, what wonderful blue skies!" Ryo proclaimed from the back of the hay wagon that was giving us a lift. "It almost makes you forget about those X-Laws, doesn't it Trey?"

"Are you kidding? Nothing can make me forget about what the X-Laws did to Basil!"

Silence reigned for a minute. They'd finally told me what had happened to Basil, about an hour ago.

Then Len snapped at Trey, Trey snapped back, Ryo tried to calm them down and suddenly directed their attention to Lyserg.

"I'm worried about him; he hasn't spoken since we met up with the X-Laws."

After a few minutes more of silence – ah, blessed silence! A friend I've rarely heard from since joining Len and his friends – I heard rushing water.

They were identified as hot springs by Len, and Ryo described them on the map as big tourist attractions.

Amazingly, we all decided to go! Well…Ryo said we should go see them, Yoh agreed, and even Lyserg did, so that sealed the deal!

We got to Ryo's big described theme park, and I spent the time holding onto Ryo's hand. I'd already explained to the group that I was mainly having them lead me around because I wanted to save using my own skills for Dobi Village. Yoh had seen the sense in that, and had even chosen to seal that by leading me around for that hour, and I'd been passed around among the guys ever since.

Len was getting irritated, and I was…confused. "What's there to do around here, exactly?"

Before anyone could answer the question, Ryo got tempted to stay here, Len yelled at him, and Yoh told him that he needed to relax.

"I am very relaxed! Don't I seem very, very relaxed?"

"Um…do you want me to answer that?" I asked.

"Yeah, you seem very stress-free," Yoh answered. "That's why we're only staying one night."

As we walked, I heard a female voice a little ways away, but only the beginning of her sentence: "Six shaman!"

Huh?


I was in a different hot spring than the boys, as seemed typical. Not that I minded, but I kind of wondered what sort of insanity they would end up saying while I wasn't there. You know, like back at the village with the mine, when those nature spirits were playing jokes on us. I missed out on a lot of crazy-fun stuff then.


Yoh

"Well…" I thought about what both Ryo and Lyserg said. Ryo had suggested we split up to try to cover more ground in finding Dobi Village, and Lyserg had suggested we put off finding Dobi Village and all join up with the X-Laws. "I don't agree. We don't just go around destroying people like the X-Laws. And about splitting up…I say we all stick together. We've gotten this far by watching each other's backs! And besides, we shouldn't talk about future plans when Aiko's not here: she's got a say in this, too, you know."


Aiko

I'd tuned myself in with the world to listen to what the wind had to say. That only really worked when I was relaxed, and well, I was definitely relaxed!

"Are they all still together?"

"Most of them, yes. The girl is by herself."

"Then we'll have to lure them off one by one and destroy them!"

Maybe I should warn the others?


Later, we were in the game room. Ryo and Trey were duking it out at ping-pong, and Yoh was thrilled with the massage chair. I'd mentioned the female voices and what they'd said, but they all had just dismissed it as imaginings.

Well…all but Len. "Are you absolutely sure that's what you heard?"

"Yes. My hearing extends far when I'm relaxed, and this was while I was in the hot springs."


That night, as my hearing went, was…interesting.

I couldn't be fooled by that ghost, purely because my desires were extremely vague: someone who would see me, not as handicapped, but capable.

In the end, what we found out was that it was a ghost being controled by a thief. Yoh thanked the ladies that saved Lyserg, and said that he'd gotten a chance to be something he'd only dreamed of.

"What's that?"

"Anna's boss!"

As we went back to our rooms, I asked, "Who's Anna?"

Len answered me. "Yoh's fiancee. She's the sternest girl I have ever met."

"Oh." That explains it.


In the morning, they all explained to me what had happened to each of them. The chameleon ghost had turned itself into Lyserg to try to catch Ryo, and he'd bored it into leaving. It had also turned into Anna to try to catch Yoh, but…he was able to boss it around.

When the girls had tried to catch Trey or Len, it hadn't worked. Trey because he slept through his guardian ghost icing them off, and Len because…he's Len. Thanks to me, and to his own survival instincts, he'd actually caught them outside his window and scared them off!

I could just imagine it.


Our next stop, evidently, was like a ghost town. Ryo ran off to watch moving pictures, which I didn't understand. Did he think this was a vacation?

I actually heard Ryo yell, though, and I doubted that the scary movie would be that scary to a shaman.

When we got there, Trey identified something on Ryo as a fang-bite. Evidently, Ryo was unconscious. Trey also guessed that a vampire had attacked Ryo.

"There's no such thing as vampires," Len declared, "everyone knows that!"

"Yeah," Yoh retorted, "like there's no such thing as ghosts!"

He had a point…

Then Amidamaru and Bason came back with Tokageroh. The way he was babbling, I guessed they were dragging him. He was saying something about a bloodthirsty creature.

Len guessed it was a shaman, courtesy of Zeke, who caught Ryo off guard. Tokageroh didn't think so. Said that the vampire-person disappeared like fog.

Then two of the "Lees," as Yoh called them, came in to warn us. Then one of them declared Trey's vampire guess wrong. "Because everyone knows that vampires only attack innocent maidens, not wanna-be biker dudes like him!"

Ryo got up, was clearly not okay, and ended up getting frozen solid by Trey. In another room, Lyserg mentioned that all the stories about vampires were different, but that the two consistent things were that vampires drank blood and that a human bitten by a vampire became one for good.

"Whoa, hold on," Yoh interrupted. "Does this mean we're gonna have to drive a stake through Ryo's heart?"

"I will happily volunteer myself for the duty," Len stated.

Some strange guy started telling a pretty random story from a long time ago. But then he mentioned a vampire lurking in the shadows of this town.

"Oh that's just great!" Trey protested. "Evil lurking in the shadows? By morning tomorrow, we're all gonna be vampires!"

Did…those girls really have to mention the X-Laws? My day was bad enough already from everybody's stupidity...

I rolled my eyes. "Is this going to be another protect-the-blind-girl day? There are some things I can't hear, you know."

"Really?" That diverted the others for a second.

"Really. For instance…sorry to use this one, but I never heard Ryo get up. I didn't hear him until he was in the middle of attacking."

"Um…really?" Trey sounded like he wanted me to say I was kidding.

"There are ways to move silently. I can use them all, but I can't hear any of them. Usually, they involve either moving slowly or stepping lightly, or both. And I do believe, though I haven't read any books or heard a lot of stories, that vampires can move just as quietly as I can."

Len set an arm over my shoulders. "Well then, I suppose this is going to be another 'protect the blind girl' day. You won't have anything to worry about with us."

I just laughed a little.


Len and Yoh got into a conversation after that while they were watching Ryo. Something about whether or not the X-Laws could help Ryo.

Then Lyserg and Trey went to take the next watch. I wasn't taking part in this, because another thing I couldn't hear was ice melting, and the point was to make sure Ryo didn't get out.

Screams. Somehow, Ryo had gotten out of the ice and bitten Trey. I stayed in the other room as the others went to check.

"Oh great," Yoh protested, "now Trey's vampire?"

Lyserg came back in time to save Milly and what's-her-name-ly from Trey, but something was wrong. I could read it in his silence and in everyone elses' words.

I heard Trey's yell…then there was sound-wave-chaos in the room for an instant. Ryo wanted to know what was going on, and to be honest, so did I. I'd finally come out.

Len snapped a few orders, one of which was for some guy to take us girls somewhere safe.

"I'm staying right here," I snapped back. "I'm not about to follow somebody I don't know!"

"Then stay here, but stay close to me!"

Well, Len is the most dangerous of all of us on a regular basis. I walked over in his direction.

"Turn right, Miss Aiko. Trey is bound by Tokageroh right in your path."

I walked around him and got to Len, looping my arm through his.

If what Lyserg was saying was anything to go by, he'd just gotten another level of X-brainwashing. Recently.


Yoh, Len and I went to find the vampire.

My ears told me that we were underground, that Milly and that other girl were here, in trouble, and that creepy-guy and the vampire were both here, with the vampire turning on his partner.

"Aiko," Len looked at me, "you were right not to trust him."

"Nice to be right. But remind me to be wrong next time?"

Boris talked a little, and then Len reminded me that he had a sense of humor.

Called it a couple hours ago; I didn't even hear Boris move, and yet Len was trembling under my grasp as if the vampire was right in front of us.

If the sounds around me were anything to go by, Lyserg was turned into a vampire!

…Why wasn't I more scared?

Ryo and Trey showed up and helped save Milly, and then Boris ran off. We all chased after him, with me hanging onto Trey's wrist and Yoh carrying Lyserg.

Then Len proclaimed himself right: this guy was a shaman who was putting his guardian ghost inside his victims to control them.

Oh. That's why I wasn't more scared of this guy.

Of course, that still left Lyserg under his control, and he kidnapped Yoh!

…I don't know why everyone else stopped at Boris' control, but I kept walking forward.

"Didn't you hear me? One more step, and you could get impaled!" Boris snapped at me.

"You know what? It's funny, but it's awfully hard for me to be scared of something I can't see or hear."

"Oh, really? Then how about what you can feel?"

Then I felt a sharp point just graze the skin under my chin! That made me freeze.

Yoh seemed unworried by his predicament. I laid a bet with myself that that carefree attitude would get him bitten by somebody.

Lyserg started speaking! "You must…destroy me! It's the only way…"

Now my bet was that Yoh wouldn't do it.

He startled me, but he didn't mean what he said. Then he said he'd become Boris' servant to save us!

I don't know what happened, but I heard destruction behind me and fan-swiped the stake in front of me, just for good measure.

Boris yelled at his ghost, with his call of that he "had Yoh Asakura."

Yoh was joking around! He even asked how he'd done!

"Not bad," Len remarked.

Apparently, Amidamaru had caught Boris' guardian ghost inside Yoh.

Then Len slammed Boris. Hard.

"Uh, Len?" Yoh asked, "Don't you think that was a little…dramatic?"

"Would you expect anything less?"

His ghost…I couldn't pronounce his name, or spell it…well, he told us the full story. Then Boris ran off, and we followed when we heard his cry of anguish, with me grabbing onto Lyserg's arm.

"Let go!"

"I'm not stopping you! Just keep me from running into something!"

He let me hang onto his hand instead, so he could guide me easier.

Evidently, the X-Laws were there, ready to finish Boris off. Yoh got in the way and declared a kind of challenge, saying that he wasn't going to let them finish off the fake vampire.

Talking…talking…sooner or later, somebody was going to pull a trigger.

Then Yoh pushed the button. "If you destroy me just because I'm in your way, then you're just as bad as Zeke!"

They attacked with something big…and Boris' guardian ghost cried out in anguish.

"Um…would somebody explain what just happened?"

"Boris took the shot," Len said shortly. "He's gone."

The X-Laws started walking. Then Lyserg started following them, still hanging onto my hand!

"Lyserg, if you're going to follow them, fine, but let me make up my own mind!"

He let go.

He also said that he didn't trust Yoh anymore, right before he left for good.


Boris' guardian ghost went to the Netherworld to rescue his friend, thanking Yoh.

And then we set off again, with me wondering if I'd ever hear Lyserg's voice again. The longest conversation we'd ever had still played through my head:

"Hey, Aiko? How can you be a shaman without being able to see?"

"Lyserg, a person's eyes can fool them or be misled. Since I can't see, there's no way I can end up helpless inside a smokescreen or blinded by a flash of light, or shrouded in darkness. It's always a good thing to learn how to move without being able to see, so that you can accommodate for those instances."

"Oh. Do you think you can teach me?"

"Of course."

He'd spent the whole day with a blindfold on, figuring out what he could find out by listening or feeling.

"I let you spend the whole day with the blindfold this time because of your enthusiasm. But really, you're only supposed to use a blindfold for about an hour at a time, probably less because we're traveling."

"Okay."

Would he remember to use the blindfold to keep training his sightless fighting skills while with the X-Laws?

"What are you thinking, Aiko?" Yoh asked me.

"I'm thinking…I need to find a second spirit to keep with me."

"Why, Miss Aiko?"

"Because, Maia, while using furyoku, you're inside my fans. That means you can't exactly help me see. That's been the hardest part of fighting so far: being unable to see spirit attacks coming at me. Ghosts can move way more quietly than humans. If I had a second spirit that I could integrate with while you were inside my fans, then I'd lose my disadvantage."

"That's a wonderful idea!" Ryo said, going completely false-cheerfulness. Then his tone wilted. "But where will you find another spirit on such short notice?"

I was about to answer when I thought I heard something: a faint mew. "Excuse me for a second?" I walked off the path and over to a couple of bushes (I could hear the wind blowing the leaves). Kneeling, I could hear one faint mew and one echoing, frantic yowling. "Maia, tell me what you see."

"A mother cat and four kittens. Only one kitten is alive. The other three have moved on to the next life. I can't tell how the mother cat died, but she's clearly furious."

"If I spoke to the mother cat, would it understand me?"

"Yes. Cats have always been more sensitive to ghosts, and now that this one is a ghost itself, it can speak."

I spoke quietly. "Hello. What's wrong?" I knew almost exactly what was wrong, but I wanted to get her attention.

Well, I had it. "You can see me?" The sense I got from "see" included sight and sound, so I could answer that.

"Yes. I'm a shaman; a link between this life and the next life. If you like, I can help you with your predicament, but you'll have to help me, too."

"Let's hear your request." She sounded wary.

"Well…how much longer would it have been before you'd have weaned your kits?"

"Around a month." She sounded aggravated now. I knew that sort of thing: so close to finishing a task, and then you were taken from it. Well, by the time a month was over, the tournament would be over, too.

"Well…I could take your body and the kit with me, and every day I could integrate your spirit back into your body so that you can feed your kit and keep taking care of it. I can't keep that up for very long because I never specifically learned this or killed you myself, but a little every day should be enough until it's ready to live without you. That's what I'd do for you. And what you'd do for me is…my path is dangerous. I do have a ghost with me that I use for fighting, but I can't see. If you integrated with me while my guardian ghost was integrated with my weapon, then I'd be able to see my enemy, and you can help me protect your kit."

She was silent for a minute. Then, "Very well; I will join you."

I buried the three small bodies, and then picked up the lifeless mother cat and the kitten and walked back over to my friends. They didn't question my new burden, or what I was doing when I integrated the mother cat with her body and held the two cats together.

I even gave names to the two cats: the mother cat became Kachina, and the baby – Kachina finally told me that it was a girl – became Velvet.

Lyserg would really not understand why I'm doing this. Well, he doesn't have to understand.


A/N: Episodes 34 through 36 take credit. I added the second ghost to Aiko's arsenal for just the reason she said.