Strange Journey

Part X

By Phoenix Hoshika

Taiko felt as if she would vomit. A minute ago she and Ryu were resting in small grove of trees when a portal sudden opened beneath them dropping the two in their present location. Moaning Taiko slowly propped herself up on her knees. "Why did a portal suddenly open up like that? It's usually a couple of weeks before one opens but never like that or has it? Though it seems like forever I haven't been traveling with him that long, still a month isn't exactly a short amount of time to be traveling around with a stranger. We're constantly with each other, but I still don't know anything about him and he really seems reluctant to talk about anything before I met him. Life underground… Would it just be bringing up bad memories to talk about it or is it because he really doesn't trust me?" Taiko paused in her thoughts sighing. "I hate to think Ryu doesn't trust me, but that can't be it. If he didn't trust me why travel with me all this time?" Taiko thought as she stood up then looked down at her hands. "If I'm like Jon that means I'm pretty strong, but at the same time no match for Ryu. So, it could be he let's me follow him around because I'm just not a threat." Taiko sighed again sudden becoming depressed.

"Ryu?" She called out when finally noticed he was seemingly nowhere around. She stood in what appeared to be the front yard of an old mansion. There was a tall stone wall around the property and the grass was up to her waist; it was obvious the place had been abandoned for quiet some time. The dim early morning light made the spooky looking mansion appear even spookier in Taiko's sight.

Suddenly feeling cold metal against her skull Taiko froze.

"Well, well what do we have here?" A man's voice said. "You're pretty cute for a demon, but I'll need more than that for a reason not to blow your brains out." The man said cocking the trigger of the gun he held to Taiko's head.

"I'm not a demon." Taiko said while not knowing exactly what she was she was certain she was that.

"Now, you could have come up with something better than that." The man said and he would have fired if something hadn't suddenly tore straight through his abdomen. "You've gotta be kidding me!" He said falling to the ground.

Taiko gasped jumping away. "Ryu?"

"Let's go." The dragon said grabbing Taiko's arm and running into the mansion.

Upon entering the building Taiko felt a chill run down her spine. "Ryu are you sure this was such a good idea?" Taiko thought looking over at him.

"I made a mistake." Ryu said letting go of Taiko's arm and moving forward.

"Ryu." Taiko said starting to follow.

"Stay back!" Ryu growled before suddenly becoming surrounded by dozens of grotesque figures.

"What the!" Taiko uttered watching in horror as they swarmed around the dragon.

Using his claws Ryu tore through the figures as if they were paper, their bodies breaking apart like glass then disappearing.

"Damn it!" A familiar voice exclaimed from behind Taiko who nearly jumped out of her skin darting behind Ryu. It was the man who had nearly shot her alive and well.

The man was dressed in a long red leather trench coat and brown pants. He stood about six feet tall and had short silvery white hair that had been lazily combed through with is fingers. His blue eyes seemed to gleam eerily in the darkness of the old house.

"You little pip-squeak, you tried to kill me!" He said with a hint of laughter in his voice. "You'll have to do better than that, but I'll admit that did hurt." He said putting his hand to the area that only a few minutes ago had a gaping hole in it.

"You…!" Taiko said having regained her composure she came to stand beside Ryu instead of behind him. "You tried to kill me!" Taiko yelled.

"Don't take it personally it's my job to kill demons and I do love my job." The man smiled. "Unfortunately I don't have time to play with you. I have much bigger demons to fry. This should take care of you two." Reaching inside his coat he pulled out a small glowing orb then threw it on the floor. The orb shattered and water gushed out from it utterly soaking Ryu and Taiko.

"Cold." Taiko said shivering.

Ryu stood beside her giving the man a quizzical stare.

"Well, I'll be damned. You two really aren't demons… unless you're just half demon like I am.

"Half demon?" Utter said in disbelief. Taiko stood beside mumbling profanities under her breath. "Hey, it's okay." Ryu said holding his flame covered hands in front of her.

"Ah, thanks." Taiko sighed.

The man had stopped paying attention to them and was having a conversation with himself. "Man, I must be really off my game today, but I can still sense it." He said rubbing his head. "The boy has the slightest scent of human blood, but that girl nothing about her is human, well maybe except the way she looks. If those big as wings weren't sticking out of her back she'd be able to pass for sure."

"Sense what?" Ryu asked turning away from Taiko who was now dry.

"You may not be demons but you definitely aren't human." The man said pointing his sword at Taiko.

"Leave her alone." Ryu said with a dangerous edge to his voice.

"Woah, call down fire butt."

"Fire butt?" Ryu repeated slightly thrown off.

"So, now that you know we aren't demons could please leave us alone." Taiko said sounding as if she would cry.

"Taiko?" Ryu said turning around to face her.

"Man, my luck with women really does suck. I should just give up." The thought then sighed. "Hey, don't cry. I'm sorry. Look at it this way your boyfriend tore me a new one and not a single hair on your head has been harmed so could you stop with the water works already and get out of my way." The man said walking toward them.

Ryu and Taiko stepped to the side and the man disappeared in the darkness of the house.

"Let's get out of here." Ryu said taking her hand.

"Are you going to be okay?" Ryu asked once they were outside.

"Ryu, is what he said true?"

"Huh?"

"That man said I wasn't human."

"He was talking about both of us."

"Maybe, but he singled me out. Why?"

"She's upset because he said she wasn't human, but how can I console her when I'm having the same problem? How can I tell it doesn't matter when all I want is to be able to return to my true form?" Ryu thought as he watched her cry.

"Ryu, you have to tell me that what he said isn't true. I may look different but I'm still a person aren't I?"

"Taiko…" Ryu said at a loss for words. "That man, he said he kills demons for a living and I can't honestly deny that he didn't single her out as not being human. Now she wants me to tell her he was wrong. He said he could sense it and though he was wrong about her being a demon he was not wrong about her not being human. I can sense it too."

"Ryu, please say something." Taiko said holding his right hand to her chest. "My heart is still in the same place and I have ten fingers and toes. I can walk upright and I can understand thing like math and poetry. What he said can' be true. Ryu, why aren't you saying anything?" Taiko asked desperately.

"That guy. I think he's crazy, but Taiko what he said was true. I'm sorry."

"Oh." Taiko said sinking to the ground. "I guess I'd make a good entry at a pet show somewhere then." Taiko with her face to the ground. "So, is this why Ryu won't really talk to me? I am just a pet to him?"

Ryu squinted having somehow become aware of Taiko's thoughts and feeling. "Don't say that." Ryu said but his words fell on deaf ears.

"I wonder if I'll get a nice pink collar? Will he take me home with him or will he let me loose?"

Ryu groaned. "Stop that!" He said startling Taiko and she looked up at him wide eyed.

"Sorry," he said stooping down to meet her gaze. "I'm not going to put a collar on you."

Taiko's heart stopped. "How did he know that was what I was thinking?"

"You may not be human, but you aren't an animal either."

"You're just saying that to make me feel better. I guess it was pretty dumb of me to ask you that when I knew all along I had stopped being human the moment I woke up in that strange world. I just didn't want to believe it. Though other than that I still don't know what I am besides not human."

Ryu placed both of his hands on her shoulders and closed his eyes. "Will you stop being so difficult? Maybe it means nothing coming from someone like me, but is that how you really see yourself, as being nothing more than some kind of strange animal?" Ryu said opening his eyes and giving her a hard stare. "Do you really think I'm not a monster? What you said to me before, was it just to make me feel better?"

Taiko bushed his hands away and scooted a few feet away from him. "Don't be ridiculous you and I are completely different."

"How?"

"Ryu, we're the same age, yet I've been following you around like a little kid. I'm no good in a bind and I can't even look out for myself; I have to depend on you to do that. I have to depend on you for everything and I wasn't like that before. I could hold my own and now I can't even do that. This whole experience is like a dream and I can't help but wonder if I'm just plain crazy sometimes, but then the truth smacks me in the face, this is no dream."

"Maybe you just need more time to adjust, just-"

"No!" Taiko said cutting him off and moving further away when he reached out for her. "I may have wings like Jon did but whatever he did to me it took away my humanity. He kept me locked up in that room like a pet. That old freak. Was he serious all those times? When Ryu showed up and things got to hot for him to handle he had no problem handing me over. I guess I was nothing more than a pet to be used and disposed of when he got bored." Taiko thought shuddering.

Ryu winked unable to block out her thoughts. "Why is she torturing herself like this?"

"Are you still reading me thoughts?" Taiko asked with a hint of irritation in her voice.

"Yes, but I'm not doing it on purpose. I can't shut them out." Ryu said bringing his hands to his ears. "It's like you're screaming. Have you been in that much pain all this time?" Ryu thought keeping an eye on her.

"Oh…" Taiko said as she ran her fingers along the ground.

"She seems calm now but I can tell she still extremely upset." Ryu thought feeling utterly useless.

The sky had turned completely dark. A cool breeze blew and Taiko shivered. It didn't take long for Ryu to pick up on the reason why Taiko stayed so close to him was because she easily became cold. Finally able to get close to her he wrapped his arms around the shivering girl. It really wasn't that chilly but her skin was cold to the touch as if she had been sitting in a freezer.

"Thank you." Taiko said leaning against him. "I'm sorry for being so much trouble."

"It's okay. Don't worry about it."

"You two sure picked and awfully weird spot to make out." The man in the red coat said as he approached them.

"Did you find what you were looking for?" Ryu asked.

"Yup, and got a souvenir to prove it." The man said pulling a demonic head from the nap sack on his back. Ryu and Taiko both flinched in disgust.

"Hey, relax it's dead. Besides I didn't think something like this would get under your skin not after the way I saw you handle those demons earlier. What happened?"

"Nothing, it's just gro- I mean why are you carrying a head around?" Ryu asked.

"I told you; it's a souvenir." The man said placing it back into his pack. "It gets pretty cold out here during the night and I hate to been a complete hole so why don't you two spend the night at my place?"

"Really?" Ryu asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, really, but just this one night. The man said sternly. "By the way the name's Dante.

To Be Continued