A/N:
You have to proof read.
But I don't wanna, I'm sleepy and I just want to put out this chapter and go to bed!
You leave in mistakes when you proof read! How bad do you think it'll be if you do nothing?
...I am pretty bad for leaving in mistakes by accident...
Yeah, so get off your lazy ass and PROOF READ!
...I hate you.
Anyway, onto review replies :)
Guest: Yup, but some of it will be most amusing shit. Other will be violent and horrible for the other people involved.
Irgoomer: I know, I'm writing it and I find it hard to keep up with all these people. Don't worry, not all of them are important enough to keep track of, the ones that are will be mentioned enough that hopefully it won't be too confusing.
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"Kaida-san, glad to see you didn't get lost in the wilderness." Anju said when she saw the red head arrive.
"Yeah, I had to ask for directions. And I may have permanently scarred one of the maids...Or I made a friend, I'm not entirely sure."
Anju chuckled. She twirled her fighting staff and laid it across her shoulders, her hands hanging casually of it.
"You come to train?" She asked causing Kaida to frown.
"Em...I've never done any kind of martial art before...and I'm kind of injured..." Kaida admitted awkwardly. Anju raised an eyebrow at her in surprise. Suddenly there was a snide laugh.
"A dragon with no bite? How redundant." Kira teased, leaning against one of the dojo walls, his black rat eyes gleaming.
Kyo had a feeling Kaida was tempted to show Kira just how big her bite really was but she merely shrugged.
"There was never a reason for me to learn."
Kira smiled tightly, he walked up to Kaida with cool, calculated steps. He stopped when he was less than a foot in front of her and brought his face down to hers.
"For a pretty girl like you I think there is every reason to learn." He murmured causing Kaida to blanch.
"Oh quit being a pervert Kira and go bother someone else." Anju snapped, yanking Kaida away from him.
Kira glanced at Anju and then at the hand on Kaida's arm.
"So you've already decided she's your property, have you Anju-chan? That makes this a lot more fun." He purred.
"Everything okay here?"
The trio turned to see Hisao at the door. He was regarding them with cautious expressions. Kira straightened at the sight of the cat and Kyo wondered for split second if they were friends.
"I don't remember inviting you kitty." Kira spat, glaring at Hisao with pure disgust.
Nope, not friends.
"And I don't remember needing your permission, rodent." Hisao said looking at Anju and Kaida, a question evident in his blue eyes. The pupils had become slits in the presence of Kira.
"We're fine, Kaida-san just came to see the dojo and Kira-kun was just leaving." Anju said tightly.
Kira looked at them and smirked. "But I still have training to do, you see unlike our little dragon here the child of the rat does not squander their gifts."
Kaida gave him a look that said if she wasn't under specific orders not to, she would love to show him her gifts. Particularly the fire breathing one.
"Why are you here, Hisao?"
"You're not the only one that works out here, Kira."
"True but I'm the only one that makes any progress." Kira sniped.
"Believe what you want vermin." Hisao moved into the dojo and Kira stepped in front of him. Hisao sighed.
"Move."
"Why should I?"
"Don't you have a cheese wheel to be eating?"
"Sorry, I couldn't make that out, I think you may have a hairball coming up."
"For the love of the gods, can you two ladies please stop bitching?" Anju snapped.
The two men turned to her as if they had completely forgotten both she and Kaida were still present.
"She's right, we should settle this in a less verbal manner." Kira said with an evil glint in his eyes.
Hisao rolled his beautiful blues. "Suit yourself, you damn rat."
They moved into the dojo and faced each other. Kira looked smug, Hisao looked as though he'd really rather get this over with. Anju cleared her throat.
"On the count of three. One, two-"
Both of them dived at each other. Anju buried her head in her open palm.
"Why do I even bother?" She moaned.
"Whatever, come on Kaida." Anju started to leave and Kaida followed, hesitating as she went.
Kaida glanced back at them. "Are we not going to stay and watch?"
"No point. I already know exactly how it will go. Hisao will start out strong, Kira will pretend to tire out, Hisao will start to ease off and then he will lose."
Kyo growled, even in Kaida's time, the rat won.
"Will they be alright?"
Anju shrugged, "Depends what kind of mood they're in. Sometimes Hisao will half maul Kira with those claws of his, other times Kira will beat the crap out of Hisao after he gets him on the ground. Those boys don't play nice."
They were a fair distance from the dojo at this point and Kada sighed and kept walking. Suddenly she heard a yelp and she looked back anxiously.
Anju frowned at her, "Kaida...?"
Kaida sent her an apologetic look before sprinting back the way they had come. She arrived at the dojo, panting, to see Hisao on the ground with Kira pinning him down. His fist was raised and judging by the state of his knuckles he had been using it for a while.
He punched Hisao again causing his head to smack back against the floor. He groaned and his lids drooped, causing Kyo to believe he had fainted.
"Stop!" Kaida ordered. Kira glanced back in surprise.
"You going to take his place?" He teased.
Kaida's eyes flashed viciously, the evening sun causing them to shine.
No, Kyo thought to himself, not the sun, they had turned golden. Kaida was losing her temper.
The rat is going to get it.
Kaida glared malevolently and Kira frowned, slowing standing.
"Well? You going to just look at me or are you going to do something? Hmm, little sea horsey?"
Kaida growled and half lunged towards him but a hand clamped on her shoulder. She glanced back and her face paled.
Tsukina's hand was firmly holding her back, anger reflected in her green eyes. Anju came running up behind her and Kyo saw her swear at the sight of the tall blonde woman.
"Now Kira-kun, is that any way to treat our newest little family member? Especially one still recovering from an injury." Her voice was light but her well filed nails were beginning to bite into the flesh of Kaida's shoulder.
Kira shrugged. "She's a little too sensitive for her own good, running to the aid of the cat, of all creatures."
"She has yet to learn of our ways. She is but a poor girl from the country, she doesn't know that your little tiffs are nothing to be concerned about."
"Little tiff? He's knocked him unconscious!" Kaida protested.
"He has suffered worse. Ah, Anju-chan, be a dear and bring Hisao to the infirmary, won't you? Kira-kun, do us all a favour and go take a walk. I need to have words with Kaida-chan here. Alone."
Kaida raised an eyebrow at the use of 'chan' but other than had no reaction to Tsukina's words.
After the dojo was cleared of the others, Anju managed to rouse Hisao enough to half drag him to a doctor, Tsukina pushed Kaida forcefully away from her.
"A day. You have been here a day, and already you defy the orders of our Lord." Tsukina snarled.
"I was provoked." Kaida shot back loudly.
"Besides, it's not like I turned, the peace has not been breached or whatever it is your precious Osamu-san is afraid is going to happen. No harm done."
"No harm done?! Do you not realise how stupid that sounds? Kira may be an arrogant bastard but he is no idiot. He will notice if you portray traits not associated with the Dragon."
Kaida tilted her head in confusion. "What does that mean? Associated with the Dragon? I am the Dragon, how can I posses traits that don't belong to my form?"
"I mean physical traits. The elongated canines, the golden eyes, the talons. These manifest themselves in the cat or the tiger even, on occasion, with myself, but never, in over six generations, have they been by those cursed by the Dragon."
"So, you are saying that I can't even get annoyed here? Just in case someone notices that I'm not quite normal."
"Indeed."
Kaida groaned and kicked over a chair that was pushed against the wall. She immediately regretted it as pain shot through her back causing her to swear. Tsukina smacked her over the back of her head.
"Language." She chastised before leaning down to study Kaida's back.
"That's another thing. You should not be moving, that wound will never heal if you keep exerting it."
"I don't notice it unless it is agitated."
"Well you have certainly been agitating it. I fear it has begun to bleed again." Tsukina prodded it causing Kaida to yelp.
"You are lucky, it seems a side effect of your curse is that you have a faster healing rate than normal, even among members of the zodiac. That being said, I'd prefer it if you didn't keep running to save kittens every five minutes."
Kaida rolled her eyes, swallowing back the bile that was rising in her throat. It seemed the pain only came when she had stopped moving, as though her mind simply refused to acknowledge it when she was busy.
"Come, let's get you to your room. You've had a long day, I imagine you need some rest."
"Are you going to tell Osamu-san about my little altercation with Kira-san?"
Tsukina froze, her teeth biting her delicate lip. She quickly cleared her throat.
"No, there is no need to bother him with something as frivolous as this. Now, to bed." She instructed fiercely, her arm rapping around Kaida's back and pulling her out of the dojo. Kaida made no protest this time, instead her brow furrowed as she studied Tsukina curiously. Kyo did the same, as both of them came to an identical conclusion.
Tsukina, for all her fawning and admiration, was afraid of Osamu. Kyo knew enough to understand. Kaida, it seemed did not. Kyo had a feeling she would, in time.
.
The pool began to swirl and morphed to an image of Kaida sleeping on her bed. Her eyelids fluttered open and she yawned sleepily before screeching.
Anju's face was an inch from hers.
"What are you doing?" Kaida demanded, pushing herself away from the other girl. She sat up and pulled her covers up to her chest protectively.
"I want to talk to you."
"So you stood in front of me and waited for me to wake up?"
"Pretty much. Yesterday, why did you turn back?" Anju asked getting straight to the point. Kyo had a feeling she did that a lot.
Kaida rolled her eyes. "Look, I'm sorry if I broke some kind of Zodiac rule about not getting involved in other peoples fights-"
"No, I don't mean why as in 'philosophically' or whatever, I mean why as in, why did you choose to turn around at that moment?"
Kaida's mouth fell open and she looked a little startled. "I, I heard a shout. It sounded like Hisao-san and he helped us so I-"
She stopped as Anju suddenly straightened and stared at her with suspicious eyes.
"I thought as much." She muttered.
"Em...Anju-san, is something wrong?"
"You know, all members of the Zodiac have some heightened senses. I figure it's part of being part animal, in a way. Me, I'm a bit of an all rounder, my reflex's are pretty good and I'm stronger than I look. Tsukina has a pretty good sense of touch, she can feel vibrations in the air and ground, that's how she knew you were in the dojo, she felt your footsteps running up to it. Mostly it depends on what kind of animal we turn into. But you, you're the dragon, now I know damn all about sea horses but I know from stories that your curse is known for their mental capabilities more so than anything else. So how in hell did you hear Hisao getting hit when I, the bloody tiger, didn't."
Kaida's mouth hung open in surprise. "I...I don't know. Maybe I didn't hear it really, maybe I just imagined it."
Anju didn't look convinced by Kaida's lie and Kyo could see the dragon struggling to keep an honest expression on her face. The two stared into each others' eyes, gold versus brown, for a moment, the tension mounting by the second.
Anju's breathed out a grunt of annoyance. "Fine. Don't tell me. It's only your second day, I suppose I can understand if you don't feel like talking just yet."
The short blonde went to leave the room before hovering at the door.
"I'll give you till the end of the month before I ask again. Either you tell me then or you find yourself a new roommate."
She shut the door hard behind her, leaving Kaida alone. She groaned and collapsed back onto her bed.
"Wow. I suck at making friends." She remarked.
