Something Else To Reconsider
Written by Karinda Stellare Yosheru
Chapter 18. The Beginning of Realisations.
Cantering as quickly as she could past and through the numerous obstacles in the Zira forest, Vaporiana searched for the owner of the confused aura. The reason for her increased concern in the aura, was that suddenly, without warning, the muddled green of the aura had turned blood red, before flickering out. Something had happened to its owner, something that the equine could not yet comprehend.
She jumped over a large rotten log, then realising that she was in some sort of clearing, broke her canter into a full flown gallop, her hooves pounding with anxiety as she neared the location of where the aura was last felt.
A wave of relief passed over Vaporiana's body like a blanket as the aura came back into focus. It was weak, torn, but obviously, its owner was still alive.
Another clearing. The Zira forest was almost famous because of th unique way in which it grew. Clearings here and there, thick trees where trees were permitted to grow. The strange crystal clear stream, which seemed to be numerous small creeks, but was actually the one system, mystified those who tried to follow its path.
The reason for that is because not one person follows the exact same path. Ever. Similarities, yes, but never the same.
Vaporiana knew she was close. She slowed her pace down to a simple trot, and held her head high in the air. Some what afraid of what she could find.
It was, indeed, weak, that aura she was tracking. It was missing something from it, like a complicated puzzle. Never complete without the final piece. She came to a sudden halt as she realised tht she almost ran over the one that she had been seeking.
"Good God... The Protector..."
Vaporiana was compelled to kneel before the figure that lay face down in the dirt, but she knew, that right now, the chestnut haired boy needed her assistance.
"I knew I'd be meeting you soon, young one, but I was hoping it would be under better skies..."
The young man was mumbling something in his delirious state, and Vaporiana lowered her head to hear him. She could have sworn that all he was saying was the name "Ying Fa", over and over again, as if he was crazy. Then it hit her.
"The Faith..." She whispered. "He is calling out to her, but she cannot hear..."
It struck her as odd. She could pick up on Syaoran's aura, but not the young girl's.
"I don't understand..." She whispered in apology.
Taking a hold of the man's shirt with her teeth, Vaporiana, with a little bit of luck, flung him upon her back.
"I do have some where I can take you though..." She muttered, shifting uncomfortably under the man's weight. "But first we must first find this Ying Fa..."
~*~
Syaoran awoke from his sleep, only to be greeted with darkness and the pounding of hooves. He then noticed that he was bouncing about uncontrollably. He frowned, trying to keep balance.
'Where the hell am I?' He wondered, trying to locate which direction the hooves were coming from. It was only then did he notice that he was barely on top of a horse. And an odd looking one at that. He half screamed, grabbing the creature's fins, which in turn made the horse rear up in surprise.
Syaoran fell off, taken off guard, and the horse whipped around on its heels to meet him face to face. A small smile appeared on her face.
"Who are you?" The young man asked, his voice was low, as if the creature that stood before him was of a higher world. In fact, she was. He then flinched, as a dull pain began throbbing in his stomach. He pushed aside the pain. The equine raised a brow.
"Vaporiana... Water Spirit of the Zira Forest and Healer." Her voice was on airs, but it also gave Syaoran a sense of equality.
"And I know who you are, Xiao Lang Li. And...." She raised her head, to look down at him. "You have failed in your duty to protect the Faith."
She left it to dawn on him, and when it did, the young man's amber eyes flew open with shock.
"S-She's dead?" He asked. Suddenly, he felt rather small and afraid. But a part of him refused to believe that she was gone. And it was this part that was right.
"No... Not dead... But from my readings, must almost be. I can't find her anywhere." The equine said. Syaoran rose to his feet, and with pleading eyes, asked if he could attempt to seek her out.
"Please..." He quietly demanded. "I know that if she's still alive I can find her."
"And what makes you think that, Xiao Lang? You have been so distant, so uncaring towards her... We have seen it." Vaporiana said, as if she was deliberately trying to push him away. The man stood his ground, but tears seemed to prick his eyes.
"I cannot say how, but I know." He said bravely. The equine simply nodded, kneeled down and gestured to her back.
"Come along then." She said. Syaoran slowly walked up beside the horse, and slowly climbed back onto her back. Vaporiana smiled and raised herself, almost throwing off the man by accident.
"Dammit! Are you trying to kill me?!" He screeched, clinging onto her for dear life. She only nodded sarcastically.
"Yes. Why do you ask?" She giggled. She became serious.
"Alrighty, Li. Grab onto my fins and hang on. This is gonna be a rough ride. If you sense her, tell me, m'kays?"
He nodded and took hold. Vaporiana reared, a grin plastered to her face.
"TALLY HO SILVER!" She called out, before cantering off in the direction that she came.
~*~
"This does not look good..."
Zezzabellina dipped her paws into the silver sheeted looking pond, watching the waters ripple. She sighed and dropped to her knees.
"It's not as if she is dead... Otherwise, she would be up here with us."
"Yelan..." The hybrid began, picking herself up off the ground. She looked up at the esqisite woman and tears came to her eyes.
"I should have known that the Dire was Moshitsu..."
Strands of hair fell from the bun on the woman's head as she leant over to console Zezzabellina. She frowned slightly.
"No one knew. Not even Nadeshiko had known about the silver haired boy that had attacked her daughter, despite the fact that she had been up in the heavens the longest. She was now trying desperately to send Vaporiana a message, telling the equine about the incident. She was on breaking edge too. Her daughter was almost dead.
"Oh Quintessavera... Vaporiana will find her before anything else happens to her. She will not let you, Nadeshiko or Ying Fa down. Do you understand?"
It was times like these that Yelan with her severe rule of firmness came into good practise. If she was not so clear headed, all three of the spirits would be running around as if their heads were chopped off. Zezzabellina nodded and returned her gaze down the looking pond. She prayed that Yelan was right.
~*~
"God fucking damn! Can anyone hear me?!"
Kieba's wild, hysterical scream rang out through the silent forest. She had made sure that she got both her and Sakura out of Moshitsu's hut and as far away as possible. Kieba, for once in her life, was well and truly pissed. How dare they take one of her sisters and do such a deed upon her. She vowed that she would be getting revenge. Many thoughts ran into her mind, de-capitating the mongrel, slicing open his stomach and devouring his insides. Even gouging out his eyes with her claws or ripping off his testicals would be enough for her. No, not really, but she would avenge Sakura's attack somehow.
A river of pain ran up her thigh, causing the dragon to screech into the night.
She was weak. The wound that she received while jumping through the window to save Sakura's sorry behind, had never stopped bleeding since she had left Moshitsu's Hut, yet at the moment, she was more concerned about the state that the young girl was in. Stabbed in the lower stomach, it was a tough wound to try and mend.
She looked down at the bleeding girl on the forest floor, and she knew that once she awoke, she would feel the true pain of the wound. Kieba gritted her teeth, only imagining the screams that would follow.
The dragon knelt down, ignoring the pain in her thigh, trying to inspect the gaping hole in Sakura's stomach. Nausea crept up her throat, as she saw the blood continuously seep through. Swallowing back the vile vomit, Kieba tried her best to rise beside the girl, and to get her light sky blue aura to focus upon her as she stared at the wound with dark eyes.
"Riina..." Her voice was low as a strange small shield appeared over the dragon's heart. It glowed a bright blue, the glow reflecting off everything that was in a five meter radius.
"Sellamorei..."
From the shield came two long blue ribbons, which under the strange lighting, shone a rich purple. They hovered over the wound, before wrapping up in a bow, a mere ten centimetres from the injury.
"Tsukaiiya!"
Loosely translated from the Gemstarian language, the three strange words simply meant. 'Healer Ribbons Unite.'
The ribbons snapped apart from the bow that they were in, before shooting into and lodging themselves deep inside of the girl's stomach. There was a burst of sky blue light, and a force threw Kieba away from Sakura, some two meters away. Her shield over her heart had disappeared, but the ribbons remained inside of the girl, before vanishing, leaving only a large bruise where the bloodied hole used to be.
The spell was, obviously, a healing chant, taught to her by Zezzabellina when she was only three. Finally, it had come in handy.
Kieba on the other hand, was in a even worse off state then what she had been in only moments before. The chant had taken a lot out of her, and she was barely able to stand as she watched Sakura groan in pain, but her eyes remained tightly closed. The dragon smiled as the girl's aura began to glow it's usual shade of pink.
'All I can hope now is that someone finds her... Fast.'
Kieba's strength was finished off by her wish, and she collapsed onto the ground in a feverish sleep.
~*~
Syaoran had been fighting the fatigue that had plagued his body since his first night in the forest of Zira when something snapped him awake. An aura, pink in colour, sent his own soaring. He shuddered, suddenly feeling as if he was floating, when Vaporiana came to a screeching halt, and the man flew straight over her head.
"Did you feel that?" She asked, her fins pricked in a form of alertness. Syaoran nodded, his face was deep crimson in colour from the feelings that played inside of him. He shook his head, trying to rid himself of the emotions, and as soon as his face returned to its normal colour, he faced the equine.
"It's her..." He whispered. He then turned and ran in Sakura's direction, his heart constricting at the thoughts of why her aura was so weak.
Vaporiana smiled, broke into a slow canter and followed him, the air blowing around her forelock. She lowered her head, coming up behind the man and slipping her head between his legs, propping him up onto her back. Syaoran yelled out something, crossed between, "What the fuck?" and "Gnah!", but Vaporiana paid no heed.
"We'll travel a lot faster this way." She muttered, as they both flew out into a clearing which contained a disturbing sight.
"WHOA!" Vaporiana screamed, slamming on her horse brakes, once again throwing the young man off her back, sending him into the ground. She stopped and backed off a little.
"Fuck. Sorry, kid."
She trotted over to him, nudged his shoulder with her nose, before turning his head to look behind him.
A heavily bleeding dragon, her white scales had blood rubbed into them, staining them. A puncture wound to her thigh. Vaporiana took a couple of long steps before sniffing the dragon over. She was breathing. Just.
"SAKURA!"
Syaoran practically leapt over to Sakura's unconscious form and took her hand up in his. His eyes scanned over her body, and looked away with a guilty face as he realised that she was naked. Quickly, he undid the buttons on his shirt and threw it over her. He was thankful that he was taller than her, because the shirt covered where it had to. Not really knowing what he was doing, he propped her up against his chest, and he began to button up the shirt so that he could pick her up. Once she was safely nestled up in his arms, he got off the ground and walked towards Vaporiana.
While Syaoran had been tending to Sakura, Vaporiana temporally healed Kieba, the puncture wound was now only a small scar on her thigh. The dragon was yet to gain consciousness.
The equine smiled, as she raised her attention to the man, not to mention his and the Faith's aura entwining with each other. Yet the space between the two auras as they entwined were a considerable distance apart. Vaporiana sighed.
'They do not realise that they are meant to be.... Their aura's cannot connect without them doing so first.'
"Take Kieba." Syaoran said, looking down at the half naked girl in his arms. He frowned and pushed the shirt down her legs to try and cover her. He blushed once he noticed what he had done. Vaporiana did as she was told, hoisting the dragon up onto her back. An eerie silence set through the forest, and Syaoran felt Sakura shiver in his arms. He held her closer to his bare chest, in an effort to keep her warm.
'Why am I doing this? Why do I feel so... Needed?'
He quickly shook his thoughts out of his head. Still, the feeling that she gave him made him feel... Wanted. Vaporiana took the first step towards the trees, a small smile on her face.
"Come along, Xiao Lang, this way."
~*~
Reili paced the camp site, worry etched on her face. Not a thing told her of the status of her companions, and her heart ached with the stress of what could have happened to the remainder of her family.
"Where the fuck are they..." She whimpered, her eyes flicking back and forth, trying to pick up on sound or movement. Nothing. She shuddered, feeling more alone than ever, and curled up next to the small fire that she had only moments before created.
She made promises to herself, ones of what she was going to do, once morning came and after that if she ever found the rest of her friends.
'I promise I won't call Syaoran "fuckhead", "fuckface" or "fuckwit" ever again, if you just bring them all back safe. I won't ever get Jai to call another bomb threat on the school, or will I ever smoke dope again. Please God... Bring them back to me...'
Sleep appeared on the raptor's eyelids, and she soon succumbed to it, her eyes closing in defeat as the night marched on.
~*~
Back in a dark room, somewhat feeling as if it was underground, the silver haired demon child, Ry, paced back and forth, a grin plastered to his face.
"Three down, two to go.... Three down, two to go!"
His chanting made the hairs on the back of anyone who heard it heads stand up, they had a chilling bite to it. He pranced over to a familiar notepad, and scribbled off a couple of names off a list. The names were scrawled in chicken scratch writing, barely eligible to read. There were two words at the top of the notebook page, written in block letters, easier to read.
"DNA SOURCES"
Ry Moshitsu grinned as he flipped the notebook shut, and waltzed over to a large metal table, a strange find in such a place. There were a set of steel drawers underneath it, and as Ry pulled the top one open, it screeched as steel rubbed against steel.
He picked up a vial, its contents consisted of blood covered grass blades inside a urine coloured fluid. Preservatives. On the outside of the vial was a makeshift sticker made from masking tape, a name etched in black ink. Z.Quintessavera. Placing the vial onto the table, the man proceeded to pull another two vials from his shirt pocket, wrapping a band of masking tape around the top ends of the two. With a pen retrieved from the steel drawer, he scribbled another two names, one on each vial. Once written, he examined both, reading over both names carefully. The names themselves? K.Ritaso and S. Kinomoto.
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