All I Need To Know
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
A Temporary Truce
Emma, Hoshi, Kamari and Yumi reached the top of the hill by midday, according the Emma's built-in clock and Jaws' rendition of You Are My Sunshine. Emma was holding Chief by the reins, Yumi and Kamari were arguing over which one of them got to be Queen/King Of The Hill, and Hoshi took one look around and cried: "Oh, for God's sake! Another FINE mess you've gotten us into, Emma-San!"
"Hoshi-San…" Emma began plaintively.
"WHAT!!" Hoshi practically screamed. "And, don't you DARE tell me to calm down, because it's all YOUR FAULT!!"
Emma's long, very slow-burning fuse ignited.
Chief and Jaws herded the two kids a few feet away.
"HOSHI-SAN! SHUT THE HELL UP, AND LISTEN TO ME!!" Emma screamed.
Hoshi was so surprised, that she did stop yelling, blinked, looked at Emma, and mumbled: "What?"
As quickly as she'd flown off the handle, Emma calmed down again. "Look," She said with dead calmness. "We need to find the others, and find out where we are. I won't blame you or order you around more then necessary, if you stop blaming me, and you also have to stop complaining so much. Okay?"
Hoshi stared at her for a moment. Should she say yes, or kill Emma right then and there?
"Yes." Hoshi said.
"Also," Emma gave her a faint smile. "Please, try to be
nice to the kids, okay? They're a lot more scared then we are…"
They both glanced over at Kamari and Yumi, still arguing over the hill's heirachy.
Hoshi suddenly walked over to them, and said: "Why don't you both be the king and queen? A hill needs two rulers, in case something happens to one of them."
Kamari and Yumi both smiled.
"Yay!" Yumi cried. "We be Qween Yumi and King Kamawi!"
"What could happen to someone on a hill?" Emma asked, stepping up to them.
Hoshi suddenly gave her a very sincere smile. "This!" She cried, and pushed Emma down the hill's gentle slope.
"YIKES!" Emma shrieked.
Hoshi wondered: I hope she knows I did that for fun. I wasn't trying to kill her, this time…for once…
Emma reached the bottom of the hill, stood up, dusted herself off, turned around and then she yelled: "THAT WAS SOOOO MUCH FUN!! MINA, EVERYONE TRY IT!!"
"YAY!" Yumi yelled again, and flung herself belly-first onto the slope. Sliding down like a sled, she yelled: "LOOK AT ME! I'M A PING-WING!"
Hoshi burst out laughing as Yumi slid down to Emma's waiting arms. "Did she mean penguin!?" Hoshi called down to Emma, as Kamari prepared to slip-slide away.
Emma stood up with Yumi in her arms, and gave Hoshi her most serious look. "No," She called. "She really meant ping-wing!"
The two girls stared at one another, and then they burst out laughing.
"Hey! Lookee! Over thewe!" Kamari, in mid-slide, suddenly called.
A bunch of 'ping-wings' had suddenly waddled up out of nowhere, and Emma just got an idea.
"Hey, Jaws-Chan! Go and ask em' if they've seen any of the others?" Emma asked her parrot.
"Squawk! You come too! You come too!" He said, so they all went together.
"Umm…eto…penguins…" Emma said.
The group of fity or so Emporer Penguins stared solemnly back at her.
"Uh…have you seen anyone else…that looks like us?" Emma asked. "You know, like, humans?"
The penguins exchanged a glance, and then one of them stepped forward.
If he talks… Hoshi thought.
"Yes, we have." It said.
Yikes! Hoshi was stunned.
(MEG: It's, like, every bird can suddenly talk…)
Emma was excited. "Really? Where? How many of them?" She paused. "Was there a guy with purple facepaint and a black hood with cat-like ears?" She glanced at the kids and Hoshi. "And, was he with a girl with curly and sproingy hair, or a short red-haired girl? Or a girl with four blonde pigtails carrying a fan and a a dark haired, bored-looking man? Or, was there a red-haired boy, short – like me – with a gourd of sand on his back and a erd tattoo? Did you by any chance see a blonde girl with that same tattoo, and was she with a boy with short dark hair and sort of light-cocoa skin?"
The penguins all sweatdropped.
Then, their leader cleared his throat. "We saw," He said. "All of those people you have described, as well as
many other people."
"One had pink hair!" A little girl penguin chirped.
"There was a big, scary dog!" Another penguin added.
"I think I saw a white-eyed girl with a smaller white-eyed girl…" A mostly white penguin put in.
"I saw a white-eyed man!" Another female penguin supplied.
"There was even a really fat one!" A little male penguin added, and all of the younger penguins laughed.
"Sakura…Akamaru…Hinata…Chou-Chou…Neji…
Chouji…" Emma mused.
"Where did they all go?" Hoshi wanted to know.
The lead penguin pointed across a lake of blue ice. "There is a log cabin many travellers use here." He explained to them. "They were all headed there."
"Okay, thanks…" Hoshi began, but he interrupted her.
"The lake of ice we call Shi-Chi is the most dangerous place to go across." He sounded grave. "A terrible beast called White Death lives in there, and he breaks the ice to eat anyone that tries to cross. It takes a good day to get across, if at all." He added, and Emma and Hoshi gulped.
"Well, we tried, squawk!" Jaws turned to go.
But, then, Emma and Hoshi both thought of: Kankurou, Musha, Mushi, Mari, Kai, Garaa, Temari, Shikamaru, and the hopes of finding Hayate and Yuugao, and they both said: "We'll have to cross!"
Jaws looked outraged. "What's this we!?" He cried in his bird-voice. "That is a great ice monster called White Death! We are you, a traitor, two munchkins and me! … No, wait, don't count me in there…"
"God, he's like Iago…" Hoshi rolled her pretty violet eyes. All thoughts trained on her goal, she quietly said:
"Emma, the kdis, Chief and I will walk it. Let the bird fly."
"Nah, too cold." Jaws chattered.
"Wimp." Hoshi said.
Emma burst out laughing.
…
"White Death…" The Snow-Queen smirked. "You know what to do. Kill that traitor, the two brats, the mule and the canary – but bring the vessel of Tatsujuu to me, do you understand me?"
"Yes, Milady…" The psychic voice growled.
The giant blue-white Great White Shark-like monster swam off.
…
Kankurou awoke with a start. "Emma!" He cried.