Darkest Before Dawn
Chapter 28
Tails' POV
We trudged through the forest as the sun was at its height. We had left the beach and the corpse of Swap-deck behind at least three or four hours ago and startlingly we haven't stopped yet though Amy told us to slow down once or twice.
Molly tugged on Kage's arm, "Mr. Kage!"
Kage glanced down at her exasperated, "What?"
"When are we going to be there?" The small bunny asked with big blue eyes totally ignoring his provocation.
The black kitsune looked around and seemed to have remembered something from the forest, "We'll be there in a couple of minutes really…" He looked back to us, "Listen up, though Mori Mura is probably the most evolved spiritualist city and accepts outsiders to visit doesn't mean were staying long." He looked ahead. "To tell the truth I want to stay here as least as possible, got it?"
We all nodded but I could tell Ero wasn't pleased about the words slipping from Kage's lips.
Mori Mura was gorgeous. Though much smaller than Descentmet, the town had a cozy feeling and the structure of it was magnificent. The houses were mostly white brick with tanish-brown roofs and the homes were lined with vines. Not many houses were here, nor people. I was expected the town to be a little larger, but in the end it couldn't have more than a population of four-hundred people unless there was some foundation behind the trees that I could not see.
I then found that a large Japanese-like shrine was at the end of the row of dwellings and stretched into the darkness of the wood branches and beyond. That's probably where that 'Grand Elder' Kage and Ero were talking about lives.
Kage immediately began to rush us down the main road and towards the colossal shine standing ahead. It was almost as if he was avoiding the eye-contact of the rest of the villagers. Ero grunted, "Kage, are you trying to avoid everyone?"
"No," he slowly answered, but his pace only sped up.
"If you are its not working," the rabbit informed him.
"Yes it is, you just don't realize it!"
Ero muttered, "Oh, I realize it…"
The black kitsune tried to his friend and flicked him on the nose, "You know what? Shut up, crazy guy! Nobody likes you!"
The rabbit only sighed.
As we were walking passed a small market selling freshly cut flowers, I noticed a particular grayish-brown cat wearing a tan cloak staring at us. His brown eyes told me that he was somewhat surprised to see us all walking swiftly through the town, but yet he seemed to have known it was going to happen the entire time.
Our eyes made contact. I looked away.
We jogged up the shrine stairs and Kage slid open the door and swooped in without even knocking. Ero knocked a couple times to let someone in the temple know they were arriving and walked in after his friend. We followed closely.
The inside of the temple was beautifully decorated. The walls were made out of a sturdy maple wood that was craved so that you could get it and bamboo confused. Elegant candles were mounted on golden holders on the walls to light the large palace-like house up during the night.
Kage seemed to know exactly where he was going. We turned and twisted through the house until he slid open one of the many doors and yelled, "Gramps!"
Ero didn't seem too happy with the black kitsune's entrance, "Have some respect!" He tried to bonk him on the head, but missed.
I peeked in the door to find that sitting on a pillow in a robe was an old – and I mean old – tiger who smiled amiably when his little eyes landed on Kage, "Welcome back, Kage…" He seemed to be used to Kage's sarcastic-ness.
The black kitsune ignored the welcome and leaned over to Ero, "Well, he's still alive… I guess that's a good thing."
"What?" The tiger asked.
"Nothing!" Ero immediately stuttered. "We always thought you were in good health, Milord!" He bowed in respect.
The Grand Elder muttered something under his breath and his eyes landed on Amy, Molly, and I, "Well, hello there. Welcome to Mori Mura."
Yeah, the people hear are definitely nicer than the ones in Descentmet.
Ero began to explain how Descentmet was taken down by shadow chameleons and how the Watchers had died and said stuff amongst other things, but he left out everything about Kage completely. Left out the mental hospital, going insane, matters like that. He heard about Shikyo though…
The Grand Elder sighed, "This is very bad news indeed…"
"What did you do, kitsune?" A voice asked immediately.
We glanced back to find the grayish-brown cat that I saw earlier standing in the doorway glaring at Kage directly. By his side was a tan cat wearing a maid outfit with big blue eyes. A smile was planted on her face unlike the other cat, who could not be frowning more.
"Hi, Nekosa," Kage grumbled.
"Kage!" The tan cat gave out a cry and hugged him. She looked up at Nekosa and stuck his tongue out at him, "J'adore Kage! Je desteste Nekosa fore desteste Kage! Je desteste tu!"
"Don't be stupid," Nekosa said, pulling her off though he didn't realize he was helping Kage in the long run. "Why don't you go out and do something! This is a conversation in English!"
"NO!" She cried. "J'adore la anglies! Je copie la anglies!"
I blinked. And what language was she speaking in?
Nekosa ignored the girl and looked back to Kage, "What are you doing back here anyway? I thought you said you weren't coming back!"
Kage tried his best not to notice the sudden fire in Ero's eyes. "I just have a question for the Grand Elder, thank you. So why don't you and French Girl get outta here, Ass-Cat."
"Je mapplies no 'French Girl'!" She cried. "Je mapplies Nicole!"
"Whatever."
I noted that the Grand Elder didn't seem to like all the fighting going on in his chambers, "What is your question, Kage?"
Kage whipped around to look at him, "I need you to help me find someone."
"This is going to be interesting," Nekosa sighed.
Kage shot a death glare at him.
"Who is this someone…?" The Elder seemed more attracted to the entire conversation going on now.
Kage took a deep breath and said, "Keita Akihiro Hanari."
Nekosa instantaneously began to crack up. "Keita has been died for three years, kitsune! How stupid are you?"
Nicole slapped him. "Kage no stupide!"
The Grand Elder was not laughing at all. Instead his face was pale as he stared at us now. It was almost like he… knew something. "No, Nekosa… Keita is not dead…"
Nekosa cut off his laughing and now the room was completely quiet.
"To tell the truth…" The Elder said, "He's here right now."
Bonjour! Ca va? Super! J'adore la anglies an la glace! Je desteste Shikyo an tu!
Sorry. See, I know French! I might have spelled a couple things wrong but that's not the point. I'M SO SORRY! I meant to have this chapter up by the 23rd! But oh well, what's done is done.
(Deep breathe) Mori Mura will probably – 10 to 1 – have the most twists in the entire story plot. 1) Because I want it to 2) Its somewhat close to the end – somewhat. Well, I definitely know it's passed the middle as of now so… yeah.
Since this fact is so true and everything, I need you to pay attention to very single detail of each chapter cuz I definitely know you haven't been. How do I know? He, why tell you. But truly, if you need to read the freakin chapter again to remember the information FINE! You will need it. Should that be bold? Yah: You will need it.
I know in one chapter I will get into great detail about which place each character sits around the table. You're probably like "what the hell?" but I will! It's important and I'll try to remind you to memorize the seating order in that chapter, but I'll probably forget so… be on your guard.
So pay attention to very single detail of each chapter. You will need it.
Going on! Ok, I have no idea when the next chapter is going to get out and I'm not going to give you a date cuz I was like freaking out on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday that I didn't have the chapter done. So no more dates. Umm, gosh, well there are a couple reasons why I'm not going to get it up for a while.
I have to go to Toledo, Ohio this weekend
It's going to be a long, long chapter (6-10 pages at the least)
I have a Language Arts teacher that likes to give us essays 24/7
And I might be lazy…
So don't expect it up until late next week… I'm not telling you a date…
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