Disclaimer: All Klonoa characters belong to Namco. Yada, yada. You know the drill. OCs belong to me.

Chapter 35: Suspicion

"What did I tell you last night?!"

Guntz blinked as Leorina fixed him with a hard, scornful stare. It was dawn, and the whole town was just waking up after a long night of partying. Guntz stood in front of the room they had in the inn. He just wanted to go inside, get cleaned up, and maybe take a quick nap, but Leorina wasn't going to let him past without a scolding.

"I got lost," Guntz shrugged. He was too tired to make any more of an effort to defend himself. "Lost?" Leorina didn't seem to belief it. "What? It was dark…" Guntz yawned. He probably could've found the way back to the town if he'd looked a little longer, but his leg was hurting him and the animals had suddenly started coming out, beckoning him to their warm nests. Though he'd spent the night in a tree...

Leorina let out an exasperated sigh. "Well, at least one of you came back," she grumbled. "Huh?" Guntz muttered, surprised. "Klonoa came back on his own last night." Leorina then put on a look of slight concern as she looked back into the room behind her. "He was acting a little weird, though, and went straight to bed."

Guntz grunted thoughtfully, his ears twitching. "You're leg is bleeding." Leorina was looking down now. Guntz' pants were torn just below his right knee, where it was stained with blood. "Yeah. I ran into… something." He thought back to the thing that had attacked him. All he'd managed to see on it were big glowing golden eyes and a set of rather small but razor-sharp teeth-filled jaws.

Leorina could probably tell Guntz didn't feel like explaining much more at the moment as she turned around from the doorway and walking back into the room. Guntz followed her with a slight limp. "Where's Klonoa now?" he asked. "Still sleeping, I guess. Anyway, you should take care of that wound. Just another addition to all your others…" Leorina suggested.

By now Guntz had removed most of the bandages covering the wounds he had received from Muzan, completely healed or not. His fur covered most of them from sight, and he'd had to force himself not to wince whenever they started to hurt him. But even he knew better than to leave a new wound open to bacteria, especially one that was received from a bite.

By the time Guntz had finished, Klonoa was emerging from the other half of the room. He looked as if he hadn't gotten a wink of sleep. He was fidgeting with his ring, which was now exposed around his neck. He wouldn't take his eyes off the ground. Guntz reached into his jacket pocket and unfurled the object above Klonoa's head so that the scarf ended at his face.

Klonoa looked up at it quickly with surprise. "This is yours, right?" Guntz asked casually, though there was a hint of possibly suspicion in his voice. Klonoa took it slowly, looking down again. He suddenly seemed a bit agitated. "Th-Thank you…" he stammered quietly. He then turned and made for the door.

"Hey, wait a—" Guntz cut himself off as Klonoa disappeared on the other side of the doorway. "Bother…" Leorina was watching with a confused look. A mumble made her look away. Lolo was slowly sitting up from a blanket and a pillow Leorina must've given her. She yawned as Popka perked up when she moved her leg from his head.

"Jeez, Lolo, you were out like a light last night," Leorina remarked. Lolo yawned again. "Sorry… I was really tired after last night," she mumbled. Popka jumped up, suddenly wide awake. "Yeah! That festival had everythin'!" he chirped. "Yeah… and we had to do everything," Lolo replied sleepily. "Of course! That's the only way to have fun at a festival! Ya gotta do everythin'!"

Leorina chuckled. "Well, at least you guys had fun last night." She gave Guntz a side-glance, but he didn't notice. "I'm going to go talk to my sister. I'll be back later," she then said briskly after a moment, leaving the room.

---

Klonoa stood in an empty lobby inside the inn, leaning against a wall. He slowly wrapped the scarf loosely around his neck, still keeping the ring visible. Something weird was happening… to him. He could feel it, deep inside of him. Like something was trying to get out… He didn't understand it.

Klonoa remembered falling asleep inside the inn last night. Then he had a weird nightmare that seemed too realistic to be just a dream… Maybe it had been real. But, like most dreams, he couldn't remember most of it anymore. All he could remember was waking up in the forest. His ear was hurting him, as if he'd recently gotten cut or bitten there. After that he'd quickly returned to the inn, too confused to do anything but go straight to bed.

Klonoa tried to think back. When had this strange feeling started? He'd felt fine on the ferry. So it was after that… He'd already started feeling strange after Mio showed them this inn. So it was before that… He slowly narrowed it down to an exact point. After they first met Mio, before she left to show them the inn…

Then Klonoa remembered. After Guntz had pushed him and he bumped into a wall. It was right after that that he'd first started feeling weird. But what could have happened? He hadn't hit his head… but his ring. He remembered that hitting the wall. It'd made such a weird noise.

Klonoa put his hand over the ring emerald jewel. A spark of energy flowed between his fingers and the crystal's surface. As he pulled away, a beam of energy came out with it. When he'd completely unsheathed his energy condensed sabre, it came out only half as big as usual. It looked like a mere dagger compared to its usual size.

The energy seemed unsteady. At some points it would suddenly get bigger, only to soon fade smaller again, like a weak, shimmering flame. It was… as if the ring wasn't fully conscious. As if it getting hit against the wall had given it some sort of concussion. Klonoa knew it sounded stupid, and what did his ring have to do with what was happening to him now?

Maybe it would go away on its own… Yes. He was sure his ring would snap back to normal eventually and all would be back to normal. Klonoa forced himself to smile as self-assurance. Everything would soon be okay again… Yes… he was sure of it…

---

"Mio?"

Leorina stood outside the open doorway to the room she was pretty sure her sister stayed in all the time. It didn't take long for her to hear that familiar, childish voice. "Yeees?" Mio chirped. She looked around a corner of her rather large room with a smile, but it faded when she saw who it was.

"Oh, it's just you," she mumbled, sounding both annoyed and disappointed. Leorina sighed, inviting herself in. "Sorry I'm not someone more interesting," she apologized mockingly. "Me, too," Mio agreed. Leorina resisted another exasperated sigh. "I just wanted to know…" She calmed her nerves with a breath. "Did you manage to salvage anything of mine? You know… from the mansion?"

Mio seemed even more displeased by this. "As a matter of fact, yes. Ironically, quite a bit of your useless crap survived the fire. Meanwhile I was actually there and most of my valuable things got ruined," she grumbled bitterly. Leorina paused. "Well?" Mio sighed loudly, as if this was all just a big nuisance. "It's all in a trunk in my room. They insisted I keep it. Go find it yourself."

Leorina didn't bother to ask who "they" were as she began searching Mio's practically apartment-sized room. She soon found a room that had a bed in it and decided that was it. The first place she looked was under the bed. Mio was still so childish. Her actions were quite predictable most of the time.

Leorina smiled with satisfaction when she saw the wooden trunk. It wasn't that big, or heavy as she pulled it out and placed it on the bed. From its dust it was clear that Mio hadn't touched it since putting it down there. It was locked. Leorina sighed with annoyance. But why bother little miss princess over there? A lock had never stopped her before.

Leorina reached into her pocket for some sort of thin wire. She always kept a few of some sort with her. Eventually she found a paper clip. It was a little blunt, but so was the lock. Hopefully it would do. Leorina listened carefully, looking away in concentration as she stuck the clip in the keyhole and felt around. Before long there was a dim click and the truck top nearly bounced open.

Several papers fluttered in the air. Leorina caught one and looked at it. She smiled as the memories flooded in her head. She used to draw things. When she was younger, she'd draw everything. It was the only thing that made her happy. She drew things she saw, things she liked… people she liked.

Leorina searched through the other papers carelessly stuffed into the trunk. She was surprised at how well she could draw back then. She doubted she could anymore. There was a sketch of her old mansion she used to live in… the endless field that marked their mansion's property… her mother as she seemed to be cooking in the kitchen—in which Leorina had to will away a lump in her throat—and…

Him.

The picture was so faded, more than the others, as if she wasn't supposed to remember exactly what he looked like. It edges were slightly crusted with burn marks and the sketch itself was covered in soot. Leorina was afraid to do more than blow it clean, in case the old drawing wiped away completely.

It lacked much specific detail, as if he wouldn't stand still for her. It was practical. He had been a very lively boy. Leorina scrutinized the picture, trying to take in any faded details. All she could clearly see was a locket around the boy's furry neck that seemed to read "benevolence" on it in script.

Leorina thought back, to when she had first met that boy. Such a blurry memory… Why were none of her other memories so hard to remember? The boy had been a wolf. A very nice wolf for her first impression of them. But perhaps that was because he was young. He had seemed to be just about her and Mio's age; at or younger than seven years.

Ten years ago was a long way to remember. But she still dimly remembered what had stuck out most about him. What made him such a precious memory. He had been the first person to ever defend her authority. Mio would always push her around, steal her things, and rip her sketches. But that boy had defended her with words of just. Childish, it may have been, but his intentions had left her moved and confused.

For the longest time Leorina had felt that she was supposed to be pushed around by Mio. Purely because she was the older twin. But that boy had given her the chance to stand up for herself… She'd only met him once or twice after that. Then he stopped coming over their house completely. She remembered her mother being quite down when she told her he wasn't coming back anymore.

She hadn't even gotten his name. They hadn't been allowed to exchange names. Thinking about it now, it had probably been for future assistance. Just in case they became enemies one day in their older lives. Leorina knew her mother hadn't exactly done safe things, and she was always cautious about things like that.

She then suddenly thought of Guntz. That stupid mutt. For some reason he kept making her think back. Back to when she and that boy had played together. It was probably because he was a wolf. How outrageous…

Leorina's mind wondered as she continued to bury into the trunk of papers. She finally found something stiff, quite un-paper-like. She pulled it out, examining it curiously. It seemed to be a rather large brown ten-gallon hat. It's felt texture was rough and dirty. Leorina wondered what such a thing would be doing in a trunk supposedly filled with only her stuff.

She flipped it over, searching for any sign of ownership. She finally found faded print under the curved brim. "Shinigami," she read slowly. It was barely legible. There seemed to be a name before, but that was nearly completely faded. Leorina scrutinized the printing, as if that would help her recognize the name at all. "Hey, Mio," she called. When there was no reply she looked up from the hat.

"Mio! Are you there?" Still no reply. Leorina sighed. She must have gotten bored and left somewhere. Probably to harass Guntz a bit more. That sister of hers really did need controlling. Leorina placed the hat down on the bed and turned from the trunk, slowly exiting the room. She'd have to ask about it later.

---

"Leo?"

Guntz peaked inside the open room. It was quiet, no sound or movement coming from inside. This was where Mio had said her room was when she had given them a tour the day before. How spoiled. This room was clearly at least three times bigger than the rooms everyone else got.

Guntz wanted to get going and out of this town as soon as possible. He hadn't liked it from the start, but after that… thing had attacked him, he didn't feel so secure sticking around. He'd mentioned it earlier that morning, mostly to himself. Lolo said he should probably talk to Leorina about it.

But their self-proclaimed leader had gone missing for the moment. As had Klonoa, who Guntz had been meaning to speak to. He needed to ask him about last night… Quite impatient by now, Guntz let himself in. He didn't want to call for Mio. She was the last person he wanted to see right now. And he knew Leorina got mad whenever he called her "Leo."

So he decided to briefly search the room in silence. He doubted anyone was around, anyway. A living room, a bathroom, a kitchen, two bedrooms… What made Mio so special that she could get this big room easily suitable to live in? As Guntz past one of the bedrooms he noticed papers scattered all over the floor and bed.

It looked as if someone had left in a hurry, or had just been plain lazy. One thing stood out, though. Ignoring at the pieces of paper with blurred pencil sketches over them, Guntz stepped inside and approached the bed. He picked up the dirty brown hat, his ears twitching. He felt along its brim gently until his fingers reached the dim printing. He brushed the soot over it, his eyes squinting as he read aloud quietly.

"Butz Shinigami."

Eh, boring chapter. The next one should at least be a little more interesting. I kinda hurried up on this one. We gotta get back to the fun stuff. :I