Yuki ran laughing through the forest and quickly lost her pursuit.
The group of men, obviously out of practice when it came to chasing 'hyperactive children', stopped just inside a small clearing. Most doubled over, trying to catch their breath, but the man who had hired them stood up straight and glared into the trees ahead. There was no sign of the small, dark haired girl.
"Ryoko? Why are we going through all this trouble to catch a kid?" asked one of the hired men.
Their leader continued to stare sulkily. "That's none of your business. I paid you to help me capture her and you all failed. You're fired."
Another raised an eyebrow in his direction. "You're not getting rid of us until we get paid."
With a scowl, Ryoko threw the money in their direction and told them to leave. After counting the payment, the group of men walked back towards the village.
"Villagers are so touchy around here," Ryoko muttered.
A half snort was what alerted him to the fact that he was not alone. For the first time, Ryoko actually looked around the small clearing... and found there was a house here too. Damn, the villagers were even touchier about trespassing.
He assumed that, since he couldn't see anyone, he could quietly sneak away before he got into any trouble. Wrong... The second Ryoko began backing up towards the trees, a voice called out.
"Whatcha think your doing?"
Ryoko froze. On the opposite side of the clearing, a man parted from the shadows and walked in Ryoko's direction. He wasn't quite sure how he'd missed seeing the guy the first time, his red hair stood out rather obviously from the green of the trees.
The man approached until he was only a few feet away, and then crossed his arms, waiting for a response. He didn't look very pleased.
Ryoko sweat dropped and tried to think of an excuse. "Well... ya see... I ummm... Had some problems with.... my hired help?"
"And what does this have to do with the lot of you stampeding around here?" The red haired man raised an eyebrow.
"I have this...well... it's that..," Ryoko stuttered. Suddenly, an idea came. "My servant ran away. I was just trying to get her back home, but I needed some help. My help didn't help much, though. Are you, by chance, in need of money?"
That caught the other man off guard. He looked slightly surprised for a few seconds before narrowing his eyes. "Seems to be a lot of trouble for one servant."
"Yeah, well I'm stubborn. My name's Ryoko." He stuck out his hand for a polite hand shake.
No sign of friendliness came from the red haired man. He remained silent for what seemed an eternity before reciprocating. "Honoo."
Being an idiot, any connection between the name and the element was lost on Ryoko.
"Shall we begin negotiations?"
Honoo nodded and led the way into the small house.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Author's Note: Sorry about the big delay. ^_^;; I was bogged down with HW and essays all week, not to mention that I started getting sick. Bleh. My bad guy has a name courtesy of http://hsb.baylor.edu/html/vanauken/JapaneseNames.html . And I have no idea what it means... ANYway, Ryoko is just a power hungry idiot most of the time. No real ulterior motives....at least not yet.
As always, much thanks the reviewers who are the only reason I'm getting this out in a somewhat timely fashion. *Hugz*
The main plot idea of this story goes to Spot the ChelseA who let me steal her idea. Thanks Spot! ^_^
If you see any grammatical errors, please point them out to me at Honoo is Sexy@AOL.com Thank you!
The group of men, obviously out of practice when it came to chasing 'hyperactive children', stopped just inside a small clearing. Most doubled over, trying to catch their breath, but the man who had hired them stood up straight and glared into the trees ahead. There was no sign of the small, dark haired girl.
"Ryoko? Why are we going through all this trouble to catch a kid?" asked one of the hired men.
Their leader continued to stare sulkily. "That's none of your business. I paid you to help me capture her and you all failed. You're fired."
Another raised an eyebrow in his direction. "You're not getting rid of us until we get paid."
With a scowl, Ryoko threw the money in their direction and told them to leave. After counting the payment, the group of men walked back towards the village.
"Villagers are so touchy around here," Ryoko muttered.
A half snort was what alerted him to the fact that he was not alone. For the first time, Ryoko actually looked around the small clearing... and found there was a house here too. Damn, the villagers were even touchier about trespassing.
He assumed that, since he couldn't see anyone, he could quietly sneak away before he got into any trouble. Wrong... The second Ryoko began backing up towards the trees, a voice called out.
"Whatcha think your doing?"
Ryoko froze. On the opposite side of the clearing, a man parted from the shadows and walked in Ryoko's direction. He wasn't quite sure how he'd missed seeing the guy the first time, his red hair stood out rather obviously from the green of the trees.
The man approached until he was only a few feet away, and then crossed his arms, waiting for a response. He didn't look very pleased.
Ryoko sweat dropped and tried to think of an excuse. "Well... ya see... I ummm... Had some problems with.... my hired help?"
"And what does this have to do with the lot of you stampeding around here?" The red haired man raised an eyebrow.
"I have this...well... it's that..," Ryoko stuttered. Suddenly, an idea came. "My servant ran away. I was just trying to get her back home, but I needed some help. My help didn't help much, though. Are you, by chance, in need of money?"
That caught the other man off guard. He looked slightly surprised for a few seconds before narrowing his eyes. "Seems to be a lot of trouble for one servant."
"Yeah, well I'm stubborn. My name's Ryoko." He stuck out his hand for a polite hand shake.
No sign of friendliness came from the red haired man. He remained silent for what seemed an eternity before reciprocating. "Honoo."
Being an idiot, any connection between the name and the element was lost on Ryoko.
"Shall we begin negotiations?"
Honoo nodded and led the way into the small house.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Author's Note: Sorry about the big delay. ^_^;; I was bogged down with HW and essays all week, not to mention that I started getting sick. Bleh. My bad guy has a name courtesy of http://hsb.baylor.edu/html/vanauken/JapaneseNames.html . And I have no idea what it means... ANYway, Ryoko is just a power hungry idiot most of the time. No real ulterior motives....at least not yet.
As always, much thanks the reviewers who are the only reason I'm getting this out in a somewhat timely fashion. *Hugz*
The main plot idea of this story goes to Spot the ChelseA who let me steal her idea. Thanks Spot! ^_^
If you see any grammatical errors, please point them out to me at Honoo is Sexy@AOL.com Thank you!