Neko and K-chan glared at each other from across the table.
"No kiddin'?" said one.
"Mmm. And now we should find the priestess, otherwise we'll never find a way home no da!" said the other.
"Who wants to go home?? I like it here! I'm stayin' and you can't make me!" Said the first.
"But, it's not where we belong, no da!" said the second.
"That's gettin' really anoying. Give it a rest." The first insisted.
"What no da?" the second asked.
"That!" The first shouted.
"No da?" The second asked again.
"YES!" K-chan slammed her fists on the table and wove her tessen at her astranged friend threatingly. "I'm not going back!"
"I... I don't want to either..." Neko said quietly, "but... we can't stay here."
"And why not?"
"..." Neko stared down at her hands. Her eyes opened gently, revieling stunning green eyes that penitrated K-chan's anger. They were wet with tears. "We... we just have to... I... we... it's just that... I miss everybody."
K-chan also looked down at the table. "Well I do to... but in this case, the bad qualities out weigh the good. Do you really want to go home that badly? I mean, go back to your mom?"
Neko looked up slowely, her eyes wet. No. She really didn't. But something inside her told her this place was wronge. It wasn't where she belonged. "K-.... Jaime." She said in all seriousness, casting pet-names aside. "You can feel it too, can't you? This isn't where we belong. I'm leaving in the morning for the capital, weather you're with me or not." With that, Neko picked up her hat from the table and left the room.
K-chan watched her leave. "Neko..."
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
Night came quickly and was closely followed by day. K-chan awoke as the sun's rays first danced across the sky. She sat out on the porch to the main building with her legs crossed and head tilted to one side. Kouji slid the door open and came out, arms crossed about his chest and a scowel on his face.
"So... who is she, anyway?" He said softly. Both Neko and K-chan had spent most of the previous day alone, catching up. It had been a long year, and both had changed alot.
K-chan placed a hand on top of her head, and sighed. "She was... is of my friends from... before I came here."
"Oh? Well, what's with the long face? You seemed so happy ta' see her at first! What's up?"
K-chan looked down at the ground. "..." Her gaze then lifted up to Kouji. "Kouji... you've been so nice to me. The entire time I was here. Like a brother..." She jumped up and huged him around the waist. "I'll be back. I swear! I swear! But... there's a reason I came here. I-"
"Are a shishiseishi." He interupted.
She let go. So he knew. "Mmm." she nodded. "Neko's leaving... and I need to go with her."
He put a hand on her head and smiled. "It's okay. I'll hold the fort down while yer' gone."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Neko looked out at the paths. She'd have to go around the last villiage, for obvious reasons. Kounan was a large country, and through these woods one could reach most of the other villages, but the capital lay to the west from them. Her bag rested on her shoulder, and with one hand she heald the shokaju and with the other she straightened her glasses in the morning sun. She bowed her head to the light breeze, causing it to lift her bamboo hat off her head and fly off, her hair coming loose and curling behind her.
So... she wasn't comming after all. Neko's heart sank as she realised she was going to have to do this journey on her own after all. She had missed K-chan so much, but it seemed that she wasn't missed at all.
"Oi. Loose somethin'?"
She whirled around to see her friend holding up her hat, aproching her slowely.
"K-chan..."
"I know, I know. I'm commin'. Guess I don't have a choice," the ex-bandit leader looked around. "Well, it was fun while it lasted. Let's get going befor I change my mind."
They then set out toward their destination. "Uh, K-chan, won't they miss their tessen?"
"Naaah. No one there can use it anyhoo. It was kinda a gift." She smiled.
Neko laughed and ran ahead.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
That afternoon, they found themselves at the edge of the city.
Neko lifted the rim of her hat to shade her eyes as she gazed up at the buildings in wonder. "Sugoooi no da...." she whispered.
K-chan huffed behind her, leaning on a stick as she gazed upward in fatigue. "Bah! What's so great about buildings?? Why do we gotta' walk, huh? Are we there yet?"
Neko shook her head. "Uh... I guess we could get some horses..."
"Need horses, you say?" said a voice from behind them. There, leaning against a small stone wall was a boy about Neko's age. He had dark hair with a dark turquoise tint, and kind violet eyes that glimmered at the prospect of money.
"YES!" K-chan threw her stick over her shoulder and into Neko's hands as she flew forward to shake the boy's hand. "When can we get them??"
He shook her free and rubbed his brused hand, coughing nervously. "Uh, that depends..." Heh. They're desperate. "You renting or buying?"
Neko stepped up to intervene. "Uh... that depends. Which is cheaper?"
Their salesman grinned slyly.
"Uh. Allow me to conference with my conrad here briefly prior..." Neko grabbed K-chan by the collar and shoved her behind a tree. "What are you thinking?? Do you have any money?"
K-chan's eyes went huge and teary. "But he's sooooo cute!"
Neko put a hand to her temple. "Do you know who that is?"
K-chan stared at her friend blankly. "A cute guy who wants to sell us horses?"
Neko sighed. "That miser there is non other than Tamahome!"
"Eh?"
"You know, one of the shishiseishi... you're first anime crush??"
It had been a while since K-chan had read a comic book, Neko being in posession of the only ones in that world. "Oh yeah. Him." She smiled and nodded. "So... when can we get horses?"
She sighed again. "Yes, we can get horses. I think I can figure something out." Neko turned around and peered at Tamahome from behind the tree, pondering to herself. Did he know what he was? If he did know he was a Suzaku shishiseishi, then that would make things alot easier.
Neko without a plan is like any hollywood superstar without an ego; rare and hard to find, but when you do, you worry. She decided that maybe this might end up being one of those times when panicing seemed a likely solution, but not exactly practical. Then it occured to her. She glanced up at Tamahome again befor whispering in a very loud voice, loud enough for their salesman to hear and for K-chan to throw her cat-faced friend an odd look, "Look at these prices! I mean, come on! Who would pay that much for a lousy flee bitten horse when they sell 'em for half as much a few streets away?"
"What? Where?" K-chan was clueless.
"Just play along. We gotta get his hackles up!" Neko whispered for real. "And anyway, who'd want to buy them from such a homely guy, anyway? I mean there's so much better out there than trash like him, no da!"
K-chan stared at her friend blankly, speechless. "Uh. Yeah. Oi."
Tamahome attempted to pretend like he couldn't hear the mock-conversation as a vein on his temple poped out slightly.
"If that didn't do it, this will..." Neko grinned evily. When Neko got into it, she could be really mean. "What do you think, Little Ghost?"
Tamahome spun around on his heal and quick as lightening, he was chin to brow with Neko, having to glare down at her because of his hight. "Where....did.....you.....hear.....that?" The kanji for "oni" blazing brightly from underneath his dark bangs.
"Waaaaiiii! waaaiii! You are a Suzaku shishiseishi!" Neko grabbed his arm in a hug, and K-chan his other.
"Who are you people anyway? What's going on? Yeah, I'm a shishiseishi, what of it?!" He hissed, shaking them off.
Neko pointed at the sky dramatically, a mysterious wave of water splashing behind her and a picture of mount fuuji appearing as well. "At last! our journey has made some actual progress, no da!"
K-chan shoved her friend over to the side. "Let me introduce my self." she rose an arm so that Tamahome could see the glowing red kanji on it. "I am K-chan, or the Shishiseishi "Tasuki"." she said proudly.
"Da~~~" Neko said from the ground, then got up, brushing herself off as she did so. Her eyes opened, flashing green. "And I am Neko, or the Shishiseishi 'Chichiri'." Her symbol shined through the fabric of her pants. "Nice to meet you. I'm sorry I had to be so rude, but we wanted to test you no da..."
"Test?" He blushed and looked slightly angered. "What ever happened to just asking politaly?"
"Thought that left with leg warmers in the '80's." K-chan said, scratching her head with her tessen.
".... you really are Suzaku warriors? Does this mean..."
"Yup!" Neko interupted. "You're commin' with us, and you're giving us free horses, no da!" She walked over and tossed her bag over the back of a rust colored equian creature.
After K-chan had borded a pure black stallion-looking poney, she pointed dramatically. "TO THE PALACE!"
Tamahome shook his head. "Guess I don't have a choice on the issue, do I?"
Neko smiled. "Nope! Welcome abord!"
To be continued...
Questions? Comments? email me at chichiri_chan@fushigiyugi.com I love you all no da!
