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The Mystic Ring - Part Five
By: Lady Genrou

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Disclaimers: Usual apply...

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Tasuki knelt by a small puddle of water on the path and dipped his hands in before reaching over and trying to cool off his burning wounds. Sadako watched and bit her lip, wanting more than anything to help him out. He was unaware of her watching him as he tried to twist his arm around in back of him, trying not to cause himself more pain and keep the water cupped in his hand at the same time, but not accomplishing either. "Dammit!" he exclaimed, bringing his fist down in the water and causing it to splash all over the front if him, angering him more.
Sadako sighed and gave in to her urge to help and knelt silently beside him, tearing off the bottom hem of her shirt and soaking it in the water before wringing it out and lightly applying it to his back. Tasuki looked to her and went to protest, but stopped himself, the feeling of the cool cloth on his back soothing him. He closed his eyes and slowly began to relax under her touch, enjoying the temporary relief from his injury.

Sadako let her eyes rove over his frame; his well built body revealed to her through the holes in his shirt. His shoulders were broad and tapered down to his narrow waist that was adorned with his long, strong legs. She licked her dry lips and went to dip the rag in the water again to get her mind off the trail of thoughts it was going on. "Better?" she asked softly, reapplying the rag, careful to keep her gaze on his turned away face.

"Yes, thank you," he replied in the softest tone he had used with her since the met.

"Do you want to stop and rest for the remainder of the day?"

Tasuki couldn't reply for a moment, being subconsciously intoxicated by her deallocate touch. He started rather violently as realization dawned on him. He quickly stood and looked down at her, ignoring the confused expression upon her face. "No," he said, his gentle tone now gone. "We can't afford to stop so soon."

"But if you're hurting..."

"You said yourself that the longer you don't have the ring, the more your land and people suffer, didn't you?"

"Well, yes, but I-"

"Then get up, and lets get goin'!"

Sadako didn't even bother to argue with him, knowing that she had no chance at winning. She sighed heavily and stood as well, and continued to follow him, feeling more like a dog than anything else.
****
"Stupid beast! What do you mean you didn't get the princess?" Lord Mashou raged, landing a nice, hard kick in the monster's side. The creature gasped and dragged itself away in agony.

"I-I had her in my clutches ... but that boy ... he had the fire t-tessen," it gasped, rubbing it's side.

"What boy!?" Mashou spat, stalking after the all ready wounded creature.

"I don't know, sire! I have never seen him before! The princess called him Genrou though. And he had a great iron fan that shoots fire! The tessen!"

Lord Mashou was silent for a long elapse of time, pondering all of what his animal servant had reported. "Well, then it seems that this Genrou isn't going to make capturing the princess as easy as I had planned..."

"I'm sorry I failed you, Master," the creature whimpered with a light touch of fear in his raspy voice.

Lord Mashou's gaze when to the pathetic creature that laid just a few feet away from him. "This is your lucky day, Zorden... I'm going to give you a second chance." With that, he went over to the animal and held the ring in front of its burnt face. The gem glowed and after a brief about of time, the beast opened his eyes, able to see again.

"A s-second chance?" Zorden stuttered in disbelief.

"Yes. I want you to get rid of this Genrou now that you know what his powers on and take his tessen. Then bring it and the princess back here to me. I want her alive so she can watch as I destroy her kingdom and take it over as my own."

Zorden pulled himself to his four feet and dipped his long neck down in a bow. "I shall not fail you again, Master."

"Good. Now go."

Zorden spread his great, scaly wings and flew off with a gush of wind as he flapped them to get his mammoth body air-bound. Lord Mashou remained where he was, lost in thought again. "My lucky day as well," he mused out loud. "Not only will I have the mystic ring, but that fire tessen too. Things couldn't get any better than this!" He continued, his loud, evil laugh echoing throughout the court yard of his palace.
****
The silence that hung about her and Tasuki was practically unbearable. Never has she felt so incredibly akward and uneasy around one person before. She didn't dare talk to him, for fear that he would lash out at her like he always did when she spoke. She still wasn't used to having a boy of such a lower stature reign over her the way Tasuki did.

He was hurting, and badly at that. The monsters claws had cut him deeper than he thought, but still he pressed on. The silence didn't bother him. He was actually thankful for it. The less talking they did, the less distracted he would be, and the faster they would reach Konan to get that ring of hers. And then of course there was the reward. He almost stopped completely in his tracks when he realized that he had forgotten the main reason why he agreed to help her. 'That thing must have hit me pretty damn hard...' he thought to himself. 'Good thing Kouji isn't here... I would never hear the end of this.' Tasuki smirked at the memory of his friend making kissy faces at him. Kouji could be such an idiot at times. He absently gazed back at Sadako to check on her.

She didn't notice him do so. Her head was bowed slightly and her eyes downcast to the ground. Tasuki looked forward after a moment of watching her. She seemed so sad. Maybe he was being too cold to her? She was pretty shaken up when she discovered that he was hurt. Maybe he should try being social for a change? 'What the *hell* are you thinking, Tasuki!?' he scolded himself mentally. 'She's just a damn, crybaby girl! If it weren't for her, you would be at camp with the others, preparing for raids instead of playing peek-a-boo with evil lords and creatures and after some stupid ring.' Then a thought occurred to him. Perhaps she made up everything about the ring? Maybe this was one big trap; a ploy schemed up by someone seeking revenge from one of his past raids? That whole scene in the forest could have simply been a set up to get him right where he was needed. 'I'm such an idiot!'

Angry, he turned on her suddenly. "There is no damn ring, is there?"

Sadako was taken completely by surprise by that. "Wha-? What do you mean?"

"Oh, you conniving little witch! I cant believe I fell so easily for your little act!"

Sadako looked at him oddly, not sure what to make of this. "What? I don't know what you're talking about! Of course there's a ring!"

"How do I know you're not lying? How do I know that this Mashou guy isn't really after me?"

"You're being silly!"

"I am not! I should have thought of this long ago! This is some form of revenge, isn't it; because of one of the raids me and my boys went on?"

"Genrou, I have no idea what you're babbling about! Why in the world would I lie to you about something like this??"

"I dunno. Yer the liar. You tell me."

Sadako was enraged at his words. "You-you self centered, immature, brat!! How dare you treat me like this!! You have no right!"

"Wait a second there, sister! Yer the one that doesn't have the right to lie to me!"

"I'm not lying to you!!" she screamed at him, shaking with fury.

"Whatever."

"I *hate* you, Genrou!! You and your damn stubbornness and cold attitude towards me!! I don't even know why I bothered asking for your help in the first place! I wish that monster would have killed you!!" And with those final words, she burst into tears and ran in the opposite direction away from him.

Tasuki was stunned for a moment, but then was consumed by overwhelming anger. He kicked a rock hard after her and yelled. "Yeah!? Well, I hope that Mashou guy destroys your whole kingdom and that you never find that God damned ring! If there really is one!!"

He had never been so furious in all his life! Who did she think she was playing him like that? And why the hell did he ever fall for such a stupid story like that? That monster was supposed to be the cause of his death and she set him up! Why else would she ask the leader of a band of bandits to accompany her on such a stupid quest? Then why did she seem so scared when she thought he was dead? 'A damn act,' he told himself quickly. 'Tryin' to make you believe that she was good so she could get the chance to try and kill ya again. You really are stupid, Tasuki. Almost deserve to be killed for believing a girl.'

He turned suddenly as he heard her scream out his name in the distance. He almost started to go after her, but then stopped himself. "Smart, Tasuki! Walk right into your own death!" he spat out loud to himself, then turned back around to leave, only to stop again at another one of her screams. "God dammit!!" he cursed, then turned the other way once again and took off in the direction of where the screaming came from. "Princess?" he called as he made his way through the brush of the forest. "Princess, where are you?"

"Genrou!! Help me!"

"Princess!"

There before him was a tall, wiry man cloaked in black, with long, silver hair that fell in front of his pupil-less eyes which made him seem like he were blind. On the front of his jerkin was an elaborate dragon embroidered on it with golden thread. His pants were tucked into his black, knee high boots, and around his narrow waist in a golden sheath was a large, jewel incrested sword. He had the princess slung over his shoulder and smirked when Tasuki came into view. "Well, well. Prince Charming to the rescue."

"Let her go!" Tasuki demanded, pulling out his tessen and taking a stance to prepare to use it.

The smirk on the mans face faded as he narrowed his eyes and shot out a bolt of electricity at him, striking Tasuki in the chest and sending him crashing into a tree, knocking the wind out of him momentarily. "The princess is mine now. And once I get the ring from that fool Mashou, I shall rule all the world," the man said in a clam, deep voice, that smirk playing at his fine lips once again. "Say good bye to your little boy friend, my dear."

"Genrou!!"

With a cry of anger, Tasuki sprung to his feet and charged the stranger, but he moved out of the way and Tasuki fell to the ground, turning around in enough time to see the man disappear with the princess still in his possession.

"Sadako!! No!!"

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To be continued...