Wow, it's been a long time huh? Ya wanna know why? Because, for the last chapter got a whole one freakin' review! I know that's probably my fault somehow, but there is nothing more disheartening to a writer when his stuff isn't being read. Even flames show that people are reading the story, so if you don't like it, feel free to verbally tear me apart. I don't care if you've got grounds for it or not, just review the damn fic!







"Why Joey? Why?" Aisha's voice echoed in a hollow tone. Very confused, the only



thing Kaalo could see was darkness. "Why?" her voice now cried directly behind him. Now



very unnerved, he thought What the hell's going on?! He turned around and stared in horror



at what he saw. Aisha was standing there, with gaping wounds in her side. The skin around



them looked like it had been burned through, the wounds themselves looked like claw marks and



the blood was flowing freely from them. What was more disturbing, all he could see was her



and nothing else, not even the end of his nose. All of a sudden there was a high pitched whistle,



an exploding sound, and a blinding light bombarded his eyes. After getting used to it, he gasped



as he saw that his arms, all the way up to his shoulders were covered in blood. He looked back



at Aisha, who merely closed her eyes and slowly shook her head in what looked almost like



disappointment. For what seemed forever, nothing happened, then Aisha fell to her knees,



looked to him with tears in her eyes and whispered "Why?" one final time, before falling dead.





Kaalo a.k.a Joseph Cantri woke up in a cold sweat and the only sound that reached his



ears was Aisha's soft snoring a couple of beds over. He let out a sigh of relief, now knowing it



was just a dream. "Thank God" he muttered. Not caring what time it was or how much sleep he



had gotten, he slid quietly out of bed walked toward the door, when he heard Aisha say in her



sleep, "Hamburgerrrrrrs"

A little taken aback, he whispered, "What?!"





"Hamburgerrrrrs!" she said, sounding almost urgent. (A/N: My uncle actually did this, so



it is possible ^_^)





At least you're not having nightmares he thought, comically. He let out yet another



sigh, "Might as well check our progress" he told himself, because God knows he wouldn't get



back to sleep anytime soon.





~~~~*~~~~





After monotonously checking everything from the Nav. Computer, to what was in the



glove compartment - 6 twinkies, a bottle of cheap wine, a bag of plastic cups, and a miniature



chess set - out of sheer boredom, Kaalo found himself mentally reciting the twenty brightest



stars. Sirius, Canopus, Alpha Centauri, Arcturus, Vega, Campella . . . Rigel





This was far too futile to continue. Instead, he took out the chessboard and began to play



both sides equally hard. He remembered that he was exceptionally good at this game, able to



form stratagems that his opponents never saw. Well, that was all well and good but that



wouldn't work when playing himself, but the advantage was, he always won. As he played, he



couldn't help his mind from drifting to the other Ctarl Ctarl in the living quarters. She was



dense, illogical, and rather unpredictable, but strangely, he found himself attracted to her. He



knew it was not her looks. Although unquestionably beautiful, he knew it was something



deeper, something a little less tangible . . . something hidden.







Are you insane? he asked himself. The two of you are more different than black and



white. What was more perplexing was, all through his life he had never had much to do with



the opposite sex. Oh, he had had a crush here and there as a teenager, but he had just passed



them off as the sudden rush of hormones and thought nothing more about it. Also, regarded his



male peers who succumbed to temptation as weak and "a bunch of sex-driven rednecks" as he



called them. But now . . . now it seemed different, almost plausible. It was at about that time



his brain and his heart got into a heated argument, while his consciousness sat back and



watched, deciding which one to side with. The Brain insisted that if the they were to kill



Hazanko, they wouldn't live through it, so why bother? The Heart declared that they came to



Asisha's aid for a reason, if not of their own accord, then by fate. Besides, being in love was the



greatest feeling anyone could ever experience, why would they deny themselves that?



LOVE?!?!?! his consciousness bellowed at his heart. I've known her the whole one day! It



is impossible to feel that way about anything in that time frame!



Oh, like you'd know! exclaimed the Heart



Shut up, you damn pansy! interjected the Brain



No one asked your opinion, smart ass! his consciousness hollered at his brain.





And so the mental melee went on between the three entities he consisted of, logic,



emotion, and mind, for quite some time. Finally, he came to a decision. He sided with logic.



He always had, and it had never failed him, but now the heart complained and bitched at him,



which it had never done before. It told him he was wrong and he would regret it. In his opinion,



the Heart never made sense and he gave it very little leeway in decision making, but something



in the back of his mind was nipping at him, as if there might be some substance behind the



Heart's ludicrous ideas.



Silencing all parties he placed his finger on his rook, slowly slid it down the chessboard



to place the white king in check. No, correction, he thought. "Checkmate"





He suddenly became aware that he was very, very, tired and very, very, hungry. So, he



devoured three of the twinkies, guzzled some of the wine, and fell into confusing, yet normal



dreams.





~~~~*~~~~



A few hours later, Aisha Clan-Clan awoke and was ravenous. She hadn't eaten in almost



twelve hours! She got off the bed and stretched, yawning deeply as she did so. She shuffled to



the bathroom, rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, took a shower, changed into her usual clothes,



brushed her slept-in hair and fixed the braid, the usual routine she always did when she woke up.

Upon having completed her daily chores, she noticed that Joey wasn't in the living quarters.



"Joey!" she chuckled. Calling that guy "Joey" was like calling a nine ft., six-hundred lb., man,



"Tiny." He's weird, she thought. First he had been disturbing, then unfeeling, then



conceited, and finally sorrowful, in the span of a couple of hours. 'Complicated' might be a



better word, Aish. How would you feel if . . . that happened to you? she asked herself, and she



didn't want to know. Suddenly, there came an unearthly sound from her stomach, telling her in



no uncertain terms that it wanted food and it wanted it now. So, she went to go find Joe and



demand that they stop at the next café'. What she found was Joe curled up in a ball, asleep, next



to a half-empty wine bottle and a travel chess set. Was he playing a game, drunk? That



would've been funny to watch. She then grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him awake,



from which he let out something that sounded like "Maaaowr"





"Not a morning person, huh?" she told him.



He muttered something along the lines of "It's not morning and your not funny"





She ignored his grouchiness. "Look," she said. "we need to get some food"





He sat up and blinked, trying to wake up. "I agree. What do you suggest?"





She looked at him like he was clueless. "That we stop and get some food, duh."





"Well, I'm sorry if I'm not as razor sharp as you!" He replied mockingly





~~~~*~~~~





Thirty minutes later, both Aisha and Joseph were at a dimly lit booth in some place



called "The Black Hole." They had scrounged the ship and had been fortunate enough to find



enough money for both meals, which was quite a bit considering the typical Ctarl appetite.





"Were you surprised?" Joseph asked, out of the blue.





"'Bout what?" Asked Aisha, happily chewing her burger.





"When you found out I was a Ctarl"





"Nah"





"Why not?"





"Oh, c'mon, give some credit! it was obvious"





He ran through all the previous events and could find nothing that could given that away.



"How so?"





Aisha finished chewing and swallowing her food then said. "Remember when I tried to



hit you?"





"Yeah, so?"





"If you weren't a Ctarl, it would've broken your wrist"





He thought about that for half a second and concluded that she was right. "I suppose



your-" was as far as he got. Someone lunged seemingly out of nowhere, grabbed Aisha from



behind and held a gun to her head. Joseph stood up and was about to cave the bastard's skull in.





"Uh, uh ,uhhhh, not unless you want Kitten's brains splattered on the floor. Now if you



come with me, no one gets hurt." said the man.





From behind the gunman there was a loud BANG and simultaneously, the gunman's



forehead split open as a bullet passed through his head. He let go off Aisha and fell to the



ground, dead before he hit the ground.







"Holy Shit!!!" Aisha exclaimed. She turned around to see who had fired the shot and



was astounded to see someone whom she knew very well. Someone with shaggy red hair, blue



eyes, and one hell of a lot of scars. "GENE?!?!" she shouted.





"Hey, Aisha" Gene said with that famous cocky half smile. "Who's your friend?"





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Ok, now let's go through this one more time: You will review it, be it good or be it bad, and I will write more and a lot more often, k?







- The Crimson One,

Kuratagi