[Author's Note: Hey everyone, Here is the next installment of "The Origin of Rei and..." I just hope it is as good as the first chapter. Again, please give me constructive criticism by reading and reviewing. Translation of chapter title: To Reveal One's True Self.]
Chapter 2 : Honshoo o Arawasu
Early morning of the desert. For a desert, it was very cold. Momo earlier explained this phenomenon by saying that sand absorbs and loses heat very easily unlike water which takes longer to do either. Nina was the first one to wake up. "I better get things ready for breakfast," She thought to herself. Nina walked out of the tent. There she stumbled across Rei and fell face-first into the sand. "REI! You said you were going to sleep outside, but I didn't think you were so hard-headed to actually do it!"
"Oh, sorry," Rei replied, in a sort of half-assed apology.
"Since you're up, you might as well help me get breakfast ready," Nina said, brushing the sand off her face.
Rei started the fire up again and Nina looked in the food chest which was missing the lid, thanks to Rei's help the day before. "Hey, Rei! What should I make?" Nina shouted to Rei, who was setting up the firewood in a cone formation.
"I don't know. What do we have?" Rei replied, making the signal to Nina to keep quiet. She could have woken up Ryu if she wanted.
"Oh! Sorry..." Nina apologized, but then she started again, "Let's see we have fish... Maybe we have some eggs, I'll check."
"Ryu, the master fisherman, but when it comes to anything else, he's clueless," Rei said with a half-silent laugh.
"Oh, we have eggs! How'd we manage that? Oh well, it beats eating fish for breakfast!" Nina said smiling to herself.
Rei lit the fire and the wood crackled with little embers floating to heaven. Nina though of a real good joke a month ago and decided to use it now. "You better stay away from the fire, Rei. Your fur will catch on fire," Nina said. It wasn't a very good joke, Momo could have don better.
"Hey, Nina! You got some sand stuck up your nose!" Retorted Rei.
"What! I do?!" Nina crossed her eyes to see the sand and brushed her fingers below her nostrils to shake it out. Rei fell over with laughter.
"Hey, there was no sand!" Nina shouted, she stormed over to Rei and punched him in the arm.
Suddenly Momo burst open the the front of the tent and shouted at Nina and mostly Rei. "Keep it down, I checked Ryu and he's sick! So would you do us the polite honor and please SHUT UP!" Momo yelled and with that she shut the flaps of the tent.
"THAT's a side I thought I'd never see in Momo," said Rei.
"You've been watching Momo THAT much, Rei?" Nina said trying to irritate him.
Rei stuttered, "Uh, I..It's nothing like that!"
Nina replied in a mocking tone, "Is Rei in looooooove?"
"You have sand up your skirt."
"Hmph!"
"That really shut you up."
"It was your fault! You were the dunderhead who was sleeping outside infront of the entrance!"
"It's not my fault that you're so clumbsy. You're almost as bad as Momo."
"Arrrrgh!"
Nina : 0; Rei : 3.
Momo came out of the tent after Nina got all of the sand off her and made the eggs scrambled, with little irritating surprises of egg-shell bits inside. Nina was a princess, she never cooked in her life, and it showed in her cooking. Besides, Orange Juice shouldn't be brown, and meat should be recognisable from charcoal briquettes. Rei and Momo rolled their eyes in unison as the blackened eggs, or at least I think they were, were presented to them.
"Next time, I'm cooking," said Momo.
"Gee, as if that would be better," Rei said, trying to start Momo into an arguement. "She's so cute when she's mad," Rei thought to himself, "Damnit! I don't feel that way about her... Or at least I think I don't.."
"Oh.. yeah... you're.. an, um, you know... idiot," Momo replied quietly staring at the inedible edibles in front of her.
"Well doesn't that just beat all, I finally shut her up. Nina was easy compared to this," Rei thought.
"You've been acting strange lately, Momo," said Rei, making conversation.
Momo was startled, "He... noticed me..." Momo thought to herself.
"Ever since you went to that pile of god-for-sakin' metal that was left of Caer Xhan, you haven't been up to our arguements."
"I guess I should tell everyone about what I found... Before we get too far from Caer Xhan," Momo thought.
"What is it, Momo?" Asked Nina.
"I'd like to have everyone meet in the tent, I want Ryu to hear this," Momo announced as she pushed her spectacles up further on her nose.
Nina walked in to check up on Ryu, and Rei who had nothing better to do, decided to go inside also.
Momo stood up un front of everyone and explained everything, "I found a machine, or more specifically a computer when I searched through the metal. Upon further inspection I was able to activate it and look through the various files, apparently this belonged to Myria. But the files themselves are almost two decades old. And I came across something interesting. Rei? Did you ever wonder why you are the only person in the world who has a tail, fur, claws, ect. and is a lycanthrope? Did you ever wonder why you went berserk when you changed? Did you ever think about why you were an orphan?"
"What do you mean? What does all this have to do with me?" Rei asked.
"What I am trying to say is that you are somehow involved with Myria. And with your consent, Rei, I would like to go back to Caer Xhan to get answers. It might solve your problem with your powers. So... what would you like to do?"
"If Nina, Ryu and you would like to go, I will. I have to find answers. But let's wait for Ryu to get better before we plan anything."
"I want to go," said Nina. And Ryu who was still lying on the mattress sat up and nodded in agreement.
"Thank you, everyone," Momo said.
Later that night.
"I guess, I will finally get answers... With luck my abilities might finally equal Ryu's. But, I'm not sure if I want to know what I am all about..." Rei thought alone in front of the fire.
Nina, Ryu, and Momo were inside planning what to do and bring along. Their voices were muffled from the outside where Rei could hear them. At least they were still with him.
Rei leaned back on the mattress outside and right before he fell asleep he muttered, "Momo, I..." And he drifted off to sleep.
To Be Continued
Next Episode : Chapter 3 Everyone finally goes to Caer Xhan to find out the origin of Rei. And...