The Forgotten Child
Chapter 11
written by Kat Aubuchon
edited by Windlily
Koori hurried out the back door and hopped
down the steps, counting each one out loud. She
had Kitsuryuu's picture book securely tucked under
one arm and her box of crayons under the other.
She hadn't bothered to ask any of the kids if they
wanted to go with her since they couldn't leave
their rooms, and Koori was glad that none of the
others were with her anyway. When they were
tagging along they always took up all of
Kitsuryuu's attention.
Mechiko was always asking Kitsuryuu to train
with her and Arashi. Arashi didn't have to ask.
Kitsuryuu always ended up fighting with him
anyway. Kiseki was always trying to figure out a
way he could communicate with Kitsuryuu without
the signing, but so far all he had been able do to
was to see and send images. Maryoku and Fuyu were
always making Kitsuryuu learn stuff, like the new
signing and how to read and write, even if she
didn't want to. Koori knew that her fox like the
new finger words and learning to read the words
that Maryoku and Fuyu wrote down for her, but
hated it when they'd make her copy the new words
down herself.
Once Kitsuryuu and Maryoku had gotten into a
fight about her not practicing her writing. He had
told her that he wasn't going to buy her anymore
nice picture paper if she didn't start working on
her writing more. Koori grinned at the memory of
Kitsuryuu advancing on Maryoku with her eyes
glowing and her hand ablaze in red fire.
Kitsuryuu had made a running leap at Maryoku with
her hand up, ready to cook him alive and then
suddenly change in mid flight to a fox. She had
landed on his chest and knocked him to the ground.
He had closed his eyes and hadn't known that she
had changed until she gave him several huge,
sloppy, wet kitsune kisses on his face. Everybody
except Maryoku had laughed.
Koori hurried her way along the side of the
house. She had a standing engagement with
Kitsuryuu to meet her after lunch and she was
already very late. She turned the corner and
started gaining speed, then skidded to a halt when
she heard her uncle's voice.
"All I'm saying, Hiei, is that we don't know
anything about her!"
Koori walked over to her uncles' open window
and pressed herself against the wall. She didn't
know what the adults in the room were talking
about, but if Uncle Kurama was yelling it must be
something bad.
"So I'm suppose to sit by and let that idiot
and Yuusuke hunt her down?!" Hiei's voice boomed
out of the room and Koori cringe at the way he
talked about her father.
Koori knew her mother must not be in the
room, because Uncle Hiei would never say things
like that with her there. Her mother said that
her uncle didn't really mean the things said, just
that he didn't know how to say anything else. It
reminded her of Kitsuryuu and Arashi. Kitsuryuu
didn't like her brother because he was human, and
Arashi didn't like Kitsuryuu because she didn't
like him. She sort of understood why they fought,
but it still didn't feel nice when they did.
"No, but you have to understand. She's a
youkai running loose in the Ningenkai. You don't
know what she could do, or why she's here!"
"I don't give a fuck *why* she's here! All I
know is she's the reason why Kyuukai is alive and
not in a ditch somewhere!"
Koori was very confused by her uncles'
discussion. Why would Kyuukai be in a ditch and
why would Uncle Kurama not like Kitsuryuu when
they were both fox spirits? She heard her Uncle
Kurama sigh.
"Hiei, if she were here right now I would get
down on my hands and knees and kiss her feet. But
her saving you and Kyuukai doesn't change the fact
she doesn't belong here! She's youkai, and she
belongs in the Makai."
Koori hugged the book and crayons to her
chest as she tried to keep herself from crying.
Her uncle was going to make Kitsuryuu live in the
Makai, and Maryoku said that Kitsuryuu wasn't
strong enough with her collar on to survive there.
She held on tighter to the objects in her arms,
not noticing that she had crushed the box and a
rainbow of colors were falling into the grass at
her feet. Koori let out one hick-upping sigh and
pulled herself up to her full three foot nothing
height. Uncle Hiei had told her that crying never
made anything better, only actions did.
Koori inadvertently made a trail of brightly
colored crayons to the edge of the yard as she
ran. She could barely hear her Uncle Hiei's
explosive reply to Uncle Kurama's words over the
roll of thunder in the sky.
"Then maybe I need to live in the Makai too!"
She looked up as she ran to the path that
would lead her to Kitsuryuu and saw no clouds to
go with the thunder. The trees started to blur
into one long streak as the tears formed in her
eyes.
Koori ran without looking where she was
going. If she tripped, she just got to her feet
again and continued. She ran until her lungs hurt
and her knees were full of bloody scratches.
Koori never lost her hold on the book or the empty
box of crayons until she hit a solid wall of flesh
she knew could only be one person. Koori let the
book fall to the forest floor and wrapped her arms
around Kitsuryuu's legs.
==============
Kitsuryuu pulled Koori's arms from around her
legs and knelt so that she could see the little
girls face. From her tree top perch Kitsuryuu had
seen Koori running through woods and fall several
times. She had jumped from tree to tree to get
ahead of her friend and then jumped down in front
of her. Kitsuryuu had almost been thrown
backwards by the girls momentum when they
collided.
Kitsuryuu didn't know what was going on, but
Koori was crying and cold hard gems were falling
from her chin to land, forgotten, into the grass.
Kitsuryuu searched the girl in front of her for
injuries, but besides skinned knees she found
nothing wrong with her. She pushed the light blue
hair from Koori face and asked the little girl
what was wrong. Koori just cried harder and flung
her short arms around her neck.
Kitsuryuu put one arm around her young
friend's shoulders and picked up the sketch book.
She made the weeping girl hold the book in her
trembling fingers and then that arm went under the
Koori's knees. Kitsuryuu lifted her up and made a
leap to the branch above her head. She landed
lightly and not a leaf on any of the limbs stirred
as she leapt from tree to tree to avoid leaving a
trail on the forest floor. She even changed her
direction several times in case someone tried to
follow her through the tree tops.
Koori continued to cry as Kitsuryuu made her
way to the cave. The little ice demon's face was
pressed into her neck and the tears fell down the
front of Kitsuryuu's shirt making gooseflesh
appear on her skin. Kitsuryuu entered her cave
and tried to put the little girl down but Koori
refused to let go. With a gesture to her right,
Kitsuryuu made a small youki fire in the blackened
pit the baby had been born in. She sat cross
legged on the floor and mentally adjusted the
color of the flames from their natural deep wine
to the lightest red she could manage. With the
flames held in this shade, they almost looked like
a real fire and cast an even and soft light on the
walls.
Kitsuryuu rocked Koori until the girl's
crying turned into hick-ups, and then kissed her
cool forehead. After a few minutes of gentle
coaxing, Koori told her what was wrong. The worse
of the scenarios had happened. She had been found
out and the kids were in trouble. Koori started
crying again before she had finished telling her
what was going on. Kitsuryuu forcibly sat the
girl in front of her and tipped Koori's head up so
that she was looking her in the eyes.
/Stop that. It is not helping,/ she told the
little girl, and got a nod in response.
Kitsuryuu needed to think about what to do
and she thought best when she was drawing. She
quickly went to the corner where she hid all her
possessions and retrieved the box of pencils
Mechiko had given her. Each of the kids had given
her something different for her 'birthday'.
Mechiko gave her the pencils, Fuyu, the
watercolors. Kiseki gave the color pencils,
Maryoku, the paper and canvas and Koori gave her a
box of crayons. Arashi had given her a can of
spring snakes that jumped out at her when she had
opened them. She had given him a black eye.
Kitsuryuu laid on her stomach and pulled the
sketch book in front of her. Koori came to her
side and laid parallel to her on the floor so she
could watch her draw, her chin on her folded
hands. Kitsuryuu thought for a moment about what
to draw, but nothing came to mind so she just
started to copy the interior of the cave.
she thought as her
picture started to take shape. Her hand moved
faster as she considered her options and the
stokes of the pencil became shorter and shaper,
narrowing in on an image that was not normally in
the cave.
I should leave like Maryoku told me to do.
The kids are already in trouble because of me.
Her fingers turned the pencil in her hand so
that it pointed away from the picture, and with
the tip of one finger she blended the soft marks
on the page to create shadows where she needed
them. Kitsuryuu thought of the different places
she could go when she left. She had long ago
scouted out different locations before she had
settled here. They were no better and no worse,
but they didn't have the same hold on her that
this place did. She had been born here, she was
sure of it, and she wanted to hold on to this link
to her past.
Kitsuryuu decided on a place that was far
away from any humans on the top of a very high
mountain. It would take a day or two of hard
running to get there and she would have to cross
the Black Snake road that circled her mountain.
It was also a place she knew that even her friends
wouldn't be able to find.
She had finished her picture and had signed
her name in the corner without realizing it. She
looked down at the drawing of the shadowy interior
of her cave and the man that she had only met for
a few short hours. She didn't know what made her
think of him and the baby he was cradling, but it
was one of her better pictures. She closed the
book and looked over at Koori's sleeping face.
The little girl normally fell asleep around
this time every day she visited. If this had of
been a normal day Kitsuryuu would have laid down
with her and let the girl bury her face into her
fur, but today she had too many things on her mind
and too many hard decisions to carry out.
Kitsuryuu settled herself in front of the
fire she had created and stared into the flames.
Kitsuryuu reached into her pocket and pulled out
the gem her fire friend had made. There were no
edges on the smooth surface of the black tear, but
it did come to a point at one end. As she rolled
it between her fingers she watched the red light
of her fire play across it's surface making it
seem even darker. She placed the gem on the
ground and reached up to her hair and pulled a
tiny section away from the rest. She made a few
quick, tight knots at the top of the hairs where
it connected with her scalp and then carefully
twisted and braided it into a very thin and tight
rope.
She had learned how to make a rope out of her
own hair by watching the hunters as they made
there snares out of thread and wires. She had
used her ropes to snare the rats and mice she
couldn't reach from her cage. It hadn't been a
lot, but it had kept her alive.
The rope she made now was much thinner than
the ones she used to snare animals. When she was
done and had knotted off the end she pulled it
from her scalp. She repeated the process one more
time and made a web out of the two lengths of
hair. The gem that she had laid to the side was
placed in the center of the web and then enclosed
in the silky cords.
Kitsuryuu looked at her handy work and
smiled. The gem was securely held in it's cradle
and could be clearly seen through the delicate
web. The tear gleamed in the light and each bend
of her hair held it's own spark of dark red. She
placed the ornament she made on her left wrist and
wound the ends of the hair several times around
her forearm and then tied it off.
That finished, she decided she would take
Koori back to 'the house' now. There was no point
in dragging her feet once she had made her
decision. Kitsuryuu went around the cave and
collected all her belongings into one of her
shirts. There was very little to carry, and she
would only be taking them as far as 'the house'.
She decided that she was going to give back
everything she had been given. Once she left she
would have no one to draw for, so taking them with
her would be pointless.
She took the sleeping Koori up in her arms
and slung her make-shift sack over her shoulder,
then with a backward glance she extinguish her
fire and said goodbye to her home.
Kitsuryuu carried Koori to 'the house' and
carefully scanned the yard for all it's occupants.
It was late in the afternoon and the sky was
becoming overcast, giving the yard the appearance
of dusk. She knew that it would start raining
tonight and that it would help to hide her trail.
She could sense many people and a few humans in
the smaller building behind 'the house', and went
there.
Kitsuryuu looked through the open door from a
tree branch near by. She found the 'parents' all
standing around and the kids sitting on the floor,
watching Maryoku and a man that looked just like
him scream at each other. Kitsuryuu assumed that
this was Maryoku's father. He had told her once
about his father and how he wished that the older
man would go away and never come back.
Maryoku's father suddenly reached out and
grabbed the boy and she could see and feel a
massive aura surround him. Kitsuryuu became
alarmed and was about to intervene when a round
human came from behind and grabbed the man's
shoulder.
Kitsuryuu didn't know what to make of this
human woman. She had no power to speak of, but
she had the ability to stop the man instantly.
When his aura faded back down Kitsuryuu was
surprised to find that she could sense a person in
the roundness of the human's belly. Had they let
her eat the person?
She temporarily ignored Maryoku and his
father to follow the human's movements. She
walked to one of the walls and a human male with
long red hair pulled a stool out for the human
woman to sit on. The woman was forgotten in favor
of the human male.
His mane of red hair was what drew her
attention completely to him. When he straightened
and looked towards the yelling pair, Kitsuryuu
received another shock. His eyes were the same
uncompromising deep green as the baby he held in
his arms. Why was he holding the baby and why
wasn't the fire friend there with his infant? Her
worry turned into panic when the red head handed
the baby over to the round human. Was she going
to eat him too?
Kitsuryuu jumped from the tree she was in to
one that was closer, still holding the sleeping
Koori in her arms as she kept her eyes trained on
the human. The human placed the infant boy
against her chest and rhythmically patted his back
and bottom. Kitsuryuu considered this for a
moment. Usually people don't comfort the food
they're about to eat, and none of the kids seemed
to think that there was anything wrong with this
human holding the baby.
She was still uncertain about the whole
situation until Mechiko crawled over to the human
woman and took the baby from her. Mechiko held
the baby crookedly to her chest and the round
human adjusted the girl's hold so that the infant
was held more securely, then placed Mechiko's free
hand against her belly. Kitsuryuu could see her
friend say the words 'little brother' but couldn't
see the rest of what she said when she turned her
head away. Kitsuryuu hadn't told anyone that she
could understand a lot of what they said without
the signing. It gave her a tactical advantage
when they tried to plan things against her.
After seeing that the baby was safe and
assuring herself that Maryoku could take care of
himself with his father, Kitsuryuu adjusted her
grip on Koori and ran the short distance to the
house. She went in the window she knew to be the
girl's room and placed Koori on the smallest bed.
The little girl had slept through the run to the
house and the argument Kitsuryuu knew had to be
loud, but when she placed her on the sheets her
eyes popped open. Kitsuryuu tried to smile for
Koori, but she knew that her young friend could
see through it.
"You're leaving aren't you?" she asked.
Koori's eyes where red and swollen from
crying earlier, making her look pale and sick.
Kitsuryuu only nodded in response.
"I don't want you to go."
/I know, but have to go./
Kitsuryuu put her sack on the bed and opened
it up. She took the picture book and gave it to
Koori. The girl refused at first, but she kept
pushing it at her until she took it.
/Give these to the others. Tell them I will
miss them, and will find again when away from
'parents',/ Kitsuryuu told her as she laid out
each item on the bed.
She paused for a moment then untied the
bracelet on her arm. She put it in Koori's hands
and then looked her in the eye.
/You give back to Fire Friend. Say I sorry I
take. Tell him he have pretty baby and not leave
alone./
Kitsuryuu took the little girl's wrists and
kissed each of her palms. Her throat started to
get tight and she found it difficult to swallow as
she rubbed her cheek against Koori's hands. The
back of her eyes were burning and Kitsuryuu tried
to blink the feeling away. Before she knew what
was happening there was a hot wetness on her
cheeks that traveled down her chin and fell into
the little girl's hands.
Koori pulled her hands away and Kitsuryuu
looked at her in confusion. The little girl was
looking at the round stones cupped in her palms.
They were as black as the one gem in the bracelet
she had made, but in the center of each stone
there was a light that twinkled and pulsed a deep
wine red and then a cool ice blue.
Kitsuryuu backed away from the bed and wiped
at the wetness on her face. She had cried before,
when she had dust in her eyes or when Mechiko had
connected with a really good punch, but her tears
had never done this. The tightness in her throat
seemed to go lower and center in her chest and she
knew that if she didn't leave now, she never
would. With one last look at Koori, Kitsuryuu ran
to the window. She didn't bother to look to see
if anyone would see her leaving, she just started
running.
She ran for hours and didn't care that her
lungs were demanding air or her legs rest. She
could feel a clap of thunder and she jumped. The
rain was coming, but she didn't care. She ran at
her top speed and the trees were nothing but brown
and green smudges in her vision. She knew where
she was going but still, when the long Black Snake
road came in front of her, she was surprised.
The rain started the moment she emerged from
the trees. It was the hot, thick rain that only
came in the summer and drenched everything in
seconds. She slowed her pace a bit as she
approached the road, but even at that inhuman
speed she was unable to avoid the two bright orbs
that seemed to appear instantly beside her.
She was hit with a force that rivaled one of
Mechiko's attacks, but instead of pain exploding
in one spot it felt like her entire body was being
crushed from the one side. As intense as the pain
was it faded and her body went dumb and limp. She
felt her ribs shatter and her left arm snap, and
then her left thigh bone splinter out of her skin.
For some insane reason she had enough time to
look down and see white bone protruding from her
leg before she was swept under what ever had hit
her. Her hair tangled and then was ripped free as
her face was dragged across the ground. Kitsuryuu
rolled several more feet before she finally came
to a stop.
She laid there and wondered how long it was
going to take her to die. She knew that she could
possibly survive the injuries she had received,
but not lying out in the open like this and
defenseless. She was able to turn her head to see
her blood flowing away with the rain across the
black road and a pair of white shoes. She started
to pass out as she looked up. She hoped that she
would die quickly as the human knelt down beside
her and put his hand to her throat.
==========
Here you go, another chapter! Did I make the three day dead line?
Anyway, any comments welcome!
Kat
Chapter 11
written by Kat Aubuchon
edited by Windlily
Koori hurried out the back door and hopped
down the steps, counting each one out loud. She
had Kitsuryuu's picture book securely tucked under
one arm and her box of crayons under the other.
She hadn't bothered to ask any of the kids if they
wanted to go with her since they couldn't leave
their rooms, and Koori was glad that none of the
others were with her anyway. When they were
tagging along they always took up all of
Kitsuryuu's attention.
Mechiko was always asking Kitsuryuu to train
with her and Arashi. Arashi didn't have to ask.
Kitsuryuu always ended up fighting with him
anyway. Kiseki was always trying to figure out a
way he could communicate with Kitsuryuu without
the signing, but so far all he had been able do to
was to see and send images. Maryoku and Fuyu were
always making Kitsuryuu learn stuff, like the new
signing and how to read and write, even if she
didn't want to. Koori knew that her fox like the
new finger words and learning to read the words
that Maryoku and Fuyu wrote down for her, but
hated it when they'd make her copy the new words
down herself.
Once Kitsuryuu and Maryoku had gotten into a
fight about her not practicing her writing. He had
told her that he wasn't going to buy her anymore
nice picture paper if she didn't start working on
her writing more. Koori grinned at the memory of
Kitsuryuu advancing on Maryoku with her eyes
glowing and her hand ablaze in red fire.
Kitsuryuu had made a running leap at Maryoku with
her hand up, ready to cook him alive and then
suddenly change in mid flight to a fox. She had
landed on his chest and knocked him to the ground.
He had closed his eyes and hadn't known that she
had changed until she gave him several huge,
sloppy, wet kitsune kisses on his face. Everybody
except Maryoku had laughed.
Koori hurried her way along the side of the
house. She had a standing engagement with
Kitsuryuu to meet her after lunch and she was
already very late. She turned the corner and
started gaining speed, then skidded to a halt when
she heard her uncle's voice.
"All I'm saying, Hiei, is that we don't know
anything about her!"
Koori walked over to her uncles' open window
and pressed herself against the wall. She didn't
know what the adults in the room were talking
about, but if Uncle Kurama was yelling it must be
something bad.
"So I'm suppose to sit by and let that idiot
and Yuusuke hunt her down?!" Hiei's voice boomed
out of the room and Koori cringe at the way he
talked about her father.
Koori knew her mother must not be in the
room, because Uncle Hiei would never say things
like that with her there. Her mother said that
her uncle didn't really mean the things said, just
that he didn't know how to say anything else. It
reminded her of Kitsuryuu and Arashi. Kitsuryuu
didn't like her brother because he was human, and
Arashi didn't like Kitsuryuu because she didn't
like him. She sort of understood why they fought,
but it still didn't feel nice when they did.
"No, but you have to understand. She's a
youkai running loose in the Ningenkai. You don't
know what she could do, or why she's here!"
"I don't give a fuck *why* she's here! All I
know is she's the reason why Kyuukai is alive and
not in a ditch somewhere!"
Koori was very confused by her uncles'
discussion. Why would Kyuukai be in a ditch and
why would Uncle Kurama not like Kitsuryuu when
they were both fox spirits? She heard her Uncle
Kurama sigh.
"Hiei, if she were here right now I would get
down on my hands and knees and kiss her feet. But
her saving you and Kyuukai doesn't change the fact
she doesn't belong here! She's youkai, and she
belongs in the Makai."
Koori hugged the book and crayons to her
chest as she tried to keep herself from crying.
Her uncle was going to make Kitsuryuu live in the
Makai, and Maryoku said that Kitsuryuu wasn't
strong enough with her collar on to survive there.
She held on tighter to the objects in her arms,
not noticing that she had crushed the box and a
rainbow of colors were falling into the grass at
her feet. Koori let out one hick-upping sigh and
pulled herself up to her full three foot nothing
height. Uncle Hiei had told her that crying never
made anything better, only actions did.
Koori inadvertently made a trail of brightly
colored crayons to the edge of the yard as she
ran. She could barely hear her Uncle Hiei's
explosive reply to Uncle Kurama's words over the
roll of thunder in the sky.
"Then maybe I need to live in the Makai too!"
She looked up as she ran to the path that
would lead her to Kitsuryuu and saw no clouds to
go with the thunder. The trees started to blur
into one long streak as the tears formed in her
eyes.
Koori ran without looking where she was
going. If she tripped, she just got to her feet
again and continued. She ran until her lungs hurt
and her knees were full of bloody scratches.
Koori never lost her hold on the book or the empty
box of crayons until she hit a solid wall of flesh
she knew could only be one person. Koori let the
book fall to the forest floor and wrapped her arms
around Kitsuryuu's legs.
==============
Kitsuryuu pulled Koori's arms from around her
legs and knelt so that she could see the little
girls face. From her tree top perch Kitsuryuu had
seen Koori running through woods and fall several
times. She had jumped from tree to tree to get
ahead of her friend and then jumped down in front
of her. Kitsuryuu had almost been thrown
backwards by the girls momentum when they
collided.
Kitsuryuu didn't know what was going on, but
Koori was crying and cold hard gems were falling
from her chin to land, forgotten, into the grass.
Kitsuryuu searched the girl in front of her for
injuries, but besides skinned knees she found
nothing wrong with her. She pushed the light blue
hair from Koori face and asked the little girl
what was wrong. Koori just cried harder and flung
her short arms around her neck.
Kitsuryuu put one arm around her young
friend's shoulders and picked up the sketch book.
She made the weeping girl hold the book in her
trembling fingers and then that arm went under the
Koori's knees. Kitsuryuu lifted her up and made a
leap to the branch above her head. She landed
lightly and not a leaf on any of the limbs stirred
as she leapt from tree to tree to avoid leaving a
trail on the forest floor. She even changed her
direction several times in case someone tried to
follow her through the tree tops.
Koori continued to cry as Kitsuryuu made her
way to the cave. The little ice demon's face was
pressed into her neck and the tears fell down the
front of Kitsuryuu's shirt making gooseflesh
appear on her skin. Kitsuryuu entered her cave
and tried to put the little girl down but Koori
refused to let go. With a gesture to her right,
Kitsuryuu made a small youki fire in the blackened
pit the baby had been born in. She sat cross
legged on the floor and mentally adjusted the
color of the flames from their natural deep wine
to the lightest red she could manage. With the
flames held in this shade, they almost looked like
a real fire and cast an even and soft light on the
walls.
Kitsuryuu rocked Koori until the girl's
crying turned into hick-ups, and then kissed her
cool forehead. After a few minutes of gentle
coaxing, Koori told her what was wrong. The worse
of the scenarios had happened. She had been found
out and the kids were in trouble. Koori started
crying again before she had finished telling her
what was going on. Kitsuryuu forcibly sat the
girl in front of her and tipped Koori's head up so
that she was looking her in the eyes.
/Stop that. It is not helping,/ she told the
little girl, and got a nod in response.
Kitsuryuu needed to think about what to do
and she thought best when she was drawing. She
quickly went to the corner where she hid all her
possessions and retrieved the box of pencils
Mechiko had given her. Each of the kids had given
her something different for her 'birthday'.
Mechiko gave her the pencils, Fuyu, the
watercolors. Kiseki gave the color pencils,
Maryoku, the paper and canvas and Koori gave her a
box of crayons. Arashi had given her a can of
spring snakes that jumped out at her when she had
opened them. She had given him a black eye.
Kitsuryuu laid on her stomach and pulled the
sketch book in front of her. Koori came to her
side and laid parallel to her on the floor so she
could watch her draw, her chin on her folded
hands. Kitsuryuu thought for a moment about what
to draw, but nothing came to mind so she just
started to copy the interior of the cave.
she thought as her
picture started to take shape. Her hand moved
faster as she considered her options and the
stokes of the pencil became shorter and shaper,
narrowing in on an image that was not normally in
the cave.
I should leave like Maryoku told me to do.
The kids are already in trouble because of me.
Her fingers turned the pencil in her hand so
that it pointed away from the picture, and with
the tip of one finger she blended the soft marks
on the page to create shadows where she needed
them. Kitsuryuu thought of the different places
she could go when she left. She had long ago
scouted out different locations before she had
settled here. They were no better and no worse,
but they didn't have the same hold on her that
this place did. She had been born here, she was
sure of it, and she wanted to hold on to this link
to her past.
Kitsuryuu decided on a place that was far
away from any humans on the top of a very high
mountain. It would take a day or two of hard
running to get there and she would have to cross
the Black Snake road that circled her mountain.
It was also a place she knew that even her friends
wouldn't be able to find.
She had finished her picture and had signed
her name in the corner without realizing it. She
looked down at the drawing of the shadowy interior
of her cave and the man that she had only met for
a few short hours. She didn't know what made her
think of him and the baby he was cradling, but it
was one of her better pictures. She closed the
book and looked over at Koori's sleeping face.
The little girl normally fell asleep around
this time every day she visited. If this had of
been a normal day Kitsuryuu would have laid down
with her and let the girl bury her face into her
fur, but today she had too many things on her mind
and too many hard decisions to carry out.
Kitsuryuu settled herself in front of the
fire she had created and stared into the flames.
Kitsuryuu reached into her pocket and pulled out
the gem her fire friend had made. There were no
edges on the smooth surface of the black tear, but
it did come to a point at one end. As she rolled
it between her fingers she watched the red light
of her fire play across it's surface making it
seem even darker. She placed the gem on the
ground and reached up to her hair and pulled a
tiny section away from the rest. She made a few
quick, tight knots at the top of the hairs where
it connected with her scalp and then carefully
twisted and braided it into a very thin and tight
rope.
She had learned how to make a rope out of her
own hair by watching the hunters as they made
there snares out of thread and wires. She had
used her ropes to snare the rats and mice she
couldn't reach from her cage. It hadn't been a
lot, but it had kept her alive.
The rope she made now was much thinner than
the ones she used to snare animals. When she was
done and had knotted off the end she pulled it
from her scalp. She repeated the process one more
time and made a web out of the two lengths of
hair. The gem that she had laid to the side was
placed in the center of the web and then enclosed
in the silky cords.
Kitsuryuu looked at her handy work and
smiled. The gem was securely held in it's cradle
and could be clearly seen through the delicate
web. The tear gleamed in the light and each bend
of her hair held it's own spark of dark red. She
placed the ornament she made on her left wrist and
wound the ends of the hair several times around
her forearm and then tied it off.
That finished, she decided she would take
Koori back to 'the house' now. There was no point
in dragging her feet once she had made her
decision. Kitsuryuu went around the cave and
collected all her belongings into one of her
shirts. There was very little to carry, and she
would only be taking them as far as 'the house'.
She decided that she was going to give back
everything she had been given. Once she left she
would have no one to draw for, so taking them with
her would be pointless.
She took the sleeping Koori up in her arms
and slung her make-shift sack over her shoulder,
then with a backward glance she extinguish her
fire and said goodbye to her home.
Kitsuryuu carried Koori to 'the house' and
carefully scanned the yard for all it's occupants.
It was late in the afternoon and the sky was
becoming overcast, giving the yard the appearance
of dusk. She knew that it would start raining
tonight and that it would help to hide her trail.
She could sense many people and a few humans in
the smaller building behind 'the house', and went
there.
Kitsuryuu looked through the open door from a
tree branch near by. She found the 'parents' all
standing around and the kids sitting on the floor,
watching Maryoku and a man that looked just like
him scream at each other. Kitsuryuu assumed that
this was Maryoku's father. He had told her once
about his father and how he wished that the older
man would go away and never come back.
Maryoku's father suddenly reached out and
grabbed the boy and she could see and feel a
massive aura surround him. Kitsuryuu became
alarmed and was about to intervene when a round
human came from behind and grabbed the man's
shoulder.
Kitsuryuu didn't know what to make of this
human woman. She had no power to speak of, but
she had the ability to stop the man instantly.
When his aura faded back down Kitsuryuu was
surprised to find that she could sense a person in
the roundness of the human's belly. Had they let
her eat the person?
She temporarily ignored Maryoku and his
father to follow the human's movements. She
walked to one of the walls and a human male with
long red hair pulled a stool out for the human
woman to sit on. The woman was forgotten in favor
of the human male.
His mane of red hair was what drew her
attention completely to him. When he straightened
and looked towards the yelling pair, Kitsuryuu
received another shock. His eyes were the same
uncompromising deep green as the baby he held in
his arms. Why was he holding the baby and why
wasn't the fire friend there with his infant? Her
worry turned into panic when the red head handed
the baby over to the round human. Was she going
to eat him too?
Kitsuryuu jumped from the tree she was in to
one that was closer, still holding the sleeping
Koori in her arms as she kept her eyes trained on
the human. The human placed the infant boy
against her chest and rhythmically patted his back
and bottom. Kitsuryuu considered this for a
moment. Usually people don't comfort the food
they're about to eat, and none of the kids seemed
to think that there was anything wrong with this
human holding the baby.
She was still uncertain about the whole
situation until Mechiko crawled over to the human
woman and took the baby from her. Mechiko held
the baby crookedly to her chest and the round
human adjusted the girl's hold so that the infant
was held more securely, then placed Mechiko's free
hand against her belly. Kitsuryuu could see her
friend say the words 'little brother' but couldn't
see the rest of what she said when she turned her
head away. Kitsuryuu hadn't told anyone that she
could understand a lot of what they said without
the signing. It gave her a tactical advantage
when they tried to plan things against her.
After seeing that the baby was safe and
assuring herself that Maryoku could take care of
himself with his father, Kitsuryuu adjusted her
grip on Koori and ran the short distance to the
house. She went in the window she knew to be the
girl's room and placed Koori on the smallest bed.
The little girl had slept through the run to the
house and the argument Kitsuryuu knew had to be
loud, but when she placed her on the sheets her
eyes popped open. Kitsuryuu tried to smile for
Koori, but she knew that her young friend could
see through it.
"You're leaving aren't you?" she asked.
Koori's eyes where red and swollen from
crying earlier, making her look pale and sick.
Kitsuryuu only nodded in response.
"I don't want you to go."
/I know, but have to go./
Kitsuryuu put her sack on the bed and opened
it up. She took the picture book and gave it to
Koori. The girl refused at first, but she kept
pushing it at her until she took it.
/Give these to the others. Tell them I will
miss them, and will find again when away from
'parents',/ Kitsuryuu told her as she laid out
each item on the bed.
She paused for a moment then untied the
bracelet on her arm. She put it in Koori's hands
and then looked her in the eye.
/You give back to Fire Friend. Say I sorry I
take. Tell him he have pretty baby and not leave
alone./
Kitsuryuu took the little girl's wrists and
kissed each of her palms. Her throat started to
get tight and she found it difficult to swallow as
she rubbed her cheek against Koori's hands. The
back of her eyes were burning and Kitsuryuu tried
to blink the feeling away. Before she knew what
was happening there was a hot wetness on her
cheeks that traveled down her chin and fell into
the little girl's hands.
Koori pulled her hands away and Kitsuryuu
looked at her in confusion. The little girl was
looking at the round stones cupped in her palms.
They were as black as the one gem in the bracelet
she had made, but in the center of each stone
there was a light that twinkled and pulsed a deep
wine red and then a cool ice blue.
Kitsuryuu backed away from the bed and wiped
at the wetness on her face. She had cried before,
when she had dust in her eyes or when Mechiko had
connected with a really good punch, but her tears
had never done this. The tightness in her throat
seemed to go lower and center in her chest and she
knew that if she didn't leave now, she never
would. With one last look at Koori, Kitsuryuu ran
to the window. She didn't bother to look to see
if anyone would see her leaving, she just started
running.
She ran for hours and didn't care that her
lungs were demanding air or her legs rest. She
could feel a clap of thunder and she jumped. The
rain was coming, but she didn't care. She ran at
her top speed and the trees were nothing but brown
and green smudges in her vision. She knew where
she was going but still, when the long Black Snake
road came in front of her, she was surprised.
The rain started the moment she emerged from
the trees. It was the hot, thick rain that only
came in the summer and drenched everything in
seconds. She slowed her pace a bit as she
approached the road, but even at that inhuman
speed she was unable to avoid the two bright orbs
that seemed to appear instantly beside her.
She was hit with a force that rivaled one of
Mechiko's attacks, but instead of pain exploding
in one spot it felt like her entire body was being
crushed from the one side. As intense as the pain
was it faded and her body went dumb and limp. She
felt her ribs shatter and her left arm snap, and
then her left thigh bone splinter out of her skin.
For some insane reason she had enough time to
look down and see white bone protruding from her
leg before she was swept under what ever had hit
her. Her hair tangled and then was ripped free as
her face was dragged across the ground. Kitsuryuu
rolled several more feet before she finally came
to a stop.
She laid there and wondered how long it was
going to take her to die. She knew that she could
possibly survive the injuries she had received,
but not lying out in the open like this and
defenseless. She was able to turn her head to see
her blood flowing away with the rain across the
black road and a pair of white shoes. She started
to pass out as she looked up. She hoped that she
would die quickly as the human knelt down beside
her and put his hand to her throat.
==========
Here you go, another chapter! Did I make the three day dead line?
Anyway, any comments welcome!
Kat