So I decided to actually bother posting before you people bothered reviewing (it's not happening again… just to let you know…) But s'okay!!
Special thanks to s-chan (bakaneko…?) for reviewing!!! I'm continuing! Yay!
Secrets Best Left Alone
Chapter One: Changing Faces
"Get back here, kid!"
Kori only ran faster as she tried to escape the angry baker. Kori didn't like stealing, but this was what she had to do. A month had passed and she had yet to earn any money, nor get a job of any sort. Nobody had any work for her kind of girl--er, boy. She still sometimes forgot who she was.
"Shit!" Kori cried angrily as she attempted to weave through the growing crowd. She only hoped it was keeping the baker as much as her. She was looking back, hoping to see him, when she collided with somebody in the crowd.
"Dammit, watch where you're going!" the man she had collided with shouted angrily to her. Kori looked up to see a relatively tall man around the age of seventeen. He had fiery red hair and a very unhappy scowl.
"Sorry," Kori mumbled, standing up and rubbing her sore butt.
"There he is!" the baker shouted. Kori gasped and looked around for an exit. She then noticed that the redhead was leading a horse.
"Sorry, mister!" Kori cried as she hopped onto the horse and turned away, "But I am really hungry!" she hit the horse's side and it tore away from the man's grasp. The horse then began galloping through the crowd.
"Hey! Get back here with my horse!" the redhead cried as the baker approached him.
"I'll return it, I promise!" Kori cried back. The baker shouted some more curse words along with the man as Kori disappeared out of sight.
"Phew," Kori huffed as she exited the village. She stopped and looked back, then patted the horse. "How the heck am I going to return this horse!?" she asked suddenly, remembering her promise to the red-haired man. She sighed and hoped that perhaps she could find him in the next village. There was not a chance in hell she was going back and risking getting sent to jail or something. She still wasn't sure about the justice system around here...
"Oh well," Kori smiled smugly, taking a large bite out of the loaf of bread. "Now, on with my travelling, I suppose," she mumbled. Kori had been doing this for a month now. Running from town to town. Kori wasn't a very good thief, you see. She got caught an awful lot. Hell. She couldn't even steal a piece of bread.
Kori's mind wandered back to her last steal. That guy that she had run into... he looked so... familiar. Kori knew she had seen him somewhere, but from where? Perhaps he had been in another town, or maybe she had even seen him in the market earlier that day...
"Welly well well!" Kori snapped out of her thoughts and looked around her. Men were emerging from the trees. Just great.
"Whadda we got 'ere?" another man asked, eyeing Kori up and down.
"Some puny kid. Wonder if 'e's any good at defense?"
"Hope so, for 'is sake," All the men sneered at Kori. She rolled her eyes and went to attack. To her surprise, then man she had lunged for easily grabbed her wrists.
"Feisty, in't he?" the man next to him chuckled.
"Leave me alone! I don't have anything you want!" Kori cried angrily.
"Oo... We're scared," the guy who had Kori's arms laughed. Kori began struggling with all her might, but the guy was big, and just too strong.
"Please, I really have nothing of any value!" Kori pleaded again.
"Ya don' undastand who we are," One of the men sneered. Kori tried again to free herself, but yet again to no avail.
"We're the bandits of Reikazukan Mountain!" The men all smiled and put their hands on their hips, minus the guy who had Kori.
"That's all fine and dandy, but..." Kori paused her struggling and thought for a moment. "Who did you say you were?"
"The Bandits of Reikazukan Mountain!" The bandits posed again. Kori mentally smiled as she remembered these guys to be the thieves that Tasuki had led. Maybe she would live long enough to see him and find out how she could return to her own time... just maybe...
"And we don't take anything of value, we take everything."
Kori's eyes grew wide as realization hit her, but unfortunately, it was quite a blow. Kori moaned as the bandit set her down and she sunk into a deep slumber.
"Hey kid, wake up!" Kori groaned a cracked open one eye.
"Five more minutes," she mumbled, rolling over. She regretted it immediately, however, when she discovered that any movement with her head caused the back of it to throb dully. Kori groaned in pain.
"I said, get up, kid!" Kori groaned again as the previous voice snapped at her. She opened her eyes fully and almost screamed when she found herself face-to-face with a very irritated looking man.
"Who are you!?" Kori asked, looking around wildly and ignoring the new pain ripping through her head. "Where am I!?"
"Calm down, kid. You're in the bandit hideout. My name's Kouji. Now get up!" Kori sat up slowly and rubbed the back of her head.
"What happened?" Kori groaned again.
"Eiken wants ta see you. Wants ta see 'is 'catch'" Kouji rolled his eyes as Kori gave him a confused look.
"Eiken? Who's Eiken?" Kori asked as Kouji pulled her by one of her elbows towards a large door.
"Our 'leader.' Jes grin 'n' bear it. At least yer a guy. Poor girls 'ave been 'ere and been scarred for the rest o' their life."
Kori remembered Eiken from the comic book then, and thanked whatever Gods were here that she was currently a boy.
'That puts me ahead of Miaka, then,' Kori added to herself. 'How cool... wait. Ew!' She stopped, but Kouji kept pulling her along.
"C'mon, kid. Ya don't wanna keep Eiken waitin' if ya wanna live today," Kouji stated, pausing in front of the door. "Knock, knock. Who's there? It's Kouji bringing the boy as you desired. It's-Kouji-bringing-the-boy-as-you-desired who?"
Kori stifled a laugh at the man's crazy antics. He opened the door and Eiken looked up from a very, very large meal.
"Ah, this's tha boy?" Eiken snarled, wiping what Kori thought was drool from his lips. She winced in disgust.
"Jes listen to him," Kouji whispered as he backed out of the room.
"Hehe..." Kori chuckled nervously as Eiken looked her up and down.
"Boy! Are ya strong?" Kori shook her head. "Are ya very smart?" Again, Kori shook her head. "What are ya, boy?" Kori winced again as Eiken snorted in amusement.
"I... I learn very quickly," Kori lied, trying to keep her voice low, despite her hysterics. Eiken laughed.
"That's a good thing, I s'pose!" he snorted again. Kori forced a small laugh. "If ya can prove yerself, we'll allow you ta be a bandit! Ya look like thief material!"
"Thank you, I think..." Kori tried to smile, but found it hard with this... this pig present.
"Now prove yerself!" Eiken shouted. He took out what looked to be a fan. Kori gasped and leapt out of the way just in time to miss the blow. She picked up a nearby iron rod and prepared to fight him. Eiken came at her again, wielding his fan. Kori dodged again, managing to knock the fan away from him with her rod. He stared disbelievingly (A/N: okies, so my making up word-sy-ness is a bit out of hand!) at her skills.
"Did I just prove myself or something?" Kori asked, pausing a moment to look at the flabbergasted Eiken.
"You... Ya knocked tha tessen outta my hand!" he exclaimed, still staring at his now vacant hand.
"Yeah... and?"
"Ya said ya weren't no good at fightin'!" Eiken shouted. Kori winced at his horrible grammar. "Nobody c'n take tha tessen outta my hands!"
"Wow. Cool." Kori smiled proudly and put down her rod.
"Kouji!" Eiken shouted, cupping his hands. Kouji and a small collection of bandits appeared in the door. All bowed to Eiken.
"Look at what this kid jes did!" Eiken shouted, pointing to his hand. Kouji cocked an eyebrow, but said nothing. "He knocked tha tessen right outta my hands!" A few bandits stepped back. Kori smiled.
"Did he really?" Kouji asked, bowing again. Eiken nodded.
"I wantcha ta train 'im good, Kouji!" Eiken ordered and Kouji bowed again. Kouji took Kori by the wrist and gently pulled her out of the room.
"I'm impressed, kid. Ya lived through Eiken," Kouji stated. Kori smiled proudly. "Now ya get ta be a bandit. We haven't let anybody in since th'old boss died. I'm sure Genrou... never mind."
Genrou... Kori recognized the name. She smiled again and pretended to be oblivious. "So... where're we going to start first?"
"Bow an' arrow. We only got one o' those here and we c'n always use more."
"Um... how about grammar first?" Kori winced through a smile. She was going to need a lot of patience and a good ear to understand these guys.
"'Scuse me?" Kouji asked, turning around.
"Bow and arrow is good. Let's do bow and arrow."
***
Okies, 'nother chapter finished (the first… someodd chapters are actually completed, but I'm only posting if I get many, many good reviews)!!!! So thanks bunches for reading my story and PLEASE *grovels on knees* review!!! Should I continue or no go? Still original? Oh, and I'm sorry Kori seems so… Mary Jane-ish. I swear, she's not perfect… I'll find something wrong with her… short temper, mebbe? Nah... overused. Uh… whatever. Anyway, I've seen about twenty different spellings for Kouji, too. I actually know him as the manga character, not Kouji or Koji or whatever. Same goes for Genrou in later chappies. Thanks!!!
Wow… I like exclamations, don't I??
Well, this just about ends my session this time.
Oh!!!! I was reading through and I realized that I said last chapter that, "this follows the plot of FY almost exactly… I pride myself on this fact (followed the plot pretty dern well, if I do say so meself!)!!!"
The truth is, it will, but that occurs in a later chapter, when Miaka, Hotohori, and Nuriko appear at Reikazukan Mountain (thank God for copy-paste techniques). Then it's word-for-word, only with Kori in there and an interesting plot twist later… but I'm not telling… so R&R!!!
~Taryn Eithne