"What?"
Rune looked around.
"Black...
"More black..."
Rune looked up.
"A blue light. Well that's just DANDY. FINE AND DANDY. Where the heck am I?"
(KA: RUNE SAID DANDY! DAAAAAAAAAAANDY!
RJ: No. You will not get that joke unless you watch a lot of Sakura Taisen/Sakura Wars.)
"You are in my body. I am in yours." It paused for a laugh. "You might want to get up and move if you can. You are about to get run over."
"Naaaani?"
Up sat a wolf. It shot out of the way of an enormous vendor cart.
If anyone had seen the same wolf before, they would have noticed two differences now: It now had kind, gentle eyes instead of harsh yellow ones. The slate gray fur was now highlighted with yellow.
And, another thing: The wolf had the same sword and arrow wounds, still bleeding freely.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
A fox sat on top of a building, watching the wolf with narrowed eyes. Like the wolf, it's mouth moved once for each word every time it spoke.
"That fool Ohkami...what is he thinking? Trying to pull off that wounded act? Pitiful. He's trying to get help from the humans. Only the dragons are trustworthy. I should go down there and put him out of his misery..."
The fox leapt an almighty leap, down, in front of the wolf, which was terrified of him. It cringed, and turned its head away.
"Ohkami? That is you, isn't it? No.you wouldn't turn in fear like that."
"Please.. please don't hurt me.."
"That's.that's not you. Whoever you are, let me see your eyes."
Rune opened his eyes, and was looking into the face (at eye-level) of a handsome fox.
"Blue eyes. I am sorry. Who are you?"
"I-I am Rune, o-of the D-dragon Clan.I somehow switched bodies.with this dog."
"Actually, Ohkami is a wolf." The fox laughed, a rich and rare sound. "You have no clue how that walking personification of pride would take offence to that."
The fox's milky white pupils searched Rune's dark black ones.
"You're blind." Rune thought aloud, something he really should stop doing.
The fox smiled. "I was beginning to wonder if you were as well." He paused, and wrapped three of nine tails around him. "You see, I am not totally blind, but in three more days I will be. I can see most things now- all of them smeared together into colors. The closer an object is to my face, the sharper it is."
"I'm sorry." Rune looked away, and dropped his gaze to his hands.erm, paws.
There was a long moment of silence, when the fox turned to leave.
"Wait, please. I can barely move.I need help." Rune was suddenly aware of how great the pain in his side was. The buildings began to swarm around him, and close in. He passed out.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Rune awoke in a pile of leaves. There was a fire crackling merrily several feet away. He was covered in someone's traveler's cloak, and feeling extremely dizzy. Bandages were wrapped over the wounds. He tried to sit up, but it was in vain; his legs would not hold him. His memories were a blur, but he remembered some young boy had been taking care of him. Rune looked around, and saw the boy asleep. He only looked to be a teenager. But then, he noticed something about the orange-haired boy. He had ears on op of his head, like a fox.and nine tails were wrapped around him for warmth. Two of them twitched, and the boy opened milky-white eyes.
"Ah. Good. You seemed to have survived the bout of Karasu Byouki."
"What?"
"It's a good name for it, isn't it?" The boy smiled, and then sighed. "I hate to admit it, but I am partly responsible of this 'plague'. You see... I created it."
"You." Anger boiled up in Rune's veins. He stood and made a move to jump, but his legs fell from beneath him, landing him right back the bed of leaves. "You killed Tetheus! It's because of you I couldn't save him!"
"I'm sorry for the Officer of Black's passing."
"No, you're not. You're sitting there with that arrogant, over-intelligent smirk on your face.you have no clue how it hurts the Dragon Clan! We care about who we loose! Every one of them! You have no clue how it is to try and save someone, and then loose the battle for their lives. I know you are intelligent; I thank you for saving my life. But that's just one out of a million you've destroyed!" Rune's eyes were shadowed. He'd finally been able to say that. All of it. Not one of the dragons could begin to understand his sorrow, except maybe Lord Lykouleon. And Rune feared for him, as well. He wished he could stand, so he could attack the fox-boy who mocked him and his tears. Rune realized that he was crying.
"I do realize your pain. There is not an once of comprehension in your veins that would allow knowledge of my pain and frustration.I loose my sight more each day, because I created the 'raven illness', known as 'Karasu Byouki'."
"What do you mean?"
"When creating it, I had to give the 'illness' a part of myself. I didn't mean to, but I gave it my sight. I also gave the illness another part of myself: my name. It took on my name, which was once 'Karasu'. I have no name now. I cannot be called Karasu."
Silence. The silence was broken, not by a retort, but a snort of laughter. Rune and the fox-boy began to burst out laughing, almost cackling.
"Ha ha.we seem to understand each other more than we thought." Rune laughed. "But, on a more serious note.ha ha ha.if we can ever stop laughing..."
"In-hahaha-indeed!! It's just too ironic."
(RJ: The two most intelligent characters have gone insane!! KA: And, [go figure] you like to use big, long words with these two. RJ: Oops. But 'Comprehend' is something I use on my peers! It's one of my favorite words!! They don't know what it means!!! KA: Wow.they don't? O.O)
After laughing for a while, the two settled down.
"Like I said, on a more serious note, how do I get back into my own body?" Rune asked.
"When your body is seriously injured, he will come back to his own (relatively healed) body, and you will go back to your badly injured one."
"So I have to endure the pain?"
"Yup, that sounds about right."
"Fun." Rune's voice was dripping with sarcasm. "Another question. Why did you make the Karasu Byouki?"
"I was asked to. I am the second most powerful in the Animale Clan, and by far the most intelligent."
"Animale?" Rune was puzzled.
"An-I-ma-lae. It is the name of the clan that you saw. I was there too, hiding. I brought you there." He closed his eyes. "I thought you could help. I didn't think that Ohkami would use your body as a puppet."
"But.you're helping out the dragon clan."
"Yes. You( unlike Humans and Youkai( are trustworthy. I am a traitor to my clan to assist you. Actually.I would like to kill Ohkami. It is entirely his fault that I loose my sight in two days."
"What? I was asleep for that long?" Rune was finally able to sit up.
"Yes. And I'm sure Ohkami has found his way to the dragon castle."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
(RJ: Woohoo! On with it! KA: Oh, just be quiet.)
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Why did Rune run off like that?" Rath asked Thatz.
"I don't know. Why don't you ask him?" Thatz said, looking over the balcony they were sitting on. Hardly daring to believe his eyes, the two knights looked at the missing third.
Rath leaped over the balcony. "Rune! Rune, where have you been? Only me and Lykouleon run off like that!"
Rune's eyes where shadowed. Under the cloak he was wearing, he gripped his sword.
"C'mon, man. We know it's hard, but we can deal with it together."
In a flash of silver, Rath doubled over in pain. Rune stood on the other side of him, sword dyed red. Rath groaned in pain.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Rath!!" Thatz cried from the balcony. He moved to jump, but a firm grip held him back.
"Don't. That is not Rune." A young man said from under a torn cloak. He had a wolf at his side, which had several healing wounds.
"Get offa me! Rune! What are you doing?!" Thatz screamed. The man's grip held firm.
"I'm right here." The wolf looked at Thatz. "Please, Thatz..."
"Rune?" There was no denying those pure blue eyes.
"Yes. That...that thing down there stole my body. I am in his."
"What?"
"Let Rath wound him. That way, I'll be back in my own body."
The man let go of Thatz's arm.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Rath realized that it was not the knight of water that he knew so well. Lunging forward, Rath sliced at the imposter, and just missed. The fake leapt into the air, and came down, hitting Rath with the blunt side of his sword. Rath stabbed upwards at the exact moment, and ripped the sword out sideways. The imposter screamed in agony, and fell forward.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Move." Said the man, as the wolf fell limp. Muttering something in a strange language, the wolf vanished.
"What? What did you do?" Thatz demanded.
"Rune is back in his own body. I was getting rid of the imposter before he woke."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Rath laughed.
"It wasn't a demon that had possessed Rune? Eheheheheheheh."
"No. It was one of my clan." The fox-boy looked away, ashamed. "I am sorry."
"It's all right!" Thatz laughed, as he chomped on a chicken bone. "Aren't you hungry?"
"I'm not allowed to eat in front of my superiors." His eyes flashed up to Lykouleon and Raselene.
"Please," Said Lykouleon with a warm smile, "By all means, go ahead."
"A.D-doumo a-arigatou." The boy began to eat.
Rune looked around.
"Black...
"More black..."
Rune looked up.
"A blue light. Well that's just DANDY. FINE AND DANDY. Where the heck am I?"
(KA: RUNE SAID DANDY! DAAAAAAAAAAANDY!
RJ: No. You will not get that joke unless you watch a lot of Sakura Taisen/Sakura Wars.)
"You are in my body. I am in yours." It paused for a laugh. "You might want to get up and move if you can. You are about to get run over."
"Naaaani?"
Up sat a wolf. It shot out of the way of an enormous vendor cart.
If anyone had seen the same wolf before, they would have noticed two differences now: It now had kind, gentle eyes instead of harsh yellow ones. The slate gray fur was now highlighted with yellow.
And, another thing: The wolf had the same sword and arrow wounds, still bleeding freely.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
A fox sat on top of a building, watching the wolf with narrowed eyes. Like the wolf, it's mouth moved once for each word every time it spoke.
"That fool Ohkami...what is he thinking? Trying to pull off that wounded act? Pitiful. He's trying to get help from the humans. Only the dragons are trustworthy. I should go down there and put him out of his misery..."
The fox leapt an almighty leap, down, in front of the wolf, which was terrified of him. It cringed, and turned its head away.
"Ohkami? That is you, isn't it? No.you wouldn't turn in fear like that."
"Please.. please don't hurt me.."
"That's.that's not you. Whoever you are, let me see your eyes."
Rune opened his eyes, and was looking into the face (at eye-level) of a handsome fox.
"Blue eyes. I am sorry. Who are you?"
"I-I am Rune, o-of the D-dragon Clan.I somehow switched bodies.with this dog."
"Actually, Ohkami is a wolf." The fox laughed, a rich and rare sound. "You have no clue how that walking personification of pride would take offence to that."
The fox's milky white pupils searched Rune's dark black ones.
"You're blind." Rune thought aloud, something he really should stop doing.
The fox smiled. "I was beginning to wonder if you were as well." He paused, and wrapped three of nine tails around him. "You see, I am not totally blind, but in three more days I will be. I can see most things now- all of them smeared together into colors. The closer an object is to my face, the sharper it is."
"I'm sorry." Rune looked away, and dropped his gaze to his hands.erm, paws.
There was a long moment of silence, when the fox turned to leave.
"Wait, please. I can barely move.I need help." Rune was suddenly aware of how great the pain in his side was. The buildings began to swarm around him, and close in. He passed out.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Rune awoke in a pile of leaves. There was a fire crackling merrily several feet away. He was covered in someone's traveler's cloak, and feeling extremely dizzy. Bandages were wrapped over the wounds. He tried to sit up, but it was in vain; his legs would not hold him. His memories were a blur, but he remembered some young boy had been taking care of him. Rune looked around, and saw the boy asleep. He only looked to be a teenager. But then, he noticed something about the orange-haired boy. He had ears on op of his head, like a fox.and nine tails were wrapped around him for warmth. Two of them twitched, and the boy opened milky-white eyes.
"Ah. Good. You seemed to have survived the bout of Karasu Byouki."
"What?"
"It's a good name for it, isn't it?" The boy smiled, and then sighed. "I hate to admit it, but I am partly responsible of this 'plague'. You see... I created it."
"You." Anger boiled up in Rune's veins. He stood and made a move to jump, but his legs fell from beneath him, landing him right back the bed of leaves. "You killed Tetheus! It's because of you I couldn't save him!"
"I'm sorry for the Officer of Black's passing."
"No, you're not. You're sitting there with that arrogant, over-intelligent smirk on your face.you have no clue how it hurts the Dragon Clan! We care about who we loose! Every one of them! You have no clue how it is to try and save someone, and then loose the battle for their lives. I know you are intelligent; I thank you for saving my life. But that's just one out of a million you've destroyed!" Rune's eyes were shadowed. He'd finally been able to say that. All of it. Not one of the dragons could begin to understand his sorrow, except maybe Lord Lykouleon. And Rune feared for him, as well. He wished he could stand, so he could attack the fox-boy who mocked him and his tears. Rune realized that he was crying.
"I do realize your pain. There is not an once of comprehension in your veins that would allow knowledge of my pain and frustration.I loose my sight more each day, because I created the 'raven illness', known as 'Karasu Byouki'."
"What do you mean?"
"When creating it, I had to give the 'illness' a part of myself. I didn't mean to, but I gave it my sight. I also gave the illness another part of myself: my name. It took on my name, which was once 'Karasu'. I have no name now. I cannot be called Karasu."
Silence. The silence was broken, not by a retort, but a snort of laughter. Rune and the fox-boy began to burst out laughing, almost cackling.
"Ha ha.we seem to understand each other more than we thought." Rune laughed. "But, on a more serious note.ha ha ha.if we can ever stop laughing..."
"In-hahaha-indeed!! It's just too ironic."
(RJ: The two most intelligent characters have gone insane!! KA: And, [go figure] you like to use big, long words with these two. RJ: Oops. But 'Comprehend' is something I use on my peers! It's one of my favorite words!! They don't know what it means!!! KA: Wow.they don't? O.O)
After laughing for a while, the two settled down.
"Like I said, on a more serious note, how do I get back into my own body?" Rune asked.
"When your body is seriously injured, he will come back to his own (relatively healed) body, and you will go back to your badly injured one."
"So I have to endure the pain?"
"Yup, that sounds about right."
"Fun." Rune's voice was dripping with sarcasm. "Another question. Why did you make the Karasu Byouki?"
"I was asked to. I am the second most powerful in the Animale Clan, and by far the most intelligent."
"Animale?" Rune was puzzled.
"An-I-ma-lae. It is the name of the clan that you saw. I was there too, hiding. I brought you there." He closed his eyes. "I thought you could help. I didn't think that Ohkami would use your body as a puppet."
"But.you're helping out the dragon clan."
"Yes. You( unlike Humans and Youkai( are trustworthy. I am a traitor to my clan to assist you. Actually.I would like to kill Ohkami. It is entirely his fault that I loose my sight in two days."
"What? I was asleep for that long?" Rune was finally able to sit up.
"Yes. And I'm sure Ohkami has found his way to the dragon castle."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
(RJ: Woohoo! On with it! KA: Oh, just be quiet.)
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Why did Rune run off like that?" Rath asked Thatz.
"I don't know. Why don't you ask him?" Thatz said, looking over the balcony they were sitting on. Hardly daring to believe his eyes, the two knights looked at the missing third.
Rath leaped over the balcony. "Rune! Rune, where have you been? Only me and Lykouleon run off like that!"
Rune's eyes where shadowed. Under the cloak he was wearing, he gripped his sword.
"C'mon, man. We know it's hard, but we can deal with it together."
In a flash of silver, Rath doubled over in pain. Rune stood on the other side of him, sword dyed red. Rath groaned in pain.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Rath!!" Thatz cried from the balcony. He moved to jump, but a firm grip held him back.
"Don't. That is not Rune." A young man said from under a torn cloak. He had a wolf at his side, which had several healing wounds.
"Get offa me! Rune! What are you doing?!" Thatz screamed. The man's grip held firm.
"I'm right here." The wolf looked at Thatz. "Please, Thatz..."
"Rune?" There was no denying those pure blue eyes.
"Yes. That...that thing down there stole my body. I am in his."
"What?"
"Let Rath wound him. That way, I'll be back in my own body."
The man let go of Thatz's arm.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Rath realized that it was not the knight of water that he knew so well. Lunging forward, Rath sliced at the imposter, and just missed. The fake leapt into the air, and came down, hitting Rath with the blunt side of his sword. Rath stabbed upwards at the exact moment, and ripped the sword out sideways. The imposter screamed in agony, and fell forward.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Move." Said the man, as the wolf fell limp. Muttering something in a strange language, the wolf vanished.
"What? What did you do?" Thatz demanded.
"Rune is back in his own body. I was getting rid of the imposter before he woke."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Rath laughed.
"It wasn't a demon that had possessed Rune? Eheheheheheheh."
"No. It was one of my clan." The fox-boy looked away, ashamed. "I am sorry."
"It's all right!" Thatz laughed, as he chomped on a chicken bone. "Aren't you hungry?"
"I'm not allowed to eat in front of my superiors." His eyes flashed up to Lykouleon and Raselene.
"Please," Said Lykouleon with a warm smile, "By all means, go ahead."
"A.D-doumo a-arigatou." The boy began to eat.
