Chapter I:
Ruikyu ..........................................
Krislin balanced herself on the two feet brick wall that lined the cobblestone path leading to . . . . somewhere; she hadn't asked directions or even read over a map. Tokyo hadn't changed that much since she had left but it felt as if this was the first time she had ever been here at all. After securing her balance so as not to fall, she placed her hands in the pockets of her sweater and looked up at the sky as she walked along on the brick wall.
Through the branches with autumn colored leaves the sky was a dark gray with big fat clouds making her regret ever rethinking the fact that she'll probally need a raincoat but the probability of rain also lifted her moods somewhat. If it rained, her relatives and not-yet-drunken mother would have to mourn for the dead at the cemetry in the rain. And the Festival wouldn't really be a festival because everyone wouldn't be able to celebrate in the rain. Soon she found herself hoping the weather would be a 99% thunderstorm with extra thunder and lightning just in case a little rain won't drench out the festival's effect on her aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, and ect.
'But that's just selfish', her concience scolded. She ignored it, though she knew it was true. "If I can't have fun," she murmured softly, "even on my birthday, why should my family have fun?" As an after thought she added to herself, 'Going to the cemetry might not be fun, but they at least get a chance to say something'. Everytime the aniversery of more than half her relative's deaths, she never got a chance to say some prayers because of the suspicion that she'll put some curse on their spirits. The suspicion was strongest within the green-eyed girl though.
Lost in her thoughts she bumped her head on a low bare branch that stuck out of it's knarled oak trunk, or maybe not so low since her head was seven feet something from the ground. "Ow!" she exclaimed, taking a hand out of her pocket to rub the spot that got such an unfair treatment. She backed up a step or two and glared at the oak tree, absently tracing the line of oaks that the wall kept away from the path 'till it was beyond her line of vision as though it went on forever.
'See, that's what you get for being selfish', her ever annoying concience tuanted only to be ignored again. Krislin knew she was strange but there was no way, no how, she was going to talk to her concience. That was just beyond strange. "Stupid branch, it's my birthday can't you at least give me a break?" she asked knowing that she wouldn't get an answer. Talking to tree branches was even stranger than talking to conciences but tree branches that were still attached to their tree were alive and conciences are just the good part of someone, not exactly alive in a way.
Just then, an abrupt sound of thunder startled her almost causing her to fall and it so happens just to add to her bad luck, it started to rain. A branch of white lightning etched itself across the sky then faded into nothingness. Krislin started to run, ducking under branches that threatened to hit her and moving aside some that were too low for her to duck under, sometimes even stepping over the branches. Suddenly the brick wall ended to grass. She jumped, nearly slipping on the wet grass, but still ran on the grass heading away from the path towards a bunch of giant oaks that stood together. She skidded to a stop, leaning against a tree trunk while trying to catch her breath.
Here in the woods, the rain didn't beat on her more than it did when she was completely exposed to it. Krislin's breath caught in her throat, her eyes widened as something shot out of the ground. She paled even more than usual and would've screamed when a hand covered her mouth. "Shhh, be quiet or it'll hear you," a voice somewhat familar, whispered silently from behind.
'How can I say anything when you have your hand covering my mouth in the first place?!' she screamed with irritation in her mind. But she couldn't move because of paralizing fear. The thing that shot out of the ground was large, really really large. It looked like an overgrown tiger with piercing gold eyes and a black striped white coat. As it swung it's head in her direction she was pulled from her position feeling someone's arm encircle her waist.
She let out a strangled gasp when the hand that covered her mouth was gone and suddenly she was dragged, literally, through the woods. "Let me go!" she demanded without really thinking. "I'm not a rag doll that you can just drag around! Now let me---" The fourteen year old girl was cut off when her feet left the ground and closed her eyes tight.
"You can open your eyes now, but stay quiet," the voice yet again whispered though it was so soft that it was barely audible over the thundering sky and rain. "If it hears you, you're as good as dead." Krislin opened her eyes just to see herself nearly 38 or 40 feet off of the ground, sitting on one of the many branches of an old oak tree that had a considerable amount of leaves still on, which she was sure hid her from view. But she was scared. Not of the tiger but the realization of high she was.
She looked over at her kidnapper---or savior or whatever it was---blinked, and the next second he was gone. If he was still there she would've fainted. She heard a loud roar that rang out clearly in the woods and instantly remembered again about how big the tiger was. She wasn't afraid of tigers, at least not tigers that are pratically as big as 25 feet tall and weigh about.......Krislin shook her head, and held a death grip onto the branch she sat on willing herself not to look down. If she looked down she was going to scream and if she screamed, she was going to die.
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Kurama ran through the woods, his Rose Whip in hand, towards the enrgy he felt from the Ruikyu. 'Hiei, where are you?' he asked his companion telepathically. There was silence for a moment before Kurama recieved an answer.
'Hn. Baka no kitsune, where were you?'
Kurama stopped a bit away from the source of the youki, behind a tree that circled a wide meadow that the Ruikyu was resting in, making sure that his own youki was lowered so as not to be sensed by the tiger-like demon. I' had to get a human girl away from the Ruikyu. It would've killed her.'
'Leave it to you to think of something like that, Fox. Let it kill the onna for lunch, then it'll be easier to kill.'
Kurama sighed. 'Where are you, Hiei?'
'In the Shadow Forest.' There was a pause again to which Kurama thought Hiei wouldn't say anymore when Hiei suddenly swore. 'Ch'kuso!' The harseness of it made Kurama flinch visibly.
'I'll be there soon.' Kurama stepped out from behind the tree, in an instant the Ruikyu was glaring at him. "What do you want?" the Ruikyu growled. Kurama was suprised that it knew how to speak since Ruikyus were almost always deadly hunters who cared nothing about talking to it's food. The demon's gaze drifted to the thorned whip in the red head's hand. "Put that away."
"I apologize but I cannot oblige to that request."
"It's not a request," the Ruikyu said in a low threatening tone which was the first time the fox youkai noted that the other demon barely moved his mouth to speak. Kurama sized up the situation he had somehow gotten himself into. The Ruikyu wasn't even part of the mission in the first place but it seemed that it was rather insistant on getting trespassers off it's territoty and wouldn't leave them alone to their mission.
If he put away his Rose Whip it was pretty obvious that the tiger demon had the upper hand since just one powerful push with it's hind legs would send it on him in a blink of an eye. But if he didn't put his Rose Whip away--- he didn't have any intention of killing the Ruikyu just hurting it enough so that it'll leave Hiei and him alone, quite on the contrary Kurama respected most of the Ruikyus for their intelligence when it comes to steath and hunting (it had managed to appear out of nowhere, suprising both he and his black haired companion, since they hadn't sensed the approaching predator)---then the Ruikyu would surely attack anyways.
The thorned whip started changing back to a beautiful blood red rose but Kurama had no intention whatsoever of putting it away. If the Ruikyu decided to attack, he would be ready. "Why were you and that half demon in my territory?" it asked.
"We were simply passing through, we didn't know it was your territory," answered Kurama politely.
"We were going to leave when you showed up," he added afterwards.
The Ruikyu growled. "I don't think so. That half demon was the Forbidden Child was he not? And you. You're disguised as a human, but the energy around you speaks otherwise. You look incredibly young, but your eyes hold the wisdom that can only be gained over centuries or so. A kitsune, if I'm not mistaken." The demon added the last aknowledgement after a moment of looking into Kurama's emerald green eyes as though he could see something deep inside.
"Hai. Though I was telling the truth."
A deep rumble escaped the Ruikyu's throat, it took Kurama a moment to realize that it was laughing. "A kitsune, telling the truth? Your kin are known as tricksters all over Makai, widely mistrusted. I may live as a hunter, and I may have lived in this forest for more than 4 centuries but I have run-ins every few decades with your kind." Suddenly the tiger-like demon was seriously, his golden eyes gleaming with the llook of a challenge that it would quite enjoy. "I wouldn't say that I had enjoyed those meetings but it kept me busy." The Ruikyu took a stance as if it would pounce at any minute and Kurama tensed.
Ruikyu ..........................................
Krislin balanced herself on the two feet brick wall that lined the cobblestone path leading to . . . . somewhere; she hadn't asked directions or even read over a map. Tokyo hadn't changed that much since she had left but it felt as if this was the first time she had ever been here at all. After securing her balance so as not to fall, she placed her hands in the pockets of her sweater and looked up at the sky as she walked along on the brick wall.
Through the branches with autumn colored leaves the sky was a dark gray with big fat clouds making her regret ever rethinking the fact that she'll probally need a raincoat but the probability of rain also lifted her moods somewhat. If it rained, her relatives and not-yet-drunken mother would have to mourn for the dead at the cemetry in the rain. And the Festival wouldn't really be a festival because everyone wouldn't be able to celebrate in the rain. Soon she found herself hoping the weather would be a 99% thunderstorm with extra thunder and lightning just in case a little rain won't drench out the festival's effect on her aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, and ect.
'But that's just selfish', her concience scolded. She ignored it, though she knew it was true. "If I can't have fun," she murmured softly, "even on my birthday, why should my family have fun?" As an after thought she added to herself, 'Going to the cemetry might not be fun, but they at least get a chance to say something'. Everytime the aniversery of more than half her relative's deaths, she never got a chance to say some prayers because of the suspicion that she'll put some curse on their spirits. The suspicion was strongest within the green-eyed girl though.
Lost in her thoughts she bumped her head on a low bare branch that stuck out of it's knarled oak trunk, or maybe not so low since her head was seven feet something from the ground. "Ow!" she exclaimed, taking a hand out of her pocket to rub the spot that got such an unfair treatment. She backed up a step or two and glared at the oak tree, absently tracing the line of oaks that the wall kept away from the path 'till it was beyond her line of vision as though it went on forever.
'See, that's what you get for being selfish', her ever annoying concience tuanted only to be ignored again. Krislin knew she was strange but there was no way, no how, she was going to talk to her concience. That was just beyond strange. "Stupid branch, it's my birthday can't you at least give me a break?" she asked knowing that she wouldn't get an answer. Talking to tree branches was even stranger than talking to conciences but tree branches that were still attached to their tree were alive and conciences are just the good part of someone, not exactly alive in a way.
Just then, an abrupt sound of thunder startled her almost causing her to fall and it so happens just to add to her bad luck, it started to rain. A branch of white lightning etched itself across the sky then faded into nothingness. Krislin started to run, ducking under branches that threatened to hit her and moving aside some that were too low for her to duck under, sometimes even stepping over the branches. Suddenly the brick wall ended to grass. She jumped, nearly slipping on the wet grass, but still ran on the grass heading away from the path towards a bunch of giant oaks that stood together. She skidded to a stop, leaning against a tree trunk while trying to catch her breath.
Here in the woods, the rain didn't beat on her more than it did when she was completely exposed to it. Krislin's breath caught in her throat, her eyes widened as something shot out of the ground. She paled even more than usual and would've screamed when a hand covered her mouth. "Shhh, be quiet or it'll hear you," a voice somewhat familar, whispered silently from behind.
'How can I say anything when you have your hand covering my mouth in the first place?!' she screamed with irritation in her mind. But she couldn't move because of paralizing fear. The thing that shot out of the ground was large, really really large. It looked like an overgrown tiger with piercing gold eyes and a black striped white coat. As it swung it's head in her direction she was pulled from her position feeling someone's arm encircle her waist.
She let out a strangled gasp when the hand that covered her mouth was gone and suddenly she was dragged, literally, through the woods. "Let me go!" she demanded without really thinking. "I'm not a rag doll that you can just drag around! Now let me---" The fourteen year old girl was cut off when her feet left the ground and closed her eyes tight.
"You can open your eyes now, but stay quiet," the voice yet again whispered though it was so soft that it was barely audible over the thundering sky and rain. "If it hears you, you're as good as dead." Krislin opened her eyes just to see herself nearly 38 or 40 feet off of the ground, sitting on one of the many branches of an old oak tree that had a considerable amount of leaves still on, which she was sure hid her from view. But she was scared. Not of the tiger but the realization of high she was.
She looked over at her kidnapper---or savior or whatever it was---blinked, and the next second he was gone. If he was still there she would've fainted. She heard a loud roar that rang out clearly in the woods and instantly remembered again about how big the tiger was. She wasn't afraid of tigers, at least not tigers that are pratically as big as 25 feet tall and weigh about.......Krislin shook her head, and held a death grip onto the branch she sat on willing herself not to look down. If she looked down she was going to scream and if she screamed, she was going to die.
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Kurama ran through the woods, his Rose Whip in hand, towards the enrgy he felt from the Ruikyu. 'Hiei, where are you?' he asked his companion telepathically. There was silence for a moment before Kurama recieved an answer.
'Hn. Baka no kitsune, where were you?'
Kurama stopped a bit away from the source of the youki, behind a tree that circled a wide meadow that the Ruikyu was resting in, making sure that his own youki was lowered so as not to be sensed by the tiger-like demon. I' had to get a human girl away from the Ruikyu. It would've killed her.'
'Leave it to you to think of something like that, Fox. Let it kill the onna for lunch, then it'll be easier to kill.'
Kurama sighed. 'Where are you, Hiei?'
'In the Shadow Forest.' There was a pause again to which Kurama thought Hiei wouldn't say anymore when Hiei suddenly swore. 'Ch'kuso!' The harseness of it made Kurama flinch visibly.
'I'll be there soon.' Kurama stepped out from behind the tree, in an instant the Ruikyu was glaring at him. "What do you want?" the Ruikyu growled. Kurama was suprised that it knew how to speak since Ruikyus were almost always deadly hunters who cared nothing about talking to it's food. The demon's gaze drifted to the thorned whip in the red head's hand. "Put that away."
"I apologize but I cannot oblige to that request."
"It's not a request," the Ruikyu said in a low threatening tone which was the first time the fox youkai noted that the other demon barely moved his mouth to speak. Kurama sized up the situation he had somehow gotten himself into. The Ruikyu wasn't even part of the mission in the first place but it seemed that it was rather insistant on getting trespassers off it's territoty and wouldn't leave them alone to their mission.
If he put away his Rose Whip it was pretty obvious that the tiger demon had the upper hand since just one powerful push with it's hind legs would send it on him in a blink of an eye. But if he didn't put his Rose Whip away--- he didn't have any intention of killing the Ruikyu just hurting it enough so that it'll leave Hiei and him alone, quite on the contrary Kurama respected most of the Ruikyus for their intelligence when it comes to steath and hunting (it had managed to appear out of nowhere, suprising both he and his black haired companion, since they hadn't sensed the approaching predator)---then the Ruikyu would surely attack anyways.
The thorned whip started changing back to a beautiful blood red rose but Kurama had no intention whatsoever of putting it away. If the Ruikyu decided to attack, he would be ready. "Why were you and that half demon in my territory?" it asked.
"We were simply passing through, we didn't know it was your territory," answered Kurama politely.
"We were going to leave when you showed up," he added afterwards.
The Ruikyu growled. "I don't think so. That half demon was the Forbidden Child was he not? And you. You're disguised as a human, but the energy around you speaks otherwise. You look incredibly young, but your eyes hold the wisdom that can only be gained over centuries or so. A kitsune, if I'm not mistaken." The demon added the last aknowledgement after a moment of looking into Kurama's emerald green eyes as though he could see something deep inside.
"Hai. Though I was telling the truth."
A deep rumble escaped the Ruikyu's throat, it took Kurama a moment to realize that it was laughing. "A kitsune, telling the truth? Your kin are known as tricksters all over Makai, widely mistrusted. I may live as a hunter, and I may have lived in this forest for more than 4 centuries but I have run-ins every few decades with your kind." Suddenly the tiger-like demon was seriously, his golden eyes gleaming with the llook of a challenge that it would quite enjoy. "I wouldn't say that I had enjoyed those meetings but it kept me busy." The Ruikyu took a stance as if it would pounce at any minute and Kurama tensed.