Aaah!!! It's chapter 12!!! It's chapter 12!!! Enjoy!!! And thanks for all the reviews so far!!!
The path they took through the thick woods was teeming with trees and other plants that made the forest a bit creepy. However, for Sen it was at the same time comforting to know that they weren't out in the open where they would be easier for evil to spot…
"Haku, how long do you think it will take to get back to the bath house?" Sen asked.
"I don't know; I've never walked all the way. If we need to we can stop and make camp for the night."
"I'm hungry," Boh complained.
"We just had breakfast at Zeniiba's not even thirty minutes ago. Can you wait a little longer? We need to make this food last," Sen said as she and Naomi thought how much Yubaba must spoil Boh. But at least there was *somebody* she didn't despise.
Boh deliberately screwed up his face like he was about to cry, but nobody was watching him so he just kept walking.
"I'm hungry," he said again after about ten minutes. They all looked at him with slight irritation.
"Okay then, we can have a snack. But only a small one," Haku said, giving in to the pathetic look on Boh's face. "What do we have in that bag of food Zeniiba gave us, Sen?"
She opened the bag and looked inside. "She gave us some chicken wings and some dry rice. The chicken is still warm, so Boh, you can have a chicken wing." Sen also noticed a few blankets at the bottom of the bag.
Boh held out his hand to take the chicken wing from Sen. When she put it in his hand, severe disappointment took control of him and made him immediately drop the smile he was sporting. Boh had a grown a few inches in six years, both in height and width. The tiny little chicken wing was only the size of his thumb.
Seeing this, Naomi asked, "How many are in there?"
"Eight; which makes two for each of us, if we split them evenly," Sen replied. "You can have my share if you want, Boh…" She looked back up to him from the bag to see that he had already finished the chicken wing she had given him.
"Can I really? Gimmie," he said, holding out his hand again.
Sen gave him his other chicken wing as well as the two that were supposed to be hers. Then she asked, "Can you eat them while we walk?"
He nodded as she took a bite of one of them. His face was quite a mess, considering the short time he had been eating.
The four of them had walked a long way, but Haku figured that they still weren't even half way to the bath house. It was coming close to nightfall and Boh had already eaten all the chicken that they had as snacks.
"We should stop here for the night," Haku said as they came to a small clearing.
Sen set down the bag of food, which was now only rice, and looked at it hungrily. To her relief, Haku asked her, "Sen, will you come with me to get firewood so we can have the rice for dinner?"
"Absolutely. But we don't have a pot; how are we going to cook it?"
Haku picked up an acorn shell and held it in front of him. It began to grow in size dramatically until it was big enough to hold enough rice for them all. Next, Haku waved his other hand around it, presumably to put a coating on it so it wouldn't catch fire.
"Why couldn't you have done that for food or something?" Naomi asked as she picked up a rock in the shape of a drumstick. "Couldn't you turn this into more chicken?"
"Only if you wanted it to taste like the rock it began as," Haku replied. Naomi tossed the rock back onto the ground.
Haku squinted his eyes to see through the thick foliage and said, "I think I can see a fallen tree over there; we should use its wood for the fire, since it's bound to be perfectly dry… not having any sap left in it, and all."
"Okay," Sen replied.
"Boh and I will take out the blankets Zeniiba gave us and get some water for the pot," Naomi said as Haku and Sen left to get the wood. She picked up the pot and, pointing to a river behind a few trees, she said, "Boh, will you fill this with water?" He went, and Naomi proceeded to lay out their blankets.
"Wow, it darker really fast," Sen noticed as they neared the fallen tree. "Just a few minutes ago, the sun hadn't even set yet. Now, I can barely see a thing… Haku? Where are you?" Sen asked as she realized that Haku was no longer next to her. She looked around for him, but by now it was so dark that she had trouble with just making out her hand in front of her face. Then she saw a light. Then another. Then more appeared one by one, and she walked up to one to see that they were only fireflies.
But where was Haku? She looked around a bit more, and then she could see the faint outline of him, only visible because he had caught a firefly.
"Look Sen, I've never seen one of these before. They must only come out where there aren't any major buildings. That must be why they're never around the bath house…" Even though Haku was still walking towards her, Sen couldn't help but notice that Haku was getting progressively harder to see, until he was completely out of sight. Sen called out to him, but she was hit with a strange sense of de-ja-vou (sp?) as she felt an unwelcome pressure around her middle, and seemed to fallow Haku's fate into the darkness.
"Why are they going so slow? I'm hungry!" Boh complained to Naomi.
"Calm down, I'm sure they'll be back soon. They might just be trying to carry more than they can handle, slowing them down," she replied. But then she thought: 'That couldn't be it, Sen could just pick up all the wood we need in that bubble thing of hers. Hey… they aren't even anywhere near that fallen tree! I should probably look for them… besides, I don't want to be here for Boh to blame his hunger on… (There's her fear of making babies cry again -_-').'
"Boh, I'm going to go look for them."
"Can I come? I'm hungry."
Naomi was a bit unnerved by this request… But then, it would be worse to have the guilt hanging over her of leaving Boh vulnerable to anything lurking in the night than it would be to have him cry at her. Weakly, she responded, "Sure. First help me fold up the blankets again though; I don't know how long we might be looking, and I wouldn't want to lose these."
Reluctantly, he helped, but only in the hopes of getting his mind off of his grumbling stomach.
"Sen? Haku?" Naomi called out for what seemed to be the hundredth time.
"Naomi, I'm really hungry," Boh complained. "And we must have been searching for an hour," he added, not at all concerned at what could have happened to them. He was still focusing on how to get the rice from Naomi without her noticing.
"I'm hungry too Boh, but it's more important right now to find Sen and Haku than it is to stop and cook a pot of rice."
"But—"
"She's right, you know," an unfamiliar voice said.
"Oh, finally somebody agrees with… wait, who are you?" Naomi asked timidly, looking around frantically and becoming very jumpy. All Boh did was sit down; this would most likely not get them any closer to a meal.
"For somebody so beautiful, you certainly are very easy to intimidate," he said humorously. "I was going to capture you like I did to your friends, but then I had a better idea," he said, groping for her backside and coming into view. Naomi slapped him hard in the face, and then she thought she heard the man mutter something like, "Resist temptation…"
"What do you mean, 'capture me like you did to our friends'? Where are they? What did you do to them?" she demanded.
"Don't worry, they are unharmed. I had my slaves bring them back to the castle."
Boh perked up instantly. "Is there food there?"
"Why, there certainly is," the stranger replied. "It's a very big castle with lots of rooms. It has a few kitchens, a dining room in each wing, loads of extra bedrooms…." His mind began to wander farther into the concept of a bedroom while he stood there with a stupidly happy look on his face. Naomi took this opportunity, as unpleasant as it was, to take a good look at whoever it was in front of her. He was wearing loose white robes, which had some sort of silver design on the front of them. His brown hair was in a long and high-up ponytail, and he had brown eyes. He looked not much older than Naomi; he could have been only nineteen years old (imagine the face to be like Miroku's….. he's got the same personality going, too).
"Oh, so I'm not the only one here who finds somebody attractive," he said, grinning and just barely stopping his hand from wandering again when he realized he was being observed.
"What? I most certainly do NOT find you attractive, and your constant need to probe me isn't helping!" she said as she shoved his arm to a safe distance. "And what were you planning on doing instead of taking us captive?"
"I was going to invite you to stay at my castle for a few days… and to bear my chil—"
Naomi slapped him again. "I don't have time to stay at your castle," she retorted, ignoring his second comment. (Sorry, I had to do that so she could slap him again… *places right hand over her heart* I solemnly swear never to write something so embarrassing again… now on with the story.) "Take me to see my friends. Then let us go."
"Why would I do that? You four were trespassing on castle grounds. I could keep you in the dungeons for eternity if I wanted."
Naomi was getting pretty off at this point. The only thing she had eaten that day was breakfast, she had to put up with Boh's complaints for hours, she had lost two of her friends, and now she had to plead for their freedom from some random, philandering cretin.
"Now make it easier on you and better for me: come to my castle."
"No."
"What about your friends? Aren't you going to save them?"
Naomi huffed and started walking. Then the man began to walk in the direction of the castle, so she ran, now that she knew which way to go.
"And where are you going?" he asked, catching up to her and hoisting her up over his shoulder so she was looking towards the ground over his back.
"PUT ME DOWN!"
"I don't think I want to," he said cheerfully, his hand growing dangerously close to Naomi's rear end. She started to pound her fists into his back, but he ignored it.
"Put me down."
"No."
"Put me down."
"No."
"Put me down."
Instead of answering Naomi, the man turned back to Boh, who had stood up, not knowing what to do. "Hey kid, want some chow?"
Boh fallowed him happily as Naomi hung with frustration over the pervert's shoulder, whose hands were earning him a death sentence.
"Haku could be dying while I'm just sitting here!"