Chapter 4: Another Bloody Forest
Kudos to sparklingcyanide for figuring out Jade's name!
D/C: multiple choice: I don't own a) Inu-Yasha; b) the Hope Diamond, c) Microsoft Corporation, d) all of the above. Correct answer? D. So no lawsuits, please.
Jade looked around, frowning. "Now…if I was a bishonen, where would I hide?" She had a sinking feeling that she actually would find this guy, probably wandering around in a forest somewhere. They're always in some damn forest. What happened to using roads?
Jade, along with two of Serenity's loyal subjects, had been wandering through this particular forest for three days now. Sakura (one of the Sakuras, anyway…there seemed to be an infestation of them, to Jade's point of view. What had happened to giving children different names?) had insisted that she could find their way by following the stars. Unfortunately, she had the approximate sense of direction of a cabbage, and Xiaolin (Damn it al! Chinese names, too? What happened to good old JAPANESE names?) was scared of bugs. Jade had a far more practical viewpoint: unlike demons, bugs were easy to squash.
After two hours of this madness, Jade had gotten sick of the two and ditched them. They were probably walking in circles somewhere, complaining about the dirt. Jade rather hoped that they would run into a bug demon that would eat them.
Sighing, she realized that another woman was following her. She was dressed in miko robes—probably one of the Sues that inexplicably looked like members of the regular canon. A Kikyo-sue…just what I need right now. They're probably harder to get rid of, knowing my luck.
"Who are you?" Jade drew her dagger, ready to fight. The fact that such a short weapon wouldn't work against arrows was not lost on her, but Sues tended to lower fighting sense. All they had to do was wave their hands and their enemies' brains rotted. Come to think of it, so did the brains of their friends…
"Do you really think you can fight me?" The woman scoffed. "I'm out of your league, little girl."
Jade blinked. "Huh. You're not one of them—when they're bitchy, they're a lot bitchier than you. So you're the real deal?"
"Excuse me?" Kikyo glared. "Them?"
"The Sues." Jade sighed. "They're demons Naraku created to—" She paused. "Oh, no. You knew about it, didn't you?"
"Hmm?" Kikyo looked interested. "I knew about what?"
"About the Sues! You know what Naraku's doing, too."
"Are you insane? I haven't had anything to do with Naraku in a long time."
"Sorry." Jade sighed. "It's just—living with them does weird things to your mind. Really weird things. I just felt that…I knew what was going to happen."
Kikyo's face remained impassive. "Most Sues have ridiculous abilities. So your premonitions and mind-reading isn't surprising."
"Of course! And I can also fly, and my eyes change colors. Who can't do stuff like that?" She snorted. "If I could read minds, I'd occasionally pick up thoughts from the Sues."
"I see." Kikyo nodded. "You don't remember."
Jade glared. "Are you being needlessly dramatic and cryptic in a manner reminiscent of your sister in chapter 2?"
"Yes." Kikyo turned to leave, because her uses in furthering the plot were quickly becoming limited. "And you might want to think about your previous statement."
"Huh?" Jade blinked. "Which one? The one where I was saying how stupid the Sues were, the one where I was complaining about their names, the one where—"
"If I'm going to remain in character, I can't be helpful."
"Hey!" Jade glared. "Is that always an excuse you have? We're around Sues here—remember? The pointless, thoughtless—" She paused. "Oh."
If I could read minds, I'd occasionally pick up thoughts from the Sues? Hah! You can't read minds when no mind exists. No, wait, you can't read them at all. That's not possible; it's not canon. Why do these idiots have to screw with my brain so much?
"Bugger this. I'm tired of contrivance." She shook her head, wondering how many more forests she would have to wander through before she found Serenity's One True Love. She was getting seriously irritated.
