~Easier To Run~
. . .
AN: The thingies { and } mean the person is speaking telepathically, ok?
. . .
Chapter 4: The Burning
. . .
Mare sprinted down the road
after the firetrucks, hoping against hope that wherever the Makinos were, they
were safe. All she could think of was, if anything happened to them she
wouldn't be able to live with herself. They were the closest thing to a family
she had.
As she grew closer to the
ranch, she began to see the black smoke above the trees much more clearly
through the night sky. It looked like Yusuke had been right--it was serious.
Not slowing down for a second, Mare was tempted to transform into her horse
form to get there faster...but with all those humans around, it just wouldn't
work. The scenery was all a blur to her now; she only paid attention to
reaching the Makinos' ranch as quickly as possible.
Turning down another road, Mare
could now see the flickering of a bright light through the trees that separated
the ranch from the rest of the city. She tore through the tiny forest and
suddenly stopped dead at the clearing, seeing the bright orange-red flames
dancing atop of the house. Her hands went to cover her mouth in shock. How
could this happen? She watched as the five or six fire trucks parked as close
to the burning house as possible. Twenty or so humans dressed in yellow jumped
out of the fire trucks and immediately began hooking up tan hoses to the
trucks. After doing this, they aimed the hoses at the burning house and water
began streaming out of them onto the fire.
The house was burning very
fast. Mare had to make sure that the Makinos were safe. She took off running
towards all the commotion. Running past all the red trucks, she began to look
around frantically for her human family.
One of the men in the yellow
suits noticed her and put a hand on her shoulder to stop her.
"I'm sorry miss, we can't
let you past this area," he said.
"But what about the
family?" She asked him. "Are they all right?"
He gave her a quick nod.
"They're fine. They weren't home when the fire started." He motioned
towards a family of four huddled together, watching helplessly as the fire
swallowed up their house and everything inside it.
Mare looked back at the
fireman. "What about the horses?"
"They're all out in the
pasture," he answered. "We don't think the fire will spread to the
barn, but we're keeping a close eye on the animals just in case."
Mare nodded silently, and the
fireman left to help his comrades. Crossing her arms, she hugged herself
tightly and looked at the ground. How could she let this happen? She had sworn
to protect the Makinos, and now she had let them down.
Hearing the sound of hurried
footsteps approaching her, Mare turned around. Yusuke, Kurama, and Kuwabara
were there. They all saw the sadness in her eyes, and exchanged sympathetic
looks.
"Is your family all
right?" Kurama asked gently.
"Yes," Mare nodded.
"How did this
happen?" Yusuke wondered. Mare had been wondering the exact same thing,
herself. It could be a number of different things. She knew that the Makinos
were very cautious about fire hazards, so it wasn't likely that they had been
careless and left something on. Suddenly, something out of the corner of her
eye made her look over at the forest.
"What is it?" Kurama
wanted to know, although she got the feeling that he had seen it too.
"I'm not sure," she
replied, keeping her eyes trained on that same spot. What she was sure of was,
they were being watched. Suddenly she saw a flash of somebody's face in her
mind--light orange skin, dark crimson-colored spiky hair and fiendish yellow
eyes. Grinning evilly. But after a split second, the image was gone. Who could
that be? After a moment's thought, Mare dismissed it from her mind. Right now,
the owner of that face was the least of her worries. She turned her attention
back to the fire, which was slightly decreasing in size.
She shook her head. "I
can't believe I let this happen," she said before she could stop herself.
The others looked at her in confusion.
"What are you talking
about?" Kuwabara asked. "This wasn't your fault!"
Mare shook her head again, and
suddenly the face flashed in her mind again. This time she also heard his
voice: {You have been warned.} She
gasped suddenly, and looked around frenziedly for the source of the sound. He,
whoever 'he' was, had used telepathy to speak to her. Warned about what? She
glanced at the others. Yusuke and Kuwabara were staring at the blazing fire,
but Kurama's expression had gone from sympathetic to serious, almost as if he'd
heard the message as well.
Mare stared at the spot by the
forest where she thought she had seen something run by. {Warned about what?} She asked. There was a long pause. {Answer me!}
{You
can't escape us...Phedra.} The voice replied. And then it was gone.
"What on Earth...?"
Suddenly it all clicked. Her head snapped over to the Makinos. They had been a
target. But...Thuurei was dead...wasn't she? "No," Mare answered
herself. "She's alive."
She had Kurama's full attention
now. "What are you saying?" He wondered, no longer feeling the need
to pretend he didn't know she was a demon. "Explain what's going on."
Mare only shook her head.
"I'm a danger to them. I have to leave." She began to take a few
steps backward. "They'll be safer without me here."
"Wait," Kurama began,
"please tell me..." But she had already turned down the road and was
running away from them as fast as she could. Yusuke and Kuwabara turned around,
watching her go.
"Mare! Where are you
going?" Yusuke called after her, but received no answer.
. . .
Yukina and Kayko had just
barely turned onto the last road and were running as fast as they could.
"Those boys!" Kayko
fumed as she and Yukina panted their way down the road. "I can't believe
they just took off without us!"
"Oh my gosh," Yukina
stopped as the two girls suddenly noticed the bright glow the flames were
giving off even from about a half mile away. It was like a giant night-light.
"Oh, no!" Kayko cried
out. "Poor Mare!" They were about to continue running when suddenly
an ear-splitting neigh sounded in the night. Stopping dead in their tracks, the
two girls watched as a beautiful coffee-colored horse with a long maroon mane
and tail raced past them. It seemed to slow down a bit when it went by them,
turning its head slightly. The fierce--yet at the same time amiable--blue eyes
stared into theirs, gazing into the depths of their souls. It felt very eerie
and strangely comforting at the same time. It only lasted a second, but it
seemed like a lot longer. Before they knew it, the horse was shooting on down
the road and the connection broken.
Kayko shivered involuntarily.
"That was odd... I felt like I knew that horse somehow."
"Yes, I know how you
feel," Yukina replied, also with a hint of uneasiness. They looked up as
three figures came running down the road in the same direction as the
horse--Kurama in the lead, followed by Yusuke, and then Kuwabara. All seemed to
be in disbelief.
"Hey!" Kayko yelled
as they all ran past her and Yukina.
"Sorry Kayko, this is
important!" Yusuke yelled over his shoulder as they kept running.
Kayko sighed impatiently.
"YUSUKE!"
. . .
Pronunciations:
Thuurei (Too-ray)
Phedra (Fed-rah)
AN: Yeah, short chapter, I know. The next one will be longer, and also
EVERYTHING will be explained in case you're very confused, which you probably
are. Don't worry, you should be. It'll all make sense in the next chapter.
Don't forget to review, and many thanx for reading my fic! ^_^
Next Chapter: The Truth Comes Out
