Kenshin: Riyo does not own any of the characters from Demon Dairy, Inuyasha, Yu-Gi-Oh, or any other anime that may pop up. She realizes that the only manga that appears in this chapter is Demon Dairy, and promises the story will get better. She also apologizes for the first chapter being so long.

=^o.o^=

I collapsed on my bed, totally exhausted. If this was how the first week of school, I didn't want to know what the next week was going to be like. I nearly went insane from boredom in Math, was put on the spot in Latin, forced to play the flute while half starving to death, had received homework in every subject, and once again got into a fight with everyone about my ultimate misery during sports. It had simply started when I mentioned to Jamie how I hated soccer and could have done tennis if only she hadn't given in to everyone on the soccer team. And of course she attempted to put the blame on me, which I reacted to by trying to put the blame on her. Then of course we both tried to share the blame with Cassidy, which got Laurie involved. Then Cassidy tried to put blame on Laurie, which I disagreed with because Laurie had been trying to help on that first day of school. Pretty soon, the argument turned into the great big fiasco much like the one that happened on the first day of school, except this time, I ended up attacking Jamie, as usual, by pulling her hair while digging my nails into her arm, as usual, which, as usual, she returned. The coaches were too busy to break us up, as usual, so Laurie had to, as usual. Tara just couldn't resist watching, and started giving Jamie and I a lecture on how we should try not to get into physical fights as often, as usual. Jamie told her that she kept telling me to punch her instead of pulling her hair. Luckily, Mr. Smith called Tara over, so she didn't have time to react to that comment.

I rolled over onto my stomach and buried my face into my pillow. I didn't know how I was going to survive the next two months. I wished I could just fall asleep then and there, but I knew that I had too much homework. I'd probably be busy until eight o'clock.

"Feh. And you think you have problems, little hanyou."

I lifted my head out of my pillow and looked up. Standing over me was a young man, at least sixteen years old with his arms folded across his chest. His hair was jet black and reflected no light. A pair of glossy black wings rested on his back. He wore black clothing, the sleeves and collar embroidered with silver and metallic blue thread.

"Get up."

"Shut up, Kenshin. I need some time to wallow in my own self pity."

"Pathetic," he growled. "You're planning to lie here all evening?"

"No."

"Then get up."

I sat up and glared at him. "Gee, what's got you ticked?"

He growled again. "Oh, nothing much. I just got to sit around the house all day with nothing to do."

I sighed. "Look, I would have let you come with me today, but Set was going to be there, and because of the last time you two met, I didn't exactly find it a good time for you to come."

It wasn't until I finished that sentence that I noticed something glittering on Kenshin's index finger on his left hand.

"What's that?"

Kenshin slipped the ring off his finger and held it up. It was a simple silver band with a single sapphire on it. The moment he removed it, it began to change in size and shape, until it was no longer a silver ring, but a sword. Etched upon the blade was Celtic-knot- like designs. On the hilt, right above the rather large sapphire set into it, was the name KATANA.

"A rather nice specimen, don't you think," said Kenshin. "You wouldn't believe where I found it."

I swallowed. "Where?"

"In that wooden chest in the back of your closet."

Uh-oh. Busted. Kenshin's eyes narrowed.

"Where'd you get it?"

"From my mother." That really was the truth. Actually, I got the ring from my mother. It had once belonged to my great-grandmother. I found out about the sword myself. Of course, Kenshin wasn't going to believe me.

"You want me to believe that you got this weapon from your mother?"

"If I was planning to use it, I would have by now."

"I have a feeling you don't know that things potential."

Kenshin muttered something, and the sword slowly began to shrink. "I think it's best that I keep it for now."

"Oh no you don't!" I yelled. I leapt at him, trying to grab the sword out of his hands. Kenshin swung it out of my reach, the sword slicing through my lamp. The lamp shuddered, and then fell in two pieces.

"See?" said Kenshin.

"So?" I argued. "It's still mine!"

I tackled him, bringing him to the ground. I was about to grab for his right arm when I felt a shot of pain. I sat up, holding my left side. There was a little trickle of red blood. I removed my hand and stared at the large scratch. It looked pretty deep, but not too deep to be fatal. I glanced from the sword to Kenshin's face. He seemed just as startled as I was.

"I-I didn't mean to"

"Of course you didn't mean to, baka."

I staggered up to a standing position, once again holding my side and holding out my hand at the same time.

"Just give me the sword."

Kenshin gripped the blade even harder.

"I don't think that would be wise at this moment."

"I'm its rightful owner! Give it back!"

I once again leapt at him reaching for the sword. My fingers wrapped around the blade.

"Riyo, you baka!"

My feet left the ground as I was thrown back into a wall and my eyes were forced to squint as a blinding light filled the room. My head knocked into something. Then, there was darkness.

=^o.o^=

Eclipse was jolted awake. He sat there in the darkness for a few seconds trying to figure out what had just happened. Then he remembered. Mortals. Mortals in the castle. He could feel their presence. Actually, he had a feeling there was only one mortal. But he could sense the presence of another trespassing being. Eclipse rolled out of bed and slipped on his shoes.

For a moment Eclipse considered waking up Raenef to help him. It would certainly be the perfect hands on experience. Baka, he thought to himself. Raenef is not ready. How could I forget what happened during that one lesson with the Crusader? And now we have two mortal mouths to feed because of him. He would simply have to dispose of them.

Eclipse walked out to the middle of the room. He closed his eyes and pictured the balcony.

"Go!"

=^o.o^=

"Ok girls, you can put your plaster models on the-oh, Jamie never let the plaster get that close to someone's hair again!"

Jamie put the bowl of plaster back on the table as quickly a possible before Cassidy could turn around and catch her in the act. Cassidy didn't even bother.

"Uh, Mom, where should we put the plaster models?"

"Oh, right there on the-Val! Your not supposed to run in here!"

"Mrs. Adrelin?"

"Right there on the windowsill."

Cathy Adrelin leaned back on the display table.

"Let me guess, you have lunch next?"

"Yep," confirmed Jamie.

"You have it with Riyo and Laurie today, right?" Cathy questioned Cassidy.

"Um, yeah, I think so," answered her daughter. "Right Jamie?"

"I dunno. It's Riyo who always keeps track of these things."

"Wait, I forget, did she say anything this morning?"

"She's absent, you baka," Jamie reminded Cassidy.

"Absent?" gasped Cathy. "I wonder why. She seemed fine yesterday, and George didn't mention anything when they came over on Tuesday. Did Riyo say anything, Cass'?"

"No, not that I remember, anyway. She was complaining about a headache, though."

"She's always complaining about a headache," mumbled Jamie, a little too loudly.

WHAM!

Everyone stopped chatting as the door to the Upper School Art Room slammed shut. Standing in the doorway were two people, a man and a woman. The man was tall, with dark brown hair and beady black eyes. He was wearing a long black trench coat and tucked under his right arm was a notepad.

"Cathy Adrelin?" he called out.

Cathy cleared her throat. "Yes?" she called out from the middle of the room.

" Mrs. Adrelin, we'd like to question you a little about a case relevant to this school."

The silence was almost suffocating. Everyone kept looking back and forth between the man in the doorway and Cathy Adrelin leaning on the table. She seemed to hesitate for a moment.

"Fine, fine. This class lets out in a minute. You wouldn't mind waiting outside until everyone goes to snack, would you?"

The man glanced at his partner. She was much shorter, only a little bit taller than Cathy. Her hair was a light auburn and was dressed in navy blue, a color that clashed with her green eyes.

She nodded to her partner. "We understand," she said simply, then turned and lead her partner out into the hall.

It didn't take long for the Upper School Art Room to clear out. Someone had managed to spread around a rumor the French Toast Sticks were in the Cafeteria, so of course everyone rushed there as quickly as possible. So of course Cassidy and Jamie were left to help pick up everything.

"Mommm, do I have to?"

"Please Cass', I need to get this cleaned up as quickly as possible."

Some one at the doorway cleared their throat.

"It's fine Mrs. Adreline. We'll just carry on in here as it is," said the detective in the black.

Cathy sighed. "Fine, fine. Go ahead girls, get to the Cafeteria before the line gets too long."

Cassidy let out a short yelp of joy and rushed out of the Art room with Jamie close behind her. She was half way down the hallway when she noticed that Jamie had stopped.

"Dude!" Cassidy called out to her.

Jamie didn't return the call. She just stood there and stared out the door into the Valentine Garden.

"The windows are open"

"So?" yelled Cassidy. "Common, I have to go to my locker to get my lunchbox."

"Don't you want to know what you're mom's talking about with those agents."

Cassidy hesitated. She did want to know what her mother was doing in there, but she and Jamie could get caught eavesdropping, and besides, she was hungry.

Jamie didn't wait for her reply. She walked out side and crouched underneath the open window.

"Jamie! We can get in trouble!"

"Shhh, I can't hear!"

Cassidy sighed. She didn't have a late lunch today, so she guessed she could skip snack. She walked out into the garden and sat next to Jamie.

The man flashed his badge as he sat down on one of the art stools. "Agent Bakes." He nodded to his partner. "Agent Sharpe. Missing Persons Department. I believe you have heard about the disappearance of one of your students. Riyo McCarthy?"

"Yes, I've heard a bout that. The Head of School informed all the teachers about that this morning."

"Her father in formed us he's friends with your husband.

"Yes."

"We've also heard that it's the same with your daughters."

"Well, yes, I guess that's true. They tend to hang out in this little clique they've seemed to form."

"Clique?"

"Well, yeah. It's always the four of them together. Or at least the three. Laurie Machzvoit isn't always present."

"Laurie Machzvoit," Agent Sharpe said thoughtfully. "Who are the others?"

"Well, there's Riyo of course, and my daughter Cassidy, and this one other girl, Jamie Dauhgart."

"Hmmm, and for how long has Riyo know each of them?"

"Well, I think Cassidy's known Riyo since first grade, but Riyo didn't come here until fifth. I'm not quite sure when Riyo met Laurie, but it was after she met Cassidy. All three of them met Jamie in seventh grade. Riyo and Jamie always seem to be the ones getting in trouble, and Cassidy always seems to get pulled in with them, so it's always Laurie that ends up pulling them out-"

"Look," interrupted Banks. "The last place this girl was seen was in her room. You know what was found the next time after someone walked in there?"

"N-no. All the faculty was told was the Riyo was missing."

Agent Sharpe gestured to her partner to remain silent. "A struggle. A struggle had obviously taken place in that room. It was a mess. All the sheets were on the floor. Papers all over the place- (They've obviously never seen my daughter's room, thought Cathy. It's always like that.)- and a lamp cut cleanly in half."

There was silence. Then:

"Ms. Adreline, do black feathers have any significance to you?"

"No. Why?"

"Black feathers were found thrown all over Riyo's room."

=^o.o^=

The first thing I noticed was my throbbing headache. I clutched my head, trying to ease the pain by applying pressure.

"'Bout time. I thought you would be out forever."

I opened my eyes and looked around. I was lying in the middle of a roofed balcony that looked strangely familiar.

"I warned you not to touch the sword."

Kenshin was sitting on the railing, right smack in the middle of the full moon behind him. At his feet was the sword that had cause this, its deep blue sapphire glittering in the moonlight.

I sat up and winced as my side hurt. "Baka," I whispered.

"I heard that," he growled.

I slowly managed to stand up. "You could have explained instead of just grabbing it from me." I took another glance around. "And I wouldn't mind you explaining to me where we are."

Kenshin's ears perked up. "Shush, baka." We sat there in total silence. Suddenly, Kenshin disappeared into thin air.

"Kenshin." I yelled. "Where the-" I stopped. A shiver suddenly traveled up my spine. I turned around and then figured out where I was. Eclipse was standing there behind me, a cruel smile upon his lips.

"Well, well, what do we have here? Another knight?"

He glanced at my sword. The Demon Lord's Castle, I thought. I'm in the Demon Lord's Castle. I'm stuck in Demon Dairy.

TO BE CONTINUED.

=^o.o^=