Title: Silver and Cold
Chapter: 10/?
Chapter Title: More Vampiric Problems
Current Rating: R? (Just to be safe.)
Author: Kage Kashu
Archive: FF, Dragon's Lair, AFF, Mediaminer
Chapter Summary: Uhm, preparation for fighting the vampire, Kushrenada... and fighting the vampire Kushrenada. Kaiba returns, and Sano's still polishing the zanboto.
Disclaimer: I don't own any of these lovely characters, but I love them all to death... Uhm, yeah.
Author's notes: First person to figure out who one eye is (per place I post) gets a special cameo appearance. They get to slap the Sakurazukamori's ass without getting retaliated upon... and then, get to walk away, cackling maniacally. ^^
Current guesses that have been made, and were unfortunately wrong: Subaru (Tokyo Babylon/X1999). Kenshin's sensei (Rurouni Kenshin).
Author's notes2: I didn't like how I've been spelling Saitoh, so, from now on, it's Saitou. And I'm even thinking of going back and fixing it.
Warnings: For this chapter? Weirdness... Vampire... fighting... uhm... that's it.
Crossover Shows: Gundam Wing, Fushigi Yuugi, Yugioh, Rurouni Kenshin, Ranma 1/2.
Timeline: AUish, after Noa Arc. Some years later.
~*~*~*~*~*~
~Couldn't sleep so I went out walking
Thinking about you and hearing us talking
All the things I should have said
Echo now inside my head~
~~Tears From the Moon
Click. Swoosh. Click. Swoosh. Chink. Click. Swoosh.
Kouji twitched in time with the clicking, and Chiriko sat silently, watching his brother. Tasuki was... cleaning his gun, among other things. The three remaining bottles of holy water sat around his feet, along with... some sprayer bottles, filled with something much worse. Gasoline. Tasuki had had this gasoline blessed, in much the same way as he'd had the water blessed. It was perfect, he had said at the time, if they ever had to fight a vampire.
Not too long afterwards, he'd had a run-in. One that had caused him to go home, filling the sprayer bottles with it, and go chasing the creature. He'd apparently nearly drowned himself in an open grave at the time, too, as it had been raining terribly around that time.
But that was beyond the point. Currently, Tasuki was... well, he looked to be preparing for war. In the dawn light that poured through the window, it was something to see. Especially considering that Tasuki had an insane glint in his eye, one that spelled trouble for the vampire if Tasuki was able to have his way.
Click. Click. Chink. Click. Click. Chink. Thunk.
And that was gun number one.
Chiriko cleared his throat. Tasuki didn't even glance up. He did it more loudly. A brief glance let him know that Tasuki was, indeed, and in spite of all appearances, in the land of the living, so he took it as an opportunity to speak up. "Aren't you being a bit..."
"Irrational?" interrupted Kouji.
Click. Swoosh. Click. Swoosh. Chink. Click. Swoosh.
Tasuki apparently didn't find that worthy of reply. His hands worked over the items in his lap with a form of efficiency that only a long-time cop or soldier would have. Or any other person who worked constantly with guns from an early age. Not that Tasuki even needed the guns. But it would be nice to have something to distract the vampire while he got close enough to spray the gasoline onto him.
Click. Click. Chink. Click. Click. Chink. Thunk.
"Do you think that two guns'll be enough?" asked Kouji sourly.
There was a long moment of silence. "These are for you two."
Chiriko choked. "I don't..." he coughed. "I'm not even in shape, Tasuki! I haven't worked in the field in years."
"That's why you'll need a gun."
Mildly annoyed, Kouji asked, "And why would I need one?"
"'Cause you're a null."
"..." Kouji was silent for a moment. "So... I should probably have more than just a gun, then, huh?"
Tasuki shifted slightly, pulling something from beside him. He tugged at it... and it unfolded. There must have been like, twenty stakes in that thing!
Chiriko choked again. "What the... No. When did you get that?"
Tasuki shrugged. "Got it at a yard sale."
Kouji blinked. "What's that?" He indicated something on the floor, between them. As he reached out to see, Tasuki's crutch came down on his hand.
"That... is my tessan (1)."
"Where'd you get it?" asked Chiriko, eying it curiously.
"At a yard sale."
Kouji blinked again, turning to Chiriko. "Uhm..."
"What?" he asked, wondering why Kouji was eying him so strangely.
"Didn't you get Book-sama at a yard sale?"
Chiriko nodded. "You'd be surprised at what you can find at a yard sale (2)."
Tasuki shuffled a small box full of blank white papers before handing it to Chiriko. Then he turned to Kouji, "Open Book-sama; ask about anti-vampiric wards. Things that would... slow him down, get him stuck, make him noticeable... Bindings, traps... Find one that'll make 'im glow. And you, Chiriko... start making any of them that would be even slightly useful. Once we have a lot of them, we're taking them down to the park, sticking them onto trees, and imbuing them with power."
~*~
Some of the wards they had placed around the park had been... childish. Really, there was no better word for it. Book-sama had a sense of humor, and swore up and down that the 'stripping ward', as they had nicknamed it, would come in handy. Tasuki had been... very disturbed by that one, actually, but the book had never lied to him before, so... Not to mention that it wasn't even able to do so.
So, the wards were set up, and Katsuya was sent off to Kaiba's, with a bottle of holy water that he was supposed to sip constantly until either one of them called him, or morning. The youngest Jounouchi had been very upset, and vowed to hide himself until morning, while his father and uncles tried their luck with an old vampire.
So, when evening came, they were completely prepared, and waiting out in the park. Chiriko and Kouji, rather terrified, actually, sat together on a bench on the other side of the park, while Tasuki did the same on his side of the park. Tasuki wasn't sure why, really, but he strongly believed that the vampire would come after him first.
"Here, vampy vampy vampy," he sang softly into the evening air. "Leave the children be, and come play with grown men for once."
There hadn't been anything to alert him, so he was shocked when he was suddenly lifted from his seat on the park bench. He was also dropped immediately as the ward on the bench flared to life. Literally. Briefly blinded, the vampire disappeared back into the darkness.
"Shit," Tasuki cursed, as he had missed his opportunity to fry it. It didn't take him long to realize that this vampire had tricks _he_ had never heard about, as the vampire reappeared behind him. This time, it didn't grab him so easily, being as he had turned around, spraying his 'holy' gasoline at it. The vampire jerked away, shocked. Partially about the 'holy' part of it, and partly because this human wasn't just using water, albeit 'holy'.
The vampire pulled up against a tree, starting to disappear into it, when suddenly he began to glow. Tasuki grinned. The 'Vampy-Glow-Me ward', as he had called it. He realized very quickly that the vampire's disappearing act had been little more than a really good zen (3) trick. Now that he was glowing...
Things would be a lot easier.
~*~
Jounouchi Katsuya had, immediately upon finding Mokuba, told him that he'd had... an 'encounter' as his dad liked to say. It was bad, and now his dad was dealing with... the 'problem.' Mokuba had been worried, and Jouno had given him the half finished bottle of water, telling him to drink it. "Blessed water," he told him, "to keep bad things away."
With that, he had left Mokuba, finding himself, minutes later, in Kaiba's home office. He could hide here, he decided. And it would be almost like the taller boy was there, too. The room was so heavily engrained with his scent... It was comforting. He fell asleep in the comforting darkness underneath Kaiba Seto's desk.
~*~
It didn't take Tasuki long to find that the vampire was a _lot_ faster than him as well. The redhead was a really fast man, but a vampire... well, was a lot faster. In close quarters, he could spray the gasoline on it, and attempt to light him... But the damn thing needed to be _close_ for him to do that.
Not to mention that they were in the street, now. The shockingly empty street. Not a single soul wandered out here this night. Which was a good thing, Tasuki suspected. The vampire had left the park after realizing that it was full of some really nasty wards. The glowing one was proving to be the most useful as of yet...
And that zen trick had been the least of his worries, dealing with this creature, as well. Sure, now the vampire was glowing, which meant that Tasuki could see him, no matter what, but that didn't mean that Tasuki could get close enough to fry him. And he'd just found out that the vampire was telekinetic.
He had mostly dodged that signpost that went by, tripping slightly over his own splinted leg... which is what saved him from the other sign. But it was with abject horror that he stared at the car that was now hovering above the vampire and pointing at him. "Iiiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeee (4)!!" he shrieked, as it came toward him. His eyes squinted shut, and then the tortured sound of smashing metal sounded out behind him. "Hn?!" He spun around, the vampire momentarily forgotten, to look at the remains of the car.
It looked like... Burnt out through the middle, just the top still intact, the interior looked like it had melted _around_ him as it passed by him. At that thought, he took a closer look at himself. "Oi," he rolled his eyes at having forgotten his fire. "Surprise surprise!" he said cheerfully to the vampire, who stared at him with a horrified look. "Betcha didn't know about that!"
White hot, sputtering flame surrounded him in an aura which he dampened almost instinctively, grinning at the wide-eyed look from the vampire.
"Yer lucky my son doesn't have good control over his," he growled, advancing on the vampire, who now stood stock still. "Y'da been a cinder 'fore he'd've letcha touch him." He stumbled slightly in his advance, and yowled when the vampire went back into the park.
He stumbled into a run, and stopped when the vampire did. It had the strangest look on it's face. Then it started stripping off its clothes. Tasuki blinked. Oh. The stripping ward. A soft snicker caught in his throat. Let that be the last thing the vamp did. He advanced slowly, with the sprayer bottle.
~*~
Katsuya stiffened, suddenly awake, as something _moved_ in the office. Someone was in here. They couldn't be human, either, because they didn't make a single sound as they crossed the room, leaving the lights off. As the unnamed being moved closer to the desk, his breath caught in his throat.
Finally, unable to hold his breath any longer, it came out in a soft whine, and his hands clamped over his mouth.
"Jounouchi?"
Kaiba?! "K-k--ka-kaiba!?" he whimpered, slightly incredulous. "Just you?" He poked his head out from under the desk. It _was_ Kaiba. Jouno's lips trembled slightly, and he grasped the other boy's legs, hiding his face in them.
"Jounouchi... What happened?" Kaiba sat down in the chair. He winced when the blonde boy started mumbling, crying, whimpering into his knee. Unsure of what else to do, he petted Jouno's hair for a moment, and then just ran his fingers through the other's hair, trying to calm him down.
It took a while for Jouno's speech to become coherent, but even before that, the little Kaiba could hear made him angry. Not necessarily at his sire, although that was there too, but at himself. It was his fault, really, the entire thing.
"Not yer fault," Jounouchi mumbled against his leg. The blonde looked up at him, face blotched from crying. "You 'n Yuug'. Always the same thing." He rested his face back against Kaiba's knee. "Always thinkin' that the bad thing's are your fault."
After a few minutes of silence from the blonde, Kaiba realized that Jouno had gone to sleep. "Let's just wait for that phone call."
~*~
Hibiki Ryouga glared at the leader of the pack, his second, and his head bitch... and Yahiko. "Why can't we go?"
Sagara Sanosuke sat on the counter, silently polishing his zanboto. The other's had backed down fairly quickly, but Ryouga was fairly new to the pack. Kaoru was standing next to Sagara, watching the motion of the pack leader's hands, nervously. Mai was giving the older were much the same look. And Yahiko... was giving Sagara a rather surely stare.
"Sagara-san. Aren't you gonna give me an answer?" The other's, minus one oddly quiet Sagara, winced at the absurdly loud demand.
Sagara sighed, and looked up at him. "Hibiki..." He shook his head. "I may not like him very much, but I trust Saitou's judgment."
"Don't like him?" Yahiko asked, incredulous. "I thought you hated him. You know, what with the way you two act around each other."
Sagara blinked. "Eh? I don't _hate_ him. I just hate that damned condescending attitude of his. He's rude." The man shrugged, turning the zanboto over, to polish the other side. "Besides, he _said_ that we probably weren't needed to take care of _him_. So, I'd like to take that to mean that something else is happening that we should be watching for." He grinned. "Zanza hasn't gotten any action in ages..."
Kaoru got a disgusted look. "You still call it that?"
He shrugged. "Why not?"
Ryouga growled. "WHY CAN'T WE...!"
"BECAUSE WE AREN'T NEEDED!" Sagara yelled back, into his face. He plopped back down, and continued to polish the gigantic sword. The other's, aside from Ryouga, who was used to that kind of yelling, rubbed their ears.
Kaoru leaned over Sagara's shoulder. "Are you going to wrap it, like you used to?"
The pack leader nodded, seeming very distracted, and taken with the polishing process. Ryouga groaned silently, as that brought to mind one of Yahiko's jokes (5). At Yahiko's raised eyebrow, he leaned forward, mouth almost against the other's ear, and murmured a quiet explanation.
Yahiko doubled over laughing, and Ryouga strove to look as innocent of it as possible. After a moment, though, he couldn't help but grin.
~*~*~*~*~*~
(1) Tessan. A metal fan that one uses to fight. It's a parrying weapon. Tasuki has one in Fushigi Yuugi. His threw fire. ^^
(2) You can find all sorts of things at yard sales. ^^ Me and a friend were joking about this to each other.
(3) Zen. One with the universe, and all that. ^^
(4) Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeee! Kinda like yelling Noooooooooo!! Only a lot higher pitched.
(5) Sano was polishing his sword. If you don't get it, you're probably too young to be reading this.
~*~
Reviews:
FREAK014: Oops... I just missed you. Sorry about that. ^^ Still feel flattered. ^^ Heheh. That must have seemed fast for you, ne? lol Kaiba'll be back soon... Poor little guy doesn't know that his ickle puppy's hurt. =@.@=
Molly-chan the Anime/Game fan: Ryouga's great. In spite of his piggy problem, I figured he'd make a great werewolf. If you see the image on the cover of the tankoubon in which he first transforms into P-chan, it's a female Ranma with Ryouga all shadowy in the background, eyes glowing white and going pointy-eared and growing fur... it's cool. And he looked more like he was going wolf than going pig, you know? Also... Jounouchi isn't going to be both. He was given the holy water for a reason. ^^ I just wanted him to get well and bitten. ^^ He may begin to show strangeness unlike any he has before though, hmm... that though... must hold onto that thought.
Danyella Skyler Silverfire: ^^ Feeling the depression kicking in yet?
ShannonL: I doubt you're the only one rooting for that, too. ^^ I know of quite a few others that are probably rooting for the same thing. It'll still cause a bit of weirdness I think. I haven't seen Underworld, but it looked like it would be quite good, actually. Jouno... well, if he's upset enough, he can make it, he just can't really control it... yet. ^^
Chapter: 10/?
Chapter Title: More Vampiric Problems
Current Rating: R? (Just to be safe.)
Author: Kage Kashu
Archive: FF, Dragon's Lair, AFF, Mediaminer
Chapter Summary: Uhm, preparation for fighting the vampire, Kushrenada... and fighting the vampire Kushrenada. Kaiba returns, and Sano's still polishing the zanboto.
Disclaimer: I don't own any of these lovely characters, but I love them all to death... Uhm, yeah.
Author's notes: First person to figure out who one eye is (per place I post) gets a special cameo appearance. They get to slap the Sakurazukamori's ass without getting retaliated upon... and then, get to walk away, cackling maniacally. ^^
Current guesses that have been made, and were unfortunately wrong: Subaru (Tokyo Babylon/X1999). Kenshin's sensei (Rurouni Kenshin).
Author's notes2: I didn't like how I've been spelling Saitoh, so, from now on, it's Saitou. And I'm even thinking of going back and fixing it.
Warnings: For this chapter? Weirdness... Vampire... fighting... uhm... that's it.
Crossover Shows: Gundam Wing, Fushigi Yuugi, Yugioh, Rurouni Kenshin, Ranma 1/2.
Timeline: AUish, after Noa Arc. Some years later.
~*~*~*~*~*~
~Couldn't sleep so I went out walking
Thinking about you and hearing us talking
All the things I should have said
Echo now inside my head~
~~Tears From the Moon
Click. Swoosh. Click. Swoosh. Chink. Click. Swoosh.
Kouji twitched in time with the clicking, and Chiriko sat silently, watching his brother. Tasuki was... cleaning his gun, among other things. The three remaining bottles of holy water sat around his feet, along with... some sprayer bottles, filled with something much worse. Gasoline. Tasuki had had this gasoline blessed, in much the same way as he'd had the water blessed. It was perfect, he had said at the time, if they ever had to fight a vampire.
Not too long afterwards, he'd had a run-in. One that had caused him to go home, filling the sprayer bottles with it, and go chasing the creature. He'd apparently nearly drowned himself in an open grave at the time, too, as it had been raining terribly around that time.
But that was beyond the point. Currently, Tasuki was... well, he looked to be preparing for war. In the dawn light that poured through the window, it was something to see. Especially considering that Tasuki had an insane glint in his eye, one that spelled trouble for the vampire if Tasuki was able to have his way.
Click. Click. Chink. Click. Click. Chink. Thunk.
And that was gun number one.
Chiriko cleared his throat. Tasuki didn't even glance up. He did it more loudly. A brief glance let him know that Tasuki was, indeed, and in spite of all appearances, in the land of the living, so he took it as an opportunity to speak up. "Aren't you being a bit..."
"Irrational?" interrupted Kouji.
Click. Swoosh. Click. Swoosh. Chink. Click. Swoosh.
Tasuki apparently didn't find that worthy of reply. His hands worked over the items in his lap with a form of efficiency that only a long-time cop or soldier would have. Or any other person who worked constantly with guns from an early age. Not that Tasuki even needed the guns. But it would be nice to have something to distract the vampire while he got close enough to spray the gasoline onto him.
Click. Click. Chink. Click. Click. Chink. Thunk.
"Do you think that two guns'll be enough?" asked Kouji sourly.
There was a long moment of silence. "These are for you two."
Chiriko choked. "I don't..." he coughed. "I'm not even in shape, Tasuki! I haven't worked in the field in years."
"That's why you'll need a gun."
Mildly annoyed, Kouji asked, "And why would I need one?"
"'Cause you're a null."
"..." Kouji was silent for a moment. "So... I should probably have more than just a gun, then, huh?"
Tasuki shifted slightly, pulling something from beside him. He tugged at it... and it unfolded. There must have been like, twenty stakes in that thing!
Chiriko choked again. "What the... No. When did you get that?"
Tasuki shrugged. "Got it at a yard sale."
Kouji blinked. "What's that?" He indicated something on the floor, between them. As he reached out to see, Tasuki's crutch came down on his hand.
"That... is my tessan (1)."
"Where'd you get it?" asked Chiriko, eying it curiously.
"At a yard sale."
Kouji blinked again, turning to Chiriko. "Uhm..."
"What?" he asked, wondering why Kouji was eying him so strangely.
"Didn't you get Book-sama at a yard sale?"
Chiriko nodded. "You'd be surprised at what you can find at a yard sale (2)."
Tasuki shuffled a small box full of blank white papers before handing it to Chiriko. Then he turned to Kouji, "Open Book-sama; ask about anti-vampiric wards. Things that would... slow him down, get him stuck, make him noticeable... Bindings, traps... Find one that'll make 'im glow. And you, Chiriko... start making any of them that would be even slightly useful. Once we have a lot of them, we're taking them down to the park, sticking them onto trees, and imbuing them with power."
~*~
Some of the wards they had placed around the park had been... childish. Really, there was no better word for it. Book-sama had a sense of humor, and swore up and down that the 'stripping ward', as they had nicknamed it, would come in handy. Tasuki had been... very disturbed by that one, actually, but the book had never lied to him before, so... Not to mention that it wasn't even able to do so.
So, the wards were set up, and Katsuya was sent off to Kaiba's, with a bottle of holy water that he was supposed to sip constantly until either one of them called him, or morning. The youngest Jounouchi had been very upset, and vowed to hide himself until morning, while his father and uncles tried their luck with an old vampire.
So, when evening came, they were completely prepared, and waiting out in the park. Chiriko and Kouji, rather terrified, actually, sat together on a bench on the other side of the park, while Tasuki did the same on his side of the park. Tasuki wasn't sure why, really, but he strongly believed that the vampire would come after him first.
"Here, vampy vampy vampy," he sang softly into the evening air. "Leave the children be, and come play with grown men for once."
There hadn't been anything to alert him, so he was shocked when he was suddenly lifted from his seat on the park bench. He was also dropped immediately as the ward on the bench flared to life. Literally. Briefly blinded, the vampire disappeared back into the darkness.
"Shit," Tasuki cursed, as he had missed his opportunity to fry it. It didn't take him long to realize that this vampire had tricks _he_ had never heard about, as the vampire reappeared behind him. This time, it didn't grab him so easily, being as he had turned around, spraying his 'holy' gasoline at it. The vampire jerked away, shocked. Partially about the 'holy' part of it, and partly because this human wasn't just using water, albeit 'holy'.
The vampire pulled up against a tree, starting to disappear into it, when suddenly he began to glow. Tasuki grinned. The 'Vampy-Glow-Me ward', as he had called it. He realized very quickly that the vampire's disappearing act had been little more than a really good zen (3) trick. Now that he was glowing...
Things would be a lot easier.
~*~
Jounouchi Katsuya had, immediately upon finding Mokuba, told him that he'd had... an 'encounter' as his dad liked to say. It was bad, and now his dad was dealing with... the 'problem.' Mokuba had been worried, and Jouno had given him the half finished bottle of water, telling him to drink it. "Blessed water," he told him, "to keep bad things away."
With that, he had left Mokuba, finding himself, minutes later, in Kaiba's home office. He could hide here, he decided. And it would be almost like the taller boy was there, too. The room was so heavily engrained with his scent... It was comforting. He fell asleep in the comforting darkness underneath Kaiba Seto's desk.
~*~
It didn't take Tasuki long to find that the vampire was a _lot_ faster than him as well. The redhead was a really fast man, but a vampire... well, was a lot faster. In close quarters, he could spray the gasoline on it, and attempt to light him... But the damn thing needed to be _close_ for him to do that.
Not to mention that they were in the street, now. The shockingly empty street. Not a single soul wandered out here this night. Which was a good thing, Tasuki suspected. The vampire had left the park after realizing that it was full of some really nasty wards. The glowing one was proving to be the most useful as of yet...
And that zen trick had been the least of his worries, dealing with this creature, as well. Sure, now the vampire was glowing, which meant that Tasuki could see him, no matter what, but that didn't mean that Tasuki could get close enough to fry him. And he'd just found out that the vampire was telekinetic.
He had mostly dodged that signpost that went by, tripping slightly over his own splinted leg... which is what saved him from the other sign. But it was with abject horror that he stared at the car that was now hovering above the vampire and pointing at him. "Iiiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeee (4)!!" he shrieked, as it came toward him. His eyes squinted shut, and then the tortured sound of smashing metal sounded out behind him. "Hn?!" He spun around, the vampire momentarily forgotten, to look at the remains of the car.
It looked like... Burnt out through the middle, just the top still intact, the interior looked like it had melted _around_ him as it passed by him. At that thought, he took a closer look at himself. "Oi," he rolled his eyes at having forgotten his fire. "Surprise surprise!" he said cheerfully to the vampire, who stared at him with a horrified look. "Betcha didn't know about that!"
White hot, sputtering flame surrounded him in an aura which he dampened almost instinctively, grinning at the wide-eyed look from the vampire.
"Yer lucky my son doesn't have good control over his," he growled, advancing on the vampire, who now stood stock still. "Y'da been a cinder 'fore he'd've letcha touch him." He stumbled slightly in his advance, and yowled when the vampire went back into the park.
He stumbled into a run, and stopped when the vampire did. It had the strangest look on it's face. Then it started stripping off its clothes. Tasuki blinked. Oh. The stripping ward. A soft snicker caught in his throat. Let that be the last thing the vamp did. He advanced slowly, with the sprayer bottle.
~*~
Katsuya stiffened, suddenly awake, as something _moved_ in the office. Someone was in here. They couldn't be human, either, because they didn't make a single sound as they crossed the room, leaving the lights off. As the unnamed being moved closer to the desk, his breath caught in his throat.
Finally, unable to hold his breath any longer, it came out in a soft whine, and his hands clamped over his mouth.
"Jounouchi?"
Kaiba?! "K-k--ka-kaiba!?" he whimpered, slightly incredulous. "Just you?" He poked his head out from under the desk. It _was_ Kaiba. Jouno's lips trembled slightly, and he grasped the other boy's legs, hiding his face in them.
"Jounouchi... What happened?" Kaiba sat down in the chair. He winced when the blonde boy started mumbling, crying, whimpering into his knee. Unsure of what else to do, he petted Jouno's hair for a moment, and then just ran his fingers through the other's hair, trying to calm him down.
It took a while for Jouno's speech to become coherent, but even before that, the little Kaiba could hear made him angry. Not necessarily at his sire, although that was there too, but at himself. It was his fault, really, the entire thing.
"Not yer fault," Jounouchi mumbled against his leg. The blonde looked up at him, face blotched from crying. "You 'n Yuug'. Always the same thing." He rested his face back against Kaiba's knee. "Always thinkin' that the bad thing's are your fault."
After a few minutes of silence from the blonde, Kaiba realized that Jouno had gone to sleep. "Let's just wait for that phone call."
~*~
Hibiki Ryouga glared at the leader of the pack, his second, and his head bitch... and Yahiko. "Why can't we go?"
Sagara Sanosuke sat on the counter, silently polishing his zanboto. The other's had backed down fairly quickly, but Ryouga was fairly new to the pack. Kaoru was standing next to Sagara, watching the motion of the pack leader's hands, nervously. Mai was giving the older were much the same look. And Yahiko... was giving Sagara a rather surely stare.
"Sagara-san. Aren't you gonna give me an answer?" The other's, minus one oddly quiet Sagara, winced at the absurdly loud demand.
Sagara sighed, and looked up at him. "Hibiki..." He shook his head. "I may not like him very much, but I trust Saitou's judgment."
"Don't like him?" Yahiko asked, incredulous. "I thought you hated him. You know, what with the way you two act around each other."
Sagara blinked. "Eh? I don't _hate_ him. I just hate that damned condescending attitude of his. He's rude." The man shrugged, turning the zanboto over, to polish the other side. "Besides, he _said_ that we probably weren't needed to take care of _him_. So, I'd like to take that to mean that something else is happening that we should be watching for." He grinned. "Zanza hasn't gotten any action in ages..."
Kaoru got a disgusted look. "You still call it that?"
He shrugged. "Why not?"
Ryouga growled. "WHY CAN'T WE...!"
"BECAUSE WE AREN'T NEEDED!" Sagara yelled back, into his face. He plopped back down, and continued to polish the gigantic sword. The other's, aside from Ryouga, who was used to that kind of yelling, rubbed their ears.
Kaoru leaned over Sagara's shoulder. "Are you going to wrap it, like you used to?"
The pack leader nodded, seeming very distracted, and taken with the polishing process. Ryouga groaned silently, as that brought to mind one of Yahiko's jokes (5). At Yahiko's raised eyebrow, he leaned forward, mouth almost against the other's ear, and murmured a quiet explanation.
Yahiko doubled over laughing, and Ryouga strove to look as innocent of it as possible. After a moment, though, he couldn't help but grin.
~*~*~*~*~*~
(1) Tessan. A metal fan that one uses to fight. It's a parrying weapon. Tasuki has one in Fushigi Yuugi. His threw fire. ^^
(2) You can find all sorts of things at yard sales. ^^ Me and a friend were joking about this to each other.
(3) Zen. One with the universe, and all that. ^^
(4) Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeee! Kinda like yelling Noooooooooo!! Only a lot higher pitched.
(5) Sano was polishing his sword. If you don't get it, you're probably too young to be reading this.
~*~
Reviews:
FREAK014: Oops... I just missed you. Sorry about that. ^^ Still feel flattered. ^^ Heheh. That must have seemed fast for you, ne? lol Kaiba'll be back soon... Poor little guy doesn't know that his ickle puppy's hurt. =@.@=
Molly-chan the Anime/Game fan: Ryouga's great. In spite of his piggy problem, I figured he'd make a great werewolf. If you see the image on the cover of the tankoubon in which he first transforms into P-chan, it's a female Ranma with Ryouga all shadowy in the background, eyes glowing white and going pointy-eared and growing fur... it's cool. And he looked more like he was going wolf than going pig, you know? Also... Jounouchi isn't going to be both. He was given the holy water for a reason. ^^ I just wanted him to get well and bitten. ^^ He may begin to show strangeness unlike any he has before though, hmm... that though... must hold onto that thought.
Danyella Skyler Silverfire: ^^ Feeling the depression kicking in yet?
ShannonL: I doubt you're the only one rooting for that, too. ^^ I know of quite a few others that are probably rooting for the same thing. It'll still cause a bit of weirdness I think. I haven't seen Underworld, but it looked like it would be quite good, actually. Jouno... well, if he's upset enough, he can make it, he just can't really control it... yet. ^^
