Kokoro No Kaitou : Search For The Past



Chapter 6 : Midori's POV



~*~



I ran hard and fast. Ran until my legs ached, and burned, and I thought that I would collapse.



How could I have done that?



I left her there, all by herself, with Auron.



And I had run away. Ran away to save my own skin. Was I really that selfish?



Should I go back?



No, no. I needed to find Kuronue and Youko. Maybe they could help.



What was I thinking? Of course they'd help! Amaya was their friend, so they had to help her!



But what would they say when I told them that I'd left her?



Would they hate me?



I stopped running, and my legs gave way beneath me. I fell hard onto my knees, panting. Each breath burned my lungs, and I could hear my heart pounding loudly in my ears.



I still wasn't anywhere near Bevelle.



Would they have even gone back to Bevelle? Or would they be looking for us?



When I had been holding onto Amaya's hand, when she first fell, they had been fighting. After the ogre purposely hit the ground behind me to sever the section we were on from the rest of the cliff, we fell towards the ocean. Would they try to get down there to search for us?



Kuronue couldn't fly down there, because he had a broken wing.



But I knew how much Youko cared about Amaya, and I knew that he would want to try to go down after her.



But Kuronue was sensible, right? He wouldn't let that fox try anything stupid…or would he? He cared about Amaya as well.



Damn it!



I needed to find them. I would check the mansion first, in case they never left.



But how could I, when I couldn't even stand?



That was it! My phoenix form!



I closed my eyes, and let myself slip back into my original form, that of a fiery phoenix. Red, gold, and all shades of hot colors would cover my body…



I opened my eyes, and spread my wings.



I took off into the sky, and wondered why I hadn't done this in the first place. I could easily see past the trees now, and I could see the manor up ahead.



Flapping my wings even harder, I sped towards it. The sun was starting to set towards the west, but I could see some smoke rising from in front of the building. So, they were still there…and they had made a fire in the front yard.



I circled the building once, and saw that the yard was empty. Where could they possibly be?



I landed anyways, my back to the door. I heard something clatter, and I quickly turned around.



Kuronue was standing in the doorway, and he had just dropped a plate. He was staring at me with wide eyes.



Stop gaping like an idiot. I growled. I knew that he couldn't understand me, seeing as how I wasn't in my human form, but it didn't matter.



"M-Midori?!" He exclaimed, running over to me.



I glared at him. I flew a little ways away to get some space. Whenever I went from my phoenix form to my human form - or visa versa for that matter - I would always be accompanied by a burst of flames, and I didn't want to burn him.



Said flames engulfed me, ridding me of my original form. I stood, and was surprised when Kuronue suddenly pulled me into a tight embrace. However, he was much taller than me, so my feet were a good deal above the ground.



"I thought that you were dead…" He said.



What? He actually cared about what might have happened to me? I had thought that he only cared about Amaya…



He set me down quickly, and I saw that he was blushing. He averted his gaze. "Um, sorry."



I was confused now…he'd been so happy to see me just a second ago, and now he didn't even want to look at me?



I didn't have time for this.



I grabbed the front of his shirt. "Look, Kuronue, I have a problem, and there isn't time to chitchat. Where's Kurama?"



He gave me an odd look. "In the house. He hasn't said a word since you and Amaya fell over the cliff." He looked around. "Speaking of which, where is she?"



"That's the problem." I said.



I let go of him, and ran into the house, my legs feeling slightly less rubbery. He ran after me.



"What are you talking about?!"



I saw the kitsune sitting on the last stair, his head in his hands.



What a little baby!



"Kurama!" I said.



He looked up at me, and his eyes widened. "Midori!" He ran over to me. "Where's Amaya? Is she with you?"



"No. I'll tell you on the way." I said.



"The way?"



I grabbed his hand and started dragging him out the door. "Baka kitsune! On the way to save her, of course!"



"Save her? Damn it, Midori, what happened?!" He growled.



"On the way!" I repeated, breaking into a run.



Kuronue and Youko caught up to me, the latter looking thoroughly pissed.



"Explain."



"When we were falling, Amaya started to glow. She was all silvery, and her eyes were silver too…" I drifted off.



"What do you mean, silver?" Kuronue asked.



"Not now, Kuronue." Youko snapped. "What else happened?"



"Well, she suddenly went unconscious, and we were suddenly above a beach. We fell onto the sand, and it knocked me out. We were still pretty high up." I said.



"What else?"



"Well, when I woke up, Amaya was already awake. There was a guy there, and he offered to take us to Bevelle. He said that we could stay at his house until the morning, and then he'd take us there. So, we followed him through this forest, and he started asking these questions. He asked me if I was a phoenix." I continued.



My legs were starting to hurt again, but I wasn't going to stop.



"And then he stopped walking, and turned around. He took off his hat, and it was Auron."



"What?! Auron?!" Youko exclaimed.



"We ran, and then Amaya fell. She sprained her ankle. She told me to run away." I said.



Youko looked at me as though he wanted me to continue, so I did.



"I…I did." I said quietly.



"You what?!" He exclaimed. "You left her by herself?! With Auron right there?!"



I could feel the tears building up, blurring my vision slightly.



"You don't understand! I didn't have a choice!" I exclaimed.



Kuronue sighed. "Kurama, Amaya must have used her mental dominance."



"Damn her! That idiot is going to get herself killed!" He growled.



I stopped running, and they both stopped as well to look back at me.



"Don't curse her, Kurama!" I exclaimed, the tears spilling over now. "She sacrificed herself so I could escape! She believed in me to come here to get you! You don't deserve her, you bastard!"



"Midori…" Kuronue said softly.



I wiped away my tears, and closed my eyes. "Just…hold on a second. I can't run for a second more."



I felt the familiar sensation, and flames surrounded me as I went back into my phoenix form. I flapped my wings, and Youko was still staring at me in surprise.



I started flying, past them, and towards the castle.



I needed to get them to her before Auron could hurt her.



~*~



When we arrived, I landed on the ground, but didn't return to my human form.



"So, she's here, huh?" Kuronue asked.



I nodded.



"Right. We'll split up once we get inside." Youko said.



I glared back at him, though he probably wouldn't recognize what a glare from a bird looks like.



"Kurama, I think we should stay together." Kuronue said for me.



He glared at him. "You two can stay together if you want, but I need to find her. If you find her before I do, then get her out of there. Then, make some kind of signal, and I'll meet up with you all in Bevelle. That is, after I've killed this bastard."



I stared at him. Was he crazy?! Take on Auron? All by himself?! Auron was ten times stronger than I was, and I was pretty sure that Youko and I were on the same power level.



But, great minds think alike.



"Are you frickin' nuts?!" Kuronue exclaimed. "You can't fight him by yourself!"



"Then try to stop me, Kuronue!" He growled back. "I'll take you down too!"



Well, I had never expected Youko to threaten one of his very best friends.



Before either of us could stop him, he ran into the castle.



Damned fox was going to get himself killed!



Kuronue sighed, and rubbed his temples. "Baka kitsune."



The flames engulfed me, and I turned into my human form.



"Well, Kuronue, let's go." I said.



He nodded, and we went into the castle together.



~*~



Author's Notes : Another chapter down! It's still got a few more chapters to go. Oh, and this chapter is a little short because the last chapter was REALLY long. They balance out. (Kurama: *pokes author* Nice excuse for being lazy. Me: *sweatdrop* Shh! Don't tell them that!)



By the way, is Youko starting to get a little too OOC? Let me know if you think that he is. Or maybe you like him this way. I wouldn't know, so that's why you have to tell me so that I can mold him into a better fox!


Please please please, review my friend's story. Her pen name is Kaze Tsukai, and she's on my favorite authors list.


Thanks to those who reviewed the last chapter!

Abby : Yeah, she does go through a lot. And Amaya's mental dominance doesn't always work, especially against someone as powerful as Auron. Trust me - if she could've done that, then she would've. But she knows that it would have been a futile attempt.

miyako14 : Thanks for the review!! Oh, and what he said in his sleep will be revealed later on in the story.

Suzaku no miko : Well, she certainly tried, didn't she? ^___^ I don't know why I did, but I named that jerk after my favorite FFX character. @___@ Wouldn't you scream things like that if you thought that you were falling to your death? She was so panicked that she didn't even stop to realize that she COULD'VE changed into her phoenix form, which would've saved both of them. I'm not sure where I found out what his name meant - I just remember reading somewhere that Kuronue meant 'black raven'. Apparently, they were wrong. Because why would you be named black raven if you were a bat? Well, the only thing that I'm positive about is that Kuro means black. So he's black something. And yes, he is sexy! There was a taste of Midori / Kuronue here in this chapter. They do make a cute couple, don't they? I personally like Amaya / Youko better, though. Just because it's an interesting pair.

Story Weaver1 : Amaya couldn't use her mental dominance because Auron is too powerful for it to work. No, Kurama is normal Kurama (like he is in the series).

Naoko-san : Thank you for the review.

DarkVixenNisha : Thanks for the review!

Review!!