I am so so so so sorry that this is even a longer chap than all the others.
Remember that I told you that I was stuck? Well, when I got over that
point, I couldn't stop writing, especially the part about Yohina and Kyle.
I know, I know. I should focus mainly on the adventure part, but I like writing a little bit romance sometimes, and I didn't want Hakkai, Gojyo, Goku, and Sanzo to fall in love, yet, so I had to write about the other couple. Hehehe... Anyway, hope you like it.
Chapter Twelve—Awakening
When Yohina woke up, she saw that she was in a chamber of some kind. The first thing she saw was Zanku's smile. She felt herself blushing as she sat up and looked around.
The place was bigger than she thought. It was like a temple. The high ceiling was at least 50 ft tall and was supported by all of the thick, wooden poles. Everyone else was looking around and didn't seem to notice that she was awake. Four candles on each of the four walls lighted the room. The iron gate was too her right. There were tables and chairs lined around the wall to her left as if a meeting was taking place. Yet, only one thing really caught her interest. It was a stone statue of a woman with wings holding a glowing crystal ball. Well, she wasn't exactly holding it. The crystal ball was actually floating between the woman's palms.
Mesmerized, Yohina stood up and walked toward it. Just as she was reaching for it, someone grabbed her hand. She looked up and saw Sanzo starting at her. "Don't touch it."
"Why?"
Zanku walked over and waited. When everybody's attention was on him, he reached up and took the crystal ball in his own hands.
"What is it?" Vessica inquired.
"This is what called the five of you into this world. I was its eternal guardian, but it had been restless for a long time."
"That thing called them here? Is it...?" Zanku nodded before Hakkai could finish his sentence.
"There was a legend about a demontress whose destructive power was sealed by the Gods a thousand years ago when the world was still young. This crystal ball holds that power. It had been waiting for the day when its master would return and reclaim it. You are its master." Zanku's reply was directed to Yohina.
"I don't want it. I'm perfectly fine without it. Besides, I don't want to be some demontress." Yohina rejected the offer.
"You don't seem to understand the importance of this, Yohina. The demontress, Hara, was once a fighting puppet for the Gods. When she rebelled, she took four guardian angels with her: the Guardian of Wind, Ice, Water, and Earth. They are your four friends here. When you were sealed, the guardians' powers were also sealed, by a vow. They vowed that until that their sins can be lifted, their true powers shall not awaken by themselves, but only by Hara. Hara is also the one who will be able to lift away their sins, because the reason that the Gods were able to seal Hara was their betrayal. The Gods, knowing that Hara will one day return, put a curse on her. Her soul shall not be free unless she could destroy the evil that will threaten the world in the far future. Right now, Gyumaoh is about to be awakened. His powers are almost as strong as Hara's, but he is also the evil in the Gods' curse. If you could destroy Gyumaoh once and for all, not just seal him like Prince Nataku did 500 years ago, but completely destroy him from this universe, the Gods will set your soul free."
"Set my soul free from what?"
Zanku sighed. He didn't seem to enjoy explaining everything. "You'll find out, very soon."
"That's not a good enough answer! I want to know!" Yohina demanded.
"And what's that got to do with us?" Sanzo asked with his arms crossed.
"Well, Goku was just like Hara, except he didn't receive such a severe punishment like Hara did, because he had you three. When he was born 500 years ago, the Gods planned to use him like they used Hara and Prince Nataku. During that time, Hakkai doubted the Gods about their motive for moving the army westward. The Gods found out about this, and..."
"Shut up, Zanku." Another cloaked figure suddenly appeared high above the statue. Nobody was really surprised anymore. They've seen or heard worse. "You are telling them more than you should. Remember, your job is to make sure that girl accepts who she was. The job for telling them the past is not yours and not now." After finishing those words, he disappeared immediately.
There was pain on Zanku's face. He looked everybody, all waiting for an explanation, but he can't give out any. No matter how hard he tried to deny it, he had gone too far with his explanation.
It was Yohina who broke the heavy silence.
"Zanku, give me that sphere. I'll accept it." She requested with a sad smile.
Zanku and everyone else looked shocked. "Are you sure? That could have been a trick!" Gojyo warned her.
"I don't think it was. I hardly trust my instincts, but they were always right. Sometimes when I didn't trust them, I went down the wrong path. It happened to me many times, so this time, I'm going to trust them, just this once. Besides, if what you say is true, then I am the only one who could truly tap into my friends' powers. I'll need them to defeat Gyumaoh along with them." Yohina said as she turned to face Sanzo, Goku, Gojyo, and Hakkai, "It's not only because I want my soul to be free, but also because I want my normal life back."
Zanku smiled at her words. "You have changed, Yohina, from the girl I knew and watched over. Here. It's yours." He gave the crystal ball to Yohina. Yohina was surprised by his words. She didn't know what he meant by "watched over." "So he had been beside me this whole time? That's impossible." She thought, but he does seem familiar. She could swear that she knew him before today.
All those thoughts left Yohina as the crystal ball touched her skin. Without knowing, her wings came out. All those around her felt the immense power released by the sphere. Almost immediately, her friends were wrapped inside of a small tornado formed from the elements they belong to. Machi was wrapped around by flying rocks; Nuriko by ice; Sakura by water; Vessica by air. Out of the four of them, only Vessica truly knew her power and the way it feels to have something so powerful inside of you. To the other three, that was an all new experience, but it felt comfortable, as if that power belongs inside of them.
"This could take a long time." Zanku muttered to Sanzo playful all of the sudden, startling the four men who were watching an awesome show, even though only Goku showed that astonished expression. Sanzo looked at him and saw him pointing at the gate. Standing there were Kougaiji, Lirin, Yaone, Dokugakuji, and some 15 other demons. They all had an astonished look on their face at what was going on inside of the room.
"Looks like our little playmate is here." Gojyo commented with a smirk.
The amazed look disappeared when Kougaiji saw Sanzo and the others. "Why must you follow us everywhere?" Sanzo complained as his banishing gun appeared in hand.
"We are not following you. Now, hand over that crystal!" Kougaiji shouted as they stepped into the room.
"Sorry, pal, but if you want to risk your life entering that force- field, be my guest." Zanku stepped up and replied with a polite smile.
They turned to look, and sure enough, there was a force-field around the girls. None of them seemed to notice what was going on outside as they absorbed everything that the crystal had released. Even Yohina, whose powers were already awakened, seemed to be absorbing in a little of her friends' power. No wonder she was the demontress.
"Well then, I'll get rid all of you first." Kougaiji said and ordered the demons to attack.
"Ch. You don't seriously think those guys could defeat us, do you?" Sanzo was annoyed as he fired twice. Two screams rang in the room and two demons disappeared.
"While we are waiting, we might as well have some fun with these guys." Gojyo said and pulled out his weapon.
"You're on, bro." Dokugakuji grinned. Then, both sides charged and met each other head on.
Zanku didn't get involved in the fight. He knew that his powers weren't needed. He just waited for the awakening to be over. Soon, Yohina was back to herself and she walked out of the force-field. Yet, she didn't have the sphere with her. The sphere was still inside, continuing to release power. Her mission was just to set it off. Now that she had finished with that, it was just a matter of time before her friends regain their "ancient" power, according to Zanku.
"Looks like they are having fun." Yohina said with a hungry look in her eyes. Zanku gasped and suddenly realized that this wasn't the old Yohina who was talking. Her eyes had turned golden, like Goku's, like Hara's.
He didn't say anything. As he expected, Yohina soon joined to fight, but something about her startled him, the angry and murderous look on her face. It was someone who clearly enjoyed killing. It was the face Hara had when she rebelled, the face that enjoyed seeing sufferings.
Soon, the force-field disappeared and all of the girls had a smile on their face. They felt refreshed after the new energy inside of their body. Better, they all felt like fighting someone right now. After handing the sphere to Zanku, the girls got into a fighting stance and joined the fight.
By that time, all of the lower demons had been killed, and it soon was nine against four. It wasn't really fair, but nobody cared. Yet, the one dominating the battlefield was Yohina. She didn't know it, but her attacks were hurting both her friends and enemies.
"Shit! What does she think she was doing? I almost got killed!" Gojyo shouted after Yohina's flame almost burned him into ashes.
"Step back! All of you! She's out of control!" Zanku suddenly jumped in and ordered them.
"Are you crazy! You can step back! But I'm going to take her! With that much power, she can revive Mother in no time and kill that bitch Koushu!" Kougaiji's mind was made up as he challenged Yohina once again. Yet, even before he had gotten within striking range, a strong wind hit him and sent him flying onto the wall.
"Hey! That's suppose to be my power! You thief!" Vessica shouted, half meaning it as a joke. Yet, Yohina didn't take it as a joke. She turned to look at her friend. Her cold look sent shivers down Vessica's spines.
"Oh really?" Yohina sneered as she raised her hand and sent a handful of wind at Vessica. The pressure was immense. Even Vessica, who had more experience in fighting, wasn't able to move. She felt as if she was stuck. Hakkai wanted to jump in and block Yohina's attack, but Zanku was one step faster than he was.
"Shit! I didn't think it would get this bad." He muttered as he carelessly set up a barrier to block the attack. Once the wind passed, everyone saw that Zanku had the crystal ball in hand. Then he suddenly disappeared and then appeared in front of Yohina within a second. Shock showed in Yohina's face. With a determined look, Zanku pushed the crystal ball into Yohina's body, at where her heart was. Everyone gasped as they saw the crystal ball melt into Yohina's body. Moments later, Yohina's golden eyes turned back to its old hazel color.
"Zanku, I..." Yohina wasn't able to finish her sentence, because the whole room started to collapse.
"Damn! What's happening?" Hakkai shouted up at Zanku.
"There's no time to explain! We have to get out of here!"
Then, immediately after he shout out those words, everybody started to run toward the entrance. "You're not getting out of here this easy!" Kougaiji said and chased them.
Zanku waited for everybody to get out before him and suddenly stopped Kougaiji and his followers. "Kougaiji, even if you do her biddings, she will not revive your mother. Believe me or not, Koushu has a lot on her mind than just reviving Gyumaoh." He told Kougaiji and then left.
"What?" For a moment, Kougaiji couldn't move. It was only when Yaone shouted at him did he realize the danger he was in. Brushing away the worries in his mind, he rushed out of the gate. As he emerged outside in the forest, he heard a loud rumble inside of the mountain as if the whole mountain was crushing down.
* * * * *
"You're leaving now?" Yohina couldn't believe it when Zanku led them back to the main road and suddenly turned away.
"My job is done, but I will be seeing you guys around."
"Can't you at least tell me why I went berserk back there?"
"No time. Have another job to do. Tell you the next time."
"You still haven't told us what part we play in this little game of yours." Sanzo was pissed off.
"I can't. The rest is up to all of you, not just one. Whatever happens, follow your heart." Zanku said and then turned to Yohina. He walked over to her and muttered, "I have one more thing to tell you."
Yohina looked up at him with question in her eyes. With a smile, Zanku bent down and whispered some words to Yohina. After hearing those, Yohina's face turned completely red. Zanku just smiled teasingly at her. She turned away from him. "Well, good luck." He said and disappeared.
"Well, what did he say?" Machi suddenly asked mischievously.
"No...nothing."
"Oh really? Come on, he probably said something like 'oh, you're so beautiful, I love you so much, or I can't stop thinking about you.' Something like that, right?" Gojyo asked with a grin.
"No! He did not!" Yohina shouted out even though her face gave out the answer.
The others just laughed at her. She turned away and tried to ignore their "stupid" comments. Then she suddenly realized that she had to get back. "What time is it?"
Machi looked at her watch because hers doesn't only tell time but also the date. "It's Tuesday, 9 in the morning." She answered casually.
"What? Tuesday?" Yohina almost screamed. Machi did the same thing and looked back at her watch again. "Shit! I have a project due today and I'm not even half through with it yet."
"Who cares about school anyway?" Gojyo remarked.
"I do! You do not know the torture I have to go through after missing those days of school! If you ever met someone like Kyle, you would probably kill him on your first meeting! Just thinking about staying with him for more than tonight and one Friday again gives me the shivers." Yohina said with hatred and anger.
"From the way you talk about him, I have a feeling that we'll become good friends already." Gojyo teased.
"Oh, just shut the fuck up. If any of you are like Kyle, I would rather be alone and kill that Koushu woman." Yohina said to Gojyo, then she turned to Machi, "Get a portal open already."
"All right." Machi frowned. Seconds later, Yohina was walking into the portal. "Aren't you guys coming?"
"Nah. Don't want to go to school. Besides, now that we've got our powers, I think I'm going to kick some demon asses just for the thrill of it." Nuriko grinned.
"I don't like the sound of that." Hakkai really didn't sound happy.
"Wait! Can I go with you? I really want to see you world! Please!" Goku was acting all innocent and cute like a young boy.
"Geez, your stupidity is getting on my nerves. I don't understand why I didn't just shoot you when I met you." Sanzo said and grabbed Goku's collar.
"Come on!" Goku sounded as if he was going to cry.
Yohina just ignored him and walked through the portal since no one was going to with. As for Machi, she decided to stay even though her project was due just like Yohina's.
Once Yohina was gone, Sanzo turned to the girls. "Come on. Let's go. We have some serious talking and ass-kicking to do before your friend comes back."
* * * * *
Once back, Yohina noticed that it was ten o'clock. She guessed that an hour had passed in the portal even though it only seemed to be one second. She was outside of her house. Her parents had gone to work. She didn't know how they dealt with her disappearance this time, but she decided not to think about it now.
Luckily for her, she had her house keys. After getting in, she found her backpack on the chair. It suddenly struck her that she had taken the backpack with her into Saiyuki, but why was it here? Oh, it didn't really matter, as long as it wasn't a trap of some kind.
Yohina looked into the garage and saw that she was completely lucky that day. Her parents just took one car. Fumbling through her parents' room and the living room, she found the extra set of car keys and took off. Her parents didn't like her to drive because she was really impatient and careless, but she did get her license last year when she turned 16. "Geez, it wasn't like I'm going to play with my life." She thought as she sat there, driving.
There were some spaces left in the student parking lot, so she parked her car there. Grabbing her stuff, she sneaked into the building from the back. Just as she walked in, the bell rang. "Yes!" She shouted to herself as the empty hallways suddenly became swarmed with students. With a victorious smile, she walked to her locker and quickly got out her stuff for 3rd period. She slided into her seat just as the bell ring.
Of course, there were questions asked about where she was on Monday. Some of her friends had heard about her disappearance from her mom, and also about the other four girls'. Yet, Yohina kept her mouth shut, thinking about how she was going to get past Kyle and skip tutorials and the project. "Shit! The project! I forgot about it!" She shot up from her chair and rushed out of the cafeteria to the library.
For once in her life, she was thankful for Kyle, since he had made her to do her project last Tuesday. "Well, I'll just be nicer to him." She thought as she walked out of the library 20 minutes later.
With her project out of the way, she didn't have anything to worry about. The rest of the day passed like a blur since everything they did was reviewing. Yohina almost forgot that their finals were next week, but it wasn't like she has to worry about anything. She knows her stuff.
After the last bell, she slipped away as quickly as possible. She packed herself and ran into the parking lot. She sighed as she got in the car. "Safe." She thought and started the car. Then she heard a banging sound and turned to look and saw Kyle sitting next to her on the passenger seat.
"Wah! Where'd you come from?"
"You didn't think you could slip away that easily, did you? Now drive!" He ordered.
"Get out! I don't want to go to your place!"
"Where were you again? You ditched me on Friday, so Janice trapped me when I was waiting for you. Then you weren't home this whole weekend. You weren't here this morning either, then this afternoon, poof! You suddenly popped out of nowhere. I bet you didn't get anything done. Now let's get out of here!"
Frowning, Yohina gave up. She knew it was no use arguing with him now. Guess her luck wasn't with her this whole time. Later, on the road, she found out that Kyle's car broke down and he had to have it fixed. That was why he tried to hitch a ride from her, using the word "tutorial."
Twenty minutes later, they were at his place. Yet, his parents were home. They met her with warmth. Yohina never thought that a cruel guy like Kyle could have such kind parents. Compared to her own, she wished suddenly that they were her parents.
"Let's go to my room. We can't stay use the study room since Dad's home. Geez, what are they doing at home this early anyways?" Kyle complained as Yohina followed him upstairs.
When they were in his room, Kyle threw his backpack carelessly in the corner. "You get started! I need a shower." He said and left.
"Don't order me around!" Yohina wanted to scream, but didn't when she remembered that Kyle's parents were downstairs.
When the bathroom door closed, she sat down on a chair and got her stuff out on the desk. Looking around, she realized that Kyle got a pretty nice room, almost twice as big as hers. On the walls were posters of different rock bands and some nice family pictures. There was a closet to the right of the bed and she was sitting by the desk to the left of the queen-size bed. For a guy, the desk was pretty neat, with papers stacked together but not spread out everything, but Yohina just guessed that it was because Kyle never studied in his own room. Opposite of the bed was the bathroom door. There were two posters of Linkin Park on there. Somehow, she found herself envying him all of the sudden.
Looking at her homework, she sighed. Damn, how she wished that someone would do this for her. Five minutes later, she couldn't find her ruler, but soon saw that it was under a stack of papers near the right corner of the desk. She pulled at it. She yanked it out, but the papers also fell on the floor. Grumbling unhappily, she bent down and started collecting them. When everything was on the desk again, she saw a paper bag still lying on the floor. Curiously, she opened it and looked into it. Just as she pulled a stack of pictures out, someone grabbed the pictures from her.
"What do you think you're doing?" She was startled as she turned around to look. Kyle was standing right behind her with the pictures in hand. His hair was still damp from the shower. He was only wearing a pair of shorts and a towel was hanging down his neck. Then Yohina realized how close they were. She could feel the warmth of his breath.
Getting nervous, she stood up. "Nothing. I was just wondering why the bag was heavy." Then she stole another look at Kyle. He was about 6 ft 4 in tall with his blond hair a little crumbled and messy. His eyes were greenish blue. Looking at him, she wondered why hadn't she realized that he was so hot before? Yet, as she thought about it, she started blushing and looked away.
"What's wrong?" Kyle asked in an innocent tone as he walked back toward the closet to get out a clean shirt.
"No...nothing."
Suddenly, mischief showed in his eyes. Taking out a shirt, he turned to ask, "You just thought that I'm hot. Right?"
"Are you out of your mind? I would never think that!" Her face turned redder as she said those words. Then she changed the subject. "Oh, can I see those pictures?"
"No!" Kyle blurted it too quickly and caused Yohina to be suspicious. She caught a hint of red on his face.
"Come on! I really want to see it!" She demanded and walked over to him to grab the pictures.
"Let go! I said no!" He raised the pictures high up so she can't reach them and turned away from the closet with the shirt still in the other hand. He was smart in doing that, since she was much shorter and he had longer arms.
"Just let me see it! What's wrong with those pictures?" She asked persistently and tried to jump up to get the pictures. Kyle still wouldn't give in as she tried to grab them. Then, with a deep determination, she jumped up from the ground and grabbed them.
"Ha! Got it!" She said with a victorious smile, but then realized that she was falling onto Kyle. "Ahh!" She screamed and dropped the pictures as the two of them fell down onto the ground.
"God, can you be stupider?" Kyle complained as he tried to sit up even though Yohina was on top of him, but Yohina wasn't listening to him. She was staring at the pictures to his right. He turned to look and realized that the pictures are now all scattered across the floor. "Shit! Looks like I'll have a lot of explaining to do." He thought.
When Yohina turned over to look at him with questions in her eyes, he pulled her down into his arms and kissed her.
So how is it? Kyle likes Yohina, it's really obvious, isn't it, but I wonder what'll Yohina think? She's a pretty complicated girl, and likes contradicting herself. It'll take her a long time to know what to do.
Review plz. I'm kinda lacking it ya know.... *cries*
I know, I know. I should focus mainly on the adventure part, but I like writing a little bit romance sometimes, and I didn't want Hakkai, Gojyo, Goku, and Sanzo to fall in love, yet, so I had to write about the other couple. Hehehe... Anyway, hope you like it.
Chapter Twelve—Awakening
When Yohina woke up, she saw that she was in a chamber of some kind. The first thing she saw was Zanku's smile. She felt herself blushing as she sat up and looked around.
The place was bigger than she thought. It was like a temple. The high ceiling was at least 50 ft tall and was supported by all of the thick, wooden poles. Everyone else was looking around and didn't seem to notice that she was awake. Four candles on each of the four walls lighted the room. The iron gate was too her right. There were tables and chairs lined around the wall to her left as if a meeting was taking place. Yet, only one thing really caught her interest. It was a stone statue of a woman with wings holding a glowing crystal ball. Well, she wasn't exactly holding it. The crystal ball was actually floating between the woman's palms.
Mesmerized, Yohina stood up and walked toward it. Just as she was reaching for it, someone grabbed her hand. She looked up and saw Sanzo starting at her. "Don't touch it."
"Why?"
Zanku walked over and waited. When everybody's attention was on him, he reached up and took the crystal ball in his own hands.
"What is it?" Vessica inquired.
"This is what called the five of you into this world. I was its eternal guardian, but it had been restless for a long time."
"That thing called them here? Is it...?" Zanku nodded before Hakkai could finish his sentence.
"There was a legend about a demontress whose destructive power was sealed by the Gods a thousand years ago when the world was still young. This crystal ball holds that power. It had been waiting for the day when its master would return and reclaim it. You are its master." Zanku's reply was directed to Yohina.
"I don't want it. I'm perfectly fine without it. Besides, I don't want to be some demontress." Yohina rejected the offer.
"You don't seem to understand the importance of this, Yohina. The demontress, Hara, was once a fighting puppet for the Gods. When she rebelled, she took four guardian angels with her: the Guardian of Wind, Ice, Water, and Earth. They are your four friends here. When you were sealed, the guardians' powers were also sealed, by a vow. They vowed that until that their sins can be lifted, their true powers shall not awaken by themselves, but only by Hara. Hara is also the one who will be able to lift away their sins, because the reason that the Gods were able to seal Hara was their betrayal. The Gods, knowing that Hara will one day return, put a curse on her. Her soul shall not be free unless she could destroy the evil that will threaten the world in the far future. Right now, Gyumaoh is about to be awakened. His powers are almost as strong as Hara's, but he is also the evil in the Gods' curse. If you could destroy Gyumaoh once and for all, not just seal him like Prince Nataku did 500 years ago, but completely destroy him from this universe, the Gods will set your soul free."
"Set my soul free from what?"
Zanku sighed. He didn't seem to enjoy explaining everything. "You'll find out, very soon."
"That's not a good enough answer! I want to know!" Yohina demanded.
"And what's that got to do with us?" Sanzo asked with his arms crossed.
"Well, Goku was just like Hara, except he didn't receive such a severe punishment like Hara did, because he had you three. When he was born 500 years ago, the Gods planned to use him like they used Hara and Prince Nataku. During that time, Hakkai doubted the Gods about their motive for moving the army westward. The Gods found out about this, and..."
"Shut up, Zanku." Another cloaked figure suddenly appeared high above the statue. Nobody was really surprised anymore. They've seen or heard worse. "You are telling them more than you should. Remember, your job is to make sure that girl accepts who she was. The job for telling them the past is not yours and not now." After finishing those words, he disappeared immediately.
There was pain on Zanku's face. He looked everybody, all waiting for an explanation, but he can't give out any. No matter how hard he tried to deny it, he had gone too far with his explanation.
It was Yohina who broke the heavy silence.
"Zanku, give me that sphere. I'll accept it." She requested with a sad smile.
Zanku and everyone else looked shocked. "Are you sure? That could have been a trick!" Gojyo warned her.
"I don't think it was. I hardly trust my instincts, but they were always right. Sometimes when I didn't trust them, I went down the wrong path. It happened to me many times, so this time, I'm going to trust them, just this once. Besides, if what you say is true, then I am the only one who could truly tap into my friends' powers. I'll need them to defeat Gyumaoh along with them." Yohina said as she turned to face Sanzo, Goku, Gojyo, and Hakkai, "It's not only because I want my soul to be free, but also because I want my normal life back."
Zanku smiled at her words. "You have changed, Yohina, from the girl I knew and watched over. Here. It's yours." He gave the crystal ball to Yohina. Yohina was surprised by his words. She didn't know what he meant by "watched over." "So he had been beside me this whole time? That's impossible." She thought, but he does seem familiar. She could swear that she knew him before today.
All those thoughts left Yohina as the crystal ball touched her skin. Without knowing, her wings came out. All those around her felt the immense power released by the sphere. Almost immediately, her friends were wrapped inside of a small tornado formed from the elements they belong to. Machi was wrapped around by flying rocks; Nuriko by ice; Sakura by water; Vessica by air. Out of the four of them, only Vessica truly knew her power and the way it feels to have something so powerful inside of you. To the other three, that was an all new experience, but it felt comfortable, as if that power belongs inside of them.
"This could take a long time." Zanku muttered to Sanzo playful all of the sudden, startling the four men who were watching an awesome show, even though only Goku showed that astonished expression. Sanzo looked at him and saw him pointing at the gate. Standing there were Kougaiji, Lirin, Yaone, Dokugakuji, and some 15 other demons. They all had an astonished look on their face at what was going on inside of the room.
"Looks like our little playmate is here." Gojyo commented with a smirk.
The amazed look disappeared when Kougaiji saw Sanzo and the others. "Why must you follow us everywhere?" Sanzo complained as his banishing gun appeared in hand.
"We are not following you. Now, hand over that crystal!" Kougaiji shouted as they stepped into the room.
"Sorry, pal, but if you want to risk your life entering that force- field, be my guest." Zanku stepped up and replied with a polite smile.
They turned to look, and sure enough, there was a force-field around the girls. None of them seemed to notice what was going on outside as they absorbed everything that the crystal had released. Even Yohina, whose powers were already awakened, seemed to be absorbing in a little of her friends' power. No wonder she was the demontress.
"Well then, I'll get rid all of you first." Kougaiji said and ordered the demons to attack.
"Ch. You don't seriously think those guys could defeat us, do you?" Sanzo was annoyed as he fired twice. Two screams rang in the room and two demons disappeared.
"While we are waiting, we might as well have some fun with these guys." Gojyo said and pulled out his weapon.
"You're on, bro." Dokugakuji grinned. Then, both sides charged and met each other head on.
Zanku didn't get involved in the fight. He knew that his powers weren't needed. He just waited for the awakening to be over. Soon, Yohina was back to herself and she walked out of the force-field. Yet, she didn't have the sphere with her. The sphere was still inside, continuing to release power. Her mission was just to set it off. Now that she had finished with that, it was just a matter of time before her friends regain their "ancient" power, according to Zanku.
"Looks like they are having fun." Yohina said with a hungry look in her eyes. Zanku gasped and suddenly realized that this wasn't the old Yohina who was talking. Her eyes had turned golden, like Goku's, like Hara's.
He didn't say anything. As he expected, Yohina soon joined to fight, but something about her startled him, the angry and murderous look on her face. It was someone who clearly enjoyed killing. It was the face Hara had when she rebelled, the face that enjoyed seeing sufferings.
Soon, the force-field disappeared and all of the girls had a smile on their face. They felt refreshed after the new energy inside of their body. Better, they all felt like fighting someone right now. After handing the sphere to Zanku, the girls got into a fighting stance and joined the fight.
By that time, all of the lower demons had been killed, and it soon was nine against four. It wasn't really fair, but nobody cared. Yet, the one dominating the battlefield was Yohina. She didn't know it, but her attacks were hurting both her friends and enemies.
"Shit! What does she think she was doing? I almost got killed!" Gojyo shouted after Yohina's flame almost burned him into ashes.
"Step back! All of you! She's out of control!" Zanku suddenly jumped in and ordered them.
"Are you crazy! You can step back! But I'm going to take her! With that much power, she can revive Mother in no time and kill that bitch Koushu!" Kougaiji's mind was made up as he challenged Yohina once again. Yet, even before he had gotten within striking range, a strong wind hit him and sent him flying onto the wall.
"Hey! That's suppose to be my power! You thief!" Vessica shouted, half meaning it as a joke. Yet, Yohina didn't take it as a joke. She turned to look at her friend. Her cold look sent shivers down Vessica's spines.
"Oh really?" Yohina sneered as she raised her hand and sent a handful of wind at Vessica. The pressure was immense. Even Vessica, who had more experience in fighting, wasn't able to move. She felt as if she was stuck. Hakkai wanted to jump in and block Yohina's attack, but Zanku was one step faster than he was.
"Shit! I didn't think it would get this bad." He muttered as he carelessly set up a barrier to block the attack. Once the wind passed, everyone saw that Zanku had the crystal ball in hand. Then he suddenly disappeared and then appeared in front of Yohina within a second. Shock showed in Yohina's face. With a determined look, Zanku pushed the crystal ball into Yohina's body, at where her heart was. Everyone gasped as they saw the crystal ball melt into Yohina's body. Moments later, Yohina's golden eyes turned back to its old hazel color.
"Zanku, I..." Yohina wasn't able to finish her sentence, because the whole room started to collapse.
"Damn! What's happening?" Hakkai shouted up at Zanku.
"There's no time to explain! We have to get out of here!"
Then, immediately after he shout out those words, everybody started to run toward the entrance. "You're not getting out of here this easy!" Kougaiji said and chased them.
Zanku waited for everybody to get out before him and suddenly stopped Kougaiji and his followers. "Kougaiji, even if you do her biddings, she will not revive your mother. Believe me or not, Koushu has a lot on her mind than just reviving Gyumaoh." He told Kougaiji and then left.
"What?" For a moment, Kougaiji couldn't move. It was only when Yaone shouted at him did he realize the danger he was in. Brushing away the worries in his mind, he rushed out of the gate. As he emerged outside in the forest, he heard a loud rumble inside of the mountain as if the whole mountain was crushing down.
* * * * *
"You're leaving now?" Yohina couldn't believe it when Zanku led them back to the main road and suddenly turned away.
"My job is done, but I will be seeing you guys around."
"Can't you at least tell me why I went berserk back there?"
"No time. Have another job to do. Tell you the next time."
"You still haven't told us what part we play in this little game of yours." Sanzo was pissed off.
"I can't. The rest is up to all of you, not just one. Whatever happens, follow your heart." Zanku said and then turned to Yohina. He walked over to her and muttered, "I have one more thing to tell you."
Yohina looked up at him with question in her eyes. With a smile, Zanku bent down and whispered some words to Yohina. After hearing those, Yohina's face turned completely red. Zanku just smiled teasingly at her. She turned away from him. "Well, good luck." He said and disappeared.
"Well, what did he say?" Machi suddenly asked mischievously.
"No...nothing."
"Oh really? Come on, he probably said something like 'oh, you're so beautiful, I love you so much, or I can't stop thinking about you.' Something like that, right?" Gojyo asked with a grin.
"No! He did not!" Yohina shouted out even though her face gave out the answer.
The others just laughed at her. She turned away and tried to ignore their "stupid" comments. Then she suddenly realized that she had to get back. "What time is it?"
Machi looked at her watch because hers doesn't only tell time but also the date. "It's Tuesday, 9 in the morning." She answered casually.
"What? Tuesday?" Yohina almost screamed. Machi did the same thing and looked back at her watch again. "Shit! I have a project due today and I'm not even half through with it yet."
"Who cares about school anyway?" Gojyo remarked.
"I do! You do not know the torture I have to go through after missing those days of school! If you ever met someone like Kyle, you would probably kill him on your first meeting! Just thinking about staying with him for more than tonight and one Friday again gives me the shivers." Yohina said with hatred and anger.
"From the way you talk about him, I have a feeling that we'll become good friends already." Gojyo teased.
"Oh, just shut the fuck up. If any of you are like Kyle, I would rather be alone and kill that Koushu woman." Yohina said to Gojyo, then she turned to Machi, "Get a portal open already."
"All right." Machi frowned. Seconds later, Yohina was walking into the portal. "Aren't you guys coming?"
"Nah. Don't want to go to school. Besides, now that we've got our powers, I think I'm going to kick some demon asses just for the thrill of it." Nuriko grinned.
"I don't like the sound of that." Hakkai really didn't sound happy.
"Wait! Can I go with you? I really want to see you world! Please!" Goku was acting all innocent and cute like a young boy.
"Geez, your stupidity is getting on my nerves. I don't understand why I didn't just shoot you when I met you." Sanzo said and grabbed Goku's collar.
"Come on!" Goku sounded as if he was going to cry.
Yohina just ignored him and walked through the portal since no one was going to with. As for Machi, she decided to stay even though her project was due just like Yohina's.
Once Yohina was gone, Sanzo turned to the girls. "Come on. Let's go. We have some serious talking and ass-kicking to do before your friend comes back."
* * * * *
Once back, Yohina noticed that it was ten o'clock. She guessed that an hour had passed in the portal even though it only seemed to be one second. She was outside of her house. Her parents had gone to work. She didn't know how they dealt with her disappearance this time, but she decided not to think about it now.
Luckily for her, she had her house keys. After getting in, she found her backpack on the chair. It suddenly struck her that she had taken the backpack with her into Saiyuki, but why was it here? Oh, it didn't really matter, as long as it wasn't a trap of some kind.
Yohina looked into the garage and saw that she was completely lucky that day. Her parents just took one car. Fumbling through her parents' room and the living room, she found the extra set of car keys and took off. Her parents didn't like her to drive because she was really impatient and careless, but she did get her license last year when she turned 16. "Geez, it wasn't like I'm going to play with my life." She thought as she sat there, driving.
There were some spaces left in the student parking lot, so she parked her car there. Grabbing her stuff, she sneaked into the building from the back. Just as she walked in, the bell rang. "Yes!" She shouted to herself as the empty hallways suddenly became swarmed with students. With a victorious smile, she walked to her locker and quickly got out her stuff for 3rd period. She slided into her seat just as the bell ring.
Of course, there were questions asked about where she was on Monday. Some of her friends had heard about her disappearance from her mom, and also about the other four girls'. Yet, Yohina kept her mouth shut, thinking about how she was going to get past Kyle and skip tutorials and the project. "Shit! The project! I forgot about it!" She shot up from her chair and rushed out of the cafeteria to the library.
For once in her life, she was thankful for Kyle, since he had made her to do her project last Tuesday. "Well, I'll just be nicer to him." She thought as she walked out of the library 20 minutes later.
With her project out of the way, she didn't have anything to worry about. The rest of the day passed like a blur since everything they did was reviewing. Yohina almost forgot that their finals were next week, but it wasn't like she has to worry about anything. She knows her stuff.
After the last bell, she slipped away as quickly as possible. She packed herself and ran into the parking lot. She sighed as she got in the car. "Safe." She thought and started the car. Then she heard a banging sound and turned to look and saw Kyle sitting next to her on the passenger seat.
"Wah! Where'd you come from?"
"You didn't think you could slip away that easily, did you? Now drive!" He ordered.
"Get out! I don't want to go to your place!"
"Where were you again? You ditched me on Friday, so Janice trapped me when I was waiting for you. Then you weren't home this whole weekend. You weren't here this morning either, then this afternoon, poof! You suddenly popped out of nowhere. I bet you didn't get anything done. Now let's get out of here!"
Frowning, Yohina gave up. She knew it was no use arguing with him now. Guess her luck wasn't with her this whole time. Later, on the road, she found out that Kyle's car broke down and he had to have it fixed. That was why he tried to hitch a ride from her, using the word "tutorial."
Twenty minutes later, they were at his place. Yet, his parents were home. They met her with warmth. Yohina never thought that a cruel guy like Kyle could have such kind parents. Compared to her own, she wished suddenly that they were her parents.
"Let's go to my room. We can't stay use the study room since Dad's home. Geez, what are they doing at home this early anyways?" Kyle complained as Yohina followed him upstairs.
When they were in his room, Kyle threw his backpack carelessly in the corner. "You get started! I need a shower." He said and left.
"Don't order me around!" Yohina wanted to scream, but didn't when she remembered that Kyle's parents were downstairs.
When the bathroom door closed, she sat down on a chair and got her stuff out on the desk. Looking around, she realized that Kyle got a pretty nice room, almost twice as big as hers. On the walls were posters of different rock bands and some nice family pictures. There was a closet to the right of the bed and she was sitting by the desk to the left of the queen-size bed. For a guy, the desk was pretty neat, with papers stacked together but not spread out everything, but Yohina just guessed that it was because Kyle never studied in his own room. Opposite of the bed was the bathroom door. There were two posters of Linkin Park on there. Somehow, she found herself envying him all of the sudden.
Looking at her homework, she sighed. Damn, how she wished that someone would do this for her. Five minutes later, she couldn't find her ruler, but soon saw that it was under a stack of papers near the right corner of the desk. She pulled at it. She yanked it out, but the papers also fell on the floor. Grumbling unhappily, she bent down and started collecting them. When everything was on the desk again, she saw a paper bag still lying on the floor. Curiously, she opened it and looked into it. Just as she pulled a stack of pictures out, someone grabbed the pictures from her.
"What do you think you're doing?" She was startled as she turned around to look. Kyle was standing right behind her with the pictures in hand. His hair was still damp from the shower. He was only wearing a pair of shorts and a towel was hanging down his neck. Then Yohina realized how close they were. She could feel the warmth of his breath.
Getting nervous, she stood up. "Nothing. I was just wondering why the bag was heavy." Then she stole another look at Kyle. He was about 6 ft 4 in tall with his blond hair a little crumbled and messy. His eyes were greenish blue. Looking at him, she wondered why hadn't she realized that he was so hot before? Yet, as she thought about it, she started blushing and looked away.
"What's wrong?" Kyle asked in an innocent tone as he walked back toward the closet to get out a clean shirt.
"No...nothing."
Suddenly, mischief showed in his eyes. Taking out a shirt, he turned to ask, "You just thought that I'm hot. Right?"
"Are you out of your mind? I would never think that!" Her face turned redder as she said those words. Then she changed the subject. "Oh, can I see those pictures?"
"No!" Kyle blurted it too quickly and caused Yohina to be suspicious. She caught a hint of red on his face.
"Come on! I really want to see it!" She demanded and walked over to him to grab the pictures.
"Let go! I said no!" He raised the pictures high up so she can't reach them and turned away from the closet with the shirt still in the other hand. He was smart in doing that, since she was much shorter and he had longer arms.
"Just let me see it! What's wrong with those pictures?" She asked persistently and tried to jump up to get the pictures. Kyle still wouldn't give in as she tried to grab them. Then, with a deep determination, she jumped up from the ground and grabbed them.
"Ha! Got it!" She said with a victorious smile, but then realized that she was falling onto Kyle. "Ahh!" She screamed and dropped the pictures as the two of them fell down onto the ground.
"God, can you be stupider?" Kyle complained as he tried to sit up even though Yohina was on top of him, but Yohina wasn't listening to him. She was staring at the pictures to his right. He turned to look and realized that the pictures are now all scattered across the floor. "Shit! Looks like I'll have a lot of explaining to do." He thought.
When Yohina turned over to look at him with questions in her eyes, he pulled her down into his arms and kissed her.
So how is it? Kyle likes Yohina, it's really obvious, isn't it, but I wonder what'll Yohina think? She's a pretty complicated girl, and likes contradicting herself. It'll take her a long time to know what to do.
Review plz. I'm kinda lacking it ya know.... *cries*