Well, are you happy, now, Kristen?  LOL. . .well, what can I say?  It's up!  Akira is Kristen's, Megan is Megan's, and Ang and Biiru are mine.  Notice how I own the two fighting ones?  Oh yeah, and that the little thing called a plot?  That's mine too.

Everything else in this story is yours to dissemble and put to your twisted little mind.  Oh, did I say that?

~*~

She was running.  Trees were whipping at her, and she had managed to cut herself several times from branches she hadn't sliced away with her dagger.  But she didn't care.  She didn't care at all.

Damn him!  Damn him to hell!  She knew Biiru wasn't following her.  He hadn't even started to chase after her.  Damn it, Shi!  You know you're just being cruel!

"Oof!"

Ang fell to the ground, rubbing her head, her sprint disrupting.  She growled at the offending person's head.   "Abunai [1]!"

"Ang?"

She looked up at the familiar face, squinting in the darkness.  "Who's there?"

There was a laugh, which sounded relieved.  "Ang!  It's me, Akira!  You remember me, right?"

She didn't answer for a moment.  Then, she curtly snapped, "Prove it."

Akira was taken aback for a moment.  Then she glared at the space she assumed Ang was.  "You don't believe me?  Well, then, I'll prove it!"  She thrust her hand at Ang, just like she had to Biiru, and watched in satisfaction as a flame jetted out, hitting. . .nothing.  "Nani [2]?"

There was a laugh from behind her.  Holding a flame in her hand, she turned around.  Ang was standing behind her, her hands on her hips, and a smirk on her face.  "Really now. . .you should have learned to light the area up before you fire by now."

Akira nearly growled at her.  "Kisama [3]!"  She thrust her hand out again, and the jet emerged once more.  Ang's eyes widened, and she quickly drew a dagger, and pushed it into the gush of oncoming fire, and twisted it, so the fire separated directly at the blade.  The flames died down after a few moments, leaving both of them gasping for breath.  Magic used in anger was taxing.

Akira raised her other arm, ready to waste more energy.  "Matte [4]!  Matte, Akira-chan [5]!"  She paused for a moment, the fire burning in her eyes not going away.  "Go-gomen [6].  Didn't think you'd kill me over something like that."

Akira lowered her hand, the fire slowly leaving.  She sighed, and then smiled.  "Gomen, Ang-chan!  What have you been up to?"

Ang crept back towards her.  Akira always had changed moods quickly.  But she was a nice person.  "Well. . .Shi and Jinsei are working on a merger. . .and of course, that means I'm with Biiru.  It really sucks."

"I heard."

She glanced at Akira.  "How?"

She rolled her eyes.  "Honestly. . .did you think I'd let myself get totally cut off from the rest of the Priestess's world?"  She smiled fat too happily.  "I get the newsletter!"  Ang stared blankly at her.  She laughed, a sweat-drop forming behind her head.  "No, I'm here because Shi wanted me to give you something. . ."

Ang frowned.  "Don't give it to me."

"Nani?"

She shook her head.  "Don't give it to me.  I don't want it."

Akira rolled her eyes.  "Shi said you wouldn't.  But. . .well, let's face it, Ang!  We don't always agree with the gods, do we?"

She shook her head again.  "This is something else.  I don't want. . ." She sighed again.  "Never mind.  What is it?"

"What's what?"

"Whatever it is you're supposed to be giving me."

"Oh.  Well, I thought you didn't want it."

Ang sighed.  "Look, scatterbrain, you gonna give it to me or not?"

Akira glared at her.  "What's your problem?  You never used to be like this.  You actually used to be nice, Ang.  What's wrong with you today?  It is just today, right?"

Ang sighed, and gestured to the path she had torn through the woods.  "Come on.  If we get back to Kaede's hut, I'll explain it to you.  It's about a five minute run, so about a. . .ten minute walk, I guess."  They started walking down the path, Akira raising an eyebrow at the blood she could see smeared on certain branches.

"Why were you running?"

"Because.  The merger was done of the god's half, and I will not agree to do my half of the bargain."

"Isn't Shi angry?"

"I don't know.  I haven't talked to her for almost a full month now."

Akira looked surprised.  "Really?"

"Yeah.  I don't think she'll be happy with me."

"Why haven't you talked to her?"

Ang bit her lip, pausing for a moment, accidentally releasing a branch, which narrowly missed her face.  ". . .Ang. . ."

"Gomen.  Has Kaji ever been angry with you before?"

She shook her head.  "Kaji is kind to me.  He got annoyed once when I accidentally lit his temple on fire, but he's too nice to ever really hurt me."

She nodded.  "Shi isn't that kind.  I've. . .upset her before.  I've stayed on her good side ever since.  I've heard stories about the Goddess of Fire. . .you know, before Kaji came.  Well, she wasn't nearly as nice as Kaji.  Her miko got her pissed one day, and she was asking for forgiveness. . .and she covered the girl's whole body in burns, and left her to die in pain."

Akira nodded bitterly.  "I know.  Kaji was a gift to everyone who knows fire."

Ang didn't comment.  "Shi is. . .oh, it's so hard to explain.  She's so nice most of the time, but every so often, she just gets angry. . ."

"Ang!  What are those scars on your wrists?"

"I used Lifeblood.  No big thing.  They'll be gone in a few days."  She gave her a clearer view of her wrists, holding them up to the moon's light.  "You know the drill.  Scars made from usage in casting disappear on the full moon."

Akira shook her head.  "None of my spells use blood.  That's kinda nasty."

"You don't use blood?  Well, I guess it makes sense.  Fire isn't related to blood.  Death is.  But anyway-"

"Ang, what are those other scars?"

"What other scars?"

Akira rolled her arm back over, and gestured to light scars that spanned her whole arm.  They looked like they had been deep cuts, which had never healed properly.

". . .Shi was angry.  When I talked to her, she. . .basically flew into a rage, and didn't think, and cut at me.  I was covered in blood from all the various cuts.  Those scars faded in weeks, but they'll never fade."

She continued walking, leaving Akira behind for a moment.  She glanced at the sky.  "Kaji?  Don't tell me. . ." She nodded.  "I thought so.  That would explain a lot."

She caught up to Ang, and grabbed her shoulder, spinning her around.  She threw something in her face, which smelled remarkably like dust.  "What the hell, Akira?!"

She laughed.  "Sorry.  I couldn't resist when you left yourself so open."

She scowled.  "I was not open, because I trust you as a friend."

"You trust me as a friend, now?"

"Why do you think I didn't attack you before?  I don't hurt friends."

Akira shrugged.  "How much farther?"

"Two minutes.  I dunno if Kaede has another room, though. . .you'll have to work on your own though.  And just to warn you, I've got a posse."

She raised an eyebrow.  "Do you, now?"

"No.  I'm traveling with a group of people who have a common goal.  I'm just a means to the end for most of them."

"Well, who are they?"

"A priest-regular-named Miroku, and I've heard him called a leech a few times. . .dunno what they mean, though."  Akira sighed to herself.  Ang had the record on being naïve.  "Then there's Megan, who likes him, and even though he might like her, they're stupid and won't talk.  She's a fourth cat demon. . .dunno what good it does her, though.  Then there's Inuyasha. . ."

What do I say about him?

". . .Who's basically an uncivilized punk with a sword and power.  He's a doggie hanyou."

Akira looked up, fire burning in her eyes.  "Does he wear red?"

"Hmmm?  Yeah."  She glanced back at her, and saw the anger in her eyes.  "Meet him already?"

"He knocked a branch on my head."

She nodded.  "Yep," she said, resuming to walk, "that'd be him.  Anyway. . .here we are," she said, pushing aside a branch and letting her walk through the clearing.  "Welcome to feudal Japan, and your everyday village."

"It's so. . .quaint."

"I'm sure you mean, 'this really sucks.'  But I'll ignore that."  They both laughed.  "Come on.  Inuyasha went off. . ."

"Where?"

She sighed.  "To get Kagome.  The reincarnation of the girl be both loved and who pinned him to a tree."  She chuckled at Akira's face.  "Come on, I'll explain it to you.  Have you eaten yet?"

"Do they have Hostess?"

Ang gave her a withering look.  "We're in the Warring States era.  Hostess won't be invented for years now.  But they have Ramen."

"Yoshi[7]!  Ramen!"  The two walked off, making a strange sight.  The genki[8] Akira listened to her friend the bokunenjin[9] explain the known story of Inuyasha.  Adding, of course, her own versions every so often.

~*~

[1]- watch out

[2]- what

[3]- once again, a rude way to say you, "you bastard"

[4]- wait

[5]- friend

[6]- sorry

[7]- all right

[8]- energetic

[9]- quiet unsociable person

~*~

Today's Usage: 29 ". . ."

Current Record: 73