Let's see, I wake up everyday at six in the morning and study until 4:20. I arrive at home almost at five wanting to relax in front of the television and what do I see? Cyborg 009, Saint Seiya and Captain Tsubasa! Where's the fun in my life?! I need good animes! Who had the brilliant idea of taking off Inuyasha and Yu Yu Hakusho, anyway?? Some of the good animes are re-running for the zillionth time in Saturday 'mornings' or are not aired at all, like YYH. And some people still wonder what the fics are for...
Oh, yes. I decided to include some smilies, but I can't use all of them since FF.net deletes it in the upload. Beside, they won't appear inside parenthesis (I found out they refer to the author that way), now I'll write them free in the text. If that bothers you, just tell me and suggest another form that is not parenthesis.
Thank you to all those who reviewed!
Forgotten Love – Thank you! I won't use so much the smilies, that's more typical of fics in script format, but sometimes I just feel like using them. I have to admit that I don't know when the chapters are funny or not, I just write it not caring if everyone is very OOC. But I try... hehe...
VampireNaomi – I don't know if Hsi Wu will learn to fly. Probably not, because of my future plans on this fic. I wrote it with an idea that I REALLY hope nobody has ever thought of it!
Youkai Youko – Oh, many troubles. Get ready for Bai Tsa's screams, the previous chapters mean something! Muhahahaha! Mas diz aí, quando é que a gente vai continuar "Asas Escarlates" e/ou "A Mãe de Todos os Dragões" juntas? São idéias tão legais, e é divertido escrevê-las! Tem até alguns leitores aí perguntando por elas...
Yu Mutou – Ah, you reviewed only the first chapter! Why...? ;; Oh, never mind. Thank you for reviewing!!
Chapter 6: The Castle
When the demons arrived at the Perdition Forest, it was already night. Shendu and Hsi Wu sighed in relieve, the barely could believe that Jin would leave them alone for some hours! The older ones were pleased with that too, mainly Tso Lan, who enjoyed the silence and certainly disliked Jin's hysterical screams.
"See? I told you it would be fast." Po Kong remarked smiling and her siblings glared daggers at her. Hsi Wu thought that Jin had broken some of his ribs and still tried to remember how to breathe, Shendu was in a similar situation and his face was all red thanks to her pinches, Bai Tsa was tired for walking so much – she was the water demon and not made for long walks – and Tchang Zu and Dai Gui had headache due to her screams and endless talking.
The mountain demon sweat-dropped, but tried to continue smiling friendly.
"What are we going to do now?" Jin asked.
"You ask us? It was your idea to come here, you should know what do." Bai Tsa answered sharply.
"Let's look for a ghost!", Xiao Fung suggested and Bai Tsa shivered.
"NO, LET'S NOT!!!" she shouted and the still little demon flinched, then thought for a moment.
"Then let's... eat?" he tried.
"Ahh, that's a good idea!" Po Kong said and Shendu snorted.
"But there's nothing to eat is this damn forest! This place is completely useless, it doesn't even have real ghosts! I don't even know why we came he-"
"Shut up, Shendu!!" Bai Tsa punched her younger brother, throwing him some meters away until he was knocked against a tree and fell to the ground out cold.
"Oh, great! Now someone will have to carry him!" Po Kong said in annoyance and Bai Tsa shrugged.
"Don't count on me, I already made us all a favor by silencing him."
"I carry him!!!" Jin volunteered and hopped cheerfully towards the fire demon. She took him in her arms squeezing him as if he were a very cute soft toy. It was so strong that a crack sound was heard and the demons flinched.
"That must hurt..." Tchang Zu murmured shaking his head.
"Not that much... he is unconscious, anyway..." Tso Lan reminded and glanced at Hsi Wu, who had leaned on him making an effort to keep his eyes open. "I think we should take some rest now, it was a long trip."
"Yeah, we can come up with something to do tomorrow. Like swim, there is a river near here." Bai Tsa stated and Jin glanced around herself.
"But where are we going to sleep?" she asked.
"In the tents." Po Kong answered and all the demons stood there in silence for a long time. "Xiao Fung, the tents!"
"They are not with me! I thought Bai Tsa would bring them!"
"Me?! I thought Dai Gui would bring them!"
"But Dai Gui was told that Tso Lan would bring them."
"Yes, but Tchang Zu said he was going to bring them."
"I kept them in some bags and gave them to Shendu and Hsi Wu!"
All the glances turned to the youngest one.
"Those huge blue bags? I left them on the dinner table. I thought one of you would see them there."
All the demons thought to have heard an 'ops' from Po Kong, and their glances turned to her.
"Po Kong..." Tchang Zu started, raising a brow. "What did you do to the tents?"
"I... ate them." she admitted.
"YOU ATE THEM?!?!?!"
"It's because they were there on the dinner table... I thought it was food..."
"You ate nine camping kits and didn't notice it?" Tso Lan asked in disbelief.
"That's why our mother always tells you to chew your food." Xiao remarked grinning and Dai Gui sighed.
"Who cares? Let's sleep in the ground!"
"In the ground?" Jin asked looking at down in disgust.
"Ack! No way I am going to lay on this dirty ground! What about all the bugs and... and... the things that go around there at night?" Bai Tsa said and the males rolled their eyes.
"Females..." Dai Gui muttered.
"All right, let's see if there is a cave or something like that. Hsi Wu!" Tchang called and before the sky demon could answer, he grabbed him with only one hand and lifted him above his head. "Fly and find a good place!" he ordered throwing his youngest brother, who screamed and ended up falling in a tree some meters away.
"I think he hasn't learned to fly yet." Xiao Fung said.
"I see something!" Hsi announced.
"Really? What is it?" the oldest one asked.
"It looks a type of castle, it's not very far away!"
"Then let's go there!"
"YEAH!!!" The demons rushed towards a random direction.
"No, it's to the other direction!" Hsi Wu corrected and the demons ran to the opposite direction.
"YEAH!!!"
...
"Brothers and sisters, don't leave me here!" ;;
After helping Hsi Wu to get down from the tree, the demons followed his instructions until arriving at the castle. Po Kong had to take her human form to go come in. It seemed to have been abandoned a long time ago, there was no one there and the whole place was old and dusty. Fortunately the castle was very big and had rooms for each one of them.
Bai Tsa glanced around herself feeling cold shivers going down her spine, and tried to hide her terror. This castle looked haunted, there were animal statues, dark corners, spider webs, creaking stair and doors, cold winds and strange noises coming from somewhere in the ceiling.
"BOOO!!!!!!" Two cold hands weighed on her shoulders and Bai Tsa's scream echoed about five times for the castle, perhaps even for the forest. When she opened her eyes, found herself almost seated on Tso Lan's shoulders, holding his head. The moon demon did not move, but just stopped and stared forward. The water demon laughed nervously and began to rub his head.
"Ahaha..... Spider web..." she said and got off her brother. She looked back and saw Xiao Fung trying to suppress and loud and uncontrolled laughter. "Why you--!" She was ready to charge at him but Po Kong stopped her.
"Not now, Bai Tsa. Tchang Zu and Dai Gui already went to sleep. I have just chosen a room, why don't you choose one for yourself too?"
"Oh, all right..." The water demon sighed and observed the corridor. It was long and its dark end could not be seen. She gulped and turned to look for safety with her siblings, but only Jin was still there with her.
"I'll sleep with your little brother, ok? Good night!" her friend said before entering one of the rooms and leave Bai Tsa alone in that dark corridor. The water demon felt cold shivers going down her spine and ran to one room, where Po Kong was already lied in a bed.
"Po Kong! I cannot sleep alone! Let me stay here with you!" she begged and her sister sighed.
"Come on, Bai Tsa... Don't you think you're kin of old for that?"
"But this place is scary...!"
The mountain demon got up and leaded Bai Tsa to a room.
"Look, there's nothing wrong here, this place is as safe as our palace." she said and Bai Tsa remembered when their palace had been invaded by a whole army of spirits that possessed some objects and humans who worked there.
"But-"
"No 'buts'. Remember, it's all in your head."
"But-"
"ALL IN YOUR HEAD!"
"Ok, ok, all in my head...!"
"Good. Now repeat that until realizing that everything is alright."
"All in my head..."
Po Kong nodded and left the room. "Good night, Bai Tsa."
"All in my head... All in my head... All in my head... All in my head... All in my head... All in my head... All in my head... All in my head... All in my head... All in my he-"
"Hey!" a dark figure approached her and Bai Tsa screamed in horror while, punching the figure. She heard the sound of something knocking against the wall and opened her eyes just to see her youngest brother sprawled against the wall.
"Hsi Wu!"
"Ow... What have I done this time...?" he asked trying to recompose.
"Sorry... I thought you were a... erh... I thought you were Shendu."
"Oh..."
"But what do you want here, anyway??"
"Brother Tso didn't let me sleep with him, and I don't want to be alone..."
Bai Tsa thought for a while. She really wanted to sleep with someone. Staying alone in this castle did not sound a good idea at all. Then again, if something happened, Hsi Wu would not be able to protect her. He was younger, weaker and would probably count on her to protect him. Besides, she did not want him to see that she was scared. She was older and had pride.
"No way. Look at yourself, you're not a little baby anymore. You have to learn to sleep alone. Even Xiao Fung and Shendu aren't afraid."
"Shendu is sleeping with Jin."
"Because he did not have a choice. Now get lost, I need my beauty sleep."
Hsi Wu looked at his sister. His face was so sad, so cute, so hopeless that she almost gave up, but then she looked away and turned around.
"What are you waiting for? Go away!" she demanded lying again and after a while heard the door closing. The sky demon had gone away, she could relax now. She looked at the window and saw the full moon partially covered by some clouds. A cold wind suddenly blew and she flinched when hearing a bang coming from the corridor. Then the silence filled the room. A sepulchral silence that was even more uncomfortable than any noise. Bai Tsa had never thought she would wish so much to hear the voice of Jin or any of her siblings.
This mortal silence was driving her crazy!
"All in my head... All in my head... All in my head... All in my head... All in my head... All in my head... All in my head... All in my head... All in my head... All in my head..."
Something was bothering him. Everything was black and he was feeling a strange anguish. His chest hurt and he felt , imprisoned, tied, unable to move. A noise was heard, firstly very distant, but then it became loud and clear. A... snore?!
Shendu opened his eyes, widening them. Jin was holding him tightly, although she was sleeping. The dragon could not breathe at all. She was killing him!
He tried to yell, breathe fire, bite her arm, kick her, elbow her, anything, but his efforts were useless. There he was, suffocating in Bai Tsa's best friend's arms in a completely strange place.
"Mommy, I didn't know that dolphins could fly..." Jin murmured and changed her position in the bed, releasing Shendu for a moment. Enough time for him to jump to the ground. He gasped pleased for breathing again and rubbed his neck while glancing around himself.
He quietly left the room, looking at Jin to make sure he would have time to run if she woke up and saw him fleeing. He closed the door and ran away. He looked back and finally allowed himself to smile in victory.
Then, he bumped into something. Something that should not be in the middle of a corridor. He raised his glance and saw he had not bumped into something, but someone.
"Ah, you're awake. I bet you don't feel like sleeping now." Xiao Fung said in a low voice, smiling.
"Indeed."
"That's not a surprise. You slept for... five hours. I cannot sleep too." the wind demon said and shrugged. "This place is very boring, we have to turn it a bit more fun."
Shendu tilted his head.
"Fun? How?" he asked in suspicion and Xiao looked at one of the doors.
"Who goes to the kitchen to drink a glass of water every night?"
Shendu smirked.
"Oh..."
Xiao nodded and the two demons chuckled.
To be continued...