AN: I'm giving the poll another run, because most of my reviewers didn't vote. This next time, if you don't vote, I'll just assume you're going D. And for those who did vote, feel free to vote again.
Something is not quite right…
Chapter 6: Materializing the Mystery (part 1)
Tarra was curled up into a ball as she lay sleeping in the hallway. Many Galen saw her and did nothing about it, though they did have enough sense to not step on her. Thankfully Tarra didn't move in her sleep, or the other Galen would have had no qualms about stepping on her. But Tarra did have the most disturbing expression of pleasure on her face.
--- Tarra's Dream Sequence ---
Life was perfect. I was the Queen (that old hag Valia had keeled over) I had two very beautiful children. They behaved perfectly, doing everything I told them to without question. They pampered me, worshiped me! Everyone worshiped me, men would sell their souls for a glance from me. And the best part was Hiei, Etric, the Prince- whatever you want to call him. He was mine.
That's what made it perfect, he was mine. He had done everything to make my life easy and perfect. He was dreamingly wonderful in bed, and his kisses were more intoxicating than pure alcohol. His eyes beamed with his love and pride in me. But what he did best was his rejection of Kairos. He had lured her into bed, only to dissect her alive. I got to watch his gory mutilation of her. And trust me, I loved every minute of it.
[ : Tarra? : ]
Like I said, life was perfect.
[ : Dreaming again I see…. : ]
I tumbling around in bed with Hiei right now. I lay there in awe of his foreign beauty. His red eyes burned with passion for me, his hair seemed always create the most dramatic effect, and his lips- they always wanted to be next to mine. He'd kiss me with such passion, such emotion!
[ : It's time to wake, you've got work to do. : ]
I wondered though the next few moments in a daze of pleasure. The only thing I was aware of was Hiei and his love. Perfection. I was in the mist of pure perfection.
[ : TARRA!! : ]
--- End of Dream Sequence ---
Tarra did not open her eyes when she woke. She lay there reminding herself that she was not dreaming.
: Awake now? :
: Yes. : Tarra admitted.
: Good, Mother is going to call Her Child tonight. I want you to spy on and figure out who it is. Once you know this I want you to lure the Child to me. I will then begin the ritual. Now go! :
: Yes. : Tarra opened her eyes and stood up. She stalked off, ignoring the questioning looks from the others about her.
Genkai raised an eyebrow. "And that would be…?"
"Sezure!![1] The younger Keiko screamed as she jumped up in horror. Botan let out an incoherent yell as she jumped up. The two were standing on the couch, rather freaked out. Yusuke rolled his eyes and went over to investigate. He found a spider. It was twice as big as his fist, thus giving Botan a good reason to yell.
"Jeez, scared of a spider? Come on Botan! Koenma's more intimidating than that thing!" Yusuke teased. What Yusuke did not see was that both Hiei and Kairos had gone pale. They looked at one another and then at Yusuke.
"Don't provoke it!" They warned Yusuke. He stared at them.
'Hiei, pale and scared? Well this spider must really be something….' Yusuke thought. Kuwabara sat there, sweating bullets.
"Too late." Was all Kuwabara had to say. The spider jumped up and began to spray web around before anyone could react. The web held everyone in place, leaving a burning sensation wherever it touched skin. Hiei didn't seem to mind this, but his attention was quickly turned to Kairos who seemed to be in real pain. Kurama was rather unhappy as well, as the web was starting to burn through his clothes, though that was not the same for the others.
"Any bright ideas?" Genkai asked Hiei.
"Its fire-based, I'm no help." Hiei explained. He actually admitted why he was afraid of it, he couldn't kill it.
"Rei-ken!!" Kuwabara yelled, generating his signature sword. Suichi and Keiko exchanged excited glances. Kuwabara cut himself free and then, with an instructive glare from Hiei, proceeded to relieve Kairos of her pain. The spider hissed loudly.
"You picked the wrong gang to mess with. Rei-gun!!" Yusuke had aimed at the spider before he was held in place by the web. Now that the spider was distracted, Yusuke could shoot his gun and hit it. The spider slowly spun around in horror as the low-powered Rei-gun incinerated it. Yusuke demonstrated his control by stopping the blast from going through the table and floor.
"Thanks, that was fun.[2]" Kurama remarked sarcastically. Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Hiei all burst into laughter. Kairos raised an eyebrow as Kurama smirked. "Inside band joke."
"How's about the dimwit with the sword cuts the rest of us free?" Genkai suggested with a glare.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm getting there…." Kuwabara cut everyone except for Hiei free. And the fire demon wasn't too pleased about that, nether was his wife.
"Hello? Kuwabara, I'm still here…." Hiei called out.
"Hey Urameshi, I thought I just a certain little bastard. Did you?" Kuwabara was just trying to get back at Hiei for all the times this scenario was created except Hiei and Kuwabara had switched places. Kairos, who didn't know of this, let out a low growl. Hiei became a bit panicked.
"Umm…Kuwabara? Help me, please!" Hiei quickly squeaked. That's when Kuwabara became aware of Kairos' raising Yoki.
"I guess shorty has had enough…." He cut Hiei free and Kairos glared daggers at him.
"Uh, Kuwabara, Hiei's taller than you now…." Kurama remarked. Kuwabara looked up at Hiei, just now remembering.
"So he is…." Kuwabara and Hiei shared the same expression of disturbed disbelief.
"Well that's certainly enough excitement for one night! Let's go to bed!" Botan clapped her hands together as she said this, there was a chorus of agreement from everyone else. And before Kairos could protest everyone went off to their respective rooms, including her children.
"Dammit!" She yelled after everyone had left. Hiei raised an eyebrow. A breath later Hiei remembered what she was talking about.
"Don't worry, we can tell them tomorrow. Its late and everyone has had enough shockers for the day." He led her to the bathroom to wash the excess web off. "We'll have to have the cleaners in again…." Hiei muttered as he looked at the web-covered couch.
"That was not how I wanted to end my day!" Kairos remarked.
Yusuke sat down in the lounge heavily, his black hair was still very wet from his shower. Kuwabara was currently in the shower, the last on to go. Botan had suggested that they draw straws as to who would get in first, unfortunately for Kuwabara, she specified that shortest was going last after he had grabbed the shortest one.
"I can't believe it! Hiei has kids!" Yusuke said to no-one in particular, yet there was a chorus of agreement from everyone else, except Kurama and Genkai. Genkai really didn't care what Hiei did, and she had expected him to have at least attempted to fall in love after twenty years of peace. Kurama appeared to be in deep thought.
"Hey Kurama! What-cha thinkin'?" Botan asked the red head. He looked up at her, a bit startled.
"It's weird…." He began. "Hiei didn't Mark her and she didn't Mark him." Kurama was concerned because Hiei had told him that the day marked a mate was the same day he'd have 'true sex' ('not-true sex' was getting raped). But nether of the two had been marked and it was obvious that the two had had 'true sex', it appeared in the form of children.
"What's that?" Keiko asked quietly. She was still unsure of how she felt about Hiei of all people naming a child of his after her. Botan had an idea of what Kurama was talking about, but just to be sure, she took out her copy of Yama's Notebook. She flipped through the pages and began to read the entry out loud.
" 'Demon's Mark- a process in which a demon claims a mate and marks them as such. The Mark is actually the scar left from the dominate mate's teeth. It is located anywhere from the shoulder to the base of the neck. To seal the Mark, one ether mates, or the other mate puts a Mark on the Unmarked one. It is considered to most Yokai tribes it is as good as marriage and is often preformed instead of marriage.' So I was right!" Botan smiled pridefully at her ability to remember her facts right.
"Oh." Came out of Yusuke and Kuwabara.
"I'm guessing Hiei's from one of those tribes that was mentioned?" Genkai asked Kurama, who nodded.
"It's not that weird- he married her! That's what the Mark meant to him, right? So he just did the Crystilian alternate. It's not weird or anything, is it?" Keiko drew the logical line that was actually the truth. Well, most of it anyways, what the gang didn't know was that the Galen didn't know what a Mark was and Hiei had no intention of scaring Kairos' perfect skin.
"You do have a point, but marriage is a religious binding! What God did they marry under?" Botan vaguely wondered.
"Probably Lord Enma." Genkai suggested.
"It might be whatever deity the Galen believe in." Kuwabara pointed out. Everyone stared at him for pointing out the obvious, normally he wasn't quite so aware.
"Or he could have just used the term 'marriage' to keep things simple and was actually bond under the Crystilian laws…." Keiko suggested with a sweatdrop. Once again, Keiko guessed right.
"Well, I'm off to bed." Genkai announced as she went into her room. The door closed with a soft, yet forceful, 'snap'.
"I guess we should follow her example, it's past midnight…." Kurama recommended to the others, just before he disappeared into his room. Within a matter of moments lobby was emptied and sounds of heavy breathing, or in some cases, snoring emitted from the rooms.
An old Galen woman walked into the castle. She was small, to taller than four feet. Her hair was once forest green but it had faded into a soft lime green. It was long enough that it trailed two feet behind her. Her eyes where glazed with age. Her green skin covered in wrinkles of wisdom. She wore a determined expression. Every step was purposeful. This woman was making her last journey.
And her name was Barji.
The Galen about her moved out of her path, knowing that when this woman reached her destination she would die.
[1]- A very dangerous spider, native to Crystila.
[2]- A quote from a Barenaked Ladies song. Me no own.
AN: Another cliffhanger with a new person. I'm getting good at this. Voting results:
A- 0
B- 1
C- 0
D- 2
E- 0
No vote- 5
A reminder as to what you're voting on:
A- I write a small teaser for the next chapter at the end of every chapter.
B- I put 3 quotes from the next chapter at the end of every chapter.
C- I put 3 quotes from the next part/chapter at the end of every update.
D- I do absolutely nothing special and continue writing the fic as I always have been.
E- Something that I didn't mention above. It cannot be writing large teasers or teasers for the next part/chapter at the end of every update.
Review Responses:
Bishounenlvr- Did you have a good look at the bold on B and C? There's a big difference there. Yeah, he can cook, but only because he got formal lessons. Otherwise he would have nothing to do with it.
animefreak54- Deal.
slave2anime- That's okay! You came back! I even updated!
Donamarine- -- refrains from correcting errors in your review -- Okay, you start worshiping me. -- obviously disturbed by this -- Then you go on about learning how to cook from your parents. Even though I had asked no such thing of you. Perhaps you could share with us why?
KayHiei- And you guessed right! At least, that was her intention…. Poor Kairos. I did, see?
baka-onna2003- Big cliffies are part of good stories. Why else would you read them? I learned that from Bruce Colvell, (SP?) the author of the Space Brat series.
MoonSilverEyes- I'll do that. I have the perfect guy in mind.
SamiKismet- Yes it is, and it starts with Barji. You deleted it? T.T But if you're only going to make it better, I can wait. And I'll met you there!
Well, see ya next update! R&R!!