T.T Only a couple of reviews? [goes off and mopes in a corner] I feel so unloved. But the story must go on! Don't have much of a choice anymore. [glances off to the side where the Elemental Four are holding ki-balls and looking threatening] T.T
Starling: Got someone to make you feel better.
[sniffle] Really?
Kurama: Starling, I really don't get why--
Wheee! [is suddenly a little fox that curls around Kurama's neck and actually purrs] Thank you, Starling.
Starling: I knew a dose of your favorite bishie would cheer you up.
Kurama: [to Niana] I take it you're a fan. You've had your shots, right?
Meanie. Yes, I've had my shots, and I promise I won't bite. (Nibble a little, maybe…)
Chapter 17: Startling Revelations
=================================
"Hi-yah!" Crash. Since once again it is a Sunday, there are no classes, Rei's parents are off on a business trip, and no one else is around, Rei has taken a chance and has decided to do some exercising in her actual form. She removes her fist from the broken pile of cinderblocks and pops her wrist by rotating it.
She hasn't noticed two approaching ki, deep as she is in a training trance. A startled inhalation makes her whirl, and her eyes grow wide at the sight of Kurama no more than twenty feet away, Hiei right beside him. Both are utterly stunned--Kurama's mouth is slightly open. Hastily she puts her hands over her ears and whisks her tail behind her.
"Ah, Kurama! Hiei! What are you--I mean--why are--it's not what it--I can explain…oh, hells!" Kurama turns his face slowly towards Hiei, but his eyes are locked on Rei, still spluttering and getting more edgy and flustered by the second.
"My…cousin is…standing there…in youko form…right, Hiei?" The apparition nods, and Rei takes a step backwards in preparation of fleeing, but Hiei moves faster. Before she can blink, Hiei has her tucked under his arm, her own arms pinioned, legs dangling. She immediately starts struggling, of course.
"Hey, baka! Put me down before I bite you!"
"You are hardly in a position to--" Chomp. Hiei closes his eyes and grits his teeth while Rei sinks her fangs deeper into the front part of Hiei's calf.
"I haid hut he hown." Hiei removes his arm and Rei drops to the ground on all fours, releasing her grip and bounding into the nearest tree, watching the pair warily. Never taking her eyes from them, she spits out a mouthful of blood and swipes her gi sleeve across her tongue. "Blech. You taste terrible, porcupine head. And when was the last time you washed those pants?"
"How long?" Kurama demands.
"How long what?" Rei asks back, cocking her head to one side, still watching the both of them, most of her focus on the more-dangerous Hiei, who is looking none-too-pleased at the fang marks in his leg. "How long have I been part fox? How long have I been keeping it from you? Or how long was I intending to keep it from you?"
"All of the above," Hiei says flatly.
"Hiei." Kurama's voice is filled with a mixture of emotions, none of them happy, most of them close kin to anger.
Rei takes a safer perch higher up but still in full view of the boys. "One: I've been this way all of my life. Frankly, I'm surprised the coloring and the fangs didn't tip you off. Two: I've been keeping it from you since I found out at age three." She looks somewhat ashamed. "I thought you'd think me too weird and you wouldn't like me anymore. It just became habit after that."
"And the last?" Kurama asks quietly.
"I was planning on telling you. Eventually." Face-fault. "Are you really mad at me, Kurama?" she asks in a small voice, hunched into herself on her branch, ears flat against her skull. In her head, fully shielded from Hiei, is the thought, "Charm Person plus female version Puppy Eyes feat check, rolling against Sense Motive." (Yes, ladies and gentlemen, Rei and the author are gamers among other hobbies. Fear ussss…;P ) Kurama tries to hold onto whatever anger or its cousins he has, but fails and shakes his head unhappily. "Sense Motive roll failed, Charm a success. Maybe I should just do this the easy way and blank this memory. Nah, they'd find out again eventually, or Koenma would open his big mouth."
"No, just confused and not pleased, exactly. You can come down from there now." Rei slowly hops down--literally--jumping gracefully from branch to branch until she stands several feet away from her adoptive cousin. Her ears are slightly uplifted, but her shoulders are still hunched and her head lowered.
"I really am sorry, Kurama-kun. I did want to tell you, but…well…with Hiei as the only apparition on the team, I didn't think you'd be happy about it." Rei looks rather confused when Hiei starts coughing and Kurama looks at her like she's crazy. "What? Nani?"
"Rei, you are not aware of my history?"
"What history?" She looks back and forth between them, confusion growing, thinking, "Damn, I knew I should have followed my original thought and checked everyone's backgrounds. Why is Hiei about to fall over laughing?" "I know you and Hiei met a while back, and that you once stole the Forlorn Hope to cure your mother, but not much else. How did you get past the security on those things, anyway? It's a gods-be-damned fortress, for pity's sake."
"How should I put this?" Kurama pinches the bridge of his nose and takes a deep breath. "Rei, I am actually a kitsune known as Youko Kurama." Rei goes white.
"As in, THE Youko Kurama? The greatest thief the Makai has ever heard of? THAT Youko?"
"Yes, that Youko. When my body was killed by a bounty hunter, my soul fled to the human world and entered the newly formed fetus of a human woman named Shiori Minamino. I had intended to leave at age ten, but I went, as the old psychologists put it, 'native'. So now I am mostly human, but still very much Youko. And right now, what part of me is still fox is trying to decide whether or not he wants to hug you or strangle you for hiding it."
"I'm voting the hug part." Her ears perk straight up and she squeaks, hiding behind Kurama and peeking over her shoulder, fox-ears suddenly as gone as her tail. "Shoot! Hope Mom and Dad didn't see that…"
"They didn't know, either?" Kurama gets bonked.
"Baka, no one knows about it except Koi, Horse, Falcon, and Master Yuki! And that's because they're mixed-blood too!" She claps a hand over her mouth. "Shit. I wasn't supposed to say that." She groans, walks over to the dojo wall--the far side, so the two adults climbing out of the newly-returned car don't see her--and starts rhythmically whacking her head against the wall, chanting, "baka, baka, baka."
"Hello, Shuichi!" Mrs. Kenobishi calls to him. "Welcome back! Have you seen Rei?"
"No, Aunt Akiko. I did come by to see her, though."
"Oh, well. I'm sure she'll be back soon." And her parents disappear into the house. Kurama waits a moment before walking over to Rei and stopping her from denting the wall any further than she already has.
"It would seem you and I need to talk, cousin."
=====
"…I see. So your biological mother is half fox and half fire apparition. That does explain a great deal of your past behavior," Kurama sighs about an hour later. The three of them are sitting under a local bridge, the running water just a few feet below them sufficient to cover their voices.
"And yours, too. You didn't start warming up to anyone until we were six." Rei is curled on a block of cement, upper body prone with her legs crossed beneath her.
"And you said your biological brother knows nothing of his heritage?" Hiei questions, making sure he understands.
"No. I suspect that's part of why he can cross into the Rekai and Makai without realizing it. We foxes do share a common ancestor with the cat, after all, and can get into just about as many places."
"Hey, bingo!" All three jump at the cheerful voice. "Hey, guys, I found them!" The three look up to find Kalerian hanging over the bridge railing, feet hooked into the bars to keep him from falling. He lets go and flips neatly to the ground, walking up and grinning. The other two Elements jump down a moment later, also grinning. Every single one of them reveals their demon characteristics the second they hit the ground, and Kurama and Hiei's jaws drop, despite their warning.
Kalerian sports fins instead of his human ears, blue-green scales striping his cheeks and flowing down his neck to disappear under his shirt. When he lifts a hand to wave at the trio, blue webbing stretches between the graceful fingers. Kohaku has a tiny pair of wings sprouting from her shoulderblades, black talons curving from the tips of her fingers. Everything about her remains mostly the same, like Masaya. He simply has hair growing along his spine, peeking out from the bottom of his untucked shirt, to go along with increased muscle mass.
"There you are, Fox-chan," Masaya chuckles. "We picked up on the link," he taps his forehead to indicate his meaning, "that you got mixed up and stuck your foot in your mouth. So they know everything now?"
"Pretty much," Rei says unhappily. "Sorry, guys, I didn't mean to blab your secrets."
"Nah," Kohaku says dismissively, "we don't much care. No big deal, right, Horse?"
"Right, Falcon. So, Kurama, what do you think about Rei? You mad or anything?" He bristles. "'Cause if you are, you're gonna have to take it up with us."
"Sit down, Horse, before you get clobbered. Kurama's got way more fighting abilities than you do. Heck," Rei mutters irritably, "he's prob'ly better'n me, too. Man," she adds, whacking her head on the cement block and creating a sizable dent, "today sucks! Purely, totally, sucks!" Another whack and the dent deepens.
"Rei, stop doing that. You're going to give yourself a concussion." Kurama sighs. "I apologize for not telling you about me sooner. Since you know Koenma and about the people known as 'Team Urameshi', I assumed you knew."
"We're foxes, Kurama. We both have trouble with telling secrets."
"So." Hiei is studying the three newcomers intensely. "Are all of you quarter-breeds, like Rei?"
"Half water, half human," Kalerian says cheerfully.
"Mostly human, but some horse and earth apparition thrown in." Masaya shrugs. "Think it's something along eighth horse, quarter earth."
"We always tease him about it," Kohaku snickers. "If it was vice versa, he'd be a quarter-horse. Get it?" Hiei looks disgusted at the pun but Kurama half smiles. "I'm the closest to straight either way: three-quarters human, eighth bird and air."
"Does Koenma know about this?" Kurama asks his cousin, who nods.
"Yeah. He had this weird blue ogre guy drag me off to his palace when I was three and a half. He was the one to suggest training with Master Yuki, interestingly enough. I guess even the blind man can hit a target once and a while." A rubber stamp drops onto her head from out of nowhere and she scowls at it. "It's true, binky-breath. You've come up with so many cockamamie schemes I'm surprised Yusuke hasn't died a second time, let alone Kuwabara. You and he in the same room together make my head hurt." A second stamp, this one clearly thrown, whaps into her head and she snarls. "That's it! You got a bone to pick with me I'm gonna do it in person, and give ya yer stamps back!" Furious, she jerks herself onto her feet and snaps, the stamps disappearing along with her.
Hiei merely looks over at Masaya. "I was under the impression that it took complicated figures to transport oneself."
"Nah, that's for any number larger than two. We can all snap-out when and where we want. Right, Falcon?"
"Right." Kohaku stretches, wings and talons vanishing. "So. Who's up for pizza? I heard about this great okonomiyaki place downtown."
=====
"Thank you, Koenma. I must say, though, that was a very irritating way to get me out of there." Rei is stretched out in a comfy chair in front of Koenma's desk, feet propped on the edge away from the mountain of paperwork.
"I wanted you out of there before you let your Secret slip like you have everything else today," Koenma mutters as he busily stamps, re-inks, and stamps again, over and over. Rei groans.
"I know, I know! I've been a real blabbermouth today. Funny though, that's usually Botan's job." Tap. Rei's face falls slightly when an oar lightly taps her head. The blue-haired girl holding it looks more amused than anything.
"Now, now, Rei, it isn't nice to pick up other people's habits. They might want them back, later." Rei chuckles and gestures, a chair suddenly appearing beside hers. Botan accepts the invitation and sits down, oar vanishing into thin air.
"I still find it hard to believe such a chipper person is the Grim Reaper," the red-head sighs, snuggling into the over-plush padding. "I mean, come on, you have got to be the perkiest person I have ever met."
"That's because good Grim Reapers need good attitudes," Botan chirps. "After all, how will you ever make a spirit feel better if you're spouting Edgar Allen Poe all the time? Not a very cheerful person, that one. Ferried him myself, actually. I had to go take a bubble-bath to cheer myself up afterwards."
"You meet the most interesting people, too," Rei laughs. "I guess that's one of the perks."
"But you're Fate, aren't you? You must know about everyone in the world."
"Nah, not everyone." Rei shifts again, sitting up a bit more and taking her feet off the desk. "There's the Chaos Cards for one thing; you can never predict what's going to happen with them. Chaos picks up anymore power and I might not be able to set their destinies. Then there are the Wild Cards."
"Wild Cards?" Koenma questions curiously. He may be the ersatz ruler of the Spirit World (what with King Enma gone so often) but not even he gets many chances to learn about the office of Fate.
"Mm. They're souls that for some reason, just don't get picked up on by Fate or by her Tarot deck. They can drift around for years before the current Fate takes note and marks them. And that's not to say that many of them are bad--most of them are just free spirits in every meaning of the word that wander around, taking up Roles like story-tellers, minor tradesmen, musickers, the like. Yusuke's been influenced by a Wild Card, did you know?"
"Really?" Botan asks, eyes wide.
"Yep. It's the main reason he jumped out into the road to save that little boy. Normally his instinct for self-preservation is low, admitted, but that was crazy even for him." Rei holds up one hand and ticks reasons off on her fingers. "He had only brief contact with the boy. He wasn't related. He was originally--hell, he's still a punk. He was in something of a bad mood, and finally, most humans make it a strong habit not to go leaping in front of moving cars. Yusuke is one of them, and to do something that goes against a firmly set habit is a sure sign that a Wild Card has brushed by him."
"Oh, this is fascinating!" Botan warbled, clapping her hands. Rei smiles and blushes faintly, then looks thoughtful.
"Come to think of it," she murmurs, tapping her chin with a finger, "Ryoga shows all the earmarks of being a Wild Card. Heh. I'll have to look into that." Suddenly she looks more cheerful than she has all morning, rising to her feet and chuckling. "Thanks, you two. I needed that."
"Needed what?" Botan looks honestly confused.
"I needed someone to just chatter at about Fate. You two were a perfect audience. I feel so-oo much better! See ya!" And she bounds off, positively crackling with energy.
Koenma looks over at Botan, a sweatdrop by his head. "Why does she keep doing that?"
===
"So you guys really don't mind I blabbed?" Rei asks later that night, as the four relax in the clearing outside her workroom. A little portable spinning wheel is set up in front of Rei, who is using it to spin just regular thread. Fireflies of unusual brightness drift around the clearing and among the threes, for all the world like little golden stars against the darkness of night. A few lanterns are lit inside the cozy little one-room cottage, just enough to dimly light the grass for a few feet beyond the window.
Kalerian grins as a firefly lands on his nose and sits there, its tiny light blinking slowly. "Nah. Truth is, we don't care if that bunch learns what we are. After all, Koenma already knows about us, and if the wrong person finds out you can do that little 'forget' trick of yours and poof! no more problem." He gestures, and the firefly zips off in startlement. Kohaku is amusing herself by using her abilities as a wind apparition to guide the fireflies into shapes and patterns and 'jewelry'. Right now she has a circlet of fireflies floating just an inch away from her head and is holding her hands in a prayer position.
"Hey look! I'm an angel!" Everyone laughs and Rei throws a ball of thread at her friend, scattering the fireflies back to the wind.
"You're about as much an angel as I am innocent." Masaya grins from where he lays stretched out on the cool grass.
"That's not saying much, Fox. You're not exactly jaded, either."
"Oh, really?" she shoots back, grinning just as widely. All of them have their demonic aspects unveiled, and her ears are perked straight forward. "Ever hear this one, then?" And she proceeds to tell the bawdiest joke she knows, and everyone blushes while they laugh when she finishes.
"Another perk of being Fate, eh, soul-sister?" Kohaku flutters her wings and cocks her head to one side, listening happily to the serenade of crickets invisible in the darkness.
"Yeah, but remember, there are downsides," Rei sighs. "Like knowing how and when you die, and when everyone around you dies."
"Even partial immortality sucks, doesn't it?" Kalerian asks, and everyone sighs an agreement. The silence after stretches on for a few minutes before he breaks it again. "So, down to business, ne?"
"Hai," the others groan, everyone sitting up and moving into a rough circle. "What are we going to do about the battle? We're friends with everyone here, I don't think we can just sit back and watch." Sounds of agreement from all sides. Kohaku looks over at Rei.
"Rei, you got anything to keep Akane out of it?"
Rei looks uncomfortable. "Yeah, but I don't want to talk about it. It's kinda difficult to explain." The others let it drop, and move on to specifics of the battle itself. In the firefly-lit darkness, none of them notice that those expressive emerald eyes shine because of unshed tears.
===
"Konnichiwa, Ku Lon-san," Rei sighs the next afternoon after school, walking into the Neko-Hanten for her shift.
"Ah, Rei, right on time. We're not going to be too busy today, the restaurant's been booked for a private party."
"Really?" Cologne notes that her waitress' eyes go from detached to wary in a blink. Although curious, she lets the matter drop in the same fashion as the other elemental youngsters had last night, by changing the subject.
"Yes. You can take the afternoon off, if you wish."
"Oh, no, thank you. I need something to do this afternoon since Dad's off on a week-long business trip and all classes have been postponed until then. But thank you, Elder."
"Airen!" Shampoo cheers, leaping past them to outside and glomping onto the unfortunate Ranma who had been trying to sneak past without being noticed. "You go on date with Shampoo, yes?"
"Shampoo, how many times I gotta tell ya?" he grits while trying to remove her without groping her. "I don't wanna go on a date with you!"
"Ranma! How dare you grope my Shampoo like that??" Mousse demands, coming up out of nowhere and braining an unfortunate statue. His glasses are once again on top of his head instead of on his nose where they belong, and without them Mousse is blind as a bat without sonar.
"Should I?" Rei sighs to Cologne, who nods. Gathering bowls of ramen from the counter she expertly flings them at Shampoo, who in turn catches them without spilling a drop. A take-out box follows suit, and the Amazon girl fits everything into the box neatly. "Since you have so much energy, please put it to good use delivering orders instead of half-strangling paying customers," the red-head says wearily. "Mu Tsu! Stop bashing that statue and start cleaning tables before I bash you!"
Pouting, Shampoo rides off on her bike and Mousse makes a hasty getaway into the café to resume his duties as a busboy. Cologne nods at Ranma, who makes good his escape and flees. "I wonder where he's going?" wonders Rei aloud as she helps set up tables for the private party. Mousse snorts, wiping down the tables with a damp cloth.
"Who cares? So long as he stays away from my Xian Pu."
"Dummy! You're blinder than I thought if you think Ranma actually likes that attention." Rei lightly bonks him in passing and frowns. "You honestly don't get it, do you?"
"Get what, miss know-it-all?" Rei winces--that's hitting a little closer to the truth than she likes.
"Ranma isn't interested in anyone, period. The only reason he lets any of those girls do anything is because he lacks the social skills to do anything about it." She snorts, carrying a chair to one of the newly-formed long tables. "He wants to avoid all of them because he hates being chased like some prize. He's pretty much a wild horse in everything but appearance. Because Akane doesn't chase after him and make love-sounds at him, he's more comfortable with her. And when she acts like he's come to expect her to, he gets even more comfortable because she acts like a martial artist and not some crazy fan-girl."
Mousse gapes at her, cloth and tables forgotten. She continues ranting calmly onwards, still working. "Akane acts like a friend instead of someone who wants to rip his clothes off and 'do' him right in the street. How many decent males do you know who actually would enjoy something like that?"
He thinks about it. "None that I can think of," he confesses, and Rei nods.
"He likes Akane even more now that she's stopped hitting him all the time. To put it in horse terms, she acts like a herd member. All those other girls act like predators. Rabid ones, too," she adds, thinking of a certain gymnast.
"I never thought about it that way."
"No one besides Ranma and Kasumi seem to, and that's the whole damned problem!" Rei growls to herself. "Even Ukyo's gone fan-girl!" She sets another chair down with a clunk and rubs her forehead. Mousse snaps out of his daze and looks at her in mild concern.
"Are you all right?"
"Yeah, I'm fine, it was just a very long night and thinking about the whole fiancée business just makes my blood boil."
"So, Ranma really doesn't want to date Shampoo?" Mousse asks, getting back to the important part.
"No, you blind baka," Rei replies with affection lacing her words. "He doesn't. He'd be happy if all the girls just be friends to him and let him feel his own way through this mess. He's going to make the choice eventually, rushing him and trying to force him to choose isn't going to make it happen any faster." Or any different, she adds to herself with a tiny smile. Mousse lets the conversation fall to silence until they're almost done setting up.
"So how do I get Shampoo to stop chasing Ranma and start looking at me?"
"I was wondering when you'd ask that," Rei sighs. "To be honest, Shampoo does like you, BUT--" she raises a hand to stop his joyous whoop before he utters it, "you're chasing her just as hard as she's chasing Ranma. That squashes whatever she may feel with a whole lot of irritation. Why don't you try giving her her space for a while? Do subtle things, like bringing her flowers or a little bauble to show your affection. Don't keep trying to glomp her, or proclaiming your love for her from the dratted roof-tops. And remember to wear you glasses more often, okay? It's not very flattering to her when you start declaring your love to her and are actually saying it to a statue or a stranger or someone like Happosai."
"Oh." Mousse turns red. "Yes, I suppose you do have a point there."
"'Suppose'?" his coworker asks archly, lifting an eyebrow. Mousse blushes harder and she relents. "So who hired this place out for the afternoon, anyway? They must have plenty of pocket-money; renting this whole dining room isn't cheap."
"I believe some folk from the Phoenix tribe," Mousse muses, missing the sudden stiffening of Rei's entire body. "Strange, though. They're from farther away than even the Musk tribe, and I don't believe they have a reason for coming all this way."
"We'll see," whispers Rei, anger beginning to smolder in her eyes. "We'll see."
===
Saffron looks around the café with some bemusement. From the description, he'd thought the place would be a whole lot bigger. But he has an Elder from the Amazons waiting on him herself, so he can't complain too much. Odd, though, that red-haired girl serving some of his servants across the room looks vaguely familiar. He beckons to Cologne and she pogos over, face utterly serious.
"Yes, Emperor Saffron?"
He points. "Who is she?" Cologne looks up and sees who he's pointing at.
"That is our part-time waitress, Rei Kenobishi, Emperor Saffron. Why do you ask?"
"Bring her here." Cologne obediently goes over to Rei and speaks with her a moment. The girl walks over a moment later, smiling and chatting to his people as she passes them.
"Can I help you, Emperor Saffron?" Her voice also sparks alarm in his mind, he's just not sure why.
"Have I seen you somewhere before, girl?"
"I don't think so, Emperor-sama." Inwardly she winces. It's not entirely a lie, since he's only seen her adult form. "Why, if I may be so bold to ask?"
Even Kiima, now that she's paying attention to the girl, notices a bizarre familiarity. "You look familiar, ningen girl."
"Do I, really?" Rei asks quietly. More alarm bells go off, and Kiima starts getting edgy. "Perhaps you saw me when I was passing Phoenix Mountain on my last trip for my family." Invisibly, she tweaks a few Threads and the set relaxes, uneasiness forgotten along with any sense of familiarity. The boy-Emperor dismisses her and she returns to serving the lesser people he brought with him. He resummons Cologne and she once again pogos up.
"Yes, Your Highness?"
"We are here for a specific reason," he states bluntly, and then his youth takes over again. "Kiima-chan, what were we here for again?"
"A map."
"That's right," he agrees, still child-like. "We're looking for a map to Jusenkyo's source."
"I am sorry, but I do not have such a map," Cologne says truthfully. "The Amazons have never possessed that map."
"Do you know who does?"
"I am sorry, but I do not." Disappointed, the Phoenix Emperor lets it go and finishes the meal in silence. Wordlessly, all rise when he does, and they begin to file out. Rei has already excused herself, and she and the others wait on the rooftop across the street to the café in their adult forms. Kiima looks up, alerted by some sixth sense, and swords are drawn.
The four simply leap in unison to the street below and advance upon the party of bird-folk, anger stiffening their bodies. Rei is in the lead. "Have you forgotten my warning so swiftly, arrogant child?" she demands angrily, hands tucked in her dress' sleeves. She lets one hand drop and holds the other higher, twisting it in a peculiar motion. A crimson Thread appears in her hand, lit along its length with phantom flames. This is not the magnified view. All along the slender length it is one solid color, with only different shading along the whole, proof that he is in truth a phoenix.
"I forget nothing," Saffron replies with just as much heat. "I am trying to help my people." A feather-light twist of Rei's hand and his face contorts with pain. Several arrows are fired, and are carelessly deflected by a gesture from Kohaku.
"I am well aware of your reasonings, boy-king," Rei snaps, loosening her hold on his Thread. His face regains color and he straightens, a furious glare burning in his eyes. "I told you once before, you will only continue your path after a specific length of time has passed. Your wait is not yet over, and yet here you are, oh so far from your mountain home."
"And why do you stop us?" he demands in utter fury, the strange staff once more in his grasp.
"I do this to keep your people from dying, you foolish child!" is the frustrated, and highly unexpected reply. "If you continue on your course without waiting, then you will awaken that which sleeps below the springs and set it on a path of utter destruction, starting with your home. Its slumber needs to last another month and three weeks before you act, and then it will be rendered harmless by its own seal! Are you so stupid that you cannot understand this??" Rei's face and voice are anguished as she looks upon Saffron, who seems utterly stunned at this revelation.
"So…you truly are trying to help us?" is the hesitant question.
"Yes, I am. Just because I am who I am does not mean I care nothing for the lives I guide! I am not trying to stop you, Saffron, just trying to delay you in order to keep you from slitting your own throat!"
"You truly are an idiot, kid," Masaya rumbles. "You never thought there was a reason for all this, did you?"
"No," Saffron mumbles reluctantly.
"Now you know," Kalerian tells him firmly. "Are you going to bull ahead despite this warning and get your race slaughtered?"
"I will not."
"You're starting to learn," Kohaku sighs, sounding almost relieved. "I'm glad. Sister, shall we go now?"
"Very well. But remember this, Saffron. There is a reason for everything I do, and while I let you muddle yourself through on your own most of the time, I will not let a stubborn, hard-headed child destroy a people with so much potential. Forget my warning again and the consequences will be dire."
"Like what?" he asks, like the child he is.
"I will let your Thread come to an end, and let the phoenix people have a new ruler. One that is of my choosing, and one with much more brain that you seem to have. Understand, I have that power, and no one of this plane holds sway more than I. Go home, Saffron, and bide your time. You will find the map when you are meant to." And the four are gone in a swirl of dust.
"Let us return home," says Saffron, as if this is entirely his own idea, causing several listeners to face-fault as the small group spreads their wings and takes off, vanishing quickly into the sky. Cologne, who was listening by the door for the whole confrontation, breathes a sigh of relief and pogos to the back room, where a small table has been set up for employee breaks. Hands shaking, the Elder of the Joketsozu tribe of Amazons pours herself a cup of tea and sips slowly, trying to reconcile with the knowledge that Fate herself is taking an active role in the lives of the Nerima Wrecking crew and its acquaintances.
===
"Stubborn," THWACK! "hardheaded," BAM! "arrogant," CRASH! "brat!" Ka-THWACK!
"What is going on back there?" Akane questions the three teens standing guard on the sides of the dojo, as Rei's furious snarls reach her ears. In one hand is her gym bag, in the other is a sports drink--she's here for their thrice-weekly sparring/training session, and she's never heard Rei so pissed.
"You don't wanna know," Masaya sighs, moving to intercept her as she tries to slip by. "Let's just say she's working her frustrations out on things that can't complain." He winces at a particularly fierce "YAH!!" BANG!
"Who got her so mad?"
"You'll find out in a couple of months, shug," Kohaku says wearily. "Can you just…wait out here while she calms down? It's really painful to spar against her when she's this worked up. Trust me, voice of experience."
Kalerian cocks his head to one side, and his eyes go wide. "Rei," he shouts, "watch out for the--!" Splash!! "Springs," he finishes lamely. "'Scuse me, Akane-chan." And he runs towards the back training area. Several moments later he comes back, face red and soaking wet.
"What's your excuse?" Akane asks, guessing that he's seen something he shouldn't.
"Rei beat me to getting her hot water," he mumbles, "and she didn't warn me."
"And you're still in one piece?" Masaya whistles. "Lucky, lucky boy."
"Yeah, I know. I kinda wish Yusuke or Hiei were here. Or Kuwabara, even."
"Why's that?" Akane looks back and forth between the three. Kohaku grins.
"Yusuke and Hiei are the fiercest fighters of Team Urameshi, and Kuwabara is like a walking punching bag. No matter how hard you hit him, it seems, he just gets back up. I think that kid Riku said it best," she laughs, "'it's like hitting a brick!'"
Akane joins the others in laughing, and a calmer Rei walks into view, still damp but seemingly no longer interested in bashing something into powder. "Ryoga's a little like that," Akane says thoughtfully, "but he's much smarter. He's got the best endurance I've ever seen in a martial artist."
"Huh," Masaya chews a moment on his upper lip, "I'll have to remember that. He sounds like a fun sparring partner."
"He is," Rei chuckles, "even if he isn't around that much. And you're right, having one of the boyos here would be nice. I could hit as hard as I want without worrying about anything except collateral damage. Especially Yusuke or Kuwabara."
Akane's eyes go a little wide. "Would you mind giving me an example? I thought you'd been fighting full strength against me."
"In ki-based exercises, about as close as I can, yeah," Rei sighs. "With pure physical exercises? Akane, I can punch the ground and make a hole twenty feet deep and a good fifty feet wide without trying. If I used a single full-power punch on you, I'd likely kill you. That's why we're working on your stamina, remember?"
"How about the rest of you?"
Masaya volunteers first. "Rei's better at ki than I am, but I've got her outmuscled by a long shot. Only reason I'm not sparring her right now is 'cause she'd likely mix her techniques and send me flyin' without meaning to."
"Ki." Kohaku shrugs. "I'm built too light for the whole 'punch through twenty bricks at once' thing. Heh, last time I tried something like that I broke a few knuckles. But I'm the best at ki."
"Says you," mutters Rei good-naturedly.
"I lean more towards ki, too," Kalerian admits. "I have some strength, but I'm better when I don't have to strike my opponent directly."
"I'm the generalist in our group," Rei explains, "I use both and can mix 'n match attacks pretty easily. Yusuke's got stamina like you wouldn't believe, and Kuwabara has--and I mean this quite literally--the strongest pure ki level in the entire friggin' world." A reminiscent smile. "I can whack him all day and he comes out with just a few bumps and bruises."
"Thanks, I feel so loved," a rather depressed voice says behind them. The Urameshi boys walks up, Kurama and Yusuke grinning, Hiei with his usual mildly-disdainful expression, and Kuwabara with those neat little ghostie flames floating around his head.
"Hey, guys," Rei says cheerfully. "We were just talking about you."
"I know," Yusuke chuckles, "I've sneezed so many times in the past coupla minutes I thought I was gonna blow a brain vessel or something." The others laugh and Yusuke grins wickedly at Rei. "So, I overheard you'd like to hit something at full strength for a change. Up for a challenge?"
"What kind of challenge?" Rei nearly purrs at him. Yusuke gives her the playful version of the 'I'm taken' look and grins.
"Full out match against me?"
"Really?" Rei once again shifts into a different personality--this one seems to be the overly-perky one. But she shifts back into mildly grumpy/frustrated after a moment. "Where? You and I both know our attacks cause serious destruction."
"That's why I've been using that cursed forest outside Genkai's place."
"The one that had that idiotic bat-demon thingie?"
A bark of laughter. "Yeah, him."
"Hey, we can make it a real match!" Masaya grins. "We can 'port everyone over there and train Akane-chan in using her ki to track faster-than-light movement."
"Yeah!" is the enthusiastic cheer from the others, and Rei and Yusuke grin at each other and say in perfect unison, "You're goin' down!"
===============
Oooh, this is gonna be exciting! Anybody want to place bets?
Starling: Oh, here we go. Nabiki-mode.
Nah, just a couple fun wagers. Oh, well. Please read and review!