Yay! I got some new reviewers, nice job by the way on the flattering
complements about my story Tyedye/Rin! You are so on my good list! Sorry
about the wooden sword thing Spyrogue, there is so much cool stuff coming
up!!! I can't wait; too bad I'm such a slow typist. Oh well, I shall do
the best to serve my reviewers as justly as possible! On with my story, or
we shall all die of suspense.
Chapter 9,
Bar Fight!
They rose early the next morning, around 5 AM, because Sora had paraded through the hallway banging pots and pans together for about a half hour. For the ones that gave her an especially hard time of getting up that morning, Kuwabara, Kurama, Yusuke, Yahiko, and Kaoru, she either dumped water over them or let Whiplash flick their faces until they awoke. She had dressed in a tank top with another shirt over top that had a cloak attached to it, jeans and the same boots from the day before. After loading several haversacks with food and issuing them to everyone they mounted up and left the house by 6 AM. The going was rough. Mud traps were everywhere, the roads were flooded and mosquitoes swarmed about them constantly.
Sora: Watch out Yahiko; don't stray too far off to the side of the road. The currents are pretty fast right now; I need everyone to form a straight line behind me.
Yukina: What good would that do?
Sora: My horse is one of the biggest and strongest here, as she moves ahead the current will break around her legs. It will then be easier for your horses to push through behind her.
Yukina: Wow, I never thought about it like that before.
Splash! Shizuru's mare had slipped on a wet stone beneath the waters surface, and its legs buckled beneath her like matchsticks. She had been in the middle of the line and as her horse fell she went under, with the horse rolling over top of her! They slid back into the rest of the horses, knocking over Yukina, Kurama, and Sano. Now four horses were blundering in the water, their riders tangled in the fray.
Hiei roped his horse's mane around an overhanging branch and dove in after his half sister. The water was up to Sora's waist on the high parts of the road, so you can imagine how far up it must have been on Hiei.
Sora: Everyone, tie your horses to something and help get the other horses up out of the water! If we don't get the horses up first they could crush everyone.
Hiei couldn't see anything once under water, it was nothing but brown muck and the horses churning about didn't help his vision much either. Then, he felt something! It was Yukina, but she was out cold and stuck under her horse. Hiei was strong, but in the water trying to lift a slippery 1600pound animal was tough even for him. Just then a stray hoof came from out of nowhere in the gritty water and clipped Hiei right over the head. Sora was wading a few feet away from him when she saw the brown water suddenly redden! The unconscious Hiei suddenly floated to the surface, blood trickling down from a laceration that ran the length of his forehead. Sora put a rope about his waist and lifted his head clear of the water and lashed to rope to a tree so that he couldn't fall back under. Three of the horses were up now, and everyone but Shizuru and her mare had been found. Sora was worried, because Shizuru and her horse had been under the longest and no one had any idea where they were. Something had to be done.
Kurama: I've got an idea!
Sora: What should we do?
Kurama: Take your shirt off!
Sora and everyone else: WHAT!?!?!?!?!
Kurama: Take your top shirt off and tie rocks to the bottom of it. We can drag it through the water, and it will catch on anything lying under the surface!
Sora: (whispering under her breathe) Good idea, perverted, but good!
After a few seconds they hit something, it was Shizuru's mare, but Shizuru was nowhere to be found. The half choked mare tried to get up, but they wouldn't let her waste any more energy. It was when she really started making a raucous and trying to go in a certain direction that Sora realized she was trying to show them where Shizuru was!
Horse: Over.there.
Sure enough, a ways down the swollen bank Shizuru had washed up and was slowly recovering. They helped her back to their spot down the river and took stock of their situation. Only three sacks of food were still intact, the horses were a little shaken but ok, Yukina's legs were badly bruised and would've been broken had she not had the water to lighten the weight of the horse on top of her. It was Hiei they had to worry about now. Sora had nothing to fix his wound with, and was afraid it would get infected from the dirty water; he was bleeding quite profusely too, but the wound itself wasn't too bad. Sora made him a poultice and bandaged it to his head. As soon as they were awake and collected they mounted up again and left. Sora was determined to get them as far as possible that day. She didn't want to be stuck out in the woods that night, if they could only make it to the tavern down the road then they could stop there for the night.
It was around 10 o'clock when they reached the tavern. As soon as they had walked in Sora new that this was a mistake. There was a rather rough crowd there that night, and they were well drunk. Sora made them bed the horses down back in the woods, she didn't want them where anyone could see or hurt them.
Sano: I don't like it here; it looks dangerous, especially when we have so many vulnerable friends with us.
Botan: Who are you calling vulnerable?
She had raised her voice a bit too loud at Sano, and everyone seemed to turn and look at them all at once. The bartender called out to them.
Bartender: Can I help you kids?
Yahiko: Kids! Owowowowowow!
Kaoru had elbowed him in the ribs in order to shut him up.
Sora: Yes, we need two large rooms.
Bartender: I on'y gots one vacancy, but it's a large room and there's space fer all o you's in et. Unless yous gots sumthin' aginst sleepin in the same room all together. Hawhawhaw!
Kurama: (whispering to the rest) We should go, the last thing we need is to create a scene here by bringing our things upstairs and stuff. Plus, this place gives me a bad feeling!
Sora: I agree, let's go.
As they turned to walk out, Sora made sure to keep the younger kids in front of her to prevent any of them from straying off near the drunks throughout the tavern. They had almost made it safely out of the tavern, when just as they walked around the last table someone reached out and grabbed Sora's arm.
Man: Hows about you hang around a bit longerer miss?
Sora: I'm sorry sir, (she was loosing patience) but it is late and I need to rejoin my friends.
The rest were looking back, ready to take action if need be.
Man: Awww, ferget aboot them! I gots a nice room upstairs that you kin stay in tonight.
This time Sora shook him off and just walked away. Man: Hey, you git back 'ere roight naow! Oi, ain't finished wid you!
Sora: Well I believe that I'm finished with you, now please allow me to rid my eyes of your pathetic carcass! I have more important things to attend to.
She had said the wrong thing to the wrong drunk person! He got up so fast and swung at her she didn't have a chance to blink. His fist collided with her jaw and her head snapped to the side. Everyone froze, Yusuke and the rest were about to jump in and help her but she held up her hand to stop them. A slow, angry grin came over her face.
Sora: You shouldn't have done that.
Her jaw had been popped out of its socket, but instead of screeching with pain Sora made a casual yawning motion with her mouth and it popped back into place!
Sora: Never.ever strike a lady! Especially when her IQ is about 30,000 points higher than yours, and she's armed.
She pulled out the twin hand guns, the engraved cobras on the handles glistened in the torchlight. She looked about and moved like lightning! Firing both guns off to the sides she hit the chains holding the ancient torch chandelier and made it come crashing to the floor, Laura Croft style! The alcohol on the floor caught fire easily and surrounded Sora in a ring of flame.
Sora: Hey Kenshin, ready the horses; I should be done here in a few minutes.
Kenshin: Are you sure Miss Sora?
Sora: Oh yeah!
The shouts and cries of men could be heard from within the tavern. Sora wouldn't kill any of them, but she left them with a few nasty bumps and bruises. She walked out a bit later dusting herself off.
Sora: Let this be a lesson to all of you, never drink and drive me insane, it just doesn't end well!
They rode a ways down the road and made a small shelter in the woods. The horses slept off a ways and everyone else lay around the fire, thinking about the day's events.
Shizuru: I'm sorry I caused so much trouble today back on the road. I should've been more careful when I guided my horse in line.
Kurama: It's not your fault, or your horses, if you hadn't slipped on that rock one of us would've.
Shizuru: You're just saying that.
Kurama: No, I'm not. Just don't worry about it, we should all get some sleep. Its been a rough day for all of us.
Kuwabara: Yeah, well we should've jumped on that guy sooner and helped Sora out. She had to fight em off all by herself!
Yusuke: You're just mad because you missed out on a good fight! You took a big risk today by taking on all of those guys at that bar.
Sora: It was nothing; everyday I take a risk just by drawing breath. But I just happen to be very lucky, because every time I find myself looking death in the eyes I always manage to find a way to escape. I keep cheating death. I'm addicted to gambling, but money is never the price to pay on the kind of gambling I do, if I should ever lose it would mean my life! I like challenges, I like taking risks, I like gambling with death, I like to fight for survival!
CRACK! BOOM! They looked up and noticed thunderclouds moving over them.
Sora: Oh no! Quick get some long sticks and grab a few of those extra blankets off of our bags, we need to make a shelter fast.
The blankets Sora had brought with them were lined with plastic on one side to keep the wet out. They rigged up several lean twos in the forest for them to lie under, and no sooner had they finished then it started to pour, again.
They slept uneasily at first do to the frequent lightning bursts, but the pattering of the rain soon lulled them off to sleep. It had been a few hours when Sora began thrashing about in her sleep. It was another nightmare, like many of the ones she had, had before. Dreams of her past that haunted her mind, attacking at night when she was most vulnerable.
Sora: No! Stay away from him! Get out of here Jake, run! Aaaaaaah.
She sobbed and shrieked, tears rolling down her face as she slept. But no one could hear her over the noise of the storm. However, Kenshin had been lying adjacent to Sora's feet, and as she kicked out she struck him in the ribs where he had been injured the day before. He gasped and rolled over in agony.
Kenshin: Ugh, owowowow! What's happening? Who's there?
He slowly came fully awake and looked over at Sora, he then crawled over to her and shook her by the shoulders.
Kenshin: Sora, Sora wake up! It's just a dream, calm down.
CRACK! A thread of lightning split through the sky, illuminating everything, and Sora rolled to the side snapping awake. Kenshin fell over next to her, and they lay on the ground looking into one another's eyes for a moment.
Kenshin: It's ok, it was just a dream that it was, you'll be ok.
They sat up and Sora put her head in her hands and leaned against his chest.
Sora: It was so awful; everything, everything was so real! They were there, and, and I couldn't do anything to stop them.
She broke down into sobs. Kenshin had no idea what to do; he hadn't ever been in a situation like this. Sora was obviously quite shaken by her dream, however, because her tears were beginning to soak through Kenshin's shirt. He reluctantly put his hand on her head and pulled her hair out of her face.
Kenshin: Don't worry; it's all over now. Nothing can hurt you.
Sora: I'm so sorry to wake you, are you all right?
Kenshin: Yes, do you want to talk about anything?
Sora: No, that would only make things worse. Please, just leave me alone; I need to wrestle with my own problems. I'll see you in the morning, thank- you for waking me up, I don't know how much more of that I could've taken.
Kenshin: Are you sure that you're all right?
Sora: YES! Goodnight, I'll see you in the morning.
She lay back down, thinking hard to herself, trying to rid her mind of the horrid images from long ago.
Sora: (whispering to herself) Just a dream, just a dream. God I miss them, and it's all my fault that they're no longer with me!
Wow, talk about emotionally disturbed. Someone obviously has had a few problems growing up. Just to let you all know Sora is my original character, not anyone else's! You will all find out a huge amount of information about Sora in my Christmas episode, but that will not be for another few chapters. Please read and give me long, flattering reviews!
Chapter 9,
Bar Fight!
They rose early the next morning, around 5 AM, because Sora had paraded through the hallway banging pots and pans together for about a half hour. For the ones that gave her an especially hard time of getting up that morning, Kuwabara, Kurama, Yusuke, Yahiko, and Kaoru, she either dumped water over them or let Whiplash flick their faces until they awoke. She had dressed in a tank top with another shirt over top that had a cloak attached to it, jeans and the same boots from the day before. After loading several haversacks with food and issuing them to everyone they mounted up and left the house by 6 AM. The going was rough. Mud traps were everywhere, the roads were flooded and mosquitoes swarmed about them constantly.
Sora: Watch out Yahiko; don't stray too far off to the side of the road. The currents are pretty fast right now; I need everyone to form a straight line behind me.
Yukina: What good would that do?
Sora: My horse is one of the biggest and strongest here, as she moves ahead the current will break around her legs. It will then be easier for your horses to push through behind her.
Yukina: Wow, I never thought about it like that before.
Splash! Shizuru's mare had slipped on a wet stone beneath the waters surface, and its legs buckled beneath her like matchsticks. She had been in the middle of the line and as her horse fell she went under, with the horse rolling over top of her! They slid back into the rest of the horses, knocking over Yukina, Kurama, and Sano. Now four horses were blundering in the water, their riders tangled in the fray.
Hiei roped his horse's mane around an overhanging branch and dove in after his half sister. The water was up to Sora's waist on the high parts of the road, so you can imagine how far up it must have been on Hiei.
Sora: Everyone, tie your horses to something and help get the other horses up out of the water! If we don't get the horses up first they could crush everyone.
Hiei couldn't see anything once under water, it was nothing but brown muck and the horses churning about didn't help his vision much either. Then, he felt something! It was Yukina, but she was out cold and stuck under her horse. Hiei was strong, but in the water trying to lift a slippery 1600pound animal was tough even for him. Just then a stray hoof came from out of nowhere in the gritty water and clipped Hiei right over the head. Sora was wading a few feet away from him when she saw the brown water suddenly redden! The unconscious Hiei suddenly floated to the surface, blood trickling down from a laceration that ran the length of his forehead. Sora put a rope about his waist and lifted his head clear of the water and lashed to rope to a tree so that he couldn't fall back under. Three of the horses were up now, and everyone but Shizuru and her mare had been found. Sora was worried, because Shizuru and her horse had been under the longest and no one had any idea where they were. Something had to be done.
Kurama: I've got an idea!
Sora: What should we do?
Kurama: Take your shirt off!
Sora and everyone else: WHAT!?!?!?!?!
Kurama: Take your top shirt off and tie rocks to the bottom of it. We can drag it through the water, and it will catch on anything lying under the surface!
Sora: (whispering under her breathe) Good idea, perverted, but good!
After a few seconds they hit something, it was Shizuru's mare, but Shizuru was nowhere to be found. The half choked mare tried to get up, but they wouldn't let her waste any more energy. It was when she really started making a raucous and trying to go in a certain direction that Sora realized she was trying to show them where Shizuru was!
Horse: Over.there.
Sure enough, a ways down the swollen bank Shizuru had washed up and was slowly recovering. They helped her back to their spot down the river and took stock of their situation. Only three sacks of food were still intact, the horses were a little shaken but ok, Yukina's legs were badly bruised and would've been broken had she not had the water to lighten the weight of the horse on top of her. It was Hiei they had to worry about now. Sora had nothing to fix his wound with, and was afraid it would get infected from the dirty water; he was bleeding quite profusely too, but the wound itself wasn't too bad. Sora made him a poultice and bandaged it to his head. As soon as they were awake and collected they mounted up again and left. Sora was determined to get them as far as possible that day. She didn't want to be stuck out in the woods that night, if they could only make it to the tavern down the road then they could stop there for the night.
It was around 10 o'clock when they reached the tavern. As soon as they had walked in Sora new that this was a mistake. There was a rather rough crowd there that night, and they were well drunk. Sora made them bed the horses down back in the woods, she didn't want them where anyone could see or hurt them.
Sano: I don't like it here; it looks dangerous, especially when we have so many vulnerable friends with us.
Botan: Who are you calling vulnerable?
She had raised her voice a bit too loud at Sano, and everyone seemed to turn and look at them all at once. The bartender called out to them.
Bartender: Can I help you kids?
Yahiko: Kids! Owowowowowow!
Kaoru had elbowed him in the ribs in order to shut him up.
Sora: Yes, we need two large rooms.
Bartender: I on'y gots one vacancy, but it's a large room and there's space fer all o you's in et. Unless yous gots sumthin' aginst sleepin in the same room all together. Hawhawhaw!
Kurama: (whispering to the rest) We should go, the last thing we need is to create a scene here by bringing our things upstairs and stuff. Plus, this place gives me a bad feeling!
Sora: I agree, let's go.
As they turned to walk out, Sora made sure to keep the younger kids in front of her to prevent any of them from straying off near the drunks throughout the tavern. They had almost made it safely out of the tavern, when just as they walked around the last table someone reached out and grabbed Sora's arm.
Man: Hows about you hang around a bit longerer miss?
Sora: I'm sorry sir, (she was loosing patience) but it is late and I need to rejoin my friends.
The rest were looking back, ready to take action if need be.
Man: Awww, ferget aboot them! I gots a nice room upstairs that you kin stay in tonight.
This time Sora shook him off and just walked away. Man: Hey, you git back 'ere roight naow! Oi, ain't finished wid you!
Sora: Well I believe that I'm finished with you, now please allow me to rid my eyes of your pathetic carcass! I have more important things to attend to.
She had said the wrong thing to the wrong drunk person! He got up so fast and swung at her she didn't have a chance to blink. His fist collided with her jaw and her head snapped to the side. Everyone froze, Yusuke and the rest were about to jump in and help her but she held up her hand to stop them. A slow, angry grin came over her face.
Sora: You shouldn't have done that.
Her jaw had been popped out of its socket, but instead of screeching with pain Sora made a casual yawning motion with her mouth and it popped back into place!
Sora: Never.ever strike a lady! Especially when her IQ is about 30,000 points higher than yours, and she's armed.
She pulled out the twin hand guns, the engraved cobras on the handles glistened in the torchlight. She looked about and moved like lightning! Firing both guns off to the sides she hit the chains holding the ancient torch chandelier and made it come crashing to the floor, Laura Croft style! The alcohol on the floor caught fire easily and surrounded Sora in a ring of flame.
Sora: Hey Kenshin, ready the horses; I should be done here in a few minutes.
Kenshin: Are you sure Miss Sora?
Sora: Oh yeah!
The shouts and cries of men could be heard from within the tavern. Sora wouldn't kill any of them, but she left them with a few nasty bumps and bruises. She walked out a bit later dusting herself off.
Sora: Let this be a lesson to all of you, never drink and drive me insane, it just doesn't end well!
They rode a ways down the road and made a small shelter in the woods. The horses slept off a ways and everyone else lay around the fire, thinking about the day's events.
Shizuru: I'm sorry I caused so much trouble today back on the road. I should've been more careful when I guided my horse in line.
Kurama: It's not your fault, or your horses, if you hadn't slipped on that rock one of us would've.
Shizuru: You're just saying that.
Kurama: No, I'm not. Just don't worry about it, we should all get some sleep. Its been a rough day for all of us.
Kuwabara: Yeah, well we should've jumped on that guy sooner and helped Sora out. She had to fight em off all by herself!
Yusuke: You're just mad because you missed out on a good fight! You took a big risk today by taking on all of those guys at that bar.
Sora: It was nothing; everyday I take a risk just by drawing breath. But I just happen to be very lucky, because every time I find myself looking death in the eyes I always manage to find a way to escape. I keep cheating death. I'm addicted to gambling, but money is never the price to pay on the kind of gambling I do, if I should ever lose it would mean my life! I like challenges, I like taking risks, I like gambling with death, I like to fight for survival!
CRACK! BOOM! They looked up and noticed thunderclouds moving over them.
Sora: Oh no! Quick get some long sticks and grab a few of those extra blankets off of our bags, we need to make a shelter fast.
The blankets Sora had brought with them were lined with plastic on one side to keep the wet out. They rigged up several lean twos in the forest for them to lie under, and no sooner had they finished then it started to pour, again.
They slept uneasily at first do to the frequent lightning bursts, but the pattering of the rain soon lulled them off to sleep. It had been a few hours when Sora began thrashing about in her sleep. It was another nightmare, like many of the ones she had, had before. Dreams of her past that haunted her mind, attacking at night when she was most vulnerable.
Sora: No! Stay away from him! Get out of here Jake, run! Aaaaaaah.
She sobbed and shrieked, tears rolling down her face as she slept. But no one could hear her over the noise of the storm. However, Kenshin had been lying adjacent to Sora's feet, and as she kicked out she struck him in the ribs where he had been injured the day before. He gasped and rolled over in agony.
Kenshin: Ugh, owowowow! What's happening? Who's there?
He slowly came fully awake and looked over at Sora, he then crawled over to her and shook her by the shoulders.
Kenshin: Sora, Sora wake up! It's just a dream, calm down.
CRACK! A thread of lightning split through the sky, illuminating everything, and Sora rolled to the side snapping awake. Kenshin fell over next to her, and they lay on the ground looking into one another's eyes for a moment.
Kenshin: It's ok, it was just a dream that it was, you'll be ok.
They sat up and Sora put her head in her hands and leaned against his chest.
Sora: It was so awful; everything, everything was so real! They were there, and, and I couldn't do anything to stop them.
She broke down into sobs. Kenshin had no idea what to do; he hadn't ever been in a situation like this. Sora was obviously quite shaken by her dream, however, because her tears were beginning to soak through Kenshin's shirt. He reluctantly put his hand on her head and pulled her hair out of her face.
Kenshin: Don't worry; it's all over now. Nothing can hurt you.
Sora: I'm so sorry to wake you, are you all right?
Kenshin: Yes, do you want to talk about anything?
Sora: No, that would only make things worse. Please, just leave me alone; I need to wrestle with my own problems. I'll see you in the morning, thank- you for waking me up, I don't know how much more of that I could've taken.
Kenshin: Are you sure that you're all right?
Sora: YES! Goodnight, I'll see you in the morning.
She lay back down, thinking hard to herself, trying to rid her mind of the horrid images from long ago.
Sora: (whispering to herself) Just a dream, just a dream. God I miss them, and it's all my fault that they're no longer with me!
Wow, talk about emotionally disturbed. Someone obviously has had a few problems growing up. Just to let you all know Sora is my original character, not anyone else's! You will all find out a huge amount of information about Sora in my Christmas episode, but that will not be for another few chapters. Please read and give me long, flattering reviews!