Bishonen Beware

Chapter 8

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Chichiri grabbed both Riina and Tasuki by their shoulders as they grasped Koujis arms and Chichiri quickly concentrated, porting them to the inner yard of the bandit fortress. When they reached the gates and looked around trying to get a glimpse of the running redhead, there was no trace of her left.

"There. I think I saw her." Tasuki noted as his sharp eyes noticed a faint shadow disappearing into the forest's shadows.

"That bloody little idiot." Riina muttered in annoyance.

"Sweet Suzaku. How on earth did th' lass get so far?" mused Kouji and shaded his eyes with a hand.

Riina frowned for a second. "Chichiri, can you sense her chi and track her down?"

Chichiri lowered his head for a moment, a distant look on his masked face.

"Quite easily no da. She's like a bonfire in the night. Demo, I can also sense a party of about thirty to forty men ahead of her, and closing no da." He slightly wrinkled his brow and put his hand to Riina's shoulder. "Anou, Riina-chan. Do you know if Lana-chan has any magical or celestial abilities, na no da? I could sense a strong magical aura on her chi and it is getting stronger every moment no da."

Riina looked the seishi worriedly and bite her lip. "No. We're just mortals y'know." she sighed annoyed and shook her head. "Anyways, we're running against time. She just can't face that troop alone and survive to tell the tale." She looked the men toughly. "Chichiri. Port to wherever Lana is and help her in whatever way you can. Stay in the treetops and guide Tasuki over there first. Tasuki, use your seishi speed and get over there to give her some back up. Let her get killed and I personally skin you alive. When Tasuki's there Chichiri can concentrate to guide us over there by Kouji." she glared the men, as if challenging them to argue with her.

"The plan can work." Kouji agreed and lightly poked Tasuki to the ribs, as he was about to argue with her.

"So what are you waiting for then? LET'S GET MOVING!!!" Riina shouted impatiently, turning chibi and waving her arms.

Chichiri just nodded, concentrated for a second and disappeared in a pulse of a red chi. In a second Tasuki's head snapped up as he listened a voice only he could hear, and also disappeared on a gust of wind, leaving only a little dust cloud leading towards the forest.

"We'd better get going too." Kouji stated to Riina and started to run towards the forest, the girl right behind of him. When they reached the edge of the forest Kouji suddenly halted, looking surprised and tipped his head as if listening something.

"Yea. I know th' place. It'll take us few moments to get there. Just hang on." He said seemingly to no one.

"Concentrate. Just think what you want to say. You don't need to speak it out loud for Chichiri to hear it." Riina smiled as she tried to catch her breath.

Kouji chuckled and scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Oh cut it. This is th' first time I'm doing this."

Riina laughed as they started running again. "I know. So what was happening?"

"They're farther than I thought. Half way down of the mountain and the fight has already started." Kouji answered as he jumped over a fallen tree trunk. Riina cursed heavily in Finnish, making Kouji to glance her in amazement.

"Kouji, can I borrow one of your throwing knives, please?" she asked as she reached Kouji and ran by his side.

"Sure." he handed to her a long knife. "But why?"

" 'Cuz, for one, I'm gona skin Lana when this is over. And two," Riina grinned "I need something to defend myself with when we get there." and put the knife on her belt. Suddenly her smile dropped. "Shit. There wasn't supposed to be any other bandits around here." she muttered quietly to herself. But Kouji's sharp ears caught her words.

"What do ya mean? Didn't ya just run into some a few days ago?" Kouji asked as they slowed down to climb a rather steep part of the hill. Riina looked at his running back as troubled and guilty looks played on her face.

"So I lied okay?!" Riina growled to him. Kouji stopped to look at her seriously. "I'm sorry, but I did it only to protect Lana and Chichiri and Tasuki and everybody. To keep everything in balance, y'know." she looked down ashamedly under Kouji's piercing gaze.

"You two have some serious explaining t'do when this is over." Kouji said seriously as they continued their way. Riina muttered something incoherent and was blushing with shame as she skidded down of the hill to follow Kouji.

******* A few moments earlier ******

"So where are they?" Lana shouted to the black wolf, who was running ahead of her, his tail bobbing as he ran in the way a cheerful wolf's tail does.

There's still a way to go. Why don't you run faster, oh slow poke for a human, we'd be there much sooner. Shadow growled amusedly in Lana's mind.

"OY!!! Watch who you're calling a slow poke human, you image of a dog." Lana snapped back and sped up, running by the side of the huge black wolf.

WHO'S A DOG?! Shadow snarled, glancing at the girl running by his side. And did a double take. Then Lana heard something that resembled a rough, barking laughter echoing on her mind. We'll make you a decent wolf yet, human cub. the wolf commented and sprinted ahead of her.

"Hmph." Lana sniffed and sprinted up after the black wolf.

For some reason even though she was running with an incredible speed, she wasn't winded in the slightest. On the contrary, she was feeling better than ever before. She could feel every stone and twig under her feet, and she could smell the thousand scents of the forest as she ran. Lana was amazed at how much she hadn't noticed before. Soon she heard something making a noice, loud enough to awake the dead and she growled in her mind, now being sure that the Mt. Reikkaku bandits wasn't only a bunch of idiots from her point of view, but totally blind and deaf too.

'Sheesh… Who COULDN'T notice them?! *ugh* They absolutely REEK and are making noise like a limping tornado in a metal work shop…' she wondered herself as she slowed down and took a more cautious approach.

Humans rarely notice a thing, mind you. I'm surprised that they have lasted this long… Shadow commented dryly, as if he had heard her thoughts.

Incoming! There's a pack of humans right ahead of you, behind of that cliff. There's about as much or a bit more of them as I have tail feathers… Breeze announced to her. The brown hawk was flying over the treetops, slightly ahead of them and scouting the area. In an instant Shadow hid in the shadows of a large bush nearby that made him totally invisible. Lana considered her chances for a moment. Quickly she climbed up a tall rock next to her and lied down as flat as possible. This way she had the element of surprise... Well, she had it anyways… But that didn't count…

Lana smirked, as the men were walking by of her, not aware of the danger. When half of the man had passed her, Lana slowly stood up, glaring angrily at them.

"Don't cha guys know what mountain this is? This is Mt. Reikkaku, the territory of the Mt. Reikkaku bandits. And **** like ya have no business being here. That's called trespassing. And I think I should do something about it" she snarled and jumped down of the rock, right in the middle of the amazed men, who were carrying weapons from toes to teeth, and started to draw their swords and daggers or to put the arrow to their bows. But Lana was badly ticked off and she was fuming from rage. She was in the mood for beating somebody up or starting to break anything that she could reach, no matter was it a living thing or not.

Lana bared her fangs in a snarl and growled. She kicked the nearest victim to his ribs and gave him a straight right to his face, making him go down for the count. She took the fallen short sword and wielded with it her next opponent, making him hold his now limp right arm in pain. She continued her movement with a smooth roundhouse kick, which hit him on his ear and knocked him down, unconscious. Lana blocked a strike coming from her right with her sword and with a growl she hit the man to his face with her claws, leaving five long, deep and bleeding scars running across his face. Lana glanced in surprise at her hand. Her nails had turned into claws. Long, curved … and sharp. And the back of her hand had faint dark brown fur.

'This is no time to stop and think. I'll worry about it later.' She thought as she bared fangs to her next victim. 'Fangs!! I have fangs. Now isn't this gona be fun.' She suddenly smirked widely and chuckled coldly, making the men confused and nervous, and leaped forward.

Kick. Hit. Dodge. Strike. Bite. Block. Jump and spin. Lana moved smoothly and though every strike and hit found their mark, she was still helplessly outnumbered and her situation started slowly look bad. Shadow had joined the fight and was taking the men down on the edge of the battle, one by one. Breeze dived from the sky every now and then, making the archers to miss their mark and to seek for a cover, but this didn't help much.

Lana was totally lost in the battle. She had gotten few bruises and some light wounds, but that didn't matter to her, it only made her to fight more fiercely and her vision had blurred in red. Suddenly there was a light gust of wind and Lana took by instinct a whiff of it. There was a familiar scent coming from somewhere nearby.

'Chichiri?! What the hell is he doing here?' Lana wondered. Suddenly there was a short chi-blast hitting a man with a spear right behind Lana. Soon she spotted the familiar blue haired monk crouched on a thick branch of a nearby pine tree. And he looked like he was concentrating into something. There was a clang where an arrow had hit faintly shimmering chi-shield and dropped to ground in Lana's feet.

She growled and tried to back away from the protecting shield. For her it was more a handicap, than a protection and she didn't want anything to do with it. She backed as fast as she could, turned around and took few fast steps… and tripped into a root which she hadn't noticed, making her to take a nose dive and having a sudden, and way closer than she'd prefer, friendship with dead leaves and tree pines on the ground. Lana turned on her back, spiting a pine from a mouth, and realized that she was face to face with a murderous looking man. And he didn't hesitate to use his opportunity when his opponent was on the ground and helpless.

"Say sayonara, demon." He and said with a cold smile as he raised his sword for a final strike. Lana raised her hands in protection and closed her eyes in fear. Instead of a fatal stabbing, there was a gust of wind and a loud clang, like when metal hits metal. Lana opened her eyes. There was a tessen made of diamond few inches above her chest, stopping the sword. Lana looked more up to her right, following the arm holding the tessen. There was a familiar glint of necklaces and wild, messy looking red hair.

"LEKKA… SHIN'EN!!"

There was a hot gust of fire and the man had turned instantly a fried charcoal.

"T-Tasuki!" Lana gasped as the redhead bandit turned to her. For a second he looked a bit shocked when he looked at her, but then he reached his hand to her, pulling her to her feet.

"Ya okay kiddo?" he asked worriedly as he glanced at her wounds, before turning to face two fool hard swordsmen who were approaching from a side.

"Yeah, I'm fine… Thanks. Where are the others?" Lana asked as she crouched and readied to jump over a man who was concentrating into Tasuki, and to claw his face to blood.

"Kouji's gonna be here inna second, with yer friend." Tasuki growled as he took a short sword from his fallen opponent and started fighting with a sword in his left hand and the tessen in his right, not daring to use it's fire in so close combat. From the corner of his eye Tasuki noticed when Chichiri ported down to the ground and joined in the fight, using his shajukou as a spinning weapon, with which he blocked hits and hit his opponent's unconscious, occasionally raising his chi-shield. The fight continued steadily, though it had suddenly gotten much more deadly.

"Kouji!" Lana suddenly shouted with a wide grin, when throwing dagger dropped a man that had been lurking for Chichiri. Kouji stepped from behind of the tree with a sword on his hand and took for the nearest man.

"LANA!!!" someone suddenly screamed from behind Lana. She quickly spun around, just in time to see a man about to thrust a sword through her chest. The time seemed to slow down, but still she had no time to act. Suddenly, in the middle of his move the man suddenly stiffened up and his gaze turned glassed. When the sword fell from his hands and he gurgled, trying to reach his throat, Lana realized to her horror that there was two inches of the blade of a dagger reaching through his throat. When the man slowly fell down, Lana saw shaking Riina standing near the trees, eyes wide from terror.

Riina raised her badly shaking hand to her lips, not seeing the waving Lana, but only the now dead man on the ground, on a pool of his own blood. Slowly she looked around. Tasuki blocked a strike with his tessen, and finished his opponent with a swift strike of sword. Kouji thrust his sword to someone's side, and yelled, when a man behind him managed to cut him into his arm. Chichiri was cornered by two men, dodging their strikes, until he saw an opening in their defense and sented the both of them into blessed darkness of unconsciousness with a few well-aimed hits of his staff.

"N-no.." she whispered "No. NO!! Yamete minna!" she shouted, tears starting to fall down her cheeks. A faint red glow started to appear around her. "ONEGAI, YAMETEEE!!!" she screamed, her eyes closed. Suddenly the red glow grew stronger around her, turning into a soundless explosion. It send the last standing enemies flying and hitting the nearest trees or stones and falling to the ground unconscious. Lana, Chichiri, Tasuki and Kouji were thrown to the ground by the force if the exposion.

"Riina?!" Lana asked when she sat up and saw her friend falling to the ground unconscious.

****** Back in the library *****

"ReeOOOWWW!!!" a black, furred streak of lightning darted from under a big sofa, leaving a trail of smoke behind of it. It ran past of couple of bookshelves, skidded around the corner and hide behind one of those thick plants that you can usually see in the libraries.

Faia had managed to claw her way out of Lana's bag. With a great effort she had hidden the bag and the book under the sofa and had been following what had been happening on the book. That was until her cat's 6th sense had advised her to search for refuge when the book had suddenly started to glow. The sofa was now shaking wildly and the underneath of it was one step from sauna heat.

'Now that was a close one…" Faia thought and started to clean her silky fur. 'What the heck is going on? She almost.. AAHHHH!' she noticed the slightly charred and still smoking tip of her tail.

'My TAIL!! My beautiful TAIL! It's ruined. It's gonna take forever and some more to grow it back. Ooohh!! That girl is SO dead. I'm gonna skin her alive!' Faia marched angrily between the bookshelves, heading back to the now quiet sofa, mentally rolling up her sleeves.

'Make away. Step aside. Cat on a warpath coming through!' she dived under the sofa, ready to claw her way through the book to the other dimension when she suddenly halted to see the book, as the cats over sized curiosity kicked in.

'Eh? What's this? Could be interesting…Perhaps I'll let them live for a while.' Faia muttered and took a better seat to follow what was happening.

***** Back in the bandit fortress *****

When they had gotten back to their feet after the explosion Chichiri had ported them straight back to the room that girls were currently sharing. Lana was now walking back and forth nervously in the small room, while Chichiri was sitting on a small stool next to the bed, where Riina was lying unconscious, with a absentminded, distant look on his face. Kouji was sitting on the end of Lana's bed bandaging his injured arm. Tasuki had disappeared off to somewhere as soon as they had returned. The huge black wolf that Lana had insisted to take with them was now lying down next to the old wooden drawer, from where he was looking suspiciously at everybody.

"Is she alright?" Lana asked Chichiri for the tenth time. And this time to her surprise he leaned slightly back and looked at her.

"I think she's going to be fine, Lana-chan no da. She's just sleeping. A chi-blast like that can really take you out y'know no da." He said calmly. Suddenly he removed his smiling mask and looked straight into Lana's eyes. "Lana-chan. There's something I'd like to ask you." He said with his soft, low voice.

Lana swallowed nervously and tried to look calm. 'Oh, shoot. There goes the mask and the no da's… And I thought that I was in trouble BEFORE…' she thought. "Sure thing. What do you want to know Chichiri?" she said out loud as offhandedly as possible, crossing her arms and tilting her head.

As Chichiri considered how put his question, Kouji stood up from the bed and walked across the room to stand in front of Lana, never turning his sharp eyes away from her, and leaned on the wall.

"Are ya a demon or kitsune* or s'mething, kittling?" he asked with a deep suspicious voice. Chichiri glanced at him. " 'Cuz there's no way that can be any natural thing that ya have there." He stared tightly at Lana, his deep green eyes burning with mistrust.

* AN: just like Chichiri was referred as mr. Fox (in anime) or a cat guy (in manga) by Miaka (how rude), when he showed up in the first time. For information, Kitsune is a fox spirit that can take many shapes and has tendency towards trickery. There is good and evil fox spirits…(this is as far as I recall. So please correct me if I'm wrong)

"What do you mean "natural thing", bandit boy? I don't have a clue what you're talking about." Lana angrily snapped back, making Shadow raise his head, his ears straight up.

"Look at yer self an' tell me if that is normal to you." Kouji said and pointed bowl in the table that had some water in it. Slowly Lana walked next to the table and bend over the water, pulling her reddish brown hair aside.

She stared at her reflection in the water for a moment.

"No." She muttered in horror, backing away from the table and falling onto her bed. "That can't be true." she touched her face and then looked at her hands. "What's happening to me?" she asked with a shaking voice, being on the verge of tears. Her hands had turned back to normal, though her nails still were unusually long and sharp. Her face features had turned sharper and wolf-like, and her brown eyes were now sharp golden orbs. The tips of her ears were pointed in an elfin like way and a pair of sharp white fangs flashed from the corner of her lips. She had had more wolfish looks and rage during the fight, but though the strongest features seemed fainter now, for some reason these didn't seem to disappear.

"What's going on?" Lana asked with a scared voice, and tried to wipe a tear from the corner of her eye. The both the men looked thoughtful.

I told you that we'd make you a decent wolf yet, human cub. Shadow commented calmly from his corner.

"Oh shut up you! I don't want to be a wolf… not this way!" Lana shouted to the wolf, leaving Kouji and Chichiri staring open mouthed. "And how should you know if I want to be human or wolf?"

I can understand your talking as you can hear me. You smell like a wolf… in a way. You fought like a wolf just now. Why would you want to be a human? They're soft and weak. They're easy game. the black wolf answered, staring calmly Lana, straight to her eyes.

"You can talk to that wolf?" Chichiri asked Lana slowly when he had recovered from the surprise.

"Kinda." Lana sniffled and turned her attention back to them. "It feels more like that I can understand them, feel them. The animals I mean. But I don't have any idea why this is happening."

Chichiri slipped his mask back to his face, and seemed to fall in deep thoughts, considering all that had happened.

Kouji and Lana looked quickly up when the wooden door suddenly opened.

"Oh, hi Genrou. I was starting t' wonder where ya went." Kouji nodded to Tasuki as he stepped through the door and shut it behind him.

"*che* Had t' go n' find something t' wear 'cuz some aho ripped my coat." Tasuki said as he tugged the two brown belts crossing his chest and adjusted the sling of his Tessen. He was now wearing a wine red tunic over a white long sleeved cotton shirt. He had comfortable white pants where was a vine red belt on his right thigh and soft leather boots to match with the tunic.

Kouji smirked amusedly. "Where th' hell did ya dig those up? Can't decide if ya look like more of a woman or an idiot..." He quickly cut it out, noticing the warning glare.

"These happened t'be the only ones of my size ya moron." Tasuki growled and turned to Lana, who had forgotten her troubles in an instant and had turned SD, staring at him with huge eyes, trying hard not to drool or faint.

"Here." He threw something heavy and blue to the bed. "I think this is yours. I thought that ya might want it back."

Lana glanced at it absentmindedly, and then looked it again with huge grin. "Riina's bag!" she squealed excitedly and dive head first for the backpack.

"Whut the heck is that?" asked Kouji and stared at SD Lana who was cuddling the now suffering bag.

"Y'know Tasuki-kun. I think we have seen something like that before no da. Not quite alike though no da" Chichiri stated quietly as Lana was zipping it open.

"Yea. Kinda like the one that Miaka had with her." Tasuki muttered and narrowed his eyes as Lana stuffed her head into the bag. A muffled "Now where are they…." could be heard every now and then.

Kouji had turned SD and stared at the sight with huge eyes. Chichiri looked slightly amused at Lana's sudden enthusiasm. Tasuki turned chibi and sneaked next to Lana, trying to peek over her shoulder as she suddenly pulled herself out of the bag and hugged something red and rattling tightly to her chest, beaming like a morning sun.

"What the heck are those" asked chibi Tasuki curiously, pointing at the tiny bag in Lana's arms.

"They're candies. Y'know, sweets." Lana said absentmindedly as she dug with one hand once more through the bag. "She said that she brought chocolate too…" she muttered to herself and then seemed to think of something. For a second she looked at the small plastic bag on her hand, and then opened it with a rattle.

"*um* Tasuki, I haven't had the chance to thank you for saving my ass, so … *mm*... Would you like some?" Lana reached the candy bag towards Tasuki, slightly blushing and fingering the corner of her new silk tunic nervously.

Tasuki looked at Lana and the candy in front of him for a second and smiled, taking one candy wrapped in a red and white striped paper.

"Arigato, Lana-chan. It was no trouble. Just dun make it a habit." He chuckled "Can't be always watching yer back kiddo" he smirked for Lanas' happy looks and opened the candy wrap, raising a brow to her "By th' way Lana-chan." He was about to ask something when he tossed the white candy to his mouth but for some reason didn't continue his thought because once again he turned chibi, whit huge amazed eyes.

"Whut if thifh? It'f sho good!" he asked candy in his mouth with a wide grin and his chibi eyes shining. "Kou'i, Chiwi, ou g'tta try 'ese" he took the bag from Lana's hand and tossed it for Kouji, who with a one smooth move snatched it from the air.

Kouji turned SD and sweat dropped as Tasuki sat to the bed next to Lana, munching happily at his candy. Kouji carefully nudged Chichiri's sleeve to catch his attention and lightly nodded towards Lana, who was snickering to Tasuki's blissed look, her full attention focused to him.

Chichiri straightened himself and a slight look of surprise quickly crossed his mask

Lana's reddish brown hair had turned flaming red and was slowly growing shorter. Her shoulders were growing more board as her blue silk tunic started to turn for a white cotton shirt. The tips of her ears returned to normal. Though her fangs still flashed when she laughed, they were more normal sized now and her wide eyes slowly turned sharper and the sharp yellow puppils of hers had now a softer look in them… Like Tasuki's. In short, she was slowly turning in the front of their eyes into smaller female version of Tasuki.

As Chichiri reached out with his mind to scan more deeply at Lana's chi, which was now settled around her in calm shades, he noticed a faint streak of bright red deep inside of her. It was the mark of Suzaku seishi's powers. Though it wasn't anywhere near as strong as his or Tasuki's, not to mention the aura of his already died friends, it wasn't something to be ignored. He also quickly scanned unconscious Riina's chi, but he couldn't make any sense of it yet, because at the moment her chi was all messed blur. It seemed that she hadn't taken so lightly the death of the man she had killed to save Lana's life. Chichiri sighed mentally. It would be a one huge mess when she'd wake up.

Chichiri stood up, turning his attention back to Lana and to the problem at hand. "I thought that it might be something like this no da." He commented and walked around Riina's bed.

"What d' ya mean Chiri?" Tasuki asked, swallowing what was left of the candy and looked at Chichiri. He hadn't noticed Lana's change of appearance because he had had his full attention in the candy.

"I mean, that you seem to have a shape sifting ability Lana-chan no da. Within some celestial level no da." He said to Lana who was looking at him with wide eyes.

"What?!" she asked as her jaw dropped.

"And you have no other than Suzaku no shici seishi's mark na no da."

"WHAT?!" shouted Tasuki in his hot-headed way and looked at Lana "YAAAAAAHH!!!" he yelled and bolted up from the bed, drawing his Tessen and pointing with it at Lana "WHUT THE HECK ARE YA?!!"

"Tasuki-kun, NO!" Chichiri snapped and quickly pushed the Tessen away.

"What do you meant "what am I?" asked slightly scared Lana "Chichiri, what is he talking about?!" she looked at Chichiri pleadingly. "What are YOU talking about?"

"I don't know what all of this means no da." Chichiri sighed, shaking his head "But what comes to Tasuki's question… Why don't you take a look yourself again no da?" he commented tilting his head.

Lana climbed up from the bed and walked back to the small table and the bowl of water. When she looked down, she noticed for the first time, that her hair wasn't long anymore. She looked at her mirage in the water. Blinked. And leaned forward for a closer look.

"I… I look like Tasuki." She breathed "Except that I still look like a girl." Slowly she smirked the familiar fanged lopsided smile and straightened her self, looking at the men. "Cool!"

Chichiri slightly shivered as he looked back and forth between Lana and Tasuki and could help feeling of how unnerving the likeness of the two was.

Kouji couldn't help himself, but lean to the wall, laughing helplessly to the two and Tasuki's expression.

"Ah hah hah! Genrou, I just gotta say, that you would have made a one hot woman. Ah heh heh heee!!" He laughed doubled over, not noticing wield of Tessen.

"LEKKA SHIN'NEN!"

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Oh my… Oh my my my … *turns chibi with a huge grin* So many wonderful reviews!! ^^ *hugs all the reviewers and gives chocolate for everybody* You guys are really the best, making my day! *sniffle* (And I finally figured the ff.net's loopholes of getting proper editing uploaded! XP) Hate to tell you this guys, but Lana's computer has been down for few weeks now and I think that I'm hitting some sort of *shiver* Writers Block… So the next chapter might take for a little longer, but it'll get here eventually. ^^;;; Trust me!

But on the meanwhile, for the feedback! ^___^

Neko-ane - *grins and pats eye lashes innocently* What's wrong with Chichiri/Tasuki pairing?! *grin* They'd make SUCH a lovely couple… *gets flamed by Chichiri and Tasuki fans who oppose the pairing* Okay.. *coughs smoke* I'll shut up now… @@ *is being helped up by her muses* *erm* What's Tamora's "Immortals"?... *gets flamed again by fans* I haven't heard of that. The idea of animal talking is coming from Lana's side. She got the idea for powers and insisted to have that one… It's just the usual Lana. ^^

Songwind - *laughs* Scarily yes, I actually could imagine him flaming down the ff.net and all the hentai fans of his... ;P Personally speaking, Tasuki's just about as straight as the combination of my twisted sense of humour and imagination. ^~ *gets flamed by her muse, Tasuki* *Chichiri promptly knocks him out cold with his staff* *cough cough* @@~* Point… Taken... Daaaaaa….. *falls unconscious*

Ali Marie – Hi ya and thanks for the review. I'm glad that you've enjoyed of the fic. ^^ Perhaps I should explain few points here, just to lighten up some things. ^^
 Finland and Finnish: Yup! In the real life, I really am from Finland and the country, language etc. cultural stuff was a fun idea to add to the fic. ^^
 Faia the cat: She's actually Lana's own character and one of her original muses. A very long story. You can mail for Lana for more detailed explanation.
 Fangs: In the real life we both, Lana and I, have natural fangs. And because of our age difference (as has come up from the fic) we always  joke that Lana still has smaller, milk fangs. ;p
 The calamity: I think that Lana was being over whelmed in her new situation, that her natural reaction was to accept it, cope with it and move along with it. I mean, if you'd start thinking too much of your suddenly hearing animals talking, who wouldn't go insane?

Opaaru Tsuki - *aw* I'm sorry sweetie… *pats shoulder and gives a tissue* I hope that this chapter made up for the last chapter at leas a little. But I'm glad that you enjoyed of the previous chapter. ^^ *smiles and takes a pose* We aim to amuse! ;p

Alatril Carnesr – Hi ya again! ^^ I'll try to update soon… If you like of animals, what do you think of the latest twist of plot? ^~