Yay, another chapter! Not much to say here…so I'll stop wasting your time.
Quote: A writer is both their harshest critic, and most loyal fan.
Chapter Twelve: We're In.
Robert Minomi was sitting behind his overly large desk pretending to be busy. The truth was, though he had a meeting with someone for something, he didn't really know who with or cared, and wanted to look important. If he was bent over his desk looking like he was doing paper work then everyone thought him more important and a hard worker.
Now, don't get him wrong. Minomi really was a hard worker when the situation called for it. Like that business with the Host, what was name? Daskue? Dieskey? Oh well, it didn't matter, he was gone now. It really had been an unfortunate turn of events, losing the Host and all. But it wasn't catastrophic and those Wing Masters were just over reacting about the whole situation. How was he supposed to know his most trusted group would betray them? Really, no one had seen it coming.
There was a knock on the door and the voice of assistant floated to him. "Sir, your meeting has arrived." Hmm, was it just him, or did she seem a little…giggly? Oh well, no time to worry about that now. Now was the time to pacify some rebellious people.
(A/N: Ok, I'm sorry for interrupting this story, but I'm getting annoyed. I guess people don't like reading A/N before the chapter because I'm still getting questions about "Koi" and Daisuke being "brothers." They're not. "Koi" is Krad. "Koi" means lover in Japanese. For a full explanation, please see A/N for chapter 11, right before the chapter begins. Thank you. Now back to the good stuff!)
"Send them in…please," he called back. He really needed to learn that girl's name.
The door opened and three hooded figures walked in. Minomi frowned and was sure to keep his hand near the button to call security that sat on his desk.
"Welcome," Minomi greeted pleasantly. "How may I help you fine people today?"
"Is it not polite to stand when you greet someone, Head?" One the figures asked. They sounded like a women. Before he could continue to debate this fact, he found himself on his feet and bowing politely. What the hell? Since when did I start bowing to people? This is unacceptable! Minomi decided it must have just been an instinctive reaction, his mother had always told him he should do that.
"Of course, my apologies for being rude," he quickly covered. "Please, take a seat. And perhaps you would like to remove your cloaks? Surely it must be warm for you?" The figures sat but did not remove their cloaks; they did not even acknowledge he had spoken of them.
"We have come to discuss a matter of citizenship with you," this time, it was the figure on the left who answered. He was definitely a male and sounded vaguely familiar. Minomi shook it off; he couldn't be someone important enough to remember if all he wanted was to speak of citizenship.
"Of course," Minomi replied, taking his seat again. Wait a second, he was already sitting down. When the hell did that happen? "And what may this matter be?" He had probably just sat down on instinct as well; his mother was an excellent teacher.
"It is for a family of four that wish to move," the woman replied.
"Ah, desiring to come and join this wonderful nation of ours?" Minomi smiled.
"Not at all," it was the final figure who spoke this time. Definitely a male, and sounded kinda old as well. "They wish to leave it." Those words had Minomi stumped, who would want to leave his superb rule?
"Leave to where, may I ask?"
"Raikou Kingdom," Minomi stiffened. He had nothing against the kingdom personally; it was more the way it was run that he disliked. It was run by the royal family and they were announced the next to take the thrown at birth. There was absolutely no way to get more power then the ruling family in that kingdom and that was something Minomi did not like.
"Of course," he answered. Was it just him, or were those three shaking a little. "Let me get the papers." He stood up and walked over to the cabinet, grabbing out the correct paperwork. While his back was turned, he didn't notice the figures glance at each other or that two of them nodded.
"Ah, here they are," Minomi walked and sat back down behind his desk. "Just have the family fill these out and send them back and we'll finish everything up." In a couple years, he added silently. Minomi would be dammed it he was giving up his people to another kingdom.
The figure he had pegged as a woman reached out and took the papers. She took the pen that Minomi offered her with a small nod of thanks. Wait! Why did he just give her a pen? She hadn't even asked for one? The cloaked woman filled out the forms quickly, all the while, Minomi wondering why they were doing this here and why he wasn't kicking them out. She was done about ten minutes later.
"Well, now that that's done," the woman commented, putting the pen down, "We won't need to send it in. You can just sign it and we'll be on our way."
"Of course," Minomi smile and took the pen. What! No, not of course! This was bad! Why wasn't his hand obeying his body! Before he could stop himself, Minomi signed the papers and passed them the woman.
"Excellent," the younger male smiled.
"Will…will that be all?" Minomi asked in a strained voice.
"Actually there is one more thing we would like you to do," he continued. "Please, will you sign these resignation forms, giving up you position as Head of this Council." He placed the papers on his desk, already filled out, just in need of a signature.
"Of course, I will pleased," he answered with a huge smile. No! No, he would not be pleased! What was going on? Why couldn't he control himself! The papers were signed and the figure took them back.
"I believe that was all we needed," the figure spoke to his companions. "You may release him now, Daiki." Suddenly, Minomi was on his feet.
"How dare you!" He screamed. "What is the meaning of this? What have you done to me?"
The figures removed their cloaks and smiled wickedly at him. There were two people he didn't know and Satoshi Hikari, prince of the Raikou Kingdom.
"Why, what ever do you mean, Head-I mean, Minomi?" Satoshi asked pleasantly. "You signed the papers yourself. We did nothing."
"That is a lie! I would never have done that if I was in control of my own body! What did you do?" He yelled.
"We placed a voodoo spell on you," Emiko answered happily. Daiki held the doll up he was holding and moved its arms while muttering under his breath. Minomi suddenly found himself moving without his permission, mimicking the doll's movements.
"This…this is illegal! I will have you all arrested for this!" He threatened.
"Empty threat," Emiko smiled. "You can't arrest a Niwa for using voodoo magic."
"Voodoo-ism was outlawed by the first council, I can arrest whomever I want and that signature is forged!" He countered smugly.
"You don't listen well, do you?" Emiko replied. "Even my son would have picked up on things by now and he's only ten years old. I said you can't arrest a Niwa for voodoo magic."
"What does that have to do with anything?" He snapped.
"The Niwa that sat on the first council wrote a loophole in that law," Satoshi explained. "It said that voodoo magic was forbidden to all except his own bloodline. If they thought it was prudent to cast a voodoo spell, they may. Of course, it was said in much more eloquent words, but that's the basic gist of it." Minomi sputtered indignantly.
"That…that may be," he began. "But that is still a forged signature. Anything that is signed under the influence of any type of magic is considered void."
"That is true," Satoshi agreed. "But can you prove it? Voodoo magic leaves behind so small a magical trace that it will be gone by the time you or anyone else searches for it. There will be no proof of your claim and no one will believe you. You are far less popular then you think." Minomi sputtered angrily. How could this be happening? This wasn't how it was supposed to be! He was supposed to be loved and honored and people should just be begging him to be their Head of Council. What had gone wrong?
"Why?" He ground out.
"I did say that you'd regret it," Satoshi answered, "Taking Daisuke away from us."
"The Host?"
"My son," Emiko snapped. "Not some stupid tool to be used to get you more power."
"Just be grateful that I let you live, Minomi," Satoshi stated coolly. "If you weren't so pathetic, I would have killed you long ago. I will be sending this resignation to every paper I know, so I suggest you start writing your farewell speech, you're through." The three left silently and Minomi fell into his chair, completely helpless to do anything.
He had been beaten by a fifteen year old prince.
"Oh, this is going to be so gross, this is so going to be gross," Dark chanted as he hopped up and down in place.
"What are you complaining about?" Krad snapped. "I'm the one who's going to be doing the hard stuff!"
"Ya, I'm just the one who gets to cut up the head!" Dark yelled. "And heart!"
"And I'm the one giving up my blood, so shut up!" Krad yelled back, he was in a very bad mood.
"I'm sorry, Krad," Dark sighed. "You know I would do it in a second if I could." Dark wrapped his arms around Krad's waist and nuzzled his neck. Krad stopped preparing and turned to his koi.
"I know, I'm sorry for yelling," Krad sighed. "When this is all over, we're going to have to go out and do something special."
Dark smiled and kissed Krad. "I think I like the sound of that," he smiled. Krad smiled and kissed Dark. The two were soon lost completely in each and didn't hear the voices right next to them.
"Damn it," Satoshi muttered. "I can't leave those two alone for a minute."
"Are they dating?" Emiko asked.
Satoshi snorted. "They may as well be married with the way they act sometimes."
"I think we should let them be for a while," Kosuke suggested.
"Unfortunately, we don't have time," Satoshi bent down and picked up a rock from the ground. He took aim and chucked it at Dark's head, hitting him dead on. Dark yelped and pulled away from Krad.
"Satoshi!" He shouted. The blue haired boy shrugged; Oh no, Dark was upset with him, how would he ever survive?
After Dark had finished trying (and failing) to attack Satoshi, Krad forced him to sit down. He told him to sit in one spot and not question him. Then Krad turned to Kosuke and ordered him not to let Dark up. Dark had started shouting and started getting up but Krad wouldn't allow it. He cast a freezing spell and froze Dark to the ground. The purple haired boy had glared evilly at Krad, but he ignored it and went to talk to Satoshi.
Satoshi, for his part, was leaning against a tree that was far away from Dark. Though he was trying to look perfectly calm, Krad could see that he was breathing heavier then usual and his face was slightly flushed. Krad smirked; those two were impossibly stubborn sometimes.
"Hey," Krad greeted. "It's pathetic really, not being able to outrun him." Satoshi glared at him. "Though, he does have a high stamina, and you are kinda weak."
Satoshi's glare increased. "He only has a high stamina because you keep him up all night."
"Yup," Krad nodded. "I trained him well, he's almost able to keep up with me now."
"That is way too much information," Satoshi shook his head, looking slightly sick. Krad chuckled at his discomfort and reached into his pocket.
"Here, I got this for you a while back," Krad handed him the nicely wrapped gift.
Satoshi took it and looked it over. "What for?"
"Your birthday," Krad answered. "I had to get it ahead of time since I knew I wouldn't have time now."
"What are you talking about? It's not my birth…" Satoshi trailed off as he mentally counted the days in his head. His birthday was actually yesterday.
"Huh," he muttered. "I forgot." Satoshi looked at the present in his hands and slowly opened it. It was a small necklace with of a black cross; much like the one Krad wore in his hair. "Um…Thanks Krad." Satoshi murmured uncertainly. He never knew what to say when someone got him a gift. "It's…nice." He hoped that was the right thing to say.
Krad snorted, "Nice, he says." He shook his blonde head. "There's another one just like it that I'm going to keep. I'll give it to you later."
"All right," Sato agreed uncertainly. "Thanks for the gift."
"Whatever," Krad shrugged, walking away. "Thought you could use it after getting chased by Dark." Satoshi punched him in the arm and placed the necklace in his pocket.
"KRAD!" Dark's voice shouted. "Unfreeze me now! My ass feels like it's about to fall off!"
"Now there's an amusing mental image," Satoshi mused. "Dark with no butt. Let's leave him there and see what happens." Krad shook his head and didn't answer.
Krad, Dark, Satoshi and Kosuke stood before what looked like an empty field. It was bare and desolate with no traces of life for miles. They all had dark colored clothes on and stood side by side. In front of them were the human head and heart they had bought. Krad stepped forward, a knife in his hand and held up his wrists. While he chanted something only he could understand, Dark walked forward, also carrying a knife, and picked up the human head. He looked at it and visibly squirmed in disgust before raising his knife and stabbing it into the head.
As he did this Krad cut his left wrist, then quickly cut his right. He used his blood to paint strange lines on his face then turned to the three others and did the same thing. Once everyone's face was painted, Dark removed the knife from the human head and placed it back on the ground. Satoshi stepped forward and took Dark's knife. He lifted the human heart and stabbed it then put it back onto the ground, next to the head. Krad chanted something again and laid down his knife and Dark's next to the human body parts. There was a screeching sound and bright flash before everything went silent again.
Krad sighed and sat down. The human head and heart had disappeared with the light. The others looked confused and joined him.
"What now?" Satoshi asked.
"We wait," Krad shrugged. "See if out offering is accepted."
"What was all that about?" Kosuke inquired. "I mean, why did you stab the dead body parts?"
"The original ritual requires you to kill the human as part of your offering," Krad explained. "But the offering is technically only the head and heart, the rest of the body is thrown away. So by stabbing the head and heart, we are imitating killing a human."
"We wanted to get as close to the original ritual as possible," Dark continued, Krad had already told him all this. "And that meant stabbing some dead body parts."
"That still doesn't make sense," Kosuke countered. "How would they know if we killed them or faked it?"
"That flash of light we saw," Krad said. "When it's an actual offering it will only take the head and heart of the dead human, leaving the rest of the body behind. Then, whoever checks the offerings, they look at the head and heart for stab wounds. If there are none, they know it's fake. So we had no choice but to stab them." Kosuke nodded, feeling a bit nauseated. Thank goodness his wife and father-in-law had been too tired from their voodoo spell to be able to come with them.
"What about Krad painting his blood on us?" Kosuke ventured, feeling the sticky substance on his cheeks.
"Demon blood," Krad shrugged. "It gives you all the sent of being half-breeds and most of the creatures here see with their nose."
"Ya, their eyes get ripped out when they're born," Dark added. Kosuke looked at him like he was crazy.
"How long until we know if we were accepted?" Satoshi asked.
"Not long," Krad commented.
"How will we know if it worked?" Dark wondered.
"Turn around," Krad ordered and Dark did so. It was a good thing he was sitting down or else he would have fallen. Right where the field had been, a huge castle like place now stood. It looked exactly like a castle out of medieval times, only bigger and darker. It even came with a drawbridge, which was currently being lowered for them.
"Answers my question," Dark muttered.
"We're in," Satoshi nodded. "Let's go."
A/N: And that's the chapter. Nothing really interesting this chapter, I guess it's just a filler. I'm drawing it out to torture you all. On the plus side, Minomi's gone and Krad gave Satoshi a present! I know, they were both sooo OOC in that scene…but, well…I just couldn't resist! I'm sorry, forgive me.
Next chapter should be more interesting, I hope. And, knowing me, it will end in a cliffhanger. Oh well…REVIEWS!
Kitsunelover3333- Yay, you like! Yay, you review! Hehe…glad you like.
Chrnoskitty- I'm the one writing it? Is that bad? Um, sorry, no sex between those two at the moment. Though they did get some vague make-out scenes, was that good?
Neko-Salosa- Thank you! I'm so glad you liked it!
RoYale- Oops, aren't I supposed to answer your questions, not ask them for you? Heh… Yes, updates good…the faster the better, right?
DarkSapphireDragon- Thanks for reading, I'm honored you'd spend that long reading. Daisuke should make an appearance next chapter, but I'm not promising anything.
Dimonyo-anghel- Yes, sad humans. Krad had to sign it in blood so that he couldn't go back on it. And he also couldn't turn around and say that he never bought the stuff, because they have his blood, not just his signature. Does that make sense? AS for the law, it was explained in this chapter, the whole, Niwas can use voodoo magic if they want.
Kute Anime Kitty- thanks for reviewing. I'll see about the whole head-cutting of thing, but I won't promise anything.
SpinningAvia- Break is next chapter so you won't have to wait too much longer. Thanks for reviewing!
Liliath- Hehe…glad you liked that scene. Did that really happen to Daisuke? We may never know… Thanks for all of your reviews! You are totally cool! Please enjoy this till the end.
Mujyakina-Hitokoroshiya- Yes, poor Dai. He must be saved! Thanks for reviewing.
Classy Raven- You know what, I think I should just tell people to forget that whole "Koi" thing all together. I've confused so many people with it. No, Daisuke can't die, if he did, then the sequel would be kinda…pointless.
Lord Scribbles- Pedophile…heh, ya that's my Master all right… I'm glad you liked the market place scene. I loved/hated it as well and had so much fun making my friends read it. They gave me the funniest looks. OMG, you have got to stop reading my mind. It's starting to get freaky. At one point I did plan on making them brothers, but after debating it some I decided against it. Because of certain facts about the Master that have yet to be said, he really couldn't be Dai's brother. But excellent guess! You get so get twenty-two cookies for such a great guess!
Seena- Hey, do like Gravitation?