Jungle Fever – By ashford2ashford

AKA: The Mini Arkana

Disclaimer: I'm sure you're all fully aware that I don't own any of these characters, so I can just skip this part!

Pairing(s): This even I don't know! I think it's got a slight hint of Strings/Arkana but also a touch of Arkana/Seeker. . .shrugs try to enjoy!

Dedications: This is dedicated to Knupfel, and also my little Pookie Drew! Without them, this idea would have never formed in my head!

Other Notes: This is a Rare Hunters fiction. This is the first of hopefully many chapters! I'd say there was hardly any yaoi in it, but I can't make that kind of promise for later chapters. This is my first YuGiOh Fic for , and I only want to make Rare Hunter fans happy! Well. . .even if you're not a Rare Hunter fan, you'd be glad to know that Mariku, Malik, Rishido, and Ishizu make it into later chapters (Probably chapter four if I get good press for this ) so there you go! I seek to please everyone!

ALSO: Well...part six....and let's see how many different ways of writing I can take!!! And the names are all right!!!

Without Further Ado, Please Enjoy!

DAY SIX – Madness Subsides

Lap lap lap lap lap...

Pandora stirred, turned over in his sleep, opened his eyes and whimpered at the sunlight glaring down at him.

Lap lap lap lap lap...

The noise which had roused him from sleep had been faint, gentle, like a soft curl of a cat's tongue, or water gently dripping from a rock.

Lap lap lap lap lap...

There was no urgency to it, no change of pace, just soft, almost rhythmic lapping, gentle, soothing...

Lap lap...

It stopped, and then Pandora dared venture a look over his shoulder to see what it was, smiling when he saw the wide black eyes staring back at him.

Hunched over gently, his back arched like a cat's, his feet dug gently into the ground, his toes crunching grass, his arms in front, like a frog, his fingers splayed in the soft mud, and a soft watchful expression, was Strings...the silent doll.

Pandora saw from the water making its way down his chin, that he had been the one making the noise – lapping at the water with such gentle intention, with such...
He shook his head.
Getting carried away again.

"Strings." His throat felt dry and the name came out choked. He noticed a soft shiver running down Strings' body when his own voice had come forth from his mouth. Moving into a sitting position, Pandora allowed himself to stretch a while, under the ever watchful eyes of the doll-like person.

It had occurred to Pandora, more than once, that being with Strings was like being back at home years ago, sitting in his younger sister's room. She had a collection of dolls, both children-like in their innocence and design, but with those cold adult-like eyes. After a while, Pandora would have to turn away from those dolls, still feeling the cold unblinking eyes on his back, wanting nothing more than for them to tears their gaze from him.
Of course, they never did. After all, they couldn't. His relationship with the dolls never changed until one day, his sister came home from the local town with a new doll. This doll was much more different than the rest. The same wide staring eyes, the same dresses, but the colour of the eyes was black instead of the vibrant blues and the dull browns he was used to.
The doll was unlike the others. Unlike the sense that it was Pandora's favourite, it was the one he loved to watch, loved to have watching him, loved...to just see.

He shook himself out of his dreamy state and then shrugged it off, like he had done several memories before that. Funny he should remember that...after all, he barely remembered even having a sister!

"You bring out the best in me, Strings." He commented, his eyes smiling with his mouth. Strings cocked his head to one side, confused, and then smiled also – only because Pandora was speaking to him.

The magician stood and walked to the water's edge, scooping up the surprisingly clear liquid and dabbing at his face with gentle cupped hands, feeling refreshed and awakened all at once. His eyes were clear from sleep and he blinked a few times to get the remaining water from his eyes.

The tranquil silence was shattered suddenly by a gunshot, which made the birds take flight and cover the sky in their colours.
Both surviving GHOULS looked up and then looked at each other, their eyes wide with fear.

Strings' gaze said it all. We have to go

Then it was like Pandora couldn't go at all...
He remembered the sudden force, the sudden snap back of his shoulder, the force that came so hard and so suddenly that he barely had time to even realise something was wrong. A thousand stars burst in his head, and then a thousand more, another snap crack, and then he was thrown to the ground, his head smashing into a rock, more blood pouring...

He held his good arm up to the sky and then down to his shoulder, or where his shoulder should have been. Trembling, becoming so numb, he barely registered pain as he dug his hand in deep, blood pouring, and a wash of red on his hand, and then he found them...bullets...

Strings...

His sight was fading, blood on his face, blood on his hands, blood in his ears, blood in one of his eyes, all over his arm...

Strings...

It was the last thought he'd ever have for a long time...

?????????

Seeker lowered the smoking rifle and then pulled the cigarette out of his mouth lazily with one hand, blowing out smoke of his own into the crisp morning air. He sat on a collection of rocks on top of a cliff, overseeing the lake which Pandora and Strings had 'camped' at. He was sat on one rock, a larger rock behind him supporting his back and weight, one leg dangling, the foot dug into the ground, and the other leg balancing his rifle, the foot supported on another rock.

A typical sniper's position.

Allowing a soft sick smirk to grace his lips, bringing the cigarette back up to his dry cracked lips, Seeker raised the rifle again, so as to look through the scope and see what the reaction was to his crack shot at the un-masked Magician.

Strings was knelt in the dirt, afraid to move the body (Seeker assumed) and a glazed look of horror frozen on his face. It was very unusual for the human doll to show any expression, and Seeker felt a swell of pride at being able to witness and cause this one of terror!

Again, the cigarette came down, this time as lazy as the last. His work was done, the shot was fired, and now it was just a case of seeing if an old hunter's plan had worked. Fishing in the pocket of the jacket he was now wearing, he brought out a small mechanical device and switched it on. A faint 'pip' came on the screen, and then a green glow with a line moving around the centre point – a radar. A faint yellow dot showed up as the line moved across the Northern point of the jungle, the point where Pandora and Strings were.

Another smile and this time a chuckle.

Seeker...you are evil, you old dog! He mentally congratulated himself, smiling and smoking. Now there's no where left for Pan to hide!

Sitting back, the satisfied air remaining, he leaned back on his rocks and pulled a backpack up onto his knee, unscrewing the various pieces of the rifle he had brought, tucking it away into a case for future use. From inside the backpack he pulled out a flask, unscrewed the lid and took a direct swing of tea laced with whiskey. Just the thing to keep a hunter on his toes. When he was done, he replaced the lid, and then shoved both flask and rifle case into the pack, standing and stretching his weary muscles.

Today was going to be a good day, he had decided...a very...very...good day.

He had seen the awkward way the body had fallen...and it made him start.

He had watched the blood pour – a colour so familiar – and it stirred memories within him...

He had watched the eyes glaze over, the man lose consciousness...and for the first time in his entire life...he had truly felt panic...and...what was that other thing?

What...was...it?

Pain?

Yes. Pain. Heartache and pain.

Strange emotions, entirely new to him...but he knew they were there, and he knew he was feeling them now.

The question was...how?

How could an unfeeling puppet, a re-animated corpse, a cold human doll feel anything? Any kind of sorrow, any remorse, any pain, or any emotion?

They were there...the emotion was there...and it scared him.

Then, when all emotion boiled over, as he was contemplating the questions in his 'mind', as he watched the horror unfold, the most miraculous thing happened – so suddenly it startled even him.

"P...Pa...n...do...r...a?"

He gasped. The words had come from his mouth surely? A soft, gentle, genuine voice he could truly call his own. Feathery light, and with a soft tone to it, this was his one true voice...

His mouth lay open...he tried and tested the word...loving the feel of it on his lips...

"Pan...Pandora...?"

With a new found strength amidst the horror, he forced his body to move without a command this time, as it had this morning when he had surprised himself by discovering how thirsty he was, and how he had told himself, he had told himself, without an order from Pandora or Malik or anyone, told himself to go to the lake and drink. Drink because...because it was his body and his thirst...no one else's...

"Pandora!"

The cry was more frantic this time, his body moving towards the bloodied male's body, the feathery voice taking a more panicked note to it.

Then he was there, and Pandora was still breathing, much to his...what was the feeling...relief? Kneeling down in the dirt once more, feeling as though he had broken from the ice that had held him, he took the Magician into his arms, dragged him to the lake, washed off blood, tended the wound with cloth from his own baggy pants, brushed hair from the magician's eyes...and then wept...

For the first time in his entire existence...Strings, the human doll, wept...

END OF CHAPTER SIX

Ashford2ashford: Muaahahahaha! I am evil indeed to leave it on such a note! But life goes on does it not? And please note that this is perhaps the most dramatic chapter in the Jungle Fever Storyline, and in my own opinion was the most well-written one!

Big thanks go to Knupfel for giving me the perpetual, metaphorical, and literal kick up the backside to make me finish this. (I dub thee my unofficial Manager!)
Also thanks to all who reviewed! Without your support...I would die!
And ultra-omega-uber special thanks go to all at the GHOULS sanctuary at ...without it...Pandora would be so lonely!

Well...with more reviews comes more chapters! You know the drill! SUPPORT ME!!!