Okay, I totally didn't mean for this chapter to get so long. That just sorta happened. There was no place I could really cut it off, cuz I didn't want this to drag on too much further. There are still more elements to my evil plan! Buwahahaha, etc. Enjoy.
I sincerely wish that I knew which bit to poke to make Shimo's body wipe memories. If I did, I wouldn't so much be poking it as prodding it repeatedly. Couldn't he have waited a few more minutes?
At least they didn't faint, like Tohru always does, because then we'd have to wait for my cousins to come around until we begged them to keep quiet. The bell might ring while we were waiting, and that wouldn't be good. I don't think this is the sort of thing that 'we'll explain after school' will cover.
"I've decided that I'm going to wait for a calm, reasonable explanation of where the hell you've put Yuki before I kill you." Black Haru informs us helpfully, scowling, his arms crossed tensely across his chest and lurking in the shade of a nearby tree. Oh, I can tell this will be a fun experience. We'll have to explain everything all over again, once White Haru comes back. I hate explaining things twice.
We seem to have found Momiji's sensible streak. He didn't leap back screaming 'Ahh! Kowaii!' like I would have expected him to, and like Haru, he seems to be waiting for an explanation that I'm trying to dredge into working order.
"Um… This is all sorta my fault. I didn't mean to get Yuki involved."
I suddenly feel really stupid. Yes, my Cousin-with-a-homicidal-streak, blame me. That came out really badly.
"A few weeks ago, I got sick. Shimo's explained it all, but I don't really get it." I trail off, suddenly feeling really embarrassed. I wish that Shimo could back me up with logic and reason here, but instead, I get Yuki inspecting his new, other-worldly orange nails like it's none of his business. He reaches a hand up to his ear while I glare at him out of the corner of my eyes, and he then turns to me, a look of pleased discovery etched across Shimo's delicate features.
"Hey, Kyo, did you realise Shimo has piercings? His ears are just studded up and down. I've seen Goths with less studs, hoops and dangly things."
I have to resist the urge to both beat my head against a brick wall, and strangle Yuki. "I… guess it might be easier if you meet Shimo, right?"
Scowling, I stalk over to Shimo, the mental babbling about earrings growing louder as I approach.
Yuki glances up at me, and his eyes widen in comprehension. "Kyo, wait, I've been trapped in there all day! Don't you dare – Ooph!"
Yuki is cut abruptly off as I plant one of my hands in his face to both shut him up and give me easier access to his chest. There's a brief struggle, but eventually, I get a hand into his chest, and trigger the change. Killing two birds with one stone. The prattle ends, and I get my hands on someone who can give a reasonable explanation.
"What did you…."
Momiji looks like he's about to throw up, and Haru looks more suspicious and hostile than he did before. Then the anger seems to melt off his face, when he sees who is left after the light show, and White Haru runs over to Yuki's form and cradles his head.
"He'll be alright in a second."
I watch as Yuki's eyes flutter open, and he clears his throat uncomfortably. Colour starts to rise in his pale cheeks, and it feels like a pit of shock has just opened under my feet.
"Okay, that's enough of that, he's awake already!"
I yank Shimo to his feet, one hand firmly around his wrist and glare at him. The innocent look I get in return is marred by the red still working through his cheeks.
"Shimo, I need you to stop taking a perve out of the corner of your eyes," his cheeks go redder still, "and explain to these nice people what's been happening lately."
Shimo nods, before shaking himself out of my grip. He composes himself in a second, and motions for the other two to sit down.
"To start with, I apologise for what happened earlier. Had I known that Yuki could do such a thing, I would not have taken the risk of experiencing your school."
The picture of calm, Shimo makes Yuki's body sketch a slight but graceful bow, just as I had predicted he might. "When I requested it of him, Kyo, my master, picked a name for me. I am called Shimo. I am here because I want to protect Kyo."
"Why would you want to do that?"
Thanks a lot, Haru. It's nice to feel appreciated.
Shimo's eyes skim over the cow's face. "Because he made me. Before I accidentally repeat what has already been said, what has Kyo already told you?"
Momiji and Haru exchange confused looks. "Nothing? Just something about being sick."
Shimo spares me a glance that says just how unimpressed he is. "Dearest, you're not being very helpful."
"Well," I mutter, feeling my face light up slightly, "It's embarrassing."
"Only to you, dear."
He turns his attention back to the audience. "I may as well start from the beginning then," he sighs. "Kyo is a very special person."
I turn away, inspecting the side of one of our school buildings closely.
"For the past few years, I have been inside Kyo. He wasn't aware of me, but I knew him. In a way, I was him, but still a separate being. It seems that Kyo has been creating things without realising it, and I am one of them. A few weeks ago, at the end of Autumn, something unexpected happened. I became able to separate myself entirely from Kyo's conscious, and move into another one. So I did. I chose Yuki. Pulling myself from Kyo was a strain on him, and that was the sickness he experienced a few weeks ago. What was also released at the time, were other beings. For lack of a better name, we call these Elementals. They hold true to their name. Elementals are the raw spirits of nature, and they seem to answer to Kyo. Once he names them, then they are bound to his will, and inhabit his body, much like I did. Kyo? An Example?"
I stick out a finger, and a single cherry blossom floats off the end of it.
Shimo sighs deeply. "Kyo-love. Don't be immature."
"Fine!"
The wind kicks up, blowing a gale, and a cloud of petals is blown through the area that we are sitting in. Momiji squeals, caught somewhere between surprise and delight.
I turn around to catch Haru's expression.
"Flowers?"
A feral grin lights across my face. The fact that I just created a cloud of petals that are completely out of season and blew them through the area doesn't seem to override the fact in my bull-headed (pun) Cousin's head flowers are girly and weak. I start to get a little angry. "What, you'd prefer a bigger light show?"
Before Shimo can object, the wind whips up even further, and lightning crackles overhead while the sky darkens, and the leaves of the trees around us start to glow. Mist, glowing white, is billowing in from the sides.
Lighting strikes the ground at my feet, and seems to dance there for a few seconds. It abruptly disappears, and the ashes left spell out Himitsu, concealed or secret.
The light show abruptly stops, and everything returns to normal. Momiji is in his rabbit-form, and cowering under the log he had been sitting on a minute ago.
"Wah! Mechya kowaiiiiii…. Don't do that again!"
Shimo, looking ruffled but otherwise unaffected and uninterested, gives me a withering look to end all withering looks. "Now that was immature."
He goes back to gazing piercingly at Haru.
I mentally sigh, and scoop up the Momiji-bunny before turning to Haru. Momiji struggles free, then bounces up to land on my head. My blood-pressure rises, but I refuse to lash-out.
"Ano… what's wrong with Haru?"
Haru and Shimo are staring straight at each other. His eyes are wide and unseeing, and hands clenching and unclenching in the plain black material of his school pants. I rush over to him, and can hear that his breath is coming in short gasps. Something niggles at me, like someone is trying to talk to me while I'm listening to headphones. I open my mind to the slight noise, and am instantly carried away in the stream of information that is rushing between my cousin's and my guardian's psyches. I can feel my eyes widening with shock on a very basic level, and I rip the two forcefully apart. Ten metres away form each other but at the exact same time, the two collapse.
Momiji leaps-frogs off me, back in the form of a naked human and runs to where Haru lies, and I head for Shimo.
"What the hell was that?"
Shimo shakes his head to clear it, and looks up to where I crouch next to him, rubbing a hand up and down his back.
"That was one of the stupidest things that I've done for a long time. I was looking into Haru's mind, and…."
"Wait a sec, you can still do that?" I throw up my hands, exasperated. Things would have been a whole lot simpler if he'd just told me that. "Why does no one ever tell me these things?!"
Shimo clears his throat again. "Because you don't ask. Either way, Haru got wind of what I was doing, something that has never happened before, and sort of… clung onto me. I tried to return to my body, but Haru was still attached. Then… what you experienced happened."
"Mental tug o' war?"
Shimo nods, and manages to stand, albeit unsteadily.
"Things got exchanged. I need to see if he's alright, the poor thing…"
Shimo totters over to Haru, and sits down next to him. Haru's eyes slowly open, and his hand slips into my guardian's.
"Oh my god, he's in the body of my boyfriend, get your own!" I growl at Haru. I didn't know I could be so possessive.
Shimo glares at me defiantly. "I'm my own person, Kyo."
"That's not the – "
Something tugs sharply on my soul, and Shimo and I look up moments before the fire alarm goes off.
There's the sound of an explosion, and smoke starts rising from the other end of the campus.
Momiji and Haru instantly look at me piercingly.
"That was totally not me."
I glance down, and realise that Momiji's still in his birthday suit. "Look, Momiji… for fuck's sake, get dressed, and make sure Haru's okay. Shimo and I are gonna check out what happened."
I spring up, and head out at a sprint around the side of the building we were behind into the main courtyard, feeling more than hearing Shimo following me. Then I stop. The auditorium is burning down.
A slight, ironic grin flits across my face. "Hey, Shimo. Half the school totally isn't burning down."
Shimo smiles slightly, then quickly wipes it off his face. "This isn't any time for jokes, love. There's an Elemental doing that."
"Damn I'm good."
"Kyo!"
A strangled laugh escapes me, and I start walking quickly towards the blazing building.
"Shimo, I really wish you could help with this one, but I don't want to risk your body's lungs, and I honestly wouldn't trust Yuki with anything more difficult than making his bed right now," I give Shimo a knowing smile, "he's currently on cloud #9 with your nails and earrings."
Yuki blushes and clears his throat again, what he seems to do when he's embarrassed. Yet another original trait of his. It's amazing what a few days in the human race will do to a person.
"So, you stay here, and I'll go throw myself into a really stupid situation, okay?"
I quickly sum up the situation. The left wing of the hall is up in smoke, but the rightwing isn't. I join the crowd of students standing around it wailing, 'ooh' and 'aah' a bit, all the while moving slowly round to the right, shifting my position until I can make a clear dash into the side entrance.
I open the door, and instantly start coughing as smoke starts to seep out. I instantly step back, and summon Downpour and Tempest. The sky clouds over, and it starts to instantly rain a very satisfying, if not instantly soaking sort of way. I wipe some of my immediately sopping hair out of my face, sigh, and step back to see what good the soak is doing for the fire.
It takes a while for the constant downpour to really make a difference. Soon the flames that had been licking the sky are replaced more with smoke, apart from in one section, where the fire seems to writhe, but still be holding strong. I take that as the source.
They only problem with this being: it's in the middle of the roof, not anywhere in the hall itself. This would be fine if I had Shimo to serve as a taxi, but I wouldn't trust Yuki with wings. It sounds like a bad collision with a tree waiting to happen. I'm bleakly picturing myself smacking into the trunk of a tall tree next to the ailing building, when I realise that it's tall enough to reach the roof if I can climb high enough.
It's worth a shot.
Don't let it ever be said that cats aren't effective tree-climbers, we're among the best. The only problem that the domestic cat, the one that I happen to transform into, has is getting back down the tree. It's all very well and good getting to the highest branch of the tree, but climbing back down a virtually vertical surface without going head-over-tail and making a complete ass of yourself is a lot harder. Claws weren't made for that sorta shit.
Anyone who owns a cat will agree, if a cat does happen to do something completely stupid, they either act like they hadn't, or, if that option's impossible because of the evidence, like being wet from the back legs down after falling into a pool, they slink off into a corner, and act more than a bit like their egos have been bruised. This is yet another annoying habit that I've picked up. Running away to sulk is just like a cat's slinking off into the night.
I kick off my school shoes, and then remove my socks. These are placed in a bush before I carefully inch up to the first branch of the tree, and haul myself onto it. There's a lot to be said about keeping fit; a normal student couldn't have done what I did in twice that time that I managed it. From there I manage to move from branch to branch ever higher until I finally slink over the edge and onto the roof itself. I instantly regret not bringing my shoes, as the roof, while not actually burning where I am, is still being warmed quite effectively from inside. Scampering is the best way to describe my swift dance across the rooftop. Thankfully I've had plenty of practice on my house's roof, so the only real challenge is trying to not let my feet burn off.
Images that I've seen in bad television programs with names like 'Real TV' of roofs collapsing in fires and shit going to hell in a handcart come to mind as I make my mad dash from relative safety towards the actual danger area. The only thing that keeps me from saying 'sod this for a game of silly-buggers' is the growing sense inside me that yes, this is an Elemental, I'm not just throwing myself at a fire for no good reason. Although it's not the best life, I'm not about to end it.
I stare up at the pillar of flame that I'm supposed to subdue then name, and wish that I had had the foresight to find myself a plain water Elemental before I tried my luck against the essence of fire. I feel like David when I finally saw that Goliath really was as tall as people said he was. I don't even know how to get it's attention.
A stream of high-pressure water hits the column, and I look down at the fire trucks that are trying to save as much of the building as possible.
The fire writhes, then flows towards the edge of the building towards the hapless firemen. Not happy. It's what I'd do as well, if someone turned the hose on me.
"Er… Oi! Ugly!"
I freeze a chunk of the pillar, and it blows up in a rather satisfying way. Oh yeah, ice and fire go boom. I learnt this in science at one stage. The pillar turns straight at me. Throwing myself at the ground with my hands over the back of my head, I manage to protect my hair from singeing off my head as it swoops over me. I can't say that much for my clothes or the backs of my hands. I scream like a girl and roll across the roof a few times until my clothes finally stop smoking, then try to regain my composure. The water falling from above is hell on my burns, but I know that it's the best thing for them right now. Another thing I remember from 'fire safety day' is that if you're trying to put out a fire on your own, aim at the base of it.
It hits me that this is true. The fire is coming from, and concentrated in one spot. I hit the ground again to avoid another sweep of flame, then leap up and run at the source.
Ice is already covering my arms, but nothing prepares me for sicking my hands up to my elbows into fire. The fire blows apart, and I pull my arms out to cover my face. When everything clears, the only thing left is a singed spot on the ground, and the frozen form of a Pheonix, it's wings outstretched and beak open with a cry of fury.
I fall boneless to the floor, and manage to get the name out. "Flame…"
When the feeling of being singed dies down and my newest Elemental is settled in, I stumble to my feet, careful not to use my arms to do anything, even bend them. My world is pain on a whole new level.
Not thinking, I peer over the edge at the crowd below. "Shit!"
Shimo spots me, and starts working his way to the back of the crowd and out of it, as I unsteadily head back the way I came. I can only hope that no one else saw me on the roof. I'd hate to try and explain that explosion right now. This time when I peer over the edge, there's only a familiar grey-haired person waiting.
"Kyo? Are you… what the hell happened up there?"
"I don't quite know…"
"… But look!" he holds up an angry looking grey thing, which reminds me of a ferret crossed with a snake. "I think I found the thing that screwed us around before!"
I sincerely wish I could sweep some of my hair off my face. But I can't.
"How do you know that?"
I vault over the edge and land at the feet of Yuki's body.
He smiles slightly, an evil little smirk that I've only seen once on that particular face. "This is Yuki talking."
"Are you sure this time?"
Yuki takes a bold step forward and whispers "you'd better believe it" in my ear, before, I guess, looking down.
"Kyooooooo-kuuuunn! Shiiiiiiiiimoooo!"
Momiji bounds up to us, and then looks me up and down, aghast.
"Momiji, would you mind calling Hatori? It seems that Kyo was caught in the fire."
The blonde bunny shakes his head feverishly. "Nuh-Uh, screw Hatori, I'm calling the hospital!"
I blink with surprise, but my cousin's gone and running for the administration building before I can comment.
"Take off your jacket."
Wincing, I reach for my collar, but Yuki hisses with sympathy as he sees my hands, then removes it for me.
"Well… You're going to need a new uniform"
"Thanks for that, just what I needed to hear."
"Well, I what would you prefer? Me telling you how horrible you look from back here, or me trying to make the best of it?"
He has a point.
*~*~*~*
13.11.03 – 10.43 AM
This is actually Yuki writing. Kyo ordered that I bring his book with me when I came to see him (we're picking him up tomorrow and bringing him back to the house) so that he could write, but seemed to forget that his hands are bound, and he isn't supposed to move them for at least a week. Silly kitty. Kyo asked me to write down what he dictates, but right now I'm ignoring him to get down the reason why I'm writing. Heh, this is quite satisfying. He's yelling at me, but that's all that he can do. Okay, I'll stop teasing.
I was brought to the hospital in an ambulance, rather dramatic for a few burns (i.e.: having his arms and entire back-half of his body scolded, 2nd-degree hand burns! I don't want to know what he did to get those) and then shoved in this bed, where I've been lying on my stomach all god-damn night, and will be whenever I sleep from about now until the end of time. Hah, suffer Yuki, you can't jump an invalid (We'll see about that)! I think that I have Momiji and Haru's words that they'll keep quiet, and I guess I trust them. I hope they realise that it's a lot more serious than we've made it seem. Well, it can be (I have to agree, going by the number of times over the past month he's had bandages on, everyone must think that we're either fighting more than usual, or that he's become a klutz). So, now there are two new Elementals, Flame and Exchange. Why do they always seem to come in groups? Are they seriously trying to kill me? Don't answer that question. Don't… stop writing this down! If I could stand out without burly nurses from hell on my ass, I'd smack you from here to Australia!
I should stop. Our poor little patient is getting flustered. To put it lightly. I think he'll seriously try to kill me when he reads this. Oh well, it was amusing at the time.
Yuki, standing in for a sickly Kyo.
*~*~*~*
Okay, just to clear things up, Haru and Shimo… I'm not sure what I was thinking there, it was a random moment thought that escalated. Basically, they exchanged a lot of memories, so… Now they know each other. Whee. Oh, and 'mechya' is a slang word I picked up in Japan. Although I'm not entirely sure if it's used outside 'Osaka-ben', I decided it's a better sorta cute substitute for saying 'totemo' (very) all the time. They mean the same thing. It's amazing what you pick up walking through a toy-department with a bunch of squeally half-insane Japanese school-girls. Just tellin' ya. Oh yeah, review.
