RS: Sorry this took so long; I had a lot going on. Look: standardized testing started, I was so sick I could hardly get out of bed, then there was the science fair, plus a close friend of the family ended up in the hospital. Also, I wanted to post all my stories on the same day... but I don't want to rush my editor or keep you guys waiting, so I'll just post this now. Ok, now let's just start the fic.
Chapter 7
New Friends
"Fine, just forget said anything."
"That's exactly what I was planning on doing."
The couple's heads shot up as they listened to the approaching voices. Joey all but leapt off of Mai, before offering a hand up. She opted to get up herself, in remembrance of what happened last time. They quickly straightened themselves out and picked up their query.
"Oh! Hey guys, I forgot you came over here." Serenity greeted in a perky voice, before bending down to pick up more nestles.
Marik stepped up to the group from behind her. Instead of greeting them, he only looked at the two blondes. His eyes darted from one to the other and back again. Finally, he stopped and went back to his odd search, smirking all the while.
The foursome soon backtracked toward the campsite, arms full with kindling, logs, and pine needles. Logs and kindling were placed inside a makeshift fire pit, while the nestles were spread out for people to sleep on.
"Is this really ok to sleep on?" inquired Serenity, as she spaced everything out evenly.
"Yeah, I've done it before." Tristan answered with a nonchalant shrug. "It's not quite as comfortable as a mattress or pillows, but at least it isn't the ground."
"Ok… So now what?" she asked, as Mai helped her pick the last of the pine needles from her clothes and hair.
"I guess we wait till the others show up." As the words left the other girl's mouth, Isis and Malik stepped into the clearing. They dumped their pine needles into the pile with the rest, before attempting to clear themselves of loose ones. The first two girls came to Isis's aid almost immediately.
"Thank you." The suntanned Egyptian smiled warmly at them; raven hair lifting slightly as she seated herself in an almost regal fashion.
"Yami, Yugi, Bakura, Ryou, and Duke should be finishing soon." Tristan commented, throwing some more kindling on their miniscule flame.
"You burned your finger!" the redhead's eyes filled with worry as she crouched down beside him to take a look. (An: Ok, I just realized I'd been saying she had green eyes when in reality she has brown ones. Please just ignore my past mistakes!)
"I-I'm not used to lighters." He admitted, a faint crimson tinting his cheeks. His crushes face had the slightest mirror image of his own, but he didn't notice it. Isis and Mai, however, did and decided to take note of it for future reference.
"Mai," the female Egyptian whispered in a barely audible voice.
"Yeah?" the blonde's voice mirrored her own.
"I need to talk with Serenity and you later, in private. We'll wait until everyone else is asleep. Pass on the message."
"Mhm." The request was met with an affirmative nod, as the rest of their ragtag group returned to the campsite.
"There, done." Duke grinned, brushing stray needles from himself. They settled down to chat, before something came to mind.
"Uh, guys," everyone turned toward the British boy, "What are we going to eat?" he was met by a perplexed silence.
"Dey d'int 'appen ta teach ya huntin' in dat Boy Scout troup o' yo's, did dey Tristan?" Joey asked hopefully. His friend only shook his head. "Well, den what're we gonna do?"
"What did the yamis do for food in their time?" asked Duke. Everyone turned toward their ancient friends.
"Hey, we haven't got any experience in this." Bakura waved them off, "I stole my food from the market n' I'm sure the pharaoh didn't have to worry about it. Marik probably got his food from working for the pharaoh." Everyone's expressions became downcast and forlorn.
"We'll just have to skip the meals for tonight. In the morning we'll come up with a solution. Nothing's out now, anyway, and it's too dark to go wandering about." Isis reasoned.
"Aiight, guess g'night den." Joey sighed. He was met with a few responses but not a lot. Everyone settled down onto the previously harvested cushioning, and went to rest… except the girls.
"What did you want to talk to us about?" Serenity whispered softly as the girls huddled together in front of the fire.
"It's Malik…" answered Isis forlornly.
"What about him? Is he alright?" Mai inquired worriedly.
"Yeah, Isis, what's up?" The redhead tilted her head curiously.
"He's in love with Téa as well."
"Oh no…"
"What are we going to do, Isis?" the tan woman only shook her head in frustration and disappointment.
"Well," Mai thought aloud, "I have an idea, but I'm not sure…"
"What is it?" Serenity asked.
"We can use all the ideas we can get right now, Mai." The other girl urged.
"See, remember how we decided Marik needed a guy to talk to that he didn't share a negative history with?"
"Yes."
"Well, now I guess we'll need a pair of guys…"
"You're not suggesting Yugi and Yami, are you?" the youngest hissed incredulously.
"Serenity's right, they hate each other."
"Actually, I was thinking more along the lines of Bakura and Ryou."
"Bakura and Ryou?" they repeated dumbly.
"Just think about it," Mai reasoned, "Ryou doesn't have a negative history with either of them, and Bakura can get along with them when he wants to."
"But how, exactly, are we going to convince them to help?"
"Just leave that to me."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes. Now," the blond yawned, "if you'll excuse me, I need some sleep. G'night."
"Good night." Isis whispered back, before she herself snuggled down.
"Night Mai, Isis." They fell asleep in seconds. However, someone else wasn't asleep. He was used to being awake at ungodly hours, and had listened to the three girls' entire conversation.
'So, they want my hikari and I to help? I wonder what she has in mind to persuade us. Hn, I guess we'll see in the morning.'
An: ok, I know this is the middle of the chapter. However, there is a matter I found important and needed to address: ditching stories. This is not a personal insult, but some of you may connect with what I'm saying in a positive, or negative, fashion. It's no problem if you are going to put one on Hiatus if you need a break from it, but if you may not come back to writing it make sure you say it somewhere. There are plenty of places, including an author's note or your bio.
Further more, if you're a member but no longer wish to be one, LET PEOPLE KNOW YOU'RE LEAVING! This is especially bad when you have a large number of fan fictions, like fifteen, in the works. Many loyal reviewers are waiting for an update that never comes. The least you could do is announce your departure so no one's holding his or her breath. In fact, if you're leaving, why keep half written stories up?
I'm sorry if I've offended anyone, but this really gets on my nerves. I had to put this here because, in my experience, no one reads the ending or beginning author's notes. Ok, now, back to the fic.
Morning came and the entire group had awoken. They had searched quite a bit, but still were unable to uncover any signs of food or water. Luckily, a select few did have some water bottles with them and shared with those not to proud to accept a bit of charity.
"Guys," Tristan sighed as the group finished packing their things at the campsite, "this is a serious issue. We need food to survive." Kaiba opened his mouth to retort.
"I believe I am able to help with your problem." their heads whipped around to see a girl about Mai's age.
She had silky, hot pink hair held in a bun with two daggers. Pale, white skin contrasted with her vibrant, gold eyes. Her thin, brown eyebrows were mostly covered by her jagged bangs that ended just below her eyes. The strands of hair framing her face swayed swung up no matter how slightly her head moved and bounced about, ending at her chin. She had a rather dull expression on and wore somewhat rugged clothing.
A strapless dress, made of tan leather, laced up with a darker brown leather strip at the center of her bust. The dress ended in the middle of her thighs. She wore a pair of fingerless, slightly darker brown, gloves. The right one reached her elbow, her other to the top of her wrist. They, like the dress, used leather straps to stay closed. Laced up moccasin boots of the same shade and design reached her knees. She was adorned with two armbands, a choker, and a garter on her left thigh. A sash of the same shade rapped around her petite waist. A gold chain hung from her neck with three gold rings attached.
A black bird with a few pink highlights landed on her shoulder. They watched their reflections in its beady black eyes. Turning her head, she stroked it.
"Good boy, Korero." The girl cooed. (An: please remember that I only add necessary OCs. But don't worry, none will be Mary-sues and I'll try to keep their parts to a minimum. Also, if you'd like one of the canons have a slight pairing with her: let me know.)
"Who the hell are you?" Malik asked rudely.
"I am Tahruhu, and this is Korero." She explained, nodding her head in slight greeting. (An: FYI, it's pronounced 'Ta-roo-who' and 'Core-rare-oh'. K?)
"And you want to help us?" Isis inquired unsurely. Smirking, Tahruhu motioned a thumb towards the creature on her shoulder.
"He was watching you guys last night n' heard you were up against Azumamaro."
"So?" Malik prompted.
"Well, the enemy of my enemy is my ally. We shouldn't talk about this out in the open any longer. Follow me and I'll take you to my place so you can get food and supplies. We'll finish this conversation there." Turning, she began to enter the surrounding woods.
"Wait a minute," Bakura's eyes narrowed, "how do we know we can trust you?"
"You'll just have to." She shrugged.
"We haven't any other choice." Yami reasoned with the tomb robber.
"Here, if it makes you feel any better…" she pulled out her daggers, hair falling jaggedly to her shoulder blades. Her palms were open, waiting for someone to retrieve the weapons. Marik promptly snatched them.
"Should we introduce ourselves?" called Serenity.
"No, you can wait 'till we get back. C'mon." This time, they followed her. After about three quarters of a mile, they arrived at a small hut. Entering, they found nothing special: one room, a bunk bed, a fireplace with a pot for cooking, and a small table with four chairs. The bird flew to a perch hanging from the ceiling and landed. It watched them intently as its owner sat down and made herself comfortable. Isis, Serenity and Mai took the other chairs.
"Do you know what this necklace means?" Tahruhu held up the gold chain with the three rings. The gang shook their heads. "It's the symbol of the resistance. We, the resisting force, are the ones planning to stand up to that bastard Azumamaro… eventually. As I mentioned before, I'm aware of your opposition to him, hence my helping you. I'll get some food, explain yourselves while you eat." And they did, introducing themselves and retelling the condensed version of their story as the group nibbled on exiguous portions of some type of jerky and meager servings of water.
Meanwhile
Azumamaro entered to find the two girls staring down the doorway. The brunette wore a slightly fearful scowl while the other looked impassive, standing at his entrance and bowing her head in respect. He turned and spoke curtly with her.
"They've arrived. It's only a matter of time before the resistance gets a hold of them. Report anything you hear to me. You are dismissed." He waved a hand and she exited, shutting the door behind her. Seating himself beside Téa, he went to place a hand on her thigh.
"Don't touch me." The venomous words were spat at him as she scooted herself to the furthest end of the bed from her captor. He followed. "I don't want to be near you."
"But I do want to be near you." He smirked maliciously, cupping her chin lovingly though not necessarily gently. "Perhaps you would like to rethink your hasty decision earlier. You were shocked, but now that you've had some time to adjust you should understand…"
"Oh, I understand alright." She pushed away his hand. "I understand that you are a disgusting jerk. Stay the hell away from me I don't want anything to do with you."
"Excuse me?" his eyes darkened.
"You've abducted me from my home, touched me without my consent, and beaten me. Hm, I wonder why I don't like you…" her sarcasm was pissing him off.
Before she knew what was happening, she had hit the wall, arms pinned above her head. Azumamaro's vice-like grip instantly bruised her delicate wrists. His hot breath burned her ear as he hissed into it.
"You'd do well never to speak like that to me again, wench." He moved his head down and left a slightly painful love bite on her neck. "I'll send Harukichi with something for you to wear to dinner." He exited shortly there after.
"Oh god…" Téa sunk down to the floor, leaning against the wall. She tilted her head back so it rested on the cool, hard stone. She placed a hand on the mark her captor left. She closed her eyes as salty blue liquid ran down her cheeks.
'What am I going to do? I'm so scared.' Her soft crying became a bit more intense. 'How much longer am I going to have to stay here? And what about my friends? Did they forget about me?' Sobs racked her petite frame as she rested her arms on bent knees, using them as a cushion for her head. Her hiccupping mixed with the sounds of convulsive weeping.
Harukichi nearly joined Téa's crying as she entered the room. After placing the cloth on the bed, she bent down to the girl's level; eyes shining with unshed tears and a sad smile decorating her face. She lifted the brunette's chin with a finger and tried to look a bit happier.
"Shhhh." She soothed, enveloping her Téa within her arms, she rubbed her new friend's back comfortingly. "He's not worth crying over." Standing, she offered her hands to the figure, whose eyes were now red and irritated from sobbing.
"T-thank you." The captive wiped her eyes, "God, you must think I'm pathetic, crying like this after you said I had a backbone."
"No." the green-haired woman shook her head, "I don't think you're pathetic at all. Just a bit lost. Here," she turned to the bed, "I'll help you put on your kimono."
"Hn."
"What? Why are you stealing my line?"
"Well, it's just that you're a mix between a close friend and the mother I never really had."
"Hey now, don't get carried away. I'm no older than your friend Isis and you're making it sound as though I'm ancient."
"Sorry. Wow, this Kimono is gorgeous."
"I know, had it made myself. It'll look beter on you, though."
"Thank you, Harukichi."
"Don't mention it."
The two new friends laughed and talked as they prepared and made their way towards the dining hall.
End Chapter
RS: Tadda! Sorry again for how short it is. Leave me a review! Buh-bye!
