I could feel the gradual drop in temperature. Don't get me wrong, I could keep myself warm fairly easily, but only for the first couple of months. If we stayed there longer than half a year, I would be drained. Damn it. I glanced at Jin. Hehad already started shivering; he was obviously built for warmer temperatures. I handed him my cloak; I didn't need it. Yet. He wrapped it around his bare, broad shoulders gratefully.
As a rule, fire demons avoided snow, so I didn't blend in well with it; my clothes are all a bright red, just a shade darker than Jin's hair. And my skin is dark as well, and my hair is bright as the sun of the land I once trained in. I am meant for living where it is always warm. Did Risho get us a job up here, or are we coming for training? I guessed it was the latter. And chances were we wouldn't be leaving for years. It had been an hour since I had given Jin my cloak. Taking a deep breath I locked away my power, keeping it close to my vital organs. I nearly gasped at the cold, but kept my face expressionless. I took out my spare cloak, and wrapped it around me loosely, as if I didn't need it. Touya glanced at me. He knew I was attempting to conserve my energy in such a hostile climate. He knew as well as I that we weren't going to be leaving for a long time. But he was an ice demon, his kind thrived here.
That night, Jin started trembling violently from the cold. Grabbing some wood, I made a fire. "Keep feeding it, I can't afford to keep it burning with my energy." I sat down beside him.
"Is our Fire Master so weak as to keep a fire burning with wood?" Risho asked, laughing.
I ignored him, I may be prideful at times, but I know when I'm being taunted. "No, I just thought it wise to conserve my energy, considering you didn't decide to grace us with the estimated amount of time we would be here." I kept my voice crisp, professional. One of us had to be.
"Prove you aren't." His voice was mocking as he ignored my hint.
I glanced at him. "I think I did earlier when I caught you off guard and gave you a personal demonstration." He gritted his teeth. Ignoring him, I looked back at my flames. He brought this upon himself. All of it. I put my hand in the flames; they were ecstatic, they had been murmuring for me to join them ever since I had started the fire. They licked my skin; I just smiled at their playfulness. As they danced around, inviting me to join them but I refused and I kept my eyes fixed on the heart of the fire, blue as any ice, making sure a good wind was going through it, keeping it ablaze. Jin huddled closer to it. "Make a wind go right through here." I pointed at a spot in the crimson flames. "It'll make it warmer." He nodded and did so. A few seconds later, his efforts were rewarded with heat.
"Ahh..." He smiled. Rolling my eyes, I leapt into a tree and fell asleep.
Touya glanced around, only he and Jin were still awake, on watch. "Jin."
"Mm?" The Wind Master was feeding branches into the flames.
"Rekka can't use her abilities out here."
"What!" He asked, looking shocked.
"At least to the extent she normally can." Touya clarified. "She has to keep her body above a certain temperature or else she freezes. And it'll take a lot of her energy to maintain that once we reach our destination. Even now, miles away."
Jin glanced at the fire, worried. "I'll keep an eye on 'er."
Touya nodded. Then glanced at the stars, there were so many on this crisp, clear nights. "They're beautiful..." Touya whispered, leaning back so he didn't strain his neck. They generally traveled at night, giving him little time to enjoy the small thing in nature that he could see at night. But if they did in this region, things could get messy with random demons coming after them, looking for a fight considering the going was slow with the snow.
"Sure are." Jin agreed.
The next morning, I felt a somewhat cold hand on my shoulder. I lazily opened an eye. It was Touya. He was warm, for an ice demon. He was on the branch beside mine, evidently trying to wake me up without having to resort to pushing me onto the ground. I glanced down. It was a bit of a fall. "I'm awake..." I mumbled and haphazardly leapt/fell down from the bough I had been sleeping on. I miraculously didn't break anything. "Any idea of where we're goin'?" I asked Touya, grabbing a handful of snow and wiping it across my face as an attempt to wake myself up. It worked.
"Yes, Carois Mountain." He replied, gracefully leaping down from the bough.
I groaned slightly.
He glanced at me, eyes sympathetic. "It's volcanic."
I looked at him, shocked. "You better be serious."
"I am." Touya smiled thinly. Before he could realize what I was doing, I gave him a quick hug and walked towards the main part of camp. I didn't realize it, but he stared at me as I walked away, a slight blush on his ivory-colored cheeks, like afreshly-budded rose onnew, pristine snow.
Unsurprisingly, Jin was still snoring on the ground. Suddenly feeling VERY mischievous, I quietly knelt beside him. "WAKE UP!" I shouted directly in his pointed ear. He jumped about ten feet into the air. I snickered slightly.
Jin glared at me in mock-anger. "You li'l BITCH!"
"An' proud of it." I grinned back. I was roughly between Jin and Touya when it came to height, so the 'li'l' part was partly accurate.
He just laughed quietly. "Yeah, I did deserve tha'." Landing, he ruffled my already tangled hair affectionately. "Jus' don' do tha' again, alrigh'?"
I smiled innocently. "Sorry, no guarantees."
He sighed. "Rats."
"We're leaving." Risho's odious voice cut through my good mood like a knife.
"Whatever." Jin and I muttered sullenly in perfect synchronization. Snickering, we glanced at each other and followed the others. As we walked, I looked about. We were being watched. Motioning for Jin to stay, I leapt into the underbrush, waiting. Demons. C-class. None of them were elemental. I counted them. There was a round half dozen. Hm. They clearly were after us, though their tracking skills were appalling and their pathetic attempts at stealth were nothing but shameful. I quickly and silently ran back to the others and relayed the information. Jin glanced at me worriedly.
I grinned. "Don't worry, I can take care of myself." He nodded, and grinned, battle light in his eyes. All concern gone. Good. I don't need, or want, sympathy. We spread out; I took out my twin long knives. This would be... Amusing. They paused at the clearing, glancing around for a trace of us. We struck. I threw my blades, killing the two demons they hit instantly. Gama's knives struck his two down as well. Touya's 'Shards of Winter' made quick work of his. Bakken smashed their skulls together. Very tactful. I couldn't help but think sarcastically. Jin ripped his apart with his winds. "That was a clean kill." I remarked, yet again,sarcastically. Jin shrugged and grinned cheerfully. The two Risho took on were swallowed into the ground, as were the rest of the corpses, leaving no trace. Gama and I barely had a chance to retrieve our weapons. Wiping my blades on a scrap of cloth, I sheathed them. "Okay, now that we've had our fun, why don't you show yourself?" I called out to the S-class that was hidden in the shadows. The demon stepped forward. I stiffened at the aura. And barely managed to dodge the torrent of water that the demon shot at me.
"A Fire demon? I haven't fought one of your kind in centuries." I rolled back and onto my feet, knives in hand.
"And what the hell do you mean by that?" The demon grinned, long fangs bared. "Shit." I whispered, dodging the aquatic demon. Knowing I'd have to end this quickly, I swung onto his back and stabbed my knives right into his heart. Twisting them, I completely destroyed the organ and jumped off. Re-cleaning my knives, I glanced at the others, who were staring. "What?" They didn't reply. Shrugging it off, we started to move out. Walking beside Jin and Touya, I couldn't help but realize how cold it was getting. Touya, if anything, started to look more energetic. His aura started to get even colder. Something I had almost thought impossible. Though everyone else just felt crappy. After two days of traveling, we came to a small, shanty village at the foot of the mountain/volcano.
"We're staying here." Risho glanced at us. "We'll meet up in the inn in an hour. Don't get into any trouble." He said this primarily to Jin. Then he and Bakken went down to the village, somewhere, presumably to the brothel or bar.
Gama shook his head in disdain and went to the general store to get some supplies. Jin grabbed Touya and I by the wrist and dragged us around the town. After the hour was up, we all met in the hotel room we would be sharing. It was very cheap, not too surprisingly. I looked around in distaste, but said nothing. There were two beds, a futon, and a small cot. Risho and Bakken claimed the two beds. Touya and Jin ended up sharing the futon and I let Gama have the cot. They looked very uncomfortable, anyway. Leaving the cramped and stuffy room, I went to the waterfall at the far outskirts of town and sat on the rock dividing the waters at the fall. It had a perfect view of the vermilion sunset, the golden orb reflected red on the clouds closest to it, then pink, purple, blue until it was the black of night.I shivered slightly as I stared at the spectacular sight, for it had started to snow. Knowing I probably wasn't going to be missed, I examined the coniferous trees on either side of the half-frozen river. Choosing one that would protect me somewhat from the elements, I curled up into a ball and pulled my cloak over me. I was soon asleep.
"Where's Rekka?" Jin asked, glancing around. "She's been gone for a while."
Touya shrugged. "I wouldn't know. Though I'm sure Risho had Bakken aren't looking for her." The two had left a half-hour ago, this time, the other three Shinobi were sure they were heading to the whorehouse.
Gama glanced at the room's other two occupants. "I doubt she wants to sleep in the same room as Risho and Bakken. She probably went out to find somewhere else to sleep." That made sense.
"C'mon." Jin pulled Touya to his feet. "We're goin' to look for her." He told Gama, who nodded and smiled wryly.
"That's vague."
Jin just grinned deviously.
Soon the two Shinobi were walking along the riverbed, searching for her familiar ki. "There." Touya pointed out a barely visible scarlet cloak in a pine tree. Jin quietly flew up to her. He put a hand to her forehead; she was a little cold for a fire demon. He gently lifted her and came back down to the needle-strewn ground. She didn't even murmur.
"Do ya think we should take her back?"
"No. I don't want to think about what those two will do when still aroused and drunk." Touya shuddered.
Jin grimaced at the thought. "Did NOT need that image in me head, Touya." The ice Shinobi shrugged.
I slowly woke up. Blinking, I slowly sat up and glanced around. There was a fire going, and I recognized the form huddled next to it, asleep, Jin. Touya was at the entrance to the cave, keeping watch. He glanced at me; his eyes gleamed in the dark, reflecting what little light there was like a cat's. "You had Jin worried." He remarked quietly. I glanced at the Wind Master. "And you had me fretting as well." Then back to Touya
"Sorry." I sighed, my apology was sincere.
He smiled slightly, just the corner of his mouth twitching upwards. It was his eyes that showed his emotion. His slanted eyes shimmered, like the sun reflecting off of his ice, ever so slightly when he was amused. "Jin will undoubtedly forgive you, and I didn't mind looking." His eyes' glisten was more pronounced. "Any reason to get out of that pathetic excuse for a shack is enough for squaring us." I nodded slightly, I suddenly felt... So tired... I nearly fell over and didn't protest when Touya got up and gently moved me next to Jin, pooling our body heat. "Rest well." I felt his surprisingly warm breath on my cheek when he whispered this in my ear. I felt his cool hand rest for a moment on my cheek, and he soundlessly walked back to the front of the cave. I was soon dead to the world.
