Hiya! Sorry it took me so long to update. I've had a serious case of writer's block. I NEED IDEAS! Oh, well, I think I've got enough for at least this chappie. Ok, here we go!
L33tmansays woot: Thank you so much for reviewing, Ross! You're my first reviewer for this story. Um I looked on your bio, but I've never played Final Fantasy: The Crystal Chronicles, nor have I played FF: Tactics, so I didn't really read either one. I'll read them when I get the chance. Thanks again!
Standard Disclaimer: I do not own Inu Yasha or Yu Yu Hakusho. Neither do I own Final Fantasy 7 or The Legend of Dragoon. I only own the Elves, Altariel and Rána (Think Lord of the Rings Elves). My cousin, Inuyasha Kagome 2gether, owns the character Sakura, the hanyou. There, I think I've got it all down. Anyways, on with the fic, and enjoy! Namarië!
Christmas with the Dogs
Chapter 2: How to Deal with a Hyper Elf
It'd already been about 3 hours since the fateful news forecast. The snowstorm had descended upon them about 5 moments after the announcement, and Altariel had long since been jumping up and down, running in circles, and generally being an all-around pest, much to the great vexation of the other 5 inhabitants of the cabin. Initially, Sakura had joined her cousin in the fun and games, but soon she had tired out as well.
Sakura was a dog hanyou, the sister of Inu Yasha. She had white hair and electric-purple eyes, and was 17 years of age. She had been raised by Altariel's adoptive aunt and uncle, also Irish. Therefore, she had a temper as well, though not nearly as scorching as her Elven cousin's. Being a hanyou, her senses of smell and hearing far surpassed those of her human companions'. She had claws and fangs, as well, but once a month, on the night of the full moon, she became a human, as all hanyous do.
As Sakura danced about with Altariel, a young man watched from the relative safety of the couch. His name was Suuichi Kurama.
Suuichi Kurama was a red-haired human with green eyes. He was quite gentle most of the time, but his calm, calculating exterior hid a ruthless warrior underneath. For inside his body lived the infamous Yoko Kurama, the bandit fox youkai. While Suuichi Kurama had had only 17 years to roam the planet, Yoko Kurama was over 300 years old, and was as wise and cunning as one could expect from a person his age. Even in the face of great adversity, Kurama was calm, cold, and calculating, possessing a power that could decimate most any opponent.
Inu Yasha and Kagome lingered in the kitchen with Cloud as they waited for the whirlwind of an Elf that was Altariel to die down. Even so, the chaos did not stop for nearly an hour.
Inu Yasha had white hair and golden-amber eyes. He possessed claws, fangs, and dog ears as well, being Sakura's older dog hanyou brother. He looked to be about 20 winters old, but if you'd known him for a little while, you'd know that he had been trapped to a tree for 50 years as well, so he was really around 70 years old. He and his girlfriend, Kikyo, had been deceived by an evil demon by the name of Naraku, the same Naraku that murdered Altariel's real parents, in order to get the Shikon no Tama, Jewel of Four Souls. 50 years later, Inu Yasha had been unsealed by Kagome, Kikyo's reincarnation, and then about a year after their initial meeting, the two of them and four others had finally destroyed Naraku once and for all. Now Inu Yasha lived in the modern era (at least for a little while), with his elder brother Sessomaru and his young charge, Rin.
Kagome had raven-black hair and brown eyes, and was around 17 years of age. She was a human until she was about 16 years old, when she and Inu Yasha had completed the Shikonno Tamaand she used it to make herself a dog hanyou like Inu Yasha so that she could be with him. She now had black dog ears and fangs and claws, and she also bore a mild temper, which came with being Kagome, and she still retained her Miko powers, from when she was a human. She had been with Inu Yasha when they defeated Naraku, and now she was with him nearly every day, though she went home to her family's shrine at night.
Altariel bounced around the living room again, her spirits soaring, but suddenly she stopped when the anchorman on the television spoke again.
"…however, the blizzard will most likely remain in the area for only a couple of hours, in the meanwhile depositing an approximated 4 feet of snow on the ground." the man said. "If I were anyone in the mountain region, I'd get out of there now before you can't get out at all. And if you aren't leaving, the phone lines are likely to be knocked out as well. Make any calls while you still can, folks! And now over to you, Joan…" Muttering some choice Elvish curses under her breath, Altariel flipped the TV off and went to the phone. Picking up the receiver, she dialed her home phone number, and was silent for several moments until someone picked up.
"Hello, mom?" she asked cheerlessly. "Yeah, it's Altariel… Yeah, we've got a full-blown icy hurricane out here… No, we won't be able to make it down in time for Christmas… Don't worry, we'll be fine… No, we'll just have to celebrate it together when we can get out of here and back-… No, back down the mountain… Alright, I'll talk to you later… Ok, I'll tell 'em… Ok, love you… Bye, mom…" Altariel sighed, hanging up the phone, and when she turned back to the others, she wasn't smiling anymore. Sakura raised an eyebrow at her cousin, a small, concerned smile on her lips.
"What's the matter, cuz?" she asked. Altariel shot her younger cousin a glare.
"You know as well as I do that I've spent every Christmas with my family, Sakura." the brown-haired Elf grumbled, her voice thick. "This'll be the first year ever without them around." Sakura waved her hand up and down.
"Calm down, Altariel." said Sakura. "And quit talking like they've died! Everything's going to be just fine." Altariel looked over at her cousin, and a small smile played with her lips.
"I guess you're right, Sakura." said she. "We'll just have a belated Christmas party with the whole family." She turned to the others and added, "You're all welcome to join us, of course." They all nodded, and smiled a bit.
"I'd be glad to meet your family, 'Tar!" said Kagome excitedly. Kurama nodded.
"Yes. I think I'd like to also." said the red-haired boy with a soft smile playing at his lips. "I think I'd like to meet your siblings." Altariel grinned wryly.
"Yeah, my little brother's pretty easy to get along with, it's my sister that I have trouble with." said the Elf. Cloud remained silent, and Inu Yasha stood broodingly off to the side, trying to keep up the 'tough guy' charade. However, the little silence was suddenly disturbed by the ringing of the doorbell.
"I'LL GET IT!" screamed Altariel, dashing to open the door, Cloud not far behind. What she saw when she opened the door were two human-like figures, but they were covered in snow, making it hard for her to tell. Quickly she grabbed the taller one, Cloud grabbing the shorter one, and together they managed to get the two people inside, into the relative warmth of the cabin.
The woman's mind was going blank, the coldness seeping into her bones, whereas it hardly seemed to affect her tall companion at all. In fact, the tall humanoid walking beside her wasn't really a companion, but seeing as they had both suddenly appeared in a mountainous region, they had banded together to hopefully find some kind of shelter. She glimpsed a dark shape through the whiteness of the blizzard, and began walking towards it- it couldn't do any harm, right? Her 'companion' followed along beside her, his lithe form moving with a catlike grace as he walked not through the snow but on top of it.
"What do you see?" asked the woman, glancing up at the other. He looked down at her.
"A cabin." came the reply. Even though he tried to hide it, the woman detected a slight waver in his voice, attesting that the cold was finally beginning to affect him as well. A few more minutes of walking, and the male was shivering just like her, his lips beginning to turn blue as the edges of her vision began to turn black. Finally they made it up to the door of the cabin, and pressed the small white button next to the passageway. A shout of,
"I'LL GET IT!" came from inside,and then the woman's hearing began to fade. Just as her knees gave out, the door opened and she felt a pair of warm arms encircling her, and she was carried inside. A few seconds later, the door closed, and she faintly registered someone shouting as a hand came to her face and brushed some of the snow off of it, effectively clearing her vision. Then she looked up into the face she had all but lost hope of ever seeing again.
"C-Cloud…?" whispered the woman as the last of her strength gave out and she fell into blackness.
Altariel watched from the doorway as Cloud sat, unmoving, next to her bed, which she had made him lay the strange woman on. He was in shock, she could tell, and though she had tried a couple of times to snap him out of it to come get something to eat, he had never moved, saying he wasn't hungry. Finally she moved towards him and laid a hand on his shoulder. He looked up at last, snapping out of his daze for the first time in the two hours since the woman had arrived, and looked up at the brown-haired she-Elf, a blank expression on his face.
"Cloud?" asked she. Her voice was quiet, so as to not startle him or the stranger, who stirred not, the hot water bottles around her cold body remaining in their rightful places. "Who is she?" He didn't reply for a second, turning his gaze back to the woman.
"It's Tifa." said he at long last. "I don't know how, but she's somehow come to this world." Altariel blinked several times. This woman was the Tifa she'd heard so much about? "So who's the other guy?" She blinked again before blushing.
"His name is Rána." answered the she-Elf. She had no idea why the heck she was turning red. "He's an Elf from Middle-Earth." Cloud blinked before looking up at her again.
"Middle-Earth? But didn't you say that the last of the Elves left Middle-Earth a long time ago?" he asked. She nodded.
"Yes. That's what's got me curious and concerned." she replied, her brow knitting. "If Tifa's here from Gaia, then how did she get here? And Rána doesn't know anything about the current world, so how did an Elf from the distant past seemingly get pulled forward in time a few thousand years?" She shook her head, and she shrugged before crossing her arms and resting them atop his spiky blonde head. "So, has there been any improvement in her condition?" Cloud shook his head.
"No, though her body temperature has risen considerably since the last time I checked." he replied, and then sighed. "I almost wish she'd wake up so that we can find out how she got here." Altariel chuckled lightly. He glanced up at her weirdly, one eyebrow raised questioningly as her arms slid down to rest around his shoulders.
"Oh, come on, Cloud." she said teasingly, a sly smile coming to her lips. "You know it's just 'cause you want to talk to her. Don't think I'm oblivious to the way you sound when you tell me stories about her. Your eyes go all misty, and your voice takes on a dreamy tone, and you get this far-away look in your gaze. Admit it, you're completely in love with this girl!" Cloud frowned indignantly as his cheeks turned red, blazing with embarrassment.
"H-Hey!" he exclaimed defensively. "I do not get like that!"
"Uh-huh, sure." she teased. "The others can testify that what I'm saying is true! Besides, you know as well as any of them that I can read people's faces like a book! You're talking to the master of people-reading, here!" He huffed, and turned his gaze back down to Tifa. All was silent for several moments, and then:
"Cloud?" Altariel just had to break the blessed silence. "You know I love you, right?" she asked. He blinked for the umpteenth time in 10 minutes.
"Yeah. I love you, too, 'Tar. Why?" He looked up at her, bewildered. She giggled.
"Good. Then you won't mind if I do… THIS!" she exclaimed, just before withdrew her arms and gave him the most humongous wedgie he had ever received. He stifled a yelp, but stood up and spun around, giving Altariel his patented 'CLOUD DEATH GLARE OF DOOM' as he gingerly pulled the wedgie out.
"'Tar…" he murmured dangerously.
"Yes?" she innocently replied. He balled his hands into fists.
"Three words: You'd. Better. Run." he growled, and then charged towards her. She shrieked and dashed out of the door, Cloud following closely behind, quickly formulating a strategy on what to do for his revenge. However, neither of them noticed the pair of tear-filled, wine-colored eyes that opened just as they exited the room. Tifa eased herself into a sitting position, and placed her forehead into her hand, supporting it with her elbow on her knee.
"He… has a girlfriend…?" she breathed as a couple of tears leaked out of her misty eyes to fall to the blanket spread across her lap. "Cloud…"
Well, that's it for the 2nd chapter of Christmas with the Dogs. If you haven't figured out the meaning for the title yet, it's because of Sakura and Inu Yasha. Sakura is my cousin's OC, and is a dog hanyou, like Inu. She's also Inu's sister. BTW, my cuz and I came up with the plot for this story together one time while I was at her house, so I used her version of herself and my version (which she used in some of her own stories) of myself, too. Hee hee hee. Well, please review! Tell me how I'm doing!