Third chappie here! Here the story gets a bit more involved, as you'll see.
Thanks so much to Pinkdreamer122, who was my first EVER reviewer! Give it up for her! All right! (cheers) Ok! Cool, back to the story!
Disclaimer- If I owed Shaman King, Kigali would appear in the Anime... and the manga...
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KIGALI
We traveled for weeks non-stop, even though it was exhausting, I have to admit that it was worth it, especially when we had to cross the Atlantic Ocean to go to North America. We skimmed the blue, choppy waves until we were sure we couldn't be seen from the beach. The light was fading. The sun was going down.
The ocean is always intimidating, I mean, don't get me wrong, I have always had a special connection to the ocean. But when the sun sets and darkness rolls across the waves, you jut can't help but be awed and abashed and a little frightened of it. Millions and millions of cubic miles of water. Twenty miles deep in places. Stretching all around the planet, touching every continent, most nations, and all islands. Home to tens of millions of species, everything from the submicroscopic to the immense.
"Key?" Zoe questioned, snapping me out of my reverie.
"Huh? What is it Zoe?"
"Look down below," I did, and I felt my spirits rise almost immediately. A pod of dolphins were swimming and skimming the waves, trying to keep up with us. Out of all the animals in the sea, the dolphin was one I absolutely loved. "I think we could use some change, what do you think of us swimming the rest of the way to North America?" We landed on the water and Zoe shifted into a bottlenose dolphin, but I couldn't, not yet, first I had to acquire some of a real dolphin's spirit to be able to shape-shift into it. Zoe swam towards the other dolphins while calling to them. They had stopped to play with this dolphin with the weird human on her back. One came and nosed my hand.
She knew what I wanted. Some people said that dolphins were more intelligent than humans, and I believed them. I put my hand on the dolphin's lateral fin and concentrated in the image of a dolphin. The dolphin went into the calm, quiet state that animals usually go into when I acquired them. I felt the dolphin's spirit merge with mine and become part of me. I took my hand away and the dolphin swam away, now back to normal. I got off Zoe and concentrated on the dolphin, I instantly felt the changes begin. In no time at all I had become a dolphin. My dolphin form was a bit different from the others, it was a lighter color, almost white, but then again, Zoe's dolphin shape was almost blue. We swam fast as torpedoes, skimming the waves. Te dolphin's personality is very much like humans, except that dolphins have no worries at all; all they want to do is have fun.
When we reached North America, I have to admit I was a bit tired of swimming and ready to take to the skies again. After all, the trip had been a week long. I wondered what Anna was doing... had she reached Japan? Should I be going there instead to the north in this wild goose chase? I wondered if- "Key?" asked Zoe as we swam towards the shore.
"What?" I replied
"Are you unsure?" I didn't say anything. I was pretty surprised, how did she know what I felt? "You know," she went on, "some spirits have special bond with their companions, so that they can feel what the other is feeling and might even be able to speak telepathically."
"We can't do that..."
"Yet, sometimes it just takes a little time. And as for going to Japan, well, all I can tell you is that you will see Anna soon enough. For now, we've got to reach the village. Don't worry, if you do, then you'll have a short life, you've got to learn that if you're calm, positive, and easy going at all times, you will have all the friends you could ever hope for." I took her advice to the heart, and promised her that I would follow it to the letter.
We reached the beach. It was a small piece of sand behind an abandoned hotel, so there weren't many people around. Without a word, Zoe went back to her winged-wolf shape and flew off with me on her back. We traveled for weeks, stopping in cities and towns for food, but always staying within uninhabited areas, Zoe said that I couldn't be found yet, and that there was someone on their trail. North. They kept on going. Hiding. It kept on getting colder.
When we reached Canada's border Zoe got me a small fox-skin parka. I complained about animal rights, but Zoe told me to shut up because my shaman immunity against the cold wasn't activated yet, so if I wouldn't warm myself up, I would probably die. I really DID shut up after that.
But the parka didn't really help against the freezing temperature and bitter winds of the stormy skies of the north. I men, it was COLD. Cold. So cold. If you had filled up a bathtub with cold water, put it in a walk in freezer, added 50 pounds of Ice, and THEN got in, you still wouldn't feel a fraction of what I was feeling. I felt completely numb all over. "Zoe" I tried to talk, but only a small breath cloud came out. Fortunately, with sharp canine earshot she heard me.
"Hang on Kigali, stay sharp. We'll be landing soon." What? Soon. Soon? Soon what? My mind felt cloudy and I felt sooo sleepy... now the razor sharp wind wasn't cutting into my skin as hard anymore. The cold wasn't as bitter, as if I didn't feel it, as if I was watching the blizzard from inside a warm blanket. My vision turned to gray then to black. Zoe's blue fur turned to a dull violet and then disappeared altogether. Sooo sleepy. I was flying! Floating! Like an eagle, flying and riding thermals... sweeping and diving... then... a light! So far away... like a star... it was calling me... summoning me... I couldn't refuse, I HAD to reach it somehow. But something was wrong. Something wouldn't let me... something at the back of my mind... I could sorta hear it...
"Kigali! Hold on girl! Stay awake or you'll die!" Die? Me? So what...? I just wanted to sleep... I flew towards the star... the light... it was so close I could feel its warmth. "Kigali, hold on, I'm going on a full dive!" Huh??? Dive? It had no meaning to me. I was almost at the light... ALMOST THERE... then, suddenly... wind! The cold was back... worse than ever! No matter, all I had to do is reach the light and then I'd be warm... I flew up towards the light again... faster... almost th—Crunch!
"Oh my—" Freezing--- something---went up my nose and mouth. Wha...? Snow! I gasped and coughed for air. I had fallen face-first into a snowdrift. Cold. All of the sudden I was wide awake and I would probably have traded my left lung for a fire. I looked around me. A snowstorm was raging. To my right Zoe was furiously digging into another snowdrift
"Zoe?" she ran up to me, grabbed the collar of my parka and dragged me over to the hole she made. A den. She curled up around me, radiating warmth. Then I fell into a dreamless sleep.
ZOE
She fell asleep. Not the death sleep, it was the dream sleep. I breathed a sigh of relief. That had been close... too close. I had been careless, even if she WAS a shaman, she was still a child. She would be safe here; a snow den could keep the cold out and the warmth in on desperate situations. "She will be safe here..." I repeated to myself. I inched my way to the den entrance. If anybody saw me, the entrance to the den would be discovered. I looked around. Clear. With one last look at the den, I spread my wings and took off. I would have to find out our surroundings before setting off towards the village again.
KIGALI
I started waking up. The cold was still there, but it wasn't that bad anymore. Zoe was gone also. I looked around me. Where the heck was I? Snow... Ice...underground... Oh... I remembered. The den that Zoe had made last...night?...morning? I had no idea how long I'd been asleep. I had lost complete track of time. I stuck my head out the opening. A flurry of snowflakes hit me square in the face. Cold. I got out of the den anyways. I looked at my surroundings. The now calm storm had frosted everything in my sight, everything was white. White, white, white, rock, white, whi—wait! I looked back at the medium sized rock, not believing my eyes. A boy. A boy was sitting on the rock, in a meditating-like state. Alone. An alarm rang in my head. This was no normal boy. I chose to ignore the alarm and focused on the boy instead. Weird. He had long dark brown hair, up to his hip. He had Indian-looking red, white, and blue earrings. He was wearing a vanilla-colored cape/poncho that covered his shoulders and chest. He also had some weird kind of matching boots and gloves. They were maroon and navy-blue, and looked like Lego pieces, squareish with two cylindrical thatches at the wrists and toe tips. The glove's fingers were cut off, so that the boy's fingers had more precision. A white star shone in the back of the glove's palms, surrounded by a blue background.
Like I said: weird. I fought an urge to giggle, but did so anyways. It wasn't the boy's clothes that were funny... it was just that Shallow Brook was an all girl's school, and me, having spent most of my life there, had only seen males... especially my age... very few times, of course not counting the principal and some select male teachers.
He must have heard me giggling, because he turned around and looked at me. Straight at me. I blushed. He smiled at me and motioned for me to sit next to him. I did. He looked me over and I almost forgot that it was freezing cold. Almost, but somehow, the boy seemed to know. He took off his cape and handed it to me. I was going to say thank you, but instead I said, "aren't you cold?" He laughed a carefree laugh that reminded me of someone... someone I knew...
"That's why I'm here. To train myself for the Shaman Tournament." The Shaman Tournament! He knew. So did I, but he couldn't know that. Zoe's words echoed in my head 'whatever you do, don't let ANYONE know you're a shaman'.
"Shaman? What the heck is THAT?" I asked, but I was too nervous, he probably knew I was lying. Crap. The boy looked at me suspiciously.
"So, what's a pretty human like you doing in the middle of nowhere?" He tested me.
"My village is nearby" I lied instantly.
"There's no village nearby" He laughed triumphantly, "where's your spirit, girl?
" I don't know what you're talking about" a traditional excuse. Too bad nobody believed it anymore.
"Come on, any human would have died at this temperature by now, you have to be a shaman." So he had been testing me all this time!
"Then I suppose you're a shaman too?" I replied.
"In the flesh" Man, this guy was getting in my nerves, his attitude that was very cocky, but I got a feeling that he wasn't bluffing. A very strong aura came off of him. A very familiar aura. "Well, still, I'm glad you're a shaman, you're too pretty to be an useless human," I blushed, but he kept going, "You see, I'm looking for allies for the shaman tournament."
"Allies? Don't you have any friends?"
"Friendship is just a weak human emotion, it can do nothing but bring you down. Allies are better than friends any day, because... well, just because." He shrugged.
"Everyone needs friends" I said, remembering Anna. "Hey I know! I'll be YOUR friend, since you have none, how about it?"
"I don't NEED any friends" He crossed his arms stubbornly.
"Well, you may not need any, but I do. I just lost my best friend, I could use another person to talk to, and I bet you could too, right?" His frown slowly disappeared.
"Well, I—" He was suddenly cut off. I looked around to see what was wrong and saw that a huge grizzly was standing a few yards away from us. I looked back at the boy and saw him backing away and reaching for a memorial tablet, containing his spirit no doubt. But I somehow knew how fast the bear was. The grizzlies charged at him, fast. But I was closer. I ran forward and tackled the boy, sending him out of the bear's path, which was fine, except now I was in the bear's way. I stood my ground and charged back at him. He got confused and stopped immediately. Maybe that's what gave me enough time to grab him around the neck and acquire his spirit. He went into a calm state as his spirit became mine and vice versa, then I pulled away and started switching into my bear shape. Huge shoulders, rail-spike claws, and shaggy brown fur grew out, as I rapidly became a grizzly bear.
I advanced the bear and tackled him around the ribs. Bear to bear! The grizzly didn't even flinch. I dropped on all fours and slammed into the other bear's shoulder. Brown on brown. The grizzly roared in fury, but I roared back just as much.
Raking claws! Snapping jaws! I had never felt anything like this, all the times I had fought before were only childish fistfights with the other kids back in Shallow Brook. But this was different. This was new. I stood nearly ten feet tall reared up. I weighed maybe fifteen hundred pounds, and if those numbers don't mean anything to you think about it this way; I was three feet taller than Shaquille O'Neal and weighed five times as much as him. I could have dribbled Shaq the length of the court and stuffed him down the basket like a basketball. I was mighty. I was seriously mighty.
The bear and I were on our hind legs now, swinging away like a pair of heavyweights. But I wasn't winning. I wasn't losing, but I wasn't winning either. I shoved. The grizzly shoved back and I landed on my back. I saw a spray of blood across the grizzly's chest. My blood. But we were up once again, on all fours, circling, circling, lunging!
WHAM! I could use some help. The other bear was a hair taller, maybe heavier too. On the other hand, I was a human... er... shaman. He might have more experience as a bear, but I had the ability to reason.
The grizzly rose to its full height, ready to come crashing down on me. That's when I rolled into it. Not a bear move. The grizzly went down, tripping over me to slam jaw-first into the ice. He stayed there for a while, looking sideways at my panting form every once in a while to see if I was going to finish him off. When I didn't, he slowly stood up and calmly walked away with the clumsy grace of a bear.
I winced as I returned to my human form. The grizzly had cut a gash across my side. I was definitely not feeling good, but I still had to endure it if I wanted out of this place. I looked towards the boy, which was unconscious on the snow next to the rock and walked over to him. He had a pulse... he was breathing... everything felt normal, but his temperature was falling fast. So much for not feeling cold.
I heaved the boy into the snowdrift Zoe had dug out, laid him down and covered him in his cloak. He didn't even stir. It would be a long wait. It was. After I dressed the wound I had received from the bear, I found myself falling asleep and growing increasingly colder. On second thought, I slipped in next to the boy under his cape and we slept together in the innocence that only children have.
DREAMSCAPE
I was in the artic dream zone again. I groaned, what now? There was no one around me, so I just started walking around the hardened snow in pointless purpose. After a while I started getting that feeling you get when someone's watching you, I looked around and saw a huge tree rising hundreds of feet high. I stared open mouthed; this thing had jut popped out of nowhere! I walked towards it and put my hand on its scarred trunk. I had never seen it before... yet... I HAD. It was an old tree, centuries old, its bark was rough and scarred, and it didn't have any leaves. It was a tree in winter, only log, thick branches, but no leaves.
"It looks dead," I concluded. That's when I saw a black blur dash down the tree. "What the..?" the blur came to a stop on one of the branches closest to me. It was a raven.
I didn't know too much about ravens then, but I DID know that they were artic birds similar to a crow. It looked at me with intelligent eyes and a peculiar aura, and then, to my total shock, it said, "Mistress Kigali, we are glad you are well." It took me five whole minutes before I got over my shock, remembered that I was dreaming, and that Zoe also spoke, so it was probable that this raven was also a spirit. It was also then that my brain processed what the raven had said.
"We?" I asked, then I looked around me to find that forming a ring around me were a fox, a deer, a wolf, a grizzly (which I stayed clear of), and a seal. I had been so intent in looking up at the raven that I hadn't noticed them. You COULD say this wasn't one of my smarter moments. The raven flew from the tree and landed on my shoulder, much to my delight, and spoke again.
"My name is Typhoon" Then, all the rest of the animals started announcing their names.
"I'm Taiga," said the deer.
"I am called Tundra," barked the wolf.
"I was named Timber," growled the bear.
"I'm known as Tsunami," called out the seal.
"And I, am Tropic," yipped the fox.
The raven spoke again, "We are here to guide your way to the Kovu Village," the Kovu village! "Remember your task Kigali of Twilight." And with that, my vision turned blurry and I felt the raven's soft weight leave my shoulder as I traveled back to reality.
HAO
I woke up with a bad headache, as if a sledgehammer had hit me. I was very disoriented, with no memory of what had happened last night. I found my eyes resting on the small girl lying next to me. What had the great Hao come down to? I quickly swallowed my words as my brain registered what I had been looking at for five whole minutes now. There was a deep scratch across the girl's ribs.
My memory suddenly flooded back as the girl stirred. I watched in trance-like fascination as she slowly opened her eyes and sat up to look at me confidently. Me being me, I wasn't used to people who knew who I was looking at me with no fear in their eyes, with confidence and determination like the way this girl was looking at me. But then again, she didn't know who I was. She probably would soon.
"You fought that bear alone." It wasn't a question, more of an accusation. But the girl just smiled and unconsciously covered her wound.
"I'm fine. I really feel sorry for the bear." She laughed. I looked into the girl's sapphire blue eyes. I looked for lies. How did this girl do it? I didn't sense any spirits besides mine for miles, and a shaman without his spirit might as well be human. Except more powerful of course. THIS little girl without a spirit had beaten something that had knocked me unconscious? I stared at her in disbelief. She just smiled cheerfully.
At that point a raven flew overhead. In the Patch Tribe, where I was born, we took signs in nature, and the raven usually represents either dreams or death. It is said that if you dream of a raven with his back facing you at the foot of your bed, one of your deepest desires will be granted. But if you dream of a raven at the foot of your bed facing towards you, it means death has come for you. To my amazement, the raven landed directly on the girl's shoulder. She smiled sadly and turned towards me.
"I guess this is goodbye," she said.
"We'll see each other sooner than you think."
"Yeah, yeah... that's what they all say." She must be thinking about her lost friend. I smiled calmly.
"No, you don't understand. After I finish my training and go looking for allies, I'll come to get you. We'll fight in the tournament together." She sighed and took a small object from her pocket and forced it into my hand.
"You better take this. It might bring you luck, don't look at it yet." I took off my earrings. I had gotten them at the Patch Village, and I could get more. I gave them to her.
"These are lucky too." I laughed in amusement as she giggled and put them on. They looked good on her, as if she had come from the Patch Village herself. She took off my cloak and handed it to me. Then she smiled one last time, waved, and serenely walked away.
"What's your name?" I called out after her, feeling that she should be asking this question. She answered without looking back.
"Hmm? Oh, they call me Kigali." Then she walked away with the raven on her shoulder. When she was out of sight, I opened my hand. There was a small penny whistle there. I blew it and expected it to sound high pitched and screechy, but instead, a beautiful melody came out. It rang like a bell across the tundra. I smiled.
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Lady Dragonfly- Yeah, I know I got a bit poetic in the ocean part Hehehe.
Kigali-Oh well, it was fun anyhow.
Lady Dragonfly-Please tell me how you like it! Lol, it makes me feel special when I read my reviews.
Zoe- You mean SPEDcial? Yeah. We knew that.
Lady Dragonfly- Zoe....
Zoe- I'm sorry!
Kigali- Anyhow, stay tuned to Twilight's Song!
Next Chapter- "Of Relatives and Tournaments"
See you then!
