Yay! Ok, here's chapter 10! Thanx to Nakashima-Michiyo and wingweaver22 who review my chapters! Your support is unbelievable! You guys rock!
Oh, and yeah, Kigali and Hao WILL meet again, since their connection plays a major roll in this story (hint hint hint) lol, enjoy!
Disclaimer- I don't own Shaman king or Norah Jones. But I DO own both of her CD's!
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ZOE
We spent most of the next three days sitting on Kigali's bed, playing with the Nevermeltice. She had gotten very good at it. She could make any weapon with a single thought, and now she could control its material, color, and decoration. Even as I sat there for hours on end, she never failed to impress me. Sword... axe... knife... staff... spiked club... bow and arrow... shield... chain... scythe... nameless weapons appeared in her hand.
"Can you make anything else besides weapons?" she concentrated and an Egyptian armlet appeared in her hands.
"What do you think Zoe? Pretty cool, huh? I can put it on and carry it around like that." I smiled.
"What else can you make?" She squinted in focus as a beautiful electric guitar appeared in her lap. It was just small enough for her to play it.
"Isn't it awesome? It runs on Furyoku, so you don't need to plug it in!" I gave her THE look. "No. I will NOT waste Furyoku. It runs on a minimal amount." She rolled her eyes.
"Can you play?" She nodded.
"Yeah. One of the scholars in the college taught me." She played a short tune on it. I flicked my tail in tempo. She laughed.
"You're really good! Sing something!" I urged. She blushed and shook her head rapidly. "C'mon! It's only you and me! No need to be shy with your own spirit..." I gave her the puppy eyes. She laughed.
"Ok, but I may not be good. It's been a while since I sang. Umm... do you know Norah Jones?" I shook my head. "Oh, well, you wouldn't, but I'll get you the CD someday. This is one of my favorite songs by her; it's called Come Away With Me. I don't know how to play it with the guitar yet; I only know how to sing it. You'll like it." She took a deep breath and started to sing in a clear, melodious voice.
Come away with me in the night
Come away with me
And I will write you a song
Come away with me on a bus
Come away where they can't tempt us
With their lies...
It was one of the most beautiful sounds I had ever heard. And I'm not saying that because she's my shaman partner. Her voice was like the ocean, soul-searching and soft, rising and falling like the tide. She harmonized with the wind. Her voice danced like fire.
I want to walk with you
On a cloudy day
In fields where the yellow grass grows knee-high
So won't you try to come
Come away with me and we'll kiss
On a mountaintop
Come away with me
And I'll never stop loving you...
Kigali closed her eyes as she turned her full attention to her song. The song rang as clear as crystal through the chilly northern air. She seemed to shimmer as she let the consonants and vowels flow smoothly out of her mouth, then I realized that she WAS glowing. Her aura was sparkling around her like a blue flame as her essence streamed with the ancient power of nature.
And I want to wake up with the rain
Falling on a tin roof
While I'm safe there in your arms
So all I ask is for you
To come away with me in the night
Come away... with me...
She opened her eyes and her aura shimmered back off. A shiver ran down my spine.
"Wow..." She blushed. "That was stunning! Where did you learn how to sing like th—" Suddenly, there was a tremor on the ground, it started to shake uncontrollably, the whole tent was swaying. I immediately took to the air to avoid the tremors.
"E-e-e-e-a-r-t-h q-u-a-k-e!!!!!!!!!" Stammered Kigali. The ground was rumbling. There were screams as people were taken by surprise. I lifted Kigali by the hood of her cloak. She hung around limply for a while, dizzy from the shaking. After a couple of minutes, the earthquake stopped. Everything went back to normal as the silence after the quake was replaced by exited chattering nearby our tent. I put Kigali down on her bed. She recovered almost immediately, eager to find out more about the quake. She picked up her Nevermeltice, which instantly wrapped around her wrist as a silver bracelet. I climbed up on her shoulder as a peregrine falcon while she exited the tent.
There was a large crowd lining a path between several cottages, as if waiting for a parade. I caught sight of Nagini's black haired friend and pointed her out to Kigali, who walked up to the other girl.
"Hi Kigali!" The girl greeted enthusiastically, obviously forgetting that she had laughed at us with Nagini and Caroline just a few days ago. Or maybe she was the kind of fake friend that sticked to whomever was strongest, and since Kigali was now head-to-head with Nagini, she was keeping close for a bite of the glory. "I'm so glad you got here! I was packing and was wondering if I would see you before I left! Maybe you could be on my team for the Shaman Tournament!" Yeah, definetly the second option.
"Uh... what's your name again?" Kigali replied, kicking her enthusiasm level down a notch.
"Oh! My name's Sophia, remember?" No. They barely even talked. Kigali must have read my mind, because she shrugged her shoulder casually, almost making me fall. I steadied myself and sulked on her shoulder, looking every now and then at Sophia.
"Eh... sure, whatever. So, what happened?"
"I don't know! I was just sitting there, packing, when the earthquake came, and then my tent fell on someone and I had to pull it off them with my bare hands!!! And then I..." Kigali rolled her eyes and slipped away as some more people came to laugh at Sophia's exaggerations. We tuned into a few conversations as we squeezed by people as we neared the edge of the crowd for a better view
"Yea! You haven't heard? It wasn't an earthquake after all!"
"What was it??? It almost gave me a heart attack!"
"They say it was Quaff Mountain! It was a huge avalanche!"
Kigali and I exchanged looks at that comment, and then another one as we saw what was going on in the path. Tabitha was quickly walking towards the crowd on the path running between the cabins, followed by a couple of other important people. No wonder the crowd was keeping clear off the path. Tabitha was in a temper, there were practically sparks flying off her. She glared at the crowd, and then at the two people following her, who cowered back in fear for their personal safety.
"Where IS he!" one of the followers muttered something rapidly. "NO! This is important! Bring him here! NOW!" Just then, a man came out of the crowd. I could see that he was not from the village. He had the type of clothes a rich tourist would wear on a ski trip or something. He was being held up by held up by two other people from our tribe. Everyone went silent as Tabitha stomped over to the man.
"Where were you?" Asked Tabitha with forced calmness. The man stuttered but didn't answer, obviously intimidated by her. She answered for him. "You were in Quaff Mountain weren't you?" Everyone went, if possible, even quieter. The silence pressed on. "Tell me what happened. Now." Said Tabitha with suppressed fury. The man slowly straightened up and spoke for the first time, loudly enough so that everyone would hear.
"I was here with my co-worker to check on an abandoned military base nearby, and on our free day, we rented some mountain-climbing equipment and decided to climb a mountain we had found last week, which we heard appeared and disappeared at random times." He gulped and went on.
"When we were near the top, a terrible snowstorm suddenly broke out, in like, a second, and we were forced to take refuge in a cave we had found. Our food supplies had been ruined by the storm, and soon after, my colleague got sick from the cold. That night, we decided that we had to take our chances in the storm, so we started to climb down, when a huge flying creature came out of the blizzard! It was so white that it camouflaged with the snow. It took my colleague in its horrible claws and flew off with him. He is dead I'm afraid." He took a deep breath and continued his story, not looking at Tabitha in the eye.
"I went on climbing alone, and I was close to the foot of the mountain when the flying creature came back for me. It materialized out of the raging storm, and was about to grab me in its claws when it suddenly stopped, as if frozen. Then, a beautiful singing was heard, like nothing I've ever heard before, and then, just as suddenly as it had appeared, it took off and disappeared into the storm. A minute later, a gigantic avalanche was coming my way! I hid behind a rock to deflect the snow, but I was carried to the foot of the mountain by the snow. This young man found me and led me here." He finished, pointing to one of Tabitha's assistants. He blushed and muttered something as Tabitha gave him a disapproving look. She turned to the tourist.
"You had no right climbing that mountain. You're lucky to have come back in one piece. Now leave. And tell your superiors that the people they send to check that military base of theirs always bring trouble. So keep away." She turned around and marched away, the other officials close at her heels. The crowd dispersed slowly, and when we had a view of the path again, the man was gone.
"Zoe?" I turned to Kigali. "That beast... the singing. Did I cause this?" I shook my head for support, but deep inside I wasn't so sure.
"Don't worry about it. Tomorrow's the forth test, and then we'll see about that. We have to meet Tabitha in the platform at dawn tomorrow." We walked slowly back to our tent. It was now one of two standing in opposite ends of the center of the village. She sighed and sat down by the totem pole and looked up.
"The stars were beautiful." I nodded, gazing at the sky. It was soothing. "I miss Anna." She was now fingering her bracelet, which was now blue. I had suspected it had a connection to Anna. "Sometimes, I feel as though I was dragged into this whole 'goddess' thing. Maybe I'm just supposed to look for Anna. She might be waiting for me."
"Loyalty won't do you any good. The preliminaries of the Tournament will be in Japan, you will see her then, but after you finish your training."
"IF I make it."
"You will. I know you will." We looked up at the sky once more and then went back into the tent and curled up inside the bed. The stars sang as we drifted to sleep.
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Awesome! Hope you guys will stick around for the next chapter.
NOOOOO!!!! Kigali is still a kid! But she'll grow up soon! PINKY PROMISE!
Next Chapter- Tournament's End
