Chapter 4:
And Here We Go
Mika stared out at the rain. Her eyes roamed around her room trying to find something to keep her mind off the most recent news flash. Her room was simple enough. It was situated in the branches of the tree along with three others. Her, Terri, and their two other friends had they're own cabin-like rooms among the branches. Her room was lower down in the tree than the others. She was never one for high places. It was a simple rectangle with a slanted roof. The shortest wall had her desk. Opposite it was her bed. A window sat above it. An array of plants sat on the windowsill. She had a nice view of the "front yard". Her room was actually small. A Terri and a half lying across the floor would just barely fit across from the short wall to the tall one. Though as small as it was it was comfortable. Under her bed was a trunk that contained most of her belongings. Various things adorned the walls and ceiling. Paintings she had done in her spare time, a viney plant hung from the ceiling-spreading out through the room. There were weapons too. A spear, two swords, some knives, and several throwing stars. It was a fairly simple room. Above her was her friend, Fay, a fire demon, and above her is Terri. Terri's room is built on the branch that stuck farthest out from the tree. It had a nice view over looking the forest and since it sticks out you can see the sky pretty clearly. A little ways up was a small hole in the tree's trunk. This is Kiros "room". Mostly though he sleeps with Terri. Finally at the highest level is Sia. She's a storm demon. Mika sighed. She flopped down on her bed full of furs. Hiei's voice still ran through her head.
"Destroyed. As in gone, no more. Your people, The Hexas Angels were slaughtered about three days ago. The man responsible is still at large however and is looking for survivors..."
Mika was taken from her train of thought by a mental message from Terri.
/Hey Mika...?/
/Yeah.../
/Do you believe them?/
/Well yeah. I mean we have no reason to doubt them. They are the detective team for Koenma and he's the only one that could have told them about The Land and the Angels/
/Still how? How could a race as strong as that just be wiped out like that/
/I don't know...I can't imagine a human being responsible. Maybe a demon but still.../
/Do think it was an inside job/
/Probably. A lot of the young generations of Angels have been known for they're dislike in the fact that they're not aloud to leave to the other worlds. I wouldn't be surprised if this had something to do with civil uprisings/
/Do you think that our moms are ok?/ Mika blinked. Their moms were sisters. Mika's being the eldest. They had left them back in Thil Ite Fo Danl. Neither of them had seen them since they were 6 10 years ago
/I don't know...but there's only one way to find out/
/You don't mean.../
/Yeah I do...Terri we have to go back./ Mika knew Terri wasn't going to like this idea.
/WHAT!! Are you insane! We went through hell to get out of there!/
/I know but who ever is behind this is there and besides, hell or heaven, we can never forget who we are./ Mika could practically feel Terri's anger rise.
/I know who I am. It's what I am that's the problem. Mika... what we are overrules who we are. They won't change even after this disaster. It's pointless to fight for a people that want nothing more than our heads. We're dirt to them and always will be. Not even our moms or grandfather could change that./ She thought about this a moment.
/Then don't think about it as fighting for them...think about it as fighting for us. Who ever is behind this is going after survivors and you and I are two of the few. Think of this as fighting to save yourself. And besides I know you worried about our moms./
/sigh Fine I'll go but Mika?/
/hm?/
/I hate to say I told you so/
/I know../
/What about the trash down stairs./
/What about them?/
/They expect us to go with them to Spirit World/
/And we will.../
/We will?/
/Yes. Koenma is our only way back and besides he might have answers for us./
/Ok...what about Kiro and Fay and Sia?/ Mika took a second to think about this.
/Kiro we'll take with and as for Fay and Sia...I'll write them a note./
/Great...now about you and Kurama.../ Mika blushed
/What about me and Kurama?/
/You seemed to be holding back in your little duel./
/So? You did to while you were fighting Hiei!/
/Hey. The jerk had me in a lock. You know I'm not physically strong./
/True but you could have blown him away easily./
/Sure and have you yelling at me later for blowing up the house? No thanks/
/Hey Mika?/
/yeah?/
/Are you sure you want to go back? You remember what they did right?/
/Of Course!!/ How could she forget the nightmare that was the first 6 yrs of her life.
/Then why do you care/
/I care because in my eyes by not caring I'd be no better than them./
/hmmm/ She yawned.
/I'm hitting the sack..g'night Ter/
/Night/ Mika felt the mental link cease. She stretched and went to sleep.
With Terri
Terri sighed. She stood on the roof of her room watching the moon. Her room was similar to Mika's except her bed was a hammock. She seemed to be at peace during the night. Most shadow demons were. The dark gave a shadow demon a great advantage. They are able to blend into shadows. At least full blooded ones are. Terri is unable to do such a task. The traits she inherits from her demon father weren't much. The ability to see in the dark, her size, and a few attacks were it. Most of her characteristics are linked to her Hexan blood. She and Mika are both telepathic but Mika can't use telekinesis. Her traits center around her kitsune father.
Terri stood up. Why did they have to go back? Why?
'This isn't going to go well. I just know it.' She thought as she entered her room. Like Mika she had some knives on the walls and a window. Her room was fairly plain. Yawning she laid down on her bed and was lost to her dreams...and memories.
DREAM SEQUENCE
It was cold...so cold. A 5 year old Terri coughed violently.
"Terri are you ok?" A six year old Mika looked worriedly down at her young cousin. She was in pain great pain. But being so young the half kitsune had know idea how to help except comfort her and protect her.
"I'm fine Mika...are our moms back yet?" Mika shook her head. Their moms were out of town at the moment and that didn't do any good for the two demi-demons. Suddenly Footsteps are heard coming towards the girls' room. Terri panicked.
"Mika their coming."
"I know just be quiet and I'll take care of them."
"I can fight with you...."
"NO! Your way to sick! You can barely stand you're s weak."
"I'm not weak..." Terri mumbled. Suddenly the door broke down and in came three hexas angels. The three men looked at the two half breeds and smirked.
"Well look who we found..." Said the first one. The second one snorted in disgust.
"Stupid half breeds..." The third one kneeled down to Mika's eye level. Mika stood protectively in front of the sick Terri. She growled at him. Her small fangs showed and overly large and floppy fox years were bent back in warning. Terri whimpered...she felt faint.
"Hey kiddo. Wanna play." He reached out and touched her cheek. Mika grabbed his hand and bit it.
"You little bitch!" The guy hit her smashing her against the wall.
"Mika!!" Terri cried. 'No not again' Mika whimpered.
"I think you two need to learn your place..." The men stepped threateningly towards Terri. All the weakened girl could do was scream and cry as she and her cousin were beaten and abused. Again and again and again....
END OF DREAM SEQUENCE
Hiei sat up quickly. He saw it. He saw it all. Terri's nightmare was so strong his jagan had picked it up. No not her nightmare...her memory. It had felt so real. He could feel what Terri felt. She had been horribly sick as a child and he had felt her pain. How could some one do that to children! Hiei knew how. He could relate to Terri and Mika. They were all Forbidden. Outcasts. Now he knew why Terri and Mika felt so strongly about The Land of Twilight. It didn't hold happy memories for them.
Hiei ran his hand through his hair. He soon became aware of his surroundings. The four of them were in the den. Kurama, Yusuke and himself had slept on the couch and Kuwabaka had slept on the floor. (remember the couch has three sides. Like a pit.) It was morning now. A few birds were heard outside. Some delicious smells were coming from the kitchen. Hiei guessed Mika was up and cooking. Mika. He'd ask her. He felt like he needed to know more detail into their pasts. What other painful memories did Terri have. He remembered how scared she was. He could feel it. She must have been deeply scared for someone with her power to be afraid. Yes he'd ask Mika.
Hiei got up and headed into the kitchen. Surely enough there was Mika slaving away. She turned towards him when she sensed him.
"Good morning Hiei." She greeted him with a smile. "I'm glad your up. I was just about to wake you. Breakfast will be done soon so if you want wake up the others that would be great." Hiei was about to say something when Kiro appeared in the kitchen window.
"Morning Mika!!!!" The hyperactive squirrel demon grinned.
"Morning Kiro. Could you wake up Terri for me?" Kiro giggled.
"Sure thing!!!" He disappeared. Hiei turned and headed for the den. Perhaps now isn't the best time. The faint circles under Mika's eyes signified she did not sleep well either. Hiei headed over to Kurama first. It didn't take much to wake the fox. Kurama stretched and yawned.
"Morning Hiei. What's up?"
"The onna kitsune is almost done with breakfast."
"Oh." Kurama got up and headed to the Kitchen. Hiei turned back to the his other teammates. These two would be a challenge. Try as he might the two slept like logs. He used his jagan to enter Yusuke's head and yell at him in his dreams. His dream wasn't too stupid. Just of Keiko and his human school. Kuwabara was different. He didn't even want to think about the idiot was dreaming of by that stupid grin plastered on his face. Hiei was stumped. How the hell do you wake the baka up!! Hiei suddenly became aware of a strong presence in the room. He turned to see Terri with an amused look on her face. He glared at her.
/Need some help?/ Hiei turned away. Terri walked up next to him. That's when he noticed the bucket of ice cold water floating above Kuwabara's sleeping form. Hiei smirked. He liked where this was going. The bucket dumped its contains on Kuwabara causing the baka to scream. To shut him up Terri dropped the bucket on his head muffling his cries. With a satisfied nod Terri turned and headed into the dinning room. Hiei followed her.
Breakfast went by smoothly. After everyone was done Mika cleared her throat and addressed the group.
"Me, Terri, and Kiro will accompany you four to spirit World." The guys perked up at this.
"Really you mean you guys aren't going to resist?" Yusuke looked skeptical.
"No" Mika shook her head. "We're not." She looked pointedly at Terri who growled. She still wasn't too happy about this idea.
"If you'll give us a few minutes will get ready to leave and be on our way."
"That's fine." Kurama smiled. "I'm glad you two decided to go along with us." Terri snorted. Mika turned to Kurama an unreadable expression on her face.
"Don't think of this as us going with you. It's more like we all have a similar destination to get to and compromising with each other has more benefits than fighting."
'I beg to differ' Terri thought sourly. She turned and left to pack
The group walked hypnotically through the forest. Yusuke and Kuwabara were leading and arguing at the same time. Terri followed with Kiro and Mika and Kurama brought up the back. Hiei was flitting through the trees. Yusuke stopped declaring this a perfect spot for lunch. Mika pulled out some food from her sack and handed it out to everyone. Hiei thought this the perfect opportunity to bring up a subject that had him constantly distracted.
"So what significants does this place have to you. You two don't seem to effected by the thought of your own races destruction?" Terri turned toward him and growled. He was walking on thin ice in her mind. Mika frowned. Perhaps it wasn't bad for them to know. She looked at Terri who snorted and leaned against a tree. She had a knife and was carving away at a piece of wood. Mika sighed.
"First of all, they're not our race. Terri and I spent only our first 6 years or so in The Land. Neither of us ever wanted to return to it again after we left."
"Why's that?" asked Kurama interested.
"Well you see our moms were Hexas Angels and sisters. You know that they staged the final battle right? Well it was the royal families decision to do it. Not all of the population was willing to give up the power they had over the other races but the royal family was the most powerful and feared and they had no choice but to go along with it. To this day most of The Hexas Angels have had a sort of resentment towards the other races. Our moms were among the few who didn't harbor this resentment. Any way when we were born you can imagine the uprisings and anger from the race. We're the only half Hexas Angels and half demons in existence and for that we we're hated. Our moms managed to keep us safe for a while because of their status in society but it was also because of their status that they would leave home for periods of time. It was during this time that Terri and I were...well lets just say they gave new meaning to the phrase "baby sit". We were constantly beaten and abused. The majority of the race hated us and showed it as often as they could. Terri was born a year after mean so as the oldest I sort of took it upon myself to protect her especially since she was sick most of our childhood. We never really found out why but Terri would have "attacks" in which she would cough up blood, have cold spells and sometimes faint. It was because of this that she isn't as physically strong as she should be. However what she lacks in physical strength is made up for in mental strength. We are both telepaths however Terri's mental abilities far surpass mine. 10 years ago we had had enough. Terri was getting sicker and our moms were going to be gone for quite some time. So we escaped. We left The Land and came here. And had vowed to never go back and severed all ties to The Land and it's people." The guys took a moment to let this sink in. Hiei looked over towards Terri who was engrossed in carving the wood. She glanced up at him. Their eyes locked.
'That explains a lot...' He thought.
/What?/ Hiei blinked. Terri was glaring at him.
/What?/
/Quite staring at me like that./
/Like what?/ Terri stopped carving.
/Like you understand...like you care...like you pity me.../
/Since when should I listen to you?/ Hiei retorted. Terri glared and walked towards him. She showed him the piece of wood. It was a figurine, in detail, of him.
/Because if you don't.../ Terri began to glow. Hiei felt a familiar energy but he couldn't remember where it was from. He looked at the figurine just in time to see it be engulfed by black flames.
/You'll live to regret it./ Terri finished her threat. Then taking the ashes she sprinkled them in front of him. The others stared at this in awe.
"Ahem" They all turned towards Mika.
"It's getting late. I suggest we start moving. These woods are full of demon's that won't hesitate to kill us." Hiei glanced back at the spot where Terri was to find she wasn't there at all.
"Hn"
'Baka onna.'
The group continued on their way. When it got darker they stopped and set up camp. Kuwabara stretched out.
"How much farther do we have to walk Kurama?" Kurama looked thoughtful a moment.
"Well it took us about three days to reach the girls and we've been walking for a day so about 2 more days."
"Awe man!!" Kuwabara complained.
"HEY!! Shut up and go to sleep!" Yusuke yelled from his spot on the ground. Terri shook her head and headed out a ways from the group. She heard some one follow her. She didn't turn to see who it was. She knew it was Mika. She stopped at a small stream. Scooping up some water she washed her face.
/Where's Kiro?/ Terri asked.
/Sleeping next to Kurama./ Terri remained silent.
/Are you mad?/ Mika sat down next to her.
/Why would I be mad?/
/Because I told them about us./ Terri shrugged.
/I think they would have found out eventually./
/Yeah your probably right./ Terri turned towards Mika.
/Hey...I trust you Mika. I always have and I'm sorry for being so bitchy. I just have a lot to think about now./
/Yeah I know. Thanks Terri./ Mika stood up. /Good night/
/Good night/ Mika turned to head back to camp when she suddenly stopped. Terri knew why. She sensed them too. Casually she stood. Mika's eyes scanned the trees.
/Do you see them./ Terri nodded. She unsheathed her sy's. Somewhere near by a group of demons was watching and waiting. Too bad Terri's never been a patient one. Swiftly Terri spun around and chucked her sy into the forest. A groan soon followed as the sy hit it's mark. Soon after several demons ran out of the bushes. Mika raised her hands. She sent her energy done into the ground. It shook violently causing several of the demons to trip and fall. Several large vines erupted from the earth. At this point of course the boys arrived. Kurama carrying a sleeping Kiro. Terri appeared before them keeping them from interrupting. It was Mika's turn in the limelight. The demons that weren't speared to death cornered Mika against a tree. They approached, anxiously awaiting to taste her blood. Mika smirked. She began to glow green again. Yusuke made a move to help but found himself trapped in an invisible bubble. Terri's doing. Mika raised her arm. The rose tattoo glowed. Kurama looked on interested. He could feel Mika gathering a tremendous amount of energy into her hand. The funny thing was her energy wasn't what was being used. Energy seemed to flow to her from everywhere. By the time when was done her arm was glowing an immense green. Mika took aim....and fired.
"NATURE"S RAGE!!" The blast incinerated the lower class demons. When she was done Mika approached them. Terri let her shield down. The guys were so in awe only one could speak...unfortunately.
"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!?" Kuwabara screamed.
"That was my attack called Natures rage. It's an attack where I don't use my energy but instead use the energy from my surrounding environment. It quite handy actually."
"I'm sure it is." Kurama smirked.
"Ok enough talk time for sleep." Yusuke yawned and headed back to camp. The others silently followed.
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A/N: WOW finally this chapters done. Sorry it took so long. I've had a lot of crap to deal with. Next one should be soon...hopefully