Beware of a little Chichiri OOCness. XD
Disclaimer: FY and all its yadda yadda yadda belong to its original creators/publishers, along with Yuu Watase.
I suck at making disclaimers :P
Chapter Five - Sharpening the Staff
Chichiri watched Toroki carefully. His opponent reminded him of Mitsukake, although his temper was entirely different. There was something bitter in it, as if he had suffered much in the past. He touched the new set of prayer beads Taiitsukun had given him. "Eternal Flame!" Inside he knew that Toroki was going to manage to dodge the attack, but he didn't care much. After all, at the moment, he was just testing his opponent's skills.
Toroki leaped in the air and unleashed a whip from his sleeve. He did a flip and dodged the fire, landing silently on his feet. His eyes flashed and his whip glowed eerily. The flames were thrown back, rushing at the wall Chichiri was standing by.
Chichiri thrust his staff into the ground, using it as a lever to leap over the flames. As he jumped, Toroki flung stars at him and he twisted to avoid them. We have to take this outside! The shrine could get destroyed this way, no da. As he flew through the air, he tapped the ground several times and sprinted across the floor and out the door. Toroki followed him out the door, flashing his whip on the ground.
Chichiri felt the whip catch his leg and he tripped, the staff landing under his leg. Shit, had he broken his leg? When he tried to get up, a spasm of pain speared through him and he gasped.
Toroki leapt into the air, his sword in his hand and ready to deliver the finishing blow.
Chichiri closed his eyes, waiting for the blade to cut into him. 'Hidoen, you promised you wouldn't let go!' The sign on Chichiri's knee flashed black and all the moisture in the air rushed at him. Ryuuno..! He flung his hand out and a wave of water hit Toroki.
Toroki was flung back as the water hit him. It overwhelmed him, forcing his weapons from his hand and washed him into the neighboring lake.
Amefuri's eyes widened. Toroki! He untied his outer robe and dived into the water, frantically searching for his friend. Out of all the Byakko seishi, it was he alone who knew his friend was deathly afraid of water and couldn't swim.
The sign for 'rain net' flared on the left side of his torso as wind surrounded him. Amefuri closed his eyes and sensed for Toroki. His friend's chi was weak, too weak. He swam as fast as he could, pushing the seaweed aside as he searched.
On the shore of the lake, Chichiri gasped both in surprise and pain. He looked at his hands. When had he gotten that power? And what was a lake doing in the middle of the desert? Then he remembered where he was. Of course. If the Byakko seishi stayed at their shrine, they would of course need a source of water.
"They haven't resurfaced yet..." Kokie said worriedly.
Karasuki frowned. "I know Amefuri's a good swimmer, but Toroki...." He wasn't sure about him; the ninja was a complete mystery to him.
Tatara bit his lip and began undressing, stripping to his pants. "I'm going in after them."
He was about to dive in when there was an explosion in the lake. Everyone covered their eyes as a bright light shone from the lake, Amefuri rising above it.
Amefuri leaped to the ground, Toroki in his arms. The ninja was unconscious, but alive.
Tatara, Karasuki, and Kokie rushed over. "Toroki! Is he all right?"
Amefuri set Toroki down gently by the lake and heaved him a sigh. "I got him out before he swallowed too much water, but I'm still worried."
Tatara closed his eyes. "Thank Byakko."
Amefuri nodded. The bun at the top of his head had unraveled, so it flowed over his shoulders. "Yes."
Chichiri tried to get up, but he fell, wincing slightly. "I'm sorry, no da. That wasn't supposed to happen."
Amefuri gave him a slight smile. "It's all right. You don't need to worry about Toroki; he's been through a lot worse." He noticed the odd position Chichiri's legs were in. "Now you..." He clapped his hands together. "I think we need to do something about you."
Chichiri stiffened, but he decided to give the Byakko seishi the benefit of the doubt. Amefuri came over and placed a hand on Chichiri's leg. His brow furrowed. "You have a broken leg here." He sighed and placed his other hand on the leg, closing his eyes in the process.
Chichiri felt a warm light envelop him and the pain in his leg gradually vanished. He heard Amefuri mutter a few words and the warmth left him. When he opened his eyes, he sensed power emitting from Amefuri.
"You're..." Chichiri almost couldn't believe it.
Amefuri smiled. "Aye."
.........
Byakko's eyes flew open. One of his seishi had just released a huge amount of power, enough to alert Tenkou, who was most likely after his seishi anyways. He flung his blanket off him and teleported out of his room. It was vital that Taiitsukun was alerted as soon as possible.
..........
The pen fell from her hand. She had just sensed a huge burst of power from Sairou. She bit her lip worriedly. Was something wrong?
She rose from her seat and donned her coat. This was definitely something she had to investigate.
..........
Tatara carried Toroki inside while Karasuki supported Amefuri, who was weak from loss of chi. Kokie and Chichiri walked behind.
Chichiri held the door open for Kokie. "I'm sorry," he said softly.
She looked at him in surprise. "For what? Surely you don't mean about Toroki, right?"
"No, for bursting in on all of you like this."
The girl didn't say anything and he wasn't sure what to say either. What could one say in a situation like this?
Tatara set Toroki on the table and closed his eyes. He plucked a seed from his hair and laid it on his palm. It began to grow steadily and soon formed a cage around Toroki, shielding him from the winds of the desert. He turned to Chichiri. "Now why are you here?"
Amefuri leaned back in his chair and sighed. "Tatara, leave the man alone. Toroki's safe now."
"I should explain why I'm here," Chichiri said. "I already told you about how Taiitsukun sent me here to test myself. In truth, I'm one of the Taiitsukun seishi." He didn't know how he came up with or if it was even true, but it seemed to fit somehow.
Tatara nodded, accepting that. Karasuki raised an eyebrow. "Really? When did the Creator have her own seishi?"
Chichiri wasn't quite sure how to explain it. He didn't even quite get it himself. It had something to with Tenkou though, he knew that much. Of course, one couldn't forget that he had coined that name himself. How was he supposed to explain that? He finally opened his mouth and spoke.
Taiitsukun, he explained, had chosen seven seishi before all of them had been reincarnated to help her, Nyan, and the four Gods fight Tenkou. He was one of them. He wasn't quite sure who the other six where, but Taiitsukun had told him that their signs would be black instead of their usual colors. In addition, there were seven other seishi who had volunteered their services. It was his job to find all fourteen of them.
Karasuki tapped his chin. "How do you know when you've found one of those fourteen seishi? I mean, I could be one, Kokie could be one. One out of two, anyone could be one. The chances are too big."
"Taiitsukun told me that I would know."
Karasuki nodded. "I see."
Toroki rose from where he lay. "So now you're the Creator's boy?" He coughed violently, his eyes burning with an emotion unlike hatred. Above all things, he feared water, and this impudent monk had just flung him into a whole lake of it. On top of that, right in front of the Byakko shrine, a place where his powers should have been at it strongest. He could barely hold in his anger; his emotions were like a simmering volcano about to explode. For a moment, Amefuri and the others were glad of the vine cage surrounding Toroki. They knew what he could be like once his temper was aroused.
Chichiri hesitated. "Perhaps I should leave now, no da. Taiitsukun is expecting me." The hatred surrounding him was extremely thick and it was suffocating him. He wished again that he hadn't unleashed that last attack at the ninja. He didn't even know how he had done it! He touched the leg that had been broken. "Thank you, Amefuri."
"Go," Toroki spat. He slashed at the vines surrounding him and slid to the floor. "I will kill you yet, Well. I would do it now if we weren't in the Byakko shrine and I risked defiling such sacred ground."
...........
He laughed. The negative energy in the air was delicious. Most satisfying. He could feel it vibrating through the air, so intense it was. Ah yes, this indeed was the perfect opportunity.
...........
As of now, I'm making a RPG out of this, so if you're interested, e-mail me about it. There's a link to it in my profile.
And yes I know I focused on Amefuri a lot in this chapter. :P I do have a reason though, so yeap yeap.
See you people next chapter!