A/N: Now comes the real drama...

Warning: Some sexual content.

Voguish Fib
chapter seventeen - Something, Somewhere, Someone

The wind was suddenly becoming very strong. Someone, somewhere, definitely didn't want them to reach the Yagami Territories. The tired teens continued to push on, determined to reach their goal, too consumed in their thoughts to be tired or think of the others enough to want to stop for them.

Somewhere in Takato's subconscious, he knew they weren't going to make it to the Yagami Territories. Something was going to happen on their way...he just wasn't quite sure what it would be.

"How long are you two going to avoid talking to each other again? Half an hour? A day? I'm really tired of you two fighting like this! You either love each other or you hate each other. It can't be both. If it's both, it never works out because things like this don't work like that. You see there was this one girl I knew once..." Yamato blabbered.

Sora ignored him. She looked up at the graying sky and sighed in frustration. "We have to find another town soon or we will be stuck in the middle of the storm," Sora remarked, cutting Yamato's story in half. No one wanted to hear it anyways.

"Yeah, yeah...change the subject to something that isn't important why don't you?" Yamato retorted, crossing his arms. Taichi rolled his eyes and continued on ahead with a look of annoyance on his face.

The wind had worsened, pushing hard against them as they fought to do the same to it. The teens could barely walk on; and in addition to that, there wasn't a town in sight.

Takato was beginning to fear the worse. The area looked very familiar to him...eerily familiar. He was known in his town as a little adventurer. Once, he had managed to escape Kuro-aki and got himself lost in the depths of the most horrible nightmare. What happened to him once he reached that ebony nightmare was utterly unbearable for his psyche, his pride, and his body as a small child. Something happened there...he was sure of it...but he didn't remember a single thing about it. All he remembered was pain...the most seering pain a mortal could ever endure.

He didn't know what happened after that. He ended up at the steps of Kuro-aki, barely breathing, blood gushing out of his right ear, and an open, fleshy wound exposed at his ribs.

Takato cringed and stood fearfully behind Sora as she took one step forward. The fog surrounding the trees was unusual. It sent the most uncomfortable feeling coursing through the blood in her veins.

She lifted a brow at Takato. "What's the matter Takato-kun?" she asked soothingly.

Takato shook his head, his enormous eyes gazing with bloodless fear at the ice cold smog surrounding their supposed path.

"Hey Takato, what's the matter? Scared?" Yamato teased, nudging the boy. The boy cringed and recoiled further behind Sora. Yamato and Taichi looked at each other with concern. "I was just joking around Takato..." Yamato added softly.

Taichi shrugged off Takato's fear. "Come on, there can't be anything too bad. We've been here before. Nothing harmed us then, nothing's going to harm us now. Besides, I'm here," he reassured Takato with an air of cockiness as he walked off. Takato gulped.

"Let's go," Yamato said hesitantly, following behind Taichi, slightly anxious. The two quickly disappeared into the fog.

Takato looked up at Sora. "I'm not usually this afraid...but we're making a mistake crossing this way. If we go, there is a good chance we might never see each other again..." Takato warned. Sora breathed deeply, staring into Takato's eyes. He was definitely afraid.

"Taichi, Yamato! Come ba--" Sora was cut off by a shout, the echo of her name, and then silence.

Sora's heart nearly stopped as her eyes widened in fear. "TAICHI!" she screamed. Without any thought, she ran down the same path Taichi and Yamato went through.

"Sora no! Please, you're making a mistake!" Takato shouted after her, begging as he pulled at her kimono. She ignored him. The soft silk slipped through his fingers and he fell back, watching helplessly as she ran to find the boy she loved.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

"Queen Takenouchi, I am afraid we were unable to bring back the princess," Jyou said as he bowed low in front of His Majesty. She stood and slowly walked toward him, the hard heels of her shoes clapping against the hard surface. Jyou's eyes shut tightly until his eyelids were scrunched together. Daisuke and Satoru knelt behind him, slightly afraid of what she will do because of their failure.

"Is that so?" she asked rhetorically. "Well, you've done what you could. I thank you for your attempt. You are excused."'

Jyou and the other two boys were relieved. They had expected to be reprimanded and punished for not bringing back her daughter. They were one of the best...and yet they were unable to retrieve her.

"Wait," she called after them before they left through the door.

"Yes Your Majesty?" Jyou answered.

"Did you see her? Have you spoken to her?" the queen asked.

Jyou nodded slowly. "She wanted to stay with that wretched Yagami prince," he replied bitterly.

Queen Takenouchi frowned. "Is she in love with him?" Her tone raised angrily as she stepped forward to where Jyou was.

"I am sorry Your Majesty...but I am not quite sure."

"Oh...I see..." The queen looked down for a second, her eyes sad. Then she looked back up at the boys with graceful carelessness. "We will get her back no matter what! I will not have my daughter brainwashed by those bastards," she answered with a smooth tone. "You will find her again, and this time, you will not stop until you have reached Furugawa, do you understand?"

"Yes Your Highness."

"Now go."

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

"Sora...we're finally together..."

"Mmh...yes," Sora replied softly, caressing his face with her fingers. She smoothed his hair down before pulling his face against hers as she kissed him. It felt so good to kiss him this way. She had never felt this way about any of her suitors before. Only him...she loved him. She fell for him like a crushed snail. It would be irreparable for her to be without him now.

"Sora...love me," Taichi whispered in her ear.

"But I do!" she laughed softly.

It was too unreal. The light was very bright, but not unbearable. In fact the rays were calming on their skin.

Skin? Sora felt Taichi's hands move from her bare shoulders to her bare hips. She was lacking clothes! Oh...but she didn't care...she wanted to be with him like this. She loved the way Taichi's legs were against hers, how their ribs were pressed against one another, and their arms wrapped in each other. Sora rolled over and sat on his stomach, gazing at his angelic face lovingly. Taichi smirked and pushed her down on the ground, placing kisses on her face, then her neck, then the outline of her collarbone. She giggled, capturing his lips just as his eyes caught hers.

A white sheet was over their naked bodies, catching the brightness of the sun. A fragrance of spring surrounded them and a soft breeze blew by. It was so beautifully unbearable...

Taichi's mouth moved away from hers, leaving the two nearly breathless. He smiled gently, slipping the white sheet slowly from her pale body, contouring her curves until it was only lightly covering her body from below her belly button. He took her hands and entwined his fingers with hers. He held her hands down as she wrapped her legs around his waist. Taichi was still gazing at her with his angelic face.

Sora closed her eyes with a smile.

She waited for something...anything...mostly pleasure. But nothing came.

When she opened her eyes she did not see Taichi hovering above her, but something else. Her heart skipped a beat when she saw the horrific creature above her, wrapping his lithe fingers around her neck, tightening its grip as his several legs slithered around her limbs, squeezing them until her skin was purple. The creature's nails dug into her neck, peircing her pale skin while she screamed.

"Let...let me go!" she croaked.

"Hahaha! You thought it was your beloved Taichi, did you not? Well you're wrong! Awfully wrong! Dead wrong! Your beloved idiot has perished! He's with his weakling of a sister now...that skinny, whiny little cow! DEAD!" The creature spat. Sora fell back with surprise as little cockroaches crawled away from the sticky fluid. "He's gone!" the creature cackled as it choked and shook her violently.

Tears were streaming down her face, but she couldn't feel it. She couldn't feel anything...not her legs, arms or lungs. She cried anyways, until she was sure she was crying blood.

"He can't b--he can't be dead...it's not that easy to kill a guy like Taichi," Sora murmured coldly, steadying her voice. She was never this afraid of anything. Why now, when she needed to be fearless?

The creature continued to cackle and tighten his grip, she coughed. Sora was sick of it. She remembered Takato's question. Why didn't she use her powers when she had the chance?

It hadn't been working, despite her training with Gennai, she was unable to will her own powers to work, even though she was constantly in trouble...and desperately in need of them. Sora was becoming frustrated.

"Oh...don't give me that denial shit! Just believe it you bitch. The boy is dead. He was the first to go...then it was the blond one." The creature began to smile, his rotting teeth peeking through gray lips. "We snapped his spine, peeled it out of his back as he screamed...then we poured acid down his throat. He begged us to let him say goodbye to you, but you see...there was no time."

"Screw you! He's not dead!" Sora screamed. A bright light emanated from her body, burning the rancid creature off of her. He shrieked and let her go, looking angrily into her eyes. His scaly features flaired as he attempted to wrap his tentacles around her once more. She held out her palms at him with shut eyes. Something surged through her hands, something euphoric, something painful.

Where was all this power coming from? Her? It was so unreal...it came from someone, but it couldn't possibly be from her. She was just a nymph! Still, it flowed through her veins and was sucked out through her body like a vacuum. Carefully, her eyelids lifted, her ruby pupils gazing hatefully at the satanic creature.

Once the creature faltered, holding his tentacles over his eyes, Sora walked over to him and kicked him in the groin then elbowed him between the ribcage before he could make another move.

The creature flung a tentacle at her, slapping her in the face. Sora stepped back, touching her cheek.

"You bitch!" The creature lunged forward and striked her.

Sora lifted her arms, unintentionally pulling energy from herself. Lightning-like daggers escaped from her hands slicing through the scales of the creature. He shrieked again and again as dagger after dagger came flying at him.

Sora fell to the ground, breathing heavily. She didn't expect powers to suck up so much energy. She suddenly felt dizzy.

"Oh Kami-sama..." Sora sighed, her sight beginning to leave her. She didn't hear anymore noises coming from the creature so she left the place she was at. This place...what was it?

She walked in a dazed manner, using her hands to find something concrete to hold on to. She toppled over and remained there until her eyesight returned. She looked around. There was fog surrounding her. She couldn't see anything. She began wondering how she got herself into the situation with the creature in the first place.

She sighed. She did have the tendency to daze off and dream the most horrible dreams. She crawled forward and suddenly came upon something. It was a cave.

Inside the cave, a painfully blinding light hit her square in the eyes. She shaded her eyes with her hand as she walked in, stumbling all the while. She held onto the walls, following it as she continued to stare into the light.

I'm not dead, am I? she asked herself. Her hands left the door once she reached the inside of the cave. She squinted into the light and walked through. There was something on the other side...

The light surrounding her seemed so tangible that she held her hands out around her, moving them from side to side, experimenting with it. She stepped forward and tripped, falling flat on her stomach. She quickly shut her eyes, afraid of what she might have fallen into.

"Ow..." she groaned, lifting herself up slowly.

She opened her eyes. They gradually shifted upward when she saw tiny feet right in front of her face. What she saw next was the most horrific thing she had ever seen in her life.

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A/N: Hey everyone! Yeah, this chapter was pretty darn long. Again, sorry it took me a while to continue, yet another, chapter. Well, bye bye for now!