Disclaimers: Do I seriously need this?

Warnings: Shoddy fighting scene that is blunt and not very… descriptive. Krad steals Dark's weapon for the fight, Dark acts like a statue… and Satoshi is hiding from the sun.

Other: Lessee… well, they walk, talk, argue… and the four finally meet. So whoopee.

000

"Thirteen years, thirteen stars. Foul separate souls destined from the start. One dreaded prophecy; waiting to come true…"

Fragment Nine: Paths Cross for a Reason

Traveling by day was definitely easier than it was night, Krad had come to admit. And with two experienced travelers to accompany them made it even easier; although she would never admit THAT. Dark seemed to get over the fact quickly that he was traveling with three girls at the same time, and keeping him in line had been quite easy; all he needed now and then was a stomp in the foot and he would behave himself.

He sulked at this, but didn't say anything because it was fairly obvious that the blonde was more used to this sort of situation/scenario than he was, and she was the girl around here. Maybe it was due to the fact that she was quite independent and self-assertive that made her that way, but in the end, that was about it. And she was quite violent when she wanted to be.

But then again… she was also quite nice when she wasn't angry or annoyed; in fact, as he already knew, she was pretty…

Shaking himself out of the stupor, he focused on the backs of Riku and Risa, who were walking just ahead of them and throwing them random tips about traveling and how to watch out in case of ambushing enemies and the like. They obviously knew what they were talking about, but it didn't make it any easier for the boy. He was used to running away more than actually standing around and fighting back… or whatever it was. It just wasn't his thing.

It was more something Krad would do.

Strange, but when he thought about it now, the blonde seemed to be able to take care of herself quite well and knew how to fight – which amazed him just slightly, but not that much – and while he himself wasn't that bad, he tended to avoid fighting at all costs. Maybe it had something to do with his pride and the fact that he would never admit being bested by anyone.

Avoiding the subject was so much easier.

Turning her head to face the two, Risa grinned, "So… how did you get here anyway and what's the reason?" It was clearly her way of starting some form of conversation, but at least it would kill the silence that had blanketed over them a few minutes back, where Riku had been advising them to avoid using strange looking plants as food or… yeah.

"The Gate," Krad replied bluntly, then elaborated when the brunette blinked questioningly, "It blew up after we got sent to… the middle of nowhere. Why, I have no idea. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that Dark was in there as well…"

The purple haired teen glared at her, "I despise that!"

"Yeah, sure," she rolled her eyes, "And the fact that you can't even use that weapon makes it so much better, huh?"

Dark looked ready to argue some more, but Riku held up a hand with a sigh, "Do you two always argue like this?"

"Well… yeah," answered Dark, "Or at least ever since yesterday morning. I don't get this at all. I mean, it was Krad's birthday, I just went over to talk to her, our parents go crazy, some weird things happen, and earthquake occurs, and now we run away, the portal blows up, and now we're stuck with a sorceress and… what are you?"

Frowning at the fact that he had said all that in one breath, Riku sniffed, "If you really need to know, I'm a Wind Oracle. Now shut up and keep marching."

"How? You two are leading the way and you stopped first. We're only following," shot back the teen. The blonde next to him could only muffle her sigh of frustration and noticed that the short haired brunette looked ready to scream at him. It kind of reminded her of her mum when she was angry; amusing, to say the least, but the earsplitting shriek was quite unbearable.

Riku had opened her mouth to retort, yet seemed to regain her composure and then merely muttered a curse under her breath and then stalked off to catch up with her younger sister, who was smiling again.

Once the two were out of earshot, though, Krad decided that she had to settle it with Dark. His attitude with the entire situation was not only getting tedious and boring, but the fact that he thought that everything was going to be okay was incredibly irritating and she would end up strangling him to death if he didn't take it seriously soon.

Yanking him down by the ear, she caught the purple-haired teen completely by surprise and he nearly fell backwards. "What was that for!"

"You have to wonder sometimes, don't you?" she snapped back, not bothering to bait him or annoy him just for the sake of it; "Look, I don't care about this whole prophecy thing one bit, but if you don't straighten out your attitude then I'm going to head off my own way."

"Whoa, whoa… what?" Dark blinked at this and she frowned, "Are you saying that I'm treating this all as a joke then?"

"Of course you moron! Do you want to get us both killed out there!"

"I see… and come on, I'm like this all the time."

"I knew you were a jerk the first time I met you, but I was highly unaware that you were this big of a jerk."

"Why you--"

"Hey! What are you two doing!" called Risa some distance away as she waved to them. "We'll never get to the village in time at the rate we're going! Come on, stop fooling around!"

"Who's the fool?" Riku asked nonchalantly, the headband around her forehead whipping around the strong gust of wind that blew out at them from all sides. "They're still children."

"Actually, they're only two years younger than us." Corrected the long-haired brunette.

"Still, they act like children. Maybe it was lack of social contact."

"… You have a point."

Dark stared at the two in front in disbelief, "They're… talking about us like we're deaf or something."

A derisive snort was the only reply to that sentence, and Krad was about to catch up to the twins, but then stopped when she noticed something running towards them. Something big… had four paws… a mouth with many, many teeth… and… yeah, that was about it.

Of course, that was the last thing they needed, so the blonde ended up stealing Dark's sword before he could work out what was going on, and met the… monster as it charged; all the while ignoring the calls of Riku, Risa, and Dark making off-hand comments about one thing or another.

She gritted her teeth; didn't the purple haired fool ever shut up? Apparently not.

000

Supposing the fact that he was already a klutz who was capable of tripping over air, this had to be the stupidest idea that Daisuke had ever had in his entire life… or something. Of all the things possible, he was now following after some blue-haired, very intimidating, vampire who didn't seem to talk much, wore glasses, and didn't seem that intent of drinking one's blood, which made no sense whatsoever. Not to mention the little fact that he had run away from the only home he had, was separated from his loud – and annoying – twin, and was now going to fulfill some prophecy that made some sense, but his brain couldn't comprehend much else.

And then there was that little fact that he hadn't slept since… the day before? He couldn't remember anymore, especially since everything was moving just a BIT too fast for his brain and most things didn't make much sense in the first place, before the whole incident began.

It was already the next morning and the redhead was really beginning to flag, seeing as he wasn't used to staying up and running all night, and he was still questioning whatever sanity he had left. But then again, it might have all run away by now and if it had still been there, he wouldn't even be in this mess in the first place.

…

What mess was he in again? His mind was so stressed out that he couldn't even remember that.

Of course, this also meant that when Satoshi stopped walking, Daisuke promptly ran into him and they fell in an undignified heap. It wasn't a good thing from the start and the redhead groaned. Pushing himself up, he apologized while he tried to stifle a yawn. He failed miserably.

It was clear that he wasn't going to get much further without sleep, but how was he supposed to tell the vampire? Then again, did vampires EVER take a break? And how was he able to still walk around after a day and a night of being awake and not even resting ONCE?

Supposing the fact that Satoshi had been out like a light after Daichi got that spell wrong… but still!

"Are you okay?"

"Huh?" Daisuke blinked when he noticed that the question had indeed been directed towards him. The blue-haired vampire just stared at him blankly, and the redhead couldn't help but sweat drop; what was with this guy? He was just so intimidating all the time… and the fact that there was never any sort of emotion on his face didn't help matters either…

And so it came back to question as to why he was even here in the first place. It was also quite obvious that he was never going to find that answer.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he replied hurriedly, when he finally worked out that he hadn't answered the question yet. Satoshi nodded lightly, the shadows hiding almost his whole face and form because of the sun coming up in… two hours, Daisuke calculated mentally. Then what was going to happen?

Strange images popped into his head at the thought of what might happen to vampires when exposed to the sun, but pushed them all away as the two continued to who knew where.

They had left the village and all, and all around them was grass, grass, plants, grass… and sky. Nothing of much interest, but it was quite odd to see no monsters wandering around. They really should have been coming around in droves, yet… it was so empty.

With seemed to notice this as well, and was hitting the top of Daisuke's head, which he was riding on top of, and the boy could only nod lightly in reply. Besides, what could he do about it?

The world below, with mortals and the like, was definitely something that Satoshi never truly believe would happen in his lifetime. Damn prophecies ruined his life forever, and he couldn't help but feel annoyed at that little twist of fate that would now shove him with three other mortals… or whatever the other two were; he didn't know, nor did he care too much.

Not to mention the fact that it was getting closer to day, and he HATED light in all its forms. True, as long as he had the cloak and hood on, he would be pretty much protected, but it didn't help much.

The only other thing worse than this would have to be that stupid castle/cave he had once called home.

At this point, he was planning to get to the next town, where he would hopefully run into that stupid seer that his mother had told him about, and confronting them about it seemed to be the smartest plan of action. Then he could work out what to do – most likely abandon the mortal – and then go… somewhere.

Maybe that was the biggest problem with the situation; he had nowhere to go to afterwards, and the fact that everyone hated mortals didn't exactly help anyone either.

He hated the uncertainty of it all.

Turning his head, Satoshi slowly analysed the mortal behind him, who looked tired and was trying hard not to yawn. Not that it worked, but he was trying either way. Such a strange mortal in the end…

He probably had a sort of mental illness, to trust and STILL follow a vampire around, but since he had explained the nature of the prophecy, he had probably thought it over and then agreed with it… until they got some answers that would and could help.

So that was it; the two were wandering around in the open plains, it was nearly morning, and they were completely vulnerable to attack by any monsters that may be around.

Did he care? Not… in particular… right?

Frowning and turning back to the nothing in front of him, Satoshi had to wonder if the boy behind him was actually capable to taking care of himself in case of attack. Because if he couldn't it could cause a lot of problems for him and he wasn't sure if he was really into being a guard to a mortal.

But then again, the boy HAD helped him… and still trusted him, even now…

The vampire bit his lip as confusion hit his brain like a ton of bricks, and that wasn't a pleasant sensation in the first place.

Why was he asking himself so many questions now? And what did he care if the mortal got hurt? Strange red-headed kid… but he had the kind of personality that people liked from the start, and as much as he hated to admit it…

Satoshi stopped himself in time and tried to get rid of the thought.

He did not get along with the mortal… he just couldn't… he wouldn't… he wouldn't…

… It was kind of painful as well as confusing. Why did his brain and feelings hate him so much?

He stopped thinking that way when he saw two things that caught his interest; one was the outline of the next village, and then the other was some monster or another that was running towards them.

Oh, then there were some other shadows some distance away that were currently battling with some more monsters. Joy, this was going to be fun. Then there was the little fact that if he got his cloak damaged… well, he was going to be doomed, wasn't he?

And why the hell was he talking to himself again? Ah, the problems with living in a large family where siblings don't agree with one another.

Daisuke noticed the monsters as well – and the other shadows fighting… somewhere, naturally – and was now searching for something in his bag. Satoshi raised a questioning eyebrow at his actions.

The redhead smiled disarmingly; "Monster attacks are actually quite frequent in the last village, so I was wondering where they'd gone off to." He pulled out a dagger and sheath, frowned at it, and then shrugged, "Guess I'll just have to buy some proper weapons when we get into town."

This successfully got the vampire even more confused and he shrugged; he could always ask questions later, right?

000

The first monster actually slammed INTO the blade, killing it instantly, and even Dark shut up in disbelief at what he had just witnessed. It was also stupid when one thought of it, but there wasn't much time to really process the information, because more monsters were coming. For one reason or another, no one honestly cared.

But due to the fact that there were more monsters running towards them – completely ruining the calm atmosphere – it wasn't like they had much time to think about anything else anyway.

"Why do they always charge at us at the worst time possible?" Riku muttered, directing the question to either herself or Risa; no one knew. She dug out a card from her pocket and looked it over. It was a piece of cardboard cut out and had nothing on it, and she scowled.

Risa merely placed her hands on her hips and watched as Krad pretty much did all the fighting, which Dark looked like some sort of petrified statue. "Well, it looks like we won't have to teach Krad much then, huh, sis?"

"I don't know about that, but I think she'll get overwhelmed when even more monsters come," came the muttered reply as she poked the brunette with the cardboard. "Now cast a spell or something. I am not going to have their deaths on my wishlist."

"Eeeh? Who ever said we were going to let them die?" Risa frowned at her sister and was poked again, "Quit it!"

Refusing to listen to her twin, Riku poked her again; harder, "Then get casting!"

Pouting, Risa complied, "You didn't have to poke me so hard, you know."

Smiling innocently, the short-haired brunette poked her one more time, "I can do whatever I want. So start doing something useful before one of them gets hurt."

Of course, Dark was still staring and acting like a statue, while Krad was actually doing all the work, which was not only unfair for her, but… whatever.

There were two monsters trying to attack, but kept jumping in each other's way and the like, and it wasn't like they were any good at organizing or actually using a strategy, so it made it easier for the blonde.

It also gave her time to snap at Dark, who STILL wasn't doing anything of use. And that was really putting her off for some reason; then again, she had his weapon…

She couldn't care less.

"Can't you do SOMETHING, you idiot!" she yelled before dodging another attack, "Standing there isn't going to make much of a difference, you know! Get your ass moving!"

This managed to snap the teen out of his… staring/daze/nothingness… somehow, "What are you talking about? You stole my only weapon, you know!"

"Uh, maybe it's because you weren't doing anything and you can't even use it? DUH!" she snapped back impatiently, but then stopped when the monster went up in flames and began to shriek and run around in circles. "… Nice."

As it was still running around in circles, it was then hit by another spell of sorts, but no one really had the time to process it all because the other monster was charging at them again.

… and then it was knocked out of the way by a white bunny-looking thing.

Everyone sweat dropped.

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"Kyu!"

"With! You're not supposed to do that!" shrilled an annoyed-yet-desperate voice as a boy with flaming red hair charged in their direction, followed by some dude wearing a cloak. For some reason, he managed to ram right into Dark and the two fell over; the cloaked figure stopped and didn't do anything, the twins just stared in disbelief, the rabbit was having the time of its life, the monster was also still or completely winded and Krad…

Krad felt like the world had finally gone insane.

The world was obviously not going at a sane speed and that all the scenarios and other worldly problems were just being thrown at them for the fun of it, and that seemed to annoy her more than anything. Not to mention she wanted to cause Dark some more harm for not even trying to help her during the fight… but that could wait for a bit; they were getting close to the village anyway.

The rabbit was still bouncing around happily and the monster just rumbled something and trundled off, which was quite a surprise, and, slowly, the redhead sat up.

"Ow…" he muttered, "Sorry about that… really am…"

He looked younger than them and something about that hair seemed far too unnatural… but then again, was purple hair any more natural? Hn… she'd have to ask Dark on that one… his clothes pretty much placed him in a lower social status, but that didn't matter, and he didn't seem to care much because he was now crawling over to berate the bouncing… rabbit. She wasn't even sure if it was that.

Focusing her attention on the cloaked figure led to no conclusion of any sort and that just bugged her.

Then someone tugging on her cloak brought her back to annoying reality. She looked down, "What?"

"Can I have my sword back now?" asked Dark, who hadn't bothered to sit up yet.

She smirked, "What if I didn't want to? It's not like you used it."

"Why you--!"

"Looks like we're all here then."

This caught everyone present off-guard – except the twins, who were now focusing on the newcomer – and turned to see someone watching them some distance away.

Towa smiled slightly at this, "So my prophecy really is coming true now."

The four merely stared at her blankly and said nothing to get the conversation going and then turned to blink at each other. Riku and Risa smiled in a disarming matter and didn't say anything either. It was obvious that the conversation that the seer had started wasn't going anywhere, and Towa sighed; it was going to be a lot harder than she thought.

000

Uh… stuff? I can't think straight… so sleepy… for some reason…

Anyway, Towa confuses them all in the next chapter and the four get along… or don't get along. Either way. And who knows, maybe something more interesting will happen… highly doubt it though. It's all downhill from here.

Reviews:

Hakudoshi-chan: Yeah, I was trying to even it out so they all get mentioned enough times. But now that they're all together… well, who knows.

neko-nya: Yeah, Risa isn't as bad as one might think… when she's not fawning over Dark and stalking him… it's just… irritating. As a vampire, would it be like the Wizard of Oz? o.O I mean, would he sizzle and die in the sun, you think?

chronoskitty/kittenoftime: Eheh… thanks! XD

ginny brenn: Hi again. XD I'm glad you like it and all so… yeah. :D Hope you hang around for the rest of the story! As for me being good at this… er… really? o.O Thanks for the reviews!

kyo's little koneko: Daisuke might be a bit too… trusting, really. Maybe I should just put that as part of the problem later…