Hi, hi! Here it is the next chapter. Hope you enjoy.
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Enter Yukito, Stage Right
Chapter 9
Yukito crawled from the well that had been his prison for the past few hours. Finally, dragging himself off the ground, he adjusted his glasses and looked around him.
Where am I? he thought, dark strands of hair falling into light blue eyes. What happened?
He sighed, deciding to look around. If Azure and Sarah had fallen through the well, there was a good chance they were around there somewhere.
"Yukito-kun?" a voice sprouted from his backpack followed by the head of a tiny person. She was a little under a foot tall, wore all blue and green, and had small wires sticking out of her neck. "Yukito-kun, are you alright?"
"Kaede? I thought you were on screen saver mode." Yukito smiled at her.
The little pixie-sized girl played with the wires on her neck. She was actually an angel, not literally though. Angels were created for a popular new fighting game in Yukito's time. They were basically fighting dolls stuffed full of gadgets and gizmos that were controlled by their owner's, or dues's, thoughts. Yukito was Kaede's dues and, with a bit of technological upgrades, had made her capable of computer processors, Internet, and even artificial intelligence.
(Chibi edit: In the interests of not being sued for copy write: The above paragraph was about a manga called 'Angelic Layer'. Thank you.)
"I was," she replied, "but I got worried and overrode the screen saver mode."
Yukito smiled again. Emotions. He'd programmed them, too. "I'm okay. Return to screen saver mode, okay?"
"Yes, Yukito-kun." She crawled back into his pack.
Yukito's face became serious again. Azurine had been gone for a week and Sarah, nearly four days. Worse yet, no one was doing anything about it.
When he'd spoken to Cain, Yukito was handed a small jewel fragment. "Take this. Explore the well in the woods." Cain had commanded. Yukito obeyed instantly, only stopping at home to gather food in case something was wrong. He also carried the pack Cain had given him containing some supplies for Azurine and Sarah. Kaede had also demanded that she be allowed to go along.
Yukito wandered a bit in the strange woods until, suddenly, his foot slipped out from under him and Yukito went tumbling down a rather large, steep hill. He landed at the bottom with a thud. "Ow."
Azurine watched as a young man fell out of the bushes. He tried to prop himself up on his elbows before dropping back to the ground, groaning.
"I think I've broken something," he muttered to himself.
"Who are you? What do you want?" Azurine asked, panicked.
The man looked up. "A-Azurine? You're okay! It's me, Yukito! Uh…you can put the bow down."
"Yukito?" Azurine asked in disbelief, lowering her bow. "How did you get here?"
"I fell down a well," he admitted, blushing as he rubbed the back of his head. "Most literally. What about you? Are you okay?" He froze. "What's wrong with your hands?"
Azurine sighed. "I'll explain later. You said you thought you broke something? Does anything hurt badly?"
"Well…" he whispered. "My arm."
She helped him sit up, taking a hold of his right arm. He winced when she touched a slightly swelling part of his forearm. Azurine nodded. "Right there. Come on, I have to get you back to the village. Kagome and Kaede can patch you up there."
"Kaede? What's she got to do with anything?" Yukito asked, slightly surprised.
"Not your Kaede. Kaede is the priestess in the near-by village. She and Kagome patched me up when I hit my head when I fell down the well, myself." Her hands turned purple as she laughed embarrassedly.
Yukito smiled at her despite the pain. "You have a nice laugh."
Azurine blushed. "Huh?"
"You're laugh. It's pretty…like you." Yukito flushed a bright red.
"Er…Yukito…what are you saying?" asked Azurine, her blush becoming darker.
Yukito turned away. "Nuh-nothing."
"Yukito?" she prompted. "What's wrong?"
He grimaced in pain. "Can we just go get his fixed?" he asked, cradling his arm.
"No," said a male monotone voice. Azurine and Yukito jerked their heads upward to look at the speaker. There stood a young man with long white hair, deep purple eyes, and slightly pointed ears. He wore some extravagant clothing accented with bits of armor. He had a sword sheathed at his hip and a large mass of fluff was draped over his shoulder. Following closely at his heels was a small, green, toad-like creature that wielded a staff adorned with two heads.
Azurine glared bravely. "Who're you?" she demanded. "Leave us alone!"
The toad yelled angrily at her. "How dare you speak to Lord Sesshomaru with such blatant disrespect! You think you could simply defeat him with your puny bow? The only weapon that could ever rival him is the Tetsu…gah!" A foot met with the toad-demon's head.
The owner of the foot was a pale woman. She had black hair and grey-green eyes. She was clothed in a black kimono. "Shut-up Jaken," she commanded sharply.
"Yes, Lady Rika," Jaken replied weakly.
"You cease to amuse me, Jaken," said Sesshomaru in his same monotone voice.
Sesshomaru? thought Azurine. Did my mother send him? "Who are you?" she asked again. "What do you want?"
Rika stepped forward. "Lady Sade hired me. I just thought it'd be easier to bring my Sesshie along." She laughed cruelly. "He's here just in case my fire power doesn't work, which I doubt. Speaking of which…" Rika produced a small pouch from her side and pulled out a pinch of dust. This she blew at Azurine and Yukito while yelling "Fire Dust!"
Azurine cried out as the dust turned into a huge blast of flame. All of a sudden, an invisible force field materialized between her and the flames. "Yukito!" she yelled. "Hold on to me so the fire won't burn you."
"Really?" asked Rika, smugly. She pulled a feather from her hair. "Blade of Fire!" she cried as she through the flaming feather at the pair.
Yukito quickly wrapped his arms around Azurine's waist just as the fire just as the feather struck the barrier. The force of the hit was great; too great. Azurine and Yukito were pushed backwards and both could hear the barrier creaking and cracking under the pressure. Rika sent another flaming blade at them while the first one returned to its owner's hand.
The shield finally gave and shattered. The feather blazed brighter and hotter.
Once gone, Azurine was covered in scrapes from head to toe. "Yukito? How did you make out?"
"I'm alright. But why are you spending your energy on protecting me?"
"Because you've got no clue as to what you're doing here," she retorted.
Rika spread the two feathers in her hand. "Double Flaming Wind Blades!" she bellowed as she flung both feathers at her targets.
This is it, thought Azurine. It's over. She turned away, muttering, "I'm sorry, Yukito."
As a reply, Yukito kissed her softly on the lips. "You tried your hardest."
Partially in shock, Azurine waited for the blades to burn through her. She waited for the burning heat to scorch her skin.
They never hit.
When she looked up, she found InuYasha standing in front of her, his Tetsuseiga draped almost carelessly over his shoulder.
He glared at them from over his shoulder. "I'll deal with you two later."
At that moment, Azurine spotted Sarah, Miroku, Yuto, Kagome, and Shippo looking at her in awe and judgment. Miroku looked as if his heart had been ripped out; Kagome shot her a dirty look; Yuto and Shippo were mildly disappointed. Worst of all, though, was Sarah.
Her face was emotionless. Azurine would have preferred if it were contorted with hatred and rage, but no. It was completely blank. This meant that the girl's mind was reeling with all sorts of possibilities, problems and solutions. It was a scary thing once this process was started because the girl could come up with some of the scariest ideas while in this mode, including ways of making Azurine feel horrid for her deed.
Azurine was fortunate enough to never have come under her extreme jurisdiction previously, but she'd seen it happen once or twice before and she knew what a punishment she could be in for. She winced at the thought.
Please, she begged silently. This isn't what it seems.
"So, little brother, I see you are protecting them," Sesshomaru scoffed. "What a pathetic protector you are."
"Little brother?" questioned Azurine. .
"Can't you see the resemblance?" Miroku asked coldly.
"Get out of the way, half-breed," Rika commanded. "The girl is mine."
"All right," InuYasha replied, stepping aside. He caught Azurine's eye and then looked at her bow.
She got the message: play along. "What? InuYasha! I thought…I thought you were going to save me!" she cried.
"Save you?" Kagome yelled disbelievingly. "Why would he save someone as heartless as you?"
"I don't know why I ever became your friend. You're not who I thought you were!" shouted Sarah. "How could you do that to Miroku? Just because your feelings are confused doesn't give you the right to hurt those around you!"
Azurine cringed. Apparently, InuYasha was the only one who'd seen the whole thing; the anger in Sarah and Kagome were real. Or so she thought.
Sarah, who was much smarter and more observant than Kagome, saw the look between InuYasha and Azurine and knew she was missing something. She also had come to the conclusion that Azurine would never turn on Miroku like that. She had figured that this was Yukito's fault. That was whom she had really been yelling at. She was the only person that knew his feelings for Azurine.
"How very unfortunate," Rika laughed. "To die, knowing that those you trusted most forsook you. Double Flaming Wind Blades!"
Azurine, quick as a flash, took up he bow and shot an arrow. Just centimeters off target, it ripped through the flesh of Sesshomaru's left arm and sunk into the chest of Rika. The Tenseiga was all that saved them.
InuYasha tried to block the wind blades with the Tetsusaiga but was a few seconds too late. Azurine ended up taking most of the blow and fell, once again, into that familiar blackness.
Introducing Yukito and Rika! Hope you guys like'em.
Personally, I liked Sarah in this chapter. There was more insight to the inner mechanacians of her mind. WHEE! Sarah's smart!
Um, anyway, remeber, Please Review!