Chapter Two

Suzuno, suspended in fear and marinated in shock tossed the book as far away as she possibly could, making it slide on the concrete ground as an electric white light shot out. Also engulfed in fright, but for different reasons, Takao was frozen in his place. He watched his daughter, who was still sitting as she clinged around the knees of one of the Puriti's legs.

Finally he regained his composure enough to speak. "Suzuno!" He cried, and her wide eyes, filled with dreading tears shifted to his. He cupped his hands around his mouth, "Please, get away from it before it takes you in!"

"Daddy!" She called, finally letting go of Puriti's leg and reaching out as far as she could. She would stand up, but her legs were paralyzed. It was like they refused to move. Takao noticed this disability and brought himself to run towards her while trying his best to avoid the light of the book, which was still flying out towards none other than his offspring.

As he ran to her, his arm just as outstretched as hers, his eyes started to widen as he noticed her hand deteriorating slowly. His worst fears were coming true, and he started to slow down, knowing now his efforts were futile: His daughter, Suzuno Oosugi, was going inside the same Universe of the Four Gods that took Takiko Okuda more than ten years ago.

As his daughter completely dissapeard into thin air, the white light dancing on the ground from the book like a light show went away as well, and the book lied open, the wind blowing the pages.

"What . . .?" Puriti was looking down at her leg where Suzuno had been clinging for dear life, now only seeing a pile of disgusting sour milk dying the ground. She looked over to Takao who had his hands over his face, covering the uncontrolled emotion of a missing child. Instead of showing sympathy, she stayed in her spot and regained her composure as much as she could, putting her hand on one hip and shouting, "What in the hell was that? Where'd she go?"

Takao was silent for a second; slowly, he let his hands gravitate down his face until they were at his sides. Instead of answering her right away, he walked over to the book and bent over slightly to pick it up. Then he walked next to Puriti and picked up Suzuno's backpack, the only thing that was left behind of her in this world.

Puriti became enraged from being ignored as he started to walk away towards his car and she grabbed his shoulder, swinging him back to look at her.

"Listen you," she said in a powerful voice, "No one ignores me! I don't care if I have to stalk you for the rest of your life; you're gonna tell me what happened whether you like it or not!"

Takao stayed silent, looking down at the ground and tightly gripping the Universe of the Four Gods in one hand, which was at his side. He watched a cherry blossom fall on the ground before him, gently rubbing against his glossy black shoes. When he spoke, it was very quiet and calm, and Puriti's face lightened with a small shade of pink; it was the first time she hadn't heard him shout, and it was a handsome voice.

"I can't explain it now," He said, sounding composed. "And I don't expect you to trust me after this, but I'm going to have to go home now; if you don't want to come with me, then I understand." He gently pushed Puriti's hand off of his shoulder, which had grown limp, turned, and smiled. "You're a friend of my daughter's, right? It's good to see she's finally stepping forward and meeting people."

She realized that when looking at him, this man's smile was so incredibly disarming. It would make any girl melt, and it would make any man want to talk to him. It would make a child feel comfortable with talking about his problems. She remembered Suzuno calling him 'Daddy'. . . They had the same hair and eyes, but they're faces were so incredibly different. His smile, her frown.

Before she completely lost her poise, she tightly shut her eyes and shook her head, then looked up and said, "Yeah, I'm gonna follow you! Then when we get wherever you want to go, you're gonna explain everything!"

Takao suddenly laughed a little at they way she boasted about, and then he walked towards the car, with Puriti following her, her face red.

x

Although the large kingdom of Sairou was a wide open desert, with scorching temperatures during the day and freezing temperatures during the night, it was normally a stable land, with a decent amount of food and water to go around. This was of course to their advantage; no one would dare to invade a country with such a drastic changes in temperature, so they well supplied themselves. Unfortunately, the current period was one of recovering from the attack of the daring Kutou and a famine was running through everywhere.

"Lanva!" A young girl called, untangling some of her hair from a nearby tree branch. Eventually, she was tired of being gentle, and instead of trying to unwrap every strand she pulled until she heard a tear. It barely hurt, and was so unnoticeable that she cupped her hands around her mouth immediately after and shouted again, "Lanva! Lanva! Lanva! Lanva! Lanva!"

The young woman who was calling was extremely beautiful, to the extent of even thinking of her as drop-dead gorgeous. Her white, violet-tined silky hair was long and wavy, and while there were two giant loops of her hair on the top that were tied back with ribbons, most of her hair stayed down, and reached past her waist in length. Her eyes were the same color as her hair, and she dressed fashionably, in many colored robes while still revealing healthy and rather large breasts.

She walked on, breathing a little heavily, and then stopped again as she felt herself being pulled back by more of her hair being caught in tree branches. Instead of gently taking it out or even ripping them separate like that time, she kicked the tree she was attached to, trying to release a full head of anger that was building up. Then she shouted at the top of her lungs, trying to completely calm down, "Lanva! Dammit, where are y!"

Her voice was suddenly cut off when she felt two large hands cover her mouth and pull her back. Her eyes widened with an instinctive fright, and her body became paralyzed.

'Lanva . . .' she thought suddenly, all of her anger gone. 'Help me . . .'

The figure behind her was still holding her mouth shut, and she could feel her ear tickle as he whispered into it, his voice menacing. "Listen well," he muttered. "If you do as I say, you won't get hurt." He let one of his hands free and slide down towards her breasts, "Is that a deal?"

Her anger came back when she realized who it was, and before he could let his hand find its destination, she pinched a vein on it as hard as she could, which got and immediate and satisfied reaction. He let go completely and she elbowed him, and then turned around to see a silver haired young man with brown, almost golden eyes holding his face.

"Doulin, I think you crushed my nose with that!" Lanva shouted. She giggled innocently, then smiled sweetly as if she didn't know what he was talking about. "Don't play like that with me!"

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" she replied sarcastically, bringing her fist back for a punch. "Here, let me apologize like this!" She felt her hand definitely crack his nose this time and he started shouting out with even more pain, and instead concern, she laughed some more.

"Geez, no wonder your father had to force you into marriage," Lanva muttered, sitting down and looking up at her. "Who'd want a violent bitch like you?"

"The same goes for you," she replied, sticking out her tongue. "I don't know who'd want a selfish pervert like you!"

"Well, fine!"

"Fine!"

Doulin started to walk away, leaving him behind in the dense wood. At first she was stomping, completely fuming from the trick that he pulled on her. In time her heavy treading slowed a little, and then she completely stopped and turned around. Sighing and feeling that by doing this she was being a little too nice, she came back to Lanva, who was still sitting on the ground, and reached her hand out to him with a warm smile.

"Come on," Doulin said. "I made your favorite food for dinner, and I'll fix you up the best I can; then I can take you to the doctor tommorow."

He looked at her cautiously, then after running his hand through his spiky silver hair he accepted her hand and pulled himself up. Then with a cheeky smile, he wrapped one arm around her shoulder and pulled her in tightly, saying, "That's right! Women always need to serve their husbands! Or in your case, future husba-"

"You idiot!" She shouted, slapping him across the face. Doulin snorted and started to walk away again, then stopped again when she saw a bright light appear from far away. It completely covered the darkening night sky and made it bright as day, then as quickly as it flashed it was gone. She turned to Lanva, who was amazed and staring upwards with just as much bewilderment. "Did you see that?"

"It looks like it came from our house," he replied in a serious voice, ignoring his pain from the punch or slap. In a rush, he gathered Doulin in his arms and started to dash through the woods, holding her tightly against him like a dear treasure. She was caught up in the moment, too busy admiring the passing of the white light to realize he had done it in time, but once it had gotten through to her, Doulin was pleased with this sort of manly charm. It didn't come often, after all . . .

When Doulin was thirteen and Lanva fifteen, their parents had met unexpectedly. Doulin's father was eating a meal and didn't have the money to pay for it, not realizing his money had been stolen by a passerby earlier that day. Lanva's father overheard the explanation to the owner of the small Inn, and heartily paid for it, saying his son could just as easily retrieve their money. Lanva very well did, and the two families with the exception of their immature children became fast friends.

Immediately, the parents decided for a marriage, and even bought them their own home to live in together on the outskirts of Sairou, the one place where the land was healthy and not desert-like. Even if it was a monster filled-place, Lanva had grown up as an exceptional martial artist and could have easily fought off even the strongest enemies.

A year had passed since they were forced to live in the same home, and even though on Lanva's twentieth birthday they were supposed to marry, the two acted like bickering children. However, there were rare moments where they seemed to get along.

When they had reached their home, which was isolated from the rest of civilization and in the heart of the woods, there wasn't a raid of people sneaking in nor a monster like they expected. Lanva stopped in front of their house, still holding Doulin from under her knees and her back tightly, both looking down at a girl unconscious on the ground.

"Ye Gods," Doulin whispered,her hands falling over her mouth. Lanva put her down, sensing her desire to run to the girl which she did the second her feet touched the ground. She kneeled before the mysterious girl wearing a dark blue dress and long black socks.

As Lanva approached her he drew back, covering his nose the best he could without moving it and hurting it any more. "Damn, what's that smell!" he said rudely out loud, earning a devil glance from his fiancée. He shrugged. "What, you can't smell it?"

"Look at her face," she said, ignoring his questions. "It's raw . . ."

"Was she crying?"

"I suppose so . . . Lanva, could you carry her in? I'll change her clothes, but I'll wait until she's awake to wash her."

"Yeah," he replied, doing exactly like she said. He ignored the smell as best as he could, looking down at the unknown child. Her hair was in tight, and in his opinion unattractive braids and her body was wet with a sickening liquid. But it was very true, what Doulin said; looking close enough her face was very red and puffy. He followed Doulin inside, and trailed her to her room.

"Could you leave?" Doulin asked, reaching into her drawers nearby her bed and taking out some clothes. She looked a little annoyed by his presence after a few seconds. "I won't change her while you're standing there."

"Oh come on," he said, laughing a little and waving a hand casually. "You think I wanted that? I was waiting for you to get undressed!" He was slammed in the face by a pillow and lost his balance, giving her just enough time to push him through the doorway and slam the door.

"That jerk," she muttered, clearly flustered. Then she turned around and looked at the unconscious girl and quickly got her undressed. As she removed the shirt with the bow, which took a considerable amount of time with no buttons to enlarge the back, she noticed a large scar on her stomach. She felt it lightly with her longs fingernails, tracing it from near her breasts to her navel. "What happened to you? Poor girl . . ."

As Doulin was removing the girls' skirt she began to stir slightly, and the woman stopped defensively and backed away a little. However, she had only slightly opened her eyes, and Doulin was entranced by the beauty of the emerald within them.

"Are you alright, dear?" she asked.

The girl had her eyes half-way open, and she scanned the plain white ceiling, then looked down to see a wooden dresser and little necklaces of trinkets hanging on the otherwise blank wall. She then saw a beautiful girl before her with concern in her eyes and shivered at a cool breeze. When she looked down at herself, seeing her in only a bra and underwear, she immediately sat up and covered herself the best she could with her arms and legs. Doulin laughed at the sudden spasm and the dark red blush on the girls' face.

"It's alright," Doulin reassured, folding up the skirt she had just taken off and setting on the dresser. She smiled kindly. "We're both women."

"B-B-But-"the girl protested quietly, trying to find her voice. "W-W-Why were y-y-you . . "

"Did you think I was going to let you stay in those clothes? You'd catch cold sooner than you think." As Doulin removed the girls' shoes then her black socks like a mother, not caring that she was awake, she asked, "What's your name? Mine is Doulin."

The girl felt nothing evil from her, and although frightened from the sudden change in scenery, she answered. "S-Suzuno . . . Oosugi." She wanted to speak a little more, or at least repeat her name in a way where it wasn't just a murmur, but she figured it would sound foolish. She instead kept quiet as the woman she had never seen before started to unbraid her hair. She slowly began to recall what had just happened before. Remembering what happened at school, her father, the book . . . The thought alone of earlier that day brought tears to her eyes.

Doulin noticed this, and felt her face with her fingers, surprising Suzuno. "I'm not sure what happened, but if you need someone to talk to, I'll be happy to listen, Suzuno Oosugi." She shook her head a little, saying that she was in no mood to speak, and instead of prying more, Doulin nodded in an understanding manner and continued to finish unbraiding.

X x x x

Author's Notes: And now this chapter is edited! I'm still in awe about the change in my writing style. I wish I could re-write this part, but at the same time I think that would take something special away. So, just editing. Gosh, not only has Suzuno changed, but Lanva and Doulin as well! I'm so surprised. :D

Special thanks to otaku-no-miko, Kaeru Soyokaze (Gosh, since the second chapter? –Hugs-), Angel, Mikazuki Senshi, 69-Bloody-Valentine-666 and silver soulless for reviewing this chapter!