Tainted Blood

Chapter 8

by. SilverWolf-Ryuki

A/N: Ready for a major skip? My last phrase was foreshadowing, a term used for author giving out hints about later on in the book...oh blah, blah, English class...

2. A/N: I'm going to bring in a character from Shaman King. and if you've read my profile, you'll know who it is. Well, if you've seen the English version, forget all you know about him. If you've seen the Japanese version...well, the voice is from the Japanese version, as is the name, and the attitude.

-

From Last Chapter...

"Well..." Tala sighed and stood up. "I guess we're spending the night here."

"Yeah," Lee sighed as well. "Let's go hunt."

Lee stood and the two walked out. "I think I'm craving pork tonight."

-

At least a couple of months have passed; not one bothered to keep track of the time. Tala assumed it was around 70 days, but he wasn't sure either. Tala and Lee found the pig bit-beast while hunting, and after a minute or so of discussion, went to Lee. As they were nearing the end of the stream, they found the bit-beast of the water ox, which Kai carried in 'neutral' position; belonging to no one. Since then, there was no sign of any bit-beasts.

Rei wasn't giving any hints. Or rather, his senses weren't. Mariam healed fully in the first few days, which was surprisingly fast, even for someone with a sacred bit-beast.

Now they had 9 bit beasts out of 22, and were nearing the northern parts of China. But that's a guess too. After all, they are basically lost in a very large shopping mall.

"This is the stupidest game ever." Mariah muttered under her breath.

"Mariah," Mariam called and threw her an apple. She took one for herself and plopped down to nibble on it beside Mariah.

"One," Rei said as he picked an apple off of a nearby apple tree.

"Two," Lee said as he bit into an apple that Rei passed him.

"Fizz buzz," Kai said monotonously, accepting an apple and passing it onto Tala.

"Four," Tala yawned, and Kai stuffed the apple in his opened mouth, causing him to struggle to either bite the apple or take it out, but not really doing anything.

"Five," Rei said between mouthfuls of apple.

"Buzz," Lee smiled sympathetically at Tala.

"Seven," Kai said, once again, in monotone.

"Eight," Tala managed to choke out after a while of apple fidgeting. "Screw you, Kai,"

"Buzz," Rei said.

"Ten,"

"Eleven,"

"Buzz,"

"Fizz,"

"Fourteen,"

"Buzz,"

"Sixteen,"

"Seventeen,"

"Ei- uh, Buzz,"

"Nineteen,"

"Twenty,"

"Buzz," Rei sighed.

"Twenty-two," Lee said as he threw his apple core behind him.

"Fizz," Kai frowned. "Shouldn't we start going by now?"

"Buzz," Tala nodded. "We should, but we aren't."

"Twenty-five," Rei stood up and took a few apples with him. "Let's go."

"Twenty-Six," Lee stretched. "Alright, off we go."

Mariah and Mariam both stood as well. "Do you think they'll stop anytime soon?"

"Nope," Mariah replied, exasperated. "They never do."

"Buzz," Kai sighed. "Does anyone else notice that I've got all of Fizz, Buzz, and Fizz Buzz?"

"Twenty-eight, no, I'm too busy trying to remember my times table." Tala replied.

"Twenty-nine, the collection is good, be grateful..." Rei told Kai.

"Fizz Buzz," Lee smiled. "We're at thirty, for once."

"Fizz," Kai frowned again. "Does anyone realize that from thirty to thirty-nine will all be Fizz and Fizz Buzz?"

"Fizz," Tala scratched his head. "This will get annoying, because we'll lose track of which number we're actually at."

"Fizz Buzz," Rei thought for a moment. "Yeah, it will be quite annoying."

"OK, great, annoying game...can we stop playing?" Mariah smiled brightly.

All four guys looked at Mariah with dull expressions. Kai sighed, Tala shrugged, Rei opened his mouth when Lee said, in spite of Mariah, "No."

Mariah thwacked her brother on the side of his head. He merrily shook his head, as if he was a bobble-head doll being thwacked.

Mariam smiled at that. "I had a little brother..."

"And it's sort of pathetic that my older brother can serve as my little brother." Mariah sighed. "What was his name?"

"Is," Mariah corrected. "He's still alive. So are all my other friends from the village. We all left for the quest. His name is Joseph."

"With green hair and sharp teeth," Kai said suddenly.

"Yes," Mariam looked at Kai. "Why?"

"I think I knew him from somewhere," Kai frowned.

A question rose to all of their minds, and a worried expression appeared on Mariah's face. Kai sighed, expecting this.

"No, I didn't kill him." Kai assured them, as if he was talking about stepping on someone's foot, and not killing a person. "I think I met him in a forest somewhere when I woke up."

Rei suddenly froze, as he always did when his senses told him something.

"What is it?" Lee asked, frowning.

"One of them... It's... coming towards here at a fairly quick speed!" Rei said, surprised.

Kai looked around. They were in an orchard of some sort, like in a rich person's garden. Except this one wasn't carefully taken care of. Fallen leaves were on the ground. He squinted into the distance.

"Is that...a fence?" He asked no one in particular. Everyone turned and Mariah squinted.

"Yeah, it is..." She whispered.

"If the thing is coming towards us, then...they wouldn't be able to cross the fence." Lee nodded.

Tala started to run towards the fence. Everyone else followed, thinking of the same thing. They reached the fence and looked through. In the distance was a large castle-like classic Chinese tower. It was owned, probably, by a rich person. Despite it was in the afternoon, the whole of the tower was covered in shadows.

"I'm going to climb it." Rei decided. Everyone agreed and all put away the stuff they were holding. With Lee leading, they made their way up the fence.

"There are spikes at the top." Lee announced from ahead. Kai frowned.

"Can you climb over them in any way?" Kai called up.

"If I stand on the highest square possible, but I can't...It's too shaky." Lee called back. Soon enough, everyone else has also reached the top. Kai looked around and down. He took of his backpack and dropped it over the other side, after taking out his beyblades and putting them in his pockets. The others followed suit.

"Alright, now that we're all here, it's less shaky. However, there's a possibility that all of us will fall. Let's just hope that this fence was installed properly..." Kai muttered. "I'll go first. If it seems dangerous, climb down."

He reached as high as he could go and swung his leg over the side. He winced as one of the spikes poked into his knees. As soon as he reached the other side, the others started to climb over, with Mariah last, because she was the lightest.

When the reached the ground, they all grabbed their bags and started to walk towards the building. But before they got far, they heard...

Footsteps...

No, it was the sound of hooves against the earth.

Then, as soon as it began, it stopped. Rei looked up suddenly and his hand unconsciously fell to his launcher secured at his waist. Everyone paused to look at him.

Lee opened his mouth to speak, when someone interrupted.

"No one invited you... do reveal why you are here."

Kai frowned as the voice seemed familiar. Cold, heartless, monotonous...yet this time, he heard emotion in it. Kai whipped his head around to look at the figure.

He was partially covered in shadows, and a large piece of his hair stuck up from his head. He wore a cape and held a large weapon. He stood on a large horse with rolling, golden eyes.

"Ren," Kai recognized immediately. The last time he saw him was years ago, before the bit-beast incident, at one of his Grandfather's parties for all the high ranked families across the world.

"You know my name," the figure, Ren, frowned and aimed his weapon at Kai. The blade was dead straight at Kai's head. He nudged his horse closer as he stepped out of the darker shadow. His golden eyes shone. "Where do you know my name from?"

"Hello, Ren Tao, a long time no see." Kai said smoothly. "It has been nearly ten years, I believe,"

Ren squinted at Kai, and then his lips curved into a smirk. "Ah, Kai Hiwatari,"

"I am going to assume you two know each other?" Tala cocked an eyebrow.

"Right is your assumption." Ren informed Tala. "And you are...?"

"Tala Ivanov," Tala stated simply.

"I believe my father knew yours," Ren thought for a few seconds. "Sergei Ivanov...Defence Minister of Russia, correct?"

Tala nodded sharply.

"You're father's Sergei Ivanov?" Kai asked, mildly surprised. "No wonder your last name seemed familiar."

Mariah, Lee, Rei and Mariam stared at the three.

"Who are they?" Ren motioned towards the four.

"I'm Mariah," Mariah smiled slightly.

"Lee," Lee merely said.

"Rei Kun," Rei nodded at him.

"I'm Mariam." Mariam said while continuing to stare politely.

"Great, now that we're all friends, let us go in." Ren beckoned and nudged his horse into a slow walk towards the tower. "My father will be surprised. We do not get visitors often, mostly because of the number of guard dogs. But I assume you never met them? They're actually quite friendly." His voice always seemed to be slightly sarcastic and mocking.

Mariah raised a pink eyebrow. "Sure," She said, not knowing what else to say.

"Two sacred bit-beasts," Rei whispered to Kai as they walked down a dark hallway. Kai nodded.

"The -"

"Yeah,"

TBC...

-

Ryuki: And another chapter for all you happy souls. Sorry for the update delays...my internet went down for quite a while... I read Phantom of the Opera, original version. It is an awesome book, though it doesn't quite match the song. I mean, it sort of does, but the song makes it seem more romantic. - -;; sort of...

Anyways...thanks for all who reviewed, and keep reviewing. It gives me a happy self-esteem boost. : )

Also, note to Niall: Screw you. x.X. If you don't appreciate my corny fanfiction writing, then don't read it! It's enough I put up with you every day...V.V along with the rest of the idiots...