Ok, here's the deal, each time there is one of these dividing lines/points to line below text/ there will be a change in perspective. The point of view will be indicated on the line, hopefully.
With the Sunset Goes My Love: Chapter 2
First Impressions Are Important
Youko Kurama
I was in a testy mood. After all, I had woken up in a foreign place, my shirt and most recent prize nowhere to be seen, and my fresh wounds refusing to let their presence go unnoticed.
I must have awoken when whatever medicine I had been fed had worn off. I didn't bother to question exactly who had provided such medicine, nor who had tended to my wounds so carefully.
The fact that the bandages wrapped around my torso and leg were well bound, neither too tight nor too loose, didn't escape my subconscious mind however, as I scanned the room for my possessions.
Kuso, whoever has dared separate my things from me sure knew how to hide them.
With more than just some minor difficulty, I got myself out of the bed and my feet on the carpeted floor. Tossing the plain white sheets aside, I had to steady myself against the bed for a moment as my legs remembered how to support the upper portion of my body, which happened to be weak from the whole through my gut.
Relatively certain that I was able to stand properly again I removed my weight from the edge of the bed and searched the room for my shirt and that priceless vase I had practically died to obtain.
To my frustration, my shirt was nowhere to be found in that little room with the small window. I did, however, manage to find the vase. It had been shoved hap hazardly on the top of a tall bookcase. That was no problem for me though, considering my height.
Vase in hand, I began to roam the remainder of the rooms in what I soon discovered was an apartment. I couldn't discern from the decorations whether the owner was male or female, but at that point, I didn't care.
I finally found the laundry room. Right there, neatly folded on the top of a laundry basket was my shirt. It was obviously sewn with experienced hands where the two holes in the middle should have been. There was no sign of the blood I had surely lost from my wounds.
In exasperation I grabbed my shirt and put it on immediately. Then I made a beeline for the door, fairly ready to leave this place before my caretaker came back and discovered me to be the Youko Kurama who has just recently stolen one of the priceless pieces from the Kopaku pottery set of the Izu Mountains. No, I would much rather prefer not getting caught and possibly being turned into the authorities. Kami knows what kind of bounty is on my head.
I would like to believe I was in such a hurry that I didn't bother checking to be sure no one was approaching the door. Or perhaps her steps were so quiet that I wouldn't have heard them anyway. I will never know.
What I do know is that when I opened the door to leave, I found myself staring at the most curious creature. Had she not platinum hair to contrast her young body, I would have surely assumed she was human. Upon seeing me she gave an audible gasp and withdrew her hand from the doorway. She must have been about to open it when I did so for her.
Well, at least I know who lives here now.
Tsuchi Kusabana
"You really oughtn't be out of bed." Okay, I know. What was I, a mere sixteen-year-old, defenseless girl going to do about it? What, give him the puppy dog pout? I don't think so.
He ignored my comment completely and made to leave. "Move, woman."
Well, at least he didn't say girl. I allowed my left foot to step back, appearing to let him go, out of fear of course. Ha, cocky bastard.
Youko KuramaFrom the way she was staring at me wide eyed, I was certain she was frightened of me. After all, if she recognized me, she would have to know what I could do to her. Never the less, she proved to be more than the average, timid little girl.
"You really oughtn't be out of bed." She dared to tell me in that sweet sing-song voice of hers.
Disregarding the evident concern in her voice, I demanded she move aside. "Move, woman." Albeit, not very politely. Well, too late now.
She moved to the left, backing down like I knew she would. All residents of the Makai fear the great Youko Kurama! No one would dare stand up to me. Oh, how wrong I was.
I took a step out of the apartment, only to feel the woman's left fist in my gut! She had hit me exactly where my wound was. Basically, she tripled the pain I had been trying to hide.
"It's not wise to go out in the cold when your wounds haven't fully healed." She whispered in my twitching fox ear.
All I remember from that point on is the string of curses that ran through my mind as I collapsed and blacked out.
Tsuchi KusabanaAll I did was put my fist in the way of his stomach. Although, I did make contact with that nasty arrow wound of his. Heh heh, my bad?
Well, the fact of the matter is, he passed out. Fell right into my arms he did. And so, I once again dragged the stubborn kitsune in and laid him on the bed in the back room.
Seemed he had more strength in him than I thought. He awoke in the next few moments. Well, he was groaning and all, but personally I would expect the average demon with two poisoned wounds to stay down for at least twenty-four hours.
Bandages in hand, I bid him sit up so I could redress his wounds. Note: in the same tone he had asked me to move. "Sit up, fox."
He glared at me, but then noticed the bandages lying loosely in my hand by my side and grudgingly did as I asked. I removed the bandages on his stomach first. Nasty. Well, I've seen worse. It's just that…the poison gave his blood a slightly greenish tint.
I reached for some ointment and attempted to spread it over his wounds, but he grabbed my wrist. He'd been glaring at me the entire time, and at this point, the look only grew in intensity.
I saw the inquiring look in his eye and explained myself. "Poison tipped arrows. Did you not take the time to notice? A plant wise fox like you should have realized. Now all this is is some antidote to the poison."
He still seemed skeptical, so I shook off his hand and moved away. I put the ointment down on the bedside table and slipped the knife I had concealed up my sleeve out. I then cut my left wrist with it.
Ignoring his calculating gaze on the self inflicted wound, I took some of the ointment in my hand and spread it over my own cut.
"It's harmless normally, doesn't even sting." I showed him.
Youko KuramaMy eyes widened in surprise quite obviously. Luckily the girl was too concerned with dabbing her fingers in the ointment to notice. What was she, insane? She cut herself! Never mind wondering why she had a knife up her sleeve in the first place, but she purposely cut herself!
I eyed the cut warily. What was that girl up to? Then I watched as she spread the ointment on the cut and didn't even see a flinch.
"It's harmless normally, doesn't even sting." She informed me with a tone meant to coax a child into eating their vegetables. "It'll help you heal faster, I already used it on you once. Quite frankly, normal demons would have required at least twenty four hours of rest after attaining those wounds, even with the antidote."
I still wasn't sure whether to believe her or not, but something in the way she reasoned with me struck a nerve.
"I am no normal demon." I pointed out.
"No, of course not, you're the great Youko Kurama, King of Thieves. And the very kitsune that almost died stealing one of the precious products of Kopaku from the mountains of Izu." Her eyes were filled with amusement as she noticed I had stiffened at the mention of the vase, which she was pointing at, sitting in the corner of the room farthest from me. I hadn't even noticed she'dconfinscated it again. Come to think of it, she'd removed my shirt without my noticing as well.
I narrowed my eyes at this. Well, it seemed it didn't matter what I thought, cause she just went ahead and took my moment of surprise and used it to apply the stuff. I have to admit, it didn't hurt, just like she said. In fact, it relieved the pain I had been feeling throughout my encounter with the woman. Didn't stop me from glaring at her all through the process though.
Who is this woman? She seemed so normal at the door, but all this time she hasn't shown any sign of emotion besides that look of annoyance that passed over her face when I refused to let her help me.
She must have known I would be curious as to how she knew all this because she began answering the questions running through my head.
"The Kopaku are famous for their blue pottery. Pieces of such quality as that vase are quite desirable to merchants. And even more tempting targets for thieves. Everyone knows that Lord Mi of the Izu Mountains was in possession of just such a vase. Must have been some run, crossing the Tsi forests to get here."
Damn, that girl sure knows her stuff.
When she was done with my leg she stood, threw away the soiled bandages, and put away all the supplies in a large cabinet next to the door. I decided it was high time to get some answers.
"Who are you?"
She didn't even bother to look at me. "Who or what?"
This response was not in my dictionary, so it took my minda second toregister what she meant. "Both."
Now she looked at me. "I am what you will never be, and I have seen what you will never see. But for now, just call me Tsuchi," she replied with a gentle smile.
"I didn't ask for a riddle!" I exclaimed in frustration.
"Ask me a question and that's what you get. Be grateful I even gave you my name!" her skirts twirled with her as she turned to the door in a huff. Before she left though, she stopped. "Get some rest." And with that she gently closed the door.
I heaved a heavy sigh of resignation. I had so many questions running through my head, but the thought of only getting riddles for answers warned me off of asking them. There I was, stuck in a bed I didn't want to be in, under the same roof as a very mysterious woman, my wounds wouldn't let me even consider escape, and where in all the three worlds was Kuronue? Deciding that rest would be good, I closed my eyes and immediately drifted off to sleep.
Um, all right, I know I promised a longer chapter, and it is longer! I know you can compare the size of the scroll bar and they look about the same length, but if you just measure the actual story part of the chapters, you'll see that this chapter is at least a page longer. I'm just estimating here though cause I'm really annoyed with having to pull up the other file all the time to compare details.
Like I said, my story got damaged on its way into my computer so this isn't exactly how I planned it to be. I'm still undecided on whether I prefer this version or not. Anyway, hope you enjoyed that. I cut off here cause I felt I should start a new day with a new chapter…and yeah. Well, at least, ugh, what I mean by that is the next chapter starts when Youko wakes up, don't know how long he will sleep for yet, but I'll figure it out by, uh, let's say two o'clock in the morning? It's 1:02 by the way. As you can see, I tend to stay up at ungodly hours of the night. But right now, I'm on vacation, so it hardly makes a difference, well, at least to me. For my parents, it's a whole other story.
So many unanswered questions eh? But I refuse to answer them. You and Youko are going to have to figure it all out yourselves. But for now, I'm going to go check on who reviewed and decide whether to respond or not.
Glossary-
Kopaku- No meaning that I know of, but it was there in my mind. Probably came from Kohaku, which means amber
Izu- No meaning to be found either, probably from Mizu, which means water
Mi- As far as I'm concerned, this has no meaning as well. Got this from Mia and Miku
Tsi- Yet another made up name. Came from the last names of some people I know, Tsay and Tse
Responses-DarkSpirals- Yep, you my first reviewer. Wasn't exactly the first to read it, but Stats doesn't count cause he's an ijit. I swear, I have to slap him 7 times and kick him once when I see him end of may. And that doesn't count when he forgot my birthday…still haven't decided what to do about that. Anyway, second chapter up. I changed a few things I think after you edited for me. Many thanks for that.
Hieiloving101- /Falls off of chair/ I was beginning to think my story was hopeless; glad you like it. It's not the same as kirasilver0506's stories at all. A completely different feel. /frowns/ I hope you enjoy it anyway. I think I wrote this like mid summer, so when I got to chapter 8, I went back and reread my first few chapters…and I realized I completely changed voice. It worries me to say the least. So know that the way the story is told is going to change. I think I depicted Tsuchi kind of strangely. But be warned, Tsuchi is no Mary Sue, she's just…heh heh…not what she seems. /eye glints/ Ok, long response…enough babbling, here's your update.
Princess Kandra- Surprised you were even able to find my story after all this time. Must have used a link to my homepage. Anyway, thanks for the review. Sorry for the late update. I just don't seem to have the time these days. Besides, I've been waiting for more reviews. Oh well, I don't usually read stories when they first come out anyway.
Review if you please, not like I'll know if you didn't. It is merely common courtesy.