Ok, so this is actually, the overlap of chapter 3, which I decided was much to long and so I decided a little suspense would be nice. No matter how minimal. And to avoid all unnecessary words, we will begin now.
With the Sunset Goes My Love: Chapter 4
Nothing is as it Seems
Tsuchi KusabanaI looked up to see a one eyed, blue skinned, three armed, uh, toad? I stifled my laughter as I greeted the, um, thing with a straight face.
"What are you, an amphibian escaped from Hell? Really, Dreamer, I always envisioned you more as a porcupine."
The creature frowned for a moment before morphing into a green porcupine with purple spikes. It glared at me, trying to scare me with the sharp points on its back. I just chewed on the inside of my cheek and pondered it for a moment.
"You know, orange would go way better with the purple." To my amusement, the green was suddenly a bright neon orange. I shook my head and giggled at the sight. Then I pounced on the creature and gave it a suffocating hug.
It immediately changed into the epitome of tall, dark, and handsome. Jet black hair that hung in his face almost hid his deep violet eyes –and would have too, if they didn't jut out first, leaving space for his eyes to show-, a wide grin was plastered on his face as he received my embrace. Of course, then he started to loose air and he choked out "Air!"
Laughing I let him go and smiled. Kirai and I were about the same height. "Sorry, it's just that I haven't seen you since last week."
He straightened out his black sleeveless trench coat. "Yes, well it's nice to see you too Siren. But you really didn't need to choke me."
Kirai, -or Dreamer, as I call him- is an illusion demon. In addition to being my singing partner he does all the special effects for our performances. All the smoke and confetti and such. He even does our costumes sometimes.
"Yeah, well, I had to get you to stop playing monster somehow. I just chose the more direct approach," I responded as I went back to checking the equipment. I, on the other hand, am a songstress. I can inflect any tone into my voice and bring out the best in a dialogue or script. In a flash I can go from any supposed emotion to another and create the pretense of a different demeanor. No sound is out of my range.
You might say I was a sound demon, but for centuries my family has only used these talents for singing, and thus the habit is well imbedded in our genetics. Both my parents were sound demons, my father's family taking advantage of the full range of sounds, while my mother was born into the songstress family. However, she had refused to use her powers in all the time I have known her, and as her remaining friends say, they've never heard her singing voice once. I am inclined to suspect she was a true Siren, alluring men with her beautiful voice, and having discovered this early on in life, refused to use such a power. After all, a simple woman such as she would have no use for such a talent. No, the urge to kill ever ran in her blood, no lustful needs surfaced in her life, and so her true powers went unused.
I did not inherit this trait, thankfully. I do love to sing, though I have refrained from doing so in the presence of the Youko. I am quite content to stay the puzzle I must be for his mind, something to occupy him as he sits with his idle thoughts. Perhaps when he is fully healed I might answer his questions without my vague sayings, but not yet. Who knows, he may very well go in search of his lost friend without answers, as I can tell that he does care deeply for this Kuronue.
"So, what track are we doing tonight?" Kirai asked.
"I was thinking 1.1 with a mix of the Inspirational songs, maybe Whiskey Lullaby and Broken?"
"Don't forget Party for Two to appease the restless." Kirai reminded me.
"Right."
"So I'm guessing you're feeling a little dark?" he ventured. Dreamer could always tell my mood from the songs I picked. Track 1.1 was filled with songs for the down at heart.
"Just a bit. You know, the bottle up effect," I replied. Kirai knows me well, so he knew what I was talking about. He just gave a nod of understanding and proceeded to tune his guitar.
NormalTsuchi stood and indicated that she'd be back before stepping out the back door. It was now much darker than it was when she had left.
An anonymous voice reached her ears. Tsuchi could tell it was hiding an under current of frustration, but that was not what intrigued her about its owner. It was the words themselves that caused her to turn her head and look.
"Tell me where Youko is!" a dark figure demanded.
"I-I don't even where Youko is! I know nothing more than that he's the King of Thieves! Please don't hurt me!" It was Sid, scared out of his wits by the looks of it too.
His captor snarled as he held a blade up to Sid's throat. It was at this point that Tsuchi decided to intervene. She grabbed the demon's arm and he turned to her. That's when she noticed his dark wings and the garnet pendant on a silver chain hanging around his neck.
"Let him go, he knows nothing. Hell, he's half drunk for goodness sakes!" Tsuchi's voice was serious and she kept a straight face as she asked the bat to stop. The stranger reluctantly calmed down and released Sid, realizing that what she said was true. "Sid, go home to Anna, Kami knows you'll have her worried sick," she instructed the drunken youkai without taking her eyes off of the new comer.
Sid readily agreed with this plan of action and stumbled off down the alleyway. As soon as Sid was well gone the stranger clad in black addressed Tsuchi.
"Who are you?"
"I could ask you the same question, but I shall refrain. If it's the fox you seek, then follow me." Tsuchi turned and made her way out of the alley, sparing a glance towards the confused thief.
Kuronue
I watched the woman walk into the darkness, hesitant to follow. For all I knew she was working with the authorities. After all, she hadn't even given me her name.
"Best be following her, wouldn't want to get lost now would we?" To my surprise an illusion demon stuck his head out the door through which the woman had exited.
"And why should I trust you?" I asked suspiciously. I really doubted that he had even heard the brief exchange between that girl and me.
"Oh, you can trust me, I assure you. And you can trust her. There's no danger in following her." The illusionist then stepped away from the door and closed it.
Everybody's telling me what to do. What's going on here?
And then words came to me. Not aloud, for the sound didn't originate from my ears. It was more like someone had sent me a telepathic message, but yet not. It was a haunting whisper, and even though I did not understand the meaning, they reassured me enough that I fell in step behind the silver haired girl.
A Conspiracy of Great Proportions
Tis' short cause it could be, and I had every right to do it. I felt compelled to end here because of how that scene ended. I cut it short, so the next chapter will come out faster than the others have. It's done of course, just the length of time I wait will be way shorter. I just killed my own pattern by doing this hah. I'm weird. Ok, so that's that. I just figured it was a good stopping point is all.
Oh, and I'd like to say that the third and fourth chapter proved to be very difficult for me to write cause of unplanned scenes and transition problems. Like I said, it works way better in my mind. Darkspirals will agree with me on this. Darkspirals and I have been talking lately, comparing writing problems and such and even editing for each other. We find it much easier to work problems out when we have someone to talk to. Not that she was up to date on my story considering hers are already posted and I had to e-mail these to her.
I think that's about all I was going to say. (Ya'll know that when I say that I'm just going to start talking again, ne?) Well, I might be coming out with another story at the same time as this one so check my homepage ok? It was completely unplanned. Suggestions courtesy of Darkspirals. Notice how much I put her user name in here. Check out her stories. They're awesome. Awesome is not a word I use very often. Reserved only for the best of the best.
Glossary-
Youkai- Apparition
Responses-
Princes Kandra- You know what, that might not be such a bad idea. Good luck getting past the security though. Why don't you practice on the white house down the street/points to little white house a block away/
Darkspirals- Glaives are the best. I just got another fic idea. /sweat drop/ save me. This would be a wander-weapons expert. If I can, I'll morph the character into a male and stick him somewhere. But most of my OC's end up female. /sigh/ we shall see. I just noticed that I have one update per month. That's not a good thing. Gr. And your welcome for the link. Anything to occupy ourselves. Must do homework now. Kami know I didn't finish the weeks worth I should have.
Hieiloving101- Cows? Where did cows come from? I'm sorry, Kuronue can not be a cow…cows don't have wings. Unless he were magical! too late though, I already wrote this chapter.
Seeyu- Ha, nope, you didn't have to review every chapter. But it would have been nice...
Review or not. It's your choice. (Rip off of coldnsassy's result line from Quizilla. Hn.)