"Hephastus does his best work when he's not rushed," Artemis reminded the shorter girl, watching her roll around the garden. "Lenne, if you're not careful, you'll--" Too late. She giggled as Lenne amerged from the pond, hair dripping.
Rather than look annoyed, the girl looked cheerful. "I'm not bored anymore!" She jumped out of the water, causing a miniature tidal wave somewhere on the coast of one of Hawaii's islands, and shook herself like a dog.
some island, Hawaii
"Tidal wave!" Natives ran around in panic, causing themselves more physical harm then if they'd acted in an orderly fashion. A family from Wisconsin smiled at this seemingly unneccesary display, and faced the wave of water.
"How lovely." They snapped pictures as the wave decimated half the town. As they were washed away by a second wave of water, one of the children remarked, "And you said there weren't any water park rides!"
Artemis' garden, Olympus
"Well, I suppose that's good then," Artemis muttered while drying herself, oblivious to the panic caused on Earth. She absolutely did not like to get wet, unless for a very good reason, and would ignore everything else.
Lenne was racing around the garden, arms outstretched, yelling "I'm a hummingbird, fear my probiscus!", when Hephastus appeared, carrying a large something under a blanket. He unfortunately appeared right in Lenne's path, and was soon hit with by a 4'9" mass of human flesh which seemed to have no apparent brain.
"An' watch out for the butterflies," the small girl with swirly eyes muttered.
"I hope I'm not interupting anything?"
"You saved me," Artemis said, smiling. "Go ahead and set that down there," she told him, indicating a patch of ground "and thanks for your hard work. I'll talk to Father about a vacation."
Hephastus bowed. "Thank you, Artemis," he said, before disappearing back to his forge.
"Oh? What's this?" Lenne sat up with a smirk on her face. "Do you possibly have feelings towards Hephastus? Lovey dovey, kissy wissy!"
"Do you possibly want to die?" Artemis growled.
"Well, now that you mention it, I've always felt a little suicidal. Like jumping into big herds of demons and trying to take them all on instead of dividing them. But you know it's more fun my way."
"Shut up. Just, please, shut up."
"Well, since you said please."
Artemis sighed before placing a hand on the sheet covering Hephastus' project. "Presenting my latest training idea. Combining scientific reasoning with mechanical and spiritual forces, it's the perfect opponent." Lenne hearing all of this, was extremely excited, and couldn't wait to try it out. When Artemis whipped the sheet off with a flourish, it was rather anti-climatic.
"A punching bag?" She asked, sweatdropping. "I'm sorry to inform you, well not really, but that's already been invented."
"Not just any punching bag!" Artemis smirked. "Go on, punch it as hard as you can. You can even use your spirit energy."
"It's just going to break," Lenne muttered, but settled into a favored stance. She blocked out the background noises, and focused her attention solely on the bag. It was stupid, really, just a dingy bag filled with something. Sawdust, most likely. It looked like it was barely holding up.
She narrowed her eyes as she saw a flicker of something. 'What the...?' Concentrating harder, she could dimly see spirit energy surrounding the bag, like an aura. 'There's something suspicious about this.' Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Artemis, looking expectant. 'So, somethings going to happen if I hit this, eh?'
She stayed still for a moment longer before darting forward suddenly. She pivoted on the ball of her heel to position herself in front of the punching bag with Artemis behind her, and pounded the soft material.
The reaction was almost instantaneous. It flashed slightly, and Lenne found herself flying backwards. But luckily for her, Artemis was there to make her landing softer. "Well," Lenne said cheerfully, craning her neck to look at the older woman, "now I know what it does. It's not just a useless piece of scrap!"
Artemis growled something incomprehensible and shoved Lenne off of her. She stood up and dusted her back off. "You did that on purpose."
"Well duh." Lenne grinned as Artemis glared. "So, what was that about sciencey stuff?"
Artemis straightened her tunic. "According to Newton's third law of motion, when one object exerts force on a second, the second exerts a force on the first equal and opposite in direction." She glared, noticing a grass stain on her perfectly tailored tunic. "So you may have found out. But you would of known this if you payed attention in your classes."
"Tch. Arrogant goddess, so proud of yourself, aren't you? Besides, I'll pay attention if I think it's important."
"Hell yeah I'm proud of myself. And you should pay attention no matter what. What are you going to do after school?"
Lenne looked at her blankly. "But school hasn't resumed yet. How can I do something after if I'm not already there to let it have a beginning?"
"I'm talking about-- oh never mind! We're doing this to strenghten your defenses and speed. Simultaneously, as your strength increases, so will your defense. Just be glad I didn't animate it to move around." She looked thoughtful. "On second thought..."
"Oh look, it's your brother!" Lenne pointed behind her mentor.
"Oh, that's not going to--" Two hands closed around her mouth, and a familiar voice said, "Artemis, you really are evil, subjecting the poor girl to that." She wriggled out of the soft hold and glared at her brother.
"It's training, dear brother. Demons won't wait for her to get stronger before attacking her. Why are you here anyway?"
"To watch dear Lenne-chan, of course. But I was sort of hoping her training gear would be less concealing..." He cast a dissapointed glance at her baggy sweats and pullover hoodie jacket. "As a doctor, it's my professional opinion you shouldn't wear so much clothing." He smiled with barely concealed pervertedness. "You don't want to get too overheated."
"Gee, thanks doc. I think I'll take my chances. What are you really doing here?"
Apollo looked hurt. "You wound me, Lenne-chan! Here I am, worrying about your physical health, and you're practically out-right accusing me of having alternative motives."
"Yeah, I'm sure something physical is on your mind," Artemis and Lenne mumbled.
Apollo laughed nervously. "I assure you, my intentions are pure. Hephastus informed me of the extent of your new training devices abilities, and I saw fit to act as doctor." He smiled sincerely. "So you may go on with your training, regardless of injuries. It's better than having to call me whenever something is wrong." He sat down on a rock. "If it is such a problem, I will not watch you train. I feel rather like reminiscing today." Lenne looked at him dubiously, but walked away.
"Of course, I cannot help myself if my eyes accidently stray..." A rock connected with his head. "Oh Lenne-chan, your doubt, words, and rock throwing wounds me!"
"It's supposed to!"
Artemis settled herself near her brother. "What did you want to talk about?"
"Just remembering past assistants." He smiled. "They all had fiery tempers, even the deceptively shy ones."
"You wouldn't really expect a baker to be very powerful, would you?" She smiled, remembering Osono. She could hurl knives and cooking pans, and cooked a mean chocolate cake.
"Lenne's like that too," Apollo mused. "They could almost be related, if it wasn't for the circumstances."
"It's possible. She could be one of their descendants, and that could be why she has so much energy." Artemis' eyes narrowed, and she leaned her head onto her fist. "More than normal humans."
Apollo watched Lenne fly by. "Humans sometimes do have abnormal amounts; it's rare."
"Yes, but still, she was chosen. There are others who do have more energy than her, though at the rate she's been going, she'll soon eclipse them. But why weren't they chosen instead?" She looked suspiciously at her brother. "You haven't...?"
"No!" He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Well, not that I can remember. But I'm sure I haven't? Right? Ooh, sake strikes again. Note to you, never mix nectar with alcohol."
Artemis sighed and rubbed her forhead, a smile forming on her lips as she saw Lenne flying backwards again. She seemed to have got the hang of it, and seemed to be enjoying it, if not wincing everytime a blow hit directly. Currently, she was flapping her arms and acting like a bird. "I'm flying!" She crashed into a wall. "I seem to have made an unscheduled landing!"
"Pay attention to where you're going, Lenne-chan! I don't want you destroying my garden."
"It's nice to see where your priorities lie!"
At a table outside of a quaint cafe, a group of young people gathered around a plate of chocolates they combined their money to buy. Theeir seating arrangement was designed to hide a boy with amethyst eyes from his rabid fanclub.
"I'm bored," another girl whined. Doesn't that seem to be the most common thing to say these days? "There isn't anything to do. I wish Yuki's fanclub would find us."
"You always could do your homework," Hana pointed out quietly, eyeing one of the chocolates. She had a sweet tooth, and was vicious if anyone got in her way. Kyo and Yuki visibly shuddered, inching away from the plate.
Arisa burst into hysterical laughter. "That's a good one, Hana! Me, do homework?" She went off in another laughing fit. "I don't even do regularly assigned homework; I'd never do anything assigned over vacation." She wiped a tear from her eye. "You really crack me up."
"Well, there's not that much to do besides that, and New Years celebrations," Yuki pointed out.
"But watching other people can be exciting!" Tohru exclaimed, standing up in her excitement. Her skirt ruffled slightly with the wind and caught the attention of several boys. A cold glare from Kyo and Yuki convinced them they saw nothing of interest.
"Momiji especially has had particularly interesting waves as of late." Hana picked up a candy. A wonderful, cream-filled square of dark chocolate.
"He's had the whole main house up in an uproar," Haru remarked quietly. "He hasn't sat still for days."
"He misses Lenne-chan. They always hang out together, but she has that training trip."
"I wonder what Momiji-kun's relationship with Lenne-chan really is," Arisa said, sneaking a small bar from the plate.
"Friends," Haru said shortly. Arisa looked at him with a look in her eye.
"You're rather quick to say that."
"I also happen to be friends with them. It would be obvious if they had feelings for each other."
"I know, I know. She announces practically everything she does." Arisa snickered. Sometimes Lenne would stand up in the middle of lunch and announce a random idea she had, then sit down like nothing happened.
"She's more of a reserved person than we know," Hana said quietly. "Her waves sometimes radiate feelings of solidity, nervousness, and somberness, even when she is smiling." She looked up to see Haru and Arisa still in their argument, and Tohru, Kyo, and Yuki chatting aimlessly. She sighed. They'd never know any secret feelings of anyone if they never listened. She supposed it was better this way; Tohru was overly concerned about anyone feeling less than mildly joyful.
"I think you do!" Arisa's exclamation brought her attention back to the present world.
"She's my friend, nothing more."
"You've been watching her a lot lately."
"A lot of people watch her."
"You're acting protective of her! Tell me that is not boyfriend mannerisms."
"It's not. It's protective friend mannerisms. If you haven't noticed, males seem to mistake her child-like behavior for susceptibility to anything." He was looking openly annoyed now.
"Whatever you say. But maybe you like her and she doesn't know--"
Haru stood up suddenly and slammed his fists on the table. He was looking more like Black Haru. "I don't like her like that, she doesn't like me like that, drop it," he snarled before stalking off.
Everyone stared at Haru's retreating back in shock. "He sounded like he was trying to convince himself," Hanajima murmured. No one seemed to hear her.
"What's got him all twisted outta shape?" Kyo shrugged and tried to sneak a candy off the plate. Hana grabbed his wrist in a steel grip.
"None for an unobservant boy."
Lenne dragged herself across the floor of her room, joints creaking with every move. Damn scientific reasoning, damn punching bag, and above all, damn Artemis to Hades' realm!
"'You need to study' she says," Lenne growled. The desk was so close, yet so far away. Why couldn't she have a smaller room.
She paused when she saw Ryoko sprawled across her futon. She quieted her muttering so she wouldn't wake her sister.
"Oh joy, reading." Lenne looked at the scrolls Artemis left out for her. They were deceptively small. But she knew, from previous experiance, it would take all night to suffer through at least one of the smaller ones.
Makai History, way too long; Rulers of the Makai, might be interesting; Reikai History, yea-no; The Seperating of the Three Worlds, too many conflicts, way too long; Possesion of a Different Kind: Animal Spirits, hello hello, whatever we have here? Lenne opened the scroll, and scanned the contents, before something caught her eye.
'It's a much-debated subject that has arisen many times before. Many believe this outburst of the seemingly unrelated 'curse of the zodiac' that has befallen a family for generations is actually demonic heritage making itself prominent in a few members.
'While in demonic bloodlines of animal species the offspring are of the same bestial species as the parent or parent,' Parent, as in singular? Something she read earlier came back to the surface of her mind. 'Oh yeah, some demons are asexual.'
'...parent or parents, in this specific family, it seems multiple animals can be found. Examples would be the animals from the Chinese zodiac, hence this strange phenomenon being referred to as 'the curse of the zodiac'. The fabled cat is also present.
'The members of this so-called curse have their own abilities, the extent of which has not yet been discovered. Some traits that all seem to have is higher reflexes, agility, and increased battle prowess. (Some have been reported to have immense strength, used in times of great rage.) While this is the generalization, it is also been known for some few not to have one or any of the aforementioned abilities. They all, however, seem to be more attractive than the average human, and some were said to be comparible with Lord Sesshoumaru, King of the Makai, and Youko Kurama, King of Thieves.' If Sesshoumaru ever saw this, heads would roll. Lenne briefly entertained a bloody scene in her head.
'"You dare compare this Sesshoumaru to a lowly human?" he would sneer, lip curled delicately. The underlying fierceness would be conveyed through his eyes. The writer would stutter something about the possibility they weren't human, but Sesshy would cut him off by slicing him with his poison nail whip thingy. Then he would cackle madly and dance around while sprinkling chicken feathers around, and then he'd call Jaken and Rin. Together, he and his adopted daughter would put the little toad in make-up and a kimono and take pictures of him with the corpse and sell them--' She shook herself from that mental situation. Ayame and Sesshoumaru looked alike, enough said. She turned back to the scroll.
'Of course, this being the case, this could also simply be a curse that inhabited the family long ago. The supporting facts would be the different species that are supposed to inhabit the human vessels. (The 'curse' was supposed to be thought in starting when the family was under an illness, and the spirit possesion saved them from, but scarred them as well). The way it seems to mar them, as they transform only under certain conditions also bolster the theory. Opponents argue this could simply be a 'fail-safe' mechanism the body developed, in the case that the members were unable to access their demonic form. As it does not seem all family members are aware of this supposed demonic heritage, it is possible that over time all strains of mention of anything to do with the demonic abilities were quieted, outside of the family and in.
'It seems the 'outside family', or those who know nothing of the 'curse', is kept ignorant, and memories are obliterated if they discover anything. The whole family has been shrouded in mystery, and they seem to want to keep it that way. It is true that any display of demonic abilities would scare humans, and they'd be forced to endure what demons from earlier time periods did.'
Lenne sighed. Cries of 'Burn the monster!' would undoubtedly interrupt their schooling.
"And here I was going 'Ah, it's good to be back!' earlier today!" Lenne complained, walking with Momiji, Haru, Tohru, and the older Sohma's. "Never again! Higurashi-sensei seems to think homework is the cure to everything." Momiji laughed.
"You should see your face! You look like Kyo." Lenne stared over at the older boy before pulling him forward.
"Hey, what're you...!"
"Quiet, Orangey-kun." She stared at him, then pulled out a mirror and stared at her reflection. "I don't look like you at all!"
"Stupid brat," Kyo muttered darkly, taking his place near the back of the group.
"So, Lenne-chan, you don't like school much?" Tohru questioned.
"Nah, it's okay. I just don't like homework." She shuddered. "It's like an infinite evil that just confines you and presses you from all sides."
Tohru giggled. From behind them there was a wailing noise. "What was that?" It became louder.
From down the street, they could see a cloud of dust. As it came closer, Kyo tensed. "Shimatta."
The wail became identifiable syllables. "Kyooooooo-kuuuuuuuuuun!" A green blur pounced on the red-head. "I haven't seen you in so long! Why haven't you come to the main house? I tried at Shigure-san's, but I couldn't find you!" Her look changed from worry to rage. "WHERE WERE YOU!" She started her customary hello beating.
Lenne stared at them. Something from the possesion scroll she read came to mind. 'Some have been reported to have immense strength, sometimes used in times of great rage.' But Kyo didn't transform. So he was a non-zodiac?
The girl suddenly stopped, and hugged the bruised and beaten boy. Lenne saw her eyes flicker in the direction of... 'Ah, so that's her game!' She lamented over the boy. "Oh, I'm so so so so sorry, Kyo-kun! I just got so caught up in the moment, and I missed you so much, and... and..." The girl looked over at Lenne, her eyes flashing. "Who are you?"
"Aoyama Lenne, comedy extrodinaire! If you need a laugh, I'm your man! Wait, no! I be female! Female I tell you!" She twitched. "Now people are going to think I'm a cross-dresser. I heard someone dare to call me flat-chested." She chuckled menacingly. "Oh, they got what's coming to them. They used to think winged lemurs didn't exist. I proved them wrong." She straightened up and acted as if she didn't just say crazy things.
Kagura stared at Lenne. "So you're not trying to steal my Kyo-kun away?" Lenne put an innocent smile on.
"I could never do something like that. One, I annoy him. Two, I don't want him. Three, it's obvious he has someone else. Four, there is no four. I don't like that number." She sighed. "Now that that's over, you want to get an ice cream cone?"
Kagura's eyes lit up. "I'd love one!" They walked away chatting happily. By the time they were halfway down the street, they had nicknames for each other.
"What just happened?" Yuki asked. Everyone shrugged as Kyo, still on the ground, twitched pitifully.
While our favorite zodiac members were innocently eating ice cream, something totally not innocent was happening in Nerima.
In an alley near Kolkoz High School, a twinkling light was floating in mid-air. It continued writhing and wriggling, growing bigger every couple of minutes, until it was about three square feet. Black liquid started oozing out slowly, forming a shifting black ball. As it rolled towards a nearby trashcan, a schlorping noise could be heard.
A nearby cat was startled from its eating binge, and stared curiously at the blob. She moved closer until her nose was almost touching it. It didn't move. The cat turned its back on the blob, and started padding away. Several dark tendrals wrapped around its torso and legs. Before it could yowl, the blob absorbed the feline into its body.
When it was through processing, it not only looked and smelled like a cat, but could act and sound feline as well. It gave itself one final lookover before exiting the alley. Master had said the Bi-Colored one's energy traces were found here, the pseudo cat would just have to look.
It found itself curiously smashed by a large flat object (it's newly aquired knowledge said it was a cooking utensil - a spatula), almost cut in half by a spotted object (a bandana?), run over by a two wheeled contraption controlled by a purple-haired female, chased by a large panda when it tried to eat some fish, run over by a mailbox with legs chasing after a male with a spatula on his back, almost eaten by a scaly reptile with a metal collar reading 'Mr. Turtle', and run over by a small toady man spouting something about 'silky darlings' being chased by a horde of young females screaming "Pervert!" and "Someone catch that thief!".
Worn out, it dragged itself towards a young female who was holding food and talking to it. In its short time, it learned all females loved cats, even the crazy ones. It mewed and batted at her ankles. She looked down.
"Oh, look at the cute widdle kitty!" The pseudo cat found itself in a bone crushing grip. "Come on, Nini, widdle Azusa is take you home, and Azusa will clean you up!" She skipped down the street, spouting some nonsense, using the word 'widdle' alot. The silly female spotted a crow.
"Ooh, it's so cute!" she squealed, running after it. Her grip on the pseudo cat loosened, and it managed to wriggle free. "Don't fly away from me, widdle Monty!" SHe turned around and saw the pseudo cat running away. "Come back, Nini! Don't be naughty widdle kitty!"
The pseudo cat was breathing hard by the time it finally lost the scary female. It was in a yard, and two females were sparring against each other, a brunnette and red-head. It briefly considered running away from them too. They looked strong, and if they were anything like the previous female, might snap the false feline in half.
Cautiously, when the two stopped sparring, it approached the red-head. The short haired brunnette looked scary. It batted against the female's leg. She looked down, and her eyes widened in fear. She screamed and ran away, arms flailing wildly. The frantic female's foot caught the cat where its ribs would be, and sent it flying away.
'Analysis: Bi-Colored Female is nowhere to be found.' Rather gratefully it added, ' Starting search somewhere else.'
-----
A/N's:
- Artemis, being the goddess of the moon, actually does have control over some water i.e. the tide is affected by the moon. The pondis used to cause them. Being agoddess isn't easy, ya know.
- I actually paid attention in science. I knew it would be handy.
- Besides energy waves, Hanajima can detect emotions.
- My own little take on how the curse started, and what it could be.
- I just had to put Azusa in there.
Matron Raenee: My only reviewer! You didn't sound to convinced about that 'nice chapter' comment, though. I'm so hurt. I kid, I kid. I be mortally wounded. -writhes in pain-