A/N: Bleargh… oh, poor me. My brain huuuuurts…

Today smelled like butt. My brain was fried from working on this fic every spare second that I have and school is pukey enough as it is without enduring it with a fried brain. And my mom made me mow the lawn… in the freaking 82 degree weather… and it wasn't fun. And I have "behind the wheel" tomorrow. And I hate my instructor with a passion. He can just freaking drop dead. And my psychology teacher went and gave us the "Bob the neural transmitter" assignment… AAAAAAARGH!

Not to mention that I had a bitch of a time trying to figure out how to handle this next chapter. I must have started it about six different times.

Yeahhhh… crapola…

I think I need a hug.

Chapter 4

A Sunny Disposition

"Did you hear something just now, Kuro chan?" Fai asked.

"No," Kurogane answered shortly. The ninja was leading the group, his sword held defensively in front of him.

"Hee hee, me neither," the wizard giggled.

"Well shut the hell up then," the warrior huffed. "You're breaking my concentration."

Fai adopted a pout. "And you're breaking my heart, Kuropu. Won't you hold my hand? I'm scared!"

Though the ninja's back was to him, Fai could see his ears turning red at the suggestion and he had to work hard to suppress a squeal of delight at this reaction.

"If I—" Kurogane began in a croaky voice, careful to keep his back to the wizard. He cleared his throat and started again, trying not to sound like such a pansy this time. "If I hold your damn hand, will you shut the hell up?"

Fai eagerly grabbed Kurogane's hand and smiled up at him. "Impossible!" he trilled.

The ninja grumbled sullenly under his breath but made no move to shake the wizard off.

"If we had some—" Syaoran cut in quickly, embarrassed by this display, but stopped talking when he walked right into a wall. He was knocked off his feet, landing flat on his butt.

"Ah! Syaoran kun! Are you alright!" Sakura gasped, rushing to his side and kneeling down next to him.

"Um, yeah…" Syaoran said dazedly, rubbing his forehead where it had banged the wall.

"Hey, what gives?" Kurogane asked, folding his arms as he looked down at Syaoran, one eyebrow raised.

"I think…I ran into a wall…" the boy reported.

Fai went over to where Syaoran had injured himself and reached out his hand to feel for a wall. "He's right, Kurowanko," he said, tapping on the barrier with his knuckles. "There is a wall here."

"Eh?" the ninja grunted. "You mean to tell me that this whole forest, except for those couple of trees we just walked through, is fake…?"

"It would appear so…" Fai said, frowning thoughtfully.

"But there must be a way to get to the clock tower," Syaoran mused. "This can't be the edge of the illu—"

The boy halted, mid-sentence, as Fai began to shake his head frantically and quickly pressed a finger to his lips. Realizing that he had almost let it slip that this world was an illusion and ruined the whole set up, Syaoran tried to do some quick thinking to cover up his mistake. "This can't be the edge of the world," he said lamely, quailing slightly under the suspicious look that Kurogane was passing between him and the wizard. "There must be a secret entrance or something…"

"Hey!" Sakura exclaimed suddenly, getting to her feet. "Look over there!"

She pointed to a spot about three yards away from them where the scenery painted on the wall bulged and buckled strangely. The four of them approached it curiously, examining the odd effect. Kurogane drew back his sword and slashed at the deformed spot. His blade sliced through it as if it were paper and pieces of it fell away to reveal a door surrounded by flashing light bulbs. Hanging above the door was a fluorescent sign which displayed the words "secret entrance".

"What the hell?" the ninja muttered, staring at the flashy entry way. "Someone around here has a weird ass sense of humor."

"Hmm, shall we go in, then?" Fai suggested. He reached out to open the door but Kurogane's hand shot out, catching him in the chest.

"Don't open it," the warrior warned. "I smell a trap. I think someone is messing with us."

The four of them were silent for a moment before Syaoran finally spoke up.

"Well… do you have a better idea for getting to the clock tower, Kurogane san?" Basically, this was the boy's polite way of saying "Just open the freaking door, you moron. We don't have any other choice."

"Hnnn…"

Basically, this was the ninja's indirect way of saying "Well, no, but I'd rather not die today, thank you very much."

"Now, Kuropun, don't be scared. I'm here. Let's go on in, ok?" Fai suggested.

Basically, this was the wizard's honest way of saying "Now, Kuropun, don't be scared. I'm here. Let's go in, ok?"

"I'm ready," Sakura agreed.

Basically, this was the princess's quiet way of saying "Oh crap, I'm so scared I'm about to shit myself. Hold me, Syaoran."

Funny how Fai, the member of the group who was hiding the most, was the only one to say what he meant.

With Sakura's approval, the wizard turned the knob and pushed open the door.

A bright light rushed out to greet them, causing all of them to shrink back, shielding their eyes. Though they couldn't yet see what the place beyond the door held, they had no trouble hearing it. A lurid, cheerful music was playing softly in the background.

"La la dee da, la la deed a, la la la la! Everybody sing a sweet happy song! Bunnies and butterflies play here all day long! Put away you troubles and put on a smile! We're all your friends so just stay here a while!"

Syaoran squinted through the glaring sun at the place stretched out before them. It was like something out of an infuriatingly stupid children's show; lush green grass grew between the trees, who all had obscenely happy faces, and all manner of cute little rodents scampered through the colorful flowers.

"I think I'm gonna be sick," Kurogane groaned, putting his face in his hands.

"Wahh! How cute!" Princess Sakura giggled. She ran through the door and kneeled down in the grass, letting the fluffy little animals come up and sniff cautiously at the hem of her dress.

Seeing that the danger factor was relatively low here, Syaoran came in after her and knelt at her side, allowing the critters to examine him as well.

Fai grinned up at the ninja. "Are you coming, Kuronyan?"

"No, I think I'll just stay out here and rot," the ninja said dryly.

"Oh, come on," the wizard urged, taking Kurogane's hand once more. "You don't have to worry, they're not gonna hurt you."

"I'm not worried, you scrawny bastard!" the ninja snarled. "I'm disgusted! You know how I hate sissy crap like this."

Fai wasn't listening; he was already striding over to where their two younger companions were, dragging the protesting warrior in after him.

"Hey!" the wizard beamed, scooping up a fat black rabbit with messy fur and red eyes and holding it up to show Kurogane. "This one looks just like you, Kurotan!"

The ninja's eye twitched. "Get that thing away from me."

"Why?" Fai teased. "You're not afraid of it, are you?"

"Quit being such a dumb ass," Kurogane growled. "Of course I'm not afraid of it!"

"Ooh, look! There's a sweet little white weasel coming up to you!" the wizard pointed out joyfully. "What will you do, Kurochin?"

Kurogane looked down at the rodent with loathing as it sniffed at his shoe and tried to fit its sharp little teeth around the tip of it.

"I'll tell you what I'll do," the ninja said, a vain throbbing in his temple once more. "I'll kick it!"

He drew back his foot and gave it a good, hard kick in the ass. It squealed in protest as it sailed through the air, landing in the grass a few yards away.

All the cheerful music came abruptly to a halt, the trees stopped dancing and all the cute little animals turned to glare at the warrior. Their eyes gleamed sinisterly as the sky clouded over, becoming an angry purplish color. Suddenly they didn't look so cute and innocent anymore. Actually, they looked rather sinister.

"Uh oh, you've done it now, Kuropon," Fai laughed nervously.

Syaoran quickly pulled Sakura to her feet, forcing her behind him and backing up towards the wall so that he could protect her if the need arose.

Kurogane held his sword up nervously in front of him, taking a defensive stance. He had faced many difficult opponents before but never anything like this. Because his targets were so small, lethal and numerous, they scared him more than any other enemy he could remember facing.

Their surroundings were now as dark and quiet as they had been outside and the atmosphere was twice as threatening. Lightning cracked angrily across the deep purple sky.

The animals began to advance now, revealing sharp fangs and claws that no one would have guessed they had five minutes ago. Saliva dripped from their gaping mouths as they eyed the travelers hungrily.

"Stop!" a voice shouted suddenly. "Don't touch them! I will deal with them!"

Syaoran, Sakura, Kurogane and Fai scanned the area for the speaker but saw no one. The animals grumbled mutinously amongst themselves as they backed away. Kurogane closed his eyes and felt for the person's aura. According to his sensors, their attacker was… The ninja's eyes shot open and he threw himself at Fai, knocking him out of the way just in time to keep the wizard from being hit by a shower of poison darts.

"Oh, very impressive, sir," the voice said. "I admire your skill."

Finally, the speaker revealed herself; a tall young woman with tan skin, her blonde hair drawn back into a bun, dressed entirely in loose white clothing with ornate purple designs, carrying a bow and quiver on her back as well as a small wooden tube for shooting darts in her hand. Around her head was a white blindfold which stretched across her eyes, blocking them from view.

Kurogane's scowl deepened as he surveyed her, straightening his posture a bit more.

"You're blind…" he observed with mild surprise.

"A true statement," the girl nodded. "But if you go easy on me because of it, I will kill you."

"Who the hell are you?" he demanded.

"My name is Mie," she replied calmly. "That is all you need to know."

A sardonic smile worked its way onto Kurogane's face. "Your last name wouldn't be 'Masen', would it?"

Mie was silent for a moment before hesitantly replying. "Yes. And I don't want to hear a word out of you about it."

Fai, Syaoran and Sakura stood back, looking puzzled.

A derisive laugh escaped the ninja's lips. "What a ridiculous sense of humor your parents had."

Mie huffed indignantly. "And who might you be?"

"I'm Kurogane," he answered, still smirking. "My parents were a bit more tactful when it came to naming me."

"I don't get it," Fai said, tilting his head to the side.

Kurogane ignored him. "I've had enough of this talk. Are we going to fight, or not, woman?"

A snarl formed on Mie's face as she reached for her bow and a couple arrows. She had just strung her weapon when a loud "BONG!" sounded, causing everyone to jump again.

The clock had begun to chime again.

Even though they were quite a ways from the town, they could still hear the hysteria that the coming of the new hour brought with it. Screams and sobbing echoed through the woods, as well as a chorus of clucking. All the noise caused Kurogane to be distracted; something that could have easily been a fatal mistake had he not remembered at the last second what he was doing and rolled out of the way as two arrows came whizzing past his ear, missing him by centimeters.

BONG!

Kurogane drew back his blade and charged his enemy, keeping his eyes fixed carefully on her as he did so.

BONG!

He thrust his sword at her chest, completely forgetting about the curse besetting him.

BONG!

Mie dodged the attack by crouching and loaded a dart into her tube, taking aim at the exposed underside of the ninja's chin.

BONG!

Kurogane felt something sharp graze his skin, drawing a little blood.

BONG!

Realizing that Kurogane was in a bad situation, Syaoran dashed forward, drawing his own sword.

BONG!

When Mie came darting around the ninja just in time to avoid colliding with him, Syaoran was ready and waiting to meet her.

BONG!

He swung his blade, managing to slash her arm.

BONG!

Using the time Syaoran had bought him, Kurogane spun around, his sword raking across her back.

BONG!

She gasped in pain and fell to one knee, leaving herself susceptible to another attack. Kurogane approached her, blade raised above his head. He looked smugly down at her and—

BONG!

There was a big puff of smoke and Mie was blocked from view momentarily. Syaoran and the ninja stared through the smoke, looks of disbelief on their faces. Sure enough, when the smoke cleared, there sat a chicken. Kurogane threw his sword down bitterly.

"Son of a bitch," he hissed. "That's not fair."

"Ooh, tough luck Kurowan," Fai said. "But at least now your strength won't decrease because of the curse."

Kurogane continued to glare down at the clucking white fowl.

"YOU DID THAT ON PURPOSE, YOU STUPID BITCH!" he roared suddenly, startling the chicken. "I WIN 'CAUSE YOU CHEATED!"

Then the ninja spun around to face the previously mutinous little forest animals. "HEY! YOU! YOU'D BETTER GET BACK TO SINGING YOUR DAMN SONGS IF YOU KNOW WHAT'S GOOD FOR YOU!"

The critters gave him a sullen look before grudgingly going back to their activities prior to Kurogane's abuse of the white weasel. The sky suddenly cleared, becoming its previous sunny self and the music began once more, though it had a distinctly bitter edge to it this time.

"Hyuuu! Way to go Kurorun!" Fai called, rushing over to the ninja and jumping on his back, reaching up with one hand to scratch his kitty ears. "You totally rocked! And you too, Syaoran kun!"

Syaoran grinned sheepishly as Sakura fussed over him, making sure that he wasn't injured.

Kurogane looked smug as he put his sword away.

"Come on," he said, "Let's get out of this hell hole."

A/N: Alright, I know that blind ninja chick's name was a terrible pun but I just couldn't resist. For those of you who don't know, the word "miemasen" means "I can't see". Ha ha ha…

Wow. I'm so out of it. But I love you guys who review me. Seriously, these reviews make my day. Yeah, I have no life.