Il Ladro Matrice

Chapter 11:

Escaping Relaxation

Disclaimer: Moonlight no own. Moonlight has a shiny spork. Moonlight stab lawyer.

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They sat in a chilling silence as they awaited Driger's commands. From Driger's expression and tone, they couldn't tell what kind of mood he was in, so the only choice they had was to be soundless.

The cold, eerie wind sent shivers down their spines like knives as the waking sun shone on the residences of the forest.

"Lately, you two have been slacking off," his piercing eyes narrowed as he watched them. "So for the remainder of this week I want to see you two get busy with those artifacts. A large amount have been tossed carelessly into out home and are becoming far more cursed by the seconds."

The two half bit beast sighed in relief. They thought it was something really important that would've gotten them in trouble. They always had to deal with these little things from Driger. Meaning, nothing to worry about.

Driger leaped in front of them and looked them hard in the eyes. Rei and Max weren't sure of how to react and didn't dare scamper away from fear.

"This is a serious matter now," the tiger growled. "I won't tolerate this anymore. You two have had this responsibility for years now. Get busy with it if you want this forest and the other bit beast to survive! Do you not understand the significance of them? Our home will be completely destroyed because of a reckless decision made by--" he backed up slightly from them to get a clearer view of their faces and ended his speech. He knew that if her were to continue, regret would flood their beings and his own. Even if the topic was all in out important and needed to be done immediately, he would never deliberately hurt these boys.

Max's shock transformed into sadness as Rei become angrier as he replayed Driger's words in his head. He knew exactly how Driger was going to end it. He knew that whatever was going to be said was most probably true. And he knew that those artifacts did need to be taken care of. What Driger didn't understand is that neither wanted to placed upon this work. Even if they were the cause and solution to the problem, it brought up painful memories.

"… could we--" Rei began before interrupted by the roaring tiger.

"Get started!" The aggravated beast left them as he pounced into the forest. Where he was going? That's unknown, but one thing that was known was that he regretted discussing this conflict. Even if it had to be done, Driger was the one who felt regret in return.

Rei and Max watched as his silhouette became one with the forest, leaving no trace of him every being present here. No trace of the past. No trace of regret, hurt or sorrow that hurt anyone. No traces of a battle of the correct choice of words. None of that was left. Just silence of an obscure moment.

"…Rei…?" Max said softly, waiting patiently for a response.

"Let's get started, Max."

Max nodded and they began working on the artifacts for the next five days. For five days they didn't defy any commands from Driger, and luckily for them, Kai and Tyson wouldn't be coming over for another week due to an 'emergency' as they stated. Whatever the true reason may be-- as if it weren't obvious to Rei, it did help them with their work so they wouldn't be distracted and scowled by Driger again.

Rei was constantly traveling all around at great swiftness just to get everything. Newspapers were reporting on how after weeks of a break, the Il Ladro Matrice had returned and stealing at a fast rate.

And what benefit does this headline have for out young thief?

Why, it made the situation worse then he expected. Because of his remarkable swiping skills, he had fans (many with the female side) and he also had enemies (a majority of them male) so you can visualize how many of them were hanging around local museums. People with important and known art in their homes were putting up the top notch securities that he had difficulty with.

But most of all, dogs. Why dogs? They just ruined everything for this young thief. What did he do to deserve dealing with dogs of all creatures?

All of this work wearied him out, but he had to thank the heaven's for having half of the objects he had to steal located in abandoned places such as caves and dug beneath the dirt. If they were all in houses… just imagine the hell he'd have to go through.

And busy little Max was working his ass off trying to purify all of these antiques. It usually took him a good hour to make sure one was done correctly, but now he had to spend thirty minutes and that was hard work and took up a good deal of his strength. Especially since he constantly had to go back since he made a small, grave, little error that had to be fixed.

Slacking off can do that to you.

For the remainder of the two days of work, they did nothing. They completed all of their work, their new 'friends' wouldn't be over for a week or less and there weren't any signs of a new artifact awakening anytime soon.

What they did receive was two months of work off. Technically, they didn't receive that break, it was more like a break that was forced upon them. It was going to happen anyway since no more art is going to be detected in two months worth most probably.

So, for the remainder of their 'vacation' they relaxed a bit to rid themselves of the tension. They'd been working so hard and wasn't giving anytime to rest well. Exhaustion was an adjective they didn't like; it's a good thing they are diligent workers, no?

Time passed by like a turtle as their muscles and mind eased into a blissful slumber.

"Rei?" came the voice of the soft spoken Max that flowed with the blithe atmosphere.

Blonde hair wavered side to side as he shook his head as if saying 'never mind.'

"You should speak your mind if something is troubling or concerning you," Rei said with closed eyelids and his hands behind his head. Max should know by now that never speaking his mind brought trouble for them. Then again, Rei only tried to pester it out of him to a low degree, so he too was one to blame.

"Ah, it's nothing."

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Three days passed and nothing particularly fun happened to the young half-breeds.

Having nothing to do, young Rei considered today to be one of those days where the hot sun shone bright at the right amount to give him a nice sun bath. Sun bathing was a daily habit he picked up and made him feel so pleasant further than words and expressions could possibly comprehend. The sun just seemed to burn off all of his problems.

Then, during a luxurious sun bath, along came a phoenix with a parchment attached to her orange talons tied by a black silk string that was to be delivered to someone. Rei happened to be the someone that this beautiful phoenix was aiming for and she dropped the parchment on top of his head; disturbing his nap.

"Dranzer?" he noted as he looked up the bird slowly swooping down onto the Earth. He looked at the paper that now lied on his stomach and picked it up. "I'm guessing this is from Kai or Tyson, no?" he lifted up the paper and read it.

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"Ah!" shrieked Kenny. He clutched his chest, leaned to the floor from his chair and huffed loudly as he lifted his head to glare at Tyson. Well, assume it's a glare since you can't really tell, but moving on. He shouted at the young, energetic fellow for spooking him and told him to not disrupt his studies. He claims is vital to his future and doesn't want to be a freeloader.

"I am not a 'freeloader' for your information," defended Tyson. Grandpa sent me here to…"

"Yes, yes. I know. You came here to get a better education than the ones near your dojo and the Hiwatari's happened to be good friends with your grandfather. I know. Geez, Tyson." Kenny rolled his eyes and got back to his studies.

"Chief, you're just as boring as Kai. Come on! I came here to entertain myself somehow, not to be around a study freak nor with a mellow person who refuses to speak with anyone…"

Kenny looked up from his gigantic book once again, and faced Tyson. "You have to understand Kai's position and what he feels right now. I even think he's a bit embarrassed considering this did happen right in front of a guest."

Tyson sighed. "Yeah, I know… but still, I'm bored!" he hollered like a wolf that was in sheer displeasure.

Kenny just rolled his eyes and watched Tyson fiddle around with various items in his room that interested his eyes if something like that were possibly. Obviously, he still wasn't having fun while touching everything that launched annoyance chills down Kenny's spine.

"Nothing to do, nothing to do!" Tyson sang to attempt entertainment.

"Go read a book then. If you can."

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"Max! Rei! Oh! Where did they head off to this time?" A distressed turtle inhumanly rubbed the sides of his head.

Reasons like this always got Draciel in trouble. How old were these trouble-makers named Max and Rei again? Old enough to know what common sense is. The egoistic fools could easily tell him where they were going. It's not like he couldn't keep a secret.

The turtle walked his slow, turtle pace through the forest shouting his companions' name, but not loud enough to be heard by the quick-to-anger, Driger. If that feline learned of this…

Draciel quivered at the imaginings. He really needed to find them.

Meanwhile, Max was trailing behind Rei who was running at high speeds; speeds to high for him.

"Rei?" Max was probing as to what he was planning. He was smiling ecstatically and sprinting much too quickly.

As for the witty bit beast, he continued running and smiling with various thoughts in his head. Thoughts of how during this time off of theirs, not once were they truly relaxed. All kinds of thoughts ran rushed endlessly and scattered to every part of their minds. Images of their past, Kai and Tyson, their bit beast friends and, ultimately, their life within this forest just landed on them like one massive rock. A massive rock they couldn't lift and had no idea how to eliminate.

That is until Rei received a message from a little bird and figured it out. Figured out a way to rid themselves of this huge rock called burden.

The cheery cat turned back to Max and beamed.

"We're escaping relaxation."

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"Tyson. Come!" Kai banged open Kenny's room while standing and gazing at the naive man. He literally made Tyson leap up and tumble off the stool he stood on to observe some of the many books Kenny owned. Well, you can't really blame him, that was one of the first forms of interaction he had with Kai for a lengthy period of time now.

"Um… sure, but why?" Tyson staggered up from the floor, dusted himself off, and walked over to Kai.

"Don't question me," he firmly replied as he spun around; crossing his arms with a feeble smirk on his face like he suddenly knew what he was missing and wanted to express it. Expressing with others and in ways that made him happy.

Torturing Tyson granted him much delight.

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"No! I refuse to help you two again. I know for sure that Driger will have my head. I bet he wants my head in general, that tiger doesn't like me!"

"Please, Dragoon. Driger allowed us to meet them; all you're doing is allowing them in through the entrance, it's not like we're going to their home or anything," Rei begged.

"Oh, please!" Max too joined in on the beseeching and in spite of everything, the dragon refused. No matter what they did. Puppy eyes, blackmail, crying, begging on their knees. Nothing.

They continued begging, insisting and yet, still, he stayed the same. This was one stubborn dragon.

Even Draciel, who had finally caught up with them, pitied them as he was watching from inside the lake where this was all taking place. What was so special about his modest home anyway? Trouble seemed to always be delft with there…

"What are they doing!" Tyson exclaimed making Kai turn in see what Tyson was seeing. From Tyson's distance at the lake where they saw Rei and Max, all he saw was a huge, blue and ferocious dragon glaring down at the two bit half-beast who were on their knees begging. From his point of view, angle and perspective, this would seem as though they were crying for mercy and to be spared from a hungry monster.

So what would be his course of action?

Why, to protect his darling friends.

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Yes, a short chapter. Sorry about that, but that just seemed like the perfect place to end it. At least our characters are ending up back together. And starting with this chapter, I plan to get simile, metaphor, personification, etc., happy. Maybe even trying adding more voice into my writing as well. I'm experimenting with my writing, but the storyline will remain the same and probably still have the same style.

Speaking of which, I never knew I could actually type like this. In my own personal opinion, it felt more… in depth. You know, more description, feelings and… different. Ah, who the hell knows what I'm talking about. No one pays attention anyway.

So, review, be happy and love me. No, wait, don't love me. I don't want to develop anonymous stalkers.

Now, I need to think of reasons for me not updating in three months.

1. School? Too clichéd. Damn.

2. Sick? True, but not working.

3. Curse the video games? I think I've killed that excuse.

4. A social life? If you call sleeping and going on a eating spree with friends that.

5. Anime? I've most definitely overused that excuse.

6. Writer's block? When don't I have it?

7. No interested? I'm too interested. So interested I forget what I was about to type.

8. Lazy? My purpose in life is to be lazy.

9. Addiction to the internet? That would work if I weren't known for multitasking.

10. There is no excuse? Not very supportive.

And from this list, I have no choice but to chose number ten. I admit, I suck, I have no excuse. Even if all of them are correct, I think ten just fucking tells it all. I. Have. No. Excuse. Don't kill me! I try! … Okay, so I don't, but that isn't the point.

Oh, how about this: I will try. How's that for you? It gives you a tad bit of hope. Basically none since there's a 99.9 chance I'm lying and it turns out I didn't update for another four months this time, but I know a few people will have hope in me. Maybe. A possibility. There's a chance someone might. Perhaps. … I doomed. No one will. That excuse isn't helping me much.

I did stay up till 4 in the morning rereading this, adding on and fixing my terrible grammar. I deserve some forgiveness for at least that, even if it may be inaccurate considering how incredibly sleepy I am… Damn my love for rest!

Fine then, it's up to plan B.

My dog ate my computer.