Quote of the week: "I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by." - Douglas Adams (one of the wittiest and most brilliant writers ever, may he rest in peace)
Eeh... . . You guys aren't too mad, riiight? The document was locked in an inaccessible file-thingy... so it wouldn't upload, I couldn't edit it or change it to a word file, and I needed to re-write the entire thingy.
:sighs: God, I'm so behind it isn't even funny. Guess who's gonna be working on this overtime during the summer? -.-;;
Trees and earth and sky... all in one unending, dizzying, foggy endlessness as far as the eye could see. The trees, perfectly vertical and smooth, branches far above their heads, seemed to go on forever and disappear into the clouded sky. She tripped over...something, and regained her balance; a thick layer of fog covered the ground, starting to thin only at her mid-calf, and blocking the view of whatever littered the ground. Maybe she didn't want to know. In any case, she walked on.
It had been quiet for a while, with nothing for her to distract her mind with for the last thirty minutes. Looking ahead at her newest companion, however, she shuddered and wished it wasn't so dark out. Moving so quickly it looked like he was just gliding over the fog, the young man looked back at her with warm brown eyes and smiled; instead of making Lark feel better, however, she only shuddered. Maybe the young man - Korfius, she had learned his name was - didn't notice, but he was glowing. A soft, gentle light that prevented the dark and fog from fully enveloping them. She wasn't sure if she was grateful for the living nightlight or not; but she knew she would have given anything to get out of the forest by now.
"Is there anything wrong, Lark?" He paused by another tree, his light almost reflecting off the silvery bark. From above, she heard the slight creak of a thin branch supporting the weight of Hiei. The fire youkai had been in a mood ever since Korfius had pulled the katana out of his chest and, after politely wiping the blade clean of any ectoplasmic goo (or whatever ghosts bled), had handed it to him hilt-first.
There was still a slit cut in his tunic-shirt, positioned just over his heart. No matter how many demons or apparitions (even humans, in some rare cases) could have survived such a blow, there was no way they wouldn't bleed.
Unless they weren't alive to begin with.
"Nah, I'm fine." She tried to pry her eyes away from the tear, but couldn't and, instead, asked, "Doesn't that, um, hurt?"
"Eh? Uh, no, not really. I've been stabbed and shot at before, and it never hurts." He picked at the cut clothing, and gave the younger girl a joking smile. "It did tickle, though."
From above, a twig snapped with a loudness that was surprising for the stealthy Hiei, and there was a slight angry cough, followed by the pacifying "Maaaaa," of Mara. Lark sweatdropped at the reaction, and Korfius blinked. "Uh, is something wrong..?"
"N-no! Maybe we should just take a break, ya know? Rest the legs, steady the breathing... something to make sure we don't die walking back to the castle." As soon as the word "die" was out of Lark's mouth, she cringed, hoping the ghost-boy wasn't too hurt by the comment. Instead, he leaned back against a tree trunk and shrugged. "Rest if you want, but it'd be safer to get out of this forest as fast as possible."
All that answered him was a full minute of silence, without so much as the song of a cricket or owl's hoot to break the misty shield of the nighttime maze of trees. It was disquieting, unusual, and, in Lark's not-so-humble opinion, scary as all hell. Forget monsters and ghosts and creepy-crawlies that looked like they belonged at a class reunion with Elvira... if you ever wanted to scare someone, anyone at all, all you needed was complete silence.
"So, what are you doing all the way out here?" She was glad she broke the quiet. Korfius looked perfectly comfortable waiting silently, and Hiei..? She was certain the midget would become a pop superstar before ever ruining a perfectly good awkward moment such as then. Korfius, nonetheless, blinked and pointed at himself, as if wondering if there was some other stranger lost in the woods behind him that she was talking to.
"Me? I was just going to meet a young lady-friend of mine. Technically, I was supposed to meet her before the sun set, but I got a bit lost."
"A lady friend?" Even way out here, in the middle of the most dark and unsettling forest known to mankind, and with a friend currently kidnapped, the age-old tale amused her. Korfius blushed, if it was even possible for a ghost to blush, and twiddled his thumbs. "Yes, well... I'm quite worried about her, you see. First she suddenly grabs her younger sister and leaves for a castle miles away from the village, and now a rather dangerous spirit, the Pooka, has been out as of late. I just hope that she and her sister are safe."
"No other possible reasons, Korfius, my boy?" Lark slyly asked, her gray eyes teasing. The undead older boy seemed to blush and scratched the back of his head. "I would have met her on time, if that beastly Pooka hadn't chased me out here..."
"A Pooky chased you?"
"Pooka." The correction was from Hiei, who, for quite a while, hadn't spoken a word. "A dangerous adversary. We better steer clear of it."
"We can't!" Both Hiei and Lark blinked at the outburst, and Mara woke up from her nap for a moment, then let loose a soft chirruping sigh and buried her muzzle once again in Hiei's shock of black hair. Even though Korfius' sudden volume of speaking was really far too loud to stay safe and undetected, Lark coyly smiled. "Oh-ho... Gotcha."
Finally; the little girl was asleep, and Holly managed to gently move her out of her lap. She had been only a half hour into the tale of the priest Sanzo, and already she had been pulling sudden plot twists out of who-knew-where. All that time, she had been hoping her new younger companion would fall asleep, and was thrilled when the little girl had nodded off indefinitely.
Moonlight beckoned her to the window, where silvery luminescence made the white, opaque wings of the angels glow and shimmer. The twisted and garbled lead didn't even upset the scene anymore, and all that could be seen through the thin high window were moonlit forests and lakes. The wall that ran around the castle seemed to be falling apart at the borders, but it all could have been a trick of the light.
She glanced back at the sleeping child. Who knew where she was? And who could possibly rescue her? Holly thought of waking the girl up, if only for some definite company, but forced the thought out of her head. Not only would it be mean, but she wasn't yet re-charged with new ideas for another story-spinning. Not that it was really her story to begin with...
There was a bit of movement down below, and the girl fancied she saw a bright white orb down below. A light? A search party..? Upon closer inspection, however, it appeared to be... ah, what a letdown. It was only the moon, reflected in a murky channel of water that seemed to run about the fortress. No dramatic rescue there. Just wet and water and fish. She supposed she could have scaled down the wall (if she ever figured out how to get past the window, first) but what if there was something less than welcoming down below? All she needed was a bigger version of the goldfish-o-doom that had scared Kyuro earlier that week.
A week? Was that how long ago she had helped Lark duct-tape the hell out of that cheap-o little "Fish as Friends!" starters' tank? Good Lord...
No, wait! She hadn't been imagining seeing something in motion! There it went again, the water rippling and making little V's in it's wake, disrupting the reflection of the moon. Holly bit her bottom lip, wishing that the creature wasn't just some duck or fish.
If she was lucky, it could be a person.
Then, the V's seemed to split in the middle, and she caught the black shadow underneath. Whatever was underneath was at least as long as a human; wider, with a narrow strip of long black hair trailing behind it, but not quite human. One almond-shaped ear flicked upwards, flinging droplets of water, and the witch saw the faint ghostly-image of one of the "guards" on the walkway off to the right and a floor below turn around and spot the intruder. He let out a hoarse yell, and more comrades rushed over, spears and crossbows, and even long swords, at hand.
The ears were suddenly pinned back, the universal animal sign for agitation, and the shadow faded back into the murky depths of the moat-like stream. But... the moat had to connect to some other source of water somewhere else... it was a constantly flowing current.
The thing disappeared, and Holly felt herself sigh in relief. But the relief turned to fear as a small hand grasped onto a belt loop on her jeans and she felt a soft tug. More air was sucked in, and the witch tightened her grip on a shard of lead that looked particularly loose from the frame before turning to face her opponent.
Dirty cotton and a freckled face. Thank God... "Hey, you. What're you doing awake at this time of night?"
"But you're awake." Agh; one of those childish complaints that you couldn't argue about. But you could try...
"I'm going back to bed, now. I just thought I saw something outside." Holly put on a pleasing smile, and gently grasped the little girl's arm. Once tired and dull-witted, the youngster suddenly seemed to come to life and easily slipped out of the older girl's grasp. Before Holly could even lunge forwards, she had scampered up the wall until she had gotten a firm hold of the windowsill. She scrambled up, raising her chin above the edge, making Holly nearly yelp - there were a number of broken shards of glass that stuck straight up like tiny knives, ready to impale any soft throat that came into contact. All the child had to do was get tired and go to rest her head, and it would be over...
"Oh, good. Korfius didn't try to come again." She bounced back from the wall, letting go of the window and the scared look in her wide eyes quickly fading to one of disinterested anger. "You better not be seeing him again, LeeAnne."
"E-eh?" She had never heard of a Korfius before in her life! The message, coming from a child easily at least five years her younger, however, seemed oddly familiar. An overprotective sibling; so similar to Victoria's own warnings that it made a sharp little something in her heart dig in and twist a little more. Homesickness, or the ferverent hope that someone was looking for her, somewhere?
She swore to herself that if she ever saw Kyuro again, she'd squeeze and hug him until he clawed his way to freedom by force.
"Hey, uh, kidlet, why don't you go back to bed now, okay? Come on, I'll help get that straw pile all fluffy and comfy for you." She gently got hold of the young girl's hand and, seeing as the little girl wasn't fighting the prospect of bedtime (unlike most childers, and even some teenage roommates, did) plunked herself down on the pitiful mattress. The young child yawned and curled up next to the witch, burying her filthy little face in her arms and Holly's side. Quiet filled the room, and the angel wing light mosaic cast on the wall above seemed to dim, even; it made her uncomfortable.
"You know, you'd think we'd get an actual bed if we're so important..."
"LeeAnne, go to bed."
Holly cut off her reply that she wasn't this "LeeAnne" and sighed. "I'm not LeeAnne" was starting to become a mantra for her.
"You know, normally people check what direction they're traveling in before setting off on a whirlwind rescue-adventure," Hanabi muttered, ignoring the looks from his companions. To tell the truth, the looks were coming less and less frequently, as did the little nagging voice that told him to shut up and hand the reins over to the rightful owner of the shared physical body.
Mentally, He smirked, amused as both Hanabi and the mind-bitch cursed and mumbled at him from inside the vast expanses of their brain. Hey, He had summoned a giant monster, aided in a dangerous revenge plot, and had given them a break (granted, He had been in a comatose state) for a good two days now. He deserved some free time to run around.
And if you don't shut it, boy, imagine what the buzz around school would be if you showed up to class wearing nothing but a pair of socks...
Well, that seemed to shut them up. And good timing, too; it took all of His concentration to fend off the miasmatic aura surrounding them. The other ungrateful idiots He traveled with probably never noticed it, but the fog was always thinner and weaker wherever they were. Then again, the fox, Kurama, was an exceptionally bright ten-watt bulb - smarter than many of the other humans and demons that surrounded His presence, and he considered himself fortunate that the group hadn't found him yet. Bah...they didn't know how lucky they were to have Him around.
"You, monster." It wasn't as if the cat was insulting Him, the tone was as if the familiar had been calling Him by name more that anything. Not to say the title exactly fit; He was less of a monster than the furry little creature that called him so.
The taller man, Victoria, made an attempt to shrug Kyuro off of his shoulder, perhaps embarrassed at the lack of manners of the cat, and settled for flicking Kyuro's ears when the cat dug his claws in. "Kyuro, be nice."
"There's no need for Him. We have our hands full, already." Snide and pompous. Mentally He shrugged, saw an image of Hanabi shrugging as well, and the mind-bitch sighing in agreement. An alpha attitude all three of them got, and that was even before they had shared the same body. "Whatever you say, furball. But the river is over a bit more to our right."
Jin, Lyra, Yusuke, and Victoria all turned their gaze over to the trees to their right more out of curiosity than anything else. From Victoria's shoulder, the ebon familiar snorted and made himself more comfortable.
"Feh... as if to trust you..!"
A few seconds then, in which no one moved, and then Jin spoke up: "Actually, there was a river er' moat runnin' by... when I checked from th' air."
More silence, in which He smirked through Hanabi's body (which was usually too busy trying not to be noticed to really smile, much less smirk His face muscles were already starting to get tired from all the smirking He had done already) and Kyuro stiffened. It was actually quite amusing to watch how such a flexible creature such as a cat could make their spine ramrod-straight.
Victoria gave the black cat a questioning look, one eyebrow (thankfully free of any makeup or liner) raised. One feline ear started twitching incessantly, and cat stared straight ahead. "Are you sure, Jin?" He asked. When the windmaster meekly nodded his head, still too dazed from earlier to chance flying again, the cat gave a low growl and pointed one extended claw off the trail. "To the right it is. If you're wrong, however, monster..."
He feigned hurt innocence and put up his hands in defeat. "I wouldn't dare, sir. But you better hurry; that wandering could lose you your witch."
"My sister won't be the only lost one." Lyra blinked in surprise at Victoria's comment, but Yusuke managed a minute grin. "About time someone shut them both up."
"Sooo...anything else about this girl, Korfius?" Lark teased, hopping over a barely-noticed root as she speed-walked after the ghost. Although he was turned away from her, she saw his ears turn a muted shade of red and grinned wickedly. "Hey, stop being so distant. We're looking for a girl, as well. Maybe we could all work together?"
Korfius paused, and Lark had to grab onto a tree trunk to stop herself from nearly running right into him. The thought made her wonder if it was possible to walk right through him: he was a ghost, after all. The fog swirled around his frame, and then the boy smiled. "Maybe we can."
The air next to her seemed to thicken and turn black, until she realized it was an illusion of the fog at all, but a body. Lark blinked at Hiei's sudden interest in the matter, but chose not to comment, as the fire demon was obviously not in the mood for interruptions. "Good. Any information on this girl? Appearance, name, where she might be?"
"Uh, I think he already answered the last one," Lark mentioned, but a ruby glare quieted her with an "eep!". Mara slithered over from Hiei's head to Lark's shoulder, and nuzzled the girl's cheek, her serpentine tail twitching from it's spot by the demon's neck. She gave the sympathetic dragonling a quick tussle of the mane.
"She's shorter then me, and has reddish hair." Korfius seemed to not be looking directly at them, and Lark noticed the creeping blush with the glee that only a gossiper had. As the ghost boy thought more about his missing "friend", he seemed to get farther and farther away from reality. "Quite pretty, with bright green eyes and freckles... she used to hate it when her mother called the sunkisses, but still. She was always active, and never indoors; mischievous and creative enough to be a weaver of tales, but wanted to travel. She was never really happy with her parents; they were both very good people, but just lacked the imagination to keep up with her..."
Hiei raised an eyebrow at this and coughed, about ready to snap the boy out of it, but was instead victim to a sharp elbow jab from Lark. The black-haired girl hissed something of an insult at him, and he fell silent, moodily staring at the fog as it made the most unusual shapes in the air. The last thing we have the time for is some lovesick fool's tangent about the girl he was stupid enough to lose.
Hiei, Lark warned, taking advantage of the jagan's power and range to break into the conversation. Be patient. We might learn something useful.
Like one hundred and one clichés to use in a dime store romance novel? Lark chose not to reply telepathically, but instead gave him another elbow jab. This time, he twisted a little so the attack didn't rattle against his ribcage so painfully.
"...She was brought to the castle, at first to work there, but then her sister came and she became a favored "guest" of the Beast... " Ah, good. Korfius' story was winding down to an end.
"So, uh, what does all that have to do with you looking for her? And, not to sound rude, but who the hell is she?" If Hiei hadn't bound himself to a strict pacifist promise with Koenma, he would have gutted Lark like a fish for instigating another long-winded spiel. Korfius, of course, paid no heed.
"Why look for LeeAnne? Well, even though her parents weren't against it, she postponed our engagement, you see."
Oh, for Enma's sake. This idiot was mad at a teenage girl for not wanting to marry him outright. What an idiot...
"Well, uh, considering you're both not much older than me, I can kinda see her viewpoint..." Lark sweatdropped, but tried to keep a smile. Brown hair flying as he shook his head, Korfius sighed. "No, no, it's not like that. She had actually chided me for not proposing to her, earlier. But once she had chosen to work at Castle Lain she suddenly became very withdrawn from the other villagers, all except for her little sister whom was never really fond of me, or anyone else for that matter."
Although he was fairly sure his poker face was set, he could almost feel his eyebrow rise. This fool is afraid of a young child?
Shut up, you. LeeAnne and her little sister might just be the thorn in our side that will help us find Holly and the others.
I can find them, no problem. My jagan, you wench. If you want, you can play flashlight-tag in the woods with glow-boy, but its better to solve this without outside help.
"Is there, urm, anything else? Like, what she might be doing?" Behind her back, she crossed her fingers. Luck seemed to be with her, for Korfius seemed to get the gist of the shared mental gripe of both the fire demon and water manipulator, that he sweatdropped and tried his best to answer without going off on another tangent. "Well, if I had my say-"
"Which you've had enough of, by all means," Hiei muttered.
"She was rather adamant about escaping the castle, by any means. Which was kind of the entire reason I was there to begin with..."
A shrill whinny cut through the air, and the fog itself seemed to die away, but not before turning a sickly glowing orange color. Like he was on a TV with poor reception, Korfius' form seemed to shiver and turn a grayish hue before springing back to life. Mara shuddered from her perch, and buried her face in Lark's hair, her tail nearly cutting off the blood flow to Hiei's arm it was so tight.
Opening her squeezed-shut eyes and unblocking her ears, Lark pointed a wayward finger in the general direction of the ghastly cry - straight ahead of them. "Did you say by any means possible..?"
The wind seemed to make more noise than they, as it gently rustled leaves by their ankles and played with their hair. Then, Korfius paled (even more, surprisingly) and started running through the forest, flitting out of view and reappearing every few fractions of a second. "Damn it all!"
Hiei and Lark shared a baleful look and bounded off after the ghost, one taking to the canopy of trees and the other to the hidden trail.
:twitches: I will... update... soon. Nyagh... o Just let me recover from this current brainlapse, and I'll get right to work on the next chapter...
...In which we meet the real LeeAnne, the pooka comes into play, the group is fully reunited and finally enters the castle, and there is a hidden room with many sharp pointy objects.
Uhhh... yeeaaaahhhhhh... Too lazy to do reviewer replies, so KKC-chan shall make do with small talk. .;;
So, how's the pope, eh?
...Mmmyep... I better just shut up and write chapter 18 now. Excuse me while I go suffer from massive brain hemorrhaging.