1All It Takes

By: Yamiko #7

Hello again, and welcome to the wonderful world of Chapter Four! Hopefully we'll all get to see some action here - I know that I, at least, am itching for it (even though my fight scenes royally suck). At least we know there'll be some plot development...God help us all. :laugh:

Has anybody else noticed the overabundance of romance fics in the Chrno Crusade section? I figured there'd be a lot more of the action/adventure type, maybe some comedy. Boy, was I ever wrong. In the three pages I looked at (20 or so fics per page), there had to have been at least 40 romance fics, probably more than that. What really amazed me, though, was the fact that all of them, with the exception of one or two, were Rosette/Chrno pairings. I have never seen so much support for a single pairing. Ever. It kind of scared me. 0.0 Not that there's anything wrong with romance, but...wow. Just wow.

I also checked out the "Just In" section, and that simply blew my mind. This was on Sunday, July 17. On a single 20-fic page, there were at least 12, probably more, Harry Potter HBP fics. Keep in mind that, at this point, the book had been out for less than 48 hours.

...I think it scared me even more than all the romance. Here I am, still trying to digest the events of the book, and twelve random people have already read the book (probably more than once) and are already working on fanfictions. Tell me, have you people slept at all since Friday night? You certainly do work fast. n.n

Well, that's enough outta me. Enjoy Chapter Four!

Chapter Four: Insult

"Are you sure that this is the right place?" Chrno asked for what had to be the fifth time.

"Unless there's another 777 Drifting Cloud out there that I missed, then yes, this is the place," Rosette snapped. She was getting fed up with answering the same question over and over. "Why do you keep asking me that?"

"I can't sense him," Chrno replied quietly. As strange and otherworldly as it sounded, it was true. Whenever Joshua was near, Chrno could feel...not Joshua's life force, but, strangely enough, his own. The essence of his horns, separated from his body, would thrill down his spine like electricity, a buzz that was soft and at the same time too strong to ignore. The feeling of power, pure, simple, and raw.

That buzz was missing. Either Joshua had lost his horns - 'My horns,' Chrno corrected himself - or he wasn't here. Either way, something was wrong.

He looked up just in time to see Rosette reach for a doorknob. The demonic energy emanating from the space behind that door hit him like a freight train, sending a psychic shock wave from the top of his head to the soles of his feet and back again. Why hadn't he sensed it before!

"Rosette, no!"

It was too late. Rosette had already flung open the door. She didn't even have enough time to train her gun on the room before its occupant caught her in a flying tackle and slammed her against the opposing wall.

Chrno's next reaction was automatic. He dropped the weapon box on his back and tore the assailant off Rosette with bone-crushing force, throwing him face-first to the ground and holding him there with a knee to the small of his back. He then pulled the assailant's arms up - with more force than was strictly necessary, but he was furious - effectively pinning him to the floor. The entire sequence of events had taken less than five seconds.

It was only then that Rosette got a good look at her attacker. He was tall - about 5'8", she estimated - and dark: long dark hair trapped underneath his body, and dark eyes flashing angrily. Handsome was debatable. His accent was Latino. His turn of phrase was unmistakably American.

"Get off me, you stupid son of a bitch," he threatened Chrno, "before I rip your f:ing head off."

Rosette raised an eyebrow. 'Charming.'

"Why did you attack me?" Rosette finally found her voice. "Come to think of it, who are you?"

Chrno didn't trust himself to speak. He was afraid his language would be just as ugly as the Latino's if he did.

The Latino turned his attention back to Rosette and leered up at her. "When such a beautiful lady opened my door...well, I just couldn't help myself." He looked and sounded like an oversexed snake. The look he gave Rosette said clearly that he was imagining her naked.

Nobody had ever tried to undress Rosette with their eyes before. The look was creepy. It made her want to shoot him.

Chrno had also understood the meaning of the look. It simply aggravated him further.

"If you look at her that way again," he snarled, "I will rip your eyeballs out of your head."

"Oh, please." Pure sarcasm. "You shouldn't even be with her anyway. After all, what does a child like you know about..." He gave Rosette the seeing-sans-clothing look again. "...fine women?"

Chrno began to shake with fury. His temper had finally reached its limits and was perilously close to boiling over. Rico Suave here was going to be in a world of hurt if he didn't shut up soon.

"Why, Joshua, I'm disappointed," came a low, feminine voice from the now-vacated doorway. "How could you mistake this monster for a child?"

Rosette was, to put it simply, shocked. "Joshua!"

"And you haven't even introduced yourself to our...guests." The voice seemed to savor the word. "Really, where are your manners?"

'She's laughing at us.' Chrno's eyes narrowed. He had heard this particular voice before...but where?

Still pinned to the floor, the Latino sighed. "As my Mistress wishes..." His gaze returned to Rosette. "My name is Joshua Christopher. Are you satisfied?"

Rosette's world seemed to slide out of focus for a second. 'Joshua...Joshua Christopher...' He had the same name as her missing little brother. The monastery's information had been right and wrong at the same time.

Rosette's focus returned in a flash as she heard Chrno's shocked gasp.

The woman in the doorway had chosen that time to reveal herself, stepping out of the shadows and into the relative light of the hallway. She was small, about Rosette's height, with shoulder-length black hair and green eyes that seemed almost catlike. She was clad almost entirely in what looked like black leather. The only exception was a small glass vial, containing what looked like a single white hair, on a silver chain around her neck. Rosette didn't really see what was so special about her.

Chrno, however, looked as though he had seen a ghost. "You..." he stammered, still shocked. "You...but you're dead!"

"You would think that, wouldn't you." Gone was the sultry satisfaction that had been in the woman's voice. In it's place was a cold rage. "You would think that after getting my arm torn off and being thrown from a moving airship that I would die, wouldn't you, Chrno. Well, I'm obviously still here."

She moved until her face was only inches away from Chrno's. "And you are going to pay."

I know, I know...kind of a crappy place to leave off, with the evil cliffy and all, but I figure it works. If I added on to this chapter, then it would go into what I have planned for Chapter Five. If I screw up my plan now, I'm afraid it may never recover. I've done it before, and I really don't want to do it again.

So far so good, though. Four chapters and only one anachronism! I'm on a roll. :self-contented smile: So please don't complain about how Rico Suave didn't exist until the late 1980's - I already know. I figured the joke was just too good to pass up, so it stays and I laugh.

See you in Chapter Five!