Without another word, we all stepped into the portal. Once Melody, the last of us, was through the portal, it vanished.
"That's not a good sign, Sanzo…" Alex said, calling me by my nickname.
"No it is not, Goku." I replied, using her nickname in response. All of us except Meg were looking around in awe, Alex and me especially. Glancing at the trees, I saw a flash of red. "Alex, we have moved from Code Green to Code Yellow." I said. Alex nodded. The other seven gave us weird looks, but said nothing. Meg started to walk in a random (to us at least) direction and we followed.
"So… Where are we going?" Maemi asked after a few minutes.
"To my place." Meg said. Alex nudged me.
"Would that be near the friend that's the Bishi version of me that you thought up?" she asked quietly.
"Most likely."
"Woot!" Seeing a flash of black in the trees, I poked Alex.
"Code Yellow to Code Orange." I said. She nodded.
Let me explain. Alex and I have a system going. There are four codes, from red to green. Code Green is safe mode. Code Red is total fangirl mode. Yellow is starting to go crazy, and Orange is about to lose it. Well, back to the story.
Meg led us to a house. It was a really nice one, large on a big piece of property. It looked like a two family house, one side having a crap-load of plants growing around it. Faintly, I heard Merle and Maemi sneezing. Meg walked up to the right side door and held her Dex up to the scanner. The front door opened and Meg motioned for us to go inside.
"Watch there be more plants inside…" I heard Melody say quietly. She was right; there were herbs of every kind on the window sills, and different vines hanging from pots from the ceiling. Alex looked at one plant and started to laugh.
"There's catnip on the window." She said. I looked and saw catnip, aloe, and a bunch of others I couldn't name.
"Tadaima!" Meg yelled out. There was an instant scrambling sound from the second floor. Two little blurs shot down the stairs and straight to my Bishi incarnation, followed by a yell from upstairs of 'GET BACK HERE!'
Suddenly, everything made sense to me. Why she settled into a house, why she looked like she was ten years older than I wrote…
My other six personas and I moved off to the side.
A larger black blur shot down the stairs, obviously chasing the two little ones. The little ones resolved themselves into a boy and a girl, and the black one made itself into what looked like a San-stage Hiei with a scar over his left eye. Alex looked at me with a look that said 'Code Red alert?' I returned it with a short nod.
"Gomen, Onee-chan, I couldn't keep them upstairs." The Bishonen was saying.
"It's ok, Outoto, you didn't have to. Where's your brother?" Meg said. We were just listening to this going on.
"Hi-ani is outside sparring with Yu-ani, why?"
"Go get everyone if you can find them. I need to talk to you all about them." Meg waved a hand to us. The Bishonen jumped.
"Who are they!" he yelped.
"I'll explain later. Take these two and go find the others."
"But Kaasan," the girl-child jumped in, "we wanna stay with you!"
"Yeah, Kaasan!" her brother said. The two of them turned on the eyes and double teamed Meg. I was still trying to gather my thoughts. This was as far as my story was PLANNED, but not as far as I wrote it!
"Tell ya what, you go help your Ojisan find your Tousan, ok?" Meg's voice broke through my thoughts.
"Kay, Mama!" twin voices chorused. Glancing out the window, I noticed that the sun was starting to set. Weird, it was morning when we left… But then again, time is different here…
Maite was getting nervous now, and I knew why. Tonight was her human night, how could I forget? I was jerked out of my thoughts again when almost twenty people came into the room. I looked up and almost fainted.
Link, Hiei, Yusuke, Sesshomaru, Tris, Briar, Hermione, and Draco Malfoy were in the room. I nudged her.
"This is so cool…" I whispered. My incarnations were looking at various Bishonen. Meg looked at them.
"Where's Lucivar and Jaenelle? And where'd Smoke get to?" she asked. The names struck a gong. I know them, but from where?
"Lucivar went out again. Said something about needing to be alone for a while. Jaenelle is upstairs doing her own thing." Hermione spoke up. Meg looked at Sesshomaru and he nodded, walking out the door. Hermione went upstairs. Two minutes later, if that, Sess and a man with large bat wings on his back walked up. Hermione came down the stairs with a blonde, blue-eyed woman and a wolf behind her. Then it clicked.
"Oh my god, I know who they are! They're from the Black Jewels Trilogy!" I said, finally able to place the names. Jaenelle smiled at me.
"Dude, he has wings, that's so rockin' awesome…" Alex whispered. I snickered quietly.
"How about we go out into the yard, that way there'll be enough room for everyone." Meg said, ignoring my little outburst. My little group nodded.
Without meaning to, I let my thoughts wander onto Hiei.
'Wow, I am taller than him. That's probably what got me, that he was different than most guys. Well, that and the attitude. I love his eyes too; I wish I had eyes that were an unusual color…he has a nice chest too, can't forget the chest…' I thought. When I came out of my thoughts, I found that I was sitting on the ground. Meg was telling the others about what had happened to her.
"…That's when they found the portal, and we got back here." She was saying.
"What does the human girl say about this?" Briar asked suddenly. All eyes turned to me.
"This is probably completely impossible, but… Holy Hell." I said.
Right then, the sun finished setting. Miko perked up.
"Hey, why did her," she pointed at Maite, "demon aura suddenly vanish?" I glanced over at Maite. Miko was right, she was human. Her hair was solid brown, and her eyes were stormy grey.
"And that's why I hate my creativity. I always choose these things to happen at inopportune times…" I muttered.
"Um… Hey, I think we should go inside now." Hermione said. Meg nodded. Everyone got up and filed inside. I was the last to get up and go into the house. Sighing, I thought about what happened so far. This was only the first stop, what else could happen?
As I entered the living room, I made a beeline for the only available chair. I would have made it, if a small blur didn't beat me to it. The blur resolved itself into a little boy with huge blue eyes and spiky black hair. Shaking my head with a sigh, I sat down on the floor next to Alex.
"That was sad, Meg-chan; getting beaten to a chair by a little kid." Alex commented.
"Yeah, by a little kid that could move faster than I can." I responded defensively, sending a very small smirk to Meg and her Sama Hiei. "Al-chan, you know I didn't stand a chance."
"That's true."
"So now what?" Maite said. "I can't do too much when I'm like this, so traveling is almost out of the question since I can't see right." Merle blinked; a slightly confused look in her eyes.
"Ok, I'm lost now. What just happened again?" she asked. I opened my mouth to answer, but Maite beat me to it.
"I'm a hanyou, and our human blood takes over one night every month. And my night just happens to be tonight." She said, sending a glare my way.
"Hey, not like I EXPECTED this to happen! Besides, I just chose a random phase and liked the way it worked at the time!" I said defensively. By now, Alex was laughing her head off at the scene we must have been making. Yusuke was laughing with her, as were Briar and Link. Blushing slightly, I stopped arguing with the other girls. Suddenly, I gave a huge yawn, barely remembering to cover my mouth. When my yawn subsided, Alex yawned.
"So it's true, they ARE contagious!" Merle said wonderingly as Maite yawned after Alex. I saw Lucivar and Sesshomaru discretely step closer together as
"Hey," Hi-kun said suddenly, "I'm going to go outside for a bit." He got up and walked to the slightly ajar door.
"Can I come?" I asked quickly before he could leave. I glanced quickly from him to Meg and back again a few times. I turned on the diluted form of the begging eyes, hoping it would work. Sad to say, my version of the eyes isn't the best. When they didn't answer, I pouted a bit.
"Damn." I said quietly. Suddenly, a slight rumbling sound came from one of the people in the room. Looking around, I spotted Muna blushing a little bit.
"I guess it's time for some food, ne?" Meg said. Various nods and 'yes's were heard from the people in the room. Only Merle didn't answer; and right now she was actually looking a little sick.
"Hey," she said, "where's the bathroom?"
"Down that hall," Meg said, pointing, "it's the second door on the right." Merle nodded her thanks and, still looking a little green, almost ran to the bathroom, leaving everyone except Maite and Meg and her Hiei in a stunned silence. Said people had a knowing look in their eyes. I got up.
"I'm going to go see if she's ok. She looked a little sick." I said, walking towards the hall. As I approached the door, I heard the sound of someone vomiting.
'Hm, I wonder if…' I thought, but I stopped myself. 'But it IS logical, seeing how she's been acting…'
After the sound stopped, I heard a flush and some grumbling.
"I swear; this kitten is going to give me so much trouble…" was heard, among other things I wasn't able to make out. I decided to knock on the door, my suspicions confirmed.
"Hey, Merle, you ok?" I said through the door. I heard a gasp and the door flew open. Merle grabbed my wrist and pulled me into the bathroom. After I had cleared the doorway, the door was closed again.
"How much did you hear?" she asked me quietly.
"Not much." I answered truthfully. "I may not be very attentive, but I'm not an idiot. I would have figured something was up eventually. I think Meg and her Hiei already figured it out, as well as Maite." I said, just as quietly.
"Keep this between us?" she asked hopefully.
"Sure." I said, grinning at her.
"Thanks."
"Hey, how old are you any way?" I asked curiously, having just noticed the ring around her finger.
"I'm twenty." She answered, blushing slightly. I paused.
"Well DUR, that makes sense… I swear to god this place is messing with my head." Merle smiled.
"So you won't tell anyone?"
"No, I won't-" I started.
"Good."
"-because you will." I finished, grinning wickedly.
"WHAT! Oh, no, NO, I will NOT tell them. Not yet." She said; eyes wide. "I'm not ready to."
"I didn't say you had to NOW, I said you'll tell them. That means 'eventually'. So, does HE know yet?" I asked slyly. When she didn't say anything, I grinned wider. "I'll take that as a 'no, but I WILL tell him'." I opened the door. "C'mon, everyone's gonna be wondering what's taking so long." Merle nodded and followed me.
When we got into the living room, it was empty. Motioning for Merle to follow me, I walked down a different hall into a huge room, where everyone was sitting at a large table. There was also a few Bishonen that I know Meg didn't have sitting among them, along with a woman sitting next to Meg.
She was a little on the short side and very thin. She had brown hair and pale blue eyes. Sitting next to her was a Joey Bishonen, and there was a Chibi on her lap. It took me a second to remember that no, Joey Chibis are NOT supposed to have brown hair and yes, this was the version of Alex I wrote about.
There were two empty seats, presumably for Merle and myself. Al-chan was guarding one of them, obviously wanting me to sit with her.
Walking over to the seat, Al-chan looked from me to Merle and back.
"So what was wrong?" she asked. Grinning, I whispered what had gone on in her ear. Her eyes widened and I slapped a hand over her mouth just in time to stop her from screaming out the phrase 'WHAT THE HELL!' Giggling madly, I let her go.
"No yelling, don't forget, you have a really high voice, think of the Bishies' eardrums!" I said, still grinning.
"You mean she's-" I put my hand over her mouth again.
"YES, Al-chan, yes." By this time, I noticed the food and started to eat some, not really noticing that it was Lucivar who brought it out. Alex gave a muffled squeal that sounded a lot like "Oooh, FOOD!" and I let her go. She immediately started eating. Looking carefully at the food that was in my immediate area, I saw that I liked all of it. Taking a little bit of about five different dishes, I started to munch on the food. Some of the story-Alex's Bishies were looking at me in interest, I could have sworn I heard at least one 'Who are they?' coming from somewhere. It sounded suspiciously like a Goku from Saiyuki.
Amazingly, dinner went without a hitch, and soon everyone was getting ready for bed. That's when a problem occurred.
"Question," Al-chan said. Meg looked over at her. "Where do we sleep?" Meg paused what she was doing.
"That… is actually a very good question." She said.
"I'm willing to let someone sleep in my room tonight." Jaenelle spoke up.
"I wouldn't mind." Said Hermione.
"I wouldn't mind either." Tris added.
"Who has the biggest room?" Muna asked. Everyone pointed at Meg and her Hiei with various 'they do's.
"You mean to tell me that you seriously had to ask? I mean, it's only logical…" Maemi muttered.
"I'll sleep in Jaenelle's room." Alex volunteered.
"I will too." I said.
"I'll stay with Hermione, if nobody minds." Melody and Muna said at the same time.
"I'll stay in Tris's room." Maite said.
"I'll join Maite." Merle added in.
"I'll sleep in Hermione's room, then." Maemi said last.
We all followed our respective Bishoujo to their rooms. Jaenelle's room was at the very end of the hallway. We walked through the door after her and, though I'm not sure about Alex, I stopped in awe.
There were books along three walls, the fourth wall having the windows. On the shelves with the books were bottles of all shapes and sizes, each with its own label. The walls, from what I could see of them, were a dark color, perhaps blue or violet. There were a few plants in the windows, including one flower I'd never seen before. The bed was large, with black silk sheets on it. There was a walk-in closet in one corner. On the nightstand next to the bed were three books. Upon closer inspection of them, I almost laughed out loud. She was reading the trilogy she came from.
While we were looking around her room, Jaenelle had used Craft to bring in extra pillows and blankets for us. There was only one phrase that I could think of to say at that point.
"Holy Hell…"
"This is so rockin' awesome…" Alex said at the same time.
"I take it you like my room?" Jaenelle asked.
"This is so cool…" I said.
"I'm glad you think so."
"Hey, Meg, look, feather pillows!" Alex called from where she had flopped down on the floor. I grinned.
"Please, make yourselves comfortable." Jaenelle said.
"Thanks for letting us stay with you for the night." I said. Jaenelle nodded.
"Have you read these books before?" she asked, holding up Daughter of the Blood. I nodded as Alex shook her head.
"Meg says they're great, but I haven't read them." She said.
"They're awesome." I said. "How far did you read?"
"Okay, I'll be downstairs. I can never understand book-talk." Alex said as she slipped out the door. Jaenelle and I laughed.
"I've gotten most of the way through the second one." She responded.
"Did you hit page 282?"
"Oh yes. I almost laughed myself silly."
"So did I."
"I have three or four favorite lines from the trilogy. Two of them are from you, in all actuality."
"Which ones?"
"The Briarwood one, the witchblood one, and that one about Lucivar. Something about how he would rather lose his balls than his wings, I thought that was cool."
"I think I've come across all of those."
"I just recently finished the last one. My favorite had to be Heir to the Shadows, though."
"You must love books."
"Yup." I responded with a grin. Jaenelle yawned.
"It's getting late. I suppose we should go to bed." I got up from where I had somehow sat down during our conversation.
"I'll go find Alex."
As I walked down the hall, I heard the sounds of two people laughing. I peeked into the living room, and I saw Alex sitting next to the Goku that I saw earlier. They were babbling on about food.
"Can you believe that Megan has never had a meat-bun in her life?" Alex was saying.
"What?" Goku said, seemingly shocked. I chose that time to walk in.
"Oi, Goku, enough about food, it's time for bed." I said in as close to a Sanzo tone as I could get. Both people jumped.
"Aw, Sanzo, why?" they both whined at the same time. Then Goku took a closer look at me.
"Hey, you're not a Sanzo. But I coulda sworn…" he said, confused.
"Sanzo, do I have to go to bed?" Alex asked.
"YES, Goku." I said back, stressing the word 'yes'. I paused for a second. "Okay, really bad Saiyuki moment there…"
"Yeah it was." Alex laughed.
"Dude, that was so weird…" Goku muttered as he walked out of the room.
"Thank you!" Alex and I called to him at the same time. Then we started giggling.
"Hey, let's head back to Jaenelle's room, it's getting late." I suggested after we had calmed down.
"Yeah, come on."
We walked back to the room quietly. The door was slightly ajar, and we could see that the lights were off. I silently opened the door, thankful that the hinges didn't screech, and we slipped into the darkness of the room. I grinned at the irony of the situation as we quietly slid into our make-sift beds and fell asleep.
I woke up very early the next morning to the feeling of a warm, furry body curled up next to me. Figuring I was still dozing, I fell back asleep. Maybe two hours later, I woke up again. The furry body was still next to me. Cracking my eyes open, I look at what was sleeping up against me—and jumped.
There was a wolf sleeping next to me.
It was an even gray color all over, and there was a golden chain around his neck with a light purple gem in it.
I was still staring at it when one of its golden eyes opened. It sat up, apparently happy.
Girl-human is awake! a masculine voice floated through my head. A name floated through my sleep-fogged brain. Smoke. Then it clicked.
"You're Smoke, aren't you? And you wear the Purple Dusk." I asked quietly so I wouldn't disturb anyone. I put a hand over my heart in an attempt to make my pulse slow down again. Said limb was trembling from the adrenaline rush of waking up with a predator by your side.
And you are one of the girl-humans staying with the Trainer's pack. He looked at me curiously. Is big girl-human pack of small girl-human?
It took a second for that to sink in.
"In a way." I said. "Not related by blood, but we're close like pack."
Oh. Pack-sister-Queen wants you for early meal. May I wake small girl-human?
I considered that for a second, then grinned evilly.
"Wait until I get dressed. Does anyone other than Jaenelle know you're in here?" I asked, pulling my pants on.
Pups don't know. Demon-pack-brothers know. Pack-male with wings knows. Pack-brother-dog knows. Trainer knows. Other pack-brothers and sisters know. Smoke answered slowly, trying to make sure he didn't leave anyone out.
"Good. You can wake her up; just make sure you can protect your ears somehow." I said, grinning evilly. Smoke nodded and, with what I can only assume was Craft, put a shield over his ears. Then he padded over to where Alex was sprawled over the floor, still asleep. He nudged her gently with his nose. She stirred slightly and turned over, away from him. He took another step towards her and prodded her with his paw. She rolled back over so she was facing him and opened her eyes. She gasped and sat bolt upright.
"It's a wolf! There's a wolf in the room! Oh my GOD!" she said loudly. She scrambled away from Smoke quickly. I was laughing hysterically by this point. Alex calmed down a bit more and glared at me.
"That wasn't funny." She said.
"Oh YES it was." I replied, still grinning. Smoke, seeing that his 'job' was done, walked out of the room.
Ten minutes later, we were heading towards the kitchen, hoping to get some food. Alex was grumbling about how it wasn't funny to send her a wake-up call with teeth.
"You have to admit, Al-chan, it was creative. Besides, he was the one who asked if he could wake up, quote, 'small girl-human.'"
Alex was about to reply when she stopped walking. Her body visibly shook.
"The feeling." She said. I was about to ask what she meant, when I remembered.
"Oh." We split up and went around to 'collect' my other six incarnations. I quickly wrote a note for my Bishi incarnation, thanking her for her hospitality and everything. Then we walked out the door.
For five minutes, we walked through the woods, Alex leading the way to the next portal. We entered a clearing and found it.
The portal was different than the last one. It was diamond-shaped, and the 'surface' was a rippling, deep red. Alex stuck her head in and looked around. When she pulled her head back out of the portal, she looked excited.
"It's the stadium from the World Tournament in Russia!" she squealed. Merle perked up at that statement.
"Home!" she said as she jumped in. The rest of us shrugged and jumped through after her.