Rise of the Dark Angel
DG32173
Sarah: Alright, chapter five is here! I'm on a roll! I'm hopeful that I can pull off this chapter as well as I believe I have the others. I liked them. Well, enough wasting time, so here's the chapter. Oh, and this chapter starts two months after the last chapter left off. (My character would certainly hate this fic!) Oh, I've changed my mind about keeping Youko, Hiei, and Koronue out for a while and they're gonna be back this chapter. AND I'VE FIXED THE FIRST FOUR CHAPTERS AND THE PROLOGUE! GO BACK AND REREAD IF YOU WANT! I just fixed some grammar and spelling mistakes as well as changed a few words. It's not that much different other than that.
Hiei: the onna doesn't own YYH. She does own Shadow and this story. (turns to Sarah) where's my sweet snow?
Sarah: here you go! (hands over a ten-gallon container of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream) (watches in fascination as Hiei eats it rapidly and laughs when he gets a brain freeze)
NOTE
(Author notes)
"Singing" (minus when in memories)
'Telepathy' (minus when in memories)
Memories POV change Scene change Scene change in memories'Thinking'
"Talking"
INDEX
If it's not Japanese, I'll put the language like this note is. Otherwise, assume it's Japanese. The Index is in alphabetical order!
Bikou: shadow
Kitsune: fox
Tenshi: angel
Yuki: snow
Chapter 5
Reunited, Admissions, and an Alias
Last time
She holds up a hand. "It's Shadow now. Shadow Silversong," she says. The guard nods with a grin. She smiles back and rides Yuki out of the castle and away from the capital city. In the outskirts of the city, she opens the locket and smiles when she sees a picture of a much younger Damion twirling a five-year-old image of herself over his head on one side and a picture of Damion by himself on the other side. "Thank you, Damion," she whispers.
This time
Shadow gently strokes Yuki's neck as the mare gallops over the forest trails. 'We'll be to the next town, soon, Yuki. I'll just filch some food for you, okay?' she says telepathically. Her mare looks at her with one eye as if to say, "And what about you, oh great thief?". Shadow sighs. 'I've still got some food in the pack. It's you I'm more worried about. If you get too hungry, you won't be able to move as quickly as we need to. I don't want you to have to move so fast, but we have no choice, darling. My friends are getting wise to my antics and are closing in. I can't go back with them yet. I need some more time without companions that will pester me so that I can come to terms with some things,' she whispers telepathically. 'I know you won't pester me, but they will. They most likely wonder why I didn't come straight back, and more importantly, two of them will wonder where I went, and I can't answer them truthfully at the moment.'
Yuki seems to sigh and turns her head to keep moving towards the next town they both know is ahead of them. Shadow soon sees the city lights through the forest. 'I see lights, darling. We'll be there soon,' she murmurs. Shadow rides Yuki into the town and they slow down to a brisk walk. Being slightly after midnight, not many are out on the streets to wonder at the beautiful demoness dressed in black riding a beautiful white mare. That's good for both of them. Shadow spots an inn up ahead. She smiles slightly. Yuki, knowing what to do, continues walking past the inn as Shadow leaps from the saddle and catches onto the signpost hanging off from the side of the building.
Shadow pulls herself up on top of the sign and glances at the stable yard behind the inn that is clearly visible from her position. She moves quickly and quietly into the stable yard and grabs a rather large bale of hay from near the back of the pile that she knows won't be missed. She stuffs it into a special pack made especially for this sort of stuff. She then quickly runs out the opposite side of the stable yard from the place she had entered it. Yuki is there waiting for her. Shadow leaps into the saddle and the pair move quickly away from the town in a direction close to where they had entered. She doesn't think that they'd expect that and would get delayed by confusion.
Thankfully for them, Hiei, Youko, and Koronue are chasing them on foot while Yuki is a horse and can go much faster. (Who'd you think was following her? The demon police? Please!)
Yuki stops a few miles northeast of the town and Shadow leaps from her back. Pulling out some of the hay, Shadow feeds Yuki slowly so that the mare won't get sick after not having much to eat in about five days. 'I'm sorry I don't have any oats or other treats, Yuki-dear, but I didn't want to chance them getting too close,' she says softly. Yuki nods in understanding and eats the hay.
After Shadow had given Yuki about a quarter of the hay, they both decide it's time to continue on. In the two months that Yuki had been in Shadow's care, the mare had grown stronger and faster, and had oddly enough developed the ability to telepath Shadow in actual sentences. They hadn't dared test this ability on other beings as of yet.
With Shadow's friends
Hiei glares at the path he, Youko, and Koronue are traveling on. Shadow and her horse have been through here recently. The tracks are fresh in the dirt and all three of the demons can smell Shadow's unusual, yet beautiful, scent of fresh rain with a bit of wildflowers and wildfires thrown in. They've been tailing her for nearly a month now. None of them understand why she's running from them. Of course she knows it's them, as Hiei had an interesting, but short, telepathic conversation with her.
All they can figure out is that something is either very wrong or Shadow is very confused about some things and is trying to think things over. They figure that it's the later, since she hadn't sounded like something was wrong to Hiei, just very occupied with something. 'Why won't she tell us what's going on? Can't she tell us? Or is she trying to figure that out for herself?' he wonders, getting more and more agitated the longer the one person he had ever loved keeps evading them and not answering his attempts to speak to her telepathically.
"Hiei, glaring at the path will not make us closer to Shadow," Youko says softly, not wanting to make the agitated, short-tempered demon snap at him.
He nods, but doesn't speak. He doesn't want to lash out at his friends again. Once is bad enough, so he doesn't speak much anymore. He sighs and continues along the path with the other two, all three of them trying to catch up with their fleeing friend. Hiei glances around. They are nearing a town. Luckily, he knows the town, as he and Shadow had come here several times before Youko and Koronue had joined them. "Let's cut through the forest. There's a path heading northeast that ends near the Eastern Mountains that way," he says, pointing to the north.
Youko and Koronue only nod. They all figure that Shadow is trying to lose them and have come to the conclusion that she'd take the ways that she would believe they'd least expect. But she is becoming sloppier, for some reason unknown to them.
With Shadow and Yuki two days later
Shadow studies the pass in front of her. It separates into three separate branches. She had figured out yesterday how to cast a masking spell on herself and Yuki that would hide their scents and energies so that it would make it harder for her friends to follow them. And since Yuki is an Elvin-bred horse, one can't see her hoof prints easily unless they are looking at them with their heads inches away from the prints.
Finally, she decides to take the right one, which leads towards a forested part of the mountains. She knows that Youko, Hiei, and Koronue had slowed down when they realized that she had masked herself and her horse and have to take longer to figure out where she went once they had hit the mountain paths.
Yuki turns right and they continue on their way. Less than two hours after they took the path, they reach a dead end between several huge oak trees lined up in two straight lines and a cliff. Yuki turns to go back but both horse and rider freeze upon seeing three shadows making their way towards them. 'Dammit!' Shadow growls to herself. 'It's them. I know it's them! Damn, damn, damn! I was too sloppy!'
'Don't be hard on yourself, dear,' Yuki says softly in her mind. 'We both knew they'd catch up sooner or later. It just happened that they caught up today.'
Hiei is the first to see the two watching them in silence. He nudges the other two and points at them. The three demons move quickly and are soon standing about five feet from them. "Shadow," Hiei whispers.
Shadow raises her ice-colored eyes to meet his crimson ones. "Hi, guys," she whispers back, her voice rather hoarse. She hasn't spoken one word verbally since she had told the guard at the palace that her name is now Shadow Silversong. And that was over two months ago.
"Why were you running from us?" Koronue asks the question all three males are wondering.
Shadow lowers her eyes. "I had some things to figure out that I needed to be alone to do so," she whispers, still hoarse.
She glances up as Youko walks up beside her. "Why did you leave in the first place?" he asks.
Shadow sighs. "That's a long story," she whispers. "Let's find a place to rest before I explain." The guys nod and follow Shadow to a nearby cave. Once settled, with Shadow leaning against Yuki for support. It had started raining right after they sat down and they decided to stay there until the rain stops. "I guess I should begin with who I truly am," she says softly. "Hiei already knows most of this." Hiei nods to prove her correct. "My real name is Princess Lunetta Avian, Second in line for the Throne of Makai." Youko and Koronue find their eyes growing wide already. "I didn't enjoy my life at the castle and often snuck away in my first ten years of life, much to the annoyance of my caretakers. Then, a few days after my tenth birthday, I met Hiei after I snuck away through a secret passage connecting my bedroom at the castle to an abandoned temple several miles away. He had been using the temple as a place to hide for a bit." Hiei nods again, showing the truth of that. "We agreed to meet one week after we first met so that I could escape my old life at the castle and become a thief with him." She pauses. "I also haven't been truthful to any of you about my full heritage." Hiei turns to look at her in surprise. "I'm one-half elemental tenshi and one-half bikou kitsune," she says.
Youko nods. "So that makes you a dark angel, then?" he asks.
Shadow nods. Koronue suddenly realizes something. "That could be your alias, Shadow!" he says excitedly.
Shadow blinks. "The Dark Angel?" she asks, a smile spreading slowly across her face. "Interesting; nice ring to it. I like it."
"It suits you," Hiei says, nodding to show his approval.
Shadow grins at him. "Thanks," she says. "Now, we all have an alias … but why did I have to be the last one to get an alias!"
Youko laughs. "Because we couldn't find anything that suits you," he teases, putting an arm over her shoulder.
Shadow bats it away. "No touchy," she says, grinning to show that she's teasing him.
Yuki decides to cut in on their games. 'The rain has stopped, you know,' she says in all their minds.
Youko, Hiei, and Koronue stare at the horse. "Did she just talk!" Koronue and Youko chorus.
Shadow grins. "Yuki is an Elvin-bred horse. Most Elvin-bred horses have at least one gift they can evolve to beat even the best of youkai. And all Elvin-bred horses have endurance and speed that can't be matched by any other being."
'You forgot that Elvin-bred, when paired with the rider that matches them perfectly, can learn many more gifts and become even faster and stronger,' Yuki adds in. Shadow nods, smiling slightly at the shocked looks that Youko, Hiei and Koronue are wearing. After the three males are done being shocked, the five (yes, five! Shadow, Yuki, Youko, Hiei, and Koronue make five) of them leave to head to the dojo that had been claimed as their own, Shadow riding Yuki while the other three walk beside them.
Sarah: ooh. That was nice. Well, Shadow's got her alias, at last. And Youko, Hiei, and Koronue are back for good … or are they? You'll have to find out on the next installment of "Rise of the Dark Angel"!