Something that shouldn't be there

"This road is always so boring!"

Draco turned and smiled at Ruriko. She was seated on a rock, with a single piece of bread in her hand. Ruriko stayed stood, restlessly kicking the ground. It was always the same; each time they went to Yuno, there was a ritual complaint about how few reasonably powerful monsters there were lurking the road. In fact, the most threatening looking monster they had encountered was a giant frog. Incidentally, said frog did not pose much of a threat.

"I consider it a virtue," replied Draco simply.

Ruriko responded only with a quick pout. Sighing, she stretched, threw her cloak to the ground and lay down. "Wake me when I'm almost as tanned as you."

"Judging by this weather, that shouldn't be too long," remarked Draco with a smirk. She brushed the sweat from her forehead, and gazed over the landscape. There were small clusters of trees, the sky was blindingly blue, and the sun turned the ground from simple green grass to radiant emerald turf. The sun pounded on her back, and milky white clouds swirled lazily over head.

If they carried on at a steady pace, they would reach Yuno at around sunset. Yuno was a grand city that floated miles and miles above the clouds. It was so glamorous and beautiful, it wasn't possible to put into words. Draco remembered the first time she visited the city; first, she had almost fainted from the warp up to the central spire. Then she looked at the city itself, and thought she would faint again. She had, of course, heard tales of Yuno's magnificence, but nothing could have prepared her for it. She was still taken aback by the city, and she suspected she would be so no matter how many times she went.

She had always had to go there with Ruriko; in Yuno, she was known only as Ruriko's sister, not the fearless assassin, Draco. Ruriko was well known in Yuno. People would greet her as she walked by, friend or stranger. Sometimes, a hopeful young man might have a gift for her, or the Masters of Yuno would be waiting to greet her in person. Draco recalled fondly of an eager young mage, a girl no older than thirteen, came scurrying up to Ruriko, and breathlessly gabbling about how much she had wanted to meet the great Lady Ruriko, and how jealous all her friends would be in Geffen.

"Can we just assume that you tanned a bit?" said Draco, smirking again.

Ruriko sat up, and looked wistfully at her faintly toned legs, frowning. "Why not."

"OK then." Draco rose from her seat and threw her cloak back about her, as Ruriko did the same. It almost felt awkward, considering it was such a lovely day, the sun bearing down mercilessly on their backs. "Let's go then."

-X-X-

Kyo seated herself, feeling relief flowing through her, basking in the glorious afternoon sun. The landscape looked different from the day that she had first arrived; she couldn't explain it, but the fierce blazing heat became treasured warmth, the plain beige sand became gold and sparkling, and the dead plants scattered over the earth became simple black shoots that served only to remind her of the solitude and serenity of the spot.

The sucsamad knife remained near her at all times now, and she didn't feel so squeamish about killing the monsters that were to be found in the area. And she was beginning to develop her own style of fighting; Oshi and Chisel had taught her some basics, of course, but she had a tried and tested method to the way she battled.

She looked at the desert around her, but something bugged her; sometimes they came out into a beautiful green pasture, with tall trees with white silken petals and great tumbling mountains, but others they came out into the desert. When she questioned about it, the answer was simple.

"There are two entrances to the labyrinth," explained Chisel. "One is from the outside of the mountains, and one leads to the mountain range where our home is."

Kyo was satisfied, and nodded.

So far, there had only been one incident that could have been merited as dangerous; she had been killing an odd little creature called a Peco Peco, a large yellow flightless bird, which looked quite goofy in a way. Thinking it would be an easy target, Kyo attacked it. Unfortunately, another Peco Peco had seen the damage she was doing, and had charged over to assist it's companion. Attempting to knife no less than six of the giant birds eventually, Kyo was struck sharply over the head with a beak of one of them, and lost consciousness for a few seconds. However, Oshi had leapt into the fray without hesitation, and dispatched the band of creatures within a few seconds. She learnt quickly to attack only solitary Peco Pecos.

The same went for wolves, she quickly discovered. She had managed to fend off the pack, but there were scratches scattered over her legs.

Her head still hurt a bit, but the arduous training would soon be over.

"OK Kyo, I think I have all the plans I need for making your chakrams," said Chisel happily from his post. "As soon as Oshi gets back, we'll head back too."

Oshi would frequently head down into some underground caves that were crawling with insects, and come back a few minutes later with gore over his katars.

"I don't do well waiting," he would sigh when he did this.

This time however, the dark spec making their way towards them on the horizon was not striding impatiently. As he came closer, they saw he was limping. Kyo turned to look at Chisel, but he was already up, his eyes wide with worry, and set off in the direction of his friend, Kyo trailing helplessly behind.

"Are you alright?" demanded Chisel when Oshi came near.

"I should be," he replied, gingerly clicking his shoulder. He then grabbed his left arm, which hung limp, broken and useless, and roughly snapped it back into place. She jumped at the sickening crunch, feeling sick, and subconsciously folding her arms defensively.

Chisel, however, made no reaction to the endeavour, other than a trace of a wince. "What happened?"

"There is something down in Anthell that shouldn't be there," Oshi replied dryly. She guessed Anthell was the name of the caves he would frequently go to. "I don't know what it was, but it…"

There was a slight pause. "…What?"

"Licked me almost to death," he sighed, embarrassed. "What a ridiculous creature…"

"Well, it evidently did a good job of bashing you up," remarked Chisel with a frown.

"Exactly. Do you know how humiliating this is? I was licked!" Oshi sighed again, and continued. "It was a big fat pink thing with a giant tongue. It was definitely a lot stronger than the other monsters in there, and quite a lot stronger at that. But, it was almost like it… told the other monsters to attack, to help it. It was like it was commanding them. Like it was their boss."

"Weird…" breathed Chisel.

"And you know what else? It gave itself a name, and spoke our language. "Phreeoni", it called itself, and it kept telling me I was tasty…"

A thoughtful silence followed, Oshi swaying where he stood, blood slowly trickling from his cheek.

"Back home," said Chisel firmly, and he and Kyo took hold of Oshi under the arms and supported him as they made their way back.

-X-X-

Taiken and Hawk had arrived in Aldebaran; they strode straight through the clean-cut grey streets to the docks. Taiken had wanted to stay a bit, but Hawk was vigilant about being on their way as quickly as possible. He didn't know why, but being away from home seemed to turn him back into the usual icy killer. He knew perfectly well himself that it had nothing to do with being away from home, and it was more of an issue of him being away from… something else. But he would rather swallow every one of the arrows slung over his back than admit it to himself. Why Taiken would continue to lightly hassle him about it seemed totally futile.

He was still inwardly kicking himself for telling Taiken about his father; that was his own problem, and he didn't need to drag anyone else into it. He almost felt a little foolish, admitting that he despised his father for a reason he couldn't remember. It was like admitting a weakness, which wasn't exactly one of his strengths.

Upon reaching the dock, they found that there were a few boats bound for Comodo, but Hawk scoffed, noticing how so very full of tourists most of them were.

"You are aware that that's probably our best option," stated Taiken with a frown as they headed back into the centre of town. Hawk merely grunted, trying to ignore the childish giggles of a small group of young girls staring at the pair of them. Taiken picked up on the source of his annoyance with a swift glance. "Get over it. If you find that annoying, you will not survive more than a minute in Comodo."

Hawk responded only with a glare; he would dearly love to retort to that, but he had no doubts that Taiken was telling him the full honest, if blunt, truth.

"It isn't that bad, is it?" he sighed instead.

"Aw, but Hawky-poo, you has such a pwetty ickle face," replied Taiken in baby talk, pinching Hawk's cheeks. Hawk made no reaction, but frowned as his mouth was stretched.

"Off my face, Taiken," he said flatly.

Taiken kept grinning, almost annoyingly.

"They will think you are the pwettiest lil' boy on the face of Midgard," he replied.

"… Hooray."

Letting his childishly happy face dissolve slightly, Taiken frowned.

"Don't you consider yourself lucky?" he asked.

Hawk opened his mouth to reply, but found no words to match the question. He had seen people stare at him as he passed, and he held no qualms about his physical appearance, but it was just in his nature; it didn't merit any thinking about.

Taiken raised an eyebrow and smirked slightly, and now pulled Hawk's cheeks into a forced smile.

"I think you should."

"Why though?" Hawk asked incredulously.

"Because, Hawky-poo," replied Taiken, finally letting go of his throbbing cheeks. "You're going to get sick of fighting the whole time, and you're going to just want to settle down. But Hawky-poo will not want to be alone. No he won't. He'll want a woman with him. But the woman will want Hawky-poo to be good looking, see?"

Hawk paused for a moment, possibly still reeling from the name "Hawky-poo."

"I will not stop fighting when I become tired of it," he murmured. "I will stop fighting when the chaos of Midgard is resolved."

"Good attitude," was Taiken's reply. He clapped a hand on his companion's shoulder, and they strode down the street. Hawk noted with irritation that the group of girls were still watching them keenly. Follow if you dare, he thought savagely.

"Taiken?"

"Yes?"

"Never ever call me "Hawky-poo" again."

"Aw… and here was me thinking it would suit you perfectly."

The duo laughed amiably together; Hawk almost found himself lost in the moment. Anything like this he would normally have considered an annoyance that would grate roughly at his patience. Whatever he considered it at this moment, it was not an annoyance.

"We really should find out more about some of those tourist boats," said Taiken, breaking the laughter.

"Can't we find one that's maybe shipping cheese or something?"

"Aw, come on! It's not like you're allergic to tourists," he retorted, then smirked. "Or is there something else you're not telling me," he added sarcastically.

All Hawk could do was frown; there wasn't any particular logic to his not wanting to board a boat of tourists. It just felt like he would be… mingling with the ignorant. They all seemed so stupid and arrogant, lost in their holidays.

"It will only be for a few days," reassured Taiken.

Hawk considered for a moment more, then replied. "As long as it really is only a few days."

"Fabulous, Hawky-poo."

-X-X-

Ruriko could almost feel her blood replace with excitement as the pillar of light floated into view over the horizon. She would have ran to it as soon as she saw it, but she had been walking for so long, running just wasn't possible.

The sacred pillar of light was what connected Yuno to the ground where it used to be. It was the same means at Gonryon, although it is uncertain which came to be first. Of course, it was an entirely different spell that kept them floating; the pillar just made it possible to reach the towns.

The pillar looked just like a normal rock, but there was a large gaping hole cut smoothly around the bottom, like a doorway, large enough for anyone. Not only that, but it was incredibly broad and tall. It was situated in the middle of some ruins of a once grand temple. The rain-worn stairs led to the pillar, surrounded by cylinder shaped stubs of rock that used to be elegant pillars. The dust over the ground was auburn, and the skeleton of the forgotten shrine pulsed it's sunset red hue over the heat of the air.

Ruriko attempted to quicken the pace at least. But at the first sign of briskness, Draco simply groaned and restrained her with a firm hand on the shoulder. She trudged obediently at her sister's side, but had a protest poised over her lips. She thought she could almost see the sun coursing west through the sky, basking low and staining the clouds pink and scarlet, but to her it didn't seem like they were any closer to the pillar.

She loved Yuno, and was thrilled that the God's Cry home was within reasonable distance of it. Draco had sent her school there when she was eight, and she had fallen in love at first sight. She remembered arriving on the central spire and spinning on the spot as her eyes absorbed the wondrous city before her.

At first, the twelve Masters of the school were like incredibly strict parents; they would chide her, lecture her, raise her, praise her, and yet she somehow managed to see them as both parents and cold, impassive wise sages. This, to her, seemed horribly daunting, but she refused to let fear show, and went so far with this pride as to causing a lot of trouble. However, as she grew and learned, they started to treat her increasingly like an adult, and now they treated her as an equal, marvelling at how powerful she had become.

The moments stretched to small eternities, but they were soon mounting the stairs that led to the sacred pillar. Ruriko took the steps three at a time, and was left to hop from one foot to the other as Draco trudged behind.

"Some time today please, Sis," Ruriko pouted impatiently.

"Just because you are travelling quicker than the rest of the world, Ruriko, doesn't necessarily mean that the rest of the world is going to keep up," was the quick reply.

Ruriko paused for a moment, trying to decipher what had been said; obviously, it was just a simple matter, but Draco had worded it in a way that made Ruriko slow down to contemplate it. When she next looked up, Draco was stood in front of the archway in the pillar.

"Keep up, Ruriko," she said with a smirk. Ruriko only pouted again and hurried over to the pillar to be the first of the two to reach Yuno.

x-x-x

As was the usual reaction during this trip, Draco closed her eyes as she stepped over the portal that would transport them to Yuno. She didn't know exactly what happened, nor did she care. The important thing was that it got her where she wanted to go.

She took a quick gasping breath before the air was stripped from her lungs. Her legs failed to stand, and it felt as though her innards in their entirety had vanished without warning. Black was all she saw, and she spiralled skywards.

It ended as quickly as it began, and when she opened her eyes next, the white city was before her, bathed in the scarlet of the sunset. Its charm and magnificence seeped into her instantly, and she stood spellbound for a few moments before Ruriko was tugging at her arm.

"Come on, Sis!" she whined. "We're gonna be here until morning else!"

Draco smiled and trailed faintly after her, trusting her legs to carry her forward as her eyes swerved over the landscape. The busy market stalls were packing up for the day, and the stooping owners would raise a hand in greeting to the pair of them. Young mages, wizards and sages, and the crusaders in their heavy armour floated dauntingly with clink noises, on their way home, chattering and laughing.

After a walk that was too short, they found themselves stood in front of the Yuno Academy of Magic, Ruriko already pushing open the large bold oaken doors. Draco followed her little sister loosely, blinking as her eyes adjusted to the shadow of the entrance, the only light sources being a few blazing torches.

In terms of layout, the academy was almost as confusing as the labyrinths of the God's Cry; but Ruriko had lived here for three years, skipping confidently down white stone passages, with windows streaming with crimson light. The Masters' retiring room lay at the end of a particularly bright passage, it's door humble and ordinary, but with a single jade dragon bold and glittering on the handle. Draco smiled at the tiny decoration, then strode ahead of Ruriko to knock on the door, knowing that her sister would not have thought to be so polite.

"Who is there?" demanded a booming voice.

"Ruriko! It's Ruriko and Draco!" announced Ruriko, stood behind Draco and resting her chin on the latter's shoulder.

There was a slightly eccentric shuffling, and the door was yanked open. Framed in the doorway was Orius, the cardinal of the Masters. He gave them a small courteous bow, which the sisters returned, Ruriko bending from the waist so low that her head was touching her knees. They stepped through into the Retiring room, and it's dark, warm red glow. There was a small collection of books stacked haphazardly in a shelf at the far end of the room, and a low oblong scrubbed wooden table lay just beyond a blazing fireplace. Tall crimson chairs stood proudly and randomly over the room. Their occupants had risen to her feet, smiling at their visitors.

"Welcome back," sang Erita, striding forward and pulling Ruriko into a warm hug, ruby red lips curved into an elegant smile. Her shining black hair tumbled in magnificent waves down her back. She had an almost child-like face, with pale skin and rosy cheeks, but she was a wife and a mother, and proud of it. Ruriko had met her children, and loved them, and was often at Erita's home to play with them or baby-sit. Unlike a lot of the people Draco knew, Erita was not one to go charging off into battle on the spur of the moment; she was not lost in the spirit of battle like the others, and kept her head, knowing when it was best to retreat.

The air a-buzz with activity and greetings, the other three Masters in the room stepped forward, hugging the friend they hadn't seen for some weeks. Orius kissed Ruriko on the forehead, as a father might with his daughter. Draco thought about Orius' relationship with Ruriko; he was the Cardinal when Ruriko was at school, and had played a significant part in raising her, and so they were somewhat like father and daughter. The girls' parents in Morroc didn't count; they never had been there, and Draco didn't count on them to be anything else.

He was an elderly man, and though his hair was now a wizened white, no wrinkles yet blemished his features, and it was evident that he had once been a stunning young man. He showed the wisdom of an elder, and yet also the strength of a youth, and his stature was upright and admirable.

Another woman joined the cluster; she had silver blond hair, soft blue eyes, pale skin, and pink lips that wore a slightly pained smile. This was Ninetta, and sorrow and pity adorned the air around her. Draco had never been told why, but she knew she had never meant to enter the mage caste. Right now, she should be a priestess, as her dream was simply to help people. However, that dream had been shattered, so she turned to destructive magic. Draco was always careful around her; she was quiet, even kind-hearted and sweet, but there was still a little something strange about her.

Draco now turned her attention to the shy young man at the back of the room. She smiled; this was Akiro. He had only been a Master for a year, and was still in his late teens, as shown by a sweet, boyish face. He had amazing golden eyes, and lightly tanned skin. His velvety brown hair was slung back into a ponytail, leaving a few soft tufts rhythmically around his head. He shuffled nervously under his heavy sage's robes, looking somewhat wistful. She didn't know why she hadn't spotted it before; normally he had the some strange, youthful energy like Ruriko (just not as youthful or in such amounts), but to see him so withdrawn and defensive was strange, even a little disturbing. Draco smiled more broadly, wild little ideas forming in her mind.

x-x-x

"Where are the others?" asked Ruriko through the babble of greetings.

"Just around the city. They should be back in an hour or so," explained Erita. Ruriko nodded and turned to see what Draco thought of this, with difficulty though. But again her sister seemed impassive. Her gaze following through the rest of the room, she saw Akiro, stood nervous in the corner. She smiled at him, making him blush and turn away. She wondered how it could be possible that he was normally quite energetic, as Draco had told her.

"Seriously, Ruriko," she'd been telling her for the last couple of days. "He normally never shuts up."

"Maybe he's just filling the gaps 'cause you're always so quiet," Ruriko had retorted, knowing that it wasn't much of a retort.

"What is this, Ruriko? You being humble?"

"I'm not being humble. I'm just telling you that, yeah, he does like me, but as a friend. Kind of vital when you're friends, huh."

"I think we'll just have to see when we get there," was Draco's reply, with the air of someone who knew through and through that they were right.

And at the moment, it looked like Draco had been right. Akiro, bright? Impossible.

"Oh, yeah, there's a little story we need you to hear," she said, deciding to think a bit more about him later.

The Masters filed back to their seats, and watched Ruriko expectantly. She told them about Arie being destroyed, which caused a few murmurs, then about how Hawk had rescued Kyo, which made Erita scoff.

"Hawk actually show concern for someone?" she laughed. "I'm impressed."

Ruriko smirked at her and carried on, explaining about Kyo's abilities, and the Clock Tower.

"Do any of you know the full story about that Clock Tower?" she asked.

"Well, people were bold enough to build a town around it, so I'm guessing only people with a particular sensitivity to dark magic would've shown any concern about it," mused Orius. "I guess somewhere along the line, someone must have tried to come up with some sort of story behind it. Of course, they're all different and hardly provable."

"Well, I guess we're going to the Clock Tower. Honestly, I was hoping Taiken would take care of that."

-X-X-

Seagulls cruised lightly over the air of Aldebaran, skimming the fluffy white clouds. The sun shone brightly, but the sea breeze bit the air with a distinct chill. The streets were milling with people, from those clad in silk to others in robes in varying states of disrepair.

This didn't concern Taiken though; what he was concerned about was Hawk stood seething next to him. They stood (as Hawk had put it) in a crowd of idiots aboard a boat headed for Comodo. Taiken frowned at this description and muttered back, "They're just tourists. They won't bite."

They sat on deck in silence, Taiken listening to the endless babble of Comodo around them. The air was teeming with noise, but the silence between he and Hawk was louder, and made him feel awkward. Time slugged on, but the boat was soon leaving the harbour.

It was so bright; ignoring the clouds, the sun's rays blitzed viciously through the azure sky casting silver peels of light over the sea that beat endlessly at the hull of the ship. The screech of the sea gulls overhead was enough to convince him that he probably shouldn't be here. He felt his eyes widen and an uneasy gurgle in his throat as the ship groaned jaggedly into movement. He stumbled slightly, making Hawk look up at him incredulously.

"What's wrong?"

"Haven't found my sea legs," mumbled Taiken, hoping Hawk wouldn't pursue the matter.

"Good job," was the sarcastic reply, almost falling into Hawk as the ship swayed.

Aldebaran floated out of view and was soon replaced with the ocean. Taiken almost regretted it. He hung helplessly over the side, groaning and staring at the vivid mauve line of the horizon, not feeling it make any difference to his seasickness.

"I guess we learn something new everyday," chuckled Hawk from the deck. He sat cross-legged and cross-armed, smirking, and he looked complete now that his falcon had swooped down to join it's master.

"…Shut up."

"Excuse me, sirs," rang a voice behind them. Taiken felt Hawk flinch next to them, and the bird on his shoulder took off briefly. They turned to see a blonde woman, a sailor. Taiken also noted with envy that she had no qualms with running back and forth over deck without showing any signs of queasiness, brandishing a clipboard and a pen. "If you tell me your names, I will show you to your cabin," she explained, pen poised for the brush strokes.

Taiken was happy to let Hawk handle this, listening vaguely to his curt remarks and the little silences that hung over the blonde after each one. He was only half aware, wondering how we would survive for next few days.

"… But we don't want our cabin now, do we?" said Hawk crudely, turning to leer at Taiken. Taiken ignored it.

"Oh, yes we do," he said firmly, indicating to the blonde to lead the way. She smiled, and was even considerate enough to walk at his pace.

"Are you feeling alright, sir?" she asked. "If you are feeling seasick, we have treatment for it."

"No, thank you," he replied with a grimace.

"Not many people do," she sighed. "It does help, really."

But now she was steering him into a pleasant panelled room and seating him on the bed, telling him that she would wake him when dinner came while he sank quickly onto his back.

x-x-x

Wishing to not appear sadistic, Hawk dismissed the floozy with a scowl and tucked a blanket around the groggy Taiken. He didn't want to admit it, but his bones were still shaking with laughter; the proud perfect Taiken wouldn't admit to being seasick.

"What are you smirking about?" he protested from the bed.

"You."

Taiken sighed. "OK, so I get seasick, and you have a phobia of anyone in the tourist industry."

"I just don't like them," replied Hawk, turning fondly to Alder now perched obediently on his forearm.

"The way you were looking at that poor lady…"

"Aw, does lovely little Taiken feel bad about the poor lady?"

"No. You do."

"Are you deaf?" spat Hawk, making Taiken shrink back slightly. "Her voice was like a canary crossed with a thief bug."

Taiken laughed so loud, Hawk was scared he'd done something wrong.

"Little things like that get you?" he sniggered, wiping tears from his eyes.

"Yes. And why not?"

"You won't get very far with your pickiness and your why-ness."

"'Why-ness'?" What an immensely stupid word…

"This 'why' thing you do. You don't need a reason for everything. Some things don't need an explanation – they're just there."

Hawk thought about this for a moment; he felt Taiken was asking a bit much, the "give up the way you have been thinking since you were eight" request. Maybe it was when his mother had died (he tried hard not to think "left me"); he couldn't understand why, so he probably felt he needed to find the whys in everything else.

But now that he thought, that stretch of pain in his life was barely memorable.

-X-X-

Akiro treaded the familiar corridors back to his room, head pounding furiously with every step. He cast his mind for something to think about; his teaching tomorrow, what had just been heard in the retiring room, the Clock Tower… anything. But every time his thoughts would hurtle back to Ruriko.

They went to school together, but she would have been a couple of years below him so he doubted if he ever looked at her. He excelled in everything in lessons, and when he graduated he was invited to become a Master. He declined at first, choosing to exercise his magical talent and spent a year travelling. He returned to Yuno invigorated and with a fighter's spirit simmering under his calm exterior, and spent another year going through the initiation process of becoming a Master.

Becoming a Master was not the easiest of tasks; in fact, Akiro had been dangerously close to just giving it up. One requirement was, of course, full marks in the graduation exams, which he already had. Another was that he had to be able to speak the Language of the Making fluently. He had grown up using thunder magic, but now he had to branch off and learn some spells from the other elements, which was most certainly an arduous task in itself.

On top of all this, he was given first hand teaching experiences with the senior classes. This had been when he'd really noticed Ruriko; she had been an absolute nightmare to tutor, always causing trouble, never on time, generally just being a nuisance. He had hated her then, thinking she didn't fully appreciate the position in the prestigious school she had.

He was convinced that she would plummet headfirst into failure, but when came the time of her own graduation exams, she was the only one since he himself to achieve full marks. As soon as Orius offered her the title of Master, Akiro felt like he'd been whacked particularly hard in the stomach with a merchant's cart; it was like he had lost to her. She declined, of course, but, curious, asked what the requirements were anyway. Akiro tried in vain to mask his surprise as she calmly told them that she could already speak the Language of the Making fluently, and that, despite being taught only in fire magic, had learnt other basic spells in the other elements; she had been sneaking into the library at night to study them. Orius and the other Masters were most impressed, and the same went for Akiro, except he refused to let it show.

Akiro was finally initiated, and the Masters learnt of the God's Cry, and now worked closely with them. As this occurred, Ruriko's visits became much more frequent. Akiro was fine with the God's Cry, all except Ruriko; she was now equal to him, and he would have to pay her notice. At first, he was impassive, but as time went on, he began to realise the feelings he'd developed for her, and identified it as puppy love. He thought it a bit early to be called love, and he couldn't think of the sentence "I love her" without wincing.

And now he just tried to go unnoticed around her; even if she "liked" him as well, he had no idea where it go from there. Part of him wanted her to see he was there, and to know what he felt, but another part told that was bad, and he should just keep his mouth shut. He wondered briefly whether anyone else had noticed, but himself in his entirety begged to the ancient gods that they hadn't; he wasn't sure how he'd react if Ruriko found out, but the most awful would be if someone else confronted him about it.

He felt something stir behind and froze. Sensing the breeze of a quick movement on the back of his neck, he wheeled around instantly, eyes frantically scanning the shadows that stretched in moaning prongs over the corridor.

"Who's there?" he demanded firmly.

"Relax," said a voice to his left. He faced the source of the voice, and squinted hard into the darkness; the outline of someone melted into his view, and looking closer saw that it was only Draco. He resented this assassin technique; obviously, it was hard to see someone in the shadows, but assassins excelled in this, managing to go totally unnoticed. He had heard other members of the God's Cry complain about this, saying they never knew whether or not Oshi and Draco were still with them in the darkness, or whether they had taken off and were miles away.

Akiro sighed. "Hey Draco."

"Well, aren't we a little gloomy," she said, stepping into the light.

"No, just a little tired," he replied. "Shouldn't you be going to bed as well? And why didn't I hear you?" He already knew the answer, but he felt so inferior that he had to voice his despondency.

"Well, I wouldn't be much of an assassin if I couldn't do that," she scoffed. "And I just wanted to talk to you, just on your own."

He nodded, and indicated for her to follow. She sauntered after him silently, and he wasn't sure if she really was accompanying him.

He felt a little safer when he stepped inside his own room, but the feeling vanished as Draco mimicked his steps. He watched her carefully as she sat in the chair at his desk, and felt secure enough to turn his back.

"So, what do you want to talk about?" he asked, a fragment of his mind telling him he already knew. He prayed he was wrong.

"My dear little sister."

x-x-x

Draco almost felt a little satisfied as tension shuddered it's way into his limbs.

"Ruriko?" replied Akiro, evidently trying to make it sound like he hardly knew of her. "What about her?"

"Do you like her?"

He froze again for a moment.

"As a friend," he said flatly, keeping his back to her, so that she wouldn't see his face.

"Are you sure? Because you act very strange around her." She paused to examine the effect of the words. "Much like you are now."

He stood icily still; it looked as though he would shatter into a thousand lifeless pieces if he weren't handled with care, like glass.

"I don't know what you mean."

She thought that maybe she should walk around him, make her face him. But she knew that that was a bad idea.

"Maybe you don't, but I think you do. I'm just here to talk about it. And don't worry, I can keep secrets," she added. "It's just that the Masters are good people, but you won't want to talk to them about it because you don't want them to think of you differently. But considering I already know that you like her, I won't think of you any differently."

She watched as he seriously considered these words; she was glad to see that the strain was out of his stature. He turned, eyes woefully wide.

"Promise?"

"I promise," she said back securely, placing a hand over her heart and giving him a little bow from where she was seated. He smiled, and took a stool to sit next to her.

"So, where do I start?"

"Well, first you can tell me what you like about her."

Akiro looked only slightly surprised, but began relating a long list of reasons of why Ruriko was so great, a list that had not been examined even by him before. The way she expressed her emotions, the way she cared about those she loved, the way she looked cute no matter what she did, the way she'd poured her heart into her diary, the way she'd become so powerful…

He stopped mid-sentence, and cast his eyes down, blushing.

"Sorry," he murmured, afraid of taking things too far.

Draco simply laughed. "See, this is why we need to talk about it."

"Well, I guess that about sums it up," he said. "What now?"

"I have already talked to Ruriko about this, an-…"

"You what!"

"Don't worry! She's being all modest and shy about it." Draco sighed. "But I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not."

"… Why not?"

"Well, you're her friend, and she likes you, and she doesn't want you to get hurt. If she's the way she is at the moment, she may be scared of rejecting you because she doesn't want to hurt you. It might just be that she isn't entirely sure of what's going on; sure, she has her fair share of men trying it on with her, but it's not like she knows what they're doing. She knows that there is such a thing as love like yours for her, but she doesn't know how to spot it or how to react to it."

She watched him quickly, trying to see what he was thinking; she hoped that her speech hadn't flattened his spirits so much. He was resting his chin on his hand, brows knitted together in a thoughtful frown.

"Anything I can do about it?"

Draco thought about the question for a minute. How to get these two together…?

"Firstly, I'll try worm out some kind of answer from her. Make her see sense, almost. But you need to open up to her." Draco gave an ironic snigger, realising where she was heading with her explanation and remembering most of the times Ruriko had put either herself or Draco in terrible danger. "You see, my sister isn't exactly the most easy of people to stay friends with. She's easy to make friends with, a little too easy, in fact. But friendship is a very strong concept to Ruriko; once she's your friend, you're friends forever, and if you step out of line, you will break her heart. She will gladly tell you everything about her, but she will expect you to do the same. She will gladly charge headlong into battle for you, but she will expect you to do the same. She would gladly die for you, but she will expect you to do the same. See what I'm getting at?"

"I see," he replied. A little too quickly. Draco frowned, but let it slide.

"And somewhere along the way, you'll tell her you love her, won't you?"

"Don't you think that love is a bit of a strong word?" Again, a little too quickly.

"I think it's appropriate," she replied with a meaningful glance.

He was about to make a reply, but his mouth flailed in silence, and he sank further into his seated position, defeated.

"You're going to have to shed a little pride," remarked Draco. "If you can't admit it to yourself, how are you going to admit it to her?"

"Right."

"Good night," she said, considering her work done for the time being. She got up and strode back to the door, with a mumbled good night from Akiro drifting behind her.

"And Akiro," she added, realising something. He looked up. "Be yourself. And I mean the you you normally are when you're around me or someone who isn't Ruriko. Not the quiet withdrawn you, because he won't be the one to say "I love you".

"And finally, if you break her heart, I will hunt you down and make sure you pay."

"Do you really think I would hurt her?"

"Good answer. Make sure you mean it, because I mean what I said."

-X-X-

"How is that possible? Did they evolve or something?"

Oshi was still rather miffed about being beaten by licking. They sat in the main hall, Kyo quiet, Chisel indifferent and Oshi continuously clicking various bones that had been injured and were now stiff.

"Can you please stop doing that?" said Chisel, meaning the never-ending crunches of Oshi's bones.

"No."

"Wrong answer; why not?"

"Because everything bloody well hurts, and I don't like it, and I can't move." He stretched his arms out in front of him and began snapping his fingers back and forth. Chisel just winced, knowing there was nothing he could do about it.

"OK, so we have a little bit of a threat running around in Anthell," he mused. "What if it comes out?"

"I think the best thing to do would be to steer clear of Anthell," suggested Kyo. "And when the others get back, we will try and kill it."

"We'll have to train on the other side of the caves now. You don't think that maybe there are others like that… Phreeoni, do you?"

"I think there are, actually."

Oshi and Chisel turned to Kyo, a little stunned by her certainty.

"Not necessarily here," she added hastily. "But definitely monsters who "rule" over the others. Like a commander or something."

"But how did they get here?"

"They've always been here; it's just they haven't shown themselves so often."

Kyo fell into silent thought, possibly wondering how she'd managed to say what she said. Chisel was a little confused, not sure whether to believe her or not; it wasn't such a difficult thing to believe. There were plenty of stories of perfectly able fighters venturing bravely into dungeons and not returning, and it wouldn't have been unreasonable to assume that there was something in there that was a lot more of a challenge than had originally been anticipated. But how did Kyo know this? And why was she so sure?

He turned to check Oshi's reaction, and was not surprised to see that his facial expression was something of a frown mixed with wariness. It was a bit strange to see, but Chisel had a feeling that he was pulling the exact same look.

"But it's almost like they've formed some sort of hierarchy," said Oshi. "That seems a bit too human."

"I think there's a hierarchy in everything, humans and creatures alike," she replied. "But it's just we look at it as a hierarchy which is a very human thing. Do you see what I'm saying?"

Chisel could only faintly make out the message of the sentence, but saw roughly what it was about.

"So you're saying that they're still monsters?"

"Of course; they wouldn't be anything else, would they? It's just that they are becoming intelligent, if you like. Either way, we definitely need to get rid off it."

"Well, obviously."

"When the others come back though. If Oshi can't solo in there, it's a pretty safe bet that the three of us together wouldn't make much of a difference."

"Do you think that maybe we should gather a bit more information?" asked Kyo.

"Well, so much for staying away from Anthell…" murmured Oshi grudgingly.

"Well, we'd have a better chance of fighting it if we knew what we were up against," she reasoned. "And if it spots us, we just run like mad, see?"

"I see. But it's still a bit too risky," said Chisel, standing up.

"I know. We don't have to. But I really do want to find more out about this…"

"We all do. And if the others were here, we'd be gone in a heartbeat. But they're not, so we'll just have to wait."

"I don't know… I guess there wouldn't be too much harm in just taking a look around," replied Oshi thoughtfully. "I'd been down there loads of times before, and I ran into that thing by accident."

"And the others will feel a lot better about fighting this thing if they know what they're up against."

"I'm guessing just telling them to kill a pink blob with a giant tongue will be a little cheap, huh," sighed Chisel with a frown. He thought for a moment, painfully aware that it was up to him, that it was safer to stay away from Anthell for the time being, and also that they would be horribly disappointed if they couldn't go down there and they wouldn't take no for an answer.

"OK, fair enough. But we're not fighting that thing."

"You think I want to fight that thing again?" snapped Oshi incredulously.

"Yes."

Oshi responded only with a glare. Chisel grinned.

20