I'm so sorry for the enforcers. I like them, but they won't appear very much in this fic... ;_;
Get ready... From this chapter, the chapters will definitely become longer! Oh, this one is kinda short yet because I edited it (the original version was very hard to translate and had some forgotten elements. Don't worry).
Thank you for those who reviewed!
*****
Chapter 14: Jade's camera
"Look, I selected in a draw which humans each demon will stay with during the trip.", Julia said showing a sheet of paper.
"Wait!", Bai Tsa interrupted glancing at Jack. "Why there are four humans here?"
"Because we've got four pieces of the Pan Ku box.", Xiao answered.
"Then tell me, who the portals we are going to open belong to...", she said placing her hands on her hips and raising a brow.
"Well, one belongs to Tchang Zu, the second belongs to Po Kong, the third belongs to Dai Gui and the fourth belongs to...", he glanced around himself and counted on his fingers until getting what she meant. "...Belongs to Shendu...", he finally said and Bai Tsa rolled her eyes.
"Exactly. We have to open only three portals! Why is that boy here?", she asked glaring at him and everybody turned their glances to Tso Lan and Julia.
"...I have forgotten about that detail...", Tso Lan said calmly, though maybe a bit embarrassed.
"Oh, that's right... I forgot it too... I'm sorry...", Julia said smiling and Bai Tsa slit her eyes, glaring at her. "Relax, we still can use him as a bait for our ambush..."
"What ambush?", Jade asked alarmed, but everybody ignored her.
"Well, since I made that mistake, I'll have to rewrite the list. Just some modifications.", Julia said writing something in the paper and when she finished, smiled pleased with herself. "Now it's right. Bai Tsa and Tso Lan go with my father to Spain. Shendu and I go with Jack and Xiao Fung to Japan, and Hsi Wu and Jade go to California.", she said flashing a suggestive smile to the sky demon, who looked away angry.
Bai Tsa stared at the girl in suspicion. She could not say why, but she felt like everything had already been planned by Julia. Besides, why was she helping the demons? She was a human! Didn't she see that when the demons got to rule the world the humanity would be doomed? That Julia had a very opportunist mind, perhaps all this was part of some plan of hers to banish the demons.
"Uh... there's a problem in that division...", Shendu remarked and for a moment Julia looked a bit worried.
"What is it?", she asked.
"I did not recover all my energy yet. I won't manage to cast the spell to open the portal.", Shendu answered and Julia sighed in relieve.
"Well, then Xiao does it.", she said simply and a silence filled the room. The wind blew through the window and the atmosphere was extremely heavy. Julia thought of say something but gave that up. Then Tso Lan cleared his throat breaking the silence.
"Don't worry, Shendu. I can go with you.", he said. Xiao just smiled uneasy, perhaps a bit ashamed. Bai Tsa and Shendu did not say anything, just looked annoyed.
Jade stared seriously at her friend. She seemed to be planning something, and Jade really hoped it was in favor of the humans. But why did she feel like Julia has chosen her to be with Hsi Wu on purpose? Jade glanced at the other humans in the room. Jack was in silence. He didn't seem to understand very well what was going on. Valmont didn't look happy either. His arms were crossed in front of himself and he was obviously wishing that he could be anywhere but here.
The she glanced at everybody in the room. Jade noticed that Bai Tsa, Tso Lan, Hsi Wu, Shendu and Valmont were looking at Julia. Except for Shendu, all of them were suspecting of something. Jade believed that they were thinking the same as her. Julia had did all this on purpose, but they couldn't say whose side she was on. Shendu also watched her, but he looked curious.
"Jade, you can change your clothes here.", Julia said pointing at Hsi Wu's room. Originally, it was a guestroom, and the closet theoretically should have some clothes that could fit her. The two girls went in the room and Julia looked for the clothes in the whole closet until finding a very low-cut shirt and a Capri pants. Jade stared at the shirt and frowned.
"Uh... Julia... don't you have another shirt?"
"That was the best I could find.", Julia said shrugging. Jade glanced discouraged at the shirt. She was not used to wear that kind of clothes so tight and low-cut. "Don't worry. It is going to suit you.", Julia encouraged smiling and Jade felt a little better. "I'll look for some clothes for Jack.", she said leaving the room. Jade was turned back to the door, observing the moon through the window.
Hsi Wu was walking for the corridor until arriving at his room's half-open door. He frowned as he saw that there was light there. When he approached of his room and glanced at inside it, he saw Jade staring at the moon. He stood there, watching her, when suddenly Jade decided to wear the clothes that Julia had given to her. The girl took off her night-dress and Hsi's eyes widened when he saw Jade without bra, only wearing panties. Fortunately he was just seeing her from behind. He backed to the corridor and leaned on the wall, feeling his heart beating incredibly fast. Considering the hot he was feeling, Hsi betted that his face was very red.
He swallowed and looked at inside the room again. Jade was still in front of the window, and this time she was already wearing a shirt. She just had to wear the pants now. It seemed that she had gotten distracted with something since she was staring at a drawer. Hsi tried to go closer and noticed what she was looking at.
'That is...', Jade thought staring at the object inside a half-open drawer. She stretched her arm to reach it.
'My Super Moose Camera... I know it because I wrote JC in the lateral of the camera.', she continued looking in confusion at the two letters.
'What's this doing here...?'
Jade heard a creak when the door was slightly opened, and she quickly turned around to it. Before she went to the door, she wore the pants.
Hsi cursed quietly and stood away from the door. He heard Jade approaching and glanced around himself.
"There's anyone there?", Jade asked opening the door and glancing around herself. There wasn't anyone in the corridor and she shrugged.
"It might have been just the wind...", she said leaving the room and going back to where the others were.
"Aright, I already changed my...", Jade said going downstairs and stopped when she saw a woman in the room who was also looking at surprise at Jade. "...clothes...", Jade finished. They kept staring at each other for a long while. The woman had dark blue hair reaching her waist and very light blue eyes. She was wearing a blue T-shirt, a long dark blue skirt reaching her ankles and Chinese-style shoes.
Jade observed her clothes. Nowadays long skirts were old-fashioned and T-shirts always were worn with a jacket or had color plates. And the hair color?! On the other hand, the woman was horrified with Jade's clothes. Then Jade finally decided to break the silence by laughing weakly.
"But... what the hell are you wearing?! You look like a nun!", she commented.
"At least I don't look like a prostitute!", Bai Tsa snapped and Jade frowned a bit embarrassed. Well, she also had found the low-cut a little daring, but it couldn't be helped. Bai Tsa turned to face Tso Lan.
"What's a nun?", Bai asked in a low voice, though Jade could hear her.
"It means that you're wearing tacky clothes. Duh!", Jade explained. Bai Tsa wasn't any the wiser. She was used to wear 'tacky' clothes – whatever that meant – like women did in Ancient China. In her empire it was a bit more liberal, but nothing like what Jade was wearing. Jade snorted and lifted her hand.
"Never mind... Just tell me... Why do you have DARK BLUE HAIR???", Jade yelled and Bai Tsa crossed her arms and snorted.
"If Shendu can have golden hair, I can have dark blue hair.", the water demon replied and Jade rolled her eyes. Oh yes, the classic rivalry between siblings.
"When are we going to leave?", Jade wanted to know.
"As soon as the three jets that will transport us get here.", Julia answered while she watched television. All the demons were in their humans forms. Now Jack was wearing normal clothes too. He was wearing Bermudas and a very large white and red T-shirt.
They heard a very loud noise coming from the sky. Only Shendu and the humans immediately understood what had just come. They stood up and then the rest of the demons followed them. They left the house and headed to place where the jets were. Jack was still scared with the whole weird situation, but Jade's surprisingly unworried expression made him feel a bit better.
Unfortunately his relief didn't last too long. Jade was going to California while he was going to Japan. H would be in the other side of the world, very far away from Jade and his parents. And on top of that, he would be in the company of a criminal girl and three demons. He wondered why he had to the most unlucky human of the group and sighed.
Jack drew a deep breathe and got in the jet right after Julia. Shendu and Xiao Fung got in after them. Jade and Hsi Wu got in another jet and Valmont and Bai Tsa got in the third one. Each human was carrying a Pan Ku box piece, except Julia who had the pendant. Just as a souvenir, since it had already lost all its energy when Tso Lan had used it to energize the box pieces.
Jade and Hsi didn't even talk to each other during the trip. Because California was relatively near San Francisco, it didn't take too long to get there.
"Brother Shendu said that the portal is inside a studio...", Hsi Wu murmured rubbing his chin in deep thought. The name was 'Mega Galactic Studios', but that was not enough information. Of course Jade was not going to tell where the portal was, and actually Hsi Wu wasn't even managing to glance at her. Whenever he did it, he remembered her in that room and blushed.
"Hsi Wu! You're all red! Are you all right?", Jade asked and Hsi Wu woke from his thoughts with a startle.
"Uh... I... yes... I'm all right...", Hsi stuttered and when Jade was about to say something, they stopped in front of a sign with big letters saying 'Mega Galactic Studios'. Hsi smiled in victory. He hasn't thought that it would be so easy. Jade glanced around herself and scratched her head in confusion. The sky demon pulled her hand and they approached of the entrance. Then a security guard stopped them.
"Pass!", the guard said seriously.
"That's what we were going to do until you stood in our way!", Hsi snapped pushing past him and the security guard stopped them again.
"You cannot enter here without a pass.", he said to clear up the pun and Hsi slit his eyes.
"I'll give you a pass...!", he said and Jade flinched quickly closing her eyes when Hsi Wu knocked out the security guard.
"Let's go!", the sky demon ordered angry and Jade passed glancing at the unconscious guard. She glanced around herself again still disoriented. It seemed that this place had been strongly reformed, since it was so different. In fact, the whole city was very different from what Jade remembered.
After hours and hours wandering around the studio, they found nothing. The piece of the Pan Ku box didn't glow in any moment and the sky demon even checked if this was the right piece. After all, the trigram had to represent the thunder. If it was of another element, it wasn't going to work. But it was indeed the thunder trigram, and they searched for the portal for some more time.
Now it was already noon, and they have not found the portal yet. Jade wasn't getting to walk anymore. Besides the fatigue, she was very hungry. Hsi Wu also looked tired. Perhaps not physically tired, but he was too frustrated to continue this useless search. He just wished he could communicate with Shendu somehow and ask why he didn't get to find the portal.
"Let's eat something... I'm starving...", Jade complained and Hsi sighed.
"Yes, we have nothing to do here anyway...", he agreed and Jade was glad that she didn't have to insist. They left the studio and that security guard was not there anymore. Another man was standing in for him, and this one didn't even suspect of them. After a short while, they found a snack bar and Jade ran to there. She ordered a hamburger. Hsi Wu didn't understand what was in the menu, then he also ordered a hamburger and just hoped it was good.
They two were in silence. They wanted to say something, but whenever they were about to do it, they gave up of the idea. And Hsi was still fighting to forget the thought of Jade in his room and the camera. On the other hand, Jade wanted exactly the opposite. She couldn't stop wondering why her camera was there, in Julia's house's guestroom. After all, the list time she had seen that camera it was with... Hsi Wu!
Jade looked at him and he noticed that he was staring at her until now and looked away uneasy. She really didn't know what to think about the demon's strange behavior, Julia and her opportunist character, and her camera.
"Hsi Wu...", Jade finally started, looking at the table and playing with the straw of her soda with her fingers.
"What?", he tried to sound sharp.
"What did you do to my camera after I returned to this world and left you in the Netherworld?", she asked thoughtful and Hsi bit his lip. That question has been very sudden and at first he didn't know what to say.
"I... stayed with that for a while... but then I lost it somewhere...", he said half-unconsciously and then noticed that this answer had not been very convincing, since Jade looked at him in suspicion.
"'Lost it somewhere'...?", she repeated raising a brow and Hsi swallowed. What should he say? That he had spent the last years watching her in the camera, admiring her and at the same time hating her so much that this hate turned against him in the form of a new feeling... the so called love? No! He himself refused to believe it. That was just something that Julia had used to confuse him.
"Hello?", Jade said aloud still waiting for an answer. Hsi Wu didn't care, he just heard her voice. When he heard it, he looked at Jade deeply in her eyes. She wasn't a child anymore, now she was a beautiful woman. And yet her young and strong spirit was still alive within her. He could see it in her eyes.
Hsi leaned back in the chair and sighed. He didn't know why a demon like him was thinking about those things. But he really didn't care. He was calmer now, and decided that before wonder about this strange and confusing feeling, he had to carry his mission out and free Tchang Zu. He looked at Jade and noticed that she was very impatient and angry.
"Did you say something?", he asked cynically and Jade snapped.
"What exactly happened to my camera? Tell me the truth!", she demanded trying to keep her self-control and not to strangle him. Hsi smiled and shook his head.
"That is not important, Jade. I already said that I don't know where it is. And honestly, if I were you I'd be more worried about other things."
"Oh, really? Like what?"
"Who cares about a stupid camera when your world is about to be conquered by demons... again?", he pronounced the last word very slowly and his expression demonstrated pure hate. Jade snorted and looked away.
'Arrogant demon!'
*****
Whoa! Now it's me who must apologize to VampireNaomi! This chapter has a strong influence from Ni Tang, mainly in the part when Hsi Wu and Jade are looking for the portal in California! Gomen nasaaaai! GOMEN KUDASAIIIIIII!!!! *Ritsu mode*
Changing the subject, I'd like to report a translation problem. There're some words in Portuguese that don't have a unique translation in English, so I'm forced to change its meaning sometimes. For example, Julia is not opportunist. The word 'opportunist' has a pejorative meaning in Portuguese, and I don't want you to think about her that way. Would the word 'calculating' suit better?