Chapter Three
The Trip over the Sea
Part Two
When the morning came and everyone got up, it was going to be a long day. First there was the matter of getting passports, or Green Cards as they where called, then getting to Europe in one piece and the hard part would be the one on seeing Larva. They all knew that that would not be easy. His lustful bitch of a cousin would surly attempt to kill them once she saw them. They would have to be tricky, surely Shiina could get in none of the Western Shinma, except Larva, had ever seen him.
"I can get in, worse thing they'd do is try to kill me," Shiina said as he paused in front of the pet carrier, "If they do I'll just find my way around and yell for Larva. I doubt he could forget my voice." With that Shiina hopped into the cage.
"You are right Shiina," Ranka said, "We have to keep our guard up though. I've learned from experience that Western Shinma are not to be trusted."
"There's also more of them then there are Japanese Shinma," Sen-Jui joined, "They haven't had a Guardian in the west since the time when Queen Elizabeth ruled the thrown."
Nagi blinked in surprise, "How do you know that?"
"I did a little research on it the other day, you just go in and see how many vampire sightings there have been over the last decade and they've more than doubled in some area's since the Renaissance."
Ichiro shook his head; "You've way too much free time on your hands, Sen-Jui." Everyone managed a small chuckle out of that one. It was then that Ichiro turned into his wolf form.
"We'll have to buy you a collar when we get to town Ichiro," Sen-Jui said. When Ichiro looked as though he had been insulted Sen-Jui then added, "Well if you want to pass as our pet and get on that ship to help us and not get sent to the pound then that's what we'll have to do."
Ichiro lowered his head then Ranka added, "You can pick it out you know." That caught his attention and he did a type of bark that meant he approved. With that the group set out to the city and for the long battling journey that they all knew would come after it.
When they got to town several people looked at Shiina with curiosity a few little kids even ran up to Ranka and one asked, "Miss sorry to bug you but um, is that really a pink bunny?"
Ranka giggled, "Yes he ha always been pink, that's why I bought him from...eBay," she lied but the kids where in aw, "his name is Shiina and he's very dear to me and my fiancé, isn't that right, Sen-Jui?"
Sen-Jui blinked, "Uh yeah honey, Shiina's the cutest thing in the world, aside from you that is." The kids giggled a bit then they ran off.
"Alright," Nagi said, "Let's get Ichiro his collar and get the hell out of here." The others nodded in agreement and they headed for the pet store. Ichiro picked out a spiked collar and Nagi bought it for him. After that they left the store and made their way across town to the docks.
They finally arrived at the docks around nine in the morning and went to the passport office to get their pictures taken and all that fun stuff. The wait was about 15 minutes long but the rest went smoothly, finally they got in the line to get on the boat that would take them to Europe. The wait for the ship was aggravating, Shiina kept getting poked at by the little boy in front of him, Ranka was stuck in her own thoughts, Nagi was blankly starring at the sea, Ichiro kept getting pats on the head from people passing by, and Sen-Jui seemed to be the candy of every girl's eye.
After what seemed like an eternity of standing around the ship finally came up to it's loading dock and the people began the task of boarding the ship so they could get to their rooms. The man taking the tickets had originally wanted to take Shiina and Ichiro to the baggage deck with most of the other animals, but when Ranka made a quick lie to tell him that the animals where important for a project that she and Sen-Jui where doing for collage. The man bought the lie and they made their way to the second-class Deck B and made themselves comfortable.
"Ranka how long will this take?" Ichiro asked once he turned back into his human form.
"About a week or two, all we can do it just wait." She replied.
"A WEEK OR TWO!?!?" Ichiro bellowed.
"Yes, a week or two. But a ship is safer than a plane," she said as she set Shiina's cage on the bed and let him out.
"Two weeks will be about right," Shiina said as he hopped out of the cage, "Besides, I'll need that time to tell you all about Miyu and Yui and their new lives." He looked at them, "Or should I wait until we get Larva?"
"Just tell us a few things now and tell us the rest after we get Larva," Nagi said, "I want to know about Yui's new life."
Shiina nodded, "Well Yui's name isn't Yui in this life, it's Gina." He began, "She still has brown hair but it's curly and her eyes are still that deep brown they used to be. She just turned 16 in May and is at the top of her class in everyway you can imagine. She's had three boyfriends already and is one of the more popular girls in the school she goes too. Her hobbies include studying to be a lawyer and riding horses. She's very interested in Witch Craft and is a studying Wicca at the moment mostly because she's had no time to study her craft for a while."
Nagi blinked, "You saw all this with your eye?" He asked.
"No," Shiina replied, "I've two old American Shinma friends who said they'd find and watch over Miyu and Yui's new form and life."
"Can these American Shinma be trusted?" Ichiro asked, "I heard they are more ruthless then the Western Shinma."
Shiina nodded, "They are, but the real American Shinma are few in number these days, they have been killed over the years by their Guardian and by other Shinma of this planet since they found the Earth was in fact round and not square."
"Who are your friends then, Shiina?" Ranka asked.
"They're Cat Shinma, the clever kind. The older one is with Gina and his name that she calls him buy is Simba."
"What's is real name?" Ichiro asked.
"He's been around so long and had so many names that he can't remember what his real name is," Shiina replied.
"What about the one that's with Miyu? What can you tell us about her and her cat?" Ranka asked.
Shiina looked at her, "I'm not going to tell you all much about Miyu's new life. But I will tell you about Pumpkin, he's not the oldest but he's definitely the most talented." He began, "Pumpkin has lived for about 300 years and his real name is Glacier--"
Ichiro interrupted him, "He's named after a thing of ice?"
"As I was saying!" Shiina stated firmly, "He has the power to change the size of his body from a house cat to that of a Siberian Tiger. As for Simba he can read minds and walk on water."
"They are very talented then," Sen-Jui said.
"Yes they are," Shiina said.
"What can and will you tell us about Miyu?" Ranka said.
"I will only say that she'll be 17 in January and that she is good friends with Gina. I will not give out more until we get Larva." They nodded in understanding.
Soon the sun was setting and the moon came out to light the night sky, people took walks on the top deck on the ship. Ranka had gone topside an hour ago to see the sea, she had never seen the sea well not like this anyways. It would be 16 days until they got to the docks of Europe; she prayed that Larva was in Europe and that his cousin wouldn't be too much of a pin I the ass for them. Carula may love Larva but he was a big boy and could make his own choices. What would they do for 16 days, what as happening back home, and why did she have this sinking feeling in her gut?
She knew something was wrong, she felt that there was something Shiina was not telling them. And the Cute-Beast had always told them whatever they wanted to know. Or maybe she was making something out of nothing, and then something hit her. The thing was bothering her was the smell of Shinma of the ship, not the ones Shiina and Ichiro where giving out. There was another Shinma on the ship.
Ranka took a step back from the railing and started to walk around the top deck of the ship. She didn't find it there so she went to A Deck and walked around all the places she could. When she still found nothing she went back down to B Deck, it was then she felt the aura of the Shinma hit her. It coming from the hall where her room was, she wondered if it was Shiina at first but then she remembered that Shiina couldn't give off this much power. Making her way down the hall she felt the power of the aura getting stronger and stronger as she reached her room.
When she reached the room and opened the door she was shocked to see that everyone was fine and dandy, but she was even more surprised to see a cream-gray cat with a striped tail and legs on the bed next to Shiina. The cat turned its head to face her, "You must be Ranka," it said.
She blinked, "Yes, and who are you?"
"Ranka this is Simba," Shiina said, "He teleported here somehow."
Confusion began to sink into Ranka's mind, "You came to us? But how did you even know where to find us?"
Simba's tail seemed to twitch, "There's a girl Gina know who is very good at the art of Scrying, and she was at Gina's house and did her little Scrying in the water and said she saw a ship coming from the East with a wolf, a rabbit, three people and the Grim Reaper on bored," he said is a cool voice, "I had a feeling it would be you all so I came to help speed things up a bit."
"Wait," Sen-Jui said, "How are you going to speed things along?" He asked.
Simba turned his head to face the young vampire, "The same way I got here."
"They'll be looking for us on the ship though," Nagi said firmly.
"Oh no they won't," Simba told him, "I've already erased any and all data on you."
Ranka looked extremely impressed, "So you intend to teleports us to Europe?" She asked.
He nodded, "Yes I am going to teleport you to the Docks of Europe when you all are ready to go so you can search for your final member."
"We are ready now," Shiina said and the others nodded.
"Alright," Simba said, "Everyone put a hand or paw on me or it won't work." Everyone did as Simba asked of him or her and the next thing that happened felt like the sensation one gets when they've spun around in a cercal too many times. Then it was like they where flying and still spinning in many circles. After what felt like hours of doing this they finally felt the ground under their feet, when they opened their eyes they where standing at a harbor. Ranka looked around and from the writing guessed that they had landed in England.
She then asked, "So this is where he is, Simba?" When there was no answer she turned around and found that the cat was gone.
"He probably had to get back to Gina," Shiina said as he hopped onto her shoulder.
She nodded and scratched his ear softly, "Now for the easy part, find Larva."