I HAVE RETURN-ED!Thanks for waiting so patiently for this update. I'm sorry if it isn't up-to-snuff, I was extremely bored and I didn't have my internet to make sure things matched andI had to make it corrospond with MMI... Yeah, I had a rough month. I won't keep you waiting any longer. Read on!
Dis: Okay, people, move along, you all know the drill, I don't own it...
"I can't believe you don't trust me." I said simply. With that, I called Yusuke and Sesshomaru back to their Bishi Balls and headed back up the stairs to the room. Tris and Briar followed silently.
I was ready to explode at them when we got back to the room. The only thing that stopped me was the fact that Demoonica was back. She was sprawled on one of the beds, channel surfing. Still fuming, I sat down at the computer and logged on again. I went online and just started to read a random story on ff.n. Maybe fifteen minutes later, I heard someone at the door, asking to be let in, followed by the sound of a Bishi Ball opening and the door being unlocked.
It was getting late by this time, and most of my Bishies were asleep, with the exception of Hiei. I logged off and looked around the room.
Hiei and Hi-kun were sitting on the window sill, the latter fast asleep. Yusuke was sitting against the wall in a corner, apparently sleeping. The rest of my Bishies were in their Bishi Balls.
Demoonica and Zander were curled up in one of the beds; both of them were sleeping as well.
'Wow, I guess it must be pretty late…' I thought, glancing at the clock. 11:30. Getting up quietly, I slipped my shoes off and climbed onto the other bed, falling asleep without even getting undressed.
I woke the next morning to a small body jumping on me.
"Onee-sama, wake up! Onee-sama, it's time for breakfast!" a small voice was yelling at me. The body stopped jumping on my back and seemed to have settled for poking me. I rolled over to try to get away from the poking.
"Outoto, I don't think you should poke her there…" Yusuke's voice said quietly before something jabbed me in the boobs. Hard.
My eyes flew open as my hands went to cover the spot that was poked to protect it from further harm. I sat up, hands still protecting my chest, and glared at the two Bishonen who were now on the floor laughing. One was Yusuke, one was Briar. Even Sess looked slightly amused.
"I found this on the desk; it's addressed to you, if you can call it an address…" Tris handed me a folded note. I opened it and read it quickly.
Meg-
Thank you for letting us stay in your room for the night. I'm sorry I couldn't thank you in person, but we wanted to get an early start and we didn't want to wake you. Trust me; being woken up at five isn't pleasant.
-Demoonica, Zander, & Damia.
I got up off of the bed, pushing Yusuke aside so I had room to stand. Or rather, I kicked him aside. Not like he didn't deserve it…
"Hey! What was that for, Trainer Girl!" he asked. Sending him a 'you-know-very-well-what-it-was-for' look, I grabbed another outfit and went to get changed. Tris went around and collected our stuff and by the time I was dressed again, we were ready to walk out the door.
Twenty minutes later, we were walking through the woods. From what I was able to gather from my map, we were in the Black Jewels territories. Which meant that we had to be very careful about where we wandered.
"Remind me again why we have to be careful here?" Yusuke asked to the umpteenth time. "We haven't seen so much as a squirrel since we entered these territories."
I stopped walking and faced him.
"Be-CAUSE, Yusuke," I said, stressing the second syllable of 'because', "in the Trilogy, there men who, if sufficiently provoked, could rip you apart if they wanted to."
"But you said that their whole society centered on females." Yusuke argued.
"Yusuke, if the males would rip you apart, imagine what a FEMALE on the killing-edge would be like. The females are worse than the males."
Yusuke stayed silent. Hiei suddenly looked up at the tree-line and quickly glanced around. Yusuke noticed and was immediately alert.
"What is it, Aniki?" he asked quietly.
"There's something in the trees. We're being watched." Hiei answered just as quietly. Tris, Briar, and Sess were all alert in their Bishi Balls. Hi-kun was just a bit confused in my arms.
"Can you find it with the Jagan?" I asked in a low voice.
"No, I have to know what I'm looking for." He answered. He was about to say something else when we heard something from one of the trees.
"Cat, you can't go down there, that's a Trainer."
"I know. You know I've always wanted to leave the village, and this is the perfect way!"
"NO, Cat. It's my job to protect you, and that includes protection from Trainers."
"I'm going down there. End of discussion." There was a rustling sound from a tree to our left. Someone dropped from the tree. They stood up and I was able to get a good look at them.
She, since no man could possibly have breasts, had hair the color of sunlight and eyes the color of the sky. She was wearing casual attire, at least casual in comparison to some of the elaborate clothes that to books described. She was wearing very loose dark blue pants and a loose light blue blouse. Around her neck was a golden chain with a very dark gem on it. I wasn't sure if it was a normal gem or a Jewel.
"Hello, Trainer." She greeted with slight formality. Yusuke and Hiei both tensed. "My name is Jaenelle Angelline. I have a request, if you wouldn't mind listening to me."
"I'm listening." I said.
"I'd like to come with you, if it's not too much trouble."
I weighed my options. If I decided to let her come with us as part of my team, she could be a valuable asset. She knows how to deal with males and how to take care of herself. If I didn't, I'd be missing an opportunity to get another Bishoujo and finally figure out how the Craft worked. I took out an empty Bishi Ball.
"I guess if you want to…" I said. Another figure dropped from the tree. This one was male. He was wearing leather pants which were, unfortunately, not tight, and he was shirtless. He had golden eyes and shoulder-length black hair, and his skin was an even golden tan. He also had a golden chain around his neck, with a dark gem on it as well, though not as dark as the one that Jaenelle was wearing. His most astonishing feature, though, were his large bat wings.
"Cat, this isn't the only way to leave the village, you know." He said to Jaenelle.
"Lucivar, I said I was going to do this, and you know as well as I do my word is final." Jaenelle said back. She turned back to me. "Please catch me. I want to see the world outside the village and the only way to do that is with a Trainer."
I nodded and, without another word, I threw the Bishi Ball at her with my free arm. She was sucked into it, and it locked without a fight. My Dex in my pocket beeped. Taking it out, I listened to the description.
"Bishoujo registered. Jaenelle Angelline from the Black Jewels Trilogy, stage Sama. The most powerful character in the three books, Jaenelle led a hard life early on, since she is Witch, dreams made flesh. She wears Birthright Black and Ebony as her darkest Jewel. This Bishoujo has made the Offering to the Darkness." My jaw dropped.
"Say that again, please?" I asked weakly.
"This Bishoujo has made the Offering to the Darkness." My Dex repeated. Closing the machine, I set Hi-kun on the ground and picked up the Ball that was now occupied by Jaenelle.
"Well, now that you have Jaenelle, you might as well take me too. She's not going anywhere without me." Lucivar brought my attention back to him. He crossed his arms over his chest. "Well, go on, capture me."
Wordlessly, I did what he said, and in moments, my Dex was beeping at me again.
"Bishonen registered. Lucivar Yaslana, stage Sama. A Warlord Prince who wears Birthright Red and Ebon-gray, he's also a powerful character. Half Eyrien, he is the youngest son of the High Lord of Hell and is a fierce warrior. He was raised in war camps and treated like he was lower than dirt because of his mixed blood. Lucivar is usually only caught by experienced Trainers because he is liable to lose his temper very quickly. This Bishonen has made the Offering to the Darkness." My Dex chirped at me.
"My life just got a hell of a lot harder…" I muttered as I let the two out of their Balls and picked up Hi-kun again. Hiei and Yusuke disappeared into theirs so there wouldn't be such a big crowd. That was when I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. It was a shadow in the woods that looked strangely canine. What confused me was the glint of gold I saw. Jaenelle noticed what I was looking at and grinned.
"It's Smoke!" she exclaimed happily. The creature bounded out of the trees, revealing itself to be a wolf. Around its neck, almost completely hidden in its fur, was a purple stone on, once again, a gold chain. My Dex chirped at me one last time.
"Seibutsu identified. Smoke. He is one of the kindred Blood from the trilogy, and part of Jaenelle's court. The kindred have the ability to communicate on the psychic threads. Smoke wears the Purple Dusk Jewel."
"And now life doesn't seem too bad…" I said cheerily. Smoke padded cautiously up to me and tentatively smelled my hand. Then he looked questioningly at Jaenelle.
"What do you mean, she smells odd? She's a human girl, of course she smells different." Jaenelle said to him. There was a pause before she started talking again. "She doesn't smell like other humans? What are you talking about? You probably just smell her other Bishonen and Bishoujo. And yes, she's part of the pack now." There was another pause. "You'll have to ask her if you can. Go ahead."
This whole conversation was almost comical. That's probably why I jumped so badly when I heard a masculine voice in my head.
Girl-human, may I join your pack and travel with you? I won't be trouble.
I looked as Smoke.
"D-did you just… talk to me? In my head?" I asked. I must have sounded so dumb asking that question. Smoke gave a short nod. "Wow. That was so cool. Sure, you can tag along if you want. You'll just have to catch your own food."
Smoke nodded eagerly, giving me what had to be the equivalent of a grin.
"Let's head for the next town. Hey, I don't believe I caught your name." Jaenelle said. Lucivar nodded in agreement.
"My name is Megan. Call me whatever nickname you want, I've been called Trainer Girl, Sanzo, Wolf, Bob2… Yeah, I have quite a few nicknames." I replied, somewhat embarrassed that I didn't introduce myself earlier. (AN: it's true, I've been called Sanzo. It's practically my most common nickname. Alex is called Goku because of the scary similarities between the two, Haley is Gojyo for the same reason, and Laura is like Hakkai, it's kinda cool.)
"So what's the next town?" Lucivar asked. I opened up my Dex once again and checked the map. There was a blue dot that said 'YOU' and a red dot that said 'Cigam City'. According to the scale at the bottom, it was about three miles to the north. I showed them the screen.
"Okay, then, we're off to Cigam City!" Jaenelle said happily.
There you have it.