Within Castle Walls

Track001:

Before…

The demon let out a loud growl as the blade pierced its skin, the figure jumped back and smirked, "My…these demons are getting tougher to fight aren't they?"

Another figure leapt ahead of him, daggers ready in hand, "It's just your imagination."

He pouted, "You never agree with me! I swear, you're doing that just to be rebellious!"

"And you just noticed?"

"Daggers won't piece through their skin."

His companion rolled his eyes and stuck them back in their hilts on hiswaist and drew out a sword from behidn him, "You could've told me earlier."

Frowning, he allowed his swords to slice off the creature's head with little trouble, "There has to be someone who agrees with me!" Then an arrow zinged past him, nearly hitting him, "Oi! Daisuke! Are you trying to kill me?"

The redhead frowned, "Sorry! But I do agree with you! It's like they're starting to team up or something!"

"Ha! Take that Krad! Someone agrees with me!"

The blonde growled and stabbed his blade into the monster beneath him, "Satoshi?"

"Don't get me involved." The blue haired boy pulled his own sword out of the demon's stomach in front of him.

"Satoshi." Krad frowned.

"Fine, if I had to pick sides, it wouldn't be with Dark, he's usually wrong anyways."

The blonde shot his friend a smirk back, Dark frowned, "That was cheap."

"What? It's the truth."

"How much money do you think we'll get from this herd?"

"At least 60 gin…maybe 20 kin?"

"Alright! We're going to feast tonight!"

Krad raised a brow, "That is if Satoshi-keeper-of-our-money allows it."

"What a pain in the ass…"

Blue eyes narrowed, "I'm not deaf you know."

"Hey creep, what are these called again?"

"Rotadergs."

"…what?"

He rolled his eyes, "Rotadergs, sand demons that feed on humans."

Dark blinked, "Alright, whatever, you're checking in, I have no idea what you just said."

Daisuke shot another arrow hitting the demon in the eye, it shrieked and fell over, "I think that's the last of them."

Krad jumped from one corpse to the other and counted the number of dead demons on the ground, "Seven."

He removed his goggles, "Really? That's all? I could've sworn there were more…"

"Yea that's all Dark, why would I lie about this?"

"True…wait, would that mean you lie about other things?"

The blonde just smirked and walked off, "You're taking the head."

The teen gaped, "Me? Why me again?"

Krad just waved his hand offhandedly, "I did it last time and Daisuke's too small to carry it and Satoshi's also too small."

Dark frowned and cut the head off one of monsters, holding it by the ear, he tossed it over his shoulder to where his swords were, "Ugh…this is disgusting…"

"I know, I can tell just by looking."

"You know a little help would be nice Krad…the blood's dripping onto my boots…"

The blonde looked back, "I'm wearing white, Dark…blood isn't easy to clean off."

Daisuke just smiled, "Come on, let's go…I have sand in my hair."

Dark raised a brow, "Well…considering we were just fighting in a desert…I'm pretty sure we all have sand in our hair. And now I have green blood on my gloves…I don't think my wyvern's going to like having blood dripping on it's back…" He looked up at his wyvern and sighed, "Kokuyoku's going to hate me…"

"See? It'd be worse for Ginyoku, he hates to be dirtied up even more than your wyvern." He looked up at his pegasus and took off his glove to stroke its muzzle before getting on. "Come on Ginyoku, before he tries to make us take the head…again." The winged horse whinnied and flew off with the blonde on its back.

Satoshi just rolled his eyes and got onto his griffin, "Let's go Kinyoku…" The beast crooned affectionately and took off.

The redhead just laughed, "Sorry Dark, I'd help if I could but like Krad said, I'm too small," He watched as a phoenix landed in front of him, it fixed its feathers and stared at the other teen, "Akayoku says sorry too!" And as he flew off another creature joined him, "With! You're here too?"

The raven-like creature gave a 'kyu' and flew beside the phoenix.

Dark and his dragon stared at each other, it snorted at him and let him climb on, "Don't give me attitude…I can't believe they all just ditched me like that! I mean the creep I can understand, but Krad and Daisuke?" The wyvern flapped its wings and gave a low growl, "Impatient aren't you? Let's go catch up to them, we'll show them!" It gave a loud roar of approval and raced across the sky until the phoenix and griffin came into sight.

"Hey Dark! You finally caught up!"

But the dragon zoomed right past them, Dark looked back and stuck his tongue out, Satoshi glared while Daisuke pouted, the two urged their creatures to go faster. The violet haired boy grinned, "Next time…I'm chucking the head at them…"

Soon, a pegasus came into sight, Krad looked back, "He's gaining on us! Let's go!" The horse whinnied and began to fly faster.

Amethyst eyes widened slightly before frowned, "Krad! Wait up!"

The blonde's voice shot back, "No! Last time you threw the head at us!" And he sped up even more.

"Awww…come on Krad! I promise I won't do it again!"

"No!"

So the four of them sped towards the town with the pegasus in the lead, wyvern following close after. They landed on the outskirts of the town where they got off their rides and watched them take off, they walked in with Krad keeping his distance away from Dark. "Krad…you're being paranoid…"

The blonde just grumbled, "Why does the place have to be so far away?" He received no answer.

The four entered the backdoor of a café-like restaurant and ventured down the stairs by the door. And through another door they went through, the bell on top jingling as they did, "Well if it isn't the foolhardy four."

"Hi to you too." Dark said with a grin.

The brunette gave a small grin, "What do you have with you this time?"

"We got seven…"

"Rotadergs." Satoshi filled in for him.

The girl whistled, "Not bad…you can toss the head in the back, Dark…"

He did as he was told, "I hate having to carry the heads…" Amethyst scanned over his gloves in disgust.

"I'd hate to get stuck with the job too."

Dark snorted, "You're so sympathetic, Riku-chan."

"Aren't I always? Here's you money and you can ask Risa to fix you something up to eat, it's on the house…just this once though."

The four nodded their thanks and headed up, "Ugh…it's going to take forever to get this blood off…"

Satoshi looked at the pouch in his hands, "This ought to be enough to last for awhile…no we're not going to have a feast."

The violet haired boy pouted, "Asshole…"

The brunette behind the counter smiled, "Dark-san! You guys are back!"

"So we are."

"What did you slaughter this time?"

"Uhhh…"

"Rotadergs." Satoshi filled in for him again.

"Yea, that's what we killed…"

Risa smiled, "So, what would you four like? Not too much though, Riku's going to have a fit if you do…the usual?"

"The usual." The four replied.

After they finished their meal and were outside again, the sun had begun to set, Satoshi raised a brow, "She has such a crush on you…"

"Why would you say that?"

"No, none of us noticed the extra food on your plate…"

Dark smirked proudly, "But of course I mean who could resist my charm?" The other three raised their hands wordlessly and continued walking, he pouted, "That's just cruel, and you're lying Krad, you know you love me."

"That doesn't mean your charm has any affect on me."

"So you do love me!" He ran over and gave the blonde a hug.

"Argh! Get off me! You're getting blood all over me!"

The other boy grinned, "I know."

Golden eyes narrowed when he looked at himself covered in splotches of green, "Ass…"

Satoshi just continued walking with the redhead by his side, "We just need to get more arrows then we can take the rest of the day off."

"Where are we staying this time?" The redhead asked inquisitively.

"Today's a nice enough day to stay there."

Dark smirked, "I never did like staying in stuffy lodges…except when it rains, then everything just gets annoying…"

The blonde sighed, "All the monsters from the swamp area and forest area become more active…"

"Those demons are so annoying…"

"You got that right…"

--------------------

The four lounged around in an oasis quite far from the town, the elder two at the pond trying to wash their clothes off while the redhead dipped his head into the water. Satoshi sat by the fire roasting their reedmice. Dark came back soon after, having given up on washing the blood off his cloak, "Oh well…good enough, the green doesn't show anymore…" He hung his clothing up to dry off and walked over to his swords to clean them.

That earned him a glare from Krad who was practically ripping his white cloak trying to get the green off. The redhead leaned back onto the grass, hair still dripping wet, he reached for his goggles and put it on so it hung loosely from his neck, "The water's great!"

"I can tell, remember? I was washing my cloak and gloves in there…maybe I should wash my pants too…" He stretched allowing his sleeveless shirt to roll up a bit exposing a trim stomach. The four of them wore the same clothes underneath their cloaks, a grayish-black sleeveless and cargo pants. They had their own set of goggles, gloves and cloak of course, each with a different color to mark who they belonged to.

The redhead turned red and covered his eyes, "Oh gods the images! I'm going blind!"

Krad chuckled as he lifted up his wet cloak from the water, "Finally…it's clean…poor Daisuke, look at what you've done to him Dark!"

"I can only assume you're in a good mood."

The blonde smiled, "How'd you guess? Despite you getting rotaderg blood all over me and everything else that's happened today, I'm feeling pretty good."

"That's nice to know."

"Yea, otherwise you'd be dead right now." Satoshi smirked.

"I would not! Krad wouldn't kill me!"

Golden eyes darted over to the violet haired boy, "How can you be so sure?" He used his cloth and wiped his blade clean, "I've killed more than just demons with these you know…"

Dark walked over with a smile, "Because you love me." He gave the blonde a kiss and sat down.

Satoshi looked away in disgust, "Can you not do that here? In front of me?"

Daisuke still had his hands over his eyes therefore remained blind to the events, and began to giggle, "Ignorance is bliss."

"I'd cover my eyes too but then you don't want dinner to get burnt now do you?"

"No, I suppose not."

Dark huffed, "Anyways, no matter where we do this you're going to see, there isn't exactly a room here."

The blue haired boy frowned and grumbled, "The least you could do is do that behind my back…the rats are done."

The blonde wrinkled his nose a bit, "Rats? Couldn't you call them something more…appetizing? Rodents? Food? Cuisine?"

"I'm just calling them what they are."

"No you're not, they're reedmice not rats. Rats are those pesky creatures that run around the city market."

The violet haired boy took a bite of his, "That's why towns are better…Levgar town wasn't that bad, Risa-chan's cooking's really good."

"But, it's in the middle of the desert."

He sighed, "That's true…deserts, home of dirt demons."

"It's sand Dark…sand."

"Whatever." In a distance they heard barking, Dark gave a little smile, "Sounds like there are furlings around here. Kokuyoku would love to have one…"

Daisuke frowned, "Dark…that's disgusting…furlings are so cute and harmless too. They make nice pets too."

"So do wyverns."

-------------------

The fire was slowly dying with random crackles every now and then, Krad looked over the desert, in a distance he could see it, The Sinodia Castle…the glowing castle, dead center in the middle of the continent, able to look over everything. No one had ever ventured into the castle, those who did didn'tcome back out. A figure sat down beside him, he looked over with an unreadable expression on his face, "I see your gloves have dried."

"Yup."

"Don't you ever take those goggles off? If they're not on, they're dangling on your neck or on your head."

"I like them."

"I can tell…you like you swords too."

Dark nodded, "Why shouldn't I? Twin blades are hard to come by, especially ones as nice as these." He tilted his head back and nodded at the pair of sword hilts that crossed on the back of his nearly-dry cape. "Besides, from they make my cloak look really cool. What about you Mr. Many-weapons? What's your favorite?"

The blonde looked over at his small pile of weapons resting by a tree, "My daggers…"

"Yea, they make you look sexy." Krad blushed and smacked his friend on the head, "Ow…what was that for? You know I like you!"

"You know I like you too, pipe down, you're going to wake the other two."

"My bad…"

"Hn."

The hunter sighed and drew his knee up a bit, "What do you think we're going to come across tomorrow?"

"What am I? A fortune teller?"

"You could be."

"Whatever." There was a pause between the two, "Hey Dark…"

"Yea Kraddy-kins?"

"Don't call me that."

"Whatever you say Kraddy-kins."

The blonde huffed, "What do you think is in those castle walls?"

"I don't know…so long as it doesn't mess with me, I'm not going to wonder."

"That's a first."

"What is?"

"You not being curious about something you don't know about."

"Well this isn't the type of stuff for me to be curious about."

Krad raised a brow and looked over at his companion, moonlight illuminating his features, "And what is?"

"You know…either smaller stuff like chests and boxes or super big things like what's on the other continents. The Sinodia Castle just doesn't interest me as much."

"I see…"

"For all we know, the place could be ran by rodents, or rats as Satoshi calls them."

The blonde frowned, "That's just disturbing, I doubt it, and like Satoshi said, you're hardly ever right."

"Shut up and go to sleep."

"You first."

"You first."

"No way."

"Yes way."

"You might stick a furling in my face again."

"I wont!"

"What about that time you drew on our faces with muckberry juice? That took forever to get off."

"I won't!"

"I don't trust you."

"I know you don't, you don't trust anyone do you?"

"I do…just not you."

Dark pouted, "That's mean…"

"Whatever, just shut up and sleep already."

"Fine, I will!" He plopped down and closed his eyes. Krad snickered and looked over at the castle one last time before yawning and settling in the grass himself and fell asleep.

-------------------

Rotadergs:

Vile sand demons that pray on passing caravans and neighboring towns, they have tough murky green scale-like skin. Only the sharpest of blades can pierce through it, protecting them from sandstorms and such. They take on dragon-like appearances, the size of twenty men. They have acute hearing and sight but horrible sense of smell. The most distinguishable feature they have is their tails, three whip-like tails with a scale at the end of each one acting as a knife, their teeth can bite through anything.

-------------------

Reedmice:

Rodents that take on the appearance of a large tailless rat, these creatures seldom do any damage and are often kept as pets. They prey on small insects and scrapes of food that people have left behind. Seldom found in the city, the easiest place to find these lesser demons are usually found in fields of tall grass and oasis'.

-------------------

Furlings:

Dog-like demons with sharp claws and teeth, are usually on the good side of people, they're affectionate and peace-loving and when domesticated, loyal and protective of their tamers. They tend to eat lesser demons such as reedmice and tailywouds. Playful to strangers of any kind, these demons are often considered friendly and harmless; they often stay out of the way of larger demons to avoid trouble.

-------------------

Nya

A new fic :O I just had the urge to write a fantasy adventure one XP Making up names is a pain in in the neck :S For those of you who don't know what a wyvern is, it's a two-legged dragon :) Hmm...yea I gave all their riding beast thingamabobbers weird names...black wings, silvery wings, golden wings, red wings... >.>what else...yea Risa can cook, as weird as that may be...I just wanted Riku to be the demon head collector :P anything else? ...don't think so, enjoy XD