(I do not own the writes to Tsubasa Chronicle or any of its characters. Please review. Thanks to everyone that reviewed the last chapter it was very positive, as such my writing may be slightly different this time around but hopefully for the better.)
Gathering the Flock Chapter 2:- Chores
The sun wasn't even up yet when Syaoran heard Toya's call, "Ok! Everyone up!" Toya said as he banged a small bucket loudly with a stick.
Syaoran jumped in surprise reaching for his sword until Kurogane stopped him from drawing it. "Loud noises are not something you should be afraid of; it's the noises you don't hear that should worry you…" Kurogane said in that wise old all-knowing tone.
So once the guys were awake and made their way out of the barn, Toya explained in quiet tones "We need to get the normal chores done, before we can start the tasks for the Gala".
Toya softly said "Ok there are only 3 chores we need to do before breakfast; milk the Cows, collect the chicken's eggs and collect the feathers"
"What?" asked Syaoran startled by the last chore.
Toya looks quickly about the farm courtyard searching for something, spotting it he points to the low roof of one of the out buildings, "Look there", he said and as the others look they see a bird similar to a peacock sitting on that roof, its feathers where of firey colours (reds and bright oranges with a large golden eye at the tip of each feather). "That is a Fidget Bird, there feathers are prized for there beauty so we collect the feathers and turn them into quill pens to sell at our market stall," Syaoran nods as Toya explains "However the birds are a pain and never stay in the same place long so their feathers are scattered around the farm" Toya sighs as he thinks of some of the stupid places he has found the birds in the past.
Fay smiles and says "Well then what's first boss? I and Kuro-iggy here are ready and raring to go."
Kurogane Shouts "Don't call me that!" dramatically at Fay.
"Don't speak so loudly you startle the animals that are still asleep" Toya whispers loudly at him.
"Humph" Kurogane turns away and shuts his eyes.
"Alright then the first task is to Milk the Cows" Toya said quickly.
(The scene cuts to Toya sitting on a stool next to a "cow", the guys are standing around him)
This wasn't a cow, like they had in the Clow country Syaoran was surprised that this worlds cows although the same size had a long tail with two horns on it. The Cows themselves were a strange blue colour with various marking on them (apart from that they looked like cows). On the stool Toya adjusted himself so the others could see what he was doing.
"Right have any of you milked a cow before?" Toya asked, he judges "no" since they don't exactly act like farmers.
To much surprise Kurogane raises his hand slightly.
Fay delights in winding Kurogane up with this saying, "Oh Really! Kuro-iggy, your hidden talents are soooo amazing"
Kurogane quickly speaks up to say "Will you cut that out I only did it once or twice when I was young, and that cow looked nothing like this…"
"Well you better watch anyway then" Toya says as he reaches out for the udder, Syaoran has a focused look on his face, he enjoyed learning new skills.
Toya takes the udder and squeezes it in a certain way and a lot of milk pours into the bucket below.
"Okay got it?" He asks the group.
"Got it" Syaoran says confidently.
"Yip" says Fay as he smiles.
Kuro just grunts some unspeakable reply.
They all sat around the shed with a cow each and began to milk their cows. Syaoran found it much harder than it had looked when Toya did it but he persevered and started to get the hang of it. Kurogane it seems remembered his first time and quickly had his bucket half full. Fay it seems was also not having much difficulty however he may of lost a little milk spraying, on Kurogane from behind. Much to Kuro's annoyance…
After the milking it was egg locating, Toya explained that chicken liked to hide there eggs. (He did not mention however the fact these chickens where about twice the size of normal ones and are omnivorous)("Omnivorous" means they eat both meat and veg) So every time they went after an egg they got bitten and scratched. Toya shrugged and said, "It is not so bad once they know you for a few days".
So now they were onto the feather hunting, they chose to split up in order to collect the most feathers. Fay found 5 feathers quite easily however getting to them was proving to be a bit of a problem. His feathers where inside the nest of a chicken they had missed earlier, Fay decided to sit and think about how to get the chicken out, so he sat cross legged infront of the recess in the barn wall where he had found the nest. While he sat there a black and blue striped cat came up and sat on his lap, "I don't suppose you know how to get rid of that do you" Fay asked the cat smiling. The cat looked at him and tilted his head, Fay rubbed it under the chin and the cat started to purr. The chicken it seems did not like the sound of that for it charged out of its recess and chased off the cat clucking and squawking shrilly at the poor feline. This was enough time however for Fay to retrieve both the feathers and the 3 eggs that lay in the nest.
Kurogane had similar luck having to climb a tree to collect the 2 feathers stuck in its upper most branched, when he did get to the top however the wind blew away one of the feathers and when he reached for it the branch below him snapped, his butt landed on solid ground the next minute and he discovered he actually fell on another feather. So with a total of 3 feathers Kuro made his way back.
Syaoran had already collected 3 feathers and had just spotted another 2 in the gutter of an out building. So with a small jump he landed on the roof and pulled out the two feathers.
"Okay that's five" he said to himself. As he jumped down however he heard a loud rattle, looking at the source of the sound he saw a thick door, there in the small gap at the bottom of the door was another feather. Syaoran made his way over to the door but he was wary now, that bang had shook the door and he could tell by looking, that this door held within it something very dangerous so he approached it cautiously. No movement came from within however and there were no sights, sounds or even smells of anything behind this door. So he was just beginning to think that maybe it was a store house and something had fallen but as his finger touched the feather Syaoran was reminded of Kuro's words that morning, about the sounds we don't hear. Suddenly there was a massive impact against the door; the entire door shook on its hinges and lock. Syaoran pulled back in shock from the door tripped but rolled into a crouched position. As Syaoran stared at the door it all went silent again, it took him a moment to realise that the feather was in his hand he must have grabbed it before the stumbled. Syaoran promised himself to ask Toya about this door and the beast inside.
Syaoran made his way back to the others, the whole sun had just risen over the horizon when Fay spotted him and waved "Syaoran-kun how did you do?"
"I did ok I got 6" said Syaoran smiling.
Toya waved him to put the feathers in the sack he was carrying. "That's pretty good runt, anyone would think you guys are practised in feather collecting, I'm pretty good but I only got 4, both you and Fay beat me" Toya said sealing the bag and pushing his hair back.
Fay was just about to say something when Syaoran said "Toya what's behind that door?"
Toya looked at Syaoran and instantly knew which door he meant. "You'll find out after breakfast, speaking of which I can smell that Yukito has something nice on".
So they all headed for the main house to have something to eat.
So what do you think this time around? There is more to come in the next chapter stay tuned…or whatever you do on the net? Sorry its not letting me insert the rulers. Edit- fixed it)
