Strange Journey

By Phoenix Hoshika

The Dyne Arc: Part III

Taiko lay at the head of the bed sleeping soundly under the covers while Ryu was at the foot of the bed asleep, that is until he rolled over and fell on the floor with a loud thud. Setting up Ryu looked around wildly wondering what happened, but quickly figured it out. He was relieved to see that Taiko was not disturbed and sat down on the bed sighing with relief. Looking over his should out at the sunny sky then back over at Taiko he wondered if he should wake her up. Deciding not to Ryu looked up at the ceiling wondering what to do.

"Ryu?" Taiko said waking up.

Ryu's heart skipped a beat when she called him, he was on the verge of falling asleep when the unexpected sound of her voice startled him back awake. "What is it?"

"What time is it?" Taiko asked sleepily.

"I think it's past noon." Ryu answered.

"Ah, okay." Taiko said closing her barely opened eyes. "Past noon!" She shouted abruptly sitting up.

Ryu stared at her for a moment then turned back around.

"You don't think they noticed that I'm gone do you?" Taiko asked coming to sit beside him.

"Probably not." Ryu said wondering that himself. "If we need to get going let me know." Ryu said crawling to the center of the bed.

"Hey, you aren't going back to sleep are you?" Taiko asked slightly annoyed.

"There isn't anything else to do." Ryu replied laying back down.

"I just want to know something before you go back to sleep; what does the king look like?" Taiko asked but received no response. "Ryu?" Taiko called but still the dragon was silent. "Ryu?" Taiko said again turning around to find him sound asleep. "He looks so harmless." Taiko thought then turned back around bringing her knees to her face. "What should I do now?" She wondered.

After a while of debating whether or not to leave the room Taiko finally decided to take a look out the window. "Wow, there aren't even half as many guards running around as there were yesterday. Wonder why that is?" Taiko thought. "I guess I could try going back to my room." Taking a step out the window Taiko flew up to the top of the castle landing of the roof. "I can't remember which one it was!" Taiko thought frowning.

"Why are you running around in a night gown?" Someone asked and Taiko nearly jumped out of her skin.

"Oh, it's just you." Taiko said when she saw it was speaking to her then turned her attention to staring down below.

Dyne sweat dropped. "I wasn't trying to offend you before." He said awkwardly.

"So do people around here always ask such crude questions or is it just you?" Taiko asked not really paying him any attention as she tried to remember which room she was in.

"I'm sorry." Dyne apologized.

"I can't think with him talking to me." Taiko said then looked at Dyne who had come to stand beside her.

"It's a nice view isn't it?" He said climbing up on the waist high wall that was around the roof.

"Sure." Taiko replied half heartedly. "Hey, why are you still hanging around here? Are you trying to get caught? What kind of thief are you? Not a very good one if you ask me." Taiko said.

Dyne sweat dropped. "I haven't decided what I'm going to steal yet."

"That's exactly what I'm talking about. How can someone like you afford to be so lax about these kind of things?"

"I guess you're right; I am not a very good thief, am I?" Dyne said feeling uncomfortable.

"Well, you've managed to spend all this time lurking around and not end up in prison or anything, but I still don't get why you would sneak into a place like this and not have at least some idea of what you want?"

"Because it's fun." Dyne answered with a smile.

"I'm not advocating what you're doing, but if you keep doing this you're going to get caught sooner or later so shouldn't you just do what you're going to do and run?"

Dyne smiled.

"What's that look for?" Taiko asked.

"You say you don't advocate what I'm doing but you won't turn me in. Thank you."

"Don't thank me. It's just that I have no reason to turn you in."

"Are you still concerned?" Dyne asked pointedly.

"That the king of this place is some kind of homicidal trigger happy maniac?"

"Yeah." Dyne confirmed sweat dropping.

"Of course!"

"If that were true don't you think he would have done something already?" Dyne asked leaning over on the wall so that he was face to face with Taiko.

"Well…" Taiko begin blushing and turned away from him. "Who knows what he's planning. I mean he could be too busy with other things and so the moment he gets a break I could find myself being used for target practice on his private gun range or something."

"The king here advocates peace and harmony. Even if someone commits a serious offense the worse that could happen to them is life in prison and even then…" Dyne said abruptly stopping.

"You sound so passionate when you speak about him, yet here you are plotting to steal from him? Are you just bored or something?" Taiko asked turning around smiling.

Dyne gave an exasperated groan. "You have no idea."

"Figures," Taiko said sweat dropping.

"Hm?" Dyne asked curiously.

Well, from what I saw people here are pretty laid back as if they don't have a care in the world.

"They don't." Dyne answered still leaning back on the wall. "The king makes sure everyone has a home, food to eat and something to do."

"He's either a really great man an utter control freak." Taiko commented.

Dyne sweat dropped again. "Hey, what do you think he looks like?"

"Don't tell me all this time you've been sneaking around here and you haven't seen him."

"No, I've seen him plenty of times. I'm just wondering what you think he might look like since you said you never saw him."

"Well…" Taiko started as she begin to pace around slowly. "He must be an old man gray hair and a beard. Perhaps he's tall with broad shoulders, you know someone who looks old but has a healthy body not all bent over and shaky like a withering tree. Basically I think he looks like someone you can put your trust in like a grandfather or an older uncle.

"That's a nice image." Dyne said walking beside her.

"That's just based on what you have told me about him."

"Is that so?" Dyne said sounding a little let down. His eyes swelled three times their size as Taiko told him what she thought the king might really be like using her words to paint an image of a devil with a red tail pitch fork in hand all the while meticulously looking over model of the city, the castle towering ridiculously high over all the other buildings in the city.

"That's kinda based on what you told me too." Taiko added.

"How so?" Dyne wondered out loud the sweat drop seeming to be a permanent fixture on his head.

"I really don't know what to expect when I see him."All I know if I'm really a guest like he claims he won't mind if I go around sight seeing." Taiko said flying off the roof then turned around to speak to Dyne one last time. "Hey, if you get caught and I'm still around maybe I'll come visit you in the dungeon." Taiko said smiling.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means if you get caught and I'm still around I'll stop by just to say I told you so." Taiko said sticking out her tongue then flew away.

Dyne remained on the roof looking down at the city. Sighing he turned around to come face to face with a creature no bigger than an infant, its long red hair flowing over its tiny wings as it hovered in front of him.

"Miss me?" It asked hugging Dyne's face and kissing him on the lips.

"Bleah!" Dyne said in disgust knocking the tiny naked being away from him then fell to the floor with both hands over his mouth as he tried to keep from vomiting.

"Believe me when I say that was three times as bad for me as it was for you." The being said nearly gagging itself. "Ew, you put your tongue in my mouth!" It wailed.

"I did not!" Dyne said angrily with one hand still over his mouth his eyes blazing.

"Oh yeah, I forget that was me." The being said with a laught then floated over to Dyne who was shuddering. "Are you crying?" I'm the one who's going to have nightmares for the next ten decades to come."

"I'm sure you will." Dyne said regaining his composure and standing up. "What do you want?"

"Oh my, did I make you angry?" It asked mockingly as it flew out of Dyne's immediate reach.

"I'm only going to warn you once Dynie-Pooh..." It said smirking as another one like itself with yellow-green hair snuck up behind Dyne and loosened a jar of flees dumping it on him.

Feeling the biting of the small insects Dyne begin scratching. Suddenly realizing someone was behind him he quickly turned around and the yellow-green haired being hurriedly flew to the side of the red haired one.

"Niyo!" It whispered harshly. "You were supposed to dump them on him after I told him what I was warning him about!"

"Sorry, but did it really make a difference since we were going to dump them on him anyway?" Niyo asked smiling mischievously at the itching Dyne.

"Hehe, you're right." The red haired being said smirking.

"Later, Dynie-Pooh." It said blowing him a kiss then disappearing with its friend into thin air.

"You little monsters, what have you done!" Dyne questioned even though no one was there to answer and he had a pretty good idea of what had happened. "Aaagh!" Dyne yelled running off the roof scratching at the sides of his head furiously.

After making a hasty trip to the town's pet store and buying flee powder and shampoo and nearly everything thing they had for getting rid of and preventing flees Dyne quickly found his way into a tub bathing himself in the shampoo that burned everywhere he had scratched himself and then some. He washed himself several times in a row before finally getting out of the tub and applying a preventative treatment to his scalp and other parts of his body (which he'd have to do everyday for the next ten days to come) then wearily went and collapsed into his bed. His skin burned and his room smelled of smoke since he had immediately thrown the clothing he was wearing into the fireplace perpendicular to the bed. Sighing Dyne closed his eyes and slept an uncomfortable sleep. It wasn't the first time he had been subjected to such torturous treatment. He vowed the first time it happened he'd get revenge on the creatures for what they done to him, but it seemed just like last time this time they were able to get the better of him. Though what they had done had made him extremely angry he was able to find peace in the fact that he had all the time in the world to get them back and get them back good.

To Be Continued