Besarki: Arghhhh! This is so damn late. College is way harder than I thought it would be TT_TT The updating speed for this is faster than once a month, I swear. I've just been busy is all. v.v Sowwie...
Okay, so I thought I'd put up a chart with everyone's spirit allies right away rather than wait until they appear in the story so here it is:
Hana
Amidamaru
Men
Bason
Shamash
Anna III
Silver Wing
Silver Tail
Didn't know Anna's but since all the other parents seem to be passing their spirits down, I figured that Silva probably is too, though the fact that Anna uses a sword probably indicates that she uses a different ghost, but whatever. These are subject to change.
Thank you again to everyone who reviewed. I will eventually get around to replying to you guys. o.o This chapter is kinda short. They'll get longer as we begin to finally explore the real plot of the story. Phew. These intros are driving me crazy.
No song this time. I'm too damn tired to look through my library for a good one. I listened to The Technicolor Phase by Owl City while I was writing the end of this one, though so we'll say this chapter's song is The Technicolor Phase. I'll try not to repeat songs that I used in Living For The Moment, but since these stories are unrelated, I don't exactly feel guilty about doing so.
The quiet clanking sound of coins colliding together was the only sound that filled the air apart from our breathing.
After what seemed like an eternity, one of us sighed. Collectively, we only had the equivalent of about 4000 yen left in our reserve. That wasn't nearly enough to go grocery shopping, let alone storm the country. Plus, Anna's money was in American dollars and Men's in Renminbi so we'd have to pay even more to get their shares converted into yen like mine.
"Well, it seems fairly obvious that we aren't exactly rich here," Anna quietly lamented.
"I'm surprised that you don't have more, pointy. Isn't your old man loaded?" I asked, teasing just a little bit in order to lighten the air.
Men threw me a defiant look. "Don't even start, Hana. It's not my fault your family is so damn poor."
I chuckled slightly then flashed him a grin. I knew how much Men hated my petty optimism, but in times like these, well, it couldn't hurt.
"Wipe that smile off your face, Asakura," The Chinese boy hissed. Then again, maybe it could.
"Please accept my humblest apologies," I teased.
Men growled and took a swing at my head. He missed.
"Aww, what's wrong, little guy? You're not mad are you?" I laughed.
And Anna clobbered me with the hilt of her sword.
"That's enough children," She boredly put forth. She didn't mind my fury as she went to reattach her weapon to it's resting place on her belt.
I cringed, rubbing the back of my skull while sending a baleful glare in her direction. She completely ignored me.
Across from us, Men merely crossed his arms and stuck his nose up in the air.
I scoffed. This wasn't getting us anywhere. Might as well speak the obvious and get this conversation rolling. "Well, it's fairly apparent that we're pretty much broke," I said, reaching forward and pulling all of our money into the little sack it had been in previously, tying the mouth closed with a dingy little string. "Let's cross our fingers that it won't cost much to fund this little escapade."
Anna swiped the bag out of my hand, and then carefully balanced it in her own. She eyed it carefully as if there might be some hidden compartment somewhere within it, though we all knew that such a thought was ridiculous. "It's at least enough to buy a map and some meager provisions," She pointed out.
"If we can find a store," Men mumbled.
Anna placed the hand holding the money bag against her hip and set herself in a pondering pose, her other hand on her chin and her eyes staring skyward.
"The map is a must," She noted. "Especially since Hana's the only native here and he has no sense of direction."
"HEY!" I shouted. I wasn't about to stand here and take this abuse. Especially not from Anna.
She didn't seem to share my views. As soon as I finished shouting, Anna turned her head and flashed me a grin, but made no move to further address me.
"Okay, so on the off chance that there is something open somewhere," Men began, "we still have the problem of finding it and getting there without being found ourselves."
I shrugged indifferently. "We've been dodging Hao for years. What's to say that we can't do it now?"
"Maybe the fact that our lookout, Silver Wing, is now gone?"
I frowned, knowing that he was right. Amidamaru was just as good a lookout as Silver Wing, but, unlike my two companions, I only had one spirit ally. If he got caught or I got caught without him, we were both in deep trouble.
So sending Amidamaru was out. Bason wasn't exactly quiet so he wasn't a good idea either. Silver Tail was Anna's only spirit until we met up with Silver Wing again so he was out, too.
That left Shamash, which was, go figure, the most recognizable out of all of our spirits, apart from Amidamaru, maybe. That made us rule him out too unless absolutely necessary.
Great. I sighed. This was just getting better and better.
"We mustn't be so negative," Amidamaru pressed, noting the look on my face. "There is still much to be grateful for."
"Such as...?" I trailed. He opened his mouth to speak, but no words came.
Anna came to my spirit's rescue, changing the topic back to the one at hand. "Silver Wing had offhandedly reported a small shop a little north of here. I don't know if it's still there or not, but it's our best bet." She assumed her thinking pose once more. "We should split up. They're looking for three of us, right? Call me crazy, but if we acted human and kept a low profile, I think that Hao's minions might just be stupid enough not to bother us."
Both Men and I stared at her with dead expressions. "She's totally lost it," I deadpanned.
"Totally," Men agreed.
Anna stuck her tongue out. "Look, I'm just trying to think outside the box here. If we just hang out here, Hao's gonna find us. We have to move."
I exchanged glances with my comrades. Much as I hated to admit it, Anna had a point.
"So, you think we should split up? For how long? And where would we meet back up?" I asked. "We are meeting back up right?"
Anna grinned, clearly pleased that we were taking up her approach. "Well, we won't just split up for no reason. I was thinking that we should gather materials--which Men and I will cover--and you can scope out the area. You're the best at sneaking around."
"'Cause you're the scrawniest out of all of us," Men added. I shot him a venomous glare, which he merely shrugged off.
"Okay, so Men being a bonehead aside, what's the plan?"
"Your intensive maturity astounds me, mongrel," Men quipped. I ignored him.
"As I was saying," Anna started, shooting us both warning glances to caution us to keep quiet or else, "I'll get the map and whatever else I can afford in town. If I run into trouble, Silver Tail can help me escape.
"Men, you can gather some food from the forest. Those goons shouldn't be able to see you because of your size, but for the sake that they do, don't confront them. I mean it. Act like some scared little human and hightail it. They should be completely fooled.
"Hana, I want you to find out which way is north and find us a good path in that direction. Unfortunately, the guards will know who you are if they see you so stay out of their sight. I'll see about buying you a disguise in town."
Super. "What's your definition of 'a good path'?" I asked.
She rolled her eyes. "The road with the least guards--" Insert 'DUH' "--If you find one with none at all, it's probably a trap. Speaking of which, I have a feeling that that last run was a bit too easy. No guards the entire time? Fishy. I think we may have run into a set up. I don't know if it just failed or if we're still in it so I want both of you need to keep your eyes peeled for anything overly suspicious. Also, try to keep spirit usage to a minimum. Remember that most of the guard is human so they can't see our ghosts, but I wouldn't doubt that there would be a shaman mixed in there so don't take too many liberties. Remember: We're 'humans.'"
"Sounds simple enough," Men mused. I nodded in agreement.
"Okay, so after we finish our jobs, where should we meet up? I would rather not backtrack so let's pick somewhere ahead of us."
"Seeing as how we don't know which direction is which right now, and 'ahead of us' might be somewhere far behind, I think backtracking back to the bottom of the bridge sounds just fine," Anna decided. I simply sighed, knowing full well that I didn't have a prayer when it came to arguing with her. She reminded me of my mother sometimes.
"Okay fine. The bridge it is, but when?"
"Tomorrow," She announced. "Sundown at the latest. If you aren't there by then, we'll--"
"Look for you," I interrupted firmly. I wore a hard, unwavering face. "We aren't leaving anybody behind."
Anna slapped me upside the head. "That's what I was going to say, Hana," She hissed.
I shrugged, not sure if I believed her or not. Not sure that it mattered.
A sudden wave of excitement washed over me, and while I couldn't for the life of me understand it, I wasn't about to turn it away. "Okay," I began, a mischievous smirk on my face, "we've got the whole damn world looking for us, a sadistic madman sitting around waiting for us to mess up, parents that may or may not need saving, and a whole other load of shit waiting for us. Are you guys ready for this?"
My two friends snickered in amusement.
Anna held her hand over her mouth to try to muffle her laughter, while Men just went ahead and gave it to me straight.
"Hana, you give the lamest pep talks," He informed me.
I clapped my hands together once, a half-crazed grin on my face. "I'm perfectly aware of that, Men. Now, are we doing this or what?"
My eyes traveled to Anna's and then to Men's. Both nodded and threw me confident smirks.
"As long as I get to give the speeches from now on," Men bartered.
I grinned. "Deal."
A moment later, our meeting was interrupted by an unwelcome guest. "Hey! What are you kids doing?" An oncoming soldier demanded, marching to compensate for the mud that caused his boots to stubbornly stick to the ground.
Our heads whipped toward him and then back to each other.
"Separate!" I whispered.
Without another word, the three of us turned and sprinted off in opposite directions, driven by a rush of adrenaline and the promise of a better life.
Besarki: Aaaaand they're splitting up for a bit. We'll be staying with Hana, of course (cause he's my favorite ;) ) but those two will be back, OR MAYBE THEY'LL GET KILLED AND BE GONE FOR THE REST OF THE STORY! BWAHAHAHAAAA! ...No, they'll be back -.-
Hana, Men, and Anna are like frickin Camp Dreary so I'm giving Anna a little bit more of a positive outlook to balance the boys out. Men will be the gloomy one throughout and, while Hana will have his Yoh moments, I'm going to try to write him like I write his mother--sarcastic. Asakura Anna's cruel sense of humor may show up in her namesake from time to time, but mostly it will be with Hana. I'm really just experimenting with their characters right now, seeing how I want to write them. I think this is going to be it, though. Not sure, yet.
I had no idea where I was going with this chapter until the end, which is why it's so redundant throughout and why the beginning sucks so bad. Sighhhhh.
Don't remember if Anna wore a belt before, but she does now. Blah.
Haha. I've been watching too much Justice League. I quoted it like a bazillion times in this chapter. Hahaha. Even the title is after an episode (one which is definitely not among my favorites though it was a good one). Aye, I can't help it. I am the biggest dork in the history of crowbar-wielding dorks.
DAMN! THIS IS A LONG ASS AUTHOR'S NOTE! Anyway, just wanted to let you know that I finally set up a Fire in the Sky page on my website. I'll let you know when I'm working on the chapter and when to expect delays. Also, I play games occasionally. If you participate in the games, I'll consider it super extra crazy awesome. I'll have a reviewer award at the end of the story for whoever got the most of those questions right along with the regular reviewer awards. Answer in a review or PM!
Kay. That's it for now. If you leave Besarki reviews, she'll be your best friend! *Sad attempt at puppy dog eyes* Bah, this works better:
REVIEW OR I'LL HIT YOU WITH MY CROWBAR!
