Besarki: Well, that's a pretty good way of deciding. I won't be working on Living For Tomorrow at all until Fire in the Sky is completed. :) Theoretically, anyway.
Oh, and I'm modeling Silver Tail off of Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh. ^-^ Don't know why, but it seems like a good fit. I don't remember the other versions of him, and I'm too lazy to look back just for that.
And I have to say it...Oni Kabuto?! DEMON ARMOR?! LAAAAAME! Though I have to say, Super Horse Dragon is a THOUSAND times worse. I saw the oni kanji and got all excited, but NOOOOOOOOO, it's oni ARMOR! LAMELAMELAME! UGH! Honestly, Takei!
Okay, so the first passage is in a narrator's POV, but that always looks lame, so I just kept it as ??? the actual ??? for that part is the man described (even though he's probably the most obvious one yet) Anyway, chapter away!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In this farewell
There's no blood
There's no alibi
Cause I've drawn regret
From the truth
Of a thousand lies
So let mercy come
And wash away
What I've done
I've faced myself
To cross out what I've become
Erase myself
And let go of what I've done
~What I've Done, Linkin Park
(This was a really hard chapter to pick a song for because of difference between the feeling in the beginning and the feeling in the end. This applies more to the end of the chapter, so just ignore it for the beginning)
???
High on the cliffside of a towering ridge, a single man stood watching the small collection of children down in the canyon interacting with each other, a small smile on his face.
Aside from his tribal-influenced clothing, the man wore a cloak made of animal hide and a few black and white feathers in his long, dark hair.
The man wasn't young, but he wasn't old either--probably being in his late thirties or early forties.
Somehow, the man seemed to know all of the members of the renegade party, though only one of them knew him. Personally, anyway.
The man knew that the oldest of the group was a Patch girl named Anna, the daughter of an official of the just ended Shaman Fight. He knew that the middle child was Hana, the son of his old friend, Asakura Yoh and his wife, Asakura Anna. He knew that the youngest was Tao Men, son of Tao Ren and Iron Maiden Jeanne. Yes, he knew these children well.
Just as he also knew that Asakura Anna, Tao Ren, and Tao Jeanne were all imprisoned in Hao's jail cells now, emaciated and broken.
The man could not repress the sigh that overcame him. He mourned for the loss of life, for the loss of spirit, and of drive. It wasn't fair that yesterday's heroes were now today's discarded trash. It wasn't fair that their children had to grow without their parents' guidance.
It wasn't fair, but that's what it was. The way things were.
And the man mourned for the world.
And yet, he hoped for the future. He had faith in the future.
As a single, lonely tear trailed down his face, the man turned back to the laughing children, and their expressions made him smile.
The three made a good team, he couldn't help but notice. Like a little surrogate family, they cared for each other and kept each other safe. They balanced each other out, and made each other happy. It was a wonderful sight.
However, while all the children were a sight to behold, out of all of them, the man seemed particularly interested in the eldest of the little trio, smiling as she decked the taller, blond-haired boy for laughing at her.
The man laughed a little, smiling at the young woman like a father smiled as his beloved daughter. These were trying times, and yet, if anyone could overcome them, it was those three.
Yes, it was those three.
A moment passed, and the man reached slightly out toward the group, though his sad eyes remained fixed on the young girl.
Like a father to his beloved daughter.
His beloved daughter.
"Be strong, little bird."
---0---0---0---0---0---
Hana
Men and I exchanged amused glances as Anna dipped her foot in the water to check the temperature. Seconds later, she jerked her leg back and broke into violent shivers.
"THAT'S FREEZING!" She yelped, shaking her foot out in an attempt to return feeling to the numbed limb. Beside her, Silver Tail sighed and brushed his long lupine tail over the ground.
"It's been a while since the sun has shined, Anna-san," He pointed out dully.
Anna wasn't amused by her spirit ally's comment. She stuck her tongue out and threw her hair over her shoulder. Silver Tail just sighed.
"So anyway," She began, "how do you want to do this?"
I crossed my arms. "Amidamaru should be back any minute with a status report. If the pipeline isn't heavily guarded, and it shouldn't be, then we'll move forward. Everyone knows their job, right?"
Men rolled his eyes. "You and Amidamaru search for anything abnormal with your eyes, Shamash and I looked for abnormalities with our minds, and Anna and Silver Tail paddle. Bason keeps an extra eye out, though remains in his spirit ball form unless he sees anything."
"Right," I affirmed. I dropped my arms, and turned my head, motion caught from the corner of my eye.
"Hana-dono!" Amidamaru cried from the mouth of the underwater pipe. He burst out from underwater and rushed toward me. "Hana-dono."
"Amidamaru. What's the verdict?"
The samurai took a breath. "The cavern is clear. There are guards at the exit, but only a few. It should be no problem."
I nodded. "Thank you, Amidamaru." I turned to Men. "You and Bason are on soldier duty."
Men thrust his hands forward, stretching and grinning mischievously. "Got it."
I turned to Anna. She was in the middle of oversouling Silver Tail, his spiritual essence twirling around her left leg. "Are you ready?"
She smirked. "Always." She reached her arms out to us, taking my hand and taking Men's. "Hold on tight," She urged, grinning hugely before she took off and disappeared below the murky surface.
---0---0---0---0---0---
The water was cold, as Anna had previously observed, and was it ever dark. If we didn't run the risk of drowning, I'd tell her to slow down. The likelihood of us being discovered down here was smaller than a grain of rice. Well, it would be if Anna's constant kicking wasn't stirring up all kinds of water vibrations, hence why I considered asking her to slow down.
In the darkness, Amidamaru and I were pretty much useless so the burden fell on Men, which was probably exactly the way he liked it.
I snorted internally. That idiot.
Anna swerved to the side and shot into a different pipe. I wasn't expecting it, but I held on. I turned to check that Men had as well. He was fine.
I turned my head forward once more, searching for soldiers that I knew I wouldn't find.
I was the only one with my eyes open at this point, the only one whose eyes had to fight the rushing water. I couldn't help but feel that this was kinda dangerous seeing as how Anna was the one navigating.
But whatever. If she could steer without looking, then who was I to tell her to do otherwise? Kudos to her for being able to do such a thing. Plus, it's not like I wasn't worried. Anna was perfectly capable.
I think...
---0---0---0---0---0---
We had only just stepped out of the frigid water and all hell had already broken out. In the icy depths of the freezing pool, Men's hair had fallen from its grace and gone to lay flat against his head. I found this comical. Anna found it hilarious.
The itako howled like a hyena as Men tried in vain to style his wet hair back into its usual all-commanding presence. Wasn't going well so far, but, then again, who ever styled their hair when it was still wet?
"Shut up, Anna!" He shrieked, his face bright red from his extreme embarrassment. His hands gripped at his once spikey hair.
Even I had to bite my tongue as I stood there. His desperation was highly amusing.
"Don't think I don't see you smiling, Hana!" He barked, turning on me now.
"Hey!" I held my hands up defensively, though I couldn't hide the smirk on my face. "I'm not the one who used his hair gel for target practice!"
"YOU'RE DEAD, ASAKURA!" He shrilled, jabbing his spear toward me. I deflected it with my quickly formed oversoul.
"Easy guys," Anna interrupted, still chuckling a bit. She turned toward the forest to our right, pointed an extended finger out toward it. "That is where we need to go," She declared.
Men dropped his weapon and turned toward it. "There?"
Anna nodded, her hands on her hips. "Yep!"
Men paused, looking first at Anna and then at me. His calm expression abruptly changed to one of anger. "Then what the hell are we waiting here for?! LET'S GO!" With that, he barged forward, automatically declaring himself leader of this part of the expedition.
I sighed and rolled my eyes. "Some things never change, do they?"
Anna giggled and grabbed my hand. "Come on, we better start after him before he gets too far ahead and marches in the wrong direction."
Without waiting for me to respond, she yanked me forward into the foreboding woods, running at full speed and paying little attention to what was going on around her.
But I was.
The moment we crossed into the forest, I immediately knew that something wasn't right.
It wasn't as dark as I would have expected, but it was twice as spooky. Not only was there absolutely no animal life, there was also very minimal plant life aside from the decrepit trees. The level of sound traveling through the range was virtually abysmal and the last thing the forest looked like was safe. Not to mention that fact that there wasn't a single ghost in sight, and places like these usually made really good haunts.
I shuddered. You knew things were bad when a place gave a shaman the creeps.
"Notice anything weird about this place?" I asked as we ran.
Anna frowned in confusion. "Not really. It just seems like your typical haunted forest. No big deal."
My grimace stayed in place. "It takes ghosts to be haunted, and, in case you didn't notice, I can't sense any for miles."
Her face grew immediately suspicious and she slowed to a halt. "What are you trying to say, Hana?"
I glared out into the distance, Amidamaru materializing to a point beside me. His eyes remained fixated just the same as mine.
"Hana...?" She spoke, nervously, it seemed. The feeling was mutual.
A deathly wind brushed across our faces, a ghoulish sound sailed over our heads, and a horrifying chill rain down our spines.
It became immediately apparent that something was horribly wrong here.
And I was beginning to think that there may be a reason for absence of souls in these chilling woods.
"Men," I suddenly realized. A sickening sense of dread filled me. My head whipped toward my friend.
Anna's eyes widened and suddenly, both of us broke out into an all-out run in the direction of our missing friend.
As we ran, we searched, we called, and we panicked.
"Men!" I shouted, something Anna echoed seconds later. There was no answer, and so I tried again. "Men!"
As expected, there was no reply. Only nothing in a vast pit of nothingness.
We continued to run. Run as fast as we could, growing all the more anxious with every step we took.
We called out for him more, but, just as before, he didn't answer. This wasn't good.
A sudden, screeching howl broke through the silence, cracking any inch of peace and level-headedness that may of remained. My eyes became saucers.
"What the hell was that?!" Anna gasped.
I squeezed my eyes shut and then instantly opened them again. "I don't know," I admitted. "Though I'm sure it's nothing good."
Anna shot me a worried look, and I shook my head.
"Just keep running!" I told her, already way out of breath.
We continued forward, never slowing, and not yelling anymore.
We ran and ran.
We continued to search.
Our panic reached new levels.
But we kept our heads. At least for the moment.
My eyes strained to see as far ahead of me as possible. There was a clearing coming up, I noticed. Perhaps Men was there.
I pushed myself to run faster, despite the fact that my legs screamed at me to slow down. There was no time.
Anna followed close behind, slower than me only because, in her fright, she had forgotten to engage her oversoul. It wasn't something I'd blame her for doing.
We soared forward, running faster than we were usually able to. Adrenaline pumped through our veins, fueled by fear and anxiety.
We rushed on, never slowing, never catching our breath.
The fact that we were fast-approaching the clearing did little to alleviate our nerves. We moved ahead, our stress and dread just as unbearable as before.
When the run was finally over, when we had finally reached our destination, we jerked to stop.
Our stomachs dropped through the floor.
Before us was none other than Tao Men lying motionless at the feet of a humongous, four-eyed Inugami.
Besarki: GASP! FIRST MAJOR CONFLICT! Have you noticed that, for someone who sucks at writing battle scenes, I sure set a lot of them up for myself. o.o Aye.
Hao seems to really buy into Japanese folklore so I thought it would be kinda cool to make a lot of his lackeys into mythical beasts from Japanese legend. I dunno. Seemed like a good idea at the time.
For those who are unfamiliar with the concept of Japanese folklore, Inugamis are dog spirits. Generally, they're good and helpful spirits, but, in this case, I'm using one as a monster. So, bad guy this time around. Sorry. Might be a tainted spirit or something. We'll explore that next chapter.
Well, the next challenge is up and has been for a few days. If you get this one, I'll give you three points cause I love the two characters from this chapter's challenge so much :D
Someone very important is going to be showing his face (sort of) soon. Who is it? Take a guess. You'll know -.-
ANYWHO! REVIEW!
Ah, last thing: I don't think I'll get to update again before this weekend so I'm going to go ahead and wish everyone a happy Halloween! Eat lots of candy!
