A/n: Chapter 3, chapter 3. I am very sleepy. Yep. Ok, onwards!
Chapter 3:
"Wa-ta-shi wa Hope de-su?" Hope slowly repeated the phrase.
"Good," Keiko said. "How do you say 'How are you'?"
Hope thought about it for a moment, trying to remember the phrase. For the past hour and a half, Keiko had been working with her, trying to teach her a few basic Japanese phrases. "Ha-hajimashite?" she offered uncertaintly.
"Hajimemashite," Keiko corrected her. She smiled reassuringly. "Almost."
'Hajimemashite, hajimemashite,' Hope repeated in her mind, trying to engrave it in her brain. So far, she knew how to say "my name is", "hello", "goodbye", "thank you", and now "how are you", but she was still forgetting them and getting them confused a lot. She sighed. Learning a new language really was hard, and she hadn't even gotten into grammar rules or anything. Hopefully she wouldn't have to, because she would figure out how to get back home before then.
"Keiko, time for dinner!" Keiko's mother called from the kitchen.
"It is dinnertime," Keiko told Hope, and the two girls climbed off Keiko's bed and joined her parents.
Mrs. Yukimura was a very kind woman. She spoke a little bit of English, and had welcomed Hope warmly and gladly, even though she was a stranger. She had even insisted on giving Hope some money to buy clothes with, since all she had was the jeans and t-shirt she was wearing. Hope had been hesitant about taking it, but Mrs. Yukimura wouldn't take no for an answer. Keiko said they could go shopping after school tomorrow.
Hope sighed as Keiko handed her a fork after she spent a good two minutes fumbling with chopsticks. Keiko and her family were nice, but she really just wanted to go home. Maybe this was all just a dream and she would wake up in her nice comfortable bed at home. Unfortunately, that seemed pretty unlikely at this point.
Din followed the black-clothed boy as quietly as she could, trying to keep her distance so he wouldn't notice her. She'd been doing this for about two hours now, or at least that's what she thought. To tell the truth, she wasn't sure how much time had passed, but it felt like two hours, so that's what she was going with.
This guy really did scare the crap out of her, especially after she realized he was threatening to kill her if she kept following him, but on the other hand, she'd decided she would rather take her chances with him than with another of those monsters. At least he hadn't tried to eat her. The really bad thing was that he was extremely fast; more than once she had almost lost track of him. She almost had the feeling he knew she was following him and was making a halfhearted attempt at losing her. Then again, she was pretty sure if he knew she was still following him, she would either be dead or he really would have lost her. So she kept following.
Hiei cast a glance over his shoulder. That damn girl was still following him, and she actually had the gall to think that she was fooling him. He laughed at her stupidity. As if she, a mere human, could actually fool him. The only reason he was tolerating her was that she wasn't bothering him. In fact, he was somewhat amused at her pathetic attempt at stealth. There was a demon village nearby anyway. He would let her follow him until they reached that place, and then he would leave her there. Unless she was a complete idiot, she would stay in the village, although they might just eat her regardless. It didn't matter to him anyway.
Din sighed. She really wished she was in better shape, because all this walking, and sometimes running, was starting to wear her out. She couldn't afford to take a break though, because she was pretty sure the moment she stopped she would lose sight of him. So she kept going, pushing her body's stamina a little farther. Before long, she saw a group of houses looming up in the distance, and she realized it was a village. She smiled happily. Maybe this guy would decide to rest here, and she could finally take a break. He couldn't keep walking forever, right?
Much to her relief, the boy walked straight into the village. She jogged so she could get a little closer to him, and hid behind one of the houses, watching while he talked to a burly man. Even though she couldn't understand what he was saying, but she could tell by his tone that it was probably something threatening. Then he looked over his shoulder and glared right at her.
Din ducked behind the corner, pressing her back up against the house. He'd known she was following him after all. Now she felt like an idiot. Sighing, she looked around the corner again, but he was gone. Instead, the burly man he'd been talking to was walking up to her. She hesitated for a moment, trying to decide if she should run or not, but he reached her before she made up her mind.
"Are you the human girl?" he asked.
Din thought about what the man had just said. She was pretty sure she'd understood most of it. Anata, ningen, onna, desuka. Oh! Wait, was she a human girl? Well, she was, but it was still kind of a weird question. Oh, whatever. "Hai," she replied.
"This way," the man said, indicating for her to follow him.
She debated whether or not to actually follow him, but since she didn't know what else to do, she went with it. Why did everyone keep calling her human? The monster she understood, but the boy and now this man? Weren't they human? Wait a minute…red eyes, super speed, seemed to hate her. That boy was a demon! And that meant the monster, this man, and probably everyone else in this village was too! She grimaced. Demons ate humans, and that meant… "Aw, hell," she muttered under her breath. Well, time to get out of here as fast as possible.
She ducked into one of the alleyways and started running as fast as she could, hoping it would take the guy awhile to notice she was gone. The alleyway led to a street which was set up like a market and bustling with all sorts of people, er…demons. Most of them looked human enough, but she did notice some demon attributes, like oddly colored hair or eyes, and sometimes horns or a tail. They turned to stare at her as she ran past, and she heard the word human said several times.
Din pushed herself faster, praying no one would decide they were hungry and she was an easy snack. No one did though, and she reached the edge of the village without being followed or anything. She ran into the field just outside the village, and kept running until when she looked over her shoulder, she could no longer see the village. Finally, she stopped, leaning her hands on her knees and gasping for breath.
"Are you alright, little girl?" a gentle voice asked.
Din whipped around, staying on guard, even though she understood the question. A man with long green hair and yellow tinged skin, dressed in a brown and black robe stood there. "Who are you?" she demanded, backing up a step, her hands clenched into fists.
"My name is Gakuto," the man said, switching to English to Din's surprise. "You're a long way from home aren't you?" He took a step forward and she moved backwards several more steps.
"What do you want with me?" she demanded.
He stopped. "I only want to help you," he said. He held his hand out to her.
"No thanks. I can take care of myself," Din said. She wasn't about to trust some random demon.
"Are you sssure about that?" he hissed. Din's eyes widened in horror as his head changed to that of a long, green and yellow snake.
She whipped around and started running, but four snake-arms wrapped around her, pulling her back. Damn it, why did this keep happening to her? At this rate she wasn't going to be able to make fun of those stupid damsels in distress anymore. If she survived this.
"Perhapsss you aren't ssso capable as you thought," he hissed into her ear. Turning her head to look at him, she saw his mouth opening wide and giant fangs protruding out. She was not going to just sit here while someone tried to eat her again. Raising a leg, she aimed a backwards kick into his crotch, hoping she wouldn't miss. Her kick landed, and he hissed out a scream and dropped her, doubling over in pain.
"Don't underestimate me just because I'm a human," she called over her shoulder as she ran. "A man is still a man, no matter what species." Now, if she could just get far enough away that he wouldn't catch her. She wasn't sure if that was possible.
Sure enough, the snake-arms wrapped around her again, squeezing tightly around her legs as well this time. She was pinned, completely immobile, as he opened his mouth and leaned towards her neck.