From the Side

Chapter 9

A/N: Uh, sorry for not updating yesterday. Stuff came up but I'll make it up by updating Saturday instead. Oh when we're done with the coliseum I will a little bit of time to go back and edit the previous chapters so don't leave during those 2 or so weeks!

Anyway, read and review. Here's 3/5 of the week complete with your daily dose of Kuno.

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Apparently, the healer of their group carried a lot of staves for whenever she lost them. Last battle she was using a rod slightly weaker than her normal prinny rod. That cute weapon had been left behind by accident in one of the audience sections when she went to watch a different fight. Due to her faster nature and extreme energy, Kuno offered to help.

The nekomata practically bounced down the halls as she weaved through the crowds of fighters who were limping towards the 'loser' chamber. There would be less and less waiting time between fights as the competition continued so Kuno didn't have much time. Still, she happily sung as she made her way through. "I've gotten to see so many faces of that stone faced swordsman, of that stone faced swordsman. I've heard him say so many things, that stone faced swordsman, that stone faced swordsman. He pretends to hate everyone, but in reality he's real... dumb? No, um, he pretends to hate everyone but in reality he's lots of fun. He blushes from ear to ear, that stone faced demon, that stone faced demon," she cheered, going into a hum afterwards because her creativity had been lost on the first verse. In reality, the song was usually a slower pace and about preserving the lands through whatever destruction the rest of the non-nekomata groups caused. Kuno preferred her version over the dumb winter tribe song, though.

As she arrived at the viewer's room, she found it mostly empty. Well, considering the teams fighting were a bunch of prinnies, probably Etna's, and a team of vicious looking rifle demons, it seemed to have an obvious choice of who would win. There were mostly just a few people scattered around so it was easy to find the staff that had miraculously not been stolen. Maybe it was something about picking up something with a figurine shaped similarly to one of the teams or maybe Miriam was just lucky. She wagged her tail and spun around to leave when she heard a small group talking. They obviously weren't interested in the penguin-vs-giant fight.

"I'm thinking of switching my vote," one said. He was a black orc. His two companions were a majin, the ultimate warriors supposedly, and a familiar looking white dragon. "To Team Adell or whatever it's called."

"You're going to take half off your winnings, Ogrin?" the white dragon asked.

Ogrin, Ogrin, where have I heard that, Kuno thought

"Well, if that swordsman really is Zarame then I'd rather win at least half of my prizes," Ogrin noted, standing up. "I'll be back in a bit."

All thoughts of his name fled and Kuno withheld a squeal of glee for the transfer, though she was curious. The orc said Zarame's name as if he was famous but she hadn't heard of him before all of this. Of course, she hadn't been exploring the worlds for very long either.

The remaining two began to talk to each other and the nekomata found herself eavesdropping again. "It's his choice, but I doubt they'll win. I'm putting my money on Tarj," the majin muttered, looking out on the rifle demons.

"Of course you would, if you had money to put on them. They're your servants," the white dragon chuckled. "But more importantly Spectre, I've been hearing rumors about you lately. You and your little messenger brat."

"Do not insult my students," Spectre said quietly.

"Oh! It's Eclipse!" Kuno suddenly cheered, running in between the two. Spectre and the white dragon stared at her with wide eyes. "I thought I recognized you! You vanished, suddenly. If you're curious, we're doing fine. Oh not that that means we don't miss you, but I figured you would want to know that we managed to get Taro and Hanako back safely and the new teammate we got is turning out to be an awesome ally. But I take it you already know that. Is Zarame famous or something?" Her words were coming out a mile a minute and Eclipse couldn't help but give another chuckle.

"In a sense," he said mysteriously. He turned to Spectre. "Spectre, this is Kuno, a member of Team Adell." Spectre simply nodded. Kuno waved. "You seem to be full of energy today. You're usually active, but you're practically glowing. What happened?"

"Zarame said sorry, well, I mean it's a bad thing he felt he had to, but I mean..." Kuno trailed off, thinking of what to say. "Basically, I feel like he's letting me in more, like were friends. Oh, he said we are so I guess we're good." But she wanted more, to be as close as Brandon maybe.

The expressions on Spectre's and Eclipse's faces were not expected. Eclipse was surprised and Spectre was horrified. Kuno brushed her ear and stared for a few moments before breaking the silence. "Something wrong with what I said?"

"Ah, no nothing. Zarame's just infamous for being ruthless, a model demon," Eclipse lied. Kuno wasn't even sure how she knew he was lying, just that he was. Still she let it drop because Spectre was glaring at her now and she had to get away from him. She gave a quick bow and a good-bye and left the audience section.

In the hallway, though, she ran into yet another surprise. A girl with blue hair and green tail and ears, an upper class Nekomata known as a Tailring. She had a group behind her, though all were injured to the point that battling would be tough. And all of them had on a necklace that had one simple bead. The bead was a dark gray with red lines and it was shaped like a seed. It was only a rock, but years ago they did use seeds as a symbol of their tribe. And the girl in front also had a familiar scar across her right jawline.

"Sierra?" Kuno gasped, holding back the urge to flee. It'd been so long since she saw her tribe that she was afraid she'd never want to leave.

The girl in the lead regarded Kuno carefully. "Kuno, I see you're doing well."

"Are you here for the coliseum?"

"Yeah, that was the plan at least," Sierra murmured, looking at her injured crew. "Now we're just spectators."

"What happened?" Kuno was a little shocked. Of the entire tribe, Sierra was the strongest and quickest fighter. Everyone wanted her skill, and the people behind her were the ones closest to catching up—Kuno excluded of course.

Sierra didn't answer, looking bitterly to the side. "I'd rather not speak of it. Just keep an eye out when night comes or you'll regret it." The group began to move on and Kuno grabbed Sierra's arm.

"Wait, can't we sit and talk a little while?"

Sierra glanced at Kuno and then looked past her. "No, I don't think you should. Your team might think you're betraying them. Good luck anyway." Sierra pulled free and then stopped willingly with one last thing to say. "It's best if you don't keep up that innocent charade that you do. I can see you acting even when I simply see you fighting."

Kuno stood there, confused for a few moments and then just laughed. "I'm not acting, Sierra. Not anymore. I admit, I don't speak my mind entirely and I try to bite back a few mean words but really I smile because I'm happy. I'm kind because I think my team deserves more than another cruel person. Besides, Adell has taught me that saving our enemies may help us in the end, not hinder us." She scratched her ear and shrugged. "Well, in most cases. Some cockroaches chose to hinder us continuously." Ah, Axel would forever be an annoyance. Of that, Kuno was sure.

The two eventually separated and Kuno returned to the group, holding out the staff to Miriam. Miriam took it and smiled at Kuno. "Thanks, if I lost this I don't know what I'd do."

"Can't you buy a better one?" Kuno asked. Adell had a better reputation with the shops and the Dark Assembly had decided he was allowed.

Miriam looked at Kuno and then the staff quizzically. "I suppose I could, but then that would be a lot of effort. You see, Nagi and I managed to bring this thing all the way through the upgrades in the Item world." She glanced at the star skull and then grinned. "It'd be such a pain to do a better weapon. Besides, it's just too cute."

"Somehow, I thought you'd say that," Adell stated, laughing as he walked up. "We've got about ten minutes until we're back up apparently. Glad you made it back in time. Anything make you stall?"

"Ah, I suppose. I met up with some old friends," Kuno stated, smiling. "And I found someone who was changing their bet to our team."

"Hey, that's good news!" Adell cheered. "We're making an awesome impression! We're sure to win this!"

"We're not even half way," Rozalin retorted. Adell sighed.

"You don't have to ruin it," Adell moaned.

Kuno giggled and watched her two leaders walk away. The healer attracted her attention once more by clearing her throat. "Hm? Do you have something to tell me?" Kuno asked, sitting down next to Miriam, despite the fact the healer was standing.

"Yes, I was wondering what you and Zarame were talking about before I sent you on my quest?" Miriam asked, pulling out a brush and then getting to work on straightening her hair.

"Why do you want to know?"

"Well, after you left and I returned to the group, Zarame was here for a little while. However, he soon ran off when someone made a comment—Waffle or Hanako I believe—about how a proper demon should act. They mentioned him and Etna, saying they were prime examples. Adell wasn't too happy about it, but that was what we all thought would happen. Zarame however didn't respond, he just turned and walked away, mumbling something about finding you. I think he was angry."

Kuno took Miriam's brush and began doing the same to her hair. There were a lot more knots in her pink ponytail. "I don't think I said anything that would irritate him. He's the one who did most of the talking anyway." She paused mid-stroke. "I think. But mostly I just got him to call me his friend."

"You didn't do anything, Kuno," the person in question suddenly said, his hair newly clipped up in the bun he always had from before. "And I wasn't irritated."

"Oh you weren't? Then what was the problem?" Miriam questioned.

"That's a good question. Maybe it was you sending Kuno off and then just relaxing here. Or maybe it was the irony of Hanako wanting to become a demon while her brother wants her to return to a human."

"She was born a monster, you know," Miriam said.

"But she should've been born a human, if it wasn't for Zenon. Nevertheless, it's just a maybe that's what the problem was. I wasn't angry anyway, I just didn't want to hang around and I figured I could find a clip for cheap. Turns out I did. Anyway, how much longer until the next match?"

"Probably five minutes," Kuno answered, tail wagging.

"I see," the swordsman replied and he began to walk away. Kuno jumped up and ran after him.

"Hey Zarame! Guess what just happened?" she cheered, the two getting into a one-sided conversation as they walk off.

Miriam sighed. "Between those two and our two leaders, I'm not sure which relationship will truly start first," she stated, laughing gently to her staff.

"I just hope Adell and Kuno know what they're dealing with in terms of who they're approaching," Zane said suddenly, appearing from the shadows, like many ninjas do.

"What do you mean?" Miriam asked.

"Well, both Rozalin and Zarame come with heavy baggage that they're either ignoring or are just oblivious to, and that will cause the other two a lot of trouble," Zane explained.

"I see," Miriam muttered, looking at her feet. She looked back at Zane again and shrugged. "Why are you telling me this? You've always kept to yourself."

"Well, you seem like the least likely to spread my secrets. Outside of Fenrir of course."

"Fenrir is hardly a decent conversationalist though."

"That's what you think. But that's beside the point. I recommend you don't just sit idly by if you're interested in their relationships. You should either back down or work on forcing them together. Only the extremes will allow this to turn out even remotely well." Zane faded back into the shadows.

"Would Team Adell come to the arena?" Axel's voice echoed down the hallways.

"It's time," Miriam sighed, feeling extremely at a loss. Zane needed to tell everyone what he knew. It would make everything so much easier.

~*~

(Good idea: playing game music while typing this. Bad idea: watching fruits basket before typing this. Guess which parts were inspired by what?)