A/N: and so after a really really really long gap I have finally managed to write something for this fic. I'd apologize and give long explanations for why I didn't update sooner but I'm quite sure you'd all rather read the story than hear my excuse (which is the same as last time and the time before that and the one before that. 'Real life' people!)
Now without further ado, enjoy!
There was nothing but darkness all around him. Suppressing the feeling of unease as he felt something amiss, Train strained his eyes to look around him. A cool wind played with his hair as the darkness began to shimmer and transform into a very familiar scene. He was lying on his back on top of the roof of his old flat.
The moon was full in the sky, a lone cloud unsuccessfully trying to block its silvery rays from reaching the earth. A cool breeze played with his hair, brushing the nape of his neck like the silent whispers of a ghost.
Blinking a couple of times as the feeling of wrongness, that feeling of emptiness increased, Train sat up. Next to him, were two bottles of milk. One empty and the other full, untouched.
The cold wind tickled his skin again as he stared at the unopened bottle. He heard the quiet echo of a phantom giggle. It was a soft beautiful sound like the tinkling of bells on a clear, sunny spring morning. But it so quiet, so soft, it was almost like he had imagined it. Like the actual source of that sound was no longer there but his mind due to the simple fact that it was used to its presence was now making up for the lack of it by making him think that it was there.
Eyes widening, he whipped his head around. There it was again.
The whispered shadow of a bemused laugh.
"Saya…" he whispered, looking around desperately trying to spot the source of that sound. He had to see her. Just one more time. He needed to see her. The wind began to die down, taking with it his memory of the sound of her laughter. "No, wait." he gasped, his breathing growing shallow as fear clenched its ice-cold hands around his heart, clenching painfully. "S-Saya please. Wait... SAYA!"
"Train-kun…" he heard her respond sadly, so quietly, he could almost not hear her. "Train-kun."
Something warm touched his shoulder, gently shaking him.
"Train-kun?"
Blinking a couple of times, Train opened his eyes, only to find the blond who claimed to be a vampire, bent over him. The other was looking at him worriedly though he could spot sadness and pity in that lone blue orb as it observed him.
"Are we there?" he inquired in a tone that betrayed no emotion. He thought it was funny that he was already slipping back into his old persona. It had not even been three days yet and he was already reverting back to the cold, emotionless personality of the world's most feared assassin. The Chronos pet worthy of the title of Black Cat.
"No," the other man replied with a shake of his head, "the time is still not right for us to enter that dimension."
Growling in his throat, Train climbed to his feet, realizing that he had previously been lying on his back. Had he passed out?
"You get used to it after a couple of times," the blond offered, in an attempt to strike up a conversation but in all honestly, Train just could not bring himself to care for these three strangers that fate had forced him into travelling with. "We were all knocked out cold the first time Mokona took us to Hanshin Republic."
Looking around he noticed that they were currently in an inn of sorts though the place had a medieval sort of feel to it. There were no electric fixtures in the place for one. The room he was in had one other bed, a small fireplace and a couple of caned chairs. There were no mirrors in the room and the window to his right lacked a glass pane. It overlooked what appeared to be a village square. Climbing to his feet, Train headed over in that direction to get a better look.
"We're in Reamont," Fai chirped lightly for his benefit, "I managed to get us two rooms in this inn. But seeing as we're not natives, I think they overcharged us for them. Kuro-tan and Syaoran-kun have gone to the market to get us some clothes so that we don't stick out as much. Mokona went along for the ride as well."
"When will we get to wherever those bastards took Eve?" he asked quietly.
"Hm?" Fai cocked his head to one side, his eyes narrowed as he scrutinized the ex-assassin before letting out a small laugh, "You gotta loosen up a little bit Train-kun. Acting all tough and melodramatic isn't going to make anyone like you, you know."
"I didn't come along with you three to make friends." He hissed in response, irritated that the blond had refused to answer his question.
As though sensing his annoyance, Fai began speaking again, that smile not leaving his face despite the fact that Train was not exactly being polite in the least bit.
"We'll probably move to the next world after we retrieve Sakura-chan's memory from this world." He said as he sat down at the edge of the bed across from the one Train had been laying on earlier, "Mokona says it's somewhere nearby so hopefully it won't take too long."
"I paid that damned witch my price so that I could save Princess." Train clenched his fists to keep himself from hitting something. "Wandering around in this world looking for some stupid feathers is not going to help me accomplish that. For all I know, those bastards could have already… argh!" Losing control of his raging emotions, he punched the wall next to the window, the force of the blow causing the wall to shake and dust to rain down from the thatched roof.
"We're back!" Mokona announced cheerfully before Fai could respond to what Train had just said.
"Welcome back, Syaoran-kun, Moko-chan." He smiled instead, moving to the pair that had just arrived. The bejeweled dimension hopper was perched atop Syaoran's shoulder. The teen was holding onto a small bundle but before he could show them the contents of the package, Train had walked past the brunette, the long coat fluttering behind him as he raced down the dingy stairs to reach the landing. The raucous laughter that filled up the atmosphere of the smelly bar downstairs silenced for a while, heads turning to observe the newcomer. Train scowled at the curious faces, hastily walking out of the rickety swinging doors into the sun.
"Did we miss something?" Syaoran asked, his eyes trained on the door their group's newest addition had just stormed out of.
"Nothing special." Fai said with a wave of his hand, "So are these the clothes?"
-0-
It was almost sundown in the little town of Reamount. Even though it had already been a week since the travelers had arrived in that town, people still cast suspicious glances in their direction as they passed by. This suspicion was not only brought on by the fact that these strangers had arrived in the middle of a bustling marketplace on an unholy day in a brilliant flash of light with an unconscious companion. The reason why the hostility displayed towards the travelers had yet to go down was also due to the fact that every three days, one of the able-bodied men were taken from their midst, never to be heard of again. Stories of a cursed siren were being told in every corner of the town to warn the young ones and the foolish brave ones alike. It was said that the siren was a cunning shape-shifter, able to see into the hearts of men to know what they desired the most. She would put a spell on her victims and lure them out to her cave in the middle of nowhere where she would proceed to devour their flesh for three days straight before coming back in search for a new victim. The siren had been thought to have been put to rest by the elders of the town centuries ago when the place was naught but a small settlement.
His companions seemed to think it was the princess's feather that had caused the siren to reawaken but Train found it hard to believe. After all magical or not… no feather in the world was magical enough to bring a creature like that to life. But he had agreed to help them in their useless search, if only to move things along faster so that he could rescue Princess and head back home.
Heaving a sigh, Train jumped off of his perch on one of the roofs in the rather secluded part of town, making his way back to the inn. That day's search had not really yielded any results and the prospect of them finding anything worthwhile the next day wasn't very good either. Stuffing his hands in the pockets of his pants, he started making his way back to the inn wondering what the heck he was going to do now. That meat bun could contact the witch, couldn't it? So maybe he should have a little chat with that swindler about how he wasn't where he had paid her to be. Maybe he could get Yuuko to send him to wherever Eve was, before the others. He would sneak in, grab Eve and get out of there without this supposedly dangerous bad guy even knowing her was there.
Having a plan in his mind, Train felt a bit better, knowing exactly what he was going to do once he got- despite being lost in thought, Train's fast reflexes kicked in and made him jump out of the way as a brunette rushed past him. A group of drunken men staggered past him, jeering and making catcalls after the woman that had just raced by. Train felt his blood freeze inside his veins as he recalled the brunette's face. Not knowing how it was possible after all that the witch had told him, but not really caring about it either, Train turned on his heels and followed after the brunette and the gang of drunkards.
"N-no… Please!" the woman cried as she pressed herself against the wall, seemingly shrinking in on herself in fear as the leering men advanced towards her.
"You should have known better than to leave your house unaccompanied wench." One man laughed as he grabbed hold of her shoulder length hair, dragging her towards his buddies.
"No! Let me go!"
The men only laughed louder as the woman screamed again. But their laughter was cut short as something hit them faster than light, causing them all to land in a crumpled mess on the ground around the brunette.
"Are you okay?" Train helped the woman to her feet, his breath catching in his throat as a soft jade met his gaze.
"T-Train-kun?"
-0-
"Fai-san… Did Train-san come back last night?"
"Hmm? No, I don't think so Syaoran-kun." The mage shook his head, frowning a little as he took in the appearance of the man trailing behind the brunette as the boy stepped into the room Fai had been sharing with the ex-assassin.
"I'm afraid your friend is in grave danger in that case."
"Who's your friend, Syaoran-kun?"
"Umm… This is Diskenth-san."
"Please, call me Creed." The man smiled sharply as he offered his hand to the vampire hybrid for a shake.
"Fai," the blond shook the proffered hand, not even flinching at the way the other man tried to crush his hand. That is until Fai put a little pressure back, grinning easily as he did so. The man seemed to have found something he was looking for in the blond since his smile turned genuine the next second as he took his hand back.
"Pretty impressive grip you have there."
"Yours as well." He nodded, motioning for the man to take the unoccupied bed as his seat for the time they spoke. "So why is it that you think Train-kun might be in trouble?" he inquired politely.
"I am in charge of this village's security and the safety of everyone that dwells within its limits." The man, Creed Diskenth, told them, "that includes the merchants and travelers while they are here. Members of the guard under my command are posted all over the village and last night they saw your friend leave the premises of the village with a woman."
"A woman?" Fai quirked a brow.
"We suspect she's managed to lure him to her cave."
-0-
"Creed Diskenth," Saya said softly as he tucked her long hair behind her ears, "he's after me again."
"Wait… What?" Train frowned, "Why would Creed be after you? He's recovering from paralysis on an island with Echidna."
"I don't know. I came here after the attack, because he told me he'd kill you if I didn't leave you alone…" Saya admitted softly as she lit incense candles around the cave, a sweet yet slightly pungent scent immediately filling up the atmosphere, "But I had no idea he had his people after me all the time. They spread rumors about me… rumors saying that I'm the siren. And I'm luring all the men to their deaths."
"I've heard about that around town." The ex-assassin nodded, feeling the smoke oddly relaxing for some reason, taking out the tension from his shoulders as his muscles loosened on their own.
"You have to believe me Train-kun…" Saya pleaded, as she caught hold of his shoulders, looking desperately into his eyes, "It's not me. Creed is having me framed so that they have enough reason to want to get rid of me. And…" she bit her lip, looking away as she let go.
"And?"
Saya merely lowered her gaze to stare at the ground as she rubbed her arms in discomfort.
"Saya… What is it?"
"I-I… I think he might coerce your companions into joining him."
"…"
"He'll convince them that I have some otherworldly artifact or something and that I won't give it up without trying to kill them." She looked back at him, tears welling up in her eyes, "the truth is Train-kun, he has had it with him all along. He is the one causing all these disappearances. And he's putting the blame on me, knowing no one will believe me because I'm a helpless woman."
"I can go back and talk to the villagers." Train made to walk towards the exit to the cave when he found his way getting blocked by the brunette.
"No!" she cried, catching his arm and dragging him back, "Please. Don't leave me alone here. Some of the men must have seen you leave with me. They'll all think I've put a spell on you to make you believe me. Please," she buried her face into his chest, "don't leave me alone. I'm just…" she looked up at him, "I'm so scared."
"Saya, trust me," He told her reassuringly, as he made towards the exit again, only to be stopped by her once more. "I won't let anything happen to you."
"Train-kun…" Train was shocked by what happened next as the jade-eyed sweeper kissed him full on the lips leading him back as she pressed against him almost desperately, a cold chill beginning to spread through his whole body as she looked at him, pushing him down on the furs that served as the bedroll on the ground, "Please. Don't leave me again." Train found his mind growing almost hazy for a second before her face came back into focus and Train knew what he had to do.
"Don't worry, Saya," he looked up at the woman, his eyes unknowingly shifting into their signature catlike slits, "I won't leave you again. I won't let any harm come to you. I'll protect you with ever my dying breath."
"Thank you so much Train-kun," Saya smiled softly as she came closer and closer to him, "that's all I needed to hear."
A/N: Okay, so can anyone guess what happening here and what might be in store for both parties in the next chapter?