R&R please!

Disclaimer: Refer to Chapter One of this fanfiction.

Chapter Seven: Scary
Cayenne rolled uncomfortably in her sleep. Something very plush-like was annoying her. Frustrated, she reached behind her and grabbed the slender fur piece and gave a hard yank.

"AIE!"

Pain shot through her spine as she was jerked from the bed and onto the floor. When she put her hand up to rub her head, she felt something fluffy and triangular. No way! With one quick glance at the object in her hand, she saw that it was attached to her lower back. That was all it took to get her up and out of the room in a panic at an unnatural speed, even for her.

"Hey, everyone! You won't believe what—AHH!"

A careless misstep sent her flying over the railing. Even Chuu was not drunk enough to overlook the teenager bouncing off of the couch and landing right-side up in the middle of the living room.

"—happened! I've turned into a cat girl!"

There was an awkward silence. It was the calm before the storm.

"Well…that does explain the ears and tail," Rinku stated.

Suddenly, everyone was thrown into a flurry. Yusuke was shouting over a communicator at Koenma, a good portion of the group was asking her questions like "When did this happen? How did this happen?" and the favorite, "Do these come off?" always followed by pulling at her new appendages. The other portion decided to retreat to the kitchen, seeing as it was an opportune moment to steal any good food that there might be.

"What do you mean you don't know what's happening?" Yusuke shouted angrily, "One of the girls just spontaneously sprouted a tail! That can't be normal can it?"

"Yusuke, shut up, it's too early for this, now, who sprouted a—whoa!" She stopped speaking at the sight of her friend.

His yelling had reached all the way to the seventh floor, woken Meriel and brought her downstairs at this ungodly hour.

"Cayenne did," he said absentmindedly, not bothering to look at her.

Shishi, however, poked him with force using the hilt of his sword, directing his attention to the newly awoken girl.

"What the hell? Not you too!"

"What do you mean, "you too?""

"You've got a fin, and pointed ears," Shishi stated bluntly.

"Okay, okay, everyone just calm down!" Koenma shouted over the speaker, "I've found the old records and this is merely one of the stages."

"There are stages?" Kurama questioned.

"Yes, well you see," he coughed, "when the trainees receive their weapons, they begin to morph. Each of them will take on the appearance of an elemental under their given element, but…I'm not sure what's happening to Cayenne…"

"Not sure, what is there to be sure of?"

"As far as I know, a cat is not an elemental, merely a familiar. I'll look into it further, but what should be happening is Cayenne turning into a salamander, not a feline."

"What about us?" Takara dragged slowly down the stairs and rubbed her eyes sleepily.

"Let's see…Meriel is currently turning into an undine, and Takara will become a gnome."

This snapped her awake.

"You had better be joking."

"I know what you must be thinking, but I reassure you, it will be nothing like a lawn gnome experience. Real gnomes have bird-like attributes and are red-tinged. That said, you hair will probably change colors some, and you'll probably sprout wings by the end of the day, but that's about it. Now, is there anything else?"

"As a matter of fact, yeah," Meriel stated, "what's Reijin turned into? She got her weapon before us and has been holed up in her room ever since."

"What? Why hasn't she kept up her training? She's a sylph now, and you tell her to get back on her training immediately!"

With that, Koenma broke the connection.

"But she hasn't been holed up, she's been sick," Takara affirmed like Meriel had gone dumb overnight.

"No," Talli spoke up, "human diseases can't harm you at this stage."

No one was quite as surprised as Takara at this. In fact, her face seemed to lose its color a bit before she went running up the stairs.

"What's wrong with her?" Rinku started, "It's not like it would be out of character for Reijin to try this."

"True, that girl has been the most troublesome up until now." Hiei said, disregarding the fact that the DQ thing probably irked him more than the others.

Takara returned within a few short minutes.

"Reijin's gone," she began somewhat shakily, "why didn't you sprites tell us about this sooner?!"

"What's the big deal?" Michon asked.

"Reijin can't play sick for crap, I should know! R…Rei…" her voice cracked, "Arabelle is probably trying to train by herself right now!"

Takara only uses Reijin's real name when she's worried. This must mean real trouble, Meriel thought.

"She doesn't think ahead, she's smart, but…she never looks ahead," Takara groaned.

"But still! What could really happen to her? She'd come back if she were in real trouble!" Cayenne looked around at the room of people, most of which, when in solitary training, had been much deeper into the forest than the girls, "She would…wouldn't she?"

"Not if she couldn't," Kurama stated the worst, "Takara probably already realizes this; we had a bit of an encounter when we were out training last. He was a high level demon, and I had to step in and take him down. If Reijin is out training with less than adequate knowledge and a weapon she isn't sure how to use, it could mean big trouble."

"What are we doing sittin' around then? Let's get going!" Yusuke yelled to the living room.

They split into three groups: Suzuki, Yukina, Genkai, Takara, Cayenne, and Meriel were left at the mansion for different reasons; the first three for their knowledge of healing, the others so that they would not become part of their problem that was currently stuck inside of a demon infested forest. The other two formed search parties, taking the right and left sides of the area.

Wherever Reijin is now…

"Are you sure this will work, Pink?" Reijin asked desperately.

There was a tag team she had not counted on currently exhausting their resources: a winged demon and one giant mess of a partner. They kept hitting her with combos and every time she tried to make a ground escape the giant barred her way. If she tried an air maneuver, the quicker one trapped her also. She was forced to fight her way out, and it was not going so well. Recently, Pink had provided some useful advice dealing with her wand: it was equipped with tiny holes near the base and top. When installed with the proper herbs, new abilities were available!

This was where they were now; if she used one exceptionally powerful plant Pink had pointed out she might win…though she could cause severe injury to herself and everything around them. It took some thought and stalling, but she finally reached a decision.

"Pink, get as far away as possible; I've never been one to back away from a challenge!"

"Are you sure? I don't think you're quite ready for this yet, whether it be a worthy challenge or—"

"Yea, well that's just my excuse. My real reason is I want to win and I want to win big style!"

Of course, that's just how much pride I have…now that's something for the autopsy: cause of death: pride. She stalled a little longer for Pink's escape and then began the summons of her final attack. If this didn't work, she was toast, burnt toast. This must be why it's a deadly sin…

"I call upon the strength of the White Being," she paused and let the ominous feeling set in, "to vanquish enemies even as you may do so myself! Take these burdens far from here, as the petals of destruction flow from my wand," the demons were now wary, and she braced herself for soon-to-be events, "So shall it be!"

Forces erupted all around them; the wind spiraled around her and quickly expanded into a vicious tornado that shattered all, including the demons. It would not stop at there though, no matter how much she pleaded with the White Being. No, it continued to grow, and as it did, she was losing air. The vortex was making it increasingly hard to breathe; if the power failed to fade soon she could suffocate to death. The air powered by specially summoned force was beginning to lose its strength though. An outside force was tampering with her summoning; thankfully, this attack of hers had attracted a lot of attention.

She fell onto the muddied grass shaking with small spasms and gasping for air before laying flat on her back from exhaustion. Her wings receded from lack of power and it took a few seconds for her to realize that someone else had dispersed her attack for her. But what did it matter? She was dead tired, had no energy to fight, falling asleep now would make absolutely no difference to her life…

Back at the mansion…

Takara waited outside anxiously as Meriel searched for many fireworks. They would serve as a signal for the others to return when Reijin was brought back, of course, that was just an excuse to blow up things. Cayenne was mixing different teas to calm her nerves—she had developed quite a taste for them when Genkai broke her of her coffee streak.

Every time the wind quickened or slowed they looked for signs that someone was coming towards them, but it was mostly disregarded as nothing since it was already a generally windy day. Once though, when Takara was picking out which fireworks to use, she was blown off her feet, upside down, and shortly thereafter her stomach came into contact with the wall of the building. Then, when the wind suddenly stopped, she fell to the porch on her head and cursed. It then hit her that Jin had returned with Reijin and she set off each and every firework in her arms yelling, "Fire in the hole!" before they all blew up.

Grinning madly, she rushed back into the house to see what had become of Reijin while in the forest. Her heart skipped a beat when she saw her body, unmoving on the couch, but she was quickly reassured that she was unconscious and just much drained.

"She was lucky Jin found her when he did," Genkai started, "from the way he tells it, her powers were getting out of control to the point of which she almost killed herself."

At that moment, Pink flew through the door. She was a fluffy looking thing at a second's glance. Her hair was short and blonde with a ribbon headband in it and she had glaringly gold eyes. Her outfit was a simple green shirt and flowing white skirt; her wings were mostly silky down feathers. She was a little bit beaten up from helping Reijin, but she still gave a detailed account of the fight from the beginning with her simple air attacks to the end with the explosive final assault.

"Will Arabelle be alright?" she questioned, "I warned her that that attack might be too hard to handle, but she went ahead anyway," she sighed. "Crazy sylph, Master Raphael told me she might be so."

"That reminds me!" Meriel suddenly burst out, "Who are these Masters? Where are they and where did you all come from?"

"We were sent to help you with your weapon training!" Michon piped happily.

"Yes," Pink verified, "our Masters are the archangels: Michael, Gabriel, Ariel, and Raphael. We're supposed to help your advancement into the next stage, but not to tell you what will happen in the future."

"Why's that?" Cayenne asked, twitching her tail a little.

"Because that might change the course of events," Talli affirmed, "our only purpose is to train and report progress."

"But I like their future!" Tiaret squeaked from the inside of a box of cookies, "Can't we tell them just a little bit?"

Pink merely dove into the box and shoved another cookie into her mouth before reemerging, now with cookie crumbs added to her ensemble.

"Mm…Hey, who's got cookies…?" Reijin mumbled and rolled off of the couch.

She startled the few people near and they moved away. She was still for some time until a hand started groping for the box. She nearly ate Tiaret once but finally got a cookie. It was like the miracle of life: she sat up, newly awoken, and asked "Where the hell am I?" Yes, that's truly what we all think in this instance, that, and "Where's the nearest bathroom," but she was still in the food stage.

"Good, you're alive, mind explaining why we had to send out a search party for you?" Genkai asked jadedly before motioning for Yukina to start preparing tea for them.

"Gimme a cookie!" she stuck her tongue out at everyone and snatched the box.

"Hey! You little ingrate, that's not all yours!" Cayenne twitched and pounced on her.

In a mass chain of events this resulted in a giant dog pile among the girls with a lot of 'ouches' here and there, especially once Reijin comprehended that there were tails she could pull. Eventually everyone else returned from their search and either became a spectator, a refreshment-giver, or someone who would stay clear of the match until the first sign of a real injury occurred. The final result was Reijin lying flat on her back on the very bottom, Meriel squished on top of her with Takara leaning on them for support as Cayenne perched happily on her back munching on her newly obtained cookies.

But then again, this just did not work for Reijin and her injuries. She forcibly summoned her wings to send everyone flying off in a random direction before swiftly making her way to the comfort of her own bedroom before anyone had the chance to blink, much less head up the stairs to try to cut her off. The only one who could, and did catch her was Jin, who could fly alongside her and had much more energy to expend. She, however, barely made it to the third floor before stumbling through her doorway and making an attempt to lock it before he could also follow her inside; this resulted in failure, she was just too weak at the moment. The door was forcibly pushed open and she was flung to the floor. All of her energy expended into her previous flight, the room was a flurry of feathers as her wings dissipated once again.

Jin looked down at the creature before him. This girl was very different form the one he saw when he went over her profile, very different from the girl who had arrived here. The one who had arrived at the beginning of their mission was happier, a naïveté attitude of sorts. This one was more…advanced; she held a more womanly atmosphere with her transformation into a supernatural being. With her new assertiveness and newfound position in life's game, it was no wonder that her stare held anger, sadness, but most prominently, confusion. She would sooner aim a knife at him than see him invade her personal space right now. That was a chance that he was willing to take.

"You should not be this upset at me right now!" He yelled, "I practically, no, I did save your life out there!"

Bad (suicidal) move. Never tell a woman in this state that she is wrong.

"WHAT!" She practically exploded. "That was an entirely different issue! It had absolutely nothing to do with what I was initially…"

"That was an accident. Completely. I think I know what you heard, but you didn't hear how the conversation began."

"You still said it. I'll bet this mess just strengthens your point," she said bitterly and turned her face away.

He paused, probably thinking of what to say next. Letting his mind wander to the no doubt concerned people downstairs, he closed the door on their prying ears and took another step inside the room. Reijin bristled, but made no motion from her place sitting on the floor. The atmosphere was uncomfortable to say the least, so he took another careful step forward, and when he was not crucified, he sat down on the floor cross-legged. Another minute passed and he proved to still be intact, so he began speaking again.

"What you heard, I shouldn't have said. It wasn't my point either. You heard me say how, um, annoying you were being, right?"

She gave an almost unnoticeable nod.

"Well before that, I was saying to Touya how I was completely unprepared for this assignment."

Still no reaction, though she seemed to be listening reasonably now.

"During my rant," he continued, sighing deeply, "I tried to push some of the blame on you because the assignment was stressful. You aren't exactly the easiest person to handle—"

"To handle!" Her face flushed red and she spun to face him, while pulling her legs into the same cross-legged fashion. "So now I need to be handled?"

"No! That's not what I meant! I mean—wait, what?"

"I can handle myself," her eyes drifted away, "under the right circumstances."

"But that's not the point, is it?"

"No," she kept her gaze averted but said with blunt honesty, "I just needed a reason to yell since I forgive you now, and," she continued, now completely red, "I guess I should say sorry for the way I reacted."

That threw him for a loop. He sat for a moment, quite speechless. It took his mind a moment to process the insanity of the woman's thought process: first anger, then moodiness, then, once reasoned with, a confusing blend of apology, embarrassment and cold anger was thrust forward.

"It's…okay," he responded, afraid that anything other than simplicity might get him in trouble once again.

During the pause in which he was unsure of what to say next, she spoke.

"Jin?"

He looked her in the eyes. The cold anger was regaining some of its heat. What did he do?

"Get out of my room!"

Oh. That's what he did.

She decided that he was not scampering away quickly enough and threw the nearest plushy at him as he closed the door. Softer than a game case, he thought as he levitated back to the lowest level of the mansion. The company looked him over and it was decided that he must have been successful if there was no sign of physical injury. They asked him what had happened nonetheless. There was a long pause.

"Women are confusing…scary, too."

The men laughed and the women present proceeded to pummel him. Then they moved on to the rest of the men: a whole new version of "Battle of the Sexes."

No notes this time, surprisingly. I've been trying to get this chapter done since 2006 O.O Finally, now maybe I can move on to further chapters. Don't expect another long pause, I'll warn you if I get stuck. Ha ha. Jin doesn't do responsibility. Neither does Reijin. That's why it's so hard for those two to be stuck together.