Oh, wow! You guys are all so amazing! Thanks so much for your patience- my past semester was very difficult. This upcoming semester will not be much better, haha. Hooraay collegeee. Special thanks to everyone reading and a quick mention of my reviewers (which is phenom guys, I love getting those little emails):
kiralol101 ; Evalyd Yamazaki ; AZURE DRAGON ; soul painter
You guys rock! I hope you guys enjoy - this was supposed to be like, a quick two page thing and it became a five paged odd adventure. I'm planning a particular fluff for the next chapter but hey, we'll see. Anyway, if you're bored, read my "Shenanigans" which is really just Jin being an actual ninja and Amai an actual villager (and she loses a shoe, the poor girl).
Anywho, who reads these things anyway?! Enjoy the show:
Training in Genkai's woods was probably the worst part of all these demon shenanigans. She had come directly from soccer practice, which was brutal. Now, here she was, trekking through these dangerous woods. Amai felt murderous.
"What is the point of walking through these stupid woods," Amai grumbled to herself, kicking a rock.
The rock bounced against a tree, scaring some large bats from its branches. Screeching, Amai ducked and threw her hands over her head. When the last flutter of wings disappeared, Amai fell backwards into the grass with a great huff.
"I hate this stupid place! Bats! Bugs! What next?" Amai knew she shouldn't have asked that question, but the words just slipped out of her mouth.
At nearly the same moment, she heard a strange growl from behind her. A gasp frozen in her throat, Amai turned stiffly towards the noise, standing slowly. Choking on her own startled yelp, Amai made eye contact with the most hideous looking rhino in the world. Maybe it wasn't a rhino, but it sure looked like one. Maybe it was the nicest rhino in the world? Maybe it was tsundere?
"H-hello there, nice rhino thing…" Amai put her two hands out in front of her, as if her slender fingers could stop the giant beast.
It snorted indecisively, as if it were debating whether to gut her or let her go. That's what Amai was thinking, anyway. She hoped it would choose the latter- what were her options, otherwise? Amai peeked deftly at her surroundings: she was in a small clearing of sorts with exotic, knee-high plants growing around the roots of the unusual trees. Amai could swear the roots of these trees were alive, and the branches too. Often she tripped on what at first seemed to be flat ground- suddenly, a root would sprout and knock her down. Or, as she was running to safety, a branch would suddenly duck and smack her in the forehead. She was lacking in brain cells as it was, she didn't need the extra help from this mad forest.
The rhino creature was done with Amai. It snorted derisively and Amai let out a sigh of relief. She let her hands down, the sparkles in her newly done nails glinting in what little sunlight filtered through the tree tops.
In an instant, the staredown was back on, the rhino demon pawing at the ground with a peculiar rage. Amai swallowed hard, frozen. It just wasn't gonna leave her alone. Amai backed up worriedly, her hands stretched behind her. Her fingers touched the rough bark first and she broke eye contact to glance upwards at the tree impeding her retreat.
The rhino demon huffed, stamped its clawed foot, and ran at full speed towards her. Amai couldn't even curse. Her breath rushed from her lungs as she turned to the tree and jumped to catch hold of a low lying branch. Luckily, this tree didn't seem to hold a grudge against her and she easily wrapped her fingers around the branch. Now it was just a matter of holding herself up.
Swinging her legs up, Amai just barely held on as the rhino demon rammed the tree trunk. Her bones shook and her vision vibrated as the force made her body wobble and her fingers ache with the effort of holding on. Willing her muscles back into action, Amai looped her legs around the sturdy branch she held, hugging it to her chest as she pulled herself against it. This was a precarious situation.
"Thas' a fine mess yeh've got yerself inta, lass!"
That accent. That laughing voice. That brisk breeze that knocked some of her hair loose from her ponytail.
"Dammit," she muttered, opening one eye. "I wasn't looking for your opinion on my situation, thankyouverymuch!"
Jin was hanging upside down in mid air, a wry grin plastered on his ever-effervescent face. It rather made her want to smack him, at the time. Jin looked down at the rhino demon, which had backed up in order to ram the tree once more. He sent a gust of wind its way, causing it to make eye contact with the wind demon. It paused, snorted, and turned around in a huff. Amai gaped.
Grinning still, Jin peered back at Amai. "Ya, Ah'm pretty amazin'."
Amai narrowed her eyes at him, shutting her mouth with a snap. "It's not very impressive that you're full of hot air."
She let her legs fall and loosened her grip on the tree branch, ignoring the rough bark on her arms. She'd been climbing trees since she was a kid, if only to escape her annoying older brother who was much too vain to climb trees (what if his shirt got dirty? Or his flawless skin was scratched?). Her feet landed with a thud on the ground and she brushed the dirt from her hands.
Jin touched down in front of her. "So, what were ya gonna do if that demon didn't letcha alone and jus' kept tryina knock you outta the tree?"
Amai scoffed, "I would have climbed over to the next tree or something. I don't know!" She threw up her hands and growled. "I don't exactly fight, remember? My only techniques are hair-pulling, eye-gouging (but I also just got my nails done, so-), shin-kicking, and a straight-forward-but-very-weak punch. None of those woulda worked on a real demon! They barely work on people!"
Shaking his head, Jin looped his arm through hers and tugged her along after him. "Genkai sent ya in here to practice all tha things ya need help with- like watcha jus' listed an' all."
"It's not practice if I don't know any of it," Amai grumbled, allowing herself to be tugged; despite it all, she had relatively good survival instincts and hoped Jin would scare off most of the other demons. "I can't focus my watchamacallit that way, either. My, uh, rayon. No- radon. Roku?"
Jin snorted, making Amai snap her mouth shut and glare. "Uh, it's called reiki, lass."
"Right. Reiki. I said that." Jin laughed but Amai begrudgingly went on, needing to explain herself. "My, um, reiki doesn't do the gun-thing like Yusuke and I'm no swordsman like Kuwabara. I've tried to use it as a weapon but it just doesn't work."
Jin appeared thoughtful as she spoke, nodding occasionally. "Well, I never took ya fer a fightin' person, 'cept in yer personality… But maybe that's why Genkai put ya in here in tha first place?" Amai deadpanned, causing Jin to grin at her. "Ya know, see if ya can land on yer feet or such?"
Amai shook her head and rolled her eyes. "Land on my feet? I'm gonna lose a leg if she keeps throwing me into this damn forest! I mean, I'd had enough the second I stepped in there. I stepped on a bug that was THIS big!" she stretched her hands a foot apart to demonstrate.
Laughing, Jin mimicked her. "Tha' big, huh? Wow, lass! Yer the bravest human I ever did meet!"
She whacked him in the chest, pouting. "I'm not exactly used to trekking through the woods or whatever. I'm delicate."
Here, he simply snorted. Amai refrained from hitting him again, though she pushed him aside. He let her arm drop and grinned at her. Amai would be in a better mood about it all if he didn't tease her all the time.
"Ya, yer delicate awright. But ah think ah'll letcha fight the next demon on yer own. Or bears, bears are a right fun time, lass." Jin crossed his arms and continued walking alongside her.
Amai turned quickly, her face dropping. "Did you say bears?"
Jin erupted into laughter, holding his sides as Amai glared angrily and stomped off ahead. It was not nice to tease her like this- she'd had enough! Bears. Bah! She swung around towards him and stomped her foot.
"There aren't any bears, Jin! And you're awfully mean, for someone who's laughing all the time!" Unfortunately, this just made Jin laugh more.
She stomped off once again, kicking aside whatever accursed vegetation dared impede her path. Amai growled angrily to herself, growing more frustrated by the minute. Jin still laughed. After stomping away for a while, Amai froze. She had reached a small sort of pond. It was surreal and rather ethereal, something she wouldn't have expected in Genkai's demon forest.
"Pretty," she murmured, walking around the pool, noting the bright flora and crystal clear water. It was weird that Genkai would have such a nice place in the middle of this devious forest.
Amai squatted at the water's edge, extending her hand toward it. It really was pretty. It was probably awesome to swim in. The sun reflected rainbows across the water's glassy surface. Maybe if she took a quick dip, she'd be sparkly and pretty too. Her fingers had barely touched the surface when something grabbed her wrist roughly and dragged her backwards.
Amai gasped as her wrist began to smart and her rear landed painfully on the damp shore. She looked up quickly, narrowing her eyes at the no-longer-smiling ginger demon. The no nonsense expression he shot at her was startling enough that Amai's mouth snapped shut. His hand remained tight around her wrist as he nodded his head towards the lake.
Expression severely close to pouting, Amai peered back over to the lake.
Two frog-like eyes had popped from the depths of the lake. They stared at Amai with an intense… Amai shivered as she realized the creature was staring at her with hunger. The sort of hunger that feels like a metal claw scraping the bottom of your stomach, or stops your heart at the sight of food.
Oh my gosh. It hit her like a ton of bricks, to overuse the metaphor. It thinks I'm food.
Amai's heart hurt, it was beating so hard against her chest. All she knew was that she needed to get away. She was dizzy with the instinct to run. She barely felt Jin grab her other arm and tug her away, tripping over her own feet.
Moments later, Jin was shaking her. She snapped back into focus, once again surrounded by green trees and weird shrubbery. Amai looked back and forth, breathing as calmly as possible. Jin's hands were tight around her shoulders.
With her wits relatively about her, Amai narrowed her eyes at Jin. "I thought you said bears were the most dangerous part of this stupid place."
He smiled just a little, "Well, I meant it as a bit of a joke, ya see. Didn't think you'd be believin' me so fast."
Amai looked worriedly up at him, unable to bring her voice above a whisper. "What was that?"
Jin thought about his answer before responding. "Somethin' tha' shouldna be here,"
"Oh," Amai shivered. He squeezed her shoulders comfortingly before letting go. "Does that mean I can just go home?"
"Oh, fer sure." Jin waved a hand in front of him. "This is outta yer league. It's gon' take a real strong person ta take care of that thing."
Huffing, Amai rolled her eyes. "Let me guess, someday I can do that if only I kept practicing and doing my best."
Jin laughed, "Well, sure, maybe. But, best ta leave this to tha professionals fer now."
"Professional, huh?" Amai scoffed. "I'd like to see your license."
He winked at her, causing Amai's breath to stick in her throat. He grabbed her hand in a manner that was becoming rather habitual, and tugged her in a direction. Amai didn't know what direction, and didn't particularly care. She wasn't worried, because Jin was leading her.
"Let's see if we can find a bear before I take you outta here…" Jin was nearly skipping, peeking back at Amai to gauge her reaction.
Amai rolled her eyes. Maybe she'd never be a fighter, and she'd never be strong like Jin or Yusuke or Chuu or whoever. But maybe that just wasn't the plan for her. Maybe the plan for her was to protect as best she could. To protect and, in the case that Genkai kept sending her into the forest of demons and bears, to survive.
Well, with the friends she had, she'd most likely make it out alive.
"A bear. Okay, let's go find one." Amai squeezed his hand and grinned. "But just one. More than one bear, and I'm out."
"Deal," Jin laughed. "Doncha worry, lass. I gotcher back."