Hey everyone! Hoped the last chapter was action-packed enough for ya! There's going to be a crap load to come so don't get too relaxed yet. And if anyone's wondering, YES, the other suzako seven will be appearing soon. So without further do, here's the Fifth Chapter for "Dancing With Fire"!
-Chapter 5: A Race For Time-
Knowing that she had reached her destination in half the possible time couldn't have even faltered Miaka's rapidly beating heart. A slight wave of relief rolled over her as she felt Chaos' tense muscles begin to relax underneath her and the unconscious Genro. Just over the next hill she could make out a large cabin-like house. It was big enough to be any ordinary inn. A warm light poured out from each of the windows, making the outside grass a buttery color. A subtle line of smoke curved its way out of the large chimney allowing itself to reach for the limitless sky.
'This is a bandit hideout?'
Miaka had been expecting a dreary cave or a run down shack bursting with beer, noise, and commotion. Silence pierced her ears as she approached the large inn. Had Chaos taken her to the wrong place? Miaka wondered if the stallion could feel her heartbeat because it felt as if any second it would burst from her chest…
Miaka searched for any sign of a human around the outskirts of the inn, but no one came to sight. Her fears heightened as Chaos continued to cut through the silent air, and the sign of any bandit remained hopeless.
"SOMEBODY!! HELP!!!" Her throat felt as if it had ripped in order to let out such a yell at that noise level.
The front door to the inn swung open and a tall, lean man walked gallantly towards Miaka. A weight felt lifted off her shoulders as the young man approached her, but when she realized what he was holding she panicked. She should've known it would end up like this. She was at a bandit hideout after all.
The man who walked towards her wore a strange outfit that greatly resembled Genro's attire. Upon his head, thick locks of dark blue hair messily found themselves covering parts of his eyes. To complete his look, he held a large sword in his hand, already aimed at Miaka.
"Who tha hell do ya think ya are? N' why tha hell are ya riding Genro's horse?! This is Mount Reikaku, and you've stepped into bandit territory. Either fuck off or submit ta services!" The young man growled, raising his sword as he approached within 10 feet of Chaos.
Miaka would have immediately blushed at the spoken 'services' and then shoot an angry retort back at the man, but there were more important matters at hand.
"Wait! I have Genro! He's injured… I don't know what else to do….Please?" Miaka gestured towards the unconscious Genro who leaned heavily against her chest.
The bandit's eyes shot open at the sight of his best friend, he dropped his sword, and ran to the stallion.
"Genro! Common man!" The bandit nudged his leader but received no reply. Without looking up at Miaka, the man grabbed his best friend and carried him quickly into the house.
Left abandoned in the front yard, Miaka and Chaos sat in silence. 'Now what?'
There was only one way to find out Genro's outcome. Miaka sent Chaos into a trot towards a tree situated at the side of the house. The nerves inside her stomach felt like bugs, continuously climbing up and down her insides. She wasn't sure whether she could follow the young man into the bandit hideout unaccompanied or not. Would she be threatened just as she had entering the yard? Did the rest of the bandits even know she had been with Genro?
Miaka gingerly slid herself off of chaos, trying to avoid putting pressure on her broken wrist. Once on both of her feet, Miaka tied Chaos loosely to the tree and whispered in the horse's ear. "Thank you. I'll be back soon."
Chaos nudged her lightly in the direction of the house in reply. He wanted to know about his owner's health. With this as her only ounce of encouragement, Miaka turned on her heels and slowly began walking towards the hideout. She tried her best to swallow her anticipation but it felt like a horse-sized pill was glued to the back of her throat.
She stood in front of the door, and listened for any possible sign of life. The hideout immediately became a scene for mayhem as she heard several men demand questions of the young man who had greeted her.
Just before she raised her good hand to knock, her memory began to recall unwanted and disconcerting thoughts.
"Well Miaka, I don't usually do this but if ya want, I can take ya with me and hopefully ya can regain some of your memory along the way. If ya don't remember anything by tha time we're at my place though… I don't know what ta do. My guys would have ya pinned down before you could say tha word 'sex'"
The words 'pinned down' and 'sex' repeated over and over again in her head. Miaka gulped. Should she knock?
Before even given a chance to bite back her nerves, the door in front of her flew open violently.
A gruff man stepped out and quickly eyed her up and down. His body wavered as he gripped onto his beer mug as if his life counted on it. Out from underneath his two-sizes-too-small shirt, a hairy stomach poked its way in between Miaka and its owner.
Disgusted, Miaka looked passed him, hoping to catch a glance of the dark haired man, but he was nowhere to be found.
"Well, well, looky who we got here!" His words were greatly slurred and if Miaka hadn't watched him spit she would've been convinced that it was raining.
"I need to see Genro! Is he ok?" Miaka bit her lip, inching herself closer to the door.
"Are you the one who did this to our leader? A measly little girl eh?" The drunken bandit took another copious swig at his drink.
"I didn't hurt him! He hurt himself by saving my life. Now can you please let me in? Or do I have to spell it out for you?" Miaka felt her temper rise; this drunk bastard was testing her patience and quite frankly, she wasn't in the mood.
"Ooh, this one's got a tongue on her! Hmm, I'll letcha in but remember, we only pay 10 oz. of gold per night!" The large bandit stepped out of her way gesturing his hand to the rest of the aroused bandits waiting nearby. Did they even realize what was going on?
Miaka ignored his perverted comments and fled past him, searching for the blue haired bandit and the unconscious Genro. Drunken bandits approached her greedily as she frantically looked around. Making her good hand to use, Miaka roughly pushed aside the aggravating men and carried herself towards the back of the main hall.
When there was still no sight of the dark haired man Miaka began to panic. After looking left and right down the hall, there was no sight of Genro, only vacant rooms. She was about to turn back, bring up the courage, and ask a drunk bandit where Genro had been taken, but before she turned she caught sight of a stairwell to her right. Choosing curiosity over another horny man, Miaka turned and walked up the dark stairwell.
Hushed whispers could be heard down the long corridor as soon as Miaka reached the top of the stairs. Only one door spilled light through its cracks, the one farthest down the hall. Tiptoeing towards the lone room at the end of the hall, she tried her best to hone in on what was being said.
"…don't know if this herb will work…it's the strongest I have."
"Are you telling me there's nothing you can do for him?!"
She recognized that voice as none other than the bandit who had threatened her outside.
"The wound is deeper than most herbs heal…who knows how much poison has already gotten into his blood stream…"
"God damn Genro, you always gotta be tha stubborn one…" Miaka heard a large fist hit solid wood.
"This is all I can do for now. I'll be back in an hour to check up on him…"
Hearing footsteps headed her way, Miaka scrambled to run back downstairs, but in a split second her foot caught a loose floor board and she fell roughly on her butt. Just as she pushed herself up to attempt a second escape she came face to face with an old, weathered man.
Even though he was aged, he carried around an intelligent air about him. In his hand he held a large sack, assumed to be filled with many medical tools. His white beard could have challenged Chaos' in a brightness contest and was tied elegantly in a gold thread. Raising an eyebrow at Miaka he cleared his throat, signaling for the dark haired bandit to come have a look at the intruder.
Miaka began to take a step back but when she came face to face with the disheartened bandit she stopped dead in her tracks.
"I'll be going now…." The doctor bowed towards the tall bandit and began walking down the hall.
Looking down at her battered school shoes, Miaka didn't dare look up. A sharp tug on the arm told her she didn't need to. The young man yanked her inside of the room, shut the door, and grabbed her neck.
In one swift moment he had her pinned up against the wall, his grip tightening on her throat. Immediately she began to panic. Kicking her legs wildly she wiggled her body in order to escape his grip. This however, only made him more irate.
"WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED TO GENRO?!?!"
Her eyes flew open and she found herself staring into the depths of deep emerald eyes. They held no hatred for her, yet they were filled with anger and fear.
Miaka opened her mouth to speak but her vocal chords failed to produce any sound audible in numerous frequencies. The lack of air caused her eyes to water and her vision to go blurry. The best she could do now was groan. Hearing her attempt to answer, the man loosened his grip and took a step back. Without any possible strength left, Miaka's legs collapsed beneath her. Leaning against the wall, she managed to savor a few large intakes of air.
'How exactly am I supposed to explain that I FELL FROM THE SKY? Let alone that I technically am not supposed to be born for another couple thousand years. Or better yet, that I could possibly exist in a different world. Great… '
Miaka stole a glance at Genro, lying impossibly still in a large, cushioned bed. His once fiery red hair was caked in dirt, and the usual smirk on his face was replaced with a soft pout. The only evidence for his survival was his slow, ragged breaths that triggered the fall and rise of his body.
BAM!! Miaka jumped at the sudden crash and looked up. The bandit had punched a hole in the wall, leaving several large cracks extending a couple feet away.
"Someone paid good money for that, you know." She knew it was the wrong thing to say, but the only thing she had ever known to do in an awkward situation like this was to blurt out a sarcastic remark.
"Spare tha shit fer later. Tell me NOW!"
Miaka looked up into the distressed bandit's emerald eyes. They were no longer angry, but yet they danced in a sense of nervousness.
"Genro and I met in the mountains… He told me he would help me find my way home, but when we were in the forest we got attacked by bandits. I think the leader's name was Koan…When he was fighting them someone tried to kill me with an arrow but Genro blocked it from hitting me…."
Miaka looked up at the bandit for his approval. His previous frown however, had now turned into a look of outrage.
"I wouldn't buy that shit in a million years. Genro wudda never helped any woman. To him, yer not even worth horse shit. Start over again."
"You wouldn't believe me even if I told you. All of you bandits are just the same; stubborn and dim-witted."
"Try me"
"Ok, fine. I was reading a book and then suddenly I started falling from the sky. I happened to land on Genro. To be honest, he saved my life, whether he wants to admit that or not. I told him that I came from Japan, 2007 AD, but apparently I'm in ancient China. Sooo, he told me he would take me with him until I remembered what really happened. That's when we traveled through the forest and were attacked by Koan…"
Miaka almost laughed to herself. She wondered how hard he would grab her neck this time. Looking up at the man however made changed her mind completely.
"Now thas credible. I see why he took ya with him." The man bit his lip and stared out the window across the room. It was getting darker by the second, and soon black would become nature's favorite color.
"You're kidding….anyways why would he take me over all the other girls?" Miaka began to slowly bring her self to her feet, allowing her a better talking range with the bandit.
He eyed her up and down conspicuously, his eyes catching site of her strange clothing.
"There might be something you can do for him…"
Miaka perked up at the sound of his words, eager to repay Genro back for what he had done for her.
"I don't have all day…" she tapped her foot glared the man in the eyes, challenging his confident ego and the long silence he stretched between them.
"They say a miracle proficient doctor lives a couple towns away. He's been rumored ta heal tha crippled, tha blind, and tha sick. It's 'bout an eight hour ride to tha town itself, and there's no sayin tha man'll be there…"
"Let me find him. I can take Chaos. There's no way I can just sit here and let Genro suffer." Miaka began making her way to the door slowly.
"There're two problems." The bandit lifted his face to see her. "One, tha information is a rumor, we don even know if it's true. Second, he stopped practicin a while ago, people said he jus' gave up. But you might be the only person who will be able to get him to start again…."
"What do you mean by that? I'm not even important in this world!" Miaka grabbed for the door handle and began to let herself out; nothing was stopping her now.
The man shook his head in reply. 'So he hasn't told her yet…'
"Head east through tha mountain passage until ya get to a town named Fujian. It'll be easy ta tell cause its got a river flowin right through tha middle. Tha guy's name, I think, is Mitsukake."
"Thanks….ummm" Miaka bit her lip. She still didn't know this guy's name!
"Kouji"
"Thank you, Kouji."
"No problem. Now get goin.. err"
"Miaka"
"Yea"
With that last word, Miaka darted back down the hallway and skipped several steps on her way down the long flight of stairs. Ignoring the crude, sexual comments she ran straight for the door and out to the tree.
Miaka skidded to a halt when she realized Chaos was no longer tied to the tree. Not one trace of him was left for her to follow a trail.
"Ugh…I don't have time for this!" Miaka looked around frantically for the dark horse, wondering how he had been untied. The only thing she could find however was a large horse barn in the back of the yard. Taking her only chance, she hurried to its bulky doors, using all of her strength to open them.
A gust of warm air hit her face as she walked through the doorway. She peeked into each stall she passed by with little luck as she walked down the rows. It wasn't until the very end of the barn that she found what she was looking for.
Chaos stood comfortably in his stall with a large blanket covering his midsection. He looked content with an empty bucket of oats beneath of him. When the horse caught sight of her his ears perked up and he whinnied for her to come closer.
"There you are! I hate to do this to you but we gotta go again. Genro's still in trouble. Think you can help me boy?"
Chaos replied by nudging his nose against the door latch in front of her.
Within a few minutes, Miaka had gathered a generous supply of oats, blankets, a pillow, ropes, water and food for herself, and a knife; just in case. Finally mounting on Chaos, she looked ahead remembering where the sun had set and turned the horse in the opposite direction. Her heart began to beat rapidly once again as she sent Chaos into a quick canter. Once again, she was in a race for time.
::Hey minna! Sorry that took so long, didn't expect finals to be that rough…But now that its winter break I feel amazing. Hope you enjoyed this chapter! I would love reviews! How about some for a X-mas or Hanukah gift? Lol. Happy Holidays Minna!::