Minara's P.O.V.
It had been about a week since the pact was made. Minara was surprised that no one had gotten fed up with the others. She actually-surprisingly-got used to it all. It was like she belonged. For the first time in her life since she was four, she was happy. Not that she showed it very often. She did let her guard down more often now though.
"Yo! Minara, hurry up!" Jakun yelled, snapping her out of her thoughts. She had fallen behind in her musings-not uncommon for her-and lost sight of the others. It wasn't too hard to find them. They weren't about to abandon her, and for that they had earned her trust. She ran up to the group.
"Where are we going anyway?" she asked.
"Don't know," Naiko said.
"We never do," Lakaira added.
"Hey guys! Check this out," Kataro yelled from up ahead.
When had he disappeared? That was an annoying habit of his. Minara might trust him, but she didn't have to like everything about him. His stealth was one of those undesirable traits. It made her uncomfortable.
Everyone had run to where he was calling from except for her who had gotten lost in thought again. This time Jakun just came back and pulled her along. She wrenched her wrist out of his grasp and snarled at him, but picked up the pace to rejoin the others again. Kataro was standing at a tall, probably electrified fence.'
"What's so important? It's a fence," Minara said, dryly.
"I think this place could be our permanent home," he said.
"Why do you think that?" Lakaira asked.
"The fence and heavy vegitation suggests that nobody comes here, or at least not very often. It makes the perfect place for us to live without being disturbed," he explained.
"Or, it could mean that this area is retricted. What makes you think that we're allowed here?" Minara said, contradicting him.
"Well that's just it Minara. If nobody is allowed here then we'll have free range and in theory, if people aren't allowed, then who's going to come in and kick us out?" he shot back smoothly.
Stupid smart-ass, soldier boy. Why did he always have to speak to her like a child when he was contradicting her?
"Makes sense to me!" Naiko said. "Let's go!" He ran at the fence.
"No!" Kataro yelled, putting himself between Naiko and the metal barrier.
The blonde had no hope of slowing down let alone stopping. He was going at full force in a short distance. When he hit Kataro, the latter was thrown into the fence and an electric jolt went through his body.
"Kataro!" she yelled.
"Relax..." he mumbled. "I can redirect the electricity through my body."
Lakaira smacked her brother upside the head. "Do you realize just how reckless you are? You could have gotten yourself killed!" she yelled.
"Yeah, sorry!" he said rapidly.
The only one who had seemed to remain calm was the wild child. He kind of creeped her out too with his animalistic fits of paranoia and how he always could sense danger. It was a good thing, she knew that. But really, nobody could read the atmosphere like him.
"Guys, if Kataro can redirect electricity, then we can easily hop the fence by using him as an insulator," Jakun said.
"Great. Nice to know I'm needed," Kataro said sarcastically. He stepped away from the fence and picked up the person closest to him. It was Minara.
"Hey! Put me down!" she yelled.
"Would you like to fly over, dragon girl?" he asked, again sarcastically.
They all knew about her demon. She had tried for the first three or four days as hard as she could to scare them off. They knew practically everything about that demon. She had even resorted to telling them of her massacre at four. Not even that deterred them. Well, maybe they deserved her trust for that one too. None the less, they still treated her like a normal person, which essentially ment not leaving her alone and getting way too close for comfort-at least in her case.
She grumbled to herself as the white haired boy scaled the fence and dropped her to the other side. She found her balance midair and easily landed on her feet. She leaned against a tree as he brought the others over.
"Has anyone ever told you that you're annoying?" she asked.
"And pushy?" Lakaira added.
"I'm a military brat. Deal with it," Kataro said.
Jakun and Naiko laughed.
Jakun's P.O.V.
The paranoia started getting to Jakun as the group walked. He kept looking left and right and in every other direction he could think of. It was creepy. He had never been in a forest so still before. Not a sound was to be heard. The wind barely even made a noise as it whispered through the trees.
"Dude, what's wrong with you?" Minara asked.
"Guys, how many animals do you see?" he asked in response to her question.
Everyone looked around with him now. It was so eerie.
"I don't like this place..." he said."Lakaira. Naiko. How are your animals doing?" he asked the siblings.
"Not good," Lakaira said after checking in with them.
"Sono, you want to fly through real quick and tell us what you see?" Naiko directed the eagle.
The bird took off and they all waited. A few minutes later he cried and landed on Lakaira's shoulder. She conversed with the bird for a couple of seconds. The siblings' jaws dropped.
"What?" Kataro asked.
"This place is filled with giant and killer animals!" Naiko said frantically.
"Speaking of which..." Minara said, pointing behind Jakun and Kataro. "Snake!" she yelled.
The two turned around immediately. A giant snake that could swallow a moose whole with no problem emerged from the trees. Everybody yelled and screamed as the group ran through the forest from the serpent.
"Lakaira!" Naiko yelled.
"Right!" she said.
They whipped around and stood their ground together. "Alright you!" Lakaira said. "We're top dogs now and this is one group of humans that is not going to be your lunch!" she yelled.
"You got that?" Naiko added.
The rest of them skidded to a halt. They turned to look at the two idiots.
"Lakaira! Naiko! What are you doing!" Jakun hissed.
"You're going to get us killed!" Minara added.
The snaked hissed, menacingly. "No, we're not looking to hurt anyone. We'll even protect this forest as our home along with the animals that live here," The blonde boy reasoned.
The snake didn't seem to agree. "No really!" Lakaira said. "Ask our snake, Tai!"
The snake slithered off of her neck and up to its giant cousin. The big one lowered its head and the two hissed at each other for what seemed like an exeptionally long time. Only the bother and sister knew what was happening. Soon the giant rested its head on the ground and Naiko and Lakaira walked up to it.
"Now that's a good boy," Lakaira smiled, patting its head. "C'mon guys!" she motioned to the others.
They all slowly made their way over to it. It was like a completely different animal now. It looked at Kataro and slithered toward him. He backed up.
"Relax Kataro," Jakun said. "It's a reptile. It sees your electrical current as a source of warmth."
He backed up against a tree. The snake rubbed around him, almost seeming to smile. "Eheheheh. Did I mention that snakes are the one thing I'm afraid of?" he said nervously.
"Alright Axi, you're freaking Kataro out," Lakaira said.
"Axi?" Minara asked.
"That's his name," Naiko said as the snake slithered around him in a circle. "Mind giving us a little tour of the place boy?" he laughed.
The snake stopped and the boy hopped on its back. Lakaira hopped on in front of him.
Kataro hadn't moved. In fact, he was actually reaching behind him to grab at the tree. Jakun sighed and walked over to him, grabbing his arm and wrenching him from the trunk. He then dragged Kataro to the snake and slung him onto Axi's back, getting on behind Naiko.
Minara got on in the back and the snake took off. The snake wove through the trees, passing a river several times and making turns that seemed random until the wild boy looked up to see the wild animals and occasionally giant leeches. Hours passed.
"You realize how akward this is, right?" Jakun asked Kataro, who's arms were wrapped in a choke hold around his friends waist.
"Don't. Care," he coked out, shivering once as the snake wove through the trees.
Jakun sighed and looked around. Then he caught a glimpse of something through the thick trees.
"Stop!" he yelled. The snake lurched to a halt and he had to work to keep himself on.
"What is it?" Minara asked.
"Over there," Jakun said, pointing toward the break in the trees.
"Take us there Axi!" Lakaira enthusiastically directed.
The snake turned and headed in the direction the brunette had pointed. He slithered through the break and into an open meadow.
Naiko's P.O.V.
"Wow..." Lakaira said.
"Jakun, this is amazing! How did you spot this?" she asked.
"Animal instincts," he smiled.
Minara hopped off of the snake's and looked around. "Guys, I think we found our new home..." she said.
Naiko and Lakaira slid off too. "Ya know what? I think she's right," he said.
Jakun jumped down, taking Kataro with him. "Land! Sweet land!" Kataro exulted, groveling on the ground.
"Oh please...It's just a snake," Minara said, rolling her eyes.
"I hate snakes, okay?" he yelled.
Naiko laughed a little under his breath. "Axi, why don't you go break down some trees for us to build with?" he asked the snake.
Axi turned and went back into the forest at his command. "And make sure they're good and strong!" Lakaira yelled after him.
Soon they heard tree trunks snapping. Hopefully it wouldn't attract too much attention from any nearby people or the animals in the forest.
"We're going to need a solid base first," Jakun said.
"To prevent leaks, our base should be solid stone at best," Lakaira said.
"I can do that," Jakun offered.
"Go for it," Kataro said, now recovered from his freak out.
Jakun ran out to the middle of the field and made a few handsigns, then slammed his hands to the ground. He started to get up, keeping his hands in the grass. He strained like his hands were actually attached to the earth. The ground started rumbling and breaking apart where Jakun stood. A giant slab of stone rose under him up to about twenty feet. He detached his hands from the stone and smiled.
"Uh, I don't want to climb that high to get to the house," Kataro stated.
"I'm working on it!" Jakun yelled back.
He made a few more signs and clasped his right wrist. He pulled his fist out of his hand's grasp and yelled. "Iron fist!" he said. Then he slammed his fist into the rock. It cracked and faltered in strange ways and then it crumbled. Jakun fell to the ground with it and in the slab's place was a clean stone floor.
"Dude, you're amazing!" Minara exulted.
"Tell me something I don't know," he smiled.
Naiko laughed. "Where did you learn that?" he asked.
"My dad taught me when I was little," Jakun said. "I have a fort that I built back at home."
Then Naiko turned his head as Axi came back with a couple of trees in his mouth. The building began. With everyone using their elements to cut, mold, lift, and attach, plus Aki bringing trees back intermittantly the cabin was roughly built by the end of the day. At least the outer and inner walls anyway. The sun was starting to go down by the time the roof was put together.
"Hey Axi," Naiko said. "How safe is this place at night?" The snake lowered his head. "Not so good huh?" the boy said.
"Guys! We're gonna have to turn in for the night," Lakaira said.
"Why? I can keep going for the next eight hours," Minara boasted.
"It's not about energy, Minara. It's safety. My instincts are telling me that this it's a bad idea to stay out here after dark," Jakun said.
Minara laughed. "What? Are you afraid dirt boy?"
She was being a jerk, but that's how she lived. Jakun turned on his heel and walked off into the cabin. Minara snarled and turned the other way.
"Lakaira, would you mind?" Kataro sighed.
Naiko's sister made a handsign and raised one arm. She murmered to herself and he knew what she was doing imediately. A heavy fog covered the field and he couldn't see three feet in front of himself. His ears, however, were working fine. Minara hissed under her breath.
"Minara, will you please just sleep inside tonight? It's just a precaution," Kataro tried to reason.
"Fine!" she snapped before stomping past the blonde boy.
It was amazing that she missed running into anyone. She even came close enough to Naiko that he could make out her shilouette before she twirled right around him and stormed into the cabin. Lakaira dissipated the mist and Naiko led the way inside.
Kataro's P.O.V.
Even though there weren't any windows in the building yet, Kataro was up with the sun. The training had set his internal clock so now he roughly knew what time it was at all times even without light or technology.
He stood up and stretched. With no beds yet, it was difficult to sleep on the hard floor. At the very least he was used to sleeping on dirt.
He walked out the door and came face to face with Axi. He stared at the white haired boy and his mind went blank for a second. Before he knew it, he was back inside with his back up against the door. He was breaking out in a cold sweat.
"Ugh...What's going on?" Lakaira moaned, sitting up and stretching.
"Snake. Outside. The door," he forced out.
She stood up and pushed him out of the way. "Axi, please go to the edge of the field so Kataro can step outside in comfort," she practically yawned.
He waited in the dark room. She sighed and pulled him to the door. He hesitated.
"Do I have to go out with you?" she asked.
Kataro nodded. "Please."
He stepped out the door and she followed soon after with two cups. "Hold these," she said, forcing them into his hands.
She made a small handsign and a string of water looped out of the ground and off of the plants. She placed the water in the cups and looked at him expectantly. He focused the electricity in his hands on the water to kill off any possible bacteria and then gave her a cup.
She took it and drank. Kataro did too as they watched the sun rise higher into the sky. It was a few hours before the other three were up and the water process was repeated.
"That river that we passed yesterday is nearby. We can catch some fish for breakfast," Jakun said.
Naiko's stomach growled to add to the statement. "Alright, let's go!" he said.
"As soon as I fix my hair," Lakaira finished.
She and Minara walked inside and came out about five minutes later. In Kataro's opinion that was way too long to just brush two girls' hair. But he wasn't going to attempt to decipher the enigma that was the female mind.
The hike to the river was downhill and the fishing was...interesting to say the least. He would stun the fish by putting his hands in the water and letting the electricity flow out of his fingers. Lakaira would lift them out of the water in little bubbles and then Minara would heat it up to cook them. Naiko and Jakun went upriver to avoid the shock and caught a few fish in the water themselves and cooked them over a campfire.
It turned out that they all caught more than any of them would eat. The animals ate the leftovers aside from Naiko's deer and by the time they all got back to the clearing, Kataro was already thinking about the necessity of furnature and appliances.
"Guys you know we're going to need stuff like beds and plumbing right?" he asked.
"Yeah and?" Minara asked.
"We need to find a village around here somewhere for the necessary supplies," he explained.
"No. No, no, no," Jakun said. "I'm not going into a village without a fight." Everyone gave him a look.
"Why not?" Lakaira asked.
"I've never been in a village in my whole life. They make me uncomfortable," he explained.
"Well, you're going to have to deal with it," Minara said.
"Now let's get going!" Naiko said, pumping his fist in the air.
Lakaira's P.O.V.
"Kakashi sensei! Hurry up! I want to make it to the training grounds today!" a loud voice called from the east.
Everyone in the group snapped their heads in the direction of the voice. "I think that's our cue to head that direction," Lakaira said.
Jakun sat down and crossed his arms. "Nope," he said stubbornly.
Minara huffed out a breath. "You are going wether you like it or not!" she yelled.
In the meantime Kataro was sneaking up behind him. The water girl knew something was up when she saw the other's hair start sticking up. He held up his hand, palm out, and touched Jakun's back. He slumped over a little and Kataro picked him up by the hood of his jacket.
"Kataro! What are you doing?" Lakaira squeaked.
"He's fine...It's just to stun him and make him cooperate," he explained.
"Um, can you explain? Naiko asked.
"I'm in control of his nervous system, so his body responds to the electrical pulses I send out instead of the ones his own brain is sending him," Kataro said.
"I hate you..." Jakun hissed.
Minara snickered evilly under her breath. Lakaira couldn't help chuckling herself.
"Guys...the village?" Naiko asked.
"No! You can't make me!" Jakun yelled.
Kataro leaned in close to Jakun's ear. "Don't make me turn off your mouth," he threatened.
Jakun inhaled deeply and then huffed.
"Axi!" Lakaira called. The giant snake slithered up, making Kataro glance in his direction. "Do you think you could give us a ride to the edge of the forest in the direction of the nearest village?" she aksed.
He nodded. She smiled and leapt onto his back, followed by Naiko and Minara. Kataro hesitated behind Jakun.
"Aww, you're afraid of snakes right? Looks like we'll have to stay here," Jakun taunted.
Then a look of determination came across Kataro's face. He crouched a little, causing Jakun to do so as well, and they jumped onto Axi's back together.
On the way to the outer edges of the forest, Lakaira was keeping her eyes set on the wildlife. The animals here were amazing. And most of them seemed poisonous or parasitic if they weren't giant. Living here was going to be interesting.
Soon they came to a fence like the first one they had come across the day before. It probably encompassed the entire forest. She slid off the snake's back and stepped up to the chainlink fence. She turned back to the others.
"Kataro? How are we going to get over this?" she asked.
"I can't take you over if I have to keep contact with Jakun," he said.
"Oh! I got it!" Naiko shouted. "Lakaira, get back up here!" he laughed.
She smiled and rolled her eyes and then hopped onto Axi's back again. He leaned down and whispered to the snake, which then lifted its tail over the fence. Then he jumped to his feet and ran up the tail to slide down the other side. Minara went after, followed by Kataro and Jakun, then her.
"Thanks Axi!" she smiled. "Look after the others for us and please make sure they don't get eaten!" The snake simply nodded and slithered off.
The group started off in the direction that Axi had pointed them in and soon came to buildings on the outskirts of the village.
"If I could be shivering right now, I would," Jakun said.
Lakaira looked back to see his eyes glancing back and forth eratically.
"Dude, it's just people. It's nothing you can't handle," Minara sighed angrily.
"And this is coming from the girl who can't stand people," Jakun retorted.
"Yes, but I can deal with it because I know that just because they're annoying, doesn't mean that I'm going to die," she shot back.
"Guys! You need to stop!" Lakaira yelled trying to keep the peace.
"But she is right, Jakun. There's nothing to be afraid of," Kataro said.
"Snakes?" Jakun said sarcastically.
"That is entirely different. Besides, I know it's an irrational fear and I'm getting over it because I know Axi is going to remain a part of our lives for a long time," Kataro said, adding a very mature tone to his voice. Jakun was probably going nuts right about now.
When they finally got to the center of the village they had passed a couple dozen stores and there were hundreds more ahead of them. People were passing left and right with the occasional glance at the newcomers. It was pretty weird to see the position that Jakun and Kataro were in.
"Guys...you can let me go now. I trust you," Jakun said.
Kataro looked to the others for the okay and they nodded. It was easy to tell when he was released because Jakun shook himself and stretched.
"Well that was awful!" he said enthusiastically. "Not being in control of your own body sucks!" he said.
"But you must admit, it is a good technique that could be used very effectively in the event that I can come into and stay in contact with my opponent," Kataro reasoned.
"True" Jakun agreed, nodding. "But you say that like you've never used it before."
"I haven't," Kataro said. "I discovered this electrical ability when my parents were killed, but I try to avaoid fights so I never really get the chance to try anything."
"Could have fooled me," Minara said.
"Well, let's split up," Lakaira said. "Nakio and I can go for electronics, Kataro and Jakun can go for plumbing, and Minara can go get furniture. Here's money for everyone. Don't spend it on personal stuff until we have everything we need," she said handing out cash to everyone.
"Where'd you get all this money?" Minara asked.
"When our parents died we were left everything. They had a lot of money," Naiko explained.
"Are you sure you didn't rob a bank before we met or something?" Jakun asked.
"Ha ha. Very funny," Lakaira said.
"So, let's get going!" Naiko said, pumping his fist in the air. And with that everyone went their seperate ways.