Quote of the day: The game's afoot: Follow your spirit, and upon this charge Cry 'God for Harry, England, and Saint George!'

Well, I'm trying to update more often, lets see how long it lasts this time.

Thanks to: Dark Link, Allen (who needs to calm himself) KATZUNITED, Tsuki Mei, Dray Dray, and Pie san! XD

Does everyone know how to pronounce Xxeon? It's basically 'shown' Well... Thats how I pronounce it anyway : P

Link groaned and tried to position his face out of the sunlight streaming through the small Inn window. Not an easy task seeing as his body was so sore he could barley move it, and his left arm had been fractured in his fight with Keagen, well the guy did have awesome strength, he was going to be out for at least a few days.

A few days that we can't waste. Shigen's up again, which means Lore must have her claws on Zeon. But now that Shigen's up, we have to stop him before he's forced to kill again, or capture me... Link grumbled and pulled a pillow from behind his head with his right hand and threw it over his face. Damn sun... Anyway I'll have to get up and rely on Epona for a bed until we get to Lore's castle...

"Liiiiink~ I brought you something to eat!" Kai bounded through the door supporting a fresh bowl of steaming soup and a cute smile, Link was fortunate to have the pillow over his head, because his lover was also wearing a 'too pink' apron to complete the whole 'house wife' look.

Kai slowly set the soup down on the stand beside Link's bed so he didn't spill any of it's contents and shook the hero's shoulder. "Come on love, you need to eat and get your strength back." He slid the pillow of Link's face and gave him a kiss on the forehead.

Link grumbled and sat up, using his good arm to position himself. "So how's Keagen anyway? Did he die yet?" Link asked nonchalantly while taking the bowl off the stand and gulping down a few spoonfuls.

Kai shrugged. "Well I haven't seen him, but from what I heard he's in rough shape." He smacked Link on the back when the hero started choking on his soup. "Eat slowly you idiot, anyway, Vii's been with him the whole time, mother henning."

Eating his soup more slowly this time, Link asked. "Where's Ryuk?"

"The kid is in his room, hiding from the sun, and Koal contacted us, so he's talking to him for a few minutes." Kai chuckled evilly. "I'm suppose to be down there rescuing him now."

Finished with his soup, Link placed the bowl on the stand once more and motioned for Kai to join him on the bed. "I'm sure he can wait, I want to snuggle with my Kai who looks awfully sexy in that pink apron."

Quicker then you could blink, Kai was snuggled into Link's side and purring like a kitten. "God I love it when you call me sexy." He leaned over and kissed the hero, being careful of Link's bad arm and sore muscles. Yep, Ryuk can definitely wait~

"I'm telling you lovely, my little Alec is going to be a ladies man when he grows up."

Ryuk added another pillow to the giant pile that was covering the small mirror device, no matter how many things he put over it, he could still hear the Koal guy's voice like it was right in front of him.

"And my little Mika is going to be so-"

"Would you shut the fuck up?!" Ryuk reached under the pillows and threw the mirror at a nearby wall. It hit it with a bang and fell to the floor unharmed.

"There's no reason to get angry lovely, your future self is a lot calmer."

"I have no fucking idea what you're talking about." This time Ryuk stomped on the mirror, but the result was the same as before.

"You know what I'm talking about lovely, there's a Ryuk here where I'm living, he's a lot nicer than you though, and he's been sad ever since my lovely cousin went back in the past, or as far as he knows, died."

Ryuk glared down at he man in the glass. "You are way too fucked up."

The click of the door opening alerted Ryuk to someone entering is room.

"It's about time Kai, this bonehead has been driving me up the... why are you hugging me?" Ryuk was going to turn around and give the shadow a piece of his mind, but Kai wrapped his arms around him and grabbed a hold of his chin with his left hand in a fierce grip, preventing just that.

"Lovely? Are you alright?"

"Yeah, the creepy shadow is just in a huggy mood right now." He wiggled his shoulders. "Kai, let me go ya crazy bastard." Way too creepy... Wait! Is it just me, or did Kai grow a foot?

He felt something heavy on his shoulder, and Ryuk could tell it was Kai's chin, this was getting scary.

And then he felt a tongue lick his ear.

This sent Ryuk into a wild frenzy, he began kicking his feet and cursing with all his might, but Kai's grip only grew stronger.

"I want to take you as my mate."

That definitely wasn't Kai's voice."Wh-what?" He kicked the mysterious man's leg with his heel, but it didn't help.

"Ryuk! My lovely! Is everything okay?"

"Does everything sound okay to you? Stop fucking licking me!"

"How can I? When you taste so delectable."

The man used his teeth to pull down the collar of Ryuk's tunic, exposing his neck.

Poor Ryuk was not liking this situation at all. "Are you that creepy vampire guy that tried to rape me the other night?" He growled as the man started nipping at his neck non to gently. Kai, where the fuck are you?!

"No, I'm not a vampire, and you know me dear Ryuk, I've traveled with you for a few weeks now, and I must say, you are the most compelling and beautiful creature I've ever seen." He gave Ryuk's neck another nip. "Hence, me wanting to mate with you."

"What are you talking about? I've never seen you before in my life!"

"Well you've never seen me in my human form that is."

And then it clicked.

"There's no way in hell the fur ball can turn into a person."

"Xxeon?" Ryuk was twirled around and brought face to face with a strikingly hansom young man with striking green eyes and locks of midnight black hair that fell all the way down to the bottom of his back, and he was... shirtless...

And Ryuk was pissed.

"You're going to fuck off and let go of me right now wolf boy." Ryuk poked his chest to emphasize his point. "Because there's no way I'm committing the act of bestiality with you. Not now, not ever, and especially not with a fucking guy!"

"Um, are you all forgetting someone lovelies?"

They both ignored the whimpering Koal, Xxeon had one eyebrow raised and was giving Ryuk a grin that was quite similar to Shigen's, which only served to anger him even more. "You know, you can't stop me from taking you, no one has marked you yet, which means you can still be claimed, and that is what I plan to do right now."

"Whoa! I leave for two seconds, and already there's some hot guy trying to get it on with 'Ryuk the Virgin'! Damn kid you have all the luck."

Ryuk had never been so relived to hear the real Kai's voice in his life, he poked his head over Xxeon shoulder and gave the man a pleading look. "Shadow! Get this bastard off me!"

"All in good time." Kai looked away from him and instead went over to the now panicking Koal who couldn't see what was going on. "Hey there Koal, it seems everyone forgot about you." He picked the mirror off the floor and brushed it off.

"Is Ryuk alright?"

"Yeah, he's just fooling around with some guy, even though he's suppose to be saving himself for emo." He looked at Ryuk and gave him a wide smile. Better to torment the angry ones when they're held down.

Though Ryuk's glare was getting really scary.

Xxeon had gone still as soon as the shadow had walked in, but it appeared he wasn't angry, so he began caressing Ryuk's face and stroking his hair, something that he himself had thought was a very pleasing feeling, but it seemed to disturb the young man.

"I'm going to bite you! And I don't care if I fucking turn you! You're pissing me off!" But Kai's hand covered his mouth before he could eat the annoying bastard.

"Calm down Ryuk, this guy is going to let go of you now."

"Yes! Let go of Shigen's lovely boyfriend!"

Even though he sounded nice, Xxeon could hear the bit of anger hinted in the shadow's words, so he released Ryuk who flung himself away like he was a diseased person.

"I didn't think he was claimed, I'm sorry." He said to Ryuk who was scratching at his neck like it was burning.

"Yeah, well next time ask me like a civilized person!" I'm not claimed by anyone, but whatever keeps him off me...

"It seems there's a lot going on down here." Link waved at them all with his good hand and limped inside the room. "We should get going, I'll ride Epona into the swamp, she should be able to handle it." He plucked the mirror out of Kai's hand and said hello to Koal.

"Good, let's get far away from this place, and fur ball here." Ryuk picked up his bow and quiver from the floor and placed them on his back. He picked up Link, who was still talking to Koal, and flung him over his shoulder. "Come on hero, I'll carry your heavy ass."

"I'll have you know, I've lost weight since I started this journey." Link rolled his eyes at Koal. "He's so impatient."

Koal was now holding both the twins in his lap, trying to keep them both still. "Yes well I think I should go lovely, my little ones are getting antsy, and Kotomi just finished making lunch."

"Alright Koal, talk to you soon." Link deactivated the spell. "Hey Ryuk, do you think you could slow down a bit, you're shaking my arm around."

"No."

"Alrighty then..." He could just see Kai and the strange man coming out of the room before Ryuk took the first corner. "Was that guy the one that tried to make a meal out of you the other night?"

"No, that's Vii's fucking wolf." Ryuk increased his speed once they were outside, the stables were only a minute away from the Inn but the sun was already burning his skin.

Link had to think about Ryuk's words. "Oh... OH! Wow, he's kind of hot." He tried not to yelp as Ryuk dropped him on a crate, the stable was alive with activity, and horses...

Horses that Ryuk was eying wearily. "Go saddle your horse hero."

Link held up his splinted arm. "I'll get right on that dumb ass."

Kaichou was so happy she could cry.

They were finally at the boarder, or well... at least out of the worst part of the Daedlands. They hadn't seen a dead thing all morning, and the marshes were becoming less frequent, and the grass was actually starting to look alive.

Zeon was on Kyou's back, the elf was getting weak since there was no food or water for him, and not to mention he had most of his blood drained by a certain vampire child who was currently in his bat form and hiding in Zeon's clothes somewhere.

Kaichou wished she had her cloak, it was getting brighter, the sun could come out at anytime, then she would be blind.

"There is a river a few miles away, it separates the Daedlands from the rest of the lands. After we cross it, there is a couple hours walk to a town called Novaska, Link and the others should be there by now."

"Sounds good elf, you're quite the navigator." Kaichou gave him a small nod of approval.

Zeon smiled lazily before closing his eyes once again.

They walked in complete silence, silence was one of the one things the Haniam were superior at. Especially before when their leader had been a silent, completely anti social creeper who stared at the ground all day, or counted shadows.

And then something had changed, Shigen had come back from where ever had disappeared to and had a full out conversation with everyone, wanting to know who they were and where they came from. Like he was just meeting them all for the first time.

It was unsettling.

And his manner of speech was wayyyyy off.

What the hell is a dude anyway?

Eventually as the sun started setting over the horizon, the sound of rushing water became clear. The river that Zeon was talking about sounded huge.

"Holy Goddesses." Kyou's eyes were wide with surprise? Terror? Kaichou couldn't tell which one it was.

If the river was deep, they wouldn't be able to cross it.

"I can sense Link, walk a little way to the right, he is in the other side of the river, truthfully."

"Holy sweet flying fuck, look at this river."

"Ryuk, can you say one sentence without swearing for once in your life?" Link asked the Haniam with a grumble. Where the hell did he learn to swear like that anyway? I blame Shigen...

"I don't swear unless I'm in a bad mood, and I have every right to be angry right now, I thought we were going to leave wolf boy behind?" Ryuk glared at Xxeon who was standing way to close for comfort.

"Vii told me I had to go with you since she had to stay behind and take care of Keagen." He moved closer to Ryuk and the Haniam sifted away. "I am skilled in some necromancy magic, I'll be able to help you out in the Daedlands."

"And then I'm eating you." Ryuk clicked his fangs together. "I thought Vii wanted to come with us, wasn't she like... obsessed with me or something?"

"She did want to come, but like I said, taking care of Keagen is her top priority. Besides, I'm going to be getting all the information she needs about your kind when we get to Lore's castle, so she would be more useful staying back in the village, awaiting our return."

Ryuk sighed. What's so interesting about the Haniam...? He looked across the river and almost tripped over his feet. "Hey... I see... is that Kaichou?"

Kai almost jumped off Epona, but Link caught him in his arms before he could go anywhere. "What do you see Ryuk?"

Letting out a breath, Ryuk tapped into his ability and relaxed, within a few seconds he could see the other side of the river as if he was there himself.

"I see Kaichou, she's waving at us, and Kyou is beside her carrying... Zeon on her back... He looks kind of dead though."

Link released Kai. "You should go over and find out what's going on for us."

"Will do!" Kai jumped off Epona and before his feet touched the ground he disappeared into the shadows.

"Hey thar~"

Kaichou lashed out and smacked whoever just appeared in front of her.

"Ouch! Damn! That hurt!"

It was the shadow who was with the hero, she didn't feel the least bit sorry. "Hello Kai, maybe that will teach you to not surprise me again.

Kai rubbed his cheek with a grumble. "Hello female me, nice to see you too." He pushed her aside and peered at the dead looking Zeon. "You okay bud? You look bad."

Zeon's stomach growled, answering his question.

"Link has a bunch of food in his saddle bags, we need to get them over here, but we don't know where the river thins out enough to cross."

A little black head poked itself out of Zeon's tunic.

"EEEEEEEEEK! What it that?!"

Kyou almost fell over from fright.

"Ew! There's a bug in Zeon's shirt!" Kai jumped onto Kaichou's shoulders, almost knocking her off her feet.

The 'bug' flew out of it's cuddle space and flew into the air. It circled around the group once and then landed on the ground, transforming into a young man.

"Holy shit, more than meets the eye alright." Kai jumped off the poor girl's shoulders and gave her a pat on the back. "Sorry bout that, I was just scared shitless, that's all."

Rush ruffled his hair back into place. "What? I'm not that scary am I?"

Kai leaned in to get a closer look. "Nope, not really, but- hey! You're that guy that was with that guy, at the time when we were fighting that guy!"

Obviously none of them understood what the hell the shadow was talking about, because they were all giving him weird looks.

"Now that we have all been graced with Kai's intelligence, Kai you may go back to Sir Link and tell him that where he is right now is the most shallow part of the river, it should be okay for him to cross on his steed."

Kai flipped him the middle finger before leaving.

"Okay Link, Zeon says it's okay to pass here on Epona, you better hide those cinnamon buns too, the guy looks like he's starving."

Link nodded and nudged Epona towards the water.

"And how the hell am I suppose to cross? I'll fucking drown." Ryuk was growling at the river, not please at all.

Xxeon knew the answer to the problem, before Ryuk knew what was happening, he was being lifted up and placed on Epona's back behind Link. "I can swim across myself, so you can ride with the hero."

Ryuk didn't waste any time latching onto Link's shoulders with a death grip making Link sigh and shake his head.

"Ryuk, watch the arm."

"Link, watch where you're- Ah! Fucking water is cold! Make the pony go faster!"

"Slow and steady wins the race."

The water was already up to Epona's belly, and they were already half way across it. Xxeon was swimming beside them in his wolf form, the water didn't seem to be bugging him at all.

As soon they reached the other side, Ryuk was off the horse and trying to ring the water out of his clothes, muttering profanities under his breath.

Link dismounted and began pulling food and water out of the saddle bags. "Kyou, can you bring Zeon over here?"

"Ah, yeah sure." Kyou slowly went up to the hero, it was always good to be weary of people who could kill you with a snap of their fingers.

Link helped Kyou put Zeon on the ground and then handed the elf the food and water. "Here you go, this should make you feel better."

Zeon felt like hugging him. "I thank you."

Link scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, well when you're better, maybe you could heal this." He held up his bad arm with a grimace.

"With pleasure Link." Zeon was already half way through his bread, and was working on the meat.

"Hey Kai, why don't you start a fire?" Link asked while standing up and trying not to fall down, his muscles were still bothering him.

Kai and ... Kaichou were already on the fire making, Xxeon was setting up the tent he had borrowed from Vii, and Ryuk was... yelling at a kid Link had never seen before, but he looked so...

"Koal?"

Rush turned away from the creature who was threatening to kill him and gave the hero a weird look. "You're the second person to call me that..."

Link skidded over to him and poked his forehead. "Say lovely now."

Ryuk covered his ears.

"Um... lovely?"

"That was creepy." Link shivered and backed away from the 'Koal' kid. "Is your name Koal?"

"No, it's Rush." Why do I have the feeling that these people know me?

Ryuk pointed an angry finger at Rush. "Link, he's the bastard that was with that bastard at the time we were fighting that bastard!"

"... what?"

Shigen let out another shaky breath, he didn't have to breath, but it was a habit that was hard to kick, and right now it was hurting him.

Lore was not pleased when he came back from his last mission. Not only did he fail, but he went against her, and that was a no, no.

So she had tied him to the bed as soon as he got back, and proceeded to stick small daggers into various parts of his body, most of them were in his chest, but there were a few in his legs and arms.

I think I would prefer to be tied up and tickled to death with a feather... shadow did that to me once... it was not fun...

"Have you learned your lesson yet?"

There was a sharp pain as Lore pulled one of the daggers out of his chest.

Shigen didn't flinch. He stayed silent and stared up at the ceiling.

Lore licked the blood off the dagger. "I don't mind cutting you up, your blood tastes wonderful." She rubbed a large amount on her lips and bent down to kiss him.

Shigen remained still.

"Trust me, you'll come around eventually."

You're stubborn, but that's to be expected... you are his son.

I don't have anything against Vii! I just feel that she would prefer to be near the injured Keagen.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter~