Thanks to Yuki Kajiura for her fairly inspiring and beautiful songs. They keep me going!~
And of course, thanks to my faithful and wonderful reviewers, Jaku appreciates you all! She is feeling a little on the sick side.
(Disclaimer: I don't own Tsubasa, any of its characters, or CLAMP. I do own Aya Kietsu and Masumi Shimizu)
My eyes just sort of opened on their own, no matter how much I had tried to stay asleep. It was one of those mornings when I just wanted the whole world to be paused from its endless cycle. I nuzzled my head a little deeper into my pillow since there was this strange whistling that kept blowing in my ears, I was guessing it was the wind. Hmmm....I noticed the pillow felt oddly warm. Plus it was sort of hard. I poked at the pillow a bit. It started to shift over.....wait pillows don't shift over on their own!
That's when I turned around and saw Fai's sleeping face, 3 inches away from mine. Not a pillow. I wish it had been.
GAAAAAH! I mentally screamed. I wanted to squirm away, but I knew I'd have to do it slowly. If he woke up, my life would spiral, I'd lose my pride, Masumi would just laugh, and Fai....he'd never shut up about it, he'd never leave me alone! I didn't want to think about the consequences! I just thought that he would have gone back in. Hmph, lazy pervert.I peered my eyes over at his face. His lips was in a tight line compared to the wide grins he usually wore.
I gently started to push his arm away. Sweat trickled down my cheek.
"Aya?....What are you doing?" EEEPPP!
"Aha...well...you see, it was-"
He grinned,"Getting comfy on me I see."
"What!? No way!" I pushed him towards the edge of the porch," Fall off and never come back up!"
"Neh?~But that would hurt."
"I'm sure it would," I groaned sarcastically.
"So what were you doing in that position? Suspicious~"
"Shut up, you. I have no idea."
"Wahh~why does Aya-chan hate me so?"
"You're extremely irritating most of the time, but I don't hate you."
He narrowed his eyes sideways at the tree behind him," That's good to know." He wasn't smiling right now, his voice had changed a little.
"Huh? What are you staring at? The branches?"
"Hm? Oh nothing. I thought I saw something." He quickly wiped off any sign of worry.
"Alright then...today we're supposed to take a look around this country, maybe possibly find leads to the feather here."
"Sounds good." His voice still sounded distant. I frowned.
"Hey, you....if you were to see someone who looked like the person you're running from....like Yuuko said earlier...."
" It would be hard for me to adjust, but I'd be fine. I'd definitely know the difference between someone who looks like that person and that person himself."
We were all standing out in front of the hotel. Sorata was handing Syaoran what l believed was....a frog shaped wallet?
"This wallet has money for you guys to buy something if you get hungry."
"Hey, why are you handing it to the kid!?", Kurogane implied
"Because he seems the most trustworthy out of all of you." Haha, he has a point there.
"Hey, where's Sakura?"Masumi asked
"She's still sleeping. I have the feeling she needs another feather before she'll wake up," Syaoran explained.
"Well c'mon already. Let's go, the quicker we find this feather thing, the faster we'll get to the next world and the less we'll have to intrude on these people and their home. Plus the princess needs the feathers or else she'll die. We can't let that happen."
"Aw, Aya you're so impatient. And how can you say that? You practically freeloaded all the time at my place," I heard Masumi sneer.
"Aya-chan isn't interested in looking at this cool new world?," I heard the mage add in.
"No fun~no fun~!" Mokona hopped around.
"Alright! I get the point! Shut it! But don't you guys care that someone's life is on the line?" I glared at Masumi," And what the hell are you talking about?! You invited me over. That's not freeloading!"
"Aya, calm down. Heheh, and its freeloading in my book once you accept the invitation~"
"Grrr, You little-"
"C'mon, let's not fight here," Syaoran said, coming in between us. He looked at me," But...thank you for the concern of Sakura."
"Its nothing, really. You gotta stop doing that, being so polite. You said it earlier yourself at the shop, that girl must not die. Well you're not going to take those words back." I gave him a pat on the back. Pretty lame, but I felt the kid needed a little encouragement. Despite us only just meeting, it was like having the younger brother I never had already.
I saw his face light up a little. He nodded," Yes."
"Hey! You guys have to get out of here!," this kid with beady eyes started running toward us.
"Who the heck are you?"
"No time to explain! You guys have to go before it starts!"
"What starts?"
"You guys must be foreigners if you don't know what I mean! Hurry, get across the bridge now!"
A chubby guy with funky pink hair and sunglasses was on top of one of the buildings. Behind him was a gang who had similar hairdos and clothing.
"You'll pay for last time, Shogo!" The man yelled.
On the other side was a man floating on a a large blue sting ray. I suspected it was a kudan," We'll see about that."
Suddenly blasts of fire and water were being shot from both directions.
"Oh great! We're too late! Quick, take cover!" the boy yelled.
Well that would've been a great idea if there was anywhere to take cover. Luckily this umbrella of ember covered most of the shots....huh?! Where did the...
In front of Syaoran, a fox of flames stood. It blew a great fiery blast of energy towards one of the gangs. They retreated in terror.
Meanwhile, the leader of the water gang, stood in awe. He introduced himself as 'Shogo' and said he wanted to duel sometime. With that said, they left.
"Geez...well that was really quick and rude, I didn't get what was going on at all....," I mumbled.
The beady eyed kid ran over to us," Are you guys alright?!"
"Eh, well I guess so. Who are you beady eyes?", I said.
"Huh!? My eyes aren't that beady....and um I'm Masayoshi Saito."
"What was that fight for that just happened? And the fiery fox...my kudan?" Syaoran asked
"Oh, the guy with the pink hair. He and his gang want more territory that Shogo currently owns...but don't think Shogo is a bad guy! He's trying to keep the city in peace!"
We all introduced ourselves. Him and Syaoran started to discuss more about the kudan levels. Syaoran supposedly had the highest rank kudan you could get. Masayoshi claimed that his kudan was the lowest. The rest was sort of getting fuzzy for me, I couldn't focus. There was something in the air that was not sitting just right.
He invited us all to join him for lunch. No one else obliged, no one...except for me.
"You're not coming? I've never heard you say no to a meal," Masumi felt my head and poked my shoulder," Is this the real Aya? A robot?"
"Yes its me, stop doing that! I...I'm just not feeling good. I'm gonna head back to the hotel, alright? Have fun you guys and thanks anyway, Masayoshi."
I turned around and started walking in the opposite direction. 'Go back....go back...' The constant eerie voices chanted in my thoughts. Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP! I clenched at my hair. What were they? What did they want? Why didn't they leave me alone?! I started to speed walk.
Instead, they continued to taunt me,'The fate...bring her back....bring her back....the one who shall weep once more...bring her back...'If they were talking about me, yeah, I was definitely starting to feel the need to weep.
I moved my eyes up from my feet and examined my surroundings. I wasn't on the main drag anymore. Instead, I must have turned by mistake into a narrow side street. To be specific, an alley. Cliché? I think yes. More and more my life was really turning into an author's dream plot.
Voices murmured, this time not the ones in my head, they were different. The echoes of their whispers trickled down the brick walls of the passageway.
"Who are you?", I called out. I wasn't sure if I was going to get an answer.
Out of the blue, a dark figure jumped swiftly to my side from the top of one of the buildings. His impact created a small crater in the cobblestone. He grabs my waist and my wrist.
"No!", I tried to kick the man, but instead it turned into more of a struggle.
"Zip it you, no matter how much you yell, you won't be heard. You're lucky you're not getting killed...yet," I could almost feel his mouth curl into a smirk.
I gasped a bit for air, he had punched me a bit in the gut," Who...who are you? What do you want with me?" I tried to get a look at his face, but it was covered by a maroon robe.
"You don't know who we are?" Another voice said with an almost arrogant tone. I saw another robed figure strut slowly towards me and my captive.
I spit at the ground," Like hell I don't know and like hell I don't care. What do you freaks want? Looking for an RPG?"
The person grabbed me and lifted my face up. I could see his intense green eyes melting into mine,"Silly little girl, pretending you don't know. Or perhaps you can't remember. Such a pity if you cannot. It would make your suffering all the more enjoyable. Either way, you aren't supposed to be alive. "
"Well this is definitely the first time I remember meeting the likes of you...and I hope its the last, because I prefer living!" A sudden blast of static energy escaped from my hands and into the green eyed man's stomach. It shot him back a couple yards. Cool.
No time for playing around, Aya. Please hurry!
Huh? Inazuma!? Is that you? My kudan?!
Yes, it is I. But there is no time right now for talk!
I looked back at green eyes. He was shouting,"Revulz, you idiot! Don't just stand there! She's getting away!" I tried to supress a laugh. Heh, so Mr. Thug was Revulz. Sounded like a cutsie kittie name.
My joy quickly faded as I felt a blade slice the top side of my arm all the way down. I tried to kick Revulz, but I tripped on a rock and accidentally stepped heavily on his foot, he was wearing sandals. He cried out in pain. Karate and my clumsiness....such a great combination. I stole Revulz's dagger, that was now on the ground, and jabbed it into his foot. That should especially keep him from chasing me.
Revulz started bawling to no end. "You fool, do you know who you're fighting?! Just use your magic!" I heard green eyes say. He was still clutching his abdominal area. His robe was burned and tattered from the electrical shock. Who's tough now, green eyes?!
I didn't know what they were talking about, but I wasn't going to waste anymore time. I found the energy to make a dash for the end of the alley that I had come from. I turned the corner, everything around me was spinning. 'The people...the memories...the people....the memories...remember...the power....the angst....' The voices chanted once more. Not at the right time either.
The pain from my arm stung. Blood was probably flowing like a waterfall from it, but I didn't look. My gut felt like it was swelling to the size of Tokyo Tower. I started coughing. My saliva was a red color. More blood. Great.
I took one quick glance to make sure they weren't following me. No one to my relief. When I turned back again, I bumped into someone.
"I'm so sorry...I..."
"Aya? Who did this to you?", Fai...it sounded like the mage...I couldn't tell, my vision was blurring.
"What are you...." before I could finish...everything slowly vanished.
This chapter is definitely...bizzare. Introduction of new, mysterious people. I found this chapter to be a little bi-polar. Starting out pretty normal and slowly working its way to this psychotic twist. Take to it how you see it. 'o.o The part meeting Masayoshi to me was a bit bland.
I noticed last chapter I sort of mixed up Arashi and Sorata, I fixed that . I just sometimes feel like Arashi should be a male name sometimes. I didn't think it was my best work that chapter(I loved chp 3.), probably one of the most boring scenes in the series is when they arrive in Hanshin, but it was hard to change because it was important.