The boy in the gray cloak was taken aback. "Who…who are you?" he asked. But immediately after he had, he took a closer look at the crow +Anima. His pale green eyes examined the boy, and a smile began to wash over his face.
"Cooro…?" he asked. The crow boy nodded with a grin.
"Cooro! It's you!" The boy in the gray cloak threw himself at Cooro, and the two embraced in a friendly way. They were laughing. "I haven't seen you in forever!"
Nana, Senri, and Husky stood on the sidelines of the reunion, all wearing dumbstruck looks on their faces. What exactly was going on here…? For one, the boy in the gray cloak was at least six inches taller than Cooro, and had thrown himself at the boy – how had the crow +Anima held the other boy's weight up? And second, how did they know each other?
As the hug ended, Cooro turned to his three companions. "Guys, this is Zeke!!!" The boy in the gray cloak waved timidly, though his smile was still quite large. The boy turned to Zeke, grabbed his hand, and pulled him forward. "He's one of my oldest friends!"
Husky wasn't all that impressed. He knew, for a fact, that Cooro was quick to trust people. Too quick. He opened his mouth to speak his opposition to Zeke.
"Wow…" Husky turned to see Nana shuffling in place, hands brought together under her chin. Her cheeks were the shade of soft pink. Her eyes were fixed upon Zeke, whose silvery hair shone brilliantly, even in the dim light of the sunset. Sighing, she extended her bat wings and hovered over to the boy. She landed right in front of him and immediately brought her hand halfway to his. "I'm Nana…"
Chuckling gleefully, Zeke took her small hand in his and shook it. "I must say, I think I'm in the presence of a princess."
Nana's entire face went the color of a ripe tomato. Laughing lazily yet contentedly, she fell backwards onto the ground.
Husky turned to get some help from Senri – surely the Kim-Un-Kur, whose race was so well known for their instincts, would have the same feeling about Zeke. But Senri was no longer standing beside the fish +Anima. Instead, he was by Zeke, already comparing heights. Zeke was a few inches shorter than Senri, as it turned out.
"…You know Cooro?" They were the first words Senri had spoken in a while.
Laughing lightly, Zeke replied, "Yes. We were both sort of raised by Fly, though I'm older."
"Do you have an Anima?" Nana asked him, eyes full of respect.
Nodding, the boy in the gray cloak told her, "Yes, though I don't feel much like showing it right now." Husky nearly snorted. "Are you going to introduce me to your friends, Cooro?"
Smiling the biggest smile he'd probably ever had, Cooro said, "That's Nana. And the big one's Senri.
"That's Husky." Husky heard his name being mentioned. The already irritated fish +Anima shifted his head to see Cooro pointing him out to Zeke. It practically infuriated him.
'That pompous little…' Husky thought to himself. 'He thinks that just because he knows Cooro, he's automatically cool with us. He's not, and I'm afraid if I'm the only one who realizes that…' Still, he took a moment to examine the boy. With his silver hair, falling almost into his eyes, those sickly green eyes, and down to the bottom of his neck…Curvy body…Ghostly pale skin…It all gave off an air of uncertainty, mystery, and danger to Husky.
Everyone was still chatting with Zeke as though they'd known him forever. And, for some odd reason, they contradicted themselves in order to agree with him.
"This is my favorite dress to wear," Nana was telling him. "I love how it fans out at the bottom."
Hand on his chin, Zeke told her, "No offense, but the fanning isn't really necessary. In fact, it takes away from the overall look."
Nana reexamined her favorite dress. "You're right," she said. "It's a bit…ugly."
"You should get rid of it," Zeke continued. "It wouldn't suit someone of your beauty to wear something that atrocious."
"I think I'll get rid of it," Nana told him, nodding. "And quick! I can't be seen in it ever again!"
Husky's jaw dropped all the way to the ground. Nana always had nothing but praise for the dress she was currently wearing – always insisted that it was perfect, even when Husky had – unwise as it was – suggested almost the same thing Zeke just had. Yet she believed the new guy and completely changed her opinion to suit him.
Something just wasn't adding up. It was, in all honesty, a bit scary for the fish +Anima.
He had to take matters into his own hands, and fast. Something was making him queasy.
Husky strolled as briskly as he could up to Zeke. Bowing politely, barely hiding his suspicions, he said, "It's been nice meeting you, but we really must be on our way. We have to get to town before nightfall."
"But…!" Cooro protested. "We still have so much to catch up on!"
Scowling, Husky grasped Cooro's wrist and, wordlessly, began dragging him up the other side of the small valley.
Apparently resigning himself to the fact that they were going, Cooro wove to Zeke with his other hand. "See ya!"
As Nana and Senri chased after Husky, Zeke waved to their backs. "Goodbye, everyone. It was nice to meet you all, but don't act so here-and-now." He smiled a very wide grin. "We'll be seeing each other again…and quite sooner then you think."
When the four +Anima children had disappeared over the hill's crest, another figure came out of the shadows. Whoever it was stood by Zeke, arms crossed. "That didn't go very well at all, did it?"
Zeke caressed his chin with his fist. "No. It didn't."
The other figure nodded. "What do we do now?"
As nightfall came upon the valley, Zeke's face was almost covered by shadow. But his eyes held their gleam, and his smile became rather toothy. "Simple – we follow them to wherever they're headed. I've waited too long to have such a minor inconvenience stop me. But the first thing we have to do is get rid of that pretty blue-haired one. If it wasn't for him, I'd have the three of them now."
"They practically admired you."
"I know, Noïr." Zeke's smirk was dark and foreboding. "But enough talk for now. I will have Cooro, and then our operation can begin." Both people disappeared into the shadows and went on the move.