Golden eyes stared blankly at the spot where the black-haired girl had vanished. Restu growled, cursing Yubaba and himself. He could almost still see her mouth forming a silent cry for help and long black lashes closing over panicked blue eyes before she was whisked away to some unknown place. The triumphant, mocking glare of the witch was emblazoned in his mind and her thin, twisted smirk seemed to never disappear.
His anger and frustration overflowed and a great roar burst from his jaws as he stomped on the ground, as if he were demanding the earth to return Ryumiko to him.
Yukaoi, Haku and Zeniba all heard the enormous roar from inside the cottage coming from outside. Faster than the eye could follow, the two dragons rushed out the door, only to face a raging red dragon, clawing the ground and writhing angrily. Yukaoi raced over to her howling sibling, trying to work out what was wrong. When his tail swung out blindly at her, she changed to prevent herself from getting hurt in her brother's fury. As her dark scales covered her lengthening body, she ducked under yet another swing of the red dragon's tail and moved to face Retsu.
'What troubles you so?' she demanded, quite annoyed that he'd nearly hit her twice.
Furious golden eyes turned to her before changing to a painful expression of defeat and self-loathing. Yukaoi caught the scent surrounding him and hissed.
'Where is she?' she growled, not recognising the other scent that mingled in the earth her brother was scattering with his claws.
'Vile cursed witch!' he growled, to no-one in particular.
'Yubaba?'
'I was sent to protect her not let her get kidnapped!'
'You've already protected her many times!' Yukaoi said, trying to bring her brother back to his senses. She knew his pride was hurt badly as well as his attachment to the girl paining him, but his mindless fury was not acceptable behaviour for a dragon of his position.
'Why did I not realise?'
Yukaoi rolled her large silver eyes and then proceeded to headbutt Retsu's skull in frustration. He fell to the ground, bewildered for a moment before glaring up at his sister.
Yukaoi roared at him, 'Will you not listen to yourself? You are whining like some newborn hatchling without thinking rationally! Now will you collect yourself and tell me what happened coherently or shall I leave you here to finish your immature tantrum of self-pity?'
Retsu avoided her gaze and shrunk back to his human form, his red hair creating a mask over his eyes. Yukaoi followed suit and changed out of her dragon form just in time to hear Retsu's whisper.
"The witch took her... while I was watching over her..."
The dragoness took a shaky breath. She'd already worked that out through Retsu's out of control mumblings, but it still didn't mean that she wasn't going to be affected by hearing it directly. Through a single glance at Haku, she knew he understood what had happened as well, and began discussing things with Zeniba. She was now left with two options. One. Inform the Dragon Clan of Ryumiko and her situation and request their assistance. Or Two. Go after the girl with only her brother and Haku alongside her. Both were viable options, each with good advantages and each with great downfalls.
But until they could make a decision, she had to return her brother to a normal state of mind and hope that wherever she was, Ryumiko was able to keep herself safe.
She turned back to her brother, who stood facing the ground. "Yes I know. And now, you can make up for it, by bringing her back and apologising."
She made it sound so simple.
Limbs ached in the places where the invisible ropes were binding her. A roaring fire heated her back and her face was pressed into a plush red carpet that smelt of an overly powerful fragrance. She could feel the arm that she had fallen on earlier beginning to bruise. She had blacked out for a few minutes and woken up in what she recognised as Yubaba's office... if that's what you could call it. Chihiro had painted it once. Her dulled blue eyes glared at the witch that was seated amongst a pile of jewels that appeared to have increased in number since Chihiro had painted the scene.
Cold brown eyes flicked at the girl lying in front of them.
"Don't look at me like that child. Blame Chihiro for this. Without her, I wouldn't need you. If you want to be freed, you must be willing to tell me exactly where she is, otherwise, the spells will not be released," Yubaba told her, a slight grin creeping up on the woman's features.
'Like hell I will,' Ryumiko sneered in her thoughts. 'It's not like I know all that much either anyway.'
Instead, she moved her glare from Yubaba to the various treasures littering the room. Gold, jewels, priceless looking objects, gold, expensive artefacts, contracts of various servants... more gold. But there was something else that caught her eyes for a fraction of a moment. Something that looked like a glowing tail that slipped past the gap between two curtains. Something pulled her towards the vision, persuading her to come closer. Ryumiko probably would have followed such a temptation if she weren't currently roped up by magic.
She thought she saw another glimpse of something moving behind the curtains, a small but piercing eye, glowing at her from the darkness. At the sight of this, her heart began to thrum... not just beat faster, but thrum like the way the engine of a car purrs to life. The thrumming heated her blood as it coursed through her limbs and she had a strong urge to run towards whatever was concealed by the curtains. But sensation was brief, leaving the girl to frown at the strange reactions of her body.
Yubaba suddenly noticed the object of the girl's attention and quickly hurried over to close the curtains properly. The witch glared at the girl suspiciously. A few questions had been bothering her since she had retrieved the girl from Haku's watch. With a loud exhale, she decided that if the girl, Ryumiko, was not going to discuss the whereabouts of Chihiro, then she would calm the rest of her queries.
Taking a seat she asked Ryumiko, "Why were you with those dragons at my sister's home?"
Ryumiko pursed her lips as if she were refusing to speak, but then changed her mind, choosing to do what she did best: Change the topic and annoy.
"Why do you want to know the whereabouts of my cousin?"
Yubaba frowned down at her, "I'm asking you the questions, girl! Why were you with those dragons?"
"By the way, how old are you?"
"Are you, Chihiro and those overgrown lizards plotting against me?"
"How do you get this room looking so gaudy? I must contact your decorator."
"Enough!" the sorceress yelled, clicking her long red nails against the desk in thought, before her mouth twisted into a malicious grin. "If you won't talk, then maybe dear Rin will be willing to speak for you."
She did not bring the right shoes for the Spirit World. You'd think after her kind of experience, she'd remember to bring some sturdy sneakers but noooOOoo, she had to go and wear ballet flats. She had her purple hair tie Zeniba gave her around her wrist, just in case she needed it as well as a normal hair tie to tie up her unruly long hair. Somehow, Ryumiko had convinced her to grow it out. She leapt over the dry riverbed before letting yet another wave of nostalgia sweep over her mind.
Chihiro went to step up the stairs towards the abandoned theme park, when someone grabbed her and pulled her away from the staircase. Falling backwards, she landed on the long grasses with a thud, the sun glaring in her face. Then a familiar face blocked the light from her eyes.
"R-Rin?"
Bwa hahaha! I left it there! So Retsu's part is a little confusing I'll admit, but it's mostly because he's confused himself. I mean, who wouldn't be confused when you've got yet to be discovered feelings of love for someone who you were ordered to protect but let get kidnapped by an evil psycho witch? And poor Ryumiko's being threatened and Chihiro is soooooo close to saving everyone from the wrath of the ever-irritating witch. ARGH!
AND GUESS WHAT PEOPLE! NEXT CHAPTER::
HAKU AND CHIHIRO REUNITE! ! *dies*
Many thanks to you dear reviewers!
Animala Swan (Here's the update! Thank you for reviewing!)
KendamaRelva (I am very honoured that you enjoy my story to such an extent! Thank you so much for the warm fuzzies! :D)
SakuandSyao-CLAMPGirlForever (Thank you so much for reviewing! I'm glad you like it! :3)
Mysticbreeze327 (I'm glad you like the beard XD Yes hair that long would be frustrating but then again, I get the feeling that they don't have scissors in the Spirit World... Thank you for the review!)
spirited away forever (Haku will get the beating of a lifetime *laughs evilly* XD Thank-you!)
Moongirl12121 (Yah, I saw that damn Yubaba there instead of Zeniba, but was too lazy to correct it once it was published! Thank you so much for all your lovely reviews! :3)
InkWoven (Don't worry! Next chappie has LOTS of Chihiro... *chuckles evilly* Thank you for your review! :D)
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