A/N- Blah blah blah. You know the drill.
Disclaimer- Blah blah blah. You know the drill.
"Bye, Dad," Larka said. Waka gave his daughter a lopsided grin.
"See ya later, Larks," He replied.
Larka's face turned bright red as I started to chuckled softly. "Dad! Don't call me that stupid name in front of the dorks!"
"I resent that!" Yuuki exclaimed.
"Be quiet, dork," Larka said almost absently.
"Ba ba, big sister..." Momo, the younger boy, mumbled, waving to her. "Me miss you..."
"I'll miss you, too, Momo," Yuuki said, giving him a tight grin. "But you'll be safe with Mr. Waka."
"Oui," The strangely dressed man agreed.
"We'll see you soon, right, Yuuki?" Aoi asked, sucking gently on her thumb. Yuuki gave her that same tight grin.
"I promise."
Aoi nodded. "Okay, big sister."
"I need you to be a big girl and take good care of Momo, okay?" Yuuki asked, gently dislodging the girl's thumb from her mouth. Aoi nodded slowly.
"Au reviour, petite," Waka said, nodding at me. I scowled at him.
"Don't call me that, you crazy Frenchie."
In answer, Waka laughed and began walking wouth, to the capitol, while we turned to the north, to who in the heck knows where. Then again, I never really knew where I was.
"So... are we gonna walk the whole way or hitchhike or what?" I asked.
"You're such a dork!" Larka said, laughing. "We're gonna walk, of course! Unless you can magically run really fast!"
"Fudge..." I muttered.
"That's really-" Larka began, but suddenly stopped, the wolf ears on top of her head suddenly perking up. A look of absolute fear passed her face.
"What?" I asked. "What is it?"
"Cicadas..." she whispered.
"Huh?" I asked.
"It's cicadas!" She cried. "Can't you hear them?!"
"Are you... scared of them?" I asked, smirking slightly. She whirled on me, her nostrils flaring.
"NO!" She shouted. "That would be idiotic! Don't even speak such a stupid thing!"
Yuuki smirked. "Looks like someone's a bit tense."
"SHUT UP!" She snapped, baring her wolf teeth, obviously on the brink of turning into a wolf and eating them up.
I merely laughed at this. Larka was rather easy to torture, wasn't she? Well, I was the same way, and I was much easier to torture than her. Maybe the world was a bit off because aren't guys supposed to be the ones that save the girls, not the other way around?
Whatever. It didn't matter that much.
"Can we just get out of here?" Larka complained. "It's cold and I-"
"Larka? Is that you?" I blinked and turned to see a huge, giant, HUMONGOUS wolf standing a bit down the path. It was black with red on top of it, and was wearing some sort of mask. Also, on its back, it had a sword. I couldn't help but wonder how the wolf used it if it had no thumbs.
"Oki!" She cried, and transformed into a wolf. The instant that she did so, she jumped on him, biting at his ears and tried to push him to the ground.
"What the heck...?" I blankly asked.
"Oh, yeah," Larka said, jumping off the monstrous animal that could barely be described as a wolf. "This is Oki. He's a family friend."
"A pleasure to meet you," The wolf said, giving a little bow.
"Er... right. I'm Jin. Nice to meet you, dude," I said.
I still wasn't used to the fact that demons were running around, I was a God, I was in the past, I was in love, I was supposed to save the world, animals could talk and people could turn into animals... so on so forth.
"By the by, do you happen to be the God of Time?" The wolf asked curiously.
I groaned. "I'm as much as the God of Time as I am some freaking stupid pockey!"
Oki glanced at Larka curiously. "Do you know what "pockey" is?"
"Candy of the future. Addicting stuff," Larka replied.
"Hi, Mr. Oki of the Oina!" Yuuki said, pretending to be Ms. Bright-and-Shiny. "I'm Yuuki, and it's so nice to meet you!"
"Really?" Oki asked, his ears perking up a little.
"No," she answered flatly.
"I knew it was too good to be true," Oki said, shrugging.
"Why didn't you help us when we needed you?! Because of you stupid Onia, we were left to burn and die! My family died, my friends died, and we were stuck in a horrible cottage for three years, alone, without any help from you stupid things Onia! But we all knew you were all right, because the demons would occasionally talk about you guys! When the demons attacked, you hid from them! You were cowards! You would come out of your stinking snow-covered village only to attack people on the roads and steal from them! Not only are you cowards, but you're thieves! Horrible, traitorous, dirty, scared, sick, rotten, stinking, stupid, ugly, idiotic thieves who deserve to burn in hell!"
We all stared at her.
"What?" She asked. "Am I not allowed to express my opinion?"
"You talk a lot," Larka said simply. "What a dork."
"What?!" Yuuki screeched. "Did you just call me a dork?! Omigosh, you are such an idiot!"
"Calm down, you two," I said, frowning. "We're a team. We need to work together. And that means not calling each other names."
"SHUT UP!" They screamed at the same time, pointing their anger towards me.
"Ugh..." I muttered, folding my arms. "So stupid..."
"What? The girls or how their acting?" Oki asked, giving me a wolfish grin.
"Both," I answered, watching them screech at each other.
Oki yawned, and said, "As long as things stick to just words, I don't care what the heck they do."
"By the way, I'm sorry about what Yuuki said about your people. I don't know much about you people, but that's pretty much the best I can think of at the current moment. I'll make her say that she's sorry later."
Oki looked sad. "You don't need to be sorry. What she said is true."
"Huh?" I said blankly.
"Three years ago, this war began. We tried to be warriors at first, but..." He chuckled softly, although there was only sadness in it. "We failed. The demons killed half of our people. Years and years before, almost ninety years ago, I had begged the Goddess Amaterasu to give me eternal life until the day that my village dies. And she did."
"What happened?" I asked.
"The Demon King came to us and told us that if we stopped resisting then the village would never again have a demon to attack. He would tax us, but, other than that, we would be able to live. So we accepted it."
"You just gave in!?" I cried, standing up. "How could you just give up?! You should never give up!"
Oki stared at me hard, not quite glaring. "I had no choice. It was allow my village to be safe, or let them die. Which would you have chosen? I am going to defend the Oina, no matter the cost, for all eternity. I cannot accept anything but the best for my people."
"And that's why he's a traitor!" Yuuki cried, breaking away from the heated conversation that she and Larka had been enjoying. "He's sick and terrible! His people belong to the Demon King, our enemy! If it were me, I would have just kept fighting, no matter the consequences! In fact, I have! Do you feel bad that a fourteen-year-old has more courage than you do?!"
Oki closed his eyes, transforming into a human. I noticed, rather quickly, that I couldn't see his face due to the mask. And that he was tall. And imposing. And scary. Just like his wolf form.
"Holy (enter-choice-of-swear-word)," I said blankly. "You're tall, dude."
"I'm not a traitor. I am trying to find a way to defeat the Demon King, just as you. And I'm going to tell my people that the God of Time is back, and we will have a whole day filled with celebrations, little girl. Until then, however, I am going to continue trying to defeat the Demon King."
"I'm not the flippin' God of Time!" I cried.
"Why not?" Oki asked curiously.
At this, I fumbled for words. That simple question... 'Why not?' would drive me insane for the next few weeks. Why was I not the God of Time? Why not?
"Hey, Oki, do you mind if we stay with the Onia for a while?" Larka asked casually, breaking the silence. "Just a day or two so we can catch a few demons and see if any of them know where the Demon King's Lair is."
"We're going on a demon hunt?!" I demanded.
"Of course we are, you dork," she answered. "What else would we do in our spare time?"
"Fudge."
"I'm not going on some stupid demon hunt," Yuuki declared.
"What do you want to do, then?" Larka asked sarcastically. "Write love letters to Jin? Or maybe you could write them to my dad!"
Yuuki's face turned bright red and she clenched her fists. "You are such an idiot!"
"You're such a dork," Larka shot back in a bored tone.
"Is it always like this?" Oki asked me.
I shrugged. "I've only been with these people for a few days, but, yeah, it seems like it."
"That sucks," Oki said sympathetically.
"I know," I answered, sighing. "But if I don't put up with it, then I can kiss home good-bye."
Oki nodded, then turned to the quarreling girls. "All right, you two, let's get going to the village."
"I'm not going there!" Yuuki announced.
"Then you can stay here," I said, quickly walking to keep up with Oki's huge strides.
With much grumbling, Yuuki followed us, her arms folded. A sudden thought came to me and I turned to Yuuki, a grin on my face. She scowled at me some more.
"It's not good to be racist!" I exclaimed.
She hit me. "Shuddup."
"You piece of poo!" I cried, rubbing my head. "That hurt!"
She rolled her eyes, walking a bit faster. As she passed by me, I heard her say, "What a big baby..."
"Meanie!" I cried.
I glanced around, feeling my heart beat quickly. It was here somewhere. The creature. The creature that the Demon King had brought up from the worst place anywhere.
"It can smell you... it smells your fear, Jin." I heard the Demon King whisper.
"I just want to go home!" I cried. "That's all I ever wanted! I don't want to be the God of Time! I just want to be Jin!"
"Jin..." I turned around and saw Miuri, looking half-dead. "Jin... you betrayed us..."
"No!" I cried. "I-it's not like that, Miuri!"
However, before I could say anything else, she fell down, slipping off a blade. A blade that was held by Riku, but not Riku. This Riku had blue eyes and white hair. He was a demon.
"She deserved it and you know it," he hissed.
"Y-you killed Miuri!" I shouted, feeling tears come into my eyes. "How could you, Riku?! You're a traitor!"
"No, Jin..." Riku said, turning away from me. "I was never on your side to begin with."
He disappeared into fire, burning up before I could ask him anything else. Before I could talk to him again. He was gone.
"Jin!" Yuuki screamed. "You let it get me! You let it kill me!"
"Yuuki!" I called. "Where are you?!"
"My pet liked the taste of your friend, Jin... and he's going to have another bite at your friends."
I heard Larka scream, but not in anger. Not in pain.
In fear.
"What have you done with her, you beast?!" I demanded. "Where is she?!"
"Jin..." I turned around. There stood Amaterasu, her white hair stained with blood. In her arms she held the heads of Oki and Waka.
"I trusted you..." she whispered. "And you failed me."
"I didn't mean to!" I cried.
"It's your fault," she said simply. "And now we are going to die, too."
"No... no... NO!" I screamed.
"Jin... Jin..." I turned around and saw my two sisters, my brother, and my father all moaning my name. "You failed us all! You destroyed the future, as well as the past..."
"No..." I whimpered.
"Jin... want to feel my sword?" Pain spurted from my chest, and I looked down in shock. Blood poured from where the Demon King had sliced through my chest.
"I'm going... to die?" I whispered.
My head began spinning and I slid off the blade onto my knees. I stared forward, my vision blackening around the edges. A numb, odd feeling overcame my body. I didn't feel pain anymore, at least.
"Goodbye, God of Time," The Demon King hissed.
I watched as I fell down, but I didn't feel it. It was as though I was miles away... just watching something from someone else's eyes. Even as I closed my eyes for the last time, I managed out one last sentence with my last breath.
"I failed."
I sat straight up, eyes wide and hair everywhere. I put my hand on my chest and whispered, "It was just a dream... just a dream..."
"God of Time... Jin..." I heard a soft voice say. I quickly turned and saw Amaterasu standing over me, her eyes sad.
"A-Amaterasu?" I asked quietly.
"Jin, you must not fail us. This dream I have showed you is what shall happen should you fail."
I felt a stab of fear. Everyone... would die? If I didn't win, then everyone would die? Even my family? Riku? Miuri? Larka? Yuuki? Waka? Oki? Amaterasu?
Me?
"They... will die?" I asked softly.
Amaterasu nodded, her face grave. "I'm sorry you had to learn this from me, Jin, but it's true. Everyone shall die if you fail."
I sighed and said, "That's a lot of pressure to put on just one guy, ya know?"
"You can handle it. You were born to be an adventurer. You are truly the God of Time."
"Will... I really be... able to go home after all this is done?" I asked. "And will everything be the same?"
She hesitated before saying, "You will be able to go home. I can promise you that much. But everything being the same...? I don't think so."
"All right..." I whispered.
"Now, sleep, Jin... let no time be wasted in this..." Amaterasu whispered.
I pretended to be asleep after a while, hoping that she would just go away. I was in no mood for a crazy goddess. But... she began to sing softly.
"Collapsing on top of the cold grass
I want to hide my burning body
These mid-winter constellations are my lovers
I have been waiting all this time
My mood today is the highest
Like the sky that has no despair nor hope
I want to be translucent
If we do not meet, we won't fight
With no chance for disillusionment
The wind that is like a knife
Helping to increase my speed
Take 5
What version of myself makes me happy?
Like the sky that has no success nor failure
I want to be translucent
Take off my coat and step inside
With no beginning and no end
I want to live this day we call today honestly"
She started to gently stroke the hair from my in front of my eyes. I could almost picture that soft, sweet smile on her face...
"Good night," She whispered. "Jin."
A/N- R&R, GOSH DANG IT!! AND NO FREAKING FLAMES OR I'LL KILL THE HECK OUTTA YA'LL YA'LL!!
