A/N- Hey, hey! I'm starting to get more reviewers! Or, at least, they're reviewing more... So, thanks, Catorrina-chan and Hell's Harbinger! :D

Disclaimer- OKAMI = NOT MOI

"It was great seeing me again," Other-me said casually.

I rolled my eyes. He was more immature than me, and you had to be pretty immature to be more immature than a teenage boy. Hm. Am I mature for admitting that I'm immature? Or is that just further stating the fact that I'm immature?

I'm somewhat random. My thoughts are, anyway. I just noticed that.

"Take good care of him, Yuuki," Other-me stated. "Look at that face. He needs all the help he can get."

Larka snorted and I glared at the Other-me. The problem with knowing yourself is that you know exactly how to push your buttons and what gets you annoyed. If that makes any sense. Simply said, it means I know how to tick myself off. It still doesn't seem to make much sense.

"Larka," he said softly, turning to her. "Spend your last year wisely. Make Jin happy."

... what? Last year? What did he mean by that? And by Larka's face (which was hardened), it wasn't exactly a great thing.

"Oh, and I just remembered..." Other-me stuck out his hand, concentrating.

Like magic, with a poof and everything, a large yellow and white sword came into his hand. Larka's face lit up instantly when she saw the sword.

"Is that... can it be... the Lunar Cleaver?! My sword?! Where did you find it?!" She cried, taking it from him. "My dad took it away from me, like, a year ago! How did you find it again, Jin? He told me that he'd never give it back after I tried to use it on the evil girl..." Larka shuddered at the last line, making me wonder who the evil girl was.

And if she was hot.

"Your dad gave it to me after the last battle," he stated. "I put it in... er, I can't tell you. Jin would freak out."

This is why I seriously didn't like Other-me. He was annoyingly mysterious and wouldn't tell me anything, other than the fact that Yuuki was hot when she was older. And I already knew that she would be hot when she was older. You could tell with Yuuki.

"Dravis, please try to be buddies with me, okay?" Other-me asked. "I know it's hard since I'm a freak, but just try? Don't be too hard on me."

Dravis nodded and pushed a couple of hairs out of his eyes. I could tell by the bored expression on his face, however, that he wasn't really listening to Other-me. It kind of made me wonder if we would ever get along. Some odd part of me kinda wished that we would.

And then I brushed it off, because being friends with people is just stupid and absolutely no fun in comparison to having enemies. Maybe that's just me trying to be stupid, though. Bah, who knows?!

"And, now, little Jin," Other-me said, grinning at me.

My face turned bright red and I snapped, "I'm not little! I'm almost as tall as you and I'm much taller than any of these people!"

"Demon," Dravis corrected, flipping me the bird.

I glared at him. Why couldn't that idiot just go die in a hole!? I hated him with the burning fury of one-thousand suns! I wanted him to go die for all I cared... idiot...

"Now, now," Other-me stated. "Calm down. Jin, I wanna give you some friendly advice. First of all, love Larka, but only as you would love Ai. Trust me, falling in love with Larka would be a horrible, terrible thing to do. Next, be nice to Yuuki and take very good care of her. She's a sweetie." He smiled at the blushing young teenager.

"And, lastly, I need to give you your weapon," Other-me said, pulling out the pen that he had used when battling against Lee.

I took it and frowned. A ball-point pen. Lovely. Now I can stab my enemies, give those enemies an inky demise, and give girls my cell phone number when I'm in a hurry. That is, I would if I had a freaking cell phone. I still don't get why I never got one...

You know, I just noticed that my mind seemed to wander from the original purpose of what I was originally going to say. Have you noticed it? Maybe it's just me.

"Thanks," I said dryly.

"No problem," he replied. "Larka can teach you how to use it."

Larka grinned at me and I felt chills. We were going to start the training that I continually ran away from. There would be no more running. I couldn't... she would... would kill me.

"Now, I do say adieu," he said, bowing. "Adieu and I fare thee well."

Larka then turned her grin to him. "Nice, man. You finally started learning French."

"Seulquelqu'un petit," he replied, grinning back.

I would just like to this now: I have absolutely no clue what in the friggin' crap he just said. I know it was French, but that's pretty much it.

"Adieu, frère," Larka said, smiling softly at him.

Something about the word "frère" caught my attention. I don't really know what it was, but it felt pretty familiar. Warm. Kind. Unlike Larka. I don't know exactly what it was about that word, but it made me feel better about everything.

Other-me turned away and disappeared, going back to the future, where he belonged. It felt kind of like a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders.

I glanced over to Larka and blinked in surprise. A tear had trickled down her face. She wiped it away when she noticed it, her face turning a shade pinker. Something secret had been shared between them, something that I didn't know. Something that had made the great, strong, wonderful Larka cry.

Dravis put his arm around her and whispered something to her. She nodded, taking in a few deep breathes.

"Okay," she said, turning to Yuuki and me. "We need to get going to the western part of Nippon. It's very important that we get there. It's where the D. A. K. L. S. is."

"The Dakls?" I asked.

Larka stared at me. "The what?"

"The Dakls. The Demons Against King Lee Society. You know? Dakls is so much shorter."

"That's stupid," Larka stated.

I pouted at her. She never accepted my ideas, even when they were good ideas. And calling it Dakls was so much shorter than the D. A. K. L. S. Honestly... poopy head.

Wow, I'm immature.

"We need to find some funding as well," Larka continued, folding her arms and taking up her "leader" position. "I know three good sources of money: the princess of Nippon, Toshi-hime. The prince of the moon, Migusaki. And the last one..." Larka shuddered. "Hhrgh."

I smirked. "Are you scared?"

"If you knew that person," Larka snapped, "then you would be scared, too, Jin! She's a freak..."

I chuckled at the thought of Larka being scared of anyone. It seemed like she was the sort of person who wouldn't be scared of anything, but she was scared of a person? This person, whoever they were, must be truly scary if they can scare Larka.

"She is scary," Dravis muttered, shuddering. "She's as bad as Uncle Rosco... maybe worse... and you met him once, Jin... you know what he's like..."

Chills ran through my body. When I had first come to the past, I had met Dravis and his uncle. His uncle, Rosco I suppose, was somewhat... gay. He seemed like the kind of guy that would do perverted things to you during the night while you were asleep. That was just my first impression, but impressions are lasting...

"As bad as who?" Yuuki asked.

"A scary, scary, scary man," I replied, my voice cracking. "Very scary man..."

Yuuki looked at all of us, shuddering at the thought of the mystery girl and Rosco. If she knew... Oh, if she knew the scary-ness, then I'm certain that she would be shivering, too.

"Wimps," she said loudly.

"You do not know the horror!" Dravis shouted. "Now make me food, woman!"

"Woman?!" Yuuki screeched. "Do not call me that! I have a name, and I will not be addressed as anything but it! And I will most certainly not make you any food, you sexist pig! You're almost as bad as Jin, and he's pretty bad. You're all stupid!"

"Why bring me into this?" I asked, feeling offended.

"Stop! Stop fighting!" A mighty voice cried. "The all-powerful and greatest warrior is here to save the day! Su-sa-nooo!!"

I stared at the slightly over-weight man that had just jumped out of the tree. He had a wooden sword (what good does a wooden sword do? Splinters?!) that had a single flower growing out of it. He had a bushy beard and fluffs of hair stuck up on his head.

"Bow before the greatest immortal hero ever, Susano! Bua ha ha ha ha!" Susano laughed. "Newly made God of the Seas!"

I stared at this guy, Susano. Sure, I'd heard of him while my fake dad had told us stories of the gods, but I never believed he was so dang... ugly. Ugh. Pot-belly. What was up with the God of Seas and Storms being so ugly?! Don't you get a choice when you're a god whether you wanna be hot or not?!

"Get over yourself, Su," Larka said, sounding somewhat bored.

"Gah! Moon-girl!" Susano cried, as though just noticing her. "Are you trying to interfere with my heroicness again?! Trying to steal the glory?!"

"As if," Larka snorted, flicking a piece of hair that was in her eyes. "This guy is." She pointed to me.

I winced, put a hand behind my neck, and tried to awkwardly wave. I have never been good at talking to strangers, and Gods were just a whole new level. It was the oddness of if I should be respectful since they're gods or I should act casual since I was a god or I shouldn't react at all or maybe--well, you get my point.

I'm so shy! Gosh, I'm blushing!

"Huh. Odd. He doesn't look heroic at all," Susano said. "Wait... Kouin? Is that you?"

Kouin. Wasn't that the name that I had taken on before I turned myself (or something like that) into a baby? I think so.

"Uh, sure," I said.

Susano grabbed me and hugged me tightly, choking the lights out of me.

"IknewthatyouwouldcomebackKouinIjustknewit!" He cried. "You'remybestfriendinthewholebigwideworldandImissedyousomuchKouinhaveyoubeenagoodboybecauseI'llspankyouifyouhaven'tandI'mjustsohappytoseethatyou'reokay!"

"I... can't... breath!" I gasped.

"Right, sorry," Susano said, letting go of me. "You're so scrawny, Kouin..."

Yuuki was giggling slightly, Larka was in the middle of rolling her eyes, and Dravis was laughing loudly. I frowned at them and Susano grinned broadly. Susano then began doing that somewhat weird laugh of his again. It just sounds... weird.

"Do I know you?" I asked after he finished laughing.

Susano stared at me, the happiness abruptly washed off his face. He walked over to a tree and began hitting his head on the tree. I watched him. This man was... odd.

"You guys were..." Larka snorted. "Best friends. The only thing that really tore you two away from each other was a certain girl. Susano didn't approve of her, but you were in love with her. I think it's kinda funny and a little bit sad."

"Of course I didn't agree!" Susano cried. "The girl was six-years-old and he looked like he was twenty-five at the time!"

I felt my face turn red. Susano was right; that was an inappropriate age difference.

I glanced over to Yuuki, whose face was a brighter red than my own. Wait a minute. Redder than mine? And she had acted oddly around the older me. She had acted like she had a crush on the older me. And I had looked like I was anywhere between twenty-two to twenty-five. No way. No freaking way.

"Oh please no!" I cried, feeling my face turn red. "Please no, Yuuki!"

"Yuuki?!" Susano demanded. "That was the name of the girl that stole Kouin's heart almost ten years ago!"

I could have died.

"Okay!" Larka cried. "We get the point, Su! What are you doing here?"

I could have kissed Larka if Dravis wasn't there. Anything to get my past relationship with Yuuki out of here. There was no way that I was in love with Yuuki... but it was somewhat possible that she was in love with me. Okay, creepy much?

"Fid--er, Amaterasu sent me here to get you across the water. The sea's only a couple miles away, so you need to get across somehow. I'm going to take you on my warrior's boat, Mushafune! It is the greatest warrior's boat in the world!" Susano punched the air to emphasize it.

I stared. He named his ship Mushafune... which could translate to Warriorboat. He was sure creative, that was for sure.

"There are important things, though, to be said. Like... how could you allow Kouin to travel with this wench, Moon-girl?! She'll be with child before the winter," Susano said. "I know that's what Kouin's like, so don't try to deny it!"

I stared, slack jawed. Did he just say... with child?! As in, pregnant?! As in, he thought that I would have SEX with Yuuki!? He said that was what I was like! I was... I was a freaking pervert in the past?! And the future?! Why was I so freaking perverted?!

"S-Susano!" Larka cried, blushing herself. "He doesn't like her like that anymore! They're just friends!"

Susano blinked. "Really?"

"Yes," Yuuki said, stepping forward. "We-we're only friends, Mr. Susano. We can't be any more than that. At the moment, we're in the middle of a war. Ji--I mean, Kouin, needs to stay focused. I can't distract him with silly things like love. He needs to keep his head on straight."

I blinked. Well, I'll be. If Yuuki was saying that I needed to be less romantic, then it must be true. After all, she seems like the kind of girl who would beg for a boy to love her and treat her like a princess and be all romantic and stuff like that.

"Well," Susano said. "If that's the case then we need to hurry to the shoreline. We can get there by tonight if we speed-walk. Come along! We can get to Western Nippon by tomorrow morning if you'll just hurry it up a little! Except for you, Kouin, time is on your side..."

For not the first and certainly not the last time, I wondered what the crap I was doing here with these weird people.


Miuri watched as Nokori stood firmly, watching her human and demon enemies proceed up the mountain. This was Miuri's first battle and she was, quite frankly, ready to pee her pants because she was so freaking scared of what could happen.

"Everyone's ready," Kyoufu said, walking up to Nokori.

Nokori looked at him with her wise eyes and he nodded. Kyoufu was sort of like the mouth-piece of Nokori, being that she was unable to speak for herself. Kyoufu understood every little thing that she thought just by glancing at her.

That odd welt of jealousy bubbled up inside Miuri again. This was the second time that day... she shouldn't be feeling jealous. That was stupid.

"You okay?" Kyoufu asked, standing next to her.

Miuri gulped and managed out a quiet yes. She glanced at her somewhat large shuriken, which was something that mainly ninjas used. It was like a throwing star, but usually larger.

Kyoufu looked like he wanted to say something, but quite suddenly he turned and began shouting orders at the demons in their ancient language that Miuri was struggling to learn. One by one, the demons left and jumped down to meet their adversaries.

In the end, it was Nokori, Kyoufu, and Miuri that were left. Nokori turned to Miuri, her red eyes flashing.

Miuri gulped as she heard it in her mind clearly: Miuri. It would not be wise for you to fight today. I will not stop you, but I would advise against it.

"What?" Miuri cried. "That's not fair! I've been training for so long to help save everyone and now you're saying that I shouldn't fight? I've been working so hard with Kyoufu and Diyu that I haven't slept in days! I... I can't just give it up!"

Miuri. I will not force you to stop. I am merely saying that you would be happier if you stayed here. If you forgot about the battle. If you never saw Riku.

Miuri's heart lept to her throat and she whispered, "Riku?"

She had thought about him and Jin every day since she had gotten here. She told herself she would be strong for them and show them that she wasn't a big baby. That she would show them that she could take care of herself, no matter what they thought. She wanted to show them that she could manage without them.

Then Miuri turned away. What did Nokori mean that she didn't want to see Riku? Of course she wanted to see him... unless... he was on the other side.

Ponder these things, child. Now I must be in battle and save the last remnant of our people. Of the great demons that followed Lee's father.

Miuri closed her eyes. Did she really want to see Riku again? Did she really, really, really want to see him again, even if he might not be on the same side as her anymore? Did she love him enough to not care if he was evil? Did she care?

Did she care at all?

"I'm going," Miuri said softly. "I don't care. I... I love Riku. I won't agree with him, but I want to see him. No matter what."

Kyoufu pouted slightly, but quickly hid it. "Okay. Come on, Miuri, and let's send those stupid demons back to hell, where they belong."

"Is that so?" An all too-familiar voice asked. "How wrong I've been..."

"Riku," Miuri whispered, her voice cracking a little bit.

Riku chuckled and Miuri could remember nothing else other than his cruel laughing ringing in her ears.

A/N- In the next chapter of Red Dreams, a new character will be introduced who has almost the same name as Jin... her name is Gin! The one person that Larka's scared of, and one of the two people that Dravis is scared of. Can't you smell the idiocy?

One more thing: What's your favorite pairing for my OC's? Hm? Tell me, reviewers! That's all I've got, but thanks for spending your sweet time with me!