Chaotic Waters Act 2, Chapter 4: Communication and Divinity's Danger.
Through the storms, through the rain,
We'll rise together, past all the pain.
With hearts as one, we'll face the night,
Our future shines, in love's gentle light.
-?-
"Yes, who is this?" The woman asked, holding the phone to her ear.
"Hey, it's Hibari."
"Hibari-chan, how are you?"
"I'm doing fine, I'm just calling to warn you."
"Warn me?"
"We found Kasumi, she's alive."
"Oh that's ni..." Wait,whathad the girl just said?! "I'm sorry, did you just say that you found Kasumi-chan, and that she'salive?!"
"Yeah...it was better and worse than I thought."
"What do you-"
"She was beaten by that...bastardthat calls himself her father to the point of amnesia." The Yakuza princess explained. "She's only just started to remember a few things."
She drew in a breath with a hiss, for anyone to do that to a child, especially their own...a person like that could only be called a monster. "What do you need us to do?"
"Ah...well I don't need you two todoanything, I really just called you to warn you that Haruka might bring her there."
"Why would Haruka-san...oh...so she knows."
"...yeah."
"Alright...I'll let my husband know to expect them...and Hibari-chan?"
"...yes?"
"Thank you."
-Michiru's Apartment-
"I think you killed her." Haruka smirked, looking down at the teal haired girl who was currently hiding her face behind her hands. "She hasn't done anything but squeak for the last ten minutes. Not to mention I think we could cook a full course meal with that blush of hers."
"I maaayyy have gone a little overboard." Mayu conceded, rubbing the back of her head. "Didn't think she'd getthisflustered."
"You did give her one hell of a kiss and then did it two more times before she could recover."
"Ajdsgffksfksd." The cursed girl agreed incomprehensibly from her hiding place behind her hands.
"Least she's making sounds that are word-adjacent now." Shaking her head, Haruka gently rubbed the poor girl's back. "So...should I take it you want to try being a..." He frowned, tilting his head in thought. "What would we even call us, a truple?"
"Throuple is the word you're looking for." Corrected Mayu. "Personally, I prefer polycule though."
"Polycule...I like the sound of that." The blond mused, getting a hesitant nod from the blushing girl between them. "Of course that just leaves the question of ifsomeone-" Haruka started leaning over the teal haired girl, getting a fresh squeak of embarrassment out of her. "-wants to date us or not. All she said was that she wouldn't mind, but you know..." He sighed playfully, smirking down at the girl. "this is a yes or no question Mi-chi-ru, no "wouldn't mind's" allowed." He finished, enunciating each syllable of her name.
"...I..." If she said yes...if she actually dated them then she'd be putting them into danger, maybe even putting their lives at risk! "...I...I can't..." If the people in Nerima found out about them, if Haruka and Mayu got hurt because of her...
"Is that what you really want?"
Who said that? Had it been Haruka? Mayu? Had it been both of them?
Or had it been something inside of her?
"I...if...if they find out about you...they'll hurt you." She mumbled, looking down at her hands as they fidgeted with the drawstrings of her shorts.
"Are you talking about your father?" Mayu. That voice had been Mayu for sure, Haruka growled whenever she brought up her pops.
"He's...one of the people I'm worried about." She rubbed her arm, It was itching again where she used to cut. "There's also my fiancée-"
"Yourex-fiancé." Haruka corrected, not unkindly as he wrapped his arms around the teal haired girl. "You don't have to be the person you were back there unless you want to be, as far as I'm concerned that means you two aren't engaged anymore."
"Personally I think he lost the right to be called that when he started to abuse you." Mayu muttered as she wrapped her own arms around the teal haired girl.
"...she." She mumbled, looking guilty. "My fiancée is a girl...just said she was a boy because it'd be weird."
For an instant, the brunette's eye twitched in annoyance before she took a deep, calming breath. "Ok, new rule. No matter if we do this or not, no more secrets or half-truths."
"I..." She looked away from Mayu only to meet Haruka's own serious gaze."No escape!"
The blond was about to say something, probably in agreement to the class president before he paused and winced. "Aside from secrets that aren't yours to tell."
"I...I can try?" She offered.
The other two looked to each other for a moment, seemingly having an entire silent conversation between each other before nodding at the teal haired girl in acceptance. "Is there anyone else you're worried about?" Haruka asked, a sneaking suspicion building in her mind.
"W-well...not anyone I can't handle." She hedged, looking away from the blond and into the eyes of an unamused Mayu.
"That's a half-truth, try again." the girl said firmly, looking deep into her eyes as she used her hand to keep her from looking away.
"Well...there is my fiancée's-"
"-EX-fiancée's." Haruka once more corrected, prompting her to try to turn and glare at the boy, only for Mayu to keep her looking into her eyes.
This...this was so unfair!
"Her older sister, the uhm, the martial arts master I told Haruka about, her great granddaughter I accidentally got engaged to,herchildhood friend that likes to throw around sharp objects like they're confetti-" She took a breath. "-the psycho gymnast that keeps trying to drug me I told both of you about, her brother, my mom who will make me commit seppuku if she deems me "unmanly", anyone my pops has pissed off since he's been born, the old pervert who also happens to be the head of my school of martial arts...I think that's everyone?"
"I...have so many questions." Mayu admitted, her eyes wide. "But I'll start with, your mom will make you dowhat?!"
"Uhm...commit seppuku if she thinks I'm unmanly? It's because of a contract my pops and I signed when I was really little, it says that if pops fails to raise me as a "man amongst men" then both he and I have to...well you know." She explained, making a slicing movement in front of her throat.
Clenching her teeth, the class president let out a hissing breath, her fury clear for anyone with eyes to see. "How-" She took another breath. "-exactly how young were you when you signed it?"
"Uhmm two I think?" Michiru replied, rubbing the back of her head. "From the way mom told the story, it sounded like I was just playing with the ink."
"I'm gonna kill them both."
"Not if I get to them first!"
"Neither of you is getting anywhere near anyone from...where I used to live." She snapped, getting a look from both of her classmates that gave her the feeling of nervous butterflies in her chest."Why do I suddenly feel likeI'mbeing unreasonable, this is completely unfair!"
"Ok, so I get why you wouldn't want us around most of the people you listed off, but why not your ex-fiancée's big sister?" Haruka asked.
Oh, shit. If they reacted that way to something as simple as parents that don't think things through, how would they react wen they found out about Nabiki?! "She uh...she's not...nice?"
Wow...she was terrible at this.
"Wanna try that again?" The brunette raised her eyebrow in warning.
Giving in, she just sighed and slumped, a small pout forming on her lips. "She makes a habit of getting blackmail material on anyone she meets, setting up any bets for fights in her ward, and..." She hesitated.
"And?" Mayu pressed, the look in her eyes somehow growing in intensity, as if she was trying to pry every secret hidden in the depths of the cursed girl's past.
"...she has several pictures of me wearing revealing outfits that she sells to people as well as some where I'm not fully dressed,..and a few not dressed at all."
"Excuse me?!/She what?!"
"I lived with my fiancée's family," She started to explain, rolling her eyes as the other two interrupted with a quick "ex-"fiancée". "and Na...she would take pictures when I was taking a bath or changing without me knowing." Hell, the only reason she'd found out had been that she'd caught Kuno with one of them.
She didn't want to even think about what the crazed kendoist did with them, let alone the rest of the school sheknewalso bought the pictures.
"I don't know what's worse." Haruka muttered, his hands clenched tight into fists. "The fact that she took them or that she was selling them."
"Neither. The worst part was that look Nabiki gave me, like I was nothing more than something to exploit."She thought, pulling away from the brunette who thankfully didn't fight her on it.
"Fuck." Mayu said, slumping on the couch. "I knew your life back there was rough but...I didn't think it wasthatbad."
"I still want to go back there and kill them." Haruka muttered.
"You in particular are thelastperson who should get anywhere near her." Michiru stressed. "She gets blackmail material on anyone she meets, remember?"
Haruka frowned. "Why me in particular?" He wondered before the obvious answer seemed to click into place. "My racing career." He whispered before he paled sharply. "If she found out that I was born a girl or that I'm genderfluid..."
She nodded. "If she found that out then you can bet she'd try to use it against you."
The blond scowled and ran his hand through his hair roughly. "This is exactly why I never wanted to hide it in the first place!" He leaned back with a sigh, muttering something under his breath.
"Ok, what about me?" Mayu asked, raising an eyebrow. "I'm not famous, nor do I have anything for her to blackmail me for, aside from being a lesbian which apparently everyone already knew!"
"That makes it even worse for you, not better!" She snapped. the stress of the day and her confessions fraying her temper to it's limits. "Haruka is famous! She-"
"He." Haruka corrected without looking at the girl.
"Hemight not be that well known." She started again, only to get cut off by the blond again, much to her irritation.
"Hey! I'm plenty well known!" He said, frowning at her before holding his hands up in an apology at the glare she shot him.
"Anyway," She said through gritted teeth. "some peopledoknow about Haruka, which means the old ghoul, the martial arts master I told you two about," She explained, seeing the other two's confused expressions. "can't make him disappear."
"Make him disappear? Are you saying she'd try to kill us?" Mayu's eyes were wide as a chill ran down her spine. "Come on you're exaggerating, right?"
The teal haired girl's bland expression was a clear answer, and the words that left her lips didn't change that. "Her tribe's answer to rivals is "obstacles are for killing". It's one of the reasons I never wanted to get either of you two involved."
"Well we're involved now." Haruka stated firmly, getting a hesitant nod from the class president before she nodded again more firmly. "We're not going to leave you to deal with all of this by yourself, so I'll ask you again." He turned his head and looked her dead in the eye. Fierce determination burned in the blond's eyes, like a storm just waiting to be unleashed on command. "If everything you've told us wasn't an issue, if there were no ex-fiancées, or psycho grannies, or abusive and insane parents, would you want to date Mayu and me?"
"I..." Why was Haruka asking her this? All of those thingswereissues and big, no, massive ones too!
"Michiru." Mayu's soft voice pulled her away from Haruka's gaze and into her own. There was a strange...something in her eyes. It reminded her of nights spent under the stars, of warm blankets, and of the kiss Haruka and her had shared above the clouds. "You deserve to be happy, no matter what form that happiness takes. If it means we stay friends, then we'll be friends till the very end. If it means we become something more, then we'll be there for each other no matter what the world throws at us."
"I..." Could she really do it? Just be happy? "I'm...I'm not a girl you know." She said, her mind looking for something, anything that could make them change their minds.
Instead of being deterred, the other two just gave each other knowing looks before shaking their heads in amusement, like she'd said something funny. "I think I can make an exception this one time and have a boy for a girlfriend."
Heat rose to her cheeks as Mayu said...that word. "That's...I'd be putting you to into-"
"What doyouwant?" Haruka stressed, laying his hand on her shoulder.
That touch was the straw that broke the camels back.
"I don't know!" The words spilled from her like water from a broken dam. "I don't know anything! I don't even know who Iamanymore!" She couldn't stop, tears fell from her eyes as she let out pain she didn't even know she was carrying. "All I know is I want to be able to have friends that won't attack me or try to drug me. I want to be able to walk through town without feeling like I'm going to be attacked at any time,but I don't know how!"She grabbed fistfuls of her hair and tugged, she needed something,anythingto dull the emotions raging in her. It was too much, too powerful, too painful for her to bury or push to the side. Her arm was itching like crazy, where was something, anything she could use to get rid of this feeling? Just one cut, I wouldn't be that big a deal, she knew how to do it so-
Two sets of hands gently pried her hands away from her teal locks, one soft and smooth while the other was rougher with calluses that spoke of hard work."Mayu and Haruka."Her mind supplied, even though it was obvious that it would be them, no-one else was there after all. Their touch soothed the jagged pain in her heart, not enough to eliminate it but just enough to make it bearable.
In a voice that was more of a whimper than anything else, she choked back a sob and said, "I want to be with you two."
-Hall of Memories-
The crystal was unrecognizable.
What once had been a diamond of perfect clarity was now an absolute mess of cracks and scuff marks. A small chip the size of Tiamat's hand fell from the edge and shattered as it came into contact with the ground, dissipating into mist moments later.
Soon.
{"Not long now."}The ancient warrior mused, a rare smile of surprising tenderness on her face. At last the child was discovering who they were.{"Though it seems she's come to a different truth than before."}She chuckled, her laughter coming out low and gravely like an avalanche. "How amusing, thatthatshould be the answer she came to."
In her time, when life was too short to be judgmental about one's identity, it was common for one to change their name after a revelation about themselves or as a symbol of resolve. It was why she had changed her name to Tiamat, the primordial sea.
She had thought it fitting for the first Guardian of Neptune. Such an event was celebrated in her time with two days of feasting, drinking, merriment, and love-making. She in particular had shared her bed with more than a few people that night.
It was called "The Celebration of One's Truth".
This had more to do with the fact that the ancient Neptunian word for "truth" also meant "name" than anything else, but it was still an enjoyable tradition. Her own truth celebration had been where she'd met Ninhegal's father, a man who's name she still couldn't properly pronounce even after eons.
"I suppose that's what I get for laying with a siren of all people." She mused aloud. "Excellent warriors and lovers they may be, but their language was not meant for surface dwellers."
On a whim she held up her palm and let her magic form into a sphere of water that slowly took the shape of her old lover.
Tall and muscular with a scale pattern that spiraled and curved around his arms and legs, short shaggy hair she remembered being the color of a storm at sea, and a thick muscular tail very similar to a predatory species found on Terra...what had they been called again?
She frowned, searching her memories before her expression shifted back into a tender smile.
A shark, that's what the Terrans called them these days.
Her old lover had definitely been nice to look at, and his stamina had been adequate enough she supposed, the fact the he'd been well hung hadn't hurt either.
Still...after so long she couldn't remember his voice, or how his touch had felt, she wasn't even sure if the image she was looking at was how he'd actually looked or how her mind chose to remember him. She scowled and made to dismiss the image before she froze.
Slowly, the image of her one time lover changed, becoming smaller and lithe. The hair lengthened to nearly the figure's back as breasts formed, the scale patterns shifting positions until they resembled a pattern that brought to mind twisting ocean currents. The tail thinned just a little, just enough to be proportional to the now feminine form and a small chunk of the figure's tail disappeared, like a creature had bitten it off.
She took a ragged breath as a tear fell from her right eye. "Ninhegal." She breathed, looking upon the daughter she had given birth to for the first time in thousands of years. While it was true that she saw all of her daughter's incarnations as her children, she still held a fondness for their first life that surpassed what she felt for the others.
How could she forget her daughter's face when she had seen Ninhegal live over a thousand lives? With each new birth her heart soared anew and with each death she grieved as only a mother who has lost their child could. She had forced herself to remember every single one of her daughter's lives, she knew their names, their lovers, even the names of their children! She had burned that information into her soul with magic so that she'd never forget.
"You would have made a much better mother than I." She said softly. Her daughter had been blessed in many ways, but motherhood had eluded her, no matter how much Ninhegal had desired a child of her own.
She sighed, watching as the figure in her hand changed once more, losing it's inhuman appearance until it matched her daughter's current life. "Michiru." She said, testing the sound of her child's current name. "How fitting that you chose "complete" and not "rising"."
-Michiru's Apartment-
"Why are we doing this?" Michiru asked quietly as the three of them cuddled on the couch, a movie playing on the most current model of tv Hibari had had put in her apartment.
"Cuddle sessions are important after an emotional moment." Mayu stated firmly, like she was stating a law of the universe.
"And you chose a soul-crushing emotional movie because...?" Haruka asked, his voice a little choked up.
"Because if one of us is going to cry then we need to make all of us cry...and maybe I wanted to see if I could get you to do it as a guy." Mayu admitted, a spark of mischief lighting up her eyes.
"Bitch."
"Jerk."
"No fighting." She said, before realizing...they hadn'tbeenfighting. Back in Nerima, Akane and the others had yelled at each other, anger had tainted their words and tone but with these two...that anger just wasn't there."They're joking around with each other."She realized, that simple truth cutting through her like an icy wind. "S, sorry." She mumbled, looking away. "Ignore what I said."
Haruka's arms just pulled her closer while Mayu's fingers trailed soft touches up and down her arm. They didn't say anything, they didn't have to, she knew what they were trying to tell her. "It's okay, we understand" their actions seemed to say.
"Huh...so this is what it's like to have a girlfriend that actually cares about you, well a girlfriend and a boyfriend."She blinked and then shook her head with a wry smile.
"What's up?" Haruka asked, raising his eyebrow.
"It's just...well I was thinking about the fact that I have a girlfriend and a boyfriend." She said, her cheeks gaining a pink tint.
Haruka and Mayu looked at each other in confusion before looking back at her. "And there's something funny about that?" Mayu asked.
"It's just...well I was just suddenly engaged out of nowhere back where I used to live and I've never had a girlfriend let alone eventhoughtabout having a boyfriend, until now." She admitted, the heat in her cheeks rising. "Er...that is...I know you said you were a guy right now, but should I call you that or something else?"
"If we're at school or you happen to be at one of my races, just call me your boyfriend." Haruka replied with a smile. "Any other time, just go by whatever gender I am at the time or call me your partner." He opened his mouth to say more before a beeping sound from his bag interrupted him. He frowned, a look of confusion flashing across his face.
He reached over, grabbing his bag he'd set near the couch and dug through it until he pulled out a black pager. Staring at it, he scanned over what it said before glancing at her and then at Mayu. He seemed to debate something in his mind, chewing on his bottom lip in thought until, after a moment, he sighed and placed his pager back into his bag.
"Everything okay?" She asked sitting up, worry slipping into her tone.
"Yeah, just sponsor stuff." He grumbled standing up from the couch. "I gotta go, they tried to call my home phone and couldn't get ahold of me, apparently there's something important they need to tell me about my next race." He sent her a pointed look, clearly trying to getsomethingacross to her, but she didn't know what it could be. "I'll see you two tomorrow, we can talk more about how we want to handle Michiru's asshole problem."
"You two aren't-"
"-And," Haruka continued, cutting off the teal haired girl as . "we can talk about how we want to handle "us"." He finished, gesturing to the three of them. He turned around and gave them both a smirk, holding his bag over his shoulder before making his way out of her apartment.
Neither Mayu or her noticed the golden symbol that flashed onto the blond's forehead just before the door closed.
-Nerima-
He jumped across the rooftops, trying not to vomit at the feeling of the wind brushing against his bare legs or the feeling of the heels on his feet. Not even his good mood about being in a relationship could take his mind off of the dysphoria he was feeling.
Gods how he hated being transformed as a guy.
"What's the emergency Pluto?" He growled, irritation practically dripping from his words as he landed on the building the Guardian stood on.
"What crawled up your butt and died?" The ancient woman grumbled, rolling her eyes.
"Not. Now." He hissed sharply. "My skin feels like it's crawling wearing this stupid getup, the quicker I can get out of it the better."
"Ah, guy mode then." The taller woman tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. "I wondered if that was the reason."
"Get. To. The. Point."
The woman scowled down at a building across the street, her fingers tapping a pattern onto her staff. "I felt something last night, a blip in the normal flow of time."
"A blip...is that supposed to mean something to me?"
"Well...no," The woman admitted, ignoring the glare she received in response. "But I thought I should warn you since I sensed the presence of my Gate."
"Your Gate...are you saying someone used the Gate of Time?! I thought you said no-one but you could use it!"
"I said I'm the only one who can use itsafely." She corrected, stressing the last word. "Technically speaking anyone can use the Gates, it's why we were assigned to guard them in the first place." She frowned, her eyes slowly shifting from their normal crimson to a color closer to molten gold.
There, inside the building with a hole in the ceiling was a figure wreathed in an iridescent flame. "So they're from the future." She mused, deciphering the shifting colors and patters her inhuman blood allowed her to perceive.
Haruka shivered from his spot next to the emerald haired woman. Every time Melinoe used her divine blood a feeling of...somethingsurrounded her. It was like time moved around her, refusing to affect her.
After all, why would time pass for one that it recognized as it's own?
"Why would someone from the future want to come to the past?" He muttered, doing his best to hide his discomfort.
"I'm not sure...but doing so nearly killed them. Ki paths, mana lines, even their soul has been strained nearly to the breaking point, it's a miracle whoever they are isn't dying in agony right now." Should she go in there, retrieve the interloper and send them back to their own time? No, doing so would just kill them, better to keep an eye on them, at least until they recovered. "For now, I'll just.." She raised her hand and tapped the air with her index finger, a simple tracking spell should-
A silver dome appeared around the building, spiderweb cracks forming over the surface before shattering, an explosion of sound ripping through the ward like a bomb.
"Shit!" Quick as lightning, Melinoe dismissed her staff and grabbed the jewel on the front of his Senshi outfit, yanking him closer. She slammed her palm down of the roof underneath their feet and Haruka felt something pass over him like a blanket.
"What are you-"
She silenced him with a glare, stiffening as a figure jumped on top of the building and looked around.
She looked like a mummy balancing on a pogo stick.
A hand quickly clamped over his mouth to keep him quiet as Melinoe's voice resounded in his mind.["Keep quiet, this spell will only last if neither of us makes a sound louder than a whisper."]
["You know I hate it when you do this."]He grumbled, sending his own thoughts to the ancient woman. He couldn't create the connection himself yet, but he'd gotten pretty good at responding to Melinoe on the few occasions she'd done it.
"I don't know who you are," The mummy woman said, looking around. "but I know divinity when I sense it. I would know what me and mine have done to offend those above enough to justify violence."
So this child was aware of the divine? Melinoe could use that. Signaling the blond next to her to stay quiet, Melinoe did something she hadn't done since Ancient Greece.
She leaned into her divine heritage.
Her clothes shifted and vibrated, squirming on her skin until they changed into a black toga and sandals that went up her legs, almost to the knee. Her eyes glowed brighter, a strange inhuman light shining from behind the molten gold of her irises.
Everything was different now.
She could feel the breath of every living thing around her, the vibrations of the earth as it spun and hurled itself across space around the sun, she could even feel everyzeptosecondpass across her like a sandstorm in a desert.
It was too much.
All of the different and new sensory information crashed into her like a wave and she had to steady herself using the blond for a moment. After what felt like hours but had really only been a couple seconds she took her hand off of Haruka and stood up, taking a step out of the dome of concealment she'd put up. Normally a mage would have to stay within the dome to keep it up, but her inhuman heritage allowed her to do things that should be impossible, though there were limits to even her abilities.
The mummy jumped in surprise, before giving her a respectful bow, least she had manners. "To which divinity do have the honor of speaking to?" She asked, drawing a frown from Melinoe.
Apparently knowledge of the divine did not equate etiquette.
"Melinoe of Tartarus." She growled, introducing herself as she glared down at the human in front of her. Why was she talking to this rude mortal? She should strike her down for not recognizing her and daring to ask her name! Her fingers twitched and the sky turned black with storm clouds.
["MELINOE!"]A shout cut through her thoughts shaking her from her anger."What...what was I doing?"She mentally shook her head and winced, she was leaning too far away from her humanity.
She was starting to think and act like her father.
"It is considered rude to ask one of the divine for their name." She said, giving the mortal, the human in front of her a warning look. The older looking woman paled and made to apologize. "I suppose etiquette in dealing with the divine has been lost over the centuries...I shall look past it this once." She said, attempting to emulate the arrogant tone she had heard her mother use in the Plutonian Court in the days of the Nine Realms."I need to wrap this up and quick, I forgot how hard it is to keep my sense of self like this."
Raising a hand she pointed at the building she had attempted to cast the tracking spell on. "There is one in that building who has trespassed upon my domain." Well, her father's but still. "I was merely attempting to mark them so that they would not attempt to do so again without my knowledge."
"Ahh, so that's what put the young one in such a state." The old woman mused before realizing she had once again forgotten to introduce herself."By all the gods I really am getting too old for this."She bowed once more, another deep formal one. "My apologies, I am Ku Lon of the Joketsuzoku. That building is my restaurant, the Nekohanten."
Melinoe kept her face blank as the old woman spoke, even as her mind raced at the information the Chinese woman had inadvertently given her."Young one? So they're a child."That didn't seem right, their soul felt...old, ancient even when compared to that of this...Ku Lon."In fact, it looked very similar to that of a Guardian's soul, but I don't recognize it...could they be from another system?"Even in the old days they had known of the Guardians of the Outer Realms, even been on peaceful terms with several of them. Princess Eirene in particular had a very close friendship with one, the Guardian of Kinmoku if she remembered right."Maybe they reincarnated here in our system in the future? Ithashappened before. The Guardian of Mermaid reincarnated here on earth in the fifth century."She tapped her finger on her arm impatiently. "Joketsuzoku...that's the tribe of women warriors near the Waters of Torment if I recall correctly."
"Ah, begging your pardon my lady, but it is the "Pools of Sorrow", not the "Waters of Torment". Ku Lon corrected her, flinching at the withering glare she got as a reward.
"That may be what they are callednow." she said in an annoyed tone. "But they were known as the Waters of Torment long before your people settled nearby." Not that anyone but her could remember that. "Still...from what I can recall of your tribe, you do not usually venture away from your village often...why are you here?"
The matriarch scowled for a moment before she shifted her expression back into an overly polite mask. "Just a...retrieval mission of sorts. My granddaughter was defeated by a male who lives in this country and, by Joketsuzoku law, they are now wed."
Melinoe frowned. "If they are wed, than why are you on a retrieval mission?"
"The boy's father is a greedy fool and ran with the boy. He had set the boy up for several arranged marriages before even coming to our village and now the boy's suitors are all fighting over him like spoiled children."
Something the old woman said had made Haruka stiffen sharply.["Wait...it's her!"]She heard in her mind.
["Care to explain?"}She asked, keeping her eye on the matriarch in front of her.
["She's talking about Michiru."]
["...is that a friend of yours?"]She tapped her finger on her arm as the old woman prattled on about her great-granddaughter's duty to retrieve her husband.
["Yours too, she's talking about Nerida's reincarnation."]
["That's impossible."]She replied firmly.["I've met Nerida's reincarnation and she is definitely a girl, not a guy like this woman is looking for."]
["You're not wrong about that."]Haruka replied, amusement dotting her tone for a moment before becoming furious again.["Trust me, she's talking about the same person. She's got a curse that makes her change gender with water of different temperatures, seen it myself."]
Mentally she groaned, of course Nerida's next life had gotten herself a magic shape-shifting curse that utilized water.["The Waters of Torment, of course. That's gonna make things difficult."]
["What do you mean?"]
["I'll explain later."]Turning her attention back to Ku Lon she frowned. "As I was saying, it was not an attack, merely a precaution against further intrusion." She tapped her finger in the air again, watching as a small dark purple band formed around the time traveler's iridescent flame. It wouldn't be visible to most; only people like her with divine blood would be able to see it, though people with a high affinity for spiritual energy might be able to sense...something from her target.
"I see...still there is the matter of my barrier you destroyed." Ku Lon stated, her eyes gaining a shrewd gleam.
"Seems like Nerida's new father isn't the only greedy one."She scowled, glaring down at the old mummy as lightning flashed in the sky. "Be very careful with your next words mortal."
Even a demigoddess' anger could affect the weather, especially hers since she had been accessing her Guardian powersbeforehad leaned into her divine heritage.
The old woman held up her hands, nervousness easy to read in her posture. "The barrier you destroyed...it was made using some rare regents that I won't be able to get ahold of again for some time."
Melinoe raised her eye brow challengingly. "Andwhyshould that matter to me?"
"I have several magical items in my possession and I use the barrier to deter...anything that might be attracted to them." The old woman hedged.
"Meaning she's got some things that were either stolen from minor gods or demons in there."Silently, she pulled her power back inside of her, the sky slowly reverting back to a clear day. "And?"
"And, anything that might be motivated to come after the artifacts I carry might consider my guest an interesting find."
"Shit, she's got me there."Melinoe admitted to herself."Minor gods at least wouldn't mess with our visitor, but demons? It'd be like putting a full course meal in front of a starving man."She frowned and glanced down at the building with a bored look. "...I suppose they might." She admitted. "But would that not be a good thing for me? They wouldn't be able to trespass on my domain again."
["Whoa, you're not actually going to let some kid get a demon's attention are you?"]Haruka's accusation hurt a little, Ziaza would have trusted her."But she isn't Zee."She reminded herself."I need to remember that."
["Of course not."]She snapped.["But I have to be very careful right now, I'm only a demigoddess, there are some things I just can't give as a boon."]
"I suppose so, but would that not attract attention to you? If a demon found out that a human trespassed on your domain..."
Thatcaught the Guardian of Pluto's attention.
"Our visitor trespassed on father's domain and he put me in charge of keeping an eye on the Gate. If he finds out I let a demon get ahold of someone who got past me..."
He might just come after them himself.
"Speak clearly, what do you want mortal?"
"A replacement for the barrier until I can get more regents." The woman offered. "It shouldn't take more than a month for my tribe to send me the items I need."
"Hmmmm." A month. Maintaining a barrier for that long would tie up a good bit of her power, the majority of her spells would be out of her reach until she could dismiss it."Still...it's better than my father personally coming here."Mentally grumbling to herself she nodded and snapped her fingers.
A dome the same color of her magic slowly formed around the building, magic circles filled with symbols of the divine tongue hovered and moved along the surface until, with a sound not unlike the sound of a lock clicking into place, both the dome and the sigils vanished to mortal eyes.
"That will keep out any intruders for a month but no longer." She stated firmly, impressing on the matriarch the length of time her spell would be active. She shivered, barely keeping the involuntary motion from spreading to the whole of her body."That took a lot out of me, I need to get back under my concealment spell with Haruka, I don't know how much longer I can keep it up from the outside."Already she could feel herself slipping back into her mortal heritage, she had mere moments before she'd be back into her Guardian's garb!"No more time, I need to get awaynow!"She turned, giving the matriarch a sharp warning glare and walked back into the dome she had erected around Haruka, falling to her knees the second she knew she was out of sight.
"M-"
["-Not a sound!"]She snapped, cutting off the blond before he could break her spell she was barely keeping together.["If you break my spell and reveal us both Iwillthrottle you!"]Her eyes bled into their normal crimson, but they looked dull, lifeless, as if something essential had been taken from her.
Or traded away.