Before Jupiter could reply, the youkai in the sky have another terrifying howl, and dove towards Miroku and Jupiter at a blinding speed!
From her vantage point, all Ami saw was what seemed to be a beam from the youkai towards Miroku, such was it's speed..
Kwok's eyes widened as the youkai sped towards them at obscene speeds.
"Kazaana!" he cried out as he unsealed the air rip in his palm as fast as he could.
I hope this works...
The youkai... shimmered.
The sword on his arm was flung off in another direction as the main part of his body was sucked into the Air Void. Within himself, Miroku felt a push, and stumbled backwards.
Meanwhile, the sword was flung into the wall of the shrine.. and continued to glow.
Kwok stumbled backwards from the recoil of the youkai entering the kazaana.
Sealing the air void back up again, he walked up to the wall of the shrine where the sword was and looked up at it.
"I gotta take the shikon shard out..." he muttered to himself.
I did not see that... It can't be him...
The Mercury Visor appeared in front of her, and her vision zoomed in on the man in robes.
"Kuso, it is him... that means dog-boy might be here. THIS IS NOT GOOD." Ryder mumbled as she branch-hopped on her way to the shrine.
As Ami approached the scene of combat, her visor started flashing warnings at her.
A small box appeared around both Miroku and the sword-arm embedded in the wall, and information scrolled down, informing her of certain 'unknown' variants within the situation.
Those being that Miroku has some form of anti-energy source sealed up within his hand, and that the sword arm against the wall was emitting potent negative energy.
And of course, Sailor Jupiter, who was incredibly surprised at how quickly Miroku dispatched the youkai.
"Wha.. what on earth was THAT?!" she practically yelled, stumbling back from Miroku.
"Umm..." Kwok was going to explain about the air rip when he noticed who the brunette was.
"Hey, aren't you Sailor Jupiter?"
Ryder dropped to the ground and continued to move onto the battle scene, knowing exactly what the hell was up with Miroku already...
"Aww crap, I gotta go save Jupiter before she does something stupid like shock him..."
Sailor Jupiter blinked.
"Yes! What did you just do? Are you a youma? Or someone from the Silver Millenium?"
Kwok sighed.
"No, I'm not a youma. I'm not from the Silver Millenium either."
"That's just a neat trick I can do to, umm, catch youmas," he explained.
Reaching the end of the wood, Sailor Mercury leaped onto the shrine and looked down at Miroku...
"What are you doing here pervert!" Ryder screamed, not realizing that Inu-Yasha the anime doesn't exist in the SM timeline...
Whoops...
Pervert? What the hell was SHE on? She didn't even know him... oh, right. Miroku was a pervert.
"Pervert?" he echoed his thoughts, looking at Mercury strangely. "What the hell are you talking about?"
Waitaminute... screaming out her question and accusing people of being perverts even before she met them isn't very characteristic of her. And Mercury definitely shouldn't know that Miroku is a pervert. Sailor Moon had NOTHING to do with Inu-Yasha. Could it be...?
"Umm... can I talk to you for a moment, Mercury?" he looked at Mercury, then at Jupiter. "Alone, I mean?"
What could he be planning... I hope he wouldn't call me over just to as kme to bear his child, I know that mu... WAIT! HOW WOULD HE KNOW ABOUT THE SENSHI!!!
Sailor Mercury narrowed her eyes and waved a hand to Jupiter, saying, "Don't worry, I'll be alright... Call it a gut feeling..."
Still in a state of shock, Jupiter walked off to inform the other senshi..
"Alright," Kwok looked at Mercury after Jupiter left them alone. "Who're you? You're not really Mercury, are you? Mercury doesn't act like that."
"You know, I could say the same about you 'Miroku'..." Ryder replied as she jumped down from the roof...
"I'm not Miroku," Kwok explained. "Somehow I got stuck in his body when I woke up one night after getting drunk. I still hope that it's an alcohol-induced nightmare or something, but hey."
"So who're you?"
"This isn't a nightmare unfortunatly... And trust me, I ended up alot worse than you." Ryder replied as she crossed her arms across her chest and glared...
Kwok snickered.
"I can tell," he pointed at Mercury's chest. "Unless you're originally a girl, that is."
"And you still haven't said who you are yet," he persisted.
"Of course I haven't told you who I am yet... I still don't know who the hell you are." Ryder replied...
Her stone cold eyes softened a little, and she added, "Sorry, it's just that I'm not in a trusting mood right now... I've been a girl a whole day, and someone who happens to be in Miroku shows up. It's suspicious..."
"I asked you first," Kwok leveled a stare at Mercury. "I'm not that well off, you know. I've been fighting the youkai you just saw the entire day."
"It's common curtesy to answer first when you're being asked first, isn't it?"
"I suppose I should... It's only fair after all..." Ryder said with an almost evil glint in her eyes...
"I am known as Valentiez Alkalinella Xifax Sicidabohertz Gombigobilla Blue Stradivari Talentrent Pierre Andri Charton-Haymoss Ivanovici Baldeus George Doitzel Kaiser the 3rd..."
Kwo glared at Mercury.
"Like hell," he almost spat. "I've heard Ryder use the same excuse before in an RPG or something. Besides, the look on your face says it all."
"Now who are you again?" he glared.
Ryder went-wide eyed as she heard Kwok talk...
HE KNOWS ME!?!?
"Who... used that excuse again?"
Kwok waved a hand in dismissal.
"Ryder's a friend of mine," he explained. "You probably don't know him. Kinda cool, kinda nuts."
"And stop changing the subject, dammit!"
"Grr... Who are you calling nuts!" Ryder yelled as she slapped Miroku...
Wait... Damnit...
Ow... that slap kinda hurt... waitaminute... there's only one reason why she'd react like that...
"So you're Ryder, huh?" Kwok smirked. "I think you've been spending too much time as a girl. You're starting to slap people like a girl."
"You want something to hurt, eh?" Ryder said with her eyes showing fire...
"BOOT TO THE HEAD!!!!"
And because a Boot to the Head is unblockable, Kwok was booted in the head... Thankfully not on the heel side...
Kwok fell to the ground, twitching in pain.
"Ow.." he groaned as he slowly got back up. "I'm glad Miroku's body can take so much punishment cause he gets smacked on the head so often..."
"Hmm..." he mused. "I wonder which body can take more punishment... me or him..."
Ryder sweatdropped and bowed apoligetically, "Gomen nasai... I just was ticked off that you'd say something so stupid. Only person I know that could say something like that is..."
Her eyes seemed to take on a thoughtful look, and after a few moments she added, "Hey Kwok..."
Kwok grinned.
"Guess you found me out."
Ryder nodded, "Only one person could be so insensitive to me..."
Shaking her head, she added, "What am I saying?!? Ug... Estrogen messing with head..."
Kwok smirked. "Yep. You've been spending way too much time as a girl."
Suddenly, he rushed forwards and held Ami's hands with his own.
"Ami! Would you bare my child?" he asked, grinning.
Ryder resisted the urge to knee Kwok in the nuts... it was a long mental struggle to come to that...
"Kwok, hands off... And no, I will not bear your child..."
"Fine," Kwok smirked. "Since Ami became such an uncute tomboy, I'll go ask Minako or something."
"Anyway, we're getting off-track here," he said with a shake of his head. "Now that we both know who each other are. What now?"
"Never call me that..." Ryder angrily muttered, but stopped...
Wait... why am I getting angry over what he thinks? It's not like I want to be a girl... I'm so confused...
"How about you go back to your own time... Kagome might be getting worried about you..."
"Why?" Kwok smirked. "Does Ryder want to be a cute traditional Japanese girl now?"
"Inuyasha's around and injured, so Kagome won't worry about me too much. What are you and the rest of the Senshi up to?"
"We WERE at a party until that youkai showed up..." Ryder muttered... then facepalmed.
"Kwok! Does that thing have a Shard in it?"
"Shit!" Kwok swore. "I totally forgot about that after Jupiter showed up!"
He ran back over to where the "sword" was embedded in the wall and proceeded to try to extract the Shikon shard from the youkai's severed limb.
When Miroku reached the sword, three things happened at once.
Firstly, Usagi and Rei ran onto the scene, shouting words which sounded vaugely like "Jupitersaidsomethingaboutsomeguywhojustatetheyoumawithhishand" very quickly.
Well, only Usagi said that, but you couldn't hear Rei under her.
Secondly, the amulet in Ryder's possession started glowing and emitting a low-pitched hum.
And lastly, and possibly most importantly of all, the sword ripped itself out the wall and came down towards Miroku in a single, fierce motion!
Kwok's eyes widened as the sword somehow extracted itself from the walls and flew towards him.
Quickly stomping on the ground with his leg, he used the momentum to dive quickly off to the side in a roll, picking his staff up during the roll.
As he got up, he had the staff ready in his hands, his body settled in a battle stance.
...and the sword came straight down on his staff. With a tremendous *CRACK!*, and a bright flash of light, the sword cleaved straight through it!
"Shit!" Kwok swore as his staff was broken, and he allowed himself to quickly drop to the floor to avoid getting hit.
The sword swung over Miroku, but quickly prepared to deal a final, fatal strike..
OOC: Ryders move.
"MERCURY AQUA RHAPSODY!!!" Sailor Mercury shouted as a large blast of freezing water shot towards...
Miroku... Or rather, shot right above him to give him a protective layer of thick ice.
"SAILOR MOON! KILL IT!!!"
Sailor Moon blinked. "Right!"
Waving around her sceptre and making funny motions with her hands, the heroine yelled, "Moon Spiral Heart Attack!"
A gigantic pink heart flew from her fingertips and slammed straight into the disembodied blade. The result was spectacular.
The arm and sword itself disintergrated. But within the heart, there was a strange purple glow...
...which promptly expanded, showering the area with a lumiscent purple haze. The haze had a few effects.
Firstly, all the senshi were instantaneously transformed back into their normal selves.
Secondly, said senshin collapsed, gasping for breath, while Miroku was left strangely unaffected...
...until his air-void started to throb, even beneath the protective jewlery.
At the same time, the amulet within Ami's pocket began glowing.
A jolt of agony shot through Miroku, and he felt his Air Void *unleashing* itself. He heard noises... long forgotten noises of dead youkai. They seemed to be coming from the Bone Eaters Well...
Then everything went black.
***
Miroku came too... in the middle of a rice paddy. Miroku couldn't see Ami anywhere, nor could he make out much further than a few metres in front of him.
Muffled shouts came from one direction..
Kwok looked around after he woke up, and didn't see anyone near him.
Where's Ryder...?
He spun around as muffled shouts reached his ears.
He looked at his hand which was painfully pulsating just earlier. He was reluctant to run in in case it was a trap.
But I have to find Ryder... and Usagi and Jupiter...
He half-ran off at the direction of the muffled shouts, his mind on full alert of possible danger.
Miroku's senses cleared as he approached the voices, which seemed to be arguing about something...
"...she was asleep in the middle of my paddie! And wearing such strange clothes! I demand that you take her in immediatly!"
The response: "No."
The first man continued on yabbering, as Miroku got a good look at the two...
The first man was clearly a farmer. Wearing a conical hat, a short, tunic-like kimono, and with a scythe in one hand, he was short, fat and ugly, and currently quite upset.
The second man looked a little different. He wore blue pants, polished black shoes, and a thick, full blue jacket. A katana rested by his hip, and a ciggarette hung out his mouth. Three loose strands of hair dangled over his eyes, and his face had a somewhat predatory expression.
And between them lay the comatose body of Ami Mizuno..
Kwok quickly ran up to the two arguing men.
Look down at Ami's unconscious body, he quickly checked to see if she was at least visibly alright.
"What's this about, people?" he addressed the two men.
The man with the katana said nothing, eyeing Miroku with a critical eye.
The fat farmer, however, started talking very quickly. Miroku couldn't understand individual words, but a picture began to form..
Apparently, he had come out of his hut to begin the days work when he found this girl just lying in the middle of his crop field, with a substantial portion of his crop ruined beyond repair.
The girl wouldn't wake up, and the farmer refused to move her. He'd called this cop over to deal with it-
-"Because the citizen was incapable of dealing with it himself," the man said snidely. "Tell me, young man, do you have any relation with the woman?"
"Yeah," Kwok nodded. "She's a friend of mine. I just wanna make sure she's alright."
He looked down at Ryder/Ami again.
"She's been out for a while, hasn't she?" he asked, looking at the farmer and the cop. "I wanna take her to someone to get her looked at."
The cop looked like he was about to speak, but the farmer spoke first.
"Look! I don't care what you do with her, but I want compensation! There aren't any hospitals around here anyway, and-"
The cop raised his hand in front of the farmers mouth.
"Unfortunately, there are no hospitals or doctors within this area. However, she appears to be in fine condition. She merely needs proper rest, I belive.
I'm sure this farmer will quite happily let you borrow his house," he finished, with a steely gaze towards the farmer.
"Ye.. yes. Fine. This way," replied the farmer, somewhat cowed.
The cop walked off, and the farmer bustled inside...
<->
Falling...
Through the darkness of the mind Ryder fell, his body creating small waves in the pools of black around him...
Just fade away... Leave behind your past and follow me...
Images of palaces, royalty, and a group of 9 women floated through his mind...
Fight on... Continue to stay true to yourself and never give up...
A different group of girls, his parents, and his home appeared before him, but they were darker, less defined, as if they were fading away...
In the darkness, a light shattered through... the world around him split in twain... One side red, the other blue...
The voices, the voices chanted in his head, tearing him apart with the worlds, until floating there, were two.
One, the present... A girl, with short hair and a regal dress...
The other, the past... A guy, with jeans and a t-shirt...
Eyes opened, and the worlds gleamed... The two caught sight of each other, and angry they became...
Why have you come?
The girl was angry and demanding...
Her counterpart was more confused, and desperate...
Why have *I* come!? You're the one that's destroying ME!
Expressionless her face remained...
I only wish to regain what is mine.
By destroying me in the process?
Coldly, she continued...
If that is what is necessary, then so be it... I have been here for milennia, and nobody will take what is mine by birthright...
As the two argued, light beamed into the darkness, and time froze...
Ryder felt himself lifted towards the light, the past and present forgotten, as he looked into the light... to his future...
Choose your own destiny...
***
Light flickered into Ryder's eyes as she awoke with a yawn...
"Where am I?" she muttered, and then sighed, "Still a girl... just great."
That's when she caught sight of red sheets... Now, that really wouldn't be a problem... if the sheets weren't supposed to be white.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Kwok heard Ami's rather ear-piercing scream and rushed into her room.
"What?" he asked, looking around the room. "What's up?"
Then he caught sight of the red sheets.
"Umm... did what I think happen just happened?"
Unfortunatly for Miroku, Ryder was too busy hyperventilating to reply...
OOC: Sorry so short... but honestly, would you respond if you were in this situation?
Kwok was tempted to slap some sense back into the hyperventilating Ryder, but he didn't feel comfortable slapping a girl even though he knew she was really a guy.
Instead, he settled for yelling REALLY loudly in her ear.
"EARTH TO AMI! COME BACK TO US!"
"AHH!!!" Ryder screamed, and slapped Kwok... hard... without thinking.
Realizing her mistake, she said, "Sorry Kwok... What do you want?"
Kwok just glared flatly at Ryder.
"You ARE turning into a girl," he stated. "I was just getting your attention because you were hyperventilating."
"I had good reason to be upset you jackass..." Ryder replied with the patented Female PMS look.
Continuing, she added, "How would you react if you woke up and had your first period?"
Kwok shrugged. "I'd probably shrug it off then swear bloody vengeance on whoever turned me into a girl."
"So how're you feeling?" he grinned.
Ryder GLARED...
"You do not want to know the answer to that question. Trust me... as a guy, I did not want to know how this feels." she replied coldly...
"Yeah, well, now you can say that you know more about women than you ever did before," Kwok replied, grinning.
"Just be careful to not accidentally get pregnant or something or you're REALLY in for it."
"Kwok... to get pregnant... you have to do..." Ryder continues with a shudder, "THAT."
"Now... will you go find me some clothes. My jeans are ruined."
Kwok smirked.
"Should I, really?" he said, grinning. "Ami might look great without pants, I think."
"KWOK... Will you PLEASE get me some new clothes? I'm not getting out of this bed until you do..." Ryder replied while twitching.
"Fine, fine..." Kwok answered.
He turned around and walked out of the room to find the owner of the house.
The farmer was farming the rice paddies outside, mumbling and cursing his luck.
Seeing Miroku, he yelled, "What is it, houshi?"
"Ummm..." Kwok pointed towards the house. "My friend's pants are kinda ruined. Do you have anything she can put on?"
The farmer grumbled, but walked back to house, opened a cupboard, and pulled out some clothes, consisting of a hakama and a loose shirt.
"I don't have no kids, so this'll have to do. Any other requests, houshi-SAMA?" he said, sarcastically.
Kwok shrugged. "I guess she'll have to make do with these."
Holding up the clothes, he smiled at the farmer.
"Thanks a lot. I really appreciate this."
With that said, he turned to walk back into the house, and into Ami's room, clothes in hand.
Taking a look at the clothes, Ryder cracked a small smile... "At least they're guy clothes... Now... SHOO! I'm not letting you see me change."
"Aww... do I have to?" Kwok mock-pouted. "I promise I won't drool."
"Much."
Flat-looking at Kwok, Ryder replied, "No... Way... In... Hell... I'm might not like being a girl. But, I'm not got to give you a strip-tease. I doubt you want to see me all bloody down there anyway."
"Party pooper," Kwok smirked.
"I'll leave you alone to do your little girl things then," he said as he left the room.
Waiting a few moments, to make sure that Kwok was gone, Ryder rolled out of the bed, blanket still on...
"Crap... how am I going to deal with... THAT..." she muttered.
>>30-45 minutes later<<
"I guess that works..." Ryder muttered as she walked from behind a hastily made curtain, to keep certain perverts from watching, in the oversized clothes... On the bed, Ami's black sweatshirt layed in tatters. Grabbing her bloody jeans, she pulled the mysterious amulet out of the pocket and hung it around her neck...
"I guess I'll go wash my jeans..." she muttered as she opened the door.
"So how'd you deal with the involuntary blood donation thing?" Kwok asked as he saw Ami coming out of the room.
Evilly grinning, Ryder replied, with a finger wag...
"Sore wa... himitsu desu!"
Kwok shrugged. "Whatever."
"C'mon," he thumbed towards the front door of the house. "Let's go say bye to the farmer and take off. That is, unless you have any idea where we are, because I don't."
Taking a look at the serene landscape, a sharp contrast to the skyscrapers of Tokyo, Ryder replied sarcastically, "Well Kwoko, we're definately not in Kansas..."
Kwok frowned. "You've been watching too much Wizard of Oz."
Without waiting for Ryder to follow, he walked out of the house and up to the farmer.
"My friend's fine now," he said. "So we're just gonna go. Thanks for letting us stay in your house."
The farmer grunted in reply. "You kids take care of yourselves. And never come back."
Excepting the actual farm, the landscape was relatively flat. The sun had almost set, and a path ran alongside the farmers hut, heading north and south.
In the distance, to the west of the road, a steam train could be seen moving along, belching smoke behind it. Behind it was a hilly, forested region.
The path had no discernable end, and both sides were unremarkable. However, most tracks seemed to lead south.
"Hmm... All roads lead to Rome?" Ryder said as she took in the sights. The steam train sounded promising, but it would be hard, if not impossible, for them to board it...
The trail to the north was right out, as most trails seemed to head south. And there was always the woods, with lots of animals to feast on...
But still...
"Kwok, we're going south... Maybe we'll hit a city on the way."
"Alright," Kwok nodded, grinning.
"Whatever you say, Queen Mizuno. Just lead the way... Ami."
"Kwok... Know Your Role... I'm in the mood to layth the smackth down after all." Ryder warned as she started to walk the path...
"Whatever, Ami-chan," Kwok smirked as he followed behind Ryder.
As the two walked south, they saw more and more of the same terrain. Rice paddies and fields seemed to dominate the world around them, with the ever present train line a few kilometres away, and occasionally a black belch would signal the passing of another train.
The few travellers that were heading north commented on the two's odd appearance, with more than a few sniggered remarks about Miroku's outdated style of dress.
And the amulet around Ami's neck drew more than few jealous stares...
After about an hour of walking, the sun was almost down, only a few rays of sunlight piercing the horizon.
The two travellers were walking alongside a thick forest to the left, and flat plains to the right. Nobody was in sight, and the noises of the forest could be heard..
"Oy Kwok... I think we need to stop for the night..." Ryder commented, without looking behind her at the monk.
Kwok shrugged.
"Alright," he agreed. "We can stop whenever you want."
"But how're we gonna sleep? It's not like we have backpacks or tents or something," he added after a moment. "I don't mind and I can sleep anywhere, but I don't know if you wanna just sleep out in the open, what with you being a girl and all."
"I know the risk... but, there's no way to know where the next town will be?" Ryder warned, "I mean, we could be traveling all night and still not find a place to sleep..."
"I don't mind THAT much if we skip sleep for a day or two," Kwok answered. "I've done it before. But if you wanna stop, we can. It's up to you."
"Yeah, I've gone without sleep too... but in that case, I was online all night. I wasn't wasting energy walking..." Ryder reminded... while walking along the path.
"I've done that too," Kwok laughed sheepishly, while continuing to follow. "But drinking helps me stay awake because the alcohol burns in my stomach."
"No way in hell am I drinking Kwok... For that matter, I'm not letting you." Ryder said...
Kwok blinked.
"Why not?"
"Think about it... if I let you drink, you'd probably rape me, or someone else." Ryder said, with some sadness in the end...
Kwok glared at Ryder.
"I do NOT rape people. I don't even think about it," he said in a hard voice.
"Besides," he said, relaxing a little. "You'll never notice a difference if I'm drunk or not. I have enough control over myself."
"On second thought... that only applies to my real body. I have no idea how much alcohol Miroku can tolerate. I'm pretty sure that I can control myself enough not to do anything rash though."
"Sorry Kwok, but I've seen alcohol do some NASTY things to people." Ryder replied apoligetically...
"So, I'm not going to take any chances... I think you can lay off the beer for a while. It's not going to kill you..."
Kwok shrugged.
"Ah well. It's not like I'm a hard drinker anyway," he admitted. "And I don't drink beer. I dislike beer. I drink harder stuff, like rum and whiskey and stuff like that."
Ryder facepalmed... "Kwok... just quit while you're ahead man."
"Fine, fine," Kwok relented. "Whatever you say, Ami-chan."
"So what are we gonna do? Keep going or find a place to crash?"
"I guess we'll keep going... At least for a few more hours." Ryder decided.
"Alright," Kwok agreed and followed behind.
"Whenever you wanna stop, just say the word."
It quickly got very dark.
VERY dark. But they could see lights in the distance..
..a small farming villiage, by the looks of it.
Roughly two kilometres off. Unfortunately, something was delaying their travel.
They could feel a palpable aura of... wrongness, just up ahead... and there was no telling if it was just paranoia in such a situation.
Kwok stopped dead in his tracks.
"Hold on, Ryder," he held up a hand even though no one could see it in the darkness. "We should stop, at least for a while. Something feels weird out there, and we might need all the strength we can get.
Ryder nodded... "You felt that too... good, I'm not going insane."
So, Ryder got off the path and fumbled around looking for a tree to lean against... and ran into one... headfirst.
"Iteiteite!" she complained as she fell against it...
Kwok snickered.
"Geez, is it just me or did you become clumsier after turning into a girl?" he smirked in the darkess, not moving an inch from his spot.
"Shaddup you... I'm tired, alright?" Ryder complained as she tried to see Kwok in the darkness...
Kwok used the source of Ryder's earlier thump to determine the location of the tree and sat down.
On Ryder.
"Oops!" he said as he got right back up, smiling nervously. "Sorry about that."
Fire burned in Ryder's eyes as she stood up...
"YOU...." she growled as she reared back her fist...
"PERVERT!!!"
>WHAM<
And the fist of female righteous fury strikes again... poor Kwok...
"Itai!" Kwok cried as he rubbed his cheeks. "What'd you do that for? I already apologized!"
"You jerk! I know you did that on purpose... And you think my body is warping me." Ryder accused as she crossed her arms over her chest and humphed...
Kwok sweatdropped then pointed to Ryder crossing her arms over her chest.
"Umm... I'd think it is."
"And I didn't do it on purpose!" he defended himself. "Why would I do something like that?"
Ryder tilted her head back towards Kwok and replied, "Whatever... you've been warped too, I know it! Why else would you 'accidentally' sit on me?"
Kwok sweatdropped at Ryder's retaliation.
"Because it's dark and I can't see. Or are you saying you're a masochist and ran into a tree on purpose?"
Replying with the 'smallest' amount of edge in her voice, Ryder said, "And you think I can see too? That I have night vision or something? Of course it was an accident..."
"Exactly!" Kwok answered, with as much of the "smallest" amount of panic in his voice as Ryder had edge. "Me sitting on you was an accident too!"
"Of course it wasn't an accident! You've been wanting to get close to me all day!" Ryder replied...
Kwok looked at Ryder strangely.
"What kind of accusation is that?" he puzzled. "What makes you think I wanna get close to you?"
"Let's see... You wanted to see me change, with my damn period of all things you sick freak! And I'm sure you enjoyed that "cheerleader outift" I have to wear..." Ryder listed...
"I was just kidding, dammit!" Kwok almost fumed. "Who'd really wanna watch you change? Ami, maybe, but not you!"
"And whose body is this!?!" Ryder questioned...
WHAT AM I SAYING!?!?!
Ryder quickly shut up as her senses returned to her and meekly added... "Sorry man..."
"It's Ami's, but she's cuter than you," Kwok smirked.
"It's alright," he calmed down and sat beside Ryder as Ryder apologized. "Being in another body messes with your head at times, I know it just as well as you do."
"At least your body's the right gender... I have to deal with all this crap in my head now, and it's confusing the hell out of me." Ryder worrily continued...
"True," Kwok nodded. "That kinda helps. And since Miroku's really only a pervert, it's not that hard to control."
"But hey," he continued, smirking. "If worse comes to worst, you can find a nice, rich, handsome husband to marry and be well off for the rest of your life."
Ryder's anger levels started to rise a little, and she muttered, "Don't joke about that, please..."
"Honestly, why do you have to keep teasing me? It's not like I don't hate my situation as it is already."
Kwok smiled. "Who said I was joking?"
"I dunno," he answered. "I like teasing people. Besides, it's so easy to get a rise out of you since you've been Ami."
Ryder frowned, "Don't even say things like that... I'm a guy, remember? And wouldn't you be pissed off if you were stuck like this?"
"Probably," Kwok agreed. "At least Miroku's cool."
"I think we should rest better," he said, changing the subject. "Take turns taking a short nap or something before going on. I have a feeling we'll need the energy later."
"Yeah, you're right," Ryder replied, "But who sleeps first? Me or you?"
"You go first," Kwok said. "I'll keep watch. You might need it more since you're a girl."
Ryder nodded, "Alright Kwok..."
And with that, Ryder lied down and attempted to get comfy on the ground... and accidentally kicked Kwok in the shoulder by doing so.
>>>5 minutes later<<<
"Zzzzzzzzzzzz...."
Kwok winced as he was kicked in the shoulder.
"Man, she's so clumsy and violent..."
He tried to focus on his surroundings, but pretty much all he could see was darkness.
He sighed, and looked around at least in his immediate area.
"She IS cute though," he said as his eyes came across Ami's sleeping form. "Too bad she's a guy."
Ami slept. And dreamed.
Forgotten, crystal towers... built of a mystic blue...
A Land, prosperous... see it crumble, see it fall.
Now a ruin, empty as the husk of a dead mans casket...
Yet see what is created in it's stead. Grey, steel spires with glass squares throught. People running, people rushing. People hurrying, people desperate.
See how a man and a woman marry. See their love.
See their future hate. See the cursed world they live in.
But look. The beauty of each and every moment of love is to be treasured... for lack of frequency does not make the world worthless.
But to be further treasured, in hope that good dreams may become real...
Stop. Look.
See all crumble. See both worlds become one, and crumble together, leaving nothing but ruin in their wake, with nothing to regrow...
See two entities. Both once of peace, but now struck together in emnity...
And a white figure, beseeching you. To take her side against he who tries to slay you...
The one she faces. Look. His eyes are an angry red, and he whispers dark dreams and thoughts to another..
But the white figure beckons... and you are compelled to go.
Stop. Look.
A furnace... a great battle. One man swathed in bandages.. another wearing a simple kimono with red hair. One wields a jagged, oil-tipped sword. The other holds his sword in it's sheath.
The redhead strikes. And in a perfect world, this blow would settle the battle.
But two Red Eyes dominate the battle... one looks down at the bandaged-swathed figure. Granted a premontion, he deflects the red-heads strike...
..and impales the Red-head upon his jagged, oiled sword.
At this moment, the world splits apart.
Stop. Look.
The white figures shows you that you can prevent this from happening. By going to the scene and aiding the Red-haired man.
But the Red Eyes are already upon you.. and they flash once...
Ami awoke in a cold sweat, her senses telling her that something with the scene surrounding them was amiss.
And her thoughts were rationalised when a terrible scream cut forth from the villiage, and flames sprung up inside of it..
What was that? I swear, that looked like Shi...
Ryder's thought process was cut off by the screams and explosion in the town...
"HOLY SHIT!!! Kwok, we have to go help them!"
Kwok whirled around at the sight of the flame that sprung out of nowhere from within the village.
"Oh man," he muttered as he broke into a run towards the town. "Why do I keep getting into these situations...?"
Ryder nodded and headed into the forest aa bit... not too much, but just enough for her to change in relative modesty. After all, she might be a guy, but there was no way Ryder was going to flash herself for the whole world with a long and mostly unesscessary transformation sequence...
"MERCURY CRYSTAL POWER... MAKE UP!!"
Once again skipping the transformation, Sailor Mercury hopped on a tree branch and started tree hopping to catch up with Kwok, moving close enough to the path to see him...
"This is not good... if that dream means what I think it does, we've got problems..."
Kwok blinked.
"What dream?" he asked, not even pausing slightly from his run. "What'd you dream about?"
Not breaking stride from her branch hopping, Ryder asked, "Kwok... you watched Rurouni Kenshin, correct? If you didn't, explaining this becomes harder, and we might not have the time for it..."
"Nope," Kwok shaked his head as he ran. "I've got most of the anime and the entire manga, but never got around to reading or watching it. Why?"
"Well... You probably at least know a little about it, right?" Ryder asked as she continued her jumping... the flames of the village coming closer, but yet still far.
"Not really," Kwok shook his head. "Only read a couple of volumes. Just say it and see if I understand it."
Ryder sighed and replied, "Two words: Makoto Shishio..."
"Nope!" Kwok answered cheerfully. "Not a clue who he is!"
"I've heard of the name though."
"To make a long story short, he replaced Kenshin as the Battosai... Was almost killed when the revolutionaries betrayed him. He survived, and is a very powerful swordsman trying to take over the Japanese Government... Kenshin's going to try and stop him. But, something's VERY different about this... I can't put my finger on it though." Ryder explained...
"I'm praying to Kami-sama that this isn't him..."
Kwok blinked.
"But what we've been fighting as nothing to do with swords. These are magical creatures, not swordsmen."
"I know that already... that's why it isn't making any sense." Ryder said as she shook her head...
"Let's worry about it later... we've got more important things to deal with, like this fire up ahead."
The disfunctional duo reached the villiage gate. From here, they could see a great deal.
And what they saw wasn't pretty.
The entire place was up in flames, and the corpses of villiagers lay all over, along with a small group of Japanese policemen.
A few more villiagers were still running around, but were being butchered before they could make it halfway to the gate.
And what they were being butchered by was disturbing.
Packs of red, glowing dogs with abnormally long teeth were rushing around the villiage, tearing apart anything that moved. A group of five swordsmen killed anyone the dogs failed to reach.
And in the center of it all was a tall figure with literally flaming hair, wreathed in red flames which leapt to each house in turn...
Kwok's eyes widened at the chaos developing in front of them.
"Shit!" he cursed. "We gotta stop them, Ryder! Let's move!"
"No wait," he halted. "I'm barehanded. I need something."
He looked around on the ground for a possible weapon.
"Can you freeze that," he pointed at a long, thick branch lying on the ground, "into something hard enough to be used as a weapon?"
Ryder nodded and cast a tiny Mercury Aqua Rhapsody on the branch...
"I don't know if this can hold or not... after all, you'll be fighting beings that use fire." Ryder warned as she leaped back onto a branch and pulled down her visor to get a reading on the flaming haired man...
The visor provided a fair chunk of information to Ami.
A large chunk of it was statistics on exactly how hot the man was, what colour the fire was, but more interestingly, what made the man burn.
It seemed that the man was no monster or youkai, as she may have originally suspected, but simply a man who was infected by some kind of magical disease. The exact nature of the disease, in fact, was recorded within the computer.
Pages and pages of information scrolled down, far too quickly for Ami to quickly read, She did, however, catch a few things.
The disease itself was called "Flamewreath", and it apparently killed it's victim within a month by slowly causing the air around them to become hotter and hotter. They gained immunity from heat, but it wasn't the fire that killed them; it was the fact that fire ate up all the oxygen around them, making it somewhat difficult for them to breathe.
Apparently, this particular man had decided to spend his last days on a killing rampage. The disease had no known cure.
The flame surrounding the man was not particularly hot as far as fires go.
Interestingly enough, the visor also showed that the mans movements were somewhat sluggish, and he didn't seem to be actually walking from his spot, merely throwing balls of flaming pitch at the houses which he took from a large pack on his back instead of 'casting' them towards people.
Kwok shrugged. "I guess it'll have to do."
"We need some kind of plan, we're severely outnumbered" he said. "You know more about them than I do with your visor. Any weaknesses they have?"
"Hold on, let me take a look at them..." Ryder replied as she turned the visor's focus on the glowing dogs...
The dogs were apparently fine physical specimens of the Akita, a Japanese hunting dog. They usually grew quite large, and this group was no exception.
They all seemed to be passing through the early stage of the disease Flamewreath, but not so great as to spontaneously start fires nearby.
They also all seemed to be on an adredaline high..
Ryder nodded, and decided to turn the visor's attention on the swordsmen to see if there was anything particularly interesting about them...
The swordsmen were just regular swordsmen.
With swords.
And they were hacking everything in the villiage at an alarmingly fast rate, leaving almost nothing standing, let alone alive.
Two of the swordsmen also had holstered pistols, but had yet to use them.
Ryder turned to Kwok from her position in the tree and relayed the information...
"Alright, the guy with the flaming hair isn't a demon, as you might think... he's got a magical disease that's going to eventually kill him. But, I don't know how long he's had it. The flames around him aren't particularly too hot, but I'd still proceed with caution...."
"The dogs are Japanese hunting dogs in an early stage of the disease, and are very rabid... be careful..."
"The swordsmen... are thankfully normal. 2 of them have guns though, it would be best to take them out first... But still, we're severely outnumbered here. Any ideas on strategy Kwoko?"
"Hmm..." Kwok paused in thought. "Your fog move thing might help. If it works, they can't see us, so that would be easier on us. I just don't know how much it can work with so much fire around. It should work to some degree though, fog still has gas in it so it can't be vaporized completely by fire."
"How much magical power do you have? Do we have enough to quench the flames for the dogs and the guy in the middle plus cast a fog?"
"Honestly, I don't know... it never went over how much mana the Senshi had in the show, and I wouldn't know the feeling of how much I have." Ryder replied as she hopped down from the branch and turned off the visor...
Kwok shrugged.
"Ah well, no better way to find out than do it, I guess," he said.
"Hmm. Wait a minute," he addded. "To win a game of chess, you need to capture the king. This might work here too. If we concentrate our forces to take down the guy in the middle first, the leaderless pawns might lose their focus in attacking the people and the town. It's a dangerous gamble though."
"What do you think?" he asked, neatly delegating the decision-making off to Ryder. "You think we need a better plan?"
While Ami and Miroku were busy planning their strategey, several loud screams were constantly piercing the air, along with loud grunts, which sounded a little like rape.
Of course, these were promptly followed by more screaming as the villiage continued to be razed to the ground..
Kwok grit his teeth as the sounds of screams and grunts reached his ears.
"Screw planning," he groowled as he tore off a small piece from his robes. "I hate men who rape women, and that's what it sounds like right now."
"Let's do it," he wrapped the piece of cloth around his palm and used it to pick up the previously frozen branch. "Time to move, Ryder."
He broke off into a run towards the village.
"Oh hell... what an idiot..." Ryder muttered as she took a look at her surroundings...
Ryder then turned to her left and started to flank them, hoping to catch them off guard as they dealt with Kwok...
"Mercury...." she started to chant as she ran...
As Miroku ran towards the villiage, a pack of roughly four or five dogs ran out to meet him.
Snarling viciously, with rabid saliva drooling from their mouths, they leaped at him, and as they did, the area around them increased notably in temperature.
Noticing the pack of dogs leaping to "greet" him, he quickly stepped out to the side with his foot. As he did so, he gave a small push with his leg and went into a low lunge to step away from the dogs, with his arm swinging a circular arc to hit the dogs with the frozen branch.
Two of the rabid dogs were caught on the branch, stumbling backwards. There was a sicknening crunch, and it appeared that their noses had been broken. Yipping madly, the began trying to get away.
The other three dogs, however, were under no such strife, closing in on Miroku at an alarming speed.
Two down, three to go... shit.
Kwok began to back up away from the dogs, still facing them. As he was backing up, he began swinging the frozen branch in front of him in a modified figure-8 to create a shield in front of him to ward off the dogs and hit them if they came close.
Ryder, now sufficiantly away from the big guy's sight, starts to rush towards his back...
"Aqua..."
Kami, I hope this works...
With a leap in the air, she cupped her hands and shouted out, "RHAPSODY!!!!"
And with that, she let loose a massive burst of icey water...
It was somewhat unfortunate for Miroku that Ami had not been watching his fight, otherwise she might have noted that he was in more than a little trouble.
The dogs all leapt at him simultaneously, and while the twirling staff managed to keep two at bay, one got through and bit Miroku on the thigh.
A fiery, burning sensation spread across him, causing an adredaline rush..
Meanwhile, Ami's blast of icy magic was partially melted as it flew towards the fiery man.
The man was clearly hurt by the blast, taking a few steps back and clutching his chest in agony. However, he did not fall.
And the five swordsmen, after finishing up their... disgusting acts, began moving towards Ami, two of them drawing and preparing their pistols...
CrapCRAPCRAP!!!!
Ryder quickly rolled behind the house nearby...
"Damnit... that didn't do nearly as much as I needed it to... Now what? My element of surprise is gone, and I don't see Kwok anywhere."
"ARGH!" Kwok screamed in pain as the dog bit him in the thigh.
"Dammit," he cursed. "I can't waste my time on these things."
Out of the corner of his eyes, he caught Ami rolling to behind a house, and broke into a run towards her location.
Miroku barely got five paces before the dog bit him again, this time, in the shin.
"FUCK!" Kwok swore as he got bit on the shin. Whirling around, he swung the impromptu staff like a golf club to club the dog in the head.
The dog, somewhat comically, went flying away, yelping as it did so.
Two of the swordsmen chasing after Ami looked over Miroku's way, and promptly began to advance on him.
Miroku began to feel somewhat warmer, as his adredaline high began to diminish.
Meanwhile, the flaming man along with three swordsmen advanced slowly towards Ami's position.
As Miroku felt himself growing warmer from the diminishing adrenaline high, something nagged him in his mind about the flames of the lead swordsman and his sluggish movements. Pushing the thought ouf of his mind, he concentrated on the problems in front of him. Two large problems with swords, to be precise.
Deciding to strike first instead of waiting for his opponents to attack so he could get a counter, he ran towards the swordsmen. At a couple of feet beyond the length of the men's swords, he leapt diagonally towards the left and forward to deliver a sweeping attack at one of the swordsmen's sides.
The swordsman, somewhat more canny than your average hound, blocked the too-long strike on his sword, but didn't offer offensive action.
The reason soon became obvious, as the second swordsman stepped behind Miroku and thrust forward with his sword..
Kwok pretended to be occupied with the first swordsman and not notice the second swordsman thrusting his sword at his back.
A few short seconds before the strike would hit him, he dived off into a roll to the right to hopefully let the second swordsman take the hit instead, hopping back up to his feet to face the two swordsmen again at the end of the roll.
Unfortunately for Miroku, the two swordsman were both seasoned veterans, not to be fooled by the ploy.
The second swordsman halted his blow, but the first swordsman managed to twist his sword and slash out, cutting Miroku across the other thigh.
"Dammit!" Kwok cursed as he felt his previously-unhurt thigh getting cut. Forcing himself to complete the roll, he got back up to his feet to face the two swordsmen again, somewhat favouring the less-hurt thigh as he stood.
"Man, I'm turning into Miroku fillet here..."
Ryder quickly hopped out behind her hiding spot and casted a quick Shabon Spray... Because it lacked the shouting of the name, the spell was a bit weaker, but still did it's job in creating a nice thick fog in the area around her...
Good... now, think Ryder... think!
OOC: Grr. Overly short and sweet, seeing as the tempation to REALLY FUCK SOMEONE UP is at an all time high, and in the interests of fair DMing..
IC: The Shabon spray combined with Ami's hiding spot meant she couldn't see exactly what was happening with the swordsmen.
The two warriors walked after Miroku, confident in their abilities to bring him down quickly.
OOC: Little late, Kwok. Ease up the swearing. o-O
Kwok looked at the two swordsmen advancing on him.
Shit... I'm running out of options...
Just then, his leg twitched in pain to inform him of the presence of his wounds.
Dammit. I can't move that well either, probably.
He glanced at his right arm. It was convenient, but it had a price that'd be paid in the future.
"Ah, screw it!" he cried as he tore off the ward that sealed off the Air Void. "I'm gonna kazaana you motherfuckers! You're never gonna kill me!"
"KAZAANA!" he screamed in almost hysterics as he held his palm in front of him to use to Air Void. "DIE YOU SONS OF BITCHES!!"
The Air Void promptly sucked the two surprised swordsmen into Miroku's hand, where they would doubtless meet a grisly fate, being crushed to the size of about a single cell of an ant.
Miroku promptly collapsed to the ground, spent.
Meanwhile, Ami was still hiding, though she doubtless heard Miroku's cry..
Indeed, Ryder did hear Kwok's call... However, she was currently trying to make as little noise as possible as she moved across the side of the house she was hiding behind, towards the next road...
Crap... Gotta get to Kwok! He used the kazanna... This is not good. Please kami, help us...
The fog slowly started to clear out as Ryder turned around the corner away from the swordsmen and started to move towards where she heard Kwok...
The swordsmen, thankfully, were too busy trying to get to see behind the house to notice Ami slip out.
But when she reached where she though Miroku was, he had gone. And heavy footprints led back into the forest. Miroku's frozen staff lay to the side, as if he'd gone without a fight..
Seeing the lack of Kwokage when she reached his area spooked Ryder a little...
"Kwok? Yo, this isn't funny..." she questioned as her visor came down to see if there was anything dangerous in the forest that Kwok seemed to disappear into...
The visor indicated nothing out of the ordinary to Ami.
A loud roar from the villiage indicated that the swordsmen there had discovered she was gone...
Oh crap!
And, with a careful evaluation of the situation and the consequences of her actions, Ryder turned back towards the fog to check if there are any remaining villagers...
I can't be too careful...
The bandits had left, apparently. It was unlikely they wished to risk a fight with Ami, and there was nothing left here to indicate their presence..
Though Ami searched, she found nothing save burnt corpses and ruined houses.
The charred bodies of adults stared up at him, now burnt beyond any possible recognition. Those few who had attempted to defend themselves had clearly fallen first, with both bullet wounds and sword strikes indicating the source of their doom.
The more Ami picked her way through the wreckage, the more horror she unearthred from the villiage.
Then she found the corpses of children... equally charred by the cruel raiders who cared little.
A voice seemed to hover.. telling her that this is what the Red Eyes would do to the entire world if let free.. that this was never meant to happen... that this is what she could stop..
A tear dropped down from Ryder's eye as the death and devistation she picked through flooded her senses... The wretched scent of death was floating through the air, and the blood stained the ground red.
Bowing her head, she recited a small prayer for those that had died...
Kami-sama, those that lie here have paid the price for my delay. Please, do not punish them for my mistake, and send them to thier eternal peace and joy. Amen...
Opening her teared eyes, Ryder turned her head towards the forest, and stood.
No more...
And with an icy aura of vengeance, Ryder bolted off in the direction of the heavy footprints...
Ami picked her way through the forest slowly, though her destination could be some ways away. Evidently, her mark had been running and had quite a head start...
Meanwhile...
Miroku awoke. He was inside a small, typical Japanese hut, and he was tied to a post. His staff had gone missing, and the wards on his hand had been tied back..
DAMNIT!!! I'll never save him at this rate!!!
Once again, she leaped up to a branch and started to branch hop in the direction of the footprints...
"Hold on... I can't let you die..."
Kwok tried to struggle against his binds.
"Hey," he spoke up, "anyone around? Untying me would be appreciated, you know..."
As he spoke, he looked around his current surroundings to see if there was anything of use he could make use of later.
From his position tied to a post, Miroku couldn't see anything that might be of use. The room was quite bare, and it looked as if it hadn't been inhabited recently.
"Ah, I see you're awake," came a familar voice.
The owner of the voice presented itself, turning out to be the same cop who had assisted Miroku and Ami with the disgruntled farmer earlier..
"A rather... interesting trick you managed back there. Mind telling me exactly what that was?"
Hey, I know him. He's the cop that helped me and Ryder. But if he's a good guy, why'd he tie me up? Can I trust him?
"Let's just say it's one of the neat tricks I have up my sleeves when it gets necessary and things get heavy," he answered. "Mind telling me exactly why I'm tied up?"
"For my protection," replied the cop. "And the protection of others. What sort of policeman would I be if I didn't hold those who could be dangerous to society?
Though perhaps I'm asking the wrong questions.
Perhaps you'd enlighten me as to who that girl was? She is quite an... enigma, especially with her odd clothing and.. strange way of getting changed."
"You've seen me and her," Kwok answered. "We don't, and won't, mean any harm to people."
"Enigma, huh?" he smirked. "As you may have noticed, we're not exactly normal around these parts. Although if it suits your nervs any, I can tell you that I'm not lying when I say that the clothing and the 'strange way of getting changed' is normal from where she came from, and both of us are from pretty damn far away."
The cop looked into Miroku's eyes, who, despite himself, flinched.
"Perhaps you'd better tell me some details, or things might get.. messy."
"Come on," Miroku looked back at the cop. "You're a policeman. You should know that we can't give out too much information about ourselves, for our own safety. I assure you that we mean you no harm."
The cop stared into Miroku's eyes a little longer, any playfulness gone from his eyes.
"Unfortunately, I cannot be certain of that. After all, any suspect looking to save his own skin would doubtless say the same things you are saying.. and let me assure you, you're quite safe here.
Though unless you say something forthcoming, I shall have to regard you as a suspect... and 'deal' with you, in my own manner of justice.."
I have doubts if he's really a cop...
"Safe?" Kwok spoke as he struggled lightly against his bonds once. "You call THIS safe? How can I believe that when I'm tied up like this? For all I know, whatever I say and whether I say anything or not might not matter since I'm tied up like this. Even if you wanna 'deal' with me even after I say everything, I can't stop you because I'm tied up!"
The cop smirked.
"Safe from everyone but me, hmm? The only thing keeping you safe from me is my expectation that you're going to impart some useful knowledge my way... failing to do so will doubtless detract from your safety...
And, of course, I'm far more concerned that the rest of the world should be kept safe from you. My duty as a policeman is to keep you restrained until I can ascertain that you are not a threat to society."
The cop smirked a little more.
"Your next words determine exactly what my sword cuts... the ropes, or you. Choose."
Kwok twitched.
Guess I don't have much choice...
"I'd choose the ropes, myself," he replied. "Ask and ye shalt receive. An answer, that is."
Saitou raised an eyebrow.
"Good. Very good.
What's your name, and exactly what was that trick you pulled?"
"I'm Miroku," Kwok answered, knowing that he shouldn't use his real name. "As for the trick? I really have no clue. I'm born with this ability, and it does what you've seen it do. Other than that, your guess is as good as mine."
Well, Miroku is the one born with the kazaana, but since I'm Miroku at the moment...
Saitou nodded. "An attack which draws your enemy into a vacumn produced by your hand. Quite dangerous and lethal, I imagine. Especially if released in a confined space..."
He paused for a moment, before asking his next question.
"And the girl? I saw every moment of the battle, so tell me anything you know of her... abilities.."
"The girl?" Kwok answered. "To be truthful, I don't know that much about her abilities, since I've never seen her in action myself. As you might imagine, our 'abliities' doesn't get used on a daily basis so I've never gotten a chance to see it. If you've seen every moment of the battle, you should know that she can create a fog. I don't know much more than that."
Saitou nodded again.
This man seemed to know nothing about his own or her abilities... perhaps the girl would know more.
He picked up his sword and drew it, right in front of Miroku's rapidly widening eyes.
A quick flick of the wrist...
...and the ropes fell away, leaving not a scratch on Miroku.
"Your friend should arrive any minute," he murmured. "Leave if you will, though if you see her, make sure she comes to me.
Otherwise I may be... upset."
<->
Ami followed the footsteps... and came out of the forest to a long, flat plain.
The footprints led to a small, featureless hut...
No more... no more death, no more lives lost...
Sailor Mercury thought as she looked at the house...
"I could always try the door... No, that wouldn't work. 'Hi Mr. Evil Person Wanting to Kill My Friend...' But then again, he might be caught off guard by it, giving baka-boy enough time to run away."
With an inresolute sigh, Ryder carefully walks up to the door and knocks...
"...there she is now."
The door opened, revealing the smiling face of the cop, who, with his wolflike face, and with a katana at his side, looked like anything but a Staunch Defender of Justice.
"We've been expecting you, miss?..."
Saitou?!? What the hell is he doing here?!
Ryder however, despite the internal surprise, kept her gaze clear and replied...
"You have? For what reason...?"
"Because I left a trail for you to follow, and I'm sure you wouldn't abandon your friend," replied Saitou.
"Why don't you come inside?" he continued, stepping aside to let her pass. "I assure you, he's in fine condition.."
Keeping a watchful eye on Saitou, Ryder steps into the door and moves towards Kwok...
"You alright? That looks like a nasty lump on your head..."
"I'm fine," Kwok smiled. "Never been better."
He stepped in close to Ami and whispered in her ear.
"You should watch out though. Guy doesn't look too safe. Or nice."
Saitou interupted any future conversation.
"I'm sorry, miss, but I really do need to know your name, your intent, and exactly what you can do. After you tell me these, I may ask a few more questions.. but I will let you go.
Trust me, it would be far more useful to both our purposes if you cooperate.."
"Alright... I suppose you should know about me. After all, it's not often that someone from your era would see someone wearing this... Not that I like it."
Ryder began...
"My name's Mizuno Ami... no need for secret identities. My intent is to find Makoto Shishio before he kills Himura Kenshin... The fog, and the ice beams are the extend of my abilities at this point. Now, what else would you like to know Hajime Saitou?"
Saitou raised an eyebrow.
"You're out to stop Shishio, hmm? And you know my name... how and why?"
"I know your name because of... historical documents. And yes, I'm going to stop that bandaged freak... or at least help Kenshin do it."
Ryder replied as she crossed her arms...
"Anything else you'd like to know?"
"You can identify me from text alone?" Saitou said, chuckling. "No, I think there's more to it than that.."
Ryder chuckled as well...
"Saitou, you wouldn't believe the truth even if I told you. I'll leave it at that... and can I leave now? I'd rather get some sleep now if you don't mind. Mana takes something out of a person..."
Saitou sniggered.
"I'd invite you to try me... but I have pressing business elsewhere.
I presume you will be heading to Kyoto, hmm? There is a major road a kilometre to the west of here. Follow it south, and you will reach your destination.
One, final question.. you never did tell me your name," he said, moving his wolflike gaze to Miroku.
Kwok shrugged.
Since Ryder said the truth about everything, I guess so can I.
"The name's Miroku," he nodded at Saitou. "Just Miroku."
"Well, until we meet again..."
Saitou strode out the door, leaving the two all alone with each other.
"So why're you here, R?" Kwok looked at Ami. "What happened to the people you were fighting? You know, Firehead and the other guys."
"Duh you moron... I came here with all intention of saving you." Ryder began...
"And I don't know about Firehead... maybe Saitou took him out."
"Aww, thanks," Kwok grinned.
"So where're we off to now? Saitou mentioned something about Kyoto."
"Kyoto... Oh freaking great..." Ryder muttered...
Sometimes... I wish I could curse in this body.
Turning away from the door, Ryder locked eyes with Kwok, and said, "Alright, we're going on a road trip. The destination is not going to be fun at all..."
"Why not?" Kwok blinked. "What's so bad about Kyoto? What's there?"
"Makoto Shishio... He's the assassin that took over for Kenshin. To make a long story short, he was betrayed by his employers... Was shot several times and burnt to death. Or so they thought. He's alive, and basically, he's immortal." Ryder stated as she plopped down against the wall...
"Canonly... Kenshin would stop him. But, something is different this time..."
Kwok blinked.
"Wow. Nice guy," he mused. "So what's different about this time?"
"I don't know..."
Ryder muttered as she facepalmed.
"It's all about that dream I had back there... It showed me Shishio killing Kenshin. And how if I didn't intervene, my dream will become reality."
Kwok blinked again.
"And what does that have to do with us?" he asked. "Kenshin has nothing to do with us."
"It has everything to do with us... Remember that villiage? Well, Shishio's not actually out to kill Kenshin. He's out to take over Japan... and well, what I saw back there is only a sample of what he'll do. I can't let that happen..."
Ryder said as she stood up and started to walk out the door...
"If you don't want to come, stay here... I'm not letting innocents die."
Ack! I sound like Amelia!
Kwok sighed.
"Alright, fine," he shook his head. "I'll come. I swear, your Senshi personality must be getting to your head or something..."
"Yeah, I know..." Ryder again muttered as she leaned against the wall.
"Listen, we've had a long night. You haven't slept since we got here... Mind taking a break in here? I know it's not the best place to take a nap, but it's all we got at the moment."
Kwok shrugged.
"Whatever you want," he looked around the room. "I'm cool with it as long as you don't mind."
"We need the rest... we have a long trip, and I'm pretty wasted after using up so much energy." Ryder replied as she slid down, until she was sitting against the wall...
Kwok blinked.
"Then why not just lie down on the floor and sleep?" he puzzled. "You rest better that way."
"Because, it's hard enough to keep this thing from flashing you while sitting down..." Ryder said with a flush.
Kwok facefaulted.
"Jeez, I'm not THAT perverted..."
"I'm not going to answer that Kwok... you know, I know, every one of the chatters that met a Tux Boy knows how perverted you really are."
Ryder said as she shoved her skirt down further so the facefaulted Kwok could not see...
"Will you please get some sleep?"
Kwok glared at Ami. "Y'know, I'd probably throw a Tux-boy on you if I could right now."
"Fine," he relented. "I'll sleep..."
Without getting up, he turned over on the ground and tried to sleep.
OOC: ...The Plank.
Well, I could say I got off lucky.
IC: For her part, Ami slept fine. Her senshi uniform automatically dissapeared, leaving her in the hakama and gi she was in before...
However, Miroku had a little more trouble sleeping. He was uncomfortably hot, and sweating more than a little. When he eventually managed to sleep, he dreamt..
..only of fire, and destruction. Thought's of the flame assailed his mind constantly throughout his sleep..
The two adventurers woke up eight hours later, just when the sun had risen to it's full height. Ami felt at fine condition, wheras Miroku felt a little sick, though capable of moving and fighting..
OOC: Does that mean we get to walk all over you? ^_^
IC: Kwok sat up, his robes clinging to his back, drenched in sweat.
"Whoa..." he whispered. "That was one hell of a weird dream."
"Ugh..." he groaned as he tried to get up. "I feel sick..."
Opening her eyes, Ryder yawned and stood up... cracking her back rather loudly in the process. Catching sight of Kwok's dilemia, she offers a hand to help him stand up...
Kwok smiled widely at Ami.
"Gee, thanks," he said, taking the proffered hand. "I have no clue why I feel like crap... I can still move well enough though."
Subtly shifting into a doctor mode of sorts without realizing it, Ryder asks, "Kwok, what's wrong?"
Kwok shook his head.
"I have no clue. Haven't done anything but sleep and dream."
Nodding, Ryder continued undauntedly, "How do you feel? Be precise, alright?"
Kwok shrugged.
"Just general feeling like crap," he answered truthfully. "Maybe a little upset stomache?"
"Alright, I guess it'll be alright... just tell me if you start feeling worse, k?" Ryder said as stretched her arms over her head to loosen them up for the walk ahead of them...
Kwok leered slightly at Ami raising her arms over her head, causing her loose shirt to cling to her body rather nicely.
"Alright," he nodded, pretending that he never saw it. "Although I'm pretty sure I'll feel better."
Ryder lowered her arms and looked at Kwok with a funny look...
"What, do I have egg on my face?"
Kwok blushed a slight shade of red.
"Nah, you don't," he said, turning away to face the door. "So what's next?"
OOC: Maybe, Kwok, but there's only one place to go once you're on the plank. ^_^
IC: Miroku suddenly doubled over, coughing violently.
"Kwok!" Ryder screamed as she bent down and tried to give support to his coughing...
Kwok planted a shaky hand on Ami's shoulder and tried to get back upright.
"I'm alright..." he whispered in the middle of his coughing.
Helping Kwok to the ground, Ryder gave Kwok a concerned look and said, "John Kwok, we are not leaving here until I know what's wrong with you..."
And as she said that, the Mercury CPU appeared in her hands...
Kwok settled into the ground and clutched a hand to his chest, unable to put up any arguments since his relentless coughing prevented speech nicely.
Miroku's coughing managed to settle down, as Ami checked on him...
..discovering Three (3) ailments to his person.
The first, and most blaring, was the Air Void constrained in Miroku's arm. About a page of data scrolled down about it, none of which was of interest.
The second was a slight case of Rabies, which reported having been passed down by a rabid dog. However, it seemed to be dormant...
...as the disease, Flamewreath seemed to have lodged itself within Miroku's system. Information on it scrolled down, some of it Ami hadn't caught before. One word screamed out:
INFECTIOUS.
More information scrolled down, revealing that Miroku had roughly a month to live, and that there was no known cure to be found for the disease, with the exception of Usagi's powers, and experimental medicine that was abandoned long before the Silver Millenium ended...
And neither of these had ever completely cured the disease before.
Ryder was speechless...
No! I'm not losing him, no chance in hell! He's the only friend I've got now...
However, Ryder did know one thing... she'd be no good to Kwok if she got infected.
"Kwok, you stay here, I'm going to look for something to help you out." she said as she rushed out of the hut...
As soon as she got out of the door, she checked to see if she had been infected...
Ami was in fine physical condition. She had no illnesses, no dormant diseases, and the only thing the Mercury Computer indicated was that she had just woken up.
That was a close one... Now, what to do, what to do! I can't let him die, but I don't know how to save him... oh Kami-sama, please help me.
Ryder prayed as she paced back and forth in front of the lodge...
Wait, the medicine! Maybe it'll work now...
Ryder then put a search quarry for all knowledge of the Flamewreath medicine into the Mercury Computer.
The specific details of what was required for Flamewreath were not listed. The medicine was still in the experimental stage, and relied on useing several chemicals that were heavily affected by UV radiation, the amount of which could only be obtained on Mercury, close as it was to the sun.
It DID state that several methods could be used to lessen the degree of the illness and increase the victims lifespan. Methods involved keeping the victim as warm as possible at all times, remaining as active as possible and burning up much energy, and eating less than usual. However, one had to strike a balance between the two in order to keep the patient at maximum fitness.
As a last check before going to help Kwok, Ryder looked for ways to contract the disease, so she doesn't catch it herself...
The disease was fairly rare; it seemed highly unlikely that Ryder would contract it simply by touching the wrong plant or something.
However, the disease was known to spread from being to being through blood, saliva, and was also sexually transmitted, according to the file. It claimed that being near a Flamewreathed individual wouldn't transmit the disease unless the individual managed to bite them or something.
This particular page also showed the origin of the disease: Mars, and an ancient magical design laboratory...
Quite some time ago.
Hold it... the Martians created this stuff?
While she was overcome with some curiosity, Ryder realized that Kwok was probably getting worried. So, she sub-space pocketed the Mercury Computer and walked back into the cabin with a small frown on her face...
"What's with the frown, Ryder?" Kwok asked. "Can't cure it?"
I can't tell him... It's not right for me to tell him that he's going to die...
Ryder looked down a little, then put on an obviously fake smile and said, "It's only going to last a few days... you've got the flu after all!"
Kwok inwardly shrugged. If Ryder had to fake a smile like that, it had to be something bad, so he'll eventually know about it.
"Cool," he answered, his face expressionless. "Since it's just the flu and I'm alright, let's get a move on."
Ryder hesitantly nodded, but then remembered that she needed to keep Kwok active, and warm at the same time...
"You up for a jog? It's a lovely day..."
Kwok shrugged nonchalantly.
"Alright," he then nodded. "You probably know what I need to do to stay healthy, so I'll listen."
Nodding her head, Ryder opened the door and stepped outside...
As then stopped and started to stretch a little... Or, if you must know, she did a perfect split.
Wow... this is flexible...
Kwok smirked as he began shadow-boxing and adding kicks into the barrage of punches.
"You know, doing splits in THAT can give people quite an eyeful."
"Well... how would you know Kwok? After all, to know that, you'd have to be looking. And if you're looking, then I have to ask... Why are you looking at a guy like that?"
Ryder asked as she fell on her back and kicked up to her feet...
"Nah," Kwok replied, grinning. "I just said that to get a reaction out of you. I probably can't even see a thing since you're wearing hakama pants."
"Besides, I don't see any guys around here right now besides me," he smirked.
Ryder sighed, "Kwok, will you please stop joking about this... I'm trying really hard to at least accept the fact that I'm not myself, and I'd rather not have it rubbed in my face."
Then, taking a few steps to the west, with the help of the Mercury CPU, she added, "Let's hit it!"
"Aww..." Kwok followed behind, grinning widely. "But it's so fun, Ami-chan!"
"So, you want to have fun Kwok... fine..." Ryder said as she turned around with a grin...
She then slapped Kwok... not hard, but more like a wake-up slap... "TAG!" she shouted as she started to run west towards the path.
Kwok blinked and paused, as if unsure about what just happened.
"Alright," he began to smile slowly as he started to run after Ami. "Tag it is..."
Laughing as she ran, Ryder shouted out, "You'll have to do better than that Kwoky! Or is that big body of yours slowing you down!"
She has a nice laugh...
Kwok almost slapped himself outright.
"She" is a guy, dammit! Stop thinking like that!
Shaking his head, he tossed the entire train of thought out of his mind and broke into a sprint to try and catch up to Ryder.
Continuing to run, Ryder dropped her happy face for a second and sighed...
Just let go she says... How am I supposed to do that. I'm a guy... not this girl she's telling me to be. Is it really worth doing this to defeat Shishio?
While in thought, Ryder returns to her happy look...
The duo, after tiring of chasing each other like small children, eventually started properly travelling to the west.
However, they quickly developed several problems.
They were hungry and thirsty.
Being hungry and thirsty made them tired.
The sun was beating down on them; it was late spring in Japan, and there were many beautiful sakura blossoms and great trees to be seen as they walked.
This didn't change the hunger issue.
Eventually, however, they managed to reach a small, walled town, which, unlike the previous town, was intact.
Two slack-looking guards stood outside the front, holding staves. They were waiting for Ami and Miroku to approach..
Ryder had dropped the "Tag" game a while ago, in the interest of conserving energy...
However, at the sight of the village, her face brightened, in almost a Lina Inverse way. "FOOD!" She shouted as she started to run... but weakly collapsed after a few meters.
"Guess it only works on Lina..." she muttered...
"You're so clumsy, Ryder," Kwok said as he held out an arm and offered to help her up. "Are you sure Usagi's clumsiness isn't rubbing off on you?"
Ryder took Kwok's hand and slowly got to her feet...
"More like the Lina syndrome... I'm hungry, y'know?" she said with some embarassment in her face.
Kwok chuckled a bit at the response.
"Well, let's go get something to eat then," he said as he walked towards the guards...
... while still holding Ami's hand.
Ryder exasperately looked at Kwok and dryly said, "Oy Kwok... you're holding my hand... I don't want anyone to get THAT impression."
Kwok quickly looked down as he heard Ryder's words.
"ACK!" Kwok eeped and quickly let go of Ami's hand, blushing a rather deep shade of red. "Imsorryimsorryidid'tmeanto!"
Keeping on her exasperated look, Ryder replied to Miroku, "Listen Kwok... I'm not going to hit you for everything you do, so don't worry about it. I'm not that violent..."
This is starting to get to me. But, I have to let go she says... and that means not pounding Kwok everytime he does something perverted.
"Come on, I think the guards want to talk to us..." Ryder quickly changed subjects...
Kwok breathed out an audible sigh of relief.
"Thanks..." he said, his face still red.
"Still, sorry and all..." he said as he approached the two guards.
The guards sounded kind of bored, as one asked, "Where'ya come from?" They seemed a little surprised that two such young people were travelling together.
"We're not from around here," Kwok admitted. "We're travellers."
"My companion and I are somewhat thirsty and hungry from travelling, so we're looking for a place to eat and drink, and here probably has really good of both since it looks like a nice town."
Compliments never hurt...
"So can we go in?"
The guard shrugged. "Suityaself, though some of the less disciplined rabble in the area may take a liking to your companion."
The other guard gave a hearty laugh, and leered down at Ami. "They have good reason, too!"
The other guard stared at the first guard, then looked back at Miroku. "Best you conduct your business and depart. This town isn't use to strangers. Go on in."
Kwok felt an unfamiliar anger swelling upon him as he heard the first guard's words. Aware of their current situation, he suppressed it with barely a twitch of his smiling face.
"Thanks," he said. "We appreciate it."
"C'mon," he waved at Ryder. "Let's go in and get some food."
Dammit, what's wrong with me? I feel angry all of a sudden... but I have no clue why...
Nodding heavily, Ryder replied, "Yes, food would be nice."
After thinking for a second, Ryder's face went ghostly white and she added, "Oh crap..."
"What?" Kwok asked, concern heavy in his voice. "What's wrong?"
Turning towards Kwok with a blank, dead look on her face, Ryder replied, "We... don't have any money..."
Kwok chose that moment to make use of his facefault in Miroku's body.
"We'll think of something," he sweatdropped, picking himself up off the ground. "Let's just go in and see first."
As Ami and Miroku entered the villiage, they noticed several things.
Firstly, the place clearly hadn't been hit by the technological advancements that had occured elsewhere in Japan. Small, old-style houses abounded, and the people seemed relatively simple, wearing old-fashioned clothing and maintaining a small farming community.
There WAS a more modern building in the middle of the town, which appeared to be some kind of mayor or leader's house.
Across to one side of the villiage were several fields of the ever-present rice, and a couple of granaries.
The other side of the villiage contained a large building, from which racous sounds could be heard.
Miroku and Ami caught a few stares from some members of the community, but were otherwise left alone..
"Weird..." Kwok said, looking around the town. "It's like this place is stuck in time or something. Everything's older than usual."
"Anyway," he looked to Ami. "Where do you wanna go?"
Ryder turned to Kwok with a "you're kidding" look and replied, "I would like some food... but, how are we going to pay for it?"
OOC: 300! w00t! Didn't realize this earlier...
Kwok sweatdropped.
"Well, that's kinda the problem," he scratched the back of his head. "Are we gonna have to beg or something?"
Looking down, Ryder replied, "I don't think we really have a choice... It's either beg, or starve... And we can't let that happen."
Kwok frowned.
"Well ain't that just grand," he said sourly. "I'd rather just grab some food then run the hell away..."
Narrowing her eyes slightly, Ryder reminded, "I can't do that, and you know it..."
Suddenly noticing her surroundings, she asked, "Uh... why's everyone looking at me?"
"Right," Kwok rolled his eyes. "The perks of being a Senshi, huh?"
He looked around at the staring people.
"I have no clue," he confessed. "It's not like you're wearing your Senshi uniform, which WOULD warrant some staring. As it is, I see no reason for them to be staring other than the fact that you're cute."
His eyes widened as he realized what he said, two seconds after he said it.
"Umm... that is... speaking purely from an observational point of view... of course..."
Ignoring her first thought to choke Kwok till he turned blue, Ryder instead said, "Yeah... maybe our clothes. We do look pretty worn out after all..."
Kwok looked down at himself.
"Yeah, I guess so," he shrugged. "Ah well. Nothing we can do about it now. We've got no money, no clothes, no food. At least it can't get any worse."
Ryder turned and whapped Kwok on the back of the head...
"NEVER SAY THAT IT CAN'T GET ANY WORSE!!!" she shouted, a little too audibly.
As if on cue, something happened.
However, it didn't directly affect Miroku or Ami, who were now being stared at from all directions. Muttered whisperings were heard, including things like
"Bloody Kyoto-dwellers..."
"Itai..." Kwok rubbed the back of his head. "You didn't have to hit me that hard, you know..."
He raised an eyebrow at the muttered whisperings.
"Kyoto-dwellers? What do you make of that?"
"In all honestly, they think we're city slickers..." Ryder muttered as she stretched out her foot a little.
And, quite embarrassingly, her stomach growled... quite loudly. It was at this time she remembered her first mission...
"Need food..." she grumbled as she looked in her viscinity for someplace to eat.
Along with racous noise and sounds of violence, the large building to one side also had a delicious smell of meat wafting out of it..
Kwok chuckled a bit at Ryder's predicament.
"That smells like food," he said, turning towards the source of the scent. "Let's go check it out."
Ryder looked a little nervously at the bar...
"I'm not sure... It smells wonderful, but damnit, I'm no Lina. I can't blow up rowdy people that interrupt my meal."
She then started to look for another resturant in the area. If she couldn't find another, she'll take her chances with the first...
Kwok shrugged.
"Whatever you want," he answered. "I'm cool with it as long as you're happy about it. I ain't picky."
The only other place that Ami discerned food may lie were the private houses of the town, and the granary nearby the rice fields.
Ryder sighed and turned to Kwok. "I guess we'll deal with the bar..." she said.
Kwok chuckled a bit at the response.
"Well, if you had decided earlier, we could've been eating," he smirked. "You'd get your stomach pit filled just that much earlier."
"Anyway, let's go in," he said with a wave of his hand, then started walking into the bar.
The bar was loud and messy, and seemed much bigger on the inside than it did the out.
The actual bar proper, i.e, the counter, was somewhere near the back. From what Ami and Miroku could discern, it was raggedly built, and didn't look like it could hold a piece of paper, let alone the many jugs of sake that rested upon it.
Tables were arranged in haphazard formations around the building, most of which were occupied by grizzled farmers and other less-than-brilliant looking people, all of which looked as if they could skin a lion by looking at it the wrong way.
The food on the tables looked delicious, though, and Ami and Miroku could smell something very, very nice indeed...
Kwok mentally winced at the unruly people in the bar, and the sorry state the bar itself is in.
"Well, there's some food for you at least..." he muttered to Ami.
He could almost feel his body tensing up. It looked like they might have a lot of trouble on their hands if a fight starts up with this bar.
A somewhat attractive waitress walked by the two teenagers, stopping to say, "Take a seat anywhere and I'll be with you in a minute."
Ami was getting a few strange looks from some of the men around the bar, too...
Kwok found himself glaring at the men that were looking at Ami strangely. Whatever their intentions were, they probably weren't good, judging from the looks of them.
Before he could glare long enough for the men to take notice, he grabbed Ami and proceeded to half-drag her to a table that was, hopefully, out out view of most of the men.
"C'mon," he said. "Let's go get a seat and get some food."
Ryder quickly sat down and looked at Kwok...
"Listen, you don't have to defend me so much. Yes, these people make me nervous... But, I can still handle things." she says... and then adds, "Thanks..."
Kwok paused to think at hearing Ryder's words. Just WHY was he defending her so much?
For the life of him, he couldn't think of a reason why he'd do it, but he just got so angry when other men looked at Ami in a... less than polite way.
Deciding not to dwell on the matter anymore, he waved it off.
"No problem," he answered.
His eyes began to follow the attractive waitress as she made her way around the bar, partly so that he wouldn't have to think about the previous topic, and partly because it was just plain easy on the eyes.
The waitress eventually caught Miroku staring at her, and responded with...
...a saucy wink, as she made her way towards his table.
"What can I get you, handome?" she said, a little seductively.
Kwok blushed slightly at the waitress' somewhat forward behaviour.
"Umm... food is good..." he sweatdropped. "I just don't know what this place has to offer."
The waitress laughed. "Sake, water, sushi, onigiri, maybe some stew, or rice with meat... we don't exactly have a standard menu. You know how it is, working in this kind of bar.."
She was completely ignoring Ami, in both her speech and body langauge, which was directed at Kwok, and insinuating certain... actions.
Kwok pretended to massage his temples in annoyance.
"Ugh..." he groaned. "So many choices..."
"You know what?" he said with a wink. "Why don't you pick for us? I'm sure whatever someone like you can think up would be delightful."
"He'll have some sushi... He's got a cold, and can't eat too much." Ryder cut in, as she stopped looking down the girl's bra. Hey, he's still internally a guy after all...
"Hai, hai... and what would you like, ma'am?"
The serving-girls deameanour changed abruptly when addressing Ami to something less-than-happy..
"I guess I'll have the rice with meat..." Ryder replied, noticing the sharp change in demeanor. but refusing to think about it... After all, Kwok hasn't changed that much, right?
The waitress nodded. "Sake for the both of you, I presume?"
Well... I guess it wouldn't hurt...
Ryder nodded to the waitress after a brief moment of thought and replied, "Yes, but not too much."
The waitress nodded. "That'll be 10 minutes."
Throwing a final saucy look to Miroku, she walked off back to the bar, chest heaving.
Ryder leered at the waitress for a second... but merely a second as she looked towards Kwok. "So..."
OOC: Sorry, won't be around until Sunday at the earliest
OOC: 'kay ^_^
IC: Kwok blinked.
"Yeah?" he asked. "What's up?"
"OK... you realize we can't stay here, right? Remember, no money... so, after we've repaid this food, we have to leave. Otherwise, we're going to be burdened with alot of stuff I don't want to deal with... Remember, Kyoto..." Ryder said as she looked towards the waitress again.
Kwok smirked.
"And how do you suppose we can 'repay' this food?" he looked at Ami. "You gonna sell your body or something?"
*SLAP*
"Bakayarou! Of course not... You could always sell yours out... That waitress seems to like you." she said angrily at first, but then with a hint of amusement.
"Itai..." Kwok rubbed his cheeks gingerly. "I was just kidding, you know... I wouldn't let you do that even if you want to..."
"She likes me?" he blinked. "I thought that's just the way she is. I was just gonna lay it on thick and ask her to pay for us..."
"Heh, that might work... But then again, she could always take that the wrong way..." Ryder reminded as looked around the bar.
"But, we should probably think of something quickly... I don't like this place too much."
Kwok shrugged helplessly.
"I don't think there's anything we can do," he admitted.
"We have no money and no weapons besides your magic. We COULD cause a commotion and run away in the meantime, but I'm not sure that we can make it out, given our current place."
"Or the fact that I'd rather not stain my reputation... I might not actually be Ami, but part of me still wants to keep her record clean so to speak..." Ryder replies.
Kwok looked at Ryder and gave an "I told you so" gesture with his hand.
"See? There's nothing we can do," he smiled, as if their current situation did not bother him all that much. "So let's just sit tight, enjoy the food and the cute waitress."
The waitress chose this moment to return, hands laden with sake and food..
Setting down a plate of sushi before Miroku, a bowl of rice and meat in front of Ami, and a jug of Sake in the middle of the table, she said, "Anything else, just call," threw another wink Miroku's way, and then left to deal with other customers..
Kwok almost completely missed the wink, only catching out of the corner of his eyes, as most of his attention was on the food on the table.
"Well, last chance to turn back," he looked up from the food and at Ryder. "Once we eat, we're stuck and have to find some way to get out of this place without any money."
"We have to eat... We'll figure something out, I know it..." Ryder said as she started to eat the meat.
Kwok shrugged.
"Alright," he said between bites of his sushi. "I don't know how the hell we're gonna get out of here, but I'll worry about that later."
OOC: General rule, people: If you're in a conversation which stretches out for more than a couple of real time days without posting, I'm gonna intervene. Keep the momentum going and all that.
IC: Eventually (and with a minimum of coughing on Miroku's part), the two finished their meal, and the bouncy waitress appeared before them again.
"That'll be 95 Ryu, you two. Pay at the counter."
She smiled.
"Don't try and leave without paying. We've had people do that before... and it got messy, so to speak."
"Of course we won't," Kwok smiled at the waitress.
He stood up and started rummaging through his robes, knowing full well that he'd come up with nothing. Nevertheless, he acted panicky and frantic as he patted himself everywhere and continually coming up empty handed.
Good thing I'm a fairly good actor in the real world... let's hope this works.
He cursed under his breath, trying to will his face to be as pale as possible.
"Oh man, I must've dropped the money somewhere," he muttered just loud enough for the waitress to hear. "I could've sworn I brought it this morning... shit. What the hell am I gonna do?"
The girl tut-tutted. "Well, you're in trouble then, aren't you?" She gave a little laugh.
Kwok concentrated on a particular spot on the floor right above his feet, twiddling his index fingers as he attempted a blush.
"I guess I am..." he said sheepishly. "So what's in store for us? What's gonna happen?"
"Well.. a little too much, perhaps?"
The waitress giggled. It was always fun when someone didn't pay..
Kwok sighed. Maybe they WEREN'T going to get away with it...
"Alright," he said with a softer sigh. "I guess I deserve it for being careless and dropping my own money."
"Just..." he continued, sparing a quick but obvious look at Ami. "Leave her out of it. This is my fault, not hers."
"Convince someone who cares," replied the waitress, still smiling cutely.
Giggling, she ran off into the tavern kitchen..
"Well, that went somewhat worse than I hoped it would," Kwok smiled at Ami as he sat back down. "I've tried almost everything I know, so let's just wait and see if I get my ass kicked or not..."
OOC: Gomen minna for forgetting to tell you all... I knew I missed someone. Due to my vacation in Florida, it's going to be HARD to get OL to post... I'll post when I can, and I'll be back around the 29th Full Time... K?
IC: "Don't worry... hopefully it won't be too bad, like maybe doing dishes or something." Ryder reminded...
Yeah right... that girl looks WAY too happy for it to be dishwashing...
OOC: No problem. Enjoy the vacation ^_^
IC: Kwok rolled his eyes at Ryder.
"Right," he said disbelievingly. "And how many people do you know that giggle when they go off to do the dishes?"
"It shouldn't be too bad though," he continued. "She seems like a really nice person."
Even as Miroku spoke his last words, there was a cry of rage from within the kitchen, followed by very fast-paced words, filled with rather... threatening implications.
There was a sudden slam from behind, and somebody had shoved a table in front of the tavern door.
Quite a few people's faces turned pale, but even more looked up, seemingly brightened by the forthcoming prospect..
Two men walked out from where the waitress had entered. Both were very large. Both had cruel looks on their faces. One was tapping a cane on his shoulder; the other had fists that looked like granite boulders.
The both looked towards Miroku and Ami, and their faces crackled into identicle, evil grins.
They started moving towards the two, and the entire tavern hushed in anticipation..
Kwok stood up, his hands raised in the air as a gesture of peace... or surrender.
"Look, I don't want any trouble," he looked at the two men. "If you'd let us go off, I'm pretty sure we can find the money and pay you back."
The man with the cane's grin widened, showing several missing teeth.
He grabbed at the cane and pulled a long, slender sword from it-
-just as the other man unleashed a mighty fist, which flew hard and true towards Miroku's face!
Kwok silently muttered a curse as his peace offering was ignored.
Stepping out from the attack's path, he grabbed the attacking man's wrist, then pivoted back on his lead foot to try to bring the man down to the floor with an Aikido technique.
The thug, obviously a veteran of several barfights before him, managed to compensate for Miroku's defensive maneouver and stay on his feet, retaining most of his balance. He was, however, caught standing right next to Miroku, facing away from him..
The other thug, with the cane, made a move for Ami..
Someone threw a mug at someone else, and the rest of the bar was soon fighting, too...
"HEY!" Kwok screamed as he saw the thug with the cane making a move for Ami. "GET THE HELL AWAY FROM HER!"
He looked at the table between him and the thug, then pushed the table towards him as hard as he could, hoping that the thug would either get slammed away or change targets because he was attacked.
As Miroku pushed the table forward, the other thug managed to recover enough to slam him to the side, away from the table, Ami, and the other thug.
No thanks to his illness, Miroku felt less-than brilliant. He noticed the thug coming at him again from the corner of his eye..
Shit... I feel dizzy... it's gonna be hard to fight... waitaminute...
He hopped backwards to put in and keep distance between him and the thug, and looks around nearby him for weapons or tools he could use, while keeping the guard up for quick reaction or retaliation.
Meanwhile...
Shitshitshitshit!!!
Ryder noticed Miroku backing away from Thug #1, but, unfortunately for Kwok... She had other things to worry about.
"Will you just get away!!!" Ami screamed as she slammed her foot into the knee of Thug #2.
The thug didn't reply. Ami's foot managed to connect to his knee, though, and he buckled, slighty.
He swung his cane, wildly, and managed to impact the side of Ami's head, sending her sprawling..
Ryder, seemingly in slow motion, crashed to the floor under one of the few remaining tables...
The world around her grew dark, and with a blur, she closed her eyes.
"I'm falling again... whee..."
Ryder fell, shooting into the deep darkness of his own mind... On either side, the images of friends and family from both lives appeared. But, wait... Something's not right. As Ryder fell into the darkness, a stream of water brought him back to the light...
"Wha..." she dizzily said as her eyes laid onto the broken pitcher of water that was the cause of her reawakening. But, the small impact from the glass shards in her ear was nothing to the sight of Kwok cornered by the two thugs.
"Gotta... help... him..." she mutters as she crawls out from under the table.
Miroku's thug came forward with a straight punch, thinking to take advantage of his opponents dizzyness.
Ami's thug hadn't moved on Kwok, and was looking down at her body. He raised his cane, and went to hit Ami on the head with it..
Relying on reflexes alone, Ryder rolled backwards out of the way of the cane strike. She then used the momentum to weakly stand up...
Kwok managed to recover well enough to react to the attack.
Tilting his head to the right to avoid the punch, he simultaneously lashed out with a left cross at the side of the thug's face, then followed up with a right uppercut to the midsection in a modified one-two combo.
Miroku did manage to dodge the first punch, and his first retalitory strike managed to connect.
His second attack never struck... because other tavern brawlers had decided to start throwing things, and a sake jug impacted to the side of the thugs head, sending him stumbling.
Seeing his companion in trouble, the other thug ignored Ami, making for Miroku instead..
Kwok thought for a short second about whether he should go to the stumbling thug first or deal with the other one.
Deciding to try and take down the first thug so he wouldn't get double-teamed when the thug recovers, he darted towards the stumbling thug, then dropped and slid along the ground towards the thug's legs just before he got within attack range in order to attempt a leg scissors.
Miroku manages to slide toward the thug, lose his balance, and sprawl into his legs with all the grace of a brick.
The thug toppled and fell... on Miroku.
Kwok walked up to the game stall.
"Such wonderful skills you have against a little girl, it's amazing, really," he smirked. "Wanna tell the poor girl where the token really is?"
The man gives a start, before turing a gaze to Miroku.
"What're you implying, houshi?" he comments, in a degrading tone.
"I'm not implying anything," Kwok glared at the man. "I'm just saying you should tell the contestant just where you put the coin."
"I mean, since it's not in that one, it's gotta be in one of the other two, right? Or is it?"
With a flourish, the man revealed the coin was hiding underneath.. the leftmost cup, as opposed the middle cup which the child picked.
"As you wish, sir. As you can see, the coin is right here."
"Kwok, you idiot... Not everyone that runs these types of game is a scam artist you know." Ryder said with a bit of indignation...
"Yeah, you're right," Miroku smiled at Ami. "Let's go."
Wrapping an arm around her shoulder, he turned began to walk away slowly, half-dragging her along.
"I KNOW the man's cheating," he leaned over and whispered in her ear. "I saw it. He took the token out of the cup. It was in the middle cup, the girl should've won. He just put it back in when I told him to reveal the answer."
"Got any ideas to expose him? Normally I might not bother, but using tricks against a little girl like that ain't right."
Ryder gently pushed Kwok's arm off her shoulder and said, "So, he's a fruad, right? The easiest way to stop him is to catch him in the act."
"I know that," Kwok countered. "But that means he's gonna get away with it this time and the girl goes away unhappy."
"Grr..." Kwok growled. "I'm gonna get him one of these day, I swear..."
"But in the meantime," he sighed. "I guess you're right, there's nothing we can do. I just feel sorry for the poor girl, 's all..."
"Like I said, it's not like I don't care about the girl. But, we can't do anything about it. Justice will have it's day, trust me..." Ryder said.
Where did that come from?!?
Kwok snickered at Ami's reply.
"Right, and the senshi of love and justice would know best, right?" he smirked.
"I don't know, it just felt right to say that. Being a Senshi for what has to be a week can do that afterall..." Ryder said
Kwok reached over and patted Ami on the head.
"Aww... is our blue-haired senshi whining?"
"Shut Up Kwok..." Ryder said. "Remember, I still do not like the fact that I'm stuck as a girl for who knows how long."
"Don't worry," Kwok grinned. "I'm sure you'll find a nice husband to settle down with."
"You know," he winked. "Have a few kids and all."
For the first time in what seemed like a long time, Ryder smacked Kwok in the back of the head. HARD.
"Don't Ever Say That Again!" she spat out, with the backing of female rage.
"OW!" Kwok rubbed the back of his head.
"That hurt, you know!"
Ryder glared and said, "It was supposed to Kwoky... After all, I can't let you get away with saying something like that, can I?"
Ryder then rubbed the back of his head, feeling the lump forming. "Though, I probably overdid it a bit."
Kwok shrugged.
"I can take a little pain. It was just that it's too good to pass up."
"Why do you do that? Are you trying to make me hate you?" Ryder said as she moved her hand away.
Kwok sighed.
"I'd never TRY to make you hate me," he shook his head. "And I think you know that."
"I know that... So, why do you keep bringing it up? It's a sore spot as it is..." Ryder said with a sigh of her own.
"Alright, I'm sorry," Kwok sighed again. "I'll try not to do that again, okay? I don't really know why, I just get so tempted to do it sometimes..."
"Alright, that'll work Kwok..." Ryder said, starting to smile despite it all.
"We really need to lighten up... After all, we're at a party. Wait, nevermind. I've never had good luck at parties..."
Kwok chuckled.
"Heh heh heh... in parties I'm either standing alone in a corner or getting drunk of my ass."
"Heh, sounds alot like my experiences. My date once abandoned me for an hour so she could grind with an aquatiance of mine." Ryder muttered...
"I really should have kept my Homecoming ban..."
Kwok snickered.
"I've never had such an experience, since I'm not big on dates."
Eyes sparkling, he jumped in front of Ami, grinning mischieviously.
"Wanna be my date this time?"
Ryder winked suggestively...
That was, before she smacked him. Not as hard as usual, but still pretty hard.
"What did I just say Kwok? I'm not interested in any guys like that."
"C'mon," Kwok kept grinning even though he was smacked. "Look at what body you're in. I don't think lesbianisim is widely accepted right now."
"Then two things will happen, though I'd prefer them both to. I'll A: Make it back to my own time, where I can hook up with Makoto, and/or B: I'll turn back male." Ryder said, staring right at Kwok.
Disappointment flashed through Miroku's eyes for a split second, and quickly disappeared again.
"Do you really expect that to happen anytime soon?" he asked seriously.
"No, I don't Kwok... But, I'm gonna keep dreaming. Because the reality of it all depresses the heck out of me."
Realizing she said something wrong, Ryder added, "I don't mean you... In general, the future is depressing."
"Cheer up, Ryder," Kwok consoled. "Things aren't all bad. They could be a lot worse."
"Oh really Kwok... how could it be worse? I'm a schoolgirl stuck not only in a different dimention, but a different time period as well. My traveling partner keeps reminding me of the fact that I'm stuck as a girl for the time being, and I'm staring Destiny right in the face, and she just flicked me off. So, how could it be worse?" Ryder scathed at Kwok...
"You could be alone," Kwok replied simply.
That stopped Ryder's rant COLD...
"You're right Kwok... I could be alone. But then, if I hadn't of met you, I wouldn't be here. I'd still be in Juuban, fighting off monsters of the week, and ending up having to sprout silly speeches."
After a few seconds, Ryder sighed and said, "Point goes to Kwok..."
"So cheer up," Kwok smiled.
"At least we still have each other."
"I guess that's the best I'm gonna get for the time being." Ryder muttered.
"That's good enough for me," Kwok smiled.
He blushed a deep shade of red as he realized how wrong that and what he said just before could've sounded.
"Umm... I didn't mean it THAT way, of course..."
Ryder sighed...
"Kwok, I'm not in the mood to fill your masochistic tendancies. I'll hit you later, alright?"
Kwok's blush turned into a glare at the drop of a hat.
"I'm not a masochist..."
"I'm not in the mood to argue either... We'll do that later too." Ryder replied.
Then why are you constantly teasing me to the violent edge?
Kwok shook his head.
"Nevermind... you're not in the mood for ANYTHING, are you?"
"Well, there is a festival around us... maybe we should, you know, lighten up a little. Might do us some good with all the crap that's been going on." Ryder said...
"Well, you know me," Kwok replied with a slight smirk. "I'm always 'lightened up'. It's YOU that needs cheering up."
"Heh, maybe I am just a little dreary sometimes. Not that I don't have reason to be, y'know." Ryder said, with a bit of a grin on her face.
"Of course you don't have a reason to be!" Kwok grinned, puffing out his chest. "After all, you have ME as your companion!"
"Helllo! Don't you remember? I'm a guy stuck in a girl's body... That's enough reason to be a little dreary." Ryder replies...
"But hey, at least you have cool powers," Kwok replied. "You can kick ass!"
"Powers that require me to don a short skirt that any perv can see up with little effort." Ryder shot back, her grin fading.
"Fear not, fair maiden!" Kwok posed dramatically.
"I, Miroku, the houshi of love and justice, shall deliver the holy and righteous smackdown to any base pervert that tries to look up the skirt of the fair senshi of water!"
Ryder giggled a little, and said, "Except you of course, right?"
Kwok gave Ryder a flat look.
"C'mon, why would I go so low as to looking up your skirt?"
"Hello... Am I talking to the same guy here? After all, the Kwok I know is a perv." Ryder said, with a sly grin on her face.
Kwok glared at Ryder.
"I'd hit you if you weren't a girl."
Ryder frowned suddenly and said, "That was low Kwok... real low. Couldn't you tell I was kidding... for once?"
Kwok grinned widely.
"It's all fair play," he replied.
"Jerk..." Ryder muttered... However, the grin on her face gave away the fact that she wasn't angry for once.
Kwok nodded.
"Well, only occasionally," he smirked. "I'm nice sometimes."
"Yeah... alot like me actually. I can be a total jer if pushed the wrong way. Or, I can be a pushover. Depends on my mood I guess..." Ryder replied with a bit of a smile on her face.
Kwok smirked.
"So what are you now?"
OOC: Bookkeeping post: I'll reply when Kwok bugs me next, so be sure you're done chatting. ^^
"Right now? Somewhere in the middle..." Ryder responded half-heartedly...
Pushover... I miss them...
"You don't sound very convinced of either," Kwok remarked. "How come?"
"I'm sorta... blah right now. I'm not being a pushover, you know that. But, I'm trying not to be a complete jerk. It's sorta in the middle..." Ryder explained again.
Kwok nodded.
"I think I know pretty well that you're not a pushover..." he smirked. "God knows I've been smacked by you enough times."
"Anyway, we gotta find a job and something to eat..."
"Yeah, we do need to find work..." Ryder said as she looked around for a place that might be hiring.
Rather half-assedly actually, since she was thinking more about her past than her future at the moment.
Oh Kami... I miss them. Neko-chan, Umi-kun, Setsu-chan... They'd love to be in my shoes, I know it.
The streets were very busy; everyone who wasn't partying looked tired and hurried. There were several dozen food stalls, quite a few restraunts, and a few trinket sellers here and there. None had anything so convieniant as a 'Help Wanted' sign.
Kwok tried to peep inside the restaurants, as restaurants hire much more often, and tried to find one that's "better".
"Hmm..." he pondered aloud. "I wonder who'd be hiring..."
Most of the restraunts seemed fairly standard fair, boasting fairly large menus, and a cliente of several different nationalities. None stood out in particular..
"What do you think?" Kwok asked, looking at Ami. "Which one do you think might hire us-err... me?"
"Hmm? They all seem the same to me Kwok..." Ryder said. "Why don't we go in one and find out..."
"Alright," Kwok shrugged. "Hmm..."
He walked into the restaurant closest to them.
The two teenagers entered a restraunt..
..and Miroku was coughing a bit, and he felt like he was burning up.
The restraunt itself had an undiscernable number of people kneeling and eating from it, along with a counter, from which waitresses continually rushed back and forth carrying food to their customers..
Kwok coughed as he put his hand on Ami's shoulder, twitching.
"You go ask, I'll... stick around here..." he said coarsely.
Kwok's coughing spasm froze Ryder to the bone, to the point where she almost didn't hear Kwok's request.
Oh crap... I forgot about the Flamewreath!
Nodding hesitantly, she sat Kwok down and walked over to the counter...
Alright... I'll do this one little thing for Kwok, and then, I've got to get back to saving him.
"Hello?"
"What can I get for you, sugar?" a woman behind the counter said.
"As long as it's okonomiyaki, we have it! Ryoko Kunoji at your service.."
<->
Meanwhile.. it was all Kwok could do to stand. He was almost having a seizure..
Kwok shook his head to try and clear up the dizziness, then slowly made his way to the counter where Ami was.
"Well... Miss Kunoji, I actually was inquiring about employment. We've been on the road for a long time, and are, well... lacking funds if you will." Ryder replied with a smile...
The woman seems a little taken aback.
"Well.. can you cook? We're kinda rushed right now.."
Ryder looked a little nervous, but still replied, "I can cook, but as nearly good as you, according to your reputation."
The woman stopped for a moment, then shrugged.
"Didn't know I had a reputation, but hey, good things happen all the time, hmm? Come on behind the counter. You'll need to put on different clothes, but I'll see what you can do."
Ryder nods and walks behind the counter...
Well, this'll make Kwok happy... I'm not a waitress, but I still have a job...
Behind the counter, Ryoko gestured into the back room.
"Miaka! Find this girl a uniform and then get her working! And make it snappy!"
A short, pretty girl with long auburn hair practically ran towards Ami, dragging her to a back room..
"Come on, this'll only take a sec..."
Ami got one, fleeting glance of Miroku doubling over, coughing, as she was dragged into a dressing room..
<->
Miroku felt a flaring pain in his chest, and blood started to rise in his throat. He couldn't help doubling over and starting to vomit blood..
Kwok felt horrible. His chest was tight and hurting like hell, and the taste of blood filled his mouth. Before he knew it, he was vomiting blood.
I can't do that here... it'll be bad for the store... and Ami's job...
He did his best to stop vomiting blood and tried to drag himself out of the restaurant.
Ryder, as she spared the glance, attempted to try and make her way back...
"I didn't realize he was so sick..."
Miroku manged to drag himself out the store, where he was coughing and heaving..
<->
Ami managed to pull away and see a glimpse of Miroku staggering out the door before being grabbed by the shoulder..
"He's probably just got a cold. There's been one around for a while. Geez, it's not that bad," she hears from the girl behind her..
Kwok managed to pull himself back together and stop the coughing. Well, mostly anyway. He was still coughing, but not "on the brink of death" coughing like he was doing before.
He sighed and turned to look back into the restaurant, still coughing somewhat.
I should go in and check up on her... but I shouldn't walk into a restaurant in my state. It'd bad for their business, and bad for her new job.
Instead, he waited and floated outside the restaurant, waiting and hoping to stop coughing completely.