Chapter Nine- A New Chapter Begins!

     It has been a week since my last encounter with Megumi. I kept on wondering why I was about to give her another chance. Was I really that desperate to have my old friend back, or was there another reason? Suddenly, I picked up the scent of that elf girl- Yukina! As usual, I tried to track her down. I found her with that neko- what was her name? AAH! Who cares!?! Anyway, I was just watching them from a distance. I know what you’re thinking, but NO this is NOT considered stalking, so lay off!

     Well, they were trying to get something out of a tree; some kind of weird bag. I believe I heard Yukina call it a backpack? How the hell should I know!?! How would I get any of this!?! I mean, they dress weird, talk weird, and act weird! Well, Yukina was sending the neko up the tree to attempt retrieving it, but she fell, and landed on her and the Larjias. Since I didn’t really want to be seen, I tried my best NOT to laugh. I had to smash my head into the tree to refrain.

     When I pulled myself together, well… let’s just say I wasn’t as pulled together as I would have hoped, so I fell out of the tree, and landed on Yukina, and her friend. Oh, boy here comes the questioning.

     First, Akari (I finally remembered her name) just got up and said, “ Mew?” Don’t ask what kind of question that is, because I wouldn’t even know. Next, Yukina said, “ Huh? Uhh… Who are you?” Finally! A question that made sense! I didn’t reply. Then Akari said, “ Yukina! He has the same scent as the one that I picked up when we were rescued! He must be the one who saved us!”

     HE!?! Well excuse me for having to use a disguise! “ Hold on Akari.” Yukina took a closer look at my face. Apparently, wherever they were from, they’ve never heard of personal space. Yes, there was such thing ten thousand years ago. Back to the point; Yukina pulled my hat off. “ Just as I thought! She’s a girl!” All I did was glare. “ I don’t know, Yukina, she might be a relative of the one who rescued us, or something, because the person that rescued us talks, and besides, think about it… she doesn’t seem like she would be able to harm anything!” Of all the no-good, ungrateful, inconsiderate, rude, humiliating things I have heard in my life, that just crosses the line! I got up, took Akari’s arm and flipped her over onto her back. “ Now let me set things straight, I do talk, and as a matter of fact, I was the one who has been saving your sorry asses this entire time! You ungrateful twerp! Now I don’t wanna hear one more insult out of you! Am I clear!?!” Akari lay on the ground, “ Y-yes ma’am…”

     Yukina repeated her question, “ Who are you?” I turned and faced her, “ My name is Suzoku Takane. I am the last of my kind, and my ambition is to avenge my brother as well as the rest of the other races that have been slaughtered by Megumi Yamamoto.” Yukina just stared. “ Blink, blink, question, question, what!?!” Akari, still on the ground, said, “ Umm… Well, we just want to get to our own time period. Can you help us?” I walked toward the tree where the bag was dangling.

     I looked up at the weird looking bag. Akari said, “ What are you doing?” I turned towards Akari, who was finally off the ground, “ Well, we can’t just stay here and wait for Megumi to kill us, but I bet that before we move somewhere else, we should get that bag out of that tree.” Yukina sat down under the tree, “ Forget it. Nobody can get that bag out of that tree. It’s too high to climb. It’s impossible.”

     I just glared at both of them, “Who said anything about climbing?” I grabbed Akari by her arm and threw her towards the bag, but that idiot didn’t even make a grab for the bag, so as she was falling back down, Yukina said, “What are you, CRAZY!?! Look! Akari’s falling! What is she supposed to do now!?!” “ Relax! Cat’s always land on their feet--” Akari landed on her face. She lay there face flat on the ground, “ Ouch… My face hurts!” “Why didn’t you grab the bag,” I yelled. Akari yelled back, “Well sorry! You couldn’t give me a warning, or something!?! Excuse me for not thinking about that when I was over thirty feet off the ground! I was too busy watching my life flash before my eyes, when I was falling to my certain doom--” I grabbed her arm again and threw her again. Again, she didn’t grab the bag! She was too busy screaming, and this time she landed on her butt. That stupid cat! “What kind of cat are you!?! You’re supposed to land on your feet! Not you sorry ass!” She yelled at me, “It would help if you gave me a warning before you throw me over thirty feet in the air!?! That really hurt!” By now, Yukina was just sitting there under that tree.

     I grabbed Akari’s arm and for a third time, threw her towards the bag. She fell back down empty handed. “ Warning, I’m gonna throw you.” She got back up, “I said warn me before you--” Too late I threw her again. This kept on repeating for about an hour. “That’s enough! Are you trying to kill me!?!” By now, Yukina and her Larjias were asleep in that same spot. Before I was able to get a hold of Akari for about a hundredth time, she was clinging to the bottom of the tree to the point where she wouldn’t move.

     As Yukina started to wake up, I was still looking for another way to get that damned bag down. Yukina just sat up, half asleep and said, “Did you get the bag yet?” I was so annoyed with Akari, that I turned towards Yukina and said, “Maybe I should throw you instead…” Before she was able to reply, I threw her up the tree. She didn’t get the bag either. I caught her before she hit the ground.

     Akari yelled, “Oh SURE catch her and let the cat die!” Yukina walked back to where she fell asleep. I was so annoyed that I yelled, “ God Damned tree!!” I kicked it once, and the bag fell down and landed on Yukina’s Larjias. All of us just stared at the bag for a while…then, “Dammit! Why didn’t you think of that sooner!?! Rather than throwing me one hundred times!?!”

     I walked over to Akari, grabbed her arm and threw her about fifty feet in the air. When she landed, she was face-flat on the ground. Akari yelled, “What was that for!?!” I grabbed Akari’s arm again, “Do you want to put me in a worse mood than I am now?” Yukina stopped me, “Please don’t kill the cat!”

     I released her arm, and turned away. “ Let’s go. Megumi is on our trail. She’s about one mile away, and she’s not alone, so hurry up!” We ran for a while. I stopped. Yukina asked, “What’s wrong?” I looked at both of them. “You guys are too slow!” I grabbed both of them by their arms, and dragged them through the forest. After we got a good ten miles away, I stopped.

     I decided that I was going to remain in their group and protect them from Megumi. I finally had something to protect; just like my big brother. For the first time in a long time, I felt a wave of determination.

     Nightfall came. I couldn’t sleep. Yukina woke up, “Hey, Uhh- Suzoku, why don’t you go to sleep?” I looked at her, Minazuki, and Akari. I sighed, “ Because I refuse to give Megumi even a two percent of finding us vulnerable.” Akari woke up. “So tell me, Suzoku, who exactly is this Megumi character?”