Mood: friggin tired. XD
Music: Flower – L’Arc~en~Ciel

Rae: Ah. Yes as you can see, I haven’t updated in quite some time... *sweatdrop*

I could lie and put sole responsibility on Charter and my whole lack of internet issues, but honestly that really isn’t true. I mean its true Charter has been fucking up and my internet is down quite a bit, but within the last few weeks or so, it’s been on enough that I could have updated if I had really wanted to. Sadly my brain has been quite fried lately, and I’m dealing with some major writer’s block, so much so I can’t even write in my own journal. O.o;;;;. *sigh* Not that anyone cares, anyway. XD

Anyway, guess what?

I got a new laptop. ^^

Laptops are fun, yo. I don’t have to sit at our uncomfortable computer desk when I want to write. I can go wherever I want and have some privacy. .^^;;

Well before I continue with the last entry, I suppose I should update a little as to what I’ve been doing lately, neh? Like you care.

...Er... Well, what have I been doing?

Sadly, not a whole lot. Like I said, I’ve been almost completely writer’s blocked, so I haven’t been able to get that much writing accomplished. I have been working on that ToS fic a bit; I’ve managed to complete the prologue and almost two chapters. I’m fairly happy with the way it’s going so far, you know, considering I’m a terrible writer who has like no talent whatsoever. x_x;;;;;

I’ll probably get around to posting what I have written of it so far fairly soon. It’s going to be all dark and suspenseful. Hopefully. *sweatdrop*

I also have some other things I’m working on, but I’m not telling what. Heh. *smirks evilly*

Hm. I found a new game that’s pretty cool. I mean it’s no ToS, but what is? XD Anyway, I’ve really been enjoying this game.

Galerians: Ash

Sadly, it’s highly underrated; it apparently didn’t do too well over here in the states. (I’m not sure how it originally did in Japan either.)

Ah, but it’s such a dark, intriguing game. The plot has got me really interested, plus the battle style is so completely unique. I mean how often do you get the chance to play as a drug addict psychic who has to shoot up to use his powers? Seriously though, I really like it.

And whoa. Imagine my surprise when

*spoiler here*

Ash kissed Rion. Ash a guy. Kissed Rion, also a guy. Heh. Not just a little kiss either. ^^;;;; I’m almost surprised this game got released in the states just because of the kiss scene. You know how crappy America is about things like that. TeH evil gayness will destroy the world, by gawd. -_-;;;;;; Anyway, I’ve read online that Ash and Rion kiss again. I’ve actually spoiled quite a bit about the game online. Heh. I’m so bad about doing that. But anyway, I really <3 this game. You should check it out too, yo. Just a warning though, it’s a HARD game. Its fun, but you will die several times, be assured. *laughs*
Plus it’s fucking hard to find the right drugs. >_<;;; And if Rion OD’s and you don’t have any Delmetor, you’re fucked. Oh yeah. Bye-bye Rion’s brain. Game over.

It is definitely difficult, but I went ahead and just made my file normal mode, not easy mode, because if you beat it on normal mode, you get an extra bit of ending. ^^ Heh...

*end spoilers*

Er… rambling. Uh better Move on from Galerians now. Oh but check it out *nod*, and hell I bought mine at Circuit City for ten bucks new, so yeah, not too expensive. *laughs* The CG scenes are really nice too. Unique looking. Reminds me a little of an anime style but not. You’d just have to see it to understand what I mean.

...Now if I can just find the first Galerians game. It’s old and just a normal playstation game. Though you don’t need it to play the second one at all, I’d still like to play it too…

Speaking of video-games, anyone aware that there’s a new .hack game coming out? Heh. I had written a big long ramble/analysis on it, but it got really long and rambly, but maybe I’ll post it on here later. It’s nothing but a few speculations etc, based solely on the trailer... But wow, it looks scary as hell. O_O;;;;;;;;;;;;;

So anyway.

What else? ...

Hm, uh I went on vacation not too long ago. Mom, Dad, Jiro and I went to TeH mountains of WV, my grandparents’ vacation house to be precise. You know, what we call the camp *sigh* I love it there. XD And luckily my grandparents only stayed up there a few days, so we had the whole place to ourselves. Yay. ^^ Because the grandparents are lame and go to bed at like ten pm, and bitch if anyone makes a sound after ten. *sweatdrop*

Though what really sucked was, the whole time I was up there all the townsfolk and local yokels treated me like a freak. Even more so than usual I mean. Why you ask? Well because they thought I was a “Rainbow”. *sigh* Hell, I didn’t even know what the fuck a “Rainbow” was. (Still don’t exactly; all I know is that the local hicks call them “Rainbows”.)

Apparently a group of people meet up every year around there and yeah the locals seem to hate them. I’m still not sure who the “Rainbow” people are. From ones I ran into, they all looked like hippies to me. They kept giving me the peace sign. I suppose the “Rainbows” thought I was a fellow “Rainbow”. Me having bright pink hair and tye-dyed pink socks with sandals on didn’t help matters. (Blame Kopaka on the socks. I’m serious. He made me wear them. XD)

It was weird, I felt like I’d stepped into a time warp at times. We’d drive by a group of them on the side of the road and most of them would look like they’d stepped directly out of the sixties, doobies and all. *laughs* Kopaka would have SOOO fit in, man. XD

So anyone have any ideas about who this group is? It was in Pocahontas County, and they were there for July fourth I guess. If anyone knows, drop me a line, I’m actually pretty curious.

Oi, guess what else? Well one evening we went to Droop Mountain Park, you know to do a little ghost hunting like we always do on the battlefield.
(Ghost hunting sounds so awful. Er, Spirit Searching? Oh, whatever... T-T Didn’t get to see that much this time, but I did take some pictures. Haven’t gotten them developed yet, but if anything turns up, I’ll post them, neh? ^^)

Er, anyway. At one point we went over to the old lookout tower. We started to walk up it when Jiro and I both heard a little meow. And down came a little orange striped kitty kat from the top of the tower. This cat then decided to almost literally glomp me and not let go. She’s such a pretty little girl. ^^

She obviously had no home, was malnourished and there was no way in hell I was leaving her there. So I have a new kitty now. *laughs*

She does however get carsick very easily, as I found out the hard way. XD
When we drove her back to the camp, she threw up all over me. To be specific and really gross, she threw up a dead animal on me. Isn’t that nice? *laughs* I just blinked, blinked again. Then I said, “Well, at least she’s been eating something.” *laughs* See, I don’t freak out over things like that too easily. XD Needless to say I had to clean up after that...*laughs*

Her name is Colette by the way. Named after the cute little Colette-chan in Tales of Symphonia of course. ^_^ Shut up, I like Colette. She’s a cute character.

Whoa....Rambling again.

Okay, I’ll shut up now.

Time to continue with the last journal entry, neh? Okay, here goes.

Oh, and this is all written in third person omnipresent story mode. Warnings. This is extremely long and kind of intense at points. TeH plot thickens, yo. XD

~*~*~*~*~

Previously on the insanity of Rae:

Druu, Rae, Sano and Yuki went in search of information for the missing contact, Ryuuji. What sort of contact and exactly who this Ryuuji person even is has been kept secret by Druu, who as we all know is very secretive. (As are Kitsune, Malba and Kopaka, but that’s not the point....)

It was finally revealed that Druu, Malba, Kitsune and Kopaka are indeed not from our dimension. It is still unclear exactly what their world is, but Druu did agree to take the group to his world, to search for clues on Ryuuji. After meeting with the psychic Hanneke, and a few misadventures in the small town Laineka, the group returned to Rae’s room, no real new clues learned about the mysterious Ryuuji. (However while away Kopaka had hm...decided to do some re-decorating and had a big disco party with Ansem and Yggdrasil, who are STILL passed out on Rae’s floor, but again not the point.)

Now, as the group (and Shishio) sat discussing birthday plans for Rae, a very angry Kitsune and Malba appeared. Apparently Druu’s little trip to Laineka was a big no-no. As Kitsune and Druu leave to “discuss the matter”, the others are left to wonder exactly...WHAT THE FRIGGIN HELL IS GOING ON?!?! O_O

*end rambly recap of doom*

~ ~ ~

Rae stood in silence for a moment, watching as Malba twitched, glaring daggers at the floating Kopaka. “Uh...guys?” She spoke slowly, eying the two. They showed no response, instead continuing to stare in silence.

Not good, Rae observed uneasily.

Yuki meanwhile had taken his place behind Rae, eyes wide as he watched the staring match taking place between the two sprites.

“Um, le-let’s not fight Malba-san, Kopaka-san. Um...”

Sano continued to sit in the corner of the large room, eyeing the two non-humans uneasily, opting to keep his mouth shut. It was pretty obvious there was some serious tension going on, and the spiky haired teen figured it probably not wise to get between the two. It was weird really; it wasn’t often that the grey haired sprite looked so serious. Usually the idiot rambled on about cigarettes and booze. It was starting to freak Sanosuke out actually.

Shishio on the other hand, was slightly amused by the scene, watching with interest as the two stared off. He wasn’t sure what the hell was going on, and it was pretty damn obvious to the bandaged man that he had missed something. Obviously it had been a good day to take that vacation after all.

After a few more moments of uneasy silence, Rae cleared her throat, taking a step closer to the raven haired sprite. “Malba, uh look. I know you’re pissed but...” she began but was cut off as the sprite turned abruptly to face her, dark blue eyes flashing with anger.

“You shut it, Rae. This isn’t any of your business. Fuck off, damn human.” He snapped, clenching his fists in anger.

Rae bit her lip, getting pretty angry herself. Damn human? Damn human, huh? She’d show him a damn human.

“Look asshole. Guess what? This is MY room. MY house. And it is MY friggin business! I’m tired of you guys coming around and expecting me to buy into this whole ‘it’s none of your concern’ crap! Now either tell me what the hell is going on, or GET out. AND STOP CALLING ME A DAMN HUMAN!” Okay so she hadn’t meant to scream. But honestly, she was fed up. Really fed up. Yet here Malba stood, bitching at her, acting like an ass when it wasn’t even her fault! How annoying.

Malba stood still for a moment, closing his eyes. Another twitch.

Uh-oh.

Rae took an involuntary step away from the sprite. Okay yelling at a pissed off darkness master maybe not the greatest of ideas Rae, she silently berated herself, eying the sprite nervously.

Sano had to agree with what the girl had said, even if telling the sprite off hadn’t been the smartest thing to do. Who the hell did Malba think he was anyway? Hell, the demon-fox and the sprites were the ones coming around Rae all the time, taking cigarettes, food, booze and hey, freeloading much? Okay so maybe Sano didn’t have much room to talk about freeloading, but he’d pay her back...someday...maybe. But not the point!

Shishio also stood silently, crossing his arms, watching the dark sprite carefully. There were many advantages to being dead. One being the abilities to sense energies. And energy? Lots to be had around these people. However, not all of the energies that emitted from and around these strange beings were easy to read. Demons, sprites and...the other one. Druu. Even the ‘spirit’ boy, Yuki. Strange auras of energy that he still wasn’t entirely sure what to make of. To truly be strong, one should be able to read everyone and everything around them. Yet even to Shishio, --ruler of 4/10ths of Hell-- even he couldn’t quite place it all. Which intrigued him.

Sure the rooster, Sanosuke was easy enough to read. Normal human energies, nothing exciting or unusual. Rae, well a little different, but nothing too hard to make out. The witch had a slightly different air about her, her energy humming with the slight sense of natural magicks. Nothing too unusual.

But the others... Very intriguing indeed.

As the bandaged spirit of Hell watched Malba, he noticed the flickering energies as the man clenched his fists. Struggling? Struggling to hold something back? A tint of red...and then nothing. Very interesting indeed, Shishio thought with a small smirk.

Malba re-opened his dark eyes, the spark of anger now gone. “Just...forget it, all-right?” he said flatly, turning away from the pink haired girl.

Rae blinked, surprised by the lack of response. Honestly she had expected her hair to be on fire by now. Or something. She glanced behind her shoulder, catching Yuki’s expression. Evidently the spirit had also had the same thought, glancing back and forth between Malba, and her non-flamey hair.

She then turned around, observing the silent grey haired sprite sitting cross-legged in the air. The look on his face concerned her. He was frowning. A frowning Kopaka really couldn’t be good. A serious expression on Kopaka meant something was up. Maybe something not so good...

The black haired sprite returned his gaze to Kopaka, locking eyes.

Rae watched the two, trying to figure out why the hell the two continued to stare at each other like that. A few minutes earlier Malba had been ranting at the wind sprite, now he just ...Wait. Rae watched closer. Kopaka had shaken his head slightly and Malba...

“HEY! You jerks! You two are talking! And leaving us out!! Using telepathy isn’t fair!” she exclaimed, glaring at the two.

“Tela-what?” Sano asked, confusion flickering through his brown eyes.

“Um, it means talking with their minds, Sano-kun.” Yuki answered softly, peeking over Rae’s shoulder.

“Idiot.” Shishio murmured, sending a quick smirk in the rooster’s direction. It was actually pretty fun pissing the stubborn boy off.

“Ah, shut it mummy face.” Sano bit back, glaring at the offending mummy.

Rae rolled her eyes, ignoring both the mummy and the rooster. “Well, you are, aren’t you? Using telepathy. I know you all can. I’ve seen it before.” she stated, crossing her arms.

A smirk formed on Kopaka’s lips as he floated to the ground, landing to stand beside Rae. “Yuup. Mals here is telling me off, man.”

Malba rolled his eyes, flicking a stray strand of black hair away from his face. “Look. This is serious Kopaka. Really fucking serious. Even Veenom saw him. Hello?”

“Oh you mean that scary snake chick?” Rae asked, picturing the angry demon the group had encountered in the depths of Kaitnif Forest.

“Damn snake.” Sano muttered, remembering all to well the demon that had kidnapped and freaking sold him...

Kopaka frowned, turning away from Malba’s cold gaze. “Look man. You and Kits have got to learn to loosen up. Druu’s a big boy. We don’t need to protect him 24/7. He’s stronger than any of us.”

Shishio slightly nodded. The grey haired sprite was right about one thing. The energy emanating from the psychic; Druu. The energy was stronger than any of the others. Except...something else about the energy, the ki...

“I KNOW THAT, MORON. However...Fuck it. There’s no point in arguing with an idiot like you.” Malba snapped, once again clutching his fists as he turned away from the grey haired sprite.

Rae frowned, trying to make sense of the situation. She had somehow sensed that Druu’s powers far surpassed the others, something about the guy... It wasn’t a surprise. However why the need to protect him then? Why were Malba and Kitsune both so angry? She really didn’t get it. She once again turned to look back at Yuki, raising an eyebrow. He simply shrugged, looking every bit as confused.

With a sigh she turned back, watching the two sprites. Malba still looked pissed and Kopaka...sad?

“...Malba. Please calm down.” Rae requested softly, stepping closer to the dark sprite. She slowly reached forward, placing a hand on his lean shoulder. Hopefully he won’t bite my hand off, she thought uneasily. If she could just get him to calm down...maybe...

The sprite stood still a moment, then shrugged the girl’s hand off of his shoulder.

“Don’t touch me.” he answered quietly, though his voice held no real anger.

Rae took that to be a good sign.

“Um. Malba-san. Is-is there something we can do? Um...” Yuki trailed off, watching the sprite. He gave the man a shaky smile, hoping his nervousness hadn’t shown through too much. Malba always had made him nervous...

Malba simply sighed, saying nothing, the anger seemingly fading from the dark sprite.

At that very moment, the lounging Ansem sat up from his space on the floor, giving a drunken grin to the group.

“I’m the president. Want a hug, Malba-poo?”

“ARRRG!” Malba screeched, firmly planting his boot straight into Ansem’s head.

Rae groaned. Well, he had seemed less angry...Stupid Ansem.

Ansem blinked and fell back to the glowing disco floor, apparently unconscious. Or possibly dead. It was kind of hard to tell.

Shishio smirked. Yes, it was definitely entertaining hanging around with these odd people.

* * *

A few minutes later after Rae had convinced Malba to stop stomping on Ansem’s head, the group sat (well Malba stood) around Rae’s room. (Which finally had been restored to normal with a snap of Kopaka’s fingers. Which was good. Rae really wasn’t into the whole disco thing.)

Luckily the wind/ice sprite had decided it best to send away the drunken Ansem and Yggdrasill before Malba had decided to work out more frustration on the two...

Rae sighed, running a hand through pink hair. “Okay, are you ready to talk, Malba, Kopaka?”

Malba crossed his arms, leaning against a grey wall, eyeing the wooden floor. “Whatever.”

Kopaka on the other hand had returned to the air, choosing to hover over Yuki, who sat in a large black beanbag chair.

“Um...Kopaka-san, just don’t fall on me, okay?” Yuki questioned, glancing uneasily at the floating sprite.

“Heh heh heh.” Was Kopaka’s only reply.

Sano fiddled with his bottle of Budweiser, (courtesy of Rae of course) peeling away a bit of the label. This American booze wasn’t as good as the stuff from Japan, but it’d do, the young man mused. After all the weirdness that he had been through lately, he really deserved a bit of booze now and then...

Shishio sat on the couch beside Rae, watching the group with his usual interest. It was apparent to the man that the group of elementals and the demon held many secrets. Perhaps this Malba was about to reveal one? It could definitely prove to be interesting. And possibly help him figure out the strange auras? Hm...

“Look. I know we keep stuff from you, all right. But. Its better that you don’t know things. It’s safer.” Malba stated, eyes still cast on the wooden flooring.

Rae sighed, rolling her eyes. “Yeah, I’ve heard this before. But guess what? I don’t care if it is safer. I’m a reckless kind of girl so you know what? I don’t care if it is dangerous. I care about you guys and I want to know. I want to be able to help.”

“She has a point, man.” Kopaka responded, pulling a cigarette from behind his ear. “You got a lighter, Rae?”

Rae smirked, digging around in her jean pockets for a moment before pulling out a purple lighter and tossing it to the sprite. “Keep it.”

“Heh. Thanks.”

“Welcome.”

Malba cleared his throat, casting a quick aggravated glance towards Kopaka before returning his gaze to Rae. “Yeah. I know you care. That’s the whole point. You may want to help, but you can’t. And who knows? Maybe if you found out everything, you WOULDN’T want to help. Get it?” he asked levelly, dark eyes locked with Rae’s aqua.

Sano raised an eyebrow, watching the two. Sometimes it was a smart thing to keep quiet. Not very often did he actually realize this, but this here was one of those rare occasions. He knew that interrupting at this point really wouldn’t be a good idea. So instead he remained quiet, watching the two as they silently stared, eyes locked.

The room was still as Rae and Malba continued to stare, the only sound breaking the quiet being Rae’s small cat Colette purring softly as she jumped onto Yuki’s lap.

After a few more moments, Rae finally broke the silence. “You’re wrong. I would help. No matter what the circumstances.” She stated firmly, eyes still locked with Malba’s.

“No matter what, huh? Liar.” Malba smirked, looking back down to stare at the floor.

“No. I’m not. No matter what. I trust you guys. Even if you are all assholes. I don’t care. And guess what? You can pretend to be evil and badass all you want. You’re not.” She stated, voice still firm, confident. She may not know what the hell her otherworldly friends were involved with, and she didn’t know anything about their world, however she knew one very important thing. She trusted them.

Malba glanced up to meet the girl’s eyes, before turning away once again.

“I’m not huh? Idiot.”

“You’re not. And you know what? I don’t think me trusting you is the issue. I think you trusting me is the real problem. You don’t trust me. Well guess what, Malba? You can.” She had to get through to him. HAD to. These games of don’t ask, don’t tell were getting old. She was tired of worrying over the group, tired of wondering...

“Bingo, maaaan.” Kopaka chirped, exhaling a puff of smoke.

“I’m not going to trust another human, got it?” Malba snapped, looking up to glare at the girl.

Sano raised an eyebrow. Another?

Shishio had also caught that. Another. Interesting. Oh, the red was back. Flaring red surrounding the strange sprite. What did it mean? Hm.

Yuki lowered his eyes, a sad expression flittering across his pale face. He looked away from Malba, petting the cat in his lap instead. Another...

Kopaka frowned, eyeing his friend with a somber expression. “That’s not fair Mals.” He said softly, his voice slipping once again into a more serious tone.

“Oh, what? You think I should tell her everything then, Kopaka? Is that it? Just tell them all everything? Huh?” Malba snapped, eyeing the old wooden floor intently.

The grey haired sprite shrugged. “Basically. Yeah.”

“Idiot.”

Rae sat in silence, contemplating Malba’s words. ‘Another’? She was sensing there was quite a bit of meaning in that one word. Another. Who had Malba trusted before? God, all of this was so confusing.

“Malba.”

“Shut it.”

“Malba.”

“Fine. FINE! What the fuck do you want me to tell you? HUH? That our world is FUCKED? That every god damn thing that could go wrong DID go wrong? Our world is fucked and no matter how FUCKING hard we try, it NEVER stops! People die, people fuck you over and it all amounts to NOTHING!” The sprite shouted, eyes turning an odd red color as he jerked his head up, glaring daggers at Rae.

Whoa. Not good. Rae was pretty damn sure glowing red eyes could be a bad sign. She’d only seen his eyes go that way once before, and Kitsune had told him to stop and he had. Too bad Kitsune was too busy ripping Druu a new one to calm the sprite now.

Sano couldn’t help but pull a little closer to the wall. Damn, he looked pretty scary. Hopefully those glowing eyes didn’t mean he was about to kill them all because somehow he figured a futae no kiwami wouldn’t have much effect on the sprite.

The red had exploded around the sprite, Shishio noted, watching the glowing aura match the shade of the sprite’s eyes. Even if he was the mighty, great, ruler of hell, invincible (dead and therefore un-killable) Shishio...he couldn’t help but feel uneasy. The energy felt...unstable.

Yuki’s eyes widened as he watched Malba, pulling Colette closer to himself as he sunk deeper into the beanbag chair. Malba and red eyes, not good. Not good at all...

“Stop it man. I mean it.” Kopaka stated, floating down to stand in front of Malba, meeting his eyes.

“Shut up.” Malba snapped.

“Here. Take this dude.” Kopaka responded, offering the dark sprite his lit cigarette.

Malba stared at the lit cigarette for a moment before accepting it, his eyes slowly fading back to their normal midnight-blue. After taking a large draw of nicotine, a small, bitter smirk formed on his lips. “You. You’re such a fucking freak, Kopaka.”

“Heheheheh.” Was the grey haired sprite’s only reply.

Hm. The situation had been diffused, Shishio concluded. Whatever had caused the odd overflow of ki had subsided, the red fading away from his energy field. Very weird. He’d have to ask Houji to do some research. Surely there had to be good research libraries somewhere in Hell. It’s Hell for evil’s sake, the bandaged man thought to himself.

Rae softly cleared her throat, stepping a little closer to the two sprites.

“Um. Malba?”

“...Yeah?”

“You seem kind of stressed out, man.” Rae said with a teasing smile, winking at the sprite.

“Heh. You could say that.” he responded, a weary smirk gracing his lips.

“So...You think you can trust this stupid human?” she questioned seriously, once again locking eyes with the elemental. He’d been burned, she could tell. That rant before, the glowing eyes. There had been pain in his voice. Why? It was driving her crazy, the unknown. Why?

“Hell if I know.” Malba answered, shrugging his shoulders.

The room was still for a few moments, and then Malba turned away.

“Well come on.”

“Huh? Come where?” Rae questioned, eyebrow raised.

“To go make sure Kitsune hasn’t killed Druu.” Malba stated flatly.

“You...You mean we’re going to your world?”

“It’s what I said isn’t it? Stupid.” He snapped.

“Heheheheh. Cool.” Kopaka laughed, a smirk on his lips.

Rae blinked. Did this mean...

“Druu’s better at explaining things than I am. I’m not promising you anything but...” Malba trailed off, scuffing his boot on the bare floor.

“You trust me.”

“Just shut the fuck up, human. I guess you all want to go too, right?” He snapped, turning to glance in annoyance at everyone in the room.

Without waiting for an answer, the raven haired sprite snapped his fingers and the inhabitants of the room simply vanished, leaving behind only a confused orange cat.

* * *

With a bright flash, Rae found herself standing on a sandy beach, grey clouds masking any sunlight.

She turned, finding the rest of the group standing around her.

“Whoa. Uh, where are we?” Rae asked, taking in their new surroundings.

A cloudy, dark sky, ocean waves kissing dark sands... A beach? What the hell?

“This definitely doesn’t look anything like Laineka.” Sano stated, eyes focusing on the seafoam waves.

“Yeah well our world is a big place.” Malba muttered, stepping away from the group.

“And Laineka, is a little, litttllle place, maaan. Heheheh.” Kopaka attempted to explain, a new cigarette hanging from his lips.

“So. Where are the psychic and the demon?” Shishio interrupted, glancing around the area with interest. Definitely not in Kansas anymore, Toto, he thought with an internal groan. Damn Houji for making him watch that movie four times in a row the other night... If he heard his high strung minion warble out ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’ one more time, he’d have to remove his head. Again.

“They should be over there.” Malba stated flatly, pointing further down the beach, on a higher point, an overlook. Rocks and ocean. With that he began to walk in that direction, ignoring the others.

“Follow the Mals man, man!” Kopaka saluted and then skipped off after the cranky dark haired elemental.

“The water is pretty.” Yuki commented softly, watching the waves.

“Hey Yuki, you’ve been kind of quiet. Are you okay?” Rae questioned, glancing at the spirit.

“Yep, I’m fine.” Yuki smiled, turning away from the ocean waves.

“Yeah, ghost boy’s always quiet, aren’t ya Yuki?” Sano stated, giving the ghost a small smirk.

“Heh. I guess so, Sano-kun.”

With that the others followed after Malba and Kopaka, walking further down the sandy beach. After a ways, the outline of two figures could be seen, higher up, standing upon the elevated overhang.

“Oh, that must be them.” Rae commented. Good, it looked like Druu was still alive after all. She’d had a few doubts, the way Kitsune had been acting...

As they approached the two, Rae could vaguely hear the angry voice of Kitsune carrying in the salty breeze. Very angry voice. Uh-oh.

Malba stopped a distance away, watching the two. “May not be a good idea to interrupt her right now. Not that I’m afraid of her or anything.” He smirked, casting a quick, uneasy glance in the ice-fox’s direction.

Kopaka nodded, a goofy smirk on his face. “Yuuup. Kits is pissed man. Heheheheh.”

“Hey, you think they noticed us?” Sano questioned, watching the distant figures.

“Naaah. She’s too busy yelling at him. Heheh.” The grey haired elemental responded, watching the two with an amused expression.

Shishio stood silently, watching as well. Wait. Again for a moment...The psychic’s energy...Shishio blinked. Nothing. Maybe he really was just seeing things. Or...

“Hm. If we were cautious, we could observe the two.” Shishio suggested. Not that he was afraid of the two non-humans. After all, what could they do to him? He’d been dead for over one hundred years now. No, Shishio had other reasons. If he could get a bit closer to Druu without being noticed, maybe... That energy, if he could just get a better view...

“Hey, he’s right. We could spy on them.” Rae smirked, glancing at the large cliff area. If they got a little lower... If they were careful enough...

“Isn’t that a little stupid? Druu is a psychic you know.” Sano pointed out, raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah but he’s a little distracted at the moment being told off and all, so maybe he won’t notice?” the pink haired girl responded, a grin on her face.

“Right.” Sano rolled his eyes. Somehow he doubted that...

“You all are morons.” Malba stated flatly.

“Ah, shut it.” Rae replied, sticking her tongue out at the sprite.

“Heheheheh.” Kopaka laughed, for really no apparent reason. Sano raised an eyebrow at the odd elemental, and then shook his head. He really didn’t get Kopaka...

“Fairy?” Shishio questioned, turning his attention towards Malba.

“What the HELL did you just call me you fucking MUMMY?” The sprite glowered, turning on Shishio.

“Sorry. Malba. Can you take us closer? It would be a fairly long walk otherwise, not to mention the possibility of being spotted.” Shishio amended, deciding it not a good idea to call the creature a fairy.

“What am I, your fucking cabbie?”

“VROOOOM! Heheheheh. Take me to the church. Do a CRAZY spinny thingy man! Heheheh. PIZZA HUT!”

“...Kopaka. You’ve been playing far too much Crazy Taxi...”

Malba simply rolled his eyes and snapped his fingers, and once again the group vanished into thin air.

...

To appear closer to the cliff yet safely out of view of Kitsune and Druu.

“Now everyone be quiet and listen.” Rae whispered.

As the group listened, Kitsune’s angry voice drifted from above, on the overlook the demon and psychic stood near.

“Just for once, do you think you could listen to ANYTHING I tell you? Hm?” she bit out, her voice ice cold.

“Kitsune, we can stand here and discuss this all day and night long if you wish, but nothing is going to change. So I made a bit of a mistake--”

“A...BIT of a mistake. You IDIOT. I’d call it more than a mere mistake! I’d call it risking not only your own life, but putting both our world and THEIR world in jeopardy!” The demon cut off Druu’s calm voice, her own voice rising steadily in volume.

Rae’s eyes widened slightly at the tone of Kitsune’s voice. Yelling? It wasn’t really Kitsune’s style, was it? Usually she had that cold, scary voice, but this...

“Kitsune. I do believe you’re exaggerating just a bit.” Came the calm reply from Druu, just as composed as ever.

“For you to be so foolish...Not only did you bring the girl and the others to our world, but LAINEKA? Without Malba or me, or hell even KOPAKA for gods sake! Have you gone completely insane? Is that it? Do you have a fucking DEATHWISH?” Kitsune’s voice had continued to rise, now literally shouting.

As Rae listened to her voice, it almost...was that fear in the demon’s voice?

“Kitsune. I am quite capable of handling myself. I do not need your or anyone’s assistance. You should do well to remember that.” Druu stated slowly, his voice dropping, a cooler tone emerging from his normally pleasant voice.

Shishio narrowed his eyes, concentrating. Yes. This was most intriguing...

Rae risked a peak, maneuvering a bit further up the rocky hillside. As she carefully looked over, she could see Kitsune’s angry glare and... Druu’s cold indifference? What a scary look on Druu, she thought nervously.

“Is that what you want? Do you want to die? HUH? Because... THAT’S WHAT’S GOING TO FUCKING HAPPEN! YOU KEEP DOING THIS, TAKING THESE RISKS AND YOU. WILL. DIE! GET IT?”

Rae jumped at Kitsune’s sudden outburst, her blue-green eyes widening even further. Never. Never in all the time she had spent with the demon had she heard the woman sound...Sound...Afraid?

“It isn’t something to concern yourself with Kitsune.” His voice had turned back to the more pleasant, airy voice Rae was used to but something was hidden underneath the surface. Something she couldn’t quite put her finger on... What?

“Why would you risk taking the humans here? Do you realize what could happen if we are found out? Able to jump dimensional borders? If it was found out that there is a way to jump...It could be the end of everything. But even if we put that aside. The fact that you would venture through the gates of Laineka proves to me that you are far stupider than I thought. Or your death wish is stronger than I thought. One or the other.” Her voice dropped, as she once again regained her icy composure.

“Well it was to rescue Sano...”

“A situation you put the human into.”

“That is true.”

“Veenom came to me. Taunting me with the knowledge that you had been in Laineka. Threatening to tell him.”

“She won’t.”

“How do you know?”

“She just won’t, Kitsune.” Druu sighed wearily, obviously growing tired of the conversation.

“I see. Fine. Well Druuvbin. Get yourself killed. Ignore everything I’ve ever told you, go out and get yourself killed. Or worse. I won’t stop you.”

“How kind of you.”

A small growl resonated from the icy demon, though she said nothing for a moment, the two falling into an uneasy silence.

Rae almost thought the conversation had ended when Kitsune once again broke the silence.

“Did you find what you were looking for?” she questioned coldly, her voice showing no emotion.

“No. Nothing.” His voice seemed almost as emotionless. It scared the pink haired girl.

“...I haven’t found anything either.” Kitsune replied, her voice softening a bit.

“It’s very likely that we may find nothing. It’s a very real possibility that Ryuuji is dead. That doesn’t mean I’ll stop searching.”

“I know.”

“Kitsune. I’m sorry to put you into the situations I’ve put you in.”

“Just. Don’t get killed. Idiot....And you morons can stop hiding. I can smell you.” Kitsune stated icily, turning to glare down the slope.

“She can smell us? That’s kind of scary.” Sano commented with a small shudder.

“Busted, heh heh heheheh.”

“Shut up Kopaka.”

“Heheheheh.”

“Get up here. Now.” The ice-fox ordered, her voice cold.

As the group climbed the slope, Rae sent an uneasy smile to Kitsune. “Uh, look. Sorry about that. We were uh...just...you know...” The girl trailed off, at a loss for an adequate excuse.

“Spying?” Druu supplied, a small smile on his lips, his lavender eyes now twinkling in amusement.

“BINGO!” Kopaka chirped happily, lighting another cigarette.

Kitsune stood for a moment, simply glaring at the group before focusing her attention on Malba.

“Malba?”

“Yeah, wh—“ The sprite started, but was cut off as Kitsune’s fist swung directly into his face, bloodying his nose.

“OW! GODDAMMIT! What the hell was that for?” He shrieked, swinging back, catching the demon’s lip with his clenched fist.

A thin trickle of blood ran from the woman’s lip and she wiped it away, though not before licking a bit of the red liquid in true demon fashion.

“I’m going to kill you. Fairy.”

“Try it, fox.”

“Whoa! Uh could you two stop hitting each other?!” Rae squeaked, eyes widening. Great now both Kitsune and Malba were bloody. What the hell was with everyone today? Had they ALL lost their minds?

“First Druu. Then Kopaka. NOW YOU? You jumped them here. Care to explain?” Her voice silky soft, deadly, proved that any refusal to ‘explain’ would result in pain. Possibly death.

Rae took an involuntary step back, as did Yuki and Sano. Shishio was too busy being amused to be afraid.

Malba wiped a bit of blood away from his face, glaring at the demon angrily. “They wanted to come. Besides we’re in Asikea. Not the most dangerous of places, Kitsune.”

“Not the point.”

“Look. I’m tired of her,” here he pointed angrily at Rae, “HER bitching and whining about wanting to know the truth. So I figured I ought to shut her up. What the hell’s the point in hiding it all from them? We’ve already involved ‘em too much anyway. So what difference does it make now?” The dark sprite shrugged his shoulders, looking away from the angry ice demon.

Kitsune let out a long, agitated sigh.

“Do what you wish. I don’t care anymore. But if it brings death to us all? Don’t blame me.” With that Kitsune turned away from the group, looking down on the ocean far below the overhang.

“So, do those two beat around on each other like that a lot?” Sano questioned, eyeing Malba’s bloody nose.

“Nah. It’s usually a lot worse than that. And Malba always loses, man.” Kopaka grinned, flicking Malba lightly on his already injured nose.

“DAMMIT Kopaka! STOP!” The sprite shrieked, glaring angrily at the wind/ice elemental.

“Hehheh.”

“I SAID STOP!”

Rae rolled her eyes, turning her attention away from Malba and Kopaka, instead catching Druu’s eyes. “So. Want to start with who you guys are?”

The blue haired psychic let a small smile form on his full lips. “Well. That’s a little complicated.”

“So we’ve heard.” Sano commented.

“I’m curious myself, I have to admit.” Shishio spoke up, watching the psychic intently.

“Yes Shishio-san. I’m sure you are.” Druu replied, a playful smirk overtaking his lips.

Shishio frowned. Damn. The strange psychic knew. With a quick wink from the flamboyant Druu, all energy trace surrounding the psychic simply vanished. Shishio could sense nothing from the blue haired sprite... How disappointing. Now Shishio had nothing more to go on. Hm.

“Well?” Rae prodded, crossing her arms. She wasn’t letting up on this. Not this time. She’d been hanging around these guys for over two years now hadn’t she? It was time for her to learn some answers. Whether she liked what she learned or not.

“We’re not heroes.” Malba stated flatly, a hand pressed to his still bleeding nose.

“We’re not exactly the bad guys either, Malba.” Druu responded evenly.

“...We do what is necessary. Nothing more, nothing less. It isn’t always right or fair, but it’s what we have to do.” Kitsune spoke up, her voice flat. She didn’t turn to face the others, instead continued to watch the ocean waves below.

“Our world isn’t like yours. You have your own problems of course, but considering, you have a fairly stable world. You have a balance of sorts.” Druu paused, running a hand through his thick, dark blue hair.

Rae pondered this. A balance?

“It’s fair to say if things continue to progress...Our world will die. We want to prevent that from happening, if possible.” Druu stated firmly, glancing first to Malba, then Kopaka, and then his gaze finally resting on Kitsune. After a few moments of silence the psychic cleared his throat. “Well...Kitsune? How much do you want them to know?” he questioned softly.

“...Balance. Is a meaningless word in this land. One nation slaughters the humans mercilessly while another destroys all non-human life without fail. Slavery. Mass genocide. Parasitic bioengineered weapons that feed on the flesh of living beings. Power crazed officials, demons, humans, elementals, technology and famine. Opposites with no balance or peace. Where to even begin in telling of our world? Sometimes, I wonder if it would be best if we just let it die.” She spoke slowly, her tone flat, emotionless.

The group fell into silence, each taking in Kitsune’s words.

What the hell was she supposed to think, that’s what Rae wanted to know? Famine, technology, genocide? What the hell could have gone so wrong in this world?

“So. Where do you guys fit into this?” Sano questioned. He, much like Rae, was a bit unsure as to what to think. A world with no balance...

“We don’t fit in.” Malba answered quietly, his dark eyes dropping, staring at the ground.

“Heh. He’s right about that, man.” Kopaka chimed in, a smirk on his lips.

Personally, Shishio really didn’t see the problem. Chaos and unbalance sounded pretty cool to him. Though he also had come to realize over the years that his perception of cool and fun seemed to differ greatly from most so he kept quiet. This was still entertaining, either way.

Sano turned to notice that the ghost-boy, Yuki had edged a bit away from the others, his pale face seemingly even paler. The spiky haired teen moved closer to the spirit, nudging the silver haired young man with his elbow. Sure the kid could be annoying sometimes, but Sano had grown to like the guy, kind of like a scaredy-cat little brother or something. Okay so technically it would be older brother, but whatever. “You all right?” He asked the ghost quietly.

“It’s just sad.” The ghost whispered softly.

“Yeah. I guess so.”

“So...What...what do you all...do?” Rae questioned slowly.

“We...we do what we can.” Kopaka answered, taking a drag off of his lit cigarette, a frown overtaking his lips.

“Which is never enough. Never will be.” Malba added flatly.

“We fail. We succeed. It never ends.” Kitsune stated, turning to meet Rae’s eyes for the first time since they had arrived on the cliff. “We never win. We don’t always do what’s right. We do what we have to do. You still think that you trust us, hm?”

The pink haired girl stared into the demon’s ice blue eyes. Tired, weary eyes.

“I trust you.” How couldn’t she? Those eyes held no evil, no malice. Druu, Malba, Kitsune, Kopaka. Their eyes... She trusted those eyes.

“Sounds to me like you all want what’s best for this place, so yeah maybe things don’t always go your way or whatever, but that’s the way it goes, right?” Sano added. If they wanted to help their world, that couldn’t be wrong right? Right?

“I agree.” Yuki said softly, nodding his head, eyes cast to the ocean.

“We all have our own scars and our own worries. We all have our own agendas. As Malba stated earlier, we certainly are not heroes. But I can’t believe that we are bad either.” The psychic spoke, running a lean hand over his eyes, rubbing his head wearily.

“If you’re strong, you live. If you’re weak, you die.” Shishio added helpfully.

Rae rolled her eyes at the mummy. “Ignore him.”

“Mummy-man man. Heheh.” Kopaka smirked, reaching over to tug on a bit of the bandaging around Shishio’s face.

“Could you quit that please?”

“Heheheheh.”

“My brother. Kouji. He is a half-human.” Kitsune suddenly confessed emotionlessly.

Rae raised an eyebrow at the sudden confession. What had brought that on? A...half human?

“Kouji is half human?”

“His mother was a human. My father had a human woman.” She nodded.

Malba’s eyes widened slightly at Kitsune’s calm remarks. “Uh...Are you sure you want to tell them all of this? About Kouji?”

“You yourself said that we’ve involved them. So what does it matter now.” The tricolor-haired demon asked coolly, her tone almost defeated.

“So I take it being a half human is bad here, huh?” Sano questioned.

“It’s not a real popular species, but there’s more to it than that.” Druu answered, glancing at the fox.

“His mother...was special. It carried into his blood as well. He... cannot be found. We have to keep him safe. At all costs.” Kitsune answered, lowering her eyes.

“Which is why you brought him to me that one time, isn’t it? You had to get him away! He almost got ‘found’, so you had to take the chance on hiding him with me, right?” Rae realized, eyes widening. Kitsune had brought her the younger boy that one day, over a year ago... To keep him safe. But from what?

“Yes. It was a risk I had to take. There was no other way but to jump.” The demon admitted with a slight nod of the head.

“You keep calling it a ‘jump’? What the heck is it? I mean I thought you guys just had the magick power or whatever to teleport wherever you want. I mean you all seem pretty damn powerful.” Sano questioned, confusion flickering through his brown eyes.

“It is magick. Sort of. However, it isn’t our own. We can just control it. With this ability, we are able to literally jump the borders of our dimension, which leads directly into, well. Your dimension.” Druu explained running a hand through blue hair.

“So, you still haven’t said exactly what you guys are. You want to keep the world from dying. How?” the spiky haired brunette asked, studying the non humans. Sano still wasn’t sure he understood. It seemed pretty damn complicated, actually. He could really use a drink about now...

“What would you call us?” Druu questioned, glancing to his comrades.

“...Mercenaries? Assassins? Hell if I know.” Malba shrugged.

“We work for whoever best serves our interests at the time. We kill who we need to kill, do what we need to do.” Kitsune answered coolly.

Assassins? Mercenaries? Shishio liked the sound of that. He couldn’t help but let a small smirk form on his lips. Maybe he could hire them someday, cut down some of his business rivals... Hey, modern business could be a cut-throat business...

“I’m not sure that mercenary or assassin is the best term, but it‘ll do I suppose.” Druu smirked, placing a hand on his hip.

“So...uh you guys kill people of a living?” Sano stuttered, eyeing the group wearily. Killers for hire?

“Not exactly. We’re not in it for the money, Sanosuke. But playing the role of an assassin, a mercenary for hire has its advantages.” Druu responded, giving the brunette a reassuring smile.

“Money is cool though. Heheh.” Kopaka grinned.

Malba rolled his eyes at Kopaka, annoyance flashing on his face. “Idiot.”

“We fight one battle at a time. We never really win though. ‘Cause you know, you might fix one little thing, and ten more things, worse things just take its place. It’s basically useless.” Malba commented, flicking a strand of long, black hair out of his eyes.

“But what are we supposed to do man, give up? No way. It’s funnnnner this way.” Kopaka smirked, yanking a piece of Malba’s dark locks.

“...Fun? Idiot.” Malba snapped, jerking away from the grinning Kopaka. The dark haired sprite then raised a hand to his sore nose, noticing another small trickle of blood slowly dripping down. “DAMMIT Kopaka! You made my nose start bleeding again! Idiot!”

“Dude, how does me pulling your hair make your nose bleed?”

“Idiot!”

“Uh, anyway. So um, what about this Ryuuji guy? Who’s he? You willing to tell now?” Rae questioned, meeting Druu’s lavender eyes.

Druu let out a sigh, once again quickly raising a hand to rub his eyes.

“Well this is a day of confessions it seems, hm? I suppose keeping you all in the dark has no real point anymore. Ryuuji... Ryuuji is a dear friend... And our shadow.” Druu trailed off, another sigh escaping his lips.

“Shadow?” Sano questioned, eyebrow raised.

“He blends. He can get where we can’t. A spy. Double agent. Infiltrator. Get it? In other words, a sneaky little bastard.” Malba quipped, a smirk forming on his lips.

“A possibly dead, sneaky bastard. We’ve lost all contact with him. It’s been months.” Druu added, lowering his eyes.

“No, we’re not lucky enough for that. I’m sure he’s still around. You worry too much.” Malba shrugged, eyeing the psychic with perhaps a bit of...Rae couldn’t quite place the look. Could it be sympathy? Hm...

“So is he another fai-elemental like you three, or something different?” Shishio couldn’t help asking. Really, this was so entertaining. He’d have a great story to tell his minions once he returned to hell. Now if only he could read into the psychic’s energy again...

“Actually, no. He’s a demon.” Druu answered, noticing Malba’s angry glare at Shishio’s almost slip of the word ‘fairy’. “Now, now Malba, calm down.” He told the sprite soothingly, winking at Rae.

Rae felt a small smirk form on her lips as Malba continued to glare at the bandaged ruler of 4/10ths of hell. Malba could get so bitchy, she thought amusedly.

“So, I guess he uses demon magick like the fox here.” Sano stated, gesturing to Kitsune.

“Er. Well actually, he rather likes guns...” Druu replied, a sheepish grin overtaking his lips.

“...Guns?”

“BANG BANG man. Heheheheh.” Kopaka added helpfully, using his fingers to demonstrate.

“I know what a gun is, Kopaka.” Sano frowned.

“Heheheheh.”

“So you have guns here too, huh.” Rae commented.

“You’d be surprised what technology you can find in parts of this world. For all of Laineka’s primitiveness, there are areas with technology that you probably have never seen...and never want to see.” Druu stated, fiddling with the hem of his shirt.

“Yeah like microbe biomechanics that are injected into humans. Microbes that slowly work their way through the bloodstream, into the brain, eating it away until nothing is left but a mindless zombie. A living doll.” Malba stated softly, eyes holding a blank expression.

Rae raised an eyebrow. How horrible. To be taken over, eaten away. She shuddered. Like something from a horror movie. Only this was no movie... Hm...Why did it seem that what Malba had just said seemed somehow personal to the darkness sprite? A flash of pain in his dark eyes...

Abruptly Kitsune turned to once again face the ocean, clearing her throat. “I think that’s enough for now. We need to get moving.”

Druu nodded. “I think Kitsune is right. This has, hm, been a quite stressful day for all of us. Why don’t we call this meeting to a close for now, neh?”

Rae hated to leave it at that, but could tell that this discussion had been taking its toll on the assassins. Their eyes held a weariness... “Sure that’s enough for now. I’m just happy that you’ve finally decided to not be so fucking secretive.” Rae smirked, tucking her long bangs behind her ears.

Druu smiled weakly at the girl, rubbing his eyes wearily. “Yes well, I know we haven’t answered all of your questions but... We will. Kopaka has been nagging us about it for quite some time you know. He has always believed that you should know. I suppose it was just... We don’t want to get anyone else hurt, understand?”

The pink haired girl looked over to Kopaka affectionately. “You mean you’ve been taking up for me all along, Ko-chan?”

“Heheheheh. You’re the pink human girl man, man! Heheh.”

“...Uh? Okay.” Sometimes she really didn’t get Kopaka...

“So does this mean you guys aren’t going to constantly slap the whole ‘It’s not your concern’ thing in our faces anymore?” Sano questioned suspiciously. Okay so he hated to admit it, but he’d kind of become involved in this weird group. Rae, Yuki, the assassins... He’d grown to like them, not that he’d really admit it. And well...Dammit he was involved now, whether they liked it or not! ...He still hated Shishio though.

“Yes Sanosuke. I believe it’s time to stop the games. I won’t try to keep things from you anymore.” Druu nodded, a small smile on his lips.

“Yeah right. He keeps things from everyone. Including us.” Malba snorted, rolling his eyes.

“Who, me?” The psychic questioned, blinking his eyes innocently.

“Feh.”

“Kopaka. Take them back to their world. I need to discuss something with Malba.” Kitsune ordered, a small breeze catching the demon’s hair, gently blowing the black, white and icy blue locks into her eyes.

“Heh. Okay, man. I’m the cabbie man, man! I got an S license! Hehehh. Do a barrel roll!” He rambled, spinning around, his arms spread wide.

“Hey Kitsune?” Rae asked, moving to stand beside the icy woman.

“Hn?”

“If you ever need to, you can always bring Kouji to my place again.”

“...That would put you in danger. Are you sure?”

“Duh.”

“...Fine.” Kitsune responded, turning away to leave.

“Hey, wait. Can I ask one more thing first?” Rae questioned.

“Hn.”

“The ‘jump’ thing. If it isn’t your magick...then whose is it? What is it?” She didn’t quite understand. If it wasn’t their magick, then what...?

An odd look passed over Kitsune’s face momentarily before she returned to her normal, indifferent expression. “...Does it matter?” She questioned and then shrugged, walking away from the group. She quickly walked down the steep slope leading down to level beach below.

“Hey, I thought no more secrets.” Rae pouted, crossing her arms in annoyance.

Malba only rolled his eyes at the girl’s comment. “I’m gonna go see what bitch fox wants to talk about. Later.” He stated, giving the others a two fingered mock salute before turning away.

“Hey Mals, maybe you should apologize for decking her?” Rae smirked.

“...She hit me first.” Malba frowned, raising a hand to gingerly touch his sore nose...At least it had stopped bleeding...

“Oi. Malba?”

“...What?”

“Thanks for bringing us here.”

“...Whatever.” With that he left, following after the ice demon farther down the beach.

Rae glanced up at the dark grey sky... Funny, it didn’t look any different than a cloudy day on earth... Yet this planet, this land... Was indeed no Earth...

“We can’t remember.” Druu suddenly spoke, watching the girl.

She pulled her gaze from the sky to Druu, confusion in her eyes. “Huh? Can’t remember what?”

“Yeah, what are you talking about?” Sano asked, also confused.

Shishio perked up. He could feel nervousness radiating from someone...But....

“We can’t remember how we obtained the Jump.” Druu stated slowly, a slight look of confusion in his own eyes.

Kopaka nodded. “Yuup. No one knows. We just woke up one day and BOOOM, man. We were in your world. We knew how to jump, jump man, but not why. Can’t remember. Whooaaa...” The grey haired sprite trailed off, instead continuing to spin about, arms spread wide.

Rae and Sano exchanged a confused glance. How could they just one day wake up with the ability? How the hell had they obtained the power to jump?

“That’s really weird. And a little creepy, actually.” Rae stated.

“It is, isn’t it?” Druu nodded, a small smile on his lips.

Shishio jerked around to face the silent ghost boy. Yuki. What...But... Nervousness, and...? “You know.” He whispered, staring intently at the silver haired spirit.

Yuki’s eyes widened, taking a step away from the bandaged man. “Wh-what are you talking about, Shishio-san?”

Oh Shishio was sure of it. In that instant, as Druu, Rae and Sanosuke continued to discuss the strange Jump ability, Shishio had sensed it. The ghost boy knew. But how? How did this spirit know of the jump and... It was odd wasn’t it, how silent he had been. Hanging back, eyes focused on the sea. Yes, Shishio was sure of it. He let a smirk form on his burned lips. “Oh? Never mind Yuki. I must have made a mistake.”

A look of relief washed over the pale spirit’s face. “Uh. Yeah.” With that the spirit moved away from Shishio, moving to stand beside Rae.

Hm, Shishio was really starting to enjoy this. The boy definitely knew something. And Shishio couldn’t wait to find out what. These people were really quite interesting to observe. Almost as fun as running Disney.

“Okay man, let’s get back to the woooorld, maaan.” Kopaka chirped, grabbing a hold of Yuki’s arm, forcing the spirit to spin with him.

“Kopaka-san! St-stop!” The ghost whimpered, eyes wide.

“Heheheheh.”

“Are you staying here?” Rae asked Druu, for the moment ignoring Kopaka and Yuki.

“For now. I have a few things I need to check out.” Druu nodded.

“You’ll find him. I know you will. And hey, I can’t wait to meet him. Gun toting demon dude, sounds cool.” Rae smiled, patting the psychic reassuringly on the shoulder.

“Yeah, he’ll turn up.” Sano smirked, placing his hands on the back of his head, stretching his lanky body.

“Yes, well. Thank you. Rae. Sano.” The psychic smiled wearily.

With that, Kopaka let out an odd laugh and he, Rae, Sano, Yuki and Shishio disappeared, leaving Druu alone to look over the cliff, down at the dark water.

“...Where are you Ryuuji?”

* * *

It had been a very odd day. Honestly it hadn’t fully sank in yet, not really. Rae lounged back on her bed, thinking over the odd conversation. Assassins, mercenaries? Slavery and technology, unbalance and...

She hadn’t learned everything, not nearly enough. However... At least, at least her friends were finally starting...starting. To trust her.

A small, sad smile formed on her lips. No, she still had lots to learn about her friends, but from what she now knew. They all... All seemed so sad.

...Why had Kitsune and Malba grown so angry over Druu’s visit to Laineka? Why were they so overprotective of the psychic? Who... Who was that Veenom woman?

...Most importantly....Why did they all have such haunted looks in their eyes on that rocky cliff...

She wanted to help. Even if she was just a lowly human... She was now involved. Way involved. She glanced over at Sano, back in his typical corner, a bottle of booze in hand. Yet his eyes held that same look... Yeah, he could feel it too, she knew. Like it or not, she and Sanosuke had become involved. And somehow, Rae figured things were about to get a helluva lot more complicated but... She was ready. By the look in Sano’s eyes...She was pretty sure he was ready too.

“Hey, duuudes, we still got a party to plan, man.” Kopaka chirped, floating about the grey room.

“Oh yeah! Rae-chan, we still need to plan your birthday party!” Yuki replied cheerfully, back in his favorite beanbag chair, petting Colette.

“I still say we should have it in hell.” Shishio suggested from his spot on the small, dark couch.

Rae sat from her lying position on the bed, looking at her friends in surprise. “You still want to have a party? I mean my birthday was a long time ago. It’s really no big deal.”

“Yeah, plus if we have a party, I’m telling you, something bad will happen to me. It always does.” Sano replied glumly from his spot near the wall.

“Oh come on Rae-chan! Parties are fun. It doesn’t matter if it isn’t your birthday anymore.” Yuki smiled enthusiastically.

“Er...well if you guys really want to... I guess its okay.” She replied, ignoring Sano. Plus she was happy to see Yuki smiling again. It hadn’t escaped her attention that the spirit had been acting oddly quiet while in the other world... Plus out of the corner of her eye, she had thought she had caught a strange interaction between Shishio and the spirit... What the heck had that been about? She’d have to ask the ghost later.

“PARTYYY Heheheheh! I’m the party man, man! Can we have giant bunnies?”

But for now, apparently she had a party to plan.

~To be continued.

((Revelations and more mysteries abound. What did you think, neh? Look, plot developing amongst all the randomness. XD

More plot to unfold later. ^^;

I really need to update the cast page now. So much new stuff to put. Plus, a timeline thingie is needed. God help the poor soul who stumbles across this journal for the first time. I’m sure any newbie to my journal would be highly confused and scared. Heck, anyone who reads my journal PERIOD is probably confused and scared. All well.

That’s all for now. And no, I’m not going to wait for months to pass before updating again. I promise. PROMISE.

I’ll update again in the next few day. *nod*

Sorry if there’s any typos, etc in this. I am SOOO tired. No sleep = badness. Plus I couldn’t get my descriptions to sound very good I’m afraid. Especially that damn cliff and beach. I could picture it in my mind just fine, but trying to describe it? Geh. I suck. Please excuse my suckyness. Okay. Um. Anyway.

Laters.

~Rae))