Fan Fiction ❯ Kiranai Hebun-Year One ❯ Part Six-Search for the Star Point ( Chapter 6 )

Year One-Part Six

Search for the Star Point

"Four tickets please!" Kouner announced loudly. She stood at the ticket booth, a large smile on her face. She wanted to get away from this constellation as much as the others. So much had happened here that just made all of their stomachs turn. Especially Kiei's, who still hung back away from the others. Devona stood at Akki's side, her eyes were still firmly on the ground. Almost as if she were ashamed too. By the look on Akki's face, Kouner knew he was worried about her. "Hey guys! We got one room this time, and four beds! All because we were early!" Kouner stated. Holding the four tickets firmly in her hands. The other three looked up at her and nodded slightly. "Oh, stop being so sad now..." Devona raised her eyes to look up at Kouner. She put a slight smile on her face, trying to hide her sadness. "What are you talking about Kouner?" Kouner lost her giddy smile. "Oh come on Princess! Do you really think I am that stupid?!" "Well, then how stupid are you?" Devona asked, slyly. Kouner sighed heavily and shook her head. "Princess?" asked a voice. It came from behind them, and sounded as if it were an older man. Akki and Devona both looked behind them to see a short old man standing next to Kiei. "Did you say Princess?" asked the man. "Why does it matter?" replied Akki. His hand was at his side, ready to grab his sword in seconds. "Would she be an Itsutsu no Hime?" Kouner narrowed her eyes toward the man, and placed her hand on her bracelet. "Ok Buddy, who the hell are you?" "I am just a poor beggar. I have heard stories about the Itsutsu Hime. There is a legend of a town on the third constellation. They say that somehow they know that they have a star point..." "A STAR POINT!?" yelled the three guardians. "Yes..." "Oh wow guys! This is great! Even if it isn't Dev's Star Point, we know that it is at least one of the Princess' right?" claimed Kouner. "I don't know Kouner, no one is suppose to know where the Star Points are..." protested Akki. "Oh, come on Urufu! We have to look at least. We can't just by pass this opportunity up! It could be true, or not. It's on our way too! Not like we have a strict path we are following. Come on Urufu..." "All right, what harm can it do?" "YAY!" They thanked the man, and headed onto the large ship. As they went on, they didn't hear the evil laughed which followed behind them.

They had to wait a few hours for the boat to leave. Being that they had finally arrived somewhere early for once. Something new for all of them. Kiei was laying down on his bed, thinking about stuff that none of them were going to ask about. Akki was sitting up on the deck, examining his sword. People kept their distance as they walked by him. Devona stood alone on the deck. She was leaning on the railing of the boat, watching the birds that flew in the sky. Kouner watched her from a safe, hidden, distance. I wonder what she is thinking about, Kouner thought to herself. She seems to be really deep in thought... As if Devona hear Kouner's thoughts, she looked up at her. Kouner laughed nervously and made her way over to Devona and leaned next to her. Keeping her eyes on the birds. As if they were her intention of sight in the first place. "Were you spying on me Kouner?" asked Devona. She was caught in the trap of Devona's net. Being reeled in like a fish from the sea. "No Devona, I was not spying on you. Just...watching you." Devona narrowed her eyes at her. "Same thing." "No..." "YEA." "Sorry." Kouner continued to look at the birds as the flew in the sky. "Hey Devona?" "Yea?" "Have you ever wanted to fly? You know, just escape life for a while, and be free." Devona leaned her elbows on the rail and her head on her hands. "Yea, all the time. Especially in school...or when I found out Mark was cheating. Even here at times, I just wanna get away." Kouner looked over at Devona and smiled. "I guess we have a lot in common." Devona looked at her and smiled as well. Nodding as she did so. "Is there something that you wanted to talk to me about Kouner?" Kouner looked away again. Her eyes fell on the ocean on which they road. How could she ask this girl such a personal question? A question that no female would tell the answer to except a good friend. Still, Kouner's curiosity grew. "Devona? Do you have feelings for someone right now?" Devona's eyes got wide and she looked the other way. "By...what do you mean?" "Are you, 'in love' with someone?" Devona kept her eyes away from Kouner, looking at the birds once again. A loud sigh was heard, and Devona's head dropped to look at the sea. "I don't know." "You don't know?" Devona looked back over at Kouner. "I don't know. I know it sounds stupid, but I honestly don't know. I am attracted to Akki more then Kiei, but Kiei is just so sweet..." Kouner pushed her hair behind her ear to hide her face from Devona. So that she wouldn't see the face she was making about the "sweet" comment. You think he is sweet? Maybe the Princesses see something different from the women here too! "...but, Akki has put his life on the line for me so mainly time, but I know that Kiei loves me..." Kouner turned her eyes to Devona. "He loves you? How do you know?" "He told me..." "He did?" "Yea..." Kouner blinked quite a few times, pondering Devona's words. I've never known Kiei to express himself like that. Besides, he just met her, it could be the whole 'Princess love' thing. "Kouner?" Devona asked. This broke Kouner from her thoughts, and back to the real world. "Do you think me a bad person for not knowing my true feelings?" Kouner laughed, gaining Devona's full attention on her. She turned herself so that her back was leaning on the railing. "Dev, you have to remember, you are still a teenager. You don't know your true feelings. The age you are now, you are just seriously thinking about love and a long term relationship. It's only natural for you to have these feelings. Still, I think you should keep this away from Akki and Kiei. Being men they might not understand." Devona smiled and laughed a bit. "Yea, you're right." The two of them stood there and talked for a while. Talking as if they had known each other for years instead of months. Had it been almost three months already? Since Devona arrived in Kiranai Hebun and changed everyone's lives. "You miss your home Dev?" "A little, but I made some great friends on this journey. This is an experience of a life time!" "Oh hell yea!" The two of them laughed and continued to jabber on about numerous things. The one thing that kept sticking out in Devona's mind was about Kouner and Akki. How did she know him? "Hey Kouner, when did you meet Akki?" Kouner didn't answer so a while, which just made Devona want to know even more. Kouner finally looked toward Devona and replied. "Many people fear him, but I don't, and you wanna know why, right?" Devona nodded. "Ok, I'll tell you." Kouner paused for a second and took a deep breath. "Not too long ago, about two years ago I guess, not too long after Urufu became himself again, he came to my village. It was the day I was going to get married, the day I was trying to run away. I was being chased by Makoto's family, they were trying to kill me. Akki..excuse me...Urufu saw this and saved me from them. He helped me escape and I staid with him for about a year or so. Then I found the Neko family, and decided the live with them for a while, and became good friends with Tenshi. That's also how I met Kiei. I tried to tell Kiei that Urufu was a good person, but he didn't believe me, and still tried to kill him." Devona didn't say much, she just slowly nodded. Finally understanding why the three of them knew each other so well. "Well Devona, we should head back down to the room. Kiei is probably getting worried."

Akki continued to examine his sword carefully. Running his fingers over the sharp blade slowly, so he would not cut himself. In his mind, he was examining the situation with Devona. He has grown really close to her in the past few months. Was it really more then the Princess attraction thing. The whole thing just confused him. It had been so long since he had been in love. "Urufu," a voice said. Akki looked up to see Kiei glaring down at him. "We have to talk," continued Kiei. Akki stood up and looked down at the shorted guy. Kiei kept his eyes intently on Akki's face. "What Kiei?" Kiei crossed his arms and closed his eyes. "After what happened with Hanshin and Devona, we can't take any changes. Hanshin is going to try the same thing again, and we have to control ourselves." Akki laughed. "We?" "Shut up, I'm not done. I know you are attracted to Devona too, so we have to promise ourselves something." "What?" "That neither of us makes any advances to her. All we do is in the favor of her safety. I don't want her hurt with another broken heart. SO, don't even try to get a 'closer' relationship or anything. It will hurt her and you as well." Akki paused and looked at Kiei for a few minutes. "Why are you telling me this." "Just don't make advances to her, Ok?! For her sake and yours." Kiei turned and started to walk away from Akki. Akki reached out and grabbed his shoulder, stopping him. "What about you?" "I won't make any advances toward her either. Even though I KNOW my feelings are real." Kiei removed Akki's hand from his shoulder, and continued to walk away. Akki watched in amazement as he left. Wondering when the little Prince became so wise and intelligent. Also, when did he get over his perverted attitude and get serious? Akki walked over and picked up his sword and looked at it. "I guess that means I don't have to worry about my feelings any more. I can't show them anyway, even if they were real."

The boat landed on the third constellation with the three guardians and their Princess well rested and ready to look for the star point. Still, they had no idea what city it was around this area that was suppose to have the legend. They started down a path through some more dark woods. The two guys stood away from the group. Akki in back, and Kiei in front. Kouner and Devona were in the middle. Any time Devona would even try to talk to one of the guys, they would just ignore her. Kouner got worried, but had no time to ask them what they were doing. She didn't want Devona to hear her ask. It might upset her even more. As it was, Devona wasn't being her normal perky self. They must have been walking for almost a hour when Akki came to a stop. The others stopped too and looked at him. "Someone is following us," he whispered. The three all went into their fight stances. Devona just stood there, thinking about how much a fool she was. Silence filled the air for what felt like forever. Devona wondered why they stopped in the first place. No one was following them, or they would have attacked by now. Suddenly a wild yell was released and someone jumped Akki from behind and began to choke him. Kouner and Kiei tried to help but were jumped as well. Devona looked around frantically for something that she could fight with. It was times like this when she wished she already had her star point. Someone leapt from the bushes and tried to jump Devona as well. Luckily, Devona moved out of the way, and the person hit the ground. "Dev..." Akki managed to get out. "Run..." Devona didn't think twice, she just took off running down that path, not looking back. She knew the person couldn't be far behind her. She could hear their foot steps hitting the ground. They were gaining on her and fast. The person leapt again, and this time Devona couldn't move out of the way. She fell to the ground, with the person sitting on top of her. Their hands were wrapped tightly around her neck. "I finally caught you brat. Now I will have to kill you!" the person yelled. It was a voice of a girl about the same age as Devona. Devona looked up to try and look at the girl. All she could see was the girl's reddish brown hair falling into her face. Along with her smile which looked like a maniac. "Die bitch!" yelled the girl. She tightened her grip on Devona's neck, making her gasp for air. She was loosing breath now and everything was getting black. So quickly...she was fading away. "EVE!" a familiar voice screamed. Devona couldn't figure out who it was though. Everything was fading away. "Let her go..." The hands quickly released Devona's neck, and she gasped for air. Kouner walked over and kneeled down next to Devona. "You ok?" she asked. Devona nodded slowly, and looked around to try and find the girl. She saw Akki, Kiei, and the people who jumped them standing at the end of the forest. In front of them stood a girl in a leather skirt, and a tank top made out of green bird feathers. Her reddish brown hair was flowing all over the place. One of the jumpers, walked toward the girl, holding a cape in their hands, and a walking staff. The girl took them, and put on the cape. She took the walking staff into her right hand and held it perpendicular with the ground. Akki's eyes were on this girl, glaring at her. Her expression was completely different though. Her face was full of joy and happiness. Apparently by his presence. "Is it really you Akki?" she asked, overjoyed. "Eve..." "IT IS YOU!" She dropped the staff and rushed toward Akki, and threw her arms around him. Hugging him close to her, and tightly. He didn't respond for a few seconds. He then gave in and hugged her back slightly. "I can't believe it's you! I thought I would never see you again!" Devona looked over at Kouner. "Who is she?" whispered Devona. Kouner shook her head slowly. Shock consumed her face, which was practically white. The girl, Eve, let go of Akki. Wiping her tears away from her eyes as she did so. She laughed a bit, as if she wasn't sure what to think. Almost as if she had seen someone brought back from the dead. The girl cried, "I came looking for you after you left...I can't believe I found you after all this time. I missed you so much." Akki didn't say anything, he just stood there and looked at her. With Kouner's help, Devona got to her feet again. Keeping her eyes on this strange girl the entire time The girl lost her smile, and looked back at Devona. The glare that she gave was more like an animals then a humans. "Who is she?" Eve asked in disgust. "She, happens to be a Princess. If you don't know of the legend..." Kiei began, but Eve interrupted. "I know of the legend. I'm not stupid. I was hoping she was something like that to wear those clothes." Devona narrowed her eyes back at Eve. "What is wrong with my clothes?" "Just the fact that they are strange. Very strange if you ask me." "WELL!" Devona snapped. She started to move toward Eve, but Kouner grabbed her arm and pulled her back. "No one DID ask you! DID THEY?! Besides, I'm no the one wearing a feathers for a top!" Eve raised the staff, and quickly swung it to Devona's neck. Stopping just before a killing blow. Her green eyes were wide in rage, and planted on Devona's throat as well. Devona didn't move an inch. In fear that if she did, she would die. "Eve, that's enough," growled Akki. Eve's eyes loosened up, and fell to the ground. She lowered the staff away from Devona to her side. Kouner looked at Akki sternly. "Who is she?" she asked about Eve. In the same tone and manner that Eve asked about Devona. "She is an old friend of mine. Back before I...left my pack," replied Akki. Eve smiled and turned back to face Akki. Devona didn't like this girl at all. Besides the fact that she had already tried to kill her. "Where are you heading, Akki?" Eve asked. Devona just smiled and waited for Akki to snap at her. Tell her not to call him Akki. He only allowed Devona and Ka to call him Akki. Not some freaky slut that tried to kill the Princess. To Devona's amaze, he didn't. He just replied, "We are traveling, looking for a the star point. We were hinted that there is a city around here that has a legend of a star point. You know anything about it Eve?" Eve placed her hand to her chin, in a pondering pose. Thinking about something none-the-less. Probably about how she is going to kill me, Devona thought to herself. "I think that a town known as, 'Kaliha' is the town you are looking for. They are always talking about the pride for their legends. It's not that far from here, you can stay with us for the night," Eve said, with a smile. Kouner had taken enough of this girl. "Thank you, but I don't think..." "Sure Eve, lead the way," Akki interrupted. His companions stood there, staring at him in shock. He must have really trusted this girl to allow them to stay with her. Even after she tried to kill the Princess too! Eve nodded, with a sly smile, and turned to head to where-ever they were going.

The old man they had seen on at the dock watched them from the woods. He was surprised that Urufu Akki would allow the Princess to go with this new girl. A girl that had tried to kill the Princess. The other guardians were shocked as well. This wasn't like Urufu Akki at all. The man heard a 'hmm' sound, and turned toward it. There stood a woman with purple hair, placed on top of her head, in a sort of crown like thing. Jewels surrounded the crown from all around, making her look like a Princess. "What do you want Kasumi?" he asked the woman. She looked down at him with a smile. As if she had just won a beat, which she pretty much had. "Looks like your perfect guardian isn't as perfect as you thought him to be, eh Sekiyou-san?" She mocked him with every word out of her mouth. Knowing that it would drive him insane, and it surely did. He snapped at her, "Be quiet Kasumi! I know what I am doing!" She placed a slender hand on her hip and narrowed her eyes at him. "Are you sure about that? We as Sages are not suppose to follow the Itsutsu Hime guardians around all the time. None-the-less give them hints about what they are suppose to do. You do know that the star point most likely isn't there, right?" "It was worth a shot." She sighed heavily. "We are worried about you Sekiyou! I know that the sun isn't showing through much, and that is lowering your powers, but this is insane! The others might not be as kind about it. Please...just come back with me." He gave a little smirk. "You know me very well Kasumi. Too bad it's not enough for you to get me to go back with you." Her light blue eyes filled with tears. "Sekiyou...please!" "Good-bye Kasumi." She dropped her hands to her side, disgustedly. Didn't he understand what he was doing was going to get him killed. He was already very weak, and the other Sages weren't going to take this lightly. "Well," someone laughed. "It seems that even the famous Sages have problems too." They both turned to see a pale girl with white hair and ruby red eyes. She was leaning against a tree casually. Giving the two Sages a look, very close to one of death. "Who the hell are you?" ordered Sekiyou. The girl laughed sinisterly. Throwing her head back like some type of animal howling. "I am Hanshin. To you, I work for the enemy. Also known as the great Demoness Mushin." Kasumi's eyes got wide. "You're the one from the second constellation. The one that tried to rape Kiei! You know what the penalty for rape is...death." Hanshin stepped away from the tree, and closer to the taller Sage. "Tried to are the key words in that sentence. I didn't, so I don't have to die." Kasumi narrowed her pale blue eyes at Hanshin. "Doesn't matter. You work for Mushin and you were going to steal his soul." "Isn't that rather hypocritical? I didn't steal his soul, and I didn't rape him. There is no crime." Hanshin began to circle Kasumi, like an animal stalking it's prey. Kasumi turned with Hanshin, and kept her eyes on her. "Your intentions are well enough for DEATH! You must be very high on Mushin's rank if you can steal souls. Besides, you are a dragon, so you more then likely born following her." Kasumi turned to where Sekiyou had been. "Sekiyou..." he was gone. Damn it...he is even starting to act like an old man. "I guess I will have to kill you myself!" Kasumi turned back to where Hanshin had been. But she was gone as well. "Damn it..." There on the ground was a note. Kasumi walked over and picked it up. It was from Hanshin.

Dear Sage. Sorry to disappoint you, but I don't feel like hanging around while you plan on killing me. I have better things to do. Like killing the Itsutsu Hime. I know you aren't going to stop me from doing that. It's 'Not your job,' right? Well, adios then Sagey.

Hanshin

Kasumi growled and crumbled up the note, "I hope those Guardians know what they are doing."

Eve lead the way to the shelter. It took them about thirty minutes to get there. The entire time, Kiei, Devona, and Kouner were surrounded by the people who jumped them. Spears aimed toward them, ready to strike if they moved wrong. Akki, on the other hand, was conversing with Eve. They laughed and reminisced about old time. Devona felt betrayed, like he was having fun with the enemy. Kiei knew exactly what Akki was doing. He was trying to make Devona think that he didn't care about her. Just like they promised, but not to this extent. "This makes me sick," Kiei mumbled. One of the girls brought her spear closer to his throat. "Don't talk, or I will kill you," she warned. Kiei looked at her for a second, then back at Akki. The shelter it's self was not just a shelter. It looks more like a Japanese temple. Plenty of rooms, and very spacious. It was very beautiful, and didn't look anything like a place that killers would stay. The jumpers walked up next to Akki and Eve. Leaving Kiei, Kouner, and Devona alone. Devona let out a sigh of relief. She felt like she could finally breath with out worrying that her head would come off. "Just like him to have a friend like her," Kiei stated. Kouner nodded slowly, as if she didn't want to agree, but did. Devona turned to Kouner, and asked, "What are we going to do? Are we actually going to stay here?" Kouner shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. I don't think Urufu would bring us here if he didn't think it was safe. Though, you never know." "We're with you at least Dev," Kiei said, with a smile. He then winked at Devona. "We won't let anything happen to ya!" Kouner raised her hand up into the air. "That's right! We, the guardians of the Itsutsu Hime will let no harm come to you!" Devona smiled. "Thanks guys, but I just still don't feel comfortable. The house or whatever, reminds me of something from Sailor Moon..." Kouner and Kiei blinked. "What's Sailor Moon?" Devona placed her hand on her forehead and sighed. "You two really need to watch at least a little TV, ya know."