Fan Fiction ❯ Silver Tear ❯ Kit's Night Walk ( Chapter 18 )

Kit's Night Walk

The sky, bloody red, sending a chill over the land as the sun settled itself behind the mountains. Shadows were beginning to appear, giving everything an eerie aura. The landscape was being swallowed in darkness. This darkness, known as nightfall, was the call for many things to dwell.

Shivering slightly, Sukura shifted her kimono closer to her neck. The sudden lack of light made it tingle there with a prickly feeling. Her other hand rested on the hilt of her katanna.

"What's wrong?" asked the person up front. "Are you afraid of the dark or something?"

Sukura took her hand away from her sword and tried to look calm.

"No." she replied, trying to sound as cool as her looks. "I'm not."

"Whatever you say…"

Sukura puffed up for a moment. She was always getting picked on by Yuu. He seemed to have a knack for making her angry.

"Ignore him." Kitasato, who was walking beside her, said comfortingly.

"I am." Sukura replied. She couldn't help but smile at his concern. He was always nice to her.

There was another member of the group, however, that seemed to be a little too friendly.

Sukura shivered as she stared at the long black hair and red horns of Moro, the Zodiac dragon demon. It made her wonder which way this woman was going when it came to her interests. Sukura would normally find herself oddly close to her. Not only that, Moro would give her strange hints such as winks and flicks of her hair. Such behavior was confusing to her, but it also made her uneasy.

Kitasato seemed to know what she was thinking. He let out a chuckle and lightly shook his head.

"What?" Sukura frowned.

"Nothing." Kit smiled. Though he knew that the dragon was only trying to toy with her. He found it amusing so he wasn't about to put a stop to it yet.

"We're almost there." Yuu called from up front.

"It's about time!" Sukura called back.

"What?" Yuu smirked. "Afraid a demon's going to get you?"

"Shut up will you!!"

Moro just giggled.

The group had been following Yuu Harumaka, a young, sleepy spy from a well known empire called the Taisora. He and Moro traveled all the way from the north to spy on Hoku, but since she left them, they decided to visit the imperial city to speak with the emperor about the bounties he'd put on Hoku. Yuu had been leading them to a hideout where they could stay low for a while.

"You know," Sukura called up to him. "We wouldn't have to be doing this if it wasn't for the fact you told those samurai you were from the Taisora! Then we wouldn't have to go into hiding!"

"You were the one who told them how handsome they were for information." he replied. "You know they'd rather be flattered be goats."

"UGH!!"

Kitasato had been quiet for most of the trip. He found these frequent arguments quite amusing, but he didn't have much to say about them and he definitely didn't want to get involved.

Moro, like Kit, was pretty much to herself as well, though she enjoyed picking on Sukura just as much as Yuu. Only she was more amused with horrifying her.

"We're here." Yuu said as he walked up to a wall covered with vines. He lifted them aside to reveal a cave. "Come on."

The rest of them followed. It grew darker and darker.

Kitasato found Sukura fastened tightly to his arm as they merged deeper and deeper within the tunnel.

A moment later, a light appeared. Yuu had lit a torch to reveal a large cavern.

It was roomy. The ceiling was high and the floor level. There were a few sleeping mats, extra garments folded neatly on a rack along with wrapped cloth; no doubt full of extra food, and a used fire pit in the center. Scattered bits of parchment lay everywhere.

"Damn…" Yuu grumbled as he bent over to pick them up. "The breeze always does this…"

"How many hideouts does the Taisora have around here?" Sukura asked, sitting on one of the mats.

"Let's just say that there are enough." Yuu replied as he stacked the papers neatly and sat them on one of the nooks in the cave walls.

"What are those for?" Kit asked.

"These are logs for all who stayed here." Yuu said. "A record, you'd say, for those who used this place last."

"Interesting…"

"This is comfortable…" Moro sighed deeply as she sank into the mat next to Sukura. She glanced up at her with a smiled. Sukura inched away.

Kitasato looked around. He found the place rather homelike himself, but he didn't like being in such a place for so long.

"Well…" Yuu said, sitting on another mat. "I suppose we should stay here for a few nights. Those samurai are probably still searching for us."

"Well…" Sukura started.

Kit didn't stick around to hear it this time. Instead, he walked back out into the tunnel. "I'm going to see where we're at." He said, though he doubted anyone herd him.

"Keep out of sight." Yuu said, making Kit smile. Undoubtedly, he was able to argue and listen to others at the same time. Kit was humored again.

Stepping outside, Kit glanced around before going any further. The dense forest made it seem like he was still back in the cave. It was dark, and the trees seemed to overlap one another. Kit was far from afraid, though he didn't like it in tight spaces for too long, he decided not to worry about it and transformed into his fox form.

Able to move about freely now, Kit walked amongst the trees, hoping to find some sort high point. Eventually, he came to a break in the trees. It seemed to be some sort of path. Following it, he ended up on a high ridge.

"Better…" he said, transforming back into his spirit form. He looked around. Spotting several villages, including the one where Kana, his old nursemaid, lived, he noticed they were traveling west again. Back to the direction of where he came from. Back where he met Hoku.

He sighed and sat cross-legged. He wondered what she was doing at that moment.

Not too far away, Hoku sat high up in a tree. Her task, though not being completely accomplished, was put on hold for the time being. She would still have her revenge on Marrowind, but she had to find out who this white hared woman was. She had this feeling that she knew right where that mage came from. Ever since that bounty started, she started seeing her. Controlling the powerful demons that attacked her. Hoku was still far from knowing what exactly was going on. Was she, herself, really that powerful? Powerful enough to make the emperor fear her that much? Though she did beat Marrowind. Maybe she was a lot stronger than she thought.

Hoku sought the north west. She was going to the imperial city, to the emperor himself. She was going to find out what was going on even if it killed her.

Just then, Hoku winced. She looked down at her leg and saw a large beetle crawling up her pant leg.

"Aaaahhhh!" she stood up and flicked it off with a force that sliced the bug in half. "SCREW THE EMPEROR!! I'LL KILL ALL THESE DAMN BUGS FIRST!!!"

Kit sighed. He stood up and started walking along the ridge, wondering when Hoku would catch up to them. He knew she wasn't too far away. As a matter of fact, he could almost hear her voice.

He amused himself for a moment. Thinking that whatever Hoku had to say had something to do with her fear of insects.

"It was a fierce battle indeed…"

Kit froze. He had heard voices from somewhere in the dark. Making sure to be as quiet as possible, he inched his way toward the sounds.

"She's strong, no doubt, but do you really think it was a fair fight?" a woman asked.

"No, from what I heard, she saw the whole thing." came a second woman's voice. "The lady was possessed."

"She wasn't killed was she?" the first one asked in a fearful tone.

"Thankfully not." the second reassured. "I admit that without her, the humans would be roasting us by now."

"Well, I still think it's amazing how one could be so strong." the first said. "She's not even a true Zodiac-"

"You're wrong." the second interrupted. "Noshiro told me that the sign of the cat had appeared during the attack…"

"What about Hoku?!" Kit couldn't hold himself back anymore. He burst into a clearing where two Zodiac rabbit demons were standing, astonished by his intrusion.

Both girls were silent.

"Please, tell me." Kit said, keeping his calm once more. He didn't want to frighten them away. "Did Hoku fight Marrowind?"

The taller one, blonde hair with a white kimono, that Kit identified as the owner of the second voice, gulped and said; "Yes. Do you know of her?"

"Yes." Kit nodded. "I was her travel companion. You mentioned Noshiro, did she witness the battle?"

"You know Noshiro?" the girl, young with brown hair and tan yikata, asked, astonished.

"I do."

"Wow." the blonde said. "You get around, don't you?"

Kit couldn't help but blush a little.

"I guess you could say that." he then realized he was getting off the subject. "Um, you say that the Zodiac symbol of the cat appeared on Hoku's forehead?"

The blonde nodded. She seemed to be the one doing all the talking. The younger one seemed to be a bit shy.

"She used this awesome attack, then BAM! Marrowind was knocked clean out!" she said. "I've never heard of such a thing. Well, Noshiro told me that she saw the symbol at the time it happened. She doesn't believe that Hoku knows about it just yet."

"Strange…" Kit said thoughtfully. "Do you know what way Hoku was headed?"

"Rumors say she's headed this way." the young one finally said. "We're not sure where she's going."

"Oh." Kit blinked. He then stared at both girls for a moment. "You rabbits like to gossip, don't you?"

"Yup!" they both winked. "Anything that goes on, we know about it!"

Kit smiled. He then scanned his brain again.

"Hey, in that case, do you know of the demon called Silver Tear?"

Both girls stared at him for a moment.

"You speak of the horrible demon that kills all who sees him." the blonde shivered. "We don't know much about him. You see, whoever sees him is killed instantly. There were never any survivors to tell stories. All we know of is that after every killing, he leaves silver teardrops on the ground and disappears without anymore trace."

"That explains the drops of silver we saw at that one village…" Kit murmured.

The rabbits nodded.

"Well, I suppose I should head back." Kit said. "Thank you for your time ladies."

Both girls giggled as he transformed into a fox and leapt away.

"He was kind of cute…"

Back on the ridge. Kitasato made for the cave. Along the way, he admired the scene of the night sky. The stars were bright. Such a perfect night for wandering. Instead, he thought it best to return to the others. He'd already been gone longer than intended. He didn't want the others to start worrying about him.

At that moment, a soft sound came from the shadows in front of him. Kit stopped and stared at a pair of glowing yellow eyes. The sounds he was hearing had been low growls.

Kit transformed again. Back on two feet, he held out his staff at the beast that awaited him. He could sense its energy.

"Come out if you value your life."

A huge white paw stepped out of the shadows followed by four more along with a massive stripped body.

"I had a feeling you were around here somewhere." Kit said, showing no emotion. "What do you want?"

The tiger paused. Letting out a growl he assumed the shape of his Zodiac spirit form.

"I wasn't following you." the tiger said, keeping a cool expression as well. "I was merely passing through."

"So, you're still following Hoku then?"

"That's none of your business." the tiger hissed.

Kit kept his calm, though he'd prefer to kill this beast here and now, a little voice was telling him to hold back. Instead, he started to question.

"You're headed west…" Kit said. "Odd, we happen to be heading that way as well."

"Such things happen coincidentally." the tiger said. "I hear from Marrowind that something stirs, and I wish to investigate."

"You know Marrowind?" Kit asked, growing curious.

"Yes, what of it?"

"Such rudeness is modeled by that of an ogre." Kit remarked.

"Yeah? Well we all need our references to survive here."

Oddly enough, Kit was starting to grow rather fond of this person. His remarks seemed to be up to par at least. He was kind of having fun with this. Though he hated this tiger and wished to end his life, something inside him kept telling him to talk.

"Why were you following us before?" Kit asked. "Are you really that indecent?"

"I suppose so." the tiger shrugged. "In any case, I suppose your ugly looks make up for your lack of personality as well. But why am I wasting my time talking to you? I've got work to do," he pulled out his whip. "So if you'll excuse me."

"I've got no reason for holding you back for the time being…" Kit said as he stepped aside.

The tiger strode past him. As he did so, he gave Kit a grin.

"Watch your back fox." he said. He then transformed into the great tiger and whisked away.

"As you will yours…" Kit said as he transformed and leapt in the other direction.