Fushigi Yuugi Fan Fiction ❯ The Girl Who Didn't Believe ❯ To Mt. Reikaku ( Chapter 7 )

The Girl Who Didn't Believe

Konnichi Wa!! Nothing much to write, other than school is starting in a few days time and that I'm probably not gonna be able to write my chapters as fast as I did before. Gomen-nasai for that! I'd promise to try my best, though!! Okay, please forgive me for any grammar, spelling or tenses mistakes that I might make later, gomen, okay? And please remember to review after you read this chapter!! Onegai!! Arrigato gozaimasu!!

DISCLAIMER: I DO not OWN ANY OF THE FY CHARACTERS. THEY ARE not MINE. HEHEH. I do own Kitten and Sable, though.

//…//=telepathic conversations

`…'=thoughts

########## = at another place

^^^^^^^^^^= recall

That's all!! Enjoy!!

Chapter 7-To Mt. Reikaku

It was morning in Konan and the group was about to set off towards Mt. Reikaku. They had eaten their breakfast with Empress Houki and Prince Boushin earlier and it was now time to leave.

"Kaa-san, why can't the uncles, Sable-san and Kitten-san stay longer?" Boushin asked.

"Now, Boushin, we went through this before, ne? Your uncles have some important things that they need to do and have to leave urgently."

Boushin looked a little upset at that. Sable looked sympathetically at the boy but did not know what to say.

At last, it was Kitten who stepped in.

"Look, squirt," She said, bending down to look the boy eye-to-eye. "I know that anything that I'm gonna say now is not gonna help much but I'm sure that after your uncles finish their job, they're gonna come straight back here to visit you. Maybe even bring you a souvenir or two, ne? How `bout that?"

"Kitten is right, no da. We'd be back. We promise, no da!!" Chichiri said, flashing a victory sign at Boushin.

"Yeah, kid." Tasuki muttered. He hated scenes like this. Always makes him feel so damn awkward and helpless.

Boushin seemed to feel a little better after the reassurance and he even managed a smile, much to the group's relief.

Immediately after that, to prevent any further incidents, the cluster of four plus three mules, finally bid farewell to the royal family and went on their way.

It was Sable's turn to lead the beasts and she did so logically, tying the leads of two of the pack mules to the first one, which was sporting a plain wooden perch for Suzaku to roost on (nobody wanted to carry him all the way up Mt. Reikaku), thus making a wedge-like formation. Kitten was trotting beside her, making random remarks on the way and sort of chitchatting with Suzaku, who for once, was not squawking mindlessly away; maybe because of the fact that he is no longer hog-tied and bound to a mule.

Tasuki and Chichiri were trailing behind, to make sure that no one was following them (Chichiri's reason) and also to have some peace and quiet (Tasuki's excuse).

Half a day passed with relative peace and zero conflict. The group had just stopped an hour ago for a quick lunch that was prepared by the palace cooks.

"Tasuki-chan!!" Kitten called out suddenly, breaking the companionable silence. "When are we gonna reach Mt. Reikaku?"

"We're gonna reach there by night fall. And don't call me that." Tasuki groused.

"What?!! Tasuki-chan? I can't hear you!!" Kitten's cheery voice was slightly louder, now.

"I said that we're going to reach there by nightfall!!" Tasuki yelled back.

"Oh I see!! Arrigato, Tasuki-chan!!"

"Stupid onna…" the redheaded bandit muttered.

He did not understand why, but nowadays he kept finding himself thinking more and more of Kitten all the time and he did not understand why, which irritated the heck out of him. He resented Kitten's invasion of his mind deeply.

Chichiri and Tasuki were still behind the girls, and whereas Tasuki was feeling grumpy and foul-tempered, Chichiri, on the other hand, was a picture of contentment. He seemed to be lost in his own little world.

Up front, Sable was smiling at Kitten's excitement. Her friend loves nature to an unbelievable extent.

"Hey, Sab!!" Kitten whispered sharply. "Stop!! Don't move!!"

Startled, Sable froze. Even Suzaku stiffened.

//WHAT IS IT?!!//

Kitten pointed to the ground several yards in front of them, where a hare was.

"Look at that!! Isn't him kawaii?" Kitten whispered softly.

Suddenly, the two warriors rushed up. They had heard Suzaku mind-speak.

"What happened, no da?" Chichiri exclaimed.

The animal, apparently distressed by Chichiri's yell, bolted immediately into a clump of bushes.

Everyone stared at the hare as it made its escape.

"That's the fucking reason you girls stopped? To see a fucking bunny? We thought that something bad had happened to you two! Don't give us a fucking heart attack for nothing, onna!" Tasuki fumed.

Everyone immediately switched their attention to Tasuki.

"Tasuki, no da, what's wrong with you, no da? You have been acting peeved since morning, no da."

"Oh, don't you know, Chichiri? Methinks that Tasuki-chan here is not happy because he does not want us onna to go to Mt. Reikaku!" Kitten teased.

At that, Tasuki reacted with lightning speed. He had been pissed off with thoughts of Kitten and calling him "Tasuki-chan" was the last straw. It was payback time.

"I'm sick and tired of you calling me that!! What say you if I call you bitch, huh?!!"

The silence that followed next was deafening.

Sable and Chichiri looked surprised. It was not like Tasuki to behave this way. Kitten turned pale at that insult but otherwise made no attempt to retaliate.

Tasuki, on the other hand, blanched when he realized what he had just said.

"Anou…Kitten, gomen…"

At that, Kitten shook her head as if awakening from a stupor.

"Iie…iie. It was my fault. You told me time and again not to call you…Tasuki-ch…not to call you by that ridiculous nickname, but I didn't listen. It was my fault. Gomen-nasai, Tasuki-san, gomen."

She was still pale, but still, she hurriedly pasted a smile to her face as she bowed and apologized to Tasuki.

"Anou…Kitten…" Tasuki attempted again but Kitten interrupted first.

"Come, Sable, let's continue with the journey. We…we need to get to Mt. Reikaku before nightfall, right? So let's hurry. Chichiri and…and Tasuki-san," Tasuki winced at that polite reference to his name. "You two can stay behind and guard our backs." Thus said, Kitten dragged Sable back front and the journey continued.

Chichiri waited for the girls to walk way ahead before removing his mask and frowning at Tasuki.

"That was totally uncalled for, Tasuki. What's wrong with you?"

"Wakarinai…I don't know. Kit…iie, let's just say that everything has been grating on my nerves for quite a while and I guess I just kinda exploded." Tasuki admitted.

Chichiri sighed.

"This is unlike you, you know. You better go apologize to Kitten soon. You have hurt her deeply. Let's go now, no da."

Chichiri popped his mask back into position and both warriors walked fast to catch up with the girls.

##########

"Are you sure that you are all right, Kit?" Sable asked, concerned.

"Yeah…yeah, I'm okay." Kitten replied quickly.

Sable looked as if she didn't believe her but decided to let matters rest. Kitten would tell her when she is ready to.

Kitten, on the other hand, was deep in thought. `I shouldn't have made the decision I had yesterday night. Now, I'm paying for it.'

^^^^^^^^^^

The night before, when everyone was in bed sleeping. Kitten had tossed and turned in hers, remembering the hurt she felt earlier when Tasuki had vehemently denied even liking her a little. She did not understand why; she normally did not care about what others think of her, but somehow………Tasuki's opinion had seemed to be very important to her. And as her instincts were normally correct, she had decided to follow it and try to make friends with Tasuki.

^^^^^^^^^^

`But what a big mistake.' Kitten thought. `I should have known that I'd be hurt. People think that I have a thick skin, but that's not true………I DO feel and I DO hurt too. Somehow, with the exception of Sable, I always seem to screw up and get harmed whenever I try to open up and make friends. Guess it is really my own fault. Better wise up and keep my distance from Tasuki from now on.'

After that self-counseling session, Kitten felt a lot better. She was about to fool around with Sable when suddenly; a group of unkempt-looking men burst out of the forest and surrounded the girls.

"Well, well…what have we here…" the leader of the group smirked, looking the girls up and down lecherously.

"What the fuck…who the bloody hell are you?" Kitten demanded out loud even as she mind-spoke to Suzaku.

//Suzaku…tell Tasuki and Chichiri what happened and tell them to be careful.//

//I WILL, AND KITTEN, PLEASE BE CAREFUL YOURSELF.//

"Feisty, aren't we? Let's see if you are still that spirited after me and my buddies are done with you." He lunged at Kitten.

Kitten immediately dodged to aside, waited until the man was just past her, then used her elbow to hit him hard on the head. The man roared in pain but didn't get up.

Kitten took a defensive posture and stared at Sable, who had also followed suit.

"Ready, Sab?"

"Anytime, Kit!"

The other men were obviously a little slow as it took them a while to register the fact that their boss had just been defeated by a mere slip of a girl. When they realized that though, they did not take the hint, but instead jumped onto the fray.

The girls had their backs against each other as they took on the scores of men. Their movements were coordinated and fluid as if both had fought like that for countless of times. When Kitten attacked, Sable defended. When some man was about to score an attack against an occupied Sable, Kitten would step in and block and vice versa. Each held their own wonderfully, but unfortunately, for this instance, quantity was better than quality, for the men were just too many to handle. It was getting harder and harder to fend off the attacks and the girls were tiring rapidly.

Suddenly, one of the robbers got lucky. He saw an opening in Sable's defense and he took it. Just as he was about to stab his dagger into Sable's side, Kitten noticed and pushed her friend away. However, the deadly weapon did not meet air but instead drove itself deep into the back of Kitten's shoulder. Kitten flinched, but otherwise showed no reaction towards the wound. She turned, braced herself, and quickly pulled out that dagger, and not missing a step, she used the same dagger and attacked the man.

"HOW DARE YOU ASSAIL MY FRIEND!! YOU"D PAY FOR THIS, BASTARD!!" Kitten took aim and threw the dagger, lodging it deep in the screaming man's forearm.

The two seishi arrived then; just in time to hear Kitten's roar of fury and see her throw that dagger at the man. Both men jumped into the fight, with Tasuki using his tessen and seishi speed and Chichiri using magic and ki blasts. The combat took up all of their attention, and none of them, not even the girls, saw that the leader of the robbers had regain consciousness and was stealthily creeping towards Kitten.

The robbers who were foolish enough to take on the seishi soon found themselves defeated and seriously injured. Yes, Chichiri and Tasuki have the upper hand. The said robbers, finally realizing that they were not up against normal beings, were about to turn tail and flee when the tide turned towards them.

"Stop fighting!! Unless you want this wench to die!!"

Tasuki, Chichiri and Sable turned to see the leader holding a struggling Kitten in a deadly headlock. Sable instinctively started towards the man, but was immediately halted by Chichiri.

"Iie, Sable, don't move. It might trigger that man to hurt Kitten."

"What do you want, bastard?" Tasuki demanded.

The leader smirked. Kitten stopped struggling.

"What else? Everything valuable. And we can start with your diamond fan there."

Tasuki cursed at the leader but obediently lowered his tessen on to the ground. Sable, on the other hand, was observing Kitten intently. Kitten was trying to tell her something and she understood. Using Tasuki as a distraction, Sable crept nearer to the robber leader. When she felt that she was as near as she could possibly be without being detected. Sable crouched into sprinting position and nodded her readiness to Kitten.

Immediately, Kitten purposely made her body go slack in the man's arms.

"What the…" was the last two words the robber leader said before Sable sprinted towards the man and hit his solar plexus so hard that he choked, instantly causing him to loosen his hold on Kitten, who at once turned to face him to deliver a vicious knee in his groin.

The poor man went down squeaking. He blacked out for second time that day.

Chichiri and Tasuki blinked at the sudden change in events. Then Tasuki whooped and picked up his tessen. He didn't need to do much after that. The robbers, upon seeing the fall of their leader for the second time (and both times because of a girl), had fled like mice.

The two girls stared at each other.

"Just like the old times, ne, Sab!"

"Yeah." Sable grinned.

The grin quickly changed into a frown, however.

"Don't you ever scare me like that, Kitten! It was damn careless of you to be caught by that creep. I thought that that was the end of you for sure."

"Baka!! Did you think so little of me then? I'm a Kitten, ne?!! I have nine lives, baby!!" Kitten grinned.

Chichiri and Tasuki walked up to the girls.

"Are you two all right, no da?"

"Hai." The girls chorused.

"Sorry for not being able to help on time, no da. Thankfully, Suzaku was able to communicate with us, no da."

The said kami-sama preened on his perch nearby.

Tasuki was frowning slightly.

"You girls know how to fight?"

"Hai."

"But it is impossible even for us to knock him out in as short a time as you two did earlier. How did you girls bring him down so quickly?" he asked, indicating the robber leader with his head.

Kitten grinned.

"Oh, it just took a good knee in the right place. Always works."

"What do you mea…OHHHH…Ouch."

Tasuki and Chichiri winced collectively when they saw that the unconscious man was still cradling his family jewels.

"Remind me not to mess with you girls, no da." Chichiri said weakly.

Sable smiled.

"Well, that's that. Let's go. I want to reach Mt. Reikaku before anything like this happens again."

"I agree, no da. Let's go, no da. But this time all of us are going to stick together, no da. I don't want us to be caught off guard again."

The seishi were following the girls to the front of the mules when they first saw the injury. Tasuki paled and he rushed forward to Kitten's side.

"Anou…Kitten," Chichiri stammered. "You are wounded."

"NANI!!" Sable yelled.

She rushed back to Kitten.

"Ne?" Kitten questioned. Then she remembered. "Oh, that wound. I forgot about it."

Kitten groaned in pain as Tasuki probed at it gently.

"Itai!! Now that you mentioned it, it hurts like the very devil."

"What do you mean that you forgot, onna?!! How can you forget something like this!!" Tasuki demanded.

Kitten tried her best to focus on Tasuki. It was very hard. She shook her head drunkenly and tried again.

"Tasuki-san………I see five of you…"

"Quick, Tasuki! Catch her!! She's going to faint!!"

Kitten vaguely heard Sable's remark and tried waving it away but her hand suddenly felt so heavy that she could not move it.

"Nonsense," she slurred, "I never faint. Never have and never will."

At that, Kitten contradicted herself and swooned dead away.

"Kitten!!" Tasuki cried out, catching her.

Sable looked grimly at Chichiri.

"Canyou teleport all of us to Mt. Reikaku?"

"It would take all my energy and concentration…but hai, I can, no da. Let's go, then."

Tasuki gathered an ashen-faced Kitten into his arms and stood.

"She had lost a lot of blood, Chiri." Tasuki said shakily.

"Don't worry, Tasuki." Sable looked at the man. If possible, Tasuki looked even paler than Kitten was.

She began to suspect something. `Could it be?' she wondered. Shaking her head to clear her bemused thoughts, she vowed to think this over carefully later, when the danger of Kitten's injury had passed.

"Tasuki, Sable, come stand beside me. And Sable, can you lead the mules and allow them to surround us? Please help carry Suzaku in your hands. I do not want him to be left behind accidentally." Chichiri ordered.

When everything was according to plan, Chichiri again threw his kasa into the air, which as usual, widened to encompass the entire group.

##########

Meanwhile, in Mt. Reikaku………

"Boss!!"

"Later. Can't ya see that I'm occupied now?!!"

The said bandit boss was indeed busy. Busy fighting. He was on the training grounds with the juvenile bandits and was taking them all on at one go. The messenger watched with awe as his handsome blue-haired boss single-handedly trounced the group in a matter of minutes.

"You kids need to train up more. Even an old man like me can defeat you all at one go," someone snorted at that, but Kouji was feeling lenient and decided to overlook it. "Train harder. I'd be back to test you guys, say, in a week's time. Ja na."

As Kouji turned to walk away, he smiled quietly to himself when he heard the groans behind him. Maybe he was too hard on the kids, but he had no choice. Being a bandit is a hard life. Those juveniles need to learn how to be tough or they won't make it in this rough world.

The messenger immediately broke out of his stupor and rushed to Kouji.

"Boss!! I have a message!! It's from the imperial palace!"

Kouji stopped and frowned at that.

"Imperial palace, you say?"

"Hai. Take a look yourself." The man passed the note to Kouji, who immediately opened it and scanned its contents.

"Seems that Genrou is coming back. Together with Chichiri and a few others."

"NANI!! The surrounding men yelled.

"Hai. They are coming for a one month stay or something. And the note says that they should be here by now."

As one, the bandits of Mt. Reikaku looked up. Just in time to see a kasa floating by. In a matter of seconds, everyone rushed frantically to distance themselves from the flying hat. All had remembered when their boss, Genrou, and his friend, Chichiri, had literally dropped in on them. It wasn't an experience that they liked to repeat again.

The group stared at the kasa as it slowly floated till it was around six feet from the ground. Then it kind of enlarged. The first things that came out were three mules, one of which was carrying the most god awful looking bird all had ever seen.

"What the…" the men exclaimed.

Kouji, however, moved forward to welcome his friends.

Sure enough, Genrou soon appeared, followed by a brown-haired girl and at last Chichiri. His pal seemed to be carrying…impossible…a girl? Chichiri, on the other hand, looked drained and was being supported by the brunette.

"Okay…" Kouji said, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "Can someone tell me what the hell is going on here?"

Chapter 7 end!! Is the fighting scene okay? It is my first endeavor in writing one, so I don't really know much about it. Please, someone review and tell me how is it. As for Tasuki making a blunder and calling Kitten "a bitch", gomen-nasai, to Tasuki-fans out there. But I kinda figured that Tasuki isn't Tasuki if he doesn't do some stupid stunts that will hurt the one he will learn to love, ne? Don't worry about Tasuki being guilty for too long………I'd personally make sure that he'd pay *evil laugh*. As you might have figured out, Kitten is the type that is strong on the outside and soft on the inside, (just like us, ne, Metajoker?). Oh, and I am most likely gonna do this chapter all over again soon, as I need to change some Japanese phrases that I've misused. Arrigato again, Metajoker, for discovering my folly. So, if you readers would like to be updated the moment I post the remake of this chapter, please review!! ^__^ (Heheheh, I know that it is a dirty trick, but, hey, it works!!)