Ronin Warriors Fan Fiction ❯ No Namer #2 ❯ Chapter 6

PART 1.6 FAMILY FIRST

"NO SCHOOL! NO SCHOOL!" was the enthusiastic cry taken by the younger children of the Fuan household as they poured back in from the bus stop come Monday morning. Mrs. Fuan blinked, her spoon pausing over the pot she'd been about to stir.

"I just sent you out!" she cried, "Who said there was no school? I never got a note!"

"The bus driver said so!" one boy piped, plunging his fingers into a soft bean bun to get at the insides before his mother thwapped him soundly on the knuckles with her spoon.

"Yeah!," chirped an older, less adventurous soul who kept his hands to himself despite the temptation of the morning restaurant fare lying sprawled about the kitchen. "He said we were in a state of `mergency."

"What's that mean?" one of the other children asked curiously.

"States are something to do with America," he replied with a wise nod. "You'll learn that when you get as old as me!"

"What does America have to do with us not going to school today?"

"Shhh," Mrs. Fuan finally interrupted them, frowning, her fists coming to rest on ample hips as she perused the faces before her. "Alright, alright! So there's no school today. I'll have your father bring home a paper…must have something to do with the phones and things not working. Where is Chun Fa? I know she went out with you…"

"She's prolly in the bathroom or something," the first boy suggested before grabbing the already mangled bean bun and sprinting for it. Oooh, he was going to pay for that later! A stern look quickly discouraged anyone else from following in his footsteps.

"The rest of you had best find something to keep yourselves busy or I'll gladly put you to work! Shoo!" The children scattered at that very real threat, and Mrs. Fuan would go back to cooking. When Chun Fa had still not shown up, and did not seem to be anywhere in the house, she finally became concerned and raised a hearty voice towards the ceiling…more specifically, towards her eldest son's room. "KEEEEEEEENTOOOOO!!"

"Mngh," Kento pulled his well-loved pillow over his head. He, Sai, and Rowen had spent nearly all of Sunday evening poking around the emptied streets looking for clues or culprits. They had found nothing. He had crawled into bed less than three hours ago. To his weary body, it felt more like three seconds ago. He loved his mother dearly, but when he was this tired, he could think of so many sweeter sounds to hear than that unmistakable `I have a job for you to do' cry. He tried to convince himself that he didn't really hear her, that it had been part of a bad dream, and he could go back to sleep, and-

"KEEEEEENTOOOOO!"

Dammit.

"COMING MOMMA!!" he bawled back, moving the pillow aside and yawning something awful. After a few false starts, he oozed his way out of his bed, into his clothes, out the door, and down the stairs. His mother was waiting for him in the kitchen, eyeing him with a sharp, critical gaze.

"And where were you last night?" she demanded as she took in his tired, unkempt form.

"Umn," he yawned and scratched his side thoughtfully. His brain was churning extra sluggishly this morning. "With the guys, Momma. Rowen an' them…"

"Tch!" she admonished. "You didn't even let me know they were in town! You haven't invited them over or anything!" her train of thought took a sharp turn. "And just what were you boys doing out so late?"

"Er," he replied intelligently. He couldn't quite bring himself to tell the truth. How was he supposed to explain it, anyway? Even he wasn't sure just what they were looking for. "Stuff…?" he mumbled finally. "Guy stuff, Ma…that's all."

"Hnph!" she replied, but let it drop, moving on to the heart of things. "School was cancelled today for some reason. Chun Fa didn't come back inside with the other children. The phones are down, so I can't call her friend's house to see if she went to go play there, and I can't abandon the kitchen. Would you please go see if she's just playing at Kiore or Yuki's? I'd feel better knowing."

"Huh? Sure, will do," Kento blinked and straightened, waking up a bit more. He knew Chun Fa had probably tried to skip school again. He wouldn't give her away, but he certainly needed to talk with her about it.

"Thank you dear," she tossed him three eggrolls and he grinned appreciatively. "Be back soon!"

"Okay Momma," he waved at her and popped an eggroll in his mouth, munching as he headed out the door to find his sister.

Chun Fa liked being at the park all by herself. She didn't have to wait in line to play on the swing or slide, and nobody could tell her when to come inside. She could hang upside down from the jungle gym and nobody would pull at her pigtails. Nobody could tell her not to run so fast, or to get out of thier way, or anything! Hiding was easy, since the park was enclosed by trees on all sides, and the equipment was far enough away from the trails that she could easily see people coming. All she had to do was hide if a grown up came down the jogging path. She hadn't gotten caught even once, and she was starting to feel bolder and more secure. Her backpack was filled daily with toys and snacks rather than books and homework. She'd turned skipping school into a fine art, as far as she was concerned.

Currently, she was perched on the merry go round, industriously making mud pies for the increasingly dirty raccoon plushie leaned against the opposite side. The surface of the merry go round was absolutely filthy, with caked and dried mud on the outer edges and fresher, goopier stuff in the center, where most of the work was done. Chun Fa herself was a sight to see, the skirt hem of her uniform lined with dried and crackled mud, bare legs absolutely coated with the stuff, and her shoes unrecognizable as anything but vaguely foot-shaped globs of brown. She scratched her nose, leaving behind a generous blob of artistic ooze as her small face scrunched in concentration. A fresh cake of carefully sculpted mud patty plopped down with an appropriately rude sound before its furry recipient. She smiled in satisfaction and rubbed her hands on the front of her uniform, sliding down from the rounded platform. She needed more mud. It was getting scarcer, since it hadn't rained in well over a week, and she found herself delving deeper into the trees to acquire her favorite artistic medium.

"You stay here an' eat up!" she shook a dirty little finger at the stuffed toy before scampering to the trees, picking her way through foliage and undergrowth that became thicker the further she strayed from the jogging trail. The plot of trees was not enormous, but only the outer edges were well maintained. The core within was full of brambles and thick, unchecked vines and weeds that choked at the trees and blocked away the daylight. Here, safe from direct sunlight and all but the harshest breezes, mud would last for weeks. She didn't like the smell back here, however. This part of the park smelled of old, standing water and rotting leaves, and each step disturbed swarms of gnats and mosquitoes and grey, scuttling insects that fled too fast for her to identify. Her usual mudholes were exhausted, and she struck out a bit further.

It didn't take her long to find a nice, big mud puddle thriving beneath the shade of a tight knot of saplings absolutely netted and tangled with broad-leafed vines. She paused for a moment, tilting her head at the thick stand of vegetation and thinking to herself how much it looked like a messy-haired, yawning woman's head. The little concave place where the mud seemed to collect looked almost like a distended mouth. So much, in fact, that she hesitated before kneeling to start collecting her messy treasure. The mud squished delightfully between her fingers in smooth, slimy ribbons and she grinned. This was the good stuff!

Her eyes, adjusting a bit to the darkness beyond the concave break in the trees, landed on something that caught her attention. It was a muddy but recognizable sneaker. Two, in fact. She let her eyes pan upwards…there were legs in those shoes. She squeaked in surprise and jumped, going from her knees to her bum in a single breath.

It was a girl, maybe two years older than Chun Fa. She had pretty, jet black hair caught up in blue bows on either side of her head, and wore a scuffed and dirty school uniform. Dark eyes looked back at the smaller girl, but she didn't say anything, nor did she move.

"H…hello," Chun Fa offered a smile. "Are you skipping school too?" The older girl slowly shook her head no.

"You scared me! What are you doing way back here?" she asked, trying to peer closer into the darkness to get a better look at the girl. It was no use. The thick leaves made it nearly pitch within the stand of trees. Chun Fa just now noticed how utterly quiet the little wood had become. She decided the girl's eyes were creepy, as they didn't seem really focused on her and she hadn't seen her blink. She grew increasingly uneasy when the girl didn't answer.

"I'm Chun Fa Fuan, what's your name?" No reply.

"What grade are you in? Your uniform is different, you must go to a different school than me." Still, there was silence. She couldn't figure out whether to be offended or afraid. Afraid? Why should she be afraid? She was just a kid. Granted, she was older and bigger, but she was still just a girl. Something tickled the back of her mind, something she couldn't place.

"Um," she rubbed the back of her head and stood, forgetting all about the mud. "I'm gonna go play…do you wanna come with me?" More silence. "Okay then," she shrugged and turned, heading off. "See you later!"

She was about halfway back when that tickling feeling in the back of her mind rose again. She felt as though she was being watched and she stopped, turning…and screamed in shock. Had they been the same height, she would have been nose to nose with the other girl, who was very literally right on her heels. There couldn't have been more than two inches of space between the heels of Chun Fa's shoes and the toes of the other girl's sneakers. How had she been so quiet? Chun Fa swallowed and smiled nervously.

"Did you change your mind?" she asked, trying to be friendly. The strange girl looked at her with those dull eyes for an uncomfortably long moment.

"Play," the girl said slowly in a raspy, whispering voice. A pallid hand shot out to wrap icy fingers about Chun Fa's neck and lifted her, effortlessly, straight up without even bending her elbow. The smaller girl tried to scream, but found she couldn't breathe, and any effort to squeeze her tiny fingers between her neck and the girl's hand proved useless. She flailed her legs, panic rising sharply within her. "Play," the glassy-eyed girl croaked again, her head lolling strangely to one side. Her hair had covered what Chun Fa couldn't see before…half of her neck was simply gone, torn away in a jagged, bloodless semicircle. Fresh terror shot through her and she twisted violently…and she found herself free. The little girl scrambled desperately to her feet, cold fear knotting in her throat as she ran faster than she thought she ever could. Cold breath chilled along her ear, and a hoarse whisper came.

"Play."

That did it…she belted out a high pitched, long, loud shriek of utter, blind terror, hot tears spilling over chubby cheeks. She tripped on a root and tumbled violently forward, rolling head over heels. She was stunned a moment, then she gathered her senses and rolled to her feet, looking around in panic. She was outside the treeline. The girl was nowhere to be seen. Not a leaf stirred along the trail. She stared back the way she had come. A dream? A horrible, realistic daydream? No…her neck ached something terrible. Could one imagine pain? Perhaps…but she never had before. Something touched her from behind and she screamed, whirling.

"Chun Fa!!" Kento blinked and knelt, startled at the look of pure fear on his little sister's face. She pounced and clung to him suddenly, sobbing loudly. He picked her up and held her, soothing her back and bouncing her lightly. "Hey, sshhh…what is it? What's wrong?"

It took Kento a moment to realize that someone was laughing. It started out as a low, soft sound, but was quickly building to a high pitched, insane cackle that echoed through the trees. Kento growled softly and held his still weeping sister closer.

"Who's there?!" he cried in irritation. He wasn't in the mood for games. "Did you do this to her? Come out!"

"Wonder, wonder," came a hoarse, gleeful voice. "Wonder I does, what she'd taste like, I do!" Kento ground his teeth, angrier by the minute. What kind of jerk scared little kids like this? He'd love to seek him out and pummel his face into a pulp…but he had to get Chun Fa home. He didn't dare put her down and leave her alone under these circumstances. He hated to walk away from this, but he had to. He turned and strode off across the park.

Something was coming up behind him, and fast. He sensed more than heard it, and he leapt away…the grass where he had been standing was now a deep gouge in the earth. Something dark blurred away into the trees.

"Fast one, ye are, give ye that I will!" cackled the voice. Kento took a quick glance around. Nobody else was here, it would seem. "Shall we see just how fast ye be?" Leaves would burst from the undergrowth nearby and Kento jumped again. He landed and stumbled, blinking. His left shoe was missing the sole. It had been cut cleanly away. That might have been his foot, had he been any slower. Whatever his attacker was, it most certainly couldn't be human, could it? He glanced down at the trembling Chun Fa. Her face was hidden in his chest. Good. He shifted her to one arm and held out the other, navy eyes somberly trained on the foliage before him. The scent of cherry blossoms wafted briefly on the air, a quiet, orange glow, and the familiar, comforting weight of his weapon of choice gladly burdened his fingers.

"Ahh," the voice crooned. "Ye be gettin' serious then? But I wouldn't dare, no, not yet. Ol' Deonus knows, now's not the time, no…but soon…yes…hee hee hee!! Soon…"

"Rrrrgh, just get out here and fight!!" Kento snarled. He was met with silence. "I said come on!!"

"Onii-san…" Chun Fa whispered pitifully. "I wanna go home." Kento went quiet. How could one argue with that? His opponent seemed to have either lost interest or left. He gave a regretful sigh and dismissed the mystical weapon with another flurry of petals. He'd take Chun Fa home, then go find the others. But family first.