Chaptire Six

“Are we there yet?” Lali asked, becoming excited.

            “Almost.” Kuro said playfully. He stepped over a large fallen tree and waited for Lali to get over. Lali was shorter so she hopped over instead, Kuro assisting her on the way over.  They soon came to a bath house which seemed rather too luxurious for Lali’s taste. The two entered the bath house, removing their shoes which were carried away to a show locker, being held up by a line of people who also desired the bath houses amazing healing powers.

            “A bath house?” Lali asked.

            “Well you’re always looking so stressful.” Kuro said.

            “That’s because our family is always constantly finding ways to anger me.” Lali answered.

            “Anyways, I thought you deserved some pampering.” Kuro said and let her inside the bath house, finding a nicely dressed Asian woman dressed in a traditional kimono. She greeted them with a smile and spoke with them in Japanese, Kuro responding fluently and handed her four hundred and fifty yen. The woman bowed, leaving her desk and escorting Lali to the onsen.

            “Wait, aren’t you coming?” Lali asked.

            “Naw, I’ll come in later.” Kuro said with a wave. He leaned in, whispering to one of the woman who nodded and led Lali away. Kuro backed out of the bath house, disappearing outside. Lali was basically being pushed to the out door onsen, having one privately for herself. She was brought to a changing room where the onsen woman handed her a white, fluffy towel along with a wooden basket of bath things along with her bag. They closed the door, leaving Lali utterly alone. Lali suddenly felt Closter phobic, not accustom to being alone. She breathed in and commenced removing her clothes. Once done, she looked down at her stomach seeing the large black markings that surrounded her belly button, the mark always made her wonder where she got it. She quickly wrapped the towel around herself, not wanting to think about it.

            “Kuro wants me to relax.” Lali reassured herself. She took the basket and pulled apart the curtain that was separating herself with the onsen. She was welcomed to a large, circular tub made of stone, misty water bubbling from the heat and large trees making a canopy overhead so the sun wouldn’t leak in. Taking another deep breath, she removed the towel, letting it fall to her feet and started to step into the water. The water was hot, but soon the heat welcomed her by releasing all the tension from her muscles, making her feel in utter bliss. Lali let the water reach her nose, swimming towards a ledge and sitting on it so she could dunk her head under and let her hair float around her in the zero gravity universe. Lali let a sigh of relief escape her mouth as she gazed at the canopy of leaves.

            “Kuro was right, I needed this…” Lali said, sinking even lower till her head was under. Lali then spotted her bag, lying beside the basket of bath supply.

That book I found….. Lali thought. She reached over towards the basket, pulling it closer and grabbing her bag as well. She let a few bath beads into the water and let the foam smelling of irises fill her nostrils. She dug through her bag and pulled out the deadly looking book, letting her fingers skim across the cover, it did in deed feel like flesh. She let her fingers glide across the cover, only to be cut suddenly. She pulled her finger back, sucking her bleeding finger.

            “Ow, paper cut!” Lali said, putting the book away. She returned to letting herself be drifted away in the bath.

I wonder what Kuro was up to? Lali thought before drifting off into her imagination zone.

~ * ~

            Kuro ran his hand along the trunk of a demolished tree, feeling the large claw marks on the side. His nose picked up the scent of a dog, not an Earth dog. Yellow cat ears appeared on top of his head as he listened to his surroundings, hearing the sound of the many species of animals and insects. His ears then twitched at the sound of gory roaring. He turned to the left, his electric blue eyes shining slightly.

            “Left, a hundred and eighty paces.” Kuro said, his nails extending like cat claws and climbing up the tree. He reached the top of the lush’s tree, looking over the forest. He scanned the area till he saw a flock of cranes disperse from the exact location he predicted. He growled, soon jumping from tree to tree as he got closer and closer to his target. Kuro soon landed in the dense forest, coming to a large lake where the cranes gathered. The remaining flock flew away, revealing several dead cranes floating on the surface of the water. Kuro ran in the water, grabbing hold to one of the dead cranes that was closest and drag it out by the neck. He examined the crane, seeing several deep bite marks in the neck, side, and rear and seeing the skull of the crane nearly crushed.

            “This is how wolves kill…” Kuro muttered to himself. “But how else to keep it still…”

He saw that the wings on the animal were broken, showing that someone or something had bent it that way to make sure it wouldn’t escape. Kuro let the crane lay down, smelling the air. The smell of crane blood was a nauseating smell but he got the smell of dog again, this time so close that it was as if standing beside him. Kuro’s eyes suddenly bolted open as he spun around only to be surprised by a fist colliding with his stomach causing him to fly into the lake, skidding across the lake like a stone till he hit one of the dead cranes and splashed into the water. He quickly broke the surface, quickly getting out of the water and to the shore.

            “I was wondering when you’d show up Bubbles.” Kuro said, moving his long wet bangs from his face. Standing before him was a seventeen looking girl having her sun blond hair unruly, a long pony tail on the side of her head with a blue band on her forehead, her sky blue eyes glaring down at Kuro, wearing a ragged princess dress and walking around barefooted. Kuro got up, a little unsteady since the attack caught him off guard.

            “Where…is it?” the girl asked angrily, dog ears appearing on her head and her pupils becoming dilated.

            “What?” Kuro asked. The girl suddenly charged, about to bite into him till Kuro pulled out his mallet. He smacked the girl away who was able to break her fall by doing a back flip and landing on all fours. She growled savagely at Kuro, who twirled his mallet like a baton.

            “Pity Bubbles, you could’ve been a great reaper.” Kuro said only to be tackled to the ground, using his mallet to distant himself from Bubbles’s angered swipes of frustration. He kicked her off with his feet, giving him the time to quickly get up and charged, rising his mallet in the sky. He swung his mallet, Bubbles dodging his swings and trying to bite at him. She soon got hit in the jaw by his mallet, walking back a bit before she lunged at him, biting in his shoulder with her canine teeth. Kuro yelled in pain, grabbing a fistful of her hair and tearing her away from him. Bubbles rolled away, having some blood roll down her chin. Kuro gripped his shoulder, trying to stop the bleeding.

            “Give it to me!” Bubbles said, not giving him a second to prepare himself. As she came in to punch at him again, a gust of air surrounded her fists. As she punched him in the stomach, a large force pushed him into the ground causing a crater in the ground. Kuro tried moving but Bubbles kept her foot on his chest. Bubbles dug into his pocket, pulling out the battery he had stolen. Bubbles examined it, blowing off the little bits of dust on it.

            “Now to find the thing that imprisoned me in the first place.” Bubbles said and disappeared in the wind. Once the wind had calmed down, Kuro got up still adding pressure to the wound. He stumbled forward, gritting his teeth. He put his available hand out and the water moved to his motions. The water floated towards his wounded shoulder and healed the bite marks and the possibly broken bone. Once he got the feeling back in his shoulder, he grabbed his mallet and ran back to Lali.

~ * ~

            Lali had just finished washing herself, nearly fainting from too much heat. She had her hair wrapped in a towel and was now drying herself off, lotioning herself down once dry and changed back into her clothes. She blow dried her hair, braiding her long hair and allowing her bangs to remain where they were. She placed her large sun hat back on her head, hiding the braid and looked at herself in the mirror, she defiantly looked relaxed.

            “Kuro was right, as always, I needed to relax.” Lali said and grabbed her bag and the basket. She gave the basket back to the clerk and went outside of the bath house, not liking the packed onsen. She looked around, seeing that Kuro still hadn’t returned from whatever errand he needed to do.

Did he ditch me? Lali thought then shook her head. He’d never give up four hundred and fifty yen to ditch me….

Lali walked away from the bath house, observing the scenery. As she walked down a steep path, she came across a rabbit who bolted out of view past her feet. A stampede soon came charging in, Lali quickly turning a running. She jumped, grabbing hold of a branch and pulling herself up till she was high up above the ground. The monkeys quickly swung by her, one even using her as support and jumping off her shoulder to grab onto a far off tree. Lali nearly fell over but she grabbed onto a higher branch and climbed to the top. As she looked into the horizon, she spotted numerous numbers of birds taking flight.

            “Lali get down from there!” Kuro scolded. Lali looked down, seeing Kuro looking rather irate. She noticed how his sweater was torn and he was covered in dirt and drenched in water. Lali shimmed down the tree, looking at him.

            “What happened?!” Lali asked.

            “Come on we’re gonna miss our flight!” Kuro said, taking Lali’s wrist and racing off someplace else. Lali looked behind, swearing she saw a pair of red eyes looking at her through the bushes. Her eyes widened but she snapped back to the real world when Kuro tugged her along, pushing her into a taxi and hopping in himself. Lali risked one last glance finding the eyes gone.

            “What?” Kuro asked.

            “…Nothing…” Lali muttered, looking on ahead.