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Chapter 7: Dancing in the flames

A/N: I got an email asking, "WTF!? Do your parents really do drugs and that kinda stuff?" NO.
NONONONONONONONONONOOOOOOOOOO!!
My parents are incredibly loving and, while they can get a little tipsy at party, they don’t do that shit!! So why is it in here? To tell you a little more about Atarashii's life before she went and became a goddess. Gomen to the one who emailed and whoever else was worrying! ^^'


 *****




"OW!!" cried Atarashii when she stepped on what seemed like the hundredth thorn stabbing through the sole of her boots. "Dammit...whoever said getting back to nature should be shot."

Ken laughed and cut another branch with his sword. "I take it you're not the camping type?"

"NO." Atarashii looked around her in awe. She had to admit that despite the rocks and the thorns, the forests of the Kaio planet were something not found on Earth. Something ancient dwelled here.

"Should we set camp?" Chiko asked.

"Sure, why not?" Ken took off his pack, as did the women. After a moment of rummaging through his pack, he pulled out two water bottles and handed them over. Atarashii took a sip and grinned. "Tangy."

Chiko drank some of her own and returned the smile. "When Mom goes all the way, she really goes all the way!" She got some matches out and gathered a great bundle of dry leaves and branches. Within moments, Atarashii sat in front of a roaring fire.

"I'll say." Screwing the lid back on, Atarashii looked upwards as Ken got dinner ready. She had never been able to get used to the different skies of the Kai worlds; where Kaioshin-Kai's was lavender, Kaio's was pink. One of her few comforts in her old life was to simply sit out in the backyard and stare at the midnight stars. The stars, too, were different. She could barely make out Draco and she had long since given up on the Big Dipper and other constellations. "Hey, guys, where are we anyway?"

"On Kaio."

Atarashii sent Ken her best glare from across the fire. "So funny I forgot to laugh. Now, seriously, where are we?"

"I'd say we're about halfway through the Gama woods, heading south as Mother said."

"But didn't Kaede say we'd meet up with some friends of hers?"

"That's what I'm worried about," Ken said softly, casting a wary eye to the tree surrounding them. "I think I know who Mother was talking about and they are very honorable people, especially about their timing."

"Do you think something happened to them?"

Ken paused. "I'm not sure. But they are a powerful pair, alone and as a team, and I don't think we should worry about them." He took up his rosary, playing with the bolt pendant, trying to look casual. But the hint of nervousness didn't escape Atarashii's ears.

She looked up to gaze at the starlight again when she heard a twig snap in the nearby bushes. "What—"

Her words were cut of by a horrible screeching cry as a dozen or so small, goblin-like creatures of a sickening pea green color leapt from the bushes. They barely came up to Atarashii's waist, who wasn't that tall herself, but they brandished jagged knives and spears added with their gleaming yellow fangs. Almost every single bone in their body could be seen but their stomachs were as large and bloated as bowling balls.

In an instant, Ken and Chiko had placed themselves around the goddess. Ken unsheathed the longer of his two katana, and Chiko revealed a small dagger from her belt. At the same time, Atarashii put a hand to the blossom pendant on her neck. When her hand came away, it had transformed into the staff that marked her as a Guardian of the gods. "God, what are those?!"

"Gaki. Wretched creatures," replied Chiko with a snarl of disgust, clenching her fists. "Evil spirits of dead folks who are obsessed with eating; they go around eating garbage, corpses, and even each other."

"Cute."

The Gaki rushed forward and Atarashii felt her heart leap into her throat when she realized they were yelling over and over, "Get her! Get her! GET HER!!"

The first blow was struck by Ken as he expertly sliced a Gaki in half from head to toe. The creature shrieked again and fell, yellow blood staining the grass. The other demons hesitated, one even ran away, and rushed the group again. To Atarashii's horror, even more Gaki than she could count burst out of the bushes and down from the trees to join the fray.

Their shrieking chants only got louder and louder as they stabbed at the trio with their wicked spears. One caught Ken off guard and a spray of blood escaped his arm. Ken staggered and almost dropped his sword. Atarashii watched with an overpowering mixing of rage, terror, and adrenaline. Chiko kept trying to put herself in a place to protect Atarashii but this was almost impossible when they were outnumbered twenty to one.

Atarashii tightened the grip on her staff. It had been over five years since she had drawn on its powers but it felt like it had only been yesterday that she had fought off Oki. "Cherry Blossom Blizzard!" she cried, pointing the end of her staff at a small band of Gaki rushing at her. The flurry of petals cut the skin of the demons and the following gale sent them flying into the trees and bushes.

For a while, it seemed like they would win. Ken had killed well over twenty and Chiko was quickly catching up. Atarashii had filled the entire meadow with cherry blossoms and dead Gaki but still they came.

Then Ken stumbled on a fallen Gaki and hit the ground hard, his sword falling out of reach. This was what the Gaki had been waiting for; they leaped onto the teen and started to stab with their little daggers unmercifully.

Atarashii screamed in rage and swung her staff with all her might at the demons covering her new friend. Some saw her and jumped away but most were distracted by the sight of Ken's fresh blood and got the force of Atarashii's blow head-on. The feel of her staff meeting their saggy, bloated stomachs made Atarashii's stomach flip. "Ken, hurry, get up!"

Ken did so, grabbing his sword and stabbing a Gaki about to leap upon Chiko's open back. He suddenly sheathed his sword and took a large string of prayer beads from his shirt. But instead of being a necklace, it was more like a rope and nearly three feet long. With a ferocious cry, Ken whipped the rosary up in the air and brought it down on the Gaki.

The instant the beads touched their skin, Atarashii could hear the sound of burning flesh. The smell of their corpse-like bodies was revolting but her fear and rage overpowered her senses as her heart pumped adrenaline through her veins.

It wasn't enough. A Gaki came up behind her, grabbed her right arm, and latched onto her wrist with his jagged teeth. Atarashii screamed, not only from the bite but also from the wickedness gushing from the creature and into her blood. That didn't stop her from kicking out and smashing her staff down on his wretched head.

With a snarl, her captor tightened his grip and swung her around so fiercely that she could hear her neck pop. Atarashii gasped.

Racing out of the forest, exploding into the battle, was a Kaio nearly Minami's height. But instead of being buff and bulky, he was thin and his face was long. Snow-white hair tumbled down his back ending with a small green ribbon. His skin was a deep tan color completely at odds with his hair and bright blue eyes. He wore a green coat with silver trimming and missing it's collar, and white underclothes. He had pulled a small ponytail behind his left ear and secured it with three blue beads. A small golden clasp decorated the same ear.

Not far behind was the most unlikely fighter Atarashii had ever seen: he seemed normal enough until you saw his coat. The original material had long since been replaced by a myriad of pockets, each one a different color. Only his blue jeans seemed to have remained untouched. Some of them seemed to be empty while others bulged almost to the extent of breaking. A pocket watch was hung on a gold chain like a belt around his waist. His ears were absolutely HUGE, even for a Kaio, and his complexion was a light blue. Bright green hair stuck every which direction over a set of dark green eyes. The rest of his face was hidden by a large red scarf.

The unexpected attack left the Gaki completely dumbfounded, along with Atarashii's own group. For some unknown reason, Atarashii couldn't tear her eyes from the first man who had entered the glade. His face was so youthful and lush...and, yet, she sensed wisdom and experience as he and his partner dispatched the Gaki as easily as a child would have picked daisies.

Another powerful wrench from the Gaki still attached brought Atarashii back and she quickly wrenched herself free to thrust her staff into his bloated tummy. The Gaki screeched in pain and ran into the woods clutching its stomach. When he had left, she raised her staff again only to find that the battle was over. Clearly overpowered and with over half of their little army dead, the Gaki chose to run back into the woods before anyone could stop them.

For a moment no one spoke. The first move was made by Atarashii. Walking over to their rescuers, she bowed respectfully. "Arigato, sirs. You don't know how grateful I am to you. Again, thank you. What are your names?"

The first, taller man also bowed and a small lock of hair swooped over his shoulder to touch Atarashii's face. She was floored; never had she felt such soft and luxurious hair! "Gawa Kenji, my lady." He took her hand in his and kissed it just over the skin. Atarashii couldn't stop the flush that arose in her face. "And this is my companion, Senshi Suisei."

"Can't he speak for himself?"

Kenji raised his head to look up at Atarashii. "No, ma'am; he is mute."

"Oh! Gomen, I didn't know. Forgive me," she added hastily to Suisei. The man didn't act angrily or offended as she thought he would. Instead, he wrapped Atarashii in the tightest hug imaginable. A little stunned, Atarashii didn't resist. When he pulled away, she could see that he wasn't a man at all but only a boy of thirteen or so!

"We have been searching for you, Lady Atarashii and company," said Kenji. He rose, towering over even Ken. "But we were delayed when Suisei detected someone following us. It was the Gaki; we fought, but they escaped us to arrive here. Forgive me, Lady Atarashii."

"Oh, it's nothing, really!" Atarashii assured him. She took his slender hand in hers and patted it in a comforting manner. "I'm just glad you came fast enough!"

"Ah, I could have taken care of them," Ken argued, putting his rosary whip back in his shirt, "if I hadn't fallen over that baka over there!" He pointed to the only remaining Gaki in the meadow (that still breathed, anyhow).

Kenji made a sound of disgust and strode over to the Gaki. The demon squealed and tried to move away but the tall Kaio had the Gaki in hand before it could, shaking it rather hard. Atarashii normally would have been appalled to see such a pathetic creature upside down, screeching like a rabbit caught in a bear trap, but when she looked at the bleeding wound on her wrist she couldn't conjure up much pity for the Gaki.

"Who sent you, foul creature?" Kenji asked the Gaki. When the Gaki made no move to answer, Kenji responded with more shaking. Chiko shuddered and whispered to Atarashii how she could hear the Gaki's teeth rattling from there. "Who?! Tell me, or I'll take the priest's rosary and hang you with it!"

The Gaki chattered and howled, writhing in Kenji's grasp. When she peered closer, Atarashii realized that the Gaki's flesh was burning at the touch of Kenji. Finally, after what seemed to be eternity but was actually only five minutes, the Gaki said in a cold, dead voice, "Lord Kijin...Mei Kijin!"

Atarashii gasped.

"Why?" Ken asked. "The Gaki are scavengers; they're never one to follow even a god's orders."

"Because...he said we could feast on the bodies of the Kaios and deities when he became ruler of the universe...if we would only kill the Earth Guardian."

With a shudder through his wrinkled green body, the Gaki died and fell to the ground with his comrades. Kenji sneered at the stench of the corpse and turned back to the others. "It would seem that this Mei Kijin is more desperate than Suisei first believed, Lady Atarashii. Come with us."


*****



Mei watched all this from a black flaming sphere in his hand. A horrible scowl crossed his face. "Leiko!"

The teen was instantly in the room. "Yes, Master?"

"Are the Guardians secured?"

"Hai, Master."

He turned in his seat to glare over at the girl. Leiko couldn't help but cringe. Master Mei was always harsh with her and even more terrifying in a foul mood. Those stinky Gaki must not have done their job right. "Are you SURE?"

"Most definitely, Master."

The god stared at her for a moment then turned back in his seat to scowl at the sphere. Leiko sighed and said a quick prayer to Enma for sparing her life...today. "Anything else you wish for me to do, Master?"

"Not right now. Go rest, Leiko."

"Hai, Master." And she was gone. As she walked down the hall, fingering a shuriken, and to her room, Leiko had to wonder just what scheme Master Mei was thinking up for the Earth Guardian now...and prayed again that she wouldn't have to face the goddess again.


*****



Gaki = Actually, I didn't make this up!! The Gaki are an actual mythological Japanese creature, usually around 11 inches tall. I just made them a wee bit taller so the characters would have to fight and not just stomp on them like the ugly Smurfs they are. You can read more about them in the 7th issue of Shonen Jump.

Katana = sword (use the same word for swords)

Arigato = thank you!

Kenji = (???)

Gawa = river

Suisei = comet

Senshi = soldier (so put together, Suisei's name basically means "comet soldier" ^^)

Baka = (you call yourself an anime fan and don't know what "baka" means? SHAME ON YOU.) Idiot, fool


The plot thickens...shall we see what happens next?
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