Chapter 6

	
	"Are we there yet?" Fate asked, in a tired voice. 

	"Almost no da," Chichiri replied. 

	"Good," Minamida grumbled. Fate hadn't kept her
 word, and Minamida had to get used to riding fast the 
hard way, the VERY hard way. 'Dammit, my butt's gonna 
be numb by the time we make it to Taitsukun's, wherever
 that may be.' 

	It had been a few days since the last little 
excitement the travellers have faced, much to their
 relief. And now, they all had had quite enough of 
travelling, on horses or whatever else it may be that 
you would travel by in this world. 

	Chichiri looked behind his shoulder as best he 
could, only to find Makoto spacing out behind him. She 
was looking dreamily out at the snow-covered trees. 
Chichiri smiled then turned back around. Behind him, 
he could hear Minamida, Willow, and Fate carrying a 
conversation, which Tasuki took no part of. It was 
probably because he didn't understand what a "car" and
 "truck" were. 
	
	"If I could, I'd be driving my truck right now,"
 Fate commented. 

	"Me too, I want my car right now." Minamida 
replied. 
	
	"Yui-chan could drive us too," Miaka added.
	
	Tamahome shot Tasuki a puzzled glance. Tasuki 
shrugged, he had no idea what they were talking about,
 nor did he particularily care. Tamahome was going to 
ask Ariana, but she was asleep. 'Oh well, maybe some 
other time I can ask one of them about it.'

	Yui glanced ahead of her. They were nearing some 
mountains, that she could tell. They were quite beautiful, 
as they were all covered in snow. "This looks like the
 mountains in that book about Montana I read a couple 
of weeks ago. They called them the Rocky Mountains, I 
think." she commented. 

	"They do look like the Rockies, don't they?" 
Willow agreed. 

	"Well, these aren't the Rock-ee Moun-tens," 
Chichiri said, struggling over the unfamiliar name, 
"But I know that this is Mount Taikyoku." 

	Now it was the girl's turn to be confused, "Mount 
Taikyoku? What's that?"

	"It's where ol' Taitsukun lives." Tamahome 
answered. 

	"Oh, so I'm 'ol' Taitsukun' now am I?" 

	Everyone looked behind them as best as possible 
only to find a hideous old woman floating behind them. 
Tamahome sweatdropped and converted to a chibi form of
 himself. 
	
	"Erk! T-Taitsukun!" 

	The woman formed a half smile then nodded, 
"Yes Tamahome, it's me. So nice to know you respect 
your elders and betters." 

	Chichiri turned his horse around so he could 
face the old woman, "Konnichiwa Taitsukun no da." 

	Taitsukun nodded, "Hello Chichiri." She glared 
at Makoto, scrutinizing the young woman. "Hmm, since 
when did you have a girlfriend? And such a scrawny one
 at that!" 

	Makoto's face turned bright red with anger whilst 
Chichiri merely blushed then stammered, "S-she's not
 my girlfriend no da. She's just a friend." 

	"Scrawny?!" Makoto echoed indignantly. Fate just
 snickered. Tasuki echoed Fate's laughter with some of
 his own.  

	"Anyway, since you're here, I'm assuming you
 have some sort of purpose. So for now, let's find some
place warmer, shall we?" Taitsukun asked calmly. 

	"Yeah, except, I think 'scrawny' is already 
quite warm as it is!" Tasuki chortled. 

	Makoto glared at him. Tasuki just smiled innocently. 
Taitsukun harrumphed, then told everyone to close their 
eyes. They did, and Taitsukun did some magic.The next 
thing they knew, they were standing in the middle of a 
beautiful place that you could never imagine quite right
 unless you see it yourself. Bubbles, of many different
 colors floated through the air. The architecture of 
the buildings surpassed even Konan palace's beauty. 
(Okay, I know this is not the best description, but I 
can't even remember what this place looks like any more!
 Ouch...)

	"Wow," Fate said, reaching out to touch a blue 
bubble. It popped, revealing a little girl with teal 
hair and bright eyes. 

	"Nyan Nyan! Fix fix, heal heal!!" the little 
girl cried. 

	“Yeek !” Minamida cried. Nyan Nyan turned to 
her and looked questioningly, “Nyan Nyan Fix?”

	Minamida said waving her hands quickly. “Er,
 no, don’t fix. That’s okay, thanks."

	The Nyan Nyan looked disappointed, but only 
for a moment. She instantly brightened then turned 
toward Willow and Fate, and did the same thing to them. 
“Nyan Nyan fix? Nyan Nyan heal?”

	Willow replied with a simple no, but Fate 
added, “Yah, fix Minamida's face!”

	“What?!” Minamida glared at her friend. Nyan 
Nyan took this as a chance to fix, fix, and heal, heal
 as she wanted to do, but couldn’t thanks to Taitsukun. 

	The old woman glared at the Nyan Nyan, then 
turned to the others, “Ahem. You all may go do as you 
wish today, but tomorrow, then we’ll get down to business.” 

	Chichiri nodded, “Hai. I understand no da.” 

	Taitsukun nodded, then disappeared. Nyan Nyan 
followed suit, disappearing along with the old woman.
 Which means that the others were left to do as they 
pleased. (Scary...)

	Tasuki grinned mischievously, "Hey guys, here's
 an idea. Since it's so snowy out here, why don't we 
have a snowball fight. All of us against Obake-chan!!" 	

	"Hey!" Tamahome growled indignantly, "Don't even
 think about it Tasuki!" 
	
	Both men began to get into a staring contest. 
This commenced for a few minutes, that is, until Willow
 broke it up by saying: 

	"Wait! How 'bout this, why don't we make a 
snowman? Those of us who want to can stay outside,
 while those of us who don't can go inside and drink
 coffee or something." 

	"Yuck!" Fate exclaimed, "I hate coffee!" 

	"Coffee is good," Ariana retorted. 
	
	"Is not!" 
	
	"Is too!" 
	
	"Is not!" 

	"Is too!" 

	"Is not!" 

	"Is too!" 
	
	This arguement proceded on in this fashion 
until finally, Minamida got sick of it, stuck her 
fingers in her mouth, then whistled. That got everyone's
 attention long enough for her to take her chance to 
speak. 

	"Hey! Shut up for a minute and listen to me!!" 
When she got everyone looking at her, she smiled prettily 
and continued. "Thank you. Anyway, I think that Willow's 
idea is a great one. So, whoever wants to build a 
snowman can stay out here, and whoever wants to go 
inside where it's warm can go do that now." 

	"I'm goin' inside," Tasuki declared. 

	"Outside for us," Ariana said. Minamida nodded
 her agreement. 

	"I wanna go inside. I think I'm catching cold,"
 Miaka said. As if to prove her point, she sneezed. 
"Achoo!! See?"

	Yui shook her head, exasperated. "I'll go inside.
 I'm going to see if there's a good book I can read 
somewhere around here." 

	"That's a good idea," Willow agreed. She flipped 
her long hair over her shoulder, then declared, "I'm going 
to go inside. It's too cold out here." 

	Fate glanced over her shoulder, then turned back
 to her friends. "I'm smart, I'm goin' in where it's 
warm." 

	Makoto grinned mischievously, "Ne, Tama-chan, 
what about you? Are you gonna stay inside or out?"

	Tamahome shot her a dirty glare, "Don't call 
me Tama-chan!!" 

	"Okay then, fine. Tama-neko-chan."

	"Eeergh!!" 

	"I'll take that as a yes!" Makoto shrieked as
 Tamahome began to chase her. She ran behind Ariana. 
" 'Riana-chan!! Help!!" 

	Ariana shrugged nonchalantly, "Can't help you, 
Mako-chan. You pissed him off." 

	Makoto shot Ariana a look of pure murder then 
kept on running, in an attempt to run away from the
 mad man. Everyone else laughed, then turned to go
 their seperate ways. Ariana, Minamida, and Chichiri, 
who had decided to stay outside, went over to a spot 
where the snow was untouched by human feet. Fate, 
Willow, and Tasuki went inside. Once Tamahome had 
calmed down, he joined the others in the snowman 
making. So did Makoto, but she made sure to stay away 
from Tamahome for a while.
 You never know how long a guy's temper will last. 
Or a girls, for that matter.