REUNIONS?

TC

A/n: Hehe….this part is weird, a little disjointed and stuff but I think I like it…Skully this is for you cuz you said…well you’ll see... Well stuff to happen too so I hurried up a little…plot was going so slow and stuff anyway!

Aishin lay awake in his bed long after the other two fell asleep. His golden eyes stared up at the ceiling blankly. What was going on? Who had sent that human girl those visions? His mouth quirked upwards in what might have been a smile. Of course he had heard their conversation, youkai had better hearing that humans. It was troubling though, the fact that the girl was having visions, not many people had the power to do work through dreams. Couple that with the fact that Aishin could sense someone nearby, which meant…he didn’t know what… There were very few people who Aishin could ‘feel’ and most of them were dead. He couldn’t think of any that were alive… not ones that should be Hunting him… It was all very disturbing. Aishin didn’t get much sleep that night.

Tesha awoke feeling rested but slightly stiff. Since she had slept half the night curled up on the couch, some stiffness was justified. Someone (gee I wonder who) had covered her with a blanket while she slept, and there was a delicious aroma of coffee wafting towards her. Tesha sat up and peered over the back of the couch. Marl was at the stove cooking something, Aishin sat at the table looking sulky and there was a pot of coffee already made. Tesha’s sleepy brain comprehended none of this except for the coffee. Coffee. Tesha stumbled up off the couch and towards the pot, her vision tunneling as if she was hunting. She grabbed a mug from a cupboard on the way, and filled in once she reached the pot. She then fell into a chair and proceeded to guzzle the mug-full of black coffee. "Hellooo? Earth to Tesha?" Tesha found herself being poked by a fork and spoken to. She looked up blankly at Marl. He grinned. "Good morning sunshine, want some breakfast with that coffee?" Tesha, who was beginning to become aware of her surroundings, nodded. "Okay then, here you go." Marl put a plate with food on it in front of her, and without looking at what it was Tesha ate every bite. Afterwards she would recall that it had been quite tasty, although she wouldn’t be able to remember exactly what it was. Aishin just sat at the table and stared out the window. Tesha, who was awake now, realized who was at the table.

"Hey aren’t you supposed to be in bed?" She asked suspiciously.

"No. Youkai heal faster than humans." He gave her one of his favorite condescending glances before turning back to the window.

"Well sorry for existing…" Tesha muttered.

"You are forgiven." Aishin replied. Tesha stared at the Youkai. He had said that with such a straight face…was he joking? Tesha turned back to her coffee mug in confusion, and thus missed the slight quirk that appeared at the corner of Aishin’s mouth.

"Waaaahhh…these people are so boring…why do I have to watch them?!" The angel that had helped Marl and Tesha find Aishin stared into it’s crystal mirror petulantly. "Dammnit Ryo….what could possibly take you this long…why don’t you watch them? What could you be so busy with?!" The angel started to set up a game of solitaire next to the mirror. "You probably found a girl, that’s it! You left your best friend staring at some stupid mirror watching some stupid humans and a couple of youkai while you went out with a girl!!" The angel sulked and began to play the game he had set up. Meanwhile in the mirror…

He leaned back against a tree trunk. He had almost had that fugitive youkai again. If only that human hadn’t been so stubborn… He would have to kill those humans for interfering with his Hunt. First someone spirit shielded his quarry, then the humans rescued it, then they had all gone to ground and hidden… He was fed up with these humans and this useless Beast he was supposed to be using to hunt them. He knew they were in one of these buildings, but which one was it…There was a hint, a sense of something niggling at his brain. Something he should be able to remember but couldn’t…

Tesha, Marl and Aishin all sat around the breakfast table in silence. None of them could think of anything to say. Finally Tesha spoke, unable to stand the uncomfortable silence any longer. "Hey, why don’t we play a boardgame?" Marl agreed immediately obviously wanting revenge for all the games in which Tesha had beaten him, while Aishin feigned disinterest. Tesha could see that the youkai was really curious so she volunteered him for games as well. They spent the rest of the day explaining the finer points of different boardgames to Aishin. It took them a long time to communicate exactly why you weren’t allowed to use special powers to melt your opponent’s pieces in chess, but after that things went more smoothly. The three of them coaxed the youkai into playing several different games, although they had to lose on purpose sometimes because otherwise Aishin would get sulky. Suppertime rolled around faster than any of them expected, and Tesha was delighted with Marl’s apparent love, and talent, for cooking. However, with supper came darkness, and as the sun went down, the atmosphere in the apartment got tense. It seemed that weird things happened after sunset these days, and the two humans at least, had had enough weirdness to last them a lifetime. When they finished supper, it was almost like breakfast all over again. None of them could say anything, it was almost as if they were waiting for something. Too tense to do anything but sit and wait.

He had spent the day hiding, trying to figure out a way to track down the humans and the fugitive youkai. In a crowd he would attract too much attention, so he couldn’t just ask about their whereabouts… There was something…something he should remember…

Aishin sat tensely, whoever was hunting him would become active after dark, and if he could sense them, they could probably sense him. Why hadn’t they found him yet? Were they that far away? Aishin extended his senses to try and pinpoint how far away his Hunter was.

Suddenly he felt the shadow at the edge of his thoughts flare into a full awareness. That was it! Of course! He hadn’t recognized the feeling because it had been so long since he could sense someone… But he could sense the one he was chasing. It was him… Of course… He smiled a cold smile. Now he could find his quarry.

Aishin suddenly stood straight up, knocking his chair over. "Dammnit…" He whispered, shaking his head in frustration. "Stupid, stupid, STUPID!" He snarled, slamming his fist against the table. "I never thought that he wouldn’t sense me right from the start, I just alerted him! Dammnit!" Marl and Tesha watched in surprise at this amazing outburst of emotion from the usually monotonous youkai.

"Um…what happened?" Tesha asked carefully.

"Never mind!" Aishin looked around. "I’ve been so stupid just sitting here the whole time waiting for him to come to me. I have to go!" The youkai started for the door.

"Wait a second! What the hell is going on?" Tesha asked, also getting up from the table. Aishin had almost reached the door.

"The person who is Hunting me has found me." He replied. Tesha grabbed his arm to stop him and he shrugged her off, but didn’t open the door and leave.

"Who? The Beast?" Tesha was confused.

"No, the Beast can’t hunt on it’s own…it needs a master…"

"Who’s it’s master now?"

"I don’t know…someone…." But Aishin didn’t get to finish his sentence for there was a tremendous crash from the other side of the room. All three of them whirled around and saw that the outer wall of Tesha’s apartment had been blown inwards. For a moment the dust obscured the rubble, but it quickly dissipated.

"YOU!" Tesha pointed at the figure standing amidst the rubble. She heard another noise behind her, and glanced back to see that Aishin was also staring at the figure, but he wasn’t angry, or surprised….in fact, he looked…afraid? Afraid and shocked.

"It’s you…but…it can’t be….you’re….you…" The youkai was breathing shallowly and failing to construct coherent sentences. The figure laughed coldly. The laugh echoed through the apartment hauntingly with an almost sad tone to it. He stared at Aishin, the emotionless mask on his face not slipping an inch.

"Yes brother it’s me…Aren’t you happy to see me?"