7/13/03-

So you all really hated that it took four chapters to get here? I'm sorry, I was trying to be original! It wasn't supposed to take so long between chapters, the story was supposed to just go ahead and develop beyond these. Plus I'm addicted to character development… Gomenasai!

Ah, well. I'm in a good mood, and so here we get to see the 'Other Side' of the story. ('Other Side?' the readers cry, 'What blasphemy is THIS?') Well, it IS based on a certain anime/manga ::cough:: so here I express the true spirit of my story's base! Figure it out yet?

Written while I was drinking lots of caffeinated cola and half a pot of coffee… and thus feeling no pain.

X.x =DOA (Demonic Online Author)

Fallen

By Kobi-chan

INTERLUDE : DARK

A smile in the darkness.

"It is time."

"Are you sure…?"

A moment of silence. "They are not yet ready, but when the time comes…"

"I suppose… we'll just have to see."

A voiceless shadow turned and walked away. There was nothing more to say.

CHAPTER ONE : AWAKENING

Kumori felt horrible. Her head ached something terrible, and the rest of her body felt like she had taken a ride in the world's largest washing machine. She knew she really didn't want to open her eyes, but she became aware of several familiar presences nearby…

"She's wakin' up."

"Just like I said five minutes ago."

"I don't trust the opinion of directionless idiots."

"You-!"

The sound of a short scuffle, which was brought to an abrupt halt by the sound of a loud double 'WHAM'. "That's QUITE enough, boys. You two are so immature."

Wordless muttering followed this statement, and Kumori finally decided to check what her ears told her with her vision. She winced as she cracked her eyes open and was indeed greeted with the sight of three familiar faces. Two of which were currently on the floor. She also found that she was on a broad ledge that was currently covered with a somewhat worn blanket.

She indulged in a few blinks to clear her vision, and then struggled upright, placing a hand on her aching temple. "Ouch…"

"'Ouch' she says." Kigai, smirking, moved himself into a cross-legged position on the floor. "That's almost as good as Tak-chan's 'Huh?'"

Shinzou also took the opportunity to sit up, rubbing the back of his head with a free hand while glaring at the other. "You weren't too coherent either. The first thing you said was 'breakfast'."

Silence. Then Takae asked, "You're not serious?"

"Still always thinking with his stomach." Kumori muttered, shaking her head tentatively in an attempt to clear the cobwebs. "Where am I? And what are you all doing here?"

"Straight to the tough questions, Kumori." Takae gave her a wink. "The answer to both is: 'We don't know'. We've just been sitting here, waiting for you to wake up and trying to figure that out."

"Sitting here? For how long?" Kumori lowered her hand to her lap and looked around at the other three occupants of the room.

"Not too long… a day at most." Takae replied.

"I've been here the longest; I got here last night... I think." Shinzou added.

"You think?"

"Well, I don't carry a watch, and it's hard to tell time when there are no windows. And you're unconscious."

"Hah. I didn't think anyone besides me could hit ya hard enough ta knock ya out, with that thick skull of yours." This time, Takae didn't restrain Shinzou from pounding Kigai flat. While the 'boys' were occupied, Takae continued filling the newest arrival in.

"So far as we can tell, we were all attacked by Wraiths, and then were captured after defeating them by a strange voice with some sort of—"

"Living darkness. Yes, me too."

"It's a conspiracy!" Shinzou took a quick time out to opinion.

"No duh." Kigai accompanied this reply with the ever-so-mature sticking-out-of-tongue response.

"If you two aren't going to say anything productive…" Takae's eyebrow twitched dangerously. "Then SHUT UP!"

"Eep!" Shinzou and Kigai squeaked in unison, cowering fearfully away from the now fanged female archer.

Kumori sighed, unsure whether the start laughing or join Takae in scaring the boys to death. "I'd forgotten how much fun it was, being with you all…"

"You say that now, but the novelty wears off in about an hour. And I've been putting up with both of them for FOUR now!" Takae snarled.

"Aw, Tak-chan, don't be like that…"

"Quit whining Kigai."

"So, how's our situation look right now?"

"Well, escaping looks like it'll be tough. No doors, no windows, and we were apparently brought in by some sort of dimensional teleportation, or so Shinzou says."

"Having seen it three times now, I'm pretty sure that's what it is."

"Dimensional teleportation?" Kumori rubbed her temples irritably. "Is it just me, or do those two words make this entire situation too complicated?"

She was answered with two sighs, Takae and Shinzou, and one puzzled look, from Kigai. Kigai may have been cute, strong and a great martial artist, but he wasn't the quickest one in the brains department… and he seemed to pass this affliction on to Shinzou when they were in the same zip code.

She allowed her eyes to roam over the stone floor and walls of the room that imprisoned them, confirming what the others had already said. No way in or out. The dim light that allowed the four to see was cast from three flat panels in the high ceiling, the actual light source apparently behind a several-inch-thick piece of glass or crystal. Looking at the overhead lights was aggravating her headache almost as much as the restarted bickering of the male half of the group, so she brought her eyes back down to Takae, who was sitting back on her haunches and apparently resisting the temptation to whack them into the floor again.

Any further conversation was cut short as a soft crackling of energy came from the far end of the room, causing all four to look up just in time to see a roughly six-foot tall rift open up, admitting a strange looking creature. It was about four feet tall, and probably about three wide, with a snout, short pointed ears, and three-fingered hands. All-in-all, a not very threatening beast.

The four turned to look at each other, blinking slowly. Surely this thing wasn't responsible for their capture.

"Ahem." The pig-monster actually managed to bow. "I give you greetings in the name of my Lord Dobunezumi."

"Is this Dobuwhatzit guy the one who drug us here?" Kigai was an inch from pounding the poor beast-man flat.

"Dobunezumi." It managed to correct from its place cowering on the floor, "Unfortunately, yes, my Lord had to bring you here in such a way. None of you are suffering any lasting injuries I hope?"

It looked to earnest and, well, pathetic, that Kumori took pity on it and kicked Kigai away from where he was looming over the smaller demon. Crouching down to look it in the eye, she continued the interrogation.

"So, why were we brought here against our will? I take it that your master has some sort of beef with us, and wants to kill us at some point?"

"I dunno… I don't know anyone named Dobunezumi…" Kigai rubbed the back of his head where it had contacted the wall on his flight courtesy of Kumori-Air.

"Me either." Takae shook her head, her brow slightly furrowed.

"Nope." Shinzou declared.

"Ah, actually…" The creature raised on gnarled hand to interrupt their conversation.

"Yeees?" And ended up cowering once again as all four rounded on it at once.

"You know, though you don't look it, I think that you four are in a rather bad mood…"

"Gee, why do you think that might be the case, hmmm?" Takae purred dangerously. "So, you were going to say something?"

"Ah, yes… My Lord has no 'beef' with you, and in fact wishes for good relations on both sides…" It trailed off momentarily as it took in the disbelieving—and rather evil—glares coming its way. "Er… My Lord actually was not the one to command that you be brought here, but be assured! You were meant no harm! In fact, your good regards are humbly requested, and it is hoped that you may help us with a task of great importance." At this point, the pig-man was face-down on the floor, bowing to the four irate warriors.

While the beast sweated nervously on the floor, Kumori waved to the other three to join her a few feet away for a quick mini-conference.

"So, what do you think?"

Kigai snorted. "A trap, obviously."

Shinzou raised an eyebrow. "What makes you think that?"

"Please. You wouldn'ta dragged us here like this and locked us up in this room if he wanted to be friendly."

"Think so? I'm not sensing any malice from this beast. Perhaps his master was simply being expedient in bringing us here. After all, there are some people," An almost imperceptible pause, "Who just have no social skills."

"Hey! I have social skills!"

"What?" Shinzou met Kigai's glare innocently, "I never said anything about you."

"Anyway… He-" Takae motioned to the pig, "Did say that this Dobu-guy was getting orders from above."

"More and more people getting involved… I don't like it." Kumori murmured worriedly.

Kigai cracked his knuckles menacingly. "I say we just kill pig-boy over there and take whatever he used to transport in here and escape."

"I can hear you, you know…" A worried mutter rose from the floor, quickly silenced by four icy glares.

"So… escape to where, genius?" Shinzou challenged. "We have no idea where we are or how the transporter works. We could end up inside of a wall or something."

"But it is our only chance of getting out." Takae reminded him.

"Maybe we could just give him a chance…?" Kumori put forth.

The other three blinked in surprise. This hadn't crossed their minds. There was a moment of silence as they pondered it.

"All right, we have no better options." Takae nodded.

Shinzou answered with a shrug. "Might as well give it a shot."

"At least we'll get out of here… and then maybe I'll kill the pig."

The others rolled their eyes and turned back to the miserable little greeter, who was practically shaking at this point. Takae cleared her throat and announced their decision. "We'll go with you for now. Take us to see your Lord or whatever." She waved a hand in the monster's general direction.

"Ah… okay…" It struggled to its feet, and pulled out a small, intricately carved blue stone. It waved them over and muttered something softly, causing the rock to give off a bright glow and envelop them in a pale blue bubble of energy. There was a sharp snapping sound, and the human warriors staggered to regain their footing as they were abruptly somewhere else. This elsewhere being a courtyard, they found themselves squinting against the sunlight as their eyes adjusted from the dimmer artificial lighting of their former prison. The pig nervously motioned for them to follow as it set off across the cobblestones.

They followed it into a dark stone archway, which quickly opened up into a wide stone hallway. This hallway led to another. And another.

Finally, after about twenty minutes of walking, Takae tapped their guide on the shoulder. "So, how far are we going? India?"

"Ah, well… we should have been there by now…" The beast-man scratched the back of his head worriedly.

The humans turned to look at each other. After a moment, Kumori finally voiced what was on all of their minds. "Don't tell me… he's lost?"

"Can I kill him now?"

"How can you be lost?!" Takae cried disbelievingly.

"Yeah! That's Shinzou's job!"

"Hey!"

"Well, actually, this isn't my Lord's home nor mine… we were summoned just as you were." The once again quaking guide hastily explained.

"Just as we were?"

"Well, actually we got a rather polite message asking us to come… but anyway, I'm pretty sure I know where we are now! We'll get to my Lord's chambers in a few minutes!"

Surprisingly enough, the four harried kidnapees gave it another chance and followed as the pig trotted off down another corridor. Even more surprisingly, they actually did arrive at their destination in a matter of minutes. A pair of massive wooden doors, inlaid with panels depicting a variety of spirits and demons, stood before them, to be pulled open by a straining pig-man. It then ushered them into a barely lit, massive round room. The walls were covered with tapestries and the floor had a large plush rug to protect from the cold stone.

Motioning for them to stay where they were, the little monster rushed off into the darkness at the back of the room, presumably to fetch its master. After the sound of a door slamming shut, there was silence as the group looked at each other and fidgeted nervously.

"I say we make a run for it now." Kumori abruptly suggested.

"But I haven't gotten to kill anything…"

"Shut up Kigai! We need to get out of here!"

Shinzou silenced her with a hand to the shoulder, which was quickly removed as she stilled. "We can't go. There's nowhere to run."

Kumori's brow furrowed. "What do you mean?"

"He means that this place isn't one that can be simply left. Right?" Takae turned to Shinzou for confirmation.

"Yes. I was wondering if you'd sensed it as well..."

"Well, I don't have anything definite, just a feeling."

"Hm. I do have something more. There was some sort of shielding on the room we were in before, but now that I'm outside I can tell. We're on another plane. It feels like a pocket dimension, actually. I'm getting strange vibes… we may be outside of the time stream as well."

"Outside of time…?" Kumori was liking this less and less.

"So if we tried to run for it, we'd end up…?" Kigai queried, after remaining silent for the last few moments.

"Ripped apart, or in some unknown place and maybe time as well." Shinzou finished.

"That's no good." The martial artist muttered.

"So I guess we're sticking around." Kumori sighed.

"I'm glad you all have come to that decision by yourselves. I really didn't want to waste time convincing you." Four heads snapped around to face the source of this comment, given in an annoyingly familiar voice.

"You!" Kigai snapped. "You're the one who drug me here!"

"Actually, all of us, as we already established…" Shinzou murmured.

A roughly nine and a half foot tall being, with a short muzzle, moderately sized, rounded ears, and huge, clawed feet stood before them. Its hands were clasped behind its back, but one could guess that there were some nice nails on those as well. It was wearing some sort of leather armour in various shades of brown, and short black fur showed everywhere else. Its big, solid black eyes, which would have been lost in its glossy coat if not for the rims of gray fur around them, surveyed the quartet.

"It looks like you're all in one piece. That'll look good on my record." It drawled unconcernedly, ignoring the waves of ire coming in its direction from Kigai, who was actually being held back by Shinzou, who had a good grip on his hair's dragon-tail.

The great demon, presumably the much anticipated Dobunezumi himself, turned his head to the side and called out, "Camu!"

The now familiar pig-demon skittered into view once again. "Yes Lord?"

"Go find Okami and let him know that the Warriors have been gathered and I'll be bringing them in a few minutes. I'm sure he'll want as much time as possible to prepare his mysterious-ness and overblown speeches."

"Yes m'Lord!" Moving faster than they had yet seen, Camu, as he was now known, shot around the humans and back through the still open door.

"Now then…" He turned his eyes back to the four remaining in the room. "Come with me. We'll pick up that useless runt Yaminu on the way." It took about four strides with his long legs for him to reach the doors, pushing them open farther to permit his greater bulk. He didn't bother to look behind to see if the humans followed, but after a moment of silent look exchanging, they shrugged in unison and followed in Dobunezumi's booming footsteps, trotting to keep up with their far shorter legs.

In a few minutes, they reached another pair of massive doors, which Dobunezumi pushed open easily. He strode into the room, the humans following at his heels. Unlike Dobunezumi's chambers, this place was dappled with sunlight rather than being a dark interior room. Six large arched windows permitted the light, looking out upon a long balcony over a dazzlingly green valley, which disappeared into murky purple mists only about a mile away.

Wrinkling his nose in apparent distaste, the tall demon swiveled his head around, looking for something or someone. Not finding it, he called out, "Yo runt! You here?"

"What do you want, Rat?" A deadly calm voice filtered in from outside. Dobunezumi's ears flattened against his skull and he bared his pointed teeth slightly as he moved to the open doorway that led out onto the terrace. Not knowing what else to do, the other four followed him once again.

Kigai, Takae, Kumori and Shinzou squinted painfully as they were once again introduced to the bright sunlight after all their time indoors. As his eyes adjusted, Kigai managed to pick out the think stone railing of the balcony, and shortly thereafter the small, lithe form perched upon it at approximately the midpoint. He could tell that the person was female, with long dark hair tied back with a band of silvery metal and wearing gray and black clothing, loose enough for easy movement but not baggy enough to get in the way.

The new person's back was to her visitors, and after a moment more of observation, Kigai noticed that she was actually performing a martial arts kata. He noted her graceful movements with an approving eye; this young woman was a good fighter, he could tell from her movements and the complexity of the kata she was currently practicing. Hmm. That one looked kind of familiar. He shrugged slightly to himself, dismissing it. He had learned many different styles; it was quite possible that she had trained in one of the same arts.

Apparently she was at the end of her practice session though, as she ended her movement and turned to face her new visitors, still standing on the railing. Now that he could see her face, Kigai could tell that this was not a normal human like him and his friends. Her pointed ears and half-dozen thin, blue slash-like demon markings on each of her cheeks were a dead giveaway. Golden, slitted eyes and short claws completed her appearance as she gracefully hopped down to the floor, taking all of them in at a glance.

"So, you managed to get them all without screwing up. Congratulations." Her statement was addressed to Dobunezumi, but she didn't bother looking in his direction, instead leaning back against the balustrade and continuing to observe the four newcomers.

The far larger demon growled slightly at her comment, his ears practically disappearing into the fur of his skull. "Stupid mutt. You have no room to talk; you weren't even trusted with the assignment!"

"I prefer to look at it as having been below my skill level." She replied calmly. She turned her eyes to him for the first time since he walked in. "So, what do you want?"

Visibly restraining himself, Dobunezumi growled out, "I'm taking them to see Okami, and seeing as they'll be your responsibility from now on, I figured you might actually do some work."

"Well. If you put it that way." She turned her golden gaze back to the four silent humans. "Nice to meet you. I'm Yaminu, and I'll be your Guardian."

NEXT TIME: 'Chapter Two : Master'

As always, C&C are appreciated!