Mika looked around, eyes wide. She stared at the sky, which was a strange shade of blue that seemed to reflect her in it. Mika looked down and let out a shriek.
"Aaaaaaaaa! I’m on a roof!"
Mika blanched, and took a tentative step towards a tree branching out nearby. Her footing slipped, and a split second later, she crashed down into someone’s bedroom. Mika blinked, and started to stand.
"I wouldn’t do that just yet."
Mika looked up. A strange girl with long purple hair stood glaring over her, a knife of some sort held inches from Mika’s face. The girl smiled calmly. "One of the drawbacks to landing in a spy’s house is that you atuomatically know to much, and must therefore die. However," the girl continued, moving back a little, "not even the most inexperienced assassan falls through a roof, so I’m guessing this was a mistake. So out with it. Why did you land on my head?"
Mika gaped, and said nothing. The girl pulled back the knife-like thing, and pulled out a strange sickle out from her billowing sleeves. "See this? This little baby can..."
"Taika, what’s going on in here?" A tall boy with curling silver hair entered, a terminally pained expression on his face. He peered around Taika with minimal interest, and sighed. "Okay, Taika. How long ago did you stop being a spy?"
"Just before we first arrived here," Taika sighed.
Mika’s jaw dropped. The boy smiled patronizingly. "So that means..."
"I can quit acting like I’m still an Imperial spy." Taika crossed her arms, somehow keeping the sickle right in Mika’s face. "But I don’t want to! I’m still in the Emperor’s service!"
The boy sighed. "Whatever." He looked around Taika again, and suddenly went bright red. He looked away again. "Let the girl go, Taika. She’s not an assassain."
"Hey, don’t assume things just because you’ve got a crush on my prisoner."
The boy blushed brighter. "I do not!"
Mika finally found her voice. "What...who are you people? Where am I?"
Taika looked at the boy’s flaming face, sighed, and took a deep breath. "You are now an inhabitant of Nieva, the world where thousands of years pass and nothing ever changes. People randomly show up here, just like you did, but usually they don’t fall into my room. Actually, you’re the first to show up in ages. People mostly dissapear now. I am Taika, and the beet over there is my brother Mejiro." She smiled, and pulled the boy over. "Come on, bro, introduce yourself to your new girlfriend!"
"Quit it!"
Mika blinked, staring at the identical red-violet eyes. "You’re related?"
"Oh, Taika and I aren’t related," Mejiro muttered. "She’s just my sister."
"But doesn’t that mean..."
Taika suddenly seemed to realize she was still holding the sickle at Mika’s throat, and pulled it back. Mika looked at the weapon, and asked, "What on earth is that?"
"This? Oh, nothing...just a weapon designed to gut a person without leaving a trace. It’s not dangerous...um, I wouldn’t touch it." Taika led Mika’s hand away from the weapon. "Really."
Mejiro seemed to have found his voice, but couldn’t raise it about a mumble. "So, um, who are you? Where are you from and stuff?"
"I’m Mika Motoaki," Mika said, still staring at the weapon. "I’m from Tokyo. Japan. Uh, Earth."
"Earth!" Taika cried cheerily, and put the weapon back in Mika’s face. "Time to die, dear."
Mika backed away. "What?"
"Don’t kill her!" Mejiro shouted, and Taika glared at him, eyes frosty. "Don’t mess with me, Mejiro. You’re girlfriend’s as good as dead."
"Why?" Mejiro lunged for his sister and grabbed her arm. "What did she do?"
"Don’t you remember the last Earth inhabitants we had here?" Taika snapped. "And what they did?"
"Just because they embarassed you a little..."
"A little?" Taika shrieked. "It was more than a little!"
"All they did was suggest that you weren’t all you said you were..."
"Shut up, Mejiro!" Taika grabbed Mika’s arm and pulled her closer to the sickle. "And I won’t risk you saying anything like that, either, Earth girl!"
"Wait!" Mika cried, panicked, "I just remembered...I’m not from Earth, I’m from...uh, I’m from...from....the same planet as you!"
"Really?" Taika pulled back, curious. "Did you come from Shangrila, too?"
"Yeah!" Mika answered quickly. "Did you?"
"No." Taika pushed the sickle back in Mika’s face. "There is no Shangrila, either the planet or on Caerlon."
"Please," Mika cried again, "I have a little brother back home!"
Taika paused, then smiled suddenly. She backed off, and hid the weapon in her sleeves somewhere. "This is boring. You plead for mercy too quickly. How about I kill you later, okay? When you’e not worthless." She skipped out of the room, long hair fluttering behind her and nightgown swishing.
Mejiro looked at Mika, face still red, and hurried out after his sister. "Taika, stop! Get back here!"
Mejiro grabbed the older girl’s arm, avoiding her hidden weapons with practised ease. "Taika, what was that about? We can’t just leave her like that! She’s scared to death!"
Taika sighed. "Mejiro, you’re such a softie. I’m sorry, but every earth person I’ve met has been bad news, and I’m not going to believe any differently with this one."
"What did those guys say to you, anyway? Just that maybe you weren’t telling all the truth about things..."
"You have no idea!" Taika hissed, whirling on her brother and smiling, revealing her fangs. Mejiro blinked and stepped back. "Right...come on, Taika. Think about it. When was the last time that anyone actually appeared on Nieva like that?" He crossed his arms. "We should take her to see Sukuu, and get her feedback."
Taika pinched his cheek. "Nope! Well, I’ll go get packed up for the night...you know we’ll pobably end up spending the night at Sukuu’s place, again. See you in a bit, little bro!" She walked off, boot heels clicking on the floor, purple braid swishing in her wake. Mejiro stared after he, panicked, and ran after Taika. "Taika! Wait! Aren’t you going to inform Mika? I can’t do it! Taika!"
The small trio set out about an hour later, Taika leading the way while Mejiro stayed with Mika, silent. It made little difference...Taika’s accounts of how to kill a person was more than enough talk for one journey. Her black stallion seemed to enjoy the discussion as much as the spy did, whickering whenever she said something particularly gruesome. Mika’s dappled mare and Mejiro’s brown stallion both seemed slightly rattled, and spooked easily at every movement as they rode through the forest. Taika looked back at her younger companions every few minutes, and flashed a devious smile, fangs glinting despite the occasional lack of sunlight. Mika paled, and was ready to scream by the time they exited the forest and came to a small dirt pathway leading up a hill.
Taika spoiled that, too. "You know, this is a lot like the hill where I got rid of the assassain trying to get ahold of the captain of the guard. He wasn’t expecting a girl, much less the one he’d been using to tutor his children, to paralyze him, push him down the hill, and cut off those damn groping fingers of his before bashing his skull in with a rock."
"Taika, that’s disgusting!" Mejiro cried. Taika looked back at him. "Why, baby brother, am I scaring you?"
"Stop calling me that! And no, I just get sick of your twisted sense of humor sometimes! No wonder you and Amaru get along so well!"
Mika shivered, wondering what this Amaru was like if he got along well with this cold, malevolent young woman.
Taika pulled up on the reigns. "We’re here!"
Mika looked up and gasped at the stone building before them. The entire two story edifice was made of white limestone, bright flowers bloomed along its base and beside the road, and a small, clear lake sparkled in the late afternoon sunlight near the back of the house. She blinked, and Mejiro helped her off her horse, promptly spilling her on the ground. Mika stood, brushing herself off, and Mejiro stammered out an unintelligible apology. Taika shook her head at Mika. "Simple minds, simple pleasures, I suppose. Come on, I’m sure she knows we’re here, and she won’t like it if we don’t get in there soon." The tone of reluctant respect in the strange woman’s voice startled Mika, but she nodded and hurried after Taika, Mejiro following, still trying to apologize.
The door opened, and out stepped a young woman who looked slightly younger than Taika. Her black hair seemed to take in all the light around her, and her green eyes sparkled. She smiled. "Let me guess...you two will be staying the night again, huh?"
"Sukuu, really! I’m insulted!" Taika said in a hurt voice. "We’re coming over just to visit, and to talk with you about this girl who fell through my roof this morning."o
"Yeah, right. If you guys like staying at my house so much, why don’t you get your own indoor heating system?"
"Too expensive," Taika answered. "Anyway, we really do want you to give us a hand with this girl..."
"Sukuu?" A young voice. "What’s going on?"
A small boy appeared in the doorway, hat falling over his face. Mika gasped. "He’s green!"
Taika looked at the girl in disgust, then back at Mejiro. "You sure did pick a winner, little brother."
Mejiro ignored her. The green boy peeked out from under his hat with dark blue-green eyes, curious. "Who’s that girl?"
Sukuu shrugged. "An atempt to have a reason to stay over her tonight on Taika and Mejiro’s part."
"She fell through my roof!" Taika protested. "Don’t you think that’s suspicious?"
"Sure, but I don’t see how that involves me."
"She just showed up here from another planet," Mejiro piped up. Taika grinned. "Glad you decided to join the conversation."
Mejiro glalred, but said nothing. Taika shrugged. "Guess I was wrong. Anyway, she says her name is Mika something or other. I wasn’t payin attention, I was busy trying to kill her."
Sukuu raised an eyebrow, then smiled at Mika. "Nice to meet you, Mika. I’m Sukuu, and this is my student Sushi."
"Sushi?" Mika looked at the little green boy again. "Why would someone name a kid after dead fish wrapped in seaweed?"
Sushi looked at Taika. "From Earth?"
Taika nodded. "Hence the me trying to kill her thing."
Mika straightened up. "You couldn’t kill me," she said, voice trembling.
"Don’t tempt her," Mejiro said, as Taika peered at Mika and repsonded, "Oh, that sounded convincing."
"I suppose you’d better come in," Sukuu said, turning back into the house. "Sushi and I need to get back to work. You can introduce the Earth girl to everyone."
"There are more?" Mika whispered.
Taika spoke up, her voice slight higher than usual. "Amaru’s here?"
Mika looked at her as Sushi answered, "Once I can grant Jellybean’s wishes, Sukuu wants me to try and grant his."
Taika’s face lit up with a genuine smile, then it dropped back into it’s usual cynical grin. "Is he Riu-chan?"
"I hope not," Sushi replide.
Taika grinned evilly. "But if he is..."
"I turn into a cheetah and hightail it out of here!" Sushi yelped. "Now stop trying to scare me, or else I’ll never be able to finish practicing with Jellybean!"
He hurried back inside, and Taika followed, yelling after him. "Oh, you’d hate it if you had to spend more time with Jellybean, huh Sushi? The day when you don’t have to see her anymore will be heaven, right? Right?"
"Quit it, Taika! Leave me alone! Sukuu!"
As if Sushi weren’t enough of a shock, Mika was amazed again when she met Jellybean.
A clear, excited voice greeted her briefly as a blue blur shot past her as she and Mejiro entered. "Hi new person! Sushi, can you make me fly? I wish for wings! I wish for enough chocolate to last me forever! I wish for a house full of kitties! I wish for a boyfriend! I wish for my own godlihod! I wish for worship all over Nieva! I wish for a pet centaur!"
Mika finally spotted the owner of the voice who, moments before, had literally been bouncing off the walls. The tiny girl had blue hair in pigtails with tassles hanging off the ends and a dress covered with bells. Her yellow eyes shone. "That’s what I wish for! A pet centaur! a healthy little boy and he’ll be gray and have a long mane and I’ll feed him apples and name him Melon! I wish for!"
Sushi’s cheeks were rosy, and he spoke quietly. "Okay, Jellybean. I’ll try that."
He looked at his hands, touched his fingers together, and glowed faintly. A moment later, there was a whicker outside the window. the girl shrieked, trhew herself out the window, and yelled back up, "I love you Sushi, thank you!"
Taika looked at Mejiro and Sushi and noted, "If Sushi weren’t green, he and my brother would match perfectly right now."
Sushi stuck out his tongue, and Mejiro hollered, "Quit saying I’m your brother!"
Sukuu looked out the window. "Nice job, Sushi. However, I’d like it better if you’d given the centaur arms."
"Oh!" Sushi quickly readopted his earlier pose, and a moment later Sukuu looked back at him, satisfied. "Good. Let’s try Amaru now."
Sushi nodded, and looked over Mika’s shoulder. She turned too. Taika was sitting on the floor with her legs stretched out in front of her talking very excitedly about something not quite audible and punctuating her comments with huge arms gestures. Mika looked a little to the side and noticed someone else sitting there...a boy who looked maybe a little older than herself with blonde hair and a cheerful face. He was smiling and listening intently to Taika’s exuberant one person discussion. Sushi called out. "Amaru! I’m supposed to try granting your wishes now!"
"Coming!" the boy called back. He stood and walked over, peering back at Taika. "I’ll be back in a sec, all right?"
"Sure!" she answered. "Knock yourself out, Greenleaf!"
"Taika, be nice." Amaru suddenly noticed Mika and stopped. "Oh! Who are you?"
"This is Mika.."Mejiro started. Amaru broke into another cheerful grin. "Oh! The girl Taika wants to kill now."
Mika smiled faintly and Amaru laughed. "Don’t worry," he advised. "Taika’s really a very nice girl. So friendly and creative and passionate about things."
"Death." Mejiro snorted.
Amaru ignored him. "She’ll do anything to protect someone..."
"Like killing them."
"...And she knows some great stories, too."
"About killing people."
Amaru whirled and snapped, "Would you quit it?"
Everyone jumped except for Sukuu, who sighed, and Taika, who leaned forward on her knees. Amaru shook his head. "Honestly. You’re so mean to your sister."
"She’s not..."
"Give it a rest, bro!" Taika yelled teasingly, and Mejiro groaned and collapsed onto his chair again.
Sushi tugged Amaru’s shirt nervously. "A-Amaru, come on."
"Sure." Amaru sat down on the couch near Sushi. "Okay. Now, what do I wish for....how about a new horse?"
"Sushi just gave Jellybean a pet centaur," Sukuu responded. "Try something different."
"All right. Well, I’ve always wanted green eyes."
"O-okay." Sushi went into his wish granting stance. His face wrinkled in concentration and nothing happened for a long time. Finally, he opened his eyes. "Did it work?"
"Not...exactly..." Sukuu muttered.
Everyone looked at Amaru, wo now sported spiky green hair. Amaru smiled and shrugged, but his face looked a little strange. "Nice try, Sushi. You can fix it, right?"
"Yeah."
After Amaru’s hair color was restored, the boy leaned back,thinking again. "Hmmm. Well, let’s try something more likely to be asked for instead. I wish to be surrounded by beautiful girls."
"Oh good God," Taika muttered.
"Sushi closed his eyes and pressed his fingers together again. The response was faster this time, but almost as disasterous. The room was suddenly filled with dozens of eight year old, blue haired whirlwinds. Mika shrieked and tried to hide behind her hands, Amaru looked more than a little strained, Sukuu stood there shaking her head in disbelief, Mejiro tried to keep the girls away from Mika, and Taika was beating them away from her with a pillow. Sushi went an interesting shade of green-scarlet and covered his face. "I’m so sorry!"
"Don’t be sorry, just get rid of them!" Taika screamed, kicking one in the face. "Jellybean by herself was bad enough!"
Sushi closed his eyes and snapped his fingers and the girls dissapeared. Mika uncovered her face and Sukuu stared at the ceiling in disbelief. "Just when I think I can’t possibly age any more..."
Amaru now most definitely looked upset, but he managed to stretch his face into a semblance of understanding. "Happens to everyone I bet. Okay, simple this time...I wish for a million dollars."
Sushi looked at Amaru and paled a tiny bit, but attempted to grant the wish. A pile of blue triangular coins dropped to the ground. Everyone stared at them in silence for a long moment. Amaru finally spoke, voice edged with ice. "I didn’t wish for that, Sushi."
Sushi went white...or as white as he could under the green...but his voice was strong. "I did grant your wish. You asked for a million dollars. You didn’t say it couldn’t be in Vegan moon currency."
Sukuu dropped her head into her hands. Everyone else gaped, except for Taika, who looked thoroughly amused. Mika eyed Amaru nervously. The blonde looked like a dormant volcano dying to erupt. But the moment passed, and Amaru shrugged and smiled yet again, any tension drained out of him. "Good one Sushi. How about we just call it quits for now, okay?"
"Fine by me!" Sushi said, obviously relieved. Taika obviously didn’t agree. She tossed her head, making her braid fly over her shoulder. "Just when it was really getting interesting, too."
"Good idea, Amaru," Sukuu said, pointedly ignoring Taika. She walked over to the window. "Jellybean! Come on inside, we’re going to stop for the day."
Jellybean hopped in through the window and staked over to Sushi, a death glare on her face. Sushi backed away from her. "W-what?"
"I believe," she said icily, "that I wanted my cenaur named Melon. He says his name is Apple."
Jellybean latched onto Mika immediatly, spilling out questions a million per minute. "Where on Earth are you from? What’s a japan? How come you have such funny colored hair? It’s like Amaru’s or something, but not. Hey, how come you aren’t afraid of Amaru? He’s funny. Do you like him? Do you like Mejiro? What about Sushi? He’s my best friend. Do you have a best friend? What’s he like? How old are you? Are you old enough to help take over the world? Do you want to take over the world?You can have my house if you want. What’s your house like? Do you have centaurs? How about unlimited supplies of cheese? How come you aren’t talking? Are you under a spell? Can you put me under it, too? How old did you say you were again?"
"Ah, sixteen..."
"Oh, you can talk!" Jellybean sounded dissapointed. "I was hoping you couldn’t. Oh well. Have you ever eaten amidakuji before? Do you know what that is? I made it up right then! Hey, we’re here!" Jellybean waved at everyone as they entered the dinning room and pointed at each person with awed eyes. "Hey, look! It’s Mika and Sukuu and Mejiro and Taika and Sushi and Amaru and Amaru and Amaru.."
Amaru grinned. "Jellybean, what a sense on humor you have!"
Jellybean smiled and ran over to sit across from Sushi, who hid his face under his hat.
Mejiro popped up behind Mika, startling her. He looked at his feet. "I’ll show you to your spot."
He led her to a chair near the head of the table, next to his on one side, Sukuu’s on the other, and right across from Taika and Amaru. Taika leaned on her elbows and peered at Mika with mild amusement. "So. I hope you’re planning to sleep with one eye open tonight."
"Taika!" Mejiro sounded truly mortified. Amaru just laughed. "Isn’t she something else?"
Taika beamed back at him, then returned to staring at Mika, who tried to sink under the table.
Sukuu started to speak, but a servant ran over to her and whispered something in her ear. She started, and looked at him. "You’re serious?"
The servant nodded. Sukuu stood up quickly. "Do you have the things with you?"
"Yes, Sukuu." The servant placed some pages in front of her and some rough sketches of several young men. All looked very similar, with fair hair and youthful faces of about eighteen. The servant bowed. "Would you like me to get the information on the others and Lord Coran as well?"
"No, thank you. This will do." Sukuu examined to pictures closely. Mika noticed that everyone seemed to have stopped talking and were watching the sorceress intently. She finally looked up. "So. Most of them were from Earth. And these dissapeared the most often, right after he did...."
No one answered. There was no need. Sukuu seemed to be talking to herself. She rested her chin on her hands and stared at one picture hard. "So that’s it. 2,000 years, and that’s it. But how do I...."
Sukuu dropped the glass she been raising to her lips and the shattering glass made even Taika jump. Sukuu was staring at Mika with wide eyes, mouth hanging open. Mika shrank back nervously. "W-what..."
"You," Sukuu whispered. "I can use you. It all fits...you’re from Earth, you’re young and female and redheaded so he won’t be interested in you, and..." She leaned forward and tounched Mika’s forehead. Mika’s eyes clouded over and for a split second someone else seemed to be there, another man, but she couldn’t quite see him...
Sukuu leaned back. It was gone. She nodded. "He’s only mortal. So he must’ve left some bloodlines behind. I wasn’t sure before, but you are. You must be one of his descendants. A very weak line, perhaps, but it works. Or else someone in your ancient family worshipped him or some such thing. Maybe it’s nothing more than you have an anscestor who also ended up in Nieva. But your tie to him is strong enough."
"What are you talking about?" Mika shrilled.
Sukuu smiled. "Mika, you are going to help me get my fiance back."
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