Fox Love:
Chapter 3- Mud
The sky above them was a flat, steely gray and the road beneath their feet was a mudpit. They slogged through it with grim determination, their legs coated with the thick, slimy mud up to their knees. The rest of them was spattered with it, little splotches here and there, that dried on their skin and then itched like crazy; even Hiei couldn't stand it for very long.
The weather didn't seem like it was going to get any better, either. Thunder crashed in the distance, and occasionally they could see a flash of lightening off to their right. Haven sighed as her foot sunk into the mud with a loud squelch, up to her mid-calf. She tired of the mud, tired of being stuck with a bunch of idiots, and tired of being bossed around by Koenma. She was tired of the world in general. Her exasperation with the world was only increased when Kuwabara shouted as he sunk, once more, into the mud. All of them had had their share of suddenly sinking into a hidden hole and having their legs coated in a fresh layer of mud, but Kuwabara was the loudest about it. All in all Haven was ready for the hotel they had been promised when they were to reach the next city, but it didn’t look like they were going to get there today, not at the rate they were going.
All of a sudden she stopped dead in her tracks. The others, all except for Kurama, continued on a few paces, before they realized she had stopped. Haven reached into the backpack she had slung over one shoulder and pulled out a small, flute-like object. It was about as long as her forearm, made out of a glossy, grey wood. As it sat in her hand, it seemed to vibrate and hum with a life of its own. And as the people huddled around looked at it, it began to glow. A faint, shimmering gleam, that pulsed as if with its own heartbeat. Haven looked startled. The rest of the group stared at it in awe, this being the first time any of them had actually seen one of the Chaos Articles.
Koenma had been visily shaken when he found out that Haven possed one of these articles. He had taken Haven off a little into the forest and asked her to show it to him. He had come back a few minutes later, his face a stern mask and his eyes veiled. "You will use Haven's object to aide you in the search for the other 6 Articles," he had told them. "Then it's really one of the artifacts?" Yusuke had asked eagerly. "Yes," had come the flat reply. But, none of them had actually ever seen The Chaos Whistle...until now.
All of a sudden Haven's hand clamped tightly around the Whistle. Her mouth stretched into a grim line and her eyes went stone cold. "There's another one of these…things around," she said in a cramped voice.
Kurama's eyebrow raised above his emerald eyes, now sparking with excitement, "Are you sure?" he questioned in his soft voice. "How do you know?"
"I can feel the Whistle tugging at my hand," came the strained reply. "And it's pulling hard!"
"I guess that means we're close," Yusuke said, dubiously.
"No really?" came the sharp retort from Hiei. "Let's go! Why are you all just standing there like idiots?!"
Haven's head snapped around, her eyes narrow slits and the corners of her mouth tighter then before. Her eyes seemed to spit pure venom at the shorter demon standing before her and the knuckles of the hand that clutched the Whistle were white, not only from the death-grip they had. Hiei took two steps back and turned away, sticking his nose in the air, ignoring them all. Kurama hid a small, renegade smile behind one hand and covered up his telltale chuckle with a cough.
Haven glared for one more long moment at Hiei, then turned her attention back to the object on her hand. "I guess all we have to do is…follow it."
"Well then let's go!" Yusuke exclaimed.
So once more, they were slogging through the mud, though this time they were off the path, and cutting through a wide meadow of waist-high grass. Haven held the whistle out before her and it seemed to jerk her along like a puppet on strings. She grunted every time the Whistle jolted her forward, stumbling into even more mud, but otherwise she kept silent.
The others were silent also; their grim determination to find these objects overriding even their frustration and exhaustion. All of the mud from before had dried, and was now weighing them down, tugging at their clothes and making them seem twice the weight. And to top it all off, more mud was being piled on top with every step they took. But they followed in dogged silence, watching the lithe form kitsune in front of them being jerked along like a dog on a leash. None of them offered to help, just watched in stony silence.
Ahead of them Haven felt the frequent yanks getting stronger. She strained now to hold on, using every last bit of her strength to keep it in her hands. The field around her was like a muddy marsh and above them, wet and soggy, the gray skies above cold and unforgiving. Then it began to rain. A gentle, but cold drizzle began to fall, seemingly harmless, yet it penetrated straight to their skin, leaving them shivering in their mud soaked clothes. Kurama wanted to scream out loud. This was getting to be too much! Was all this really worth it? Then he looked up at Haven and saw her struggle with the Whistle. He sighed,"If she's not giving up on this, then neither am I! She is worse off then I am and hasn't uttered a complaint once!" And with that thought he straightened up from where he had been hunched over against the rain and marched up to the female kitsune.
"Need some help?" he asked kindly, reaching over and adding his strength to her grip.
Her head came up from its prior position on her chest and the green eyes looked at him. For a long moment Kurama seemed to be falling, falling into a pair of bottomless eyes, where dwelled all that he had ever tried to avoid in his life. Pain, anger, sorrow, revenge, hatred, betrayal, lies, guilt, crushing grief all swirled around him, pulling at him, tugging him, begging him to join their ranks, stoop to their level.
Then, he was free. It was as if someone had closed a door, and Haven's eyes reverted to their normal, veiled green. She said nothing, just looked away, her mouth still a tight line, and continued her awkward, haphazard gait. He was frozen for a moment, before the Whistle yanked him jerkily along also. Between the two of them and their combined strenghts, which was considerable, they still had a hard time hanging onto the Whistle. The others in the group followed closely behind them, waiting for the moment when the next Article would be found. The only sounds were the wet suck of their feet in the mud and an occasional grunt from Kurama or Haven.
They came to a small, rocky, valley and the Whistle tugged every more sharply the closer they got. By now every muscle in their bodies was taut, and their arms were straining, the grunts and groans much more frequent. The Whistle seemed to hum, the silvery wood vibrating, and a low-pitched whine seemed to pierce all their ears. It grew louder and louder and the Whistle jerked fiercer and fiercer until Kurama and Haven thought their arms were going to be yanked out of their sockets. Then, all of a sudden, the Whistle went still. The humming and tugging stopped so abruptly, that Kurama and Haven were thrown off balance and fell backwards onto Yusuke and Kuwabara. They were helped back to their feet, arms hanging limply at their sides, the now still Whistle still clutched limply in Haven's right hand.
"What the hell just happened?!" Yusuke exclaimed.
Chapter 4- Fox Song
