Fairy Tale 2
Fairy Tale 1 this Way <-
They continued toward the Land of Dreams, a fair distance away, even for the warriors. Night had come and they finally rested, Akuri sleeping with her head pillowed on Shadow Hound’s thigh. You see, Shadow Hound loved the Princess Akuri with a fierce loyalty that was unmatched by anyone and even though he may have seemed oblivious; he always protected her from any danger. She was his entire world. It was rumored that he even loved her more than he loved his books, but if he did it was Shadow Hound’s best kept secret yet.
The next morning, the trio came across another warrior from the Land of Shadows. The dark haired, tragically romantic figure was none other than the fabled Baron von Lupine and his sidekick, Crimson Kitty. They had received a message from Lady Luckbegone telling them to meet up with the erstwhile heroes and to help them discover the cause of the nightmares and what was happening in the Land of Dreams. These two warriors were some of the strongest the Land of Shadows had to offer so it was only natural that they also go on such an important quest.
“Shadow Hound,” Baron von Lupine scowled.
Shadow Hound tilted his head slightly in acknowledgment, placing his book away in his pouch before giving his one time student his full attention.
“Lady Luckbegone has ordered us to go to the Land of Dreams and discover why the children of the Land of Shadows are being plagued by nightmares.” Crimson Kitty had long ago grown used to the fact that his fearless leader was plagued by an inability to speak more than a few words to anyone at any given moment. So he just simply took to filling in the other parties rather than have them have to suffer through the eloquent grunting his boss considered acceptable speech.
“Yes, we must rescue the hime from the evil clutches of Maru-hime, who is really a very bad man and must be punished or we shall have to run the borders of the Land of Dreams on our hands as punishment for our failure,” Turtle burst forth, his tears flowing unchecked in the glittering sunset.
Akuri marveled at how perfect it seemed…even if it was in the east.
“Mah, really,” Shadow Hound sighed, “leave us out of it please.”
“What a hip and cool thing to say,” the Turtle burst into tears again, “I despair of ever being as modern as you.”
“Modern?” Akuri and Crimson Kitty chorused in shared confusion.
“Let it go.” Shadow Hound sighed heavily. “If you try to figure him out it will only give you a headache. He regularly gives me one.”
Akuri rubbed her temples, heartily agreeing with that statement.
***
Kanna sighed, shooing the children off to bed before seeking hers. It was late and they all needed to sleep while they could. The enemy outnumbered them and were known for harrying the fort in the night. She sometimes wished she could be like many of the children and just sleep through it all, but she slept fitfully, worry and fear keeping her from truly resting. She found herself envying the ninja’s ability to sleep anywhere.
The dawn found her wide-awake in triage, another wave having hit them during the night. The sun rose over the battlefield in all its bloody glory. They had fought them off again, though a small group had gotten through this time. Kanna winced as she moved the wound on her side still a bit painful. She had thrown herself in the way of a strike, protecting the captain who had taken a hit protecting a child. The wound was only a glancing blow, but it hurt like hell. Though there was the satisfaction that she had incapacitated the man completely before he had been interrogated and eventually killed. Nothing like having you dick shriveled up to make you a little more friendly to your interrogators. She had healed herself up enough to get by; her chakra was needed for so many others and couldn’t be spared to do more than keep herself alive.
The day past slowly, the smell of corpses in the sun wafting on the breeze and making the outside nearly unbearable. They didn’t dare try to open the gates and bury the dead, it would leave them vulnerable to attack. Kanna gained a new appreciation for why Kakashi wore that damn mask, forget looking mysterious, it probably blocked his sense of smell from such unpleasant odors. Unwashed bodies of hard fighting warriors didn’t smell so good after a few days, no matter how sexy some of the women may have found them. Really, it killed the whole sex appeal thing right there when you could smell them coming from 20 feet away.
The day passed in a blur of stolen naps and checking on the injured. The soldiers needed to be up and ready to fight again as soon as she could get them out the door. The longer they were down the more vulnerable they were to attacks. She knew this as well as they did.
Lunchtime came and found her with her meager rations, once more surrounded by children and a few soldiers who had listened in the night before. She sighed, tilting her head back to recall her place, knowing that her audience sought escape from reality in the fantasy she was creating.
***
The erstwhile swashbucklers and fair princess set off again, hoping to reach the borders of the Land of Dreams by nightfall. Who knew what dangers awaited them there? Who could only guess what horrors they would find? Who really could know how much longer Baron von Lupine could handle Turtle’s antics before he was forced to tie him up, gag him, and throw him off the nearest cliff into a bottomless chasm where he could be as hip and youthful as he wanted, so long as it was well away from him?
The Princess Akuri froze, a sound distracting her from their journey. Shadow Hound returned to her side, his eyes scanning the area she pointed too.
“I heard something over there,” she whispered nearly soundlessly. The Warriors of the Land of Shadows have excellent hearing so naturally all the men around her heard. It was really difficult to get a lot of privacy in the Land of Shadows without knowing some type of important jutsu which would give you the illusion of privacy. Or you just learned to live with the fact that everyone around you knew everything about you.
Baron von Lupine dropped to the ground, the warriors naturally traveled in trees being the awesome heroes that they were, traveling on the ground was far too common for them. He crept closer to where the noise had been, only to stop when a familiar sound was heard.
“Are you sure they are this way?” A voice whined. It sounded pitiful and grumpy, as if it was forced to be somewhere it didn’t want to be.
“I told you, I heard them over here,” a frustrated voice answered. The party hid just in time to avoid being sighted by two of the more famous guards of the Land of Dreams.
The golden haired male appeared first, chewing on a piece of metal and whining at his darker haired partner, who seemed remarkably patient.
“I already told you, Slick Honey, I heard them over here somewhere. If you would quit whining, we could probably hear them again and catch up with them.” Otaku was obviously a candidate for sainthood with his remarkable ability to deal with his less than mature partner.
“But Otaku, we are lost.” Slick Honey adjusted his bandana before slouching again, the metal toothpick dipping in time to his whine rather like a conductor directing his bands instruments.
“You are lost, Slick Honey, I am never lost. And keep your weapons out of your mouth, have many times do I have to tell you? You don’t know where they have been.” Otaku ran his fingers through his hair, the scars on the side of his face pulling slightly with his frown.
Slick Honey pouted, his bandana even pouting with him as he slunk along beside Otaku. Princess Akuri felt bad for Otaku, having to put up with such a frustrating man. Sometimes Shadow Hound forgot himself as well and would follow her around like that, whining like a kicked puppy.
“What brings you so far from home?” Princess Akuri called out to the men below her.
Otaku and Slick Honey started, nearly running into each other in their haste to pull their weapons.
“Identify yourselves,” they ordered brandishing their hastily bared weapons. Well really Slick Honey just pulled his metal stick from his mouth and pretended it was a weapon.
“That should be our line,” Shadow Hound commented lazily. He thought the two guards were doing a really good impression of the keystone samurai but that thought was better left to later when Princess Akuri was more likely to appreciate it instead of hitting him for being rude.
“I told you I heard them,” Otaku mumbled to his companion. “Oh brave and dashing Samurai Captain Shadow Hound. Lord Golden Fox has sent us to escort you and your lovely partner, the Princess Akuri, to the Land of Dreams where much confusion abounds. He feels that only your partner’s wisdom can help him set the land to rights.”
“Doesn’t he mean my wisdom?” Shadow Hound replied. Princess Akuri rolled her eyes slightly. She could hear the pout in his voice.
“Lord Golden Fox specifically requested her. Something about you being a lazy jerk that would arrive way after the right moment and only mess things up more,” Slick Honey retorted, ignoring his partner’s valiant attempt to silence him.
“That idiot,” Baron von Lupine grumbled.
“He had a message for you as well,” Otaku sighed painfully. “Moron, I don’t need your help, I can fix it perfectly fine.”
“Tchh,” Baron von Lupine rolled his eyes.
Princess Akuri sighed, rolling her eyes and wishing that those three idiotic men would learn to grow up and get over themselves already. Both Baron von Lupine and Lord Golden Fox had trained under Captain Shadow Hound along with Lady Iron Flower and they had not forgotten nor apparently forgiven the man for the experience. She shook her head, the three would sooner be dipped in oil and fried like giant tempura to be served to Maru-hime then admit that they even remotely thought about admiring the man they had once called teacher. However, when push came to shove, the four of them were the strongest fighting team the Land of Shadows had ever produced.
“Do you know what happened?” she asked forestalling the whining she knew was coming. Really, there was only so much whining a princess should have to put up with, delicate constitution and all.
“We suspect that Maru-hime’s minion, Purple Weasel, managed to sneak in and steal away with the divine golden disk,” Otaku informed them.
“Along with several of Lady Iron Flower’s bottles of nail polish. He left her only purple nail polish in his favorite shade. She is incensed at his cheek as well as his bad fashion sense.” Slick Honey winced at the memory of the enraged healer’s howling fury. “She wants his head for it.”
Princess Akuri glared at her intrepid companion before he could offer up his own commentary on the subject, “Keep it clean for the kiddies, dear, or you are sleeping on the couch for a week.”
“Back to the matter at hand,” Shadow Hound turned back to the guards, wisely knowing that there were limits to even his beloved’s patience. School teacher or no, she had a temper on her that could rival even the angriest dragon. “Is there any idea of where he might be heading?”
“He was last seen making a scene in Blazing Theme on the borders of the Land of Winds. Apparently he had left his last bottle of purple nail polish with Lady Iron Flower and they were out of his shade,” Slick Honey replied.
It was decided that Princess Akuri would continue on with Slick Honey, Otaku, and Turtle to the capital of the Land of Dreams while Shadow Hound, Crimson Kitty, and Baron von Lupine continued on to the Land of Winds to check out the Blazing Theme store to gain any insight to where Purple Weasel was headed.
***
Kanna sent the children on their way, stiffly getting up to change her own bandages before doing rounds. The call to arms had come, signaling activity in the enemy’s camp. She envied the bloody bastards their position downwind. However, she didn’t envy them having to charge the walls over the top of the bloating bodies of their comrades and foes. She grimly noted that her wounds weren’t healing, her body too depleted to really start doing more than surviving.
The rest of the day passed slowly and the promised reinforcements once more failed to show. The sounds of revelry from the other side of the walls made her curse them, one and all. Bandits and some missing nin banded together to claim bigger prizes. The only thing truly preventing the walls from falling was the fact that the Captain in charge actually commanded the elite forces and not just the regular cavalry the bastards had been expecting. She figured it just meant that they would wait a little longer for their death, her hope slowly fading that aid would arrive. It was the fourth day of the siege and there was no end in sight, except for the food supply, which was small to begin with. They may have a week more of food and water, but she didn’t count on it.
She turned back to the triage area, idly wishing that she had remembered to tell someone back home where she had hidden their new year’s presents. She hoped they would find the gaily wrapped packages when they cleaned out her apartment. She wondered who would get her books wishing she had thought to leave a will. Then only the wounded occupied her thoughts.
Fairy Tale 3 This Way ->