Original Stories Fan Fiction / Realism Fan Fiction ❯ Aqua ❯ Shadows ( Chapter 9 )

Chapter Nine

Shadows

 

 

Aqua stalked through Hangman's Forest, not noticing the sunlight fade and give way to shadows. In a heated moment, she had lost all trust of the one person that she had actually come to call her friend, or at least who she thought of as her friend. She knew there were other, deeper emotions mixed in, but had never wanted to explore them lest she scare Darain off.

 

She quickened her pace when she thought she could hear other people's voices not far behind her. A flash of movement caught her eye, but when she turned her head to look at it, there was nothing but empty space between the trees staring back at her. Aqua wasn't watching what was in front of her and took one misstep and went tumbling downwards into shadows.

 

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Aqua awoke sometime later to something tickling her face. She scrunched her face up and batted the offending object away. A moment passed, then two, before the offending object returned and began tickling her face again, this time, accompanied by annoying giggles.

 

She gave a feral growl and sat up to snatch the object away, only to find that it was a feather. Three little children sat beside her, laughing and pointing at her. Aqua, never having liked being laughed at, growled at them again, and this time, sent them running. She sighed and flopped back onto her back, glad that the children were gone.

 

Silence reigned for several, long minutes before ringing laughter reached her ears. Aqua gave a growl of frustration, and tried to get to her feet, only to feel a jarring pain in her left ankle. She ground her teeth together and sat back down on the ground to minimize the damage she could do to her ankle.

 

She pulled her pant leg up to get a good look at her ankle. It was swollen and, as far as she could tell, not broken, but badly sprained. Great, she thought angrily, Just what I need. A sprained ankle in the middle of nowhere with no help for who knows how far. Plus Darain is probably already gone by now. The last thought caused a pang of loss to shoot through her, but she quickly shook it off.

 

Suddenly, she became aware of little faces staring out at her from the surrounding trees. Becoming slightly unnerved, she growled at them and was somewhat relieved when they disappeared, but that relief was fleeting for a few moments before they returned, giggling with some older children in tow.

 

One boy looked from the one that held onto his wrist to the girl in the middle of the clearing and back again. “What is the meaning of this, Deasera?” he asked the giggling girl. The one called Deasera giggled and said, “She growls, Cota.”

 

Cota looked incredulously at her and rolled his eyes in exasperation. “Deasera, she is an outsider. Have you no respect for our laws, our ways, our protection, our sanctity,” Cota ground out in frustration. “You younglings have no idea what danger you have exposed us to by revealing yourselves to this…this…this abomination.” The younger children bowed their heads in shame.

 

“Well excused me for being who I am. I have no interest in who you are, what you are, nor what your laws are,” Aqua snapped, her temper getting the better of her. Cota and the rest of the group turned their attention to her.

 

Cota drew himself up to his full height and stepped towards her. “Never speak to a warrior of the Jiku clan like that,” he said proudly.

 

Aqua tilted her head to the side and considered his appearance. He looked to be about five-foot-three, seventeen-years-old, with brownish-black hair, and brilliant blue eyes. His skin was a deep tan from years of prolonged exposure to the sun. He was muscular and wore a proud, fierce scowl.

 

“Really?” Aqua sneered. “You don't look like any warrior I've ever seen.” In truth, she had never actually seen a real warrior, but suspected that Darain was one, being the prince of an entire race and all. She was in a foul mood, though, and didn't feel like being nice to complete strangers.

 

She suppressed a small grin at the look of fury that crossed Cota's face. A facial muscle twitched in his right cheek as he barely controlled his rage at her insult. “Cora, what do you say we teach this outsider a lesson,” he said cockily to one of the older girls.

 

Aqua frowned at them, and decided to teach them exactly what she was capable of. “Jidara,” she said quietly and watched as the dew on the leaves rise into the air and shoot towards Cota and form a solid bubble around his body.

 

Needless to say, Cota panicked and tried to claw his way out. “Oh, quit making a fool of yourself. Its not going to do you any harm,” Aqua laughed.

 

“How do you know?” one of the younger children piped up.

 

“Because it responds to my will,” Aqua snarled, making the boy flinch away from her. The one named Cora stepped forward and snapped, “Then release my brother, demon.” The fright was evident in her voice, but Aqua had to commend her for her bravery.

 

“What would be the point?” she asked in a mockingly sweet voice. “Besides, I'm not a demon, I'm human.” She didn't bother to add anything about the magic that Darain had managed to teach her. Before anyone could make a move or say anything else, the water shield around Cota burst and he fell to the ground gasping for air as though he had been suffocated. Claustrophobic, Aqua noted with mild surprise.

 

“I never said you could use those words for your own use,” a familiar voice floated towards her through the trees. She craned her neck so fast to see who had spoken she heard it pop. In the shadow of a tall oak tree stood Darain. Her heart gave an odd flutter at the sight of him, and before she could stop herself, she smiled at him.

 

“You see him, outsider?” Cora questioned.

 

“Of course,” Aqua snapped.

 

“What shape does he take for you?”

 

“What?”

 

“What do you see standing in the shadow of that tree?”

 

“Someone I know. Why? What do you see?”

 

“What I see is my business.”

 

“It's not the person I know, is it?”

 

“No, he is the guardian spirit of this forest, and when he shows himself, he takes the form of the one you most care about.”

 

Aqua looked back at the boy in the shadows and looked him over carefully, and found the one flaw that proved that he, indeed, was not Darain. “Where are the ears?” she asked, now totally ignoring the small group of people in favor of the forest Guardian. He gave her a funny look, as did the others. “If you can truly take the form of the one I care most about, then you would also have white cat-like ears,” Aqua growled, more aggressively than she meant to.

 

Everyone continued to stare at her, but the forest Guardian cleared his throat and brought their attention back to him. “Those ears that you speak of are beyond my powers to duplicate. There is something preventing me from it,” he stated as though it were common knowledge.

 

Aqua suddenly bowed her head and began to crack up. She continued laughing for several long minutes before she was finally able to regain control of herself and look up at the small group without cracking up. “Of course there is,” she said, uncharacteristically grinning. “Those ears belong to the royal family of his race. I'm sure you could duplicate any other of the races ears, but not the white ones, never the white ones.”

 

Cota and Cora exchanged a mutual look of utter confusion. “Revered forest dweller, what are we to do with the demon outsider?”

 

Aqua rolled her eyes at the nickname they had given her, though she had to admit, it did fit the darker side of her personality. There was no way she was getting out of this one, not with her sprained ankle, but if they planned to kill her, then they would have one hell of a fight. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the younger children watching her with interest, and felt a twinge of regret at having scared them earlier, but she quickly shoved that feeling away.

 

The forest guardian gave her a considering glance before saying, “Take her back to your village and treat her as one of your own.” Instantly, protests started to arise from the older children, though they were silenced when he raised his hand and called for silence. “Hear me. You are young, but set in the ways of your ancestors, she is not. I have seen enough of her memories to know that she bears you no threat, lest you provoke her,” he finished, glaring at Cota and Cora in particular.

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