HEY!! Ni Hao!! Okay... a friend of mine was nice and translated my beasts' names into Japanese!! ^0^ ... although I don't attend to use them, I'll stick to the English names, I just wanted to clear it out... so Shadow's name would be Kage, and Nightmare would be Muma... Darkness would be Yami, oh, wait a minute O_o Yami's not in this fic!! O' well!! Any ways... I thought Ann meant pleasant in Japanese, but it turned out that pleasant was "YuKai" or "Yulaku", so I don't have to change it and I'll stick to the English name!! I'm full handed right now, but I hope you enjoy this!

Chapter 4: Somewhere Deep, It Hides...

Water currents were disturbed by a massive run... cat slit eyes in greenish purple, almost flashing in an eternal darkness, some where in the middle of the night, long black hair spreading in it's own arc, lashing this, coming in its masters view, quick and slightly as light as a feather, sliding and whooshing past some thing dividing in to half, as the spears metal head sang its song... the beast fell sprawling in a disgusting pool of green goo-like blood... Ushio had fought many strange looking beasts on this island; most were mostly looking like huge bugs, slugs, worms or some thing! He had never seen any of them before when he fought with the ancient beast... resting for a second, whipping sweat from his face, and feeling his sour bare feet, some thing fell next to him with a faint thud, quickly craning around, spear in hand eyes wide open, teeth showing in a snarling hiss... he saw nothing but his tennis shoes, with claw marks pocked into them!! And then, a crispy chuckle, as some thing huge, furry and orange sprawled its self on a tree branch, which was huge enough to hold his weight...

"Tora!!" exclaimed the boy, feeling happy to see his partner "gotten over your sea sickness eh fuzz ball?" he questioned, only to be answered with a stretched out muzzle, chin kind of leaning to one side, almost in protest... "What ever..." he murmured... stretching out wards, he watched the boy walking to his shoes, picking them up, frowning when eyeing the pocks in his shoes, frowning with a faint smile at the beast, then walking to a near by stone then slipping them on... the temple boy had a few cuts and bruises on his feet, walking in a forest with out shoes wasn't a very bright idea, no to forget that the end of his jeans pants was slightly tattered from passing over a bush full of thorns, and his shirt was stained with mud and blood and other unknown stuff... except if he had feet like an orange ass he knew!!

The beast leaped over the boy landing behind him, the temple boy didn't care, and just slightly leaned back sitting up, eyes closed in tiredness, and then the ancient beast gave a feline yawn, he paused; giving a sly grin he slightly stretched out an arm and yanked the boy's hair, giving him some pain...
"Yaw!! Dammit-Tora... watch it!!" he shouted, smacking the beast's hand off his hair much to the beasts chuckling... only to be silenced with a bonk from the spear, turning the beasts laughter to a stream of slurred cursing under his breath... "Why the F*** did you do that for you a** h***??!!" shouted the temple boy feeling his numbing scalp from the back of his head...
"It's pass midnight stupid! You shouldn't fight when you're worn out or you'll lose you life for sure! You'll be too stressed to focus!! And besides!! You haven't slept for two days at least! Take a brake kid!" explained the beast... a funny silence came in, as the temple boy cocked an eyebrow slowly as he fixed his eyes on the beast... "Uh what? Why are you looking at me like that??" the beast felt this stupid look in his own face...
"Why Tora!! how sweet of you!! I never known you cared!!" smirked mocking the temple boy, much to the beast stunned face, quickly flushing in anger the beast started cursing after the boy dodged a blow from his hand full of claws!

The spear hummed its song in a peculiar way, catching the attention of its barrier and his partner... rising to his feet, the temple boy gripped the spear ready for battle, waiting what seems to be coming their way... cat eyes flashed, as his hands gripped tight, feet digging the dirt holding their ground, as his partner lashed his tail, teeth showing, thunder slightly crackling, his hands scored the ground in a strange way, but then the arc of his thunder grew wider and wider, suddenly, the beast sent a single bolt to a bush for some thing to quickly skip with a yelp, as some thing about it crackled like the sound of a clank from a metal to metal... ivy green slit eyes met with a silver flash...

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Slowly a gentle breeze blew as a human girl slept in a bed of leaves keeping her warm near a silence lake... but then currents appeared, as some thing slipped its way out of the waters dripping wet, eyes flashing in phosphoric yellow, as flipper like fingers dug their way mashing a few flowers and roses under it's slug like skin, with greenish yellow puss dripping behind it with a faint smell of acid... many tentacle like octopus arms drove their way to the human, slowly wrapping her up as she awoke, preventing her from screaming... slowly pacing towards the frightened girl... she was so helpless... she had no idea what this all would be holding for her in the near dawn beyond...

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A shadow found its perch on a tree stump, skipping away as suddenly a single thunderbolt blew up the stump into toothpicks!! The ancient orange beast and the female beast had fought for a while, and the temple boy is no where to be seen... slightly stepping on some thing, the female turned around to see, and reveal a edge of a cliff, craning her head around again, she was gifted with a harsh push from the orange beast, clutching her shoulders with his harsh stripped hands, almost digging in her burned fur... stumbling down and down the cliff with stones, dust and dirt flying around, they were in a circle like rolling position, roughly passing through bushes full of thorns and spikes, as they both landed on their four feet, a few feet away from each other...
"Who are you? Identify your self!" the ancient beast hissed as he cried snarling... tail lashing, teeth showing, his eyes were fixed at the female whom smelled like the hamburger girl, she also had blood on her muzzle, giving an option of ideas... both panting, trying to catch their breath, still, the female wouldn't answer his question... her cuffs, the ones on her wrists and legs slightly crackled, they didn't give much of speed, and they bothered her while she fought, they made her feel slow and heavy...

Feeling a painful rush of mad power in his soul, the beast crackled thunder and sent a single blast towards her as she simply skipped back, the thunder bolt dug a hole in the dirt, but then she slipped and slumped her back to a huge stone, her cuffs crackled snapping her ears... standing on her hind legs, he scanned her... her colors were mixed up with dirt and blood, fur sticky with sweat, ivy green tired eyes, lips almost trembling as she panted clearing her throat, a few crimson locks in her face, and an eye catching the silver blaze on her chest... for the females eye view, it wasn't counted as a nice thing to keep staring at her chest, mostly counted offensive!! Sending a thunder bolt to the absent minded beast, he yelped and skipped back, her thunder bolt hurt her, the cuffs on her wrists were metal, causing the thunder to slightly get absorbed into it, and snap her as well as the beast... slightly hearing a massive run behind him as some thing hummed...
"!!!" Craning his head around, he and the female beast could both hear the humming, but didn't know where it was coming from exactly...

A single human shadow flew in thin air, a long black cloud of hair, cat eyes in greenish purple, and a loud cry of madness with an ancient spear heading to a single point... a shrieking scream in a thousand broken screams broke the silence of the dead forest, as the female beast screamed as a sour pain dug its way through her flush... the ancient beast felt the splash of some thing cold in his 'never not hungry' stomach... the beast barrier has just pinned the female to the rock... just like what happened to him... five hundred years ago... five hundred year!! That is now repeating it self again right in front of his own sight!!
"" craning his head around, the human temple boy reveled his beast friend, the beast had his back hunched up, head down, almost curling around him self, tail tucked, mouth slightly opened as his lips were trembling, eyes wide open full with fear, fixed at the spear torturing the female pinned to the stone... only after a short thought did the temple boy understand his friend reactions, the memory of his imprisonment has gotten to him again... the beast felt his heart pounding, it got him thinking and slightly nerves... slowly eyeing the beast barrier, who was eyeing him calmly with his cat eyes, the beast felt the stupidity of what he felt and tried to gain back his sour mood...

"Feeling better?" questioned the boy... the beast just turned his grim stripped face with a 'humph!' a slight grin made its way to the humans face, then turned to the female that was gasping in pain, eyes closed shut. Her burned fur caught the humans eyes, only now did he notice it, some burned fur was reaching a few dark lines to her face, slightly her cheeks, shoulders till a short distance between her muzzle and breasts... cocking an eye brow, the temple boy eyed her face, she was silent, holding back the pain, gripping her side with her free hand, as her pinned shoulder numbed her whole arm up, head down, face covered with crimson haired locks... then eyed her cuffs, metal cuffs with scratches and teeth marks, probably tried to snap them off, but couldn't...
"Why?" she whispered... rising her head slowly "why are you doing this to me?" she questioned in a shallow voice "I didn't do any thing to you..." she complained...
"What have you done to Mayuko?" harshly asked the beast barrier... much to the females surprise, slightly eyeing him, she blinked, then eyed the ancient beast, whom only dropped his eyes to the ground... "What have you done to her?" he questioned more harshly now...
"........." Only glaring was what she did... in response, the spear hummed sending a few doses of pain thought her flesh causing her to yelp, teeth showing as she shut her jaws trying her best no to make a sound... but it was too much! Too mach for her to take, propping her head back wards supported by the stone, she eyed him as she was panting...
"How do you know of her... beast barrier?" she questioned with a shallow voice... eyes almost closing... it was clear to the boy and his partner that the female was too tiered to take this... the ancient beast saw the boy gripping the spear near the butt, as if he was going to pull it out... he didn't! Instead he pushed it in a little harder... "What have you done to Mayuko you f***ing bit**!? Talk or I'll make the spear turn you into chopped liver!!" she gasped in pain as he snarled in anger...
"Hey Brat!! Stop that or you'll kill her! If you do that how are we suppose to find the hamburger girl?" snarled the beast... eyeing the female with almost pity... the taste of the spears sour pain... he remembered it now, if like he was just released from it... and now... some one else is tasting it, just like he did... for five hundred years, in a dark closed room... in the silenced darkness...

Slowly, the forest began to come into light; the beast craned his head to see the early sunrays passing them... only to reveal the single crystal sparkling droplet that wheeled in the female's eyes... it rolled down her face, dripping on her burned fur... her light brown fur looked like if it was waxed, slightly in a glow, but with dirt and blood around her... she eyed them, panting... then spoke in a tiered shallow feminine voice...
"If I told you... would you take this... thing... out of me?" she questioned in pain...
"Tell me the truth, and the spear will harm you no more! I promise!" firmly said the temple boy... the ancient beast stared at her, then the temple boy, then dropped in a cloud of thoughts...
"I ... I left her at a lake about a distant from here..." she silenced, eyes dropped to the ground... the spear did not protest, then she must've been saying the truth... she eyed the ancient beast, with her eyes scanning him, the temple boy could swear that he saw some thing in her ivy green eyes... but it was some thing he just couldn't pin down... eyeing his partner that was eyeing the female him self, silver fixed to ivy green, the orange beast was blinking at her oddly, tail strangely flickering...

Cocking an eye brow, the temple boy had a hunch, like the one he had earlier under the rain back home, but didn't want to think about it... shaking his head, he reached to the spear, gripping it, the female turned her eyes to him as she felt the stinging pain, pulling it quickly, like a thorn out of a finger, her seeping blood streamed down her shoulder, and dripped from the spears head... her hand supported her shoulder as she sat back on her hunches, back hunched back taking in the pain... obviously, she was the type of person whom takes in the pain and doesn't fight it back!! She didn't scream or yelp, not like any other girl feeling pain, she was absolutely soundless... slowly she raised her head, gulping in her pain; she opened her eyes slowly eyeing the temple boy...

"Child... have you come all this way just for her?" she softly questioned... some thing strolled in her eyes...
"Yes!! She is like a sister to me... and I don't attend to just leave her to face death with out doing a single f***ing thing about it!!" he cried out yelling in the females face... she seemed to take it quit well! Much to the ancient beasts puzzlement... if the temple boy would've yelled in his face like that, he would've yelled back! Maybe she just didn't feel like it, or maybe that was just the way her character was...
"You really need to wash your mouth boy!! Words like that are not for public!!" she slightly scolded with a cocked eyebrow, slightly sitting up with her back hunched up no more... then she eyes the ancient beast, whom almost flinched, eyes wide open blinking, tail flickering, shoulders shrugged... feeling her shoulder the blood stopped streaming and her gash was healing...
"Where is she?" asked the temple boy impatiently, he was annoyed of the way the two beasts kept eyeing each other oddly, and he was simply not in a mood to think about that issue!!
"Uh... this way!" she whispered, then slumped walking in an almost cleared path, her cuffs crackling slightly... they both followed her, the human was eyeing his partner, the beast was really getting on his nerves with the way he was eyeing the female in front of them... but did his best to ignore it any way... so deep in the forest they went...

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A pit of sand was swirling in a single circle... as a human girl was tied up dangling in some vines in a cross like position, wet and dripping with water, as some thing with tentacles crept under her, slightly almost brushing its self on her body, staining her with its yellowish green acid smelling puss... she wanted to get her self free, but the quick sand pit under her gave her second thoughts... only god knew how to help the poor child... only god knew how all of this would end... and what will happen...

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Dawn spread its morning lights as a human girl with a harsh ear popping voice was busy fighting with a dark brown beast that was flying in the sky, as a little female sat in between annoyed from all of this!! Sigh...
"DAD!! ASAKO!! This is not the time!!" she cried in total frustration... the human girl eyed her eyes wide open, as her father simply dodged his head a little down...
"Well I was just saying that men only think about their stomachs and not about the ones around them!" simply said Asako "besides, if you ate the little water guy, how else were we gonna find the others?" she harshly questioned the beast clearing her point of view...
"Yeah, he told us where mom was, so we gave him his freedom! It was only fare!!" said the little beast to her annoyed father...
"And I was just saying that I just needed a small snack, why do you females have to be a pain in the ass!!" he complained, only to be gifted with a pinch down the tender part, causing him to almost slam in the ocean waters below!! "Yaw!! Hey! It was just a figure of speech!!" he snarled...
"Be quiet and watch where your flying!!" scolded the human girl as she simply gave a nasty grin "or I'm gonna pinch you tushy till its black and blue!!" her fingers twitched!! Cursing in a slurred way under his breath, he just didn't want to bother arguing with her any more... then eyed some thing... "I think we made it!!" he exclaimed!!

In the distant was an island, they landed some where near the edge, scanning the aria, Asako noticed the plane, they were some where near the tail of it, with the storage door open, so she ducked and told the beast to do so as well... as the same two men Ushio saw before passed them complaining as usual!! And this is what 'they' heard:

"God my back hurts... thank God our shift is over, I'm so tired I could sleep for a week!!"
"Me too...!"
"Say... any news about the boss's injury? He's been in that tent since the attack... you don't think he won't be able to walk again, do you?"
"No, I don't think he'll be able to walk for some time now! But I still cant believe that bit** of a beast did that to him!!"
"Amazing how he lived... when will the ones on the next shift attend to come? I'm tired!"
"Me too! I hope they come over here quick, I'm beat..."
"Hey, I wanted to ask... that female beast... doesn't she look kind of funny to you? I mean, some how... human!!"
"Yeah! But you must admit! She's got one hell of a body... for a beast!"
"Yeah!! Groovy!!"
"What would I do to share a bed with a hot babe like that!"
"Tell me about it!!"
"Hey! The next shifters are coming!"
"It's about time!!"

Holding back an angry male, Asako found her self slightly brushed into him as his daughter pulled him by the tail... drawing back into the forest, Asako, Ann and Nightmare decided to start searching the Isle for clues... the island was turning into light as the sun rose... a light breeze blew near the human girl, and she could swear that she smelled some thing like ozone and musk, some thing husky like a lion!!
"What's wrong?" questioned the huge beast...
"Did... do you smell some thing?" she asked with a cocked eye brow, watching him sniff the air he grunted, he did smell some thing...
"What's wrong dad?" asked the little one...her fathers face turned straight, in a way she never saw before...
"I smell another male beast!!" he paused still sniffing "And... a human male... I young man I think, and..." slowly pacing towards a bunch of bushes, the females walked after him after a short paused when they eyed each other, his eyes snapped wide open "blood... dirt... sweat... and" face slightly went pale "Shadow!!" quickly he skipped and ran off to a certain direction, the girls were already on his back by then...

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"MAYUKO!!!!!!" the echo of that word rang through the whole island... in a rage of madness, the beast barrier smacked the female in the face sending her slamming into a tree... with the spears pointed haft right on her neck...
"You f***ing sh** eating bit**!! What have you done to her!!" he cried, eyes flashing in a horrible glow, spear humming within his clutch, the female gasped eyes fixed on him, fright clutching her own breath... "B-but... sh-she was here... I swear!!" she shallowly spoke...
"Hey Brat... before you jump to any of your stupid conclusions... stop picking on the poor female and get your lousy butt over here!!" snarled the beast, who was sitting back on his hunches on the edge of the lake, tail slightly flickering... the temple boy had his eyes still fixed on the ivy green eyes fixed on the head of the spear, her eyes were burning in ivy-almost phosphoric green, she had this look of fright on her face, it was pretty much clear, even to the temple boy, that she was too week and tired to even think of fibbing to him, but... where did Mayuko go then? That was the question filling him mind... until a hard yank on his long black locks brought him back to reality...
"Dammit Tora!! Why do you keep doing that!!?" he cried, bonking his partner one hard blow on the scalp... the female just blinked, hand on her neck as the spear was drawn back... the temple boy walked towards the lake, only to see the acid smelling puss seeping till a bed of dead leaves, then drawing back towards waters... eyeing his partner he seemed annoyed more now that ever...
"Now why the f*** are you pointing at?" the temple boy said it in a very 'VERY' pissed off mood!!
"Well it doesn't take a genius to figure it out stupid!" scolded the beast "some thing came here 'before' we got here and took her, what else?" he hissed... the boy wasn't happy with the answer, craning his head around, the female had her head propped on the tree behind her, eyes closed, panting some what coughing...
"Uhh..." he mumbled... a slight rush of guilt came over him, and he had to apologize to her, but... how? He simply couldn't just walk to her and say 'I'm sorry' just like that! I mean, he pinned her to a rock, he treated her bad, kind of like what he dose to Tora! He almost killed her with the spear, and he almost-some how broke his promise of not harming her with the spear, but... his impatiens was over him, he couldn't control it, it was really getting out of hand... the only thing on his mind right now was to find his friend and kick the f***ing ass of the beast who took her!! Little did he know what happened to her before they got there!!

" oh, sorry!!" she murmured, gulping in her throat, clearing it, then drawing a deep breath, she badly needed to rest, but seemed to be fighting it... the boys rush of guilt rose a little higher, until the orange beast paced towards her... she eyed him with almost closed slit eyes... Ivy green... and Silver...
"Are you alright? Maybe you should rest, you look beat!" softly whispered the beast, as a single fore finger led under her chin rising her head gently, only for the temple boys jaws to dislocate, eyes wide open blinking!!
"I'm fine!" she slightly smiled "just thirsty!" she concluded, clearing her throat, and feeling her shoulder... the ancient beast craned his head to the boy, ignoring how stupid the human looked like, tail flicking, he walked towards waters again, sniffing them, he drew back with a snort...
"Undrinkable..." he whispered... looking back at the female, she was eyeing the bed where the human girl was, then trying her best to walk there and search, her cuffs crackled, the smell of acid puss was filing the place, she couldn't find a smell of the human any where...

Sitting back on her hunches, back hunched up, head down eyes closed, a cold feeling went down her spine, tired, injured and with apprehension, what could possibly go worse? In answer of that, she felt a tender warm brush on her shoulders, looking over her, she saw the beast eyeing her, his silver eyes slitted, blinking at her...
"Female... you should get some rest! Your simply in no condition for this!" he scolded whispering... she smiled slightly and gently brushed his stripped hands off her shoulders...
"I'm fine... but thank you for you concern any way!" she had a lovely smile, despite her injuries... 'Concern!!!' thought the beast, as the word alone was enough to make him feel a rush of heat up his face, slightly turning around to the boy, Ushio was sitting on a stone, slumped on his side, spear propped on his side, grinning almost laughing... while the beast eyed him he just widened his grin, teeth tips showing, head supported by his hand under his chin and his elbow on the stone, eye brows cocking a few times!!

"!! Oh!" the female was getting tired; still she was persistent as both of them and walked to the waters, she sniffed it then snorted... it smelled badly! Looking beyond the waters, she was hoping to see the other shore, but her eyes weren't focusing... but then, some thing warm gripped her by the waist!!
"What!!?" looking around, Tora was holding her firmly, "Hey! Let go of me!!" she tried to squirm out but he didn't let her, slowly he kind of like, held her in his arm, in an embrace... slowly she couldn't take it any more and slumped back in his grip, she was too tired to fight, too tired to move, too tired to even stay awake... slowly he wrapped his arms around her, her head propped on his shoulder, one arm behind her back, the other under her legs/hunches, picking her up, he walked pass the temple boy...

Ushio's eyes almost went out of their sockets!! 'Was this really Tora? Maybe he's nice to her cause she's a female... and the way he was eyeing her... Ho-God! Please don't tell me its love from first sight!! That guy never had a girl in his life, and never went on a date in 500 years!! Besides! What dose he knows about women? more than me that's for sure!!' thought the temple boy, while his partners gently brushed away the acid covered leaves and almost placed her in the dead leave's bed to rest...

The female was slightly blinking, trying to stay awake, slowly she eyed his face, for his surprise, she slightly smiled as she brushed a few orange locks from his stripped face... but then just closed her eyes, slowly resting her head on his shoulder in sleep... the temple boy eyed the beast with a stupidly puzzled look...
"Hey fuzz ball... I never knew you could be so nice!!" smirked the boy... the beast just frowned, lips stretched out in protest, with a smile the boy just led a finger on his lips as if he was zipping them, showing that he wasn't gonna talk about this to any one! Then the beast felt the females arms wrap around his neck, she was fast asleep, still, she had a grip showing that she wasn't attending to let go of the warmth she found... the beast could feel her shivering cold, heart pounding in exhaustion, her warm fast panting breath on his neck, her cuffs cold and hard and really heavy, but slowly released him self from her hold and turned to the boy...
"Listen Brat... you should get a rest too, we simply can't go searching for the female in this condition... and snap outta barrier form already!" he snarled scolding...
"Yeah, I think your right!" said the boy, looking for Mayuko now would only kill him, he was too tired, and Tora's idea was fitting what he felt... slowly holding the spear in his arms, a short humming pause came in... Slowly, the massive black cloud of hair slumped to the ground vanishing like dust... Ushio gave a tired exhale, rubbing his eyes, releasing him self from the beast barrier form kind of hurt! Walking to the beast, he sat some where near the female, but not too close, and eyed the beast...
"God I could sleep for a week... " folding his arms with the spear in between, he lead his back on the stone, eyeing the beast, male then female, the female had her back to him, as the orange beast simply blinked once, eyeing the boy, then the female, then walking a few steps away... standing guard... Ushio just sat there, sleep found its way to him, he was scanning his partner, as a single grin formed, shrugging then surrendering to rest, the temple boy was asleep as the sun rose in it's early lights...

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A/N: Oy!! >_