Oy... things I don't do for a living... just for fun... hmmm! Maybe I should get paid for this? NAH!!! Okay, this part is full of corny stuff, to my point of view, enjoy!^0^!

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Chapter Five: Things Beyond Our Reach...

The temple stood high in the face of the stormy storm out side... Oji-san was in the living room... it was so quiet, so dead... the temple has always been like this when his son and his partner went hunting but... not for this long!! It has been at least 30 hours since they left, it's dawn, still the sun cant be seen... and Asako... who knew if that beast ate her or not, but still, she is a brave child, and she can take care of her self just fine... and Mayuko... God, what is going on in this world?? Eyeing the window, a slight breath drew out... suspense was simply nothing the old priest was used on... plopping on the sofa, he silenced for some time, eyes closed, then heard a laughing in his mind, opening his eyes... he saw his son, only a short glimpse of a memory... standing there in front of him, with that huge spear propped on his shoulder, and that annoying, yet kind of fun to be with, orange ancient beast that was trapped in their homes basement, Tora... then a vision of the girls came in... Asako and Mayuko... he could hear them giggle in his ears, a slight smile drew on his lips... but then vanished with the crackling thunder out side... his heart full of worry... the only thing he had in mind, was to pray for God to protect them...

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Brushing a few leaves from her face Asako felt her kneecaps aching!! It was at the afternoon by then, with all the heat, musky weather and walking after the dark brown beast all wasn't so easy, since he cant keep them on his back... "What do I look like? A pony ride?" he complained constantly... well he was walking slow enough for them to follow... the little female beast was eyeing her surroundings while she talked to her father...
"Dad, are you 'sure' that you know where we're going?" she was tired of walking; her tender feet weren't used on such a work out!
"Yes but... there are so many smells, I cant make them all out..." he stopped at a bush, sniffing its bark "this smells like the human male..." sniffing a near by path between some bushes "and this smells like the male beast... and Shadow!"
"So Ushio went that way, and Tora went after your mate the other way??" questioned Asako, an option of naughty ideas passed her mind, but she just shock them away... "Let's go where old strip face went..."

Walking a short distance, they found them selves at a cliff, carefully gliding down on the beasts back, they all followed the smell until a huge stone with some dark puss over it, as the stone it self seemed hit by some thing with a pointed head... cracked in a shape of a diamond...
"Shadow!!" whispered the beast as he sniffed the puss... slowly they walked back in their tracks, until an almost opening, ducking back; the beast had the females off his back, as some thing huge furry and orange slightly turned their way...

"hrr?" he questioned, while he walked towards a strange movement he felt, Asako blinked as she figured out the face, but she was about to talk when suddenly the dark brown beast leaped from his place over him... "!!!" Surprised by the attack, the two beasts started a bloody, crazy and mad battle, thunder sent every which way, claws digging, jaws biting, hissing, growling and snarling causing the temple boy and the female to both awake from the start of the sudden noise...
"Wha~?" murmured the boy in sleep, eyes snapping wide watching his partners fighting a beast, as his friend Asako and the little female stood near by... "How the hell??" he questioned him self, craning his head towards his friend... but was alarmed with the little females cry as she ran to the adult female...
"Mom!!" she cried with a smile, as she ran to the huge female slumped next to him...
"Ann?! Baby, how did you get here? And what the hell is your father doing?" she asked in puzzlement mixed with tiredness...
"Dad!! Stop!! He's a friend!!" cried the little beast, as her father stopped in confusion... the orange beast was standing on two legs, but suddenly got kicked by the harsh voiced girl...
"Yipe!!! harsh voiced girl? How the 'HELL' did you get here?" he cried in surprise, cause he didn't see her till she kicked his heels... it's a good thing that the ancient beast doesn't have shins... (Ya' know!!)

"Shadow!!" said the beast, as he walked to his mate... she turned her face away with a frown... he froze, paused, then dropped his gaze to the ground in silence... "S-Shadow... I'm sorry... I really am! I..."
"Why bother... your gonna go back and do it again any way!!" she sobbed scolding... she held her daughter in her embrace, still her heart pounding fast...
"Mom? What happened to you?" the little one asked with her voice almost gone, tears almost wheeling in her eyes, feeling her mothers burned fur, braking her fine brown beauty, then the slight scared injury on her shoulder, eyeing her tired face...
"That doesn't matter honey... I'm fine..." slightly nuzzling her "Ho-you shouldn't be here, this place is much too dangerous!!" eyes flashed glaring at her mate, with a rush on guilt, he just turned his face away... then slightly her face went pale, eyeing the human girl next to the orange beast... after a short pause, she eyed the temple boy, slightly blinking she seemed startled...
"Oh-God... I must be going crazy..." eyes closed, as two forefingers settled on her forehead rubbing, then eyeing him again "but... wasn't your hair... a bit... longer?" she questioned in puzzlement... the boy only grinned...
"Uh... I'll explain it later!!" then eyed Asako "And of course you know that you shouldn't have followed us either, right Asako!" scolded the temple boy "and besides, how did you know where we were?" he cocked an eye brow at her... taking a deep breath, she had a lot of explaining to do... so she began from the start!!

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A plane was on an Island in the middle of no where... as a man with one leg slumped out walking, a bandage over his arm and chest, and another wrapping his head, with nothing but the will to revenge filling his mind and words, picking up a snipers rifle, and a bunch of men, but the rest stayed guarding the hostages... they went deep into the forest with knifes, swords, guns machine guns and rifles... a little water serpent was watching, blinking twice, it quickly plopped back into the waters swimming down deep, in no hesitation, till some thing glowed in a purplish green mixed with white and blue, and eyed it with calm crystal blue eyes...

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"What!!!!" cried the female beast "You WHAT??!!" she growled at her mate as thunder crackled in her hands, although it snapped her painfully, she quickly sent a thunder bolt at the yelping dark brown beast hiding behind a huge stone...
"Ho-but Shadow, honey, I can explain Wow!!" the stone turned into tiny little pebbles...
"Don't-You-Honey-Me-You... you... you-you-you... (X 10000 times)" her head boiled "Tail chasing, two timing, good for nothing, over grown, sh** headed idiot!!" panting in anger, her head almost blew up in anger!! "You tried to kidnap my little BABY??!!" she cried, sending him another blow, he yelped and ran off... "COME BACK HERE YOU COWARDLY CHICKEN AND FIGHT LIKE A BEAST!!" she cried as she chased him...

"Uh... don't you think we should stop them?" whispered the temple boy to the calm little beast sitting next to him on a stone... she seemed to be used to this!
"Nah... That wont be necessary... after all, things could get worse... they could end up fighting!!" she blinked, eyes slitted...
"Oh!!" they all said, the temple boy, the harsh voiced girl, and the orange beast...
"In that case Thank God I'm still single!" murmured the orange ancient beast to him self...
"Yeah tell me about it!!" murmured the boy to his partner... eyeing each other they blinked once, then turned their eyes to the harsh voiced girl... she was still watching the 'friendly conversation' with the little one... noticing their gaze, she eyed them, but feeling strange, she questioned...
"What? Why are you looking at me like that?" she cried flushing... they eyed each other again, pause...
"NAH!!" they both said it in a single voice, causing (!?) popping over her head, but then turned into (X)... turning her face with a 'humph' she watched the beasts, who were no longer there...

It turned strangely quiet, a silence grew deep, as the two humans and huge orange beast eyed the little lazy looking female, as she was counting backwards...
"Five... Four... Three... Two..." she was cut by a huge explosion a few feet away... as dirt and tree remains was scattered every which way... "Funny! Mom is a second early!!" simply the little one said, as the rest were busy dusting them selves from the soot that stained them whole, fur and clothing...

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Some where near by, a bunch of pirated humans were around where the explosion was, they figured out where it was when one of them climbed down a tree, pointing to the one legged man the way it came from... they passed it with nothing filling their minds to search and destroy... but some thing with a pair of six red eyes glowing in the darkness eyed them, then a simple dark blue tentacle stretched out wards, napping one of them away before any one could figure out he was missing... a faint muffled up cry of pain was prevented from being heard, as it dropped a peace of human flush, it was still moving, and the unknown creature crawled its way after the rest of the human group... but that's not our point right now...

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Another place near by, a human girl tied up to vines heard the loud noise as well, blinking, some of her twany hairs came to her face, her heart pounded, feeling that some thing about that explosion, hides more that what it seemed, but she couldn't do any thing about it, but to pray for help and hope things would end up well... if not... she had some wishes about her friends she wished to come true... but she's not the issue either!!

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Far away in the ocean, a huge water dragon watched... blinking once, she eyed one of her minions to go and take a look, just in case things went wrong... she had a feeling that they would need her help soon, so she waited at her position, at the cliffs, just like Lord Nagatobimaru asked her too, or like the beast barrier prefers to call him 'Tora' as it was a silly name, but yet nice... little did she know what would sending her minion do!! And again... 'That' wasn't the issue either!!

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Somewhere... which is the issue I annoyed you about {-.-|||}... beyond reach in a sand pit, but not where the little human girl was, but near by... some thing huge, slimy and seeping with yellowish green puss drew its self from its burrow, crawling with it's circled mouth full with teeth on all sides wide open, its long dark purple tong stretching outwards its mouth, goo like drool dripping as its acid puss killed the plants it crawled over... it had eight slitted yellow glowing eyes, peeking out of its head, four on each side of its round face... skin glowing like a plate of phosphor with rainbow colored... lovely yet deadly... with spikes and thorns like things all over, protecting it from any sudden attack... it crawled slowly into the forest like a huge snail, tentacles like an octopus stretching every which way in anger mashing every thing in its way... who dares attack its territory? Who shall pay for it's little foolish mistake?

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"You really didn't have to hit him so hard, did you mom!!" questioned the little female beast, as she gently plucked out the many tree splinters from her fathers body, with help from Asako and Ushio... the ancient orange beast just sprawled on a huge tree trunk listening and watching with a little grin on his stripped grim face... they all were back at the grassland near the little lake like river, as the yellow acid smelling puss was some how evaporated vanishing from place...
"Oh-God I feel like a pin-cushion!! Ouch!!" murmured the huge dark brown beast, voice fill with nothing but regret for actually ever thinking of battling his angry mate...
"Well... he deserves what he gets..." she said it as she sat away nursing her chest and body as she sprawled under the spot where Tora was... and 'that' was the reason he was smirking, he must've had a nice view of her I guess!!
"OH!! Hey, please be careful, it hurts you know!" complained the huge beast to the human girl in the face...
"Oh put a cork in it!" she plucked a splinter from his nose, it hurt!!
"Asako!" smiled the temple boy scolding his friend, she only showed out her tong smiling... then broke in laughter, the male beast just slightly smiled, but wasn't in a mood to laugh...

After a blink, the dark brown beast eyed his mate as she leaned backwards against the tree bark nursing her legs... looking attractive!! Looking a little higher than that, he noticed the huge orange beast watching her with a grin, his tail twitching and main flickering with the slight wind, a leg hanging as it dangled alone from the side of the tree stump... Nightmare felt a rush of jealousy over his mate, the way Tora watched her got him frenzy and edgy... despite the snapping pain, he stood on four legs and walked to her, eyes almost fixed on the orange beast for a short moment... the young ones watched him, although they didn't finish picking out all of the splinters, they left him go... well, almost! Asako wanted to stop him but Ushio didn't let her! She loved they way he yelped!!

His mate blinked at him as he carried on pacing towards her "Um, Shadow... I-" he spoke "I don't care what you'll say Nightmare... I'm not gonna buy any of your lousy excuses!!" she cried cutting in what he wanted to say right in his face... his eyes snapped wide open, blinking at her, her face seemed angry yet not as sour as before... lightly her face changed, seeing his startle, she took in a deep breath, drew it out, then eyed him calmly...
"I-I'm sorry dear... I'm just... you wanted to say some thing?" she tried to smile to him, but her pissed off, angry, irritated emotions betrayed her... thunder crackled as well as her cuffs...
"Um, yeah, I just..." then eyed the kids behind him, they seemed interested to know what he wanted to say to her... feeling a rush of silly heat, he rolled his eyes, to blink the beast right above him, smirking wickedly... frowning, he whispered "can we talk some where else... alone?" he seemed embarrassed...
"Uh..." looking around, she figured out his request "sure!" she smiled, as she then stood up on her hind legs and walked after him between some trees...

"Sigh..." the little beast, sounding depressed...
"Some thing wrong Ann?" questioned Asako, it wasn't a normal thing for the little female to sound so down! Placing a hand on the little ones head, Ann turned facing the two young humans...
"Uh... I just... I wish if mom and dad would get back together again... things were more fun when they were!" she looked down at her paws set flat on the ground, scoring some dirt, she made it slip through her clutch like a sand watch...
"Well... how about if we help you put that wish into work and make it come true?" smiled Asako, much to Ushio and Ann's surprise...
"Hey! What do you know about coupling mates female?" snarled the beast in request...
"Oh C'mon Tora!!" she bragged "don't tell me you never 'ever' had the feeling of needing some one, at least female, by your side just once!!" she blinked grinning at the beast startle... he seemed to think about what she just said, face looking somewhat embarrassed, the beast cursed 'Bah!' and just slunk back sprawling on the tree trunk cursing under his breath on any thing female!!
"Hey Asako, do you think we should go looking for a mate for Tora?" questioned the temple boy, only for the beast to snap his eyes wide open blinking at them from where he perched...
"Oh that would be wonderful... I'm sure Tora would be a good looking father!!" smirked the human girl, the beast just blinked... 'What the hell are they thinking? Do they want to get rid of me that fast? Besides, I'm too handsome, too good looking and too young to get married!!' thought the beast to him self, eyeing all the smiles facing him...
"Oh I can see it now... little Tora's running around here and there demolishing any thing and every thing!!" she laughed... the ancient beast did not like that one single bit...
"Well... good luck finding a female then human! Besides Shadow!!" he mocked "for your information, there aren't much of them around, most beasts are males... and as far as I know..." he eyed the little one "we beasts don't give little ones, so... its amazing how 'they' got 'her'!" he slightly sounded questioning...
"Well, it beats the hells outta me too!" smiled the little female beast somehow flushing... "Mom and dad were surprised as well, when mom found out that she was pregnant!" she concluded, "After labor she beat the craps outta dad of course!!"... Then her smile faded "and that's how it started..." she sighed...
"What did?" questioned the human girl, as she eyed her friends...
"Dads mania for water serpents! A friend told dad that mom would gain back her strength faster if she had one of them, after labor, but... when dad ate one... it started!!" she explained...
"So your dad hunted them for your mother in the beginning, but ended up hunting them for him self?! Ouch!!" said the boy rubbing the back of his neck...

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Shirking through the sun light, a horrible beast had just caught its new pray, a female beast tried her best to escape the tight tentacles wrapped around her scrawny defenseless furred body, but the slimy beast didn't let her, as her mate tried to help her out, but was gifted with a tentacle dripping with acid goo smacking his face... a cry of pain drew its way into the darkness of the isle, the female struggled to get her self free, she called out for her mate in pain, but was force on surrendering as she lost her breath, as some thing wrapped its self around her so tight, she felt her ribs merging into each other... the dark brown beast wanted to open his eyes, to see her, to see where that thing took her, to see which way they went, but the acid like goo disturbed his sight, and he found him self turned absolutely defenseless and blind...

"SHADOW!!!"

The single word rung its echoes across the islands silence... the ancient orange beast ran up towards the one whom spoke of them words, only to find him somewhat stabbed into a tree, blood streaming from his stained face, gripping his chest and a huge gash ripping him... "!!!" Eyeing the huge brown beast, the orange beast walked to him, but then stopped as he held his dark brown hand in his face... that's when the temple boy stood next to him with a surprise yet questioning look drew its self on his human face...
"Forget about me!! Find Shadow!!" whined the brown beast in anger, a hand drew its self on his eyes "a huge ugly bit** of a thing got her!" he explained... "Please..." he whimpered, "Help her..." then slightly dropped back, sitting, as his legs seeped down crimson threads on the long stained grass...
"Alright" said the ancient beast with a firm voice, and then giving the boy a grunt of approval, the temple boy drew him self on the ancient beast back...
"Asako, look after them, we'll be right back!" he cried as his human friend stood near by... the ancient beast leaped like the wind following the yellow seeping puss, they couldn't mistake it for any thing, and even if they did, the bug like beast didn't seem to even give a thought of ever hiding it's smell... or did it?

"Dad?" frightened, the little beast female asked, her father had his eyes closed, dropping his head in pain, he craned his head towards her, eyes still shut...
"I'm okay..." he smiled trying to comfort her "but if any thing happens to your mother... I'll never forgive my self..." he scolded his self almost sobbing... Asako comforted him, placing her hand on his shoulder, slightly brushing it... his daughter walked to him, snuggling her self into him, almost crying, then slightly craning her head to where the temple boy and the beast went, she prayed that things would go well...

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Gun shots were heard across the lands... as smoke came out the pipe of a snipers rifle gun over heating from over use... little did it do to the huge slug like beast feasting on living humans flush... the muscled man has lost most of his men while fighting the thing with the pair of six red eyes, and its tentacles were quick, slick, spiky and deadly poisonous!! It wasn't easy killing it, and it almost seemed un-killable... almost immortal!! Every time he snapped one of its tentacles off, it turned into a little worm and crawled its way towards him... he had nothing to do but run as fast as his only leg left could, using his empty rifle like a crutch... but then, he stopped, to find him self in front of what seemed to be a wreck of some sort, looked like a hut of a plane, one of the old small ones, like a Douglas DC-3 or some thing near it!! Feeling the thing coming near him, he quickly ran to it, looking for a place to hide, and then, creeping down into the back of the plane, he stood silent... a short brief moment of silence came in... Did he loose it? Did it stop following him and decided to draw back?? No!! He could hear it coming closer now... some thing huge, with the sound of some thing breathing and dripping on metal... a sound of some thing... some thing like what you get when you squeeze a sponge full with soap foam and leave it seep on a metal plate... he drew his free hand back a little, the heat of his empty gun rose with the smell of bullets, but then, he felt some thing cold and made of paper... "??" Craning his head around, he saw a small box of bullets, and a flamethrower?? 'Hell? How'd these get here?' he thought!! [Don't ask!!]

A loud cry drew his attention towards the entrance, only to find the ugly beast slowly drawing its self towards him, quickly smacking it back with the butt of his gun, he reached out to the flame thrower and tried to turn it on, but it's turning knob was jammed... it haven't been use for a long time and it had plants growing all over it!! The ugly thing drew closer, in a rage of fear and anger, the man quickly smacked it, still holding it, into the beasts face, and that's when the knob turned, hope smiled to him as the beast drew back from the smell of gas, as he quickly drew it behind him, held it pipe in his hand and smiled "any one for bug flambé?"

A huge flame drew its ways out through the exit of the wreck into the forest, as some thing huge, ugly and burned squirmed around in pain as it slowly died... flames seemed to affect it perfectly... although he lost all of his men, the ones that were with him, he continued on his way with hope on finding the female beast... nothing would stop him now... except for one!!

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At the edge of a river, the ancient beast and human boy stood, they eyed their surroundings in silence, both panting... the yellow acid puss stopped at waters, and although it was a bug like creature, it seemed to know how to swim, or dive quite well!! One thing they both were sure of, that thing was the same beast that took Mayuko... wherever she is...
"Dammit... now what?" snorted the beast, water was not an issue he liked talking about, nether was the spear, that was slightly being craned towards him by an angry temple boy who happens to be in a mood to whack some buddy on the head with it!!
"Uh hey brat, watch it with that thing, wont you!!" he cried as it slightly brushed into him! Then took a skip back avoiding a thump on the head!! "Hey!! I didn't do any thing!! Why do you wanna hit me for??" he growled protesting in anger as he hissed in the boys face...
"Sigh... anyways... lets go down stream!" said the boy in a confident voice, walking a few steps away, stopping, he saw the beast still sitting in his place, frowning, tail flickering...
"Oh yeah? Why? How do you know it didn't go upstream?" snored the beast, obviously, he wanted to show off or some thing!! The boy growled slightly as he walked back to him...
"Listen you peanut-brain!! If the beast thing went up stream, it would've been clear that its puss would pollute the water while running down, so, it probably went down, and the puss would go with it instead of leaving it as a line behind it, you SH** HEAD!!" the boy cried out the last sentence in anger boiling in his head, face to face with the beast, whom only shrugged his head sinking between his shoulders in surprise of the boys shout...
"Well there was no need to yell!" murmured the beast, as the temple boy walked away cursing every thing beast!! The beast only shrugged to us then carried on walking side by side with the human boy...

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A/N: heave-heave-heave... sorry but I did this kind of quick like... ugly bug like beast wouldn't you say? R&R before I run outta breathe...