Radioactive: Chapter Seven

Radioactive

Chapter Seven

~Deoxyribonucleic Acid~

Jekyll sat at in his medical office at the hospital and typed away at his computer. It was about 24 hours since the crystal human. The DNA results from the lizard had just been processed and he had just looked in over an interpreted the results. He closed the file and was getting ready to get back to his medical practice when the office door opened. Jekyll looked up with his eyes and followed Kaiba as he walked across the room. Kiri stood at the door. Jekyll stared at the intruders for a moment before saying anything.

“May I help you?” Jekyll asked.

“What do the results say?” Kaiba asked.

Jekyll stood up, “I don’t know what you are talking about. Have you thought of getting checked by a doctor? I could have you admitted into a facility if you’d like.”

“The test results,” Kaiba turned to look at Jekyll, “I was on my way over when I got a notification that the tests were finished.”

“What were you on your way over for?” Jekyll asked, “Did you run into another lizard that tore open a gash in your stomach? Good.”

Kaiba rolled his eyes, “There seems to be something going around getting lots of people at the Tower sick. The symptoms are similar to that of a cold but are much worse. Sirius was wondering if he you could spare a few hours over there and help figure out a cure.”

“There is no cure for the common cold,” Jekyll stated, “Anyone who tells you different is trying to sell you something. But I guess I could figure out what it is exactly it’s spreading rather quickly. Have you tried telling people not to touch their faces? To wash their hands? Use hand sanitizer?”

“Yes,” Kaiba stated.

“Hmm,” Jekyll thought a moment, “You don’t recycle air, do you?”

“No,” Kaiba said, “It gets filtered first before entering the air vents.”

“Like that could stop a cold,” Jekyll muttered. He sighed, “I guess I could do some extra hours at the Tower.”

“The results,” Kaiba said, “What did the results say?”

Jekyll looked at Kaiba, “Patience is a virtue. Besides, I have to come to terms with the fact my weekend is now going to be spent working.”

“You spend your weekends working anyway,” Kiri said as an attempt to join the conversation.

Both men looked at her for a moment. Jekyll stared at her as he talked, a faint smile on his lips, “True, but it’s usually on my own terms.” Jekyll turned to Kaiba, the smile had disappeared, “The results are interesting.”

“Interesting, how?” Kaiba asked.

“Well, they weren’t able to extract any DNA from the crystal. Don’t know what we are going to do with her. Can’t make her into a necklace or anything, it’d be really strange. The lizard, the one you brought back in three pieces, was more interesting. From the looks of it, he’s DNA was altered.”

“I could tell by the way he was biting my arm,” Kaiba said with slight sarcasm.

“But he wasn’t born that way. They found several areas in his DNA that were changed entirely. He was still human but he was also a lizard.”

“But he wasn’t born that way?” Kaiba asked.

Jekyll shook his head, “No, he wasn’t.”

“How can you tell?” Kiri took a step forward with interest.

“Because the last time I checked a lizard and a human couldn’t, how shall I say it, have a baby,” Jekyll smiled at her.

“Do you know what you are implying?” Kaiba narrowed his eyes.

“Yes,” Jekyll nodded, “Someone played with his DNA. It’s not just a mutation with one or two cells but with every cell in his body. Whatever the procedure of doing so, we’re seeing something rather serious. It’s also through some speculation that he was a normal human before being turned into a super mutant.”

“Ouch,” Kiri bit her lower lip.

“I need more information before we jump to conclusions,” Kaiba walked to the door, “Come on Kiri.”

“Where are you headed off to?” Jekyll asked.

“Apparently there is someone who might be able to help with some information,” Kaiba said.

“Have fun,” Jekyll said.

“Come on,” Kaiba ignored Jekyll and walked out the door.

Kiri said a proper goodbye to the doctor and ran after Kaiba who was already half way down the hallway. She walked briskly alongside Kaiba.

“Where are we going?” Kiri asked.

“Keep your wallet close,” Kaiba sighed, “We’re going to the circus.”

~§~

“Hello! Welcome to the—”

“Island Circus and Carnival! There are plenty of thing to do! Like—”

“Games, rides, and much, much more! The next show is in 20 minutes! Watch us preform!”

A group of triplets greeted the coming guests at the main gate. They stood at the gate and waved at the coming people. The sign above the opened gate was large and friendly looking. A mechanical clown waved at the visitors with a large smile on its face. The words Welcome to the Circus were arced in large letters around the clown.

The three triplets all wore a different color. One wore red, the other blue and the third wore yellow. All three looked like trapezist with their sparkling clothing of their respective colors. Each sister had their hair up in a similar bun decorated with a net of sparkling gems.

Kiri followed Kaiba through the gates. She waved to the three girls at the entrance as her companion ignored them entirely. Kiri hurried to follow Kaiba through the busy streets between the tents. She bumped into a circus performer. The young man apologized with a slight bow. His red hair was long and shaggy up to is back.

“My apologies,” he said, “I hope you aren’t hurt.”

“I’m fine,” Kiri said, looking around for Kaiba.

She tuned and caught up with him. Kaiba walked through the center of the Circus where there was an outdoor elephant ride. The elephant tamer was covered in tattoos including his bald head. He did have a patch of hair at the back of his head that was drawn into a ponytail.  He spoke in a foreign language to the elephants and they did as they were told. Kaiba walked past the line of people for elephant rides to the area beyond. This drew a curious side-glance from the elephant master.

They walked to the back of the circus where the wagons and trailers were located. The staff that was getting ready for the performance in the large blue tents looked up from their work and scowled at the intruders. Kiri walked faster to walk alongside Kaiba.

“Maybe we should have asked permission,” Kiri suggested, “They don’t seem happy to see us.”

“I don’t have time,” Kaiba said, “Besides, we’ll be in and out before they can do anything.”

A large man walked into their path. He carried a large hammer with both of his hands. A woman in a blue outfit and small blue top hat on her head sat on the man’s shoulder. She didn’t look happy.”

“Are you lost?” she asked.

Kiri looked around and noticed that they were slowly being surrounded by unhappy faces. She clenched her fists, reading herself for a fight.

“No,” Kaiba said, “We know exactly where we are going. Who might you be?”

“I’ll be asking the questions!” She jumped down and snapped her fingers, “Get them!”

The man drew back his arm and struck them unconscious with the hammer.

Iridescent: Chapter Seven

Iridescent

Chapter Seven

~Rock…Paper...Scissors…Kew!~

After the Fall

Vicky woke up covered in the tiny neuws. She lay against the female adult neuw and the adult male lay beside the female. Light streamed in from the cave entrance. The fire had gone out sometime in the night so the inner part of the cave was dark. She just lay against the warm body of the female. As the night wore on, it seemed like the female adopted her as her child.

The male stirred and got to his feet. He walked toward the entrance and looked around. A deep purring sound came from his throat. The small neuws stirred awake and the mother got up as well and shook out the sleep in her body.

“Kew!” the little runt cried as his siblings pushed him off of Vicky’s sweater.

It seemed time that the neuw family to move on. The family met at the mouth of the cave. The mother seemed to make sure all of her children were present. The little runt sat near Vicky and looked up at her. The father purred deeply as if calling the little one to follow.

“Ke-kew!” the neuw said.

The mother’s ears stood up. She walked closer and nudged the little runt. She purred gently as she rubbed her nose against her youngest. The mother then nuzzled Vicky as well. She turned and walked back to the family. The other siblings waved and said goodbye at sporadic intervals. The father waved his tail before walking down the steep slope. Soon they were gone.

“Kew!” the grey neuw looked up at Vicky.

“You’re staying with me?” Vicky asked.

“Kew-n,” the neuw walked over to her bag and started eating a piece of jerky.

Vicky shrugged and started packing her things that had been thoroughly explored by the small curious neuws. She packed the five vials in her bag along with the jerky. Her two axes each had a makeshift holder on her belt. She attached the shuriken to her left arm with something she put together. It served as a kind of shield if necessary but could also be easily detached if she needed it. At the moment, the blades were together basically lining her arm serving no purpose at the moment. The ice tool was strapped to her back underneath her back pack. She threw on the hood of her sweater and headed to the mouth of the cave.

“Kew!” the neuw ran up her leg and snuggled under her hood and beside her neck.

“Hey! That tickles!” Vicky smiled.

The neuw peeked his head out, “Kew!”

“Is that your favorite word?” Vicky asked.

“Kew!”

Vicky sighed, “You probably don’t know what I’m saying do you?”

“Kew!”

“Well you need a name, don’t you,” Vicky said, “How about Kew?”

“Kew! Kew! Kew-r!”

Satisfied that Kew seemed to like his name Vicky set out. The mist was heavy like suspended droplets of water just hanging in the air. Vicky dropped down. She slid down the mountain until she had a firm footing. Vicky looked around. She was unsure about where she wanted to go but figured that if she kept moving the answer would be clear soon enough.

Vicky breathed. She decided to head south to see what she could find and then pop back up north. She brought her ice tool and continued south.

“Kew!” Kew exclaimed.

At least she would have some company in an otherwise quiet mountain journey.

<<<>>>

Naru crouched in a tree. He glanced over his shoulder at the others. Kumo was crouched on a branch behind him. The two sisters traveled on the ground. Hina disliked tree travel and Chou didn’t want to leave Hina by herself. She spotted her brother in the trees and waved at him.

“Let’s go, Slowpoke!” Kumo stated, “If you don’t remember we’re trying to keep moving as to avoid unwanted contact.”

“Maybe you forgot that we’re also trying to keep quiet?” Naru tuned and jumped to the next tree.

He grabbed the branch and pulled himself up in a single easy motion. Naru led the way north east to Sandrock Gorge to one of the natural bridges. Their goal was to go as deep into the wilderness as they could. They had excellent survival skills and could live comfortably in the wilderness away from the city. That was the plan anyway. It would also entail not killing Kumo when Naru had the chance.

Naru scouted ahead up until the start of the fields. He sighed. It was going to be a lot harder to travel unseen in the fields. Fortunately, they didn’t have that much farther until the nearest land bridge. It was still a great distance but it was close enough if they were careful.

Kumo stood beside him and looked out at the flat land. Except for a few small hills and the occasional tree the fields were like a gold and brown ocean. He crossed his arms.

“Are we going or what?” Kumo asked.

Naru jumped down the tree and onto the grass. He led the way into the fields. The first few hours went on uneventfully. The trees of the forest faded behind them. In every direction they looked was just more fields. It was hard to tell how far they walk or what direction they were walking in.

“Do you really know where you’re going?” Kumo asked, “Maybe I could lead the way for a while?”

“And get us more lost?” Naru glared at him.

Kumo shrugged, “Like you know where you’re going.”

“At least I’d keep us out of the ocean,” Naru muttered.

Hina rolled her eyes, “Are you at it again?”

Naru looked at her, “At what again?”

“You can’t be at each other’s throat all the time you know,” Hina put her hands on her hips.

“We aren’t always at each other’s throats,” Kumo stated.

“Argh!” Hina slapped her face and groaned.

The three of them argued as Chou looked around to see if she could find a landmark to regain their bearings. She determined that they were going the right direction. It would be better in the long run if they walked north until they hit the gorge and follow it until they reached the land bridge. She looked in the distance and squinted.

“Guys,” Chou looked back at the group.

“Don’t talk to my sister like that,” Naru said.

Kumo narrowed his eyes, “I think your sister can stand up for herself, don’t you think?”

“I think so,” Hina raised her hand.

“But she’s still my sister,” Naru insisted.

Chou squinted. A cloud of dust rose in the distance.

“I think we should run,” Chou said, “Run!”

That got the others attention. Chou led the way and ran north toward the gorge. Naru looked over his shoulder and saw the growing dust cloud. It drew closer and the hum of motorbikes hung on the air. They were quick on their feet and strong in their endurance. But no matter how fast they were they couldn’t out run the coming motorists. Naru looked over at his sister. She gripped her chains tightly. Kumo’s metal nails clinked together as he ran and Chou held one of her fans in her clenched fists. At least this group knew how to fight.

“Do we have a plan?” Hina asked.

“Basic defense positions?” Kumo said.

Naru looked back, “They’ll likely circle us.”

“On three?” Chou asked.

Hina looked confused, “Wait! Like on three? Or like one…two…three…turn?”

“This isn’t Rock-Paper-Scissors! There is no ‘shoot’!” Naru stated.

“It’s a reasonable question!” Kumo sided with Hina.

Hina nodded, “See!”

“Fine, on ‘shoot’!” Naru said.

Chou started, “One…two…three…”

“Turn!” Hina cried.

The group stopped running and formed a circular defense as the motorcycles caught up with them. Hina and Naru had their back to each other just as Chou and Kumo did. Naru drew and arrow as the motorcyclists formed a circle around the group of four. There were six bikes all together and eight people. They laughed and jeered at the group as the kicked up dirt. Eventually they stopped. The leader was a big man with a big beard. The woman sitting behind him had big hair. Altogether, they were meant for each other, Hina thought.

“What do we have here?” he asked his crew.

“Looks like a couple of lost kids, boss,” a man with a long narrow nose laughed.

The leader nodded, “Well, that’s just sad. Should we help these kids out?”

A man with big muscles nodded at Chou, “‘Specially, that little lady ‘ore there.”

“Hey, just leave us alone!” Hina let the chains on her arms hit the ground.

Chou opened her bladed fans, “Get closer if you want to lose a finger!”

“Oh, ho, ho!” the leader laughed.

“I don’t like her shoes, Bob,” the woman on the back of his bike said.

Another woman on the back of another bike looked at her, hand on hip, “You don’t like anythin’, M.”

“I don’t like you either, B,” M said.

Kumo spread his arms out to either side and sighed, “Do you guys have to listen to their earsplitting voices all the time? Why not throw them out already?”

M brought out a gun, “Why I outta—”

Thin string wrapped around her weapon and the gun was pulled from her hand. Kumo threw out his hand sending more strings to wrap around the woman’s arm. She was pulled off the bike. The gun that was in her hand, Kumo now held it tauntingly.

“You should know better than to walk into a spider’s web, Miss Fly,” he said.

“Bob!” M cried, “Do somethin’!”

Bob glared at the group of four, “You won’t get away with that!!”

Bob pulled out a loaded shot gun. Kumo’s thin threads wrapped around the barrel of the gun and pulled it away from him. Hina used her chains and used then to detain the man. She pulled with her might sending him flying into another man.

The man with muscles got off his bike and ran at Chou. He had brass knuckles on his hand and he tried to punch her. Chou dodged his slow movements easily. She spun; her fans were like deadly blades. The man raised his arms to protect himself. Chou turned and cut at his leather jacket and occasionally striking his metal knuckles creating a sudden ringing that caused him to step back. She kicked him in the stomach when he was exposed and he fell to the ground. Chou closed one of her fans and used the blunt end to knock the man out.

Naru fired an arrow at the man with the long nose. The man dodged and covered his head. Naru purposefully missed and ran up to the man. He struck the man in the jaw with his bow. Naru hit him with the bow again in the side of the head knocking the man onto the ground unconscious.

Another man charged at Naru. He threw a wild punch at Naru. Naru ducked and used his bow as a club on the man’s foot. He turned and struck the man in the stomach with the flat part of the bow. The man doubled over and Naru struck the man in the back of the neck.

A man with a scar on his face ran up and grabbed Hina. He wrapped his harm around her upper arms preventing her from using her chains. Hina fought viciously, kicking, screaming, and trying to hit him with the back of her head but he was just out of her reach. Naru turned and notched an arrow but he couldn’t get a clear shot. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Kumo. Kumo looked at Naru a moment before charging at the man with the scar. The man brought out a gun.

“I’ll shoot her, I swear I will! I’ll shoot her!” he screamed at them.

Chou raised on of her fans over her head and threw it. The bladed end grazed the man’s hand that was on the gun. Startled he dropped the weapon. Naru fired his arrow. The man saw it coming and stepped back to avoid getting shot at the angle. Hina lost her balance and fell. To not get pulled down, the man loosened his grip on her and she fell to the ground. Kumo ran up to the man, now exposed.

“You seem to like scars,” Kumo said, “Let me add a few more!”

Kumo slashed at the man’s face. He kicked the man in the stomach then when the man was doubled over he kicked him in the jaw. The man fell in a heap unconscious. All four looked at the remaining member. The girl called B held a hand gun. She awkwardly dropped in and raised her hands in the air.

Naru looked around. The bikes seemed loaded with loot. There seemed far to many bags for just the eight of them.

“Where were you guys going?” Naru asked.

The woman shifted awkwardly, “I don’t know what ur talkin’ bout.”

“You’re pirates on wheels! You rob groups of people like us and leave. Where were you going?” Naru asked again making sure she saw his bow and quiver.

She sighed, “We heard there was a caravan in the desert goin’ round trying to help people where they could, women, children an’ men alike. Bob ‘n M thought we’d rob ‘em nice people. Figured they’d have a lot a loot.”

Naru looked at Kumo, “We’ll take two of their bikes. Let’s try to find this caravan.”

“You sure?” Kumo asked.

“It’s in our destination,” Naru shrugged, “Might as well check it out.”

The Turn: Chapter Seven

The Turn

Chapter Seven

~Becoming a Real Team~

Three Years before the Turn

The sun beat down on Zara’s neck. Sweat dripped down from her brow as she concentrated on the task at hand. They had just finished watching the two others and their initial assessment. Vicky didn’t do very well. She lacked the confidence to make a successful attack and when she did manage her attack was weak and overall pathetic. Deontay on the other hand was a tank. His balance was good, due to the fact it was nearly impossible to move him. What he lacked in speed was compensated with power and strength.

After that, since most of them had balance problems, Crow set up a training exercise. Currently, Zara was on a square board on top of a wooden sphere. The sphere was placed in a fitted bowl that was just big enough to allow the ball to roll around unexpectedly. Each time Zara felt like she was getting the hang of it, the ball shifted, the board responded and she was sent sprawled on the ground.

Crow walked up and down the line, observing through his blind eyes. At times, if they weren’t moving enough, he would give them a shove to force them to regain balance.

Zara glanced down the line. Naru seemed to be doing the best in the exercise. Poor Deontay, on an uneven surface, fell the most. But he was good natured and got back up to try again with an amazingly good attitude. She glanced at Chaud; his arms were spread out wildly as he tried to maintain balance. Hina was getting back from a run around the shrine after she swore while falling down. Vicky seemed to be doing very well in the exercise after Naru. Crow walked in front of them and observed them as a whole. Zara wondered how he was assessing them if he couldn’t see. But then again, his hearing was very good as they all soon realized.

“How long has it been?” He asked them.

Deontay answered as he dusted his pants from his latest fall, “I don’t know. Ten minutes?”

“No,” Crow stated, “Any other guesses?”

“45 years?” Hina asked.

The look in his eyes said it all. Hina rolled her eyes and started running before he had to tell her.

“Any other guesses?” he asked again.

“Fifteen and a half minutes?” Naru asked.

Crow looked at him, “Close. At the time I asked, it was exactly fifteen and five seconds. They don’t teach you to keep time at your school?” His question was met with blank stares, “I guess I’ll need to teach you about that too, huh. Starting now, I want you to keep time. Only when your times all match with mine can we go one to the next exercise.”

“How do we do that?” Vicky asked.

“I don’t care. You can count Mississippi’s, or apples, or islands for all I care. Just get the time right. Start.”

1…2…3…4…5…

Zara started counting in her head. She was somewhere around 65 when she felt the ball roll, the board tilt and the hard ground hit her side. For a moment, all she could think about the pain in her left arm. Then suddenly she remembered that she was supposed to be counting. She groaned when she couldn’t remember the number she was on.

“Are we having trouble, Uzek?” Crow asked as he walked by.

“No, sir,” she said as she got to her feet and set the board squarely on the ball.

After a long moment, Crow stopped them and asked them what time they each had. Each of their guesses was wrong but Naru’s was the closest. Again they were told to start counting. The more falls they each endured the more off their guessed were in the end. They did this for the remainder of the day with food and water breaks frequently. Each time they were asked; their guesses were hopelessly wrong; except Naru’s.

Training ended with groans and sore muscles. They put away the equipment and headed back to the bus stop. Deontay, Hina and Vicky all sat on the small bench. Chaud leaned his back on the sign. Naru looked out at the ocean, creating small orbs of cold snow to sooth his aching muscles. Zara just stood beside the small wooden shelter. No one said a thing. The bus pulled up slowly and the six teenagers sat in the back of the bus. All the seats were coupled in pairs and faced forward. The bus was unusually full and Zara was stuck with sitting beside Chaud. Deontay and Vicky sat behind them and Naru and Hina sat in front.

The bus drove, circling the shrine’s property before turning back to the city. Hina must have been tired because her head rested on her brother’s shoulder. Zara glanced at Chaud but he was staring out the window. They each got off at their respective stops.

When Zara got home, she found a stop watch and tried to guess, without looking, when five minutes were up. She got close several times but they weren’t right. After a while, she grew frustrated and turned out the light before settling for bed.

The next day was the same grueling exercise as the day before. They fell, lost count and were forced to do it all over again. It was in the middle of one of these sessions that one of the caretakers in a white robe walked up to Crow. He looked at the man after hearing his footsteps.

“Hullo,” the man said.

“Hey,” Crow stated, “What brings you out here?”

The man turned his back to the teens. His voice was lowered but one could still here his voice, “There’s a tiny problem.”

“What problem?” Crow said; his volume hadn’t changed.

“The Wilkins brothers were supposed to be making candles and there was a small accident,” the man said in a whisper.

“What type of accident?” Crow asked.

“The kind where two barrels of hot wax gets stilled on the floor and cools.”

Crow was silent for a moment. He turned to the teens, “I’ll be back.” With that he walked with the other man into the shrine.

Once Crow was inside, Hina jumped down from her perch and sat in the grass. She sighed with satisfaction. There was a loud thump as Deontay fell again. He lay with his back on the grass and sighed. This was starting to get even Deontay’s attitude down. Vicky looked over at him and squinted. She had taken her glasses off to keep them safe from breakage. She then looked back at the shrine.

With a deep breath, she jumped down. The square board slid to one side. Vicky walked over to Deontay and helped him to his feet. Deontay thanked her and slapped her on the shoulder in a friendly manor.

“I just can’t get the hang of this thing,” he said.

“Yeah,” Vicky nodded, “It’s kind of hard.”

“You and Naru seem to get it, though,” he pointed to Naru with the nod of his head.

“I guess,” she seemed really nervous about something, “Deontay?”

“Yeah?”

“I was wondering,” she looked down and her busy hands, “I could help you with the training exercise.”

“Really?” Deontay looked a little surprised.

Vicky looked up again. She seemed to gain a little more confidence, “Yeah, and I was wondering if you could help me with some combat training?”

“Hey,” Deontay shrugged, his arms spread apart, “Why not? I don’t know anything fancy or anything but I’m pretty good at boxing.”

Vicky jumped up and down, “Thanks! I’ll help you now and we can meet tomorrow before school in the boxing gym?”

“Alright!”

Vicky then went on to explain that it was best if you kept your legs wider apart but not too wide or you’ll fall over. Zara watched the interaction with interest. She couldn’t think of why she didn’t think of it before. They were a team and each member of the team had something to offer. If one needed help learning something, they should feel free to ask around the group. She jumped off and walked over to Naru.

“Hey, Naru,” she stood, arms on her hips and squinting into the sun.

He stepped down gracefully. The board still sat perfectly balanced on the ball. He looked at her expectantly.

“How do you time so well?” Zara asked.

Naru shrugged, “I just count.”

“How?”

He took a deep breath, “0-1, 0-2, 0-3, 0-4, 0-5, 0-6—”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Chaud interjected, “What the heck kind of counting is that?”

“Apparently, an accurate one,” Naru said. There an obvious air of sarcasm in his voice that shut Chaud up.

“Really though,” Zara couldn’t help but smile, “What does it mean?”

His sister answered for him, “The zero’s represent the current minute you’re in and the numbers after that are the seconds. Like if you said 5-55 that would mean five minutes fifty-five seconds,” Hina shrugged, “Something he learned in some martial arts camp or something.”

“You don’t have to say it like that,” Naru stated.

“That was the same summer I was sent to learn how to crochet. Mom and dad’s last ditch effort to make a man out of you and a lady out of me.”

Naru nodded, “That’s true.”

Hina smile a mischievous smile, “That was also the summer dad caught you wearing my red dress and mom’s make up.”

Naru shot a harsh gaze at her, “No it wasn’t! That was when I was eight and you made me!”

“Naru cross-dresses?” Chaud asked.

“No, I don’t,” Naru looked at him, sending a clear message.

Deontay fell again and they all looked over at him. Vicky started to turn a shade of red as she tried to help him up knowing that she was being watched.

“Quick question,” Deontay said when he got to his feet, “How do you keep counting even after you fall?”

Naru seemed to think about the answer, “I don’t know. It takes practice, I guess.”

Unbeknownst to the six teens was that on the second floor of the shrine, Crow sat watching them from a window. The other man in white sat beside him, smiling. Crow blinked once.

“What are they doing now, Crane?” he asked the man beside him.

“It looks like they are just talking,” Crane looked out through the window.

“I guess I can give them a few more minutes,” Crow sat back, “Thanks for helping out with this.”

Crane shrugged, “It’s better than pulling weeds, I can tell you that.”

“That reminds me,” Crow looked at his friend, “You didn’t finish washing the clothes, did you?”

“I’m getting there,” Crane stated, “I just have to bring it down to the river.”

“Yes, but the thing is; you were supposed to do that last week. The others are getting worried, if you understand my drift.”

“I should do that shouldn’t I,” Crane smiled.

Crow nodded slowly. Crain sighed and got to his feet in one easy motion. Crow stood up as well and made his way to the field. They had had enough time to get to know each other. It was time to see if they had learned anything…after a few laps around the shrine.