Chapter CCLXIV: Pink Devil ~Kuza

As Kuza led Drago through the streets, Drago appeared very frightened. Aliens and other 'freaks' of all kinds walked the streets, and huge objects similar to the weapons he had seen used by the time-travelling demons he had fought in his younger days were being fired off regularly right in front of them. Kuza had called them 'rockets', but Drago disagreed. He was sure they were weapons. As if having them fired off with such regularity wasn't bad enough, Drago was terrified at the prospect of having to ride in them! Kuza's calm was amazing...he was just fine with riding in a weapon. Drago's thought patterns were broken when Kuza spoke to him.

"Ok Drago, we're here," he said as he walked toward the flight arrangement desk.

Drago looked around worriedly. "Kuza...is it really necessary for us to leave the planet in a weapon?" Drago asked in a paranoid tone.

Kuza shook his head and turned to Drago. "Drago, look," Kuza stated in a firm yet reassuring tone, "They aren't weapons. Some rockets are, yes, but those are called missiles. These are good rockets. Don't worry about it, ok?"

Drago nodded glumly, and Kuza signed them up for the next flight.

"Drago, c'mon," Kuza urged as he tapped Drago's shoulder, "our flight leaves in eight minutes."

Drago sighed and followed Kuza, knowing this would be the end of him.

Out by the launch pad, the in-flight meals were being loaded into the cargo bay. The two crewmen did their job boredly, the everyday routine having grown quite tiring.

"I need a new job," one said to his comrade.

"Good luck findin' one, buddy," said his comrade.

The original speaker sighed, and went back to loading bags of some outlandish mutation of a peanut when he heard a whistle from behind him.

He turned and saw a lovely, pink-skinned and -haired young woman in a red dress smiling at him. She also lacked a nose, but the crewman was much too busy on other features to notice.

"Hi," she said with a seductive voice and a smile.

The other man turned and saw her as well. Both dropped what they were doing and went toward her.

"Hey there," the first to spot her said, a stupid grin adorning his face.

Her smile turned to a smirk, and before either of the crewman knew it, both were dead – one had a dagger in his jugular, the other a whip strangling him. He died within a few seconds.

Fanah smirked, remarking to herself, "These weak-minded men...so easy to trick."

She then grabbed a body under each arm and tossed both into boxes made to contain food. She pushed away the loading truck with ease, and closed the cargo hatch.

Kuza walked through the aisle until he found the chambers he and Drago had purchased. Kuza slid inside his and, after making sure Drago was inside his chamber (and going to stay there), lay down and closed his eyes.

The pilots performed their systems check and sent their OK to the control tower. The tower gave them the go-ahead, and the engines of the rocket ignited. The launch tower moved to an angled position, and the braces released, allowing the rocket to coast into the sky. It was soon out of the atmosphere.

It was about this time that Fanah put her plans into action. She entered the room where the hostesses were gathered...three muffled screams later, they were disposed of, and dumped into food boxes below decks. Fanah took the uniform that best fit her and put it on. She winked at herself in the mirror of the bathroom, smirked, and left.

*Ok...now, the guy I'm after is in Chamber 6D. I'll just slip a little poison into his drink. He won't know until it's too late...* Fanah smirked at her plot, and gathered food and drinks on the tray. She then started down the hall.

"Excuse me miss...can I have some Gykirel nuts, please?"

Fanah looked at the man, wearing a business smile, and handed him the bag. He took it, smiled, and nodded. She turned, and growled.

*Annoying little man...I'm tempted to kill him after I get that ruby,* Fanah thought to herself as she proceeded down the hall. She finally came to Chamber 6D.

*Here we are...time to do some killing,* Fanah thought, a delightful smirk on her face as she sprinkled a deadly white powder into the glass of water. She stirred it with a spoon until it was mixed in, and knocked on the door.

"Sir?" she said, putting on her best act possible. "I have your in-flight meal, sir."

Kuza groaned and looked at the door. "I was about to get some sleep, woman," he mumbled to himself as he got out of bed. He went over to the door and opened it. Fanah smiled at him. He gave her an unsavory look in return, and allowed her to enter. She wheeled her cart in and set out his food on his desk, putting the water beside it. He looked at it and mumbled a "Thanks".

*Ok, I've got it in...now, how to get him to drink it?* Fanah pondered for a few seconds, eventually coming up with something she thought would be a sure thing to work.

"Sir, could you please try our water? It's flavored...the main hostess wanted us to check if our patrons liked it." She gave him another business smile, and he groaned.

"Look lady, I'm not your guinea pig," he grumbled. "I didn't even want an in-flight meal...why are you giving one to me?" He looked at her for a second.

She chuckled. "Why, it's customary, sir!"

He gave her another dirty look, then looked over at the water. *Wait...*

He went over to the water, and peered hard into it. He spotted traces of the powder Fanah had mixed in with it. He figured out what she was trying to do.

*She was trying to poison me...why, though?*

Fanah's business smile had deteriorated into an annoyed frown. It appeared he had found her out...she would have to take his ruby through more direct methods.

Fanah shoved the cart at Kuza suddenly, pinning him to the wall. She slammed and locked the door behind her. She then turned to Kuza and smirked, shoving the cart back onto him just as he was about to escape from it.

"I don't think so, darling," she spoke in an eerily-gentle yet evil voice.

He looked down at the hilt of his liquid blade. He then looked up just in time to see a dagger soaring for his neck. He jerked his body to the side, barely escaping the blade. Fanah growled, and removed another throwing dagger from her dress. She flung it at Kuza, but was too late...he already had his liquid blade up. The heat of the blade melted the dagger, and the liquid steel fell upon the cart, making a loud sizzling noise.

"The tables have turned...and so has the cart!" Kuza shouted as he shoved the cart, toppling Fanah over.

She snarled, and got back to her feet. "Ok, boy...I've played with you up until now. It's high time I got serious."

She pulled out her whip, cracking it at Kuza. That was all it took to open the floodgates keeping the darker parts of his memory back. Terrors of the past flooded his mind, and the sound of a whip cracking against his back over and over filled his mind...the scars on his back seethed with pain, and he dropped to his knees.

"No...stop...no more! ARGH!!!" Kuza screamed, his consciousness blocked out by the memories.

Fanah looked at Kuza oddly. She hadn't even hit him, yet here he was before her, screaming like a mental patient. She smirked, and went over to the daggers in the wall, removing both. She knelt to slit Kuza's throat when she heard loud pounding on the door.

*Damn,* she thought to herself, *I've been found out!*

She then remembered that the door was locked, and smirked, returning to her work. The door then swung open as the lock was knocked off its hinges. Three guards holding pulse rifles and dressed in full battle armor stood there.

Fanah chuckled, and shouted, "You think those toys will stop me?!"

She thrust a hand at the guards, blasting them back with a telekinetic wave, and turned back to Kuza, just before the Anjel's blade tapped her on the behind.

"AAAAGH!!!" Fanah screamed as the blade sizzled her poor bottom.

Kuza smirked, not needing to do anything else to get his point across: he'd got her there.

She snarled, and delivered a heel to his knee. "I'll get you for that, bastard! And that ruby of yours will be mine!"

Fanah then ducked the pulse blasts of the guards outside, and teleported away. Kuza rubbed his knee...that heel had hurt.

One of the guards then walked up and helped Kuza to his feet. "You alright?" the guard asked.

Kuza nodded. The guard returned the nod with one of his own, and left the room.

Kuza shut the door, and limped over to the desk. He took the water over to the sink and poured it out, then looked at his in-flight meal...Gykirel nuts and some jerky. He grumbled, picked both up, and tossed them in the trash. He then went over to the bed and lay down, only to have what time he had left to sleep be spoiled by the announcement that the rocket would be landing at Yoshinian spaceport of Yoshitopia in a few minutes.