Chapter CCCLI: Deception? Unnecessary Cruelty ~Chrono

Tachibana had walked up to the owner of the fancy restaurant that Prismaya, Daedalus, Chrono and himself had eaten in. The owner looked at him strangely, as if never seeing a human with wolf ears atop their head and a wolf tail on them.

"You aren't really a human, are you, sir?" the owner asked politely.

Tachibana chuckled slightly and smiled, showing his fangs and sharp wolf-like teeth and said, "Actually, no. I am a wolf. I can just transform into a human when I like."

The man just stared slightly and asked, "You wouldn't happen to be…the wolf we saw earlier, are you?"

Tachibana cocked his head to the side, slightly confused, and asked, "The wolf you saw earlier? 'Fraid not... I haven't seen another wolf around here ever since I got here."

The man nodded, "Ah…then Lord Jeremy did remove the beast…"

Tachibana just arched a brow and shrugged as he asked, "So, how much do I owe?"

The owner nodded and gave him the total. The price that was on the ticket wasn't as bad as he had thought. In fact, it was much cheaper than any other fancy restaurant he had been to.

"Wow…this isn't bad at all…you sure you charged me right?" Tachibana asked.

The owner nodded, "Everything is correct, sir."

Tachibana smiled and nodded, "Well, here is the payment." He handed the man a sack of coins. The owner looked into the bag and noticed that there was more than he had charged.

"There seems to be of error here, sir…you've paid a bit more than I have charged," the man said.

"Your tips in there too, my good sir." he smiled slightly.

"Wow…thank you kindly, sir," the owner smiled and bowed to him. Tachibana bowed back. "You aren't…like other wolves...you are kind hearted," he added.

Tachibana chuckled slightly and replied as he stopped, "You haven't met many wolves, have you? Well, not many wolves are kind…but in some cases, some wolves have kind and gentle hearts. But, that's sometimes rare."

The owner nodded and replied, "Indeed...they are like people in some cases, eh?"

Tachibana nodded slowly. "Well, good day to you, sir, and keep up your great work," Tachibana said and walked from him.

"Thank you! Please come again!" the owner called out.

Chrono was silently watching him from the exit. As Tachibana got closer, he saw that Chrono had some sort of smirk on his face, as if he had just seen sarcasm.

"W...what?" Tachibana asked, slightly confused as he looked at Chrono and his sarcastic-smirking expression on his face.

"You,” Chrono said. “Heh... you know, you have changed quite a bit since I have seen you with the Black Demon Hearts."

"I was being controlled, Chrono, you know that," he sighed as he covered his face with his hand, seeming to be embarrassed.

"`Tis nothing to be ashamed of, Tachibana. I know you were being controlled. But…" he paused for a moment to cover his mouth to keep from chuckling, "I never thought I'd see YOU doing that."

Tachibana rolled his eyes in slight disgust. "Well, think what you may, Chrono. Where’d those two others go?"

"You mean the two Hoshies? They went to the smithy's."

"Oh, all right... well, let's get going."

They both walked out of the restaurant, noticing the change in the smell of the air. The restaurant had an appetizing smell, all the while, outside had a slight smell of fresh air. The sun was peeking slightly over the horizon, shining its brightly yellow color slightly on the hills. Although, little did they know, the sensation of being outside would soon be distracted by something else. Little did they know that someone they knew would be coming to look for them.

"Hmm…it seems as if it were going to be a great day..." Chrono exclaimed as he took a big whiff of that good ol' fresh air into his lungs.

"Indeed... but we still need to keep our eyes peeled…no telling what may happen…" Tachibana said.

Chrono nodded and brought the egg he had closer to him as he heard Tachibana and he replied, "Yeah, I know. There could be trouble anywhere... trouble I'd rather not mess with... so where is the Black Demon Hearts gang at, Tachibana?"

"Well...um...to tell you the truth...I don't really know...when you removed that black diamond necklace from my neck, all I can remember is that I was being controlled by them... I don’t even remember who the leader is."

"Oh... I see..." Chrono paused and sighed, "then it is going to be tough trying to find them."

"Indeed it is... but we’ll do it; don’t you worry about that," Tachibana replied.

* * *

On the dark floating citadel, Chinaho sat, staring into a dark vortex she had created. She could hear the water peacefully gently crashing into the land. She seemed to have an angry expression on her face. Akemi was standing straight with great posture in front of her.

"You have disappointed me, Akemi,” Chinaho’s voice suddenly rang out. “I do not like being disappointed."

Akemi jumped slightly at the sudden sound of her voice and replied, "I... I know my Queen...I...I am terribly sorry..."

"Pfft. Hold your apologies. I do not want to hear your voice. Just listen for your next mission," she spat cruelly.

Akemi looked down in frustration and sadness, wondering if she made the right decision in ever joining up with Chinaho in the first place.

Was this really... what I thought it'd be? She seemed so kind to me... but now... its like she hates me and doesn't even care that I exist... Akemi silently thought to herself.

Chinaho made the purple swirling vortex appear in front of herself. Akemi looked up at her and squinted slightly. A translucent picture of Chrono's egg suddenly faded into view in the purple vortex.

"I want that egg, Akemi. The egg that Chrono is carrying around with him. This egg has something very, very powerful in it. If we don't get it, it could cause our downfall. I want that egg!" Chinaho yelled.

Akemi gasped and tried to reason, "B...but my queen! I...Its just an egg? An egg can’t be that powerful... why cant we just kill Chrono and try to gather enough energy from other people?"

Chinaho was infuriated by Akemi. Her anger was very noticeable by the look on her face. "Blasphemy! Don't you dare talk to your queen like that!" she yelled.

"But, my Queen! The egg is worthless! Chrono is the only one we should be aft–" Akemi started, but was cut short by Chinaho.

"Shut your mouth!!"

A black whip-like energy beam came from Chinaho's thrown and it smacked Akemi across the face. Akemi shrieked in pain and fell backwards. She grabbed her face and her eyes filled with tears. She felt blood trickle down her cheek through her glove.

"Now listen to me, you wretched wench! I want you to get me that egg now! I don’t want another mistake from you or I will put you to eternal sleep!!" Chinaho yelled, the angry expression still visible on her cold face.

Akemi silently got up and bowed slightly saying, "I...I am sorry, my Queen...pl... please forgive me... I will... never talk back... to you again... I am very sorry..."

"Yes, you are and you should be. Now, go get that egg, or perish!" she yelled.

"Ye...yes, my Queen."

And after saying that, Akemi disappeared with sakura petals.

* * *

"So now what?" Chrono asked, looking around slightly.

"Dunno...maybe we could go see what those two Hoshies were going to do...? Maybe help them with whatever they are about to do?" Tachibana suggested.

"That isn't a bad idea...until we can find where our enemy is located...the best we could do is help other people," Chrono replied.

Tachibana nodded, "Alright, lets go to the smithy then."

They went off into the direction of where the smithy shop was.

Akemi slowly walked into the back of the town, close to where the smithy was. She was sobbing slightly, but doing her best to try to hold her tears back, but it was doing no good. She had kept a serious, yet mad expression on her face, though. But the tears didn't stop strolling. Her fox ears on top of her head were twitching to every slight sound made. Her five soft orange and red tails were gently swaying in the slight breeze. She began to slightly mumble to herself.

"Why did I join up with her in the first place? She is evil... but she is the only friend I have... but... but she doesn't care for me..." she paused and rubbed her face and her new cut she had received, but she stopped and shook her head violently, "No...she does care for me... I shouldn't have back talked her... that was foolish of me."

* * *

Meanwhile, the masked girl, Bulaklak, was silently walking, looking for a certain vampire she had grown fond to. She looked around, and seemed to be lost in what she was trying to do.

"Where is he...?” she asked herself as she looked up at the sky through her mask.

She focused her sight on the path ahead, to see a smithy shop. She knew someone knew where he was, so she walked in.

"Can anyone tell me where Lord Jeremy is? I would greatly appreciate it... I have some... business to take care of with him," she asked.

* * *

Tachibana suddenly saw Akemi coming towards them. He gasped and grabbed Chrono and got into an alley.

"T…Tachibana! What's the big dea–" but his mouth was covered before Chorno could finish.

"Sshhh... Akemi is over there," Tachibana whispered to Chrono as he slowly uncovered his mouth. "This is not good... this is not good at all... it will be even worse if she sees us."

"Isn't she a kitsune...?" Chrono asked quietly.

Tachibana nodded and looked out of the alley slightly and said, "Yeah…she is high class, too...she is very powerful...although in human form, she cant hide her tails and ears without magic and pain...but she doesn't like to hide them anyway...she thinks her tails are beautiful...so she keeps them shown."

Akemi silently was walking down the street. Tachibana could see that she was crying, and that she had a cut on her face. He was curious of what Akemi was going to do.

"If I don't find that stupid egg... I am going to be in so much trouble... I don't even know where to start looking... maybe I could go in here and ask someone..." she said, looking at the smithy workshop. She silently opened the door and went in.

"Excuse me, can you tell me if you have seen a yellow Yoshi with yellow wings and red-tipped feathers? And a human with gray wolf ears and a gray wolf tail?" Akemi asked the smithy, knowing everyone around her could hear her.