before the storm: chapter 5

chapter 5

"exuse me sir, have you seen this girl?" a man asked a groccery vendor. the vendor took a look at the man, who was acompanied by a slim woman, a short man, and a tall burly man. not wanting to cause a seen he gingerly looked at the picture. "oh yes, miss josue!" he man raised an eyebrow. "ms...josue?" the vendor nodded, washing some fresh fruits. "nice lady. comes by every morning to pick some of the BEST fresh produce in Reole!" the man tilted his sunglasses down so to get eyecontact with the man. "any ideas where i might find 'miss. josue'?" "yup! she's residing in the Grand Basque*!" the man grinned. the vendor noticed some toothiness there. it made him shiver. "well," the man said putting his glasses back on. "thank you for you're time." he nodded to the small man who plopped a bagful of coins on the vendor's stall before departing with his master.

"uh-oh..." Kane murmmed to himself, trying to simutaniously eat some fried eggs and keep one eye looking through the little glass hole in the door. "what now? did she find a boyfriend?" mel said boredily. tivo choked on his cereal. without answering, Kane opened the door, stepped out and slammed it shut. tivo and mel looked at each other. "bet ya 10 he won't be coming back for an hour." Mel said to Tivo smirking. tivo looked at the clock and then put some cash on the table. "raise you to 15"

"Whoa dude. not cool." the man said. after taking directions from the vendor, he located the hotel, talked to the manager [bribe, hint hint] and was about to knock on 'miss josue's' door, when some blue-haired kid practically ran out of the room across from hers, and drew a sword ready to attack. the kid seemed worse off though, cause even though the man was defensless, his comrades weren't. one little guy had a sword, the big guy had a iron hammer, and the girl looked like she could knock you out with one punch. "look dude, take it easy. you look a little wound up." "you lot seem a little fishie to me." the guy said. "three chimera's and...hell, i don't know what you are, but you ain't human." the guy looked impressed. "martel, dorchet, and Rao, put those things down." the three chimera's willingly obeyed. "you seemed to be pretty talented, to tell they were chimeras." the guy said relaxed. "you seem pretty relaxed for a guy whose gonna get his head chopped off." Kane snarled. the man raised up his hands. "whoa, chillax man. let's--" Kane didn't wait for him. instead he swung at the perfect angle to chop off the guy's neck. "why aren't they protecting him?" Kane wondered, since the other three didn't even move. "CLANG!" Kane looked up. the man's skin had become black and hardened enough that the blade of kane's sword snapped off and clattered against the door. the man looked at the broken sword. "dude; that was loud. you just made it harded for us to talk to her."

outside, a door slammed. hikiru groggily looked at the cheap clock. 1:00pm. she buried her face in the pillow. what was wrong with her? she seemed to be getting up earlier and earlier. she heard some weapons were drawn. two swords at least. there was some people talking outside her apartment. she was about to close her eyes and catch a bit more sut eye when-- "CLANG!!!" something metallic slammed loudly against the metal door. "GO TO HELL!" she yelled yanking the door open. from what she saw, Kane was holding a broken sword, surrouded by two guys and a girl. he was facing a relaxed man in sunglasses and the two guys who were on the train with Kane were poking thier heads out of THIER appartment which was across the hall from hers. they all looked at her, a little startled by her apperance. "ah see? now we gotta deal with a rabid beast." the sunglasses man said. Hikiru groan. "gees guys....it's like....1:00 in the afternoon. can't a girl get some rest around here?" "well we could always come back later..." the man said sarcastically. "yes, that'll work," hikiru said quickly and closed the door. "na ah ah!" the man said, quickly sticking his foot in. "get you're fricken foot outta my fricken doorway." hikiru growled. "now, now, 'miss josue' let's take it nice and---" Hikiru attempted to slame the door shut. what resulted was her crushing the man's foot completely and breaking off the door hande. "this. is not. my day." hikiru sighed. the man pulled the door back open. "seems so." he said, in mock sympathy. "um...should we get an ambulance for his foot?" kane said eyeing the bloody mess on the floor. "no need. he'll be set right soon." Hikiru said biterly. "so i can break it again a thousand times more later." she muttered under her breath.

the man pretended not to hear it, but Kane obviously heard her. he didn't say anything but looked completely confused. "anyway, instead of standing out here, let's go sit down and have a chat." the man said, twisting his foot around. the bleeding soon stopped and his foot was back to normal. Hikiru grumbled audiably, but knew she couldn't do anything about it. so she allowed the people to enter. tivo and mel stayed in thier apartment. hikiru closed the door only to have it swing back open. "geez, you are SO fixing this afterwards." she said, and slid the trash can in front of the door to  keep it from swining back open. "eh,  i guess i will. only cause it's YOU hikiru." the man said, lounging on the couch. martel sat on the arm of the sofa next to him. Roa and dorchet leaned against the wall keeping thier eye on Kane. Kane sat the fartheset away from the man on the  other side of the couch. "come 'ere hikiru." he said slyly, patting the cushion between him and Kane. "hell no." she growled, and marched into the bedroom. she came out slidding a big comfy armchair on the floor so it was directly across the couch. Kane raised an eyebrow. "what was it doing in..." "non of you're buisness." she snapped at him. she saw the other guy eye her hungrily. "what?" she said, flopping down in the chair. "nothing...just realizing you're wardrobe hasn't changed at all." "cut the crap, and tell me what you want," the man removed his glasses, "GREED."