Kazeyama: Shinto Nightmares

[Zypher]

Ikawa-Sensei stood outside the doors to the shrine. The enterence to the catacombs was hidden but he didn't want any of the group to waste time finding it. The wind blade katana was far more important then the silly scavenger hunt. From the top of the large flight of steps and stuttered layout of the torii he could see the train station for the shrine. With a hearty chuckle he bided his time, watching the peaceful clouds drift by.

"Come my students, come to learn about yourselves!" He chuckled again, a large deep laugh from a large, large man.

 

[MiraMirror]

Celena arrived a few minutes later, bringing her group behind her. She took in the scenery as she walked. It was so peaceful, so natural...None of that artificial stuff, really. Just the shrine, but those were always important to a culture. She could get used to a place like this. She stopped after only a minute or so of pacing to find a rather large man chuckling heartily, enjoying the setting just about as much as Celena. She bowed her head, before inquiring in rather clumsy Japanese.
"Ummm...Is this the exit to the school cave? For the class group, I mean."

The wind was blowing through her hair, almost tickling her face...Almost like back at home.

 

[Cosmic Orion]

Yuki was among those in the group, following Celena toward this strange place that Ikawa-Sensei awaited them at. Could there truly be something powerful down inside a place such as this one? The demon had not yet grown older beyond what his physical body proclaimed as his age. Due to that he had not quite developed what others of demonic heritage had with old age that allowed them to sense a presence other than one of tremendous power. Just seconds after he arrived though any wind which passed over him left with a slightly chilled feel. Only so much of his natural influence on temperature could be controlled in the way a human being would flex a muscle to keep a certain position.

"Just what are we looking for again?"

 

[MiraMirror]

Celena looked back as Orion finally caught up, taking another small bite out of the rice ball, swallowing before she spoke.

"Where'd your friend run off to, Yuki?", with just a hint of sarcasm in her voice.

She waited a few moments to breath in some fresh air, and sighed.

"I'm not really sure what we're supposed to do, but it has something to do with a treasure in this shrine, I think... I wonder just how far down this thing goes...Hmm. this place sort of reminds me of home...It's a nice feeling.", she added as she smiled shyly. She hadn't meant to go on and on like that...

 

[Zypher]

"It feels like home eh Miss Agdeppa?" Ikawa laughed heartily again. "It won't soon, the darkest part of your journey is going to begin soon and you wouldn't want to miss it! You will be deep within the earth that Kazeyama is built upon. The shrine is just the tip of the iceburg." He added that last word with a wink at Yuki before speaking again, "You will be looking for the wind blade katana. It is a weapon that when swung, turns the air ahead of it into a blade as well, nearly quadrupling the range of the weapon and it is a very powerful artifact that we need to claim for the school. Of course in the right hands the wind blade could be much more dangerous then just cutting." He added a wink to Celena this time.

"Alas, the catacombs wait. Just one small word of advice, don't turn your backs on the statues, if you show them proper respect they probably won't try to kill you!" He added a hearty laugh and his words weren't clear as to if he were joking or not.

 

[Cosmic Orion]

A puzzled look entered his face which usually had a soft smile almost always frozen onto it. One could not be sure if he did so as a facade or if that really was just the way he constantly felt. Just what was Celena angry at him for? Unless. . . she had gotten jealous of him talking to that Kitsune girl. But all they had done was talk! And on top of it all the girl had started it by sending him such a warm invitation to get the Ice Demon's attention. Moving with all the grace his steps had held before, Yuki approached the Princess so that he would not be talking to her across a bunch of students on their first day.

"Is there something wrong with me just talking to someone else?"

Both arms were folded across his chest as icy blue eyes stared at the back of her head, waiting for her to turn around. First she had seemed to brush off his accidental groping which he was thankful for. . . but this got to him. Somehow this girl's opinion of him mattered enough for him to not act entirely cold and indifferent to her sarcasm. Through his tone of voice came the impression that while he wasn't angry with her a feeling of being accused of a bit too much lingered somewhere underneath.

Then she had gone and started talking about their objective in visiting the shrine on this strange mission. Celena's shy smile did not change the pose most of his body was in but the puzzled expression had left his face for now. For a couple seconds he forgot about the fact she was accusing him of being some type of . . . bad person for having talked to two girls in one day. Well maybe his lunch with her had meant more than he knew? Did she take the sharing of those rice balls as a date? If that was the case it might have explained better why she should care if he talked to anyone.

Ikawa cut in suddenly to answer their questions with more hearty laughter and a couple of strange winks. Did he really know what Yuki was? But how? The Ice Demon certainly had not gone and told everyone in the school his true nature. Not that he was evil. . . but being a Demon would certainly not win him any popularity points for certain. Perhaps even make him a target for violence. Once the man had stopped talking Yuki walked slightly closer to Celena to stand by her side about two feetfrom her left. A whisper came from him toward her.

". . .Did you want my attention all to yourself?"

Now his voice had a soft prying quality to it that wasn't a male's arrogance about being desirable or not. Instead Yuki was merely trying to figure out just what might be going on in the mind of this girl he had kept from falling. Should Celena actually face him a calming look would await in those icy blue eyes.

 

[MiraMirror]

Celena was unfazed when Ikawa gave her a wink-She didn't really know what it had to do with the blade, and at the moment, it didn't matter.

"Is there something wrong with me just talking to someone else?"

Celena tried keeping her voice to a whisper as she responded,
"I thought we were having a conversation or something, and I just have a bad feeling..."

". . .Did you want my attention all to yourself?"

Celena stared at Yuki for what seemed to be an eternity, her face turning a noticeable shade of red as she clenched her fist, staring at the ground, complete and utter silence between them both. Even the wind seemed to die down for a moment. Without warning, she delivered an audible slap to his cheek, and she had to hold back not to punch him outright.

"Don't ever say something like that to a girl? Where were you raised?!"

She turned her back to Yuki and in a slightly calmer voice, said

"Now come one, let's go find out what this is all about, okay?"

 

[Pirogeth]

”Hmmhmmhmm, heh heh heh, ahhahahahah, AHAHAHAHAHA!!!” Edward burst out laughing at the two squabble over this breach in proper edicate. In a way they reminded him of himself when he first got to the school. He now approached the entrance to the maze hiding this katana. “So we’re ready to go in?” Edward took the lead without warning almost like pride took over. As he entered he pulled the instrument from his back and began plucking the strings to make sure the thing was tuned right.

 

[MiraMirror]

Celena glared at Edward from behind as she thought to herself how he hadn't changed at all since he was a kid. Still a rude, obnoxious little....Rrrrr....

"Hey, Princey! You shouldn't be tuning that thing right now! We have a job to do, right? So let's go in there, and you can play your fiddle thing later. Are you ready to go, Yuki?"

She passed Edward up, not waiting to hear his sarcastic remark, opening the large doors that blocked the path. The cavernous area that lay beyond was rather dark, presenting a new problem.

"Umm....guys? How are we supposed to find a sword when we can barely see?", she sighed.
This was quite a lot of trouble for some sword...And she couldn't shake the feeling that this shrine had some visitros already inside it...

 

[Cosmic Orion]

Yuki allowed Celena to touch him without even giving an ounce of thought to reacting violently to her slap. In fact he hardly seemed to budge despite his form not being the sturdy size of that Demon Hunter from earlier. The cat seemed to have stolen his tongue has no witty retort came out of him after seeing her get so flustered with the way he had spoken to the Princess. Just what had made him think it was alright to talk like that? Perhaps it DID have to do with the upbringing recieved by someone with his unique type of family. Did that make this an innocent mistake? Many would probably not think so given the assumption he had interacted with humans for at least seventeen years.

A sigh escaped his lips.

Most men would have a lingering red mark on their face from such a slap, but given the Ice Demon's rather inhuman temperature it hardly seemed to take hold at all. Let alone linger for an embarrassing period of time to mar the snowy skin on his face. But when Edward burst into laughter a mischievous temptation crept into his brain. Gazing over at the Prince he tampered with the temperature surrounding the strings of his instrument just enough to be an annoyance as far as trying to tune it.

Celena's voice grabbed his attention away only to the naked eye.

"I'm ready."

Yuki sounded completely unphased by her actions, but others could probably take it as a sign of not wanting to create any more of a scene. Good first impressions were what he had been striving for today. But it seemed there was a couple rules to learn dealing with humans. Especially human royalty. Part of him wondered if Aisha would speak to him for the rest of tonight. . . she was somewhere in the group. Given that she had shown a rather heated interest in him earlier the Kitsune might think he was pursuing Celena just now when he had only been curious about her attitude toward him. It appeared Yuki had not particularly committed to chasing after either girl.

Today was just the first day. . . .

"No one brought a flashlight?"

 

[Zypher]

Ikawa-Sensei laughed once again, stopping his habit short out of embarassment. "Well kids, it's your lucky day!" He cried out, gesturing to the giant flashlights, the kind that you had to carry the battery with a handle in addition to the spotlamp. "This will get you kids through the darkness, I've only got a couple here so you best be careful with them!" He warned sternly but his trademarked laugh erupted once again as he brandished a couple of bluetooth earpieces connected to walkie talkies. "You kids each take one and if you get into serious trouble you just call on them and you'll get help in no time!"

 

[Effort]

Argan was lagging behind every one so they wouldn't notice him. He was wearing a school cap over his head, again so no one would notice him. Today apparently they were going to look for something at a shrine, underground. This are gave him a severe uneasiness and made his nose twitch. From back where he was, Argan could hear the kids talking, bickering, a slap, laughter, and a smell. He smelled something that sharpened his attention, he walked faster to bring up the end of the group as they were going inside. Argan's red eyes locked onto the person who's smell had caused him to be alert. This guy was not natural, he watched him steadily with his red eyes...

Ikawa-Sensei was handing out flashlights and blue tooth communicators. Argan didn't really need either, he was sure the giant man knew this already though. In greeting Argan bowed his head and entered the darkness, flashlight off, putting the communicator in his ear, adjusting his hat, silent and following at the very back of the group. Watching the pale man, Yuki he heard his name was.

 

[MiraMirror]

Celena heard the very faint sounds of someone's shoes scraping the ground, looking back to find a new addition to their group. Without skipping a beat, Celena bowed, introducing herself politely.

"Hello! My name's Celena, and it's a pleasure to meet you! May I ask your name?"

She saw the way Argan stared at Yuki and stepped between the two, getting a bad feeling about that stare-It just made her feel uneasy.

"Do you two already know each other, then? Oh, that's nice! Now you two won't have to deal with any introductions, right? Though it isn't really polite to stare, you know? Oh, and the genetleman over there is Ed-Oh, I'm sorrym Prince Edward. Don't mind him too much, though."

"So..." she began, stretching her arms, "are you ready to go?"

She turned her body around and walked to the entrance of the cave after taking a communicator and a headlight from Ikawa-sensei.

 

[Pirogeth]

Edward kept on tuning until he heard Celena talk to another person that came up behind them. Sure he wasn’t paying attention but usually he notices people sneaking up on himself and others. Obviously the girl had her own powers which he had yet to understand. He shrugged off the feeling of uneasiness that this boy showed to Yuki, after all, he was the one in the way or so he thought. Finally the last string was tuned and he strummed the lute feeling the music react with the water moistened on the cave walls. ”Heh lot a good my dancing figures will do if we encounter a rough advesary.” He said in English in an attempt to not be understood by most others.

 

[Effort]

Damn this chick had good hearing and she talks so fast. "Do you two already know each other, then?" "No I-" "Oh, that's nice! Now you two won't have to deal with any introductions, right?" "Actually I just-" "Though it isn't really polite to stare, you know?" "I didn't mean-" "Oh, and the genetleman over there is Ed-Oh, I'm sorrym Prince Edward. Don't mind him too much, though." "...Hi." He nodded his readiness and started walking farther forward, still staying at the back

He heard Edward, Prince Edward, finish tuning his lute and strum the thing. ”Heh lot a good my dancing figures will do if we encounter a rough advesary.” Argan wondered what he meant by that. He looked at Edward, and then at the others. No one was normal. It made him feel less different. He glanced at Yuki. But he wasn't comfortable. Adjusting his cap again he focused his eyes forward, keeping his light off.

 

[Cosmic Orion]

Putting on the earpiece was rather simple and had been completed in moments.

Yuki suddenly had his attention grabbed by Celena addressing a newcomer to the group. Acknowledging the gnawing feeling that someone had in fact been staring at him caused enough curiousity to see just who the culprit was among them. Icy blue eyes gazed directly at Argan for a couple of seconds while trying to get an idea of what was going on here. Though his expression showed no suspicion the unchanging nature of it could be construed as threatening to a paranoid mind. From the Princess' words he had been staring at the Demon long enough for someone ELSE to take notice. Just what was going on with this guy? Did he know the snowy-haired young man's true nature? Even Darius had yet to completely pin it on him yet. Perhaps those of demonic heritage just naturally attracted the wrong sort of attention from other people.

This is getting a little ridiculous. . . and where is that Kitsune girl? I still haven't seen her yet.

Beyond that he DID happen to take notice of the dampened cave walls. Very interesting developments could come out of such a simple part of the area. Yuki exercised caution for the safety of others in the group while walking further into the catacombs. Edward's words had not been lost on him either. . . since he spoke English rather well. For now he seemed to ignore them entirely.

 

[MiraMirror]

Celena obviously heard Edward's remark. as she walked up to him as he tuned his lute, giving an overly rough pat on the pack as she mocked him,

"Don't tell me the Great Prince Edward's afraid of a few statues and the dark. That doesn't seem very perfect of you, ya know."

She caught up with Yuki and Argan, deciding to take lead to be safe, turning her light on.

"Wow...It looks like these caves could go on forever...Hmm..."

Celena took short, measured steps forward, not wishing to make what could turn into a grievous injury. So far it had been a pretty straightforward path, just go straight. Once the light from the entrance faded away, she looked around the place, noticing a broken statue on a path to the left.

"Hey...Ikawa-sensei mentioned statues, right?...I think we should go that way, what about the rest of you?"

 

[Effort]

Celena took assumed a position at the lead of the group. As they progressed forward the caves seemed longer and longer, growing in depth, expanding in the darkness. Argan followed the group, his light remained unused so he was kind of in his own bubble of darkness.

A broken statue showed up on their left side, at the beginning of a path. "Hey...Ikawa-sensei mentioned statues, right?...I think we should go that way, what about the rest of you?"

Argan examined the statue, careful not to look right into it's eyes. It made him uneasy. "Ikawa-sensei said to show them respect, and they may not try to kill us." He walked closer to the statue and bowed to it. He stayed that way until it felt like he conveyed an appropriate level of respect. After straightening up he kept his head bowed and walked around the statue, turning around to look at everyone else.

 

[Zypher]

From deep within the caves, on the left hand side of the caves the sounds of stone grinding against stone could be heard accompanied by a horrific sounding groan that couldn't possibly belong to any human. If the group had listened closely however the faint sound of wind rushing through rock formations. From the opposite path a breeze could be felt pouring into the cavern accompanied by more groans. Far back from the entrance Ikawa's laugh could be heard as the door slammed shut, blocking out the pin-point light from where the group started.

 

[Cosmic Orion]

Yuki watched as Aragan had walked ahead, offering his take on the directions just a little too late.

"Maybe respect means to fix the broken statue. . ."

Moments later a rather frightening amount of groaning began to fill the tunnels around them in an eerie echo. But at the moment Yuki showed no fear at all in believing his demonic heritage could deal with whatever planned to come for them. If it even showed up at all in the flesh. Perhaps these were unruly spirits who could do no physical harm and only instill fear. He even refused to turn around as the door slammed shut behind them back where they had started just minutes ago.

"Everyone stay calm and don't move. If this isn't just a haunted house soundtrack. . . we should let it find us as a group."

Arikado's voice was incredibly calm and cool for the given situation in case the others were entirely human. Yet for some reason he suspected none of them were completely normal. Definitely not that Prince who thought a lovely musical recital could take care of something. Unless his music could cause angry ghosts to break dance instead of break bones that belonged to the living. Right now all Yuki did was simply look straight ahead with his flashlight before pointing the light at the broken stone statue and examining it with those icy blue eyes.