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Description
The boy stole through the encampment, staying as silent as the night around him. He snuck up to the fifth tent and looked around to make sure no one had noticed him, then moved inside it with the silence of a thief. There was the sound of an explosion; a scream rent the air, then silence.

* * * * * *

“What are we going to do with you?” a girl asked, shaking her head. “This is the tenth time you’ve tried to sneak in here. What could be in here that you want?” She looked around her tent. The boy sat on the floor in front of her, tied up.
“What does it matter to you why I keep sneaking in here!? There’s just something in here that’s important to me!” the boy yelled at the girl angrily, looking away blushing. The girl tossed him an oddly glowing kunai knife and shook her head. The kunai landed in front of him with a clang as the boy stared at the girl.
“Hey Lina! Did something happen in there?” a girl asked as she came in. She stopped and stared at the boy. He had green hair, blue eyes, red clothes, black cape, and he had fox-like ears on the top of his head that had blue fur on them. “Hello what do we have here?” She leaned closer to him and examined him closely. “Another thief come to steal something?”
The boy scoffed. “You don’t have anything that is of value to me except for one thing…” he stared at the kunai knife on the floor, his hands grabbing the knife that the other shorter girl had and working on cutting his bonds.
“What’s so important about this blade?” Lina asked curiously, staring at it in confusion. She was the shorter one of the two girls but she was cuter than her counterpart, who was admittedly very cute also. “Have you identified it Lucia?” she asked the other girl.
“Sorry, but I can’t identify it Lina. Nothing about it is familiar to me or any of my friends. Sorry.” She shrugged. “All I managed to find out about it is that it is enchanted, but what the enchantment is and the command word or phrase is beyond me.” Lina nodded and kneeled in front of the boy. “What is it about this blade that is so important to you?” she stared at the boy closely. “What are you anyway? What’s your name?” she blinked as something came to her. She looked at the kunai then back at the boy. “You know what the enchantment and the command phrase are don’t you?” He smiled and shook his head in amusement.
“It doesn’t matter, but I don’t. This kunai just has sentimental value to me.” Lina laughed.
“If you say so. Now tell me, what’s your name? What’s your race?”
“My name is Cloud Kauzome. What I am is unimportant.”
Lina nodded. “Nice to meet you Cloud. I’m Lina Jurzega and this is Lucia Daulient.” Lucia nodded.
Cloud slit the bonds, stretched and stood up examining the girls. Lina was shorter than Lucia, wore a purple cape and tight-fitting red clothes. She also wore what looked like a necklace in the shape of a snake around her neck and a bracelet made to look like twenty-seven intertwining rose petals. Her hair reached down to her ankles and was colored bluish red. Lucia was taller than and almost as cute as her counterpart. She wore a red cape, green clothes, and wore a necklace shaped like a fox. She also wore a ring that had an emerald on it. She had reddish-black hair down to her hips.
Lucia stared at Cloud incredulously. “What are you staring at Cloud? Never seen a beautiful girl up close before?”
"What do you care?" he asked, earning a slap from both Lucia.
Lina said, “We should get going Lucia. We have to get to Okinwea by sunset tomorrow and, according to this map, we are still a good 50 kilometers away.”
Lucia nodded and grabbed her pack from off the floor, while Cloud picked up his pack from the table where Lina had left it and stood calmly with his hands in his pockets. Lucia and Lina turned to leave.
“Mind if I come with you girls?” Cloud asked, trailing behind them. Lucia shrugged and waved her hand.
“Of course you can come, Cloud!” Lina said smiling.
“All right…I was getting kind of tired of traveling by myself. It might be fun to travel with others.”
Lina looked at Cloud as he caught up to them. “What happened to your family?” Cloud looked down and ran up ahead, his eyes covered by his hair, sad.

* * * * * *

“Wow…what a mess!” Lina said as she stared at the burnt remains of what looked to be a small village. Lina poked around the ashes of an inn, occasionally calling out for someone, but staying silent most of the time. Lucia walked around the edge of the village, near to tears, calling out the names of relatives and neighbors.
“Hiro Daulient! Mom! Father? Mr. Saotome?” she knelt on the floor and wept silently, turned away from the others so they wouldn’t see her crying. Lina, still poking around the inn’s ashes, jumped when she noticed something disturb the surface of the ash when Lucia called. She started digging in the ashes and, eventually, dug up the body of a twelve year old boy. Lina laid her head on the young boy’s chest and listened for his heartbeat, and put her index finger under the boy’s nose to feel for his breath. Cloud walked over to her and kneeled down.
“Whatcha got there Lina?” he asked curiously, staring at the body of the young boy curiously. Lina shrugged and kept feeling for any life signs. Lucia heard Cloud and wiped her eyes quickly before she walked over to them.
“What is it?” she asked, kneeling beside Cloud. She saw the body of the boy and turned away sobbing loudly.
“What’s the matter Lucia?” Cloud asked, staring at Lucia sadly, near to tears himself.
Lina nodded and sighed. “This was her home Cloud. The young boy you found was probably her younger brother Hiro.” Yuki looked at the body of the boy and stood up, still holding the boy's body.
“Why…what…” he set Hiro's body down, turned away from the others and walked off a little, thinking about something. Lucia and Lina stared after Cloud curiously, and the body of the young boy that Cloud had found stirred and groaned, causing Lucia to cry out.
“Hiro!!” she pounced him and hugged him really tightly. “Your ok!! Your ok!!” she laid her head on his shoulder and sobbed in relief. Lina sighed in relief and stood up.
“How you feeling kid?” she asked Hiro, holding her hand out to him. Cloud stared around the remains of the village, lips pursed in thought.
“Something feels a bit off…” he muttered, kneeling by the remains of a house. “What happened here?” he turned towards a large hole in the ground. “What could have caused that big a hole? Hey Lucia!!” he called turning around. “Can you come here for a minute?” Lucia looked at Cloud and shook her head, still holding Hiro. Lina shook her head also and hugged Hiro tightly. Cloud sighed and rubbed his head. “It’s always like this…” he muttered. He shrugged and kneeled next to the large hole. The ground shook suddenly, knocking Cloud off his feet. “What the--!!” Lucia and Lina drew their knives and stood around Hiro facing out, ready for something. Cloud stood up and laid his hand on the hilt of his kunai, then changed his mind, put more distance between himself and the disturbance, and reached into a pouch he had on his side.
“Do you know what’s happening?” Cloud asked as the earthquake stopped. Lucia and Lina both shook their heads, but Hiro seemed to know otherwise. He grabbed Lucia around the waist tightly and started crying loudly.
“Don’t let him get me! Don’t let him get me!!” he cried over and over again. Lina looked down at him in fright.
“Don’t let what get you?!” she shouted, grabbing his shoulder with her free hand. But no sooner did she say this then the ground near Cloud bucked up and a large snake-like thing slithered out of the hole.
Cloud stumbled back and threw something from his pouch at the monstrosity. The shuriken embedded itself in the monster's left shoulder, enraging the beast but doing little else. “What the hell is that!?” he yelled, jumping over the monster’s flail. The flail slammed into the ground knocking Lucia, Lina and Hiro off their feet.
“That's a lesser snake demon! Don’t let it bite you! If it bites you, you’ll be dead in seconds!” Lina shouted as she stood up. Cloud nodded and rushed forward, his kunai in his hand. The monster swung its flail at him and Cloud got slammed full in the face by it. He flew back next to Lucia with his nose and left arm broken. He lost his grip on his kunai and it flew up in the air and buried itself in the ground right next to his head, but Cloud was too dazed by the blow to notice. Lina raised her hand towards the monster and started chanting softly. Lucia jumped in front of Lina, her blade out defensively.
“Joren!” Lucia jumped forward and stabbed her blade deep into the monster’s belly, but the attack just made it angrier. The demon swatted Lucia away like a fly and turned back towards Lina. It opened its huge mouth and hissed at Lina loudly. Lina continued her song-like chanting unperturbed. Cloud blinked and rubbed his eyes, recovering from the blow. He grabbed the kunai pulled it out of the dirt and leaped towards the demon.
“Demon begone!” He stabbed it in the stomach, paralyzing it for a few moments. Lina finished her song-like chant and pointed at the monster as she spoke the final word. “Bauzeraugarhgan!!” A blast of lightning flew out of her hand and slammed into the monsters stomach, knocking it back and unconscious, but otherwise not actually doing much apparent damage to it. Cloud raised his kunai and stumbled towards the monster, but Lina grabbed him by his shoulder and threw him down next to her. Cloud screamed in pain, since he had landed on his broken arm and shoulder. Just as Cloud landed, the snake demon exploded, spattering its gory green blood everywhere. Cloud, Lina and Lucia got covered in the green slime. Hiro was a safe enough distance away from the explosion that nothing landed on him.
“Are you ok Hiro?” Lucia asked, running over to him as the shuriken that Cloud had thrown at the monster landed in the ground right where Lucia had been. If she hadn't moved, it would've landed in her heart.
“I’m ok!” he replied, still shaken from the demon’s appearance. Lina went over to Cloud and started muttering something softly, but Cloud stopped her before she could say more then five words.
“Don’t worry about healing me. I’ll be ok,” he said with a wry smile. He stood up with a grimace and looked around. “What a mess!” he muttered, grimacing as a sharp stab of pain wracked his body. “I’m gonna be feeling this for a while…” He walked around and kicked the floor. “Well, what do we do now?” he wondered, turning around curiously. Lina shrugged and stared into the distance, not really paying much attention. Lucia stared up at the sky and thought, while Hiro wandered around between the three of them, occasionally poking one of them.
“I guess we should wash this green gunk off,” Lucia said, looking around curiously. Cloud nodded and walked towards the top of a nearby mountain. “Where are you going?”
“I’m heading up towards the mountain peak. If you gals want to come with me, then let’s go!” he continued walking, and the others had to scramble to catch up to him.
Lucia sighed and signaled to Lina and Hiro that they were going to follow Cloud and Lina ran up next to her. “Where are we going Lucia? You know as well as I do that there is nothing up there worth looking at. Unless Cloud really wants a birds-eye view of the surrounding lands but there isn’t that much to see. What is he going up there for?”
Lucia shrugged. “I guess we’d better go follow him to make sure he doesn’t get into trouble or anything like that.” She sighed and she, Lina and Hiro followed Cloud up the mountain, having to run to keep up with him.
"How's your arm doing Cloud?" Lina asked curiously. Cloud shrugged.
“Been better, been worse. It’ll be healed in a couple of hours.”
Lina looked at him curiously. “Really?” Cloud smiled and nodded.

* * * * * *

“Wait up!” Lina yelled, panting, a couple of hours later. Cloud stopped and turned around. Lucia was carrying Hiro on her back, having to struggle to stand up, Lina was lying on the ground panting, and Cloud was next to a split tree not even breathing hard despite the near-frantic pace he had set for them.
“What is it?” Cloud asked curiously, leaning against a tree easily, resting his hands in his pants pockets. Lina stared at Cloud incredulously.
“Are you serious? You have been practically running up a steep slope for near two hours, and you’re not the least bit tired?”
“I’m not human remember?” Cloud smiled mischievously and poked his fox ears.
"Oh yeah! I forgot! What race are you anyway?" Lucia asked curiously. She set Hiro down on a small boulder and fell on her knees. "I'm exhausted!"
Cloud smiled and patted Lucia on the shoulder. "I could've sworn I had told you what my race was, but I guess I didn't. I'm half thunder fox demon," he said casually, taking a bite of an apple. He tossed Hiro his water skin. Hiro caught it and nodded thanks to him before drinking a little. Lucia and Lina drank from their water skins and sighed in relief. Cloud smiled and leaned against a tree, staring at the sky. "We'll rest here for a little while, then we'll keep heading to the top."
Lucia nodded and looked at Hiro in concern. "Is something the matter?" she asked, going over to him. Cloud looked at Hiro, who was starting to turn purple.
"I have the feeling I've forgot something..." Cloud muttered. Lucia patted Hiro on the back and he coughed up the water he had drunk. "Oh...that's what I forgot!" Cloud said hitting himself on the head. He took the water skin back from Hiro and put it in his pack.
"What did you forget?" Lucia asked curiously, staring at the water curiously. She smelled it, and coughed. "This water smells like wine!" Cloud stared up at the sky and sighed.
"I tossed Hiro my wineskin by accident."
Lucia nodded “What kind of wine was that?” she asked curiously, poking the wine puddle on the floor.
Cloud shrugged and smiled. “It’s just ordinary wine.” He said simply. Lucia stared at him.
“Are you the only part-demon in your family?” she asked curiously, stretching the kinks out of her legs. Cloud looked down, depressed. “No…my mother’s side of the family is fox demon. My father’s side of the family is human.” He looked very withdrawn, as if he wasn’t paying too much attention. Lucia hugged Cloud tightly, stroking his hair.
“You’ve had to kill some of your family members, haven’t you Cloud?” Cloud sighed and nodded, almost crying. “I have had to do that also…the pain never really goes away does it Cloud?” Cloud shook his head and sighed.
“It feels like I killed myself…” he said softly, resting his hand over his heart. “It feels like I’m wasting away…” He closed his eyes and stood like that for a few moments. Lucia held Cloud for a few more minutes, then she looked at the wine puddle.
“What’s in that wine anyway?”
Cloud blinked and shook himself out of his reverie. “I have no idea.”
“Hey Cloud, I’ve heard that there is some sort of ceremony or something that fox demons can do with humans. Is it true? I’ve heard its called bloodmingling.” Cloud blinked and shook his head.
“No.”
Cloud sighed and stared at the sky sadly, his blue tail poking out. He didn't notice a girl poke her head out from his backpack, but Lucia and Lina did. The girl yawned and rubbed her eyes. "Hi!" she said smiling sleepily. "How are you Cloud?" she asked, getting out of his backpack. Cloud coughed and smiled happily.
"Hi Yukina!" he hugged her tightly and kissed her cheek. "Have a good sleep sis?" he asked, smiling widely.
"It was good," she yawned widely. She had blue hair down to her elbows and a large blue bushy tail. She had pointy ears with red earrings, and wore a light blue blouse and a short red skirt. She stretched, and the hilt of her katana poked out from behind her right shoulder. Lucia Lina and Hiro stared at her freaked out.
"How did you manage to fit into such a small backpack?" Lina asked, looking from the cute, thin and tall Yukina to the small backpack.

Description
The boy stole through the encampment, staying as silent as the night around him. He snuck up to the fifth tent and looked around to make sure no one had noticed him, then moved inside it with the silence of a thief. There was the sound of an explosion; a scream rent the air, then silence.

* * * * * *

“What are we going to do with you?” a girl asked, shaking her head. “This is the tenth time you’ve tried to sneak in here. What could be in here that you want?” She looked around her tent. The boy sat on the floor in front of her, tied up.
“What does it matter to you why I keep sneaking in here!? There’s just something in here that’s important to me!” the boy yelled at the girl angrily, looking away blushing. The girl tossed him an oddly glowing kunai knife and shook her head. The kunai landed in front of him with a clang as the boy stared at the girl.
“Hey Lina! Did something happen in there?” a girl asked as she came in. She stopped and stared at the boy. He had green hair, blue eyes, red clothes, black cape, and he had fox-like ears on the top of his head that had blue fur on them. “Hello what do we have here?” She leaned closer to him and examined him closely. “Another thief come to steal something?”
The boy scoffed. “You don’t have anything that is of value to me except for one thing…” he stared at the kunai knife on the floor, his hands grabbing the knife that the other shorter girl had and working on cutting his bonds.
“What’s so important about this blade?” Lina asked curiously, staring at it in confusion. She was the shorter one of the two girls but she was cuter than her counterpart, who was admittedly very cute also. “Have you identified it Lucia?” she asked the other girl.
“Sorry, but I can’t identify it Lina. Nothing about it is familiar to me or any of my friends. Sorry.” She shrugged. “All I managed to find out about it is that it is enchanted, but what the enchantment is and the command word or phrase is beyond me.” Lina nodded and kneeled in front of the boy. “What is it about this blade that is so important to you?” she stared at the boy closely. “What are you anyway? What’s your name?” she blinked as something came to her. She looked at the kunai then back at the boy. “You know what the enchantment and the command phrase are don’t you?” He smiled and shook his head in amusement.
“It doesn’t matter, but I don’t. This kunai just has sentimental value to me.” Lina laughed.
“If you say so. Now tell me, what’s your name? What’s your race?”
“My name is Cloud Kauzome. What I am is unimportant.”
Lina nodded. “Nice to meet you Cloud. I’m Lina Jurzega and this is Lucia Daulient.” Lucia nodded.
Cloud slit the bonds, stretched and stood up examining the girls. Lina was shorter than Lucia, wore a purple cape and tight-fitting red clothes. She also wore what looked like a necklace in the shape of a snake around her neck and a bracelet made to look like twenty-seven intertwining rose petals. Her hair reached down to her ankles and was colored bluish red. Lucia was taller than and almost as cute as her counterpart. She wore a red cape, green clothes, and wore a necklace shaped like a fox. She also wore a ring that had an emerald on it. She had reddish-black hair down to her hips.
Lucia stared at Cloud incredulously. “What are you staring at Cloud? Never seen a beautiful girl up close before?”
"What do you care?" he asked, earning a slap from both Lucia.
Lina said, “We should get going Lucia. We have to get to Okinwea by sunset tomorrow and, according to this map, we are still a good 50 kilometers away.”
Lucia nodded and grabbed her pack from off the floor, while Cloud picked up his pack from the table where Lina had left it and stood calmly with his hands in his pockets. Lucia and Lina turned to leave.
“Mind if I come with you girls?” Cloud asked, trailing behind them. Lucia shrugged and waved her hand.
“Of course you can come, Cloud!” Lina said smiling.
“All right…I was getting kind of tired of traveling by myself. It might be fun to travel with others.”
Lina looked at Cloud as he caught up to them. “What happened to your family?” Cloud looked down and ran up ahead, his eyes covered by his hair, sad.

* * * * * *

“Wow…what a mess!” Lina said as she stared at the burnt remains of what looked to be a small village. Lina poked around the ashes of an inn, occasionally calling out for someone, but staying silent most of the time. Lucia walked around the edge of the village, near to tears, calling out the names of relatives and neighbors.
“Hiro Daulient! Mom! Father? Mr. Saotome?” she knelt on the floor and wept silently, turned away from the others so they wouldn’t see her crying. Lina, still poking around the inn’s ashes, jumped when she noticed something disturb the surface of the ash when Lucia called. She started digging in the ashes and, eventually, dug up the body of a twelve year old boy. Lina laid her head on the young boy’s chest and listened for his heartbeat, and put her index finger under the boy’s nose to feel for his breath. Cloud walked over to her and kneeled down.
“Whatcha got there Lina?” he asked curiously, staring at the body of the young boy curiously. Lina shrugged and kept feeling for any life signs. Lucia heard Cloud and wiped her eyes quickly before she walked over to them.
“What is it?” she asked, kneeling beside Cloud. She saw the body of the boy and turned away sobbing loudly.
“What’s the matter Lucia?” Cloud asked, staring at Lucia sadly, near to tears himself.
Lina nodded and sighed. “This was her home Cloud. The young boy you found was probably her younger brother Hiro.” Yuki looked at the body of the boy and stood up, still holding the boy's body.
“Why…what…” he set Hiro's body down, turned away from the others and walked off a little, thinking about something. Lucia and Lina stared after Cloud curiously, and the body of the young boy that Cloud had found stirred and groaned, causing Lucia to cry out.
“Hiro!!” she pounced him and hugged him really tightly. “Your ok!! Your ok!!” she laid her head on his shoulder and sobbed in relief. Lina sighed in relief and stood up.
“How you feeling kid?” she asked Hiro, holding her hand out to him. Cloud stared around the remains of the village, lips pursed in thought.
“Something feels a bit off…” he muttered, kneeling by the remains of a house. “What happened here?” he turned towards a large hole in the ground. “What could have caused that big a hole? Hey Lucia!!” he called turning around. “Can you come here for a minute?” Lucia looked at Cloud and shook her head, still holding Hiro. Lina shook her head also and hugged Hiro tightly. Cloud sighed and rubbed his head. “It’s always like this…” he muttered. He shrugged and kneeled next to the large hole. The ground shook suddenly, knocking Cloud off his feet. “What the--!!” Lucia and Lina drew their knives and stood around Hiro facing out, ready for something. Cloud stood up and laid his hand on the hilt of his kunai, then changed his mind, put more distance between himself and the disturbance, and reached into a pouch he had on his side.
“Do you know what’s happening?” Cloud asked as the earthquake stopped. Lucia and Lina both shook their heads, but Hiro seemed to know otherwise. He grabbed Lucia around the waist tightly and started crying loudly.
“Don’t let him get me! Don’t let him get me!!” he cried over and over again. Lina looked down at him in fright.
“Don’t let what get you?!” she shouted, grabbing his shoulder with her free hand. But no sooner did she say this then the ground near Cloud bucked up and a large snake-like thing slithered out of the hole.
Cloud stumbled back and threw something from his pouch at the monstrosity. The shuriken embedded itself in the monster's left shoulder, enraging the beast but doing little else. “What the hell is that!?” he yelled, jumping over the monster’s flail. The flail slammed into the ground knocking Lucia, Lina and Hiro off their feet.
“That's a lesser snake demon! Don’t let it bite you! If it bites you, you’ll be dead in seconds!” Lina shouted as she stood up. Cloud nodded and rushed forward, his kunai in his hand. The monster swung its flail at him and Cloud got slammed full in the face by it. He flew back next to Lucia with his nose and left arm broken. He lost his grip on his kunai and it flew up in the air and buried itself in the ground right next to his head, but Cloud was too dazed by the blow to notice. Lina raised her hand towards the monster and started chanting softly. Lucia jumped in front of Lina, her blade out defensively.
“Joren!” Lucia jumped forward and stabbed her blade deep into the monster’s belly, but the attack just made it angrier. The demon swatted Lucia away like a fly and turned back towards Lina. It opened its huge mouth and hissed at Lina loudly. Lina continued her song-like chanting unperturbed. Cloud blinked and rubbed his eyes, recovering from the blow. He grabbed the kunai pulled it out of the dirt and leaped towards the demon.
“Demon begone!” He stabbed it in the stomach, paralyzing it for a few moments. Lina finished her song-like chant and pointed at the monster as she spoke the final word. “Bauzeraugarhgan!!” A blast of lightning flew out of her hand and slammed into the monsters stomach, knocking it back and unconscious, but otherwise not actually doing much apparent damage to it. Cloud raised his kunai and stumbled towards the monster, but Lina grabbed him by his shoulder and threw him down next to her. Cloud screamed in pain, since he had landed on his broken arm and shoulder. Just as Cloud landed, the snake demon exploded, spattering its gory green blood everywhere. Cloud, Lina and Lucia got covered in the green slime. Hiro was a safe enough distance away from the explosion that nothing landed on him.
“Are you ok Hiro?” Lucia asked, running over to him as the shuriken that Cloud had thrown at the monster landed in the ground right where Lucia had been. If she hadn't moved, it would've landed in her heart.
“I’m ok!” he replied, still shaken from the demon’s appearance. Lina went over to Cloud and started muttering something softly, but Cloud stopped her before she could say more then five words.
“Don’t worry about healing me. I’ll be ok,” he said with a wry smile. He stood up with a grimace and looked around. “What a mess!” he muttered, grimacing as a sharp stab of pain wracked his body. “I’m gonna be feeling this for a while…” He walked around and kicked the floor. “Well, what do we do now?” he wondered, turning around curiously. Lina shrugged and stared into the distance, not really paying much attention. Lucia stared up at the sky and thought, while Hiro wandered around between the three of them, occasionally poking one of them.
“I guess we should wash this green gunk off,” Lucia said, looking around curiously. Cloud nodded and walked towards the top of a nearby mountain. “Where are you going?”
“I’m heading up towards the mountain peak. If you gals want to come with me, then let’s go!” he continued walking, and the others had to scramble to catch up to him.
Lucia sighed and signaled to Lina and Hiro that they were going to follow Cloud and Lina ran up next to her. “Where are we going Lucia? You know as well as I do that there is nothing up there worth looking at. Unless Cloud really wants a birds-eye view of the surrounding lands but there isn’t that much to see. What is he going up there for?”
Lucia shrugged. “I guess we’d better go follow him to make sure he doesn’t get into trouble or anything like that.” She sighed and she, Lina and Hiro followed Cloud up the mountain, having to run to keep up with him.
"How's your arm doing Cloud?" Lina asked curiously. Cloud shrugged.
“Been better, been worse. It’ll be healed in a couple of hours.”
Lina looked at him curiously. “Really?” Cloud smiled and nodded.

* * * * * *

“Wait up!” Lina yelled, panting, a couple of hours later. Cloud stopped and turned around. Lucia was carrying Hiro on her back, having to struggle to stand up, Lina was lying on the ground panting, and Cloud was next to a split tree not even breathing hard despite the near-frantic pace he had set for them.
“What is it?” Cloud asked curiously, leaning against a tree easily, resting his hands in his pants pockets. Lina stared at Cloud incredulously.
“Are you serious? You have been practically running up a steep slope for near two hours, and you’re not the least bit tired?”
“I’m not human remember?” Cloud smiled mischievously and poked his fox ears.
"Oh yeah! I forgot! What race are you anyway?" Lucia asked curiously. She set Hiro down on a small boulder and fell on her knees. "I'm exhausted!"
Cloud smiled and patted Lucia on the shoulder. "I could've sworn I had told you what my race was, but I guess I didn't. I'm half thunder fox demon," he said casually, taking a bite of an apple. He tossed Hiro his water skin. Hiro caught it and nodded thanks to him before drinking a little. Lucia and Lina drank from their water skins and sighed in relief. Cloud smiled and leaned against a tree, staring at the sky. "We'll rest here for a little while, then we'll keep heading to the top."
Lucia nodded and looked at Hiro in concern. "Is something the matter?" she asked, going over to him. Cloud looked at Hiro, who was starting to turn purple.
"I have the feeling I've forgot something..." Cloud muttered. Lucia patted Hiro on the back and he coughed up the water he had drunk. "Oh...that's what I forgot!" Cloud said hitting himself on the head. He took the water skin back from Hiro and put it in his pack.
"What did you forget?" Lucia asked curiously, staring at the water curiously. She smelled it, and coughed. "This water smells like wine!" Cloud stared up at the sky and sighed.
"I tossed Hiro my wineskin by accident."
Lucia nodded “What kind of wine was that?” she asked curiously, poking the wine puddle on the floor.
Cloud shrugged and smiled. “It’s just ordinary wine.” He said simply. Lucia stared at him.
“Are you the only part-demon in your family?” she asked curiously, stretching the kinks out of her legs. Cloud looked down, depressed. “No…my mother’s side of the family is fox demon. My father’s side of the family is human.” He looked very withdrawn, as if he wasn’t paying too much attention. Lucia hugged Cloud tightly, stroking his hair.
“You’ve had to kill some of your family members, haven’t you Cloud?” Cloud sighed and nodded, almost crying. “I have had to do that also…the pain never really goes away does it Cloud?” Cloud shook his head and sighed.
“It feels like I killed myself…” he said softly, resting his hand over his heart. “It feels like I’m wasting away…” He closed his eyes and stood like that for a few moments. Lucia held Cloud for a few more minutes, then she looked at the wine puddle.
“What’s in that wine anyway?”
Cloud blinked and shook himself out of his reverie. “I have no idea.”
“Hey Cloud, I’ve heard that there is some sort of ceremony or something that fox demons can do with humans. Is it true? I’ve heard its called bloodmingling.” Cloud blinked and shook his head.
“No.”
Cloud sighed and stared at the sky sadly, his blue tail poking out. He didn't notice a girl poke her head out from his backpack, but Lucia and Lina did. The girl yawned and rubbed her eyes. "Hi!" she said smiling sleepily. "How are you Cloud?" she asked, getting out of his backpack. Cloud coughed and smiled happily.
"Hi Yukina!" he hugged her tightly and kissed her cheek. "Have a good sleep sis?" he asked, smiling widely.
"It was good," she yawned widely. She had blue hair down to her elbows and a large blue bushy tail. She had pointy ears with red earrings, and wore a light blue blouse and a short red skirt. She stretched, and the hilt of her katana poked out from behind her right shoulder. Lucia Lina and Hiro stared at her freaked out.
"How did you manage to fit into such a small backpack?" Lina asked, looking from the cute, thin and tall Yukina to the small backpack.