Snow Sato, Ai Kagi [cat reading book TXT] 📗

door; Hoshi and Toby waited outside.
"I'm... scared," Toby whimpered. Hoshi suddenly felt sorry for the kid. "It's okay. Be brave," he told him. Toby looked up at him questioningly and ,then, he smiled.
Rax came out of his room. "Okay, let's go," he said. Hoshi quirked an eyebrow, "What kind of a weapon is that?" he asked. "It's the one I made," Rax replied, "Let's go."
"Don't you need help walking?" Hoshi asked. "No, I've got the hang of it now. No worries. We Forest Sato ninja can see by smells," Rax said. "We can?" Toby asked, closing his eyes and sniffing the air to test what his brother said. "Yeah, but you haven't been trained on how to use it yet. I'll show you later. Enough talking," Rax said quickly.
They began running down the hall and stopped close to the end of it when they saw Marinta. "Ah! Hoshi! I was looki- Hey... what is this?" she questioned awkwardly. "Get out of the way," Rax answered, pulling his sword out of the hilt and charging at Marinta. She yanked out her sword and lunged at him, but he crashed his blade down onto hers. Marinta's blade shattered into millions of pieces.
Marinta stared at her sword and asked in horror, "What are you?" "Your worst nightmare," Rax said and kicked her into the wall; the trio advanced forward.
Once they got out of the castle, they ran towards the forest. "Come back here!" Marinta yelled, following them. Hoshi flashed his eyes at Marinta and she fell down holding her face.
"UGH!" Rax grunted when he tripped over a root. Hoshi helped him up and they continued into the forest.
The trio soon came to a waterfall and stopped to rest. Toby was surprised that there could be a waterfall in the winter, because he had never seen one before.
Hoshi noticed Toby's amazement and responded, "Have you never seen a waterfall before?" "No. Ah... It's not that; I've just never seen a waterfall in the winter before," Toby explained. "Oh... Well, this is a popular waterfall; its name is 'Winter Fall', because it flows the strongest in the winter," Hoshi replied. "Strange," Toby whispered. Rax and Hoshi chuckled.
Becoming serious, Rax asked, "Does this mean we're close to the Snow Sato?" Hoshi nodded, "Yes. Sardis' castle lies next to the Snow Sato border, whish explains the snow in the Forest Sato."
Rax thought for a while, while they rested and Toby sat, staring at the waterfall. Hoshi thought up a plan to keep Rax and Toby away from Sardis.
Suddenly, Hoshi heard something and put his hand on the hilt of his sword. "What is it?" Rax asked, smelling the air. Toby looked up at Hoshi.
"Stay here. I'll go check it out," Hoshi said, going off into the forest. "Big brother, I want to help too!" Toby told Rax. Rax smiled and patted Toby's head, "Not this time. You need to be patient and wait for Hoshi to come back." Toby pouted.

* * *

When Hoshi got to where he thought the sound was coming from, he stopped and drew his sword. "Hey, Hoshi," someone said from behind him. Hoshi turned around to see Taizen, who stood with no weapon, but Hoshi noticed that his eyes were purple.
"Well, this is awkward; you turn me to Sardis and you betray her," Taizen said. "You won't stop me," Hoshi said. Taizen began laughing and his power emitted from his body.
Hoshi put some darts in his hand and jumped backward, throwing the darts at Taizen. Taizen didn't see or feel the darts, luckily, when they hit his neck.
Taizen began to charge at Hoshi and Hoshi blacked some power blasts that Taizen punched at him. Taizen's hair began to turn dark-purple and he grew spikes on his back.
Hoshi realized that Taizen's power was becoming uncontrollable, so he resolved to end Taizen's rampage as quickly as possible. Therefore, Hoshi punched Taizen in the stomach, which sent him flying backwards into the snow; Taizen's power started dying down.
Taizen was about to get up when Hoshi quickly ran over to him and hit a pressure point on his neck. "For your own good, I hope that power never comes out again," Hoshi said as Taizen went unconscious.

* * *

"Where's Hoshi? He should be back by now!" Toby whined. Rax didn't say anything and looked up. He sniffed the air and said, "He's almost here."
'I hope that poison works as an antidote to counteract the one Sardis used,' Hoshi thought. He could now see Rax and Toby waiting for him ahead.
"So, you actually waited for me?" Hoshi asked. Toby was annoyed and shouted, "Of course! You're our friend now and we don't run off and leave friends behind!"
Hoshi suddenly was shocked when he had a flashback of when he met Yuki and Taizen. Yuki had said, "You're our friend now and we don't run off and leave friends behind!" Taizen had agreed with her.
Rax stood up and said, "We should get to the Snow Sato before it gets dark." "Yes. Come on," Hoshi said, picking up Toby and putting him on his shoulders. Rax and Hoshi ran as fast as they could so they could make it as quickly as possible to the Snow Sato.

* * *

Meanwhile, Yuki had been taken to the meeting place of Ookami and Ki Tanken. "Is there anything we can do for her, so she doesn't end up like this every time she uses her power?" Ookami asked his sister.
Ki Tanken, a beautiful blonde-haired kunoichi, looked down at the sleeping Yuki with her crystal, blue eyes. "Was her hair this color before?" she asked. "No, it was purple; the same for her eyes," Ookami answered.
Ki Tanken opened Yuki's eyelids and said, "Look at this, Brother." Ookami was speechless, but said, "Her eyes?!" "Yes. I will treat her, but it will take time for her to recover," Ki Tanken replied, "For now, let her rest."

Chapter 4- Old Friends Reunite

"Mmm," Yuki groaned when a bright light stung her eyes through her eyelids. Yuki opened her eyes and sat up. Suddenly, she felt herself gasping for breath and laid back down.
'Where am I? Where are my clothes?' she thought. She looked around the room she was in and saw a set of crisp, folded clothes sitting on a chair by her bed.
After Yuki had managed to get the new clothes on, she carefully walked into a kitchen. Ookami and Ki Tanken came in at that moment and Yuki stared at them in question.
Ookami was about to speak when Yuki began to feel dizzy and held her head, while wobbling back and forth. She was about to fall down when someone caught her.
"Katsui?!" Ookami exclaimed, "When did you return from the Stone Sato?" The man, with purple-streaked, red hair, that caught Yuki gazed emotionlessly at her face and quietly replied, "Today."
Katsui than picked Yuki up in his arms. "Is she not the late Ganjou Mitsukai's daughter?" "Um... I guess; I never thought of that when she told me her name," Ookami said. "Ookami told me that her name is Yuki," Ki Tanken stated.
"She needs to rest," Katsui said. "Ah, yes... She was resting in that room until she woke up just now," Ki Tanken replied, waving her hand towards Yuki's room.
Without another word, Katsui took Yuki back into the room she was staying in. He came out silently, after he put her in her bed.
"What medicine did you use for her eyes?" Katsui asked Ki Tanken. "I used the 'Forest Herb Tonic'," she replied, "How did you know about her eyes?" He remained silent on that question and said, "I'll be back in an hour." Then, he left.
'Why didn't he answer me? It was a simple question,' Ki Tanken thought. She noticed Ookami was very solemn and asked, "Brother, what troubles you?" He looked up, "Why haven't we had her problem?" "I don't know." "Well, has Katsui had it?" "You should ask him if you want to know."
Ookami stood up and walked out of the house. Ki Tanken sighted and looked toward the room Yuki was in.

* * *

"We're finally here," Hoshi breathed. The three had finally made it to the Snow Sato and they were tired, because they had run the rest of the way.
"Let's go find Yuki," Hoshi said, walking towards the mountain that the Sato palace was on. Rax followed him and they went up to the palace.
Hoshi knocked on the door and Futeki answered it. "Hoshi?!" she exclaimed, starting to shut the door, but her reached out and held it open.
"Calm down, Futeki. I'm a spy of Lady Emerarudo's," he said. She was shocked and said, "I want proof."
Hoshi reached into his pocket and took out a green, emerald stone. He put it in her hand and she ran her fingers over it (she had to, because she was blind and used her sight through her fingers).
"O- Okay... You can come in, then," Futeki said, handing Hoshi's emerald back to him. "Can we see Yuki?" Toby asked, sleepily. "Lady Yuki is away at the moment," Futeki answered, "Lady Emerarudo is here, though."
"Where did Yuki go?" Hoshi asked. Futeki looked down, "She went to the Sun Sato yesterday, in search of Kei. We haven't heard from her yet. I hope something hasn't happened to her." "Did she go alone?" Hoshi asked in surprise. "Yes." "Then, I'll search for her," Hoshi replied. "I'm going too," Rax said, "Besides, I want to meet this Lady Yuki, because I have no idea who you're talking about." "Hm. Okay," Hoshi consented.
Hoshi and Rax went to see Lady Emerarudo in the throne room. Today, she had her long, red hair in a ponytail again and she was wearing a green, silk kimono.
"Welcome, Hoshi. How is your spying going?" she asked. "Exceptionally well, Milady, except, my cover has probably been blown now; Taizen Yaiba attacked me before we got here. I gave him a counteracting poison to make him forget and another one to get rid of another poison that he was poisoned with by Empress Sardis. Also, another of Sardis' minions attacked us before Taizen did and I erased her memory. We can only wait and see if I will be found out," said Hoshi and he bowed. "Good; I can't wait to read your report," the Ganjou replied.

Imprint

Text: The ownership of this book goes to Ai Kagi. *Used with permission.
Publication Date: 06-19-2010

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