[Akida]

Ruirii and Kitani {12}

Kitani opened her eyes slowly and blinked a few times. Her bright blue orbs adjusted to the lighting a bit slower than usual. A soft groan escaped her throat as she eased herself into a sitting position. She looked around slowly and thought to herself, "Where is this place? Where am I? How did..." The memory rushed through her mind just as the question came up. She remembered now, the warnings, the grip for life, the fall. Everything. She stood slowly. The mush below seemed to swallow her paws slowly. Where was Ruirii? "Ruirii?!?!!" She wondered if she should stay where she was or not. A growl of sorts decided for her and she hurried through the swamp as quickly as she could possibly go.

~*~*~

The hydrokuhna grunted with the effort to wade through the mush. He growled and snarled to himself as he wished he should have ended up at Jawan. He had heard of this place, but never though he'd come here for anything. Now here he was, all washed up.. and by his own element. He snorted and continued on his search. I have to find Kitani soon. She's probably confused right about now... He hurried across the swamplands silently. Keeping his ears open for the slightest out-of-placed sound.

[Jaden Wolf]

OOC: Okay!

Tainted (Taint)

Two eyes peered down at the hydrokuhna named Kitani. As the kuhna shouted someone's name, a laugh sounded. "Well, well. What have we here? A hydrokuhna lost in the swamp." the voice sounded dark, but the tone was teasing. Not pure evil, but a voice with a shadowy feeling. The figure came out of the trees and flew in a circle around the kuhna. It was a Plush Ferrikoon, with bands of light tight around her wings. "My name's Tainted, but call me Taint." she said, and landed on a tree branch, trotting along it gracefully and looking down at Kitani. "So who's Ruirii? And who are you? Invading upon my home like this?" she stared at the hydro, waiting for an answer.

[Akida]

Ruirii and Kitani {13}

As she waded through the swamp, she heard a sudden laugh. She looked around and saw a ferrikoon circling her. She jumped back and let out a soft growl. She was in her element, but strangely not. She couldn't exactly swim away quickly. Her heart pounded at the sudden appearance of the ferrikoon. She held a battle-ready pose, but quieted her snarl as the stranger spoke to her and intoduced herself.
"H-hello....Taint. I am Kitani and I'm looking for my companion, Ruirii. We go everywhere together, but.."
Her voice trailed off as she remembered what had happened.
Ruirii's probably mad at me now. I didn't listen to him and now we're both separated and..
She realized she had trailed off into her own thoughts again.
"I have to get to him. He's probably mad and worried."
She started to wade throught the swamp again, but kept her alerts up.

~*~*~

Ruirii saw a lone tree ahead of him about two leaps away. It looked so alone and desolate. Solitary. It's proud branched hung low as did the leaves upon it. It looked like the "weeping willow" Akida used to describe when he was younger.
"I'd be weeping too if I were stuck in this placed the whole time like you."
He bounded towards the tree splashing up the swamp waters as he did so. A gentle beeze made the sulking leaves sway. The only great thing, that he could find, about the swamp. He leaned his back against the tree and looked up at the sky.
"You know," he began, "I really miss my buddy. She's a little upbeat, but she lights up my day. She'd light up anyone's day... Given she was in the right mood. O' great Triumvirate, if you can hear me. Help me find her. I'm sure she's lost and afraid."
He closed his eyes and rested for a while beneath the willow.

( ;-; this sounds kind of sappy :3 )

[Jaden Wolf]

Taint cocked an eyebrow. "Interesting." she said, watching the kuhna with her red eyes. Then she heard her fellow Shadows speak...in their personal language, a sort of thought feeling that did not generally take the form of words. "Taint, we heard some kuhna calling out by the old willow tree. The one in the water valley." She nodded as they finished, then looked down at Kitani, debating whether to tell her or not. Then she shrugged and dropped off the branch, flying above the hydro. "Well, I could help you, seeing as I know where this...Ruirii...is. Buuuttt...I don't know." to exaggerate her point, she flew down to fly upsidedown beside the kuhna, and crossed her paws as if thinking.

[Akida]

Ruirii and Kitani {14}

Kitani stopped in her tracks.
"You know where Ruirii is?! Please tell me! I have to get to him..."
She paused for a moment.
"wait.. You don't know? What more is there to know?! I'm a lost hydrokuhna stuck in this place, and you don't know?! How much more of an "I need help" sign do you need? Oh I know.. You want me to wear one of those "Help Wanted" neon signs, like the stores right?"
She couldn't perceive how the ferrikoon could toy with her this way. About this point she'd decided to do anything, no matter the risk or such to find her dear companion.

~*~*~

A sort of whisper made the kuhna open his eyes. The willow still weeped, even as it had his company. Maybe it knew his visit would be a short one? He stood and leapt away from the tree. He almost tripped over one of the hidden roots of the tree, and growled. More to himself than at the root hidden by the swamp.
"KITANI!!!"
He quieted and listened for her familiar light voice. He only heard the sounds of the swamp creatures and... the swamp itself? He wasn't too sure about it. He shrugged and moved on.
"KITANI WHERE ARE YOU?!"
He kept his ears peeled for a reply.

[Jaden Wolf]

If she could, Taint would've raised an eyebrow, but unfortunately, she could not. She flipped over and rolled her eyes. "Fine." she said, then she banked to the right and landed gracefully on a branch, looking at Kitani. "This way." Taint smirked and gestured to her right. Then she turned and began to jump from branch to branch, gliding occasionally as the gaps in the branches grew bigger. "Try to keep up!" her voice floated back. Then a pause. "Oh, can't say where the wet parts are, so watch your step." Unknown to Kitani, Taint whispered something to the Shadows. "Deal with him 'till we get there. Not. Roughly." she hissed the last part, and the Shadows flickered nervously.
~~~~~
A small shadow separated itself from the rest and rose off the ground in front of Ruririi. It took the form of a small liquid-like black housecat. She liked her paw and glared sideways at the kuhna as she held it up. "Tsk tsk tsk. So much racket. Quite dangerous out here no?" she spoke to him, with a hint of a smirk. Her voice had a strange accent to it, as if she wasn't speaking english, yet her words were easy to understand. Then she continued to lick her paw, and watched Ruririi, waiting for a response.

[Akida]

Ruirii and Kitani {15}

"Oh thank you!"
She followed the ferrikoon's lead and bounded after her in a fit of joy, only to land in one of those 'wet spots' she had just mentioned. She quickly swam as best she could untill she found good footing again. She stood and looked around then laughed nervously. She was a bit more careful, but still kept up her pace. She was getting used to walking though the swamps, and actually found ways to make it easier.

~*~*~

Ruirii looked at the shadow infront of him. He narrowed his eyes as he stared at the cat-like creature.
"Who are you and what do you want?"
He held his ground, but was ready to leap away if anything happened.

[Jaden Wolf]

The trees began to open up to a path, and Taint dropped off of a branch, flying just ahead of Kitani. "The Water Plains are ahead. You'll have to go slower if you don't want to get stuck in the mud patches." she said, smirking again. Being a flying creature was a good thing around here. Then she looked ahead and curiosity got the better of her. "So. You never quite answered. What are you doing here in my homeplace?" she looked down again, wating for an answer, and glacing occasionally at the bright opening in the trees ahead.
~~~~~
The cat put down her paw and gave Ruririi a withering look. "I'm not going to hurt you, ya know. If my lady gets here in time." she smirked. Then she looked up at the willow. "I'm a Shadow. No doubt you've never met one before. Not many creatures of Light have." she said. Then she looked back at him. "What are you doing alone in a place like this?" she asked. The other shadows had not told her anything about the intruders in their home.

[Akida]

Ruirii and Kitani {16}

The kuhna nodded at the ferrikoon's warning. She could feel the bottom of the swamp sucking at her feet already, but she kept going steadily. She seemed to be deeply focused on moving one paw at a time and almost missed the 'koon's question.
"Huh? Oh sorry. What am I doing here?"
She repeated the question and turned it over and over in her mind. It was punishment for not listening to Ruirii in the first place. She shook the thoughts from her head and looked at Taint.
"I myself don't really know. All I remember is falling from a bridge, then waking up here.. alone.."
Hear head hung low and she followed the path Taint had lead her to, continuing her slow and steady pace.
~*~*~
Ruirii hissed when the creature smirked.
"It doesn't matter what I'm doing here. All I want to do is find my friend and leave this place...
His voice trailed off and a thought hit him.
"You don't happen to know where she is.. do you?
His voice had a more kind and hopeful note in it, but was ready for the more saddening answer. The swamp seemed to be sucking at his paws, so he moved a few steps closer to the shadow.

[Jaden Wolf]

Taint turned and looked down at Kitani. "You don't know huh?" she said, then she turned over and pondered the statement. In a few minutes, the tree line came up and the two entered into the wet plains. Noticing, Taint stopped breifly and looked around. "If it were not for that willow tree, even I could get lost out here...cursed place." she muttered. Then she spotted a faint outline of the willow tree in the distance, though she was too far away, even at her altitude, to see the other kuhna that Kitani was looking for. She started to fly in that direction, and looked back at Kitani. "Almost there. You know, normally I wouldn't help anyone. No Dark Shadow would...I wonder what made me help you...whatver it is, you're lucky." she said with another smirk.
~~~~~
The cat smirked again and laughed, a dark but clear sounding laugh. It was not evil, but it still sounded fairly sinister. Then she slowly stopped laughing and looked back at Ruirii. "Well, I don't know exactly where she is, but I know she's with my lady....my mistress." she said, waving a paw in the air dismissively. She walked over an obvious mud patch to the Willow, and started to bat at a lone string of the leaves hanging from it. Oddly, when she had walked over the mud, it did not even stick to her paws, nevermind suck her in. She looked over at him, fixing her black eyes on his greenish ones.

[Akida]

Ruirii and Kitani {17}

"Thank you, again, Taint. I really do appreciate your help."
She smilled at the ferrikoon, angering as she could be, there was a very nice being under there... somewhere. She looked ahead, nothing but a vast and flat swampland filled her view. It was uneventful, except for a large, sulking tree in the distance. It looked strange to her.
"What kind of tree is that? I've never seen one like it. It looks so.. sad..."
She somehow managed to misstep and fall face-first into the muck. Her mumbles came up with lazy bubbles, just before she pulled her head up.

~*~*~

He sat and watched how easily she moved over the swamp. He didn't mnd water at all, but mud and water-weeds were a completely different story. He kicked mud off of each paw carefully, only to set them right back in the muck again. He stood still, with only a slight breeze creating slight movements in everything it touched. He stood and started away from the tree and shadow creature.
"It was..interesting..meeting you. Now I'll be on my way to search for my.. companion.."

[Jaden Wolf]

Taint turned as she heard Kitani ask a question, then saw the hydro fall into the mud. When she saw the bubbles and heard some sort of mumble, she laughed. Realizing that she just laughed, she reeled backwards in the air in surprise. "Did I just...laugh?" she murmured, confused. Then to take her mind off the matter, she swooped down to Kitani. "You alright?" she asked her. Then she looked in the distance at the tree. "It's called a Willow tree...a Weeping Willow to be exact." she said. Then she began to calculate the distance, then realized that she was not high in the air, which means they were close. Squinting, she saw the Shadowy figure, so black that it could be seen even from this distance. She also noticed something about it. Alarmed, she shot off towards the tree. "Head for the willow!" she shouted over her shoulder to Kitani.
~~~~~
The cat's head wheeled around and she hissed. Must keep him here. She commanded us to do that. the voice of shadows whispered to the cat, of course, in their own language which could not be understood by creatures like Ruirii or Kitani. The cat breifly nodded, then crouched down, and pounced, flying through the air towards Ruirii. She did not notice the ferrikoon speeding towards her.

[Akida]

She spat out a few mouthfuls of of the muck and shook most of it from her head.
"Ugh!.. Wait, whaa?!!"
She bounded after the ferrikoon as best she could, still slipping and sinking here and there.
"Waiitt!!"
She yelled after the ferrikoon to slow down, and odd echo of her voice came back to her ears.

~*~*~

His ears twitched at the hissing and he felt danger chilling his bones. He lept to the right, managing to turn and face the creature as he did so. He replied with a terrible snarl of his own. A tiny hit of pink flashed  in the corner of uirii's eye, but he ignored it, fucusing on the challenge ahead of him.

[Jaden Wolf]

Taint heard Kitani's call, but did not slow down. Just as the cat was about to strike a blow at Ruirii, he moved, and she landed on the ground. Not stopping, she wheeled around and jumped again. Then, when she was almost on top of Ruirii, something hit her. She went flying and hit the ground, landing on her paws. She looked up with a furious hiss but stopped dead. "Go! You're done here!" Taint's dark voice shouted to her angrily. Seemingly terrified, the cat wheeled around and vanished into the shadows.

Taint looked down at the hydro she just saved. "You Ruirii? It's a bad idea to get into a fight with a shadow like that. They cannot be struck with the exception of light or a fellow shadow. Stay here, I'll be right back." she said quickly to him, then flew to Kitani. "Sorry." she said to her, then pointed to where she had come from. "Your brother or whoever he is...is over there."
Then she flew slowly back to the male, letting Kitani follow at her own pace.

[Akida]

Ruirii and Kitani {19}

Kitani grunted with the effort to keep up with Taint. Just ahead she saw a pair of shadows. No... one shadow. The other seemed to have melted away. She couldn't see the other well, but she could make out twin tails. She gave up rushing and took her time.
~*~*~
"Yeah. What of it?"
He growled at the ferrikoon ordering him as though she were superior to him. Something told him to push away the anger and listen this once. Only then did he notice the slowly moving shadow coming toward him. The form of a kuhna slowly took shape, and he wondered..
~*~*~
She looked up to see Taint infront of her again.
"Ruirii? He's my friend.."
She bounded through the swamp toward her lost companion. Each leap made his figure more clear.

He finally made out who the kuhna was. He smiled to himself and let her come to him.
"Kitani...."
He whispered the name as she came closer. Then he looked at the ferrikoon.
"Thank you. I have one question though.. It was you who sent that shadow cat to keep me by this tree, didn't you?"