War of the Tsurekin

***He'd kill me if I kept wallowing. It'll be hard, but I'll move on. I have his dog tags and will always remember him and I'll see him again. I just have to move on with life. We'll see how long this feeling lasts. I've a feeling my emotions will be like a roller coaster for a while. ***

"He thinks Kai and I just threw this whole group under a train. Per say." She replied looking at him to guage how he felt about it.

"I don't see why he does? There wasn't anything that could be done about it. You two were in trouble, so your Tsurekin did their job and protected you."

"That's what I said." She shrugged. "He's got his problems though."

(Well, if you ever need to vent you can always pm me.)

"Well, if it's any consolation I think you guys are doing a good job," Hiorimaru said. "I'm sure this whole thing will blow over in a few weeks."

Sky smiled, but she was still less optimistic than Shigure's brother. "To be honest, I don't think our notoriety will disappear that easily. Tsurekin have been popping up all over the city and the police are all riled up about it. This is the first real hard evidence they've found linking them to anything, and I don't think orders from the FBI are going to keep them from snooping around."

"Then I'll keep them away from the mansion," Hiorimaru said. "I've got to earn my keep somehow, so I'll keep my eyes peeled for nosie officers."

(Can you get them to school in your next post?)

**Thanks,**

"You don't have to earn your keep you are part of the group." Skylar replied as she put her bowl in the sink.

"I need to do something it gets boring just sitting around." He replied with a smile.

"That I understand for sure then." She laughed and then walked towards the door.

"Come on everyone off to school you go." Ivy was calling. Everyone piled towards the garage as the Tsurekin slipped out the back.

"Another day." Skylar sighed as she climbed in the car.

(No problem. That's what friends are for, right?)

"Enjoy it while it lasts," Sean said as he climbed in after her. "The Tsurekin Lords rise in just a couple of months. When that happens, school will be the least of our worries."

"Thanks for reminding me," Sky said, obviously not happy about being reminded of the inevitable battles in the future. She had enough to worry about already.

"Ivy and Akira are both researching everything they can find on the Tsurekin Lords," Kai said. "If they have any weaknesses we can exploit we'll start figuring out how to fight them. Until then, just try to focus on the task at hand."

"Which is?" Cedar asked.

"Befriending Katherine," Kai answered. "We need her on our side before Jirran finds out about her." When everyone was in the vehicle he turned toward Elise. "Speaking of which, Elise, did she ever start to catch on while you were with her yesterday?"

Elise smiled. "Of course not. We were just a couple of girls going on a shopping spree at the mall."

(When they get to school they'll run into Katherine at the front door.)

**Yuppers**

"Good." Kai smiled nodding. The drove to the school and Skylar climbed out first readjusting her bag so it fit on her back comfortably. She waited for the others and then followed them towards the school. She spotted Katherine first.

"There she is." She said in a lowered tone to Elise who nodded and then moved forward smiling at the girl.

"Hey, girlie!" Elise grinned giving the girl a hug.

Elise and Katherine started talking about the stuff they bought yesterday while making their way into the school. The others followed them, but Kai stopped just outside the doors when he noticed a dark brown car parked beside the sidewalk not too far down the street. Two men were sitting in the front seats, but because of the distance he couldn't see their faces clearly. He tried to squint his eyes to see a little better, but the car started up and drove around a corner before he could get a better look.

I guess the police haven't given up on the case, Kai thought.

"Kai, what's wrong?" Skylar asked when she noticed him lagging behind.

Kai thought about telling her what he saw, but decided against it. Skylar already blamed herself for getting the police involved in the first place, she didn't need even more stress by knowing they're trying to watch them under cover now.

"It's nothing, Sky," he said. "Come on, we'll be late for class."

***What do you do when you are not ok, you have a million offers to talk about it to others, but you don't know what to say cause there is nothing that can be said to make things better?***

Skylar frowned but nodded. "Alright." They walked into the school and she stayed with Kai as everyone split up into their classes.

**Sorry, I've nothing**

(Simple, say nothing. If you don't feel comfortable talking to anyone about it yet, then don't. People handle grief in different ways. For me, when my grandfather died I never talked much about it to anyone. It's nice that you have so many friends who care about you, but until you're ready to talk about it there's nothing they can do for you. I hope that helps.

I'll post later when I've got time.)

(Let's switch to the Tsurekins' perspective, since there's not really that much we can do with the other characters right now.)

Ryukin and Tala waited in the small forest on the boundaries of the school while all the students went into the building. When the coast was clear the two of them carefully made their way across the parking lot toward the dumpsters. As they moved from car to car Tala asked, "Do you really think we can convince Lavos to stay on the roof with us?"

"It's worth a shot," Ryukin replied. "We're going to be spending a lot of time with him, it'd be best if it wasn't all spent burried in the trash."

Tala growled at the thought of spending another day in one of those disgusting canisters. "Let's just get this over with. The less time I have to spend near those things the better."

They arrived at the dumpsters a few moments later. Ryukin tapped the side of one of them with his tail. "Lavos, are you in there? It's us."

(How are you holding up?)

**My parents have me going to a shrink. I'm alright, I'm a tough girl. lol. Just sucks**

Tala watched as Lavos slowly stuck his head out and looked at them.

"What do you want?" He asked calmly. Coming from anyone else Tala would have thought she was bugging them but he said it in a way that just sounded unbiased in a way.

**I don't remember anything about Lavos**

(Lavos is the hydra Tsurekin, remember? The one who protects Katherine.)

**I knew whose he was, just couldn't remember what he was or what he looked like. lol**

(Whenever I forget something about a character I like to go back in the story and re-read a part of it. Sometimes it helps me think of ways to help the story progress.)

"We just wanted to invite you onto the roof with us," Tala said. "I'm sure you you must be sick of of the smell in there." She had spent only one day in there and she was already sick of it.

"I've spent an entire year in these dumpsters," Lavos answered. "Once I learned to ignore the smell it actually became quite cozy in here."

"Still," Ryukin added, "I'm sure it must get boring sitting in there all by your self all day everyday. If you come to the roof at least you'll have someone to talk to."

Lavos closed his eyes for a moment, as if to consider the proposal. Tala was a little creeped out when all the tinier heads closed their eyes at the same time, but she kept to herself. When Lavos opened his eyes again, he nodded and said, "All right, lead the way."

(I'll let you figure out how they manage to get Lavos onto the roof. )

**Hope that this works. **

Tala followed Lavos and Ryukin around where Ryukin and Tala normally went up, but it would expose Lavos if they used that route.

"We need to find another way." Tala said looking at Ryukin. "Let me go see if I can find something." She slipped off and walked around the building hiding all the way around. She spotted a ladder going up the back where there was no one that would see them go up. It was hidden by another building and some trash cans. She quickly went back to find the others.

"Did you find anything?" Lavos asked her.

"Yeah, there is a ladder this way, it's pretty well hidden. Where we usually camp out on top is well covered too." She flicked her tail and then turned and showed them the ladder. "Y'all can go up there, ladders aren't my thing."

"Why not?" Lavos asked.

"Paws and ladders don't agree." She laughed. "See y'all up top." She smiled.

(Sorry it took so long for me to reply. Last week was reading week so I was with my family the entire time.)

Ryukin nodded toward the ladder. "You first, Lavos."

"Do you think this flimsy creation of metal will be able to hold my weight?" the hydra asked.

"There's only one way to find out. I'll hold the ladder while you climb."

Lavos nodded back, although he still didn't seem quite sure about the ladder's reliability. Still, he began to climb. When he was about half-way up the ladder started to sway. Ryukin managed to hold it still, but Lavos was now moving a lot slower.

Tala was already waiting at the top by the time Lavos had managed to get onto the roof. "Glad to see you finally made it up," she said.

(If you have trouble thinking of what to write next, you can always have the Tsurekin ask each other questions to get to know each other better.)