AM--Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Exposed

Nighttime has now come to the neighborhood of the Cul-De-Sac, as we soon zoom in on the Cul-De-Sac’s little park beside the Lane. We then could see Shika, sitting on one of the three swings on a swing set, waiting for someone to come.

“I-I wonder if he’s going to come or not…?” Shika started to wonder aloud as she rocked back and forth a little on the swing she sat on, “I-I sure hope so…”

“Hey, Shika!” called out a voice as Shika looked up to see Eddy walking towards her.

“H-Hello Eddy,” Shika greeted back as Eddy came and sat beside her on the next swing to her left. She turned to him a little, a blush could clearly be seen on her face; but since the sun wasn’t out, it wasn’t that noticeable.

“So, what did you want to see me for?” Eddy then asked.

“W-Well…” Shika started to say as she then took in a deep breath, “I-I really don’t know h-how to say this t-to you… b-but I… I-I…” she then turned to him and finally said it, “I-I think I’m growing… f-feelings for you, Eddy…”

Eddy had a hue of bright pink grow on his face, “R-Really?” he stuttered as he glanced at her.

“… Y-Yes, I think so…” Shika replied with a bit of a pink hue blush, which was now seen on her face as well in the moonlight.

Meanwhile, watching them high above from the Lane’s tall, wooden fence, we could see Kevin, who was flabbergasted at what Shika said, “No way…” he muttered as he gritted his teeth a little, ‘How can she choose someone like him…?!’

“… Wait, do you feel like someone’s watching us?” Eddy asked as he looked around the dark, silent and lonely park grounds.

Kevin, freaking out a little bit, decided to retreat from the fence as he hopped down on the Lane side of the fence, but continued to watch through a round peephole in the fence.

“I-I hope not…” Shika replied to Eddy as she looked around as well, not seeing anything either, “I-I don’t sense a demon anywhere.”

‘Wait… a demon…?’ Kevin thought with confusion as he continued to spy on them, ‘What did she mean by that?’

Eddy looked toward the fence and saw that very familiar bike, “Kevin?” he muttered a little before making an angry face, “What the heck are you doing; spying on us?!”

‘Oh geez!’ Kevin thought as he then got on his bike and drove away.

“Kevin…?” Shika questioned a little before realizing something, “Wasn’t he the one that was looking at me today in class…?”

Eddy nodded his head to her, “Yeah, he was.”

“W-What does he want…?” Shika then muttered nervously.

“That creep just wants to get into other people’s businesses!” Eddy yelled toward Kevin, hoping for Kevin could hear him.

Kevin then stopped riding his bike as he then turned back around to look at Eddy, driving back to them with a growl in his voice as he did, “I ain’t a creep, Dorky!” he lashed back at him.

But, just when Kevin was about to come riding up to them, they all suddenly felt a tremor in the ground, shaking the equipment of the park grounds as it did.

“W-What's going on?!” Kevin questioned as he got off his bike.

“A-An earthquake…?!” muttered Shika with a gasp as she lashed onto Eddy’s right arm, much to Eddy’s surprise.

The short earthquake then stopped for a moment before they could see something coming up towards them. It was a huge demon that was shaped like a huge lizard that was standing up on its hind legs. It was black, with scaly skin and leering claws.

“I-It’s a demon!” Shika shrieked with horror as it tore apart the fence and headed towards the playground, swiping its claws at them as it did.

“Whoa!” Kevin yelped as the three of them soon dodged the demon's assault, “W-What the heck is that thing?!”

The demon turned towards the group, “My, what an excellent dinner…” it hissed in a raspy, low voice.

“We ain’t gonna be your dinner, you demon!” Eddy shouted to the demon with a growl in his voice as he stood in front of Shika slightly.

“Hmm…” the demon hummed a little as it looked at who Eddy was protecting; Shika, “That girl will make an excellent appetizer…” The demon smirked as it approached them.

Shika gasped a little as she, Eddy and Kevin back away from the demon, “P-Please no…”

“I won’t let you anywhere near Shika!” Eddy yelled, holding his right hand.

“Ha, a pathetic human like you can never defeat a demon like me!” the demon vaulted itself towards them, its razor sharp teeth hurdling towards Shika.

Eddy widened his eyes a little, “Shika, move!” Eddy shouted to her.

“What?” Shika turned around and saw the demon almost a couple of feet away.

“Shika!” Eddy cried out to her as Shika was now frozen in fear at what was coming to her. She closed her eyes tightly, expecting the pain to come…

“Iron Reaver, Soul Stealer!” a voice yelled out. Shika looked up as she saw the demon screeching in pain while Double D dug his claws into its face.

“Took you long enough, Sockhead,” Eddy stated to him.

“Sorry Eddy!” Double D shouted back as he jumped back on the ground.

“W-What the…?!” Kevin muttered a little, “Double Dweeb?!”

Double D froze a little at the voice, “Oh… shoot…” Double D muttered as he saw Kevin next to Eddy and Shika, “I thought you guys were alone?!” Double D blurted.

“Well, apparently we’re not; Sockhead!” Eddy replied back.

‘Great, now it’s not that much of a secret…’ Double D thought, his dog ears twitching.

“Rrraaahhh!” cried the demon as it clutched its bloody face, “You shall pay for that!”

Double D’s ears then perked up as he realized something, ‘Wait a minute… if Kevin’s here… Yumi and Kiyoshi will be here any second shooting glowing arrows at that thing, and Ed will also come too; then that means Kevin will--’

His thoughts were interrupted as the lizard demon screeched in pain. Double D looked up and saw two arrows lodged into the demons back.

“Ha! Take that!” Yumi exclaimed as she aimed another arrow to the demon.

“Yumi,” Kiyoshi started to say as she released another arrow towards the demon, “The demon has a shard of the jewel on its forehead.”

Yumi looked at the demon and suddenly felt the shard’s presence, “You’re right.”

Suddenly, there was a gust of wind as Ed appeared in a small tornado, “Did I miss anything?” he questioned as he then noticed Kevin, “Hi Kevin!” he stated with a goofy wave, “You’re here to fight too?”

“What?!” Kevin exclaimed, “All you guys--?!”

“We’ll explain this entire thing later, okay?!” Eddy stated to Kevin, “Just let us handle this now.”

Soon everyone (SoD’s AN: Except Kevin) were now in a fighting position in front of the demon, “Guys, there’s a jewel shard in its forehead,” Yumi stated, “Just aim to there and maybe he’ll go down quicker.”

Double D nodded, “Right.”

They all looked up toward the demon as the demon looked toward Yumi and Kiyoshi, ‘So those to brats are the ones that can see the jewel shards, the ones that master Naraku mentioned?’ the demon thought, ‘Naraku will be pleased when I bring him their heads…’

The demon then made a smirk at them, “Hah! Master Naraku will be absolutely pleased when I bring the heads of the priestesses to him!”

Double D only glared at the demon when he said that statement, “I won’t let you do that!”

“We’ll see about that, half-breed,” The demon snarled, revealing its saliva coated razor sharp rows of teeth.

Double D growled, “I’m not a half-breed.”

“Oh?” questioned the demon even further, “Then what are you?”

“Shut up!” Double D hissed as he cracked his knuckles.

“Make me!” snarled the demon.

Without a warning, Double D leapt at the demon head on and dug his claws into the demons face.

“Argh, my face!” cried the demon as he glared back at Double D, blood dripping down from its face even more, “That is the time you shall do that to me!”

Double D smirked, “We’ll see.”

“Sockhead, what are you doing?!” Eddy yelled from where everybody else was hiding, “You’re going to get yourself killed!”

“I hope he’ll be okay…” Yumi muttered a little.

Kiyoshi growled a bit as she stood up from where she was, “What are we doing here, hiding like weak cowards? Let’s go over there and help him!”

“Yes!” Ed replied with a nod of his head, “Help Double D, we must!”

Shika nodded her head as well, but then realized something, “B-But wait, I-I don’t even have--”

“Your weapon?” Kiyoshi finished the sentenced for her as she dragged out Shika’s giant boomerang.

“T-Thank you, Kiyoshi…” Shika replied as she then looked back at Kevin, who was still there with them, “S-Stay here,” she stated before running off with the others.

‘What the heck is wrong with them?!’ Kevin thought as he stuck around to see what happened next.

Eddy noticed that Kevin was sticking around, “You better not get in our way, Shovel-Chin,” he stated before heading out there himself.

“Heh, as if,” Kevin muttered, “I’m not gonna get mauled like everyone else.”

"Hmm, like you’ll be any help…” Double D muttered under his breath.

The demon that was currently fighting Double D lost interest in him as he saw his real targets. “Well, well, well… if it isn’t the two priestesses and demon slayer that master Naraku told me to destroy.”

“What do you want with us?!” Kiyoshi snarled.

“What master Naraku wants, the jewel…” the demon hissed.

“Like we’ll ever give him the jewel!” Yumi yelled as she fired an arrow engulfed with light at the demon. It made impact with the demon’s chest and the arrow bursts with light.

The demon screeched with pain and when the arrow’s light subsided, he merely laughed like if was nothing, “Do you honestly think that a pathetic mortal's arrow is going to defeat me?"

“Grr…” Eddy growled a little as he started to come up, raising his right hand as he did, “Oh yeah? Well, how about--”

“No, Eddy!” Shika gasped a little as she stopped him from going any further, “You can’t do that now; y-you might suck in the jewel shard!”

“Hrmm…” Eddy muttered as he thought about it, “Yeah, but what am I suppose to do?!”

Shika then had a glint of determination in her eyes and said, “J-Just leave it to me,” she stated as she walked up to where Yumi and Kiyoshi were firing arrows , picked up her boomerrang and yelled, “Hirakotsu!”

Shika swung her boomerang at the demon. The demon, distracted by the arrows, screamed in pain all of the sudden when the boomerang hacked off his right arm.

Eddy stood there for a moment, processing what he just saw, “Shika…?”

Soon Shika caught her boomerang back to her side as the demon roared in pain, “You will regret that, demon slayer!”

Shika scoffed, “As if!”

This caught Eddy off guard a little at what she said, ‘Why’s Shika acting differently…?’ he thought.

The demon immediately charged at Kiyoshi and Yumi and grabbed Yumi in its scaly grasp. Yumi struggled to escape, but the demon simply tightened his grip and Yumi fainted from the lack of oxygen.

Double D widened his eyes at this sudden turn of events, “Yumi!” he yelped as he got his sword into a fighting position.

Back at where Kevin was hiding, he gasped a little at what he saw, ‘Double Dweeb can hold that?!’ he though as he saw Double D’s sword transform.

Double D only glared at the demon that held Yumi in its grasps, “You let her go this instant!” he growled.

“What if I don’t?” the demon hissed.

Double D, without thinking, slammed the sword to the ground and yelled out, “Wind Scar!!!”

The golden bolts of light ripped apart the demon and left nothing but the arm where Yumi was grasped at. She then gained back consciousness as she plummeted to the ground. Double D, seeing that she was a couple of feet from slamming to the ground, immediately thrust the sword into the ground and headed towards the direction where Yumi was falling.

“Yumi!” Double D called out as he then caught her in his arms, coming down a little bit himself as he did.

Yumi, still in shock, looked around and saw that the demon was destroyed and she turned a little pink when she noticed that she was in Double D’s arms, bridal style.

“Yumi,” Double D started to say as he laid her on the ground, “Are you alright now…?”

“Y-Yeah…” Yumi stuttered.

Everyone soon came up to them as Shika then went over to the head of the demon they killed, “D-Didn’t you say that there was a shard in its head…?” she questioned as she turned to Yumi and Kiyoshi.

"That’s already been taken care of,” Kiyoshi said as she held up the shard placed on her hand.

Everyone made a sigh, “Great,” Ed stated with a goofy smile on his face.

It was then that the six of them heard footsteps behind them as they turned to see Kevin behind them, “Alright, tell me what’s going on; and I wanna know now!”

“What are you still doing here?!” Double D questioned.

“Does that really matter now?!” Kevin asked a little as he made a little glare, “It’s not like I can unseen what just happened.”

Everybody was silent, “Well!?" Kevin snapped.

Everyone turned to Double D. “I’m not explaining it to him.” he huffed.

Kiyoshi growled a bit and gave him a threat through her eyes; Double D got the message, “Alright, alright; I’ll explain it, just don't shoot me with the arrows.”

Double D made a little sigh as he began to explain, “You see Kevin, we are the reincarnations of some people who lived in ancient Japan a long time ago.”

“… Say what?!” Kevin questioned with confusion.

“What, you don’t believe us?” Double D asked.

“No, it’s not that. It’s just…” Kevin started to say as he glanced a little at Shika before looking back at Double D, “It’s really hard to believe, you know?”

“Hmm…” Double D stated as he looked up at the star filled sky and looked back at Kevin, “None of us believe it either. It felt like some kind of old fairy tale come true.”

“Yeah, well, now that you’re sort of involved in all of this…”  Eddy started to butt into the conversation as he made a little glare at Kevin, “You better not tell anyone about us, got it?”

“… Yeah, got it,” Kevin replied.

“W-Well, umm… S-Shouldn’t we be going home now…?” Shika started to say, “I-It’s probably pass our curfew…”

Double D looked at the nearest outdoor clock, “Oh dear, it’s almost ten minutes till midnight!”

“Eh, don’t worry about it, Sockhead,” Eddy started to say in his usual, casual way, “We’ll get home in time… if we leave now.”

“You’re right, let’s get going.” Double D replied as he walked quite quickly to the entrance of the park and the rest followed suit.

While they walked back to their houses, Eddy could notice something strange about Shika; she seemed happier than usual. He arched an eyebrow at this, “What’s up with you, Shika?” he asked.

Shika then turned to Eddy, the smile still intact on her face, “I-I don’t know,” was her reply, “I just…” before she continued her sentence, she latched onto Eddy’s right hand with her left, “I-I just felt happier… with you here, Eddy.”

“Wait, what--?!” Eddy never got to finish his sentence because Shika all of the sudden pressed her lips to Eddy’s. Startled by Shika’s sudden move, he nervously kissed back and his arms wrapped around her waist. They stayed like that for a couple of seconds until their lungs screamed for air and broke apart.

Meanwhile, right behind them, the others looked on with a bit of surprise; they never thought of Shika being this open to herself. Ed, of course, had a bit of a cutesy look on his face.

And finally, there was Kevin. He had the most shocked look on his face, compared to the rest of them, ‘Don’t tell me she just did that!’ he thought as he then made a glare, gritting his teeth a little, ‘What does she see in Dorky anyway?!’

Yumi looked at Kevin and giggled, “Looks like someone’s jealous.”

“What?!” Kevin yelped as everyone turned to him. He growled a little at the statement, “I’m not jealous!”

Kiyoshi giggled, “Yeah, like we’re going to believe that.”

“S-Shut up!” Kevin shouted to them as he then got back on his bike and rode home, his face red with anger.

~~~

“Heh, heh, heh…” Naraku chuckled from his cave where he was currently seeing what had transpired through Kanna's mirrior, “It seems I will have a new associate,” Naraku chuckled again as he then started to glow a sinister black.

~~~

Meanwhile, back with Kevin in the Cul-De-Sac, he rode all the way to his house, panting a little from how fast he had gone.

Suddenly, a giant gust of wind nearly knocked him off his feet. “Hey kid.”

Kevin looked up startled at the person in front of him, “W-Who are you?”

“Heh, my name is Kagura,” Kagura greeted with a smirk on her face, “And I take it your name is Kevin?”

“Y-Yeah, what's it to you?” Kevin replied back.

“I got a proposition for you,” Kagura replied with a devious smile.

“Wait, what kind of deal…?” questioned Kevin.

“Join my master, Naraku, to help destroy those brats,” Kagura smirked yet again.

“What?” questioned Kevin again before realizing she was being serious, “You serious?! I couldn’t bump off the Dorks like that; even though I always wanted too…”

“But you are afraid you will hurt little Shika,” Kagura stated as Kevin widened his eyes, “Am I right…?”

“Well… yeah,” Kevin finally replied, “I don’t want her to get hurt.”

“But you want to hurt Eddy, don’t you?” Kagura said as she unfurled her red and white fan.

“Of course I wanna hurt him!” Kevin nearly shouted, “I can’t stand him; him and the two other losers!”

“But, it’s mostly because he stole the demon slayer away from you, am I correct?” Kagura replied.

“Yeah!” Kevin growled as he clenched his right hand into a fist, “I swear, I’m going to get him; one of these days!”

“Then join me…” Kagura stated.

Kevin thought about it for a moment, “… Yeah, I'll join,” Kevin replied with a smirk on his face.

“Excellent,” Kagura stated with a smirk on her face as well, “Well, when do you want to meet your new master…?”

“… Right now,” Kevin stated as he picked up his bike and placed it up against his fence.

“Good,” Kagura stated as she then formed a huge feather underneath her feet, “Get on.”

“Is… that thing safe?” Kevin looked at it judgmentally.

“Of course it’s safe,” Kagura replied as she made a bit of a heated sigh, “Just get on.”

Kevin shrugged and climbed on and Kagura took off swiftly.

As they were flying, Kevin had some sort of a mini freak-out and Kagura simply sighed and mumbled, “Mortals…”

After a couple of minutes, they reached the outside of the cave where Naraku was hiding.

“Ah, Kagura,” stated Naraku’s voice as they landed inside the cave, “It seems that you have done what I have asked.”

“Who’s that?” Kevin asked.

“Ah, how rude of me not to introduce myself to you,” Naraku stated as he made eye contact with Kevin, “My name is Naraku, and I want you to help me get rid of the ones you call ‘Dorks’.”

“Hmm… I don’t know if I should completely trust you, how can I be sure that you are telling the truth?” Kevin asked.

“… I’ll promise you that you can have the little demon slayer you’re infatuated with, once I have possession of the Shikon jewel,” Naraku smirked.

“… Fine, it’s a deal then,” Kevin replied with a nod of his head.

Naraku chuckled evilly, “Perfect.”