Youma blues 
Jadeite days 1: How to land a job
        I came to under the branches of cherry trees, watching soft flower
petals
float down on me from above.    The air was cold enough that I felt
chilled, or
perhaps I'd just been laying there for a long time, and  the air was far
more moist
than I remember it being at home, so it was a good bet that I'd not dreamt the
whole sequence.
        It took me a few minutes to gather enough coherence to take stock
of the
area, but I did manage.
        I was lying on my back in some kind of park, a softly wooded area
studded with cherry trees.  It was night, although there was enough light
to see
fairly clearly by because of the full moon, and the neon glow of a big city
around
me.
        I felt like I`d been hit by a truck, or fallen completely off the
face of reality
and landed in a Japanese garden.  
        Given my surroundings the latter was probably true.  
        Getting up off the ground proved to be something of a pain, but I was
relieved to find no bones were broken.   On the other hand every cubic inch of
me felt bruised and blistered, though there was no physical evidence to
support
that hypothesis.  Which was a pity.    If I'd looked as bad as I felt I
could have
given some poor person a real nightmare.
        The garden was enclosed by a high stone wall, and mostly consisted of
cherry trees, benches, and a large rock and water garden that was unbelievably
tranquil in the moonlight.  Beyond that lay a city that was almost
certainly Tokyo,
or rather a Tokyo commonly seen in anime and manga.   The Neon lights and
Japanese street signs were my first clue.
        The Youma/megalomaniac menacing (draining?) the general populous at
the end of the street the garden faced was my second clue.   Recognizing a
fictional megalomainaical psychopath on the street does wonders for ones
state of
mind/being, and while Jadeite is not the worst possible thing that I could
have
recognized from the Sailor Moon series, I decided that avoiding him all the
same
would be a good idea. 
        Provided I could get out at all, that is.    The front gate was a
nifty affair of
intricately twisted iron bars that spiraled into a impossibly confused
tangle.  It was
also locked and electrified.   Unfortunately my japanese isn't good enough
to read
signs posed on the outside of walls I happen to be inside, so I didn't
notice the
electricity until I tried to open the gate with the intention of getting as
far away
from the first of the dark kingdoms generals as humanly possible.
        To be short, I saw flashing lights for about ten minutes
thereafter.  I also
swore a lot, in Japanese as that's a habit I try to cultivate, so as to
increase my
competence in the language.        
        When I finally stopped having muscle spasms, I tried climbing one
of the
trees that over hung the wall instead.  That worked much better, except now I
was faced with the prospect of a two story drop to pavement from the top of
the
wall.
        I never got the chance to work up enough courage to jump; Someone
blasted the wall out from under me first.  Someone named Jadeite.
        Landing hard when you weren't wanting to jump hurts.    Of course
there
are worse things, such as waking up after such landings to look directly
into the
face of the person you had wanted to run away from. 
        Jadeite is, I suppose, not a fantastically ugly man.  Actually,
since then I've
heard a lot of girls say he's rather cute elegant and handsome, but I
didn't see it at
the time.  Probably it was the expression of superhuman cruelty he had on his
face.   
        "So, you were going to go precicsely where from the top of that
wall?" 
He had a really nasty speaking voice too.   
        I was leaning (well lying) against the wall, or rather, the remains
of the
wall, and he was standing about two feet from me, watching me try to move with
the same look I've seen on little kids as they pull the legs off bugs.
I remember
thinking it was to bad he was out of kick range before I started saying really
stupid things. 
        "As far away from psychopathic Dark Kingdom Generals as this city
allows, baka."  I've more than a few occasions since to regret that line.
Jadeite
didn't take my insolence well at all.  In fact he was quite uncivil about
it: he
decided that a little shock blasting was in order.
        I never saw the lightning, though Naru-chan assures me it was quite
spectacular.     He just raised one hand, and then I felt like every nerve
in my
body had exploded.   I think I screamed in agony, and I know I went into
convulsions, it felt like I had been dipped into a vat of molten steel.  I
couldn't see
or hear past the white fire that seemed to be crawling through my veins and my
mind.  I thought I was going to die, I was certain I was dying, and then,
it just
stopped.  
        It took several instants for my vision to clear, and my breathing
to stabilize
as I gasped for air.   
        When I could see again I wished I couldn't.  Jadeite had something
in his
hand, an eggshaped chunk of stone.    Recognizing it as what it probably was
took a moment, while pain began receding.   
        "Demon egg, yes.  Part of my private stock, and far cheaper to import
than another Youma.  How do you know what it is boy?  And how do you know
where I come from, humm?"  It took me a moment to realize I must have said it
out loud.  That or Jadeite was reading my thoughts, which was probably not
beyond him.
        I don't remember the next hour or so, except for the sound of Jadeites
voice asking question after question, and the white, blinding pain I felt
when he
blasted me for giving an answer he didn't like.   I remember that he didn't
believe
my explanations, and that he seemed amazed that I was surviving as well as
I did.
        I guess he must have decided I was tough or something, because the
next
thing he did I've had quite a bit of reason to regret.
         First he cut himself, and poured a bit of his own blood down my
throat.    
Then he rammed the demon-egg thing deep into my chest.
        It would be redundant to say that hurt.

Gamlain@airmail.net
Gamlain, transuniversal courier & Hero for rent
Sorcerer to the three great Anime demonesses: Ryoko, Marller, and Ifruita 
"So then I shot a goon and I cut the head man's throat, and after that
things got violent." - Tarnkep Protree
Of course, my homepage is at
Http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Bay/8762/index.html