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LP Chapter 34

Page history last edited by Volkes_Wagon 12 years, 1 month ago

Makes No Difference

 

     Most of the forest was low to the ground and very squat, but in the city, huge slabs of the tofu-ground were carved out and made into buildings that continued to grow unless maintained by people. Everything came in shades of golden brown and creamy white. But there was no way people could live on the kind of tofu the ground is made of, of course; they would die of malnutrition even if they didn't have the guts to continue on the Path. No, Forest Tofu was different.

     Normal tofu is an utterly bland protein source unless prepared with many other ingredients. But Forest Tofu naturally comes in different flavors, from carrot tofu to chicken tofu to jalapeno pepper tofu, all retaining the nutrients of the non-tofu counterpart. The marsh is nothing special, just large quantities of dry tofu and soy milk. We only use the sturdiest chunks for the buildings I mentioned before. No, the real magic is in the Forest. With the Forest Tofu, we've got everything!

     "Can I ask you something?"

     "Yes?" Luccin turned to Kake kindly, breaking off from her avid explanation.

     "What'd you just say?"
     A dead weight dropped on the smoothly gliding boat, and Kake didn't even realize it.

     "...Which part did you miss out on? Did you catch the part about Forest Tofu?"

     "Eh? Forest? But I don't see any trees, look, they're all more blocks of tofu..."

     Luccin and Kuchiha exchanged glances. Abruptly, the latter shoved her foot into Kake's back.

     "Owie!" The boy yelped and scuttled to the other side of the boat, where Jay blinked blearily at him. Runo was there too, comfortably reclined since Luccin had begun her explaination of the First Clearing, aka Curdled Soy Marsh.

     Kuchiha turned back to Luccin. "Ya see what I have to deal with? This...this...bouncing puffball of parisite!"

     Luccin smiled in her amiable manner and continued to calmly push the boat forward with her pole. They were in the outskirts of the city, and the placid homes squatting by the milky liquid slumbered quietly in the moonlight. Soon they would be safely slumbering, too.

     Kake sprang into Jay's lap. "Jay, they're being mean! Help me!" Sleep deprivation only served to make Kake even more hyper than normal, apparently.

     For Jay it had the opposite effect. Desperately he roused himself and tried to appease the scrawny little boy. "Ah - o-okay..."

     Runo snapped one golden eye open in annoyance. "You guys just be quiet. I'm trying to sleep here."

     "Hey! What's with that!? How come you get to sleep and I don't!?"

     "Who said you couldn't, you yapping she-wolf?"

     "Well what if we miss that blue-ribbon guy cuz I was sleeping!? No way am I gonna let that happen!"

     "Who?"

     "Ooh, I know, I know!" Kake's hand shot up. "He's got a blue ribbon in his hair, like Kuch, except she's got a red one, and he's like, he's like-"

     "Stop it, you goldarned puffball!! I can describe him myself!!"

     She paused for breath, and became aware of the rest of the canoe staring intently at her. Luccin gently put a hand on her shoulder. "Tell us. I'll help you however I can, I promise; but try to keep your voice down. We don't want to cause a commotion."

     Kuchiha cleared her throat, slightly ruffled. "Alright, alright. I'll tell you. Well...I'm looking for this guy, right? He's, he's about my height, and he's a...well, he's probably wearing a cloak. He's got this - this long black hair, like mine, probably, and yeah, a blue ribbon, and his eyes are, his eyes are..." For some reason the words simply sat down in her throat and refused to budge. This was a hindrance. They were starting to make her choke.

     "...Kuchiha?" Kake gazed at her with a look of pure, simple curiosity. He was so naive, so young. She must have been the same at his age, too. The thought made the words lodged in her throat turn scalding.

     She snapped at him in annoyance. "What!?"

     It felt like she had coughed up a hairball.

     "What!?" She gasped for breath, gripping the side of the boat so that tofu-splinters drove into her hand. "What!? He's just a guy I'm looking for!! You'll know him when you see him, I'll tell ya now!! He's indescribable!!" She huffed in denial of her flushed cheeks and wiped the sweat off her forehead with her sleeve. "So anyone seen him, or heard of him!?"

     Runo only looked away, insulted. "How come you never told me?"

     "Why would I ask you for a favor!? I'd rather die!!"

     Jay metaphorically threw himself between them before they could start arguing. "I-I've never heard of him before. Kucabara might have known, but..."

     Kuchiha looked at him blankly. "Why would I ask some Organization slick about him?"

     Runo shook his head in disbelief. "That's messed up. If you don't ask anyone, you're never going to find him."

     "Hey, this's a business I've gotta do on my own! I've got my pride, you know."

     "You asked me."

     The group turned and started at Kake. He only grinned brightly.

     "You're really bad a grilling fish. I remember." [this is how he remembers things, through food. and yes, there did exist a scene where kuchiha decapitated fish while talking about her evil t COUGH her um, target. remember? (of course you don't)]

     Kuchiha had no idea what he was talking about. "What!? Look, I don't care about that--that was then and this is now. So you seen him or not!!??"

     Luccin's methodical strokes slowed down, and the boat ground to a halt in front of a squat, bulging tofu motel. "I'm really sorry, but I'm not sure. We'll check in with Viva, the owner of the place we're staying at--maybe she's heard something. Well, here we are..."

     In front of the plump little building, Luccin hopped onto solid ground and tied the boat to one of the several docking areas. Kuchiha started to stand.

     "Mighta seen him."

     Runo's words sliced through the air like frost.

     Jay shivered, red eyes growing wide and fearful. Grabbing Kake and hushing him, he gingerly stepped onto shore and behind Luccin.

     Kuchiha paused, slithered on top of him. Her knee was in his chest, eyes blazing against his icy gaze.

     "I won't tell you until I hear why you're looking for him, though," he said evenly. But the only thing that made it out her mouth was:

     "Where."

     "Why are you so desperate to find him?"

     She dug her knee down harder. His hand clawed around her neck immediately--a battle of endurance. Which would be crushed first, his lungs or her windpipe?

     "Which one comes first? Love or hate?"

     "Makes no difference."

     "You're lying."

     Truth prodded at the convoluted logic that had wormed its way through her mind like the shadow of mist in a deperate attempt to reason it all away. But she was Kuchiha, and Kuchiha did not listen to truth or logic. She listened to whatever happened to burst out of her mouth, her body, her soul. "I'm not lying. Because I can't forgive him either way."

     "Ah. You want revenge."

     And right then, her body was screaming.

     The two swords were out and chasing his black whip before Jay could cry out a plea for peace. "Stop!" Luccin exclaimed.

     Runo ran lightly along the edge of the boat and out of her field of vision, faster than she could turn. "You think that'll solve anything?"

     "Yes!" Kuchiha was hardly thinking anymore; she was angry, and restless, and expecting to see the person of her dreams with every turn of her head. Her nerves were stretched to snapping point. "I haven't got a choice! I'll find him and kill him! And nobody's stopping me till I die!"

     A deadly chill sank its teeth into her bones, and she knew he was giving her his worst glare. "You take that back."

     But Kuchiha abruptly swiveled around and slashed with her longsword. It made a clean gash through his scarf. "And what if I don't?" she asked. Childish passion flared in her eyes, manifesting itself in the strength of her sword. Two silver fangs were closing in on Runo, fast.

     "STOP!!!" rang Luccin's voice like a bell toll's piercing alarm. She hurled three slips of pink between the fighting two as her sleek blue hair suddenly spiked.

     Kuchiha felt her fangs sink into something like stiff rubber, barely elastic enough to keep their edges dull against Runo's neck. It was a wall, bubblegum pink, shaped in a triangle, and so thin she could see Runo's golden eyes on the other side. She strained against it until her hands were sore, to no avail--this was unbreakable. Magic?

     "Both of you, peace! You need rest." Luccin stepped back down into the boat and puffed out air from her mouth. The wall split into three sections which swirled into themselves to form three thin slips of gum, plopping by themselves into Luccin's outstretched palm.

     Kuchiha stared. The volatile rage that had been channeled at Runo now turned to Luccin. "You," she hissed. "You got in my way!"

     But Luccin gasped as if in sudden realization of what she had done, or the magnitude that she had hindered Kuchiha's apparent pleasure, and her absolute failure to be a good Lighthouse despite the best intentions, and her lower lip began to quiver. "I'm...so sorry, Kuchiha..." She looked like she was in tears. "I didn't mean to..."

     Kuchiha blinked rapidly. The 180 degrees personality switch jolted her so much that she dropped one of her swords. "Huh? Wait, what did you--"

     The tears welled up and started to spill over.

     "Oh, shucks, what--" She looked around her frantically, but Jay only stared back at her with pained expectancy in their eyes and Kake was hiding behind his legs. No help could be expected from Runo either. Blushing furiously, she turned back to the delicate girl with her face in her light copper-toned hands, shivering in periodic spasms. "Um...let's..." She awkwardly placed a hand on her back. "...Let's go in and sleep?"

     Runo sighed. He jabbed an arrogant finger at Kuchiha's face, retracting it when she almost caught it between her teeth.

     "Tomorrow," he said, "we pick up where we left off. And we'll finish this."

     Before Kuchiha could flare up again, Luccin was hit with another attack of sobs.

     "But for now we sleep."

     It subsided. She swallowed and gave a tiny nod of agreement.

     Still crackling with frustration and anger, the hundreds of similar and contradicting reasons molded inside her into one repugnant mess of emotion, Kuchiha rang the doorbell for Luccin. A second passed. The door was thrown open. And the five people and two animals were swept into the building like a whirlwind had just passed.

     The door closed behind them, slowly and with a sleepy creeking sound. Outside, the only sound as the sun made its slow, lazy ascent was the gentle rocking of the tofu canoe against the grainy tofu shore.

 

Table of Contents

Chapter 33

Chapter 35

Comments (3)

Ava Knight said

at 9:33 pm on Oct 22, 2011

what's ruru so angry about?
Sorry i haven't been leaving comments, but i was trying to reread the whole thing.
Your story is really, really amazing though!!! Even though I get confused a lot, but i'm waiting til you're finished before i start asking questions.
Anyway, i'm going to go invisible now, so later!

Volkes_Wagon said

at 9:39 pm on Oct 22, 2011

HAH
*cough. sry, it just annoys me and makes me happy at the same time when you go visible to say you're going to go invisible. - __ - wraar.
thanks. a lot. seriously. the best thing that can ever happen to a writer is for their stuff to be read. <33333 anyways, uh, ruru's angry cuz he's got this complicated relationship with death and life and one or two other things. like his parents. maybe i'll get to it one day. i'll say it right here if you ask me, but for that you'll have to be visible again~! XD

Volkes_Wagon said

at 10:02 pm on Jan 8, 2012

oh dang, i can't get enough of these dudes.

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