I quietly gazed out at my back lawn, perched atop the deck railing. I leaned against the support post, my head aching from a long day at school. With one hand I removed my glasses, with the other I pushed my bangs away from my eyes, allowing me to see clearly across the lawn. These glasses were such a nuisance of an alibi. I settled back down on my perch, before glancing back at my laptop, which was precariously positioned in front of me. I clicked on the first file in the window that popped up. Studying the first ten camera feeds, I relaxed a bit. Nothing. It was a Monday night, which are usually the busiest. My friend, Kiki, pounced around the yard after the last of the fireflies. Then I continued this for a while, until something caught my eye. I shifted my weight as I picked up the laptop. Kiki paused as her ears perked atop her head. She flicked her tail, then turned to face me.
"You seem eager nyaa~!" she said in her annoyingly playful way, just like a cat would mew. She stood up and meandered to where I was, trying not to make it too obvious she was interested. I closed my eyes, then smiled as I shut my laptop up for a while. She grinned menacingly, yet playfully at the same time. "Some work to do, nyaa~?"
"Mm." I grunted in response. I picked up the carnation that had been laying beside me. Quietly, she preceded me to the end of the deck, as I bit my thumb, holding the flower out in front of me. I quickly brandished my thumb across it, now splattered with my blood. It fell to the ground, as I mumbled my sacred words...
"Reincarnation carnation."
A flurry of petals appeared, in a huge, swirling mass before me, opening a blackened hole before us.
"You first, nyaa~." Kiki said as she gestured in front of her. I stepped into it, falling into nothing, only to reappear on the corner of Third Street and Maine Circle. A group of thugs were harassing a young woman, in front of an old bar and pub closed down for the day. Kiki stepped forward, revealing that she had brought her rose with her after all. I raised my hand.
"Let me handle this." I murmured before heading in their direction. Now I was fully garbed, The royal purple beads adorned my hair and clothing, clinging to the carnation as well. Immediately I was behind the leader, holding the flower in front of me. As he turned just to see who was blocking the light I murmured a few, incoherent words, as my shadow fire wings spread across my back.
"Reincarnation carnation; swift death of dust."
"So she's going all out, huh nyaa~? She must be really excited then nyaa~!" Kiki said as she watched from the shadows.
A swirling mass of pollen appeared from the center of my carnation, encircling the man. It squeezed inward, forcing him to inhale it. Suddenly, he fell to the ground, wheezing and clutching his throat, until he lay still.
"That's my queue, nyaa~!" Kiki came up behind the girl, whispering in her ear. "Leave this place nyaa~. Go home nyaa~." The girl did not turn, but simply nodded and left at a brisk walk, until she was swallowed by the darkness. The rest of the group was gone, they had fled into the shadows. "All in a days work, right nyaa~?" Kiki looked at me, before together we turned towards home.
~END~
~PART TWO~
I tapped my pencil patiently upon my desk. To my right, Katyoran-chan, or Kata-chan as I and her friends called her, was fast asleep. It was an amazement to me that the teacher hadn't heard her snoring yet. On my left the ever timid Takedi-kun was diligently paying attention to the teacher's every word. I turned back to the teacher, and pushed my glasses back up the bridge of my nose. If you could call them glasses. Two pieces of clear glass I cut and shaped to fit the frame the night before our first day of school as sisters. Kiki, or rather at school, Kata-chan, had little understanding of why I needed fake glasses.
"Kinda like a secret identity. That way, it'll be harder for people to guess that I'm Roze. That reminds me, we need fake names for school too. What had our fake parents chosen?"
"You mean what had I chosen, nyaa~. I told them the names to use on the registration form nyaa~!" I felt uneasy. If she had chosen, it my have very well been our real names.
"What did you tell them?!" I said, nearly losing my temper.
"Don't worry, nyaa~! From now on you're Rianne-chan nyaa~, and I'm Katyoran-chan, nyaa~!"
That night, our "other" selves were created. I had no choice but to go along with it.
'BRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING' Thank God, the bell! I thought. Kata-chan finally woke up. I turned to face her only to smile. I guess I am lucky enough to have someone like fami- I stopped short. She was stretching all too much like a cat, when I noticed her ears perk up out of no where. DAMMIT! SHE'S GONNA BLOW OUR COVER!!! Out of instinct, I jumped and landed on top of her ears, covering them up the best I could. The rest of the few that were still there just stared. I grinned sheepishly, when one of the other students asked, "Why are you on top of her head?"
"O-oh, it's nothing, reall, just a, uh, fly!" I checked under my hands, and when I saw they were gone, I quickly clambered down. "I-I think I got it! Ok, gotta go now, bye!" She turned her head, confused, before I grabbed her arm and dragged her down the hall and into the girls bathroom. "You almost blew our cover out there! Be careful next time, dammit!!!" I screamed. She simply stared into space, looking quite frazled. I sighed again and ragged her back towards the door. "Better get home, huh?" I sighed as we left the school yard and headed home.
~END~
~PART THREE~
Kiki and I were walking home from school. She was content in blabbering to me on how annoying it is on how half the time she can't control when her ears would pop up. She did have a point, at least, that's what I would say if I had really been listening. How am I gonna cover this up?! That went completely against my character's nature, and-
"Helloooo, nyaa~? Were you even listening, nyaa~?" She pouted and mumbled to herself. I tried to smile, waving it off.
"No, uh, well, sorta, but it's impo-"
"Important to our existence, right nyaa~? You always say that, no matter what the situation is nyaaa~~!!!" I couldn't help but agree with her on that one. Before I realized it we were at our house. "Is it laundry day, nyaa~?" I simply grunted in response.
"We had better head back to the spring," I mumbled to her, revealing my beads in an instant.
"Very well, nyaa~... Wait, shouldn't we do this one at a time nyaa~?"
"Don't worry. It's Wednesday, they're always slow."
"Well, you have a point, nyaa~..." So we continued back to the spring behind our house.
There is a reason our beads were bestowed upon us, and why we "play sister". Every 100 years, there is a great battle held among the humans, that lasts from __90 to __10, depending on what century it is. There is a kingdom that rules above all else government, or any form of it. Every 100 years a new king or quenn is bestowed upon the throne, but the number of candidates is limitless. Therefore, 100 flowers adorned with beads fall to Earth and claim their rightful owners. Thus the battle begins. Kiki and I were orphans that lived together; we were closer than sisters. When the first beads fell from the sky, I caught the Carnation, with midnight purple beads, and petals to match. With it was bestowed great power, and I was terrified. But, we were attacked by a fellow Beaded Beast, and my strength awakened when I risked mt life to save Kiki. She pledged her loyalty to me, and was rewarded shortly after. She obtained the rose, and together we trudged ahead. So now, we continue our quest for power...
~END~
~PART FOUR~
Kiki and I were heading back to the spring behind our house. The beads were created for battle, but we tend to go beyond that, and we lend a hand to society and eliminate scum that lurks in the city. Therefore, the beads require a "cleansing session" every so often. The only problem is that only a few ways exist to cleanse them of the impurities. If they are not kept in pristine condition, they become tainted and weakened, eventually disintagrating to dust. We were lucky enough to find said "cleanser" only shortly after we moved to the house we now own. The spring has special properties and minerals, and the high water calcium count helps purify the beads. Murdering another Beaded Beast, as we called each other for we had no real title, would not taint the beads, but instead strenghthen them. When you kill another Beaded Beast, you obtain their flower, wich contains there powers as a Beaded Beast themselves. The first time we met another Beaded Beast, I killed him out of self defense, and obtained his flower. I was the first to kill, and the one that started the battle. Later, Kiki had eliminated another Beaded Beast, granting her a flower as well. I now have The purple carnation and orange peony, using only the purple carnation for my attacks. While as Kiki uses the pink rose, and obtained the oriental poppy. Now we were going to cleanse our beads in the spring behind our house, only to find an unpleasant surprise...
~END~
~PART FIVE~
Kiki lead the way back to the bench we had made from bricks and grated metal we had found at one point in the creek. Gracefully she pranced atop the stones, humming a tune while doing so. I sat down on the bench and laid my beads down in the little pool we had made. A row of bricks created a barrier, stopping the flow o water and created a little niche to place our beads without fearing they wash downstream. It would normally take aboyt two hours or so, depending on how busy we'd been that week. They were useless once they were in the stream, and needed to be dried for about twenty five to thirty minutes afterwards. So I sat down on the bench and waited for Kiki to finally place hers in the spring beside mine. Finally, she settled down next to me and watched the fish swim by in the creek. It was freezing, but it could still sustain life. I listened to the babbling water swirrl around my feet, taunting me to come and play in the stream. Kiki stood up beside me and stretched, her ears titched and her tail flicked in doing so. Suddenly, she opened her eyes wide, just before, she slipped on a rock, tumbling into the water below. I shook my head and smiled, holding my hand out to help her up.
"I swear, you are the klutziest cat I know," I mumbled as she got back on her feet.
"I can't help it nyaa~!" she whined.
"Yes you can," I replied, "You could actually watch where you're stepping for once." She stuck her tounge out at me, before resuming her place beside me. Suddenly, I grabbed our beads from the pool and leapt into the water, pulling her with me.
"Why the hell'd you do that-" She was cut off by a short explosion, destroying the bench. "Nyaa~?" she whimpered. I got up and grabbed her by the arm, pulling her behind me as I rean farther upstraem, quickly being followed by another explosion. I examined our beads as we ran, and saw to my horror thay were useless! I then noticed a shadow of a boy lurking in the branches of a shrub. I realized it was Takedi-kun, holding a letter that was very neatly addressed0 Rianne-chan. Dammit! Now we've blown our cover in front of him of all people! But I can't let him get blon to bits... So I grabbed him by the shoulder and ran, just out of reach of the next explosive. Now what the hell am I gonna do?... I thougt as I raced the other way. But now, it was a race for survival...
~END~
~PART SIX~
Takedi was stunned beyond belief.
"Y-y-you're th-the Beaded B-beasts?!" I simply nodded in reply. I paused, then leapt behind a boulder beside the creek for shelter from the next blast. As annoying as this may be, I'm almost glad Takedi was there. Almost. I may be able to lend him the orange peony, but that means I won't get it back...Very well, I have no choice. I turned back to Takedi.
"Can you fight?" I asked.
"I-I-I d-don't think so!"
"Well to bad, beacause you're going to." I winced as another blast shook the boulder. It felt more like a war zone than anything. I jumped back out from behind the boulder and ran towards the house. Kiki sprinted ahead of me and opened the door to the back porch. I whispered in her ear,
"Keep him busy. I gotta get the orange peony, and give it to Takedi. Go."
"Roger that, nyaa~!" She said before shoving Takedi inside. Again, I grabbed him by the shoulder and dragged him upstairs to my room. I opened a drawer and pulled out the peony, thrusting it towards him. He hesitated to take it.
"Go on, take it," I nodded my head towards the peony. He paused, then took the flower from my hand. Suddenly he froze, his eyes turning a bright orange. Beads appeared and adorned themselves upon him, slithering like snakes and attatching themselves to his clothing. Another blast shook the house, and I lost my balance, gritting my teeth and bracing for the fall. Just before I hit the floor, I was caught by an unseen hand. I looked up to see that a vine had sprouted from the center of the flower, breaking my fall.
"Thank you, Takedi-kun." I mumbled in sheer awe. He had already mastered the ablities of the flower!
