Life at Tokyo University

While many needed a bike, car or some other form of travel to get to point A to point B, Talbaza really didn't need anything but his own two feet. Going into his natural form and roaming around was a bit out of a question. This was a city, it wasn't made to commondate something of his size. That was the one thing he missed about back at home. The freedom. Here he was confined to being in his smaller form most of the time, not unless he went out into the sea like Elder Loraine did.

She has to have some other place she goes too.

He'd ask her when he got the chance. In the meant time, he arrived at the place Jun and Cassie were at. He picked up their scent..along with something else.

Talbaza decided to leave that alone.

Jun led Cassie to the bathroom. "You go ahead and clean up." She took off her leathers and stripped her leggings. Setting them aside for Cassie. Pulling out her sweater she set it next to the leggings. "I don't have an extra pair of panties so you'll have to go commando. Just put your clothes in my bag." She put her leathers back on and zipped it half way.

Cassie looked away as Jun was doing this, and waited until her leathers were back on before turning back around. "I'm really sorry about this..." She took the clothes, and hurried into a stall after wetting some paper towels.

It was easy to tell where Jun and Cassie where by their scent, but he was intelligent enough to figure out where it was heading. The bathroom. In that case he would need to give them a moment. They were probably going to get cleaned up or something along those lines. Talbaza just didn't know how right on the mark he was, just not quite what he was expecting however.

Jun shook her head while she looked into the mirror. She pulled out her make-up bag and started fixing her face. "No need to apologize. I wasn't offended or anything. If anything I should be apologizing to you. I should have known some kind of reaction was bound to happen. I just wasn't thinking." She wiped some eye liner off with her pinky finger.

Jun turned and hoisted herself onto the counter. "So was that your first time on a motorcycle?"

"Um... yeah... so it's, um... that's a normal thing to happen the first time you ride one?" She had almost been worried it was because of her past. Something she knew wasn't normal at all.

(We'll, when in doubt, skip lol)

Jun nodded "It's like having a turbo vibrator strapped between your legs." He patted her hip. "My riding leathers protect against the excess vibrations. My bike is more... powerful than the standard one's on the market. If I had been wearing something else I more than likely would have been in the same boat you were in." She looked at her watch. "I got ten more minutes before I have to be in the studio so take your time." She pushed herself off the counter and dusted off her backside.

After several minutes, Cassie felt she was good, and came out, sighing softly. "I guess I need to remember to wear pants next time I ever ride on that thing... uh... I'm going to have a problem on the way back too... aren't I?" She was blushing again. Talking about this was embarrassing.

Jun walked over to the door to the bathroom. "We'll get you something that'll help. There's several shops in the area, i'm sure we'll find something." She slung her bag over her shoulder and opened the door. She spotted Talbaza and smiled. "Hey there. Glad to see you made it okay." She pointed down the hall. "Where I need to be is up the elevator and down the hall." She made her way to the elevator.

Talbaza went to follow. "If you don't mind me asking, what's the name of the anime your recording for currently?" He didn't comment about anything about Cassie. It was obvious something had happened(to him) but she was shy and got embarrassed easily enough as is. If she was fine, there was no need to bring it back up.

Cassie just followed along silently. She needed to be on the third floor in an hour. Until then, she'd stick with Jun.

Jun reached the elevator and pressed the button. "It's called 'Demigod: Legend of the Scrolls' I really can't say what it's about. Breach of contract and what not." The elevator dings and the doors slid open. Jun stepped inside and hit the button to her floor.

Talbaza nodded a bit to that. "I understand. That name..sounds familiar. I've heard of it somewhere. It might be based on a true story. It wouldn't surprise me if it somehow was anyway. There seems to be countless legends on earth."

Cassie bit her lip slightly. "I think I might have read part of the manga once... maybe... I think..."

Jun nodded "Yeah the manga series has been out for a while now. This studio just recently got the rights to it." The elevator went up and stopped on her floor. The doors slid open and she stepped out.

She walked down the hall and opened a door to the recording studio she was to record her session. "Hey guys, I wanna introduce my friends" There were several people in the room. Jun turned to Tal and Cassie "Guys this is Kagawa, the voice director, Kunikichi, mixer, my producer Soji, Yukihara continuity and script, Kuma Shidori from Legal and Hideo Fukushima the author and artist of the Manga." She then turned to her coworkers. "Guys these are my friends from school Talbaza and Cassandra."

They group gave a round of hello's and Kuna stepped forward pulling some papers from his brief case. "Hey it's great to meet you, however I'm going to need you to sign some non-disclosure agreements if you're gonna sit in on the recording session." He handed them over.

The rest of the group converged on Jun all talking at once. Jun understood all of them and nodded to each in turn.

Talbaza blinked once, but never the less he took the papers. "All right, I'll look them over."

..This is a lot of paperwork.. He noted to himself and decided to get this out the way. This was one thing he universally didn't like. Paperwork was not one of Talbaza's favorite things. Not unless you counted something along the lines of a history assignment.

Cassie blinked a bit, then began signing the agreements. "I'll only be sitting in for an hour.... I need to go do.. um, my thing." She wasn't willing to say it in front of a room full of strangers. Who she was avoiding, as she had backed herself into the wall. She hadn't expected a room full of people.

Jun smiled "It's okay. Well, make yourselves comfortable I'm gonna be here a while." She said and started to go into the sound proof room. Then she staggered a moment. Jun caught herself on the counter, holding her head. Images flashed through her mind of her cousin. "Goki?" She said in all but a whisper. She felt dizzy and then.

Jun suddenly dropped to the floor holding her head. She was screaming in pain. "GOKI!?" She managed between screams. She struggled to her knees, visions of her cousin in pain flooded her mind. He was on his knees pleading silently with someone to end his pain. She knew in her soul he wanted death. The pain suddenly intensified and she threw her head back and screamed.

All the staff scrambled around her. Some calling the paramedics others trying to figure out what was happening.

Jun suddenly went limp. Her body collapsing like a marionette doll with its strings cut.

(( To see why this is happening click here .))

Talbaza was going to say something when Jun suddenly staggered and then collapsed. He quickly forgot what he was doing, hurriedly and worriedly rushing over to see what happened. Talbaza was terrified something very serious had happened to Jun, something he couldn't protect her from.

Cassie was trying to calm herself, when Jun seemed to wobble a bit. "J-Jun?" She felt a growing fear in the pit of her stomach. But why? That was when Jun dropped to her knee's, screaming. When that happened, that fear took complete hold of Cassie, and she began trembling, her eyes widening, pupil's dialating. She was hyperventilating, and clutching at her chest. And then Jun let out another scream and collapsed. Something snapped, and Cassie let out a strange sound before fleeing the room, trying to get away as fast as she could, even fleeing the building itself.

She didn't know where she was going, she just knew she had to get away, for Jun's sake. Jun was acting just like her mother had just before her death. A death Cassie knew was somehow her fault.

Papa had said so.

Darkness...

The pain was gone. There was nothing. She felt nothing. Saw nothing. There was only darkness. Then she heard it. It sounded like a child... and they were crying. Off in the distance Jun could hear it. She followed the sound her feet coming into contact with something solid. It was cold and hard.

She moved her feet walking towards the sound. It was growing louder. She could make out the sound of a very young boy. He was sitting, his knees pulled close. Face buried in the arms that wrapped around his knees. He was naked and alone.

Jun reached out for the boy. "Hey." She called. Her voice sounded strange to her ears. It was her voice and yet not. The boy looked up at her. Tears filling reptilian eyes. They streamed down his face.

She smiled at him. "What's wrong?"

She boy scrambled back and rolled to his feet. He looked poised to run and Jun quickly held up a hand and stepped back a little. "Hey, easy. I'm not gonna hurt you." She placed a hand to her chest. "I'm Jun. What's your name?" It was then she realized she too was naked. However her body was sheathed in light.

The boy stepped forward. Hesitant he looked her over. She knew what he was going to say before he said it. "I am Goki."

Jun felt a rush of emotion. She smiled again. "Goki, can you tell me why you were crying?"

He seemed to relax a bit. He still looked scared. "I-I-I am lost. I cannot find my way back a-and... I think something is chasing me."

Jun's eyes softened. She wanted to hold him and tell him everything would be okay. She held out her hand. "Would you like to help me find you way?"

For a long moment the boy stared at Jun's hand. Then he took a careful step forward. Then another. He reached out and stopped. He looked like he was thinking. Then he took her hand. Jun let out a breath she didn't even know she was holding.

The two started walking and the boy looked to her. "Do I know you?" The question broke her heart.

***

The paramedics arrived and set about their work. She had a pulse, however she was completely non-responsive to stimuli. They loaded her on a stretcher while the lawyer was on the phone. He moved to Tal. "Hey um your other fried just took off. She seemed really upset. Jun'll be fine we'll have the best doctors in Japan with her."

After the paramedics strapped Jun down they started to take her out and down stairs.

Talbaza still watched, feeling completely helpless to do much of anything. Jun was suppose to be okay, but still he wished there was more he could do then just sitting there. He watched for a long moment, the lawyer coming over snapping him a bit out of his trance.

"I..see." He said slowly, thinking of Cassie. She might get into trouble running off and not thinking straight. Someone might take advantage of that. Talbaza gave the lawyer a number. "I'll be back, I'm going to check on them. That number you can use to get a hold of me."

He pulled himself away from the scene and left quickly out where Cassie had gone too; outside. Talbaza needed to pick up her scent and follow it, she had made some distance already due to darting out first.

Cassie had, eventually, run out of breath, and nearly collapsed in a park a few blocks away. She leaned against the railing of the bridge she was on, looking down at the water below. It wasn't a particularly deep bit of water. A pond, that she could probably stand up in. Could probably still drown in it though. She paused when that thought occurred to her, and smiled sadly. "Haven't... thought about things like that for awhile..."

The paramedics loaded Jun into an ambulance and drove her to the nearest hospital. The doctors examined her and found nothing physically wrong. So they ordered a battery of tests.

**

Jun walked with Goki thinking. "So, this thing that's following you, do you know what it is?" She looked around the darkness for anything other than more darkness. She saw nothing.

Goki shook his head. "No, I do not. All I know is that it wants to hurt me." He looked up to Jun. "And you."

Jun looked at the boy "Me? Why would it want to hurt me?"

Goki looked away. "I-I do not know."

Jun spotted something up ahead. "Hey, what's that?" She began walking faster.

When she got close she noticed it was a pair of double doors. "What is that?"

Goki looked at her like she was stupid. She knew that look well. "That, is a set of French doors."

Jun rolled her eyes. "Well I know that silly, what's it doing here?"

Goki looked at it and cocked his head to one side. "I do not know." He looked back to Jun. "I do not want to go in."

Jun considered their options. Not many. "It may be a way out." She started walking forward. Goki resisted a little at first. The he followed Jun to the doors.

They looked like large oak doors. They were painted black. She reached for the door knob and it opened of its own volition. There was an long eerie creak as it opened. Inside was more darkness. However this looked simply like the lights were off.

Jun looked to Goki and then both looked inside the doors. She took a deep breath and stepped in.

Goki closed his eyes and followed.

Beyond the doors looked to be an old mansion.