" " Speaking

' ' Thoughts, thinking

Now for the story..

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Walking down the path. His hands were dripping with blood. The blood of a dead demon haunter. He stopped for a while, sniffing the air. The moon was just under him, revealing his blackish blue hair dropping in front of a misty gray eye and a golden eye. Continuing, he stopped at a door. It was dark green with golden markings. Hoku muttered a spell and the door opened. He gave a grunt and a growl and entered. His claws were inching to attack someone. Anything. Again. Then, as he walked down the hall, a bright light appeared and hands grabbed him. He couldn't fight it. He was weak..

Hoku suddenly opened his eyes and sat up. He had been dreaming..Of his past..again. He knew he shouldn't have. He felt his right ear. Yup. The gold earring was still there. Safe and secure. He checked his hands. Nope. No claws yet. Satisfied, he lied down and went back to sleep.

*~*~* The Next Day *~*~*

Aikoe sat down somewhere by the field in there school, while waiting for Hoku. Thinking of nothing to do, she just let any thoughts come in her mind..

"Stay here sis. I'll be back for you." A man with a deep voice said while hiding a little red headed girl behind a tree. The man quickly ran away from the tree as not to give a clue to her sis hide out. He faced a demon that had long claws and was smiling in a very sort of menacing look, revealing two fangs.

"You think you're so tough that you'd beat me! What a show off!" He yelled and held up a hand. A black symbol of a dragon and some weird signs. It started to glow a bright yellow. He started chanting under his breath but before he finished, the demon kicked him right in the stomach.

"Railley!" The little girl shouted to herself, her dark green eyes quivering with fear.

"So you ARE a tough guy. I'll have to deal with you the hard way. Hoku, prepare to die!" The man pulled out a zanbatou (huge sword) from his back and the two fought. The demon proved to be faster, better, and much more skillful. But Railley proved to be just as good as him. After a while, the two stopped and faced each other. Blood was dripping through the claws and the sword. Railley was panting and seemed very weak, but on the contrary, the demon, Hoku, proved to be much active and before anything was done, Hoku killed Railley with a move that he didn't notice. The air was filled with silence, except for the girl's silent sobs. Hoku was panting, trying to find out where the source of this new, strange smell. He got tired of doing this after a while and limped away. The girl waited until the demon was completely gone and ran to her brother, who, seemed to be breathing short, small breaths.

"Railley! Are you okay! Please tell me you'd be okay!" She cried.

"Shush, Aikoe. It'll be okay. Just do something for me. Now that you're training to be a demon hunter, swear that you'll find that cursed demon, Hoku, and kill him." Before Aikoe replied, her brother began to chant. His symbol began to glow blue and next thing she knew, Aikoe's left hand glowed blue. She looked at it. She gasped as a dragon started to form. Railley finished and gasped for more air.

"I've finally put my own power to yours. Use it we------" He died before finishing the last word..

"Aikeo! Aikeo! Heeellllooooo!!!! Anybody there?" A voice suddenly snapped. Aikeo snapped back to reality and felt her left hand. Yes, the dragon's still there. She just wished it were in her imagination. 'I swear that I WILL find him, Railley.'

"He---llooo!!! You still there?" The voice asked again.

"Oh yeah. I'm okay, Hoku."

"Oh no you don't! Tell me what's wrong with you. I know you'd rather you don't, but it'll help if you do." Hoku said with a concerned look.

Aikeo took a breath and said, "Thanks, Hoku. But I'm not in the mood right now. Lets get to class."

Hoku nodded and helped her get up. The two headed to their classroom.

"Hey, Hoku, you know about that demon that disappeared a long time ago. What's his name again? Hoku?" 'It's about time I find him.'

Hoku turned pale and took a long time before answering her. "Yes I know him. He used to be the toughest demon. Not even the strongest hunter could defeat him.."

"But one day, he suddenly disappeared. Without any trace." Aikeo finished. "You know, you even remind me a bit of him. Both of you have a golden eye and a gray eye. Heck, you both even have the same name!"

"We're just the same person." Hoku muttered with a bit of fear.

"What was that?" Aikeo asked. But Hoku had no time to reply because just then, the very moment they stopped in front of a classroom with a brown, molding door that bore a golden number: 25, the classroom number, a stern looking teacher was peaking at them suspiciously through a pair of narrow, square glasses. The two shrugged at her, entered and took their seats.

"So, anyways, the night he disappeared, they said he defeated the most powerful and strongest hunter of all: Railley Atashi Contura." Hoku muttered to Aikeo as their teacher started to write on the board about Japan's rivers.

"By the way, are the two of you by any chance, related?" Hoku asked silently trying not to move his mouth much as they started to copy down the notes, which, their teacher had just said, that they had to be quiet. (If you don't get this sentence, tell me so I could edit it to a much more understandable one)

"What do you mean?" Aikeo mouthed a little worried that Hoku might find out. Actually, Aikeo wouldn't have been scared but in those times, when demons were still lots, hunters had to keep their identities secret. They just couldn't say, "Hey everyone! I'm a Demon Hunter!" If they did, demons would know their targets to kill and avoid easily.

"I mean look. Same maiden names, red heads, plus I noticed you had a dragon symbol at your left hand. I mean look. That dragon's the symbol of his special, secret, power." Hoku quivered.

"You mean this?" Aikeo said giving Hoku a little glimpse of the dragon. "Nah. I had this tattooed yesterday. Not the permanent one. Just the one you can remove." 'If he ever finds out bout this, I'll have to kill him soon.'

"You know, to be honest, I don't seem to be a bit convinced." Hoku said a bit loudly. Unfortunately, the teacher heard him and strode to his side.

"Making noise, , eh? Thought you might enjoy it, eh?"

"No, . I just had a question. Since when have you become a Canadian? I thought you were a Japanese." He replied coolly. A few of the class sniggered.

"Oh you're bad aren't you, eh? Just because of the way I chose words doesn't mean I'm not a Japanese."

"It's called accent."

"So, think you're better than me, eh?-----" 'Oh sheesh! Stop with the eh stuff.' "Then let's see how smart you are in DETENTION." , their teacher, smirked. Hoku fell quiet and frowned at her trying to look as though he didn't care. He didn't know whether it worked or not. just walked away but stood long enough to say, "Remember Yakamashi. Detention. Later dismissal. And believe me. I'll know whether you get there or not."

"Did you just realize the trouble you've caused?" Aikeo asked Hoku as they headed out the door when the bell rang.

"Huh? What trouble? I didn't give her any trouble. SHE'S the trouble." He replied who was starting to grin along with Aikeo.

"Yeah. Now that you've given her trouble, she's gonna be bigger trouble to the innocent ones."

"I know. Stop it! Stop it! Just because of my bad luck------AGAIN------I've become a little hero." Hoku said a little annoyed as they lined up.

"By the way, how come you seem to have bad luck almost everyday?"

"Oh you know. They say when you have golden eyes you have bad luck. I just want to liven up the tale." Hoku said as the cafeteria lady poured peas, mash carrots and pork grind (Whatever that is, someone told me it's not very good.).

"Sometimes, it just happens in coincidence, right?" Aikeo asked with a mocking voice.

"Yeah. Yeach!" Hoku threw his food at once to the trash been with Aikeo.

Author's Note: Well, what d'you think? Is it a good start? If not, I'll just delete this story. R/R!!!