Gaea's Locket Ch. 11

“Hikaru, why don't you take a break?” Yuya called to him. He shrugged, “DJ-ing is fun. And I'm getting paid by the hour.” He then suggested, “Well, grab a bite with me. You can get back to the music later...” He sighed, “Fine... let me just set up a playlist.”

“Man, your sister has makes the best food ever!” Hikaru said eating some of the cake. “I am so having dinner at you place more often.” Yuya laughed, “Haha, we'll start charging you.” It was Hikaru's turn to laugh as he then spotted someone, “Wow... look at that cutie.” He motioned to a young girl dancing with a guy. A cute smile was on her face as Yuya answered, “She's cute I guess... not really my type, though.” He looked around, “Her. Definitely hot.” He pointed at a girl with dark blond hair, sitting alone at the table, watching people dance.

“She's okay I guess.” Hikaru said still staring at the girl on the dance floor. Then three people began talking to her as he noticed that the two guys were his best friends. “Whoa... Keito and Daiki know her!”

“Heh, it's a sign. Go over and talk to her.” Yuya told him as he thought, “Alright. I will.” He stood up and smiled, “Wish me luck.”

“Good luck!” he stated as he then looked back at the lonely girl. He then got up and went over to her, “You look bored.”

“Not much to do here. It's either eat, dance... eat some more.” she sighed. He took a seat next to her, “You don't want to dance?”

“I'm not much of a dancer.” she stated. “And it's not like I have anyone to dance with...”

“Do you need someone to dance with?” he wondered.

“It'd look weird if I was dancing alone.” she stated. As he answered, “Really? There's plenty of people dancing solo. There's nothing wrong with that.” She didn't responded as he stood up and held out a hand to her. She gave him a questioning look as he smiled, “If you're so set on not dancing alone, I'll dance with you.”

“...” she sighed and took his hand as said, “I'm Takaki Yuya, by the way... and you?”

“Sonsaku Hakufu.” she said as they headed to the dance floor.

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

“I'm sure Kaori and Kei will be here soon. Just have some fun~!” Rini smiled as she continued dancing with Ryuu. Kota and Satomi were dancing together too. Yuki smiled and turned to Keito, “Come on... let's just have some fun time. We can get back to the search later.” He sighed, “I guess one dance won't hurt.”

“Yes~!” Yuki cheered taking his hand and began dancing with him.

“Great, so now I don't have a partner...” Daiki pouted as Satomi then said, “Oh I know! Hang on!” She quickly went over and pulled a girl towards him, “This is my friend, Chiba Mai. She needs a dance partner.”

“Hey, I'm Arioka Daiki. Hope you don't mind having me as a partner for now.” he smiled.

“I don't mind.” she smiled as they danced.

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

“Haha, spill Ryuu.” he heard as he saw Rini giggling at him.

“Spill what?” he wondered as she answered, “You saw a cute girl didn't you?” He blushed, “What?! No I didn't!”

“Yes you did. Your eyes have been wandering the entire time we've been dancing!” she stated. “And you're turning red!” He looked away, “It's because we've been dancing a lot. Let's take a break.” She told him, “It's that really pretty girl over there huh?” She looked over at the beauty flirting with a bunch of guys.

“...” he remained quiet as she smiled, “You didn't deny it...”

“Alright, already. I think she's cute.” he pouted with a blush.

“Haha, that's nothing to be ashamed of.” she told him as she looked at the girl again. “She's a flirt, you know?”

“Yea... I kinda noticed.” he said staring at her. Rini thought, “Maybe you should talk to her?”

“W-What? No way! I don't know what to say! I'm gonna make a fool of myself!” he panicked as she told him, “Come on and man up! Go talk to her!” He looked over at her and began walking towards her, but then stopped. He quickly went back over to Rini, “I can't... it's too nerve-wrecking...Let's just go dance again.” Rini sighed in defeat.

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

“Hey, Keito!” he heard as he stopped dancing. He smiled, “Hikaru, you're here too?” He nodded, “Yea. I'm surprised to see you out and having fun. This is like the first time I see you not working!”

“Haha, very funny.” he answered sarcastically. “Oh, Hikaru, this is my friend Yuki. Yuki this is a close friend of mine, Hikaru.” Yuki smiled, “Nice to meet you.” Hikaru nodded, “Same to you. If you're what got this guy to come out for some fun, you must be a miracle worker! You've gotta get him to lighten up on the work more often.”

“Haha, I'll try.” she laughed.

“Anyways, who was that girl you were talking to earlier?” he said pointing over to her.

“Oh, she's my friend's sister.” Yuki told him. “Suzuhara Rini. Do you know her?”

“No, but I want to.” he smiled. “Rini huh? Kawaii ne~!” Yuki noticed the look in his eyes as he looked at her. She suggested, “Should I introduce you to her?” He gave her a pleading look, “Could you?!”

“Haha, sure.” she smiled.

“Keito, I love your girlfriend already!” he stated as Keito blushed, “S-she's not my girlfriend...”

“Oh, well you should change that.” he stated. “Let's go Yuki~!”

“Be back in a minute, Keito.” she stated, walking off with Hikaru.

“Hey, Rini. Ryuu. You two sure are getting a work out over here.” Yuki smiled to the two. She nodded, “Yea, but its fun~! Haha, I love these upbeat songs!”
“Well, you can thank the DJ here for that. This is Hikaru...”

“Yaotome Hikaru.” he stated. “I'm glad you like my playlist. If you have any request, just say the word.” She smiled, “Thanks~! Oh, I'm Suzuhara, Rini. And this is my friend, Yabu Ryutaro.”

“Nice to meet both of you.” he stated.

“Well, I don't want to leave my dance partner alone for two long. See ya.” Yuki said taking off as Hikaru said to Ryutaro, “Mind if I have the next dance with her?”

“Be my guest.” he smiled. “I needed a break anyways.”

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

“...*sigh*...” Yuto sighed as he sat on the sidelines. He watched everyone dance as he heard, “Oh, Yuto.” He looked and said, “Hey, Chiharu. What's up?” She shrugged, “Not much. Just mingling around with some people. What are you doing here anyways?”

“A friend invited me. Although I thought it would be more fun...” he stated. She took a seat next to him and said, “I know what you mean...” She then noticed him looking towards the entrance as she asked, “You waiting for someone?”

“Yea, I guess.” he answered. “Hopefully some excitement will come when she gets here.”

“She??” Chiharu smiled. He laughed, “She's just a girl I met. Nothing like that...”

“Uh-huh? Sure...” she teased as he looked back at the door to see a guy rush in. He quickly looked around and ran off towards someone. Yuto thought, “What's he in a rush for?”

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

“Hey, Yui~!” she heard as Shirika approached her.

“Oh, Shirika. Nice to see you again.” she smiled. Shirika nodded, “Same to you. All your desserts are so amazing~!”

“Thanks. I'm really glad you like them.”

“I don't like them, I LOVE them!” she beamed cheerfully. She then noticed the wall next to them, “What's this?”

“Oh, Yuri added that for Thanksgiving. He calls it the Wall of Thanks.” Yui explained. She pointed to some of the words on it, “All the guest are suppose to write something they're thankful for here.”

“Wow... there's a lot already.” she said staring at it.

“Well there is a lot to be thankful for, don't you think so?” Yui smiled as she nodded, “Yea. That's true--” She stopped as she looked through all the list. Friends, family, lovers, dogs, jobs, som many things were written when one thing caught her eyes. 'Shirika' was written on the wall. “What? My name is written here...”

“Aww... someone must be very thankful for you.” Yui stated. “You must be really special to someone.” Shirika blushed a bit as she stared at her name, “But... who?”

“Shirika!” she heard as someone quickly rushed over to her.

“Kei, hey you made it--”she said as he interrupted, “Please tell me you've seen Kaori!” She saw he was panting heavily and sweating like crazy. She answered, “You haven't seen her either?!”

“No, she's been avoiding the last couple days...” he said, worried. “But, she hasn't come to the animal shelter and she's never at the studio when I come by.”

“She hasn't been at the studio for the last two days. And Rini said she hasn't seen her for a while now.” Shirika panicked. “... You don't think... something bad happened to her do you?” He groaned, “I dunno, I dunno. Has she answered your calls?” She shook her head as Yui then suggested, “Maybe we should all go look for her?”

“That's the only other options...” Shirika stated. “Let me try to give her a call one more time.” She pulled out her phone and quickly dialed her number.

“Please pick up, please pick up... come on Kaori--” she thought as she heard it go to voice mail. She bit her lip in thought as she said, “No luck...” Kei groaned, “Damn it... Where the hell is she?!”

“Kei!” he heard as Yuki rushed over to him, followed by Keito, Daiki, and Kota. “Thank god you're here!”

“Hey, Yuki. Sorry but now isn't a very good time...” he told her.

“What? Why? What happened?” she wondered as he told her, “We haven't been able to get in contact with Kaori. She hasn't been at home or work, we can't find her anywhere.” Yuki went wide-eyed, “WHAT?! For how long?!”

“A couple days now...” Shirika stated. “We need to look for her. Like now.”

“Alright. Let me just get Rini. She should help.” Yuki said quickly running over when they suddenly heard a commotion in the kitchen. Yui went over with Shirika and Kei following. As they entered it, they saw a large eagle flying around, wreck havoc in the kitchen.

“Oh my god! How the hell did that thing get in here?!” Yui began panicking. “Shoo~! Get out!” The eagle then began screeching more and flying everywhere, while knocking things down. “No! Stop! Urgh! Stupid Bird get out!!” The eagle then looked at Kei and headed straight for him as he ducked, “Whoa!”

“Get down!” Yui said tackling him to the ground as he went for him again. He groaned, “Why is it that birds hate me...” Shirika questioned, “What do we do?!”

“Try not to freak out... or freak the bird out!” Yui answered. “We can't let the other guest see all this!” The eagle continued circling in the air, screeching as Kei said, “Well, someone needs to tell the bird to shut up or else the entire party will be panicking.”

“Kei! My sister's missing?!” they heard as Rini barged into the kitchen with Keito, Daiki, Kota, Yuki, Hikaru, and Ryuu. She then spotted the eagle as said, “Whoa...” The eagle began screeching louder as Yui thought, “Hikaru! Play louder music now! We can't have the other guest finding about all this! And tell my brother to make sure no one else comes in here.”

“I'm on it!” he said rushing out.

“What's going on--- whoa.” Yuto said coming in after seeing everyone head into the kitchen. He stared at the eagle, “That is one extremely large eagle.”
“Well how do we get it out?!” Yuki panicked. “That thing is huge! How did it fit through the door?!” Yui answered, “We just saw it in here! We don't know!” It then swooped down again heading for Kei as they all ducked.

“Okay, we've got to do something fast before it bites our heads off...”

“Yui, Hikaru said you wanted me to-- What the hell?!” Yuya said walking in when he saw the eagle. The eagle headed for him, but rushed right out of the door, into the party. Yui groaned, “Oh, no... now we've got a problem...”

“AHHH!!!” the guest were screaming as they ran out. Keito looked around to see all the guest leaving as he said, “WE need to get that bird down somehow!”

“Yui! How did that thing get in here?!” Yuri rushed over to her angrily.

“I have no idea! I found it in the kitchen and then it got out! I'm soo sorry.” she stated worriedly.

“Hakufu, what out!” Yuya called to her as the eagle flew towards her.

“Ah!” she screamed scared as put her hands up to protect her, when suddenly fire bursted out. The eagle screech and flew away as Hakufu stared at her hands appalled. The locket around Keito's neck lit up as it showed the symbol of fire and pointed at Hakufu.

“It's Hephaestus' power!” he said as they ducked again from the eagle. He thought and sighed, “Alright, we don't have a choice anymore... Kota, try to grow the plants over there to restrain the eagle.”

“Yes sir.” Kota smiled as the plants began to grow and headed towards the eagle, but it was flying to fast. “This is a little harder than I thought...”

“I'll try to slow it down.” Yuto said as he focused on the lights. It cracked, making a spark before it died. The eagle screeched and turned to avoid it. Rini, Hikaru, Yui, Yuya, and some other bystanders watched speechlessly as they used their powers, trying to catch the bird.

“Oh, for crying out loud! This is taking way too long!” Ryosuke said annoyed as he began controlling the water in the fountain. Kei then said, “Whatever you do, don't make it angry... it's beak is a lot sharper than regular birds..” Then he realized something. “Wait! Don't!” But Ryosuke alread sent a huge wave down on the eagle, knocking it to the ground.

“Stop! You're drowning it!” Rini stated worried. He moved the water back into the fountain as the eagle laid there. Kei ran over, “Kaori!”

“What?!” everyone said surprised as Shirika then realized it too. “Oh, my god! Kaori!” She rushed over to the eagle as Kei shook it, “Kaori! Oh god, it is you isn't it?! Kaori answer me!” Shirika put her hands on the eagle as its chest began glowing.

“Another one...” Daiki said as the locket lit up. The symbol of the sun appeared and pointed at Shirika. Yuki said, “The symbol of Apollo..”

“Ugh, she's not healing! It's not working!” Shirika panicked.

“Ryosuke! Come on, get the the water out of it!” Yuki ordered him.

“I can't! I might pull out all the water within it!” he said.

“You're a life guard, do CPR then!”

“On an eagle?!” he groaned. Chiharu, who was watching from the sidelines, whacked his head, “You drowned it in the first place so you had better save it now!”

“Urgh fine! I'll pull the water out, but if it turns to a dry pile of feather it isn't my fault!” he said focusing as water began emerging from the eagle. It began coughing and flapping its wings again as every sighed in relief. Then as it began flying it sneezed, but then something strange occurred. After the sneeze, the eagle had vanished.

“Whoa!” someone ground as they fell to the ground. “*cough* man... that was not fun..”

“Kaori!” Shirika and Kei smiled as they saw her. They jumped on her hugging her as she groaned, “Whoa~! Hey, take it easy... I almost drowned a few minutes ago!” Kei whacked her head, “What is wrong with you?! You should've said that it was you!”

“I did! But all you guys heard was 'kaw kaw...' Stop asking stupid questions!” she gave him a look. He then asked, “Well why didn't you answer our calls?”
“Again? A stupid question. I had talons! I can't freaking answer a phone!” she groaned.

“For the past couple days?!” he wondered. “Were you really an eagle for the last couple days?!”

“No.” she said as he answered, “That's what I --”

“I was a beetle, then I changed into a cat, then a tiger... luckily I wasn't that for too long, other wise I might be in a zoo right now, and then I was bee when I flew in here to find you and when I was in the kitchen I changed into an eagle.” she explained as he gave her a look. Then she noticed that there was a light pointed at her. She looked to see where it was coming from as she saw Yuki's friend, Keito, holding a locket with a holograph of a crescent moon.

“The power of Artemis...” Yuki said. “But I thought...” she looked at Kei and back at Kaori. She groaned, “Okay. You two have a lot of explaining to do.”

“Yea... I figured as much.” Kaori sighed. “How do you know about all this anyways?” Kei then answered, “If you weren't being so stubborn you would know. I've been trying to tell you. Yuki and her friends Keito and Daiki know about the powers you have and can explain it to you.”

“I think everyone here deserves an explanation!” Yuri said. “What the hell just happened here?! What with all these weird powers?!” Keito, Daiki, and Yuki looked at looked at each other. Keito scanned the room, there was only twenty of them there.

“Alright... we'll explain. But it must be kept only between us.” Keito sighed as they all nodded.