While Niya had sat at the large stone pillar, it had only taken about a few minutes for the blind male to finally regain his steady breathing once again. Now that the battle had finally come to an end, there was no longer really any need to keep his guard up too much. After about another moment or so, Niya had turned his attention back onto where Hanganji's body still laid upon. Part of his thoughts had began to doubt himself as he felt horrible at the fact that the large man was actually able to heal Niya's sight. The only problem behind it was that if he had let that monster heal him, the villagers that were now alive would most likely would've still been trapped in this hellish hole. Trying to shake off the thought of him having doubts about letting the large man die, the blind male had only moved a single hand over his own forehead. Instantly as he touched it, the slight feeling of something wet at his forehead had caught his attention. Glancing straight into the palm of his hand, the scent was none other then his own blood. The blind male had completely forgotten about his injuries, and now that he had remembered about them the pain had immediately surged through the rest of his body.

During the battle with Hanganji, Niya was slightly able to forget about how painful the injuries were as he had to focus on not dying by the hands of the large man. However, now that the battle had come to an end the pain was so much worst, it may not had been as bad as the day he lost his sight but still just as anyone who would receive a wound, it hurt. The last thing the blind male had expected was when a few of the villagers from earlier had made their way over toward him to try and help him to his feet. As one of the younger men had reached out to grab onto the blind male's injured arm, Niya had quickly yanked his arm away from the villager's grasp. The blind male soon stood up to his feet even if his legs felt as though they were going to give out at any moment due to how weakened he was. Even though the curse had kept Niya from dying of starvation or any sort of way that wouldn't bring too much pain, the fact that he hadn't eaten or drank anything still made him weak.

It hadn't been too long while Niya had been following the other scents of the group as they were being helped by the other villagers to get back to a more safer area in the castle, that he had actually ended up collapsing to his hands and knees as he began to cough up blood once more. Seeing this, the villagers that had tried to help the blind male earlier had made their way over toward him once again as they suggested to let them help him. Without so much as a word toward any of them, his breathing had once again become heavy as the young men immediately helped Niya to his feet and helped him to the area where the rest of the group members laid.

Once reaching the same room as the others, the blind male had pulled his own arms away from the villagers' grasp once again. His breathing had steadied down just a bit while on their way there, even though he was weakened due to the fighting and fact that he was still going without food or water he strangely still had enough strength to move, even if it was slowly. Making his way over toward the nearest wall, Niya had quickly dropped onto the floor once more as he rested his head against the wall behind him. Within another moment or two, a young woman had made her way over toward him as the blind male kept his head rested against the wall even though he noticed her presence by him. She handed him two white cloths as one was wet with warm water while the other was dry. Taking a hold of them both with his injured arm, the blind male had did his best to wrap the dry cloth around his eyes with a single arm. Obviously enough, it came to a failure as the young woman soon helped him wrap it. Without so much a 'thank you' to the woman, she had given a simple smile before standing up and walking away to help the other group members.

Sighing heavily to himself, the blind male had rubbed the ring upon his finger with his own middle finger lightly. Only a few shards now resided within the ring and still yet there were so many that were hidden all over this planet. Many thoughts of his life being taken away and doubts on why he was trying to bring back his sight had went through his head. Even if he were to return his sight, what would he do then. So many questions but so little answers ran through his mind, soon enough his attention returned onto the rest of the group members around him. It seemed almost as though each one of them had a piece of the Maboroshi with them, would that mean in the end if he wanted to return his sight that he would need all the pieces and mean that he would have to fight these people. Whatever the case was, Niya did his best not to think about it too much.

Hikari sighed at the tiger demon's stubbornness,but decided to leave him be.Being a demon,his injuries would heal quicker than the others,plus she didn't feel like fighting with him.Instead,she turned to the blind man.She had seen him cough up blood earlier,and she could smell fresh blood on him."You there,I want you to hold still,okay? I can't heal you completely,but I can cast a temporary spell to stop you from coughing blood.It should hold until we get to a healer." She said,kneeling next to him."Don't even think of being stubborn with me like you were with the villagers.I am determined to help someone rather than sit here waiting,so I'm helping you." She told him sternly,laying her hands over his midsection.Her hands started to glow slightly blue,and Niya would feel a cool sensation in his midriff,as if something were blocking the pain and patching up whatever was broken.

While Niya had kept his attention onto the rest of the group members who laid upon the blankets that the villagers had set out for them. All that the blind male could do for the moment was try to get some rest while he listened to the footsteps of the villagers going left and right to get supplies to help out the people who saved them. Other then that, the only other noises that the blind male could hear were the sounds of the rain drops landing upon the ground as well as the thundering and lightning banging outside of the caste walls. Niya had thought for sure just as the rest of the villagers that were helping the group members who saved them, that they were going to rest for the day here at the castle until the storm had finally decided to blow by.

When the sounds of another pair of footsteps as well as the scent being familiar had approached him. The blind male had focused his attention onto the next being to come up to him, it was none other then the female demon that had fought alongside him against Hanganji earlier. Being told that she could temporarily stop his bleeding, Niya hadn't spoken a word to her as he directed his head in a different direction rather then to look at her. She had told him not to be stubborn against her as he was against the villagers who helped him down here, however it wasn't even as though the blind male had much energy left to move too much anyway.

Soon enough while the female demon had began to temporarily cover up Niya's internal wounds. The pain that once surged through his body and the injured arm that was killing him through pain had began to feel much more refreshing. Exhaling a light sigh of relief, the blind male moved his bloodied arm in front of him before testing out to see if he could once more clench his fingers into a fist. The pain was still there but it was much less and more tolerable then it was earlier before the female demon had treated him. Turning his head over to face the demon, he kept his usual serious expression upon his lips as he nodded to her. "Thank you.." his tone was close enough to silence but the blind male had made sure it was loud enough for the female demon to hear him. "If you are willing to help...It would seem the human girl needs it as well, you should also get your own rest as well.." That was probably the most he had actually spoken to anyone else within the group the entire time, it hadn't really lasted too long as his silence had immediately followed right behind his sentence as he turned to look away from Hikari right after.

Hikari's ear twitched.She heard him speak,but just barely.Even with her exeptional hearing,his quiet voice was difficult to make out.She gave him a tiny smile."You are quite welcome.Just rest for now,we'll probably leave when the storm blows over,if everyone's ready.Until then,that spell will last longer if you lay still." She advised,before standing up and heading over to Suzume.Out of everyone in their group,the human female was the only one who's name she knew,and somehow that made her more approachable.She seemed to be out cold,though Hikari couldn't tell.She placed one hand over the girl's heart,and the other over her forehead."If you can hear me,don't move.I'm going to give you some of my energy to help you heal faster.You'll still need to rest up and eat,though." The fox demon said quietly,just in case Suzume could hear her.Her hands glowed again,but green this time as an energy flow appeared,pouring from Hikari's hands into Suzume's heart and mind.

Suzume was completely unaware of being caught, being carried, or being cared for in another section of the castle now. When she finally began to recognize sounds around her, her eyes fluttered opened unnoticeably for the smallest moment as they focused on Hikari before closing again. Hikari was caring for her, her friend Hikari.

She wanted to look for Niya. Had he regained his sight by some chance before the fight? Was he okay? She also wanted to search for Kitaru. He'd saved and protected her so many times now. He'd also given her courage when she may not otherwise have had any. She owed him so much. He'd come so far in such a short time. How happy that made her.

Part of her happiness probably came from Hikari. The demon's energy poured into her. Though she didn't have any physical wounds, her muscles had been over used and her body was exhausted. Not to mention, her mind was a mess. So much blood, death... Not things Suzume had seen in such ways. Though they were in a warring state, she was fortunate enough to be sheltered from the war. Until of course her father was called away and the demon destroyed her village.

She fell back into a slumber as the rain pounded the castle, lulling her back to sleep. Her body hurt less and less with each passing moment as a peaceful happiness engulfed her. Suzume would sleep, though thanks to Hikari she wouldn't need the many many hours of rest it would have taken to renew her before she had helped.

Meanwhile, the servants and people of the castle who had lived there before Hanganji had taken over and who were back to their normal selves, were busy cleaning the mess left from the fight. There were many of them and they took turns cleaning and dressing themselves and cleaning and repairing the castle as well as lighting it more efficiently, and also caring for the small group that had rescued them. Some of the women began preparing a meal fit for a king, knowing their saviors and guests would be hungry and need the sustenance.

Suzume dreamed very overly happy and peaceful dreams. Something that would certainly not have happened without Hikari's renewing energy for her heart and mind. She was in her mother's kimono. Her hair was done up on her head in a beautiful fashion donned with flowers. She carried a red wasaga over her shoulder that protected her from the sun, and cherry blossom trees covered the area.

She was looking off into the distance at something and she was smiling. It was a warm and happy smile. Maybe one that showed hints of great affection. Off in the distance, atop the cherry blossom lined hill, a person stood in the grass. As she came ever closer, he turned around with his arms out, inviting her in with a smile that matched hers. It was Kitaru.

((Haha! I couldn't help it! That should add a little more awkward confusion, lol! I'll have her wake up in my next post. It's up to you guys if you want to allow your characters some sleep. I think Kimiko and Haru are headed their way, too. So we'll wait for them to arrive before up and leaving. We'll probably have them hang out and eat and what-not. ))

((lol Wolfie wondered if Suzume would end up in an "Inuyasha" Situation!))

Hikari finished up with Suzume and moved to help the villagers with some of their cleanup.After a while,she came back and sat down next to the door of their healing room,as she had come to think of it.She was tired,but that was about it.She wouldn't let herself sleep until her friends were well enough to sit up and eat.So until that time,she decided to guard the door and make sure they all got some well needed rest.

Kitaru had slowly drifted off to sleep, he was exhausted and though still in pain it wasn't so bad that he couldn't sleep through it. At least now with him asleep he couldn't be stubborn or protest to any attention Hikari or others might want to give him. Those ears twitching, picking up on sounds as he slept, but they were just normal sounds of the others breathing and Hikari moving around doing whatever she could to help the rest of them.

His sleep was a dreamless one, but a deep and restful one. His shoulder was healing, the wound seemed to be healing better now. Before it hadn't been healing very fast at all but now it seemed to have sped up some. Most likely due to the very restful sleep he had fallen in to. It would leave a scar, a large ugly one, but that couldn't be helped and it was just one more added to the many he already bore upon his body.

Resting the back of his head against the wall behind him, Niya had done his best to try to get some rest for his body. The intense fighting between them all against the large man had taken much of his energy, if anyone else were to had gone through that fight it was sure enough to understand that they were going to pass out to get rest. However, no matter how many times the blind male had tried to relax his body and drift off into a slumber, he would always end up gasping sharply and reawaken. Placing a single hand onto the side of his head, the blind male had leaned his head forward from the wall only to turn his head left and right to take a glance at his surroundings. From what it had seemed to be, Hikari had now been sitting by the exit of the room while the human female and male demon had already drifted off to get some rest for their bodies.

The sounds of footsteps still wandering around the inside of the castle walls were still easily heard as Niya slowly helped himself back up to his feet. The female demon had done as she had said earlier, his wounds had been temporarily healed to keep them from bleeding or getting worst but it wasn't completely better just yet. Right as the blind male had stood up to his feet, both of his legs had trembled terribly only to have him nearly fall back onto his knees before he had held both his hands onto the wall for support. Cursing silently to himself, Niya had slowly made his way over toward the exit of the room. Glancing over toward the female demon only once, he hadn't bothered to stop and tell her where he would head out to as he simply stepped out of the room and began to make his way down the dark hallway.

While the blind male had continued to make his way down the halls, there had been multiple times he had nearly fallen only to catch himself luckily each time with the support of the wall beside him. The halls no longer had the eerie feeling that it once had when Niya had stepped down them earlier to try and find where Hanganji's throne room was. The feeling that now surrounded the halls were now much more comforting, even with the intense banging of lightning and thunder crashing outside of the palace walls it had continued to feel much more safer then it once did in this place.

It was only a matter of time while Niya had stepped down the halls did another pair of footsteps come to his attention from the other end of the hall. This hadn't stopped the blind male from continuing forward since it was nothing more then another one of the villagers who tended to the interior of the palace walls. As the young man had noticed how Niya was walking around even though he was looking weakened from head to toe, he immediately suggested for the blind male to go back to the room and get the well deserved rest as food would soon be arriving shortly. Without so much as a word to the man, the blind male had simply walked pass the villager, it had only been a matter of minutes for Niya to reach the scent of what seemed to had been sweat in yet another room. Sliding one of the two double doors open, the blind male had only come to find that within the room were multiple different shaped wooden training dummies. The room was no doubt where Hanganji had practiced his fighting to make sure he would stay in shape. Sighing heavily to himself, Niya had immediately dropped to the floor on the inside of the large training room. Sitting there next to the entrance into the room, the blind male panted lightly to himself at the feeling of being out of breath after only walking for so little.

Kimiko gave a nod in agreement with the man before moving forward. "Then let's hurry.." She whispered as her pace hurried along, her eyes set on the castle top hidden behind the trees. The rain didn't seem to phase her, even as she was already soaked. Her long hair clung to her face and clothes damply and her skin was even more pale than usual somehow.

As they reached the castle, Kimiko glanced all around her. There was still the slight feeling of evil in the air but it seemed to be dying with every second, and the wrenching in her gut was even beginning to subside. She silently stepped forward and up the stairs until she reached the front door, which was already opened. The priestess waited a second before moving in, her hand ready to arm her bow just in case something was lurking within the walls.

But of course, she wasn't expecting to be greeted by a number of servants. A few woman ran up to her, speaking rapidly and all seemed relieved to have the woman there. She took once glance towards Haru. "See if these people need anymore help.. or follow me. It doesn't matter at this point." She said before being lead away. As she walked though, she felt the evil feeling pressing on her shoulders and she almost had difficulty breathing as she was lead to a door. When she slid it open, she stared blankly. It was likely that only she felt this remaining hold from the man due to her powers, but none the less, she needed to rid it from the world.

The priestess walked up to the dead body and eyed it for a long moment, seeing the dark aura rising from the corpse. It was fading since the man was killed, but the evil inside would never truly disappear without intervention. Kimiko slowly knelt beside Hanganji and pressed her fingers to the head's forehead. She concentrated for a moment and watched as the dark aura slowly disappeared. At the same time, any lingering traces of the man's strings on all his once puppets broke and the castle gained a more peaceful feel to it.

She let out a quiet sigh of relief before leaving the room, making sure not to step into any of the blood that had been thrown around on the floor from the previous fight. As she exited, it seemed the women had all ran off to continue with their duties. She noticed many cleaning and lighting candles, as though the whole building had just bee brought back to life. "..Interesting.." She spoke to herself before beginning towards an area where several of the servants were gathered.

They stepped aside when they saw her and opened the door for her, revealing a party of people. Kimiko blinked a few times in surprise and peaked in silently. Some were resting and judging by their appearances, they were the ones to end the tyrant's evil that had been spreading. She silently stepped in, a trail of water still dripping off her and moved to a vacant corner to sit in. Her brown eyes were just as blank as usual, however held a certain curiosity as to what these people did exactly.

Haru sighed a bit, shaking his head. He moved along through the building, looking around a bit on his own once more. The demon within him shifted slightly, but made little attempt to push to the surface at the moment. He slowly made his way to the room where familiar presences were, the body sitting there...It made his mind slightly remember a similar scene back at his home.

He placed a hand to his head slightly as he closed his eyes and took a breath. Back then, that had been his fault, even though some attempted to tell him otherwise. He was not sure if he was welcomed or even needed within the room, sitting outside the door. Even if they did not wish him to accompany them, he would at least make sure they were safe. They seemed injured and exhausted. A familiar presence within the castle, if it advanced, he was unsure if they would have the strength to defeat it at the moment.

"Aw, seems the party is over" Hex laughed, looking in the direction from which the dark aura had just vanished. "Which means...the shards are out" he laughs. Chi rubbed his arm a bit, looking up at the other from his back. "So we should add them right?" he asks. Hex smilled, lightly thumping him on the head, "now your getting it!" His eyes swivvle in the other direction once more, "those people don't give a damn about you, they don't care if you live or die...Time to have a little fun." Chi gave a slight whistle.

Out of the darkness behind him, growls echoed. The group of wolves he had obtained earlier bolted forward, shooting past him and making their way towards the scents that laid beyond. "Common, I wanna get a good seat" Hex laughs. The two make their way up a flight of stairs, to a sort of catwalk that ran above the rooms of many of the castles. They neared the room with the bodies and the hidden others. Staying within the shadow of the entrance, as the wolves closed into the room.

((Haha! I really just couldn't help it. I feel like since I've seen a lot of the episodes my brain tends to think in that sort of, style, I guess. Especially since that was the inspiration for my rp, if you couldn't tell. :P Of course, it doesn't have to be like that. It's all up to how all of the other players are. It could always be different!))

Some time had passed and the storm was rolling on, too. Thunder no longer shook the foundations of the castle and the rain was a mere sprinkle. The dark clouds were moving away and soon, the sun would peer through as if to bless the castle once again. Someone else had entered the room, though she was unaware as she slept.

Finally her gray eyes cracked open slowly. They focused in on the room and she immediately recalled the day’s earlier events. Although she didn’t recall how she’d gotten to this room or who had brought her, she did recall Hikari helping her, giving her energy and healing her body and mind. She heard many voices around her of the castle people cleaning and watching over her friends and doing various other things.

In one of her hands was a piece of the Maboroshi no Ginzuishou. Immediately she looked for her katana. Someone had placed it beside the tiger demon, assuming it to be his. Perhaps that had noticed him using it in the dungeon? That was fine with her. He would protect it while she was away, she knew. Would he be able to touch it while she was away? Suzume was unsure why he was ever able to in the first place, but as long as the tiger demon had her protection in mind, the katana wouldn't hurt him.

She sat up and stretched. She looked down at herself. Her clothes were intact, no rips or tears thankfully, but they were covered in blood splatters. As were her hands, face and hair. It had dried and caked onto her. She reached up to rub a hand gently over her forehead and cheeks to find that someone must have washed some of the blood from it. Thank goodness.

Her stomach grumbled. Hikari had been right that Suzume would need to eat. But first, she could help thinking of wanting nothing more than a bath. Without wanting to wake her friends or bother anyone, she sneaked out of the room to stop a woman in the hall. She explained that she wanted a bath and was lead down the hall to another, and down that hall into a large indoor garden.

She sucked in air at the sight of it. In the middle of the room was a spring. Had they created this for the King, or did they build this room particularly around a hot spring? Around it were lush plants and beautiful trees and flowers. She wondered if there may actually be animals in here as well, it was so large and rainforest-like. Some of the flowers and trees she’d never seen before in her life.

The ceilings were made of something she didn’t know, but allowed much light into the room from the outside. Unfortunately the sun was still mostly hidden behind clouds, though not very dark clouds. The woman placed a couple of towels next to the spring and told Suzume she would come back to check on her and bring her fresh clothes soon, before closing the door to the large room and disappearing into the castle.

Suzume didn’t waste any time removing her dirty clothes, leaving a trail of them to the spring, including her hair ribbon. She slipped into the spring and ducked under the water. It was so warm and relaxing and she was so happy to be able to wash Hanganji’s blood from her skin and hair. She'd placed the Ginzu piece next to her towel and she moved to the edge of the spring to pick it up. She kept it in her hand once again, studying it.

After a few minutes of studying the piece, she leaned her head against the rock edge of the spring and closed her eyes to relax. Her thoughts lingered on Hanganji. How the thoughts scared her, and made her sad, too. Had her friends not pulled his arms from his body, she may have been able to save him. Her heart was heavy for him, and for all those he killed in his clouded state. Would she have nightmares? Was she strong enough for the search of the Maboroshi no Ginzuishou?

She was sure her new friends would abandon her now. There was no way anyone would continue on her suicide mission, why would they? She wouldn’t blame them. She would be glad to know they were no longer in danger. Her eyes remained closed as her thoughts wandered over the Ginzu, her new friends, and her next move.

From time to time, they wandered back to the dream she’d had while she slept, but her cheeks would redden and she would push the thoughts from her mind. What a silly and embarrassing dream it had been.

Hikari didn't say much when the blind man got up and left.She knew he could take care of himself,though she resolved to check on him if he wasn't back within an hour.It was when she sensed two,three...four new people entering the castle that she looked up,alert.Three of those presences were very familiar.One was different.Chi and Hex,she recognized.And the so far nameless man with the fox demon in him.Hikari's thoughts were broken when Suzume got up and left,apparently not noticing her there.Glancing at the tiger demon,she bit her lip.She half wanted to follow Suzume,but at the same time,she didn't want to leave the tiger.Especially with more people wandering around.Somehow,she just knew that Hex was up to no good,which meant that Chi was more than likely very close.Hikari stood up,placing one hand on her katana,when she heard the howling.Wolves,and they were being controlled.Wolves didn't just storm castles."Chi...your scent is all over this one.Dammit.I didn't want to do this." She put her hands together as if she were praying.Her tail split into two tails,one of which separated off and transformed into a fox.She ordered it to stay and watch over the tiger demon,and let him know what was going on if he woke up.Then she went off in search of Chi."Chi-kun!!! I know you're here,so stop hiding!" She called,as she followed his scent up a set of stairs.

While the blind male had sat within the large training room, he had kept trying to steady down his own breathing as he had taken in one last deep breath before exhaling just as deeply. Soon enough, Niya's breathing had returned back to normal as he helped himself up to his feet slowly with the help of the wall as support. Now that he had found this large room, he had hoped that he would be able to train himself a bit more with his martial arts to help improve his senses so that the next time he would get into a battle with such a strong enemy, he wouldn't have to be injured so badly. The last thing Niya had expected to get was once he had gotten up to his feet completely, the sounds of multiple footsteps had caught his attention.

Placing a single hand onto the wooden wall that he had once leaned upon for rest, the blind male had did his best to try and listen as well as feel the footsteps of who was coming down the halls so rapidly. It had only taken him about a second or two to realize the footsteps he had heard were not feet at all, they were paws with plenty of claws upon them. Wolves. However, the sound of their paws dashing down the halls was strange indeed, they were moving rapidly as though they were searching for something or someone since they had seemed much more organized then wild wolves. The sounds and smell of bloodshed from the other villagers wasn't heard since they hadn't killed any of them. Strange indeed.

Whatever the case maybe, since the sounds of attacks hadn't come up due to these strange wolves coming into the large palace. Niya had slowly helped himself over toward the nearest wooden training dummy. Running his hands across the wood of the dummy carefully to feel where each of the pieces had extended from it, the blind male soon had slapped one of the pieces that extended from the dummy only to cause it to go spinning in a circular motion. Just as quickly as he had slapped it, Niya had reached up to stop it in it's tracks. "Hmm.." He stopped to think carefully to himself before taking about two steps backwards from the dummy. In an instant, the blind male had began to hit each of the pieces of the dummy that stuck out in a quickened motion as each one of the pieces spun at an incredible speed only to come around to try and hit the blind male. As each one of the pieces that came around to nearly hit him, he had made sure to use his wrist to either block if not hit the pieces to spin in the opposite direction.

It was only a matter of time that Niya's body had once again lost much of it's strength due to him not completely healed of all of his wounds that he was smacked straight at the gut by one of the pieces of wood. Immediately he had fallen upon his knees with a single arm wrapped around his gut. Instantly his coughing had once more continued but this time, no blood had spurt out due to this not being his illness but simply the pain of being hit. Grunting deeply, the blind male did his best to stand back up to his feet only to continue to train by fighting back against the wooden dummy. Each time he would fight back against it, after about a minute or so he would end up losing his strength once again and fall upon the floor. After about the tenth time of being hit to the floor, Niya had began to pant heavily once again. The sounds of the paws of the wolves out in the halls were still all easily heard as he only turned his head over his shoulders lightly to wonder what these wolves were looking for.

Once again, Niya had shrugged off the idea of what they were doing here as he made his way over toward the next training equipment he would use for his training. This time, it was a large punching bag that seemed to had been filled quite a bit. Placing yet another hand against the bag, the blind male pressed all five of his fingers against the bag to see if they would sink in even a bit. In the end, not even a single budge was left from his fingers when Niya had pressed them against the large bag. Nodding only slightly, he immediately began to punch the bag with multiple hits from his fists only to follow along with many kicks to the side of the bag as well. However, as he continued to punch at the bag continuously his thoughts had began to wander off as memories of his past began to flood into his brain. Living his life with the monks in the village was so peaceful and it had made his life so great. Niya had thought for sure that he was going to be able to spend the rest of his life there, but when the demon boar had decided to arrive and destroy everything the blind male ever cared for, it ruined his life. Instantly with anger raging inside of him, Niya had quickly slammed his next punch as hard as he could only to have his fist go straight into the bag. By the time he had pulled his fist from the large bag, the knuckles of his fist had already lost much of their skin as blood was easily visible from them. Sand had poured out from the bag out of where the blind male had slammed his fist into. The sight of how much sand came from the bag reminded him of the blood that came from the monks that the demon had killed, this angered him even more as Niya quickly kicked the bag to the floor with a single raged kick of his leg.

The large bag laid upon the floor unmoving as sand now poured out from the top of the bag nonstop. The blind male listening to the sound of the sand pouring out had soon sat down onto the bag that continued to pour out sand. Soon enough, the he had ripped off the white cloth from his eyes only to begin feeling the tears from his eyes drip down onto the wooden floor. Clenching down onto his fist in one hand while the other clenched onto the cloth, Niya exhaled a deep breath to stop himself from crying too much.

Hex leaned forward, placing his hands on Chi's shoulders as he did. "Seems we have company" he laughed. Chi turned back in the direction of where the female's voice was coming from. A slender cut slowly forms over the palm of his hand, as blood begins to elongate through the cut. Slowly, the mass takes on the form of a sword, as Chi's free hand wraps around the other's wrist. He grips onto the handle of the sword, standing his ground. "Lets add a little fox to our collection hmmm?" Hex tightens his hands on Chi's shoulder, as the smaller male blows a bit of his hair out of his eyes. "So we wont kill her?" he asks. "Not unless she becomes a pain in the ass" he laugs. Chi looks up at him a bit, before tightening his hand on the hilt of the sword.

Hikari rounded a corner on the stairs and found herself facing Chi and Hex at the top.Chi was holding a sword that seemed to be made of solidified blood.One quick sniff told her that it was,in fact,blood.Hikari tilted her head,trying to see Chi's face under his hair,but she couldn't."Chi-kun? What happened to you? I know we only asked you to come as far as the village,but when you disappeared,we got a bit worried.We figured you just went your own way,but since you're here...what's going on?" She asked,getting a sinking feeling in her gut.

Hex laughed, placing a hand on Chi's head. "Poor poor little foxy" his eyes on her. Chi slowly began to walk forward, letting the tip of the sword scrape across the stone floor before. "People are all the same" he says in a low voice. Hex pats his head a bit, "we will gain the shards, we will accomplish our goal." Chi paused a foot in front of the other, his hand tightening on the hilt of the sword as well as his wrist. "I won't be hurt again" he says, then suddenly moves forward with surprising speed, bringing the sword up off the ground in a sharp arch, which caused it partially to slice against the side wall and leave a large gash in it. His attack was aimed at the fox girl, even though it could not be seen the feeling of a huge smile coming from Hex was apparent. He was enjoying this.

Haru opened his eyes. He had been meditating, when the sudden spike of energy had caught his attention. Standing slowly, he looked up to the catwalk above where it seemed to be coming from. Something was wrong, really wrong. A low growl however caught his attention. A group of at least a dozen wolves were moving in through the door on the other side. They were spreading out, as they moved in on the room. The snake on his arm hissed, slowly tightening itself in warning on his wrist.

This was not natural, they were no longer normal wolves. His hand went behind him, to the short sword he carried with him. Wrapping around the hilt, he watched the wolves, but made little moe at the moment to attack anyone. The wolves advanced, growling, their eyes were cold and hard, showing no fear at all. He glanced at the door behind him, where the others were still resting, nudging in closed for now. If they woke soon so be it, but for now he would make sure no one was harmed while they rested from such a fight.

Hikari was lucky.She managed to dodge the blade just as it swung towards her,executing a back flip that a contortionist would have been jealous of.She landed on her feet a few feet away,but she did not draw her sword."Chi-kun! I'm not going to hurt you,okay? See,I won't even draw my blade.I won't strike out at you at all,just to prove it." She said,attempting to reason with the boy.She wanted to throttle the smirk off of Hex,but that would probably hurt Chi,and she didn't want that.

Hex laughed, as Chi slowly straightened up. He moved forward once more, step by step closer to the female once more. "Foolish little fox such a trickster, no use in trying to fool us" Hex says, "you would stab him in the back or leave at the first chance." Chi looked up a bit at Hex, who placed a hand on his head. "She's a liar Chi, she needs to be ended" he laughs. Chi looks over at the girl, pausing for a moment. He did not want to hurt anyone, he hated to, but he must do what he must right? He moved forward once more, striking out with the blood sword once more, aiming for her head.

Hikari jumped back again,getting dangerously close to the stairs."No! Chi-kun,he's lying! I swear I wouldn't hurt you.I'll prove it.I'll do anything." She pleaded.What must this boy have gone through in his life,to be so guarded and mistrustful of everyone? Well,damned if she was going to reinforce that idea!"Please,give me a chance.I have never lied-it is against everything I stand for."

Once all of the tears that had came from Niya's thoughts had finally dried up, all that was left was him sniffing softly to himself. His breathing steadied and normal, the blind male had wrapped the white cloth back around his eyes before slowly helping himself up to his feet. The sound of the wolves' paws dashing throughout the hallways of the large palace had sounded a bit more distant now then they were earlier when they had passed by the training room where Niya resided within. Slowly enough the blind male had began to make his way over toward the exit of the training room, every few steps he had taken forward while he had nothing to use as support Niya would almost fall flat back onto the floor but thankfully was able to catch himself before he had hit the ground. By the time he had reached the exit doors to the training room, he slid one of the doors open only to reveal the hallway he had walked down earlier.

With the doors open and him finally being out of the training room, he was able to concentrate and listen out to hear where the wolves were and if anything else was going on around the area. It had seemed as though the wolves were still much closer then he had expected, reaching back slightly into the training room once more Niya had picked up his blade before holstering it behind him once again. The sounds of the growls from the wolves and from which direction they had sounded be at, it was more then obvious to tell that they were targeting the others who were still resting within the other room. However, that was not the only scent he also noticed another familiar scent had come to his attention as it was more then easy enough to tell that this was none other then Haru.

If the male was still willing to work with the group, the others would be safe for the moment if the wolves had decided to ever attack. At least he had hoped so. Niya on the other hand continued to listen out for anything else that roamed the area around him. There had been distant voices of what seemed to had been yelling as well as a blade clashing against metal. Turning his gaze straight over toward the sound, Niya slowly had began to make his way toward the sound only to use the wall next to him as support to continue walking.

It had taken the blind male at the least of a few minutes to arrive at the bottom on the large staircase that lead upwards. Being this close, Niya had slowly slid his own body onto the floor as he rested his back against the wall behind him. Turning his head around the corner to look up the staircase, he was able to easily make out the scents of two beings on the top of the stairs. One was just so happening to be the female demon from earlier while the other was Chi, the third voice had easily been familiar to the blind male as he had remembered this voice of being the strange creature named Hex. A mental sigh had came from Niya's thoughts as he turned his head back to rest it upon the back of the wall once again. There was no chance anyone within the group, let alone the blind male himself were planning to harm Hex if it had meant that Chi was also going to be harmed as well.

For the moment, Niya had remained at the bottom of the staircase with his back against the wall around the corner. There was nothing he could do to help at this point, if it was anything like earlier back in the forest the female demon would manage to be able to help Chi regain control of Hex and things would be back to normal.

It was the distinct scent of canine that brought Kitaru awake. A bit groggily at first, he certain hadn't slept long enough, but he sat up quickly. Suddenly feeling danger. Eyes glanced this way and that, as the first thing he noticed was the absence of Suzume, and the presence of the katana. There was danger all around them, and Suzume was not in the room. He needed her, had she been taken? He growled deep in his throat, snatching the katana up from where it rested as he sprang to his feet and nearly busted the door down in his haste to get out of that room.

Kitaru looked this way and that almost frantically, the katana wasn't hurting him, perhaps because of that strong desire to protect or save Suzume that had once again taken root in his heart. His very soul. The man with the ink animals had returned to them, his help might be needed. Kitaru didn't have time to stop and chat though, he had to find Suzume. Sniffing at the air, he soon found her scent and dashed off after it. He avoided the wolves where he could, they were just stupid canines after all. Kitaru would fight where he needed to, but they were just wolves. Controlled, but still just wolves.

He would fight his way towards Suzume if need be, and kill any wolves he could that came between him and his goal. Soon he found the door her scent led him to, and Kitaru shoved it open hard without a second thought. He stopped completely when he entered the room. Eyes darting about for Suzume, until they spotted her in a large hot spring. She was bathing. A bit of color crept into Kitaru's cheeks and he turned quickly, shutting the door just as a wolf lunged at him. He heard the wolf hit the door with a satisfying thud and he smirked, his grip tightening on the katana. For now his back was to Suzume.

Suzume was finally relaxed. She'd forced herself to push nearly all thoughts aside. She'd done it by thinking of how the hot spring water felt against her skin, how it relaxed her muscles and caused her hair to float up around her. She'd begun to hum to herself and her eyes were still closed. Her raven black hair was long and she reached up without really thinking to run her fingers through the part of it that was in the water.

She'd almost completely forgotten about everything important when an image of the dead man popped into her head. Suzume opened her eyes and leaned away from the rock with a frown. The spring and make-shift forest around her was beautiful. Had everything she'd experienced over the last two days been a dream? The white aura of the Maboroshi no Ginzuishou next to her caused her to turn her head and look at it.

She picked it up and held it in her hand. No, none of this was a dream, and she wanted to check on her friends now. Her stomach grumbled. She also needed to eat. Suzume stood and just as she did, the door to the room flew open and in came the tiger demon. Immediately she sank back into the water with crimson cheeks.

He'd already turned around, thankfully, but she still covered herself as best she could under the water as she began to fume. "What are you doing!?" she asked angrily. "You can't just go barging in rooms like that!" Her anger came more from embarrassment than anything. "Don't turn around!" she warned him as she stood again and grabbed the towel from the edge of the spring.

She fumbled with the towel for a moment in her embarrassment before finally wrapping it around herself successfully. Had he seen anything? The thought embarrassed her again. Her dirty, blood stained clothes were still on the floor. The woman hadn't yet returned for them and to bring her something fresh.

That was just perfect. She was standing in the middle of a makeshift forest, in a towel, with a tiger demon who's name by the way, she still didn't know. She was angry again. She should have been thanking him for his help earlier and happy to see that he was okay, and she was. The happiness was just hidden somewhere under all the deep embarrassment and hostility that was threatening to attack the tiger demon with a bath sponge.

Kitaru stood there, his back to her and both hands holding the doors closed. The katana held awkwardly in one hand. Wolves couldn't open doors, of that he was sure, but he didn't want them to ram into hard enough to make it open, if they were still even trying to get in here. So he held the doors fast with his own body. When Suzume spoke, he snorted lightly, tail swishing almost anxiously behind him.

"I can barge into rooms as I please when you're in danger!" He had huffed lightly. Did she not hear the growling wolves as they roamed through the hallways, maybe she didn't. She was human after all, she didn't have heightened senses like he did. Still, she always seemed a little too oblivious for his liking, far too trusting. When she had told him not to turn around he huffed again. As if he wanted to look at an ugly human's body anyway. Still, the knowledge that she was behind him and naked did make his cheeks turn red somewhat. It shouldn't have. He'd never really been a modest person before, and barging in on a naked human shouldn't have bothered him like that.

He cleared his throat slightly. "Someone's sent a pack of wolves after us." He had picked up a lot of scents on his way to find Suzume, but they were jumbled and the only one he had been concentrating on was Suzume's, so he couldn't be sure who was controlling the wolves or if they were even in the castle. "I don't know where the blind man or the fox are, maybe they escaped. Maybe they're fighting this new enemy." He almost glanced over his shoulder at Suzume, but he stopped himself at the last moment.

When Kitaru said that someone had sent a pack of wolves after them, Suzume finally cleared her mind of her embarrassed and her angry thoughts, and realized that the demon was holding the doors shut. She blinked owlishly for a moment. She could hear them growling and snarling outside now that smoke wasn't billowing out of her ears.

"Hikari is missing?" The fox demon wouldn't just take off, Suzume was sure of it. And the blind man had terrible injuries. If he'd gone, how far would he have gotten? "We have to go find them," she said, sounding like she was giving an order. She'd moved until she was standing very near the tiger demon. "Can't you just open the doors and stop them with magical demon powers or something?"

Suzume's hair was dripping and she wondered why the woman who'd promised her fresh clothes had never returned. Then suddenly her stomach turned. Perhaps the woman had been attacked by wolves. No, Suzume was a positive girl. The woman was probably busy in another part of the castle, or safely locked in a room, like her and Kitaru were.

Kitaru had growled slightly when it sounded like Suzume was giving him an order. Her next words made him very angry though, and he glared at her. Dropping the katana he had been holding. It was her katana anyway, and he could hold the doors better without it in his way. "Can't you stop them with magical katana Maboroshi powers or something?" It was clear her words had struck a nerve in him, as his response dripped with anger and sarcasm. His voice softened some, "The others can take care of themselves."

Pain was creeping through his body again from his shoulder. It still wasn't fully healed and here he was, holding some doors closed. All for the sake of a human. Kitaru grunted lightly, he couldn't ensure the doors stayed closed forever. They might have a better chance if he opened the doors and fought the wolves off, maybe. He looked at her, and made his decision then. "I'm not opening these doors until I know it's safe for you out there." He pressed his body more firmly against the doors. Ears twitching as he listened to the sounds on the other side.