Eire had been out for a long time most humans would of thought he was dead but he wasn't Eire opened his eye's to what seemed to be women on top of his horse and the other side some kid but he could sense demon blood in both "What is going on who are you to" Eire leaned up as he saw his arm bandaged up and the wounds were on there way of healing with the help of the shards "I guess I should thank you but a bigger question" Eire said as he hoped off his horse and reached for his great sword and drew it "What are you do......." Eire turned to the feeling of the warrior "Looks like it's time for round two" Eire grinned as he turned back to the two on top of his horse and then he could remember that his arm is nothing right know "looks like it can wait" Eire walked up and hoped onto his horse "let's get out of here". Eire new that he had to pay these people back some how and letting them use his steed would be a good start.

Tanya could feel that demon from earlier very clearly now, and the strange aura of two others. At this point she was so close upon them that it did not matter what they did to escape. They would be caught. Though Tanya was not one to take chances, so instead of running around the building - she decided to run through it.

Sheathing her blade she turned to face the walls of the inn, and simply ran through them. She easily breezed through the walls - throwing debris in every which way that were blasted in all directions. As she came through the final wall her eyes narrowed in on the group that sat on a mount before her, a quick grin crossed her face. "For God!" Jumping into the air, towards the demonic trio she was many feet above them. Pulling her right arm back and clenching her hand into a fist she would just smash these three into oblivion, cleansing them from this earth.

In her head she could hear the voice of her God, providing her with the inner strength to win this battle. As she came down towards the group she brought her fist forward with her might and faith behind it, a bright light radiated off of her fist and came off her fist like a mist. There was no hope for the trio in her eyes.

---

Skylar watched as the strange man got up and jumped off of the mount quickly in a fast back flip, displaying a mild amount of his dexterity and speed. The large beast drew his blade and began rambling on about a round two. All of these things just came to Skylar as a strange move considering the amount of power resonating off of this thing powering towards them. Then as quickly as the strange man seemingly went a little crazy, he jumped back onto the mount - though Skylar was not one to trust him any more now that he was awake. He just wanted to have some fun with Ai, dieng or risking his life was not too much fun in his eyes, which is saying something. Skylar had a skewed perception of fun as it was.

He turned to Ai to see how she was feeling, but his attention was quickly pulled to the sound of destruction. Through the walls came some, woman. A woman who looked innocent enough was tearing through the walls as if she was running in a valley. Like she was facing absolutely nothing in her path, she never slowed down - it was a terrifying thing to witness. And it only got stranger....

This woman yelled to them about her God, and that is when it seemed to make more sense. Then once again, the woman showed more of a demonic power then a human one. Leaping into the air and coming towards their direction, her right fist was giving off a strange power that Skylar preferred not to be on the receiving end of. He quickly clapped his hands together to create a small illusion of being chased to cause the mount to start sprinting off in its intended direction. In a quick instant Skylar had managed to get his friend Ai and that beastly thing away from here... and get away from that woman and her strange ideals.

Though admittedly it was not the most comforting position to be in, that woman had some strange power and Skylar was worried that Ai and himself would not be able to get away. Not to mention if this beast decided to fight them as well... though he was wounded. That woman... if she could cause such a gruesome wound to a monster like this it seemed reasonable to assume killing Skylar and Ai would be no difficult task once she got her hands on them.

While noticing that the powerful presence approaching had even one jewel shard, allowing her senses to give them a number was beyond the reach of Ai’s courage. Not Skylar’s however. So, as he turned to her with that worried expression once again and pronounced that it had seven, she visibly stiffened. Then, moving as if mechanically with a rush of anxiety, she continued to ready the horse. “Skylar, it’ll be alright. It won’t hurt us, we’ll get out of here,” she tried to comfort him, one of her hands moving to gently squeeze one of his shoulders as she grinned his way.

It was difficult to manage, even for Ai, whom was usually unconcerned with the presence of other shard holders. It was a given that there were others like herself, so why fear? Most demons and humans alike had minute amounts to their name. This presence, however, and the effect she saw it having on Skylar caused her great worry. Glancing at the unconscious man, she had to wonder if it weer this presence that had wounded him so lethally.

What distracted her from this grave atmosphere was Skylar’s notion of placing her leftover change on her lap. Blinking in surprise, she looked down at it in question for a moment before a small smile graced her lips and she moved to put the coins back in her change pouch. It wasn’t everyday that another gave you your spare change willingly-- even what seemed to be a child. She was greatly pleased to see that from the demon companion she was growing fond of. “I’m glad you were able to find it, and thank you for giving that back. There will be plenty more food to sample in the next town, I’m sure,” she spoke with optimism, but she was still a bit doubtful of this situation.

After the monk that had come left, Ai turned her attention from him to the soft giggle she heard from Skylar. Her seriousness was swept, for the most part, off of her face as she smiled and laughed softly a bit herself. “He’s in for a surprise,” she spoke amusedly. Apparently, she also was. As she heard the injured demon between her and Skylar speak, she drew her blade and narrowed her eyes at him cautiously. “We saved you, that’s all that you need to know for now,” she spoke slowly, clearly, completely lacking of the warmth she showed towards Skylar. Her lack of trust in him was evident from the moment she realized he was no longer unconscious.

As other questions came from this unnamed demon, she sighed softly, knowing he would have them but her bubbling anxiety was too much to allow her to answer them. The trio needed to leave immediately. She’d sooner grab Skylar and whisk him off into the forest along than stand to be weighed down. Yet, as she was just considering this, the man leapt back upon his horse and seemed ready to leave with them. “Good, now you’re talking! Let’s make haste, it’s fast,” she murmured the last bit, noting just how fast this powerful presence was now hurling in their direction. The religious yelling of a mantra or something from the other side of the building became unnerving as well. Re-sheathing her blade, the felt a split second of terror ensue as the presence that had been just opposite the building to them burst forth in the form of a woman.

Head pounding in a split second where she couldn’t help but hold her breath, she found her fret of imminent death for not as Skylar managed to save the three of them. From that blow, at least. Knowing that more had to be done, Ai withdrew a gourd of water from her belt at her side. Then pulling up her sleeves, her jewel shard would shine brightly from one of her wrists as she sent a small splash of water out behind the horse the rode on. Turning to look over her shoulder as this happened, her hands would make a slow waving motion, fingers dancing to and fro as the water she had thrown multiplied in quantity and froze itself over as a thick wall between the trees and buildings behind them. It was to harden as thick as a metal- something normal humans couldn’t get through- but she knew that the woman was no normal human. Ai only hoped that would slow her down some.

In the mean time, she wanted a few answers about that wound the red-haired demon alongside them had. “You’ve met before?” she asked, turning to face the other two as the horse rode on. “Hey, was she the won to slash you up like that? Is she after just you?” she asked, eyes still narrow with caution. While she wasn’t up for mindless slaughtering, if Skylar and herself were merely in harm’s way for nothing, she’d get them out of there. Still, she didn’t think that that was the case- she merely wished it to be. The woman seemed hell-bent on exterminating all demons, from the sound of her earlier, loud speech on ‘purification’.

Tanya watched as the mount suddenly went off on its way, she was regretful they would just dodge the attack. Though that did not stop her from showing them what they had narrowly survived. As she plummeted to the ground she brought her first forward and slammed it into the earth, it immediately sent out a shock wave that made the ground in the area tremble. Almost instantly the ground shattered and broke into massive chunks of rock that blasted out in all directions - causing mayhem and havoc in the surrounding area. As the plume of dust settled the crater from Tanya's attack was massive - awe inspiring. In the middle is where she stood, eyes locked don the fleeing mount. In a moment she was off, on the chase - hunting them.

Suddenly she watched as a wall of what use to be water turned into some sort of shield in front of her, an attempt to save those unholy beings from their fate. It was the work of that crystal, those satanic objects that Tanya carried around in hopes of claiming them all and having them cleansed. Tanya slowed down at the wall and approached it in a leisurely walk, the demons would never escape her. She would let them tire out for now, and get a mount of her own. This was a chance to test her powers against the wall that the blasphemous creatures had created in an attempt to survive.

It was almost hard to look at the thing, knowing where it came from. Placing her hands on the strange wall Tanya reached out for divine powers once again. "God... assist me once again." Opening her eyes she pulled back her arms and began to punch the wall. The first punch was her right hand, then her left. Two punches in and she could feel the wall was sturdy, but not sturdy enough. Raising her arms above her head, she used the entirety of her forearms and hands to smash the wall. She could feel it breaking under her strength... it was a good feeling to conquer the demons defenses like this. Force the monsters to retreat from her. Pulling back her right arm once more she let out a yell, "Be gone!" The following punch shattered the wall and left Tanya capable of hunting her prey on the same path they had taken. "Soon enough demons, you will face my might..." Tanya's blonde hair flickered in the gusts of wind caused by the collapsing wall. Conviction in her eyes, she meant every word, they would have to face her in battle soon enough.

---

Skylars eyes widened in disbelief as to what he just witnessed, absolutely terrifed by the all too gruesomeness of that attack. The sheer brutality of it all. The power she just emitted caused the very ground to shake, he could feel that himself. The destruction she caused from that one attack... she was going to kill them with that. She would have. He could still see that horrid women, she looked at ease. It was unnerving... Then Ai pulled out a shard of the jewel. He was right about her having some. She even used it against that woman, a massive wall of what looked like ice formed behind them. For a brief moment he felt safe, but it faded quickly enough. Cracks emerged in the wall as the gap between the woman and the group increased. He watched as it fell, they were far enough know to be more or less safe... but nothing was guaranteed at this point. That woman... was a true monster in Skylars eyes.

His attention turned to the red haired man as Ai questioned him. Was he really the reason she was following them? Skylar thought the wound may be from her... but only because he could not imagine another thing so strong. For a human, and a female human on top of it, she was more powerful then anything Skylar had ever seen. She was terrifying... Skylar was okay with seeing that kind of power once. He wished to never face it again.

Shaking his head and coming back to reality he turned to his friend Ai, "Do you think.. she will follow us?" He was stumbling over his words, never had he truly thought he could ever die. Sure there was risk in fighting other demons for the shards. But it was in the name of fun, this adventure quickly became seriously lacking in that regard. His voice trailed off, terrified by what his thoughts roamed too... "Ai... do you think... she will find us?" Turning his head from the ground to Ai, he searched her face for an answer. Some sort of reassurance. Then the worst case scenario escaped his lips, his true fears... "Will she..will she kill us?"

As a demon the idea of death was not a common one, it rarely passed your mind if you were strong enough. Fear too was something very uncommon. These were things Skylar never cared for - and yet they have caught up to him. He felt disturbingly human for once... not just looked like one anymore. It was hard to say, but he had never had so little fun for as long as he had lived. Never been so fearful of anything.

A frown appeared briefly on Himeko's face as she managed to pick up the presence of a few demons in the nearby area. If they were intending to sneak up on her, the petite female would just have to bust their bubble. Violence was the last thing Himeko wanted to resort to, seeing as she had just spent a pretty coin on the new kimono. But she knew it was best to scout out the presence north of her.

With a quick push, she darted her way to be closer to what she now felt to be a few shards. "Perhaps, I will be able to snatch these to go along with the one I have." Himeko spoke to herself. As she drew closer, the sounds of battle were in full effect. Not wanting to participate in it, she masked her aura and watched from a safe distance. "Such power they have. Shame the one is just a pathetic human..." Himeko mused. The thought of joining in had crossed her mind. It had been too long since Himeko had fought against someone who could hold their own. In fact, the last time was before her Lord had left the Western Palace to find his half-brother.

As she heard Skylar and the distinct fright in his voice, Ai dismissed the other male altogether. She was far more concerned with protecting herself and her new friend - dare she call him that? - to pay any more attention to the demon whom she had earlier aided. She had done her part in helping him, and he had done his in helping them with their use of his horse. Now, it was high time to abandon this method of travel. Although horseback was far faster than walking on foot, she knew any even better method. A more reliable one, too, for she could simply rely on herself and her ability to carry the demon child.

Sighing softly, Ai would grin at Skylar. "No, there's no need to worry. Look, let's ditch this horse, huh? I've got a better idea. Can you climb onto my back?" she spoke casually, posture calm once more as she had made the decision to simply leave the third demon behind. The two of them had made a better team anyways. "I'll get us out of here. You trust me, right?" he added with a playful wink, hoping to lighten his feeling of dread. After all, death was upon them if they didn't act fast, but she knew of a simple enough escape for now. An escape she didn't fancy using, for this called for her true demon form, but hey-- it was still an escape. That, and the look of dread on any child's face was enough to ring her innards. Demon or not, he was still a child, and pleasant enough company for her to value keeping safe and entertained.

If he had indeed managed to climb aboard her back, as if piggy-back style, she would swiftly leap upwards from the horse and into the air. Once they had shot into the air, her body morphed instantaneously as they continued to float upwards. Her body extended and widened, her skin became smooth, light blue scales, her arms rose behind her to become wings, and her face completely morphed until she appeared to be a dragon of a glistening blue color. If Skylar had remained on her back, he would be sitting just behind her head as eh soared forwards and away from the threat of the beastly woman with the sword.

Skylar blinked owlishly, she wanted him to climb onto her back? Normally that was a request Skylar would all together avoid, it was a strange request indeed. But Ai had never turned on Skylar yet - and even now she would ditch this strange man to ensure there safety. For a demon like himself, Ai did know something of companion ship surely. When she inquired as to if Skylar had trusted her, it was obvious that he should and did. He placed his hand on the strange man and used it to throw himself into the air, landing behind Ai. He quickly scurried onto her back as she just bound into the air.

Skylar watched with a big, stupid funny smile on his face as to the morphing Ai. It was so cool to see her in her dragon form, very pretty and soft. "You can do that!?" Skylar let out with a loud childish shriek. "Awesome!" Running up to her head and pointing his head in front of one of her eyes he looked very fascinated. "I wish I could do that!" Lifting his head out of her way and not obstructing her vision any long he ran to the middle of her back and looked around. "Wow...." Bringing his hand above his eyes like a captain on a human ship he gazed over the horizon. He had never been so high before, though he had also never been on any kind of dragon.

The fear of that woman washed away and his silly self had returned. His child like energy bounding and pouring from every inch of his petite body and once again full of energy he could hardly contain himself. Running up to the spot behind her head he grabbed on tight, "Can you do any tricks!?" His voice booming with excitement he could barely keep himself in that one spot. Being a dragon was so cool.

---

From where Tanya stood she could see a large blue dragon demon, these things were classic in the wars of her land. Though she single handily ended more dragon demon existences then anyone in her entire country. She annihilated that race of demon from her land and has not seen one since. The customs even changed as dragon demon slaying was a mark of passage for the paladins, now they did some other task Tanya cared nothing of. She was in the business of demon eradication - and she was good at it. Making a religious sign, she quickly turned to the village behind her. She needed to get a message to her home land and call in for a liberation force. A small army would be needed to cleanse the land, but a liberation force made of Tanya's closest and personally trained knights would suffice in her quest for the demonic shards.

Approaching the destroyed Inn she grabbed some of that strange wall material that was more like paper, it would be perfect. Rolling it up into a scroll she made her way through the village, and looked for someone to sell her ink. That was easy enough, and when she had written her message to her people back home. When the letter was written, it was not beautiful as per usual of her people but quickly written and sloppily sealed. She had no time when God needed soldiers to defend his divine vision of the world.

As her eyes searched the town calmly but quickly she found nothing she would need to send the message, she needed guidance. Closing her eyes and kneeling in the middle of town she began to pray to her God for help, for guidance. He told her to seek out the priestess where she parried that abomination for she would have tools for a proper letter and a means to send said message. Standing to her feet she knew what God spoke of instantly and made her way. She promised the priestess she would return to end her miserable, fake, and misguided existence.

Now Tanya would, and could call on assistance in the name of God at the same time. This only strengthened Tanya's faith to see things work out so perfectly. God had a brilliant plan if people would just follow it. "Thank you God." Her voice was that of if she was speaking, never ashamed of her faith. For now it had been validated once more, as it always was, and she would be able to rid the world of a blasphemous witch that guises herself as a priestess.

The battle that had attracted the attention of Himeko had also captured the interest of the young female demon, Inuyami. She wasn't here for any particular reason. Her feet often lead the way, her body and mind were just along for the ride as she made her way through the world. When the energy surges and scents of a battle flowed through the air to Inuyami's nose, she found that her curiosity was peaked.

Being down wind of Himeko, Inuyami could smell something familiar about the woman. She was hiding her spiritual signature well, but her scent was another matter entirely. There was something about this woman that reminded Inuyami of a very sad day in her past. The day she'd been left with a small handful of serving humans for what she was told was 'her own good'. Inuyami's thoughts lingered on the feelings she held towards that day, but she refused to let the past cloud her mind now.

Inuyami drew closer to Himeko and finally could see her through the thick of the trees. She was watching the fight and pretty well inthrawled with it. Pehaps she didn't hear her, or maybe she wasn't paying any attention. Now standing exactly behind the woman, Inuyami looked slighly down at the small, like haired woman.

"Friends of yours?" Inuyami inquired breaking the silence that surrounded their small area in the trees.

Himeko glanced over at the snowy haired female who had spoken to her. Her Tyrian purple eyes inspected the demon to determine whether she was friend or foe. The aura being given off held a certain essence that reminded the woman of something. Himeko brushed it off, along with the blue crescent adorning the female demon's forehead.

"No. Nor do I think I'd prefer to become friends with such." Himeko spoke with a rather snobbish tone. She didn't want to let on that she was intrigued by the flares of power given off by the group. "I'm surprised that you come so near. You must not value your life much if you just waltz over to a stranger."

The petite inuyokai tsked, before proceeding forward. "Should I assume you intend to follow the action? Or could you have a notion to retrieve the shard on this one's person?" Himeko spoke firmly. "Personally, I've fought enough in the past few days and prefer not to do anymore soon."

It was off putting to be spoken to so rudely by such a compleat stranger. But then again, it was Inuyami who had snuck up on Himeko. The tone in the small womans voice portraid an earned arrogance and sence of power that Inuyami knew better then to challenge, in battle or conversation. Strangely comforting as it was, there was a way about the womans mannor of speach that drew Inuyami in.

"I have no intent of a battle." Inuyami said cooly taking a step backward to show she meant no threat. "In fact, I had no idea you were even here until you scent drew me in." Perhaps she'd said to much. None-the-less, the words had been said and the woman would do with them as she pleased.

Ryou walked cautiously into the half demolished village. Well there would be no lodging here tonight. From the look on his face one could easily tell that he was annoyed. The young man had been travelling for weeks without being able to get proper lodging when he reached a village. Anymore it seemed like no matter which way he travelled whether it be East, West, North or South that the demons were on the move and they didn’t care who or what they destroyed in their search for the sacred jewel. All of this was getting rather old in his opinion. How was a wanderer such as himself to be able to make a living? Normally he wouldn’t worry with such things, but he needed to find a village to set up shop in soon otherwise he would run out of money.

Looking about the devastated village Ryou groaned inward. “Rumors about this village had been so promising too…” He complained to himself as he shook his head. He would have continued with his complaints if an odd sight hadn’t caught his attention. A woman in strange clothing appeared to be praying in the middle of the village. Some kind of priestess or holy woman? He stood there staring at the woman, his head tilted to the side slightly. Once he realized that he was staring he shook his head again with a sigh. “What should I do now?” Talking to himself once again he chuckled slightly. That question was one that he’d been asking himself a lot lately. The young man turned on his heel figuring it was best to leave before the woman noticed him. The last thing he wanted right now was to be dragged into the search for that blasted jewel.

"You are still a child." Himeko remarked, dropping any hint of emotion from her voice. Glancing back at the young demon, Himeko had to wonder if the girl had realize the mistake that she almost made. "As your elder, I feel the need to warn you that you might want to think before ever rushing in to greet a stranger. You could lose that pretty head of yours."

Himeko motioned for the female to follow her. She knew not why the urge to at least lead the girl from the scene of the battle but assumed it was the pack mentality that all inuyokai harbored. "Come. We shall find a village to rest in. What you decide to do once we arrive is up to you. I, however, must send word to my Lord's palace that I shall be gone from a short period of time." The older female spoke, not pausing to give the younger demon time to catch up with her.

As Tanya made her way out of the village she caught a glisten of a blade in the distance. Though they were not blades like hers but smaller, less useful katana. She had never seen the use for such a weapon - her sword could kill and block. A katana could kill but blocking would see it cleaved in two. Especially when you fought a woman with power like herself, never had any beast or man bested her in a battle of strength. That day would also never come.

Pulling herself through the crowds she felt the bodies of scurrying people bounce off of her heavily armored self. Normally, she would care but these people were blind to go and that made their lives less important then any believer. They were misguided by the witches, by pagan madness. Killing the priestess she saw before would be a fantastic start to cleansing the continent.

As she once again found herself in the forest, it felt clearer this time. She knew where she was going for once on this god-forsaken continent. She had a task, and she would see it through. She could only dream of the day that her people would come to this land and take it in the name of God. What a glorious war that would be - a war against the mad followers of false prophets, and against all demons that still resided here.

Fallowing without any reason to nor any reason not to, Inuyami wondered who the womans lord was but knew better then to ask. She was young, Himeko was right about that, but for her to under estimate Inuyami's own powers was rather foolish. Inuyami knew how dangerous it was to have snuck up behind the demoness, but there was something intriguing to her about this woman. How else was she supposed to open the conversation?

"If you insist." Inuyami said as she interlocked her fingers behind her head in a meloncholy mannor. This part of the land was new to her, much like much of the land. For most of her life she was to remain on the eastern coasts. It had only been a half decade since she had been aloud to journey the lands. Before that time, she was not yet strong enough to protect herself against the forces that chalenged her life.

Ryou glanced back every so often to see if the woman as still there. He took noticed that she had seen him and was most likely eyeing this twin katanas. The look in that woman’s eyes bothered him though at the moment he couldn’t pin point why. Continuing on in the opposite direction of the woman a few of the village stopped him. They made him an offer that was hard to refuse. Maybe coming to this village hadn’t been a wasted trip after all. It didn’t take long for him to negotiate a price to help the villagers rebuild and to make new tools to replace the ones that had been destroyed by the demon. Things seemed to be turning around a bit for him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Ayumu grumbled to herself. She rarely left her mountain home, but it was being threatened by those disgusting humans. This time she would get the humans in their own territory instead of waiting them to invade hers. Taking on human form the young looking woman walked quietly through the forest. From the distance she could hear what sounded like a horse. Maybe a poor lost human, a beautiful man she hoped. It had been a long time since she last drained the life force and she would need to do so again soon or she would start to age.

Himeko lead the way to the closest village, remaining rather silent. Her kimono barely touched the ground that they walked on as she weaved between trees. "Not much further. Hopefully there will be a hot spring they can point me to." The female spoke. She knew the girl was no more than a few yards behind her. "I'm surprised one as young as you is allowed to travel alone. Does your parents not worry for your safety?"

No sooner had the words left her mouth, Himeko sensed the presence of some lesser demons. No doubt that they were drawn to the shards that both females carried on them. "Let's see how well you can fight, young one." Himeko replied before letting out a low-pitch growl. From both sides, a gang of wild demons sprung at them. Himeko removed her small dagger from its sheath and allowed it to find its target in the side of one of the medium-sized demon's chest. Blood gushed from the wound as the filthy creature swung at Himeko. She dodged it but was distracted by the whizzing of a large rock. The demon swung again, this time connecting with Himeko's head. The force from its swing flung Himeko to the ground.

"Bastard... You will... pay," she growled. Struggling to get up, she glanced over at her current companion to see how the young female was faring.

Ai wasn’t surprised at all to soon hear the undeniably childish shrieks of Skylar as she soared upwards with him. It was only to be expected. Had she been in another form, a smile would’ve quirked onto her lips, but as it were the gesture was done in an odd manner with her mouth merely sloping upwards. She needn’t open her mouth to speak in this form, replying through her closed-lipped, odd little smile, “Yes, this is my demon form. I cannot hold it for incredibly long periods of time.” Her voice again reclaimed its normal calm as she felt the soft wind brush up along her scales. This was what freedom from human persecution truly felt like.

Seeing the little head of her companion peek around her head to look at one of her eyes, her gaze moved casually to blink up at him. His comments weren’t something she heard every day, but while she wasn’t particularly eating them up, part of her was grateful for them and the ease she now felt. Yes, despite his human child petulance, this was indeed a demon fox. A demon fox that sometimes seemed far too innocent in her eyes. This thought from her was only reimbursed by his next question. Something of a soft chuckle rumbled from her throat, but it had a hoarser tone than her regular one would’ve. “Tricks? Well, of course. Hold on tight, alright?” she would wait a few moments before a few ideas crossed her mind.

Then, after checking to see if her passenger had taken her advice, her front would suddenly rise and then dip downwards in the air before completing a circle. All the while making sure to keep Skylar on the middle side of this, for fear of knocking him off regardless of how she had told him to hold on. Then dipping suddenly again, they moved in a nose-dive maneuver before suddenly evening out just before the trees. Noting that they were now quite far from their previous attacker, Ai would relax the rest of the way again for a few moments and let the tree tops just barely touch her underbelly for a mile or so before lifting once more and speaking up. “So? How was that?” she asked, letting her gaze wander out at the stretch of trees before them.

All this before an unmistakeable fume hit her nose, which wasn’t all that keen itself. The scent of them were all too strong for her to ignore, but what also perked her curiosity about its origin was the obvious presence of jewel shards in that direction. The pull within her gut was sure of such. “Say, Skylar, there are dogs ahead,” she relayed the information casually, then twisting her head around curiously to see if he had noticed as well, but more so to check for his reaction.

The ambush of lower powered demons was unexpected but nothing the two inuyukai couldn't handle. Inuyami watch Himeko for a moment before she too was taken target by the pack. Swiping at the girls with their claws and nipping with their sharp toothed maws, the demons where having very little luck. Himeko had dispatched of one already before she was taken by another with a blunt attack to her head.

Seeing the other female take the hit to the head sent a protective anger threw Inuyami. She didn't owe the woman anything, yet having been her traveling companion for the last couple silent miles had sort of bonded them. Besides, Inuyami was lost in this place and without Himeko, she'd never find the nearest villlage.

As the demons snapped and clawed at Inuyami, she perfered to dodge their attacks rather the attack in responce right away. It was only when Himeko had taken damage the offence became deffence. As if turned on by a switch, Inuyami's body language changed. She was suddenly less inviting, almost as if her aura was pushing every living thing away from her. In a flash of speed, Inuyami darted around the group of lesser demons, ripping their backs and bellies open with her claws. A large number of the demons now laid injured or dead around Inuyami and Himeko, but Inuyami made sure to leave the bastard who'd clubbed Himeko for her to punish as she felt fit.

Skylar yelled and shrieked as his friend Ai performed some aerial tricks. He had in the air before like the birds, and Ai was a really good flier. He giggled for a little while after too, just pleased entirely by the entire day. Ai was one of his good buddies. He was glad that he had found her. She was definitely fun, and she understood the need of fun for his little trickster self. It was great to have an understanding demon with him, tons of fun too.

When his friend asked if he enjoyed the tricks, Skylar could not help but to yell in a shriek of excitement. "That was amazing!" Throwing his arms up in sheer excitement he let out another string of giggles. He wished that he could fly too - it seemed to be so much fun. After a few moments Ai brought up the fact she sniffed out some dogs. Once again, as Skylar had done very many times now days, he had not been paying attention to his surroundings. Upon trying to be aware of them, he smelled those dog demons too. "Yeah, they smell bad." Covering his nose, his facial expression was that of disgust. Though it quickly changed to excitement. "Ai!" Skylar got up and ran to the tip of Ai's head. He let his senses peer into the power that he felt, "Ai.... They have shards too." Skylar could feel the shards in that location. It excited him somewhat, he wanted them in his possession. Those wonderful shiny things. "Can we go get them Ai?" A wicked smile crossed the child like demons face, he could have more of those glistening shards. That alone was motivation - he could make a necklace or something with a few more pieces. A shiny necklace that glistened at that.

Himeko wiped the blood that was trickling down from the small gash on her head. She was not pleased that he had gotten the best of her. As quickly as she was thrown down, Himeko sprung up and latched her fangs into the neck of the demon. The metallic taste of his blood soured in her mouth and she dropped his lifeless body to the ground. In the process of moving, the petite inu daiyokai had transformed into her true form.

In the blink of an eye, Himeko was back in her human form. "Impressive, young one. Perhaps this is why your parents allow you to travel alone." She remarked, offering a small smile. Maybe she would see about having the girl travel with her. It had proved helpful so far.

"Perhaps allow isn't the word for it." Inuyami said as she brushed a wild strand of hair from her face. "You see, I've been alone for most of my life, only really knowing the three human men who served me and kept me within.... let's call them boundries. Upon my hundereth birthday, I fled and decided to begin taking care of myself." She expalined to Himeko as she tried to get into to many details. She walked behind the inu daiyoukai, lingering on the familiar scent she gave off. She knew full well whom it reminded her of, but she didn't think it possible.

The shrieks of excitement coming from behind her only further encouraged Ai, leading her to pick up more speed. Still, even throughout the tricks her gaze remained in a hard stare over the landscape before them. As they approached the source of the new scents, it became clear to her that there were more than one dog demon in the area. This made her just a tad wary, for she knew some could be quite powerful, but she wasn’t about to go out of her way to avoid them. Hearing the compliment yelled towards her, her concentration broke momentarily as a soft rumble left her throat, resembling a laugh. “I am glad you enjoyed it. I’m going to begin circling down now,” she explained as she begin to dip steadily in a circular motion, again making sure Skylar was on the inside of this flight pattern. It would do her no good to lose him now, after all.

Her lips remained tilted slightly upwards as she noticed the reaction the scent got from him. Fiesty child, wasn’t he? While this was slightly discomforting, knowing her companion had a thirst for jewel shards while she owned one herself, she was far more concerned with trying to make out how many shards the two they were nearing had. Dog demons may be strong on their own, but the same creatures with shards did perk a bit of intimidation from her. Ai wasn’t one to back away from her own curiosity, though, and was confident that she could hold her own if necessary. “We can go meet them on the ground, if you’d like,” she replied slowly, not giving any okay to try taking the shards but at least relaying that they could meet the second party.

Skylar held onto his large dragon buddy as they began to circle towards the ground, though ti was considerably easy seeing as she was clearly taking steps to avoid him falling or even slipping even a tad bit. "Maybe they will be our friends?" Skylar smiled and laughed but his thoughts ran back to that woman of insane strength. One that he had never even seen in demons. "Maybe they know about that scary lady..." Skylar was also trying to steer away from the topic of shards, sensing his friend did not really want to touch on that subject. Now also seemed a bad time to talk about the one she carried.

Turning his attention to his surroundings he was now alert, unlike how he had been for the past few days. He was completely aware of the area around him - letting his sense roam wild and his powers open to a quick defense. He would have to be ready to defend not only himself but his friend. She would probably be tired after this transformation as well - seeing as she said she can not stay in that form long. Yet that was only a thought, maybe she could cope well in her common form and her cool dragon form had little to no affect on the one he met her in.

Fallowing Himeko, Inuyami had finally found the first village she'd seen fror quite some time. It was rather small but it could offer the two inu youkai lodging for the light, along with meals and a chance to wash up. Inuyami's nose was filled with the scents of fires under frying pans holding various meats and vegetables. It was hard for her not to stare as she passed each different home. Each one had a different smell flowing from the open doorways.

"I'd assume this is where our company parts then?" Inuyami asked, giving a sideways off shoulder glance to the other female. It didn't make much of a difference either way to Inuyami, but even in the breif meeting, she had enjoyed the time she'd shared with Himeko.

"If you intend to stay in my presence, I will not stop you." Himeko remarked, taking in the auras of the villagers. She led the young female to the largest building in the village. "Humans, you say?" She spoke, turning to face Inuyami. "Were you held there against your will or perhaps your parents'?"

They entered the building and as Himeko assumed, it was the inn. The eldery innkeeper wasn't too talkative, lowering his eyes so that they didn't meet those of the demons before him. After tossing a small pouch of coins towards the man, Himeko motioned for Inuyami to follow her. Once they entered the room that they were to share, Himeko continued to talk to the girl. It had reminded her of someone she had met ages ago. It was during the first few months that she was allowed residency at her lord's palace.