((Just wanted to let everyone know that I probably won't be able to get a post up this weekend. Big basketball tournament, and then some baseball stuff. =_='' All day long...Saturday and Sunday. Sorry. ^-^" ))

((Thanks for letting us know, Naruto!))

It wasn't long before Suzume reached the river with it's crystal clear waters. She could see fish swimming many feet away and she contemplated staying to try and catch one. She could makeshift a pole from a stick and she may even have some sort of twine in her pack. Of course, her pack was back with the tiger demon. She'd placed it under his head as a pillow.

It didn't matter. Suzume didn't have the time to fish, even if her father had taught her to be exceptionally good at it. Quickly Suzume knelt down at the bank and filled her canteen with the cool water. She took a sip and then hurried to replace the missing water before clasping the top on it and swinging the strap over her shoulder.

Nearby, a little ways down the river there seemed to be a sort of rock pool. Suzume needed to remember that for later when she was ready to bathe. There she was enjoying the beauty of the river and daydreaming of the way the fish would taste cooked over a fire had she had the time to fish, when she remembered there were urgent matters at hand.

She spun around and headed back towards the place where she had left the woman and the tiger demon. She picked up wood that she knew would help to build a fire, though not quite enough. Suzume didn't have the time to search for enough of the right wood and she wasn't strong enough to carry enough of it either. Hopefully they wouldn't need it, but logically Suzume knew that the chances were high that the tiger demon wouldn't be able to leave his spot before nightfall. If he lived of course. Suzume couldn't help but feel like this was her fault in some way.

When she finally made it back to the place where she'd left the woman and injured demon, she saw two more people. An old woman and another girl who seemed to be around Suzume's age. She dropped the firewood nearby and moved to kneel beside the tiger demon. He looked even worse than before and the talons were almost entirely gone. So no one could pull them out then?

Suzume feared the worst. If they could get them out, he had a chance of the healer healing him and getting the poison from his body. If they couldn't and the talons sank in completely, there was very little hope that any healer could save him. But maybe. Suzume was hopeful, as always.

She removed the top from the canteen and lifted the tiger demon's head carefully. She brought the cool container to his lips, but was he even able to drink now? Was he aware of what was going on anymore? Concern and fear for the other showed by way of creases in Suzume's forehead as her eyebrows pulled together. Any other person he'd tried to attack would have long gone by now, but that just wasn't in Suzume's nature. She tilted the canteen, allowing the cool river water to pour slowly into his mouth.

The healer Asuka nodded at the pair and formed her own worry lines on her forehead. She'd seen that the woman couldn't pull the talons out and that it had caused them to sink farther into the demon's shoulder/chest. She had little time to work. Asuka pulled various herbs, a bowl, a vile of liquid and various other things from the basket on her arm. She knelt beside the tiger demon with mild difficulty in her old age and mixed the things together in the bowl before quickly rubbing the concoction gently around the talons. Just then Suzume returned with wood and water but Asuka paid little attention as she knew what had to be done next and a sweat formed on her brow.

Without warning Asuka stood and placed one small foot on the demon's chest while wrapping her fingers around the talons. If this worked, and the chances were good that it would, Asuka would have to work very hard to get the rest of the poison from his system over the course of the night. She began to pull and the talons budged pulling the demon's skin up with them. The demon would suffer greatly from the large wound that would be left as well as from the amount of poison in his system. Asuka did not envy the man.

[Sorry I've been busy I hope this made sense and that I didnt miss anything]

Moving through the trees of the forest, the young male was highly aware of his surroundings. He could sense the movenent of the wind through the leaves, as well as the movements of any animal that stirred within the woods. He was on the move once more, escaping an potential ambush he had gotten wind of back in the village he had been taking shelter within. His body was slender and lengthy, the clothes he was wearing were showing off of his body exceptionally well. They allowed him the freedom of movement and the silence within them that he needed. They had gained him plenty of attention throughout the years. Some refered to his style as a bit to sexual, but he did not see the trouble in it. It seemed to attract many to his form as well however. His body was maturing nicely, but his muscles not overpowering. The muscles of his stomach and his abbs were exposed from his clothing. He wore most often black or shades of gray, rarely ever any other color, especially red. Red reminded him of blood, he hated blood and loved it at the same time. The reason in this being more because of the demon within him. He swallowed slightly, keeping his expression emotionless. He rarely ever gave away any hint of what he was feeling or thinking, weather through body language or expressions.

He had learned long ago that giving anything awy about these two areas was dangerous. They could be used to their advantage. Leverage and knowledge was power. His body came to a halt on a high branch, as he sensed something not far away. Moement, two people to be exact. They were speaking, but of what he was not interested. He stayed still, keeping himself calm and collected as he waited to see what they would do. Had them slightly in view, and for a moment he wondered if they were able to sense him. It did not matter really, if they did, he would reveal himself. If not, he saw no point in giving himself away so easily. He knew nothing about them, so for now they were a remote threat to him. He was used to having to keep to himself, and not get close to others. For his own sake, and theirs. He could not afford the pain, or letting them get hurt because of him. He also knew that if the people who were after him caught wind, they would be after him even more then before. He could not let that happen. He slowly moved down into a sitting position, leaning back against the trunk. He slid his bag from his back, sitting it within his lap. He needed to find somewhere soon to obtain some provisions. He was running low on food, and on clean water as well. He could do with some more ink and paper as well.

A thought occured to him, as he slipped out a scroll of paper. Unrolling a bit of it, he opened his container of ink, and pulled out a brush. He dipped the tip of his brush within the ink, and pressed it to the paper. His hand moved expertly across it, and in a matter of secconds, three black snakes laid streatched out over it. He placed the ink and the brush away, and lightly moved his hand over the paper. For a moment, nothing happened, and then one of the snakes began to twitch, then the second, and the third. They lifted their heads off of the paper one by one, and soon pulled away from it completly. They moved, one up his arm, the others down his legs onto the branch. He re rolled the scroll, putting it away. His eyes moved over the snakes, and after a moment he spoke one word "go." The three black bodies moved down the trunk, one venturing closer to the men, as the other two took off to explore the area beyond and see if anything more was nearby. He closed his eyes, reaching a hand up to brush a few strands of his raven black hair. His eyes were a similar ink colored black. They were caused by the thing inside of him, the demon. His mother had beautiful brown hair and hazel eyes. He was the opposite, dark hair and eyes, coupled with his pale almost porcelin like skin, made him desired by those who did not know who he was, and feared by those who knew.

He let a slight sigh escape from his lips. His eyes opened, looking over at the other two, as they spoke about what eachother were. The one seemed to be injured. He could feel that there was something off about them. The one deffinetly had something demonic about him, the other seemed to be something else. He wondered what he should call himself. He couldn't be called a human anymore, not since what he had taken on from his mother. He wondered if he would be considered a demon now. Since it was inside of him, it was a part of him, and he had been born with. It was him, and he was it. He sighs a bit, looking up at the sky for a moment. Well, whatever you called him, he was him. That was not going to change, he had decided to accept it and in his own way embrace it. He wondered why these thoughts were coming to him now, he should be focusing on the task at hand. These people nearby, he was not going to let his guard down. His body did not give away anything as he leaned against the tree still. He wa very well trained in keeping his emotions and such in check. He slid his hand over the hollister at his hip. It kept a variety of shuriken in it, the lower one had Kunai. If he had to, he would use them. He also had the short sword at his back. He was skilled within it, and in hand to hand combat, being trained as a ninja guard, and his assassin skills as well as his...uniquee tallents. If it came down to it, he would handle it.

More strangers. Or maybe there weren't more. Kitaru wasn't entirely certain of anything anymore, except the pain. As if his very veins were on fire. He was hardly aware of Suzume returning with water until the liquid touched his lips, he swallowed at it greedily. Relief spreading through his entire body for a moment, the water felt so cool, and he was so thirsty. The relief didn't last long though, the fire inside him was too strong for that, to overwhelming. The talons were very nearly completely within his flesh, they seemed to only slip in further when someone touched them with the intention of pulling them away.

The mixture the healer had applied around the talons made his skin tingle, made the talons a little less resistant to being pulled out. Some small ingredient in that mixture must've been a weakness to the demon that had put those talons in Kitaru, or perhaps something in that mixture just held a strange power. Or maybe even the Maboroshi discreetly interfered. No touch should have been able to pull the talons free, they should have just disappeared into the tiger demon's flesh. Oddly enough when the healer pulled on them, the horrible talons tore free. Ripping flesh as they went, looking at it, it would be hard to tell the talons and Kitaru's flesh had been separate things. Those talons had fused and melted into his skin so completely.

When they were pulled free, Kitaru yelled. Loudly. As anyone would, having the flesh quite literally ripped from their bones. His good arm flailed around a bit, the fingers catching hold of some part of Suzume and clutching tightly at her before he went silent, and limp. Succumbed to the unconsciousness that only a great pain can bring. All that yelling and flailing, it had only been a couple seconds. Kitaru felt as if years had just been taken from his life.

][If it doesn't make sense..it's cause I'm half asleep. I'm not even gonna proofread it..so meh.][

[I used to be so much better at writing I swear lol. I'm trying to make better paragraphs. I feel like I know how, I'm just lazy. @@; Same with my punctuation. I've been watching all of your writing and feel like I should apply myself more.]

Asuka threw what was left of the talons onto the ground. When the fire was built she would burn them away from the others as to not let them breathe the poisonos smoke. The tiger demon had lost consciousness, as expected. Now there were many things that needed done. She looked around the group. "Someone needs to gather more fire wood, and someone needs to find food. I have bread in my basket, but fish or a small animal of some sort would do us all well, if you all plan to stay, of course. I will begin my work to cleanse him of the poison. We will also need more water because I am going to use what's left in that canteen." Once duties were designated Asuka took the canteen from Suzume and poured it over the tiger demon's wound. The water mixed with the large amount of blood that he was losing quickly and she pulled a cloth from her basket.

"Here, hold this onto the wound. Put pressure, it will help stop the bleeding," she spoke to Suzume. She pulled more herbs and another vile of liquid from her basket and mixed them into the bowl. When she was done she rubbed the mixture into the wound. Lucky for the demon he wasn't awake because it would not have been a pleasant feeling. It would have been easier had he been so that he could drink it, but this was the next best way to cleanse the poison from his body. Then the old woman had Suzume hold the cloth onto the wound once more before she wrapped the demon's wound, wrapping more cloth around his body to keep the wound covered. All demons were different, but Asuka prayed that for his sake he was a quick healer. They were all very vulnerable out here. Three women, one old lady and a very injured tiger demon.

She put her things away and began to build a small fire next to the demon. The old woman hoped that one of the other women was having luck finding more wood because the little amount they had would not last them through the night which was quickly approaching. She sat down next to the fire and closed her eyes in prayer. The demon would need all the help he could get if he were to make it through the night. The old woman had learned in her many years on this planet that not all demons were evil. She assumed this to be true of the demon here, as he clearly traveled with a young beautiful human girl. This had been the only reason she had helped. She cracked an eye to watch the two together for a moment before closing her eyes once again. It wouldn't be long before the old woman could be heard snoring after accidentally falling asleep. Someone would need to take care of the talons and prepare dinner without her now.

[Q U E E N: and Gemini: Asuka is talking to your characters to get you guys involved again. Just didn't want you to miss that!!!:)]

((Thank you))

Once given the task of finding food and wood,Hikari set off as quickly as possible.She wanted to be helpful,especially after seeing those talons ripped out.She nearly felt a pain in her own shoulder just thinking about it.She gathered as much wood as she could,but there wasn't much.She brought it back to the little group."This is all I could find,but don't worry,I can keep it burning through the night." She said,referring To her ability to control fire.Is there anything else I should-lady healer? Oh,dear." She couldn't help but smile a little when she noticed that the woman was asleep."I'll just start up the fire,then." She said.She gathered the wood into a cone-shaped pile and surrounded it with stones to make a fire pit,then took a dry leaf from the ground and held it up in front of her.Concentrating hard,her eyes flashed red and the leaf burst into flames.She tossed it onto the pile of wood and,from there,gently encouraged the fire to grow into a steady flame."There,all set.I'll keep it steady through the night.Now we just need some food." She said.

((Kiyoto: how do you always manage to create the exact kind of character I like?!))

(Pardon the ooc lol, but to Gemini, I just make characters I like and that inspire me. It seems I have a knack for coming up with good ones others love x.x )

[He reminds me of a mixture of Sai and Naruto. xD]

Ryn watched carefully as the healer worked to make a balm for the demon, crushing herbs until it became a balm that was rubbed onto the demon's skin, near the talons. The ripping of the talons from his skin was quite grotesque, but Ryn had seen--and caused--worse. Ryn was about to go gather supplies, but another girl stood up and left to get food and some more wood before she had a chance to speak up, so she stayed behind and watched as the demon was healed. It was quite awkward, a bunch of strangers congregating so suddenly. Plus, there was some weird presence lingering outside, not inside, of their odd little group of travelers.

"Do you guys feel that?" Ryn furrowed her brow. Her senses told her that there was some type of dangerous and deadly demon nearby, but his power seemed largely diminished. He was probably fused with a human, or sealed inside of one so that he wouldn't cause any damage, probably the latter. Ryn stood up from her squatting position, stretching out her shoulder muscles a bit by leaning backwards slightly. "I'm going to go check it out and see what's going on while I get some water, maybe catch some fish." She looked back at the group. "Anyone want to come with me?"

((I'm sorry to say this guys, but I'm going to have to drop out of this RP. I have a lot on my plate right now, and I'm starting to feel stressed with the number of RPs I have right now. ;A; Go ahead and make Nao an NPC (so that he doesn't randomly disappear), and do whatever you want with him. ^-^"

Sorry again, ))

((lol I thought a mixture of Sai and Gaara! *note that I happen to be a Gaara fangirl*))

Hikari looked up from the fire.She had sensed the presence,herself.Specifically,the presence of another fox demon.She could always sense other kitsune better than any other demon,simply because she was one.This one was once powerful,but now less so."I feel it,yes.Perhaps I will accompany you.The fire will last until I get back." She said,standing up and adjusting her katana.She was curious about this new presence.

Once Niya had finally been able to help himself up to his feet after regaining the energy he had needed to walk once again. He had awaited for a response from the half demon Nao to see if he was going to go and check out what was the source of the female as well as male voice from afar. It had seemed as though he didn't seem to leave even after him stating that the sound from the male they had heard seemed to had been in some intense pain. "Well..even if you are not going to check it out, it is no concern of mine. However, I would appreciate if you could kindly leave me be. Unless you are planning to hand over the shards that you have in your possession already, I suggest we part our ways now." The half breed demon didn't seem to want to fight as he had spoken about earlier as Niya simply waved to the half demon as he went on his way in the opposite direction of where he once stood. Mentally nodding to himself, he had turned his back onto where the half demon had went off and began to continue on his way down the dirt path he was once walking.

It hadn't taken too long til Niya had once more come to a stop as the sounds of metal clanging against one another just slightly caught his attention once more. Sighing softly to himself he had lowered down his head at the thought that yet another person was going to try and strike him down for the shards he had carried. Whoever this was that was preparing to strike at any given time was indeed very skilled at stealth, if it weren't for Niya staying on guard at the moment just because he had thought that the half demon was planning to randomly decide to attack him from behind without notice, he probably wouldn't had figured out about the sounds of the metal. Turning to face the direction of where he had heard the the sounds of the metal come from, Niya immediately began to walk toward that same direction as it seemed to begin nearing the forest-like area once more.

Coming at a stop at the entrance back into the shrouded forest of bamboo, he had began to turn his head left and right to figure out where he had heard the sound come from. "C'mon out whoever you are...if your after the shards. Don't you think it'd be better to fight one another face to face..rather then from within the shadows?" He had called out in hopes that whoever was planning to strike at him was going to reveal themselves or if he was going to have to end up figuring where hiding the difficult way. Throughout the entire time he remained standing there and awaitng for whoever it was that was going to try and attack him to appear out of nowhere, Niya's own thoughts began to wander throughout his head as he started to think if he should investigate the female and male voice he had ended up hearing earlier.

(He is origionally mainly inspired by Sai, and a bit from Naruto.)

Haru watched the male as he approached the trees and then called out. He tilts his head for a moment to the side, letting his thoughts shift back to the task at hand. His ink snake which had moved in for a closer look, was sitting close to the bottom of a bush near the male's feet. So, he thought Haru was after the shards of the jewel he had herd a lot about back at the temple. He kept his body still. Would it even matter if he made his presence clear? Or if he told this person that it was not the shards he was after at all. No...power and other's lives in his hands he already had, adding the shards to the mix would be a dangerous and foolish thing. He looked the other over, he did not look to threatening at the moment, though, Haru had gone through enough in his life to know looks were decieving, and even in a damaged state, those who were fighters would risk all to survive. His hand pulled away from his hollisters. He slowly stood on his branch, no longer minding if the other saw him or not.

"I have no intrest in the shards" he says honestly, taking on a smile that would look real to any who did not know better. For those who did, the smile was hollow and a facade. Many of Haru's feelings had been lost long ago, he could not afford to feel anything at this point in his life. Feelings..emotions...they were pointless, only there to hold him back. He felt a slight tightening in his heart, but pushed it away. He could not afford to think any different, this was the way it had to be. This was life, this was his own choosing and path. There was no going back now...not ever.

(( Super duper tired. Hope I makey some sensey ))

Were these three people really here to help now? Suzume couldn't believe it. She was relieved, but knew they weren't out of the woods yet. Things weren't looking so good for the tiger demon. As the healer crushed herbs together and poured a vial of something into the concoction, Suzume watched with interest. That herb with that one, and what was in the vial?

It wasn't long before the healer was standing with one foot on the demon's chest, those fingers wrapped around the talons, pulling. Suzume winced as the talons broke free and Kitaru yelled out. As he clung to her she held him in return, much like a mother might hold a child who'd been hurt.

When the healer was ready to address the now heavily bleeding wound, Suzume aided her easily, as she would have were anyone hurt. She would have been a good healer herself, though Suzume was lost in life when it came to deciding what she wanted out of it. When the healer was finished Suzume wiped the blood from her hands on the nearest cloth she found before realizing it was the tiger demon's shirt. Oops. Oh well, it had blood on it already anyway...

Dark grey eyes watched the old woman build a fire and saw the young girl leave and return with firewood. She blinked tiredly and yawned. Had so much time passed already that the healer was asleep and Hikari had gone and come back and made sure the fire would burn all night? So she too was a demon of sorts?

The sun was behind the trees now and the sky was streaked with shades of orange and purple. It would be dark in the next hour. Suzume looked to the woman who had initially come to their rescue and stood. She waited for a moment, but didn't feel anything, and then her and the fox demon were leaving.

"Wait," she said, before kneeling down to carefully remove her pack from under the tiger demon's head. She reached inside to find a couple of things that might be useful in making some fishing poles or even help in creating a small net. She handed them to Ryn and forced a tired smile and stifled another yawn. "Thanks for coming to the rescue," she said before looking to the fox demon to extend the thanks to her as well.

It warmed her heart to know that so many complete strangers had so much love in them that they would help to the extent that they were helping. "My name is Suzume Hamasaki," and there was that yawn, she just couldn't keep it away. What an exhausting day. She offered another tired smile and returned to sit near the snoring healer. The old woman was almost comical, but Suzume was still worried that the tiger demon may not make it through the night. She hated death and hated seeing it more than anything.

She studied Kitaru, recalling what he'd said about humans. Surely he didn't mean what he'd said, he couldn't believe that all humans were so bad. Had humans killed his mother? There she was again with that look of sympathy and sadness. She'd removed her pack from under his head to give the women some useful things, now she reached into it and pulled a small and rather thin blanket from inside. It wouldn't be helpful if it got much colder, but it was spring so that was unlikely.

Suzume covered the demon's chest and little more with the sheet like blanket. Maybe it would help, if he were cold from the blood loss, though he seemed feverish and she assumed he'd be flip flopping between hot and cold throughout the night. The pack didn't have much left in it now, just her mother's kimono and Suzume's shoes and various other small things, so she carefully lifted the demons head and rested it in her lap. Her care for others and motherly nature were too obvious.

She yawned and leaned back onto the rock behind her but something was poking her in the back. She reached behind her and her fingers found the mirror. She'd almost forgotten about the thing she'd tucked into the waist of her pants. Suzume held it up in front of her as she recalled the items fusing together to create the thing, how they realized demons couldn't touch it, and how it had protected her.

Her eyelids became heavy and she noticed that the sun was nearly gone from their sky all together. She wondered what the girls had found as her arm rested across her belly still holding the mirror only inches from the tiger demon. She couldn't fight the sleep any longer and her eyes shut. If either her or the demon moved too much in sleep, the mirror would surely touch him, giving him a great shock.

Awaiting a reply from the mysterious person or demon that was hiding from Niya's sight and all the while he had began to try locate the exact position of where the sound of the female and male voice had come from. With no luck, he had given a light sigh as he returned his attention to listening out for a reply. Within a matter of seconds, when a male voice had called out that he had no interest in the shards of the Maboroshi no Ginzuishou, just the sound of the male's voice was plenty enough for Niya to pinpoint where the person just happened to be. Immediately turning to his side and staring up at the large tree before him, Niya had easily figured that the male was up in the tree. Due to his condition, all he was able to do was tell where the he was but not able to tell what his facial expressions were like. "Then why were you spying on me, were you sent to kill me by someone?" Right after speaking his side of what he had thought of the situation, as a light breeze of cool air came across his own palish tan skin it was more then obvious enough for him that the day was coming to an end and night was spreading across the land.

"If you were planning to battle...could we postpone it for a day? It's getting rather dark and I'm sure you know as well as I do..many strange things lurk around these parks. Better off if we're going to do battle, we aren't interrupted." He had spoken once more before making his way over toward a separate tree. Slipping himself slowly down onto the floor, Niya kept his back against the large tree trunk and exhaled a deep breath. It wasn't long before another pair of footsteps were heard from within the forest, these seemed to had been making their way toward their direction as Niya stayed silent the entire time he had sat there. 'And yet another approaches...' he mentally stated to himself before resting a single hand onto the hilt of his sheathed blade. So the two voices he had heard earlier from within the forest were not the only people around, the third person seemed to had no doubt arrived while he had been coughing earlier.

Ryn accepted the supplies to create fishing poles and nets from Suzume, gave half of the supplies to Hikari to carry and kept the rest in her arms. The woods were quiet and getting dark, giving off an ominous feel. Ryn walked, occasionally jogged, with the kitsune girl towards the presence. Along the way, they made some small talk, sharing tidbits of information about each other. Ryn had told the girl that she was a shinigami, but left out the bit about guarding hell. Sharing that information to any stranger could be dangerous, no matter how trustworthy or kind they seemed to be at first glance. Ryn and Hikari also collected nuts and a few berries along the way, just in case they didn't catch enough fish.

When the two came closer to the presence, Ryn heard two people speaking to each other; one mentioned the shards, and the other sounded rowdier, talking about having a battle. Ryn stiffened a bit, it would be quite unfortunate if she and Hikari got into a fight with skilled fighters. Ryn was quite talented in fighting, and from what Hikari had told her, so was Hikari. However, Ryn was tired from lack of sleep and the day's events and really didn't want to end off her day by getting herself into a fight at night. Besides, what if one of them knew the secret to killing a shinigami? That would be bad. Really bad.

As they walked closer, Ryn could now clearly see a figure, who was facing a tree and probably talking to a person who was standing or resting on the tree's branches. She saw his hand move towards his leg, near a weapon, ready to be on the defense if she or the person in the tree were to attack. Ryn put her hands up, to show that she wasn't dangerous. "We're not here to hurt you, just wanted to see what was going on over here before we went to get some food."

He watched the man for another moment. He was deffinetly odd. "I have no intrest in you either" he says simply. He looks in the direction of the other voices and presences. He did not need to be told about the dangers of the night. He was one of the dangers of the night in a way. He saw no point in hiding himself much anymore, and so with a slight jump, he easily lands near the other male. His eyes slid over his form, looking at every detail. The ink snake who had been by his foot. Slowly it slithered out from the bush, it made it's way to his leg. He kneels for a moment, holding out his hand to it. The snake lifts its head to his hand, before slowly winding its body up his hand. He stands, allowing it to rest on his arm, the other two were watching the other group of people. He looks at the one on his arm, as it tightened slightly. He could feel the information that it was taking in through its senses flowing through his body. It was allert to all around it like he was. The black ink tongue flicks out in the direction of the other man, and it gave a slight hiss. It seemed it was getting some power from this man, so he wasn't weak. That was good, but it still did not matter to him. He had no intrest to this man, their meeting was just a fluke. He had been merely passing by. It was odd that the other would honestly think he was here for him, but then again, it was probrably what he was used to. He kept his eyes on the other, waiting for him to speak or to make a move.


As he did, his eyes shifted over to the other two beings who had come into the picture. His eyes sized them up slightly, while his face remained expressionless. The snake around his arm flicked its tongue in their direction, letting out a slight hiss. He wondered what all these people were doing within the forest. He had been merely passing through, but it seemed they had a motive. He doubted they would give him what he wanted to know if he asked. He had honstly no intrest in the other two either, but he figured that would be percieved differently, as it had with the male in front of him. The nature of people was odd, then again, he was odd himself. He let a light sigh escape from his lips. The snake tightens around his arm, and he glanced down at it. It sensed his thoughts and was giving him notice to the fact that he was not alone. Even if it was just a creation of his and ink, it was a part of him, as all of his work was. He felt a bit better, but still gave nothing away. His eyes slide back to the others, he wondered for a moment, what would happen now.

Remaining seated on the grassy floor with his back still against the tree trunk behind him. Niya had still been curious about the footsteps that came ever closer to their position, while he had waited for whoever was within the forest to make themselves seen into the light of the moon Niya had ended up hearing from the male within the tree that he also had no interest in fighting with him. Seconds later when the sound as well as the vibration of something hitting the ground had caught his attention, Niya immediately turned his attention over toward the feeling. It just so happened that the male from on top of the tree had now come down to the ground. A light smile formed across his own lips for a moment before it had faded from noticing as ow a strange snake-like creature had crawled up onto the male's arm. This much was indeed strange to Niya considering he hadn't noticed the snake at all until this very moment when it had crawled onto the male's arm. The creature didn't seem to breathe nor did it have the actual body of an ordinary snake, the muscles of the snake were completely different from that of an ordinary one. Tilting his head toward the creature around the male's arm, Niya had raised a single hand to point toward it. "What exactly is that..I have never seen such a thing."

Interested in how the snake-like creature was, Niya had nearly forgotten about the other presences that were approaching them from within the forest. By the time a female voice had finally ended up calling out that she meant no harm and simply wanted to know what was going on before finding for some food. Niya's gaze instantly turned away from the male's arm and made it's way over toward the two females that came from the forest. Both of them being female; one having a strange scent of what seemed almost like death upon her while the other had the strange blurry sight of a demon-like fox. Shifting his eyes left and right between the two females and the other male beside him, he had became slightly curious to wonder if they all knew one another or was it just a coincidence they just happened to all meet here. "Nothing is happening..but I am curious since you have arrived from within the forest. Do you know of a man and women within the forest that are hurt or something..? I had heard something going on within there.." Both the female and male strangely also had a slight blur on both of them, it seemed as though they had also carried shards of the Maboroshi no Ginzuishou on their bodies as well. However, attacking them randomly would most likely end in his death at this point.

Hikari took the half of the supplies that were offered to her and walked with the girl.They chatted as they went,picking up nuts and berries.Hikari confided that she had been a samurai,a rather skilled one at that,and she learned that Ryn was a Shinigami,which was interesting to her.Hikari had never met one before.Just as they had finished discussing this,they entered an area of the forest where two males were talking.One was up in a tree,but jumped down.By the scent of him,he was the kitsune presence they had felt before.Or rather,he houses said presence.Though she was currently in her human form,she decided it probably didn't matter anymore,so she slipped into her half form.Her ears twitched and her tail swished back and forth.The man who was sitting down asked them about the sounds he had heard,and,without taking her eyes off the other,she nodded."A tiger demon was injured,but he will be fine." She said,deciding not to divulge too much information.She noticed the odd looking snake on the other man's arm,and,with a quick sniff,her eyes widened and the narrowed.Ink.It would never be obvious to anyone else,but as a kitsune,naturally Hikari had heard stories of the strongest of them.The demon fox seemingly made of ink.She had never imagined she would meet the person who housed such a creature.She did not reveal these thoughts,however,sensing it would be a bad idea."I don't suppose that 'snake' of yours can tell you where to find fresh meat? We need more than just berries and nuts." She said,keeping her face and voice a perfect mask of indifference,an emotionless state rivaling that of the man in front of her.The only hint of anything in her voice was the way she said "snake," drawing it out like a snake herself.

((It's been six days since our last post. Since I've asked for our players to post at least once every couple of days, I'm going to go ahead and (I don't know how else to word it) end this "scene" by tomorrow morning if no one has posted. I apologize for the inconvenience it might cause you guys to have to manage your next posts, but you're all really good! So I don't think it will be a problem. You can message me personally if you need some help thinking up a way to post. If we haven't moved forward enough by morning for those of us waiting to post, to post, then I'm just going to go ahead and make it morning time in MnG, so that we can all start fresh and can all get some posts in again. If you are unable to post every couple/few days, please let me know so that we may be able to replace you instead of letting the play die!))

He looked between the people in the clearing, then to the ink form of the snake. They all seemed to be interested in it, what it was, what it could do in some form or another. He was about to answer, when the other two slowly slithered back from where they had been watching the others not to far away. He kneeled, allowing them to join the one on his arm, and they melted into one large snake, before hissing slightly into his ear. He knew they were asleep for now, so they were little threat to him. As for the ones here, they were still a tad bit of an issue. "They are merely...friends of mine" he says, with another smile, giving nothing away. They were hungry? He tilts his head a bit, and gives a slight nod "there should be plenty around here, if you know where to look." He was used to having to survive on his own, as for these people, there was no way for him to know what they had been through, or could do just by a glance. He wondered why they would be so easy going with him, they had just met after all. It seemed that people here were a lot calmer and less wary then those back at his home region. He looks over at the male once more, and then back at the female. He had little else to do for now, so he would play along.

Hikari tilted her head slightly.The smile on the man's face was not genuine; she could smell the falseness of it.His scent itself was confusing to her,since it seemed devoid of any emotional marks.Silently,she called just the tiniest breeze to her,then sent it to him.If all went well,the breeze would carry her scent,and with it,the message that she knew what was inside of him.Meanwhile,without showing any sign on her face of her secret workings,Hikari took appraisal of the other man."I know where to look.I am a skilled hunter.The problem is,the animals can smell everyone.They are all hiding." She turned to Ryn with a wry smile."I will have to hunt solo once we get back.We'll drop off what we have gathered,and I will hunt in fox form.That should get us plenty to eat." She said.Her ears were still trained on the two males,alert for any signs of trouble.She wondered how the demon carrier would react to her message.

Ryn nodded as she listen to Hikari. She had grasped the basics of hunting, but had never actually really needed to hunt. As a human, she'd been served food on a silver platter--literally, and didn't need to go hunting. As a shinigami, she didn't really need to eat food, either, therefore not needing to hunt. The food and drink still tasted the same, but they weren't necessary for her to live. After all, her scent, cloaked with death, would probably send any sane animals scampering away. "No problem."

She then turned her head and faced the man who had talked earlier about two people in the forest asking for help. "They were in need of desperate help--but they have a healer by their side now, so it should turn out alright." Ryn then remembered the witch and her mission; she couldn't help but wonder if these two guys also had pieces of the Maboroshi no Ginzuishou.

Eventually unconsciousness had turned to actual sleep for the tiger demon. Though now that he was asleep the aching of his shoulder began to wake him. He wasn't sure how long he had been out, nor did he really care. His ears twitched slightly and his eyes opened while a small groan leaked from his lips. He was thirsty, hungry and he didn't really want to get up. Kitaru wasn't truly sure he could get up, besides, this pillow was very comfortable. Those eyes blinked and he peered up at Suzume. Surprised. Very surprised. She hadn't left him for dead. She was letting him use her lap as a pillow. He didn't understand why. Though he did understand she was asleep with that mirror dangerously close to his head, it was a wonder one of his ears hadn't bumped it when they had twitched.

With his his right arm, he was certain his other would be rather useless for a long while no matter how fast he healed, he reached up to gently grasp her wrist. It wasn't fair really, the mirror should be his, she had done something strange with his Maboroshi piece and so the mirror ought to belong to him since it contained the piece he had owned. He didn't try to take the mirror though, knowing it would probably shock him and Kitaru was in no mood for more pain, instead he grasped her wrist gently and moved her hand to position it and the mirror away from his head or any part of him so she wouldn't accidentally touch him with it as she slept. The black lines that had appeared on his skin when the talons had been in his flesh were gone now, his fever had broken minutes before he woke. Kitaru was a fighter, he always had been, he knew how to fight to survive. Those eyes darted this way and that for a moment, and he realized he most likely would not have survived if Suzume had abandoned him the way he had expected her to. Still it confused him. In his experience, humans were never kind to demons.

Keeping his back against the large tree behind him, Niya's gaze had continued to dart between the two females and the other male around him. From what one of the females had informed him, it seemed as though there was a tiger demon within the forest that had been injuired but it seemed to be that he would now be fine. Just listening to the fact that it was a demon that was hurt and now it's wounds were treated was something strange to actually hear. Niya had normally known demons to kill anything and everything in their path no matter how hurt they were, even if they had lost an arm it was still easy for any demon to just fight through the pain to kill their target. At least, those were the types of demons Niya had met in his life while he had ventured across the land. There was already no doubt that other demons were different from one another and it was just by chance that he happened to find all aggressive ones on his journey so far. The female who had given him the information about the tiger demon had the scent of a demon upon her, but yet she hadn't attacked anyone out of pure rage as usual demons would.

Turning his attention back onto the other male as he stated that there was plenty of food around the area as long as someone knew how to look for it. Niya stayed silent for a moment and lowered his head, focusing most of his energy into his hearing it was more then easy enough to hear the soft footsteps of other animals from within a slight distance. What the male had said to be was indeed true, there was plenty of animals around but they had known well enough to hide their presence from sight for any predators. Slowly lifting his head back up, he had also ended up hearing from the other female that where the tiger demon was there seemed to be a healer that was able to help it. Throughout his journeys, never once did Niya think he would come across a healer. Placing a single hand over his bandages, he began to wonder if the healer was strong enough to be able to remove the curse placed upon his eyes or if his journey would have to continue till he gathered the rest of the Maboroshi no Ginzuishou shards. Once removing his hands away from the bandages that covered his eyes, Niya quickly darted his gaze over toward the two females. "This healer you speak of. Is it possible I could meet them? I have a request..if they are able to grant my request, I can offer you something in return." He stated before removing the ring that was wrapped around his right index finger. "Within this ring..resides another of the shards of the Maboroshi no Ginzuishou..and from what I can see. Both of you are in search of these shards as well, are you not?" He explained before slipping back on the ring and exhaling a deep breath before his coughing would end up returning.