Somewhere in the distance unseen a very powerful evil witch of a demon woman watched as her demons were destroyed and her precious pieces of the Maboroshi no Ginzuishou were stolen away. A hawk perched nearby her. She grit her teeth angrily. They would not get away with her pieces or their own. Then something interesting happened and she realized that the girl who touched the pieces was purifying them and not only that, her touch had the power to bring the pieces together. The woman was intrigued. What at asset this young girl could be and surely she wasn't permanently purifying the Maboroshi. It was said to do whatever the holder wanted and give them ultimate power. Clearly this girl was just too pure of heart. How disgusting. Nevertheless it didn't matter. She flipped a strand of hair back over her shoulder. It was so black that it had a purple tint to it and reached the floor spreading out over it for at least a few feet. She wore a tight black dress that also reached the floor and black lipstick. Her skin was pale as the moon. She turned her attention to her pet and smiled wickedly before feeding him a small piece of the Maboroshi no Ginzuishou. Immediately he grew to easily to five times his original size and towered over his demon master. His feathers had darkened and frayed menacingly and his eyes reddened and his talons were as long and sharp as butcher knives. "Go my pet" she told him, "and bring me the girl. Kill anyone who tries to stop you".

The hawk flew off covering the long distance quickly and passing over the two men one of which was hiding. He circled over head for a moment naturally hungry for their pieces of the Maboroshi but soon continued on until the tiger demon and the girl were in his sights. Without warning and having appeared so silently he dove quickly and grabbed hold of the girl's pack, one taloned claw holding tight to the canvas material and the other onto her shirt and took flight back into the air. He returned quickly to the cave from which he and his master resided knowing she too would return there quickly. It wasn't far a mere few miles from the place the girl had been snatched from. Most had heard of the hawk and his dreadful master [who I need to name I think - durr - or someone else can name her I'm really bad at that] though it wasn't a certainty that the hawk would be recognizeable in his form now. Luckily for them it was doubtful that anyone would follow and try to retrieve the pieces, or the girl since it didn't seem the tiger demon knew her worth. The fool.

[I may make a profile for the woman that way I can explain my presense some.]

Suzume stopped walking as she heard the demon's words. His mother had been killed by humans? How sad. She too had lost her mother, maybe they weren't so different in every way. Suzume frowned a frown of sympathy, but also one of irritation. Just a few short days ago a demon destroyed her village, killed mothers, brothers, daughters... Was he really so blind to the evil of his own kind, too?

Finally she looked into his face, "We aren't all the same-" but he didn't seem to hear her and before she could finish he was threatening her again. Almost instantly she was being yanked backwards. He was trying to take the pack, but would be unsuccessful since it's strap had been pulled over her head to cross her body. She didn't know what good taking the mirror would do him anyway since he couldn't touch it.

She opened her mouth to warn him that she knew karate, although it wasn't nearly enough or very good, when she was suddenly jerked upwards and away from the tiger demon. "Huh?" The ground was moving rapidly away from her. Suzume looked up, her eyes widened and she let out a squeak. It was all she could manage. She didn't even try to fight the claws away for fear she would fall to her death.

Only a short minute or two later they arrived at the side of a mountain and the ugly bird slowed enough to enter a fairly large cave where he dropped her. "Ouch! Hey!" she protested angrily. That was when she saw it, the red aura that seemed to come from the belly of the large hawk-like demon. What in the world caused these auras and why? What were these strange items that merged together when they were near each other?

Suzume was staring at the hideous demon's belly when she felt a presence over her shoulder. She turned her face to meet the evil woman's only inches from hers and let out a shriek. The woman was even more terrifying than the demon bird. Suzume had turned away instinctively and fallen onto her butt with a wince. She looked up to see that the evil woman was gone, only to feel the presence behind her once again. Jeeze she was sneaky. "What do you want?" Suzume demanded to know, but she went unanswered.

The woman yanked open Suzume's pack and stuck her pale bony arm inside. A moment later a sizzling, cracking sound along with a shriek from the ugly woman erupted all at once. No full demon would be able to touch the mirror at all it would seem. The woman had dropped the mirror to the cave floor and, still sitting, Suzume reached to pick it up. Immediately a bright light beamed from the mirror and Suzume turned it away from herself to shield her own eyes. What was happening now!?

Nao had continued following the man, eyes wide with curiosity. He knew that he surely wasn't going insane, and that there was something strange with the man. Something unnatural that Nao just couldn't put his finger on. Nao came to a stop as he saw the man stopped, coughing, then he lay down on the ground. Eyes widening in surprise a little, Nao realized that the white haired man was coughing up blood. One part of him screamed at him to go and help him, the other said to just stay where he was until he was sure that the man was safe. So, Nao decided to stay where he was, his untrusting side winning the fight. Of course, Nao did feel slightly bad about not going up to the man and at least seeing if he was ok, because, despite the fact that Nao wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer, he knew that coughing up blood was normal, and it wasn't a good sign.

Then, the man spoke, making the silver-blue haired male jump, and making his ears twitch. Slowly, he came out of his hiding place, first poking his head out, then walking up to the man completely, but very cautiously. He wasn't sure if the white-haired man would attack, though, Nao was almost completely sure that if he were going to, he would have already. Still though, he had to be careful, he didn't want to get himself hurt. So, he let his hand rest against the end of his sword as he spoke to the taller man.

"I'm sorry, I was just curious..." he muttered quietly.

Nao figured that the man could have assumed that he was a demon looking for a fight, looking for one of the pieces of the Maboroshi no Ginzuishou, so he figured that he should apologize for causing the worry on the man. Well, he was looking for the pieces, but Nao wasn't going to stoop so low as to steal them from someone who had done no wrong. Then again, he probably wouldn't even steal them from somebody who had done wrong.

"Uhm...are you ok?" he asked finally, 'And what are you?' he added in his head, not having enough courage to actually ask.

As far as Kitaru was concerned all humans were the same, and she would have trouble convincing him otherwise. Though it didn't seem she would have time to really try or do anything. As the large shadow passed over, Kita looked up just as the giant bird swooped down. It's talon's closing around girl and pack, despite Kitaru's tight grip on the back it was pulled out of his hand with the force at which the bird ascended with it's prize. Kitaru leaped up at it, trying to grab a hold of any piece of it. It was dangerous to steal prey from a tiger. He missed of course and landed in a crouch with a wince. He'd forgotten about his wounds. Though he healed faster than a human, it wasn't instant.

Ears flat against his head in anger, his tail swishing wildly behind him, Kitaru gave chase. He followed the large bird rather easily, because of it's big size it was very easily spotted as it flew. It flew fast, but Kitaru was a fast runner. He couldn't match the avian's speed, but he could keep enough so that he didn't lose sight of it. The girl was his to kill and the pieces of the Maboroshi were his. Technically it belonged to him as a piece of his had fused into that mirror. Which he was not happy about. It took him a little longer to make it up to the cave entrance in the mountain and when he got there, light was already pouring from the cave entrance, so he closed his eyes and barreled in, using scent mostly to find his target.

He rammed the demon woman with his shoulder, knocking her over. As the bright light had stunned her momentarily anyway. Again following his scent of smell, to avoid the bright light that could probably blind him. Kitaru rushed to the human's side, and crouched somewhat over her in a protective stance. It wasn't really her he was trying to protect, it was the mirror. He snarled at the demon woman, as if daring her to do something while he was there.

Holding the mirror faced away from herself, Suzume was baffled by the entire situation. She stared at the back of the mirror trying to make sense of it all. The light didn't bother her eyes at all, it was as if she had on some sort of invisible sun glasses or something. A sudden movement from the entrance of the cave caused Suzume to turn her head. It was the tiger demon!

While the evil woman was shielding her eyes, the tiger demon rammed into her, knocking her down. Suzume was so shocked she faced the mirror towards the ground as she leaned forward to see if the woman was okay. Caring for others was something she couldn't help, it was a natural instinct to her.

The evil woman was on her feet in seconds, snarling at the tiger demon who now stood between her and Suzume. Her evil black as night eyes darted from Suzume and the mirror to their current protector and she hissed. "Insolent fool," she snapped, "As if I would let a meek little demon such as yourself have my mirror, or my Maboroshi no Ginzuishou tracker."

She could see that the tiger demon was already wounded, she'd seen it happen when he'd fought with her four armed demon. She'd use this to her advantage, happily. The ugly woman brought a hand up and the nails on her fingers grew into talons almost identical to those on her hawk. They began to smolder and she smiled wickedly.

As Suzume watched, she began to feel dizzy. Her eyes were on the evil woman, but then she seemed out of focus and there were two more of her, all standing side by side, and then two more. Suzume blinked and tried to refocus, but it wasn't her eyes, it was a trick. The evil woman moved quickly knowing that it would be almost impossible to tell which one was the real and solid her.

An evil laugh echoed through the cave as all of the intangible women rushed at the tiger demon. He could try to fight them, but they were as mirages, and he would not make contact with the trick women. Finally, in the blink of an eye, the real witch was before Kitaru. Without leaving any room to react, she shoved the smoldering talons into Kitaru's shoulder where it met his chest. It would feel like a stabbing fire through his entire being and if he were unable to move for long enough, they would break off and melt to his skin. If he were able to pull free, much of his flesh would pull away with the hot iron-like talons.

Suzume shrieked and instinctively stood to try and help somehow. Of course, as clumsy as she was, she tripped over her own feet, dropping the mirror. It landed in a way that pointed the glass directly at the evil witch, the light pouring over her. The evil woman's skin began to smoke as the pure light threatened to disintegrate her.

Quickly, Suzume scrambled to pick the mirror up and pointed it at the woman. The instant Suzume's hand wrapped around the handle the light intensified. Holes began to burn into the witche's black dress and she shrieked again. "What are you doing to me you little wretch!?" she gasped. "Heron!" she gasped as she fell to a knee, and the large hawk moved, quickly scooping her up and fleeing the cave.

((I really took control of your witchy woman, McLovin' - still hope you don't mind!))

Tracker? Kitaru glanced at the human girl for a moment, but he didn't have much time to think things over. The demon woman was moving or rather, turning into a lot of demon women. The tiger wouldn't be intimidated, though he couldn't tell which was the real one, he sliced and swiped at all of them as they came near only to have no damage be dealt to any of the fakes. Illusions. He snarled, it only made him angrier.

Before he even realized it, the real one was before him. Golden eyes widened and he yelled out in pain as smoldering claws pierced his shoulder, the pain was worse than when he had touched the mirror earlier. A soft whimper left his lips and he reached up to grab her wrist, to try and pull those claws from his flesh. He couldn't pull her hand away, not until the talons snapped off and began to melt to his skin. His body trembled from the pain, but he was determined to fight.

He didn't need to fight though, it seemed. Because suddenly the human was wielding the mirror and the bright light was eating at the demon woman. Kitaru took a few steps away, fearful of his life, not wanting to be near that light. Then the woman was leaving with her horrible demon bird. Kitaru gasped, suddenly reminded of a burning sensation in his shoulder, those claws. He was sure it would only cause him more trouble and more pain later. The pain was ebbing away, but his body felt warm to him. Almost feverish.

Kitaru turned towards the human. "I've decided. You belong to me and you'll help me get the other pieces. You can see them before I can smell them, so you'll track them for me." He stepped menacingly towards her, or tried to look as menacingly as a tiger in pain could. He hoped she didn't realize that she really held all the power, with that magic mirror, she could easily threaten him with it's light. Perhaps she wouldn't be that smart.

Suzume finally allowed her arms to drop as the light faded away from the mirror. She was no longer in danger so the thing would no longer be a weapon. She heard the tiger demon speak and turned towards him with a glare. She was tired of being attacked and she didn't belong to anybody.

When he advanced, she raised the mirror. Not to harm him with the light, but to whack him with it right on the side of his big stupid head. Before she could, she saw the talons protruding from his chest. He was hurt badly. She placed the mirror in the waist of her pants and closed the distance between them once again.

Maybe she would help him and then whack him with the mirror and be on her way. She looked at him sympathetically, she felt that this was all her fault. Without thinking about it, Suzume reached up and wrapped a hand around one of the talons. They were no longer hot, though already sealed to his skin. She gave it a good tug.

((Lol had to do it! If you want her to Kry, you can say she helped pull them out, or he can do it, or pass out or something. Or maybe the mirror gives her the power to help him? I don't know. Whatever you want, I just want to give you the option to lead her a little so that you have something to post.))

][Silly Kya, just gave me room to be more mean to my character. Poor injured little kitty. And also I'm leaving for work now.][

When she held the mirror up, Kitaru recoiled slightly, fearing for his life. That light was nothing to mess around with, it seemed very dangerous to demonkind. Then she had lowered it and was moving towards him. Why? Why did she always move at him with an air of concern after a fight? He took a slight step back, but she was already too close, his body felt warm but the talons weren't hot themselves anymore.

She had closed her hand around one and gave it a tug, Kitaru grunted loudly as the talon sank deeper into his flesh instead of moving out. The other talons did the same thing, even though the girl hadn't touched them. A soft whimper left his lips and he brushed her hand away. "Stop it. Always touching me!" The words sounded a bit strained, and Kita was sure those talons were poisoning his body somehow.

They needed to come out, but he dare not try for fear of making them sink further into his flesh again. The tiger was suddenly rethinking this course of his life. Was it worth it? So far since he had found this woman she had caused him far more trouble than he could imagine. She had done something horrible with his Maboroshi piece, she had gotten him injured. Well technically. He had been trying to protect the Maboroshi pieces, not the girl.

Truthfully the cat wanted to curl up like a cat and sleep. He felt so sleepy all of a sudden, Kitaru tried to fight it away. Also suddenly very thirsty. "Water." He mumbled and turned from her, he was staggering as he moved. Staggering out of the cave and back towards the forest. There was water in there somewhere, or maybe a demon who could help him. For the moment he didn't seem concerned with the girl anymore, thoughts of her and the Maboroshi had fled his mind. Replaced with a need for water, and sleep. His body was getting hotter.

He pulled and ripped at his oversized shirt, until the thing lay on the ground behind him as he staggered onwards. His shirt gone, all the scars of his slavery and the cruelty suffered at human hands were so very visible now, he didn't even think about that. He was just so very hot.

Just as Ryn was beginning to doze off while resting in the lofty branches of a tall tree, the shinigami heard several shouts and undecipherable screams coming from far off in the distance. She stirred a little, trying to ignore the noises. Then came another voice. Ugh, what does one need to do in order to get some good rest around this place? Ryn thought to herself before rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. She was in her human form; tousled blonde hair rested on her shoulders. After all, her shinigami form would send people running in the other direction. Aaaand it was always rather awkward to pretend that you didn't notice the humans staring.

Slightly annoyed that she had been interrupted from what she was sure was going to be a nice nap, Ryn cracked her knuckles and yawned before pausing to think--what was that noise? Interested, she awkwardly shifted herself so that she could more easily pinpoint whatever or whoever happened to be making the noises. A short while later, a loud screeching bird call caught her attention. In the distance, she could see an abnormally large bird of some sort--she could never tell the types apart--soaring through the sky.

Ryn would've simply gone back to resting if she hadn't caught sight of a gruesome-looking body dangling from the clutches of the bird. The bird flew out of her sight, carrying the body with it. It was a thin woman, with long black hair. She was too far away from the woman to make out any other distinguishing features, but was pretty sure that she was a rather powerful demon that was on the hit list. How odd, Ryn thought. A bird didn't grow that size normally. There had to be another reason behind it. As she thought about the possibilities, the bird flew back in her general direction. Its talons brushed the tops of the trees, and momentarily her eyes met with the eyes of the bird. Its eyes looked dark, menacing, abnormal.

And then it clicked--the Maboroshi no Ginuishou! Of course. Some power-hungry doofus had decided to feed the bird a piece of the precious royal jewel. "Tch." She shook her head from side to side disapprovingly while keeping her eyes locked on the bird. It wasn't far off, but it wasn't exactly flying in close range, either. "The nerve of some people..."

And with that, Ryn snatched her most frequently used scythe Lucrix out of a back pocket. Upon her touch, it emanated a calm glow and elongated to its full size. A well designed weapon, it was as useful as it was visually aesthetic. A sudden rush of wind could be felt, and each swing of the weapon brought on a sharp wind that cut through your skin like a nicely polished blade.

As the bird came swooping down, Ryn jumped upwards with inhuman speed, the blade of her scythe meeting with the neck of the bird. A clean cut, no blood was left on the weapon. The bird's detached head and body fell to the forest floor in two sickening thumps, before disintegrating into what looked like ashes and floated away, carried by the winds. A glimmering piece of a jewel lay on the ground, and the shinigami bent to pick it up. Another piece of the Maboroshi; that made two. She had picked up her first one after taking the life of someone wearing a bracelet with the Maboroshi inlaid in it. Ryn looked up and remembered the direction that the bird had originally come from. "And now, to find out where those sounds were coming from."

Panting heavily as Niya laid flat on the ground and awaiting for whoever or whatever that was hiding from him to finally show themselves. Niya had tried to catch his own breathing to steady itself down back to normal after his violent little session of coughing, if whatever was hiding from him was planning to jump out an attack him when he was weakened he was going to need all the energy he had deep down to stand up and defend himself. Pushing his own limits forward, Niya had forced himself to at least sit up and prepare himself for whatever was to come. Both of his ears twitching ever so slightly as the sounds of the footsteps came closer toward him, each step touching the grassy floor as it finally came to a stop beside him.

Due to Niya's weakened state, he wasn't exactly able to completely tell who was in front of him other then the fact that it was yet another demon. However, it was more then obvious enough that it meant him no harm at the time being. Sighing softly to himself he had dropped himself back onto the floor with a heavy thud before turning his head over toward the demon male. Hearing his apology was quite shocking though, from all the demons Niya had ever faced and defeated never once did he actually expect to find one that would apologize for any reason whatsoever. "Curious...? Are you here to take the shards of the Maboroshi no Ginzuishou as well?" His voice easily giving away the fact that he had been in no state for combat. It seemed almost as though he were right about to keel over and pass out.

Even with how weak he was at the moment, it hadn't been too difficult to hear the heavy flapping sounds of a large bird-like creature over his head. Tilting his head backwards to stare up at the sky as the dark shadows of a strange bird came overhead for only a moment before darting away, Niya returned his gaze onto the male demon before him. "What exactly was that..?" He had asked curiously only to end up becoming questioned if he was okay. Moving a single hand over his heart as Niya took in a deep breath before exhaling it out deeply, it hadn't seemed to help at all as he couldn't seem to help himself stand up to his feet. "I'll be fine. Why have you been following me?" He demanded an answer only to end up hearing the same flapping noises of the yet the same bird-like creature from earlier; this time from a much greater distance however. 'What is that sound..?'

Nao nodded quickly when the man repeated what he had said. His hand had slid off his sword, now certain that the man was not going to attack him for no reason like most people--and demons-- would.

"Yes, I was curious as to what you are." Nao said rather joyfully, "You not quite human, but your not a demon, and your not a half-demon like I am, and your older than I am, proving even more that your not human. So...I just kinda got...curious."

He paused for a second, trying to figure out how to answer the next question. Technically, he was supposed to take the pieces, or so says the visions (in reality though, Nao was just assuming that that was what the visions were telling him to do, he really had no idea though), but he had disobeyed the visions many times before. And, Nao didn't really want to take the pieces from the man.

"Ah...No. I'm not here to take the pieces. I mean, I'm collecting them, but only if I find them abandoned... which is admittedly hard." he answered, rubbing the back of his head.

In truth, while he was doing his best to ignore it, Nao had seen the bird fly over head, and he did hear the flapping noises. It made his ears twitch insanely--which, quite frankly, annoyed him like hell--,but he always tried to ignore things that seemed to have no importance to him. Which, most of the time, was not the smartest idea. In fact, it was probably the most idiotic. But, then again, Nao wasn't necessarily known for being smart.


"Ah, ok, that's good," Nao spoke after the man said that he'd be fine.

Then the man asked why Nao had been following him. Nao paused again, trying to think of another way to say it, so that he wasn't simply saying that he wanted to figure out what the man was, which was admittedly very creepy.

"Ah...euhh....well, I was just...you know...curious about what you were...so I decided to follow you, and see if I could pick up on any clues....Ya' know?" he spoke sheepishly, looking at the ground.

Suzume choked a gasp when the talons moved deeper inside the demon's body. "I'm sorry!" she apologized frantically as he batted her hands away. She watched him sadly. Why wouldn't he let her help? Probably because she just made it worse, but still, she could tell he didn't want her, a human, to help him. That frustrated her. She probably could really help if he'd stop being stubborn and let her.

When he spoke of water, Suzume bit into her lip and looked around the cave nervously. He wasn't doing well. Not that she should be overly concerned, but it was just in her nature. When she faced him again he was already out of the cave. "Hey wait!" she said, quickly gathering her pack and exiting the cave behind him.

"Hey!" she called after him as his shirt hit the ground. She stopped to pick it up, only noticing the scars when she stood again. They stopped her from moving forward as she stared at them with watery eyes. Had humans had done that to him? If that was why he hated humans, how could anyone really blame him? Finally she moved after him again as she dug in her pack for her canteen, which to her dismay was empty.

She caught up to the tiger demon quickly and put her hands out to stop him. "Please," she begged, "you need to sit down. Let me help you!" Had she heard voices nearby? Maybe... "Hello!" she called loudly, hoping the voices weren't more danger. "Can somebody help us!?" Suzume was finally feeling quite frantic. With each passing moment the talons were poisoning the tiger demon and she couldn't pull them out, nor did she have any water or know where to find some.

Suzume waited and listened. If no one came, she'd have no choice but to leave the tiger demon defenseless and search for help. Not that she could protect him but maybe the mirror could help... She tried to call out again. "Hello!? We need help!"

Listening as to how chattering the male beside him spoke after Niya had asked a couple of questions, he hadn't really kept hi attention onto the male the entire time but rather continued to wonder what kind of beast that was that could create such loud flapping noises. Wandering the land on his own for the past year, Niya had met many strange looking demons as well as new races of demons he never thought to exist before. However, this strange bird-like demon that had flown over their head was quite different it felt much darker but yet it also had the strange blurring color of the Maboroshi no Ginzuishou shard. Within the same instant he had seen the blur as well as hearing the noise of the flapping, it had come to a complete silence as he returned his attention onto the male beside him replying that he was curious on what Niya. Being told that he was a half demon and that he was actually younger then him, he couldn't help but raise a brow. "What I am..." he repeated the question to himself as he raised both his hands up in front of him. To his own visions, Niya had seen nothing but pitch darkness and a grey shadowy blur of what was once his hands. Dropping his arms down, he stared up at the sky before shaking his head. "I'm not too sure I can trust you with that information yet...all I can tell you is that you are indeed correct. I am not human...nor am I a demon. However, nor I am alive..or dead." Was all he had said to the half demon before listening as to how he stated that he was collecting the pieces of the Maboroshi no Ginzuishou only if they were abandoned.

Shockingly enough, Niya was able to gather enough energy to let out a light chuckle at hearing as how the half demon wanted the pieces only when they were abandoned. "Your not going to ever have any luck with that, no demon..nor human will ever let a piece of that go to waste as abandoning it." He informed quietly before helping himself to sit up. Resting on the grassy floor for the past couple of minutes was plenty enough for Niya to gather up his energy to allow him to be able to sit for the moment. As he had awaited for the final answer to his last question on why this half demon was following him, just listening as to how he seemed to have trouble replying to the question he turned his entire attention onto him. "As I just said...that will be the only information your going to be able to find out about--" Right as he was about to finish up his replying, hearing what seemed to be a female voice calling out for help. Niya had turned his attention onto the direction the voice had came from.

He was still in no condition to move anywhere anytime soon, so rushing over to help anyone wasn't really going to be too well on his body. As he had taken his gaze back onto the half demon, he pointed in the direction he had heard the noise come from. "I'm more then sure enough you heard that..and if I'm right, if you were curious about what I am..your going to be more then curious enough to go check that out." He spoke before doing his best to try and actually stand up only to come to a complete fail and drop back onto his bottom. Sighing heavily, he shook his head as he cursed silently to himself. "I'm in no condition to continue on, if your as curious as I'm sure you are. Go."

Kitaru moved as if in a daze, staggering forward in search of water or anything cool his body down with and a nice place to just sleep. He felt so tired and so hot. A whimper escaped his lips as he continued forward, stopping only when the girl caught up to him and put her hands out to stop him. He blinked those golden eyes at her, lips parting slightly as if he might speak, but he said nothing. He stood there for a few moments, just staring at the human girl until his legs buckled beneath him and he crumpled to the ground.

The tiger lay there panting, his body trembling lightly, a thin layer of sweat already coated his body. Slowly he rolled over to lay on his back, eyes closed, and black lines had begun to spread down his body from the talons in his flesh. His ears twitched as the girl called out for help, and his fingers shifted slightly as he tried to move again, tried to sit up. His body was barely responsive, and he groaned lightly, opening his eyes just the tiniest bit. He was laying down. Why not sleep? This was as good a place as any other, wasn't it?

Something within him made him fight at the drowsiness that was trying to over take him. A small voice in the back of his head warned him he might never wake if he slept right now. Dry tongue peeked out from between his dry lips to lick at them, to try and offer some moisture to them. Kitaru shifted slightly, trying to move, trying to fight anyway he could, there was little to almost nothing he could really do. His life was in the hands of a human girl.

Just as she was about to put her weapon away and head towards where the screaming had come from earlier, she was blasted onto her behind by some kind of powerful dark demon magic that would knock humans unconscious. But then again, Ryn wasn't exactly a human. "Ugh." Ryn groaned, ignoring the deep gash on her thigh made by landing on the sharp edge of a rock as she fell down. It would heal quickly, her skin would regenerate and the these types of injuries couldn't fatally wound shinigami.

"You killed my tracker!" The woman from before stood towering over Ryn as she tried to stay calm. Her long black hair touched the floor, inviting bugs of all sorts on the forest floor to climb up into her hair and make cozy homes. Her black dress swished in the wind, and even the scars that appeared to be burn marks on her skin couldn't distract Ryn from gazing at her eerie black eyes. This witch was dangerous, alright. She was Erda, the malevolent demon witch. Dangerous, but she could be taken care of quickly.

"Oops." Ryn widened her eyes and tilted her face to make her look innocent. Then she smiled wickedly. As Ryn had hoped, this move taunted the witchy woman and only made her more aggravated. "Are you mocking me? YOU DARE MOCK THE MOST POWERFUL WITCH CURRENTLY LIVING, YOU INSOLENT LITTLE GIRL?" Erda's eyes twitched as her fingertips sparked with magic. Ohhh boy. This was going to be a mess if Ryn ever got out of it. In the distance, she heard a voice screaming for help. "Actually, I happen to be a few centuries older than you, Erda." Ryn shrugged as the witch fumed. This was quite fun.

I'll be there in a second... Ryn thought to herself and the voice that had called for help. She put Lucrix back in her pocket, pulling out another scythe named Hysteria. The weapon unfolded itself upon Ryn's touch, pulsating a dark blood red. People and demons who bothered to do some researching into scythes by reading forbidden texts and lost scrolls would scurry back right away, knowing that Hysteria could do just what its name implied--send you into madness as you die a painful and gruesome death.

"Hah!" Erda scoffed as she saw the weapon. It looked pretty darn nice, but could it take out a powerful witch? "And what can that fancy, extra-large knife do to me? Give me a little boo-boo?" Ryn theorized that Erda was on a hunt for pieces of the Maboroshi no Ginzuishou in order to release madness onto Earth, possibly releasing the inhabitants of hell. That wouldn't do, as Ryn was supposed to be the gatekeeper of hell and prevent such atrocities from occuring. Erda would have to die.

"Don't laugh just yet, witch." And then Ryn swung the weapon. It passed through Erda's body, but nothing seemed to happen at first. Erda just stood there smirking. "I told you, your little toy is no use against my streng--" the witch suddenly stopped mid-sentence, and began to thrash around in pure agony. She let out a long, sharp, piercing scream that sounded demented. It was so loud it probably could've been heard in a distant country. Pieces of the Maboroshi no Ginzuishou fell from he witch as her limbs tore themselves apart and went up in flames. "Not bad." Ryn gave an impressed face. "I've never seen you do that yet," Ryn spoke to her scythe. Yep, she spoke to a weapon. The thing about Hysteria was that it chose a punishment fitting of the person--the worse they were, the more severe the punishment. The weapon liked variety, and seemed to come up with different ways to die every time.

Ryn bent down to pick up the pieces of the jewel. Four. There were four pieces here, and two pieces in her pouch. "Nice, five found in one day. I think we have some good progress going on." Hysteria was shrunk and put back into her pocket. There was the screaming for help again. Ryn ran off in that direction, until she found a little cave. However, it was empty. Walking a little ways towards a stream of water, she could see two people, a male and a female, and the male looked badly hurt, with something poking out of his shoulder. Also, he definitely wasn't human. A demon of some sort, he looked like a fox or a tiger or something. "Hello?" She called out to the two. "Did you call for help?"

Nao's ears twitched with excitement as the man began to answer his question. He was quite a curious person, and he just adored finding out new things. Especially when it was about someone, or something, that wouldn't hurt him. In fact, if he was curious about someone who could possibly hurt him, he wouldn't bother trying to figure it out. Though, Nao wasn't quite positive that the man wasn't a threat toward him, but he figured that the man was a safe person, seeing that he hadn't him yet.

Then, as soon as the man said that he wasn't giving him any more information, Nao's ears flattened against his head.

"So...your kind of a....half...something?" he asked slowly.

When the man chuckled at Nao when he mentioned about collecting the pieces, Nao pouted slightly. "I know, but you don't need to laugh. I just...don't like hurting others, and stealing things could possibly hurt someone...so...uhm...yea."

Then his ears perked up again at the sound of a girl yelling for help. He half wanted to go and see why the girl was crying out for help, but at the same time he didn't. If he had a vision that was connected to meeting this man, shouldn't he stay? At least, that was how he had been living. He used his visions as guidance. Then, he found an excuse. He could barely hear it, but he heard someone else with the girl, and he was almost certain that they were helping her.

"Ah, but someone's already there, so I don't need to go. And I'm not too curious about it..."he spoke, lying about the last part.

((I'm warning you all in advance, this may or may not be the worst post ever. My head is just not in it today. It's been a very awful last few days.))

Suzume turned quickly to the woman who had appeared. Could this woman help them? "He's been injured," she started, pointing at the talons in the tiger demon's shoulder, "I think they're poisoning him." There was clear concern in her voice, a concern she held for anyone hurt. She watched him for a moment, blaming herself.

Slipping the pack off of her arm, Suzume moved to carefully lift the tiger demon's head and place the pack under it. Her mother's kimono would sit at the top, cushioning the pack like a pillow. Once again Suzume turned to the woman who'd appeared with a hopeful and pleading look.

"I need to get water," she said. She held the canteen in her hand and began towards the stream some distance away, but not too far. She glanced back over her shoulder at the tiger demon and the woman. Even if she couldn't help, she could keep an eye on him while Suzume fetched him some water. She hurried now, knowing he needed her to. On her way back she'd gather firewood that was already in her path, just in case he'd be there long.

Ryn nodded as Suzume explained the tiger-demon-looking man's condition to her. "Ouch." She winced as she saw just how deep the talons were, they would be easy to get out with a clean, forceful tug or two, but it was also possible that a chunk of his shoulder may be ripped out along with the talons. Just looking at it was painful. She'd hate to be the one in that position right now.

Ryn leaned down and peered at the wound to get a better look. The poison was definitely spreading. Death was spreading, Ryn could feel it. Even if he survived, he wouldn't last for very long. Not with a shoulder like that. Every time he moved his shoulder, he would most likely send even more poison into his veins, as if the talons themselves weren't bad enough. And it would come quickly if they didn't get this possibly fatal found fixed up.

"I'll do what I can to help, to be honest, this wound is pretty bad. I'm surprised he isn't completely poisoned from head to toe already." Ryn responded to the girl, poking at the wound here and there, ignoring the demon's annoyed yet pained look. "Not saying that I'll actually be able to do anything, but I'll try." She could feel the sincerity of her words, the girl really wanted to save this man. Were they possibly good friends, or lovers, or something of the sort? "You get the water, I'll take care of things over here."

To be honest, this was totally not Ryn's forte. She specialized in death, while this man badly needed a healer. However, she did know a thing or two about taking care of wounds. And this wound would become a bad infection if not treated correctly. She spoke to the man. "We need to remove the talons, then draw out the poison by using either compresses or poultices. I think the compress will be easier to use; all we need is warm water and a paper towel or a sponge. It'll draw out the poison from the area surrounding your wound, but you'll need a proficient healer to full get the poison out of your system, unless you want to live with horrible side effects for the rest of your life. Which seems pretty long, considering the fact that you're a demon."

Ryn had seen and treated a few pretty bad wounds throughout her life. This was bad, but it wasn't as bad as the time a stranger fell down a cliff, tumbled down 134 feet, landed in a wasp hive, and then rolled down the hill into an evil witch's cauldron. He was disfigured for the rest of his life.

Ryn tugged at the talons, trying not to hurt the man. She decided to pull out quickly, so that it wouldn't pain him for too long. "Ready?"

A new voice, those ears twitched at the sound but only barely. A new voice meant a stranger, Kitaru groaned lightly, wanting to move but unable to. He couldn't tell if this new person was human or demon or maybe even a tree, it probably really didn't matter anyway. His eyes were half closed, and his vision blurry, he didn't even try to look around. Those ears twitched at the sound of retreating footsteps, for a moment he thought the stranger had left, but then the stranger was speaking again. The human girl had left him there, in the care of some stranger, though he shouldn't be surprised. Humans were so cruel.

When she had poked at his wound he had hissed lightly, the skin beneath her poking fingers had writhed a bit, pulsated almost. The talons sank a little deeper into his flesh, causing a grown to leave his dry lips and making his eyes flutter a bit before they closed only to open a moment later. He wanted to wriggle and writhe, throw himself in the stream, he felt like he was on fire, and worse, his insides were beginning to feel like that as well. The stranger had begun to speak again, and it was even harder to concentrate on her words than before.

Kitaru wanted to shoo her away, he was strong. He had endured much pain and hardship in his life, he could endure this as well, but his voice didn't want to work. His lips barely seemed to move, and the rest of his body wouldn't move at all. When the stranger tugged at the talons, Kitaru yelped weakly, and once again the talons began to sink deeper into his shoulder. If this kept up, the talons wouldn't be visible much longer.

At the thought when the strange half demon had decided to call him 'a half something' Niya couldn't help but simply tilt his head over toward the male. If his eyes were visible then it would be more then obvious to tell that he was giving one of those 'really?' looks across his face. Shaking his head in return to his question, he had remained silent as he sat upon the grassy floor trying to regain his energy. It had only taken a moment or two later on as Niya had finally gained his energy back to stand up to his feet. Dusting himself off lightly, he had turned his entire body to face the half demon that stood beside him. Hearing as how the male wanted to collect the pieces without hurting anyone whatsoever had brought a bit of annoyance even to Niya, obviously enough he hadn't shown it on his face or his actions but mentally he knew all too well that he disliked the thought that this half demon was planning to use nonviolence to collect the pieces. "I understand you don't want to hurt people...but soon, your going to end up getting yourself into a battle..and another demon will threaten your life for the pieces you may already hold, what will you do then? will you simply stand there and plead the demon to give up and give you the shards?" He stated, everything he had spoken about was almost as though it ad to do with the day the monks had tried to protect the village. They had always been about nonviolence as well, even to a point where Niya had followed their teachings. However; to this day, after that incident he could no longer believe in that as he had chosen to follow violence when it was indeed needed.

Raising a brow at the fact that there was now another person at the scene where Niya had ended up hearing a female call out for help and that now the half demon was no longer curious about that situation. Standing before him, he stared at the half demon with much disbelief as yet another sound had come from over in the same direction that he had heard the female call for help. This time however, it sounded more as a yelp out of pain and rather then being as loud as the female calling for help this one wasn't as loud and sounded just like a male rather then female. "Sounds like someone is in alot of pain..and your going to tell me..your not curious? after you had followed me the entire time..simply curious because of 'what' i am?" Niya spoke once more, he was also just as curious but yet he decided to ignore his feeling to figure out what was going on. It had nothing to do with him and due to the distance, he hadn't realized that they also held the shards of the Maboroshi no Ginzuishou in their possession. The monks had taught Niya many different techniques on how to cure different wounds and diseases but if what the half demon had said was true about there being another person there. It didn't seem as though he was really needed for the situation. "If whoever that is hurt over there needs help..and your as curious as you are. I suggest you might want to help them."

((Ok thank you that's all I needed))

Hikari was walking through the forest,one hand absently toying with the charm at her throat,when she caught the scent of poison.Ears twitching,she headed forward,curious about who had been poisoned,and by what.There were demons about,she could smell them.Curiosity fully piqued,she continued on.Soon enough,she came upon a fearful scene: a demon lay on the ground,clearly poisoned,while a woman hovered over him,trying to help.Not sure what to do,Hikari stepped forward."Pardon me...what happened here?" She asked softly.The last thing she wanted was a fight,or to frighten anyone.

(Niya is telling Nao to go and check the sound of hearing Suzume and Kitaru's voices from afar since he is curious. Kitaru is hurt badly by talons being stabbed into him, Ryn had come to help and tried to pull the talons out but they're only going in deeper and from what it seems, hes just getting hurt more. Suzume is on her way back to the two of them while trying to gather firewood and water.

@.@ well thats the quick and simple way to put it all. I'm not too good with recaping things. Sorry. Q^Q;)

[Gemini you should read our posts so that you don't get confused and also read the main post. It tells you where the setting is in feudal Japan. All of our characters are in the forest right now. I don't think Kya like OOC in the thread much next time just pm one of us I'm keeping up pretty well if you want to pm me with questions!!!:)]

Not far off a woman walked the forest gathering herbs and other useful things of the sort. She was a healer and nearly 80 years old. Her skin appeared like dark leather and her eyes were but slivers in her wrinkles. Her hair was tied back in a long braid the color of salt and pepper. Asuka came across a man laying upon the ground with a woman over him. At first she blushed and then she realized the woman held onto something protruding from his sholder. She waddled over to them slowly just as the woman asked the tiger demon if he was ready for her to pull the talons out.

Asuka winced at the thought of them being pulled from the demon's body. It would not be pleasent. He had a pack of possibly clothes under his head and there were black lines up and down his torso and face. Poison? Asuka stepped forward now with concern. "I am a healer," she announced, "Do you need my help?" Her voice though shakey, was lined with years of wisdom.

[Queen if you dont want the healer just tell her to go away lol I just wanted to offer the extra character and assisstance!!!]

[No no, I definitely need a healer right now xD]

Ryn winced a bit, this was not going the way that she had wanted to. It seemed that with every touch, the talons did nothing but sink in deeper and deeper. Damned evil magic. The fall of footsteps were heard, and Ryn looked up to see a girl with silver hair and fox-like features like the ears on top of her head and the tail just below her back. "I'm not so sure, either." Ryn frowned. The talons were sinking in by themselves now. A few more minutes and they'd be embedded within his skin and he'd probably be dead. "I came across this guy here, who is fatally injured, and his partner, who is down by the river getting some water for him. They were screaming for help." Ryn sighed and squatted, staring at the wound as if her glare would be able to heal it. "It's not really working, goddamn it."

No sooner had she spoke those words did an rather elderly looking woman appear out of absolutely nowhere, her skin dark and her hair in a braid. Seeing her basket, which had miscellaneous herbs resting inside, Ryn breathed a sigh of relief. This woman was a healer, she had said. "Yes, please." Ryn nodded, and backed away. There was nothing she could do here besides watch. The healer looked like she had plenty enough experience to take care of this predicament.

Hikari twitched her ears and moved forward."Lady healer,if you need any help,I am able.I know just a little about healing." She offered.The scent of poison burned her nose,and looking at him up close,the man on the ground looked closer to death than she originally thought.He also looked tough,so she doubted this would kill him,but she wanted to help all the same.