Back to ze past

"Ama!" Sadaharu called, voice thick with relief. "Are you alrgith?" He headed over to the cat as Taro made his way over, humming.

Amaterasu, or rather the ginger cat made its way to the side of the lake. It collapsed and after a few moments shifted again into the human form of a girl.

Sadahar bobbed down beside her and patted her cheek. "Ama? Ama! Hey, come on, breathe!" He looked around desperatly.

Amaterasu's eyes snapped open as she leant over, coughing and spluttering as water covered the ground and finay, a singlr ring. She collapsed again.

Pulling Amaterasu iinto his arms, Sadaharu heaved a sigh of relief and stroked her hair out of her face. Taro bent down and scooped up the ring, slipping it into the small bag kept tied to his belt. "I think we should be more careful, it's obvious that these things are protected." He said softly, crossing his legs as he sat down. "It's only by sheer luck that we didn't get too badly hurt by the boar beforehand, the next few may be vene more dangerous."

"Don't touch it!" Amaterasu cried, reaching out to Taro. "Its mine!"

Taro frowned and tilted his head. "Ama-neko, it's not yours. None of us own it, I'm only holding it."

"Give it back to me." Amaterasu said, struggling to get to her feet. "Hand it over to me now!"

"Taro." Yuki snapped. "Just give it to her."

Taro's eyes flicked over to Yuki with a flash of surprise before he produced the ring and held it out for Amaterasu.

Amaterasu took the ring and hel it close, placing it on her smallest finger. She held her hand close to her body. "Thank you." SHe muttered.

Sadaharu touched a hand to her shoulder, eyes locked on the hand now bearing the ring. "Amaterasu, are you alright?" He asked hesitantly. "What happened?" Taro stood up and walked a short distance away, looking out over the lake.

Dark eyes locked with Taros as the water was again filling the bottom of the lake. It let out a woeful howl as it dived into the water below itself, its long dark body following and within seconds it let out a loud cry and launched itself into the air. It jumped ontop of AMaterasu and rather than squashing the girl, it entered her.

And for some reason, no-one else saw this.

Amaterasu smiled softly up at Sadaharu, her eyes somewhat harder than usual. "Nothing happened Sadaharu. Just had a nice swim. I got the ring because you were all too pansy to get it."

Sadaharu looked taken aback and dropped his hand. "Ama..." He grimaced. "Fine. Should we move on then? We've still got all day to find the rest." He said and abruptly turned away. Taro's eyes were fixed on Amaterasu, mouth frozed in a frown. He needed to talk to Yuki.

"Guys I...." Yuki swayed a bit on his feet. His vision was moving in and out of focus and to make matters worse, his mouth wasn't even moving properly. He took a deep breath and opened his eyes wide. "Never mind. We should get moving."

Amaterasu pulled Sadaharu down and licked the shell of his ear, she bit his lobe lightly. "I know." She whispered before standing up and looking to Taro.
"Where to?"

Taro's eyes darkened and he nodded to the trees on the other side of the lake, crossing his arms tightly. "Over there." He didn't move. Sadaharu started to walk around the lake, Mori following him but stopped when he realized that Taro wasn't walking. The blonde sshook his head and Mori snorted, picking up his pace.

Amaterasu looked behind to Raven. She smiled. "You coming?"

Yuki started to walk, but only lastd a few steps before the world around him spun and he realized that the ground shouldn't be moving that quickly towards him. Hello ground, you look comfy, mind if I take a nap?

Sadaharu turned when he heard Taro yell sharply. He looked back and saw the blonde leaning over Yuki and instantly dashed back. One after the other. Mori quickly made his way back, employing a variety of curse words. Taro drew back his hand from Yuki's head and paled. Blood. He knew it!

Yuki groaned and opened his eyes, he struggled to even sit up.
Amaterasu was at his side, her hand running over his head, she licked her lips. "Some of this blood is old. Yuki, how long have you been bleeding?"

The rat gave a weak laugh. "Since the night after the boar attacked."

Taro gently pushed Yuki back down. "That was stupid" He said lowly. "You're meant to admit these things so you're able to actually be of use protecting others, instead of letting them fall in harms way." He said and turned Yuki so they could see the wound properly. "What use are you dead?"

"I'll be fine." Yuki said, pulling away from Taro. "I promise."

Amaterasu stood upright and crossed her arms, for she was cross. She was a cross cat who was cross at the dog who didn't wear a cross. Unlike the fool, who did. Wear a cross.

Taro forced him to stay still and pulled out a roll of bandage. It was incredibly convineint that these things didn't seem to run out often. "You might, but the rest of us won't be if you die on us." He said, voice definently carrying a sharp underton as he stretched out the material.

Sadaharu hovered uncertaily beside Yuki annd Raven stayed back from the whole thing, feeling rather out of place and shockingly useless now the job he had been given had just fallen apart.

"Because I can protect the lot of you?" Yuki asked before sighing. "I don't need the damn bandage. I'll be fine."

Amaterasus fists clenched as she looked to the ground. "Can we just get moving?"

Taro ignored the both of them and bandaged the rat's head. "If you didnn't need it, you would have just fallen." He pointed out quietly before standing up and taking a few steps back, glancing over to Amaterasu. "No reason to rush."

Sadaharu offered Yuki a hand to help him stand, trying to keep the obviously unwanted concern from his eyes.

Yuki sighed and accepted the hand.

Amaterasu's eyes hardend and flashed red, then black, then back to normal. "Thats what you decided, dear fool." Her whispered for his ears only, her voice off.

She set off.

"That I am." He muttered and looked back to the others. Sadaharu pulled Yuki up and made sure that he was steady before walking beside him after Amaterasu.

Mori looked to Taro. "Something up?" Mori asked gruffly, getting rather irritated by the uncharacteristic frown that now occupied his face. "Something moved from the lake and is now in Amaterasu." Taro said, giving Mori a sideways glance. "Any questions?" Mori just grunted.