Back to ze past

Amaterasu dropped the puppet and picked Naoki. "You want to know a secret?"

naoki nodded.

"You have another sister." Amaterasu whispered. "Want to meet her?"

Naoki nodded again.

Amaterasu smiled. "Alright."
~~~~~~~~

"Anei? Anei...." A other wordly voice calle don the winds.

Anei twitched as she heard it, raising her head and looking around.

"umm...here?"

there was a soft giggle. Within seconds the giggle was behind Anei. "Good morning Anei."

Jumping Anei turned behind her and stared at Ama.

"Arn't choo dead?" She questioned.

Amaterasu pressed a finger to her lip. "I have a present for you Anei. Would you like it?"

Giving Ama an odd look, she question slowly. "Good present right."

"Its your half brother." Amaterasu smiled softly. "But thats ment to be a secret too." She handed Anei the three year old. "His name is Naoki. Would you like him?"

Lifting her arms to grab the toddler by instinct, Anei stared at Amaterasu beweilderly.

"Half-brother? But mother is dead..?"

"But your father isn't." Amaterasu smiled and started to walk off. "I hear the crazy cat is the one to ask about answers. For within Madness, the truth is told."

Anei had the urge to raise an eyebrow as the other girl walked off.

"Kay..." So she did, Eyebrow up.

"half brother hey? More family everday."

"Don't you understand?! They could be dead!" He yelled angrily. Onryo had apparently tired of the conversation and cast the bow down, running forwards. Mori grabbed Yuni and stopped her from moving past him to Takeo. She grabbed the spare knife from his belt and he only just managed to block her random attacks.

"Then what good are we to them now?" Takeo threw Mori one of his swords
"Keep the Onryo occupied, I'll be back" he ran over to where his pack had been discarded and began pulling things out and tosing them aside, searching

Trying to fight someone off without hurting them, especially seeing as said person had deemed you something to be rid of, was a difficult task. She tried to stab at his face and he dropped the blade to grab the hilt of his knife. They struggled over it for a moment before Mori spun to elbow her in the face, knocking her back and disarming her.

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Hikaru, Momiji and Taro continued forward increasing their pace

suddenly Momiji stopped dead

they kept walking for a few steps before realising she had fallen behind
"Momiji?" Hikaru asked "whats wrong sweetie?"

Momiji suddenly looked terrifed, she stared straight through them
"Mama?!"
and she vanished into thin air

"MOMIJI!" Hikaru screamed running to where her daughter had stood

Taro's eyes widened. Vanishing was never a good thing. He spun around with a soft curse - in another language. "What's going on?" He muttered, more to himself than the distraught mother.

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"Would you hurry that up?" Mori yelled as Hikaru's scream rent the air.

Takeo's ears twitched "That's not good"
he snatched up a sutra from the bottom of his bag and ran back to the Onryo
"Mori get out of the way!"
he ignighted the sutra with his kitsunebi and hurled it at the Onryo

Mori ducked down, rolling and retrieving both blades as the flame engulfed sutra flew overhead. The priestess fell to the floor with a wrenching scream, writhing as the sutra forced the demon from her. Mori jumped to his feet and inched forwards, tossing Takeo's sword back to him and holding the knife ready in case it didn't work.

Momiji ran out of the Mist tears running down her face "Takeo!"
Takeo looked from the writhing preistess to the girl, paniced
"Momiji get behind us!"
she fled and hid behind Mori.

The kurohyou backed up a bit, so that she was right behind him and he could shield her if need be. Yuni stilled suddenly, and Mori glanced around cautiously, catching Takeo's eyes.

Momiji slipped her hunting knife from her kimono and moved closer to Mori pushing the tip lightly into his back
"Peek a boo"

Takeo's eyes widened and moved to blast her with his Kitsunebi
she rammed the knife in between the Kurohyou's ribs before she was thrown back by the flames

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Taro ran alongside Hikaru through the mist filled forest, fog coiling around the top branches of the trees. They broke free of the main forest and then came to a stop. There was a perfect circle of trees around them, sky obscured by the fog, and after a few turns, Taro realized that he could no longer tell which direction the scents were coming from.

He could smell Mori's blood though.

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Mori let loose a string of curses, staggering back and ripping the blade free, tossing it to the floor. "Shit! Takeo, the kid!"

Takeo fought to keep Momiji behind a wall of flame
"Check Yuni! see if she's alive and if she has any sutras, if not then we're in a lot more trouble than i first thought."

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Hikaru screamed in frustration and slumped down tears streaming down her face
"gone...all gone....everyone...gone"

it was at that moment that Kuroi fell from the sky

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Mori grimaced and crouched down beside Yuni, shaking her and keeping a wary eye on the... wall of fire. Handy thing. Yuni rose a hand to her face, groaning as she woke up. "Yuni? Yuni! You alright?" She nodded, taking a hold on his arm to pull herself up. "Do you have any sutas?" He asked urgently.

Yuni blinked in confusion. "Sutra? Yes," She shook her head to clear it and reached for her stash of sutras. She handed them over. Mori called over to get Takeo's attention and then lobbed the sutras at him.

(( Mori was stabbed O.O ))

Staring at the boy in her arms, Anei cautiously rose a finger and poked him softly in the nose.

Naoki looked up, sucking his thumb. he giggled slightly. "Do you play games?"

Grinning outright, Anei nodded enthusiastically.

"All the time!"

Naoki smiled and yawned. "Daddy will be worried about me...."

Curiosity piqued Anei grinned down at the boy.

"And who's this daddy of yours?"

"Daddy is Daddy." Naoki said, hididng behind his hands shyly.

Sighing lightly to herself Anei looked around, hoping maybe for some clue.

Soo not helpful.

"Right. So what is your name little mister?"

"Na-naoki." He whispered.

Mentaro came bounding around the corner, tripping over the sleeping bear as he looked for a place to hide.

Said bear grunted as he was disturbed from his sleep and glared at the cat, before realising Anei was holding something, and not just something, a baby...or toddler to be more exact.

"oh hey Menny!" Anei chirped, blithfully ignorant of the stares she was recieving.

"Baby?!" Mentaro snapped, jumping to his feet. "Why baby? No baby. My baby? Not my baby. How dare you say that!" he yelled, snapping at the bear for the last comment.

Anei started to shake her head in an exasperated fashion, before she stopped to give Mentaro a thoughtful look.

"So....It's not your baby?"

"Nope, nope see, no respemblence." Mentaro squished his face down. "Not my baby!"

Still staring at the other, Anei smirked slightly to herself.

"You sure? You look a lot alike?"

"Ok my baby." Mentaro sighed in defeat.