Vampire Princess Miyu Fan Fiction ❯ When Friends are True-A Vampire Miyu Saga ❯ What the Weasel Said ( Chapter 21 )

Author's Note: This Chapter is dedicated to my very good friends, Kelly Donovan and Larry Peacock, because they are the original weasels. Wuf you guys lots!

Chapter Twenty-One

What the Weasel Said

"Dearest helpless

Intent's not as bad as actions

Take a breath to distort

The fear in your eyes

I don't mean it to hurt

But every time I hate you

I think of you first"

(Silverchair, Dearest Helpless)

Sleep was a good thing. Being awake so early in the morning was not. But the Chinese Shinma nonetheless were up at the crack of dawn and venturing beyond the border of the Fifth Layer without a complaint with Aoi in the lead. This had to be done. The fate of this world may very well depend upon it.

"D' we even know where to begin lookin'?" Kitsune asked groggily as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes. "I mean, it c-c-" She yawned loudly. "Could be anywhere."

"The Shadows Eyes have informed me that they know of its approximate location, but they won't go anywhere nearer than that. It's too evil. They also told me that we have to hurry; the enemy is closing in fast."

"So what are we going to do about the little weasel when we get a hold of him?" Yoshi asked, stretching his arms over his head.

"We're not after a weasel, Chinese Shinma. We're after the Quarls that are causing all of these problems."

Kia smiled awkwardly. "Aoi, he was talking about the Quarls. That's just what he called someone he doesn't like too much."

"Very well then." Aoi did not sound that amused. The Chinese Shinma could not help but to laugh a little.

"Okay guys, minds sharp." Tacha said once the laughter stopped. "We got a weasel to catch."

* * *

The dagger was near by; Cait Sith could feel it. He could smell it, even in the thick odor of rotting forest foliage. He had been combing these hell-ridden forests all bloody night looking for the dagger, his Quarl servants at close hand the entire time. But now they were closing in. They were very close. "It is here…and it is close…" With a vile sneer and slashed at the underbrush with his long nails, and in a flash of light the foliage seemed to explode in a shower of dark leaves and damp earth. And there, lying in the cleared patch in the middle of the forest, lay the dagger-like seal.

An ugly smile curled at Cait Sith's lips. "There it is…" He hissed, his laughter dry. "I have found it! It is mine!" If the other Quarls had mouths, they would have all been smiling too. This was a great moment to be witnessing, for it was the beginning of the resurrection of their Queen.

"But you won't have it, Western Shinma." The voice rose from the shadows and mist of the forest, as eerily and smooth as the voice of a ghost, but then a figure appeared from the fog; a Japanese Shinma, dressed in samurai garb and wearing a demon's mask on his face. Standing to his sides were the seven Chinese Shinma, all with down-to-earth no-nonsense looks on their faces, their swords drawn before them.

Cait Sith only smiled at the sight of them; he was far from surprised that they had come. "Ahh…there you are…I knew that you would show!" His tone was light, joking, but the other Quarl that moved around him showed no signs of joking. The Chinese Shinma tensed visibly as they moved, watching every motion with sharp, cold eyes.

"You should be disappointed, Western Shinma." Aoi said flatly. "You will not hold possession of the seal as long as I live."

Cait Sith did not seem to hear nor heed the Samurai's warning. "I am Cait Sith of the Western Shinma. Tell me your name, Japanese Shinma."

With the ringing hiss of medal, Aoi drew his katana sword from its scabbard. "I am Aoi. Prepare yourself!" With all the speed and grace of the wind, Aoi attacked with the Chinese Shinma close on his heels, almost taking Cait Sith and his minions by surprise. Almost.

"Master Cait Sith!" Gima was the first one to move in front of him, the other Quarls flanking on the sides. The dark energy condensed quickly into an orb around the female Quarl's hand and shot at Aoi with all the speed and deadly power of a bolt of lightning. It was enough to tear someone even of the Japanese Shinma's power to shreds, and Gima knew this. What she was not expecting was when Aoi dodged it as cleanly as if it had not been there at all. What? She thought in disbelief. He escaped? Before she had another chance to do anything, a sudden heavy blow to his torso knocked all the wind from her lungs as the female feline Chinese Shinma barreled into her at full speed, taking Gima to the ground.

Cait Sith bared his teeth at the scene around him. All of his assassins were down, held at bay by the Chinese Shinma. The one who looked like a bat had Gio in an efficient head-lock, the bird girl was doing her best to hold Gia to the ground, as was the cat-girl was trying to do with Gima, and the huge Chinese Shinma was doing his best to hold off Gigi, but it looked almost like an even match. And where was the other ones? A sudden flash caught Cait Sith's attention out of the corner of his eye; the smaller wolf-boy, the fox-girl and the bigger cat-boy were making a run for the dagger. The prince of the Quarl snarled at them, as with a quick flick of his wrist hurled a bolt of dark energy in his direction. The blast caught all three square in their torsos, throwing them backward into a large tree several meters away. That took care of that. Now the path was clear, and the dagger was as good as his. He reached his hand forward, his fingers stretching, and…

Yes!

His hand closed around the wooden scabbard of the dagger. At long last, it was his!

Something was coming up from behind, something very strong and very fast. Cait Sith whipped around and saw the Japanese Shinma Aoi charging straight at him, the curved blade of his sword flashing.

By now Gima was struggling to get up, trying to free herself from the Chinese's Shinma's grasp. The cat-girl snarled, her fangs bared, the claws on her hands tearing dangerously close to Gima's featureless face. But seeing her master in danger gave her a new burst of energy, and with all her strength she gave a mighty heave, slamming both of her fists into the Chinese Shinma's middle, clearly knocking the wind out of her. She weakened, giving Gima the opportunity to strike the girl across the face with the back of her hand, knocking her away and allowing Gima to stand and rush to her master's aid. Not caring about her own life, she threw herself before Cait Sith, determine to block him from whatever this Japanese Shinma fool had in mind.

Then Aoi did something else that she was not expecting when he jumped over her head, clear out of her way. "You fool!" Cait Sith howled at Aoi, once again gathering a sphere of dark energy in his hand. Aoi was closing in fast, giving him very little time to conjure the spell. But as soon as it had reached enough strength to strike a charging bear dead, Cait Sith unleashed its power on the Samurai with a wild "Die!"

For a split second, it looked as if Aoi was not going to stop his relentless charge as the bolt of darkness flew straight towards him. The man really was a fool! Then…

He was gone again.

"What?" Cait Sith blinked, wondering if he had seen right. It was not that the man had somehow dodged out of the way, but he bloody disappeared! "He's gone…" The shadows shifted suddenly from above. He barely had enough time to see what it was when there was a sharp crack and the dagger flew from his hand, into the air. "Damn it!"

"Chinese Shinma, grab it!" Aoi yelled to the wolf-boy, who was now back on his feet.

Ryuko nodded and with a quick, fluid motion, he grabbed at the yellow bandana wrapped around his head and tugged. It came off easily and he held it open under the falling dagger, catching it in the cloth of the bandana. "Come on guys, forget them, let's go!" Ryuko called, clutching the cloth-wrapped dagger to him and running off into the forest, Kitsune and Verde close on his heels. The other Chinese Shinma broke their struggle with the Quarls and took off after him, swallowed by the shadows. "Too bad for you, Weasel-man!" The bat-Chinese Shinma called after them.

"How dare you…" Cait Sith hissed. "After them!" He commanded to the other Quarl, who took off after the Chinese Shinma without another word.

"That short sword…" Aoi began, drawing Cait Sith's attention away from them. "Is filled with the enemy souls destroyed by the top class of the Japanese Shinma who used it. How dare you try to steal such a sacred artifact, crafted by Kyuko's own dying blood…"

Cait Sith only laughed. The very air itself seemed to darken with the evil aura. "You are right… The enemy, you say, was our mother, the Quarl who challenged the domain of the Japanese Shinma!"

"I see…" Aoi spoke slowly. "So that's why you're after Miyu… because she is Kyuko's grandchild…"

"I will return my mother's soul to its living form." Cait Sith's voice was dark.

"That I cannot allow." Aoi said and charged again, his katana raised high. Cait Sith sneered again. This Japanese Shinma really was a fool! He stepped back out of the way of the swing of the Samurai's sword, weaving his dark spells. Before Aoi had a chance to slice Cait Sith in half, inky black trendils of dark energy exploded up from the ground, stretching towards the sky with such a speed that Aoi actually faltered. If he had acted right away, he might have been able to escape. However his reaction was delayed and by the time he knew what was happening, it was too late. Like black snakes the trendils fell on him, knocking Aoi to the ground and coiling their way around his body, holding him towards the earth. It was apparent that they had formed from sort of cage around him. Even though it looked flimsy, it had done its job; he was trapped.

"Now…" Cait Sith smirked as he looked down at the Samurai. There was something very satisfying about that. "Back to business, now that you are out of the way." With a final cold laugh, Cait Sith turned on his heel and headed into the forest, after the Chinese Shinma, leaving Aoi alone.

* * *

"Shit, wadda we do, wadda we do?" Yoshi chanted frantically, spinning in small circles in the clearing that they stopped in. "Why'd we stop! Those goobers are right behind us!"

"Yoshi, calm down! I'm trying to concentrate!" Ryuko said, sweat beading her brow and running down his face now that he had removed his bandana. He was kneeling on the ground facing a large tree. Before him lay six thick sticks all of about the same length and width, laying in a perfect row. The evil dagger was laying at the end of the row, still wrapped up in Ryuko's bandana. He had to remember to burn that when they got home later. He narrowed his yellow eyes at the sticks, weaving his power, focusing all of his concentration in on what the dagger looked like, down to the last detail. The whole ordeal was giving him a terrible headache. But then, finally, the sticks began to glow, then change, twisting, altering their shape, until finally he had six carbon copies of the dagger that Cait Sith was after. Ryuko smiled in spite of himself. It was some of his best work. If only his masters could be here to see it. "All right. Call the others." Yoshi stopped spinning in circles to look at him with a questioning glare in his eyes, but still stuck two of his fingers in his mouth and whistled shrilly. It was a dead give-away of their location, but they had to move fast.

Not more than a heartbeat later the others returned to them, all melting out of the shadows where they had been keeping watch. "They're coming!" Verde panted. "They're right behind us!"

"Then we have to move." Ryuko said, scooping up the six copies, leaving the authentic where it lay. "Here, everyone take one." For a moment, no one moved, all staring at the daggers as if he were holding vipers. Ryuko growled. "They're not evil! These are only to keep them off the track until we can get the real one back to Mori! I'll carry the real one!"

"But you'll be holding it in your bandana." Tacha said. An ugly purple bruise had already began to appear on the side of her face where the Quarl had struck her. "Won't it look a little suspicious?"

"They don't know that we can't touch the real dagger because they're immune to it." Ryuko's voice became a harsh whisper. "Just take one and run; keep them distracted. And make sure that you don't break them, or the whole spell will be broken!" From behind them they heard the unmistakable sounds of something crashing through the thick underbrush of the forest. Several things coming their way. There was an immediate mad grab for the daggers as the foliage began to thrash wildly, then exploded in a rain of demolished forest as the Quarl appeared. The Chinese Shinma broke away, heading towards opposite sides of the clearing. Kitsune stayed by Ryuko and Verde by Tacha, but they were all separated.

"The game is over, children." Gia hissed. "Hand over the dagger and we might let your die quickly."

"We would love to do that creep, but we got just one problem." As if on cue, everyone held up their daggers. Ryuko was even able to hide his bandana by tucking the excess cloth into the palm of his hand. "We plum forgot which one's the real one!"

The Quarl hissed and snarled in rage as their eyes fell upon each copy. "You will pay for this travesty!" One of them screeched, and they charged, each one rushing towards a different Chinese Shinma. The Chinese Shinma, in return, wasted no time in getting a good head start.

The chase was on.

* * *

Kia and Yoshi pounded through the forest, not bothering to block themselves from the branches and brambles that snapped them in the face. "This is totally stupid!" Kia panted, wincing as a branch struck her across the face. "How long do we have to run for?"

"Until Ryuko can get that dagger back to Mori." Yoshi replied. "But until that happens, we got to keep those weasels busy!"

"And speak of the devil…" Kia sneered as her and her brother came to a sudden halt when they saw one of the Quarls - the one with the tall white hood - blocking their path.

"We are though playing games, children." The Quarl jeered, ignoring the bristling heat from the Chinese Shinma as the word "children" left his throat. He extended a pale white hand. "Hand over that seal!"

"Wow, you are so original. No death threats or…yelp!" Yoshi just had barely enough time to throw himself to the ground as dark energy lanced past him, just missing his ear. "Now that's a bit more like it, chode-monkey." Yoshi said, looking at the smoking hole that the attack left. "But not impressive enough." A sudden dangerous look glinted in Yoshi's eyes as he straightened and moved so he was back-to-back with his sister.

At the same time the twins raised their fake daggers, creating the illusion of a very twisted mirror. "If you want this dagger so bad, you'll have to come get it yourself." Kia said, her voice dark. "But be warned, Quarl. With the two of us combined, you take one step forward and we'll tear through your body like a wet paper towel."

Gia scoffed at the threat, but nonetheless when he took a step forward, he felt a wave of building elemental energy, able to do very serious damage. This kids were not bluffing. This almost made him hesitate. As much as he would have resented it, he had to admit to himself that these Chinese Shinma had the upper hand of the situation. The thought infuriated him.

"It looks as if you might need some help." A silky-smooth voice rose from what seemed like all around them, making Kia and Yoshi look around in confusion, trying to determine where the owner of the phantom voice was. Then it appeared before them, and Kia and Yoshi's drops dropped as if they had been unhinged. It was the only appropriate word for it! When they had met Amy for the first time, they immediately assumed that he was a woman up until he spoke. But this…no matter how long they looked at it, they could not figure out if it was really male or female.

"Wha…wha…what is that?" Yoshi blurted out, pointing a shaky finger to the new arrival.

The new…person…turned his (her?) frosty glare on the twins. Yoshi yelped again and ducked behind his sister, looking at the new person from behind her feathered wings. "Well…is this your problem? I can see where you come from, how ever. Two against one is not a very fair fight. In that case, I will help you out."

"Hold on just one bloody moment!" Kia snapped. "I think before we do anything, you'd better tell us who the hell you are first."

"Oh…how foolish of me." The new figure swept a mock-bow. "I am Shiki. I am Shi."

"She?" Yoshi replied. "You ain't look like any 'she' I ever saw! More like some really freaked up transvestite!"

Kia groaned. "It didn't mean 'she' as in female, Yosh. It means as in 'Shi', the clan Yui's from!"

Yoshi blinked, then shuddered. "It still doesn't make it any more right!"

"Enough small talk!" Gia snarled, catching their attention. "We finish this now." And both of their enemies charged.

"Yoshi! You take the she-male, I'll get ugly!"

"Oh, yeah!" Yoshi called after her as she tackled Gia head-on, sending them both reeling into the forest. "You always leave me with the freaks!"

"Enough with your griping, boy." Shiki hissed. He suddenly possessed a very strong air of danger, putting Yoshi immediately on his guard. "You will pay for your insults against our Clan! We battle!"

Yoshi smiled, his fangs bared. "Ladies first."

* * *

"This isn't right!" Verde complained loudly when the Quarl appeared just before him and Tacha. Only seconds before they had been running at about mock two through the forest, trying to do exactly what had happened, and that was trying to keep away from the Quarls. "Out of all the ones that were there, why did we have to get stuck with the bitch?"

Despite the situation, Tacha knew that this was a difficult situation for Verde to be in, since one moral he set for himself long ago was that he would not, under any circumstance, fight against a woman. Except maybe Tacha, but she was a long-time childhood friend, so that really did not count. "I really don't think we have a choice here, Verde." She said, her voice a soft hiss. "Do you remember what will happen if they get a hold of that seal? We have to swallow our prides and take care of this! Our very lives depend on it!"

"Have you no honor, Chinese Shinma?" The Quarl before them, the one woman of the four, said, her voice like poisoned silk. "Two against one? I thought that you always believed in a fair fight."

"And isn't it funny that it's only an unfair fight if you're the ones outnumbered, huh? Isn't irony great? Normally I would consider your words, but I cannot forgive you for what you have done to Miyu!" With that her curved claws came unsheathed and she rushed the Quarl, despite Verde's objections. Focusing her energy, Tacha made one powerful downward slash with her claws. For a moment, Gima jeered at the Chinese Shinma. She was too far away to do any sort of damage. Was this girl really so foolish?

The train of thought was cut off suddenly as a loud buzzing noise filled the air, overpowering Gima's ears. It sounded as if a swarm of a million bumblebees were descending upon them. She looked around frantically for the source of the sound, and then everything around her began to fall apart. The trees, the rocks, everything began to peel away in thin strips away from each other, curling into tight spirals. Trees were cut in half, boulders and rocks were reduced to half of their size, plants all around fell apart into shapeless lumps of mulch. Then the buzzing became louder, more intense, and Gima watched in horror as the edges of her clothes became badly frayed. But soon after the buzzing noise faded, then died completely. Tacha snapped her fingers. "Darn. Missed."

"Wh…what was that?"

"Just a little trick us Felines could do. My aim was a little off today, though. Had I been on cue, I would have cut you down to ribbons."

"Well, now, seeing that you have failed, I guess it's my turn." Gima did very well at masking the fear in her voice as she rushed Tacha, catching the Feline in the stomach and taking her down. The wind was knocked from Tacha's lungs in a whoosh of air and she gasped and struggled to catch her breath, only to find it impossible as Gima wrapped her hands around Tacha's throat. "I'll make you pay, wench." The Quarl growled. "I'll make you regret what you've done to our Clan in the past."

A few feet away, Verde was in turmoil. The Quarl was on top of Tacha, strangling her, but she had moved so fast that it completely caught him off guard. Now Tacha was in trouble and he found himself somehow rooted to the spot. He wanted to move, his mind screamed at him to move, but even the sight of this creature, this monster strangling his best friend did not budge him.

Think!

Then he remembered how this Quarl threw herself so willingly in front of her master when she felt he was in danger. "Hey, Quarl!" He shouted. When she did not looked up, he continued, hopefully trying to get her attention. "I think that maybe your master is in danger!"

That got her attention, and she looked up sharply. "What did you say?" Her voice was low, dangerous, but there was still a hint of worry to it.

"I said that jerk-off of a master of yours is in trouble. My friend just told me through mind-speech that they have him on the run."

"You lie." Gima hissed, her pale eyes narrowing. "I would have known if he were in danger. He would have told me long before you would have ever known."

Verde cursed inwardly and began to weave a blocking spell around her. It built fast, but he was still able to make it "sneak in" rather than have it hit her all at once. "Are you so sure?" He jeered. "Maybe you should check your defenses."

For another moment she only glared at him, but then her eyes grew wide as she felt the weight of the shields around her. "Oh, Gods!" She cried, jumping to her feet and finally releasing her hold on Tacha's throat. "Master Cait Sith!" Without a second look back, Gima ran off into the forest to the aid of her master.

Coughing and choking, Tacha rolled over and pushed herself to her elbows and knees, Verde at her side to help support her. "I'm sorry I didn't act sooner. Are you alright?"

"Yeah," Tacha choked, rubbing at her neck. Her voice was hoarse. "Yeah, I'm alright."

"Well, at least you have a matching set." Verde mused, taking in the bruises on her neck, which were angry red welts rimmed with purple. "Who knows, it'll probably become some sort of fashion statement."

"Very funny." Tacha said flatly, raising shakily to her feet. "Come on, we've got to keep running. She'll be pissed once she learned that we've duped her."

* * *

Well, this is certainly a problem. At least I won't have to worry about holding back.

The Quarl that stood before Yoto was almost as big as he was, perhaps six inches or so shorter, but what he lacked in height he seemed to gain in shoulder width. He was covered in a black cloak with a triangular sort of hood, a gold marking on the side of his otherwise pale, featureless face.

"Ah, a worthy adversary." Gigi mused. "Unlike those children that follow you around regularly."

"I have no reason to fight you personally." Yoto's answer was short, to the point. "I am only here to prevent your resurrection. The Clan of Quarl is dead. You have no more of a chance of winning than you did in the last confrontation."

The hulking Quarl laughed darkly. "Oh, so you say. I hate for you to be disappointed, Chinese Shinma, but this time around it will be a little different."

Yoto narrowed his amber eyes at Gigi, then extended his hand into the air. The air temperature plummeted like a rock, the ground becoming blanketed in a smoky white mist. Trendils of mist began to collect at Yoto's outstretched hand, then condensed into his demon-hilted rapier. Concentrating on his power and drawing strength from the freezing temperature around, Yoto moved at strike and hopefully finish this bastard off.

To his surprise, Gigi only laughed. "How petty." Slowly, he raised a hand to his face.

What happened next Yoto never saw coming. As he moved to attack, hoping that by slaying this monster you slow down their advance, he was stopped when a very line spread across the Quarl's face, right where the mouth would have been. Yoto blinked, then blinked again. Was he seeing right? Then the line became broader, and opened wide, lined with sharp teeth and long fangs. The mouth was grotesquely alien on the Quarl, the mouth from some unholy demon. Yoto had only little time to react, summoning up his powers to create a shield of icy wall around him as Gigi attacked.

Normally, Yoto was not usually effected by anything that people would find "disgusting", but he had to admit to himself, this was pushing it. The Quarl drew back its head before it spewed something at him; it looked like thick, slimy strands of foamy white spider webs. It smelt sour. Clamping his jaw shut tightly, Yoto strengthened his shields as the slimy mass shot towards him. A sharp cracking sound filled the air as it came in contact with the wall of icy wind, stopping most of it as it dissolved into pebbles on the ground. Most of it was stopped like that; there was still some flecks that got threw, striking Yoto mostly on his shoulder and hip plates. A hissing sound reached his ears and when he looked down he saw that his armor was melting where the vile stuff had hit him.

It…erodes my armor… A sour burning smell like smoldering flesh reached his nose and when he looked down, he saw a smoking creator where the frozen spider-webs had fallen. And that was when it had been frozen…what in the seven hells is this stuff?

He looked back at the Quarl to see that the mouth was gone. "What the devil are you?" Yoto asked.

"Just what I said I am, fool. You are a clever one. No one has been able to stop my poison cocoon before. But perhaps next time you will not be so lucky."

Yoto bared his fangs at the Quarl, temporarily forgetting all codes of honor. Still embracing his power of ice tightly, he made a powerful downward slash with his sword, sending a frozen wave cascading at the Quarl with enough force to snap a tree in half. It hit the unexpected Quarl with full force, entrapping him in a solid block of clear ice. It would not hold him forever, and the monster was far from dead. Normally attacking like that was considered a great dishonor, but in a situation like this it hardly mattered. At least it had bought them some time…or so he hoped.

"You breath was wasted." Yoto said, sheathing his sword. "How petty."

* * *

"This is so not cool!" Kitsune wailed as she and Ryuko ran threw the forest. "I never though that this was suck so bad!"

"What, did you think that war was fun?" Ryuko snapped. "Oh no, jump!" Both of the Wolfins took flying leaps into the air to avoid the blast thrown at them by their chaser; one of the Quarls, the one with the black hood that looked like it had a cat's head on top. Kitsune landed in the branch of a tree while Ryuko hit a boulder and rolled.

"I am threw playing games with you!" Gio stormed as he stepped in front of Ryuko's path. "You will die and I will pry that dagger from your cold dead fingers!"

"Then I guess that's the way it's gonna be then!" Ryuko shouted back. Then he smiled as he saw Kitsune move her hands from the tree branch, one of top of the other, palms open to each other.

"Terror Force!" She cried out, and bolts of energy shot from her hands with the force of a shot gun, speeding towards the Quarl and hitting him square in the back, sending him sprawling to the forest floor. Kitsune jumped down from the tree branch, bouncing off of Gio's back and joining Ryuko. She grabbed his arm and tugged, pulling him to his feet.

"Are you all right?" She asked.

"Yes." He said, dusting himself off. "Do you still have that dagger?"

"Y-ep." Kitsune beamed, pulling out the fake. "All nice and pretty like, just like…" She was cut off abruptly as something caught her across the chest and threw her roughly backwards. Kitsune was slammed into a tree twenty feet away and fell to the ground with a whimper.

"Kitsune!" Ryuko called out, but she did not move. And before he had a chance to go to her, Gio was nearly on top of him. Worse of all, the dagger that she held was broken.

* * *

There was an odd stirring of power that made Kia and Yoshi stop in their tracks. Both had returned to the same battlefield, although they still fought their own opponents; Kia taking on Gia, Yoshi fighting against Shiki. For a while, they were evenly matched. But it was that one stir of power that brought the twins to a standstill. They both immediately recognized it as an unweaving of a spell, but it was neither fire nor thunder. That meant it was from one of their friends. And the only other one around who had used his powers was…

Sweat beading their brow, they looked down at their dagger, but saw nothing but ordinary wooden sticks.

"So…it is a lie." If Gia had a mouth, he would have been smiling in a most vile way. "You deceitful little brats…you will pay."

Neither Kia nor Yoshi saw what was coming next. Gia threw out an arm at them, but it seemed as if it were growing longer, stretching towards them like some weird tentacle…before they could react, Gia seized Kia by the neck and threw her at her brother. With a scream she slammed into him, knocking both flat and the ground and out cold.

* * *

Gio! All of the other daggers are fakes! We can find the real one now!

That is already done, Gima… Gio thought with satisfaction. If all of the other ones had been fakes, than the one tucked into this Chinese Shinma's belt was the real deal.

Ryuko was still too stunned to move, between seeing Kitsune hurt like that and the broken dagger. On top of that, he was still able to move after being struck in the back by a Terror Force attack. These things were monsters… That was why he was hesitant to act when Gio attacked, striking him so quickly that he hardly knew what was happening. The attacks stopped as quickly as they began, leaving Ryuko disoriented and confused.

Then something even more disturbing happened. For the longest time, he had assumed that these things had no mouths, but now…this one did! A long, thin mouth with no lips that stretched from ear to ear…if it had ears. Something snapped from the mouth, something that could only be a tongue; a long, slimy, putrid-green tongue that was headed for one place…the dagger at Ryuko's belt. A certain panic washed over him as the dagger was taken away back into that disgusting yawning void of a mouth. Then it disappeared, and with it, the seal.

Then the world went black.

* * *

From within the confinements of the inky black cage, Aoi breathed deeply, focusing his thoughts, his strength and his energy. He had been doing so for a while, waiting for the right moment to strike…

Now!

Reaching up with one of his hands, he pulled the mask from his face. It changed swiftly, from a demon-like face to a long katana sword. Unlike the one he used earlier, this was the one he was rewarded for being such a high rank of Samurai; the living sword, the one that could regenerate itself even if it was snapped in half. It was stronger than his regular sword, and it was just what he needed to escape.

In a flash of cold medal and broken black pieces, Aoi swung his sword in a graceful arch, complex in its simplicity, cutting down the cage into nothing. But it was not the only thing that he had struck. With a final slash of the blade, something cried out in pain in the forest; a woman in pain. A second later, the female Quarl stumbled from the underbrush, clutching at her side. The wound was deep; black blood poured from her fingers. As much as he hated these vile creatures, Aoi still held his honor; he did not mean to hurt the woman. She had not been his original target.

"Leave this place!" He told her. "You cannot fight with a wound like that! Get out of here!"

"Never!" She snapped back, biting back the pain. "I will not allow you to harm Master Cait Sith! I will won't let you pass…never…"

"Risking your own life uh?" Aoi shifted the position of his sword into a battle ready position. "Very well!" Taking up his challenge, Gima raised her hand before her, her dagger-like nails gleaming.

They charged, knowing that this was going to be a strike to the death.

There was a crack. Blood sprayed into the air, steaming.

Gima screamed.

"C-Cait…Sith…" She cried out, but her cry was weak and far away as she fell to the ground, dead.

Aoi did not look back as he sheathed his sword. "Justice, done right." He said to himself. There was more important things to worry about. Somehow, he did not know how, but that Western Shinma had gotten a hold of that seal. The worse nightmare of this country and its people was going to come true.

"I will not let him get away with it!"

Without a second thought, he took off running towards the ghost ship.

* * *

"Oh, Gods." Miyu gasped when she saw her friends stagger back from where ever they had been that day. "What the hell happened to you guys? You look thrashed!"

"You hit it right on the nose, there, Miyu." Tacha said. Ugly red and purple bruises rose on her neck and the side of her face.

"I'm sorry Miyu." Kia said solemnly. There was a gash along her hairline; dried blood covered half of her face, creating an ugly dark brown mask. "We lost the dagger. Cait Sith has it. I don't know what he plans to do with it, but I'm sorry."

Miyu stayed silent for a moment. "Don't worry about it. I'm sure you did all you could." There was a pause. "Now what?"

"From now on you're not leaving our sight." Yoshi said. He too was not looking too hot. "You guys heard what the weasel said. What ever they're here for, they're after Miyu. And if that bastard is doing what he says he's doing, then something tells me it's going to take a lot of effort to protect her."

Miyu felt her insides go to ice. Yoshi was being serious about this Western Shinma coming after her…it was definitely something to be worried about. "How long has this been going on for, exactly? This whole grudge, I mean, and what ever Cait Sith wants to do?"

"Long before you were ever born." Verde said. "All the way back to the old Shinma Wars."

"You see, that's the problem." Miyu said. "I don't know anything about these fabled wars. I don't care if you guys are protecting me for my own good, I have a right to know!"

The Chinese Shinma stared at her for some time before they all sighed in unison. "You're right, Miyu, you have a right to know so you know exactly what it is we're up against. We should go talk to Mori…"

"Uh, guys?"

They turned. "What is it, Tacha?"

"Yoto was right behind me, but now he's gone. Does anyone happen to know where he went?"

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To Be Continued…

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