The Spirit

by dropDead-Dreamer

After being cursed by a demon boar god Sena travels to find his cure. Too bad the only two men that can save him want to kill each other. Agon/Sena

I hope you're not busy.

This is my Princess Mononoke story that I set out on a poll forever ago. I'm always one to deliver, just late usually. I think I've watched the movie at least five times through - it's impossible to determine how many clips I watched. I think that's probably the worst movie I could have picked because very single was important to the plot.

Not that it wasn't fun - I just felt the need to complain a little.

Thank you everyone that responded to my poll and everyone who has me alerted.

Please, PLEASE review and don't be 'fraid to ask me anything if it doesn't quite rub you right.

Disclaimer: In no form, shape, or way do I own Eyeshield 21 nor the plot to Princess Mononoke.

"You know, there's this old legend about a tribe called the Kobayakawa; they wore brown leather, used stone arrow heads, and rode red Elk – like you." The monk said slurping loudly on the contents of his bowl. Sena looked down suddenly hypnotized by the molding tree bark on the stump he was sitting on. Doburoku chuckled to himself and Sena rubbed at the piece of raw emerald stone around his neck. Along with Pitt and a few survival possessions it was the only thing he had left to remind himself of his old life.

"Of course," Doburoku continued drawing out his words. He leaned forward to help himself to the thick stew positioned over the fire between them. The flames make the wrinkles on his face seem both sinister and depressing giving the monk the look of a man who spent too much of his life being miserable.

Sena couldn't help but to stare intently, not only was Doburoku one of the few people he ever met outside of the Kobayakawa tribe, but he was also the first person he talked to in weeks of purposeless travel.

"Of course," Doburoku repeated leaning back to take in Sena's expression. "They were completely wiped out thousands of years ago by the Emperor." He gave a quick smile that surprised Sena slightly. How a man carrying so much grief could smile cheerfully was almost beyond him. Sena helped himself to another half bowl of the strange stew. It was the first thing he had eaten in weeks stuck on a diet of smoked jerky along with roots and berries.

Behind them Pitt huffed and shifted at the mention of their old tribe, but sensing no unnatural uneasiness from Sena she continued with chewing on the grass.

"But, hey, it happens – this use to be a shrine to the gods when I was a young boy," Doburoku admitted waving his hand around at their surroundings. Sena looked up, within the radius of light thrown by the fire he could make out a pile of rubbish coated over by a thick blanket of moss and ivy near Pitt. "But some war or natural horror wiped out everything and either the monks and priest became prisoners of war or died." Doburoku explained and a chill ran up Sena's spine at the prospect of the jiibay of holy men surrounding them.

"That's an, um, rather bleak outlook don't you think?" Sena asked softly staring intently at the ground and Doburoku laughed again, his tone harsher than before. "Maybe so, but that's just the way it is, bleak or not, pretending to forget that death doesn't exist wouldn't help anything. Actually I heard somewhere that the Emperor is willing to give ten thousand pounds of gold to the man who can find a way to turn him immortal." The monk snorted and smiled again, but this time it didn't reach his eyes.

Sena sighed, biting down on his lip. He could still feel the stew's warmth in his stomach but from it came a blotted feeling, along with the heat of the fire he was almost sweating. Doburoku shook his head silently and Sena took off his jacket, underneath was a thin brown shirt held together by knots of brown leather from his armpits down.

Sena loosed the leather binding around his right arm. The mark had already gotten worse since he last checked it earlier that morning.

A dark ugly color of red it started at the base of his palm then spread out in thinner spidery patterns, it was already almost to his elbow – only a few inches away. With a sigh, Sena held it out to the light, for the monk could see. "Um, I don't think that I'm going to forget death anytime soon," he whispered wincing when a static like shock ran down his arm.

Looking at Doburoku he found the man only half looking at his arm the rest of him consumed with drinking out of his jug of sake. "Ah, that looks like it has a story behind it," he mused and, using his good arm, Sena scratched behind his ear nervously. "I was cursed by a boar demon, it attacked my tribe," he said softly flashing back to that day.

The smell of rioting flesh and poisoned blood set his full stomach flipping and Sena dropped his good arm to clutch around it, swallowing stomach acid in his mouth. Doburoku said, without noticing Sena's pained expression, "Let me guess, you killed it and it left that curse on your arm." Sena nodded swallowing a mountain of guilt.

"I-I didn't want to, it just, ha-ha-happened," he said speaking more to the dirt than Doburoku, the monk snorted but didn't press for details. "Well, I wouldn't know what to do – after all I'm just a simple monk no expert on spirits or demons, nothing of the sort." Sena frowned getting a distant sense that there was some cruel sarcasm within his words.

However not understanding it, he let it pass and instead held out the small leather pouch also on his neck. Opening it up, he pulled out the small lump of strange rock, careful not to let it touch the mark as that almost seemed to anger it, thus spreading it more.

"This was found where the demon's heart should have been – I think it's what killed him. I want to go to where it was made," Sena cut himself off before he could explain how the prophetess of his tribe had foreseen in the bones that he needed to find the heart of the problem. Which at the moment looked to be the rock, if he could find where the rock was made then maybe he could find a cure. Or at least understand what had caused the beast so much pain.

Doburoku swiped the rock out of his hands giving it a curious nibble before shrugging. "I've never seen anything like this," he stated far too causally and Sena sighed realizing he had gotten his hopes up. Nothing was ever that easy.

"Ah, oh well, thank you for the food," Sena said with a sad smile. The monk chewed on a tough piece of meat thinking something over in his mind.

"You know, south of here past the mountains, is where the Spirit of the Forest dwells – the forest is still wild and full of all sorts of nasty beast that are still as huge as when the world was young. Not safe for humans, not at all." He muttered and Sena nodded smiling with relief.

"Thank you," he whispered, but when he looked up, the monk – along with his stuff – was gone.

...

The rain would mask the scent.

Hiruma frowned though; the oxen and men were making enough noise to almost drown out the sound of buckets of water slapping against the mountain trailing down into jumping brooks and rivers. Despite the lack of lovely weather conditions he could tell that they were going to ambush – probably soon. They were getting desperate and as far as they knew, Hiruma was at a weak point here more than 50 men, oxen, and food that needed to get to the fort safely. Any death would be a horrible lost in the long run.

And to make matters worse the oxen were tiring from the thick mud and the men had to fight to keep them moving, while keeping enough oxygen to complain along. "Come on you fuckers, the faster we get back the quicker we eat!" Hiruma cried out and was met with half weary cries of agreement. "How are we doing old man?" He grunted to Musashi and the ex-samurai looked up from coughing into a rag.

He looked up and his eyes sharpened he cried out, "To the northeast," instantly the other fighters, who were positioned around the working men and oxen drew their guns, long metal things that were heavy but sturdy and thankfully waterproof. For a moment Hiruma only watched, then he was able to make them out – a white blur at first, but as they quickly gained speed he could hear the howls. He sneered to himself, calculating its speed and estimating the distance in mere seconds.

"Get in positions, keep the oxen from panicking!" He yelled snapping his attention back to his men. Musashi was already kneeing down, calling out directions to his own fighters. "Keep the powder dry! Wait for it to come within reach before shooting, you only got 3 shots per load so don't mess up."

Only 40 seconds later, Hiruma starting counting under his breath, waiting for it to close in, "First round only, ready…Set…Fire!" The first explosion was the closest and would have been critical if it had not jumped out of the way. Instead it exploded an already dead tree, a shower of blue flames against the dreary background. The remaining also missed and Hiruma counted the time needed for his men to fix their guns. The first three came the second round, so the first would have time to reload, there were five rounds in total.

But the wolf was closing in faster than he liked, "Second and Fourth, ready, set…fire!" Blue fire engulfed the wolf's path but still it ran, splitting right before disappearing from view.

"That's all?" A disbelieving fighter asked; he was younger than the rest. "He wasn't even that big," he said with relief and Hiruma sneered at his ignorance momentary before gluing his attention on the hill above them.

"It's a pup – wait until you met his mother," he promised in a dry voice. Just then a cry from his left, somehow the wolf had swerved over there. It jumped down knocking down five men and an ox with it. "Musashi!" Hiruma yelled but the man was already over there, shouting orders at his fighters. It swerved headed straight for him and Hiruma chuckled to himself almost pleased. "You might want to cover your face for this," he stated to the young, paled fighter at his side.

Knocking away men, oxen, and anything else that happened to be in its path the wolf charged forwards locking eyes with Hiruma, he grinned measuring the distance while keeping an eye out for that other wolf too. Wiping back his coat Hiruma pulled out two thick iron guns and aimed at the head. It ducked down, but he managed to graze its shoulder twice. Dropping that gun to the ground he held onto the bigger, more dangerous one.

The second the beast was close enough he unleashed a wave of flame that engulfed the wolf, blinded and burning it slipped of the side of the mountain falling off the narrow path completely into the river below. Hiruma grinned while the men around him cheered no longer facing certain death. Looking over Hiruma noticed with a sigh that the young fighter was gone – he must have fallen too.

"Did you kill it?" Musashi asked peering over the edge and Hiruma shook his head, damp hair falling in his eyes. "No – just managed to piss him off. It takes more than that to kill a wolf god." His eyes caught on the sight of the older wolf racing below towards the river.

Straightening up Hiruma surveyed the damage, probably 10-13 oxen dead. "Hurry it up, double-stack the stronger oxen or we'll never make it back!" Hiruma cried out and caught eyes with Musashi, who frowned. Already knowing what he was thinking Hiruma shook his head, "It takes less of a fall than that to kill a man." He explained lacking any empathy.

...

"Ah, the rain stopped!" Sena said crawling out from under the huge thick roots of the redwood tree. Pitt followed not yet wearing her saddle and nuzzled Sena's shoulder in agreement before helping herself to the wet grass that managed to grow around the tree. Sena pulled off his pack searching inside; he only had a couple more shreds of deer jerky left.

His stomach rumbled craving for real food and he sighed. "I really don't know how much farther away we are Pitt I was just following that trail. There isn't even anywhere to ask for directions," after talking to the monk they had visited three other villages full of strange people that were far too nosy for Sena's liking.

Other than the few merchants and hotel keepers he spoke too, he hadn't really had a conversation with anyone – well anyone other than Pitt. He couldn't help but to feel sorry for her, stuck with carrying him down to some strange place. What was to happen to her once he was gone? The prospect of his elk outliving him and alone burned his eyes and Sena sighed out loud.

"I shouldn't be thinking of such things so early in the morning, ah! And I'm still hungry," Sena muttered clutching his stomach. He wanted to save the jerky for when he really needed it, but so far away from home most of the plants and berries was unfamiliar.

Climbing back under the tree he picked up his quiver and bow next to Pitt's saddle. Glancing around the woods he couldn't tell if it was safer to leave Pitt here or bring her along. Well, she was going to have to get used to being alone at some point, right? Swallowing Sena stroked her gently before slipping away from their camp.

"I'm going to be back soon girl, just wait around here okay? I'm going to go see if I can catch a rabbit or something – you know?" She snorted in understanding.

Sena headed in a random direction, marking his path with a blade; cutting a large X on every dead tree stump he came across. Getting lost wouldn't really help his cause at all. After a couple minutes of mindless travel he heard the sound of rushing water and smiled.

With water came animals, hopefully. Making less noise than before Sena approached the river, blinking in surprise when it came within view. It was so much bigger and messier than he would have expected, but then of course the rain the night before.

Sighing inwardly Sena stepped out of the bush onto a huge rock to get a better look at his surrounding area. He frowned noticing a piece of wood floating in the water – it was flat and obviously cut by men. He was sure that he left the last town two days ago and it was downhill from this river. Turning to look uphill Sena instantly lost his footing and slipped down the rock getting a bad rash on his hands.

On the opposite side of the river, half emerged in the water – was a man.

Sena rushed down the shoreline looking for a way to get across and as he got closer noticed more and more pieces of split wood and other rubbish that didn't quite look right. Farther down the river he found a huge tree that the rain had broken during the night. A redwood it was large enough to reach across the river and hadn't been swept away yet due to the few remaining roots it was clinging onto.

As Sena neared it he could smell the sharp smell of still living tree and the wet dirt. For a moment Sena hovered next to it, the tree was acting like a dam, which was another reason the river seemed so huge. And while it didn't look as it noticed the water slamming against it, surely it would only take the water a couple of days to completely break the tree away.

Casting a look over to where he could still barely make out the man, Sena sighed and prompted his bow against the tree deciding to take his arrows with him just in case the need for something sharp arose. Climbing on top of the tree turning out to be the hardest, the splintered wood cut into his flesh and more than once he managed to slip.

But once on top, he plucked out the wood and carefully stood up, keeping his knees bent and steadying himself with a branch thicker than his torso. The moss on the tree was slippery and Sena's hands instantly started to sweat, maybe this wasn't the best idea after all.

Shuffling forward he reached out and grabbed at the next branch using it for support. He worked like this stopping halfway to catch his breath. He was partially wet from the mist thrown from the water below and the wetness of the tree.

He looked ahead and realized with dread that the last 1/3 of his trip was going to be mostly branchless. They probably had been ripped away by the water. But it was too late to go back now, he couldn't let just leave the man over there to drown. Sena worked his way through the remaining branches and with a shudder realized what he had to do next.

Leaning forwards with both hands spread out for balance he quickly made his way across focusing only on his center of balance and his footing. Lucky this part of the tree was drier and he managed to not slip and die, placing both feet on the ground he let out praise for his ancestors.

With his heart still pounding in his ears Sena raced over to were the man was, his worst fear being that he had taken too long to get across the tree. But as he closed in on the man, relief struck him as he saw the man's haggard breathing.

A blush crossed Sena's face as he realized the man to be completely naked, but shoved that aside when he noticed the large gash on his shoulder. It was still bleeding and the man was still halfway in the water – it was a wonder that he was alive at all.

Sena wasn't a healer, but his mother had been and often watched as she talked and taught her apprentice. First Sena ran his hand down the man's ribcage, grateful that he was either asleep or knocked out from the pain. His third rib on the right side was broken along with two on the left. Before Sena did anything he had to drag him out of the water.

He made a small noise of worry; the man was thick and almost inhumanly muscular and proudly toppled Sena a good 50 pounds and he was only talking about the top part. Sliding himself under the man's arm Sena tried to pull up, it was how his friend had carried him when Sena's ankle broke from tripping in a badger hole.

But nothing happened; the man didn't so as much as move. Grunting Sena tried again, he had gone all the way across the bridge, and he couldn't just give up now. A horrible throbbing ran down his right arm and Sena hissed, it felt like someone had stuck a thin piece of wire through his flesh and had wrapped it around his bone and was now yanking on the wire with full might.

Opening his eyes Sena realized that he was dragging the man out of the water and the weight of him seemed to have completely disappeared. Grimacing only at the pain in his arm Sena managed to step back and laid the man flat on his back. Taking off his own jacket Sena covered, well, um, that area as it didn't seem to have taken much damage.

Breathing, he forced the red out of his face and instead focused his attention on the wound. After a moment of thinking he took his shirt off and after a quick struggle was able to rip it in half. He used the smaller to clean the wound to the best of his ability using the water in the river and after 5 minutes of scouring he found a plant that when crushed would ease the burn marks he found in the man's upper back.

Then Sena took off his pants with a sigh, he would wrap them tightly around the man's midsection to attempt to move the ribs back in place. Placing a hand on the man's stomach he frowned tracing the muscle around the ribcage to be sure.

All the bones were as they should be, even though he could have been sure Sena was happy to keep his pants. But the weirdness of the broken/not broken ribcage continued when he checked the burn marks again – they were already fading. And Sena knew the plant didn't work that fast.

"Maybe I'm going delirious," Sena concluding sitting down cross legged next to the man's side. After all it was still morning; the sun was just starting to warm up. He hadn't even eaten anything yet. Sena's mind traced back to Pitt and he bit his lip wondering how long he had been gone, surely this adventure started over an hour ago.

The chest under Sena's hands cross as the man breathed in deeply, further proving the lack of any broken rib bones. For the first time Sena turned to look at the man's face, it was partially hidden behind thick dark dreadlocks and after Sena brushed them away, unaware of his sudden smile.

Long dark lips with a dark fringe of lashes on a thin long face that produced two serious cheekbones and a sharp chin. Clear of emotion – and distinguishable clothing - Sena could only wonder on the man he had saved. Surely from his muscular body he was a soldier time type, or better yet an ex-soldier who wouldn't mind helping Sena find his way through the south.

Sena sighed realizing how unlikely that would be – as it was turning out he really didn't have all that good of luck getting cursed and all. But the last couple weeks had been really lonely with only Pitt as a companion and after living a whole life surrounded by his tribe.

"What the hell?" Sena nearly screamed, realizing that the man was starting to wake up. He was surprised at the voice, it sounded young around late teens or 20s. "Ah, your awake," Sena said softly and for a moment the man's face looked generally confused and Sena could see his own reflection in the man's silver eyes. Warmth spread through his body and Sena smiled weakly for a moment.

The man sat up tossing off Sena's jacket while wearing a bewildered look, and then he clutched his shoulder growling from the pain. Clearing his throat Sena leaned over to explain, "You're hurt I dressed the wound but you shouldn't move your shoulder around too much."

Or at least that's what he was going to say.

In one strange movement Sena found himself on his back, a hand to his neck and a rock pushing into his back. He cried out in pain as his arms were pulled away over his head and the face of the man pressed against his. It rationed anger and for a second Sena truly believed the man was going to bite his face off.

"Agon, get up," a voice demanded and they both turned at the noise. The voice was strange, as if it were actually two voices speaking at the same time or if one was in Sena's head the other out loud. The man threw himself off Sena and even despite the predicament Sena couldn't seem to forget how completely naked the man was.

After slowly making sure that he wasn't broken, Sena turned to the voice that had saved his life. And lost whatever remaining air he had in his lungs. It wasn't just a wolf but an enormous beast, big than the man (Agon?) even bigger than Pitt antlers and all. Maybe even bigger than the two of them combined.

It approached from the trees somehow eerily silent, which made its massive size some even bigger. "About time you show up, after I'm covered in human filth smell," Agon snapped at the beast even though it could clearly snap him in two.

What was it? A spirit or a demon? Remembering the boar demon had Sena choosing the first, but that didn't really make anything better. Spirits would just as easily kill a lone boy, if only for food. But then, why did the Agon man not show any fear.

"He's a spirit too," Sena gasped not even realizing that he was speaking out loud. He could still feel the touch of the strong ribs, once broken but completely healed minutes later. And even as he looked at his back, Sena could see what remained of the burn on his back was already just scars.

"What a stupid boy," the wolf stated, her voice sounded female he realized and blushed. "Sor-sorry ma'am," he muttered wondering if she was going to eat him.

"You're probably thinking that I'm going to eat you now," she stated and Sena stared like a child caught stealing sugar. Slinking closer to him, Sena realized that she had two long tails and her hot air smelled like the forest ground. "You're not a spirit," Sena realized at the closer speculation and she sneered showing a large of teeth half the size of him.

But Sena couldn't find it in himself to be scared, she had protected him from Agon killing him moments before and he could have sworn he heard distant in her voice about the eating thing. "I am Megu, the wolf god of these mountains. That is my son you saved," she waved one of her tails at Agon who glared at Sena with a look that burnt more than his mark earlier.

"Disgusting human," Agon growled tugging at the bondage on his shoulder. If there was one thing Sena was good at it was apparently tying knots. "Here, let me," he said taking a step forwards, stopping when he saw Agon's expression.

Swallowing he froze his face red. "Why did you even let that near me?" Agon asked his mother and she turned swiftly away from Sena. "He crossed the river and was able to attend to your wounds in a human manner. You are indebted Agon now stop acting selfish and let the human remove whatever you did wrong now." She snapped and Sena could feel himself going dizzy.

It almost sounded like he was getting praised by a wolf god. How many people could say that? Agon made a sound of displeasure but after another failed tug on his arm, he gave Sena an annoyed look that Sena managed to take the best way possible.

He didn't seem to have noticed – or care to the fact that he was completely naked, something Sena still was trying to avoid, as he approached him instead keeping his glaze only on Agon's shoulder. Which was why he tripped over some ill-fated stone, above him Agon growled again, something he seemed to do all the time.

"Sorry," Sena said looking up and had a whole new view of it, and could fell his brain explode within his brain. "It's so…stupid," Agon stated apparently at lost for a better more offensive term. Sena jumped up ready to pretend like nothing had happened. "Um, could, you er bend down a little?" He asked too short to reach the top of Agon's arm.

"Stupid human," Agon hissed but did as told; Sena busied himself with untying his handiwork even though it had only been under an hour since he put it on. Carefully he pulled away the blooded remains of his shirt; all that remained of the gushing wound was a dark scar. When he looked up at Agon he froze at the furious look that Agon was giving him.

"Yeah you're all better," Sena said softly, forcing himself to keep eye contact. At least it kept him from having to avoid other places. Agon stood up and turned to face Sena, who took another step backwards.

Unable to read his expression Sena finally turned his attention back to the wolf god, who despite her lack of a human face looked slightly amused. "I believe you'll want to get across the river," she stated and Sena nodded suddenly feeling extremely tired.

Without realizing what was going on, Megu picked him up in her mouth and raced forward, practically running across the water to drop him in one swift moment. "Ah…thank you!" Sena cried falling again this time from just shock. She bowed her head, Agon didn't even look, and then they both left.

...

Sena caught two rabbits and Jyuumonji cooked them over their fire pit.

After being dumped by the two gods Sena had sat mindless for a couple minutes just to realize…he felt kind of hurt. Agon had been horribly rude to him, sure he was a wolf god and everything but Sena did save his life, right?

Was it too much to ask that Agon be thankful?

The anger was quick and Sena was left with sadness, it had been really rude of Agon after all. Then he felt stupid, he was with two wolf gods and he hadn't asked once about the curse on his arm. He wandered down to get his bow when he found them – three men who had been washed up like Agon but less troublesome as they were really men.

Only one was continuous and with Sena's weary help, he pretty much muscled the other two back to Sena's camp which seemed farther than he remembered. Pitt was still there slightly anxious of the strange new humans, but quickly accepted them.

The other two men, Kuroki and Togano, were hurt more than Jyuumonji who had both arms pulled out of their sockets. Kuroki's leg and ribcage were broken while Togano was suffering from a bad cough and sweats.

"Wha! What the heck do you think you're doing?" Jyuumonji cried seeing Sena holding the two rabbits. "Um, preparing food…I think," Sena said swaying doubtfully. Jyuumonji shook his head looking around wildly. "This place is cursed kid; we ended up here when we were attacked by a wolf. It was the size of a freaking' house or something." Jyuumonji huffed shivering at the memory.

Sena nodding thinking back to Megu, "Did the wolf have two tails?" He asked gently and Jyuumonji laughed in disbelief. "Are you kidding? It was the SIZE of a HOUSE I really wasn't paying much attention to its tail. But that's beside the point – haven't you heard? There's really creepy, like, spirit type of guys out here that will eat a man in one bite."

"You're probably thinking that I'm going to eat you now."

Sena sighed realizing how stupid he had been to automatically assume that Megu was going to try to eat him. "If we don't eat these we'll starve," Sena explained point blank before asking his ancestors to purify their food.

What he said kept Jyuumonji from complaining and they ate in mostly silence other than the occasional painful hiss from Kuroki or a coughing fit from Togano. "We need to get them to a doctor," Jyuumonji said more serious after their apparently cursed meal.

"Where is your village?" Sena asked and Jyuumonji gave him a blank look. "Deimon? That's not a village, more like a city," he said like that explained everything. Which it didn't.

Sena nodded motioning for Jyuumonji to continue while he doused their fire pit of any remaining embers. He had burned the fat and bones of the rabbits more out of habit than anything but kept the rabbit skins, make for trade or something of the sort.

"Um, I think the river runs through, maybe we should follow it?" Jyuumonji somehow managed to come off as a question and Sena took it seriously. He'd hate to go on another journey over the tree, with two injured men and Pitt none the less. And from the looks of things Jyuumonji didn't even seem to know where to go either.

He was ready to sigh and agree when he heard an odd but familiar rattling behind him. "Ahhhh! It's the forest spirits seeking revenge!" Jyuumonji cried jumping away. Sena turned in surprise and instantly smiled. "Kodama," Sena whispered to himself. He had only seen them once before, when he was little and got lost in the forest surrounding the tribe.

"These aren't revenging spirits," he promised Jyuumonji, who frowned not completely reassured. "They live in the trees, their presence means that the forest is healthy," he explained approaching the ghostly looking spirit. It stared at him with hollow eyes but showed no signs of fear or distrust.

"More like the forest is cursed," Jyuumonji grunted still not completely trusting. Suddenly Togano had another coughing fit this once twice as serious as the last. Remembering the wolf gods Sena decided to go out on a limb, maybe the Kodama would help him after saving Agon.

"Can you please lead us to Deimon? Our friend is very sick," Sena explained motioning to Togano whose eyes were staring to glaze over. He didn't even seem to notice the spirit inches away from him, staring at him curiously.

Jyuumonji looked about ready to have a mental breakdown as more of the Kodama appearing from within the trees. "Oh, now you've done it, this is the end." He muttered to himself, but after a few moments that brought no tragic end, he choice to stare at Sena until the boy decided what to do next.

The Kodama that Sena had spoke to, made a soft whispery noise, sounding as if someone was blowing against the top of a glass. More of the Kodama joined in until all other noises of the forest had been drowned out. Jyuumonji's eyes were wide and he gave Sena a reproachful look.

Sena's Kodama stood up and on short legs started to walk down some unseen path the others beginning to follow. "They want us to join," Sena explained and Jyuumonji snorted. "So they can kill us probably." Despite his bleak outlook he positioned Togano on Pitt and draped Kuroki's arm over his so the other could limp back to the safety of Deimon.

Leading the way with Pitt bringing in the rear Sena followed the Kodama as they led them over thick tree branches and completely off trail. Jyuumonji was getting ready to start complaining when they came to an opening.

"Whoa," he managed to gasp. They were looking down at a moss covered lake, trees bigger than the one that Sena had crossed the river over canopied the sky, vibrate green moss covered the ground completely and other than deep blue patches of water everything seemed ready to explode in green.

They made their way into the valley the only sounds the wind-noises caused by the Kodama and Togano's haggard breathing. "This is a good place; I think we might be the first people to ever have some here." Sena stated in awe. Jyuumonji snorted swiping at the layer of sweat on his forehead. Sometime Kuroki had pasted out and Jyuumonji was carrying him on his back.

"Uh, think again," he said nudging Sena and pointing at a deep path of deep footprints in the fertile moss covered ground.

Two sets of wolf-prints, a claw-like print, and a large footprint. Sena instantly realized that the wolf tracks belonging to wolves bigger than a grown man. Sena frowned; he could tell that the human feet were Agon's and the larger of the wolf's Megu's then who owned the smaller wolf prints?

And the strange claw-like print caught his attention; with three toes it was deeper than even Megu's – a sign that it was bigger too. Sena's throat dried out at the possibility of something living that was bigger than Megu.

Pitt suddenly stiffened and turned her head sharply ears shooting up, Sena looked up following her glance. A good distance away stood a herd of some type of deer grazing on the moss in a patch of sunlight. Sena squinted his eyes, surely it was his imagination, but he could swear that the buck that was standing directly middle of the herd had long swirling antlers that reached out like long tree branches.

Suddenly the buck turned slowly to face Sena directly and a sensation crawled down his bad arm, as if something hot and prickly was wrapped around it. He let out a cry of surprise and took a step back in surprise – and ended up falling into the water.

It was deeper than he imagined reaching at least 10 feet and he instantly swam for the surface coughing and spitting water he had inhaled. "Whoa talk about clumsy," Jyuumonji snorted and gently released Kuroki so he could help Sena out of the water.

"Yea, sorry, did I scare the-" He looked over and sure enough the deer were gone. Sena sighed making a few hand motions to say never mind while he tore off his jacket wringing it once then placing it on Pitt's saddle to dry.

Discreetly as possible he tried to tighten the leather wrapping on his arm while at the same time checking on the mark. He sighed realizing it was still there, but at least it wasn't burning anymore. After a quick drink of water Jyuumonji deemed himself reenergized enough to continue carrying Kuroki who was starting to come to again.

"Where are we?" He slurred slightly delirious blinking at the shock of green around them. "We're almost home dude just hang in there," Jyuumonji ordered with a sudden burst of authority.

Sure enough after only a couple minutes of travel the forest trees suddenly broke away onto a grassy plain that slid into a lake. "Yes, there you go Kuroki already home!" Jyuumonji cheered and grabbed at Togano's wrist, he had stopped coughing sometime after leaving the moss covered lake but was still weak. He only managed to make a small noise of happiness before falling unconscious again.

Sena however stood in horror, across the crystal blue perched on a cut-down hill will a large wall surrounding it completely was Deimon, dark smoke coated the air and hazardous spikes had been implanted into the hill surrounding the building, probably to keep out unwanted personal.

Even from their distance they could hear the sound of something metal being struck without a beat. "Whoa look, we're right with everyone else!" Jyuumonji said in disbelief pointing at the gate entrance. "Kinda weird, we should be two days behind but…" he threw a look at the forest behind them and shivered coming to his own conclusion.

"What is this?" Sena asked softly, his eyes wide; the mountain that connected the village had been clear cut, a dark gray against the blue green of the forest. "It's Sir Hiruma's Deimon, like I told you," Jyuumonji said slowly as if Sena had suddenly turned daft.

"But it's built…like a fortress," Sena said gapping for a better word, but not able to find it. It was so different than the clay houses he lived while growing up or even the busiest of towns on his journey there. "That's because it is – didn't we already go through this? Well actually it's more of a castle than a fort 'cording to Hiruma but he's kind of a strange one. Don't tell anyone I said that," Jyuumonji asked and Sena could only nod clumsy. His heart was beating irregularly in his chest and his hands burned with sweat, the forest seemed so much more welcoming now – even if it was lonely.

"Why is there so much smoke?" Sena asked petting Pitt for comfort. "We make iron here, it's a burning process. Oh hey look! It's me Jyuumonji!" He yelled down to a couple of fisherman, who had docked on their side of the water for a quick lunch.

...

Sena nibbled nervously on his rice, listening as Jyuumonji overdramatically retold their journey through the forbidden forest.

'Forbidden forest sees a little bit too much,' Sena mussed remembering the mossy covered lake and the strange deer. Include the Kodama and it's less forbidding than a couple of hamsters, he thought dryly. Of course there were the wolf gods to consider, Megu with teeth sharper than blades, and Agon with his hatred towards humans.

Not to mention the natural dangers of the wild, Sena mussed glancing at his palms scared from the sharp splinters on the tree he used to cross over and help Agon. He looked down at his new; strange shirt Jyuumonji's fiancé had given him. Bright green and made of cotton it barely reached his knees and was meant to wrap around his midsection. Kept in place with a red slash it was softer than his old shirt he used to stop Agon's bleeding but loose with sleeves that reached to his elbows.

The woman had stripped him of his original clothing claiming it filthy leaving him without a proper pair of pants. "Don't worry – these are so pretty we'll just clean 'em up for you real nice!" Jyuumonji's fiancé promised before ushering him into a small tiled room.

Basically empty excluding a large metal tub, a bar of soap, and other hygienic material, Sena arrived to the 'man's house' freshly clean and wearing his pants cleaner than the day they were made. Biting into a boiled piece of fish, Sena stared at Jyuumonji as he, once again, described the seconds after falling off the cliff into the icy water below.

Dimly he realized how much Jyuumonji's personality changed within his village, more laid back and causal but in a manly way. Maybe it was just being back in his element that made the change, if Sena were to return back to the Kobayakawa tribe would he automatically resume the life he lived? Sena frowned shaking the thought from his mind.

It was too late to wonder that, he couldn't ever return.

"Whaa! Jyuumonji listening to you babble about yourself is giving us a headache out here!" His fiancé yelled followed by a volley of laugher from the woman hanging right outside the entrance of the room. "Shut up woman! Valuable men died that day we don't need to hear you badgering away," said a man closer to the door.

"I bet your wife would love to hear you talking to a woman like that! Let's see who's badgering when you're sleeping on the floor." She jeered and was followed by more jeering from both sides.

"If we men hadn't traveled you women wouldn't be eating the rice you have tonight!"

"If us women hadn't pumped the iron, you fools wouldn't have had anything to buy that rice with buster!"

Sena's head shot up, iron, he thought grabbing the small leather pouch around his neck. Putting down his chopsticks he muttered a quick thanks to man who brought the food out for him before heading over to the door. Jyuumonji's fiancé gave him a surprise but slightly suspicious look, still not sure what to make of him. "Um, if you wouldn't mind I'd really like to see where you ladies work." He said softly and her surprise showed again.

"The iron pumps aren't the only thing he wants to see ladies!" Someone behind him bellowed out and five of the girls started shouting out again slightly more vicious this. "Sure Sena, ignore those fools they spend too much time with the oxen." She said with a coy smile.

Sena smiled back, a little nervously as the girls flocked around him. "Um, I'm sorry but I don't think I really ever caught your name," he admitted and she waved her hands around in a dramatic gesture. "Ah! How silly of me, I'm Karen," she said grabbing his arm before dragging him into another house similar to the one he just left expect it was filled with woman, and smelled slightly better.

"Look what I caught! The men were trying to keep the stranger all to himself!" Karen burst proudly and Sena blinked in response. "So where you from?" Asked a pretty girl with long blonde hair and piercing blonde eyes.

"U-uh," he replied mind blank.

"Hey don't make him uncomfortable," Karen snapped pushing the girl away. The girl huffed but didn't press Sena for any more information. "Karen not to be rude, but, um, did-didn't you say you would take me to see the, er, iron thingy?" Sena asked and she shrugged. "In a minute okay?" She smiled and he smiled back weakly.

"Ha! Hey who does Sena remind you of?" The blonde suddenly asked, pointing accusingly to Karen. Both shared a disbelieving look before turning back to the girl, Sena was nothing like the loud, proud Karen. "Hey you're right, back when Karen first got here," another girl said slowly before bursting out in laugher. "A couple months in Deimon sure changed that around."

Karen shrugged, accepting their claims. "It was true; I thought Hiruma was so scary! Not that he isn't; but at the time I was sure he was secretly a demon or something like that. In reality he's just a serious type of guy, he doesn't believe any of that 'woman in the kitchen' bullshit either! I was living practically in poverty back in my city – in the city there's only one thing men want woman to do. And a girl's gotta eat. Hiruma actually even told me once that he knows we're more important than the men, less complains!" Karen announced and the girls laughed in agreement.

"Now isn't that for sure! Even though Hiruma is a guy he's pretty important himself," another woman, older than Karen, stated but was interrupted by the blonde girl. "Not to mention pretty handsome!" This brought another wave of laugher but the woman continued as if she hadn't heard.

"I remember back before Hiruma got here! The men were nasty and we women worked ourselves to the bone trying to clean and provide food. We couldn't buy food because after using all the ore in the mountains the men were stuck with nothing to do," the woman explained and everyone grew quiet.

"If they used all the ore in the river then how…" Sena frowned listening carefully.

"Kurita, the lord of the boar gods didn't want the men to clear-cut the forest, which was needed to reach a vein of ore beneath the mountain. Every time the men would so much start working he would appear out of nowhere, every night brought with it news of the dead.

"But then Lord Hiruma came! He brought guns and warriors who shot Kurita down, they didn't kill him but obviously he's not around anymore." Sena's heart jumped and he could feel a slight prickling sensation running down his arm. Was there any doubt that this boar god was the demon that cursed him? Sena stood up moving over to Karen. "I would like to speak with Lord Hiruma, um; do you know where he is?" He asked and she blinked looking slightly disappointed.

"Don't you want to see the iron pumps?" She asked sounding slightly confused and Sena smiled weakly in response. "I still do, I just would like to ask him something, thank you ladies for the kindness you showed me," Sena said to the other girls most of who grinned wide.

"Any time cute stuff!" Said the blonde as the exited the building.

...

"So," Hiruma said slowly rolling the ball of iron in his hand. He stared intently on Sena's mark, reaching out a couple of times to touch it. "Do you blame me for this?" He asked and Sena gasped, he had finished telling Hiruma of his curse; how Kurita had attacked his tribe, the journey that led him to Deimon, and the curse that would sooner or later eat away his soul.

"Hahaha, nah I'm not going to ask you that, I already know it is so don't sweat it. On a side note kid, if I could I would take that curse in a heartbeat I killed the boar I should be the one to suffer. But life's a fucker you know? Come on, I want to show you something," Hiruma said standing up and Sena stumbled after him outside.

It was getting late and the busy streets were starting to dispense but the few people they did see bowed and greeted Hiruma usually with wide smiles of gratitude. Hiruma didn't seem to notice or maybe just didn't care; he talked down to Sena explaining the complexity of Deimon. Most of what he said just flew over Sena's head.

Despite the curse on his arm – and Hiruma's lack of empathy - Sena couldn't find himself hating the man. He gave the woman homes and pride and gave the men jobs and safety, but at the same time killed the boar god that rightfully owned the land. It made Sena's head spin and suddenly, for the first time since the strange monk Doburoku brought it up Sena found himself talking about his home.

"Lord Hiruma," he said motioning for the man to slow down, Hiruma did wearing an expression of slight annoyance and impatience. "I told you that Kurita attacked my tribe, but I didn't tell you where I was from," he explained.

"Figured you just wanted to step-side that question shrimp," Hiruma replied, his expression giving away nothing. "Well, um, I did – but I want to say something about it now," he explained and when Hiruma stared without answering he continued. "My tribe Kobayakawa was always peaceful but back years before I was born the Emperor sent warriors to attack and destroy my people. We were living on a mine of emeralds and refused to give up our land, so the Emperor had us wiped out. Men, woman, and children died the ones that got away traveled for years, refuges in their own country.

"To me it sounds like you're doing the each same thing that the Emperor did to my people – don't you believe that it's wrong?" Sena asked his eyes wide fist clenched. Hiruma was silent for a moment, wearing the same expression as when Sena explained his curse. As if being forced to decide which poison he would rather drink.

"I'm not one for mushy shit kid, I say stuff like it is; men can't own land, kid – the prospect is pitiful. When you die that's it, there's nothing else out there for you and it doesn't matter to anyone that you claimed this spot of earth. Hell, one day Deimon will be overthrown too by someone with bigger and meaner weapons. The gods got too used to having stuff go their way, this land isn't theirs either, it's just dirt it wouldn't ever belong to one boar god, man, or spirit."

Sena was silent shocked by Hiruma's speech, despite himself he could see Hiruma's logic which was a frightening factor considering what he was saying. They passed by a larger building full of woman, a burst of heat hit Sena making his face burn.

"Lord Hiruma!" The girls cheered and he threw them a causal wave. Leading Sena past the building they climb the rafters leading to the top of the wall that keep the city away from wild. "What are we doing up here?" Sena demanded shivering slightly, staring at the dark mountain in front of them. "Ape gods," Hiruma explained motioning the inky darkness. Sena squinted but didn't manage to see much of anything.

Suddenly Hiruma pulled out a long dangerous looking piece of metal, from seemly nowhere, and aimed it out to the darkness. The mountain exploded with a blazing blue light and Sena gasped as what felt like hundreds of glowing red eyes stared out at him, hostile.

"What is that?" Sena gasping staring with wide eyes at Hiruma, he gave a mildly surprised look before holding the fire-shooter out for Sena's expectation. "A gun, dumb ass, with the power to kill a god with three shots," he explained with a smirk and Sena paled thinking of Megu. "I plan to set out a team to kill the spirit of the forest," he explained causally as if speaking of a meal he planned to eat the next day.

"Afterwards all these self-claimed 'gods' will just become dumb beast and this land the richest in the world. And that fucking dread-head 'Prince' Agon will become mortal," Hiruma sneered to himself and Sena struggled to keep his surprise off his face.

"Agon?" He asked the image of the wolf-dog young man imprinted in his brain. "Heard of him? The wolf god Megu stole his soul and now he lives to kill me, quite bothersome truly," Hiruma explained calmly and Sena couldn't help himself to press for more.

"You mean he was once human too?" Hiruma's eyes sharpened analyzing Sena, worried that he said too much Sena lowered his head. The flame had disappeared and the mountain dark again but now he could imagine the red glowing eyes of the ape gods and shivered.

"Apparently," Hiruma muttered, "You know they say that the blood of the forest spirit can cure any disease, my men here suffer – nearly half of them have lung cancer from breathing the ore and smoke. With the spirit's blood they can live another day, it wouldn't surprise me if its blood could remove that curse too." Hiruma said eyeing Sena's arm.

He sighed and gave Hiruma a pained look, "how would the death of the spirit god cleanse the hatred marked on me?" He asked generally curious. Hiruma shrugged shooting his gun at the ape gods again in the distance. "Just putting it out there kid and since that mark is only there due to me – I'm going to have to find a way to get rid of it, before you die." He explained and Sena shook his head suddenly weak. He could sense that perhaps Hiruma wanted to say more but he felt inches away from exploding with some deep emotion, not able to stand Hiruma's strange perspective on the value of lives.

Also sensing that their conversation was over Hiruma started climbing down the rungs of the ladder leaving Sena to his thoughts, slipping away so silently that Sena almost didn't even register him leaving.

Most of his attention was drawn to the apes out in the distance, why were they putting themselves in such danger out on the bare burnt away mountain? The fire was burning down and Sena stared aimlessly at their glowing red eyes, blinking when he saw a shock of white against the burning light. His mind flashed to the color of Megu's white fur and his heart started to beat faster.

But the fire died quickly and Sena was staring only at pitch darkness, annoyed he stood up trying to hear the tiniest of noises – to his right in the watchtower a guard sneezed. A breeze picked up and he could smell the slightest hint of the forest beyond the burnt patch of soil in front of him. Maybe he was just being paranoid, seeing ghost when nothing was present.

He sighed and was ready to head down to the ladder when something landed softly only a couple feet away from him. Sena's breath caught in his throat as he stared into Agon's eyes covered by an animal skin of a wolf, by the size Sena realized it had to have been even bigger than Megu. For a moment Agon didn't speak simply stared the younger boy down.

Then he bolted, off the wall onto a close by roof his head down, completely silent. Sena stared his heart pounding before, without much of a plan, jumped to follow Agon. He misjudged the distance to the roof and would have plummeted to his death if he hadn't caught hold of the gutter. It creaked and complained under his weight. His breath caught in his throat, too scared to even scream out. His arm sockets complained in agony and he could feel his hands slipping from the gutter. Why had compelled him to jump anyway?

Suddenly a large rough hand grabbed his upper arm and dragged him up, onto the roof. Agon made a grunt of annoyance staring at Sena but betraying no emotion. He rubbed his shoulder frowning sheepishly. "Thank you," he started, but Agon was already taking off down the roof. Sena, more carefully stood up. The roof was on an angle only a couple of inches of flat area at the top that he could walk on.

Sena never had a problem with heights; he was always climbing the watchtower and trees, at ease in the air. This wasn't an exception, once the initial fright of almost dying was gone; he felt calm and more at peace than he had sense arriving in Deimon. The darkness seemed less, his brain clear and the air cool brushing away the sweat on his forehead.

With a clear mind he realized why Agon was there – Hiruma had just said it, he wanted to kill Hiruma. And while Hiruma's tactics wrong, Sena felt as if the lord really just wanted to keep his people safe. Everyone knew this and respected Hiruma, if Agon were to kill him there would be a riot. Sena frowned, even though he understood the basics he couldn't wrap his mind around why Agon would risk his life to kill Hiruma. The buck in the moss covered lake came to mind – Sena was pretty sure now that he had seen the spirit that day – thickening the plot.

No, he didn't need to think about that – just keep Agon from killing Hiruma and vice versa. Sena bolted down the small stretch of roof, the trick was to just keep moving and to not lose his center of balance. As he approached the next roof, Agon came in view – four roofs away. Sena focused his attention on the roof in front of him, jumped and surprisingly didn't fall this time, using the momentum he continued running.

"Look! On the roof!" Someone yelled and Sena heard a loud burst, looking up to realize that someone had shot at Agon. He has easily moved out of the way and continued running but now gaining specters. "Agon! Go back!" Sena cried, before slipping. His moccasins had no traction on the strange slick substance of the roof and he fell, this time hitting the gutter with his back and bringing it down with him.

"It's the outsider! He was a spy!" Someone yelled and Sena rolled out of the way as something sharp was thrust in his direction. He didn't recognize the man and was still too woozy from his fall to dismiss the claim; he coughed trying to collect his surroundings. But the man attacked again, thrusting his sword towards Sena's gut. Fear spiked through his system and Sena raised both arms to block the sword.

A dreadful but familiar sensation wrapped around his right arm – as if someone had a wire wrapped around his bones and was pulling at it through the flesh. Opening his eyes Sena first saw the man's frightened expression before realizing what happened – the sword had hit his arm and crumbled on impact. "De-demon," the man whispered his eyes glassy.

Sena struggled to stand up and grimaced at the pain as it spread to the rest of his body along with a sensation of being covered with melted wax and was about to scream from pain – when it completely disappeared.

His breath caught in surprise as he grabbed hold of his arm, not only had the pain vanished but any feeling at all was gone. Clumsy he walked through the crowd who parted pressing against the walls as if he was a naked leper. The word 'demon' floated on many lips but it didn't quite affect Sena like it would have at one point.

He made his way to the center of the town and stared at the back of Agon and realized that the man wasn't even armed – did he plan to kill Hiruma with mere strength alone? Hiruma didn't – he was holding two of his guns a sharp sneer on his face. Everyone had formed a circle around them throwing insults and curses at Agon, egging on Hiruma.

Suddenly both men charged at each other and Sena bolted forwards, out of the compressing circle of people. Someone tried to pull him back but cried in shock when Sena easily pushed him aside. "Stop!" He cried standing between the two and held up his arm, he hadn't yet rewrapped it and the leather band loose at his elbow.

The mark had grown, reaching from his palm to the elbow in long snake like burns it bubbled and the flesh twisted abnormally. "This is what anger and fear looks like, pointless killings wouldn't lead anywhere just to more pointless deaths and hate until there is nothing left!" He cried but his voice was washed out by the screaming of the crowd.

Hiruma twisted around Sena aiming the gun at Agon, without thinking Sena lunged at him knocking the gun out of his hand. It slid away towards the crowd and he spotted the shadow of Agon approaching. Without thinking Sena grabbed the other gun and jumped up thrusting the butt against Agon's head, the man's eyes flashed but dulled quickly and he slumped down with a hiss.

"I can't let you guys kill him for no reason," Sena explained his tone nearly begging. Breathing unevenly he wrapped Agon's arm around his neck somehow picking the large boy up – being shorter than Agon by a good couple feet, the larger boy was still mostly being dragged than carried but it was the best he could do. "When Hiruma wakes up please tell him I'm sorry, thank you all for letting me stay here," Sena said and could hear a burst from the horse stalls. Pitt walked out calmly, wearing only her bridle and no saddle.

"No!" A woman screamed jumping forwards, Sena dimly realized she was the blonde from earlier but chose to ignore her. "My fiancé died from that monster!" She screamed and at one point must have picked up Hiruma's gun, she aimed and for a moment Sena couldn't breathe before he realized that she had shot him. Not bothering to touch the wound – or risk breaking the strange spell cast on him by the mark.

Instead he dragged Agon forwards to the drawbridge, behind him he could hear the woman crying and he winced as another shot pierced through his stomach. "Could…someone please…open this?" He gasped at the closet man to him. "I-it takes ten men to open the bridge, we wouldn't have," realizing the man wasn't going to help, Sena pressed his hand against the bridge and with a grunt he could hear it starting to obey.

The town was quiet and Sena stumbled out across the bridge where a wolf god waited – it wasn't Megu though and only half her size. It didn't speak to him and instead watched curiously as Sena climbed onto Pitt's back, dragging Agon along able to pick up the man but loosing the last of his inhuman strength by doing so. Then the wolf started to walk away with Pitt following, Agon sat in front of Sena and the boy could only watch as his blood stained the white fur of his coat.

A flush of heat was the first sign that his feelings were returning, quickly followed by a cold fear. Agon grunted in front of him choosing now to wake up. He jumped off of Pitt, dragging Sena with him. She jumped with shock not sure how to react.

"You fucking human filth, what is wrong with you? I could have killed him you little piece of shit," Agon hissed, pressing himself on top of Sena, who didn't even have the energy to be mortified. He was going to die anyway; it seemed so pointless to be scared.

Agon's words drained away in the background and he stared at the young man intently, his silver eyes sharp and ivory as the moon. Suddenly, Sena realized what he wanted to do and without fear, because after all this might be his last hour, minute alive.

He leaned forwards, ignoring the first prickling of pain in his abdominal region, without hesitation he pressed his lips again Agon's relishing the feel of the coarse but at the same time soft lips before blacking out.

...

Sena was flying in an ocean of green, the world a warm continuous blur.

Ahead of him was a patch of white and his curiously took over, he headed towards it increasing his speed. But suddenly an invisible rope wrapped around him and Sena turned impatiently to see who has bothered him. Instead he saw a long rope the color of a starry night sky wrapped around him; he threw a look at the patch of white, but decided that the rope was more interesting.

He didn't fight as it dragged him in the opposite direction of the white light and suddenly he was staring face to face with a huge animal. No not animal, it had the form of a man but with a long stretched neck and a face shaped like a long. The long blue coils like the one twisted around Sena stretched from its head down the spine and along its arms. It was mildly transparent but seemed more solid than anything Sena ever knew.

Despite its size and the power that radiated off it, Sena wasn't frightened, instead he felt happy overjoyed even and breathed ready to thank it, for everything, anything when –

Cold water splashed against his face and Sena sat up coughing. Agon looked down at him with a half smirk not even pretending innocence. Sena blinked his mind muggy, all he could remember was staring out at the ape gods where was he…

Agon stared at him waiting while Sena's jumbled brain unclogged himself and Sena instantly unwrapped his shirt running his hand down his stomach. It was smooth and unscarred, no sign of a wound. He looked up at Agon curiously and the wolf boy snorted. "Still haven't figured it out? The forest spirit," he explained waving his hand around the forest. "It healed me?" Sena asked surprised and glanced at his arm his heart falling. The mark was still there, larger than before.

He tried to hide his disappointment and luckily Agon didn't mention it. "Thank you," Sena said, even though he realized it probably sounded pointless to Agon. With a grunt Sena struggled to sit up, his arms felt like mush and a sleepy sensation ran down his legs. He bended them trying to shake it away before collapsing again, exhausted. "How long was I here?" He asked finally taking in his surroundings.

He was back at the mossy lake on a small island, a short distance away from the land. Pitt stood grazing on the moss over there and looked up when he noticed her. She shook her head in greeting and let out a small huff.

"All night, I tried to release her but she's rather attracted to you," Agon explained gesturing to Pitt and he smiled. Sena flipped to his side, eyes heavy, through the tall trees he couldn't see the sun but from the brightness around him guessed it was around midmorning. Suddenly his stomach growled noisy and he blushed looking up at Agon.

"S-s-sorry about that," he said just as his stomach growled again. Agon shrugged before revealing a wrapped up packet, within it tough meat liked the smoke deer Sena used to eat back home. He gratefully tried to take a bite out of a piece only to make a soft indict and feel even more weary and tired. "I-I can't," he muttered his face red.

Agon grunted and stared at Sena accusingly for a moment before taking the meat away and eating it, he chewed for a minute before turning back to Sena. "Open your mouth," he muttered and Sena's face warmed up and he meekly shook his head, no.

This didn't seem to bother Agon, who grabbed the back of Sena's neck and pressed his mouth against Sena's, his mouth was warm and filled with the taste of the meat's juicy – it was deer Sena realized before swallowing. His face was red as he finally managed to pull away and he placed a hand over his mouth.

Suddenly, he remembered the last seconds of his consciousness, out of a burst of passion leaning forward to kiss Agon. "Ah, I'm sorry about yesterday, when I, you know did that," Sena muttered his embarrassment waking him up more.

Agon gave him a judgmental glare; he still had a grip on the back of Sena's neck and brushed his other hand across Sena's face. Resisting the urge to flinch Sena stared into his eyes, trying to find some emotion that would explain what the other was feeling. Something flashed there, but it was gone quicker than Sena could follow.

"Why the hell did you do that?"

Sena blinked realizing belatedly that Agon spoke out loud and coughed, trying to find an answer glancing behind Agon no longer able to make eye contact. "I-I think I was going to, um, die and…" Sena found himself whispering before his mind suddenly went completely blank.

Agon drew away from Sena, standing up casting a shadow over him, and moved to stand next to Sena. Without his impending glare the words came back in a rush and it took Sena two tries to get it right. "I, I, could see you were angry and I kept remembering what you looked like when I found you on the beach – next to the river. Before I saw your anger and I thought your face was the most beautiful thing in the world, it made me sad to see you angry, so I wanted to give some kindness before I, you know, died. Because that's what I thought was going to happen." Sena could feel the heat on his face but he couldn't imagine lying here – or even not telling the complete truth.

After all he had just stared into the face of the forest spirit; he doubted that he even could lie.

Agon snorted and started to pace the small available area of the island his jaw set tight, "you are increasingly annoying you know that right?" Agon snapped and Sena lowered his head staring at the water, despite the green everywhere it was as clear blue.

"I hate humans and everything about them, humans can't show kindness everything they do is for personal belief. They know no bounties plotting and scheming against each other, ready to draw blood for the pettiest of things." He hissed but his tone lacked true anger as if this was simply a speech he had practiced too many times.

"And then there's you," he continued and Sena looked up surprise hearing true emotion. Agon turned his head away refusing to make eye contact. "You saw a complete stranger and risked your life to save them, asking for nothing in return," he assumed and for a second Sena was blank before realizing he was talking about how Sena crossed the river.

"Sorry?" Sena whispered wincing slightly and Agon huffed before he could say anything though, a loud crash filled the forest. Sena's head shot up and he instantly searched for Pitt, she was charging through the water towards him, and then he looked up and saw Megu burst through the forest at top speed.

Blood smeared across her white fur reminding Sena again of the night before, but seconds later he was on Pitt headed towards her. Agon had moved at inhuman speeds and was already next to her his eyes burning. "Mother!" He hissed crouching next to her.

She growled something to him in what Sena guessed had to be wolf language for once she was done Agon replied with his own voice and even though he couldn't understand the words Sena could feel his fear and anger. As he approached Sena better saw what happened, Megu had been shot twice in the stomach and oozed blood at a frightening pace.

Hiruma's words haunted him, "the power to kill a god with three shots,"

Agon pressed his mouth against the worst of the wounds – trying to suck the bullet out, Sena slid off Pitt unsure if he should approach or not. "Human child, don't tell me you're…still afraid," Megu asked between painful gasps and Sena hung his head.

"I'll kill that son of a bitch, I swear," Agon gasped between breathes before looking at Sena his eyes both hard and demanding. "Do fucking something!" He snapped and Sena felt hot tears leak out of his eyes as he moved closer to Megu. Her dark eyes pierced into him with far too much strength of someone who was dying. She knew that she was going to die, he realized, die the same way the boar god did.

"I'm so sorry," he whispered pressing a trembling hand against the side of her face and felt the vibrations of a deep growl run through her. "There's no reason to be," Megu replied and forced herself to stand up on wobbly legs. "I'll be fine Agon, a wolf god can still bite even when torn from her body," Megu chuckled moving to lie halfway in the water. She closed her eyes letting her blood drain into the water.

Agon wiped at the blood on his mouth and was about to argue when the earth started to shake and chaos filled the forest. Boars, too many to count flooded the area squeaking and making sounds of anger and fury as they approached. Finding himself more frightened than ever before Sena set his weight against Pitt who nuzzled him in understanding.

Megu stood up again – her wound while still present wasn't bleeding anymore. She growled and another wolf – the one that Sena met only briefly the night before – appeared from the opposite direction as the boars looking slightly out of breath. He stood next to her, probably her real son Sena realized, and to his surprise Agon moved in front of him.

"Megu," growled the one in front – he was covered in scars and Sena could feel it's hatred towards him. "We traveled from dangerous distances to come here and fight the humans to save our forest. What is a human doing here?" It demanded and Megu growled her earlier traces of weakness gone.

"Humans are everywhere nowadays Banda, nothing I can do about that," she said her voice inking of sarcasm. "The tall boy is my son Agon, go back to your forest and kill the humans there," Megu demanded and the boar's eyes widened. He snorted stomping his foot. Sena found his legs no longer able to hold him anymore and dropped down to the dirt.

"He's got nothing to do with those humans, he was shot and the forest spirit healed him," Agon snapped taking a step back closer to Sena. This turned out wasn't the thing to say, the boar reared up his eyes nearly popped out of his eyes.

"THE SPIRIT OF THE FOREST SAVED THIS RUNT? BUT HE COULDN'T SAVE KURITA? WHY? ISN'T HE THE GUARDIAN OF THE FOREST?" The board demanded and suddenly Sena couldn't take it anymore. He at least managed to turn before puking his stomach clenched together, the sound drowned out by the demanding crying from the boars.

"The forest spirit gives and takes lives," Megu growled her fangs showing, "as he gives and takes death. They are his and his alone or have you idiotic boars already forgotten that?"

The boar cried out retorting, "lies! You wolves must have begged the spirit for his life – but didn't for Kurita, did you?" He yelled and if she were a human Sena could have bet that she would have rolled her eyes.

"Kurita was afraid of death, he fled and the darkness took him. Now I too have the same poisoned human bullet buried deep against my heart, I remain and constipate my death." She explained and Sena looked up at Agon, if only he were to turn around so Sena could see his expression.

"LIES! Kurita wouldn't have run from anything, he was brave as he was strong! You wolves probably ate him!" The boar Banda demanded and Sena, even in a state of complete haze and inches from passing out could see the anger grab hold of Agon.

"You shut your fucking mouth you disgusting pig before I do it for you," he growled and fear once again took hold of Sena's body as he imagined Agon trying to fight the huge boar. "A-Agon, no," he muttered weakly and the wolf boy turned to face him, furious. Struggling to sit up Sena turned to face Banda, "I-I am the one who killed the boar god Kurita, he attacked my tribe already a horrible demon. I'm sorry for his death, b-but he was already some type of monster…this mark is from where he touched me." Sena wheezed holding up his bare arm.

"I-I came here to beg of the forest spirit to lift the curse – he took the bullet wound from my side but the mark remains." Sena explained casting his eyes down exhausted from that small feat. When he looked up again, another boar was approaching him this one larger than the rest – almost as big as Kurita was. "Gaou, finally a boar that can hear reason," Megu said with relief.

Suddenly Agon pushed himself in front of Sena, "I wouldn't let you hurt this human," he threatened and Sena couldn't help but to smile thankful that Agon seemed to really care. "I've heard of you," the boar said his voice lacking the anger found in Banda's. "You were once a mortal child is it true that your soul is entwined of that of your brother's?" He asked only sounding lightly curious. When Agon didn't answer Gaou snorted, "Doesn't matter – but I give you my word as a boar, I will not hurt the human." Suddenly Sena could feel the boar's warm breath on him and he feebly held out his arm.

"Lord Gaou…sir, I don't lie," he promised and the boar's snout winkled back.

"I believe you," he confirmed loud enough for all the boars to hear. "It saddens me that Kurita had to die in a strange land by the hand of a human. I am horrified and ashamed that a demon came from our tribe," Gaou said with a lowered head and Sena could finally see his eyes.

"Lord Gaou, is there a way to lift Kurita's curse?" He begged and the boar's eyes hardened. "Leave this forest human, in honor of my friend the next time we met I shall have to kill you," he explained and Sena swallowed his hurt.

"You cannot fight against the humans Gaou, their guns will kill you all," Megu stated her lips curling back.

"Look at my tribe Megu; we were once proud and strong. Now we grow weak – and stupid, soon we shall only be game for the humans." He said not fighting her accusation. "You'll risk your lives on one last battle for pride? That's just what the humans want," Said Agon's brother speaking up for the first time.

"I don't ask for help from what's left of the wolf tribe, even if every last one of us dies we shall twice as many human lives and it will be a battle the humans will never forget." Gaou said before turning away, leaving with his boars.

Sena closed his eyes feeling hot tears press against them. "The forest spirit," Agon muttered and he looked up, standing on the water taking a soft drink was the buck he had seen what left like forever ago. He looked up and Sena realized that he wasn't a buck at all, for he had a baboon face and toed feet.

...

When Sena finally woke up again, he was nearly suffocating under thick layers of soft animal skins. After a couple moments of twisting and pulling he finally broke free and felt just as exhausted as before he fell asleep. Looking around he realized dully that he was in a cave and let the cool air rest on his sweating skin.

His throat was dry and stomach empty – he couldn't even remember the last time he drank water. "Agon," he moaned the word leaving his lips before he was even fully aware that Agon was in the room. A dark figure shadowed him sitting him up and pressing a clay bowl to his lips. "Shut up stupid," Agon muttered as Sena drank all the water in the bowl. Even though it was laced with the taste of dirt it felt like heaven flowing through his system.

Once the bowl was empty he breathed deeply until Agon pressed his lips against his own, for feeding purposes again. Sena swallowed, his face a deep red, and muttered his thanks. Agon grunted and didn't move away, refusing to look away even as Sena pointedly closed his eyes against him.

Then he felt Agon's lips against his again, but this time without reason. The world disappeared and Sena couldn't breathe, too scared that he would shatter the raw essence of what was happening. Agon deepened the kiss pressing forward and Sena – who had the strength of a wet butterfly – collapsed backwards. Instantly Agon pulled away as if expecting Sena to snap in half or something to that since.

Instead he just gasped taking in as much oxygen as possible.

"What was…?" Sena started to ask, but instead shook his head too scared for an answer. Agon leaned over positioning himself on top of Sena and touched the brunet's eyes, lips, hair, cheeks. Sena closed his eyes feeling Agon's warm breath wash over his skin until he slipped back into sleep.

The rest of the week went like that, Sena slipping in and out of consciousness Agon always a few inches away. They touched and kissed, then when Sena's strength grew he shared in whispers his life and Agon told him about his in return.

Sena explained the Kobayakawa tribe, who praised the forest that gave them life and replanted every tree they cut down. In exchange Agon admitted having forgotten his human life completely, explaining in strange details what it was like to be a god. Needing barely any sleep or food, the increase of eyesight and senses, how he and his brother shared their pain and wounds.

With Sena's gaining strength came Agon's gaining passion, the kisses deeper, the touching warmer, and the whispered words more urgent.

They never spoke about the forest spirit, Megu, the boars, or anything to do with Hiruma. It wasn't that the subjects were taboo but they would surely break the gentle peace they had. Sena knew though that it was just a matter of time, the dark mark on his arm gave that fact away. Dark and ugly it warned him of his future, that Hiruma was out there scheming to kill the forest spirit, Megu was slowly being poisoned by his bullet, and the boars were prepared to die in honor. And even more, the men in Deimon were dying of cancerous cells, the woman dealing with the ghost of their past and the injustice thrown upon them by the men.

Meanwhile he was with Agon, breathing in his smell trying to remember and place every inch of the wolf boy into brain forever. Trying to remember every inch of his face, map the silver in his eyes, the bones in his hands.

On the seventh morning he woke and realized with dread that it was over, standing at the entrance of the cave was Agon's brother. Agon sat next to him stroking at Sena's hair absently as he growled and hissed in the wolves' strange langue to his brother. Sena closed his eyes but he knew that Agon realized he was awake, he could always automatically tell.

The wolf turned around and left Sena gathered his curiosity and asked, "What did he want?" Agon responded with a trademark grunt and wrapped his arms around Sena. Sena sighed in response, blinking in surprise when Agon pulled away for. "What was that for?" He demanded and Sena responded with a blank look.

"What was what for?" He questioned innocently and Agon gave him a dark look. "You always sigh like that when something is bothering you." Sena wiggled out of Agon's arms and turned to face the other. His words were lost deep within his throat and whatever he was going to say burned in his throat. Instead of answering he kissed him, keeping his eyes clutched tightly.

Later that night he woke up in a foggily state aware that Agon's heat was gone. Looking up at the entrance of the cave he nodded his head, Megu growled in response. Agon's brother nudged a couple of left wrapped packages over to him.

Food, he expected, and took it gratefully.

He picked up his shirt and tied the slash around his waist before following the wolves out of the cave. "Have the boars?" He asked and Megu snarled interrupting him, "They are still on the move, soon they will foolishly give their lives." She said without the slightest doubt.

A ball of ice formed in Sena's chest and he looked over at the view beyond the cliff the cave had opened up to. "Why can't people and the forest live together, in peace?" Sena asked sadly and Megu shook her head, deciding to ignore his question.

"Once your strength returns that curse with grow and devour your soul, what do you plan to do about that human?" The coldness grew in his chest and Sena sighed. "I have to return to Deimon and speak to Hiruma there." He explained and the wolf tensed.

"That damn man, someday I will crush his skull between my teeth for all the trouble he's given my family." She promised looking up to the stars and the rising sun in the cloudy distance.

Sena took off his emerald necklace, mildly surprised the leather cord hadn't snapped from all his trials by now. "Can you please give this to Agon for me?" He whispered and she nodded letting him place the necklace on one of her bottom teeth

What felt like seconds later, he followed as Agon's brother – he didn't even know the wolf's name – led him to a dried out stream. From there he set out back to Deimon, once he regained his strength completely the mark would grow again until it finally consumed him, like Megu said. Maybe he'd have enough time to beg Hiruma to leave the spirit of the forest alone, before he died.

Suddenly a cry rang from behind him, it was one he knew well, from his time at the moss covered lake were the forest of the spirit lived. The boars. Remembering Gaou's promise to kill him Sena froze tightening his grip on Pitt's reins. She turned around, sensing his nervousness and Sena's stomach dropped, standing a good couple yards away from him were three boars. They snorted glaring at him and Sena swallowed dry.

Even if he had his bow on him – which he didn't, he left it at Deimon along with Pitt's saddle and the quiver – he wouldn't have dared shoot them. Murdering a boar god was what cursed him in the first place, but still he felt incredibility naked sitting there, weak without any weapon.

"Stupid dying human!" The middle boar yelled out and Sena bowed his head accepting the insult. With a snort the boar continued, shouting out, "You said you wanted a cure from the curse on your arm." A stupid ray of hope sprung from the darkness and Sena's eyes widened. He didn't dare say anything though, not wanting his voice to give him away.

"Die with the boars in Kurita's place, within your soul is his anger and with his anger comes Kurita!" The boar demanded and Sena shook his head at the prospect but stopped realizing they probably didn't understand human signals like that.

He sighed and thought it over, maybe this was how it was supposed to be after all, and at least he had the joy of finding Agon and being with him – while it lasted. He reached for the emerald at his neck, shocked into realizing it was no longer there. Then he cleared his voice and answered the boars, "Thank you, I may not be able to fight as well as the boars but..." Suddenly he remembered Hiruma and fear filled him.

There was no way he could let him kill the forest spirit – the spirit had let him live, he just couldn't die in vain. "But," he continued embarrassed, "I must seek the forest spirit," he explained weekly wincing when the boars snorted at him. "Suit yourself stupid human, save your own cursed life and die a coward."

...

At first Sena thought the noise was thunder, it was dark enough with strange thick clouds hiding the sun but a gust of wind showed differently. Deimon was under attack, he realized with cold shock, remembering Hiruma's guns he couldn't help but to wonder who would dare to attack so foolishly.

Heading closer Sena was reminded, yet again, of the fact he carried no weapons. Even more reminded when three men – dressed in strange bulky armor – point out him and started running waving their swords. They spoke a strange language, even more alien to him than the wolves' growls.

"Pitt," Sena ushered and she bolted forwards easily leaping over their heads, clear into the lake. Sena drifted off her back holding onto her reins in one hand, swimming with the other. The strange men – whoever they were – started yelling at him in their harsh language. None of them carried bows though and Sena somewhat safely managed to swim across the river.

"Hey look its Sena, in the water! He's not a demon after all!" A girl yelled down pointing at him. "Where is Lord Hiruma?" He called up and recognized Karen and Jyuumonji's faces. "He took all the able bodied men to kill the forest spirit with the monk Doburoku! These punks are from Taiyo, thought we'd just roll over without the men around or something!" Karen explained aiming her gun at something behind Sena. It was louder than Hiruma's had been and even from his distance Sena covered his ears.

"Did you say the monk Doburoku?" He asked in shock, remembering the old man from his travels. "Yeah, short, kinda ugly and smelled like sake!" Karen said with a frown and the girl next to her laughed. "To me that pretty much sounds like all men!" She jeered shooting in the distance.

"You girls are horrible, hey Sena you forget this earlier!" Jyuumonji said, holding up Sena's bow and quiver. He relaxed relieved by the sight and climbed onto the shore, he untied his heavy cloth shirt and tied the sash around his arm over the leather.

"Send a message to Lord Hiruma; we're fighting as best as we can but we're going to need reinforcements soon!" Karen's friend yelled and he nodded. "Okay! I'll bring him back as soon as I can!" He jumped back on Pitt who had shaken herself dry after a moment of debate he put the shirt back on again, wearing it loose, the material might turn out to be useful.

A cheer passed through Deimon as he rushed by and Sena noticed out of his eye as eight men started to follow him. "There're going to try and cut us off Pitt, hurry," he whispered and she increased her speed. Sena knew that the elk could easily outrun any horse, but notched his bow just in case.

They were headed for the source of the thunder he heard earlier and soon the horses and the strange men vanished behind them. Sena didn't have time to enjoy this victory as seconds later he came upon a huge burnt warzone. "The boars," he whispered and lead Pitt forwards.

Seconds later she let out a cry of pain and they slipped, off the cliff Sena flying off and rolling a few feet away. Quickly gathering his senses he found the arrow that pierced through her hind leg. "No, no," he muttered and she jerked nostrils flaring.

Three of the strange men appeared and Sena managed to get the arrow out of Pitt, he grabbed his bow off the ground, the arrow that had been loaded was long gone. He notched the new one and aimed it at the closer of the three, his arm burned and Sena let go of the arrow. It stuck between his head and face guard and he fell off his horse in a cry of alarm.

"Go back!" Sena cried, scared of his own strength. The men either ignored him or couldn't understand as he couldn't understand them. He drew another arrow aimed and fired, this time taking out the middle. The last seemed to understand what Sena was getting at and bolted in the opposite direction. Not even taking a moment to breathe Sena turned to Pitt, "Hurry, let me see your wound," he demanded and Pitt limbed over Sena approaching quicker.

"You're too hurt; you're going to have to stay here okay?" He gasped and she just looked at him with stubborn eyes. "Stay, Pitt be a good girl," Sena started running and the first time he turned, realized that there was no way Pitt was going to listen to him.

"Please girl, stay?" He asked and she shook her head nuzzling him softly. Sena grabbed her reins leading forwards, there wasn't any way he could ride her now.

When they approached the dead bodies Sena covered his mouth grimacing at the scent of burning flesh. Bodies lay mangled and blood turned the ground into blood, he led Pitt with his head hung low wandering aimlessly until he found his first humans. Dead bodies – all belonging to the men of Deimon he realized, were arranged in narrow rows scraps of clothing and debris covering their faces from the light.

In a corner completely covered in mud and blood sat a shivering man who was rocking back and forth, a dirty rag pressed against his neck. Sena approached him softly unsure if to call or reach out, he was about to decide when a voice above him caught his attention.

"Who goes there, my orders were that no outsiders be permitted," the man snapped and Sena gave him a bewildered look, the man's face was covered by a cloth as were the other two faces around him. What was surprising was the fact that he wore a coat of white that for the most part were spotless.

"Um, but, I came from Deimon I bring a mess for Lord Hiruma," Sena explained and despite the fact he couldn't see the man's face he felt as if he were sneering. "The Hiruma man isn't here – but I am, give me the message and I'll make sure to deliver it to her," he said but somewhat smugly. Sena had already decided to not trust him; his clean clothes in the middle of a massacre were all the reason he needed.

"It is important that I deliver it to her personally," Sena said attempting to keep his expression cold and blank. "So please, where is she?"

"You! The outsider!" A man yelled pushing his way out from behind the spotless man; he had several bad cuts and was covered in muck, like the man still shaking on the ground. A younger boy limbed after him his eyes dead. "You're still alive boy?" The man asked overjoyed by Sena's presence but still wearing his pain clearly. "For now at least, how about you? You men look far worse off than me," Sena said stating the obvious. Another man rushed down, "we've been burying our friends and sons all day," he said coldly, covered in bruises.

"Deimon is under attack," Sena blurted out, before realizing that after what they gone through it was probably the last thing they needed to hear. "No!" Cried the young man with the limb his eyes suddenly wild. "Um, the women have been drawn back to the inner wall – there isn't much time." He continued realizing that it was too late to go the opposite direction.

"It's those Taiyo bastards isn't it?" The oldest man grumbled and Sena nodded even though he couldn't be sure anymore. "So I need to find Lord Hiruma," Sena said and the man shook his head angrily. "She's off fighting that damn forest spirit!"

"Then someone needs to call her back!" Yelled the younger man, more of the men had surrounded now and the news of Deimon was traveling fast. Luckily not all of the men were as hurt as the ones standing in front of Sena. "If you're done with your message stranger – then leave! And you men go back to work!" The spotless man yelled and was replied with hostile cries. "What about Deimon? We can't leave the woman to die!" Someone called out.

Suddenly, from the distance Sena heard a scream of a boar god and silence covered the men. "They should have been all dead," The man in white snapped to his companions before turning back to the men. "Your pathetic town will have to wait – first we must kill that boar." He ordered, not realizing the effect his words would have. The man crouched on the ground suddenly screamed his voice hoarse and frightening. "NO! NO! NO! THE BLOOD IS THICK, we're all going to die," he cried and suddenly someone attacked the spotless man and Sena turned his head away still able to hear the sickly outcome.

"We must go back to Deimon and defend it! You, boy, please find Lord Hiruma!" One of the men said before they all started to rush off headed the way Sena came. Sena grabbed his arms around Pitt's neck stroking her gently. "I need you to carry their crimpled for them girl, I'll return as soon as I can," he promised and she bowed her head, finally ready to obey.

Sena stumbled through the boars, following the source of the source as it came from the forest. Running at top speed he crashed through the forest running a good mile until he found the last boar god. "Gaou," he gasped, he remembered little of the boar from the lake but he was still struck with horror or what became of the former wise boar god. His hide was covered in scares and face burnt, one of his tuck were chipped while the other was gone completely.

The boar puked a river of blood and he called out haggardly, "my children, my warriors where are you?" Sena could only stare in horror, suddenly realizing that he was staring at what Kurita must have been moments before his soul was consumed. "Gaou! Listen to me; I am Sena – the human cursed by Kurita! Your really hurt, please stop moving!" He cried and the boar looked around.

"Sena? Show yourself! I will kill every human, every one of them!" The boar screamed and Sena gasped. The fire that burned his face must have blinded his eyes, he thought, but on closer expectation could see large cuts. Had someone seriously cut his eyes out? Sena's stomach grew sick and he would have puked if not suddenly attacked by a small rock to his back.

Turning Sena was face-to-face with an ape god, probably the same ones he saw in Deimon. "Evil things!" They chimed repeatedly and threw more rocks. "No! I'm trying to help!" Sena cried before realizing they were actually referring to the bushes that shook and Sena screamed out as the first of them entered. It took him a moment to actually realize what 'it' even was, the hide of a boar god he realized in horror and after that it didn't take much guessing to who was underneath.

Gaou suddenly stood up hearing the noise. "Is that you? My children! My warriors have risen from the dead to fight the humans with me!" He cried out and Sena grabbed at him, climbing up once the fake war gods came closer. "No! Gaou! Those aren't your warriors please listen! Their men trying to trick you!" Sena screamed and dodged a poisonous arrow shot from under the pelts.

"Come my children! We must go to the pool of the forest spirit and I will be retrieved, the humans shall all die!" He yelled and Sena screamed in horror, this was their plan to kill the forest spirit! "Lord Gaou please listen to me!" Sena cried clutching onto Gaou's thin fur realizing that if he were to fall it would be to his death. "It's a trick! A horrible evil trick! Those aren't your warriors their humans masking their scent and are trying to get you to take them to the spirit of the spirit!" Sena screamed glancing up in time to see that they were headed straight for a huge stone wall. He clutched on tighter as Gaou attacked it head on, the stone broke them in thousands of pieces.

"Forest spirit!" Gaou too delirious and oblivious to hear Sena's screams. "Give my warriors the power to slay the humans and be victorious!" He cried and Sena could only cling on helplessly. "No Gaou! Please you can't go on like this or you'll turn into a demon!" Sena cried right before his hands slipped and he started sliding down Gaou's back. He clutched a spear that was sticking out of Gaou's side and tried to climb back up.

Gaou suddenly dropped puking more blood and the men below started to circle around, closing in. "Back away! All of you!" He screamed waving the spear he had unstuck out of Gaou. "The fire it burns through me," Gaou moaned and by the time Sena turned around Gaou's snout was completely covered in the red worms that have consumed Kurita. "No!" Sena screamed using his right hand to attempt to wipe the worms away.

"You can't let your turn into a demon!" He yelled before feeling something hard hit against the back of his head. He fell forwards, onto Gaou his mind fading.

"Sena!"

His eyes flew open to a sea of red, he was burning totally burning…but that voice. "Agon?" He wanted to scream but it just turned into a whisper. Suddenly Agon was there; he grabbed a hold of Sena and pressed him out, out of the burning flesh. For a second Sena was in midair, then he slammed into the water hitting it at an awkward angle while still trying to fight off the worms. They had made it to the moss covered lake, Sena realized in a daze.

Above Megu growled standing up out of the water, "Here I was, saving my last breathe to kill that Hiruma, but my son…" Without any remorse she leapt forwards attacking the boar demon. "Give me back my son," she demanded. Around her Agon's brother fought off the men wearing the boar hides. The boar stared at her mindless before letting out a long cry splattering her with blood.

"Pathetic, you can't even speak." She hissed and attached her jaw around the big snot, guessing where Agon was.

Across the lake Hiruma, Doburoku, Musashi, and Doburoku's hunters waited for the forest spirit.

...

Sena sputtered breaking the surface of the water, coughing air and tried to clear his lungs of water. He looked up just in time to stare into the eyes of the forest spirit as it looked down at him, somehow able to stand on the water without any problem.

He looked down at Sena curious for a moment, then a gunshot broke the silence and Sena glanced over just in time to see Hiruma lower his gun. "Hiruma no!" He screamed staring at the spirit in horror. "The spirit of the forest isn't your enemy! Please stop!" It blinked, taken by surprise. Then it smiled down at Sena with large eyes before walking past him over to where Gaou stood froze.

The boar shook in fear and the red worms turned gray, Sena swam over to Megu who had biting a large chuck of the boar's worms off and it turned to the gray substance in her mouth. Realizing more out of guesswork than anything, Sena reached into her mouth finding Agon's mouth. He pulled him out and they collapsed in the water. Sena tried his best to remove the dead worms off Agon and when that didn't wake him up, Sena pressed his lips against Agon's in desperation.

Instantly he could feel Agon's muscles tighten and they both burn out of the water. Hoarsely spoke, looking Sena over with angry eyes, "Sena, don't ever leave me like that again. Stupid." Sena smiled rubbing at tears in his eyes. He realized with a smile that Agon was wearing his necklace and the emerald gleamed blue in the moonlight.

They turned back to watch as the spirit gently kissed the tip of Gaou's snot and his shivering stopped. He and Megu both dropped to the ground their bodies' limb. Sena tightened his hold of Agon, knowing that the other must have been feeling pain at the sight of his mother.

The spirit turned away, looked at them in the water for a moment a lucid smile on its face. It looked up towards the moon and started to change, its neck growing longer and its antlers turning transparent as they were touched by the moonlight.

Suddenly Hiruma broke out from the forest; his gun aimed in desperation Sena picked up a rock next to him and threw it feeling the curse's strength flow through him. "No! Hiruma you can't!" He yelled and the rock collided with the gun – snapping it in two. Hiruma dropped it throwing Sena an annoyed look, he pulled out another gun, from seemly nowhere, and aimed it at the spirit whose attention Sena had caught.

It looked at the gun curiously for a moment, and then small plants started to sprout from the gun's wooden base. "Fuck," Hiruma growled, ripping the plants and aimed. The gun went off and Sena gasped as the world froze.

The bullet tore off the spirit's head and for a moment the body swayed gently in a nonexistent breeze. Sena could feel Agon's muscles tighten but didn't register his vision only able to see the spirit. "There you go Doburoku, the head of a god. Where's that box of yours?" Hiruma said causally and Agon suddenly jerked forwards with every intention of ripping Hiruma apart.

"I'm going to kill you motherfucker!" He screamed but Sena clutched onto his wrist, only the curse's strength keeping Agon at bay. "Agon look!" He pointed at the body; the skin had fallen away leaving a dark ominous and formless blob. As soon as Sena spoke it exploded, wrapping around the trees and killing them in mere seconds.

A scream rose through the men where Hiruma was hiding, "Sena go to the island!" Agon snapped his eyes still glued on Hiruma. "Not without you," Sena said and Agon gave him a furious look. "What matters more to you killing Hiruma or keeping us safe?" Sena retorted and Agon growled but let Sena drag him out deeper in the water to the island.

They made it onto the island and were followed by Musashi; Hiruma's second in command, which was dragging Hiruma himself. Blood covered them both and Musashi was pale, it took Sena a moment to realize it but the blood belonged to Hiruma – his whole arm had been ripped off. "Get out of my way," Agon sneered pushing past Sena, every intent on strangling Hiruma to death.

"No," Musashi said standing up blocking Agon's path. "Megu took revenge for your wolf clan," he said and Agon grimaced reeking of anger. "An arm? You think an arm is revenge for this! My mother is dead, my home is gone! He will die by my hands," Agon snarled and shoved Musashi out of the way.

"Agon you can't, all this pointless killing only brought that!" Sena whispered his voice was going hoarse from all the yelling. He waved a hand at what was left of the forest spirit as it consumed everything in its path.

Agon twitched and glared at Sena his eyes clouded with hatred, "Don't you try to stop me here Sena, I have every right to kill this piece of shit," with that he kicked Hiruma's side with all his might.

"There's never a right reason to kill a person! Don't you remember what your mother said? Only the forest spirit can give and take away life!" Sena cried and Agon reached out grabbing Sena's arm. "So what? I'm supposed to just let him walk away, is that it? Sena, look around you! The forest is died, the spirit will consume everything it touches – there's nothing left."

Sena winced as Agon's grip hardened, "look at you Sena, if it weren't for him then you wouldn't be cursed." Sena sighed and smiled, tears flowing down his cheeks. "Agon, if I hadn't been cursed then I wouldn't have ever met you. I'd rather die now then go through a life never knowing you." He said softly and Agon pulled away.

"Please, we have to try; we have to do something, anything to stop it." Sena begged and Agon took a long coarse breath and softened his grip on Sena's arm. "You're one weird kid," he muttered and Sena gave him a reproachful look. "Hey I'm almost the same age as you," he grumbled. "Fine, whatever, what do you plan on doing?" Agon asked and Sena swallowed. "We need to get the spirit back its head - which what it's trying to do right now." He explained and bent down next to Hiruma.

While and Agon had been busy arguing Musashi had covered Hiruma's wound. "Lord Hiruma, sir do you know what way Doburoku would go with the head?" He asked gently and Hiruma stared at him with unfocused eyes.

"Save…Deimon, the woman…" he croaked and Agon shuffled uneasily. Sena nodded at Hiruma, "Yes, we'll warn Deimon but please what way is Doburoku going?" He asked and Hiruma coughed. "Fuck…he's going…east to the Emperor." He said and Sena nodded looking proudly at Agon.

Agon pretended not to notice and instead let out a long howl; his brother broke from underneath the water and headed to the island. "Let's go," he said and Sena nodded.

"I'll take Hiruma the long way around, through the river." Musashi promised and Sena nodded in agreement.

...

Karen sighed, her eyes were heavy and brain thick.

The Taiyo had drawn back – for now at least – and she was one of the few that weren't able to sleep. Instead she chewed on a piece of bread and checked her ammunition. Had Sena made it to Hiruma yet? Did he even bother?

Sure, he sent the men but what reason did he really have to help them? They had called him a demon and pretty much threw him out of the city.

"Karen, are you awake?" Jyuumonji asked and she rolled her eyes. "Of course I'm awake stupid unlike you, snoring over there for hours-"

"Karen, do you see that?" Jyuumonji cut off and pointed up to the mountain across the lake. It glowed as if approaching sunlight, but it was still the dead of night – anyway, that wasn't even the direction the sun rose in.

"Yea and I don't like it," she retorted picking up her gun. Around her the girls stirred awoke and each second got louder and busier. Karen could hear the slight panic edging into the crowd and told a deep breath to prepare for whatever was causing the strange light.

She didn't have to wait long, a long figure sprung from behind the mountain dark ooze drifted off it as it turned and started to step over the mountain. Suddenly the ooze circled around and they could hear the screaming of the Taiyos as they dissolved into a fast approaching wave of proliferated across the mountain headed down to in their direction.

"Karen look!" A girl yelled next to her pointing back to the direction of the strange beast that had once been the spirit god. "Sena!" She blurted out, he was riding a white wolf with a tall man running next to him – it took her a moment to recognize him as Agon.

"Get out of Deimon!" Sena yelled cupping both hands around his mouth to be heard. Agon looked nervously as the ooze loomed yards away from them. "Hiruma blew off the head of the forest spirit and now it's attacking everything it touches! Go to the middle of the lake and don't let the black stuff touch you or it will completely devour you! The water slows it down, hurry or you'll all die!" He yelled and Karen instantly called back.

"Where's Lord Hiruma? Is that creep Doburoku with her?"

"No! Lord Hiruma and Musashi are coming the long way through the river!" Sena yelled before his wolf bolted away, inches from the ooze.

"Well you heard the man! Down to the river, we'll have to carry the sick and injured!" Jyuumonji yelled ushering her down first.

...

Sena didn't exactly ride Unsui, more like clung onto dear life as he and Agon raced up the mountain size at neck breaking speeds. Agon kept perfect time with Unsui, at times even slightly faster than his brother.

Sena was just trying not to fall off.

"Look there he is!" He shouted, sure enough stumbling up the steep mountain were four men each holding the different side of a large plank of wood with a circular pot in the middle. Sena's heart leaped as he recognized it to be the head.

Unsui and Agon leaped over a large stream of the ooze and Sena more or less gracefully jumped off Unsui using his momentum to run down to Doburoku as fast as Agon. Agon caught him though, seconds before Sena crashed into them.

"Ah, you're both still alive that's wonderful," Doburoku said sweat streaming down his face. "Give it up Doburoku; we're going to give the head back to the spirit." He said and Doburoku gave a nervous laugh. "Give it back? Now? Come on Sena don't be stupid, look at it, that former spirit is nothing but a dumb life sucking parasite but at sunrise it will completely disappear. Now look here, everyone wants everything in life but I'm actually going to get it! And I'd like to think of you as a son Sena, who else could I leave my will to?" He asked rhetorically with a small chuckle.

"Don't give me the chance to kill you," Agon snarled and Doburoku frowned at him. "Sir, its coming quick we have to keep moving!" Said one of the guys in the back.

"Gee, you make sound so easy…" Doburoku scolded before jumping forwards attacking Agon with both feet. The man behind him to the right burst forwards thrusting a knife at Sena; he jumped back and Unsui leapt forwards biting the man's arm clear through.

The hand with the knife went flying before dissolving into the ooze.

He didn't even have time to feel mortified, Sena bolted after the men carrying the head, glancing up when the spirit's long clawed hand cut off their back. To avoid getting killed they both came to a clumsy stop and the box containing the spirit's head spiraled down the cliff.

"Agon!" He hollered and Agon looked up from smashing in the face of a large muscularly man almost as toned as he was. "Got it!" Doburoku yelled as the box hit him head on. It continued to roll and the two of them hit a large boulder.

Agon and Sena followed, climbing on top of the rock as the ooze surrounded them. "Come on you damn sunrise!" The so-called monk urged glancing over at them. "Stop this, we need to return the head back now," Sena said. "It's too late for that kid," he snapped and Agon thrust his chin out at Doburoku. "Remind me why he's still alive?" Blood ran down from Doburoku's nose and he wiped it absentminded.

"Because enough lives were lost today," Sena responded with a sigh. Doburoku glanced around at the quickly accelerating ooze before a key out and unlocking the box. "Fine have it your way," he said quickly. The box was overflowing with green ooze and before Sena could wonder if it would hurt him, he bent down to pick up the head. It was heavier than he would have thought; Agon instantly helped too grabbing hold of the head.

They held it between them, as Sena couldn't reach as far as Agon. He hissed as the green ooze spread the mark across his skin. Glancing over at Agon he could see it burnt him too. "Please forest spirit, take your head and be peaceful!" Sena cried even as his arms started to burn and the wire sensation stared working its way through him but with the strength like before.

He glanced over at Agon and smiled through his pain, Agon grinded his teeth wearing the same question as Sena – were they going to die?

The headless spirit stood up looming over them bending down closer, "I blame you two for this," Doburoku muttered and shut his eyes. Agon wrapped an arm around Sena pressing him closer as they both stared up at served neck of the spirit drew closer.

The world exploded with gold.

...

"Oi, Sena," he looked up and smiled. Agon gave a half-smirk and pressed his lips against Sena's own. Around them was fresh grass, the rocky mountain transformed completely. "We did it," he gasped and Agon nodded wrapping an arm around Sena.

"Yea, you did – look," he held out Sena's arm for him to see, clear of any marks. Sena laughed and reached down grabbing Agon and giving him a hug giggling to himself. "Freaky kid," Agon muttered but stroked Sena's hair and leaned in for another kiss. Halfway through the kiss he pulled back, his expression serious.

"It's dead you know – the forest spirit," he muttered and Sena stubbornly shook his head. "No, not in the way you're thinking Agon," Sena hummed and breathed deeply, it felt it he hadn't done it in ages. He leaned back falling into the long grass. "So," Agon said leaning over him, not looking Sena completely in the eye. "Are you going to go back now? Back there?" He motioned to where Deimon used to be and Sena gave him a confused look.

"O-only if you, um, don't want me around," he muttered and Agon snorted. "As if, I was just worried that I was going to have to keep you here against your will," he muttered breathing hot air against Sena's neck. "I think that's how the forest spirit wanted it Agon; we're its guardians now. We have to keep an eye on Deimon. Protect the forest when needed, it was time for a…rebirth," he said and Agon kissed him in agreement.

...

Below five rafts approached the woman still stuck in the middle of the lake. Husbands, wives, friends, and siblings reunited. Musashi took a long deep breath and for the first time in a long time it didn't bring a coughing fit.

His lungs after years of inhaling cancer-causing ore had been replenished and cleansed; he threw a look over to Hiruma. He never had been one to back down on a promise.

"Hey Karen," Jyuumonji said looking around she gave him her Look, which he ignored. "You know, I never knew the forest spirit made the flowers bloom too."

To anyone who's going to bitch about me changing it so that Agon and Sena stay together...I did not write 24 pages just so that they end up as pen pals.