A.N. Okay, I know I am one of the slowest updaters in existence, but I can say with absolute honesty that this has been the busiest time of my life. Anyhow! Hope you enjoy! Oh, and thank you to Einid's "Ancient Prophecy" for re-inspiring my interest in fantasy AU writing.

Disclaimer: The usual

Chapter 9

"—Once you get there, tell them you were sent by Ryoma Echizen to see Master Sumire Ryuzaki, and they should let you in. Is that clear?"

"Yep," Mori nodded then grinned, sticking out his hand. "Since the captain's still a bit more than woozy, I'll thank you for him! You know," he added, his face turning serious, "we really are grateful…to be honest, none of us really thought we'd survive."

Blinking a bit uncertainly, Ryoma accepted the proffered hand and shook it. He had, after all, only been doing his job. But something stopped him from voicing the thought. It was…this feeling…it rose in his chest when he looked at the ragged band of former soldiers before him—at the way Ishida and Uchimura were supporting their captain and the way all their eyes were fierce and bright despite the condition they were in.

"And you," Mori turned to face Oishi, "Healer Oishi, we are forever in your debt."

Smiling warmly, Oishi shook his head but accepted the handshake, "No, there is no such thing as debt healing. Life is always more precious than death, and as long as you remember that you owe me nothing."

"I'll remember that," chucking, Mori shook the hand of each of the others who had fallen so unceremoniously into the midst of his squad's affairs. That done, he stepped back a bit and bowed, that same, slightly mischievous grin spreading once more across his features. "We shall meet again, I'm sure, but until then I must say I hope you burn a few more Elite camps. Oh, and if you had anything that didn't fall through with you the entrance you came from should be a little northwest of here. I have to warn you though, those who were looking for us may be a lot nearer now—and trust me, they never stop looking."

"Hurry up Mori," Sakurai tapped his companion on the shoulder pointedly. "Talking their ears off isn't exactly the best way to show gratitude."

"Right, right, bye then!"

And the five former soldiers turned and started off, their faces turned northward towards a hope that seemed to wrap them in a golden glow. For the briefest of moments, the captain stirred, turning his head slightly to look back over his shoulder. His eyes were clear for an instant and he stared back at them, his gaze sharp and unwavering.

x-X-x

"This is unacceptable!" hurling a shattered tent pole against a nearby boulder hard enough to shatter it into a myriad of splintered pieces, Atobe scowled. "Failure is unacceptable!"

"Wow," Gakuto whistled, watching as the captain stalked back and forth through the ruined camp. "Who would've thought the oh so lofty Keigo Atobe could throw tantrums?"

Whirling on the redhead, Atobe's eyes flashed, "And what of you? It was your idiocy that brought those damned outlaws here in the first place! The wrong outlaws, I might add!"

"You just had to go and put your foot in it," Oshitari muttered out of the corner of his mouth as he stepped smoothly between his enraged superior and loose lipped partner. "Really Atobe, the damage is but little. And we still have time. After all, now we know which way they fled and—"

"Don't make excuses," Atobe cut him off coldly, voice edged in steel. "You were the one who suggested we use them as bait, were you not? And you couldn't even put a dent in just one of the outlaw's defenses! You do realize that they are now in that fiend Kirihara's domain?"

"We can get permission to search it," the dark haired man replied reasonably, letting the accusation slide off of him like water off of stone despite the urge to bristle. "It is our mission to capture the outlaws after all, thus we should not be region bound."

Atobe snorted, "That doesn't mean much to some, does it?"

"Ah, Captain—"

"Don't you dare agree with them," Atobe snapped, shooting a glare at the approaching orange haired youth. "Those two escaped under your watch Akutagawa, even if Mukahi should have known better than to put them there in the first place."

Rubbing the back of his neck with a sheepish smile, the boy shrugged, "Sorry."

Sighing, Atobe ran a hand through his hair, "So what was it you were saying?"

"Well, Hiyoshi just got back with the order of entry. Oh—and he says that that camp prison thingy by Djida that Lieutenant Kirihara's in charge of has received orders to give us aid should we need it."

"What?" Gakuto burst out in indignation. "We don't need their help!"

"Did anyone say we did?" Atobe inquired icily, letting his gaze sweep over the ruined camp before he turned and headed for the trees. "Oshitari, send a message to the nearest city to get this cleaned up, we're moving out."

x-X-x

"Finiko! Triad!" Eiji exclaimed ecstatically, throwing his arms around the two horses' necks as though he hadn't seen them for years. "Did you miss me?"

They whickered softly and nudged their soft noses into his hair as though in confirmation. Watching from a few yards away, Kaidoh hissed under his breath. Pausing in his joyful reunion, Eiji cast a look at him over his shoulder and pulled a face.

"It is not sappy nyah! And don't call people names unless you want to be called names too!"

"So which way are we headed?" Momoshiro wondered aloud, prodding Ryoma in the back of the shoulder. "Would we be going back north?"

"There is a seventy three out of one hundred chance that we would be intercepted by those searching for us," Inui interjected, adjusting his glasses as he glanced up at the afternoon sky. "The members of the Elite our new companions so graciously bid farewell to will not give up lightly, and if they knew in which direction their offenders fled…"

"I feel like we should go east," Ryoma remarked, casting an eye up at the sun. "Maybe we'll find something on the way."

"Do you sense anything?" Momo asked curiously. Magic had always baffled him—magical sensing least of all. How, after all, could you feel someone's presence when they were miles and miles away? Still, it did seem to be accurate.

Ryoma paused for a moment, frowning as his fingers toyed with the fabric of his cloak, "Something to the south and a little to the east, but it's hard to identify…"

"It is a muffled signal."

All three of them turned, startled, to find the tall one with the spectacles watching them with sharp, unreadable eyes.

"It is being muted by a barrier—most likely one that absorbs released power, judging by the diffusion of individual signals. There must be a second barrier for concealment, however it has not been renewed or reinforced for quite some time, possibly due to either overconfidence or the belief that there is no reason to hide."

"Which means they're probably not all renegades," Fuji mused from where he was standing near the horses, his strange, closed eyes somehow managing to look thoughtful while holding on to his serene smile. "Are we going to be investigating then? It can't be more than…let's see…three, four days' travel."

The Observer's glasses glinted as he smiled slightly to himself. Glancing sideways, he caught a flash of shock on the youngest sorcerer's face. This was going to be an interesting journey—he could feel it in his bones. He had seen many an event in his long existence, but something felt different about this one…

Oblivious to the spectacle of his gaping—not that Ryoma ever really gaped, per say—friend and the fiendishly grinning—an expression worthy of fleeing from—Inui, Momo scratched the back of his head, "Are you sure about that?"

Fuji tilted his head slightly to one side, "The likely unfriendliness or the days?"

"Both, I guess," shifting his weight from foot to foot, the swordsman glanced around uncertainly. Something about the aura being emitted by his companions made him feel uncomfortably like he was missing something. "Like, do you think we should actually be going to see these guys if they're…ah, not likely to be nice people?"

He would have said 'if they're going to be part of the Elite', but he was relatively certain someone would have mentioned if they were…or would they? It wasn't as though they really knew these people…

"We're going."

Startled, he turned to stare at Ryoma. The sorcerer's eyes were slightly narrowed and sharp as the blade at the warrior's side as they stared unwaveringly at the two other magic wielders.

x-X-x

The chamber was small, its walls hewn from an uneven stone that glittered in the darkness as though they contained the stars of heaven in their depths. And yet, for all their light, they could not outshine the singe sphere of radiance that hovered in the center of the chamber—the moon for all their stars. It was bright in the manner that would have been blinding if not for its cool touch and aura of detachment from the material world around it, and yet its light played across the floor, the ceiling, and the walls in rippling waves of liquid light, wrapping its tender arms around the single figure sitting before it.

She was clad in a sleeveless robe the color of butter, though it had taken on a cast of white in the presence of that sylvan light. Submerged in the absolute stillness of the chamber her face was calm but for a small frown line between her brows as she stared straight into the sphere of light so that its radiance painted her eyes a strange shade of tinted silver white.

The minutes drew by slowly—unheard—and her hands clenched slowly where they rested in her lap. Finally, with a turn of the head that felt like a shock in the accustomed stillness of the chamber, she shook her head and stood, her lips pressing together into a worried line as her eyes lost the shine of the orb.

Turning, she moved swiftly to the chamber entrance where it lay hidden among the shadows and the stars. And as she stepped out and swung the door shut behind her, the sphere of light flared once before melting away into the darkness, leaving only the stars behind.

X

"Master Sumire."

"What is it?"

"I," a momentary pause, a deep, agitated breath, "I've lost them."

There was a moment of silence, "Lost? What do you mean?"

"Well… I had been tracking their progress as you instructed. This morning I knew exactly where they were and I knew that they were heading northwest. From there I believe they stared east. But…"

"But?" the other prompted.

"I don't know… It's like they walked into some kind of barrier—a shielded area, most likely—and they were just gone. I can't even locate what it is that's hiding them from my sight!"

The room fell quiet, neither stirring, the one waiting for an answer and the other pondering.

Finally, the messenger couldn't stand it anymore, "Master Sumire? Aren't we going to send someone after them?"

"No."

A started gasp, "Whte?"

"No, Shiba, we are not going to go look for them," tired eyes turned to stare out through the open window that was the room's only source of light, revealing a face lined with the marks of time that had been set into a grim mask. The few weak beams of sunlight that managed to slide in through that one window painted smoky lines through graying brown hair. "We are going to wait. If they really have been captured, then for us to follow would be for us to walk ourselves into the waiting arms of the Elite. And that, I am sure I need not remind you, is something we cannot do."

"But Master Sumire—"

She was cut off as those same aged yet sharp eyes fixed themselves upon her. Her mouth drying, she swallowed and looked away.

Sighing, the elder closed her eyes, "They are strong. That is why they were sent, was it not? Because you said they were the ones who had to go?"

"I…I know…" she sighed deeply. "But you know these things are never sure…"

A wry smile played across the elder's face, "Nothing ever is."

TBC

QUESTION: Can someone please tell me Shiba and Inoue's first and last names—in that order—if you know them? I would really appreciate it!

A.N. So…questions, comments, and suggestions would all be vastly appreciated. I hope you liked it!