Hello everyone! I'm back! So, so sorry it took me so long to post again. I just can't seem to get out of my rut. I swear I opened up this chapter on a regular basis and if I was lucky, managed to chisel out a paragraph. Good news is we're in the home stretch. Bad news, I didn't do any editing to it might be loaded with grammatical errors, which tends to annoy me when I read other peoples work. A few are okay, but scores and scores of them can sometimes ruin a story for me. So hopefully I don't have that many errors, no promises though. Hope you enjoy and once again, I AM SO SORRY!


After week of searching, they didn't seem to be getting anywhere. They'd found many dead bodies and heard many stories of missing people but they were scattered all over the city. The only thing they were certain of was that there was or had been furies in Edo and a lot of them. At least they were on the right track.

In the second week Shinarui showed up while Kaiya and Souji wandered the streets together. The weather had finally changed for the better…mostly. It was no longer raining but instead hot and humid. As they walked down a tree lined street, Shinarui stepped out into the path in front of them.

"You've been busy." He said by way of greeting.

"Yeah, we have been! What about you? What have you been doing?" Souji asked as he crossed his arms and glared at the man in front of him.

"Looking, the same as you but I've been much more successful." Shinarui said with a smug smile.

"You've found him?" Kaiya asked hopefully.

"I had but he's disappeared again." Shinarui let out a dramatic sigh.

"So you have nothing." Souji said testily.

"Not necessarily." Shinarui pulled something from behind his back and held it out to Kaiya. "He left this behind."

Kaiya grabbed the book that he held out to her. The book was a thick leather bound book. Kaiya quickly scanned what was written in it but from what she gathered from the writing, it wasn't it. "This is a medical journal but it isn't the research for the Water of Life."

"Like I said, nothing." Souji repeated.

Kaiya glared at Souji then turned back to Shinarui. "Even if it was his research, you'd still need to get Kodou-san. He more than likely could recreate the recipe with out any trouble just from memory."

"Do you know where he went?" Souji asked.

"He is apparently going for Nagoya." Shinarui said uncertainly.

"But you aren't certain." Kaiya said watching him carefully. "Why head back the way he'd come?"

"Because that is where most of the countries warriors and soldiers are. If he thinks he's perfected the Water of Life, he'd return and try and decimate all resistance." Shinarui nodded to himself.

"That's not good, how much of a head start does he have?" Kaiya asked.

"He left town when we arrived." Shinarui said with a sigh.

"Then we must leave immediately, before the trail goes cold." Kaiya said passionately.

Souji smirked. "He must've heard about you reversing the transformation of those monstrosities, Kai. Turned tail and ran."

Shinarui scoffed. "Unlikely. More likely is that he had heard news of the peace talks and it took him a while to get those things organized and left when we arrived. This conversation has turned pointless; I'll meet you in Nagoya. If he's moved on, I'll leave a message for you." With a curt nod he turned and leapt onto the nearest roof and disappeared.

When Shinarui was out of sight the three of them looked at each other. Souji crossed his arms.

"Do we believe him?" Kaiya asked Souji.

Souji shrugged. "We don't really have reason not to and he doesn't have any reason to lie."

"What if he's joined forces with Kodou? He could be lying to get us away from here." Kaiya pointed out.

Souji rolled his eyes. "If that was true, he would just kill us off. What kind of threat could we be against an army of furies?"

Kaiya nodded. "Yeah that makes sense. So off to Nagoya we go?" She asked.

"It seems that way. Let's go find Hajime-kun and make a plan." Souji grabbed her arm gently and guided her down the street in the general direction of the inn they were staying at.

A few hours later, the sun had set and Kaiya and Hajime sat a lone in their room together. After having to share a room with Souji for three days, they were relieved when a room finally opened up for Souji to have to himself. Kaiya was grateful to finally have some time a lone with her husband and Souji wasn't to shy about expressing his relief in being able to get to away from their "Suffocating Lovey Dovey Bubble".

Presently they lay together, idly talking when they heard a loud bang from down the hall, followed by a battle cry. The two of them lunged to their feet, Hajime taking his sword with him. Just as he started for the door, it was kicked in followed closely by a man with his sword drawn.

"Die you Bakufu scum!" The man yelled as he attacked Hajime but his life was cut short as Hajime pulled his blade from its sheath and across the man's neck in one smooth fluid motion.

Kaiya snatched her blade off of the ground as Hajime took another step forward only to stop as another man stepped through the door way. Like the last man, he was quickly cut down by Hajime. Down the hall, Kaiya could hear a similar attack coming from the direction of Souji's room along with his angry shouts. As quickly as it had started, the battle had ended with three dead men in their room and two more that had been dispatched in the hall. Kaiya was more than ready to defend herself but Hajime had dispatched his opponents so quickly that she had barely enough time to acknowledge them, let alone attack. When they went to Souji's room, they found four more dead men and Souji staring down at them.

"Whose men do you think they were?" Souji asked without looking up at them.

Hajime crouched down next to the nearest man. "They're wearing Western clothing, so not likely a local lord. They may have been tracking us, maybe followed us from our headquarters."

"Why?" Kaiya asked. "We're supposed to be in the middle of peace talks, attacking us could end that."

"That's probably the point. One of the Lord's probably doesn't agree with the peace talks. Maybe they wanted to capture you, use you as leverage against Kondou-san or Hijikata-san." Souji suggested.

"Again, why?" Kaiya asked once more.

"They might see you as our weakest link." Hajime suggested. "Maybe they figure that you know all of the Shinsengumi's deepest secrets and are the most likely to expose them."

Souji nodded his head. "Yeah, that makes sense. Too bad we didn't leave one alive to ask."

"Either way, we should leave. If we stay, they might send more men before the morning. Also, we'll have to deal with Edo's soldier's." Hajime said as he bent over and cleaned his blade off on one of the men's clothing, then sheathed his blade.

They quickly packed their things, paid for the rooms and damages before retrieving their two horses and hurried out of town. It was dark now and it'd make tracking them difficult, still Hajime suggested they take a particularly rocky path out of town and in a different direction than they had arrived from. This time they followed the coast and this time the with the breeze their journey had been a lot more comfortable. Beyond the spray from the ocean on windy days, they had almost no moisture on their trip to Nagoya.

On the second day of their journey, they were riding along when a strong wave of nausea hit Kaiya like a ton of bricks. She tugged frantically on Hajime's sleeve as she croaked for him to stop. He pulled the horse to a stop but even before it had stopped completely, Kaiya had lunged off the back of the horse and went straight for the bushes, regurgitating everything in her stomach.

By the time she'd finished throwing up, Hajime was crouched behind her rubbing her back and holding out a skin with water. Kaiya plunked down on the ground and took a long drink from the skin of water as Hajime watched her carefully, Souji dismounting and coming to stand behind Hajime.

"Are you okay? Are you sick?" Hajime asked as he reached out and touched her forehead.

Kaiya sighed. "No, I don't think so. I've been fine all morning…maybe I didn't cook the food well enough this morning?"

"Do you still feel sick?" Souji asked, frowning, concern also on his face.

Kaiya thought about it for a moment. "No, I must've gotten it out of my system."

Kaiya held out her hand and waited for Hajime to stand up and take her hand to help her up. "Are you sure you're okay?" Hajime asked

"We can't linger, we have to catch up with Kodou-san and stop him. We need to put an end to this war." Kaiya said as she walked passed Souji and over to the horses.

"She isn't wrong." Souji said wincing. "She seems fine. She's probably right, just something she ate."

Hajime nodded and while his face was his typical stoic expression, Kaiya could tell he was still worried. They mounted the horses and continued on. The following day, it happened again but this time, they had already been stopped, watering the horses while Hajime and Souji talked strategy. They were only a few hours away from Nagoya and they wanted to enter it under the cover of night.

This time she had been completely alone and when she finished, she put a hand to her head to check for a fever when she didn't feel one, she put two fingers to her neck and counted her heartbeats. Kaiya ran through every possible sickness but the only symptom she had was she was vomiting and the occasional nausea usually brought on by certain smells. Kaiya stared blankly ahead, shocked, as a thought suddenly crossed her mind.

"Is something wrong?" Hajime asked as he came up behind her.

"Hajime, have my boobs gotten bigger?" She asked him as she looked back at him.

Hajime looked at her shocked by the question. "Huh…what?"

"Are they bigger, or aren't they?" Kaiya asked as she got to her feet.

"I-I suppose they are. Why?" Hajime asked, a little confused.

Kaiya looked behind him. Off in the distance, Souji still hunched over a map that they'd acquire along the way of Nagoya. Kaiya looked back to Hajime and stepped closer. "I…I think I'm pregnant." She said quietly.

Hajime looked at her shocked. "You think?" He asked.

"The vomiting, the sensitivity to smells, my boobs are tender. My stomach feels fine right up to the moment I have to vomit and then feel fine afterwards. I have no other symptoms. No fever, my heartrate is normal, my stomach feels fine, my skin is normal, the white of my eyes are normal, I could go on. It's the only thing that makes sense." Kaiya replied, more confident with each passing moment.

Hajime smiled, then it wavered. "We can't take any risks with you. If trouble comes around, you stay back and let Souji and I take care of it, okay?"

Kaiya winced. "I need to be there, I need to make sure its done."

Hajime touched her face. "We'll see what happens but you need to let me take care of you." He said softly.

She put her hand over top of his. "Alright."

When darkness fell, they snuck into town and took up residence in an abandoned shack in the poor part of town. The first place Souji and Hajime checked, was Nagoya castle. Miraculously, they found recent signs of fury occupation but no Koudo. On the way back, they were attacked by a group of four enemy furies and after an intense exchange, they killed them all.

Kaiya frowned when the two appeared in the door way, covered in blood and sweat. She immediately got to her feet and started closely inspecting them for wounds.

"We're fine, Kai." Souji growled as he pushed her away. "We just ran into a couple, that's more progress than we had in Edo."

"It most certainly is." A voice said from the other side of the blanket that acted as their door. Hajime immediately put himself in between Kaiya and the door as both him and Souji reached for the weapons. When the blanket was pushed aside, Shinarui stepped inside when they saw who it was, Hajime and Souji removed their hands from their swords but did not relax.

"You have deigned to pay us a visit, how kind." Souji said sarcastically.

"Keep your snide remarks to yourself." Shinarui sneered. "It would seem that Koudo is still here."

"We agree, we found signs of the furies within the castle." Hajime confirmed.

"Then you need to get me in there." Kaiya said touching Hajime's back.

"Not until we know where he's staying." Souji said shaking his head.

"I've already been working on taking out the furies, I can keep them busy while you three find that research." Shinarui suggested.

"It's almost morning, we should wait until night falls again." Hajime pointed out. "We can't move through the castle undetected in broad daylight."

Kaiya tilted her head to the side. "You two may not be, but I might be. I can dress up as a castle servant, they tend to be invisible and Hajime's taught me how to get around undetected. If I get into trouble, I know how to protect myself."

Hajime shook his head. "You can protect yourself from normal soldier but I don't know if you could handle a fury and you definitely can't handle an Oni."

"I know this might sound strange but I agree with Kai. Koudo would probably see us coming from a mile away but I don't think he'd predict us using her like this. He knows how protective we are of you." Souji said with a wince as Hajime glared at him.

"I can get your little princess inside undetected." Shinarui said. "But I can't stick around or Koudo will get wind of me."

"No." Hajime said firmly.

"It would seem that Kondo-san sent me the wrong people. You are to emotionally attached, you can't see this clearly." Shinarui said with sigh. "It's a good plan."

"This is no plan." Hajime said coolly, obviously trying to stay rational. "Dropping her in the middle of castle with no knowledge of the floor plan or where to look or even an exit plan, is not a good plan."

"Actually, Hajime, I do know some of the castle grounds." Kaiya interrupted.

Everyone looked at her shocked. "How?" Hajime asked.

"When I was younger, my father came he to look after the Daimyo's wife. She had a terminal illness but the Daimyo was desperate and my father had a reputation for knowing this most other doctors did not. I was still fairly young than and he didn't feel comfortable leaving Mitsu-chan and I alone, so he brought us with him."

Hajime shook his head. "You said you were young, even with your memory, you could remember things incorrectly. The castle has probably changed since then."

"It doesn't matter what you think." Shinarui said starting to sound testy. "Okita-san is fine with this plan as is Saitou-chan, you're just going to have to go along with it."

"I trust her Hajime-kun, I think she can do this." Souji said putting a hand on his shoulder.

Hajime looked incredibly unhappy but finally nodded his head in accent.

As the sun peaked over the horizon, Kaiya stepped quietly into the servant's quarters. It was already empty as the servant's got up to start breakfast and prepare things for the day. Shinarui had quickly rushed her to the castle while they still had darkness, then disappeared into the darkness. After making a quick assessment of her surroundings, making escape plan from what she could see.

She managed to find a servant's outfit in the sleeping quarter's and even though it had a slight tear, it'd do for her purposes. She then quietly walked through the halls, trying to get a better sense of the castle's interior. Kaiya was walking down a hall when a servant exited a room.

"Hey you!" She whispered harshly. When Kaiya turned to the person, she pointed to herself. "Yes, you, fresh meat! Come here!" Kaiya lowered her head and shuffled towards the other woman. "The Daimyo's guest is demanding to eat now, I have too many other things I need to do, so take this order to the kitchen and bring it to him pronto."

Kaiya took the paper from the other woman and bowed deeply. "Forgive my ignorance, but I don't know how to get to his room."

The woman sighed in frustration and gave her the directions she needed before turning and hurrying away onto whatever task she'd deemed more important. Kaiya was fortunate to already know where the kitchen already was, so she hurried to the kitchen and handed to order to the cook. The cook eyed her suspiciously as Kaiya kept her head down, then turned and filled the appropriate dishes, put it on a tray and indicated for Kaiya to take it.

Kaiya took the tray and hurried down the hall to where she had been told too got. She stopped at the door she thought she needed and stared at it, she hoped she was right. Kaiya knelt down beside the door and rapped her knuckles gently against the frame.

"Coming in!" She said softly.

After a brief pause, Kaiya slid the door opened and was immediately hit with the pungent smelt of herbs and what smelt like metal. It was a fairly large room with a covered bed to one side and several desks on the other. In front of one of the desks sat a bald man bent over on his burners as he boiled something in one of the glass jars. Beside him sat a book which he had one hand hoovering over, ready to write his next observation down.

"Leave it just inside the door." The man said with out looking back.

Kaiya placed the tray just inside the door like he had indicated, then slid to door shut once more. Kaiya looked around, not see anywhere for her to hide herself, she then looked up and smiled. The rafter was accessible and wide enough that her lithe form could remain out of sight if someone looked up. Now to get up there, quietly.

Kaiya decided it was best to do it further away, where Koudo wouldn't hear her if she failed to get up on her first try. She made a quick check of the halls, then found a huge corner post, ran at it as fast as she could the used the beam to propel her up towards the rafters. She just barely managed to grab the rafter and just barely managed to get herself over the top of it in time for a guard to appear and look around confused. He checked all of the rooms down the hall then continued looking, heading in the opposite direction of Koudo's room

Kaiya moved towards Koudo's room once more stopped several feet back from the door then settled herself down to wait. It was midday when Koudo finally emerged from his room and disappeared down the hall. Kaiya wanted to jump down and sneak into the room but a guard appeared and stopped in front of the door. Kaiya looked at the wall in the rafters that separated her from the room. She shimmied closer then pulled the blade hidden from within her sleeve.

She worked on the edge of a board quietly until it suddenly popped loose. She the loosened a second board then forced her body through the small opening and looked down into the room she was now in. Kaiya looked around and considered how she could get down quietly then back up without being heard or seen. She shimmied over to where the bed was located then lowered her lower half of her body off of the rafter then dropped down onto the bed.

She crept towards the desks and immediately started carefully digging through drawers. In the last drawer, she found the leather-bound book she'd seen Koudo writing in. She opened it a carefully scanned the pages then smiled, this was what she was looking for. She looked at the contents on the desk, then found a bundle of dried herbs on one side of the desk. She pulled out all the paper on and in the desk, and put it in a pile on top of it. She then pulled out the flint in her pocket and struck her dagger against it, causing sparks.

After a couple strikes, a spark caught. Kaiya then took the kerosene from the burn Koudo had been using and poured it over the desk then over the floor. She dropped the container ran to the bed and used it help her get back up into the rafters. Just as she squeezed through the opening once more, the guard slammed the door open then ran out shouting "Fire!"

Kaiya was barely half way down the hall when the room was almost completely engulfed in flames. Koudo came running back too his room and started screaming for water. Kaiya was torn between staying and possibly following Koudo but she knew she was already pushing her luck. She shimmied further down the hall then when she saw no one with in the immediate vicinity, she dropped down. She feigned running for a well then immediately ducked behind a building as several more people appeared at the well with buckets and started bailing water.

She ducked from shadow to shadow until she made it to the gate. She pulled off the outfit she'd been wearing, the black yukata still underneath and shoved the clothing underneath a building. She waited for the guards to be distracted, as the fire seemed to spread into the rest of the castle. They walked further into compound to get a better view of the fire, giving Kaiya the chance to dart from tree to tree the after taking a moment to watch the guards, she darted out of the gate.

Souji and Hajime must've been watching the gate because as she started down the nearest back street, Hajime appeared before her and pulled her further into the shadow and pulled her into a tight hug. When he let go of her, Souji also pulled her into a hug.

"Did you find it?" Souji asked as he pulled back.

"I did, and Koudo's in there right now. He was working on his research when I found him. I waited for him to leave then went in side and set the room on fire. There's no way it could have survived."

"Well the leaves step one completed." Shinarui said appearing on the rooftop above them. "Good job, princess."

"We need to watch this carefully so he doesn't sneak away on us." Hajime said scowling.

"Leave that too me." Shinarui said. "You humans need your rest. When the sunsets, meet me here."

The three of them nodded in agreement then turned and went back to their tiny shack.


For any of you Walking Dead fans, I also have a TWD story on the go. The first block is nearly done, so you shouldn't be left hanging for centuries... :'( Hope this was worth the wait!

-Shockra