"It's no good. The bars aren't what's holding us in here - she put some sort of spell on the entrance to the cave," Masaki said wearily as Logan continued to slash at the bars. His claws sliced through the bars easily enough, but the stone just reformed. It reminded him of the way his wounds healed - as if the injury had never been there at all.

"There has to be a way out of here!" he shouted, causing the people around to shrink back. The cave was full of people - citizens of the nearby towns. No telling how long they had been here.

"Why hasn't the Order heard about this? That's what I can't understand!" Bon muttered, pressing his head against the wall, which was surprisingly cool. Must have been part of the spell.

Had to keep the human sacrifices at room temperature or else they would spoil.

"How far back does this cave go?" Logan asked, but everyone just shrugged.

"Everyone is too scared to go to deep into the cave - it's nothing but darkness."

"Why, what are you thinking?" Bon asked, catching the determined look on Logan's face.

"There's a spell on this end, holding us in. But no one said anything about the back of the cave."

"What - are you going to dig your way out? We're inside Mt. Fuji! These cave walls are impossibly thick!"

Logan glared at the exwire, "I'm going to do everything I can to get out of here. I want to rescue my friend - don't you want to help yours?"

Bon gritted his teeth, "Of course!"

"Then come on," without waiting for Bon, he began walking deeper into the cave. Behind him, Bon muttered a curse under his breath and then began following the hulking, clawed man.

"Please, let me come, as well! If there's a chance of getting out, I might be of some assistance," Masaki said, only to receive an affirmative grunt and shrug from Logan. The other captives cleared a way as the three of them worked their way further into the darkness.

They had been walking for what seemed like ages. The forest all looked the same - dark shadows, black trees, the occasional scatterings of litter or bones. As unrecognizable as the forest seemed though, the greenmen continued on their merry way, seemingly unperturbed by the eerie atmosphere encroaching ever closer.

They had been attacked once or twice, but Yukio had been able to blast their way through the enemy without much of a problem. The greenmen squealed and scattered, but they always came back, cuddling around Shiemi's ankles like lost puppies.

"I don't understand your hold over these guys," Shima observed, still uneasy about the tiny demons.

"It just proves Moriyama's talent as a tamer," Konekomaru stated, earning a snort from Izumo.

"Quiet," Yukio froze, throwing his arm out to stop the others.

"What is it?" Izumo whispered.

Yukio didn't answer, just remained rigid and tried to control his breathing. He could hear something...coming closer...

He dropped to one knee and aimed his guns into the trees, firing off a round. He heard a metallic cling and saw orange sparks flicker in the branches above before a dark shape dropped to the ground, moving so swiftly it was almost a blur. The figure went into a roll, then leapt to its feet and charged towards the group. Yukio fired three shots, but the figure dodged effortlessly, jumping around faster than Yukio could aim. There was a flash of silver, and a blade swept out from the darkness, coming within inches of Yukio, who calmly ducked beneath the attack and reloaded his weapons.

"Yukio!" Shiemi screamed, and suddenly the attacker froze.

Yukio froze as well, gun still trained on the figure. Now that she was standing still, he could see it was a woman garbed completely in black, a dark mask covering her face. She held a glistening, blood-spattered sword in her hand, which now drooped to her side. Although Yukio could still see by her stance and grip on the weapon that she was ready to fight.

"How do you know my name?"

Konekomaru raised his eyebrows, "You're the priestess!"

Yukio drew her mask back and shook her head, revealing a head full of long, bright red hair.

"How do you know how I am?" she demanded once more, "Who are you people?"

Yukio lowered his gun, although he, too, kept it at the ready.

"My name is Yukio Okumura, I'm a middle first class exorcist of the True Cross Order. These are Izumo, Konekomaru, Shima and Moriyama, exwires from the order. Your friend Logan brought us here, and we..."

"Logan! Where is he?"

"We're not sure. He ran off and left us back in Kawaguchiko."

Yukio rolled her eyes, "Idiot. Of course he did. But - how do you know I'm the priestess?"

"Kono-hana-san spoke to us, using my familiar," Shiemi answered, holding up Nii-chan, who chirped and waved enthusiastically. Yukio smiled, but her grin quickly faded.

"So the goddess is still alive. I was scared that..." her voice trailed off, and suddenly she straightened, throwing her shoulders back and standing tall.

"Thank you for finding me, but the mountain is my responsibility. If I had been here, this never would have happened. If I hadn't run away all those years ago...I don't want you to put yourselves in danger-"

"We're not leaving, Yukio-san. It's my duty as an exorcist to save these people," Okumura stated, Shiemi and Konekomaru nodding in agreement behind him. Izumo merely looked annoyed, and Shima shrugged.

The priestess, or the ninja - whoever she was - grinned mischeviously, "Alright, then. Hunker down - we've got a long ways to go. And, oh - you'll be needing these."

She pulled out a number of cloth talismans and tossed them towards Okumura, "Take these, they'll protect you from the demons."

Shima held up the talisman, which was a small, rectangular cloth bag tied to a leather string, "Aren't these just omamori? I thought these were just for good luck."

"What are you, a tourist?" Izumo sneered, dropping the charm around her neck.

"So this is how you've gotten by alone. We've only been here a few hours and the demon attacks are relentless," Konekomaru observed, gratefully tying the string around his neck.

"Charms or not, we won't last in this forest forever. We need a plan," Okumura stated, scanning the forest.

"Kono-hana has always been able to hold off Iha-naga on her own. But Masaki-san told me she had gotten ahold of a powerful object from Gehenna that is giving her more power - with it, she can control demons."

Okumura's breath caught, eyes widening.

"Could that have been why Rin was acting weird before?" Shiemi asked.

"Rin? Whose Rin?"

"He's my brother - and if Iha-nag has a way to control him, then we're in more trouble than I thought."