Okay, we now have Kagu and Kaguya in the story at the same time. This could end up getting really confusing...

Oh Issun, how we missed your perverted nature... but not around the kids, okay?

Also, who likes my CHAPTER TITLE IRONY SKILLS.

The tiniest slit of light appeared over the horizon as the sun began to rise. It stained the sky red, reflecting in the water of Harami Lake, making it look as if it were tainted with blood. It was almost like an omen for the coming day.

Ma chérie… I'm sorry. It's my fault we're in this mess.

Waka was sat near the waterfall above Kamiki once more, waiting until it would be safe enough to travel to the city. Even though it was Tero's fault that Amaterasu had been captured, he couldn't help but feel at least partially responsible. It didn't help that Issun seemed to be insistent on pointing all the blame on him. Almost unconsciously he put a hand to his neck, taking note of yet another bandage he had there now.

It was annoying that he couldn't do anything to save Amaterasu yet. He was plenty used to having to wait around, but never had the circumstances seemed so urgent. The only time they could save the sun goddess would be right before she was about to die. And yet Issun still believed that they would be able to stop Tero. Waka almost felt jealous of his optimism.

And what about Chibi? Waka didn't know what Tero planned to do with him – he hadn't originally planned to capture the younger god as well, so what if he decided to just kill him? Yet Chibi was still a god. He wouldn't be easy to kill. And Tero wouldn't have anything to use to threaten him – the man wouldn't kill Amaterasu until his plan was ready.

Unless he planned to use Chibi as a hostage to stop them from trying to save Amaterasu.

Waka let out a long sigh. Everything was starting to get far too complicated. Fighting demons was always so simple – they weren't particularly bright when it came to thinking up plans like this – but Tero was a person, capable of outsmarting them. The only way to defeat him would either be to use brute force or finding a way to outsmart him.

The sun was gradually appearing over the horizon, filling the land with light. It didn't seem as bright as usual. Still, Waka needed to get to the city before anything else got there first.

Casting one last glance back at the village and hoping that Issun would be able to warn everyone in time, a gust of wind rushed past and Waka used it to glide along the cliffs, heading in the direction of Sei'an once more.

The goddess Amaterasu has been captured…?

Ocean wind brushed over the beaches of Ryoshima as the sun gradually climbed higher in the orange-tinted sky. Usually at a time like this someone would be enjoying the view, but Kaguya was busy searching the land. Upon recovering her memories she had also discovered her power of clairvoyance. Most of the Moon Tribe had this power to some description – she'd heard of others being able to see the future, and likewise she could see the present, being able to see what was going on anywhere in Nippon, and maybe even beyond.

She could see that Amaterasu was trapped in a cage, somewhere in a cave, but it had some kind of aura that stopped her from being able to tell where it was, so there was very little she could do about it. Instead, Kaguya continued to scan the land, looking to see what was happening.

There was something heading towards Ryoshima. At first she couldn't tell what it was, but then she sensed the evil aura. It was a lot stronger than just one or two imps.

Demons. There are a lot of demons heading this way!

What could she do? There was no way Kaguya would be able to take on such a vast number of monsters – even though she did have some powers, they wouldn't be enough to take on evil that strong, and they weren't all that effective for fighting in the first place.

Maybe she could warn the people in the city. If they were prepared for an attack, the demons would be much less dangerous.

But she'd have to hurry. The demons were approaching very fast. It was almost as if they were intending to reach the city. That was strange. Usually demons just went wherever they pleased.

What was going on?

Kuni stood nervously by the line of cherry trees lining the path to Kamiki Village. He'd hoped that Mutt would come out to Hana Valley to find him, but he hadn't seen the puppy since he left yesterday. He was starting to regret not just going with him to the village in the first place; he didn't want to venture into Kamiki to find him.

There was a noise from somewhere along the path and Kuni gasped, about to make a run for it in case it was someone from the village heading this way. However, it didn't sound much like footsteps…

He froze as he saw a green light moving against the sandy orange background of the path and immediately recognised Issun hopping towards him. Kuni had met the poncle a few times before and knew that he was a Celestial Envoy, but not much more than that.

Issun halted abruptly a few metres away, glancing up at him. "Oh, Kuni, it's just you. I thought you were a demon for a second then!"

"A demon?" Kuni blinked.

"I see you escaped the fire then. Heading back to Kamiki to see your parents, huh?"

"My…" Kuni started. Of course, Issun didn't know. "Erm… it's kinda a long story, but… Susano and Kushi aren't my real parents…"

"Wow, really?" Issun exclaimed. "Wow… so you're adopted? That kinda makes sense… I doubt Susano would be – I mean, so you're going back to see them?"

"Erm… not really," Kuni muttered, glancing at the ground and not even bothering to try and work out what Issun had been about to say. "I was looking for Mutt."

"Mutt?"

"You know… white puppy? Red markings? Sun god? Kinda hard to miss," he shrugged.

"Oh, you mean Chibi!" Issun realised, hopping around on the spot as if to cover up that he hadn't understood. "You seriously call him Mutt?"

"Yeah, do you know where he is?"

"Well… sort of…"

"Sort of?"

"Let's just say he's kinda… not here… as in like, kinda been captured by someone…"

"He's been captured?" Kuni gasped. "Then we should try and save him!"

"Not a good idea," Issun muttered. "Trust me. Don't worry too much, Chibi can look after himself. He is a god, after all." He stopped jumping and glanced around the field. "You should go to the village anyways; it's dangerous out here with demons around."

"No, no… I'm okay," Kuni shrugged. If Mutt wasn't here, he didn't want to go back to the village alone…

"You sure? Kushi looked pretty worried yesterday when she heard about the fire in Agata. Susano too. And I didn't think he usually worried about anything other than running out of sake."

Kuni froze once more. Issun had told them that he was in Agata? Oh, great. Well, the poncle hadn't known that he was trying to avoid meeting the people who he'd thought of as his parents until a few months ago. He didn't know any better.

"Well… tell them I'm okay then," Kuni sighed. "But I'm not going back to Kamiki."

The sun was still rising in the sky as Kagu pushed open the door of the theatre and stepped outside. Sei'an City was still relatively quiet as it was so early in the morning. Most other people were probably still asleep, although a few of them were up and about. There were guards on duty as always.

It was too early for any rehearsals – her parents were probably still asleep anyways – so Kagu decided she might as well find something useful to do. Wasting time doing nothing was something she hated. Maybe she should go over to the palace – now the miko training grounds – and see Miko Cho. Kagu hadn't spoken to anyone about the demon battle the other day, and how she hadn't been able to defeat that caterpillar demon. Maybe it had been too strong for her miko powers. In which case, she needed to get stronger.

But she already trained as much as she could. What if the only way to get stronger was to get older?

She let out a sigh as she walked towards Gojo Bridge. If that was the case, she was going to have to wait a very long time before she was strong enough to defend the city from things like that…

As she passed by the guards, they were muttering quietly about something. They weren't looking in her direction, so Kagu decided it was none of her business – until she heard the word 'demons'.

"Hey! Guards!" she demanded. "What's this about demons?"

Both of the guards gasped when she shouted at them, as if they hadn't realised she'd heard their conversation. They exchanged a glance.

"We don't want to frighten the city dwellers…" one of them pointed out.

"I'm a miko!" Kagu persisted, glaring at the guards. "If there are rumours about something, I know better than to spread them around and scare everyone."

The guards exchanged another glance. Glaring at people always seemed to work. Mainly because most people in the city knew of Kagu's short temper.

"There was a young woman outside the city just now," the second guard told her eventually. "She told us there were some demons heading here from the east."

"But the guards at the entrance didn't believe her, so they sent her away," the first man continued.

"They didn't believe her? Why?" Kagu blinked. "We've only just had a demon attack; surely we should be wary of another one!"

"Because there didn't seem to be any logical way for her to know about any demons from so far away," the first guard shrugged, "unless she was a demon herself."

That made sense. But why would a demon warn them of a demon attack?

"Maybe she just found out somehow…" Kagu muttered. "I mean, aren't there ways of seeing what's going to happen? Didn't Queen Himiko have some kind of crystal ball or something that let her do that?"

"Yes," the second guard countered. "But that was Queen Himiko. This person was a complete stranger."

Did that really make a difference? Kagu was silent for a moment. "Is that person still around?"

"We don't know," the first guard shook his head. "I doubt she'd have gone far. But it would probably be too dangerous to go looking for her."

"I'll be fine," Kagu snapped, her voice serious. Honestly, the guards here. They didn't believe in her miko abilities at all.

The sky was starting to change to its normal light-blue colour as Kagu hurried along the sandy path in Ryoshima. She'd had to shove her way past the guards at the city's entrance to get out, and she was being extra cautious incase there were any demons around here.

She was still looking for that person the guards had seen, although she regretted not waiting to ask what they looked like. All she knew was they were a woman. At least there weren't likely to be many other people out on the coast this early in the morning.

Eventually she spotted a silhouette in the distance. Was that them? As she got nearer, Kagu could just about make out someone with hair that reached at least down to their waist, and bamboo leaves on their head like rabbit ears. They were certainly strange-looking. It was no wonder the guards had thought of her as suspicious.

"Hey!" she called, skidding to a halt a few metres away. She didn't think this person was a demon, but you could never be too careful. "Were you at the city this morning?"

"Huh?" the other person glanced around, looking slightly shocked, as if she hadn't noticed Kagu was there. "Oh… I… yes…"

"Were you the one who warned the guards of a demon attack?"

"Well, I did… but they didn't believe me. They said I was an imposter."

Sometimes being different can be so tough, Kagu thought ruefully. "So, there really are demons heading for the city?"

The woman nodded. "A lot of demons. I think some of them are quite powerful."

"How did you find out?" Kagu asked. "I mean… I think that's the main reason the guards didn't believe you."

"Ah… well… it might sound a bit far-fetched, but… I can see just about anything that's happening in Nippon. I can see where the demons are right now. They're heading across the city bridge."

"You're sure about that?"

"Positive."

Kagu was silent for a moment as she glanced in the general direction of the city checkpoint. It wasn't that far away. If they warned everyone now then they might get everyone prepared in time for an attack… "I believe you." She wasn't sure whether this woman was entirely human, but she definitely wasn't a demon. That was the main thing. "We'll go back to the city and warn everyone."

"I'm not sure if it's going to make any difference…" she sighed. "I never seem to have the best of luck when it comes to the people in Sei'an."

"I'll tell them I used my miko powers to check or something. The guards will have to believe that. If they don't… ah, I'll just make 'em."

"Um… okay?" she smiled anxiously. "So you're a miko? You're quite a young one."

"I'm the most powerful young miko in the city!" Kagu responded, arrogant as usual. "Even if I'm still a child, I've defeated plenty of demons before. That's the job of a miko, to protect the city. Oh, and my name's Kagu. What's yours?"

"Kaguya. But if we're going to warn the people in the city about the demons we'd better hurry. They're almost here now."