Em's expression, though oddly relaxed, maintained a twinge of puzzlement as Kakashi embraced the small ball of yellow light that was floating near his chest. He spoke as though the woman this remnant belonged to was there and could hear him and could feel him and could respond to him. He hugged tighter around some invisible person, and the ball moved closer to him though it didn't quite reach the black cloak covering him.

"...So." Em began when she noticed him descending into an emotional realm that she was not prepared to handle.

Kakashi turned to her and his eyes fixated on the empty jar balanced in her slightly outstretched palm.

"What is that for?"

"Uh… to put the piece of Mitsuru in."

Kakashi felt the warmth of the body against him, but in the next moment, it weakened. Alarmed, that Mitsuru was disappearing in his arms, he clenched harder around her, but when he tilted his chin at the woman, he thought he held he saw on an orb of light just an inch from his chest. He quickly wiped the tear from his cheek and cupped his hands underneath the gently bobbing anomaly. Her heat lingered across his clothing and emanated from what was once a full woman to him.

"You didn't see her?" he asked.

"...her? Were you seeing Mitsuru?"

"Yes. I was holding her. Talking to her. She was talking to me. And you didn't?"

"No. I saw you hug a light."

He watched its brief, repetitive ascent and descent only three inches above his palms.

This is just a part of her. It's not actually her.

"So," Em repeated. "I'm going to put it in the jar now."

"How did you know where it was?" he asked quickly.

Kakashi wasn't possessive in nature, but now that a piece of the woman he loved was in his care he was reluctant to hand it over without some answers.

Em pushed her opposite hand into the coin purse on her hip and yanked out a string. The further she pulled the more he saw similarly shaped jars, like the one in her hand, each carefully attached to the line and each with another orb of light floating within it.

"They change temperature as we get closer or further away," she explained briefly. "Now that I have so many of them I just have to stick my hand in my purse to feel how warm they are."

"How many are there?"

"Thirty-six. With this makes thirty-seven."

"How many more pieces are there?"

"Three is what my employers have told me." she lowered the string gingerly into her purse again. "So forty in total."

"You've been to that many worlds?"

"I've been to hundreds. This isn't my first job."

She motioned with the empty jar. Kakashi stepped towards her and guided the light into its temporary glass home.

"This is the only one here?"

"Yes."

Em faced the direction they entered from while tucking the jar into her purse.

"We can start heading back."

The walk back onto the muddy streets was silent aside from their shoes shifting through the rank sewage. Kakashi hadn't walked atop the water only to conserve his chakra. Part of him knew, despite not exerting himself for the past few hours, that it was dwindling. Was it safe for him to continue being in this world? Was the time limit for Em's sake or his?

Just as he was preparing to ask his question his attention was drawn overhead. At a speed, only his trained open eye could follow were humans flipping through the air. He spotted the contraptions attached to their waists and watched as they traveled far ahead, being pulled by long thick wires that latched and unlatched onto the buildings. Kakashi and Em's capes flapped from the gust of wind the people left behind.

Intrigued he forgot his previous question and fashioned another:

"Is that a common sight here?"

"Yes. For their military and law enforcement."

"It looks handy."

"It was created specifically for dealing with those things outside the walls. They're not easy to take down, I've heard."

"It would be difficult to get a hold of one of those then."

"Nearly impossible and I don't want to get mixed up with the wrong folks anyway. Do you think you have the stamina to take us back now?"

"I should. Do you not want to rest a bit?"

"I don't want to waste any more time here."

"Alright."

They headed back up the ling staircase they used to enter this underground city and step back into the bright sun. It was late afternoon and there was still some time until the sun would set.

Once they were outside the city and well down the road away from anyone else, Em climbed onto Kakashi's back again, and they were off.

Patches of his grey hair had fallen out of his low ponytail and whipped back as the wind rushed through it. Glad that they were near the end of this short, but strange journey, Kakashi moved quickly over the first wall and into the next stretch of land.

Again he rounded any villages they approached and leaped through thickets of a forest. They passed only a few humans on the road who just flinched, wondering where the sudden sharp breeze came from.

As they reached the next wall, Em directed him a few meters southeast away from the gate.

"We might encounter some of those things. Just try to avoid them and keep running south."

He grunted his response as they reached the top of the wall. Repeating his careful skid down the last few meters, he landed on the ground below and picked up his pace.

While safely traveling was a priority, he felt that maintaining speed and even increasing would be best. He did not know how intelligent these things were and he too wanted to leave this world bearing down on him.

Beads of sweat dripped down off his chin. His muscles grew heavier with each pump of his legs. The scenery that was just a mass of color was slowly coming into focus.

He should have requested they take another day before heading back. He should have moved through the past two safe zones more slowly. He should have paused at the top of the previous wall and had a sip of water.

"Right!"

Kakashi hadn't noticed its lumbering head peeking over the edge of the roof and watching them as they came closer. He reacted slower than he should have. He jumped to the left at a sudden, imprecise angle. By centimeters, his foot was nearly grasped by an enormous hand swinging around the edge of an abandoned home. Grass and dirt blew into the air. Em lost her hold and was thrown away from Kakashi.

The moment Em hit the ground her hand was in her coin purse searching for the item she'd saved.. She'd noticed him tiring. She knew all along he was being pushed too far. She knew this moment was coming. Em yanked out the energy bar and tore the wrapper as she raised onto her hip.

Kakashi shook himself to alertness, snapping his head from side to side to gauge how far Em was and how close the creature was to him. He grunted when he tried to move, but a sharp pain in his ankle stalled him. His pant-leg was dark red and damp. A curse left his lips.

Stomps that shook the ground and the sound of heavy breathing had them both looking up. Its eyes pointed in opposite directions, and its arms hung low. Held together with pinkish flesh, it's overall makeup was disgustingly human-like. It moved steadily towards them, not at all rushed to collect prey that was wounded.

Em chewed and swallowed down the energy bar in a total of two bites, all while scrambling to the grey-haired man rolling away from the enormous creature attempting to capture him. She grabbed Kakashi's coat just as he neared and the cloud of bone dust burst around them. The four-meter tall creature's hand rushed downwards, but only grasped at the falling debris left from their forced jump.

When the crushing sensation came, Kakashi thought he had been caught by the limb, but the feeling of falling pushed the thought away. He'd experienced this twice now. He knew he was transporting between worlds in a tight-fingered, but shaky grip. It all stopped with a harsh thump against a cushioned floor.

The blur cleared faster than last time. He was laying on his stomach with his head turned to the right. Just a few feet away, beyond the edge of the couch above him was Em on her side, staring at him with wide eyes. He immediately noticed the blood pooling around her and his gaze dropped to the source. Her arm was split, cleanly, down the middle from between her index and middle fingers to her elbow. The sections lay slightly splayed apart with blood pouring out from either side.

Kakashi watched as her temple rested against the carpet, her chest pumped in and out rapidly, and her pupils enlarged. This was a sight not unfamiliar to him. He'd fought in wars, faced many foes and taken their lives. Though she was void of emotion, lacking what was so typical to many, what he saw before him was yet another human who was fearful, trembling, and dying.

He tried desperately to move, to yank even a single limb into motion, but every inch of his body was too heavy. He was being held down against the white shag material by some invisible force.

I can't let her die. I can't. I have to do something, I have-

The sound of muffled heel clicks slammed against his eardrums.

If he'd known this was the moment the truth of the monster would be revealed to him, he might have closed his eyes.

If this what she honestly looks like? Is it even a "she"? Wouldn't it be an it? Was it a whole being or was it parts floating together stitched by shadow?

Were those horns or just hard black masses that peeked over the armrest of the couch?

Were those hands or blackness in the shape of hands?

It's claws curled around the edge of the couch, finding a grip in the soft material. A yellowish-dark brown grew from the touch, slowly, as though the white felt were a tissue absorbing tea.

Its long black hair hovered over the dying witch, close enough to graze her pale skin.

Em looked at it, then suddenly became calm. Her eyes fell shut.

Kakashi's vision weakened, the scene before him fading.

A long black tongue touched to the crook of Em's elbow, then slid along the injury, leaving sticky dark saliva in its wake. Steam rose from the location.

Is it… is it healing her?

Moments before it all went black he saw: half-lidded, glistening with excitement, filled with unrestrained hunger, the most beautiful ruby-colored eyes he'd ever seen.