Disclaimer: I own nothing

Rated: M

'So many...'

Kagome glanced at the wagons, all of which were carrying either dead or grievously wounded soldiers and sadly, the former greatly outnumbered the latter.

'I would normally start healing as many as I could right away,' She glanced back to the forest and bit her lip hard, 'But it's much more logical to save what spirit energy I have left in case any Titans attack us.'

Plus, there was Annie.

Now Kagome was quite sure that Annie would keep her promise to not transform on the way back, but she had to look at the what ifs just in case as to protect the remaining members of the Survey Corps.

Even with her limited amount of power in this world, she wanted to save as many lives as she could and couldn't afford to be naive like she had been in the past.

"Kagome."

The sound of her name broke the Priestess out of her thoughts and she glanced over, spotting Petra sitting in one of wagons that held the least injured. Her arm sported a crude splint and sling, but she seemed all right otherwise.

"I never thanked you," Petra smiled a bit, holding down her grimace of pain, "I owe you my life," She said, ignoring Oluo's proceeding snort after her words, "So please, let me know if you need anything."

"Sure," Kagome smiled back, "Maybe you can show me around those walls after this is all done." She nodded at Petra's enthusiastic response before manoeuvring over to the wagon that held Annie.

The blonde had been bound even tighter with ropes and her hands were completely encased with bandages while firmly gagged at the same time. Five soldiers sat in the same wagon, all uninjured and ready with their blades drawn should Annie make any suspicious moves.

Annie herself didn't seem affected by any of this and simply kept her eyes closed in her relaxed state. She only opened them when Kagome moved so that her horse was beside her and she couldn't help but to stare at the strange woman.

She cursed the fact that she had to be gagged because there were so many questions she wanted to ask the Priestess. She glanced out of the corner of her eyes, making sure that none of the soldiers noticed as she stared at her two partners.

Did they know anything?

"Is everyone prepared to leave?" Erwin called out and received mumbles and murmurs in return. He almost sighed, seeing just how many had died on this mission and he knew discontent would start to rise in some soldiers because of his decisions.

Many had died, yes, but they had accomplished their mission.

'How much worse would it have been if not for Kagome?' Erwin glanced over to the girl, watching as she chose to sit in a wagon rather than ride on a horse. He observed curiously as she grabbed the small satchel from her belt and took out those few pieces of bark she had cut off from that tree.

What surprises for them did she have this time?

"We're leaving now!" Levi called out and the Survey Corps quickly divided into their formation, going ahead as swiftly as they could in order to avoid any more Titans.

The Corporal was quick to abandon his lead position and left it to Erwin as he directed his horse to gallop along side the wagon that held both Kagome and the unconscious Eren, "Even as strange as you are," He smirked at the annoyed look she threw at him for that, "What could you possibly do with tree bark?"

"That's for me to know and you to figure out," Kagome answered cheekily, pulling out a few strips of paper from her jacket pocket – ones that she had made sure to especially bring along, "I'm sure this will come in handy for the near future."

Levi glanced at the strips of paper, furrowing his brows when he noticed the Japanese characters scribbled on them. He knew the bare basics of a few Japanese characters from those few lessons, but the ones on the paper were completely foreign to him.

"It says 'seal'," Kagome said casually, quickly picking up on what he was going to ask, "These paper tags were the last few I had on my person. They are called Ofuda and can perform many different tasks."

There were more in her bag, but who knew where that was anymore?

And if her dream about that ape-like Titan was a memory, did that mean it had her bag now?

'I can think about that later.' Kagome pushed the thought out of her head, glancing up at Levi when he let out his usual 'tch'.

"And what the hell does tree bark have anything to do with this?" Levi asked, observing as Kagome placed each Ofuda on a piece of bark.

"I haven't actually done this before," Kagome admitted, "But I was hoping to convert the tree's natural energy to a form that will allow me to use these Ofudas without me having to waste my own energy on them. Ofudas do take a lot of energy to work, after all."

Levi raised his brow, watching a little more intently as Kagome's hands glowed very dimly as she stroked the pieces of bark to try and coax out the tree's natural energy.

'It's working!' Kagome thought with delight, knowing that Levi probably could not even see the tree's natural energy. It took a little time, but she managed to slowly convert the natural energy into an inferior copy of her own by pouring in very small trace amounts of her Reiryouku.

"One more move, Leonhart, and we'll cut out your throat!"

Both Levi and Kagome swiftly looked up to the wagon beside the one Kagome was riding in, seeing that the blonde was attempting to get closer to them with a very strange fervour. The five soldiers all had their blades placed in positions that would prove lethal should they cut through.

"Disgusting bitch," Levi growled, assuming that Leonhart was reacting to Kagome's power for whatever reason, 'It's not surprising though,' He thought, remembering the warm soothing feeling that was almost addictive when Kagome had healed him, 'But why would the bitch react this way knowing the brat's power can kill her?'

"So, it was really you who caught Annie, huh?"

The male voice startled both Kagome and Levi (who didn't show it externally) and the duo turned to see a broad blond move so that his horse was very close to the wagon Kagome was sitting in.

Levi frowned, 'Cadet Reiner Braun I believe,' Grey eyes narrowed at the soldier, 'What the hell is he trying to do?' He had seen that particular look before directed to Kagome and it was always on Jaeger's face, so the Corporal could only chalk it up to one thing.

More damn competition.