Searching

"You will regret this in time."

Sakura quickly moved through the city's dark spots, hiding and avoiding the guards that had been sent after her.

"These sort of episodes only last so long. After that you will see all this differently."

Sakura slipped past a guard, a silent shadow arrow killed another.

"I wonder what you will say then? Will you say I should have warned you?"

Sakura hid in an alcove as a large group of guards ran past her.

"Because I did, I told you there wrath was not peaceful and I told you how to hold it off."

Sakura stepped out of the alcove and continued on to the town walls.

"To be fair, I never told you what great lady Kimbery's torment did. In addition to that..."

Sakura came to the wall and stopped, she couldn't go through the main gate seeing how much it was guarded and the wall was too high to climb normally.

"You did try and hold it off, I won't deny that. You tried your best to make sure it didn't happen."

Sakura moved so her shadow was larger and reached into her Compliant Umbral Panoply, she pulled out a shadow grappling hook. She tossed it to climb the nearby house first.

"Ah but it still occured, maybe taking the boy in the first place would have been better but it's all in the past now."

She climbed to the roof and quickly threw the hook again, over the great city wall.

"Malfeas is the only thing that can act as your home now, while I find that place fine you might still find it alien. Your soul is still mostly human after all."

She swung to the wall and climbed it, one step at a time. She heard a calling voice from the city, she didn't know if someone had seen her or not but she began climbing faster.

"I don't think any human has ever really felt safe there, it literally has a toxic atmosphere after all."

She reached the top of the wall and glanced back to see the town guards carrying bows, the first fired but at that point she had already slipped over the wall.

"I mean you do have a house from your predecessor but I doubt you really think of it as your home, it's not your style."

Sakura began running into the desert, her charms activating to keep her safe in the scorching sun.

"Ah well, maybe I'll say this all again when you are actually listening to me." Sakura's Coadjutor sighed.

Rin and Shirou had been searching the town but Scarlet Whisper found them both and delivered the news that Sakura had escaped.

They met up in the Manse. They were quiet for a time before they spoke nearly at the same time "We need to follow her."

Scarlet Whisper walked in around that time "If she truely was a demon she could have retreated only to strike again later."

"She isn't a demon!" Shirou declared but Rin was thinking.

Rin finally spoke while Scarlet Whisper considered how to tell Shirou the truth "Have you ever seen anything like her before?"

Scarlet Whisper stopped and thought for a moment before speaking "She claimed to be a Solar, it is possible that she was lying or that she had become an Akuma."

"Akuma?" Shirou and Rin were supprised, the word meant demon in Japanese. They wondered how a seemingly Japanese word had become a word for demons.

Scarlet Whisper nodded "Akuma were humans, they were normally Exalted but not always, that sold their souls to the Yozi for power."

Rin covered her mouth with her hand and repeated "Selling your soul for power."

Scarlet Whisper continued "They are reshaped by the Yozi and take on demonic traits, they also become slaves to their Urge, a supernatural order given by the Yozi that made them."

"So then," Shirou started "she is under the effects of an Urge and by getting rid of it we can get the old Sakura back?"

Scarlet Whisper shook her head "There is no record that I have ever read that tells of a way to free an Akuma, on the contrary in fact many claim it to be impossible."

There was silence for a moment before Rin spoke "I'll follow her, alone."

The other two looked at her as if she had gone mad so she explained "The Urge she has been given seems to be about taking you somewhere Shirou. If I go alone it might not act up. In addition I have my bound demons if I need help."

Shirou shook his head vigorously "No, it's not safe. What if she escapes to hell?"

Rin took a breath "I'll follow her, I'll find her with help from my demons and I'll bring her back."

As if the matter had been decided she then stood up and turned to Scarlet Whisper who had raised an eyebrow at their conversation "Scarlet Whisper, could you arrange a travelling bag for me, food and water for a few weeks?"

She almost laughed "If you are travelling to Malfeas you will need to cross a desert that absorbs all life and takes five days to cross. In addition there is a limit to what you can carry. I can promise you a week of supplies at minimum but after that you are on your own in Malfeas."

Rin closed her eyes to think before opening them in a flash "Very well but I request three weeks total, One to go and two to return with."

Scarlet Whisper grinned "Very well."

Shirou stood up quickly "I don't agree to this!" Rin looked around and said "I'm sorry but I will do this and you can't stop me, this is the best way to save her. You should go with the mortal and continue on the journey back to the Blessed Isle. We will catch up with you."

There was a moment of absolute silence.

"Okay." it looked like Shirou forced the word out.

End of chapter.

Just an intro to the two/three plotlines of this arc.