Nanashi led the way with the other fighters plus Prince Takashi towards the caves that Ichiro and his wolf demon army, not bandits, had been hiding out. Nanashi could suddenly sense the lot of them, not so far away from the castle after all. It impressed her that Ichiro's gift had been so strong that he never allowed him nor his army to be sensed by her or anyone else. She could sense them now, but to her displeasure.

They got to site of the fight they had, which put Nanashi on edge. She saw the ashes of the wolf demons taken out by Hiei's dragon. A few tiny spots of black flames and smoke simmered in a few spots on the ground, waiting for themselves to burn out. She did not want to go anywhere near them with every fiber of her being. She saw the two dead bodies of Ichiro and his second in command, Okami. Nanashi's nose curled up in disgust at the sight of both of them. What she had learned from Hiei about either of them made her stomach sour. Horrid men who had done horrible things, and used Hikari's name to do it.

"We need to keep moving," she said to the others, ignoring the bodies and pretending to ignore how the flames made her feel.

"Wait," Prince Takashi said. He knelt down beside Ichiro's body. "They should be burned or buried. Later though," he ruled. He reached over, taking Ichiro's crown off of his head. He looked furious as he held it. He stood up, squaring his shoulders. "We'll take this. As proof he's dead. My lady," he nodded over to Nanashi. "We should keep moving."

Nanashi nodded back at him, gesturing to the others to follow her. She skirted around the black flames, not wanting them to touch her. She looked back, noticing the others did the same, following her lead. Her lead...

She kept going, heading towards the caves that Ichiro had occupied. Nearly there, she sensed two scouts posted. She was surprised they did not sense her or the others with her. She figured they never bothered to try what with Ichiro blocking anyone from sensing anyone else. She signaled to Prince Takashi, who saw them as well. He was able to shoot both of them through the throat from a distance with his conjured up bow and arrow before either of them could shout out a warning. He was deadly in his accuracy. She took the second to count herself lucky that Hiei had knocked her out of the way in time when the prince once accidentally shot her.

"Let's go," Prince Takashi urged, leading the charge towards the cave. Nanashi was right behind him, with the others following suit.

Nanashi over took him, leading him to the main part of the caves where most of the wolf demons and their slaves from the woods clan were. There were four dozen of them in total left behind in the caves, but she only saw three dozen. The wolf demons were being served a meal by nine slaves. There were a dozen slaves in the caves, so three were not here.

Everyone seemed to freeze in what they were doing, watching Nanashi, Prince Takashi, and the others. One wolf demon rose up, growled furiously at the sight of them. He reached for his sword, but his hand never reached there. One of Takashi's arrows burrowed its way between his eyes.

Nanashi leaned over to him, whispering, "only the wolf demons and a few of the others were loyal to him. Give them each a chance to surrender though."

"Right," he nodded softly to her. Louder, loud enough for everyone around them to hear. "Ichiro is dead. I killed your false king." He threw the crown up in the sky, shot it with an arrow, cleaving it half. "Everyone here is allotted one chance to surrender. Be quick about it."

That was when the fighting ensued. Prince Takashi was quick to pick off a few wolves who charged at them. Nanashi and the others fought those who came up close. Nanashi noticed the slaves kept the distance from the others, surrendering immediately. None of the wolf demons surrendered. They were not to difficult to take out, considering how caught off guard they all were.

Once the wolf demons were taken care of, Nanashi advised, "there's still three more woods demons and ten more wolf demons around here, somewhere. I'm going to look for Maiha."

"Maiha?" Prince Takashi asked.

Nanashi gave the woods demons, no longer slaves now, a second look over. The lot of them looked awfully young. "Maiha was the one who helped Hikari. Hikari is desperate to have her rescued, and she isn't here."

"I'll go with you," Prince Takashi said.

"No," she shook her head. "There's still ten more wolf demons somewhere. Hunt them down."

"Only if they don't surrender," Prince Takashi partially agreed. His mercifullness was admirable.

Nanashi ran away from him, sensing her way through the caves, going towards where Hikari had been imprisoned. That was likely where Maiha was located. She found the room, almost rushing passed it. She skidded to a halt, knocking on the door. She could sense someone behind the door, someone small, weak, and fragile. She knocked on the door. No answer. She pounded again. No answer. She opened the door and went through.

The light was dimmer in there, the torch on the wall nearly puttered out. Nanashi looked in the room, seeing a small figure huddled in the corner by a low cot on the ground.

"Maiha?" she said soothingly, stepping into the room. The figure did not answer. "Maiha, I'm Hikari's mother. We're here to rescue you." Nanashi knelt down next to Maiha on the cot. "Ichiro is dead. And so are the wolf demons."

Maiha looked up at her, gauging whether or not Nanashi was being honest with her. She let out a whimper, and then threw herself into Nanashi's arms. The child was so slim she felt like a bundle of warm, shaky kindle than a child in her arms. Nanashi scooped her up, cradling Maiha in her arms as she carried her from the room.

She heard a shout ring out behind her. She saw a lone wolf demon running towards her. She dropped Maiha in an instant, stood in front of her, and had her ax out and ready. She stood ready for the wolf to reach her, wanting him to get close enough to attack him.

Yet he never got that close, at all. Nanashi saw Hiei come up from behind the wolf demon and cut him down. Nanashi summoned her wind dragon away, sighing in relief. She was surprised he was there and awake, figuring more time than expected had passed. She turned back to Maiha, who was cowering against the wall behind her.

"It's quite alright, he's with us. He's Hikari's father," Nanashi explained, stepping over towards the child. She held her hand out to her. Maiha took it slowly. Over to Hiei, she said, "this is Maiha." She got the child to stand up and stepped over towards Hiei with her. "Is everything alright? How's Hikari?"

Hiei was looking at her, studyingly. "who killed Ichiro?" he deadpanned.

Nanashi bit her lip nervously. "I..." she started, setting herself to tell the truth. "I know you told me to kill him, but he said to kill Hikari if I killed him, so I couldn't. Prince Takashi killed him inste-"

She stopped speaking unexpectedly when Hiei pulled her over, kissing her unexpectedly. She let go of Maiha's hand, finding that awkward.