Prince Takashi watched the scene play out before him, sitting stiffly on the back of his hippogriff near the entrance of the Alaric Castle. He could tell everyone else around them was waiting impatiently as well. Everyone was waiting for the angel and Hikari to come out in the early morning and join the lot of their group heading North: Hikari's family minus Kaze and Asa, Uncle Yasha, Kurama, Yusuke, the rescued wood tribe demons that were enslaved, and a few others to help them along the way. A few of them rode hippogriffs, but others, including the woods demons who were the size of human children almost, were too small for hippogriffs, so they rode on the back of regular horses. They were going to slow everyone down for sure...

The front door of the castle finally opened, with the sound of Kaze bawling in the background. The angel was quick to rush out the door from those staying in the castle: Asa, Kaze, Kuwabara, and Yukina. Hikari came out herself not long after.

The angel returned to her stead first, pulling herself up onto the beast with ease. She was to ride with her husband at the head of the group of them. Takashi saw the angel brush the back of her hand over one of her eyes. She slouched unnaturally on the back of her hippogriff.

Hikari though, being shorter than her mother, struggled to get on top of her hippogriff. Takashi slipped down from his hippogriff and came over beside her. She flinched unexpectedly as he bent down next to her on one knee. He interlaced his fingers and held his hands out together. She understood. She placed her foot into his hand, allowing him to give her the boost up she needed to get back on her hippogriff.

"Thanks," she said quietly.

"You're welcome," he told her with a soft smile.

She looked away from him, but he could tell she was blushing slightly. He liked the sight of it.

Not long after, they were off. The angel and Hiei lead the way on their hippogriffs, followed by Izo, Kurama, Uncle Yasha, Yusuke, and then Takashi himself with Hikari next to him. Others in their retinue, including Maiha and the other rescued woods demon tribe members, followed on behind them on their own steads.

The lot of them were on the long trek to the North, to investigate the tribes Ichiro had taken over to see what havoc he had reeked there. From what they had heard from Maiha, things had not be good at all. The wolf demon tribe had teamed up with Ichiro and taken over the other ones.

Takashi felt saddle sore on the ride, even before lunchtime. What did help was having Hikari riding next to him. As he rode next to her, he pondered what her brother had told him. Izo had told him he had a message from the Great Hawk Spirit about him and Hikari. They could either end up together, or just wait long enough for a dark crone to be found to break the accidentally one sided blood bond treaty. He thought about the kiss he gave her right before he was to be taken by Ichiro. He had not thought about it before he did it. He had been caught up in the moment, thinking if he had gone with Ichiro, he was a dead man. He did not want to go to his death without at least being kissed before. What had made that moment better, was when he pulled away from her, she kissed him back. And then fought near to the death to keep him from being taken.

Riding next to her, he thought about how he wanted to do that again. He had been tempted since she had recovered from the wolf bite that nearly killed her. They had not gotten a chance for anything like that since then. They had been busy getting ready for the trip, all of them. He had not gotten a chance to be alone with her, try as he had.

When lunch was called, he was so glad to get a chance to sit down and get off his hippogriff. When lunch was over though, and they were back on their steads along the narrowing road, he was disappointed to see his Uncle Yasha had taken his spot along side Hikari. Takashi grumbled, following at more of a distance now from Hikari, with Yusuke and Kurama between the set of them. He glad he could see her from the distance at least.

That was until the angel halted the convoy and announced to all of them that they were coming up to a narrow and treacherous path over the mountainous terrain for the next two to three hours that would require them to go slowly in pairs. While the hippogriffs could fly, the horses would no be able to, nor were the wood demons willing to fly over it.

Before Takashi could even think to approach Hikari, he heard Uncle Yasha say, "my lady, would you like to take this dangerous pathway together?"

"Ah... sure," Hikari agreed. She hesitated. Even though Takashi felt like pouting, at least she hesitated. He saw her turn her head to glance at him. When his eyes met hers, she looked away in a flash. She moved to quick for him to get a proper read on her face.

Kurama came up along side him. Takashi glanced over at her former tutor who had once rescue him from a certain death. "Care to ride next to each other?" Takashi asked him, trying not to sound too terribly disappointed. It was not his fault Hikari chose Uncle Yasha.

"As you wish," Kurama said with a nod.

He himself cast a glance over at Uncle Yasha and Hikari, quite curious himself. Uncle Yasha and Hikari were in the third set of pairs to start on the path. The angel was directing the pairs one set at a time. She watched Takashi and Kurama head down the rugged trail together, side by side when it was wide enough, one by one when it got too narrow.

Takashi rode along next to Kurama in silence first, but finally he gave in, initiating conversation to tell Kurama what had happened since he had arrived at Alaric. He found himself rambling a bit, but with Kurama listening attentively. He also found himself talking what Kurama might think as far too much about Hikari, but he could not help it.

By the time they reached the end of the rugged trail followed by a swift gallop to catch up to the others in front of them, it was time to make camp for the evening. Takashi noticed Hikari was setting up her and Maiha's tent for the evening. Her short stature was making it difficult for her to get the tent upright. She was almost cute the way she jumped to do it. Takashi smiled to himself at the sight of it.

He stepped off his hippogriff, and hitched it to the nearest tree. He went over to her with a smile, helping her finish setting up her tent in shy silence.

He felt like someone was watching the pair of them. He glanced over his shoulders, seeing Uncle Yasha and Kurama standing close together, talking to quietly for anyone to hear.