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Night seemed to arrive earlier than usual and before we knew it, the familiar darkness of the fast fading dusk was upon us, forcing us to camp for the night. We weren't even half way up the mountain, but I felt as if all my insides were turning into icicles. It was so cold up here that it finally got into my head why none of the villagers ever grazed their goats here despite the animals' ability to survive cold climates like this. Genbu, why did it have to be so freaking cold in this country?

I shivered, wrapping my coat around me even tighter as I watched Hikitsu tell Iname and the head-hitting onna (fine, Takiko…)to set up the tents while we went to hunt for some firewood. I protested, wondering just where in Genbu's name could you find forests this high and the tall seishi raised an eyebrow and sighed.

"Sometimes, Tomite, I truly wonder if being with us for a week and a half or so has dulled your senses. Perhaps you didn't see the forest just around that ledge?" he inquired and I winced at his particularly icy sarcastic tone.

Well, I couldn't blame him for being grumpy. This crazy weather was driving me insane too, and I was glad for a moment for the training that I had received by being a hunter for eight years. You had to have the patience of a monk to wait for the animals to come by, and this was one of the times where it actually came in handy.

Takiko rubbed her arms to warm them as she nodded. I wondered if she was thinking whether we would be having frozen food for dinner tonight- judging by the temperature around here, I wouldn't be surprised if we did.

"All right then," she shivered, forcing her words through her chattering teeth. "Be careful, though. Any animals up here must be savage. Brrrr…"

I studied her shaking form for a moment and sighed before opening my saddle bag slightly and handing her the long piece of cloth that my mother had sewn for me when I was just seven. Apparently, she had misjudged by size then and made it extra big, and so, it never came in handy- until now that is.

"Here," I sighed, not looking at her in the eye. "You'll freeze without the proper accessories and I don't think you're as used to this climate as the three of us. I…I don't want to Genbu to kill me just because his miko froze to death, you know."

She blinked, looking at me and I felt my cheeks go hot for some weird reason. What the hell was wrong with me? Why was I giving her this? I had better use for this- I was the one who was going into the forest.

Still, you don't want her to freeze, ne? a small voice piped up from the back of my mind and I glared inwardly at it, wondering since when that irritating little nagging subconscious had finally made its comeback. Admit it, you care about her…

"A…arigato," she stammered, carefully taking the scarf before giving me a very strange look. "Chamka, are you sure you're not sick? It's either I'm hallucinating, or did you actually act nice for once?"

I snorted, suddenly having the courage to look her in the eye and glare at her. "Just because I do a good deed doesn't mean that I'm crazy, you know," I retorted, folding my arms. "If you don't want it, fine. I never pass up an extra thing to keep me warm and alive for another day, unlike you."

She glared at me, practically shooting razor sharp daggers at my head. "And what is that supposed to mean?"

"Ah…nothing much. Now, unless you want to chew on ice tonight, I'd advise you to go and do something about fixing up a place to sleep and getting out the food that Iname packed. By the way, Iname, are you sure you can take care of yourself here?"

The green haired girl nodded, giving me a wide but slightly shy grin as her yellow eyes almost seemed to glow in the dark. "Don't worry about me. I've had enough experience with these kind of things for the past few years. I'm able to handle it. Being an otoko does require me to learn their ways, you know."

"So literally, you're an otoko too," I spoke up decisively as I extracted my bow from the saddle bag and fastened the carved wooden container of arrows to my back. "Looks like the only weak one is our head-hitting miko here, ne?"

Hikitsu sighed and stepped forward, pulling me slightly by my ear, catching me off guard. I let out a yelp in pain as he shook his head and dragged me along, muttering something under his breath about me being unable to watch my manners and having to learn to be courteous around the miko.

-------

I had heard how absurdly low the temperatures could go in Hokkan, but nightfall in Mount Taihun sure took the spot. I had hoped somehow that it could get warmer when we were in a forest (despite knowing for around five years that that wasn't possible), but in here, everything was practically freezing cold.

I peeked at Hikitsu out of the corner of my eye, wondering just how in Genbu's name was he able to walk around so calmly as if we were in a house with a roaring fireplace that emitted such luxurious heat. Genbu, he never ever showed any sign of emotion other than exasperation or impatience after that sudden blow-up of his in his village. Was he even human?!

"Hikitsu," I spoke, hoping that saying something would help keep my tongue from freezing. "Remind me why we're here instead of some nice, warm house on flat land again?"

"Because we're seishi?" He turned to look at me then paused, giving me a strange look. "Why do you ask? Is something wrong, Tomite?"

"You can freaking well guess," I mumbled under my breath as I bent over and picked up a few more dry twigs from the ground as I watched my breath come out in small white puffs. "I don't understand why you guys insist on dragging me along. I mean, isn't the real Tomite going to pissed off when he finds out that you guys were treating me like him?"

There was a deep sigh from the silver haired seishi as he straightened himself and looked pointedly at me. "I thought we had gone over this more than a hundred times already. There is no other Tomite. You are the Genbu no shichiseishi Tomite. Or would you like me to provide you with a mirror so you can have look for yourself?"

"…No thanks."

The silence between us continued, only to be broken by the sound of leaves being crushed underfoot by the both of us. Noting the end of today's short conversation with the potentially potent seishi Hikitsu, my thoughts reverted to the rest of the seishi.

After I had seen them to the palace, I would make my way back to my village and continue living that solitary life that I had endured for eight long years. I was just a normal villager- nothing more than that.

ZING!

Something flew past my hand, almost grazing it with its fine surface and my eyes narrowed. Hikitsu himself seemed to pause, his sharp eyes scanning the dark forest as well as a normal person could. There was someone-or something- between these trees, and it definitely wasn't a ghost.

"You can as well give it up now," I finally heard the tall seishi speak as he carefully laid his pile of sticks onto the ground. "No use hiding- I can sense you. Or do you need me to pull you out?"

There was nothing to be heard except the rustling of leaves on the trees and crickets chirping, but I knew what Hikitsu meant. There was someone here watching our every move, and I didn't take fancy on people spying on me while I was busy.

"Oh, it looks as if our little guest doesn't want to come out, Hikitsu," I shrugged, following Hikitsu's action and laying my small pile of accumulated firewood on the slightly damp ground before taking an arrow from the container on my back. "We don't want to be too hostile, do we?"

Silence.

Then suddenly-

-------

Many arrows seemed to rain down on us, and I focused, hoping to Genbu that if I was indeed one of his seishi, he would give me the power to defeat the fools that thought they could confuse us by doing an all-round attack. Throwing a look at Hikitsu, we nodded simultaneously.

The other seishi's symbol began to glow a bright neon green under his eye-patch as he focused and muttered something under his breath as I concentrated, trying to find out the main source of the arrows.

There! My eyes opened as I quickly fitted an arrow into my bow and took aim before letting it fly. A loud howl sounded through the night and I smirked, knowing that I had hit the bull's eye. The arrows seemed to cease, but some seemed to come from other directions at us. Just as I took aim again, suddenly, Hikitsu's closed eyes opened and he stretched out his hand at a direction.

The familiar ice snakes that had saved both me and the head-hitting onna once immediately flew out from his palm and disappeared into the shadows, and at once, something dropped to the ground. There was a sound of pattering feet, as if someone was trying to make a run for it and I sighed. When will they ever learn?

I lowered my bow and immediately switched targets to where the running noises were coming from and shot a few arrows. There were yells and shouts as some reached their destined targets, but the others who managed to dodge those lethal weapons of mine were simply frozen in place by Hikitsu's ice snakes.

"Well, that was pretty nice of them to drop by and have a look at how we're doing," I commented as I lifted the lantern to have a better look at their faces and noticed that they were wearing Kutou armour. Genbu, what was the Kutou army doing so far north?

The wounded man spat in my face as if I tasted bitter, and I raised an eyebrow. "You'll never defeat Kutou! Once the Genbu no miko disappears, Kutou will rule the four countries! Kill me as you wish, but I still die with pride!"

I snorted. Pride? What kind of pride was it by dying in the hands of an enemy just because you served your country like that? Just as I raised my bow to fulfil the man's last wish, my mind clicked and the first half of his second sentence struck me.

Once the Genbu no miko disappears…

Takiko!

My head suddenly jumped into action and I loosened my grip on the defiant Kutou soldier. This group was too small to harm us, and somehow, I knew that this couldn't be. Unless…

"Kuso!" I cursed under my breath, exchanging looks with Hikitsu. Their aim wasn't us! It was that damn head-hitting onna! Why didn't I see it before?! How could I have been so freaking blind?! This was just to put us off guard!

Before I knew it, I was racing through the woods, feeling the low branches slap my face while undergrowth tried to trip me. How could I have been so freaking stupid to fall into that trap?! Baka, baka, baka! I had gotten caught up in that decoy that had been sent to take care of us while the rest of them would most probably be trying to capture Takiko. How could I have been so ultimately stupid?!

Without warning, I suddenly tripped on a solid rock and landed face down on the grass. Lying there, I didn't know why, but I could feel something warm and wet streaming down my face. Blood? No…it couldn't be. Blood didn't feel like this…it wasn't this warm. What was this feeling that my heart was pounding out…?

I brought one hand to wipe some of the warm liquid off my cheek. Tears…? It was impossible; I had never cried ever since my parents' death eight years ago. So, what was this feeling inside me…?

You're going to give up now?

The small voice at the back of my head piped up, this time more urgently than normal. I scrunched my eyes close, trying to stop the flow of warm tears as I brought a mud crusted hand to wipe the remaining tears from my face. Are you going to give up the chance and let both girls get hurt? What happens if Takiko gets killed? Won't you regret it for the rest of your life?

"Damare…" I gasped out, trying to push it down again, but it reappeared in full fledge. Do you want to watch her die because of your carelessness? Are you willing to shoulder the guilt that'll be with you for the rest of your life?

"Damare…"

Are you going to sacrifice her life just because of your selfishness? My fingers dug into the earth as I shook my head, trying to clear it. What was I thinking? Wasn't I the one who wanted her dead in the first place? Why should I even save her? Why was I even caring about her?

Can you truly say that you want her to die? Do you WANT her to die?

"Damare!!" I bellowed, pushing myself up despite the scratches on my arms and legs. I didn't want to be responsible for what happened! I didn't want anyone to get hurt! Worst of all, I didn't want that head-hitting onna to die…!

"Takiko!!"


Author's Notes: Sap!!! *watches as everyone dies from too much sap in this chapter* Weirdly enough, I thought that this would most probably become a transition chapter, but it turned out this way instead. Still, who doesn't like this sap, anyway? ^_^

*sings* Sap and waft (Sagara, it's WAFT- Warm and Fuzzy Tingles, see??)!! Hehe, never knew I had it in me, ne? True, I'm not usually a writer of sap, but there's always a song that promotes sap in my head, and this time, it's Voice by Tamahome! *claps* Actually, I was reading a FF9 fic, and noticed how it fitted the song, and so, I kept listening to the song…and this happened. Interesting what specific songs can do to your brain, ne??

Zidane: Whatever. There shouldn't be a mention of me here, anyway. I belong in the Games category.

True. *stuffs him back into the fic by Ravyn Crescent (I know it's advertising, but I don't care -_-)* Anyway…how did you readers (and reviewers ^_^) like this chapter? Can you people tolerate the amount of sap in it or would you like me to cut down? I can…but I don't want you people to be disappointed! ^_~

HINT: He doesn't get hit for the first time in this chapter! Draw your own conclusions, people, but keep in mind that the contest of the number of whacks is still going on! Don't forget to count, no da!!

School no good… .. I have a major exam this year, so it'll be harder for me to post chapters, but don't worry, I'll send Sagara to post them for me! Oh, and if he even tries to change Tomite to Tomato and Hikitsu to Hiccup again, kill him! I can always find another beta reader, see?? ^_^

Finally, the first traces of love!! *grins* Aww…poor Tomite! Don't worry, people, they'll end up together! Whether she ends up in Tengoku as a Nyan Nyan for Taiitsukun is up to your imagination until the next chapter. Hmm…Tomite with a Nyan Nyan…interesting thought. *files away thought for future fics* I think I died from drowning in too much sap…

*fishes herself out of sapdom (as in the kingdom of sap, see?) * This is the tenth chapter! Wow, it's amazing how much I can write…a few months (or was it weeks? I can't remember ^_^;;) ago, I had just put up the first chapter! *looks back* It was so far back then…

Oh, and in case, anyone was asking, 'Damare' means 'shut up'. Literally. It's true! Of course, if you think that's a little too rude, you could always settle for 'keep quiet' see? ^_^ v

*looks at clock* It is currently 2.31 in the morning, and I'm short of sleep. *yawn* As always, review, people! I looove reviews, and if people ask for it, I can always step up on the sap and turn on Voice at full blast. What do you say, people? How about reviewing? I'd appreciate it, and of course, you have to race to be the first reviewer! Still, don't worry, I won't forget my long-time patrons (this is beginning to sound like a restaurant), and you guys will get mentioned too! I love you faithful reviewers!! *hugs*

Okay then, until next time, ja ne~!