Later, Amagi was reading the paper when Zataku and Kurumi finally woke up.

"Good morning, Doctor," Kurumi Greeted.

"Hey, doc. Coffee ready yet?" Zataku asked with a yawn.

"No. Not yet."

"Damn," he said as he walked behind Amagi to take a seat. Just then, he noticed what she was reading," Those guys still haven't cleared up the rock slide yet?"

"Unfortunately not,"

Zataku sighed, and said," That means we'll be stuck here a whole other day"

"Sounds good to me!" Kurumi smiled," Oh, this town is sweet. We can walk around; grab some yummy avocado cakes, some tasty tangerines. Oh, I love tangerines; did you know that? Oh, who cares what we do just as long as I get to do it with you!"

"Sounds good, but tangerines aren't in season right now"

Kurumi sounded disappointed for a moment, but brightened right up again a moment later, and said," Hey, how about we bail on the tangerine business, and check out one of those Aibiki spots?"

"Uh... I have no idea what you're talking about. What's 'Aibiki' mean?"

Kurumi got a dictionary from out of thin air, and read," Aibiki- for man and a woman in love, to sneak out and meet in secret. A tryst"

"I love you," Zataku said, knowing now what Kurumi was thinking.

"Love you too, Master," she said, hugging Zataku close.

"Well, Alrighty, then. I'll see if I can find some other means of transportation," Amagi said, throwing away her newspaper and walking out the door.

"Master! What do you say the two of us find a quiet Aibiki spot and make out?"

"I love you," Zataku said again as Kurumi led him out the door. They walked for a little while until they came to a bench in a park. The trees that surrounded them were turning colors in preparation for fall, and were absolutely stunning. As soon as Zataku sat down, Kurumi attacked him with kisses. He embraced the pink haired beauty and kissed back. Zataku ran his hands through her hair, untangling knots and basically massaging her hair. Then, he moved lower, and stroked her legs. Kurumi didn't break away form the continuous kissing, but moaned in pleasure. Zataku knew that she wanted him to go lower. So, he moved his hands under her skirt and pleasured her. He loved doing this almost as much as Kurumi loved enduring it. Her pleasure reached a climax, and she came into her underwear.

Later that night, the landslide had been removed with the small exception of a massive boulder. Amagi had ordered room service, and the five group members enjoyed a moderate amount of food, or at least as much as their combined funs would allow.

"Alright, bon appetite everyone," Amagi said.

"Let's eat," Kurumi simplified.

"Sounds good to me," Saki agreed.

"I don't understand," Nakahito said," It's just one boulder. Why can't they move it out of the way?"

"Well, the army does seem to be doing everything that they can," Amagi said.

"Yeah right," Zataku scoffed," If they're doing everything that they really can, they'd have nuked it and moved on"

"That boulder is sitting right on the tracks. Blowing it up would cause massive damage, and would slow us down even further"

"Oh! Oh! Listen to me! I've got a great idea!" Kurumi said.

"What?" Nakahito and Zataku asked at the same time.

"After we finish our dinner, Saki and I will just run a quick little errand"

"Where to?" Nakahito asked.

"To the tunnel"

"But why?" asked Amagi.

"To move the boulder out of the way"

"Kurumi, you can't!" Amagi said.

"Why? It'll be a piece of cake"

"This incident has the attention has the attention of the entire town. What do you think will happen if two young girls can do what an entire army couldn't?"

"Well, uh..." Kurumi said, and then started to daydream.

"She's gone," Zataku said as he slurped away at his noodles," you aren't gonna get her back"

"No, I'm not gonna let her go," Amagi said, angrily," If you two are discovered, your true identities would be revealed. Do you have any idea what would happen to us? We'd be caught and the imperial army would slam us into a cell until either I die or your batteries run down, and if we die, I don't think we're going to make to Izumo, do you?"

"No, I guess not," Kurumi said.

"I'm gonna have to agree with Amagi on this one, Kurumi," Zataku said," I may only have a short time left to live. So I need to get to Izumo as soon as possible, and to do that, we're going to need to keep our identities a secret"

"Okay, I guess," Kurumi said, sagging her shoulders a little.

"So you understand then?" Amagi said, relieved.

"Yeah. We just have to make sure we don't get caught" Zataku face vaulted, and twitched on the floor like a dying bug. "Ready to go, Saki?"

"Ready when you are!"

"Hold it one minute!" Amagi said, the classic anime 'annoyance popped vein mark' appearing on her forehead," Let me put it this way. Starting now, you are not to leave the inn without permission!"

"What?!" Kurumi gasped," Master, say something to her!"

"I told you, Kurumi. We need to remain in complete secrecy. Hell, the army may be able to fix it by tomorrow, and if we move now, there's a high chance that we'll be caught, and I lose my life in prison. Do you understand?" Kurumi went teary-eyed, and started to cry.

"You're both so mean!"

"Hey, Kurumi..." Nakahito started, but was interrupted by Zataku grabbing his head, and nearly screaming in pain. His eyes were slammed shut, and his teeth gritted together. Kurumi and the others expressed concern, but Zataku couldn't hear them anymore. False illusions were appearing before his eyes. Those of fire, blood, and destruction of all kinds. His ears filled with the sounds of dying men, women and children.

He screamed," Get them away! Make it stop! Get AWAY!!!" He tried to shake the images and sounds from his mind, but they remained. He couldn't see anything except a burning city. He looked down at his hands, and saw claws. Claws soaked in blood. People were pointing at him yelling various things. The plethora of smell, sight, and sound was too much for him, and he passed out.

Some hours later, he woke up. He was in his bed with Kurumi next to him, and Saki one more bed over. Amagi slept behind him in another room.

"What was that? My symptoms are getting worse. I don't have much time left. Tomorrow morning, I'll tell Kurumi and Saki to move the boulder, but not to get caught. That's the only choice left. But for now, I have to get some sleep"

Before drifting off into a deep sleep, he rolled over, and kissed Kurumi on the cheek. The next morning, Kurumi was the first to awaken.

"What time is it?" she mumbled," Oh! It's morning! Master, it's morning! You gotta get up now! C`Mon, rise and shine!"

Zataku opened his eyes, and asked," What's wrong, sweetheart? Why do I have to get up now?"

"It's morning, dummy. If it's morning, that can only mean one thing" she pulled him out of bed, and into the hall.

Zataku yawned, and asked," What one thing? What are you talking about?"

"You know, morning. The morning thing"

"What morning thing? What are you talking about? Kurumi, I really am not in the mood for games right now"

She pushed to a sign that read "Girl's bath"

"This thing!"

"Oh, that thing. I guess I'm in the mood for that game"

"I knew you would be"

"Get undressed and I'll bathe you. After that, it's you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours"

Kurumi giggled, and said," You can take my clothes first off if you want"

I'll take you up on that," Zataku said, as he slid Kurumi's upper robe off, exposing her bare breasts. He undid her cloth belt, and let it drop to the floor. Now, she was completely nude. Zataku playfully pinched one of her nipples, making her moan with pleasure. "In you go. I'll brush your hair"

For over an hour, they spent their time together completely naked with only the occasional kiss or touch relating to sex. Afterward, Zataku cooked breakfast for the other five. He didn't have much of an appetite anymore due to all the stress. He honored them with his father's recipe for cheese omelets, which were really quite good.

After breakfast, Zataku sat back in an easy chair, and dug out a laptop from his bag, and went on-line to look at various places and learn things. Amagi was opposite of him reading a newspaper. After a while, something occurred to her.

"Zataku, where are Saki and Kurumi?"

"Hm?"

"Where are Saki and Kurumi?" She said with more worry and urgency in her voice.

"Don't worry about it, Doc. They're off taking a bath. I've given them both very detailed instructions, and I'm not as stupid to get them caught and revealed"

"Oh... good." She breathed.

"You're way too believing, doc. Yeah, I gave them very detailed instructions. Detailed instructions to move that annoying boulder out of the way without getting caught"

About half an hour later, Saki and Kurumi came back.

Kurumi sighed, and said," Clean as a whistle"

"Why this is the cleanest I've ever felt in my entire life," Saki Agreed.

"So, now that the army's finally moved that boulder out of the way, don't you think we should be going?" Kurumi asked.

"What? The boulder's not blocking the tunnel anymore? How do you both know that?" Kurumi slapped her hands over mouth. Zataku looked down at theirs shins and saw that they were covered with dirt.

"Aw, man! We are so busted!" he moaned.

"Didn't I make myself perfectly clear? You were not to leave the inn without permission!"

"Uh... I kind of need to say something here, doc. I did kind of... well.... I told them to move the boulder. I can't afford to waste anymore time here. You say what happened to me back in the room. There is definitely something wrong with me, and I can't wait any longer" Amagi sighed, and sat back in her chair, stressed out to the extreme.