Me: Yay, I finally got some other characters in besides Eclipse! Sorry for making you wait so long for Sesshou-maru. I promise there will be more of him later. Along with Bakura, and Marik, and a bunch of other people. Which, by the way, I do not own.

Kenshin: *growl* "The word yay must have been invented by a girl. How often do you here a guy say yay?" Couldn't agree more with who ever sad that.

Me: Don't mind him. He's just mad because Set keeps breaking into my school locker and writing in all my binders. Gee, Rath/Jamie, don't you have any control over him?

^_^

Jamie staggered up from where she had been lying. Her head felt worse than ever, worse than after Riyo pulls on her hair. Jamie sat up and looked around. She was on some sort of curved, roofed balcony. Cassidy was lying next to her, absolutely still. Jamie couldn't tell if she was alive or not. Set appeared to be nowhere in sight. What happened? Where they dead? Where they in Heaven? Jamie tried to stand up, and moaned as she felt the pain all up her spine. Hell, more likely.

"Hey, I recognize this place."

Jamie looked back down at Cassidy. She was now sitting up, and seemed fine.

"I swear I've seen this before."

Jamie looked around. Now that Cassidy had mentioned it, the place did seem familiar. The balcony was made out of large blocks of stone, and columns with vine line designs at the bottom held up the ceiling. Thick live vines hung down off the roof. Everything was silent, except for the breeze rustling the leaves of the trees nearby. A full moon illuminated the whole scene. A manga. Jamie was sure she had seen it in one of her manga. Which one, she could not recall.

"Demon Diary," Cassidy whispered. "I'm sure. I remember Raenef was standing right there. Remember? We showed Riyo the picture and she refused to believe Raenef was a guy."

Jamie remembered. She turned and looked to the East and saw the lights of the city market.

"That must be the temple of Rased over there." Jamie turned from the scenery and started walking along the side of the balcony.

"Come on."

Cassidy jumped up. "Where we going?"

"Looking for someone."

"Who?"

Jamie smirked.

"Anyone."

Cassidy didn't follow.

"I think I hear someone coming."

Just as she said that, Kenshin and Eclipse came bursting out.

"Are you sure you heard the scream come from out here?"

"Yes, I'm positive," snapped Eclipse. "I've been living here for the past 2000 years. I know every part of this castle. It's probably just your idiot nephew again. His arm nearly got ripped off by a Crusader last time."

"Riyo?"

Kenshin turned and saw Jamie and Cassidy.

"What are you doing here?"

"Kenshin, you're here"

"Yeah? So?"

"Well. If you're here, Riyo must be here too."

Kenshin blinked at Jamie.

"And if you're here, so is Set."

=^o.o^=

"AAAIIIIIEEEE!!!"

Set grinned with delight at the scene before him. He never knew that Crusaders breathed fire. Maybe he could bring an infant one back and raise it. He looked up at the Crusader mother. Then again, maybe it would be safer if he just caught an adult instead.

"Quick, kill it or something!"

"No, I can't do that!"

"Yes you can!"

"Then the little baby will be an orphan!"

"Baka, then it would be easy for me to steal it!"

"Why don't you kill it yourself?"

Takumi ducked again as the Crusader spewed a fireball at him, narrowly missing his feathers.

"You're the one with the sword!"

Riyo was up against the wall, well out of the way of fire. She still clutched her sword in her right hand. My little hikari is right, thought Set. She does look a lot like Angelina Jolie with her braid over her shoulder like that.

"Don't tell me you never come up with backup plans!"

Takumi moved a little to close to Riyo, which forced her to duck the fireball headed towards both of them. Where Riyo had been standing moments before, on the wall was now a black scorch mark.

"You expect me to come up with one every time?"

"Can't you fly? Why do you stay down here?"

Takumi tackled Riyo, just missing a huge swinging tail.

"My feathers are heat sensitive."

"Well, can't you do anything but dodge?"

"You don't seem to be doing much either."

Takumi started to rise, but Riyo pushed him back down as the tail came swinging back.

"Hey, you're the one who got us into this mess."

"So you're going to just sit around waiting for me to save you?"

Both Riyo and Takumi jumped up and started to run from the approaching fireball. Riyo twirled her blade around.

"I may be the one with the weapon, but that doesn't mean you can't help out."

They went hurling towards the ground as five claws came towards them at top speed.

"And what am I supposed to do?"

"Distract her!"

"How?"
They rolled away from each other as a foot came crashing between them.

"Pretty much keep doing what you're doing right now!"

Set watched as Riyo jumped up from where she was lying, dodged the Crusaders other foot, and grabbed on to its tail. What is that baka doing? thought Set.

Riyo hung on for dear life as the tail thrashed around.

"Try to keep her still!'

"How?"

"Stay in one spot."

The Crusader stopped moving as much. Set couldn't see what Takumi was doing, but it seemed to work. Riyo started to slowly climb up the tail, trying not to look down. She ended sliding back down a few feet as the tail swung around unexpectedly.

"AAAIIIIIEEEE!!! Why do I have to be the one to distract her?"

"Because she doesn't care about me! She just wants to kill you!" Riyo yelled down as the tail swung over Takumi. She looked down to the end. She had hardly made any progress. Riyo took a deep breath. Being cautious was only slowing her down. As the Crusader stopped to blow a fireball at Takumi, Riyo jumped to her feet and ran up the tail onto the Crusader's back. She threw herself back down onto all fours as she neared the wings, just as the tail swung towards Takumi again. There, though Set. The hard part's done.

Riyo looked up to her goal. Only a few more feet. Takumi let out another yell.

"Ouch, my wing! You know how long it's going to take to grow those feathers back?"

Riyo took another deep breath. If she was able to do the tail, she should definably be able to do this. As the Crusader took a few steps forward, Riyo jumped to her feet and ran up onto the top of its head. Then, she did the mistake of looking down. She stood there, absolutely still. Baka, thought Set. She hadn't planned on what she was going to do.

Riyo just stood there, somehow keeping her balance despite all the movement. She stared at the scene below her. Fire, everywhere. Takumi once again just avoided being burnt to a crisp. Riyo didn't know what to do, but she had to do something. Then, suddenly, something came over her. She reached out, grabbed the frills on the side of the Crusaders head, and yanked them back. The Crusader let out a roar and started thrashing its head around, looking for its ambusher. Its tail swung out, crashing through one of the columns. Riyo did here best to hold on by wrapping her legs around its neck.

"Takumi, do something!

"Like what?"

"I dunno, go get help before she destroys the whole place?"

"Dude, here you are with a sword in your hand and you ant me to go get someone?"

"I already told you that I didn't want to kill it!"

Riyo sat there for a moment as if considering it.

"Because they're cool!"

"So?"

The Crusader suddenly jerked its head. Riyo let out a yelp of surprise as she lost her balance and ended up hanging upside down on the neck for dear life. Ok, though Set. This has gone too far. Obviously they can't do this on their own.

Set started to summon a ball of dark energy, but before he could use it, he saw Riyo raise her sword. She held it out for a second, and then plunged it into its left eye. Black blood ran down onto her. Set noticed that it was slowly making her loose her grip. Riyo pulled the sword back out, as the Crusader jerk back, then shoved the blade back into the other eye. Blood rained down. The Crusader thrust its head back and forth, forcing Riyo to loose her grip on the black fluid. She let go, and went falling to the floor. Set watched as her body made impact with the ground. She hadn't screamed. She hadn't emitted any sound of terror.

=^o.o^=

"Is she still breathing?"

"Yes."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Really?"

"YES, THE GIRL IS STILL BREATHING!"

Kenshin tried to bat Raenef away from his shoulder.

"Ok, ok, you didn't have to yell."

Eclipse cleared his throat.

"Master Raenef, perhaps you could go help the others look for Takumi and this "Set" that mortal keeps going on about."

Raenef's eyes lit up.

"Really?"

"Yes. You'd know more about the castle than they, now wouldn't you?"

"Yay!" said Raenef cheerfully, and scampered away.

"Got him out of the way," mumbled Kenshin. "You," he barked at Erutis.

"Me?" said Erutis baffled, looking up from the silver blade she had been holding in her hands.

"Yes, you. Give me that sword."

Erutis handed it over reluctantly. "A really good model. Don't now if I'll ever find one like it again. Can't tell what metal it's made out of, but it's forged real nicely. Maybe it's and alloy of iron and silver, or-"

Eclipse cleared his throat again. "Who knows? Maybe you'll see one like it again."

Kenshin twisted the sapphire in the hilt, and it shrank back to its ring form.

"Wow," gasped Erutis.

Kenshin slipped the ring onto Riyo's finger, causing her to suddenly sit straight up and start coughing like crazy.

"God, I feel like shit."

She looked at Kenshin.

"Let me guess, you're never going to let me go out on my own again."

He considered it for a moment. "Actually, considering the fact that you were able survive, it's more likely that I let you go on your own more often."

Riyo sighed and started to get up. "Do I want to know what happened to the Crusader?"

"The Crusader had to be put away with."

"Oh."

Silence.

"I guess it wouldn't have been able to live without eyes."

"Actually, it was because of blood lost and the belief that there was no possible means of calming it down."

Riyo caught sight of the now orphaned baby Crusader. She walked over to it and started patting it on the head.

"You know that it wasn't totally your fault, right?"

"Yeah, I know. So, have you found your nephew yet?"

Eclipse looked at Kenshin.

"I guess you were right when you hypothesized that this was your nephew's doing."

Riyo took the baby in her arms and turned back to them. "I'll go help look for him."

"No," snapped Kenshin. "We already have everyone else doing that. Besides, you're in no state to do so"-Riyo looked down at her bloody and ripped clothes-"and there are more important things to deal with."

"Ok, ok, fine. Whatever."

"Erutis, take Riyo to your room."

"What!"

"You're going to be sharing your room with Riyo as long as she stays," explained Eclipse.

Erutis looked furious, but she had no choice.

"Fine. Come on, this way."

As Erutis lead Riyo away, Eclipse and Kenshin went in different directions without a word. Takumi waited until he could no longer hear any footsteps to jump down from his hiding space. So they were all looking for him. He knew that his uncle knew where he was, and he didn't know how long it would be before his cover was blown. But for now, he had a perfect opportunity.

=^o.o^=

Sesshou-maru looked over the lights of the city market place. He wasn't sure where he was, but he was sure this was the place to find out, including all the other information he needed to know. The night breeze blew around his long white hair. He better get going before it got light out again, when all the normal villagers would come out to shun him.

Sesshou-maru stepped into the empty streets. Most of the shops were locked up. The only businesses open were probably the pubs and inns. Sesshou-maru began to stroll down the streets, looking for somewhere that might look promising. He paused as he saw a man come out from a glowing doorway and empty the contents of a bowl into the streets.

"You there!" the man called out to Sesshou-maru. "Get in here before you freeze to death!"

Sesshou-maru didn't feel any cold, but he went in anyway, for he considered it an invitation from fate.

The room was to warm for his comfort. There was fire roaring in the fireplace, and a bunch of people in the corner singing. Sesshou-maru's nose wrinkled. Humans. The smell was over powering. He noticed a couple of young girls sitting at a table looking at him and giggling. Not here, he thought. Must they follow me everywhere?

Sesshou-maru walked up to the bar and slouched on one of the stools.

"What will it be?"

Sesshou-maru looked up at the bartender.

"One scotch."

The bartender nodded. "You aren't from around here, are you."

"No," said Sesshou-maru flatly. He should have known he wasn't going to be welcome here.

"Hrmph. We usually don't get that many strangers here. Most are intimidated the Demon Lord's castle nearby."

Sesshou-maru's Ears perked up at the sound of "Demon Lord's castle".

"Say, have you seen any strange people recently?"

"I see strange people every day. You mean strangers?"

"Yes, I guess. A young woman, long black hair, ruby-like eyes, wearing an onyx ring, most likely accompanied by a few other men."

"Ah, yes," said the bartender thoughtfully. "Fierce one, she was. She came here this morning, asking about some guy named Kenshin. When I told her I've never heard of him, she started interrogating me about the Demon Lord's castle. Got pretty nasty when I told her it was best for a mere lady like her to stay clear of that place. It's a miracle that she left without a fight."

Sesshou-maru thought for a moment. "Where is the Demon Lord's castle?"

"Somewhere to the west. No one is quite sure. The last time someone dared to go there had to be at least a decade ago."

"Was that woman the only one to question you about those topics?"

The bartender grinned. "Besides you, no."

Sesshou-maru did not return the grin. He stood up and flipped coin onto the table.

"I thank you for your hospitality."

And with the rushing in of new customers, Sesshou-maru was gone.

TO BE CONTINUED