Adial Arrives

AN: You all know the drill. These characters and the plot are mine and mine alone.

PS: From now on I'm not putting out a new chapter ntil I get at least one review. I hope you understand because I want to know if anybody is reading this or if I'm just putting this out there for show and nothing else.

"Katia, may I inquire where we are going to set up camp?" Kamen asked. It was dusk and they were currently traveling in a valley which meant it would just be that much darker when night fell at its fullest.

"Hate to do it, but I have to agree with the monk here. If we don't stop soon we'll end up setting up camp in the dark." Niroku added. "And, in case you've forgotten, we have to set up camp before the moon rises, which will be pretty soon. The days are starting to get shorter after all." He didn't want to mention it to Kamen, but in about an hour he would be turning human. While he trusted the blue-robed monk more than he did when they had first met, he'd rather that very few people knew about his human night. His weakness.

"Don't worry, there is a river just around this corner. We can set up camp there. It'll only be a couple more minutes." Katia responded to the two men in her group, and sure enough they saw the stream when they turned the corner. "Told you so."

"Okay then. Kamen and I will set up camp and get a fire started. Katia, will you collect some berries, we're starting to run a little low." Katia nodded as Niroku finished. They had been running low on edible plants and needed to collect more soon as winter was swiftly approaching.

Katia took off in search for some plants while Niroku and Kamen gathered fire wood, started a fire, collected water from the near by stream, and got the wooden plates out. They had set everything out and Niroku had found some shelter for when he transformed, as he didn't yet want Kamen to know, when they both felt a strange aura behind them, one Niroku realized to be one of Katia sisters.

Katia, meanwhile, had gotten pretty far thanks to her goddess's speed. She was filling a large pouch at her waist when she heard a low roar. It sounded like a bear in pain. So, bow in hand, Katia walked through the bushes.

The sight that met her was unexpected. A young female bear lay on her side with several deep sword wounds that weren't smooth at all. The sword had, evidently, been rather dull. Yet still sharp enough to cut skin. The young bear's cub sat near its mother nuzzling her. Katia quickly set her bow down and slowly approached the bear. She used Fincara's power over nature to silently inform the distressed bears that she was there to help not harm. When she reached the bear and the cub she put her first two fingers on the cubs forehead and muttered the word sleep. The cub almost instantly fell into a deep sleep.

Katia then turned her attention to the mother bear. She gently laid her hands on the bear's chest and sent her energy into the young mother. She burned out infection, closed the wounds, and replaced the blood lost. She was very absorbed in her healing, and it took so long because she had never healed the bear before her, the wounds were serious, and she was used to healing at least half-humans. She was so absorbed that she never felt her sister's aura appear and disappear shortly afterward, nor did she hear Niroku's weak and quickly cut off mental call.

~*~*~A couple minutes before~*~*~

Niroku and Kamen quickly spun around and Niroku mentally cursed. 'Shit. Why, of all night did she have to pick tonight to appear?'

"Hello. I see by your aura that I have indeed arrived on the right day. I think you, Niroku, have at least figures out who I am." The young woman with fiery red hair said. She wore a short, cherry blossom patterned kimono.

To Niroku's astonishment he could tell that this was her original form, not some one's possessed body. "You're one of Fincara's sisters." Niroku said.

"Yes, my name is Adial, Fincara's older sister, the second oldest in fact. And I've come here to take you all to my humble abode." Adial said.

"You might want to get out of here because, knowing Katia, she should be here any second." Niroku said.

Kamen, who had looked a bit confused since the time that the young woman had spoken about Niroku guessing who she was, said, "I agree, she will be here any second." Kamen found the young woman not to his taste despite her beauty. Something inside him had kept him from asking, as he normally would, if the woman would bear his child. He knew that couldn't be good.

"You can wish she would be, but she won't. I sent her a little present. A young mother bear, who I had fatally injured, along with her intact cub. She should be healing the mother and be to absorbed to hear any cry you might send to her." The young woman raised her hand and shot a blast of energy at them.

Niroku and Kamen leapt to either side of the blast. Niroku could feel his power start to diminish and looked at sky. The sun had, indeed, vanished and a silver orb was rising to take his place. His momentary lapse in concentration was enough to get him blasted by another energy ball. He hit a near by boulder and, he sent out a mental call to Katia. ~Help. Your sister. Attack.~ Then darkness overtook him and he knew no more.

Kamen watched as Niroku got blasted by one of the attacks and was knocked unconscious. 'Damn, she must be strong if she can do that to Niroku.' He leapt out of the way of another energy blast and looked again at Niroku. He froze. He saw the half-demon's ears slowly slide down his head and turn into human ears along the way. Niroku's claws became normal ails, and in next to no time he was a normal human. Kamen, too, was suddenly hit by a blast and hit a tree by the stream, barely missing falling in it. His last though before the darkness took him was 'What the hell is going on here?'

AN: Hope youlike it. As usual please read and review.