"Just how far is this place, anyway?"

The daylight was quickly fading, but there was very little forest to the west of them. A river, it seemed, ran close to this path, and the trees had been thinned to allow for a better vantage point of it. They could hear it rushing, but the sound came and went. As Midori turned to address the question, a breeze blew up the side of the cliff and slipped through the edges of her hair.

"It's not much further. We're actually almost there," she answered, grinning. Kuroi scoffed in her throat and walked just a little bit faster. Ever since Midori had released her from her grip, the black haired girl had been silent and distant, fingers linked loosely behind her head, her eyes trained on the path ahead.

"I hope you boys aren't afraid of the dark," she commented, and it was the first thing she had said in almost a half an hour. The conversation had transpired mostly between Midori and the taller of the men, named Hakkai. Goku, the smallest, had interjected a sentence or two, and Gojyo had thrown in a leer statement once or twice. Gojyo, it had been decided, was officially designated to the worst part of the roof as his job, for a comment he had made that had caused Midori to turn seven or eight shades a brighter red. She hadn't spoken for quite a few minutes after that, and her answer to Gojyo's question about distance was stated with a still-thin blush across her cheeks.

"Dark?" asked Goku. Midori rolled her eyes, but Kuroi continued.

"Our house is actually on the shore of the river, down there." She dropped one of her arms to indicate the cliff face running along side of them as she walked. "A few years ago, our Papa carved some steps into a hole a demon made."

"A demon?" asked Hakkai. Midori nodded slowly, narrowing her eyes at Kuroi's uncaring back.

"This place had a few rogue demons when we were younger, even before the shadow wave went through," she explained, folding her hands behind her back. "One of them took the form of a giant snake, and liked to dig tunnels. After he ate a few miners, the townspeople sent… someone… after him. There's still quite a few of his tunnels around – they find them all the time."

"So the village is a mining village?" inquired Hakkai. Kuroi snorted.

"For all the good that does them. Most of them are too cowardly to set foot inside anymore," she said, shaking her head.

"Seven men were killed in there, Kuroi," argued Midori. "They have every right-"

"Every right to what. Mimi?" asked Kuroi, looking back over her shoulder. There was a way the light caught her eyes, causing an unpleasant glint, and Gojyo wasn't the only one to lift an eyebrow. Midori's jaw hung for a second, working around a retort that never formed, and she fell silent as Kuroi's steps slowed.

"Here," said the black haired girl, indicating a grove of thick trees that stood only a few feet from the very edge of the cliff. She stepped forward and pressed her hand against the trunk of the one closest to the path, then whispered a word that lit across the four men like a fire. It wasn't a commonly spoken word, and when the last syllable hissed out of life, a symbol lit on the bark beneath her fingers. The leaves of the trees rustled as the single one lifted itself out of the ground and shifted one spider like roots a few feet to the left of the grove. Kuroi jumped back, almost knocking over Midori in the process, and without warning, she pulled a katana-like sword from her back. There was a flash of a sheath that pressed against her skin, but that was all they saw.

"Someone's been through here today," she hissed, straightening. "I'll go in first, then. Mimi?" Midori nodded and crossed her arms over her chest, her face tight with worry.

"You two are…?" Both of them looked at the four men, who were on guard now more than ever. Kuroi then looked away to exchange a glance with her sister, who nodded only once before the black haired girl stepped forward and into the shadowy hole that had been created. She vanished from view, sword still at her side.

"I should have warned you before we brought you out here," Midori said, dropping her arms. Thin metal daggers that had come from her sleeves trembled in her hands as they hung at her sides. "I said there are four of us, and what I meant was… there are only two of us who are completely human. Midori is a quarter demon, from her mother who was a Taboo Child, and our sister, Pehji, is a full blood. She resisted the shadow wave, even when it took our parents and three of our siblings, and hasn't left the house since." She shook her head slowly, then straightened and set her shoulders.

"If you want to leave, I understand," she said, not looking any of them directly in the eyes. "You wouldn't be the first set of adventurers that made excuses and high tailed it back to the main path."

"Geez, Midori-san," commented Gojyo blandly. "You make it sound like you're dangerous." She lifted her eyes to his and just stared, stared at him, at his smirk that somehow didn't seem like a smirk at all. It was almost too… soft.

"Dangerous?" she repeated, letting her gaze fall to the daggers she clutched like her last lifeline. "Us? We… we're-"

"It's all clear." Kuroi stepped from within the grove of trees, sword still bare at her side. Dust formed a heavy grey coat on her hair and shoulders, and there was a streak of something dark along the bottom of her chin. She looked at no one, her eyes as solid a color as her hair.

"You're still here?" she asked. "That's a surprise. You've got bigger balls than the rest of them, then." She reached up with her free hand and brushed some of the dust off of her arm as Gojyo gave a little chuckle.

"Oh, trust me-" he started, only to be interrupted as she turned around and started back into the grove.

"Let's go, then," she said, stepping into the darkness once more. Midori started from her own silence and shook herself of some heavy self-induced spectre before motioning to the four, slightly amused men.

"I have to stay and close up the entrance. Kuroi will take care of anything that springs up in front, and I'll handle anything that sneaks up from behind. You'll be safe, I promise." Gojyo scoffed at the implication that they needed protecting, but it was the tall, priestly Sanzo who was actually the first to step forward and into the grove. There was a momentary silence, then a loud curse, that being the first word he had said all day. Midori gasped, and they heard Kuroi laughing from somewhere below.

"I'm sorry!" Midori exclaimed, rushing forward and leaning over. "I forgot to warn you about the drop! Are you all right?" There was no answer, a sure indication that he was, indeed, fine, but Midori didn't know this. It took Kuroi yelling an answer to get the shorter girl to step back from the hole and relinquish her worried look from her face.

"There's a drop," she said again, looking at the three remaining men. "Please, be careful."

"Eh, I think we'll be okay," said Gojyo, taking his position as second to enter whatever path they were being set upon. No way was he going to let that priest show him up, not this time, in front of such a pretty girl. Maybe Sanzo didn't care, but he did. Goku went next, making a usual comment about how he was really hungry, and Midori promised him they would eat first, and work in the morning, if that was okay? Hakkai gave her a nod as his answer, as he and his tiny winged dragon companion were the last of the men to go in. Midori followed behind, stopping only to whisper a word in a language that no one really would have understood, had they heard it, and beckon to the errant tree that sat on the side of the path. It pulled itself out of the ground again, and crawled back to its position, sinking in the ground as she vanished into the hole.

Nearby, from the branches of a tree that had never once been touched by spell, a figure crouched, intrigued.