WHOO! Finally into the double digits! Yeah, I'd like to thank you all who have taken the time out to comment me. It was really sweet of you guys :cough: anyway, let's get into the story. To sort of celebrate for making it to the 10th chapter, I made it extra long. 4 thousand 4 hundred something words. Or something like that. Hope you all enjoy!

Now...

ONWARD MY TRUSTY READERS!

Something nudged me in the side. I swatted them away and turned over. However, they nudged me again.

"Leave me alone!" I moaned, still trying to cling to sleep.

Then something whacked me in the head, and I opened half-lidded eyes. Some blurry black figure was frowning, his katana unsheathed and the hilt looking very suspicious.

"Get up, it's our shift," came a gruff command.

"Oh…" I said, vaguely aware it was Hiei who was waking me.

I sat up, rubbing my eye, and asked, "Are the others asleep already?"

"Kurama is the only one who could stay up the whole shift."

"Mm," I agreed. As I swung my legs around the edge of the rock, Hiei began to walk away. When I got to my feet I stretched my arms out for a wide yawn, and took the time to glance at him. Hiei was already situated over on the other side of the camp, staring intently in the distance with his back facing me. His katana was sheathed safely, but I couldn't tell if his hand was resting on the hilt or not because the cloak wrapped him entirely in black, making it very hard to tell.

I let my arms down, and decided it best to be over there as well. After all, if Michiko attacked me in the dark I might be able to sense her coming, but still recovering from our last encounter might put me at more of a disadvantage then I was hoping for. I carefully made my way between the three sleeping in the middle, but came to a stop when Kuwabara completely blocked my path.

"I have to walk over him?" I wined to myself, cautiously trying to lift my leg over his obnoxiously placed body. As I did, he turned over in his sleep and knocked me off balance. I gave a short yelp and closed my eyes as I began to fall, but suddenly…stopped.

I looked up, seeing a very irritated Hiei holding me up by the back of my shirt. "Heh, um. Thanks," I mumbled as he go and I quickly stepped over Kuwabara, successfully this time.

"Clumsy," he muttered as he turned and walked back to where he was. I glared somewhat angrily and quietly followed. When I reached him, he snapped, "Why'd you follow me? Go back on your side."

I smirked at him, even though he wasn't looking. "Simply because if we're separated I won't be able to tell you quick enough if something was going to attack you. Plus, if you die that'll just be another black mark on my record."

He didn't respond.

I sighed and put my hands on my hips, deciding to stare up at the sky. The stars were crystal clear, and a large nebula spread out overhead over a sea of beep blue. Spare clouds loomed, but looked only as if they were mere wisps of spread out cotton through the intensity of the beaming moon. It lit the sand with an incredible glow

"Wow," I breathed, "that's beautiful." I continued to stare up at the sky, and noticed the moon was close to being full.

"You do talk, don't you?" I asked with a weak smile.

"We shouldn't be talking, we should be watching," Hiei said curtly.

I looked at him, wondering what was stopping him from at least talking to me. Then I remembered his past… I suppose he has a bit of a reason…but he's still just plain rude! But he was right. We really should be watching.

I turned the other direction and crossed my arms over my chest, glaring intently at the horizon. As soon as I began to concentrate on my senses, I felt something flickering through the shadows, right toward-!

"Hiei!" I shouted as I turned and tackled him to the ground.

"Are you crazy, onna?" Hiei shouted at me as he tried to push me off, but as he looked over my shoulder he stopped and held his breath. There was a huge shadowy snake slithering in the air, it's forked tongue flickering in and out as it searched the air. When I say huge I mean monstrous, it's width sized to about ten feet, and it's length nearly fifty.

Do what you do best and don't talk! I begged mentally, hoping somehow that he'd get the message.

His trackers. He's after me again? I thought, looking over my shoulder at it.

The serpent's tail curled around its body in frustration, it's tongue still flickering furiously, and it moved its head in our direction.

Don't come any closer, don't come any closer! I mentally prayed, but this just proved as a jinx. It's head skimmed closer to the sand as it waved its head from side to side, coming closer and closer…

I closed my eyes and let my hands go, the only thing holding me up. I lowered myself onto Hiei, blushing furiously, and cursed at myself. After this trouble, I'll be damned if it…

I held my breath as it hovered directly above us. Painfully aware of my current position, I somehow found the mental capacity to remember how I was. My hands were curved around his shoulders and my face was pressed against his chest. I hoped my hair was tossed over my face, because God knows it was glowing like a fire. One of his legs was bent, but when the tracker lowered he slowly pressed it down until it was against the sand. My legs were on either side of him, and my chest was pressed flat against his. Subconsciously I tried to forget it, and to remember the tracker was directly above us and we could get caught with the slightest breath.

A light hiss buzzed through the air, and the serpent began to slowly move out of the campsite. I slowly let a long held breath drag out and began to breathe again, but just as the tracker began to slither away, the tip of it's tail slid so lightly against my arm. I breathed a curse as it instantly twisted around to face us, mouth wide open and fangs glistening. That was the only part of it that wasn't translucent.

I let go of Hiei's shoulders and pushed myself up into a fighting stance. Hiei sprung up as well and unsheathed his katana. I grabbed the one Sai I had placed back on my hip, but glared at Hiei when I couldn't find my second. He rolled his eyes and reached inside his cloak. Out came my other Sai, and he tossed it to me offhandedly. I caught it, but noticed that in this time there wasn't just one tracker, but a second. It must've been hiding in case the first found me. Hiei and I turned and pressed our backs together, each facing a different serpent.

"Just to let you know," I said as I twirled my Sais around my fingers, "after this I'm going to take a long, hot shower."

"I'll get there before you will, I promise."

"So let's get this over with fairly quickly, hm?"

I heard him smirk, a soft laugh coming out as he said, "For once we agree on something."

The trackers hissed and waved their heads back and forth, their tails swinging wildly and crashing into the sand. The flecks of gold grains splashed in the air like waves, but not a noise was made upon their contact.

"Cut the front of its neck," I said, and we both jumped off at the same time. I flew in the air easily, and it was mid-jump that the serpent flung its tail at me. I landed softly on it before flipping off and jumping toward the head. I landed neatly on the tip of its nose and prepared to jump off and slice it's throat, but I didn't get that far. The snake threw its head up and efficiently tossed me in the air. Its mouth was wide and open, fangs glistening with wet saliva, as it waited for its snack.

However, its mouth was promptly shut when a white fuzz ball whacked against it, confusing the serpent into snapping its mouth shut. The white thing then uncurled its self and bit onto the nostril of the serpent, making it toss its head back and forth.

What the-! I shook the small interruption, glad it had occurred, and landed on the tip of the snake's nose again. I grabbed the white thing and cut the forehead of the serpent. It hissed and swished its powerful tail toward me, but I flickered into a shadow and landed on the ground. I looked down at my hostage and found it to be….

"A weasel?" I shouted in confusion.

It looked up at me, almost smiling, before I heard, "Actually, he's a ferret."

I turned toward where the voice originated, and found a young woman standing a mere few feet away. She had roughly cut silver hair with blue tips, and it was cut a bit above her shoulders. She wore a pair of vibrant blue tinted goggles on her head and a pair of roughed up jean shorts with a ridiculously large leather belt. Her white shirt cut off at her stomach and had a deep v cut. The sleeves stopped at her biceps and had a large circle cut out over each of her shoulders. At her arrival the ferret hopped from my arms and raced toward her. In a blur it swirled around her leg and climbed around her body until perching on her shoulder.

"And his name's Twitchy," she finished, petting his head affectionately. Twitchy closed his eyes and leaned into her hand with pleasure.

"I don't really give a damn right now," I said harshly, turning my attention to the serpent beside me. It was coiling and uncoiling in confusion, bashing its head around as it tried to clear its vision of blood.

"Well, looks like you could use some help," she said.

"I don't need any help!" I shouted as I ran toward the snake again. I dodged its flailing tail once by jumping over it, but another part of it came flying into my stomach and clearly knocked the wind out of me. I fell backwards into the sand, barely feeling the burn of the hot sand against my back in my determination.

Breathing somewhat harshly, I got to my feet again and managed to flicker into a shadow. The serpent hissed in frustration once the blood had cleared, but recognized the attack plan. I was mildly surprised to exit at what should have been the side of the serpent's neck when it was actually its mouth. I gave a yelp of surprise as it snapped at me, managing to nick my shoulder; at the same time wrapping it's tail around my stomach. I bit back the pain and realized the opportunity of the close contact it made. I bore my fangs and gripped my right Sai tightly, and thrust it into the soft flesh under its head. It hissed in pain and tossed it's bleeding head backward. I frowned as the tail tightened around my stomach, but as it got to a particularly painful point I began to gag instead.

"Enough is enough," I growled, and slid my Sais into the back of my shirt. Then I flexed my claws, my long, beautiful claws, and lunged into the tracker's tail. At first it squeezed harder, but that compelled me to lunge my fangs into its tail as hard as I could. At this the tail released me, and I quickly jumped from its reaches and back flipped out of its desperate recoiling grasp.

I landed on the side of its neck, using my right hand to pierce the tough scales and hold me in place. Taking the opportunity I sliced across the two protruding veins on its neck with my left hand. Instantly black fluid ran freely, and it's head collapsed on the ground.

I jumped off and landed neatly, wiping my hands on the sand to get rid of the sticky blood. I turned toward Twitchy and his supposed owner, a faint but self-respecting smirk visible.

"Well," she said, "you certainly did take care of that beast with an experienced hand."

My smirk faded into a frown as I scoffed and turned toward Hiei.

"Beginner's luck."

I reached Hiei shortly. He was giving me a disbelieving frown; his serpent was already decapitated with the remains on the sand and starting to disappear. Scales slowly drifted upward, along with scraps of flesh, and dispersed into nothingness in the air.

That didn't look like beginner's luck to me the woman thought to herself as she continued to pet Twitchy.

"The sun's coming up," I said abruptly, "we'll wake the others and get them started toward the city."

Hiei gave me a skeptical look, but shrugged it off with a "Hn" and walked past me, toward the camp. I sighed as he brushed me and carefully clasped my left shoulder after he had left. It was bleeding slightly, and had an unnatural purple tint to it. Poison I thought with a mental sigh. It was throbbing in pain, a steady pain that I had become accustomed to for a long, long time.

"Excuse me," came a reply as someone tapped me on my good shoulder. I turned to face the woman from before. She was smiling. "You said something about going to the city. You wouldn't happen to mean Kanson City, would you?"

"What's it to you?" I asked suspiciously.

"I can help you there. After all, you did kill those Shadow Serpents, didn't you? That was a great help to me, and to Twitchy." Her little ferret nodded his head enthusiastically, and she smiled at him and scratched behind his ear.

"So, I'm Muzei," she said, holding out her hand. I hesitated. Should I really trust her? Well… at least she can take us to Kanson.

"Kumori," I smiled, reaching out and met her hand. Muzei smiled too, and with a strong shake of hands the deal was sealed.

I slipped my hand from hers and turned. "Come on, the other's have to get ready." She followed me, and we walked back to camp. I smiled when I saw Hiei kicking Kuwabara in the side.

"Wake up. We're moving."

"Five more minutes, sis…" was his response, rolling over.

Hiei smirked. "Fine, then we'll leave you behind."

Muzei stepped forward, beside me. I didn't notice when she looked curiously at me.

Yusuke was grumbling, already getting up. "You two, arguing already…" he looked up at the dark sky. "The damn sun isn't even up yet!"

"Never mind the sun," I snapped, "we got absolutely nothing accomplished yesterday. We're leaving extra early to get a head start today. Get up, gather your stuff, or stay behind with these things." I jerked my thumb behind me at the slowly disappearing serpents. Kuwabara did a double take.

"Bunches of Brownies, what are those things!" he shouted.

"I'll explain more thoroughly when we get to Kanson," Muzei spoke up, surveying the people.

"Who's this?" Kurama asked, fully awake and his blanket already folded.

"Muzei," I answered, "she's going to be our guide to Kanson."

Kurama stood and walked over to her, smiling as he greeted her. "Hello, I'm Kurama. I presume you've already met Kumori and Hiei. Well, the others are Yusuke, and that one on the ground is Kuwabara," he said, pointing to each as he said their name.

"Well, you've got quite the crew," Muzei said.

"Yes, and sometimes it gets out of hand, but we manage," Kurama replied.

I tuned the conversation out after that and began to wonder what this Muzei was doing out in the middle of nowhere. She comes out after the Shadow Serpents and said it was a help… she could have been lying. In fact, she could have accompanied the Shadow Serpents and showed them the way here. So… that means Shikai could very well be the newest addition to his game. An ally to him is an enemy to me. I'd better keep aware of her if she's traveling with us.

I tuned back in with Kurama and Muzei, this time intent on picking up any information I could to catch a slip up.

"…Can you really take us to Kanson?"

"Yeah, Twitchy and I live there."

"Twitchy…?" Kurama asked curiously.

A white head scampered over Muzei's shoulder, his golden eyes bright and sparkling. Kurama's responded by widening, and he immediately took three quick steps backwards. "I-it's very nice to meet you too, Twitchy."

Muzei's face was that of confusion, but it passed with a light laugh. "You aren't afraid of him, are you?"

"Not at all," Kurama said with a sheepish smile.

Muzei smiled, and Twitchy shook his head. I turned away from them when I heard a loud yip. Yusuke shouted, "I told ya to move your lazy ass!"

"Alright, alright, I'm up!" Kuwabara shouted as he jumped to his feet, glaring sourly at Yusuke.

"So, let's get a move on then," I shouted, waving my arms as a signal and turning around. I began to walk, and the others quickly grabbed their things and moved on as well.

Over time, Yusuke and Kuwabara found their way to the head of the group with Muzei leading. Kurama walked beside me, and Hiei was behind us. The three up front were chatting lively, but the only noise around us were the soft sifting of sand as it was moved around our feet.

I found myself slipping my hand under the collar of my shirt and running my fingertips along the still fresh wound on my shoulder. It was stinging horribly and throbbed in pain, but I let on no emotion. It was nothing more then a nuisance. At least that's what I convinced myself.

By now the Shadow Serpents must be completely depleted. Good, that means no scavengers will be following us in search for more food. We've only traveled about three quarters of a mile so far. If we're traveling this slowly we'll never make it in time.

As I opened my mouth to say something, Kurama interrupted me, "Kumori, what's wrong with your shoulder?"

"Nothing," I muttered before changing my attention to our new guide, "Oi! Muzei! We need to pick up the pace; we're going too slow. We've gotta be at Kanson today!"

"If you're a speed demon, then," she said as she stopped walking and rummaged through her pockets. Yusuke and Kuwabara looked over, muttering something along the lines of, "what's she doing?" Kurama, Hiei and I just stopped walking.

"Here!" Muzei said with a cry of triumph as she pulled out a small wooden device. It was hollow and circular in the middle. A rectangular piece extended toward Muzei, while the end extended upward and was spiral-shaped.

Muzei put her lips to the rectangular piece and blew, and I braced myself. Is she calling backup? I thought, my hands seeking the hilts of my Sais that I had sheathed in our time walking. No sound came, but Muzei gave five long blows of air into the piece.

We waited for a minute before I shouted edgily, "What the hell was that?"

"Keep your pants on, they're coming," Muzei said with a hint of irritation in her voice. At this I unsheathed my Sais silently, preparing for the assault when I saw a cloud of dust in the distance.

Here they come I thought, small fires eliciting at the sharp tips of my weapons. A single drop of sweat slid down the side of my face as the sun beat harshly down on me, and the image in the distance wavered in the intense heat. From the hill we were standing on the things running toward us disappeared. I knew they were coming up this hill, and flipped my Sais impatiently.

Now! The three figures reached the top of the hill, and I rushed forward. I brought my arm up to slice through the throat of the beast, but stopped when a large watt of thick yellow spit was deposited on my forehead. My eyes widened in shock, and the large head of a camel lowered itself to my eyelevel. It stared lazily at me, and I glared with pure loathing at it as the spit slowly dripped down my face. Then it opened its mouth and made a loud moan. It was almost as if it was laughing at me.

"What're you doing?" Muzei asked condescendingly as she walked beside me and hopped on the camel.

"Figures," I grumbled angrily as I sheathed my Sais and wiped the camel spit out of my face.

I could hear Yusuke and Kuwabara's laughter from behind me, and even Kurama's snicker, although he tried his best to hide it. And I just knew Hiei was smirking at me.

"Come on, these will get us to Kanson faster then on foot. Hop on this one, camel girl," Muzei said as she patted the hump of the camel beside her. I shot a glare at Muzei, then her disgusting camel, and stepped beside the one beside hers.

"Everyone else, hop on a camel and get used to it," she shouted, directing the others to their camels as I stared at mine. It stared back, lazy and uncaring.

Carefully, I stepped to the side. I saw the saddle; it was thick and a deep teal color. A threaded mat was underneath it, protecting the camel's back. A large case was tied to the saddle. It had a zipper on it.

I looked at the reigns, resting so innocently at the camel's neck. I snatched them, accidentally giving a little tug. My camel moaned and began to walk forward, and in my confusion I gave a mighty tug backwards, shouting, "Where do you think you're going?" The camel reared up, nearly roaring, before pounding back on the ground and turning to glare at me.

"Are you so senseless that you can't even ride a camel?" came a witty reply from behind me. I turned and glared at Hiei.

"What're you doing here?" I grunted, turning back to my current problem.

"Hiei will be riding with you!" Muzei shouted from her camel. I glanced up at her and saw Kurama sitting behind her. Kuwabara and Yusuke were scampering above their camel, which only left us…

Sigh

"Fine!" I shouted, angry with myself suddenly. I could at least get on a camel, right? Right.

"Ready or not," I said, and gently tugged on the reigns as I hopped on and wiggled my left foot into the stirrup. I swung my right foot around the back of the camel and fit it into the proper stirrup there.

Smiling, I looked down at Hiei and offered my hand to him. He grunted and looked around, trying to find somehow else to get on. Finding none, he looked away, but still took my hand. I tightened my grip on his wrist and pulled him upward as quickly as I could. When he was high enough, he grabbed the side of the saddle and pulled himself the rest of the way, hastily letting my hand go.

"Don't think for a second I needed your help."

"Didn't even pass my mind," I replied steadily, sitting happily on the shoulders of the camel.

"Everyone get on alright?"Muzei asked, "Are you alright, camel girl?"

"Dandy," I spat at her. She smiled. I scowled.

"Ok now, follow my lead and don't pull too hard. You're going to be riding these sweet things for a while, and it's going to be a long way we have to travel. I suggest you treat them nicely, or else they'll buck you off and leave you for the dead. And we're not making any second trips. Do I make myself clear?" Muzei shouted.

"Crystal!" Yusuke shouted.

She smiled. "Good."

I pulled on the reigns, bearing in mind what the scamp had just said. Everyone else did likewise and the camels already knew the way. It was odd at first, with the shoulders making long unsteady paces, but I got used to it.

Might as well I thought. My teeth clenched as my shoulder throbbed again. The sooner we got to Kanson the better. They're bound to have the items I need to clear up this poison. Then we can grab the Queen and be off, onto our next mission. Well, I have other things to attend to.

Namely, Michiko.

Onna- woman

I especially liked writing the part about the camel. Just to build up all that tension, and then...! It's a camel! XD

NOTE! I deleated the Preview because it didn't match the next chaper. XD My writing just seems to escape me sometimes!