A/N ;; Hey-oh! Look who updated their story! Okay, wow, it's been officially a whole two months since I put up a chapter for Desterrado, and I have to say that I've definitely missed this story. But it's been a really hectic time lately for me, and I haven't had a lot of time to write. But now I'm back!

I will never promise to update at a certain time again.

And I have a question for all my readers: If, and this is only if for now, I were to write full-chaptered stories for different characters that appear later in Desterrado, would you be interested in reading them? To give a bit of explanation, it would basically be the backstories and the events that led up to their future role in Desterrado. I thought it was a really great idea when I thought of it, but I'm feeling a little bit unsure now, so maybe you guys could leave your opinion in a review? It would be a great help!

People who review this chapter will get a piece of Strawberry Shortcake. (Those who include their opinion about my question in their review will get an extra piece!)

There is a cover for Desterrado in the works and it will be drawn by yours truly.

There were eyes in the darkness – narrowed, hazel eyes that watched a certain green-eyed demon from a safe distance, keeping a careful eye on his movements.

"Mmm..." muttered the whispered voice, sensuous and feminine. "Interesting. I can even smell the human in him from here. Such a small part of him, yet it emits such a strong smell..." The eyes narrowed further. "Now, now, when is that little kitsune going to be back?"

Shin was visibly storming as he headed down the coast, scowling like an inclement thundercloud with a look of such piercing anger in his eyes that even some of his closest friends didn't dare to approach him until it passed. Even though he realized that there were cracks beginning to show in his usual poker face – despite that he knew it didn't matter as much nowadays – he couldn't bring himself to brighten up as he concentrated on the task at hand: finding Kazue.

She had fallen asleep before him. It had all been pleasant enough, Kazue giving him a cheerful smile and yet another thanks for letting her stay with him – well, that is until Shin spotted eyes staring at him from a distance.

No, not at him – the eyes had been watching the petite, chocolate-eyed girl across from him. He swore he could see the intent and calculating gaze, dark with secrets and knowledge. But he had simply frowned and dismissed it as a figment of his own imagination. After all, why would anyone be watching either of them?

And now he was running up the sand, looking for footsteps that he knew wouldn't be there. Even if they had been there at one point, whatever traces of them had been washed away by the tide.

Kenta, ever the observant one, had obviously noticed his funk and looked as though he was itching to ask, or at least attempt to say something to him. But he had long ago made it clear that he hated people who interrupted his concentration and Kenta knew better than to bother him.

Besides, what could the fisherman possibly do? What sort of words could he say to him?

Kenta – like many of the other fellow fisherman friends he had made in his time there – knew next to nothing about him. No one knew that he had been kicked out of Yakushi Village – though most of them would notice that he would tense up whenever the village was mentioned – and none of them knew about the extent of his connection with the former handmaiden of Sei'an City. None of them knew that the life he had lived before settling down in Southern Ryoshima Coast had been filled with loneliness and fear. None of them knew... anything.

Well, no one that really mattered – just Kazue. Because she had been the only one to accept him when he first showed up Ryoshima Coast, looking like some sort of thief. Because she had been the one that pushed him to try his hand at fishing and was the first one who had ever congratulated him on one of his achievements. Because she was his best friend and he knew he could tell her anything and she would listen.

And now she was gone. Poof. Disappeared into thin air for all he knew.

He didn't know when it had happened. He had a vague timetable at best; sometime between his own descent into sleep and his awakening – but it hadn't been that long, because when he woke up the remaining embers of the fire had not yet faded. He could only guess where she might have gone to. She was probably alone – and Amaterasu knew that she couldn't defend herself very well – and what if there wasn't anyone around if she got herself into trouble?

The thought made his blood boil. He remembered one of the other fisherman chiding him for his over-protectiveness, such that he ended up winding himself into a tight ball of explosive temper and nerves whenever things got risky – becoming similar to a human time-bomb waiting to explode at the slightest jostle – but in the light of the situation at hand, Shin didn't care if he was being hyper-vigilant. He had no reason not to be.

Shin heard a stick snap loudly underneath his foot, getting a glance from the wandering gaze of Kenta but little attention from anyone else on the coast – after all, sticks broke all the time. Shin glared at the stick for a second, scowling at the broken piece of wood and the harsh cracks he had made in it.

In the distance, Kenta swallowed hard, though kept himself silent; there was something awful and black in Shin's eyes – something that made it seem like he wasn't just Shin anymore, but someone else. He recognized this, though; sometimes it happened – it just happened, sometimes for no reason at all, or sometimes when there was danger – and he didn't like it when Shin got like that...

It was like he was wearing a mask, and sometimes it would slip – and he would push the mask back up into place again, just like that, so nobody could really see what was underneath.

Sometimes Kenta thought about asking him. Just to ask what was under that mask of his – what was so dark and hurting that he had to cover it up like that, all the time. But he was almost nervous to ask, because what was underneath was unnerving to him already – and he wasn't sure if he really wanted to know.

Kazue was crying when she awoke.

Her throat was dry and it ached when she swallowed between her sobs, but her body felt so heavy and sluggish. Tears poured from her eyes as she cried, not bothering to try to hide them at all, the pain she felt flowing freely down her face.

Her horrid experience and the nightmares that followed haunted and echoed through her mind, making her unsure what exactly was real and what was a dream. Vaguely, she realized that she was still in the cave, but she no longer felt the hardness of the ground beneath her, and she was warm. The cave was dark, the only light able to reach her was the moon's light, though it was enough. But was this a dream as well?

A dark shape sat above her, staying with her even through her loud sobs. Something cool stroked her bangs slowly, too sharp-feeling to be a hand, but it was soothing all the same. Now and then it would catch a tear that was trailing down her cheek. The presence she felt tingled warmly in her perceptions, but it was unfamiliar.

"Shh..." a soft, whispered voice said gently. "I'm here... you're not alone... don't cry..." She couldn't identify its owner, except for the fact that it was male, a bit rough, but so gentle. "He's gone... he can't hurt you anymore... everything will be okay... shh..."

The shadow leaned closer to her, though she still couldn't make out the owner – just a head shape and a moving mouth to accompany that voice.

She closed her eyes again.

"...you still with me, Kazue?" Why did the shadow know her name? "Hang in there – stay awake for me, okay?"

The voice suddenly became clearer. She barely opened her eyes again, bleary, still unable to focus. He was still leaning over her, hands working on something in-between comforting her. "...hey," the boy – or was it a man? – kept talking, "don't pass out again. You better stay awake..."

She managed a small, faint moan. Her breath hitched in her throat when the boy moved one of her arms, moving it to rest over her chest. It hurt abominably, especially near her shoulder – a deep ache that informed her that something might be broken. She wasn't sure how she knew, but it hurt so much that that was the only conclusion her mind came to.

With all the pain she was swimming in, it was almost impossible to tell exactly what hurt and what didn't until one or another of her aches yelped when the boy did something.

"...guess that's the worst of it," the boy went on, obviously talking just to keep her attention. "Sorry, I'm not good at this sort of thing, but I know you're hurt. You still with me, Kazue?" He hummed. "I know I shouldn't be moving you much, but one of us is going to have to do something eventually... You'll be fine..."

All she could manage in response was another soft moan, trying to stay focused on the blurry face above her.

She felt herself being lifted briefly. Whatever warmth she felt was gone, replaced with the cold ground of the cave. The shadow disappeared from overhead, moving out of her vision, and she heard footsteps crunching rapidly away. His voice came to her, distanced, like he just remembered that she was still there. "Now just wait here. Don't sleep, Kazue, stay awake!"

At least now there was blessed quiet and stillness. It helped the throbbing in her head lessen. There was no voice, no faces, no warm feeling – just nothing.

Nothing at all.

It was strange, though she didn't know why. This nothingness should have been filled with something. Anything would do. She felt as though she were in a void, where the faces and voices of her loved ones should have been – where she should be thinking about and remembering them – but yet there were none. She couldn't recall them. She only knew that they should be there, they had been there, but they weren't anymore.

She had pushed them into darkness, lost them, to escape the pain. And now they were beyond her reach, and he hurt too much, and he couldn't even remembered where she had placed them away or how to get them back. Everything was slipping through her fingers, even as she tried to grab onto things she couldn't see...

"He-hey! Don't quit now!"

The shadow's voice jerked her back from the whatever edge she was on like a rope, making her utter a gasp. Eyes open once more, she could see the shadow above her once again.

"Take it easy now," the voice instructed. "I have to move you again. It's not the best idea, but I can't do anything else here."

Arms eased under her as they carefully shifted her – moving beneath her, jostling her. It tore a rasping cry from her parched throat as the motion brought a hideous throb to her temples and a twisting agony through her shoulder.

"Ah! Sorry, just try to stay still..."

The boy's voice was concerned – full of concentration and determination. Ever so carefully, the arms maneuvered, then lifted her, every motion sending a fresh wave of pain across her body and a new hammer-blow to her skull. Every step the boy took was like an electric shock, wrenching gasps of pain from her lips and squeezing stray tears from her eyes.

She really didn't understand why, but somewhere in her head, that appalled her.

The boy's steps ceased after a while, and the movement changed – bringing with it a whole new set of pains and jolts and white-hot bursts. She cried out again as he was shifted, laid down on something soft – grass... or maybe it was sand? More tears blurred her eyes, and she couldn't tell. Now everything just seemed red, and whatever gripped her just wouldn't let go.

"Just hold on for me, Kazue..."

The shadow kept talking, kept speaking reassuringly to her, keeping her awake. She focused on the voice, held to it as though it were a lifeline. It was an anchor against the pain – albeit a temporary one.

So she obeyed the shadowed voice. She held on.

Shin, halfway across the wide area that was Southern Ryoshima Coast, was not in much better shape.

In fact, he was probably worse off.

But it was still early morning, and the sun was just beginning to rise over the horizon, and even if he was bedraggled, sweaty and exhausted, he was still looking. He darted across the grass and around the few early-risers that were awake, alarming them as he flew uncaringly down the coast.

He pulled to a quick stop as he neared a boulder, leaning on it, panting deep breaths and glancing around to get his bearings straight. He was probably already far beyond anywhere Kazue might've gotten to on foot – but by now all he could do was try to find a trace – any trace – of her.

Uncomfortably hot, he rolled up the sleeves of his one-piece, grimacing as he did. His backtracking to his hut hadn't given him any clues either – no footprints, no signs of scuffle, no single trace of her anywhere. It was as if she had walked out of the hut and just up and vanished.

A moment later, he was running again, wondering what he was doing and what in the hell he was supposed to do. He was wearing himself down step by step, but unable to stop.

Frantic didn't even begin to describe his state of mind. White-hot was coming closer – seething and worried and frenzied and gasping as he ran/stumbled along the coast, lungs burning and limbs shaking, but still searching.

He was her friend – her best friend. If he stopped searching it would mean he was giving up, and he would not – could not give up the hope of finding her. He couldn't give up.

As time dragged on, the jagged ache inside him had only doubled in size and intensity. Now he was just running aimlessly, mindlessly, no longer logical and ordered but more terrified and despairing – determined to find her somehow. Hope had long since given way to desperation, resolve had faded away to grief, but a horrible sadness and anger kept his feet moving, one after another.

He'd spent hours searching, knowing that she was still here. Knowing all this time that she hadn't really left, and his mind's abject refusal to just stop kept him rushing ahead, knowing that if he gave up he really would fall to pieces.

But he couldn't find her. No matter how hard he tried or how long he looked, Southern Ryoshima Coast was too big. There were too many places to hide. He was all alone, one boy running around on foot, trying to find one missing exiled girl.

But he just couldn't stop. Grief and worry and a cold deadly will made him keep running, far beyond the point of caring how tired or hurt he was. His feelings had torn his mask aside, stripping the everyday innocence of the young fisherman down to something ghastly and pale and terrifyingly sharp, brown eyes brimming with fell, feverish flames.

I have to find her, his mind repeated, over and over, a thought that kept the rhythm of his feet, that turned in his head like an engine that kept him going.

Something caught his foot, and he stumbled; his weakened limbs couldn't catch him before he fell, barely slowing his descent so that he tumbled to his knees with a harsh cry. Pain in his stung palms and knees brought him to be more awake than he had been, jogging mindlessly – but it only served to hurt and frustrate him more when his protesting legs almost refused to allow him to stand up again.

"Can't stop," he hissed at himself, clenching his jaw. "Where am I supposed to go? What the hell am I supposed to do?"

His harsh questions were accompanied by a fist thumping to the grass, following by one tiny drop of water. Gritted teeth tried to bite back tears – tears of worry and grief and frustration and anger and hopelessness.

In the state he was in, the faint feminine voice behind him scared the living daylights out of him and made his heart leap with a surge of sudden, irrational hope.

He reared back on his knees and whipped around. "What is it? Is she found?" he demanded in rapid succession, his mind barely considering the scant handful of people who had would even approach him in this condition.

"Hello to you, too," said the soft, unfamiliar voice – one that was like a dash of cold water over him, jerking him abruptly out of the haze.

"Who are you?" he asked harshly, staring up at the woman in standing above him. She looked odd, not exactly in appearance – no, she looked like an average female – but in the way she carried herself and the way she spoke...There was just something off about her, but the biggest hint about her was her eyes, which shone in faint amusement.

"Well, are you still working yourself frantic, or have you stopped running in circles long enough to listen?" she went on, wryly, ignoring the question Shin had asked. "It's a pretty nice night, if you still want to continue your jog..."

"You!" Shin half-choked. "What do you know about this?"

The woman chuckled softly, showing an array of pearly white teeth. "You'd be surprised how much I know, Shin. It's kind of hard to miss what's going on when one person is running down the coast, looking much like a rabid animal. I just thought I'd lend a hand."

"You... you know something?" It wasn't so much a question as much as a statement.

"Hmm, well I can say that I've been keeping an eye out, and when your little friend left tonight I followed her," the woman replied, the amusement in her eyes increasing twofold. "I know where she is now, and it seems that she's fine."

"But–you–!" he spluttered. "How can I trust you?"

"You can't," the woman said casually, shrugging. "But I'd be willing to help you. It's your choice whether or not that you accept my offer."

Shin kept himself silent as the strange woman above him continued. "If you do choose to trust me, I'll be waiting for you at the City Checkpoint. But either way, you better hurry," she pointed a dainty finger up at the sky, where darkness was already beginning to swirl, "because something major is going to happen."

And then she was gone. Poof.

Shin stared at the spot where she had been standing for several seconds, as his heartbeat roared in his ears and his vision swam with the beginnings of tears – this time of sheer relief.

She was okay. Someone had found her, or she had gotten herself into a safe place, and he didn't have to search for her anymore...

But it felt weird to trust someone he had just met, especially with the way the woman acted... but even so, he had found a clue, and that's all that mattered to him.

He forced himself to his feet, buoyed by new, stumbling hope, and began to quickly make his way towards the City Checkpoint.

General Michi Himura was, if nothing else, highly observant of things that were out of place – especially when the people around him were concerned. As powerful, intimidating, and flat-out cruel as he might have seemed to most, he did possess a rather uncanny empathy that allowed him to see beyond the lies of most people – into their hearts, where the truth slept. He knew when his close friends were putting on a smile but were hurting inside; he knew when someone was hiding something in a feeble attempt to look strong. As thoughtless as he might have been in general, he was smart enough to know when things were wrong with someone.

The fact that Queen Himiko had never before hidden something from his knowledge before was a large clue that something particularly odd was afoot in Sei'an City.

Michi was willing to let it slide that the Queen Himiko had the right to keep her secrets. But when he noticed that said queen sat staring into her sacred crystal ball more and more each day, her expression always a mix of sadness and desperation – all the while constantly putting on a smile for whoever approached or spoke to her, Michi began to wonder.

He had become by necessity a people-watcher. In the beginning, it was a simply a skill he used to observe the city's enemies, but it had eventually slipped into his everyday life as well. It wasn't something he did consciously anymore; mostly it was habit, so that he knew when it alright to voice his opinions and when it was time to slip into "invisible mode," to avoid making any unnecessary trouble.

As Michi climbed the ladder that led up to Gen's home/laboratory, he could already hear the mechanic rustling around with his machines. He poked his head into the entrance, calling out to the small old man, "Gen! Have anything for me yet?"

Said old man turned towards the general, a grin tracing his features. He was round-cheeked, innocent-looking, with a smile that was sweet – when it was shown – and eyes that only appeared through the thick hair that covered his face when he grinned. Right now however, that grin was a mask. The mechanic didn't truly have any good news.

"Well, I think–"

"Dammit, Gen!" he snapped, easily slipping into his tough general persona. "I want explanations, not just speculation!"

"General," said the purple-clothed man, "I'm sorry, but speculation is the best I can do for now."

"What does the queen have to say about this?" he demanded.

"She hasn't said anything, sir. She could not be reached."

"Impossible!" His fist clenched at his side and as the mechanic looked up at the taller man, he could see real concern and confusion swirling in his eyes.

"It's true, sir. The queen seemed to have severed all communications with the world outside her palace for the moment."

For a while, Michi just merely glared down at the mechanic, while his fingers trapped against his thigh. If the queen was in danger, he should know about it. He wasn't a top-ranked general for nothing. He hadn't worked for years to achieve such a ranking to not have his ruler be able to place her trust in him. She was hiding something from him – something big, something that he should know about.

"So," he said once he came to a conclusion with his thoughts. "We'll go in ourselves."

The mechanic stepped back, and Michi could see the subtle alarm on the old man's face. "Sir?"

"You heard me well enough, Gen. We're going to get ourselves into the palace and find out just what the hell is going on here exactly."

"But... general... This is the queen's decision."

"Gen, listen to me. A queen cannot simply hide away from her people," Michi said, his voice suddenly becoming solemn. "The residents of Sei'an City are scared; the recent events have shaken them and they're unsure of what to think. I'm not too sure myself."

Gen looked away, but still nodded. "A mobilization, then?"

"Of course. Have–"

Before Michi could even finish his sentence, a panting soldier brought his attention away from the mechanic as he stumbled into the room. The soldier's face was bright red and Michi could see various injuries on the young man's body. Blood was openly flowing from most of them. "Sir!" he gasped, clutching the frame of Gen's home. "Multiple contacts!"

"With what?"

"Unknown, sir!"

"Get out of my way!" The general swore under his breath as he made his way across the room, giving the soldier a slight push out of the doorway. He froze as he looked out into the city and it took a stunned heartbeat to recognize what exactly was in the sky and what exactly was falling out of it and into the water over Southern Ryoshima Coast.

He had to fight down his conflicting emotions – anger, sadness, fear – as he heard a nightmarish scream come from the innards of the city. A young woman running down the path, chased by something he couldn't put a name to. However, the noise didn't last long. The scream was cut off after a moment and an eery silence followed after.

Michi swallowed hard against the churning in his guts, trying to steady his suddenly-shaking hands, fighting down the echoing emotions that threatened to take over his judgment.

Something compelled him to step forward...

His head snapped around to the injured soldier. "Gather every available soldier we have, immediately! If anyone dares to question you, you can tell them that High General Michi personally sent you."

And as he turned back towards the opening, still shaky and slow, to make his way back to the ground, a single question – one of many – made itself most poignantly known.

Dear Amaterasu, what's happening?

Awareness of being awake brought with it a world of pain.

Everything centered in his head, radiating in white-hot throbs through the rest of his body. There were voices he couldn't make out, loud and muddled at the same time, and he couldn't be bothered to figure out if they were real or imagined. They were all around him, insistent, prodding at him. Shouts, whispers, screams, cries, and thunder...

He felt things tracing his skin, and like almost everything else around him, he couldn't tell whether they were true touches or merely phantoms of his own pain. There were hands – the softest of fingers, and rock-hard fists.

There were faces in his vision, twisted in hatred or fear – maybe they could be the sources of all the voices. They were all so angry, or frightened, or despairing.

He saw eyes, too – dark eyes full of black flames and rage and sorrow. There was a pair of emerald green eyes – eyes that seemed uncertain and almost fearful. A pair of amber eyes appeared, and they seemed amused. And lastly, he saw wide brown chocolate eyes, the longer they lingered, the more light was sucked out of them.

Awareness brought pain, and he didn't know why he hurt so much. Everything flickering around him made it hurt even worse, and he welcomed the blackness with open arms. He accepted the cessation of the nose, the sensations of the touches, the faces, the chaos. The pain that pounded through his mind lessened slightly as he let everything wash over him and pass from his him, dropping away as though it was a heavy burden that he willingly released.

He idly released that trying to hold on, trying to grasp it all, only made agony shoot threw him, and the effort was too much, so he just let it all go.

It was quieter in his mind – much quieter. There was no constant questioning from Kouki, no struggling from the girl, and her voice was vanquished from his head. He was in warm, empty darkness, with no voices, no faces, nothing at all.

It was quieter... but somehow there was still a touch, still a voice. He supposed he shouldn't have thought so soon. Hadn't he pushed it all away? Why was he still feeling something? The darkness was more comfortable, falling away from the pain that didn't have a source... but there was a touch, insistent hands that refused to leave, a voice that became distinct over time. Was there a face, as well?

He couldn't be sure, but the best way to find out was to open his eyes.

Once he precisely recalled how to do that, snapping open his eyelids made the throbbing jolts center right behind his eyes, in the center. It was too bright – light hurt, and brought with it a flash of a roiling pillar of luminescence, as well as more shooting pains through his skull – so he once again shut his eyes tight with a quick indrawn breath.

The voice was still there, though. He couldn't make it was it said. There were words, but he couldn't understand them. It sounded like gibberish, making no sense at all... couldn't they speak normally?

Now the words were becoming clearer. Those words had meaning.

Something clicked suddenly, almost painfully, as he finally recognized what exactly was being said to him.

"Her soul has bonded with it."