"I'll do no such thing!" Kantarou resisted, the vines tightening ever more. There was a deafening crack, and he bit back a scream as he felt his right arm snap near the shoulder. Tears were in his eyes now as he continued to struggle for breath.

"Stop it! You're killing him!" (A/N: Sound familiar?) Natsume cried, unable to just sit back and watch any longer. He shoved his bag into Tanuma's arms and ran toward the vines, trying to pull them off, but he was tossed aside almost instantly by Minamoto.

Kantarou forced a smile, "I'm fine, really. They can't kill me. If I die, my pact with Haruka will never be broken."

"Why won't you call for him? Don't you want this pain to end?" Minamoto asked, joining Ibaragi in tormenting him by breaking a finger that wasn't completely covered in demonic vines.

"I can take it." Kantarou challenged, biting back another scream as his finger was broken. "I won't let you have him."

"It's useless. We can't kill him, and he's determined to keep his mouth shut." Ibaragi noted, then glanced to Natsume, "But we have some more... disposable... prey here." More vines wrapped Natsume in a deadly embrace.

Satisfied, Minamoto remarked, "There you have it. Call for him or we'll dispose of the kid."

Luckily, Madara had been far enough to avoid the vines, but he wasn't able to avoid what he couldn't see. He was lifted off the ground by a force invisible to him and carried swiftly to the edge of the property, where trimmed grass met brambles and foliage. "The other one's escaping." Watanabe pointed out to Ibaragi, who stood behind him.

"Other one? What other one?" Fortunately for Tanuma, the mantra seemed to be working, even against a demon as powerful as her.

"Never mind him! We have enough bait here. We'll be through by the time authorities arrive." Minamoto snapped, holding his blade to Natsume's throat to prove his point.

Kantarou tried to squirm, but had so little room in the vine's clutches that he found himself completely immobilized. "Let him go!"

Meanwhile

"Where are you going?" Madara asked, calming down some once he'd realized that it was Tanuma carrying him- and that he was in the bag holding the Book of Friends.

"We have to find Haruka-san, Ponta!" The disembodied voice replied, his breathing obviously labored.

"You honestly think you're going to find a tengu by running around in the woods? Put me down!" Madara snapped. Once on the ground, he transformed into his ayakashi state.

"Ponta? I can't see you..."

Using the bag as a reference, Madara lifted the invisible person gently, turning so the boy could feel the fur on his back, as it was useless to even attempt to talk to him.

"Oh, I get it! You're going to carry me?" Tanuma clambered up on Madara's back, holding onto him tightly before the two took off. It didn't take long to find Haruka, who was still airborne, gazing down at a shrine where a few kids had gathered for a picnic.

"Haruka-san!" Tanuma called out repeatedly the second he was able to make out the human body and wings in the distance.

The tengu turned to them and raised a brow, "I thought you said you can't see youkai."

"I can't. Ponta can't see me, either."

Haruka was silent for a moment, absorbing this, "Right, that mantra... Kantarou... Where is Kantarou?"

"At my house... These two guys in fatigues and this girl showed up, and then the ground started attacking them, and- ... Haruka-san?" Somehow, without either of them noticing, Haruka had slipped past them. There could be only one... Well, three, people who fit that description. Watanabe, Ibaragi, and Minamoto.

Back to Kantarou and Natsume

"Call for and release the demon eater and this will all go away," Minamoto leaned closer to Natsume, "Why don't you tell him? You don't want to die, do you?"

Kantarou struggled internally, not sure what he should do. He didn't want to call for Haruka, but he didn't want to get Natsume hurt- or worse- either. Just as he opened his mouth to call for Haruka, a lightning bolt came down from the heavens and struck just a hair to the left of Minamoto. "So you've come!" Minamoto grinned as all eyes turned to the skies to see Haruka hovering above them.

"Release them! I'm the one you're after." Haruka demanded, lowering to the ground, landing in front of Kantarou.

"You shouldn't have come..." Kantarou muttered, "I'm sorry."

"Idiot." Haruka hissed back, clearly angry with the other. "Release them!" He repeated.

"Come now, we haven't had any fun yet. How about this; you convince your master to break the name contract, and we'll let him go." Minamoto suggested, stepping closer.

Wheezing, Kantarou snapped, "Over my dead body!"

"So you'd rather this boy dies, instead?" Minamoto threatened, pointing to Natsume with his sword. After a few moments of relative silence, he prompted, "Well? What will it be? The demon eater or this child?" It was then that he noticed that he hadn't seen Kantarou's eyes open since he'd last spoken, and shortly after realizing this, Kantarou's head drooped forward, facing the ground. Unable to get close with Haruka in the way, he snapped at Ibaragi, "You killed him?"

Ibaragi scoffed, "Humans are so weak. He isn't dead; just unconscious."

"Well he's no good to us that way." Minamoto snarled as Ibaragi withdrew the vines from Kantarou, allowing him to fall to the ground. At least, he would have if Haruka hadn't been there to catch him. "I guess we'll table this for now, demon-eater. When your master wakes up, tell him that if he wants this child to return safely, he'll break your contract. We'll take good care of him until then." Haruka glared at Minamoto, but said nothing. Kantarou needed medical attention, and that couldn't be ignored. For now, he'd just have to accept these conditions. He watched as Ibaragi used her powers to bind Natsume and take him away with them.

Once they were alone, he gently shook Kantarou, "Oi, Kantarou! Get up!"

"What happened? Where's Natsume?" Tanuma asked, running to them. He and Madara had just gotten back to the scene and missed everything.

"They took him as a hostage... I'll explain later. Right now, I need to get Kantarou to a doctor." Haruka stated, lifting his lifeless master in his arms and standing.

It took a moment for Tanuma to register this information before he said, "Right, I'll go call an ambulance!"

"Don't bother. It would take too long for it to get here. I'll bring him there myself." Haruka muttered, spreading his wings. "Just give me a direction."

Poor Kan-chan. Also, for those of you who don't remember, the "you're killing him!" thing was similar to what Youko said when, depending if you watched or read, Haruka was being drugged/whipped by Ibaragi and friends. Ibaragi said something along the lines of, "This is nothing to the demon-eating tengu."