okay, i know i shouldn't really be complaining, this being my most reviewed story thus far, but could someone besides Yuti-chan post a review? i've reached chapter eight now with only her reviewing, and i only have one more chapter after this one already written. if you guys wanna read beyond chapter 9, you're gonna have to review!

Chapter 8: Tandem curses

~border between Eastern and Western Lands~

Bankotsu, Renkotsu, and Ginkotsu are following Rose's trail of cut chains through the forest, the bandit leader contemplating the letter that was found in his pet's room next to the cut chain. Since he himself can't read, he had Renkotsu read it to him:

Bankotsu,

Even as you read this (or it is read to you), I am fighting to keep a second curse at bay. The curse itself is not deadly, but it is rather annoying. While my pride will not allow me to explain it to you in person, I'll explain in this letter.

The curse is called "return to terror". It causes the body of the one afflicted to return to the age it was when they experienced their most terrifying moment. For me, that would be the age of three. Do you see why I would not want you to see my transformation? As it is, I am nearing the limit of my endurance, and when the collar leads you to me at the full moon, you will likely find a pup in the place of your wolf.

This curse for me is akin to the hanyou's time of weakness, and if possible, I would have no one see me while I am afflicted, but as I know you will follow me anyway, I guess I'll just have to wish you and your band good luck in caring for me in that state. I can only hope that you find me before any demons do.

Soon to be chibi,

Rose

Bankotsu wonders briefly if she might be joking, but then realizes that she wouldn't have bothered to write the letter if she wasn't certain he would take it seriously. Still, a curse that forces one's body to regress in age is something new to him. He decides that he will just have to find out if she's being truthful or not when they find her. Then again, at least now he knows what to call her.

~Lightning Castle~

Rose truly is nearing the limit of her endurance in keeping the curse at bay, and with the next night being the start of the full moon cycle, she quickly prepares to leave her sanctuary in order to keep herself from hurting those who live there.

Going to the small closet in her room, she pulls out two items that seem to have nothing to do with each other: a doll, and a scythe. The doll appears to be modeled as a warrior, wearing a black kimono and hakama set with black hair reaching to his waist that parts to show the hilt of a western style broadsword that is sheathed on his back. The scythe appears as a pair of lightning bolts joined at almost a right angle by a storm cloud, the blade curved in much the same way as that of a sickle. Taking a thin ribbon from the closet as well, Rose uses her thoughts to shrink the scythe to the size of a pendant and uses the ribbon to make it into a necklace. She then takes the necklace and doll with her into the forest, stopping when she's about a day and a half's travel from the border.

~Forest near the border~

Because she was traveling with a group before, most of whom were much slower than her, the same distance took her longer. As she sets up a small camp for the night, without a fire and dressed in the ripped kimono so as to steer Bankotsu away from the idea of his pet having a hidden sanctuary, she lays the doll and necklace by a tree before leaning against the trunk of it and falling asleep.

She spends the day's time that she has to wait focusing on staying in her true form. Near sunset, she removes her kimono so she'll have something to wear after the night to come. She bites back a moan of pain as she transforms into the golden wolf that started her problems, but instead of heading for the nearest village to repeat her performance, she quietly lays down near the things her human self left next to the tree.

Bankotsu finds her just as she passes out at moonset, seeing that she's still fully grown. Almost as soon as she transforms back to her human form at sunrise, though, her body starts to give off a strange mist, and she cries out in pain as her body shrinks before his eyes. When the mist clears, a three year old lays in the woman's place, her breathing heavier than it should be. She wakes up a couple minutes after the mist clears, groaning a little before she mutters, "Don't know why it always has to feel like my bones are melting….damn that hurts so much…."

She doesn't seem to realize that Bankotsu is nearby, getting up on unsteady feet and dressing in the kimono she set aside the day before. The fact that it's missing half of its skirt has turned from an annoyance to a small blessing, as a full sized kimono would have swallowed her in her current state. She still hasn't noticed Bankotsu standing at the tree line behind her as she ties the ribbon holding the pendant-sized scythe around her neck under the collar and picks up the doll, which now doesn't look so out of place. As she's turning around, Bankotsu finally steps forward, "Hey, Chibi. There you are. Did you think I'd forgotten about you?"

Rose stiffens for a moment before realizing that it's not a demon, then turns fully to face him, looking up at him with an expression that shows her uncertainty. Without waiting for a reply, he simply smirks, walks over, and scoops her up, "Renkotsu and Ginkotsu are waiting on us, you know."

She surprises him by leaning against him as he carries her back towards the border, one small hand clenched in his kimono while the other hugs her doll to her small chest. After a moment or two, he puts it down as fatigue from the consecutive transformations she just went through. Apparently, the transformation from adult to child is painful, and he reasons that going between wolf and human forms can't be easy either.

Renkotsu raises an eyebrow at the scene they make when they rejoin him and Ginkotsu at the border, but doesn't question Bankotsu as they start to head back towards the rest of the Band of Seven. Jakotsu doesn't know weather the go "aww" or bust a gut laughing when he sees his brother carrying a by-then-sleeping three year old girl into the building, but settles for asking, "What happened here?"

Bankotsu smirks down at the little girl in his arms, adjusting his hold the show the chain and collar before saying, "I don't know where the other one is, but this one's my Chibi. Excuse me, Rose."

"Huh?"

Renkotsu explains, "She left a note this time, and signed it with the name Rose. Big Brother saw her turn into this."