A.N. And here's the next part. This was probably one of the quickest updates for this story.

Disclaimer: POT characters not mine

Chapter 12

Small, furry ears twitched as large, soft eyes blinked inquisitively at the acorn that sat nestled between several long blades of grass. It hadn't expected to find an acorn out here, especially not when it had already been through this area several times recently. Scuttling forward cautiously, the owner of the eyes peered closely at the unexpected treat. It looked edible… Dainty, fur-covered paws reached out and lifted the acorn from its nest, turning it this way and that. It was a beautiful specimen. Chittering happily, it turned to leave, bushy tail swishing through the air, but a distant noise made it halt. Turning around curiously, its ears twitched.

Sitting next to his fellow prisoners, Eiji stared imploringly at the tiny squirrel that was so far away he could barely make it out. Calling out again, he waited, squinting. There was a slight movement and he grinned. Success!

Watching him curiously, Kamio and Shinji traded confused looks. The youth was making the most peculiar chittering sounds and he seemed extremely happy about something. They were just starting to wonder if perhaps he had lost it when a small, reddish brown squirrel darted from behind a tent to perch itself on his knee. Kamio's jaw dropped and Shinji stared, momentarily shocked silent.

Oblivious to his gaping audience, Eiji chitttered at the squirrel, who tilted its head slightly to the side as though listening intently. Then it chattered back, tail waving emphatically behind it. Eiji thought for a moment and chattered some more.

"Maybe I'm the one going crazy," Kamio muttered, giving his head a hard shake. But when he looked back the squirrel was still there and trading squeaks and other weird sounds with the other redhead.

This continued on for several minutes before the squirrel bobbed its head, whiskers twitching, turned, and darted back towards the trees, its bushy tail held high. Eiji chattered what had to be a farewell after it and grinned.

"Now we don't have to worry about a thing," he said happily as he turned back towards his new found friends. "So, how about telling me your side of the story nyah? It could pass the time."

But they were both staring at him. Frowning slightly, he cocked his head to one side and raised his eyebrows. Had he done anything weird? …No, not that he could recall. Everything he'd done over the past few days were things he'd done all his life.

"What?" he asked finally when they didn't appear to be about to explain on their own. "Is something wrong?"

"You were talking to a squirrel," Shinji said finally, brows furrowing slightly. :"But that is not possible, perhaps I imagined it… People do not talk to squiretls, or…do they? Maybe they just never do it in front of me. Does that mean I'm the only one who can't talk to squirrels? That would be kind of unfair…"

Eiji laughed. "Oh, that, don't worry about it! It's just something I—well, and Kaidoh too—do. Squirrels are kind of hard to keep up with though, so you should probably be glad you can't understand them! Of course, they can be really funny at times."

"You mean you were actually talking to it?" Kamio asked, the disbelief etched all over his face.

"Her," Eiji corrected. "And yeah. I asked her to convey a messege to my friends for me. It took a while to explain how though, but I'm pretty sure she got it."

"Right…"

A distant cry drew all their attentions to a point beyond the surrounding tents that they couldn't quite see. What was visible between the various canvas structures was a lot of uniformed guards. They appeared to be gathering and someone was talking in a loud, carrying voice that simply didn't carry far enough for them o make it out.

"Sounds like we'll be moving out," Kamio muttered. "It's about time. I'm getting cramps in here."

A tall figure stepped out from between two tents and turned his face towards them for a moment, closed eyes speculative. Eiji looked back at him, that shiver running down his spine again. But the man turned without a word and disappeared in the direction of the gathering guards.

x-X-x

The fire crackled merrily, its bright tendrils flickering up to lick at the long, silvery bodies of the fish that were being held within them by long sticks. The smell of roasting fish was starting to elicit growls from several stomachs, but Oishi had positioned himself nearest the fire so he could make sure no one ate anything that was only half cooked. Momoshiro had complained that fish didn't always have to be thoroughly cooked, but the healer wasn't bending. Besides, he had argued, Kaidoh was the one who had caught the fish, and so he was the only one who had the right to say he wanted one early and since he wasn't complaining… The argument didn't seem to go so well though and had resulted in Momoshiro trying to get the snake-eyed Speaker to get him a half roasted fish and the two eventually going at each others throats when the latter refused on the basis of a healer's 'know better'. Tired of the noise, Echizen had zapped them both with a weakened lightning spell before lying back on the grass, hands behind his head, and promptly going to sleep.

Sighing, Oishi took one of the fish out of the fire and examined it closely. It was almost done. Casting a concerned look towards the trees he wondered when the others would return. Giving his head a little shake, he stuck the fish back in the fire.

Something tugged at his cloak. Started, he looked around. There was no one there. Kaidoh and Momoshiro were still sulking, Echizen was still sleeping, and Sadaharu was writing in one of his heavy, leather-bound books. The tug came again, more insistent this time, and he looked down only to feel his jaw drop as he found what was clearly a reddish brown squirrel with large, inquisitive eyes pulling on the gray cloth of his cloak. Once it had caught his attention it let go and began chittering excitedly, waving its paws in the air.

He blinked. "Um…Kaidoh? C—could you please come over here for a moment?"

Cocking its head to one side, the squirrel watched as Kaidoh grunted and rose from his spot on the grass. Seeing him moving towards the fire, Momoshiro bolted upright.

"If he's getting one of the fish now I get one too!"

"Shut up, idiot," Kaidoh hissed, turning his back on the swordsman. "You'll scare the poor creature with your uncivilized babbling fsuuu."

"Ha! More likely your face than my voice! What creature?"

Darting around Oishi, the squirrel bounded up to Kaidoh, scrambled up his trouser leg, around his arm, and perched on his shoulder. Momoshiro stared, mouth agape, but Kaidoh was listening too intently to the squirrel to take offense.

"Kikumaru's been put in a prison camp," he reported finally, turning to Oishi.

The healer leapt to his feet. "We have to—"

"Fshuu, he says not to come after him just yet."

Oishi froze, already halfway way across the clearing to where the horses were watching the festivities with interest. "What?"

The squirrel chattered some more and Kaidoh translated. "There's something…he wants to find out, so he wants us not to come for him until he's found whatever it is."

Bobbing its head, though whether in agreement or satisfaction at having successfully delivered its messege, the squirrel leapt clear from Kaidoh's shoulder to the ground and raced back into the trees.

Oishi watched it go as his shoulders slumped slightly. "But what can't do that. It's too dangerous for one of us to juet…just…"

Looking up from his writing, Inui adjusted his glasses. "He did not specify how long we must wait," he pointed out. "We can give him a day or two then follow. Besides, Tezuka and Fuji have not returned yet either."

Echizen cracked open one eye. "I don't think they'll be back anytime soon either."

Baffled, the others traded looks just as a glittering bird that seemed to be made of light swooped out of the sky above to hover in front of Oishi. It's body flashed a brilliant gold and a tooled leather back fell into the startled healer's hands before the bird seemed to unfold until it became a square of translucent gold with solid letters of light drawn across it.

"A sending," Inui remarked into the ensuing silence. "What doe sit say Syuichiroh?"

The healer let out a long, resigned sigh and sank to the ground as the sending dissolved in a shower of sparks. "They won't be back either," he said glumly. "Said we shouldn't wait for them…"

Rolling his eyes, Ryoma stood up, dusted off his cloak, and headed for the trees.

Momo started. "Hey, Ryoma, where are you—"

"To investigate those magical auras we tracked here," the young sorcerer cut in. "There's no use staying here anyway."

Inui nodded, tucking his book back into his pack. "I agree."

Kaidoh watched as the two disappeared into the forest. Moving quickly to the fire, he took three of the roasted fish, sticks and all, glanced back at Oishi for a moment, and hurried after the departing Observer.

"What—wait!" Breath puffing out in something that was not entirely exasperation and not entirely despair but definitely somewhere between the two, Oishi gave up. "But what about the rest of the fish?"

Grinning, Momoshiro bounded up to the fire and picked up the last four fish. He devoured them all in a few large bites and grinned proudly. "Problem solved."

x-X-x

Peering into the sunlit forest clearing, Fuji scanned it carefully. There was no one in sight. On the other hand he could sense a certain, unnatural stillness in the air that was most certainly not natural. Smiling to himself, he stepped boldly out into the light.

There was a twang and a hiss and he stepped aside just as an arrow embedded itself in the trunk of the tree that had been behind him. The feathers at the end of its shaft quivered from the impact. Turning, he looked straight up into the lower boughs of a particularly leafy pine. He couldn't see them, but he could sense their presence clearly.

The day is too beautiful for this. Chuckling a little at his whimsical thought, he straightened his shoulders and reached inside for his magic, letting it flow to his fingertips and along his skin until his entire being was tingling with a tightly controlled readiness to act. There had been a time once when he had thought that beautiful days meant one could frolic away and expect good things to happen, but that had been a long time ago. It had been, after all, a beautiful day when they had burned, but it hadn't changed a thing. To such things as the weather, the world, and time, humans were too insignificant—their lives too short and the affects they could mark the fabric of existence with too small to be of any meaning.

"There is no point in hiding," he called out, giving the trees one of his most serene smiles. "Besides, I did not come here to fight, unless that's what you really want to do, in which case I have no objections either. However, I really only have a few questions to ask."

He was greeted with by a long moment of silence.

Standing behind the shielding stand of trees with his partner perched in the branches above, bow and second arrow in position, Masaharu squinted out at the stranger with the harmless aura who had dodged a flying arrow as though it was a falling feather. The air around him was colorless at the moment, indicating a great level of self control, but for just a brief moment after the arrow was shot he thought he had caught a glimpse of a spark. If his memory was accurate, and it usually was, then the spark had been blue.

Tilting his head back and hissing to catch Hiroshi's attention, he mouthed 'mage'. The archer inclined his head in acknowledgement, then gestured slightly with his bow, one eyebrow rising. Masaharu glanced back at the sorcerer again, brows furrowed, then gave his head a little shake. The blue had been bright and too bright to have been tainted.

'Cover me' he mouthed and stepped out into the clearing without waiting for an answer. He knew that Hiroshi had extraordinary aim and could at least distract the stranger long enough for him to make an escape no matter how fast the sorcerer was.

Staring directly into the stranger's face, he let a smirk play across his lips. It was more from habit than any real sense of amusement but it calmed his nerves. Besides, how people reacted to such expressions directed their way told a lot about them.

"So what'd you want?" he asked, sitting back on his heels and affecting a casual air.

"Are you looking for something out here?"

Frowning slightly, Niou ran a hand through his hair and shrugged. "That would depend on who you are, Sorcerer."

To his surprise, the stranger chuckled. "I am not a member of the Elite."

"I know that."

Pausing, the sorcerer tilted his head to one side, pondering. "Really? Interesting… You must be a seer then. Not he usual kind though…"

Masaharu started, taking an involuntary step back. "How—"

"You keep looking at the air around me, and you knew I was a magic wielder. Are you looking at my aura?"

Masaharu opened his mouth, then closed it again, a slow grin spreading across his face. "You're pretty sharp, aren't you? As a matter of fact, I am looking at your aura, though you seem to have yours pretty well hidden. How about a trade? My name for yours."

He was rewarded with a widened smile. "That sounds fair."

"All right then." Stepping carefully forward, he offered his hand. "Masaharu Niou."

"You may call me Fuji." The sorcerer accepted it and they shook hands.

Niou nodded. "Fuji huh? So what are you doing out here, or were you just following us?"

"Mostly following. And you?"

"Business."

The brunette tapped his chin thoughtfully. "This business whoudln't happen to have anything to do with a lot of, ah, magically gifted behind a shield, would it?"

The gray haired seer tensed abruptly, his eyes narrowing. "Not necessarily. We're simply here to…meet someone."

"Ah yes, meet someone," Fuji mused. "We're all here to meet someone, aren't we?"

"I don't know. Are we?"

They looked at each other for a long moment before they both laughed.

"Well, then I shall leave you to your business." Turning away, Fuji gave a leisurely wave back over his shoulder. "I wouldn't want to make you late for your—appointment."

"That's very thoughtful of you," Niou agreed. "Farewell then, Sorcerer Fuji. I'll say though, it may be best if you went to meet your people elsewhere."

"Hmm…I'll keep that in mind."

X

"You said quite a lot to him," Hiroshi commented, slinging his bow back over his shoulder.

Masaharu shrugged, a small grin tugging at his lips. "He was…interesting.

"I don't like it when you can't see someone's eyes. No one who has nothing to hides needs to keep his eyes hidden."

His companion's eyebrows rose. "Is that so? Am I not supposed to trust you then?"

Hiroshi's frown deepened. "My glasses do not count. So why was he following us?" he added quickly.

Folding his arms behind his head, Masaharu looked up towards the swaying canopy of leaves above. "Curiosity, I think."

The archer shot him a look. "That can't be it."

His mouth twitched. "You'd be surprised. Curiosity is a powerful force. But no, I think he has other reasons."

"And that would be?"

"Think about it. Our destination isn't exactly a sorcerer friendly place, and yet he followed us towards it though he knows of its existence. He is not one of the Elite. What reason would a mage of any kind who does not appear to harbor any desires for the title of Elite have for wanting to know more about anyone headed in the direction of a magic wielders' prison camp?"

His companion nodded slowly. "I see."

"Indeed. I wish him luck. It'd mean we wouldn't have to come here so often."

TBC

Notes:

Auras: more later

- Green Neutral/ungifted

- Blue Magic Wielder

A.N. Okay, so again, not the most active part in the world, but I actually really enjoyed wiring this part for some reason so I hope you guys liked it. I'll be leaving the country in a few days and might not have access to a computer for a few weeks so yeah… See ya!