Ryu- Well, here's another update from me.

shizu Fumikari – Well, I do have a strong policy, and I'm glad you like whats happened so far.

-xShiroi-chan – Yes, things are so confusing, because translators have different ways of translating. As for the hunting, you'll see.

Hunting Grounds

So the three made it outside, where the rest of the Funeral Wreathes were. Each had a horse to ride, when they neared closer, Irie could see two rider less horses.

Kikyo got on one of the horses, and that left one horse, and judging the situation, Irie knew he was going to have to ride with Byakuran, meaning they would have close contact for who knows how long.

"Come on Shou-chan, you're going to sit in front of me." Byakuran said.

And from Irie's past (failed) experiences with horse riding, he knew that sitting in that position would mean extreme close contact.

So, Irie was left in a embrace-like position. Byakuran's arms went around Irie, and were holding the reigns. Irie could feel Byakuran's breath on his neck, and suddenly Irie felt something wet, so he jumped.

Byakuran chuckled. "You seem to heal fast, or maybe I didn't bite hard enough. The mark seems to be fading, so we're going to have to renew it." Byakuran whispered to Irie, and before Irie could utter a word, Byakuran spoke. "Okay every, lets go."

So they took off, and in Irie's opinion, this ride was much better than the carriage, albeit it was more awkward.

Soon after a couple of hours, they arrived at their destination, and during the ride, Irie could just feel Byakuran smiling.

Their destination, Irie could tell when he dismounted the horse, was a wooded area, possibly full of wolves, bears, deer, small creatures, and other large creatures.

Another thing Irie noticed was that after he dismounted, it suddenly got cold, so he started shivering. It seemed Kikyo noticed this and took out a cloak from the horses pack.

"This area is much colder than our area, so it's best to keep warm." Kikyo said.

"Ah, thank you." Irie said.

"Aw, if Shou-chan is cold," Byakuran gave a smirk "I can make him warm." Byakuran said.

Irie noticed Byakuran had said "make", instead of "keep", and immediately spoke. "Oh, no. It's fine." Irie said, eye twitching.

"Okay, well, let's set up some traps. Bluebell, set up the nets. Zakuro and Daisy scout the area for an estimate of animal species. Torikabuto set some pit traps. Kikyo, prepare the sedatives.

All the Funeral Wreath members nodded and went off, leaving Byakuran and Irie alone. Making Irie a little uneasy.

"Shou-chan." Byakuran said, making Irie jump slightly. "What do you know about hunting?" Byakuran said.

"Well, I've had some experience with hunting." Irie said, remembering that he absolutely hated hunting. Mainly because of how a previous master had killed the animals.

"Well, then you won't have to do anything but stay safe. Here's a hunter's knife to defend yourself from mukuros, I mean fukurous." Byakuran said as he handed the knife to Irie. (1)

Irie didn't even think about what Byakuran said. "What are the sedatives for?"

"They're to kill the animals." Byakuran said, and then there was complete silence, which was broken by Irie after a while.

"Well, at least it's not as bad as mutilating them." Irie said as he pocketed the knife.

"Now that we're alone, lets renew that mark." Byakuran said as he walked toward Irie.

"Eh, ah." Irie said as he backed away. "Lookit'safukurou!" Irie said really quickly.

Byakuran turned sharply around, but saw nothing. "I don't see any-" Byakuran said before turning back around to see nothing. "Oh, he's gone. Well, I guess it'll make things more exciting." Byakuran said as he began to walk off, not noticing a white owl sitting in a tree.

With Irie, once he had gotten a considerable amount of distance from where he had run away from, decided to slow his pace and just walk around.

The area was quiet, and peaceful. As Irie breathed out, his breath swirled and turned white in the air. The silence was suddenly broken by loud flapping. Irie startled, whipped his head toward the sound, to see a white owl, that looked eerily familiar.

Irie swore he saw red in one of the eyes and shrugged it off as his imagination. Suddenly the owl gave a slight screech and flew at Irie.

Irie had to shield his face in case the owl decided to claw at it with it's talons. The owl did nothing but fly past him and disappear, though Irie didn't have any time to wonder why it did that, because Irie heard a sort of growl.

Irie slowly turned, and saw two piercing gold eyes staring at him. Irie choose that moment to run.

At another part of the forest, Byakuran was walking when the Funeral Wreathes appeared, each having completed their jobs.

"So, what animals are there." Byakuran asked Zakuro and Daisy.

"We found the usual, but then we found something unusual." Zakuro said.

"Well, we found paw prints. Very large, and much like the tigers." Daisy said.

"What, why would there be a-" Byakuran said but was cut off when there was a roar, followed by a scream.

Byakuran's expression turned serious, and then he ran in the direction of the noise, he was followed by the others.

Back with Irie, many things had occurred between the time of his running, and the meeting of the tiger that was currently chasing him.

Running had been a mistake, the tiger had gotten in some cuts on Irie's back and caused Irie to fall. When the tiger was on Irie, who was underneath the beast, Irie decided to take out the knife, and stab at the tiger's head.

This distracted the tiger long enough fro Irie to get away, but only momentarily, when the tiger removed the knife and began it's chase again.

Irie was so focused on running that he didn't notice the cliff, luckily, it was only ten feet high, unluckily, there was a shallow river.

So Irie fell into the river, which was extremely cold an had an immediate result. Irie's body began to violently shake as he tried to get up, but the river bed's stones had badly cut up Irie's legs, so he couldn't move when the tiger jumped and landed in front of him.

Irie closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable to happen, only to hear a roar and feel something warm splatter on his face.

Irie opened his eyes, and wished he hadn't. It was worse than his previous master's way of killing, that Irie was now sure the shaking was due to the gruesome sight, which became blocked by Byakuran, who kneeled slightly in from of Irie.

Byakuran took out a vial from his coat and uncorked it. Then he forced Irie's jaw open. Irie tried to push Byakuran away, but Byakuran restrained Irie's hands and shoved the vial into Irie's mouth. Irie could feel the liquid go down his throat, and immediately reacted, though a little too late.

The vial had emptied into Irie's mouth, and Irie was suddenly feeling tired. Irie tried to keep his eyes open, but he finally succumbed to sleep, his body deathly cold. Byakuran cradled Irie in his arms, and frowned.

-TBC-

1. Fukurou means owl in Japanese. It's perhaps two letters off from Mukuro.

Ryu- Hm, I bet you're all confused. Well, you'll all have to wait. Oh, and the story might end soon.

Hikari- What, but things have just started!

Ryu- Did you not read the might, I said might. Quite meaning that it could happen. Mainly because I need to think of how the story will go.