Satira stopped to catch her breath under a tree. She leaned against it, taking in deep gulps of air. She had been running as fast as she could, trying to get as much distance between her and where the Raiders thought she would be. She started to turn her head, back in the direction she had come but stopped.

'Don't look back!' she told herself. 'Nothing good ever came from it. I can't stay there.' She looked at the thinning forest in front of her. Surely by morning she would make it to the end of Yoko's territory. Then, who knew what would happen. She almost got caught once; some demon guard of his stopped her. But with a quick lie about how Yoko sent her to find something, she was back on the run having lost no more than five minutes. Her breath slowed as she sat under the tree for a moment. Her mind wandered to Yoko, and what he would do when he found out.

'I wonder if he will even come and look for me.' She thought to herself. The sound of a twig snapping caused her to leap to her feet, ears alert for anything. A squirrel ran up a tree and she relaxed and let out the air she had been holding. She turned to leave when a voice stopped her.

"You forgot something."

Satira stared straight in front of her, afraid to see who it was behind her, and yet she knew exactly who it was. She slowly turned to see Yoko, holding her sword. His face was unreadable and she gave him a guilty look. He threw the sword at her, as it sunk into the dirt in front of her. She bit her lip and pulled it from the ground. She couldn't believe she had actually left her weapon behind.

"Thank you." She said quietly.

"I came to bring you back." He said moving closer to her.

She stepped back and looked him defiantly in the eye.

"I'm not going back!" she answered. Yoko raised an eyebrow. "Oh yes you are. I beat you fair and square. You are my servant."

"Is that all I am to you!" she interrupted angrily. "A piece of property!"

Yoko stared at her for a moment. "You know that is not true." He said quietly.

"Then why even come after me!" she asked crossing her arms. "You have enough demons running around that place. You couldn't possible notice if one was missing."

Yoko smiled and he looked down. "You're right. I wouldn't notice if one took a day off every now and then. But…" he looked up at her, the smile replaced by a serious look. "I would notice if you were gone."

Satira took a step back in surprise. She averted her gaze so she wouldn't have to look into his piercing golden eyes.

"Why?" she finally asked. "You think your going to miss me dying your clothes pink?" Yoko shook his head in aggravation and tried to fight the small smile at the memory; as he walked closer to her.

"Haven't you figured it out that I love you!" he asked with exasperation. Satira immediately look up at him, shock written on her face.

"You what!?"

Yoko closed the space between then and kissed her. "I love you." He said again. Satira struggled with her emotions. She wanted to tell him that she loved him back, that she would go back with him. But it would just out of the question.

"Yoko….I can't." she said finally, pulling away. "You don't understand."

"Satira." He said softly as he pulled her to him and held her. "I don't care what you are hiding, what you did, or what you saw or whatever the reason is that your running…I love you. I want to protect you. I want you to stay with me... and…be my mate."