A/N: I DO NOT OWN ANY OF YU GI OH 5DS OR PRINCESS MONONOKE! ALL RIGHTS GO TO THE CREATORS! THE ONLY THING I OWN ARE MY OCS!

Chapter 16: Death

Tsukiko told her, "We need to hurry." Akiza nodded and they hurried around. They noticed Moro and were quickly at her side.

"Moro! Are you okay?" Akiza asked, worried. She seemed exhausted and didn't respond. The Signer looked around for any sign of her friend. "Yusei! It's Akiza! Yusei!"

Suddenly, she heard him call back, seeming strained, "Akiza!"

She looked around when she began to find the source of the sound. She noticed Okkoto coming forth covered in darker blood red growth.

"Okkoto's… turned into a demon," Akiza commented. Tsukiko growled and got ready to fight.

Boar skins surrounded her with Tsukiko pushed outside the circle, and she knew humans were hiding in them. She looked at them with a tense, warning glare. The humans pointed dart guns towards her.

"Leave, girl," a human whispered warningly.

"Fight me and the Forest Spirit will never come," Akiza retorted. She looked towards the demonized boar and began to approach it. The fake boars made way, but didn't move too much. "Lord Okkoto! Calm down! Please, let me have Yusei! Please! Let him go!" He didn't move. So she called out, "Yusei! Are you there?! It's me! Akiza!" Okkoto roared and Akiza noticed her friend's leg get completely covered by the growth. "Yusei!" she called in alarm. The growth was blown off and Akiza's mark glowed. Any growth that hit her immediately evaporated and she was left fine. Meanwhile, the other humans backed away from the growth and the ones that got on the skins made the humans freak out and run.

A human ordered to kill Akiza and she ducked just began she could get hit by the darts. She hurried and went towards Okkoto to grab Yusei from the demon. The other humans hurried out of their skins and began to try to get to her. But Haru came up and him and Tsukiko immediately began attacking the humans.

Akiza got onto Okkoto and began digging through the growth to get to Yusei. But, despite outward appearances, the growth was deeper than she realized. The demon tried to get her off, but she didn't budge. She caught a glimpse of Yusei's glowing arrowhead and quickly found Yusei unconscious.

"Yusei…" she called as she pulled him closer.

He looked at her. "Akiza-" he began but was cut off as the boar began throwing his head around, trying to get Akiza off. She began to lose her grip and they grabbed each other's arm, trying to keep the other present. However, Akiza was ripped off and she was thrown into the water. "Akiza!" But he was quickly surrounded again by the growth.

Moro slowly opened her eyes, muttering, "Here I was, saving the last of my strength to bite off that damn woman's head. But I must save Yusei…" She began to get up and her two wolf pups stood beside her after the humans were chased from the area. Moro stared at Okkoto. She told her pups, "Don't touch him. He's no longer a god." The boar began to approach and the two younger wolves slowly and cautiously backed away. Okkoto roared out in anger. "You can't even speak, can you?"

Okkoto rammed against Moro who immediately began to tear at the growth and try to grab Yusei. That's when the demon boar noticed something behind Moro. The growth began to turn black and melt away.

Akiza was unconscious in the water when she heard Moro say, "Akiza… Can you save the man you love?"

The Signer woke up and immediately swam to the surface. She gasped for air when she turned as noticed the Forest Spirit walking up towards Moro and Okkoto on top the water. Suddenly, a bullet went through the Forest Spirit's head. He began to sink when he stood back up and continued to float.

Akiza looked at the woman behind a tree. "Eboshi, stop!" The Forest Spirit looked at her for a moment before moving towards the two weakened god and demon. She looked back to Eboshi. "Eboshi, listen to me! Your enemy's not the Forest Spirit! We all rely on its energy. Its energy is connected through all living things. You kill him, you could be taking everyone in this world down with him. And that includes you!"

"Yeah, I'll believe that after the Forest Spirit's head is on my wall!" she retorted.

Akiza glared a bit in frustration. She flipped and hurried towards Moro who seemed to have Yusei in her mouth. Okkoto was backing away from the Forest Spirit, seeming worried and fearful.

Akiza hurried and took Yusei from Moro. The man was unconscious. She whispered to him, "Please, Yusei… Don't die…" She then ducked under the water, with her holding him close to her. She heard Okkoto and Moro fall to the ground above them. 'Goodbye, Moro…'

Once all the growth had gotten off of Yusei, she brought both of them to the surface. She noticed the Forest Spirit begin to change to his Nightwalker form. She looked to see Eboshi aiming her gun at the Forest Spirit.

"Eboshi! Stop!" Akiza called in worry. She grabbed a rock and threw it hard. It nearly knocked the gun out of her hands. Akiza began to hurry over with Yusei. "Eboshi, listen, please…"

The woman merely gave a smug smirk and aimed again. But the Forest Spirit turned to her, pausing his change for a moment. Plants began to grow all over her gun, jamming it a bit. She began to try to get the greenery off.

Eboshi called, "You will die!" She fired a bullet and it pierced his neck. The head separated from the rest of the body and fell to the ground.

Yusei woke up to the sound of the shot and immediately tried to get to the Forest Spirit in alarm. Akiza was holding him back, though. Men came out from behind the trees and hurried to grab the head.

The body of the Forest Spirit began to pull back as a black mass began to come out from inside it. They all tensed in worried. It spread everywhere and everything it touched died. Akiza and Yusei ducked under the water.

They both noticed from below the water's surface the Kodama falling, dead and lifeless. Yusei began to fight to get out of Akiza's hold. They were quick to notice Moro's head come up and bite Eboshi's arm clean off.

Arm like appendages stretched out everywhere as hands began to try to get the head. And the men had already taken it from the area. Akiza forced Yusei onto the island where she knew it would be safe. She went to try to get to Eboshi and what seemed to be her right hand man. But just as she arrived to get them to the island, the black mass touched them and they both fell to the ground.

She immediately ducked under the water and hurried back to Yusei. She looked as she came above water with Yusei as the Forest Spirit's Nightwalker form was partly made, only it was black, dark, and had no head.

Trees began to fall to ground dead as the creature began to search for the head. Akiza immediately mentioned its mission. She looked as Yusei as she got onto land. He gave her a frustrated stare.

"Yusei-"

"You were on their side, weren't you?" he asked, seeming extremely upset.

"Yusei, you know me better than that," she argued. "But we need to find that head fast. I need your help."

"I'll find it on my own," he retorted. "Just get the others and get out of here! And never come back!"

Akiza was a bit shocked. "Yusei-"

"I trusted all of you! The Forest Spirit trusted you! But all humans care about is themselves!" Yusei interrupted.

"Yes. I am human, Yusei," Akiza responded calmly. She approached him slowly. "But so are you."

"No! I'm not! I'm a wolf and a spirit!" Yusei answered.

"Yusei, I know you," she responded. She was right in front of him now. "No matter whether you're the spirit that you are here or the human I knew in New Domino, you are Yusei. And you don't mean any of what you're saying. I can see it in your eyes. You're hurt because of what Eboshi did. I'm not happy with it, either. But Eboshi is dead. She got touched by that deadly matter and died. The only ones alive from being right here are those carrying to head and us. And your mother had already bitten Eboshi's arm off before she died. So Eboshi died in pain."

"Didn't you do anything to stop her?!" Yusei argued.

"I was focused on you. I tried to knock the gun out of her hands, but I can't do that that well while holding you in the water," Akiza explained. She looked down. "I'm sorry I couldn't do more. I wanted to. But you were all I could worry about." That's when she felt Yusei hug her. She hugged him back tight.

"The Forest is dead…" Yusei whispered sad as trees fell around them.

"Not yet," Akiza told him. "If we can give the Forest Spirit back his head, we can reverse these effects. And then he can send all his gifts and job to you. That's what he planned."

"How did you know that?" Yusei asked looking at her shocked.

"Your mother told me last night," Akiza explained. "So, Yusei, let's get the head back to the Forest Spirit. Make everything right again."

He nodded and grabbed her hand. "Let's go."

They hurried off to find the people who took the head. They looked as the decapitated Nightwalker began to stand up and the top of the mass spread out like a cloud. Arms with hands sprouted from the mass in different areas as it spread, desperately looking for the head.

They noticed a bunch of the man focus its stretch on a certain area. They ran towards that area, desperately looking for the men who had the head. Haru and Tsukiko came beside them. They hopped onto the wolves, Akiza on Tsukiko and Yusei on Haru.

The wolves helped them search as they reached the crest of the halls. They noticed the four men hurrying over it, trying to get the head away from the mist.

"There they are!" Yusei called. The wolves hurried towards the humans. They hopped over some of the matter and Yusei and Akiza got off and hurried to intercept the men. Akiza and Yusei stood in front of the men. "Stop right there!"

"Whoa!" the main one gasped. He then said sarcastically, seeming defeated, "Oh! You're both alive… Oh, how nice…"

"We're giving the creature back his head," Akiza told them sternly.

"Put the box down and back away!" Yusei ordered.

"Give the head back now?! Come on, guys, don't be silly!" the man retorted. "Now? When the sun's about to come up? Look!" They looked at the headless Nightwalker. "He's a brainless, swollen, life sucking, god of death! But at sunrise, he'll vanish. Like a bad dream."

Another person holding the crate called in worry, "Sir, it's coming!" They looked to see the mass approaching fast. "We gotta get out of here!"

"Look, everybody wants everything," the lead man told the two trying to get the head back. "That's the way the world is. But I might actually get it."

"Don't force me to kill you," Yusei threatened.

"Oh, dear, you make it sound so easy," the leader responded. "You really oughta," He began to kick and punch at Yusei who was dodging easily, "relax!" Another man began to slice at Akiza who was dodging fairly well, which surprised her a bit. She tried to kick him back and he stumbled back a bit, thankfully. He immediately went at her again. The leader ordered his other two men, "Get going!" They hurried off.

Akiza got away from her offender and hurried to intercept the other men. All the white, the Forest Spirit's deadly form reached out to block the men. It blocked their escape. They dropped the crate holding the head and it rolled towards Yusei.

"Yusei!" she called.

He went to intercept when the leader got in the way and it hit him. Sending them both rolling down the hill a bit. Yusei and Akiza were immediately behind him. He stopped with the crate on top of a large and tall boulder.

The leader called, "Come on, sun! Rise!"

Yusei and Akiza hurried onto the rock and Yusei ordered, "Open the box!"

"Don't you see? It's too late for that now!" the leader argued.

"Why are you wasting your breath talking to him?" Akiza asked sternly. He gave a nervous face. "Human hands must return it."

The leader growled a bit before opening the box. The lid came off and revealed green goo surrounded the head. Akiza and Yusei picked it up. They held the head up towards the Nightwalker.

"Forest Spirit!" Yusei called.

"Take your head back!" Akiza followed. "Please! We're giving it back!"

"Take it and be at peace!" Yusei added.

The headless Nightwalker leaned down, a neck starting to form. Yusei wrapped his arm around Akiza and brought her in close. The neck landed on them a they were surrounded by powerful winds and a bright light.