Two days past since Rei and Asuka left the old village and headed toward Oshu. Little happened on those two days, only two attacks by very small groups of demons. Asuka was able to follow Rei's advice and kill the demons, she was getting very good at doing so with her bare hands. As they traveled the weather got progressively cooler. Asuka, who had less to wear than Rei, acted like she wasn't cold at all, but it was starting to get two her. On the morning of the third day the temperature had dropped dramatically and the fire they started could barley keep them warm.

"Damn it's cold!" Asuka said sounding quite upset.

"Yeah just a bit huh?" replied Rei calmly.

"How do you do it Rei? Your always calm and your nowhere near as cold as I am."

"I don't know. I guess I'm calm because I've been through so much. With my training and all I must have learned it. As for the cold I have no idea. The extra layers probably help."

"I wish I had some more clothes, this was fine in the cave but out here, damn."

"Here," Rei said taking off her haori, "take my haori. You need it more than I do."

"No I couldn't then both of us would be cold."

"Better both of us a little cold than one of us dead from it."

Asuka grabber the haori and put it on. It was still warm for Rei's body heat and Asuka smiled when she put it on. She had only argued for politeness sake, but in reality she wanted to wear Rei's haori, she wanted to feel the warmth and kindness of her only friend.

When they started walking that day Asuka was still slightly cold. She crossed her arms across her chest and started to rub her arms. Even with this and the walking Asuka could not warm herself up. She stayed quite miserable for some time. After a while of walking Rei looked at Asuka who was still rubbing her arms.

"No wonder you're still cold." Rei said grabbing Asuka's arms. "Don't rub your arms rub your body, the arms will take care of themselves." Rei moved Asuka's arms to make them wrap around her torso.

"Thank you." Asuka said slightly shocked. She never expected Rei to do something like that. She expected advise to just be verbal not this.

"Come on, lets keep going." Rei said as she turned to walk forward.

That night Rei and Asuka gathered a lot if fire wood and heaped it into a pile. Anything they could find from small sticks to small dead trees they brought over. When they piled it all up Rei summoned her fire demon and had it set the wood ablaze. The flames were taller than them and emitted a huge amount of heat. It was exactly what they needed. Rei and Asuka sat close together to keep each other warm as they eat their evening meal.

"No tell me again Rei, why did we decide to go north in the winter?"

"Because the place I need to go to is inaccessible until spring, so if I got stuck up here due to the snow it would be ok. I'd just spend the winter waiting."

"Doesn't seem very productive."

"May not be, but if I went south I'd have to travel through lots of islands and it would have been more of a pain I think."

"Ok I guess you know more about this than I do." Asuka said and then shook violently.

"That was a large shiver, are you ok Asuka?"

"No I'm freezing! Nothing is making me warmer!" she said angrily.

"Here take off the haori."

"Huh, what?"

"Come on, just for a second."

Asuka reluctantly took the haori off her body leaving only the thin clothes she had. Rei then moved right next to Asuka so they were shoulder to shoulder. She then took the haori and wrapped it as best she could over both of them. Asuka blushed.

"This is the best thing we can do to keep warm. If we share or body heat it should help you a lot." said Rei.

Asuka sat there shocked by what just happened. She could remember the older couples in her cave village doing something similar when they were cold. It always seemed like it had something to do with the fact that they were married. She wasn't exactly sure what she was feeling, but it was strange to her.

Rei looked up at Asuka and noticed the confused look on her face. "This is fine. It's a basic survival technique to share body heat and such. Another one is to sleep under the same blanket to keep even more heat in. This has to be done some times."

The color of Asuka's face was approaching the color of her hair, and, consequently, her body temperature was also rising. Rei could feel the extra heat coming off Asuka's face.

"See it worked." She thought.

A few minutes later, when Asuka had finally gotten control of herself and her blushing she looked at the fire and spoke.

"Wont a fire this large attract demons?"

"There's a possibility of that, but all the fires I've made so far haven't so we should be ok."

"But your still ready for an attack aren't you?"

"Of course. If I relaxed then they would definitely attack and I'd be killed."

"That's an interesting way to look at it."

"It's the safest way."

Both girls sat silent for a moment. For some reason Asuka couldn't think about normal conversation. The thought of being this close to Rei kept plaguing her mind and she wanted to get closer. She tried desperately to get that thought out of her head but to no avail.

"Is everything alright Asuka?" Rei asked concerned.

"Uh, umm, ye-yeah. Of course it is. Thanks. I'm not cold anymore." she said softly.

"Good." Rei said with a smile. "We'd better get some sleep, we have to keep walking tomorrow."

"Yeah."

The next day they continued north and the weather continued to get colder as they went. It seemed as though that, by the time they reached their destination, the land would be completely covered in ice and snow and they would not be able to move because of the cold. Around mid morning Rei and Asuka noticed that they were being followed. They both walked with heightened awareness trying to figure out where the demons were. When they attacked from behind, they were ready.

These demons were unlike anything else thy had seen. They were very much like humans, same basic structure of head arms and body, but they were only the upper half. The demons had no legs and floated through the air. They carried swords that were visibly stained with blood. They had sunken faces and blood thirst eyes.

"This could be bad." said Asuka.

"Maybe. Asuka be careful of those swords, try and get behind them and hit them from the back."

"Right."

They both stood ready. Asuka was in her fighting stance with a confident grin on her face. Rei stood very relaxed and slowly drew her sword from its sheath. When the demons attacked they attacked all at once. They were not coordinated in their attack as the wolf pack that Rei had fought before, instead they just swung their swords trying to make contact and draw blood.

Asuka had no problem avoiding the first attack. She side stepped kicked the demon in the back when it bent backwards from the force Asuka took the same foot she had just kicked with and brought it up and then down on the demons head. It fell and crashed into the ground. The next one attacked and Asuka side stepped again, but this time another one tried to stab her when she moved. Rei, who had just cut down two demons with a single stroke noticed the danger Asuka was in.

"ASUKA WAYCH OUT!" she yelled.

Asuka noticed the sword coming at her and her eyes widened. Just then, as the blade was about to make contact with Asuka, the demons sword kicked away and a sheath fell from the side of it. Rei had thrown her sheath and stopped Asuka's demise. Instinctively Asuka grabbed the sheath before it hit the ground and used it as her weapon, blocking attacks and striking her opponents. After about twenty minutes the last of the demons had been killed, some by Asuka and her bludgeoning and more cut easily by Rei(the last one decapitated, its blood spraying up into the air). Rei shook the blood off her sword and turned to Asuka. Asuka handed back the sheath.

"Thank you Rei." she said. "All though I could have dodged that attack the sheath really helped."

"You welcome Asuka." she replied ignoring the joke. "Asuka your covered in blood. Lets find a stream and clean up."

Asuka looked at herself. She had not realized that all that blood had gotten on her. She looked up at Rei. "Yeah I'm sorry about the sheath, it has more blood on it that I do." Asuka paused for a moment. "Rei, you don't have any blood on you, how did you do that?"

"I don't know." Rei said calmly. In her mind she figured that the level of skill she had would be too high for something like that to happen. She knew that Kenji would never have gotten blood on himself either. "Come on lets go."

The walked and looked for a stream. It was late in the afternoon and they found nothing. Apparently they would have to stay blood soaked for a while.

"Damn, why isn't there some water around here? The smell of all this blood id starting to get to me."

"I know it's bad Asuka, but there's nothing we can do."

"Do we at least have some food, that will make me feel better."

"Yeah, but if we eat know we have to keep walking when we're done, ok?"

"Sure."

They sat and ate what was left of their food. They would have to find more soon. Asuka calmed down considerably during the meal. The thought of being covered in blood left and she was just happy to be sitting down with Rei. Even though she had said she would help clear the mist Asuka just wanted to be with her only friend and the only person she had spoken to in years. She was so happy Rei had come to the cave and that she found her. Asuka couldn't stop thinking about how happy Rei made her feel, it was a little strange.

When they finished they continued walking just as Rei had said they would. When night fell they found a spot to sleep for the night, but that plan was interrupted before they could find any firewood. As they began to prepare their resting place there was a loud sound from out in the forest. The sound shook the ground and startled wake the birds sleeping in the trees. Rei and Asuka turned toward the sound.

"What was that?" asked Asuka with slight concern in her voice.

"I don't know." replied Rei.

Just then a tree was knocked over just a few meters away. From the trees emerged a large demon, roughly twice the size of a human. It was very muscular and covered in black hair. Its eyes glowed a bright yellow and its fangs dripped with saliva. It stood in front of Rei and Asuka growling and its large powerful hands scraped the ground. Moments later another demon of the same type emerged from the trees.

"Holy shit." Asuka said calmly, her brain stunned by fear.

"Asuka," Rei said firmly, "stay back understood?"

"Y-yeah."

Rei slowly drew her sword and held it down at her side. This gesture caused the two demons to register Rei as their target. This was fine, Rei would rather fight two large monsters on her own than have to also worry about Asuka getting hurt. Waving her left hand in front of her Rei summoned her fire demon. It stood out in front of her ready for orders. She pointed her sword at on of the demons and hers charged at it. As it got closed her demon glowed red and burst into flames. It flew through the air and impacted on the demons face, it fell down onto its back. The second demon tried to crush Rei with one of its powerful hands, but Rei stepped back to avoid it. Immediately she jumped up at the demons head. Going past it she severed the demons neck, its blood spraying out in large, black masses. The first demon stood back up and attacked Rei as she landed. Without hesitation she swung her sword and severed the arm of the demon at the wrist. The demon cried out in pain. She again jumped up at the demons head, but this time she thrust her sword into its throat. Both demons were dead.

Asuka stood silent, no longer horrified by Rei's ruthlessness in battle. Rei had told her the first time they fought together that this was the only way to stop the evil demons. Asuka had embraced this, but the way Rei did it was simply amazing. There was something horrifying and amazing in the way Rei never missed a step and would cut anything that tried to hurt them maliciously. The most amazing part was how Rei felt afterward, she never liked killing, it was just something she had to do. Asuka's thoughts were interrupted when she noticed Rei running toward her.

"Come on we have to move." Rei said as she ran.

"Ok." Asuka quickly replied and turned to run away. After a few moments of running Asuka asked, "Why are we running, you killed both of them?"

"Because," Rei answered, "There are more."

Asuka gasped and then realized that Rei still held her sword in her hand. Soon after a loud booming sound came from behind them and something screamed as if it was angry, and judging by the sound that it produced, it was very large.

"That's another one of those things huh?"

"Yeah, now keep running."

After an hour of running Rei and Asuka reached a field it was there Rei stopped.

"What is it?" Asuka said worriedly.

"We're trapped."

"What!?"

"My god your perceptive." said a voice from the shadows.

"Who are you?" said Asuka pointing at the figure that slowly emerged.

"My my didn't you tell this girl anything? I hate that question of who I am. My name was lost long ago. Back when I gave up being human and embraced the mist and this demon. Back when I became immortal."

"Hachi." Rei said calmly.

"Hachi?"

"I'm so glad you remembered me. After are last encounter I bet you wondered when you'd see me again."

"What exactly is it that you want?"

"To be completely honest the boss told me to play with you for a while and then kill you before you reach Oshu. I just think it's more fun to torture you if you know it's me."

"Why doesn't he want us getting to Oshu?" asked Asuka.

"Don't know, didn't ask, and really, I don't care. That skill you demonstrated in our last encounter interested me Shinpishugisha. I always kill things that interest me."

Rei and Asuka stood in fighting stances and readied themselves for an attack from Hachi. Both their eyes narrowed as they focused on their opponent.

"Oh my your frightening." Hachi said with a smile. "Don't worry your not fighting me, your fighting my friends." He raised his right hand and turned it palm up. The he snapped his fingers. Summoned by the noise many demons materialized themselves from the ground. They were tall and thin standing on four legs. Their heads were similar to that of bats and they had wings coming of the fore part of their front legs. Rei noticed that the wings were sharp like swords. Their bodies were crystal.

Rei closed her eyes and relaxed, when she opened then they were no longer narrowed as before, but relaxed and easy.

"Ah I see, you think you will be able to purify them. Back many thousands of years ago there were a lot more of your kind, the demon whisperer. To command demons the need only look at them. You have to kill them, you much like a child in that way." Hachi snapped his fingers again and the demons took flight.

The demons soared into the air and flew around overhead. Rei and Asuka shifted their stances to be able to defend from above. They were each attacked by a single demon. Asuka had no problem avoiding the initial attack of the demon as it swooped down and attack with its fangs. It became slightly more difficult, however, when it attacked with its wings. All thought the wings stuck straight off the arms of the demon it was able to change the angle of them and rotate them on its body, spinning them as an attack. Asuka could still dodge the demon, but counter attacking was a challenge. She was only able to strike back once.

After Asuka's counter, which was a kick to the head of the demon, another one swooped down and attacked. Now Asuka could not attack at all. It took everything she had to avoid being hit. Rei had similar problems except she was fighting three demons and was able to attack. Unfortunately for her most of the were blocked by the demons blades. Four blades swung at Asuka, six at Rei and one at the demons. The dance of blades continued for over an hour.

Hachi stood back and laughed while Rei and Asuka fought. Several more demons still flew overhead and the five that were attacking were too much for them. Hachi was having the time of his life.

"This is great, you can't stop them. There's still many more to go and I can keep this up all…"

He was interrupted by the spray of blood from two of the demons. Rei had avoided one and cut up across the demons body. Asuka had set up the demons to defeat themselves. She moved one onto one side and the other to the opposite side. When one attacked she ducked so one demon cut the other, its blood flowing across her back. The remaining demons flew down from the sky, three attacked Asuka and two attacked Rei.

Rei turned and threw one of her daggers at the demons as they flew at her. The dagger impaled the beast in the eye and it fell down to the ground. Quickly she turned to see three demons flying at Asuka and one already attacking. She swung up her hand and summoned the snake demon. Instead of forming a bridge like before it came out on its side and formed a wall in front of Asuka stopping the immediate charge of the demons. Rei deciding that she needed to help Asuka ended her fight then.

From where she was Rei spun around and kicked a demon using the momentum from the spin. While continuing the spin she cut that demon splitting the skull. She then grabbed the sword with her left hand and jumped, thrusting the sword into the demons underbelly as it was almost down for its attack. The last demon attacking her came in from behind. Rei turned the sword behind her and blocked the attack without looking. She turned herself around and cut the demon three times; once severing the arm, another at the throat, and the last at the base of its wing. Rei grabbed that severed wing and hurled it toward one of the demons fighting Asuka. The wing tore threw its body and stuck it into the ground.

Asuka now only had three demons attacking her. This time with more blades attacking her it was even more difficult to dodge, but she was starting to get used to the movements, After avoiding a slice to the neck by only a fraction of an inch she jumped into the air and kicked that demon in the face. At the same time she turned and punched another demon. The third tried to attack while she was in midair, but at the last moment she was able to bring her leg back in from the kick and attack again, striking that demon. When she landed she finished one demon by kicking it on the top of the head and into the ground, breaking the skull. The next was stopped by a series of hand strikes to its body breaking several bones. The last tried to cut her from behind and was instead stabbed by Rei who had quickly run over to stop it.

Asuka turned realizing that Rei had again saved her. Than that demon's body broke apart and its spirit stayed in its place. It had been purified by Rei who had killed it purely to save a friend. As its spirit melded into Rei she softly spoke the words, "thank you". Hachi moved forward from where he was standing.

"Well this is interesting. Before at the castle you were interesting, but now you are truly interesting. You'll do anything to protect her wont you?"

Hachi vanished and landed behind Asuka. Grabbing Asuka he moved with speed similar to Rei's perfect defense from their first meeting. The difference was, instead of a steady circle it was random. Images of Hachi holding Asuka appeared all over the field. Rei looked around and the rapidly moving Hachi with her eyes still relaxed like before.

"Bad move." she said calmly. Instantly Rei vanished and reappeared with Asuka in her arms.

Hachi stopped his movement and was shocked. Rei calmly sat Asuka down and had her move away.

"How did you do that?" Hachi asked angrily.

"You don't get to know. You tried to harm my friend, bad idea." Rei formed the same circle around Hachi as before. The complete circle of images facing Hachi.

Hachi laughed, "This didn't work before why would it work know?"

Then a line of Rei's appeared across the top of the circle from one side to the other. Another line appeared from one spot to another. This continued until all the space from the ground up, in a dome shape, was covered in Rei images. Asuka stood back amazed at what her friend was doing.

"My god, this is because, he harmed me?"

"What the hell is this!?" roared Hachi.

"This is my ultimate entrapment technique. By encircling you in this impervious defense and then expanding it you are unable to pass and you simply await my decision to end your life. There are three good points to this for you; one I only just know learned this technique so you are the first to experience it, two you wont feel any pain, your death will be instant."

Without waiting for anything else Hachi tried to escape from his prison. Ah ran at the side of the circle and attacked in an attempt to get out. His attack was stopped by Rei's sword, there was no alteration with the images around him. He tried several more time to get free jumping and running, moving at the speed he had grabbed Asuka with, but to no avail.

"And three," Rei voice said in a calm voice that cooled blood, "there is a tiny moment that this attack can be stopped, if your as fast as you say than you'll see it, but your not."

With the finishing of her sentence the images of Rei vanished and the only thing that remained was a single Rei and Hachi, both of whom stood motionless. Rei swung her sword and placed it back into its sheath. With the click of the blade finishing its entry three cuts opened up on Hachi, one on his left between the pelvis and the ribs, the next at his liver on his right, and the last on his neck splitting the corotid artery. Blood sprayed from the wounds and covered the ground. The human that was incased in the demon disintegrated as if it had been dead for hundreds of years and the demons shell collapsed. Rei turned to the heap that was Hachi and put her hands together in a prayed position.

"Your soul was lost for so long, I hope you find something in you next life."

"Rei." said Asuka like a small child from aside.

"Oh Asuka, are you alright?"

"I'm fine. I had no idea you could do that. It was scary."

"I just learned I could do that now. The fact that he was going to hurt you just to hurt me more was more than I wanted to have happen. I found some new power within me and I could do that. I think the energy from these demons I absorb might have something to with it."

"You did something that amazing, that horrifying, because he tried to hurt me?"

"Asuka, I know you're a good fighter, but these demons are strong, and he was even stronger. Without a weapon and without proper training it's extremely dangerous. Since I brought you into this I have to make sure you're ok. I don't want to be responsible for your death."

"Rei." Asuka said calmly, the deep feeling for her slowly returning as the ferocity faded.

The sun started to rise and light slowly peaked threw the trees from over the mountains. The sky glowed a brilliant red resembling very much the scene that was at their feet. It was almost like the planet itself was bleeding that day.

"Come on," said Rei trying to get a smile on her face, "Lets get out of here."

"Yeah." said Asuka who happily followed.

After a while of walking in silence Asuka slowly tried to make herself speak. After a moment of trying what she had wanted, had needed to say finally came out.

"Rei. I wanted to say thank you. You do so much for me and I don't do enough. I have to stop thinking like I did in the cave. From now on I wont be frightened by what you do. I'll fight too, I'll kill to, and as soon as we can we're getting me a weapon. I'm not as strong as you and I don't think I ever will be, but I'll get strong enough so I stop freezing up when I see you kill. I'll gain my resolve."

"Thank you Asuka for saying that. I hated scaring you. And I was hoping you weren't thinking that you were holding me back or that you were a burden because your not. A friend can never be a burden."

"Me a burden, I'm the great Asuka, the girl who survived whatever killed the rest of her clan. You should be overly happy to be traveling with me."

Rei smiled and laughed, the first real smile and laugh they had had in a while. "All right lets keep going. I know you must be tired, but we should probably try and get us some food. Three has to be animal life around here that we can eat."

"Yeah. Let me help, give me one of you knives, I'll fasten it into a tree branch and I can use it as a spear. It will only be temporary, but it will help me hunt and I might be able to fight with it."

"Knowing you you'll break it within the first hour, but ok."

To get a sturdy enough branch for Asuka to use as a weapon Rei Cut a branch from a living tree. With this it would not be decaying and would a slight bit of playability to reduce the chances of breaking. After Rei cut the branch she thanked the tree silently. Using the knife, that would become the spear, Rei split one end of the branch. She then took the blade of the knife out of the handle and lodged it in the opening. By removing the wrapping from the handle of the knife and wrapping it around the branch where the knife was inserted a crude weapon was made. Asuka took her weapon and swung it around with joy. After performing a few swings and thrust she stood the spear next her and smiled.

"Yeah, now lets get us some food." Asuka said.

The two girls carefully walked through the forest trying to find animal tracks. Asuka followed Rei's lead since she had a better idea of what she was doing. They found several sets of tracks but were unable to find any of the creatures they belonged to. All the animals in the forest seemed to be hiding from them. Some time in the afternoon the two girls had grown tired of searching for food. They stopped and contemplated why there efforts yielded nothing.

"I know you can have bad days, but this is crazy." said Asuka. "I've done this before and you're an expert, why cant we find anything?"

"I'm not sure. We're not making enough sound for anything to notice us this early. What else could it be?" Rei went instantly quiet.

'What's the matter?" asked Asuka. "Do you know what the problem is?"

"Yeah I do. Your covered in blood."

Asuka looked at herself and she was indeed covered in blood from several demons. "You mean that they can smell it and are running away?"

"Looks that way yeah. I guess we have to live on vegetables for a while."

"Your so calm. We can't survive on just vegetables for too long, we need better energy if we keep getting in fights." I know but right now there isn't much we can do about it. We have to keep going on that. Maybe we'll get lucky and come across something that we can catch."

"Sure. That'll happen. Some animal is going to be stupid enough to stand in front of us and wait to be killed."

"It could happen, you never know."

"Uh-huh."

The two girls turned and resumed their walk toward their destination. While walking Asuka's mind was focused on finding something to eat weather it be a plant or animal. Rei on the other hand was thinking about Hachi.

"He said he was the weakest." Rei said to herself. "That means there are seven others above him and then that Shinigami. I have a feeling that they are behind all this. If so we'll have to fight them. This could be bad."

Later that day, as the sun began to set, Asuka stopped and dropped to her knees.

"I'm done. Can we rest now please. No food, no sleep and fighting all those annoying things, I'm exhausted."

"Sure Asuka." Rei said with a slight giggle. "This isn't a bad place either. That's pretty convenient."

"I waited until now to stop because it was a good place. I wanted to stop two hours ago."

Rei laughed out loud at this. The idea that, even thought she was terribly tired and hungry, Asuka waited for a good location to stop was funny to her. Asuka looked up at her friend and laughed as well. Their laughter continued for quite a while, it was a good release after all that had happened. They started a fire and sat down against a tree. Asuka did not sit up against Rei instead she looked slightly upset.

"Is something wrong Asuka?" Rei asked when she noticed the look on her face.

"No. It's just, I got blood all over the haori you gave me. It's ruined, I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it." Rei replied. "It wasn't important or anything. I found it at Fuyutsuki castle and took it. It has no significant value to me other than a warm coat, so it's no big deal if its stained."

With this a smile came across Asuka's face. She felt relieved that she had not destroyed something important to her friend.

"Now it you had gotten blood all over my mothers necklace than I might be mad." Rei grabbed her necklace and lifted it off of her chest to look at it. The necklace was a perfect circle only about three centimeters in diameter. It had an intricate design of lines and circles all incased in two outer circles. Between those two lines were many small symbols that Rei did not recognize but knew meant something. She had no idea if this necklace was anything more than a piece of jewelry or not, but she treasured it as the only thing she had from her mother, other than her blood.

"That's a very beautiful necklace." Asuka said seeing the smile it gave Rei.

"Thank you." Rei said placing it back on her chest. "We should et some sleep, we still have a lot of traveling to do."

"Right."

Both girls closed their eyes and feel asleep.

The next several days were as disappointing as the last. Rei and Asuka could catch no food and had to live on the small amounts of edible plants they could find on bushes and trees. Even more difficult was, on the third day, snow started to fall. It continued to snow all day and it covered up many of the plants they were using. By the end of the third day the snow was piled up half way up their shins and it slowed their pace considerably, neither had ever walked I so much snow. With frozen feet they had to lay out something for them to sleep on. Unfortunately the only thing they had was the blood stained haori so they sat together on the for the night. The tree they slept under provided little shelter from the now so Rei summoned the snake demon and tried to make a barrier from the snow. It worked a little.

For two days they trekked through the ever increasing snow. Their clothes were drenched from all the snow and every time they stopped to eat they lit a large fire in an attempt to dry off and warm up. Asuka and Rei huddled together like children at night to keep as warm as possible. Asuka would shake violently from the cold while Rei stayed relatively fine. The only reason she could come up with is that the fire demon inside her was keeping her warm. Rei would hold Asuka as tight as possible like a concerned mother and Asuka would burry herself in Rei's chest, both trying to maximize the amount of heat shared between them.

On the third day Asuka was almost too cold to move. She tried her best but the cold was making her clumsy and she fell down several times into the snow. After the second fall Rei came over and help Asuka up. She then motioned to have Asuka climb on her back. Rei carried Asuka the rest of the day. Asuka clung to Rei and shook like a leaf. Rei was very upset that there was so little that she could do for her.

Mid way through the next day Rei was carrying Asuka and they reached a ravine. On the other side Rei could just make out buildings in the distance. They were close to their destination, they only had to cross the ravine and they would be close enough to celebrate. Rei summoned the bat demon that she gained from the fight with Hachi. IT grabbed her shoulders and carried both her and Asuka across the ravine. Asuka was barley conscious her energy being taken away by the cold.

"Don't worry Asuka," Rei said when they landed, "we're almost there. We'll get you warm soon."

Rei continued to walk without stopping well into the night. She carried Asuka with the only intent to make it to shelter and warm her up to prevent her death. She cared nothing for her hunger or fatigue, Asuka's wellbeing was all that mattered.

Some time in the early hours of the morning Rei and Asuka arrived at Oshu and were surprised at what they saw. Around Oshu there was no mist. At six points around the village there stood giant windmills that spun and blew the mist away. The village looked as thought it was alive and well while all around them was horror. This sight assured Rei that she would be able to find Asuka the help she needed.

AUTHOR NOTE: I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I tired to bring out some vulnerability in Asuka while still keeping a little of her self assured attitude. I hope the relationship building was alright this was my first attempt at it. And for those of you that wanted some action, too bad none yet, or maybe at all. I'll make you wait to see what happens between these two. I also hope there was enough description in the fights for you all, again I'm new at that. Next chapter will take place almost entirely in Oshu, the town that freed itself from the mist. Find out the mystery behind this sanctuary lost in the cursed earth.