CHAPTER 5

((((SCENE WITH MOON SPIRIT CRAAAAP!)))))

While Fuuka was riding the motor bike with only the lantern and the glowing possessed sword as her guide, it took her a very very long time to even find the correct direction to follow. She had to dodge random dangerous creatures, she decided that she had no time to get off the bike and kill any monsters, she had to get to the Kitsune guardian spirit at the oasis.

When she passed a familiar pile of rubble, she sighed in relief, she knew that she was finally on the right path. Before she knew it she came upon the giant cave that she had visited earlier in the day. It was far to hazardous too use the motor bike to travel up the cliff that the cave rested on so she proceeded on foot, using all of her speed to run to the cliff's top. When she reached the top, she was overwhelmed to see the giant oasis within the cave, with a large glowing tree in the center of the giant acid water lake. She had to catch her breath, and wished that the dis-colored water was pure so she could have a refreshing drink.

She stood at the edge of the acid lake and used a power leap to get to the shore of the bank that the tree stood on. She spotted the pale, sapphire-eyed Kitsune spirit. He had his fangs bared at her.

"What are you doing here?"

The fox snarled. The curse mark that the Kitsune gave Fuuka earlier glowed on her hand.

"Kitsune, I came to repay you."

She held out the chunk of stone that she got earlier. The rock didn't shine, and she felt her stomach squirm. The whole point of this was to bring something shiny (which is what Kitsunes like) so she took a piece of the shiny stone surrounding the Moon spirit. Now she had released the Moon spirit for no reason.

The Kitsune sniffed the stone.

"This is the encasing of the Moon spirit."

He said, then looked into the sky at the blacked sphere that used to be the bright moon.

His white snout crinkled in rage.

"Was this your doing?"

"I-ahh, I.."

"Did you destroy the Moon spirit!?"

He growled.

"No I definitely did not do that! I was told about the spirit within the stone...so I thought I would let it out, and it kinda flew out at me..then it went inside my sword."

She told him honestly. His bushy tail flicked impatiently.

"Here it is."

She pulled her sword off of her back and laid it in the white grass in front of the Kitsune. He sniffed at it, and the blade glowed, whistling. The Kitsune made odd growling noises at the sword, talking with the spirit Fuuka guessed. She kneeled watching in awe while the spirits had a conversation.

Until suddenly the Kitsune screamed as a blade was thrust through it.

"AHHH!!"

Fuuka shrieked as the fox's black blood splattered all over the grass, the sword and Fuuka. The sword was being held by a man with small sunglasses sitting on the bridge of his nose.

"So you released the Moon spirit then."

He said, watching the fox's body twist and collapse and withdrawing the sword.

"I didn't think anyone could be stupid enough to break through that rock to let the spirit out. Now, hand it over."

He signaled to the sword that was soiled with black blood. Fuuka was frozen but soon grabbed the sword to hold it behind her at arm's length.

"You're not getting it. I don't even know who you are!"

He had a scary but friendly smile.

"I am Fuuma, I come from the other tower. Now let me bring the moon back to it's right condition."

"No! Don't come near me! I am an expert demon slayer, and you are the most demonic person I've ever seen!"

She shouted and his face became more stern.

"Don't make me spill your blood all over this pure grass."

He didn't see (but felt) as the Kitsune seemed to come back to life, and turn it's mostly limp and mangled body to latch its teeth onto Fuuma's leg. He yelled and kicked the Kitsune a few feet away.

"Don't kill him!"

Fuuka screamed through tears as the poor bloodied fox landed roughly and grunted. Fuuma looked at his bleeding wound and a curse mark appeared, very different from the one on Fuuka's hand.

"Damn rat."

The Kitsune was somehow still able to move, his lifted his head.

"You have to kill me ten times over before you let that girl's blood fall. That curse will kill you slowly from the inside out, and the rate will only increase the longer you are near me!"

Fuuma doubled over feeling the curse burn at his organs.

"Damn you- don't think that blade will stay in your possession for long!"

He said leaving quickly. A slightly shell-shocked Fuuka ran over to the Kitsune.

"Please don't die guardian, don't die!"

She pleaded afraid to touch him anywhere, his black blood made it impossible to locate the wounds on him.

"Put me in the water."

He struggled to say.

"The water, it will heal me.."

She carefully lifted him and carried him over a few feet to dip him into the water. As she held him in the acid, it burned and peeled at her hands. Tears rolled down her face with the pain and the Kitsune layed limp in her hands for a while, his eyes half open. Then his blood disappeared and he wiggled out of her grip to swim further into the water. He turned and lightly bit at her hand to tell her to take her hands out of the burning acid. When her hands were out, the curse mark faded away.

She laid her still painful hands on her lap and waited for her tears to stop, watching the Kitsune slowly gain strength swimming around. She watched him until her face was dry and he climbed out of the water, shaking his pristine fur dry. Not a scratch on him.

He came up to her and started to lick her hands, his tongue was smooth and cooling. It felt so good on her hands.

"Thank you."

He said kindly through licks.

"I'm so glad you're okay.."

She sniffed, looking at the sword.

"The sun is rising."

The Kitsune said looking up at the sky that was slowly becoming more lit. Fuuka suddenly leaned over holding her growling stomach.

"Ahh..so hungry..it's been at least 20 hours since I ate.."

She muttered. When she sat up, the Kitsune had his front paws on her lap, with a pure fruit hanging from his jaws.

"Eat it, you will be completely revived."

He said as she took it.

"But I'm not supposed to-"

"You saved my life. And you protected the Moon spirit. I am forever in your debt."

He told her.

"Please tell me your name, girl."

She bit into the delicious and rejuvenating fruit.

"It's Fuuka."

"I am Kazune the Yokou guardian."

She nodded and when she finished the fruit, she wa exhausted.

"Kazune.....sama...would it bother you if I just took a nap here?"

She asked.

"Not at all. Rightfully you're probably very tired now. Sleep as much as you like."

Kazune said, Fuuka leaned against the tree's trunk and fell asleep.

Fai clenched his eyes shut tight, trying not to think of the pain. Or the feeling of the liquid being sucked out of his veins. He was trying to let his mind wander to happier thoughts and memories, still holding Ai on him. Occasionally her tongue would brush over the puncture wounds, which was the worst feeling of this whole experience.

Some blood seeped out and tricked down his neck onto the collar of his clothing, soaking into the material and becoming warm on his skin.

His nostrils burned with the strong irony smell of his own blood, but in a strange way. It did burn because of it's reek, but in a way he wanted it. He couldn't get enough of the scent, he wanted to taste it.

Soon Ai stopped drinking, and just breathed slowly, licking the holes in Fai's neck that she created. Then he saw that her eyes turned back to grey and she fell asleep on him. He put his hand over the teeth marks that were disappearing quickly. He felt dizzy and light headed as he laid flat on the cold stone floor closing his eyes. The strangest part was that during her drinking, Fai had a strange haze of feelings floating in his mind. A feeling of a bond, a tie to her. He was thinking along the lines of a familiar vampiric term, a Provider. Apparently that is what Kurogane was to him, his food source. He also had a flash of the idea of biting into her and...

"..NNn...uhhggh..."

Ai shifted, trying to open her eyes.

"Are vampires supposed to sleep this long?"

She heard Fuuka ask and she looked up at her friend drowsily.

"What are you talking about?"

"I know already, you're a vampire. There's a lot of them here apparently."

Ai sat up rubbing the back of her neck. There was the smell of dry blood on her, but none was on her face as far as she could tell. Or on her neck.

"You've been asleep for a long time."

"How long?"

"About eight days. Apparently that's natural. Kamui's a vampire, Subaru's a vampire, Fai, am I just not cool enough for this club?"

She teased.

"Why are you being so nice to me?"

Ai asked feeling how unclean her hair was.

"Well I'm having a good time in this world...well, apart from the whole thing about releasing the moon spirit and sticking it in my sword."

Ai raised her eyebrows in interest.

"Tell me all about it."

"Okay, so the moon spirit was in my sword, this one."

She showed her the sword, which appeared to have been knawed on.

"What happened to it?"

"There was this...wacky kitsune, another onw, who was totally infatuated in the spirit in the sword...uhh, long story short, the moon got back in the sky and we got the memory feather for that girl, Sakura."

"Cool."

"I heard you nearly died."

Ai felt a rushing warm sensation when she remembered what happened before curling into her fetal position over a week ago.

"Nearly...I'm alive now...so...."

She couldn't distinctly remember her feeding on Fai, but she knew she did it. She knew the feeling, the taste, the sound of his steady breathing with his head back as she flexed her jaw in his nape, draining the warm satisfying liquid from him.

"So does that mean you drank his blood?"

Fuuka asked curiously.

"Yeah I did......wait, it was Fai right!?"

She asked frantically.

"It had to have been. We found you on top of him."

Fuuka grinned. Then she stood heading out of the bedroom that Ai had been placed in.

"I'm gonna go see that Kitsune. I got rid of my curse by the way. We're probably going to leave this world since you're awake."

"That's cool. So about Kamui..."

"He's really cool."

Was all Fuuka said as she left the room.