Besarki: I had a really weird day today. On my way to the bus stop this morning, I walked past this indian lady that I've never seen before. At school, I showed my one friend, who is Chinese, my SK KZB vol 27 and she started reading half the stuff. Okay, I know that kanji is based off chinese characters, but to translate Manta's name exactly? That was weird. Later, my English teacher told us to go to a different room, then he went to a room other than the one he told us. I got to ninth period study hall and all these people who aren't normally there showed up. Then, I got off the bus and started walking home. Guess who I walked past? The indian lady. Too weird.

Reviewer101: GASP! Fellow ghost believer! YAY! Hahaha.
No manga? Aww, that's so sad. I'm eighteen (OMG! Who's shocked? Besarki's eighteen?! Yes she is) and have my own credit card so my dad can't tell me not to buy stuff. Plus, I'm pretty good with my money so he wouldn't anyway. If you had a signed account or sent me your email (you could create a new one on gmail if you didn't want to give your normal one) then I could take pictures of the arc when the books come in the mail and send them to you...No manga...That's just too depressing. I'd die.

Smart Angel: Ahhhh! You replied to my reply via the new system! I was totally pumped. Gwaaaaa!

Random Note: So, I don't like how I ended last chapter and I think I'm going to redo it. So everyone look out for a new ending as I will be doing it sometime this week.

Sorry. Here's the chapter.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You're not the only one
Refusing to go down
You're not the only one
So get up

~Riot, Three Days Grace


What is it with Italians? This is the third guy who's struck up a conversation with me, all the while speaking pure Italian while I tried in vain to say that I didn't understand. You'd think the fact that I was speaking Japanese would be a dead giveaway. Apparently not. Every time I said something, this third guy, definitely the most persistent of the three, merely nodded thoughtfully.

"I can't understand you!" I wailed.

"Mi sono piaciuti i cavalli." This man was not about to be deterred.

"What?!"

"Ma anche le mucche mi sono piaciute." (AN: Thanks to Kumiho-Kitsune for correcting the Italian! :D )

I threw him the weirdest expression. Behind me, Kaa-san and Matamune were trying not to laugh. Kaa-san had intervened with the first two and sent them scurrying away by saying, "We are Japanese. We can't speak Italian" in English. Turns out that Kaa-san was the top of the class and had mastered basic English. The first two Italians somehow understood that, shook my mother's hand, and were on their way. Third guy? Not so much.

"We Japanese!" I said once more in English. He didn't understand and simply patted me on the head before continuing. I huffed in irritation.

I'm not stupid. Of course I tried to just ignore him at the beginning, but he insisted on following us around the city. Could anything get rid of this guy?

"Hana," Matamune spoke up. I glanced desperately in his direction.

"What? Do you know how to get rid of this lunatic?"

"Try saying goodbye," He suggested.

"Goodbye? Like say goodbye to him?"

"It is worth a try, don't you think?"

"Beating him with a mallet is worth a try," I replied, exasperated.

Matamune eyed me knowingly. "Bid him farewell. It is less violent."

"Fine. Um...shoot. What was the word. Uhhhh--oh, right! Ciao!"

"Ciao?" The man repeated. "Ah, ciao." He smiled. Patted me on the head, waved kindly, and went on his jolly way. My jaw dropped.

"I could have just said bye all along?!" I shrieked. "WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME THAT?!"

"I did not think it would work. We had run out of options, though."

I could not believe this. COULD. NOT.

I glared at Kaa-san, and she held her hands up defensively.

"Don't look at me, Hana. I didn't call your best friend over."

"You could have yelled at him or something. You know, scared him away."

"I don't think that any language besides his own was going to send him anywhere."

I crossed my arms, though she was probably right. "Hrmph."

"He is gone, Hana. Do not linger on the matter." Matamune was wise, but, right now, I really didn't feel like listening to him. At that statement, I felt myself internally sigh for my spirit ally. This poor cat takes so much abuse from me.

We were in Rome. Matamune had been here many times. This was Kaa-san's second visit, and my first. We visited a place called the Vatican earlier today. Matamune said that it was a really important place to catholics. When I asked what those were, he told me that Catholicism was a religion in Europe and America. I didn't ask anymore about it. Our own religion was hard enough. I didn't need to learn two.

We left Rome later that afternoon and, once we reached the outskirts, Kaa-san summoned Naka and oversouled him in his flying form. Of course, just as she did that, someone just so happened to be passing by, and, as luck would have it, she must have had a slight sixth sense because, a minute after she walked near us, she turned her head and then started screaming.

"MOSTRO! MOSTRO!"

Kaa-san, Matamune, and I all cringed, but, as there was nothing we could do, we remained rooted to our spot while the lady ran off screaming at the top of her lungs.

Luckily, no one saw us for the rest of the afternoon.

We ate fish and something Naka killed--neither me or Kaa-san could figure out what it was--that night. I made a tower out of the bones, but then Naka stepped on it and crushed the bones into powder. Now there's absolutely no way to tell what that thing we ate was.

The next morning, I was the first one awake, as usual. I looked around for something to do in the meantime, and spotted the mound of powder from the night before and a little flower a few feet from it. I don't know why, but I suddenly felt the urge to do something dumb, and so I grabbed a handful of powder and dumped it on the flower. The plant wilted instantly.

I jerked back and stared dumbfounded at it. Since when did that happen?

I grimaced as I crawled away from the flower. Probably had Naka-residue or whatever on it. Demons must be flower kills or something. As soon as I thought that, though, I shuddered. I suddenly found myself wishing my name wasn't Hana. (AN: This is a joke. Naka's a good guy. Don't get bent out of shape.)

The others woke up within the next two hours. Kaa-san first, then Naka, then Matamune, though the gap between the first and second was at least forty five minutes long, however. So, to kill time, I started up a conversation.

"Hey, Kaa-san?" She glanced up from whatever she was doing. She had a piece of bark and a knife so it looked like she was carving, but she didn't strike me as the type to do something like that so I passed it off as something I just didn't know about. "Naka lives off your mana, right?"

"Yes."

"And sometimes you send him away so you can recover the mana that you used up keeping him out, right?"

"Yes."

"But you leave him out at night...when you don't need him."

"Sometimes I do need him out. Remember that night you snuck away?"

"Yes..." I answered guiltily.

"If Naka-Oni had still been in hell--"

"You keep him in hell?!" I yelled.

She paused from running the knife across the wood block and hissed a quiet, "Shhhhh." I offered an apologetic frown and gestured for her to continue her explanation. After a slight pause, she did. "Where do expect me to keep him? Besides, he's outside the gates so he's not really in the hell you're thinking of."

"Oh." That was okay, I guess.

"Now, as I was saying, if he had still been in hell when I realized you were gone, I would have had to stop to summon him first, which would take time I didn't have." She seemed distant all of a sudden, and I had a feeling it was because of me. "Hana, if Naka-Oni hadn't been out, you would have died that night. Do you realize that?" I didn't say anything. "Now you understand why he's out so much." With that said, she went back to carving or...I'm just going to guess carving.

"Well...how much mana does it take to keep him out?"

"A lot," She answered simply.

It was my turn to frown. "But he's out all the time. That must take a ton of mana. How come you never tire out?"

She answered slowly. "It doesn't take all that much...to maintain him. Even you could probably do it. Oversouling is the hard part. That's why we walk so much."

"We don't walk that much. Does swimming take less than flying?"

"Yes." That made sense.

"Still, your mana's gotta be off the charts if you can keep him out like this." She tried to hide her smirk, but I saw it. Just how much mana did she have?

"I don't know," She said, answering an unasked question for the umpteenth time. I was getting used to it.

"Shouldn't be surprised, huh?"

"Nope."

"Ha." I shook my head, grinning. Still, I had one more question. There was one more thing that I had never been allowed to learn before. "So, can any shaman make an oversoul?"

"Sure." She was playing dumb. I was going to have to spell this all out and look like an idiot.

"Then, how come I can't?"

"Have you ever tried?"

I opened my mouth and closed it again. She smiled tauntingly.

"Didn't think so."

"Tamao wouldn't teach me. She said that it was dangerous."

"It could be, if you don't know how to use it or you use it unwisely." I didn't expect her to agree with Tamao.

"How can you use something without knowing how?" I asked. It seemed totally ridiculous.

"To make an oversoul, all you have to do is integrate your spirit ally with your weapon."

Awesome. My spirit ally was my weapon. What did I do now?

"Um, Oni Goroshi--"

"Forms in Hyoui Gattai. It's not a tangible weapon so it doesn't count. Don't you have something else?"

I frowned. Yeah, I had Futsu no Mitama but that didn't do me much good here. The medium had to be related to the spirit, I knew that much. That left me with his bear claw necklace, but that didn't exactly count as a weapon, did it...

"Be creative," She said indifferently. "You'll figure something out." That line ended our conversation as Naka had, at last, awakened.

We left after breakfast, which was berries I'd collected before everyone else woke up. Matamune looked them over and assured that they weren't poisonous, which was a big relief. I was getting kind of sick of fish.

During our walk, Matamune gave me a lecture on Italian history. For the first time in a while, I actually listened. He told me a story about a city called Pompeii, which had been entirely encased, people and buildings alike, in hardened lava when a nearby volcanoerupted. The volcano, Vesuvius was in Naples, which happened to be where we were headed now. Though history usually didn't interest me, I really wanted to see this thing for some reason. I wanted to see it so much that I spent the next hour and half begging Kaa-san to stop there so I could see it. It took a lot of whining and pleading, but she finally caved. We could see the volcano, but we didn't have time to go strolling around Pompeii. It was the best I was going to get, and so I accepted the offer.

Because the visit would take up too much time walking, Naka flew to make up for what was to be lost. The whole trip I nagged Matamune and made him tell me anything else he knew about the volcano.

Vesuvius was the only active land volcano in Italy. It had last erupted a little over sixty years ago (AN: 1944), but dust clouds had raised many false alarms since then. The eruption that destroyed Pompeii was one of the worst in Italian history, and the event is still widely remembered all over the world. However, even though the volcano is still active and still highly dangerous, a lot of people insist on making their home there. Seems like it's just asking for disaster, if you ask me.

Naka landed at the foot of the volcano around noon. Naturally, I was the first off his back. We weren't staying long, and chances were we were never coming back here. I had a lot to see if I planned on remembering this.

While I skitted around the volcano, Kaa-san and Matamune stood talking. I wasn't paying much attention to their conversation, though, and could only make out parts of it, anyway.

"This is how a seven year-old should act." The first line, from Kaa-san, I heard in perfect clarity as I was still close when it was uttered. The second, Matamune, wasn't so clear.

"Yes...no. He has never truly...childhood. He is...It breaks my heart."

"He is so...pain and suffering...my fault."

"Do not..."

"...be helped." That was the last I heard from them as I was now too far to even see them watching me. Normally, I would've been irked that they were talking about me, but I just didn't have time for that now.

Naka followed me around the deathtrap, occasionally stopping me or turning me around when I got too close to the mouth or strayed too far from my mother and spirit ally. He was kind of annoying. Because he was a huge oni, I couldn't simply free myself from his hold like I would with Matamune. Though it was safer, it wasn't always as fun. Naka redefined the term 'demon babysitter.'

I kicked a large rock and picked up one of the pieces when it split. I snickered as I turned it around in my hand. The rock looked like a piece of swiss cheese or a mutated kitchen sponge. I had a book on volcanoes back home, and remembered seeing this rock in it. Unfortunately, I couldn't remember the name.

After looking at the rock for a minute I shrugged and threw it over my shoulder. It hit Naka in the face.

"Shoot! Sorry, Naka!" I yelled. He just stood there like nothing had happened. I wondered now if he had even noticed the assault.

Hesitantly, I took a step away. He took a step toward me, but kept the same pose. After a moment, he picked up a new volcanic rock and held it out to me. He thought I dropped it.

"T-thanks..." I said, taking the rock from him. I guessed I was going to have to keep this for a while.

With Naka still watching, I slid by backpack off my back and slipped the rock inside it. This wasn't such a bad idea, actually. It was like a souvenir. That thought made me laugh aloud, earning a confused glance from Kaa-san and Matamune, and a blank stare from Naka.

"That's a weird face," I teased.

His head lowered the slightest bit to gaze thoughtfully at me. I laughed.

Immediately, Naka's pupils dilated and his eyes turned horrifying. I jumped back in fright.

My first thought was that I had offended him, but I had said things like that before and he'd never reacted like this. My second thought was that something wasn't right, that he had heard something or someone that shouldn't be there.

"...Naka?"

"RRRRRRRRRR!" His head whipped high in the air. "RRRRRRRRRRRRR!"

I stumbled backward, nearly falling, and found that Matamune and Kaa-san were suddenly beside me. I hate it when I'm right.

"RRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Naka roared furiously. I turned quickly to Kaa-san, but she looked as nervous and confused as I did.

My mother's amber eyes desperately swept the area. There was nothing in any direction, but we all knew that we weren't alone here.

"Turbine messed up, eh?" Called an unfamiliar voice. The voice had come from behind a large slab of rock to our left. Hiding. "Heh. He should have known better than to try to get rid of the runt first."

"Oversoul!" Kaa-san quickly screamed. She held a long beaded chain above her, and suddenly, Naka split into will-o-the-wisps. The tiny oni spirit flames rushed into the chain and split it in two. Both strands whipped away and wrapped around her arms, magically transforming them into humongous demon hands.

The voice laughed lightly then sighed. A moment later, a man so fat that I couldn't believe he was even able to walk stepped from behind the slab. He was shirtless and fat, and he wore glasses and three layers of fat, and had this weird mustache that acted like arrows pointing to his fat. My god, this guy was fat.

"Ah. Only something that would benefit Hao-sama could possibly tear me away from the buffet lines in Italy. Have you tried the food here? It's to die for."

Kaa-san snarled and spit a warning blast from her hand. The fat man jumped out of the way, frowning.

"I was going to give you a list of some of the best foods to eat here, but I suppose you're right. We should just get this over with quick, eh...ahahaha. I don't even remember your name, girl. Nor did I ever bother to learn the baby's."

"I'm seven!" I shrieked, infuriated. I'd roll this guy off the mountain!

"I'm Zang-Ching," He said, introducing himself like an old friend of the family. "I come from China. Shanghai. Ever been there?"

"Why would I go to China?" I growled. I was Japanese. We didn't have the best relationship with China. (AN: I researched this. Apparently, they don't get along)

"Your father, Asakura Yoh went to China."

"He did?" This surprised me.

"Ren is chinese," Kaa-san explained. "Yoh went there once when Ren was in trouble."

"I didn't know that."

"This isn't the time, Hana." Her mood had shifted back to what it had been several seconds before. In this case, I was okay with that.

Zang-Ching grinned. He held a huge disk in front of him and a big panda suddenly appeared to his right.

It was the encounter with Turbine all over again. I hadn't even run away this time...

"Oversoul, Xiong Xiong." Instantly, the big panda faded and its spirit seeped into the gong. The weapon then changed, gaining a panda face and paws. The face held a permanent smile.

Not again...

Zang-Ching laughed and threw the panda gong at us. Kaa-san hit it with a mana beam and yanked me out of the way.

The gong swirled away, but boomeranged around when it flew over Zang-Ching. Kaa-san hit it again. The same thing happened.

The fat man laughed. "Just keep blasting away. You're bound to run out of mana sooner or later."

Run out of mana? Yeah right. If Kaa-san could keep Naka out like she did, then this was nothing! Still, I was starting to feel a little pointless just standing here.

"Hana!" Matamune called just then. I looked over at him, but Kaa-san's voice interrupted what I was about to do.

"No!" She yelled. "Not yet."

"Why not?" I demanded. "I can help."

"Not yet," She repeated furiously. I frowned and crossed my arms. Stupid pigheaded Kaa-san.

She shot the gong down three more times then yelled something at Matamune. "Don't just stand there! Get him out of here!"

"Uh...yes!" A second later, Matamune ran up to me and grabbed my hand. "Come, Hana!" He pulled me away from the warring adults, toward a rock formation that should have safely concealed us.

Someone barked a laugh.

"A word of advice," Zang-Ching said from behind me. I could hear the smile in his voice, and I knew immediately that one of us had done something wrong. Of course, I was about to walk right into the path of danger. "Don't always listen to your mother."

I turned in fright and saw the gong flip to the other side just before a mana beam struck it.

In that moment, I noticed only three things: a horrified gasp, a loud explosion, and a bright, blinding flash.

Within a second, a barrage of splintered rocks and dust smashed into me. My entire body felt like a jagged knife had just been driven through it. Out of pain, surprise, and something else I couldn't name, I stepped backwards--right into a rut in the ground. I lost my footing.

For once, I knew exactly what was happening. I had stepped in the wrong place, and had tumbled backward. I landed next to someone, but with all the dust around, I couldn't tell who it was.

Almost as soon as I had fallen, Zang-Ching's panda gong came crashing down in front of me, cutting right into the already faltering rock. The combination of our weight and the tremor caused by Xiong Xiong split the rock right off the volcanic tower.

And then we were falling--plummeting down the four thousand foot slope.

I screamed a little at first. I mean, we had just been flung off a volcano. Who wouldn't scream? Even seeing who was with me didn't help me regain my composure.

To my right was Matamune, nervous, but calmer than I. He knew the severity a lot more than I did, and that scared me. Things were bad when they frightened a thousand year old nekomata ghost.

When I turned to my right, though, I almost lost it completely. Kaa-san was also with us, though she was out cold and completely unresponsive. Naka was nowhere to be seen.

"Kaa-san?" Unbelievable as it seemed, Kaa-san had lost, though, after what happened, I really wasn't surprised.

When the beam impacted Zang-Ching's gong, it was reflected like light off a mirror. It reversed and struck Kaa-san and the rocks around her. However, while the Zang-Ching had successfully reversed the attack, he hadn't done it without penalty. When Xiong Xiong's gong landed in front of us earlier, there was a big hole in it meaning that some of the beam had probably pushed through and hit Zang-Ching.

Then Kaa-san hadn't lost. She had tied. If Zang-Ching had been hit, he'd be down too.

No, that wasn't true. He'd be hurt, but he'd still be up.

I cursed quietly.

My eyes turned back to Kaa-san. If she was up, she could call Naka and he could swoop in and pick us up.

But she wasn't.

Damn it all. We needed Naka now.

Just then, I spotted the white-beaded rosary in her hand. The 1080. It was what she used to call and control Naka-Oni. So then maybe...

I didn't think any more about it. I quickly reached over and pulled it out of her hands. She surrendered it easily.

It was the first time I'd touched a rosary. I could see my face in the little beads that felt so cold in my hands.

And now the question: How did you do it?

I tried whatever I could think of. Swung it back and forth, mumbled incantations and sutras, yelled at it, pleaded with it, and eventually cried in irritation over it. Nothing was working.

"Come on, stupid thing!" The ground was getting dangerously close. We were running out of time, and I was getting desperate. "Work already. Go! Please!"

I gritted my teeth and squeezed shut my eyes. I couldn't do it, and, because of me, we were both going to die here.

Hana...

My eyes flew open and I looked everywhere around me for the voice that wasn't my own. But there was no one there.

My desperation and frustration increased ten fold, and suddenly the most bizarre sensation whirred through my head.

Look at the clouds today!

I wonder what we're having for lunch.

She really let herself go.

Shoot! I forgot to do my homework again!

I can't believe he just said that.

Is someone falling from the volcano?!

OH MY GOD!

Somebody help them!

Hurry!

Hana...

Little blue spirit flames suddenly burst to life around me. They scrambled and smashed together, forming something massive. Instantly, a big demon hand appeared and caught all three of us in midair.

The flames swarmed around the hand and hurriedly made up the rest of the monster.

The 1080 shone and magically, Naka appeared, clutching us both to him as he hung on to the volcano wall.

"No way!" I yelled, astonished.

"Rrrrrrr." I wanted to hug the big guy, just like I wanted to ask what the hell happened to summon him here. Not that I was complaining. "Rrrrrrr. Rrrrrrr"

Naka turned his head to gaze up at the top of the volcano. He exhaled lightly then plunged his horn into the rock, using it as a second hand as began scaling the mountain.

I still have no idea what happened, but I'm thrilled that whatever it is was occurred.

Even though climbing the mountain took about five times as long as falling from it, Naka still managed to reach the top in record time. He could put any mountain climber to shame.

As soon as Naka stepped onto the ledge and placed me and Matamune down onto the rock, I whipped Futsu no Mitama out of my backpack and yanked Matamune's necklace out of my pocket.

Zang-Ching was still up here, but he was weak and panting. When he spotted us, he grinned wearily.

"Back so soon?"

I gave him the most hateful glare I could muster. It must not have packed enough bale, though, cause he burst out laughing.

"You remind me of those little cream puffs at my favorite bakery! Oh, I love those."

Did I just get called a cream puff? This man had a death wish.

"Shut up, Porker!" I yelled. He laughed harder and waved his hand.

"Gahahahaha. I'm not sensitive about my weight anymore, cream puff." There he went again! Grr...

I shook with rage. This guy was going down.

"Swine!"

"Are we having a name-calling contest, cream puff?"

"Argh!"

"Hahahaha...ahhh, this time you'll stay down." He rose his broken weapon with a grin.

This was it. I held Matamune's necklace in front of me.

"A Hyoui Gattai will not be enough in this situation," The ghost cat interrupted. I flashed him a mischievous smile.

"That's why I have this," I snickered, showing him my little rock sword. He frowned and cocked his head in confusion. "I don't know if this will work or not, but what Kaa-san did earlier gave me an idea."

"An idea?" My grin widened.

The chubster hurled his gong at me, but I was ready.

I integrated Matamune with his necklace like I usually did, but rather than allowing it to transform into Oni Goroshi, I quickly wrapped the necklace around Futsu no Mitama. I didn't actually think it was going to work so I was obviously surprised when it did. I smiled widely as the little sword gleamed.

"Oversoul--ONI GOROSHI!" And the sword burst through.

Xiong Xiong hit the sword and was immediately deflected.

My resulting laughter was filled with excitement. The spirit sword was mostly the same as before, but had a few differences like a red hilt made of what looked like shields instead of the previous jeweled one. The blade was also longer and didn't look semi-transparent like the original. I had to say that I liked the improvement.

My expression turned daring and overly goading.

Zang-Ching stared in disbelief. He caught the gong in his hand then chucked it again. I slashed it in half.

I couldn't believe how well this was suddenly going.

The two halves came back toward me and I swung again, cutting off the paws and cleaving through it once more. I turned the blade slightly and used the smooth side to bat the gong pieces like a bunch of baseballs.

They fell limply in front of Zang-Ching as the chinese man gaped in disbelief.

"WHO'S THE CREAM PUFF NOW, MEATBALL?!" I yelled, sounding a little bit maniacal. Whoops. Oh well. Heheheh.

Zang-Ching took several steps back and then turned around and jumped off the mountain, using a spare gong like a sled to slide safely down the volcano slope.

I laughed like a idiot, rolling back and forth and pounding my fists against the earth. My oversoul disengaged and Matamune hopped out to stand beside me.

"That was very impressive, Hana," He commended. I wiped the laughing tears from my eyes and glanced up at him.

"Thanks, Matamune. You were pretty cool, too." Matamune nodded in acknowledgement of the compliment.

"Rrrrrrrrr," Naka 'rrr'ed from behind us. When we turned around, we saw him sitting next to Kaa-san who was as unconscious as ever.

"Is she still out?" I asked, flabbergasted. Jeez, that must have been one strong beam he hit her with. I wasn't worried, though. She'd be fine. This was a scraped knee to her.

"She fought with low mana and was struck by her own attack. She will recover, but we won't be going anywhere for the next few days," Matamune assessed.

I shrugged. "That's okay. We can wait if Kaa-san needs us to." I glanced over at Naka. "Think you can find a place for us to camp out?"

"Rrrrrr."

"Is that a yes or a no?"

"Rrrrrrr."

"...Can you nod or shake your head?" He did both. "Good! Then answer with one of those!"

"Rrrrrrr."

"No, not another growl. Nod or shake." I tried to demonstrate. No good.

I gave up that idea after a few minutes and simply climbed into his open hand.

"Away!" I yelled, pointing forward like a sailor scouting for land.

"Rrrrrrr." He picked Kaa-san up in his other hand while Matamune climbed on with me.

Naka stepped closer to the edge, coiled, and then sprung off. He kicked off the sides and sprang from rock to rock as he descended the mighty mountain.

Today was one of the scariest days of my life, but I had greatly benefited from it.

It is always darkest just before dawn.

Though that sentence was truer than I would ever come to realize.


Besarki: God, that was long. Waaaaah. That took so long... -Falls over and dies-

I did not mean to be distasteful in this chapter. Remember that it's supposed to be Hana. Hana is a little kid and little kids don't think much before they talk.

Ah! Did you notice that Yoh was in this chapter? Hee hee hee. Only a little, but he was there. Also, did you notice anything familiar about the new Oni Goroshi? Gahahaha!

Yeah, I took a lot of liberties here. Sorry. Remember that this is a fanfic, though. Forgive and forget!

Oh, right. Here: Updated with what was revealed in this chapter.

Hana
Call
- Matamune
-----Hyoui Gattai--Matamune - Oni Goroshi (Weak)
-----Oversoul--Matamune - Oni Goroshi (Strong)
Reishi (Extremely Limited)
???

About Vesuvius: Vesuvius is roughly 4203 feet high. It's an active volcano, but hasn't had any recent activity. Vesuvius is in Naples, and is one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the entire world. It is a famous volcano that killed tens of thousands of people in just one eruption. Despite the danger, though, many people still live around it. Vulcanologists have stated that this is extremely unsafe, but the locals don't really mind the danger. There was something on tv about Vesuvius several years ago, but I don't remember what it was about. You guys got a lesson today, haha.

Besarki's Rant of Death, Doom, and Disaster:
By the way, not as many people as usual reviewed for the last chapter, and because of that, I was less...driven to update. Had it not been for a few really good reviews that I received, I probably wouldn't have updated until maybe this weekend or even next week. Guys, I'm not asking for much. It takes days to write these, and most of you are authors as well so I know that. By the way, if you are on the story alert list and are not reviewing, I really don't agree with your methods. That is laziness and audacity. C'mon, guys it takes like, a minute to write a review. I apologize for being rude and inconsiderate, but that really bugs me. I'm sure a lot of you sympathize. Don't even deny it, I know you do. Oh, if you don't want to review cause you don't want your name up there, PM me! I count that. Send me an email. Anything. You don't even have to tell me who you are if send an email. Say, I'm reading your story Living For The Moment and I blah blah blah. Tell me how I'm doing. I'm not going for review count, I'm going for reader response. If you do nothing, I'm not going to do anything, but honestly, this means a lot to me guys. If you won't review, I won't update. Simple as that. Phew, glad to get that off my chest.

For those of you who are kind enough to review, especially you long reviewers (I love you guys), I'm having a competition! The best reviewers will get something really cool at the end of the story! coughdedicationcough. ;D

Well, guess that's it. I'm off to eat dinner! Mmm! Ramen! Bye munchies!

...What? You need incentive? Fine. Review and I'll tell you something about the Yoh chapter.

AHHH! Shoot! Totally forgot to stick this in here at first, but I found this ADORABLE picture of Anna and Yoh as adults. It's sooooo cute, and brand new. Let me know if you want it!