A/N- Thanks, Catorrina-chan and McKayla ()! :D

Disclaimer- If I owned Okami, then Red Dreams would be MAANNNGA! Wa hoo!

"Ah ha ha ha ha! Oh, Lar Lar, how can you be so frowny? It's just a silly little war," Rosco said, smiling happily.

Larka glared at him flatly. For the last hour, she had been trying to convince him that the war was real, and that Dravis believed in it, too. I'm not exactly sure why Rosco would care what his nephew would think about politics, but it was sort of whatever... er, yeah.

"And I'm not giving you any money unless the cutie-pie emo comes here and lets me dress him up again," Gin stated, folding her arms. "Dravis is totally amazerifical."

Was amazerifical a word? Because I had never ever heard something like that.

We had been talking about this for about an hour or so. Gin was unwilling to give up a single yen unless we brought Dravis and let her dress him up. And Rosco was in complete denial of the war, not believing that there could possibly be such a thing happening.

"I'm tired," I muttered.

"Shut up," Larka answered, frowning.

Not only was I still tired from last night and the weird dream that I couldn't remember whatsoever, but I was hungry. It was about ten in the morning now, and I hadn't eaten a single bite of food since last night, with the crazy Susano... and his weird freaking laugh. It still freaked me out.

I glanced sleepily at Yuuki. She had long-since picked up a manga and began reading. Something like Hellsing, or whatever. I don't read that much manga, and when I do, it's usually some sort of comedy. Maybe I'm just weird like that.

"I like Alucard," she said after a moment of me staring at her.

Dang, that was a little random, now that I think about it.

"I do, too," Gin gushed, rushing over to Yuuki. "He's so freaking awesome! Especially when he just falls apart and comes back together laughing! And- hey, wait a minute, who said that you could read my manga?! Give it back!"

"Nooo!" Yuuki cried. "I have to know how it ends!"

We were so not getting anywhere with this. We needed to find out how to solve this war, not figure out how a stupid manga ended. I stood up, folding my arms, and glaring at Gin, Rosco, and Yuuki. Not Larka because she would just return the glare, and glare better than me.

"If I get Dravis over here, which shouldn't be too hard, then will you help us, Gin?" I asked simply.

Gin looked up in surprise. "Well... duh! If you get Dwavy-poo over here, then I'll be more than happy to give you money!"

I nodded and glanced at Larka, who growled/frowned at me. She already knew what I was thinking, and did not like it. It was the only way to get Dravis to face his two greatest fears, though: to have me hit on Larka.

Dravis probably had some sort of boyfriend-senses, so if I tried to hit on Larka, then he would come running, swear at me, and then Larka could tie him up so that Gin could dress him up. However, I do wonder how she would dress him up. Make him a pretty boy? What would she do to him?

"I'm not gonna do that!" Larka growled.

"Please," I said. "Hear me out, Larka. I'm not doing it so I have a reason to call you hot or whatever; I'm doing this so we can help defeat Lee."

"If you wanna defeat Lee, then go beat him up," Larka retorted snottily.

"You piss me off sometimes," I said smoothly.

Larka's eyes flashed. "What was that?"

I rolled my eyes at her and said, "As if you didn't hear me. You piss me off sometimes."

"Oh dear," Gin said.

I'm sure you've noticed by this point that I don't often loose my temper because I'm a pretty big pacifist. Well, I used to be, but not as much anymore. Wait, what was the point of this paragraph?

Oh, right, right. So you've probably noticed that when I loose my temper, oh boy do I loose my temper. When I'm mad, I also get this weird smile on face... or, at least, that's what Miuri always told me. That I got this weird smile on my face when I got mad and I looked like I would take a knife and put it through someone's head.

Does this happen to the average teenager? I sure hope not.

"Oh, like you've never pissed anyone off!" Larka snapped.

"Larka, how I ever fell for a jerkish idiot who should die in a hole like you is beyond my reasoning!" I snapped right back. "Dravis is too good for you, and he's a freaking demon from hell! You should just go shut yourself up in a closet and commit suicide! I know I don't want you around."

Larka's eyes narrowed. "... what?"

"You drive me nuts!" I shouted. "You act like you're the greatest thing in the world and nobody's better than you, but that's not true at all! You're rotten to the core and I hate it about you, Larka. You need to stop acting like you're the best thing in the world and realize that you're not. You need to grow up a little."

"Grow... up?"

I think that this was a revolutionary idea to Larka. Growing up, I mean. She seemed to have never even have considered that she wasn't the God's gift to man.

Tears came into her eyes, angry ones. "You could never know what I've gone through, Jin! You'll never understand what I've had to give up so that you can be here, alive, today! You have no idea how much I hate you! How much my mom loves you... it's sickening! I'm her daughter, but she'll chose you over me any day of the week!"

"What about me? Have you ever thought about me?!" I demanded.

"You guys-" Rosco began, stepping forward.

I turned to him, my eyes flaming. "Rosco, this isn't about you! Larka and I have kept our feelings bottled up for way too long! So shut up and stay out of it!"

Rosco's eyes saddened, but he took a step back. Gin grabbed his and Yuuki's arms, murmuring something to each of them before leading them out of the room. I was thankful to Gin for that moment, but I knew that my thankfulness probably wouldn't last.

I turned back to Larka, still glaring. Her fists shook and she was obviously struggling to not burst out crying or beat me up.

"If you hate me so much," I said so softly that she could barely hear, "then why don't you just kill me, Larka?"

"Because I love Dravis too much to let the one person who can save us die," she whispered just as quietly, her voice shaking with pure fury. "I'm the only thing that he's got left, and I'm going to make sure that it's worthwhile. That I'm worthwhile."

"You failed miserably," I answered flatly.

I wasn't sure where these feelings of pure anger were coming from, but they were there now. Just about twelve hours ago, I thought that I really liked Larka, more than I should since she had a boyfriend. Now I was blinded by fury.

Tears began to fall down her cheeks and she shouted, "Stop it! Stop it! I... I hate you! I hate you so much! I'm not perfect! Stop... stop it! Why can't we just talk for a minute, Jin? I'm tired of-"

I turned away from her. "We have nothing to say to each other, Larka. We made a mistake in thinking that we could travel together, be friends, all of those things. Who were we kidding? I tried to delude myself with feelings of love in hopes that I would manage to stay here and save the world. That was a mistake. I'm leaving."

I opened the screen door that lead to the balcony. I jumped onto a branch from a tree that was close to the palace. I then slid downward, giving myself a couple of splinters.

I looked back up and didn't see Larka. She didn't care that I was leaving. In fact, she was probably happy that I was finally gone. That Jin, or Kouin, the God of Time, was finally gone. That he was finally going to disappear from her life. She didn't care.

Part of me screamed out against running away from this. I was just running away from the problem. But it was so much easier to just run away from my problems, rather than facing them. Maybe it was a bad choice in the long run, but for now, I didn't really care. I didn't want to be here.

The question crossed through my mind: where would I go?

I would find myself. I would find the part of me that I was missing. I would find out about my past. I would learn who I was, where I came from, what I was doing here, and how I knew Yuuki. I would find out how to kill Lee. I would find myself... alone. It was the only way to do it.

I closed my eyes at the gates that left Gin's property. Was I willing to do this? Was I strong enough?

Would I survive?

Jin... this is a path that you must take for now. Go.

The voice... one that I had not heard in what seemed like forever. The voice of Amaterasu, who I wished would tell me to go back, for some reason. I didn't want to leave, and yet I wanted to fiercely. It felt like I was being torn in half.

No. Amaterasu had told me that I needed to do this. I would go.

I stepped outside of Gin's property and into my new world.


Riku stared forward, his eyes saying nothing, his face expressionless. If it weren't for the slight rise and fall of his chest, Miuri would have thought that he was a statue.

It was still hard to believe how different he looked. His once-black hair that had been shoulder-length was now snow-white and was in a ponytail and fell to his waist. His eyes flickered from sea-blue to blood-red and he now looked like he was in his mid-twenties.

Miuri wondered how he could remain so still. How he could just stand there while she was in chains. How he could have no expression on his face as blood dried on the back of her head from where he had hit her. How he could just act to calm and natural. It was... unnatural, she supposed.

Kyoufu wasn't here. She wasn't sure where he went, since Riku wouldn't speak to her.

"So, are you Miuri, then?" A familiar voice asked. Miuri looked up. Lee.

She had known him best by the fact that they had been on the same soccer team for a while. All that she had really caught from him was that he really didn't like Jin, but didn't have a very good reason for hating him. Or he just didn't have a reason.

That was, of course, back when she was a bubbly girl who was excited by the fact that they were having Korean food for dinner. Now, of course, Miuri was still herself; the only difference was that she wasn't nearly as happy and stupid and innocent as she had been before.

"You know me, Lee," Miuri replied snidely.

Lee chuckled. He looked different, too. Not as different as Riku, but still different. Lee looked like he was eighteen instead of fifteen, now. Miuri couldn't help but wonder if she looked different now, too. And if she would be able to recognize Jin the next time that she saw him. That is, if she ever saw him again.

"True, true, Miuri," Lee murmured. "It's just that you're so filthy. When was the last time that you took a bath?"

Miuri winced. She hadn't taken a bath for about three days and had been training tons over the past few days. Of course she probably smelled a little bit bad and looked a little smudgy. Who was she kidding? She probably looked awful.

"Are you gonna sit here, flapping your jaws, or are you gonna tell me why you're here?" Miuri asked flatly, trying to sound braver than she felt. Much braver than she felt.

Lee knelt down so he was face-to-face with her. "Why, yes, yes I am, Miuri."

Miuri looked away from him. She couldn't take the intensity that was boiling from his eyes. Something about the hardness in his eyes made her feel much smaller and weaker than she was. His eyes were black like coals and showed no warmth. They could pierce fear into the bravest of hearts.

"You see, Jin loves his friends," Lee said coolly. "He loves his friends a lot. He probably still hasn't completely accepted that Riku is on my side now. If I have you here and I bargain with him, he'll most likely do anything for you. Perhaps even give up his powers as a god."

Miuri shivered at the thought. Not because she didn't believe that Jin would do such a thing, but because she knew that he would. Jin would do anything for his friends. He was more loyal than a dog to its master. He would do anything for Miuri if he found out that she was in trouble.

"As soon as I have the God of Time in my grasp, the rest of the world will be easy. True, the D. A. K. L. S. might be a bit of an... annoyance, I suppose, but I can assure you that as soon as the God of Time is down, they will feel that they have nothing left to fight for and give up on hope. It would be easy pickings from there." Lee smirked. "With you here, I can do anything."

"What did you do with Kyoufu?" Miuri asked softly, her fists clenching. She needed to change the subject before she ripped her arms out of the chains, resulting in her being hand-less.

Lee laughed softly, and it reminded Miuri of Light Yagami's from Death Note. Frightening, disturbing, psychotic, and oddly interesting to listen to. Miuri pushed the thought out of her mind. She had more important things to do than think about anime.

"The little demon that was with you? It's getting the crap beat out of him," Lee laughed out. "Whipped. It's a traitor to the demons, and they are always beat until they are on the brink of death. Afterwords, we put them in the Cell of Hell to rot forever more. It'll die within the week."

Miuri's eyes widened. There was no way that it was true. No way that Kyoufu would die. He was too strong. Too great. There was no way that he would die.

"I don't believe you," she said flatly.

"Believe what you wish," Lee said offhandedly. "But it'll be dead soon enough. If Riku begs enough, then maybe we'll take it out of the Cell of Hell and burn its body instead of leaving it in there forever. You'd better beg pretty hard with Riku, though. He may really like you, but he really likes me more."

Miuri glanced at Riku, who was now looking away. His face looked somewhat pained as Lee spoke of him.

"Now, no hard feelings intended, but I'm going to leave you here and-" Lee began, but a small demon interrupted him.

"Sire! Sire! We just received word from our scouts! Kouin has left Larka and Yuuki for an unknown reason! Right now, he's heading down the coast, sire!"

Lee lifted an eyebrow. "Really? Is that true? Well, well. This is the perfect time to meet up with dear old Jin and tell him that we've got his best friend captive. Little... demon, I suppose, do have packs prepared from Riku and I."

"Yes, sire," the little demon said, bowing.

Miuri felt horror enter her face as she realized what Lee meant. Jin had left the safeness of being around the Moon Goddess and the Holy High Priestess to be alone. If Lee found Jin while he didn't have his full Godly powers, then there was no way that Jin would survive.

Lee glanced at Miuri and saw her horrified expression. "Hm. I suppose we should take this wretch with us, as well."

Miuri felt tears enter her eyes and she shook her head. Jin would be killed. She couldn't take that.

Please, Amaterasu! she wailed in her mind. Be with Jin! Don't let him get killed! Please don't take your eyes off him! Keep him safe!


Larka looked down dumbly. It was done. She had told him to go away. She had done it.

Yuuki looked around, confused. "I just... I just don't understand. We were getting along. All of us. We were getting used to Dravis and Jin's bickering. So, um... what happened between you guys? It just sort of happened. Did you say something?"

Larka's eyes flickered. She may have gotten mad at Jin, but that wasn't anything new. It was probably the fact that she had told him that she hated him. Which was half-true. Half of her hated him, while the other half of her loved him. She was torn in half.

"I don't know," she answered flatly, pulling her knees up to her chin.

Yuuki frowned and sighed. Larka knew that she was being unhelpful, but she didn't really care at the moment.

"Did he say something to you?" Yuuki asked.

Larka shrugged, hugging her knees. Yuuki frowned at her and put her hands on her waist. Larka knew what that meant...

"Honestly, Larka, I'm trying to be sympathetic and help you out a bit, but how am I supposed to do that if you won't even let me know what's wrong? You and Jin are so alike in the way that you're both more stubborn than... than... well, I don't know, because you guys are indescribably stubborn!" Yuuki cried, exhasperated.

Larka glared at her, still silent. "Do you know why I'm so pissed at him?"

"Yes!" Yuuki cried.

"It's because my mom loves him more than me," Larka said. "I hate him because he's more loved than me. I've been asking for years for a time so that I could save the world and be the greatest. Jin never asked for a mission. But then he gets one and I'm stuck being his stupid side-kick. And you know why he's head-honcho? Because my mom loves him more than me."

"I know this is hard for you, but-" Yuuki began.

"No!" Larka cried, standing up. "He's my frère and that's why I can't help but love him! Do you know what frère even means?!"

Yuuki looked sadly at Larka. "Dravis told me... "

"I have no choice but to love him..." Larka said softly, tears falling down her cheeks and falling to her knees. "I have no choice. He's my frère. He's my only brother."

A/N- WHOA! Betcha didn't see that comin'!