Being Alive

Chapter 17

Jiko was rudely awakened from his sleep by one of his underlings as he yelped once again. It was hard enough to get any sleep with all the noise that had been coming from Tataraba, but when his own men weren't able to keep quiet because of it, things were just downright intolerable.

"Will you two just shut up already?!" he angrily whispered. "You're going to give us away to the forest beasts! Plus, I'm trying to get some sleep!"

"But sir!" the man replied. "All that commotion can't be good! You saw the wolves rush in to attack!"

"It has nothing to do with us, moron!" Jiko harshly replied. "At least not yet, anyway. So, just go to sleep already! You're going to need the rest. We're here to wait for the Nightwalker to make his appearance later tonight, and missing it isn't an option! Why do you think we had to make use of these stinking animal skins?" He gestured to the skins they wore; they had come from young bears that a number of forest hunters had slaughtered and skinned less than a day before.

"Sir, was it really necessary to be here this long to wait for the one moment when the Nightwalker appears?" his other underling asked.

"The beasts of this forest have a keener sense of smell than you give them credit for," Jiko said. "If we were moving around all the time, they'd make out our human scent. That's why we need to stay put as long as possible. Plus, you should be thankful, considering how hard it is to move in these things." There was some regret in his words. Though Jiko was thankful to be able to rest for a while, he never liked to go this long without a smoke from his opium pipe. That, however, was certainly out of the question.

"But what about the Nightwalker, sir? I've heard stories about it; any human that looks upon it will go blind instantly!"

"And you call yourself a member of the greatest hunters in the land?" Jiko groaned. "The Shishigami, no matter how powerful it is, is still a forest beast, and can be killed, same as any other. And we have permission from the Divine Emperor himself, granting us the right to kill this beast!" he said, producing a small envelope. "He believes the head of the forest spirit will grant him immortality. Once we get him that head, we'll have everything we ever wanted. Then, we can leave this lousy job, and go live our lives as we please." Putting the envelope away, he laid back against a tree, and tried to go to sleep.

"Sir?" one of them asked.

"What?"

"Does the head of the Shishigami really grant immortality?"

"Who cares?" Jiko scoffed. "Probably not. Doesn't matter to me, though, as long as we get what we want in the end. That old coot can have his glory." The monk then drifted off into a light sleep, only to be interrupted a few minutes later by another whimper.

"What is it this time?" he said, sitting up. "I don't care what you hear, we're not moving from this spot!"

"Th-that's not it, sir!" the man whispered. "We just saw some movement down the mountain!"

"So what? It's probably just one of those apes lingering around. Go to sleep, already!" He laid back down.

"I don't think so, sir," his other underling said. "The apes always stay in groups. There couldn't be more than two of whatever's down there. Plus, it's moving with real precision. We barely noticed it!"

Sitting back up, Jiko looked at his men before thinking to himself. Pulling out a small wooden tube, he stood up to peer over thee rock he had been leaning against. Expanding the tube into a telescope, he put it to his eye.

The telescope didn't work too well in the dark, but the moonlight provided him with enough light to see well up to a few hundred feet. Scanning the area over and over, he saw nothing. Then, just as he was about to put the scope down, he noticed movement.

What on Earth? he thought. That's no ape! He kept his eye on the scope, watching the same area. Then, he saw the movement again, in the exact same place.

What the hell am I looking at? What could- He cut himself short when the obvious answer came to him. Putting the scope down, he spoke. "It's them."

"Who, sir?"

"The mercenaries. The ones employed by us and Lord Asano. They're keeping a watch on us."

"But, sir, we've spotted them! How do you know they can see us?"

"Because they won't be noticed unless they want to be," the monk replied, compacting his telescope. "Right now, they're telling us to stay where we are, away from their business, whatever it may be. They may be watching us, but that's not the main reason why they're here."

"What is, sir?"

Jiko sat back down against the rock. "I'm not sure," he said, taking a deep breath. "But I have a good feeling it's got something to do with that boy."

It had only happened that morning. Jiko had received a notice from one of the hunters of the group before he had gotten out of bed. It was a letter from Asano telling him explicitly not to engage the outlander Jiko had met with previously. As per a new negotiation in their deal with Asano, the boy now 'belonged to them'. Ever since Jiko had learned that the boy was still alive and heading towards Tataraba, the monk had been uneasy. He had hoped the boy would be killed, or at least led off course, before he was able to interfere with their grand scheme. The boy had apparently gained a temporary price on his head after an excursion in Kyoto that resulted in a well-known inn losing one of their valued courtesans. However, Asano struck down the bounty, claiming that no one was to touch the outsider. Jiko didn't know what exactly the hunter clan wanted with the boy, but he knew it couldn't be good.

What was worse, though, was the recent news that the boy had reached Tataraba. Just as he had feared, the boy had apparently met with Eboshi. He didn't know anything more than that, but the wolves approaching the town and the subsequent ruckus that came from the fort didn't make him feel any easier. He only hoped that their plan was not completely ruined.

"Enough of this. Both of you, go to sleep right now. You're going to need the rest for when the Nightwalker appears. No complaints."

Gonza breathed in and out fiercely as he stood in Eboshi's garden, just outside her quarters. A number of her leper workers had been treating her for almost an hour, and he, like the rest of the town, was impatiently awaiting the news of her condition. Gonza didn't want to be standing in the garden; he wanted nothing more than to take every rifleman in the town, and pursue the outlander and wolf-girl. However, he was not going to make such a decision with his mistress' well being in question.

A woman draped in bandages poked her head outside the building. Gonza immediately turned to her. "How is the mistress?"

"She's been bruised quite a bit from the fight, and has sustained some burns on her body as well. She's lost a small amount of blood, but sustained nothing that can't heal within a matter of days."

"So, she's all right?"

"Yes. She will be fine, with time to heal."

The bodyguard breathed an enormous sigh of relief. Though he was usually able to hide his uneasiness well enough, he found himself becoming more unstable the longer he waited. It was another reason he had come to the garden, away from the rest of the guards.

"I'm most relieved and overjoyed to hear that. Is she awake?"

"No, sir. She stirred in consciousness earlier, but has gone back to sleep. We've decided to let her rest until tomorrow."

"A wise decision. Keep tending to the mistress. I have some business to take care of before the sun rises." He turned away, exiting the garden.

San's heart began to beat fast as she clutched her dagger in hand. She was in the middle of the woods, surrounded by darkness. Though she couldn't sense any movement around her, she could smell the scent of humans.

Things suddenly began to light up. She could see fires burning far into the forest, and could smell the smoke. Then she heard the thunder of the humans' blasted gunfire, accompanied by the screams of forest beasts.

She tore off through the woods, leaping over fallen trunks and boulders along the way, closing in on the scene of chaos. Finally clearing the woods, she pushed aside some dead branches to view the horrid sight.

The fires were burning brighter than ever, sending clouds of smoke into the sky. Bodies of boars were littered across the mountain, the scent of their blood in the air. And, closing in from down the mountain, were the hordes of human soldiers, armed with their terrifying weapons.

As another volley of gunfire sounded, San retreated a few feet back into the woods. Clutching her chest, she breathed in and out heavily, feeling like her heart was going to stop any second. Wh…why? she thought. Why is this happening to us? How come we're losing? Where did they get such unnatural weapons? Why are we dying like ants?

A loud, ear-piercing squeal echoed through the air as a large, unstoppable force barged through the trees, running right past San. Catching a glimpse as it passed her, she saw who it was: the boar god, Nago. Not only was he wounded, but looked like he would go mad from the pain and terror in his eyes. He continued rumbling through the woods, screeching with a madness know one else could possibly know.

"Wait! Lord Nago!" San yelled, running after him. "Don't run away! If you do, the humans will definitely kill us all! Please come back!"

The girl tripped over something, and rolled across the ground before crashing into a fallen tree trunk. Groaning in pain, she pulled herself to her knees, and looked at what she had tripped on. Her eyes went wide.

On the ground in front of her was the dead, decaying body of a large, white wolf, with blood staining its' formerly beautiful white coat. San recognized the body immediately. "Sh-, Shiroi!" she screamed, running up to grab handfuls of the wolf's bloodstained coat. "Shiroi, you're hurt! Please, we have to get away from here! The humans are closing in!" Tears were pouring from her eyes as she madly shook the animal's hide. "Please get up! Don't die!" Feeling something run through her hands, San looked closer at the hide of her adopted sister. There were gaping wounds, no doubt left from the guns of the humans. "No…Shiroi, don't die…don't die!" San yelled as she reached for the animal's head, only to find maggot-eaten flesh in the eye sockets. Going frozen with terror, the girl let out a piercing scream.

Everything went black. She suddenly felt herself held down to the ground by some invisible force. Struggling to break free, she could see silhouettes with evil eyes approaching her. Her mouth was forced shut, preventing her from screaming, and her clothes were torn to shreds. She could feel the cold, unwelcome hands running over her body.

No…no more…give me back my sister…leave me alone…NO!

The girl let out a yell as she shot up from the ground. She recoiled from a pain in her leg immediately afterward.

"Aaagh!" she cried from the pain. "Dammit! What the-"

She was struck silent at her surroundings, which left her very confused. She was inside what looked like a small cave; the entrance was no more than twenty feet away, and she could see the night sky from where she sat. There was a small fire running a few feet from her, near the entrance to the cave. A large object, which she could not identify, sat close to it, leaning against the wall of the cave.

But what confused her most was the condition she herself was in. Her right leg, from which she had felt most of the pain, was suspended in mid-air by ropes from what looked like a large tree root poking from the roof of the cave. Not only that, but it was heavily bandaged with a few sticks and some materials she did not recognize, as though to keep it straight. Her leg was not the only part of her that was patched up, though; her left arm was well-bandaged, along with other parts on her shoulders, abdomen, and her left leg. There was even a strange-looking bandage on her cheek. Still, though the pain had gone down, she didn't know how she'd gotten to where she was now.

How on earth did I get here? she asked herself. The last thing I remember is all those humans coming at me with their weapons after that gunwoman stabbed me. I thought for sure I'd be dead. Looking at her right leg again, she frowned. Who the hell did this to me? Are these bonds, or just bandages? She groaned, reaching for the rope holding it up. Either way, I've got to get out of here and find Kiba and Tsume-

She screeched in pain as she grabbed her leg suspender, falling back. Suffice it to say, her leg hurt, a lot. "What the hell is this?" she said in frustration. "It feels like it's broken!"

"That's because it is," a voice came from the entrance of the cave.

Upon hearing the voice, San's first instinct was to back away. However, her current condition held her in place, and she screamed in pain again as she tugged at her leg.

"I wouldn't move a lot if I were you," the voice said, coming closer. The figure that the voice belonged to stepped into the light from the fire, revealing none other than the strangely-dressed human from earlier. The one who had ruined the girl's plans in the iron fortress and nearly gotten her killed. San glared as the boy approached her. "Your leg's in pretty bad shape. Keep moving it around, and it's not likely to get any better."

"You," the girl seethed.

"Yeah, me. Fancy meeting you yet again, Princess," he said with a smirk.

Breathing in and out heavily, San again tried to scoot away. Pulling her leg away from its restraint, however, had the same effect as before, and she cried out in pain.

"Hey, enough already!" Dante said, throwing down what he was carrying and kneeling down to help her. "Didn't I tell you-"

He was cut off by a kick to the face from San's left leg, and fell back on his rear. "Don't touch me, human!" the girl yelled. Sitting back up, Dante saw the look on the girl's face, and, deciding he didn't want to aggravate her anymore, slowly backed away.

"All right, all right," he said, scooting back. "I'm backing away, I'm not going to touch you or anything. Just be calm. It took a lot of work patching up that leg, and I don't need you making it worse."

"What the hell did you do to me?!" the girl growled. "Where did you take me?"

"What'd I do?" Dante said with a chuckle. "I saved your life, is what I did. And I took the time to patch you up as well. Used a lot of my First-Aid kit in the process. Would I be wrong in expecting a bit of gratitude?"

"Why the hell would I be grateful to you? You interfered with my mission and ruined everything! Not only did you blow my cover and force me to make it a suicide mission, but you had to ruin that as well! To top it off, you take me away from my fate, and put me in your debt! Do you have any idea how humiliating it is for me to owe my life to a human?" she said, getting angrier with each passing second. "If I wasn't in this bad a condition, I'd kill you on the spot!"

Dante sat in silence as the girl finished her rant. "I'll take that as a 'yes'," he said.

San wasn't finished. "Don't get cocky with me, human! You said, back at the river, that you weren't part of that gunwoman's clan!"

"That's right."

"Then why were you there with them?"

"I told you before, I was passing through. A traveler has to make stops once in a while, you know. Plus, I couldn't pass up the chance to gather a little info."

"If you bore absolutely no loyalty to that damned woman," she said, her voice taking on a lower tone, "why the hell did you get in my way? It had nothing to do with you!"

"Maybe," Dante said. "Still, I'm not the kind of guy to just let things like that happen. I didn't want you to get yourself killed."

"Pathetic," the girl spat. "You flaunt false moral authority on others, making a fool of yourself, all because it makes you feel better about yourself. You're just like all the rest."

"You're certainly quick to judge," the youth replied, using his knife on what looked like a small, dead animal. "I'd heard about you before I came here, you know? They told me some really crazy stories about you. But, now that I look at you, you don't seem like the type to cut out hearts and eat them whole, or collect skulls for satanic rituals."

"I don't find you funny, human."

"Dante," he said.

"What?"

"I have a name, you know. It's Dante. You'd make friends quicker if you didn't just refer to them as 'human'." He put a long stick through the animal, which looked like a possum, and hung it over the fire.

"Why the hell should I care what your name is?" she retorted angrily. "To me, you're just another filthy human, eating away at this land, and destroying everything in your path! You absolutely disgust me, and if I could have, I would've killed you long ago, and thrown your corpse to the vultures! I won't rest until I've killed you, and that damned gunwoman's whole clan! So don't expect any special treatment from me just because you've kept me alive a bit longer, you bast – Aaagghh!!!"

During the girl's rant of anger, Dante had picked up a small piece of firewood, and poked at San's broken leg, causing her to cry out in pain once again.

"You bastard! What the hell are you-"

"Shut up."

San slowly opened her eyes as the pain subsided. "Huh?" She found the human standing over her, his knife still in hand.

"We have had it with your whining," he said with a stern voice. "So shut up and listen for a change."

San was taken aback by the change in attitude, but still managed to catch the confusing way in which he had referred to himself. We? Her focus returned to the youth as he began speaking.

"Look: I'm not gonna pretend to fully understand what you and your family are going through in this whole conflict. But I have a good idea. Just so you know, I've met with Eboshi, the 'damned gunwoman'. We've talked, and I know what she wants to do. Some of the things she's done sound pretty horrible, even coming from her. Still, I've heard things about you – believable things – and they don't sound much better. So, while I can understand why you're mad, I'm not gonna sympathize with your cause at the drop of a hat. And I certainly don't appreciate being lumped in with whatever they're doing just because I'm the same fucking species! I didn't want to be traveling through this god-forsaken land, looking for answers; I didn't mean to confront you at the river; I didn't mean to run into you during your little secret assassination plan; I didn't mean to be a part of any of this! But, when I go out of my way to save your life, and stop you from pulling the stupidest action possible, I expect something a little more appreciative than 'screw you'! Just so you know, I've completely fallen out with those people now. I assaulted their headmistress, and badly injured a few others, all to save you from getting killed. I can't go back there anymore. And my problems sure as hell don't end there. So, if you must, go ahead and hate me for being human; but, at the very least, don't hate me for something I didn't do!"

San was speechless. This was the first time a human had talked to her up front; the first time one had been so open with her. And, as much as she hated to admit it, his reasoning had made sense. She'd never seen him show any ill-will towards the forest, her family, or anyone else for that matter, yet she had still treated him with the same hostility as she treated all humans. Though she still didn't trust the human, she didn't feel that aggravating him any further would be a good idea, considering the position she was in.

San sighed. "Very well. I won't bother you anymore."

Dante breathed a sigh of relief. Whew. I thought I'd gone too far there for a second. But she's not trying to claw my eyes out or anything, so I guess I'm good. "Good. I'm glad we could reach an understanding."

"Don't misunderstand, human," she retorted. "I may be tolerating you for now, but once I'm able to walk under my own power again, I'm getting as far away from you as possible. I can't guarantee your safety then, either."

"Glad to hear it," Dante quipped sarcastically. "About your injury, though," he added, reaching for his First-Aid kit. "I realize you're in quite a bit of pain over that leg." He pulled out a small plastic jar, and opened it. "I can't make it heal faster, but I can give you something to take the pain away, at least temporarily." He poured two small, white pills into his hand before closing the jar, and held them out to the girl. "Here. Take these with some water, and you'll feel better."

San looked at the pills as if they were poison, then turned her glare on the youth. "Do you take me for a fool, human? Do you honestly expect me to take something that could easily be poison?"

"Oh, not this again," he groaned. "Look, they're perfectly safe." He extended his hand. "Just take them-"

"Get those away from me!" she seethed, curling up into a defensive position without moving her leg.

For fuck's sake, he thought. "All right, fine. I don't like to waste these things, but if I've got no other choice…" He took another one out, threw it into his mouth, and took a sip from his water canteen before swallowing. "There. Feel better?"

San was a bit taken aback. She had really been suspicious of the medicine he was trying to give her, and hadn't expected him to down one just like that. "Well, I suppose, if you took one…" She held out her hand. "Do as you please."

Dante smiled before putting the pills in her hand. She threw them into her mouth, and he handed her his canteen. She gave it a short look before taking a swig of water, swallowing the pills. "There. Not so bad, is it?" the youth quipped.

San waited, half-expecting her insides to start curling up, even though she had seen the boy eat one himself. Still, after waiting for a few minutes, nothing had happened. "Maybe not," she said, "but my leg doesn't feel any better."

"Just give it some time. Trust me."

Just outside the cave, a pair of large, attentive eyes was gazing at the two inhabitants inside. The cave was just small enough that one could view them from a tree several dozen feet away. And that was where two men sat, covered in gillie suits made up of leaves and other plants.

"The boy sure seems to be taking his time with her," the smaller one said to his larger companion, who continued staring at the boy and girl inside the cave. "But he just got her to take something; something that looked like medicine. Perhaps he intends to-"

"He doesn't," the larger one interrupted.

"But why else would he try to give her-"

"You saw him take one before, didn't you? How could he hope to have his way with her if he knocked himself out as well?"

The smaller man frowned. "I suppose you're right."

"I'm not sure what he gave her. But I believe he wants to relieve her of her pain."

"Then why did he save her in the first place, Rokurota-sama?"

"Such a matter does not concern us at the moment. We're here to monitor the boy, and, if the opportunity arises, abduct him. We will find out his motives later."

"I'm aware of our task," the smaller man replied. "However, we still haven't decided how we're going to capture him."

"Not yet."

"But he's ripe for the taking, Rokurota-sama. We have sleep pellets and darts that can easily incapacitate him. And the girl won't be a threat in her current state."

"Okashira said he wants the boy alive and unscathed. While we might be able to incapacitate him with our techniques, trying it with both of them together is too risky. If we were to make a mistake, everything could go wrong. And we don't know the extent of the arsenal he carries with him, or his capability with it."

The smaller man sighed and nodded to himself. "I understand," he said. "So what do we do?"

"We wait, Akai," he replied. "However the boy may look now, whatever he did inside Tataraba has no doubt exhausted him; even if he's trying his hardest not to show it. Sleep will soon take him, and the girl will follow."

"I see," Akai said, nodding in approval. "Forgive my childish babble, Rokurota-sama. I'm merely honored to be granted this mission so early in my standing with this group."

"It's to be expected, kohai," Rokurota replied, not taking his eyes off the cave. "And your skills won't blossom if you don't gain experience. I chose you for this task for a reason."

"Thank you, sempai."

"Enough talk. We will observe the target until the time to act comes." His eyes watched as the boy handed the wolf girl what looked like the food he had been roasting over a fire.

Dante held up half of the roasted possum on a stick for San to take. "Here, take this," he said. "It's not much, but you'll need it after what you've been through."

San stared at the animal before looking back at the boy. "Are you giving this to me?"

"Well…yeah," the youth replied. "Go ahead, it's not a big deal. I'll make do with-"

He was cut off when San took the meal on a stick, and began to gruesomely tear into it with her teeth. Dante watched as she ravenously gobbled down the roasted rodent, cleaning the meat off the bones, with no care for decency or eating manners whatsoever. By the time she was done, her face was a partial mess, and crumbs and drippings had fallen down onto her clothes.

Dante was struck absolutely dumb at what he was seeing. He had never seen a girl eat this way. So much for human modesty, let alone feminine. I mean, I know she was raised by wolves, but yeesh!

As if to hammer that point home, as soon as the girl swallowed her last mouthful, she let out a long, sickening belch before wiping her face with her arm. "Thanks," she said blankly.

Dante remained speechless for a few seconds before responding. "You're welcome," he replied, uneasily. He looked at his own meal with a frown. I think I just lost my appetite.

Eventually though, with a little effort, Dante managed to get the food down. Afterwards, he began to fieldstrip his firearms, to make sure they were working well. As he sorted through his parts and counted his remaining ammunition, San watched with mild fascination. She was still mesmerized by the boy, even though she had met him twice before. It wasn't just his appearance or clothing, or even the mysterious things he carried; absolutely nothing about him made sense. Though he carried what looked like a gun, he didn't act like those from the fortress of iron. He hadn't tried to kill her when he first saw her, and had let her live when he had the chance to end her life. Strangest of all, though, was the effort and pain he had gone through to save her from the humans. She had absolutely no idea why he would want to save her, and the lack of understanding was causing her massive unease.

It was at that moment that she realized something: she no longer felt the pain in her leg that had been tormenting her ever since she had come to. Daring to believe it, she tapped at her leg, which shook from its suspension in midair; she felt nothing. The human had been telling the truth; the medicine he had given her had in fact taken away the pain.

"Your leg feeling better?" she heard him say. Looking up at the youth, she saw him watching her.

"Y-yes," she said, turning her head in embarrassment. The last thing she wanted to do was admit that a human made her feel better. However, rather than stay quiet and ignore his presence, like she had done up to that point, she decided now would be a good time to probe information.

"Dante…"

"Hm?" the youth said, looking back up at her. "You called me by my name."

"You asked me to earlier," the girl said with a frown. "Are you complaining?"

"No," he replied. "I'm just surprised, is all. What were you saying?"

San took a deep breath before speaking. "I just wanted to know why you went through so much trouble to save me," she said, trying not to make eye contact. "And I don't want that lousy answer you gave me earlier; I want the real reason. Like you said, you can't go back there anymore. But it looked like you'd found a place to live in their town. A traveler like you should always worry about not getting on the locals' bad side. So, why did you go so vastly out of your way to save me from them?"

Dante sighed before nodding. "I was telling the truth," he said. "Sure, they'd allowed me to live with them. And, most of them were pretty nice, I guess. Still, I didn't like the way they handled certain things; namely, you. I know this whole conflict is a lot more complicated than I can hope to understand, but – call it the heat of the moment, if you must – I just didn't want to let them kill you. Not all of our problems can be solved by murder," he said, tending to the fire. "Don't think you're special, though. If you'd been about to kill Eboshi, I probably would've stopped you, too."

"I doubt it," the girl replied. "You're lucky I didn't kill you then, human."

"Yes, you've been reminding me of that ever since we first met," the youth said.

"So, you got involved in a conflict that had nothing to do with you, just because you felt it was the right thing to do?" The girl gave a light chuckle. "I'm surprised you've managed to survive this long out here."

"You've actually got a point," the boy said, remembering all the stops and bumps in his journey.

"Well, if I'm not going to get an answer to that question, at least tell me this; what are you looking for?"

"Huh?"

"You said you were a traveler," she said. "And you're certainly not from this land, or anywhere close. I can only guess that means you're on a quest. I want to know what brought you here, and what you intend to do."

Dante was left temporarily speechless. While he normally had an alibi or excuse prepared for those who asked him of his past or current situation, he wasn't sure if he could say anything that would satisfy this girl.

"Well…it's kinda' a long story…"

"I'm not going anywhere anytime soon," the girl replied.

"I see. Well, how do I put this…I need help; and I'm told I can get the help I need in this forest."

San cocked an eyebrow. "What kind of help?"

"Well, I'm not sure how he can help me. I just know I've got to find him if I'm going to find anything out."

"Who?"

Dante sighed as he scratched his head. "This is gonna sound crazy…or maybe it won't, I don't know. But I'm looking for the Shishi-Gami…the deer god of the forest. I'm told he can work miracles, and, honestly, I'm in need of one right now."

Letting the boy's words sink in, the girls' eyes went wide, boring into the boy in front of her with intensity, as if she just realized something. Her calm expression turned into a grimace.

"Yeah, I know, it sound ridiculous, but-"

"So that's it," the girl growled.

"Huh?" Dante said, looking over at her. Her face was pointed downwards, her hair hiding her eyes. "Uh…are you all right?"

"I can't believe I was so stupid," she said, her voice becoming more menacing with each sentence. "I can't believe I didn't see it in the first place. But it all makes sense." She was breathing in and out heavily as she spoke. "Why you didn't kill me at the river…why you pursued me in the human town…you saved me just so you could keep me alive long enough to tell you about the Shishi-Gami!" She rose her gaze to meet his, and Dante saw the familiar glare of hatred he remembered from their first meeting.

"What?" the boy uttered in shock. "No, that's not what I meant-"

"Forget it, human! I'll die before I tell you anything about the forest spirit! Now, let me out of here, or I'll kill you where you stand!" She began tugging at the rope suspending her fractured leg.

"Hey, wait!" the youth yelled, dashing up to stop her. "Are you crazy? You still can't walk! If you-"

He was silenced by another kick from the girl's left leg, this time to the gut.

"I said don't touch me!" the girl growled as he fell back. "I was stupid to stay here this long without trying to kill you, but I'm not staying a second longer! Leg or no leg, I'm getting as far away from you as possible! And if you get in my way again, you'll be sorry!" She continued her attempts to loosen her leg from its suspension.

Dante got back up, blocking her way, but keeping his distance. "Look," he said, "I'm sorry if I offended you by talking about the Shishi-Gami. But I have a reason for trying to find him!"

"You and every other lousy human hunter to prowl through this land," San seethed. "They all want his head as a trophy! And, when there's no forest spirit to protect this land, they'll burn it to the ground! Why the hell should I believe you're any different?"

"It's not like that!" the boy pleaded. "Look, just forget I said it, okay? It doesn't matter! What matters now is making sure you don't injure yourself further!"

"Give it up, human!" the girl growled. "I can see through your façade now. You never cared about my well being, or any of that sentimental garbage you spouted earlier! It's all so you can find the Shishi-Gami. Well, I won't let you! Now, be gone!" She finally managed to tear her leg from the suspension, and it hit the ground with a thud.

Though the painkillers had mostly numbed her senses, not even they could stop pain this deep. Dante braced himself as she let out another squeal of pain. "Look, it doesn't matter how determined you are, you can't walk! If you try, you're only going to make it worse!"

San, having had enough, leveled her glare at the boy once more. "This is your last chance, human! Leave me be, or I'll paint the walls of this cave with your blood!" It was a threat, and Dante could see from her eyes that she meant it.

The two stood staring at each other for several moments in silence. Dante didn't want to aggravate her any further, but he didn't want to let her leave in her current condition, either. He was at a loss at what to do.

All of a sudden, amongst the dead silence, he heard a noise from outside the cave. He tensed up before slowly turning to face the cave entrance. What the…it can't be. Forgetting about the girl, he ran over to where he had been sitting earlier, and immediately began to put his shotgun back together.

San took easy notice of this, and scooted herself further away. "What do you think you're doing, human?"

"Be quiet for a sec," he replied. Shoving a final shell into the magazine, he pumped the slide, and crept over to the cave opening. Moving slowly, he peeked outside the cave; seeing nothing, he moved further, around the side of the cave. He crept until he was looking down the rather steep side of the mountain, up which a winding road allowed him to ascend with the wolf girl earlier. The path went down a long ways, and he had to squint to see what looked like a number of tiny lights within the woods.

What are those? Fires…torches? Just then, he heard a yell from the same direction he saw the lights; a distinctly human yell. Slowly backing away for a second, he turned around, and dashed back to the cave. Shit! he thought. They've come after us! We've gotta move, and fast! Running inside, he found San trying, unsuccessfully, to stand up.

"Hey! I thought I told you not to try walking on your own!"

He was struck by a realization the second he uttered those words. The wolf girl responded with an angry retort of sorts, but Dante didn't hear it, being lost in his own thoughts. We won't be able to move fast with them chasing us, he thought. She can't walk in her condition, and I can't carry her for much longer! But they're gonna be here soon! I can't possibly fight them all off-

At that moment, he had another realization. Wait…maybe I won't need to fight them off…if they pass us by. He clutched his chin. I could lead them astray, and leave a few traps…His eyes moved to the fire he had made, and he immediately walked over to stomp it out.

"What are you doing?" San asked, watching the boy as he tried to put the fire out with his boots. "What are you planning to do now, human?"

"This is no time for petty arguments," Dante replied, throwing some dirt from the floor of the cave onto the fire. "Eboshi's people are after us. They've followed us into the forest, and they'll be here any second!" The fire out, he began fanning out the remaining smoke.

San went silent, her eyes wide. She didn't normally fear the humans from the town, but, in her current condition, she knew there was no way she could run from them, or fight. She didn't want to panic in front of this human, but was growing more scared by the moment.

"This is your fault," she said, tensing up. "I'm as helpless as a cub, and they're coming for me!" She sat up, grabbing her knees in anxiety.

"Look, just calm down!" Dante said. "I have a plan! You just stay here, and don't make any noise! The fire's out, so they shouldn't be able to see you!" Lifting his backpack up off the ground, he swung it over his shoulders, and headed for the entrance, clutching his weapon.

Hesitating, San called out to him before he could exit the cave. "Wait! What are you going to do?"

Dante looked back at her, and took a deep breath. "I'm gonna distract them; lead them on a wild goose chase, so they'll pass us over. Then, I'll come back here, and help you get to a safer location. So hang tight."

He left before the girl could respond, and she drooped her head in frustration. Is this human just stupid, or is he actually crazy? she thought to herself. He must be one of the two, if he thinks I'm going to wait around here for him to come back. And, with that, she began to crawl her way to the cave entrance.

"Dammit!" Gonza said quietly, though still with anger present in his voice. "Don't yell! You're going to give us away! I want to be able to get the drop on them!"

"I'm sorry, sir," the rifleman said, bowing his head.

"Just be quiet from now on," the captain said, narrowing his eyes. "The wolf girl is badly injured, and the outsider was carrying a load with him when he left. They won't be able to run far, but that doesn't mean he won't hear us coming if we give ourselves away. So keep sharp!"

As soon as he was notified that Eboshi was in decent condition, he had taken half the riflemen with him, and immediately pursued the outlander who had attacked his mistress. They had picked up a trail of sorts, but it was fading the further they got into the forest. Gonza, however, was not going to let this deter him. I'll bring back that outlander, dead or alive. No one harms our mistress and gets away with it.

Dante's sniper scope wasn't very effective at seeing things in the dark, but the torches the group of riflemen were carrying made it possible for him to glimpse them from afar. Taking it from his eye, he smiled. He'd walked down the path he'd come earlier before heading in a different direction, away from the cave. He'd left a few clues along the way for them to spot in order to keep them going in the wrong direction. He was now setting up traps, using a few toys from his equipment pack, as well things he'd found around the woods.

Looking inside his pack, he counted his grenades. Hmm…have four frags left, but only two smoke left…If only I could find some other way to drown them in a haze…he dug through his things before unearthing something that made him smile.

Hel-lo…

San let out a tiny squeal as her injured leg came down a bit harder than she wanted it to. Grinding her teeth together, she continued on, using a long, wooden stick for support. Though she wasn't moving very fast, she knew her way around this area, and that she could make it to the rendezvous point where her brothers would be waiting if she hurried. Then again, they might already be out looking for her. And the weird human would keep the other ones distracted, hopefully.

Coming to a small bulk of rock that led up the path, she braced herself for the chore of climbing it. Planting her stick on top of it, she began to lift herself up, holding her injured leg off the ground. However, before she could jump up with her other leg, the bottom of the stick broke off from the weight, and she fell onto the rock, cutting her arm on an unearthed tree root. She let out a louder squeal of pain, but immediately clamped her hands over her mouth to stop herself from wailing any further. She would not give herself away at any cost.

Grimacing in pain, she grabbed the stick again, and used it to lift herself back onto her able foot, and moved past the rock, continuing down the path.

Gonza stood on his knee, inspecting an odd-shaped footprint in the earth. His men had found another further back, as well as a few small cylinders made of brass. Although they had never seen such things themselves, Eboshi's servants had spoken to them earlier, while tending to their injured mistress, and told them Eboshi had gotten similar things from the youth during her talk with him. The other men saw these as clues of the boy's trail. Gonza, however, wasn't so sure.

"Gonza-sama! We've found another piece of brass up this way!" The bodyguard looked up to see two orange-clad men walking up to him. He held out his hand to receive the brass shell from the soldier, and inspected it.

"The outlander must not be as clever as we once thought," one of the men said. "He's leaving a pretty obvious trail."

"How does he expect to outrun us?" another quipped.

"He doesn't," Gonza said.

"Huh?" The men all encircled their general as he looked back at the footprint.

"This earth is too dry for natural footprints. The one here looks forced. Plus, there are no others around it. He left it here for us to find."

"Gonza-sama, you don't mean…"

"The pieces of brass, too. He's leading us off course; possibly into a trap." He looked off in the direction the men had found the second shell. "But we won't oblige him."

Looking to the right of their designated path, he looked towards another apparent trail. Walking up to a small, rotting tree, he spied something on one of its jagged branches. He reached out his hand, and pulled a small piece of white fur that hung from a branch. The men all stared intuitively.

"She's gone this way," the bodyguard said, "and I believe we'll find the outlander with her."

San sat against a sturdy tree trunk, resting herself. The medicine she had been given had managed to hold the pain back for a while, but it was starting to return. Plus, her entire body was still tired and weak after the beating she'd received at the hands of the townspeople.

Can't rest for too long, she thought. Have to keep moving…

And, with that, she used her stick to get back to her feet, and continued to slowly limp through the woods

Dante had spent a good amount of time readying his traps and preparing for the riflemen to approach. In addition, he'd used some string and glue from his pack to attach a large amount of leaves and small plants to his cloak, creating a gillie suit of sorts to hide in.

I should've done this earlier, the boy thought. It's only natural in such an environment. He'd also adorned his face with black and green camouflage paint he had left over, adding to his deadly semblance.

Donning his newly made disguise, he laid down in wait amongst a small patch of shrubbery, his shotgun held to his shoulder in one hand, and a small device in the other. He eyed his traps, and the opening of the trial he'd blazed, in hopes that they would follow.

Funny, he thought. They should've been here by now…they weren't too far behind last I checked…what could they be doing?

However, Dante's presence wasn't known only to himself; two pairs of eyes were watching from the trees above, poised and ready to strike.

"He's no doubt leaving some sort of trap for them, Rokurota-sama," the smaller man said. "Is this a good time to strike?"

The larger man remained silent for a second before answering. "Yes," he said. "He's alone, and the iron forgers are walking in a different direction. He's alone, and won't be missed."

Akai pulled out what looked like a couple of thin darts, putting one of them into a small tube. "Wait for my command, kohai," he heard his boss say. He nodded, and put the tube to his mouth, spying a small area of the boy's neck that was uncovered by his cloak.

"On three. One…"

Akai took a deep breath, readying for the strike.

"Two…"

He eyed his target intently…

"Three-"

Dante lifted his torso off the ground, and Akai's dart missed. The boy failed to notice, though, as he got up and began to walk off into the woods. Akai readied another dart, but Rokurota held his hand up. "Not now, kohai."

"But sir-"

"A moving target is much harder to hit. And our prey is too important to take such a risk. Wherever he's going, we'll follow him."

Dante approached the cave where he'd left the girl, walking inside quickly. "Hey, princess! You there?" he called out.

There was no answer. "No, no, NO! Don't tell me you left, I told you not to leave!" he said, smacking his brow. "That means they picked up on her trail…oh, no." He dashed back out into the woods.

San dropped to her left knee, trying to catch her breath again. She was weaker by the minute, and the pain was returning to her right leg in spades.

Human's medicine must have worn off, she thought. Still, gotta keep moving…can't let the humans catch up… She hoisted herself up again, and resumed her slow journey.

She came to a stop when she noticed the path ended at a tiny cliff of rock, with a drop of about twenty feet to the ground below. Normally, she would just leap down and be on her way, but, of course, her condition wouldn't allow her to use her normal means. Sucking up her frustration, she looked for a way to get herself down; few seconds later, she found one; a vine that hung from the tree to her left, and extended all the way down the cliff. Taking hold of the vine, she tugged to see how strong it was. Satisfied, she threw her walking stick down to the ground below, and began to lower herself the cliff of rock, using her left leg to brace herself on the way down. Slowly, she slid down, letting the vine slip through her fingers.

Unfortunately, before she was even halfway down, she heard a noise from above the cliff. Losing focus, she let her injured leg slam against the wall of rock. San's self-control stretched just far enough to stop herself from screaming in pain. It did not, however, keep her from letting go of the vine, and she plummeted fifteen feet to the ground below. Luckily, San had experience in breaking falls, and she had used her arms and upper body to absorb most of the blow. Still, this didn't relieve her of any pain, and she couldn't help but cry out, even if only a little.

Gonza's head shot up attentively. He'd been inspecting the trail they'd been following, and was sure they were following the wolf girl. They'd found a streak of her blood on a tree root not far back, and he knew she couldn't be much further. The small scream he'd just heard confirmed his suspicions.

"She's close," he said, standing back up. "You know what that means. Ready your weapons, and wait for my command." The men did so, and followed him slowly as he continued up the path.

Back below the cliff, San clutched her injured leg, trying all she could to ease the worst of the pain away. However, the noises from beyond the cliff were getting closer, and she knew she didn't have much time. Looking to her side, she spotted a downed tree trunk, its bottom completely uprooted. Not even bothering to go for her walking stick, she began to crawl across the ground, grabbing onto any rock or bundle of grass that would help her move faster. She could feel the earth scraping across her cuts and bruises, but the pain didn't deter her.

Finally, she made it to the uprooted tree, and hid behind it, just as Gonza and the others came to the edge of the cliff. The bodyguard immediately began to inspect the area, noticing the vine and the stick at the bottom of the wall of rock. Motioning for a few of his men to follow, he used the vine to descend the cliff, and began to search. Noticing the trail in the earth San had left when she crawled, as well as blood from her wounds, he followed it up to the end of the tree trunk. Smiling to himself, he began to approach it.

San could hear the man approaching, and felt her heart begin to beat faster. There was literally nothing she could do to defend herself against them all in her condition, and she knew what they would do to her once they got hold of her. Knowing that she didn't have her dagger, or any of the blades she normally used, she picked up a nearby rock, and inhaled deeply. If she was going to die, she was going to at least try to take that bald, ugly bodyguard of the gunwoman with her, injured leg or no.

Dante, too, had reached the cliff, though he hid behind a tree a good distance away from the riflemen. That didn't, however, stop him from seeing what was happening.

"Oh, dear god," he said, watching the bodyguard move closer to the downed tree. If he let his presence be known, he would simply be shot. And he didn't want to open fire on them himself; he needed to find a way to distract them without being seen.

But how? he thought. How can I divert their attention away from there? Another thought suddenly came to his mind, and he reached into his pocket. Looks like I'll have to use these earlier than I thought…

Down below, Gonza stood right behind the fallen tree. San tightly shut her eyes, grasping the rock as she prepared for the end.

Gonza smiled. "I have you now, wolf-whore," he said, moving around the roots to see what was on the other side. Or, rather, he would have, if a loud, continuous popping noise, accompanied by a storm of sparks, hadn't gone off right at his side.

The hulking man fell back, shielding himself from the sparks, and scooting away as fast as her could. "What the hell is that?" he yelled.

After a few seconds, the sparks vanished, leaving a tiny cloud of smoke behind. He instinctively turned his eyes towards the cliff just in time to see something vanish into the woods. "The boy," he sneered, getting to his feet. "He's followed us!"

Turning his attention back to the tree, he looked behind the mass of roots – only to find nothing there. "What the…" he said, looking around. "She's not here! She must have run for it!" Turning back to his men, he pointed towards the woods. "Everyone back up the wall! We're pursuing the outlander! Now!"

And, one by one, the riflemen ascended the wall with the vine. As soon as they were all at the top, they started into the forest, back the way they had come. "Ready your weapons! Make sure your powder is dry! Fire only on my command!" Gonza led the way as they pursued the youth.

Just you wait, outlander! You're almost in my grasp! And, once I've gotten you, I'll make you pay for what you did to Lady Eboshi!

Soon enough, Dante was back in the spot where he'd been waiting before, right where he'd set his traps. He hoped they would pick back up on the clues he had left behind, and follow them right this time. It's a good thing I kept those firecrackers, he thought. You really can find anything in the streets of Saigon…as these guys are about to find out.

Looking through his sniper scope again, he smiled as he saw the light from their torches getting closer. Come on out to play, boys, he thought mischievously. When I'm done with you, you're gonna be pissing your pants and running home to Mama.

Gonza held out his hand to stop the man behind him. "What is it, Gonza-sama?" the man asked.

"We're back at the path the outsider was trying to lead us down earlier," he answered. "He's no doubt laid out traps for us. The question is, what kind of traps?"

"Do you think we should pull back, sir? Is it too dangerous?"

"No," he said. "The boy may think he has some tricks up his sleeve, but he's not familiar with this area; we are. We've fought and won here before, and we'll do it again."

"What do we do, sir?"

"We'll split up," he said. Turning to three of the men, he pointed to his left. "You three take the back way, and circle around to the ridge on the other side of the mountain. The rest of you, follow me. Be on the lookout for any tripwires or other traps."

The three men did as they were told, and left the group to head into the woods, Gonza leading them.

Yes! Here they come! the boy thought, seeing the men walking along the path, getting closer to the area he needed them in. Just a bit further…

Gonza continued moving through the woods, his eyes wide open and attentive. This patch of forest was mostly rotten, having been damaged by fire they had set months earlier. The tree carcasses were barely able to stand up on their own.

The man suddenly stopped when he came to an unusually large bed of leaves in front of him. Looking down, he chuckled.

"What's wrong, sir?" one of them asked. "Do you see something?"

"I thought the outlander would be more clever than this," he said, picking up a large rock, and throwing it on the bed of leaves. The leaves promptly fell to reveal a large hole, big enough for a few men. "What does he take us for, fools?" Looking back up, he saw something even more interesting dead ahead: a large patch of shrubbery, with a dark figure noticeably sticking out of it.

"Looks like we've found him," he said, unsheathing a small axe from a sling on his back. Walking closer to the patch, he held the axe with the blunt end facing the figure. Crouching, he prepared to strike.

It's over, boy!, he thought before dashing at the figure, and swinging hard. The blunt end of the axe made contact, knocking off the head of the figure.

"What?" he uttered in shock. "Hanbei, hand me a torch!"

The rifleman did so, and Gonza got a look at the figure, which was nothing more than a badly-shaped statue of mud.

"We've been tricked!" he said, clutching his weapon. "Everyone be alert!"

From his hiding place. Dante grinned. Showtime!, he thought, pressing a button on his device.

Explosions on all sides rocked the area, and the riflemen threw themselves to the ground to avoid flying debris. Enormous tree trunks began to fall, and crashed to the ground, throwing rocks and earth everywhere. When it was all over, Gonza looked around to see that the entire area was surrounded by fallen tree trunks, some of which were as high as their upper torsos. And he and his entire squad were trapped inside the perimeter.

Getting to his knees, the captain tried to call out to his soldiers. "Be calm, all of you! Gather yourselves, and fall in!"

Gotta love that C-4, the boy thought. Looks like I made the right calculations with those trees. Time for round two. He pressed another switch on the device.

Right under the patch of shrubbery where the mud figure stood, a canister began to emit a thick, cloudy gas, which quickly enveloped the perimeter. The riflemen started to cough and gag wildly, and their eyes began to sting like crazy. Their screams and cries of pain filled the air.

Gonza felt the effects of the gas as well, and covered his mouth with a rag from his pocket. Looking around, he saw his men in a state of utter turmoil and chaos. A couple had already passed out from the gas, while the others were trying to tear off their masks so they could breathe, or shield their eyes from the gas.

"Can't see! Can't breathe! I'm suffocating!" one man cried, ripping off his mask and dropping to his knees, where he began to double over. Another man, the gas having overtaken him, ran headfirst into a rotten tree, falling unconscious instantly.

"Dammit!" the captain yelled. "Everyone stand their ground, now! I don't care how much it hurts! Use your masks to shield your eyes and faces! We need to be on alert! We don't know what the outlander has planned next!"

Oh, they have no idea, Dante thought, reaching to pick up another object. And now, for my next trick…He snapped off the top of the object, and hurled it into the perimeter.

The small, red stick suddenly flared up with a bright light, spraying sparks everywhere. If the men had been able to calm themselves any, their panic returned in full force. Dante added another tiny batch of firecrackers to the storm, and watched as the men panicked wildly. As if to add insult to injury, the sparks made contact with the black powder in their guns and pouches they carried, igniting it. All of the men fell to the ground, feeling the pain from the burns.

Gonza, however, had stood his ground, and was not about to give up. That's it, he thought angrily. No more fooling around! That foreigner is dead meat! Raising his gun, he shielded the powder with his hand, putting his back to the sparks. Where are you, you little bastard…Though the gas was stinging his eyes and making them water like crazy, he kept them open, looking for any sign of the boy. Then, just when he was about to let his eyes shut from the pain, he saw something amongst a few bushes up ahead, briefly illuminated by the light from the flare.

Huh?, the boy thought, seeing the hulk of a man pointing his gun directly at him.

There! He lit the powder with his match.

Holy-! Dante rolled to the side just in time to avoid the bullet, which exploded in the ground right where he had been. He rolled until he hit one of the fallen tree trunks. Upon hitting it, he heard something crashing through it. He scooted far enough away on his rear just in time to see the bodyguard hack through the rotten tree trunk with his axe. Kicking the remains of the trunk out of his way, Gonza stood over the boy, axe in hand, and glaring with a pair of enraged, stinging bloodshot eyes.

"Oh, shit," was all the boy could say.

Gonza promptly swung down his axe at the boy, with Dante moving back enough for it to land right under his crotch. Rolling to the side, he got to his feet, and, swinging his shotgun up, fired a round near the man's feet, causing him to fall back himself. The bodyguard leapt to his own feet, and gave chase, hacking away at any interfering plants with his axe. Dante pushed aside branches and leapt over rocks, trying to get as far away as he could. If he could lose them in all the chaos, he might be able to find the girl, and make off before they had a chance to look for him again. They would be too busy tending to their own wounded to pursue him.

After another minute of running, Dante looked back, and couldn't see the man. Smiling, he found himself approaching what looked like the end of the woods. However, just as he broke through the woods into the open, he found a very unpleasant sight waiting for him: three orange-clad riflemen, aiming their weapons right at him.

Skidding to a stop about ten feet short of them, he instinctively leapt to his left to avoid the volley of shots. However, as is common in situations of panic, he had leapt before he looked, and turned just in time to view, to his horror, that he was leaping down the side of the mountain, with a long drop in store for him. He remained silent in fear as he plummeted towards the ground.

As the sound of the gunshots rang through the air, San stopped walking. She had made a dash for it when the human had bought her some time (well, she thought it had to be the human), but was disturbed by the noise. The other noises, which she recognized as screams from the people of the iron fortress, had not bothered her as much; she was used to them, and it meant the boy was apparently defending himself. However, she couldn't help but feel those shots had been for him. She heard no follow-up shots, meaning it was possible they had struck their target.

She didn't know why she felt worried, but she felt she couldn't continue on. As much as she disliked and distrusted the boy, the fact that he had saved her life multiple times still hung over her, and she didn't like not knowing his fate.

Why do you care?, she thought to herself. Just forget about him. Even if they kill him, it's no concern of yours!

Shaking her head, she tried to continue on in the direction she had been going. But…but…dammit. Sighing angrily, she turned around, and headed towards the source of the noise. Stupid human.

Gonza rushed through the woods, out into the open, running into his three comrades. "Where is he? Where's the outlander?"

"He fell, sir," one of them said. "Our shots missed him, but he leapt off the side of the mountain trying to dodge."

"Mine nicked him, sir. I saw it. Got 'im on the arm."

Gonza looked down the side of the mountain, seeing the sheer drop to the ground. Looking for any sign of the boy amongst the mass of rotten trees, he found none.

"We're going down there to search for him. Get ready," he said, heading back into the woods.

"Huh? But, sir, he must be dead! No normal human could survive a fall like that!"

"This boy is anything but normal, Tsukue," Gonza replied. "We're going down there to confirm the kill. Now, let's go. Hanbei still has his consciousness, and will look after wounded back at the site."

His entire body in pain, Dante lay, face-down, on the ground behind a large, fallen tree trunk. Lifting his head out of the mud, he gripped his right arm, letting out a squeal of pain. He'd managed to dodge two of the three bullets fired at him. The third, however, had grazed his right arm, leaving a sizeable wound.

"God dammit!" he seethed, feeling the pain from the impact. "How the hell did things go so wrong?" Rolling onto his back, he clutched his torso as a pain shot through it.

"I think I broke a few ribs," he said, scooting back so he could lean against the trunk. "But I'm still alive." Looking again at his right arm, he saw how deep the wound was. "Christ," he groaned, "that doesn't look good."

He sat for a few minutes, catching his breath, and trying to ease the pain in his ribs. He stopped his heavy breathing, however, when he heard the familiar voices approaching. Reaching over to grab his shotgun, which had also survived the fall, he pumped the slide, chambering a shell. Laying down on his side, he scanned the area from beneath the trunk.

He could see the three of them walking through the thicket of rotten branches, getting closer to his location. His heart beating faster, he aimed his weapon in their direction.

"Keep your eyes open, and your weapons poised," the bodyguard said. "This boy's already incapacitated most of our men with a surprise attack. He may be planning another one."

"If he's still alive," one of the men quipped.

"Your tendency to underestimate a threat will get you killed one day, Tsukue," Gonza growled. "Shut up, and look sharp."

"Yes sir, sorry."

As they got closer, Dante tried to scoot further away. He didn't see the sharp rock to his right, and his arm got cut by the jagged surface.

"Ahh!" the boy let out. He instinctively tried to silence the cry, but only half-succeeded. The noise was just enough to alert the four men, whose gazes zoomed in on the fallen tree trunk. Gonza narrowed his eyes, and held up his weapon.

Shit!, the boy thought, scooting up against the back of a smaller tree, trying to stay out of sight. His breathing got heavier as he clutched his own weapon.

"Tsukue," Gonza said. "Go and check under that fallen trunk. We'll flank you from the other side."

"Yes sir!" the man replied, slowly moving down towards the tree trunk.

Dante could hear the man coming, and his mind began to race. What do I do, what do I do?, he thought. If I'm lucky, I could take them all…but I was trying to avoid having to kill them! He tapped his gun against his head in anger.

Why?, he suddenly thought to himself. This is war. Why should we worry about killing the enemy? Besides, they tried to kill us, and are still trying to.

No, no. I don't need anymore bloodshed. We've come this far without killing any of them. We can't start now.

We don't have a choice. They're going to be upon us soon, and, if we don't do anything, we'll be dead. Kill them.

No, no! Stop it! The boy clutched his head, as if feeling a massive pain. He promptly stopped breathing when he heard the man right on the other side of the fallen trunk. The man was ducking to see under it. When he found nothing, he prepared himself to climb over it.

Feeling a surge of flaming heat throughout his body, Dante gritted his teeth, and leapt onto his side, just behind the trunk. Having a clear view of the rifleman's legs, he aimed his weapon, and fired.

The man let out a piercing scream as the shot blasted through his legs, leaving one of them close to breaking off. He hopped around on his other foot, trying desperately to keep from falling over as he continued to scream. Not being able to take the noise any longer, Dante rose to his feet, grabbed his pistol, and fired three shots into the hopping man's chest. He fell to the ground, his wailing silenced by death.

"Tsukue!" he heard the bodyguard yell from the other side of the tree. His cover blown, Dante dashed off into the woods, ignoring the pain in his body. Three shots rang out, barely missing him as he dove for cover behind a boulder.

Gonza had seen where the boy had gone this time, and ran closer to the spot while reloading his weapon. "Damn you, you wretched piece of scum outlander! You killed one of my best men!" The other two men caught up with their captain, and began reloading their guns as well. "I'm giving you one last chance, boy! Throw your weapon out to me, and come out with your hands up, and I'll consider giving you a quick execution!"

Whatever remorse Dante had felt for the man he'd just killed disappeared as he heard those words. The fire of rage was flaring up within him, and his right arm began to bulge. "Sure, you can have my gun," he yelled back, pumping the slide once again. "When you pry it from my cold, dead hands."

The man sneered. "Have it your way, outlander!" He motioned his two men to approach the boulder on opposite sides while he went in from the front.

Feeling the urge for bloodshed surge through him, Dante rose up from behind the boulder, and opened fire. The rifleman had to dive out of the way to dodge, and one of them appeared to be struck in the side. Gonza fired a shot that hit the top of the boulder, sending the youth flying back, hitting the ground with a thud. Rolling to his feet, he grabbed his gun, and tore off into the woods, ducking behind anything he could use as a shield.

Gonza silently motioned for his men to follow the youth, and they continued to exchange shots every few seconds. Gonza had his men fire one at a time, so the other would have time to reload, keeping the youth from having open time to fire on them himself.

Soon, Dante had exhausted his shotgun ammo, and had ditched the weapon, resorting to his .45 . He hadn't been able to get a clear shot on any of them since the chase had began, and was now looking for a way to ditch them. Crawling on his stomach, he curled up behind another rotting tree, watching as they scanned the area. Dammit, he thought, holding his handgun up by his face. I have one clip of ammo left. That's not gonna be enough, considering how hard it is to get an open shot on these guys. If only there were a way to get them all at once. He looked at the frag grenade he had attached to his belt earlier. This is my only one, he thought. It won't work unless I can get 'em bunched together. He groaned, and clutched a fistful of his hair. Think, Dante, think!

As if to answer his prayer, he noticed a good amount of large rocks at the top edge of a steep hill just above him. They look loose enough, he thought. Seeing that his pursuers were looking elsewhere, he climbed up the hill. Finding the right spot amongst the rocks, he yanked the pin, and placed the grenade before leaping down the hill. Gotta time this just right!

"Hey, assholes! Over here!" he yelled, firing a shot into the air. When he saw the two orange-clad men look up at him before giving chase, he ran off in the opposite direction.

Gonza saw where the two men were heading, and realized what was about to happen. "No, both of you! Stop right there!"

A loud explosion shook the ground, and the rocks at the top of the hill piled down, crashing against the rotting tree. The two riflemen stopped just short of it, getting covered in dust instead.

Gonza ran up to them. "Didn't I tell you to watch out for traps!" he said, sternly, albeit quietly. "Now, quickly, circle around to the other side!"

On the other side of the mess of rocks, Dante was circling the hill himself, confident that he had crushed the two men. That takes care of those two, he thought, running around the hill and coming to an opening in the thicket. Now, I just need to –

He skidded to a halt when he came around, finding himself face-to-face with Eboshi's bodyguard and his two soldiers. All three had their weapons trained on the youth. The boy could only stare, a stunned look on his face.

"Fire!"

San knew she was getting closer to the place where the boy would be when she heard three more shots ring out. She didn't know whether this was a good or a bad sign; they indicated that the boy had survived the previous encounter she had heard, but did not know whether or not he was so fortunate this time. The important thing, though, was finding out what happened. She kept moving, with renewed vigor this time.

With a sickening thud, Dante fell on his back, promptly coughing up a mouthful of blood. All three bullets had hit home, two through his chest, and one through his stomach.

Lowering his empty weapon, Gonza walked up to the fallen youth. Seeing that he was still breathing, he stomped his foot down on the boy's neck, putting pressure on his throat. Dante struggled to breathe his last breaths as he felt the life leaving his body. Everything was going black, and he knew the end was near. With his last breath, Dante stared intently up at his killer, and shot him a nasty grin. His eyes closed, and he stopped breathing.

After a few seconds, Gonza lifted his foot off the boy's neck, and lowered himself to put his ear to his chest. Standing up, he said, "He's dead."

Noticing the handgun the boy had been carrying, Gonza pried it from the boy's hand before inspecting it closely. When he was done, he put it in his pocket with a chuckle. "From your cold, dead hand, eh, outlander?"

The two riflemen looked at the body as well, not knowing what to say. One of them finally spoke up. "What now, Gonza-sama?"

The captain remained silent for a second before answering. "We gather the others, and leave for Iron Town. We may have to send someone home to get a couple of oxen to carry them back. Most of them are still incapacitated from that nasty trick the outlander pulled."

"What about the wolf girl, sir?"

"Not now. We don't have time to go after her when so many of our men are hurt. We'll get her another time."

"What about the outlander's body, sir?" the other asked.

Gonza looked at it with contempt before snorting. "We'll be taking it with us. We're going to need a trophy for this kill. I want this freak to be remembered by the townspeople." He turned away, looking up at the night sky. The stars were still out, and it was still a number of hours before sunrise. "It looks like we won't get back until morning, though. Yohachi," he said.

"Yes, sir," one of them replied, approaching his side.

"I want you to head back to Iron Town, and report our situation to the others. Get a couple of oxen and a few drivers – three, maybe – and bring them back here as fast as you can. We need to get our injured men to rest as soon as possible."

"Of course, sir," he replied. He checked himself to see if he was missing anything. "I'll be on my way, then-"

"AAAUUGH!"

The scream pierced through the air, and the two of them whipped around to see a horrifying sight. The outlander was not dead at all, and, far from dead, had the throat of the other rifleman in a death grip. The boy now looked exactly how he had looked back during his confrontation with Eboshi; the maroon marks streaked across his face, arms and upper body. And, his whole body seemed to give off an aura of heat.

Gonza stared in horror, his eyes darting back and forth between the boy, and the frightened face of his comrade, who looked like he was being slowly choked to death.

"A freak, am I?" the youth said, his voice taking on a demonic tone. "Perhaps; but that means that each of you are pathetically inferior to a freak like me. And here's why."

The captive man let out a final, nasty scream as his head burst into flame. Gonza could only watch as the man's face literally burned away, leaving a skull half-covered in a blob of melting flesh and blood. The youth put what looked like a small, white stick into his mouth, and, hoisting the body up until the head was level with his own, lit it with the fire from the burning head. Tossing the body to the ground, he took the stick from his mouth, and exhaled a cloud of smoke.

Gonza was scared stiff, unable to move at the horror he had just seen. The other man was struggling to load his gun. When he finally managed to, he aimed it at the youth, who took notice.

"Hmm?" he said, looking over at the orange-clad man. "The hell d'you think you're doing?"

Not listening, the man jammed his match into the barrel, and fired a shot at the youth. When the smoke cleared, he saw, to his horror, that the boy had not only not been struck by the bullet, but had caught it, and was holding it in his left hand.

"Idiot," he said, tossing the ball of iron in the air before catching it again. "You think these primitive weapons can do a thing to me?" He eyed the man, and grinned nastily. "Besides, don'cha know it's rude to interrupt someone during a smoke?"

Winding up for a throw, he hurled the ball of iron at the shooter, where it promptly went right thought his head, leaving a gaping hole of flesh and bone.

"Yohachi!" Gonza cried out, his voice filled with fear. He turned back to the outlander, who chuckled. "Ouch. Threw it too hard, I guess. Looks like he's gonna need a pinch runner; a permanent one."

Gonza did not know what to do. Their guns had not worked against this demon; none of their weapons had. How was he supposed to get out of this situation alive? His mind raced before remembering the weapon he had taken off the youth. Pulling it out, he pointed it at the youth in the same manner he had done at them.

"Hold it, demon!" he yelled, aiming the pistol at him. "Our guns may not work against you, but maybe yours will!"

Taking another puff, Dante laughed. "Heh. Looks like you honored my offer. But, technically, I'm not dead. I think I deserve my gun back, don't you?" He began to walk closer.

Gonza began to shake, still aiming the weapon. "D-don't come any closer! I'm warning you!"

"What?" the boy said. "What's keeping you? You've got a clean shot, bulls-eye," he said, chuckling. "If you get me in the brain, I just might go down. Go ahead, take the shot. What'a matter? You afraid?" Looking down at the captain's pants, the boy looked up with a smirk. "I think we all know the answer to that."

The anger and fear surging through him, Gonza pulled the trigger. A click resonated. His face went white, and he pulled the trigger again. Another click was all he heard.

Laughing, Dante snatched the gun from Gonza's hands, and pulled back the hammer. "That's right," he said, pulling back the slide. "I shoved in a new clip. Forgot to chamber a round." He then pointed the gun at Gonza's leg, and pulled the trigger.

San watched in horror from her hiding place as she watched the terrifying scene unfold before her. She had arrived just in time to see the youth get shot, and she thought she had been too late. Though she had felt lament at seeing the boy supposedly die after saving her, she had no idea that this would be in store.

For the first time in a long time, she was absolutely frightened. She'd noticed the fresh bandages on his right arm when they were in the cave together, but never imagined it would hide something so…evil. The ugly, maroon marks on his body were almost alive, and ghostly, demonic feelers were emitting from his right arm. His face looked less like a human, and more like human possessed by the worst breed of demon.

She managed to break out of her trance of fear long enough to think. Wait…could this be what the human was talking about when he said he needed help from the Shishi-Gami? She didn't know, and wasn't sure if it did any good at this point. It doesn't matter…I have to get away from here! Away from HIM! However, she couldn't bring herself to move even an inch, being so filled with terror. All she could do was watch as the boy fired his weapon at the other human's leg.

Gonza fell to the ground, yelling in pain. The bullet had missed his kneecap, but grazed the top of the shin, creating a deep wound. The pain was unlike anything Gonza had experienced before. While not the worst, it had a rather nasty feeling to it, causing so much pain in a small area.

"You bastard!" he yelled, spit flying from between his teeth. "You monster! I'll kill you! I'll kill you if it's the last thing to do!"

Holstering the weapon, Dante dusted off his hands. "Now, the only way that'll be true," he said, "is if your meat gives me a fatal dose of indigestion. 'Cause, you know what?" he said, leering at the injured bodyguard. "I'm gettin' kinda' hungry. And, honestly, I feel like a good barbecue." He unsheathed his large survival knife, and began to walk closer. "A nice, smoky hibachi-style grilling." He stood over the terrified man.

"But, first things first, I'm gonna cut me a few big, juicy steaks."

From her hiding place, the wolf princess could take it no longer. She covered her ears, shut her eyes, and let out a horrified scream. "NOOOO!"

The youth's eyes rose, and his head whipped around to the source of the noise. He saw nothing, but turned to walk closer.

San, realizing she had been heard, crawled further into the bushes, trying desperately not to be seen. Luckily, though, the youth didn't seem to notice her, though he kept looking around.

Who was that?, he thought to himself. It sounded like…sounded like that girl. Well, no matter…

No! We need to make sure she's okay! She's the whole reason we did this!

We're doing this to punish our enemies. Don't confuse the issue. That girl was just a side dish…

No, we have to find her. We have to…

The barrage of thoughts flowing through his head was too much for the boy, and he clutched his head before dropping to his knees, and letting out a scream. After a few minutes, he let go of his head, and looked around. Seeing the dead bodies and smelling their burning flesh, he felt the bile rise in his throat, and, not able to keep it down, vomited up his dinner from earlier.

The ugly truth of what had happened began to flood back to him. Dear god…what have I done? He remembered everything that happened, leaving him to wonder whether or not he'd actually been himself or not during the incident. Is that what I am?, he asked himself. What…what we are?

Turning his head, he saw that Gonza was no longer where he'd left him. Guess he made a run for it, he thought. All the better for him, I guess. His cigarette was still lit, and he took a long, troubled puff. Well, looks like there's no stopping us from killing those around us.

He sulked, drooping his head. I just wanna die.

And he sat there, for several minutes, lost in what little thoughts he had left, not paying any attention to his surroundings. In particular, he failed to notice something lowering itself from a tree above him.

A thought suddenly came to him. Wait…what about the wolf girl? He scratched his head. Should we continue looking for her or not? Well, there's nothing else to do right now-"

He was silenced by a sharp, yet light pain in his neck. "Aahh, what the-" He looked to his right, and saw something that made his eyes go wide: a giant, hairy spider, a little smaller than a house cat, was perched on his shoulder, its' jaws latched onto his neck.

"Holy – augh!" He smacked it off, throwing it to the ground. At that moment, however, he felt a cold, deadly sensation flowing through his veins. And his sight began to darken.

"Oh…crap…" was all he managed before collapsing to the ground. A few seconds later, several other spiders of similar size crawled out of the woods, and crawled up to his body. Soon, they began to spin their webs, cocooning his body. As the others attended to his body, one started to do the same to his head. It was cut short, though, by the arrival of a large, hairy padded hand, which stomped it flat, crushing it.

All the other spiders suffered a similar fate, being either crushed or torn apart by their assailants: big, dark, hairy creatures with shiny, red eyes. After all the spiders were dispatched, the creatures hoisted up the cold, unconscious body, and carried him off into the woods.

Gonza limped up the hill, using a thick wooden stick as support. He was getting closer to the point where he and his men had been ambushed when he noticed one of his men running up to him.

"Gonza-sama! What happened to you? Where are-"

"Dead," he said, cutting him off. "They're both dead. And the outlander got away."

The man stared, fear in his face. "How…"

"It's most unfortunate," the man groaned, sitting down. "But we can't worry about that now. I need you to run back to Iron Town, and get help. Bring ox drivers and oxen, as fast as you can!"

"But I-"

"Go now! I'll look after the wounded!"

"Y-yes, sir!" The man took off down the hill.

Exhaling with a groan, Gonza picked his stick back up, and resumed the journey to the point. He remained silent the whole way.

San had been hiding for a good fifteen minutes. Her fear at the sight she had seen had kept her from moving. Now, however, she felt she had to make a decision as to what to do next.

Is he still out there? she asked herself. Should I even go to see?

San felt a bit ashamed at herself. Dammit San, what are you doing here, hiding! You're not afraid of anything! Even the deadliest demons… Still, she was reluctant to go and check.

Oh, to hell with it, she thought, standing up with a stick for support, and walking out of the bushes.

She didn't find the human; instead, she found the carcasses of several large spiders. She looked over the scene, confused. What…on earth happened here? She carefully bent down to smell the scene. Venom…spider's venom. She'd learned how deadly this venom was long ago, when she'd seen a boar get taken down by a group of them.

But something else was here, she thought. Scanning the area, she smelled another familiar scent.

"Apes."

As fast as her good leg could move her, San had limped to the location where the apes had gathered, following the easy trail they had left behind. What do the apes want with him?, she thought, moving up the hill.

They must be on the other side, she thought. I can smell them.

Reaching the top of the hill, she peaked her head over, and saw the group of apes gathering around something. What are they doing?

As if to answer her question, the apes began to talk amongst themselves. "It is time," one said in a noticeably deadpan voice. "We have captured a man creature. If we eat this man, we gain his strength. We get power to drive the other humans away."

"Humans are evil," another one piped up. "How we know we not become evil as well?"

"You talk like heretic! We gain powers, not mind. We get strength if we eat human. Come, let us."

San was just close enough to hear these words, and her eyes went wide at them. Using her stick for support, she stood up. "No! You can't do that!" she yelled.

The apes all turned to look at her. The rather large one in the center spoke up. "What is girl of wolves doing here? Why does she interfere with us?"

"Are you listening to yourselves? You can't eat a human! You won't gain any powers of a human, you'll just turn into something else!"

"What does wolf girl know?" another one said. "We will eat human, and become strong like humans! We need power to chase humans away from forest!"

"I'm telling you, you won't get stronger from eating a human! This isn't the way to fight them!" San noticed that the apes were starting to move closer, and she stepped back a few inches. "Please, don't do this! This isn't how you are!"

The head ape looked at her intently, his red eyes boring into her. "We plant trees. Humans tear them down. We can't plant more because humans will destroy them. We are powerless against humans like this. In order to destroy humans, we must gain power of humans. Wolf girl should understand."

"I do understand!" the girl yelled, her eyes starting to tear up. "We've all been fighting to save the forest! But we can't give up now! If you resort to such means, you'll end up even worse than the humans! The Shishi-Gami is with us, so we can't lose hope! Keep planting your trees, and we'll fight to the last!"

The head ape slammed his fist down. "Girl talk nonsense! Shishi-Gami has abandoned us! Forest is getting smaller everyday! Ways of old have failed us! We eat human to gain strength, and nothing stop us!"

"Wolf girl no understand, because she is human too," another ape said.

San felt a chill go down her spine at the remark, and she narrowed her eyes. No one had called her that in the longest time…

"Since wolf girl is also human, she also have powers of human. We eat her too," the head ape said. At this command, the apes began to close in.

Fear crossing her face, San tried to back away, but tripped over her broken leg, and fell down the hill. The apes followed her, and dragged her back up, pulling her until she was next to Dante's half-cocooned body.

"Let feast begin," the head ape proclaimed.

San felt the hands of the apes grabbing every part of her body. They began tugging at her clothes, and even her hair. "No, no! Don't!" In her normal condition, she'd easily be able to fight off the creatures. Even so, she still managed to get a few strikes in, even sending one ape flying back with a kick from her left leg. However, that just seemed to make them angrier, and they got nastier in turn. "No…NO!"

The scream of an ape interrupted those of the girl, and she looked up to see two large, white wolves attacking the apes. The crowd dispersed as the wolves grabbed the apes in their jaws, throwing them several feet with powerful swings of their heads.

"You filthy apes! You dare to threaten one of the wolf clan!" Kiba snarled.

"You'll pay dearly for this! Don't you ever lay your disgusting hands on our sister again!" Tsume followed up, growling at an ape who subsequently fled.

Soon, the apes had all retreated into the woods, and San sat up, clutching her head. She immediately turned to face her brothers. "Kiba! Tsume!" she cried out. They both walked up to her, and she embraced them.

"Are you all right, San?" Tsume asked.

"Well, not entirely," she said, looking at her leg. "But I'm still alive. And I…suppose that's a good thing…for now, anyways."

"It's looks like the humans really got some hits in on you," Tsume said.

"You didn't show up at the rendezvous point. We thought they had killed you," Kiba said.

"But we couldn't bring ourselves to face mother. So, we began scouting the woods to see if anything was out of the ordinary."

"Then we heard all this," Tsume added.

San smiled. While she wasn't happy with the events of that night, she was glad to see her brothers again.

"San," Kiba said, sniffing at something on the ground. "What's this?"

San turned to see the human, still covered in sticky spider fibers. Her smile disappearing. "Oh, no," she said. She scooted up to him, and began to tear the fibers away from his face, which, once she saw it, had gone very white. Putting her hand to his face, she noticed it was very cold.

"Who is he, San?"

"Whoever he is, he's dead," Tsume quipped. "I can smell that spider venom from here. Deadly stuff."

"Wait a minute," Kiba said, taking a closer look. "I know this human! He attacked you back at the river yesterday, San!"

"Y-yes, it's him," she answered.

"Well, what's he doing here?"

"He was in that blasted iron fortress," she replied. "We ran into each other, and…oh, dammit, Kiba, I can't explain right now!" She looked into the humans lifeless, yet still open eyes.

I'm going to hate myself for this, she thought. But I can't just leave him here…not when I owe my life to him like this. She frowned. Ugh, I don't believe this. I owe my life to a disgusting human. I feel so dirty. She turned to her brothers. "Kiba, Tsume: we have to take this human to the realm of the Shishi-Gami."

The wolves stared at her as though she were crazy. "What did you say, San?"

"You heard me. He's dying fast, and there's no other hope for him!"

"Are you listening to yourself, San? You want us to save the life of a human, not to mention one that attacked you?"

"And not only that, you want us to take him to the place where humans are forbidden above all else!"

"He saved my life, Kiba!" the girl replied. "On more than one occasion, in fact! I'm sorry, but I can't leave him here! I'm taking him there, with or without your help!"

"San, Mother is going to be mad enough at you for pulling this stunt! Do you have any idea what she'll do to us if we take piece of garbage to the realm of the forest spirit?"

"Don't call him that!" she yelled.

The wolves stared at her, taken aback. Even the girl herself was surprised at how sternly she had said it. Still, she held strong. "I'm sorry, brothers, but I'm not going to leave him here to die. I don't know how to put this, but…this human has had an effect on me I never thought possible. He's not like any other I've seen before. And, not just because I may owe him my life, but I feel…I feel I need to understand a human such as this; one who doesn't try to kill us upon seeing us; one who isn't like those who recklessly destroy our home. One who doesn't act like humans do at all." She looked down at the lifeless body of the boy. "That's what he is," she said, "and I just can't figure him out. I need to know, and if that means trying to get the Deer God to bring his life back, so be it!"

The two wolf brothers could only stare in stunned silence. They'd never seen their sister act like this, and they certainly hadn't expected this behavior. However, she had a way with words that they just didn't have, and they felt they couldn't defy her on this one.

"Very well, San," Kiba said. "We've trusted you before…and we'll always stand by your side. No matter what the consequences."

"That's what we do," Tsume added, rubbing up against his human sister. San returned his show of affection, but crept down by the boy almost immediately. "Here, Kiba, you carry him. Help me get him onto your back." She produced a blade, and began cutting the fibers off him.

The wolves noticed what she was holding, but didn't recognize it. "Where did you get that, San?"

"Oh, this?" She held up the survival knife. "It's the human's blade. I found it on the ground while pursuing the apes. I'll admit it is strange, but it's surprisingly handy." She continued until all the webs were off, and began to hoist him up.

"Be careful, San," Tsume said, helping her. Soon, with a little effort, they had the boy laid out on Kiba's back. San mounted her other brother, and they began to make their way into the woods.

"Let's hurry. I noticed that the human left some other things behind; we'll have to retrieve those later."

And with that, they disappeared into the dark forest. The sounds of the night continued on in peace.

Whew. I know I say this every time, but I'm sorry for the enormous delays. What kept me at bay all this time? Well, to be honest, personal problems. Not long after I posted the last chapter, I ended up being laid off from my part-time job, and spent the next month unemployed. The whole episode made me rethink my whole career situation, and I just didn't have the time or the will to write. Of course, I eventually found work, but, in this economy, things could always be better. Here's hoping.

I've also been busy working on some other projects. I'll talk about them here, sooner of later. And, I'll be getting the next chapter up sooner than usual. One reason it took me so long write this is because I hadn't mapped out the story past this point until recently. But I've got that accomplished now. Until then, enjoy this chapter. Happy trails.

Music for Chapter 17:

Run Through the Jungle by Creedence Clearwater Revival
Will to Live by Jo Hisaishi (Mononoke Hime Soundtrack)