Chapter 16 – The Hunted

"After all, we can't let you have all the fun."

The look of confidence on Shizuru's face was enough to give Yukina the strength to leap to her feet.

"Are you okay?" Keiko asked Tora.

"Don't worry about me, worry about him," Tora replied, nodding her head at Iruka. "He'll kill you all for this!"

"I don't think so," Shizuru said.

"No, she's right," Iruka growled, slowly rising to his feet once more. "By the time I'm finished with you, you'll wish I'd been as lenient on you as I was on her."

He pointed at Oyama to demonstrate his point: Yukina, Keiko and Tora all looked up at her then, but Shizuru kept her eyes on Iruka, her confidence unflinching.

"Nice new piece of bodywork you got yourself there," she said, nodding her head at Iruka's mechanical arm. "Where did you pick that up: at a bad armoury store?"

"You've got a big mouth," he replied.

"Yeah, but unlike you, I can back it up."

"And you're very confident for a human woman in demon world."

"You know your little male chauvinist pig act is getting really old really fast."

"And I'm getting really tired of all these "feisty, independent women" I keep having the misfortune of running into."

"If you don't like running into women like that, why are you chasing the rebels?" Keiko asked.

"Yeah, seriously," Shizuru agreed. "Your logic's not exactly sound. What's wrong, did you snort some bad catnip?"

Iruka turned his head to Keiko, eying her over briefly.

"I might keep this one," he concluded. "She's got a nice ass for a human."

Keiko's eyes briefly illuminated with rage and she passed her kendo stick to her left hand, swinging her right hand at Iruka's face. She connected with a slap without accessing her spirit energy, but she hit him hard enough to cause his head to snap around. He recovered almost immediately and lunged at her but Shizuru rushed at him, goring him to the ground. Pinning him flat on his back, she began punching at his face, using both fists despite only having brass knuckles on one hand. She managed to get in several blows before he caught both of her fists in his hands and sat up, throwing her off to one side. He quickly got to his feet and started towards Tora, but Keiko intercepted him with a smack of her kendo stick to his midsection, followed by an upwards whack of the stick to the underside of his chin. She tried for a third shot but he caught her stick in his good hand and grabbed her shirt with his mechanical hand, hoisting her up and throwing her across the clearing.

Iruka continued towards Tora, grabbing one end of the bamboo spear impaled in her leg. Yukina started to charge at him but he had recovered his weapon and turned on her before she reached him. With her newly heightened sense of movement she was able to dodge to one side as he threw the spear at her, but she was not quite quick enough to avoid harm, the spear slicing into her upper right arm as it passed her. She fell to the ground beside Keiko and Iruka rounded on Shizuru, who was back on her feet.

"What are you all doing?" Tora cried.

Yukina turned to her, finding that she had fallen into an awkward sitting position, her wounded legs askew ahead of her.

"Get out of here! He's too strong!" she said.

"I already told you, spunky kid, we're not gonna let you have all the fun," Shizuru told her.

Iruka lunged at Shizuru and she leapt back from his reach, managing to connect with a kick to the side of his head. He caught her leg as she tried to lower it and pulled it around, sending her spinning around before lunging at her again. He caught her arms from behind and pounced over her.

"Shizuru!" Keiko screamed when Iruka's teeth bit into her shoulder.

Shizuru cried out and Iruka released her, allowing her to stumble away from him. He looked over at Yukina, who was pressing a hand to the bloody gouge on her upper arm and then at Keiko, who had suffered a gash to her shin when she had landed.

"Looks like I've now got plenty of good places to plant some of my more lethal demon plants," he said with a grin.

"Like hell you do!" Shizuru said, jumping at his back.

She caught her arms around his neck and hung on, trying to choke him but he reached his mechanical hand over his shoulder and pulled her from his back, throwing her across the clearing as though she were a rag doll. When she landed limply Yukina leapt to her feet and Keiko was quickly up at her side. Iruka started to laugh at their response but neither wasted time in running at him. They both ran past either side of him, Yukina swiping her ice blade along one side of his neck and Keiko launching herself off of a tree stump to bring her kendo stick down at an angle against the opposite side of his head. They stumbled to a halt at the other side of him and turned around, both first noticing the look of utter disbelief on Tora's face.

Tora slowly and shakily rose to her feet, limping pitifully forwards until she reached Iruka's feet. She stared down at his fallen form for several seconds before looking up at Yukina and then Keiko.

"Wow," Keiko said, taking a shaky step back. "He's really bleeding a lot. I can't even see his head!"

"You took his head off," Tora flatly replied.

"Is he dead?" Yukina asked, peering down at the blood pooling around Iruka's neck.

"H-his head is over there!" Keiko said, pointing over Yukina's shoulder.

"Is he dead?" Yukina asked again.

"I'm not an expert on cat demons," Shizuru said, hauling herself to her feet. "But I don't think he's going anywhere fast without a head."

Tora looked around all three girls.

"I can't believe you killed him…" she said quietly.

"He was the bad guy though, right?" Keiko asked.

"I can't believe you killed him," Tora said again.

"I didn't think I'd cut him deeply enough," Yukina said, looking down at her arm to see that her ice blade had gone and her skin had returned to its normal colour once more.

"I can't believe you killed him!" Tora said.

"Well what did you expect us to do?" Shizuru asked her.

Tora turned to her, her mouth agape and her eyes wide and unblinking.

"Not harbouring any regrets that you didn't accept his charming and romantic marriage proposal are you tiger?" Shizuru asked her.

"I can't believe the three of you came here and killed Iruka," Tora said, looking around all three girls. "N-nobody's ever done anything like that for us before… Nobody's ever taken on one of Jagasame's top men – least of all Iruka – to help one of us… You really are on our side…"

"I can't believe I hit him so hard I knocked his head off!" Keiko said, looking down at her weapon in amazement.

"I think it came off because I cut him so deeply too," Yukina told her. "We both did it."

"Hey, don't be taking all the credit over there," Shizuru said to them. "I softened him up for you."

Tora let out a short, awkward laugh before falling into the same awkward sitting position she had landed in after Jagasame had removed his bamboo spear from her leg.

"I've never killed anything before…" Keiko said quietly.

"He's killed so many of the rebels," Yukina said to her. "And he almost killed Yasashi and he tried to kill Tora with the sinning tree. We had no choice. If we hadn't killed him, he would have killed us."

"So… What do we do now?"

Keiko looked around the others expectantly.

"Well I suggest we try to fix ourselves up as best we can," Shizuru suggested. "Yukina, can you help us out with your healing powers?"

"Of course!" Yukina agreed.

"We should take Iruka's weapons," Tora added.

"What is it with you cat demons and taking weapons off of corpses?" Shizuru asked her.

"His bamboo spear is his signature weapon, he should have a selection of seeds we can use and I know he carries some seeds that none of the rebels have been able to find for decades," Tora replied.

"Okay…" Shizuru said slowly. "Then I guess there's only one more thing to take care of: what's the correct protocol for respecting the dead here in demon world?"

Keiko and Yukina screwed up their faces at Shizuru in confusion but Tora nodded her head in understanding.

"We should take Oyama back with us," she said. "The other rebels will arrange a proper ceremony to honour the sacrifice she made for us."

Shizuru nodded.

"Then Yukina, you see to Tora first – since she can't even stand up for more than ten seconds without falling on her ass – and Keiko you help me get this girl down and covered up a little better," she said.

Keiko and Yukina nodded and both started in the directions they were needed.

"Hey, snowflake?" Tora said as Yukina knelt down beside her. "Thanks for not running away. And… I guess Yasashi was right about you."

Yukina smiled gently.

"And you," Tora continued, turning to Shizuru. "What's your name?"

"Shizuru," Shizuru replied.

"Right," Tora said with a nod of her head. "Shizuru. Thanks for all your help. And…"

"She's Keiko," Shizuru offered when Tora pointed at Keiko.

"Keiko?" Tora said.

"Yeah?" Keiko asked, turning to face her fully.

"Iruka was a bastard," Tora said solemnly. "Don't feel bad about what you did."

Keiko nodded.

"Iruka was a bastard," Shizuru said. "But I think we can all agree that he was right about one thing."

Tora, Yukina and Keiko looked about each other, exchanging confused looks, before turning back to Shizuru expectantly.

"Keiko does have a really nice ass," Shizuru said with a smirk.

Tora smiled and shook her head.

"Now I understand why Yasashi holds you in such high regard," she said.

"We hold Yasashi in very high regard too," Yukina told her. "She's the reason we're here."

Tora turned to look at her, staring at her in a way that made the ice maiden hesitate to commence her healing duties. Tora opened her mouth as though she intended to say something, but a moment later she leaned over and threw her arms around Yukina, grabbing her into a crushing embrace.

"Well isn't that nice," Shizuru said, turning to Keiko. "New Hiei made a friend."

Keiko tried to smile but knew that she had failed.

"Don't worry kid," Shizuru assured her. "We'll be okay."

"But…" Keiko began, glancing back and forth between Iruka's head, his body and the deceased cat demon suspended on a crucifix.

"It's demon world, sweetheart," Shizuru said, drawing Keiko's attention back to herself. "What did you expect?"

Keiko nodded.

"You're right, I know," she agreed. "It's just that it feels weird to be here like this when Yusuke and the others are all… Asleep."

Shizuru looked down at Tora, who immediately looked guilty.

"I'm pretty sure spunky kid here will help us out with waking everybody up once we're done in demon world," Shizuru said.

Tora nodded and Shizuru turned from her, starting towards Oyama.

"Call Puu, sweetheart," she said to Keiko. "He's gonna have a full load when we leave here."

Shizuru was the first to disembark Puu when he landed and she quickly approached Yasashi, putting a hand on her shoulder and looking her directly in the eye.

"I'm guessing that horrified look on your face is there for several reasons," she said quietly. "But let's just deal with this like adults: we need to take care of your spy first."

She stepped aside and Yasashi's eyes moved to Oyama's body – which the girls had lent some of their clothing to to help conceal the worst of her injuries – resting on Puu's back.

"I'm sorry boss," Tora called over.

Yasashi silently shook her head.

"What happened?" she asked.

"I don't know how but the loyalists figured out that Oyama was spying for us."

Yasashi nodded, touching a hand to Chita's shoulder as she joined her, staring wide-eyed at her mother.

"Why are you all hurt?" Yasashi asked. "Was it an ambush? Did you have to flee? Are you being followed? Should we move on?"

Tora shook her head.

"It was just Iruka," she said. "And he won't be following us any more."

She held up the bamboo spear she had recovered above her head and Yasashi stared at it almost fearfully.

"You okay?" Shizuru asked her.

"You fought Iruka?" she asked, looking first at Shizuru and then over at Tora again. "And won?"

"It was a piece of cake," Shizuru said. "After your attack on him back on Ping Island, he was just an armless little pussy cat."

Yasashi turned to her sharply, a hint of a smile flickering on her face.

"Did you kill him?" Chita asked, leaning past her leader to look up at Shizuru.

"No," Shizuru replied.

Chita looked slightly disappointed.

"They did," Shizuru added, pointing at Yukina and Keiko as they slid off Puu's back.

"They took one of ours, it was only fitting that we took one of theirs," Tora added.

"Iruka is dead?" Yasashi asked, looking about the others.

"He's actually dead?" one of the little girls said cheerfully. "Alright!"

A chatter of excitement passed over the other rebel cat demons but Shizuru could see that the rebel leader did not share their zeal. She quietly moved towards Puu and helped Tora lower their fallen comrade to the ground. Tora then moved over to join her fellow rebels, but Yasashi knelt down, her back turned to them all. Yukina started towards her but Shizuru cut her off.

"Find out what we need to do for the ceremony for Oyama," she said to the ice maiden. "You too, kid," she added, looking over at Keiko.

They nodded and moved off, leaving Shizuru alone with Yasashi.

"Hey, don't blame yourself for this," Shizuru said, kneeling down at Yasashi's side.

"She risked so much for us," Yasashi replied, her eyes on Oyama as she spoke. "And she carried out her work for us undetected for so long… What went wrong? How did the loyalists figure out that she was a double-agent?"

"I don't know," Shizuru replied. "Iruka said something about them using torture to find out the truth. And, to be honest, it does look like this poor girl was tortured pretty badly before she finally found peace."

"But you don't know Oyama… She would never have revealed the truth, her love for her daughter was too great: she would have taken her secrets to her grave. I don't understand what went wrong…"

Shizuru took a deep breath, trying to think of the most diplomatic way she could explain what she suspected to be the truth to Yasashi.

"Sweetheart, your best girl Tora was able to get the truth out of Yukina and Hiei," she said carefully. "And she never got violent with either of them. I think whatever trick it is your team has been using to get information out of people, is now being used by your old friends back in the hinterlands."

Yasashi looked up at Shizuru and nodded before looking back over her shoulder.

"We'll give you a moment," she said to Chita. "I'm so sorry this has happened."

Chita nodded and moved over to kneel by her mother's side. Yasashi and Shizuru stood and slowly moved away from all the others.

"And what about you?" Yasashi asked once they were out of earshot of everyone else. "How is it you are here with Keiko and Puu?"

"You mean how is it that I didn't succumb to your little "paint the back garden raspberry sundae" trick?" Shizuru asked.

Yasashi narrowed her eyes.

"Well?" she pressed.

"Because I knew you'd try something like that," Shizuru replied.

"Who did you tell?" Yasashi asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Who did you warn? Obviously you warned Keiko."

"Keiko was the only one I got the chance to warn. When we got back to the living world, my brother, Yusuke and Kurama were still on the island with you."

Yasashi slowly shook her head.

"Kuwabara, Yusuke and Kurama left the island to look for you and Keiko. They couldn't find Puu to take them so they left by leaf boat."

"Then I don't know where they went. Keiko and I took Puu to spirit world with us."

Yasashi's face dropped.

"You and Keiko went to spirit world?" she asked. "But why?"

"To visit your former boss," Shizuru replied.

"Koenma? How is he?"

"Better than I expected. He misses you."

"I miss him too… What about Koneko? Did you happen to see her at all? I feel awful that she got so caught up in everything."

"No, I didn't see her."

"Okay… So if you went there with Keiko, does that mean…?"

Yasashi's eyes wandered to Keiko and Shizuru followed her gaze before smiling and shaking her head.

"I don't think she's figured it out yet," she said.

"I don't want her to feel obliged to help me like Yukina does," Yasashi explained. "And likewise that's why I didn't tell any of the others the truth."

"Well, without Puu, the boys will probably take a little longer to get here, but I'm pretty sure they won't be too far behind us," Shizuru said. "And I don't know about Keiko, Yusuke, my brother or Kurama, but I'm here because I want to be."

Yasashi smiled, but Shizuru could sense something amiss in the gesture.

"I know Kurama won't be joining us," she said.

Shizuru frowned questioningly.

"I had Tora check he was in his room and asleep before I planted the flowers in his garden," Yasashi confessed. "I knew Keiko would sleep through it and I was almost sure that you would too: but I thought Kurama might wake up and try to stop us."

"Ah," Shizuru said, nodding slowly. "Then that just leaves Yusuke and my brother… Who will probably either go looking for Kurama and fall prey to your flowers or they'll go to my house looking for breakfast and fall prey to the flowers there…"

Yasashi gave a tight smile.

"You had this all planned out, huh?" Shizuru asked her.

"Yes, but the results aren't quite what I expected," Yasashi replied. "I planted more flowers on Ping Island, thinking that would be where I would catch Yusuke and Kuwabara… Being the curious cat that I am I have to ask: how did you avoid falling victim to the flowers?"

"We stayed in a hotel on the other side of town last night," Shizuru explained. "And Koroko taught us some protective talismans which allowed us to make these…"

Shizuru reached into her pocket and produced the dust mask she had worn that morning in the living world. Yasashi took it from her, turning it over and studying it curiously.

"And what were you gonna do about "snowflake" over there?" Shizuru asked, nodding her head towards Yukina.

"I sent her with Tora to meet our spy and the plan was for Tora to push her through a portal back to the living world," Yasashi confessed.

"Where she probably would have gone to my house and fallen asleep, right?"

"Exactly."

"That's all your raspberry sundae flowers do, right? They just put people to sleep, nothing more sinister?"

"No, that's all they do… Which is also why nobody takes me seriously for using one as my primary weapon…"

Shizuru smiled.

"We take you seriously," she said. "Well, we will take you seriously from now on if you promise no more lies?"

Yasashi smiled and nodded.

"That's fair," she agreed. "Though I should warn you: Jagasame will be furious when he finds out that Iruka is dead."

"After we've dealt with Oyama, what's the next step?" Shizuru asked. "Off to reclaim the hinterlands by force?"

"No, I do actually have a plan. But first we should take care of Oyama."

Shizuru nodded and turned away, taking one step away before stopping again as she felt Yasashi's hand on her arm.

"I learned a neat trick in spirit world that might be of some use," she said when Shizuru looked back at her. "I see Iruka was still fighting like a monster: he bit you, didn't he?"

Shizuru nodded.

"Yukina did use her healing powers on us all, but she was quite tired by the time she was done," she said.

"Well, like I said, advanced healing is something they teach in spirit world, and interestingly the skill has transferred over to this body," Yasashi replied with a smile. "Let me see if I can finish off what Yukina started."

"That'd be nice, thanks sweetheart."

Kuwabara sat up sharply, but promptly regretted his action. His head was buzzing and the room was spinning and he had no memory of the night before. He turned his head to one side and saw Yusuke lying on the floor on a yoga mat, a small fleece blanket barely protecting his dignity. Kuwabara immediately decided that it was Yusuke's fault that he felt the way he did: after all, the only times Kuwabara had ever gotten drunk had been in the company of the mazoku.

Kuwabara pushed aside his bedsheets and swung his legs over the edge of the bed. He stretched his arms above his head and drew in a deep breath, his efforts rewarded with the back of his throat filling up with the sickeningly sweet taste of highly fragranced flowers.

He coughed and hacked and rose wearily to his feet, stumbling away from his bed and inadvertently stepping on one of Yusuke's arms in his stupor. As he righted himself he turned expectant of a retaliation punch or at the very least a snide remark: but amazingly Yusuke remained fast asleep, flat on his back, one arm sprawled out across the floor at his side, the other draped across the miniscule blanket over his midsection. Surprised – but relieved – to have escaped Yusuke's wrath, Kuwabara continued shuffling towards his bedroom door, opening it and stepping out into the hall.

Kuwabara stopped when he found his father lying facedown in the hallway, halfway between the bathroom and his bedroom.

Dazed and confused and thirsty and woozy, Kuwabara stepped over his father's pyjama-clad body and continued along the hallway to the top of the staircase.

Several seconds of painful thumping and rolling over himself later, Kuwabara was in the downstairs hallway.

He picked himself up and continued into the living room, staggering over to the corner of the room the karaoke machine was kept, dragging an inquisitive finger along the surface of the machine. When he turned his hand over and saw a grey crescent of dust on the outer edge of his finger he ruled out the possibility that Yusuke had come around and challenged him and his father to an alcohol-fuelled singing contest the night before.

Kuwabara continued into the dining room, squinting against the glaring sunlight spilling in through the glass doors that overlooked the back garden. He stumbled up to the doors and grabbed blindly for the curtain, intending to draw it shut to block out the light: but then he realised how odd it was that the sun was so high in the sky already and he remembered that there was no curtain to draw over the doors.

He braved opening his eyes to a squint, peering out of the doors at the garden beyond, all his physical discomforts quickly forgotten when his eyes were greeted by a sea of warm pink and cream flowers swaying gently in the breeze. They were so beautiful they were almost sparkling in the sunlight: he had no idea where they had come from, but he was confident that Yukina would love such a flower and so he tugged open the sliding glass door with the intention of heading outside to pick a bunch of the flowers for his paramour.

Kuwabara managed to get one foot outside onto the patio beyond before he collapsed in an ungracious heap in the doorway; he was unconscious before his head hit the ground.

Shizuru put an arm around the girls on either side of her as they stood at the waters' edge. All the cat demons were lined up next to them, and Chita and Yasashi were crouched down placing flowers onto the small leaf boat they had placed Oyama on. They said a few last words and then pushed the boat out into the water. Once it had drifted several feet away Yasashi opened out one hand abruptly in the air and the boat lit on fire.

"The cat demons have fire powers too?" Keiko whispered, looking up at Shizuru expectantly.

"Yasashi put a torch lily on the boat," Tora whispered to her. "It can be controlled up to thirty yards away and made to combust."

"Oh," Keiko said, nodding her head.

"I'm sorry girls, I know this hasn't been easy," Yasashi said, waving a hand for the others to gather around her. "But as Iruka's trap for us was obviously well-planned, he will very quickly be missed when he doesn't return: in fact, there's a good chance the scouts are already out looking for him, even if only in the hope of meeting him on his return from his little mission."

"So we should get moving?" Shizuru asked.

"Yes we should," Yasashi confirmed.

"Where are we gonna go?" Tora asked. "We were running out of hiding places before you came back Yasashi, we're not safe anywhere any more!"

"No, we're not," Yasashi agreed. "We've run out of places to hide, but we didn't come here to hide. We came here to fight. We're going to reclaim the farm."

A collective gasp rippled over the cat demons and Keiko and Yukina glanced about them curiously.

"I'm guessing the farm is part of the hinterlands, right?" Shizuru asked.

"It's a place that was used for experimenting with new demon plants," Yasashi replied. "It was abandoned shortly after the rebellion began – because only the lower class citizens were put there to work, which meant that it was run by the women of the tribe."

"The farm buildings are a bit rundown, but it's a good base for a showdown," Tora added.

"We'll be travelling most of the day but we should get there by nightfall," Yasashi said.

"We'll take the roads as far as we can, but we can't trust the border patrol, so I say we take it in turns riding on the bird in pairs to watch for patrol vehicles," Tora said.

"Good idea," Yasashi said. "I think you and Shizuru should go first, since the two of you are still weakened from your injuries. Next up we'll–"

"Excuse me, Yasashi?"

Everyone turned to Yukina as she stepped forwards.

"If the border patrol is a problem, can't we negotiate with them?" she asked.

"Not really," Tora replied. "Their job is to keep the peace so they don't like seeing us, since we usually attract trouble. At best they'll run us off the road. At worst, they'll take us in and hand us over to the loyalists. I've seen them do both."

Yukina shook her head urgently.

"But Mister Hiei is in charge of the border patrol and he's our friend!" she said. "I think Shizuru, Keiko and I should take Puu and find the nearest patrol unit and then we can ask to speak with Mister Hiei. He wouldn't let his officers mistreat his friends!"

Yasashi moved her eyes to Shizuru and the two exchanged pointed looks.

"Why don't we start on our journey for now?" Yasashi said, turning her attention back to Yukina. "If one of the patrol vehicles passes, we can consider our options then."

"A vehicle will pass!" Tora said to Yasashi. "You weren't here when they set it up: trust me, if you stand on their route, you never have to wait longer than half an hour before a vehicle passes!"

"Then let's proceed," Yasashi said. "You and Shizuru take look out–"

Yasashi stopped abruptly as Yukina took a step closer to her.

"If they see a vehicle, they can alert us, and we can try your plan Yukina," she explained. "You, Shizuru and Keiko will talk to them and we will hide until we are sure it's safe."

Yukina nodded.

"Okay, so Tora, Shizuru, go with Puu, everybody else pair up, I'll lead the way and if anything approaches we take cover and nobody moves without getting the okay from me, got it?" Yasashi said.

The others all sounded their agreement and arranged themselves into pairs as Shizuru helped Tora up onto Puu's back. Yasashi moved along the line rearranging the pairs until they were standing in an order she was pleased with – putting the two little girls with their mother in the centre of the group as a trio – and once she was done she climbed up onto the road and waved for Puu to take off. As Puu took to the air Yasashi waved for the others to join her on the road.

"Why do we have to walk like this?" Keiko asked Yukina as they reached the road.

"It's a tactic," Yasashi answered her.

"What sort of tactic?" Keiko asked.

"A strategic one in case we come under attack," Yasashi replied. "It's easier for two bodies to hide than it is for twelve bodies to hide."

Keiko turned to Yukina, who smiled despite the grim look Keiko was sending her.

"A-are we likely to come under attack?" Keiko asked. "I'm still shaking from facing Iruka!"

"We've got a lookout and we're a long way from the hinterlands," Yasashi replied. "We should be fine."

"Oh good!"

"For at least two or three hours."

"What?"

Yasashi smiled over her shoulder at Keiko, but Keiko was still unsure if the rebel leader was joking or not. She decided not to question the matter any further however, instead taking some time to study her surroundings. They were walking along a raised, wide, winding road made of red dirt that was firm – if a little dusty – and the landscape on either side of the road dipped down into marshes, intercepted by the odd patch of trees. In the middle distance to the right of the road was the steeper landscape Keiko had first encountered on her arrival in demon world – the place where she and Shizuru had found Tora and Yukina battling Iruka – and in the far distance to the left of the road was the jagged outline of what Keiko assumed was buildings in some sort of city. A storm was still rumbling and flickering over the higher ground to the right, and another storm appeared to be brewing over the distant city to the left, but the sky straight ahead was relatively clear and, despite the air still carrying an odour that threatened to make Keiko wretch with every breath she drew, the atmosphere around them was still and surprisingly peaceful.

Looking back over her shoulder, Keiko saw Puu's shadow rippling over the marshy landscape, and she found the sight reassuring: she knew Shizuru would make a good lookout and the presence of a contented Puu was always a nice reminder that Yusuke was alright, despite apparently being under the spell of demon flowers back in the living world.

Meanwhile, up on Puu's back, Shizuru and Tora were sitting back-to-back, Shizuru facing in the direction Puu was flying and Tora facing the opposite way, both searching for any signs of trouble.

"It's not so bad having you here," Tora said suddenly.

"Careful there, tiger," Shizuru replied. "The snappy banter I can handle but when you turn on the charm like that I really go weak at the knees."

"Hmm, I see why Yasashi likes you so well," Tora said. "I suppose what I really meant though was that I'm glad Kurama isn't here."

"What's the matter tiger?" Shizuru asked with a smirk. "Are you jealous of him?"

"As if!"

"What is it that bothers you more: that he has better hair than you or that he's your top contender for your boss's affections?"

"You don't get it. When he came along everything changed. He kept deliberately following after us. I wouldn't have minded, but he just drew attention to us from his bandit friends."

"Well at least you don't have that problem now."

"I don't know why you and your friends put up with him."

"He's really not that bad. Try taking off your green-tinted glasses and taking another look: I'm pretty sure you'll see he's a strong and clever guy who always does the right thing and who would have been a big help to you if you'd let him."

"I'm not jealous of him."

"Of course not."

Tora sighed.

"He's not here now though," she said. "And neither is Iruka. I didn't think I'd live to see the day Iruka fell."

"I didn't think I'd live to see the day Yukina and Keiko beheaded a guy," Shizuru replied.

"It's not just that he was one of our enemies or that he was the second in command of the loyalists," Tora said. "It was… It's just that… Well, he sort of thought that I would be his… And with him gone… It's like I'm completely free now."

"Yeah, I don't think anyone would relish the thought of being forced to marry that asshole."

"It's just that… For so long, we've been the hunted. For so long, we've been run out of everywhere we've tried to call home but now… For the first time ever… It's like we might actually win… It's like we're the hunters…"

Shizuru wanted to agree with Tora, but what had started as a vague sense of something ominous was gaining traction in her mind and accelerating into something deeply sinister: Tora's hopes of no longer being hunted would not be realised that day.