- At this, Chihiro's eyes widened a fraction, before they went back to being narrowed, "You're the one who set fire to it then?" Her hands clenched into fists at her sides as she shifted her feet a bit, still scowling toward the chuckling violet-eyed woman. "You'll pay for that..." She whispered softly, her nails now digging into the palms of her hands from her uncontrolled rage. How dare this woman just prance in and think that she'd be able to take Chihiro from the only place she'd ever felt safe in! The nerve...

Her thoughts were cut short as the creature lunged toward her, catching Chihiro by surprise. She let out a startled yelp and jumped to the side, barely catching her balance. "Ah, ah, ah... None of that. Now, be a good little girl and come with me..." The creature growled and lunged toward Chihiro again...—

Chihiro's mind raced through a dozen possibilities of what she could do, and what was actually plausible. She thought running might make a good start, but she also wasn't stupid. If this woman was part horse, she'd likely have their speed; it already showed with each lunge and attack that Chihiro had to roll out of the way from.

With a quick dodge to the side, she fell to the rough cobblestone ground, cringing as she felt the rock slice the skin on her wrists and hands.

"You can't keep this up forever, you'll tire soon enough," the unnamed woman said in a dry tone. She was getting rather frustrated, Chihiro knew, but she also knew that the half-breed was right. She couldn't keep this up forever. It was already getting harder and harder to pull air into her lungs and ignore the burning pain that singed through her palms as they scraped across the arid ground to get away from the hooves that kept coming flying at her. But she couldn't give up. The only other option was to run, and she was fairly sure that wouldn't work out. But somehow, she kept contradicting her last thoughts, wondering what if. What if she –could- get away, what if the woman was slower then she thought…

Her thoughts cut off rather quickly as she got side-swiped by a hoof, the tip sharp enough to slice a gash into her cheek and send her head to the side. Blood splattered across the ground, leaving dark crimson droplets in an almost straight line across the cobblestones. "Damn it," Chihiro muttered under her breath, raising a hand to stem the blood flow from the wound. It was already starting to stop bleeding, it wasn't very deep, so she knew it wouldn't bleed for very long.

"Enough of this," the woman finally snarled, pointing at Chihiro with a long pointed nail. "Either come with me willingly, or I will kill you where you stand."

"Well, technically, I'm not standing," Chihiro responded sarcastically, wincing even as the words came out of her mouth. 'Not the best idea to enrage the beast further.'

And enrage her she did. The woman came charging toward Chihiro at a full gallop, arms swinging toward her as if she wanted to slam her against one of the trees and pummel Chihiro with her hooves.

Thankfully, Chihiro ducked out of the way just in time, managing to fall on the grass this time around. A crash sounded behind her and she glanced back to see what the cause of the noise was.

The woman had attacked the tree, and unfortunately for her, the tree won. She was sprawled against it, eyes closed with a large bruise forming on her forehead. She'd knocked herself unconscious.

Chihiro let out a shaky breath of air, and got up slowly from the ground, as if making a sound would wake the beast up. Carefully, she staggered into the woods, barely casting a glance back at the burnt down cottage that was once Zeniba's home. She was going to be in so much trouble when the older woman found it burnt to the ground and her missing.

"Ugh…" she groaned, erasing the depressing thoughts from her mind immediately. She really needed to get back to the bathhouse before any other whack-jobs decided to 'take her to their master'. Idly, Chihiro wondered how the 'master' of the half-horse half-woman would react when they found out that she didn't bring 'the child' back to them.

Cutting off that train of thought she continued through the trees with a sigh, trying to find her way to where she knew the train tracks would be. Even though she knew the train wouldn't run anymore because of the murky, ink-like water, she needed to see if she could at least walk back along the tracks. She really hoped they weren't covered; she wasn't looking forward to trying to swim through the black mess that was now the ocean.

"I'd probably end up drowning," she mused darkly, brown eyes flicking up to the sky as it started to darken further, covering the land below in shadows.

"I better hurry," she muttered, quickening her pace. She kept her less injured hand in front of her to bat away the tree limbs that got in her path, feet carefully placed where there weren't any rocks or branches to trip over.

It didn't take her long before she found the opening of the forest that led to the murky ocean, and she could see the rusted train tracks. Thankfully, there wasn't much 'water' covering them, so she could easily walk across. But now the question of whether or not she wanted to risk exposing herself in the open passed through her thoughts. She really didn't want the 'beast' as she'd taken to calling the half-horse woman, to find her just because she stupidly went out into the open. She might as well put a target sign on her head. But… She couldn't stay here. Either way, she was royally screwed.

Wisps of brown hair fluttered into her face a cold breeze passed over the ocean, seeming to freeze her to her very core. Goosebumps littered her bare skin, and she shivered, folding her arms tightly across her chest. Chihiro sucked in a breath and walked somewhat confidently over to the tracks and began her trek across them. She knew that it would take several days to reach the bathhouse on foot, but she was hoping someone would find her before then. Preferably Zeniba… Or even Kohaku would be a nice surprise.

A frown marred her lips and she lowered her eyes to the ground, watching the ink-like water stick to her sneakers. Haku, as he still called himself despite knowing his real name, was an enigma. She still remembered the promise that they made; to see each other again. 'To be together again…' Her thoughts trailed off, and she sighed. She also, unfortunately, remembered the day that her parents died. She'd wandered into the spirit world and witnessed Kohaku with another girl. She still, even now, wondered what the girl had that she didn't. It confused her. She'd known him since she was eleven, and still he chose that…

Chihiro's thoughts were cut short as she heard a sharp whistle echo through the air. Her head shot up and she froze in place, scanning the sky for whatever was making the sound.

"What are you doing?" A voice spoke up from behind her, startling Chihiro so badly that she tripped over her feet when she tried to turn around and fell backward into the murky water.

Sorry for ending this here, but I knew I seriously needed to update, so hopefully you'll all be kind and not kill me. …Please?