The following morning

Sunlight blazed through the window and landed across Hime's face, the warmth gently stirring her sleeping form as her head lay against the window, a blanket placed over her body. Next to her sat Akina, who was slouched in his seat with his legs reaching under the seat of the woman in front of him. Kyosuke was sitting in the seat across the aisle from him next to a young boy who was wide awake and watching something on his phone. Kotoha and Ao were somewhere behind them.

The bus jolted as it hit a small pothole, snapping Hime awake fully for a split second as if she feared she was under attack, then she exhaled, realising it was just the bus. Damn transport. Never comfortable, and with Gin running around, if he sees us on this then we're all dead.

Thinking of such things made her only feel more down. So much for the bright sunny day. Ever since they had left Tokyo to get back to Sakurashin, she had been thinking of their next course of action. Of course, that was the question: What could they do now? He had managed to evade them yet again and had summoned a creature that could potentially make landfall again and cause chaos. Their mission to stop him had just shot up in the levels of importance and severity.

And then there was Godzilla. Nobody had found any trace of him, even Ao had had no luck with her telepathic abilities. As they had seen before; he had just simply and utterly disappeared into thin air. That, obviously, raised the questions; where is he and what is he up to? Given the show of power they had seen last night, it could not be good. They had to find him quickly as well, especially if he was going to continue pursuing Manda as he had clearly shown no disregard for anything human that happened to be in his way when fighting the aforementioned creature.

"I know what you're thinking," Akina's voice spoke up and she turned to see his tired face half-turned towards her, his head resting on the seat, eyes half-closed but fluttering every few moments as if trying to hold onto his life and prevent it from slipping away. "And we will get to the bottom of this, Hime." He added, his voice sounding nonchalant but she could make out the calming tone hidden in there somewhere.

That's one thing Akina can do quite well, be soothing when I need him to be. Hime mentally said to herself.

Yet, she still felt unsure of whether they would be successful in finding Gin. They had to find him soon, andquickly. First thing to do when we get back was start searching. No time for rest. Gin has to be stopped!

"Alright, passengers, we're coming up to Sakurashin. About another twenty minutes," echoed the driver's bus from the front. "Make sure you grab all of your bags and clean up any crap on the floor." He added, his tone slightly more demanding on the last few words.

With a light sigh and a quick stretch of her legs, Hime reached down and began to put on her boots, shuddering a little as she felt her socked toes slide against the leather, it feeling so strange yet normal to her. After wearing them constantly for years, she felt a little exposed without them. Ha! Funny how a piece of clothing becomes almost a part of you, your very body. Hell, why not even your soul!

Not really much of a Wonder woman, though. Or Raven, or even Rei.

Further down the bus, Ao stretched her arms with clenched fists out in front of her, relishing in the feeling that ran down her body. A good night's sleep was perfect for making her feel a little better. In the seat next to her, Kotoha put her bottle of water in the plastic bag that rest on the floor at her feet (she had bought it just before getting on the bus last night).

"Wonder what'll be in store for us today," she said as she tensed her back a little and stifled a yawn.

"More searching, no doubt," Ao replied, not doing very well in trying to hide the displeasure in her voice. "We can't keep pushing ourselves like this, especially Hime."

Kotoha looked up at her blue haired friend, biting her lower lip as she contemplated how to respond. She knew what Ao was talking about, and it was not just the well-being of her friends. They had all been conflicting with each other more over the last few days since Gin's return. And if it carried on as such, it would probably end up tearing the group apart, or at least leaving them bitter towards one another. Well ... more bitter than they were currently.

Ashe decided to push those thoughts to the back of her mind. There would be a time for that later, not now when they had to stay together. Sakurashin, and now possibly even the whole of Japan, needed them to stay strong and together. Any split in the group would almost certainly hinder any progress they would make against Gin.

"Yeah," was all she replied with and took to looking out the window as the Japanese countryside rolled by.

After about ten minutes, the bus came to a halt in the all-too familiar streets of their hometown. The bus driver got up and did a quick check of the floor and each seat and passenger to make sure they had cleaned up any mess they had made. When all was done, he marched back to the front, opened the door and bade the passengers goodbye.

As they filled off the bus one-by-one, Ao, who stepped down after Kotoha, adjusted her hat so as to keep her ears covered, a bag with an empty sweet wrapper and water bottle in her hand. The events of the last few days had tired her out and with the search for her brother continuing, it was only going to become more so for her.

"Ao!" Akina called from the front of the bus nearby where he and the others had gathered. "C'mon, we're heading back to the office."

"Alright, gimme a sec," she replied, quickly scanning her surroundings to see if there was a bin for her bag. Back into the fray al-

Wait! She paused, feeling something near her. It was … a presence of some kind. A big one! It was something new to her, she could feel the very … energy of the soul radiating off of it, the very fire that burned within. Where was it-oh, from behind her. It was just like … like …

For a moment, her eyes widened as she went into panic mode. Manda?

She turned around, expecting to see the form of said creature emerge from behind the buildings across the road, ready to wreak havoc on the city. Instead there was a large man standing before her. A very large man to be precise. He towered over her and everyone else around them, he must have been at least seven feet, maybe even eight or eight and a half. His body held a huge torso that was covered underneath a jacket, and underneath that was a black shirt that looked like it was barely containing his well-defined and muscular torso. Two huge, muscular arms hung down by the hips, the sleeves of the jacket having been ripped off so they were completely uncovered. He had a pair of jeans on and they too looked as if they had been stretched by the sheer size of the man's body; even his shoes looked too small. He looked almost like a stereotypical biker/bodybuilder, minus the tattoos and dark sunglasses.

Ao's eyes followed the body up from the torso and found herself staring into a pair of fiery blue eyes on a long face with short black hair, a small nose and what looked like a lipless mouth. A small stubble was visible around the chin and across the cheeks. Seeing the face made her recollect that the man had been sitting a few rows behind them at the back of the bus. She also remembered that much of the conversation on the bus had fallen silent when he boarded and, having to tuck his arms in, moved sideways to his seat. When he passed, several people watched him go with looks of, largely, surprise or concern, with a few looking like they were going to faint from uncontrolled lust. Other than that, he did not interact with anyone the whole trip so she just forgot about him.

The man held an expression that was mostly blank, yet also quite curious as to why this young woman who barely came up to his chest was looking at him like he was something out of an action film or that he had just dropped from the sky. Then again, given the size of his body, he was probably used it. Heck, Ao was surprised that none of the other women from around the place had been flocking to him and asking him to flex his arms or had tried flirting with him given some of the conversations on the way back here.

"Yes?" he asked her, his voice deep and gentle, yet firm and clear in its no-nonsense demeanour.

Ao shook her head as if to snap herself out of a dream. "I-I'm sorry," she said, momentarily looking away to see if the others were looking over at them but they seemed to have moved away as people began collecting luggage from the bus. "I was just looking for my friends." She added, looking back at him.

His expression did not change, he did not even look annoyed at her. The man looked up and turn his head a few times before stopping on something behind Ao.

"Is that them?" he asked, lightly jerking his thumb over in that direction.

Ao looked behind her and saw through the crowd her friends standing next to a building engaged in a conversation. As she looked, though, Kyosuke turned his head in her direction and formed a confused expression as if to say: "Who is that you're talking to?"

"Y-yes, that's them!" Ao replied, giving a small wave and then looking back at the man, meeting his gaze once again. "Um- thank you!" she said quickly. "I'm sorry for disturbing you." she added apologetically.

Again, his face did not change. Rather, he just muttered a reassurance. With that, Ao turned and began walking back to the others, though she paused and glanced back at the man. He watched her go with his fiery blue eyes, the same look on his face, feeling the calm firmness that seemed to sparkle within them. There was definitely something about this man that struck her. It was not his body or potential relationship or whatever. It was something else. She could sense that he was different somehow, yet his aura was quite, no very similar to Manda's.

As she continued on to the others, she could only think about the few words exchanged between them, yet they somehow spoke volumes.

I think we're gonna meet again she thought to herself. And with hos I felt, we might end up getting some answers.

Meanwhile, across the city

With a loud BANG the door to Akiro's apartment opened and said water/human spirit stormed in, hitting his feet into the floor as hard as he could as if to force the anger out of his body. He was pissed off, furious, flamming angry and whatever other word that could be used to describe his current emotional state. How could he do this?! How can I be stupid enough to let myself be talked into this shit!

The last thirty six hours had been stressful for him. With him and Gin going to Tokyo and then Gin joining Manda in terrorising Tokyo and battling the mayor and her team, it had been bad enough. Then, as probably the whole world knew by now, Godzilla came into the picture and ended up fighting Manda and Gin was throw off and the latter of the aforementioned monsters fled. Akiro had had to go and find him, which he did lying on a rubbish pile nearby. From there, they had to sneak back to Sakurashin by train and on foot. A few times they were stopped by the police, but it was largely questioning as there had been a few looting and mafia activities in Tokyo following the arrival of Manda and Godzilla. They managed to get away from them with relative ease so, in Gin's eyes at least, there was no harm done.

All the while, though, Akiro was scolding Gin for his erratic and dangerous behaviour that put them and countless civilians at unnecessary risk. Why would he do that?! He knew that many people who have nothing to do with this were and are going to be caught in the middle, and yet he just didn't give a rat's ass about it!
Yet, Gin was unfazed by it all, arguing that they were just 'getting in the way' and 'sacrifices had to be made'

What sacrifices?! Akiro had thought at the time. If there was one thing he knew about all this, it was that this feud with the mayor and the rest of her team had gone up tenfold with Gin's use of a monster and another arriving to fight it. And if things kept going on like this, it would only get worse. Much, much worse.

"Geez, you wanna wake up the whole apartment complex?!"

Stopping in the kitchen, Akiro looked behind him to see Gin walk through the door, closing the door behind him. His clothes were dusty and torn across the chest a little, but he still held the two spears in his hands, keeping them close as if he were terrified of losing them. He walked over to the sofa and flopped down onto it, sighing heavily. Anyone looking at him would think he was relieving stress like a man coming home from a day's work. But Gin smiled and looked up momentarily at the ceiling as if seeing something divine, the satisfaction washing over him.

"Well that was quite successful," he said in a moderately impressed tone, total indifference to the full extent of the calamity started because of him. "Although, it would be helpful if Manda had not fled." he added, the tone of his voice turning a little sour at these words.

Akiro just stared at him with a look that was could not believe in the slightest what this Yokai spirit was saying: 'How could you say that? You're acting as if you've tried to pull off some kind of deal and only gotten half of what you wanted! How can you devalue human life so much?'

Indeed, how could he? Gin had now landed himself and Akiro in very hot water with the summoning of Manda to Japan and the arrival of Godzilla shortly after. He knew that Hime and the others would be after him even more than ever now to try and stop him. Heck, it was entirely possible that the whole city would be after him now, maybe even the entire country.

They won't have a lot of success he mentally told himself, possibly a reassurance, or possibly what he saw as a simple fact. The Accursed will join us soon and they won't have the power to stop him. And as for Godzilla … '(Gin smiled in a satisfied manner to himself upon remembering said event)' he's been dealt with. The Otherworld has a new addition. It's only a matter of laying low and waiting now until the time is right.

"Gin," Akiro's voice snapped him out of his thoughts and he looked over at the human/Yokai water spirit.

"Yes, Akiro?" he asked, his tone sounding as if the events of the last two days were no more worth mentioning than what someone had eaten for breakfast that morning.

A pause. "Gin, you do know that this has taken a really bad turn now," he said. "You've brought two monsters-"

"Uh, excuse me, it's one monster, and he is more than capable of taking down the 'mayor' and her little team." Gin interrupted him, speaking with a matter-of-factly tone on the last part of the sentence.

Akiro sighed in frustration. "See, you're obsessed with Godzilla and the mayor! Why can't you just stop this before it gets even more out of hand?" he snapped at him vehemently.

"And I will," Gin replied with a calm, composed demeanour. "Now take a chill pill and don't be a drama queen."

At that, Akiro almost lost it. He marched over to Gin, stopping in front of him, and grabbed him and hoisted him up from the sofa forcefully. Gin was momentarily shocked at this surprise move by Akiro. Normally he was either composed or submissive, and even if he did get angry it was never beyond a bit of 'arguing'. This was a real surprise for him. Gin even found himself admiring it a little. At last he's grown a damn backbone!

"Look, Gin!" Akiro snarled at him, his teeth nearly clenched, voice a deadly hiss, a look of fury in his eyes. "You need to wake up and smell the damn coffee! You're killing innocent people, you're terrorising innocent people." He paused to let the words sink in. "And all because you want to get back at Godzilla! You have to stop this!" His voice became a little more pleading but Akiro made sure that the seriousness of it resonated within him.

With a heavy sigh and light shake of his head, Gin gently moved Akiro's hands off his shoulders, meeting his hard gaze with a relaxed expression.

"Okay, Akiro," he said softly, sounding as if he knew he was guilty for what he had done. "I haven't been entirely open with you about my intentions. So sit down-" (he indicated via a nod to the sofa) "-and I'll explain."

"Explain what?!" Akiro exclaimed angrily.

"Just sit down and I'll tell you," Gin replied calmly, already gently pushing Akiro into the sofa before he could continue to argue. "Now, as you know already, Godzilla is a reason as to why I am here. Last night was proof of that and hence why we needed Manda to come and deal with him." he paused for a moment, considering the words that had just passed his lips, and sighed heavily in frustration. "Well, attempt to deal with him anyway. As you saw last night, that did not go entirely to plan."

"But you removed Godzilla from the picture," Akiro pointed out, his voice more angry than attempting to inject any reassurance into Gin. "He's gone now, so we don't need Manda anymore!"

Another sigh. "As I said, he was a reason, not the. Please listen, Akiro."

The human/water spirit went to speak but stopped himself, knowing that it was pointless arguing with Gin. No matter how logical or emotional Akiro was with him, he would never listen. The last few days with him planning all of this had more than proved that to him.

"Now, as you pointed out," Gin continued in a manner akin to a lecturer. "Godzilla has been dealt with, yes. He is no longer a threat. However, I have also come here to bring about the fall of the Nana-Gou-"

"What!" Akiro practically shouted, leaping up from his seat as if he was going to attack Gin. "Gin you can't do that! Do you know how dangerous that'll be!" he shouted at him.

"Will you take a damn chill pill!" Gin snapped at him. "You should be thanking me. It's about time that we bring the two worlds together. It'll be better for both." he pointed out as if it were a fact.

Akiro just stared at the Yokai before him, at a complete loss for words. What was he saying! Something like that would not be better for either world. It was would be a disaster, a calamity, a catastrophe! Why was he doing this? Why was he trying to merge the two worlds together despite the dangers such a move could do? Did he not realise the danger?!

"Gin," Akiro said, trying to stay composed and firm but his the tone of voice just echoed with pleading. "You have to look at the facts here; if you bring the two worlds together, you'll bring chaos to all the Yokai in Sakurashin. Do you understand?!" he paused and stared into Gin's eyes, hoping that the message was getting through to him, the gleam of hope lingering within them. "They'll die."

Gin nodded lowly, momentarily looking down at the floor, the weight of what he planned to do plain on his face. He knew it was going to be dangerous, if not for him then for all the other Yokai in the city. Akiro was right; they would die. The sheer number of spirits flowing into this world would cause the balance set down at the beginning to fall apart and, as he stated, those currently here would die.

That was something Akiro could not bring himself to do.

Still … Gin thought to himself as he straightened up and looked back up at Akiro, a confident look in his eyes. "It's tough, Akiro, I admit. But we have to do this for the greater good of both our worlds. Besides, it will get rid of those who are currently standing against us. No, Akiro!" (he stopped said spirit from trying to argue against him) "I have made my decision, one that my ancestor should have done a long time ago." he added.

Akiro sighed heavily, knowing it was pointless, hopeless even. Gin had set his sights on something bigger, much bigger than Akiro, or anyone for that matter could have predicted. And the fact that he had helped him get to this stage, stealing a powerful dragon spear and keeping him sheltered from the authorities made him feel sick to his stomach. There was a reason that Gin had said 'we' instead of 'I'; it was like he thought of Akiro as a sort of partner in crime. Given what I've had to do so far and what's happened, I can see, and hate, why. And now more innocents were in the firing line, and it was not a case of if or when they were going to die. It was a simple fact now; they were going to die.

Why couldn't he just stop at Godzilla! He was the one he came here for, and now he's gone! Why does he have to do this!

Maybe … "You do realise that the young man working with the mayor will be a threat." he pointed out in one last effort to get Gin to see some sense.

He just scoffed. "We don't need to worry too much about him." he said, patting one of the spears he held in his hand with his free one as if it were a prize he had just won at a competition, one that he could savour and parade all his triumphs with. "With these bad boys, we'll stop him. He's not a big deal." he added with an air of complacency.

He's not gonna be the only one.

A/N: Hey fellow FF readers and writers.

I sincerely apologise for the lack of updates over the last few months. A huge workload increase in my job, colleagues falling ill and lack of motivation prevented me from working on FF altogether. Then, as luck would have it, my laptop broke at the end of May so I had to wait until two weeks ago to get it fixed.

But thankfully, it is repaired and working and so I will continue with this FF. My aim is to finish it before the end of the summer.

Thanks for reading this and I apologise once again.
Take care everyone.