Well, hiya everyone. How is it going? I am back (in the tone of 'SHINee's Back.' From Sherlock.) So I hope you enjoyed the last chapter. Finally we got somewhere with the story, it was moving so darn SLOW! Enjoy.

Yuki walked through the foliage, having completely lost her sense of direction, she was becoming frightened. A twig cracked somewhere behind her, making her jump. She turned around, calling out "W-who is there?" but nothing came as a reply except for the hooting of an owl. She felt the hair on the back of her neck rise. She was getting goose bumps. 'Relax, it was just an animal or something. Not a yokai. Relax." She thought to her self but her heart kept thudding in her chest.

"Welllllllll, Lookie here." Said a voice, hunger so obviously portrayed in the sentence.

Yuki gasped and turned to face the person who had spoken the word. Except, it was not a person, it was a….something. It had the body of a human, the head of a snake and was covered in scales. "Kukukukukuku. Looks like I am going to have a good dinner tonight." It observed.

Yuki was petrified with fear but she managed to scream with all her might.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

"What was that?" Rikuo asked his dragon companion, making a sharp turn towards the source of the noise.

The dragon looked at Rikuo and nodded. He was thinking the same thing. A human in the forest, screaming.

Rikuo quickened his pace. He had a chance to catch the culprit.

-0-0-0-0—0—0—0

The yokai lunged at her, his neck extending so that he did not have to move his body. Yuki's self defense instinct kicked in and she dodged him. He lunged again, this time at her feet but she jumped. The yokai looked at her with a ferocious face. "Think you can out wit me, foolish human?" With that he sprang at her once again, catching her square in the arm and started to release his venom. He felt her go limp in his scaly arms. Just then a strange pain engulfed his chest and he let go of his victim in surprise. Blood started to spurt out of his mouth. "So the Hebidayu clan was behind all this?" Rikuo asked the dying snake that lay before his eyes. His eyes blazing with anger, he held his sword at the head of the snake.

How come he had not noticed the large amount of fear that was emanating from that Nurarihyon? The snake thought. Is he that good in disguising his presence?

"No. We are not alone. There are others who-cough cough- want revenge on you-cough- and the Nura clan." With that the snake took his last breath.

"What of the girl." The dragon asked pointing towards the unconscious body.

"She will live."
"How? He injected his poison into her."
"Not enough to kill her but just enough to leave her unconscious." He said as he bent over her. "But just in case…" He took out a small bottle and emptied its contents over her arm. It immediately made the swelling go down and her face regained its natural color. The wound started to heal itself until there was no indication of it being there in the first place. He picked her up and took her back to the path. Now that he gazed down, he realized how high they were. 'It's going to be a long walk.' He thought.

-Arial Inn-

"Where is she?" Akahana paced around the room. "Why isn't she back yet?"

"That's it, I'm going to look for her, any body coming."
Hideak spoke up "I'm coming." "Alright, lets go. In case Ishara-obasan, Shenji or Kangin-jisan come, cover for us. We will be back as soon as possible."

"Wait guys. What if you're not back by sunrise?" Aika asked, as worried as the others.

"Tell sensei. Ok guys! Bye."

The two reached the foot of the mountain. They felt exhausted just by looking at the number of stairs.

"Ok, you take the southern stairs, I'll look around here, asking the managers of the hotels around the base and near the middle of the mountain." Hideak murmured.

"It's a plan."

"Listen, if anything were to happen to any one of us, the other will not wait. They go quickly for help. Got that?" Hideak ordered.

Looking at him like this made Akahana's heart flutter. In such a bizarre situation, she found that she had a crush on him. His leader like personality; caring yet commanding, had always made Akahana admire him. Though he preferred to remain quite, in serious situations he was always the one to take the lead. And now she was scared, she was quivering. He put his arm around her shoulder "Are you okay?"

"Yes, a bit scared that's all."

"Why? It is the yokai that should be scared of you." He snickered.

"You can joke right now?" She sniffed.

"It's going to be okay. But if we keep standing here like this we will never find Yuki."

She took a deep breath, he was right. Feelings could be dealt with later. "Alright lets do this, and lets survive."

-0—0

Akahana sat down, completely out of breath. She had only reached the middle of the mountain. Where are you Yuki?