This chapter was Beta read by akasoeki.

Chapter Eight: DC- Six Months of Summer

The prick of the needle didn't sting as much as I remembered. As a blood drop welled up, I lowered my hand to the blank page Takara had opened to. Crimson spread like a spider's web, soaking into the page and forming words that became stationary once they reached the right spot. I needed to add more blood to the page occasionally when there wasn't enough to continue.

As Takara drew in the blood, only the brightest memories that created the words flashed through my mind. The last six months seemed to pass by in a scant handful of heart beats.

When I woke up, I didn't know where I was and a feeling of panic overwhelmed my weak senses as I tried to feel for Rando's demonic energy.

You're okay, Byakko mewled, Genkai's temple is safe. He was curled right beside my face, little nose tucked against my cheek. His fur felt silky and warm and the little purr that rumbled through our contact comforted me just as much as his words.

"Is everyone else okay?" My voice was raspy and dry.

Kuwabara made a full recovery. Yusuke is training with Genkai. Takara is asleep, but since you're conscious I'm sure she'll be around soon. Amaru wanted to wait til you woke up, but everyone else is gone. His rough tongue dragged over my cheek, Glad you're up, Sarai.

Walking was painful. Actually, it was moving that was painful. Though there were no burns on my skin, I felt a tad bit singed. Little pricks of pain covered my skin like I'd been rolling in an ant hill. Takara told me it was from having to call forth so much prismatic energy. I just wasn't strong enough to go that deep into fugue without guidance. I could summon too much energy and be burned alive by my own light. I took her lesson to heart with each excruciating footstep.

I hadn't woken up for three days after Rando's defeat. Even fugue was beyond me at the moment. Byakko scolded me when I'd tried to enter it and told me that it was an subconscious defense mechanism. Drained as I was, I'd have to be a fool to try and go into the well spring even a little. I felt so disconnected from myself. Even my "sense" felt fuzzy. Had I been able to walk any faster than my current snail's pace, my dulled eyesight would have hampered me anyways.

Genkai had promised to help me with the curse, but she was mostly busy training Yusuke. I was in no hurry. It took a week to shake off the mess I'd made of myself and after that I could continue to pursue Takara's library of information. She had tons of new stuff for me to read and new training exercises to incorporate into my daily routine.

Amaru didn't feel like he'd repaid his debt yet. He must have had a chat with Genkai when I wasn't around because he apparently secured permission to stay and train me. I was pleased, surprised, and confused by his offer. I was even dreading it a little bit. I knew what Yusuke was going through with Genkai and I just didn't think I had it in me to be that damn stubborn. I flat out told Amaru that I didn't care what demon might eat me, I wasn't sleeping with snakes for three weeks.

That cracked his stoic look. He started laughing. It was nice.

Training with Takara has taken on a whole new level of intensity. She's worried that, with one demon knowing that a Scarred Daughter is out and unbound, that more will come looking. She wants me to be prepared. It has been a thought that has plagued my mind since I started reading through the other journal entries. (It still completely dumbfounds me. The purpose of that old ritual was to actually link each of the Daughters' journal to the original source- Takara. Wait til Gran finds out!)

Anyways, the mechanics of the curse itself are still a mystery Takara refuses to expand on, but apparently while human males don't have the power to trigger a forced activation during sex, demons do. Scarred Daughters in the past have been raped and forcefully bound to the demon that hurt them. Just one more reason to hate this curse. We're like super batteries and a last ditch life force for them to pull on. It has to do with whatever my "destiny" is (i.e. complete bullshit). But like all things, true intentions can be warped into something darker.

My waking hours are now taken up by Amaru and his training, my sleeping ones are taken up by Takara or occasionally Byakko. Fortunately, this craziness won't last for very long. Six months, like Yusuke, and I'll be done.

Amaru is impressive. To be completely honest, we have a bit of chemistry, but he's been very...hmm...professional about everything, so I've been a good girl and haven't flirted a bit. (Not that I'm even sure I'd know how to flirt, given the cultural barrier between us.)

At first he asked me about my past fighting experience and I told him that he'd really seen it all. I wasn't a fighter and didn't really have any training to speak of. (I was not going to offer up a summer's worth of YMCA karate lessons to a man who dedicated his life to the ways of the Shinobi.)

He then asked me about my weaknesses. It was hard for me, so I took suggestions from Takara who'd already been training me for so long. She spoke -out loud- to him, startling both of us. When she was done with her spiel, I added in that my ankle was very weak, as was the hip on the same side.

He asked why I didn't heal them. "To be honest," I answered, "Until my balance improves, it'll be useless. I'll just keep re-injuring them."

He's working on a lesson plan of sorts and until then (and every day for the rest of my life) I'm supposed to add in some physical exercises he's showed me.

I swear the man gets a maniacal gleam in his eye when he bursts into my room in the morning and pesters me until I crawl out of bed to go for a run with him. And I do mean run, he told me to strike the word "jog" from my dictionary and that if I don't keep pace he's going to set his shuriken after me so that I'll have proper motivation if I need it.

Didn't realize these less-than-subtle threats brought out the hellcat in me. I broke my no flirting rule after that. It was quite satisfying to watch the blush color his face before I sprinted off ahead of him. He got to eat my dust for all of twelve seconds before he recovered and caught up, dashing ahead of me and encouraging me to go faster. If I had the energy to be facetious, I had energy to run faster.

Heh. The man thinks I'm lacking serious intent. We'll see.

I learned some about the sigil last night. It was a rather strange story and I still feel like I'm not getting all of it. Like...they gave me the plot of the movie, but then left out the "why" of everything.

Anyway, there are several lesser sigils. Apparently in the past it was common for the Scarred Daughters to receive their Great Grandmother's sigil the same day they got their first diary. (Which basically happens whenever you reach sexual maturity.) Lesser sigils are attuned to the energy of the Four Heavenly Kings. There's a legend I don't really understand about how they wanted to bridge the Kine. (Takara said Kine was a catch all word for living creatures: human, animal, or demon.) Blah, blah, blah, it summons a spirit familiar (proper term: spirit beast) of one of the four aspects depending on the nature of the sigil owner.

There was only one greater sigil, with the ability to summon all four aspects. It is the original that the progenitor of our line created, and Daisuke managed to get it from somewhere. It was originally lost during the inquisition, along with our knowledge of just about everything. Takara had been lost long before that, but she wouldn't say how. She also wouldn't tell me more about the sigil itself, just that we were lucky I got it. The sigil is still attached to her back cover.

I asked her why only Byakko was here if there were three more spirits it could call. She told me it had been warped by centuries of misuse and I would not be able to summon them until I healed the sigil. The other three would be reborn when I was strong enough to call them. (The sigil has gemstones on it and looks kinda like a compass to me. The west gem shines white. The other three are empty looking and dull. She says I have to heal their spirits, that they're basically comatose from all the suffering they've endured since the sigil was lost.)

I still plan to break my curse, but once I found out there were actually spirits trapped inside this thing, suffering and unable to move out of the darkness, I decided that I had to do what I could for them. I've been reading all the information Takara has given me, but it's kinda vague...

Oh! And freakin' awesome, but she has a new section on Artifact Crafting that I just can't stop pouring over. It's by FAR the most complex theories that she's shown me and the spell components vary from the mundane to the absurdly exotic. I can already think of a handful of items that I want to make before I leave.

So, as it turns out, Amaru has a really nice ass.

Okay, so it started out as an innocent sparring lesson. We'd trekked out into the mountains. He wanted me to train on rocky terrain. (Always testing my balance, that one.) We were on a river bank and the river itself was a torrent of powerful rapids.

I was running around like an insane child as he chased me and tried (succeeded) to peg me with pebbles. He was absolutely ruthless about it and it was incredibly dark before either of us really realized it. Rather than head back to Genkai's we decided camping out might be a better option since it wasn't supposed to rain.

I was sitting on a rock that hung over the rapids. It was beautiful and thrilling even in my non-standard senses. Amaru had been rifling through his pack until he came over and sat beside me. He had some trail rations, which he was kind enough to share as he quizzed me about battle tactics. I stretched out, laying down on my back and staring up at the sky. Everything was peachy, until the wind picked up.

Apparently the rock wasn't quite in the ground solidly enough for both of our weight on the overhang AND the wind, because there was a clacking noise as it suddenly started to tip towards the rapids. We both jumped for safety, apparently to the same spot.

I practically tackled him mid air. He might have been able to correct his landing if I hadn't also tried to correct mine; needless to say, we landed in a tangle of limbs and bruised bits. I scraped my knuckles on the ground, but his ass landed on my hand.

It was a fair trade though. He accidentally headbutted my boobs on the way down. xD

Between pebble target practice and getting smashed between the rocks and the hard place (insert appropriate sex euphemism here) I'm covered in bruises.

After two months of Amaru's training, I think I'm starting to feel a difference. Its weird and difficult to describe. The most noticeable thing is that, even as hard as he pushes me, all the exercise makes me feel like I have more energy than I would if I had sat around and read Takara all day.

There are also a lot of little things I've noticed. Small spells don't require partial fugue state anymore. The medium ones I'd learned that required deeper levels of fugue can be achieved at a more shallow level. Things that I've practiced over and over are becoming more energy efficient and are easily maximized to my needs.

Amaru has been paying special attention to my lack of coordination. Apparently, I think too much. He watched me dancing one day and realized there was a definite difference between the smooth, spontaneous movements of my dances and the awkward ones of my steps. Now, he trains me for balance (which is a story all on its own. Remember what a 'Skip-It' was? Now imagine it was a ball and chain made of energy and I get to fling that around at high speeds while dodging an insane ninja) but he also randomly sneak attacks me to test it and adjust his teaching methods.

Don't worry, I found a way to get back at him. Its super effective. (Read: If you can make a ninja blush in five seconds flat, you win life.)

When I walked outside after dinner (one of the few the four of us were actually together for) Genkai was building a bonfire with Amaru.

And then she ordered Yusuke to meditate in it. There was lot of yelling on his part until she finally whacked him on the head and shoved his ass right into the flames. Genkai is very much a 'sink or swim' kind of instructor.

I was so amazed by how the flames licked the boy's skin, but did not harm it once he reached his focus. Takara, can I learn that?

She laughed at me and gave me a name to look up next time I was reading some of the journal entries left behind by other Scarred Daughters. It seems that I can, in fact, learn that.

It was a similar instance that lost the majority of the Mayfield family records in the witch trial days. Someone had seen my ancestors pricking their fingers and smearing blood on their journal pages. The books, of course, couldn't be read by anyone outside the family and it was deemed witch craft. Back then, the Mayfields still retained enough power to bend the elements, like Yusuke was doing, but the books were not so powerful. They were destroyed by the church and it's inquisitors. The Mayfields were fine in the fire and simply used a spell called Dimension Door to essentially teleport away. I was quite excited to hear that I would be learning that particular technique in five months.

Evidently, I won't be strong enough to survive the fire until I'd had a year of training under my belt. She said there was still a wide gap between Yusuke's level of endurance, stamina, and tolerance and my own pathetic levels. Thanks Takara. You're so sweet.

It took way too damn long, but I managed to have a sparring match with Amaru without him actually knocking me on my ass in the first five minutes.

And on that note...sparring with Amaru is a lot more fun than I thought it would be...and not in the 'Mister and Misses Smith' kind of way. I rather seem to like trying to beat the hell out of someone while they deftly kick the crap out of me. I try really, really, hard to land solid blows on him, but...well...he is a ninja.

If I can break the curse and I find someone to settle down with, I think I have a new standard. They must be able to spar with me. Yeah, I might be going all Xena, Warrior Princess, but what-the-fuck-ever, its a high I can't explain or get anywhere else. Its a bonding ritual I can get behind.

He discovered my pocket knife when I used it to whittle some kindling for a campfire. After that, he let me borrow one of his daggers to use during training from now on. They're impossibly sharp and have a ring at the end of the hilt. Its called a "kunai" and I think that mostly just ninja's use them. He said that if it came to me having to use my pocket knife I'd be better off using something like this, as a pocket knife is designed more for utility than fighting. Who knew, right? I mean, if I have to resort to my pocket knife I'm going to be jamming it into someone's eye socket. You'd think sharp and pointy would be enough. I'll take his word though, he's actually killed people.

Yusuke really is a bratty punk when he wants to be. He's got this smart ass attitude that I love and all this confidence, like he knows he'll hang on just because he wants to, no matter what the world had planned. I like that. It gives me hope, you know?

When Genkai isn't pushing him out windows or making him balance on a spike with his spirit power alone (holy shit, right?), we spend our free time vegging out together on the roof. Sometimes we just watch the clouds in silence, stuck in our own thoughts or a particularly problematic training exercise. But sometimes we talk.

He asked me about my curse one day and instead of hedging around the subject like I usually do with "outsiders" I told him the truth. I also told him that it was my life's goal to break the damn thing.

In return, he told me about what it was like to die and come back to life. I got him to tell me about Kuwabara and he described many of the fights they'd been in. It was always fights he described, but there was this look in his eye, this strange sort of understanding, and I wondered if that sort of...code or whatever, if I would have that with someone someday or if it was a boy thing.

After a time, he asked me more personal questions about my curse. Like, did I have a boyfriend and how did that work?

I think he was teasing me at first, like trying to see if I'd give him some steamy details or something. (He isn't like the other Japanese boys I've met who refuse to talk about -anything- remotely like that in mixed company.) Yusuke's a little young, but I decided to answer him honestly. It's something that had been on my mind a lot lately as I pondered why I was even flirting with Amaru in the first place.

I'd had relationships, but they were far more casual than what most people considered to be a relationship. Generally the people I was intimate with were friends who understood my condition and the fact that there would always be a part of me that was somewhat aloof. I'd intended to embarrass him back for trying to tease me, but his response surprised me.

Yusuke told me, in so many words, that he knew what it was like to hold back to keep from getting hurt and to keep from hurting. And then, (I don't think he realized the connection) he started describing all these fond memories he had of his childhood friend, Keiko. He also described her as a ceaseless nag who lived only to be a pain in his bratty ass. What a fourteen year old boy, right? I suppose it sheds some light on his personality though. Why he loves fighting so much. Its the only time he's never holding back.

The kid is like a little brother. :)

Today I was rifling through my bag, gathering clothes for another camping trip with Amaru, when my hand brushed over something I didn't quite recognize.

It was one of the item's I'd won from Daisuke. I'd been so busy that I'd never really had time to look over them. Besides the sigil that I'd taken in the fight, and that awful rope Byakko had destroyed when he was reborn in me, there were three more items. A scroll, a weird shaped vial of black liquid, and that strange, wavy knife he'd tried to stab Takara with.

I didn't have time to study until that night after dinner. Amaru had built a fire. We were situated in a surprisingly clean cave. Overall, it was a pretty comfy atmosphere. When I pulled out the items and Takara and I spent some time examining each of them before then asking her what they were.

The scroll looked old and had Japanese characters I couldn't read. Rolled up inside it was a newer piece of paper with hastily scrawled characters. I got Takara to translate for me. Apparently it was an inventory of sorts:

1. Sigil, magic item, which summons Byakko. Offensive. Must activate. Very Rare.

2. Scroll, Spells: str, dex, stam. Buff class. Reusable, must activate. Rare. Must be attuned to user.

3. Potion vial, "Black Death". Acidic offensive attack that is not only highly corrosive, but incredibly deadly. Created from an ancient demon's venom. Rare, though it is a favorite poison of demonic assassins.

4. Dancing Vampiric Rope, magic item. Responds to owners telepathic commands. Can be used to entangle, trip up, or bind; siphons off energy each time it touches you, leaving the victim weakened and defenseless. Must activate. Rare.

5. The Arcane Kris, magic item. Drawing blood with this dagger makes it useless, it's sole purpose is to sunder magical artifacts. Very rare.

Next I opened up Takara and flipped to her "Artifacts" section. She confirmed that the items and the list descriptions were one in the same after scanning them. I didn't bother reading about the sigil, since I already knew more about it than he did, but all the others had expanded sections from my ancestors.

I learned two very interesting things. The first was that Black Death was only rare to people who didn't deal with demons on a regular basis. My ancestors had quite a bit of experience with this one, which I guess made sense considering we were kind of a highly sought after commodity. The entire vile I had was enough to kill several people. It could eat through their clothes and skin and enter their bloodstream, killing them within minutes. Smaller doses were used to induce paralysis and extreme pain. Back in the old days, medicine women would ingest toxins and poisons like this one to create antidotes from their blood. It gave me some very interesting ideas that scared the shit out of Byakko.

Number two, was that with the scroll I could probably provoke a pretty good shocked reaction from Amaru in our next sparring match. I do so love making the poor man lose his composure. (Attunement is pretty easy and requires a simple linking spell.)

There comes a point in every man's life where he feels he need to totally pwn the girl who has been teasing him so mischievously. I live to provoke that day. Today was that day for Amaru and it was quite a delicious little moment.

We were in the forest and he was teaching me how to really run through terrain. It was very difficult at first, as we had to come to an understanding about what my sense of sight allowed for, but eventually he had me scrambling over rocks, across roots and even from branch to branch in order to evade his attacks. We talked a bit during these training sessions. Sometimes for the sake of camaraderie, sometimes to talk shit about each other, and sometimes to try and throw the other off balance.

Since my 'vision' had come up in conversation, he asked about the curse. I explained to him the basic 'safe to share' details. This somehow went into a conversation about relationships. It was kinda weird, I figured he'd be all "I'm a dude and we just don't do these sort of conversations," but I guess, as a ninja whose life revolved around risk and the chance that he might not make it home, he understood the sweet simplicity of an uncomplicated (read: serious expectations be damned) relationship.

And let me tell you...it was quite nice to meet someone who feels that way in a serious manner and not in a 'lets hump everything that moves' way. Big difference.

Anyway, I had to focus on what I was doing after that because he chased me deeper into the forest where the trees began to grow closer together. By the time he let me take a break, we were so far away from everything I recognized that I figured we'd have to read the path our energy had left to get back to the temple. That would not be a straight trail at all. I was leaning on a tree panting when Amaru, slick with sweat, dumped the last of my water over his bald head.

I, of course, tried to punch him in retaliation. It was one of those kinda play punches that was meant to leave a bruise. He just smirked at me and jabbed me right in the side. I'm sure he meant to make it hurt just a little, but he'd got me in a ticklish spot and I burst out into giggles before covering my mouth and backing away.

This lead to a new game of him hunting me down like a crazed man and trying to 'tickle-poke-of-doom' me. I did not take this lightly and fought way dirtier than I ever had in training. One thing escalated to another and well, before I knew it, he had backed me into a tree. Instead of being intimidated by his close form and the promise of retaliation in his eyes, I felt something altogether different fluttering in my chest.

Amaru is good looking. Smooth skin, nice eyes, killer body (literally and figuratively. I have seen his abs up close in a sparring match, which is a tactic I think he uses on purpose to distract me...) and while I'd never really been into the bald look before...I really wanted to, you know, touch his scalp. Some girls don't like sweaty guys, but in that moment, panting, slick, hot, the man had some major sex appeal.

He had this teasing look in his eyes and I just knew he was about to attack. The situation was just too perfect to put him off balance in the best possible way. I grabbed his shirt, and instead of pushing him backwards like he expected, I yanked him forward and stole a kiss.

It only lasted a few seconds, because as soon as his cheeks turned red I grinned at him and ducked around his stunned body to run away. I dunno if it was a twig snapping that I'd heard or his composure, because the next thing I knew he'd grabbed me and pushed me back into another tree before repaying the favor.

His kiss was fierce and almost scalding at first. His hands were pinning my shoulders against the tree trunk, but then I yanked his hips forward and met his fire with my own. I might think too much, and most of my calm is a complete facade to throw people off, but in moments like these, I let myself indulge completely in an unrestrained moment of contact.

I might have been all fire and foolhardy in the beginning, but he eventually turned me into gasping putty and the only reason I was upright at all (my knees had gone weak and couldn't bear my weight) was because he was pressing me so tightly again the tree. At some point he pushed me up and I wrapped my legs around his hips. My hands roamed everywhere they could reach.

I don't know how long the make out session of the century lasted, but by the end of it my lips were swollen and tingly in a way that they hadn't been since my very first kiss and there were little bite marks over my collar bone. I'd bruised his ear and neck and lips with my own teeth as well. We were both off balance and short of breath by the end of it.

Training is going to be a lot more fun if I get to make out like this during break times.

Takara is pissed and refuses to acknowledge me. Byakko is angry as well, his fur puffed out along his tiny body and his lip curled up over a delicate fang in some sort of nervous sneer. Neither of them accepted my idea, the plan, or the benefits that made the risk worth it and since I didn't have them behind me I went to Genkai.

See, the more I read about Black Death, the more I realized that it was like panacea in a bottle. Even non-related demon species had root traits in the venoms, poisons, and acids their bodies or powers created to what Black Death contained. If I could become immune to Black Death, there was a high chance that I would become, if not immune, then resistant to other poisons as well. That seems like a pretty useful trait to have up my sleeve in an emergency.

It took a lot of digging (and hiding my intentions) to gather the knowledge I needed from the old journal entries on the subject. If my calculations were right, a tiny pinprick injected into my skin once a week would be all I needed to start building up a tolerance. I'd be sick, probably violently sick, for fifteen to thirty minutes after taking the dose, but then I'd be fine.

The reason I picked Genkai to make my case to was because she was hardcore and her training was hardcore. I thought if anyone would understand what I was trying to accomplish, despite the risk of potential death or getting a little sick, then it would be her. I wasn't wrong. She wanted me to wait until she was present to try it just in case my dose was off.

It was a vile, vile, experience, but the effects wore off after twenty minutes and I was fine after that. She monitored my dose for the first month before deeming it safe enough to try with just Amaru present. I think it was harder for him to accept, but he understood my reasoning. He almost quit after the first time, but he saw my resolve and kept by me.

The first thing I noticed is its sickly sweet smell. With the vial uncorked, it coats your nose and tongue like a promise and there's a note of warning in the air its carried on. Once I coat the tip of the needle in the heavy black liquid I prick it right into my skin. It caused minor paralysis around the entry wound. I rotated limbs, always pricking it into my skin in a new area. The skin around the site would have tiny threads of black bleed into the skin around it. After thirty seconds it started to burn and the burn kept building and building until it hit my brain and everything else. I couldn't move well, but sometimes I'd spasm and jerk with each painful pulse of blood. Usually after the first ten minutes the stomach cramps and headache started. I puked about a quarter of the time we did this.

After three months of this, I noticed that my periods of sickness were gradually getting shorter and shorter by a handful of seconds each week. Those old school medicine women knew what they were doing.

At some point in month three I realized something important about my relationship with Amaru. I like him. A lot actually. Normally when I realize this, I start backing away, but he understands. We both know that, for our own reasons, this thing won't last beyond my time at Genkai's. And with that understanding, I found myself wanting to experience whatever this was to the fullest.

So when we started getting ready for bed and he picked "his" side of the campfire, I quite purposefully waited for him to finish before tossing my bedroll down beside him and then pouncing on him before he had a chance to comment.

Straddled his lap and pulled at his shirt. I think he read my intentions loud and clear. He pulled back, probably intending to search my eyes for something, but then realized the futility in that because of my bandages. Instead, his energy flared outward gently and probed mine. He then took control and the mood changed from my open and direct provocation to something gentle and slow..

He took his time, as if the rough pads of his fingertips had to learn every curve and dip of my body. He followed the path with his tongue. He was amazing and before he'd really even done anything naughty I was already murmuring breathy things in English, which seemed to amuse him.

Of course when it finally did get naughty he didn't stay gentle for long, because that's when I usually took command. I preferred to melt into a quivering mass of needs and then I begged and demanded things from him that he obeyed with relish. Lets just say we both had some interesting bruises, bite marks, and scratches the next morning and decided to "sleep" in again.

After that night training seemed to get more intense, as if he was making up for those sweet moments we stole far away from the temple. I didn't mind. I worked hard so I could play harder. It was spontaneous when it happened as was the random affection neither of us had a problem showing. That alone was a wonderful thing to experience. I had always wanted to be a little more free with it, but felt unable to express myself without drawing them closer in. (Them being past relationships, the kind of people who would become too attached over time and end up hurting when I pulled away.)

It was strange, with these new feelings and experiences, I began to do something I'd never before allowed myself to do. I thought about and imagined what sort of relationship I'd like to be in when I was free to do as I pleased. There were so many good qualities to what Amaru and I had going, but I did know that when I was truly free, I wanted something deeper. There were things the ninja couldn't tell me and that I didn't want to know, especially about being a ninja. There were things I still couldn't talk to him about, even as sweetly as he asked me. (Like when he saw the scars on my back for the first time and trailed soft kisses over them them in askance.) I wanted this playful sort of thing the ninja and I had, but I wanted a partner as well, who would walk with me through life rather than one beautiful six month path.

All in all, I'm glad I met Amaru. He is brightening my life for a short time, but more importantly, he's helping me make decisions about what I do or don't like in a safe environment, with someone I've come to think of as a very trustworthy friend.

As my time here starts to draw to an end, I find myself trying to pull in everything around me and lock it away for when I have to live through tougher times.

Genkai's mountain is beautiful. It is everything I always dreamed of having someday. As far as I've explored, there are still new places to see and new things to discover. Only yesterday, I got lost and found this beautiful hot spring hidden in the rocks about 15 miles from the temple. I didn't tell anyone, it was too pretty and part of me wanted it to just be. I hoped that one day I'd be able to come back to Genkai's mountain and take a dip.

Aside from the landscape, we'd become a strange little family of sorts. Genkai was the cranky grandma (as Yusuke liked to call her), and her sometimes acerbic nature as she dealt with the dimwit (as Genkai liked to call Yusuke) never failed to make me crack a smile.

I'd grown fond of Yusuke's bratty nature and intense personality. He was different from anyone I'd ever met. He had more drive, stubbornness and attitude than most people would ever be able to contain. I told him that, after his training, I was going to go with him and visit his city so I could see Kuwabara again and meet his Keiko before I had to go wherever my path was leading next.

And Amaru, of course, was something special all on his own. Some sense told me that when we parted ways, I would never see this ninja again. He deemed my new and improved fighting skills 'just above piss poor' (with a smirk that held more truth than his words alone), just two weeks before our six months was up. We spent the weekend camping and said our goodbyes in a physical way, locking the feeling of companionship away for the solitary life ahead of us. That last night, I knew he'd be gone before I woke up.

He left a lovely kunai for me, engraved with the word, 'Freedom' in a tiny little scratch. It was a sweet gesture. I'd tucked away a mana stone that I'd made just for him, hidden away in his pack.

My trip back to Genkai's alone was less forlorn than I thought it might be. I just remembered him with a smile and made my way back through the miles of mountain forest. The memories were like a gift that couldn't be taken away or diminished.

Genkai had been pretty busy with Yusuke and there had been very little time to spare on my curse. I was eager to see what she had to say, but I also knew that she needed to train Yusuke. I could see it in her eyes and there was just a touch of 'sense' that said the boy needed to take these lessons to his core because his life just might depend on them someday.

Eventually she told me that she had a feeling an old acquaintance of her would be able to explain more than she could, but that getting a meeting with him was very difficult. Her advice, however, was somewhat confusing. Genkai told me she'd send him a message and then go from there. She wouldn't tell me who this acquaintance was, but did say that if I stuck around Yusuke long enough, I'd probably end up meeting with him on accident or something. (I tried to ask Yusuke what she meant, but he didn't have a clue and told me that if I started stalking him, he was going to kick my ass. I just reminded him that I was already planning to follow him back to visit Kuwabara and then stole his last piece of BBQ chicken before running out the door as he yelled in agitation about "rude ass foreign chicks")

And on that note, my repertoire of Japanese curse words has been greatly improved. Yusuke is constantly grumbling things under his breath that I can't understand and one day he mentioned that I sounded like a 'goody-two-shoes'. I let him know I hadn't been taught "street vernacular" in Japanese, but that I could make a scrawny little punk like him shudder with my verbal filthiness if he understood my native language.

From there, we spent some of his down time trading insults and descriptions. Probably a very strange hobby, but one that usually had us both suppressing laughter and trying to one up the other. Genkai walked by the first time Yusuke called me something really naughty and whacked the kid hard enough to make him fly right off the porch. After that, we made sure to seek out a little more privacy first. (I think she found it irritating on principle, but I could see this tiny quirk at the corners of her mouth and I knew that she wasn't a delicate little flower that couldn't handle the sailor's tongue.)

When the flashes of memory faded back into the recesses of my mind I began to absently flip through the pages I'd filled. The script was neat, expressive and kind of flamboyant, like I would have made it if I had been writing by hand, only there were no spelling errors or mistakes as Takara relayed the information with more surety than my hands. (It carried all the mistakes my personal narrative would have, but I didn't have to cross anything out or look up how to spell anything.)

When I was done the words disappeared, whisked away to wherever Takara stored the "mundane" entries when I was using her. I had never really been fond of the journals each of us were given. The ritual seemed silly, largely ceremonial and to be honest, I couldn't give a rats ass about reading what my cousins were doing. Their entries were entirely mundane. No new knowledge to learn or spread...and the Mayfield's had lost the knowledge of how to create spell books like Takara, so they couldn't access my contributed knowledge from her. Thinking about stuff like that made me realize just how far our bloodline had fallen into a state of such ignorance, obscurity, and misconception.

Takara pointed out that it was the very lack of sharing our life experiences and combined knowledge that brought this about...and since she had a point I realized I had to record my observations and understanding of things because, if I fail and can't break the curse, I do not want my children going through life the same way I had to. Hating this part of themselves that they can't control, and not knowing what to do about a very vulnerable and sad factor in our lives. I did not want my children to suffer like the Mayfield's had since the inquisition.

When the sense of nostalgia finally cleared away I started wrapping Takara in the soft velvet material I usually stored her in before putting her in my bag. There wasn't a lot to pack, but I wanted to get it ready for my departure. Yusuke's training had come to an end and it was time to say goodbye to the beautiful mountain and Genkai.

A/N: Hope everyone is enjoying the story so far! Next Chapter is called, "The Curse Activates!" and I'll upload it next week! :)

Please help me improve by leaving a review. :)