White Blindness
by Mina Lightstar

He recognized the voice immediately. It was a voice he hadn't heard in many decades, and had only heard again days ago. It was Her voice... But was She here?

He rolled over on the mattress and buried his face in his pillow. No, the voice was too... disembodied. She couldn't be here. He was dreaming about Her again. His heart sank at the thought, but he had long ago accepted the fact that She was being kept from him, and would be until he rescued Her.

Apparition or no, he had never been able to deny Her something She wished from him. Slowly, as though expecting the dream to end before it really began, he rolled onto his back and pushed himself into a sitting position. The covers fell to rest upon his waist, exposing his bare skin to the cool night air. He swallowed, hoping to moisten his dry throat. The action did little good.

He turned his head to where Her voice was coming from, and shut his eyes tightly when he saw Her. Of all ways to come to appear before him... why had She chosen to come that way?

"No," he whimpered, his voice sounding very small and frightened. "No, I cannot." He couldn't bear to see Her that way - knowing he couldn't touch Her. He had long worshipped the paintings and statues in his gallery. He'd stared at them for hours, run his fingers along their carvings or brushstrokes, kissed their stony mouths... But they hadn't looked real anymore than they had been real. This likeness before him was a moving, speaking apparition, but was not real, either. He could try to touch it, but his fingers would pass right through. Was his subconscious so cruel that it kept sending him visions of Her he could never hold?

He shook his head mutely. He didn't want to see it, didn't want to see something he'd be denied.

It took him a moment to realize what had just occurred. She had touched him, and he'd felt it. "You..."

He all-but purred when a fingernail scratched the top of his head - a real, solid fingernail. Her fingernail. "Shiryoku..." His eyes fluttered open, and then feasted on the sight before him.

He'd never seen Her naked before. Envisioned it, certainly - described it to painters and sculptors, even - but never seen it. And now She was here, in his bedroom, standing at the edge of his bed, naked as the day She was born.

As they were, She was taller than him. When he aimed his gaze just a little higher, he could see the round globes of Her breasts - so pale in the moonlight, almost silver - and Her nipples, pink as Her tongue. He lifted his head to gaze up the rest of Her body, taking in the waves of golden hair, the silver headband that matched the hair so wonderfully you'd think She had silver in Her hair, too... She was smiling down at him, Her fingers still playing with his hair.

"I love you," he heard himself say. And for a moment, he was afraid he'd ruined the spell; was afraid that by speaking those words he'd scare Her away.

It wasn't the first time She'd told him that, but no matter how often the words slipped past Her lips, they made his heart expand in his chest. "How are you here?" he breathed, struggling to stand on his knees. "How did you escape?"

"Coming...?" It took him a moment to understand the words. "How? What do you mean?"

She wrapped Her hands around his head and pulled him against Her. He inhaled sharply in surprise, and his nostrils were filled with Her scent. She smelled like... like vanilla and honey, or some combination of the two. He would never tire of Her aroma...

Abruptly, he realized that his face was nestled between her breasts, and he couldn't suppress the moan that worked its way up his throat. He tilted his head up to see Her. She was still smiling, caressing the back of his neck, keeping his face in Her cleavage. He couldn't say he was uncomfortable; he loved the way Her breasts pressed against his cheeks.

He would do anything She asked of him. "I am patient," he assured Her. "I've been so patient... I can be for a little while more."

Her smile widened, and he felt himself grin like an idiot. But then She was bending toward him, Her lips parted just enough to signify She was ready for a kiss. Jumon's arms were around her before he'd realized they'd moved, and he stretched upwards, another moan coming from somewhere deep inside him....

"Brother." A hand shook his shoulder once, roughly.

Jumon was awake instantly, his eyes fluttering open at the sound of Itsuwari's voice. Against his will, the bedroom of his dream vanished from around him, the bed gave way for the hard ground, and She disappeared from within his arms.

"N-no," he stuttered, sitting up. He reached out, blindly trying to draw her back to him. "Don't leave--!"

Another pair of arms, these ones too strong to be Hers, encircled him. He was pulled into a tight embrace, his cheek pressing against a hard, flat chest. He remained there, knowing it was Itsuwari who held him, and waited for awareness to return to him completely.

"It was a dream, my brother," Itsuwari murmured into his ear. "You were dreaming."

"Brother?"

Jumon buried his face into the rumpled cloth of Itsuwari's tunic, and inhaled the strong, musky scent that was unique to his brother. "Ah..." he sighed. "It was a dream." He returned Itsuwari's embrace and once again pressed his cheek against his brother's pectoral. "My dream dream," he chuckled to himself. He'd spoken loud enough for Itsuwari to hear, certainly, and wondered if his little brother would understand the phrasing.

"...Brother, what happened in this dream of yours?" Itsuwari's voice was soft and encouraging - so unlike the Itsuwari in battle.

"She told me She was coming," he murmured, eager to go back to sleep. The comforting hold Itsuwari held him in and the wonderful scent his brother possessed was making him drowsy again.

"Coming?" He thought his brother sounded a little alarmed.

"Mm-hm... She said She was on Her way."

Itsuwari stiffened for a moment. "On her way...?" Jumon blinked as he was shaken back to full wakefulness. "Jumon, link with me."

"Why?"

"You may be in danger, Brother. Link with me. Please."

When Itsuwari made requests of him with that imploring tone, Jumon could not refuse him. Especially not after everything his brother had done for him.

So, Jumon surrendered himself to his youki. When he felt the current of energy channeling through his body, just waiting for him to command it, he then surrendered that power to Itsuwari, just as his brother surrendered his own power to Jumon.

Itsuwari's youki was a different kind of warmth traveling through his veins. It surged through his limbs and torso along with his own, waiting for him to command it. As one, he and his brother reached out with their rei, using their combined youki to widen their range, sending waves of searching ki nearly all over Morvec.

And then he sensed it - them. Five of them... One possessed reiki, the others youki. He knew them all; they were the ones who had come with his beloved to his House.

And now they were coming here.

With Her.

The link between himself and his brother faded when he released his youki.

"She's coming," he muttered, his voice sounding awed and distant - even to himself. "Itsu, She's really coming..."

"So she is." Itsuwari didn't sound as pleased or awed as Jumon felt. "Brother, you must begin the ritual."

But the visions of Her naked body were clouding his mind, and he only half-heard his brother's words. "Ritual?"

"The Orb, Jumon. The White Sphere. Revenge?"

Revenge...? Of course. Revenge - for taking his beloved away from him and keeping Her locked away in that dreadful palace, for meddling in his affairs and ruining the successful life he'd built for himself and his loyal followers, for... for making him angry.

"Itsu," he whispered, "do you have the last of it?"

"Of course, my dearest brother," the younger demon cooed, and disengaged their embrace. He twisted around and retrieved something he'd probably discarded to wake Jumon. "It wasn't hard to obtain; there is much rei to choose from in Ningenkai." When he turned back to Jumon, he had the little ball of glowing rei cupped in his hands, encased in the thin shell of Spirit Jumon had taught his brother to weave.

"It's so pretty," Jumon heard himself mumble. Of their own accord, his hands reached forward to take the small glowing sphere from Itsuwari's palms. "Humans are so unfortunate... to have this kind of inner beauty, and not be aware of it..."

"Jumon." Suddenly Itsuwari's hands were on his shoulders. "Jumon, the enemy is coming."

"She's coming," he whispered again, and nearly dropped the ball of rei.

"With the enemy," his brother stressed. "Those who would stop you are on their way to do just that."

"Stop me?" The ki signatures he'd sensed had been familiar, and now the features of the bearers came to him. His sister, the redheaded youko, the short demon with the star in his hair, the unusual human... "They think they can stop me?"

"They may if you don't begin the ritual," Itsuwari explained patiently. "You must begin the ritual."

"...Ah." Jumon nodded to himself, caressing the ball of rei in his hand. "I will. I will." He pushed himself to his feet and walked ten feet or so away from his brother, not quite fumbling his way through the darkness. Dawn would come soon, and the sky was not particularly dark. He knelt next to the little makeshift altar they had fabricated, and gently settled the newest orb of rei onto it. There were many little balls of rei cluttering the log now. Twenty-five or thirty-five... maybe even forty-five - Jumon hadn't counted. It wasn't important; he had enough rei to serve as enhancers for his spell. It would take time, but he had the resources, and the patience.

...Time...

"Itsu."

"Brother?"

"I need time to perform the ritual. The enemies--"

"Shall I take care of them for you, Brother?"

Even without looking, Jumon could see the eagerness to please in Itsuwari's eyes. "If you don't mind, my dearest brother. It would be... very much appreciated."

"Then consider it done."

"I have faith in you." He paused, wondering if he needed to add the warning, and then decided that it was better to be safe than sorry - despite the trust he had for his brother. "Itsu... do not harm Her."

"I would not. I know what she means to you."

Jumon nodded, trusting his brother's words and confident in his abilities. Though he felt Itsuwari's youki churn to life as the other demon manipulated his magic - Air and Spirit, for Illusion - he did not turn his head to see what his brother was up to.

Instead, he studied the glowing spheres on the altar for a few moments, and then let his eyes ease shut. He imagined himself atop a high cliff - a high, lonely cliff, surrounded by silence, utterly at peace.

And he meditated.

"Have you ever eaten vomit?"

Kurama sighed quietly and pinched the bridge of his nose. "What do you think?"

"I'm serious," Kuwabara insisted. "I won't judge you, or anything. I just wanted to know if anyone could tell me if this is what vomit tastes like."

"Are you still going on about the smell of the air?" Hiei growled.

"I thought we'd decided to let that topic rest," Katachi moaned plaintively.

"Then give me something else to wonder about," Kuwabara sniffed. "Or else I'm just going to keep speculating."

"Speak my name and I exist no longer," Kurama said.

"Silence. Gods, you guys, at least make an effort..."

"Let me try one," Katachi volunteered. "How about--"

"Wait," Hiei snapped, coming to a sudden stop.

Kurama halted in his tracks, and felt the others do the same. "Danger?" he asked. Without casting out his rei, he didn't have much of a range to sense others' ki. Hiei's Third Eye served as a sort of natural amplifier, however, and so his range - even unaided - was farther than Kurama's.

"I think so..." Hiei cocked his head, as though trying to listen for a sound no one else could hear. "I can't tell if it's a bitme or not... but I don't think so."

"Bitme have next to no youki as it is," Shiryoku said. "If they aren't close enough for us to see them, then I doubt we would notice them."

"But something is here," Hiei insisted. "Or coming here."

And then, Kurama felt the presence of a stranger. A tiny ripple of feeling ran along the spine of his soul; his ki telling the rest of him that there was an unidentified demon nearby - one that could possibly be dangerous.

"There is something here," he said, backing Hiei's proclamation even though his assistance probably wasn't necessary. If Kurama had felt it, then the others surely had, too.

"I feel it," Katachi agreed. She turned in a slow circle, searching for anything that could have been the cause of the new signature.

"But where is it coming from, exactly?" Kuwabara wondered. "It feels like it's--"

"--All around us," Kurama finished, sensing the signature coming from all sides. "Whatever it is, it's all around us."

"An illusion...?" Shiryoku breathed. "If it's so faint and we can't see it..."

Hiei took a cautious step forward, his boots sounding suddenly very loud against the hard ground. When nothing happened, he took another one. And another one. And another one.

"Hiei," Katachi called, "what are you doing?"

"Just looking," the fire demon assured her, and continued his slow, careful treading until he was ten or twenty feet ahead of them.

"Be careful," Shiryoku told him. "It's coming closer..."

Kuwabara shifted from one foot to the other. "I'd feel a lot better if I had my reiken," he muttered. "I hate not being able to have a weapon handy."

Kurama couldn't say he disagreed. There were few things he disliked more than being without his Rose Whip when he needed it the most. "Hiei..." And he definitely didn't like being weaponless when he had a bad feeling stirring in the pit of his stomach.

When the air in front of Hiei shimmered and solidified, Katachi shrieked as only women could. "It's a--!"

Kurama gaped, suppressing the urge to summon some kind of weapon, as a maw of sharp teeth was suddenly launching itself at Hiei's kneeling form.

As Hiei leapt backward, away from the snapping jaws, the rest of the new demon's body appeared.

Four-legged, lizard-like, nearly the size of a large dog... Kurama recognized the species immediately. "Galian." Shiryoku uttered some sort of agreement.

"Galian?" Kuwabara echoed. He peered at the creature as it flexed its rippling muscles. "That doesn't look like the demons Yusuke told me about..."

"It's a galian, not a Galian," Kurama hastily explained, knowing very well that Kuwabara wouldn't be able to distinguish the difference.

"It's more like galians," Katachi corrected, already fishing within her tunic for a weapon.

More than one? The thought ran through Kurama's mind even as he turned to see what had caught the Tasuno woman's attention. Oh... my...

Their party was surrounded by the small, fanged creatures. Kurama bit the corner of his lip, marveling at their luck - or Hiei's, rather. Had the demons been that close to them the whole time, or had they only arrived once Kurama and the others had stopped? Either way, they had been cloaked very well. Kurama couldn't help but feel a little ill at ease; if Hiei hadn't been with them, would they have sensed the galians enclosing them before the little creatures were nearly upon them...?

"Aw," Kuwabara commented, "it's the welcome wagon. That's so thoughtful."

"I could have done without it," Katachi quipped, finally retrieving a short sword from somewhere within the folds of her tunic.

"They don't?" Kuwabara asked. "Would they work together to kill prey, or would they fight each other first?"

"They might band together to make a kill," Shiryoku explained, "but they would fight one another later on to determine which of them gets to eat the carcass."

"But they were cloaked," Hiei pointed out.

"Could Jumon have frightened them into cooperating?" Kuwabara inquired.

"Not likely," Kurama replied. "Galians aren't as intelligent as their hybrid counterparts. They know fear, of course, but it is highly unlikely that they were manipulated into an attack pack."

"So, then...?"

"An illusion," Shiryoku declared. "An illusion, fabricated by Itsuwari, no doubt."

Kurama inhaled deeply, his eyes never leaving the small - yet potentially deadly - demons that had encircled them. "So Itsuwari knows we're here."

"Most likely, yes."

"But how?" Kuwabara demanded.

Kurama began to feel a little uneasy. Had his actions the night before somehow given them away? He hadn't actually touched his youki, but then, Katachi had warned them repeatedly about Jumon's strength. Even though Hiei had stopped him before he could actually surrender himself to the magic, could the mere attempt to grasp it have triggered Jumon's senses?

"I tried to tell you, Hiei," Katachi spoke up. "In House Tasuno. Jumon sometimes displays the talents of a seer, in his dreams."

"He's a seer, too?" Kuwabara groaned.

"No," Katachi corrected, "but sometimes... his emotions can cause him to... to..." She paused, as though searching for the right words to use. "...Sometimes he can see snippets of possible future events, but in the form of visions he doesn't necessarily understand."

"Are we posing for a painting?" Kuwabara asked dryly.

Kurama realized that no one - friend or foe - had moved for several minutes. Jumon and his brother knew that they were in Morvec, so Kurama didn't see the point in keeping their youki - or reiki, in Kuwabara's case - hidden any longer. He threw caution to the wind and called forth a blade of grass so thin, and so sharp, it could have passed for a fine foil blade.

He'd picked a lovely time to act. As soon as the galians saw his drawn weapon, the one nearest to him pounced. His first reflex was to back away and side-step, but Hiei was right behind him. He didn't want to risk unbalancing the Jaganshi, even if he knew Hiei was probably getting ready to move.

So, he settled for a direct attack, instead of the evasive techniques that were his usual preference. He slashed the air in front of him, the long blade of grass giving him excellent range. He was only half-surprised to watch his blade slash right through the galian that had leapt for him.

And when the weapon cut right through the beast without spilling so much as a drop of blood, any doubts Kurama had had were quelled. The disintegration of the galian's body further proved it; these small, vicious demons were the work of Illusionist Itsuwari.

Kuwabara noticed how easily Kurama had dispatched his first foe. "Well, then," the human's grip tightened around his reiken, "this should be damn easy."

"You should take every battle you fight seriously," Katachi recited almost automatically, and soon she was busy with several of the demons.

Let's not give him any time to create anything stronger, then, Hiei's voice interrupted his thoughts.

Kurama was startled for a moment. He hadn't really meant for Hiei to hear that. But he heeded his lover's words, and fought.

On any other day, Fukuro mused absently, a pink-haired woman wielding a sword of flame in Ningenkai would seem, at the very least, unusual - if not terrifying. But, it was more unusual - and unnerving - for that particular sword of flame to be cutting down demon after demon in Ningenkai as fast as she could chase them into a corner. And perhaps most disturbingly, these particular demons did not bleed, nor did they make any exclamation of pain when she beheaded them.

Fukuro suppressed a shudder as she withdrew her blade from the remnants of an Itsuwari clone. She found it unsettling to have a flaming sword embedded in a body, and not smell the stench of burning flesh. She willed her weapon to vanish, and watched the two halves of "Itsuwari" do the same.

To keep so many apparitions active at one time... She marveled yet again at the talent the two Tasuno brothers possessed. ...He's amazing. There is no other word for it. Both of them are amazing. Not for the first time, she wondered briefly why Katachi and Shiryoku didn't have the same strength the men in their family apparently did. But, then, she supposed it was fortunate they didn't. Fukuro was by no means an expert on youki and what its limitations were, but conventional wisdom did state that trying to handle more youki than one was capable of could be harmful. There had been cases of demons going mad or even exhausting their own magic - forever - because of the sheer amount of youki they had tried to wield.

To go mad with power... How many times had she heard those words, or something to their effect, be spoken? "Give a man too much power," many had said, "and he'll lose his mind as he uses it".

Was there some connection between the power and Jumon's - and perhaps Itsuwari's - condition? Or was the demon simply unlucky enough to have such an extraordinary amount of power and a mental illness?

"Everything has a price," she lamented softly. "Power is no exception."

She took another quick glance around the ally to make sure she was still alone. Satisfied, she reached out with her rei, searching for anymore of Itsuwari's energy. She didn't sense any. Fukuro had a fairly good range, and she was confident in her abilities to detect signatures she knew. Perhaps she had dispatched all of the illusions.

...One more round of the city, she decided. I'll do one more round, just to be safe. And then she would return to the Fifth, and report her progress to the High Lady.

Jumon had been silent for nearly ten minutes, if not longer. Itsuwari had long stopped counting off the seconds. He was familiar with his brother's procedures for spell casting; he had watched the older demon perform the preparations many times before. Typically, Jumon did not require long periods of mediation or preparation to perform most spells or tricks. The older demon was even known for having his youki act on some sort of subconscious will - often. But for the magical feats that were more challenging to exercise, his brother needed time to relax and concentrate his full energy on the task at hand. Or rather, as well as he could focus that energy. Itsuwari's brother had never been able to command the full power of his youki at will. It was a fault of his... condition.

Itsuwari barely noticed when Jumon broke his silent meditation and began to mutter the words of the ritual. Itsuwari didn't understand the mutterings at all; Jumon was speaking in an arcane language that only the more studious youkai cared to master. Not everyone had the potential to hold the vast amounts of youki needed to command the most powerful forms of the Elements. Jumon had the potential, certainly, but he didn't have the knowledge to put that potential to its best use. How Jumon had acquired the knowledge for the ritual to call the sphere back was unknown even to Itsuwari. But a focal object with that much power was no doubt dangerous to handle, and the kind of magic Jumon played with was no less hazardous. There were many reasons why most other youkai either knew nothing of the spells or didn't dare to attempt casting them.

Every time Jumon ventured into realms he knew little about, there was a chance for something dangerous to happen. Jumon was one of the most powerful demons Itsuwari knew of, but he was also one of those with the least sense. Itsuwari was never certain when he should intervene or just let his brother's intuition guide him. But so far, nothing drastic had ever happened. Jumon always seemed to keep control over the situation, even if he didn't always realize he was doing so.

Sometimes Itsuwari wished he could See into his brother's very being, to understand just how his madness and his powers were connected.

Sometimes, Itsuwari wished madness upon himself.

Jumon wasn't sure when he lost his sense of the dead lands around him. One moment he was seated on the rotted earth, fueled with youki, feeling the power burn through his veins... The next he had abandoned Morvec and become one with the powers that were flowing within and around him. He let himself drift away onto the Plane, but made sure to keep a trickle of awareness connected to his body. The freedom that the Plane offered was so tempting, and if one weren't careful, he could find himself lost in its endless waves forever.

He continued to draw more youki in, feeling the force fill his body. For a moment, he felt as though he was going to explode, but then his spirit adjusted to the increase of strength and he was able to continue. He spent several minutes just holding that power...

And then he began.

It was rather like having a shiver creep up his spine, only much, much worse. It felt like a fork dragging up his backbone, disturbing every single plate of bone and causing more than a little discomfort. It made the hair on his neck stand on end, it made him shiver and squirm, and perhaps worst of all, it made him falter in battle.

He wasn't sure which was worse, really: having a hissing, fanged lizard leaping at his face with the intention of chewing it off, or having a sword sail over his shoulder, dangerously close to his head.

Kuwabara closed his eyes briefly, listening to the sword clatter to the ground. He didn't even need to see that it had hit its intended target, and that the illusion had vanished into thin air, like all the others.

"That could have been my head, you know," he muttered, loudly enough so Hiei could hear him over the shrieks and growls of the other apparitions.

"You don't trust me?" The Jaganshi managed to sound wounded even through his wry amusement.

"About as far as I can throw you," Kuwabara returned. He bent and picked up his ally's weapon. "There aren't too many employers who will hire a headless man, you know. And think of the cramps that would put in my social life."

"My heart bleeds for you," Hiei offered, taking his sword back.

"And you should look into seeing a therapist for this apparent head-fetish of yours... Did you feel it?" he asked, putting the banter aside for the moment. As he spoke, it happened again. Kuwabara grit his teeth as the much-worse-than-a-shiver scraped up his spine. He was grateful it was merely a sensation, and not an actual occurrence.

"I felt it," Hiei replied as he sheathed his sword. "Trust me, I felt it..." The demon rotated his shoulders and looked like he was trying to suppress a shudder. "And I'm afraid I think I know what it was."

"Are we too late?" Kuwabara breathed. Morvec wasn't a large country by any stretch of the imagination, but it was still a country. And they had been moving slowly so as not to attract attention.

"I don't know. I really don't."

"You're lucky," Kurama called to them. Kuwabara turned in time to see the youko's sword shrivel up and vanish. "That it's over," the redhead added, gesturing briefly to the grounds of Morvec - no longer infested with Itsuwari's illusions. "So it was safe for you to stand still and chat."

Kuwabara noted that somewhere between the first and second tremor, the fighting had stopped. "Did you feel it?" he called. And as he spoke the words, it happened again. He bit his lower lip to stifle a grunt.

Kurama had faltered a little as he strode toward them, and his nod affirmed that he had felt the tremor, too. "I think every demon within a thousand-mile radius felt it."

Kuwabara's reply was overrun by Shiryoku's sharp cry of, "Kata!" His eyes widened not at the shout, but because a moment later, the golden-haired woman backed into Kurama, causing the two of them to stumble.

Kurama took hold of the Tasuno woman's shoulders and helped her right herself. "What? What's wrong?"

Shiryoku looked a little disoriented, and even a little nervous. She broke away from Kurama's hold and backpedaled a few more paces. "I can't risk..." She trailed off, and settled for simply pointing.

Kuwabara followed the finger, and raised his eyebrows when he saw that she was pointing at Katachi. The silver-haired woman stood still for a moment. Her shoulders rose and fell as she sighed heavily, and then she sank to her knees.

"What's wrong?" Hiei asked. His tone was clipped and detached, yet Kuwabara could hear the genuine concern in it - as well as the worry.

And again, that worse-than-a-shiver shuddered through Kuwabara's body. He knew the others felt it, too. "Is that--?"

"No," Shiryoku breathed. "Oh, gods, no... please, no..."

"Katachi." Hiei sounded a little more insistent now. "What is it?"

The woman had hunched over after the last tremor, and so her words were a little muffled. "...It should be obvious."

Kuwabara swallowed. "You're--"

"I suppose it was to be expected," she went on. She sounded only faintly upset, her tone one of reluctant acceptance. "I was so close to that human... It was only a matter of time..."

"You're blind," Kurama pronounced, finishing the statement Kuwabara had begun.

"I'm blind," she agreed.

"Demons, too," Hiei murmured. Kuwabara noticed his eyes flicker toward Kurama.

"Demons, too," Kurama echoed, making his way toward the kneeling woman. For a moment, Kuwabara considered cautioning him against going near her, lest the contagious condition infect him, too. But then he realized that they had all been rather close to one another for a good while. It was probably only a matter of time before they were all infected with White Blindness.

Another tremor ripped through his body, and Kuwabara shuddered. This time, though, the tremor was accompanied with the sensation he felt when youki churned to life. It was only a little, and it happened very quickly, but he noticed it despite the fork dragging along the spine of his soul.

The others noticed it, too. Katachi raised her head, her eyes wide but lacking focus. "Where is she--?"

Kuwabara spun around, and gaped when he saw that Shiryoku was gone. She didn't. Tell me she didn't.

"I don't sense her," Kurama muttered angrily. "She's already too far away."

Kuwabara was torn between shock, confusion, and anger. "She... she went to him, didn't she? Didn't she?" No one answered him. He suspected that was because they knew he was right. Irritation won out, and he clenched his fist so tightly, it hurt. "Your whole damn family is insane," he growled to Katachi.

"What made her leave?" Kurama demanded. The youko shot to his feet and spun around. "She knew - she knew - that it was too dangerous for her to try and--"

"He's begun the ritual," Katachi whimpered. She clawed at the rotted soil under her hands. "Jumon has begun the ritual... He doesn't know what he's playing with...! He doesn't know..."

"Follow her," Kuwabara ordered. "You can still teleport without your eyesight? Follow her."

"I'd say we've more or less announced our presence, anyway," Kurama added. "Jumon knows where here, and he's started without us."

"I think I can," Katachi whispered. They shivered with another tremor before she continued. "It may be difficult... with four people... but I think I can do it."

"But what made Shiryoku leave? Why did she panic like that?"

Kuwabara was about to make a suggestion, but then Hiei hissed something in his native tongue. Kuwabara didn't understand the words, but it sounded as though it had been either a curse or a plea to a god.

Perhaps both.

"What?" Kuwabara asked. "What is it?"

Wordlessly, Hiei raised an arm and pointed into the distance. Kuwabara turned to see what Hiei was looking at, noting absently that dawn had begun to break sometime during their conversation. But then he noticed something even more significant - and he was willing to bet that that "something" was what triggered Hiei's breathless murmur of shock.

"Oh, Inari..." Kurama breathed.

Had Kuwabara been capable of speaking, he probably would have uttered something similar.

The sun was rising in the north.