Event Horizon - A Sorcerer's Plight - Private

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Following the very embarrassing, but not necessarily unwelcome method by which Kaori had reclaimed the last portion of her heart- Samira would wake up in one of the rooms in Hibiscus rather than in Kaori's room on the Ark of Destiny. The ninja didn't exactly know how to face her friend after all the trouble she was put through, and she needed some time to get her thoughts together. She sat on her bed with her back against the back board, knees pulled into her chest and head resting on them. Ikuchi had opened the door silently and leaned against it while crossing his arms over his chest. He moved his arm over and gave the door a couple taps to let his master know she was no longer alone. Kaori gently lifted her head to reveal not a single tear was shed and blinked a couple times while looking at him inquisitively. "Master-" "Ahem!" Kaori interrupted him with a very 'subtle' pissed off look. Ikuchi let out a sight "My apologies, Kaori." "That's better. Now, what is it?" Kaori replied and relaxed her face. "Samira has gone through many efforts, trials, sacrifices, and hells to get you to this point. If there was anything you could say or do to make her separate from you, I think it would stop just shy of killing her while not possessed." It was with that, that Ikuchi turned to face the hallway and stop halfway. "I believe we should talk to our ship warden, he seems to have left the keys to the shuttle in the ignition. It also seems launch preparations are made, how sloppy." He said in a suggestive tone before leaving the room entirely, leaving the door open.

Kaori let out a frustrated groan and buried her head in her knees again. "Summoner, you okay?" the sound of Ira's voice was heard, though, not in Kaori's mind as her other spirit's would be heard. Kaori turned her head to expose one eye to Ira, who was floating over Kaori with a concerned look on her face. Kaori grabbed Ira and pulled her down to the bed, the red haired spirit let out an audible yelp out of surprise and turned red when she realized Kaori was cuddling her, with her head on Ira's chest. "I believe your servant was trying to tell you to go talk with your lover." a soft spoken, mature voice said from not far away. Ira began hugging Kaori back and rubbing her head while blinking, still not used to having an affectionate summoner... That, and Kaori's reputation for brutality did not coincide with... this. "I know..." Kaori groaned, not denying the status Query had given Samira. Query was sitting at the edge of the bed, looking at her sister and summoner cuddling. "What do you think Ira? You agree with Iku too?" Kaori asked, wanting to get a third opinion. "You'll need to face her eventually, it'd suck if you two became awkward around each other- so yeah." the spirit replied. "I never stated I agree with his opinion... but yes, I do agree." Query commented, making it official. Three for three, Kaori was outvoted and she got up while making her way to her wardrobe to try and find something suitable to gift her. "Kaori, I believe I have something she would find more valuable than any human item. Consider it a gift from us to her for saving you." Query said calmly. Kaori turned to see that the spirit was standing directly behind her with a peculiar object in her hand, one that Kaori took and looked at curiously. The spirit explained what it was, and how it worked and Kaori had liked the gift herself since it meant she'd be able to protect Samira. Kaori also took a small wooden box with a hibiscus burned onto the polished cover to act as a gift from her clan, and not just Kaori herself.

Kaori left the room and the two spirits vanished in a puff of red and azure particles. Kaori had taken the shuttle down to Earthland and made her way to Hibiscus, but found it was empty and figured Samira had gone back to the castle. She vanished and reappeared next to Sammy's window, peeking through to see her sitting at her desk writing something. She would feel the chair pulling itself back a bit just before Kaori appeared sitting on her as though she were riding a horse. Them being fully clothed meant nothing weird was happening, though, Kaori was kissing Samira. Samira would feel Kaori's heart pounding, embarrassment filling her along with happiness. Kaori wrapped her arms around Samira's shoulders and disconnected the kiss before resting her head on her arm, her face in Samira's direction. Kaori had kissed her to establish a connection with the summoner, so she could feel Kaori's heart and know her words were true. "I'm sorry for that, you can hit me later if you want." she said in a soft voice before tightening her hug on Samira, pulling herself to press firmly against the green eyed woman. "I wanted to say I'm sorry for everything... I ran away because I couldn't control my magic and didn't want to hurt you. I was scared that you'd hate me for letting the false version get to me, and I didn't want to face that reality. I was so ashamed of myself that I couldn't face Ashley or Ikuchi, so I left Gabriella to care for them. I was so broken that I stopped eating  and made everyone worry, and you were completely unaware- I'm sorry for that. I'm a coward, too afraid to talk to her closest friends and allies and I'm sorry for being so weak." Before Samira could say anything, Kaori had pressed her lips to hers again and closed her eyes. Their current position would make pulling or pushing away quite hard... 'You're the most amazing person I've ever met, and I owe you so much. You're able to contract so many amazing and fun spirits. You care about others so much that you make me look like a devil, and you're so smart it terrifies me. Seeing you nearly become a child at the sight of artifacts makes my heart skip beats, and I feel happy when you're like that. I feel calm at your side, and never want you to feel mad at me again.' Kaori disconnected the kiss and the hug, but remained sitting on Samira. She would see Kaori's eyes glistening with tears running down her face. "I know I don't have a chance, but I do love you."

Kaori jerked out of shock, her eyes growing wide just before she frantically began patting herself. A hole in space appeared and the wooden box from earlier as well as a golden key with a hibiscus on the end had fell out. Kaori let out a sigh "Thanks Q." she said, a hand reaching out the portal with a thumbs up before vanishing again. Her face fully red from her screw up, and the current situation entirely, Kaori grabbed Samira's wrist gently and set the key in it. "This is my key, you can use it to summon me anywhere and anytime. It's a gift from my spirits to thank you for everything you did for me. Aquarius had to pull a lot of strings and even punched the king, which may or may not have resulted in him getting punched back to get the contract sanctioned." Kaori then held out the wooden box with the hibiscus burned on it. "This is a gift from me. Traditionally, the only way of getting this is by marrying someone from my clan, but as the leader I can give it to anyone I see fit. With it, you'll be recognized as a full member of my clan. You can own land, establish business, and have your own blade forged our lands. I'm... going to go now and recover from today." Kaori then vanished, leaving the closed box with Samira. Inside it was a necklace with a golden hibiscus on it, exactly like the one Ikuchi wore. All in all, Samira wasn't really allowed a chance to reply before Kaori vanished since the ninja was much too embarrassed to linger.

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Kaori didn't want to risk Samira hunting her down and finding her, so she hid in the most obvious place since it was also the least likely for her to expect the ninja to be... Her bedroom in Lamia Scale. She had spent the remainder of the day and her night there, only to have her door knocked on in the morning with a man calling "Izanami" through it and making Kaori think 'Who the fuck is Izanami?' while getting out of bed. She opened the door to find a man standing there with a smile on his face. "Izanami, I'm glad you were actually here! The others-" "Name's not Izanami, you got the wrong room." Kaori interrupted him and began closing the door. The only reason she stopped was because he said "You weren't told yet?" to which she replied by asking "Told what?" The man cleared his throat and said "You were labeled one of our guild's aces, all of which have a code name. You were given Izanami after one of the moon goddesses... it was decided by a multitude of the other members." Kaori only looked at him blankly with a frown on her face, the promotion was something she found highly unnecessary. "Some... guy wanted me to give this to the strongest person in the guild..." he said awkwardly before holding a letter out to Kaori. Allegedly being a Wizard Saint meant you were among the strongest wizards in Fiore, and to the best of her knowledge, she was the only one in the entire castle... so she supposed he wasn't wrong, but she wouldn't dare agree with being called the strongest. Kaori took the notice and closed the door, taking the letter to her bed to read it over.

Kaori scanned over the letter and from what she could gather, there was some magic researcher off in a country that hadn't yet been raped by the rest of humanity who was now realizing that remote land masses with dangerous animals, primative humans, and giant monsters are- wait for it... DANGEROUS! Kaori couldn't help but to roll her eyes at the request since anyone with common sense would've taken a few body guards with them. She let out a sigh that was also a loud groan and folded the notice up. Much to her fortune, she was asked to meet with the magical dunce before conducting the mission. Kaori stood up and vanished, reappearing in front of Samira's door and raising her fist to knock but stopped an inch from it. She honestly was considering doing this as just her and Ikuchi on account of the day before... then her face turned red and she remembered the day before all over again. She then forced herself to knock, and as Samira opened the door, she'd see Kaori avoiding her gaze with an unsure look on her face. Unlike the last time she saw Kaori like this, the ninja moved forward and embraced her warmly. Once the hug disconnected, Kaori would ask "May I come in?"

If Samira didn't let Kaori enter her room, she would ask her to meet Kaori at Hibiscus. In that case, she'd talk to her in one of the rooms in the upstairs portion of the restaurant. If Samira did let Kaori enter, then their little meeting would occur much faster. Regardless of whose room the meeting was held in, Kaori would sit on the bed. "Here, check this letter out." Kaori would say, her demeanor returning to the same confidence she used to have as she gave Samira the folded up notice. "That new landmass we found seems to already have someone on it. Judging by their situation, they arrived after we did so Gisen still has the ability to claim the land- though, that doesn't mean others don't have the ability to try and claim it from her, but I digress. The new inhabitant decided to go there without bringing anything more than a single person to help his research. As we both know, there's monsters on that land and in the sea near it. He also seems to have run into an issue where a lack of materials have left him unable to conduct some research, and would like some help. He's requested the strongest mage in the guild, but he'll need to settle for two helpers since I honestly don't feel like finding out which one of us is more powerful. That, and I'm not going anywhere without my favorite person in the world to back me up." Kaori's last line was delivered with a friendly smile and warm tone. "Naturally if you don't wanna come I won't force you. I'm heading out at noon, dock P-42 is where I'll be." Kaori left the letter with Samira and vanished so she could think about whether she wanted to help Kaori or not.


Once Samira got to the docks, she'd see a much different ship than Kaori's usual Sci-Fi looking ones. A member of the crew would escort Samira on the ship and to her room. This one looked more appropriate for the world they lived in as it looked like an actual boat. The ship had a metallic hull, and the deck was made entirely of wood. It floated over the water's surface, so it was safe to assume that they would be flying to their destination. The ship featured a much more open deck than any of her other ones and allowed those riding it to walk around in the sun during transport. Above the deck was the helm that overlooked most of the ship, and below deck were the living quarters where, just like on the White Mermaid, a door literally had Samira's name on it. The room was a bit bigger and had a full sized bed instead of twin, as well as a larger corner desk. The desk was bloodwood with gold embedded into the top with an intricate pattern. It had shelves for books, and the middle was a large work space for when Samira needed to do research. A lacrima screen in the middle overlooked that work space, and upon Samira looking at it, a voice would call to her. "Salutations Miss Nassar!" and a girl would appear on screen smiling at her. "I am Artemis, the Artificial Intelligence belonging to this ship and this is a pre-recorded message. To preserve your privacy, I am unable to interact with you in your room unless directly requested. To do this, press the icon highlighted in the bottom-right of your screen." A large flashing circle would appear over a shield icon at the specified location for a good ten seconds before going away. "This terminal is operated through voice command. You may open programs by saying "Open" and specifying the name of the program. For a list of programs, you may say "Open Program List" and for a list of commands say "Open Command List." If you wish to transfer hand-written data to this terminal, you may do so by saying "Action: Transfer Note" and then holding the page to the screen. If you have any questions, feel free to request me. Welcome to Recon-One and I look forward to working with you." the screen then went blank, leaving behind an actual desktop screen. Naturally, Samira also had a very lavish bathroom with all the amenities of the White Mermaid. Kaori would enter the room after a while and ask if she liked it.

Kaori found herself in an embrace that for whatever reason, she didn't see coming. The act was enough to make her cheeks become flushed while she held her hands away from her body. Of course, she was used to Samira and hugging her and relaxed quickly enough to return the embrace. Kaori didn't argue when Samira said she wasn't a coward, though, she did want to. Whenever Kaori felt like she was too dangerous, or she had worn out her welcome, she ran away. Her magic had revolved around avoiding attacks entirely, creating clones to take hits for her, and using underhanded tactics to tear her opponents down. But Kaori had known Samira to be very blunt, and only hid something from Kaori once for the sake of protecting her mental stability- an act Kaori appreciated. She thanks Kaori for the gifts and even made a joke about not calling her in when the shit had hit the fan. After that, much to Kaori's disdain, the hug was disconnected but Kaori was still holding onto Samira's waist. "We're really an odd pair. If I'm summoned, I'm sure something wild will happen if it wasn't already happening." Kaori replied with a light chuckle and a smile. She then realized she was still holding onto Samira and let go, saying "S-sorry." with an embarrassed look. "Artemis." Kaori called while looking at the lacrima screen. "Yes, Captain?" the voice replied as the goddess appeared in the middle of the room as a very real looking hologram. "How long till we arrive?" Artemis was silent a few seconds while she gathered the data. "At our current speed, we'll arrive in six hours assuming we have no delays." Kaori then replied saying "Thanks, that'll be all." and then the hologram vanished.

Kaori had grabbed Samira's hands and said "Meet me in my room when you get settled in, okay?" before turning and leaving Sammy's room. Kaori's room was right across from Samira's and normally she'd have time to hide... certain items, but today she got pulled aside by one of her crew who needed her to help with something. Samira would end up waiting outside Kaori's room for a couple minutes before the ninja randomly appeared next to her and apologized for being late, stating she had to help someone. By now the ship was already flying, and there was no going back. Kaori opened the door and walked in first, letting Samira come after her and then pausing at the realization that there was something she forgot... In the middle of the room was a metal pole from floor to ceiling, often times used by certain 'entertainers' to perform a dance so potent it began raining. Kaori turned around with an awkward smile, hoping Samira hadn't paid it any attention. 'Query, help me out here...' she said mentally, and then a magic circle formed around the pole and ran up the metal beam to make it disappear. Kaori grabbed Samira's hand and would pull her over to the vanity set on the side of her room if the celestial mage didn't stop her. Assuming she didn't stop Kaori, she'd be sat down in front the mirror with Kaori wrapping her arms around Samira and resting her head on the mage's shoulder. "Since we have some time, let's see how we can make you look." Kaori said in a palyful tone, definitely not using this as an excuse to play with Samira's hair.

The first hairstyle Kaori did was the same one from the phoenix adventure. It was a braid that started at both of her temples and worked its way around to the back of her head before meeting in the middle and becoming a single braid. She looked at Samira in the mirror and then immediately began undoing the braid before spending more time giving Samira her hair style. The next style after that was a bun which evolved into a ponytail, and then another seven different hair styles. It seemed Kaori wasn't finding a hairstyle she liked by how she had puffed her cheeks while Samira's hair was in a ponytail that was on the left side of her head instead of the middle. The light came to her as she put on a big smile and said "I know!" Within a few minutes, Samira's hair was at its original look and Kaori had placed her arms around the summoner while resting her chin on Samira's head. The smile on her face was genuine and Kaori even went so far as to say "This one's my favorite." while completely aware that it was the original hairstyle.

It was time that the ship would land and Kaori had pointed that out upon looking at the clock on the wall. "Looks like it's time to work for a living..." Kaori said while setting the various brushes and combs back where they belong. She then went to her wardrobe and pulled out her satchel and katana, mounting both of them on her person before heading out the door. The area they arrived at was relatively barren except for a log shack amidst the sandy expanse. The apprentice had pointed out that the shack was belonging to his mentor who, upon entering the shack, ended up being some guy in a lab coat. Kaori was expecting someone in a lavish dress robe with some sort of long evil looking beard. "Hmmm?" she said and looked at Kaori and Samira, her magic felt somewhat weak to be called a sorcerer... sorceress. She pointed at Samira and said "You must be the wizard I requested... and... she's your apprentice? Her magic feels... non-existent..." Kaori's eyes turned blank at that statement and she now understood how Samira felt when it happened to her. "Actually, we're both the strongest wizards from the castle. If I let my magic leak, you'd be on the floor." Kaori said in an annoyed but informative tone. "That... that makes more sense." the sorceress replied while blinking with a surprised look.

"Ahem." the sorceress cleared her throat and turned to her work station. "Then again, I'm not in much position to talk about magical prowess- my magic comes from potions that I'm regrettably out of. I came to this island trying to find new plants and animals I can use to create more potions and antidotes, but after a few months I've come across a... slight dilemma..." Kaori had rolled her eyes while thinking 'Here we go...' since everyone's 'slight dilemma' meant giant ass monsters, ruins, or- "You see, I need very specific plants and materials-" "Fucking fetch quests!" Kaori said while slamming her forehead into her palm. The sorceress had an awkward expression on her face while holding out the list of plants "I'll... leave it to you." she said and Kaori took the list and looked at it. She let out a sigh and then pulled out her iLac. "This is the captain, mind giving me a scan of the area? I'd rather not walk into a hole in the ground or worse." A wave of magic was felt and Kaori had a map of the area, but not the entire land mass, on her iLac. "Here, you can use these to store the plants in and keep them alive. And this will help you get it out the ground." the sorceress... scientist person gave Kaori and Samira four lacrima pods and a pair of trowels. Upon leaving the shack, Kaori looked at the list and said "Venus Fly Trap, Belladonna, Purple Orchid, and a Stinking Corpse Lily... is that really so hard to write down instead of these convoluted names?" Kaori said in a still annoyed tone before putting the list away. They were flowers found all around earthland, but she assumed the ones here were special, somehow. "I guess we should both keep a lookout. Belladonna likes partial shade, and Corpse Lilies are normally low to the ground and they smell god awful. The other two are fairly obvious since they're common to find in houses." she said to Samira and once her partner began walking, would walk beside her.

Samira had recommended using the scan she did earlier to find the plants, and Kaori was about to explain why that was impossible before a group of panthers had shown up in mass. Kaori was just about to materialize a Katana and make the bodies hit the floor but stopped when Samira had put her arm out, causing Kaori to blink a few times. She then relaxed and let the sword hilt in her hand turn to particles while closing her eyes and smiling from contentment. Some time ago, Samira would have dared to try and stop Kaori. Not because she was afraid of her, though, that might be a factor- but Samira was quite submissive back then. So long as the one Kaori was cleaving in half wasn't someone Samira had intentionally made unable to attack, the celestial wizard didn't care about their lives. Samira had changed over time and gotten herself to the point where she asserted herself and had Kaori stay her blade. She trusted Kaori enough to know she wouldn't go back and finish the cats off once everything was said and done, which made Kaori happy. Kaori watched the neko spirit interact with the panthers while nodding at the conversation since it was going in a generally good direction. The information provided were worth noting, a giant spider and lots of other oversized creatures. "So this place is infested with giant monsters, how long do you think before they call Lamia Scale?" Kaori asked, totally not foreshadowing anything. "Hehe, fuzzy..." a playful voice called from behind Bastet. The cat woman would feel something rubbing the back of her ear with the tip of her finger, but if she turned her head, she would see nothing while still feeling the rubbing. Kaori and Samira would easily see who Bastet's new friend was in the form of a floating red head with antelope horns on her head who began snickering. If Bastet got angry, or turned fast enough to finally see Ira, the spirit would float backwards while doing a slow twirl in the air and laughing gleefully. She'd then vanish in a puff of flames and appear hugging Bastet from behind and saying "Summoner I like this one, she's fuzzy!" naturally having a large smile on her face. Kaori was forcing herself to stifle laughter, letting out short bursts of it.

Kaori recomposed herself and said "Indeed, but I have reason to believe she's not much for physical contact." with a light smile. Ira would look at Kaori and blink a couple times "How so?" she asked inquisitively. "I would imagine many try to touch her ears and tail in that form to confirm they're real, or just because they look cute. It'd get annoying after some time... and to be quite honest, I much prefer her other form." Ira blinked a few times, unsure of what Kaori was referring to. "She can turn into a cat, it's actually quite adorable." Kaori said to clarify for her spirit. "I see... Summoner, can you contract a spirit like this fuzzy one?" Ira asked while still hugging the other spirit from behind. A sweat drop appeared running down the back of Kaori's head "I'll... consider it..." "Her tail is soft." a gentle, mature voice said coming from behind Bastet answering the question of where Ira's sister had gone to... Ira had only rubbed the tail a couple seconds before standing up and walking up to her summoner. "I'm in favor of you contracting a spirit similar to this one. Perhaps one that could transform into a cute porcelain doll and ride your shoulder? Or maybe one that turns into a creature not of this world? I could create a new one if you promise to contract it." Kaori's eyes turned surprised. "You can... create... a spirit?" she asked for clarification. "What you call reality, I call wet clay. Creating a new Celestial Spirit is as trivial as making a paper hat." Kaori was thoroughly impressed and silent. "I'll take that as your consideration. Please excuse me while I find a good key to bind the spirit to." Query said and vanished, making Kaori wonder why she didn't just make one... unless she already made a crap ton and was choosing from among those...

Kaori had never actually seen Bastet change forms, and this was the first time she'd ever seen the spirit in her human... human-ish one. If anyone had asked how Kaori knew about the spirit having two forms, she would put on a light smile and begin explaining the amazing, scientific method by which she deduced this in a highly informative tone. "You see, I'm able to sense the hearts of those around me much the same way everyone can sense mine when I go too far. Each of Samira's spirit has a different feel to them, and I've been exposed to this one's heart enough times to memorize her. Whether you change your form, your magic, your train of though, or even your ideals; your heart will always be constant. It's a rather amusing heart at that." Ira had finall released Bastet and floated over to Kaori, slowly circling her. "That's really cool, Summoner! What's mine like?" "You don't want me to answer that." Kaori replied with a sweat drop returning. She was able to see through the playfulness to what lay below, something she was certain Ira didn't want to be exposed. "You're not fun... Oh, hey it's my turn to roll- I'll be back later!" Ira said before vanishing.

Kaori cleared her throat and turned to Samira. "My ship's High Density Scan is only good for creating maps of the area, and finding certain animals- nothing smaller than a house cat. It can also view the surface in thermal imaging, but that won't help with locating plant life. Hmm.... but there is... something... I can do." Kaori's outfit had changed slightly to include a brooch on her left side and she held her hand out. An object materialized that looked like a compass, but it lacked the compass rose in the background, and didn't point anywhere near where north was supposed to be. "That was a lot easier than I expected... Now I get why Q has such strict rules on herself." Kaori commented with an impressed look and turned with the compass in her hand. "This will help us find the nearest flower one by one. It looks like we're going this way." Kaori said and began following where the pointer lead. Going over the river, and through the wood, to a large stone door they stopped and Kaori shouted "FUCK ME!" and had a pissed off expression. She slammed her head against the door from frustration and immediately regretted undertaking the mission. "Goddamn ancient ruins and their damn traps and giant monster..." she mumbled under her breath before shouting "This bitch better have something to make this worth our time!" Kaori's anger could be felt radiating in the area and had even caused a flock of colorful birds to evacuate the premises. The feeling faded and Kaori let out a breath. "Sammy, mind having Janus drop a portal...? Let's... let's just get this over with."

That smile Samira gave Kaori was stuckin in her head as Kaori went through the portal first and confirmed it was safe. She remembered back during the snake attack how Samira had lied to Kaori, or at least, tried to lie to her- and even now she was doing it. She told Kaori that she'd be more honest with her, but evidently the extent of that honesty was subject to the human condition. While walking down the halls, Samira had noticed how quiet Kaori was being and tried to strike a conversation with the ninja by pointing out that she liked going through ruins, and found it interesting how the two are at opposite ends of the spectrum in that area. "I've been through enough of these places to live several lifetimes. They're all filled with information that's useless to me, things that really should be dead, and normally have a giant, pissed off guardian that I always have to kill." she said bluntly. Ancient ruins were honestly horrible places for Kaori. "From the catacombs of Midi's birth, to the hell tunnels of Sin, and the machine ridden ruins of old Bosco... Gotta tell you, after you've been through your first hundred or so, the next hundred or so don't feel any different. But if I can find something in here of value I may be less ticked that I'm having to go at all."

Further down, the group had come across a fork in the road where writing had been put on the wall between the two. Ira put a finger to her chin while hovering in front it and trying to read. "Does anyone speak squiggles?" she asked jokingly, though, there was a ten percent chance of her being serious. Up till there, the tunnels were lit by sunlight filtering in from cracks in the ceiling; but now the tunnels went down on both sides, and were very much dark. Samira had asked which way the compass pointed, and Kaori had looked at the small trinket and turned to her left. Kaori unenthusiastically said "This way, I'm putting five million petals on it being behind something that's overpowered." and began moving down the dark path. Moments after the last light from the sun vanished, Ira began glowing and coloring the surrounding area in red and white. "I didn't know you were bioluminescent..." Kaori said, feeling fairly impressed. "You never asked." Ira replied. "I never had a reason to..."

A room opened up with several braziers around it and a small trench only a couple inches deep that was completely black and lined the room. Kaori could only see for a few meters around Ira, but this was something that she'd run into before. "Evidently they took a few pointers from old Desierto design... Ira, would you mind putting some fire in that hole?" Kaori had pointed to the black trench. As Ira did so, the flame traveled along the line and into each brazier one at a time, lighting them and filling the room with a gentle orange glow. The walls were adorned with hieroglyphs from extremely old days as well as the squiggly writing from before. In the middle of the room was a massive stone circle with over a hundred smaller parts inside, all the same size and shape. It looked like one tile was missing, and the pieces were jumbled up- a puzzle. "And now we're having to deal with a puzzle... undoubtedly the doors in this place are locked." Ira had gone to the door on the other side of the room and pushed on it. "Yup! It's locked!" she shouted, and then the sound of their entrance slamming shut with a massive slab of rock was heard. Kaori let out a sigh... "Here we go again."

Kaori walked to the stone puzzle in the middle and noted that it was much too large for her to see all the pieces at once. She tried moving one of the one foot pieces with her foot and found it was stuck, but using her telekinesis she was able to. "Sammy, if you can get high up and tell me which pieces to move we can do this. There's a platform up there you can use." Kaori said and pointed to box high above the room that had a stone ladder built into the wall next to it. While Kaori could technically do both by herself, that would require extra energy to do. One part energy to get to the high spot, another part to process the puzzle and how to shift the tiles, the next part to actually do it... which would leave Samira feeling quite useless... again. Once the puzzle was solved, the rock slab from their entrance had lifted and the other door had been unlocked, and the two women were free to go.

Kaori had giggled at the sight of Janus stopping Samira and forcing her to use his portal instead of climbing the ladder like a big girl. "It sounds like Chaac has issues with letting go." Kaori said loud enough to clear the room with a gentle smile on her face. 'You have no idea...' the voice on Aquarius sounded in her mind. Conversations with Ikuchi when they were bringing each other up to pace over a few (dozen) bottles of sake had revealed Chaac to have an issue with other males around Samira. The task for the puzzles took a bit of time since the image consisted of some portions that needed to be undone to progress to the next portion, but with Samira's help they were able to finish it in a reasonable amount of time. Afterwards the two came across a room where they were expected to enter a pool of water and swim to the other side, which resulted in Janus showing his usefulness yet again. Kaori had went through the portal first, asking Samira to be second since she didn't want a repeat of what happened in the Ancient Ruins.

On the other side was a medium sized room if they were in a normal house, but a fairly small room for ancient ruins such as this one. The walls had cave paintings on it that Samira took to examining, and Kaori had began moving towards their target on the other side of the room that was residing next to a glowing mushroom. Ira's natural glow gave a bit of light to the area, enough for Kaori to see the plant and, as she hovered closer to Samira, her to see the cave paintings. Kaori had used the trowel to remove the plant before stuffing it inside the pod that the scientist sorceress person had given them, and just as she did so her common sense began tingling since that was the part where something -(explosion of water and the sound of something big slamming its feet on the ground)- yeah, that. After a large pistol shrimp had made a lavish entrance by destroying the floor around the water path that Samira and Kaori, with the help of Janus, had avoided using, Kaori could only let out a sigh of frustration. A hole in space and time appeared and Kaori tossed the plant into it for safe keeping, and she then turned to face their new opponent. The shrimp began opening its claw, but was at a very far distance from Samira, who it was aiming at, who was also staring at the wall. Kaori had spotted one of the images with five stick figures and a line going through each of them that originated from the image of the shrimp. It was enough to know what the shrimp was doing, and Kaori immediately vanished and reappeared standing between Samira and the shrimp.

Kaori put both her hands in front her and formed a barrier that was powerful enough to radiate Kaori's sense of emergency and desire to protect her closest friend, and love. A blast of water shot from the claw, impacting the barrier and breaking it instantly to impact Kaori. As the jet of high pressure water hit her, Kaori let out a high pitched scream and shot across the room into the wall on the other side, leaving a small crater where her back hit. Kaori slid down the wall and hit the floor before saying "Next time I see Janny, I'm kicking his ethereal ass." with a spiteful tone for him abandoning them almost instantly instead of getting them to safety. She slowly stood up and spat out some blood before wiping what was left on her mouth with her right hand, not wanting to get blood on the white glove of her left. "Chaac would hammer him for letting you use a ladder, but not for ditching you?" Kaori asked inquisitively, the question being quite appropriate even if the timing wasn't. The wall behind Kaori exploded, sending the ninja flying forward into towards the shrimp who had its claw extended for another shot while taking aim at her. Kaori wasn't the kind of person to let the same trick work on her twice and immediately vanished before the shot was fired, and reappeared on the shrimp's head. On the other end of the room was another shrimp, except it was giving off a type of black mist and had eyes to match. She vanished and reappeared near Samira with a longsword in her hand. She said in a half annoyed tone "This is why I hate ruins." and immediately began running towards the black pistol shrimp, choosing it as her designated target. Why she chose it, even Kaori didn't know... The last time she fought a darkness creature, the next few months of her life became very hellish and lead to her being hit by her best friend among many other things... Perhaps she was naturally drawn to the shadow creatures, as though it were in her blood to fight them and purge them of their darkness?

---

Kaori closed her eyes while standing before the shrimp and her mind immediately went back to what happened at the soulsmoke Phoenix Shrine... The phoenix made the first move, inhaling before bellowing forth a cloud of black fire. Even from a distance, the intensity of the flames could be felt. The bird wanted the power to say that it didn't go down without giving Kaori hell, and its passion extended into its every attack. Kaori had no fear in her heart in the face of the intense flames. As her hair whipped around from the force of the fire pushing the air in front it towarda the masked ninja, Kaori released one of the shotguns and used her telekinesis to keep it held in the air. She stretched her hand out towards the blazing inferno as though she were commanding it to stop. A few feet in front of her, the fire slammed into an invisible wall of energy and began fanning out. It seemed as though the flames had consumed the wall as it wrapped around the barrier like ocean waves running over a sea shell on the beach; but, much to the phoenix's surprise and Kaori's lack there of, the ninja was completely unscathed by the attack.

Embers shot past Kaori's mask in the wake of the clashing forces and Kaori grabbed the shotgun she let go of earlier and fired a slug at the bird, hitting the obvious target. The second one in the opposing hand was fired while she used telekinesis to pump the first, another hit. Kaori continued doing this, alternating the attacks to keep a constant spray on the phoenix, but the bird wasn't gonna go down from a few solid holy metal rods to the chest. It spread its wings and flapped once, sending forth a multitude of black, smokey crescents towards Kaori. They were at varying levels, and Kaori knew she couldn't dodge them all; but she knew she could stop some. 'No. I have the power to stop all darkness.' she thought as time seemed to slow down despite Ikuchi respectfully sitting next to Samira. "Shirofune!" Kaori shouted while spinning on the toes of her sandal, allowing her shotguns to erupt into white particles as a different set of particles took their place.

As she spun, a one quarter inch blade formed in each of her hands that was one inch wide, double edged, and four feet long. The blade had no guard, and at the end of its hilt was the kind of forked end you'd see on an arrow. The first crescent wasn't only cut in half, it was purified by Kaori's sword. The black turned into golden light that erupted into particles as it tore itself apart. Kaori was attacking with a heart of love, a heart strengthened by the presence of her friends and reinforced by their love for her. The second sword came across, cutting the next two crescents in half and purifying it as well. In rapid motion, Kaori had alternated her attacks while seeming to be in a violent dance, cutting the darkened soul based energy and turning into a warm light. The bird spun, sweeping its tail across the area and smashing it into Kaori to send her flying back. Were they not on flat ground, Kaori would have to worry about falling off a cliff or something worse; but, as fortune would have it, such was not the case. She landed on her hand, keeping the white sword held in it and used the momentum to swith to her feet while sliding back a bit.

The bird let out a screech while raising its wings, creating a large unit of twenty shadows to attack Kaori. "Send all the shadows you want, my light will reach you!" Kaori shouted, using her Multi-Clone spell to create nine more version of herself. These ones were special in that they could all use Kaori's spells, and shared her passive effects. Each Kaori had attacked one shadow, and vanished to reappear in double the numbers. As one of the Kaori clones stabbed the shadow with her Shirofune, she said "Shii-nee" and the shadow began glowing and then, it erupted into an explosion that consumed the surrounding area.

The phoenix was smoking more than before, it feeling the sting of Kaori's passion as its righteous light began whittling away at its feathers. The birds eyes glowed a bright violet as it began using an ability that Kaori thought was unique to her, but had now learned there were others with it... A pulse of magic energy erupted outward and consumed the area, changing it from the green and white mists of Kyoka, to a burning hot hellscape. Buildings were on fire, and men and women were in the streets fighting each other with katanas. Kaori's heart stopped, she knew this memory... A man began running towards her, his eyes completely white as he raised his sword. Another version of Kaori showed up and cut him across the stomach, ending his life. She had no mask, and her eyes were filled with tears. A woman appeared out of nowhere and attacked her, the younger- much younger Kaori blocking and shouting "Stop, please! I don't wanna fight you!" with a desperate tone. Each person that attacked Kaori had something in common... One symbol dangling from their necks in beautiful solid gold... a hibiscus, the symbol of her clan. It revealed the source of Kaori's distrust for people, the fact that the day she lost most of her clan, the day she became the clan leader, the day she began hunting Saia down... was because she was forced to kill them herself at the age of ten.

A white light erupted through the vision originating from Kaori. A powerful energy pulsed from her being as the pillar of light began to get brighter. Ikuchi had used his tail to block his own eyes to shield them from the intensity. Kaori's mask had untied from the force exerted on the bands as it flew from within her body. Kaori's kimono was flickering just as wildly as her snow white hair. White strands began forming in the air, surrounding Kaori and connecting to the brilliant pillar of light she had created. "You cannot phase me with my own past... I am a monster, I do not feel. I do not show remorse, and I do not regret killing my own people. We will meet again under the warmth of our sun, as the embers clear fields of death in preparation for seeds of life to be sown." Kaori said in a bold tone while raising her right hand. A white sword appeared in her hand, the same one that she had used against the leader when Samira first met Kaori. This time however, the area was filled with something much more powerful than Kaori's hope, her love, or her joy...

White particles began lifting off of Kaori's being, Ikuchi's, and Samira's. The same particles began lifting off the ground, off the phoenix, off of the pillar and from the gem it held. The hope surrounding them was from more than just Kaori, but rather the hope of many people... the hope of humanity. Kaori's kimono was replaced by a flowing white dress, and a pair of angelic wings even larger than Gabriella's and twice as bright. Kaori prepared to attack, and the phoenix began to see the light as it shone too brightly to be ignored. Kaori began flying forward, however she suddenly stopped... Standing before her was Samira with tears in her eyes, arms spread wide as though she were protecting the bird. Kaori's sword began shaking, and she couldn't figure what to do. She quickly realized how great a 'friend' Samira was when she smiled grimly from ear to ear, a black sword appearing in her hand that was thrust through Kaori's heart. The white light radiating from her quickly turned to darkness and Kaori's hazel eyes quickly turned dull and grey as she collapsed on the floor.

"Sammy..." she said in a weak tone, sitting on her knees with a sword of darkness in her heart "...Why?" she finished asking, tears running from her eyes and down her cheeks. The sword Kaori once wielded had turned black and began fading away, and the world became quiet. "You thought I was your friend?" she said in a bitchy tone. "No... you're my bodyguard- that's all you'll ever amount to! You're a half assed, sorry excuse of a wizard and an even worse clan leader. You can't even keep your servant under control the fucking pervert!" she began laying into Kaori, causing her eyes to water more. A dark barrier had formed around Kaori and the phoenix that even Ikuchi's strength couldn't break through. It was now an obligatory one on one match... "Do you even think that scaley mutt of yours loves you? He'd just as easily abandon you as soon as you stopped giving him food. That crew of yours? They'd all leave you. They don't like you, they're afraid of you, you stupid cunt!" "Stop..." Kaori said in a weak tone, blood beginning to drip from her mouth. "No! I wont stop! I'm tired of submitting to your will! I wanted to see ONE of these things, and you turn into a damn child instantly! Then you don't even ask what I want you selfish bitch, and force me to come along! Do you know how hard it is holding my lunch in on the back of that shit!? No, you don't! You don't even care-" "Please... I- I'm sorry..." "-about my well being! You just wanna see your fucking birds, and make yourself happy!" "No... that's not true." "Then you'll go back to your ship and flaunt all your WONDERFUL wealth about, with your expensive ass vanity set, expensive ass bed, fancy fucking chest while I'M left wondering what kind of TWILIGHT ZONE BULL SHIT you dragged me to!" "I... I didn't want..." "You snuggle the living shit out of me, and you know what- YOUR HAIR SMELLS LIKE SHIT! I don't want that near me, I don't want it in the same room as me! Cut it all off you ugly brat!"

Ikuchi's throat began glowing bright red and he opened his eyelids, revealing hellfire for eyes that resemble a dragon's. He shot forth a blast of black flames that only left a red mark on the barrier. Then, he began frantically tackling the barrier with no signs of stopping. He knew the Samira laying into his master was false, but he also could sense his master was breaking. She trusted Samira, and right now, that trust was tearing her apart. He noticed the tip of Kaori's fingers beginning to turn black, and his assault on the barrier became more desperate as the darkness was consuming her and Samira showed no signs of stopping her verbal barrage.

"Even your spirits hate you!" she shouted, arrogantly leaning over Kaori and adding more weight. "And just like your shitty half-breed, and shitty pirate spirits, I'd abandon you just as soon as you stopped being useful." and that was the final straw to break the camel's back. "SHUTUP!" Kaori shouted, all of the darkest emotions of her heart filling the air and completely paralyzing Ikuchi from their weight. However, those emotions cleared quickly... Kaori hesitantly looked around her and saw a field of wheat, sunlight washing over her as her grayed out eyes continued crying. Over a hundred thousand armored men and woman were standing around Kaori, Ikuchi, and Samira. An extremely old man walked out of them, materializing from dust particles and standing in front Kaori. "Grand... father...?" she asked in a weak tone, not believing the sight in front her. The old man kneeled down and touched the sword in her heart, turning it into light that dissipated. He then pulled her in, the phoenix all the meanwhile doing nothing as it hadn't known what was happening. "My dear, you worry too much." he said calmly, stating the last words he said to her when she killed him. "I did not appoint a weak child to take my place... I appointed the strongest of any clan leader who ever lived." his words turned Kaori's eyes to the light, causing them to return to their hazel appearance as the clan leaders of times gone by all got on their knees and prostrated themselves before Kaori.

Kaori's eyes turned fierce and she became angrier than ever, she grit her teeth and grabbed the still dissipating katana. The blade exploded with white energy and Kaori's grandfather vanished, allowing her to blast forward while she rammed it into the phoenix, with it the love of her grandfather, and trust of ever leader bowing to her. The bird's black, smokey feathers turned white and the world returned to normal. Kaori fell from the phoenix's chest, landing on the ground while blood pooled around her from her wounds. The phoenix understood Kaori, and had seen what she meant by saying she (the phoenix) had a flawed heart. A voice rang through the air, peaceful and soft. "Your light has reached me human... for this I thank you." it said, bowing its head and sending a single tear down its beak onto Kaori's heart where she was stabbed.

---

The shadow shrimp aimed its claw at Kaori and she vanished, causing it to move the claw around like a soldier aiming his gun, looking for a target that just slipped out of their field of view. It quickly found Kaori when she reappeared, stabbing the crustacean in the face with her sword and vanishing again. Kaori refused to let herself go down against the darkness a second time and she vanished, reappearing above the shrimp with a massive shuriken in her right hand that filled the air with white lightning. The room was filled with harsh winds that made Kaori's hair flicker wildly, even giving her a static charge from the lightning infused and crackling was heard as the star was let loose, flying towards the shrimp at a dangerous speed. The shrimp used its claw to smack the shuriken aside, sending it into the wall where it exploded and then aimed its claw at Kaori and fired a set of three black water blasts. Kaori vanished and reappeared coming at the shrimp from behind, vanishing again when it lifted its tail and reappearing from the left. The shrimp tried turning to hit Kaori but she jumped and landed on the top of the massive claw to begin running up its arm. A set of twelve swords appeared around Kaori, each of them being three and a half feet long with two inch wide blades that were a quarter inch thick, all slowly spinning behind Kaori's back. The crab lifted its arm, sending Kaori into the air, directly above the shrimp where the swords began spinning rapidly around her. A fierce look in her eyes as the swords began glowing white and sparking with lightning would show that she wasn't worried, and when she came down, each of the twelve swords impaled the shrimp in the middle of the top of its skull. Lightning ran down its body, shocking its muscles and paralyzing it.

A wall of darkness had formed around Kaori and the shrimp and Kaori found herself facing Samira once again. She was coming at Kaori with one of her own swords, and the same wicked smile on her face. Kaori had seemed to be relaxing, accepting her fate at being stabbed by a blade of darkness once more, unable to defend herself against Samira. However, Kaori had seen this movie before and didn't care much for reruns. While the other Samira had begun slowly walking towards Kaori, dragging the tip of her sword on the ground with Kaori standing completely still; it looked like time would repeat itself... Kaori had vanished and the dark Samira raised her sword, blocking Kaori's attack, an attack that established she wasn't fooled in the least. Samira had materialized a key in her free hand and said "Open, Gate of the Avatar..." which caused Kaori to frown, knowing that this Samira would be a pain in the ass. "...Amaterasu, the Corrupting Darkness." Kaori vanished and reappeared further back while closing her eyes just in time for the blast of light that happened when the spirit was summoned. Kaori didn't give the dark Amaterasu any chance to prepare, she immediately vanished and crossed blades with the spirit and a series of sparks began flying as they continued blocking each other. Amaterasu striked at Kaori, releasing a crescent of black energy and forcing Kaori backwards, sliding on her heels till she stopped at the edge of the barrier where the darkness spirit appeared trying to strike Kaori. "Open, Gate of the Avatar! Kali, Goddess of Destruction!" was what Kaori heard from the corner of her ear and immediately saw Kali appeared next to her with her trident ready to stab. Kaori jumped, landing on Amaterasu's sword before quickly jumping again and pushing off the dark spirit's face with enough force to send her flying backwards, performing a flip in the air and cutting Kali's two left arms off. She landed in a low position and spun, cutting Kali at the shins and as she fell used a third motion to bring her sword up and cut the back of Kali's head in half. She then vanished and appeared in front of Amaterasu who was about to vanish, spinning with two sword and rapidly striking at the spirit who was matching her movements in equal. Twelve swords materialized at Kaori's back while spinning. The swords switch to spinning around Kaori's waist like a super sharp, deadly as all fuck hoolahoop that instantly put Amaterasu on the defensive. "Sasuno!" Samira had called, having begun the chant while Kaori was busy with Amaterasu. Just as the spirit showed up, a trio of blades were rammed in his groin all the way down to the guard and made him fall to his knees before exploding into black dust.

Amaterasu had a smile on her face, the same one she had when toying with Samira, the same one she had when toying with everyone else- she wasn't taking the fight seriously. Kaori and created another ring of swords, increasing the count from twelve to twenty four with the second ring of swords spinning in the opposite direction. The second ring and the first separated and each sword began moving of their own accord, putting more pressure on Amaterasu who was beginning to wince from the strain so many swords had put on her. Nine more Kaori's had appeared, each grabbing a pair of swords and coming after her while the original Kaori took a knee to catch her breath. Amaterasu split to create two clones of herself, but as they formed were quickly destroyed by a pair of Kaori's clones that attacked them, allowing themselves to die which made them explode. Amaterasu stopped smiling, she forgot that Kaori had gotten stronger to the point where her unstable magic was capitalized... "Skadi!" the next spirit came out, using her wolves to get rid of three of the Kaori clones before charging in herself. One clone appeared behind her and was stabbed in the heart, Skadi knew Kaori would try that since she'd seen the ninja fight several times and back stabbing wasn't beneath her. The clone exploded, damaging Skadi a bit, but not enough to stop her as she charged towards the last three Kaori clones. The real Kaori vanished and appeared behind her, vanished again and appeared in front her as she tried stabbing behind and Skadi not survive skull stabbing.

Amaterasu vanished, cutting all three of the clones and creating black lines in them before they exploded. Kaori vanished and reappeared in Amaterasu's face, slashing at her before vanishing and leaving a clone behind that exploded as soon as the dark spirit touched it. Kaori reappeared with a bow in her hand, using two fingers as a reticle to aim with. An arrow materialized as the string was drawn, and Kaori let loose the arrow, piercing Amaterasu's spleen and making her annoyed enough to get serious. 'Get ready.' Kaori said in her mind space. 'I'm always ready...' her darker half replied, the two of them having formed their plan. Kaori vanished and Amaterasu vanished, and when they reappeared Amaterasu had ran Kaori through while ignoring that the ninja's eyes were closed. Darkness began showering over Kaori in a pillar of black energy, and then Kaori opened her eyes to reveal they were pitch fucking black... The darkness had no effect on a being made of darkness, and then Amaterasu had erupted into black mist. The dark Samira was seen with Kaori, the original Kaori cutting her head off in a single fluid motion. The darkness shrimp was still paralyzed by the swords in its skull, and Kaori stood before it, aiming her open palm at its face with a scowl on her face. White partcles began swirling around her, converging on her open palm that was facing the shrimp and then a blast of white light shot from it, piercing the now screaming shrimp, shattering its exoskeleton and erupting from the other side. The shrimp went limp and the darkness barrier had vanished. The dark Kaori walked up to Kaori, giving her a nonchalant high-five and bursting into dust just as the 'clap' sound went off.

Once Samira had finished off her water shrimp from hell, Kaori would come over and form a kunai seemingly out of nowhere, stabbing the shell of the crab and cutting a piece of the meat out. Pulling some seasoning from her satchel and using it on the meat, Kaori turned to Ira and asked "Hey, can I use you as a stove for a moment?" with a very casual tone. Ira floated over and formed a small flame in her hand that Kaori used her telekinesis to dangle the meat over for a bit until it turned white. She tore a piece off and ate it with seemingly no concerns for possible poison, and blinked a few times. "How is- (words cut off by Kaori stuffing a piece of shrimp in her mouth)" Ira blinked a few times while chewing it. "My god, it's good... and tender." she commented in surprise. "Well, I found something of value. Snoop Genie, get this to the kitchen so Ikuchi can do something with it." Kaori said and the shrimp vanished. What Ikuchi would do with all that meat was anyone's guess, but the logical thing would be to use what he wanted and store what he didn't need. Kaori offered Samira the last piece of the shrimp meat for her to try, if she refused then Kaori would eat it and look at the two options of exit. Either by swimming, or using the massive hole in the wall the shadow shrimp created.

Kaori tilted her head to the side with by far the most innocently curious look on her face that even Samira couldn't recreate as Sasuno called for her attention with a somewhat angry tone. "What did I ever do to you to warrant...that?" he asked while moving his summoner between Kaori and himself, but only got a couple blinks as a reply since Kaori had absolutely no clue what he was talking about. While she did impale his clone in the most sensitive of male places, she wasn't exactly watching to see where her sword hit- so she was clueless. Samira had asked about what 'that' was, that Sasuno was referring to and was met with being held as a shield... a very thin, frail, fleshy, adorable, sexy human shield. "She did something unspeakable to my dark clone. Now I have heard Ama plans to do the same thing to us all to cut down on our distractions!" a statement that only warranted more confusion, but not before Samira had become much, much, much, MUCH smaller. A new spirit that Kaori had never seen showed up with the visage of a clown and seemed to have refused Sasuno's request for him to turn Samira back. Kaori kneeled down and gently pressed her finger to Samira's stomach to confirm the tiny thing was actually there. Kaori pouted, it wasn't the same as having the real Samira around and she personally wanted her back... "Excuse me, strange fool I've never met before..." aaaand her attempt at getting his attention had failed and out of nowhere a mariachi band had showed up and Kaori was wearing a sombrero and serape. She looked down with a blank expression and one of the three men had approached her "'scuse me, chica? One of our ese's are on break, you play maracas?" A vain showed up on Kaori's forehead as she said with a twitching lip "Yes... of course I do..." to which the men all shouted "AAAYYY!! WE GOT OUR NEW ESEEEE!" and one said "She's kinda sexy, think I got a chance?" in a tone that wasn't as subtle as he was trying to be. Kaori walked over to Loki and made one of the maracas begin glowing with a steel enchantment before bashing the spirit over the head with it and shouting "TURN HER BACK OR I'M GIVING YOU A TOBASCO ENEMA!" in a commanding tone that implied she'd actually do it... One of the mariachi's said "Hey man, I had one of those back in San Juan by some girl named Beefy Joselita... you don' wanna get one man... shit hurt, ese..."

Once Samira was back to her normal size, Kaori tossed the maracas aside, took the sombrero and poncho off and threw them at Loki and turned to Sausuno with a very stern expression. She vanished and reappeared touching his back, completely negating the human shield that Samira was supposed to double as and closed her eyes. She was viewing Sasuno's past to see what he was seeing, and had been watching from the part where he was supposed to have been summoned, but refused... When Kaori opened her eyes she said "So that's what it looks like inside your head... it's quite different from what I imagined, Sammy..." while looking around Sasuno at Samira. Kaori then looked at Sasuno and blinked while processing the reaction of all the men and Amaterasu. She'd then walk around to stand in front him if he hadn't already turned around before pressing herself against him and holding him in a warm embrace. She held him for a few seconds before letting go and stepping back, looking at him with a bright smile and saying in a cheerful, nonchalant tone "Don't worry Saucy, if I were actually aiming I would've hit him in the heart. I'm surprised I hit at all with a random shot like that..." as though that sort of thing was any better. Kaori had turned to Samira and asked "Did you get all the pictures you needed?" and if she said she didn't, Kaori would go back with her to take more. Once Samira had gotten all the photos, or if she didn't want to go back for more, Kaori would say "Snoop Genie, can you get us to the entrance of this place?" and they'd instantly appear outside the rock slab.

Kaori then pulled out the list the sorceress had given them and looked it over. "Next up is... a Purple Orchid, Venus Fly Trap, and a Stinking Corpse Li-" Kaori paused and looked at her right where a flower that was three feet across was sticking out the ground. "Just the Orchid and Venus fly trap; we found the Corpse Lilly." she said and pulled out the pod. Kaori looked at the flower, and then at the pod that had a six inch opening, then the lilly that was three feet across, and then the pod with a six in opening. "I have a sneaking suspicion that this flower will not fit in this receptacle." she said with a blank, emotionless expression. Her eyes then began glowing slightly and the entire flower lifted from where it was stuck in the ground, revealing the roots and the bulb that it grew from. Kaori detached the bulb an stuffed it in the pod, then slid the pod into her satchel where it would be nice and mostly safe. Kaori blinked a couple times and looked at Samira, "Hey Sammy, you wouldn't happen to have a spirit that can speed this up, would you?" Once Samira had summoned Cernunnos, Kaori would let Samira gather the last two plants while looking at the horned being. She began floating using her telekinesis and got high enough for her to feel the man's horns while saying "Ruuuub..." something she'd been wanting to do since she first saw him in the Forgotten Desert. Ira was touching the other one and said "I'm calling him Horny! Wait, no, Cern. Much less dirty." in a chipper, innocent tone. Kaori replied "I actually prefer Nuno." which Ira, after a few seconds, agreed it rolled off the tongue easier.

---

While on the way back to the sorceress's laboratory with the flowers, a certain spirit was sitting in the room that was supposed to belong to only the summoner who owned the keys to the avatar spirits... Just like the last time he visited her mind, the ninja was flipping a coin over the top of his index, middle, and ring fingers; back and forth, back and forth, repeating while watching the group and silently laughing. He hovered around the room while the spirits were watching Kaori and Samira's adventure, or playing board games, or sleeping, or doing whatever they were doing. He had paused behind Amaterasu while looking over her shoulder. She seemed to be stuck on the last couple words of her crossword puzzle. A minute had passed and no progress was made... Ninja extended his hand over her shoulder, removing the invisibility spell on himself and beginning to guide her hand to the word and let her finish drawing the circle around it. Things had gotten quiet and he stood up, looking at the spirits and blinking a couple times. He spotted a woman wearing a toga and walked over to her while slowly reaching into his sleeve and withdrawing a letter addressed to her colleague Aphrodite. He gently took her hand and set the letter in it and said nothing, then vanished mysteriously yet again. The letter was from someone who hadn't met Aphrodite, but heard of her and didn't know where to find her- so he asked Ninja to find her summoner and deliver the letter to her for him. Ninja had the skills required to enter the records department, find the records, and obtain the required information without being noticed at all. He was physically weak, but extremely dangerous because of his infiltration utility. The fact that not a single spirit had even heard him open the door was proof of his skill.

---

In the sorceress's house, Kaori and Samira would have given her the four plants and the list with everything crossed off. "You... seem to be missing some things... Namely the Coal, Iron Ore, Petrified Wood, Lacrima Stones, and the logs..." Kaori crossed her arms under her chest and put on a businesswoman's expression. "The Coal and Iron can be mined from my land in Bosco. The Lacrima Stones from Minstel, where I also own land. Samira has some land in Pergrande that shares space with the petrified forest, I'm sure you can work out a deal with her- but you'll be dealing with me first. As for the Logs... have your apprentice get off his lazy ass, grow a pair, and get out there to get some himself!" The sorceress wanted to counter Kaori's attitude with one of her own, but had come to the realization that she now had to do business with the woman. What's more, Kaori already knew what she wanted, and she didn't have any clue as to what she had that might be of value to the ninja... Her clothes were strange, but also flashy which implied she had a sense of fashion; but owning all that land meant she had more than enough money to fuel that sense. "Since you're having trouble thinking of how to barter, let me help you. I'll supply the materials, as well as transport for the materials in Samira's share of Pergrande. In exchange, I want a copy of every last one of your research notes on this place." To which the sorceress blinked and looked at Kaori in surprise "That's... all...?" she asked, not figuring a noble to be concerned with knowledge. "Knowledge is power, power is the ability to invoke change through any means necessary." Kaori replied, and the sorceress accepted he terms before looking to Samira to do business with her.

Samira wasn't much for negotiations, far too nice and somewhat easy to pressure into really bad decision- a very specific event in her past involving a certain dragon god being a prime example. However, Samira had been getting ballsier in more recent days past. A report from Eclipse Team member Bill had detailed the summoner taking the much faster, much more violent route to solving an issue instead of the highly passive more intuitive path she normally would've taken with very little concern for the safety of her allies. She was strong enough to make that call as well as deal with the consequence very well, so Kaori had no issues putting her on the spot and having her negotiate for herself. However, it seemed that she wasn't prepared to negotiate trade deals as readily as Kaori was... Kaori had to grow accustom to such things at a very young age. She was destined to be the clan leader back then, and then, before she was scheduled for it she wound up being the clan leader. Samira was mostly sheltered for her life as far as Kaori could tell. She didn't need to make negotiations for trade that were fair for both sides. She didn't have over a hundred thousand lives at her mercy, relying on her every decision as the difference between life and total annihilation. No... she lived the opposite of Kaori in many ways and her request to 'come back later to request something' had been a very clear sign of it. Mach to her salvation one of her spirits had shown up in semi human form and established that the researcher would owe them something that she would be obligated to pay later; to which she agreed.

The researcher had yet another request and Kuku had established she'd owe them twice for the new request, which was right up Samira and Kaori's alley. While Samira was looking at the page, Kuku would come to regret sticking around... "EEEEEEEE!!!!" a high pitched squeal sounded off like a siren just before a sonic boom shattered the windows and glass laboratory equipment of the shack. Kuku would find herself being tackled to the floor with enough force to make Kaori wonder how she was still alive. Not 'alive' as in she poofed to the celestial world, like... how the hell she didn't turn into bloody feathered paste. The other Kaori was snuggling her on the floor, nuzzling her cheeks against Kuku's before giving her a kiss on the cheek. "Original, I'm keeping this one! Her name's pretty close to Kukki, so let's call her that! It's just as adorable as she is." the extra Kaori said with far too much joy in her voice. A sweat bubble formed at the back of Kaori's head and inside her mind she heard 'Don't look at me, that's someone completely different.' Which made Kaori notice that this version of herself didn't have black eyes, it had eyes blue like the sky, filled with hope and innocence? Kaori let out a sigh, no longer surprised that her emotions took on lives of their own and were about as easy to control as she was. "We're not keeping her but I do agree with calling her Kukki (Coo-key). Now go back where you belong before I send you there by force." The other Kaori puffed her cheeks "But I wanna snuggle Ku-chan!" Kaori rested her forehead on the tip of her index finger and thumb while groaning. "-sigh- If she doesn't kick your ass, you can snuggle her until we-" "YAAAAY!" Kaori could only hope to the divines that this wasn't the version of her that she was mortified at the thought of it being... Either way, Kuku would find herself in a very tight, very loving, and much too happy snuggle by someone with biblical grip.

Kaori turned her back to Kukki and gently took the paper from Samira saying "Let me take a look..." in a gentle, and respectful tone. The page spoke of a plant monster that either mage could easily dispose of, and something that was massive and known for demolishing ships instantly. "Hmmm... A dangerous plant monster that you're too lazy or weak to defeat, AND a sea monster that's known for killing ships." Kaori said in a cold tone that made the sorceress sweat drop, the spider was of little concern. "Exactly how are we supposed to find this sea monster?" Kaori asked, giving the sorceress a star that sent a shiver down her spine while also seeming to be a very graceful smile... quite passive aggressive in reality. "Well, there's a local tribe who may be able to help you." She said as calmly as possible, but Kaori's eyes only narrowed on her. "This tribe could've easily helped you gather those plants and far faster than I assuming they're natives... Why didn't they?" her tone was highly skeptical of the woman. "Most... tribes are somewhat... highly... xenophobic... and territorial... You'd need to negotiate peace with them." Kaori's expression relaxed somewhat and a grim smirk was on her face as she loaded the proverbial gun with more ammo. "So let me get this straight... We, individuals who will only be on this island this one time, have to kill a plant monster, negotiate peace with natives, and then kill a sea monster and a spider. You'd benefit from the monsters being killed since it won't destroy your little shack or do the unspeakable to your candy ass assistant. You'd also benefit from the natives not trying to kill you in your sleep, and you'd be able to sail safely between this continent and Earthland nice and safe with that sea monster dead... This seems quite one-sided for you owing us just one extra." Kaori then took a seat on a one-person chair with a very stern expression- beginning something that even Kukki might shudder at the sight of... a businesswoman. "My associate here is quite adept at killing monsters so long as their on solid ground... and I'm good at killing anything she can't, but only if it's worth my resources. So..." Kaori folded one of her legs on top the other in a very lady like position while resting her hands on the chair's arm rests "...What have you to barter?"

The sorceress smirked and rested her fist on the side of her hip, not wanting to get pressured into being a slave or worse. "You did just destroy all my equipment, and the windows of my home. I'd say that's worth a monster or two." Kaori remained stoic as ever and said "No, a replacement will suffice for that. Or just as easy, a vehicle sized block of metal shot from orbit can be delivered." She was referring to one of the rounds from one of her flagship's main gun, the same ones that turned the city Samira got Anhur in, into a massive glass filled crater. "W-well... Destroying the sea monster would make it safe for your ships to deliver their cargo, and making peace with the natives would make it safe for your crew to board." Kaori had kept her expression the same through it all, knowing that the woman was quickly running short on shots to fire. "My ships are all capable of turning any native into the holiest thing since those guys who walk around in dresses with little boys glued to their crotch. If the guns on my ship aren't enough, the guns my crew carry are... As for that sea monster being a danger to my fleet... All of my ships fly." The sorceress's heart rate increased, she really didn't have much to offer and could tell Kaori was the most cut throat person in the room. Kaori began tapping her middle finger on the soft arm rest, glaring at the scientist whose panic was easily felt by Kaori. "Let me give you something else to mull over. I'm a noble in four countries, and any money you offer for my materials could be obtained from any other. Your research is easily obtainable by my... connections, and you are an expendable, replaceable asset. Any ideas you have of terminating service with me would only impact yourself. Additionally, the benefit of having armed personnel near your shack- I-E, my crew, is an additional benefit. Now, look me in the eye..." Kaori's ruby eyes narrowed and her face formed a frown. The sorceress looked at her in a way that implied she was about to have a panic attack. Kaori's words cam across cold, heartless, and without restraint "Your hand is empty, your options are few." Kaori relaxed and rested her cheek on one of her hands. "I'm not an unreasonable person, just know that you'll owe us both an extra five. One for the plant, one for the natives, one for the sea monster, one for the overgrown spider, and one for the protection supplied by my crew." The sorceress bit her lip before sighing and saying "Fine." in a defeated tone. The air instantly became lighter, implying Kaori was applying just a touch of magic to increase the pressure her business partner felt. The ninja said in a friendly tone "Great! I'll have some paperwork brought over while we take care of things. Yo, copycat, time to go home." The clone of Kaori pouted (if Kukki hadn't managed to get rid of her already) and vanished. Kaori then turned to Samira saying "You can handle that plant monster and spider, you're more than a match for it. Iku and I will handle the natives and sea monster. I'll meet you back here, okay?" Once that was agreed on, Kaori would step outside and vanish from sight.

---

Kaori and Ikuchi had appeared at the entrance to the nearest village, noting the distinct difference in clothing but not exactly showing any judgement towards it. Upon arrival, arrows were being pointed in their direction as a very clear sign that they weren't welcome there. Ikuchi turned his head to look at Kaori who was raising an eyebrow while mentally counting the amount of sharp projectiles. One of them shouted something in their native tongue that Kaori didn't understand at all. Ikuchi however... seemed to have been very well educated as he said "Take me to your leader" in the same dialect. A a tan girl wearing animal skins had stepped forward saying in a broken version of Fiore's native tongue "How you know how speak?". Beads dangled from her garments that consisted of an animal skin head cover and poncho that left her front exposed. Under that was a top that had teasels at the bottom and covered her breasts, but left her stomach exposed with a ceramic accessory dangling over it. On her right side, starting at her oblique and running down her legs was a tribal tattoo and a similar one on the inside of her left thigh also running down to her feet. She wore something to cover her privates and butt, but they did nothing to cover her legs at all leaving very little to the imagination. Her white hair was contained by the head cover, so not many could see more than a couple strands of hair at very specific angles. On her feet, she wore a pair of ankle bracelets, but no shoes at all. Ikuchi took his mask off, letting it fall and dangle from his neck by its string to reveal the crimson hellfire eyes that made the tribals all very nervous. They had seen their share of monsters and didn't want to have to fight another anytime soon. "I am the Dragon God of Domination, now take me to your leader." The tribal girl raised her hand and as if rehearsed, all the arrows were drawn and readied to be fired. "The Iochi don't believe in Gods, they left many harvests ago. You don't resemble any of our old ones, only that of a monster. The two of you aren't welcome here... Leave." The last word was spoken so even Kaori could understand. In return, Kaori's expression turned fierce and she stepped forward, standing between the woman and Ikuchi. "We refuse, take us to your leader." she said in Fiore's tongue, not knowing how to speak their own like Ikuchi. The woman turned her back on Kaori and Ikuchi and all of the hunters had fired their arrows at the two... All the hunters eyes went wide when their arrows came back.

Kaori had used her telekinesis to stop the arrows mid air, turn them around, and launch them back at her opponents; but had made sure that no one was hit. She wanted to make peace, not eradicate all of them except for the most useful member- that was reserved for more advanced civilizations. The woman had paused, curious as to why she heard the sound of arrows hitting wood instead of arrows hitting bodies or dirt, as well as why the bodies didn't hit the floor... She turned around and saw the two of them still standing and the arrows stuck in the walls and sides of homes of their village. 'If it's okay with you, I'd like to handle this fight.' Ikuchi said in Kaori's mind, to which she responded by simply stepping out of his way. The woman held her hand out and a spear formed in it, showing Kaori that not all of these people were your average human- some of them had magic. Ikuchi had took on a hand to hand combat pose, placing one foot in front and one in the back at an angle to redistribute his weight. One of his hands stayed close to his body while the other was extended in front him, waiting for his opponent to come at him rather than him going to her. The tribal girl shot forward fast, not as fast as Kaori- there weren't many things that fast- but pretty damn fast. Ikuchi was accustom to training with Kaori and having to react before she got close, meaning he had to predict her attacks before she even began making it. Luckily, this wasn't Kaori's little vanishing act but a straight shot forward that was highly ineffective since Ikuchi rammed the base of his palm into the tribal girl's stomach before dropping low and sweeping her feet to put her on the ground.

Continuing his spin while getting to a more upright position, Ikuchi raised his leg high and tried to bring it down on the tribal who was on the floor. She raised her legs quickly into her chest, letting the heel come down further befor extending her legs and kicking Ikuchi in the stomach and making him stumble backwards slightly. In that time she used the same action to get herself to her feet and charging Ikuchi with a new spear in hand. She thrusted the spear at Ikuchi's chest and the young dragon used his palm to redirect the tip before grabing the shaft (wow that sounds dirty) and pulling the weapon his direction. His shoulder was slammed into the tribal girl's chest, then the elbow closest to her was lifted and slammed into her head which was enough to make her let go of the spear while grabbing her nose. Ikuchi took the spear and smacked her on the side of the head, sending her to the ground but not completely. She caught herself by means of using a hand to turn her fall into a cartwheel, landing hunched down on her legs before forming two spears and charging at Ikuchi. Ikuchi and her began a series of wasted efforts as one attacked and the other blocked, alternating who blocked who and seeming to be at a stand still. This ended when Ikuchi moved his foot forward, bringing it behind the tribal's leg and pulling to make her begin falling. The tribal girl vanished, causing Ikuchi to smirk. "I knew you were holding back." he said softly under his breath. A swift spin while kicking the air behind him made his heel connect with the girl's head and send her flying sideways. He wasn't psychic, it was just more logical to attack from your opponent's blind spot which made it make more sense to attack your own blind spot where your opponent will attack. She hit the floor hard enough to drop her spears and slide back a bit, and then watched as Ikuchi held his right hand out and formed a battle axe with a hibiscus dangling from a gold string on the end of it. He vanished and reappeared in front her with the blade touching the skin between her eyes, both eyes crossing to look at it in hopes that he wasn't planning to bring it down further.

Ikuchi raised the blade and made it vanish before holding his hand out, the tribal girl flinching and shutting her eyes since she didn't expect mercy from an outsider. One of her eyes opened to see the hand and for reasons unknown, she slowly reached out and took it to allow Ikuchi to help her up. A quick tug and she found herself on her feet and falling forward, stopping herself by using Ikuchi as support and accidentally (totally not by anyone's will) finding herself pressed against the man. She looked up and into the burning eyes with demonic slits in them and finding some sort of peace among the flames they held, a type of determination that was beautiful to her. She quickly got off his chest and took a few steps away, looking at the ground and away from him. "Ashawti." she said in a slightly embarassed tone. Ikuchi replied by giving his name and introducing Kaori and then repeating the order to take them to her leader. Much to Kaori's surprise, she was the one who had to do the talking since she was the leader of her... tribe... if you could call it that. The tribe leader didn't speak any language that Kaori knew, so she had to have Ikuchi explain her telepathic abilities and use those to communicate by means of using images and memories. The tribal leader had said that they'd lend her Ashawti to find the monster they called 'Last Shadow' but only after she had a word with Ikuchi... a word that required him to go to her hut for several hours. On their way back to the Sorceress's shack, Ashawti never let go of Ikuchi's arm... ever.

---

Once at the shack, Kaori, Ikuchi, and Ashawti would all be waiting for Samira. Samira would notice the tribal girl sitting as close to Ikuchi as physically possible on the three person sofa with his arm around her while she leaned on him, keeping one of her arms strewn across his stomach. If she asked what that was about, he would only reply "I do not wish to speak of it..." in a very unhappy tone. Kaori would tell Samira mentally 'He won a fight against her which, when against someone of the opposite gender, means you belong to them... and she seems to be fully committed to that. We would've been back six hours ago but... well... let's just say I'm waiting to see what the end result will look like.' A statement that would leave very little for Samira to imagine as to what Ikuchi and Ashawti were doing for so long... and Samira would know first hand that he had a ludicrous amount of energy. "Anyhow, how was the monster hunt?" Kaori would ask, completely unaware that it was Samira's first one in a very long time. Upon hearing of her success, the Sorceress would look at Samira and ask "So do you have a plan for beating the Last Shadow?" to which Kaori would stare blankly at her, not liking the direction this was going. "I'll be the one handling that." she said calmly, feeling the same stab Samira felt by the doors when the sorceress said "But... you'd be so useless... Her magic feels much stronger, so I really do think it'd be safer to let the more powerful wizard handle this." the only reason she wasn't eating floorboards was because Kaori knew she was talking out of concern and ignorance. "Hey Cap, we're in position." a voice came over the speaker on Kaori's iLac.

Kaori stood up and grabbed the Sorceress by the ear, ignoring her saying "Ow! Ow! Ow!" while being pulled outside the shack to view the ocean as it expanded across the horizon. Ashawti had gotten off the sofa and walked outside to see since she was obligated to tell the story of how Kaori died in battle when she returned... not knowing of Kaori's most powerful spell. Above the sea hovered a single ship, Recon-One, that had voluntarily been used as bait. Ikuchi had come out just so he could watch his favorite channel, the "Fuck Shit Up" channel, only available to Kaori's crew. If Samira was present, she'd be able to watch as the collossal monster rose from the sea and towered over five hundred meters above the tiny, boat like ship. Thick black scales adorned its body and it had massive teeth that were too numerous to be counted quickly, and every last member of Recon One looked up and began backing away, heading towards the lower levels of the ship. "Kaori to the Ark of Destiny, I've got the reel set and bait's been taken. Fire when ready." Kaori said into her iLac, after which a single red streak began firing down from the heavens and impacted the massive creature. Upon the beasts forehead exploding and it being forced to move backwards, every member of Recon One began cheering as Salty piloted it away. "Sorry Cap, trigger slipped. Sending full payload now." a voice came back, though, its tone didn't imply that the 'trigger slipped' but rather the single shot was their way of giving the creature the middle finger. Shortly after, fifteen more streaks came down and impacted the creature known as Last Shadow. The first one that hit its head weakened the scales, the second one cracked its skull, the third shattered its face, the fourth, fifth, and sixth destroyed its head and chest... the rest were insurrance. Ashawti's jaw dropped and the sorceress had dots for eyes, not anticipating Kaori to be capable of mass destruction on those levels. Ikuchi took the iLac from Kaori and said "Good hits, enemy KIA- drinks are on me." Kaori had turned to look at the Sorceress, waiting to hear what other absurd requests she had but at the risk of having to owe another one to both of them, the sorceress had walked into her shack and walked out with a pair of thick grimoires. "These will teach you a lot about magic no matter how strong you may be. Hopefully it knocks some of my favors from what I owe." Kaori raised an eyebrow and took the book. "I just put fifty grand into a giant monster's ass, this will knock off one favor." she said and stuffed the book in the satchel even though the book was wider than the bag's opening.

Kaori had watched as Ku-Chan grew impatient with Samira and made her book slam into her face, saying that just felt like doing it instead of an alternative reason. Samira had closed the book while stifling her anger and turned to Kaori, seeming to calm down rather quickly for some reason before saying "What started as a simple fetch quest ended with you destroying a sea monster. I think something as outlandish as that story could only be done in one of our missions." Kaori put on a warm smile and looked out at the sea as a small dot was flying towards them. "Yeah, that sounds about right." she replied, the small dot getting closer and beginning to take shape. As the dot got closer, Samira would see it was a flying shuttle, come to transport Samira back to Hargeon before getting Kaori and Ikuchi to the Ark of Destiny. The shuttle turned sideways and landed a few meters away from them and Kaori approached the door as it lifted vertically to reveals a fairly small space within, just enough to fit six people seated and another nine standing. Kaori stopped at the entrance and turned to look at Kukki. She said respectfully with a neutral expression "Sorry about this Kukki, but there's not nearly enough room for you in here. I'll have Aquarius bring you something as a 'thank you' later on." and went inside the shuttle. Ikuchi had walked in after her and Ashawti had stopped at the entrance on account of Kaori putting her hand out to prevent her from entering. Ikuchi had said a message Kaori asked him to. The message was delivered in her own native tongue instead of a known language. "Kaori wanted me to tell you that you're not allowed to come with me. This place is so remote that there's a good chance you'll die within suns just by being exposed to the outside world. Furthermore, you need to go back to your village and inform the others that Last Shadow was slain. Kaori will send someone to test you and see if you're able to leave the island." Ashawti didn't know of anything that could kill her other than monsters, the natives didn't exactly get sick from many things so she had assumed he was referring to monsters. "I will pass your shaman's test and see you again." she said in her language with a very confident tone, not knowing that this 'test' would involve tissue samples, blood drawing, and waste product testing and not something she was actually accustom to.

The door would stay open long enough for Samira to enter before taking off. On the shuttle ride, Kaori's iLac had begun pinging while lighting up, causing her to blink a couple times with a surprised look before opening her satchel while wondering who the hell was calling her... and why... and how they got her number. She put it on speaker since Samira was already in the shuttle with her and, whether intended or not, she would likely find out anyways if the news was significant enough....

Kaori: "Hello?"
MC Rep: "My name's Jason, a representative for the Magic Council. Am I speaking with Miss Leraci?"
Kaori: "Yes, how did you get my lacrima designation number?"
MC Rep: "One of our mutual contacts provided it. The Magic Council has a request for you, is this a good time?"
Kaori: "I see. It's a better time than five minutes ago, just know that my partner is present and you're on speaker."
MC Rep: "I'd rather keep this private if that's okay..."
Kaori: "Whether you say it and she hears it now, or I tell her later; She's going to hear what you have to say."
MC Rep: "Very well then. The Magic Council has discovered a new land mass that's quite... expansive, but has run into an issue..."
Kaori: "Let me guess. It's filled to the brim with mega-megafauna and monsters, and the best you could do is set a single scientist on the island to conduct research in a half-assed laboratory, shack combination."
MC Rep: "Well... yes... How did you-"
Kaori: "We just finished wrapping up a mission there."
MC Rep: "Oh. -clears throat- Since you already known some of the dangers, the Magic Council would like to emplore you assist us in disposing of the native monsters. We understand you have more than enough fire power to do such a thing-"
Kaori: "Send your Rune Knights, my clan has other priorities."
MC Rep: "That option was weighed and the loss of men would be... astronomical..."
Kaori: "That's not my problem. As I recall there's a clan of magic users based in Hargeon who specializes in disposing of monsters. I just so happen to have one of their elite with me if you'd like to make a formal request."
MC Rep: "Gisen Ceostra has already agreed to dispatch her guild in order to be rid of the monsters, but the cost is... heavy."
Kaori: "So you were hoping that I'd act as competition against her and agree to the task for less? Were I to do it, that continent and all within a hundred nauticle miles of its shores would be mine as a prize."
MC Rep: "That's... actually the same thing Miss Ceostra's being rewarded with; and yes, we were hoping for a lesser cost and faster results."
Kaori: (forced to stifle laughter) "You're all idiots... Gutsy, but idiots all the same."
MC Rep: "I take that as a refusal to perform the job?"
Kaori: "Take that as a 'Go fuck yourself a thousand times with a white-hot barbed spit' and deliver it to the head of the Magic Council."
MC Rep: "You... do understand that your position within the Magic Council may be at risk by refusing, right?"
Kaori: "So what? A fancy title doesn't matter to me. Gisen's task is to take on the monsters, if she needs my help she can ask."
MC Rep: "If she asked, would you aid her?"
Kaori: "My best friend's part of her clan, of course I would... and for free."
MC Rep: "Understood... I'll relay our... conversation to my superiors. Have an excellent day Miss Leraci."

The trip back to Hargeon would take a long while so Kaori had decided to do the only thing that makes sense in this situation... Samira would notice Kaori scooting closer to her, shifting herself to sit next to Samira before lacing her arm across the green haired woman and resting her head against her shoulder and closing her eyes. She nuzzled Samira a bit while drifting off while somehow pulling herself closer. Ikuchi was sitting on the other side of the shuttle with one of his legs on top the other in the way men preferred to do it, keeping certain sensitive parts from being crushed by his legs. His mask had been dangling from his neck by the string the whole time which would let Samira have perfect view as he raised an eyebrow at her. "So... how long before you break her heart?" his tone wasn't condescending, but rather it was genuine curiosity. "Whether you want to admit it or not, you'll have to do it eventually. You're beautiful, smart, reliable, and even if you were none of those- a Guild Ace... Men will come to you and...eventually... one of them would catch your eye. Kaori's had around a hundred fifty give or take, started when she was six- all were too boring." Ikuchi stood up and opened a panel on the side of the wall, pulling a black suit case out. "One of the perks of being in the Leraci Clan, you're so rich and powerful you don't need to marry anyone you don't like. Anyhow, while Kaori's asleep I may as well give you these." Ikuchi opened the suit case to reveal six small spheres with buttons on the front. "It's a prototype Zhong made to help with your adventures. They can each hold one creature- human or otherwise... and from personal experience the insides are quite lavish. If the thing you try to catch is too strong you'll need to weaken it first, so don't try catching any dragons without kicking their asses. Press the button on the front and hit em with it, they go inside and if it doesn't immediately pop open and release em it'll catch them." Ikuchi closed the suit case and set it down next to Samira before laying down on the seats opposite her with his head on Ira's lap, forming a black cavalier hat out of flames and resting it on his face. "May as well get some sleep, got a giant ass shrimp to carve up later." And just like Kaori, he was immediately asleep. Ira just sat there with a gentle smile on her face before Query showed up with a black permanent marker. In a calm, gentle, and innocent voice she said "I've been waiting for this moment for weeks." before lifting the hat and giving Ikuchi a mustache, black eye, star on the other eye, cat whiskers, and a phallus on his cheek. "Oh, he's gonna be pissed!" Ira mused before the two sisters vanished.