Home Sweet Home (Private, Job, Kaori)

"Mages come in all shapes and sizes. Where one may falter at something, another may excel."

Dreaming. An act and state of mind that normally occurred while someone was sleeping. It was something Samira rarely experienced ever since she found her set of celestial keys and had awakened her first four spirits. She enjoyed the blank state of mind while she slept. Never were there nightmares or vague visions that made her question their meaning. That all changed as she became a more experienced mage. Not only did her inactive spirits use the dreamstate as a way to send messages and speak with her, but there had also been past presences within her mind that enjoyed using dream sequences for their own purposes. It was infuriating, and she had grown to despise dreaming since that only meant it was another invasion of one that wanted to toy with her.

Samira was where she normally was; in the room that was hers within the guild halls of Lamia Scale. Many had gone to the guild's new location on the continent of Pandora, but the summoner remained in the original location. She was comfortable in Hargeon, and did not desire to leave at that time. There were others that were not ready to switch to the new location as well, and it made even more logical sense for an Ace of the guild to keep an eye on them.

It was late into the night, with Samira having gone to sleep a few hours before. She would later wish she hadn't bothered. The summoner was soon experiencing a weird dream that turned into nightmares. It had started off as pieces of a vision, as if they were short flashback clips of someone she did not know. Darkness, chaos, a desert civilization in ruins. Images of the cloned giant celestial cobra flashed through her mind, or at least, that was what it appeared to be on the surface. The power was different, as was the aura. It nearly rivaled the disturbing feeling she had when the red eyed spirit that had left her key with Kaori had paid a little visit. The dream was not exactly third person either. The vision pieces played out as if she were in the body of another. Someone that was much more powerful than herself, and existed for the sole purpose of destroying the evil creature.

Very familiar keys were tossed into the air by the one she was looking through. A set of keys that were made by the actual gods themselves to seal a certain spirit, and thereafter act as their representations for the mortal realm until such a time came for the keys to gather once more in order to strengthen the lock that would inevitably loosen and break. The keys in the dream glowed and sailed to different positions around the large serpent, forming a circle. A portal to the deepest and darkest parts of the celestial realm was created, and with it, a prison. The spirit would not be going in alone though, he made sure of that. As the dark binds shot through the portal and begun to drag the large serpent in, his fangs bit into the mortal that dared seal him away. Samira could feel the pain from it even though it was a dream, and thereafter all she saw was red as the one she was looking through was dragged through the portal behind the serpent.

"You are very nossssey, my dear human," a slithery voice echoed within her mind space as she slept. "I reactivate my link with you after all this time, and you begin to invade my memoriesss. That isss not how it isss sssupposssed to work. Sssuch a rude invasssion of my privacccy." He had woken up a few times since he made a place for himself within her mind, each time because she was in danger. It was difficult to get any rest at all. The link had to be broken for a longer period than before, and really he was honestly shocked the girl was still alive. There was no sense of the gods and goddesses that seemed to flock towards his summoner for some random reason either. The two were quite alone as far as he could tell. Gooood.

Samira felt the presence disappear and the dream sequences continued, only that time it was with her own memories. Flashes of her mother, father, grandfather. Funerals, gravestones, sadness. Then the images slowed as a different scene approached. It was that of a large white house within Peace Village; the home of her aunt, uncle, and cousins. On the outside it felt warm and welcoming. Smiling faces, laughter, sun shining on the flower gardens that were all around the house. All of it a cover. For Samira anyway. For her, the true environment was dull and cold. There really was no warmth or comfort in a place that pretended she did not exist. She had walked the cobblestone path through the front yard many times with no one even acknowledging her. The girl had only been accepted there out of obligation; there was no love for her there. Samira was nothing more than an invisible ghost until she did something that made her out to be a burden, or they got bored and joked about placing her in a sort of mental institution for constantly talking to herself.

Then things took a turn that she knew was not a part of her history. The area around the house darkened and, within her dream self, Samira walked the stone path and entered the home. She had no control of her actions as she walked through the hallways. Soon she reached a large room where a family of five were sitting on the couch and playing a sort of game. Laughing, cheering, all having a good time, although there was no actual audio. The summoner's presence went ignored even after saying something to them. She felt herself speak again, although the words were silent just as theirs were. Something within the dream Samira snapped, although no one could tell at that point. Calmly and slowly the woman walked closer towards the table they were all gathered around. She spoke again. No answer. Her hand them raised and she aimed her palm in the direction of the one that had been an uncle by blood. A dark orb of energy was created and sent his way, killing him instantly as the magic exploded on impact. That finally earned some attention. The remaining four had screamed, although still the dream was silent. Dear Auntie was next, being covered in dark serpents of the deep part of the celestial world and left there as they made a toy out of her. From there, one by one the three cousins were hunted down as they ran and hid. Two had been eliminated, and all of their bodies began to disappear from existence. Now they were the ones that did not exist and would be forgotten.

In the real world, Samira twisted and turned in her bed, while making sounds that she was in obvious discomfort and distress. She was unable to wake up from what was clearly a nightmare for her. There had been some killings done by her in the past, but it was out of self defense. Murdering people, especially those that were considered family, was something that should have been impossible for her. "My dear sssilly, key," the voice echoed in her mind again, that time soothing and yet also so eerie that it was clear there was a hidden agenda behind the tone. "You are much too kind to think they are dessserving of life after being ssso offensssive. They are nothing. You are of much greater importance to thisss world. Why do you pretend that you would not wish to put an end to them yourself? Worthlessss creaturesss exisst only to be removed by higher beingsss of power." The third cousin, a young boy, materialized in front of her dream self. He was scared at his sudden transportation and even more so at seeing the one he was running away from. He fell backwards and began to push himself backwards as her dream self stepped closed. Then, she was released and free to act on her own. Samira could only shake her head in refusal and step back. She did not want that, not even while in a dream.

It was then that she felt as if she were being embraced and held to provide comfort. It did not work. The feeling brought anything but comfort and served to only remind her of the villainous female spirit that belonged to Kaori. She would have suspected it was her messing with her once more, but the feeling coming from the current one did not feel the same. "You hesitate still. A shame, but do not worry, human. I will help you, as I always do." The summoner could then only watch as the boy began to slowly disappear, starting from his limbs that were evaporating as dark particles began to eat away at his existence. Silent screams and terrified flailing the boy did until he was eventually no more. "Soon, I will be the only spirit you will ever need, but first, we should return home to take care of a few loossse ends."

The dream came to a sudden end and the spirit was gone. Samira became still and slept soundly once more. One would have assumed that she would have woken up immediately as most people do when they have a nightmare, but she did not. The spirit that hid away deep within her mind had erased the memory of the dream. If he had allowed her to keep the memory she would have been very unwilling to return to Peace Village. That was not in his best interest. He needed her to cut the ties she left behind, preferably in a way that would darken her heart and soul. Now with no memory of the dream, the best he could leave her with was the random idea to return, as if it came to her on its own. He had his own ways of making her listen if she ignored it.

The Next Morning:

'Hey, summoner! You toss and turn like no other when you sleep, you know that?' The feathered serpent spirit known as Kukulkan commented as Samira finished getting ready for the day. She had been on watch within the mindspace while the other spirits did whatever business they had in the celestial world. The dream had been so deep within the summoner's mind that it didn't even register on the screens...not to mention Kuku just didn't care to investigate and might have fallen asleep herself at some point. Why was she picked as the night guardian again?

"Hmm? Do I?" Samira asked as she looked up at the ceiling innocently and put her hand against her own cheek as she tried to recall if she was an aggressive sleeper or not. No one had ever said anything in the past. 'Yeah, you do. You should probably fix that problem before you kick Kaori off the bed one night!'

Samira's response came out as nothing more than shocked and embarrassed stutters. Honestly! She had no intention of doing that sort of thing again. 'I meant for when you have sleepovers, you secret perv! Good grief, you humans think about nothing else, do you?' The summoner's cheeks burned as they grew red at the misunderstanding and for the fact that had been her first assumption to begin with. "O-oh... In that case, I probably should if it is a new habit."

Letting that conversation slide on by, Samira walked over to her desk, opened one of the drawers, and took out sheets of paper as well as envelopes. For some reason she had woken up with the thought of her past home on her mind. That place had not been thought about since... well ever since she had joined Lamia Scale. It was peculiar really. She had no desire to go back before, but now she wanted to. As she grabbed her pen, her door flew open and a certain human shaped lion holding a black cat entered. Well sort of, the black cat was tossed onto the bed and the lion man turned to leave. The cat let out a high pitched mew as she flew across the room until she bounced onto the mattress of the bed. "Stop tossing me around, Anhur! We need to discuss it!"

"We do not." Down the hall he went with Bastet in cat form glaring at the doorway he was standing in previously. "Brothers! Why our originals felt it was required for both of us to exist is beyond me. He's useless!"

Samira had blinked and watched the interactions, but made no comment. By that point her spirits could not really surprise her with how they interacted with one another. It was like watching a really strange and weird family sitcom. "Do not worry. You can discuss whatever you need with him on the way. I intend on taking both of you with me." She then began to start writing on the sheets of paper while answering Bastet's questions regarding where they were going. The big green eyes of the cat narrowed into slits as she got her response of "Peace Village." Her tail swished back in forth in thought. She had no idea what was there really. Only the original four spirits knew that much about the summoner. "I suppose those are letters to your guild master and fellow Aces to let them know that you will be gone for some time?" Samira gave only a silent nod as she kept writing. "The other two I understand, but why not just take Kaori with you?"

A small chuckle escaped Samira. "Bastet, it is only a simple trip home. It is not as if I am going on a dangerous journey on the other side of the world. I am sure she has other priorities, and I am not even sure how long I will be gone. Also..." Her words trailed off as a deep frown appeared on her face. Also, it was not as if she had much to show her friend anyway. Kaori was well loved and respected in her village due to being how she was and for being the clan's leader and protector. Samira was just someone that was ignored. That was just how things were. She began to rethink her idea of going back, but upon having the thought a sharp pain shot through her brain. She winced slightly, but otherwise ignored it. Those were becoming so common.

With the letters written, she had them sent out to two of the recipient. The one for Kaori she could easily just hand over to a crew member that was still on Hargeon or leave it at Hibiscus. She grabbed onto the cat known as Mau and then located Anhur, who had refused the request for him to follow along. He was ordered to do so right after, and he could not refuse when his key was used in such an annoying way. Down the streets of Hargeon the trio went, but the progress became slow. A certain spirit in her mind did not want Samira getting anywhere near anything related to Kaori. It would make things much too difficult if she were to get involved. Although later on he would come to find out the ninja would not be the only problem.

The headache got worse the closer she got, and the spirit was starting to get annoyed with the girl's willingness to keep going rather than turn and head for the train station or use Anhur for flight. Another sharp pain blast that made her drop the cat she had been holding. "I am fine," She reassured the two feline spirits while placing a hand to her forehead and taking more steps forward. Bastet looked concerned, but Anhur looked as stoic as ever as he followed the girl. After a slow journey, they had made it to the docks where Samira had given a letter to one of the crew members that remained on Hargeon. She had been asked if she needed a lift anywhere or even contact with the Ark of Destiny itself since they all thought it was kind of strange to leave a letter when there were so many methods of immediate contact with Kaori. Samira had declined with a smile. She didn't want to make a habit of relying on those methods of travel when she had her own ways. There was also no need to bother Kaori with trivial information. She would likely be back well before she was missed. The two sometimes went weeks at a time with no contact, after all. The letter was a just in case measure. Plus, she didn't want to get the ninja excited about visiting a place she barely called home herself.

The crew member hesitated as he stared at Samira with a bit of concern. They had all heard much about her apparently, and so he got the feeling she was not supposed to look as if she were about to die right there on the docks. "Ehhh... You know, you just stay right there. I am going to have Salty patch us in with the Ark."

"No, really. It is...fine," Samira's breathing got heavy as another invisible knife stabbed her brain, worse than the previous ones. It was unintentional to be that extreme. The chaos spirit had lost his patience with the man and with the summoner. Samira began to lose her balance as she nearly lost consciousness. The letter she had been holding had been dropped, and the cat form Bastet yowled as the woman stepped on her tail when she had tried to regain her footing. The crew members that were nearby gathered and asked if she was all right and requesting that she probably sit down. "N-not...necessa...ry," A cry of pain managed to slip out as another stab happened. His temper with the humans that surrounded Samira and got in the way was increasing. He didn't even comprehend that he was hurting her, or that he was making himself more known to the other spirits of the mindspace. He wanted them all to disappear. Just as he was about to take over and make it happen, a bright light shined around them, revealing a familiar light spirit. The dark one cursed. How he hated spirits of light. Even the weaker ones were able to cause trouble for him. A bigger wave of pain that made her feel as if her head were going to explode.

Samira began to fall to the ground completely, only not hitting the ground because Amaterasu had caught her during the descent. She placed her glowing hand on the summoner's forehead, and with a surge of her magic released into the mind, the spirit of chaos was temporarily pushed back. Only temporarily. Even she could not keep him at bay for long. 'Kukulkan, why did you do nothing?'
'What? Was I supposed to give her pain medication? Do I look like a nurse to you? Nag at the ones that are literally standing right there!'
"Not my area of expertise."
"You know only Ra and yourself can do anything against that one. Really you weren't even supposed to know of it to begin with. I am surprised he told you."
'Told her what? Hey! You assholes! I want to know!'

Amaterasu sighed. If it really was as bad as it seemed already then Ra and herself were going to have to take turns with their shifts. Apparently any other spirit would be useless. A message was sent towards the Ark of Destiny, asking for Kaori or anyone else close to her. A description of what had happened would then be given with the thought that the ninja leader would want to know due to how close she was with Samira. If no one was on the Ark, well, she would find out some other way.

Meanwhile, off in the distance on a tall building stood two men in business-like suits. One held a magic device that allowed him to view a good distance away and with great detail. The other, held an iLac and had connected with someone on the other line. "She collapsed," he said into the lacrima device. "No, I am sure it's the one we've been waiting for. We have evidence to support that nearly all the other keys have been unlocked already." A pause as he listened. "We will proceed then. We already know where she had planned to go."

In Hargeon the workers for Recon-One were diligently working on getting supplies on and off the ship. Salty was in the wheel house, watching over the deck and making sure his crew weren't dicking around when there was work to be done. Several screens on the back end of the wheel house allowed him to see the halls of the ship, and several more had allowed him to see Hargeon and the castle through Kaori's lacrima. Through them he saw Samira approaching the docks with a large lion man... thing... a black cat, and a bit of a sickly look. His eyes narrowed further, focusing on her grabbing her head and slowing down. The captain pushed a button for the intercom and said "One of you fella's go to the dock and look sharp. We've got a guest commin' and she don't look too good." before moving to the communications terminal and getting ready to contact the Ark of Destiny. Normally there was someone else who operated the station but Recon-One was docked so he sent that guy to town to pick up the shipment orders. While Recon-One normally ran recon and surveilance for Kaori, they also helped deliver shipments to high priority areas. Rich folk paid Kaori handsomely to provide that service, and she accepted so long as they didn't mind there being a long wait sometimes. She wasn't a delivery girl afterall... As Samira approached the base of the gangplank the sailor was there to meet her and ask if she needed a ride to Peace Village, the entire conversation being heard by the old man in the wheel house. Salty could see it in her eyes, she was barely holding together and his hand pressed the intercom button again. "Get some meds and a cold pack ready, put em in Samira's room." he said and three sailors below deck set their crates down. The first went to the kitchen and grabbed the cold pack, the second went to gather the pill box that contained a variety of medicine for multiple illnesses and pains, the third was part of the ship's medical team. She heard where her supplies would be going, so she decided to make sure she was waiting when the patient arrived with her sphygmomanometer, stethoscope, and thermometer ready. Samira had collapsed and the spirit randomly showed up to catch her while the sailor she was talking to was on the other side, helping Amaterasu to support her. He wasn't sure why she touched Samira's head with that funky light power voodoo shit, but he wasn't going to ask. "Let's get her to the ship. Salty most likely has Kaori on the line already. He sounded like he knew something was going on earlier, so I'll bet my next pay that he's already got her room prepped." the sailed said to Amaterasu. If the spirit needed help with Samira, he'd help get her to the room and put Samira in the bed. (To clarify, a sphygmomanometer is a device that fits around the arm with a pressure guage and a pump used to measure the systolic and diastolic pressure within the brachial artery. This allows medical personal to know the amount of pressure inside the atria and ventricles of the heart, which can create excess or inadequate pressure based on a number of internal and environmental factors.)

Meanwhile in Ca-Elum, Kaori was working with a master blacksmith in getting parts required to assemble a metallic arm that she had seen on a previous mission. The arm that the blacksmith was working on was mostly just a shell. The outer casing was just that, a plate with special slots to fit tubes and wires. The fingers were just big tubes themselves that were formed to look more human. There were some bars to add structural integrity to the arm, some springs to help with shock absorption, and some ridges for making the arm lighter- it was made of adamantium, a heavy ass metal afterall. Her iLac began buzzing out of nowhere and she stepped outside the shop to answer it. "Hello?" the conversation started. "Hey captain, this is the Ark of Destiny. We got an urgent transmission from Recon-One in Hargeon. It's about Samira..." The first part didn't surprise Kaori at all, she had caller ID to thank for that. The second part wasn't alarming since 'urgent' for Recon-One could be anything from them crashing to them letting her know they needed to change their route to avoid a typhoon. The third part made Kaori's eyes narrow since her ships didn't normally spy on Samira that she knew of. "What happened?" Kaori's tone was much more serious, her expression changing to being less friendly and more ready to beat wholesale ass. "I'll patch you through to Recon-One now..." the man said and he quickly changed the line. "Miss Samira just arrived a few minutes ago with a message for you." Salty commented, making Kaori feel no less uneasy. His tone wasn't so relaxed that Kaori would accept that was the only reason that Salty called. "She was quite adamant about not needing a ride anywhere, but then she ended up collaps-" Kaori's connection disappeared and let Salty know that she was on her way. The key on Samira's belt with a hibiscus on the end began glowing as Kaori activated the power in it, allowing her to transcend time and space and logic itself and materialize in the room with Samira and the nurse.

Kaori looked to the nurse and said "Status report." in a commanding tone. "Miss Nassar suffered from an acute migraine. Several of them to be specific... Considering as her spirit came to her aid, I have reason to believe it was caused by internal magic, possibly latent, untapped mana overflowing?" Kaori turned to Amaterasu, her eyes narrowing. "I doubt it." Kaori commented. She turned to Amaterasu with her arms crossed. "Serqet, Ku-chan, Saucy, Skadi- all spirits that could have come out, but you're the one who's here. This wasn't Samira's magic going out of control, not the same way mine does at least- not if you're the spirit who came to help." Kaori began tapping her foot on the ground while closing her eyes, trying to think. A light came from inside Kaori's satchel just before another spirit showed up, one that wasn't actually a Celestial Spirit at all. "I think we all know who's toying with little Sammy..." she said with a cruel smile on her face, walking to a nearby chair and sitting on it before materializing a very fragrant glass of wine in her hand. Kaori turned to her with a puzzled look. "You're... Who are you?" she asked, not forgetting about Samira at all, but prioritizing the woman's status as friend or foe for the sake of her safety. "Is right now really-" "Yes. Answer the question." Kaori's tone was very blunt, and Amaterasu would feel her hair begin flickering as Kaori released energy into the room in preparation to fight if needed. She'd feel Kaori's desire to protect Samira through the energy, as well as the source of the protection- her love for the summoner. "Gees, relax hun. I'm one of your spirits." she said with an unamused tone. "I figured that out already. I asked who you are." "The one who told her how to get you off that damned medicine that was killing you." It was after that, that Kaori's energy evaporated from the room and she took on a less hostile stance. "To others, I am Angra Mainyu... All the Sins of the World. But you can call me Auntie." The last part about her relation to Kaori flew right over the ninja's head as Samira remained the priority. Kaori pointed to the summoner and said "What do you know about that?" with a cold tone. The golden spirit let out a sigh "God, your mother rubbed off on you... You don't need my help for this, just use your problem solving skills here. Feel her magic, the spirit who came to save her, the spirits she has... the spirits she don't have."

Kaori's eyes narrowed at the last one. Samira was equal in power to her, any spirit that was going to contract with her would've done it already... Unless there was one that was lingering, waiting for something. The ninja closed her eyes and began focusing on the magical sources in the room... Angra Mainyu was the strongest, and the first to be tuned out. Next was her magical tattoos that were blocked, and then Amaterasu was next. Kaori could feel Samira's magic was... unstable... for some reason. She'd never felt it like this, but beneath her usual magic was something else. It was like a parasite hiding below her skin, slinking its way through her veins until it found what it wanted. "You can feel him... can you link with him?" Angra would ask, swirling her rum around a bit before taking a sip. Kaori's eyes flew wide open, at the same time, Apophis would feel Kaori slipping through the tiny cracks he was using to harm Samira and linking with him for just a brief moment before pulling back. "YOU MOTHER FUCKER!" she shouted right before she felt herself being held back by a darkness, the source being the goddess who was pointing at her. "He's nothing to be concerned about. Much like the rest of her spirits, they're just failed abortions- a false god who so desperately tries to be like us." The crimson eyes moved to Amaterasu and said "So weak and pitiful that she can hold him off..." though, the tone of her voice wasn't reflecting any intention of being as much of a bitch as she was being. Angra stood up and formed a bottle of wine in her hands before tossing it to Amaterasu. "Give that to your brother for me, dear. The poor mongrel's probably been begging for good wine after he lost against Ikuchi." Angra moved to the door and opened it. "Your lover will be fine. We need to have a talk." Kaori looked at Samira and waited a few moments, hoping Amaterasu would assure her that she would stay a while to keep her safe. After that, she'd follow the new spirit into her own room.

Once Samira woke up, she'd find the nurse finishing up on checking her blood pressure. "Oh, you're awake. Welcome back Miss Nassar, you've been out for quite some time... a whole year and about six months in total." her voice sounded like she was serious, and the time on the clock was changed to be twelve at night, the date set for a year and a half in the future, and the blinds had the darkness of night behind them. The blinds had an enchantment that could be used to change the scenery based on the preferences of the one who had the controls, in this case it was the nurse. Once Samira started looking like the message sunk in, she'd see the nurse writing something on her clip board. She held a recording device to her mouth and said something. If Samira was surprised or panicking, the nurse would say "Patient's mental state seems sound, reaction is as expected." and if she was completely calm the nurse would say "Patient appears to be as sane as the captain, response was not as expected..." Afterwards she would let Samira know that it was only a matter of minutes, ten or twenty as she went to reset the clock to the correct date and time. "You must've heard this a million times Miss Nassar, but the captain's told us quite a bit. The captain's in the other room and we're on our way to Peace Village. I'll let her know you're awake." she would walk out and a few seconds later Kaori would be sitting next to Samira, pressing the summoner's head against her chest while holding her. "Are you alright, Sammy? I swear I'm throttling that spirit the first chance I get."

"Mages come in all shapes and sizes. Where one may falter at something, another may excel."

"To her room then," Amaterasu replied towards the sailor. She allowed him to help move the girl to her room, after which she said her thanks to him and stood on the other side of the bed to keep a closer watch in case the chaos spirit returned. It would not be long. Anhur and Mau had followed and took places at different spots within the room. The lion spirit leaned against the wall nearest the bathroom, and the cat spirit hopped onto the desk of the room. Both remained quiet as the nurse did her work. Anything they wished to say would have to wait since the conversation needed to be private.

It was not long after that a certain ninja appeared, having used the special key that she had gifted to Samira to get there instantly. Amaterasu said nothing and just closed her eyes as Kaori glanced over at her rather suspiciously. Kukulkan was on main watch while the rest took care of business, so the assumption that any spirit could have appeared besides herself was wrong. They didn't have a grand get together everyday. Every single one of them still had lives outside the mind space, and there were plenty of times when only a single spirit watched over the summoner. The contracts only required one pair of eyes to remain. The one Kaori had dubbed as Ku-chan didn't really care to help out with what she considered as one hell of an annoying migraine. The feathered serpent was ignorant of the cause. Kaori would be right in her assumption that for her to show up meant something was wrong. Amaterasu rarely came out on her own, and when she did it was usually on Samira's behalf. Their link was strong enough to a point that her power grew when Samira's did during the battle against the clone of the chaos serpent. Due to that, she could feel the weakened status of her summoner. Why Ra did not show up as well she would have to discuss with him later. Amaterasu's brown eyes opened and she had been about to speak to clarify some things when a light had come from the ninja's satchel. Her eyes narrowed as the new spirit formed. As a spirit of light, she could sense the darkness radiating from the "spirit". It was not like the dark version of Kaori, though. What she sensed was along the lines of pure darkness and evil.

Amaterasu grew tense. There did not seem to be any signs that the newly arrived being had any intention to fight, but even still she could not relax. The blade that Kaori had given to her as a gift some time ago materialized, unsheathed and ready to be used if the situation demanded it. She was not amused. Anhur and Bastet just watched; the cat being unable to do anything in her current form and the lion just not caring. The blonde's presence made his fur stand on end, but he was not one to react much to it. Kaori was really the most threatening one in the room. Her energy could be felt by all, as did the feelings flowing through the magical energy. Amaterasu had already known Kaori had feelings for Samira, but not on that high level when the feelings were not fully mutual. Her love was genuine, and if the blonde of darkness really was one of the ninja's spirits there was probably little to worry about so long as she was controlled. Still, even while knowing that, Amaterasu could not relax. Her very existence would not let her.

A questioning brow raised for all three of them when Angra said the word "Auntie". Even if it went over Kaori's head and was low on her priority list, it did not fly over theirs. It was easy to catch considering they were the more calm ones in the room and were silently watching everything take place. Amaterasu and Mau blinked when Kaori had asked the new spirit about what she knew. Really she could have at least tried asking them first. Anhur just closed his eyes with a low sigh. Not like he wanted to go into detail about it anyway. As Kaori linked up with Samira's magic, and eventually Apophis himself, the chaos serpent hissed angrily. He could feel her power slipping through the openings he used to connect with Samira. It disturbed his peace and annoyed him. Although, he had expected it to happen after allowing his temper to go too far and causing Samira to collapse. His mistake, and one he was now apparently paying for. It would have to be corrected, but it would not be easy. The twin tailed girl was a concern for his plans if she could even connect with him on such fragile strands of energy. What an underestimation and impressive. What would be surprising is that for once a higher powered spirit that belonged to Samira did not wish to be Kaori's instead even with that display. Kaori was powerful and nearly invincible for most, but she was not special to him. Samira, however, was very special. She was his, and if he had it his way would be only his. There was no need of those other spirits that were nothing more than tools to keep him sealed. Throughout the generations he had waited for the one that would break the seal, and to a point that he had grown obsessed to an unhealthy level. The fact it was between summoner and spirit made it even more questionable. The girl may had been weak without her spirits at that point in time, but soon... A female yell then boomed through his area of the mind space. What disgraceful language! 'Insolence.' The link between himself and Kaori vanished just as quickly as it had formed.

The next set of comments made by Angra Mainyu were enough to even get a reaction out of Anhur in the form of a hostile glare. Failed abortions? Bastet hissed and Amaterasu could barely even manage to keep composed. It took a great deal of effort to not lower herself to reply to such an offensive statement. Her grip on her blade tightened as a small form of relieving her anger and dislike of the new spirit. Then came the final nail that almost made her lose it. A wine bottle was formed and tossed her way, of which she caught with ease using her free hand. However, after hearing her brother being called a mongrel and even bringing up the conflict between her sibling and Ikuchi, any and all respect she had for Angra as an individual disappeared. Amaterasu disliked petty namecalling to a point that she even punished Susano for it, and she did not like how she was the only one that Ikuchi tolerated. There were always conflicts; ones that should not have existed in the first place. Angra just had to go and remind her of it. Her brother got what was coming to him when it came to whatever Ikuchi would do or say to him, rigged drinking contests included, and vice verse, but Angra had nothing to do with that. She had no place in the matter to even mock her brother, especially after giving them all such an offensive label. "You may go, Leader of the Leraci Clan." Amaterasu said gently while forcing away any anger she may have had on her face and giving the ninja a reassuring smile. "Samira is our responsibility. Just because you are here does not change that fact. We will watch over her." Once they were gone, the stern expression returned. The poor wine bottle would also not be delivered to the mentioned recipient. It was destroyed right then and there as she threw it against the wall beside her.

"Ama!" Bastet cried with widened eyes.
"Hmph, trigger a nerve, did she?"
"Her willingness to provoke my brother further does not amuse me. I want the conflict to end, not have another target to lash out at. It is destructive and makes me uncomfortable."
"Ha! That ship sailed the moment she referred to us as 'failed abortions.'"

The three then noticed that the nurse was still in the room and was messing around with the clocks and such. Odd, but they did not question it. Instead they took their conversation into their minds and spoke to each other mentally since apparently they were not going to get private time.
'Do not think too much on that. While I may deem it offensive, it is only natural that she think that way. Did you not sense it? She is not a simple spirit. She comes from the same line as those that created us. While those we may look upon as parents saw our worth and gave us a goal for our lives, there are those unrelated that would consider us as nothing more than abominations. I cannot judge her fully for it. To think that way is her right.'
'You are too forgiving. Just because she is what she is does not give her the right to look down on us. Most of those higher beings are worthless and care not for the world that I could have sworn they were supposed to protect. Instead we had to be created as tools because they were too damn lazy to take care of their mess themselves.'
'Anhur, let it go. I have no intention of changing that one's mind about us when we have bigger priorities.

The tail of the black cat thumped gently upon on the surface of the desk, and her green eyes narrowed into slits as she watched Amaterasu, who had taken a seat on the mattress of the bed and looked down at Samira. She could tell the light spirit was at a loss on how to deal with priority number one. Amaterasu could not even defeat the clone of Apophis by herself. To think she could forever hold off a higher powered spirit that only fell short to Zodiacs and the Celestial King would be slightly farfetched. Amaterasu was only able to do so now due to most of what he was being locked away. That lock was loosening more by the day. Samira had grown in power far more quickly than any of her spirits had anticipated. Only she could truly stop the spirit; either by using the keys of her spirits to reapply the lock to his cage, or by finding a way to tame him and form a proper contract. At that point, she wasn't ready for either of those options. The chaos spirit was using her; making her magic get to unstable limits in order to completely shatter the binds that held him away from the mortal plane and the rest of the celestial world. 'When do you and Ra intend on telling the others? Only those of the desert have the memory of the first time he was sealed. We have kept it secret all this time, but it is becoming one that is worthless to continue.' Her feline ears twitched as she heard Anhur scoff. 'Telling them anything is a waste of breath. The serpent will continue to use Samira; possibly corrupt her as he sees fit. She is too weak and inexperienced to do what is required of her. You should not have allowed her magic levels to increase in so little time. It has become his advantage.'

The trio conversed further, appearing as nothing more than silent guardians that watched the nurse work as they kept their voices mental. A few minutes later, Bastet had returned to the celestial world to check up on a few things, saying that she would return sometime later. Anhur took a momentary leave as well by leaving the room and taking the time to explore the rest of the ship. That left Amaterasu in the room alone with her summoner and the nurse. All in all only about twenty minutes had passed before Samira regained consciousness. Her eyes slowly opened, but rather than look over to where a certain glowing spirit was, she noticed the sphygmomanometer around her arm and then gazed over at the nurse that was using it. "What are-?" Samira had begun to ask while blinking slowly. The nurse had taken notice of her patient waking up and had interrupted the question by revealing the shocking length of time she had been passed out. If she was gullible before then she really had no reason to believe the nurse was lying to her when her mind was barely functional. "A year...?" The girl repeated with a blink and a small sigh. Then the length of time fully sunk in and her eyes widened. "A YEAR AND SIX MONTHS?!" With a burst of panicked energy fueling her, Samira quickly sat up and began to demand what had happened to make her pass out for nearly two years. The last she checked she only had a headache! Her only response was the nurse writing something on the clipboard she held, and then recording a message into a voice recorder. "Patient's mental state seems sound, reaction is as expected." A sweatdrop formed on the side of her head. "Eh?!" So, it was all a trick to further aid in some medical purpose. Instant relief that allowed her rapid heart rate to decrease. "Was there some grand announcement made to let everyone know who I am? Everyone seems to have personally heard a great deal about me. It is almost frightening."

Samira raised her hand to her forehead and rubbed it. While most of the pain from before was gone there was still a slight aching that weakly throbbed. "Wait! Peace Village?!" Her hand left her forehead as she quickly focused her eyes back on the nurse who was now exiting the room. There wasn't even time for her to think more of the situation before Kaori came into the room herself and sat beside her, holding her as she usually did. Once again she made herself into an unintentional burden for the ninja leader. How often did she have to be held and be taken care of due to her weaknesses? Kaori had many powerful spirits of her own and was able to keep going with none of them affecting her in the slightest. Meanwhile, Samira was barely able to handle all the powers of her spirits, and on many cases became weaker because of their attachment to her magic energy. One could say she obviously had much more spirits than her friend, but they would be forgetting that Kaori had other abilities and magic that would affect her status. Samira had none. She hated constantly finding herself in a weakened state, and just when she thought she had a handle on things and became more useful, something would happen to put her back on square one.

The feelings about herself made the hold of her friend not as comforting as it should have been, although she allowed it to continue for Kaori's sake. She didn't want her to get offended or take being pushed away the wrong way. "It was just a headache. I seem to get those a lot these days. It is nothing to worry about, although," Samira's green eyes then looked up towards Kaori. "What spirit are you referring to?" Her tone of voice clarified that she had no idea what Kaori was talking about. She was also a terrible liar when having Kaori as an opponent, and so the twin tailed woman would be able to recognize Samira was ignorant of the chaos spirit's involvement. The last time she could even remember hearing it was back when dealing with the monster that was rampaging across the continent. A memory that phased out as being nothing more than her imagination and never had been thought of again. Anything that happened afterwards, such as whenever he created dreams and took control over her, the memory of the event never stayed.

Amaterasu was still in the room, although she had moved from the bed and stood against the wall much like Anhur had done earlier. Aside from her obvious glow, she was easy to miss and was not offended that even Samira had not noticed she was right there in the room. The time to remain quiet and still had passed though, and she cleared her throat to remind the two girls that they were not alone. "Leader of the Leraci Clan, as amusing as it would be to see this throttling from afar, I will have to ask that you do not. You will only make things worse while he is connected to Samira in such a way. Unless you wish her to die I can only hope that you listen to my request." If Kaori mentioned that spirits would face serious consequences if they killed their summoner or made some other comment to refute her words, Amaterasu would narrow her eyes. "In the most technical sense, he is not her spirit; not yet. It is a line of thinking that even Aquarius mistook back when he forced my hand to make one. The contract was made to stop the unnecessary death that would have resulted from your actions as well as his. Samira's life alone was irrelevant to me, and I would have suffered no consequences should I have refused to complete my part of the contract. The one that lurks within her mind operates the same way. You could say hurting or outright killing someone from the mortal plane, however accidental it may be, would earn some consequences, but he is already at a point where those mean nothing. He has nothing to lose; only gain. If she were to die, he only needs to wait once more. If it were a simple matter of the Celestial King destroying him himself, he would have done so already." Regardless on whether or not she had to go into that mini-speech, Ama would sigh and her expression soften. "I am unaware of how he views her, but if he were to work like any other would when they sense danger or view something is more trouble than it is worth, I would assume he would cut his ties with her. That would mean killing her, and as an added result, cause some harm to you as well." That harm being that Samira may as well have been considered as a weakness for Kaori due to her feelings. Although, admittedly, she was unsure of how much of a weakness she was. She did feel love in the magical energy previously, but sometimes one had to choose between those they loved and something else. The death could have very little effect for all she knew depending on the circumstances.

Samira just had a blank stare as the light spirit spoke. Amaterasu was talking as if she were not even in the room, and she still had no idea what spirit they were talking about. "I feel as if I am being ignored. Am I not allowed to fully know the answer to my question?"

"Samira, you are at a point of power where you are unconsciously loosening the seal to a spirit that was locked away long ago. This spirit somehow managed to use the small openings created to keep a part of himself deep within your mind before you became ready to face him. Your raw magic is powerful, but physically and even mentally you are still too weak to suppress him. I do not know why, but he has taken control of your body a few times before. We noticed this as it happened, but I only recently became aware of what it really was. One of the side effects of him being in your mind before you are ready are the headaches, which he can make worse whenever he chooses, most likely when angered. If we were to take notice of where you were when you collapsed, I would assume he did not want you going near the Leader of the Leraci Clan or anything related to her. Even a locked away spirit has survival instincts, and her involvement would make things difficult for whatever he intends to accomplish through you." Amaterasu removed herself from the wall she was leaning on and stood up fully. Her body began to glow brighter than it already had been as magic particles began to swirl around her. "I have remained long enough for now. One last piece of information I leave is that a dark spirit such as he often requires a dark hearted master. Do not trust him. Also, I am sorry for the mess." The mess being that of the glass shards of the broken wine bottle and the liquid that was now all over the floor. With that said, she erupted fully into white and golden particles.

Once the spirit had left, Samira broke the ninja's hold over her, if it had not broken already, and moved herself off and away from the bed. Her steps took her to the nearest wall where she simply stopped and stood in front of it. Even Amaterasu had said she was weak. There really was no end to it. She gently grabbed a chunk of her hair and pulled it over her shoulder and begun to run her fingers through it as she had made a habit of doing when nervous or sad. It was a distraction, although a small one. "I would normally apologize for troubling you, but that must be so tiring to hear by this point. It becomes less significant the more times it is used, and if there is no progress to correct what was being apologized for. I have tried, and yet it always seems I am reset to step one just when I think I can be somewhat useful to those around me." Her tone was not one of self pity, but rather as if she were stating basic facts from a textbook. It was her fault and no one else's that what she had called a reset kept happening. She apparently was not trying hard enough to overcome her limitations, and to a point that a soon to be spirit was taking advantage of that and nearly killing her in the process. That was fact, and not something she was going to lower herself and cry over. She just wished her limitations did not keep affecting the same people over and over rather than just herself.

"The nurse mentioned we were heading to Peace Village. Can we turn around, please?" If it was asked why Samira would answer, but in a colder voice than she had ever given before. "There is nothing there that I want those close to me to see. Our lives are complete opposites in many ways; this is one of them. That place is not a home, and I would rather you not waste your time seeing it, or get your heart set on seeing where I lived for the past ten years. You will be disappointed."

Meanwhile, certain unknown individuals were making their way to Peace Village as well. As an extra precaution, unless Recon-One is invisible or has a stealth generator because I really don't know the ship they knew Samira was on was being followed by one of their own. A smaller one made for just a few people. It kept a distance so as not to be too obvious, and mainly used their sensors to keep track and make sure the larger ship was still on course.

---

Kaori had leaned against the wall with her arms crossed and eyes closed, angled at the ground in a very agitated fashion. Angra had taken a seat on Kaori's bed, folding one of her legs over the other and leaning forward with her arms resting on her top leg. She gave it a few seconds for Kaori to find her center before letting out a sigh. She looked at Kaori with a small smile and said "Stress is bad for your skin, you know?" with a mostly relaxed tone. Kaori remained silent, the weight of the situation was beginning to get to her. "She's not going to die, not immediately at least." Kaori had opened her eyes and looked at Angra with a glare that would make almost anyone back down. Angra let out another sigh while saying "You really are Kana's d-" In a very hurt and sad cry, Kaori screamed "WHAT THE HELL DO YOU KNOW!?" the outburst stunning Angra into silence while blinking. "You don't know a damn thing about my mother!" she followed up, the fact that Angra had already hit a nerve was very obvious. Kaori's only true friend had a spirit inside her that was hurting her and she didn't know anything more than that. There was a random spirit that she never met on her ship rubbing the problem in her face while also claiming to know the only person who kept her alive as a child... Things for Kaori were beyond stressful. Angra's expression softened and she began standing up, walking towards Kaori and stopped after a couple steps when she got another of those death glares shot at her. "You need to calm down, love. We both know what happens when you get overwhelmed..." her words were soft, but Kaori knew Angra was a spirit of darkness which, on account of a certain phoenix and pistol shrimp, didn't have good standing in Kaori's eyes- so Kaori didn't trust her. "I can feel it in your heart. The distrust you have for me, the pain you feel from what happened when you were a child, the fear you have for Samira's safety. You feel like you need to be the one to save Samira, you need to be the one to bring Saia to justice, you need to fight for everyone." Kaori's look of anger only got worse as her heart was being probed by someone she was trying to block out. "Kaori, you share the same issue as Kana when she was young. You have an immense amount of power that's all based on emotion. You're terrified of that power, it's unstable, and dangerous, and you feel like you need to keep your emotions in check so you don't hurt the people you love." "You don't know anything about me." Kaori said while looking away from Angra. The goddess let out a short giggle at the comment before moving closer to Kaori. Kaori had turned her enraged gaze back to her letting Angra know she'd come close enough. "I know that Kana protected you from your brother. She encouraged you to use your psychic abilities in private. When you wanted to be part of your clan's military she had her father in law train with you. I know that you blame yourself for Saia's betrayal." She was right, but Kaori didn't want to accept that she was related to her. "Kaori, I am your mother's sister. I helped her learn to control her power and I can do the same for you. You haven't had the same upbringing as her. Kana had her brother and I to teach her about her power, how to control it, how to best use it... You didn't have that. You don't need to trust me, but just give me a chance to show you I mean well."

Kaori had gotten off the wall and walked closer to Angra, going until she had met the woman in the middle of her room. Angra could sense that Kaori was on her guard, but she appreciated that she was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt. Kaori had been feeling Angra Mainyu's heart the whole time and determined that she was being sincere and genuine with her, which was the only reason she was giving her a chance. Angra had slowly lifted her hand before gently placing it on Kaori's heart. "I am the Goddess of Evil, my very name means All the Evil of Man. But I am not evil myself. I am the balance of this world, the reason that it doesn't collapse on itself. Without evil there would be no way to determine good. Without my presence, no one would like heroes, because there would be no need for them. Evil gives mortals purpose, without it, there is no strife. Without strife, there is no struggle. Without struggle, there is no reason to live- there would be nothing to overcome. But you are not evil, you are passion. You are volition, desire, will- the very thing that forces people to act. We are symbiotic in nature. Whenever you need me, call and I'll come. This is my contract." Angra took on a black glow that faded and Kaori felt a link being formed with the goddess, enabling the use of her key. "I have to ask you something..." Kaori said, looking at the ground with uncertainty. "If... If you're a goddess, does that mean... my mom's one too? Is- Is she alive?" "Your mother was born a goddess, but died a human. You killed her, and that will always be part of your legacy. Your friend's gonna be waking up soon, you might wanna be there to help her recover from what that nurse is planning." Angra said before vanishing in gold and black particles.

---

---

After Kaori's comment, Amaterasu had said "Leader of the Leraci Clan, as amusing as it would be to see this throttling from afar, I will have to ask that you do not. You will only make things worse while he is connected to Samira in such a way. Unless you wish her to die I can only hope that you listen to my request." It was a statement that made Kaori raise an eyebrow. If Kaori killed Apophis then it shouldn't be possible for him to harm Samira... right? 'She's right.' Charlotte's voice sounded in Kaori's mind. 'Samira and you grew up very differently. She was born a summoner, you became a summoner- which is far more different than you know. All of us were completely separate from you and formed a bond after our contract. Samira was born with a set of spirits already bonded to her on a very deep level. They can affect her mood, her thoughts, her dreams, and in extreme cases like this- her health. Those are things we will never be able to do.' 'Actually...' Query chimed in. 'You're the exception Q...' Jed commented, knowing that Query was able to do that with anyone- not just Kaori. Kaori didn't bring up the contracts between spirits since she figured that there would always be loopholes. Contracts weren't all the same, such was the case with Aquarius and her where if she ever became a danger Aquarius had the responsibility of killing her. Amaterasu added in a bit more, saying "I am unaware of how he views her, but if he were to work like any other would when they sense danger or view something is more trouble than it is worth, I would assume he would cut his ties with her. That would mean killing her, and as an added result, cause some harm to you as well." Kaori had opened her mouth to say something but was cut off by Samira's comment about being ignored. Amaterasu had explained the situation in better detail, not sugar coating the fact that Samira was far too weak to do this in her current state. Kaori knew that it would hit Samira like a freight train to be told she was weak again, useless, and a burden. Even though she wasn't told she was a burden or useless, she'd feel it. Kaori knew that Samira being hurt at all, extent of injury irrelevent, had an immediate effect on her. If she were to be killed, Aquarius would be fulfilling his contract within seconds if he survived that long. "I have remained long enough for now. One last piece of information I leave is that a dark spirit such as he often requires a dark hearted master. Do not trust him. Also, I am sorry for the mess." was the last thing Kaori heard before she vanished and Samira began breaking away from Kaori.

"I would normally apologize for troubling you, but that must be so tiring to hear by this point. It becomes less significant the more times it is used, and if there is no progress to correct what was being apologized for. I have tried, and yet it always seems I am reset to step one just when I think I can be somewhat useful to those around me." The words didn't sound sad this time, but rather being very blunt and realistic. Kaori felt like Samira was beginning to lose hope in herself, which means she was falling into despair. She had mentioned that she wanted them to turn the ship around since her home life was nothing like Kaori's, that she had nothing to show Kaori that was worth being seen. It was then that Kaori looked at Anhur and said 'Give us a moment alone.' in a partially commanding, but also partially requesting mental tone. The ninja stood up and walked to Samira, taking one of her hands and gently pulling her close to her. Kaori would take Samira's other hand if she'd allow it and pull her all the way in and rest her own head on Samira's shoulder before hugging her. "You're right... It really is tiring hearing you apologize to me, but not for the reasons you think..." Kaori's hug would get tighter on Samira. "Anytime I help someone, they always pay me. It's not always money... sometimes it's a hug, sometimes it's food, sometimes it's just a simple 'thank you' and nothing more. But you're the only one who says they're sorry." Kaori's hold on Samira weakened slightly, but not by much. "Ikuchi helped you as a way of helping me. He didn't actually care for you, but you thanked him every time..." Kaori's head turned to face Samira and gently placed a kiss on her cheek. She then pulled back from Samira while keeping her hands on her waist and looking into Samira's eyes. "I'd do anything to get a single 'thank you' and feel like I helped instead of an 'I'm sorry' and feeling like I did more damage."

Kaori released Samira and took a couple steps back. She then grabbed one of her wrists with her other hand and looked at the ground. "As for your house in Peace Village... I'd still like to see it. You've seen my home and while it's a good place, I'm always the clan leader there. I can't be weak or cold, I have to be composed and rational at all times. Growing up I had to become the most dangerous warrior and accrue accolades to become respected. I never once thought you had a joyous life, you're much too reserved and passive for it- but I've always wanted to know more about you. If you'd truly like me to turn the ship around I'll do it, but if there's something that's making you uncomfortable about returning I want to be at your side to help you through it."

---

---

"God dammit Angra!" Aquarius shouted at the spirit in an annoyed tone, her actions with Amaterasu being something that he truly couldn't approve of. "What's the matter Aqua? Got some salt in your ass?" she replied with that devious smile on her face. "U-Umm... M-maybe we sh-should-" "Shut it." "Oh-o-okay..." Mammoth had moved forward while materializing a hammer in his hand but was quickly stopped by Scarlet and Jediniah putting their arms out in front him. "Look, I'll do as I damn-well please. Those copies wanna start causing trouble-" "We'll need those 'copies' to end the trouble and keep in mind, it was originals like you who made them! You think so damn much about yourself, why the fuck didn't you help when that monster attacked? Why didn't you help when it was originally made? Why didn't you help Kaori when she was growing up? Those 'failed abortions' have done more in a single week than a lazy slut like you have done in your entire existence!" It was out of nowhere that an azure aura came about both spirits as Ira and Query had both combined their magic to create a wall between them that not even Angra Mainyu could break. They didn't care if they argued, but they both knew that pretty soon fighting would start and there wasn't enough room for that in the tiny space. "Do you know what happens when gods interfere with mortals? Everytime it happens disaster breaks out! If I went and saved Kaori every single time things got hard then where would she be now?! Where would YOU be now? You would be sulking around that half-destroyed shitty ship, crying over your dead crew instead of having the closure you wanted! Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, happens for a reason and I'll be damned if I stop time from flowing because of a selfish reason like family." Aquarius grit his teeth, not wanting to admit that she was right for doing nothing. "If your going to sit on your ass, then don't be a bitch to the people who actually do shit." he said and vanished. Angra let out a huff and looked at the sister spirits to let them know they could remove the barrier from her. "He's right, you know." Scarlet said before vanishing. Soon after the other spirits all vanished as well, leaving Angra to be alone.

Within moments Aquarius was standing at the underused door to Samira's mental space where he took a deep breath. He gently knocked on the door and waited for someone to open. "I'm not here to cause trouble, is Amaterasu still here?" His tone was firm as ever, but it didn't sound like he was angry about anything. If he was allowed to enter he would do so and immediately turn his attention to the person he wanted to address. His words would come out sincere and true. "I understand that there was an issue between you and Angra. I wanted to apologize for her actions, I assure you I've already talked to her about them. Though, that's about all I can do when it comes to her... she's not exactly 'one of us' as I'm sure you've noticed. She likes to toy with people and provoke them, even test them and push their sanity to its limits. I wouldn't expect an apology from her, but just know that none of us are encouraging her to do it. Jed, Scarlet, Mammoth, Charlotte, Ira, Query and I all respect your power... all of your power and view you as our equals in terms of status." Aquarius would then turn to whichever other spirits were in the room with them and address them all. "I'm sure by now everyone's well aware of Samira's condition, or at least have a small idea of what's at stake. Kaori has no intentions of letting Samira get strong on her own, she knows how hard that is and has no idea how much time Sammy has left. I know some of you have your own opinions of me, but I hope you can put that aside long enough to work together. We all know that neither team is strong enough alone. There's no set of spirits next in line for Samira to lean on... Ra, Kukulkan, Amaterasu, and that other one are the strongest ones she's got for this issue and this 'Apophis' won't be as easy to deal with as Ikuchi. None of us are obligated to help Samira with this, but if our captain is going to hell to pick a fight then we're going with her. With that I'll take my leave." Just as he said, Aquarius left through the door before vanishing to take care of some other matters. Just after Aquarius left, a magic circle appeared on one of the tables in Samira's mind space that was azure in color. The circle then caused white and azure dust to converge on it, forming a brown wicker basket. After that, more dust converged on it to form a metal stick in the middle with a spiral at the top where a card or letter should have been- but none was. A dark hole opened above it and a shower of cookies fell down and landed in the basket without a single one of them breaking. The cookies were shortbread on the outside and had a differently colored filling inside ranging from blueberry and strawberry to coffee, caramel, and toffee flavors. The cookies were each in the shape of Samira's spirits, the frosting being about as good likeness as can be- but wasn't perfect since frosting doesn't always cooperate. The azure and white dust converged on the top of the metal post to show a piece of paper with the letter "Q" on it. On the back it said 'Ira says hi.'

"Mages come in all shapes and sizes. Where one may falter at something, another may excel."

Samira's thoughts were in disarray. They formed and moved rapidly from one to another to a point that her entire focus was spent on trying to organize them. Those few seconds of standing there quietly felt more like an eternity for her. Her hands kept going through her hair on auto pilot. There was a touch on one of them though that snapped her back into the more calmer reality. Her eyes blinked, puzzled at first since she did not notice that Kaori had stood up and came towards her. Samira felt a gentle tug that pulled her closer, after which her other hand had been taken. Seconds later the summoner was being tightly embraced by the other woman, who had rested her head on her shoulder. She was being comforted again. A burden and a problem again. Again and again. The first two words that had been said stabbed her heart deeply. Kaori was the only one that had never said outright how much trouble she caused her. Samira knew the limits would be reached eventually, she had just got done saying as much, but hearing it still hurt even though she was prepared for it. The words of the ninja continued, stating that there were other reasons she was tired of receiving nothing but apologies. Samira had tensed up, expecting the reasons to be even worse than what she had thought. The hug on her had tightened. She continued listening to the softly spoken words, waiting to hear the true reason for why the other had grown tired of her apologies. Samira could feel the arms around her weaken their hold slightly, but not before she had been told that out of all the people Kaori had helped she was the only one to say sorry instead. Was that such a bad thing? It was appropriate to apologize for needing the help to begin with. She should have been able to take care of herself every single time. Ikuchi was then brought up, and while it hurt to hear that he really didn't care for her at all, thereby making anything nice he did completely fake and still just as confusing, that was quickly passed over when Kaori mentioned that he was thanked every time. He never received an apology, but words of gratitude. Her green eyes widened slightly at the realization. That was...actually true. Every single time.

Kaori gently kissed her cheek. It was a simple act the ninja had done a few times before, in very similar scenarios. The act brought a bit of a pink hue to her cheeks. Such acts of affection she was still not all that used to, although she had grown accustomed to being held. So many times she had to be. The hug disconnected as Kaori pulled back, but still keeping hold of her waist. Green eyes met ruby eyes as the ninja continued speaking. There was more emotional pain for the both of them. The one that was always there for her because she really cared only ever got apologies. No thank yous. Samira didn't realize such a thing would have hurt her. She was too concerned that Kaori would push her away for causing too much trouble, so saying sorry felt more natural as a way to prevent that from happening. Samira didn't want there to be a reason to be ignored by the only friend she had. Showing that there was an understanding that she had done something wrong made more sense to her for those she cared about. Why Ikuchi got thanked repeatedly she didn't know. Perhaps on a subconscious level she knew apologizing would only annoy him, or maybe it was some pathetic attempt to get him to like her better instead of hating her. They were the actions of someone that had their infatuations misplaced completely; the actions of someone that clung to another just because they had been shown some type of affection from them, however small or unintended it may have been.

Even at that moment, Samira felt the need to apologize for hurting Kaori unintentionally instead of thanking her. Her mouth opened, but she quickly closed it before the words had managed to escape. She felt terrible, and there was no way to instantly make it right. Forcing a thank you right after having been told she wanted one more than anything would have been a slap to the face. It would have showed she was only doing it because it was brought up. Samira couldn't do it; not then.

Samira was fully released and Kaori took a few steps back. How Kaori reacted with looking at the ground while grabbing her wrist just reminded her of how she acted just before going on the medication. The heavy and depressed feeling she now had could not possibly get any worse. Well it could considering Kaori was probably on that level now. By trying to be selfless Samira had managed to be selfish instead. She still did not want Kaori to go with her to the village, but it was logically fair after she had given her a tour of her own. It was different though... Kaori was everything to those people while Samira was just a ghost. Kaori may of had to earn that respect and gone through a lot to get to her current status, but as for herself it didn't matter what she did. Her status would remain the same even if she had acquired titles such as Rising Star or Wizard Saint. There really was not anything to see or show and tell. Why was she even going back to begin with? Some weird sense of nostalgia? It was one of those occurrences that people joke about where a person would just wake up one morning with an idea in their head. There was no real explanation for it that she could think of.

Her eyes closed as the ninja continued speaking. It sounded like she really wanted to see it, and Samira got the feeling if she still denied taking Kaori with her that only more daggers would pierce the ninja's heart. Samira wanted to stop doing that when she could help it. That, and a part of her did desire some company. Physical company that she could hold onto and see, and not the voices of the spirits that were always in her head. Anhur and Bastet had been with her for that reason.

The summoner then did something she had not done before. While Kaori was distracted by looking at the ground, Samira walked the few steps forward and wrapped her arms around Kaori before she began to push the ninja backwards towards the bed where the two would eventually fall over onto the mattress. Naturally the younger of the two was now on top of the other, holding onto her tightly. Her head rested on Kaori's shoulder, but was turned in the opposite direction so she could not see Kaori's face. She had been that close to Kaori many times before, but it was the first time she was that bold as to initiate it herself that randomly. Her cheeks burned, which gave the assumption that her face was obviously a few shades more colorful than normal. Embarrassing. A feeling that was to be ignored since she knew such closeness and affection brought some form of comfort for her friend. Although, if she were allowed to be selfish again Samira would say it helped her as well. Being that close to another she had come to enjoy and take comfort in. It had been so long. Most likely dating back to the last time she saw her grandfather. A whole ten years until she met a certain white haired ninja that had made a habit of caring for her.

"You are the only one that has not come right out and said that I cause problems for you. There is a limit to this, and admittedly I am scared of reaching it." Her voice and tone were soft as she spoke, but after her last word there was a brief silence from Samira before she spoke again. "You feeling hurt by my apologies was not intended. I have been more selfish than I had thought, and apparently was blind to the fact you wished for me to show gratitude instead of acknowledging my mistakes and weaknesses." Samira pushed herself up slightly, just enough so she could turn her head so her face was facing Kaori's before laying back down. Her left arm let go of Kaori and rose so that her hand was on the ninja's right cheek. Gently she pushed the ninja's face closer to her own until she could softly kiss the other cheek. It was an action she always found to be sweet whenever Kaori had done it with her, and so she thought nothing of it when considering showing the same type of affection. "I will try to remember this. You have helped me more times than I can count, so please do not think otherwise."

Samira then pulled back and released Kaori completely as she sat up. "Peace Village is not far from Hargeon, and I would think we have been on the way for a while now. We are probably almost there. If you really want to see it, then I will allow it. You will be treated well I imagine, especially given your Wizard Saint title. You would be the closest thing to a celebrity that place has seen in a while. Just...do not be surprised with how they react towards me." Naturally if any of the above was stopped then it didn't happen. Samira would just say that she was fine with continuing on to Peace Village while also asking to be left alone until they arrived. Regardless of what happened, the ship would soon arrive at its destination and land in an open meadow just outside the village. An announcement that they had landed was made on the intercom. If Kaori was still in the room, Samira would sigh softly before telling her that it was time to leave. Otherwise, Samira would leave her room and quietly head towards the exit of the ship, where Anhur was already waiting with arms crossed over his chest and eyes closed. "Finally we have landed. I do not enjoy riding on these strange lifeless birds." The exit opened and the ramp released to allow the small party to safely leave.

Samira walked down the ramp and looked off into the short distance that was the village. There was not as much of a reaction towards a mysterious ship landing nearby as she had thought there would be. Some children had gone to the village's entrance and stared in awe and bewilderment before taking off back inside, but that was about it. "Welcome to Peace Village, I suppose. " Samira would say to Kaori if she were present, or say it once she had arrived. There was a smile, but it was small and forced. "It is not the place where I was born, but it is where I stayed for the later half of my life. I had to stay here with my uncle's family when my grandfather passed away. Children around here do not really grow up as quickly as the ones where you are from do. The thought of being allowed to take care of myself was unheard of, and I am not at all sure I would have been able to. I do not even do a good enough job of that now at my current age." Samira took a few steps forward, but turned around when she noticed she did not hear the footsteps of a certain lion spirit. Indeed he had not moved even though he had said earlier he was ready to get off the ship. Instead he was looking around the meadow, as if he sensed something that was hiding. There was a low growl emanating from his throat, but he said nothing or made no other movements. "Are you not coming, Anhur?" The golden eyes of the lion spirit continued staring off into the distance for a moment before blinking and turning towards the pair of summoners. "No. I am not required for this. I will follow if I deem it necessary." The reality was he felt it was more important to investigate his suspicions and catch up if what he sensed was accurate. He couldn't do that while playing tag along on some weird homecoming that came out of no where. The last he knew of Samira was never homesick or had even talked about it. There was also a certain hesitance of entering a village where he may end up getting more attention than he cared for. "I see..." Samira replied, using an emotionless tone to hide her disappointment. Her list of company was getting smaller with now both Bastet and Anhur being elsewhere. At the very least she knew Kaori would not take off or change her mind. "The main house is towards the back of the village, so we will have to walk quite a ways. At least you will get to see a good portion of it this way."

Peace Village was what someone would expect from its name: it was peaceful. There wasn't a lot of noise coming from it at all, and even its atmosphere was relaxing to be in. With its flowery meadow, clear skies, a mass of forest trees in the background, cute little houses and cottages, and even a river running through it, it was as if the place popped out of a heavily edited magazine page. The perfect place for someone wanting to get away from it all to relocate for a while. For most. Appearances could often be deceiving.

Taking the lead, Samira followed the dirt path that led into the village itself. Upon arriving at the entrance, a group of kids ran towards the pair and gathered, most of them holding issues of Sorcerer's Magazine. "See? I told you it was her?" One girl shouted at another while she looked at a page in the magazine and then up at the pair of girls. "No way! It's probably a costume. A Wizard Saint wouldn't come to this boring place. They'd be off somewhere kicking butt!" A boy said just before being shoved aside by another girl beside him. "No one would be wearing a costume of one and coming here either, stupid! Plus, I mean, she came in that ship. That's got to mean something right?" All the children nodded their heads and agreed that that statement made the most logical sense ever. If you owned a ship then you were likely someone super special awesome. The next thing that happened was probably something Kaori was never actually asked to sit down and do, or if she had likely refused to do so: sign autographs. The children had come prepared and with devilish smiles on their faces all pulled out pens at the exact same time. They then surrounded the poor ninja, all holding up their issues of the magazine that were opened to the page that had Kaori's picture and info that listed her as one of the Wizard Saints. "Can we have your autograph?!" Asked the girl in front as she hopped in place rather excitedly. Then the rest all said in unison "pllleeeaaassseee?" If Kaori refused to do any signing, the children would put on the puppy dog eye expression. If that didn't work, they'd all lower the magazines they held up and walk away, clearly disappointed. Naturally, if she accepted, they'd all wait their turn and ask questions while doing so. Either way, Samira would be sweatdropping with a smile a little farther away. She had gotten pushed aside when the children had swarmed. Samira didn't mind Kaori taking the time to entertain them and if she was given a questioning look on whether it was all right, she'd just nod and stand there silently and a little awkwardly until it was done. The whole time no one even looking her way even though she was from there and probably should of had some recognition.

Once that was dealt with in either way, the two would continue on down the village road. Many people stopped what they were doing when they noticed Kaori just waltzing down the street and began to gossip among themselves. "Sorry if they annoy you. They would not exactly listen to me if I were to tell them to stop. I also ask that you try and ignore it for the time being. I do not want trouble, and they would probably not understand. They are all slightly small minded and would take offense." As if on queue, a group of women had overheard the "small minded" remark, or rather one could assume they heard it. They shot a quick glare in the summoner's direction, but said nothing or reacted as one normally would have. They all just resumed their conversation and pretended they heard nothing. Not much further down the road it had become a little slightly busier obstacle course. Well, for Samira at least. Everyone actually avoided Kaori and each other. Samira had to actually make an effort to not get ran into as if everyone around was blind and had no idea she was even there. The best method for avoiding getting smacked around like an invisible object? Cling to the nearest Wizard Saint! After getting shoved a few times and had once nearly fallen over, Samira got behind Kaori and latched onto her waist. "I had forgotten that the main road is probably not the best approach," she said rather calmly despite having to resort to using Kaori as a shield just to get through the streets safely. It was just another day; a sort of day she may of not had since leaving, but completely normal. Samira would push the ninja along as a sort of guide until they were at a less crowded side road. If at any point Kaori had asked anything about what just happened, Samira would just evade the question with a smile and tell her not to think too much of it.

Samira let go of her human shield and took a few steps forward while looking around. It had been some time since she had been through that area, and she was trying to figure out the best route to take. "Hmmmm." Her eyes narrowed, still in serious thought. Then the green orbs widened as a thought came to her head. "Oh, I know!" Without explaining much of anything, she would grab Kaori's hand and drag her along the way less crowded and quiet streets, if she was allowed. Otherwise, she would assume the ninja was following her regardless. Within a few minutes, the pair would leave the main part of the village and be at the farther outskirts of it. The place looked mainly abandoned and decrepit, but there was one such house that looked intact and livable in. Samira would not stop until she ran up the steps onto the porch and stood in front of the screen door. She'd let go of Kaori's hand if she were still dragging her along. "These people may seem strange at first, but they are nice enough. I would rather spend some time here before going to the main house anyway." The girl opened the screen door to gain access to the wooden door and had raised her hand to knock with a wide smile on her face. Just as her hand formed into a fist to do the action, she frowned, as if she remembered something important. The screen door closed as she stepped away. "You will have to do the knocking," Samira said in a saddened tone while looking at the ground and running her hand through her green colored hair. If Kaori had asked why, the only thing she would get in reply would be, "that is how things are around here."

Whether or not Kaori knocked, the door would open anyway. Obviously if she knocked that would be the reason. If she didn't or never got the chance to before it opened, the reason would be because of being a disturbance to the otherwise very silent porch. "Eh?! What do you want?!" A thin elderly man with glasses in front of his eyes asked from behind the half open door. His grey eyes squinted at Kaori. "You look too old to be selling cookies!" He stepped out, curious since he had never seen the ninja mage before. Then his gaze shifted over towards Samira, who gave a small but awkward smile. He said nothing but gave a small nod, which was probably the only actual source of acknowledgement she had received all day. "I guess the ghosts around here have decided that you should pay us a visit, huh?" He asked, focusing back on Kaori. "Damn, ghosts. Always showing up without warning. I would have cleaned the place a bit first!" He stepped back inside halfway and yelled within. "April! Mary! We're haunted again! We also have a guest so for god's sake put something less embarrassing on! I swear if you come downstairs in an outfit that is fifty years too young for you again I will burn your entire closet!" Stepping back outside, he held the door open and motioned inside. "Come on in, I guess. Don't mind the mess."

Once inside, it would be clear that the two story house was indeed old and a little bit unkept. Cracks were along the walls and things were tossed everywhere. The pair were led into what was thankfully a better looking room that was actually intact and clean. There were two white couches and a couple of chairs surrounding a wooden table that had a tea set already in place. The wallpaper was slightly cringing to look at with its green color and pink flower designs, but nothing too eye bleeding. It was actually a cozy small room even if it was in the middle of a house that was falling apart. Kaori was asked to sit and Samira took a seat on one of the couches without being asked to. "I figured this is probably as enjoyable as this home visit will get. It will likely be downhill from here once we leave." Enjoyable, maybe, but likely more informative than Samira had anticipated. Learning more about the summoner was what Kaori had wanted though, and the people within that house would end up providing it.

The man had already left as soon as the two were led to the room, and before long a pair of older woman slowly made their way from downstairs and into the room. One tall and thin; the other short and chubby. Both wearing clothes that were actually suitable for their ages instead of some skin showing outfit that a twenty year old would wear. Any nightmares that were imagined would not destroy the eyes. The older women would instantly gravitate towards Kaori and greet her while also probably being a little too close for comfort. They would comment on how beautiful she looked and argue about where she came from while also playing with her hair. They would stop if Kaori asked them to do so and apologize, but they did comment about how she was right and that such things were probably saved for later, meaning they intended to do it all over again later. All the while Samira had to force herself not to laugh as she watched.

After that was over, the taller one would ask Kaori what type of tea she liked and then head towards the connected kitchen to make it, taking the tea set tray that was on the table with her. The shorter one had taken a seat on one of the chairs and on an end table beside it grabbed a jar of candy and set it on the main table within the room. She insisted Kaori take a piece, stating that it was the best candy to be had to a point that she and her sister had been going through their huge collection of it for the past fifty years. Samira would shake her head, indicating that the ninja should toss any pieces she had grabbed into the nearest flower pot when the old woman was not looking in order to hide the evidence that it was not eaten. The one that had gone to make the tea returned and set the tray down. There would be a filled cup for Kaori if she had wanted tea, but it would not be the tea she requested. It would be Jasmine tea. Asking what sort of tea she wanted was just a courtesy. The only tea they actually had in the house was always Jasmine. If it was brought up, they would tell her this much while also saying it was the best tea in the world anyhow.

"You two should stop asking guests what they want then!" The yell of the old man could be heard from another part of the house.
"Oh, quiet, you old fool!" The tall older woman shouted back.
The last one grabbed her cup and glanced at Samira for a second before returning her gaze to the tea within the cup. "April, there has not been a ghost in the attic for a while now. I wonder if it knows about all the new things I have put up there."
"New?! HA! Just a bunch of old junk! I can't believe you got suckered into buying all that crap! We don't need more books on fables! Get a damn library card!" The man shouted once again. How he could hear the conversation in such detail from where he was would be left unexplained. Probably a magically overpowered hearing aid. Nonetheless, Samira was out of her seat and running upstairs towards the attic.

"So, you are a friend of Samira's?" The shorter woman asked as Samira was leaving the room, hopefully getting the ninja's attention before she followed. She would ask Kaori to remain in the room, stating that Samira would be occupied for a while and that watching her go over books would not be very interesting. The other elderly woman took a seat on another chair that was beside the other and grabbed her own cup of tea. The fact they had mentioned the summoner's name and how she was occupied was evidence in that people were not under some sort of strange spell. If Kaori had questions, now would be the time to ask them.

Spirit Mind Space:

There was a knock on the door; a sound that the spirits within were still not used to. Although, the last time it happened a certain Zodiac was the one that had used it. "Oh, great. Let me guess on who's standing behind door number one." Susano commented with a roll of his eyes. He was in a relatively decent mood, indicating that thus far, he had not heard about a certain goddess calling him a mongrel and bringing up his contest loss. Amaterasu never dared to bring it up once she had returned, and even though Bastet and Anhur had never gotten the chance to do so, they still would not have mentioned it. A certain feathered serpent was another story. She had been in the mind space keeping watch while Samira was unconscious and had seen and heard everything. The only thing that stopped her from toying with her fellow wind spirit when he returned was the fact she was pissed off herself. That damn Angra bitch!

"It's Aquarius!" Serqet said after looking through the peephole. She was either oblivious to the fact Susano was sarcastic, or she had given him a real answer on purpose just to mess with him. With her, it was hard to tell. It did not stop him from facepalming.

Loki: "Well, it certainly can't get any worse than it already is, could it? Lets let him in and be entertained a bit more! This little meeting of ours is so dreadfully boring!"
Agni: "He could drown us in here. Hey, if this place fills up with water does that mean Samira would be leaking it from her ears? I've always wondered this ever since Ama mentioned putting in an order for an indoor pool just to make more paperwork for Jing."
Skadi: "Stop with stupid question," the winter spirit said while smacking the fire spirit's head with a rock. "Open door."

With a shrug of her shoulders. Serqet opened the door and stepped aside for the Zodiac to enter. "She sure is! Right over there!" The venom spirit pointed over towards Ama, who was sitting on the couch with a serious expression. Not so much due to his presence as it was with other things that had happened that day and with what was currently resting on her shoulders. It was rather curious for him to be there though. There were no other contracts for him to try and force, and that was the only time the two had ever spoken. All of the spirits listened quietly. A few times one nearly interrupted to comment, but would be slapped aside the head by another spirit as a way to shut them up. Once he had made his speech, he had left. Then in some bizarre twist cookies were delivered through a portal, and in their likeness. That was a new one. Almost immediately the fact Aquarius had stopped by and raised the tension in the room had been forgotten. Cookies now had the spotlight! The less serious spirits went over to the basket and were greatly entertained as they fought over who got what cookie. Agni had even gotten upset when Kali had grabbed his cookie and bit off both of the heads before tossing it at him. The cookies were a hit. Now if only they would remember to thank Query for them later, as well as saying hi to Ira.

Susano, Ama, Kuku, and Nu Wa remained near the couch and watched the others.

Susano: "We're going to have to make brownies for them now, aren't we? Do we even have a spirit that cook?"
Nu Wa: "I am more concerned that I got called "the other one." I suppose I do not leave that much of an impression, do I?" the Lamia spirit asked with a covered mouth giggle.
Kuku: "Nah, your impression is fine, Nu. If you were noticeable I would be worried I would have to defend you more. A shame I can't eat him now though. I wanted to take that asshole out for rushing my contract."
Susano: "Whoa, whoa, whoa! You are actually considering not eating something that pissed you off? What the hell made that kind of a switch?"
Kuku: "The asshole has balls. Takes a lot to waltz into what may be hostile territory to just apologize for something he didn't even do himself, I don't care if his power as a Zodiac could counter that argument. I wouldn't have even bothered if I were in his place. I can respect that...just this once."
Susano: "I can't believe I am going to give you credit for having a point. He's also actually the first on that side to actually admit Ikuchi is a problem. I approve of this."
Kuku: "What? You mean that weird dragon that from what I have heard bangs nearly every female he sees? He's categorized as a problem? You're kidding? Guy seemed pretty tame last time I saw him. Last I checked, Samira was trying to get over him. Why aren't you? Are you sure you are not just a sore loser?"
Ama: "Kukulkan, do not say anything more on that matter." Amaterasu interrupted quickly before Susano could get a word in. She sent a mild glare his way to let him know she did not wish to hear more of the topic, of which he respected and kept his tongue and anger in check. "There is no reason to continuously bring up the past actions of the Hound of Dragons or of Angra Mainyu. We know of our major priorities and neither of them are on that list. What could be considered as good news is that as far as spirits are concerned, we are allied so long as our masters are. We have their power and aid alongside our own."
Susano: "Where there is good news there is always bad. I'll take a wild guess. We may still be screwed even with their help?"
Ama: "Correct. At the end of it all it will come down to Samira. I will not say that it is hopeless; that is not within my nature. However, I am not blind to the little time that there is left."
Kuku: "So, there's about as much hope as Susano winning a drinking contest rematch? You should have kept that wine instead of breaking it. I could use some right about now."
Susano: "I clearly missed something. What's this about wine?"
Kuku: "Oh, Angra Mainyu gave you a pity participation reward for losing against dragon boy. Some wine of the gods or something. She called you a mongrel too by the way. It was kind of hilarious. You know, because you always...call...him...uh..."

Kukulkan had stopped her sentence when she took notice of Ama's mild glare turning into a fierce one. Not that she really cared, of course, it was just different to see. Was she really that worried about how her brother would react? Come on now. He was a big spirit! Surely he would be able to stand an insult or two.

Susano: "WHAT?????!!!!!" Mind space wind explosion. Instant mind link cutoff.

Samira had moved in closer and wrapped her arms around Kaori, an action that she hadn't done in... an extremely long time, so long in fact that Kaori (and the person writing this) couldn't properly remember it clearly. Kaori held her arms out, a look of surprise on her face that quickly turned to slight fear as she was pushed and tripped into a freefall. Kaori didn't let out any sounds as she was stunned by the sudden burst of boldness from her partner. Samira hugged Kaori on the bed, resting her head on the white haired ninja and looking the other way, which Kaori was glad for. If Samira saw the redness on Kaori's cheek she might get confused for a tomato from the fact that her mind had returned to a very specific time and date. It had gone back to the day that Samira had helped Kaori regain her heart, and a very specific, similar- but more extreme situation that was required to reclaim the part that was with the celestial mage. Samira had told Kaori that of all the people the celestial mage had ever met, Kaori was the first, the only one to never once complain of her being a burden. Kaori had never thought of her as dead weight, or as being worthless so she never thought that Samira was a burden. While there were times where Samira wasn't able to do much, she always found some way to contribute to a resolution; either by giving ideas, using her spirits, or just being present to help Kaori keep a... mostly level head. She told Kaori that even she had her limits, and admitted something that nearly broke Kaori's rapidly beating heart... that she was afraid of reaching that limit. The reason it hurt was that, Samira having that fear meant that she didn't trust that she could ask Kaori for anything, there were things that she would hold back for fear of rejection. She was afraid that Kaori would one day just leave instead of be her ally, because the situation was too much for her to handle. But at the same time, it meant that Samira didn't want that to happen. She wanted Kaori to always be there, and never think of her as a burden, or even consider her to be an annoyance. She was being considerate of her feelings, which was something that Kaori was only recently getting used to... As a clan leader, there was never a question of how she was feeling, or if she needed a break, or if she needed help. There was just the expectation that she would do what was best for the clan, and ask for help if she ever needed it, and the expectation that she wouldn't need it. Kaori was just beginning to relax and accept Samira's hug, her cheeks returning to their normal color. This changed when Samira lifted her head and kissed Kaori on the cheek, making the redness pause and linger as she told Kaori that she would try not to forget Kaori's kindness. She had mentioned that Kaori had helped her more times than she could count. Samira had then got off Kaori and sat up, which honestly made Kaori feel disappointed since she wanted to stay like that.

Kaori had sat up and leaned on Samira, resting her head on the celestial wizard's shoulder while also lacing her arm into Samira's. Kaori looked at Samira's hand and then closed her eyes. She knew that Samira didn't think of her in the same way and decided that trying to hold her hand would be pushing her luck. So Kaori settled for leaning on Samira and holding her arm while the ship continued its path. Kaori repeated Samira's words in her mind... "Peace Village is not far from Hargeon, and I would think we have been on the way for a while now. We are probably almost there. If you really want to see it, then I will allow it. You will be treated well I imagine, especially given your Wizard Saint title. You would be the closest thing to a celebrity that place has seen in a while. Just...do not be surprised with how they react towards me." The first part was a given, they'd be arriving within minutes at the latest. Kaori was appreciative that she'd be able to see where Samira was from, but the last part of her message had reminded Kaori of a fact that she wanted to never think of. Samira was in every sense, a weaker wizard than Kaori. She was slower, less flexible, less agile, less skilled with weapons, and had no spells with any form of force behind them. She relied on her celestial spirits for everything in combat aside from maybe hiding in a corner and waiting for the right moment to beat someone with a rock. Samira wasn't a weak mage at all. Her spirits were vast in variety and function, some of them immensely powerful- but none were capable of defeating Kaori. Even if some of them teamed up against her the best they could do was delay her. Samira was a great wizard, but Kaori had cast a shadow that was so unbearably massive and dense that nothing Samira did could get her out of it- and Kaori hated that. Kaori knew that it was her fault, too. If she hadn't let herself become so powerful, Samira would have been able to shine more often. She'd be the wizard saint with a bunch of fans, she'd get more recognition in her own home and not have to feel useless. Her visit to Peace Village sounded like she was going to be put on a pedestal, and Samira would be obligated to look up and be reminded just how far below Kaori she was all over again. Samira would feel Kaori's grip on her arm tighten just a bit, but she wouldn't say anything, just begin mentally preparing herself to feel Samira dying inside. Regardless, she wanted to understand Samira better- no matter what pain Kaori would have to endure.

As the ship landed, an announcement came over the intercom to let them know they were there. Kaori followed Samira out of the room, gently closing the door behind her while continuing her preparation. Upon reaching the deck where the gangplank would let them disembark Recon One, Kaori had noticed Anhur staring out at a specific spot in the grassy fields surrounding the village.  "It is not the place where I was born, but it is where I stayed for the later half of my life. I had to stay here with my uncle's family when my grandfather passed away. Children around here do not really grow up as quickly as the ones where you are from do. The thought of being allowed to take care of myself was unheard of, and I am not at all sure I would have been able to. I do not even do a good enough job of that now at my current age." Samira said, to which Kaori replied "The children of Fiore in general are privileged enough to not require our lifestyle. Arguments in this land are solved with words, animals have a general fear of humans, and wizards handle monsters. But I doubt you would've had an issue growing up in my clan, you're stronger than you know, Sammy." Samira had asked if Anhur would be coming with them, to which he said he didn't think his presence was essential. Kaori had a different idea, she thought that his instincts were pulling him to something in the grass. She didn't dwell on it too much since whatever was in the grass could be a cat toy, or an antelope or something... Though, she didn't think Anhur did much eating... or hunting... or anything really. He was normally reluctant to help, so Kaori assumed he was just a lazy jack ass.  

It wasn't long after entering Peace Village that Kaori had spotted a group of children with a copy of Sorcerer's Weekly magazine, debating whether Kaori was the real one or a wizard using a disguise with a fetish for showing up in random villages in the styx. For the most part they seemed to be skeptical of Kaori and leaning more towards the side of her being an imposter. Kaori kept a gentle smile while walking behind Samira, a proverbial sweat bubble on the back of her neck grew with each passing second. As the two wizards walks, Kaori repeated in her mind 'Not the real Kaori, not the real Kaori, not the real Kaori- definitely an imposter-' "No one would be wearing a costume of one and coming here either, stupid! Plus, I mean, she came in that ship. That's got to mean something right?" Kaori spotted the heads nodding in agreement and immediately thought 'Fuck! Damn you, you adorable little troglodyte!' out of pure anger. The anger wasn't at the kid, but rather at the fact that she and Samira were three steps away from her being out of sight and out of mind. As soon as they agreed on their opinion of Kaori, the children all rushed past Samira and up to the wizard saint whose sweat drop grew bigger. They were all smiling from ear to ear, absolutely elated to see someone famous. "Uh... uhmmm.." Kaori said, the awkward smile on her face being very forced. She didn't like her situation at all. Samira had warned her not to be surprised at the difference in treatment, but right now, Kaori was on a pedestal and Samira was an arbitrary plant in a dark corner, only existing to make the room look less empty while also not standing out all that much. "Can we have your autograph?!" they said in unison as though it were rehearsed time and time again until they were perfectly in sync with one another. "I... umm.. I wasn't really planning on-" "pllleeeaaassseee?" the unified pleas from her young fanbase, combined adorableness, and Kaori's desire to not crush their souls beginning to counter her desire to not crush Samira's. Kaori looked at the celestial wizard with an awkward smile that also implied she had no idea what she was supposed to do. A nod from Samira had confirmed that she was okay with it, but Kaori remained skeptical of if she was okay with it, or if she was letting it slide externally while being stabbed on the inside again- another thing she wouldn't be asking about for a while. Kaori let out a breath of air and looked at the children with a much fiercer look, the same one they saw in the magazine photo. The kids all grew silent, hope filling their eyes as their temporary heroin had assumed her signature glare- the look of a powerful wizard that they wanted to be. "Alright, but one at a time and no pushing." Kaori said in a strong tone, just like when she addressed the scared girl from her clan, except less forceful. The children all got in a line and Kaori manifested a marker from her satchen. The marker was in a solid gold case with a hibiscus engraved on the side, her name directly next to it as though it were a company owned pen or something... Maybe Samira should get one?

The first child to approach Kaori was a young boy who held out his magazine and asked Kaori to sign a very specific spot, pointing to the bottom-left corner of the page that had a decent amount of negative space (negative space being the area of an image or work of art with significantly less, or no detail at all- normally a white background, but sometimes other colors). Kaori signed the book and the boy looked at Kaori's ruby eyes, his cheeks turning a slight shade of red. While Kaori herself didn't know it, she had an aura that made others attracted to her. The aura was oddly powerful, affecting those of all sexualities, not just those interested in females but even those who were completely uninterested in sexual partners entirely. "Move aside, it's my turn!" the boy behind him shouted, snapping him back to reality and making him apologize nervously before moving aside. "Miss Kaori, is it true that you took down a bunch of monsters and took over an entire con.. concinept...-" "Continent?" "Yeah, that!" Kaori felt like tales of her works may have been exaggerated a bit and she felt that sweat drop returning. "Yes and no... I only helped with that, but I had the backing of Lamia Scale's guild master, their best guild ace, and another member of considerable skill with me. I also had the help of my most loyal servant, a tribal girl who knew the area, and my crew. Without any of them I likely wouldn't have made it." Kaori said, her tone sounding as though she honestly believed every word she said- even the part about Samira being the best guild ace in the guild. "No way! You're a Wizard Saint! You can do anything!" the boy said. Kaori took his magazine and began signing it, but also writing down the same words she told him. "Never once in history has there been an army consisting of just one man. No one can do everything, but everyone can do something." the boy blinked, letting the words process. Kaori closed the book and gave it back to him, resting her free hand on his head and gently rubbing it. "You don't need to be the best to shine brightly. If you lack power, make up for it with overwhelming spirit. Never stop fighting, never let anyone tell you what you can or can't do, and always aim to be better. If you do that, no Wizard Saint will be able to match you." Kaori then said in a softer, more mischievous tone "Plus those old people on the council are really boring to be around..." which made the kids all snicker.

The third child was a young girl who told Kaori she wanted to be just like her when she grew up. She told Kaori that she wanted to be a super powerful wizard with lots of money and fans, and save the world and go on adventures. Kaori shook her head with a smile. "Never strive to be anyone except you. A wizard's magic is unique to them, and when you try to be like someone else you lose connection with who you are, and as a result, your magic. If you use your magic for money, fame, and power, you'll get lost in those things and eventually, they'll be all you care about. Those are things that come as a consequence of your actions, not something you should demand." The girl looked at Kaori with a confused look. She had read Kaori's history, the history of her entire clan, and a biography written on her that explained that she was a noble in multiple countries. "So... why did you become a wizard?" she asked, unable to find the true answer. "I want to make people happy and keep them safe." the girl had opened her mouth to speak, but the words seemed to get stuck. She couldn't think of anything in the biography to counter that claim. Kaori looked at the girl closely. Short, orange hair that didn't look like it got anything beyond a standard brushing. Brown eyes hidden behind a pair of metal framed, circular glasses. Her complexion implied a lack of sunlight, and overall she seemed like your classic nerdy-moe trope... except a lot younger. "Tell me, what kind of magic do you want to use more than any? What magic do you feel closest to your heart?" Kaori asked, the girl's eyes seeming to light up somewhat. "Well... I like stuff! I wanna make things!" She exclaimed, the youthful exuberance seething through her every word. Kaori put her hand on the girl's cheek and closed her eyes. "Picture yourself using that magic and making something. It doesn't have to be reasonable. Anything in the world, living, real, or even an item from books." "Anything?" "Yes, anything." Kaori's tone was soft and encouraging. Meanwhile in her mindspace, Query stood up and closed her eyes while cracking her knuckles and rolling her shoulders. Query was Kaori's oddest spirit. She was kind and respectful to everyone, made small jokes from time to time, and could be seen as being cute in her own way. The reason she chose Kaori wasn't because the wizard was immensely powerful, but because she had a gut feeling that Kaori would put her power to good use. Time and time again she had seen Kaori get into fights against powerful enemies, and not a single time did she think of having Query end the fight instantly with a dark hole even though Query showed her that power the first time they met. It was moments like that, where Kaori doesn't take the easy route, and moments like this where she inspires others to dream that made the spirit glad that she chose Kaori.

The girl closed her eyes and began thinking hard about something she would make if she could make anything... She imagined something tough, something that would break through every wall in its way. She imagined something that would protect her no matter what, giving it a personality to place friendship over everything and fight with the same overwhelming spirit Kaori talked about. On the ground between Kaori and the girl, a one foot diameter magic circle appeared in azure color- one Samira would recognize. Azure and white particles began converging on the magic circle as Query used Kaori as a link to the girl's mind, creating the same thing the girl had been imagining. Samira would see black hooves appear on the ground and give way to a pair of tiny cow legs, a human's body, and a bull head. The figure gained color and the magic circle vanished. Kaori removed her hand from the girls head and told her to open her eyes and look down. Upon doing so, she saw the same thing that she imagined, except it was real. It was a two foot tall minotaur, a blood born guardian of the labyrinths and a legendary beast. The girl put on a large smile and the minotaur chibi looked at her before pounding his chest and letting out a battle cry that was very high pitched, enough so to make Kaori giggle. "Hey, I want one too!" one of the others said, to which Kaori winked and said "You should've asked when it was your turn." in a teasing voice. The minotaur ran off to grab a ball from a nearby house before coming back and poking the boy with it, looking at him with eager eyes. "Train your magic and one day you can make your own. For now, you can play and grow alongside this one." The kids had all ran off to play with their minotaur, giving Kaori and Samira the time they needed to get going.

Moving down the street, Kaori and her personal tour guide had entered the more busy section of town where all the adults were. At first it was noisey with just the sounds of working people, but as the two mages walked downt he street, or up it depending on your point of view, people began doing less work and starting more talk. Some had asked why a Wizard Saint was there, others had wondered why the weird green haired girl was back. There was rumor that the Magic Council was going to take over the village, or that Kaori was inspecting for signs of a future attack, or that Kaori was coming to target people who would make good Rune Knight slaves- people who needed to meet Kaori and her pet pineapple. Samira had spoke up saying "Sorry if they annoy you. They would not exactly listen to me if I were to tell them to stop. I also ask that you try and ignore it for the time being. I do not want trouble, and they would probably not understand. They are all slightly small minded and would take offense." which had earned her a set of unpleasant glares from a group of hag-ravens to be that were unwise enough to let Kaori lock onto their negative emotions being aimed at her lover friend. While at first nothing seemed to happen as a consequence, in twenty minutes they would come to realize that the temperature on their oven was set much too high and the meal they spent hours preparing was burnt to a crisp... How "lucky" it was that Kaori didn't have to do anything to make that happen... Afterwards came a more busy part of town where people had packed the streets, and none of them paid Kaori any mind beyond a passing glance before returning to watching their own steps. Being treated as such made Kaori feel more relaxed as she calmly moved through the people, not being hit more than the occasional shoulder bump. She hadn't noticed poor Sammy being bumped around like a drunk vegan at a rave party, otherwise she would've done something to help her... like part the sea of bodies like that one old guy from the story about those people who were slaves for those other people until that one deity did those four plagues and the old guy had to literally part an entire sea so they could escape. She felt Samira holding onto her and then realized that her friend was having trouble getting through the crowd. As amusing as it would've been to see Kaori use her telekinesis to toss people aside like ragdolls, she used her mind link to give them the feeling that they should be moving out of her way, making it easier for the two to get through.

That endeavor behind them sort of, Samira had mentioned that she forgot that using the main path wasn't quite the best way of getting there- a detail worth remembering for next visit if there ever was one. It wasn't long before Samira had taken Kaori on a scenic route through some back alleys, to the outer edges of the town to a house that looked... rundown as all hell? No, more along the lines of 'due to be demolished' or 'ready to croak' levels of old. All that really needed would be for someone to pull the plug so to speak. Kaori was warned that the people inside were going to be strange, but Kaori considered everyone in Fiore to be strange with their paper money, weak children, and excess of magic users. Samira was about to knock on the door, seeming quite cheerful, but that cheeriness vanished quickly and she told Kaori that she would have to knock. Kaori hadn't asked why, but instead walked up to the door and got ready to knock. The old man busting through suddenly just as her knuckles were about to tap the wooden surface while simultaneously screaming had nearly earned him a face full of magically enhanced fist, but Kaori restrained herself enough to stop herself from doing it. The man had mentioned something about cookies, and then said that ghosts had fated the two would come there, then complained about the ghosts terrible timing, all the meanwhile the sweat bubble on Kaori's neck was getting longer with each absurd statement. She kept a friendly enough smile though... she was warned after all. The man then leaned inside the house and shouted "April! Mary! We're haunted again! We also have a guest so for god's sake put something less embarrassing on! I swear if you come downstairs in an outfit that is fifty years too young for you again I will burn your entire closet!" which made Kaori wonder exactly how old the 'April' and 'Mary' were, and what was classified an outfit as being 'fifty years too young' and why he said 'again' in that statement... Did they do it before? How long ago? Did they look fleek good in it? They were allowed to enter the home and upon doing so the question of who the two women were was quickly answered, and Kaori felt her sweat drop starting to gain weight as they began playing with her hair and talking about her like she were a painting. They took shots in the dark about where she came from, but Kaori would've told them if they had simply asked. Regardless, she was a guest in their home and had no intentions of being rude so long as they didn't try to cut off a lock of her hair and tape it to some weird voodoo doll. After they had their fun, one of them had asked which kind of tea Kaori would want and the ninja replied stating that any tea was fine. She put on an awkward smile when the woman came back with jasmine tea and mentioned it was the only thing in the house only to be yelled at by the old man.

They had performed a rather clever ruse of sorts, something that got Samira out of the room and put Kaori on guard mentally. Her face showed little expression, but she was ready to turn the house to rubble if they tried doing anything to Kaori or Samira. They had explained that Samira would be up there for a while, and that Kaori could ask them any question about her. Kaori's expression remained the same gentle smile as always and she pondered the concept of asking them question. After the first second, Kaori asked "What's Sammy's favorite dish?" with a fairly innocent tone. She had been given what may as well be the key to Samira's entire life, and she asks about what she likes eating- genius. If they asked if Kaori was serious, she would reply "Samira's a good friend, I owe her much. I've always wanted to make her something nice to eat, but I don't know her favorite thing." After that, Kaori would say "I have no more questions." with a calm tone and site down. If it was asked why she didn't have questions, Kaori would say "Samira is my closest living friend. She trusts me a great deal, and I her. Were I to ask questions it would be an invasion of her privacy, which I respect greatly. If there's ever anything Sammy wants me to know, she would tell me. If I want to know something, I can ask. If she gives me a vague answer, or avoids the question, then I'll accept that she'd rather not get into it."

---

---

While Samira was looking over all the new stuff in the attic, a rather... devilish spirit would be watching over her. Samira wouldn't feel any of the heart crushing pain, the spin chilling frost, the consumption of joy, or any of the other things she felt last time Angra had shown up. She would however feel a pair of thin arms materializing, wrapped around her with a woman's body pressing against her back. The golden sleeve of the garment being a good indicator of the slender figure currently hugging her from behind, and the same gentle, fleeting kiss would be placed on Samira's cheek that was given the first time they met. Angra would release Samira and walk around slowly, taking a look at things. "So it seems you survived your little encounter earlier... Congratulations. No, I really mean it. Kaori would've been an absolute wreck if you didn't. Of course, you do have your little... 'copies' to thank for that." Angra would say, her tone being somewhat condescending and fairly passive-aggressive. If Samira tried acting strong, or was afraid around Angra Mainyu after their last encounter, she would simply say "Relax, I won't show you bad things again. I was testing your resolve last time, can't have Kaori getting attached to spineless fools, now can I?" in a nonchalant tone. Angra would materialize two glasses of wine, offering one to Samira while asking in a friendlier manner "Do you drink?" and saying "Understandable." if she said she didn't, or if she refused it. Angra would then take a sip and look at Samira with a gentle smile on her face. "I've already told you that I know all your darkest secrets, but that applies to anything capable of dark thoughts- even your dear, innocent Amaterasu. A light can only shine so bright after all... But I'm not here to poke more fun at her, I'm sure she'll be bathing in salt for a while anyways. You managed to get Kaori off of those pills, and reform her shattered heart- such a feat deserves a reward of power. There is no greater power than knowledge, so I'll give you it. You must have questions, so ask them and I'll tell you anything about my niece that I can."

"Mages come in all shapes and sizes. Where one may falter at something, another may excel."

With Kaori:

The tall old woman nearly choked on her tea when the question of Samira's favorite food was asked. Well, it was certainly a very important question, but one that could have been answered easily by the summoner herself. The shorter one just smiled and laughed. "Good heavens, dear, is that really the first question that popped into your mind?" The two old women listened as the younger stated that Samira was a good friend and that she had wanted to know her favorite thing in order to make something nice for her. How sweet! If they were not already sitting comfortably in their seats they would have gotten up and pinched the ninja's cheeks for being so adorable. "Don't you old broads think that girl in there is some sort of sweetie pie! She could have easily asked the ghost!" The old man with all powerful hearing shouted once again. "Mind your own business, Frank! It wouldn't be a surprise if this girl just asked her herself! Now make yourself useful and find that old recipe book Aliza used to have!" The tall woman yelled. "We still have that old thing? I thought you gave it to someone that could actually cook!" The reply made the old woman's face scrunch up as she set her teacup down and stood up. "Useless old fool!" With an aggravated sigh, she left the room to go find the book herself.

It was now just the shorter woman and Kaori once more in the small and tidy room. "April will be back shortly with the answer to your question, dearie. We were friends with Samira's grandparents, her grandmother mostly. She left us a copy of the family recipes some time ago. We could never perfect them, but maybe you will have better luck. The best kind of dishes are those that are so close to a dish that the person favored so much in the past that it's as if they were transported back to that point. April will try to argue that the best are the dishes that bring about new memories. Maybe you will find a satisfying mix." Mary took a sip from her tea before putting the cup back on the table and setting her eyes back on Kaori. "Is that really the only question you want to know, sweetie?" The old woman listened quietly to the answer she was given. "Oh my, well you are a rather strange girl." Mary replied with a small smile once the ninja had finished. "No offense intended, dear. We are all used to people sticking their noses where they don't belong. It's unusual to come across someone that doesn't want to know anything when someone gives them the opportunity."

"You're one of the ones that sticks her nose where it doesn't belong!" The hearing powers of the old man struck again.

"Don't make me be the one to cook you dinner again!"

"I'll use it as fertilizer!"

"Oh!" The short old woman held back the urge to get up and locate the man to give him a pounding. She shook her head and took a breath. "That old man must have forgotten to take his mid-morning nap. Damned fool. He is right though in a way. I am terribly nosey. Tell me, what has that girl been doing? She hasn't even sent so much as a postcard ever since she left the village. She looked well enough, but I prefer entertaining details." The taller woman, April, would arrive at some point during Kaori's answer, whether she chose to answer the woman's question fully or not. In her hands was a book that was actually in good condition considering the possible age of it. The hardcover was a bright white with fancy black lettering that had the name of its previous owner. Inside were beige colored pages with recipes that were all handwritten on them. Whenever Kaori finished speaking, April would gently hand over the book before going back to her chair and taking a seat. "Aliza had a knack for cooking to a point that she could create new and strange things and it still tasting wonderful. That trait was unfortunately not passed down. A shame. I am pretty sure the last time I caught Samira in the kitchen she made a horrible mess."

Frank: "The house nearly exploded!"

"She was eleven, and I am pretty sure had not been taught that you should not set everything on the maximized setting just to speed up the cooking process. That's what happens when everything gets done for you. Poor naive thing." Mary chimed in with a small sigh. "We had to hide the book to avoid a repeated incident. We didn't exactly have spare money for a new home if she managed to burn this one down. At the time, we only had small housekeeping jobs for the main house. Not exactly the best source of income."

April: "I have bookmarked the ones I think she would like best. As creative as her grandmother could be, our little ghost preferred things she could recognize easily. A bit traditional and boring if you ask me." Sure enough, if Kaori looked at the book she'd notice different thin pastel colored slips of paper sticking out of the top, each one attached to a different page in the book. Such recipes included Chicken and Dumplings, Beef Stew, Butter Cookies, Carrot Cake, several different types of Casseroles, Pineapple Upside-Down Cake, Banana Pudding, and many more. None of them being breakfast which would indicate that was perhaps Samira's least favorite mealtime.

Frank: "Hey! Does that ghost still have voices in her head? I still need to beat that fire one with my rake for burning down my garden!"

Mary: "That was seven years ago!"

Frank: "And I am still ticked off about it!"

The two women scoffed and went back to ignoring the old man. "The voices run in the family on her grandfather's side from what I recall. Not everyone gets them, but most do. Aliza explained they're magic spirits, but we don't really dabble much in that sort of thing. Most of the people around here just thought the girl was crazy, and never did the spirits come to say otherwise. We rarely even saw them ourselves, and when we did they disappeared before we had the chance to speak with them." Mary said with a disappointed sigh that followed.

Frank: "You know damn well it wasn't just being crazy that made her into a ghost! And what are you doing?! That girl in there just said she didn't want to know anything. Stop gossiping and telling village secrets, woman! Bah!"

April: "It's making conversation, not gossiping. Know the difference."

Frank: "There isn't one!"

April: "Why did I marry that man again?"

Mary: "I forgot the answer to that a long time ago." Focusing back on Kaori, she smiled. "Well, I doubt we'll keep you here much longer. I assume Samira will be making her way to her actual home soon. She only came here to play every now and then back in those days, so I hope you didn't think this was it."

Frank: "Coming here 'every now and then' nearly got us fired! Those people are jackasses. Save yourself the trouble and avoid that place. Why that girl may be going there is beyond me. Damn voices really took her brain when they moved in, didn't they?"

In the meantime, the pair of women would ask questions about Kaori herself. They were nosey gossipers after all. Her full name would be asked along with where she was from so they could see who was right in their guesses neither of them would be, what she did, how she met Samira, her age, if she was married, when would she be married, suggest a few eligible men that were in the village, on and on until the old man told them to shut up because they were not writing an auto biography on their guest. They clearly had no idea who Kaori was or that she was a wizard saint. The only thing they were aware of was that she came to their doorstep with their village ghost. No matter how much she answered, including not answering at all, they would be satisfied and not disappointed. Sometime afterwards, they would begin to question if Samira really was still up there messing around with those books. If Kaori excused herself to go up to the attic then they would approve of it and inform her it was okay for her to do so. Otherwise, poor Kaori would find herself being covered in tons of photo albums and forced to look at pictures of the "good ol' days." If she happened to ask for ones with Samira, April would comment on how a brightly colored spirit named Isis had taken and hidden most of them away somewhere. There was one that was kept though; one that was before the time she was in the village. That meant there were even pictures of Samira's family at that point in time, including her grandfather. The album started out with a full family, but eventually decreased to just Samira and her grandfather. Cute little happy pictures while she accompanied him on his travels. The women would then tell Kaori to hold onto the album and give it to Samira later on. It was hers, after all.

With Samira:

Samira had ran upstairs and gone through an old door with another old staircase that led into the attic. She may have forgotten to ask if it was all right with Kaori before taking off, and may have not even remembered her manners until she was already in the stuffy old room. The young woman turned back around and stared down the stairs, expecting the ninja to show, but instead all she heard were the voices of those in the room downstairs. Low in volume of course due to the distance but recognizable. Well, the elderly trio would be far more entertaining than watching her go through some old book collection. Samira was satisfied with them keeping her friend company while she took the time to look around. It had been quite some time since she last snuck into the attic to play and take a few things to keep her occupied at her actual childhood home.

The attic had no real lighting but a large circular window allowed the sunlight to come through so the summoner could see. Dust was everywhere, and the wooden floor was covered with many old crates, chests, and objects. Loads of antiques as well as things that most would consider as junk. A waste of time for normal people; a treasure hunt for someone like Samira. The antique doll collection was on the wall opposite of the large window and was covered with an old white sheet. The two women learned long ago to keep those things covered after a young Samira had found them and screamed in terror. The result was the pair of women seeing a large tribal man smashing their doll collection with a giant axe to protect the young frightened girl from the soulless monsters that were surely a great danger to the world. The replacements had to be protected to a point that they still remained covered even though Samira had not been around to visit for quite some time.

Near the window was an old bookshelf completely filled with books. The fact it was full meant Mary was telling the truth on there being "new" ones added to it. Samira had a habit of taking a book or two and never returning it. Most were added to her own collection that was currently packed away in a box somewhere ready to be transported elsewhere due to the guild move. The girl grabbed one, opened it up, and flipped through a few of the pages. Although, as much as she tried to concentrate on the words she couldn't. Her thoughts kept going back to the fact she was back in the village. After being gone as long as she had been, she just wasn't comfortable there anymore, although she may of never been as such back then either. She just didn't have a choice but to accept being unacknowledged.

Bringing Kaori along didn't really add any extra damage to her emotional state. Samira was very much prepared to be ignored then just as she was before she had left. That didn't stop her from thinking about how the day was going so far though. It didn't matter if she was in Peace Village or anywhere else. When right next to a Wizard Saint or a Rising Star she was bound to blend into the surroundings and be forgotten. That could be hurtful, but that day Samira had enjoyed watching and listening in as Kaori signed and spoke with each child that wanted an autograph. Much of the advice given she could have taken and applied it to herself, and even the created Minotaur was absolutely adorable. She didn't need to be the best to be useful so long as she never gave up and kept trying. Her magic was also being that of a summoner, and she should accept that and not worry about trying to be as strong as someone else. All in all, everything Kaori had told those children was true and very good advice. Samira had a tendency to overthink things and see the negative aspects when it concerned herself though. As far as she could recall, she always kept trying but still felt just as useless while others around her grew stronger. She specialized in summoning magic, but she was the only one she knew of that relied so heavily on it. The others she knew of, Kaori included, were capable of so much more. They all kept growing while she remained the same. She wasn't even sure what made the ninja think to call her the "best guild ace." Even those within the guild without that title were more capable.

The words of the Shadow Phoenix echoed in her mind, the ones that had told her she was nothing more than a shadow for others. They all stood out while she existed behind them in a more invisible way. That even applied to a certain individual regardless of his hate towards her. Samira considered him to be far more useful to Kaori in nearly every way. The only thing she had done that no other could do was help piece her heart back together, and that was more along the lines of fixing what she had been responsible for causing in the first place. She also recalled being told that the only times Kaori smiled and laughed a genuine laugh was when she was around. Important, but that wasn't enough. That only meant she could be used as a some sort of weakness for Kaori if others were to know how close they were. She required true strength and power if she was to be able to aid those around her the way that she wished to. A mindset that she knew could be dangerous, and so she let it pass and ignored it. There was a little bit of envy towards those that could do much more than her, but she was not about to allow herself to forget who she was and her own standards. She just had to try harder than ever before. In the back of her mind she did wonder just how much trying even she could do before giving up. A resilient mind she may of had, but not one that was fully incapable of shattering.

Samira closed the book she was holding and had just slid it back into the empty slot on the shelf when she began to feel a pair of arms around her. Rather than be comforted and feel relaxed from the hold, the young woman tensed up and began to feel nervous. The golden sleeve was very recognizable and just like the last time she had seen that "spirit" she felt a gentle kiss on her cheek. Once released from the hold, Samira whipped around and took a step back, running into the bookshelf in the process and causing it to shake and give herself a slightly aching back. She didn't like that one, and as innocent as the kiss on the cheek was Samira could still feel it as if it were some form of corruption. Her hand reached up to the spot on her cheek and rubbed it to make the feeling go away. Angra had congratulated on her surviving. An odd thing to say considering how their last interactions went. Her green eyes narrowed at the word "copies." While that was true in the most technical sense, the tone made it seem as if that was probably the nicest word the goddess could call them.

"I had been concerned that you would be a problem for me again. Have you come to mock me once more?" The last time she had seen the latest addition to team Kaori was an encounter and first impression that she would never forget. Too many mental stabs had been made. She knew them all well enough that she did not need to be reminded of them in such a way. Being afraid of the possibility of it happening all over again was there, but she tried her best to keep it contained as she glared at Angra and mentally prepared herself for it. The reply she was given, and in such a without a care in the world tone, made her dislike the woman even more. It was a little late to protect the ninja from such an attachment. She also disapproved of the method involved, but even she had to admit she may of been a little bias in that regard. At the very least she could assume she wasn't considered a "spineless fool." Samira had her fears and issues as most humans do, but she wasn't a coward.

Two wine glasses materialized and one was offered to her. That was a little weird and Samira looked at the glass and at Angra with a face that clearly showed her distrust. Not that it mattered since she was going to refuse it even if she had trusted Angra fully. "I do not drink. I do not have the tolerance for it, and I do not like how it affects the mind. My spirits would also not appreciate it." Samira could tell the link with them was set in the off position on their side for whatever reason, but they could come back at any time. They didn't need more work to do or find themselves drunk if she somehow became an alcoholic. It was best to just avoid the beverages whenever possible.

Samira watched as Angra Mainyu took a sip from her wine glass and then smile gently. It creeped the summoner out really, but again, more bias. Seeing her in a non-threatening light was impossible at that point. She had opened her mouth to ask just what she did to Amaterasu to a point that she would be bathing in salt, but the goddess kept speaking and quickly moved on from that topic. Well, she doubted there was as much salt there as she was being led to believe. Asking the light spirit directly would have been futile since she would receive no decent answer, and asking any other spirit would lead to extreme exaggerations. She was curious about it, but not as much as she was once she was offered knowledge about Kaori. Wait, no. NIECE?! Samira's eyes widened a bit before returning to normal size. If it were not for the running thoughts in her head, she probably would have fainted at such news. Her brain was being much too hyperactive to allow sudden unconsciousness though. So many questions, probably too many. None of them would be asked.

Her mind had drifted to the very first mission the two of them had done together; the one in the desert where they had ended up fighting the crew of a giant magical sandship. Kaori had used up much of her power then and became unconscious and powerless. The two did not really know each other then at all and still the ninja had trusted her to watch over her body. What also came with that was the trust of not removing the mask that was worn. Samira was very tempted to remove it back then, but had chosen not to. Not just because one of her spirits had advised her not to, but because she had wanted to gain the trust of the one that would later become a true friend. Her eyes closed for a few moments as she tried to think logically and calm her mind. With a breath, her eyes opened and she turned around to face the bookshelf and pull out one of the books. "Your offer is generous, but not necessary. Helping Kaori recover her heart was just me helping correct what I had caused in the first place. There should be no rewards for such things, and so I refuse to accept it." Samira then turned back around with a stoic expression on her face. "I realize saying this may have later consequences, but it will just be another mark on my list of mistakes that is growing on a consistent basis anyway. I do not trust you. Your first impression was a horrible one that I do not want to repeat at any point in my life. For being so protective of her, you should also reconsider giving out information as a type of reward. You said knowledge is power, but having power over her is not something I want. If there was something she wanted me to know then she would tell me. I would rather it not come from you behind her back and being completely in the dark about it. Knowledge is power, but it is also dangerous in more ways than one. I am not about to lose what I have for a reward from someone I do not even like."

Assuming she wasn't transported to her version of hell for speaking in such a way, Samira would turn back to face the bookshelf and trace over the bindings of each book with her fingers. She stopped at one and pulled it out slightly before stopping. "You claim to already know my darkest secrets. Then you should already know what a part of me wants, and what I am envious of should I think more about it. The things you said to me that day only amplified it. I do not appreciate such things."

With Anhur:

Once the two mages were out of his sights, Anhur left the ship and headed off into the meadow to check on what he had sensed. He transformed into his actual lion form as he ran, and with the fire wings that came with the form he took to the air for increased speed. Within a few minutes he had found what he was looking for: a jackal made of a purple mist. Anhur knew this jackal well, or at least he did in the past. All of the desert god incarnation spirits did. The lion spirit landed in front of the jackal and glared at him. "Anubis," he stated with a low growl, indicating that they were not allies and that he was very much on guard. "You were supposed to be disposed of after your betrayal."

"Betrayal? Is that what refusing to help seal away one of our own is called? How hypocritical. I would have considered that to be what all of you had done that day." The jackal spoke in a nonchalant tone, but the bright eyes flashed in anger.

"You went against your created purpose. Even I did not dare to tarnish the name of the one that created me, and I loathe those that call themselves gods. Now why are you here?" The jackal sat there silently, staring blankly and without emotion. "Answer me!"

The spirit in mist jackal form stood up and began to walk away. He had no fear to feel; there was little threat from his lion counterpart. They were of the same strength, and any fight they would have would only end in a draw. That could be saved for later. He did not sit there waiting to fight at that current time. "The seal is breaking. I can sense it from here. The one I currently serve requires his key. A pity that I do not think she realizes the seal is not fully broken. Most unfortunate. This trip will end up as a waste of time. I suppose there is still a chance for it to break while we are here though. It should be entertaining if anything. Your master will be in for a treat. Try to make sure she doesn't die if the seal remains. I don't want to have to wait centuries again for another to make it this far." The purple mist then faded into the air as the spirit left that plane.

Anhur cursed and left the area, taking to the air once more and heading for the village.

One of the women had gone off to retrieve a cook book with things Samira's mother and grandmother had made, which made Kaori question whether Sammy had ever made use of it, though, she never asked. The old woman who lingered had asked what Samira was up to these days, which left Kaori with a colossal sweat bubble running down the back of her head that countered her neutral expression. Kaori began thinking of how to explain their past actions while staying silent. 'Well... Samira helped me kill a bunch of sand bandits, steal some items from the desert, and sold them for money. Then we went to some ruins where she got stabbed and I thought she was going to die and blacked out. After that, we had a sleep over where some angels abducted us and we had to kick all their asses and she didn't show much mercy towards them. Then we took on a bunch of phoenixes and I ended up having some issues and nearly killed her, after which she went on a series of adventures with a dragon god that she later got one night standed by... Then she went to an ancient city that I later turned into a glass crater, found a continent and killed a giant monster, and then she went on an adventure with me where she may or may not have gotten impregnated by me but we're still not one hundred percent sure since it wasn't all that long ago and she hasn't shown any signs of morning sickness or rounding yet. After that we helped lay siege to an entire continent, and then we came here because she felt like it...' Kaori maintained her neutral expression and decided that saying most of these sounded fairly horrible, especially the part about mating with two people- one of which being the same gender, and questions could be raised on the uncertainty of there being a child involved which would require a great deal of explaining. Instead, Kaori went with the shorter, more vague, and easier to digest version and said "Sammy's been helping people and making Fiore safer by proxy. She's actually managed to earn a high ranking position in her clan through skill and merit, mostly on her own." which was slightly embellished, but mostly true.

The cookbook had magically showed up just as she finished saying that vague message and Kaori took it to begin flipping through the pages. The women went into talking about how Samira was a truly horrible cook and that she nearly lit the place on fire the last time she tried, which for some odd reason, Kaori was able to believe. Samira was sheltered her whole life and didn't really need to do a whole lot beyond stay out of trouble, or at least, that was Kaori's impression. Kaori wasn't obligated to cook for herself while at home since she had servants to cook for her, but when traveling in the wilds she was often alone and had to do the hunting, skinning, gutting, cooking, and drying all on her own. That formed the basis for her cooking ability, but did nothing to make her a master chef, just a good survivalist. She followed recipes, but was normally doing so down to the very last detail- even if it seemed arbitrary. The thought of Samira turning the temperature up all the way to speed things up actually seemed believable too... She was naive and impatient at times, so not knowing that fire burns things at a young age is likely. There was even talk about her spirits, letting Kaori know just how long Samira had been with them to an extent. She had been with her spirits so long, but they never trained her to fight. Samira had mentioned that children in Kaori's home grew up too fast, but Kaori had thought that children in Fiore were just privileged enough to not need it.

After that came the barrage of questions that Kaori hadn't expected. Kaori was extremely famous, but none of that actually went to her head. She didn't walk into a place and scream 'I'M A WIZARD SAINT' like some people would, and she always tried to keep a low profile. She didn't think she was special, very lucky perhaps, but nothing special even if her absurdly powerful magic, wealth, and looks would suggest otherwise. The first had asked for her full name and the second had asked where she was from, which were fairly normal questions. Kaori had said "My full name is Kaori Leraci, and I come from Midi. More specifically, an island to the far south of it known as the Leraci Lands." After that came questions of how old she was, to which Kaori simply answered "Twenty Three, almost Twenty Four." and then how she met Samira. "That's... a fairly long story..." Kaori replied, but the two women seemed to have already made up their minds on wanting to know. "Well... When I first arrived to Hargeon I had been severely injured and the woman who owns the clan Samira's in helped me. The leader had quickly found out that my life is of little value to me and demanded that I take someone with me whenever I'm heading out on certain missions. Samira had volunteered to come with me on one such mission and she proved to be a highly valuable ally, and a fantastic friend. I'm not quite sure what she saw in me, but it was enough to give her reason to stick around even though I seem to attract danger." The woman had asked about what she did for a living and whether she was married or not, both things that Kaori had no shame in hiding. "I'm the leader of the Leraci Clan and a master assassin by trade. I have no need to marry since doing so would hold no benefit for my people, as such I remain single." The woman had begun suggesting men in the village, stating she could marry for the sake of being happy but had stopped when Kaori had raised her hand to signal them to cease. "There's not a single man in the village worthy of my time unless they have business to conduct. I already have someone who's worth my time, but that individual has no feelings for me. As such, I will protect that person and ensure they have a friend whenever they need it." Kaori's eyes were completely blank, as though saying that had turned her into a corpse. She would then stand up and begin to walk up the stairs to join Samira.

---

---

In the room with Samira, Angra hadn't paid any heed to Samira's dislike of alcohol. Even if she hadn't given a reason she would've been respectful about it since not everyone liked wine, and not everyone could tolerate it. Samira saying that what she was about to say might have consequences later on had made Angra's eyes narrow and a curt smile show on her face. Surely if she thought there was an element of danger to what she was going to say it would have to be amusing to hear, and so it was. Samira had stated that she didn't like Angra, which didn't surprise her much at all. Not many people liked her test of mental fortitude, but who was going to stop her from conducting it? Not a damn person, that's who. Samira had also declined Angra's offer to provide information about Kaori, even following up by advising against offering knowledge to others as a reward. Angra knew there was more that she wanted to say and waited for her to spit it out. Why Samira had to turn her back to Angra to say it was unknown and seemed counter-intuitive. Angra let out a small giggle and said "For someone expecting me to do something unspeakably horrible to you for having a loose tongue, you certainly chose a terrible time to turn your back." her tone was chipper, containing not a shred of disdain for Samira. "You confuse knowledge being power as being power over Kaori. Let me correct your line of thinking by stating that I'd never tell someone something that would hurt my little sister's daughter, not even you. And knowing more about Kaori would give you more power to help her, which in turn gives you the power that you truly want. Lastly, anything I say, Kaori would know about. She's actually been watching us the entire time I've been here." Angra stood up and walked up to Samira, the same gentle smile on her face that showed a lack of fear. She said softly "Also, bear in mind... Were it not for me, you would've either been subject to that old dragon's cryptic dreams, or Kaori's dependence on medicine. I didn't have to do that, no one asked me to." The last bit was true. Whether Kaori was medicated or not, Angra would be able to maintain a contract with her. She only helped Kaori out of a concern for her family's well being, and she never asked for anything in return for the favor. At least, she didn't ask Samira for anything. It was something to consider since Samira knew better than anyone that even family could be bastards to each other, and only good family would help Kaori. Angra had stopped halfway between her original position and Samira. "As for your weakness, Kaori told you how to fix that a long time ago. The power of your heart isn't exclusive to her and her mother, it's something that everyone has access to. You'll go through a great deal of pain before you fully realize that, but you're already on the right path... You can thank Aquarius for that, even if it wasn't his intention." After which, she vanished in a shower of gold and black dust.

Kaori had stuffed the photo album and cook book in her satchel and entered the room, arriving moments after Angra had vanished. "Hey... Can we talk?" Kaori would ask in a tone that was much softer than usual, implying that she was treading cautiously. Kaori would enter the room and close the door behind her, an azure colored flower growing from her left wrist and the floors and walls giving a quick shimmer before returning to a normal look. It would be Kaori using Query's power to make it so no one could eavesdrop on their little chat, not even with magic. The color of the flower alone would let Samira know which spirit it was, and she had already known that Query could cancel out sound since she'd seen her do it before. The fact that Kaori had requested an audience with Samira would be a good hint of what the shimmer was about. Kaori would walk up to Samira and while looking at her with concerned eyes. "I'm sorry..." she said, tears beginning to form in her eyes. Her eyes shifted to looking at the ground and she grabbed her right arm with the gloved left one. "I know it hurts you to think about being abandoned, or ignored... and you don't like that you're always having to let your spirits do work when people like me can fight alongside mine... and... you don't like that I'm so much stronger than you. I never wanted magic, it's always caused me trouble. Growing up I only wanted to be normal so I wouldn't have to prove myself to my own people. I was always alone because of it... I ate alone, I slept alone, and unless someone from outside the clan was visiting, I played alone- all because I was a freak of nature. No one liked that I was able to use powers that weren't normal, not even the shrine maidens. I never wanted to get this strong, or use magic, or make you feel like you were below me. I didn't want to be a Wizard Saint, I didn't want to be a clan leader... I didn't want any of this. I hate that people put me on a pedestal, and I hate that I keep getting stronger even when I stop trying. Every time I get a new power or a stronger spirit I feel you die inside, and I hate knowing that I'm hurting you." Kaori looked at Samira with tears running down her face. "Do you know why I hold you in such high regard? It's because you weren't born like me. You weren't born with all the power you needed and more, you weren't born with the destiny of having every decision being the difference between life and death for thousands, you weren't expected to be anything at all... You choose to be strong and do everything in your power to get stronger. You have weaknesses, you aren't so fucking perfect that people feel afraid to stand up to you." Kaori moved closer and grabbed Samira, pulling her in and resting her head on the summoner's shoulder while sobbing. "You're compassionate and strong. Even if you're afraid the consequences are extreme, you stand up to others fully prepared to accept them. I'm so sorry for making you feel weak... but you're truly the strongest person I know."

Once Samira had done something to make Kaori stop crying, Kaori would ask if she could take her to the garden that Agni had destroyed. Once there, Kaori would look at the barren patches and spots where weeds had taken residence where veggies and flowers had once been and she would turn to Samira. Kaori would ask "These three people matter greatly to you, right?" with a confident look in her eyes. Once Samira admitted that they did, she would then nod and make a request. "Would you mind bringing Frank out here?" her tone would be soft as always, but would also imply that she had some way of making things right. As soon as Frank was brought outside, Kaori would be holding a small, crystal ball. She would look at him and say "You said that it was one of Samira's spirits who destroyed this garden. I'd like you to let go of that pain and forgive him." and then she'd press the button on the front of the sphere and a seven foot tall creature with green wings would appear, looking around curiously. Kaori would turn to it and gently rub his snout while saying "Kōu, do you think you can help me? This was once a garden, but the plants died a long time ago." in a loving tone. The dragon looked around at the ground before spreading its wings and letting out a high pitched cry, his body glowing with a green aura and causing the dead plants to begin sprouting from the ground. Not only did they return, they were healthier than when they died and when Frank or the old ladies finally got around to trying one, it would taste better. The dragon had finished and walked to Samira where he began nudging her head with his snout, expecting to be given some attention from her. "Thank you, Kōu. Would you like to stay out for a while?" Kaori asked, to which the dragon replied by poking the button of his sphere with his tail and returning to his ball. Kaori would then look at the house. The old trio had helped Kaori by giving her the photo album and cook book, as well as helped Samira by being a beacon of light in a tunnel of darkness. They were definitely odd, but they were good people. She looked at Frank and said "If anyone asks about this, another of those 'ghosts' decided to pay you a visit." before stretching her hand towards the old, dilapidated house. A violet aura covered Kaori's body and she saw visions of the house when it was first made. Each and every wooden board, every nail, even the foundation was seen by the ninja. Samira had seen Kaori use this ability once or twice before, but only to view the past, never to restore it. The house would take on the same glow as Kaori and Frank would see time itself flowing backwards as split boards began un-splitting, windows returning to their original hue, and even the fencing being restored. Inside, the old women would see the dust inside lifting and if one was in the kitchen, she'd see the scorch marks from Samira's accidental fire vanish. The house would be brand new after only a minute, and Kaori would turn to Frank and bow to him. "Thank you for your hospitality today." she said and then told Samira they should probably finish what they came here to do.

"Mages come in all shapes and sizes. Where one may falter at something, another may excel."

Rather than being sucked into some horrible vision that would scar her for life, Samira only heard a small giggle come from the blonde haired goddess. The words that followed it did have a point to them, but she preferred to try and distract herself by resuming the task she had been doing earlier. Not that it helped. A person that could easily make her relive things she'd rather not was still there chatting away in such a chipper tone. Not one word said seemed to have affected her. There wasn't exactly relief coursing through Samira at that realization. She had already known of the possible consequences for speaking so boldly without restraint, and whether she faced her or not she would not have been able to do anything to stop whatever sort of wrathful act came her way. Angra not taking her words offensively was more of a mild surprise than anything, and fell onto the category of something she should have expected. If she really was related to Kaori and a being of higher power then it was doubtful she'd let the words of a mere human ruffle her trigger feathers. It wasn't always easy to tell considering her experiences with those types of beings were minimal and usually very random.

Angra spoke some more in that same perky tone that was almost making Samira's blood boil. It was annoying. Something reaching those levels to impact the summoner in such a way was rare indeed. Aside from her own spirits, there was never anything she considered to be annoying. There wasn't really anyone she completely disliked. Up until blondie over there showed up the first time. Angra stating she would never mention anything that would hurt Kaori. Predictable for a family member that cares, but how close were they? Samira had never heard a mention about her ever. That meant there was supposedly a family member that cared but did nothing to help Kaori while she went through hell, nearly died a couple of times, lost herself to temporary darkness, etc etc. If her spirits' existence were evidence of anything, it was that those that called themselves gods did not mettle much in the matters or problems of humans. Samira could theorize Angra kept her distance for something similar in that regard for whatever reason. However, she was only human and closely attached to Kaori. She couldn't make herself understand how someone that supposedly cared chose to do absolutely nothing for so long. There was also little understanding on how knowing more would in turn give her the power to be of use and grow in power. Samira was certain she had heard that before, and it left her unsatisfied.

Samira heard movement as the "spirit" walked closer. Her head turned to glance behind her, her green eyes hardened into a glare. They softened slightly when it was mentioned that it was thanks to her that they had found the answer to recover Kaori's final piece of her heart, and without countless vague visions from a bored and old dream dragon or having to rely on the medication forever. Honestly, the dreams may have been the better option with what she had to endure just from meeting Angra. They were vague and often went to perverted extremes, but they did not ever cause mental breakdowns for her. The blonde had fun conducting her little "test." Nonetheless, there was still a point even if she didn't like it one bit. Why the "spirit" did it she still was not all that certain. Why choose now to come out of wherever she's been and help? Power of the heart was mentioned. It had come up many times before, and she had seen Kaori's power used in such a way plenty of times. Her magic ran strongly on emotion, however. Samira's did not. It would take a great deal to be able to make use of that kind of power herself. Angra even confirmed it by saying she'd go through a great deal of pain before she reached it. After mentioning thanking Aquarius for it, likely from his habit of meddling with her spirits and forcing contracts too early, Angra turned into nothing more than magic particles as she vanished.

Samira turned back to the bookshelf, her finger still on the binding of a book she had slightly pulled out. She was alone again, now more distracted with her thoughts than she had been previously. A certain dark serpent spirit had thought to use the time and the advantage of the normal mindspace being tuned out to speak with the summoner. Just as he was going to slither out from his containment, a certain ninja entered the room and spoke up. He quickly retreated back for the moment, cursing the poor timing. The girl never was truly alone even when sleeping. It was ridiculous with the amount of protection she had from several sources.

When the sound of Kaori's voice reached her ears Samira slowly turned around fully. Her expression showed none of the annoyance or disdain she may have given Angra. She knew well enough to take out her feelings on another. "Of course," Samira answered, although confusion now spreading across her features at having to be asked in the first place. Kaori's tone was also soft and careful, and it was beginning to worry her on what the topic was going to be about. She had at least thought the ninja would be enjoying herself chatting with the elderly trio. "What is it?" The question was asked as she placed the couple of books she had been holding on a nearby small dusty table. The sound of the door closing was heard as she did the action, and then as she stood up fully to face Kaori once more she noticed the shimmer within the room. A type of magic that likely made the room soundproof. As far as she could guess while noting the blue flower, knowing Kaori normally did not possess such magic, and making the conclusion based on the ninja saying she wanted to talk. Still, it was getting more worrisome by the second. "Is something wro-" Her words were interrupted by Kaori apologizing. Tears could be seen forming within the ruby colored orbs, but Samira's eyes could do nothing but widen and blink at the sudden apology. She wasn't sure what it was even for. "I do not understand," Samira said softly, hoping there would be a little more detail put into it. There was nothing she was aware of that needed apologizing for. As far as she was concerned, she was the one that ever needed to make them.

The next set of words broke Samira's heart. Hurting Kaori was already something she never wanted to do, but she never dreamed she'd be hurt in such a way that she felt she needed to apologize. Samira had gently said her nickname a few times to stop the unnecessary apology, but Koari kept going with it. While there were many things that were true, such as not liking the fact she wasn't able to fight in the same way as other summoners and how she did lose faith in herself every time Kaori got stronger just as she herself was thereby increasing the gap instead of bringing it closer, Samira never blamed Kaori for it. There was only ever blame on herself. She'd be lying if she said there wasn't a minor case of envy towards those that were more capable, but never were they blamed or hated for that reason. They earned their power and skill. Apologizing for having it or by hurting her feelings by existing in such a way was just ridiculous. The tears increased as they poured down Kaori's face, and Samira was beginning to worry the ninja was going to breakdown. Samira had begun to interrupt the ninja and try to calm her down, but Kaori continued. By the end of it Kaori was using her shoulder to cry on. Her arms wrapped around Kaori in a tight embrace as comfort while she silently allowed her to cry for a few moments. Certain things were said that put Samira in a positive light. She could appreciate the fact Kaori thought that highly of her and said as much. Still, she could not bring herself to acknowledge the apology. Doing so would indicate it was reasonable, and it just wasn't. The gaps in power were not her fault. Kaori was practically born as something that was above human. It was only natural that Kaori would display higher powers far more easily and effectively than she ever could. Asking her to hold back for her sake would have been both selfish and foolish. Samira may have been foolish at times admittedly, but she wasn't going to go into that territory of selfish.

Samira ended the hug and raised her hands so that they were on Kaori's shoulders. From there, she gently pushed the ninja away from herself so she could see her face. It was amazing how many times she had seen her friend cry. The label one of her spirits had put on her as being fragile was accurate even if most never saw it. Someone that strong was even more fragile than herself. "Kaori," she began to say as she wiped some of the tears away with her hand. Her tone was soft, but also carried with it that what she was going to say was serious and that she would not have it be ignored. "Do not ever apologize to me for having the strength that you do. I have never blamed you for having it. You went through too much in your life to be lowering yourself to this point. The power you have you earned, suffered, and almost died for. You should have pride in it, not hate it. I may hurt when I think that I will never catch up to you and end up having to stand on the sidelines, but as you said we were born differently. That is just the way it is until I am able to get stronger, or until I can accept that what I already have is enough. Until either of those has come to pass, please do not allow yourself to think that you are hurting me with each new power or title you obtain. It is not you making me feel weak. It is only myself and my limits." As those words finished, Samira stared silently at Kaori for a few seconds. She didn't know why, but she felt compelled to act while the ninja was in a more vulnerable state. Probably something that lingered from a certain incident not too long ago. Samira's hand went to Kaori's chin where she gently took hold of it to hold her face there, and even angled it upwards slightly. Then the summoner leaned forward and placed her own lips against Kaori's to form a simple kiss. Unless pushed away or something similar, Samira kept them in that state until she was satisfied that the crying would cease. She had done much more for Kaori's sake, so doing something as simple as that to stop her from crying was not too difficult to do. Why she automatically went for that route she didn't want to take the time to ponder. When she broke the kiss and backed away, she already felt a bit awkward. Although, aside from the obvious new shade of pink her face had, she kept a straight face. No apology was given either since she had done it on purpose with a goal in mind.

A certain dark serpent was keeping tabs from where he was in that dark and far part of Samira's mind. He could use that gap in power to his advantage. Possibly make his summoner all the more envious or desperate enough to allow him full control. Although, he got a sense it would truly be difficult. There wasn't a single shred of hatred for the female ninja to start from. He required an easier strand to make progress. Her actual family was to be a good start, but it was quickly becoming apparent he may not succeed. He was going to die from boredom before the two ever left that strange old house.

Once the two had recovered from that whole scenario, Kaori had requested to be taken to the garden that was destroyed by Agni some time ago. The summoner blinked in surprise. Well, no, she supposed she shouldn't have been surprised that that particular topic came up while Kaori was chatting with them. Frank never did forgive the fire spirit for that, even after it had been so long. Why had Agni burned it down in the first place? It was an accident really. Samira had summoned him at a time that was actually kind of terrible since his more destructive personality was active while the normal lovable perverted one slept. While the younger Samira was safe from him, the poor garden was not. At least Chaac had stopped him before the house became the next target.

Samira led Kaori downstairs and through the back of the house where another door that led outside was. The elderly women were still in the room drinking tea and gossiping while Frank was somewhere else avoiding them. Once through the door, a massive amount of land could be seen but it had not been taken care of for quite some time. Frank had gotten too old for it a long time ago and only focused on his garden...until it was destroyed. Following along a dirt path, the ninja was led towards a large white shed and beside that was the destroyed garden. It was then asked if the three people mattered to Samira. She supposed they did. They were friends of her grandparents and had even in their own way helped her. She could hide away on their property whenever she didn't want to be at her actual home, and they were always kind. Why she never wrote them was probably because she wanted to leave everything behind when she left. "They are good people that have helped me when I was a child. I caused them problems like I have with you. I wish it was not so," she replied, the words being her own long-winded way of "yes." Next was being asked to go get Frank. She was unsure of what Kaori had planned to do exactly, but she knew it had something with restoring the garden. How was a mystery that would be given an answer once she had done the task of retrieving the old man. Back into the house the summoner went, and after a bit of time, the summoner was back outside again with a grouchy old man that was complaining about how demanding ghosts could be. The two had reached the garden with Frank demanding what the ninja wanted. He wasn't so much doing it to be rude. It was just the way he was with everyone.

A crystal ball of sorts was brought out, which Samira had recognized considering she had been given some of her own that had yet to be put to use. A sort of tall green dragon was released from the crystal ball. The old man nearly had a heart attack, but Samira could only sigh. Another dragon. Samira was beginning to not like them and regretted ever meeting just one. Both summoner and old man covered their ears as the nature dragon made a high pitched cry, but soon their hands lowered as they watched in awe as the plants began to revive and grow. Now all that needed to be done was for Frank to clear everything that should not be in a garden and it would be perfect. "What the hell did I just watch?!" Frank demanded as he looked around the now healthy garden. "I can't believe it! Ghosts destroy my garden and now they're putting it back together! I can't make any sense of it! Damn things are plotting against me!"

Samira sweatdropped as Frank spoke, but also gave a small giggle. She had a feeling he'd still chase Agni down with a rake if he ever saw the spirit again, but at least the garden was restored. The pet dragon called Kōu had then walked over to Samira, causing her to frown deeply. It lowered its snout to nudge her head, indicating it wanted some form of attention. It was unfortunate, but she really did not desire that sort of thing from it. It only reminded her of the past. Would this new one come to hate her too? Or would it just settle for messing around like that dream dragon? The golden dragon that also attacked Hargeon not that long ago also did not help her opinion of them. It was with great timing that another mage had shown up to help with it or Samira's opinion would have reached negative levels.

Her green eyes looked up at the eager nature dragon that wanted some form of affection. She closed her eyes and sighed. It was cute in its own way. With some hesitance, Samira slowly reached up and patted Kōu's snout. No words were said since she couldn't bring herself to. She didn't want to form any sort of attachments with another dragon related creature. Thankfully she had no spirits that were of that line either. The creature returned to the ball it had come from, which was a great relief to her even though it had just got done helping restore the garden.

Kaori then used an ability that magically restored the house to what it had looked like when it was first built. Samira had seen it used before back at one of the phoenix shrines to restore it after Kaori had accidentally destroyed the entire thing when fighting the bird creature. To restore a house to a condition that it was several decades ago though she didn't imagine was possible. The two women inside screamed in surprise, awe, and some terror at what was happening inside. Frank just stared with wide eyes that featured complete disbelief. In no time at all, the house and everything around it was brand new. Frank's jaw had dropped and the two old women had ran outside shouting his name while also looking back at the house. They had asked what had happened, to which Frank replied, "damned ghosts that's what happened!" He then turned towards Kaori and gave her a nod. "I suppose you want a thank you." The old man rubbed the back of his neck and in that awkward silence of his Kaori had given her own thank you for the hospitality. "Well dammit." Sending it in writing was a lot easier than saying it in person. "You go on now, and don't you dare do anything else! I already owe too many favors now! .... and be careful! If I have to visit a hospital in some wasteland far from here I'll beat you with my rake, you hear?!" All the while Samira was sweatdropping as she begun to lead the ninja away from the house.

"Sorry if they made you feel uncomfortable in any way. Also, you did not have to use your energy to restore their house and garden. They may not have much, but they are generally happy with what they do have." Samira said as she walked along the deserted side road of the village. She walked alongside Kaori, her green gaze turned towards her. "I appreciate you being so kind to them though." If Kaori said anything in reply Samira would still keep focusing on her, but after she'd look ahead and point. "We just need to follow this road and make a right turn when we reach the dead end. From there, it should be a straight path to the main house. It is a little isolated from the rest of the village like the last house, but I assure you it is not as condemned. It was actually quite nice the last time I looked at it."

Just as Samira finished those words and lowered her pointing arm to her side, a certain lion spirit landed right in front of the two mages, still in his flying lion. "We need to leave," Anhur said, getting straight to the point and offering no explanation at all. "What are yo-Hey! Anhur!" Just as Samira was asking him what he was talking about, the spirit knocked her over with a wing and with his teeth grabbed her shirt and began to carry her off. What Kaori did was up to her. She was of no concern to him other than ordering that large and lifeless bird to get moving. He could feel the shirt begin to tear, and rolling his eyes, he threw Samira up above him. Her surprised screams went ignored as he moved so she would land safely on his back. Letting her hit the ground would have been slightly counter productive. "As I said, we need to leave. No questions. Ra would agree with my actions."

"A little late for that, Anhur, Slayer of Enemies," a male voice spoke, causing the lion spirit to stop and even the summoner upon his back to stop her fussing and look around in confusion. A dark black mist started to surround them and darken the area. The one that had spoken had not shown themselves, but within the mist were several glowing yellow eyes. The bodies they were attached to moved around rapidly and growled. Minor spirits that served as only a first wave. "Too late. This is what happens when a summoner whines." The enemies that spawned may have been able to deal with weak mages, but were pathetic against even himself. To think they would be enough against the ninja woman and Samira's top spirits was ridiculous. That caused his eyes to glare and glow fiercely. He knew Anubis would show up at some point. That meant these were nothing more than distractions.

Further on down the road, Samira and Anhur could sense more celestial energy. There was more than that though. While the spirits there seemed more like mindless creations, the ones further down seemed to be paired up with actual mages. "A spirit was likely used to hide their magic auras until now." Anhur said, reading Samira's thoughts on why they had not sensed them until that point. Spears then appeared from the ground, impaling all of the minor spirits that hid in the mist. Unfortunate that their bodies left the spears and reformed to being completely unharmed as if they were a part of the mist itself. "Summon Susano or Kukulkhan. I don't have the patience to fight these creatures repeatedly and I can tell this mist is spreading through the entire village. Don't make the ninja do all of the work when this can easily be blown away."

"All right," Samira said with a nod. It was a strategy she agreed with for the moment. Although she doubted once the mist and creatures were gone that it would be easy to just leave when she could sense other summoners all over the place now. She had not even gotten a chance to get details on why they were even there and seeming to want to attack. Maybe they were just jealous of Kaori's pro Saint skills. One was likely to gain enemies when reaching such a status. She grabbed Susano's key. While he was a jackass at times, he was at least reliable. Kuku was too, but she was a little harder to handle. The village really didn't need her storms and overkill. Holding the key out, Samira called for the spirit attached to it but nothing happened. She couldn't even sense the power coming from the key. The mind link was off on their end she knew, but they should have still been able to hear her calling. She tried with Kuku next and nothing. Just as a test she tried with a spirit that would never refuse her call and nothing still. Her summoning magic wasn't working.

"You really are only about your summons, aren't you? You won't be able to call on them from here. The spirit that creates this mist makes it impossible for those of your line to connect to that realm. You have to take a certain drug to be immune to its effects, which you have not done. This makes things very easy for us."

What was strange was how they failed to mention anything about Kaori. She was standing right there and was actually the one that would be giving them the most trouble, assuming she hadn't already. She wasn't of Samira's bloodline so she could summon as much as she wanted, not to mention she could fight well enough even without them. Well, she'd get her distraction too. Within the mist a larger creature formed. Three pairs of blue glowing eyes, two on each of the three heads that connected to a giant canine creature. "Cerberus," Anhur growled. That let him know they would not only be facing minor spirits and Anubis, they would also be facing the creations of other gods and creatures that acted similar to Samira's. Just as Anhur was contemplating on how best to handle things, a large axe came smashing down on his location. With his summoner still attached, he leapt forward to evade the attack he felt coming. Attached to the overly large axe was a green misty spirit that was rather bulky and built. While the spirit that had attacked had a head and helmet, the actual wicked looking face was on the torso. "And Xing Tian." The axe that had made a crater in the ground was forced out as the spirit groaned. Within the newly arrived spirit's other hand was a large shield. One monster, one battle oriented spirit. Their summoners hiding in the mist and ready to make their own moves.

Anhur shoved Samira off, although more gently than he had ever done in the past. He transformed into his normal lion man form and materialized his spear. Until they got out of that mist or got rid of it he would have to be acting as Samira's fighting spirit. He couldn't see the spirit that was creating it even with his enhanced vision. A shame. It was probably more of a weaker utility one rather than one based on one of the gods.

Cerberus
Xing Tian

Kaori had shook her head when Samira apologized in behalf of the elderly people before saying "They were quite unique and I'm glad to have met them." with a soft tone and gentle smile. Samira had continued walking, informing Kaori of how close they were to their destination shortly after. Not long after that, Anhur had appeared and announced that it was time to de-ass the area, get out of dodge, abandon the mission, get gone, or however else one would phrase leaving. Kaori's expression turned more serious, her eyes narrowing and she switched on her mind link to sense the various individuals nearby with malicious intent. She was getting ready to call out her nature dragon again for a quick escape while Anhur grabbed Samira, but none of them were able to go very long before a dark mist engulfed the area. Small spirits had appeared in that mist while a voice mentioned it was too late to escape and Anhur scolded Samira for being slow. "I was wondering who was following us." Kaori commented, stepping forward while materializing a gold sword with black markings- the same colors that Angra Mainyu wore, signifying that Kaori was preparing for a worst case scenario. Things had gotten slightly worse when Kaori felt the magic from her blade waning, and her connection with her celestial spirit being shut down entirely. Kaori didn't look afraid at all, she could still feel her magic which meant that they were only altering the summoning keys. She had already summoned Angra's blade, a broadsword, so she didn't need to worry about a weapon. When Anhur's attack didn't work to kill off the lesser spirits, Kaori wasn't even surprise. If it were that easy then it wouldn't be a proper day for the two wizards.

Anhur had advised Samira to summon someone to get rid of the mist and Kaori watched as Samira ran through various keys to no avail. They were then informed that she wouldn't be able to summon her spirits, but they specified her bloodline, not Kaori's... so why wasn't Kaori able to summon her spirits? The answer came quickly when a cerberus was summoned to confront Kaori while a monstrous being was summoned to deal with Samira. Kaori had turned her gaze to her friend only to hear the cerberus snarling at her, it had no intentions of letting Kaori help her friend. It was just like the fight against Namine and Kuromi where the larger, stronger one had taken on Kaori while the faster one took on Samira. The difference is that this time both are physically strong, and probably fast enough to keep up with the less athletic wizard. "So you wanna fight..." Kaori said in a low tone, white energy beginning to form over her body, causing her hair to gently wave as though she were submerged. Samira would feel Kaori's overwhelming desire to protect, not only her but Anhur as well. She'd feel the dark version of Kaori in the background, ready to step in at a moment's notice and even the sweet, innocent Kaori fully prepared to fight if their main personality went down. Samira would feel the raw conviction of all three entities radiating through Kaori's magic as it washed over the area, quickly spreading for Anhur to feel and soon their enemies.

Kaori's white aura expanded until her sword had filled with it and began shimmering, a sign that she had imbued the blade with her magic. The sword was surprisingly accepting of it, but in hindsight, that wasn't so surprising. Angra Mainyu had remained at a distance and let Kaori suffer so the girl wouldn't grow accustom to being saved constantly, and would be humble. Of course, she had done small things from the sidelines to help Kaori during combat. She was always watching, and she loved Kaori as though she were her own child, which lead to being a bit overprotective at times... With that, why wouldn't Angra's sword accept Kaori's power? Kaori shot forward at blinding speeds, much faster than anyone could logically track and rammed her knee into the central Cerberus's chin, sending the head flying up but having no effect on the rest of the body. She vanished and reappeared behind the dog and charged her sword with her Spiked Heart spell, slashing its back before vanishing again and appearing near the dog's foot. The dog however was already in the middle of a swat attack that hit Kaori, sending her flying back and into the ground. She was quick to use the momentum and adjust her weight to get herself back on her feet, sliding back on her heels a bit before stopping. It wasn't aiming for her, at least, not while she had vanished the second time it wasn't. The hit was a lucky shot, a miscalculation caused by Samira's inability to summon her spirits and Kaori not wanting to order her to stand back. Kaori's eyes narrowed on it out of frustration and a green dragon began appearing running up her sword while she shouted "Ryūjin no ken wo kūrae!" causing her to glow with a green aura.

She shot forward, passing by the dog's legs again where she slashed it, using her Exploding Heart spell to weaken it further. The dog however inhaled and began breathing flames on Kaori's position, forcing her to vanish quickly and appear behind it. The dog had remembered the last time and a head was already turned to try and eat Kaori but only got a mouth full of clone. Upon being chomped on, the clone exploded, leaving the three headed dog's mouth smoking while it choked on the magic particles. Kaori appeared in front the creature where its two head tried biting down on her, each getting a taste of exploding clone again. Kaori appeared a few feet back and saw a wave of flames coming towards her and she instantly put her hand out, forming a decently sized magic circle that took the fire breath without fail. The other two heads joined in, launching their own flames and putting pressure on Kaori.

Kaori began sliding back and began using both of her hands to keep the spell up. This damn mist was preventing her from using her keys otherwise Mammoth would've been on that dog's ass like white on rice soaked in milk in a blizzard right now. She couldn't use her Atronach ability since she needed to focus on staying not dead, and she couldn't immobilize the damn thing because even that spell took a second or two to fire. Kaori was pushed back further and then her magic barrier shattered and engulfed her in flames, completely covering her body and engulfing her. Unlike before when she was 'hit' there was no exploding clone. The flames stopped to reveal Kaori covered in burns, smouldering like charcoal as she fell to a knee and trembled. She was breathing heavily and even her hair was gone, leaving a bald, burnt, flaked scalp in its absence. Samira would feel something in the air, that feeling of determination and conviction, that righteous devotion to protecting the people she cared about getting even stronger. With any luck, Samira would begin understanding what the power of a heart meant, and how it was enough to make any battle one-sided. As the feeling increased, Samira would see Kaori rising, ignoring the burns and stinging pain while using her telekinesis to make her sword rise from the ground and land in her hand, ignoring the pain of moving her fingers and the grip touching the tender flesh. "What the hell!? You should be dead!" one of the wizards who was standing behind the cerberus said, drawing much too much attention to himself. Kaori inhaled and let out her breath, opening her burnt eyelids to show ruby eyes that burned with not rage, but passion. Another man drew even more attention to himself by shouting "Cerberus, kill her! Now!" indicating that he was the summoner. The blast of flames came barreling towards Kaori and seemed to engulf her, but the air became frigid, just as it did when Kaori met Samira in the ruins. 'I refuse to lose again.' Kaori thought as haze surrounded the field, the ice from her heavenly star's elemental exchange making the thick fog that even their enemies were having an issue with. "I refuse to let anyone else get hurt..." Kaori said under her breath as the fire attack ended, showing Kaori with the massive star spinning in front her. She was burnt to a crisp, barely having any clothes, and truthfully should have been dead... but her conviction was pulling her through the battle. "I REFUSE TO LET ANYONE DIE!" Kaori shouted and vanish, reappearing in front the cerberus as ten copies of herself, each slashing the beast's legs before vanishing.

The dog slashed five of the clones in a single swipe, each exploding and turning into magic particles while also severely damaging the paw. The injury only served to piss it off, causing it to breathe more flames in Kaori and her clone's directions. Kaori and the last remaining clone both charged in, vanishing when a blast of fire seemed to hit them. Kaori however wasn't one to fall for the same trick twice, she never has been and she wasn't going to now. She appeared above the cerberus's middle head with the gold and black sword glowing bright white and in a single cut, removed half of the thick neck. The dog's head dangled to the side, held on by the meat that Kaori failed to sever. She split its spine and most of its throat so that head was no longer a concern, and she only had to deal with the remaining two. The two dogs began inhaling again and Kaori was quickly running out of energy. It was tiring moving around so much while also ignoring the pain of full body burns, but it was something that she had to try and keep up. Kaori vanished and reappeared further back while getting ready to put her barrier back up. The dogs unleashed their breath and Kaori lifted her hand but time seemed to slow for her as she watched the magic circle immediately vanish. Her eyes narrowed on the lack of a barrier and she felt the wind pressure from the flames being pushed towards her, her eyes redirecting themselves to face the flames ahead.

As though it were by the best strokes of luck, the flames suddenly stopped dead in its tracks and a black figure could be seen as a silhouette holding them back. The flames collected into a small sphere before being launched back at the cerberus who was much to large to dodge it and ended up taking the hit, leaving the middle head destroyed and a large burn on its underside. Kaori looked ahead and saw the red haired spirit who had a fierce look in her eyes. Ira didn't say a word, she took one look at Kaori and turned to face the cerberus with a scowl on her face, the first time Kaori had ever seen her not smiling. The fact that seeing her hurt causing Ira to get angry actually made Kaori feel somewhat warm inside, it was a sign that the spirit liked her and that she was being a good friend to the spirit. "Summoner, heal yourself and get rid of whatever's blocking us out." Ira ordered, to which Kaori nodded and got on a burnt knee. A white aura came over Kaori while she began using her healing spell. Meanwhile Ira glared at the cerberus who let out a low growl towards the spirit. "You said you locked her spirits!" one of the men shouted to the other. "I did!" he shouted back. "There are some of us who don't believe in the same reality as you. You made a mistake in hurting our friend..." Ira paused just before a wave of fire began moving around her, looking exactly like the ring of water that Aquarius had when he fought except it was made of liquid flames, fire so incredibly hot it turns to plasma. "... I'll destroy you!" she shouted before making a pillar of fire erupt from under the cerberus. The dog's thick hide blocked off most of the damage, but not entirely blocked.

Ira pointed her finger in the dog's direction while forming a small, white hot sphere at the tip that looked like it was trying to get larger but kept shrinking. "Kill her!" the summoner commanded her cerberus and the dog replied by blowing a breath of white hot flames. Much to the dog's detriment, its lack of desire to learn from past mistakes. The flames became property of Ira, who used them to feed her miniature sun that turned the ground below her into glass without even being near it. The sphere was only a millimeter thick, but it was so dense that the heat it gave off began disrupting Kaori's healing. Ira sent the orb forward and let it explode upon hitting the cerberus, revealing nothing at all to be left of the spirit that was forced back to the spirit world where it belonged. Ira turned to the summoners and began forming smaller fireballs in preparation to make it rain hell. "...No." Kaori said in a soft tone and causing Ira to dismiss the fire while looking back. Kaori was fully healed, even her hair was restored and not a single burn was left. She looked even more pissed off and the feeling of anger was explosively high. "... You came to hurt Samira... and nearly made my other friend have blood on her hands." her tone was grim, and made the two men slowly reach for their own spirit keys. "Everyone in Gisen's clan is trained to kill monsters... except me." Kaori said and shot dagger eyes at the men. "I'm trained to kill wizards like you!" Kaori exclaimed and she raised her newly ungloved left hand in the air, letting the tattoos begin killing the very thing that gave them an advantage. The magic in the air started to fade away and within moments the mist that prevented Kaori and Samira from summoning had been consumed. The men looked around and the spirit that caused it looked around with absolute confusion. Kaori lowered her arm and the tattoos continued to glow, which would make Samira feel slightly sick but not terribly so. "W-what the hell are those marking!?" a man had asked in awe. "These...? These are the second most powerful weapon in my entire clan. It's a weapon that tears mana apart and can only be wielded by someone with excessive mana reserves, or someone with no mana at all."

The two men both summoned spirits of their own, a gryphon and a chimera- both things that Kaori had killed before, one with Samira's assistance. She was stronger now, faster, much more dangerous than before. Kaori's eyes grew hateful and the sword in her hand vanished and was replaced by a pair of pure white swords, the feeling of wrath increasing even further and becoming nearly asphyxiating. Ira's eyes were wide, she was honestly afraid of Kaori while feeling this much anger radiating from her. Aquarius had warned her that Kaori was powerful, that she could be the cutest, kindest person in the world or the most terrifying thing in existence depending on the circumstance, and she was finally taking that serious. Kaori's left eye turned black and her right one turned sky blue, indicating that all of her personas were in agreement with her and the two spirits and their summoners were now fighting three Kaori's. Kaori vanished with a line behind her, the stone floor having split and shattered in the wake of her charge attack. She appeared behind the two wizards, the two white swords being so filled with Kaori's passion that they were solid blades. White lines appeared on the two spirits and the summoners began laughing. "You think they're dead, we'll just resummon th-" "No... you won't." Kaori interrupted. One of the men shook their key while calling the chat to bring the cloned spirit back. "I'm the worst kind of monster... There is no immortality to save my enemies. Their only salvation..." the two spirits vanished entirely, turning to magical essence that dropped to the floor instead of gracefully floating away "... is death." The two men saw red lines appear on their necks and looked at each other's neck just before collapsing to the ground.

Ira slowly approached Kaori, cautiously with much hesitance. "S-summon-" she was cut off by Kaori wrapping her arms around her and holding on tightly. "S-summoner?" she repeated out of confusion, not knowing what she did that was so deserving of a hug. "Thank you." Kaori said softly. Ira gently returned the hug and gave a gentle smile while saying "Stupid summoner... We're obligated to keep you alive." to which Kaori replied with "You're not obligated to think of me as a friend." Ira hugged Kaori tighter for a moment before separating, completely ignoring the lesser spirits around them. A different man showed up and pulled out a black key, shouting that it was the gate of the new year and calling a dragon to the battle. Kaori turned to face it with a serious expression. Ira glowed before vanishing and a red and azure flower appeared on Kaori's wrists, a black dress appearing on her body and she retained Angra Mainyu's blade.. "You want some?" Kaori asked while looking the dragon in the eye. If Samira had already dealt with her enemy, the lesser spirits would all merge together to form a Grim Reaper looking spirit. If she hadn't already beaten it, they would wait till she was done to take her on with their summoner backing them up. Kaori's azure flowers and black dress began glowing before they stopped, indicating she was activating their power. Samira and any spirit she had out would begin to feel stronger, both physically and magically, faster too. Any damage Samira had sustained would begin healing, starting with the smallest of cuts vanishing and the larger ones beginning to slowly heal.

"Mages come in all shapes and sizes. Where one may falter at something, another may excel."

The two enemy spirits had chosen their opponents, and things quickly escalated as Kaori's power began to spread through the area with her emotions being able to be felt by all. Samira had felt it several times already so it came as no surprise. The main difference were the other two Kaori's in the background that were prepared to jump in should the actual Kaori go down. Immediately the ninja was on guard and in protective mode. As unfortunate as it was, Samira couldn't even attempt to help out in any way. Her abilities came from only summoning and she was being prevented from using her magic. There was also the fact she had her own opponent to deal with, or rather, Anhur did. The summoner turned to face the wicked looking green armored spirit, and just as she did the lion spirit beside her moved his arm and pushed her back behind him. "Stay behind me. You cannot call on the others or make use of their power for yourself in this abominable mist. You are useless here." He wasn't being cruel or harsh; just blunt and to the point. She had no physical capabilities, and if she did it was doubtful it would be strong enough to make a dent in the opposing spirit without some form of magic. The girl lacked weapons as well, having left the ones she owned in the spirit storage she normally would of had access to. The mist made that impossible. Magicless, weaponless, defenseless, useless. He wasn't going to sugarcoat or be optimistic when the facts were there. Allowing her to find some way to be helpful would only make it so the enemy would have an easier time getting what they wanted; Samira, and from her, Apophis. They didn't exactly need her unharmed either, just alive. He felt the powerful conviction of the ninja woman but did not turn from his opponent to look back at her. As far as he was concerned, she could handle the other spirit and was on her own. She was capable, and he knew she would fight with everything she had if it meant Samira was safe. Even with the very little interaction he had with her he was aware of that much. There was little to worry about there. With that in mind, his complete focus had to remain on his own battle.

"Anhur," the spirit known as Xing Tian spoke, his voice very deep and emotionless. "Surrender the girl to me. You cannot defeat me as you are now."

The lion spirit just glared silently. He was facing a spirit that was never one to surrender and was one that was rarely ever defeated. The Relentless was a title that was fitting for the original, and fitting for the spirit created from that warrior of legend. Xing Tian would not be reasonable or hold back if a battle surely was to take place right then and there. Meanwhile, Anhur was a shell of what he used to be. A spirit that could actually die like a mortal. No strange magic necessary. No disappearing into a cloud of particles when defeated and able to return time and time again. A low growl sounded from his throat and he readied his weapon. The armored spirit laughed mockingly. "So be it." The axe was raised and swung forward. Anhur shoved Samira further out of the way with one clawed hand while the other held up his spear to block. The weapons collided, the sounds of metal clashing causing a loud echoing ring. The two stood there, struggling to overpower the other. With his summoner now mostly out of harm's way, Anhur placed his second hand on his weapon to add more force to support his efforts. The strength of the other was great. He could feel himself sliding back despite his own strength. Another laugh from the near headless spirit just.

Anhur became even more alert as his higher senses could feel the energy building up within Xing Tian. The large mouth along the green torso opened up and screamed, releasing a burst of energy that would have surely done great damage to the lion spirit if he had not sensed it coming. Anhur forced both of the clashed weapons to the side to break the drawn out parry and escaped the blast by leaping into the air. The attack ended as he descended. His spear glowed red as the power within surged and activated, amplifying his next attack that would make contact. A downward strike he meant to do towards the enemy, but he was prepared. The shield Xing Tian held in his other hand raised above him, meeting pointed spear just before the green spirit turned and raised his axe up to attack the falling feline. The edge of the blade grazed him even after evading, drawing not blood but thin trails of celestial energy. He landed in front of Xing Tian, back turned, but was quick to twirl his spear as he turned and stuck the pointed metal right through the evil grin on the abdomen of the other spirit.

The spirit was impaled and paused. He was rather unaffected by the attack, regardless of the fact the spear went in one side of his body and out the other. "Your magic has gotten weak over the centuries of seclusion." Xing Tian said bluntly, barely even amused. He dropped his shield in favor of grabbing onto the grip of the spear and forcefully pulled it towards himself in a quick and harsh movement. It brought the lion spirit closer towards him and most importantly his axe. An uppercut swing he made, sending the human shaped feline into the air. Xing Tian's larger size did nothing to stop him from being able to leap high into the air, slightly higher than where he had sent Anhur. In one powerful swing, the lion spirit was then struck with the axe once more, sending him downward in rapid speed. Anhur hit the ground, causing it to break and crack upon impact. More celestial energy left him as a result. The ground near him shook as Xing Tian landed beside him. Slowly the spear was pulled out from his body and tossed aside. A mistake. The spear was near instantly returned to its master and used to knock the armored spirit off his feet. "Actual power was never my strength," Anhur growled just before striking the spirit that lay on the ground. Impaled once more he was and then raised and tossed into one of the abandoned houses that were falling apart. His words were true. Even his original, despite being a god of war, was more about tactics and outsmarting opponents than raw power.

Xing Tian rose from the broken wood and rubble of the house. Still he seemed unharmed. Anhur did not give him time to fully compose himself. Spears rose from the ground and even materialized in the air just before assaulting the enemy spirit. Little by little the spirit was losing the energy required to remain in that plane, and with yet another empowered slash of his weapon as he ran to meet the enemy, Xing Tian was thrown further into the house, crashing through the backdoor and into the yard behind it. That should have been where it ended. That should have been enough. Anhur's glare intensified when Xing Tian slowly rose, his wounds healed and energy restored. "I told you, you cannot defeat me as you are now. A half dead spirit lacks the power, and your supposed wit and cunning has degraded. You have gone too long without true battle." The lion roared, changing back into his form of a flame lion as he ran towards his opponent. The spirit battle continued. Heated claws and breath of a sun's flame were the lion's weapons now, and with his wings he could move effortlessly around Xing Tian. Or so it seemed.

The axe of the enemy increased in size suddenly as Xing Tian spun around three times in quick succession. The movement trapped the lion as he became hooked to the axe upon impact, and after the third spin he was sent sailing through the air to crash onto the ground further away. The green spirit leapt onto the feline, striking him with the glowing empowered axe repeatedly, and even throwing him further. His sun form faded into magic particles as he returned to his normal form. It was then that Anhur felt his neck being grabbed and nearly crushed as he was raised off the ground. "Slayer of Enemies. That was once your title. How far you have fallen." The large spirit spun around and tossed the lion with ease. Pathetic. A weakened spirit did not deserve to exist. Destroying him permanently would have been easy and had been his intention as he began to walk towards the lion and keep on with the beating. He paused though. "Yes, master," he said, having gotten instruction to stop playing around telepathically from his summoner.

The summoner was in a state that was rare for her unless dolls happened to be around. She was panicking. On one side Anhur was having difficulties defeating Xing Tian. On the other she had watched with wide and horrified filled eyes as Kaori suffered through her own battle. The only reason the ninja was probably still standing was likely due to the fact it was her. If anyone else had been in her place they would have been dead from the burns alone. Samira wanted to help both, but couldn't even help one. Jumping into battle without the power of her spirits would have done more harm than good. The other creatures within the mist also seemed to be keeping an eye on her, their glowing glares threatening to attack if she so much as moved. There would have been relief at seeing Ira appear to help her friend, but she was unable to witness it. She heard the large and heavy footsteps coming, and as she turned her head the large spirit was instantly there beside her. "Samira," he said, as if confirming to himself she really was who he was after. Without another word he harshly grabbed onto her arm and forcefully began to drag her along. The summoner screamed and shouted for the brute to let her go. Her physical strength did not match his, however. No matter how much she pulled back or even kicked him, he did not seemed at all phased by it.

Anhur raised his head weakly from where he had landed and stared back to where his opponent had gone off to. His mood worsened even more than it already had. Xing Tian was taking Samira away. Not only that, but it seemed the armored spirit was getting annoyed with dragging along a fussy girl. The spirit stopped, although still held onto the girl. His grip around her arm tightened to a point of nearly breaking the bone underneath the skin and muscle. The summoner cried in pain. The sound rang through Anhur's ears and made the energy he was made from rise to heated temperatures. He was genuinely angry. Showing any sort of care was abnormal for him, and he still was not sure how to view a physically weak summoner in a good light. The fact remained that his key was tied to her. She was his summoner, weak or not. That came with the benefit of being in his protection. The axe raised, letting Anhur know Xing Tian intended to likely knock her out with it or worse, giving her a wound that would give her a real reason to scream and regret being fussy about the less harmful approach.

A three tailed golden whip appeared and smacked the hand that held onto Samira before wrapping around the one that held the axe. The attack of the axe paused and Xing Tian was lifted into the air as the whips attached to his arm raised. The green warrior spirit was then harshly sent down to land harshly onto the ground. The mist had faded a moment ago that had allowed the whip to appear, as well as the spirit attached to it. In a mix of blue and golden particles the shape of the familiar cat goddess avatar materialized at the other end of the whips. Her cyan colored eyes glowed and narrowed dangerously. The whip released from the enemy spirit and latched onto Samira's waist, where Bastet then pulled the whip back before the other spirit could react. The summoner was pulled along with it and was caught by her cat spirit. She had begun to feel slightly sick due to the tattoos Kaori had apparently revealed for the situation, but she had felt the connection with her keys return. Bastet had just been the first to react, having sensed the trouble of her brother beforehand. Every other spirit became aware as soon as they felt Samira's pain. "Remain here, Samira," the cat woman said as calmly as she could as she released her summoner. "I will handle it from here, and you should not get in the way of Kaori. I don't like the feeling I am getting," she continued, her feline ears twitching. The danger alerts were going off even if she was an ally. The ninja's opponents were not going to like their ending.

Bastet slowly walked towards Xing Tian as he rose from the dirt. "I think you forgot one important thing, fellow spirit of the Pantheons. It was not Anhur's original that had the true offensive power. It was my own!" Words that were true. The original Anhur was a staller while the true Bastet delivered the fatal blows. With a loud hiss the cat spirit attacked, her whip slapping the spirit in rapid succession as it moved gracefully with her. Hardened golden claws swiped across the spirit's body, and try as he might the larger spirit could not land a hit on the quick and agile spirit. Her movements were swift and constant, and it was not long before her enemy had exhausted himself. The victory was not to last. He was restored and rose once again. Relentless was an understatement. However, a spear had impaled him from the back. Behind him, Anhur was standing there, restored due to the ninja's magic that spread to her allies. "This requires both of us, Bastet," he said bluntly, as if stating the obvious. He had already narrowed down that either of them alone was not enough. The spirit had a regeneration magic that even Bastet could not overcome. Their chance was to attack together and overpower the restoration. The sister cat acknowledged, and with that the pair went into action. Anhur distracting and holding Xing Tian while making his own attacks when there were openings, and Bastet coming in for the much harder blows. They traded the enemy to each other and with a teamwork that had not existed for them in centuries they had defeated their foe. Xing Tian began to dissipate as his body turned into particles. "So this is what it's like to be defeated. I expected the feeling to be...more." And he was gone.

There would be no peace for either of them, however. The lesser spirits had run towards each other, grouping just before combining into a black mass that then took the form of a grim reaper type of spirit. The world around the three began to darken as they were enveloped in a sort of dome that separated them from Kaori and her fight. Both Anhur and Bastet could see fine in such darkness, but as for Samira the only light she could see was from the lantern attached to the reaper's scythe. The reaper did not speak but instead made an eerie sigh as he faded into the darkness, hiding itself even from the eyesight of the feline spirits and taking its lantern with it. The summoner and spirits remained silent, waiting and were prepared for it to appear again. They felt much strength within them due to the shared power of their ally fighting her own battle, but it was difficult to use if the spirit hid. The squeak of rusted metal from the lantern was heard off in the distance and Bastet lunged forward to claw at the light she saw. Nothing was attached to it. Anhur saw another light, but he did not budge, favoring staying near Samira while she summoned the most obvious spirit to best deal with a dark spirit.

The dark spirit appeared with its same eerie sigh and swiped its scythe, but instead hit a barrier. It faded into darkness once more. The defense bought enough time for Samira to feel around her set of keys for the right one. Raising it, she called out to the only true light spirit she possessed. A gate opened, and with it a great burst of light that eliminated the dome of darkness. Each spirit and summoner could hear the screech of the reaper. "I am sorry, Samira," Amaterasu said in a tone that showed she meant it and that she was not amused. She was still in a serious mood from earlier and now even more so. The mind link had been turned off the entire time, and she had not known what was going on until she had felt Samira's earlier pain. Even then it had not been completely turned back on. Nevertheless, she was there to do what was required of her at that moment. Anhur and Bastet had already made their own moves against the reaper while it was stunned in the light. It likely was not necessary at all, but it did work as a just in case measure. Amaterasu could feel the same power they had flow into her and knew quite well that her magic alignment would counter easily against such a spirit. Unlike that of Apophis and especially Angra Mainyu. Allowing her weakness against them to go through her mind for even a second angered her, and it should not have. She was not a spirit that had such negative emotions. Something was wrong, and she did not like it. The reaper spirit before her was unfortunate enough to have picked that day to be an opponent.

Amaterasu did not move at all, except to raise her arm towards the sky and summon a massive light energy in the sky. The magic then unleashed itself in the form of a pillar made entirely of light. The bright intensity made the two feline spirits have to shield their eyes, as did Samira. The reaper had no chance to do so as it turned into nothing more than dust particles upon impact due to the new strength of the attack. That left the summoner to deal with. Xing Tian's summoner had never revealed themselves and likely took off when the spirit had been defeated. The reaper's summoner made the mistake of lingering for far too long. Amaterasu heard the sound of a twig snapping, likely that very summoner trying to escape. She vanished in bright light and reappeared by the enemy, who she then grabbed and pinned against the trunk of a nearby tree. Her sword was already unsheathed with its blade against the neck of the man who had controlled the reaper. She stared into his terrified eyes with a hardened glare, as if searching for something, perhaps even pondering over something else entirely. The blade of the weapon was forced even harder against the man's skin, drawing a thin line of blood from the cut that had been created.

"Ama, stop! What are you doing?!" Bastet shouted in surprise at seeing the light spirit hold the man in such a way. The two felines had caught up to the quicker spirit, having seen the light reappearances as a marker. They looked on in surprise, well surprise for Bastet, Anhur remained as stoic as ever. The enemy summoner was rather weak looking and beyond defenseless against her now that he had no spirit. Killing something so defenseless was not the norm for her, and especially not an actual person.

Amaterasu did not move her weapon or release the man, but she did turn her gaze towards the three. "Bastet, this person is in control of a dark spirit. He has used it to cause Samira harm and will likely continue to do so towards others. He must be eliminated along with his spirit."

Bastet: "Eliminate...you cannot be serious?!"

Ama: "You would have me release them both? Allowing them to further corrupt and harm this world?"

Anhur: "You should know that darkness is in all things just as much as the light. You are starting to sound exactly like a typical creature of darkness, only too far the other way. Has dealing with not one, but two, entities of darkness this day that you cannot handle really put you that much on edge?"

The conversation was interrupted as they heard Samira scream. Bastet ran off in the direction that led back. Anhur remained, staring at Amaterasu, still showing little expression to show that he cared. She settled for knocking him out before leaving him there, also returning to where the summoner had been left. Anhur followed.

As for what happened to Samira, she had watched as Ama took off and the other two following after. She decided to stay and help rather than just leaving Kaori there. The girl had enough power to keep one more spirit on the field and she could still even gain the powers of one herself. She wasn't entirely useless anymore. However, as she went for her keys, purple hands that looked to be formed out of magical mist rose from the ground beneath her feet and grabbed onto her ankles. Samira screamed as she was then pulled down into a portal that also appeared beneath her. In seconds she was gone, leaving only the keys that did not transport through the portal with her. The next thing she knew she was standing in front of the house that was their original destination. Although something was greatly off. It looked partially destroyed and was all too eerily quiet. Samira would soon have an opponent of her own to deal with.

Black scales covered the dragon's body and white fangs adorned its mouth. A green droplet at the tip of two of them, one on either side of the great maw, had let Kaori know that this one had some sort of venom and it would be best to avoid getting bit entirely. Kaori had ignored the forming of the dark sphere behind her. Samira had her spirits back which meant that she didn't need Kaori's help anymore. The only thing she had to worry about was the enemy in front her, and the amount of heads that would end up rolling at the end of the day. A blast of hot flames hit Kaori but ultimately did nothing as her Eclipse Barrier took the damage, giving Kaori the visage of being a goddess who was nigh untouchable. The dragon however snarled, it refused to be denied the glory of battle by an enemy not even a quarter his size. The cold look in Kaori's eyes were a slight against the dragon. She wasn't even looking at him, she was looking through him... She didn't even acknowledge his existence, he wasn't a threat in her eyes and the dragon got even angrier at that fact.

The dragon lifted its tail and turned to slam it down on Kaori's position, but the wizard turned while stepped to a side to let the tail crash down next to her. The tail was lifted and swept across to try again to hit Kaori, but the ninja put her hand out and stopped the massive linear appendage dead. "My markings are the seconds strongest weapon in my clan." Kaori said with a cold, emotionless tone. "But I am the clan's leader. I am a blade, and the symbol of everything my people stand for. I am the greatest weapon in my entire clan, as is every clan leader who walked before me..." Kaori said before fixing her gaze on the dragon. The great dragon pulled its tail away and moved to try and eat Kaori, but had been stopped short by a blast of solar energy that came down like a pillar of burning light and destroyed much of the dragon. Just as the spirit who came before him, the dragon didn't vanish and reappear elsewhere to be summoned later. His body turned to dust that settled on the ground, permanently disposed of.

Kaori had turned her gaze to the various summoners to send a chill down their spines. They all knew exactly what they were up against when they took on this mission, or at least, Kaori assumed so. They would have had to have known Kaori was there, and that she was, among many other things, a Wizard Saint- which was a symbol of power among the Fioran magical community. The golden sword in Kaori's hand vanished entirely and the summoners all looked at Kaori as though they honestly thought she was going to show them mercy. Amaterasu had beat the grim reaper by now and her comrades were trying to stop her from doing something she'd regret. The sound of Samira's screaming had made Kaori turn around and notice her friend being pulled into a portal but the ninja didn't have time to react, Samira was gone and her keys didn't stick with her. Kaori's cold gaze turned into a cold glare while staring at the keys. Her hands turned into fists. 'Don't do it.' the voice of Query said in Kaori's mind, the spirit knew that Kaori had a strong bond with Samira and was afraid she was going to do something drastic. However, Kaori didn't know what was beyond the portal and there were enemies who needed to be brought to justice. Samira had spirits of her own, very capable fighters, and if she saved Samira every time something went wrong she'd both never grow as a wizard, and never see herself as anything more than Kaori's lesser.

Kaori used Query's power not to reverse time, but to freeze the enemies in place. "Bastet, Ama, give me your keys please." Kaori said while grabbing Samira's set. The spirits had known Kaori for some time and she had never done anything to deserve distrust, not of her own free will at least. The only time Kaori had ever asked for one of Samira's keys was to help fight an enemy that required a fusion spell, and Kaori fully understood the weight of that request even when she made it. Once they had given Kaori their keys, the ninja would look at the three beings and speak with a firm voice. "Amaterasu, I understand you dislike my darker side but understand that she's a part of who I am. She has caused no trouble since that encounter, and has only ever aided me since. You have no need to trust her, but no reason to let the thought of her affect your judgement. I understand that Angra has employed unsavory tactics, but she's my family and one of my spirits. You'll likely find yourself fighting alongside her at some point. As a being of light, it's your responsibility to see the good in everyone- even the darkest of beings. Don't let anything taint your honor. If someone's going to attack Sammy while I'm around, they've already signed their death warrant. You just worry about keeping Samira safe from immediate danger." Kaori then added the two keys to Samira's key ring and a portal opened.

Anhur would likely feel... odd, as though someone were tampering with his key. Amaterasu and Bastet would both vanish instantly, but not return to Samira's mind, but rather, see the world through their own keys... Kaori was suspending them, making it easier for the spirits to get through the portal. She then dropped the keys and let them fall, using Query's power to open the same rift that the last spirit used. "Anhur, I've fused one of my spells with your key. Count to thirty, and then say 'Burst.' Until then... don't get in my way."

Kaori's tone was grim and she stepped forward while grabbing the sword from her lower lumbar and drawing it, unfreezing the enemies. Kaori had fully unsheathed the blade and slammed the tip in the ground, shattering the stone below her. She looked at the summoners before her and shouted "You have all committed a grave crime against a member of the Lareci clan and are hereby subject to Lareci law! The drawing of my blade is an order for your death." Just then, ten other individuals had shown up next to Kaori. Kneeling next to her was Ikuchi with his mask on, standing up and materializing an abnormally long, pure white katana with a hibiscus dangling from the bottom of its hilt. On her left was a man in a kimono and straw hat, and several other individuals who were dressed up as though they were common villagers who were on either side of her. All ten of the members said in unison "It is decided." before disappearing.

Within moments, blood was everywhere and the vast numbers of the summoners had already begun dwindling. Kaori's scout ship, Recon One, had descended and from it, a black barrel was poking over the ledge with a very small child behind the trigger. Ikuchi didn't support Ashley partaking in battle, but the child was insistent upon fighting. She had scars that couldn't be healed, and she had no intentions of staying hidden away a second time. Samira was her friend, and she wanted to fight anyone who dared to hurt the people she loved. One summoner had pulled out a key and began summoning but was unable to finish the chant before his head exploded. Uncaring eyes stared through the scope of the sniper rifle as Ashley quickly lined up her next shot. The rifle was semi-automatic, so there was no bolt to work. Kaori had vanished and entered the battle herself, gutting the first thing she saw, which was another cloned spirit- this one being a bear of sorts. Once Anhur had counted to thirty and said the magic word, he'd find himself with Samira where he belonged. The spell 'Burst' was the one Kaori used to vanish and reappear at random, and one that she had the greatest control over.

"Mages come in all shapes and sizes. Where one may falter at something, another may excel."

The three spirits had arrived back on the scene to see that many enemies had been frozen in place. A much lesser worry that did not gain any attention as they noted the missing summoner and the fact she did not have her keys with her. If not for their power rankings both Bastet and Amaterasu would have returned to the celestial world the moment Samira had disappeared. The new priority was locating their summoner rather than waste time fighting, and Anhur had just been about to make a comment to his comrades when Kaori had grabbed the set of keys and requested that his sister and Ama give her their keys. A request that should have been declined instantly.

There was some hesitance among the two female spirits. They were both rather reasonable spirits and did have quite a bit of trust that the ninja mage would do no harm to their keys, but it was still something they had to think about regardless. Their existence was tied to those keys, after all, and if something were to happen to those items then they would not be able to be called to the mortal plane at all. Granted, Bastet did have another method of traveling between dimensions due to her domesticated cat form, but much of her power did not exist while in that form. Nevertheless, she was the first to give her key. A small glow of blue and gold particles formed in her hand as her key materialized in her hand. "I can go a few centuries without being called adorable or have my ears touched, but aside from some of your touchy spirits, you have given me no reason to not trust you." Her key was then handed over to Kaori.

Amaterasu then handed over her own key after it had materialized in her hand from white and yellow particles. While there were a few on Team Kaori she did not completely trust, the original Kaori wasn't one of them. She was well enough aware that the ninja would not damage her key, at least not intentionally. "Whatever you intend to do, make it quick. You have my trust." The tone of voice was calm, but lacked any of her normally always amused personality. She had entered a far too serious state to even smile. Her key materialized in a glow of white and yellow particles, and she gently handed it over to the mage that apparently had some sort of plan. Her mood worsened even further after receiving a mini lecture from the Wizard Saint. Wise words and ones she never expected to be directed at herself. Even less expected was her ignoring their significance. The frown on her face grew, and even her dark eyes flashed a bright red from the heated inner anger. "Kaori," Amaterasu began her sentence, dropping the long winded title that Kaori always got called by from the spirit instead of her name. The sentence would not be complete. The name came out harshly spoken and in such a hateful tone that was not her. Even Bastet and Anhur had glanced her way with concerned expressions. She didn't like it and forced herself to not continue. "Nevermind," she said as she closed her eyes. Amaterasu along with Bastet then vanished.

Anhur was left behind, although he felt strange. He couldn't quite place it until Kaori had mentioned placing a spell on his key. There was a low growl of disapproval with what she had done, but he said nothing. She could have at least asked before doing it. Although she probably knew he would have refused. She probably guessed he would have taken the key he was still bound to and leave. It was a great opportunity to do so, and he couldn't judge her less for concluding that. If they were not dealing with the enemies that they were, and if the seal on the spirit Apophis was not as close to breaking as it was, he probably would have. He never did try to hide his intent on doing so. He said nothing in reply to Kaori and just nodded that he understood. His head turned as she left and went towards the frozen enemies. The thirty second countdown began in his head. The slaughter began well before the countdown ended. He watched it throughout his entire thirty seconds there without looking away, without showing any emotion towards it, or even attempting to stop it. A mage that had not a few moments before mentioned Angra being family as an excuse of sorts. He wondered if Kaori even knew she was slaughtering members of Samira's bloodline, people that were technically family. Cerberus being present, Xing Tian, and even Anubis were all clues that pointed to who they were. It was probably best to never mention it, and even better to never mention it to Samira. "Burst." And he was gone.

With Samira:

The surrounding environment had a strange sensation that made Samira realize it wasn't actual reality. The sky was dark with a swirling sky of mixed black and purple coloring, and as she tried to peer too far into the distance things were blurry, as if it didn't truly exist and would fizzle out if she tried walking too far from where she currently was. The air was also cold, which should not have been the case. She hugged herself as she shivered slightly and turned to look back at the path that would have originally been taken to get there. No one was there and it was just as blurry in that direction as everywhere else. She was alone. Too alone. Whatever reality they were in was blocking her mindspace connection with her spirits... It then dawned on her that she had been holding her keys before, and now she was not. Her hands went to her hip and naturally they were not hooked to her shorts anymore either.

"You won't find them here," a female voice said in a lighthearted teasing tone. Samira shifted her gaze around to spot the source, but nothing was there. "I couldn't really talk to you with all of those spirits influencing you. And don't even get me started on that severely overpowered Midi woman and her pet." The voice turned overly dramatic in the most sarcastic sense, and after its completion a woman appeared several feet in front of Samira, along with a jackal made from purple mist. People appearing out of no where was no surprise at that point. It was actually a nearly everyday occurrence. The resemblance in appearances made her arch a brow at first, but she ignored it. Long green hair wasn't exactly rare by her standards, and there were some other differences such as the violet eyes that would not have given her the thought of them being related. The woman moved around in a rather classy and elegant manner, something that matched the white dress she wore that was the definition of overdressed. She knelt down, facing the misty jackal and petting its head. "Such annoying pests that always seem to be around. I had to have poor Anubis create this space just so we could have some private family time. That takes so much energy from him, you should know."

"Family time?" Samira blinked, confused but still was on her guard around the strange woman and far from relaxed. Her inquiry went ignored as the jackal spoke. "Speaking of, we have little time. I have my doubts at being able to keep that wizard out for long. I imagine the only reason she and Anhur are not here now is because of the time distortion and of the pawns outside serving as momentary distractions."

"You are not fun today, Anubis." The woman said with a slight giggle in her voice. In reality, most would not find him very fun period. She stood up and face Samira once more while holding out her hand. "It seems I will have to rush things a bit. Break your contract with Apophis and hand over his key to me. Anubis has made it to where you only need to say his name and the key will appear, so you don't really need to worry about that key ring of yours. I'll even be nice and leave before your favored guardian shows up to play hero."

The demand confused Samira further. She had no such contract or key. She could guess the name was in regards to the spirit Ama had mentioned before, but the name was all she knew. "You will be leaving empty handed. I possess no key or contract to the spirit you are speaking of." The summoner stood her ground and her voice firm. Considering she had stood up to higher beings, it was difficult to suddenly be afraid of someone she didn't even know and was likely very much a human like herself. Even as the violet eyes of the other narrowed, clearly not enjoying the rejected offer, Samira did not back away or show signs that she was going to go into panic mode. Probably not such a wise thing considering she lacked her spirits, but she wasn't going to hurt her pride by acknowledging it.

The woman pulled back her hand and placed it on her hip. "Hmmm? Is that so?" Clearly Anubis had not informed her that the seal had not broken fully nor had Samira tamed him as it was once thought. He'd use that time and the woman's anger to see if the seal could be forced broken. It was already known to him and others that Apophis showed himself whenever Samira was in danger and had no other help. That should have helped accelerate breaking the seal. All he needed to do was let his summoner fight a bit and the serpent would reveal himself, thereby weakening the seal further. He remained quiet and only watched as the woman casually approached Samira and circled around her, eyeing and observing her. "I know you have made contact with him. Do you really intend to lie to me? You are without your spirits. Your Wizard Saint friend is not here. Your other fighting capabilities are also weak. You are completely defenseless. Just as much as those idiots that lived in the original house over there." Her hand waved carelessly in the direction of the broken down version of the home. "I had Anubis take care of them after they mistook me for you. My, were they rude."

"You...what?" Samira's eyes widened after hearing that. She couldn't really feel sadness, but whatever she meant by "take care of them" she doubted it was anything they really deserved. She then began to feel a sort of burning sensation under her skin and flowing through her. The one spirit that remained with her was very angry at hearing that news considering he had plans of his own. The headache returned, although not as painful as before. "As I said, they were very rude. I felt offended for you." The woman then got way too close for comfort as she caressed Samira's cheek, making the summoner flinch in disgust. "I can't very well have someone talk to my little sister in such a way, now can I?" A small mocking smile as she said the words with a tilt of her head. She could see the reveal made little impact as Samira disbelieved it instantly. It was obvious in those annoying green eyes. Eyes that were so truthfully innocent and sweet compared to her own. So disgusting. The smile faded and turned into a deep frown and the eyes hardened. She turned and stepped away from Samira, making distance as she spoke. "Do not feel sorry for them. They were not of our bloodline and were nothing more than fodder for those that are higher in the human hierarchy." There was a small pause before she muttered, "Da Ji." The name of a Nine Tailed Fox mentioned in stories. The woman's clothes then glowed before changing completely into an outfit that was actually sort of revealing, but would allow for more movement than the earlier dress. The more notable thing were the gauntlets with very sharp looking blades on the end that resembled large claws. "I will make my demand one more time. The key to Apophis."

Admittedly Samira was now beginning to worry just a bit. The threat was obvious, and now her mind was all over the place. Still, there was not much more she could do than stand her ground. She wasn't a coward so she most certainly was not going to try and run away. Samira lacked weapons and her keys. She had no other magic, and it was doubtful she could do much with her level of hand to hand combat, which was the lowest of the low. It was apparent her situation was not a good one. "I have already told you. I have no key." No fear shown in her voice whatsoever. She could guess what the consequences would be if the woman did not believe her, and she was mentally prepared for it.

The woman's fists clenched. "You spoiled brat...," she muttered quietly, almost sounding depressed. The tone then switched to violent anger as she turned to face Samira once more. "You don't deserve it!" She then rushed forward in such a speed that even if Samira had trained more she would not have been able to evade without using the powers of a speedier spirit like Ama of her own. Samira had expected to just be hit by the claws. Her clothes were shredded as they sliced through the fabric and made several cuts on her pale skin. However, nine tails had also formed around her opponent that struck Samira further, the last couple smacking her away and on the ground. It hurt, and she was sure she screamed. The cuts were not at all light scratches, and the warm blood was going through her clothes.

"Amirah. Don't start off with those types of attacks. You work your way up. She'll be dead before you get what you want at this rate." Still failing to mention she wasn't going to get what she wanted period unless the seal broke during the one sided fight. "Silence! I did not ask for your opinion. This is the one thing I have and will ever demand of her and she denies me. If she dies it is her own fault!" Another attack of the same magnitude. Small pools of blood were all over the place as it repeated another time. Anubis was starting to grow concerned for the serpent had not shown himself and it was doubtful even the strongest Nassar summoner could take that much damage. Just as he was about to advise Amirah cease her methods, the woman held out a key and summoned a spirit that represented a god of healing. One normally may of been curious as to why she was healing Samira, but he already knew, and disapproved of it greatly. "Amirah! That's enough!" His words went ignored. Amirah was taking out her rage and jealously out as much as she could. If that meant healing her opponent so she could do it again and again without them dying then that was what she would do. Again and again Samira took it all. There really was no choice in the matter. Amirah moved to fast for her to even attempt at a pitiful magicless counter.

"I..told you...", Samira began to say as she fought the pain and pushed herself up from the ground once more. "I do not... have... what you want." Samira heard the name "Ravana" just before she was lifted from the ground by her neck. Apparently the spirit power Amirah was using at that moment increased her strength a great deal. The next thing she knew she was punched very hard in her gut and the hold released, allowing the force from the enhanced punch send her backwards until she hit the ground. She couldn't even make herself rise from that. Samira continued lying there, still conscious, but unable to fully move.

"Hmm, I must be going about this the wrong way. Harming you isn't good enough." Amirah sighed. "But I'll never be able to make a move on that Saint." A wide grin appeared on Amirah's face as if she had an epiphany, and she let loose an excited squeal. "Oh, I know! I'll just go after those three villagers you visited earlier." If Samira had not had all the wind knocked out of her she likely would have questioned the newer targets, disbelieving someone would go after people so defenseless and not a part of the whole thing. "Oh, I can also add in some people from that guild of yours! The higher classes ones will be a pain, but I bet endangering the weaker ones would hurt you just a bit. What a failure of an Ace you'd be otherwise. Letting them die because you are too stubborn to give me one of your spirits. So sad."

Samira's eyes were wide and nearing panic. The woman was probably willing to go that far. She doubted that many would be lost to the guild before one of the higher ranks caught up to Amirah and took care of her, but losing even one person over it was too many. Then there were April, Mary, and Frank. It woudn't take much to make good on the threat towards them. They lived in a village. There wasn't much protection. All Amirah had to do was retreat and come back any time she pleased. Samira clenched her teeth in frustration, and her nails dug into the dirt. There was nothing she could do at that moment, and she wasn't really being given time to talk through it. That was when a certain chaos serpent began whispering. Samira's consciousness was temporarily transported to her own inner mind, a far off part of it away from where her spirits normally would be. The red portal she had seen in the lab back in Spooky Forest was there, but it was not alone. A small blood red colored shadow was moving around, slithering around in the aireffortlessly around her.

'This is not looking very good for you, is it?'
'I have heard you before...'
'Oh? I thought I had removed all memory of me. How sloppy I have become while being locked away.'
'You are the one Ama spoke of earlier, correct? The one this woman also wants?'
'Something she wants, perhaps. Something she will have? Not...interested. I only care for you, dear human.'
'I find that hard to believe. Ama has told me not to trust you.'
'Of course she did. Her job is to despise me even if she would claim to be completely without hate. Those that claim to be pure are often the most judgemental. This goes for you too.'
'I do not hate anyone.'
'Debatable. I am currently a part of you. I can feel your hostility. It's been building up ever sense her first strike against you. The threats she just made are making your blood boil even though you act so calm. The only reason you do nothing is because you believed you couldn't. Not without the others, not without magic, not without weapons. You are just a silly girl without actual power. Learn to hate though, and you will have all the power and will that you will ever need. Accomplish anything. Defeat anyone. Protect everyone. Be a major player instead of someone on the sidelines that is lost amongst the crowd. Never to be a burden. That is what you really want, isn't it? You can hate just like anyone else, so why do you insist on always finding a reason to stop before crossing that line?' No reply came from the girl, although he could tell by her face and even sense her displeasure. Typical. She was going to make him do something he did not intend to do originally. He could already tell. Still he continued his calm and smooth way of speaking for one more sentence just to see her response. 'I can help you again. Make use of my power as your own, and not because I have taken control of you. I will allow you to experience how it feels.'
'No, thank you.' Samira said in response, her expression being of one that was disgusted with just hearing about the offer let alone accepting it. 'I know better than to fall for those words. I have seen powerful magic for myself, and it did not come from hate. Now return me to where I was before, and do not speak to me again. Remove yourself from my mind and body.'
'Insolent, child! I am prepared to give you my power and you demand I go away?!'
'You heard correctly.' There was a long pause of silence as the serpent's shadow glared with such intensity. It was surprising to say the least that there was no response. Her mind returned to the dimension her body still remained. Things had changed slightly. She was still lying on her back on the ground, but now the other green haired woman was straddling on top of her. Samira moved to struggle free but the long claws from before appeared again and pierced through one of her shoulders, pinning her to the ground. The cry of pain was one that brought a satisfied smile to the attacker. A claw on the other hand gently rubbed against Samira's cheek. A thin cut was still formed regardless of the light touch, drawing a small amount of blood. "How about it, sister? Are you really going to make me do such horrible things?" The voice sounded so sweet and soothing despite the words that were spoken.

It was then Anubis sensed something tampering with his created dimension. They were out of time. He had made it to where time moved at a faster pace than outside in the normal world, but it seemed it had finally caught up and would now interfere. His eyes flashed a bright purple and a wave of invisible energy released as the keys fell to the ground several feet from their owner. The spirits attached would have to be called upon manually rather than them popping out of no where now. He then transformed into a more humanoid looking creature, but with jackal features and golden armor covering the furred body. If he guessed correctly, Anhur would arrive himself very soon.

Samira heard the jingling of something as it hit the ground. Only because of her spirits calling out did she realize what it was: her keyring. The means to fight back even just a little was there, although still a bit of a distance away. There was more fire in her now, however. Amirah looked up as she heard the sound and scowled. "I thought you said nothing could enter here!" She yelled, turning her head towards the jackal spirit. A slight mistake. When Amirah turned back to face her, Samira thrust her hand upward with as much force as she could do. The result was the heel of her hand hitting the other girl's nose, possibly breaking it. She didn't stick around to find out. Amirah cried out at the hit and released Samira's shoulder as her hands went to her nose. The violet eyes were also tearing up in reaction, and it did not take much effort for Samira to escape from under the woman. The summoner faced to where the keys landed as she turned over and attempted to get on her feet, but she was stopped as Amirah grabbed onto her boots and pulled her back. A kick back towards the one that held her in place solved that problem, and she was free once more. Samira stood fully and went for the keys. Just as she was near them they disappeared, having been taken by the jackal headed spirit. "We are out of time. Amirah, prepare to leave."

The roaring sound of a lion was heard as Anhur appeared and tackled the jackal spirit. The keys were dropped in the process. The two spirits went on fighting their own battle full of spears, laser eye beams, dead spirits, and more chaotic violence. Samira didn't even try to stop it. She picked up the keys and had begun to call out a spirit when she was attacked by the speed enhanced Amirah once more. That time more fatally. The sharp claws pierced through her abdomen, and as the summoner stood there the grip on the keys loosened and they fell to the ground. She could taste blood in her mouth now and her vision was getting blurred. The voices around were fading. Anhur, Anubis, Amirah, and even her spirits...all but one. 'You no longer have a choice.'

Samira then felt something go through her. A power of sorts, but also emotions. The very negative kind. There was no happiness or love there, just anger and hate. Apophis was not going to completely take over that time. He was instead mixing his own thoughts and feelings with her own while also giving her access to his powers. It would be hard for the girl to differentiate what was hers and what was his before it was too late. He hated those other summoners that had attacked before and wasted his time. He hated the spirit that brought Samira and himself to that dimension. He even had grown to despise the ninja mage just because of the threat she posed. Most of all though, he hated the foolish look-alike that nearly killed the summoner he was currently attached to. Unforgivable.

A dark energy left the wound on Samira's body, inflicting harm on the one that had caused it. Amirah shrieked and backed away. Her violet eyes were severely pissed off at first. She knew the more powerful summoners of her bloodline had a natural habit of being able to take more damage than others, but by all rights her sister should have been on the ground dying. Not standing, and sure as hell not leaking energy. The glare fixated on the summoner as she held her pained hand, but the eyes filled with slight fear as the power levels of Samira increased and her body emitted a red glow. A smirk was on Samira's face, and it grew into a wider smile as several thin snake-like moving chains appeared and wrapped around the other woman. Rise and slam. Rise and slam. Amirah was being treated as if she were a basketball. Once Apophira got bored, the chains tightened and held the other summoner in place.

The battle between Anubis and Anhur had paused after feeling the new surge of energy. Like any other spirit that cared for his summoner, Anubis did not stand still for long. A laser eye beam was fired at the fused version of Samira and Apophis. She didn't even flinch. Her head simply turned to casually stare off in that direction. Just before the snake-like chains attacked the spirit until he could not keep up with their movements and numbers. He was nothing more than purple particles before long. His dismissal caused the created dimension to disappear, and all parties returned to the real world. They would not all be where they originally were before being taken or tossed down a portal though. They were all actually standing where they were in the fake world: right in front of the destination for the whole trip. One that apparently was now a complete waste thanks to Amirah and her spirit. Not that the current Samira cared anymore. She barely even had a real thinking process aside from destroying the other green haired girl.

Samira stepped closer towards the girl on the ground. Her progress was halted as Anhur intervened. A spirit that had no right to do so. Time and time again he showed how little he cared, and he chose then to do something? Preposterous! The chains flew back to her and smacked the feline spirit that held her in place, sending him far and away from herself and her opponent. The dismissal of Anubis meant that the spell keeping the spirits from popping up on their own was also lifted. Bastet left her key and went to her brother. Amaterasu commanded the others to stay before leaving her key. Her eyes had returned to normal color and were no longer angry, but rather worried. A new spell was cast as the environment began to darken more so than before. So much so that even the sun could not be seen. The winds grew as a large and swirling portal formed on the ground and began to draw everything in side it. The trees, the fences, the house as it broke into pieces and flew inside the portal. Basically everything about the place that Samira did not want to return to. All except the people that were already gone elsewhere. Even Amaterasu had trouble moving at her quick speed as the portal tried sucking everything around it inside. She could see the sphere forming. The powerful dark explosion attack that had been used against the colossal snake before. It was aimed at the other woman, who was using a spirit spell to remain grounded, but was nearly failing to not get sucked inside the void portal. Ama knew she could not let that attack land. It would either kill her directly, or send her through that portal to who knew where. The light spirit would not let her summoner be the one to do something like that, and most certainly when she was not herself. Bastet and Anhur had stopped her from doing something regrettable previously, and even if she disliked the scolding of Kaori, her words were wise enough. The same should have been applied to Samira, who was not much of a killer.

Amaterasu disappeared in a flash of bright light and reappeared near Samira. She tried the same tactic as before to rid her summoner of the dark spirit. Her hand went to the forehead of Samira, although more forceful than before. "You are not lost yet, Samira. Push him back!" The sealing light exploded and sent the spirit flying backwards and nearly into the void portal. Her light teleport saved her from that fate. Ama clenched her teeth as she gained more distance. She was too weak to deal with the serpent while he was so close to the surface instead of dwelling underneath. Aside from straight on attacking and hoping she could knock Samira out, she didn't know what else she was supposed to do. Ra was still MIA somewhere and there were no other light spirits to help. For now, she needed to remove the target from the scenario. Her summoner had gone back to focusing on her.

The earlier dark sphere had fizzled out when Amaterasu interrupted. The second one was complete, and wasted no time in heading straight for Amirah. Ama teleported, grabbed the girl, and teleported again, narrowly missing the explosion of dark energy. The shockwave sent the two falling forward, but at the very least they were unharmed. Well, for a second. The chains grabbed onto Amaterasu and quickly pulled her towards Samira. She landed on her feet, face to face with Samira. Although she felt a pain in her spirit heart. Apparently when she landed Samira had managed to pass her hand through her body and latched onto what would be her heart. Amaterasu wasn't stupid though. The snake eyes were a dead giveaway that the serpent had taken full control, likely as a result of being annoyed by her interference. "You coward." Ama said with a pained voice and a now red eyed glare.

"Now, now, dear Amaterasu. Name calling does not suit you. I would dispose of you myself if I were able. I am stuck though as you are aware. You can't really call me a coward for having to dispose of you in this manner." The words were said with a slight chuckle, and the voice was a combination of his own and Samira's. "You. Really. Should. Not. Interfere." With each word of the broken sentence, the grip on her heart tightened. "But, I guess life just isn't always fair, is it? Don't you find it amusing? No? Hm..." The light spirit was far from amused, but her anger had died and her eyes returned to normal. Now she was more hurt emotionally than anything. She had failed at even his weakest levels. Even the glow she normally had dimmed. "Don't worry. I have no intention on doing anything now. The seal is not fully broken. There's still have time to allow that light of yours to fade further. For now though, it's time we say our goodbyes. I have a summoner to darken. Farewell, Little Glowfly. I'll see you again soon." Crushed into gold and white particles. Now to just get back to what had been going on before... Well damn. The other summoner that had ticked him off and had become a good enough target for Samira to eliminate had run off. It was just as well he supposed. Now that he realized it he did not exactly have great powers of healing. There was blood all over the place from the last wound Samira had received....along with the ones from before that had been healed. The are was a real mess. Realizing the damage, he couldn't even leave to return fully to her mind because the host body would likely just collapse right then and there. Shit. Apophis really wanted to get gone before miss over powered ninja showed up.

Assuming Kaori was still busy slaughtering the pawns, Apophis would spend time convincing Bastet and Anhur to call upon He Bo so Samira could be healed. They begrudgingly did so only because the body he was using was currently their summoner's. Having her die while he was using it was not exactly something they wanted to happen. If the ninja had shown up before that happened, well, another fun moment to write about in his imaginary diary.

During Samira's fight with her elder sister, right as they were transported back to the real world, Kaori felt Samira's magic returning and told Ikuchi to have the others finish cleaning up. She vanished and reappeared elsewhere, closer to Samira but not close enough. Using magic power to locate someone was a pain in the ass, especially for Kaori who was considerably bad with magic even if she was powerful. The ninja vanished again and appeared closer, trying to home in on the general direction but ultimately failing. She did so once more, noting that Samira's magic power grew stronger, meaning she was closer. Hot, cold, warmer, cooler, warmer, warmer, cooler, warmer, the process continued until Kaori was close enough to sense Samira's heart and got a perfect location. Kaori vanished and reappeared just as the fight ended and Apophis was turning to address Anhur and Bastet, but he'd realize that Samira's body, not even her mouth would move an inch. A white magic was coating the entire area and behind her was Kaori with a cold look about her. "Get out of Samira's mind you decrepit, geriatric inch worm." The tone in her voice would imply that there was no room for negotiation, and Samira's body was already being healed by Kaori's Paralytic Heal spell so he had very few reasons to stay. Furthermore, he would know by now Angra Mainyu enjoyed playing with Samira and would likely get involved if he tried anything.

Once he was gone, Samira would likely collapse under the immense pressure of Kaori's paralysis spell. The spell was simply Kaori using her emotions to weigh down her enemies, and Samira had a hard time dealing with that spell on a good day. Kaori would vanish and catch her, gently guiding her to the ground and letting Samira lean against her chest. Kaori looked at the wounds and her eyes narrowed. She wanted to know who did it so she could hunt them down and kill them herself, but she refused to access Samira's memories without permission. Kaori let out a sigh and formed white magic in her hand before touching the wound, beginning to heal it as best she could. Kaori wasn't a master healer, but she was stronger now than she was so many years back. She was able to stop the bleeding quickly and even take care of the smaller wounds. Kaori expanded the healing by turning it into a massive magic circle, granting the effects of her Caeles Cantri without the overly flashy visuals. 'Ikuchi, get the med-bay on Recon One prepped. Have the others begin clean up and body disposal, any enemy who remains is allowed to leave.' Kaori ordered her servant, to which he immediately obeyed. While he didn't like Samira, he did like her spirits, their diversity, and their power- even Sasuno. He valued them as allies and knew they would be at a loss if Samira had passed because he let his personal issues get the better of him.

"Bastet, I'm assuming something happened to Ama since she's not here. Would you mind checking on her?" Kaori would request. "Snoop Genie, get us to Recon One." Kaori would then say before she, Samira, and Anhur appeared in the medical area that consisted of a single room with slightly above average equipment. It was a recon ship, not a full on war vessel, so no one accounted for treating heavy battle wounds. Two men had taken Samira and set her on a bed gently to begin cleaning her wounds before finishing Kaori's healing. A small child with blonde hair and a sniper rifle nearly twice her height and weight rushed through the door, unhindered by the hundred pound weapon, and ran to Samira's side. "Auntie Kaori, will miss Samira be okay?" she asked in a worried tone while tears formed in her eyes. Kaori told her that she'd be fine, mentioning that Samira was stronger than she looked.

Kaori turned to Anhur and told him to take a seat on the other bed, stating she needed to talk to him as well as stating he may as well since it'd be a while before they get back to Hargeon. "Anhur, I'd like to personally apologize to you. I understand that a spirit, their key, and their summoner are all of extreme importance and none of them should be tampered with. The only other time I'd ever tampered with one of Samira's keys was when she permitted me to alter Kali's and lend her one of my spells. It's not a decision I make lightly, and I don't expect forgiveness. Had there been another option, had I known she would've returned so soon, I would never had done it." Kaori then turned and left the room, giving Anhur no time to respond to her and setting in stone the fact that she truly didn't want to be forgiven as well as that she truly did understand the gravity of what she'd done.

Ashley had took the sniper off her back and opened the bolt, turned on the safety switch, and set it on the floor. She walked over to some of the first aid equipment and took a box before setting it on the bed next to Anhur. "Miss Samira needs the nurses to look over her, so I'll care of you Mister Anhur." she said with a squeaky, respectful, and blatantly concerned voice while looking at him with large eyes. If he tried to get up or resist, he'd soon find that she possessed strength befitting a dragon and not a human child as she would pull him down- explaining why the rifle had no effect on her. "You must be super strong Mister Anhur, your cuts are tiny so I'll just clean them." she said softly and picked up a piece of gauze with some alcohol on it. "Umm... this might sting, I'm sorry." she said before touching it to the wound. Once his wounds were clean, Ashley would grab a brush nearby and begin taking care of Anhur's mane while stating it was a very regal mane. Once finished, she would get off the bed and leave the room.

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Samira would wake up in her bedroom in the guild hall instead of one of Kaori's vessels. Sitting next to her would be something that would likely make her angry, but that thing honestly didn't care. With one leg folded over the other, reading a book quite casually, Angra Mainyu would glance to the side. "Kaori had me stick around to make sure that dismembered gecko in your head didn't try anything." she would say calmly before closing the book and getting up. "I'll let her know you're awake." she would add before leaving. Moments later, Kaori would appear in the room overtop Samira with her legs on either side of her, hands pressed on Samira's shoulders to pin her to the bed and snow white hair draped over her. Samira would see a violet ring around the ruby parts of Kaori's eyes for a moment. Her expression was stoic, and fierce as though she were facing an enemy and not her best friend. Her expression softened and Kaori dropped down, rapidly wrapping her arms behind Sammy's neck in a warm embrace. "Thank god you're back." she said, tightening her hug. "I'm sorry I wasn't there for you." Kaori said calmly while resting her head on Samira's shoulder.

Kaori took a moment to compose herself, relaxing her arms and turning her head to face Samira while still resting her head on Sammy's shoulder. "Sammy..." Kaori started. "...I want you to know that no matter what, even if the impossible happened, even if Apophis won, even if you turned on me... I will always fight for you. With that key, I am one of your spirits and my power is yours to use." Kaori paused to give Samira a fleeting kiss on her cheek. "I will never abandon you, and I will always answer your call. After all..." Kaori used her arms to prop herself up, staring down at Samira before giving her another kiss, this time on the lips. It was short, not even a second long before she disconnected. "...You'd do the same for me." Kaori said before going back down for a more intimate kiss, even using tongue if Samira would let it go that far. If she did, it would continue for several minutes before Kaori stopped and slid herself to Samira's side, resting her head on the summoner's shoulder and placing one of her arms over Sammy's torso. Kaori would say in a soft tone "You should rest a bit more." since the previous day was much less relaxing than it should've been, and even that wasn't much relaxation.

If Samira refused Kaori's kiss, she would get off her and say she was sorry before vanishing and leaving the summoner to her own devices. Either way, Samira would notice that her body wasn't in pain from the many attacks. Her wounds had been healed, broken bones mended, and magic power restored by the various people on Kaori's ship. She didn't even have any stitches in her, implying that they'd used magic.