"Well, you see..." Koyuki explained, in a gentle, explanatory tone, which, Yaburu had taken the liberty to interrupt. Koyuki would not have accepted this had it not been *exactly* what she was about to say herself.

"I do not care what Koyuki wishes to speak with you about, but Kurama escaped this day because of you. You held her back and caused in fighting amongst your own forces for your petty and insignificant vengence. If you do it again, I will purify you from this plane, with the general's help, if necessary." Were the monk's words.

"In-deed." Koyuki agreed, the word rolling off her tounge in two syllables. "Had you not abandoned White Kimono, our left flank would not have collapsed, and Yaburu would have continued to distract Kurama while *I* killed him. That was the plan. The plan I had so carefully implemented while the battle began to unfold." The demon continued, her voice still calm, although laced with malice.

"YOUR ACTIONS ALLOWED KURAMA TO ESCAPE!" She added suddenly after the pause, her calm, calculating voice suddenly replaced with an angry, high-pitched shriek of anger, as she simultaneously reached out to backhand Raikotsu with her left arm, "What disturbs me *MORE*, is that *you*, in your jealous rage that Kurama might be slain while you did your part, decided to divert your attention away from *any* of his bodyguards to seize ME! That, alone is traitorous, and it is agaisnt me, personally, and agaisnt everyone assembled here now in thought and word! Had I not been wounded through your carelessness by attempting to prevent Kurama's escape, I would kill you where you stand!"

Koyuki looked, now, like she was on fire. Her markings began to seem liquid and begin to almost flow like viscous gel, as she began to lose control for a moment. She quickly cooled down, however, knowing that succumbing to rage at this point would be disadvantageous, aswell as the fact that the sheer anger would force her to assume her true form, not something she wished to do at this point.

She glared at Raikotsu, then turned to leave. "The battle is lost. retrieve anything worth retrieving and let us set up camp somewhere near. I genuinely hope for your sake that we know where Kurama and his men are going."

Kirakiri curses silently. There had been no avoiding this human. His other self lies hidden in the roof of the chamber that houses the Raigaki Cannon and he had planned to simply wait for them to leave. Still this human seems wearied and even if he fails to subdue the human quietly, he will be able to lead the others off so his second self can sabotage the cannon.

In front of Akimoto he hisses in amusement, moving partially into the light. He has mildly adjusted his form to give an impression of being a snake demon. "So I am discovered it seems." he sibilantly says. "Still, my task is already done." His dark eyes, quite different from their normal colour, glint with satisfaciton. Kirakiri's policy when dealing with enemies is to lie frequently and convincingly. "Now all that remains, is to deal with you."

With a startling burst of speed that doesn't even give Akimoto time to shout out, Kirakiri lunges forwards striking out with one long arm. With Kirakiri already past his spearpoint, Akimoto tries to dodge the attack and simultaneously thwacks Kirakiri's thin side with the haft. Kirkairi gives a muffled grunt but this plays into his hands - one claw grips onto the spear and drags Akimoto closer. He had gauged his opponent's slowed reaction time from weariness correctly and is trying to end this as silently as possible.

Kirakiri than grabs onto Akimoto in a fluid movement, serpentine body and tail beginning to coil around him while a scaled hand claps over Akimoto's mouth. Hugely off balance from Kirakiri clinging to him and already beginning to feel the demon's coils tighten, Akimoto struggles to free himself but one arm is trapped and while the other is less pinned the spear it holds isn't of much use right now. About to fall over and feeling the air slowly being squeezed out of his lungs, Akimoto tries something in desperation.

Flicking his wrist and using the momentum of the fall, Akimoto throws his spear away, imbuing it with a touch of his powers over earth. It hits the wall and falls to the ground creating a thunderous noise like a rockslide.

Cursing inwardly at the human's ingenuity, Kirakiri abandons stealth and begins tightening his grip faster, the two wildly thrashing on the ground as Akimoto still resists him despite beginning to become low on air. Kirakiri loops his coils, attempting to grab Akimoto's wakizashi. If he can't kill this one before aid arrives he may be able to hold him hostage.

OOC: How's that Toastburner?

After the battle ended, Ishumo had quickly gathered up his fallen spear, and taken refuge in one of remaining trees around the battle field, and he was now watching the argument with great interest. In the likely chance that he would be noticed, he had prepared an escape route. He still had his hood on, just in case he decided to keep his identity secret.

Raikotsu's eyes flashed, and he practically snarled his response, "I'll be utterly honest. I don't care about any of you, my sole goal was killing Kurama. If it had not been for Koyuki's incompetence in dueling him, we would have destroyed him utterly. If you, monk, had been capable of defeating one with a cheap imitation of your own abilities, Kurama might have been slain by now. Look to your own actions before you blame mine."

He caught her hand before it reached his face, holding onto it for a moment before he let it drop, "White Kimono is safe, and Chikane is as well...though Chikane's spellcasting was no longer useful once she was drained. I incapacitated my former opponent, and so my duties there were discharged."

"They were *not*." Koyuki replied to his quote about his "duties", "Finished?! They were still *alive!* The monk that copied Yaburu's abilities, and that insane Sanjuro!"

She then continued to yell at Raikotsu, this time about Kurama. "Who the hell are you to call me incompetant?! Where were you when Kurama turned to flee? Could you do any better? We'll never know, because you'll be too dead to fight him again with your attitude."

"Are you threatening me?" Raikotsu lofted one eyebrow questioningly, rather haughtily.

"Yes. I am." Koyuki said, eyes locked with his own, with deadly seriousness.

He shrugged, "Whatever. Just don't try stealing my kill from me again." he turned around, apparently ignoring her, and scanned the area for White Kimono, "I do owe an apology to one ally, at least, perhaps two...but you are neither of them."

He located the red-eyed half-demon, and Chikane, having just disembarked from the back of a large eagle, and headed in that direction, stopping before White Kimono, seeing that Chikane was curled up, and apparently exhausted, nearby. He apologized in a manner that could best be described as grumpy, "I am sorry I abandoned you in combat. I will not try and excuse it.

"However, I will ask for an explanation of that 'lover boy' remark you made earlier."

OOC: Time for Chikane to touch herself!

IC: Away from the rest of them, while Raikotsu and Koyuki were busy blaming each other for Kurama's escape, Chikane lay curled up in a pile of soft heather which White Kimono had gathered for her. She opened her eyes as their shouting drifted to her, and in a moment of pure, unadulterated malice, she briefly contemplated hitting the two of them with a Makai Tenjo sealing spell, then squeezed her eyes shut as the backlash from the Atrocious Fire Transformation hit her.

Ow...

Her hand instinctively reached to her breast, to the source of the pain, then as Chikane realised what she was doing, she gently relaxed her grip. But the warmth remained, and she slowly returned the hand to its place, kneading and squeezing to make it better.

God.

It felt so good.

The pain faded away, replaced by a growing warmth that spread gradually throughout her body. Turning away from the group, Chikane buried her face into the sweet-smelling heather, ostensibly because she wanted to hear as little of the argument as possibly, but also because she didn't want them to hear the low moan which had escaped her lips as she dipped her other hand under her hakama's waistband.

Had it been so long since she had been with Himeko? The sudden arch of her back betrayed her, and she almost cried out loud as she let her fingers graze her inner thighs. Not all the moisture there was from the rainstorm she had summoned earlier, and from the looks of things, she was precipitating fairly heavily too.

Images of Himeko, White Kimono, even Koyuki ran through her head, and just as she was about to take the plunge, she heard footsteps coming up on her. The realization that she might be watched killed her desire like a bucket of ice water, and she surreptitiously withdrew her hands from where they had been, folding them across her chest.

"Chikane?" White kimono looekd down at the curled-up priestess. "Are you all right?"

"I'm... fine, Kimono. Thanks for your help."

And while she cursed inwardly at having been interupted, she took solace in the fact that there would be other times.

(OOC:I don't need anybody else, when I think about you I touch myself...)

Edited due to logical recheck:
Something breathed. And it wasn't Pyros. He turned about. There was no one else inside the room, just the strange device and the sound of someone breathing. It was a muffled noise, a noise of one trying to breath sneakily.

"Sanjuro?" He called out. "Takin?" The noise got quieter, but he heard no other sound. He flew up...

The argument was on hold, if only for the moment, and Ishumo found himself fingering the dark mask he had on his face. It was early in the morning, and the sun had not been up for very long. His previous encounter with the demons kept running through his head. "When I see those demons again they will not see me, they will see the weak fool that they struck down. I will not tolerate they will learn to respect me before the end. I will remake myself and they will see the new me. Then he had crouched down, and created a mask from the shadows around him. As he slipped it over his face he though. "Now this is the face they shall learn to respect". Then he continued running. Caught in his memories Ishumo accidentally leaned back causing a loud creaking. "Maybe they didn't hear that" He prayed hopefully.

As Sanjuro stumbled through the hallways panickedly searching for Katsushiro, who was riding on his back. Sanjuro's calls for his furry companion were interrupted by that of thunderous crash, which prompted Sanjuro to become his usual obnoxious self. "IS SOMEONE IN DANGER? IS THE GREAT AND POWERFUL SANJURO YAMADA NEEDED TO ONCE AGAIN DRAW HIS BLADE TO AID HIS COMRADES!!"

Sanjuro now ran down the halls with a punch ready for the next foe to mistakenly cross his path, the smile on his face was like that of a child looking for their favorite toy. He turned a final corner to find Akimoto lying on the ground with some wierd black thing slowly enveloping him. "Oy Earth mover, whats this weird spell of yours supposed to do." He waits a moment for a response, "Answer me Earth Mover!" Sanjuro grabs at Kirakiri angrily and begins to rip him away from Akimoto. "One way or the other Earth Mover, you will answer me."