As it turns out, there was a very, VERY valid reason for Surin having such a large front gate protecting his home.

You see, quite a good number of forest demons had been attempting to break through the wards placed around the wall, which kept them out and away from Surin's devices. But now, the main focus of defense was down, and all that stood in their way was a small group of humans and demons...


It started with a low hissing sound, like the whistle of a snake breathing with its tongue. The sound made Surin's eyes open wide in fright and surprise. Kurama's blade glowed brightly from the sudden rush of hostile demonic auras.

Shadows on the edges of the walls slowly became spotted with glowing yellow eyes, red slits separating the bright colors of the irises. Several large snake heads slid from the shadows, most of their bodies remaining in the hidden darkness cast by the wall.

"THEY'RE COMING IN! THE GATE IS DOWN! THEY'RE GONNA GET IN! AND THE CARRIAGE ISN'T TURNED ON AND THE ROAD ISN'T SET FOR DEPARTURE AND I NEED TO JUICE UP THE MOTOR-"

"SURIN! Settle down! You just run inside and get everything set up. We'll defend the yard until it's ready." The Raigaki slid effortlessly from its sheathe, ready and open for any reason to strike.

((Monster Description in Discussion Thread))

Maton's mechanical eyes shuttered closed and then opened again as he approached the strange creature. He was entirely unphased by the question's wording and feeling, but answered calmly while stepping forward. "I am known as Maton... and you are intriguing..." he replied, walking forward and reaching an arm out to touch Raze.

"A being from the spiritual realm given flesh? Hmm... I wonder how resilient he is... may I test him?" Maton asked, his head rotating completely around to look at Koyuki.

He assumed she would know that testing involved systematically applying different types of damage--piercing, slicing, beating, electrical, fire, asphyxiation, etc. until the body gave out to unconciousness... which would be followed by healing it, waking it, and moving onto the next type of pain. Once all types were checked, he would move on to vivisection to explore how the creature 'ticked', in the most literal sense.

"I believe it is best we leave the spirit's physical functions as a matter to be discussed and performed later," Hasu came in smoothly. She nodded at Maton, her fair head dipping gracefully.

"For now, time seems to be of the essence. Lady Koyuki, once motivated, will not wait for you to experiment. Let us go."

Koyuki's sequential response to the rapidly proceeding scene was one of mixed humor and concern. She were as suprised as any at Raze's sudden appearance into the physical realm, and while her left hand went to the tsuba of her katana, she made no effort to rouse the weapon from it's rested state. Clearly, the 'ghost' was Talkatz' messanger, as it did indeed know their names, but it did not excuse his 'snooping'. Maton's suggestions were particularly amusing, and she was very apt to allow him to proceed with them.

"Unless our new 'messenger' can supply us with the information he was likely entrusted, you may proceed, Maton." The demoness spoke, while staring at the new form of the formerly-kimono Raze. A quirk of her eyebrow belied her intrigue of Maton's requests, as if suggesting to Raze that he should make haste, as they had little time to speak.

"Indeed, I can. Haste is important, as you said, because the one known as Genkai is now about to receive a method of transportation that is both unique and foreign enough to be troublesome....I know not the details of it, as it is kept in secrecy, only that it is created by an inventor more eccentric and reclusive than that drunkard there. An attempt to delay his departure has been made, but we will still need to get there quickly, as the demons involved may or may not be our allies. Such is the way of Talkatz." Raze spoke with a lackadaisical urgency, mostly because of the threats on his life. Such things could never prompt someone into haste, especially if they were already dead, and could easily return to the relative safety of death if needed. And pain? What was mere pain to a tortured being such as this?

"Furthermore, I carry information on Genkai's current allies as of 2 days ago, which may aid you. But since you are in a hurry, perhaps it would be best to tell you this as we move."

"Your information is more detailed than mine." Koyuki nodded to Raze, motioning him to lead on with her right arm, whilist relaxing her left's grasp on the saya of her katana. "I think it would be best if you led the way while we spoke."

"My apologies, Maton. You will need to examine Raze's internal organs at a later date." Koyuki added with a slight grin, stepping toward the ghostly messenger, whom she would follow closely enough for him to adequately report his information.

"Very well," Maton responded, emotionlessly as ever, his head swiveling back around to face the proper direction on his neck once more, facing the spiritual creature. After a moment the automaton stepped back away from Raze, and waited for him to begin leading the villainous group to their quarry.

Toji was surprisingly the first to move, shifting his bulk forward into the path of a half dozen of the beasts. Only two kept their eyes on him, the rest preferred to target a more 'appealing' target. Toji eyed Kurama and his glowing blade with a hint of jealousy, "Well if that isn't the story of my life." Toji took a swig of his sake with a grimace, then took stock of his enemies.

The first towered over him, its head rose high over the tree line as it prepared to strike, far from any attack Toji could dish out. The second was low and to Toji's right, it slowly coiled against the earth preparing to lash out a moment after its partner. Toji had different plans, drawing his sword awkwardly he slammed the guard against the sake bottle. As the crack started to form the bottle flew from his hand towards the beast on his right, he raised his blade just as the one above lunged to strike.

But he had no intention of using his blade against this one, the moment the beast dove with its mouth agape Toji began his counter attack. A burst of sake shot from his mouth followed by a streak of flame that overtook the liquid and burned it further into the distance. The snake recoiled the moment it saw the flash, but by then it was too late. Flames engulfed it from snout to neck, its mouth and tongue burned as well, nothing vital seemed to escape the flames. In its sudden shock it drove its face into the earth, far away from Toji.

The second beast on the other hand was moving towards Toji now, its primitive mind knew nothing of what it had been hit with. All it knew was that the liquid burned its nose and eyes, and now it could make the man with the glowing blade pay for that. Yes, Toji's blade glowed bright orange in the dark of the night. Not from the magic that gave Kurama his powers, but from the flames that it caught only moments ago. The beast wasn't aware of how foolish it truly was until Toji struck it not once but twice across the face.

Both streaks of pain seared shut almost immediately but the first ignited the sake. The beast shrieked in surprise as it's nostrils burned once more, it didn't recoil quickly enough however as Toji cut through its neck dropping it to the earth. Immobile now, it could only suffer through the flames until Toji's blade mercifully dug into its skull.

Standing atop the flaming corpse Toji laughed as the first snake reared its ugly head once more, the flames had been smothered now. They had however burned through more then one layer of scales and the beast now wore patches of different color on its face, some white, some green and a lot of black. "Ah-cha, its a good thing you are about to die, I'd hate to think I let one like you live." The beast was nearly blind and its nose didn't respond at all, but its hearing was still good.

It darted towards Toji, but its vague idea of where he was only led to his blade. It stung for only a moment and then nothingness. Toji tore one of the scorched scales from its hide and hastily wiped blood from his blade. "You see I appreciate beauty," Toji confided in the slain beast, "If I were to let one such as you live, how could I sleep at night."

Another set of eyes caught Toji, "Humph, I suppose we need things like you for contrast." He raised his blade towards his next opponent. "But I can live without things such as you!" Toji didn't wait for the snake, this time he charged in his blade held high.

Atasu lowered his head and charged forward at the DSOES' (Demonic Snakes Of Extraordinary Size) as the four nearest snapped their heads out to strike, he swung his tetsubo. with uncanny speed, three of the serpents pulled their strike short, but the fourth was a little bit slower and got one of it's fangs broken off at the root for it's troubles.

As the other snakes were regrouping for a second strike, Atasu picked up the broken tooth andheld it knifelike in his unencumbered hand.

Kagi just kind of blinked, looking at the groups reaction to everything. What the hell kind of people am I around? Kagi pondered to himself, seeing most of their reactions. So now the robot is evil too? Oh boy. Kagi thought, quite surprised by what Maton had to say. Then again, he needed to remind himself he was hired by the eviles, so he needed to be evil himself. Which he could do, but so much of this crap could take you by surprise.

Gawd he hoped Talkatz could deliver once this was over with.

"Finally, I thought we were going to stand around till one of us starved to death so the others had a snack on the way." Kagi stated, in a futile attempt to bring humor to this dark and cold group. Hey, once this was over, Kagi never had to look at any of them again, so why not have a little fun.

Suzume, almost grinning like a maniac, finally realized something about this group: It was a magnet for demons. And, despite the oddness the group presented at first, that was something that would make his life a hell of a lot more fun.

Drawing his katanas as he walked forward -- Right gripped normally, the left held backwards -- the demon hunter's smile seemed to grow the closer he got to his targets. Being in the back of the group, it didn't take long for "closer" to become "Right in his face." Suzume, however, didn't seem to flinch as two of the snakes reared back to strike, probably thinking Suzume would just be a quick snack before the main course that was Kurama.

Oh how wrong they were.

The first demon missed the demon hunter completely. Suzume had jumped to the left with almost uncanny reflexes, sticking his katana out as he moved. While not a killer blow, the blade cut open the side of the beast's mouth, making it hiss in pain before recoiling.

The second demon, aiming straight for where Suzume had jumped to, struck faster than the first. Suzume, however, proved that he wasn't just a klutz with very volatile ammunition. Jumping straight up from where he had landed, the demon hunter managed to get enough air to meet the top jaw of the snake demon.

So, with that being a predictable move, Suzume was sent flying back after blacking with his right hand. And, now that he had range on his side, Suzume's smile gained more of a malicious tone to it. Extending a hand, one of the four souls shot out like it had earlier in the night. This time, Suzume aimed straight for the entrance to Surin's fort, right behind where the door had been. Once again, a line of blue light, followed by a quick explosion of blue fire, flashed through the fire, the roar of the following explosion adding more noise to the fray, as well as tossing pieces of an unknown number of snake demons here and there.

Not being on the ground when he had blasted the snakes, Suzume flipped backward from the recoil, somersaulting a couple times in the air. Hitting the ground hard, rolling, and grinding to a halt on his feet, the demon hunter was quickly charging back with that same sadistic grin on his face.

Needless to say, Suzume was destined to be part of the group, and this moment showed it.

"Perhaps you should not have had the gate destroyed." Akira remarked to Kurama with enviable understatement.

It was a nightmarish scene. The pallid fingers of first dawn were just beginning to climb over the horizon, laying a thin trace of light over the dark night. Out of the pools of undisturbed darkness came the tangled coils of demonic beasts, long necks thrusting into the weak light of day. Their yellow eyes glowed like pale, false suns, slashed in twain by the crimson slit of their pupils.

A trio of seprents rose up like ancient trees of the forest, regarding their chosen morsel as they prepared to strike. One slumped, falling and entering its death throes, a wakizashi embedded in its skull. Akira had struck first, flinging his smaller sword at the beast.

Barely a split second later, the other two lunged, one slightly after the other. Akira freed his other blade, turning to the side. The scaly wedge of a serpent's head shot past him, the wind of its passing stirring his clothes. The samurai's sword flicked down like a executioner's axe, severing the beast's spine in a delicate motion.

There was no time to dodge the last snake. As the second snake collapsing heavily to the ground, Akira spun to face the last of his foes. Not moving from the spot, he jabbed forwards, plunging his blade between the lunging beast's jaws and through the soft flesh of its upper mouth. The thrust impaled it on its own momentum. Withdrawing calmly, Akira pulled his sword arm out of the gaping maws of the beast as its eyes lidded and it fell.

Walking around the carcass, the samurai advanced, intending to recover his smaller blade.

A lame duck out-
 

As Raze lead the group in the direction of Kurama Genkai, he spoke about the genkai's various allies, except for some peeps. True brotha's on the street don't snitch! Essentially, he said things about people who wanted to have things said about them, and nothing about those who didn't, allowing the plot to move along in a post without a long wait to gather approval. (This may be edited and refined later)

"That is all I know for now, and I doubt I shall have a chance to garner more information before we get there, so do not be angry if he should have less or more companions than I have mentioned, that is just the way dangerous people like him live. I know for a fact you weren't expecting ME to show up."

Jade tsked in annoyance. These demons were obviously meant to slow them down until someone could catch up. Who, she did not know, but the snakes needed to be dispatched with quick. Good thing quick was her specialty. She unsheathed her tachis and bent her knees. A slight bundle of dust kicked up where she had once been standing, and she was gone. One snake looked around as if perplexed, then hissed with pain as various gashes opened up on his body before falling down dead. The demon next to it looked on in confusion before a blur of red was behind it. The blur materialized into the ninja assassin as her blades crossed over the demon's neck from behind and slid into the thick hide. The demon spewed steaming green blood from the wound before falling to the ground as well. Her eyes shifted to the left as one of the snakes lunged at her quickly, her body tensing and shifting backwards, avoiding the strike. As the snake moved past her, she twirled her blade and stuck downwards, impaling it into the demon's head.

"Too slow."

The snakes themselves seemed to be dying off rather quickly, and yet more and more would pop out from the shadows. They seemed to be never-ending. The ground was soon littered with shedded heads of the snake demons, and they didn't seem to make a dent in the forces.

Interesting enough, those with sharper eyes may notice something strange...

They had only seen the heads of the snakes. The rest of their bodies had always remained in the shadows. And strangely, they always seemed to know what the other heads were doing, even the ones nowhere near each other.

Quite strange...quite strange indeed...

Akira plucked his wakizashi from the head of the fallen serpent, holding both blades at the ready. The numbers of the serpents seemed limitless, an endless horde pouring from the shadows.

"This has gone on long enough." Akira said, "Let us end this now."

He advanced into the darkness, intent on cutting to the heart of the problem.

OOC: I'm going to attack the telepath lurking in the shadows. I'm on to your tricks.

Tsubasa had just finished a new kimono and slipped it into her pouch, finishing up with a stretch of the arms. "Okay, so we didn't know you were coming. Is there anyone else who is coming that we don't know about? It is this kind of stuff that costs us valuable time. I mean, we probably have a long way to go from here before we reach Genkai, right?"

"It depends on whether or not one of us happens to have a spiffy ride, or the whim of some deity figure.(/fourthwallbreak) The inventor's hut the genkai is to visit today is not too far away, a mere forest between us and the Genkai. We must hope the Genkai does not make quick work of the detainment or is otherwise ahead of schedule." Raze replied to Tsubasa. He hoped his info was on the money, it was not easy to obtain, and much of it actually came from Talkatz himself. The rest....involved a bar and a recently dead barfly.

"Someone is detaining him for us? Then we should hurry. We may make it in time to end this chase before things really get moving."
And with that, Tsubasa picked up the pace. In spite of feeling somewhat weak from the ritual to raise Raze, the kunoichi was still very fast on her feet. When she reached the forest, Tsubasa took to the trees, hopping from branch to branch in a human-shaped blur of white.

"Yes. Let us catch up with the Genkai."

Shinju spread her arms. The sleeves of her kimono split into feathers, which soon formed the wings of the large crane that now stood in the woman's place. Shinju ruffled her feathers once, gave a short squawk, and flew off after Tsubasa.