Aegir had to do his own leg work now, at least for another month until he budded another node. There had been a light dizzle when the plane landed on the air strip. Aegir had been disguised with an illusion that made him appear to be on of several members of the ground crew. He watched as the new students disembarked from the craft, his mind scanning their own pressing into their memories as he learned about this crop that arrived on the island.

While he had been interested in a few of them, most had a rather drab back story. He enjoyed playing with their histories a bit, though that killed his boredom for a small measure of time. He was not above simple snatch and grabs when they presented themselves though and was adaptable in that sense.

One of the girls caught his attention though. It might have been the brightness of the blue kimmono that had first attracted his attention, then as he delved into her history he found himself rather interested ... there were things there that he could work with.

And to top it all off she was pure ... now Aegir had not been use to that, he had only had a half a dozen or so untried women in his days, most being recently too so he had figured that there was an influx of virgins to the island.

So use to getting at girls after they were used by others this was a new treand.

Later that day as Akemi was settling in the dorms Aegir had scanned the minds of those faculty that made the temporary dorm arrangements to find out where she was. He had gone there that night, slithering up the side of the dorm building, using telekinesis to unlock then open the window, then oozed inside.

He had already found her asleep as he slithered into the bedroom, his white eyes glancing down at her, mouth tendrils twitching, he sensed that she had entered REM sleep before entering, otherwise his tactics would have beeren a little diffrent.

With practiced ease he pressed into her mind, first he stimulated regions of her brain to ensure that she did not wake, then he manipulated her dream. She was in a building, the interior of a temple by the looks of it. There were lit candles and even the smell of incense burning, a vanilla scented aroma. A statue of Amaterasu had been here as well, a rather large and imposing on at least a dozen or so feet in height.

"There you are Akemi, I've been looking all over for you," the voice coming from an opened doorway behind her belonged to Saishuu.

Akemi was one of few who had not seemed groggy after waking from a sudden sleep that had effected all of the new students during the plane ride from take-off till their landing on Shokushu. Even so she followed the group of new girls to the dormitory buildings and the desk where the room assignments were given out. Taking the paper map and her room key she made her way up to her room.

Later that day after she had gotten to talk to her new roommate and settled in a bit Akemi had gone to sleep early having gotten a bit of jet lag after having relaxed a bit. She was so deeply asleep that the priestess didn't notice the new presence in her room so late at night or the effect of its powers as it pressed into her mind and sent her into a deep sleep that only it could wake her from.

It was then that her dream began to fall under its control, her trained mind only catching a ripple in her dream world before it continued on a new path. In the dream world, Akemi was dressed in her priestess clothes and praying inside the inner shrine when she heard the door open behind her. She turned from her position facing the statue of Amaterasu after hearing the Saishuu's voice and asked respectfully "What do you need from me today, Saishuu?"

"There has been an incident. A rather terrible incident I'm afraid and with Chaska out you are the best at exorcisms. A child, Tanaka Osami, had fallen under the spell of an oni being possessed. His family contacted us in the hopes that someone here could free him of this evil influence.

"Orobi shall accompany you for your protection, there has been some bandit activity recently on the roads and we are best to proceed with caution in this matter, just in case though it would seem unlikely that they would accoust a single priestess."

"An oni? Such a horrible tragedy for it to happen upon a small child. If Chaska is out I will take this task with great pride and the utmost caution. she responded to the Saishuu. As she continued to speak about the preparations for the task Akemi listened intently until the Saishuu was finished before asking "Am I to assume that we are to leave right away? I have my bag here with me so I'm ready to go if that is the case." Indeed the bag was resting near her giving a slight indication that she had sensed that something would happen soon but it could also be taken as just being cautious.

"The sooner the better, Orobi is in the gardens so whenever you are ready he is waiting for you there. Such a tragedy that this has happened though I am confident in the abilities that the Goddess has bestowed upon you so ridding him of this evil should be little more than an after thought."

When Akemi had gathered up her bag and joined Orobi in the gardens she found a man there a little older than she. His long black hair had been tied in a simple pony tail that extended to the small of his back, his physique was impressive though by no means large.

Currently he was smelling a blossum of a small tree, the flower pulled toward his nose, the branch it was on bending slightly. He did not pluck it from the low hanging branch, rather he released his hold on it and turned slightly to face her, green eyes shimmering, a smile on his comely face that resceeded quickly.

"Such a pleasant day, don't you think?"

"Very well. I will leave immediately then." she told the Saishuu, standing from her place and picking up her bag as she did. As she walked out of the temple she bowed to the Saishuu respectfully before walking out to the gardens. Orobi was there, a man a few years older than she with an impressive physique and long black hair in a pony tail, and he was smelling a flower on a low hanging branch. As he turned to her and commented on the day she replied "Indeed it is. It will be much better once the oni has been exorcised however. She looked him directly in his green eyes and added "I will be counting on your help if we are accosted by any bandits." With that said she began to walk towards the exit knowing that he would easily be able to keep up.

"A better day for Tanaka once that is accomplished for sure. I could only imagine what things are like for him before hand though." He nodded then moved to catch up with her as she made her exit from here. He was not armed and from experience he did not particularly enjoy harming people. He was very skilled at unarmed combat though, training and practicing each day to home his skills. She was blessed with magic and her dedication to the Goddess, he embodied physical aspects.

"I will give my life in that you may live," Orobi meant that, he had descended from a line of samurai and while their caste no longer existed in this day and age he was a firm believer in bushido. He meant what he said, though that was very unlikely to occur. Even against an armed opponent in the past he proved adapt at disarming them and controlling his attacker to disable them. Even in exebitions against multiple foes he proved very adapt.

"Do you have any idea where this oni came from?"

"There are things you should not imagine, Orobi. I will say this though, if we do not excorise the oni from him quickly the child's spirit may be consumed by the oni as it attempts to fully manifest in this world." she told Orobi as she walked quickly down the path towards the area the child supposedly lived in. Orobi would notice that she did not seem to be really worried about the chance of bandits attacking since her looking like a defenseless girl was a thought that only those who did not know her though.

When Orobi said that he would give his life for her she could tell that he completely meant what he said but she looked to him and told him "I appreciate your bravery. But I would rather both of us make it back to the temple safely no matter what happens." She thought to herself for quite a bit before she anwsered his question and said "Well there are many places an oni can come from, the demon realm, a corruption of a human spirit, a corruption of an animal spirit, and many others. If I had to guess I would say that this was a wandering spirit who has spent too long in the mortal realm and began its transformation to an oni by using the boy as a food source."

"Let it be known that if only one of us make it back it shall be you," he answered though he doubted that there would be any need for it as they traveled down a rather well maintained road. They headed towards the town, the temple not being too far from it on the outskirts of it.

"Thinking about it I would doubt that the boy is corrupt ... perhaps you are right in assuming that it is a wandering spirit. Is there anything I should know about it, anything that I might have to deal with in this ordeal?"

"Well it is your life to live as you choose. Just think how others will be affected if you sacrifice yourself for me if something happens." She also doubted that anything would happen on such a well-kept road but it didn't hurt to make her desires known just in case.

"I must agree with you there, Orobi, I also doubt that such a young boy would be corrupt unless he or his parents have deeply entrenched themselves in the dark magics. As for anything you should know... Well it is too dangerous for the child to eliminate the oni while it is still contained inside him so I must drive it out of his body first. And when I do if it is strong enough it may attempt to possess another body. So you must be wary of that." she told him, taking a breath as she concluded her warning.

"Mahoi suki?" He spoke the word softly as if it were sinful to even mention it aloud. Blood spillers that used theei (or another's) blood to invoke dark magics. He shuddered at the thought of the family being involved in such an insidious practice, though that was as likely as he being struck by lightning at that precise moment.

"It will be myself and yourself, the boy of course and his family though for safety sake it is probably best that we isolate them from the affairs if the oni tries to possess someone else it would likely be them, we both have stronger wills being involved at the temple.

"What we ought to do ..."

But whatever he was going to say died in his throat as green eyes spied a pillar of smoke rising then bending by the influence of the wind against it. His ears strained though he thought he heard the tell tale crackle of a fire.

"My word!"

Orobi rushed forward towards a home that neither could see from their current position given that the place was blocked from sight due to the trees in front of it.

She only nodded as he softly mentioned those practioners of the dark magics. His shudder was well founded as they were known to even bleed their own children dry for the advancement of dark powers. "I highly doubt they are but it never hurts to consider the possibility if they have had an oni come into their home."

She nodded along with his explanation of the situation at the house and was about to say something when Orobi suddenly ran forward and as she looked skyward she could see what had gotten him so worried. A pillar of smoke, bending by the influence of the wind, had risen from a home that neither of them could see from their current position as the area was blocked by trees.

Not wanting him to be on his own in case the oni had completely taken over the child and had caused the fire she rushed after him while cautiously keeping some of her senses turned outward in case there were other dangerous people in the area.

Hurrying to keep up Akemi could see a small house near an accompanying barn, all manners of animals, mostly chickens, had been towards the side of the enclosure furthest from the house. Clucking and making other animal noises.

From the house the pillar of smoke bellowed out of a window that had shattered against the heat building up inside the place. Flames blazed inside and even a portion of the roof was on fire from the flames within that burned a hole in the roof.

There was a plea, someone was inside yelling for help, a man. Orobi was at the doorway to the house looking inside, his hands bunched into fists as he peered inside.

"If there's anyone inside come to the sound of my voice."

As Akemi ran to keep up with Orobi she heard the sound of animals, agitated from the fire so close to their home, and saw that if something wasn't done the fire would spread and kill the animals as well as anyone inside the house if it hadn't already done so.

Finally catching up she came upon Orobi standing at the doorway to the burning house trying to call out to what sounded like a male survivor stuck inside the inferno. "If someone is stuck in there I'm not sure he could hear you over the flames, Orobi." she told him solemnly and motioned him to move away from the doorway.

"I will go in and look for survivors. Amaterasu will surely protect me from the blaze."

Orobi looked at her, he would have been skeptical had he not been aware that she was blessed by the goddess. He might have even done the macho thing and told her to wait here and braved the flames but he nodded and stepped back being privy to a few thinks with the little gossip that he heard.

The smoke was thick, seeing into the house more than a few feet in any direction had been impossible though they did hear a masculine voice at the back of the house crying out for aid. The sound floated to their ears out the shattered window there and died in the brunt of the house, the flames consuming it in that direction.

So it would appear that she was correct in surmising that Orobi's voice couldn't be heard from here as he called into the place. The smoke irritated her eyes and caused her to cough a few times. The heat of the flames were intense even at a distance, like standing too close to a camp fire was uncomfortable though painful after awhile.