Chapter 27: Kaori

"We need to stop and rest," said Sionna glancing at Caith's injured leg.

"If we do they will catch up to us." He replied continuing to hobble along.

"And if we don't they will catch up to us and you won't be able to fight." She replied while staying stationary. She felt somewhat guilty that she had insisted on taking the Hellhounds head on and getting Caith hurt. Yet now she knew it was more important than ever to get him to heal.

He let out a deep sigh knowing she was right. If it wasn't for this injury he wouldn't need to sleep, but sleeping would speed up the healing process.

"Fine, but we aren't going to set up a tent. We can just sleep on the forest floor in our animal form." He commanded setting his bag down and getting undressed. Sionna did the same but watched his gaze, he was looking into the forest. Completely ignoring the fact that they were undressing in front each other.

"There are more monsters coming after us, I can feel something darker headed our way and it's not the army." He said putting his clothes away in his bag. Sionna peering into the growing darkness seeing nothing out of the ordinary. She then head the familiar sound of bones breaking and muscles moving under the skin and she knew she was now with a giant wolf.

She stood there for a moment clothed only by her long red hair and a necklace with a large gem. Finally she changed into a fox and joined the wolf curling up besides him for warmth.

In the darkness a pale figure in a white dress silently appeared near the sleeping pair. A smile crossed her thin white lips.

Sionna slept soundly her mind played through the events of the day. Guilt filled her heart as she saw the hellhound clamp down on Caith's back leg.

"Why didn't you just let us out run them?" Caith asked her. His white canine teeth glowing in soft lighting as he spoke.

"I could've gotten us to safety? Why did we have to turn and fight. Umuriro asked us to avoid conflict, not embrace it?"

"Caith you and I both know we will never really our run them. You said yourself they have a compass with your blood. Which means the only way to get rid of them is to get that compass. This means we need to fight them." Emotion started to boil in her heart when she noticed Caith's eyes were purple.

"You aren't Caith." She said realizing that he was talking out loud in his animal form.

"What are you?" Sionna asked and the world around her melted.

She was sitting in a familiar cottage, potato stew boiled over an open fire.

A short man with silver hair was telling her a story when they were was a loud bang on the door. Confusion filled his eyes and he went to answer it. Suddenly he turned to her, fear in his eyes.

"Run Sionna, they are coming for you." He said his light eyes glowing in the firelight.

"I am not going to leave you here Papa you are going to die." She said and felt for a sword on her hips but there was nothing there.

"You don't know how to fight. You couldn't protect me if you wanted to." He said his eyes now dark and serious and Sionna could make out the purple in his iris.

"Who are you?" She said approaching the being disguised as her only family member. The figure smiled, purple eyes now clearly visible.

"I must be dreaming." She said and bit hard into her arm. She woke up in the forest. Her mouth full of fur. She was in her fox form and she looked up at a woman standing over them.

Quickly she bit hard onto Caith's tail and he became wide awake. Looking up at the woman in front of them. As soon as he stirred she opened her purple eyes.

'Leave us alone, Basty,' Caith spoke telepathically his voice ringing with a certain aggression she had never experienced from him before.

A deep growl rumbled the earth below their feet, then he charged the woman.

The smell of blood filled the air as he tore her to pieces flesh scattering among the leaves and undergrowth.

'Caith stop!' Sionna screamed internally. Instantly the wolf paused and looked up at her.

'She's dead there's no point in continuing.' She thought while staring into his eyes. 'Your Papa is dead yet you never stop mentioning him.' He replied yet stepped away from what was left of the body.

'Why is that?' He said coming towards her.

'He raised me, he took me under his wing when we weren't even related. Why wouldn't I talk about him?' She instinctively backed away as the monstrous shadow approached her.

'Yes he took you into his home, raised you like he would his own daughter. Then how did you reward him that night? When his life was in danger what did you?' The wolf slowly approached her and she looked away. Emotions brewing inside her.

'He told me to run! And I did it, I didn't know...' she wanted to cry but was unable to.

'Didn't know what? That as you ran to save yourself he was dying? You didn't know that he would be taking his very last breath alone because of you?'

Sionna's heart felt as if it was being torn to shreds inside her chest, 'there's nothing I could've done.'

'If you had learned to use your powers you could've saved him. Look at you, worthless.' Caith said now standing over the small shaking fox.

'Is this all that being with you is going to lead to? My untimely death, laying there alone as my life slips away?' Sionna couldn't face him, her body shaking with heartache.

'Change into a human.' At his command she felt her body transforming. Her human skin felt cold against the cool forest floor as she laid curled into the fetal position on the forest floor. Suddenly Caith was human as well and kneeled down besides her crumpled figure.

"You call yourself a shifter, but look at your unable to protect yourself or those around you. You don't even deserve to live after what you did. Or should I say what you failed to do." Caith spoke as he wrapped his large hand around Sionna's throat. She gasped as he lifted her into the air, squeezing with all of her might. She felt her bones starting to crack under the pressure. Her beautiful green eyes bulged and her mouth gaped opened desperate to get air into her lungs. Shock filled her body as she looked up at Caith, when she noticed his eyes. They were the same purple color as the lady's.

'You aren't Caith. This isn't real.' She thought even though it felt very real to her. A deep laughed erupted from him, the pressure on her neck decreased slightly.

"Oh this is real, you are about to die." But the voice appearing from Caith's body was not his. It was a females voice, and upon hearing it a flood of emotion filled her body.

'That's where you are wrong.' She said and suddenly she could hear the stone around her next start to buzz. It vibrated her rib cage and spine as she focused on the energy. Suddenly a burst of pure white light filled air around her. The woman disguised as Caith was shot back into the dark of the forest. Then she awoke.