The Hunter's Furs

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Nathchi

Person of the unknown
Original poster
LURKER MEMBER
FOLKLORE MEMBER
Invitation Status
  1. Looking for partners
Posting Speed
  1. 1-3 posts per week
  2. Slow As Molasses
Online Availability
Often evenings between 5 to 11AM CET (central european time).
Writing Levels
  1. Intermediate
  2. Advanced
  3. Adaptable
Preferred Character Gender
  1. Male
  2. Female
Genres
Sci-fi, fantasy, magic, slice of life, supernatural, steampunk
-”No! Absolutely not!” Voices and uproars had already begun in the lovely morning. The town was lively as ever and when the sun rises everyone is on the move, going somewhere, to fulfill their duties and works. Hibiki was now taking care of a costumer who didn’t seem to share the same view as him, and with the mix of exhaustion, it wasn’t going to be better.
-“If you feel like you have got it low on cash, then please, go somewhere else! This is the finest meat and I wont give it to you for free.” Yes, a customer wanted to give him a lower prize for the wolf meat he himself have catched and at a very low prize at that. The customer was a man, a little older than Hibiki, and like himself, not wealthy on cash. Why? He sells good meat, he could get a good coin for that, well simply as it is. Hibiki have to work hard to take care of his sick mother and younger siblings, and since the mother is sick, they need medicine and that is also expensive, perhaps more than all of his meat on this carriage.
-“What? How can you speak so to your customer!” The man was obviously angry and so was Hibiki, he didn’t have time for this.
-“Okay, how about this? You can take your prize but your meat will be smaller. Otherwise if you want the whole, you can come back when you’ve more in your pocket?” Hibiki looked at the man who bit his lip and thought about it, atleast he can get a little meat for the prize and they don’t need to argue any more than nesseccary. The man gave up and gave the coins he had and Hibiki gave him his food. With a wide small he said,
-“Pleased to do work with you, please come back later.” With a waving hand and the man gone, he made a big sigh as he heard his mother call for him. He was surprised to see her outside, walking although she was still weak.
-“Mother, what are you doing? Go back home!” Hibiki said worryingly. His mother smiled.
-“I was just wondering how my son was doing, and where are your brother and sisters?”
-“I’m fine, I’m fine! Kai and the other’s went to the forest to play. Don’t worry about me and Kai can take care of them, rather, worry more about yourself.“ With haste Hibiki was helping his mother back inside again.

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-“Hey, wait for me!” Sachi, the youngest, started to climb the gray rocks as she saw the others far after her. She called again for her siblings to wait as Kai went back to help her.
-“Jeez, you’re so slow!” Kai grabbed her hand and pulled her up as they went deeper into the forest.
-“Brother, why are we here?” Azami asked, looking at her surroundings. The trees were tall, thin and there were green moss almost everywhere, the sun was squeezing through the space between the trees and gave off heat however further inside, it was still dark and the light hadn’t reached there yet. Little Sachi, who was scared of the dark, stayed close to her brother and felt an urge to go back.
-“Haven’t you heard, there is a rumor that a hidden treasure can be around here.”
-“A rumor?” Sachi asked.
-“Yeah, it’s hidden somewhere in this forest and if you find it, there is said to be holding a lot of gold coins and other treasures! If we find it, we can help mom get better!” Kai turned around, looking at his scared sisters.
-“Or… do you not want to help our mother?” This was a part of their plan, however, Kai also wanted to find the treasure to help the whole family and they can get really weathly.
-“But where is it?” Azami asked and at that moment, Kai was silent. He stood there as they looked at him, tilting their heads as he was about to tell. “Oh god!” Kai thought. “I didn’t even think about that!”Kai started to get nervous, he was the one telling them about it but now, he was the one who don’t even know the way there, how embarrassing. Should he tell a lie? Or the truth? No, they have got this far, they can’t back up now.
-“It has to be here somewhere.” Kai tried to convince himself that and thinking that the forest probably isn’t all too big, they can always go back and come back another day. However he wanted to find it now.
-“Let’s continue!”
 
[Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawn~]

After a few rustling leaves and the sounds of crackling joints echoed through a small, dark, and damp cave, one of the creatures of the forest gradually awoke from its slumber. The creature, a small, gray fox, rolled onto its back in order to properly ready its sore muscles for the day ahead, stretching every fiber and muscle in its body. Once it was done stretching, it briefly cleaned itself of the imperfections it acquired that night from sleeping on a bed of leaves, then it arose onto its feet. The fox looked around its tiny hovel once more before darting off to the entrance, winding around the small cave until it reached the dirt-covered entrance. The fox leaped through the wall of dirt covering the entrance, then pranced about for a few seconds, happy to be awake, despite the lack of light in the sky.

The fox looked around, eagerly searching for food, being immensely hungry after its slumber. All it could find were berries and small animals, so the fox had a quick meal out of a fallen bird chick, then consumed a large quantity of berries. It continued to look around for awhile, eventually finding a waterfall connected to a basin of clean water and a large river, then it stopped and stared at it, it's furry face almost expressing delight. The fox searched around the area for a few minutes thereafter, collecting a few herbs and acorn shells, then returned to the pond and formed a pile of the materials. With a quick poof of steam, the fox vanished, replaced by a petite, flat-chested girl with three of the features of a fox - her gorgeous, fluffy and majestic tail, the two perky and fluffy grey ears, which joined seamlessly with her scalp, partially covered with short locks of her lighter grey human hair, and various, small, retractable claws in her fingertips.

The girl busily went about mashing the herbs together in the small acorn caps, then left the leftover mush in the cups and eagerly lept into the water, washing the thick layer of dirt and grime off of her smooth, pale skin. Every now and then, the girl would return to the area where she placed the acorn caps to rub some of the mashed up oils and scents onto her body and hair, then she would return to the water and swim around for awhile. Once she was done, she exited the water with a quick shiver and, after shaking out her hair, she got down on all four limbs and made a quick yipping sound.

Immediately after, a large volley of steam exploded from her body, especially from her head and her tail, and she disappeared, replaced with the grey fox from earlier. The fox quickly smelled itself in a few different areas, then, pleased with the strength of the scent, it started to run off in search of more things to do.

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A few hours after the sun rose, as the fox was eagerly hopping about up a rather large hill, it's ears perked up, hearing an unusual noise. The fox hastily hid behind a rock, listening to the noises. Once it heard about a treasure, the fox immediately perked up even more and hastily made its way over to the top, hiding every now and then to ensure that it wasn't seen to early. Once the fox reached the top of the small hill, it darted behind a bush and, when the humans got close enough, she peeked her head out. The fox stared eagerly at the humans, its beady eyes reflecting a dark, planty green as they focused on the humans.

Once one of the humans said, "It has to be here somewhere," the fox quickly agreed with a "Yip!~" followed closely by another human's speech. The fox then continued staring at the humans for a few seconds and, once they inevitably noticed it, she darted away into the forest, stopping to look back every now and then to see if the humans would follow.

The fox continued through the forest, quickly weaving through bushes, then looking back and waiting to see how the humans would try to follow. As the wind blew, the fox's alluring and delicious flowery and minty scent wafted through the air, indicating when the humans were close.

After a good ten minutes, the fox stopped on a small, wooden chest in the middle of a large clearing and started to yip a few times. "Yip! Yip! Yip! Yip yip!~" it cried, then it fled, sprinting off into the forest and disappearing in the bushes. The fox ran downwind, so the second it reached the bushes, it might as well have vanished for the humans. Nevertheless, the Fox ran around a few feet, then peeked out from inside a bush, hiding from the humans' sight as it watched them. Unfortunately, it appeared that other humans soon found the chest as well...
 
-"Hey, guys. Are we there yet?" With big clusmy steps they walked through the forest as the morning sun would start to get to their dirty faces. One of the men that had some sort of an eyepatch on his eye and darkblue bottoms with a matching old kimono took his arm over his face.
-"Ugh... I hate the sun!" He said annoyed as their leader got tired of their wailing and talking.
-"Shut your mouths! We are not here for some simply trip! We are here for the treasure, so will you keep it down." The large man showing of his back wasn't turning his face to see them and the men got quiet, it was boring, if they just had a horse it would have been better but in these narrow forests it'd be hard to do so. Crack! The sound of a tree snapping made the guys tense up as they got into a circle and looked around, though it was only the three of them who did so. Akihiko, their leader kept going as they stood there like idiots.
-"W-wait for us!" The men ran after.

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-"I want to go home!" Sachi wailed and it wasn't even a long time before Kai had said "let's continue" a second time. However, he knew this would go on and since they are small he had to take the act as their older brother but also someone in their age that they could understand, even though it wasn't a very age difference.
-"When we get the treasure we can buy so much food it'll turn into a mountain! We will have so much to eat tha-" A sound of a yip made Kai stop as they followed the sound and didn't see the fox anywhere, although it had been quite close to them (for a fox) it was now gone. Even so, their luck turned as they saw the brown chest, thier eyes lit up as they walked to it, surrounding it and smiled big.
-"Oh, what should we do with it?!" Azami asked, couldn't hold her happiness inside of her.
-"We have to help mom get better and maybe even get a better bigger house!" Kai said, yes, they could do much with this chest but even so, they still had to check the inside to see if it's true. Kai took his hand as he asked where the lock was as a big hand took a grab of him and the sisters screamed.
-"Sounds like fun, though, sadly enough, we have to take this little treasure from you kids." The old man said with a bright smile, his yellow teeth showing as his brown stubble around the cheeks made it even more unsettling. One mad had token the sisters ahold as the other two took the chest by the two sides.
-"Let us go!" The children screamed.
-"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Let's go guys! We have to take care of the children later!"

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-"Throw 'em in there, boys." The big man said, the children flew over the ground and then landed on the dirty hard ground that wasn't very pleasant.
-"Ow!"
-"Let us go!"
-"I want to go home!!" The children screamed and cried but the men didn't listen as the screaming and nagging got worse.
-"Shut up!" One of them men said as the children got quiet. When the quietness got more tense the men closed them inside this dark space as they hold each other close, what should they do? What should Kai do? It's my fault after all... He thoughtto himself. No, he didn't have time for this. They had to get out but it was so dark. Where was the way out?

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-"The children are sure taking their time." Mother said as Hibiki looked outside, they have been gone for a long time now and it should be time to eat soon. They always eat around this time but even more odd is that they suddenly decide to go to the forest, perhaps he shouldn't have let them go there? He walked toward the wall were his bow and arrows was hanging as he looked towards his mother that lied in bed.
-"I'll go out and search for them, stay in bed and rest a lot." He said in a serious tone, looking at his mother who smiled.
-"I wont, now go and look for them." As she said that Hibiki darted out as he went for the forest. The sun was still shining but if he didn't hurry it'll probably be dark if he have to search through the whole forest, what he needed now, is a clue. He jumped and took a step towards a rock and looked around the surroundings that was nothing more than long trees, tight together and the sun trying to shine through. As Hibiki went further he looked at the ground and saw a trace, small shoes that have stomped down the ground, he touched it, the ground still a bit damp. He looked at where the trace would lead and looked up toward a small hill as it went further into the forest, with his bow ready he started to go.
 
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Interested in how the other humans decided to pick up the younger ones, and the chest as well, the fox decided to get up and follow the humans. After awhile the humans reached a cave with a doorway and walked inside. It didn’t take long before the bandits decided to throw the children into a little room. The fox, having pity on these small children, darted into the room right as the door was closing, barely escaping the detection of a bandit, and she hid in one of the corners of the room to watch the children.

As a few moments went on, the fox gradually made its way closer to the humans, silently circling around them and retreating away whenever they advanced. After a few minutes, the fox approached just enough to sniff one of the human’s hands, then lept back again. Soon enough, the fox was jumping from young boy to other young boy, tickling them with her tail as she went, dodging their hands and arms with perfect precision.

The fox continued to play with the children avidly, switching between various tasks to keep them entertained until at long last, she allowed herself to be caught and pet by the humans, her luscious, nice-smelling fur exuding a flower-like aroma at each touch. “Yip!” she gently exclaimed as a human petted her slightly too hard, but she didn’t dare bite or scratch

By the time the door started to open, the fox was already in place at the roof of the doorway, ready to sweep just under the human’s detection.
 
The children leaned their heads on their knees, scared and quietly thinking on how they want to go home. However Azami saw the fox coming to them, how did it find them all the way here?
-"Hey little foxy." The girls said and gently raised her hand towards it, not wanting to scare it away. The fox answered in a friendly manner yet it still jumped back as if it still didn't accept their trust but when the time passed it started to get closer and soon was playing and jumping around them. Sachi, the youngest was very interested about the soft fur and wanted to hug and pet the fox all the time but even so, Kai would say to not be to hard handed since she could hurt the fox.
-"I wonder how we should get out of here." Kai said with a sigh and looked around in the darkness, not much could be seen. The boy didn't have time to think when their way out started to open. What would the men do to them?

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Hibiki looked around as the sun was slowly going down by the horizon and it's light getting weaker and weaker further inside the forest. He didn't see much, the forest was quiet and he had to hurry if they were going to get home for a warm dinner but he didn't know where to go. It would be easier if he had some sort of track to follow or their voices calling for him but of course no such noice would be heard, he was so frustrated but he had to keep his calm.
-"Shu..." He said while swinging his arm forward to back and pulled out his chest to take a deep breath. Now, where should he begin?

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-"What should we do with the children?" One of the men asked as the leader Akihiko, playing with his knife and looking at the chest answered rather cold.
-"We just let them be there, no one can hear them and when we can open this stupid chest and see the treasure, we can just bring it with us!" He took the knife at the opening and tried his hardest to jam it but if he went too crazy, maybe the whole chest would fall apart. When one of the men tried to help him, he refused and told them to leave him be and with an annoyed sigh and pleasured looks, they watched him struggle with the knife and chest.
-"Isn't there a key somewhere?" Akihiko then said, giving up since he didn't want his knife to get destroyed.
-"Maybe one of the kids have it?"
-"Then search them throughly and get it here!" With an angry look Akihiko ordered them to go back into the cave and so they did, opening the only way out from there.

The light was hurting the childrens eyes when they finally got used to the dark. A man with a stange beard, making a space between his cheeks and big nose, he walked towards Kai and grabbed him.
-"Let go of me!" Kai said angrily, trying to get free from his grip.
-"Then give us the key!" The man said and started to search through his clothes.
-"Wha- Don't touch me!" Yet, despite his struggle he couldn't do anything. When the man couldn't find anything, he angrily threw the boy to the ground and would take the next one but Kai wouldn't let him do so. He threw himself on the man's arm and screamed to them to run.
-"Run! Get away from here!" Was all he could say but of course it wouldn't be that easy.
-"Why you little-!"
-"Oof!" Kai hit the hard cave wall and landed on the cold floor, the hit was direct on his back and it made it hard to breathe, the other man holding watch by the door took a hold on the youngest Sachi as Azami was already in the hold of the other. Kai's head felt heavy and his mind blurry. He saw a glimpse of the fox but then everything went black.
 
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As the door opened, the fox quickly darted out, leaping silently over to a table in the passageway towards the room, then stared over at the two bandits from her perch. Once a bandit started to grab the seemingly older child, the fox grabbed a knife and quietly, but quickly made her way back towards the cave. The fox was becoming more and more translucent, to the point where she was little more than a blur holding a knife by the time she darted past the bandits. The knife clattered to the floor next to kai after a moment, then the bandit reaching for Azami’s hair fluttered, as if by a gust of flower-scented wind, and the bandit by the door was suddenly pushed towards the man with two loud patting sounds and a light-hearted “yip!”

By the time the two had turned around the fox was sitting on the table with a dull, rusted steel key in its mouth, watching the two with innocent eyes. One could almost say that the fox was smiling. Once the two men started to run towards the fox, it darted between the first man’s legs, barely avoiding the man’s hands as he reached for her tail. The second man managed to glance her, but she darted around his leg, causing him to adopt an awkward stance, and, with a sudden leap, the fox unbalanced the bandit and sent him sprawling to the floor, herself flying towards the first bandit once again. The fox then clung to the bandits shirt and, with surprising efficiency and speed, she darted around his body, leaving a few scratch marks as her claws sank into his shirt and slightly nicked his skin. She jumped back off of the man’s torso once the second bandit hastily got up, sitting herself back on the table, still smiling at the two.

Once they reached for her again, she darted to the far wall, making her way around them, and went back into the room which the children were in. She then ran to the far wall of the room and sat there, instead. Her beady, gleaming eyes staring intensely at the two in the hallway, daring them to chase her.

Once the two bandits entered the room, the fox deftly exited the room, skillfully dodging the bandits, and closed the door behind herself, barring it shortly afterwards. Then, with a poof of light, flowery steam, she was gone.

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The fox wandered around the forest for a few minutes, darting around at a rather quick pace, in desperate search of a human. After awhile, she finally heard a voice, then quickly leapt into a bush and peeked out at the human from her hiding spot. The human carried a bow, but didn’t appear to have it ready, so she lunged out towards him. Although, instead of scratching this human, she circled around his feet twice, yipping a few times, then started to run back towards the cave. She stopped briefly to see if the human was following, yipping at him once again while holding the rusted, iron key in her mouth. She then continued to hop along her way, purposefully trying to make a bit of sound as she moved along.

She lost the human after a certain point, but she left distinct enough tracks that she was confident about the human playing her game. She hid in a bush downwind of the cave entrance shortly thereafter, placing the key out in front of the cave entrance, and waited for her entertainment to begin.
 
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-"Kai, please wake up!" Azami screamed in tears, shaking his unconscious body as the other child Sachi watched the fox tease the two bandits and then saw the knife on the floor.
-"What the hell are they doing?" Akihiko said after hearing noices echoing from the cave and walked inside. However, he couldn't go further for the door was now barricaded and he could hear very weak sounds from the other side. Almost boiling with anger he went to get the others to help him with the barricade so they could get inside the room, he clenshed his hands together.
-"Can't they do anything right?!" He screamed as he got outside and called for the other two left to come.

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With a sigh and scratching his neck nervously there were no sign of the children and it was now very dark, mother was probably even more worried even so she knew that she could trust Hibiki.
-"Shu... Damn it, were did they go?" He said to himself, then, after the hearing of a sound of bushes moving, he saw a very small fox sprinting to him and around his feet. It seemed that it wanted to show him something but when it started to dart of, it was clear it wanted him to follow. How weird it may be, following a fox in the darkness to search after your siblings, he felt something, that this fox somehow knew where they were or else, he was just crazy thinking that. Despite it all he kept running and soon it started to run too fast for him to catch up.
-"Hey... wait!" He screamed and stopped to take a short breath. When tracking down it's marks on the ground he wasn't sure if the fox were very smart or a fool making a hunter like him follow it but now, his main purpose was to get Kai and the others back home. He started to see a small faint of light further away between the many tall trees and slowly began to close up. What was this place?

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-"Come on guys, use your muscles!" Akihiko yelled as the men with their red faces that could almost explode grunted and tried their best.
-"GNnnnnnngh!-AH!" they let go and took away their sweat from their foreheads, taking as much air as they could and hearing the leaders complaints that they have heard so many times before.
-"Oh for the love of-!" Akihiko started and nagging at them like he was their mother, the guys sighed and wondered how the hell a thing like this could happen and how the other two could trap themselves up inside the room. It didn't help with their leader nagging and screaming at them as it wouldn't change their situation since they couldn't get into the room.
-"Sir... it's... too difficult." One of them said, leaning their tired muscular arms on their legs as the sweta was almost pouring down their bodies. Either they have gotten out of shape or this thing was really tough.
-"Well we can't leave them there if the kids have the key to the chest!" Akihiko replied as he then thought.
-"...If we can't take this with us to our camp and force it open there..." He then said and started to think about the possebility.
-"But...But then... they will get stuck here." The other said and didn't get the point that that was what they would do.
-"Don't you get it? We can always come back here with more men or else leave them to rot together with the kids!"

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He couldn't believe it! If he heard right from the echoing voices in the cave, he heard the word kids in their conversation. It was no coincidence, it must be Kai, Azami and sachi they are talking about, no doubt. He clenched on the rusty key he had found in the cave entrence and then heard how the guys started to go out of there, with panic he darted outside and hide behinde the bushes. What should he do! He can't handle 3 men alone but he can't leave them there stuck in the cave either. He looked down at the key he found and then saw some silhouettes of men walking outside of the cave. He ducked deeped and tried to find a small hole to see through the bush and hopefully see a better glipmse of one of the men but it wasn't that easy in this darkness and the light from the torches didn't help either, not from this huge gap between the men and himself. What should I do? What should I do?! He couldn't help but to think for himself, he can't do anything reckless now.
 
The fox was greatly annoyed to find that the human was moving towards one of the bushes which she was hiding in, once the human had finally arrived. Still, she decided not to give up on her game quite yet. The fox stealthily snuck out of her bush and darted along the brush, moving up and over the rock formation which the cave was built from, then making her way back over to the top of the cave. Once she saw a few humans start to move out of the cave, she looked around for any ways to make the experience more fun.

After finding a few loose rocks, the fox playfully pawed them over the side of the structure which she was standing on, then retreated to a hiding place at a different position on the rock face before the rocks started banging and rolling against the rest of the rock formation. When the rocks finally hit the ground, the fox peeked out of her hiding place to see of she had any success in her effort to change the tides of the fight. It appeared that the small rocks which she had so playfully knocked down did more than just fall, seeing as a couple rocks which were significantly larger had fallen as well.

One of these large rocks had hit and smashed open the chest, another one fell in front of the entrance to the cave, blocking off enough of it that one of the more portly bandits would have a bit of trouble merely walking through. The smaller rocks did nothing but pepper the ground around the bandits, and the resulting noise caused a few scary nearby animals to reveal themselves with howls. The fox eagerly continued to watch the situation unfold
 
The falling rocks suprised him, if not everyone. One of the bandits have been left inside the cave entrance where the kids, further inside would be. The other were outside, screaming and telling the other to calm down. Even so, the leader, seemed emotionless at the situation and just told them to leave him be and help him with the chest, that now was smashed open.
-"But.. but sir-" One of them said as the leader told him with a loud irritated voice.
-"It wont hurt to leave him there! We can always come back later. Now, help me with this!" He startd to take the treasures and gather so much as he could of the chest that remained, luckily, the bottom wasn't destroied and some of the walls as well, to make sort of a box to carry some of the treasure. However, the men knew that when the leader said that they could always come back, it meant that they would leave him behinde, to starve and to die, now that the treasure was open.

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-"H-help me! HELP ME! YOU CAN'T LEAVE ME HERE!" He screamed from the inside of the fallen rocks. The huge ones were not easy to tug over and it would probably take a whole day if not more to move everything in it's way. Now he was stuck here and those kids and his two other companions in that other room. If he would make his companions help them get the barricade open, perhaps all the three om them and the kids, could get out of there. He didn't want to die afterall. But could they hear him fron the other side?

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Hibiki saw the two, departed from the other one, go their way, trying to have everything of what's left of the treasure gathered. They walked away, ignoring the voice from the other side, as it all went quiet, both the man stuck inside with the kids and the talking from the men, now gone into the dark forest. He took himself up, feeling a bit stiff from the hiding place he was in and looked around. Hibiki didn't see any glimps of the fox either, since the time it showed him the way here but now he felt that he had to help the man, even though they were enemies. Kai...Sachi and Azami, I hope you are all okay..
 
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