Keishi and Yone walked down a dirt path together, Yone was leading, her eyes were glowing a bright yellow color and they seemed to be focused on something, Keishi was antsy, "So, did you find anything?" Yone didn't say anything she was busy concentrating on whatever her eyes were seeing Keishi groaned, "Yone! Do you hear me!" Yone jumped, and the light vanished from her eyes, she stopped in her tacks as did Keishi, she clicked her tounge and looked over at him with a scowl, "What the hecks your problem! You know I have to concentrate to keep it going!" the two of them stopped Keishi sighed. The 'it' Yone was refereeing to, was her glowing yellow eyes that she had, before Keishi had broken her concentration, "You know that it's the only way of fallowing her!" Keishi frowned and hung his head. Yone sighed, Keishi was always getting like this whenever Mayako was mentioned, Yone sighed "We'll find her Keishi, just you wait and see" Yone looked back with a smile, Keishi gave a sad smile back.

Yone grumbled, "You know if you keep acting like that Mayako won't like you anymore" Keishi shuddered, Yone chuckled, that got his attention, "She's going to think that your some clingy guy, and she's not going to love you anymore" Keishi chocked. Yone smirked, another successful hit, "Cheer up, like I said, we'll find her Keishi" Keishi looked up at Yone, his mouth started to form somewhat of a smile, "And then when we find her, you can protect her, and she'll give you a kiss" Keishi's face flushed with red. He grumbled, "Could you stop teasing me already!" Yone chuckled, she smiled, "That's the Keishi I know" Keishi sighed, he had been played by Yone, "You need to stop being so mop[ and sad, you'll ruin yourself if you continue like that" Keishi scratched the back of his head, Yone was right.

Keishi sighed, "I know, it's just" Keishi clenched his fists, Yone sighed "I know, I want to find her too Keishi" Yone knew how Keishi felt, she as well wanted desperately to find Mayako, she had taken it hard when Keishi had informed everyone that Mayako had left,her little sister was on her own, on the run from the Elder Council, that's what made her work hard and in that time she had developed her Ghost Trail skill. With that, Yone reactivated it in mere seconds her eyes glowed yellow once more, she then started walking once more and Keishi fallowed behind her, the two of them had been doing this for weeks, using the Ghost Trail skill she had created they had been fallowing Mayako's footsteps, trying to get closer to finding her. The skill was simple to activate, Yone just had to pick up on the desire persons Spiritual Energy, then focus on it, and then she was able to see a line that would tell where the person had gone and what they had done.

It was a skill that garnered a lot of concentration, if her concentration was broken the slightest bit she'd lose sight of the line and she'd have to do it over again from step one, it was difficult at first because Yone had to get a sense for Mayako's spiritual energy, when she did it was easy to use the Ghost Trail to trace her footsteps. Just then, Yone heard Keishi sneeze really loudly, she jumped and that caused her to loose concentration and that made her loose sight of Mayako's ghost trail the yellow glow in her eyes slowly faded, she grumbled in annoyance and stopped in her tracks making Keishi stop as well, she glared back at Keishi, he could see that he had messed Yone up, he gave smiled nervously and chuckled, he rubbed the back of his head "Sorry about that" Yone looked away in a huff.

Yone sighed, with that Yone got to work getting it going again, she took in a deep breath and began to focus, "Mayako.." she whispered, Yone searched for a sign of Mayako's Spiritual Energy it was still difficult for her to find a trace of Mayako's spiritual energy as she only had so much practice with finding Mayako's. It took some time, but Yone finally got a hold of a small bit of Mayako's Spiritual Energy, she keyed in on it, she then focused in on it, she smiled once she got a good feel of it. The yellow glow slowly started to come back in her eyes, slowly Mayako's Ghost Trail started to reappear she smiled "Got it" she whispered, Yone then started to fallow the line she was seeing, Keishi seeing Yone was resuming walking he fallowed behind her, he hated how he couldn't do anything but just be a follower. Keishi wanted to find Mayako quickly, he was worried about her, he hadn't stop worrying ever since she left that night, even after his father said that Mayako would be fine and he had nothing to worry about, he still worried.

Either it was his feelings for Mayako that was making him this way, or, it was his feelings as an older brother, all he knew for a fact was that he wanted to find out for sure that Mayako was fine and be there to protect her if need be. Keishi then remembered that night, when his father had told him and Yone what was going on with Mayako, he felt sick to his stomach, Mayako had suffered all alone, taking everything on herself, he hated his father for telling Mayako not to let him and Yone know, Keishi felt like a failure as both a man and a older brother, he had allowed Mayako the one he loved, and also his sister, to deal with such a problem all by herself. After Keishi had heard that, he felt like that if maybe he could have pressed harder, made Mayako tell him, he could have helped her and she wouldn't be running for her life from the Elder Council. As Keishi fallowed behind Yone there was only one thing on his mind, and that was Mayako.

Keishi and Yone walked in silence, they had been walking for about five hours since Yone picked up on Mayako's trail again, Keishi saw a split in the path coming up as well as a cave, Yone picked up on a lot of Mayako's spiritual energy stagnating inside the cave. Keishi could see Yone looking hard at the cave which got him curious, "What do you see Yone?" Keishi looked inside the cave but unlike Yone he couldn't see all of the spiritual energy floating around that she could all Keishi saw, was an empty cave. But, It was staggering to Yone how much of Mayako's spiritual Energy filled the cave, "It seems that Mayako spent a lot of time in this cave here and it looks like she may have left a couple days ago" Keishi gave a smile, that meant that they were on the right track but, Keishi wouldn't be happy until Mayako was found.

He was about to ask Yone if she saw anything else until Yone gasped, Keishi looked over and a worried look was on her face "What? What is it Yone?" Yone felt her skin crawl, she didn't answer Keishi as she was looking at a second Ghost Trail, that wasn't Mayako's, that told her one thing and one thing only, Yone looked at Keishi the yellow glow vanished. Keishi saw the look on Yone's face, he knew she had bad news, "What, tell me, what did you see?" Yone shuddered a sigh, "I saw a second Ghost Trail" Keishi clenched his fists, Yone gritted her teeth "Someone started fallowing her from here" Keishi heard more then he needed, "Which way?" Yone jumped, she had never heard Keishi be so firm before.

Yone looked back to the cave and concentrated, her eyes flashed yellow and the Ghost Trail appeared she fallowed it from the cave and found where it was leading, "That way" Yone pointed to the left path in front of the cave, "Alright, lets go" with that Keishi walked off down the left path Yone fallowed behind him, Keishi gritted his teeth and growled lowly, he hoped Mayako was alright, if she wasn't he had no idea what he'd do. After walking for another hour or so another split in the path came up, Keishi cursed, he looked both ways frantically, he then looked back at Yone "Which way did she go!?" Yone jumped back, that caused her to loose concentration and the Ghost Trail vanished as did the yellow glow in her eyes, Yone grumbled, she glared at Keishi, Keishi gave a sorryful smile "Sorry, which way did she go?" Yone nodded, she started concentrating once again.

It didn't take Yone long to find Mayako's spiritual energy, she saw Mayako's trail appear as well as the one she saw back at the cave, the one that belonged to the person fallowing her, Yone clicked her tounge, "Whoever's fallowing her is right on her heels" Keishi heard enough. "Which way did they go?" Yone shuddered, she was a bit startle by how Keishi was acting, "Th-This way" she started down the right path Keishi fallowed behind her, as they walked Yone could feel Keishi's spiritual energy spiking, the anger mixed into it made the hair on the back of her neck stand on end. This is how Keishi got ever since Mayako left and he heard something concerning Mayako, it seemed like he was really worked up over Mayako's being fallowed situation.

The two walked down the path and another split path came up, Keishi growled in annoyance, "Which way did they go this time!?" Yone didn't stop, she turned down the left path and kept going with Keishi right behind her, but, as they walked along the path Yone noticed something going on with the Ghost Trails, "Why are they getting smaller?" Keishi heard Yone's outburst. Keishi walked beside Yone and looked at her puzzled, "What do you mean they're getting smaller?" Yone couldn't answer Keishi, she was busy studying the change in Mayako's Ghost Trail, but, Yone had no idea what was going on, Mayako's Ghost Trails she had been fallowing till now where big and wide, yet the one she was fallowing right now was narrow and small.

It was almost like Mayako had deliberately lowered her Spiritual Energy as a ways to make it harder for the person fallowing her to track her, Yone felt that it was a good idea but, she became discouraged when she saw Mayako's pursuers Ghost Trail. Yone sighed, it was a good plan she had to give it to Mayako, but, it seemed that didn't work, Yone and Keishi continued down the path for what seemed like hours until, Yone suddenly stopped a shocked looked spread across her face as she saw something that took her completely by surprise. She was astounded by what she was seeing, "What the hell?" Keishi stopped as well, "What is it Yone? Why'd you stop?" Yone ignored Keishi, she was more intrigued in what she saw before her, "Why is there so much Spiritual Energy here" Keishi jumped, "What do you mean!?" Yone sighed. She "I mean, both Mayako and the person fallowing her released a lot of Spiritual Energy here" Keishi knew that meant one thing, Yone said the very thing Keishi had just figured out, "The two of them fought here" Keishi tightened his fists Mayako fought her pursuer, he hoped that Mayako was okay.

Yone's eyes went wide, "Woah..." she mumbled "What!?" Keishi looked at Yone with a concerned look, "There was a huge spike in Mayako's Spiritual Energy" Keishi raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean a huge spike?" Yone swallowed hard, "It's like when Mayako lost control at school" Keishi's eyes went wide "You mean?" Yone nodded, "Yep, when her third tail appeared" Keishi knew what that meant. It meant that during her fight with her pursuer a fourth tail must have appeared, Yone growled "It seems like her pursuer fought with her while she was like that, I can see that their Spiritual Energy suddenly spiked when Mayako's did" Yone clenched her fists, Keishi started to fear the worst, he remembered what had happened when Mayako lost control of herself, and what she had to do to regain control, "Maya.." he growled gritting his teeth.

Keishi heard Yone exclaim loudly, "What? Did you find something else?" Yone nodded, "Yeah, but, I can't really fathom it" Keishi was confused, "What do you mean?" Yone chuckled "That spike, Mayako had no control over it but then, all of a sudden it seems she got control" Keishi raised an eyebrow, "What does that mean?" Yone shuddered, "It means, that Mayako was able to gain control of the massive spike in her Spiritual Energy" Keishi was shocked yet at the same time, amazed. Mayako had done something he didn't she'd be able to do, after seeing firsthand how Mayako was when she lost control when her Spiritual Energy increased so much all at once, and now to here Yone say that she regained control without having to resort to the usual method made him smile.

Knowing that, meant Mayako was fine, but another question came to his mind, "What happened after that?" Yone looked at Keishi and then back at the open area, she focused and saw the vast amount of Spiritual Energy from Mayako and her pursuer appear before her again. As she looked Yone this time saw something that confused her, "What? Why? Why would they do something like that" she questioned for some odd reason, Mayako's pursuers massive spiritual energy had lowered greatly. "What do you see?" Keishi asked, "It doesn't make sense, why did both hers and her pursuers Spiritual Energy back to normal after Mayako gained control over so much power?" Keishi grunted in confusion, it didn't make sense to Yone, why power down when your enemy's power went up drastically? Yone couldn't make head or tales of the situation, Keishi however was worried something had happened, something bad, he tightly clenched his fist a growled lowly. [Ch.17 END]