Mayako stood still as Arita stared at her, his question hung in her head as well as the air "Mayako, how did you do that?" Arita repeated Mayako chuckled nervously "Uhm, Arita how long have you been standing there?" Arita sighed "Long enough, now tell me, how did you do that?" Mayako played coy, "What do you mean Arita?" she flashed a smile. Arita groaned "Don't mess with me like that Mayako, tell me" Mayako chuckled "I don't know what you mean" Mayako looked away Arita scowled "You had a broken arm, and both your legs were broken..' Mayako stiffened "And now, somehow, your walking on legs that should be broken" Mayako didn't say a thing. Arita grumbled, "Come on Mayako, tell me" Mayako sighed deeply she looked at Arita "Okay, I'll tell you" Mayako took in a breath.

"Well..." she started but, before Mayako could continue she heard Kurookami shout "No, don't tell him!" Mayako scowled "Why can't I tell him?" Arita had a confused look on his face, "Mayako who are you talking to?" Mayako didn't answer Arita as she was still arguing with Kurookami. "Come on, I have to tell him" Kurookami grunted "What do you think he would say if you told him you had a nine tailed demon fox giving you advice?" Mayako paused for a second, maybe Kurookami had the right idea, Mayako shook her head, "No, I'm not keeping anything from anybody anymore!" Kurookami sighed. "Look, I know you trust him but it's better to keep me a secret" Mayako grumbled "Why, I think he deserves to know, he's been keeping me safe more then you have" Kurookami grumbled "I seem to recall, a certain fox girl, who was about to die and, a certain demon fox, stopped her from dying" Mayako grumbled as she knew what Kurookami was refering to.

"I didn't ask to be saved by you" Kurookami sighed "You didn't want to die either" Mayako clenched her fist, it was true, at that time when she knew she was going to die, Mayako didn't want to, she had too much in her life to let go, like Keishi, "Look what keeping secrets did to my siblings" Kurookami said nothing. Mayako took Kurookami's silence as a sign that she was clear to say what she was about to say, with that Mayako took in a breath and exhaled, she then looked at Arita with a serious look on her face, Arita jumped to attention "So..." Mayako began, "So.." Arita responded, "Where should I start?" Mayako chuckled nervoulsy, Arita cracked a smile, "I think that you should start with how your walking on two broken legs" Mayako laughed half heartedly. "Right.." Mayako then refoucused herself "Well, the reason I'm walking on two legs that were obviously broken not that long ago is, I healed them" Arita raised an eyebrow "You healed them?" Mayako nodded, "How did you manage that?" Mayako smirked "Well, I used a techinuque that healed them to where I could walk on them, but, their not fully healed though" Arita hummed in thought.

"So, how long have you had this little, healing technique?" Mayako stuttered a bit "Not long, would you believe me if I told you today was the day I learned it and used it" Arita scrathed his head "So, you just learned this techinique today and used it for the first time" Mayako nodded. Arita nodded to himself, "So, are you going to tell me how you learned about this techinique?" Mayako knew at that moment it was the right moment for her to tell Arita everything, "Well.." she startede but, before Mayako could go on there was a noise outside the cabin, Mayako turned towards the door "Did you here that?" she looked to Arita who nodded. Mayako looked back at the door, "It seems like we have visitors" Arita commented "Do you think the Elder Coucnil finally found us?" Arita shurgged his shoulders, "Do you think that pheniox bastard is out there?" Arita could see that Mayako was trembling a bit as she said this. He walked over to her and he put a hand on her shoulder and turned her to face him, "Don't worry, I won't let that sonovabitch near you" Mayako blushed a bit, her heart started to hammer in her chest, "O-Okay..." Mayako could feel a warmth flooding her chest as she saw the serious look in Arita's eyes it was then she could feel a tightness on her shoulder.

"Uhm, your kinda squeezing too hard" Arita looked at his hand that he had put on Mayako's shoulder and saw thathe absentmindily had held a little bit too tight, Arita pulled his hand away, "Sorry" he blushed Mayako blushed as well "It..It's okay" she looked away a bit as did Arita, "So..." she began, "So..." Arita responded they looked at each other "What are we going to do about our visitors?" Arita's blush faded and his serious face returned. "Well, I'm going to go out there, while you stay in here, and greet them" Arita pounded his fist into his hand for emphasis Mayako scowled a bit, "Wait, why are you going out there alone and I have to stay in here?" Arita blushed a bit, "Well, if the pheniox bastard is out there he'll have to go through me to get in here at you" Mayako blushed hard and her heart hammered hard in her chest, "I see..." silence fell between the two of them. "Alright, just, be careful out there" Arita's face turned a darker shade of red, "Ri..Right, I will" Arita turned to the door "Alright, you stay in here and no matter what you here stay inside" Mayako nodded and Arita slowly walked to the door and pulled it open and walked out and closed it behind him.

Mayako's heart was beating hard and fast, she was worried about Arita going out alone, what if something bad happened to him, what if he was killed, what if he was captured, what if she'd never see him again, Mayako's heart ached with all of the things that could happen to Arita while he was out there confronting the enemy while she was inside. Then, she heard a cry of pain, she immediatley recognized it as Arita's her heart raced and her feelings out weighted her instincts and she ran out the cabin, she didn't care that she was going against what Arita had said but, she dreeded the thought of losing him. As Mayako ran out she could see three figures a bit aways from her, two afully famillair figures standing in front of Arita who was on his knees, bleeding badly, Mayako scowled her tails riled up behind her and she started towards the the three of them.

Mayako focused her eyes on the two standing in front of Arita, they were the ones that did that to Arita, they were going to pay, they were going to feel every ounce of pain that they gae Arita, and she was going to give it to them. As Mayako got closer, Arita happned to catch a glimpse of her and a shocked look came to his face "Mayako no!" he shouted the two figures in front of him seemed to jump when her name was said. It wasn't until they both turned around to where Mayako could see them, and when she did the anger that had risen in her faded as did the anger in her eyes, her tails lowered down. Now, Mayako knew why the two figures seemed so familliar to her, "What are you two doing here?" the figure on the left smiled "Mayako, it really is you" a female voice that Mayako immediatley recognized, and then "Hey Maya, good to see you again" came a very, very, famillair male voice.

Mayako looked at the two figures standing before her, she was a bit shocked, she never thought she would seem the again, "Yone-neechan.." she said as she looked at her older sister, "And Keishi-niisan" she said looking at her older brother who was smiling just as much as her older sister was. [Ch. 28 END]