Kith laughed shaking his head. "A diversion. there is no other explanation for this! Prince-" He turned, speaking, only to stop doing so when he saw that Alianh was staring at the cat with a blank expression. He watched as the Prince's eyes narrowed and he turned to look at the place where Ran had appeared from. He sighed, shaking his head. How folloish of Chen. But then again, she didn't know he could read the minds of any animal he wished, cats thoughts more sharper than others.

He walked off, waving down Kith who had starte to move with him. Alinah slipped into trees and looked around, before finally seeing Chen's trail. He followed it to where it finally stopped. He narrowed his eyes at where he believed her to be. He would have known immediately that was were she was hiding, but he was still to tired to use magic. Call it elf's intuition. "Chen!" His voice had a hard edge to it because he was irritated that she had followed him.

Incidentally, the fact that Markus's wound was almost healed wasn't anything that had to do with Chen, but rather, Reimu had released her power when she came up to Markus, just enough to remove the pain and help clot the blood.

The paths may have been inaccessible and unknown to humans, but the cats knew all about the forest, and through them Chen had learned everything she needed to know about the forest routes, and so she was able to follow his scent with little to no trouble.

Finally Chen caught up to Markus, but heeding his words, opted to stay hidden, at least for the moment. She watched as a bluebird, apparently one he knew, fluttered down to his hand and listened to what Markus had to say before flying off as if on a mission. Chen couldn't understand bird, but given the fact that Markus was now seemingly waiting for something, she understood the general idea of what Markus had asked.

Then, another one of those strange humans appeared, this one carrying his sword still sheathed but ready to be drawn at a second's notice. What he said almost caused Chen to disrupt her hiding place. Prince Alianh? Amythist? Was Markus someone of importance or something?

"You are being followed, Prince Alianh..." was the man's reply, and immediately Chen could tell that she was the person he was talking about. Oh crap...! she thought to herself, unable to move out of worry of revealing her hiding place. Suddenly, a darkness surrounded her, and she was watching the scene from someplace else. She heard a small meow from her former hiding place, and Ran meandered out of the bushes, sitting down in front of Kith and looking up at the shiny sword. [i]Take the bait 'n switch, elfie... take the bait 'n switch...[i] the cat was saying to itself.

Markus' wound was, suprizingly, only itching. He blinked, looking down at it. Normally he shouldn't have been able to stand up, but for some reason, having Chen help him sped up the process of healing. His thoughts began to wander but he shook his head, pushing all thoughts of Chen out of his mind. He slipped off into the forest, taking paths only known to himself.

He finally reached a small clearing and walked towards the group offour trees that twisted together in the middle of the clearing. He looked up into the branches and called down a small bluebird. He spoke to it and it flew off to leave Markus leaning against the twisted trees. He crossed his arms and closed his eyes as he waiting. He soon found his mind wandering back to Chen, reimu and the others.

Was it right for him to leave them there like that? That was one his conciousness quickly answered for him. Of course.... She would have gotten hurt. Or worse, caught by him..... He sighed, running a hand through his hair. But I should have put up a ward at least...... He was jerked out of his silent musing at the sound of approaching footsteps. Out of the woods walked a pure dark elf, his hand gripping the sword at his side, looking around as if watching for an enemy attack.

"Prince Alianh, why are you out here? Why didn't you come straight to Amythist? We could have treated you!" The dark elf said, giving Markus a half angry half relieved look. Markus, or rather, Alianh, smiled at the dark elf, rubbing the back of his head. "Sorry, Kith. But coudln't make it." The dark elf's, Kith's, anger melted away, but his hand still did not move from the hilt of the sword. In fact, he moved, drawing it out about a quarter of the way. "You are being followed, Prince Alianh...."

Chen lowered her head and nodded. He was right after all; if she followed she would likely be in danger. But still, something about her just didn't care. Something about her wanted him to remain with her, and if he had to leave, for her to follow alongside him.

This feeling of hers... it was too strong, and unable to control her feelings, Chen made what one might consider to be a rash decision. She watched him leave, and the very second he was out of earshot, she began to look around for things to take with her.

At last she walked out of the house, carrying numerous cat treats, a staff that she had found in the attic, and the parasol she had used to retrieve Markus in the first place. She looked down at her feet, and there the eight cats stood at her side. She smiled, and each one of them meowed. She then opened the door and set out after the dark half-elf that had befriended her.

Markus had frozen, completely caught off-guard with the fact that he hadn't permitted anyone, especially a female, to get as close at Chen did. But for some reason, he didn't care. In fact, it made him feel a bit better, pushing the memories of Riku's death even more farther into the recesses of his mind. He sighed, letting one hand rest on her arms that were wrapped around his waist, closing his eyes, smiling slightly.

"I truely am the bringer of bad news.... But thank you, Chen...." He opened his eyes and looked up at the ceiling. "But there is no way I could take you all with me.... You could be caught up in a battle.... People are constantly chasing after me." He detached her arms from around him, and he turned and bent down on knee, giving her a smile.

"Chen.... You have a kind heart. Guard it well." He looked down at Reimu and grinned. "You too, Reimu. Watch after Chen.... For me and Riku....." He stood to his feet and turned, once again heading for the door, his head bowed, his hair hiding his face so that way they couldn't see the look on his face.

Chen's tail shot up as he made his way toward the exit. Without thinking, she got up and ran up to him, wrapping her arms around the man. "But..." she began. "...But we don't want you to leave... Believe me, it hurt Reimu so much more when she didn't know what had happened to her own mother... now that we know, we can all start to accept her death..." she began, tears welling up. "Please... I have a tight-knit family with the other cats, but I don't know anyone from the outside world... So don't think yourself as a horrible person..."

It was at this point that Reimu walked toward Markus and sat down. "...Riku knew she would die protecting you; that is the one job of a Familiar, or a Shikigami as they were called in the old days. Unless killed, a shikigami is expected to live as long as his or her master. I know this... we cats know this..." she stated, walking to Chen and nuzzling against her leg. "...because we have been your shikigami for these past eleven years. All this time you have taken care of us, and we have taken care of you in turn, though you could not hope to comprehend how we have done so. Wherever you go, we will follow for as long as you will have us." she mewed, sitting down at Chen's feet.

Chen smiled. "Thank you... all of you..." she stated, now hugging Markus even tighter. "Please... if you must go, then take us with you..."

He threw his head back and sreamed with agony, the wound in his heart opening as Chen told him this. He had never heard this part of her story, so it made the loss of Riku that much more hard and wretching. The scream died away and he curled up as thight as he culd in the corner, hugging himself tightly, his white hair covering his face. His entire body continued to shake was words that would sound like nothing to anyone other than his father's people came out of his mouth, much like a chant. Slowly, he began to relax, and soon was completely still, silent, much like a statue. He stood up and started to walk towards the exit, his head bowed, his face hidden, his hands fists at his sides. "I am nothing but the bringer of bad news.... I should just stay away from everyone.... I cause way too mcuh pain...."

Chen's reaction to this news was very similar to Reimu's, mostly because she knew what this meant. She knelt down slowly, and the depressed cat ran to her, jumping into her arms and curling up as she held its body tight. "Riku was her mother..." she stated, her ears lowering. "Reimu told me all about it when I first found myself here; apparently her mother came here and left Reimu with the other cats, before vanishing just as mysteriously. According to what the last generation of cats told her, she said that she had to leave for reasons that she would not give... It's just that I never would have guessed her name would come up in a conversation like this again..." she admitted, her ears lowering.

Markus was taken aback at her sudden nterest in his Familiar. He stared at her blankly for a moment before he smiled again. "My Familiar.... He name was Riku.... Weird name, huh?" He asked, laughing lightly, rubbing the back of his head. He jumped when Reimu appread right in front of him, the hair on her back all down her spine standing on end. "R-Reimu?" He shifted his strange-colored gaze up to chen, fear evident in his eyes for the first time. "Chen? What's wrong with Reimu? Why is she so upset?" As he looked back down at Reimu, his eyes widdened as that scene flooding back into his mind. The sight of Riku's broken body. Tears flooding from his eyes and he turned his head away, his shoulders shaking. His emotions were so strong that they were causing his physical pain.

(Ah yes, the cats names are Reimu, Sakuya, Ran, Yukari, Alice, Eirin, Youmu, and Reisen. Just getting that out of the way now.)

Chen winced in further embarrassment as his hand came up to the top of her head, patting gently. "Familiar?" she asked, clearly confused by what he meant, as he continued to pet Reimu. Suddenly, some kind of connection made itself obvious. Reimu had told her long ago that she had a sister once, and of all the cats Reimu alone seemed to be the most attracted to Markus. Sure, all the cats liked him well enough, which was surprising in itself considering the differences in personalities between the cats. "What was your familiar's name...?" she asked, curious to know for Reimu's sake.

The sudden contact from her made him feel disoritated for a moment, but then a smile came to his face as she pulled away, the blush on her face quite obvious. He kept soft eyes on her face, his hand coming up to lightly pat her on the head in a subconcious gesture. "It's alright, Chen.... You don't have to be embarrased...." He stood to his feet and walked over to a corner, where he curled up slightly, a few cats jumping on him, making him smile. "You guys remind me of my Familiar...." He watched as Reimu walked up to him. He reached up, lightly scratching her behind her ears. "Especially you, Reimu...." the look on his face was one of sadness. He missed his Familiar, having had he die in the battle. It had left quite a scar on his heart, and it hurt to remember.

For a moment Chen remained where she stood, as if depressed about something. Then, out of seemingly nowhere, her face contorted into a smile, and she pushed herself forward, gently wrapping her arms around the man. "Markus-san!" she mewed out, her tails waving happily behind her. Then, just as soon as she had glomped him, she was back off of him, sitting down with her hands on her lap. Her eyes were turned away, and a blush was apparent on her face, as if her human side had just realized what she had done.