Yasha nodded more to herself than anything before she realized that she needed to respond to what Thanos had said. It was true; she didn’t have any money at her. Her clothes were disgusting and she had no idea how she was going to get back on her feet by herself. She had never been alone before. There had always been an adult presence to make sure that she had everything that she needed. A thought nagged at the back of her mind though. She didn’t even have the comforting presence of the Majo anymore. It seemed that everyone had left her alone to fend for herself. It didn’t matter though because she was going to be able to handle because she had to. It was after this that she remembered that she still hadn’t responded to her new companion.
“Oh, yeah, I don’t have any money, so it would be, uh, good if you could help me a little bit? I’ll pay you back as soon as I can!” Yasha said with hesitation in her voice.

She did feel bad that she had to rely on this man that hadn’t even intended to come across her. She knew that she would owe him a lot for this help, but she needed somewhere to collect her thoughts and push the rest of the baby her to the side. For the first time she looked at her surroundings. The place they were in was small, but not so small as to be empty. There were people around but not so many. The people that were there were giving them strange looks, or rather, her strange looks. She was momentarily annoyed until she thought about it. She did have a violent rash and bright red hair, so she probably looked out of place in such a small community. She smiled to herself. She would be okay, she knew it.

~ ~ ~

Yochi didn’t say a word throughout the whole drive to Greenhaven. While Teguchi made small talk with their drivers she looked out the window, trying to absorb what had happened to them that day. The timing of the year of was off; she had never lost control like that in the spring before. It was something that she hadn’t thought about in the moment but now that she had a moment to catch her breath and think in blissful silence she was confused. Spring was Kai’s time of year, but then again, Kai wasn’t really around. Yochi didn’t know why it had happened, but she assumed it was because Kai’s soul had faded to almost nothing; she was just physically not there. She assumed that it had thrown off the balance and was messing up their internal chemistry, but then again, everything about this cycle had been weird, so nothing really made sense anyway.

Thinking about Kai made her think about what it had felt like when she had disappeared, but she stopped this thought before it had fully begun because she did not want to cry in front of Teguchi, let alone some random strangers that they were hitching a ride with. Thinking of Teguchi made her look over to him. He seemed like he was deep in thought and when they stopped to let the man out of the truck, he seemed rather troubled. Absorbed in her own thoughts, Yochi hadn’t really caught why he was leaving, but she also didn’t really care. She was in a bad enough mood as it was and the longer she was in the truck and the closer she got to Greenhaven, the crankier she became.

After travelling for quite some time, she shifted her weight and cleared her throat. She noticed that it had become rather sore from her lack of speech yet she managed to speak strongly and clearly.
“You can drop us here, that’ll be great thanks,” she managed confidently.

She could see the confusion on the young woman’s face. Where she had asked her to stop was on the side of the road. Since leaving Lochshore they had turned off the main stretch and turned onto a small dirt road that led to Greenhaven. Greenhaven was a very small village rather out of touch with the rest of the world. Despite the bizarre location she pulled over and let them out without question. Yochi slid out of the truck and just assumed that Teguchi would get out after her, not that he needed to, she would be fine by herself. He did follow her out of the truck but did stop to thank the young woman for the drive; her name was Cecila, Yochi discovered. The two stood in silence until the truck disappeared. Yochi knew that Teguchi was probably curious, but she didn’t feel like speaking, rather than that, she felt sick to her stomach. Where they stood was as rural as it could get even though the dusty road that they were on was pretty close to the main highway that led out of Lochshore. On one side of the road was an open field of hay and on the other side was a dense forest; that was the side that they were on.

With a deep breath, Yochi jumped into the ditch and made her way into the forest. Even though she hadn’t been there in 100 years, the forest still had the same feeling to her as it always had. It chilled her to the bone and the hair on her arms stood on end. It was worsened by her impatience with the location period. The trees were extraordinarily large with thick foliage, making maneuvering through the trees nearly impossible. The sticks kept scratching her and tearing at her clothes and it was pissing her off. She remembered when the trees had danced for her when she made her way here to Kai. She was so lost in these thoughts that when they broke through the trees it took her a moment to absorb what she saw before her.

When Yochi finally settled her gaze on the large home in front of them her stomach twisted and she felt the bile rise in her throat before she managed to force it down. Memories flew at her from every direction but he brushed them to the side which only made her nausea increase. She took a deep breath and sighed. It was harder than she thought to be in this place even though she knew that it was safe. In an effort to forget her rolling stomach, she continued forward to the mansion that stood before them. It was a huge three storey brick home with white trim around the windows. The front door was guarded by large white columns. The garden in front of the house was extensive with two large trees sitting comfortably within that. None of this was as apparent as it would have been later in the year though; the spring was still evident in the lack of flowers and leaves on the trees, though the birds chirped happily. It brought feelings of nostalgia.

Yochi began moving towards the house in silence, maneuvering around the various objects easily. When she reached the front door she opened it; there was no lock. The inside of the home was a grand as the exterior. The entryway had extremely high ceilings despite the evident historical age of the home. It was also very bright and for the most part, updated. The entryway was large and in front of them there was a large staircase that led to the second level. At the top of those stairs there was a magnificent oil painting. It consisted of two young women and a young man. The women had with black hair and green hair and the man with blue hair. They wore clothing from the 1800’s and all looked beautiful and youthful. The bile rose in Yochi’s throat again and this time, the vomit hit the floor.

~ ~ ~

Mahoko listened to the two quietly as the taxi brutalized them while driving but her thoughts were a little conflicted. She was paying attention to the yes, but she was also paying attention to Yasha’s presence, which was challenging without the girl knowing that she was there. She knew that Yasha was safe at the moment but she felt dark aura near her, and that was concerning. They weren’t that far, but they also weren’t that close either. She hoped that they would make it before anything bad happened to the girl but at the same time, almost thought it would be better if they left her to her own devices.
“This situation is complicated. We need to act carefully to cause the least amount of damage to the people in the surrounding areas. Anybody that doesn’t have awareness of the darkness in the world should be kept from it. Not only that, but if your companions do not desire to assist, they do not have to. It will end this year regardless of what anybody does. I am merely attempting to reduce the amount of blood that will be spilled,” she said in a gentle tone. “This is dark enough a story that the ending will not come out scotch free. There will be stains regardless of the outcome. I fear for the people that need not be involved. It is unfair that any of you were involved in the first place. I am genuinely conflicted about what would be the best source of action and appreciate any opinions you may have…However, we need to leave this taxi to do so,” she finished in a hushed tone, out of hearing reach of the driver of the taxi.