Hey everyone!

Here is the story of what "happened" to me while I was absent from the guild. Really, I was just in California, and had little access to a computer. I hope you like the story!



I sighed as I watched the skies turn from mid-dusk to full night and felt the air cool down. It was not my time for watch yet, so I decided to get some sleep before then. I knew that I would be awoken when it was my turn, and soon enough, I fell into a dreamless slumber, something that I was not unfamiliar with. In fact, I preferred nights when my subconscious did not come up with something to distract my sleep or caused me to worry about what I saw when I awoke the next morning.

Suddenly, as if no time passed as all, I felt someone shaking my shoulder. Opening my eyes, I was engulfed with a pair of bright yellow eyes and a toothy grin.

Sitting up and pushing myself backwards a bit, I tried to see whoever awoken me – and I was certain that they were no ally of mine. "Who are you?" I whispered harshly, wondering why no one else, especially Ratholin, had noticed their presence. "What do you want?" I hoped that these creatures would go away, but instinct told me that this would not be so.

The thing with yellow eyes merely chuckled at me and came closer. "I… my comrades and I… are very interested in you… human who smells of fox." I narrowed my eyes and tried to locate my scythe so I could fight against them, my physical strength not being something I would rely on if I didn’t have to. However, I saw over to my left, another one of the creatures had found it and was swinging it around like a small child would when they received their first wooden sword and had not gotten to their class yet. "We… would like you to… accompany us…"

I turned around and promptly smacked him along side his head, not missing the perverse tone in his voice.

"Do not come with us and you will ensure your friend’s demises," a second creature hissed in my ear.

"How about this proposal? You leave and I do not bring about your demises." I hissed. The creatures then laughed. The first one who spoke to me grabbed my arm with a fierce grip, and suddenly, I was dragged from the ground and flung across the campsite. Getting up quickly, I knew that I would feel some bruises later on. But that didn’t matter. I tried to see how many enemies I was facing, but due to the fact that they moved very fast and their eyes disappeared and reappeared in another spot, I could not count them.

"We will not harm you… if you are corporative." Another crackled in front of me, grinning. Then, the glowing grin in front of me was smashed. Before me, another person dressed in dark clothes and a Celestial Scarf with a Dark Star on his back had successfully put some distance between us.

"Are you all right?" the stranger asked.

"Yes," I confirmed, quickly getting up. "Who are you?"

"Later," he responded. "Shall we defeat these shadow sprites?"

I could not help but outright grin and nod eagerly. Launching myself into what I believed to be the middle of them, I focused my eyesight and easily saw outlines of the figures. There only seemed to be five remaining, the sixth one fleeing after being attacked. It seemed that the sprites were cowards at heart, and it only took a bit of physical pain to scare them away. Soon enough, the small battle was over.

"Who are you?" I asked once more, reclaiming my scythe from the ground. I had made sure to really pound the one who was playing with it.

The stranger before her chuckled and brought down his Celestial Scarf, revealing his face. "I thought that you would at least recognize my voice, Lupin." I blinked in disbelief as I saw my oldest and most loved brother standing before me, and wanted to smack myself for not coming to figure out his identity beforehand.

"Yasa-kei!" I exclaimed, throwing my arms around his neck in a hug. "I cannot believe that it's you! Why aren't you at the village? Is something wrong?"

My brother made a small grimace. "There is… but I believe that we should get back to your friends first."

Releasing him, I frowned. "What do you mean? They're – " I stopped, as I turned my head to where my comrades had been.

"The Dream Lands are a very complicated place. Due to our battle, the land we are on literally crossed into another dimension, and are not in the same location as we were. So, we need to find out way back to your friends before anything else." He explained.

Nodding, I gathered up my stuff. "I just hope it doesn't happen again."

"These lands are very impressionable," he laughed. "If we keep one goal in mind, we will quickly get to our destination."



With that in mind, my brother and I gathered up all of the few belongings I brought with me on the mission, and headed out to see if we could locate the correct dimension we were in. Of course, it was good to see my brother again and speak with him about all of the things I missed in the village since my banishment.

Kouji, my second brother, had finally approached the girl he liked (a somewhat plain but very kind and quick thinking girl named Hiroko) and asked if he could court her, which she immediately agreed to. So far, their relationship had been going well and both our families approved of it. Seiko, my oldest sister, was still happily married to one of my older suitors (who was in denial that he liked Seiko) and was expecting a child.

Miho and Akiko were still courting with the twin brothers – Eiji and Ichiro Morikawa – but marriage would not be even suggested for a while.

As for Yasa-kei himself, he had taken my advice and spoke with Hisae about her feelings, but nothing came from it. He said that she was slightly hurt due his rejection, but because he had listened to her and was honest, she held no ill feelings towards him.

"To be honest," he said. "I do not think I am personally ready for a relationship with anyone – and as I am a spy, my life is a bit too dangerous to be with someone and have the possibility that I could die while on any mission."

Due to the logic, I had to agree with him.

It was then on the third night of our almost seemingly random path that he asked me about the guild – what it's purpose was, why there were so many powerful people belonging to it, and why I was a part of it. To these questions, and many more, I tried to be as clear as I could and not reveal too much about our plans.

I knew he knew about the Old Ones already, along with the rumored wars that happened so long ago – and was not surprised when he raised his eyebrows in slight shock when I revealed that all of that history was true, and not some old legends. Not too many people believed in those, and neither did I, until I found some proof within the legion's library.

I went on, telling him as much as I knew about Ratholin and his mission, and how he technically was one of the Old Ones, fighting against his ancestors for peace. Evil against evil was what this war of ours was. And I was on the side of the lesser of the two evils.

Surprisingly, he took in all of this pretty well. He did express some concern for me, as all brothers do, but was glad that I had found a place where I belonged and was doing something I thought was right.

However, I avoided the reason as to why I had joined the guild. While one of my reasons for joining was to help bring a bit more peace to our world (and I told him this), I did not want to speak of my main reason – he was still my oldest brother, and while it was childish, there were some topics that were not spoken with an older brother due to the fact that all older brothers did not like the idea of their baby sister's and romance.

And I was his baby sister after all.



"Lupin, will you stop avoiding the question?" Yasa-kei sighed, annoyed with me one night. "I know that you know that I will find out eventually."

Frowning, I gave in, and felt my whole face alight with fire as I told him of Raymond and how our brief annoyance with one another turned into a friendship, and then into something more – and how, only a little while after we came to an understanding, he was poisoned and put into a comatose state. And how the main reason as to why I was in the legion was because we were battling mostly elves – and how I prayed every day that I would meet one – just one – who was kind and wanted peace as well.

And who would give me the cure to heal the only man whom I have ever, and will most likely ever, love. Needless to say, I felt really exposed and uncomfortable.

"It's about time you found some love, don't be so shy about it." He laughed, ruffling my hair, like he did when I was little. "I knew he was a good guy."

"What?" I exclaimed.

"That figure in the pub?" he asked. "The one who told you to talk to him?"

"That was you…" I realized. I shook my head, stuck between giving him a hug and punching out his lights for interfering with my life like that. I appreciated it all the same, but still – he was more meddlesome than Seiko sometimes!

"But anyways," he said. "I think I would like to join this guild of yours."

"What about your mission?"

"It is not too pressing of a matter that cannot wait for at least two weeks." He said. I quirked an eyebrow up at this; he never regarded missions in such a manner.

"Yasahiro," I growled. "What is going on?"

"A plague has hit the village, and I believe that a cure for it is in your book. You have been reading it a bit, correct?" he asked. I gave a small nod. "The plague is not striking everyone at an alarming rate, and had not killed anyone yet. However, that elder kitsune told me that they were immune to it due to a spell their ancestors performed many centuries ago. She told me to look for a kitsune book."

"Then I'll come with you to the village! All we have to do is find my comrades, and I am sure none of them will mind me leaving."

Yasa-kei smiled warmly, but sadly at me. "Thank you, Lupin. But I am afraid once you leave the Dream Lands, you will need to go back on your own."

"Pardon?" I whispered. There was a pause as pieces came together quickly in my mind. The Dream Lands were where myths and dreams that faded and died went to… and where souls followed them once their bodies had died…

"I am not dead, little sister." He said. "But I will tell you that the plague has hit me, and I am currently in a comatose state. But due to this, and you being in The Dream Lands at the same time by some miracle, I was able to find and make contact with you."

"How long?" I asked. "How long?"

"Only a week or two." He said. "No one had died – everyone who has reached this stage of the disease is still alive. But I would still not wait too long."

I just blinked and nodded once more; I seemed to be doing that a lot lately. But in this instance, one could not blame me, could they? My brother was the strongest person I knew, and he had fallen under some unknown disease. All though we spoke of other things for the remainder of our journey, I still could not shake my fear for him.

All in all, it had taken us a "week" in our dimension of The Dream Lands to find everyone else once more, and I just hoped all would be all right by the time we left it.