Don't die Inoue-kun~!

[Tamamo-no-Mae]

//Day 0; 23:36 P.M. - Outer Forest; Outskirts, Fuyuki//

"huff huff heh huff heh heh"

The sound of heavy breath was accompanied by the rhythmic sound of bare feet slapping against raw dirt. The pacing was solidly locked as it had been for nearly thirty minutes. Trees passed by rapidly, their number seemingly indefinite. A sudden change in tempo. A root made itself an obstacle on the path causing a stumbling hazard. It took only three steps to return to the previous rhythm. The breathing almost matched the steps like an accompanist who's goal was to overpower the star.

It had been long enough for the moon to rise all the way into the sky and peer down upon the ill-fated couple. The city lights and paths fascinated Tamamo, but she had no time to stop and take in the sights. She only slowed her pace at crucial avenues where she had to pick another path. She crossed an occasional traveler while running through the city. They often seemed indifferent until they caught sight of the blood. One even had called out to her. Tamamo didn't even consider turning back. The hard surface of the city, harder than any dirt or stone trail she had taken before, was replaced by soft earth. The non-flickering torches were left to the city as Tamamo ran through the forest.

Her sandals were discarded after running for a brief time in the forest. They proved to slow her down and catch upon the ground. Her kimino caught onto bushes and branches as she passed causing small tears in the fabric. One of her ribbons had come loose along the way causing one side of her head to be coated in pink threads. Her face and body were drenched in perspiration. She could only recall one time she had ran as much as she had tonight. The day she had fled the castle after hearing of the monk and waking up with fox ears.

She couldn't say how long she had been sprinting through the forest. Unlike the city which had several landmarks and no path looked alike the forest remained static through the trip. The trees created heavy shadows upon the ground making the path hard to see. Her eyesight had adjusted to the dim light at this point. She worried how long her Master had. Surely her physical exertion was slowly sapping seconds off of the time her Master had left. Every step she took required mana that took away from mana that could be used to save her Master. However, if she wasn't running as fast as she could they would never make it in time. Between breaths Tamamo was only able to say a few words.

"Please...don't...let...Master...die.......please...don't...let...Master...die..."

[Issunboushi]

//Day 0; 23:40 P.M. - Outer Forest; Outskirts, Fuyuki//

"Please endure this, Master!"

Those had been the last words Satoshi Inoue's Servant, Caster-class Heroic Spirit Tamamo-no-Mae had said to him. They had been spoken after she had positioned Satoshi so that he was essentially riding upon her back. His legs were secured on either side of her ribcage by her arms, and his own arms were draped across the chest of his Servant. It was only because of the tremendous pain he was forced to constantly experience and tolerate that he had no qualms about his arms brushing across Tamamo's ample breasts. Truthfully, Satoshi Inoue was in far too much pain to actually enjoy the feel of the silky fabric of her kimono or the soft flesh underneath. Under normal circumstances, his face would have flushed red with embarrassment. By this time, however, he had lost so much blood that his body probably would have shut down had he realized just what his arms were touching.

Even as Satoshi Inoue drifted across the gentle sea of light and darkness, his body refused to sink beneath the surface. It was Tamamo's spell which kept his body functioning and forced him to remain awake with an influx of magical energy. He had been out of it when she used that little trinket of hers, but he had kept his wits about him enough to realize that the mirror had indeed been utilized for the spell. Normally, Satoshi would have used this information to try and deduce Tamamo's identity, but she had already told him her name by announcing it out loud. He would have to scold her for so recklessly giving away her identity to an enemy. Later. Not now. For now, the semi-conscious young man simply focused the little control he had over his muscles on keeping a grip around Tamamo's upper body.

From his position upon Tamamo's back, Satoshi could just barely feel the young girl taking labored breaths. He didn't know how far she had actually run just yet because his mind was so riddled by a mental fog. He didn't realize it at the time, but that lingering mist - a mist prevented from swallowing his mind only because of Tamamo - was the cold, unforgiving hand of death. His head rested upon Tamamo's right shoulder, and his chin fit perfectly in the groove between her shoulder and neck muscles. He could hear the vocal breathing of his Servant, but even with that provocation he was too injured to react. He simply enjoyed the rhythmic sound, unable to even lift his own body at this point. No, that was wrong. Maybe, if he tried, he could lift his head? He didn't try just yet, though, so there really was no telling.

His eyes dropped from his Servant's blurred face to her blurred feet, his own brown hues staring down the length of her body. Once more, to anyone who knew Satoshi Inoue, it would become clear just how injured he was: he focused not on the generous view provided by Tamamo's kimono but instead on her bare feet far below. He watched the elegant fabric of her kimono sway with each step, the young girl carrying him as if it were no real burden. She had run very fast, Satoshi had deduced that much even in his current spellbound stupor. Above all else, she had definitely ran farther and faster than any human could at one time, let alone while carrying a fully-grown young man. For just a second, Satoshi was sure his Servant would fall when only her toes barely managed to catch a thick root, but she barely broke her rhythm and he lifted his head once more with a considerable amount of effort.

Trees. Lots and lots of trees. All of them blurry. That was really all he could see...in his condition, he could not visually recognize any of the vegetation. Normally, doing so would be no problem, since Satoshi had been forced to memorize multiple routes to the Einzbern castle by his instructor in magic. Rather, by his drill sergeant in magic application. Marielle had taught him to recognize the paths, and demonstrated only one of magic's vast capabilities when she had revealed that several of the paths were bewitched to frustrate travelers. Specifically, people the forest did not recognize would experience such things as mysterious roots rising from the ground - much as Tamamo just had - or other such mostly harmless nuisances.

"Please...don't...let...Master...die..."Tamamo repeated to herself, as if praying to some unseen force. And whatever unseen force his Servant prayed to apparently decided to answer her call: the path in the forest became clear, because the forest had finally recognized that the mysterious familiar wasn't alone. The forest had recognized Satoshi's injured form, and the endless forest seemed to shift with each step Tamamo took now. With her next footfall, she would catch sight of a clearing if her senses were as keen as those of a fox. A pure light which shone through thick brush and shrub, a beacon of light quite literally released specifically to allow Tamamo-no-Mae to notice the clearing of the castle. And even the injured Satoshi, his head now barely lifted from his Servant's shoulder, caught sight of the glimmer.

"...There..." He muttered, his warm breath gently rolling against Tamamo's neck. "Don't worry, Servant Tamamo...the anchor between us is established...you're still...receiving prana from me..." His words were spoken once more in a naturally hushed tone, and each one took effort. "We've arrived..." He concluded, again letting his head rest upon her silk fabric-clad shoulder.

[Tamamo-no-Mae]

//Day 0; 23:41 P.M. - Outer Forest; Outskirts, Fuyuki//

The pink fox was pulled from her self-induced hypnosis by the package on her back speaking up. Her eyes drifted to her right barely capable of seeing a few strands of his brown hair on the edge of her vision. His voice was ragged as his consciousness drifted between lines of life and death. It was as if a ghost were whispering into her ear.

"...There..." the voice called out. As if on command the forest that had got the pair in an endless lane of trees opened up before them. The clearing became visible as well as the lights of a structure obscured by the forest canopy. The structure seemed straight out of a medieval story. Though it was designed like a European mansion the structure felt more like a fortress than a dwelling. Despite its great size it felt as if the home more or less just appeared. Tamamo felt awe-inspired by the greatness of the mansion fit for a noble.

Her ears perked as her Master spoke once more. "Don't worry, Servant Tamamo...the anchor between us is established...you're still...receiving prana from me..." The fox girl smiled at her Master's gesture. He was in a condition far from recovery yet he still managed to worry about her over himself. The very thought was silly. His words gave her the extra push she needed to sprint to the finish line. "We've arrived..." She felt the weight of his head return to her shoulder.

Tamamo ran forward seeing more and more of the mansion as the trees thinned. A black mass seemed to step into the path that Tamamo took. An obstacle to block her path. She couldn't allow any hindrances to prevent her from bringing her Master to the person he knew could save him. Without missing a step, Tamamo used the black mass's head as a step to get past it. As she passed over it she knew it was no beast of the mundane world. However, she spared no time to learn more of the beast known as 'Paul.'

She followed the edge of the mansion looking for anything reminiscent of an entryway. As she rounded a corner she saw what appeared to be a hard path similar to those in the city. It rose in an incline to the mansion. It took only a few bounds to make it up the stairs that lead to entryway of the Einzbern mansion. She had no hands to spare to fumble with the handles nor did she have to the time to enter gracefully. Her foot met the crease between the two doors causing a crunching sound to resonate within. The bolting mechanism gave way allowing Tamamo to muscle open the door. She pushed the massive wooden panels aside with her shoulder.

The entry lead to the large common area with balconies along both side walls held by numerous pillars. They converged along the back wall into a single staircase that lead down to greet them. A red carpet was all the separated her feet from the cold tile below. The design was foreign to the girl misplaced in time. She frantically looked about attempting to decypher the building's structure. She became frustrated by the seconds ticking away while she was stopped at this crossroads. If this person were as great as her Master implied why was she not aware of their arrival or awaiting their appearance?

[Issunboushi]

//Day 0; 23:43 P.M. - Outer Forest; Outskirts, Fuyuki//

Even with Satoshi Inoue's head again upon his Servant's shoulder, his eyes did not completely close. Whenever he was a boy, he found that he could not sleep on car rides or when inside a plane. In short, whenever traveling from one location to another, some subconscious part of him was too restless to allow him to sleep. Even on the verge of death, suspended over the inky blackness by mere high-level thaumatergy, this internal restlessness would not yield. He remained awake and aware...at least, as aware as one in his condition could be. He held on to the slender, soft body of his Servant as she picked up the pace, apparently motivated by the unveiling of Einzbern mansion. Surely, his kimono-clad Servant recognized the structure from the shared vision he had bestowed upon her back in Kiseki's basement.

Suddenly and without warning, his Servant used some elevated structure as a stepping stone in her path, her stocking-clad feet unapologetically bouncing off of poor Paul's head. Satoshi had only caught a glimpse of the perplexed Paul, and he couldn't help but smile and think: What a silly name for a Chimera...Paul...that's a human's name. Apparently, being on the brink of death made him a bit carefree...almost "floaty" in regards to his mental state. Still, it didn't take Satoshi long to refocus on the task at hand; Master and Servant had both arrived now at Einzbern mansion, but Satoshi still teetered on the brink of death.

Suddenly, Tamamo came to a brief stop. No longer did the forest floor sound underfoot, and a quick glance confirmed that now his Servant stood upon the stone patio to one of the entrances. Without much tact - or need for tact - his Servant kicked the door, and in response the locking mechanism buckled, unable to take even that level of punishment from a Servant despite being magically reinforced like the cockpit door of a plane in response to zombie bees or some such stupid magical thing. Point is, once the doors were met with the firmly planted kick by Caster, they didn't stand a chance and she was effortlessly able to barge inside the castle after shouldering the huge double doors open.

When Tamamo entered the Guest Hall's entryway, Satoshi again forced himself to lift his head. He could feel a disturbance in the air, but he lacked any energy to investigate. Instead, he simply channeled out the last bit of his prana that he could spare. In response, a large gargoyle with wings suddenly appeared from the ceiling, where it had remained hidden in the shadows, asleep. The great and majestic creature spread his wings which, despite being made of stone, allowed him to gracefully descend before Tamamo. Satoshi spoke to the creature softly, knowing him so well because the beastial bird of stone had been his first familiar.

"Pazuzu, go fetch...Maria..." He strained, and the stone eyes of the creature gave off a yellow glow as he opened his mouth to respond.

"SCRAAAAWWWWWW!!!!"

With that, the gargoyle again took flight - perhaps unnecessarily - and flew towards the stairs. After a sharp left, the creature rammed into a hidden door and flew down the stairs, letting out another mighty roar.

"KA-CAW!!!"

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