Luo Dai wasn't sure how he had arrived at Kado Shrine. One moment he had been walking along a path through the woods, and the next thing he knew the forest had opened up. He stood before a pristine lake and walked along soft tufts of grass. The oppressive aura of prowling Youkai completely dissipated, and there was nothing but a sense of pure serenity. Luo Dai was sure it was still the afternoon, but the sky darkened ever so gently so that the constellations were just barely visible. In the middle of this strange clearing stood a modest shrine with a statue of a fox on display. Thanks to Anjou, many people feared such displays, deeming them taboo, but Luo Dai felt no apprehension approaching it. Kado Shrine. The name came to Luo Dai's head like a distant memory, yet he was certain that he had never been to this place before.

"Don't worry. I'll explain everything once the others arrive." The voice came from a small fox that was resting beside the shrine. Well, perhaps "voice" wasn't the best term for it. Rather, the pure meaning of those words was conveyed without the fox uttering a word.

Luo Dai gave the little fox a pleasant smile. "Others, you say?"

"But of course. Many threads of fate are converging. You would have met up one way or another. I'm just helping you along a bit."

"And who are you?" Luo Dai asked. "The guardian deity of this shrine?"

"Oh no, I'm nothing as grand as that. But I'd rather only introduce myself once, so let's wait for the others."

Luo Dai gave a gentle laugh. "Then I suppose I'd better make myself comfortable." With that, he sat down on the grass and crossed his legs, meditating in this tranquil clearing as he awaited the arrival of the "others," whoever they may be.

It had been a normal day for travelling for the cat-turned-yokai. While he is planning to take revenge on Anjou, he isn't in a hurry to do it. After all, he's trained for this long. He still had a long life ahead of him, and so did Anjou. There wasn't really any rush to get to him. He was in the heavily yokai populated forest. This was one part of the yokai world where he isn't very familiar with. Rather he knows very little about those living in here. But his yokai aura warned them to stay away, even in his human form. A bakeneko isn't very feared in the yokai world considering that there are a lot more that are more powerful. But he was older than most, more experienced and more powerful. Anyhow, he reached this clearing and he suddenly felt like there was not a single yokai in there... or anywhere really. It was odd, peaceful yes, but unnerving.

Setting his eyes on the shrine, Akira stopped a few meters away from it. Cocking his head to the right, he began to analyze the shrine in front of him. He brushed up on his knowledge about different shrines of minor gods and goddesses but nothing came to mind. But something surfaced from his mind.

"Kado Shrine." He muttered out loud. Keeping his weapons close to him, he approached said shrine. Despite being a yokai, he never was bothered when he entered shrines. Heck, he even sleeps at them when given the chance. Well considering that almost everything is under Anjou's rule, he shouldn't really be surprised. Upon getting closer, he sensed another presence and turned to the human. The human was meditating. Although he would normally try to do something to the human just for laughs, he held back his mischievous personality and sit down, near enough to see the human but far enough to not be a bother.

This looks like a good place to rest anyway.

‘’ Chi, chi, chi calls the bird~’’ A soft singing voice could be hears, echoing clear through the Suzume no Bochi. The Hitodama danced around on the tune, floating around the graveyard towards a blood red Torii gate. ‘’maybe it wants a branch~’’ The singing voice contiued her eery song. The singer had learned this one when she was but a young chick in her flock. ‘’if it does, hit it with one~’’ The singer was a young Yosuzume, who had taken on a human form. There was no one around to see her so there was no real purpose to it. As it seemed to an outsider. The girl, clad in a shinobi shizoku, especialy kept this appearace for the Hitodama that were still present in the graveyard. She dangled one leg off the gate on wich she sat, looking at the graves, time had stopped in this place. Her arms and legs were covered with spelltags, nine to be exactly.

Chi, chi, chi calls the bird~,
please blow soon~,
divine wind of Ise~.”
All of the sudden the Hitodama flew back tot heir graves as the figure of a lone man became visable. He was donned in the robes of a buddist monk. He held a golden staff with rings ontop that made sound almost like bells were rang. He took of his traveling hat as he saw the Yosuzume sitting ontop of the gate. ’’Good evening, Hitodama Gado- chan’’ He said as he walked through the gate. The Yosuzume, named Tsubame let him be. Priest came by from time to time to pay homage to those who died a violent death here. He had passed but a few graves as he kneeled down at four very importand ones. The monk kneeled and clapped his hand, making his precence know to the dead. ’’Hitodama Gado-chan, would you like to be free’’ He said with his eye’s closed. Tsubame, who had been silently sitting on the gate opened her eye’s again and looked at the priest.
’’ I will kill people if you set me free’’ She said cold as the monk smiled. ’’Well that would be a problem for me. Lets just keep your focus at the lord of Nura. The minion of Anjou’’ He said as he placed some offerings at the graves. ’’Why would a peace loving monk like you set free a youkai that has already stained her hands with blood. Why do you need Nura and Anjou dead?’’ Tsubame found the monk strange, to say the least. ’’The wings of death are swift for those who deserve it. Yosuzume, won’t you fly your deadly black wings for me’’ The monk smiled as his hands formed the first mundra Rin.
’’ On baishiramantaya sowaka ‘’ He said and Tsubame felt one of the nine seals placed upon her being released. The spell tag peeled itself of her as the second mundra was formed, followed by the rest until the monk had reached all nine of them.
’’On ishanaya intaraya sowaka’’
‘’ On jiterashi itara jibaratanō sowaka’’
‘’ On hayabaishiramantaya sowaka’’
‘’ On nōmaku sanmanda basaradan kan’’
‘’ On aganaya in maya sowaka’’
‘’ On irotahi chanoga jiba tai sowaka’’
‘’ On chirichi iba rotaya sowaka’’
‘’ On a ra ba sha nō sowaka!’’ The spelltags flew of Tsubame as if they got taken by the wind and burned to ashes. The monk stood underneath the gate and Tsubame jumped of it, landing softly on the ground, traces of shadow lingering in the already dark place. ’’Who are you?’’ Tsubame asked suspicious.
’’ just a passerby, guiding you to the way that leads to Kado Shrine ‘’ He said, giving her a curtesy bow before walking away wisteling a soft tune. Tsubame looked at the monk and raised a brow. ’’ How do I reach this Kado shrine! ‘’ She called and the monk turned around pointing at the gate before he dissapeard between the trees. Tsubame sighed, what did he mean by that. Anyway, he had freed her and her powers had not been used in a while. She transformed to her sparrow form and let the darkness of the nigth surround her.

’’Kado shrine, what will I find by going there’’ She said as four Hitodama followed her. Those Hitodama belonged to Takahiro’s family. They sticked to her the most. With a loud sceach Tsubame flew throuh the gate towards the graveyard, only to see the image shift. Another shrine appeared and in vieuw came a human man and a Bakeneko. Carefull of the Bakeneko Tubame flew to the gate of the shrine and landed looking at the two beneath her, her Hitodama floated around her. With a puff of shadow Tsubame took on her human form while laying down on her back, watching the blue sky and clouds pass by. How she missed this vieuw.

"Ow ow ow!"

Yuki had lost the path some time ago, wandering astray into the forest. The way to Mount Senkiai from Kōku was a long one, especially with no money to pay for a carriage. As her hair caught on every branch in sight, she continued crashing through the forest. Despite the years since, she'd never fully recovered from the loss of her animal senses, leaving her somewhat disadvantaged when traveling through wilderness.

The oppressive aura of the yōkai around get pressed upon her, clouding her senses even further. After an hour's hopeless searching, she sighed, utterly lost.

Then, from before her, she heard the faint sound of voices. Stumbling through trees, she emerged into a placid, tranquil clearing. The yōkai presence around get dissipated, replaced with a feeling of calm. A pair of words fled to the surface of her mind and she murmured them reflexively, spitting leaves: "Kado shrine..."

Only then did she notice the small gathering in front of herself. Rearranging and flattening the kimono that had become so disturbed by her trek and wiping the sweat from her brow, she trotted over. "So...do any of you know where we are? I'm really lost..."

THWACK! Contact was made from the right elbow of an attacker to chest of the unsuspecting clean-shaven man dressed in loose fitting and fairly ornate robes. As the victim of the strike began to stumble back he dropped a bindle onto the dirt floor below. The sensation from the drop caused the bindle to unravel and clatter revealing some steamed buns, a few stone trinkets designed like tools a small silk pouch and ink containers which shattered apart and splattered onto the assorted items.

The noise made did not deter the attacker from the target who was just starting to come to his senses. Pan Chao quickly closed the gap with his target as he struck the front of his target's face using the right side of his closed right fist. Nostrils flared out as he swung his left elbow against at the chest. As Pan Chao was pushing onward with his continuous barrages. With his victim backed against the stone wall of this sanctum, Pan Chao clenched his teeth as he delivered a cross to his target's nose. This was the strike that caused the young man to just crumble down as Pan Chao kept on swinging. This particular onslaught continued for a few more moments before Pan Chao was satisfied.

Pan Chao smirked as he wringed his bloodied hands together as looked at the altar of this sanctuary. It was a simplistic display that consisted of a small table that had some lit candles around a currently empty bowl that was just underneath a time-worn painting which only had a field and a river visible upon it. Rummaging through the stone trinkets, Pan Chao smiled as he plucked one that appeared to look like a hook. It was quickly embedded inside the upper corner of the painting. Again he looked down at these spoils. Pan pawed his hands through the assorted colors of ink splat and smeared it across the painting warping the image into a multicolored swirls for a crude ocean.

"Your offerings have been accepted." Pan Chao stated towards the man as he gathered up the remaining items of value. "And they will continue to be accepted." He stated as he strolled out of the building to a trio of men standing patiently upon a dirt road. Approaching each man of the group individually Pan Chao began handing out the collected loot to all of them. "Haul it gigside." Pan Chao spoke as he glanced down the dirt road. "I shall be there momentarily." The group nodded and followed the instructions given as they went down the dirt road ready to store the loot.

Pan Chao stretched his arms upwards while glancing towards the way he spotted the robed man arrive from. Spotting a wooden building not too far away, Pan Chao smirked as he proceeded towards it. Once at the door Pan Chao slammed against it causing the door to give way and open. This was when the strange occurrence happened, and Pan Chao was not inside the building which he was expecting, but rather in a forest and near yet another and more populated shrine.

It seemed as though Dafei had been flying for several days, though really it had only been a few hours. She was tired, sweaty, and also bored. The last she landed, she had eaten breakfast: the carcass of a dead cow which had collapsed in the middle of the forest which nobody seemed to want save for the few flies which wafted around it. It was more food for her.

She had past into Kado shrine for a few minutes, talons planted on the ground. She had not noticed, however, and continued flapping before noticing the others around her. Dafei stopped mid-stroke and looked awkwardly at the troop of men surrounding her. She was silent, slowly putting her arms down so that they hung relaxed at her side the way a human's were naturally.

"E-eh... Lei ho" Dafei bowed before the group of people, keeping her head up. When she lifted herself back, she gained a new composure, appearing just a little bit more mature. There was a smirk on her face. An arm crossed her torso and her other tugged her skirt in a curtsy. "Hello. I am Gei Dafei. I am on a mission to find the one known as 'An Jou'" she introduced. She spoke in an uncommon dialect, though any from around the region of Namchon or those who had done business there may have understood.

The forest was the only place Hikado felt "home" at now. Through the moisture of the dewdrops in the morning, to the fireflies illuminating it at night, it was his own sanctuary of peaceful times, and his favorite way to forget the past that haunted him so much.

As the possessed gourd wandered through, he began to question why he had even jumped off the mountain in the first place. Although it was a very exciting and joyous 17 seconds of bliss, followed by half a second of unending agony, he never imagined this would be his fate afterwards, instead wishing to go into an afterlife. Sure, awaking as a pumpkin felt amazing at first, as he had a second chance at life with all his old memories intact, but then he frightened everyone he ever met unless they were blind from that point on. It was his personal hell, he imagined.

"... I wish I hit the lake." he whispered to himself, as he ever so quietly approached where he slept if it rained while he was exploring. Even if he was a plant, the feeling of rain on his head didn't bring comfort to him, and rather felt like a very inconspicuous death to him, considering his soul was a small flame inside his head.

After a few minutes of a moist mist in the air, a name came to mind in his head. A name of a place, judging by how it sounded, and the place where Hidako occasionally went for shelter in the event of rain, sleet, or snow. Kado Shrine, a place out of reach from humans and youkai, and a grove for animals and plants to frolic in alike. As he approached it however, he saw in the distance as 7 figures surrounded the center of the shrine.

"...p-people? Here? T-this is unexpected."

It had been a gravely long time since Hikado actually talked to someone. He usually talked to his closest friend - Kimchi the Deer - when he was around his home, which was a stump a far distance away from Kado Shrine in this forest, and when your only method of socialization is a deer who doesn't speak back... the point is he's desperate for intelligent conversation.

You can do it. Just be natural and don't show any hostility. Hikado thought, as he approached the other people in the shrine.

"It's been a long time s-since I've seen people. Why are you all here...?"

The mansion lay in disarray. The front door had posed no resistance to the passing of the humanoid typhoon and now hung open, clinging to its hinges. The living room sat covered in shredded scrolls, with Anjou's seal present on many pieces. Ink coated the walls of the study. Piles of ash were all that remained of the papers found within; the desk sat ablaze and threatened to light the house. Paper walls were smashed open with little regard to where they led. Tatami were thrown from their places, leaving ugly holes in the floor.

In the bedroom was the cause of the damage: a fiesty girl with fiery pink hair. In her left hand - or, more accurately, claws - was the lesser half of the local lord's futon. With her right, she tore at the tatami that had sat beneath. The edges showed signs of the tatami having been frequently lifted out of place. Once removed, a glass case was revealed, hidden beneath.

"Pay dirt."

The girl heaved the heavy box from its hiding place and, in the same motion, smashed it onto the greater half of the futon. Large shards of glass dug into the already ruined bedding as a final "fuck you" to the owner. The girl, known as Lieu Lei, kicked the base of the case aside to reveal the item she'd come to steal: a large gemstone slightly smaller than her fist that had purportedly been given to the lord by Anjou himself. She reached down to grab the gem, and as her fingers closed around it...

The walls of the mansion melted away around Lieu. The gem in her hand glowed a strange, otherworldly color, and Lieu had the strange sensation that she was moving, though to where she did not know. As the light faded, trees began to appear at the edges of her vision, then slowly closed in around her. The gem went dark, then shattered with a pop, leaving only dust in Lieu's grip.

A quick glance around told her that she was at a shrine of some sort - Kado Shrine, her mind mysteriously filled in - and that she was surrounded by seven others. To them, it had appeared that she had grown from a speck in the air over the course of two seconds. To her, the presence of youkai and the fox statue at the shrine could only mean one thing. Her hand shot to the handle of the axe hooked to her back.

"You'll never take me without a fight, you flunkies of the fox!"

Fujioka Mitsuyo, still clad only in his fundoshi loincloth and dripping near-freezing water, stood slightly nonplussed as eight seemingly disparate people appeared from out of nowhere in the span of seconds and immediately proceeded to make a ruckus in the shrine. Unlike all of these people, he had neither magically teleported to the place nor did he instantly know of its name. He had simply walked into the shrine while strolling around looking for a place to purify himself, having heard of a temple in the area. He did not think it fitting to start his quest before tidying himself up physically and spiritually.

The ronin had been there for quite a while now, out of sight. He had painstakingly shaved himself and cut his hair down to a manageable length, and had cleansed and purified himself by standing for an hour under the shrine's waterfall in a ritual known as misogi. Clothes, he had procured before heading off. And now this seemingly rail-thin man, soaked to the bones and almost completely naked with a bundle of cloth under his arm, knelt on the shrine's steps in front of the crowd. "Excuse me, but you should really show proper respect in a place of worship", he said in a manner reminiscent of a parent educating a child on common courtesy.

At first sight he might seem sickly, but proper inspection by anyone martially inclined would notice that his body was corded steel and showed the wear and tear of a warrior. Clearly not someone one should mess with. Still, his expression seemed meek and he spoke in a soft tone as he undid the bundle and produced both his clothing and a something to dry himself with. "I'm afraid you've caught me after misogi, please pardon my appearance. I am Hongo, a masseuse", he said with a smile. It was fairly common to see both men and women half naked performing such a ritual. "But who might you all be? And what brings you all to wherever this is?"

One by one, the "others" that the little fox had mentioned appeared, some with friendly greetings, some less so, and what a colorful collection of people -- if you could call a walking, talking pumpkin a person -- they were. Luo Dai gave each of the visitors a pleasant nod as they approached, but decided to follow the fox's example and wait until everyone was here to make an introduction. Well, that was until the young woman wielding a shockingly large axe appeared. He responded to her aggression with a pleasant smile. "I'm not sure who you are or where you're from," he said, "But I'm fairly certain you're making a mistake. If you're referring to the fox I think you're referring to, then we will likely be allies rather than enemies."

The little fox trotted out into the middle of the group, once again conveying raw meaning into the minds the travelers. Perhaps they would perceive it as a child's voice echoing in their heads speaking the language and dialect that was most clear to them. But, any who observed the fox would clearly see that he was not "speaking" per se. "He's right, young dragon. Nobody here is a friend of Anjou. In fact, I brought you all here for a very simple reason: you all want to kill Anjou. Besides, violence is not allowed in this place. If you drew your weapon I'd have to take it away."

The fox then turned to Hongo, the ronin who had been paying his respects at the shrine. "Please forgive them for their lack of formality. I'm sure most of them are confused and have many questions. I guess I'll start by answering the easiest one." He then hopped up on top of the fox statue in the center of the shrine and looked at all of the visitors. "My name is Ichiru, and this is Kado Shrine, a place between the mortal and spiritual planes. It is protected by the gods and Anjou has no influence here. I saw that your fates are all headed in the same direction, so I took the liberty of weaving them together by bringing you here. Maybe if you guys work together you won't all die when the time comes for you to storm Anjou's castle. But, there's a lot you'll have to do before that... For now, why don't you all take a moment to introduce yourselves. Then I'll answer any questions you may have and send you on your way."

Ichiru was then as still as the statue he stood upon as he waited for his guests to introduce themselves and then pose any questions. Luo Dai looked around and his new companions with a pleasant expression. "Well, it seems like Anjou has made quite an assortment of enemies. Perhaps karma will finally catch up to him. I am Luo Dai, and anyone who wants to bring the fox's rule to an end is a friend of mine." He took a moment to assess the people that had gathered here. There were two human men, both of which appeared to be very strong, and if the girl could actually wield that ax that she was holding, then she would be an asset as well. There were also a number of youkai that had joined them, including a kitsune. Apparently Anjou treated his own kind no better.

Akira had laid down and closed his eyes, intending to rest for a while. Yokai he may be, he still gets tired. However, more and more people had arrived and he even sensed another yokai, but most were either human or a holy being. However, he made no move to stand up or sit down. He did not respond to any of them, but is mildly interested in the kitsune that had arrived. Not because of her heritage, but because she looked like she fell on the way here... multiple times. New names, new faces... who were these people? What is happening? Groaning, he sat up and then looked at the group that had assembled.

A bird yokai, a kitsune, a hybrid creature, a yurei, and four (?) humans, not ordinary at all. Well, this was certainly an odd meeting. His eyes were drawn to the human that had appeared moments ago; now wielding a rather large axe. Upon mentioning that they were 'flunkies of the fox', Akira frowned. He'd rather lose all remnant of 'life' than bow down to that fox. But he did not speak but another did. His eyes trained on the little fox who began speaking, how, he was not sure.

He looked at Luo Dai who had been the first to introduce himself after Ichiru. Akira let out a very happy laugh sitting cross legged on the ground, both hands on his legs. "Other people who wants Anjou's head on a pike? On fire? Ha! Then nice to meet you all!" He exclaimed, his happy tune certainly covering up the morbid image of the words he spoke. "The name's Akira Igarashi! Bakeneko at your service! " Truly, it was a good thing that he was brought here. He was planning on finding other companions but everyone he came across with were hesitant or pro-Anjou.

He then looked at the others as they would introduce themselves.

The young girl was unsure what to make of things to say the least. For starters, she didn't understand a single word any of the others were saying, simply not speaking their language. She stared. Her lips pursed out, the creases pointing up to suggest she was content, though the blank stare she had suggested she had long since lost track of conversation. The fox was understandable, for whatever reason, though she hadn't payed attention to exactly what he said, catching only small glimpses. For instance, she caught his name. Due to the fact it was in a different language, her's being tonal and the other one not, Dafei had trouble actually pronouncing such a word.

"Together?" Dafei snapped out of her trance. The number of people had grown, it seemed. "Ah!" she looked around. She cleared her throat. "I see" she said, "welcome, travelers. While you all may believe yourselves worthy of such a task, I must declare myself as leader of this expedition. Perhaps you are all qualified, but I was built to defeat the nine-tailed fox." Dafei pranced about the shrine, appearing regal though she spoke in a language unfamiliar to most in the area.

Quickly Pan Chao's hands clenched together into a fist. As the fox creature beamed a message into his head, his teeth immediately gnashed and his brow furrowed. With a distinctive scowl the man pushed towards through to the fox statue on display. His eyes focused upon the statue for a moment before he unfurled his left hand. With his still bloodied and multi-colored ink stained hands, Pan Chao began to vandalize the statue by smudging on a Fu Manchu down the snout of the statue. Once he finished in his task he glared at the fox which called itself Ichiru.

"So you just fully expect for people who want a fox dead to trust what you have to say? I mean if you were a duck or something, maybe people would that story you just told." Pan Chao bluntly stated. Chao shook his head as he sneered at the fox, "And y'know interrupting people in their day to day life is poor manners." Pan Chao rolled his neck around as he peered upon the handiwork of his vandalism. "Especially without asking whether or not people had business. You should've sent a messenger instead." Amused by his craft he smiled as he glanced towards the fox yet again, "You'd best hope for your sake you have a real good reason for anyone to not just trust you, but not attack you on sight."

He glanced towards Lieu Lei and spoke calmly, "Keep a good hand on that, might need it real soon." Then his focus was towards the man with the ears of a beast. "Skinned. Don't want to waste the head." And finally the monster that spoke the tongue of his people. He walked towards Dafei while keeping a good eye on the fox. "Oh? Built by who? And where?"

Though the sudden arrival and seeming aggression of the extraordinarily pink-haired girl threatened to send her directly into peacekeeping mid, a bright smile lit up Yuki's face as she listened to the fox spirit, who seemed more than able to perform that role himself. Aside from the fact that merely seeing this 'Ichiru' made her overly-human skin itch, a lot of what he was saying made sense, as far as sense went when surrounded by yōkai and spirits. Once again exercising her habit of shuffling the shoulders of her kimono, she made to introduce herself before the tattooed angry-looking fellow had the nerve to deface the shrine's fox statue.

While he quickly moved on from Ichiru to the winged...being...that was cavorting about, Yuki swallowed and stepped forward, face the model of tranquility.

"Look," she began patiently, talking as though the rough man was a young child, "we all want Anjou gone, apparently. But just because he's a tyrant doesn't mean all foxes are evil."

She trotted forward, doing her best to wipe the graffiti from the state's face. "I'm fine with not believing everything one hears, but don't put all foxes in that maniac's boat." She bowed politely to the group, and to the sailor in particular, winking and smiling cheekily as she flicked an ear in his direction.

"Matsuoka Yukiko, kitsune. It's nice to meet you all!"

She raised her head, once again taking an inventory of the people there. An exceedingly zealous bakeneko, judging by just how vehement he was in his description of Anjou. Angry-Mr-Tattoos, who was now questioning the bird-creature's bizarre choice of words. A half-naked masseuse, covered in corded muscles.

A talking pumpkin.

And that wasn't anywhere close to everyone. A nearly imperceptible sigh crossed her lips.

Tsubame, who had silently laid ontop of the torii gate until now sat up straight the moment the fox called Ichiru began tos peak. He told a tale, one that should unite the group as a group of friends, Nakama. But the sense of comracy was far way for this group of odballs. A lot of these souls gatered here all had their own plan, their own grudge against Anjou. It would take a lot of time and efford to make this group work together.

Tsubame was not sure she wanted to put the efford in making new ties. A tie ment one could harm your heart once again, and the young Yosuzume has had her fair share of that already. However, the promis to being able to kill Anjou, and also the Shogun who had ordered the annialtion of her village was tempting.

Tsubame took on her shadow sparrow form and with a flash landed in her human form besides the one who called himself Hongo, a human. She looked at him and slowly nodded, already finding she had taken a liking to the only person who seemed to humble himself within the shrine. She bowed slowly before giving her name to all who stood here. ’’My name is Nori Tsubame’’ Her introduction got interupted by the cry of an Myōbu .She had been dishonored by a rough looking human male, covered within tattoos. Widening her eye’s Tsubame once again flashed to her sparrow, leaving trails of shadow, indicating the path she had flown. She stopped by the dishonered statue and landed on the shoulder of the kitsune that already tried to wipe the statue clean. Tsubame used her feathers to wipe the statue clean of the paint that was still on the statue, her Hitodama tried to help, but hey could only float around her.
’’ Thank you Matsuoka Yukiko, Shrine guardians should never be dishonered especialy not by the likes of man’’ She said with a bit of venom dripping from her voice. She understood all to much what the guardians went through guarding their temple, seeing as she was a Hitodama Gado for more than 40 years. She flew over to the man and landed infront of the rough man, smelling salt from his body. Tuning human once again she stood infornt of him, Tsubame was smaller than the man and had to raise her head in order to look him in the eye’s.
’’I must say , you are daring Oji-san. However your action equalls stupidety here. How dare you dishonor a Myōbu, A kitsune who serves our godess of Harvest, Inari. It is that we are in a place of peace or you whould have lost your eyesight by now. Blind shall be the ones who see my feathers Oji-san. Remeber that as a warning from a fellow bound guardian like the statue you just dishonored’’ Tsubame said loud and clear before walking away and bowing to the statue.
’’I humbly apologize to you for his behavior. Please continue with your duty’’ She said to the statue and walked away, sitting down on the shrine steps. She looked at all that were gathered here. Certanly it was a colorfull group, and Tsubame wondered how thing would go between a group that already seemed like they could go at eacht others throath. Everybody was tense and was ready for fight it seemed.

"Whoa whoa whoa. Kill Anjou?" The Expendable was now at a reasonable distance from the group, not too close for a sticky situation to come by and completely destroy him, as that would just be a bad time overall, his arm drew forward and was in a defensive pose when he stood and spoke.

"Sorry I'm just taken a bit off guard by all of this talk - We do realize this is a fox god who is driven mad with power and has done very inconsiderate things in the past, right? Even if we all have a grudge, we are simple going to be creamed by this guy, plain and simple. We have no cha-"

He then heard one of the people in the group - a woman by the sound of her voice - speak about being built to kill Anjou. Even if that sounded too good to be true, the Expendable decided it would be the best course of action to believe her. After all, she could easily kill him then and there.

"... maybe we do stand a chance, then." The Expendable began to approach closer to the group, his arm retreating behind his back, and a 'happier' look washed over his static face.

"I guess we're all introducing ourselves, then? If I'm not interrupting anything. I'm Hikado Jericho, or you can just refer to me as 'The Expendable'. I'm a yurei that inhabited this pumpkin, and sadly I cannot leave this world unless my goal is fulfilled, and apparently, to my and most of our unluck, it's to kill Anjou."

His hand raised and saluted, then fell back behind him.

When the fox spirit attempted to communicate with Mitsuyo, however, nothing but a slight buzzing sound came through on his end. The man's expression remained mostly friendly, but his eyes hardened and twitched for a moment as he stole a glance at this Ichiru. If the being received telepathic messages, he got a quick and simple warning spoken firmly into his own head for his troubles: "Do not presume intrusions are welcome". The ronin was respectful, slightly superstitious out of habit even, but he had a healthy degree of mistrust for supernatural beings and was not about to let them into his head in any way.

In truth, he had a healthy degree of mistrust about most anyone, which is why unlike most of these people he hid his identity and presented himself as a simple therapist. It was also why, rather than be approached in a vulnerable position, he took his feet when the others began to spread out with the excuse of finally clothing himself. It seemed he had been lumped with a most impolite bunch, starting from the one who had supposedly summoned them all, and most of them far too trusting in such a situation. If these were his allies, he dreaded the future. Still, it was better than nothing considering some of them might prove useful in a fight.

"Well, it is common knowledge the fox is not without his enemies", he said as he adjusted his clothes. "But he situation does not inspire confidence I'm afraid. A ragtag bunch we are, brought here magically and against our will it would seem. How do we know this is not simply a trap?"

Luo Dai pursed his lips as tempers began to flare and accusations were wantonly tossed about. Calmly, he rose to his feet and directed his attention first to Pan Chao. "Perhaps you should let Ichiru have his say before lashing out against him. Although he did bring us here against our wills per se, you must admit that all of our interests are aligned, and we can certainly accomplish more working together than we could aimlessly wandering on our own." He hoped that Pan Chao hadn't alienated what could have been a vital ally by vandalizing the shrine, but Ichiru remained perfectly still as all this transpired, showing no signs of either offense or amusement.

Then, Luo Dai turned his attention to the group as a whole. The bird-dog-thing that was prancing about seemed to think herself a born leader, despite her demeanor suggesting otherwise. It was still far too early to decide a leader, and he could already see that a few of the egos on this team -- well, more like a conglomeration of people who hated Anjou -- would clash the moment the topic was brought up. "Let us try not to tread on one another's feet so long as we are together. It is readily clear that we are from many walks of life, and it will to us no good to attempt to change that. However, I do agree with one sentiment." Luo Dai turned to Ichiru. "It would be unwise to give an unfamiliar spirit our unconditional trust. For all we know, you could be an agent of Anjou sent to feed us false information and lead us to our doom."

Ichiru blinked. "Humans have such unruly imaginations... Very well. It seems I have no choice." He hopped down from the statue and walked in a slow circle, sizing up each member of the group, finally stopping when he reached Hongo. Then, he spoke in a shrill, raspy voice. "You don't even trust me enough to allow me to speak comfortably with you. I hope this will allay some of your concerns." With that, the little fox coughed and spat up a glass ball at the ronin's feet. "I apologize for the drool, but I wanted to keep it safe. This is my hoshi no tama. I will entrust it to you and ask only that you bring it back once Anjou is dead. Perhaps that will allay concerns."

Ichiru took few nervous steps away from his precious orb, seeming to assume that the ronin would understand the significance of what he just did. If not, perhaps their other kitsune companion could enlighten him. He let out a huff, and then returned to his position atop the statue, this time turning his attention to The Expendable. "Anjou has acquired quite a lot of power, but he is no god. I do believe that you stand a chance, but only if you first break his network of servants. Much of his power comes from others, and even if an individual somehow became stronger than him, they would not be stronger than the combined might of his armies. I can help you break this network, and make him vulnerable to your attack when the time comes. Now, would you like my guidance, or would you like to vandalize my shrine further?" He gave Pan Chao an irritated look, the first sign that he had been bothered by his childish antics.

He gave out a smile at the pirate-looking man had a more gory and morbid idea of how he wanted Anjou dead. Akira watched as everything transpired around him. This pirate-looking man had vandalized Ichiru's statue, or rather Ichiru himself, and then was quickly reprimanded by two others, the kitsune and the bird-yokai, Yukiko and Tsubame. He tilted his head to the side. He agreed with them. Shrines aren't meant to be vandalized except maybe Anjou's shrine that dotted the land but he didn't move to do anything seeing as the two had already made their move.

Yawning, his twin tails started swaying on the ground. It was a weird group, funny but weird. Most don't like the idea of working together since they don't trust each other. Akira didn't really mind. Enemy or not, his name has been spoken through the yokai world. Anjou, undoubtedly, know about him since he was the first to approach the bakeneko. He didn't really mind.

His eyes trailed to Daifei. He could understand bits of pieces of what she was saying. A person from another land that he had momentarily visited. It seems the others are having close to no problem in communicating with her though. He was confident he could too but that should wait until later. But he highly doubted she would be leader. With an attitude like that, it would be like allowing a leader to lead them to suicide. Akira isn't leader material, but he does know a good leader. Someone with a calm head on their shoulders.

And Ichiru began talking why they had to trust them. His eyes widened as he saw the glass ball. He wasn't a kitsune but he knew fully well what that was. A hoshi no tama. The object that holds the powers of the kitsune. A vital object to their species. And here he was, entrusting it to Hongo, some guy that had been in the shrine, and would also be joining the group on the whole 'destroy Anjou' mission. Their death equates to him losing his power forever. Huh, trust is such an easy thing to get.

"You mean we're going to pick off his generals one by one? There's a lot of them you know? Hard to beat too." He was speaking from experience of course. He's confident that he could go on par with them now, but that's just it. Perhaps with this group it would be easier but that is not assured.

Dafei crossed her arms and pouted, not knowing how to respond to the older man. She looked obviously disturbed but was too unfamiliar with being put in her place in such a way that she simply stayed where she was. The girl grumbled and took a step back from the conversation. It was obvious she wasn't needed. Or rather, it seemed the others didn't want her.

"Okay. That's fine" she thought, "I'll just start my own team. And it'll be way bigger and way better!" Unannounced, Dafei walked away from the conversation. She looked back and when she felt she was far enough away, while she could not hear the bickering of the others anymore, Dafei took off in a sprint, flapping her wings as she gradually took flight.