The rabbit's nose parsed through the leaves and dirt, searching through a small pile of greens it had found for any manner of edible shrubbery.

It's head raised to survey its surroundings, and in that small moment, an opportunity had opened.

The thin wooden arrow flew towards the newly revealed animal, and in less than a second pierced the rabbit's neck and killed it. Sora trot from his hiding place over to his trap, and finally to his prize. The rabbit was dead upon impact, so there was no need to draw his knife. The arrow had gone straight through the creature and hit a root in the dirt, snapping it in half.

Six left. Sora thought as he buried the pieces of the arrow to assure that they couldn't be tracked and dispersed the small trap he had made. Grabbing the rabbit, he made his way back.

After only a small walk, Sora had returned to the makeshift campsite and spoke. "All I was able to hunt was a mere rabbit. It won't feed us all without more food."

Lee frowned as he stared into the starry sky. "I guess we have to eat more of our last rations then..."

"Indeed," Sora said as he sat on an upturned log and readied the rabbit for skinning.

Anzen stared blankly into the small fire they had recently lit and spoke to his twin brother beside him. "Why bother, Hayato? There's no point in carrying him with us."

Hayato sat beside Kenshi, lungs no longer breathing and heart no longer beating. "I can't just leave him."

Anzen sighed. "I don't want to leave him either, but he gave us a final wish, and if we're too slow the shogunate might catch up to us before we complete that wish."

Hayato turned away and kept looking over Kenshi and the linen-wrapped body of the goddess beside him. He had been dead for days, his body was completely cold. They had taken a white-hot blade to his deep wounds and Sora sutured and wrapped him with all the knowledge he had gained from his various readings, but Kenshi still couldn't make it. Hayato still held hope, though. Whatever plan Kenshi had for Amaterasu, maybe would also work for Kenshi himself. There had to be some way to fix it.

While the others spoke their concerns and skinned wild animals for the pot, Lee sat at the edge of camp with his eyes closed.

He had never been able to see far into the future, but in a time like this, he was willing to try once more.

Concentrate Lee repeated to himself in thought.

He saw himself and his companions talking, and then cooking and eating a disappointingly small meal.

Next, the talked about various subjects. Mostly trying to surmise a more efficient method of carrying the two bodies. Finally, they all decided upon fashioning a hollowed-out tree they had found as a makeshift sled. It still felt like spring where they were, but the higher up Mt.Fuji they went the colder it was, soon they'd be hitting snow.

Soon they all slept, and in the morning it was the same dull moonlight skyline as the night before.

It was decided Lee was to look after Kenshi and lady Amaterasu while Hayato went back to the spot where he previously saw the hollow tree.

Hayato walked down the path they had taken as he recounted his surroundings. He had stamina, but if they were to continue in shin-deep snow he would definitely need assistance in carrying Kenshi and lady Amaterasu.

Hayato didn't know much about myths and Nihon's lore of old. He didn't know why Kenshi so vehemently wanted them to take Amaterasu to the summit, but he made it sound like it was their only chance of winning and Hayato was more than willing to try whatever options they had before giving himself up to the Shogun and the old man.

Finally finding the tree, Hayato drew his katana. He knew it had to be terrible for the sword, but it was all he had to cut with.

A few swift strikes and the hollowed-out tree was ready to take back. Luckily, the top part of the tree had fallen off earlier, leaving just a wide and hollow trunk left to fit two people side by side, rather than one over the other or stacked on top of each other.

Hayato reached into the bag at the small of his back and searched for the long piece of rope he had saved for just such an occasion. Eventually, his hand found the object and pulled it out, using his sword to cut two small holes in the wood. Then, Hayato tied the rope into a long handle so he could easily pull the makeshift sled.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

He tested out his creation, and it pulled easily. Hayato started to sheath his sword and close the bag he had previously opened, but in the corner of his eye he caught a flash of orange.

Hayato immediately dropped the rope and brought himself into formation as he surveyed the surrounding forest to get a better image of whatever that was. If it was glowing and orange, it was either a torch, or something ember related. Either of which meant unfortunate things for Hayato's subtlety.

He could create a portal and drag the sled through with himself back to camp, but it was far more important to get a handle of the situation and find out where the threat was before Hayato made himself vulnerable.

For the longest time, nothing was visible in the shroud of brush. Then, as Hayato's suspicions eased, a firey orange bear emerged from its hiding place in the brush and lunged forward.

As the bear flew forward with its arms raised, Hayato ducked under and sliced into its torso. Letting his foot slide against the dirt, Hayato spun himself in a circle so he was once again facing the creature. It didn't do much to faze the bear, but honestly Hayato was just thankful he had actually accomplished that move.

Now that it was more than a mere streak of light in his vision, Hayato could see the glowing bear clutch onto its chest where he had cut into it. The lighter colored splotch of fur at the beasts collar bone told him that it was your average black bear, or it was imaged after that, at least. Whatever this was, an ember wielder, and by association the shogunate, had to be involved.

The bear quickly dropped to standing on both its legs and started moving much faster than before. It was most likely only approaching on its hind legs to try and intimidate Hayato, but if there was anything Kenshi stressed when they were sparring was that you needed to stay calm and keep your wits about you.

The bear charged at Hayato as he thought. He contemplated holding his ground and stabbing the glowing and angry creature in its head and trying to end it quickly, but if he didn't hit his mark just right, the bear would be able to tackle him to the ground. If it even lived for a few seconds after getting Hayato to the ground, he'd be dead meat.

Normally Hayato would've used a portal to change positions, but the portal would bring him all the way back to camp, and they would be stuck without the sled. Instead, Hayato threw all of his body weight to the side and jumped into the dirt. The bear was already changing course, so he had no time to wait as he pushed himself up and started sprinting again.

There was no way he was killing this thing. And, unlike some of the more stubborn people in the group such as Anzen and Kenshi, Hayato was more than happy to begin looking for ways to escape.

Hayato was able to make it to the sled before the bear caught up with him. There was a small clearing down the slope of the mountain.

There was, of course, only one option anyone in their right mind would do.

Hayato put one foot onto the makeshift sled, letting the other one push before he got himself stably in the hollowed-out tree trunk. The ride was rough going through the mud and wet leaves instead of the snow this was planned to be used for, but it worked well enough.

Hayato was looking for a place to create a portal ahead of him. He would have to guess where the sled would end up being, but it wouldn't be too difficult. As Hayato found a spot, something began to fly through the air. Pellets of rock flew above Hayato's head and shot through the bark of the hollowed-out tree trunk. Luckily the wood slowed the pellets enough so the impact on Hayato's side did nothing but hurt slightly. The real problem was that now the sled had started spinning and was wildly off course.

Eventually the spinning turned to rolling, and in a moment Hayato found himself and his sled sitting still by a large tree they had run into.

Looking up the mountainside, Hayato saw two figures and one large and glowing silhouette of the bear he had just fought. The bear was acting strangely. It was fighting the urge to go back to being on all fours. Its movements were less intelligent and instead conflicted. Eventually, with a growl, the bear stopped glowing and dropped to all fours, running into the forest.

The two figures were strange. One was hunched back and limping, the other was small and looked like it could have even been a child. The hunched over one slapped the kid in the back of the head and shouted. "Why did you do that? Bring it back!" Hayato recognized that voice. But the exact person still failed him.

The child rubbed their nose as if they were crying or had a bloody nose. They responded as the hunchbacked one walked closer. "I couldn't do it any longer. It's too big!"

The hunchbacked figure grumbled as he finally got into sight. Hayato finally remembered who that raspy voice belonged to. The earth bending samurai got into view, both his eyes were black and swollen, one arm was misshapen and clung to his chest. His jaw was off-kilter and to the side like it had been badly broken and never completely healed back. The child must have been the one always following them with the glowing owl. Apparently, his ember was controlling any animals he wanted. Even bears.

The samurai that Kenshi so nearly killed that week ago raised his good arm and the ground underneath Hayato shook.

Hayato raised his sword, but a spike of rock flew out of the ground and impaled the hand that was holding his katana. The earth bending samurai's malformed face twisted into a smile as his revenge finally began.

More spikes shot from the ground and impaled Hayato. Through his legs and then his back. Spinal cords severed and finally his brain pierced into.

This wasn't as planned. Hayato thought as things turned black...

Lee's eyes opened with shock as he stared around camp. Sora was still skinning his rabbit. Hayato and Anzen were still talking about Kenshi and how they were going to make bringing both bodies easier. Eventually, all their conversation and concentration stopped as they turned to look at the hyperventilating Lee.

He had never seen more than a few hours into the future, and that was with even more hours of meditation. As he processed everything he had saw happen in the future, Lee spoke simply.

"We've got some planning to do."