Rowa wasn't a coward. Sure, there have been times she had shown she was afraid when it wasn't necessary (or convenient), but fear wasn't an emotion she often found herself trapped in. In fact, she could count on her hand how many times in her life when she had truly been terrified into panic. Unfortunately, right now was one of those times.

Rowa's heart was beating rabbit-fast as she ran through the forest, crouching so low she was almost on all fours. Branches from passing trees left scratches and marks across her arms, but Rowa paid them no mind. Her heart-shaped emerald pendant swung madly with her movements, knocking against her chest with an erratic heartbeat of its own.

Frantic hazel eyes quickly scanned the area, praying to see signs of salvation, even as she realized she would find none. She had strayed too far from safety's path; ventured into woods unfamiliar and strange. She eventually came to realize that her only goal now was to delay the point when her enemy finally caught up with her. But something in her knew that that point was coming faster than she could delay.

She was only half surprised when he attacked. Rowa let out a shriek, shrill and fox-like, as she was thrust onto the ground by a hard blow to her side. Gasping for breath, she tried to get up again only to be felled once more by a kick to her stomach. She cried out again as the force of the kick forced her onto her back, tears coming to her eyes at the pain. She barely had a chance to catch her breath, however, as the same cruel foot stepped down on her chest, just below her breasts, knocking too much air out of her to cry out again. Tasting copper in her mouth, Rowa looked through pain-filled eyes at her tormentor.

Shiriki's eyes glared down at her with such an intense, burning hatred that for a moment Rowa thought her heart had given out at some point in her run and that she was actually in hell. As Shiriki applied more pressure, however, she regretfully came to the conclusion she was still alive and still in pain.

"It's all your fault."

Rowa stared up at him, confused about the softly spoken statement before more pain forced her eyes shut again. "Ganh! Wh-What do you m-mean?"

Shiriki's eyes hardened into a sneer as he swiftly stepped off her ribs, crouched down into a straddling position over her, and put one hand on her shoulder and the other around her neck. He was squeezing so tightly Rowa gagged and almost didn't hear his answer. "Oh come now, Dreamfox. Don't tell me you're as hopelessly stupid as my brother was. You know perfectly well what- I -mean." With each pause Shiriki clenched just a little bit tighter, causing her face to turn an ugly red color.

"But I-I d-don't!" she gasped weakly in between her attempts to give her lungs desperately needed air.

Shiriki snarled as he released her throat to backhand her in the face. "Liar!" As her face jerked to the side he put his free hand on her left shoulder, curving his fingers into talons as he growled, "It's always been your fault! Since the begining! First you bewitch my brother into loving you, then you run away when you were supposed to wait for him, then you get married to two nobodies when my brother broke his heart every night waiting to dream of you again, then you cause my brother more pain by giving him hope for something you never intended to give him, then you force me into taking him over just so I could raise my child! But oh no, Dreamfox, that's not why I'm angry with you! I'm angry because you've turned my own daughter against me, just as you turned Johoshi!"

Rowa stared at him, thinking that he couldn't be serious until she looked in his eyes. She had no idea how a color so light could look so dark. His narrow cat like pupils that were not there before were black and threatening, showing just how deep Shiriki's madness ran. Her shoulders were bleeding freely from the tiny centimeter deep holes Shiriki gouged into her flesh with his claws, but the pain was almost unnoticable to her as her own eyes widened in fear as she realized she was in the hands of a truely insane individual.

"Wh-What are you talking about? I-I didn't do anything to-" She didn't get to finish as Shiriki viciously ripped his right hand claws from her shoulder, his hooked fingers actually ripping out a few muscle strands. Rowa let out her loudest shriek yet before it was cut off by his hand over her mouth. She tasted her own blood as his nails left stains on her cheek, and Shiriki was grinning suddenly in a macabre parody of amusement.

"You're certainly a dedicated liar, aren't you? Denying the blame even as it tears into your flesh." Rowa's pupils shrank as she saw Shiriki lower himself down until his face was only a few inches away from hers. His eyes flashed in delirious madness as he took in the unhindered terror in her expression. "It's too bad I don't believe you."

Rowa stared at him in confusion and pain as she wondered what in the nine had driven Shiriki to this point of rage. He roughly pulled his other hand from her shoulder, causing her to scream into his hand as his nails almost delicately traced her collar bone, his eyes suddenly softer, though still tinged with madness.

"I'll be honest with you: I never thought your cruelty could reach me, Rowa." His voice was very soft now, almost gentle, though the fire in his eyes still burned harshly with whatever he was feeling. "I thought your reach only extended to my brother, whose heart you had so throughly wrapped around your fingers, and that I could only feel your actions through him."

His eyes flashed suddenly as his hand touched the silver encased jewel attached to the chain around her neck, and she let out a harsh gasp as he lifted it into his hand. "But when my little Seibelle looked me in the eyes the other day, telling me she hated me more than she hated the Devil himself, and I saw her flying away before I could have a chance to explain, I knew then and there how much your crimes could hurt me..."

Suddenly he twisted his fist around the necklace, breaking it off of its thin chain with barely a tug. Rowa gasped, her pupils shrinking with sudden alarm. 'Could he possibly know!?' she thought with dismay as he unclenched his fist to stare at the extremely precious gem. Her fears were calmed somewhat however when he merely set it down into the roots of a nearby tree, though now she was confused at the gesture.

Shiriki looked back at her, and the pure evil glinting in his eyes chilled Rowa to the bone as he spoke in a tone that was malicious with amusement, "No pretty little rocks to protect you from me now, Dreamfox-chan. Nothing to bite back the punishment your crimes deserve." He leaned forward, his lips barely brushing against her fox-like ears, making them twitch as he continued in a soft, almost sweet voice, "So, where you gonna run now, Foxy?"

Even if she could've answered around the hand on her mouth, Rowa still wouldn't have been able to do to the very distracting fact that Shiriki's free hand was snaking up her side, following the curve of her breast lightly with his fingers before the hand came to a rest on the dip of her collar bone, which meant that his very sharp claw-like nails were gently pressed against the hollow of her throat. Trying not to breathe too deeply as Shiriki tapped his fingers across her neck, Rowa stared out of the corner of her eye as Shiriki smiled -leered- at her and answered his own question in her voice.

"Nowhere."