Hatsu listened carefully to Atma's story, and it took nearly the entire walk back to the hideout to complete. He was, in all manors of the word, speechless. "I'm really not sure how to respond to all of that," Hatsu said honestly. "But it sounds like the kind of thing we should stop early if we can."<br/><br/>--------------------<br/><br/>Ayl was in the heat of his battle when Hiei felt a tap at his shoulder. He turned around to see Anaka, she was fiddling with her hands. He wondered what she was so nervous about. Hiei just stood there facing her quietly as he waited for her to speak. He noticed that some of the demons (really the only ones left alive at the moment) had backed off, forming a sort of thin ring around the scene, watching in horror as their comrade was so easily being beaten.<br/><br/>Anaka finally spoke, and it was with a demeanor he'd never seen from her before. As he considered her words, some of the demon spectators were backing off, preparing to run. "Just a second," he said. It was kind of like a blip. He vanished for a moment before reappearing in relatively the same spot. A short moment later the demons that had been watching suddenly split apart in a flash of gore and blood. There was always a delayed reaction when the wounds were inflicted so quickly.<br/><br/>He took a moment to think. Finding Yami was going to be very difficult, and they couldn't be sure he'd have any information on her brother. Besides that... they couldn't be sure either was still alive. It could very well be an impossible mission, but he did owe her for earlier... Damn, he hated being indebted to people. But after this, she'd owe him a favor.<br/><br/>"Fine," he said eventually. "But I don't like taking orders. We'll be equals." He turned away from her slightly, "Consider this payback for saving me earlier. I really have no interest in you or your brother, but I pay back my debts."<br/><br/>And Ayl's great battle concluded at that moment. Hiei cursed that he'd been fighting only low level demons the whole time. He tried to count how many there'd been... a hundred? More? His skills were rather suited for large scale kills anyway, so it wasn't a big deal to him. He'd much rather have been fighting a couple of Silencers.