~~~~~~Escape. At all Costs.~~~~

Shukura slunk out of the temple doorway. It had been a close call, having to open the door herself to sneak out into the city surrounding the temple she often sat in. A Hunter had almost spotted her on the way out after she had released the incantation keeping her completely hidden to conserve her strength. Luckily, she had made it out unnoticed from the main Hunters HQ and was now in the Temple where she had spent so much time. She prayed for her safety and that she would get out of this place alive, and never come back to it alive either.

Sinking into the shadows, Shukura walked down the path away from the temple, then onto the village streets. The nearly empty streets cast dark shadows that perfectly concealed her as she moved, almost like a ninja. The thought amused her as she ran.

Shukura walked through the village and searched for the train station she knew was in the area, somewhere. She avoided the gazes of the few people that did mill the streets so late. She scanned the streets for any movement that indicated a Hunter pursuing her or any sign of commotion at all.

So far, the coast was clear. With her hands resting on the handles of the kunai knives inside her hoodie pocket, Shukura bee-lined towards the train station across the road, where the tracks lead to the world beyond. She would have to leave town before dawn when the maids noticed her absence. She would leave by train and eventually go to one place she knew she would be welcome once the coast was clear. The first place she would go would be to Shiro Fujimoto's church. There she could see him, then go into hiding in some desolate place, or maybe run away to America, that was always an option. The Hunters main HQ was in Russia, wit a gate that opened up in Japan, so going to America was a safe bet.

At the train station, Shukura looked at the time and found a bench sitting in the corner, slightly hidden by shadows even though the train station lights eliminated most hidding places. She wasn't out of the clear yet, she still had to get on the train. From almost nowhere, a man came up to Shukura and sat down beside her, acting casual. Shukura's grip tightened around her blades, words ready to spit out to escape.

"What's a pretty little thing like you doing out this late at the train station? Not planning on running away are you?" The man inquired softly, and Shukura cursed under her breath.

From under his suit, he pulled out a gun and positioned it on her temple, ready to blow her brains out, but he wouldn't dare. Shukura knew he couldn't kill her, which was her largest advantage. This man was obviously a Hunter.

In a flash of a movement, she grabbed the knives and sliced the man's hand then held the knives against his throat from behind him. She had plenty of training to be faster than a trigger finger if he was actually going to shoot her. The gun fell to the ground, and the man raised his hands as if surrendering. In a quick movement, he dropped them and several other hunters walked out of the shadows of the station, and Shukura cursed. Not only were they all hunters, but she was surrounded. A few had guns, all aimed at her head. This was bad, they couldn't kill her, but she sure as hell they would put her on the brink of death if she wasn't careful.

In a quick, carefully trained movement, the man dropped dead, his throat slit. She wiped the blood off her hands and analyzed her opponents. Four hunters, one in each major direction, two had guns, the other two held swords, and blades. They did nothing when she killed their team member right in front of them, heartless assholes. She had to stall, the train was her getaway and distraction, all she had to do was last 5 minutes against four fully trained hunters. Shukura flipped her hood down to expand her field of vision.

Slicing her finger while whipping around, Shukura drew a line across her right arm and canted the corresponding incantation, "Hear my plea and gather o river o celestial light and rain down from the heavens in a spear of starlight!"

Electricity raced through her body, numbing it for an instant, then it flared like the pain after working out too much, and having to deal with the pain of it the next morning. SHukura gave the incantation a small portion of power, and two beams raged down, strategically hitting the two Hunters with guns, incinerating them alive. There was a large hole left in the roof of the train station. Even a small portion of energy for this incantation drained her, she wouldn't be able to do another one.

Shukura threw her knives at both hunters, who were temporarily stunned from the incantation she had just displayed, making them sitting ducks. The one left on her right managed to snap out of his trance and deflect it with his short blade. The other wasn't as lucky and was hit in the shoulder, and yelled out in pain. With a quick jerk of her fingers, the wire returned and the knives came back to her, and she caught them, the Hunter that had been hit shouted again after the knife was removed from his shoulder and started bleeding profusely.

Shukura took the opportunity to run as best as she could. She ran away from the uninjured hunter and between where she had gotten a gunner and the injured hunter. The hunter shouted as she ran by him at full sprint towards the train tracks. With an impressive jump, she cleared the tracks and was on the other side.

The hunter stopped, his college growling threats as her walked over, gripping his shoulder, sending Shukura a nasty look.

"For a damn trainee, she's impressive."

"Well, what do you expect from Princess Shukura Ryuunome" Shukura hooded her eyes as the men glared at her from across the tracks. Shukura could hear the train in the distance.

"I have a message, before I disappear, for Lord Kazuko. Shukura Ryuunome has died and is no more than a phantom of the past. Before you now, I am here to avenge the wrongs that have been done and evil that lurks in the light." Shukura said, then the train stopped in front of her, and she boarded, then left the two hunters behind, who were forced to quickly disappear.

On the train Shukura sat in the back, hood up, eyes shadowed. She would come back one day, she would come back and stop it all. Stop the killing, stop the harsh reign of her father, stop the cruelty of the hunters, and kill her father.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the train bathroom, she dyed her hair purple, but leaving the roots untouched and maybe an inch of untouched hair, then it faded to purple. Using one of her knives, she cut her hair off and tossed it out the small bathroom window. She cut it so it was messy and she had just enough bangs to hide her eye, going just to her cheek bones. Her new hairstyle looked like an unkempt teenage boy, which is what she wanted. Her hair looked like she had dyed it, then it had grown an inch, with only the ends of her hair dyed. She was satisfied.

Shukura took some ace bandages from the first aid kit, permanently borrowing them. She used a fair amount to flatten her chest to hide her gender. Shukura pulled out a set of eight piercings and looked down at them, this was going to hurt. She self-pierced her ears, the pain nothing compared to what she had survived in the past, and her emotional pain at the moment. She cleaned the piercings and slipped the earrings in her 6 new piercings, already having one done for a long time for fancy earrings to go with her dresses. She had done two in the cartilage of her ears and one next to, but higher up than her original. The rings were silver and stung a little bit, the piercings still slightly sore.

After throwing her shirt and hoodie back on and removing her makeup and contacts because they were now unnecessary, Shukura looked into the mirror, no longer staring back at herself. She gave an uncaring look and hoped for the right effects of some moody emo punk. Her eyes seemed dead and emotionless, like the mask the hunters wore all the time. She looked like a guy with piercings and dyed hair and approved of it. She just hoped she didn't attract any attention, girls always fell for the moody emo types.

Shukura had decided that she was no longer Shukura Ryuunome, that girl was dead. She had been replaced by Shuku Murasaki, using the nickname Shiro had called her by before he had left, and was now going to become the downfall of the Holy Moon Hunters if she had to crawl out of hell to do it after she died.

~~~~~~~One year later~~~~~~~~~

Shuku hadn't seen Shiro since he had come and was eager to see him again, even if she looked totally different. She also wouldn't mind meeting Yukio and his older twin, the firebrand named Rin.

It had been a year of constant hiding and running. There had been several close encounters with Hunters, and exorcists as well. Higher ups in the Knights of the True Cross had begun a race to see who could find and capture the missing priestess first. The closest encounter she'd had was with the elite tracking unit of the Hunters. They had found her and cornered her in an alleyway. It had forced her to use a forbidden incantation. She had no hope of defeating them.

Currently, Shuku was in the city where Shiro's Monastery was. She had walked around the city for a bit, searching for the monastery, and wishing the weather was cooler or raining, she liked the rain. She walked until a bright pink limo startled her, and almost hit an idiot standing in the middle of the street. She smirked, her mean sense of humor returning, to distract her from her thoughts, she wished the guy had been hit for his stupidity.

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