---

Stirred she did within her sleep, until Izumi realizes she could not win this battle. It pained her to even close her eyes that night — the cougar with the terrible grin had forbid a restless night when she needed it the most. The feeling of their claws embedded into her flank as she fled still felt far too fresh; worse than when her feet had left the cliff.

It already happened far too many moon cycles ago to count — yet why did the memory haunt her dreams so? It was not the first of times that the crane had almost lost her life, this should be nothing! Her clan grew and the samurai her heart burned for were both returned to her. Izumi had everything she could've wanted within her paws once more — and yet,

The nagging feeling that she could risk losing it all again haunted her most of all. The cat that wished her death that day being a symbol of that while it stalked her dreams and kept her awake.

Leaves rustled as she left Osamu's side — who seemed to have fallen asleep himself near her. Yet she was carful as her dainty steps led her towards the outskirts of the territory to sit near the boarder's edges. Drained of rest and irritable as can be.

Yet the moon's soft glow seemed to calm her, and so did the serenity of the quiet night…