A woman with Crimson hair let out a laugh as she watched the snow from the tree she was sitting on fell onto a man with silver-gray hair.

"Aliyah!" He exclaimed, looking up at the tree branch, his red eyes meeting her golden eyes as he looked up at her with annoyed expression.

"That's what you get for being so slow, Shiro." Aliyah said, jumping down onto the ground, her landing barely leaving an imprint in the snow. "Damn, you move at the same pace as an old man."

After getting the snow off of him, he scowled, "Who're you callin' old man?"

"Hm? I never called you an old man, I just said you move like one. But, with that reaction you're practically confirming you're one" She said, tapping the sword she had in her hand on her shoulder lightly. "Now come on, we don't have all day to get that sword you've been looking for. And we don't want to make the higher ups more annoyed than they already are."

Shiro sighed, "I'm coming. Don't go running ahead there's a lot of demons- Aliyah?" He looked in front of him, seeing that Aliyah had already run on ahead. "That damned woman. I swear, she might be the death of me one day, that is if she doesn't die first from her own recklessness."

***

A giant bird like beast falling from the sky was the last thing everyone expected, much less a beast falling from the sky with a man kicking it down and pointing a gun at it, that and a woman running out from the forest, sword in hands as she let out a battle cry as she jumped up into the air to meet the creature as it was falling. Upon impact the snow underneath rose up and surrounded them.

"Damn it, that hurt!" He grunted.

"Hey, riding that guy into the air was your idea." Aliyah said, "And you call me reckless."

Shiro ignored her, and just sighed, placing his hands on his hips "What's the deal with this mountain? The damn thing's crawling with monsters! That bastard Mephisto and his half-assed briefings! I came here totally unequipped. And I'm all outta ammo." He threw his gun down and Aliyah looked up at him with a sly grin.

"Another reason swords are better than guns." She said.

"Oh shut it." He muttered, then looked down at the men standing on the ground below them, All of them holding weapons in a defensive stance.

"We were in the middle of a ritual, and you ruined it! Come down from there!" One of them men called out.

"Oh, right... about this." He crouched down and picked up a sword that had fallen onto the belly of the demon and rested it on his shoulder, "This is called the Koma Sword, right? I'm gonna take it."

Aliyah looked from the priests to Shiro, seeing that he had a serious look on his face.

"What are you saying? That sword is Myoda's main object of worship!" The man in the middle of the group shouted— the only one who was unarmed.

"See, they get the importance of swords." Aliyah mused earning a glare from Shiro.

"Quit yapping! I know, chrome-dome!" He looked at the sword, the corners of his mouth curved upwards, "Anyway, the thing's empty, right?"

Aliyah looked at the sword, not feeling any energy coming off of it. As far as she was aware, the sword was completely empty.

"How dare you speak of things you don't understand!" One of the men— a man with a scar over his eye, shouted up to them as he charged forwards.

"Yaozo!" The man in the middle shouted.

"How long do you intend to continue defiling our relic, you thieves!" The man, Yaozo shouted and he made his way up the demon, moving to attack Shiro.

In the blink of an eye, Aliyah was in front of Shiro, her sword clattering against Yaozo's K'rik. She grinned and pushed against his K'rik sharply, forcing him back. Once he regained his footing he lunged again, Aliyah easily deflected the attack, though behind her she heard a thump and looked behind her.

"Did you land a hit on him?" One of the men asked, climbing up to the top of the demon as well.

"That's our Yaozo!" Another one exclaimed.

"Fujimoto! You absolute idiot!" Aliyah exclaimed, lowering her sword and crouching next to the man, seeing that blood had dripped down his head and he looked like death itself. She huffed, the breath leaving her mouth showing in the cold air. "Don't make me worry like this. I warned you not to jump after that guy. Honestly, this is why the Vatican sent me with you!" She watched as the men crowded around, one with a shaven head crouching down to look over him.

"I'm amazed he could even move with these wounds. Who is this guy?"

"What do you wish done with these two, Master Tatsuma?"

Aliyah looked from Shiro to Tatsuma, awaiting his response.

***

Aliyah had carried Shiro into the temple, then promptly escaped the men who were standing by her as if guarding a prisoner that they didn't want to escape— too bad for them.

She walked along the side, whistling and looking for Shiro— until he she ran into him, literally. He was holding a door open, and she peeked in, seeing a dark room full of people who had fallen ill.

"Wh-what the hell is this?" Shiro asked. At the front of the room, he noticed someone praying over a fire.

Aliyah and Shiro glanced at each other before Shiro broke free from Tatsuma and Aliyah ran inside. Immediately she crouched over one of the people, digging in her coat pocket. Everyone in the room had been infected with miasma.

"Y-you can help them?" Tatsuma asked.

"Yeah! We can save them all, you think so, Aliyah?"

Aliyah looked at him, a confident grin on her face, "Hell yeah we can! They don't call me the Miracle Doctor for nothing!"

Shiro looked at her, his expression deadpanning. "Nobody calls you that."

"Shut up!" She pointed at him and stood up, then looked at all them men, "Alright, I'm gonna need some supplies. Let's see. I'll need some raddish, onion, heal-all, calamus, rock salt... what else...? Oh! Some eagle claw chili pepper and some beeswax, lard, or, petroleum jelly."

"Will that save them?" Tatsuma asked.

Shiro looked at him, "You bet your ass it will! Now, you need to help too, heat up a bunch of water! Oh, and," he held a cigarette between his fingers, "I could use that light."

Shiro and Aliyah split up, Shiro helped gather the ingredients needed and Aliyah quickly and efficiently prepared the remedies for the affected once everything had been gathered. After everything had been prepared, they distributed it. And in a few days, everyone was visibly getting better.

In the few days that they had been there, Aliyah had met a woman— Tatsuma's wife Torako. The two of them bonded quickly, Aliyah sitting by Torkao and the two of them chatting until Aliyah was forced out of the room. Neither of them knew how it came up, but Aliyah had soon found out that Torako was pregnant.

"Pregnant? Well, I guess that's one more thing we have in common." Aliyah said, reaching her hand up and gently grabbing the black feathers that dangled from her earring.

Torako looked at her, "Really? And you still do all that dangerous stuff with your job?"

"The higher ups don't know yet, and if I told them... well, I don't know how well it would end up for me and my baby, I can't exactly just... stop working all of a sudden." She placed a hand on her stomach, a warm expression coming to her face, "I want the best for my child."

"As all mothers do. I believe that you'll be a wonderful mother. And maybe, our kids will grow to be good friends, just like we've become in this short time." She reached forwards and grabbed Aliyah's hands.

Aliyah looked at Torako, a smile made it's way to her face, "Yeah. I think that would be nice."

***

Torako had told Kiara everything from when she had first met Aliyah, the rest of the story was mostly what she had heard from Tatsuma and the others around the temple.

"You're a lot like your mother." Torako said, "I can almost see her in your eyes."

Kiara smiled softly, wiping at her eye that had started to water up just a bit, "It's nice to hear that. Knowing that I don't take after my father entirely makes me feel better in a way. Thanks, for telling me all of this."

"It's not a problem. After all, it's nice to know that my future daughter-in-law is related to someone who helped save so many people."

"Yeah-" Kiara muttered, then she processed everything Torako said and her face turned completely red, "W-wait, daughter-in-law?"