Fan Fiction ❯ Silver Tear ❯ Hoku Vrs Marrowind ( Chapter 17 )

Hoku Versus Marrowind and Noshiro Takes a Stand

Everything that happened to her was flashing through Hoku's mind. Her exploding home, her first meeting with Kit, battling demons… Everything was finally about to come to an end. She could feel it deep inside her. Her journey was about to come to an end-Finally.

"I've traveled far from the west to seek my vengeance!" Hoku yelled bravely while wielding her fist in the air. "I'm not turning back now. There's just one thing I'd like to know before I kill you… Why did you destroy my home?"

The blank stare faded as Marrowind's lips curled into a cold grin.

"You don't know… do you?" she asked in a mocking tone.

Hoku's hair lifted. Her anger was building up inside her like a raging fire. "OF COURSE I WOULDN'T KNOW!"

"Well… I'd tell you but unfortunately," Marrowind said as she raised her clawed hand. "My business with you here today doesn't have any relevance to the past."

"ANSWER ME DAMN IT!" Hoku roared. Her fingertips burst into flame.

Noshiro, who was glued on the spot, had turned ghostly white. She had to choice but to stand and watch.

Marrowind let out a giggle, then, she burst forward. Her clawed hand out in front of her.

Hoku, never imagining that Marrowind would attempt to make the first blow, dashed out of the way. This hadn't turned out at all like she planned. She wasn't supposed to be running out of the way, she was supposed to be fighting with everything she had. For some reason, she was out of it.

She turned her head just in time to see a strand of Marrowind's hair whip past her glance. Knowing that her enemy was now behind her, she turned with offense.

"HELL FIRE!!" Hoku shouted as fire irrupted from her slashing claws. The blade-like fire burst through everything in their path. Trees and rocks fell in burning crumbles.

"Was that it?"

Hoku's eyes grew wide as something from behind grabbed the back of her neck, making her whole body to freeze up. This was Hoku's weak spot. Devastated that someone knew about it, she attempted to free herself from the woman's grasp from behind her, but without success.

"Isn't this something now?" Marrowind asked in a humored tone in her ear. "Before you were so confident. I can tell you're only fighting half hartedly. Tell me, did you really wish to kill me, or was that just talk."

Just then, something started to sting the back of Hoku's neck where she was being held. The smell of burning skin and the sharp scent of poison met her nose. She struggled even more furiously. Her anger was building up so quickly that the thought of her exploding came to mind.

So many things were flashing through her mind at that moment. For some reason, the vision of Kit came to her mind. How calm he had been. She suddenly wondered if she'd ever see him again.

Hoku grinned. She'd forgotten why she was there in the first place. Was she not the strongest demon in the land? Kit could be calm, so why couldn't she? Knowing that, she'd like to believe so.

"So," said a voice inside her head. "Are you going to let something like this get the best of you?"

"No…" Hoku said out loud.

"What's that?" Marrowind asked.

"Nothing…" Hoku grinned. "I was just thinking of what I was going to do to you!"

With that, Hoku sprang up and spun herself so quickly, that she was released from Marrowind's grasp. She then jumped back and landed on a low-hanging tree branch.

"So," Marrowind said. Her expressionless face was present again. "I see you're finally going to show your true self."

"You got that right!" Hoku grinned.

"Then no more fooling around…" Marrowind murmured.

A sudden gust of wind seemed to stir up. Wondering what was going on, Hoku stared at her enemy, realizing that she was beginning to change. Moments later, she was staring into the huge red eyes of a ten foot, gold colored dog. The symbol of the zodiac dog shone brightly on her forehead.

Marrowind's fur ridged up as she opened her mouth to reveal glistening sharp fangs and a long forged tongue as she let out a ferocious bark.

Hoku didn't really see much of a threat from this. Though Marrowind was much larger than her even in her cat form, she still had a secret weapon that Marrowind didn't know about.

"Bark bark…" Hoku mimicked. "Tell me, what do you plan to do now? You're obviously a much larger target now."

The dog seemed to grin as she said this. Something green dripped from one of her larger fangs that was overlapping her bottom jaw.

"Oh great…" Hoku hissed as the dog charged with a wide open mouth. She had no idea that Marrowind possessed a weapon such as poisonous fangs. Leaping out of the way, she came up with a plan.

Turning boldly to face the dog, she did her best to keep eye contact with Marrowind until she was directly in front of her.

"Try this!" Hoku yelled as she leapt forward with a glare and slashed with the Hell Fire attack once more.

Hoku's attack was quick, but she'd given Marrowind a chance to blink; thus not letting Hoku's glare effect her, then dodge her attack by leaping to the side.

"Damn…" Hoku hissed. "WOA!!"

At that moment, a huge paw struck her in the chest and pinned her to a tree. She started to feel immensely squashed and breathless as Marrowind applied more pressure with her massive paw.

Hoku attempted to struggle, but more and more did she begin to realize that things were going to get ugly when she glanced up in horror as Marrowind's huge, merciless red eyes stared directly into her face.

Now Hoku finally began to realize why cats hated dogs for so long. Such appalling creatures they were. Not only did Marrowind's stare drive fear into Hoku, it seemed to make her feel small and inferior.

Finally snapping from her trance, Hoku realized that she had Marrowind right where she wanted her. She stared back into the beast's horrible eyes by glaring.

Frozen on the spot, Marrowind let out a soft whine. Then suddenly, her grip on Hoku began to loosen.

Instead of releasing herself and running away, Hoku squeezed herself out of Marrowind's grasp and stood on top of her paw while it was still pressed to the tree. Panting slightly, Hoku didn't take her eyes away from the Dog's. Though, she still didn't like the way Marrowind kept staring at her, she felt a relief spread through her, followed by a cocky grimace.

"Now…" Hoku said. "Let me show you what else I can do…"

Holding out her right hand, she didn't take her glance off Marrowind's face as she converted all her energy to that one hand. After a moment, a little blue flame appeared in her palm. This was an attack that was passed down from her oldest ancestors. Ever since the cat started using fire techniques. She'd never used it before, but she had the training, and she knew she was ready. She was going to use it to kill her worst enemy once and for all.

She began to fury herself with the thought of her burning home, the thoughts of the tiger stalking her, and the thoughts of Kitasato getting the best of her… The flame started getting larger and larger. As Hoku stared even longer into the eyes of Marrowind, she started feeling that inferior feeling again, making her even more angry.

The flame was as large as her whole hand now. Finally feeling that it was time, Hoku held it up and tightened her fist around it, feeling it's warm burning sensation between her fingers.

Now finding her energy, she closed her eyes. She could feel the object she was standing on begin to move as Marrowind was about to jerk her paw away from the tree, but she wasn't quick enough, for a moment later, Hoku's eyes had re-opened to reveal two green, glowing orbs.

"RAGING INFERNO!!" Hoku roared as she swung her hand, sending huge, blue-fire blades hurling at Marrowind.

Marrowind's eyes grew large, and before she knew it, she was bracing for impact as the attack struck her with a tremendous force head on.

Hoku fell back. Feeling immensely weak, she dried desperately hard to maintain her balance. Her eyes were stinging from holding a glare for so long. All she could see was white.

"Hoku!" Noshiro appeared by her side. She was white as a ghost. "Are you all right?"

Hoku hardly nodded. She then glanced up at her enemy.

Marrowind was down. Her huge body had struck the ground with such a tremendous force that several trees around her had fallen on impact. Her huge, haunting red eyes had finally closed.

"No... How could this happen?"

Hoku pulled herself together. She realized that she'd been staring at a woman, the same white haired woman that had been controlling Moro at her last battle. "Who are you?" she demanded, attempting at her best to appear in full strength.

The woman didn't reply. She appeared to be very distressed.

"No... She cannot be this strong..." she was saying, and staring at Hoku with wide eyes. "I... I failed again..."

"What the hell is going on here!?" Hoku shouted, taking a bold step toward the woman. Her anger had been doubled. "Answer me!"

"Such a transformation...."

"DAMN IT!" Hoku had lost patience and was charging with all her might. She thrust out her right hand. "Hell fire!!"

But before Hoku could even command the attack, the woman had reached for her staff and held it out in front of her. Creating a barrier that reflected Hoku's attack.

"You may be strong," she said, still holding her weapon out in front of her. Her worried expression was replaced by seriousness. "But your power is nothing compared to mine."

"I'll hack your head off!" Hoku growled, taking another shot, but only to be forced back by the woman's energy.

"You haven't heard that last of us, Hoku." the woman said, a blue circle of light appeared at her feet. "We will not stop until you are dead." And with that, she sunk into the blue light and vanished before Hoku's very eyes.

"No!" Hoku roared, running to where the woman had been standing. "No! I need answers!!"

"Hoku…" Noshiro was lost for words.

Hoku didn't turn to her. Instead, she just stood there in fury and confusion. This was the second time she'd seen that woman. She didn't have a clue who she was or what exactly she wanted, but it was all apparent that she wanted Hoku dead. For what reason, Hoku didn't know.

A low groaning took Hoku from her trance. She glanced down and realized that the great dog had disappeared. Marrowind was back in her Zodiac spirit form once more, attempting to sit up. She was heavily bruised and her kimono had been slashed in several places.

Hoku let out a hiss and made for her.

"Hoku! No!"

Hoku growled as Noshiro stepped in her way and thrust out her arms in attempt to keep Hoku from moving any farther.

"This doesn't concern you." Hoku hissed. "Move it!"

"No!" Noshiro shook her head. "It- It's not right!"

"Don't stress yourself foolish rabbit…" Marrowind spoke. Her voice was withered and tired. "Obviously, this creature has no sense of morality."

"You're one to be handing out insults!" Hoku roared.

"Noshiro…" Finally able to sit up, she stared up at both of them with her yellow eyes. "I'm ready to meet my end. I've got no more place in this unforgiving world."

"You heard her!" Hoku said. "Move!"

Noshiro began to shake. She didn't budge.

"What about pride Hoku?"

Hoku gasped. Taking a step back, the horrible truth hit her.

"Do you actually think you've won fairly?" Noshiro asked a bit more braver. "Marrowind was under a trance the whole time. It wasn't a fair fight! What's the pride in fighting when there isn't any honor involved?"

Hoku stared at her for a moment, still fuming with anger. Here was her greatest enemy, lying no more than three feet from her death, and here was this other girl standing in her way, but her words bore into Hoku like a drill. Noshiro was right.

"You're right." Hoku admitted bitterly. A question still dwelled in her mind. "Stand aside." She finally said.

Noshiro, still not moving, frowned at her for a moment and Hoku said; "Don't worry, I'm not going to kill her."

Tentatively, Noshiro lowered her arms and stepped aside, allowing Hoku to approach.

Marrowind didn't look up as Hoku stood over her. She was too weak to move, but didn't want it to show. Having the cat standing over her triumphantly was a huge shame. More than anything else, she wanted to avoid those green taunting eyes.

"I need to know something." Hoku said coldly. "Why did you do it?"

To Hoku's surprise, Marrowind let out a chuckle and shook her head.

"Isn't it obvious?" she said, finally looking up at her interrogator. She didn't smile, she didn't frown. It appeared that she wanted Hoku to guess how she felt. "Out of all your human slaves one stood out amongst them all."

"What are you talking about?" Hoku hissed.

"His name is Keaden Haruko." Marrowind said. "He was a former slave that was trapped within your walls. Your only demon slave."

"That boy?" Hoku frowned. "Don't be stupid. He perished in the flames. You speak like he's still alive."

Marrowind shook her head once more.

"I had been meeting with him." she said. Her chest was heaving now. Just talking to this woman made her feel infuriated. "I told him the plan and allowed him to escape before it happened."

Hoku gasped. It was all starting to come back to her now. She'd found the boy all alone, begging for his live to be spared. She took him in, and treated him like the rest if not worse. He was a dog. Hoku despised dogs. Though she disobeyed her family by not killing him, she still let him live. She was starting to see where Marrowind was coming from. Now she was dreading the worst. Hoping that she wasn't about to say what she did.

"That boy is my son," Marrowind said. "and I'll do anything in my power to protect him."

Hoku stared down at this woman. She was weak, injured, and most of all, defeated, but Hoku didn't feel like a victor. She felt like an idiot. A total fool to the truth. Marrowind had destroyed her home to save her son's life. Her son, being Hoku's punching bag, was no more than a meek, frail child, and Hoku took advantage of that. However, she wasn't about to feel sympathy just yet.

"I traveled all the way from my home in China to reside here." she said. "My task was to destroy all living zodiac dogs. Your son, was one of the lucky ones. Be grateful you found him alive."

With that, Hoku turned. Leaving the confused rabbit, and the broken dog behind.