InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Buffy the Youkai Slayer ❯ Mistress of the Winds ( Chapter 15 )

15. Mistress of the Winds

Musashi's Domain, late 16th-century Japan

Even sheltered by the castle's walls, Kagura felt the shockwave push through her like the winds she commanded.

What...? Who could be powerful enough to break through Naraku's defenses?

She rose from where she knelt in her bare chamber. Drawing her magical fan from her obi, she raced for the castle courtyard at inhuman speed.

Hope rose in her like a tiny breeze on an oppressively hot day.

Anything powerful enough to destroy one of his barriers might be too powerful for even Naraku to defeat...and that would mean freedom for her, at long last.

But he was probably watching her. He had kept her on a tight leash since her failed escape attempt last spring. So, whatever she did, she would have to convince him that she was trying to defend his home against the invaders.

* * *

To her disappointment, the courtyard was empty of everything save the thick, roiling miasma that Naraku used as his secondary line of defense against invaders.

Perhaps outside?

She gestured with her fan, the eagle-youkai bone ribs smooth and warm against her fingers, and the heavy wooden gates swung open.

Kagura looked at the group approaching the gate, and, with a sinking feeling, she recognized most of them.

Four humans, including the youkai-taijya who was Kohaku's sister, and the strangely-dressed young miko. That dog-hanyou, Inuyasha. The cocky wolf-prince who had come after her once before. And, oddest of all, a kitsune cub, who fairly radiated terror.

Surely, that one isn't old enough to fight!

They caught sight of her, and came to an uncertain halt some distance from the gates.

This...this motley crew of humans and youkai had broken through Naraku's barrier?

Kagura felt her hopes die away in the dead calm of disappointment.

She would still use them if she could, but their previous encounters left her with little hope that they could defeat Naraku.

Why, they could barely defeat her!

Only the miko and dog-hanyou would require careful handling. The combination of that sword and those arrows had nearly proved Kagura's undoing in a previous encounter.

As for the rest...Kagura let her lips curl in a sneer. Dog, wolf, fox.

"Miko, you brought a whole kennel with you this time. Shall I make them heel?"

She swept her fan down, dipping into the air, gathering the wind, concentrating its force. Then, with a practiced flick of her wrist, she freed the howling blades of solidified air trapped in the fan's folds, and flung them at her opponents.

As expected, the youkai moved to dodge the Blades of Wind.

The hanyou leapt in front of the humans, unsheathing that terrible sword of his. Even in the sunlight, she could see the powerful youki that wreathed its length, moving as restlessly as if it, too, commanded the winds.

Effortlessly, he parried the blades she had sent hurtling toward the miko, and they dispelled in harmless puffs. He stood protectively in front of the girls, his sword at the ready.

There. I'm fighting them. Naraku should be pleased.

And he would never guess her secondary purpose, she thought, swinging her arm back and around, releasing the last of the captive gusts from her fan to sweep behind her, through the courtyard.

With the barrier gone, the thick purple miasma that carpeted the ground dispersed rapidly, as if it, too, sought to escape Naraku's castle.

Now...how to allow them inside, while seeming to put up a spirited defense?

I have to make it convincing. She scanned the group. Perhaps even kill the weakest of them. Her eye lit on the three girls and the little kitsune.

Ah, yes. Killing any of those would surely enrage the dog and the wolf enough that they'd stop at nothing to find and kill Naraku this time.

Tear his throat out, she thought. Burn him to ashes with your Kaze-no-Kizu. Don't fail me, this time!

The wolf-youkai was, in fact, trying to circle to her left, his blue eyes fierce with hatred. He had managed to replace the Shikon shards in his legs, she noted. She would have to be careful--those shards gave him unnatural speed and strength.

Luckily for her, he hadn't seemed particularly cunning in their previous encounters. And he wasn't being devious now.

Almost lazily, she flung a powerful mini-whirlwind at him, and he was forced to vault backwards--and away from his allies--in order to dodge it.

"Bitch!" he yelled. "I'll make you pay for killing my comrades!"

She laughed. "Those wolves had deserved what they got...just a stupid horde of youkai seeking to rob my master of the Shikon-no-Tama."

He leapt forward, his mouth contorted in a silent snarl and she raised her fan, snapping it all the way open.

The scarlet marks painted on the heavy parchment folds uncoiled, sliding hungrily up from the base of the fan to its edge. She could feel their powerful, mindless desire through the eagle bones.

The red ones wanted to taste blood, to bring death.

Not now. she thought. But soon.

They screamed silent protest at her, trembling on the fan's outer edge as it cut the air. But they obeyed.

The wolf-prince landed five paces from her, and she flung another whirlwind at him. He hadn't realized, yet, that none of her attacks had real teeth behind him. Those were still imprisoned on her fan, begging for release.

Smiling at him, because that seemed to drive him berserk, she asked, "What, you don't execute thieves in the wolf-lands?"

She heard a twang, and then, the unpleasant whine of an arrow whizzing by her head--close enough to rattle her jade earrings. Kagura ducked away just in time, escaping the blast of purifying fire with little more than a few singed hairs. Fool! I took my eye off the miko!

"Hiraikotsu!" screamed Kohaku's sister as she flung her giant bone boomerang.

Kagura's smile widened as she watched it cleave the air. Foolish human! To use such a weapon on me!

This time, only the tiniest movement of her fan was required to send the spinning blade up, over, around--and re-aimed straight at its mistress.

The girls dove out of the way as the weapon swooped through their midst.

The hanyou, foolishly enough, tried to catch it. The momentum flung him head over heels some distance away, where he lay crumpled in a heap of red robes. He had not, however, let go of his sword.

Pity he didn't skewer himself on it, thought Kagura. Not that a single thrust would be enough to finish him off. He was a tough one, for a half-breed.

A moment later, the taijya's weapon hit the ground with a heavy thud, and buried itself point-first in the soft soil of the meadow.

Kagura advanced, brandishing her fan.

In return for leaving the castle gates open behind her, one of the interlopers was going to die. A life for a life--and may your death ignite the flames that devour Naraku!

But which one should she kill? She didn't want to execute anyone...useful.

She looked, thoughtfully, at the third girl, who was yellow-haired and wearing strange, tight, clothing. The girl boldly returned her stare, shifted her naginata to her left hand, and drew her sword.

Instead of lunging, as Kagura expected, she lifted her sword like a spear and flung it, tip first, at Kagura's chest, no doubt intending to spit her.

An interesting use of the katana, she thought as she turned the blade aside harmlessly with a single tap of her fingers on the bones of the fan. Not that one, then. She's a fighter. She'll be useful.

A muffled whimper caught her attention, and Kagura looked down. There, almost between her feet, she saw the kitsune cub.

He was sprawled on his back, eyes wide, staring up at her. She heard him wheezing with terror. This one--this one is expendable.

The hungry scarlet marks on her fan shrilled their anticipation, coiling themselves like snakes preparing to strike. Give us blood! Give us a life!

Kagura raised her fan.