InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Buffy the Youkai Slayer ❯ The Wolf Prince ( Chapter 16 )

16. The Wolf Prince

Musashi's Domain, late 16th-century Japan

"Foxfire!" screamed the kitsune cub, and Kagura recoiled slightly as a blast of cool green flame shot from his fingertips.

Only an illusion. I should have known--he is a kitsune, after all.

She raised her fan again, but her hesitation had proved her undoing.

The miko's bowstring twanged, and Kagura barely managed wield her fan in time to deflect an arrow from her throat. It embedded itself in her upper arm, instead.

She screamed. In all the brief period of her existence, nothing had ever hurt like this. She looked down and saw the shaft glowing, its purifying fire scorching the fabric of her kimono, eating into her flesh.

It seared the fingers of her left hand to the bone as she seized it and yanked it out. She flung it as far away as she could, and the sudden cessation of the burning was a relief.

But the miko was already nocking another arrow. "Shippo-chan--RUN!"

From the corner of her eye, Kagura saw a flash of movement. It was the wolf-prince. He dove in front of her, landing on his hands, lashing up and out with his feet.

The impact caught Kagura in her midsection and sent flying backwards, away from the kitsune cub. She crashed into the unyielding masonry of the castle wall, and hit the ground at its base.

As she crumpled she saw the wolf-prince tuck smoothly into a roll and grab the cub by the back of the neck in passing. He was on his feet again in the next breath.

She pushed up and regained her feet again as well, though she was feeling distinctly battered, and opened her fan to scoop a new set of weapons out of the air.

But that arrow had taken its toll--with her injured right arm, she could no longer wield her fan as effectively. And there was no question of switching to her charred left hand.

She cursed, and flung blades of air at her opponents with as much strength as she could muster. And this time, she freed the scarlet death that strained at the edge of her fan.

Most of the blades were dodged or deflected, but Kagura heard the triumphant shriek of the red ones as they found their mark in two of the girls.

Serves them right! thought Kagura, savagely, her right arm throbbing with pain of her own wound. She could feel nothing at all in her left hand, and dared not look.

The miko's upper sleeve tore open and bloomed red, and she dropped her bow. And the yellow-haired girl was a fraction of a second too slow in parrying with her naginata. She staggered and a slash appeared on the thigh of her strange, tight-fitting hakama. Her blood flowed, black against dark blue fabric.

She remained on her feet, however. The blow must have been a glancing one.

"Kagome!"

The silver-haired hanyou suddenly appeared between Kagura and her target. His face contorted with rage, he raised his sword and swung it, the malevolent youki flames writhing over its blade. "Kaze-no-Kizu!"

Kagura did not stop to think. She summoned a mighty rush of wind to carry her up and out of range of the sword's brilliant flame, landing in the castle's central courtyard as the tiles topping the outer walls exploded in a brilliant flare. But the thick walls held fast, and she was safe for now.

She clutched the smooth bones of her fan, panting a little from the agony in her left hand and her right arm.

The intruders didn't waste any time. All of them--even the fox-cub--ran inside the gate. There, they stopped, weapons at the ready, and eyed her.

How had she lost control of the situation so quickly? And how severely would Naraku punish her for this failure?

And yet...she was not entirely displeased. After all, she had managed to fulfill her original intention to put up a convincing struggle while still allowing the intruders access to the castle.

She was injured, and badly. Not badly enough to kill her--she was youkai, after all, and nearly immortal--but it would take time for her to recover from her injuries.

But to do so, she had to survive her next encounter with the intruders. Especially with the wolf-prince, whose youki blazed with the desire for righteous vengeance, and who was already advancing on her.

* * *

The courtyard of the castle still reeked of lingering poison, and it burned Kouga's sensitive nose, making him sneeze repeatedly. Shippou, whom he still held safely by the scruff of the neck, was doing the same.

"Hey! Put me down!" Shippou shrilled, in-between violent sneezes. "Let go of me, Kouga!"

Kouga cuffed him as he would a disobedient wolf-cub--not hard enough to injure, but hard enough to silence the little fox.

"You're meaner than Inuyasha," muttered Shippou, but at least he'd stopped squirming for now. Kouga glared down at him, and the cub added, "Um, Kouga-sama."

That was better. His Kagome was entirely too kind-hearted. She was spoiling the kitsune. The cub needed to learn the proper respect for his elders...and his superiors.

Another sneeze echoed through the courtyard. Kouga looked over at his Kagome, hoping she would signal her gratitude for Shippou's rescue.

Instead, he noticed she was looking at Inu-koro. Who was, as always, standing entirely too close to Kouga's woman. In fact, Kouga caught her in the act of handing that dog-turd a handkerchief because Inu-koro was wiping his nose on his sleeve.

Kouga rolled his eyes in disgust, and dropped the fox-cub. Shippou yelped as he hit the ground, then scampered in Kagome's direction.

That got her attention at last. "Thank you, Kouga-kun," she called, smiling gratefully at him.

Over her shoulder, he caught Inu-koro's yellow glare.

In return, Kouga lifted his upper lip in a gesture that was part lupine snarl, part human sneer.

How could someone as wonderful as his Kagome tolerate that hanyou's loud, grating voice? His rank, doggy smell? His detestable weakness without his weapon?

But somehow, she insisted on calling Inu-koro her friend, and so Kouga was forced to tolerate the half-breed's presence time and time again.

Love is hard, he thought, admiring Kagome's slender legs as she bent down to gather Shippou in her arms. Especially when it means you can't kill someone who really, really deserves it.

But he would restrain himself, because he was a stronger, more honorable person than the hanyou.

Plus, he wanted to remain on Kagome's good side, so that after Naraku's defeat, she'd wrap those long legs around his waist and let him make her his woman in truth.

And today looked like it might be that day. Naraku to hunt, that bitch Kagura injured and ready prey, and his Kagome close at hand to give him his reward later...

Kouga blinked, jolted from his momentary daydream. Kagome was, in fact, issuing a stream of low-voiced orders: "Let's split up. He can't fight all of us at once if we're in different places. Buffy, you'll search for the Portal Key?"

Buffy nodded, but Kouga could smell her uncertainty--and the blood seeping from her wounded leg. Sango, the other youkai-taijya, moved to Buffy's side. "I will go with her."

Kagome gave a sharp nod. "Good. Kouga-kun?"

Kouga gave her a smile that showed all of his teeth. "I have business with the Wind-User over there."

Who, in fact, had one arm wrapped around a post, and appeared barely able to stand. She reeked of weakness. Easy prey.

The human monk spoke. "If Kouga-sama permits, I would like to join him."

Kagome nodded. "And I will look for the Shikon-no-Tama. I sense several shards nearby."

Gods, but Kouga was proud of her! Human, or not, she had the spirit of a leader, and was more than fit to be queen of the wolf-youkai.

Why, he didn't even mind that their cubs would be hanyou, like Inu-koro over there.

But before he could settle down to the important but pleasurable business of siring offspring, he had a vow to fulfill. And his brethren to avenge.

"That means that bastard Naraku must be nearby. I'll go with you, Kagome," said the dog-turd, slinging that stupid sword over his shoulder in one of his braggart's poses.

Kouga thought about protesting, but Kagome beat him to the response. "Of course, Inuyasha."

"You'd better take good care of her," yelled Kouga, watching the hanyou escort his woman away.

The only reason you're alive right now, you miserable mutt, is because you're useful to her.

Then Kouga cast all thoughts of Inu-koro from his mind, and turned his attention back to what he had come here to do.

He looked at Kagura, measuring the distance between them. He was going to tear her limb-from-limb, and devour her liver in payment for decimating the Northern and Southern tribes of the wolf-youkai.

Kouga licked his lips and ran forward, the Shikon shards in his legs lending him strength, speed. He could already taste his revenge, rich and bloody...

* * *

With an effort, Kagura stepped away from the support of the pillar. She swayed a little, as if the winds she commanded were tugging insistently at her, though the air in the courtyard was perfectly still. The initial shock of her wounds had settled into buzzing cloud around her senses, dulling them as if Naraku's swarm of poison bees were coursing in her veins.

Behind him, she saw the other intruders enter the largest of the castle's buildings. She could do nothing about that now, so she focused her attention on the wolf-prince, who had come to a halt some distance away, and was sniffing the air.

"Bit singed around edges, eh, bitch?" he asked, with a feral grin.

In reply, she swung her fan, and launched a volley of wind-blades at him, scarlet teeth hidden in their centers. He blurred as he dodged them, leaping into the air, somersaulting, and coming back to earth a little farther back than he had been.

In his wake strode one of the humans, clad in dark robes, armed only with a metal-tipped staff.

He seemed eerily calm, given the circumstances, and she quickly saw why: though not gifted with youkai speed, he wielded that staff with inhuman accuracy, parrying the hungry blades she had flung. They dissipated with soundless flares of purifying fire.

Before the last of the blades had left her fan, Kagura scooped up another measure, focusing her power. Injured as she was, she would have to keep the wolf-prince on the defensive.

Her magic took the form of pale spears this time, icy-cold and deadly. Again, the wolf-prince escaped injury, but at the price of having to retreat precious paces. He was snarling now, and his youki gathered around him in writhing clouds tinged with the red of rage. Good, good. Let his anger further cloud his judgment!

She paid little attention to the Buddhist monk. Mere human that he was, what could he possibly do to her?

In fact, he was scarcely paying attention to her, occupied as he was in unwrapping with the bandages that covered his right hand...

Oh, it was him. She blinked, recognizing him at last. Dangerous, that one, but easily thwarted.

Come, commanded Kagura, directing her thoughts to the large hive that hung in the roof beams of the castle's gatehouse. There is work for you to do.

The bees poured out of the empty eyes of the gatehouse windows, and hovered, obediently in the air above and behind her.

The monk stopped unwrapping his right hand. She laughed at his dismay and wielded her fan.

This time, she saw annoyance cross his pretty features. In the next instant, he had flung something at her in return--a scrap of paper that blazed with mystical energy.

She sent it spiraling over the castle roof with the merest twitch of her fingers, but the momentary distraction had given the more dangerous of her two opponents an opening.

"Die, bitch!" His legs shimmering with the energy imparted by the shards of the Shikon-no-Tama, the wolf prince vaulted over the distance separating them, and he was hurtling directly at her.

With a frantic gesture that sent a searing blast of pain through her injured arm, she flung a fanged whirlwind at him.

He tumbled backward, his trajectory abruptly altered by the blast of wind and blades she had summoned. And this time, she drew blood from his legs, though the shards--shit!--remained firmly in place.

"Wolf, go home with your tail between your legs, while you still have a tail!" she said, trying not to gasp for breath through the black agony hazing her vision.

She could not afford to show weakness, not now.

He hit the ground in a spray of gravel, and tumbled head-over-heels.

She sent another gust of wind to keep him off his feet, and gathered the winds to enclose him in a whirlwind of stones and debris. It had been more effective the last time she had used this against him, but she had had better materials to work with, then--swords and bones to hold him captive rather than this paltry collection of shattered tiles and splintered wood.

As she expected, her makeshift cage couldn't hold him long.

"KAGURA!" roared the wolf-prince, as he burst from the whirlwind's confines. His eyes were red with youkai rage.

He drew his sword and planted the blade in the earth. His aura shimmered and turned the color of freshly-spilled blood, boiling up to conceal his form.

A moment later, it subsided. What stood in the courtyard now was not the human-looking youkai. It was a monstrous black wolf with blazing blue eyes. His fangs were dripping a clear fluid that hissed and smoked as droplets fell on the ground.

Meanwhile, the monk was still flinging his spell-scraps at her. They were easy to turn aside--he only human, after all--but he offered a dangerous distraction when she needed her full attention on the wolf-prince.

The wolf advanced on her, growling. He brushed against the monk in passing, sending his ally flying into the nearest wall, but his burning gaze never left her. She was his prey.

And then she had no more time to think, as the wolf-youkai gave a mighty leap.