InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Facets of the Living Jewel ❯ Auribus teneo lupum ( Chapter 33 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

 

He began to stalk her with the Call, using the lowest vibrations that he knew she couldn't hear. The beat of her pulse quickened, and her pupils became dark pools. He picked up the injured hand and began nibbling at her other fingers, turning the palm to his mouth and tasting the soft flesh at the base of her thumb. He kissed the bandage gently, mutely apologizing for the pain he had given her with his bite. Holding her hand, he used his other to pull her to him and kissed her forehead, the tip of her nose, and finally her open, warm lips.

 

“Come with me, Kagome. We can talk later.”

 

“Uhh huh,” she sighed, quite unable to articulate any other words at the moment.

 

He kept her hand and walked to the shed, picking up the old sleeping bag from the corner, leaving the stupid blanket that smelled of the plastic in her world. The place he had in mind would be beautiful in the moonlight, but the ferns and moss might be damp. He turned around and knelt, waiting for her to climb on his back. He closed his eyes, mentally reciting the dojo kun, as the touch of her small hands on his back and the feel of her thighs wrapping themselves around his waist brought his body to life. He had to take a few deep breaths, especially when he tucked his hand under her thigh to help hold her in place. He tried not to think of where his hand was touching her and that if he only moved it a few inches…

 

He shook his head to dispel the thought and leaped away into the night, heading for the tops of the trees where their scent would dissipate in the night breeze, making them difficult to track from the ground. The rush of the air cleared his senses, but he could feel Kagome's heart beating against his back as he quietly continued to Call her.

 

He picked up speed. They had several miles to travel.

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

Kouga was irritated. He had brought his Pack with him, intending to take Kagome away by force and be done with it, but the scent trails were confused.

 

`This is taking too long!' He had hoped to make it a quick strike, fading in and out of the village, leaving the Pack to keep mutt-face occupied while he mated Kagome. He wasn't going to take no for an answer this time, not with Inuyasha using the Mate Call. But every time the wolves gave the hunt cry it was a false alarm. They had dug up three bloodied bandages, but had found no Kagome, and no mutt-faced hanyou.

 

“Damnit!”

 

Howls of derision were rising from the other side of the village. A half-wolf pack that his Pack had driven from some choice hunting grounds had harried some stragglers, and Ginta, who had driven them off, was limping. The half-wolves had left, but were laughing at the wolves' inability to track Kagome.

 

`It figures that dog-breath would have some damn mutts for a Pack.'

 

“Boss, they say he's their Leader, so he's got a Pack, even though they ain't full bloods,” Hakkaku ventured to comment.

 

“So what!” Kouga's irritation climbed up another notch.

 

“So you are in violation of Pack Law, and will answer to this Sessoumaru.” The cold voice was clipped, precise, and raised the hackles on Kouga's neck.

 

“Sesshoumaru!” Kouga leaped out of the way as Sesshoumaru's poison claws raked through the air beside him, just missing him. He summoned the Goraishi, knowing that this was going to be a difficult battle; one that he probably would not win without it.

 

Sesshoumaru nonchalantly drew Tenseiga, and gracefully began a kesagiri. Kouga used his impossible speed and retreated from the blow, slashing at Sesshoumaru's midsection as he jumped. A rain of blows followed, with Sesshoumaru on the attack and Kouga only just managing to evade a killing nagi by using his shard-enhanced speed.

 

“Your Pack is decimated. You have shown poor leadership, and should not be alpha. Tell me, since you are on my lands, why this Sesshoumaru should not kill you and destroy your Pack?” Sesshoumaru remained calm on the surface, but this was the alpha of the pack of wolves that had killed Rin. `He will pay; a long, slow death.'

 

“Cold bastard. Why are you protecting the dog turd?”

 

Sesshoumaru leaped in with a tsuki, but Kouga evaded by a hair's breadth, receiving a stinging cut along his side. He swiped at Sesshoumaru with the Goraishi, but missed.

 

Circling almost casually, looking for an opening, Sesshoumaru spoke.

 

“Choose your words more carefully, wolf. Inuyasha has…an alpha female, and a Pack. This Sesshoumaru is Inu no Taisho.”

 

Kouga didn't miss the hesitation. “They aren't mated yet. She's mine!”

 

“This Sesshoumaru does not think you have a claim. Her scent markings have been Inuyasha's for years.”

 

“Only because I left her for protection with him while I went after Naraku. I don't want her to fight.”

 

Sesshoumaru raised an eyebrow. “Inuyasha allows her the freedom to make a choice to fight, protecting her while she battles. You would dominate your alpha and not give her the choice? Interesting. I have never met an alpha bitch who was not a formidable adversary.”

 

As Kouga hesitated in confusion Sesshoumaru attacked, striking with a reverse kesagiri which Kouga only managed to catch on the claws of the Goraishi by sweeping it across his chest. Youki energy sparked where katana and claws met, but Kouga was at a disadvantage with the position of his arm. He twisted away, and Sesshoumaru scored another cut on his back with a reverse nagi as he disengaged the Goraishi from the Tenseiga.

 

“Bastard!” Kouga fisted the Goraishi, readying the special attack.

 

Sesshoumaru glanced at the weapon, then at Kouga's angry face. As Kouga brought the Goraishi forward and released the soul energy from the wolf ancestors, Sesshoumaru wielded the Tenseiga.

 

“Meidou Zangetsu Ha!”

 

The two energies were too closely aligned. Where they met, a rift in the space-time continuum appeared, ripping open the world. The path to the realm of the dead and the soul energy of the dead created a swirling, glowing vortex which began to devour everything in its path.

 

Sesshoumaru stepped back, his eyebrows raised, and Kouga raised a hand against the blinding light beginning to emanate from the center of the vortex. Lightning flashed from the sky, feeding energy to the increasingly expanding maelstrom.

 

Ginta and Hakkaku, forgotten by the combatants, stared in horror.

 

“We're dead,” Hakkaku said quietly.

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

Translation:

Auribus teneo lupum: Latin; I hold a wolf by the ears (Terence). This phrase is used to indicate that the person saying it is in a dangerous situation and needs to resolve it quickly (besides, it's a great image, don't you think? Kouga and Inuyasha, or Kouga and Sesshoumaru...).

 

Japanese:

See Chapter 24 for translations related to the katana.

Kesagiri: diagonal stroke of the katana, slanted down toward the shoulder and neck.

Nagi: belly stroke, the blade held horizontally and angled slightly downward.

Tsuki: the stroke that pierces at the shortest range to the chest.

I have refrained from using these names so far, but it has become difficult to describe a battle without them. Using “kesagiri” is much easier than using all the words in the definition above. Bear with me!

 

Just to forestall any flames. Yeah, I know the Tenseiga doesn't cut the living. At least not in the manga. Patientia, and all will be revealed….