InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Forgotten ❯ Flying the Blue Third ( Chapter 49 )
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
By: Black Wren 
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Fantasy / Hentai / Drama | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 01.20.2013 | Pages: 10 | Words: 15.7K | Visits: 135 | Status: Work In Progress
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Fantasy / Hentai / Drama | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 01.20.2013 | Pages: 10 | Words: 15.7K | Visits: 135 | Status: Work In Progress
Disaster is narrowly avoided by the quick&nbs p;thinking of none other than Kuromakaze. &nb sp;
A truce is called in the aftermath&nb sp;for no one wants to wait around for&n bsp;the arrival of
the Shiro Tenko and&n bsp;their lord, Kuromaru.
145 years&nbs p;before the search for the jewel shards ;
Chapter 38: Flying the Blue Th ird
I find it amusing that ;neither Kuromakaze nor myself had any intere st in seeing
Kuromaru that day. Wh ile his group was too battered to fight& nbsp;any time that week, I
simply didn&a circ;€Ÿt want to discover what my i diot uncle would do if we met again.&nbs p; Even
if I was the Taisho, he&nbs p;was foolish enough that I feared he mi ght still try something.
It didnâ €Ÿt help that Kenji didn‟t& nbsp;disagree.
-Inuyasha
â€&oelig ;This world cannot be allowed to end!â& euro; Kuromakaze roared and hurled the cyclon e
at the wolf demon.
Tsubame& nbsp;ran with the other wolves in their futile attempt to catch Kenji. She
didn‟t know what was happening or why but every instinct screamed of im pending
disaster. However, it all seeme d hopeless. They weren‟t gainin g any ground; they
were barely keeping&n bsp;up.
She caught movement from t he corner of her eye and she glanced&nbs p;over. The biggest
cyclone she had&nbs p;ever seen was descending toward them all.&n bsp; She looked back at
Kenji and c ried out to him seconds before the monst er wind fell on them, lifting the
g roup off the ground. The wolves howled& nbsp;and screamed as they were spun within&nb sp;
the wind.
“Tsubam e!†She looked up at the so und of her name and saw Kenji reaching&n bsp;for her.
She reached her own h and to him and grasped it. He pull ed her to him.
“What ‟s going on?†she shouted over the roar of the wind. She&nb sp;looked around for
their comrades. Th ey were further away in the whirlwind bu t some had taken hold
of each other like she and Kenji had.
&aci rc;€œHell if I know,†said Kenji.
The cyclone then fell apart and the entire group found themselves i n free fall a
hundred feet above th e ground. Being demons, the landing was n‟t fatal but the
sticky mu d didn‟t make it pleasant either . The wolves coughed and spat the mess
from their mouths.
After ;several minutes of everyone collecting themselves , Kenji spoke. “Was the < br> world just saved by Kuromakaze?†h e asked in flat tone, as he lay on& nbsp;the ground,
stunned now that the th reat had passed.
“What&nb sp;do you mean?†asked Tsubame, wiping mud from her face and pulling leaves&nb sp;
from her hair.
“T he Jewel of Life was trying to reform&nb sp;and that wind came from the castle; i t had
to have been Kuromakaze,â€&n bsp;replied Kenji without moving.
&acir c;€œWhy does that mean he saved th e world?†gasped another wolf.
&n bsp;
“Kuromakaze saved the world,&aci rc;€ said Kenji still too shocked to&nbs p;hear his comrades.
“This&nbs p;is going to kill Kuromaru.â€
&nb sp;
Tsubame and the wolves looked at ;each other then she said, “The n let‟s hurry and
tell him& nbsp;so we can be done with him.†Kenji didn‟t respond.
&nb sp;
******
The moment Kenji was&nbs p;blown away the ground stopped cracking and& nbsp;the trees
ceased toppling. The lin k between the remaining three jewels and ;the core piece
weakened. The pull ;lessened and Kaiyoshinju broke free of her&n bsp;water prison with a
roar. The prolonged use of her power sent her demo n half into raged and she soared
in to the heavens as a red eyed, violet&nbs p;dragon. She vanished into the clouds
forgetting her purpose in being their on ly knowing her desire to escape it.
With her departure, the final nail&nbs p;in the proverbial coffin had been set. ; Soranoko
felt her control over the&nbs p;wind return and quickly lowered everyone to the ground
just as the mighty oak& nbsp;finally gave. Xeno, Scheherazade and Ya mibi tumbled over
each other midair at&n bsp;the sudden release. The three managed&nb sp;to regain enough
control to land with grace on a tree several yards away ;rather than tumble into the
mud and&nbs p;rocks below.
Last, the pillar of light thinned and faded into nothing, p lunging the entire area
into darkness. & nbsp;Saben stared where the Taisho had been&n bsp;standing when he was
swallowed by th e light. What appeared gave Saben pause .
White, flameless wings rose from the Taisho‟s back. A tail with mane of white hair
along the& nbsp;top of the spine protruded from under&nb sp;his armor. His shoes were broken
because his feet had lengthened and expande d into something akin to dragon‟ s feet.
His dog-ears had vanished and been replaced by a set on the s ides of his head that
were long lik e rabbit‟s and swept back. ;The glow of green appeared along his eyelashes as they fluttered before the Tai sho fell forward.
“T aisho!†cried Saben and leapt, catchin g Kakiboufuu and pulling him back.
“Taisho! Taisho! Wake up!&nb sp; Taisho!†The clouds above th em parted revealing a sky
that was growing lighter. Golden light broke the ;horizon beyond the castle and
lighting it and the trees, revealing the devastation&n bsp;the battle had released. The
town&n bsp;that had sheltered in the keepâ€&Yu ml;s lee was gone, swept away by the&nbs p;flood. More
than half the forest ;was either burnt, washed away or knocked&nbs p;down. Part of the
castle, the lo wer levels, had collapsed in a landslide.&nbs p;
Saben felt his heart leap into&n bsp;his throat. We believed Sesshomaru-sama was in the
dungeons beneath the castle,& nbsp;he thought. Did water from the flo od penetrate the
lower reaches? Is ;that why parts have fallen in? Damn&nb sp;it!
*****
Naomi kicked&nb sp;the fallen boards out of her way as&n bsp;she carried her father the final
few feet out of the lower reaches and into the morning light. “Did&n bsp;that really take
all night?†she gasped, exhausted from fending off floods and collapsing buildings.
She looked&n bsp;around but there wasn‟t another&n bsp;soul to be found. The area was ;
scattered with debris and mud. She&nbs p;spotted the main gate or what was left of it.
The walls on either s ide as well as the gate had slid ou t and down when the hillside
beneath&nbs p;had given way. The clay titles of&nbs p;the walls‟ roof were now at&nb sp;knee level.
“Naomi, I& nbsp;can move now,†said Sesshomaru. < br>
“That‟s great,&nbs p;Chichiue,†she said gruffly. â ;€œCan you slog your way through t his?â€
“Better than you can with my full weight on you r back,†he replied and pushed himself off her. As she feared, he&n bsp;wasn‟t able to support his f ull weight, but with
her help he co uld walk. They trekked across the open& nbsp;courtyard, sinking to their
knees in&nbs p;the filth.
Weakened from days&nb sp;of torture, starvation and dehydration, Sesshom aru‟s strength
was a fraction&nb sp;of what it should have been even with out his celestial power. While
Naomi&ac irc;€Ÿs healing may have been necessary& nbsp;to help him recognize his surroundings, it
also had drained her father of w hat little reserves that remained. His endurance
was at its limits and moving&n bsp;through the muck quickly exhausted him. & nbsp;
Naomi herself was tiring. &n bsp;The simulacrum she created, the healing a nd the barrier
she had been forced to maintain while carrying her father up ;several flights of
stairs was starting to take its toll. It was with grea t relief when they reached the
collapsed wall, however, that feeling was short l ived. The path down had been
washe d away. The entire side of the cas tle was nothing but slippery mud, boulders,&n bsp;
chunks of wall and splinters of gate . While Naomi could have navigated the& nbsp;mess,
her father, with an immobile spine, could not.
The wind teased& nbsp;their hair giving Naomi an idea. & acirc;€œChichiue can you spread your wings? We can glide down, its only&n bsp;ten yards and the wind is strong.â& euro;
Unable to move his head,&nbs p;Sesshomaru glanced at her and replied, &aci rc;€œNo.†He didn‟ t
elaborate and Naomi wondered if the&nb sp;iron was interfering with his wings or&nbs p;even
threatening to do them harm. &nbs p;She had not realized his losing his ce lestial power
meant he could not summon& nbsp;his wings that were part of his cel estial form.
Naomi chewed her lip& nbsp;then helped her father to sit on th e remains of the wall. He
was ;deathly pale and sweating. Now what?
********
Soranoko took in the sight of the bedr aggled inuyokai around her then spotted the&n bsp;
firebirds now sitting in nearby trees.&nb sp; She walked up to one of them an d asked, “I
hate to be&nbs p;such a bother, but can you help us&nbs p;locate our remaining comrades?â€
&nbs p;
The yellow firebird she spoke to hoppe d from one foot to the other then b obbed its
head. The whole flock to ok off and scattered. Soon the yellow&n bsp;phoenix returned and
circled overhead.
“I think we are suppos ed to follow,†said Soranoko to t he others. “Is everyone able&n bsp;
to walk at least aided?†&nbs p;Calls of assent returned and the group ;of battered and
weary demons trudged fo rward after their guide.
******* < br>
“Why are we heading b ack?†asked a young wolf demon as the pack jogged up the
path that&n bsp;Kenji had made. “I thought we were going to tell Kuromaru how ;his
youngest saved the world.†< br>
“As tempting as that is, it can wait,†replied Kenji a s he stomped the ground again
forcing&nb sp;another ten yards of hard-packed dirt to&n bsp;rise above the muck. “It&n bsp;wasn‟t just
Kaiyoshinju there,&nb sp;the dogs were there too. If they&aci rc;€Ÿre still fighting, a few fresh ;
warriors might make things easier for t hem.â€
After a moment of&nbs p;silence, he added, “Besides I ;can‟t stomach the idea of Kurom aru
taking the credit for ending this&nb sp;war. If he rides in there after ;Kuromakaze‟s forces
has been we akened by the dogs, it will go down ;as his victory. If today‟s&nbs p;the day the
Kuro Tenko are defeated&nb sp;then I want the credit to go where&nb sp;it‟s due. And I want Kuromaru to remain in history as a fo ol who got lucky someone else was able&n bsp;to bail
him out.†He lo oked over his shoulder and barked, â&eu ro;œUnderstand?â€
â€& oelig;Hai!†everyone shouted and no fu rther arguments were offered.
It w asn‟t long before they came upon the twenty foot high path the Jewel&nbs p;of the
Land had created. Kenji h it the side of it and the path edge crumpled into a
stairway. From th ere they followed it straight back to Ca stle Arai.
*******
Naomi&nbs p;searched the paths to the higher levels,&nb sp;expecting samurai to appear at any
ti me. She, therefore, was taken by surpri se by the call that came from behind&nbs p;her.
“Oi! Fair ma iden, how goes the battle? Is it o ver already?â€
She looked do wn to the end of the landslide and saw Kenji, several members of his
pack&n bsp;and a few demons she didn‟t& nbsp;recognize, standing on a raised pathway. ;
“Oi yourself, wolf!â&eu ro; she called back. “Get ;us down from here before the samurai show up.â€
Kenji shaded h is eyes from the glare of the rising&nbs p;sun and asked, “Is that Fluff y
with you?â€
Sesshomaru&nbs p;growled but said nothing. Naomi called&nbs p;back, “No tail pulling today, ;
Kenji. Chichiue‟s is in r eally bad shape.â€
â€& oelig;Must be, he didn‟t try to& nbsp;kill me yet,†said Kenji.
&n bsp;
“Oi! The prisoner is out of his cell!†Naomi whirled& nbsp;around and squeaked. There
were th e samurai she had been afraid of.
& nbsp;
“Hurry, Kenji! Iâ&e uro;Ÿve got nothing left,†she sh outed over her shoulder.
Kenji rai sed a path toward the castle and ran&nbs p;up while raising more of the earth
and pushing his way through the wreckage.&n bsp; The samurai began to move toward th e
stranded pair, swords drawn. Naomi&nb sp;unsheathed her claws but in the muddy ;
terrain, their swords would have the ad vantage.
“Withdraw, men.â ;€ The samurai froze and looked ba ck confused. Kenji appeared a
moment&nb sp;later beside her and paused. Naomi g lanced up to the source of the order.&nb sp;
Kuromakaze sat on the edge of t he ramparts leaning heavily onto his black&nb sp;
naginata. The dark, curved foot and& nbsp;half blade at the top of the five-f oot staff
gleamed with murderous intent in the morning sun but he made no m oves against
them.
Naomi&nb sp;was startled by his changed appearance. &n bsp;It was clear he had been in the ;
midst of the battle; his armor was ;dented and his clothes were scorched. However,
the strangeness of his appearance&nb sp;lay in his ashy skin and sunken eyes. He looked
as if he had been& nbsp;starved for a month.
†œWhat? You‟re surprised that&n bsp;I have limits?†said Kuromakaze in a mocking tone.
“I was already out of power before the fias co with the Jewel of Life. I overd rew
when I blew that wolf away. &nb sp;I cannot continue this battle, nor will&nb sp;I try. I suspect
your uncle is& nbsp;in the same pathetic state.â€
“I‟m here now&nb sp;and fresh. I could end you myself,&a circ;€ stated Kenji, dropping into a
horse stance as he readied his attack. ; The samurai raised their swords.
;
“You could, but the troops&nbs p;inside the castle are fresh as well an d the castle is
dangerously unstable,â& euro; said Kuromakaze without a trace of ;worry or fear for Kenji‟s
threat. “If you try to ta ke on my fresh warriors you‟ll&n bsp;need to use your earth magic.
If you do, the castle will give way and who knows which way it will sl ide. It may
fall on the side where all your allies are currently regroupin g or it may not. Then
there i s the fact that Reihane is too weak ;to move on his own. If the castle were to
give, he would be buried&n bsp;alive no matter which way it fell. & nbsp;Are you really willing to
risk that ?â€
“Tsk!â€&n bsp; Kenji rose and dropped his hands. < br>
“The Taisho‟s ;objective has been achieved; he has recovere d both his niece and
brother,â€&nb sp;said Kuromakaze with a dismissive wave. &n bsp;“So just go already. I&nbs p;won‟t try
to stop your wi thdrawal. I am abandoning the area myse lf.â€
“Why?†snarled Naomi.
He smiled that&nbs p;eerie smile again and replied, â€&oel ig;The Shiro Tenko will be arriving
tomo rrow. While I would have enjoyed the&nb sp;pleasure of finishing them off for good,&n bsp;
this battle has left me with too&nbs p;little resources at present to do so. The castle
cannot defend against their& nbsp;attack now nor can it be repaired b efore they arrive.
While I am not& nbsp;so foolish to have my entire army i n one place at any given time, my < br> reserves would not arrive before the Shir o Tenko even if I sent the summons now.
So taking the survivors and a bandoning this location is the only logical&n bsp;choice I
have.â€
â €œDid you calculate the option of us waiting here for the Shiro Tenko?â&e uro; snapped
Naomi, growing more irritated&nb sp;by the second and wishing she had eno ugh power to
blast that smile off t he hanyou‟s face.
â& euro;œEven I know of the bad blood ;between your uncle and Otou-san,†sai d Kuromakaze
with a laugh. â&euro ;œYou won‟t wait for them. ; Inuyasha‟s primary objective, once& nbsp;he
hears the Tenko lord is coming,& nbsp;will be to clear out as fast as&nbs p;he can.â€
“I nuyasha?†whispered Kenji in surprise and rising fear.
Naomi opened her& nbsp;mouth to offer a retort to Kuromakaze&ac irc;€Ÿs statement but Kenji
tugged on her shoulder, silencing her.
&a circ;€œLet‟s go, Naomi. I ‟ll help carry Sesshomaru-sama down&n bsp;but let‟s go,†said K enji. “I
hate to agree&nb sp;with the bastard, but he‟s ri ght. There is bad blood between Inuyash a
and Kuromaru. You‟ll wan t to be gone before he gets here.⠀
“How bad?â€& nbsp;asked Naomi in disbelief.
< br> “Real bad, but that is for& nbsp;Inuyasha to tell you, not me,â€&nb sp;replied Kenji. “Just
unders tand you want to be gone before he gets here.â€
Naomi glared ba ck at Kuromakaze sitting there powerless with only a bunch of
human samurai to&n bsp;protect him. She clenched and unclenched her fist in frustration
before turning& nbsp;her back on him. She half expected arrows to fly now that she looked
away; she didn‟t believe he ;knew the concept of honor. However, no thing happened
and she and Kenji were&nb sp;able to help the ailing Sesshomaru down&nb sp;the path to the
rest of the pack .
She looked back to the cast le and saw their banner had been replace d with blue,
white, red and black s treamers. Black held the top followed b y red, blue then
finally white. Bl ack, being first, signaled the end of th e castle, all surviving troops
were to&n bsp;abandon it and fall back to a second ary defense position elsewhere. Red, as ;
the second color, indicated that a seco nd attack was imminent and evacuation was&nbs p;
to occur without delay, there would be no lingering to recover possessions. B lue, as
the third, meant the current&nbs p;battle was over and no further fighting&nbs p;was permitted;
it was effectively a tr uce flag. The final white was a si mple statement and
explanation; the cast le had suffered massive casualties and could& nbsp;no longer
maintain the position.
&n bsp;
Naomi sighed. At least they seem&nb sp;to have made it official, she thought,&nbs p;irritated.
With the flags ;on the pole, the survivors of both side s would know the field was
being co nceded to the attackers. If the blue&nb sp;and the red were reversed, it would < br> have meant there was no secondary attack& nbsp;to worry about and that those warriors&n bsp;
that remained in the castle were exp ected to join the fray. There were ;some
survivors for the Kuro Tenko and&n bsp;they staggered out of the woods, dazed&nb sp;and
bedraggled. A tsuchitenko knocked&nbs p;the side of Kenji‟s path and&n bsp;created a stairway
up to the top.&nb sp; There they used the route to regroup and walk back toward the
castle. & nbsp;A few spared the group a nasty glar e but most were too exhausted and just&n bsp;
grateful to be alive to care.
& nbsp;
The wolf demons and company began t o walk up the path as Kenji expanded&nbs p;it
toward where he remembered the pill ar of light being.
******&n bsp;
Soranoko, Yukibi and their growing& nbsp;number of inuyokai survivors slogged through& nbsp;
the muck as they followed the fireb irds forward. Soranoko jumped back when ;she
caught movement from the corner of& nbsp;her eye. She raised her fans in&nb sp;attack and
Yukibi summoned her fox fi re; she had lost her spear. It was a Kuro Tenko, a fire
user.
&n bsp;
The man raised his hands in surprise and shouted, “Truce! Truce!&a circ;€ He pointed
toward the castl e. “Look!â€
< hr> Soranoko and Yukibi held their ground but one of the inuyokai cried, â€&oel ig;He‟s right.
The truce f lag is flying.†Soranoko glance over toward the castle and saw the four& nbsp;
colored banners flying in the morning&nb sp;wind. Soranoko lowered her fans as Y ukibi
put out her fire. The hitenk o shook his head and trudged on.
&n bsp;
Yukibi shook her head as well and&nb sp;said, “Well at least we won& acirc;€Ÿt have to attack
everything ;in sight now.â€
â€&oe lig;Are they really going to honor that?&acir c;€ asked one of the inuyokai. Sor anoko was
wondering the same thing; thou gh, the first impression was that they w ere.
Yukibi turned to face the&nbs p;questioner. “Haven‟t ;been outside Tenji have you? Those
banners were created by the Tenko, they&nbs p;don‟t exist outside their territori es. It was
created for the Tenko&n bsp;civil wars. Kuro Tenko were just as much responsible for
their creation as& nbsp;the Shiro Tenko. They won‟ t abuse them.â€
â€&oel ig;Why not?†muttered Soranoko but sha rp eared Yukibi heard her anyway.
The white kitsune turned back to address the wind sorceress. “Dishonor ing the
banners may grant one or ev en two victories but ever after you won& acirc;€Ÿt be able to use
them even if you need them. Devil Tenko ;were not born idiots. They know better
than to sacrifice a long term bene fit for a short term success.â€
Soranoko said nothing more. She&nbs p;couldn‟t see the validity of t he argument but she
didn‟t want to debate it any further. Right&nb sp;now, the truce seemed to be standing
but she wouldn‟t drop her g uard. The group moved forward again pas sing other
weary survivors from the Kuro Tenko but none offered any challenge. < br>
*****
Yamibi glared at&n bsp;the castle in fury when she saw the& nbsp;banners flying above. With
the dis aster averted, she wanted to continue what&nb sp;she began, but the blue third said that would have to wait. She growled in frustration even as the more rationa l part
understood why they were flying.& nbsp; She considered violating it and attacki ng
anyway, despite that violating a truc e flag would mean death or exile.
Consequences meant nothing to her; she j ust wanted her revenge.
Xeno saw&n bsp;the hungry look in her crimson eyes and readied himself. He watched
Yamibi& nbsp;trying to anticipate when she would atta ck. Truce flag or not, he could no t
allow her the first strike. If&n bsp;she attacked now the Taisho was finished. Kakiboufuu
lay in Saben‟s arms unresponsive to his subordinate†Ÿs calls, still in his celestial
fo rm. That form was tougher but not invulnerable and, in his unconscious state, i t
would easy for her to slay him&nb sp;with a single strike.
Help came in an unexpected form.
â&eu ro;œYamibi! Stand down already,â€&nbs p;shouted Noriko as she appeared among the&nb sp;trees.
“Why should I?& acirc;€ the female hanyou snarled. She& nbsp;raised her hands as if to strike and Xeno prepared his own, however, her&nb sp;attack never appeared. Noriko, without saying a word, struck the hanyou with ;her own celestial power. Yamibi shrieked&nb sp;
and fell to the ground. Noriko stalked forward and grabbed the woman†Ÿs raven
hair.
Pulling up&nbs p;on the thick locks, Noriko said, â&eu ro;œThe blue third is not a suggestion, it is
an order. Do you remem ber what happened the last time you igno red one.â€
Yamibi‟s& nbsp;eyes widened in fear and she hissed,&nbs p;“There is no way you could&nb sp;know
about that.â€
& acirc;€œIt was in my interest to k now,†Noriko said with a smirk. & nbsp;Then her expression
grew serious again.& nbsp; “Now move.†She&n bsp;dragged Yamibi to her feet. â&euro ;œBesides,†she
added once Yamib i began staggering toward the castle, â €œyou wouldn‟t have gotten ;
your revenge today anyway. Naomi and&n bsp;Sesshomaru are heading this way as we&nbs p;
speak. Your death would have accompli shed nothing.â€
Yamibi froze ;and whirled. “You lie!â&euro ; she shrieked. “I killed ;Naomi!â€
“You real ly are pitiful, Yamibi,†said Noriko&n bsp;with open contempt. Yamibi howled
then&nb sp;leapt into the trees and ran off.
Xeno watched the exchange in wary&nbs p;puzzlement. Once Yamibi had disappeared he
asked, “Not that we are&n bsp;ungrateful, but why did you stop her?&nbs p; Wouldn‟t it have
been in your best interest to let her continue? None of the blood would have been on
your hands and you would have&n bsp;been rid of the one responsible for undermining
your authority.â€
Noriko leveled her blue eyes on him th en glanced at the celestial demon, her g aze
brightening with lust and hunger. &n bsp;“Warlords are not undesirable,⠀ she replied then
walked away, van ishing into the forest.
Xeno frown ed in disapproval. “Power hung ry woman,†he muttered but was gl ad it
meant there would be no unexp ected attacks for the day.
“Hear that, my lord, your power and ruthlessness has made you popular&n bsp;with the
ladies,†said Saben with a weak laugh, not expecting a respo nse. To his and Xeno‟s
surprise, one came.
“Th at‟d just what I need, an a ggressive lover,†groaned Kakiboufuu. ;He raised his
hand to his head and moaned.
“Thank the& nbsp;gods, you‟re awake,†crie d Saben. He then hurried to inform ;the Taisho
of the change in events.&nbs p; “The blue third has been&nbs p;raised. There won‟t be any&nb sp;more
fighting today.â€
&a circ;€œWhat colors fly?†asked K akiboufuu with his face still buried in his hand. When
Saben replied Kakiboufuu pulled his hand from his face and looked to the castle in
disbelief. ;“Red second? But who is coming?â€
“I suspec t it would be the Shiro Tenko,â€&n bsp;said Xeno, trying not to sound mocking.&n bsp;
The Taisho was disoriented and obvi ous answers would not come to him while& nbsp;his
mind still gathered itself. &a circ;€œThey‟re the only other&n bsp;hostile group to the Kuro Tenko
arou nd.†Kakiboufuu blanched then grunted as he tried to move. As he d id, his
wings folded and vanished and&nb sp;the rest changed back into his hanyou ;self.
Xeno watched him for a ;moment then added, “It seems S esshomaru and Naomi
made it safely out&n bsp;of the castle and are on their way&n bsp;to this location.â€
â&e uro;œThey‟re both alive?â€&nbs p;asked Kakiboufuu in disbelief, staring at X eno.
“Apparently,†;Xeno replied. The relief on the young& nbsp;Taisho‟s face reminded the fire& nbsp;
demon how much the touch and ruthle ss words and actions were just a fa&Atil de;§ade.
Soranoko and her group&nb sp;appeared, as did smaller groups from other directions. She
glanced at them and&nbs p;sighed. “Finally, I‟ m so sick of all this mud. At ;least we can
rest until it dries. And by then maybe the Shiro Tenko will be hereand give us a
hand.â&e uro;
“Uh,†said&nb sp;Kakiboufuu, his face pale and looking apol ogetic as he stared at his
weary tr oops.
“Is there a&nb sp;problem, Taisho?†asked Xeno, rememberin g his earlier reaction to the
news of the Shiro Tenko‟s potential a rrival. The ground beneath them rose te n feet
into the air in a large ;plateau and the mud reformed into hard packed earth.
“I hate&nbs p;to spoil the mood but you canâ€& Yuml;t wait for the Shiro Tenko,†;said Kenji as he
and his pack appe ared.
“And why is th at?†demanded Soranoko. â€&oeli g;Everyone is hurt and we just spent the
last half-hour sloshing through knee de ep mud. Why can‟t we wait& nbsp;for allies?â€
Kenji sighed&n bsp;the glanced over at Kakiboufuu. â& euro;œYou really didn‟t tell th em
anything?†Kakiboufuu just sh rugged in response.
Naomi sighed a s well as Soranoko looked between the tw o in confusion. “There is ;
supposedly bad blood between the Tenko lord and the Taisho. Are you certain&nb sp;this
can‟t be reasoned out?&a circ;€ She directed her question toward her uncle.
The wolves all wa ved their hands in front of their faces& nbsp;as Kakiboufuu replied, “If
my uncle were reasonable my wife would still be alive.â€
â€&o elig;Eh?â€
“Never m ind, Naomi,†said Kakiboufuu and hoppe d down from his tree, his senses
re turning to normal. “Reconciliation& nbsp;is not possible and I rather not fi nd out if he
will abandon the matte r just because I have become the Taisho. â€
“If he does n‟t,†added Kenji, â&eur o;œit will mean further divisions within&nbs p;the ranks and it
all goes Kuromakaze&a circ;€Ÿs way.â€
â €œSo we really can‟t stay, †muttered Soranoko exasperated.
;
“It would be best if we&n bsp;didn‟t leave tracks,†said Kakiboufuu.
“Weâ€& Yuml;re too exhausted to fly, Kakiboufuu-sama,&aci rc;€ snapped Soranoko, barely
remembering&nbs p;to add the honorific to his name.
“Easy, Fufu,†said&nbs p;Kenji with a smile. Soranoko flinched ;then glared at the wolf
demon and Kakiboufuu coughed. “I can mak e a path and escort you all until < br> nightfall. Then we‟ll part company. I‟ll head back here,&n bsp;collapsing the path as I go
and ;hopefully will arrive before Kuromaru does. At that point, my wolves, fellow
s couts and I can kick back and look bored for the Tenko lord. Weâ€&Yu ml;ll avoid bringing
up the identity of& nbsp;the Taisho. Sound like a plan?â&e uro;
“A very agreeable&nb sp;one,†replied Kakiboufuu.
&ac irc;€œWait,†said Sesshomaru and ;everyone turned to face him. â€& oelig;My swords, Bakusaiga
and Tenken. I need to find them.â€
Kakiboufuu took in his brother‟s ;broken state then stepped forward and wrappe d
his arm around Kenji‟s ne ck before speaking softly into his ear. “How stable is the
castle , right now?â€
â€&oeli g;Not very,†replied Kenji in an equally quiet voice. “The only reason I didn‟t nail
Kurom akaze before the banners went up was bec ause any fighting would result in
the&nb sp;castle collapsing. For a simple search,&n bsp;it‟s stable enough but who k nows how
long that will last.â€&nb sp;
Kakiboufuu hummed as he considered&n bsp;his options then said, “Aniue&nb sp;isn‟t going to
like this,&nbs p;but we‟ll have leave without t hem. Leave us at sunset and, if po ssible,
check the castle after you get back. The swords will smell and&nbs p;feel like Aniue. If
you find the m, handle them with care and return them to us at your earliest
convenience.&nbs p; It might do Aniue some good to b e without them for a while so donâ €Ÿt
sweat it if you canâ&euro ;Ÿt return them until after Kuromaru bit es it.â€
“Understoo d,†said Kenji.
Kakiboufuu separated from the wolf and approached his&nb sp;brother. “Sorry, Aniue,â€& nbsp;he
said then placed his left hand&n bsp;on Sesshomaru‟s forehead. Sessho maru‟s golden eyes
fluttered the n closed. Kakiboufuu caught him as he&n bsp;tipped forward.
“Oji-san!& acirc;€ cried Naomi in alarm.
“He shouldn‟t be movin g with these injuries,†said Kakiboufu u as explanation. “His
yo uki is almost non-existent. If he doesn ‟t rest now his heart will fail. So unless
you want to see&nb sp;your father shrivel into an old man a nd die, don‟t complain about
my methods.â€
Several of t he clan gasped in horror. Naomi shrank& nbsp;in shame. Saben jumped out of
the tree and reached toward the unconscious& nbsp;demon. “I am ashamed to&n bsp;admit that I
have the fewest injurie s and am the least exhausted. At l east allow me to carry
Sesshomaru-sama,â ;€ he said.
“You&nbs p;have nothing to be ashamed of, Saben,â ;€ said Kakiboufuu. “You helped keep
away those who would have&nb sp;attacked me as I readied my spell. &n bsp;You even stood
against Yamibi though ;you were outclassed.†Saben flushed& nbsp;with embarrassment
and looked away. &nbs p;“I need to carry Aniue to&nbs p;maintain the spell I put on him, but&n bsp;how
about you help the worst injured make the trek?†The young man bowed and
walked away as Kakiboufuu& nbsp;slid Sesshomaru onto his back.
The Taisho took in the sight&nb sp;of his battered and exhausted clansmen, re gretting his
need for a hasty departure. He then turned his attention to t he remaining firebirds
and said, â&euro ;œThank you for your assistance.â€&nbs p; The firebirds called an
acknowledgement&nb sp;then turned and vanished. Kakiboufuu was& nbsp;tired and he hurt all
over. T he after effects of the Jewel of Life&ac irc;€Ÿs attempted revival were setting i n.
Sesshomaru was never a lightweight&n bsp;to begin with and the iron in his&nb sp;body only
made things worse. Trying& nbsp;to ignore the trembling in his knees,&nb sp;he started forward.
It w as going to be a long walk home.
***********
When Kuromaru and& nbsp;his stunned troops arrived midmorning the&nbs p;next day, Kenji
and his party were&nbs p;sitting on their own plateau shooting dice. Sitting beside the
pack leader wa s a long, thin box. Kuromaru hardly&nbs p;paid it any heed to the item as < br> he fumed at the sight of the wolves& nbsp;fooling around in enemy territory.
;
“What happened? Report!â&eur o; the Tenko leader barked.
â ;€œYour son received an unexpected ass& nbsp;whooping,†said Kenji, while his eyes fixed on
the cup Tsubame was u sing to shake the five dice. The t ypical dice shoot was with
two dice ;but the wolves weren‟t anything ;if not unconventional. It was still a& nbsp;
han/cho (odd/even) call but with five&nb sp;dice, the money went to the one who&n bsp;not only
won the call but called&nbs p;the actual amount of pips first when t he dice were exposed.
Tsubame was the count checker and held the place of “houseâ&euro ;. If no one called it
right, ;she got the pot. So far, she was& nbsp;killing them.
Kuromaru glared. &nb sp;He hated being reminded that Kuromakaze wa s his child. “I can
see that!†he roared, his horse n eighed and danced but the demons didnâ& euro;Ÿt look up
from their game. &n bsp;They made their calls and waited with&nbs p;bated breath for the dice to
roll . Kuromaru drew water from his bottle&n bsp;and shot it at the offending dice. & nbsp;They
flew away into the mud below.& nbsp;
“Oi!†shouted ;Kenji and snarled at the Tenko lord.
“Now that I have your& nbsp;undivided attention,†Kuromaru said, t hrough clenched
teeth. “Tell&n bsp;me exactly what happened here.â€
“What else is there to tell?†replied Kenji, rising from&nbs p;the ground and brushing the
dust from& nbsp;his black fur. “He pissed off the inuyokai. They came in an d messed the
place up when he was&n bsp;preparing to annihilate your troops. He& nbsp;flew the blue third.
They left&nbs p;and he and his remaining troops high-tailed it out of here before you
showed&n bsp;up.â€
“Why didn ‟t you follow him?â€
“Didn‟t wanna die .â€
“You just let a prime chance to kill Kuromakaze sl ip away?†Kuromaru had turned beet red and Kenji was struggling not ;to laugh. The rest of the scouting&nbs p;party were
biting their lips as well.& nbsp;
Kenji, with great dignity, raised& nbsp;his right hand in the direction of the castle and
said, “He h ad raised the blue third. To attack&nbs p;him then would have violated the
truce of the blue third.â€
& acirc;€œWell this campaign‟s aw ash,†said General Iken Makoto. “Let‟s get back â €žfore that
over-thinking pup gets his reserves and launches an attack â&e uro;žgainst our unprotected
asses.
;
“We are not going back!&n bsp; We are finishing this!†roared&nb sp;Kuromaru.
“Thatâ€&Yum l;s what you said the last three times&n bsp;we did this,†said General Makoto. “Are
you that determined to keep making the same mistakes? ;We don‟t know where he
wen t but we do know that wherever it i s there will be fresh men waiting for&nb sp;our
attack. He was waiting for us this time and we got lucky. Do& nbsp;you want to tempt the
gods again&nb sp;and hand the entire country over to K uromakaze? I say we go back and think about rebuilding our army while he&a circ;€Ÿs nursing his wounds. Even I realize that
the pup is slow. &nb sp;If he‟s wounded, he‟l l sit tight until he‟s better&nb sp;unless provoked.
We can‟t&nb sp;afford to provoke him. We canâ&euro ;Ÿt even afford this campaign.†< br>
“Are you questioning me?&a circ;€ demanded Kuromaru as he whirled t o face the scruffy
wolf hanyou.
&nb sp;
General Makoto met his eyes unafraid and replied, “I‟m not&n bsp;the only one.â€
Kuromaru sear ched the gazes of his officers and blanc hed. All of them were fixing
him&n bsp;with the same hard stare as Iken Mak oto. Faced with the lack of support&nbs p;and
no enemy in sight to challenge,&nb sp;he turned his horse around and led th e way back to
their castle.
< br> The pack rose to their feet and Kenj i picked up the box he was guarding,&nbs p;glad
Kuromaru hadn‟t noticed i t. It would have brought up questions&n bsp;whose answers
would have led to the& nbsp;more dangerous questions. Sesshomaru†Ÿs missing swords had
been found wi thin an hour of Kenji returning to Castl e Arai. They were packed
away in&n bsp;that box within the well stocked armory.& nbsp; The swords‟ auras had prot ested
his touching them so he had s imply closed the box and brought it outs ide with him.
He didn‟t&nb sp;think he would be able to slip away&n bsp;long enough to return them while
Kur omaru remained as lord.
As th ey followed after the retreating army, Iken&n bsp;Makoto leaned from his horse and
whi spered in his ear, “Is that&nbs p;what really happened, Kenji?â€
“I may have left out the&n bsp;part about Fluff-puff-sama‟s capture&n bsp;being the reason for
they‟re being there,†replied Kenji in a hushed voice. “And I lie d about the part
where they arrived ;while Kuromakaze was waiting for us. B ut it‟s fairly accurate
otherwis e.†General Makoto snorted but s aid nothing more as he rode ahead.
_________________________
Author Chat:
My villains tend to be fairly prac tical. Kuromakaze will make short term sacrifices
if it grants him long term&nb sp;success and never the reverse. While ;most modern
humans will scratch their h eads in confusion over this concept, he is one who
understands true solutions ar e found only in the long term plans.&nbs p;
I also couldn‟t resist&n bsp;the idea of world destruction being avert ed by the very
practical if evil vi llain. He wants to rule the world not a graveyard. So he will do
all in his power to protect the world& nbsp;from devastation. Funny, huh? He and
Kakiboufuu are completely united in their desire to protect the world. Too& nbsp;bad they
can‟t agree on&nbs p;who should rule it.
_________________ _____________
Chapter 39: A Brotherâ ;€™s Duty
The inuyokai re turn victorious but also weary and injured.&n bsp; Aid for Sesshomaru is
slow as he needs time to recover his energy. &nb sp;However, what angers him the most is
his brother‟s willingness to har m himself.
______________________________________ ______________________________
Translations:
Tsuch i: earth
Hi: fire
Mizu: water
Ki: wood
Kane: metal
Kaze: wind
Himizu: as discordant as fire and water&nbs p;
Hikaze: fire wind
Tenki: weather
Enzeru: angel
Hanyou: half-demon
Obi: th e sash that is wrapped around a woman&ac irc;€Ÿs waist to hold her kimono cl osed.
Matte: wait!
Shoji: sliding door.& nbsp;
Engawa: veranda, walkway running along t he outside of the buildings.
Temee: you, derogatory term, very insulting.
Kisama:&nbs p;you, derogatory term, more vulgar than teme e
Ano: uh
Hai: Yes
Aniyome: el der brother‟s wife; sister-in-law
Hime: Princess
Waka: Young lord, used for the son of a noble.
Otouto: Lit tle brother.
Onii-(__): Big brother, general. Honorific added on to end, determining level of
respect of love. (Can&nb sp;also be used when addressing a young man.)
Aniue: Big brother, formal.
Imouto : Little sister.
Onee-(__): Big sister, general. Honorific added on to end, det ermining level of
respect of love. ;(Can also be used when addressing a you ng woman.)
Aneue: Big sister, formal.&nb sp;
Ojii-(__): Grandfather, general. Honorific&nbs p;added on to end, determining level of
respect of love. (Can also be used when addressing an elderly man.)
Obaa-( __): Grandmother, general. Honorific added o n to end, determining level of
respect&n bsp;of love. (Can also be used when&nbs p;addressing an elderly woman.)
Oji-(__): Unc le, general. Honorific added on to end, determining level of respect of
love.&n bsp; (Can also be used when addressing a middle-aged man.)
Oba-(__): Aunt, general.&n bsp; Honorific added on to end, determining&n bsp;level of respect of
love. (Can ;also be used when addressing a middle-aged&n bsp;woman.)
Mina wa ookii aho desu: &nbs p;Everyone‟s a big idiot.
Sumima sen: Excuse me.
Oyaji: Father, informal masculine.
Otou-(__): Father, general. Honor ific added on to end, determining level of respect
or love.
Chichiue: Father,&nb sp;formal.
Ofukuro: Mother, informal masculine.&nb sp;
Okaa-(__): Mother, general. Honorific add ed on to end, determining level of respe ct
or love.
Hahaue: Mother, formal
Otaa-sama: Mother, said by children of c ourt nobles to their mothers.
XX-(blank):&nbs p;Intimate or rude address depending on usage .
XX-kun: Male honorific, friendly
XX-ch an: Female or young boy honorific, friendly&n bsp;
XX-san: general honorific, polite, (Mr. o r Ms.)
XX-sama: formal or very polite&nb sp;honorific, used for those of superior stat us or to show
great respect. (Lord or Lady)
XX-dono: more formal honorific, ;more respectful than XX-sama. Derived from& nbsp;tono
= lord.
A truce is called in the aftermath&nb sp;for no one wants to wait around for&n bsp;the arrival of
the Shiro Tenko and&n bsp;their lord, Kuromaru.
145 years&nbs p;before the search for the jewel shards ;
Chapter 38: Flying the Blue Th ird
I find it amusing that ;neither Kuromakaze nor myself had any intere st in seeing
Kuromaru that day. Wh ile his group was too battered to fight& nbsp;any time that week, I
simply didn&a circ;€Ÿt want to discover what my i diot uncle would do if we met again.&nbs p; Even
if I was the Taisho, he&nbs p;was foolish enough that I feared he mi ght still try something.
It didnâ €Ÿt help that Kenji didn‟t& nbsp;disagree.
-Inuyasha
â€&oelig ;This world cannot be allowed to end!â& euro; Kuromakaze roared and hurled the cyclon e
at the wolf demon.
Tsubame& nbsp;ran with the other wolves in their futile attempt to catch Kenji. She
didn‟t know what was happening or why but every instinct screamed of im pending
disaster. However, it all seeme d hopeless. They weren‟t gainin g any ground; they
were barely keeping&n bsp;up.
She caught movement from t he corner of her eye and she glanced&nbs p;over. The biggest
cyclone she had&nbs p;ever seen was descending toward them all.&n bsp; She looked back at
Kenji and c ried out to him seconds before the monst er wind fell on them, lifting the
g roup off the ground. The wolves howled& nbsp;and screamed as they were spun within&nb sp;
the wind.
“Tsubam e!†She looked up at the so und of her name and saw Kenji reaching&n bsp;for her.
She reached her own h and to him and grasped it. He pull ed her to him.
“What ‟s going on?†she shouted over the roar of the wind. She&nb sp;looked around for
their comrades. Th ey were further away in the whirlwind bu t some had taken hold
of each other like she and Kenji had.
&aci rc;€œHell if I know,†said Kenji.
The cyclone then fell apart and the entire group found themselves i n free fall a
hundred feet above th e ground. Being demons, the landing was n‟t fatal but the
sticky mu d didn‟t make it pleasant either . The wolves coughed and spat the mess
from their mouths.
After ;several minutes of everyone collecting themselves , Kenji spoke. “Was the < br> world just saved by Kuromakaze?†h e asked in flat tone, as he lay on& nbsp;the ground,
stunned now that the th reat had passed.
“What&nb sp;do you mean?†asked Tsubame, wiping mud from her face and pulling leaves&nb sp;
from her hair.
“T he Jewel of Life was trying to reform&nb sp;and that wind came from the castle; i t had
to have been Kuromakaze,â€&n bsp;replied Kenji without moving.
&acir c;€œWhy does that mean he saved th e world?†gasped another wolf.
&n bsp;
“Kuromakaze saved the world,&aci rc;€ said Kenji still too shocked to&nbs p;hear his comrades.
“This&nbs p;is going to kill Kuromaru.â€
&nb sp;
Tsubame and the wolves looked at ;each other then she said, “The n let‟s hurry and
tell him& nbsp;so we can be done with him.†Kenji didn‟t respond.
&nb sp;
******
The moment Kenji was&nbs p;blown away the ground stopped cracking and& nbsp;the trees
ceased toppling. The lin k between the remaining three jewels and ;the core piece
weakened. The pull ;lessened and Kaiyoshinju broke free of her&n bsp;water prison with a
roar. The prolonged use of her power sent her demo n half into raged and she soared
in to the heavens as a red eyed, violet&nbs p;dragon. She vanished into the clouds
forgetting her purpose in being their on ly knowing her desire to escape it.
With her departure, the final nail&nbs p;in the proverbial coffin had been set. ; Soranoko
felt her control over the&nbs p;wind return and quickly lowered everyone to the ground
just as the mighty oak& nbsp;finally gave. Xeno, Scheherazade and Ya mibi tumbled over
each other midair at&n bsp;the sudden release. The three managed&nb sp;to regain enough
control to land with grace on a tree several yards away ;rather than tumble into the
mud and&nbs p;rocks below.
Last, the pillar of light thinned and faded into nothing, p lunging the entire area
into darkness. & nbsp;Saben stared where the Taisho had been&n bsp;standing when he was
swallowed by th e light. What appeared gave Saben pause .
White, flameless wings rose from the Taisho‟s back. A tail with mane of white hair
along the& nbsp;top of the spine protruded from under&nb sp;his armor. His shoes were broken
because his feet had lengthened and expande d into something akin to dragon‟ s feet.
His dog-ears had vanished and been replaced by a set on the s ides of his head that
were long lik e rabbit‟s and swept back. ;The glow of green appeared along his eyelashes as they fluttered before the Tai sho fell forward.
“T aisho!†cried Saben and leapt, catchin g Kakiboufuu and pulling him back.
“Taisho! Taisho! Wake up!&nb sp; Taisho!†The clouds above th em parted revealing a sky
that was growing lighter. Golden light broke the ;horizon beyond the castle and
lighting it and the trees, revealing the devastation&n bsp;the battle had released. The
town&n bsp;that had sheltered in the keepâ€&Yu ml;s lee was gone, swept away by the&nbs p;flood. More
than half the forest ;was either burnt, washed away or knocked&nbs p;down. Part of the
castle, the lo wer levels, had collapsed in a landslide.&nbs p;
Saben felt his heart leap into&n bsp;his throat. We believed Sesshomaru-sama was in the
dungeons beneath the castle,& nbsp;he thought. Did water from the flo od penetrate the
lower reaches? Is ;that why parts have fallen in? Damn&nb sp;it!
*****
Naomi kicked&nb sp;the fallen boards out of her way as&n bsp;she carried her father the final
few feet out of the lower reaches and into the morning light. “Did&n bsp;that really take
all night?†she gasped, exhausted from fending off floods and collapsing buildings.
She looked&n bsp;around but there wasn‟t another&n bsp;soul to be found. The area was ;
scattered with debris and mud. She&nbs p;spotted the main gate or what was left of it.
The walls on either s ide as well as the gate had slid ou t and down when the hillside
beneath&nbs p;had given way. The clay titles of&nbs p;the walls‟ roof were now at&nb sp;knee level.
“Naomi, I& nbsp;can move now,†said Sesshomaru. < br>
“That‟s great,&nbs p;Chichiue,†she said gruffly. â ;€œCan you slog your way through t his?â€
“Better than you can with my full weight on you r back,†he replied and pushed himself off her. As she feared, he&n bsp;wasn‟t able to support his f ull weight, but with
her help he co uld walk. They trekked across the open& nbsp;courtyard, sinking to their
knees in&nbs p;the filth.
Weakened from days&nb sp;of torture, starvation and dehydration, Sesshom aru‟s strength
was a fraction&nb sp;of what it should have been even with out his celestial power. While
Naomi&ac irc;€Ÿs healing may have been necessary& nbsp;to help him recognize his surroundings, it
also had drained her father of w hat little reserves that remained. His endurance
was at its limits and moving&n bsp;through the muck quickly exhausted him. & nbsp;
Naomi herself was tiring. &n bsp;The simulacrum she created, the healing a nd the barrier
she had been forced to maintain while carrying her father up ;several flights of
stairs was starting to take its toll. It was with grea t relief when they reached the
collapsed wall, however, that feeling was short l ived. The path down had been
washe d away. The entire side of the cas tle was nothing but slippery mud, boulders,&n bsp;
chunks of wall and splinters of gate . While Naomi could have navigated the& nbsp;mess,
her father, with an immobile spine, could not.
The wind teased& nbsp;their hair giving Naomi an idea. & acirc;€œChichiue can you spread your wings? We can glide down, its only&n bsp;ten yards and the wind is strong.â& euro;
Unable to move his head,&nbs p;Sesshomaru glanced at her and replied, &aci rc;€œNo.†He didn‟ t
elaborate and Naomi wondered if the&nb sp;iron was interfering with his wings or&nbs p;even
threatening to do them harm. &nbs p;She had not realized his losing his ce lestial power
meant he could not summon& nbsp;his wings that were part of his cel estial form.
Naomi chewed her lip& nbsp;then helped her father to sit on th e remains of the wall. He
was ;deathly pale and sweating. Now what?
********
Soranoko took in the sight of the bedr aggled inuyokai around her then spotted the&n bsp;
firebirds now sitting in nearby trees.&nb sp; She walked up to one of them an d asked, “I
hate to be&nbs p;such a bother, but can you help us&nbs p;locate our remaining comrades?â€
&nbs p;
The yellow firebird she spoke to hoppe d from one foot to the other then b obbed its
head. The whole flock to ok off and scattered. Soon the yellow&n bsp;phoenix returned and
circled overhead.
“I think we are suppos ed to follow,†said Soranoko to t he others. “Is everyone able&n bsp;
to walk at least aided?†&nbs p;Calls of assent returned and the group ;of battered and
weary demons trudged fo rward after their guide.
******* < br>
“Why are we heading b ack?†asked a young wolf demon as the pack jogged up the
path that&n bsp;Kenji had made. “I thought we were going to tell Kuromaru how ;his
youngest saved the world.†< br>
“As tempting as that is, it can wait,†replied Kenji a s he stomped the ground again
forcing&nb sp;another ten yards of hard-packed dirt to&n bsp;rise above the muck. “It&n bsp;wasn‟t just
Kaiyoshinju there,&nb sp;the dogs were there too. If they&aci rc;€Ÿre still fighting, a few fresh ;
warriors might make things easier for t hem.â€
After a moment of&nbs p;silence, he added, “Besides I ;can‟t stomach the idea of Kurom aru
taking the credit for ending this&nb sp;war. If he rides in there after ;Kuromakaze‟s forces
has been we akened by the dogs, it will go down ;as his victory. If today‟s&nbs p;the day the
Kuro Tenko are defeated&nb sp;then I want the credit to go where&nb sp;it‟s due. And I want Kuromaru to remain in history as a fo ol who got lucky someone else was able&n bsp;to bail
him out.†He lo oked over his shoulder and barked, â&eu ro;œUnderstand?â€
â€& oelig;Hai!†everyone shouted and no fu rther arguments were offered.
It w asn‟t long before they came upon the twenty foot high path the Jewel&nbs p;of the
Land had created. Kenji h it the side of it and the path edge crumpled into a
stairway. From th ere they followed it straight back to Ca stle Arai.
*******
Naomi&nbs p;searched the paths to the higher levels,&nb sp;expecting samurai to appear at any
ti me. She, therefore, was taken by surpri se by the call that came from behind&nbs p;her.
“Oi! Fair ma iden, how goes the battle? Is it o ver already?â€
She looked do wn to the end of the landslide and saw Kenji, several members of his
pack&n bsp;and a few demons she didn‟t& nbsp;recognize, standing on a raised pathway. ;
“Oi yourself, wolf!â&eu ro; she called back. “Get ;us down from here before the samurai show up.â€
Kenji shaded h is eyes from the glare of the rising&nbs p;sun and asked, “Is that Fluff y
with you?â€
Sesshomaru&nbs p;growled but said nothing. Naomi called&nbs p;back, “No tail pulling today, ;
Kenji. Chichiue‟s is in r eally bad shape.â€
â€& oelig;Must be, he didn‟t try to& nbsp;kill me yet,†said Kenji.
&n bsp;
“Oi! The prisoner is out of his cell!†Naomi whirled& nbsp;around and squeaked. There
were th e samurai she had been afraid of.
& nbsp;
“Hurry, Kenji! Iâ&e uro;Ÿve got nothing left,†she sh outed over her shoulder.
Kenji rai sed a path toward the castle and ran&nbs p;up while raising more of the earth
and pushing his way through the wreckage.&n bsp; The samurai began to move toward th e
stranded pair, swords drawn. Naomi&nb sp;unsheathed her claws but in the muddy ;
terrain, their swords would have the ad vantage.
“Withdraw, men.â ;€ The samurai froze and looked ba ck confused. Kenji appeared a
moment&nb sp;later beside her and paused. Naomi g lanced up to the source of the order.&nb sp;
Kuromakaze sat on the edge of t he ramparts leaning heavily onto his black&nb sp;
naginata. The dark, curved foot and& nbsp;half blade at the top of the five-f oot staff
gleamed with murderous intent in the morning sun but he made no m oves against
them.
Naomi&nb sp;was startled by his changed appearance. &n bsp;It was clear he had been in the ;
midst of the battle; his armor was ;dented and his clothes were scorched. However,
the strangeness of his appearance&nb sp;lay in his ashy skin and sunken eyes. He looked
as if he had been& nbsp;starved for a month.
†œWhat? You‟re surprised that&n bsp;I have limits?†said Kuromakaze in a mocking tone.
“I was already out of power before the fias co with the Jewel of Life. I overd rew
when I blew that wolf away. &nb sp;I cannot continue this battle, nor will&nb sp;I try. I suspect
your uncle is& nbsp;in the same pathetic state.â€
“I‟m here now&nb sp;and fresh. I could end you myself,&a circ;€ stated Kenji, dropping into a
horse stance as he readied his attack. ; The samurai raised their swords.
;
“You could, but the troops&nbs p;inside the castle are fresh as well an d the castle is
dangerously unstable,â& euro; said Kuromakaze without a trace of ;worry or fear for Kenji‟s
threat. “If you try to ta ke on my fresh warriors you‟ll&n bsp;need to use your earth magic.
If you do, the castle will give way and who knows which way it will sl ide. It may
fall on the side where all your allies are currently regroupin g or it may not. Then
there i s the fact that Reihane is too weak ;to move on his own. If the castle were to
give, he would be buried&n bsp;alive no matter which way it fell. & nbsp;Are you really willing to
risk that ?â€
“Tsk!â€&n bsp; Kenji rose and dropped his hands. < br>
“The Taisho‟s ;objective has been achieved; he has recovere d both his niece and
brother,â€&nb sp;said Kuromakaze with a dismissive wave. &n bsp;“So just go already. I&nbs p;won‟t try
to stop your wi thdrawal. I am abandoning the area myse lf.â€
“Why?†snarled Naomi.
He smiled that&nbs p;eerie smile again and replied, â€&oel ig;The Shiro Tenko will be arriving
tomo rrow. While I would have enjoyed the&nb sp;pleasure of finishing them off for good,&n bsp;
this battle has left me with too&nbs p;little resources at present to do so. The castle
cannot defend against their& nbsp;attack now nor can it be repaired b efore they arrive.
While I am not& nbsp;so foolish to have my entire army i n one place at any given time, my < br> reserves would not arrive before the Shir o Tenko even if I sent the summons now.
So taking the survivors and a bandoning this location is the only logical&n bsp;choice I
have.â€
â €œDid you calculate the option of us waiting here for the Shiro Tenko?â&e uro; snapped
Naomi, growing more irritated&nb sp;by the second and wishing she had eno ugh power to
blast that smile off t he hanyou‟s face.
â& euro;œEven I know of the bad blood ;between your uncle and Otou-san,†sai d Kuromakaze
with a laugh. â&euro ;œYou won‟t wait for them. ; Inuyasha‟s primary objective, once& nbsp;he
hears the Tenko lord is coming,& nbsp;will be to clear out as fast as&nbs p;he can.â€
“I nuyasha?†whispered Kenji in surprise and rising fear.
Naomi opened her& nbsp;mouth to offer a retort to Kuromakaze&ac irc;€Ÿs statement but Kenji
tugged on her shoulder, silencing her.
&a circ;€œLet‟s go, Naomi. I ‟ll help carry Sesshomaru-sama down&n bsp;but let‟s go,†said K enji. “I
hate to agree&nb sp;with the bastard, but he‟s ri ght. There is bad blood between Inuyash a
and Kuromaru. You‟ll wan t to be gone before he gets here.⠀
“How bad?â€& nbsp;asked Naomi in disbelief.
< br> “Real bad, but that is for& nbsp;Inuyasha to tell you, not me,â€&nb sp;replied Kenji. “Just
unders tand you want to be gone before he gets here.â€
Naomi glared ba ck at Kuromakaze sitting there powerless with only a bunch of
human samurai to&n bsp;protect him. She clenched and unclenched her fist in frustration
before turning& nbsp;her back on him. She half expected arrows to fly now that she looked
away; she didn‟t believe he ;knew the concept of honor. However, no thing happened
and she and Kenji were&nb sp;able to help the ailing Sesshomaru down&nb sp;the path to the
rest of the pack .
She looked back to the cast le and saw their banner had been replace d with blue,
white, red and black s treamers. Black held the top followed b y red, blue then
finally white. Bl ack, being first, signaled the end of th e castle, all surviving troops
were to&n bsp;abandon it and fall back to a second ary defense position elsewhere. Red, as ;
the second color, indicated that a seco nd attack was imminent and evacuation was&nbs p;
to occur without delay, there would be no lingering to recover possessions. B lue, as
the third, meant the current&nbs p;battle was over and no further fighting&nbs p;was permitted;
it was effectively a tr uce flag. The final white was a si mple statement and
explanation; the cast le had suffered massive casualties and could& nbsp;no longer
maintain the position.
&n bsp;
Naomi sighed. At least they seem&nb sp;to have made it official, she thought,&nbs p;irritated.
With the flags ;on the pole, the survivors of both side s would know the field was
being co nceded to the attackers. If the blue&nb sp;and the red were reversed, it would < br> have meant there was no secondary attack& nbsp;to worry about and that those warriors&n bsp;
that remained in the castle were exp ected to join the fray. There were ;some
survivors for the Kuro Tenko and&n bsp;they staggered out of the woods, dazed&nb sp;and
bedraggled. A tsuchitenko knocked&nbs p;the side of Kenji‟s path and&n bsp;created a stairway
up to the top.&nb sp; There they used the route to regroup and walk back toward the
castle. & nbsp;A few spared the group a nasty glar e but most were too exhausted and just&n bsp;
grateful to be alive to care.
& nbsp;
The wolf demons and company began t o walk up the path as Kenji expanded&nbs p;it
toward where he remembered the pill ar of light being.
******&n bsp;
Soranoko, Yukibi and their growing& nbsp;number of inuyokai survivors slogged through& nbsp;
the muck as they followed the fireb irds forward. Soranoko jumped back when ;she
caught movement from the corner of& nbsp;her eye. She raised her fans in&nb sp;attack and
Yukibi summoned her fox fi re; she had lost her spear. It was a Kuro Tenko, a fire
user.
&n bsp;
The man raised his hands in surprise and shouted, “Truce! Truce!&a circ;€ He pointed
toward the castl e. “Look!â€
< hr> Soranoko and Yukibi held their ground but one of the inuyokai cried, â€&oel ig;He‟s right.
The truce f lag is flying.†Soranoko glance over toward the castle and saw the four& nbsp;
colored banners flying in the morning&nb sp;wind. Soranoko lowered her fans as Y ukibi
put out her fire. The hitenk o shook his head and trudged on.
&n bsp;
Yukibi shook her head as well and&nb sp;said, “Well at least we won& acirc;€Ÿt have to attack
everything ;in sight now.â€
â€&oe lig;Are they really going to honor that?&acir c;€ asked one of the inuyokai. Sor anoko was
wondering the same thing; thou gh, the first impression was that they w ere.
Yukibi turned to face the&nbs p;questioner. “Haven‟t ;been outside Tenji have you? Those
banners were created by the Tenko, they&nbs p;don‟t exist outside their territori es. It was
created for the Tenko&n bsp;civil wars. Kuro Tenko were just as much responsible for
their creation as& nbsp;the Shiro Tenko. They won‟ t abuse them.â€
â€&oel ig;Why not?†muttered Soranoko but sha rp eared Yukibi heard her anyway.
The white kitsune turned back to address the wind sorceress. “Dishonor ing the
banners may grant one or ev en two victories but ever after you won& acirc;€Ÿt be able to use
them even if you need them. Devil Tenko ;were not born idiots. They know better
than to sacrifice a long term bene fit for a short term success.â€
Soranoko said nothing more. She&nbs p;couldn‟t see the validity of t he argument but she
didn‟t want to debate it any further. Right&nb sp;now, the truce seemed to be standing
but she wouldn‟t drop her g uard. The group moved forward again pas sing other
weary survivors from the Kuro Tenko but none offered any challenge. < br>
*****
Yamibi glared at&n bsp;the castle in fury when she saw the& nbsp;banners flying above. With
the dis aster averted, she wanted to continue what&nb sp;she began, but the blue third said that would have to wait. She growled in frustration even as the more rationa l part
understood why they were flying.& nbsp; She considered violating it and attacki ng
anyway, despite that violating a truc e flag would mean death or exile.
Consequences meant nothing to her; she j ust wanted her revenge.
Xeno saw&n bsp;the hungry look in her crimson eyes and readied himself. He watched
Yamibi& nbsp;trying to anticipate when she would atta ck. Truce flag or not, he could no t
allow her the first strike. If&n bsp;she attacked now the Taisho was finished. Kakiboufuu
lay in Saben‟s arms unresponsive to his subordinate†Ÿs calls, still in his celestial
fo rm. That form was tougher but not invulnerable and, in his unconscious state, i t
would easy for her to slay him&nb sp;with a single strike.
Help came in an unexpected form.
â&eu ro;œYamibi! Stand down already,â€&nbs p;shouted Noriko as she appeared among the&nb sp;trees.
“Why should I?& acirc;€ the female hanyou snarled. She& nbsp;raised her hands as if to strike and Xeno prepared his own, however, her&nb sp;attack never appeared. Noriko, without saying a word, struck the hanyou with ;her own celestial power. Yamibi shrieked&nb sp;
and fell to the ground. Noriko stalked forward and grabbed the woman†Ÿs raven
hair.
Pulling up&nbs p;on the thick locks, Noriko said, â&eu ro;œThe blue third is not a suggestion, it is
an order. Do you remem ber what happened the last time you igno red one.â€
Yamibi‟s& nbsp;eyes widened in fear and she hissed,&nbs p;“There is no way you could&nb sp;know
about that.â€
& acirc;€œIt was in my interest to k now,†Noriko said with a smirk. & nbsp;Then her expression
grew serious again.& nbsp; “Now move.†She&n bsp;dragged Yamibi to her feet. â&euro ;œBesides,†she
added once Yamib i began staggering toward the castle, â €œyou wouldn‟t have gotten ;
your revenge today anyway. Naomi and&n bsp;Sesshomaru are heading this way as we&nbs p;
speak. Your death would have accompli shed nothing.â€
Yamibi froze ;and whirled. “You lie!â&euro ; she shrieked. “I killed ;Naomi!â€
“You real ly are pitiful, Yamibi,†said Noriko&n bsp;with open contempt. Yamibi howled
then&nb sp;leapt into the trees and ran off.
Xeno watched the exchange in wary&nbs p;puzzlement. Once Yamibi had disappeared he
asked, “Not that we are&n bsp;ungrateful, but why did you stop her?&nbs p; Wouldn‟t it have
been in your best interest to let her continue? None of the blood would have been on
your hands and you would have&n bsp;been rid of the one responsible for undermining
your authority.â€
Noriko leveled her blue eyes on him th en glanced at the celestial demon, her g aze
brightening with lust and hunger. &n bsp;“Warlords are not undesirable,⠀ she replied then
walked away, van ishing into the forest.
Xeno frown ed in disapproval. “Power hung ry woman,†he muttered but was gl ad it
meant there would be no unexp ected attacks for the day.
“Hear that, my lord, your power and ruthlessness has made you popular&n bsp;with the
ladies,†said Saben with a weak laugh, not expecting a respo nse. To his and Xeno‟s
surprise, one came.
“Th at‟d just what I need, an a ggressive lover,†groaned Kakiboufuu. ;He raised his
hand to his head and moaned.
“Thank the& nbsp;gods, you‟re awake,†crie d Saben. He then hurried to inform ;the Taisho
of the change in events.&nbs p; “The blue third has been&nbs p;raised. There won‟t be any&nb sp;more
fighting today.â€
&a circ;€œWhat colors fly?†asked K akiboufuu with his face still buried in his hand. When
Saben replied Kakiboufuu pulled his hand from his face and looked to the castle in
disbelief. ;“Red second? But who is coming?â€
“I suspec t it would be the Shiro Tenko,â€&n bsp;said Xeno, trying not to sound mocking.&n bsp;
The Taisho was disoriented and obvi ous answers would not come to him while& nbsp;his
mind still gathered itself. &a circ;€œThey‟re the only other&n bsp;hostile group to the Kuro Tenko
arou nd.†Kakiboufuu blanched then grunted as he tried to move. As he d id, his
wings folded and vanished and&nb sp;the rest changed back into his hanyou ;self.
Xeno watched him for a ;moment then added, “It seems S esshomaru and Naomi
made it safely out&n bsp;of the castle and are on their way&n bsp;to this location.â€
â&e uro;œThey‟re both alive?â€&nbs p;asked Kakiboufuu in disbelief, staring at X eno.
“Apparently,†;Xeno replied. The relief on the young& nbsp;Taisho‟s face reminded the fire& nbsp;
demon how much the touch and ruthle ss words and actions were just a fa&Atil de;§ade.
Soranoko and her group&nb sp;appeared, as did smaller groups from other directions. She
glanced at them and&nbs p;sighed. “Finally, I‟ m so sick of all this mud. At ;least we can
rest until it dries. And by then maybe the Shiro Tenko will be hereand give us a
hand.â&e uro;
“Uh,†said&nb sp;Kakiboufuu, his face pale and looking apol ogetic as he stared at his
weary tr oops.
“Is there a&nb sp;problem, Taisho?†asked Xeno, rememberin g his earlier reaction to the
news of the Shiro Tenko‟s potential a rrival. The ground beneath them rose te n feet
into the air in a large ;plateau and the mud reformed into hard packed earth.
“I hate&nbs p;to spoil the mood but you canâ€& Yuml;t wait for the Shiro Tenko,†;said Kenji as he
and his pack appe ared.
“And why is th at?†demanded Soranoko. â€&oeli g;Everyone is hurt and we just spent the
last half-hour sloshing through knee de ep mud. Why can‟t we wait& nbsp;for allies?â€
Kenji sighed&n bsp;the glanced over at Kakiboufuu. â& euro;œYou really didn‟t tell th em
anything?†Kakiboufuu just sh rugged in response.
Naomi sighed a s well as Soranoko looked between the tw o in confusion. “There is ;
supposedly bad blood between the Tenko lord and the Taisho. Are you certain&nb sp;this
can‟t be reasoned out?&a circ;€ She directed her question toward her uncle.
The wolves all wa ved their hands in front of their faces& nbsp;as Kakiboufuu replied, “If
my uncle were reasonable my wife would still be alive.â€
â€&o elig;Eh?â€
“Never m ind, Naomi,†said Kakiboufuu and hoppe d down from his tree, his senses
re turning to normal. “Reconciliation& nbsp;is not possible and I rather not fi nd out if he
will abandon the matte r just because I have become the Taisho. â€
“If he does n‟t,†added Kenji, â&eur o;œit will mean further divisions within&nbs p;the ranks and it
all goes Kuromakaze&a circ;€Ÿs way.â€
â €œSo we really can‟t stay, †muttered Soranoko exasperated.
;
“It would be best if we&n bsp;didn‟t leave tracks,†said Kakiboufuu.
“Weâ€& Yuml;re too exhausted to fly, Kakiboufuu-sama,&aci rc;€ snapped Soranoko, barely
remembering&nbs p;to add the honorific to his name.
“Easy, Fufu,†said&nbs p;Kenji with a smile. Soranoko flinched ;then glared at the wolf
demon and Kakiboufuu coughed. “I can mak e a path and escort you all until < br> nightfall. Then we‟ll part company. I‟ll head back here,&n bsp;collapsing the path as I go
and ;hopefully will arrive before Kuromaru does. At that point, my wolves, fellow
s couts and I can kick back and look bored for the Tenko lord. Weâ€&Yu ml;ll avoid bringing
up the identity of& nbsp;the Taisho. Sound like a plan?â&e uro;
“A very agreeable&nb sp;one,†replied Kakiboufuu.
&ac irc;€œWait,†said Sesshomaru and ;everyone turned to face him. â€& oelig;My swords, Bakusaiga
and Tenken. I need to find them.â€
Kakiboufuu took in his brother‟s ;broken state then stepped forward and wrappe d
his arm around Kenji‟s ne ck before speaking softly into his ear. “How stable is the
castle , right now?â€
â€&oeli g;Not very,†replied Kenji in an equally quiet voice. “The only reason I didn‟t nail
Kurom akaze before the banners went up was bec ause any fighting would result in
the&nb sp;castle collapsing. For a simple search,&n bsp;it‟s stable enough but who k nows how
long that will last.â€&nb sp;
Kakiboufuu hummed as he considered&n bsp;his options then said, “Aniue&nb sp;isn‟t going to
like this,&nbs p;but we‟ll have leave without t hem. Leave us at sunset and, if po ssible,
check the castle after you get back. The swords will smell and&nbs p;feel like Aniue. If
you find the m, handle them with care and return them to us at your earliest
convenience.&nbs p; It might do Aniue some good to b e without them for a while so donâ €Ÿt
sweat it if you canâ&euro ;Ÿt return them until after Kuromaru bit es it.â€
“Understoo d,†said Kenji.
Kakiboufuu separated from the wolf and approached his&nb sp;brother. “Sorry, Aniue,â€& nbsp;he
said then placed his left hand&n bsp;on Sesshomaru‟s forehead. Sessho maru‟s golden eyes
fluttered the n closed. Kakiboufuu caught him as he&n bsp;tipped forward.
“Oji-san!& acirc;€ cried Naomi in alarm.
“He shouldn‟t be movin g with these injuries,†said Kakiboufu u as explanation. “His
yo uki is almost non-existent. If he doesn ‟t rest now his heart will fail. So unless
you want to see&nb sp;your father shrivel into an old man a nd die, don‟t complain about
my methods.â€
Several of t he clan gasped in horror. Naomi shrank& nbsp;in shame. Saben jumped out of
the tree and reached toward the unconscious& nbsp;demon. “I am ashamed to&n bsp;admit that I
have the fewest injurie s and am the least exhausted. At l east allow me to carry
Sesshomaru-sama,â ;€ he said.
“You&nbs p;have nothing to be ashamed of, Saben,â ;€ said Kakiboufuu. “You helped keep
away those who would have&nb sp;attacked me as I readied my spell. &n bsp;You even stood
against Yamibi though ;you were outclassed.†Saben flushed& nbsp;with embarrassment
and looked away. &nbs p;“I need to carry Aniue to&nbs p;maintain the spell I put on him, but&n bsp;how
about you help the worst injured make the trek?†The young man bowed and
walked away as Kakiboufuu& nbsp;slid Sesshomaru onto his back.
The Taisho took in the sight&nb sp;of his battered and exhausted clansmen, re gretting his
need for a hasty departure. He then turned his attention to t he remaining firebirds
and said, â&euro ;œThank you for your assistance.â€&nbs p; The firebirds called an
acknowledgement&nb sp;then turned and vanished. Kakiboufuu was& nbsp;tired and he hurt all
over. T he after effects of the Jewel of Life&ac irc;€Ÿs attempted revival were setting i n.
Sesshomaru was never a lightweight&n bsp;to begin with and the iron in his&nb sp;body only
made things worse. Trying& nbsp;to ignore the trembling in his knees,&nb sp;he started forward.
It w as going to be a long walk home.
***********
When Kuromaru and& nbsp;his stunned troops arrived midmorning the&nbs p;next day, Kenji
and his party were&nbs p;sitting on their own plateau shooting dice. Sitting beside the
pack leader wa s a long, thin box. Kuromaru hardly&nbs p;paid it any heed to the item as < br> he fumed at the sight of the wolves& nbsp;fooling around in enemy territory.
;
“What happened? Report!â&eur o; the Tenko leader barked.
â ;€œYour son received an unexpected ass& nbsp;whooping,†said Kenji, while his eyes fixed on
the cup Tsubame was u sing to shake the five dice. The t ypical dice shoot was with
two dice ;but the wolves weren‟t anything ;if not unconventional. It was still a& nbsp;
han/cho (odd/even) call but with five&nb sp;dice, the money went to the one who&n bsp;not only
won the call but called&nbs p;the actual amount of pips first when t he dice were exposed.
Tsubame was the count checker and held the place of “houseâ&euro ;. If no one called it
right, ;she got the pot. So far, she was& nbsp;killing them.
Kuromaru glared. &nb sp;He hated being reminded that Kuromakaze wa s his child. “I can
see that!†he roared, his horse n eighed and danced but the demons didnâ& euro;Ÿt look up
from their game. &n bsp;They made their calls and waited with&nbs p;bated breath for the dice to
roll . Kuromaru drew water from his bottle&n bsp;and shot it at the offending dice. & nbsp;They
flew away into the mud below.& nbsp;
“Oi!†shouted ;Kenji and snarled at the Tenko lord.
“Now that I have your& nbsp;undivided attention,†Kuromaru said, t hrough clenched
teeth. “Tell&n bsp;me exactly what happened here.â€
“What else is there to tell?†replied Kenji, rising from&nbs p;the ground and brushing the
dust from& nbsp;his black fur. “He pissed off the inuyokai. They came in an d messed the
place up when he was&n bsp;preparing to annihilate your troops. He& nbsp;flew the blue third.
They left&nbs p;and he and his remaining troops high-tailed it out of here before you
showed&n bsp;up.â€
“Why didn ‟t you follow him?â€
“Didn‟t wanna die .â€
“You just let a prime chance to kill Kuromakaze sl ip away?†Kuromaru had turned beet red and Kenji was struggling not ;to laugh. The rest of the scouting&nbs p;party were
biting their lips as well.& nbsp;
Kenji, with great dignity, raised& nbsp;his right hand in the direction of the castle and
said, “He h ad raised the blue third. To attack&nbs p;him then would have violated the
truce of the blue third.â€
& acirc;€œWell this campaign‟s aw ash,†said General Iken Makoto. “Let‟s get back â €žfore that
over-thinking pup gets his reserves and launches an attack â&e uro;žgainst our unprotected
asses.
;
“We are not going back!&n bsp; We are finishing this!†roared&nb sp;Kuromaru.
“Thatâ€&Yum l;s what you said the last three times&n bsp;we did this,†said General Makoto. “Are
you that determined to keep making the same mistakes? ;We don‟t know where he
wen t but we do know that wherever it i s there will be fresh men waiting for&nb sp;our
attack. He was waiting for us this time and we got lucky. Do& nbsp;you want to tempt the
gods again&nb sp;and hand the entire country over to K uromakaze? I say we go back and think about rebuilding our army while he&a circ;€Ÿs nursing his wounds. Even I realize that
the pup is slow. &nb sp;If he‟s wounded, he‟l l sit tight until he‟s better&nb sp;unless provoked.
We can‟t&nb sp;afford to provoke him. We canâ&euro ;Ÿt even afford this campaign.†< br>
“Are you questioning me?&a circ;€ demanded Kuromaru as he whirled t o face the scruffy
wolf hanyou.
&nb sp;
General Makoto met his eyes unafraid and replied, “I‟m not&n bsp;the only one.â€
Kuromaru sear ched the gazes of his officers and blanc hed. All of them were fixing
him&n bsp;with the same hard stare as Iken Mak oto. Faced with the lack of support&nbs p;and
no enemy in sight to challenge,&nb sp;he turned his horse around and led th e way back to
their castle.
< br> The pack rose to their feet and Kenj i picked up the box he was guarding,&nbs p;glad
Kuromaru hadn‟t noticed i t. It would have brought up questions&n bsp;whose answers
would have led to the& nbsp;more dangerous questions. Sesshomaru†Ÿs missing swords had
been found wi thin an hour of Kenji returning to Castl e Arai. They were packed
away in&n bsp;that box within the well stocked armory.& nbsp; The swords‟ auras had prot ested
his touching them so he had s imply closed the box and brought it outs ide with him.
He didn‟t&nb sp;think he would be able to slip away&n bsp;long enough to return them while
Kur omaru remained as lord.
As th ey followed after the retreating army, Iken&n bsp;Makoto leaned from his horse and
whi spered in his ear, “Is that&nbs p;what really happened, Kenji?â€
“I may have left out the&n bsp;part about Fluff-puff-sama‟s capture&n bsp;being the reason for
they‟re being there,†replied Kenji in a hushed voice. “And I lie d about the part
where they arrived ;while Kuromakaze was waiting for us. B ut it‟s fairly accurate
otherwis e.†General Makoto snorted but s aid nothing more as he rode ahead.
_________________________
Author Chat:
My villains tend to be fairly prac tical. Kuromakaze will make short term sacrifices
if it grants him long term&nb sp;success and never the reverse. While ;most modern
humans will scratch their h eads in confusion over this concept, he is one who
understands true solutions ar e found only in the long term plans.&nbs p;
I also couldn‟t resist&n bsp;the idea of world destruction being avert ed by the very
practical if evil vi llain. He wants to rule the world not a graveyard. So he will do
all in his power to protect the world& nbsp;from devastation. Funny, huh? He and
Kakiboufuu are completely united in their desire to protect the world. Too& nbsp;bad they
can‟t agree on&nbs p;who should rule it.
_________________ _____________
Chapter 39: A Brotherâ ;€™s Duty
The inuyokai re turn victorious but also weary and injured.&n bsp; Aid for Sesshomaru is
slow as he needs time to recover his energy. &nb sp;However, what angers him the most is
his brother‟s willingness to har m himself.
______________________________________ ______________________________
Translations:
Tsuch i: earth
Hi: fire
Mizu: water
Ki: wood
Kane: metal
Kaze: wind
Himizu: as discordant as fire and water&nbs p;
Hikaze: fire wind
Tenki: weather
Enzeru: angel
Hanyou: half-demon
Obi: th e sash that is wrapped around a woman&ac irc;€Ÿs waist to hold her kimono cl osed.
Matte: wait!
Shoji: sliding door.& nbsp;
Engawa: veranda, walkway running along t he outside of the buildings.
Temee: you, derogatory term, very insulting.
Kisama:&nbs p;you, derogatory term, more vulgar than teme e
Ano: uh
Hai: Yes
Aniyome: el der brother‟s wife; sister-in-law
Hime: Princess
Waka: Young lord, used for the son of a noble.
Otouto: Lit tle brother.
Onii-(__): Big brother, general. Honorific added on to end, determining level of
respect of love. (Can&nb sp;also be used when addressing a young man.)
Aniue: Big brother, formal.
Imouto : Little sister.
Onee-(__): Big sister, general. Honorific added on to end, det ermining level of
respect of love. ;(Can also be used when addressing a you ng woman.)
Aneue: Big sister, formal.&nb sp;
Ojii-(__): Grandfather, general. Honorific&nbs p;added on to end, determining level of
respect of love. (Can also be used when addressing an elderly man.)
Obaa-( __): Grandmother, general. Honorific added o n to end, determining level of
respect&n bsp;of love. (Can also be used when&nbs p;addressing an elderly woman.)
Oji-(__): Unc le, general. Honorific added on to end, determining level of respect of
love.&n bsp; (Can also be used when addressing a middle-aged man.)
Oba-(__): Aunt, general.&n bsp; Honorific added on to end, determining&n bsp;level of respect of
love. (Can ;also be used when addressing a middle-aged&n bsp;woman.)
Mina wa ookii aho desu: &nbs p;Everyone‟s a big idiot.
Sumima sen: Excuse me.
Oyaji: Father, informal masculine.
Otou-(__): Father, general. Honor ific added on to end, determining level of respect
or love.
Chichiue: Father,&nb sp;formal.
Ofukuro: Mother, informal masculine.&nb sp;
Okaa-(__): Mother, general. Honorific add ed on to end, determining level of respe ct
or love.
Hahaue: Mother, formal
Otaa-sama: Mother, said by children of c ourt nobles to their mothers.
XX-(blank):&nbs p;Intimate or rude address depending on usage .
XX-kun: Male honorific, friendly
XX-ch an: Female or young boy honorific, friendly&n bsp;
XX-san: general honorific, polite, (Mr. o r Ms.)
XX-sama: formal or very polite&nb sp;honorific, used for those of superior stat us or to show
great respect. (Lord or Lady)
XX-dono: more formal honorific, ;more respectful than XX-sama. Derived from& nbsp;tono
= lord.