InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Invitations to Trouble ❯ By My Word ( Chapter 27 )

Kiso was dying.

 

Jaken spotted the young man from the corner of his eyes as the hulking figure continued to hold at bay the shrinking borders at the edge of the wolves encircling him while simultaneously shielding the bodies of a few wounded soldiers. The bulk of the massive cross bolt and sword swept out again and again in a dual arc of concussive force and honed steel, but the retainer did not need heightened hearing to pick out the startled scream of a soldier who was snatched from beneath the safety of Kiso's arm span and drawn into the sea of teeth and fur.

 

When the terrified screaming ended in a choking, unpleasantly liquid note that died all too slowly, the wolves' voices took on a keener note and Jaken cursed his ears for their acuity. His cap had been lost ages ago, leaving the green sweat-speckled head exposed to the unrelenting sun that had just risen scant hours ago. Once fine cloth was dragged quickly across his round face while the other arm deftly flung out a searing pathway of furious fire. The effort to wipe away the sweat was for naught since the sleeves were already soaked through from Jaken's exertion.

 

Small and nimble still, Jaken could feel his body aching with the combined strain of casting and fighting in tandem. Even so, when his yellow eyes dated towards the other man, they detected a certain flagging of strength in the arcs of each weapon Kiso held.

 

'And little wonder. He's standing in a pool of his own blood, practically covering his comrades with his as much as they already are covered with their own!' There was a twinge of sorrow in the coarse thought, or as much as could be spared for any person who was not Jaken himself or his revered Lords Sesshomaru and Yamatsu.

 

Steaming as it fell in crimson droplets, Kiso's lifeblood watered the ground in a gruesome springtime shower, pouring forth from myriad claw and bite marks. One leg had been rendered all but useless, leather and flesh masticated into an unrecognizable mass at the heel and making its owner favor it in a manner that spoke of a severed tendon. It had been meant as a killing strike and the ookami that had delivered it was a barely recognizable smear on a distant wall. But the damage had been done.

 

The previously meticulous armor was stained with gore and utterly ruined from gashes in numerous areas, becoming more frayed and ragged as its bearer continued to fight tide after tide of slathering ookami and youkai.

 

Behind the ceremonial face guard, labored breathing bellowed as the great lungs could be heard straining for the next desperately sought portion of air. The sound intensified as Kiso cast aside the piled upon forms of the vermin-like horde which taxed his great strength again and again by leaping or clamoring the youkai. He was trying so desperately to save not only his own life but the lives of the two soldiers still beneath him.

 

The impact of being thrown off fazed some of the wolves Jaken saw hit the ground, but not enough of them stayed prone for long. Too many found their feet again and turned ravenous blood-filled eyes towards the towering fighter.

 

They were wolves.

 

Jaken knew that even a large foe could be brought down once it had been fatigued by the lightning quick attacks designed to keep the boy off balanced and teetering. After all, the best tactic for making the prey tire itself out was to make it try to watch all of its sides at once.

 

Jaken sent forth greater gouts of flame, turning the air crimson with the crackling heat as he incinerated a small group of wolves who sought to take advantage of his mild distraction to devour him. He knew he should not be sparing the precious moments of speculation upon Kiso, especially with his own tiny legs straining to shake with the effort of staying one step ahead of the enemy.

 

Heart quaking with dismay when his lantern-wide eyes beheld only the gathered forms of brown and black furred bodies pouring over the walls of the mansion, Jaken nearly succumbed to despair. Each fresh body renewed the strength of the ookami. Even as his attention darted between his own attackers and the distant walls, he could see some of the wolves fan out towards the main house of the mansion, disappearing into the darkened holes where once majestic doors and windows had been.

 

'No doubt hunting the rest of the household and staff. That accursed taijiya and monk are likely dead. Although the rest of the staff is of no great import, Lord Yamatsu will be most displeased that the house fell along with his new bride.' Oddly disjointed, the grim thoughts carried a certain acceptance of personal fate. The retainer had no illusions that he would perhaps live beyond this day. 'Lord Yamatsu will most certainly be displeased about the Lady Shinaki's demise as well as that of the children.' That last thought brought a strange pang to his small chest and he suddenly longed to see a pair of inquisitive emerald green eyes before he departed this world.

 

As the macabre musings flew through Jaken's mind, the smoked-filled sky overhead flashed with the false lightening as the barrier was breached repeatedly. Through neither sage nor miko, the retainer was at a loss as to how the ookami had found the seemingly impossible means to bypass such a powerful precaution. Cocooned in the hollow of waving trees, they easily used the weathered woods as a means to safely pass through.

 

Gibbering madly as he poured copious amounts of chi into the fiery spells; the smaller man was working steadily through his fight to edge closer to the feet of the flagging giant. Once within earshot, he called out with all the authority he could muster in his haggard voice while spanning those last few feet to Kiso's side.

 

"Do not fall soldier!! You are the vassal of Lord Yamatsu and we will not fail him! Is this understood?!"

 

The shuddering of the great body was all of the answer he received and for a moment Jaken was afraid that it was the death knoll of the giant youkai. IN fact, a triumphant howl split the air and he heard the protracted groan from behind him as Kiso fell to one knee, body held aloft by the bloodied pillar of a tightly clutched sword.

 

Around them, the circle held. Wild excitement rippled through the wolves, making the air pungent with the expectation of a kill and the blood lust it incited. The prospect of a swift kill had more than a few of them salivating madly, fangs flashing while they tightened the deadly ring.

 

It took a moment for Jaken to realize that the air was weighted with far more than the deadly pause before a final attack. There was silence beneath the snarling and snapping of razor sharp teeth. A clarity that even the pitiless laughter could not pierce and it blanketed each combatant likes a shroud until all other noise was smothered and snuffed out.

 

*pat*

 

Blinking to recover his strained wits, Jaken tried to place the familiar and utterly innocuous sound while still remaining alert for any surge forward from the ookami surrounding them. However, the ones closest to them seemed to be suddenly thrown into confusion and were visibly sniffing the air.

 

*pat*

 

There it was again.

 

It came and went like a heartbeat, replacing the rancid silence which was all that remained as the atmosphere finally choked the sound from the rest of the pack. In the distance, there was still the crackling of the blaze within the household and the cries of those dying but here in the surrounding area about Kiso and he, there was an absolute quietude.

 

For one moment, he could not understand why the leering faces of the ookami around them were slowly shifting from triumphant greed to a reluctant wariness.

 

“Hah! It has taken them long enough to recognize the scent of one who closely serves the Lords Yamatsu and Sesshomaru. No doubt tales of my incredible battle prowess has them cowed. Fools! Jaken the Invincible shows no mercy to those who would trespass in the seat of the Western Han!”

 

While he may have ridiculed the enemy for their less than stellar uptake, it took a moment for the retainer to realize that the wolves were looking beyond him. To be precise, they were wall staring fixedly behind him were a strange glow was emanating.

 

Jaken did not waste time speculating upon how he had missed this phenomenon. His life was on the line after all. What was most important to him was if this occurrence boded ill or good for him in the long run.

 

Turning slowly as a dreadful chill formed in the pit of his stomach, Jaken could only join the ookami in gaping openly at the young man who had captured their attention. The glow suffusing Kiso's body had begun at the sword which flared as coolly as starlight, hard and perfect. Where it touched the armored gloves in its inexorable crawl up the handle, the shredded material re-knitted and wove together, renewing as if the years were being washed away in the bathing of that crystalline light. When it crept up his forearms to the expanse of his shoulders, the labored breathing eased with two last shuddering gasps. Afterwards, only the calm and even inhalations could be heard flowing smoothly from behind the ceremonial face guard.

 

*pat, pat, pat*

 

Pointed green ears twitched at the sound, but again Jaken could not urge his sluggish thoughts to identify it. Kneeling upon one leg, Kiso grabbed the hilt of the sword with his other hand, leather-clad fingers creaking as they tightened about the shaft as if the youkai somehow sought to meld his very being with the metal through the force of his will and grip alone.

 

*pat, pat, pat, pat, pat*

 

Cold but curiously soothing as well, Jaken felt something trickle down his cheek like a solitary tear.

 

Not bothering to wipe it away, he continued to take in the spectacle of the kneeling soldier. By now those huddled beneath his great mass had been touched by the glow as well and slumped to the ground prone, as though given a sleeping draught. The sight of it was enough to make the little man dance away, trying to place as much distance between himself and the eerie light without falling directly into a waiting set of foam-flecked jaws.

 

By now the sound was coming in a steady fall, once more tugging at the recesses of the retainer's mind with its haunting familiarity. There was something about it… Watching as Kiso bowed the helmed head, Jaken wondered how long the spell could hold them all in stasis before something gave and the returned to the murderous task of killing one another. Struggling to control his breathing, to not let the keen ears hear the slight hitch as his age warred with the need to exist upon this world one more day, Jaken heard the voice borne upon the wind as that great head slowly rose.

 

“I Am The Vassal Of My Lord.” Twin moons blazed forth from the hollow pit which had become the azure man's face and his every word echoed in the sky overhead as the bruise-dark clouds which had been stealthily gathering flashed with the true white-hot lines of lightning. “Upon these grounds you trespass and I have been charged with their protection. You have fought without honor and so will die the same.” Rising until both of the massive feet were braced upon the now sodden ground by the gentle patter of rain which hissed as it warred with the flames behind him, Kiso lifted the great sword which even in that petulant gloom shone like the frozen tears of moonlight. Shoulders back and gaze level, his voice was gravelly and thick with a barely checked fury made all the more noticeable for the lack of fear behind it. “Tian Xin Ki So swears it!”

 

Jaken nearly swallowed his tongue.