InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Knight Errant ❯ Chapter Twenty ( Chapter 20 )

Disclaimer: I do not own InuYasha or any of the other inhabitants of the fine story of Rumiko's that we all know and love. Kiyoshi, Tomoe, Aikiko, and Sashiko are mine, and I hope you enjoy them as they are encountered.

 

 

 

“It was Naraku that killed Kikyou. Now that I know that, I won't rest until she's avenged.”

 

 

 

Kagome did not question his discovery, for had not she herself drawn much the same conclusion? She was surprised a bit at his sudden thirst for revenge but after all nothing was more loyal than an Inu youkai according to all she had learned. InuYasha had grieved for Kikyou over fifty years ago and moved on, matured in his feelings and emotions, but their recent encounter with the Urusue raised undead form of her seemed to have brought those old feelings back into sharp relief. For a few minutes as they spoke it seemed that he was the young hanyou of so long ago, but simply being around Kagome helped him temper them once again. He hadn't changed his mind on revenge, but just talking to Kagome made him realize that he would need a very good plan to defeat Naraku. A headlong charge might make his adrenaline pump and make him feel powerful, but it would not guarantee Naraku's defeat.

 

 

 

The smartest course would be to take all the help he could get from his friends and allies in this matter, especially since most of them had their own issues with Naraku. Like it or not he of course had to count that neko Kiyoshi in with the rest and it was as if just the thought of him was enough to summon him forth for there upon the road towards the village appeared that neko youkai Prince. His robes were crimson with pristine white under garments and hakama, though today he had on pieces of a matched set of partial armor along with the usual silks. His expression was more reserved than usual as well though it was uncertain if this were because of what had happened earlier with Naraku or the fact that trailing behind him was a rather miserable looking Tomoe.

 

 

 

She was miserable because she was soaking wet, her long midnight dark hair was loose in ropy drenched strands around her face and her cheeks were burning with a vivid crimson blush that nearly overpowered the marks on her cheekbones that denoted how pure her youkai half was. The little hanyou sneezed which seemed to only add to her misery as tears began welling up in her golden green eyes and her auburn furred ears were flat against her skull almost buried in her bedraggled wet hair. Kagome darted into Kaede's hut and came back out again almost immediately with one of the blankets she'd brought with her from home and she went around Kiyoshi with a brief flicker of questioning glance before she knelt to wrap the shy hanyou girl in the dry fleece.

 

 

 

“Tomoe, indulge us please and tell everyone why you are here.”

 

 

 

Kiyoshi's voice was almost wintry with disapproval as he spoke, turning his hand to examine his retractable claws which were flexing in and out with each word. Yet this group knew him and they knew he was not so much angry with his daughter as he was distressed that she had been found alone and without the company she was supposed to be in. Her voice came hesitant and soft, muffled by Kagome's blanket and embrace.

 

 

 

“Grand Father had to go find something so he left me with some of the forest cats. I wanted to see if I could hide from them …”

 

 

 

Her voice dropped to almost a mumble until Kiyoshi cleared his throat to indicate that she should repeat herself more clearly.

 

 

 

“Then I … caught Kouga's scent and I followed it towards here because I wanted to play with Shippou again!”

 

 

 

Her voice was almost defiant at the last, the blush back tenfold as she shivered in Kagome's arms.

 

 

 

“Then I fell in the river.”

 

 

 

She drooped noticeably as her father explained that he'd caught his child's scent surprisingly far from where she was supposed to be safe and that he had found her just in time to see her running for her life from a bear demon, and while they could tell his agitation at the matter from his voice it was hard to hide the hint of laughter when he relayed the expression on his daughter's face as she decided to try and jump the river despite the fact that it was four times as wide as any distance he'd ever seen her cover in a leap. He'd been able to fish her out readily enough and had decided that since they were closer by far to Kaede's village than to the lakes around Mt. Fuji that it would be best for now that they come here.

 

 

 

This was not to say that he was pleased about it but he above all knew that one had to deal with what fate dished out. It was either that or just give up and it was not in Kiyoshi's nature to give up. Kagome took Tomoe in to Kaede's hut to get her into dry clothing and comb the tangles from her hair, and by the time she got back InuYasha had relayed his theory about Naraku and Kikyou. None of them knew just what it might be that Naraku had ever wanted from Kikyou beyond taking the Sacred Jewel from her protection, but as InuYasha haltingly spoke of the events of that day so long gone fifty years past, the puzzle merely grew. It seemed that Naraku must have had the Jewel in his grasp at least once, taking it from Kikyou when he wounded her, but he subsequently replaced it in the Temple where InuYasha took it himself after whom he thought was Kikyou had fired arrows at him in the woods.

 

 

 

He realized of course when the real Kikyou fired her own arrow at him that the other had to be a false priestess, for there had been no flare of purifying power from that arrow in the woods. Her words that he had betrayed her further deepened the mystery, because he knew that he had done no such thing. While he recounted the tale his voice was low and somber though his expression was as still as the one his elder brother nearly always wore. If it weren't for the anguish in his golden eyes he might have seemed nearly unaffected, but that anguish was there and burning. Kagome's heart went out to him, so experienced in years but he was still a boy by demon standards after all. A boy that had been trying so hard for acceptance and love only to have it all stolen away in the moments it took for two unsure lovers to betray each other due to doubts.

 

 

 

“Regardless of why it happened it seems sure that his hand is in this somehow. The question now lies in what he will do once he hears that Kikyou has returned to the mortal realm … at least, the semblance of her has returned.”

 

 

 

Miroku's voice was somber as he spoke of the living dead Kikyou, he knew deep within his heart that her return as a vengeance wreaking spirit boded none of their group well. He knew InuYasha hoped that if he avenged her she could then let go of her hate and pass back to the spirit world in peace, but somehow the monk did not feel it would be so easy as all of that. He felt that it would not be at all easy to find and defeat Naraku, if such were so Kiyoshi would have done so long ago. At least the finding part, though Miroku did not doubt that behind that smug neko demeanor the Prince had power. The problem lay in that none of them truly knew the extent of Naraku's machinations. If only there were some way to divine who he had been in life then perhaps they could make plans based on his former motivations.

 

 

 

Unfortunately at the moment such luxury was out of their reach, the kami themselves only knew as well just how much Naraku already knew about them all. The deception of Sango's taijiya village proved that Naraku was wily and most likely studied his prey until it was time to best strike, as well as the battles with his own grandfather which showed how well Naraku could use the weaknesses of others to his best advantage. Miroku knew that they had courage and resolve on their side but that those two virtues alone were not enough to ensure that they were victorious at the final battle. He would contact a certain friend of his soon to begin circulating rumors in the demon world and see what information could be dug up that way, a tactic that had worked for him in the past while he hunted Jewel Shards alone.

 

 

 

… A Few Hours Later …

 

 

 

He had of course heard certain rumors over the course of the last few days. He had heard of the defeat of the witch Urusue after her defilement of Kikyou's grave, though that defeat had angered him somewhat as he had wanted to defile Urusue in return for her audacity. He did not care that she had defiled a sacred site, it was just that particular site held some meaning for him. For many decades it had served as an anchor for him, to remind him that sometimes despite getting what one asks for one does not always get what one wants. He could admit now from the vantage point of fifty years past that had he been nearly as clever as he thought he was that what he had desired would have been his, exactly as he had desired it.

 

 

 

But he had not been nearly as clever then as he was now, nor had his burning desire been enough to control the desire of the others that had suddenly made up his new body. His intellect had been immediately suborned and he did what they wanted instead. He had wanted to corrupt the Jewel and that was a wish they at least tried to grant, to corrupt it with sorrow, rage and betrayal, which was a fine thing indeed because after all the Jewel was more beautiful tainted then ever it was pure. But their method of doing so robbed him of the other thing he wanted most, desired most. True it was that he wanted that damned half-demon wretch dead, but again he wanted to do it with his own hands. They felt it more fitting that She kill him, and they had wounded her mortally to generate that rage, betrayal, and sorrow. Wounded Her when they knew she had been the reason he had made his desperate deal.

 

 

 

It was not long after that he absorbed them all, his anguish and rage fueling his power until of all the hundreds of demons that had come to his call were vanquished within him. He was now what he desired to be, the power was his and he had locked away the human heart that still called, demanded, longed for Kikyou. Very rarely upon a melancholy whim he would wake up that heart and examine those memories and feelings, remember her cool healing touch upon his burned skin, how gentle she had been tending him and changing his bandages when all else turned from him in repulsion including her younger sister who brought him food only so that Kikyou would not have to do all things for him. Yet he knew that she feared him, even those that did not suspect that he was the bandit leader Onigumo. Not that he cared who knew, he even told the sniveling brat who he was just to see her flinch. He was so badly burned, so injured and infirm that he knew he would never leave the cave he was kept in alive and no death that the villagers could dream up for him would be worse than this near paralyzed nightmare of his final days.

 

 

 

Once he had been strong, limbs straight and powerful, eyes dark with evil intelligence, long hair that even the women he deigned to spend his attentions on were envious of. He had a goodly face though not unlike many other men, he was never so beautiful as to be confused with a female for example. But he was never repulsive to look upon before he was burned; it was only his deeds as he dealt with his fellow man that was disgusting about him. He had never lacked for company or those willing to follow his evil scheme to riches despite the danger until of course he took into his company of thieves a certain fellow named Hikari and his brother Jun. Slowly they began to turn his men against him, whispers that he kept only the best for himself and did not share the spoils amongst the men as he should, that in the end he would sacrifice them all to save himself, that he was responsible for the capture of two of their men from a failed raid who even now hung from trees outside a castle.

 

 

 

Men who should have known better allowed themselves to be swayed and Onigumo did not see the signs of it in his arrogance until it was far too late. Hikari had been the one to set the hut he slept in on fire, and it was only the sheerest luck that allowed him to escape with his life, the whore he slept with had not been so lucky. Yet how many times in the following days after his charred body had been found at the foot of that cliff had he wished that he had perished with her? He had lost it all in that blaze, his looks, his confidence, his arrogance, he had lost his very self in that fire and all he had now was pain. Pain until the village priestess in her pity came to take care of him, to make him comfortable until he passed on to the next world. Onigumo had never before in his life loved anyone other than himself, and the emotion was overwhelming to him. Yet nothing in his life had ever been or could ever be pure, not even love.

 

 

 

So it was that he loved Kikyou in the only fashion he knew how. It was obsessive, it was lustful, and it was dirty, more so than it would have been for an ordinary woman because Kikyou was a Priestess and more, she was the Guardian of the Sacred Jewel. Yet for all that it was love, and love makes many men both lesser and higher do stupid, ill thought out things. Though it is true that perhaps none of them had done something as absolutely horrendous as Onigumo did in the name of love, for none of them had the inner strength of will and the core of evil that he possessed still. As he lay there in his rage, lust and despair he hatched a plan. To have Kikyou as a man had a woman he needed his whole and healthy body back. The burned sticks of his arms could never embrace her as he desired, and the instrument he would use in his conquest of her had seen much better days as well.

 

 

 

Any price he felt would be worth it to have her as his own, have her under him, ruled and controlled by him. Yet he had not decided to move forward with his plan until the younger sister in her loathing of him shouted that she hoped that InuYasha would claw off his face after he had asked her one too many questions about her sister. For once he had ceased asking about Kikyou, and he asked instead about this … InuYasha. Onigumo had been surprised indeed about what Kaede had revealed to him then. The implications that this InuYasha would claw off his face had at first made him think that she must have meant a dog, a temple guardian protector beast of some sort perhaps. Yet as Kaede spoke he knew that the only dog in InuYasha was the half of him that was demon. A priestess and a half-demon, what a sick joke that was and he laughed his sickly whispery dry burned laugh when Kaede hotly told him that InuYasha really loved Kikyou, that he was going to wish on the Jewel of Four Souls and become a human man, just for her.

 

 

 

After Kaede left Onigumo whispered to himself in his rage that if a half-demon like InuYasha would give up his demonic youkai side then he as a human man could do no less for his love Kikyou. He would call up demonic power and give up his humanity instead to show her just how much he loved her. The rage of his black soul had been the bait to call them forth and he had made his bargain with them, and a poor bargain for him it turned out as he was suborned and forced to watch as a prisoner in his own mind as his new body took on the shape of the half-demon rival and ran through the tall grass that his heart's desire walked through on her way to bring the jewel to InuYasha so he could make his wish. Ran through that tall grass and ripped her form, the blood splashing crimson red like her hakama as if in a dream he heard his new voice mimic InuYasha's cruelly as she lay dying. His rage was not enough to wrest control of his body, not yet, and it took her form and vanished before coming up again to fire arrows at InuYasha. More magic spent and the Sacred Jewel was replaced in the temple …

 

 

 

He had watched as the events unfolded, watched as she shot her arrow at InuYasha to seal him instead of kill him, watched as the wolf-prince had collided with the Inu mixed breed and taken the arrow in the chest instead while Kikyou died in InuYasha's arms. He watched too as the villagers took her up and heard the truth of what happened, that it had not been InuYasha to attack their village and kill the priestess, and he watched when they sent her body to the afterlife on a pyre, her hands holding the Sacred Jewel. It had not been long after that that he had taken back his body and subjugated all the demons inside him. He spent much of his early time then simply wandering around looking to see if the Jewel would pop up, and committing various misdeeds to further his own goals and schemes. He did not mind when evil acts others committed were attributed to him as well, as his reputation increased so did his power to make others fear him.

 

 

 

He had made many enemies in his short by some standards time as a demon, and that was fine with him too, for in his `heart' there was still the arrogance of someone born as a human man. Yet all his schemes were merely play-acting at evil until this very moment when he felt the power he wanted was once more close to being in his grasp. The Jewel had returned and been shattered, and he intended to be the one to make it whole again, to turn its tainted glory to his own uses and his own power. He did not fear that he could lose, he was Naraku after all and not even the Greater Demon who sought him could find him unless he wanted him to do so. But as much as it galled him he needed one thing he did not have if he intended to come through this the winner. He needed allies, spies that could find out things he could not, could be in more than one place physically at once, could do things that his demonic puppets were simply not capable of.

 

 

 

Imagine his astonishment when the first of these came and found him before he'd even known if it was true or not that she walked the realm again. He did not know if he should be overjoyed that she had found him so easily, that she had wanted to find him, that she offered herself to him if he would aid her in the destruction of InuYasha. It all sounded too good to be true and the heart he had hidden and locked away inside him that still wanted, still longed, still lusted, still loved Kikyou clamored for him to cast aside caution and just take her. She even brought him a gift, a large chunk of the Jewel which she had gathered up quite easily in her few days back upon the mortal earth using her powers as a Priestess to find it and merge the shards back together. It was tainted from her touch, and if a shard were already tainted her touch merely added to its darkness. He accepted the gift and while he wondered why she would not keep it for herself he would not allow that wonder to keep him from using it.

 

 

 

But he also knew that with his human heart awake again that if he were not careful she might end up ruling him and that he could not have. So while she lay dormant in a state similar to sleep he called forth that human heart with his new found power and he created a blank body of flesh to house it in and sent it out from him, casting it away. The being had dark hair as he had had in life and still favored, his body was comely and well made despite the spider shaped scar upon his back, yet where should have been a handsome face to match the body there was nothing but blankness. Yet it was still able to make its way and it amused Naraku to watch as he slew bandit after bandit, soldiers, peasants, all searching for a face that pleased him. It was fitting he supposed that the face he settled upon was exceedingly handsome, taken from a traveling monk whom also lost his name to the faceless demon. He was now Muso, and he took up the things he had won in battle, the horse, the armor, the swords and he robbed and pillaged villages to take what he wanted.

 

 

 

The problem of course lie in that he did not know what it truly was that he longed for, just that he did long and that there was some great emptiness within him that he wanted filled. It was sheer luck for him that he found what it was at all, let alone in the fashion that he did. She had been out with Kaede who had after much thought told her the story of Onigumo and gotten Kagome to wondering if that could have been the start of Naraku, so they went up through the grass towards the cave in which Onigumo had lain, accompanied by the monk Miroku. Going in to that desolate place Miroku had sensed the evil that had lain there, even fifty years afterwards, and he too began to think that Kagome had been right in her leap of logic. What happened afterwards however was a surprise to them all, who would have thought that their paths would cross with Muso's?

 

 

 

He had been up the hill from the cave, looking down towards where Kaede's village was and wondering if they might have anything he would covet, and if he should bother to raid them or not, when the small party had come out of the cave. He watched them with great interest and when the wind caught Kagome's long dark hair and pushed it back from her face he gasped aloud. That woman, he knew her! He knew he did yet he could not think of her name right away and something about her face made him know that here was what he had been missing, here was what he had longed for. Her form was hidden by gentle robes so he did not know she was expecting a child, though doubtless that would have made no difference in his decision. He dug cruel spurs into the flanks of his horse and thundered down the hill right at the group, shouting.

 

 

 

“You! Woman, what is your name!”

 

 

 

Kagome looked up at the oncoming rider with open astonishment, her lips parted as Miroku shouted out her name in warning. The name stuttered a bit in the mind of Muso, it wasn't quite right but then he had never been known as Muso before so perhaps that made sense to him in some unfathomable fashion. She is mine, mine, mine pounded through his thoughts as he rode towards her and his arm scooped her up onto the saddle before him as he rode hard past the aging priestess and the shouting priest.

 

 

 

“Kagome! Hang on, we'll save you!”

 

 

 

Miroku had no desire to die under Kouga's claws of course but it was more than that, he loved Kagome like a little sister and hated to see anything bad happen to her. He had sensed the demonic aura around the man who had taken her despite that his face was purely human and this combination worried at him. It was exceedingly odd that he had appeared as they had been exploring the past of the being known as Onigumo, and while it could have been just the random event it appeared on the surface to be, Miroku was far more suspicious than that. He patted Kaede's arm and asked her to go to the village and fetch InuYasha and Kiyoshi and tell them what happened and that he was pursuing them himself before he took off in a run that made his purple and black robes flap behind him. Kaede allowed herself a moment to marvel at how fast the priest could run for someone born a human and she wondered if perhaps the near demonic speed and stamina he showed at times was a side “gift” of his curse of the Kazaana. It would be a matter to ponder another day as she made her way down as fast as she could towards the village she called home.

 

 

 

She supposed that she should not have been surprised to meet Kouga on the path first instead of the ones she sought. The wind of his passage blew her hair back from her face and whipped some of the gray strands that had come free from the tie she held it in due to her haste to return. She squinted her single eye as he stopped before her, and noted the near panicked glaze in his brilliant blue eyes, that same emotion making his voice thick when he spoke.

 

 

 

“Where is she old woman? Where is my Kagome, they said at the village that she was with you and the monk.”

 

 

 

“A bandit has taken her, Miroku is in pursuit now and I am going for help.”

 

 

 

Kouga had taken off before the rest of her sentence had left her aging lips and the sheer anguish in his face made her wonder if something more had happened at their den to make him seem that way. Surely all this could not be concern over his mate and child, but then Kaede had no knowledge of the nightmare that had come to Kouga around the time that Kagome had accepted him as her mate. As he ran the refrain pounded in his mind, over and over again. It is the same as the dream, I am going to lose her. The sky's brilliance had nothing but lead in it for the wolf-prince, the sun felt cold on his skin and the pounding of his heart in his chest, he wondered if it were Kagome's fear that made it so. In the past her own power and now Koji's demonic aura had protected her, and that was all the hope Kouga dared to cling to as he scented the wind to try and find which way she had passed. From Kaede's words he knew that the monk followed, his scent had been easy enough to pick up on the wind but Kagome's was proving more elusive, as if her nearness to that bandit were masking her scent from him.

 

 

 

The thought made Kouga growl in rage and he felt darkness creeping up around the edges of his very self as the tall grass sliced at his arms and legs while he ran, dark sharp lines of his blood coming freely despite how quickly those cuts were healing. He broke free of that sharp edged grass to stand in a natural depression, a dip in the land where the scents were mingled and therefore muddled, human, demonic, natural in layers that confused his sharp nose further and he let out an enraged snarl that grew louder as the blue bled from his eyes and his lips drew back from his sharp white teeth, those teeth becoming sharper and longer as the bones of his face ached from a certain shifting. He could feel her in his heart but that was not enough to lead him to her, at least not in this form, and so he allowed the change to come over him then and his helpless rage made it seem swifter than perhaps it had been in the few times he had changed before. The shadows in the clearing grew deep and dark, hazardous and fell before they swirled together to engulf the Yourouzoku Prince where he stood, and soon there was a great beast in the clearing on four legs instead of two.

 

 

 

The wind rippled over fur that would be softer than silk to the touch were one allowed to touch him that is, the darkness of it matching his own raven hair and the brilliant blue eyes of the wolf shown with eerie intelligence as he cast back his head and howled in a mixture of triumph and loss. The demonic strength of that howl was enough to call forth the demon wolves that lived in his forest, to alert the Yourouzoku that followed him that something was wrong and that they should be careful and on watch. In this form his senses were so much more strong and bright that he was able to far more easily pick out the scent of his mate from those that overlay it and in that direction he ran, murder in his eyes for the one that would take her from him. If one drop of her blood had been spilled … his lips drew back in a vicious snarl at that thought and the pounding of his paws as he ran shook the very earth, more so than even his gigantic size would seem to warrant.

 

 

 

It was the howl that made him look up at the woman that he had unceremoniously dumped on the ground next to his fire-pit, her hands now bound to keep her from purifying him which she had tried of course to do the moment he had slid down from the saddle and turned to help her down. The howl chilled the human blood in his very veins, for Muso knew better than most just what sort of damage a wolf could do to a human. Had he not seen from the woods what had happened when he had tied Hikari's brother Jun to a stake and allowed the wolves to have their way with him? That thought confused him, that was not one of his own memories was it? He looked up then the way humans will to share their fears even if it is not said aloud, and what he saw chilled him even further.

 

 

 

Kagome was not afraid of that deep baritone howl that had rent the very air, not one little bit and the smirk she wore on her pink lips disconcerted Muso even as it enraged him. She sat up and made herself as comfortable as she could before speaking and what she said made him strike her across the face.

 

 

 

“My mate is coming to kill you.”

 

 

 

Her pink tongue darted out to catch the drop of blood that had welled from her split lip and for a moment it seemed that her own white teeth had gotten sharper, and a fairly impressive growl came from her throat while darkness loomed up in her once warm chocolate eyes. The girl who always forgave, always found the good in every one she came across said softly yet quite plainly in that voice which was making him both chilled and enraged …

 

 

 

“If you strike me again I will bite off your hand.”

 

 

 

Spoken like a true Yourouzoku Princess despite that she was born and remained human, despite that her aura now flared with the power of a priestess coiled around a demonic aura so strong and wild that even Muso as he was now was taken aback by it. Just what had he taken prisoner that wore the face of his former beloved whose name escaped him just then? Who was this Kagome who seemed such an innocent human maid on the surface but who could growl and snap at him like a demon wolf? He snapped back at her then his own threats that he would and could do what he pleased with her now as she was his possession, and that he would forgive the changes wrought in her as he was sure she could overlook the ones in him. Is that not the way love works? Yet she had turned her nose up at him despite that there was true fear in her of what he could do before someone found them and she hated that fear but would not allow it to make her weak. She needed all of her strength, and as that thought crossed her mind something caught her attention, movement out of the corner of her eye.

 

 

 

The shadows seemed to flow strangely in the underbrush around the clearing that Muso had made his camp in, just beyond the reach of the sunlight that spilled down from above, yet Kagome knew instantly what that movement meant. It was demon wolves, the same demon wolves that she had treated wounds on with her own two hands and who were devoted to her from that moment on, agreeing to follow Kouga just so that they could be near her. The thought that she was not alone made her heart sing and she lifted her gaze once more to meet the puzzled one that Muso wore, the sparkle in her eyes lovely as she shifted her weight to try and lever her way up, wanting to move out of the way of the attack she was sure was coming. Her words were laced with effort as she did stand, deftly stepping away from his reaching hand.

 

 

 

“You have one chance to live, release me now.”

 

 

 

He scoffed. So sure was he of his own power over her and the rest of those that inhabited his world that he did not take her words for what they were, a warning. When he refused to let her go that gleam came back into her eyes and she bowed her head, just as the wolves struck from the shadows. The clearing was suddenly filled with excited barks, growls and yips as the demon wolves crashed into Muso and bore him to the ground and there came in the air the snapping of bone which for some reason did not disgust Kagome as it should have perhaps done. Yet incredibly Muso rose up blooded but unbowed and threw off his attackers again and again as they leapt at him in a way no true mortal man could ever have a hope to do. Then came again that baritone howl that swept over the forest and the scene froze, the wolves slinking away from their target to gather around Kagome protectively with their hackles up and their vicious teeth bared.

 

 

 

A shadow cast its way over the clearing and blotted out the very sun and as Muso looked up his eyes took in a sight that he could never recall having seen in this life or any other he might have once possessed. His fractal mind supplied the words for what his eyes took in that before him was a youkai, most likely a Tai-youkai at that though he could not remember hearing that the Yourouzoku had a Tai-youkai at all. Transformations into a purer more powerful youkai form were simply beyond most youkai in this age and there was a niggling part of him that could not help but be excited by this discovery even as it loomed above him with those icy cobalt eyes that promised him nothing but death and pain.

 

 

 

It was the snarl that drew him back from that strange flare of excitement that almost seemed to come from an outside source, his stolen human eyes widening as the gigantic black wolf with precision and grace that belied his gigantic size leapt at him. Nothing that large should ever be able to move that precisely, it should be lumbering despite the lithe shape it wore, yet the pain he felt was as real as the grace in which the blow had been dealt as Kouga's attack severed his right arm. A real human would have most likely died of such a wound with nothing there to staunch the bleeding and Muso screamed as he scrambled back from the wolf and he darted into the dense underbrush of the trees around his clearing. He wasn't bleeding but that sense of someone far away was stronger than it had been before and he felt his flesh reshape itself to replace that removed limb.

 

 

 

How was this possible? He had never had such uncanny powers in his life before, of that at least he was sure of, nor had the skin of his back ever felt the way it felt now, as if it were afire. Had he been able to see he might have been shocked as the spider scar on his back was a livid red, supplying the power to renew his form as far away Naraku's blood red eyes widened just a touch. It seemed that perhaps he had been too hasty in his casting out of Onigumo's heart and the damage and pain that was being dealt to the form that held it was echoing in his own body. This he could not have, so he set out at speed to reclaim what was his. By the time he arrived Kouga had regained his normal shape to fight Muso in the confines of the woods, and InuYasha and Kiyoshi were there as well. Naraku was surprised at how well Muso was acquitting himself in the battle, not many with powers as limited as the ones he had been given upon his casting off could have held off two full blooded youkai and one enraged half-demon after all.

 

 

 

The tree roots that now made up Muso's arms were dealing their vicious damage even as the blades of light from Kiyoshi's claws cut into his torso and destroyed his stolen armor to reveal the spider mark upon his back to InuYasha. The sight of Naraku's mark seemed to make the hanyou even more enraged and Muso was hard pressed to keep up the fight and repair his damage when a human voice cut across the site of battle.

 

 

 

“Move back! Kazaana!”

 

 

 

Eyes widened and the trio leapt back with astonishing speed as Naraku realized what was going on. The grandson of the houshi that he had cursed was there now and he had uncovered his wind tunnel, drawing at the flesh of Muso. This he could not have, if the heart were drawn in and destroyed it might well destroy him too since the link was still so strong between him and it. With a growl of annoyance he released a swarm of his hell wasps despite the fact that their presence at the battle would be nothing more than an announcement of his own presence. He was disappointed that the monk closed off his cursed hand before drawing in even a single poisoned wasp and he took the opportunity that the distraction provided to step up and embrace Muso, intending to draw him back into his body. What he did not expect was Muso to fight him.

 

 

 

Muso had had his taste of freedom and was loathe to let it go, and it was difficult fighting him and those that had been pursing him at the same time. Yet in the end he had indeed taken Muso back to the disgust of those watching, and made his escape though it cost him dear to do so. InuYasha had struck him with his claws and his attack had gone deep and would take some time to heal, Kiyoshi had hit him more than once with that crescent shaped light attack of his, and Kouga himself had slashed at him with a hand encased in shadows so that it had suddenly gained nine inch claws. Had he not had that chunk of the Sacred Jewel that Kikyou had given him it was doubtful that he would have even survived the encounter. But survived and escaped he had, and more important he now had all of the knowledge that Muso had gained while he was free to peruse at his leisure.

 

 

 

The Yourouzoku had a Tai-youkai. There was a girl that resembled his Kikyou to an astonishing degree. Somehow they were linked, though he dismissed the idea that they were true mates as the woman had claimed. What noble youkai would take a ningen to mate? InuYasha seemed a part of the mystery as well, and that damnable neko Prince Kiyoshi was embroiled in it along with the houshi Miroku. He would piece this puzzle together and step back to admire the whole, before setting his new plans in motion. Sango had been seen around the village he assumed this Kagome lived in and he knew her weaknesses and planned to use them to his full advantage.

 

 

 

In due time that is.

 

 

 

Kagome wished they wouldn't make such a fuss over her, she was fine and completely rescued and she made much of all her rescuers including her own demon wolves. Shippou had been there at the village to jump into her arms, he'd wanted to come too but InuYasha and Kiyoshi had swept out of there so fast that he hadn't had a chance to latch on to one of them. Only the sight of Kagome safe and her arms around him calmed him down, because deep inside he had been afraid that he was about to be robbed of his second mother. When they had Kagome safely seated in Kaede's hut he sat beside her with Aikiko and Tomoe also sitting close. They had been worried for Shippou, and Aikiko's eyes had welled with tears until Kagome had hugged her too. Kagome felt so bad that they were worried and scared that she said something that made Kouga's heart lift with joy and the feeling of a burden relieved.

 

 

 

“I promise that I won't leave from the places I am safe until Koji is born.”

 

 

 

A/N: I know I promised Kanna and Kagura, but they decided that they wanted to be in the next chapter instead. Next chapter: Kanna, Kagura, and the fall of the rebel wolves!