InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Teaching Rin ❯ Chapter 33

Disclaimer - It’s not mine. Never was. All I own is Kaida, and her family. No money is being made. You guys are used to the thing by now.

A/N - Here’s the next chapter for your reading pleasure. Hope you all enjoy.

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Teaching Rin

Chapter 33

Lady General Kaida

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“If I was an enemy, and you were more concerned with getting a piece of ass than watching your neck, you’d be dead.” Kaida groused at the elites in attention in front of her. She had started this training off in somewhat of a decent mood, only to have it fouled when she saw that the soldiers continued to refuse to spar with her at their potential.

“Yeah, but what a way to die.” someone snickered. Kaida ignored it, continuing on with her tyrant at them. She had to make them see reason, some how. Every single one of them refused to even put a hand on her in defense, which did not bode well when she was trying to show them a new technique or move to implement.

“Let me give you some advice. The prettier they are, the more lethal they are.” she tried, changing tactics all together.

“Well, you must be death walking, General.” that same someone snickered.

“Keep on with comments like that, and you’ll see how true that is, Nekotu.” she hissed, causing the wolf demon to blanche white. There was a round of snickering, and Kaida continued on without preamble.

“You must get over this pride of not hitting a woman, or you will all die. Women are a rare secret weapon that many an influential lord uses. Their looks are great assets, as is their maneuverability. A female can get away with murder if she is good enough, manipulative enough to cover her tracks and make someone else take the fall.”

“She’d know all about that, wouldn’t she?” one of them whispered. Kaida felt her blood start boiling, but she went on, ignoring it. They liked to keep her riled up, and they were doing a good job of it today.

“You are going to continually get your asses kicked if you don’t learn to look past the fact that I am one of those females that could kill a dozen of you in a split second if I needed to.” she barked.

“A dozen, General?” Yukio asked, looking at her skeptically. “Unlikely.” Kaida turned her cold gaze to him, getting ready for a battle of wills with the bear demon. He was a constant thorn in her side, had been since she’d taken over the supervision of the elites a few weeks ago.

“If memory serves me correctly, Yukio, the last time you called something I could do ‘unlikely’ you had an impromptu meeting with the floor.” she hissed, refusing to give him the satisfaction of hearing her raise her voice. “Would you like a repeat of that? Because I am in just the mood to knock one of your incompetent asses out of this dojo and into the courtyard.” There were a few snickers, but Yukio dutifully bowed his head at her wrath, not dignifying that with an answer, despite the annoying grin on his face that he couldn’t quite hide. “I didn’t think so.”

“I don’t think they grasp the concept you are trying to get over to them, General.” Captain Bano commented.

Kaida took a few steps back and tried to calm herself down. She was letting them get to her, and it was affecting not only her own performance as an instructor, but her mind as well. They wouldn’t listen to her about the possibility for dangers from a female who had been taught to fight. ‘They think they’re invincible, that they’ll see an attack coming from a woman.’ she though, her mind trying to figure out a plan to prove what they were thinking was wrong.

Granted, there were not that many female soldiers, practically none actually, but her father had two female assassins that were more deadly than even she was should the truth be told. Those two could teach the most sadistic of demons a few new tricks of their respective trade.

Kaida stood there for a few seconds before a plan came to her…a surefire way of showing these elites that she was more than a force to be reckoned with. She smirked at the elites in front of her, causing a few of the soldiers on the front to frown worriedly.

“I’ve got something I think may get my point across a little better than standing her and bitching you bunch out.” she said, her arms folded over her chest. “Let’s do a little experiment. Commanding officers, front and center! Everyone else fill in the ranks!”

The elites seemed a bit confused, but followed her orders. A few seconds later, thirty of the one hundred and fifty elites were lined up in rows of five before her.

“You soldiers are the ones everyone else looks to as an example.” she said. “As such, I had hoped that you would be the ones to cooperate with me fully, with no questions asked. But, since that is not to be done, we’ll do this instead. Captain Bano, would you step out of ranks, please.”

“Yes, General.” Bano said, stepping out of the rank and going back to where he had been standing behind her. “We’re going to have a little test of sorts. You twenty-nine soldiers now have a bounty on your heads. For the next twenty-four hours, you are in the possibility of being attacked…by me.”

“Excuse me, General?” Bano asked, voicing the question apparent on a number of his men’s faces. “Attacked.”

“Yes, attacked.” she said. “I will wager that by this time tomorrow, every single one of you will be walking out here with green dye somewhere on your body, and I don‘t mean your clothing, I mean your skin.”

This seemed to be funny to the commanding officers, and they snickered. A few of the other soldiers outright laughed at her proposition. She let the ruckus die down before continuing.

“Consider this an exercise in awareness for all of you.” she continued.

“What’s the wager?” Yukio asked, as usual, the first to speak up.

“If I can tag everyone of you by this time tomorrow, every single one of you in this dojo will start training with me as you were taught.” she said sternly.

“And for the ones you miss?” Yukio asked.

“If I miss even one of you, the entire group gets a week off from training.” she said calmly. That seemed to be a welcome idea, because the uninhibited grins on their faces proved as much.

“Why do you get out of this ‘exercise’, Captain?” Sentoka called out, the thunder demon obviously confused.

“A question I was about to ask myself.” Bano commented, turning to Kaida expectantly. “General?”

“Because he’s the only one who will fight me head on.” Kaida said simply. “Had the rest of you done the same, you wouldn’t have a bounty on your heads at the moment.” That didn’t seem to make them happy in the least little bit, and Kaida hid a snicker.

They’d learn to listen to her yet. Even if their stubbornness forced her to bruise their astronomical egos a few times before her words sank in.

“What are the rules?” Nekotu asked.

“I will dismiss your training early today, to give you time to prepare.” Kaida said confidently. “But the rules are as follows: You are to go about your daily evening routine as normal. You can’t go hide in the barracks. If you do, I will find you, and I will humiliate you beyond all reason. I, meanwhile, will be trying to tag you. You won’t know where I am, and you won’t know who I am targeting.”

“And this goes on for the next twenty-four hours?” Raonon asked.

“You are all fair game until this time tomorrow.”

“What if we catch you?” Yukio asked.

“You won’t even see me.” Kaida smirked.

“But if we do? If we manage to catch you, for instance.” he countered. Kaida smirked at the demon’s self confidence. He would be the very last to go down, she would make sure of that. Let him think he was safe. She knew better.

“Whoever manages to see me will get three days off training, even if I do tag them.” she said. “If one of you manage to catch me, I’ll let them have the week off training.”

“Can we work together?” Netoku asked.

“If you must. I don’t care. The rest of them can help if you’d like, it won’t make a difference in the end.” she said, motioning towards the rest of the battalion.

“Are their any out of bounds areas?” Yukio asked.

“No.”

“So we can leave the grounds?” he clarified.

“If you think it will help you in the end.” she shrugged. It wouldn’t make a flip of difference to her. She could track them down easily enough in the forest. It might take a little more time, but it was still possible to do. “Are there any questions?”

“When does the hunt begin?” Sentoka asked.

“Any more questions?” No one said anything, so Kaida nodded. “I will give you until after dinner. As soon as total dark falls, the games begin. Are we in agreement?”

There was a general murmur of approval throughout the ranks, and she nodded, tamping down a smile.

“Very well then. You’re dismissed for the day.” she said, waving them off, heading towards the fortress to put her plans into play.

“General, a moment of your time.” Bano said, coming forward.

“Yes?”

“Excuse my intruding, General Kaida.” he said stiffly. “But is this wise? You just incited every single one of them to hunt you down.” Kaida just patted the bigger demon on his shoulder, letting out a rare smile since she had returned to the West.

“I will be fine, Captain. But thank you for your concern.” she said. The bear demon looked doubtful, but said nothing more, leaving with a curt nod to her. Kaida just grinned and walked a little more quickly towards the fortress.

She had plans to work up and implement before dinner was over.

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The next day, when Kaida strode confidently into the dojo, she came face to face with a rather angry group of elite soldiers.

She had pulled out every stop in tagging her charges, and had gotten every single one of the commanding officers, along with the majority of the rest of them. She had used every trick she could think of, and they had worked beautifully.

Green dye in the hot springs had taken care of most of them. Since it was well after dark by the time half of them bathed, and the dye was colorless until it came into contact with skin, she’d had plenty of time to dump a large amount of it into the standing springs near the barracks.

True to word, some of them had taken to the forest as a defensive measure, and she had been forced to track them down all night long to tag them. She had used some of the dye to make a pasty substance she coated the tree branches with. After purposely luring each one of them to where she was, she had used her litheness and stealth to confuse them of her whereabouts, and then throw a decent amount of the paste at them once they were looking the wrong way, effectively coloring their entire faces green.

The ones who had not headed her warning and hid almost entirely in the barracks had suffered worse than the rest. She had burned some special herbs that were used to induce sleep near where the soldiers slept, allowing the wind to filter it through the buildings. After she was sure enough time had lapsed, she went to work on the sleeping elites with a bowl of dye and a brush, leaving some nice remarks emblazoned on whatever part of their skin was easily accessible.

Unfortunately, she was almost seen during this little escapade. As she had been coming out of the barracks, Sentoka had been coming in. She had been forced to hide in a small closet until he had passed, which had been a two or three torturous minutes because he had sensed her presence somewhere nearby. She had barely managed to slip out of a nearby window while he was sticking his head in a few of the rooms nearby.

Kaida had also encountered a few haphazard traps set up for her during the ‘exercise’, but had easily avoided all of them. Needless to say, she wound up expending more energy than she had originally anticipated since many of the other elites had attempted to assist their commanding officers, and kept getting in her way. It wound up being a very harried night for her, but worth it in the end as she looked around at the elites in the dojo.

She smirked and shook her head, seeing that Yukio and some of the other commanding officers were still in the process of trying to remove the green paint from various parts of their bodies that she could see. Kaida had actually wanted to wait for Yukio to be the last, but the idiot had ruined it when he climbed into the spring the night before, effectively coloring every part of his body green.

The rest of them looked like they were on the verge of a mutinous rebellion, and Kaida had to stifle a laugh when she that Nekotu, the only one she’d had trouble tagging, was getting picked on about how she’d caught him. He made a vague gesture behind him, and Kaida almost cracked up laughing. She had managed to get the normally even tempered soldier mad enough to chase her only a few hours ago. That in itself was fine. The funny part came when Kaida realized that he had been in the middle of changing uniforms when she’d let herself be sensed.

Nekotu had come running out of the barracks like the fires of hell were after him, his eyes scanning all over for her. The other elites who had been around quickly started searching all over for her. One quick arrow later, and Nekotu’s pants were securely fastened to the ground. Before the elites could figure the trajectory where the arrow had come from, Kaida let another arrow go. The point had been taken off, and a small bag of the dye leaves was a makeshift head.

Kaida’s affirmation of a dead on shot came when she heard Nekotu cry out in alarm when the arrow hit his uncovered behind. But by then she was halfway into the fortress, laughing herself into a stupor.

As she walked to the front of the dojo, they fell into rank, not saying one word to her, but glaring like she was the devil incarnate.

“Alright gentlemen, and what have we learned?” she asked sweetly, taking her spot in front of them. Behind her, Bano was still trying to stop the incessant rumble that was his version of laughter.

“We have suddenly have an enormous dislike of you?” Yukio asked from the far corner, frowning at her. He looked a little green around the gills himself.

“I wasn’t put here for you to like, soldier.” she barked. “I was put here to prove that you are hardly as invincible as you’d like to think. However, there is one fortunate soul that nearly managed to escape me. Nekotu! Front and center!”

“General.” a gray colored wolf demon responded, breaking rank and coming to face her.

“Congratulations, you’re the only target I almost couldn’t tag.” she said, nodding. “You want to tell these other idiots your little secret to remaining unscathed?”

“I grew up with a mother and three sisters. You learn to watch your back at an early age when they‘re on the warpath.” he said stoutly. Kaida couldn’t help but let a small smirk show at that comment, then waved the soldier back into ranks.

“Smart demon. Although from now on, I would make sure my clothing is securely tied before leaving the barracks.” she commented. “And as for the rest of you, I expect you to learn from your mistakes and not allow this to happen again! I will periodically be scouting out each and every one of you during the next few weeks, so stay alert. You won’t know where nor when I will be. With that said, get to work!”

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Kaida watched the entire group leave, her fingers beating on the hilt of her scimitars in total aggravation. Her plan had worked, more or less. The majority of the elites were now so mad at her for bruising their ego that they had no qualms about trying to beat her into the ground during sparring. And that was fine with her; it was exactly what she wanted them to do.

But there were still a few who refused to lift a hand to attack her. They would defend themselves, but still take no offensive position against her. Yukio was one of those, as was Sentoka, two of the ones who she had thought for sure would want to retaliate against her for turning them green.

“I believe they are reluctant to bring any harm to you for fear of reprimand.” Captain Bano said, breaking her train of thought as she watched their retreating figures out of the dojo. “Despite what you have done to them.”

“What?” Kaida asked.

“From Lord Sesshomaru.”

“I‘m not following you. What’s he got to do with this?” Kaida asked.

“You are a guest in these lands, and the noble lady of the South.” he said. “These soldiers know the protocol in treating one in your station, Lady General. Notice that none have stepped out of line since your spar with Yukio your first day here.”

“It’s never stopped Sesshomaru before.” she groused, folding her arms across her chest in aggravation. “They’re not going to incite a war by doing what they’ve been trained to.”

“Perhaps if they witnessed a spar between you and Lord Sesshomaru, they would be more apt to train with you.” Bano suggested.

“That’s not a half bad idea.” she mused. “I’ll see what I can do about it.”

She liked the idea, hoping it would finally bring the last of the stragglers to the surface and show them that she it was okay to toss her around. Hell, she got a kick out of sparring with them. The elites were well trained, of that she had not a single doubt. But there were things she could show them that would make them even better. But she couldn’t do it if they acted like she was some little porcelain doll who would break if they touched her. Of course, she would have to search Sesshomaru out and ask for his assistance, and considering she’d been avoiding that particular dog at every opportunity since her return, she was sure the reception wouldn’t be nice. But she was confident he would help her in this. Hell, the two of them hadn’t even sparred since she’d returned, and that was almost a month ago! Kaida grinned, and headed to find Sesshomaru within the fortress, throwing her orders over her shoulder to Bano.

“In fact, bring them into the courtyard tomorrow when I normally get here. I think you just might have found the solution to the problem, Captain.”

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A/N - Okay, is our dear Kaida going to go through with this little plan? We’ll see in the next chapter.

Until then,

A.A.

And please remember to review. I’d love to know what you are thinking.