Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction / InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ One for the Ages ❯ Chapter Thirteen: The Upper Hand ( Chapter 13 )

One for the Ages

By Gan Xingba

Chapter Thirteen: The Upper Hand

 

By nature, all wolves are hunters, and wolf demons were no different. As such, Kouga felt perfectly at home as he stalked through the forest, eyes darting every which way in search of his prey. His scent had led him into a particularly dense part of the forest, and it told him that Kagura was very near. Unfortunately, scent can only go so far, and he was now forced to finish the job with his eyes. To be sure, Kagura deserved commendation for avoiding him for as long as she had, for so successful was she in her hiding that the young wolf demon that pursued her was becoming incredibly frustrated.

 

“Come out and face me, coward!” he bellowed furiously, unable to control himself any longer.

 

Unfortunately, this simple challenge proved to be his undoing. As he was yelling, the wind slowly began to whirl around to spot he was standing, but he was unable to hear it over the sound of his own voice. By the time he had stopped shouting and recognized what was happening, to time to correct his mistake had long since passed. A large whirlwind burst to life around Kouga, uprooting to surrounding plant life as it spun furiously about the wolf demon. Through the vortex, Kouga could make out the form of Kagura, standing mere meters away from him and laughing triumphantly. He was unable to attack his foe, however, because plants and trees that had been sucked into the maelstrom had been turned into deadly weapons by the speed of the wind that carried them.

 

Even as Kouga began to defend himself by punching and kicking at the now deadly objects, he could not help but feel a slight sense of shame. The situation he was in now was almost a duplicate of his previous battle with the wind sorceress, and any warrior knows it is laughable to be defeated in the same manner twice.

 

`Wait a second, this isn't the same,' he realized suddenly. `The last time, she had a bunch of corpses that she could command. That's right! Those are what trapped me with when I jumped out of the tornado. Without those, I can beat her with the same move!'

 

With this realization, his confidence sky rocketed, and with a powerful leap, his body followed suit, easily clearing the height of the tornado. To counter this, Kagura allowed the tornado to die out, and focused her energy on loosing a volley of her deadly purple energy blades at her airborne adversary. Kouga twisted his body madly to avoid the blades, and was met with success. While one blade managed to cut into his right side, it was not enough to throw him off his course, which was straight downwards towards Kagura. As he neared the wind sorceress, he extended out his foot in preparation to crush his assailant beneath him, yet the only thing he made contact with was the ground that crumbled beneath the force of his blow. Much to his dismay, Kagura had rolled out of the way at the last second; avoiding his lethal attack by mere inches and leaving him wide open to an attack.

 

Knowing that she was merely one attack away from victory, Kagura quickly raised her fan to finish Kouga off. Just before she could do so, a blue and orange blur flew across her line of vision, and now she only held half of her fan above her head.

 

“Sucker,” taunted Kuwabara as he landed on the ground and turned smirking towards the wind sorceress.

 

Kuwabara likely had further to say regarding the subject of Kagura being a “sucker”, but he didn't get the opportunity to extrapolate. Instead, Kouga immediately seized the opportunity before him by rushing Kagura and delivering a mighty kick to her side with his right leg. Now totally defenseless, Kagura could do nothing as she was hurled into a large tree. Even as she tried to stand, Kouga was already right on top of her, and knocked her unconscious with a final right handed haymaker that sent her flying into yet another tree.

 

“And now, I'll finish you,” stated Kouga, panting as he stalked forward towards Kagura's incapacitated form. “At last, I'll have my vengeance.”

 

Knowing what Kouga was about to do, Kuwabara quickly placed himself in front of the wolf demon, blocking his path.

 

“Nuh-uh, can't do that,” he stated, shaking one of his Spirit Swords at Kouga.

 

“Why in the hell not?” demanded Kouga furiously.

 

“'Cause we can make her take us to that Naraku guy,” answered Kuwabara, not moving form his position. “Plus, hitting a lady when she's throwing crazy cutting things at ya' is one thing, but a real man never hits a lady that isn't doin' that.”

 

“I don't need a damn lecture from you human!” yelled Kouga as his rage continued to grow. “This is personal!”

 

“Doesn't matter, it `aint happenin',” declared Kuwabara steadfastly, still refusing to get out of the way.

 

With a final roar of frustration, Kouga charged Kuwabara with incredible speed, and before the boy could react, the wolf demon was upon him. After a quick three punch combination to the abdominal region, Kouga sent Kuwabara hurtling through the air with a powerful rising knee to his chin. With a crash, Kuwabara landed among the bushes, and Kouga had nothing left between him and his revenge. Panting heavily from the effort he had exerted in the day's battles, he walked up to Kagura and reached down for her throat. Before he made contact, though, a storm of small black pellets peppered the ground around him, unleashing a sudden cloud of gas. Kouga began to cough and his vision became slightly blurred, but he was not so weak as to be rendered unconscious by such tricks. In desperation, he pulled his fist back and prepared to crush his mortal enemy's windpipe in one blow. Before he could go through with it, though, Kuwabara's fist slammed into the back of his head, and he fell, incapacitated.

 

“Ugh…this stuff makes me want to throw up,” complained Kuwabara, clutching his stomach and plugging his nose. “Why couldn't ya' use that big thing you carry around?”

 

“If I had hit him too hard with Hiraikotsu, he may have been seriously injured or even killed,” explained Sango as she stepped into view. “It's a good thing I restocked my poison powder supply.”

 

“POISON?” screamed Kuwabara in a panic, holding his breath and scrambling to get out of the smoky haze that surrounded him.

 

“It's not deadly, you big oaf,” she assured Kuwabara with a sigh at his antics.

 

As Kuwabara continued to cough and spit in a ridiculous attempt to get the poison out of his system, a new party entered the area. It was Kouga's two followers and their pack of wolves, who nearly collapsed on the ground when they came to stop upon seeing their leader unconscious on the ground.

 

“What…happened…to…Kouga,” demanded one of the wolf demons as he simultaneously tried to gasp for air.

 

“He was tryin' to kill the witch lady, so I knocked him out,” summarized Kuwabara, making no effort to be tactful whatsoever.

 

“We think we can get her to lead us to Naraku,” elaborated Sango quickly, not wanting to create yet another conflict.

 

“Actually…that seems reasonable,” commented the other wolf demon, now having caught his breath enough to speak normally. “Which would explain why Kouga wouldn't want to go along with it.”

 

“Yeah, he can be pretty hot-headed at times,” agreed the first wolf demon, nodding his head.

 

“We should get them back to the cave,” advised Sango, getting back to the matter at hand.

 

Kuwabara nodded in concurrence and scooped Kagura off the ground, placing her over his shoulder. Kuwabara and Sango then set out back towards the cave as Kouga's followers hoisted their leader between them and began to follow.

 

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Back at the cave, the others were waiting impatiently. There was not one among the group that enjoyed sitting by the wayside while battles were being fought, and the cave had been tensely silent as a result. For a while, Yusuke had tried to busy himself by attempting to get his hair under control, but within minutes he surrendered and let it just hang there in all its mop-like glory. Everyone one else made similar attempts to occupy their minds, but their anxiousness was apparent nonetheless. That was, of course, excluding Kurama and Hiei, with the former being lost deep in thought and the latter sitting stoically in his corner. It was thus fairly surprising when Hiei suddenly rose and began to march towards the entrance to the cave.

 

“And where are you off to?” queried Kurama nonchalantly, causing Hiei to halt momentarily.

 

“Hn. Obviously, those fools are not up to the task they were charged with,” grunted Hiei with his usual curtness. “Even in my current condition I would have ended this by now.”

 

“Do not be so impatient,” advised Kurama calmly. “It is not as if we have someplace we need to rush off to.”

 

“Yeah, and I think it's over anyway,” added Kagome. “I'm sensing Kouga's jewel shards heading back this way.”

 

“It's that damned wolf, all right,” confirmed Inuyasha gruffly as he sniffed the air subtly. “And everyone else is with him, including Kagura.”

 

A few moments later, Kuwabara, Sango, and the wolf demons passed through the vines and into the cave. Kuwabara set Kagura down on the cavern floor in an isolated location, and Kouga's followers set their leader down by Kagome's bag, where they presumed the medical supplies were located. Meanwhile, Sango walked over to where Kurama sat.

 

“Kouga was trying to kill her, but we managed to stop him before he could go through with it,” reported the demon slayer, adjusting her boomerang to a more comfortable position. “But I'm still not sure that we can use her to find Naraku. He surely has some kind of failsafe for this sort of thing.”

 

“I'm afraid you shall just have to trust me on this matter,” replied Kurama before turning to Kagome. “Do you have some kind of rope in that bag of yours, Kagome?”

 

“Actually, I think I do,” Kagome answered, a little surprised with herself.

 

“Why in the hell would you have rope in your bag?” asked Inuyasha with absolutely no care for politeness.

 

As usual, this snide remark from Inuyasha sparked an argument between him and Kagome, and, as usual, it ended with Inuyasha's face being smothered against the ground. Meanwhile, Kurama had located the rope and began to tie Kagura up with it. The average observer would notice nothing strange about this, but Hiei's eyesight was far from average. As Kurama finished, he turned to see Hiei staring at him with a raised eyebrow. Reaching into his pants pocket, Kurama pulled out a small pouch and offered it to his slightly confused companion.

 

“When consumed, the contents of this pouch will kill all pain, and allow you to fight as if you had no injuries at all,” stated Kurama in a hushed tone as Hiei accepted the pouch. “However, it will only last for a short time, and when it wears off, the pain will be far greater than it was when you took it, so you must use it carefully”

 

Hiei stowed away the pouch and stared back at Kurama, then at the still unconscious Kagura, and finally he nodded in comprehension. Without a word, the fire demon turned and exited the cave, clutching the sheath of his katana.

 

“Say, Kurama,” said Yusuke as he walked over to his friend, unaware of the exchange that had just occurred. “Do we really want this crazy chick in here with us?”

 

“Don't worry Yusuke, I'm about to give her a mixture that will keep her unconscious until dawn tomorrow,” assured Kurama as he pulled out another pouch and tilted Kagura's head back so that he could pour the contents of it down her throat.

 

“What about the wolf demon?” asked Yusuke skeptically. “I bet he'll try and kill her when we're still asleep.”

 

“Good point,” conceded the fox demon. “I'll make a second dose of this.”

 

“I could just punch him real hard when he wakes up,” Yusuke claimed with a mischievous grin.

 

“I don't think so. You'll probably give him a concussion,” rebuked Kurama, though he still smiled at the suggestion.

 

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Naraku stroked his chin as he stared at the urn that contained Kagura's heart. The situation that he now found himself in was unprecedented, for it was a situation that he was having mixed thoughts about how to deal with. Kagura's heart still showed signs of life, but she had failed to return back to her master. This meant that either she was severely wounded and unable to travel, or she had been captured. However, Naraku suspected it was the latter, and this worried him.

 

`I could kill her, right now, and ensure that her or her knowledge cannot be turned against me, but surely she knows this,' he thought. `And if she knows this, then she will surely try and escape to ensure her survival.'

 

Clearly, Naraku was at a strategic impasse. On the one hand, he could kill Kagura and guarantee that his location was kept hidden for now, but it would cost him his most valuable servant. On the other hand, he could attempt to free her, and thus save his servant, but should he fail, then his location would be discovered for sure. Naturally, though, where one would normally see two options, Naraku found a third. Combining the two obvious options, he formed his course of action.

 

`I shall give her one day to escape on her own, and if she fails to return in that time span, I shall kill her.' he decided at last. `Should she escape, there is a small chance that she will be followed, but if that is the case I will at least have some warning. If she told them where I was, they could attack me at any time from any direction.'

 

Finally, he shifted his gaze from the urn. If there was any chance that battle would occur, he would be ready for it. By now, he was fully aware of the strengths and weaknesses of every member of the little unit that had assembled against him. Barring any surprises, he reasoned that he should be able to defeat them. Even so, Naraku was not the type to go into battle without a strategy, and so he began to plan.

 

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Much to the delight of Inuyasha, Kurama did end up having to subdue Kouga by putting the knockout mixture into his water, and by midnight, the entire cave had followed his lead and fallen fast asleep. All was silent as the thin rays of moonlight shone through the spaces in between the vines that covered the cave's entrance. This oddly tranquil scene was the first thing that Kagura saw when she eased her eyes open.

 

`I'm…still alive…' she noticed, rather surprised by this while she blinked to adjust her eyes to the darkness. `Well, judging by all these lowlifes I'm with in this cave, it looks like I've been captured. But why? Do they seriously think that I will tell them anything at all? Naraku would kill me before I did that.'

 

At this point Kagura became even more perplexed. If she had been captured, then why hadn't Naraku killed her?

 

`Maybe he is giving me a chance to escape,' she speculated. `If that'sthe case, then I have no time to lose.'

 

She fidgeted with the rope that bound her. It was fairly loose. Whoever had tied her up had done a poor job. With a little squirming, she managed to get one had free, and then the other. From there, she quickly untied the rope that was tied around her shins and carefully let the rope slip silently onto the floor. Stealth was not her specialty, but Kagura knew how to be silent when she wanted to. Even the keenest of ears would have a hard time detecting her as she slowly made her way over to the entrance to the cave. The vines posed a slight problem, for she had to go through both silently and quickly enough that extra moonlight did not shine into the cave.

 

Though this challenge gave her pause for a moment, she managed to find a small gap in the vines that was just large enough for her to slip through, and she hastily exited. She began to move slightly faster now, weaving her way through the forest until she was finally far enough from the cave that running wouldn't stir up a great amount of noise. At that point she burst into a sprint, and kept on sprinting until she was too tired to do so anymore. Leaning against a large tree, she panted for air, now positive that she had reached safety.

 

However, she heard a rustling in the trees above, and she looked sharply upward, panic flowing from her eyes. That panic quickly gave way to relief, for the rustling was replaced with a soft buzzing, and it was two of Naraku's poisonous insect pets that approached her, not an enemy. One carried a new fan to replace her old one, and the other was clutching two large feathers identical to the ones that Kouga and Kuwabara had destroyed. Smiling, Kagura took the fan and feathers from the insects and, placing one feather in her hair, transformed the other feather into its larger incarnation with a burst of wind. Relieved that her survival was now certain, she almost chuckled as she skimmed the treetops towards Naraku's castle, not wanting to fly to high and attract attention.

 

Little did she know that attracting attention was a moot point, for on the ground below, she was stealthily being trailed by a certain fire demon. Of course, this was not really her fault. Hiei had reduced his spirit energy to its bare minimum, and, unlike Kagura, he did happen to be an expert on stealth, so not even the local wildlife was aware of his presence. Unaware of her pursuer, Kagura continued on through the night, leading one of her master's greatest enemies straight towards him.