The young demon princess had been running for hours. Her bare feet were sore and bleeding, but that was the least of pain. She planned on running further, but for now she needed to rest. There was a clearing in wooded mountains, where there was a calm stream for her to wash her face and soak her feet. It was difficult to control her breathing, she knew she must think clearly about her next moves. Would she go back north to her old home, a failure? Or would she go back to the west tribe and plea again with her former chief and mate Koga in private? No, she knew after their last encounter he would never take her back, even if he wanted to. He had an image to uphold just as she, this was much more than just between the two of them. They had to be an example for the tribe, and as a good chief and a good princess they tribe's needs must come first. She felt the swell of her stomach, still too small to be noticed by the eye. It was too late. If there was a chance to tell Koga she had already missed it. It was either then or never.

"It all is just so unfair, isn't it?" A calm voice arose, startling the young princess at first. A grown woman wearing a white garment adorned with fur and floral patterns under her chest armor. Her white hair, tied back exposing an all too familiar face.

"Mamimi, why did you follow me?" Her emerald eyes adjusted as she tried to stop her tears, "You have done enough and there is nothing stopping me from killing you now."

"I am well aware, but I've come to help you. I'm not as heartless as you think." The pale woman untied a filthy sac from her hip and held it out in front of her before tossing it next to the tired girl, "Don't be afraid, I've come to offer peace."

"I don't need anything from you, and I do not wish to make peace. I grow ill of all your mind games." She flinched from the bag disgusted.

Mamimi was unaffected by the rejection and smiled through her red, painted lips, "I want to help you, but you are right, you don't need anything from me Ayame. Just like you didn't need any help representing your tribes or making peace between our people."

Ayame gritted her teeth and scooped a palm full of water at the demon woman, "How dare you mock me, get away, I don't want to listen to you anymore."

"I am not mocking you princess it is true. Your tribe didn't believe that you, a young girl, was capable of handling such a task on your own, and you did. The outcome may not have been what you have planned or expected but the job was still done one way or another and you made it out alive."

"You knew? How long were you spying on me."

"Open the bag," The woman grinned, baring her pearly white teeth.

The young princess looked at the bag confused and unsure. She didn't want to fall for another trick, but Mamimi's flattery had worked her charmed and triggered her curiosity. Ayame hesitantly untied the burlap bag, immediately seeing two other heads of white hair. She swallowed hard, unbelieving of what the woman had done until she completely dumped the contents of the bag on the forest floor. Two more familiar faces had the girl speachless.

"Don't worry, " The woman grinned while Ayame's eyes were still wide and fixed on the decapitated heads, "No one suspects it was you or your tribe. They were last seen alive after you had exited the castle and discovered dead before you had reached your tribe. I know you may have wanted the satisfaction of them dying by your hands or Koga's hands but that would have been too risky for your tribe."

Ayame didn't know if her tears were or anger or joy. Joy that someone, although hated had delivered justice, or anger resurfacing of what those two men had done to her. Either way she didn't want Mamimi to know that she had gotten to her. "This changes nothing between us. I still can't forgive you for coming in between Koga and I. I am done sharing him with you, you can have him." The young princess covered the faces of the dead with the sack, she couldn't look at them anymore.

"I'm not looking for forgiveness, because I am not looking to give him up, and neither are you."

"You want me to willingly share him with you? I have pride." Ayame sneered at the woman.

"I'm sorry I worded that wrong, you are not done with him yet. You do not -need- our help, I can make your life easier with it. You love your tribes, a you love Koga, and one day you will learn to love me too. But everyone knows sometimes the things you love can hurt you, and sometimes they need to be disciplined, one way or another, to understand the pain you have felt."

"How dare you speak of my chief and my tribes that way. Wolf demons must do what is best for the greater good, even if it means..."

Mamimi waited for the princess, "Go on? You can not finish that sentence can you?

"They are a lot older than me so I know they know what is best!"

"Who are you trying to convince? Me? Your tribes, or yourself, Because you and me both know, that you are still more than capable in ruling that tribe with or without Koga. Your tribe didn't believe that you could confront my people and bring peace on your own without war, and they all repaid you by casting you aside. They wish to replace you with an inferior girl who hasn't experienced what you have simply because they see you as damaged goods."

Ayame stood up from the stream onto her feet, still sore from before, "Stop talking, I don't wish to hear anymore." She raised a finger as she backed away from the sack next to her, trying to erase the recent memory from her head from hours earlier.

"The princess is back!" The on duty guard announced to the tribe. Everyone came running to the princess, who was obviously in distress. The handmaids asked what was wrong of the young leader but she insisted to speak directly to her intended first.

Koga arrived and received Ayame into his arms, "What happened my darling."

The girl eyes met with Koga's sapphire gaze, "My love it was terrible."

The tribe circled around them, hungry for her report of her recent endeavor. One of the respected elders shouted from the crowd, "She has failed. It was too much for a girl to go alone." The rest of the crowd roared and discussed their assumptions loudly.

"I didn't fail!" Ayame cried over the crowd and then to her mate, "I have visited with the Inugami and there will be no war. We have come to terms."

"Then who done this to you? What happened?" Koga cleaned the tears from her cheeks.

"When I first took my leave, their prince and one of their soilders..." The crowd grew quickly silent to let her finish, causing the tribe's princess to become nervous. "They forced themselves on me. I tried to fight them off but they were too strong for me, I couldn't stop them."

Whispers chimed throughout the crowd, waiting for their chief to respond. "My love," Koga ran his fingers through her red tresses, "They will pay for what they have done to you, they will not get away with insulting the tribe."

Ayame smiled in relief at her mate and was ready to lean in for a kiss until the elder spoke again, "Koga, she can no longer be you mate. She has yet to bare you a child and someone else, and outsider even has claimed her."

The tribe's whispers turned into loud roars or protest, agreeing with the elder. The young wolf demon turned to the elder in disbelief, " That is not my fault, I couldn't fight them off, and if I had harmed their prince I may not even have been able to escape to come back!"

"If you are not strong enough to protect yourself , how can we trust you to be strong enough to protect your tribe, our chief, or any future young you may have." The elder man bluntly stated as the rest of the tribe shouted in agreement. Koga listened to the elder and the tribe wordlessly and the outburst grew. "Koga," the elder spoke again, "There are other women pure and suited to be your mate. The ties that you have with Ayame and the north tribe will not be severed due to the circumstances. After all that has happened she may not be fit to rule mentally, certainly she cannot physically anymore."

The princess dropped to her knees and kissed her chief's hands, "Please my love don't do this. I will be a good mate, I have spoken with the Inugami and we came with peaceful terms which I tell you. Please don't send me back I am still suitable to be your mate. It is not my fault please, what else can I do my love!"

Before the elder and the crowd could speak again Koga demanded their silence and helped his mate to her feet. The chief pet the princess's hair and consoled her until he sobbing subsided, "My love, what happened is not your fault. They will all pay for what they have done and you do not have to go back north." Ayame thanked Koga tremendously, but Koga was not finished. "It is true it is not your fault and you do not deserve to lose your position by my side, but it is not the tribe's fault either, and we must do what is best for everyone. You are no longer pure, and as chief I must have a pure mate. I still promise you do not have to go back north, you may still love amongst us with your head held high for that sacrifices you made for the good of the tribe. You sacrificed your purity for us and that is something that no ordinary woman would be able or willing to make. I will make sure as long as you stay under my tribe, you will be taken care of and respected as if you were still my mate."

The tribe cheered and applauded as one of the princess's maids escorted her away from her love. She watched sorrowfully as she watched the elder and Koga discussing further matters as her maid tried to keep her dignity. Once she was out of the main tribe's site, is where she began to run.

"There is nothing you can do to give me what I want, "Ayame said to Mamimi, now back to her senses.

The armored woman pulled a vial from her clothes and approached the young girl cautiously, "I also came to bring you this," Mamimi placed the vial into her hand.

"What is this?"

"I am not telling you to do anything, I am just giving you the option. We both know you want your revenge, and what better way to do that than to rule over the tribe that saw you unfit. No one would be harmed."

"The tribe knows what is best, and the elder said..."

"The one you call elder, I am centuries their senior. They are nothing compared to you. You are a chief's daughter. Bred and raised to lead a tribe, they have no idea what you are capable of."

"Centuries..."

"You heard right princess."

"You are a witch..."

"A term that others would call what I do, but there is nothing magical in what I do. My race tends to outlive yours naturally, and we age very gracefully. I only practice in natural medicines and remedies. Something that any race can achieve as well if they require the right ingredients, but we are getting off topic my dear. You want to be a leader again do you not?"

Ayame clenched the tubular vial in her fist, "And what do you gain from this?"

"When you regain leadership of your tribes, I want refuge. I will not harm you, or any of your people. I am not asking for you to feed me or clothe me, just shelter.

"While you lay with Koga."

The petite woman's lips never fell from a smile, "What is he to you dear? You were already set to be betrothed before you even known of his existence. You were destined to be paired with a chief whether you loved him are not. We have a history that goes farther back from before you are born. I already said I will not leave his side, unless he sends me away. Do not give me that look, it is my only offer. This way we can help each other out in a peaceful way. If not I will just stay with Koga by myself."

"And how do you expect them to take me back as their leader," The girl gritted her teeth uttering those words. She knew the woman was about to win her over.

"Go take the southern tribe. That tribe has been independent and unruly for so long that the other tribes have ostracized them. A healthy young princess like you, the chief will hear you out. Win him over, and then his tribe. After you have gained favor with his tribe it will be easy to convince them that their current leader has lead them to failure and they will look to you after they see fit what to do with him."

"You mean kill him? You said no one would get hurt and I wanted to be the leader of my tribes, not those corrupt outcasts to the south!"

Mamimi places a finger over the princess's lips, "Hush and let me finish. Don't speak of them that way again, just like you they want redemption and you are the only one capable of showing them back to path they once walked. Their leader would rather them starve than admit he is wrong. After he is gone you must work hard to show them that you will be a fit leader on your own, which mean you will have to fight men off of you. I will show you how. You will hate me for a while but you will thank me knowing that no man will have you again, not without your permission. Do you understand?"

Ayame rocked her head slowly in agreement, "Yes?"

"Are you asking me or telling me?"

"Yes! I understand."

"After you lead the tribe you will come back to Koga and your tribes and show them what you are capable of. While you are absent I will make sure Koga regrets his decision of casting you away and in front of all three tribes, he will take you back. Your tribes will no longer be three, but one great unit. No longer can the tribes look down on your age or what isn't between your legs."

"How do you expect me to accomplish all of that?"

"You are the princess of the northern tribe. You are the mate of Koga of the west tribe. If you don't think you can do it, then the elders were right. You are in no shape to lead anything."

"Yes I am!"

"'That's it girl."

Ayame watched the woman's golden eyes as she held the bottle to her face, "What is this for."

"We both know it is going to be difficult to get you back on top, and we both know there are three of us here right now."

"What are you saying?" The girl asked coyly.

Mamimi dropped her eyes to Ayame's stomach and back to her face, "Only you and I know what is growing in there."

The wolf demon backed away shielding her belly, "What is this you have given me?!"

"As I stated before. I am not telling you to do anything, I just want to offer the option. No tribe will be accepting of your half breed. If you what this to work, I just ask for you to think about it."

"You said no one would get hurt! It's Koga's child!"

The woman's grin dropped for only a moment, "You know that to be false, and so would Koga. You want it to be true so bad but that doesn't change the fact that you are carrying the bastard child of one of your offenders. You will only anger your tribe if you try and pass the infant as one of your kind. Once the infant in born they will be insulted and rip the child from your arms and slaughter it in front of you. You know this to be true. And even if they chose not to end you for the accident, they certainly will never accept you are part of their tribe, leader or not."

The princess just wanted to scream, surely the woman wouldn't ask her to do such a morbid act. Surely by some miracle it would be Koga's heir. But she knew the woman to be speaking the truth. Koga rarely would touch her because his interest lied elsewhere. Periodically he would claim her, just enough to disperse his scent on her to show the tribe they were mating, but not long enough to conceive a child. Ayame blamed no one else but Mamimi for his disinterest, "This is all your fault! If you would have just stayed away!"

"Princess. I had nothing to do with what happened to you under my people. Even if the child growing in you was fathered by Koga, they still wouldn't accept a unborn infant because they would know it has been defiled by another man."

"I can't do it, do you hear what you are saying!" The girl wept.

"Again I am not forcing you to do anything. But I will not be able to help you, and you child. You do not have to make a decision right now. I merely wanted to give you the option. If you change your mind we can proceed together, if not, I am afraid I cannot see a way to help you get what you want."

"Witch you do not have any spells, any tricks, anything that you can make this so? Surely you know of some magic that can make the child's Koga's. Or make the whole tribe forget the whole thing?"

Mamimi turned her face away from the girl and her grin returned. The girl had already begun to open her mind, "Princess I already had said, I know not of any magic. I work in medicine and remedies. Changing the father of your child is impossible, and making your whole tribe forget would be a task too tremendous for my abilities. The simplest solution would be to put the unborn child to rest before word of the child spreads from beyond the two of us."

Ayame furrowed her brow, frustrated, "Go away. Go away I don't want to look at you anymore. Leave me alone!"

The woman wordlessly bowed her head and disappeared into the forest and quietly as she came. Nothing but the noise of the stream filled the night sky and the starlight poured into the clearing. The young wolf princess had never before been exposed to situation so mature. She opened to cork to the vial, preparing to dump it in the stream and be done with it, not wanting the woman's words to grab hold of her. It took a few deep breaths to compose herself. Ayame repeated in her head that she was strong. She wanted to believe it herself, not because she was being manipulated by someone else taking advantage of her. A life without a tribe, was a life she was not sure if she was prepared for. All her life the young wolf grew up with a tribe, but she was uncertain if she could go on without them.

The girl closed her lips around the vile and swallowed the contents before she changed her mind and threw the empty tube in the stream. Instant regret came as she felt her unborn child writhing inside her. The potion worked quickly and she placed her hands to her stomach until the movement had ceased. Tears ran down the young princess's face, as she said her apologies to her child and her innocent youth. She rested against a tree until she began to bleed between her legs. Not wanting to attract any near predators who may summon from the scent of her blood, she ran to go find Mamimi once more.