Howdy!
Yes I know it has been hella long since I've updated this and I can't lie, I don't have a good excuse just been lazy lately. I'm sorry and I am trying very hard to maintain a focus to bring you the stories you love.
Thanks for the reviews I love getting them.
Without further ado I bring you the next chapter of 'Alphas and Omegas'!
Enjoy! ^^
~All Bark No More Bite~
"Inuyasha!" Kagome shouted.
She rushed forward seeing a pile of red and silver at the base of a tree as the group entered the forest where they had seen the Wind Scar.
The half demon didn't respond as he lay unconscious, Tessiaga lying by his side in its rusted form.
"I found Kilala." Shippo called out from a little ways off, drawing the attention of the group.
Sango followed the fox kit's voice and returned shortly with the small, unconscious neko demon in her arms. "What happened to knock both of them out like this?"
"It would appear they came across the Shirubāshadō, though I sense that this is a demon and not a spirit." Miroku answered as he stood a few feet away from a slumped figure leaning against the side of a cave.
"Should we kill it?" Shippo questioned.
"If it attacked Inuyasha and Kilala first, it could be an evil demon. But we all know Inuyasha has a habit of attacking or provoking demons, and she may truly be the protector of this village." Sango said looking between the three unconscious demons.
"So what should we do?" Shippo asked.
"We have no choice but to wait until they wake up, and then go from there." Miroku said pulling two extra sets of prayer beads and a sutra from his robe. "But to be safe, I'll bind the demon until we know what to do." He chanted a few lines before placing the prayer beads around each wrist of the demon and placing the sutra in the center of her back.
"Guess we have to stay out here until they wake up. The villagers won't let us bring two strange demons into their village." Kagome said with a sigh at the thought of having to give up her hopes of sleeping in a comfortable inn for the night.
"Yes. If you ladies would like, I will take first watch and awake you should one or both wake up." Miroku offered.
"Thank you Miroku that would be nice." Kagome answered before unrolling her sleeping bag and settling down for the night. Sango followed her example, though she did shoot the monk a look that promised pain if he tried anything while they were asleep. Shippo curled himself into Kagome's sleeping bag and was soon snoring.
Miroku took a seat on a fallen log facing the mystery demon. He saw no reason to watch over Inuyasha. If the half demon woke up he posed no threat to the group.
xXx
Akemi awoke with a start, the memory of the half demon fresh on her mind. She jumped to her feet with snarl, though she had to wait as her nose and the shadows filled her in on what her eyes could not. It was still night time, but morning was fast approaching. If she was going to take care of this half demon it had to be now.
Her nose told her that more people were in the area now, and again they seemed familiar but she could not place the scents. Instead she let out a warning growl, as all of the newcomers were humans except for what smelled to be a fox kit.
'What is a fox kit doing traveling with humans?' She mentally questioned, but put it off to ponder about later. For now these people were unknowns, and unknowns were threats.
"Leave this forest now and I will spare you." She snarled keeping her voice as low and deadly as she could manage. She knew she was outnumbered, and two of the humans had a strange feeling about them that she felt an instinctual aversion to. All of the humans stirred and she could feel them stand and their gazes on her.
"Are you the Shirubāshadō, guardian of this village?" A male voice asked.
"I am. Are you seeking me?" She responded suspiciously. If these people knew her name, perhaps they were here to challenge or kill her.
"Did you attack our friend?" The same voice questioned.
"What friend?" Akemi snorted back though she could guess who they meant.
"A half demon." The voice responded.
"If you're talking about the loud mutt; then no. I did not attack him. He accused me of planning to destroy the village and then he attacked me. I simply defended myself." She answered, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Then we apologize for the misunderstanding." A new, feminine voice responded.
"Whatever, just learn to control your pet." Akemi responded in a huff, before turning away. "Now go away."
"What was that you mangy wolf." The infuriating half demon growled though he sounded groggy like she felt.
"I said the puppy needs to learn to obey his masters." She said with a smirk. If she wasn't going to get a physical fight tonight, she had no problems with a verbal one.
She heard the half demon let off a few choice words before he cracked his knuckles and seemed ready for another go around. Her own claws flexed in anticipation, more than willing to continue their earlier confrontation. A swish of the wind told her the half demon had leapt and was heading in her direction. She jumped up to avoid the attack.
xXx
"Sit!" Kagome shouted at the attacking dog demon, bringing him crashing to the ground in mid attack. Miroku sighed as he watched their impulsive friend.
The wolf demon seemed momentarily confused, tilting her head in a listening way before a smirk broke out over her features. "Perhaps you are better trained than I thought." She mocked from the tree branch she had landed on to avoid Inuyasha. "No matter, it simply makes my job easier." She said leaping from the branch towards Inuyasha.
Kagome gasped, to slow to do anything to stop her.
"Down!" Miroku shouted bringing up the hand with the wind tunnel that was wrapped in prayer beads similar to those he had placed around the demoness' wrists.
The beads glowed and brought the demoness' hands behind her back over the sutra and she was dragged down only a few inches short of Inuyasha.
"What the hell?!" She snapped trying to move but being unable to.
"Who's trained now?" Inuyasha scoffed back though he was still pinned down by his own beads.
Both demons leveled glares at each other, each unable to move.
"Miroku how did you do that?" Kagome whispered to the monk.
"It is a spell of subjugation Mushin once gave me, though I have never used it before now." He responded and the wolf demoness growled in his direction.
"Take it off monk." She demanded the 'or else' clear in her tone.
"I cannot." Miroku said clearly unnerved by the glare he was getting from the demon's pupil-less eyes. He spoke quickly as if trying not to further anger the demoness. "Only the original creator of a subjugation spell can release it. I did not create this one, I just merely used it." He clarified.
The demoness was quiet appearing to sense Miroku was being truthful. With a snort she shook her head. "Then who made it?"
"A monk by the name of Mushin." Miroku answered.
"Then you will take me to this monk and you will have him remove it." The demoness said as she stood, the effects of the spell wearing off.
Inuyasha was up as well, glaring daggers at the demoness, though he made no move to physically attack again, since Kagome was leveling him with a glare of her own. Instead he settled for a verbal attack.
"We have better things to do than worry about you." Inuyasha snorted.
"Seeing as you're the reason I'm in this mess, this just became your top priority." The demoness countered, poking a finger in the half-demon's direction.
"Like hell it is, you're on your own." Inuyasha countered.
"Inuyasha she's right." Sango butted in. "You did attack her first and she was merely defending the village. If you hadn't attacked and knocked each other unconscious, Miroku would not have needed to use his beads. We owe it to her to get them taken off. Besides Miroku is the only one who knows where Mushin lives."
The demoness gave a triumphant smirk while Inuyasha adapted a look of disbelief.
"We'll need to go back to Kaede's for supplies first, but then we can head out to find Mushin." Kagome said earning nods from the group.
"Well the sun is already starting to come up, so we might as well get going." Miroku said.
"What?!" The demoness said as she turned her head towards the rising sun, a look of sadness overcoming her features briefly. "Damn." She whispered as the first of the sun rays hit her.
The group looked on in quiet shock as her dark blue hair turned black, her claws and fangs shortened, her pointed ears disappeared to be replaced with two wolf ears on top of her head, and finally her silver pupil-less eyes turned into blue eyes with black pupils.
"You're a half demon?" Sango asked.
The newly transformed wolf half-demon nodded, though her expression was irritated and a bit disappointed.
"Wait!" Kagome shouted causing everyone to turn towards her. "You're the half demon we pulled out of the river almost a year ago."
The wolf half-demon looked puzzled for a moment before she took another sniff of the air and recognition came across her features.
"Of course." She said though her low tone suggested she was talking to herself. "How could I forget such a strange group?"
xXx
"You're that weakling who passed out on your human night." Inuyasha said and Akemi rolled her eyes.
"And you're the idiot that attacks for no reason." She countered.
Both half demons' ears flickered back as they growled at each other, yellow glaring at blue and blue glaring at yellow. The priestess must have sensed the growing tension and quickly approaching fight for she stepped between the two.
"Let's start heading for Kaede's. The sooner we get there the sooner we can get to Mushin's and get…uh… sorry I don't remember your name." Kagome said looking a bit embarrassed.
"Akemi." She responded taking her gaze from the half demon and giving a sigh. "Yes, let's go before dog breath finds himself missing an ear."
"What was that?" Inuyasha growled landing in front of her.
"You heard me." She answered.
"Stray."
"Flee-bag."
"Runt."
"Mutt."
"Mangy wolf!"
"Dirty pup!"
As they spoke each half demon moved forward, growling until they were practically nose to nose. Akemi inwardly cursed as she was forced to tilt her head upwards to keep her glare level with Inuyasha's.
"You want to settle this?" Inuyasha growled, placing his hand on the hilt of Tessiaga.
"Sure." She said, her hands twitching in anticipation to grab the knives she kept in her fur, leg wraps.
"Inuyasha." Kagome said in a warning tone causing the dog demon to flinch and take a few steps back.
"Ha." Akemi gloated as she watched the other half demon backing up. "Such an obedient little puppy you are." She taunted.
"Why you!" Inuyasha snarled losing his last strand of patience and charging for the wolf.
"Sit!" Kagome activated the beads around his neck, bringing the half demon crashing down in mid stride. When the female half demon began chuckling, the priestess cast a glance towards her monk companion.
"Down." The monk said with a sigh, and the wolf half demon was silenced as she was again forced down with her hands behind her back.
"It would seem we've gotten ourselves into a…interesting situation." Sango said.
"You mean Inuyasha has gotten us into one." Shippo chipped in, earning a nod from the humans.
"I have a feeling this is going to be a long journey." Kagome added.
xXx
Kagome had been right.
Their progress was slow due to the warring half demons. Kagome had thought Inuyasha and Kouga were bad, but these two took the wolf/dog rivalry to a new level. The priestess was fairly sure they would have killed each other by now if it hadn't been for their subjugation spells. Unfortunately it seemed said spells were being used constantly as they traveled and were the main reason behind their slow pace. At their usual pace getting to Kaede's village should have only taken three days, but at their current pace they would be fortunate to make it there in a week.
As the group traveled they were experiencing a rare quiet moment as they walked. Inuyasha and Akemi traveled at the front of the group, though on opposite sides, refusing to look at each other. Their silence was largely in part to the fact that they had their subjugation spells used to break up yet another argument. Given the past few hours, it was safe to assume they would be going at it again soon enough.
"Wait, I sense jewel shards coming this way." Kagome called out, relieved for the distraction. A jewel shard would keep Inuyasha busy which was good since he was the one to start most of the arguments. 'Oh no.' The priestess thought as she recognized the two jewel shards heading their way. 'Inuyasha definitely doesn't need to see Kouga now.'
"Great more stinking wolves." Inuyasha growled drawing Tessiaga.
Kagome noticed that Akemi seemed unfazed by the news of jewel shards, but at the mention of another wolf demon her ears began flicking like Inuyasha's did when he was nervous. She sniffed the surround area before jumping off into the forest, though Kagome noted her aura didn't go far. She didn't have long to think on it as Kouga's familiar whirlwind closed in and then disappeared revealing the eastern wolf tribe leader.
xXx
Akemi watched from the branch of a well covered tree, making sure to keep herself completely out of sight. She knew her scent would giver her away, but hopefully if the other wolves couldn't see her they wouldn't think too much of it and assume the scent was from her passing by earlier.
"Kagome, my heart feels lighter just seeing your face." The wolf demon said as he stopped before Kagome and took her hands in his.
"Kouga what are you doing here?" Kagome asked nervously as Inuyasha's growls sounded.
'That's Kouga? The leader of the eastern wolf tribe?' Akemi thought as she watched. 'How do they know him?'
"I'm here checking on my future mate of course." Kouga responded.
'What?! He's supposed to be promised to Ayame of the North.' Akemi's mind was racing as she watched.
"She aint your mate, wolf." Inuyasha butted in placing himself between Kouga and Kagome breaking their contact.
"I said future mate, mutt." Kouga responded.
"She aint your future mate either." Inuyasha responded standing nearly nose to nose with Koga, both growling and glaring at the other.
"That's not for you to decide." Kouga remarked.
"Oh yea." Inuyasha placed his hand on Tessiaga's hilt.
"Yea." Kouga cracked his knuckles.
Kagome squeezed herself between the two and Akemi had to admit she was brave, or stupid.
"Kouga have you heard of any traces of Naraku?" She asked.
"No, the bastard is doing a better job of hiding himself." Kouga said with a low growl.
"Hey Kouga!" Akemi turned her head at the sound of another voice and saw two other wolf demons running up.
"Ginta, Hakkaku, about time you two caught up." Kouga sneered.
"Not that we don't like seeing Kagome, but you have to meet with Naru in the west." Ginta said through pants.
"Hn." Kouga growled as if the idea wasn't appealing. "You're right." He said before turning back to Kagome. He took her hands in his and gave them a light kiss. "Till we meet again." He gave a final wink before disappearing in a western bound tornado.
"Not again." Hakkaku groaned.
"Kouga wait up." Ginta called out as they chased after their leader.
Akemi waited until they were a safe distance away before returning to the group.
xXx
"Where the hell have you been?" Inuyasha snarled towards Akemi his nerves severed after Kouga's little visit.
"I don't have to tell you." Akemi said and Kagome noticed she seemed defensive. "Don't we have a village to be getting to?" Akemi added making it clear she wasn't going to talk about it.
Inuyasha seemed almost disappointed at the lack of fight but he quickly huffed and began walking in the direction of the village.
Though she was curious as to why Akemi had left, Kagome had to admit the silence was nice. Perhaps she would bring it up at a later time as the wolf half demon seemed on edge at the moment.
