Okay, so I decided not to do the riddle, but instead I will be posting the extra chapter on here just like any other. It will be coming up soon, so in the mean time, enjoy this one!!

The thunder of ominous laughter echoed through the clearing and it shook Yukiko's katana in her hands. Rin whimpered louder behind her, burying herself deeper into the tails of her neko protector. The cat hissed slightly at the okami youkai, and Yukiko herself wanted to do the same.

The last of the embers died out on the ground, smoldered under the wolf's giant clawed paws. Eerie yellow slits darted wildly about between the motionless targets about the camp, slowing on the trebling toad and stopping on the defensive human woman. Lips pulled back into what could be considered a sneering smile, teeth flashing in the dimming sun.

Yukiko held her ground when the wind around her picked up, and suddenly the form of the demon was surrounded by a menacing green mist. The dense cloud swirled around the bulky shadow, blocking the youkai from view, and then lowered back down to the ground where it settled at the okami's feet. The only thing though was…he was standing on two!

Before them was a man--or at least what appeared to be as such--the air around him suffocating Yukiko with a nauseating stench so intense it sent her to her knees.

A coarse laugh reverberated in his chest, the same snarling smile engraved on his dark lips. His skin was pale taking on a green, sickly tint that made his flaxen irises even more blatant. His teeth were pallid and his razor canines protruded far over his lower lip.

Long, unruly dreadlocks of brown fell over his shoulders, resembling a mane of unkempt fur. He wore clothes of what could have once been considered royalty, but were now more like tattered rags, soiled and dirtied from dirt and blood.

When it spoke, the youkai sounded raspy and ill from wheezing deep within its chest. "At last, Kurosawa-san. I was hoping that we would finally get to meet, though I would have preferred under much more considerate circumstances," it coughed out.

There was something not quite right with the way in which the demon spoke. It sounded broken off and detached as if from another. Nothing this okami said was really matched up to the way its arduous mouth was moving.

Yukiko attempted to take in a breath to respond, to demand who he was and why he was there, but the retorts were caught in her throat as she gasped. The air was putrid to her and it was as if a fetid cloud had settled around her. She glanced back to Rin and Kyo to find them gazing at her worriedly, nothing of the toxic sort bothering them.

Another grumbling cackle snapped her attention back as she covered her mouth with her hand, desperate to get rid of the stench. "Ah, I see that this okami's stench offends you, my frail ningen, even with your dull senses. I am afraid that this was all I could accommodate under such strict conditions," he drug out harshly, pulling on the sleeve of the dilapidated sleeve of the kimono he wore.

The woman's eyes narrowed, as she surveyed the youkai's face closer. Its facial features were not just crude, they were decaying…dead. The yellow in the wolf's eyes she could see had once been green, now glazed over and fading; its flaky skin was not wan were it had once been tanned, they were down right moldering to the bone!

Another grin Yukiko received for her shocked and understanding scrutiny. "Always a sharp one were you not? Is that why this one's smell mars your senses so greatly, Kurosawa-san, because you are so greatly in tuned with death?" he asked with what seemed to be genuine amusement.

Yukiko cringed as he took a step forward, struggling to both hold her katana in front of her and keep her mouth covered. Her eyebrows furrowed in frustration. Who in Kami's name was this demon, obviously not the okami but instead using a dead youkai's corpse in means of contact? Did what he say uphold to be true, that she was obviously oversensitive to the presence of this animated carcass, so much that apparently Sesshomaru seemed unaffected of its existence?

"I see that you are confused, yes, ningen?" the creature mocked, its mouth now just limply moving even when there was a pause in the voices speech. "You see, because of a certain event in your previous history--which I am convinced due to your recent dreams that you remember--there is a special gift you have, Kurosawa Yukiko. One that I want…" his gruff voice grated through the air and wound its way around Yukiko.

It was clearly either a threat on her and her companions' lives or a miserable endeavor to lure her, but Yukiko found she could not move. Her feet seemed like lead and her stomach was quickly falling and rising, causing the nausea to become worse. Soon, the demon was standing in front of her and Kyo was hissing dangerously behind her. Though his threatening sounds were lost to her with the pounding of her own heart in her ears.

One question, she managed to drawl out from parched lips and a tight throat. "Why…?" her voiced cracked on the one word. A rotten hand and bony fingers wound their way around her thin neck, further choking the passage way of what lacking breathable air there was.

There was a sickened look that crossed the deceased okami's features, at least what Yukiko could make out through the black spot appearing in her vision. "Even to these dying--I apologize, dead--senses, to put it bluntly, dear, you reek of dog," he sneered, and there seemed to be somewhat a recognizable flash of anger flashing through cloudy eyes.

Yukiko's eyes narrowed and the grip on her katana tensed. He refused to answer her so candidly by saying that she smelled awfully...of dog! Despite the foul odor that now lingered even on her skin, Yukiko inhaled the deepest breathe her lungs would allow before they were to heave.

Her teeth gritted as she gagged on her own words, "Go…rot…in…" Her last words were muffled with a grunt as she swung her sword hand up level with the creature's neck, effectively slicing off his head and dropped to her feet, unsteadily swaying on her feet before she balanced herself with her katana.

There was a gurgling sound as blood oozed from the okami's, though it was mostly black tainted from some sort of toxin. There was a stark whisper on the wind that her ears caught, "Shoko will return, my dear little ningen…"

The liquid pooled around the corpse's unmoving form, and she wearily motioned Jaken forward. Surprisingly, he did so obediently without a retort of some sort.

"Burn...the remains," she coughed and wiped her mouth when she felt a trail of something wet running down her chin. To her utter surprise, red met her hazy gaze.

The toad demon did as told and used his staff to incinerate every last piece of the demon. Yukiko turned her head to Rin, to see that Kyo had affectively covered her head with his tails to keep the child from viewing such a scene.

Behind, there was a flicker of another youkai's presence, though Yukiko only smiled somewhat contently. Sapphire blue eyes gazed tiredly behind her, meeting the searching stare of golden ember. She gave out a somnolent sigh, her eyes suddenly feeling heavy and everything seemed disorientating. Not ever remembering being this exhausted before, Yukiko gave in to the darkness and let herself sway to one side, not even aware of the arms that gracefully stopped her fall.

All she was mindful of was her stomach having finally settled and her current blissful state of sleep. Unconsciously, she gave an at eased purr and fell into complete oblivion.

x

Lord Sesshomaru arrived just as Yukiko efficiently decapitated the youkai that had latched its grip on her throat. Though even from the distance he was at, the demon lord could tell that something was off. If it was not the fact that he was getting the sensation of death from the clearing--his eyes scanned the area to take count of his company, all were alive--then it was the revolted expression look that unmistakably played across the human woman's features as she looked upon the heap of flesh, blood, and clothes.

The inuyoukai watched as the woman gestured Jaken over, and the taiyoukai delicately raised an eyebrow--that no one would see--as his servant obeyed. Golden eyes grew curious as Yukiko instructed for the toad to set the carcass ablaze, the smell of burned rotting flesh assaulting his nose mercilessly.

Rotting… he mused as he looked upon the last of the remains to find they were indeed already decayed far greater than what a kill that occurred only a few seconds ago should be.

With the confrontation already over with and his beast having settled after watching the callous death of the threat, Sesshomaru strolled out of the shadows of the trees and into view.

The demon lord watched as the human woman shuddered slightly and her eyes quickly flashed to him. His gaze narrowed meeting her fatigued facet; surely one who could take on an entire weasel demon flock could not be so easily drained after fighting a demon that was no greater than an animated corpse. His nose twitched at a lingering scent on her…an okami, too; she was tired by a wolf!

A smile graced her delicate lips, and it seemed that she was putting forth a great effort to do even that. Suddenly and without warning, her eyes dimmed and closed as her legs gave out from underneath her and she collapsed.

Without thinking, Sesshomaru appeared beside her using his speed and grace to easily lift her off her feet. Ignoring the astonished stare of Jaken and the joyful smile of Rin, the inuyoukai carried the woman to her neko. Without so much as a mew, Kyo stood and walked over to Sesshomaru and his mistress.

The demon lord placed Yukiko on the cat demon's back, letting the cat wrap its tails around her protectively and to keep her from falling. Without a second glance, Sesshomaru stalked over to Ah-Un and commanded to Rin to climb on as he took hold of the dragons' reigns.

"We are to leave for my palace. I have already sent word of our arrival. Jaken, pack everything up," he ordered in his usual monotonous voice, though his eyes began to linger over the sleeping woman. She looked somewhat distraught, but he did not see it as his position to care about nor for her.

Yet, in he back of his mind, his beast was snickering…

He growled lowly, though it went unheard by most of his party except a certain neko. He was far too concerned for Yukiko's well-being currently to be concerned with the lord's problems for now, though.

"Jaken, what happened in my presence?" the taiyoukai inquired, though it sounded more like a demand. The toad went on rambling for a good minute or so before Sesshomaru decided to make his impatience clear.

Jaken jumped at the icy glare he was receiving and cut his monologue short. "The onna appeared just before the okami demon demanding that I do as she says, then kicks me out from under the overhanging! Then she goes and starts yelling for her baka neko to…"

A growl interrupted him and the imp squealed. "I am sorry, m' lord! Please spare me you rage…" he muttered. Sesshomaru stopped for a moment and looked over his shoulder to Jaken who trembled. His lord was smiling, never a good sign. "Oh, Sesshomaru-sama, I beg of you not to smile at me like that. I fear it more than your anger!!!" Honestly, did his sniveling never get tiring for him to continue?

Rin could sense the tension growing in the air and hopped off of Ah-Un up to her lord. "Lord Sesshomaru, Rin can tell you what happened! Yukiko came back after 'blowing off some steam' and told Jaken to stand at the edge of the camp. Rin thought she looked really tense, and then Yukiko-chan asked Kyo to watch Rin and keep her safe. Then a demon came out of the shadows, it was a huge wolf," she paused and Sesshomaru could see the young girl shudder. Apparently she was still not over her fears of wolves yet.

"Yukiko-chan stepped in front of the wolf, but then it changed into a person. She seemed really sick and was holding her hand over her mouth like this…" the child trailed off and put her sleeve-covered hand over her lips with a giggle. "After the demon picked her up by her throat, Yukiko-chan cut off the man's head," she said honestly, seeming undeterred about speaking of the incident.

Sesshomaru continued looking forward and patted Rin's head, telling her she could go back to Ah-Un. The inuyoukai was thankful that the child could at least tell him straightforwardly about what happened; he was not in the mood to put up with his servant's unwanted constant bantering.

His thoughts strayed to the woman. He began wondering if she had something so do with the appearance of the okami. It had been following them for quite some time, according to the human, as long as she and her neko had been traveling with his company. What connection would she have to the demon, or from the sounds of it, whomever was possessing the demon's deceased body?

Though as much as he was hating to look forward to it, there were more than just a few answers that he was going to demand from the woman. Though knowing her, she would find a way to complicate it to be more difficult than just a round of twenty-questions on his part after what happened earlier than day.

Least to say, his beast was looking forward to the confrontation; he, however, was not…

x

Yukiko sat beneath the tree, knees drawn up to her chest and tear streaked face resting on top. A sobbing sigh escaped her throat as she quickly rubbed her salty cheeks with her wet kimono sleeve. Why--that was her only question--why did it happen to her? Or the lingering question on her numb mind currently was 'Why not her?'

It had all happened, so quickly the child did not know what had really even happened at first. Red, in her opinion the most beautiful color in the world, yet the most vile thing in her life. It stained everything; the grass, the streets, her hands, white was tainted with it, and black was pure with it. Most of all, it would forever be engraved into her memory.

Flashes of red blinded her sight once more, but she no longer flinched from it. Instead, she almost welcomed it, the only color she could now see among the mirage of grays. That was it…the only things in her life were white and black and the endless array of grays that laid between them. And now red.

Then there was something else at the bottom of the hill, standing out from the ashen field and gray slate sky reflected by the puddles of rain. Everything blended together except that one thing, the thunderous clouds overhead was the same as the pewter trees, putty earth similar to the bleak faces of the dead. Eventually, even the red melded into the desolate scenery.

Then there was gold…

x

Like I said, the extra chapter will be here soon, but with school I don't know for sure.

I hope you enjoyed it, and please review, it doesn't matter if it's criticism or not. It boosts my spirits when I know that other people are actually reading what I write. Thankies!!