Chapter Eleven – The Rolling Storm
"Kagome," Sango gasped, "we have to stop."
"No, we can't!" Kagome dashed the tears out of her bloodshot eyes. "Kaida and Kaza could be anywhere."
"We have been walking," Miroku said pointedly, leaning on his staff, "for three straight days and nights. This is absolutely ludicrous."
"If you had a six-month baby out in the forests, you'd keep walking!" Kagome shrieked.
Sango dropped to the ground and said in a low growl, "My daughter's out there too, Kagome, so you can shut the hell up. We're worried about Kaza and Kaida too, but walking all over Japan is not going to get us anywhere. We have to take a break."
"I can't! Kaza doesn't know how to take care of her! Kaida's going to die if we can't get there! She can't die, Sango, not after everything she means to me!" Kagome was breathing heavily, and looked about on the brink of collapse.
Inuyasha, who'd barely spoken these past couple of days, walked over to Kagome. He placed a hand on her shoulder and sat her down on the ground, where she leaned into him and cried on his shoulder. Inuyasha sighed and grudgingly held her, and Shippou leapt up into her lap.
"I miss Kirara." He said.
Kohaku sat down next to his sister and said, "This isn't the first time Kaza's been lost."
"No, she does it a lot, actually." Miroku said, managing a smile. "It's a little annoying, to be honest."
Sango smiled blankly. "Kaza's tough. I just don't know if she's going to get caught in another swarm of demons. But she has the baby this time, and Kagome's right, Kaza doesn't really know how to take care of her…at least they have Kirara."
"I just can't lose Kaida…what if she gets sick? What if she dies, out there in the wilderness without me? Inuyasha, we have to find her…Inuyasha…?"
Sango looked over to see Kagome shaking Inuyasha, whose eyes had gone white and was sitting rigidly. Shippou, in her lap, was experiencing the same thing.
"Inuyasha? What's wrong?" She said, shaking him some more. As Sango watched with a sickening feeling in her stomach, the corners of Inuyasha's eyes started to turn green.
Beside her, Kohaku snapped to attention. "Sango…"
"Kagome," Sango said, slowly standing up, "get away from Inuyasha."
"What?" Kagome said.
"Get away," Sango said quietly, starting to loosen Hiraikotsu from her back, "from Inuyasha and Shippou. Right now, Kagome."
Kagome gingerly eased Shippou off her lap. He tumbled to the ground, his spine straight as a tree. His eyes were turning green as well.
"What's going on?" Miroku said.
"Do you think it's…?" Kohaku asked Sango.
She nodded.
"What?" Kagome asked.
At that moment, Inuyasha started to violently tremble. Green liquid started to leak out of his mouth. His whole body shook, but he stayed sitting rigidly straight. Shippou was convulsing.
"Oh, my God, we have to get out of here." Sango said, pulling her Hiraikotsu completely off her back. "It's a demon disease, they got it, I don't know how, but we have to leave before – "
Inuyasha turned his green eyes on Sango, Miroku, Kagome and Kohaku, and he raised his hands, claws fully drawn.
Kagome's scream echoed across the forest.
Kaza's POV
"Alright! A stream!" Balancing Kaida on my hip, I ran down to the bank of the stream that was bubbling bright, crystal blue through the field.
I dunked my head in and drank mouthfuls of the water. When I came up, my sheet of wet hair slapped my back. Beside me, Nariko and Kirara were drinking as well. I cupped my hand and gave Kaida some of the crystal cold water.
"This is awesome." Nariko breathed.
"I'm taking a bath." I said, already taking my sword off. "I am disgusting. There is dirt on my dirt."
"Good idea. I'll go further downstream." Nariko stood up.
"Why? We're both girls."
Nariko bit her lip. "Stuff you don't need to see." And she vanished.
"Mysterious much?" I said, taking a quick glance around to make sure there weren't any demons or men. "Come on, Kaida, you wanna take a bath with Kaz?"
She grinned, and I pulled my Taijiya suit off and waded into the river. It was cold and felt deliciously amazing. I undressed Kaida and held her with me, splashing her and washing her dark hair. My hair hung long and unchecked down my back, and I put Kaida on the bank for a moment while I rubbed sand on my scalp and all over my body in a shitty substitute for soap. Kirara was splashing and playing around beside me.
Kaida understood splashing after a while, and was fully enjoying it. She started splashing me, though it wasn't really effective since she really only hit me with a few drops. I giggled and splashed her back.
All of a sudden, I heard a growl.
"Who the hell are you?" Nariko screamed from downriver.
"Someone who's about to kick your puppy ass, this is MY spot!" Someone else said with a roar.
"KAAAA-ZAAAA!" Nariko screamed.
"Oh, God!" I grabbed Kaida and splashed my way out of the scream, Kirara following me. I hastily threw on my suit, dripping wet, my hair splashing my back. I grabbed my sword and tried to put on Kaida's kimono as I sprinted down the riverbank. She started to scream, and I found a nice bush right by the river bank.
"Kirara, I'm begging you, be my AMAZING kitty and watch her, okay, please?" I begged. Kirara, being awesome like she was, transformed into her big kitty form and laid down, so I kissed Kaida and put her in the comfy little crevice of Kirara's stomach.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you, please just watch her, okay?" I gasped, already running away to where I heard scuffles and screams. Throwing the sheath to the ground, I burst into the battle.
Nariko was being held by her white hair by another demon. She was a wolf demon, with tumbling red hair and green eyes. She was wearing a miniskirt and had a sword pressed to Nariko's throat.
"Who the hell are you?" I roared at her. "Let go of her!"
"I'm Akina, the Wolf Princess!" She said with a cocky grin. "Who the hell are you?"
"What problem do you have with Nariko?" I said.
"Little bitch here was bathing in MY stream and eating MY fish." Akina said, pressing the sword closer to Nariko's jugular.
"Let…me…GO!" And Nariko pulled out the bigger of the two swords she carried at her hip, knocking Akina's away in one movement and lunging for her. The two began to fight, lithe wolf demon with a tiny sword versus the raw dog demon with a sword that looked positively deadly.
"You know what this is, bitch?" Nariko said, swinging it downward. Akina parried. "This is Tenseiga! The sword of Sesshoumaru, the dog demon of the West! You've got nothing on me, mangy cur!"
"Sesshoumaru?" Akina spat, making a vicious stab for Nariko's stomach. "Sesshoumaru? You mean that fat dog who sits at home and polishes his trophies? That's the sword you're carrying? My sword is from Kouga, the King of the Wolves!"
"Kouga?" I said in bewilderment. "You're Kouga's kid? How the hell did that happen?"
"Yes, Kouga!" Akina said with a triumphant grin, slashing at Nariko again. "Much better lineage than that fat pussy Sesshoumaru! And you're not even full demon, either, little bastard bitch!"
"Kouga," Nariko grunted as she fought, "was so fantastically stupid that he let Naraku kill off all of his best fighters in one blow! You're proud to call him your Daddy? Stupidity must run in the family!"
"Sesshoumaru got his arm cut off by his hanyou of a brother! Maybe if you amount to anything in life, you'll be lucky enough to do even that!"
And I, realizing that there was a lot of family strife being spilled right now, figured that now was as good a time as ever to come clean with MY family history.
So I took a deep breath, raised my arm, and took off the beads.
The winds started immediately, and Nariko and Akina together stopped fighting and looked to where it was coming from. Their faces dropped as they struggled against the winds.
"Who are you?" Akina screamed as she plunged her sword into the ground, trying to find purchase. Nariko was doing the same thing.
"My name," I roared, "Is Kaza, the Daughter of the Wind!"
Both girls turned to me in complete shock.
"Now don't move!"
They didn't move. I pulled the rosary over my hand in one motion and glared down at them.
The Daughter of the Wind must not have been what they expected. I was wearing a lopsided, dripping wet Taijiya suit, with disheveled, dark wet hair that was barely controlled.
"Kaza?" Nariko gasped. "You're the Daughter of the Wind?"
"My parents are the monk Miroku and Sango, the last demon slayer in Japan." I said, planting my hands on my hips. "And my lineage is much stronger than either of yours, so let's settle this right now – I could kick either of your asses in a second, or just suck you in the Kazaana if I didn't feel like fighting, so what I say goes, you bitches GOT IT?"
Akina and Nariko nodded like whipped puppies. I was enjoying this.
"So you are Sesshoumaru's daughter?" I asked Nariko.
She nodded.
"Okay. Finally a full confession. Who's your mom?"
"Rin. She's a human."
"Thank you for stating the obvious. For the record, Kaida back there – " I pointed behind me, "is the daughter of Kagome and Inuyasha, your father's brother – the one who cut off his arm." Nariko's eyes got huge. "She's your cousin, yes."
"And this little wolf bitch," I said, turning to Akina, "is Kouga's daughter? I'm not following. I thought your dad loved Kagome."
"He did," she said, still completely in shock, "but he married my mom. Ayame, another wolf demon."
"Alright. So you're pure blood."
"You're the Daughter of the Wind?" Nariko said. "God, I never knew. You killed Naraku?"
"Twice, thank you. But that's a very long story and involves my ass getting kicked multiple times, I'm not going to tell it…where's Kaida? And Kirara? Neither of you move!" I said, pointing to them. When I had their scared nods of assurance that they wouldn't move, I smiled and turned around.
Kirara was walking towards me, with Kaida on her back. But she was walking funny – almost rigidly. Her eyes were a bright, vivid green. So were Kaida's. My stomach started to grow cold as I saw Kaida look at me with eyes that didn't see.
She raised one little hand –
And there were five sharp claws instead of fingernails.
Hey peeps! Pegelia's back. See, trust Pegelia. She will update...most of the time...like, has anyone noticed just how many K names are in this story? Like, not even kidding, we've got Kaza, Kagome, Kaida, Kirara, Kohaku, Kouga, Kanna, Kagura...and Akina and Nariko both have K's...i'm writing this and thinking, 'Was i retarded or what? Naming my main characters 'Kaza' and 'Kaida'?' This has to be one of the most damn difficult things to write, just because you're trying to figure out which 'K' name goes where! I'll change Kaza to like 'Patty' or something...nawww. REVIEW! Luv - PVB