Chapter XI: Enter Koga the Demon Wolf
Akurei, Kagome and the others were walking when suddenly, Akurei and Inuyasha smelled blood. "You smell that?" Akurei asked.
"Yep. Human blood and lots of it."
"Wanna check it out?" Akurei asked everyone. They nodded and Kirara transformed so that way Sango and Miroku could ride and Akurei shifted into her dragon form. Kagome and Inuyasha leapt onto her back and Akurei and Kirara leapt up into the air and began flying.
Not too long after that, they stumbled across the remains of a village. Kirara shrank down and Akurei shifted to look mostly human and pulled her cloak around her to hide her legs, tail, and wings. The group saw that there were tracks and bodies everywhere. The tracks were in the shape of paws. "It looks like they all got mauled by wolves," said Miroku, glancing around at the tracks.
"The stench of wolf is everywhere," Inuyasha noted. Sango moved to check a couple of less-damaged bodies. "They're all dead," she said.
"Not for very long, though. There would be a stronger smell overriding the blood if they were dead longer."
Shippo yipped and scrambled up Kagome's shoulder, "We're surrounded!"
"Oh lovely," Akurei muttered. The wolves growled and launched themselves at the group, snapping and howling. "Iron-Reaver Soul Stealer!" Inuyasha shouted, cutting down several of them. Kirara leapt forward and shifted into her battle form, scaring off many of the canines. The others were hacking away at them and beating them back. The ones Kirara scared away ran up to a small hill and began howling.
"Aw, crap. They're calling their leader," Inuyasha said.
"Well, there's not much we can do about that," Akurei replied. A few minutes later, a whirlwind came in and a demon leapt out of it. He had long black hair and was wearing wolf pelts. The wolves circled him and whimpered. He looked at them and snarled, "Who's been hurting my wolves?" He stared accusingly at the group.
"Who're you?" Inuyasha growled.
"I'm Koga, the new leader of the Wolf Demon Tribe," the demon said.
Akurei stiffened as her friend stated his name. She was so shocked, she didn't react to anything for the next few minutes.
Kagome gasped, "Inuyasha, he has jewel shards in his right arm and both his legs."
Inuyasha nodded and drew his Tetsusaiga. The two of them exchanged a few insults and then began fighting. Akurei stayed stiff as a board. When the two of them disengaged again, Inuyasha and Koga began verbally sparring once again. Finally, Inuyasha said, "If only you could fight as fast as you could talk. Then we'd get somewhere!"
This drew the other demon over the edge, "Shut up!" he yelled, "Albino runt!"
"You ought to be put down for rabies!"
"Well," Miroku observed, "they're well-matched when it comes down to foul behavior."
"Yep. They're less mature than the lech among us at the moment," Akurei said automatically, eyeing the monk out of the corner of her eye. Kagome laughed and Sango broke into giggles while Miroku looked away. Sango yipped and looked extremely surprised. She glowered as a loud smacking sound resounded. The next thing Kagome and Akurei know, Miroku has a red hand-shaped mark and Sango looks ready to beat him.
Miroku looked embarrassed and Sango had the coldest expression on her face. They looked toward the fight again and Inuyasha began to invoke the Windscar. Suddenly, Koga leapt back and shouted to his wolves to retreat.
As they ran into the woods, Inuyasha got mad, of course. He started to rant and Akurei tuned him out, turning to Kagome. "So what's with him?"
"Inuyasha?"
"No. Koga."
"Do you think he sensed the Windscar and that he was in danger?" Sango asked.
"It's possible, but I'm practically half animal and I can't even tell when he's going to invoke the Windscar," Akurei responded. Crap crap crap! What's Koga doing here? Are we close to his den?
"Hm," Kagome murmured thoughtfully. "Inuyasha just calm down," she said. The demon in question was still muttering and half-yelling at anything that moved all because he didn't have a chance to finish off Koga.
"Inuyasha," Akurei started. Her voice was really quiet and choked, so she tried again, "Inuyasha. Don't hurt him."
"Why shouldn't I?" he snapped. Akurei flinched and looked down, not answering him.
He sniffed and said, "Well, I'm not waitin' for ya so come on! We've gotta go get 'im!"
About fifteen minutes later, Inuyasha was lying on the ground sniffing around. Akurei was standing there anxiously gnawing on her talon trying to figure out why Koga was being hostile and not paying attention to Shippo and Inuyasha's bickering. Moments later, a bunch of wolves descended from the mountainside, sending Inuyasha over the cliff and scaring the life out of Kagome. She gasped and ran to the edge screaming his name. Akurei started to run toward her to go after him when she was taken down by three brown wolves. She turned over, preparing to swipe at them with her claws, but stopped short when she saw that they weren't moving to bite her throat or nipping at her. She growled at them and they growled right back. "Lemme up," she snarled at them. The wolves didn't budge, so she used her hand to bat their faces away and allow herself up. By the time she got up, Koga was already sprinting, Kagome thrown over his shoulder like so much luggage. "Koga!" she shouted.
He didn't hear her so she leapt after him and started running. It quickly became apparent that she wouldn't be able to catch up to him so instead of wasting her energy, she extended her body into that of a Japanese Lung and twisting through the air to splash into the river a hundred feet below.
The water hit her with a cold slap and she slid gracefully through to where Inuyasha was struggling against the current. She pushed him onto shore and followed.
"What're you doing here?" he shouted at her.
I couldn't catch him, so I figured I should help you, she said indignantly. Right when he was about to lay into her with his every-famous temper, Sango and Miroku landed next to them. "Inuyasha, are you alright?" Miroku asked.
"Yeah. Where's Kagome?" he asked.
"You mean she's not with you?" Sango asked.
"I saw her get carried off with Koga. I tried to catch them, but I couldn't catch up," Akurei said once she shifted back.
"Dammit! Are you good for anything?" the half-demon griped.
"Shut up. It's not like you were bounding off to save her after she got carried off," the other retorted.
"Aw, shut up! I'm goin' after them. You comin'?" he growled.
Akurei shifted into a dragon as her response, and Inuyasha vaulted onto her back. Let's go get her! She called as she took off.