Disclaimer: The characters and world of InuYasha are not mine; they are property of Rumiko Takahashi, Shogakukan, Yomiuri TV, Sunrise, and Viz. The Alien characters and movies are not mine either. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.
Author's note: I am sorry for the delay in updating and I want to thank you all for your patience, the politeness of your emails is appreciated! Not one flame so far, even after weeks without news, you don't know how good it feels! I will be trying to update more often, but job has gotten hectic now and I can't seem to find time to breath, let alone update my story! Don't worry though, I have many chapters in stock yet, all of them already written down and just needing that extra editing before being posted. Plsea tell me if you like what you read!
Chapter 25
Kitana returned to the garden and in a leap, she jumped upon the side of the wall that surrounded it. Crawling upon it she soon reached the top, and then climbed upon the roof of the building itself, looking at her surroundings.
She still couldn't understand how people with as low a level of technology could make a whole castle float in the sky, but it appeared to be true; a great wall of white clouds surrounded the place. The buildings scattered in the courtyard were multiple and she could count at least six of them, apparently all inhabited by youkai of different levels of energy. Sesshomaru was at the opposite end of the place, his energy signature clearly recognizable to Kitana, and his mother, as far as she could tell, was not with him. Her energy was great, but much lower than her son's and she was difficult to distinguish from many of the warriors. All in all, the place was a gathering ground of higher-level youkai, but none of them stronger than her companion.
A particular area of the courtyard, a square building with no windows visible but with an open area in the center, appeared to house a gathering of some sort. She could sense various energy signatures there and a mix of aggressive or combative feelings fuelled by adrenaline. Deciding to start her investigations at this place, she jumped to the ground and made her way to the building, climbing the wall once again instead of confronting the guards standing at the entrance. Decidedly, this place was well protected, and she wanted to see firsthand who could become her enemies.
Once she reached the top of the wall, she discovered that it was not really a building, but rather just a very high square-shaped wall. The purpose of this particular construction was revealed to her: it was an outside dojo. A huge, wide opened place with four slightly elevated square training areas surrounded by the high walls she had climbed.
At the moment, a fight was going on that seemed to attract the attention of everyone. A group of about twenty youkai, all of them muscular males of various origins, was standing at the edge of one of the training rings to have a better view of this fight, enthusiastically cheering and shouting at the opponents but at the same time obscuring Kitana's view. She could easily sense the excitement of the small crowd, as well as the emotions of the fighters; one of them was being beaten up and was starting to exude fear and the other one was almost aroused by the fight, getting a high from the combined effects of adrenaline and victory. Curious about what was so interesting to watch that all these seasoned fighters would stop their training session to look at it, the black skinned creature broke into a four-legged run along the roof to reach a spot where she could get an overview of the scene.
Unnoticed by anyone, she crouched on all four atop the roof, finally getting a glimpse of the action. In the closest corner of the ring, two fighters were sitting back to back in a puddle of their own blood, totally exhausted with their bodies literally covered by small cuts and wounds, but still breathing. In the middle of the ring the battle was raging between what appeared to be a large bull headed warrior who fought with a heavy war-axe, and a small female of an undetermined species, to Kitana's eyes at least.
She slowly descended along the wall to get a better view, and then sat up on her haunches, her feet firmly gripping the side of the wall. The fighter had raven black hairs, spiked and cut about an inch from her skull. She wore black low waist pants that flared at the ankle, letting her bare clawed feet appear and a buttoned-down black sleeveless jacket that covered her down to the navel. Her exposed arms and lower abdomen were very muscular, showing no extra fat and almost sinuous muscles. Strange greyish-brown markings surrounded her eyes and evaded into points toward her pointed ears, giving her a dramatic expression, and a series of a dozen of similarly colored stripes adorned her wrists and ankles, coming closer to each other as they approached her extremities before finally merging on her hands and feet to create a striking contrast of pale and dark skin.
Smirking evilly at her opponent, the diminutive fighter waited until the momentum of the great bull carried him forward at high speed before jumping up in the air and scratching his right arm deeply with her sharp claws. Then, she spun in mid-air and did the same to his broad muscled back. The swiftness and agility of the girl was impressive, and the bull stumbled and almost fell over, before straightening himself for another attack.
Feeling the growing lust that was emitted by the woman, Kitana smirked. It was not uncommon for women to experiment physical pleasure in the heat of a fight, especially women from a lower cast, with no power over anything in their life. These women usually made fierce opponents in battle since they then took the only chance they had at overpowering someone else, and took utmost pleasure in doing so especially when faced with a strong foe. As they did, they often gained respect from their companions or even from the higher ups and climbed in the hierarchy, never letting go of their sadistic ways though.
Examining her fighting style, Kitana determined that this little black-haired thing was exactly this type of opponent; she was taking her time, angering the bull while cutting him open and making him bleed out on the ring. The large youkai was doing his best to lend a blow on the female, in an impressive display of heated muscles and abnormal strength, towering over her and sending his fists and hooves toward her. The agility of the female though outmatched the bull readily, and it was the only thing that kept the small youkai alive; everybody could tell that if a single blow from the bull landed on her, she would be as good as dead. It was probably what was keeping this crowd so enthralled with the battle, seeing the raging bull defeated by a smallish female was as captivating as witnessing the death of the said female if the male could get a grip on her.
Looking back at the two incapacitated fighters still hunched in their corner, Kitana knew that they had indeed tasted the foul medicine of the woman and would soon be joined by the bull if luck didn't leave the woman. The crowd was now shouting at the fighters more than ever, and became hysteric when the small female started to fight with knives instead of her claws, attacking the male in a fury of black and silver. The cuts she made with the knives did not heal as fast as the wounds from her claws, and Kitana thought that the blades must be coated with either an anticoagulating agent or some poison that diminished the potency of youkai healing. Either way, the results were interesting as the large beast was now bleeding heavily from multiple shallow wounds, and had yet to come close enough to the female to touch her, let alone harm her in any way.
As the fight went on, the bull's movements became slower and his breath became labored. His open mouth let go of a whitish foam as his tongue hung on the side, panting from the exertion and the blood loss. His large eyes were now bulging from the pain and the realization that he may very well loose this fight. After a powerful strike toward his elusive enemy, the creature fell on one knee, both his hands lying atop his thigh to prevent him from falling over. Slowly, he got back on his feet, only to be attacked fiercely by the sadistic creature that was his opponent. In a scream that was almost drowned under the cheering from the crowd, he fell over his back, having slipped in the now deep puddle of blackish red blood that covered the arena. A thundering noise resonated on the walls of the dojo when the large body of the bull slammed on the ground, sending blood flying on the nearest observers.
It was hard not to openly cheer up with the rest of the crowd, but Kitana did her best to stay as impassive as she could despite the fun she was having. Of course she felt the growing terror and exhaustion of the bull, but her focus was entirely on the female. Each swipe that met with flesh brought her an undeniable arousal, each drop of blood that hit the ground fed her lust and longing. When the immense creature finally fell down on the ground, the small woman almost reached climax, grinning at the crowd who cheered her name and booed the bull. These waves of guilty pleasure hit Kitana at full strength, and she finally couldn't resist but smirk at the female. When it was clear that the bull wouldn't get up, the winner of the fight walked over to him and placed her left foot on his broad back.
"Do we have another volunteer?"
SSSSS
The crowd suddenly hushed down, no one wanting to meet her challenge; after all, the bull was the strongest of them all and couldn't land a punch on this slip of a female.
"No one? Don't be chickens, guys! Come on!"
Most of the spectators turned and left the area, not wanting to be picked as "volunteers". When she saw their reaction, she frowned and then landed a series of hard kicks in the bull's ribs, pushing him until he fell down the ring. The men helped him get on his feet as well as the other two fighters, and accompanied them out of the training area. The remaining spectators scattered across the three other rings, going back to the training they were doing before the show started.
"Impressive display."
Kitana's words reached the little youkai and she turned to face her. Their eyes met, each of them examining the other one, both puzzled and intrigued by what they saw. It appeared that the sight of a black-skinned female, hairless with a crested head, armed with claws and tail and sticking on the middle of a high rocky wall like a fly was not a common occurrence in the castle, for the young youkai was speechless before her. After what seemed to be an eternity, she finally smiled at Kitana, straightening her posture and putting her fists on her hips.
"I was beginning to think you couldn't speak. Not once I heard you cheer on me, nor on the bull for that matter."
It was Kitana's turn to smile, or rather to smirk. A malicious gleam entered her eyes as she answered the youkai.
"One does not need to cheer when the result of a battle is obvious."
The youkai paused and let her eyes wander over Kitana's form, taking into account her bladed tail and lethal claws, and lingering a little bit too long on her curves and feminine forms before returning to her face. The black creature lifted a brow, now knowing exactly what kind of female this one was.
"You are not from around here."
"No, I am not. My name is Kitana."
"I am Sai, pleased to meet you." The woman bowed while keeping eye contact. Her irises were the same color as her markings, creating a stunning effect.
"The pleasure is mine. May I ask you what kind of youkai you are? Your fighting style was quite spectacular, if I dare say."
A small smirk reached Sai's face, and she brought her right hand to her mouth, slowly sucking the blood that coated her fingers.
"I am a marten; what about you? You don't remind me of any youkai I've ever met."
It was Kitana's time to smirk.
"Maybe because I'm foreign."
"Maybe. And would you enjoy a little friendly sparring, Kitana the Foreigner?"
Kitana sat back on her heels, swishing the tip of her tail slowly before her.
"Well, it's not that I would not appreciate, but I am supposed to pretend to be a lady and I doubt a lady would engage in sparring. What do you think?"
Cocking her head to the side, the marten replied.
"Well, if you ask me… Why don't you pretend to be a warrior instead of a lady, just for the time of one battle anyway? It would be much more convincing; with your muscles and claws, you would make a great warrior, and a poor lady."
Kitana contracted her legs and jumped on the ring, crouching low right before the female youkai. Blood splattered around as her feet met the ground, and her claws instinctively dug into the ring to avoid slipping into the crimson liquid.
"Oh, are you implying that I am not a lady, marten? Because it could be considered an insult to my honor."
Smiling widely now, the girl cocked her head to the side.
"And pray tell, what would happen if I were to insult your honor?"
Kitana straightened up her posture, standing firmly before the marten.
"Then as a true lady, I would have to send my champion to teach you a lesson."
"So I guess you could very well consider what I said to be an insult. Where is your champion? I can't wait to fight him."
The short-haired woman made a turn upon herself, slowly scrutinizing the crowd that was starting to gather again around the ring.
"I think he is busy elsewhere. He is a jerk anyway; I don't think he would give his best in defence of my honor. Or even raise a finger. It appears I will have to fight you by myself."
"To regain your honor?"
"Of course; why else?"
"Why else, indeed!"
Both women were now smirking at each other; a pair of dangerous looking smiles, not something that would give warmth to a loved one. The crowd was now growing, becoming even bigger than when Sai first fought against the males and now at least thirty youkai of various species were gathered around the ring. Many of them were dog youkai of different colors, but none sported a fur pelt or white hairs like Sesshomaru and his mother. They were soldiers, all of them, and as distractions were scarce they gladly accepted the little excitation a good sparring match would bring them; especially when the sparring partners were females, and when the sparring ground was slippery with blood.
Acclamations were now being heard louder and louder as the crowd heated up, and Kitana and her opponent took up their battle stance; the black skinned creature crouched low to the ground, one of her hands making contact with the surface of the ring while her tail started swishing in the air around her, and the mustelid female simply backed one foot down and prepared to pounce on her adversary.
Sai was the first to strike, swiftly running to Kitana's crouched form. The skeletal tail moving faster as she approached, she couldn't land a direct blow but she was far from being out of options. With a laugh, she used her demonic speed to move away from Kitana's front, before falsely attacking from the side, then the back. The black-skinned creature was not gifted with youkai abilities and speed, and hours of practice against a certain taiyoukai taught her that on open ground, without any place to hide or duck behind, she was no match for such an attack.
With an unbelievable speed, the marten managed to jump in between two passes of the deadly tail and sprang her claws, savagely racking them onto her opponent's skin. The ebony girl didn't even try to avoid the attack, or to retaliate; she stood there, her smirk growing more evil each time a new swipe was sent at her.
The short-haired woman was surprised; she was sure that she put all her strength in that series of attacks and she had yet to break the skin. More, her claws were almost sore, as if she tried to claw a boulder or rock. She paused for an instant, glaring at her adversary.
"What's going on, marten? You like to make your victims bleed, and you can't do that to me, can you? Does it turn you off?"
The provocative tone of the woman fuelled the desire to fight of the small youkai; she backed up a little and smiled at Kitana before dashing forward, all claws ready to strike.
"We'll see if I can't make you bleed!"
Kitana returned the smile; the youkai had taken the bait and her emotions were now flooding her senses, adding a twist to the sparring that she hadn't experienced for a long time. Aggressive sadistic females were worthy opponents most of the time, and she loved feeling the unbridled lust of the fighter wash over her. She wasn't one to take pleasure while fighting, but indulging in the feelings of others and allowing their sensations to merge with hers from time to time was a treat that she couldn't reject. The experience would be interesting.
Attacks started to rain on her anew, but this time she was not a passive target. Tense muscles came into play and she leapt in the air, effectively avoiding and dodging many of Sai's swipes. Not once did she try to fight back though; staying out of the range of Sai's attacks was her resolve.
Contrarily to what one would have thought considering Sai's performance with the bull and the sensations she got when her claws or knives tore his flesh apart, the strategy was effective; paradoxically, each time one of her attacks met with air, Sai's pleasure increased. It was clear that the little slip of a woman did not meet such challenges on a regular basis, and unleashing her full range of offensive moves without having to think about defending herself was extremely pleasant to her. Kitana knew that men surely did not like to fight her; men usually get angry when their blood is drawn and charge with all their might, forcing their opponent to assume a defensive position. Fighting was obviously an intensely enjoyable hobby to Sai and the black-skinned female wanted to help her reach new heights of pleasure.
Suddenly though, her fun was cut short as the very tip of a razor sharp claw made contact with Kitana's left cheek. Her skin, unprotected by the armor that covered her body, tail and limbs, broke under the strike and her yellow acidic blood escaped, pressurized, coating the offending finger.
The scream of pain of the marten was heard by everyone around, and the acclamations of the crowd only grew louder. Kitana, on the other hand, was not pleased by the outcome; knowing too well that her blood would ate away at any matter it would find, especially living flesh and up to the wrist if it could, she grabbed Sai's arm and brought the wounded appendage inside her mouth, coating in with saliva and sucking at it, trying to remove all traces of acid. The small cut on her cheek was already mending itself, and one would wonder how such a seemingly insignificant wound would create such a commotion.
Sai did not intend to let her act that way though, and in a panic she started to push and strike at her mindlessly, trying to disengage from the contact. Kitana wouldn't let her go; she could feel the flesh of the finger dissolving in her mouth and if her salvaging tentative did not work, she would have to cut it to stop the advance of the corrosive blood. It was not the best moment to fight against the owner of the said finger, and so, almost sighing, she caught the other arm of the girl and ensnared her legs with her tail, effectively trapping her in her grip.
The screaming youkai was not submissive to her generous efforts to help her though, and she started trashing and jumping, her feet still touching the ground. Loosing her balance, Kitana fell to the ground beside the girl and they rolled on the ground, both of them now covered from head to toes in the clotted blood from the previous battles.
Irked by the mess in which she was now in, she took a firm grip on Sai's forearm and broth it to the young youkai eyes, while she held her other arm firmly against the ground by her side, rolling the youkai on her back. She looked at the marten angrily.
"You will stop that, Sai. I'm trying to help, don't you see? Your finger will be fine; the bone is intact even if there is not much flesh left on it. Be happy that you did not loose it, nor your hand or your arm. My blood is not meant to be spilled."
Upon hearing these words, the girl stopped fighting altogether; her face turned very pale, making her markings come out even more strikingly, and she whispered in an eerie tone.
"I… did not know…"
Kitana relaxed her grip over her and cocked her head to the side.
"Of course you did not know; I did not intend to let you cut me, I was caught unaware. But now you do. I will expect a greater respect for my skin in the future."
As she was about to rise, Kitana sensed a change in the atmosphere. The crowd had grown totally silent, and looking up she saw that they were not even looking at the fight anymore, even turning their backs to them. Confusion filled her, and then was replaced by irritation and anger as a white form joined them on the ring.
Half-lidded golden eyes met with her astonished black and gold ones.
"You will cease that immediately."
The tone of voice was cold enough to make her shiver; the utter boredom contained in these few words, combined with the strength in which they were spoken, let no place for misinterpretation for anyone who knew Sesshomaru; those who would not obey would die.
SSSSS
After he took the decision to meet with his mother, Sesshomaru's day had only gone from bad to worse. After he let Kitana, he visited the entire compound in search for the captain of the guards, who was once serving under his father, and thus supposedly loyal to his son. To his annoyance, he only found out that the youkai had been dismissed of his function a century ago, and sent as the commandant of a garrison at the border with the Eastern territories. His mother had also taken great care to replace every competent youkai of the place by corrupted fools who would act as her eyes and ears if need be. To his dismay, his search for someone trustable with knowledge of the fortress inner workings had yielded no results.
Then as the hour passed, his emotional link with Kitana started to convey him highly unwanted and unwelcomed feelings of lust, distracting him from the task at end. When a wave of desire hit him as he was following a common soldier to the quarters of the current captain of the guards, and the soldier, a dog himself, turned around to identify the source of the sexual pheromones he was smelling, he decided it was enough. The smile and subtle wink that the now aroused soldier sent his way pushed him over the edge; in an instant poison flowed to his claws and was injected in the guard's flesh, neatly separating his head from his torso. With a disgusted face, he let more poison drip onto the corpse, until he realized that no matter how much he destroyed the offensive man, he would still have to deal with the source of this predicament.
Finally when he stormed in the courtyard in search of the cause of this nightmare, he smelled the typical acidic stench of her blood and he sped up. As he reached for the origin of the smell, which came from the dojo, he was faced with a crowd of stupid males cheering over two females fighting in a large puddle of blood; one of them being no other than his companion. As he approached, he noticed that Kitana was sucking upon one of the struggling female's fingers, eliciting a concert of cheers, clapping and acclamations from the crowd.
As he was about to leap on the ring to stop this ridiculous display, they somehow rolled together on the floor, covering themselves in blood and then stilled. The subdued tone of Kitana's voice reached his ears, but her words were drowned in the sounds emitted by the excited soldiers. His youki flowed from him under his ire, making the last rows of the crowd, then the first ones, turn around to identify the owner of this release of power. Not loosing his time with them, even though he would have loved to gut them all for having witnessed what was going on in the ring, he simply jumped over them all and landed silently beside the now still females.
"You will cease that immediately," he said as he finally reached Kitana, his anger flooding both of their minds.
She slowly rose to her feet, helping Sai to do so as well, but the woman would not comply; instead, she kneeled on the ground, her head bent low in submission, only fuelling her opponent's ire. As she struggled then gave up, the taiyoukai's voice reached her again.
"You are filthy; you were supposed to wait for This Sesshomaru, not engage yourself in such a degrading activity. I expect you to clean yourself and join me; we have much to discuss."
On these words, he turned around to leave, knowing Kitana would surely try to retaliate to his scolding, but it was not her voice that was heard.
"Sesshomaru-sama, please forgive this lowly youkai for having coaxed Kitana-sama into fighting me; had I known her status I would never have done that!"
His bland expression denied the fact that he heard her pleading words, and he did not falter in his steps to answer or even acknowledge her. What was done was done, and now he had little time left to move on before the meeting with his mother's court.
Kitana refrained from speaking her mind in public; she was no lap dog to Sesshomaru, but she had experience with court manners and knew how devastating insubordination could be to a Lord's reputation. The emotions she could feel from him since they set foot on the strange castle's courtyard were very clear: his uneasiness and nervousness told her that they were in enemy territory, alone, and showing a weakness was not allowed here.
The crowd around the ring had started to disperse as soon as Sesshomaru's presence was noticed, and now everyone was apparently minding their own business, practicing in small groups of two or three fighters. By her side, Sai rose to her feet.
"I really am sorry, Kitana-sama; had I known, I would never have pushed you to fight me."
The black creature eyed the girl, taking note of how dirty and ashamed she was. Looking at herself, she saw that she was in a similar condition and sighed.
"No problem. And please, no honorific title with me. I'm fed up with this whole Lady thing. Is there a place where I can clean up?"
"Yes, follow me. There is a place where we can shower in the barracks; you will see, it is very ingenious!"
The system in question was nothing more than a large cistern full of rain water, and bamboo pipes that distributed the cold water to different sections of a large communal room. There were not many female soldiers on the castle's grounds, but they had a small corner closed up just for them and it was there that Sai led Kitana.
While Sai disrobed, Kitana wasted no time and activated the mechanism to rinse off the crusted blood on her body. The water was definitely cold and unpleasant, smelling of algae that probably grew in the sun exposed tank, but she guessed it was better than having to wash from a bucket, which was the norm for those without access to a river or hot spring.
The now naked form of Sai joined her under the stream of water, handing her a bar of crude homemade soap intended for the soldiers' use. As she grabbed the slippery object, she couldn't help but notice how muscled the little marten youkai was. No wonder why she was respected amongst the other soldiers; with a body like that she could put many males to shame. And entice them as well, for she was well-endowed, a rarity in muscular females.
She extended a hand toward the youkai.
"Show me your finger."
The bloody red appendage was terribly maimed but Kitana's first impression was exact: the bone had indeed been spared, and although the claw itself, all the skin and most of the tendons and flesh were gone, the ligaments that joined the phalanges together were all in place.
"Don't worry, in a day or two I will be totally healed."
"Hn. I was wondering if I should have cut it instead. It might have been less painful. Would the bone have grown back?"
The marten shook her head.
"No, it wouldn't. Only amphibian and reptile youkai can grow back an amputated bone, the others can only heal flesh or mend broken bones. I am glad that you did not cut it; holding and throwing a knife would have been awkward without this finger."
Kitana only nodded, before starting to stroke her hands and arms with the soap. Beside her, Sai was doing the same, although more clumsily. It only worsened when the black creature started to scrub her abdomen and chest, before descending to her legs. It was in part due to her harmed finger, but most of her clumsiness was secondary to the fact that her eyes were trained on the wrong soap bar; namely, the one in contact with Kitana's body rather than her own.
When she accidentally let go of her soap for the fifth time, Sai ignored it totally. Kitana was absolutely aware of the attention she received from the young woman, but thought nothing of it; Sai was far from being seductive toward her, rather her inexperience was what showed clearly from her acts. The young marten was mesmerized by her body, her arousal reaching high levels as the soap travelled between muscled thighs and underneath a skeletal tail, but she had no clue what she could or wanted to do about it. And Kitana wasn't the one to help her, although she was amused by the antics of the young youkai.
"You keep your clothes on?"
The black creature smirked; the realization that all this while she had been fantasizing about a clothed woman just came to Sai.
"Yes; they are particular. Nothing reaches under them, so I don't have to take them off to clean."
With a tentative at what she thought was a seductive smile, the marten pushed her questioning further.
"Nothing?"
Instantly feeling the return of her lascivious mood, Kitana smirked again, but she had no more time to waste. Someone important was waiting for her and couldn't be delayed.
"Nothing unwanted…"
Handing the soap bar to the youkai, Kitana turned back toward the exit of the room.
"It has been nice to meet you, Sai. See you around, I guess."
Her eyes trained on her, Sai bowed to Kitana departing back.