Chapter Nine - Kyoko

After running for hours, Akame had ran about half of the journey. He felt no exhaustion, as his only goal was to reach Tesshin and save Gin and Sakura. Half way through, he started to feel a familiar smell on his nose.
What is this…? I'm not even near Futago Pass yet…
Akame's nose never failed. The smell he noticed, was coming out of his own pack, reaching him from the other direction. Akame squinted his eyes to see clearer, and he recognized a bunch of familiar characters.
Oh! Finally!
"Tesshin!"
"Akame?!"
They ran close to each other, and stopped. The whole pack stood behind Tesshin, as he was the temporary leader of the Ohu army.
"What are you doing here? And where's the leader?" Ken asked all confused. They had no idea what had happened in Yamagata. Akame lowered his head, and closed his eyes. This was not a good sign to the pack.
"They captured Sakura. Gin was taken as a hostage too, just like Haru." Akame explained. He was ashamed that he could not protect his leader.
"What?!" the pack shouted in unison.
"It can't be!" Ken denied, and turned his sight to the ground.
"Gin.." Tesshin murmured astonished.
"Tesshin" Akame continued, as he saw the younger male was not feeling okay.
"Gin made you the temporary leader. This is what you have been trained for. You must give us the orders, we have to save Gin and Sakura!" Akame told to the son of Kurojaki, who obviously was not prepared for this. His face was uncertain and his head was a mess after the bad news.
He swallowed once, and nodded slowly.
"Okay… Let's go!"

In Yamagata, things were still bad.
"You meaningless piece of shit!" Izanagi shouted, as he threw Gin against the wall of the cabin. Haru stood just meters away from them, as he was not the most important prisoner.
"Hngh" Gin grunted, once he hit the hard wooden wall. He fell to the ground, bruised and hurt.
"Hmph. You actually killed a gigantic bear? How did you do that, being this weak?" the enemy laughed, as he did not think he hurt Gin that badly. Without waiting for an answer, he turned his back and left. Haru looked at the silvery Akita, and ran to him.
"This can't go on. We have to do something, quick!" Haru shouted, as he tried to help Gin up to his feet. Gin took the help he offered, and got up quite easily. He flashed his eyes towards Haru, not saying a word.
Haru's eyes widened the smallest bit.
What…? But he looked so painful… How could he suddenly be in a good condition?
"We can't escape without Sakura" Gin explained looking at the door.
"But we can't help the others by just sitting in here!" the brown hound argued. He understood Gin's reasons, but couldn't understand why he just took all the abuse.
"I'm helping them by taking this. If Taishiro has me as his prisoner, he won't focus on my pack. I'm sure they will rescue Sakura, then we can act."

Gin was right. The small pack of Ohu was almost in Yamagata, and they started to slow down.
"We're almost there. We must make a plan!" Tesshin ordered, and started to stop the group. They all gathered around him, catching their breaths.
"Okay! Have I got everyone's attention?" he shouted, and looked around him.
"Just give us the damn orders, our leader is in danger!" John yelled at the temporary leader, who was already under pressure.
"John!" Akame scolded the German Shepherd, who sneered and turned his head away.
"I will split us up into groups. We will approach Taishiro's territory from two directions." Tesshin ordered, turning his head back to John.
"John approaches it from South. You will take Ken, Buru, Shigure and Kagetora with you."
"Yes, sir!"
Then Tesshin turned his head towards Akame.
"Akame, you will approach it from North. You will take Shouji, Todo, George and Smith with you. I will walk to the territory, and talk to their leader."
"Tesshin, Gin already tried to talk to him. I think it's no use in trying again" Akame explained, although he was ready take the mission he was ordered to. Tesshin lowered his head and gave out a sigh.
"Then we'll go together. I'll come with you"

For the remaining kilometres, they ran towards Yamagata. Since they were almost there, it did not take too long for them to arrive. Tesshin had split up the group, and they were now spying on the enemy territory. They smelled some soldiers being close to them, but it wasn't likely that they had been noticed.
"Is that the cabin? Is the supreme leader there?" George asked, as the pack of 6 dogs saw a rotting shack nearby. It was guarded by several soldiers, including Izanagi.
"Yes" Akame answered, but he was still missing something. Tesshin noticed this.
"Do you know where they keep Sakura?" he asked from the white Kishu, who immediately jumped into the nearest tree. He saw several wooden buildings in the area, but they could not just run into every cabin nearby. They had to know where Sakura is, before they could rescue her.
"I don't. If there was a way to know that…"

Smith was angry at the whole pack they were spying on. Every sight of an enemy made her grind his teeth.
"What was the deal with that Saluki-guy anyway? Yelling that "Kyoko" or whatever and trying to get his hands on Cross. What a bastard" Smith explained, staring at the area. He could not see Masahiro, but just his possible presence was enough to make his blood boil.
"What did you say?" Akame asked, turning his head towards Smith. He jumped off the tree, and landed right in front of the black and white male.
"Oh, you weren't there" Smith realized, and took a step back.
"A Saluki? Kyoko, did you say?" Akame insisted to know.
"W-well, she obviously wasn't there, whoever she is."
"But this enemy Saluki was trying to find another Saluki called Kyoko?"
"Yes, I think"
Akame turned his head towards Tesshin.
"I have a plan". Tesshin got very dumbfounded. How could Akame know this Kyoko?
"What do you mean?"
"I know where Kyoko is. I can explain later, but I have to go. Gin's life is at risk" Akame explained, and started running away.
"Akame!" Tesshin shouted, turning his head to see where the Kishu was going.
"Give me one day! Don't risk your lives, stay calm!" Akame ordered, running away as fast as he could. His life was owned to protecting Gin, and he did not want to fail.

End of chapter Nine