Nanashi felt sore and cramped when she came to. She was sitting upright against a tree, vines binding her tight. Her... wings... ached behind her back from being pinned down so tightly to her back. She blinked, looking up at the scene before her.
Kurama stood nearest to her, watching her with an icy cold stare. Ruka stood a distance away with their four horses tied to trees near her. She looked concerned. Lastly was Yasha behind Kurama, but in front of Ruka. He had the dead and mutilated form laid out in front of him. Silent tears rolled down his cheeks as he worked. He was examining the body.
Yasha looked up at Kurama, voice cracking slightly. "The doxies didn't kill him. He was already weakened significantly before the doxies got to him. It looks like..." Yasha gagged.
Kurama did not take his eyes off her. "It looks like what?"
"Someone harvested parts of his body," Yasha choked out. He stood up and went over to another part of the clearing they were in, dry heaving.
Kurama hissed up his breath. "Must be a dark crone nearby. We shouldn't stay here for long."
Yasha came back to stand near Kurama. "Then let's get moving. Before the sun sets."
He stepped towards Nanashi, but Kurama's hand shot out and griped his shoulder. "Stay back," he growled.
Yasha shook him off and wiped around to face him. "She's angelic, clearly. She's not a danger to us. Untie her, now."
Nanashi quelled, watching the tense stand off between the two lovers. "I will question her first," Kurama had not backed down. "Go and burn the angel's body before the dark crone comes back to harvest the rest of him."
Yasha clenched his fists tightly. He punched Kurama in the jaw, but he withstood unflinching. Only his head jerked back in reaction. Yasha muttered darkly under his breath. He went over to the dead angel, picking it up. "Ruka, help me. Now that he's dead, you can see him. Angels are invisible to the non-angelic only when they are alive."
Nanashi felt herself grow extremely apprehensive when she watched the two of them leave with the dead body. She was left alone with Kurama. The way he was looking at her alone sent chills down her spine. He stepped closer to her. She tried to scoot farther away, but the tree behind her limited her motion. She hummed frighteningly under her breath.
"I have a feeling you haven't been very honest with us," Kurama said is harsh yet quiet voice.
"I have been," she whispered, looking up at him.
"Good," Kurama started. "If you're honest, the vines around you will do absolutely nothing more. If you lie or try to lie, they will tighten and constrict. Do you understand?" Nervously she nodded. "Who was your mother?"
"A human named Astuko," she answered.
"Who was your father?" he questioned.
"A-" she almost said demon, but stopped as the vines got tighter. She winced and whimpered.
"I warned you what would happened if you lied," Kurama hissed down at her. She saw his eyes flash gold.
"I don't know who he was," she croaked out. The vines made it hard to speak, but surprisingly not hard to breathe.
"What race was he?" he insisted.
She shook her head. "I don't know." The vines grew looser. She could breathe more easily.
Kurama frowned down at her. "What were you going to say before the vines tightened?"
"My uncle always said he was a demon. I didn't know until after Hiei and I fought the doxies and I got scratched that I knew it was a lie," she rushed out.
Kurama growled. "How were you able to see and hear the angel?"
She shook her head. "I don't know." The vines stayed loose around her.
'Mistress,' a voice sounded in her head. 'Let me out and I'll get the vines off of you.'
She gasped to herself, not sure what was up with that now. Kurama kept questioning her. "How long have you had wings?"
"Since... right after that angel touched me," she answered.
"What did the angel pass along you? Yasha says he passed a weapon of sorts along to you."
She shook her head. "I don't know."
'Let me out, mistress,' the voice sounded again in her head.
"It... wants me to let it out..." she moused.
Kurama's eyes went wide. "Let what out?" He looked scared himself now.
'Let me out,' the voice sounded.
She nodded. "Okay."
She was not sure what to expect, but could tell by the shocked look on Kurama's face it was a sight to behold. A small serpent rose up, as if from her shoulders and chest. It rested comfortably around her neck. She watched it cautiously. It nuzzled her cheek affectionately. Then reared its head towards Kurama and loosed a vicious hiss.
"What is that?" Kurama demanded.
'The wind serpent,' the voice told her.
"The wind serpent," she echoed. The vines did not move around her.
At her sounding of its name, it slithered down her neck rapidly, breaking the vines wrapped around her with surprising ease. She gasped as the vines fell down around her in clumps.
Kurama watched her like a hawk as the wind serpent slithered its way back up to roost on her neck. "What are you?"
She shook her head, "I don't know."
"She's an angel," Yasha's voice called over to them.
"Where's Ruka?" Kurama asked.
"Tending the funeral fire," Yasha answered as he waltzed over to the two of them. "She doesn't seem too keen about being told to do grunt work," he added with a smirk. He stopped in front of Nanashi, holding his hand down to her. She took it, letting him help her up. She stood near him, wary of Kurama. Her wings stretched behind as if they had a mind of their own. "I've told you the lore of angels before, Kurama. You've just laughed it off as fairy tales."
"Tell me," Nanashi said, clinging to his arm fervently.
He guided her to walk with him back towards where he had left Ruka. He spoke as he walked. "You know of the goddess of the Hayato nation, yes?" She nodded. "She is said to be a giant hawk-like creature. Immortal, but unattached to the physical world. She lives in her own realm of existence. She has servants in her realm. Angels. They serve her loyally, both in her realm and ours. They help her ferry the dead elvish to the the after life. They also are sent as her messengers in this realm to help guide turn of events. As guardian angels, as warriors, and as advisers to the leaders of this country.
"Yet angels are not perfect beings, just as we are not perfect beings. They are mortals when they are on our world. They can stray, they can fall, they can sin and trap themselves on world to die a mortal death. Perhaps your father was one such who strayed, leaving you a half angel, half human."
They had reached Ruka and the funeral pyre. She watched silently as the body of the fallen angel burned before her.
"Then why do I look like a demon?" she asked solemnly.
"If your father was fallen, that could happen," Kurama's voice came up behind them. Nanashi flinched closer to Yasha.
"Keep your distance and your questions," Yasha told him.
Kurama gave him a smile that did not reach his eyes. "I deserved that," he admitted. He turned to Nanashi. "Sorry for the questioning. You do understand why I did that, right?"
She hummed. "Because I suddenly sprouted wings?"
She had not meant it as a joke, but Yasha chuckled at her words anyway. A sense of comradeship sprouted up between the four of them. Yasha commented, "a half fallen angel, a demon in a human's body, a former courtesan, and a bastard elf on a quest to save a foolish demon who killed the wrong rich guy. Sounds like an adventure to me."