Moonlit Encounter:
A Tale of Dogs & Wolves
By: ChocolateEclar
Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or any other character from the anime/manga "Inuyasha." So don't try to sue me. ^___^
Claimer: I own Koinu (Nobara), Shirakaba, Yu (Yousukou), Hime (Yuck!), Mashiro, Itoshii, Haipaa, Koishii and her children, and all of Yu's younger siblings and cousins.To Sailor Universe3: *falls off chair laughing* Maybe I'll have Hime killed for you, I'm not sure yet though. *shrugs* Anyway, thanks for reviewing! As for Koinu going half demon, you'll see what she does in this chapter… (P.S. Hime doesn't die but she does get wounded. ^_-)
To TetsuoTsubushi & Tinuviel: I don't know what happened to your reviews but I got them due to review alert. (When I go onto my account I'm afraid I can't see them, which means I bet nobody else can either.)
To just TetsuoTsubushi: I like Yaki & Karasu too. They complicate things considering it's hard to trust them. Anyway, thanks again!
To Tinuviel: You changed your penname to Anandria? Just making sure. Anyhow, thank you for the review!
A/N: I would've atleast started this chapter while I was on vacation but my freakin' family laptop decided to act like a piece of crap!!!! *ponders the idea of throwing laptop out of window for the millionth time* It seems it needs a new hard drive or something and its only 2 freakin' weeks old! URGH!!! *types random things to express feelings* @%#$#&%$#*%&*%! *takes a deep breath* ^_^ *sigh*
A/N 2: Anyhow, I'm back so here's the next chapter!
Part 9: Losing Grip Again
Koinu shivered, terror and animalistic instinct gripping her. She glanced around her at the urufu youkai tribe. Hime was snarling at the surrounding danger. Koinu could smell Hime's fear though and she knew that the wolf she-demon was quaking inside. Mashiro and Kouga were both standing beside their young kodomotachi, their tails sticking up defensively. Mashiro had five of her offspring in her arms by then, all of which were trembling. Their tiny tuffs of tail were wrapped around their okaasan's arms.
Yu was crouching beside Koinu, bleeding through the lavender cloth wrapped around his leg. Koinu's nose crinkled at the overwhelming scent of his blood. He would heal quickly being a young youkai, but only if he stayed put. Koinu found that unlikely in their current situation and sighed.
That was when the army-like force that surrounded the pack attacked, the neko youkai at their head. Koinu's youkai blood stirred but she quenched it and stepped in front of Yu, whacking at a pair of oncoming kitsune youkai with her claw-like nails. She scratched one on his face but the other slashed her arm causing blood to fly and the sound of tearing flesh and cloth to resonate through the clearing in the forest.
She winced and kicked the kitsune. She could hear war cries and snarls coming from both sides as the other youkai faced off. Yu finished the other fox demon with a slash of his own claws through the kitsune's chest.
Several youkai had already transformed to their full youkai form including Hime (whose white fur was glistening with sweat and blood), Mashiro, and Kouga. Many of the kodomotachi were crying in fear while numerous urufu youkai protected them. The thick odor of blood was strengthening by the minute as the crimson stuff covering much of the grass. Koinu was feeling faint from the force of the smell but she still took down her opponents with Yu's assistance.
Meanwhile, Yabai Kiba and Karasu were fighting back-to-back hacking at itachi youkai their movements exactly the same. Both of them had a few cuts on their arms but they were doing all right in the long run.
Koinu wasn't though. She was winded, scratched up, and the amount of blood around her was making her feel nauseous. Yu was sagging beside her, his injury inflicted by Yabai keeping him from moving very well.
Koinu's golden eyes flickered a deeper gold color every time her youkai blood began to intensify. She fought it while punching and kicking her foes. Yu could smell the change in her scent, making him wary.
Koinu was thrust to the ground hard by a huge chikin youkai. The demoness was in her youkai form, her feathers flying in all directions as she let out a triumphant screech. Yu jumped to Koinu's rescue kicking the she-demon from the side. The chikin youkai tipped sideways but she didn't fall over. Instead she grabbed the slower-than-usual Yu with her beak.
"YU!!!" screamed Koinu standing up in alarm. Her long black hair was sticking out of a ponytail and her clothes were tattered and blood-splattered.
She could feel her youkai blood escalating and her vision sharpened. She tried to stop it but it was too late. Her ninjen ears disappeared and were replaced by tiny, pointed inu ones. Her claws and fangs lengthened and her tresses became pure white with her own blood as highlights.
Yu had scrunched up his eyes in pain and now opened them as he realized what was happening to Koinu below him. Koinu was definitely a hanyou, her eyes glittering with swirls of deep gold. Yu struggled harder in his captor's beak and yelled, "Koinu, listen! Calm down! I'll be fine! Koinu!"
Koinu merely displayed her sharp fangs and looked at the chikin she-demon with a bloodlust. Inside all her thoughts were on destroying the youkai.
"You're dead," mouthed Koinu to the demoness, a smirk on her face afterwards. "Good-bye," she added, jumping up in a flash of white and kicking the chikin youkai in the head.
Koinu landed back on her feet gracefully and caught Yu as he fell from his foe's bill. It seemed that due to Koinu's increased youkai blood she wasn't very clumsy currently.
The chikin demoness collapsed, coughing blood before going into unconsciousness. Koinu set Yu down, her eyes never meeting his as if something inside of her were ashamed of her bloodthirsty behavior.
"Koinu…" muttered Yu searching her face for any signs of her normal persona.
Koinu stood back up only to be knocked down by a sukanku youkai. She growled and hopped back to her feet, standing above Yu protectively. The skunk demon barred his fangs at her, but Koinu simply made a lopsided sneer. The sukanku was in his ninjen form; his long black tail had a white stripe like that of a real skunk's and his hair was short with white and black coloring. His beady black eyes glared at the young hanyou and he pounced. Koinu slashed at his chest with her gory claws leaving three graze marks.
The sukanku youkai countered with a swipe of his own at her face. Koinu cried out, four fresh claw marks on her dirty cheek. Her blood dripped off her cheek and onto her chin where it rolled off onto her filthy shirt.
Yu grabbed her leg, pleading, "Listen to me, Nobara! Calm down! It's me! Yu! Remember?"
But this time saying her real name only caused Koinu's inu ears to twitch dismissively. Koinu lunged at her opponent and both of them let out a roar and lashed out at each other. Both attacks hit home causing them to roar and lung again.
'I have to stop this!' Yu thought. He had to roll away from a kick aimed at his chest though, which was from a nearby magamo youkai. The duck demon tried to kick him again so Yu quickly stood up and grabbed his enemy's webbed foot in midair. He then thrust the mallard youkai away from him, sending him flying.
He turned back to Koinu and the sukanku youkai's fight, pondering ways to get Koinu back to normal. A few minutes later, the skunk demon cut Koinu across her abdomen causing her to let out a scream. It was a very youkai-like scream though, and in the next instant, Koinu was transforming again. Her eyes turned blood red and her pupils contracted into tiny slits. Her fangs became even longer, curling over her lip while two purple lines appeared, one on either side of her face.
'Oh no! She-She's turning into a full youkai!' panicked Yu, backing away.
Koinu smirked, flexing her claws and eyeing the sukanku youkai lethally. She struck the youkai with a lightning quick movement right in his chest. Koinu's hand went threw the demon with a sickening noise, blood splattering on her front and the grass beneath them.
Koinu preceded this by turning to another enemy youkai. She cut him in half and went after several more, slicing each in the same way. Both Karasu and Yabai stopped and looked over at the feral girl in wonder.
From behind, Koinu was attacked by the neko youkai, who crushed Koinu under her feet. Koinu roared trying to throw the woman off of her. The feline demoness was very tan with ruby-red eyes and a tight azure body suit with a metal breastplate and kneepads over it. She had a buzz cut, leaving only a thin layer of flaxen hair on her head. Under her body suit robust muscles bulged and underneath a cut in the thick fabric, a tattoo of a ferocious jaguar could be seen.
"So, if it isn't a little quarter youkai gone mad," said the she-demon lightly. Then she continued in her previous cold tone, "I am Lady Kyattsuai Torafu, *genaku of this gyangu. * You've killed many of my soldiers, youjo. I don't like that." She dug her heel into Koinu back causing Koinu to wither. She remained silent though causing the cat demoness to say, "That's not painful enough for you, inukoru? How's this?" Lady Torafu lifted her foot again and pounded her foot down on the back of Koinu's head. Koinu's face was pressed into the dirt so she couldn't breathe. She struggled harder pushing up with her hands. (A/N: *head gangster of this gang*)
Yu leapt at Lady Torafu, throwing her off Koinu and landing in a heap on the soil. "Urgh," he groaned and crawled over to the sputtering Koinu.
Koinu jumped up, snarling at the feline she-demon. She was looking even more worse-for-wear, her shoulders sagging and her face caked with mud. She lunged at Lady Torafu, who dodged out of the way sending Koinu back to the earth with a growl of rage. Koinu was back on her feet in seconds though grabbing Lady Torafu's neck from behind. The neko youkai clasped Koinu's hands, trying to remove them from her throat.
Once again that left Yu with a little time to think of a plan to get Koinu back to her usual self. 'Come on, Yousukou! Think!' he yelled at himself. 'There's gotta be a way to do this…' He stared around the clearing looking for any inspiration. He glimpsed bodies everywhere, most of which, to his delight, belonged to Lady Torafu's gyangu.
He heard the appalling sound of ripping flesh and jerked his head back towards Koinu and Lady Torafu. Koinu had slit Lady Torafu's throat with her claws and the neko youkai had dug her claws into Koinu's arms in retaliation. Blood was flowing freely from both of them and Yu turned away, pressing his palms to his temple. An idea struck him and he thought, 'Its better than doing nothing.' Then he bounded towards the fight pushing Koinu out of the way. Koinu snarled, exposing her fangs.
Lady Torafu eyed Yu before charging at him and bringing her foot up for a kick. Yu bit down on her foot causing a roar to ring out from her. Yu then grabbed her and whispered in her ear as she struggled, "Why don't you and your remaining pets leave my otousan's territory, hmm?" He smirked and added, digging one of his claws into her shoulder, "It would be beneficial on your part after all."
Lady Torafu let out a scream and Yu released her. She stumbled away from him, snapping at her five enduring soldiers to follow her. In moments they were gone leaving a bloody mess in their wake. Twenty-four members of Lady Torafu's army and twelve urufu youkai from Kouga's pack had died, one of which was one of Yu's own younger kyoudai, seven-year-old Rosuto.
Yu could see his okaasan sobbing over Rosuto's gory body while his other little kyoudai and Kouga surrounded her doing the same. Hime was sitting against a tree while Hakkaku tended her wounds, which she had in a plenty. Her pure white hair was streaked with blood and her face was abnormally pale. Other urufu youkai were tending the injuries of their fellow tribe's men.
Yu sighed and walked up to Koinu, who was clenching her hands into fists causing her claws to dig into her already-torn-up palms. He put both of his hands on her shoulders and rested his forehead against the back of her head. Koinu let out a breath and loosened her fists.
"Come on, Koinu. They're gone now. It's time to rest," Yu whispered into her bloodstained hair.
Koinu's inu ears twitched and she let out a heavy sigh. "I-I'm sorry, Yu. I-I don't think I-" she muttered. She collapsed in Yu's arms, her normal features returning. Yu made a small smile, carrying her over to the others.
The stench of blood was heavy in the air and the sound of weeping resonated through the forest. Only two people remained apart from the others, feeling out of place among the dead bodies, the grief-stricken pack, and the unconscious quarter inu-youkai girl. Yaki and Karasubairo Shinrin both glanced at each other, knowing they were the cause of the pain.
"We-We should've stayed away," mumbled Karasu.
"Its mostly my fault," interjected Yabai Kiba. "I shouldn't have injured the booi out of spite towards Kouga."
"You shouldn't have taken the job in the first place," added Karasu.
"Thanks for making me feel better," said her tsuin dryly.
"You're welcome."
"Oh shud up."
"Okay, Yaki."
Yabai flinched at the usage of his real name, but he said no more.
When Koinu awoke a day later, the Shinrin futago where gone, but she dismissed it quickly due to the fact that her whole body ached and she felt horrible.
Blood. So much blood.
She was alone in an urufu den but the smell of blood was still with her and she leaned over and threw up. She passed out again then, shivering.
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Yu watched her with concern from the opening to the den. His own injuries were mostly healed, but that left him with no less worry. He could tell Koinu was still fighting with her youkai blood. Her scent changed repeatedly as she struggled in her half-comatose state. "What's wrong, Koinu?" he asked the cataleptic girl. He knew she wouldn't respond but he continued anyway and said, "Why can't you control it, this fourth of youkai blood in you? Why?" Yu sighed and watched Koinu as she lay nearly-lifelessly. Then he turned and hopped down the mountain, his eyes stinging. He had to tell Inuyasha, Kagome, and Shi what had happened.
As he ran threw the forest he didn't hear Koinu calling out weakly in her sleep-like state. "No…Yu! Yu!"
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A/N: Geez, that was probably the bloodiest chapter I've ever written in my life. Don't think the gore is over yet though… ^_-
A/N 2: Here are the translations:
Itachi=weasel/skunk/mink/ermine Chikin=chicken Sukanku=skunk Magamo=mallard duckYoujo=little girl
Kyattsuai=cat's-eyeTorafu=tiger's stripes
Genaku=head gangster
Gyangu=gang Rosuto=lost Futago=twinsA/N 3: Review! ^____^ Bye!