Chapter Five
Koga
Deep in the heart of the forest, the wolf demon Koga ran at full speed toward
the scent of Sesshomaru. He'd been tracking the demon for two days, since… Can't
think about that. Don't think about the wolves lying there, dead, in a pool of their own
blood.. Definitely not going to think about Sesshomaru standing there, that damn
smirk on his face.
Damnit!
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Shippo sat on the ground, playing half-heartedly with a few acorns. Every
now and then, he looked up from his activities with a vaguely annoyed expression.
The reason for this was not difficult to guess.
The small kitsune sighed, resigned, and leaned back against a tree. He
glanced over to his left to watch Sango argue furiously with Miroku. It seemed to
be dying down somewhat, but then, you could never tell when Miroku would do
something perverted to ruin it.
"Please believe me, Sango, when I tell you how truly sorry I am." Miroku's
voice sounded truly sincere.
"Really?" Asked Sango, looking at him in surprise.
"Of course," Said the lecherous monk. "You mean so much to me, Sango.
I don't know what I would do if anything happened to you."
Sango looked truly touched. Her beautiful eyes were brimming with tears.
Of course, then-
SLAP.
Sango glared daggers at Miroku, who was smiling, unperturbed, and holding
a hand to the red mark on his cheek. "Worth it every time."
Shippo rolled his eyes. I wish Amaya were here. It was nice having
someone sane around for once.
Inuyasha and Kagome weren't much better, but at least they were quiet.
Inuyasha was currently lying back in a nearby tree, sulking and pretending not
to notice Kagome.
Kagome sat by Shippo, holding an annoyed looking Kirara in her lap and
pretending not to notice Inuyasha. The girl scratched behind Kirara's ears and
petted her, seemingly oblivious to Kirara's angry mews. The cat struggled to get
away, but Kagome didn't loosen her grip. This resulted in a loud "MROWR" and
a hiss, and several violent scratches.
"OW!" Shrieked Kagome, grabbing her injured hand. Kirara flattened
her ears and hissed, her tail twitching in agitation.
"What did you do to Kirara?" Snapped Sango, who wouldn't normally
have snapped at Kagome, but was still a bit on edge after Miroku's 'activities'.
"You must have done something, or she wouldn't have scratched." Kirara leaped
onto her shoulder and hissed at Kagome.
"I didn't do anything, your stupid cat attacked me out of nowhere!"
Shippo groaned and lay back, listening to yet another argument erupt
around him. This was why he was the only one who heard the urgent voice
coming from somewhere near his ear.
"Shippo-chan!" It hissed. "SHIPPO-CHAN!"
"Ah!" Shippo jumped and gave a yell of surprise, before looking
down to see an annoyed Myouga looking up at him. "About time!" Snapped
the flea.
"Oh, it's just you, Myouga-jiji." Shippo gave a sigh of relief. "Took
you awhile to get back this time. Where'd you run off to, exactly?"
Myouga glared at him furiously. "For your information, I was
simply scouting ahead!"
"Of course," Said Shippo sarcastically.
"Th…That's beside the point!" Snapped Myouga. "This is important!
Something bad may have happened to Amaya!"
"What?" Said Shippo, concern flooding his large, innocent eyes.
"She met up with Sesshomaru, and…"
"Sesshomaru?!" Shippo cried in surprise. "How…" He paused, a
skeptical look entering his face. "How do you know that?"
Myouga looked down, embarrassed. "Well, you see, I happened to
be nearby, and… Really nothing I could do, you see…"
"So basically, you just sat there and watched?" Asked the kitsune
angrily.
"STOP TALKING ABOUT SUCH TRIVIAL THINGS!"
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"Please, I can just-" Amaya stuttered nervously, backing away.
Sesshomaru drew a sword from its sheath at his waist. "Keep
your noise to yourself and I'll kill you quickly."
Amaya winced and braced herself for the killing blow, but it didn't
come. She looked up in confusion. Sesshomaru was looking past her, a
slightly annoyed expression in his otherwise emotionless eyes.
She turned and saw a wolf demon- an angry one- standing behind
her, glaring fiercely at Sesshomaru.
"Sesshomaru, you bastard," Snapped the demon. "I'll kill you for
what you did you did to our pack."
"Koga," Replied Sesshomaru. "How amusing." He
turned to Amaya. "I'll just kill this wench before we get started."
Koga growled and charged, shoving Amaya roughly to the side. She
cried out as she hit the ground hard, squeezing her eyes shut tight and hugging
herself.
She opened her eyes slowly, backing away from the scene of the
fight to watch. Amaya knew of wolf demons. She knew them well. She
knew of their close connection to the animals they were named for, and
she also knew how ruthlessly they dealt with humans. Tales of horrible
slaughters at poor villages by wolf demons and their pets had reached her
ears often. So I'll most likely be treated the same way. Still… I think
I'd have a better chance with Koga than with Sesshomaru.
Not that Amaya had much say in the matter. All she could do was
sit and watch and pray for what she hoped was the less dangerous demon.
Koga lunged at Sesshomaru, but the demon evaded him easily,
and extended what looked like a whip made of light from his index finger.
He brought it down on Koga in a quick, violent slashing movement, his
eyes remaining as emotionless as ever. The dog demon hardly seemed to
notice the pain he had inflicted on his opponent, who hardly had time to
cry out before Sesshomaru was once again at him, attacking him ruthlessly
and without a sign of remorse.
Amaya gasped and covered her eyes with her hands, peeking through
gaps between her fingers from time to time and wincing with every new
scream from Koga.
The fight seemed to drag on forever, and she was surprised that
Koga was still alive, after all of this. Amaya was about ready to give up hope,
when the sounds of battle stopped suddenly. She lowered her hands slowly-
she'd been hiding her face in them for a good part of the fight now.
Koga lay on the ground, panting and coughing, covered in his own
blood, which was flowing freely from several open wounds on his battered
body. Amaya cringed, glancing apprehensively at an amused looking Sesshomaru
out of the corner of her eye.
Sesshomaru was, for the most part, unharmed. Koga had managed
to get in a few good hits, but he was really no match for the dog demon. He
stood over his fallen opponent, raising one eyebrow skeptically.
"So after all that, you were really so easy to defeat, Koga?" He smirked.
"How disappointing."
"Sh…Shut the hell up," Said Koga through clenched teeth, clutching
at an open wound on his chest.
"I may as well put you out of your misery and be done with it,"
Sesshomaru continued apathetically. "But maybe I'll have some fun with you
first. He raised one clawed hand, which, to Amaya's shock, started to glow
green. "Behold the power of my poison claw, Koga…" He said mockingly.
"You'll be feeling it all too well in a matter of minutes."
Sesshomaru kneeled down by Koga slowly, stretching out his hand.
Amaya, realizing something, began to search the scene of the battle frantically.
While all this had been going on… where was Rin?!
The small child was nowhere to be seen. Oh, God… What if…
What if something happened to her? Her eyes darted about nervously,
when she heard a loud sound coming from behind her somewhere in the
bushes. Amaya spun around to see an annoyed looking toad demon trying to drag
a determined Rin away from the scene of the battle.
"Get away from here, you stupid girl! Lord Sesshomaru-sama said
to keep you away from the damned… fight…!"
"I wanna help!" Protested Rin, edging closer.
Thank God…Thought Amaya, relieved. She's alright.
Sesshomaru didn't seem so pleased about this. He stopped and
got to his feet in one graceful movement, his hand turning back to its
usual color. "Rin," He said, his cold voice displaying an unusual amount
of anger. "What do you think you're doing here?"
Amaya watched him walk over to the girl's side, and, seeing that
he was, for the moment, distracted, decided that the time had come to
seize her chance.
She crawled on all fours over to a now unconscious Koga and
shook him gently. "Come on, Koga-kun," She whispered. Although
she hardly knew him, she felt as though he was her only chance of
surviving, her only friend out here. After glancing over at Sesshomaru
briefly to make sure he was still distracted, she shook the wolf demon's
shoulder again, saying softly, "Come on, I know you can do this… don't
die on me, alright? Come on…" But Koga remained unconscious. Amaya
looked down on him in sympathy. He was pale by now from loss of
blood, and his forehead was burning with fever, probably because of
Sesshomaru's poison claw. "Come on…" She repeated, a tear slowly
making its way down her cheek.
"Are you quite finished?" Asked a cold voice from somewhere
near her shoulder. She shrieked and jumped back, now face to face with
an angry Sesshomaru, who had apparently been watching her in mild
amusement for some time now. "Good," He said quietly. "Then I can
get back to this. Watch carefully, girl. I think I'll do the same to you
afterwards."
Sesshomaru smirked at her and reached down his hand, extending
five very deadly looking claws. Amaya watched helplessly. Koga would
die, and then she'd be killed just as mercilessly, unless…Unless I do something
that he doesn't expect… She grasped the hilt of her dagger tightly.
But… She thought in despair. What could I possibly do to him?
She knew she'd have to try. Slowly, Amaya drew the long dagger
from its sheath, and almost cried out in surprise when she saw the blade.
It was black. Not only that, it looked like something was moving under
it, like… like runes, or words, or something. But she had no time to
think of that. Sesshomaru had looked over at her, his eyes curious, or
as curious as they could look- Sesshomaru was not one to show many
emotions.
Without thinking, Amaya raised her hand and stabbed the
dagger into the demon's shoulder. She half expected it to glance off, but to
her amazement, it buried itself in his shoulder up to the hilt.
Sesshomaru cried out in pain and surprise, pulling the blade
out of him and throwing it to the ground as if it were a poisonous
snake. "What magic is this…?" He hissed through clenched teeth.
Amaya grabbed the dagger and got to her feet, holding it
out in front of her threateningly, carefully maneuvering herself
so that she was between Koga and Sesshomaru.
"Take one step closer, and I'll kill you," She snapped,
knowing how much of a lie this was, but hoping he would fall
for it anyway.
Sesshomaru glared at her, then looked uneasily at the
knife. He stepped back toward Jaken and Rin. "I'll come back
for you, mortal. And when I do…" His eyes narrowed. "When
I do, I will be prepared for you." Having said this, the demon
abruptly vanished, taking a concerned Rin along with him. Oddly
enough, Jaken seemed to have been forgotten.
The toad demon looked about in bewilderment, before
dashing off after his master frantically.
"W…W…Wait for me Sesshomaru-sama!"
Amaya sank down to her knees, clutching the blade close,
and eyeing it nervously. "What could have happened to it?" She
wondered aloud. An image flashed into her mind, uncalled for-
Shihya lying on the ground, dying, a dagger buried in her chest,
her blood soaking the blade… "Is it possible?" Amaya asked herself
quietly. "That because I killed Shihya, my dagger has become…
this?"
She shook her head quickly, remembering Koga, who
was still sleeping as if he was dead. Her eyes filled with concern,
Amaya proceeded to lift the demon onto her back, groaning
with the effort she was having to put into carrying him- Amaya
was used to hard work, having taken care of herself for three
long years, but she was fairly certain that Koga was the heaviest
thing she'd lifted yet.
She sighed and trudged off in a random direction she
prayed was the right one. "It doesn't have to be THE exact
direction that Kagome and the others are in," She said aloud.
"Just as long as there's someplace I can… Urgh… Someplace
I can find some sort of shelter…" She had to pause to gasp
for breath. "Someplace… Where I can… Ugh… Put… this…
down…!"
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Author's Note: Alrighty! There it is! Sorry Chapter Five took so long, but things have been pretty hectic lately, and I've only had time to work on it just recently. I'll be going out of town for three weeks on Tuesday. Dodges rocks I know, I know. I promise to work on it while I'm gone, but it won't be up here for a while.
Okee dokee, this is the part where I answer reviewers!
LostArtist: Hi, and thanks so much! Congratulations on being the only person on fanfiction.net to review my story so far... ((Glares at other members visciously..)) Heheh... I won't be able to update as soon as I'd like because I'll be out of town, but I'll work on it as much as I can away from home.