A/N: Guys I want to apologize for leaving you guys hanging like that and not ever updating! Things have been a little crazy around here and I just didn't have any time to update this story 'cause for some reason it's the only one where I really have to sit down and think of something to write for like hours on end…this one chapter took like two weeks to write. Anyway here is the next chapter…
Concrete Angel
Chapter Five: Blood Bath
Her horse breathed heavily has he flew threw the forest. Large puffs of steam came from his nose and quickly disappeared in the air. Echoes of breathing and footsteps filled the forest. Kagome squeezed his sides a bit harder with her legs, urging him to go faster. They darted around trees, jumping over small bushes and low stumps. Finally Kagome pulled him to a stop.
Kagome looked around the forest area they were in, trying to find some sort of clue of where to go. She couldn't find Kouga's aura anywhere. She closed her eyes and tried to stretch out her powers a little further.
Nothing, absolutely nothing. She couldn't find any trace of Kouga or any other wolf demon. She doubted that they all decided to hide their scent at the same time because even if they did the Snake Clan could still knew they were coming so it was pointless to do that. She thought hard about the conversation she over heard Kouga and the other wolf leader had.
'There was a few moments of silence before Kouga answered.
"Fine, when do you want us to leave?" he asked.
"At dawn." Informed the other demon.
"That's in a few hours, that doesn't give us much time to prepare."
"We didn't have much time to prepare either. My men will met you and your warriors at the edge of the forest."
"Where the river and the black tree are right?"
"Correct."'
"A black tree…A black tree…" she said out loud. She looked around the dark forest. "Well this shouldn't be too hard now since in this light almost every tree looks black." She said to herself.
'"We didn't have much time to prepare either. My men will met you and your warriors at the edge of the forest."
"Where the river and the black tree are right?"
"Correct."'
A river! So if she could find a river and just follow it she should find a black tree and Kouga! She closed her eyes and concentrated all her energy on finding a large body of water. After a few minutes of searching she finally located a river that was just about half a mile to her right. She turned her horse in that direction and squeezed his sides hard, ordering him into a gallop.
Kouga and his men stopped in front of a giant black weeping willow. A chill went up his spine as its barrier closed around him. He didn't know why but he always got a nasty feeling about this place. Everything always looked so evil and dead.
It was once small, yet beautiful meadow (or that's what the tribe's elders said) with millions of different flowers. The river that ran behind the tree was as clear as glass and tasted like spring rain. The story of how such a beautiful place became such a dark wasteland is a sad one.
Legend has it that there were once lovers who use to meet there at night because their tribes were fighting and did not want them to meet. One day the girl walked into the meadow to find her jealous male friend standing over her lover. She quickly ran to her lover's side to find him dead. She killed her friend out of rage and grief. Her family found her cradling her lover's cold body in her arms under the willow tree. No matter how much they tried to get her to leave she stayed under the tree. Eventually her family gave up and stopped coming for her. She finally wasted away into the ground with her lover and her life energy was soaked up into the tree. The meadow soon darkened and all the flowers died. No animals came to drink from the river because it soon turned a dark brownish clay color, which many believe was the blood of the young woman's lover and friend. The tree's bark and leaves turned black. All year round the area stayed the same. Near by tribes of demons and humans soon feared the darkness that had devoured the meadow would soon spread to other parts of the forest. The demon tribes' healers and more spiritually powerful demons worked with the villages' mikos to put up a barrier that would stop the darkness from spreading. It was the first time in a hundred years that demons and mikos worked together.
Another chill went up Kouga's spine and the hair on his arms and the back of his neck stood on end. He really hated it here. He started walking towards the Leader of the Northern Tribe who was waiting in front of the giant tree.
"Are you ready?" the other tribe leader asked him.
Kouga looked at his troops. "As ready as we'll ever be." He said. He looked around him once again and added. "Now let's get out of here. Something about this place doesn't seem right."
The other demon nodded and looked around him too. "You feel it too?" he asked. Kouga nodded. Another chill went up Kouga's spine and this time it put him on full alert. He looked at the other leader.
"Did you feel that?" he asked.
"Yes, what could it-" he started but was cut off by the commotion that was happening outside of the barrier.
The other wolf demons that were still coming in the barrier were suddenly throw back and the dark pink barrier turned a deep purplish color. The wolves' hair stood up and they started to growl and bark. The other soldiers started calling to the other outside of the barrier and to other inside asking what was wrong. The demons closer the barrier started to hit the barrier with their fists and weapons, trying to break it only to thrown back.
"Kouga! What's going on here?" one of the wolf demons called to him over the crowd. "The others can't get in! The barrier won't let them in and we can't get out! What are we gonna do!"
"What's going on here?" Kouga turned angrily to the other Leader. To his surprise he was laughing. His laughter soon went to from a howling sound to a hiss. The wolf demon opened his, now red eyes, and stared at Kouga.
Kouga stepped back away from the demon. "W-what the hell!" he cried as the demon before him started to shed his skin off until instead of a wolf demon, a snake demon stood before him. "What the fuck is going on here!" he yelled. The wolf demons from his tribe now stopped their antics at trying to escape and looked at snake demon in front of Kouga. Their eyes traveled to the other northern wolves to see that they too were shedding the wolf's skin to reveal their true forms.
"Temper, temper! That is no way for a prince to speak." The snake demon hissed. His green scaly lips turned up in a sickening smirk as his army started to push the wolf demons in the center of the barrier. They surrounded them so there was no way for them to move unless they wanted to be killed.
Kouga started to growl as he and his pack mates went into fighting stances. As the snake demon stepped closer to him his growling got louder. The wolf demons instinctively took a small step back, making them closer together. The snake demon smirked again at Kouga, raising his hand high. In one quick motion he brought it down and the bloodshed started…
Ginta looked around his fellow pack mates as they all tried to break the magical barrier. They saw the start of the battle and knew that they had to get in there soon if they wanted to save their friends. Growls, shouts, and barks were coming from every direction around him and it was all so loud he couldn't think. A demon came up to him and told him that this side of the barrier wasn't breaking. Ginta ordered him and another different men to go around the to the right side of the barrier and try there. He looked to his left and order the wolves over there to go around the side by the river and try there.
'There has to be a weak spot on here somewhere…' he thought to himself as he picked up a forgotten spear and charged at the barrier in front of him. He, and a few others that were charging at the same time as him, were thrown back several feet in the crowd.
Ginta pushed himself on his elbows and shook his head to clear it. He looked up and got a full view of the barrier.
'What are we suppose to do now?'
Kagome could hear the commotion from almost three quarters of a mile from the river. She looked down at the water that she was quickly passing by, making note of the slight change in color. She looked up in time too see the that they were going head first into a barrier and she pulled on the reins making the horse skid to a stop. He snorted as she pulled him to the right. She rode ten feet away from the barrier so Kouga wouldn't see her. She slowed down her stallion to a complete stop and slowly got off.
'What the hell?' she thought as her eyes narrowed to see what was going on. She crept closer to the barrier and the demons trapped inside. She squinted more and tried to make out the figures inside the dark globe. All she could make out were a few of Kouga's men that she saw around the den and the snake demons. She didn't see any of the other tribe's wolves. She stood up a bit so she could see the other outside of the barrier. She saw Ginta getting up from being thrown away from the barrier.
Carefully and quietly she moved towards him.
"Ginta! Ginta over here!" she whispered loudly towards him. He looked around him and finally spotted her hiding behind a bush. He quickly crawled over to her.
"Sister Kagome! You shouldn't be here! Kouga will be furious when he finds you here! You could get hurt and your wounds aren't fully healed either! And-"
"Just shut up for minute!" she said hold up her hand. She looked at the barrier and pack trying to break through it. "Tell me what's happened? Where is the Northern Tribe? Weren't you guys suppose to meet them here?" she asked.
Ginta pointed towards one of the snake demons that was standing near the barrier fending off a three wolves. "They are the Northern Tribe!" he exclaimed. Kagome's eyes got big as it dawned on her.
"They were never really the Northern Tribe or the real Northern Tribe really did come to the den early and ask for your help but the snake demons got them first and then disguised themselves." She said more to herself then to Ginta.
"Well that doesn't matter now! We can't get through this barrier and Kouga and the others are gonna die if we don't get in there soon! We have more than half of the tribe out here!" Kagome stood up and looked up at the barrier. She used her eyes to try and see if she could find a tree that was as high as or higher than it. She looked up and figured she could use the tree above her. She then looked around at the all the demons running about and spotted one with a bow and arrow.
"Ginta, you see that demon with the bow and arrows? Can you get me them?" she asked. He looked over where she was pointing and ran to the demon. He gave Ginta a funny puzzled looked but nodded when he looked his shoulder to see a bit of Kagome's face. She held up her finger to his lips to signal him to not say anything about her being there.
Ginta ran back to here and handed them to her. "Here you go." He said.
"Ginta, I want you get all of them ready to attack okay? Give me A few minutes and you'll be in there! Got it?" she asked without looked at him, since now her attention was on finding a branch that was close enough to the ground.
"What?" he asked in disbelief as Kagome started to back up, her eyes concentrating on a certain branch. Finally she started to sprint to the tree and when she was close enough she jumped, grabbing onto the branch and swinging her self up onto it. She looked down at Ginta as she prepared to jump to the next one.
"What are you waiting for!" she asked angrily. "Go!" He nodded and ran into the crowd and started yelling at the other to prepare to fight and stop trying to break the barrier.
Kagome climbed the tree as quickly as she could without falling. She finally pulled herself up to a high enough branch that let her look over the barrier and the fighting. She carefully pulled an arrow out of the pack and strung it to the bow. She concentrated on the top of the barrier as the arrow turned from a pinkest color to a whitish blue. She pulled back a bit more and let the arrow soar. She snapped her fingers and muttered "got it!" with a smile on her face as the barrier before her quickly disappeared. She strung another bow and aimed at a snake demon that was by Kouga. She let the arrow go and did a little victory dance in her head as she hit her target in the head, instantly knocking him to the ground and killing him.
Kouga cut off a demon's head before he looked up to see that the dark barrier was falling down around them.
"What the-"he started but was cut off as an arrow landed softly in the ground at his feet. He growled softly, "Kagome…" he said under his breath in a warning tone even though she couldn't here him.
He wasn't sure if he should be furious with her because she didn't listen to him, glowing with pride because she was clever enough to sneak out of the den and to find her way here, or scared that she was powerful enough to do all that and break an incredibly strong barrier with a single arrow.
He jumped back a bit as snake demon by him fell to the ground with an arrow lodged in his head. The barrier was finally all the way down now and the others who were locked out of the barrier before barged into the battle field ready to fight.
He could sort out his feelings about this little 'event' with Kagome later. All he wanted to worry about now was beating the shit out of the snake demons…