Byaku found herself in a hot spring offered by the inn she was staying at. She wondered what was wrong with her today. When she was with that man, she felt somehow different; she felt she could forget all her reasons for fighting, and find new reasons for living. But it was impossible that she would be affected by man; she told herself that.
"He's like everyone else," she spewed. "He's probably spying on me right now."
She thought she heard a sound. but the only other with her was Kiara. She wanted to start her search for Kohaku right away, but she painfully had to admit that the bath was relaxing, and a good rest was tempting. Sighing, she went to her room. From the window, she could see the moon had already risen over a darkling sky.
She found herself unable to properly sleep; exasperating dreams interrupted her as always. To her, those old memories were nothing but a nuisance. She remembered her father only as a lecher, a belying of faith, promise, and eternity. She remembered her mother always in pain, because of father, because of father. She remembered her mother always crying, because of father, because of father. She remembered her father dying, father dying...
She awoke at the sound of a warning signal. She could faintly hear a voice announcing that three ogres were attacking the village. She quickly switched into her taijiya appearance and ran outside to meet the threat, with Kiara obediently following.
She could hear the ogres chanting: "The wind calls us here. The wind leads us. The wind calls us. The wind leads us here." It was odd, their way of chanting, like they had no will of their own.
The villagers had a small force of men to defend against such attacks, but she could see that they were ill trained and possessed only tattered weapons.
"I'll take care of them," she told them, hoping they wouldn't worry, but she knew they would worry.
With the streets practically empty, she found she could fight much more freely. After putting on a protective mask, she released a poisonous gas she had learned ogres were weak against. The fumes rose into the air and agitated the ogres' eyes, causing them to turn bright red.
Flying on Kiara, she launched Hikraikotsu with a superb curve, cutting through all three of the ogres. They died quickly, but came back to life quickly too. It was not a useless move though, as Byaku was able to pinpoint where the shikon shards were, glowing in the moonlight.
She prepared to launch the finishing blow, but noticed that the villagers were poised to attack. She tried to warn them away, but their attack came unexpectantly. The arrows, connected to strong ropes encircled Byaku and Kiara and pulled them both to the ground.
"I was careless," she told herself, wishing she could have anticipated the mens' betrayal. "Why are you doing this?" she demanded as one of them lifted a katana to strike her.
"Our elder's orders," was the zombie-like answer.
Of course. This was the elder's true nature. His kindness was nothing but an act, to coax puppets to fall under his strings. But she refused to be a puppet. Using the hidden sword in her right arm, she freed herself from the rope and dodged the katana. Using only her fists, she quickly knocked the men unconscious, being careful not to hurt them too badly.
She noticed that the ogres were now making their way sluggishly to the elder's house, causing destruction in their path; she assumed the elder was connected. She freed Kiara from the ropes so she could resume her chase.
She was able to reach Shihai's house first. She dismounted Kiara and burst into the hut, and noticed him kneeling in the centre of the room performing a ritual. His eyes suddenly seemed sinister, and the atmosphere became chilling.
"You lied to me," she snarled angrily. "Who are you really?"
"You lied to me too," he returned, avoiding the question. "I knew you had a shikon shard. All the youkai that attack this village have shards." He revealed he was holding the shikon shard, which appeared to be the central figure of the ritual.
"When did you?"
"At the hot springs."
"Then you really were there!"
"Don't worry. I didn't do anything suspicious."
"You stole-"
"It's not yours. It's not mine. It belongs to no one but the wind."
The shard began to glow and levitate; it flew to the three ogres, causing their shards to glow similarly. The four became one and the ogres' flesh began to gather around the shard gaining stability. A new monster was formed, much stronger than before, more fierce than before, more disgusting than before. It had four eyes, enabling it to view the four cardinal directions at once.
Shihai collapsed and the ritual ended; his body became limp as he fell to his side. Byaku rushed to his side.
"Are you okay?" she asked.
"You should run," was the ignored answer.
She hurled hiraikotsu, hooking it behind trees to camaflouge it from the ogre, but with its four eyes it saw its path's end before the beginning, and easily evaded.
With a roaring punch, its fist approached intensely. Byaku blocked it with hiraikotsu, but the sheer force of the blow caused her to lose her balance. The ogre lifted its foot, preparing to crush the entire hut. Carrying him over her shoulder, she saved him from certain death. He seemed to be unconscious.
"Take him somewhere safe," she told Kiara. The firecat hesitated for a moment before leaving.
She faced the ogre bravely, listing her options of attack. The ogre punched again, but this time she was able to block the attack without losing her balance. She was even able to exert enough strength to push it away. Seizing her opportunity, she planted hiraikotsu in the ground and jumped from its highest point. Using the height's momentum, she cut through the ogre's forearm using both her katana and her hidden sword. It cried in agony, and its next attack missed as Byaku ran through the space between its legs.
She had been taught that the weak point of a large enemy were his legs. She prepared to attack, but the previously detached arm attacked her from behind, clenching her in its palm. It reconnected to the main body, and began guiding it to the mouth. She could see her reflection in more than one eye, which gave her an idea.
Maintaining her calm, she used the hidden sword to free her arms, and was able to release the seal on her kazanna. Hiraikotsu cut through the ogre's wrist to free her, but its fist quickly reformed and launched a fierce punch. She planned to block the attack with hiraikotsu, but she knew she was at a disadvantage since she was falling.
The punch completely missed as Kiara returned to fight alongside her companion, as she had done with Sango.
"I'm glad you're here," Byaku told her, "since I have an idea. Fly me to the right." She then released kazanna for a very short term. "Good, the wind's perfect now."
She then leapt from Kiara's back, holding her katana high over her head with both hands. The ogre was confused and couldn't move, as all four of its eyes saw the same attacker. Three of them were reflections, created by the manipulated wind. The real attacker easily accessed the shard, and the ogre immediately decayed and disappeared.
"Take me to him," Byaku said as Kiara snatched her from the air. When they arrived, he was not there.