Whoo! Finally some author's comments! Okay, methinks I've got quite a bit of talking to do!

First of, sorry this took me so long. School just kicked my but, and left me lying on the floor whimpering while it stole my girlfriend. Okay, I never really had a girlfriend to begin with, but you get the Idea. Programming is a lot more work than I gave it credit for. Hehe. OH, and I got a PS2 a little while ago, so that might have had something to do with my lack of concentration. Bad Jax! Playing Kingdom Hearts when he chould have been writing! (Scolds)

Oh! I bring back a character in this chapter that I haven't really used since the first couply of chapters, so you might not remember her that well. If you do, than you get a cookie!

Anywho, onto all those wonderfully patient reviewers who want some comments made to them.

First and foremost, to Time's Mortal Enemy: I'll start with your comment on my chapter with the Inu/Ayame fight, since I never responded to that one. I know that Ayame was pretty OOC, but keep in mind I've never actually seen her in the Anime, nor have I really read any fanfiction with her in it. I tried to keep her as IC as I could, going just on what I was told, and how I imagined her. Even so, I wanted to make her a little more serious than she will normally be in that fight, because of reasons that you will find out later. Let's just say it has something to do with the Dogs/Wolves thing, as well as something personal on her part. Oh, and thanks for the compliment on the fluff. I was scared that it was gonna be too sappy, but I guess not since most people liked it.

And as for the last chapter I wrote, Once again thanks for keeping me on my toes on all the little details that I so often miss. And about the present style words being used in feudal Japan, I was aware that I was doing that a little. I know that they don't actually have words like 'cool' back then, but I'd bet that they had some sort of word that ment roughly the same thing, so I'm paraphrasing. If you wanna get technical about it, everyone in feudal Japan should probably be talking like Kaede, but their not, so I feel a little bit of the right to paraphrase.

And to Ozymandius Jones: Yes, yes! I'm sorry I didn't put any authors notes in the last chapter. I'm a bad, bad, boy. Sigh.

To Valese: I know I've only read chapter one in your thing so far, but I'll try to do more soon. As I said before, schools sorta killing me right now, so I'll try and do more when I get free time. And yes, I like Aaron too. I first threw him in as sort of a afterthought, but now he's one of my favorite characters.

To everyone else who's names I don't feel like typing out: Thanks so much for your support. I know I've promised faster updates, but after two times of failing that promise, I'm just gonna say that I'll update as soon as I can. Hopefully that'll be within a week, but no guarantees. Anywho, Here's the fic! Have fun!

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Vadise was, as usual, watching her pool. It was a trademark of hers, her pool. She could stare into its depths for days and weeks on end, just sitting there watching.

Many speculated on what exactly she was looking at. Some thought that she was looking on things all across the world. Vadise herself found this amusing. She didn't need a pool to see things a long way away. Others thought she was looking into the future. This was, of course, preposterous. Vadise didn't look into the future. There were some things that even dragons shouldn't know.

No, no... She just liked the pool for its contents. Vadise rather liked the inhabitants of her pool. They were tasty. With smooth, easy precision, a single clawed hand darted in and out of the pool, and Vadise held up her wriggling prize with a great deal of satisfaction. Oh, yes... this was a good fish.

She turned around, and promptly spitted the fish on a stick she had already laid out. Now, all she needed was some kindling, and some wood, and a bit of heat. Quickly, before the still wriggling prize could start to turn mushy, she darted out into the surrounding woods. She returned only moments later with a few small sticks in her hands, and two larger logs under each arm. With quick efficient movements, she made a little nest of the smaller stuff, and put the logs to either side of the pile. Now, all she needed was the heat. She casually drew a flint and a long knife out of one of the multiple pockets on her leather jerkin. She had dropped the whole angelic white robe look today, in preference of practicality. The fish were biting today, and she didn't want to get tripped up in all that white finery.

She struck the flint against the knife a few times, creating a shower of sparks that rained down on the dry wood below. Slowly, a little bit of flame crawled up through the thin little thatch of twigs and began rubbing against the thick logs. Vadise grinned whimsically to herself, and inhaled the fresh smoke. Then she coughed. Smoke wasn't a particularly good thing to inhale. She leaned back happily, and shrugged. This was really what life was all about. Enjoying a good fire, and eating a fish. She leaned forward again to inspect her little creation, then gasped. Her fire was dying.

"Hey!" She commanded sharply, an annoyed look crossing her face as the last of the little flames disappeared. "Stop that!"

Reluctantly, the flames obeyed her, slowly creeping up the long logs, and bursting into a rosy fire. That was much better. She took the fish up, cleaned it and gutted it with a thought, and propped it up on the fire.

"And here I was hoping that you would actually do it all natural." A dry sardonic voice said from behind her. "But you had to let me down."

"Took you long enough to get here." Vadise said without even blinking, turning her fish ever so slightly to cook it evenly. "I was expecting you earlier."

"I had some thinking to do..." Atma replied gruffly. "You're pretty lucky I didn't come when I really wanted to."

"And that is because?" Vadise asked, poking at her fish happily, sniffing at it to see if it was done.

"I might have ripped your head off." Atma growled.

One of Vadise's furry cat ears twitched just a little bit. "You might have tried dear, you might have tried. Vocabulary is important."

Atma growled at her just a bit. "Don't underestimate me..." She warned.

Completely ignoring the threat, Vadise plucked her fish out of the fire. "Want some?" She asked, waving it alluringly in front of Atma's face. "Its gooood!"

Atma shook her head once, a very slight movement. Vadise shrugged, and began tearing into the fish happily. "So..." Atma said eventually, "Is it true?"

"Is what true?" Vadise asked around a mouthful of fish. "Clarity is an important part of speech, you know."

"You know exactly what I'm talking about." Atma insisted. "All I want to know is if what Kiriln says is true?"

Vadise took another big bite of fish, and stared at Atma thoughtfully as she chewed. "Kiriln, I can only assume, told you that the Instinct was completely bogus, and that the clan is inevitable falling apart?"

Atma swallowed difficultly, and nodded.

"Well, then, I suppose that she is a little right."

The larger dragon stared at the younger for just a moment. Vadise could feel just a little bit of anticipation coming off Atma. This was really important to her.

"You see, there is such a thing as the Instinct, but it is much more... limited than you think of it." Vadise elaborated, munching happily. "The Instinct, you see, only seems to apply to me."

Atma blinked. "To you?"

The smaller dragon shrugged. "I'm not quite sure why, but I seem to have some sort of compelling effect on most other dragons. They just seem to want to do what I want them too." She chuckled just a little. "Kiriln was actually the first to coin the phrase 'Instinct' for it."

Vadise could feel just a little bit of her heart tremble as she saw Atma's face crumble just a little. "So, you mean that all the belief that I've been working from has been a complete lie?" She asked.

Well, there was just no kind way of putting it, so Vadise simply shrugged. "If you wanna think of it that way..."

Atma stared at the pond for just a moment, her dark eyes unfocused as if looking at something far away. "If you were the focus of our 'Instinct,' then what held us together before you came along?"

Vadise shrugged nonchalantly. "We didn't stay together." She said bluntly. "I'm the one who started the whole 'clan' thing."

Atma took a sudden breath, her shoulders hunching sharply.

Vadise picked the last of the fish off the stick, and tossed it behind her. "Now, the question you have to ask yourself is this:" She told the larger dragon. "Does that mean that keeping the clan together is impossible without me?"

Atma swallowed thickly. "So what do you want me to do?" She asked.

"What do I want you to do?" Vadise scoffed. "Atma, the entire reason that I stepped down was because I was tired of people asking me that. Do what you want you to do."

Atma inspected the ground for just a little while longer. "I should have known that talking to you wouldn't give me the easy answers." She almost chuckled. "So, you won't help me out?"

Vadise shook her head. "I'm content to just watch." She remarked. "I'll pick my moments to interfere."

Atma nodded, and turned away, sweeping her wings up regally. "Very well..." She said in a formal voice. "I'll do this on my own."

Vadise slowly turned back to where Atma had left. She wasn't even in the forest anymore. She had slipped off to that alternate dimension of hers. Vadise wouldn't mind knowing how to do that. She could think of all sorts of useful things to do with an ability like that. Only about half of them involved fish.

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"Damn, Koga, what happened to her?"

"I dunno..." Koga muttered, gently placing the girl on the hard stone floor of the den. "I just found her lying in the woods. She was beat up pretty bad."

Ginta leaned down, and sniffed at the girl. "Think she'll make it?" he asked, running his hand along his wild white mohawk. "She seems pretty bad..."

"Can't tell." Koga snarled. "Go get Mika, and bring her in here. She's good with this sort of stuff."

Ginta nodded, and was gone instantly.

Koga sat back on his haunches, inspecting the girl critically. Her condition was pretty much the same as when he had found her. She had bled just a little, but that was about the only sign of life coming from her. That certainly wasn't comforting. He reached forward and cleaned some of the dried blood off of her lips. Koga had to tell himself that her chances weren't good, as much as he hated to admit it.

A scuffling from the outside of the cave told him that help was coming, and he turned around to meet it.

Mika was a young female wolf who was being trained as the pack den-mother. She would eventually be the one to stay home during hunts and look after the pups. She would be learning the healing ways, the different herbs that grew in the forest, all that crap. Well, she was being trained once. The old den-mother had died in one of the bird invasions, so poor Mika was on her own.

She strode into the den, growling lowly to herself. She wore a heavy, leather outfit with pockets all over it. Her short black hair was dirty, and hung in limp hanks around her face. She brushed past Koga in a curt, business-like fashion, and began inspecting the body.

"Damn, Koga..." She muttered, feeling along the girls ribs. "What the hell happened to her?"

"Found her in the woods..." Koga muttered. "It was near the bird's territory, but I didn't smell any birds."

Mika sighed, and shook her head. "Broken ribs." She announced. "A good amount of internal bleeding, but if she's not dead from it by now, then she might manage to live. Don't get your hopes up, though."

"What can you do for her?" Koga asked, crossing his arms.

"Absolutely nothing if you don't go get me some water as fast as you can." Mika said, pulling some herbs and a pistil out of on of her numerous pockets. "Bring me some wood for a fire, too. The water needs to be hot." She waved her hands dismissively, and began to grind a few of the herbs in the pistil. "Hurry up."

Koga sighed, and dashed out of the cave, heading to get the proper things.

Mika shook her head as he left, and turned back to the girl. Damn, she was in bad shape. At least five broken ribs and her spine was probably out of alignment, too. This was way beyond her meager ability to heal. She wasn't sure if the broken ribs were completely out of place, or not, but if they were then how was she supposed to set them? Internal bleeding? How the hell was she supposed to stop that? Apply pressure? That could get awkward. The old den mother could do rudimentary surgeries, but certainly nothing this complex. It was almost a hopeless case.

She finished grinding the herbs, and stuck a patch in her mouth, chewing thoughtfully. She could give her some antibiotics to stop any internal infection, and she could bandage up the girls chest, to keep her from moving her ribcage.

Gods, why did this have to happen now? It was just exactly what she needed to make her day as happy as can be. Well, all she could do was try.

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Life was such an interesting thing. A single life was as fragile as silk. But in an intricate little web, they could hang on like the strongest steel.

By all rights, Ayame should be dead. She had a heavy concussion, five broken ribs, and severe inner hemorrhaging. Nobody was supposed to survive that. And Death should know. She was the incarnation of death, after all.

Death sat cross legged in the wolf den, watching the process with mild curiosity. Mika couldn't see her, of course, nor smell her or even hear her. But Death was there, feeling quite at home.

She wasn't actually here to watch the delicate balance of the young Ayame's life swing back and forth. Such a matter was far too trivial for her supervision. After all, she had her little minions of the underworld to do all the grunt work. No, she was here on a job.

The little problem with the souls hadn't been getting any better. No, quite the opposite. More and more souls were disappearing, leaving only still-living carcasses behind. It was a fairly disturbing problem, and one that the powers that be didn't like. So, they had told her to stop it.

Whoever was stealing souls was getting more and more bold, and it was becoming centralized in China and Japan. More and more were disappearing daily. Only a month ago it had been one every week or so. Now it was at least one or two a day. An imbalance of souls would only create problems for everyone.

So, really, watching over Ayame was just a short distraction before the main event occurred. Something big was going to happen here, and soon. Death wasn't quite sure what it was, but she just had a bit of intuition that if she watched close enough, then she'd find something out.

Death trusted her intuition. It had been what kept her alive all these years. Or whatever.

But, while she waited, this would serve to be good enough entertainment. She leaned back against the wall of the cave, and propped her head up against one hand, idly twirling her curving oaken staff in the other.

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Almost a full hour after starting treatment, Mika leaned back and wiped the sheen of sweat off her brow. She had done just about all she could. The wolf's chest was firmly wrapped, the chewed up healing herbs applied liberally to the bruises, and some stiff herbal medicines force fed down her throat. That was all Mika could really do.

"Any better chances?" Koga asked, leaning against one wall of the den.

Mika shook her head. "Maybe if the old Den Mother was still alive, but I don't know enough to help her any more than this."

Koga spat. "Damn that dog..."

"Dog?" Mika looked up, a slight growl in her voice. "What dog?"

Koga sighed. "The smell of dog was all over the clearing where I found the girl." He muttered. "And I found this on the ground, near her." He held up the long, hooked knife.

Mika stared at the knife for just a moment, before letting out a low, feral growl. "Trust a mutt to use a weapon like that..." She cursed. "Looks like she didn't get stabbed with it though."

Koga nodded. "I was gonna go after the bastard, but then I saw the girl was alive." He chuckled grimly. "You think I could still catch him?"

Mika scowled. "You'd better." She remarked. "If you don't then I will."

Koga smiled. He had been hoping she'd say that. He slowly stood up, and began pacing towards the entrance of the cave. "I'll be back soon." He promised.

Mika nodded. "Careful Koga." She warned. "He's probably dangerous, if he can inflict these kinds of wounds."

Koga shrugged. "There's a bit of a difference between a helpless bitch and me." He said confidently.

"Yeah, well. If you can manage to kill him, at least make sure he can never have pups again for me." Mika called as the wolf prince strode out of the cave.

Koga shook his head as he walked around the waterfall. He would definitely have to go after the dog at some point or another, but he had other things he had to do first. Things like check on the Birds. They were the most immediate threat. Maybe, if they were in really bad shape after that last battle, then he would take some time to go and slaughter the mangy mutt.

With a firm goal in mind, he set out, tearing through the forest like a wild fall wind.