XV
Dux Bellorum
Down into the valley and then up through the reaching branches of the mountains slopes and its heavy, dark forest Kouga runs. Kagome sees frantic worry on his face, feels his body straining forward – why? Something changed between one moment and the next but she feels his fear like a living thing and does not dare to question it.
His speed doesn't slacken as he runs up the slopes of the mountains; by some secret pass Kouga comes down into a secret valley, and now the sound of the waterfall he had stopped to let her hear is a flowing thunder – she sees a pool churned white by the falls and the falls themselves, enormous and glittering with rainbows in the afternoon light. Water pours in bubbling cataracts over the rocks beyond the pool and down into a long, loud stream; beautiful -
And then water turns red, and she hears screams; battle sounds – roars, howls, the gnashing of teeth and the wet spatter of blood heavy beneath the waterfall's spray. Wolves. Wolves everywhere, leaping up around Kouga's legs, sniffing at her and back away and leaping forward again. Wolves on the rocks, behind the falls, at the top of the cliff and in a great cavern at the very edge of the trees beside by the falls.
Four wolves hold a nightmare at bay. Two of them are half the size of the others, and the two larger wolves are twenty times the size of any wolf she's ever seen in her life. It is an Oni that confronts them, a stinking, hulking creature with the face of a boar and the body of a hairy giant. Between the feet of the howling wolves and the Oni are the dead bodies of a dozen lesser beasts – serpents, rodents, things.
Kagome shivers with terror in Kouga's grasp. Only a moment has passed while her eyes take in all of these things; in that moment, Kouga has already made a decision. He has seen more detail than she – he knows those wolves, the black and silver and grey-furred Ginta, Hakkaku white as snow – and their mate beside them, black Shiori, and her twin brother Takeo. He sees that the female has a tiny body behind her, the littlest of her pups, Hakkaku's Sho. He sees the red that streaks Hakkaku's body, he sees the desperate posture of his wolves – he sees the violence contained but he also sees their weariness.
"Kagome, my wolves will protect you. You said you trusted me – you've got to trust me now -"
"Go – go!"
He sets her down on the ground gently, and speaks a throbbing growl that summoned the leaping bodies of a score of wolves to crowd around her, pressing at her sides, her legs, sniffing her body, her hair, licking her fingers, staring into her blue eyes.
Then he is leaping away from her, and Kagome's eyes followed Kouga across the space before the wolves' open den. He is a whirlwind; speed; the rush of him is glory and sets her heart pounding in her chest. He stops before the fighting wolves, between them and the threat that menaces, and she can't help but be afraid then – he looks so small, so tiny between the massive shapes of his packmates behind him and the looming wrath of the Oni before.
Then there is wind. Light. Power. It engulfs her, flashes across the mountains like a concussive wave, shatters her being with raw energy, with strength, with – Kouga. Senses she has never used before are speaking to her, whispering at her, singing to her. She knows now why the old woman said she was miko; she identifies the gift springing free within her and her awareness of Kouga's youki, and knows that it is true.
She is miko, and he is youkai, and now he is the Wolf – enormous – gorgeous – a screaming presence within her and the most beautiful beast she has ever seen, released before her gaze. He looks back at her for one instant, and the blue of his eyes meets her glance.
He turns back to the Oni and he howls – no mortal wolf's howl is like it. Beside that sound the full cry of his pack answering their alpha is a whisper in the wind. Kagome shudders at the intensity of it and stares and feels heat melting within her, and even when the sound is gone the echo remains, lapping at her soul.
She does not look away; not when he leaps forward; not when the Oni's great club shatters into sparks and dust across his back – not when his teeth meet in its throat and rip out the beating life in a spray of red.
This is the mystery and the magic and the raw world that Kouga has promised her. She will not look away from it – she will not hide from it -
And then the Oni is dead and the great wolf pads over to stand before her, and lowers his bloody muzzle to look at her. She reaches out and pets his nose gingerly between the bloodstains.
"Well done, Kouga -"
The great jaws part in a panting wolfish grin, and then she is inside the light, inside the change – it is the same as before but a thousand times stronger because he is right there beside her and the essence of him is raw and pure as a star.
A/N: Today's chapter title, "Dux Bellorum", means "War leader" - for obvious reasons. I hope you enjoyed Kouga's destruction and transformation. As a youkai, remember that the shape of the beast is his natural form...his human shape is an illusion designed to tempt...at least according to the mythology! More tomorrow of course, and my thanks to reviewers; we'll soon be seeing some other familiar faces...but in new configurations, as befits the changes already made.
PS: To those who worry that Kagome seems to be accepting this new world very easily, bear in mind: there's no Inuyasha making things difficult, only a cute Kouga - and she doesn't yet know about the shikon no tama. She can't do much because she's wounded...and she neither knows how she got to the feudal era nor how she can possibly get back. So! There will be "spark" of Kagome's personal fire sooner rather than later, but do keep the changes in mind when you're reading!
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