LXXI

Praemonitus Praemunitus

It's not as easy for Ginta and Hakkaku to face this female as it was for Kouga, but then, they knew it would be this way. It's a thing they've discussed recently, but only between themselves. There have been changes in their Alpha, more than just the increase in power that's to be expected from a few shards of the shikon no tama. For many years, as long as they've been his betas, they've known that what was missing from Kouga's life was not strength, but direction. Not power, but a purpose. Now that Kagome is here, he has more of both. Oh, he was and is always intent on making sure the pack has what is necessary, but there's a difference between that and the way that he seems to be leading by example now.

The thought passes between them without words, in just a glance, and Ginta grins as he runs, dodges, turns and ducks under another attack. "Can't do any worse than he's been doing, can we?"

"Definitely not. But if Kouga couldn't kill her…" Hakkaku leaps to the side, barely avoiding another slash of wind. If not for the trees around them, he thinks they would already have lost, despite that it only seems like half a battle. In an open space there would be no avoiding the wind, which strikes as if there are blades concealed in it, or the whirlwinds, which suck at the ground under their feet. As it is, they've both been caught up a half dozen times in gusts too powerful to deny. Much as Hakkaku dislikes being slammed into the snow-covered branches of the canopy overhead, without them they'd be free flying… and then free falling. Again, the spinning blades of air shoot toward them, and Hakkaku curses as he dives behind another tree, then rolls away from the wreckage of it.

Ginta hasn't been as lucky, and he holds his left shoulder, wincing, but stands straight despite the fresh flow of crimson staining the snow. "I'm not having fun with this one, and we're not getting very far, either. How do we get her out of here?"

"Knock her out and dump her off a cliff?"

"Or if Kagome-onee-sama was awake-"

"She is. But even if she's all right Kouga's not going to bring her into this."

"Nope. Wanna bet on teeth and claws instead?"

"Take her apart if we can't take her down?"

"Think we can?"

"Maybe. But before Kouga comes back?"

They share a grin that says of course not, but why not try? They leap apart with enough force that they can land safely on all fours, snarling their displeasure. One thing stands out as they rush her, then dive to opposite sides and rush in again. Her neck, which Kouga broke, is still broken. If it hurts her, they can't tell, but there are limits on how far she can turn to look at them because of it. They exchange a glance, then a wolfish grin as they spring left and right in tandem. Her eyes dart from side to side, the red duller now, crimson instead of ruby. Have they been going about this the wrong way?

On all fours, they're both faster, more in tune with their instincts and each other. Staying in her blind spots, ignoring all but the most dangerous of her attacks, they finally start to chase her off. It wouldn't be enough for either of them on their own, but two can take advantage of the weakness in her vision, pushing her, drawing her attention, suffering wounds but protecting each other by drawing her aggression in turns. It's too easy; perhaps there's a tragedy in the making here, the more overconfident they get, but as they reach the edge of the wood Hakkaku grabs his brother by the scruff and drags him back.

They prowl there, stalking back and forth at the tree line, enticed but aware of their increased vulnerability. She stays, staring back at them, blood streaming off her twitching fingers, but it's easier for them to dodge her attacks now that they've found the rhythm of them. The wounds they've inflicted stand out glistening red amidst the torn folds of her kimono, but they stay where they are, guarding the way back but refusing to be tempted closer.

There's no warning, not a flicker of scent or aura, as Kouga rushes up behind them. The whirlwind he brings is the first thing to alert them to his presence, and it flashes out across the gap between them and their enemy, slapping her even further away. He gives them a look, once over, and they draw up by his sides, snarling more openly now, running out a few yards beyond the trees, then retreating more slowly. The aegis of their Alpha's protection emboldens them, but a jerky movement of her hand to her hair prepares them for some new attack. They crouch low to the ground, fiercely watchful, while Kouga crosses his arms over his chest and stares back into her face.

There's a gust of wind, and instead of attacking, the feather she pulls from her hair floats up out of reach. She kneels in the center of it, then slumps out of sight, and new currents of air wash the feather away to the north. Kouga growls but watches her go without protest. As long as she leaves, he'll be content for now. Without more information, he'd rather not continue to face an enemy he's not sure he can kill.

As she fades into the distance, Ginta takes on humanoid shape again, and hold outs the fan he kept hold of. "She left this behind; doesn't look like much, though."

Kouga takes it without giving it a second glance. "The magic's in her, not this." But he stays where he is, staring after her, fist clenched around the fan until the thin wood ribs threaten to snap in his fingers.

"Should we go back?"

"Or keep watch, just in case?"

Slowly at first, then with more intent, Kouga shakes his head. "There's no point waiting. Not now, not when she fled like that." He narrows his eyes, then shrugs as if the gesture can wash away his concern and frustration. "It's not like I don't know where she's going, even if I don't know why."

As they come back to the mouth of the den, they're met by a number of interested people. Kagome comes with Shippou hiding behind her heels; behind her, dozens of milling wolves race out into the snow, making space for the elders to stride out. Wolf-shaped, stalking back and forth like shadows clinging to the cliffside, there's something wilder than usual about them – and it's unusual, too, that they've all come out like this together.

Ginta and Hakkaku exchange a glance, but keep their silence. Neither of them has seen anything like it in their lifetime, and the strangeness speaks of changes coming, more than Kagome-onee-sama and her shikon no tama have already brought.

The danger and its depth, their unknown enemy and its unknown power, the deathless puppet that had faced them, bereft of will, a heartbeat… but not power. All these things and more make Kouga unsurprised to see the collection of faces waiting for him, yōkai-bright eyes radiating threats and more. Defiant, Alpha, making his will and his intentions both known with a single movement, Kouga ignores them all and crosses to stand before Kagome, answering her concern with a flash of a grin as he picks up the kit from the ground behind her, dangling him by the back of his vest.

Yes, it's less important to me than her responsibilities. Less important than her, when she is my responsibility. Why so much fuss over just another enemy, seeking what's mine?

But out of the corner of his eye, he tracks the only individual that still concerns him. Miroku, who they found wandering alone, north of the den. Miroku, who tried to kill him once already, who would have succeeded if not for the fact that Kouga has more unlikely allies than enemies. Miroku, who slips unaccompanied from Saya's side, fist clenched in a certain way, attention focused… on the fan? Yes. On the fan Kouga still carries clenched in one hand.

"Does this have a message for you, human?" Kouga speaks without turning and senses the increase in tension behind him. There's no answer, though, and he's utterly surprised by the depth of hatred darkening the man's face when he looks over his shoulder. Not the feeling itself; he's seen its like before, but this… it isn't directed at him. "I want an answer. Now."

Miroku takes a step forward, hand outstretched, then pauses, as if only now aware that he's alone, all the wolves staring at him and the elders prowling restlessly at the edges of his peripheral vision. "That fan – it's a woman's fan, but did you take it from a man?"

"No. But not a woman either. She was some kind of puppet, I think. I killed her and she didn't die, but she didn't heal herself, either."

The priest closes his eyes slowly, then opens them, his head tilted slightly to one side. "It feels like an energy, a presence, that I know." His sudden smile is icy. "And that stench of miasma, I'd know it anywhere. Barely strong enough for me to detect, but when you've been looking for it as long as I have…" He scrunches his face in disgust, but that's only an overlay.

Kouga senses an abiding anger that is the source for that first hatred, and leaps from one stream of thought to another. This priest is not an ally of his new enemy, but that enemy's foe. Instead of a danger, he might prove useful, at least as a source of information. "You've been looking for this?"

Miroku shakes his head as Kouga waves the fan at him. "Not the fan, but it seems you've met a servant, of which he has many. I am seeking the master."

Kouga blinks as Kagome steps forward and plucks the kitsune out of his hand with a momentary scowl, and his answering grin is sheepish. It's not like dangling for a few minutes is going to hurt him any. But she squints at him indelicately, tucking the kit into the curve of her arm, before she turns a tentative smile in Miroku's direction. "What's his name, then? This master -"

"Naraku."

"And what do you want with him, Miroku-san?"

"To find him. To kill him. If I don't, the curse I carry will kill me, as it killed my father, and his father before him." The cold smile thins until it shatters. "Not the thing for one like myself, I know, but when I heard what my father and grandfather had suffered, when I heard what this curse would do to me, I decided on vengeance first, and enlightenment later. Amitabha forgive me, but some things can't wait."

Kagome shivers, and Kouga lays a comforting arm across her shoulders, then draws her close. "What else do you know? Is it the shikon no tama he's after?"

"Yes, but that is not all. Power, in general. Respect and admiration, so that he can betray and distort them. When you found me, I had three shards of my own, if you recall. I chose the shikon no tama as something to fight for not because I wanted it, but because he does. Because Naraku will risk much and destroy more to get what he wants. He can be difficult to find, especially when one is without infinite resources. Rather than look for him, I decided I would force him to come find me."

"So he's after the jewel… well, that would explain why he's after us, but I'm not the type to sit around and wait. And I don't know what you mean about him being hard to find. All I could smell when I went north was the stink that woman carried. Find the strongest current of it, and I'm sure you'll find him at the end. But I'm not giving you shikon shards to bring with you when you go."

"I wouldn't ask, Kouga-sama. Maybe if you were alone, but then we wouldn't be having this conversation, would we? Now they've been restored to their rightful guardian."

Kouga holds Kagome a little closer, ignoring the squirming of the kit in her arms. "This could be trouble. I'm almost tempted to go find that other miko, see if she knows something. The shikon no tama was hers before it was yours, do you think…"

"You mean Kikyo? Maybe, but she did say she'd send word in the spring if she heard anything."

Eyes narrowed, Kouga stares down the mountainside through bare branches. "That might not be soon enough." Then he shakes himself, turns away from Miroku and urges Kagome back inside with him. "But enough about that, we're not going anywhere today. What did you find out about our little friend here?"

He's not happy when she frowns. "This Naraku guy isn't the only one after shikon shards, Kouga. Shippou came after them looking to avenge his father, who was killed for his shards by… what were their names, again?"

Shippou snarls impressively for such a little kit. "Hiten and Manten."

Kouga lifts an eyebrow, looking back and forth between them. "The thunder brothers? You want to take them on? You've got balls, kit, but I think you're a hundred years too early."

"I don't care! They stole my father's skin! They killed him and took it, I watched them! I watched!"

For a long moment, Kouga stares at him. His father's skin? The pelts of their forefathers, the bones and fangs of their ancestors, those are peerless treasures to yōkai, more than priceless. That kind of violation, that kind of theft… he can barely imagine it. The mere thought is enough to make him shake with rage. To treat one of their own kind like humans treat beasts? To do such a thing… Unacceptable.

He reaches out a heavy hand and lays it on the kit's head. "So then we'll just have to help you take it back, won't we? And make them regret it."

Agreement burns in Shippou's eyes and expression. "You'll let me stay here? Kagome said you would, but-"

"Kagome is right, even if she's going to get me in trouble making promises." He can feel the warmth of her flush against his shoulder. "That's all right, though. She's worth the trouble." And he shot the kit a look. "Make sure you are."

Only a few miles from Edo, Kanna stops to take stock of her surroundings. She has been watching as Kagura fights and fails, because the journey she is set on is a long one, and there is little else for her to do. She doesn't know if she should be disappointed in her sister's failure, or if that is something that their master has foreseen. Kagura's disposition is such that she seems destined to be used up as a distraction or a test. She refuses to acknowledge their creator as the master he is. She will never share his secrets, and she will never increase in power. It shouldn't have mattered; the wolves should have given her no trouble, not if the rumors were correct – but rumors rarely are.

In her own slow, cold way, Kanna wonders if that's something that should make her more cautious. She has her own instructions to fulfill, but their difficulty isn't something she's thought about. Without a feather to fly on, she has walked the long road from her master's fortress in the north to this village, but neither the length of the journey nor the winter weather distress her. Feelings are a thing she wonders about, not something she experiences for herself.

Barefoot, the snow does not bother her, except for the lingering thought that perhaps it should; the reflection of Kagura's body, bleeding and broken, awakens only the same vague disquiet. Does this mean something for her, sent out as she has been on a similar journey? Does a similar fate await? But what she must do, she will do – that and nothing more. Duty needs nothing of desire to accomplish certain goals, and her destination draws close even now.

The fields are thick with snow, and the trees of the wood hung heavy with silence. All is quiet on the darker side of nightfall, and only a faint glow comes from behind a few doorways, promising warmth and firelight. This is the place. Does a worthwhile enemy linger here? But it's not in her to disbelieve, only to acknowledge that unlikely things can happen in unlikely places. There are pockets of power, hiding out of sight, but still bright to her finer senses. Rough and unready, more like a shadow than a real thing, there's the hanyō who is half of her target. With him, dull as a candle under silk, glimmers the firefly light of a weak miko. The souls of the villagers stand out even more faintly still, each one less than an ember's worth of glow.

There is as yet no sign of the other priestess. Kanna has watched enough that she knows there are two, one older, one younger. The one that is older stands always in the background. The other, the one that is both a miko and somehow something other… that one is more. The instructions Kanna has been given leave her unsure of how to deal with her. How is she to discover the woman's nature with a minimum of risk? How to expose something of who she is, without exposing her own self unduly to a miko's attention? Perhaps she doesn't wish to live, but certainly she doesn't wish to die.

Kanna stops where she is, staring down the silent streets of the sleeping village, and turns her attention to her mirror. She calls up the woman's image, looking for details that will tell her where to go, but the view doesn't change much from what is around her. It takes only a moment for her to realize what that means. She is out here, too. Is she hunting me, as I am hunting her? Slowly, she turns, taking in the thatched roofs with their snowy blankets, the clouds hanging low and gray, brushed smooth by the wind, and above them the stars piercing and white in a black sky. There are still five or six hours before dawn; she can feel nothing threatening near her, no presence, no sensation -

"Don't move."

Despite the words, Kanna's eyes dart to the source of the voice that speaks them and sees a woman's profile rising over the drifts. The woman isn't dressed for the cold, but she isn't shivering, and even the frigid night air has failed to bring a flush to her cheeks. "So you are not a woman, not really. Not human, not alive… but not yōkai, either." The words introduce a hesitation, as she intended, and Kanna turns to face the miko fully. "What are you?"

A flicker of black hair gusts in the snow, and the point of an arrow with a glint of orchid-pink death shines at the edge of Kanna's sight. For a moment, Kanna thinks the miko won't answer, but she narrows her eyes and her lips "I am not your concern."

"You are wrong. I was ordered to determine the nature of your existence. You are my only concern."

A wrinkled brow disturbs the placid serenity of the miko's face. "My existence? You…" Her eyes narrow and her lips thin. She has the expression of someone who is experiencing something familiar, but which they no longer remember. "No. You are a nothing, and you dare say you are here for me?"

Dark, liquid, the miko's eyes probe the night around them, seeking something that Kanna can neither sense nor see. What does that mean? Is it time to attack? But the arrow aimed at her remains unwavering, and Kanna hasn't come to test herself or her mirror against such power, only to learn its nature. Without a word, without the hint of an answer, she turns her back again and walks off into the night.

The miko stands, staring at her, not moving, not challenging her right to leave, but Kanna feels the point of that arrow aimed at her back until a dip in the horizon comes between her and it. The nearby woods are empty of any other presence, and Kanna finds a sheltered hollow in which to wait and watch.

A/N: Praemonitus, praemunitus – forewarned is forearmed! Of course, not of all things. There's a significant someone who's missing from the chaos so far…. I wonder who he could be? Next Time: Edo, City of Brotherly Love? (Nope. Not even close.)

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