"Hurry, Kirara!" The nekomata needed no urging, but Sango couldn't help herself. With Inuyasha carried down the mountain under a swarm of wolves, she and Kirara were Kagome's only hope of rescue. If they didn't catch her before Kouga could go to ground, they might never see her again.
They were closing in on the fleeing wolf pack leader when she became aware of an ominous flapping sound, like the beating of many, many wings. A glance back over her shoulder, trusting to Kirara to keep them on course, revealed a sky filled with enormous birds. They were huge and wicked looking, with humanoid torsos extending up from where an ordinary bird's head would be, and toothy mouths like jagged gashes across their breasts. They had to be youkai, but they were like nothing she had ever seen—or heard of.
Whatever these bird youkai were doing in a mass like this, when they caught sight of her and Kirara they saw easy prey. They swarmed around her now, reaching from every side with enormous talons and snapping huge jaws far too close for comfort. Kirara did her best, ducking, diving, and banking in a frantic attempt to keep herself and her rider safe from the birds' attacks. There were so many of them, and they were clustered so tightly together, that Sango could not even free the hiraikotsu for a throw.
"Kirara, down!"
Kirara tucked her legs beneath her, tipped forward, and dove. They plummeted toward the ground in an exhilarating rush of speed, breaking out from beneath the swarm of youkai.
For an instant, as Kirara leveled off, she caught sight of more of the bird youkai giving chase to the whirlwind that was the last sign of Kouga's passage. That was where she needed to go, too, but the remaining bird youkai were hot on Kirara's heels. If they didn't stay and fight, they might be caught from behind. In fact, they were already being caught from behind. Kirara had to veer suddenly to one side to avoid being struck by one of the faster birds. Its talons closed inches from them.
Fear ate at Sango. If she failed now, there was no telling what Kouga might do to Kagome. But she couldn't see any way to escape the birds or catch up to the wolves.
I'm sorry, Kagome. We'll save you, I promise! she swore silently. But she needed to stay alive first.
"All right, Kirara," she said, freeing the hiraikotsu from its carry strap. "Let's show these birds that they've made a big mistake."
Sango felt more than heard Kirara's answering rumble just before they abruptly changed directions to move back toward the bird youkai.
Gripping hard with her legs, she hurled the hiraikotsu directly into their midst. Several of the birds saw it coming and were able to flit out of the way before resuming their approach. What they didn't realize was that the hiraikotsu was designed to return to the person who had thrown it. They might have avoided it the first time around, but it slashed its way through them on the return, clipping wings before smashing directly into one of their number. The blow didn't kill the beast, but sent it flopping awkwardly through the air.
It took some careful maneuvering for Kirara to get her in position to catch the hiraikotsu on its altered return path, but they had trained together for such a long time that Sango hardly needed to think about it.
This was her element. This was what she had lived and trained for, before everything she knew and loved had been destroyed at Naraku's whim. For the first time since the loss of her village, she found herself exhilarated in a fight. She let go of everything else and focused on her breath and her strength, and keeping the hiraikotsu in motion to keep the birds at bay.
There was still a twinge of lingering guilt—stopping to fight for her life meant the wolves would get away with Kagome, after all, but it also meant Sango would live to give chase.
The birds did not seem to know what to do with an opponent that could both fly and fight back. They milled about uncertainly after her first few forays with the hiraikotsu, and after Kirara had savaged the legs and wings of any birds that dared get too close while the hiraikotsu was in flight. What she needed now was something decisive.
"Kirara, get me close," she directed.
The nekomata obeyed smoothly, rushing toward one of the slower bird youkai—one that Sango had injured with an earlier pass of the hiraikotsu. It could still fly, but not very efficiently. She knew better than to be careless just because it was injured, but knew it would make an easier target than one of its fully mobile kin.
By the time they had arrived, Sango had retrieved two pellets from the storage compartment in her shoulder armor. She paused now for a moment to hope that this unorthodox plan would work. Individually the pellets each produced a different type of smoke. But as a child she'd learned the hard way that when smashed together they could also produce a sticky sludge. It was this effect she hoped for now.
She gathered her legs beneath her until she was crouching on Kirara's back.
"Catch me!" she called to Kirara as she launched herself toward the bird youkai. Kirara knew what to do; they had practiced this sort of maneuver many, many times, though never this high up or against a living and unpredictable enemy.
Sango tossed her two pellets at the bird youkai, wedging them into the feathers where its good wing joined its body. It tried to turn, to reach her with its horrific mouth as she passed by, but it was too slow and she was moving too quickly. She smashed the hiraikotsu down where she'd landed the pellets. And then she was past it and in free fall, and the true foolishness of what she had just attempted hit her full in the face.
And then Kirara was there, rising up from beneath to catch her. Sango didn't quite make the perfect landing she had envisioned, but she managed to snag her free arm in Kirara's thick ruff and stop her descent. She hung there for a second before swinging a leg up and climbing back onto Kirara's back.
Behind them, the youkai struggled and failed to stay aloft. It plummeted toward the rocks below, unable to effectively stop its descent because one wing was pinned down.
The rest of the birds milled about above, calling raucously to each other but apparently unwilling to risk their own lives for their compatriot. With any luck, she'd taught them a lesson just now.
"Anyone else?" she shouted at them, but they were already dispersing. No doubt they felt they had better, easier prey to hunt. Like wolves.
"Come on, Kirara," she sighed. "Let's go deal with that last one." This wasn't her favorite part about youkai exterminations, but it needed to be done. Not only were the remaining birds still a threat, which meant she couldn't show mercy, but she would need something to show Inuyasha so he wouldn't rip her head off when she admitted to her failure.
In short order they were on the ground. Unable to fly away and ungainly on the ground, and abandoned by its kin, the bird had little chance. With nowhere to go and no way to dodge, the hiraikotsu made short work of it.
Once it lay dead, and she had confirmed that the sky was still free of other birds, Sango finally felt like she could breathe. All that, and she had only managed to bring down one of the creatures.
She'd fouled the feathers on one side with her pellets, but the others were mostly untouched. Those might be useful for something. And there were always the teeth and talons, or bones. Not that she would have time to salvage any parts from this creature, much less craft anything from them. The best she could hope was to learn as much as she could to take to the battle that might lay ahead. What a waste.
She was still inspecting the corpse when Kirara growled a warning. Instinctively preparing herself for another battle, she heard it a moment later: footsteps coming up the path.