'I don't know," Inuyasha responded, "I just kind of found her like this."
Sango gave him a questioning look, but otherwise did not argue, instead approaching the pair, as she began inspecting the female demon's wounds.
"She's in bad shape," Sango said as she trailed her hand over the unconscious girl's stomach, very near the large gash. A slight whimper escaped from Ayame's lips causing Sango to withdraw her hand right before turning her gaze onto the hanyou as she asked, "This is a nasty cut. Are you sure you don't know what happened to her?"
Inuyasha shook his head. "No, like I said, she was buried under a pile of demon parts when I found her. But if she hadn't been groaning, I wouldn't have found her at all. Why, can't you heal her with some of those things from Kagome's 'backpack'?"
"It's not that simple, Inuyasha. If she was poisoned, or otherwise infected we would only be doing her harm by bandaging her wounds," Sango coolly replied, "That's why I need to know more about what happened."
Inuyasha grunted in reply. He didn't like the fact that she was telling him what to do with an injured demon. But at the same time, he simply couldn't deny her logic. They did need to know what caused her injuries, if not to help Ayame, then to better understand a potential new enemy.
Inuyasha turned back toward the clearing, and then spoke up, "I found her in the clearing over there. She was buried under a bunch of pieces of demons."
Sango nodded, and then looked down at her cat, "Kirara go take a look around the clearing up ahead. See if you can find anything that might give us a clue about what might have happened."
Kirara was gone in a flash, sifting through the mutilated bits and pieces of what were once over a dozen demons. Employed by her mistress hundreds of times for various missions such as this, Kirara knew just what it was that her mistress was looking for, and it didn't take long for her to find it. Laid out on the ground as separate from the rest of the mess as something could be, lay a small dagger. Its black hilt carried a green snake insignia on one side, while on the other, the name Akio was imprinted in the same color as the insignia.
Kirara approached the weapon tentatively, as if she were hunting the item. Upon deciding that there was no danger for her or her master, Kirara issued forth a growl to claim the attention of both Sango and Inuyasha. Sango got to Kirara first, followed shortly by Inuyasha, whose energy at the moment seemed to be entirely focused on the injured young woman in his arms.
"What did you find Kirara?" Sango asked the mewling cat.
Kirara of course, said nothing and instead clawed at the ground where the blade lay. Sango kneeled down and picked up the small blade. She examined it carefully for a moment, running her hands over the leather-bound hilt, then the extremely smooth edge of the blade, stopping just short of the bit of blood smeared on the tip and outer edges of the blade. It was then that the insignia on the hilt caught her eye, and she nearly jumped in surprise.
"You okay, Sango?" asked a very confused Inuyasha.
"Y-yes I'm fine. It's just that, well, we should probably get her to Kaede as soon as possible."
"What about the poison?" Inuyasha asked.
"Is the blood on this knife hers?" Sango asked without acknowledging his question.
Inuyasha walked over to Sango, with Ayame snuggled as comfortably as possible in his arms, and sniffed the blade. "I can't be sure because of all the different scents on her, but that is definitely one of them."
"Then there is no poison," Sango replied in an even tone.
"How the hell do you know that?" Inuyasha asked perplexed by her current change of attitude.
"It's a long story," Sango said, then paused. After a couple seconds silence, she looked up at him and continued, "But to make a long story short; this dagger, the one that put that large gash in the stomach of our unconscious guest there, is the property of a man named Shinzo. He's the son of an important samurai lord in the south."
"So all of this was done by a human?" Inuyasha asked bewildered. He just couldn't believe that any single human, no matter how strong, could commit an act of destruction on this level against this many demons so quickly.
"I don't know," replied Sango in a slightly depressed tone.
Even she did not see how any one person could have done all of this so quickly, because by the looks of things, this scene was fairly new. That statement alone meant that almost, if not all of these demons were killed at the same time. But such worries would not help them any at the moment. They needed to get back to the others, and then get Ayame to Kaede's village where she could be properly cared for. They might even be able to get a bit more information about this mysterious assassin.
So standing tall once more, Sango turned to Inuyasha, knife still in hand, and said confidently, "We should get back to the others before they start to worry. Ayame will be alright tonight with us. But first thing tomorrow, we need to take her back to Kaede's so she can get some rest and proper care."
Inuyasha did not argue for once, and the small group set off for camp. As they walked, both Inuyasha and Sango resolved to find out who this mystery person was. For Inuyasha, this was a matter of pride. He couldn't just let someone come in and run crazy through his forest, it set a bad example. Sango on the other hand was looking more into the future. The appearance of a clan from so far to the south meant that something big was brewing, and Sango wasn't sure she was going to like what happened if she could not figure this puzzle out soon enough. Unfortunately for the both of them, and Kirara too, they missed one thing; the fact that their target was still around. In fact, he sat watching them, from a branch in the trees about twenty feet off of the ground, as they made their way back to camp.
Four days had passed since that night when Inuyasha pulled Ayame from the pile of demon parts in the forest. The group still had no clue as to who the missing assailant was, or why the fight took place, out it was only a matter of time. Right now, Sango and Kirara were off gathering information on the owner of the dagger, which if successful could answer who and possibly why. Then with Kaede tending to the young demoness' wounds, Ayame's recover was all but assured. Then she might be able to give them a first hand account of just what happened. The only thing left for the rest of the group to do was wait.
Unfortunately for the group, words such as wait, patience, and calm had carried no weight in Inuyasha's mind. Inuyasha was action-oriented. He loved being in the midst of battle, fighting, leaping, and moving around in general. So to one such as himself, those words almost seemed evil.
It was, unfortunately because of that Inuyasha paced around the small hut that morning irritating all but Kaede and the monk as he moved. But like any caged animal, Inuyasha longed to be free, to have the feeling of the wind at his back once more, and to feel the euphoric feeling of adrenaline coursing through his body as he engaged his many adversaries in battle. But lately, he hadn't had the opportunity. Now with Sango off investigating the dagger, and the others hovering over Ayame's every breath, the chances of Inuyasha being able to get out and fight anything, anytime soon, were slim to none. That realization only served to piss him off even more.
"What the hell is taking so long?" Inuyasha exclaimed loudly, "You said she'd recover quickly, you old hag!"
"Aye, Inuyasha and she has. But 'tis not just healing that the young girl is in need of," Kaede replied calmly.
"What she means, Inuyasha, is that our beautiful guest needs time to rest," began the monk, "Fighting for one's life is very exhausting. After what she probably experienced, even someone as strong as Sango probably wouldn't be able to get out of bed for a week."
Inuyasha looked perturbed. Closing his eyes, Inuyasha slowly said to Miroku, "Even the simple act of explaining what Kaede said sounds lecherous coming from you, Monk."
Miroku opened his mouth to retort in his own defense, but at the last minute chose against it. Instead he smiled happily before replying serenely, "It's a gift."
The rest of the group, Kagome and Shippo, burst into fits of laughter after hearing Miroku's calm statement. Then a cough reverberated through the small hut, bringing the rest of the room's inhabitants to a near deathly silence. All eyes shifted back to the injured wolf demoness lying on a cot in Kaede's hut. She had turned over onto her side as her body was racked by violent coughs. Eventually the fit of coughs did subside, but not before she managed to cough up a sizable amount of blood which lay in a pool on the ground of Kaede's hut. Calmly and with the utmost delicacy, Kaede walked over to the still unconscious young woman, and eased her back onto her back, as she wiped the blood from her chin with a small cloth. She then wiped the blood up off of the floor before walking away from the girl to a basin filled with water. Kaede had just begun to clean the cloth when Kagome spoke up.
"Kaede," she said tentatively, "Why was she coughing blood like that? Is there something wrong with her?"
All eyes were on Kaede as she answered, "Nay child. I do not believe that this blood is indeed hers."
"Then who's is it," came Shippo's quick reply.
"Inuyasha, you said yourself that there was blood everywhere, did you not?" Inuyasha nodded. "Well it is my belief that the blood that she is coughing up is merely her body's way of ridding itself of the large amounts of blood that she ingested, while lying in the forest."
Shippo had a confused look on his face, so Kagome explained it to him. "What she means to say is that she swallowed a lot of blood, and its upsetting her stomach, so she is spitting it back out."
A look of understanding came over Shippo's face, as Inuyasha rolled his eyes. Inuyasha's eyes wandered after a moment to rest upon the visage of Ayame, as she lay there. He watched as a shiver ran up her body, and almost without thinking, he moved to her side. The furs that Kaede had laid over her had come off, probably while she was in her fit of coughs. Inuyasha took the item in his hand and began laying it upon the shaking woman, when something caught his eye. He finished pulling the furs onto Ayame, but then turned immediately to Kaede.
"Hey, old bat!" Inuyasha began, when Kagome called out his name. He simply waved her off and continued with his questioning, "When I brought her here she was wearing brown furs, but now she's wearing white. Where did you find those?"
"Those are the same clothes that she was wearing, Inuyasha. They were simply covered in dirt and dried blood, so they appeared brown. I cleaned that off after I treated her wounds," Kaede stated as she carried a damp cloth over to the unconscious girl, and wiped all the rest of the blood off of her.
Inuyasha wanted to say more, but was stopped when the light coming into the hut from the doorway was suddenly obstructed by a human sized shadow. All eyes turned in unison to figure out who it was that had just entered the hut. The person standing in the doorway turned out to be none other than Sango, carrying Kirara in her arms.
Kagome was the first to speak asking, "So, did you find anything?"
"Yeah," she replied in an even tone, "We got a bit just about all the information I think we're going to get around here."
"Well, I'm glad you're alright!" Kagome said cheerily.
"Well, you guys seem to be doing better than I am," she replied smiling. The entire group gave her a confuse look, including Kaede.
"What do you mean, dear Sango," Miroku asked in his most charming voice, as he suddenly found himself at her side, and his wandering hand found it way to her posterior.
An irritated look came over the demon slayers face for a moment before a resounding SMACK! Was heard throughout the village, and a giant red imprint of Sango's hand was left on the right cheek of the fallen monk. Then just as quick as her face had turned from happy to irritated, it reverted to her more serene look just as she began to answer Kagome's question.
"I mean our new guest!" she said in the most delightful voice she could muster, though it was still obvious to all, from both her tone, and the rosy hue of her cheeks, that Sango had no so easily forgotten the monks actions, "How long has she been awake?"
And it was because of her statement that the entire group once again shifted its attention. First they all looked upon Ayame when she went into her fit of coughs. Then when Sango appeared all eyes were on her. Now at hearing Sango's statement, all eyes once again returned to Ayame, who was indeed awake.
Sitting upright, she had her right hand covering her midsection, where the large gash was still healing, while her other hand propelled her steadily backward, toward the far corner, furthest away from everyone in the small hut. She had a frightened look on her face, as she looked around the room at each person and every possible exit in sight.
Ayame found her best chance of escape in a window very near the corner she was currently in. It was low enough to leap to from where she sat, and wide enough for her to get out cleanly. The only problem in Ayame's plan of escape was that she didn't have the strength. Her body could not support her, and just after her attempt at standing, she plummeted back to the ground, landing with a loud thud on her butt. Okay, the window was out. But she could still fight, and she would start with the oddly dressed female that now approached her. As soon as the girl was within range, Ayame reached for her sword, only to find that it wasn't there.
Now Ayame panicked. She was alone in an unfamiliar place, she was injured, and she just happened to have the great luck to be surrounded by a group of hostile people. How much more of this would she have to deal with? Her home had been attacked, and then as she was forced to flee, she was ambushed by another group of demons, and now this. It was too much for her to take. It was with that same spirit that she began to replay those past events in her head little by little until the memories consumed her attention completely…
The sun was shining brightly in the sky, even though it had already begun its decent around the earth, in its daily routine when the moon took precedence in the sky. Almost the entire pack was outside, celebrating the something or another. Ayame didn't remember, nor did she care, as she reclined in the comfortable fruits of her father's battle prowess.
Ayame's almost complete focus was on Kouga. Ever since he had made that promise to her, she had waited night and day for the day when she and her love could finally be together. And even though he sometimes dismissed her around others, she knew that they would one day be together, because he told her so, and that's all that mattered.
Just then the entrance to her room burst open to reveal her older brother. Standing a head taller than her, he had long red hair, and piercing green eyes that struck fear in even the bravest of men. She noticed immediately that he was wearing a black chest plate covering his white furs as he stood before her. Ayame hated to ask what was going on, but knew that it wouldn't stop the inevitable, so looking into her brother's eyes she asked, "What's going on?"
"We've got company," said her brother, "There's a large force heading right for us. Father wants to see you."
He turned and left Ayame to sit and ponder his words for a moment, but not much longer. Her father was the current pack leader and wasn't one to be kept waiting. He had earned his reputation as an iron-fisted ruler and Ayame had experienced him in his most stern first handed. It was not something she wanted a repeat of.
Then as she got up and began dressing, she thought about what her brother had said. Why would anyone be dumb enough to attack her father? Outside of the current demon lord of the north, he was without a doubt the fiercest demon in the area, or so his reputation stated, and Ayame was sure that it wasn't very far from the truth. He had fought off hundreds of wolves that thought to take his place as leader. He had also been instrumental in the uprising that placed the current lord of the north in his position of power. So anyone going up against him would have to be an idiot, right?
Ayame didn't have any more time to ponder this, as she had somehow managed to find herself outside, and at her father's side. He was currently talking to one of his commanders, and so she waited. Their conversation was almost immediately wrapped up and he turned upon her.
"Ayame, we have a situation. It seems that the war has managed to spill over into our woods," he explained, "I was hoping that it wouldn't come to this, but it is our duty to make sure that this force does not reach our lord's castle. It could be disastrous. I've already sent messengers out to a few of the other nearby wolf packs, and we should be able to hold them off until they get there."
"I understand," she began, "I will do what I can to defend our people."
"No," he said adamantly, "You won't."
Ayame looked at her father confusedly. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, you won't be here when the fighting starts.
"But I…" she began but was cut off by her father.
"But nothing," he said, "You're going, and that's final. I will not see my only daughter hurt or possibly killed in this fight."
Ayame's eyes were downcast as she asked, "What would you have me do, father?"
He looked at her for a moment, and then replied, "The northern lands are not safe for you at the moment. I want you to head, west, into the lands of Sesshoumaru. His lands are neutral territory and none from the war would dare attack you there."
Looking back at her father one more time, she nodded sadly before turning away from her father, her friends, and her home as she sprinted off into the forest. She ran for nearly a half an hour before stopping to take a breath. Looking around she found herself all alone in the forest, with naught but the insects scurrying around her for company. Her thoughts almost immediately turned to her pack. They were fighting right now, defending the land that they all lived in. Yet, here she was, miles away from them, fleeing from danger. She knew her father was only trying to protect her, but she just couldn't bring herself to take another step away from the fighting. It was in that moment that what she had to do became crystal clear. She turned around, and ran back home. Her father would be upset that she didn't follow his orders, but eventually he would realize that she he choice was for the good of the whole pack. For the time being though, she just needed to get there.
Her return took just as long as her departure from the pack's caves and in half an hour she had reached the edge forest that surrounded the area in which her pack resided. She peered through, as a battle raged on. Hundreds of demons fought on the open grassy area that not twenty minutes ago had been a place for celebration. It pained her to see the blatant disregard for her traditions by these demons from the south, but even her sadness from that was eclipsed by what happened next.
It happened about thirty seconds after she arrived. Scanning the area, she quickly found the spot where her father fought (she couldn't seem to find her brother). Demon after demon fell before his killing blade. None were any match for him. It seemed, by the way that her father was slicing through the enemy ranks, that she might not be needed after all. Smiling to herself, she began to turn around when, out of nowhere, a demon appeared behind her father.
She tried to yell for him to watch out, but with the sounds of battle so thick in the air, she barely heard herself. She was forced to watch, as the demon, plunged her blade into her father's back. He naturally stiffened, and in that short amount of time, another demon was able to come to attack from in front of her father. His strength was fading fast now, with his blood pouring out onto the grass in a river of scarlet, but he managed to block the oncoming attack, and somehow launch a last attack that killed nearly fifty demons around him. But the demon that had snuck up behind him was too quick and dodged out of the way before she was hit.
Ayame took off. Sprinting out onto the field, she fought her way through the thicket of demons, until she once again had a clear view of her father. He had dropped to one knee, and his eyes were blood red. Ayame knew she was too late, but pressed on anyway. Because of this, she got a front row view as the demoness ended her father's life with one stroke of her sword. Ayame was at her father's side in an instant.
"Father! Father, please hold on!" she began as she cradled him in her arms.
He looked up at her. He seemed to be using all of his willpower to hold back the pain, and so Ayame was not sure what he thought of her being here. Not a word was spoken. They sat for a few seconds together in silence, in what would be the last time she ever saw her father. His last words to her were, "Be safe." Then his eyes became distant and his life ended.
"It saddens me that one so young would have to go through this, but it had to be done," she replied before turning to walk away.
Ayame lay her father's head down onto the ground, before she once again rose to her feet. Drawing her sword she rushed at the demoness who had just taken her father's life. The woman easily dodged the attack with a quick spin that placed her behind Ayame. Then with a small kick in the back, she sent Ayame face first into the mud.
"Give up, little girl. Get out of here before you lose your life as well!"
Ayame rose to her feet, and charged at her opponent, as she yelled, "Murderer! You killed my father!"
The female attacker managed to barely pull out her sword in time to block the flurry of swipes sent at her by the angry Ayame, but she still escaped without a mark on her. Then once out of harm's way, she spoke in reply to the young wolf demoness' accusations. "This is war, little girl! People die, besides only humans deal with such pathetic terms as murder. If you never learn anything else as long as you live, learn this: In the demon world there are the weak and there are the strong. The strong survive and the weak do not. I suggest you figure out which one you are before it's too late."
Fighting between the two resumed immediately. Ayame leaped up above the female, coming down with a crushing downward swipe of her sword, but her opponent was too quick for her, and managed to get out of the way long before Ayame hit the ground. But Ayame kept at it, rushing right back at her opponent time and time again, as the female simply toyed with her, until one particularly quick swing hit its mark, and left a nasty gash on the woman's upper arm.
That, of course ended her fun, and she immediately got into battle mode. When Ayame charged in with an overhead swing, the female demon moved right at her, but to Ayame's left. Her blade followed wide, and with a quick jerk of her weapon, she managed to slice a considerable mark into Ayame's abdomen. The young demoness immediately stopped her attack, which only served to help her attacker even more.
In a quick move, the older demoness managed to knock Ayame's sword from her hand, then spin around behind her to kick her legs out from under her. Ayame reacted quickly, ducking low, so as to dodge the swing that came for her head. She rolled to the side, retrieving her blade, then spun back toward the demoness with her blade, cutting into the female demon's leg. She hissed at Ayame, and was about to attack when she froze.
She looked past Ayame, with a look of fear on her face that disappeared almost as quickly as it had appeared. Confused, Ayame stopped for a moment as well, but didn't move out of a defensive position. Then in a move that confused Ayame, the female demon smiled, and said, "My work is done here!" before she tossed some powder on the ground near Ayame that caused smoke to rise up all around her.
When it cleared, Ayame's opponent was nowhere to be seen, along with any of the other attackers, and any live member of her pack. But Ayame's didn't get a chance to think about that, as her vision began to blur. The last thing she saw was a hooded humanoid creature with a mask over his face, hovering over her. She couldn't see any part of his body, except for his eyes. The rest of his body was covered in a black material. But those eyes, those violet eyes, she thought as her world turned black, are so pretty, yet so cold…
Kristen398: I'm glad you liked the story. Hopefully you'll like the rest too.
Kiyana Va Sala: All good things come in time. But from what I hear from many people, I may just need to post it on another site in a more free version, when the time comes. I'm glad you liked my choice of pairings. Who knows, if I write this one well enough I may just turn around and write one of those.
Inuyashasgirl4eva333: I'm glad you liked it. And about the furs, thank you. I'm not sure how something like that eluded me, but it did.
Thank
you all for your reading, and for your reviews. Hopefully the next
chapters come out faster.