A/N: And this is chapter eleven. I'm sorry for the delay, but I'm back at my shedule, so everyone I'm good to go. Please enjoy and know InuYasha does not belong to me, but to Rumiko Takahashi.
To everyone who takes the time to comment, favourite and read this story, I want to say thank you. I really appreciate your support!
o.O.o
Chapter Eleven, Ploy of the wolves
'Family; like branches on a tree, we all grow in different directions, yet our roots remain as one.'
When Chiharu awoke there were no storm clouds overhead and a hazy sun was rising. Her hair was still damp from the rain last night and mud was caked at the hems of her hakama. She stretched her limbs, her back basked in the warmth of the sun. Miroku and Sango were both sharpening their weapons — and Chiharu was once again reminded that she needed to invest in getting a weapon herself as well — while Inuyasha stood at the entrance of the cave they took cover in. He inhaled audible trying to find a trace of Kagome's scent, but judging by his tight expression he wasn't having any luck.
"Chiharu?"
"Yes," she answered, slinging her sister's rucksack over her shoulder. Her body was aching, her back stiff from sleeping restlessly against the wall of a cave. The sharp edges of the rock had bruised her lower back, but she couldn't say she really cared.
"Can you sense the Shikon shards?" His voice was tight and controlled.
She closed her eyes and concentrated. Hard. The tingle of the jewel shards were vague, but she inhaled and exhaled slowly. It was there. "Yes."
"Let's go then."
The scrubby grass was damp against Chiharu's ankles and the sun came out from behind a cloud. They moved further west and as they did, they suddenly Sango jumped off from Kirara's back. "Look at that!"
Chiharu slipped to a halt, falling against Inuyasha accidentally, slipping on the wet face of a rock. The Hanyō steadied her wordlessly and stepped up next to Sango. There were little mushrooms, screaming with high voices and Chiharu felt her mouth slack open. "Are those—"
"Shippou's work." Miroku answered. "He left us a trail."
"Good," Inuyasha whispered before suddenly slinging an arm around Chiharu's waist, "You can see the shards, you lead me to that mutt."
"And when we find him you're going to annihilate him?"
"Hell, yes!"
Inuyasha was faster than she was. More assured in his running and preciser where he could place his feet. Thin branches welted against the skin of her bare ankles and the wind harsh against her raw cheeks. Twigs snapped on her clothes and leaves got caught on her hair. The Shikon shards were getting closer.
"There's another one," Chiharu suddenly cried, "It's right up the mountain."
Inuyasha nodded and speeded up. The trees thinned and the light began to change. They reached the edge of the forest. A huge, tall mountain stood before them and Chiharu inhaled sharply when she recognised Kagome's flowery scent. Clawed fingers scraped against the inside of her knees as he jumped up, her hair flailing in the wind and then they landed, his feet hitting the hard rock harshly and dust flung up in the air.
They moved further up the hill and a watery sun broke through the clouds. The temperature was dropping, the higher they came the colder it became and Inuyasha slowly lowered her when Kōga's scent suddenly grew strongest.
They were standing on the brink of a tall cliff. The path down to the valley, still metres above the large forest, was littered with feathers and large bird-like bodies. Her feet were wrapped in mist and behind them the sun had risen fully. A chill wind blew from the East, lifting Chiharu's hair and finally brought Kagome's and Shippou's scent towards them. Kōga's Shikon shards and even a third one hidden inside the large mountain right ahead of them shimmered lightly.
"What are those?" Chiharu suddenly asked when a large yōkai, smelling a lot like the chickens the human villagers kept in dens, seared past.
"Gokuraku-chou," Inuyasha answered, unsheathing Tetsusaiga. "They feed on any living thing they can get their claws on."
"Okay, shoot first ask questions later, duly noted." She answered. She dropped the yellow rucksack to the ground, leaving it behind to retrieve it later and pulled her bow free from her back. She didn't have so many arrows left, so she should try to be careful.
"Get Kagome!" He told her and Chiharu nodded slowly. Her limbs tingled as she followed after the red-clad hanyō, her feet slipping on her sandals and as she rounded the corner she promised herself she would get herself some loafers the next village they'd get to. The air had a heavy metallic tang to it and her eyes widened when she looked upon the battle field.
The crimson red that burned the sky was not from the sunlight, peeking out just above the mountains, but from the blood that had been spilled. What used to be Kōga and a pack of wolves was now Kōga, a pack of wolves and a pack of wolf-yōkai fighting the Gokuraku-chou, who looked like harpies of hell.
The craggy mountain had several plateaus with nests on them and several harpies were flying down fighting with the wolf-yōkai clan. The harpies, who had a bird body with strange, big, toothy faces and on top a human-like body who seemed to be in charge of them, circled above them, just out of reach for the wolf-yōkai. Chiharu observed the carnage below for only a moment until she felt her insides twist and she panicky peered around for her older sister. Her blood wasn't in the air, but there was so much blood she wasn't sure if she would recognise her older sister's blood anyway.
She kicked off on the sturdy branch of a tree and launched down the hill in a free fall, her mind too hazy with worry to overthink her actions. Her hair blew past her, the ribbon holding it together in a ponytail hardly effective in its job and when she landed, almost gracefully, on the floor it was once again messily framing her face. Without much thought she shot down the first harpy and approached the wolf-yōkai. Although it was rather obvious their fight with the harpies had been more of a suicide mission than an even fight they did try their hardest. The wolf-prince, his Shikon shards almost beckoning her, was up at the hight mountain, leaving his people in the meadow below and that's when Chiharu saw her.
Kagome stood behind two wolf-yōkai, face pale and hair a disarray. Shippō sat on her shoulder, trembling and looking absolutely nauseous. She was holding a spear with two hands, while Shippō used his fox magic to keep any hostile opponent off. It wasn't enough, it would never be enough, but Chiharu was sensible enough to see the bravery in it.
Kōga, who seemed to be even stupider than Chiharu had thought at first, was aimlessly charging at a much larger harpy with two torsos attached to the bird body. Inuyasha hissed lowly and joined the fight, slashing three harpies down on his way up and Chiharu used a purifying arrow to shoot one attacking her sister down. It landed with a dull bang and started to dissolve. Several wolf-yōkai jumped back at the whirlwind of youki and reiki as she approached and Kagome squealed.
"Chiharu-chan!"
"Who of those idiots do I need to shoot?" Chiharu asked slowly, glaring at one smaller wolf-yōkai who eyed her with derision.
"Those bird things," Kagome answered without missing a beat and Chiharu nodded slowly, as Kagome turned around to aid a fallen boy with dark hair and a huge gash over his torso. For someone who had been kidnapped she seemed awfully worried about her kidnappers.
Not overly concerned by Kagome's behaviour, she was after all rather naive, Chiharu notched another arrow, evaded one of the harpies and shot another one down. Sango and Miroku had arrived too and with combined strength they easily warded of the large advancing birds of prey.
With all the harpies out of the way — either annihilated by Sango's boomerangbone, Miroku's windtunnel and Chiharu's corrupted purifying power — they all glanced up to where Inuyasha and Kōga were fighting. Without the harpy-king, Chiharu was sure they wouldn't have settled their differences, but were now fighting the huge monster. Kōga, although she didn't like him, handled himself quite well without a weapon while Inuyasha slashed through one of his wings. From her point on the ground it looked like both boys were working together.
While Kōga decapitated one of the torsos, Inuyasha ripped a good sized chunk of its bird body and suddenly the harpy king slammed into the mountainside, pained and disorientated. Debris and small rocks came down and Chiharu wrapped an arm around her sister and pulled her away. Her not-quite-human strength aiding her very well. Kagome clung to her when Chiharu steered her older sister towards the beckoning wolf-yōkai and peered up at the fight again. The harpy-king was fleeing the scene and
"Your what?" Inuyasha's voice echoed off the dauntingly high hills and his face turned red.
"What are they talking about?" Kagome whispered urgently.
"Uhm, Kōga seems to think that your his woman." Chiharu slowly explained, as she squinted her eyes at the bickering males at least twenty metres up the hill. "He wants you to look for the Shikon shard the harpy-king took."
Chiharu carefully peered at her sister, while lifting the fox-kit into her arms. Shippou was slightly disorientated leaning his head on her shoulder and Kagome fidgeted, her face turning a dark shade of red.
"That isn't true," she hastily explained. "That isn't true he just decided that by himself!" she yelled and Inuyasha spluttered over his next sentence.
"You arsehole," Inuyasha snapped, finally finding a way to get the needed words out. "What the hell?"
With the harpy-king gone, Kōga jumped down the hill, landing deftly on a boulder. Inuyasha, silver mane tousling in the chilly air, followed after him. Kagome could hear what they were saying now as well and a spark of adoration appeared in her eyes when Kōga started to summarise why he thought Kagome was a good woman.
It seemed to be the last straw because only a second later they were fighting again. With Tetsusaiga aiding Inuyasha and the jewel shards aiding Kōga the two men seemed evenly matched. Chiharu wondered idly if this was the twentieth century equivalent of getting a girl to like you. Chiharu sighed. Their fight was not much different from before, with Inuyasha swinging his katana and Kōga using his speed to avoid his opponent and occasionally kicking the hanyō in his face. While fighting they kept arguing and suddenly the third shard returned.
Kagome sensed it too: "Watch out, the harpy is coming back! It's above the both of you!"
"Don't bother," Chiharu muttered. Both boys didn't even listen to her sister and she notched her last arrow on her bow.
The large yōkai evaded the direct path of her arrow, but it did lodge at the right side of his bird-body. The surviving humanoid figure screeched before he his body crashed against a boulder, narrowly missing Kōga. Inuyasha snarled, as the large jaws of the harpy-king clamped down onto his red-cladded arm and furiously swept the silver-haired boy of his feet. His grip on the Iron-Crushing Fang slacked and the sword transformed back as it clattered down on the stones ten feet below his struggling form.
"Chiharu-chan!"
"I don't have arrows anymore." She gasped softly before placing Shippō into her arms, caught Tetsusaiga from the ground and jumped up the mountain.
"What are you doing?" Kagome screamed, and Chiharu winced at the tone of her voice. She only once or twice heard that pitch enter her voice, and the last time it happened it hadn't ended well for Chiharu.
Ignoring the uneasy thrum of fear running down her spine, she pushed herself up, bracing the palm of her hand against the rough surface of a boulder punched as hard as she could at the large harpy's humanoid face. Whenever she wasn't paying attention on what could go wrong, she was less hesitant. It made it easier to trust on her senses. When she wasn't trying, it was so much easier to fight.
Inuyasha used the momentum of the harpy-king's distraction and pulled himself free, landing a harsh blow on the bird body. With his wings so severely damaged the yōkai crashed down. Kōga the wolf-prince landed a few feet away, peering down at the large harpy and peered up at her with eyebrows furrowed.
"What are you?"
She glanced back at him, unable to keep her irritation out of her face. "Your woman's sister, and when we're done dealing with that ugly thing I'm going to wring your bloody neck."
Inuyasha laughed breathlessly, popping his dislocated shoulder back. He took Tetsusaiga from her hands again and Chiharu followed his lead when they went down the mountain again. The Harpy-king looked as if he'd been dealt with one blow to many and peered up at them unmoving. Kōga limped towards the large feathery beast and glowered at it.
"You slaughtered my brothers and sisters, you bastard." He whispered threateningly, cracking his knuckles. "And for that, you may now join them."
His swiped his claws at the yōkai, but just as he would land his final hit the Harpy-yōkai cried and suddenly fflapped forward, jaws clasping around Kōga's leg and pulled him down. The wolf-yōkai cried out and Chiharu heard a crunch that unmistakably meant both tibia had just been broken, if not pulverised.
Kagome screamed, and several of the other wolf-yōkai yelled angrily. Chiharu made a low choking sound and the harpy king fixed her with an empty look.
"You, I am going to eat next." He whispered as the toothy beak of the bird body pulled Kōga further inside. She felt it shift, she was acutely aware of it the second the youki overpowered her senses and felt her hair swirl with the angry radiating power. She wasn't exactly sure how she did it, but she'd never moved so fast before and in the blink of an eye she had appeared behind the harpy-king and with a sharp twist, she snapped the humanoid's neck. Just like his beheaded brother had, the humanoid's body slumped forward and the large jaws of his bird body slowly slacked. Two wolf-yōkai came forward, pulling their fallen leader out of the beast's terrible beak.
Kagome crouched down next to him, her face full of worry and as the cold fury that had held her under its control slipped, Chiharu dazedly peered down at her older sister.
"I thought he kidnapped you."
"But he hasn't hurt me!" Kagome huffed, cradling the wolf-prince's broken form on her lap. Inuyasha's face became as red as his haori and Chiharu could somewhat understand his upcoming anger.
"What are you doing?" He asked, "Why are you stopping me? Kōga don't be a coward, I want to settle this, you bastard!"
"You can't, Inuyasha! Kōga-kun is badly hurt."
"I'm not following," Chiharu said slowly, "Don't get me wrong, I can see he's hurt and all, but you haven't been with him long enough to grow a Stockholm Syndrome. Why would you do this?"
Inuyasha nodded and Kagome peered at her younger sister in annoyance. The wolf-demon snorted rudely, trying to get on his knees, but failing miserably. "I don't need my legs to support me for a whiny whimp like you, I can still take you out with my arms."
"Prepare to die!" Inuyasha snapped, his patience finally evaporated and he cracked his knuckles. He advanced on his already fallen oponent with an angry glint to his eyes and Chiharu wasn't surprised when Kagome screeched:
"Inuyasha, Osuwari!"
The temporarily subdued Hanyō let out a snarl of profanities and under Kagome's command the Wolf-yōkai pack hoisted Kōga up on their shoulders fleeing the scene. Chiharu watched them go with a frown and when the spell wore off, Inuyasha slowly got to his feet. The dust was clearing, the rocky floor barely visible with all the tangled bodies and blood.
"Why'd you do that?" Inuyasha asked, clawed fingers trailing slowly over the angry bite mark on his arm. "Why did you let those bastards escape?"
"He was injured," Kagome countered angrily, "shouldn't I have? And besides those people aren't bad at heart."
"Aren't at bad at heart?" Inuyasha echoed disbelievingly. "Those punks kidnapped you. How naive can you get. For a start didn't you think you might die after they had dealt with the Gokuraku-chou?"
Chiharu rolled her eyes and smiled at Shippō. The small fox-kit was tiredly chewing on his lower-lip and she carefully picked him up, cradling in her arms rather motherly. "Are you all right honey?"
He nodded, peering up at her with large green eyes and nestled his cheek in the crook of Chiharu's neck. Sango, who hadn't been that long with them, was curiously looking at the exchange between Inuyasha and Kagome. Miroku shrugged dramtically: "They'll get over it. It's quite usual for them to act like this."
Sango nodded numbly and Miroku turned to Chiharu. "Chiharu-sama, if you could point out the Shikon shard?"
"Right, of course," she muttered, carefully approaching the Harpy-king. One of the bodies still bleeding out, although it was by no means a heavy flow and the other and the mangled bones in his neck staring dully at the space before him. The shard was shimmering between the bird-body's large teeth and Chiharu carefully extracted it from them, putting it in the small jar with the few others she still had.
With some coaxing from Chiharu's and Miroku's side, soon the friends were on the move again. When they crossed the second mountain, Chiharu peered around, staring down the tall cliff, consisting out bare and bleak stone. A soft white mist covered the highlands and Chiharu peered down at the plain below and she wondered what lay beyond its tumbled skirts. What lived festering marshes where down there and exhaled slowly. Chiharu exhaled again and followed after Inuyasha and Miroku again. They climbed down the barren slopes and stones of the hill, while the sun lowered down the western horizon.
Inuyasha and Kagome weren't on speaking terms as the group descended down the hill. It was only by sheer force of will and convincing that Kagome didn't return home that night. They were not on speaking terms thirty minutes later when the group found an adequate spot, to set up camp. And they weren't on speaking terms when Chiharu helped Sango and Miroku set up a make-shift camp, tying a sail along three trees to keep them from catching a cold nor were they speaking when they started a fire. Kagome still had a couple of cups of instant ramen left, which at least pleased Inuyasha enough to stop the silent war they had going on.
Kirara the fire-cat curled up in front of the fire, while Shippō chased after one of the multitude of crickets, jumping from the tall blades of the grass. When Kagome started to try and get some homework done, muttering to herself about 'stupid math', Chiharu excused herself and ventured into the forest.
Fall had faded in magenta and the night had swept across the sky and they were surrounded by rowan-trees. Chiharu stooped and splashed her feat and washed her face with the water of the river. She peered tiredly at the mossy stones set upon the turves under the green bank and the small bubbles of air escaping from the bank. The whole forest seemed to have quieted down and her feet turned cold as she waddled through the river-bank. Ripples disturbed the still surface of the water, as she walked towards the bank. Slumping back on a boulder she cleaned her face, feet and arms, listening to the crickets.
The glitter of stars blanketed the night sky with a flickering radiance. A sharp crescent moon rose high in the sky, pale light flickering in through the fluttering leaves. It was a chilly night and the leaves crinkled when she stepped onto them. The night was still young and she peered up at the tree-tops. She noticed the golden eyes of Inuyasha even from the metres that separated them.
He wasn't watching her and she was thankful he wasn't when suddenly kōga's scent hit her and she noticed his jewel shards nearing her.
"What are you doing here?" she asked slowly, crossing her arms over her chest. She hadn't raised her voice even though he was at the other side of the river bank, but with his yōkai hearing, she didn't have to.
"Can you sense them too? The Shikon shards I mean…" Kōga asked. The later it became the chillier the air started to feel. The night filled the forest with an earthy scent and dark shadows fell down from the voluminous trees and the surrounding bushes. She peered at him, pushing her sandals into the soft soil and blew a lock of dark hair out of her face.
"Technically, yes, I do." She answered, rubbing her hands together. Long vines draped from the trees and the fire from their camp flickered softly. "You do realise Inuyasha is going to sense you any moment now, don't you?"
"He won't. The wind comes from the wrong side and without that to aid him, he won't sense me." He seemed awefully cocky and Chiharu raised an eyebrow. He smirked at her.
She snorted. "I did,"
"Yes, but your senses are aided of that of a full-yōkai." He told her dryly, cocking his head to the side. "Why that mark?"
"Excuse me?"
"Wolf-yōkai, much like dog-yōkai, mate for life." He told her and Chiharu dug her nails into her upper arms. "But that mark—" he continued, "That isn't by any means complete. One day you will loose control. If your future mate is no longer part of this realm you should find yourself a new one. I mean I would—"
"You come anywhere near my neck and I disembowel you…" she threatened darkly and Kōga laughed, his face alive with glee. He obviously thought she was funny.
"Oh no, you could ask the mutt. I want Kagome."
"Is this your new way to get to my sister?" Chiharu slowly asked, finally understanding what was going through his head.
"You smell like him. It won't matter that much. That mark will be a bit tricky though…"
"Hm, I'll keep that in mind." She muttered, peering over her shoulder at the tree where Inuyasha was in. He was gazing straight at them and Chiharu started to massage the bridge of her nose. "I'll be returning to camp."
She left him standing there, peering at her. She wasn't entirely sure what he had wanted from her, but as she peered over her shoulder he had already disappeared. He might still be slower than usual, his wound weighting him down, but he seemed good enough to move rapidly again. Chiharu sighed again and stepped through the foliage and settled in front of the fire, gazing over her shoulder at her sister's mathematic problems. Although the fire barely provided enough light, but after a few minutes Chiharu fell back in her studious self and started to explain the use of the trigonometric functions. She'd always been good at maths.
To be continued…
A/N: And here is chapter eleven. I'm terribly sorry for being a week too late with this update. I had a busy week and I just couldn't find the time. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and please leave me a review. Like always, they call to my writing soul:)