RELATIONS AGAIN
Writer: Ark Angel HFB
Editor: WaiDom
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A/N: So…
Tsuki means "Moon". Mangetsu means basically "Full Moon".
Mangetsu Tsuki is a wolf youkai…
Do with this info what you will.
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CHAPTER 6: Bickering and Barks
"Damn it…" He muttered. The hanyou knelt slightly before he rolled the teen off his shoulder, letting both the human and his bag unceremoniously drop onto the wet ground. Taking barely a half step, Inuyasha leapt and focused his yoki into his claws and twirled. Wide swipes shredded apart the webs, and he twisted in the air to both cut the last threads, and catch the wolf youkai at the same time.
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The webs pulled away from her chest with a stretching, tearing sound and her body instantly, desperately, drew a deep gasp of air. The fog of darkness retreating from her vision, her eyes snapped fully open, and focused onto pools of gold. Her nose twitched. "Hanyou…"
With a shriek, Tsuki twisted and drove her now freed elbow into the nose of the male who held her.
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"THE FUCK IS YOUR PROBLEM!?"
"You vile, filthy, stinking CUR!"
His head pounded like it wanted to split open. Sluggishly, his mind still in a fog, his eyes opened. "Why is there always yelling when my head hurts?" Fighting to focus, he shook his head and earned himself a wave of nausea, made only worse by a revolting scent that hung in the air. "What is that…"
With effort, Haydin forced his eyes open and peered through the cold night at a world not quite right. Flashes of light in the sky revealed a strange pattern through the trees, and as the wind blew over his face, the branches above him barely moved as if held in place. He could hear Inuyasha arguing with someone nearby, both parties freely trading barbs and insults. "How did I…? Oh… right, he jumped me from behind...why is everyone said to be strong always also a fucking coward?" Haydin's mind continued to clear and he realized his hands were bound with the draw cord of his own bag.
"Would you just shut the hell up and let me save you, moron!" The words were nearly barked.
"Unhand me you MUTT!" Came a challenging snarl back.
"Yeah, not that simple! Fucking just stow it and stop struggling. You're loud enough to wake the dead." Inuyasha grumbled back.
Haydin looked to his right to see Inuyasha kneeling, struggling with what looked like a youkai. Her lower body was bound in something that seemed to be sticking to Inuyasha's clothing and their free hands grappled and wrestled with each other. He saw Inuyasha finally win, trapping the female's arms long enough to leverage her away and dump her to the ground.
"Stupid! IDIOT! BASTARD! DOG!" The Wolf streamed insults as she landed in a heap, her arms barely bracing her fall.
Haydin rolled slowly over to lay exasperatedly on his side in the mud. "I… I think I may have grown to truly hate him… in one day… it isn't a record but that is impressive." Glaring into the cold darkness of night he began to quietly work the sloppy knot free that bound his wrists. "What kind of disrespectful jackass ties someone up with their own bag."
Coming up in a sprawl and with a growl, Inuyasha kicked mud at the Wolf. "How are you so fucking DENSE! I'm saving your dumb ass! Stop fucking fighting me!"
Tsuki wiggled away as she coughed and spit mud.
"Oi! Like you saved me?" Haydin called, making a face as the horrid scent seemed to be everywhere. He sat up, grimacing as his head still pounded. "You're not strong, you're just a cheap coward." His vision finally focused fully in the dark, his view darted first to the webs around the wolf youkai, then to the subtle patterns in her upper attire. "Northern Scale markings?"
Inuyasha growled in frustration, rolling his eyes as scratched his head. "Oh great! Now this idiot is awake too."
Tsuki began feeling around for her spear. She had heard it drop when she tumbled away from the hanyou, and knew it had to be near.
"Bastard…" Haydin mumbled, keeping his hands behind his bag to hide that he was working to free them.
Thunder boomed overhead, and youkai, hanyou, and human all flinched at the volume. Once more rain fell to the earth in heavy cold droplets.
"Damn everything about this night." Inuyasha huffed, returning to attempting to free the wolf youkai from her webbing. "Would you hold fucking still already."
Haydin tried to focus on his own bindings, but the constant bickering between Inuyasha and the wolf youkai proved infuriatingly distracting. He wasn't sure when the youkai had gotten a spear, and though her lower body was still cocooned in webbing, her arms were free and swinging the weapon with malice. A rye grin slipped onto Haydin's lips as he watched.
Tsuki sat worming away from the hanyou as she swung her spear in wide swipes and stabs at ankle height to keep him at bay.
"Hey! Cut that out!" Inuyasha yelled, jerking a leg away from another swipe.
Sitting in the wet dirt, his eyes hidden behind his muddied hair, a flash of distant lightning brightened the night and Haydin realized the fullness to the webs that covered the forest canopy like a dense blanket. "Are both your fucking brains broken?" Haydin staggered as he tried to stand, his legs feeling weak. His eyes widened slightly, a hint of panic slipping into his voice. "How do you not feel the danger?" His wrists free, he pushed himself up and spun taking in the surroundings.
"You're not fooling me half-blood! These threads are your trickery!" Tsuki slung the accusation, as well as another cleave of her spear.
"Would you both please shut up…" Haydin hissed in a rushed lowered voice before pointing to Inuyasha. "A Moron Inu-Hanyou..." He then pointed at the wolf youkai. "A Wolf Youkai..." Stooping to pick a section of the webbing that lay near him, Haydin held it up in the air. "Human with mild spiritual power…" A subtle shine barely surrounded Haydin's hand and the spider webs began to crackle and evaporate as they purified. "How would any of us make yoki infused webs?"
Inuyasha and Tsuki watched as after a moment the human winced, shaking his hand as if it had touched something burning hot.
"Why do you both smell of foul poison then?" Tsuki asked, her tone calmer but still tense as she worked to free her legs.
Inuyasha pointed at Haydin. "Because that clueless shitbag used it to cover his trial."
"What? I… oh is this smell those damn flowers? I avoid those, you lying bastard! Who the fuck would roll in them like a moron but you!" Haydin retorted loudly, his emotions getting the best of him.
Inuyasha was about to retort, but his ears twitched and he froze at the sound of cracking wood within the dense forest behind him. Another clap of thunder ripped through the night, covering most of the noise. If the thunder had happened the briefest moment sooner it would have masked the sound completely. "Shit… Can I just get to deal with one damn thing at a time for once?"
There was a vibration in the webs above like a ripple on a pond, and the sound of snapping branches nearby came soon after.
Tsuki pushed herself to standing, barely balancing long enough to flourish her spear and slice down to free her legs. Widening her stance, she again leveled the spear towards the hanyou. "I'd rather die than trust you, abomination, and your human prey is none of my concern. I have a comrade to find."
Inuyasha's hand flew to his sword's handle and he readied himself. "Fine, you wanna go!? You're probably part of this trap!"
"Fucking dog shit for brains both of you..." Haydin knelt fumbling with his bag. "The seal takes a while to undo, if I start now maybe…" His thoughts trailed off as he noticed they were not alone.
As if emerging from the webs, four humans closed in a semi-circle from behind the wolf youkai. They moved in a repeating rippling jilted fashion, each after the other.
Inuyasha sneered, flexing the claws of his free hand. "I knew it. Looks like your backups here, you're just going to make whatever damned move Naraku told you to aren't you. I knew that fucker wasn't really gone."
Pure confusion flushed over Tsuki's face until one of the humans stepped on a twig. With a start, she wheeled, backpedaling to create equal space, without drawing near to Inuyasha. Her head darted between the hanyou and the strange humans before shifting closer to Inuyasha. "I serve Moniru-sama of the North, I take no action that is not given by his order."
Inuyasha snored as he rolled his eyes. "Yeah right, you're not fooling me that easily…" He kept his sword leveled more towards the youkai than the humans.
Tsuki thought a moment before speaking to the humans who ambled silently closer. "Mortals! You are not my concern tonight, leave in peace!" Tsuki yelled. She studied the group of silent humans in front of her. "These fools pose no real threat. Their movements are so sluggish, their attacks would lack any competence, and their armor and weapons are in horrible condition…"
Haydin froze as five more humans emerged from the forest nearest him. Their armor looked battle worn, chipped and dented in all the ways used armor that has met blade and arrow becomes. Their hatchets, swords, & spears were held limply and were in a similar state as their armor. He wasn't sure if the others noticed, but he was sure these humans would give no response. "These fools are long past talking, Wolf." Haydin caught Inuyasha's gaze for a brief moment and the hanyou nodded back in agreement. "He caught on before me… So a bastard, but not blind."
"They move so... wrong..." Tsuki paused, before continuing her attempt at reasoning with the group, even as they closed in, corralling near. "Begone or I will strike you each down! Even together you are not my equal!" Tsuki wanted her voice to remain calm and controlled, but as lightning raced over the sky, the thunder that followed was more distant and thus delayed. In that delay, she barely heard the movement behind herself in time. Spinning to bring her spear down in a swift graceful slash, Tsuki cut into the chest of yet another human that lunged from the darkness.
The other humans near her surged forward as well and in a flurry of twisting motions, Tsuki used the blunt pummel of her spear to down the remaining humans with less lethal blows.
"Can this not just be done? You fools delay me!" Tsuki roared into the night. "You are broken or..." Using her spear to point, she indicated each limb she had just broken on her attackers, then lingered on the first human she struck down. "...Dead. What more do you possibly wish to prove?"
None of the humans spoke. The wolf youkai's blows drove them to the ground where they were slow to recover. The first human, sliced deeply, remained on their knees with a gaping wound. No voice or breath came from the man, and no blood ran from his chest. As the other four men hobbled to their feet, the cut one stayed down.
"I can't break the seal on my pack in time…" Haydin swayed, circling away from Inuyasha as he looked at humans near him."Only the five near the wolf attacked… why?"
"Fools… I said you are broken..." Tsuki's breath hung in her chest as the dead kneeling human rose to standing and still no blood flowed from the wound. She looked into the distant eyes of the humans for a moment more before full grim realization struck. "Oh… You all are… already dead."
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A/N: So… it seems this damn bit in the forest won't fucking end.