Wolves at the Door
I can smell her on the air, the taint, the stink, the filth.
She's the thing I hate the most, something that's kept me up at nights just to think of more creative way to kill them.
The worst of all youkai slaves, the semi-willing, the ones that let themselves be lapdogs and hunting their own kind for the pathetic imitation of freedom they get, instead of doing what they damn-well should and fighting until they die. We call them bounty-hunters, even though the only bounty they'll get is another bone from the master's table bought with youkai blood.
They piss me off so much I get poetic.
The human girl is tense, but unafraid, standing at the foot of a tree on the other side of the clearing. I'm consumed by this new scent, with the way my blood's burning through me. It's been far too long since I killed something. My claws are tingling, just itching to rip through that traitor's flesh, to feel dying shudders underneath my hands, to drown in lifeblood as I tear it out of shredded veins.
She's getting closer. The hair on my neck lifts and I shiver in delicious anticipation. I can taste it already, the thrill, the adrenaline.
A gust of wind and the youkai is here.
"Well. What an interesting development," she drawls as she glides to a halt three meters in the air, balancing on something I can't see. Female, young, lithe, short black hair, dressed like she'd only charge a man 10 bucks a ride.
"Who are you?" the human wench blurts.
"Stay out of it, bitch!" I snarl, but the youkai girl just flashes a wide grin with her perfectly white teeth, her fangs flashing.
"Now, now, puppy, let your little human speak," she purrs. She fixes the human with a sharp stare, her eyes hungrily curious. "I am Yura. And you are?"
Don't answer---
"Kagome."
---that.
FUCK!
"Keep it shut, wench!" I yell, but I know it's too late. Yura knows now, if she wasn't sure before. She knows who we are, and what. Her fangs glint over her wet lips as they part slightly, her tongue creeping out between them, her eyes glazed and shining.
She looks hungry, and I growl.
"What an interesting development," she murmurs again, never taking her avid eyes off the wench, who looks like a fish staring a shark in the teeth. Her mouth is open, her eyes are wide and terrified, and I think she's shaking a little.
"It just so happens that I'm looking for a girl by exactly that name."
The girl's face pales. Yeah, that's right, you idiot. I can't make my move yet, either; Yura's too close to the human. She'd have her before I was halfway there.
"Why?" the wench whispers, her voice hardly making it to my ears.
Yura laughs, throwing her head back and cackling. I take the opportunity she gives me and launch myself at her. She stops laughing instantly and spins in the air, her mouth shutting with a snap and the short sword at her waist whipped out as fast as I can blink.
The beast in me roars, and she hisses back, accepting my challenge. My claws flash.
It's begun.
Kagome shrieked as InuYasha leapt through the air towards Yura. Her heart thumped in her chest, threatening to break right out as her hands flew to her mouth. His grin was primal, vicious, and Kagome could not help but be… well, not scared exactly. Not scared of him.
He snarled and ripped his hand through the air where Yura had been a split second ago. She cackled merrily and her sword glinted in the gradually dying sunlight. "Now, now, hanyou, don't get too hasty, there. After all, you've been out of the game a while, I would hate for you to wear out before I had a chance to play with you a little."
Kagome gulped as InuYasha stared at Yura with pure hatred on his face. What on earth had this woman done to inspire a look like that? He had not even looked at Ai like that. She ran through their banter thus far. A bit of posturing, threats… but, she had thought that that was to be expected; although she was no expert at battle ---even though she felt as if her life lately was nothing but--- she was quite sure that that sort of thing was normal. Baddy and goody duke it out with words and insults prior to the actual arse-kicking.
So what was it? Why was InuYasha so incredibly pissed off?
"Bitch!" he snarled, cracking his knuckles and baring his teeth. "Don't talk to me about outta the game! You're not even fuckin' in it!" He was in the air even before his sentence was over, twisting over her sword and almost catching her before she whisked herself away faster than Kagome could follow.
Kagome frowned. How the hell was she doing that, anyway?
Yura laughed again, her pose managing to be aggressive and provocative all at once. "Oh, please. Not that drivel." She fixed him with a patronising stare. "Honestly, do you think that any of us who don't play my way are going to live much longer, the way things are going?"
"That's not the point, bitch! Now shut up and fight!"
The two sped towards each other in the air, and the battle was joined. Kagome's eyes flickered, desperately trying to keep up with the speed of the action.
"Sankontessou!" InuYasha yelled, pushing away from the youkai.
Yura sailed out of the way of his arcs of youki with a giggle, and he was after her. She dropped down two meters as he swung, but a claw caught her on the cheek as she moved. InuYasha grinned and she hissed, stabbing upwards with her sword, aiming for his belly as he fell towards the ground. He blocked it but it sliced his hand, and Yura blew a kiss his way as she retreated.
Almost before he had touched the ground he was off again, chasing her as she teased him, waiting almost until he caught her, before whisking herself away quicker than InuYasha could move.
Yura grinned savagely, taunting him with her eyes and her moves, while Kagome tried to puzzle out just exactly was going on here.
There were not just fighting. There was an undercurrent there. And what did she mean 'her way'?
Finally Yura broke away, a single trickle of blood sliding down her pale cheek, and she swiped it away with a hand, fixing InuYasha with another arrogant smile.
"So, hanyou," she sneered, and InuYasha snarled back. Kagome fought the urge to run to him. Yura had landed a few blows with her sword, and the cuts were bleeding lightly. She stayed where she was, however; she just knew that more than male pride was involved here, and she could not interfere now. "You're really just proving my point, aren't you?"
Kagome blinked. What point?
"My way is the way to live. Who knows, they might even let you live if you---"
"SHUT UP!"
Red haze of rage over my eyes.
Kill her!
Yes. Of course.
Give me the coward's blood!
I need to taste it, to feel it thick, sticky, cloying on my claws. Life dripping from my hands, drying on my skin…
Give me the traitor's life!
She doesn't deserve to have it. I will take it from her.
Kagome screamed as InuYasha flew backwards into a tree with a thud. She whirled to stare at Yura as he crumpled to the ground. How the hell… she was three meters away from where he had been!
The immaculately composed youkai grinned, before feigning innocence. "What?" Her grin grew. Her voice was as smooth as the edge of a knife.
Kagome blinked as things began to sparkle around her. She rubbed an eye hastily with the palm of her hand, squinting to try and get rid of the irritating little glints. Was she finally cracking? What a time to pick…
Wait… she blinked again, staring at the little shiny spots in the air as they became longer, more tangible, connected.
A flash of light in front of her, and she leapt sideways on pure instinct. Something slammed into the tree where she had stood, and Yura hissed.
"So they were right, you do have some little power," she sneered.
Kagome frowned, staring at the tree where she had been, and the sword that was embedded there. A sparkle hung in the air before the sword, and she squinted, trying to understand just what was happening.
"Damn it!"
InuYasha snarled and sprang forward. "Leave her the fuck alone!"
Yura giggled and sidestepped his attack. She opened her mouth as if to say something, before cocking her head and blinking. Kagome yelped as the sword suddenly yanked itself out of the tree trunk and flew towards Yura, who scowled and sighed dramatically.
"Well, it's been fun, but you know how it is. Things to do, people to see…" The youkai grinned maliciously as she began moving away through the air. "I'll be back, though."
And she was gone.
"What… what just happened?"
It was mostly a rhetorical question, as Kagome stood there blinking and staring after Yura. But InuYasha growled.
"What the fuck you think? We just met our first enemy," he said, stalking towards the tree and picking up her backpack. He met her shocked, dazed gaze and shook his head, grabbing her arm and began tugging her along.
"C'mon. We gotta find somewhere to camp tonight."
Kagome merely nodded, the wheels in her brain rolling along furiously.
Her way. The game.
There was more to this than she was grasping, she was sure of it.
"You were unsuccessful."
The voice was deep and resonant as it boomed from the speaker in front of her. Yura gave an irritated sigh and she let her head fall back against the back of the chair. She had long ago given up trying to appear respectful for the cameras; she was a youkai, damnit, and like hell she was going to let them take everything from her. Her freedom was enough.
"You pulled me away just as I was about to neutralise them. Honestly, why you don't just let me do my job---"
"Quiet. It was time."
Yura plucked a nailfile from somewhere in her skimpy outfit and set to work shaping her blood-red claws into wicked points.
"Yeah, because ten minutes would have made a huge difference. I could just feel the rebellious sentiment building within me," she drawled sarcastically.
"Insolent creature."
She scoffed. "Yeah, well what did you exp---no, wait!"
She screamed.
The pain rippled through her from the deep seated chip in her brain through to her extremities, a burning inferno as her nerves screamed. On and on it went, punishment for stepping that little bit too far, for failure that was not her fault, until she felt herself break. She screamed for mercy, promised anything if they would just make it stop. Tears squeezed from between her eyelids, shut so tight that it hurt. Her claws gripped the armrests, tearing into the leather, ripping away from the nail-beds in her frenzy.
And it stopped.
She collapsed, sliding off the chair and huddling into a quivering, boneless ball on the floor. She clutched her bleeding hands to her chest, tears still falling from her closed eyes.
The voice laughed.
"Ahhh, Yura, you do amuse us. But take care next time. A little less lip, please. Now, go back and find them again, and kill them this time within your time limit. You shall have competition, so look on this as a chance to improve your lot that tiny bit more."
She raised her red, tearstained face to the speaker, and spat bitterly, "I hate you. I hate you all."
The voice chuckled again with a paternal air. "Oh, we know. But don't let that interfere with your work, my dear."
The lights clicked on and the door behind her open, a Slaver walking in woodenly to take custody of the youkai. Yura smiled slightly as she closed her eyes, waiting for the probing aura of the Slaver to take away thought, pain and feeling.
As she slipped into oblivion, she prayed for the hanyou to kill her.
At the same base as a certain scantily-dressed youkai, in a different sector, fluorescent lights flickered on and off sporadically, casting eerie shadows over the cold concrete. A group of bodies stirred, fur matted and skin black with filth. Muzzles lifted and sniffed the air, hands rubbed at swollen faces, and a humanoid male stood. His tail swished irritably, blue eyes narrowed as it stared at the speaker in the corner of the room as it rattled out static.
Finally the sound resolved itself, and the deep voice boomed into the room.
"Pack 49."
The male scowled and crossed his arms. "Who else would be in this shithole, genius?"
The voice chuckled menacingly. "Careful there, wolf. We're not feeling generous today."
"What a coincidence, me neither. Look, what do you want?" the male growled, his stance screaming rebellion but his voice tightly controlled.
"How would you chaps like to go for a run?"
The male blinked, then smiled. "Food?"
"Plenty. And a bigger room when you come back, if you're successful."
There was an answering chorus of cheers and yips from the others in the cell who had woken and were sitting up at rapt attention.
The male grinned at them and then turned back to the speaker. "Prey?"
There was a pause, then another chuckle. "Hanyou and miko. Keep her alive."
The male blinked, before he let out a chuckle of his own. "Fine."
"Excellent. You leave in an hour. You're up against Yura. Don't give us a reason to punish any of you, Kouga."
The grin widened in a manner that could only be called wolfish. "Never, boss."
The mood was subdued. Kagome picked up a long stick and poked at the fire that InuYasha had made, her stomach grumbling lightly as the water boiled. Kaede had packed plenty of dehydrated rations, but they were just so bland.
InuYasha had gone off to brood in a tree somewhere, something she had noticed was a favourite hobby of his. They had not talked since they had arrived at their camping spot, a shallow cave overhung by a cliff in the foothills. She was exhausted, and had a suspicion that he was, too. She just wished that he did not hate her as much as he seemed to. Every little comment she made was met with an insult or silence, often resulting in her losing her temper and sitting him, which served no one. She had not been able to ask him any of the questions that plagued her, that made her toss and turn at night.
With a sigh she dug in the backpack for the body wash and flannel that Kaede had so thoughtfully provided her. May as well clean up a little since the water did not look like it wanted to get hot any time soon.
She trudged towards the nearby stream for a top and tail scrub, a wash involving the least amount of cold water for the greatest smell-reduction. She was just hoping that they would reach a river big enough for her to wash her incredibly greasy hair, soon. And preferably not one fed by glacier run off.
The stream was clear running and swift, not to mention very cold. She tried not to screech when her wet flannel touched the hot skin of her neck. Washing as quickly as she could, she scrubbed away the caked dirt on her face and arms with a small, wistful smile. What would her mother say if she saw her now? Kagome was well known for a slightly obsessive attitude towards cleanliness and for hogging the bathroom in the morning. But here she was, with nearly-two-week-dirty hair and settling for a flannel bath.
She sighed. At least she could think of her family without bursting into floods of tears and torrents of self-blame, now. She just hoped that they were doing okay without her.
There were occasions… rare occasions… wherein Kagome admitted to herself that she was having fun. Of course, these were followed hot on the heels by periods of intense guilt for not missing her family enough, fury at Kaede for not packing enough toilet paper, homicidal rage towards insects of miscellaneous varieties who decided to make their home either with her in her sleeping bag or on her actual person, and of course the obligatory hatred of InuYasha for not letting her rest, or eat, or walk slower, or not talking to her, or not playing "I Spy", or not joining in her sing-a-long.
But before any or all of these consequences set in, she could admit, in one tiny part of herself if nothing else, that she was enjoying herself. Sun on her skin that was not tinged green by the barriers, but was warm and golden, especially in the late afternoon; air in her lungs that was fresh and clean, and did not smell of twelve million other people and their lives, but of trees and water and birds and even those annoying insects. She would break out into a heart-stopping smile and her happiness would infuse her entire being. That is, until InuYasha finally put a dampener on it.
She had only been travelling with InuYasha for nearly two weeks, and already certain things about him and the way he acted towards her were clearly defined. When she was happy, he was derisive, undermining whatever enjoyment she could glean from their situation. When she was serious but not angry, he was jittery and skittish, a haunted look stealing over his face whenever she looked him in the eye. When she was angry, he was confrontational, as if just to rile her up further.
When she was sad, he was helpless. The times that she had cried, from frustration, loneliness, grief, homesickness… he was no help at all, hovering around and yelling insults at her until she became so angry that she sat him and stormed off. Maybe that was the point, she wondered. Maybe that was how he dealt with crying women.
But who had taught him that? His father, his mother…
With a jolt she realised that she knew absolutely nothing about her companion. They had been travelling together, with no one else, and yet she could name not one fact about him, who he was, what defined him and made him himself.
She would have to be at her obnoxious best to call him back from his brooding session. She knew he did not go far, but he avoided her in the evenings when she ate, and only crept back into camp after he thought that she was asleep. Suddenly his behaviour worried Kagome. What if he did not like her? Scratch that, he had made that pretty clear. But… she wanted to be his friend. He was all that she had now, and she was pretty sure that it was the same for him. If they could not trust each other, and learn to at least get on with civility, what was going to become of them?
The forest began to press in around her, and Kagome hugged herself with a shiver. I wonder if he feels as alone as me. If he wants a friend, to be my friend.
I wonder if he'd even let me try.
Her skin is white in the moonlight.
I'm frozen where I sit, in a tree on the other side of the stream. There I was, minding my own broodiness, and along swans the wench. I was all ready to get blustery and rude with her, but then off came the shirt.
So that's the reason I'm sitting, unable to move, staring at a half-naked girl who looks achingly like the woman I loved what felt like mere weeks ago. Maybe I still do.
It's torture. Pure and utter torture. Sure, I can rationally think that it was more than 50 years ago that Kikyou sealed me to that goddamn wall, but really… time meant nothing. I knew it passed, but I didn't pass with it. My heart hasn't really caught up.
And then there's the wench, bathing right in front of me.
Kikyou sure as hell never did that.
But fuck, this is even harder than I thought. Kaede had this grand plan, I think, that I would have a change of heart, really take the wench to Shikoku, really use the Jewel for, you know, the good of all blah blah blah insert relevant clichés here.
But I mean, really. I tried to kill her sister!
To her, ok yeah, it's been fifty years, but to me, less than a month! Does she believe that resentment and hate disappears that quick? She's not that naïve so just what the fuck is she playing at?
The wench sighs in that wistful way she gets when she thinks about her family. I've tried to avoid that topic since I heard her crying that first night. Actually, I've tried to avoid most topics apart from how fucking weak she is. Successfully, mostly. She's tried to steer it towards serious topics, but a few insults and a sit and she's fuming for the rest of the day. An angry wench is easier to deal with.
But I just really don't wanna talk about her family. I mean, they think she's dead. Fuck knows what Ai's told them. Or done to them.
The soap runs down her arm. The moonlight's in it, and she glows.
I know just how much I'm pissing her off, and I'm glad. The plan's changed. No more 'make friends to steal the Jewel'. There's nothing to fucking steal, now, is there, so no point in busting brain cells to sugar-coat myself. I'll just hang around until it surfaces again, and I can figure out how to get it.
I wonder what would happen if she died. Would that be the end of it? Or would she be reincarnated again, Jewel and all?
She's rinsing off, now, and I can see the goose-bumps on her arms. Stupid wench, she'll get sick. Hope Kaede packed vitamins in that tank of a bag. She grabs her school shirt and puts it on before trundling happily back to camp to eat that horrible dehydrated stuff. Blech.
Hopefully that stuff won't last long.
I'll have to hunt then. I wonder if I still can.
Aww, fuck it, hunting's better than that shit. I haven't hunted since before they caught me and took me to Kikyou; she never let me out of her sight, understandably, and certainly not out of the Base to hunt. For a long time I only got their crappy reconstituted goo that looked suspiciously like the dog food I saw on a billboard ad.
I think I could deal with a good hunt, actually.
My chest is slightly heavy as I remember Kikyou's face the first time I told her I hated that food. How could I hate the food I was freely given? I was a hanyou, wasn't I? Be grateful for all I got, that look said.
But no matter what she thought at first… she started to feed me real food. Her food. I guess they never questioned why her appetite suddenly quadrupled, because I was never hungry after that. That first time… she just stared with a funny little smile on her face, amazed that I knew how to use chopsticks.
She had that look that always made me squirm. Like I was something to be observed and noted and studied, as you would an experiment. She looked at me like that all the time at the beginning.
Before she started smiling at me, even if it didn't reach her eyes.
FUCK, why am I doing this to myself? Stop thinking, hanyou, stop thinking about her.
I can't help it, though, and I know it.
So I lean back against the trunk of the tree, stare into the moon, and think of a pale, sad face that I'll never see again, except for echoes in the irritating wench.
"InuYaaaaaaaaaashaaaaa! Where aaaaare yooooooou?"
I wince, crushing my ears to my head and growling angrily. For fuck's sake, she's lucky that this is too close to Tokyo to be prowling with youkai, cos otherwise it would be spit-wench for dinner, open buffet.
"INUYA---"
"Alright, I'm coming! Fuck, bitch."
"I heard that. Sit."
"ARlfug."
"Heard that, too. Sit."
I swear, this collar comes off and I'll wring her skinny little neck.
As long as I'm sure the Jewel won't die, too, of course. Because that would just be stupid. Satisfying, but stupid.
So the mantra starts once again.
DON'T hurt the wench, DON'T hurt the wench, DON'T hurt the wench, DON'T hurt the wench…
"INUYASHA!! WHAT'S TAKING YOU SO LONG?"
……don't KILL the wench, don't KILL the wench…
The village was shockingly primitive, and Kagome stood gaping on the crest for a full minute. It was like something out of a history lecture. The small huts lay in a tight, unordered cluster to the north of a sprawling system of rice paddies glistening in the morning sun. InuYasha growled at her when she paused, but she just rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue out at him.
"Keh," InuYasha grumbled, but he paused and stared down at the village with her.
She pointed down the hill. "Is this even real? It's like something out of a book. Why do they live like this?"
He shot her a sharp look. "They prefer it, I guess."
She blinked and turned to him with a disbelieving expression. "You're kidding."
He rolled his eyes. "Does it look like it, wench?"
"It's Kagome," she replied absently out of reflex, back to staring at the tiny village. "But…why?"
He scoffed. "It's this or Tokyo."
She frowned. Which was worse, living without even basic amenities, regressing into the primitivism of centuries ago, the risk of dying from something that could be cured with a simple pill… or living under the Sphere, without choice, or freedom?
"Come on, bitch, we ain't got all day!" InuYasha hollered over his shoulder. He had resumed his walk down the hill towards the cluster of huts.
"It's Kagome!"
She grumbled all the way down the hill, sure that he was enjoying every minute of her frustration. She was in a foul mood, and it was all his fault. At some ungodly hour pre-dawn, he had shoved her rudely awake, declaring that she needed to get off her fat human arse and get walking.
That, she thought with a huff, a stomp, and a surreptitious glance at her behind ---which was normally proportioned, thank you!--- was not the manner in which she preferred to be awoken.
The villagers were another shock to Kagome's city-bred sensibilities. They were clad in traditional, filthy robes, and cowered behind buildings as the two neared the village proper. Kagome heard whispers of 'youkai', 'tribute', 'sacrifice', 'kill it' floating up towards them, and felt the hairs on the back of her neck lift.
"Uhhh, InuYasha, are you sure that this is the best idea?" she hissed, keeping her eyes firmly on the small crowd gathering in the main street of the village.
"Nope."
She blinked. "You're kidding right?"
"Nope."
She gaped. "Then why---"
"SLAVER! Halt yourself and your creature, NOW!"
Kagome whirled around, her heart thudding in her chest in panic as she scanned wildly for the Slaver and her charge. There was no one that she could see behind them on the track, but that might not mean anything. She tensed, ready for anything…
"Wench, they mean us," InuYasha muttered out of the corner of his mouth.
"What?"
The crowd seemed to be swelling in numbers, and Kagome glimpsed pitchforks, torches and mallets. She had the insane and completely irrational urge to laugh at the ultimate cliché village-lynching picture that the grubby peasants presented, before quickly sobering at the realisation that she was the lynchee.
She sputtered, backing away a few steps. InuYasha merely stood, his arms tucked into the wide red sleeves of his odd red outfit, looking for all the world as if things like this happened to him all the time.
But then again, with his social skills, she would not be surprised if they did.
She shot him a glare as the gaggle of peasants vacillated, some stepping forward and others stepping back, jostling to the front and to the rear, trying to gain some sort of organization.
"Why the hell do they think that?" she hissed.
He shrugged. "What would you think if a youkai and a human swanned into your village?"
"But…but… but look what I'm wearing!"
He rolled his eyes and shot her a withering look. "Yes, wench, because your outfit is really the first thing that entered their minds."
"But why aren't I wearing my uniform?"
"I dunno, it got shredded!"
"Then why didn't I go straight back to Base?"
"You can't get back over the mountain!" he yelled, stepping up to her threateningly.
"I got here, didn't I?" she shot back, meeting his glare and standing on her tiptoes. He growled and shoved his face bare inches away from hers.
"You got hurt!"
"I'd order you to carry me!"
"I hurt my leg!"
"I'd make you anyway, I'm a heartless Slaver!"
A cough from behind them broke through their heated logistical debate. With a curse under his breath, InuYasha stepped in front of Kagome and fixed the villagers with a glare. The man, who had bravely stepped to the fore, visibly withered under the hanyou's scrutiny, but gathered his courage and spread his hands in a supplicating gesture.
"What… what brings your mistress here today?"
InuYasha scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Yeah, she's my mistress. Keh, don't you recognise a hanyou when you see one?" He waggled his ears for effect.
Kagome sighed and stepped around him. "InuYasha, don't antagonise them." She turned to the thoroughly confused man and bowed politely. "Nice to meet you. I'm Kagome and this is InuYasha. I'm not a Slaver and he's not chipped. We're really tired, actually. Do you have a room for the night?"
Speechless, the man could do nothing but nod and point towards the headman's hut. This girl was… odd, but she seemed nice enough. And of course, her skirt was obscenely short. No Slaver he had ever seen would be caught dead in something like that.
Not that he was complaining, or anything, he mused as she sashayed along in front of him. Quite the opposite, in fact.
Such thoughts were circling his mind until the hanyou turned around and gave him a glare promising untold worlds of pain if he did not stop staring.
Being a wise and self-preserving individual, he did as advised.
Yura's eyes glinted as she stared down at the village in the small valley. The faint tug of her Slaver was in the back of her mind, and thanks to her regular injections of an experimental drug, she had no chance of fleeing, even were the connection to be severed.
It was disgusting. Not only was she bound to that pathetic zombie of a human, but she had bloody withdrawals if she was away for too long!
She let out an irritated sigh. Well, not for long. Taking the miko and killing the hanyou was her ticket to privilege. It was not likely to actually happen, of course, but she could dream. And plot.
A scent wafted past her with a sudden gust of wind and she spun with a snarl. Kouga just grinned cockily at her, eyes running lasciviously up and down her barely concealed body.
"Now, now, Yura, play nice. You know the rules, we can't hurt each other," he drawled, uncoiling his body from where it leant against a tree and stalking silently towards her, tail lashing from side to side.
"Oh please, Kouga, I don't need to hurt you. You do that so well on your own, chasing your tail. I can just sit back and watch you fall all over yourself," she sneered.
His face became dramatically stricken, a clawed hand clutching his chest and fisting in his armour. "You wound me… I thought we had something beautiful."
She rolled her eyes and turned away. "Oh, please. Spare me your dramatics, for once."
She heard him sigh, and suddenly he was right behind her, his breath ghosting across the back of her neck and his hands lightly gripping her shoulders. "You're right. This is serious business," he crooned, and she resisted the urge to shiver. "We win, you die; you win, we die. One of you, 40 of us… I'm not liking your odds."
She scoffed and shrugged out of his grasp. "You don't have to like them. I could take your wolves any day. They might be a nice addition to my collection, actually. More exotic than anything I have at the moment. Once I get the lice off."
He sighed and spun her to face him, his blue stare unblinking and unnerving as always. "Yura, listen to me. I'll let you go. I'll even head them off. Just run, Yura. I know you have connections in the South. Run," he hissed, an urgency in his voice that she had never heard before, in all their years of banter and the occasional tryst. His words sank in and she blinked.
And laughed.
He shook her lightly, stopping her slightly hysterical cackle. "I'm serious!"
He was. She could tell. Somewhere within her she was touched that he would do that for her, especially now that they were in competition, that he might feel something, anything, for her, but the larger part realised that he would benefit while she would likely be caught and eliminated before she crossed the mountains. Hell, it was almost certain that Kouga would be the one sent to get rid of her.
And of course, there was the matter of the little chemical failsafe, the latest of the Sphere's brilliant and myriad control mechanisms.
"Kouga," she began, biting her blood-red lips and looking down. He let go of her arms and stepped backwards, knowing her answer already.
"Don't you get injections, Wolf?" she asked bitterly. "No, of course you don't. You're too valuable to waste on prototype treatments that could kill you."
He shook his head in confusion. "What are you talking about?"
"I can't escape, Kouga. They've addicted me to it. I can't stay away!"
She could see as the truth hit him, as his eyes filled with understanding and horror. He started to say something, started to reach for her, but she pulled away.
"Just… stop, Kouga. From now on, it's war between us. I won't spare you, and I don't expect you to go easy on me, either. There's nothing in the world that can save me now," she finished, her voice a harsh hiss that carried all her fury and rage within it. With a final glance into his eyes, so blue that she thought she might fall into them, she turned and let herself be carried away by the invisible strands of hair she controlled.
There had been sadness, pain and pity in his eyes. She could not face him anymore. If there was one thing she hated more than her life, it was pity for it.
The thick smoke of incense hung in the air, clinging to hair and clothing. The dull clunk of earthenware bowls and wooden utensils filled the tiny hut, alongside the rustling of rough cloth and the sounds of chewing, punctuated by the occasional cough or snort.
In short, it was awkward.
Kagome shifted uncomfortably on her knees; it had been a long time since she had had to sit traditional style for such an extended period of time. An hour she could manage, maybe even two, but three? That was pushing it.
InuYasha burped loudly from behind her and she sighed lightly. He had said not one word since they had entered the headman's home, and she was beginning to think that he never would, thus leaving her to explain their situation; their hosts had been generous, and she could not put it off any longer.
But how could she explain when she really had no idea herself?
The headman was called Omori, a slight and weaselly man who she thought just might be cleverer than he looked. The harmless-old-man routine was a good front, she had to admit; she had been fooled until she saw the gleam in his eye as he glanced over her backpack.
He wanted something, and damned if she was going to let him have it. It was the principle of the thing. She was not sure why, but she knew that she did not trust him.
Omori cleared his throat and clapped his hands, summoning his daughters to clear the plates and bring sake. They were skinny, shy girls, who cast nervous eyes at InuYasha and scandalised glances at Kagome's bare thighs. The schoolgirl ground her teeth and fought the urge to exclaim that she had not chosen the obscene skirt, but she knew full well that that would serve no purpose, simply endanger their already fragile warm welcome.
The dishes were cleared and shallow bowls of sake placed in front of Kagome, InuYasha and Omori. Omori's wife ducked her head and backed out of the room with a final hesitant look at Kagome.
Omori stared at the screen door as it slid closed before sliding his gaze towards the girl.
"Now. Let us drink a toast to… to the safety of the village," he suggested with a dip of his head, before lifting his bowl and indicating that she should do so, too. Kagome shot a look to InuYasha, who was leaning against the wall with his eyes closed, with no obvious intention to touch his sake.
"InuYasha," she said in a warning tone while still trying desperately to sound pleasant.
"Keh," InuYasha grunted.
"InuYasha!" she hissed, slightly more threateningly this time.
"I don't drink sake, wench," he growled, "and neither should you." He sneezed and shook his head, the incense making his eyes water.
"You're being rude," she said pointedly with a glare.
"Keh."
"I'm sorry, sir, InuYasha has yet to learn the finer points of gratitude," Kagome apologised to Omori, with a pointed glance at the hanyou. Honestly, he infuriated her. Her first interaction with people outside Tokyo, no clue as to how to go about it, the one man who could possible help them. and InuYasha had to go and insult the hospitality of his house. She did not trust the geezer either, but really, InuYasha was being ridiculous.
She growled under her breath and turned back to Omori. The skinny man was eyeing InuYasha with barely concealed hostility. InuYasha glared back, challenging the headman to just dare say something.
Unfortunately, Omori took the bait.
"Why do you stare, hanyou? Your mistress has given you an instruction, yet you disobey. I cannot help but think that unwise."
InuYasha gaped for a second before snarling loudly and springing to his feet. In one bound he had the headman's haori in his fist, shoving his face close to Omori's and baring his teeth in a very clear threat.
"InuYasha!" Kagome gasped, scrambling over to the pair currently glaring each other down. She tugged futilely on InuYasha's sleeve, trying to dislodge his grip on Omori, but it was like trying to tug a tree's branch off at the trunk. The hanyou was immovable as stone.
Omori grinned slightly at InuYasha, seemingly oblivious to just how close he was to lacking a limb or two. "You are defiant, hanyou. And yet you let this girl rule you? Weakness, I think," he murmured, sounding for all the world as if this were a normal conversation over a cup of tea. Kagome gasped slightly at his words, but dismissed it in her mind as testosterone-driven ramble. She missed the breathy whisper that passed the old man's lips.
"A weak, unworthy half-breed. How long will it take for her to learn to despise you, do you think?
InuYasha, however, missed nothing.
This bastard.
I feel the flexing and shifting of the muscles under my hand as I drop my grip on the haori and grab his throat instead. He chokes slightly, and I shiver at the sound.
Yes.
The incense is thick in the air, and I can only barely smell the fear which should be clawing its way up my nose by now, but even the hint of it is…
Good. We are powerful.
In my mind I can already hear the dying gurgle that'll come when I finally release the windpipe, crushed, useless, slowly filling with blood and fluid.
He is weak. Old. Diminished.
I will make him sing like that for me.
It is nothing to be rid of him.
Death on my hands.
Merely a human.
"InuYasha, stop it! Let him go, now! He's our host, for goodness sake! Oooh you are going to get the sitting of your life if you don't drop him now…"
Unimportant.
…Who …?
Irrelevant!
"InuYasha!"
…her.
She's getting desperate.
And flashing through my brain, an image of her lying broken and prostrate on the ground, bloody and lifeless.
Yes.
…No.
Yes!
Kagome was running out of ideas, and Omori was running out of air.
InuYasha's face was frozen in a snarl as his hand squeezed gradually tighter and tighter around the headman's skinny neck. Omori scrabbled with blunt yellowed fingernails at the hanyou's forearms, but InuYasha did not even seem to notice. Omori's struggles began to slow and Kagome panicked.
"SIT!"
InuYasha slammed forward, on top of Omori, and Kagome felt like kicking herself even as she tried to tug the insensate old man from underneath the growling hanyou. His hand had dislodged in the fall, but his weight and the spell were still pinning Omori to the ground and squashing his ribcage.
She grabbed InuYasha's shoulder and tried to pull him off instead, but the spell was strong and he would not budge.
So, as always, she settled for yelling. "InuYasha! What the hell was that all about? He's human! He's our host! He… he… he gave us bean-paste cakes!" she finished in slight desperation. She could feel the water closing over her head, the things she just did not understand about this strange, ugly, violent world that she was now in. She was ignorant and naïve, and she knew it.
The headman had not looked surprised, merely smug when InuYasha had attacked him. He had provoked him, taunted him. Why?
Why, why, why?
The spell had finally worn off and InuYasha rolled to one side with a slight groan, his growling over. Hacking gasps tore through Omori as his lungs scrabbled for all the oxygen that they could get.
"InuYasha! Apologise right now!" Kagome screeched, panic seeping into her bones, images of lynching villagers chasing after her with feathers and tar, Omori naming her an accessory to assault.
"Keh," he whispered hoarsely, picking himself up off the floor. He looked tired, she noticed, exhausted and drawn. "You expect me to apologise to this bastard?"
She crossed her arms and fixed him with a stern look. Damn straight, she did.
His eyes met hers and she nearly gasped; she had never seen emotion other than anger or scorn cross his face, but now… he was…
Sad?
He shook his head slightly, the aggression piling back onto his shoulders and tensing up his stance.
"Stupid wench. You don't understand anything," he scoffed. With a final withering glare at the prostrate form of Omori, he stormed out of the hut.
Kagome crumpled in a heap onto the tatami, feeling the sting in her nose and the lump in her throat that heralded a crying fit.
No. No, I don't understand.
Why won't anyone teach me?