"The Shinmei Ru?" Kotaro asked, more to himself than anyone around him. He had managed to hear the majority of Negi and the elder's conversation from where he was sitting.

"I don't believe so, Kotaro," Setsuna replied, taking a seat beside him, "The soldiers that I fought knew nothing of the Shinmei Ru Martial Arts style."

Kotaro gave her a curious glance.

"And, Shinmei Ru existed three hundred years before we did…right now we are closer to three hundred fifty years in the past."

"So the most logical conclusion," Kotaro replied, staring down at the pit, "Is that this man I'm to face is the ancestor of Shinmei Ru."

"I agree," Setsuna replied, nodding her head and trailing her gaze to the pit as well.

"Regiment Six versus Yue!" the elder called out.

This was the match Kotaro had been waiting for…he'd finally get to see Yue in action as her new self.

As the troops and Yue took the field, it steadily began to rain; within a few moments, the rain had turned to a downpour…and a few moments later: a lightning storm. The troops were looking to the elder who hadn't yet put up the barrier to stop the rain…hoping that he would call off the match; he didn't. But while several of the men were trying to protest, many of the others had cast their gaze to the woman in front of them.

She was smiling; watching her move in the rain was like watching a child…she was honestly and truly happy it was raining. The men curiously watched her as she ducked about, apparently trying to dodge rain droplets. Could this really be the powerful opponent that they were supposed to face?

"Kotaro!" Yue called up to the stands, "You've been holding out on me! I had no idea it felt this wonderful to be Inugami!"

Many of the warriors that had been arguing with the elder stopped. The entire force now held steadfast, several of them turning pale.

"Inu…gami…?" one of the men asked quietly.

Yue felt a slight chill and turned to face the troops. They were pale and looking at her like she was some sort of demon. Yue frowned and finally realized that this was both the blessing and the horror. She had so much fun with Kotaro and now that she was like him, their relationship had only grown…but she now saw what Kotaro saw. While it was true that she felt elated to be Inugami…she hadn't been prepared for the prejudice that came with it.

"Yes…" Yue replied, almost darkly, "Inugami."



Yue's ears lifted from her hair and she gave the enemy soldiers a harsh look…many of them started backing off, others gripped their swords tighter. At this moment, she finally realized everything that she meant to Kotaro…and everything he would mean to her from this point on.

"Begin!" the elder yelled out.

"Die, Demon!" one of the soldiers screamed, lunging at her.

She meant to dodge…to completely overwhelm the man that was charging at her…but she never got the chance. Without so much as blinking, Kotaro was standing in the center of the area, holding the man up by his throat and baring his fangs.

"Never call her a demon!" Kotaro growled, tightening his grip on the man's throat.

"Kotaro!" the elder and Yue both yelled out at the same time.

"This is my fight!" Yue scolded; Kotaro instantly gave Yue the scolded puppy look. "That won't work this time, Kotaro, drop him."

Kotaro looked down and the ground and dropped the man; he made a load thud as he hit.

"Now go back to the stands!" she yelled, pointing to where he was sitting a moment before.

He did…rather slowly, but he did.

"Sorry about that," she apologized to the man that was clasping his throat and gasping for breath, "He can be rather defensive of me."

The entire group gave her a bewildered look and cautiously looked over to where the young man was now sitting. They weren't so sure they wanted to fight her, knowing that if they landed a blow they might not get a chance to walk away.

"Don't worry, he won't jump back in," Yue answered before the question was asked, "He's usually pretty obedient in that manner."

"What, demon, is he your slave?" another one of the men growled.

"No, just a very endearing companion," she replied, understanding the resentment.

The battle soon commenced, the lightning storm getting worse by the moment, and Yue took only a few minutes to dwindle the group down. Most of her opponents fell to one shot moves…she hadn't even bothered to attempt a magical spell. While as a normal person, she couldn't have hoped to land one of her techniques, she found it much easier now that she was Inugami…her entire body was now toned physically in a way that normal humans couldn't hope. Even she noticed that her movements weren't just fluid…it was like she was dancing.



It only took a few more hits before the battle was called and Yue took her place at the stands in front of Kotaro.

"I'm sorry…" Kotaro apologized. His answer was a light kiss on the cheek from Yue.

"I appreciate the concern, Kotaro, but remember that if any of these fights turned deadly that the elder would stop it. The man was still paces away from me…ignore the words that come from his mouth…they're only meant to rile you."

"If it were directed at me, Yue, I could have ignored them…" Kotaro stated, looking down, and then returning his gaze to hers, "But not you. I won't let anyone down you…"

She smiled and kissed him again, but as she was taking her place beside him, she heard his name being called…and another name she heard many times before.

"Know that I am not a member of this army," the long-haired man told Kotaro as they walked towards the pit, "I am a martial artist desiring a powerful opponent. From what I hear…that's you."

"If it's a strong opponent you're after, you've found it," Kotaro informed him, "But I'm afraid you've got a while ahead of you before you can hope to defeat me."

The man stared Kotaro in the eyes and the two stopped walking, "Surely you have heard my name before," the man bragged, "I am Shinmei Ru…master of this town's martial arts."

"Indeed I have…" Kotaro replied, "But I've already told you…you have a while ahead before you can hope to beat me."

The young man smirked, "I guess we'll see, won't we?"

Kotaro couldn't agree more.

The two took their places in the pit and couldn't help but notice how the number of people in the stands had dwindled.

Lightning crashed around the two, lighting up their faces and then swallowing them with darkness once more. There was very little light purging through the clouds, and the majority of it came from the lightning spider-webbing across the sky. The call to begin came all too quickly from the elder, but neither combatant moved…letting their minds read the other's aura…to feel the power coming off both their opponent and from the sky…from the lightning that seemed all too appropriate for the battle about to unfold.

"I am Shinmei Ru!" the man declared, taking his fighting stance, "Master of the Taminari Clan fighting style!"

Kotaro glared at the man, but not for a moment did he lose his composure.

Kotaro took a similar fighting stance, but bared his nails and teeth in a deadly fashion.



"I am Kotaro…" he stated, forcing a chill up the man's spine. Kotaro was obviously enjoying this, because he couldn't help but drag the introduction out.

His smile faded, and it turned into an evil smirk as his ears rose from his hair and his tail made its way out of his pants. "Kotaro Inugami!"

"A pleasure to meet you, Inugami," the man stated without any prejudice in his voice, "Now let us begin."

Earth upturned and sparks flew as the two fought. In the beginning, the two were using pure martial arts…no weapons, no magic, no nothing…but a few minutes in, they realized the other truly was a powerful adversary and were forced to pull out the stops. Shinmei had already been forced to unsheathe his sword, a six foot nodachi, while Kotaro had summoned his double sword artifact.

With movements too fast for most of the troops to see, they had finally drawn to a vicious point of contact…they had both drawn blood, as slight as it was. Each had their sword at the other's throat, barely touching and forcing a small droplet of blood out.

"You're fast for a human," Kotaro complimented.

"You're fast for an Inugami," the warrior replied, having faced many of his tribe before, "But then, you're not a pure Inugami either…you're part human."

The two broke off and faced each other again, a mutual respect for the other now in place of their run-of-the-mill competition.

"I would like to see you at your strongest, Inugami," Shenmei requested, "Even if it really does mean immediate defeat."

"What…?" Kotaro replied, wondering how this man could know of his lycanthropy.

"I've read in history books that there was once a boy who was half Inugami and half human, and that he possessed incredible power…most of which came when he released the animal inside him," Shenmei explained, "I can tell that you're much the same, are you not?"

The man couldn't possibly understand how correct he was. That boy wasn't 'like' Kotaro…that boy 'was' Kotaro.

"Alright then…but if I'm going to do this…you're going to have to force me to," Kotaro replied, "I don't transform for just anybody…so if you can beat me in my prime as I am now, then I will show you how strong I am in my lycanthropic state."

"Fine by me."

The two clashed again, but this time, it was with a force neither of them knew could come from the other. They weren't holding back anymore. When the two broke off, a bolt of lightning truck right 

where they had been before, and with each forceful slash from the two combatants, more and more of the lightning found its way to the arena.

"Such power…" the elder commented, watching the battle unfold. He hadn't known that anyone could fight at such amazing speed for such a prolonged period of time. He especially hadn't known that the clan's prized fighter, Shinmei Ru, was this far superior to any martial artist he had seen in his lifetime.

"Neither of them is old enough to even drink a bottle of Sake, and yet they can fight with more power and skill than any fighter I've ever seen. Even the founder of our village, in his prime, couldn't match these two."

"If it makes you feel better, elder-san," Konoka commented, "Only Set-chan and Kotaro can even hope to fight like that right now."

The elder looked down at the woman, clearly six inches shorter than he, and smiled. He wasn't sure why he smiled, he just did. Maybe it was the idea of seeing such promising youths…or maybe the thought that he knew the future was in good hands…but most of all, he thought that he may finally have an upper hand against the Bird Tribe. His own men had fought them many times before and had always come out victorious…but with these sorts of allies? The victory against the Bird Tribe seemed closer than ever.

"It's a stale mate," Kotaro noted aloud, "You're too strong for me to beat you like this."

"You're one to talk…one slip and I'll lose my head," Shinmei replied.

"Well, I do believe that it's time to end this confrontation then…before one of us actually does lose his head."

"So you're actually going to show me?"

"Not doing so in a battle as fine as this would put shame on our bout."

Shinmei smiled. The man he was facing truly was an honorable warrior…something he had feared couldn't be found among the tribes of dog.

A loud growl was issued from Kotaro's throat and his eyes started turning white…much with most of his other features. The length of his hair began to increase, and his human-like appendages began morphing into more dog-like ones. After the first few seconds of the transformation, it was apparent that he was from the tribe of the fox, as his claws seemed to grow and his shirt began to rip.

Had the warrior expected a short increase of strength, he would have been overwhelmed, but Shinmei knew better. He had read and studied up on lycanthropy…and knew that if he were to have any chance of beating Kotaro in this state, any chance at all, he would have to be precise about his movements and never underestimate him.



When the transformation was complete, Kotaro was hunched over on all fours. His hair had grown so long, that it literally made his back look twice as big as it was. His ears and tail were bigger than they were before, and the majority of him looked fox-like…only his face remained that of Kotaro…other than being completely white and covered with fur that is.

Kotaro took to his hind legs, showing how much bigger than he was before. Though his height hadn't changed, his muscles had. They were much bigger than they were before and he was broader too. His body was completely covered with white fur, though it was no more than an inch long. His fangs had grown to nearly two inches long, as had his nails…which were now full fledged claws. Shinmei felt a cold chill wreak havoc down his body. He knew Kotaro would gain power and that he would change…but he hadn't been prepared for this much.

There was a yelp of excitement from the crowd…it almost sounded like a dog's yelp…and Kotaro knew naturally that it had to have been Yue. She had seen him transformed several times…but this was the first time she'd experienced it as an Inugami. She was fighting with every tooth and nail she could must not to jump down from the stands and get all over him.

Kotaro smiled to himself…thinking of what might happen when the battle was over; meanwhile Shinmei had finally recovered.

"I take it she's Inugami too?" the warrior questioned.

"You could tell?" Kotaro asked, curious.

"With the dog yelp and everything…my guess is you're letting off so much pheromone that it's driving her insane."

Kotaro couldn't help but laugh…a chance that Shinmei couldn't help but take. In that instant, the battle was over. Kotaro had caught the blade with his bare hand and broke it in two…shattering the warriors only hope for victory.

"You are impressive, Inugami," the warrior complimented, bowing in defeat, "I only hope we can spar again some time."

"As long as you promise to keep improving, I'll hold you to that," Kotaro replied, smiling and showing his fangs, "I've only ever been able to go all out on one person in this form and lose…"

The warrior stopped and watched him carefully.

"Only through defeat," Kotaro finished, "Can we grow stronger."

The battle was done, as was the storm. The two warriors left the battleground having forged an unspoken alliance and returned to the stands. Unfortunately for Kotaro, he didn't get much further than that. He got tackled when he reached the top of the stairs, and he and Yue both flew back down to the bottom and collided with the ground. While Kotaro was going to protest, he couldn't help but enjoy the cuteness of what Yue was doing: she had him pinned to the ground and was crawling on top of him, 

sniffing him all over. Under normal circumstance, he may have tried to stop her, but right now, he was too busy laughing at the situation to really care…and Yue didn't even realize how odd what she was doing looked.

- - - - - - - - -

Author Notes:

I like lightning…and storms in general. There was actually a storm here that inspired that part of the story. Though I couldn't actually write the part I had initially written (I typed it up in my phone and saved it) I'm not really disappointed as to how it played out in the end. For those of you who haven't noticed, I'm much better at describing scenes than I am at giving battle scenes. I was considering (and may still) writing the next chapter and posting another double update, but I'm not so sure right now. It's kinda late…
Anyway, I appreciate all the people out there that read this, both those that review and those that don't (especially those that review, you make me want to write more and I like hearing your ideas on how the storyline might go, I really do enjoy it). I've posted it on my page already, but I figure that I'll go ahead and put it on here too.
So you all know, this is not going to be a short story. There will be a lot of chapters in this…so make sure to keep reading. I'll try to post a new chapter every night (I have no life for those of you that are worried that I'm going to burn out. Don't worry, I'll hold out until the end. I'm finally really getting into the story.)
Also, I'm sure you've noticed that right now I'm focusing on Yue and Kotaro more than the others. I promise it won't stay like that. I will give each character the respect and spotlight they deserve…they've all got interesting tails awaiting them.
One more thing…it's on the natural content of the chapters. This is rated M for a reason…it does and will continue to contain explicit content and sexual situations…and it's verging on parts where there will be gruesome descriptions. This story is not a one shot basis…there is not just one major thing that's going to be happening…don't expect this thing with the Bird Tribe to be the main storyline…they've still got three hundred and fifty years to travel over…they're far from done.
As I've said before, this story won't be short; I'm hoping to make it somewhere around three or four hundred pages long…if it gets longer, no big deal, but I seriously doubt it will be any shorter than that.

Once again, I thank all of you for reading my story, and keep watching for updates! There will be MANY!

Fenix Firestrome