GAAAH! I know it has been awhile since I last updated. SOOO sorry guys. Life sucks and got really busy so I didn't have any time to write. In fact, my writing of this chapter got interrupted so many times, it's not even funny. Hopefully, that will be stopping soon so that I can update more often for my lovely readers. I even tried to make this chapter extra long for you guys as a way of apologizing. A lot happens and I add some crazy stuff, but just go with it alright. It'll all make sense soon enough... maybe... Guess you'll just have to read to find out! And review... Reviewing would be super nice...

Anyway, enough of my rant. On to the story!

Chapter 42

Koga and Ayame were sleeping peacefully inside their den. Life had been fairly uneventful for them and their pack since they had left Sai and the others at their command. It wasn't difficult for them to smell that the sorceress had been killed and their borders had been strangely silent. That had been an extremely uncommon commodity for them to have peace, but they were thankful for it since it meant that they were getting some rest and they didn't have to rely on the Panthers as much. Koga knew it wouldn't last for long, but hoped that it would continue for at least another week so that he could take a break and be with his new pup. However, the feeling wouldn't leave him that he would have no such luck.

As these thoughts passed through Koga's sleeping mind, the inside of his wrist began to burn intensely. It was as if the Sun was scorching itself into his skin. The pain was unbearable. Koga bolted up from his sleep and clutched the wrist of his right hand. He tried desperately not to scream out in pain and wake up his pack members. They didn't need to have their peace interrupted by his problems. However, there was one person he could not keep in the dark. Ayame sensed Koga's pain and his panic through their connection as mates and immediately woke up to come to the aid of her beloved. She took him into her arms and did her best to soothe him, but to no avail.

"What's wrong Koga? What's going on?" Ayame asked, concern and panic mixing in her voice.

"My wrist..." He forced through gritted teeth, "It's on fire!" Ayame's heartbeat quickened. She couldn't bear to see her mate in such pain.

"What's causing it?" She begged, "What can I do to make the pain go away?" Koga stifled another cry of pain before trying to gather his thoughts.

"I don't-" Koga began to say before the memory stopped him in his tracks. He knew exactly what this pain was. It was because of a day over fifteen years ago.

Koga was sitting alone on a rock outside of his den. Most of his pack was either out hunting or on patrol. Even Ayame was out leading a diplomatic mission to a neighboring tribe. Normally that would have have been his job, but this tribe just so happened to be matriarchal, so they decided that it was best to send an all female envoy. In all honesty, he was quite bored. That is, until he caught the scent of an old rival. The scent of the half dog demon Inuyasha was in the air and was closing in on him fast. He decided that, since he had nothing better to do, maybe he would sit around and wait for the mutt. If all turned out well, he might even get to fight him. That would at least entertain him for a little while.

It was another few minutes before his signature bright red clothing came into view. Koga smirked. He could smell the frustration radiating off of him from where he was sitting.

"KOGA!" Inuyasha yelled.

"Pipe down mutt! I can hear you and I caught your stench awhile ago." Koga shot back. Inuyasha slid to a stop in front of the wolf demon and growled.

"Let's not talk about who's stench is worse you mangy wolf. We all know you stink to high hell." Inuyasha taunted.

"What are you here for anyway mutt?" Koga demanded, getting straight to the point, "If you didn't notice, this is wolf territory." Inuyasha growled.

"How could I miss that little fact when it stinks so bad..." Inuyasha muttered quietly, though it was not missed by Koga's hearing. He scowled, but let Inuyasha continue, "I came here because... because I need your help." Koga's jaw dropped. He couldn't believe his ears. That was not what he had been expecting to hear.

"You? Are coming to me? For help?" Koga asked incredulously. Inuyasha frowned deeply, but nodded.

"Yeah." He affirmed.

"What the hell with?" Koga demanded.

"Look, you know I just had a daughter. I'm sure even your nose can smell her on me." Inuyasha began hesitantly.

"Yeah." Koga said, who was actually slightly embarrassed since he hadn't caught the scent of the newborn half-demon until she had been mentioned, "What of it?"

"I need to make sure she is always safe, so I... I... well... I..." Inuyasha stuttered, while Koga waited expectantly. He paused and took a deep breath before finishing, "I need you to be her godfather."

"What?"Koga asked, confused, "Why the hell would you want that?" Inuyasha groaned at the prospect of having to explain something that he thought was obvious.

"It's a simple ritual. We each bite each other's wrists at the same time, while thinking about our mates and any children that we have or hope to have. That will create a mark that will only appear when one of our children is in danger that would be inescapable without the godparent's help. It's a way of making sure that they're always safe." He explained.

"So you would automatically become the godfather of my pups?" Koga asked for clarification.

"Yeah." Inuyasha said, nodding, "It works both ways. We would both have to protect the other's kids in times of danger."

"Why the hell are you coming to me for this?" Koga demanded, still confused as to why he'd been chosen, "Why not that brother of yours? Sesshomaru or whatever the hell his name is?"

"He's connected by blood. He'll already be aware of the danger. Problem is, he probably won't come. He'd rather see the girl fight it out on her own, even with impossible odds. Plus, I won't be informed by any sort of mark or magic. For some reason, I get left in the dark." Inuyasha explained. Koga growled as he thought it over. He didn't like the fact that this would tie him to the mutt, but he had to admit that it wouldn't be a bad thing for his future pups to be guarded, especially by Inuyasha. Even Koga had to admit that he was strong.

"Fine." The young leader of the wolf demons said after a moment, "I'll do it. Let's just make this quick. I don't want my wife walking in on this." Inuyasha smirked and stifled a laugh.

"Agreed." He said, walking over to the wolf demon. They each held out their right arm for the other to take. Once they were in position and had thoughts of their mates and pups in mind, they bit into the other's wrists simultaneously. Blood mixed with saliva and started to sizzle causing a strange tingling sensation in both of their mouths. The two disengaged after a second and allowed the blood to drip to the ground. The family crest of each of them appeared on their wrists before slowly fading away leaving only their normal bare skin behind. Koga and Inuyasha nodded at each other before turning away and leaving without another word.

That brought Koga to the point he was at now. He looked down at the wrist of his right arm. Sure enough, Inuyasha's family crest was there. The familiar crossed swords and full moon mark was burning a bright red on his skin. As soon as he realized what it was, the pain immediately stopped, while the glow continued.

"Koga?" Ayame asked, worry clear in her voice. This brought Koga out of his thoughts as he turned to face his mate. Her face was pale, but then again, so was his.

"Sai's in trouble." He said, hurrying to get up, "She needs our help." Ayame bolted up and followed Koga to edge of the den.

"Hold up!" She said just loud enough to hear, but not to wake their sleeping comrades, "How do you know?"

"I'll tell you on the way. For now, though, you gotta trust me. We have to move fast." He told her. Ayame nodded. She would trust Koga with anything. With that, the two sprinted off into the night following where Koga's mark led them.

Sai was rudely awakened by a terrible pain in the upper part of both of her arms. It took her moment for her eyes to adjust to the darkness, but her demon sight quickly lit up the area as bright as day. The first thing she noticed was that she was half naked, only wearing her undergarments. That was more than a little disturbing. The next thing that she noticed was that she was hanging by chains and iron shackles that were fastened around her wrists. That was more disturbing, but did explain her shoulder pain. She was glad for her tough skin, otherwise the shackles would likely have cut deep into her flesh. Under normal circumstances, she would have been able to wrench apart the iron easily, but it was obvious that she was still suffering from the effects of some sort of drug. No matter how hard she tried, her movements and thoughts were sluggish and unnervingly weak.

After a few minutes of struggle that got her nowhere, Sai decided to give up trying to break her shackles and instead take the opportunity to survey her surroundings. She was in a cave. That much was obvious. The next thing she noticed was that she was alone. There were iron bars separating the small space that she occupied from a much larger space outside. She could see her weapons alongside the weapons of all of her companions on large wooden table lit by a few candles and a torch on the far wall. Sai silently cursed. The presence of those weapons meant that whoever had her also had her friends. She couldn't confirm it by smell, since this too was dulled by whatever drug had been given to her, but it didn't take long before she could confirm it by her hearing.

"Damn all of you bastards to hell!" Came Umi's familiar defiant voice, "I'll kill every last one of you! Let me and my friends out now so that we can fight!" Sai smiled. She knew her friend could fight like that for hours. The only problem was, there didn't seem to be anyone around to listen.

"Hey Umi." Sai called out weakly. Umi's rant stopped immediately.

"Sai? You're in here too?" The girl asked, obviously hoping that she had been hearing things. Sai was sad that she would have to burst this bubble.

"Yeah." She confirmed sadly.

"Damn." She cursed, "I was hoping that maybe you guys had escaped or something, though even I doubted that much."

"I could tell by what you were yelling. You weren't wrong. I know you can't see it, but they've got all of our weapons piled up on a table outside each one of our prison cells. That means they have all of us and we're the only ones awake yet." Sai explained. She heard Umi utter a string of loud and bitter curses.

"Dammit!" Umi finished, "What the hell are we supposed to do now?" Sai laughed weakly.

"Well, the rest of us seemed to have been drugged or something along those lines. You seem lively as ever, though, so I guess they didn't give it to you for some reason." She explained.

"Yeah I guess they thought I would stay knocked out longer." Umi surmised, "Even I'm surprised that I'm up. I can feel the blood caking up my hair. But I've got a more important question. Why didn't you guys fight?" Sai groaned. She didn't want to think about how her own stupidity had left Umi to apparently fight some enemy on her own.

"There was an intense smell in the air. It played with our minds and left us unable to fight back. Bastards were clever." Sai spat.

"That doesn't explain everything." Umi said, much to Sai's surprise, "Akage didn't fight and his sense of smell doesn't even come close to yours or Kaze's. Nami didn't fight either and she's human like me. I don't get why I was the only one to fight." Sai's brow furrowed in confusion. Umi was right. That smell wouldn't have incapacitated everyone. It would have only taken out her, Kaze, and Kirara. Now none of it made sense.

"I don't get it either." Sai said eventually, frustration building.

"What could have stopped them?" Umi asked, "They aren't ones to give up without a fight. I can understand you and Kaze since you were taken out by your nose, but the others I don't get. Do you?"

"Dammit Umi!" Sai snapped, "No! I don't have a clue and it's pissing me off! It's not helping that I can't break some iron shackles and get out of this damn prison!" Sai began to breathe heavily after her outburst. The fact that simply yelling had taken so much out of her pissed her off even more. Umi didn't say anything back. She was quiet, which was strange for the girl. This made Sai realize that she had snapped at one of her closest friends for no reason other than she was mad at something she had nothing to do with.

"Sorry Umi. I didn't mean to scream at you alright." Sai said, ashamed of herself, "I'm just frustrated. This is all crazy and I don't understand it. I can't help but think that it's somehow all my fault." Umi chuckled at this.

"How would it be your fault Sai?" Umi asked in disbelief.

"I should have noticed something was wrong. The scent of flowers everywhere, but no flowers. The absence of people in a trade village. The fact that Nami sensed something wrong that I didn't listen to at all." Sai ranted on the verge of tears, "I put everyone in danger because of my own stupidity. I mean, hell, we're still in danger and I don't see a way out."

"And this is your fault how?" Umi asked, "You forget that the rest of us missed all of those signs too. I mean, I might not have the nose you and Kaze do, but I did notice something was wrong with you two. It's not hard to tell when your brother and best friend are acting strangely and I did nothing about it. I was too busy thinking about a warm bed. We're all to blame here."

"She's right." Came a distinctly male voice. It was a voice that she knew well and loved with all of her heart. The fact that it was now trying to her that it was okay somehow seemed wrong to her and pushed her over the edge.

"Dammit Kaze!" Sai yelled, now sobbing hysterically, "Stop doing that!" Kaze chuckled weakly while Umi laughed heartily.

"Stop what?" He coughed, "Telling the truth or loving you? I'll say no to both of those." Sai didn't answer, but instead continued crying. It wasn't logical, but Sai wasn't exactly in the mood for logic at the moment.

"Why is Sai crying?" Nami asked weakly from her cell, joining in unexpectedly to the conversation.

"Well from what I've gathered," Akage began, speaking for the first time, "She thinks that this is all her fault."

"As if." Nami said sarcastically, "I'm pretty sure you're the least at fault here Sai. You were high out of your mind."

"Hey!" Kaze interjected playfully, "So was I!" Kirara meowed as if to put in that she was more than a bit out of it too. This made everyone, even Sai through her tears, laugh at the cat demon's antics.

"You guys suck." Sai managed through her laughs and sobs, though she didn't really mean it.

"Yeah, I'm sure." Akage said jokingly, "But I really think we should focus on how to get out of here."

"I wouldn't worry about that one too much." A strange new voice responded from outside of their cells, causing the five of them to go silent, "You won't be getting out until I say so."

"Who the hell are you?" Kaze demanded, his voice hard and strikingly similar to that of a crazed dog, "And what the hell do you want with us?" The voice chuckled.

"That's always the question isn't it?" The voice was rough, masculine, and terrifying, "And I'm afraid that the answer isn't that simple." Kaze and Sai growled threateningly, not liking the response.

"I think we can keep up." Umi spat bitterly. This only made the voice laugh.

"Maybe, maybe not. I'll leave that to you." It said cryptically.

"Answer the damn question!" Akage demanded, "And you could at least show yourself instead of hiding in the shadows." As the last syllable left his tongue, the entire room was bathed in an intense white light. A separate room was lit up as a consequence. The room was small and dominated by the table that Sai had seen earlier. Nothing else was worthy of note except for the entrance to a hallway that was visible, though it was impossible to see down said passage. The source of the voice was hidden inside this area that was kept from them

"I believe that settles at least part of one of your demands." The voice said calmly, "As for the other, I would advise each of you to examine to left wall of your cell." Sai furrowed her brow in confusion. She hadn't seen anything before when she had checked. However, when she heard the gasps of her friends, she decided that it was worth a second glance.

The sight that met her eyes made her jaw drop. Burned freshly into the wall of her prison cell was a symbol that had been etched permanently into her memory. The representation of what they had been searching and fighting so hard for was now staring her straight in the face.

"The embodiment of love." Sai said breathlessly. The voice chuckled again.

"Indeed." It said.

"But... H-h-how?" Nami stammered.

"I may be an object, dear girl, but that does not mean that I cannot take a physical form." The voice told them.

"Wait, hold on." Kaze said, "You're telling us that you are the embodiment of love?"

"Yes." The voice affirmed simply. Kaze growled in apprehension.

"But the embodiment is supposed to be pure and unadulterated! Any idiot can feel the evil radiating off of you!" He barked out.

"You are correct." The voice said, sounding almost sad, "And that is why I have brought you here." No one spoke. In reality, none of them knew what to say because that wasn't what they had been expecting to hear. None of this was. It all made absolutely no sense. As if sensing everyone's confusion, the source of the voice finally decided that it was time to make itself known by revealing itself to its captives. The man that met their stares was decidedly... ordinary. He seemed like any normal human man. He wasn't particularly attractive, but he wasn't hideous. His age couldn't have topped 40, but couldn't have been below 35. His hair was short and black, though clearly balding. Not even his eyes held any particularly memorable features. They were a dull brown. The only thing wrong was that evil was pouring out of him.

"My guess is that I am not what you were expecting." The man said bluntly, his face emotionless.

"Not in the slightest." Umi said, voice still apprehensive and bitter.

"It doesn't matter what you look like!" Sai bit out, "What do you want with us?!"

"Your help." The man said simply.

"And why the hell would we help you?" Akage demanded.

"Because you need me and you need me purified. I want you to help me rid myself of evil." The man began. Kaze started to form a retort, but was cut off before he could speak, "As you said, I must be pure and unadulterated. However, I have come into the hands of one of the most evil demons to ever walk this earth. His mere presence, let alone his ownership, has defiled me greatly. Your group, though, has the highest concentration of spiritual energy that there has ever been in history. It is the only thing that can purge Konton's evil from my form. If you purify me, I will lead you to where my true essence is being held and make a way for you to enter." Everyone was silent for moment as they took their time to process the information. The man before them waited patiently for their answer. However, Akage was not willing for the discussion to end just yet.

"Hold up." He said suddenly, "If you want our help, then why do this? Hell, how did you do this?" The man frowned, showing emotion for the first time.

"Well, primarily, it was to get your attention. However, there is another reason. As I said, I am immensely defiled at the moment. This fact would not allow me to approach the situation in any other way. I had to take advantage of you or hurt you in some way in order to even go ahead with this plan. For that, I am sorry." The man explained, "As for how, I drugged your companions with more sensitive noses with a scent that is utterly intoxicating to mated dog demons. It is meant to spur love and mating between them, which is why I control it. I'd say it worked pretty well considering the position I found you in. It has a side effect of putting most other demons with sensitive noses to sleep, explaining your cat demon. As for the other couple in the group, I simply knocked you out with my own power. Since I am the embodiment of love, I do have a certain amount of control over lovers. The last girl, due to the fact that she is human and has no lover, I simply had to capture the hard way."

"You're a sick bastard, you know that." Umi spat. The man smiled.

"No, Konton is. Under normal circumstances, I would never have dreamed of doing this, but due to my current state of defilement, I didn't really have a choice in the matter. Evil begets evil, my dear." He said calmly. Kaze growled, not liking it, but accepting it for the time being.

"Whatever. You gave us your little story, now let us out. If you want us to purify you, you need to free us." He pointed out.

"Well that's another problem." The man standing outside of their bars said, scratching his head nervously, "Because I'm in this state, my mind won't allow me to free you."

"WHAT!" All five of them yelled in unison. The man held up his hands to stem the oncoming onslaught of curses and insults.

"I have a plan." He assured them, "In fact, your rescue should be here within the next few minutes."

"Our rescue?" Sai demanded, utterly confused. However, before the man could answer and right on cue, they heard what he was talking about.

"SAI!" Yelled the familiar voice of the young leader of the wolf demons, "SAI! Just hold on! We'll be there soon!"

"KOGA!" Sai called back, desperately needing to inform him of the situation, "Don't kill the man that's with us! I know he feels evil, but we need him alive!"

"Got it!" Ayame's voice answered. The man in question gave Sai a thankful look. Sai returned it with a snarl.

"I didn't say they couldn't knock you the hell out." She threatened menacingly. The man's face fell, but before he could protest, two familiar whirlwinds entered into the room and a brown fur clad leg connected with the man's head, sending him flying into the stone wall of the cave where he was promptly knocked unconscious. Now, standing where he once stood, were Koga and Ayame. Both had stern and confused looks on their faces.

"What are you guys doing here and why don't any of you have clothes on?" Koga asked, clearly concerned for his goddaughter.

"Long story." Kaze told him, sighing heavily, "Just get us out of here." The two nodded and after a few good kicks and slashes, all of the shackles and chains were gone and they were free. Once they had quickly gotten dressed and equipped themselves, they moved as quickly as possible, which wasn't very fast since the drugs in Sai and Kaze hadn't worn off yet, with the man claiming to be the embodiment slung over Koga's shoulder. The night was cool, but that was alright. They had a long, hard run back to Koga's den anyway.

Once again, super sorry for the late update, especially on a cliffy like that at the end of 41. That just wasn't right. If I was a reader, I would have hated me. Also, pollzyclaire, Sai is 15, soooo... yeah that might happen. Just not yet... or maybe yet... or maybe not... haven't decided yet. But at least you're thinking and giving me suggestions. I like that and would love it from all of my faithful readers. Also, don't be afraid to give criticism. I love the love I'm getting from the reviews so far and it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy, but criticism is what makes a writer better, so if you have anything you think I can do better on then let me know. Plus, I'll answer any questions you guys have too because I'm just a nice person like that.