And Chapter 43 tis ready. Hope you guys enjoy it. Our friends might be in for a little surprise that could delay their plans just a tad. You'll see...
Onward!
Chapter 43
Sai surveyed the cave that she and her friends were currently inhabiting. It was Koga's den and was, as expected, full of wolves and wolf demons. The scent wasn't pleasant to Sai's nose, but that wasn't what was keeping her awake. Honestly, she didn't know what it was. Obviously, her friends weren't bothered by it. All of them were asleep, even Kaze who had her in his lap. She was the only one awake except for the two wolf demons on watch. All Sai knew is that her body and mind would simply not relax into sleep. She was glad for the fact that she had demon blood and didn't really need sleep all that much. Still, she knew that the next day was not going to be the most fun she'd ever had, to say the least.
A cool breeze blew in through the mouth of the den. With it, it brought the scent of wolves and her friends, but also something else. It brought the scent of evil and corruption. Normally, the scent would have been alarming. However, this time she knew where it was coming from. Sai looked across the cave and examined the sleeping form of the physical, living manifestation of the embodiment of love. He was tied with rope infused with demonic aura, so that only a demon with a more powerful aura could undo it. Evil was pouring off of him, making her shiver. She knew that the evil didn't originate with him, but that didn't stop the hair on the back of her neck from standing on end in apprehension. Her instincts were telling her to rip out his throat and end the danger. It took a good deal of self restraint to not do that. The only thing that was really holding her back was the fact that she knew that they were going to purify the evil tomorrow when all of them were free from the effects of the drugging. That didn't mean, however, that her patience wasn't fraying.
Sai could have attributed her insomnia for the night to this evil presence. The only problem was that she knew that it wasn't what was keeping her up either. It was something else, something much more difficult for her to put her finger on. Sai dislodged herself from Kaze's lap doing her best not to wake him. She was successful, but only because the drugs that they had been given were still in his system. Otherwise, he probably would have felt Sai's inner crisis through his mate mark and never have been able to fall asleep in the first place. However, there was one person connected to her that she couldn't fool.
"I see you're awake." The familiar voice said from behind her. Sai chuckled weakly.
"How long have you been up Koga?" She asked without turning to face him at his elevated sleeping place at the back of the cave.
"I'm a light sleeper." He told her without really answering her question. Sai nodded, understanding that he hadn't been able to sleep either.
"So you sense it too?" Koga asked, his voice seriously. Sai was quiet for a moment as she stared out the mouth of the cave.
"Yeah." She admitted eventually, "But I'm not sure what I sense."
"I didn't expect that you would. You're not a leader of a pack." Koga said plainly, "You're sensing an encroachment or invasion on this territory. Ayame and I picked up on it before we went to sleep." Sai nodded. Now it made sense. That's what had her so on edge and unable to sleep.
"So why am I able to sense it at all?" Sai asked, the question confusing her. Koga chuckled.
"I guess your father never told you." He commented quietly. Sai turned to face him for the first time.
"What are you talking about?" Sai demanded. Koga smirked at her.
"I guess he was ashamed. Hell, I'm ashamed over it, but it was practical." Koga continued, delaying his response. Sai wasn't going to stand for that.
"What are you talking about?" She repeated, her tone growing annoyed.
"Did you think it strange that I knew that you were and danger and knew where to find you?" Koga asked. Sai paused. She had wondered that, but didn't think it important enough to ask. Apparently there was more to it than she had thought.
"There is a reason for it." Koga continued, "You and I are connected. Inuyasha marked me as your godfather. That makes me aware of when I'm needed to come and save you from certain death." Sai nodded. She shouldn't have been surprised to find out that her father had taken such a precaution. Suddenly, the reason that she could sense the breach of Koga's territory was made perfectly clear to her.
"So I can sense it," Sai began, "because I'm technically a member of your family." Koga smiled and nodded.
"Yeah that's about right. It'll only work when you're in my territory, though." Koga added.
"Good. I don't want my senses going haywire every time someone invades you. Then I'll never be able to sleep. I know how much everyone hates you." Sai joked, making Koga laugh.
"You are your father's daughter." Koga commented, "But at least you got your mother's looks."
"And I'm damn proud of both!" Sai said proudly, "Now cut your gawking. I'm your goddaughter and it's weird." Koga's eyes widened.
"Damn. I never thought about it that way." He said, scratching his head. Sai laughed.
"I can see that." She joked before her face became serious, "So how long do we have before whatever is in your territory is here? Whatever it is, it isn't small." Koga nodded his agreement.
"No. It's damn big and powerful too." He told her, "My guess is that they'll be here by morning." Sai's brow furrowed in confusion.
"They?" She asked, "There's more than one?" Koga nodded.
"Yeah. It's hard for you to tell, I know. You're not used to doing it and can't differentiate between one and thousands." He said, "There's a whole damn army coming at us. Whoever is leading them is powerful too. The aura is familiar, but I can't place it."
"Think we can handle it?" Sai asked. Koga chuckled.
"Under normal circumstances, hell no. We'd be killed pretty damn quickly, even with the panthers fighting with us." Koga admitted, "Thing is, if even half of the rumors I've heard about you are true, then we'll be fine." Sai blushed slightly at the praise.
"What have you heard?" She asked shyly, hoping that it hadn't been exaggerated too much.
"Well for one, I heard that you took out a thousand demons in one strike." Koga said smirking. Sai's eyes widened. The rumors hadn't been exaggerated. They'd been understated. Sai smirked right back at Koga.
"It was more like a couple thousand." Sai told him truthfully. Koga's eyes widened. He knew she was telling the truth since he couldn't smell any deceit on her.
"It wasn't my smartest move ever, though." She admitted, "There were still a couple thousand left when after that and I only got though a couple hundred before I passed out." It took Koga a while before he could respond in any way, but when he finally did, he was laughing.
"Damn, you kill more demons than I have in my entire life in one strike and you're still not satisfied. You're a tough girl to please." Koga joked. Despite Sai's embarrassment at the praise, she couldn't help but laugh. It was funny and ironic, but it wasn't lost on her that the Alpha Male of the wolf demons had just acknowledged that a female half dog demon was more powerful than he was. It took Koga a moment before he stopped laughing.
"You should get some sleep alright." He advised, "You're going to need it." Sai nodded. If there was going to be a battle the next day, even Sai would need her sleep.
Without saying another word, the two parted and walked back to where their mates were sleeping. Sai saw Koga slip in beside Ayame and saw their bodies mold together. It was cute and Sai could see easily how perfect they were for each other. Sai turned to her own mate who was still sound asleep against the wall of the cave. Kaze was sound asleep and showed no signs of even knowing she was gone. She smiled and snuggled back into his lap. Kaze immediately brought his arms around her and nuzzled his face into her neck. Sai smiled. She knew how perfect they were together. Even in his sleep, Kaze knew how to make her feel loved. This time, she fell asleep in minutes and would stay that way until morning.
A young girl, clad in red, stared off into the night sky from her place on her horse. The stars twinkled and the cool night air tickled her face. What remained of the child in her longed to be able to stare at these stars forever and to lay on a hillside bathed in their light. However, there was very little of the little girl that she had been. That part of her hadn't defined her for years and she wouldn't ever let it define her again. She had moved past childish things. Her short fifteen years of life had taught her that nothing was as innocent or perfect as childhood led you to believe. To children, the night was magical. However, this girl knew that the night was only a shroud to hide the evil in the world while it did its work. After all, her parents had been killed under the same stars that twinkled so beautifully in the sky above her now.
"Milady." Came a voice that wrenched her from her thoughts causing her to turn to face the sound that had disturbed her. Her eyes were met with the sight of another man on a horse.
"What?" She demanded, irritation making her voice threatening. She saw the man gulp, much to her pleasure.
"Milady," He began again hesitantly, "We will reach their hiding place by morning." The girl's eyes flashed blood red in murderous delight, causing the much older man riding behind her to shudder in fear.
"Good." She whispered to herself before raising her voice to talk to the man, "Make sure we are ready to attack when we get there. I want you to kill all of them, all of them except for the girl. She is my prize." The man nodded.
"Milady, what about their prisoner? Should he die as well?" He asked. The girl thought for a moment. She had orders to take the prisoner alive. It wouldn't do well for her if he were to die in the attack, but it also wouldn't be terrible either.
"Hmph. If he fights, kill him. If not, take him alive." The girl commanded.
"Yes milady." The man said, bowing his head. With that, turned his horse around and galloped back to inform the other commanders within this large army that was following behind her.
The girl looked forward into the night. She could now sense the presence and power of the girl that she was here to kill. It was pure and exceedingly large. So was that of each of her companions. The girl smirked to herself.
"Bitch, if you're going to kill someone like me," She whispered into the darkness, "then you're going to have to try a whole hell of a lot harder than that. Now we'll see who is really more powerful you mangy half-breed bitch. I think we both know the answer to that already, though. You're going to die."
The sun arose a few hours later. It greeted a den full of demons that were already up and preparing for battle. The panthers had already arrived and were awaiting to be joined by the wolves. Meanwhile, Sai and her friends along with Koga and Ayame were going over battle plans. It was now clear to anyone with a sensitive nose how large the force that was coming at them was. What wasn't clear was what that force was made up of exactly. At first glance, scent was human, but both Sai and Kaze could smell the distinctive scent of a concealment spell. It was obvious that this army had someone with them that was disguising and hiding the scent of something. The only question was what that something was. The answer, however, didn't matter to Koga. He was determined to be prepared for anything. Even if the legions of hell were marching on his den, Koga would be damned if he let them defeat him and his tribe.
"Koga," Ayame said after hearing Koga rant on about the upcoming battle for the third time that morning, "I think we get it. You and I along with Sai and her friends will lead the attack. Sai will break off to fight whoever is leading this army once he shows himself. Then, once that's taken care of, we have our armies charge into the fray. We've got it covered." Everyone else gathered around Koga nodded their agreement.
"She's right." Kaze agreed from his position sitting and examining his thus yet virgin blade, "These bastards won't get anywhere near these caves or your pup."
"And whoever the hell is leading this army will learn not to mess with me or my family." Sai added. Koga nodded.
"Right. It's just that no wolf demon tribe has ever faced an enemy this large." He said, trying to justify himself.
"Hey."Akage interjected, "Just remember that it won't only be wolf demons fighting."
"Yeah." Nami agreed, "We'll be there too."
"It's not like this is our first battle." Umi added causing Kirara to mew her agreement to that statement since she was the oldest being there. Koga nodded. His worries still were not completely assuaged, but he dismissed everyone anyway.
Sai and Kaze left the others behind after having been dismissed. They jumped from the cave den and landed gracefully a few hundred feet below.
"Damn, I'll never get used to being able to do that." Kaze commented, laughing to himself as his exposed fangs glinted in the morning sunlight. Sai laughed along with him.
"Give it a hundred years. You'll be fine with it by then." She joked.
"I gotta get used to living that long first. I mean, you've only got a couple more years of aging normally until you're like that permanently. For me, I'm essentially going to look like this for the rest of eternity." Kaze said, thinking about the implications of that.
"Is that such a bad thing?" Sai asked, "Being young forever?" Kaze smiled at her.
"No. If it means getting to be with your beautiful self forever, I think I'll be alright." He told her, "I was just thinking about my parents and my sisters." Sai frowned. She knew that this was going to come up eventually.
"Well, your sisters will be fine. They have enough spiritual energy to keep them permanently like they are. Plus, Nami is going to be mated to Akage soon enough. With that connection, she'll live as long as he does." Sai explained, "As for your parents, I don't know. It's likely that they'll live longer than most humans, but I don't know how long exactly. I guess that it's possible that your now demonic connection to them might sustain them to live as long as you do, but that's purely hypothetical." Kaze nodded before smiling at his mate.
"I guess we'll have to see, eh?" He said cheerily. Sai nodded, returning his smile. It impressed her how well he took the information that had just been given to him on how unlikely it was that his parents would live indefinitely.
"Yeah." She said after a moment, "I guess we will."
"But we have a few more pressing matters at the moment." He said, sniffing the air, "That army is only a couple hours away." Sai sniffed the air to confirm his statement.
"You're right. Hopefully the wolves will be ready by then." Sai told him, knowing that Koga would have his men ready and in line with the panthers long before this opposing army arrived. With that, the two of them turned back towards the caves and set off at a run back to them in order to make their final preparations. They expecting that this was going to be one interesting battle to say the least.
Two hours later, as expected, Koga's army was assembled next to that of the panthers. The Panther Devas were easy to see leading their forces. Meanwhile, Koga and Ayame stood with Sai and the others in front of the wolves. They could see the opposing army in the distance. Calvary led the army with infantry in line behind them. In all, Sai estimated that the army numbered around 2000 men. Everything indicated that this was a normal human army except for one thing. She couldn't make out a leader anywhere. These soldiers seemed to just be marching on their own without any sort of general leading them. That was extremely unusual. The concealment spell was also still in place, though Sai could not sense its origin or what it was meant to hide. Obviously it had been cast by someone very powerful.
"It's time." Koga said calmly, "Let's head out." All of them nodded. Nami and Umi hopped on Kirara and then the eight of them set off for the point midway between the two armies. The Panther Devas saw the movement and ran to join them.
When the other army saw the leaders start to move they stopped moving and calmly stood facing forward. The soldiers stared blankly as the twelve gathered in the middle of the field.
"You guys see any leaders?" Toran asked, obviously having noticed what Sai had been wondering about earlier. Koga shook his head.
"No. I only see soldiers. Hell, I don't even see unit leaders. The only thing that breaks the ranks of soldiers is the occasional solid red banner." He complained, "What the hell is up with this?"
"There's magic in the air." Shunran stated, "A lot of it."
"We know." Sai said, "It's a concealment spell. Something tells me that this is no ordinary human army."
"Well if their leader isn't going to meet us in the field, then what should we do?" Karan asked.
"I think that's pretty obvious." Kaze said smirking.
"We attack." Akage finished. Toran and Koga both nodded at this assertion.
"So how long do we give them? It's obvious those soldiers are waiting for something." Sai pointed out.
"I say we attack now." Nami put forth, "Hit them fast and hard without giving them any more time."
"It would give us an upper hand. We could cause a lot of chaos before whatever they're concealing can even think about fighting back." Umi added.
"Whatever we do, we can't wait long." Ayame said, "We need to end this battle." Koga nodded his agreement.
"We'll give them another minute for their leader to get out here. If he doesn't show, we kill them all." He decided. That's when they heard the laughter of a young girl coming, not from the opposing army, but from above them. They all looked up and watched as a flash of red sped down to the ground, landing impossibly gently for how fast it had approached the earth.
"I guess it's a good thing I couldn't wait another minute." The girl said, lifting her face to be seen by the twelve arrayed before her. The sight that met them made them all pale. Sai and Kaze both began to growl menacingly at the sight. The girl laughed.
"You act as though you've seen a ghost." She joked threateningly. Sai narrowed her eyes and bared her fangs wider while her growl intensified.
"The Red Sorceress, Haruka." She said, venom dripping from her words.
"That's right bitch." She affirmed, smirking, "Now prepare to die."
And you guys thought she was dead! Psssh! She was only mostly dead. Who dies from having their heart ripped out of their chest? It's completely unheard of! Battle coming up next time. And who knows? We might even get to see Kaze use that sword of his for the first time... Guess we'll just have to see. Anyway, please REVIEW! I promise that it helps me out. Until next time guys!