Yeah I know this is really late. I'd blame writer's block, but that would be a lie... I got over that pretty quickly... No, really it was just me being lazy and wanting to do nothing, but chill. Oh well... The chapter is here now and I hope you guys like it. Should answer a few questions if any of you have any. If it doesn't answer yours, feel free to ask me and I'll see what I can do. Now enough of me...

Onwards!

Chapter 45

Kiretsu and Mageru looked on from a distant hill at the destroyed battlefield. The wolf and panther demon forces were untouched and still maintained perfectly formed ranks. However, the same could not be said for the army that had stood against them. All that was left there was a disorganized mass of bones, weapons, and armor. The center of the battlefield itself was in no better condition than the army that had hoped to overrun it. It was a sight of utter destruction. Massive craters littered the area and upturned, bare earth was thrown everywhere.

"Impressive." Mageru commented as he watched Kaze sprint towards the cave where the female wolf demon had taken Saiai.

"Indeed." Kiretsu agreed, nodding his head.

"There is only one thing that confuses me about this whole affair." Mageru said, massaging his temples.

"What is that brother?" Kiretsu asked, turning to face the demon beside him.

"Kaze is strong. He is extremely strong. That is undeniable. However, Saiai is much more powerful than her mate. Yet, in that battle with the sorceress, Saiai was tossed about as though she were nothing, while Kaze ended her with one strike." Mageru said, recounting the battle, "How is that possible?" Kiretsu nodded, understanding his dilemma. He had indeed held the same question during the battle. The answer had only come to him recently.

"Think about it brother." Kiretsu began, "Sorceress are immune to time, while even demons will eventually feel its effects. We, out of anyone, should know this fact. This means that Saiai could not use Jikan to wrench her out of it. In addition, this sorceress was very powerful. Combine this with the fact the magic is very resistant attacks based around matter or brute force. That means that Mondai and her masterful swordsmanship were worthless in this battle. From their last battle we learned that spiritual energy had little effect on Haruka, so that removed Saiai's last hope for victory. In short, Haruka was the worst possible opponent for her to face alone. She only won their first encounter because Haruka did not anticipate the sheer amount of power that Saiai did possess. Haruka was much better prepared for the second battle." Mageru nodded, taking in the information and processing it's implications.

"What you say makes sense brother." He admitted, "However, that still leaves one problem. Why was Kaze able to defeat her so easily?"

"The reason behind that lies within the nature of Kaze's blade." Kiretsu told him, "Just as Saiai could not harm Haruka because her blades were not suited to the battle, Kaze was able to end her because his blade is uniquely suited to destroying enemies that Saiai cannot. His sword, Jinsei, attacks life itself. Haruka had no defense against this. Few beings do. That is why Kaze was able to destroy her with such ease. In addition, Kaze's blade seems to be vampiric in nature. It absorbed the power of slain as they died. The energy taken from Haruka allowed him to kill the army of demons lying before us now." Mageru began to laugh. The idea was madness, but it was the only thing that made sense.

"So in other words, Saiai and Kaze may as well be invincible. It seems as though nothing can beat them." He pointed out. Kiretsu smiled.

"It would seem that way." He affirmed, "Though it is not completely true. There are still enemies that could end them easily. Konton is one of them. Given the fact that, at the moment, he cannot die." Mageru frowned, but nodded.

"And it will be awhile before the embodiment can be purified now that Saiai is so terribly injured." He pointed out, "She will need to recover before they can move on." Kiretsu nodded and looked out onto the horizon.

"True enough." He said calmly, "But I believe that they will still succeed. They've made it this far. We must believe that they can succeed. If they don't, everyone we loved died for nothing. I cannot believe that. No, they will succeed and Konton shall die." Mageru looked at his brother. In his eyes, there was a fire that hadn't been there in a very long time. If these kids could bring that back then maybe, just maybe, they really would succeed. Without another word, the two brother time demons disappeared from the hill.

Kaze burst into the cave that Ayame had taken Sai into. Wolves were everywhere, though few of the demons themselves had returned yet. This made both women's scent easier to detect. It only took a few seconds for Kaze to identify them at the back of the cave and rush to his mate's side. Now that the rush and fog of battle was gone, he could make out the extent of Sai's injuries. They were far worse than he had gathered, though, her armor-like kimono had done its job. Most of the injuries were from blunt force due to the blasts that had tossed her through the air. All that meant, however, was that instead of bleeding out externally, she likely had extensive internal bleeding and more than a few broken bones. Kaze dropped to his knees and brushed his hand lightly across her still unconscious face.

"Is... Is she gonna be alright?" He choked out. Ayame didn't look at him, but continued her examination of Sai.

"She'll live." The den mother answered cryptically.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Kaze demanded desperately, "Be honest with me!" Ayame had to stop herself from yelling back. She knew that Kaze was only acting this way because he loved his mate. In all honesty, she knew that she would have been acting the same way if it were Koga that had been injured. That didn't mean, however, that she wasn't thoroughly annoyed.

"Look," She said flatly, "I need to focus and concentrate in order to examine her. I'm used to wolf demons, not dog demons and especially not half-dog demons. All I know is that most of her ribs are broken and so is her left arm. I'm not sure how bad the internal bleeding is, but I do know that it's not bad enough that she's in any immediate danger. Now go sit down somewhere and let me work!" Kaze gritted his teeth and forced himself not to growl at the woman. He had to remind himself that she was helping his mate, not hurting her. It still hurt his pride, though, that he could do nothing to help her. All he was good for now was sitting and watching while someone else took care of her.

Kaze found a seat along the cave wall only a few feet from where Ayame had laid Sai down to perform her work. He placed his sword against it and then sat down on the ground himself. The wall was rough, cold, and damp, but these facts barely even registered in Kaze's mind. His focus was on the woman passed out in front of him. Every movement that she made was instantly captured and committed to memory by his keen eyes. The constant rise and fall of her chest was all that kept him going at this point. Thoughts of that comforting motion stopping tore Kaze's heart to shreds.

A few hours later, the sun was beginning to set. Almost all of the wolves were back in the den except for a few that were cleaning up the battlefield and on watch, but Kaze barely noticed their presence. That is, except for when one of them got too close to his mate. Ayame had even finished her examination of Sai and done what she could in terms of treatment. That was mostly the application herbs and salves that had been fashioned and enhanced by demons and extensive use of bandages. It was, however, all professionally and masterfully done. If he had time to be, Kaze would have been impressed. Instead, every bit of space in his brain was taken up by thoughts of his mate.

Suddenly, the object of his devotion let out a slight moan. Anyone, even with demon ears, that hadn't been attuned so intently to everything she did wouldn't have noticed, but to Kaze's ears, it was like a crack of thunder. Before he could process what he was doing, he was by her side and nuzzling his face into her neck while licking it lightly in an effort to comfort her. Sai moaned again, louder this time, signalling that she was indeed finally coming to. It took a few moments for her eyes to finally slowly crack open, but when they did, Kaze's own were there to greet her.

"Kaze?" She struggled out, her voice weak. Kaze nodded.

"I'm right here." He assured her, "I never left." Sai smiled as best she could in her weakened state and nodded her understanding.

"Didn't figure you would." She jested, her voice barely loud enough to hear, "Kaze you're the bes-" Before she could finish her statement she began to cough horribly. It was rough, labored, and clearly painful. Kaze held her as tightly as he could without hurting her any more and tried to soothe her through it. When the fit finally calmed and she could bring her hands away from her mouth, they were covered in a thin film of blood.

"Damn." She cursed weakly, the blood leaking from the corner of her mouth..

"Don't try to talk anymore." Kaze told her firmly yet gently, "Just rest." Sai frowned, but nodded. All she wanted was to talk with her mate. She wanted, no needed, the comfort, but also knew now that it probably wasn't a good idea. Kaze could tell this much through their connection and decided to try the next best thing. He pulled Sai up, being careful to favor her ribs and left side, and pulled her into his lap. Sai immediately nuzzled herself into Kaze's well-muscled body and allowed herself to relax.

"Thank you." She whispered into his chest. Kaze didn't answer, but dropped his head down to kiss the top of hers. He stayed there, his face engulfed in her hair, and allowed her scent to comfort him, just as it always did. It wasn't long before they were both sound asleep.

Ayame walked to the area where she had set Sai down to recover. The sun had just disappeared behind the horizon, allowing night to take over the sky. With that darkness, most of her pack, including her mate, was heading to bed. She fully intended to go to sleep as well, but she had to check on her goddaughter first. At the moment, she was Ayame's number one priority. That made it all the more worrisome and confusing when she was not laying on the fur pelt that Ayame had laid her on hours before, though her scent still remained in the area. The mystery of her location didn't last long, however. All she had to do was look to where Kaze's scent was and it was solved. The sight warmed her heart. Both of them had a look of utter peace on their faces. Not to mention the fact of how cute it was that Sai was curled up in Kaze's lap with her face buried in his chest and hair in disarray. It was extremely hard, in that moment, for Ayame to believe that she was looking at two of the most powerful people that she had ever met.

With one last look, Ayame turned and headed for the warmth of her own bed alongside her own mate. All thoughts of tending to Sai one last time before going to sleep were gone. There was no way that she could bring herself to interrupt what she had seen there. Instead, she slid into bed beside the still awake Koga and did a little cuddling of her own.

The next morning, the sun greeted two sleeping half-demons and three very amused friends. The three awake ones, that were doing their best to stifle laughter, exchanged looks.

"Should we wake them?" Akage whispered to the two girls.

"No!" Nami and Umi forcefully whispered back in unison.

"Can you not see how cute this is?" Umi demanded, "No way are we interrupting this!"

"Plus, it's funny as hell for us." Nami added.

"Yes I know that. But wouldn't it be funnier to wake them up and see how they react?" Akage pointed out. Suddenly a look of realization appeared on the two girls' faces. This was quickly followed by mischievous expressions.

"Akage you're a genius." Nami told him, hugging him tightly. Akage smirked.

"Yeah I know." He said nonchalantly. Nami rolled her eyes, but laughed anyway.

"Alright smart guy," She fired back, "You get to wake them up." Akage's eyes widened in surprise making the two sisters laugh.

"Me?" He asked incredulously, "Why me?"

"Well you are the genius after all." Umi reminded him. Akage groaned, immediately regretting his attempted humor, and accepted his fate.

Without another word, Akage slowly and quietly approached the two sleeping forms in front of him. As he got within a few steps of the two, he gulped. This was going to be the hard part. Getting this close to two sleeping people with superhuman hearing without waking them was going to be more than difficult. However, it looked as though his prank was going to be successful. Akage got within a foot of his two friends and leaned in close. He paused for a moment to think of how best to surprise them. Kaze's sword caught his eye and he began to wonder how fast that it could be reached after being woken up. Suddenly, two clawed hands of different sizes tightly gripped his arms.

"Never hesitate." A rough voice growled out. Akage nearly jumped out of his own skin as he let out a loud yelp of surprise and fear. The clawed hands let go and Akage sent himself flying back, landing hard on the stone cave floor a few feet from where he had been. This scene was quickly followed by two very satisfied half demons bursting into laughter, while he and the two girls looked on in astonishment.

"You guys should see your faces!" Kaze struggled through laughter, "They're priceless!"

"Akage almost broke the cave ceiling with that jump!" Sai added in between laughs as she held her bandaged ribs to stop them from hurting.

"B-but... but... how?" Akage stammered.

"You guys were... asleep. Right?" Nami added, questioning the two.

"There's no way you could have known... Could you?" Umi pointed out, confused. Sai and Kaze didn't answer at first. They were too busy trying not to die from laughter. It took them a few moments to compose themselves enough to respond.

"Not quite." Kaze taunted, smirk present on his face and laughter in his eyes.

"We've been awake the entire time that you've been watching us." Sai admitted through giggles, "We were just waiting for you guys to try something like that." The jaws of the other three all dropped. They had had no idea.

"So you listened to every word we said?" Nami asked, now feeling completely embarrassed. The two half-demons just nodded smugly.

"And you planned that?" Akage asked, not knowing how it was possible.

"Not vocally of course." Kaze said matter-of-factly, "But it was a mutual feeling that we wanted to screw with you a bit."

"Uggghhh..." Umi groaned, "You two never change..." Sai feigned a look of being offended.

"Hey." She whined, "Speak for yourself."

"Alright guys, calm it down." An authoritative female voice called to them, "Sai still needs to rest. She's nowhere near recovered yet." The five of them looked over to see Ayame striding towards them with Kirara trotting along at her feet.

"Whatever mom." Sai jokingly shot back making Ayame smile.

"Don't call me that! It makes me feel old!" Ayame insisted, "I don't even have half a century on me yet!" Sai burst into laughter yet again from this comment.

"Well you are a mother." Sai pointed out in between laughs, "Plus you're my godmother."

"Dammit Sai." Ayame sighed, "Stop using logic."

"I'll think about it." Sai joked, making Ayame roll her eyes.

"Whatever, just get out of your mate's lap. You're in no condition for that kind of fun yet." She jabbed. This made both Sai and Kaze blush heavily and elicited giggles from the other three. Sai ended up complying out of sheer embarrassment and laid down, with Ayame and Kaze's help, on the pelt that she had occupied the day before.

Ayame shooed away everyone but Kaze and began to remove Sai's bandages. After a quick examination, it was clear that she was healing. However, it was also clear that the healing was going to take an extremely long time for one with demonic blood. It would be at least a few weeks at this rate, maybe even a month. Sai reacted to this news about as well as Ayame thought she would.

"WHAT?!" Sai screamed before wincing in pain and gripping her ribs.

"Sai, it's going to take a while." Ayame insisted, "Your wounds were inflicted by magic and sorceress' magic at that. That means that you won't heal as quickly as you normally would. Just be glad you're still alive." Sai couldn't argue with that. Very few people survived an encounter with a sorceress. Even legendary warriors could be blown aside with ease. Yet, Sai had survived two such encounters and both times, the sorceress ended up worse for wear than she did. It was quite an impressive feat.

"She's right Sai." Kaze immediately agreed, "Take your time to recover. The fact that you're still breathing is enough for me."

"But we don't have time for that!" Sai complained, "We're so close! We have the embodiment's manifestation and all we need is to purify it and then we can move on to defeating Konton! There's no way we can stop now!" Both Ayame and Kaze shook their heads at this.

"No." Kaze said firmly, "Without you at full, we won't be able to purify him. He's beyond tainted and it's going to take all of us to fix that. Not to mention the fact that we definitely wouldn't be able to defeat Konton without your strength. In short, we can't fight without you."

"And if you try to do anything like that before you're better, you really will die." Ayame added seriously. Sai groaned and let herself fall back onto the pelt. She immediately regretted that decision, but didn't allow herself to show pain. Kaze, however, could feel it instantly through his mark.

"And that right there shows you aren't ready to fight." He pointed out, making Sai groan in frustration, "You can't even lay down without pain."

"Why am I always the one getting injured?" She whined, thinking on how many times she had been in a similar situation to this one.

"Because you're the strongest and everyone wants to kill you because of it." Kaze told her, chuckling, "Plus, you always insist on taking the fights alone. I mean, you could let the rest of us have one every once in awhile. I'm sure my sisters or Akage would love to get in on the action at least some of the time. It would save you a lot of trouble." Sai groaned loudly.

"And what about you, huh?" Sai questioned, "You want to get in on it too? Your life too boring for your liking?" Kaze smiled, seeing the obvious trap.

"Hardly." He told her honestly, turning his head to look out of the cave at the early morning light, "I fight because I have to and it's what I'm trained to do. It seems that, right now, fighting is my lot in life. Hell, trying to keep you alive is excitement enough for me. I'd say it's too much actually. Personally, I'd rather just settle down somewhere peaceful, have a family, stuff like that." Sai saw the look of longing on his face as he stared out the mouth of the cave. It made her smile softly.

"Is that really what you want?" She asked, "To settle down somewhere?" Kaze nodded.

"Couldn't dream of anything better." He admitted. Sai hung her head in shame. She knew where her guilt laid in all of this.

"And I'm holding you back from that dream, aren't I?" She said softly. Kaze's expression became serious. He turned towards his mate.

"Sai, you're the reason I have that dream. Until you agreed to marry me, I didn't really have a dream. So as long as I'm with you, my dream can wait. It can wait because being with you is so much better than anything that I could possibly dream of.." He told her honestly, "Without you, the dream becomes a nightmare." Sai couldn't speak. Her brain couldn't form words, so her mouth just hung open slightly. Kaze smiled warmly at her.

"And don't forget one part of my dream. We have to be somewhere peaceful. That can't happen under current conditions." He explained, "So, we're gonna wait until you get better, finish this little mission of ours, and then we'll see what happens." Sai nodded her agreement, still not able to return his smile.

"I just wish we could speed that process up a bit." She lamented.

"Well..." Ayame began, making the Sai and Kaze's heads snap towards the den mother, "There is one way..."

"What is it?" Sai demanded quickly.

"It's not exactly ideal..." Ayame said, before she was cut off.

"Just tell me what it is Ayame." Sai told her bluntly, "I just want this to be over with." Ayame nodded, understanding Sai's desire and her sudden change of heart about wanting everything to be peaceful again over her previous love of the rush of battle.

"You'll need a trained priestess and a powerful one at that." She explained, "The only one I can think of would be your mother." Sai's face paled. That really wasn't ideal.

"Are your sure that there isn't another way?" Sai asked in a defeated voice. Ayame shook her head.

"Ever since you guys stepped out onto the scene, Konton has started to include priestesses to the ones he's purging. Says in his propaganda that they get their power from demons." Ayame told her, "It's ridiculous, but you'd be surprised how many bigoted humans will believe it. Priestesses have helped them for centuries and now they're letting them be killed en masse."

"Disgusting." Kaze spat bitterly. Ayame nodded.

"Kagome is probably fine though." She assured them, "She's extremely powerful, to the point that no demon army could touch her village. Hell, she's probably hidden it in some way or another. Your father's presence rules out any human army succeeding either." Sai nodded, already knowing that much, and groaned loudly.

"My dad's going to kill me when he sees me like this." She whined, making Kaze chuckle.

"Not likely. He'll probably kill me, if anything." He said lightheartedly, "But let's hope he'll listen to my pleas for forgiveness." Sai laughed, ignoring the pain in her ribs.

"He tries to kill you, my mother will never let him live it down." She joked. Ayame smiled.

"True enough." She commented, "Kagome has always been that kind of woman. We'll move you out tomorrow morning." The two nodded.

"Great..." Sai said sarcastically. Ayame rolled her eyes.

"Whatever." She said dismissively, turning from them to attend to other duties and leaving the two of them alone. Kaze sighed.

"Well it's better than nothing, I guess." He commented.

"I guess..." Sai agreed half heartedly, "But what are we going to do about the embodiment? It sure as hell won't be safe to move him. Demons will be drawn to his aura like wildfire and if Konton catches wind that we have him, we'll have more than a few armies snapping at our heels." Kaze nodded. What she said was true. In the wolf den, his aura was masked by the presence of hundreds of wolf demons, but if he were to be transported, then he would draw out every demon they came across. With that kind of attention, it wouldn't take much for one or more of the marauding armies of Konton's Purge to figure something out and come after them. That only left one option.

"We'll have to leave him here." Kaze decided, "The wolves can watch him since it's not like he's going anywhere and my sisters and Akage can stay behind to help out."

"But that would mean that you and I would be traveling alone." Sai pointed out, "Isn't that a bit risky?"

"It is." Kaze admitted, "But we'll attract less attention. Plus, Kirara will be coming with us in order to carry you. That'll make us able to move faster. With that kind of speed, we'll probably make it back to the village in about two or three days." Sai couldn't argue that. It seemed like their best choice. The embodiment would be safe, well as safe as it could be, and travel would be quick.

"Alright." Sai said eventually, "That sounds like a plan." Kaze smiled.

"I just hope this one works." He joked, making Sai laugh.

"Yeah." She agreed, "You and me both."

So any guesses on whether the plan will work or not? I'll you guys answer that one... It should be pretty obvious... Anyways, I'd love to hear how you guys liked this chapter, so please REVIEW! It would make me very happy and it might just spur me on to not be so lazy in the future. Then we could finally get to the resolution of this story and everybody's happy ending... or maybe this is just the beginning... Who knows? But we won't find out unless you guys help me out here! Sooo... REVIEW!