Chapter 15: A Break
Kyuubi and I are lying underneath a cherry tree watching as the soldiers face off. Over the past two or three days, most of them have been able to travel through the training area I had created to blow off some steam. Since then I have made things a bit more challenging. I have asked them to time themselves and then try to get better. The person with the best time in a week will be allowed to try a harder course first and set up as a head of a squad. Since then many of them have been on the field all day and Kyuubi or I have to order them off of the field for rest. Sometimes I have them do fights while inside the training field to see if they could fight and work together in such extreme circumstances; they have been doing very well.
Opal and Sonya have joined in a couple of times but I always remind them to continue with their fighting exercises. Both of them were not as good as the soldiers in fighting but were developing very quickly. Right now they are working on using their tails as weapons. It took me about a week or two to get used to the strange appendages but once I did I found out they were great weapons especially if you could trick someone into thinking you have fewer tails than you do.
Around the end of the day, we hear an alarm sound from the south. The warning sounded states that two battalions have been sent our way to try and surprise us when we should have been training. Everyone stops what they are doing immediately and turns their heads that way before chaos begins. The soldiers run around forming their squads and battalions awaiting orders. I stand up a moment after Kyuubi does.
"My soldiers let us defend our home and our families," Kyuubi yells so he can be heard by everyone. "Battalions two, four, and six head out to the southern lines and assist battalion three. I will be there soon. The rest of you be ready in case others decide to attack us."
We watch as the group of soldiers head out. Kyuubi turns to me and rubs the side of my head one of his tails. He touches his nose to mine and licks it; I return the lick with a smile at him. Fear is tearing at my guts. I may have been the A.N.B.U when I was a human but demons are different plus I am carrying kits now.
"Byakko stay here please. I do not wish for you or the kits to get hurt while fighting. The soldiers and I will not allow the enemy near," he tells me staring me in the eyes.
"Go Kyuubi. Make sure this place is safe for your kits," I reply rubbing my head against his.
"I will be back," he says before running to get ahead of his army.
I turn to watch as he goes, and Sonya and Opal join me beneath the tree. I can hear the sounds of the soldiers sitting down for the wait. They would need the rest should an enemy decide to attack from another direction which was possible.
"Siv, Nial, and Tiron head each of you pick North, East, or West and see if any more enemies are nearby," I order three scouts.
"Yes, my lady," they reply immediately.
do not pay attention to where they go. I can already here the growls and screams of soldiers as they are hurt. It is agonizing to just stand here not knowing what is happening but I know I need to stay here. Soon they will need a healer for those who are wounded. I turn towards the palace and motion one of the scared servants over. I can see her shaking as she nears me. She stops by me and bows.
"You and others are to grab bandages and cauldrons of hot water so that we can immediately start healing the soldiers as soon as they arrive," I tell her. "Everything will be fine, young one."
I pat her head with a paw before sending her off on her way. I watch her until she is half way to the entrance. After about ten minutes, Sonya starts pacing. I let her continue because she has too much energy which could make her over confident or too uncaring. This pent up energy could lead to her death.
"Sonya and Opal," I say to gain their attention, "no matter what stay with me. We must protect each other should something happens. Your father would kill me if you died, Sonya. I would like to get you back to your family, Opal."
"But…." Sonya argues.
"Would you have us leave her unattended," Opal growls surprising us both.
These were the first words I have ever heard Opal speak. She must be coming out of her shell now.
"She would have us stay back while others fight for us," Sonya growls back after taking a second to recover.
"So you in your ambitious ways would have a kitted woman out on the battlefield. What would Kyuubi do if she and the kits died," Opal demands in a harsh tone.
When Sonya doesn't answer, Opal growls again, "What would he do, Sonya?"
"Rampage," she whispers quietly.
"Like your daddy did when your mother died giving birth to your younger brother, right. Tell me, do you want to see that on a bigger scale," Opal demands.
"No, I do not want to see that again," she whispers softly.
I stare between the two wondering what they meant. I know Kyuubi would be mad if I died but would he truly go on a killing spree over me. I doubt it. He would be more upset over the kits being dead than me being dead. I shake my head before turning back to south. A couple minutes later, wounded start appearing near us. I go into healer mode and start classifying the people into those who need attention immediately and those who could wait a while. I group those who need the most help together and set the servants to helping those who have lesser wounds.
I immediately start with the two who are missing limbs. One is missing his front left leg while the other has a tail almost cut clean through. It takes me a couple of minutes to heal them as they keep moving around, but I do not want to cause any more damage so I start singing a song to try calm everyone down. As I sing, some voices join me in the songs that they know. Apparently a few of them have gone to the human world. It is past dusk, when I finally look up from my work on the wounded. All of the severely wounded have been dealt with. I can see that the other soldiers have returned from the battlefield.
Kyuubi is standing at the edge of the area I had set up. I look him up and down for wounds but he seems to have none. I walk towards him slowly.
"How did things go," I ask.
"Very well considering, it was a surprise. We lost twenty-three men on the battlefield. The enemy lost over half a battalion before retreating we chased and killed another seventeen," he tells me.
"That is good," I say looking him in the eyes and see the exhaustion. "Go to bed Kyuubi."
"I plan on it," he says smirking as he turns to head to the palace.
"I will stay here for a little longer," I tell him as he looks at me questioning why I am not following him.
"Come Byakko, you are useless to them if you are exhausted," he says and continues when I am about to argue with him. "It is bad for the kits if you over exert yourself."
I sigh before following him back to what is now our chamber. I lay down and he curls up behind. It takes me a while to fall asleep. I just hope that the enemy has the sense to not attack us tomorrow.
Sorry guys for the wait but I have not had a computer for a while. So what did you all think? Any ideas for what should happen next. I have some ideas but I cannot really decide. So let me know what you think. Also before you ask about the chapter title, I meant a break in the peace.