Chapter 9: Escape From Kaira's Nest

After they separated from the others, Masahiro followed Kagome, who sensed another aura near the end of the hallway. She saw a jewel shard on the handle of a shoji door that had camellia petal designs on it. She carefully took the jewel off the door. As soon as it was taken off and purified, the door opened a crack. Masahiro slowly opened the door and saw a chained figure in the middle of the room. It had chains around its waist, hands, and ankles. The figure had long black hair that was covering its face and had black wings behind it. The figure was wearing a purple kimono with red flower petals on it and a bright red obi around the waist. Masahiro and Kagome quickly figured out that the being in front of them was Iwao's sister.

"Who's there?" Asked a frightened female voice.

"Don't worry, we're not going to hurt you." Kagome said as she and Masahiro slowly walked over to her. But the female flapped her big wings causing a gust of wind at them. Masahiro knew that she didn't want them near her. He could tell that she was frightened by the sense of fear in her aura.

"A human and a dragon demon? Are you here to torture me?" The female voice asked. She seemed to be curious about the two different individuals in front of her. But she was also scared at the moment. She was scared that these two will try to hurt her.

"Your brother asked us to help you." Masahiro said.

"Iwao?" The female asked, shocked.

"Yes. I'm Reina by the way." Kagome said.

"I'm Masahiro." Masahiro said.

"What's yours?" Kagome asked.

"Michiko." Michiko said.

"It's nice to meet you, Michiko." Kagome said.

"Likewise." Michiko said.

"Can you let us help you, Michiko?" Masahiro asked.

"Please do." Michiko said. Kagome and Masahiro rushed to Michiko's side. Masahiro tried to pick the locks with his claws. Masahiro was trying his hardest on trying to pick the locks on Michiko. He could tell that they were made to be difficult in order for the prisoner to give up on escaping. But Masahiro wasn't going to give up on her. He and Reina (Kagome) had promised Iwao that they would save his sister. Then he heard a click.

"You did it, Masahiro!" Kagome said. Masahiro beamed at Reina (Kagome) and Michiko. Then Kagome and Masahiro carefully took the chains off of Michiko. Kagome slowly helped her up to her feet.

"Okay, let's get out of here." Masahiro said.

"Hai!" Kagome said.


Meanwhile:

Hansuke, Akinobu (Shippo), Tomoe, and Iwao headed towards the location of where Akari and the village women are located. They arrived at a pair of shoji doors with rose petals on it. Iwao knocked on the door.

"It's Iwao." Iwao said. The doors slid opened and a girl with long dark brown hair and brown eyes appeared. She was wearing a simple pink kimono with a yellow obi wrapped around her waist. She was probably around Reina's age.

"Iwao, what are you doing here?" The girl asked.

"We're here to rescue everyone." Iwao said.

"Really? We can get out of here?" The girl asked, excited.

"Yes, help has come, Kuri." Iwao said.

"Thank goodness." Kuri said.

"Hansuke!" Akari said. Hansuke looked towards the voice and saw Akari ran towards him. She stopped right in front of him. Then she wrapped her arms around his neck. Hansuke stiffened at the contact. He wasn't expecting this. Well, Masahiro did embrace Reina when they met up. A few seconds later, he wrapped his arms around her.

"It's great to see you, Hansuke." Akari said.

"It's great to see you too, Akari." Hansuke said. It relieved him that she was safe. He wondered if this is how Masahiro felt when he was hugging Reina. Suddenly, Akari extract herself from him. He could see a blush on her face.

"So you're here to rescue us?" Akari asked, nervously.

"Uh,..yeah." Hansuke said, scratching the back of his head.

"Everyone, we're getting out of here." Iwao said.

"Really?" A woman asked.

"Yup! We're all here to help!" Tomoe said.

"Just follow us." Akinobu said.

"Hai!" All of the women said.


Iwao, Hansuke, Tomoe, Akinobu and the women quickly, but quietly ran through the hallways to get to the exit. Iwao could tell that they were all nervous and scared as they walked. But Iwao made sure that nothing would happen to them. Suddenly, two tengus showed up in the hallway.

"Iwao, what are you doing with the women and the prisoner?" A tengu asked.

"And who are the other three beside you?" The other one asked.

"Um…" Iwao said. He didn't know what to say to these two. He didn't expect to run into them so soon. Before he could make an excuse, the tengu was turned into ash and the one next to him was sliced into pieces. Reina, Masahiro, and Michiko appeared.

"Oneesan!" Iwao said as he and Michiko ran towards each other. Iwao started to cry as Michiko hugged him.

"I thought that I would never find you, oneesan." Iwao said in a teary tone.

"Don't worry, I'm fine now, Iwao." Michiko said in a teary tone as well. She started to rub his back, which calmed the both of them. A moment or two passed between the two siblings who were finally reunited.

"Not to be rude or anything, but don't you think that we should be focusing on escaping right now?" Akinobu asked. Iwao and Michiko stepped away from each other.

"Hai! Everyone, this way." Iwao said. Then everyone quietly followed him. They took a few twists and turns before they finally reached the exit. But it looked more like a dead end.

"This is the exit? No offense, Iwao. But this looks more like a dead end to me." Tomoe said. Iwao smiled at Tomoe and placed his hand on the wall. A glow outlined his hand and then a switch appeared. He quickly pressed the switch. The wall slid open to the right. When it fully opened, they saw the bright blue sky, the forest that had the sun shining through the trees and a gentle breeze blowing by them.

"Come on, let's get out here." Iwao said.

"You're not going anywhere." A male voice said. Suddenly, Kaira landed in front of them. Then his soldiers landed right behind him. They all had metal spears, but there were some that had swords. Kaira stood in front of his soldiers. He was carrying a large sword that had a dark and unsettling amount of youki. It looked similar to Tessaiga to Kagome's point of view. Then Reina sensed three jewel shards on Kaira's sword. She had never encountered a demon who had three shards. She started to feel uneasy about Kaira.

He has three shards! This isn't good! Kaira might be even stronger than two yōkai bears put together. His sword is another mystery as well. There's a dark and tainted aura all around it. Kagome thought.

"I expected that you would betray me sooner or later, Iwao." Kaira said, smirking.

"Kaira." Iwao said as his fists and his teeth clenched. He despised this tengu more than anyone alive. He forced him to work for him by kidnapping and torturing his older sister. He wasn't going to get away with his crimes.

"ATTACK!" Kaira shouted at his tengus rushed towards them with hatred in their eyes. Kagome quickly placed a barrier around the women and Michiko. Hansuke took out his ofudas and yelled, "HEAVEN'S BINDINGS!" Thick white ropes were wrapped around all of the tengus in front of them. They looked like bugs caught in a spider web. Suddenly, Hansuke felt an incredible amount of youki nearby. He looked towards Masahiro and saw pale purple youki energy gathered in front of him and shaped it into a huge ball.

"ENERGY BULLETT!" Masahiro shouted. At his shout, the ball of energy went straight towards the tengus. All of the tengus screamed when the energy hit them. Everyone shielded their eyes from its brightness. When the light subsided, there very little of remains of Kaira's soldiers. Kagome and Shippo recognized that attack. It belonged to a certain dragon demon that was sealed away by a once powerful inuyōkai. Then she glanced over at Kaira who looked enraged when he saw all his tengus defeated. Everyone noticed that his sword was pulsing. Kagome sensed the evil aura coming from the sword. It made her skin crawl. She looked at Shippo and Tomoe, she noticed that their tails were puffed and their hackles were up.

"I should have killed you when I had the chance, Akari!" Kaira said looking angrier as he picked up his huge sword and lunged forward towards her. But Hansuke stepped in front of her and a golden glow of youki energy appeared on his finger nails. Then it became a whip and it slashed across Kaira's chest. Kagome and Shippo also recognized that attack. It belonged to another inuyōkai with a stoic mask. Tomoe couldn't just sit by and watch behind the sidelines. She gazed at the women who were trembling in fear. Tomoe felt like she had to do something. Suddenly, Tomoe left the barrier and charged towards Kaira.

"Tomoe, no!" Kagome called. As she charged, Tomoe's body was being covered by flames and soon turned into a sphere of fire. She rammed herself into Kaira's right side and then his left side and repeat. After a few of Tomoe's attacks, Kaira figured out where Tomoe's next move would be and he punched her full force. Her fire form was gone and was thrown back by Kaira's punch. Before she could be rammed into a tree, Masahiro quickly caught her and landed in front of Kagome's barrier. Kaira raised his sword and dark purple energy swirled around the blade.

"Let's see if you can dodge this. SHADOW HURRICANE!" Kaira shouted. A huge wave of dark youki energy headed right towards them.

"Everyone get into the barrier!" Kagome shouted. Masahiro, Tomoe, Hansuke, and Akari quickly entered Kagome's barrier. Everyone shielded their eyes as they felt a cold dark wind washed over the barrier. When it cleared, they saw Kaira merged his sword in his right hand. He had an evil smirk on his face and his eyes were in a darker shade of red, which made him more sinister.

"It's quite powerful, don't you think so?" Kaira he slowly walked towards them. Akari noticed the cracks in Reina's barrier. She knew that the barrier won't be able to survive another attack. Then she knew how she can defeat her brother. She walked out of the barrier. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply. She quickly tried to find the source of her power.

Flashback:

"My source of power?" Young Akari asked. She was sitting with the old miko who took her in. She was teaching her on how to control and use her powers. The miko wanted to make sure that she would have complete control before someone could get hurt by it.

"Yes. If you're ever in a battle against a powerful demon and you need to defeat it for whatever reason, find your source and bring it out into your body and then release it." The miko said.

Flashback Ends

Akari found it. It started to flow all around her body. She felt warmth all over her body. She started glowing in a white aura that surrounded her body. Lights in the shape of feathers appeared on both of her sides. She opened her eyes with a fierce resolve as the power glowed in her pupils.

"HEAVENLY DANCE!" Akari shouted as the feathers shot forward towards Kaira. He stopped midway in his attack and found himself pinned to a tree. He was unable to move at that moment. All of the feathers stabbed into him all over. But it didn't fully purify him, they were burning him all over.

"Hope that Hell welcomes you, Kaira." Kagome said. Then she released her arrow and it stabbed into his heart. He screamed in pain as he and his sword were engulfed with burning reiki and then instantly turned to ashes. Three jewel shards fell from his ashes. Akari picked them up and brought them to Kagome. They were purified as soon as they touched her palm.

"Thank you, Akari." Kagome said.

"No, thank you, Reina." Akari said.

"We got three more, mama!" Shippo said as he jumped onto Kagome's shoulder.

"We should leave this place." Masahiro said.

"Hai!" Reina and Akari said at the same time. Suddenly, Akari fell to her knees and was about to hit ground until Hansuke caught her in his arms.

"She must have used a lot of her energy when she fought Kaira. She just needs rest, that's all." Hansuke said as he held her close to him. Everyone let out a sigh of relief. He carried Akari bridal style. He looked down at her and saw her sleeping face.

She looks cute when she's sleeping like this. Hansuke thought, You did well, Akari. I'm sure that the miko who took you in would be proud of you.


Everyone was resting at the camp they set up for the night. When the women wanted a break, they made sure that they were near a river or a hot spring to rest. Masahiro, Hansuke, and Iwao would give them privacy as they guarded them. Kagome and her pack also did some hunting for them as well. They helped treat those who might have injured themselves including Tomoe. Kagome also noticed the closeness between Iwao and Kuri. Something told her that there was something going on between them. She decided not to get involved. She had a feeling that everything will go well for the two individuals.

"Reina." Masahiro said when he walked up to her.

"Hai?" Kagome asked.

"Can I have a word with you for a moment?" Masahiro asked.

"Sure." Kagome said as she stood up and followed Masahiro. The two walked away from the camp and stood in the middle of a forest clearing. They looked up at the night sky and watched the stars. They could hear the crickets chirping among the darkness of the night. Then fireflies appeared all around them. It made their surrounding more enchanting. Almost as if they stepped into another world.

"Reina." Masahiro said.

"Yes?" Kagome asked, looking at Masahiro.

"There's something I wanted to do for you. But I couldn't really do it in front of the young ones." Masahiro said as he cupped her cheek. Kagome gazed into Masahiro's purple eyes. His purple eyes looked even brighter than before as the moonlight reflected on them. Masahiro closed the distance between them as he pulled her into his arms and pressed his lips against hers. Kagome's eyes widened when Masahiro caught her lips. Then her eyes closed as she began to melt into his sensational kiss. When she moaned at the sensation, Masahiro pushed his tongue further into her mouth, tasting her wet cavern. Kagome wrapped her arms around Masahiro's neck while he wrapped his arms around her waist. He was unable to let go of her as he held her close to him. Her taste was driving him wild. She tasted like jasmine and vanilla. He had never knew anyone that would have that kind of taste. They kept switching angles to deepen the kiss. Masahiro didn't know how long they've been kissing, he never wanted it to end. But when he released Kagome's lips, she continue to stare at him until she blushed in three shades of red and buried her head into his chest.

"Reina?" Masahiro asked, confused. He couldn't figure why she was acting this way.

"I, um...we should be heading back to the camp now." Kagome said. Before she tried to leave Masahiro's arms, he pulled her back into them.

"Let's stay like this for a little bit longer." Masahiro said in a gentle tone. For some strange reason, Kagome didn't want to leave his arms. They calmed her soul whenever she felt uncertain or uneasy. Just like the time before she went to Kaira's nest and when they were reunited. Masahiro put his hand on the back of her head and gently pushed her head near his heart.

"Okay." Kagome said as she closed her eyes and smiled at the comfort of Masahiro's arms.