The war between the Cardinal Lords and Akira and her allies has been going on for several months. Both sides has suffered many casualties. Sesshomaru and the other Cardinal Lords were in a tent discussing the next strategy.
"This one believe that we should..." Sesshomaru trailed off.
"We should what, son," InuTaisho asked.
Hikaru, who was the second-in-command, his father, and the other Cardinal Lords waited for Sesshomaru to continue, but Sesshomaru seemed distracted.
"Son, I understand that you are worried about your family, but you aren't the only one. We all are. The sooner we end this war; the sooner we could return to them."
"This Sesshomaru knows this father. This one wishes that..."
"I know, son."
Why Sesshomaru seemed distracted and worried for? It was a few months ago, he and his forces had to leave his family behind. Kagome wanted to come and fight along with him, but he forbid it. Hikaru and InuTaisho said and did the same thing. One can imagine the tension between them. It wasn't that they didn't believe in their strengths or anything. It was because they had pups to protect, people to treat and heal, and a home to defend if they weren't near to defend it. That persuaded them for a little bit, but now the women are getting anxious. The men could feel it through their connection. This is why Sesshomaru was acting like that.
Sesshomaru took a deep breath. "As this Sesshomaru was saying, we should surround them over this valley here." He pointed at the location on the map. "Then we attack them head on."
Kōga asked, "Have you realized that Orochi's missing? We have been fighting mostly against Akira and her allies."
Yes, they knew about Orochi. Ichiko told them who he was and what he was capable of. She also told them about the disguise spell that her and Zokushi performed on him several months ago. She even described him in his human and his inuyoukai form to them. So, they would know who he was once they'd seen him.
Ryuutansei answered, "Yes, I've realized it. I wondered where he went off to."
-
Orochi was looking for his sister, Ichiko, in her lair, but she wasn't there. He growled. "If I don't find her soon, my secret will be revealed. Kami only knows what would happen next. However, for now, I'll go check on Kikyo and the other monks and priestesses. Soon they will take out the remaining of the youkai army of both sides." He chuckled darkly.
Akira was inside her tent with her allies, Hyousureiyā*, who's Toran's enemy, Yaminoryū*, who's Ryūtansei's enemy and cousin, and Kuraiōkami*, who's Kōga and his family's enemy. They were assessing everything from damages to the lives of their fellow youkai warriors.
Hyousureiyā and his pride of raion-youkai* had been enemies with Toran and her clan for many centuries. He had golden brown hair with black highlights and dark hazel eyes. He wore a black kimono that had pure white skin thread embroidered his true form on the back. In battle, he would wear armor similar to InuTaisho's suit of armor. He came with his own forces who were all raion-youkai; both male and female.
Yaminoryū's hatred of his cousin was reflected in his red cat-slit eyes when he sees or even hears about Ryūtansei. He was the splitting image of Ryūkotsusei, however, compare him to his uncle in their true forms, he was a miniature version of his uncle. He hated Ryūtansei with a passion. He has been a thorn in his side since after his uncle, Ryūkotsusei, was sealed by InuTaisho. He would also love to get his claws into those inuyoukai. When he found out that his powerful uncle was killed by that lowly hanyou, he was beyond enraged. He swore not only to himself, but his uncle that he would avenge him. He would do so, too, even if it would be the cost of his life. He only had a few followers and were also loyal to Ryūkotsusei with him that were willing to sacrifice their lives to avenge their once powerful leader.
Kuraiōkami and his pack of ōkami-youkai had been rivals of Kōga and his family. He has dark brown eyes and waist length black hair, that was braided. He also wore a suit of armor similar to Kōga's armor. He also brought with members of his clan with him to fight for the war. His clan was also suffering a decline of it's members like Kōga's clan were.
Akira was looking at her allies. She noticed that Orochi, who has became her mate, was nowhere to be seen.
"Have you seen Orochi," she asked. "He's missing."
Kuraiōkami looked at his fellow canine youkai. "No."
Akira looked around and the other allies shook their heads in a negative manner. She growled in annoyance.
Hyousureiyā said, "If this Hyousureiyā may be frank, Lady Akira." He paused. "This one distrusts him."
Akira's eye brow quirked at him. "Why is that, Hyousureiyā?"
"This one feels a bad vibe coming from him."
Yaminoryū added, "He's hardly at the battlefield. I hadn't seen him fight. It makes me wonder, if he's really a coward hiding behind that 'tough guy' exterior. Lady Akira, what are your words about your new mate? You hardly know him. Why did you mate with him?"
Her allies were inwardly jealous of her mate. They had seen her flourish into a beautiful, powerful youkai woman. They also don't understand why Sesshomaru had never mated with her. She proved herself to be powerful and be able to protect and defend herself and/or her pups countless of times to Sesshomaru, but no avail. They do however understand why Sesshomaru had mated with the human miko. She was powerful in her own right. They were also jealous and hated him, especially, Yaminoryū.
"That's none of your concern what my opinion is of my mate. We're here to discuss our next move."
So, they discussed their strategy until they decided that rest was in order.
Orochi hid his aura so no one would sense his aura. He saw Kikyo and the other priestesses gathering more herbs and wood for their campfire. The monks were hunting and patrolling around their campsite. He smirked and chuckled. "Tomorrow, they will vanquish the youkai. I wonder where my sister wandered off to. I knew I should brought her to them, but they would had sense that she was a dark miko. They would had kill her once they'd seen her believing her being a threat to them."
Kikyo stopped what she was doing. She has an eerie feeling that she was being watched. She shrugged off the feeling. She was mostly on autopilot because she kept on having terrible nightmares. She had a feeling that they weren't just mere nightmares, though. Her intuition is telling her to heed her nightmares. The feeling of dread was getting worst everyday since they left Edo. Her mind still wandered off to Inuyasha. She knew that she broke his heart, but that didn't mean that she wanted to purify him to death. She found herself becoming torn as days had gone by. She wanted to protect people from youkai, but she also knew that not all youkai were evil. She inwardly disagreed with Orochi about killing ALL youkai. However, her fellow priestesses and monks felt the same as Orochi does. She felt trapped. She often wondered what Kagome would had told her about this situation. Yes, they once shared a soul, but Kikyo knew Kagome. So she knew what she would have said to her. At first, she knew that Kagome would had told her off. Now, she would have said to listen to her heart. She has a lot of thinking to do before tomorrow. Because tomorrow they would ambush the remaining youkai left in the war and vanquish them.
Orochi watched them for a couple of hours before returning to his youkai mate's side. He shuddered at the thought of having intercourse with her, however, he couldn't deny that having sex with a youkai was a wonderful experience. In fact, in his opinion, youkai women are far better than human women in bed. It was ashamed that they were youkai.
Once he returned, he saw his mate talking to her allies. He walked up to her and put his arms around her waist.
"What are you up to, my dear," Orochi whispered into Akira's ear.
She giggled. "We are planning our next move."
He smirked. "And what would that be?"
Kuraiōkami spoke up before she could and informed him of the plan. Orochi nodded in approval. Akira dismissed her fellow allies. She turned around and faced her mate.
"Where have you been? I hadn't seen you lately."
"I was taking care of business."
"Oh. What business is that?"
"Nothing for you to worry about."
Akira furrowed her eye brow and turned her back to him. "Oh, I see."
She sounded as if she were disappointed. Orochi said, "I promise that it has something to do with our future." Then he thought, "Mine, actually."
Orochi can't help but to touch her in a way he would to a human woman, while she still had her back to him. He loved her curves. Her perk breasts. Just a thought of her make him feel lustful. He grabbed onto her shoulders and gently massaged them. He moved his hands down her shoulders to her hips, then moved them up to cupped one of her breasts, while the other went further south. She gasped in surprise. He leaned down to her ear and whispered huskily, "Lets forget about the war and its worries. Let me give us pleasure."
She moaned in agreement. He turned her around to face him. He kissed her deeply. He then kissed across her jawline down to the conjure of her neck and shoulder. He licked and sucked there for a moment or two. Akira loved the way he touched her. It was so unlike what she felt whenever she was with Akuokaesu and Naraku. She loved it maybe far too much. He was gentle when they first mated, but then he would go wild. Sometimes, he would be rough or gentle, but then step it up a notch. Perhaps that was the way he makes love. By the kami as her witnesses, she loved him. She loved him more than she loved Sesshomaru, which that surprised her when she made that discovery. However, she'd never said it. She would never say it because he hadn't told her, yet.
He returned to her kissed-swollen lips as he untied her obi. As soon as her kimono fell down, he picked her up. Her legs, instinctively, went around his waist while he carried her to their futon. One could hear her pleasure-filled noises throughout the campsite, which made everyone else wanted to join their leader. Needless to say, everyone had released their stresses at night.
Meanwhile at the Western Palace...
Kagome, Inuhime, and Inukimi were feeling anxious. They feel like they should fight along with their respective mates. Kimiko watched them paced around the family room. Inuyasha couldn't take it anymore of their pacing. He yelled, "Will you stop your damn pacing?!"
All three women stopped and looked at the upset hanyou. Inuhime sighed. "I can't help it. As long as Hikaru, our brother, and our father still out there, I won't rest til they come home."
Kagome said, "I feel the same way."
"As do I," Inukimi said. "I can't even sleep. When I do, I tossed and turned."
The other two women nodded as they felt and do the same.
"Keh, you, three, think you are the only ones? Feh, I wanted to go, too! But, I was told to stay and watch the runts!"
Kimiko sighed. "I guess this can't be helped, then." Everyone looked at Kimiko questionably. She yelled for Sesshomaru's ever faithful servant, Jaken. He came running into the room.
"Yes, Lady Kimiko," Jaken said as he panted.
"Go fetch Zokushi, Ichiko, Sango, and Miroku. They should be at the gardens with the children. Also you will watch over them until I said otherwise."
He left their presence. He groaned, "Why do I have to watch those little devils?"
"What are you planning, grandmother," Inukimi asked.
"You'll see."
AN: Hyousureiyā*=panther slayer
Yaminoryū*=dragon of darkness
Kuraiōkami*=black wolf
raion-youkai*=lion demon
Inuyasha (c) Rumiko Takahashi
Fanfiction & OCs (c) ladytari