Chapter 16: The Moonless Night
Two days had passed since the group had successfully slipped away from Shippo. The teens had actually set up camp early this night and now under the light of the stars and the glow from the fire at the center of their camp as there was no moon overhead, did they all sit after enjoying a meal together.
Both Towa and Setsuna had undergone the change that the new moon brought so the 6 were trying to lay low for the night.
"I never knew that half demons underwent such changes. When will you be back to normal?" Jade asked.
"By morning, Why? Did you finally want that rematch now? Maybe you'll win this time. If I let you." Towa said nonchalantly with a small grin gracing her face.
"No, I do not want a rematch with you like this. I was just curious since I'll be the one who has to pick up the slack for you half demons since you can't protect yourselves properly right now." Jade said which caused him to receive a lot of questioning looks from his friend around him.
"Ohh you're picking up slack Jade?" Moroha teased. "I think we need more water. Can you go to the pond at the end of the stream and get us some? I'm quarter demon so I can't get there as fast as you strong wolf demons." She feigned.
"And I'm only human so I can't go about getting firewood when we need more. Do you think you can pick up some of my slack too?" Hisui added.
"Very funny." Jade replied flat.
"Yuki, you can control your day of weakness? You should have chosen today in solidarity with us." Towa told him.
"Towa, what sense does it make for half of us to be down like this at once? Anything could happen." Setsuna said and Towa shrugged her shoulders.
"I guess you're right." Towa sighed.
"My time of weakness is a little different than yours, it lasts for two days so I need to be a little more strategic than just allowing that on a whim." Yuki said.
"The moment you're time of weakness comes I'm kicking your ass as payback for last time." Moroha said.
"What, but our circumstances were different." Yuki gasped, surprised to hear her sudden remark. The end of the month was approaching fast and that would officially mark two months since Yuki's known everyone.
"I don't care. I'm getting you back when you can't stop me." Moroha smirked mischievously at him.
"What are you going to do?" Yuki asked nervously.
"Can't say. Telling you would ruin it." Moroha sang.
"Jade are you still going to go get us water? I'm feeling very weak at the moment?" Setsuna said joining in as well now.
"Come on, you all can't be serious." Jade huffed as he looked around to each of them who watched him expectantly.
"Come on Jade, I thought you were looking out for us and picking up slack." Towa said.
"Fine, whatever, where's the container?" Jade gave in.
"Thank you Jade." They all echoed some with small grins as they no doubtably were going to see what else they could get Jade to do later.
"Yes, thank you so much, how did we ever manage without you." Moroha teased dramatically.
"Whatever." Jade rolled his eyes.
"I'll go with you." Towa said.
"Why? So can you drink half the container on the way back? No thanks, I'm not trying to make too many trips tonight." Jade said.
"You know me so well. Let's go. We need you remember. Who else is going to pick up slack?" Towa smiled.
The two of them walked the few minutes that it took to get the fresh water at a nearby pond. They were lucky to not have to walk as far as they did a few nights ago.
The water in the pond was good quality too. It was pretty and clear and you could see straight to the bottom where shiny white stones lay. The light of the stars reflected off of the pond beautifully.
Jade bent down to fill the group water container and Towa took out her own personal water container before filling it up as well.
The cold water of the pound splashed against her fingers as she did so. Things always felt more intense during nights of the new moon. Her senses were always different when she was like this. Some senses were more dulled while others intensified.
For instance Towa always felt when her resistance to the elements was low and the essential senses that she relied upon more as a warrior like her hearing and keen sense of smell were significantly less than normal. She couldn't imagine being this way 24/7.
"I'm glad that you're filling that up while we're here, drink what you need from what you have and leave the group water supply alone at least for tonight." Jade said dramatically.
"That's not very helpful of you to suggest, Remember you did offer to help us helpless half demons after all." Towa teased.
"Even if you stayed this way forever I doubt that you'd ever be helpless." Jade said.
"Well at least you understand that." Towa smiled. Jade wasn't the same as when she had first met him and that made her happy. She was glad that they had become friends.
"Let's go back." Towa told him and started off first while Jade hesitated a moment. He had had something that he wanted to say but was finding it harder to voice his words than he had anticipated.
Jade caught up to Towa and grabbed her wrist stopping her before she could get any farther.
She turned around unbothered, not even startled by him grabbing her wrist out of nowhere like that. Her dark hair swished behind her and her brown eyes looked at him as a questioning look graced her face. She looked so much like herself but not quite what he was used to.
Jade spoke before she could say anything.
"I wanted to thank you for helping me in the cave a few days ago." Jade said with sincerity letting go of her wrist as he spoke.
"That?" She asked genuinely surprised.
She hadn't thought about that since it happened and she didn't talk about it with the others because she could tell that that was something personal to Jade.
"It was nothing. It's no good to either of us if your head's not in the right place during a fight." Towa shrugged.
"I don't know why I just froze like that. I haven't thought about that demon for years before Kyuki and then the moment that I see a bat demon again that happens. It was embarrassing." Jade said low.
"Trust me, I understand." Towa reassured him but didn't offer him any further explanation. She knew how he must have been feeling all too well. She used to have a similar fear of fire.
She contemplated on whether or not to share with him her own experience of lingering fears after a fire had nearly killed her but decided against it.
Jade had already been in her head once with Kyuki. She didn't want to share such a personal memory right then, her earliest memory.
Jade only smiled small at her like he understood what she didn't want to say and he respected that.
Towa started to walk again but Jade stopped her once more. Grabbing her arm again.
"You sure you're not going to drink anything while we're right here?" He asked and she rolled her eyes.
"I'm fine right now." She said annoyed before pulling her arm from his grasp.
A spider crawling on Jade's shoulder caught her eye so she paused.
"Stand still for a minute." Towa told him before getting closer.
"What, why?!" He asked. She was suddenly in his space which threw him off for a moment but he did as she said nonetheless.
"Stay still." She scolded too as she reached her hand out and picked up the spider by one of its legs.
"See this little guy was hanging out on your shoulder." Towa said while holding the bug up so that Jade could see just in time for it to jump out of Towa's hold and bite her hand before jumping onto the grass for freedom.
Towa winched at the small spider bite. "Damn, I wasn't even going to kill that bug," She huffed while rubbing the spider bite to soothe the small pinch that she felt.
"Did you hurt one of my spiders?" A soft voice called from behind them.
Towa and Jade turned to see a demon with purple hair and silver eyes staring daggers at them as she held the spider that had just bit Towa moments ago.
The woman was dressed in a short white dress that had dark red accents across the front and she had spiders crawling over her shoulders and up her arms.
Jade and Towa both were on guard now as they sensed her strong demonic aura spilling towards them.
"If you don't want your bugs to be trampled on then you shouldn't let them out of your sight." Towa taunted while gripping the hilt of her sword.
Jade's head snapped to her immediately as he looked at Towa like she was insane to challenge a demon that way while she was in her current state.
The spider demon smiled scarily at them as she lifted her hand to her face and the very spider that she had been talking about crawled across her cheek.
"How brazen of you human. I find it too merciful a death for me to just let you die of a poison spider bite." The demon woman said.
Towa's eyes widened at the mention of poison. This was just her luck.
"I will end your life here and now before I finally dispose of that pathetic traitor Onigumo." The demon stated.
Jade immediately put himself between Towa and the spider demon. Which made Towa's brows rise as he moved so quickly.
"Hold on a second. Don't you think that's a little drastic over a small little spider?" Jade asked.
"Not at all my spiders are like family to me and anyone who dares to harm what's mine. Doesn't deserve to live a second longer than I wish to allow." The demon stated in an icy calm voice before smiling wickedly. "Maybe if she begs I'll allow for just the poison to kill her. Maybe." She smiled.
"Move out of the way Jade. I'll handle her on my own." Towa said as she walked from behind him.
Towa had quickly taken one of the antidotes that she carried with her while she was behind Jade. She did so the moment that she started to feel her left hand go numb but the poison must be strong because she wasn't feeling any of the antidotes relieving effects yet.
"She said that she's here to kill Yuki anyway. Might as well just deal with her now." Towa said. She could feel her chest getting heavier the more that she talked.
Damn the moonless night for making her feel like this. Towa thought.
Such a small amount of poison normally wouldn't even illicit her to have to use her antinodes. She would have to do this fast if she wanted to stand any sort of chance. This demon challenged her and she would not hide even if it was a moonless night.
The demon woman clenched her fist and a vein even started to appear on her forehead. "To think that a human like you would have the nerve to speak to me like that. Your death will not be a quick one!"
Webs shot out all around the woman now and both Towa and Jade jumped from place to place avoiding each line of violent webs that came at them. Jade pulled out his weapon and slashed at the webs while Towa just dodged each web that came her way as they sprung at her and she jumped left and over each one. Rolling under a particularly close call before jumping over another. She needed to find a way to get close to the woman. Towa just couldn't do long range when she was like this.
Another thick mass of webs came Towa's way and she dodged yet again. Something told Towa that she wouldn't be strong enough to cut the thick webbs even if she tried while in this state and she knew that she'd be no good with her blade if she continued at a distance like this so getting in close was her only option.
Towa's eyes flashed to Jade who was occupied as well with avoiding the webs. The demon wouldn't even let him stand still long enough to do any sort of long range attack.
Towa smiled. It was obvious that the spider woman believed that Jade was her only real threat here. Towa could tell by the way that the demon kept Jade busy vs. how she was attacking her since she was human.
It would be the demon's downfall. Towa thought.
Towa took a deep breath before fully facing the spider demon again. It was now or never she told herself.
Towa rushed right at the demon now moving with skill as she made sure to never once be hit by any of the demon webs as she ran and jumped and dodged everything that came her way.
All the while Towa kept her eyes fixed on the spider demon who looked back at her with a snare once she realized how close Towa was getting and that Towa wasn't afraid in the slightest.
The demon stopped her attack on Jade and redirected all of her webs to come straight at Towa now in a huge mass.
Towa stopped in her tracks, there was nowhere for her to go and she couldn't attack the way that she was with the demon still so far away.
Thunder crashed into the mass of webs finishing them off in a flash as Towa felt herself being lifted from the ground and then into the air as Jade jumped into the trees.
"That was a close one, Are you insane! Why aren't you hiding or running away?" Jade scolded her and she crossed her arms.
"You can put me down now." She rolled her eyes.
The spider demon now chased them violently, destroying each tree that they touched as Jade jumped from place to place with Towa in his arms.
"You can't be serious right now, you almost died!" Jade said in disbelief.
"But I didn't, being a human doesn't inherently make you weak, you just have to move smarter. I don't like to run away and I don't like to lose so I won't be doing either tonight. You can either help me or stay out of my way." She said seriously.
"Towa." Jade said seriously. "I hear you and I know that you're used to never backing down but you should really let me handle this. Just this once." He said as he held her tighter in his arms. "Your body feels like it's on fire. It must be the effects of the poison. Let me help you this time." Jade pleaded before moving fast as the spider demon almost got them with her webs but Jade was able to just barely avoid it.
The spider demon released a bone chilling shriek.
"Demons like you are the worst. Stop protecting that human or I'll kill you too!" The spider woman screamed.
"And demons like you make me sick. You think that you're stronger than you actually are!" Jade called back.
Now the demon moved her webs to be all around her before controlling them to be under her feet. She jumped onto her webs and rushed towards the two of them in pursuit as she chased Jade and Towa through the forest, crashing her thick webs into the trees and destroying them all together now as she tried to get Jade and Towa.
"I won't be running away but if you want to help me, then fine." Towa said. "Let's do this together the smart way."
Towa whispered something to Jade and he stopped abruptly after some back and forth that the spider demon could not make out over her own rageful thoughts.
Jade put Towa down before pulling his sword from his hip and going straight for the spider demon.
Jade jumped from branch to branch getting closer and closer to her as she attacked him and now flung spiders his way with poisoned gas. She went to chase him believing that both he and Towa were still together as she didn't see him put her down up in the cover of the trees but the next thing that the spider demon knew the black haired human was right above her and she came crashing down holding a broken blade that barely missed the demons neck as Towa stabbed down only managing to pin the demon's hair to the tree.
The spider demon immediately flicked her right hand up along with a pillar of spider webs and Towa jumped over her hand before they could hit and stomped down hard on the demon's head quickly while pulling her blade that was embedded in the tree and stabbing down hard into the side of the demons neck from her vantage point on top of her.
The demon hissed and flung Towa high up into the air. Towa's back hit the bottom of the tree branch above before Towa hit the ground hard.
The impact of falling along with the slower healing effects of the antidote due to her human state made Towa feel dizzy. She couldn't get up again. She immediately realized as she tried to will herself to move before her world went black.
Jade immediately went for Towa with urgency but the spider demon grabbed her first.
"In all of my years I have never met a human who was able to even strike me before." The spider demon said as she wrapped Towa in her webs. "This has to be the girl that Rain spoke of. Tell me boy or I'll kill her right now. This girl is traveling with the half demon Onigumo isn't she?" The demon asked.
Jade stared coldly. "We both are but what's it to you?"
"Tell Onigumo that I'll be killing her the moment that he steps foot into my temple of webs. I'll even give him a front row seat before I kill the rest of you. He'll understand as soon as you tell him that Scarlet sent you." She smiled eerily.
"Go to hell! You let Towa go now or I'll pull you apart." Jade threatened.
"You sure do sound like someone who would hang around Onigumo. Go ahead and try it." The demon smiled.
Jade ran at her with unexpected speed, crumbling the ground underneath her as she just barely managed to dodge him now as he attacked.
He was back at it a moment later but she moved Towa into his path forcing him to stop attacking and Scarlet was able to crash a mass of webs into him before making her escape.
Jade was at it for minutes as he tried to remove Scarlet webs from around him. He was stuck in the sticky mass of webs that stung his skin as he felt whatever poison Scarlet had laced onto these things seep into his skin. It wouldn't kill him but it was sure going to leave a mark.
He had to get to Towa and tell the others that she was in trouble. What would happen to her if he didn't get free of these webs and nobody knew what happened to them?
Normally he would never even bother to worry about Towa but she wasn't herself especially after being bitten by that spider he could tell that she had been slower.
He never should have agreed to let her finish the demon off like she wanted. He should have stopped her back then. His mind raced.
"Jade!" Moroha called "Are you under there?" She asked as she got closer to the ball of webs that he was trapped in.
"Stop! Don't get too close! They're laced in some kind of poison." Jade said just as Moroha's hand touched the webbs and they evaporated into light around him as she purified the huge mass.
"You don't look too good." Setsuna told him.
"Of course not! I was just trapped under those poisoned webs!" Jade yelled.
"Hey calm down Jade. Moroha and I sensed a strong demonic presence this way so we all came out here, where's Towa?" Hisui asked.
Jade looked down. "I'm sorry, I really am. I shouldn't have let her fight alone like that."
"What happened?" Hisui asked calmly.
How he was staying calm was beyond Jade but they all were calm so it helped Jade calm down as well.
"The two of us were at the pond getting water before we found a spider crawling over my shoulder. Towa picked it up and I guess she hurt it somehow which angered a spider demon named Scarlet who's spider also bit Towa. Scarlet kidnapped her and wants to kill her in front of Yuki. It sounded like she knew that Rain demon you're all after." Jade said.
"Scarlet?" Yuki repeated.
"Do you know her?" Moroha asked Yuki.
Setsuna picked up Towa's broken blade from the ground. Eyeing it as Yuki spoke.
"We used to work together a lot when I was with Rain. She and Rain have a history together and the two of us hate each other. Of course Rain would tell her it's alright to kill me now." Yuki clenched his fist.
"How was Towa when she got kidnapped? Was she injured?" Hisui asked.
"Not severely I don't think, but I could tell that the poison was slowing her down." Jade said.
"Kilala." Setsuna said and the little cat got big. "We're wasting time, come on, let's go get my sister."
XXXX
The earliest memory that Towa had was when she and Setsuna were 3 years old.
The two of them didn't always live in a human village, they used to live nomadically with their mother and father for the first few years of their lives until one day Sesshomaru said that he had something to take care of and left the Twins alone with Rin while he was away.
Sesshomaru had been gone for 3 days and nothing was amiss as the girls caught food with their mother who told them stories and smiled at them with promises that their father would be back soon with gifts like he usually would after being gone for such a long time.
Everything was fine until on that third day a white haired woman came and took Rin away. Towa had woken up to the sound of her mother and the white haired woman speaking low in the quiet of the night.
The moonlit forest was calm but even so Towa still couldn't make out what the two were saying as she slowly sat up and walked to her mothers side.
"Mama, who's this?" Towa had asked.
The aura around the white haired woman felt strange and Towa didn't like that.
"Why don't you introduce us dear, it will be our first and last meeting after all." The woman said and Rin got stiff.
"Mom?" Towa asked tugging at Rin's clothes and her mother immediately recovered.
"This is Zero, she's an old friend of your fathers." Rin smiled, not showing for enven an instant that something might be wrong.
"Oh!" Towa exclaimed. "A friend of father's? It's nice to meet you." She must have just been strong. That's why her aura was funny. Towa thought.
"What a well mannered girl the two of you have raised and this one looks just like Sesshomaru too. Perhaps she should come with us Rin? What do you think?" The woman smiled.
"No! Towa doesn't need to be involved in all of this." Rin said sharp.
"Mom?" Towa asked and it was enough for Rin to compose herself.
"Towa this lady is going to take me to help your father with something important."
"Shouldn't I go with you if it's to help dad, mama? And Setsuna too?" Towa asked determined to be of use.
"No, he would be mad if you didn't stay here with your sister. She's sleeping and we can't wake her up this late. It's not good for kids to be up late at night." Rin said.
"Oh." Was all that Towa said disappointed.
"Hurry along with the chat, we need to go soon." Zero said.
"Towa, promise me that you and Setsuna will look after eachother while I'm gone." Rin said while doing her best to stay calm for her daughter's sake.
"How long will you be gone for?" Towa asked.
"Not long at all." Rin lied and Towa looked over Rins shoulder at Zero who stared back at her blankly before looking back to her mom.
"Okay mama, I'll stay here with Setsuna, I hope that you and father will be back by morning."
Rin kissed her daughter's head. "Thank you, my strong little girl." Rin said before laying her down beside Setsuna and kissing her head as well before disappearing into the night with Zero.
"She was lying, she's not going to be back soon." Towa said to Setsuna who she knew was awake now too.
"Why didn't you say anything?" Towa asked her sister.
"That woman's aura felt scary. I wanted her to go away." Setsuna said.
"Mom went with her." Towa said before sitting up and sniffing the air. "Setsuna you stay here."
"Where are you going?" Setsuna asked her sister.
"To get mom. She obviously needs our help."
"Towa wait, she told us to stay put. We should wait for father to return."
"Who knows when that will be. I think Mom needs help and I'm not letting that creepy demon take her away." Towa said now walking in the direction that she smelt her mother.
"Well I'm not letting you go alone. Mom said to look after eachother." Setsuna told her sister.
"Okay, I didn't want to go alone anyway. She scared me too but if it's the two of us I'm sure we can do it together." Towa smiled.
"You're right we did kill a mantis demon just the two of us last week. We can definitely help mom if she doesn't want to go with that creepy demon."
The two girls walked through the forest for not even 10 minutes before they were surrounded by flames. The two of them ran as fast as their small legs would take them as they tried to find their mother in the fire.
Towa pulled Setsuna fast through the flames as the fire raged on and Towa ran faster but she was moving too quick for Setsuna to keep up and her sister ended up tripping and falling down after so long.
Towa of course stopped to help her but just as Towa did so a large tree started to fall from behind Towa she didn't see it coming but Setsuna did and pushed her sister hard out of the way so that Towa wouldn't be crushed but now they were separated.
Towa called her sister's name as loud as she could from the other side of the flames, she could just barely hear her sister's voice on the other side of the burning tree that had fallen between them.
Towa looked around her for a way to get back to Setsuna but she was trapped by the fire.
"Get out of here Setsuna! I'll meet you outside of the fire!" Towa called.
"I'm not leaving here without you!" Setsuna called through tear stained eyes.
"You're not leaving me! There's a clear path ahead of me just like on the other side. I'll meet you out there! " Towa lied.
"You sound just like mom, stay put I'll find a way to get you out of there!" Setsuna said.
"No! Save yourself!" Towa coughed out.
There was no escape for Towa now she was boxed in and the flames got closer and closer until Towa could barely breathe as the smoke continued to fill her lungs and tears started to run down her face.
She hadn't heard anything from Setsuna in a while either. Hopefully she was safe.
Towa was worried about Setuna and her mother if she was in the fire too but most of all she thought that she was going to die there alone and in pain as the flames burnt her all over and she was terrified.
She knew nobody could save her now as the flames closed in even more and her tears dried onto her cheeks. She squeezed her eyes shut as if doing that would make the fire disappear when suddenly she felt herself being lifted up and she could finally breathe again.
She opened her eyes now gasping for air and she saw that she was up high above the flames now.
"No need to cry anymore. As long as I'm alive no one will ever harm your mother or you girls ever again." Sesshomaru said and Towa squeezed him tight.
That was the day that Towa realized that she wanted to be just like him and no one would ever need to lie to keep her safe again because she would become strong just like her father.
Towa's eyes fluttered open and she looked around.
She was facing the corner of a high stone wall. She did her best to try and look around but her movements were constrained thanks to the webs that she was wrapped in. She looked down from her place up high. She had to be up at least 4 stories high. If she fell from this height she would surely die.
She sighed as she tried to clear her head.
Of course she would have a dream like that in this circumstance. That was what happened right before she and Setsuna went to live in the village that they grew up in.
Setsuna couldn't even remember what happened after being caught in the fire that night. Towa recalled.
How lucky for her.
"I'm impressed." A man's voice rang through the air. Towa looked down and saw the vaguely familiar face of a man with auburn hair and earrings.
"Even as a human you have a strong mind to be poisoned by Scarlet's spiders and then stuck onto her web like this. You should have never woken up again from your nightmarish slumber but you did. Princess Towa you really are something special." The man smiled.
Towa gave him a questionable look before deciding to just ignore him.
She didn't know what he was talking about. She was actually feeling much better now that she was awake. It had been a good decision to take a second antidote in case she ended up succumbing to more poison from the spider demon.
The only problem being that she was down to just one antidote left now.
The man then floated up to her with a smile until they were face to face with each other.
"Don't you remember me?" He asked now merely inches from her face. His green eyes staring her down as she did her best to try and recall who he was.
"Um…" She looked at him closer and he looked at her hopeful which did almost make her feel bad.
"Should I?" She asked.
"It's okay, I understand that the poison might have you feeling a little foggy right now so I couldn't possibly hope that you'd remember like normal." He told her.
"Yeah, let's say that..." Towa said.
"I'm Riku, remember. We met in the eastern wolf demon territories." He smiled and his green eyes twinkled.
"Ohh. I actually do. You made Yuki react funny that day." She smiled as she recalled what he had said.
"Well I didn't want to be remembered by you through another man but I'm sure that will change. In need of saving, dear princess?" Riku asked.
Towa looked at him seriously now. "Why are you here Riku? Are you working with that spider demon?" Towa asked skeptically.
"Do you always think so fast?" Riku smiled. "No Scarlet is just someone that I know. Our goals don't align nor do they conflict but if she were here right now instead of me I imagine that she'd kill since you've awoken from your slumber. I on the other hand see no need for you to die in such a way. Especially here so let me save you and in exchange all I ask is that you do me a small favor later on. Sound fair? Should I carry you to safety now? Dear princess." Riki asked.
"In exchange for a favor?" Towa repeated and Riku nodded with a charming grin.
"Kick rocks, I don't need you to get out of this and by the time I'm free my friends will probably be here anyway." Towa said.
"Maybe you don't think as well as I thought you did. Even if you do get free as a human you'd fall to your death from this height. I really mean it, I can only help you if you're willing to help me later on." Riku pushed.
"I'll pass. Thanks but no thanks for the concern." Towa said.
"Fine then. If you end here just know that I wish that I could have known you longer." Riku said.
"How about we make a different deal? If I manage to get out of this alive without you. Then you owe me one. If I decide that I need your help then I'll do you a favor like you want." Towa challenged.
She hated people underestimating her and as soon as she was free, now that she knew what to avoid from the spider demon and how she fought, Towa was going to kill Scarlet herself.
Riku smiled. "Now that's interesting, show me how you plan to save yourself Princess Towa."
Riku floated back down and Towa examined her surroundings again, looking around for anything that she could use to try and get down from the tall web. She realized that she was left to her own devices to get free but after looking again she was sure that she could manage it as she wiggled her arms underneath her webbed ropes.
Luckily Towa could still use her arm's underneath the tight webs that were spun around her arms and she smiled when she felt the knife from the side of her hip in her palm.
Of course the spider wouldn't have taken all of her weapons. She had mistakenly thought that this was already over.
Towa then cut herself free from the inside of the webs and slipped free of her spot on the web. She started to fall down the length of the web pretty quickly now that the webbed ropes weren't keeping her stuck to the bigger web but she managed to grab onto a piece of the web before she could fall to her doom.
These webs were different from the webs that Scarlet used to attack her and Jade earlier. Towa noticed that these webs weren't toxic or as strong. These webs seemed like they were made to non lethally subdue prey.
Riku was across from her again floating on the other side of the web as she hung there by her arms now.
"I admit that I'm impressed but if you don't accept my offer now you really will fall to your death." Riku urged her in an attempt to get her to ask him for help now.
"Let me finish." Towa scolded him and he looked at her frustrated before flying back down to the ground.
Towa then swung back and forth on the left side of the web purposefully putting more weight on that one side of the web until it finally tore and she swung down fast holding the web with both hands while she pushed her feet out, pushing off of the stone walls as she came in contact with them but it wasn't enough to be free just yet.
Towa still needed to be closer to the ground before she could let go.
She took out her knife again with her right hand and threw it as hard as she could at the top corner of the web closest to her which made the whole corner of the web collapse now which brought Towa merely inches above the ground now.
She smiled smugly at Riku now. "Someone owes me a favor." She said as she let go of the web and walked safely on the ground.
Riku couldn't believe it. He was prepared to save her at any moment had she needed him to. He had never intended to let Towa die here but she had no way of knowing that as she confidently cut away at the web she was dangling from until it was safe to let go.
His heart missed a beat.
"A deal is a deal." Riku smiled. "What do you want from me?"
"Take me to Scarlet." Towa said.
"Usually the captives want to get out of here. Why go to her?" Riku asked.
"I'm going to kill her." Towa said.
"Do you really think you can manage something like that in your current state?" He asked.
"Your constant questioning is starting to piss me off, just take me there and you'll find out." Towa scolded him.
"As you wish, I apologize. I just can't help but be a little concerned about you fighting on a night like this." Riku said with an earnest tone that Towa didn't buy for one minute.
"Thanks but no thanks. You just let me worry about me. I've been a demon slayer for most of my life. Human or not I'm not too weak to kill a spider." Towa said seriously and Riku's eyes lit up.
"Wow, Towa now you're the type of person I like." Riku smiled.
"And you are proving to be the type of person that I want to avoid. Offering to help me out of what could have been a near death situation for anyone else but with a catch. I don't think that I trust you Riku." Towa said as Riku started to lead Towa down large stone hallways.
"That's fine. Who can you really trust that you haven't made a bond with yet? I'm sure that you'll come to appreciate me later, maybe you'll even call me a friend one day." Riku smiled.
"My friends don't leverage my safety in exchange for favors." Towa told him as she followed closely down the elaborate halls.
Thank god for Riku she had thought. This place looked like a maze and she couldn't even sniff her way through right now.
"Hmmm, you really didn't like that did you? I promise to just save you next time, agreed? Will you forgive me then?" Riku asked.
"I don't intend for there to be a next time like this." Towa told him.
A man sized spider demon rounded the corner and Towa punched it hard before taking its weapon and stabbing it swiftly, ending the demon and then eyeing her new weapon while Riku watched.
"No one has ever interested me the way that you do." Riku said.
"Keep your thoughts to yourself. I'm trying to move undetected." Towa told him.
"I apologize, you just keep surprising me princess I can't help it." Towa rolled her eyes. Before moving fast to get out of sight when she heard footsteps, while Riku stayed out turning to greet the demons.
Two more man sized spiders were in his path and Riku greeted them with a smile while Towa remained out of sight. The two demons simply just turned around in response to Riku.
Towa moved from her concealed place with a skeptical look on her face.
"For real Riku what are you doing here? Why don't those demons mind your presence?" Towa asked.
"Just passing by. I saw you fight in the forest and I didn't want you to die so I came to make sure that Scarlet didn't kill you. I have no interest in the lives of your champions rather they live or die, I don't care. Scarlet wants Onigumo dead and that's his business but when his business drags you in too, I simply don't see why you should die because of him." Riku said honestly and Towa could tell that he was telling the truth.
"Thank you for being honest. I don't know why you care about me but that doesn't matter. The lives of my friends don't have to be important to you, they'd never die to the likes of Scarlet anyway and neither would I. Do you really have no goals aside from simply passing through?" Towa asked.
"Well I'm trying to gain all of the rainbow pearls. I've got three here with me but I know where they all are now, so I'm just allowing their temporary owners to see things through before I reclaim what's rightfully mine then achieve my goal." Riku told Towa proudly and she paused.
"So the pearls are your goal huh?" Towa said and she looked at him seriously now. "I don't care what you do to anyone else with the pearls but if you hurt my cousin because of that pearl I won't hesitate to kill you." Towa told him seriously and a chill ran up Riku's spine.
"I wouldn't hurt her, not when you care so much about her. No, I will take the red pearl last." Riku said.
"You just remember what I said." Towa told him.
They walked some time more through the stone halls and after making some more twists and turns and Riku redirected some more spider demons the two of them came to a stop.
"Scarlet is in the room up the hall three doors down." Riku told Towa.
"Oh you're not coming with me?" She asked surprised.
Riku shook his head. "No, I only wished to save you if you had needed me but you've shown me that you're more than fine on your own so I'll take my leave now. Until we meet again, Princess Towa." Riku smiled before flicking his earring and leaving her alone.
Towa moved quickly and quietly through the halls to the door where Riku told her that Scarlet was. The door was slightly ajar and when she looked in she saw the spider demon fighting her sister and her cousin.
"Did Onigumo send you two girls to do his dirty work? How pathetic." Scarlet stated coldly.
They must have come on Kilala Towa thought.
Scarlet's webs came straight at Moroha who cut them away while. Setsuna jumped on to Kilala to get better speed and swung at Scarlet fast.
Distracting her while Moroha shot her arrow that split and rained heavenly arrows down on Scarlet who scream as the arrows pierced through her and cut through her webs.
"My web was torn when I tried to bring your friend here. She must have fallen to her death." Scarlet laughed maniacally in response to being injured by the two girls.
But both Moroha and Setsuna smiled.
"You should have kept a closer eye on her." Moroha said.
"Yeah my sister is the most dangerous of us all and you don't know where she went?" Setsuna smiled and now Scarlet attacked them with everything she had.
This was Towa's chance she thought as she saw an opening.
Towa ran in while Scarlet was distracted and swung her sword hard enough this time to cut off Scarlet's head.
Her head flew off and Scarlet screeched loudly as the rays from the sun flew in through the window and Towa smiled as her hair returned back to it's normal color and Setsuna's eyes faded back to violet.
"Half demons, just like him." Scarlet's severed head spat. "You'll all be dead once Rain finds out what you did to me. If I don't make it to the Cennentinal summance." Scarlet said lastly, right before Towa finished her off with a wave of blue light.
"You really had to go and get kidnapped didn't you?" Setsuna said to her sister.
"Yeah, I just wish that Uncle Shippo was here to see that it's not just me." Moroha huffed.
"Hey, I was poisoned and it was a moonless night!" Towa exclaimed.
"You were still kidnapped." Moroha said.
"It was a good idea for us to come before Yuki. The demon had her spiders watching him and had planned on killing you the moment he set foot here." Setsuna said.
"When did you get here? I don't know how long I was out but once I woke up I escaped pretty quickly. Despite the constant buzzing once I woke up." Towa said.
"Constant buzzing?" Both girls asked.
"You don't want to know." Towa sighed.
"Wow you girls handled that quick!" Yuki exclaimed as he entered the room.
"Of course we did, I told you the moonless night means nothing." Setsuna scolded him.
"Towa are you alright!" Jade asked as he ran to her.
"Yeah why wouldn't I be?" Towa asked.
"You were poisoned pretty bad back there, I was worried." He said truthfully and she smiled.
"Hey I'm fine, I keep antidotes with me so poison like that can't take me out as easy. I should have told you the whole truth back there about how I felt instead of worrying about beating Scarlet on my own. You were there with me and you wanted to kill Scarlet together. I'm sorry Jade, I should have listened to you." She said.
"It's okay, you're not mad at me so I'm not mad at you. we'll do better next time." Jade told her.
"We'll I'm mad." Hisui said. "Just like Moroha's kicking Yuki's ass on his next day of weakness, I'm kicking yours next month for making us scramble like that. When Jade said that you had passed out I was actually worried about you too." Hisui scolded her.
"Why not do it now? I'm not scared." Towa countered.
"No, you're going to pay in full. Towa making you pay right now wouldn't be enough." Hisui said.
She laughed and gave him a hug. "Can't you forgive me just this once." She asked.
"No." He said stern not letting it go and she let go of him.
"I really am sorry though, Hisui I mean it." She said honestly.
"She actually sounds sincere." Setsuna told him.
"Hisui, how could you be so cruel to Towa after she fought herself free from that demon on a moonless night." Moroha added.
"Fine, fine, I forgive you, just don't do it again." Hisui said stern.
"I won't." Towa smiled. "Thanks for having my back everyone." Towa told her friends. She really did love them. They wanted to protect her just as much as she wanted to protect them. They could never be ripped apart by any demon, not when they fought together.
A.N:
Thank you for reading everyone, the next chapter is titled Tora's palace of ash and will be up next Saturday. Thank you again for reading and everyone have a happy new year.
