A/N: Literal nightmare semester is finally over and I was able to finish this chapter somewhat in time for the holidays :D This chapter was so hard for me to write for some reason, and I'm still not entirely satisfied, but I really did want to get this out for you guys before the new year. Chapter 16: Kagome Kidnapped by Kouga, the Wolf Youkai! / Daitan Tries Pulling Rank on Someone Who Doesn't Give a Shit

"Three shards… he has three shards! One in his right arm, and one in each of his legs!" exclaimed Kagome. Inuyasha growling, shoulders tense.

"So you're the one in charge of this bloodthirsty pack?"

The wolf youkai looked around at the bodies of wolves strewn across the ground. His fist clenched.

"How dare you…" he growled, blue eyes narrowing. "Why did you slaughter my wolves?"

Before Inuyasha could open his mouth, Daitan stepped forward.

"You say that like they didn't attack us first — we did what was necessary to deter them." she said. The wolf youkai scoffed.

"And I'm supposed to just trust your word? You'll pay for murdering my underlings!"

"Just go and try it!" Inuyasha shouted from behind Daitan, his youki flaring. Daitan flung out an arm to keep him from advancing. She didn't break eye contact with the opposing youkai.

"You're part of the Wolf Clan, aren't you? Which branch?"

The wolf youkai tilted his head considering her.

"I belong to no branch — I'm Kouga, the new leader of the collective Wolf Clan. What do you say to that, dog?" he spat. Daitan beat down the urge to bare her teeth at him. It wouldn't do for her to lose it during a negotiation. Kouga, while not quite a daiyoukai, was still clearly of a high rank, judging by the decorated sword on his hip.

"I say that you're coming very close to incriminating on the territories of the House of Moon, to which I happen to be a successor. And it would look pretty bad if you happen to injure or kill me near the border when I'm just passing through with my companions."

It was a big gamble. In this time period, Sesshomaru technically wasn't her father yet, and didn't even know who she was. Daitan was banking on the chance that Kouga wasn't that familiar with the House of Moon. Unfortunately, her words didn't seem to carry the weight she hoped they did, because Kouga just grinned. He whistled mockingly, his tail swaying behind him.

"Big shot, huh? You think I'm going to just listen to you? Because all I see is some stunted pup who doesn't even have her mane yet!"

Daitan usually prided herself on her ability to keep her cool most of the time. But despite her vowing to keep calm not even a minute before…

This was not one of those times.

She Dashed forward and whipped her sword out so fast that Kouga, even with his jewel shards, just barely dodged it. Strands of hair from his bangs floated to the ground and Kouga danced away from her blade. The wolf youkai bared his teeth in a grin, the wind kicking up around him as he advanced on Daitan.

Inuyasha appeared from the sidelines, brandishing the Tessaiga and catching Kouga slightly off guard. Kouga kicked off from the ground to leap high into the air before crashing back down, aiming to land a kick on Daitan. She only somewhat managed to dodge it and she flew back, landing hard on the ground. The wolf youkai was so fast that she could hardly think of what to do next as she dodged another attack from the wolf youkai.

"Daitan, Inuyasha! He's using the power of the Shikon Jewel shards! They're in his legs and right arm!" shouted Kagome from behind. Kouga paused, looking around at the human girl in disbelief, and Inuyasha laughed.

"You don't have any actual power, do you? You just use the jewel shards!"

"You gotta use any resources necessary, you whelp!" retorted Kouga. Daitan attempted to skirt around to flank Kouga, but the wolf youkai was too fast, even for the wide range of her whip. When it extended from her fingertips, aiming to latch onto Kouga, he only smirked and leapt out of the way. When Inuyasha swung his Tessaiga, he was too slow due to the sword's enormous size. Not to mention the hits that Kouga managed to land on both of them.

Daitan had a slight advantage with her Dash, but even glancing blows from Kouga's shard-enhanced fist sent pain radiating through her and knocked her back. She could also feel herself reaching her limit — while her stamina using her Dashes was improving, Daitan was starting to feel exhaustion settle into her body the more she used them to dodge Kouga's attacks. The wolf youkai cackled, fangs bared.

"You two talk big, but you can barely keep up on the defensive, much less attack!"

Daitan's whip flashed past Kouga, and he barely moved an inch as it passed him. His grin only widened, laughing openly at Daitan.

"I didn't even have to dodge that one! Is your aim that terrible, you little runt—?" Kouga's jeering was suddenly cut off by a boulder slamming into him from behind, Daitan's whip latched tightly onto it. She bared her fangs and rushed forward, sword at the ready as Kouga stumbled and wheezed. However, no matter how angry Kouga's words had made her, she didn't get very far. She had used too many Dashes in a row dodging Kouga's attacks.

As Daitan grit her teeth and forced herself into one last Dash, to finally lop off that insolent wolf's head, a sharp pain arced through her body. Her vision suddenly tilted as her knees buckled, and she caught herself with her hands when she fell to the ground. Above her, Kouga smirked and flexed his claws, ready to strike her down in her moment of weakness.

"Hey, don't you forget about me!" shouted Inuyasha, catching Kouga's attention. He charged at the wolf youkai with murderous intent, flaring his youki to clash with Kouga's and creating a Wind Scar…

Kouga suddenly stiffened, eyes wide with fear as he leapt back, far out of range.

"Everyone!" he called. The surrounding wolves perked up. "Retreat! It's too dangerous!"

Before they knew it, he was gone, a cloud of dust trailing behind him. The remaining wolves followed quickly behind, and everything was silent once again.

"He ran away…?" muttered Inuyasha out loud. Daitan scoffed, clutching her head as she slowly got to her feet.

"He probably sensed the Wind Scar. He's a bit higher ranked than your average youkai." she said tersely. Every part of her body was aching, reaching down to her bones. Daitan didn't quite hear what the others said next as she sheathed her sword with a shaking hand and squeezed her eyes shut to keep the sudden dizziness at bay. A hand landed gently on her shoulder, and Daitan heard Kagome's worried voice next to her.

"Daitan, what happened? Are you alright?"

"M'fine," muttered Daitan, straightening up. "Just achey—" The dizziness returned, and Daitan stumbled to the left. She recognized Kagome's scent as she caught her, propping her back up on her feet.

"You must have overexerted yourself — you've never used that technique so many times in a row before," Kagome reached for Daitan's arm to lead her away. "Maybe you can sit down over there while—"

Before Kagome could finish her sentence, Daitan smacked her hand away.

"I said I'm fine," she snapped. She was definitely not fine. The world was still spinning, but a stinging heat had appeared in her throat and chest, and she turned away to hide watery eyes from her friend. "…I need to be alone for a while."

Kagome said nothing, stunned into silence as Daitan shuffled away to slump down against the nearest ruined house.

—-

Daitan slowly regained her bearings as the sun lowered in the sky, painting the clouds a bloody red. She could hear the others moving around behind her, moving the bodies of the villagers and digging graves for them. She pretended not to hear Kagome and Sango whispering to each other, or Inuyasha's complaints about digging graves that seemed to carry over far too easily to where she sat.

By the time night had fallen and the stars had made their appearance, Daitan could finally look up without the world tilting on its side. She now watched the fireflies flickering between the trees, dancing in the warm night air. Footsteps approached her from behind, and Sango spoke up.

"Hey, we caught some dinner, if you're hungry?" she said carefully. Daitan didn't feel like getting up, but the smell of roasting fish was making her mouth water. She sighed and got to her feet, quietly following Sango into the now abandoned house where they had made camp. Kagome looked up when they entered, but Daitan couldn't quite meet her eyes as she took a seat next to her. A few tense moments later, Inuyasha stepped inside, immediately spotting Daitan.

"Oh, you done sulking?" he asked, and everyone else tensed. Daitan lifted an eyebrow.

"Only if you're done waving your sword around aimlessly in an empty field." a little smirk crept onto her face and Inuyasha huffed, sitting down to her left.

"Hey, you said ages ago that you would show me some techniques, and you still haven't made good on that! That's not my fault, is it?"

As Daitan and Inuyasha bickered, the tension in the room eased into a more comfortable atmosphere as everyone started to eat. Daitan sighed, a slight smile on her face.

"I guess you have a point," she said, picking up her fish. "I've been slacking, haven't I? We should start training together in the evenings." Inuyasha nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, when you're not too busy sulking about getting beat in a fight," he said through a mouthful of fish. "What was that, anyway? Thought you were too high and mighty to lose it over some words." Daitan pursed her lips, twirling her fish skewer in thought.

"Well, I don't think it would have hurt so much if there wasn't some truth to what he said."

To Daitan's surprise, it was Miroku who groaned loudly in frustration. When she looked up at him, his face was set in a frown, as if he had just eaten a lemon, and when he spoke, his voice was sharp.

"I'm getting a little tired of trying to talk some sense into you, Daitan," he said, putting down his fish to point a finger at her. "Do you even hear yourself? You completely lost your temper, again, acted recklessly, again, and then ended up almost dying because you pushed yourself too far and made yourself vulnerable? Inuyasha had to save you — I'm done hearing any more of this negative self-talk from you!"

Daitan was stunned into silence. She would have expected this kind of rant from Kagome, not Miroku. But by the way he huffed and sat back, arms crossed, it seemed like something he had been holding in for quite a while.

"...Before you start yelling at me again," she started. "I'd just like to say… objectively… that it's absolutely true that I don't have a — well, that wolf called it a 'mane,' but my dad has always just called it a 'mokomoko,' and thus yes, I am a bit behind in development."

Daitan expected a few nods, but all she got was confused silence. Kagome, who had been silent the entire time, tilted her head.

"What's a mokomoko?"

"It's a — wait," Daitan looked around at all the blank looks on her friends' faces. "You don't know? Not even you, Inuyasha?"

"Why the hell should I know anything about inu daiyoukai? I'm not exactly on good terms with Sesshomaru, you know." he grumbled.

Daitan went quiet for almost a full minute. Her father's mokomoko had been such a part of her life that along the way, she must have assumed that everyone who knew about inu daiyoukai knew what it was.

"...Okay," she said, shaking herself out of this monumental revelation. "You know the fluffy thing that my dad has on his shoulder? That's his mokomoko."

"And what does that have to do with your development?" asked Sango, scratching Kirara on the top of her head. Daitan waved her fish skewer absent-mindedly.

"Well, when an inu daiyoukai reaches a certain point in their maturity, they get a mokomoko."

"So wait," Kagome piped up. "You're saying you wear a mokomoko when you turn a certain age? So why—"

"No, it's not something you wear, it just sort of appears."

"...Appears…?" Kagome still looked completely lost. A nervous giggle bubbled up in Daitan's chest.

"Yeah, because it's… a part of… your body…?"

Silence.

"So all this time I was thinking that Sesshomaru was just making some weird fashion statement, but now you're telling me it's been part of his body this whole time?!" burst out Inuyasha.

"Like a tumor or something?" chimed in Shippo, his little face screwed up in disgust. Daitan shook her head, trying and failing to keep her giggles under wraps.

"No, he can move it around, like an extra limb, and take it off, too. He used to wrap me up in it when I caused trouble as a little kid." she pointedly did not mention that he continued to do so currently, even though she was much older. Sango finally spoke up, a thoughtful expression on her face.

"So what you're saying is that you were supposed to manifest a mokomoko at some point, but it hasn't happened yet? Why is that, do you think?"

Daitan's grin fell a little as she shrugged.

"I'm not sure. I know that it's one of the milestones toward coming into full power as an inu daiyoukai, and they usually happen between the ages of one-hundred twenty and one-hundred seventy-five, which is the latest of what's considered typical. So technically, I am behind in development, since none of those milestones have really happened yet, other than my abilities manifesting in different ways, like my Dash. Dad doesn't seem all that worried, but it's kind of hard knowing that nobody in the other noble houses really takes me seriously because of it…"

After a few moments, Kagome decided to break the silence.

"You said the mokomoko was just one milestone… What are the others?" she asked

Daitan felt like her tongue had stuck to the roof of her mouth.

"Oh, they're… not really worth mentioning. Mostly just a growth spurt in power, is all." her eyes flicked down to the sword at her side.

Miroku hummed thoughtfully.

"I suppose I can see where you're coming from. If I'm guessing correctly, then you're still seen as weak or a child by others because you haven't reached these milestones?" when Daitan nodded, he tilted his head, a slight smile appearing on his face. "I suppose another way to look at it is that when it does manifest, even though it may have taken more time, perhaps it's because you needed more time to reach a fuller potential? You're plenty powerful already compared to the majority of other youkai we've fought."

Daitan only shrugged again, but this time a flicker of warmth sparked in her chest.

"You haven't really met any daiyoukai other than my dad… we're supposed to be on a whole other level than your common variety of youkai. But I appreciate the sentiment."

Miroku didn't seem satisfied with her answer. He narrowed his eyes at her, but said nothing as he took a bite of his fish. Kagome nudged Daitan's arm.

"Either way, it's supposed to happen eventually, right? Maybe the reason the present time Sesshomaru isn't worried is because he knows what's going to happen? It could manifest tomorrow, for all you know, and then Kouga would look pretty silly once we show up to kick his butt!" she said. Daitan smirked, holding her chin up.

"Actually, I think he'd be even more humiliated if I kicked his butt without it — to show his pack that he got his ass handed to him by a 'stunted pup.'"

"You just need to keep a handle on that temper of yours." reminded Miroku sagely, taking a sip of his tea. Daitan chuckled, rubbing the back of her neck sheepishly.

"Yeah… that's probably a good idea…"

—-

After a full night's rest, everyone woke early to get on the road in search of Kouga. While Sango and Miroku took to the sky on Kirara's back to search from above, Inuyasha, Kagome, and Shippo walked along the winding mountain road. Daitan had situated herself along the ridge above them, nose to the air as she followed the wolf youkai's scent. It certainly wasn't hard to miss — the entire pack had followed in his wake and left an obvious trail. However, something didn't quite feel right.

The hairs on the back of Daitan's neck stood up, and she suddenly felt very exposed standing at the top of the ridge. A shadow flitted behind one of the mountain peaks, just in her periphery, and she stopped in her tracks, eyes scanning the cliffs. Up ahead, she spotted Kirara making her descent to the mountain path to regroup with the others. Daitan made to slide down herself, but she hesitated, glancing over her shoulder one last time and inhaling once again through her nose. Nothing. The wind didn't seem to be on her side, if she wanted to find out what she had caught a glimpse of in the distance.

Using her whip as a makeshift rappel, Daitan started sliding down the cliff face to regroup with the others. A little grin grew on her face when she heard Inuyasha's faint shouting. But it didn't last long as the sounds of growls, barks, and paws on rock reached her ears. Daitan turned her head to see dozens of wolves pouring over the cliff. And they were all heading straight for her friends down below.

A few wolves made a beeline for her, but she braced her feet against the cliff and pushed off, going into a free fall. Twisting in the air, Daitan flung her arm out to the side and struck down the middle of the pack with her whip. As several wolves lost their footing and were thrown off course, Daitan reattached her whip to the cliffside and swung from it, drawing her sword and slashing at as many wolves as she could. There were some, however, that managed to slip around her and barrel down the mountain, making for the others.

"Guys, look out—!" Daitan's shout was cut off by a wolf leaping at her from behind. Its teeth sank into her leg and Daitan growled, giving it a swift kick and sending it flying into the side of the mountain. The wound left behind wasn't deep, and Daitan quickly looked around to check on her pack. What she saw made her heart drop.

Inuyasha had been tackled off the road by three wolves, all of them falling down to the river below. Miroku, Sango, and Kirara were busy fighting off the wolves surrounding them. But by far the most terrifying was that Kouga had reappeared and snatched Kagome right out from under their noses.

The wolf youkai leapt off the cliffside the path had been dug into, heading for the cliff on the other side of the ravine. Daitan's lip curled in a snarl. The sound of Kagome's terror-stricken scream tore through Daitan's heart as the young human girl fell through the air, forced to cling tightly onto Kouga's back. Blood pounded in her ears, but Daitan forced her rage down in favor of pulling herself back to the side of the cliff with her whip. Claws dug deep into the rock, she brought her legs up so that her feet were flat against the cliff. Kouga had almost made it to the other side of the ravine, his jump enhanced by the jewel shards. Every muscle in Daitan's legs tensed, taught as a drawn bowstring.

Just before Kouga reached the other side, Daitan released her claws from the cliffside and kicked off with all her might. Stone cracked beneath the soles of her feet before she blasted off the side of the cliff, speed enhanced with a Dash. Time seemed to slow down, and the wolf youkai, who had just started making his way up the opposite cliff, looked like he was moving at a normal pace, rather than at his shard-enhanced speed. In mere moments, Daitan had intercepted him, landing above him with a boom and a shower of small rocks. His eyes went comically wide at Daitan's wild expression.

"You're not getting away from me this time!" she snarled, fangs bared. "Give Kagome back to me, and I'll consider letting you live!"

Kouga made no reply, eyes darting left. In a split second, he managed to leap past Daitan with his blinding speed. But Daitan had anticipated that. Her whip latched onto his left leg, and she stubbornly clung on as he raced up and over the cliff. She let herself be pulled to the edge, but dug in her claws with her other hand and tightened the whip as much as she could.

As expected, the wolf youkai was sent into an impressive faceplant, his head bouncing back up from the ground. During his fall, he had let go of Kagome, who tumbled into the dirt beside him. Kouga groaned, shaking his head. A large shadow flew overhead, but Daitan paid it no mind as she made her way over to Kagome. The dark haired girl smiled in relief.

"Daitan—!"

"Not so fast!" Apparently, the jewel shards granted some boost to recovery time as well. Daitan drew her blade, but the wolf youkai just smirked and rushed at her. Daitan attempted to Dash out of the way, but the short bursts of speed had nothing on his constant pace. Having closed the distance, Kouga did something that caught Daitan completely off guard.

Instead of rearing back for a hit with a shard-enhanced punch, Kouga rammed his shoulder into Daitan's stomach with his full strength and caught her around the waist. Daitan wheezed as the wind was punched out of her lungs. She dropped her sword, and Kouga took the opportunity to throw her high up into the air.

Before Daitan could orient herself, something caught her around the middle with large talons. Blinking through a coughing fit, she looked up to see that the thing that had caught her looked like an enormous bird, only instead of a head and neck, there was a wide, toothy mouth and two white eyes with beady black pupils. It seemed as though a humanoid torso was attached to the back of the bird's body, with blue skin and a bald head.

The youkai bird screeched with delight at its catch, the toothy mouth on its body salivating profusely as it brought the talon holding Daitan up to it. At least until Daitan summoned her whip to tangle in its wing and rip out most of its primary feathers. It screamed in pain and plummeted to the ground, its grip loosening until Daitan could wriggle herself free and land safely on her feet. The same could not be said for the bird youkai, who had turned upside down and landed with a crunch on top of the torso on its back.

It lay utterly still. When she looked around, Daitan spotted a now familiar cloud of dust disappearing into the distance. Kouga and Kagome were gone. But that was the least of Daitan's problems as more bird youkai gathered above her, showing off razor sharp fangs in wide toothy grins. Daitan made a break for her sword, which lay abandoned on the ground, and faced the dozens of bird youkai that were now circling above her.

"Hiraikotsu!" Sango's familiar battle cry echoed off the cliff face as her Hiraikotsu spun into sight, tearing apart several birds at once. The taijiya was flying on Kirara's back, and together, they managed to dispatch the dozens of bird youkai in mere minutes.

After the last bird had fallen, Daitan swung up onto Kirara's back.

"Kouga has Kagome," she said urgently, "They headed north, past those mountains!"

"Got it!" said Sango, and Kirara raced forward through the air in pursuit of the cloud of dust in the distance.

—-

Despite their best efforts, Daitan, Sango, and Kirara ultimately failed to catch up to Kouga. They were no match for the wolf youkai's speed, not to mention the sheer number of bird youkai they had run into during their pursuit. Now they descended through the air, heading toward Miroku, who had just pulled Inuyasha from the river at the bottom of the ravine.

"Any sign of Kagome?" called Miroku. Kirara landed softly on the ground and Daitan slid off of her back, a troubled frown on her face.

"We almost caught up with them, but we ran into some pretty heavy interference." said Sango.

"With what?"

"Some kind of bird youkai — that wolf thought it would be a good idea to toss me up in the air to get their attention before running off with Kagome." grumbled Daitan.

Kirara was gracious enough to take on more passengers to fly them up the cliff, and soon they all stood in front of the very first youkai that Daitan had killed. One of its wings was crumpled, and large grey feathers littered the ground around it.

"There weren't just ten or twenty of them," said Sango gravely. "They covered the entire sky."

"I suppose these creatures explain the foreboding energy we sensed…" mused Miroku.

"I did think I saw something flying in the mountains earlier," said Daitan, eyes scanning the cliffs around them. "But the wind wasn't really blowing in a good enough direction to give me a scent."

"I can guess that these mountain peaks are their territory." Sango added.

"If you two found these youkai a challenge," started Miroku, a crease appearing between his eyebrows. "Then we may have more than just the wolf clan to worry about."

"It was really just their sheer numbers, rather than any individual's strength— hm?"

Daitan's ear twitched as she heard a quiet pop to the left. A small red mushroom had sprouted from a log nearby, and almost immediately after it appeared, it started to release what sounded like Shippo's distressed cries. A few moments later, another mushroom appeared a few feet farther away.

"Shippo—!" Daitan hadn't even noticed that the small kitsune had gone missing.

"They're his warning signs!" said Miroku, looking up as more mushrooms sprouted. Daitan's frown deepened.

"They're leading in the same direction I saw Kouga take Kagome; that must mean that he's been captured too!" I can't believe I missed him — he's just a little kid, he could get eaten alive!

They immediately leapt to action, Inuyasha and Daitan leading the way on foot, Sango and Miroku following close behind on Kirara's back. More mushrooms appeared ahead of them, sprouting up thick and fast and making a clear trail. Daitan kept scenting the air as well to follow the pungent scent of wolf, and firm determination settled in her chest as she and Inuyasha ran side by side.

After several minutes of following the mushrooms, the trail suddenly went cold. Daitan and Inuyasha skidded to a stop. Daitan inhaled several times through her nose, trying to catch wind of Kagome or Shippo. The scent of wolves was everywhere, and it almost overpowered every other scent in the area. Almost. Along with the wolf scent, she was starting to smell the same bird youkai that Kouga had thrown her to earlier.

"This isn't good…" she muttered, looking up at the surrounding mountain peaks. Inuyasha grumbled in agreement as Sango, Miroku and Kirara caught up with them.

"Ugh, I can smell wolves everywhere, and I don't even have Inuyasha's or Daitan's sense of smell…" Sango commented, wrinkling her nose.

"That's not our only problem," said Inuyasha, ears pricked up. "I'm starting to smell bird."

And as if on cue, Daitan spotted movement up in the mountain peaks. Dozens of bird youkai came pouring from the cliffs, talons extended, wide mouths agape in bloodthirsty grins, and shrieking their high pitched battle cries. Daitan let out a frustrated groan.

There are even more of these things? We don't have time for this!

A/N:

Nobody:

Daitan: My father will hear about this-

I will make up as much lore as I want for this fic istg. Also, I'm really looking forward to the chapter after next *looks through massive outline document* it'll feature some shenanigans I've cooked up for Daitan and Kagome in modern times that I've been giggling to myself about for a while now...