Most of the wolves that attempted to attack us lay on the surrounding ground. The wolf-demon crosses his arms against his armored chest, his navy blue eyes glaring at us.
"So you're controlling this pack!" Inuyasha accuses, but the truth lies around us. This wolf demon is the alpha of these wolves.
"And you're their executioner? Damn you all for murdering my underlings! You'll pay with your lives!" The wolf-demon threatens.
"How many innocent people have you killed? You reek of human blood!" Inuyasha growls.
"They needed to eat. Got a problem with that, mutt?" The wolf-demon barks back.
"What did you call me?" Inuyasha says, taken aback.
"No, you're right, that would be an insult to canines! You smell much worse!"
Inuyasha unsheathes the Tetsusaiga, holding it in both hands. "Don't like my smell? Then maybe I'll solve your problem by slicing off your nose and stabbing some air into your belly!"
Inuyasha is the first to react. He leaps into the air, swinging Tetsusaiga back, but the wolf-demon also leaps, but out of the way. The Tetsusaiga collides with the ground, throwing rocks and dirt everywhere from the collision. The wolf-demon comes down, head first, with his arms coming in front of him. He lands on all fours and kicks his left foot up into Inuyasha's jaw, throwing the half-demon off his feet and skidding across the ground.
"He's fast!" I hear Sango from close behind.
Inuyasha won't be able to keep up unless he thinks smart and apparently, he didn't hear me the first time when I told him about the wolf-demon's shards. "Inuyasha! He's using the power of the jewel shards! They're on his legs and right arm!"
The shards glow with a brilliant purple light, exposing them to me fairly easily. But these shards aren't crying out to me like they have been normally with other demons. This has me wondering how truly evil this demon's morals are.
The wolf-demon turns his head to face me and our eyes meet. His navy blues widen just slightly as he lands on the ground a distance away from Inuyasha.
"Why didn't you say so earlier?" He grumbles, getting up fully and turning back to the wolf demon. "I thought you were acting pretty tough, but it's only 'cause you've got jewel shards! You haven't got any power on your own, do ya?"
"You gotta know how to use the power, ya whining whelp!" The wolf-demon bites back yet again.
"If you could fight as fast as you can talk, then we'd get somewhere!" Inuyasha hisses.
"Shut up, albino runt!"
"You rabid mongrel!"
"They're well matched in foul behavior…" Miroku mumbles.
"He's…a wolf demon!" Sango exclaims. Something I already could add up with all the wolves and his attire and tail. It wasn't hard to figure out.
"You met one before?" Miroku asks, turning to her.
"I'm Koga, the new leader of the wolf demon tribe and your destroyer!" The wolf-demon spouts.
"I've heard about them from other demon slayers. They're demons who control wolves. Although they appear human, they're no different from the wolves they command," Sango says.
I hear their growls before I see them, and when I look behind us, I see a group of wolves walking up on us.
"They're closing in from either side!" Miroku alerts.
"Kirara!" Sango orders with a single word.
Kirara leaps in front of the coming wolves. She transforms into her larger form with fire bursting around her body until she's of her massive size. She roars, shaking the ground and scaring off the wolves as they, yelp running away.
"They ran off, tails between their legs!" Shippo says, jumping onto Kirara's back. "The rest is up to Inuyasha!"
We all turn our attention back to the two demons ahead. Inuyasha is mid-air, swinging down his blade at Koga, who stealthily rushes with incredible speed out of the way. Inuyasha collides his blade with the ground, leaving a chunk of land missing in the shape of his sword.
Koga races at Inuyasha, but the half-demon falls onto his back and uses his legs to push Koga up into the sky, throwing the wolf-demon back towards a small hut. Koga flips in the air, allowing himself to collide with the building feet first. The roof of the hut gives in easily as Koga lands in the middle of the hut surrounded by dust and dirt. The rest of the hut, too weak to handle the damage done, falls around him.
"What a joke. You can barely keep up, let alone attack!" Koga chuckles.
Koga steps out of the rubble and then pushes off the ground in a sprint toward Inuyasha.
Inuyasha lifts Tetsusaiga familiarly; it gathers up wind ahead of it as he pulls it over his head with both hands. He groans from the weight and power this singular attack will bring and he, too, sprints towards Koga. But midway, Koga halts and leaps back.
"Take this!" Inuyasha yells.
"Something is wrong!" Koga announces. Koga's leap sends him flying back where he carefully lands on the roof of a small building, far from Inuyasha's sword and attack. "Let's retreat! It's too dangerous!" Koga demands. He jumps to the ground and runs off at incredible speeds.
"He ran away," I mutter. I look back at Inuyasha, who holds Tetsusaiga in front of himself with both hands. "He must have sensed the danger."
"Inuyasha, were you about to use the wind scar in battle with him?" Miroku asks while approaching Inuyasha from behind.
"Yeah. I guess he was all talk and no action," Inuyasha slides Tetsusaiga back into its sheathe and stares off into the distance where Koga disappeared.
"Makes me wonder," Miroku starts, eyeing Inuyasha with reserve in his eyes. "I wonder if Koga sensed the power of Tetsusaiga before it hit him? Maybe his instincts told him that he was in danger?"
"Then it's not just brute strength we're up against," Sango adds.
The sun has gone down an hour ago. The boys, except for Shippo, were burying the dead and paying their respects while Shippo and I carry fire logs back to one of the few huts not destroyed by the attack. Inside, a light burns bright from a fire pit lit by one of the walls. It's slightly covered by a clay top of some sort, almost like an oven, but with the fire pit being the only thing heating the room.
"You heard of the wolf demon tribe, too?" I ask.
"Oh, yeah! They live in packs up in the mountains and they think they're supreme wolf demons. They bully other demons off their land and claim it as their own territory. Smaller demons like me were driven out and had to find shelter elsewhere because the wolf demon tribe took possession of the mountains, and they guard them ruthlessly," Shippo replies, lugging two small logs and heading for the open door.
"I don't suppose you've heard of the name Koga, before?"
"There are so many branches of the wolf demon tribe. Koga bragged that he was their new leader. So maybe he caused an upstart and took control of the packs by using the jewel shards!" He enters the hut. Sango sits in front of the fire pit, her hands on her lap and her feet underneath her. "We brought more firewood."
"Thank you. You can put it over there."
"By the way, have you seen Kirara anywhere?" Sango asks, standing up and placing a fist against her chest.
"Kirara? I saw her walking around outside with Inuyasha a little earlier," Shippo answers.
They must have finished burying the dead if Shippo saw Inuyasha with Kirara. The two of them have been hanging out more than usual, and are usually somewhere far from us.
"Again? She's been following him around constantly lately. I wonder why?" Sango questions.
The cool air brushes my black hair over my shoulder, rounding Shippo, who hangs on to my sleeve. Luckily, my shirt doesn't droop from his weight, exposing any flesh that may seem inappropriate. But as we walk along the edge of the cliff with the sun beaming against the mountainside, my arm hairs start to stand.
Inuyasha is a few yards ahead of Shippo and I, sniffing the ground in search of Koga's scent. It's not about Koga's jewel shards anymore, it's about the grudge Inuyasha has for the wolf demon. Sango and Miroku are circling the mountain from high above on Kirara's back. I wonder if they have found anything yet.
"I've picked up the scent. I'll be able to lead us right to the wolves, no problem," Inuyasha lifts his head from the ground and glances around. "That cocky bastard! I can't believe he called me a mutt!"
"I don't blame him for getting upset over being called a mongrel, but when he's sniffin' the ground, he sure looks like one," Shippo says.
"I heard that! Come here and say that, Shippo! I dare ya!" Inuyasha shouts while standing up.
"He can hear me from that distance? Talk about canine power!" Shippo grips tighter to my arm sleeve, nearly burying his face into the cloth to hide from Inuyasha's rage.
"Canines are carnivorous, remember that!" Inuyasha growls loudly.
I reach Inuyasha, who waits impatiently near the round corner of the mountain and just as I reach him, Sango and Miroku land behind us.
"It's about time!" Inuyasha barks. "Can you guys fly any slower?"
"Inuyasha! Can you smell or hear anything unusual about this area?" Miroku asks.
My right brow raises. Did they see something or sense something like I have? I glance down at my covered arms. Though I can't see them, the hairs are still standing on edge. Something doesn't feel right.
"What? So now I'm your faithful terrier? Wonderin' if I've sniffed out a scent or heard something with my little doggie ears?"
"Relax! I am simply asking if you sense a different presence in the air like we do!" Miroku argues.
"Look! Up there!" Sango says. We all follow her eyesight up the mountain and to the oncoming pack of wolves running down the wall of the mountain. How they can stay on the wall without slipping or falling is a question I would ask if I knew demons and spirits didn't exist. But as the wolves are oncoming, they are pushing their direction to Inuyasha.
The wolves come down and slam into Inuyasha, biting at the front of his shirt and holding on for dear life as they all, including Inuyasha, fall back off the cliff's edge. The fall would lead them into a river with barely any rocks spotted in the water.
"Inuyasha!" Miroku shouts, climbing off of Kirara and looking over the edge, but a sound caught our ears and we look back up at the mountain to see another pack of wolves coming down at Sango and Miroku. Kirara lifts into the air while Sango kicks and punches the wolves away and Miroku uses his staff to beat the wolves that come running at him.
"Shit," I mutter, reaching for my sword on my back, and pulling the sword free from sheathe, I hear another sound, much different from the padding of the wolf paws on the rock. It was like thunder and swiftness I can't explain. I glance over the cliff's edge and see Koga running up the wall, passing Inuyasha on the way up.
"See ya later, mutt face!"
Koga leaps past me, up high into the air, and comes down fast, snatching me around the waist and pulling me up against the side of his chest. My sword falls from my grip and I can't reach it fast enough before he sprints off at top speeds with me in his grip.
"Now she's mine!" Koga grins.
"Keara!" I hear Miroku call out for me.
He races us far from the view of the group and as he continues; we're about to reach the end of the cliff's edge and he's not slowing down.
"No!" I yell. "You're not going to make that!"
"This cliff is nothin' to me! I've got sacred jewel shards in my legs," Koga says pridefully.
He leaps us off the edge and across the large crevice with the river below and as we fly across the crevice; I close my eyes. I bite down from screaming, hating the feeling I get when I let loose, but also hating the squeeze of pressure in my stomach when I don't.
"Hold on!" Koga says.
I wrap my arms around his chest, afraid for my life and just then realize Shippo still hanging onto my shoulder. Opening one eye, I look down at the fox demon and see his eyes closed as well. He whimpering, trying not to cry, but some tears are slipping down the corners of his eyes without his control.
Koga collides with the opposite cliff's wall feet first, dragging down the wall before he starts to leap us up the cliff until we reach a trail along the mountainside that's flat.
"Ha, ha! He can't keep up with me! No one can run as fast as I can!"
"You knocked him off a cliff. That's kind of cheating. Plus, you have jewel shards in your legs," I hiss. "Why the hell did you kidnap me to begin with?"
A large shadow passes us, making an odd bird-like shape on the ground.
"What is that?" I ask. When he doesn't respond, I look up the best I can and see there are odd-shaped birds, with large circular heads, striped dark brown wings, and the upper half of a demon on top of its round head. The circular part of the body also has a wide grin with pointed teeth and large almond-shaped eyes. The demons' skin is blue and they are either male or female, bare-chested as they circle us from up above. "What are those things?"
"They're not canaries. I can tell you that much. And I bet they want dinner," Koga responds. He turns his head to me, our faces almost touching and I feel a warmth take over my cheeks. I've only ever been this close to Inuyasha, and that was by accident. "See any jewel shards? I know you have the power to see shards of the jewel. So do those demon birds have any?"
I look up at the birds covering the pale blue sky with their ugly faces and large bodies. But I don't see any sign of a shard. None here, or beyond, other than the three Koga has.
"No, I don't see any."
"Fine! Then I've got no use for them!" Koga grips me tighter and then sprints off along the trail around the mountain. "See ya! We're outta here!"
We come up to a waterfall with land dotted all around it, with cliffs peeking out from the cliff side and trees on top of the cliff, shading the ground below. Amongst those cliffs are other wolf demons and wolves alike, holding onto different weapons in their tough hands.
"Hey, it's Koga!" One says excitedly.
"Koga's come back!" Another says.
Koga grins, still holding me tight between his arm and the side of his chest. My fists tightly clench against the metal of the armor around his chest, not quite able to hold on to the edges otherwise, I'd be touching his bare chest.
"Hey, guys! I'm back."
There are several, if not at least, fifty wolves and wolf demons outside of the waterfall, which I can see now has a cave peeking out from behind the falling water.
Koga puts me down, my feet unstable under my weight. Koga catches my left arm and steadies me before lugging me along the cliff to the inside of the cave. Many of the wolves and wolf demons follow us, and once inside, they stand or sit in front of us, examining me curiously.
"Hey, Koa, who's the woman?" Someone in the crowd asks.
Koga still has my left arm tight in his grip, and he doesn't respond to the questions asked as he practically drags me to the back of the cave. In the back of the cave is a large round spot of hay that is laid out for someone to sleep in. Koga throws me into the circle of hay, which cushions my fall. I immediately sit up and glare up at the staring wolf demons, their mouths watering and eyes glimmering with hunger.
"Nice looking prey! Can I have a leg?" One asks.
"First dibs on the liver!" Another asks.
"This woman is off limits!" Koga snarls. "I'll kill anyone who tries to take a bite!"
I relax a little. My shoulders fall back straight from the hunched position they were in. He won't be killing me yet and even so….
My fists clench against the hay below me. I can always use my abilities to protect myself, but Koga has yet to threaten me. I also don't have any emotions strong enough to control my powers to begin with.
The wolves behind Koga sniff at his tail, earning the wolf-demon leader's attention. Koga grabs his tail and underneath is Shippo, hanging on for dear life. He must have slipped off my shoulder during the run without me realizing it and grabbed onto Koga to not get lost.
"Oh yeah, him," Koga says. "Here, have an appetizer."
Koga flings Shippo towards the group of wolves surrounding us and they begin to surround the small fox demon.
"Keara, help!" Shippo cries.
Shit. I leap to my feet and stomp between Shippo and the wolves. Koga raises a brow and places his hands against his hips.
"Do you want my help with the shards, or not? I won't help if anyone harms Shippo."
"Well, you've got more guts than I thought," Koga grins. He walks to one of the wolves and picks him up to split the circle that starting to close in on us. "Come on, move! You guys have packed on a lot of weight again; you bunch of gluttons. You're not eating anything more for the next couple of days."
Shippo leaps up to my shoulder and hugs my neck, his tiny arms strangling me for the small bit he hugs until he releases me.
"Out of the way! Move! We've got injured! Make room!" Shouts a man as he leads the way for a group of other men who are carrying wooden slabs with injured wolf demons on top. When they approach Koga, they lower the injured men. One of the men on the slabs has bird feathers trapped in his fist.
"What happened out there?" Someone asks.
But no one answers him.
"Was it them?" Koga asks, looking down at the injured.
"They attacked during the changing of the watch. Only these two managed to escape. Others fell off the cliff to their death or were carried away," the wolf demon next to him says. This wolf demon has short gray hair with a tuft of blue in the middle. He's been following us around since I arrived, but must have disappeared to help carry in the injured.
I look over the injured. They have massive claw marks all over their bodies, but luckily, they aren't bleeding too much.
"It must have been those birds," I say out loud.
"They call themselves the 'Birds of Paradise,' but they're our archenemies, and this is their doing." Koga turns his attention to me. "Without warning, they swoop down silently and capture our comrades with their sharp, powerful claws. And then, they eat them. We've come across their nests before and have found them littered with hundreds of wolf bones."
Koga walks over to the hay bed and sits down in the center, legs crossed and his hands in his lap, where he looks defeated.
"Let me guess, you're no match for them?"
"One of the birds of paradise possesses a jewel shard. Now he's faster than we are. A few weeks ago, he killed fifty of our wolves in one fell swoop. It's got to be the power of the jewel. At this rate, I'm afraid our packs will be wiped out completely," Koga states.
"That's why you want me to find which of those things has a shard. He's killing your pack."
"You'll scout out the bird with the shard. Then we'll attack his nest and steal it from him. Otherwise, the fighting will drag on and lives will continue to be sacrificed senselessly. So? You gonna help us out or what?"
I glance over my shoulder at the injured wolf demons and the pack that aren't injured but who are tending to them. Though they wanted to eat me not too long ago, they seem innocent enough. They just want to protect their pack while being who they are. Inuyasha wanted to kill me at first too.
I sigh and nod. "I will help."