~Forest and Sky~
by Paw85
Ch 1 – The Deal
Screams shattered the once peaceful night as the small village of Edo fell under attack by a pack of vicious wolves and even more vicious wolf demons. The village guards were quickly overwhelmed by the sheer strength and speed of the wolves. Their spears and light armor were simply no match for the opposing sharp claws and fangs. As the first line of defense fell either prey to the attackers or ran back into the village; a second line ran forward to challenge the invaders.
The demons smiled cruelly with mouths full of jagged, blood stained teeth as they advanced slowly on these new "fighters". Surely, they could just as easily slaughter these weak pathetic humans too. Humans were such boring opponents after all. Just a growl here and a swipe there and any spoils they deemed worthy to take would be theirs. Sometimes, their mere presence was enough to force them to surrender anything of value to the wolves. Raiding villages was a favorite pastime of this pack. The screams of humans were like music to their ears. Often, there was food to take, sometimes good sake too and, once in awhile, a fair maiden to bed or maybe some sparkly treasure to pillage.
A wolf demon with spiky white hair, a brown fur kilt with matching shin guards and a chest plate with a strong looking chain regarded the chaos of the now burning village.
"This is just too easy, Ginta," he grinned at his nearby comrade as he sent off the warriors and wolves under his command to dispatch the human defenses.
"Ha! Yeah, this'll be quick," Ginta agreed, "wonder if they've got anything good around here?" as he directed another group of wolves and wolf demons.
His only direction was to "go have fun." This "fun" came in the form of rifling through the huts and then destroying those huts with fire or their own brute strength and in general terrorizing the villagers. As they ransacked the huts, the wolves hunted the villagers.
Ginta looked very similar to Hakkaku in that he also wore a fur kilt and shin guards but he also wore a fur vest, a simpler chest piece and had short grey hair with a patch of black in the front.
"Maybe they'll have some decent sake around –" Hakkaku began to offer before "Eeeyahhhh! sizzzzzzlllllle both whipped their eyes forward to see their warriors were actually backing away from the humans!
There was smoke wafting from their flesh and the telltale stench of holy purification. Ginta ran forward to one of the stumbling wolf demons. The man's forearm had a sizable gash in it and blood ran in small rivers down the arm and onto the ground. His skin was still sizzling from being touched by something holy. Hakkaku found similar injuries on the other men and several wolves were injured as well from protecting their demonic counterparts. What the hell was up with these humans?! They had never encountered something like this before in all of their raids!
"Fall back and call for help!" Hakkaku ordered the injured men as he and Ginta took point against the human sentries.
Clearly, this raid wasn't going to go down like the rest. As betas of the pack and leaders of this bunch, both he and Ginta had to protect their brothers and wolves from further harm!
"Hakkaku! I think their weapons are blessed! Be careful!" Ginta spoke with serious alarm in his voice.
If a demon came into contact with holy power, they could be badly injured or wiped from existence, depending on how strong or how much power they were exposed to. He and Hakkaku had to be abundantly careful now until help could arrive. Neither was willing to turn tail and run as it wasn't the wolf demon way….especially from humans of all creatures! Plus, their leader would be pissed if they came back empty-handed after losing to a bunch of pathetic humans. They had mouths to feed and a reputation to uphold. They had to hold the line!
The battle continued as the humans squared off with Ginta and Hakkaku. Both demons spent the grand majority of the time dodging holy swords and spears, afraid to even feel the aura of the divine. After several minutes, both sides had taken injuries and although the humans had suffered casualties, they were at a stalemate with the wolf demons. Ginta had several scratches on his arms, face and torso and Hakkaku had scratches as well and was struggling to move, let alone fight, on a broken ankle still sizzling from meeting the business end of a spear. It was taking awhile for any of their injuries to heal because of the exposure to holy power.
"Hakkaku, fall back! You can't fight like this!" Ginta pulled his friend back as he stepped forward to continue the fight.
There were only a couple of human fighters left; he could handle this. 'Help will be here any minute…..fuck! Where are you!?' he began to mentally panic.
"What!? Are you fucking kidding me? I'm not leaving you here to fend for yourself! We BOTH have to keep going. Our comrades are badly hurt. You can't protect us all!" Hakkaku yelled back.
The remaining humans began advancing on the arguing pair and rest of their group. After a few more moments passed, a shiver ran up both betas' spines. There was shadow moving through the smoke towards the wolves.
"Lady Kaede! We've almost got 'em'!" one of the men yelled behind him. "Lend us your power and we'll finish these demons!" another confirmed with cautious hope.
Maybe they would survive this and save what's left of the village. Victory was close! Just a little more and they would send these demons packing with their tails between their legs! They would show those damn wolves not to mess with Edo. That humans are not to be taken lightly and their food, supplies and families aren't for their taking! A middle-aged woman joined the soldiers now. She was short in height, had long grey hair pulled back in a low clean ponytail, seemed to have only one good eye, wore red hibakama pants with a white hakui shirt and had simple socks with sandals on her feet. Slung on her back was a quiver of arrows and in her hand was a longbow.
'Oh, shit!' both Ginta and Hakkaku unknowingly thought together, 'a priestess!' The situation had become much more dire now with a damn priestess in the mix! She must have been the one to bless their weapons! Ginta swallowed hard. Now what were they going to do? As his mind ran through many scenarios, most of them leading them to their deaths, the wind began to pick up around them.
"Leave now, wolves, and I will spare ye…" the old miko began, "…or stay and I shall send ye to the underworld," she finished as she notched an arrow in her bow.
Holy power could be felt concentrating into the arrowhead. Both human men remained in front her, their blessed spears at the ready and determination flaring in their eyes. The village may be burning around them, several villagers may be dead or dying and their guard may be reduced to almost nothing but they had a chance to win this battle against the wolves! Both Ginta and Hakkaku regarded the old priestess with darkened expressions of rage and stood their ground but each was internally very nervous about that holy arrow ready to fly from her bow. One precise hit with such concentrated holy power and they would not see tomorrow. Then, with a BOOM!, something hit in the center of the conflict, sending a gale of wind and dirt against all involved. Sending all wolves and demons rolling back on their tails, and the humans were tossed back against a partially destroyed hut.
Ginta sat back up in surprise, coughing up dirt, "What the hell was that? cough – cough!"
"Oh, thank the Gods," Hakkaku sighed in weary relief as he rolled back onto his belly from his side.
The wolves shook their fur of the dust and barked excitedly while the demon warriors cheered as they arose back to their feet as best they could.
Inside the settling dust cloud stood a tall, tan male with long raven hair tied in a high ponytail, a full chest plate complete with fur shoulder pads, a matching brown fur kilt, fur shin guards and a short katana at his waist. Swishing behind him in agitation was a long brown furry tail. The man looked about with calculating icy blue eyes, taking in everything and everyone. With lightning quick assessment using his demonic senses, he qualified injured pack members and wolves behind him, several screaming humans around him…..and one gods dammed priestess….he thought with a snarl. So, this is why his men were failing this raid so spectacularly. And if he looked further at the so-called 'guards' of this village barely struggling to their feet, their spears were gently pulsating with holy aura.
'Blessed weapons and a priestess, huh…' the man pondered, 'heh, this could be interesting,' he smirked.
It had been some time since he had seen any real challenge from anything or anyone, especially from humans. The challenge excited him but he was also still thoroughly pissed off about the injuries that befell his comrades. He would return the favor ten fold for their suffering. It was time to crush those insects!
"Kouga, be careful! Their weapons are blessed!" Ginta cautioned as he helped Hakkaku to his feet and draped his packmate's arm around his shoulders to help him stand.
Poor Hakkaku was in a lot of pain and he wasn't sure how he would get him back to the den….or the rest of them for that matter. There were many injuries spread out amongst them but most could at least walk or limp back. Ginta secured Hakkaku to his side while encouraging the others to rise to their feet, or paws if the situation fit.
"Heh, don't worry about me. I got this. You all start picking your sorry asses off the ground. This'll be over shortly," Kouga waved nonchalantly over his shoulder, not sparing a glance back to his clansmen.
A couple of humans who thought that they had any real chance with holy weapons and crusty old priestess with a bow barely made the energy he would need for this fight worth it. That holy arrow was the only thing that mildly piqued his interest.
The remaining human guards had now taken a defensive position a short distance from Kouga. Kaede hurried behind them, once again notching a holy arrow into her bow. She could tell looking at this newcomer that he was different from the rest of the group…..there was a very strong demonic aura about him and a sharpness in his gaze. His youki was easily pushing back her reiki even from this distance. She would need to use whatever divine power she could muster to mount a decent defense. Then, he vanished from sight in a gust of wind, leaving Kaede and the guards looking around in stunned silence. A few seconds passed before one guard was mysteriously slashed to ribbons. Then, the remaining guard met a similar fate, falling to the ground, their blood quickly staining the dirt a deep crimson red. Kaede stammered back in confusion from her fallen kinsmen. This demon was FAST. Deadly fast, agile and strong; a potent and dangerous mix to be standing against. She had better make these next seconds count!
In those precious seconds, a cold shiver rippled down her spine as her stomach dropped and she swallowed hard. She didn't have to observe her surroundings to know there was no one else left to stand against these wolf demons with her. It was very likely she would not survive this encounter. As she contemplated the horrific reality of her impending doom, a flash of her dear daughter ran through her mind. She could swear that she could her that child's laugh; clear as a bell. Thank the gods that her little girl was off traveling on a pilgrimage to other villages. At that moment, she also realized that her child may still end up crossing paths with these ruffians. As the head priestess of this village, and as a devoted mother worried for her baby, she resolved to make her last stand here and amassed all of the divine power she could through a fervent prayer.
Time seemed to slow down to a crawl as Kouga circled around to take Kaede's head. He grinned cruelly as he flexed his claws, elongating them to make a clean strike against her throat. A vibrant, pinkish-purple holy aura enshrouded Kaede's body, blinding Kouga and his soldiers alike, sending them all flying back several feet into the village outskirts. Kouga gracefully backflipped out of the blowback and landed on his feet in the grass, his armor sizzling a bit from exposure to reiki. His own demonic aura had protected him well from the brunt of the blast.
At the very last second, he had jumped back from that old bat once he saw that she was throwing out a stronger holy aura. His demonic allies rolled in the grasses, snuffing out any reiki flames, their bodies also sizzling from exposure. Hakkaku lay flat on his back, whimpering in pain with several burns on his body. He could no longer stand or even limp. Ginta had a bad burn on his stomach and his hair was partially singed from the reiki, a tiny flame alight on the small tuft of black hair. He struggled to roll to his side as he smothered the remaining flame in his hair. The other wolf demons were a tangled mass of sizzling limbs, furs and exclamations of pain. The wolf companions were unfazed by the holy nature of the energy blast but several had injured paws, scratches, bruises or cracked ribs from the impact. They whined softly, rising to their feet but definitely not suited for battle anymore.
Vermillion red seeped into the whites of Kouga's eyes 'revenge', encasing his sky blue irises as his rage reached a fever pitch 'revenge', then turned icy cold 'revenge'. His fangs lengthened now as a ferocious roar erupted from his maw! Playtime was over; that bitch will pay for this! In a split second, he was gone again from sight, his mind myopically locked on repeat of 'revenge'. In a blink of an eye, he was back up in the village and sending Kaede through a burning hut with a powerful right hook! The old woman never saw it coming and barely registered what happened until she came to a rest in a pile of broken reeds, wood and severed rope. Pain burst in from everywhere in her body. Her head rang, somehow not hearing the chaos around her, her vision blurring in and out. She could barely move as she struggled to sit up before immense pain forced her to lay back down. Her bow was nowhere in sight and there was a lot of debris weighing on her as well as jabbing against her. Is this how she would finally meet her end? She was too weak and injured to summon any more divine power, her mind barely coherent now. One final prayer surfaced in her mind, 'I beg of ye, Gods, please keep my dear Kagome safe. Protect her..,guide her...,watch over her...' before darkness claimed her consciousness.
Outside the destroyed hut, Kouga grinned, chuckling in victory over the no doubt now dead old miko. It served her right for harming him and his comrades. Humans were insects and should just give up whatever he wanted when he wanted it. And if they had nothing material to give or decent sake to take, then they could make use of themselves by becoming food for his hungry pack. After all, what else were humans good for? Pride demanded that he make certain that the old witch was indeed dead as he walked slowly up to the wrecked hut, soaking up every moment of victory from killing a miko. Among demon kind, it was one thing to conquer another demon or tribe but it was another to slay a holy practitioner as they were the bitterest of enemies. Polar opposites in every sense of the word.
Since he came to power as the alpha of the eastern pack roughly a year ago, he had successfully built his reputation among his pack as a ruthlessly strong leader. Defiance wasn't an option and he made that clear by winning every sparring match within the den, quashing every uprising and beheading the leader of the last group that attempted to dethrone him. After solidifying his position as alpha, he set out to make his pack strong and, more importantly, feared. He would lead his pack to greatness with an iron fist and go down in history as the man whose name and pack were feared across the land...no, across the entire world! Raiding human villages would help with his plans but adding a dead holy user was even better to increase the reputation for him and his pack. Bringing back her head would make a nice trophy.
As he stalked closer to Kaede's fallen form, mind somewhat lost in the glory of his plans, he vaguely recognized the sound of approaching hoof beats.
Suddenly, a horse skidded to a stop in front of his prey, "Wait!" a women's voice rang out in alarm!
Kouga's eyes widened slightly before narrowing again, growling lowly. How dare this human bar the way to his revenge? The rider was a woman, barely out of adolescence, wearing a simple kimono, and trousers of all things. An odd choice given her gender. Kouga couldn't be bothered to take note of her any further, there was revenge to be had and she would not stop him from savoring every last gory second of it.
From her position up high on the horse, Kagome found herself almost frozen with fear, staring into the reddest pair of eyes she had ever seen. He was obviously a demon...wolf maybe? She hadn't seen a wolf demon before; despite her travels that took her far and wide. But those other demons on the side of the road she passed before getting back to the village...and the obviously wolf companions with them led her to think these demons must be of the wolf variety. Their attacks on human villages had been on the rise lately. Despite how high she sat, this demon didn't have to tilt his head back far to make eye contact with her. Kagome didn't take much time to take in his image aside from that he was very tall, seemed very strong but most important to note was he was extremely angry. And those eyes...those creepy red eyes that were so vibrant carmine that she half expected them to overflow with red down his face in macabre tears...This might be the "beast side" she had heard rumors about. Supposedly, every demon has another side to themselves aside from their usual personality that ran more on instinct rather than logic. Not much was known of these inner beasts and, to be honest, she nervously laughed off the last person to share this rumor with her. It was absurd after all; having more than one consciousness sharing one body and have it not be a case of possession. Demons were dangerous enough as they were with their terrifying strength and callous disregard of humankind. Why did demons have to be any scarier than they already were?
"Move, human," Kouga's beast growled dangerously as he flexed his claws again, "or I will remove you," he finished, narrowing his eyes further.
There was a creepy, otherworldly echo to his voice. Not that she knew what he originally sounded like, but it almost seemed there were two voices overlapping. The following snarl jarred her out of her stupor and she was suddenly very aware of what had taken place in her village. Many huts were either destroyed or on fire, screams and crying children filled the air. None of the village guard were present aside from the bodies behind her. She could faintly feel her mother's aura. It was weak but pulsing consistently, letting Kagome know that her mother was most likely hurt but not dead. No doubt she fought with the village guard to push back these demons and lost. Kagome mentally breathed a sigh of quick relief. Her mother was "safe" and the village had not been completely destroyed...yet. What could she do to spare the village and its inhabitants any more pain?
With all this information gathered within moments, she met the beast's deathly glare with determination.
"Leave this village now, demon. You all have done enough damage for one night."
The beast's snarl lessened a bit as he stared at her with slightly narrowed eyes and his posture tensed. Several moments passed as they held each others' gaze, neither blinking. Then, the beast threw his back in full bodied, echoing laughter! Kagome's face fell in surprise, mouth agape and eyes blinking owlishly. Laughter? Her demand, which took so much courage, was met with laughter? What would she do if he refused? He was certainly powerful enough to simply kill her in one swipe or merely shove her aside. He was still laughing, slightly doubled over with hands resting just above his knees. Kagome couldn't stop the red flaring in her cheeks in embarrassment and indignation. She took several quiet breathes in an effort to calm down. She couldn't allow this asshole to get to her. What was left of the village was counting on her and so was her mother! One more cleansing breath and she dismounted her horse, taking a couple of cautious steps toward him. He was so much larger and scarier now that she was on the ground...easily a foot or more over her diminutive stature, but she had to keep it together. Summoning all of her courage, she addressed him again.
"I mean it, demon! Leave this village and its inhabitants in peace. If you do, I can make it worth your while," she spoke evenly, despite the nagging worry that he might not hear her over all that incessant laughing.
He looked up a moment, then burst out into a second round of uproarious laughter! Kagome could hear and feel herself mentally exploding in frustration. Just what was so damn funny?! You would think she had said something truly ludicrous like the world was round or something. She had never been treated with such contempt in her life! Pissed off as she was at this arrogant bastard, she stood her ground, folding her arms and shifting her weight on one leg as she patiently waited for him to finish enjoying himself at her expense.
The beast couldn't remember the last time he laughed this hard, this long. Hell, had he ever laughed in his 340 years of living? If this human had been useful for anything this night; she was at least a good laugh. He began to straighten up as he inhaled deeply from so much mirth. His sides were hurting and he wept a tear from his crimson eyes as he moved to look at the silly little human again.
"What could you possibly offer me, pathetic human? I'm not hungry and I have no interest in fucking filth like you," he was once again at full height, looking down his nose at her, his arms folded with a matching fangy smirk.
He almost burst out laughing again at her pouty expression. It was almost cute. Did she seriously think she could offer him anything of value? The idea was absurd in every sense of the word.
All fear of him forgotten and replaced with righteous indignation; Kagome steeled herself.
"Those men out there are your comrades, yes? Some of those injuries were pretty serious. I'm a very skilled healer; I can help them. If you leave this village right now, I'll treat them," she finished while successfully ignoring his horrid remark about her attractiveness or lack there of.
She never fancied herself the fairest in the land but her level of beauty was fine, thank you very much!
As she fumed, the beast had to to stop and think about her proposal. The silly little human had actually made a proposal worth considering! The pack had been without a healer for a couple of seasons now. His last healer had met her demise in the jaws of a hungry bird-of-paradise; a demon tribe that had become a real thorn in his side lately. The wolves used to patrol and secure their territory with ease, even against those damn birds. Then, one day, the nearby tribe of birds-of-paradise began attacking his pack with a whole new level of fervor, hunting both the demons and the animals for food. During one of the many battles, Kouga saw that they had a new leader and this leader was smart. They used the skies very well to their advantage and hurt many of his pack. There weren't many healthy warriors left to defend the den. Despite the wolves' enhanced demonic healing, the attacks were out-speeding their ability to recover. There had been an attack just yesterday as well, and this time, women and cubs were caught in the crossfire. Kouga would be damned if he allowed anymore of his pack to become food for those flying turkeys!
The beast chuckled lightly to himself. She may be a human but the last healer never trained a successor. This might be a chance to get a leg up over those fucking birds. If she failed to be useful, then she would become food for his hungry people. Either way, his pack benefitted, but on the infinitesimal chance that she could deliver on her part of the bargain, she would have to stick around longer than whatever time it took to heal his men out in the fields. When he met her eyes again, an evil grin played across his lips again.
"Serve me for life and I might think about it," he responded cockily with arms still folded.
'F-for life?' Kagome mentally kicked herself for stammering. Was he being serious right now? What assurance did she have that he would leave this village alone and its inhabitants?
"Hurry up and decide, human. This deal is only good for the next five seconds before all of your lives are forfeit," he grinned evilly.
"5...4..." He began flexing his claws again as he stepped closer to her.
She would be the first to die and then he would pick up where he left off with his vengeance on that old bat.
"3...2..." He was a mere couple of steps from her now.
"OKAY!" Kagome yelled louder than intended, bringing her hands hurriedly to her mouth in momentary embarrassment.
"Okay, I agree to serve you for life if you leave this village and its inhabitants alone forever," she continued, determination burning in her eyes.
He looked down at her from his towering height. He couldn't see or smell any fear or deception on her.
'This human is crazy but she has guts,' he observed the metaphorical and literal fire in her eyes for a moment, paying her a silent compliment, before his eyes turned hard again.
"Then, get moving, human," he stepped aside, making way to what was left of the village entrance.
Kagome stood there dumbly a moment not quite understanding while he took the reigns of the horse. There were a couple of his men that wouldn't be able to walk back to the caves. The horse could carry them back.
'Get moving? Get moving where?...What is he doing with my horse?' she wondered.
"NOW!" he barked with a snarl.
She "Eeeeeppped!" before hurrying out the village exit, still not really knowing where she was to go but guessing she was maybe meant to go to that sorry pile of injured wolf demons she saw earlier. Was she going to start healing now? She had a few supplies and basic items with her but they wouldn't stretch far. She had not had a chance to restock her satchel with necessary herbs and ointments.
Turned out she was half right. They did go back to injured wolf demons and animals. Kouga draped the most injured men over the horse's strong back. Kagome opened her mouth to protest using her horse without her permission but promptly shut it, electing to remain quiet. This, she thought, wasn't the time to be exercising her right of ownership. There were several wolves and demons with her now. Injured or not, they could probably still kill her and she didn't want to become somebody's nighttime snack. The animals eyed her curiously but moved into travel formation. She was sure the other demons must have already noticed her but she kept her eyes to the ground. Foolishly believing that maybe if she didn't look at them, maybe they wouldn't pay her any mind.
Once the group was ready to move out, she flinched a bit as one of them asked the million yen question of, "Kouga, what's with the human?"
She looked up enough to see it was the demon that had short grey hair with a curious black tuft in the middle and a simple chest plate that asked.
'Kouga? Was that the red eyed demon's name?' she pondered.
The fact that demons had names past their species classification was news to her. He seemed to be in charge of things in this group and he had an air of authority about him. All of the men and the wolves deferred to his direction automatically. When she confronted him back in the village, she had no idea if he had any position of power. Her only concern was getting them out of her village. Kouga had not addressed her once since stepping foot outside of the village. She was unsure if she was glad or slightly annoyed at being ignored as if she was nothing.
"Oh, her," he sounded as if he was just reminded of something he had forgotten.
Apparently she was nothing to him...great...but, in reality, what did she expect? Humans and demons lived in violent opposition of each other anyway and even more so for humans with holy abilities.
"She's off-limits; don't mind her," he added off-handedly.
He didn't offer further explanation and he was under no obligation to. Wolf demons followed a strict hierarchy and the alpha's word was law. Their job as underlings was to follow his orders without question. If they had a problem. then they could come for Kouga's head and title. Any who were suicidal enough to challenge him usually met with a grisly, fatal end.
The group had started moving now. To where she had no clue but she followed behind everybody as best she could. It made her feel a bit safer to be out of immediate eyeshot. Easy to do since they moved quickly, even in their injured state, and it was a challenge to keep up. She was at least in a half run most of the time. Good thing she borrowed these trousers and boots from the last village she was helping! This travel would be so much harder in a kimono and sandals, and still would be tough in her usual priestess garb, which would have been her usual day to day wear.
The gods must be watching over her tonight as she was indeed a priestess in a group of demons and she was still alive. She reasoned that maybe they couldn't sense her holy power because she was still drained from her last pilgrimage. She had been traveling to village after village offering healings, prayers, purifications and exorcisms. Her power had been depleted and it would be several days before she recovered. Once she did recoup, she knew how to suppress her aura, courtesy of her mother's teachings. She realized then that technique would be key to her survival now and going forward.
The moon was high in the night sky and the group was still traveling through the woods. None of the demons had said a word to her the entire journey. There was the occasional groan or whine from the pain of their injuries but things were relatively silent aside from the sound of their footfalls. The wolves ignored her too, forming a defensive barrier around the injured. Kagome pondered whether the wolves just already knew to do that or was direction given in a way she didn't understand? She was pulled from her musings when she began to hear the sound of rushing water and the nearby river had picked up its pace. They had been walking through a forest for sometime now and there was a continuous climb upward.
'We must be going into the mountains,' Kagome thought tiredly.
Her legs and feet were getting exhausted from walking several miles to get to this point. She wished dearly that she could mount her horse as that would make this travel so much easier...but he was busy carrying injured so she inwardly sighed and kept walking. The sound of rushing water grew louder until they broke the treeline. The mountains rose up majestically in front of her underneath the clear starry sky and grassy foothills rolled out to greet them. There in the foremost mountain, was a grand rushing waterfall. Thanks to a chance angle of the moon, a lunar rainbow crossed the cascades of water. It truly was a sight to behold. This is a demon's den? It seemed too beautiful and pure to house such dangerous beings. Just behind the falling waters, Kagome could make out flickers of light showing through, hinting at a cave entrance.
A couple of new wolf demons came running up to the group now, worry etched on their faces. Kagome deduced that they must be sentries to that large entrance behind the waterfall. Each one had a spear like the sentries back in her village.
"Kouga, what happened?!" exclaimed a demon that was almost wider than he was tall.
He was almost abnormally bulky with muscle and had grey hair pulled back in a very short bottle brush ponytail. Scars were visible everywhere skin could be seen. Clearly a seasoned warrior. Kagome was surprised to find a man shorter than her considering she wasn't all that tall herself (5'4'').
"Was it those bastard birds again?" another demon ran up immediately behind him.
This one was taller and lanky compared to the demons she had seen so far. He had golden eyes and short hair that was strangely a lavender color. He seemed to be younger than his cohort. His build reminded her of teenaged human boys. Maybe this is the demonic equivalent?
"Naw, they just ran into a priestess and some blessed spears," Kouga growled as he handed one badly wounded soldier to the short demon and the other to the lanky demon.
He threw Hakkaku over his shoulder and tucked Ginta underneath his free arm, securing him next to his side. Both betas grimaced to having to be carried this way, their pride suffering. They hardly made for a picture of proud wolf demon warriors right now. Plus, both felt ashamed not only for the entire raid party getting hurt but they also returned home without any spoils of interest. It stung that they couldn't finish raiding that human village.
Wolves and wolf demons began walking away when the lavender haired youth turned back around due to a strange scent catching his attention. Flowers...and blood, smoke and fire? His eyes widened a fraction to see a human woman was here too. Kagome stammered before returning her gaze to the suddenly interesting grasses at her feet.
"Hey...Kouga?" he began somewhat nervous as their leader was in a very foul mood and his eyes were still dangerously red, " What do you want us to do with the human girl and the horse?"
He hoped that they would be food. It was common for raiding parties to bring back humans and their animals to feast on. The horse looked tasty but the human didn't seem to have much meat on her. Kagome felt a distinct cold shiver ripple up her spine at the possibility that maybe this Kouga person would simply feed her to his men rather than hold up his end of the bargain. She didn't really have any leverage to use in her favor and her holy power would take a few more days to return yet. She did her best to remain calm and take each minute as it came.
"Oh, yeah, her," Kouga merely kept walking forward until he came to the sheer face of the mountain at the base of the waterfall. "She is going to clean up this mess," he effortlessly jumped to the cave entrance to hand off his injured men to another demon.
In moments, he was back down at the base of the waterfall and walking straight towards Kagome. All of the remaining men watched him, perplexed by his response. How was a little human girl like this going to provide anything, let alone 'clean up this mess', if she's not going to be food?
"What are you all standing around here for?" Kouga whirled around with fangs bared, "Get them to the recovery wing, you idiots!" Kagome shrank back into herself, startled by the sudden outburst of rage.
This succinctly broke them all out of their confused stupor and both sentries rushed to get their injured brethren to the recovery wing. Both easily scaled the cliffs with their demonic strength and speed. Kouga turned back to the tiny human that had been in tow all night. Could she really do what she said back in the village? Could she actually help his injured men? She lifted her head cautiously to look up at him, hazel eyes guarded. The beast had his misgivings about the situation but the only other option now was to risk waiting and seeing if his pack members would recover fast enough before the next bird-of-paradise attack. He was not willing to risk their safety any further. If she failed to do as promised, then she would be killed, eaten or both and he would figure out what to do next later. He may have to resort petitioning another pack for aid and he wished to avoid that if possible. Owing a favor to any of those other alpha bastards would be a great insult to his pride and his pack may lose faith in his leadership.
Before Kagome could ask what was going to happen now, the ground had left her and she was flying through the air, soaring straight through a VERY cold wall of water and face-planting onto a solid rocky floor. She took a few welcome breaths, sat up in a daze, eyes wide and blinking and looked at the backside of the waterfall.
'Did he just throw me in here!?' her mind squealed in shock before melting into anger, ' how dare he...that bastard!'
Obviously, he didn't care a lick about her safety or how cold the water was that she went sailing through. She could've been hurt and now she was freezing on top of it all! Kouga walked in a beat later, completely unaffected by the downpour of water, picked her up by the back of her kimono and started hauling her off like a bale of rice.
"Wha-! Hey!" Kagome cried out in protest, suddenly forgetting to be wary of her surroundings and the people in it.
"I can walk just fine, you know!" she started to struggle against Kouga's grip on her kimono. It was completely ineffective, of course, against his iron grasp but she kept trying anyway.
Kouga ignored her protests and kept walking with her in tow, stopping only for a moment in roughly the center of the cave entrance. All activity in the cave had stopped to hear what their leader had to say, out of respect but mostly out of fear and self-preservation.
He kept his voice even but slightly raised so all would hear this order as he lifted Kagome up a bit for all to see: "Do NOT touch, kill or eat this."
Kagome's eyes grew wide and her mouth fell open once again. 'Do NOT touch, kill or eat this!? What the hell?!' her mind screamed before, once more, Kouga strode off into the network of tunnels softly illuminated by torches.
Where was he taking her? She inwardly prayed fervently to the Gods to continue watching over her to keep her safe.
Eventually, they entered a very large room filled to the brim with cries of agonizing pain. Kagome could hardly believe what she was seeing. This room must be at least the size of her village...maybe a bit bigger even...and the whole floor was covered with injured men, women and some children. It seemed almost endless! Kagome continued to look on in awestruck horror as Kouga carried her further in. She could see innumerable cuts, bruises, gashes, and even some dislocations. To call this a scene of carnage was an understatement. Her heart immediately went out to the crying kids. Demon or not, a child was a child and they were innocent; far as she was concerned.
Reaching the back of what Kagome understood must be the recovery wing, Kouga finally dropped her on a couple of ragged mahogany fur pelts. It finally dawned on Kagome that THIS was the 'mess' that Kouga had mentioned earlier outside of the caves. She initially thought he meant the wounded men from the raid on her village but this was...this was a LOT more people to heal. Kagome estimated that there may even be 120-ish injured to tend to...maybe more. Kagome looked up at Kouga in uncertainty. He had to be joking, right? Did he really expect her to handle this all on her own?
He looked down at her now; eyes still glowing crimson. She didn't know if she would ever get over how terrifying those eyes were. So full of malice and primal danger.
To him, she looked decidedly less certain than she was back at the village. Maybe she'll just become food for the tribe after all, but, first, he would get out of her what he could.
"Well? Get started, human," he gestured to the whole room with his head. Apparently he did expect her to handle this all by herself...
"There will be no food or sleep until every man, woman and child has been helped to my satisfaction. If you fail, you will die," he added before whistling out into the room.
A very large, russet colored wolf trotted quickly to his side. This wolf was a lot bigger than the ones she saw back at the village and there was a cold sharpness to his amber eyes. Kouga rumbled lowly at the wolf before leaving the room. Kagome almost reached for his retreating form as he was the only one ensuring her safety before reminding herself that he was no friend of hers. He only kept her 'safe' to hold up her end of the bargain.
She took a few deep, grounding breaths. Then, taking a band from around her wrist, she drew her hair back into a ponytail and set out to see what she had to work with aside from some odds and ends in her satchel. This long night was about to get much longer.