Chapter 19: Trapped in a Duel to the Death! / Wingless, Flutters

Inuyasha chased after Miroku, Sango, and Shippo, intent on exacting revenge, and Daitan just sighed from where she stood next to Kagome, shaking her head in exasperation. The wuss had apparently chickened out of seeing Kagome the night before, and overreacted as usual when Sango and Miroku let slip to Kagome about how he had been sulking for days before she got back. Daitan had kept quiet, determined not to get in the middle of… whatever was going on between him and Kagome.

"Ye must forgive him," Kaede came to stand next to Kagome. The crow's feet around her eye deepened as she smiled softly. "He is just happy you have returned."

Daitan raised an eyebrow at the chaos in front of them. Doesn't quite look like it to me. Though… She closed her eyes in a contented smile. He doesn't seem to be trying very hard to catch them, does he?

A couple of hours later, Inuyasha had ended his chase. The previous sounds of his shouting and the occasional crash of a tree or fence being knocked down had gone, replaced by the twittering of small birds and the rustling of leaves. Daitan now sat comfortably against a tree, her eyes closed as she took it all in. It was always refreshing to leave modern Edo and Tokyo to come to the past. There were far fewer distracting scents, and so much more of the natural landscape still untouched by civilization apart from the roads they often traveled on.

The sound of footsteps roused Daitan from her thoughts, and Inuyasha spoke from somewhere in front of her.

"Hey."

"Hn?" Daitan responded.

"You didn't rat me out." he stated, and Daitan opened one eye to look at him. He stood directly in front of her, arms crossed and looking off to the side.

"And…?" she asked, wondering where he was going with this. Inuyasha's face screwed up with frustration.

"Guh, are you really that dense? I'm tryin' to say thank you. Y'know, for not… telling Kagome I was at her house last night…"

"...Oh," Daitan opened both eyes this time and sat up a little. "Uh… sure. Although, I'm pretty sure she's figured it out already from what Miroku and Sango said."

Inuyasha sat himself down next to her with a great huff.

"Pff, yeah, well… you still didn't say anything."

A little smirk quirked up Daitan's lips.

"Never thought I'd hear you thank me without being coerced…" she teased. Inuyasha huffed, nose in the air.

"Only 'cause I thought you would come after me if I didn't, even though I could totally beat your ass," he sounded very annoyed, but he was still sitting next to her in the grass. Daitan decided not to push it though. She just smiled and stayed silent, closing her eyes once again to listen to the wind. At least, until Inuyasha spoke up.

"So where were you guys, anyway?" he asked.

"What do you mean?"

Inuyasha rolled his eyes.

"You and Kagome were coming back from somewhere when you saw me last night. Where were you?"

Daitan grimaced a little, and Inuyasha leaned in, eyes narrowed. He's not gonna like this.

"...She was at my place. We had some tea."

Inuyasha immediately jumped up, fists clenched.

"What?! You mean you took her straight to Sesshomaru?!" he growled. Daitan waved him off.

"Calm down, it was fine. I told you, he's changed a bit over the centuries," Inuyasha still didn't look convinced, so she continued, "The most danger Kagome was in was dying of laughter. My dad likes to embarrass me in front of my friends, it seems…"

"...What?"

The notion that Sesshomaru could do anything that could be considered even slightly amusing seemed to short-circuit Inuyasha's brain. His eyebrow twitched in confusion, eyes darting around as if the blades of grass around them could somehow tell him how everything fit together. Daitan chuckled and leaned back against the tree, this time intent on taking a quick snooze as Inuyasha sat back down and brooded beside her.

—-

As always, it wasn't long before trouble found them once they got on the road the next day. A badly wounded villager had stumbled upon them on the road and begged for their help in eradicating a dangerous bear youkai that had been terrorizing his village. Not to mention that Kagome had already sensed at least one jewel shard in that direction. We seem to find jewel shards that way pretty often. Thought Daitan. Instead of causing total destruction and chaos, couldn't the occasional youkai pick up a jewel shard and use it to increase their powers of illusion to… I don't know… take a lord's place and commit embezzlement or something? …It seemed that her lessons on bookkeeping and economics were still floating around in the forefront of her mind. It would make for a bit of a change. Although now that I think about it, that's kind of similar to what the false Water God was doing with that trident… Daitan shook herself out of her thoughts when Sango spoke up.

"So we're tracking a bear youkai that attacked a village?" she asked. She had already changed into her taijiya armor. Miroku nodded.

"According to one of the survivors, yes. He said it started out as just a mischievous cub that ruined the fields. But then suddenly it grew huge, and attacked the village." he said, and Daitan put a hand up to her chin.

"Bear youkai usually keep to themselves, so the strange behavior must be caused by the jewel shard. We should be careful, youkai that aren't in their right mind can be pretty unpredictable," she said, but Inuyasha let out a 'tch!'. "...Is something the matter, Inuyasha?"

"I just don't see the point in going on a bear hunt when I could be going after a wolf instead." sniffed Inuyasha, crossing his arms. "We already know that Kouga already has two jewel shards jammed into those hairy, skinny legs of his. I'm not in the mood for fighting a stupid bear rather than a wolf."

"So your first priority right now is butchering Kouga?" asked Miroku, though the quirk of his brow said that he already knew he was right. Shippo shook his head from his perch on Miroku's shoulder.

"Kouga is Inuyasha's archrival in love—AH!" Inuyasha had interrupted Shippo with a quick fist to his head, sending him toppling off of Miroku's shoulder to land on the forest floor. Inuyasha's petty revenge was short-lived, however, when Daitan's sheathed sword made swift contact with the top of his head and sent him tumbling into the dirt. Shippo whined in pain, and Daitan reached down to hold him in her arms.

"You shouldn't hit Shippo, Inuyasha. He's just a child," she admonished. Inuyasha growled at Shippo, who stuck out his tongue at him from Daitan's arms. "That being said…" Daitan addressed Shippo. "You shouldn't tease Inuyasha. He's quite sensitive."

Miroku, Sango, and Kagome stifled a laugh, and Inuyasha took a threatening step forward, clawed hands making fists.

"Who're you calling sensitive?!"

Inuyasha was clearly in sore need of a brawl after the drama of the last week, which Daitan was fully prepared for as she put Shippo back down on the ground. However, that chance came a little differently than she expected when a few new scents reached her nose. Including one that smelled very strongly of bear…

The bushes behind them rustled, and four men with swords emerged, clad in armor and wearing hungry grins.

"Is that the bear?" whimpered Shippo, quickly hiding himself behind Daitan's leg.

Daitan hummed, her eyes scanning the trees without paying much mind to the bandits in front of them.

"Don't worry," Miroku reassured Shippo. "They're just ordinary thieves."

One of the thieves seemed to take offense, taking a step forward as he brandished his sword.

"Who're you calling ordinary, you arrogant bastard?! And by the looks of you, you ain't got no money! So why don't you just leave us the women and we'll call it even, huh?"

Daitan's eyebrow twitched and she drew her sword. The crashing of trees and a faint tremble under her feet told her that the bear youkai must be close.

"The scent is getting stronger." she muttered, and Sango drew Hiraikotsu. Kagome nodded.

"I can feel the jewel shard coming this way!"

The bandits clearly didn't seem to like being ignored, and took a few threatening steps forward. However, they were interrupted by a loud boom. The ground beneath Daitan's feet trembled, and as her hand tightened on her sword, the trees behind the bandit suddenly vanished with one swipe of a giant paw. A massive bear youkai, bigger than any that Daitan had ever seen, erupted from the trees. It had seemingly come out of nowhere, and when Daitan laid eyes on it, her breath caught in her throat.

Most of the bear was covered in shaggy brown fur, as she had expected, but its face and part of its back had lost all of its fur. The exposed skin had turned leathery and scaly, and more patches of its coat fell to the ground. Its scarlet eyes rolled below its hardened, rock-like forehead, mindless. Unseeing.

Daitan's heart pounded over the sound of Kagome's voice, and her feet stuck to the ground as she shook her head, attempting to clear it. It's not like that. It's just been changed by the Jewel Shard, it's not…

"Dammit—!" she muttered. Why are you like this?!

Inuyasha, who had leapt up to take a swipe at the beast with the Tessaiga, landed back in the clearing next to them just as a cloud of Naraku's saimyosho appeared in the sky, seemingly out of nowhere. They swarmed the bear youkai's forehead, extracting the jewel shard and devouring its flesh in seconds. Only its skeleton remained once the bear's corpse hit the forest floor.

Everyone watched the swarm of saimyosho make off with the jewel shard. They hung low over the trees, seeming to show off their prize as it glinted in the sunlight.

"Think it's a trap?" asked Miroku, though from his tired tone, he already seemed to know the answer.

"Probably." Sango sighed.

"Feh, that's fine with me. And this time, Naraku won't manage to escape. Although…" Inuyasha turned to Daitan, suddenly furious. "What the heck was that?! You're always the one not letting me do anything on my own, why'd you freeze up, huh?! It was just some dumb bear!"

Daitan couldn't meet his eyes, shame burning hot in her chest.

"...I'm sorry, Inuyasha," his eyes widened, completely taken off guard. She spoke again before he could think to say anything more. "We should go. They'll be gone soon."

—-

The once clear blue sky quickly grew darker as they followed the saimyosho, and before long it had been completely obscured by thick dark clouds of miasma. This is definitely a trap. Thought Daitan as Naraku's dark castle loomed out from the fog. This was way too easy… but it's the closest to Naraku we've gotten so far after he kidnapped Kikyo. With any luck, we might be able to snag one of his jewel shards.

As they drew closer, Daitan caught the thick scent of wolf blood in the air. Her lip curled, senses on high alert. Who knew what tricks Naraku would have up his sleeve this time. The castle gates came into view, and Inuyasha wasted no time in rushing forward and kicking them to splinters. Daitan drew her sword, immediately scanning the surrounding area for threats. And as the dust cleared, the scent of wolf blood became immediately apparent.

"Wh—What is this?" murmured Inuyasha, momentarily stunned.

Dead wolf youkai littered the courtyard, all of them armed to the teeth. They were clearly geared up for a battle, but had been utterly overwhelmed. Thin, but deep cuts littered their flesh and sliced easily through their armor. Stray limbs lay scattered across the ground, cut clean off.

"Are they of the Wolf Tribe we encountered last week?" Sango wondered aloud. Daitan crouched down to examine one of the corpses.

"I'm not sure, but I don't think that's our biggest problem right now. Whatever killed these guys wasn't a sword, and to make cuts like these, it had to be going really fast." It's like someone fired razor blades out of a cannon.

"What were they doing at the castle? But more importantly—" Miroku started, but Daitan saw him freeze abruptly from the corner of her eye. Her head shot up to follow his gaze, and a chill ran down her spine when she spotted a dark-haired woman knelt just inside the castle's interior. She looked ordinary enough. She could almost pass as human, except for her pointed ears. At least three layers of vividly colored kimonos clothed her, and she held a fan in one pale, delicate hand. But despite her nonthreatening appearance, the hairs on the back of Daitan's neck prickled with terrible apprehension. Because the wind was coming from that direction… but Daitan hadn't even caught a whiff of an unfamiliar scent.

The woman stood gracefully from the tatami floor and gently swept her fan in front of her in one smooth motion, eyes opening to reveal bright crimson irises. A gentle waft of air swept over the massacre before them, and it was then that Daitan got a sense of the stranger's scent. She smelled almost identical to Naraku — an acrid, rotting scent. But strangely enough, the fresh scent of something that Daitan could barely detect hid beneath it. Like a brisk spring breeze she would chase as a child. What connection does this woman have to Naraku? And why couldn't I smell her before?

Daitan didn't have much time for rumination, however, because as soon as the wind passed over the massacre before them, the corpses suddenly started to twitch and convulse, clumsily getting to their feet. Some limbs that had been detached found their way back to their owners, just sticking themselves back on as if with glue. Shippo squealed, clinging tightly onto Kagome's shoulder.

"That's impossible! They can't still be alive!" His already fluffy tail had puffed out to nearly twice its usual size.

"I don't sense any life in these men, their souls have left them already." observed Miroku, holding his staff in front of him.

Daitan took a step forward, sword at the ready.

"They're just puppets, huh? Certainly seems like Naraku's kind of thing!"

The undead corpses fell surprisingly easily to Daitan's blade and claws. Miroku and Sango took out several within a few minutes, and Inuyasha hadn't even bothered to draw the Tessaiga. Even having been put back together, the wolf youkai had already been practically torn apart, and Daitan found that their repaired bodies were fragile at the seams. Before long, they all lay on the blood-soaked earth once more, and Daitan's gaze shifted to the woman in the castle. Her eyes narrowed. For someone who had just had all of her undead lackeys taken out, she didn't seem to be very perturbed. In fact, she even had a tiny smirk curling her lips. It didn't take long for Daitan to find out why.

The wolf youkai started to twitch again, and they all began to reassemble and pick up their weapons. They jerkily began to move forward, their blank eyes staring in no direction at all, and that sick feeling in Daitan's throat threatened to return. No, I will not freeze up now! Her eyes flicked past the corpses to the woman in the castle. It's her — she's controlling them!

Daitan made to rush past the undead wolves to get to the woman, distracted by all of the corpses rising into the air, arms and legs dangling like marionettes. She watched them cautiously as for a moment they hung suspended in the air, motionless… before they all suddenly converged on Inuyasha. The snap of the woman's fan clapping shut echoed through the air, and all at once, the corpses burst apart on Inuyasha, absolutely drenching him in blood.

"What—What's going on?" mumbled Inuyasha, staring at his bloody hands with utter confusion. Daitan only shook her head, just as lost as he was. At least, until the sound of something — or rather, someone — landing on one of the castle's outer walls made her look up.

There stood Kouga, his fists clenched and eyes wide as he took in the scene before him. Of all of the wolf corpses… surrounding a thoroughly blood-soaked Inuyasha. It was then that the pieces all clicked together in Daitan's head. Naraku truly is the king of screwing with people's heads. She thought as Kouga gazed upon the massacre of his people.

"INUYASHA!" he roared, furious tears threatened to fall from his icy blue eyes. "How dare you do this?!"

Inuyasha's lip curled in a snarl.

"Before you jump to conclusions, your pals here were already dead by the time I got to the castle—"

"Shut up!" Kouga bared his fangs. "You can't lie to me, you're covered head to toe in their blood!"

Daitan's grip tightened on her sword. Even she would admit that it looked really bad, and Kouga looked just about ready to tear out Inuyasha's throat with his teeth alone. Kagome stepped forward, clearly hoping that Kouga would hear her out, if not Inuyasha.

"Kouga, you're wrong! We came here looking for a youkai named Naraku and found the Wolf Tribe slaughtered, but then they came to life and started attacking us! But they weren't really alive, they were zombies!"

"It's true," added Daitan. "Naraku set us up so you would fight us — why would Inuyasha slaughter the Wolf Tribe? It's just you he has a grudge against, not your people!"

The attempt to reason, however, only bounced off of his ears as Kouga let out a wicked growl.

"Don't even try to protect him, Kagome! And you," he glared daggers at Daitan. "How stupid do you think I am?! I'll tear that mutt to shreds!"

Daitan let out a 'tch!' and stepped in front of Kagome. It looked like it was about to get messy. Beside her, Miroku shook his head with a deep frown.

"The Wolf Tribe must have been enticed here too, just like us, before they were slaughtered and their corpses were used to set up Inuyasha." he spat.

"Kouga must have rushed over here to save his comrades… but arrived just in time to see Inuyasha covered in their blood." murmured Sango. Daitan's muscles tensed, waiting for the moment Kouga would make his move.

"And he's not going to listen to us either, he's blind with rage!" she said. For a moment, all was silent but for the quiet whisper of a soft wind across the castle grounds. Then, in a blink, Kouga launched himself straight at Inuyasha, his eyes downright murderous. Daitan rushed forward to help Inuyasha, but leapt back at the last moment as a blast of light nearly sent her flying.

Kouga's fist had missed Inuyasha by a hair, but the moment it met the ground, an explosion rocked the earth from the point of contact. By the time the light faded, Daitan could see that the explosion had destroyed one of the castle walls and left a fissure in the courtyard. How did he get so much more powerful in only a few days, even with another jewel shard, it shouldn't have made that much of a difference! She thought. Inuyasha landed several feet away from Kouga. While his tough-guy persona was still set firmly in place, a flicker of uncertainty made itself known in his eyes.

"You got your strength back, Kouga? I see you found another jewel shard for your arm!"

Kouga smirked as he got to his feet, flexing the arm with the shard inside.

"You may have stolen my last jewel shard, but I assure you, this one is much better!" He punctuated his sentence with another leap toward Inuyasha, winding up for another punch with his enhanced fist.

With a Dash, Daitan slammed into Kouga's side shoulder first and sent him flying off-target, just before his fist made contact with Inuyasha. They both lost their balance and skidded across the ground, and Daitan managed to land back on her feet. As Kouga stood, Kagome's voice rang out from off to the side.

"You have to stop, Kouga, listen to me! This whole thing is a trap — Inuyasha didn't kill your friends, it was somebody else!"

Kouga gritted his teeth, head bowed.

"Shut up! Words are cheap, and I believe what I see with my own eyes!"

"There's no reasoning with him, Kagome!" said Daitan, keeping her eyes firmly on Kouga. Inuyasha growled and nodded beside her.

"Yeah, this guy's brain is a block of wood, he can't grasp anything too complicated!" Kouga's growls became louder and louder, and Inuyasha stepped a bit closer to Daitan. "You smell Naraku inside that castle too?"

Daitan's eyes narrowed.

"Yeah, probably sitting back and watching. But I'm thinking about making this show a little more interactive, if you can handle Kouga on your own."

"Tch, 'if'? Please. Just go already." Inuyasha certainly sounded confident, but that same uncertainty still flickered in his eyes.

"The hell are you mongrels talking about?! Pay attention if you want to live!" roared Kouga, shooting forward toward Inuyasha. Daitan leapt straight over him and Dashed through the air to head straight for the castle doors, leaving Inuyasha to deal with Kouga on his own.

Daitan hit the ground running, and when she reached the doors, Sango's Hiraikotsu suddenly flew past her head. Upon looking back, she saw Miroku and Sango close behind her. She said nothing, however, as her skin started to prickle again. Even though the battle between Inuyasha and Kouga had made quite a bit of noise outside, the moment Daitan stepped over the castle threshold, everything had gone dead silent. It was dark inside as well, as what little daylight that remained outside struggled to survive within the castle walls.

A light then appeared beyond a screen in front of them. The woman with the fan stood directly under it, her back turned. Daitan, Miroku, and Sango didn't hesitate to burst through the screen, all of them with their weapons at the ready.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?" Miroku demanded. The woman spoke in a smooth, low voice.

"You want a formal introduction?" she asked, turning to face them. Daitan kept her guard up. The woman's fan was open — who knew what else she could do other than reviving the dead. "Good evening. The name's Kagura. You must be Sango, Miroku, and… yes, the little pup. Daitan."

Daitan's eyebrow twitched.

"Where is Naraku?" she growled lowly, attempting to brush off Kagura's thinly-veiled slight. Kagura merely blinked crimson red eyes, utterly unconcerned.

"He's not in right now. But he left you all a little something to keep you entertained. Naraku hopes you will find his little gift… amusing."

With a pop and a brief flash of light, something small fell out of the air and onto the floor. A carved wooden object, with a single wiry black hair wrapped around it.

"A puppet—!" gasped Miroku, and Kagura turned away.

"Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to go see the outside entertainment. Kouga and Inuyasha, hm? Neither of them take my fancy, so I don't care which of them wins the duel." she sighed. Kagura began to fade away, and Daitan Dashed forward in a flash of bright light that illuminated the room, her sword whipping forward to cut off Kagura's head. But it only met empty air, and behind her, the wooden puppet rattled before bursting into a multitude of writhing, fleshy tentacles. When they all converged into a familiar white baboon skin, annoyance started to heat up in Daitan's chest. How many traps are in this place?!

A/N: Enter Kagura! I love her, she's such an interesting character. Virtual cookies for those of you who caught the Hobbit reference ;)