Stopping not far from the edge of the village, Kyone asked Shippo, "Okay, what direction did they go?"
When Shippo pointed, Kyone started her fast walk again, wondering why the hell she was left behind when Zack was probably hogging all the fun. The fact that it was the dead of night didn't bother her, she just kept moving deeper and deeper into the forest. If there was a fight, she would go crazy if she missed it.
Her thoughts were soon interuppted by Shippo saying, "Wait, I think I hear something."
Not even slowing down, she answered, "What is it, kid?"
His voice sounded unsteady, as if he didn't know what to say. "I...I don't know. From here, it sounds like metal clashing, screaming, and blood-thirsty growls. But...it can't be!"
This caused Kyone to stop and ask, "And why can't that be?"
Shippo's reply caused her to all but fall to the ground in shock, "It's comming from behind us, in the village!!"
"That CAN'T be, we were in there less than two minutes ago, and it was dull and boring." Taking off in a sprint, she went back in the direction she came from. She'd be damned if she let something that sounded this fun pass her by, to hell with Zack and whatever brawls he'd gotten into.
The moment she came out of the trees, she saw bodies on the ground, and huts on fire.
Walking over to a nearby body, Kyone turned it over and had to swallow the urge to vomit. This guy had bite-marks, scratches, and a weird looking knife in his boney throat. He barely had any skin left on him...what could have done this so quickly?
Out of one of the burning huts, a man dressed in a monk's robes burst out, knocking something that looked human down with his staff, and rushed off into the forest behind Kyone. She paid the man and whatever he was yelling to her no mind. All of her mind was trying to rationalize what that...that thing the monk threw to the ground was. Grey skin, yellow eyes, nothing but canines in its mouth, black chest-plate...it looked like a god-damn orc out of Lord of the Rings. Right down to the vicious smirk on its face.
With a throaty voice, it said, "Well, now. A soft looking female. Grithom said to let him feast on a fresh young girl...but since this battle was far too easy..."
The sound of metal comming out of a scabbard got Kyone out of her daze. As the blade was lifted to cut her down, she tackled the orc, starting a struggle on the ground. Both using two hands, laying on their sides, they each tried to shove the vicous knife into the other's neck. For half a second, Kyone thought she was equal to the creature in strength...then her arms felt like they were about to snap under the pressure. Sweat building on her forehead, she rolled them so she was on top and had the help of gravity. All it did was make the orc smirk, as if it loved the suggestive position, or maybe just the fact that it was still pushing the knife back at the same speed, not even slowed down.
Time seemed to stop as the point of the weapon seemed about ready to peirce through her jugular. All she could feel was the cold steel on one side and her heart pounding on the other, the two forces seeming to meet and clash. The orc suddenly screamed from pain, and Kyone didn't even need to think. The blade turned over, and met the orc's throat, making it gargle in agony. Unthinking, she lifted the blade up and stabbed again, and again, until the throat was brutally torn in two.
Breathing heavily, she looked at its face, and saw that the hairs on its head had been set on fire. Jumping up, she looked around, trying to see what could have set it. All the buildings were too far away for a spark to light it, and hair doesn't just go up in flames for no reason.
"Hey, Kyone, come-on, let's GET! OUT! OF! HERE!!" Looking in the direction of the voice, there was Shippo, looking scared and shaking. Did he...just...save her LIFE?!?
Taking the scabard of the knife from the orc, she sheithed it and smiled at the kid. "Yea, don't want to meet this guy's freinds." Walking over to the corpse she checked earlier, she ripped the blade from his throat and whipped the blood of with what was left of his clothes.
As the night filled with roars, howls, and
yips that sounded familiar to Kyone's ears, she ran in the
direction the monk went, grabbing Shippo and putting him on her
shoulder. This was one party she didn't want to get involved in.
Inuyasha looked around, sniffing here and there, trying to figure out what had happened in this place. Kikyo's blood covered the trees, Naraku's demon bees litered the ground, killed by something the half-demon never saw or smelled before, Kohaku's blood covered the ground, but that wasn't the strangest of it. The guy Kagome brought from her time...his scent had totally changed partway in the battle. His scent went from full human to full demon. The hell?
When Inuyasha first smelled it, he thought his nose was confusing something happening...until he saw the large corpse of an obviously powerful demon spider. Arrows litered its face...or what was left of its face. Clearly Kikyo had shot it, but since her arrows clearly didn't do this, what the hell could?
Smelling even more carefully, he came to where the...whatever that guy was, fell down. Something lifted the obviously much larger body from the air, and the scent vanished. Perhaps Kagura, or a swarm of Naraku's bees. Something else came in from the air to pick up Kohaku and...Inuyasha couldn't place the specific scent of the person, all he could smell was sweat and tears. Clearly someone had been afraid out of their wits, but who, and of what? And Kagura seemed to have walked on the ground for a bit...but unsteady. Closer inspection reveiled a faint scent of blood from the wind woman. If she was bleeding, why not escape? Nothing he scented made sense.
Knowing his nose could do nothing further in this chaotic mix of scents, he looked around for something, anything, that could say where the guy could have gone.
Feh, all he could find was a pile of torn garments and a trail of torn cloth...wait. A trail of torn cloth. Rushing over to one of the peices of cloth, he smelled it. Yep, that's Kikyo's. Must have been chasing after the captured...whatever. Huh, didn't seem like the sort of thing she'd normally do...but then, he'd smelled alot of things that didn't normally happen here.
Gesturing with his hands, he pointed out what direction to go for Kagome and Sango.
Jumping from Kagome's bag came Kirara, Sango's little red feline companion. Jumping up to her master's shoulder, she rubbed against the girl's face. Anyone who didn't see this cat would wonder why it had two tails, but it didn't seem to bother any of the three.
Sango chuckled, "Looks like she liked your cat snacks, Kagome."
Climbing onto Inuyasha's back, Kagome smiled, "I'll get her some more next time I go home. But for now, let's get to Zack before we have to find out what caused this."
Giving a nod of understanding, Sango whispered something to the cat. Jumping of her master's shoulder, the cat stretched for a moment, then gripped the ground with its claws. Soundlessly, its body seemed to grow and twist. Two large fangs now comming out of its mouth, it stopped growing at the size of a small horse.
As Inuyasha carried Kagome on the ground,
rushing at the speed of a car, Kirara flew in the sky with Sango
on her back. If there was a reason that cat could fly, it wasn't
visable...
As Kagura hobbled towards the field, her eyes went wide from shock. Naraku's bees were lifting up what looked like a cross between a wolf and a bear. Kohaku was injured in his leg, the bite marks clearly from that...thing. But the most surprising sight was Kanna.
The girl who normally acted so emotionless, and always seemed too mature for her child-like body...was shaking and disheavled. Clothes ripped and torn in too many places to count, hair as messy and tangled as possible, and gripping the grass under her like it was all that protected her, she seemed unrecognisable. Before, she always acted like a ghost with no will. No personality, so nobody would either like or hate her. Something had broken that sheild, and left her mentally reeling.
Cautiously, Kagura limped closer. This was far more scary than anything else could possibly be. When she was just behind the little girl, Kanna turned around with tears streaking down her face.
Slowly, she shakily got her hands from the ground, and suddenly started to scratch at her bare right side frantically. The pale skin soon took a pinkish color.
Grabbing the small hands, Kagura yelled, "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!?"
Shutting her eyes, Kanna whimpered, "N--no. Please no. No more pain, keep the pain away...are you going to cause pain? No claws? No teeth? No roaring? Is the pain gone...no. It's just waiting, waiting until I open my eyes. White eyes, brown fur. White eyes, brown fur..." Ranting, Kagura couldn't make any sense of her, letting her hands go. Still ranting, she grabbed the ground again, tearing bits of grass slowly, yet shakily. Tears constantly flowing out of her eyes, and a mad, one sided coversation flowing from her lips, she seemed trapped in her own world. A small demon girl, sitting in the backyard of insanity, was stared at by a taller, seemingly teenage girl, who didn't know what to do.
Any response Kagura had became stuck in her throat as she looked more closely at the smaller girl's hands. Redish/brownish something was on her skin and a few of the clothing scraps. It took Kagura a moment to realize something: that was dried blood. Looking at the legs, it seemed like far more blood had flowed down. Almost totally terrified, Kagura shifted a few of the rags from Kanna's torso. From the bottom of her neck to just above her crotch, spots of bloodflow were clearly visable. The fact that there were no visable wounds didn't add to or lower Kagura's anxiety.
Trying hard not to vomit, she asked, "What happened to you?"
Kanna's voice became more high pitched, screeching at the taller girl. "NO, PAIN! DON'T WANT PAIN!! LET ME FORGET, LET MEMORIES GO AWA-a-ay. P-please, I beg of you, no more pa-pa-ain. Memories turn to dust, pain go away. Memories stay, pain come back. Don't let it come back."
Kagura grabbed onto the smaller girl's shoulders, speaking as calmly as she could, "Look, I can keep you away from the pain better if I know what the pain is. Just tell me what happened to you."
Opening her eyes, Kanna asked, "Who are you, w-will you protect me?"
The taller girl raised an eyebrow, "I'm Kagura, remember?" Just how bad of a thing happened here? Kanna had an uncanny memory. For something to make her forget everything but pain and receiving it...
Kanna's head looked up and looked shocked for a moment. She then yelled, "SISTER!! IT WAS SO...wait, Kohaku!! We have to get out of here. It might come back at any time. Take out your feather, grab him, and let's get as far away from here as possible."
Kagura concidered arguing...but saw the scared
expression on her face. Taking a feather from her hair, she
threw it to the ground. Quickly, the small object grew to a size
that would barely hold all three of them. Sitting down on top of
it, Kanna at her side, she slowly flew the large feather over
Kohaku. She just didn't want to look at that happy expression
that sprouted on the younger girl's face. It would probably turn
to horror the moment she learned that the thing that hurt her
would probably be there when they arrived...
Breathing hard, Kyone just had to ask, "Okay Scorch, were we...followed? If so, how...how many?"
Shippo took a few sniffs of the air, and let out a breath in relief. "Followed by one guy, and it's Miroku."
Slowing down, catching her breath, she seemed a little annoyed at that response. "Look, you may know whoever this is by name, but I don't. Who the fuck is Miroku?"
To Kyone's increasing annoyance, he started laughing, "You mean you DIDN'T get GRABBED in the ASS by the monk? Or asked if you could BEAR his CHILDREN? Yesh, how unattractive are you anyway?"
Thinking for a moment, she suddenly remembered, "Oh yeah, I think he's the first person I saw when I woke up here! Short hair, small poinytail?"
Seeing Shippo nod, she continued, "We don't have time for an idiot's antics, we got an orc problem. If he tries to touch me now, I'll see how well I can do a circumcision on an adult perv."
The sound of metal rings clanking together came from behind them. "Ah, so you know what those demons are called? Could you enlighten us, miss?" Walking out of a bush, there stood Miroku. Bandages visible underneath his robes, and holding the ringed staff that most Buddhist monks carry, he looked at her with a questioning glance.
Sighing, Kyone tried to think of how to put this, "There are a lot of different kinds of orcs. They shouldn't even exist. They're something out of pure fiction. The one I looked at, though, seemed like it came out of the movies of Lord of the Rings!"
Sitting down, Miroku looked curious. "Though I don't know what 'movies' are, it does seem strange that imagined creatures from your time suddenly attacked that particular village. What do you know of this variation of the creature?"
"They're not particularly fond of sunlight, but can do a decent amount of damage during the daytime. Night, though, is their favorite element. Mostly, they come in large numbers when they're serious about an attack. Sometimes, they have more powerful creatures with them. But if we're lucky, they won't have any wargs with them." Kyone smiled a little. Guess watching some movies and reading something about them did pay off.
Eyes shut in deep thought, Miroku asked, "Wargs...are these creatures large human-like things with a love of smashing objects? If so, I saw at least four helping to destroy the village."
Eyes wide, she looked at him like he was crazy, "Those are trolls!! Powerful, but slow. We can outrun them on foot. Wargs look kind of like horse-sized wolves. If there are orcs riding wargs, we're going to need some more speed."
Shippo looked scared, "Would there be any way to outrun them on foot?"
Kyone shook her head, and saw the kid point behind her. There stood a pair of brown wargs in all their vicious glory. Blood on their teeth, seeming to smile at the group viciously, they advanced slowly, almost tauntingly.
Gulping, Kyone whispered, "But it wouldn't hurt to try running."
Sprinting off, wargs still walking slowly
after them, they just hoped the creatures would continue to feel
like toying with them.
Naraku looked at the sky, smiling as he saw his servants bring the creature. It was everything that cloaked stranger said it was. Feral, powerful, tireless, and simple-minded. If he could find a way to create more of these 'werewolves', none could stand in his way. If it couldn't be controlled, he'd just absorb it and make a shade with the same qualities. The possibilities were countless.
The demon bees dropped the creature in front of their lord, and it waisted no time. It jumped at him, glowing blue eyes narrowed. Naraku only smiled, a purple mist starting to surround him. The creature ignored the gas, and chomped its teeth down on his neck. Steam seemed to come off the creature, skin burning off wherever the mist touched it. If it felt any pain, it didn't show it. It just twisted and turned its head, biting down harder and harder.
Naraku looked ecstatic, did this creature not feel pain? Did it not feel its own skin melting and evaporating? Underneath Naraku's robes, mutiple tentacles shot out and grabbed the creature, holding it in the air. A good portion of Naraku's neck went up with it, leaving nothing but bones to connect his head and body. Struggling, it roared in defiance, as if it thought it could kill him.
Naraku started to chuckle, making the creature stop and tilt its head in curiosity. He could practically hear in the air, 'how can one chuckle without a throat'?
Starting to laugh outright, he said, "He was RIGHT!! Not only strong, but infectious. A single bite on one with any human blood, and the human part will become 'werewolf' in the next full moon night. I think I already feel the effects. Tomorrow night, I will be able to defeat ALL of my enemies. Oh, this was well worth not removing the human heart from myself. If I can find a way to make the change permanent...to always be..."
And he erupted in a full, ear splitting, high
pitched laugh, even as blood poured down his body. The
simple-minded creature tried to shrink away, seemingly scared. A
neckless...thing, laughing like a...hell, not even hyenas
laughed like THAT!!
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