Chronicles of the West

Chapter Ten

Days bled into weeks as the group hunted for answers. The biggest break came when Kurama found the mountain. He'd had to charm the location from a very old and very unattractive slime demon, much to the amusement of the others. He sniffed disdainfully, "Well at least we have a place to begin"

Shippo grunted, "Be glad that charm is all it took". Kurama's ears flickered in irritation. "Where is Ryu?" he asked suddenly and Shippo nodded toward the forest. "He's patrolling". Kurama wondered of Silvana knew about that, she was nothing if not territorial.

Shippo watched the silver fox for a while, "So you think this thing is really there?" he asked then. Kurama shrugged, "Maybe. Who know?" he hedged. He was old, he remembered the beast they sought, crafty and dangerous. He'd never faced it himself, no, but he knew those who had. They'd not come back.

He'd believed that this thing, this ancient evil had long since perished. He almost hoped it was so. He wondered if Toga was truly strong enough to fight it. There was no way to know….yet. He strode through the halls to the meeting chamber where Toga and Silvana were closeted away.

Pale heads bent to study the large map on the table before them. "It has to be in this area" Toga muttered, dragging his clawed fingers over the aged map. Silvana stared at the hand drawn mountain range, "That is vast territory" she told him, "Hundreds of caves and caverns. It will take weeks of searching them to narrow it down".

Kurama entered then and they didn't bother to look up, knowing him by scent. "Not weeks" he told them. Toga lifted warm golden eyes to cooler ones, "Find something?". The fox pointed to the tallest peak, "This is the last known sighting of the creature. That's the most logical place to start".

Silvana studied the mountain, "I know this place". Toga peered at her from beneath silver bangs. She traced the pointed peak with a delicate claw, "I know of no entrance to it. It's a massive mound of earth". Toga sighed, "Looks like we'll be going". Silvana nodded, looking past Kurama as Shippo moved into view.

"Where is Ryu?" she asked. Toga grunted, "Patrolling your northern boundary". She blinked at him before crossing her arms, "And why is he doing that?". Toga measured the distance on the map, "Lack of better things to do I suppose" he said, his tone was bored.

She glowered at the back of his noble head. "Did you send him out?" she demanded softly. Toga looked over his shoulder at her in question. She met his gaze with her own. "No I didn't" he answered sharply, "I do not command my siblings. Nor do I rule your region". She nodded, knowing all she needed to.

She stormed out of the fortress and into the forest. How dare he take her duties on himself? She tracked him by scent. His was unmistakable. A strange mixture of woodland spice and winter wind. It suited him. The tension between them had grown over the passing days.

He'd watched her closely, making no secret of it and always seemed on the verge of saying something to her. He never did. A handful of words had passed between them and yet she felt his anger growing. She growled softly as she raced over the treetops. There!

Ryu eyed the spider demon before him with distaste. The spider was quite large, but no match for the silver hanyou. Ryu was quite patient waiting for the lesser demon to make it's move. He smirked seeing the misshapen body tense to attack.

Suddenly a blur of white whipped past him at the spider. He groaned, damnable female. He unsheathed his sword, barking for her to get clear. She snarled at the spider, dodging the spray of sticky web. "This is my land" she snapped at them both.

She kicked at the larger beast, slashing out with her sharp claws. One long spindly leg snaked out and caught her in midair, flinging her to the ground. Her leg was deeply gashed. She slashed at his head, but the carapace of his head was too hard, several claws snapped in the process. She growled at it. The spider spat more webbing at her, she cringed.

Ryu cursed under his breath as he shot between them, catching the injured female against his chest a leaping backwards. "I told you to get clear" he growled at her. His sword blocked the spider's attack. His muscles bulging under the weight of the beast. "Damn thing isn’t even articulate"

He grunted from the strain and flipped up and over the spider, keeping his arm firmly banded against the female. He landed amid the upper branches of a sturdy tree and gently set her down. "You wait here….. I'll finish this" he told her. She caught his arm, "Now just a minute!" she began.

Golden eyes narrowed at her, "Woman do not tempt me. This will only take a minute. Can you stay here or not?" His tone was gruff with irritation. She bared her fangs but nodded. Damn hanyou, so full of himself. Ryu leapt down to land in a graceful crouch, his eyes narrowed on the spider, keeping himself between it and her.

The spider lunged and where a wiser fighter might have leapt back he rolled forward, sliding under it. His blade a shining blur. The spider screamed in agony and indignation. Ryu grabbed one of his legs in his gloved hand flinging it away from himself in a dazzling display of strength.

The thing shuddered in it's death throes for several seconds before he tired of watching and brought his blade down and across. Mercifully ending the suffering. Silvana looked down at him, his body stiff in the finishing pose. He was…breathtaking.

He felt her gaze upon him and peered up through the branches at her heart shaped face. His leg muscles bunched and he laughed himself upwards, sword still in hand. He landed lightly before her. He stared at the blood on his blade and gave his weapon an impatient flick, dislodging the droplets.

With a smooth motion he sheathed it. His eyes coming back to hers. He crouched near her, reaching out for leg. "Lets have a look" he said. She drew her torn and bloodied leg away from him. "I can manage.. Thank you" she replied stiffly. He raised one eye brow and snagged her ankle, "Fight me and it's only gonna hurt worse" he told her lightly. She growled at him and he bared a fang in response. "You are not alpha here" he reminded her, "Not to me".

She glared at him and his high handed methods. He surveyed the damage to her leg. "Well, he got you good" he informed her, "We have take care of this". She placed her hand atop his to lean forward and inspect the damage. It was quite deep, but was a strike she should easily have been able to block.

"Stupid" she muttered to herself. Ryu glanced up at her before reaching into his shirt and withdrawing neatly folded bandages. "Why's it stupid?" he asked, lifting the edge of her skirt higher to expose the full length of the wound to his eyes.

She turned her head to the side and stared at the fallen demon. "I should have blocked that" she muttered. Ryu glanced down, "Yeah" he agreed, "You being full demon I figured you would". She glowered at him, but he kept talking, "Maybe if you got more rest, you'd be a little faster". The words were lightly given, teasing almost.

She felt like he had slapped her. She stiffened and he only tightened his drip when she tried to pull away from him. His eyes flashed warningly. She took a deep breath, "How dare you judge me?" she whispered angrily. Ryu's ears twitched, "Not judging anything, just pointing out the facts".

She hissed as he prodded the edges of the gash. "It's not your business" she told him. He nodded, "You're right Silvana, it's not. I just don't see what you get out of it" . She tensed as he leaned over the wound, "Wha-what are you doing?" she asked. He smirked, "Cleaning it, I'd have thought that was obvious".

She leapt at his touch, his hands infinitely gentle now. His tongue lapped slowly over the torn flesh, healing saliva working it's way into the rend. It ran from her hip to her knee and he was slowly working his way upwards. Silvana felt her heart speed up. What was happening to her? He was healing her for the love of heaven, not loving her.

Ryu felt the slight trembling of her leg beneath his lips and tongue. He was careful to clean every part of the wound. Her blood sweet and warm on his tongue. His fangs grazed softly over the cap of her knee as he moved upwards, his claws tracing over the creamy flesh of her thigh.

Silvana was unused to feeling anything from males, save the two currently in residence in her fortress. Yet, this hanyou, this beautiful hanyou brought her senses to life with the simplest of touches. She closed her eyes, unable to watch the silver head, lavish such attention on her.

Her breath caught in her throat as he licked across her thigh. The scent of her arousal rose into the air and Ryu growled softly in response. His actions becoming slower, softer, more deliberate. The kitsune woman was responding to his touch and that pleased him as much as it frustrated him.

His hands slid to her waist, drawing her closer so that he could tend to the cut higher on her hip. Here he paused to lap and caress with his lips. Her hands moved to his shoulders. Her heart hammered loud enough for him to hear. Her eyes were closed but her cheeks were flushed.

Ryu smiled softly at her desire of him. Frowned at his own budding desire. This female was off limits. He wasn't sure what role she played in Toga's life, but his scent lingered on her and that was something he had to accept. It was getting harder though.

With a final lick, he leaned back slowly, reluctantly. With sure hands, he wound the linen around her leg, tying the square knot near her ankle. She opened her eyes to study his work, "Do you always carry bandages with you?" she asked, her voice softer now.

He smirked, "It's a dangerous world" he told her. She smiled and braced herself to rise. Ryu caught her against him as she swayed on the damaged leg. "I'll get you back" he told her. She shook her head, "I can manage" she insisted. Ryu growled at her, "Damn stubborn woman… just hold still a second". She clung to him, as he moved his blade to fall across his back.

He scooped her up bridal style and leapt out into the open sky. Silvana's gaze drew to his profile and she found herself thinking how handsome he was. More rugged than Toga, bearing none of those demon markings. His flesh more tanned, his build slightly more sinewy. Golden eyes landed on her and she looked ahead, mortified that she had been caught.

Toga watched as his brother landed in the courtyard, Silvana held against his chest. His eyes narrowed momentarily and then focused on the bandage peeking from beneath her torn skirt. Striding forward he frowned at his younger sibling, "What the hell happened?"

Ryu straightened, setting Silvana on her feet, but keeping an arm around her to support her weight. "Spider" he said simply. Toga let his eyes rove over the female, making certain that she wasn’t harmed further. "Strong one?" he asked, must have been for Silvana to get hurt.

Her cheeks reddened. Ryu noticed of course, "Yeah, he was pretty good" he told his brother, handing the woman off to him and turning away. Toga looked at Silvana before helping her inside. "Ryu fought it?" he asked her. She winced as he settled her on the seat. "Ryu killed it" she admitted. Toga nodded, at least the thing was dead. His brother's pent up aggressions had at least served a purpose today.

Though it was clear that there was more to the story. He'd have to find that out later however.