Author's Note: Sorry for the long delay in posting this chapter. Got busy with another story and the muse to this story left for a vacation. But my muse returned and here is the next chapter. This chapter will deal with the battle and what happens afterwards. Plus the appearance of a certain someone.
As always, my muse and I love reviews.
Chapter Thirteen.
The battle lasted for the next five days, neither side gaining. It was a basic stalemate battle till the enemy sent a lone warrior dressed in other side’s armor to get close enough to Inu no Taisho’s main general and stabbed him in the back. Thinking that would send the warriors into a stunned state which would prove useful to his clan, as he turned his blade unto himself and ended his life.
“Jinsei!” Makoto yelled, as he watched as the general fall to the ground with a look of shock on his face.
The rest of the army of Jinsei were enraged at the dishonorable way that the enemy had slain their general, made them all shift to dog forms and slaughtered the enemy till none were standing. Makoto breathing hard as blood dripped from his hands and mouth, glanced over to see the eighty bloodied dog demons standing over their fallen enemy covered in blood, he raised his head up and howled. The other warriors followed suit as the sounds of howls echoed the valley.
After he finished his howl, Makoto went to the body of the general, knelt next to him and closed his eyes before he turned to look at his younger brother who came from the castle with his men surrounding him. “Sire, what shall we do with our sister’s husband’s general?”
“He shall be returned to his Lord, with what remains of his troops. He fought to defend our castle and gave his life for us,” Shiro stated, as he looked at the dead body of the general, picking up his cloak and covering his head with it.
“He did fight well, but the enemy killed him dishonorably,” Makoto growled off, his hand gripped his blade’s hilt so tightly that his knuckles turned white.
“I am not able to revive him for Lord Inu no Taisho but I will do one better,”
“What are you going to do?” Makoto asked.
“I’m giving him you, my brother,” Shiro stated, as he looked at his older brother. “You have honored your family very well, I think it is time for you to move on and find your own place with our sister’s Lord,”
Makoto looked shocked at his brother, he never expected his brother to do this but he did see wisdom in what he was doing. It would mean less conflict with the other council members being the firstborn son, as they would look to him instead of Shiro as clan leader. He bowed to his brother. “I will go where you send me, my Lord,”
“Now prepare the warriors for their return to Lord Inu no Taisho, including the remains of his general,” Shiro stated.
~~~~~~~~~~~
It was several hours of marching back to the castle of the Lord of the Western Lands. Makoto and another warrior led the army into the courtyard. Sesshomaru had came out of the gates and saw the black covered stretcher, he dashed back into the castle as his father emerged from the castle, his eyes looking over all of the warriors. Inu no Taisho walked over and spoke, “Where’s Jinsei?”
Makoto bowed to him and with a wave to the black covered stretcher. “He was slain cowardly by the enemy, my Lord.”
Inu no Taisho went to the covered remains of his general and uncovered him. He glanced down at his sword Tenseiga to feel it pulsing. He removed it from its sheath and without a word to anyone cut into the remains before sheathing it. He smiled as he noticed that the sword had revived his general. “Easy, Jinsei,”
“I was dead . . . wasn’t I?” he whispered.
“Yes, but you have been returned to us,” Inu no Taisho stated. “If they had came a day from now, I would not be able to revive you,”
Makoto looked relieved that he was alive but then he realized something. He knelt before Inu no Taisho. “My Lord, may I speak?”
“Granted,”
“My brother Lord Shiro believes that the general you sent to his castle to be dead. He sent me to replace your general in your ranks, I cannot return to my brother’s castle without dishonoring myself,” Makoto stated.
Inu no Taisho smiled, as he placed his hand on Makoto’s shoulder. “I have the perfect place for you, my brother.”
“Where, sire?” Makoto asked.
“I have need of another teacher for my recruits since I have over one hundred and fifty recruits coming in another week and my best trainers will be swamped with one hundred of them,” Inu no Taisho stated.
“You need someone to train them?” Makoto asked.
“Yes, if you are interested in training them, it will ease my mind,” he offered.
“I would be honored to train them for you, my Lord.”
“Good, now go to your sister and tell her of your good news. She worries about you and your brother,” Inu no Taisho said.
“Yes, my Lord,” Makoto bowed to him and hurried off to go see his sister.
~~~~~~~~~~
Natsuko headed off to return to her room to wash up before going to see Lady Kannon and her brother. She had finished pulling her obi around her waist and fastening it, when a knock came to the door. “Just a moment,”
She rushed to finish tying it before walking to the door and opening it to see Touga standing there. “My lord,”
“Tell me what happened to Jinsei, Natsuko?” Touga asked, after she permitted him entry.
“It was as Lord Makoto stated, sire. The enemy dressed in one of our dead warrior’s armor and came behind him and slew him. We tried to capture him but he took his own life, believing that we were now lost without our General to lead us.”
“What happened?”
“We went into frenzy and slew the other side within a matter of an hour. When all was done, we had came out victorious, after we informed Lord Shiro that we had won, we returned here as quickly as we could,”
“Tell me truthfully, how did Makoto handle the battle?”
Natsuko looked at him. “Like a Lord would, sire, he handled everything with pose and carefully planned battle plan. He knew what the men could do by looking at what we were going against. He’s really good.”
Touga nodded his head. “Do you think he would do well as a teacher of my recruits?”
“It is your choice, sire, but I believe he may do well,” Natsuko stated, deferring the end decision back to him.
Touga looked at her as he considered his final decision. “Your insight on this is very welcomed, Natsuko.”
Natsuko bowed to him. “Your compliments are very welcomed, sire,”
“I will see you at dinner then,” He asked as he glanced over at her as he started to move towards the door.
“Yes, I shall be there.”
Touga smiled and walked out of her chambers without another word. Natsuko turned to the balcony and went the railing to see the guards patrolling as normal. She heard what sounded like swords clanging against each other and it was not far like the practice arena. She looked around the small area and saw nothing out of the norm. She leapt over the railing and dropped smoothly to the ground before she followed the sounds to see young Sessho-kun practicing with his teacher. She watched from her place as the young prince did everything as good as he could but in the end he still lost to his teacher. He was starting to get better but not enough to defeat her fairly.
She headed back to her chambers to gather her own personal fighting weapons. It didn’t take her long to get to the practice arena and started to fight her shadow before doing some of the hurdles that she would need to contend with if she was contending fighting in the woods instead of a flat plain.
Sesshomaru’s teacher decided to take him out into the wooded fighting trail while fighting him to make him gauge how good of a fighter he would be in any situation that he would encounter.
Natsuko leapt over a particularly large fallen tree only to come upon Sesshomaru and his teacher. She growled a threatening growl as she posed ready to attack.
The teacher looked at her. “Lady Natsuko, I did not know you were on this trail?”
Natsuko smirked as she sheathed her sword, standing upright. “I have been running on it for a few hours. Are you starting on it?”
Sesshomaru started to open his mouth, when the teacher spoke, “Yes, it is Sessho-kun’s first time on it.”
Natsuko smiled. “Then, I shall accompany you both to see how the young prince is handling his training.”
“Good, I would like to know how a battle trained warrior thinks of his training,” Myanmar stated.
They ran the course acting as if after each leap attacking an unseen foe, till they reached the end of the course. Natsuko turned to look at the young prince. “Myanmar, he needs to be with the new recruits to further his training, no more court trainers beyond the politics of his station. I will be recommending his move to the ranks of the recruits to his father,”
Myanmar looked shocked at the suggestion. “Are you sure he could be in the ranks of the recruits?”
“Yes,” Natsuko replied. “I feel that he’s ready to become a soldier for his father,”
“Then, he shall be placed with them,” spoke another voice coming from behind them. They turned to see Inu no Taisho standing there with a grin on his face.
“My lord,” they replied as they bowed to him.
Inu no Taisho looked at them both. “So he has improved?”
Natsuko shrugged. “He has but not to my standards but he is rough around the edges but he’ll get there over time.”
Inu no Taisho smiled. “Good,” He walked over to his son and looked down at him. “You will do your very best and you will be one of the best,”
“I will do my very best, father,” Sesshomaru stated. “I will not disappoint you,”
Inu no Taisho smiled as he walked down the path towards the castle. Natsuko went with him as they did so, they talked about what had happened on the combat course. Inu no Taisho liked the advice that she gave about putting Sesshomaru into the recruits and asked her in her own words how he handled it.
“He started off bad but improved as we moved further into the course to where he was anticipating what I was going to do next. I had to alter my plan of attack on him when we jumped a log, I would go after his teacher instead of him which got him yelled at. But, he has a very sharp mind for calculating attacks on his enemies,” Natsuko stated. “But he is brash and wouldn’t heed his teachers call to step back at times.”
“He is very stubborn for a young pup, but being placed within the recruits will make him see that he’s not perfect,”
“Yet, sire, he will given time be a warrior to be proud of,” Natsuko stated, as they neared the castle.
They both stopped as they turned towards the East as the sound of a roar came from the woods. Natsuko listened as she sniffed the air. “This way, I scent it coming from this direction!” And she dashed off into the woods with her sword out.
Inu no Taisho followed behind with his sword ready by the time they got to the scene, the demon bear was hovering over a child and that pissed Natsuko off to where she lunged forth with her sword out and two quick slashes to the bear’s head toppled the bear over.
The man who was on the ground, raised up and spoke, “My daughter Izayoi . . . it attacked her,”
Inu no Taisho turned the child over and saw the messengers coming for the child. “The child is dead.”
The man cried out, “No, she is the only child I have. Please whatever you can do, save her.”
Inu no Taisho laid the child down and withdrew Tenseiga with a quick slash on her body, he sheathed the blade and lifted the child partially up as her brown eyes opened to look upon his face. “Easy child, you are safe now.”
She turned her head to see her father lying there with Natsuko tending to his wounds. “Father?”
He looked over at her and tears came from his eye. “My Izayoi, my little precious child . . . you are safe,”
“We should get them both back to the castle and let the healers do the rest, sire,” Natsuko stated, as she looked at Inu no Taisho, who was gazing at Izayoi. “My Lord?”
He glanced over to Natsuko and nodded. “Carry him if you can, Natsuko. I will take Izayoi,”
“Yes, sire,” Natsuko tied the bandages tight before making sure she could carry the injured man on her back.
As they journeyed to the castle, the man asked her why she called the other sire and lord.
“He is Inu no Taisho, Lord of the Western Lands. You are within his lands right now,” Natsuko stated.
“Are you his wife?” the man asked.
Natsuko chuckled. “No, I have no mate. He is my Lord and friend.”
“Forgive me, I didn’t mean to,” he replied.
“It is okay, I do not mind, most people think we’re mates but I am his wife’s bodyguard,” Natsuko stated, as they neared the castle. She raised her head up and howled as they sped into the castle courtyard.
Inu no Taisho looked at everyone who came out to Natsuko’s howl. “We have couple guests who were attacked by a demon bear. The healers need to tend to the male and the child,”
The healers rushed to both and took them from Inu no Taisho and Natsuko before taking them into the castle for treatment.
The next chapter is coming soon.
