Blue moon and Red Fire

Chapter 14: Teamwork

The 4 of them waited impatiently in the center of the room, it was daylight now, hours had passed since Inuyasha and Kouga learned of the demon's presence and awakened Souta and Houjo. Which was why it was so strange, they knew those things were out there, those things certainly knew they were in here, "So what the hell are they waiting for?" Kouga paced around the living room uneasily, his arms folded and his eyes shifting around the room in wait. He expected every second for something to come bursting out of some shadowy corner and attack.

Houjo sat with his legs crossed in the center of the room, clinching Kouga's sword tightly. His guard wasn't as high as it was before, but he was still tense. "Maybe there's a strategy to it."

Souta had lost fear an hour ago, he stood near the door attempting to juggle the soccer ball with soft kicks. "Strategy?"

"Yeah." Kouga nodded. "I could see that, they knew we know they're out there, so they wait until we're off guard and attack."

"You really think they're actually thinking like that?" Inuyasha sat beside Houjo, his hand on the hilt of his sheathed Tetsusaiga. "I didn't happen to see a brain anywhere in those things."

"Just think about it Mutt." Kouga snorted. "First the just attack blindly, then the next they come under the cover of the blizzard in the middle of the night. Now this time they come in the middle of the night, and when we catch them they start trying to wait us out. And each time the send more and more. Those things are smarted then we think."

"Maybe..." Inuyasha lifted his arms above his head with a light stretch, then stood to his feet. This line of conversation wasn't reassuring. "These things are really starting to make me nervous." He said, moving past Souta with quick steps toward the stairs, "I'm gonna go check it out out again..."

The soccer ball bounced off of Souta's foot and fell out of range when he stopped focusing on the task at hand, giving one last look back to the fleeting Inuyasha, Souta leaned down to pick the ball up. "I wonder how many of those things there are...I wonder where they're all coming from."

Kouga stopped his pacing and looked upward thoughtfully, that raised a good point. ' They're coming from down the well... Wait, I remembered seeing way more of them this a few hours off from my Den. There were so many of them...maybe that's...'

"Kouga?" Houjo recognized that look, it was the expression of someone who was thinking about a realized point, or feeling an idea coming. "What is it?"

Kouga snapped back into reality and looked down at Houjo, then he rubbed his head nervously. "Nothing important." He lied quickly.

Houjo thought nothing of it and continued to stare at the window, it was similar to looking at a fish tank. He could see them periodically, like snakes they slid through the snow as easily as water, swimming right passed the glass then disappearing into the snow again... '?' Houjo stood up, the sword resting on his shoulder as he walked through the dim light of the lower level and paused in front of the window. It looked almost like he was hypnotized, how he stood there with his mouth hanging open slightly, a soft look in his eyes.

He just stared, watching another one of the pink tentacles slither through the snow from across the left side of the large window slowly to the right, then disappear. Then a few seconds later another tentacle came strait out of the snow, pressing it self against the glass before it coiled around and fell back into the snow. "..."

! - ! - !

Inuyasha sighed, leaning lazily against the open window frame in Souta's room. He couldn't count how many times he'd come up here over the past 4...no 5 hours, looking down at the snow blanketing the ground outside the house in large amounts . He stared scrutinizingly at the designs of protruding lines along the surface of the snow, not one was changed in the lest bit, not a single new one had been added. It was like they weren't moving at all.

At lest the ones on top.

"What the hell are those things doing?" Inuyasha was really starting to get impatient, he hated waiting, especially for things like this. "Why don't they hurry up and attack us already..." Inuyasha honestly didn't feel like fighting theses things right now, he didn't want them to attack since it would put Souta and Houjo in danger. But if they were going to do it then why not do it already? Why not get it over with, why wait?

He was only a few inches away from jumping out and coming after them himself.

! - ! - !

With no change to report, Inuyasha came trudging down the stairs, looking familiarly over the gathered group. "Are those things even moving?"

Houjo closed his mouth and turned away from the window, it sent a chill along his spine and a rush of adrenaline through his body, turning his back on it when anything could happen. "I wouldn't say that much..." He was still thinking about it, something was not right about this.

"They're trying to wait us out. " Kouga repeated. "Maybe they're going to wait until we fall asleep and then attack." He reasoned. "They tried to come when we were asleep before and it didn't work."

"Yeah." Souta agreed. "It seems like at any one time somebody's always awake."

"So they wait us out, we're gonna fall asleep sometime." Kouga said surely, starting his pacing again. Though it wasn't clear if it was because of his entrapment or he was just anxious about a pending attack. With each word he spoke his speech grew faster and faster. "Or they know that we're trapped in here so they bide their time, and when we're half staved and too weak to move, they attack."

"That's a pretty thought out plan." Inuyasha snorted. "You think those things are capable of planing like that?"

Kouga, stopped again looking at Inuyasha fully. "Come on, this all can't be nothing, why do you think they're still out there, why do you think they haven't just come after us already."

Houjo took a deep breath and turned back around to the window, watching with out a word for a few seconds, as if he needed to confirm something. "Kouga, I think you maybe on the right track."

"Huh?" Kouga knew Houjo was kind of sceptical about these demon's mental capacity, why did he change his mind now?

"It's systematical." He said, "First that one." Houjo pointed at a long tentacles streaking visibly across the outside of the window, Houjo could tell it had been doing that for a while since he could see a grove worn into that same spot, even with the weight of the snow mounted on top of that area. "-Goes across the window. Then exactly 10 seconds later..." Houjo paused, counting off 10 seconds in his head before speaking again. "That one." He pointed to another tentacles peaking strait out of the snow, the head of the creature pressing against the glass before coiling back into the snow. "Comes out and then goes back, and 20 seconds later it starts over again."

That all sounded well and impressive, but Souta didn't understand it. "What does that mean?"

"It's always the same two." Houjo explained, "I'm not sure..." Houjo slowly inched over to the edge of the window and the pulled the blinds shut, basking the room in a darkness only illuminated by the light from upstairs. "But I think they're watching us, and if I'm right and Kouga's theory is right, they're waiting for something specific."

There was a silence as everyone comprehended what Houjo was saying.

"So, we're being set up." Kouga said basically. "What are they waiting for?"

Houjo peeked through the blinds, staring through for a full minute before responding. "They stopped... I think they know we know."

"The hell with this!" Inuyasha growled, drawing his Tetsusaiga in a brilliant flash of unleashed energy. "I'm sick of waiting, I'm going to go out there and beat them too it."

"Hey wait!" Souta could see the problem in that. "You can't do that, the snow out there is taller then you are! How are you gonna fight in that?"

He couldn't. "Damnit."

"He's right though." Kouga agreed, if they know we know they're watching us...."

There was another uneasy silence in the room, no one was quite sure what to do next.

"I'm not just going to stand around here!" Inuyasha growled. "Souta, get behind me."

The boy wordlessly aligned himself behind the hanyou, the familiar fear starting to return.

"Houjo, move those...things."

By things, Houjo assumed he meant the blinds and so he pulled on the draw string and pried them open, giving another vision of the wall of snow.

"What are you gonna do?" Souta asked nervously.

"Just stand back and watch yourself." Inuyasha took a small step backwards before charging forward toward the reviled window, drawing his sword back at his side and thrusting it into the center of the glass. It shattered around the heavy sword and an avalanche of snow flowed through the open frame and poured into the living room.

"Awwhaaaaa!!" Souta flinched, his blood ran cold when he saw it, he couldn't believe it! "No...That's it...I'm dead, my life is over, my mom is gonna kill me."

"Don't worry, we'll fix it later." Houjo tried to reassure him, but at the moment he was too focused on what Inuyasha had just done. He found himself inching nervously toward Kouga, even though he knew that doing this would only get in the wolf's way. So he forced himself to move Souta's way, he'd be better off trying to protect the weaponless boy. He was still scared.

What Inuyasha did must have forced the creatures to move because a there was a loud shifting below the over spilled snow, making more of it fall from the half frozen wall of the white substance and slide down onto the piled up mess. A harsh cold breeze blew in the room and more light poured in from outside, allowing them to see well into some of the deeper shadows. "Souta! Houjo! Move!" Inuyasha shouted back leaping quickly to the side, just as a mound, a pillar of hundreds of interwoven tentacles burst through the cover of the snow like a geyser erupting.

"!!" Souta stumbled and dove out of the way while Houjo took a quick step back, narrowly avoiding the tentacles that gained some strength and firmness when together as they pounded into the wall and shook the whole house. It was like a hammer, or a fist, which Houjo was sure it was it's intended to be. "Are you alright?" Houjo quickly knelt down and pulled Souta up on to his feet, getting a hasty nod from the boy who looked around him frantically with alertness.

"It's no use looking around, they aren't attacking like that this time." Kouga said, his nose could atest to that. "We're surrounded from the out side and that's we're they're going to say..."

Inuyasha seemed to see the same plan in action Kouga did. "There's windows everywhere in this house, there's no where safe... We're just big targets in here. They stay safely out there hidden in the snow and hit us with surprise attacks." Inuyasha knew Kouga had to be right about those creatures getting started. That fist like mass of compiled tentacles had been used last when they fought it before, now it was being used first.

!!

Inuyasha flipped backwards, springing over about 6 tentacle tied together that wiped out of the snow and swept across the ground at his feet. "They're all out there..." Inuyasha glanced over at Kouga, who nodded in agreement. "Houjo, keep Souta safe."

"Why, what are you two going to do." Houjo asked. By the look he saw he assumed Kouga was in on it too. He had to admit, for people who fight with each other all the time they seemed to know each other's thoughts well in danger.

"Don't worry about it." Kouga called back discardingly, and with a blur of skillful speed he jumped through the open frame , and Inuyasha followed behind, climbing the cold slope with skillful steps.

Souta looked up at Houjo anxiously, "What do we do now?"

He gave the boy an easy smile, hoping he'd take it and wouldn't worry. "Just pay attention and we'll be alright." Houjo lifted the sword, though he wasn't sure if he would be able to do anything with it against this kind of attack.

! - ! - !

Inuyasha and Kouga sprang up the narrow slope caused by the broken window and landed up on the surface of the white mound about 8 feet up from the ground. "Whoa!" Inuyasha winced when he felt his feet sink about 12 inches down into the snow on his first step.

"Of course your going to sink, your standing right next to the hill!" Kouga called back, he was standing a few feet away a good distance from the side of the house. Here the surface of the snow was half frozen over, giving it that glassy look and was enough to support his weight, if he stepped lightly.

"!!" Inuyasha quickly leapt into the air just as one of the fleshy snake like creatures burst through the hardened snow and reached out for him, he landed hard, sinking down two full feet this time but still wasting no time severing the creature with one swipe of his blade.

"Geez mutt, your gonna sink if you keep going like that." Kouga slid gracefully back on the frozen surface as two more came rushing out of the snow in front of him, trying to bind him. With one fatal swipe of his claws he ripped them apart. His movements weren't as brash as Inuyasha's, he was agile and light on his feet, he knew how to move in snow. There was some unknown grace to how he moved on the snow, something careful, delicate and fluid, leaving behind only imprints instead of large, sinking footprints.

"Shut up, I'll live."

"If I'm lucky you won't."

"Shut up!" Inuyasha's ears perked and he quickly whipped his sword backwards around him and sliced another single tendril rising from the ground. "Damnit, stop playing with me, come already!"

This was stupid, right now they were at this things mercy, this could take forever. They need to gain at lest some control over this fight, one place where they could force these creatures out. Kouga looked around with quick eyes, they quickly locked on the object when he found what he needed. "Inuyasha come on! We're gonna have to force the damn things out." He called back, taking a large leap on to the roof of the house then on to the highest branch of the large tree in the backyard.

Seeing what he meant, Inuyasha followed. "Yeah, they'll have to come and get us." He said confidently, he had to admit, that was quick thinking, but Kouga was always a quick person.
They stood in waiting, watching the ground, it was still at first, then more and more of the tentacles began to rise out of the ground like growing grass. Or more appropriately weeds. "Here it comes!" In an eruption of dusting snow, another fist like, or was seemed like an arm missing a hand, comprised of what could only be no less then a few hundreds tightly woven tentacles burst out of the ground and came diving at them as fast as the wind.

Kouga and Inuyasha dived off the branch , turning to the side in mid air as the large mass narrowly passed by so close that they were hit with the fluid that coated them. Inuyasha shoved his his broad sword into the side of the mass while Kouga dug his claws into the opposite side and they dragged their respective weapon's down it's body. By the time they reached the ground the protruding mass was severed in two and turning brown with death.

As soon as the two of them hit the ground the forest of tentacles shot at them from all around, grabbing at the them. The sheer number was overwhelming, they were everywhere! Inuyasha slashed feverously at the rising wave, slicing apart wide numbers in relatively slow sweeps. While Kouga slashed in complete blur at anything and everything with his claws, taking out only a few of them with lighting fast swipes. In only a few seconds they were swamped, like a small boat on the sea in the middle of a raging storm. "Uhaa!!" Inuyasha leapt into the air and retreated to the safety of the roof, Kouga was force to do the same, just barely prying himself free from the ones that grabbed his legs and landing beside Inuyasha.

They didn't get a moment's rest, three more of the mass numbers of woven together tentacles stretched out towards them like reaching arms. Inuyasha crouched slightly and bolted to the side in Kouga's direction as one narrowly passed over his head, soo close he could feel it gracing across his back. Only to find himself running head first directly at one rushing dead at him from the other side of the roof. Kouga, who was right in his and the arm's path, was preoccupied with fighting off the third one and was doing well, eating away at it with tearing swipes of his claws that some how held enough strength to push it back.

"Get out of the way!" Inuyasha gave only that as warning as he leapt into the air with sword drawn above his head, then he thrust it down, spewing a wave of golden energy from his Wind scar. It came rushing froward like a breaking tide.

"!!" Kouga flinched and dived backwards, just narrowly avoiding the quick rush of fire like winds that struck the massive arm to the side he didn't see coming, and managed to also strike the one he had been fighting himself. It had been so close that he could feel it's heat."You bastard!" Kouga flipped on to his feet and rushed head first towards Inuyasha, growly angrily "You were gonna hit me too!"

"You were in the way." Inuyasha shot back callously, before he knew it he saw Kouga coming at him and he flinched, expecting the wolf to try and throw a blow. Instead Kouga, leapt into the air, kicking off of Inuyasha's head and launched himself higher. With practiced skill Kouga's body began spinning in mid air, drawing visible air currents until a whirlwind quickly formed around him, the he thrust his foot out in a rapid tornado kick using every bit of the strong winds and spin to his strengh. He tore into the the first massive arm that Inuyasha had avoided in the first place, the air currents tore it apart, reeling in more and more of the massive appendage into the vacuum and destroying it with the same effectiveness as the winds scar.

And Inuyasha was right there when he landed, glaring at him angrily. "What the hell was that!?"

Kouga looked away and snorted discardingly, "Your one to talk, you almost fried me with that damn sword of yours."

"Your lucky I didn't." Inuyasha shouted back, simply meaning he didn't really mean to hit Kouga, he just happened to be in the way. "I just saved your ass you know! Ingrate!"

"I just saved yours! Idiot!" Kouga yelled.

So, they were even.

Inuyasha looked back down over the edge of the roof, at the waves of tentacles that seemed like long grass blowing in the wind. "There are way too many of them." he quickly changed the subject.

"We'll manage, Souta and Houjo are still down there."

! - ! - !

"Over there! From the left!" Souta called down, crouched down safely near the top of the stairs. He was helping Houjo as much as he could, using his sense of Shikon Jewel shards to tell Houjo where an attack was coming from next.

Houjo, being older and the only one with a weapon, opted to stay down here alone and acted as a decoy of sorts. There was no use in both of them going through this.

"Alright!" Houjo took a quick strife to the right as a woven arm of tentacles burst through the sloping wall of snow and reached out for him. Houjo made it clear, stumbling a bit as it pounded into the wall behind them and shook everything violently. "!!" But it wasn't done, tentacles wiggled free from the mass and reached out for him, a few grabbing on to his legs and waist and drawing him in.He kept his balance and with a slash of the sword from over his shoulder he severed the binding ties. 'That was close.'

"Houjo! Watch it!"

Houjo took heed, falling on to his back as the arm whipped to the side and tried to strike him from behind. He could feel the power of the blow from where he was, a strong rush of air washed over him as it passed by. But it didn't retreat like last time, it simply stayed in place against the wall to his left. 'That can't be good.'

"Houjo! It's coming from the right!" Souta shouted.

Houjo scrambled on to his feet and jumped to the left as another arm rushed out of the cover of the snow at a speed he couldn't avoid on his own and pounded into the wall beside him. The blow rattled the whole level and the floor shook violently enough to knock Houjo off balance and send him tumbling to the ground.

"Houjo! It's...." Souta couldn't quite seem to articulate this feeling, there was already a shard in the arm on the left, and one on the right, so where was this next one coming from... "It's coming right at you!"

Houjo barely heard Souta finish the last word before the third arm came launching from the snow before the boy could even rise from his knees and get to his feet. He flinched, as much as he didn't need it right now he got scared and flinched, and by the time he started moving again it was too late. The attack was that quick. "Uhgaa!" The air was knocked out of his lungs as the blunt arm hammered into his chest and flashes of light appeared in his eyes and ringing filled his ears when he was then then slammed into the wall. He nearly lost consciousness, the only thing that kept him awake long enough to gain awareness again was the gasping need for air.

"Houjo!" Souta winced and leaned forward worriedly "Are you alright?!"

"..." Houjo didn't speak, he just clinched his jaw and bit down on his lip to keep from screaming out in pain. "...Ahhaaaaa...."

It didn't work.

"Houjo!" Souta swallowed hard and with out a single thought in his mind but helping Houjo out he took a deep breath and jumped down the stairs, slipping under one of the arms still against the wall and running to the pinned Houjo, "Please be ok! Please be ok!" He couldn't think because his mind was too afraid, the only thing that overrid the fear of being down here in the line of fire was his fear for Houjo. With that driving each move he made, Souta began pulling frantically at woven tentacles that comprised the arm, trying to pry apart what he could.

"S-Souta...go back." Houjo mumbled weakly, then his eyes widened and his whole body reeled as the arm pushed a little hard and forced a scream of pain out of him. That seemed to be more then enough for the jewel shard bound to his neck, it illuminated with a purple light and a stream of electricity shot out ward, ripping through the massive appendage with visible streaks of purple lighting running over it's surface in bright flashes. The creatures immediately started to burn away.

"Whoa!" Souta immediately jumped back, watching in amazement as the arm turned brown and lifeless,falling limply off of Houjo. With out it's grasp holding him, Houjo fell painfully to the ground. "Houjo! Are you alright?"

Houjo clinched at his pained chest with one hand, feeling a complication of bruises, blood from seeping skin and the slick fluid that seemed to cover all of the tentacles. He had to admit, it hurt like hell. "I'm fine, I'm fine." He said, so Souta wouldn't worry. He'd live, all he had to do was compare this pain to the time when he broke his leg an few years ago. "Don't worry, just go back." Houjo told him, pushing himself back on to his feet and lifting the sword weakly.

'?' His eyes drifted downward curiously at the jewel shard around his neck, still glowing, how could something so small and seemingly harmless do something such as that.

"Houjo! Look out!"

Houjo lifted his head again in a nervous focus and saw more of the tentacles unwrapping themselves from two arms on either side of him, creeping out through the air like serpents slithering across the ground. "Uh!" Houjo quickly lifted Kouga's sword and began slashing away at the creatures reaching out to bind him. "What are you waiting for, go!"

"Right!" Souta didn't hesitate, he turned away from Houjo and slipped under the other tentacle pressed against the wall that seemed to be acting as something blocking exit. "!!" Souta just barely made it past, feeling a swift burst of displaced air as the arm pounded loudly into the ground in an attempt to smash him. It only hastened Souta's accent of the stairs. But he didn't make it to them in time, the arm was determined to hit him, the fleshy mass swung to the left and slammed into Souta's back, "Uhfff!" Knocking him passed the stairs and painfully sliding on to the kitchen floor.

The large arm slid just barely through the doorway with a speed the boy couldn't hope to avoid and before he even could open his eyes it pounded down on the fallen Souta, hard. Houjo could hear a loud scream of pain echoing from the boy.

"Souta!"

! - ! - !

"Damnit! Leg go of me!" Kouga fought with desperation as he was enslarled by a wave of the tentacles, hundreds of them rushed up from under the snow and wrapped around every part of him. Individually they were weak, but together they were a type of strength Kouga had never seen, some of them compressed tightly around his chest, his arms his legs, while some tried to pry them off. And the constant movement, the tight winding of the creatures were starting to break the skin underneath them.

Inuyasha dived down from above with his sword thrust downward at the ground and with a very narrow and skillful slash, Inuyasha let the edge of his blade fall down Kouga's body, severing the tentacles that had trapped him but just barely staying a few centimeters short of slicing Kouga in half. With most of his captors gone, Kouga was able to pull himself away and leap backwards in to the tall tree, much more bruised and bloody then before.

Inuyasha quickly faced the same fate as Kouga, the creatures came out more persistently then they ever had before, attacking in large numbers quickly. With out a second through Kouga leapt outward and dived down to the aid of the trapped hanyou, in a quick blur of brown he ripped apart the pre-occupied demons surrounding Inuyasha was long hard swipes with his formidable claws. He didn't remove as much as them as Inuyasha had with his sword, but with Inuyasha's physical strength he could tear himself away.

Both of them took quick strides away from his each other, more and more of the creatures raising out of the ground and shooting after them. "Damnit! How many of these damn things are there!" Inuyasha growled, he was pushed to his physical peak trying to avoid these things, he just wasn't fast enough.

"This is fucking insane!" Kouga had more a simpler time avoiding them, being the faster and more agile then Inuyasha. "We'll never win like this, not if they stay down there."

Inuyasha took a quick strife to the right as more of the snake like creatures erupted underneath him. Inuyasha focused on escaping capture and distorting as many of the creatures as he could, Kouga however wasn't focused on it. Kouga's eyes scanned along the ground, looking anticapantly for the next move against him, and his quick eyes caught sight of something he knew to be a bad sign. "Inuyasha, don't!" With out hesitation he saw Inuyasha's next step and where it would land him, with the Hanyou's lack of agility and grace in the hard steps he took, it wouldn't end well.

"Huh?" It was too late, though Inuyasha didn't know what Kouga was talking about he quickly found out. "Ahhhaaa!!" He landed on a part of the snow that was unfrozen from the constant sunlight on it and had much less stability, and he quickly sunk in to it like he'd tried to stand on water, so fast it would almost seem like he was falling. Before he knew it a few tentacles rushed up and wrapped around his feet and his legs, pulling him down even farther. "?" He was surprised to find himself not falling though, even more surprised to see why. Inuyasha looked up and found Kouga at the edge of the weak spot, a tight hold on one of his arms. "K-Kouga?"

"Come on mutt." He growled, an audible strain in his voice. 'He's slipping....' "I can't hold your heavy ass and that damn sword forever!"

Speaking of sword.... Inuyasha pulled his knees up closer to him, able to stretch the weak creatures a bit with his strength, and with an awkward swing he severed the binding and quickly, almost fearfully pulled himself up on to stable land. Then with out a word nor hesitation he pushed Kouga back as hard as he could, knocking the confused wolf to the ground just as more of those tentacles rose up from the snow to seize the unexpecting Youkai who'd stopped to catch Inuyasha. "Damn things!" With a quick slash of his sword he severed the 70 or 80 grouped mass that had just attempted to catch Kouga.

Kouga rolled on to his stomach and pushed himself, and immediately he and Inuyasha were bombarded with a forest of the tentacles. "There has to be like 5 times more then last time!" Kouga swiped his claws around wildly, fighting his way out as hard as he could. His goal right now wasn't to fight off as many as he could, it was simply survival.

"I know that!" Inuyasha, since he'd been on his feet, was able to get away quicker then Kouga could, landing on the roof of the house safely out of reach.

Kouga finally managed to get free and wasted no time leaping into the air and out of the way, but the tentacles were quick themselves. They shot outward for him with a reach previously undisplayed and 6 or so at first latched on to his legs "Huh?!"

"What the hell?" Inuyasha also had no idea they could go that high strait up, so he could see how Kouga was surprised by it.

Kouga was immediately pulled back, and before he knew it more and more were wrapping themselves around him. "Uggaa!!" Kouga was slammed down painfully against the trunk of the large tree and before his disorientation wore off hundreds of them had rushed out to bind him. "No!" Kouga struggled as hard as he could, trying to pry the creatures of him with his claws. But he had a much larger problem then that, apparently these creatures were smart enough to take advantage of Kouga's entrapment in an effective way, from under the high snow an arm shot out and hammered towards him. "!!" And Kouga couldn't free himself, at lest fast enough to move. His eyes widened and he flinched. "NO!"

Much to his surprise Inuyasha dropped down seemingly out of nowhere with Tetsusaiga lifted above his head, and with a loud inhuman roar he thrust it down on the fast approaching appendage and sliced it in two. Kouga could only watch as the two halves of it fell dead around him. 'Inuyasha...'

Inuyasha quickly turned around, drawing the sword from the ground and slicing apart Kouga's captors with a hard uppercut before springing away on to the roof for his own safety. Kouga wasted no time, prying himself from the remaining creatures and following after him.

"There's way to many of them..." Inuyasha crouched down on to his knees , taking in deep breaths of the cold air, he felt fatigue starting to take effect, at this rate they'd be wore down and killed.

"Don't say that!" Kouga yelled, bending over and laying his hands on his knees to support himself as he caught his own breath. "It can't last too much longer, if we kill enough of them they'll retreat, last time." Kouga never thought he'd actually want a demon to retreat from him, but they were in a losing battle at the moment. "We can't lose, Then it'll get Souta and Houjo."

"So what do you suppose we do?!" Inuyasha shouted back sarcastically. "I don't hear any plans coming from you!"

"I do have an idea, thank you very much mutt!" Kouga snorted. "I'm gonna draw them out, then you attack."

"What? What the hell are you talking about! How are you gonna draw them out? And what the hell am I gonna do?"

Kouga stood up strait, and with a deep breath he took a step back and with all his speed he ran off of the roof, not even bothering to make a jump. "You'll know when you see it!" Kouga landed on the ground, and before any of them could grab him, Kouga began running in circles, as fast as he could. It didn't take more then a few revolutions before a strong current of streaming air formed, he was surrounded by a strong whirlwind. Everything that reached out to catch him as well as any of the tentacles near the surface were draw in, and in only a few seconds a massive bulge of the pink, fleshy, wet creatures surrounded Kouga, way more then he could handle, for long at lest.

"W-What the hell is he doing!?" Inuyasha had to admit, he did draw them out, if he had to take a guess he'd say at lest a thousand or more of the creatures were caught in Kouga's whirlwind, a few of them were being torn apart by the winds but the majority of them were about ready to compress, and smash Kouga beyond recognition. 'Wind scar! He wants me to use my Wind scar!' Inuyasha realized, that's what Kouga meant!

Hey wait!

If he used his Wind scar, Kouga would get hit too, especially with that Whirlwind around him, he'd just draw it in and he was asking for a direct hit. Kouga was much too weak to take a direct hit. "That moron! What does he think he's doing!" Inuyasha yelled, he couldn't do this... Hey wait! He didn't care about Kouga, what would it matter if died!... Inuyasha reluctantly lifted his sword readily. "You idiot, you better move!" Inuyasha yelled, leaping off of the safety of the roof with his sword held above his head and then thrusting it down and released a surge of golden energy. A blast that burned like fire but moved like the wind swept over the gathered mass and burned through them with a deafeningly loud sound and a bright flash. Inuyasha fought with himself about what he'd just done, about Kouga's fate, and a large sinking feeling was forming in the pit of his stomach. Finally he decided he had to do what he cold, even if it was only to warn. "Kouga move!"

....

It seemed almost like a full moment until it was all quiet again, Inuyasha stood blinded in the cold snow, panting heavily. Nothing had reached out to grab him, that was a good sign, he didn't think he had the strength to use another one of those. '....' Inuyasha slowly opened his eyes that were blinded by his own technique.

'!' He dropped his sword and ran forward, finding a unconscious Kouga laying just ahead of him. The wolf was surrounded by a mass of burned and torn tentacles which were melting away in the the liquid that coated their own bodies. "Kouga...Kouga." He called out reluctantly, his head and eyes tilted away almost in annoyment.
A chill ran up his spine when he didn't get a response.

Inuyasha waited a few seconds before lookin down at the Youkai fully, "Kouga... Kouga..." He still didn't get an response...Kouga could actually be... " Answer me damnit..."

Finally Kouga's ears twitched and he slowly opened his eyes, his blurry vision was greeted with the vision of Inuyasha. "Inu...Inuya...sha?"

Inuyasha felt a surge of relief he couldn't explain, he was actually happy to see Kouga open his eyes, to hear him speak, to see him alive. The hanyou immediately felt pridefully embarrassed and looked away, but that didn't stop him from yelling angrily at Kouga, though only giving him sideways glances. "What the hell were you doing!"

Kouga blinked questioningly at first, then narrowed his eyes angrily, trying to yell back, but his words only came out weak and strained. "What kinda stupid question is that! What does it look like I was doing! I was trying to get those damn things out of the ground!" He shouted as loud as he could manage, then winced as a cough forced it's way out of his body.

"Like that! That's the worst way I've ever seen, your so stupid! You almost got killed." Inuyasha snorted. "You should have died, would have served you right."

Kouga smirk, slowly mounting his hand him and pushing himself up. Maybe he should have, and there was a good chance would have, had not Inuyasha held back. Of course, it wasn't Kouga's intentional plan to be cough in the cross fire of Inuyasha's Wind scar, he meant to jump out of the way. But he didn't expect to be overwhelmed so quickly, and he did end up getting hit. "You wish, as if you could kill me."

"Like I couldn't, you wimp." Inuyasha sheath his sword into it's place and allowed it to rest. "This is what you get for trying to be the hero. I bet you wanna take the credit too."

Kouga slowly got to his feet, looking over the bloody rope burns caused when the demon's constricted him and the collective damages from the Wind scar. "Your just jealous that you didn't think of it, if it wasn't for me then you'd still be getting your ass kicked by those things." He said in that cocky arrogant voice that infuriated Inuyasha to no ends.

Inuyasha glared at him and growled, that cocky bastard! "Whatever! You were doing worst then I was!"

Kouga just sighed and walked past Inuyasha. "You know, jealous is really unbecoming."

"Jealous! I am not Jealous!" Inuyasha shouted back.

"..." Kouga stopped just a few feet ahead, not responding to the last comment, in fact he didn't say anything at all.

'Huh?' Inuyasha went after him with quickened steps and stopped questioningly at his side, peering over at him.

Kouga smirked, though it wasn't cocky nor his characteristic arrogance, it was more of a saddened depression to as Inuyasha had seen quick often lately. He looked down at the ground, watching the very last tentacle recede into the snow. "...We did quite a number on those things huh?" He asked, sounding more as if he was talking to himself then to Inuyasha. Maybe because of how awkward it was to hold a normal conversation with him, the few he'd had, all recent, were filled with tense silences and reluctance.

As was this one/

"Yeah..." Inuyasha watched it fall out of view, but it didn't fade from his perception, he could still smell what ones remained, going down the well... "What are you getting at Kouga?" He knew Kouga just didn't say things like that to him out of no where.

And Kouga knew Inuyasha didn't respond to statements he made of that nature so passively for no reason. "I think you know." Kouga said, truthfully knowing Inuyasha wasn't as oblivious as he portrayed him, though he'd never admit that, even to himself.

At lest realizing it he wouldn't.

'Yeah...' Inuyasha sighed inwardly, he knew what Kouga meant even if he didn't say it.

! - ! - !

Inuyasha slid down the mound of over poured snow into the living room, looking around the room carefully. There were cracks along the walls caused by repeated and hard blows, small fractures that shot outward around the points of impact. The center most one most notably had blood on it, and by one sniff, Inuyasha knew it was Houjo's blood. "Houjo? Souta? Where are you guys?"

Inuyasha curiously followed there scents, while a slowed down Kouga finally made his way into the house.

They found Houjo in the kitchen, kneeling over an unconscious Souta.

"W-What happened to him?" Inuyasha asked worriedly, a pang of fear shooting through him at the sight.

"He got hit in the head pretty hard." Houjo said, "But he'll be alright."

Inuyasha sighed,rubbing the back of his head almost uneasily. 'He got hurt again...' He didn't say anything, he just knelt down and scoped Souta in to his arms, slowly walking towards the stairs and seeking to get the boy out of the cold. He and his heat induced body may have enjoyed it, but Souta wouldn't.

Seemingly out of nowhere Kouga came, throwing his arms around Houjo tightly. "Your hurt." He said, almost as if accusing him of it.

Houjo smiled nervously, bringing his hand subconsciously to his chest where a large bruise stretched over his torso, a few areas of it bleeding. "Just wasn't fast enough, I'm alright." He said discardingly.

"Your my mate, and I promised nothing would ever happen to you." Kouga said seriously, looking directly into Houjo's eyes. "Forgive me Houjo, I won't let it happen again." He looked away, almost reluctantly when he spoke again, his him mind dwelling on thoughts Houjo knew nothing about. "I promise it wont..."

Kouga was so protective. "What about you, you look horrible."

"It'll heal."

Houjo just smiled as usual, Kouga just dismissed things like this so easily, he'd never met anyone like him. "Oh, yeah." Houjo reached on to the floor at his side until he felt a familiar hilt, then lifted Kouga's sword, handing carefully it to the wolf. "Thank you, It was really helpful."

"I bet you use it well." Kouga smiled back, ruffling Houjo's hair softly. "Better then I ever could."

! - ! - !
! - ! - !

"Oouuu..." His head was pounding, horribly, it felt like his head was pulsing, like something was hitting it from the inside. Souta mound in pain and burred his face deeper into the soft warmth surrounding him, curling inward slightly.

...Souta tried to let himself drift back to sleep, sleep felt comforting, sleep felt inviting, it was so close that he could halfway feel how good it would be to lose consciousness. There it was, right in front of him, and maybe if he just kept his eyes closed, and was still, he'd reach it. "Aw..." But a sharp pound came from a particularly bad headache and with sleep too far to claim the boy opened his eyes.

He found himself curled up in Inuyasha's lap, his face pressed against Inuyasha stomach. Even through Inuyasha's clothes he could clearly smell the inhibiting scent of pheromones coming lightly from him. "Inu..." Souta rolled over on to his back and looked up at Inuyasha.

Inuyasha sat awaiting on Souta's bed, his legs crossed with the boy resting peaceably in his lap, his hand buried in the boy's hair petting him softly. "Your up?" Inuyasha said with a flinch, quickly pulling his hand out of Souta's hair. "A-Are ok?"

Souta felt the headache fading away... "I'm alright."

Inuyasha smiled in response, he was alright... "That's good."

"What about you, you look hurt." Souta said worriedly, he saw a host of marks and other cuts all over Inuyasha, hidden under his clothing.

"Tch. It's nothing." He shrugged discardingly.

Souta rolled back over on to his side and stared at the red cloth covering Inuyasha's stomach, a serous expression coming on to his face. He was silent, thinking to himself.

Inuyasha blinked with confusion, why did he looked like that, what was wrong with him? "Souta? Uh... What's with?"

"Nothing..." Souta said, but he wasn't good at hiding things like this, his voice didn't sound normal enough for simply nothing to be wrong with him. His voice sounded lifeless, holding no emotion in it.

"What's wrong?" Inuyasha asked again.

"Nothing." Souta repeated. He closed his eyes, clinching on to Inuyasha's coat almost desperately. "I'm just tired." He said. "I'm gonna go to sleep..." The boy closed his eyes and let out a deep breath.

'Souta?' Inuyasha knew something was wrong with Souta, something wasn't right. Ever since the night the power went out...

Souta just laid there with is eyes closed, completely still, already he could tell sleep wouldn't be as forth coming as he wanted. But he stayed there, and and would until it did, he could be around Inuyasha, he could be around that scent, he could think...

! - ! - !
!! - !! - !!

Thanks every one for reading, an I promise the next chapter will be a lot better, not to down play this one, but there is a really significant shift that's gonna happen in the next one. Keeping reading, keep reviewing. Speaking of review, I would like to thank some of my more frequent reviewers, thank you!